Disclaimer - I do not own Twilight or any of the characters, Stephenie Meyer does. All rights are given where they are due.
My thoughts race back to what happened on my 18th birthday and I just hope a repeat doesn't happen this time.
Chapter 8 - The New Abode
It took around 15 minutes for us to make it to the Cullens new home. Unfortunately I hadn't quite paid attention to what roads Alice had swiftly taken and wasn't quite aware we were even close until she pulled the car to a stop and shut the engine off.
"Were here!" her voice makes me jump as its the only sound I've heard since we left Calgary.
I lean forward and my eyes wander up the massive building with it's wrap around deck and ceiling to floor windows. The entire outside seems to be built out of logs all stacked on top of each other. The front door is a beautiful shade of dark green, almost the same color as my shirt maybe a little darker. The entire house is surrounded by massive fur trees which I'm definitely not surprised about, and as I bring my self to exit the warm Volvo I notice there's only one road that leads straight up to the house. I can't see the highway as the trees and a curve in the road block it completely from site. I shut my door as Edward joins me outside the car, I'm fully aware that his eyes are on my face
"Welcome to the Cullens new home." he smiles, though it doesn't reach his eyes. Seems he's still hung up on feeling guilty about 'ruining my life' as I'm sure he's going to put it.
"What do you think!?" a deep voice resonates from a massive sheet metal building to the far left of the house. It's got to be the garage, as theres a massive over-head door that's open and a burly figure makes its way into view with a massive pearly white grin plastered on his face.
"Emmett! Its gorgeous!" he's by my side in seconds with his massive arms around me to pull me into a hug. He's gentle but still rough enough to call it a bear hug. I let out a grunt as he lifts me off the ground but begin to laugh as he continues to swing me around in a full circle. I catch Edwards face as he gives us a worried look and Emmett laughs as he sets me back on the ground where he proceeds to put his arm on Edwards shoulder to give him a light shove.
"Calm down man, I'm not gonna break her!" he disappears just as Edward regains his balance and all we can hear is Emmetts deep voice yelling to announce our arrival.
The front door swings open to reveal a beaming Esme and she quickly motions for us to enter the house. Edward makes his way towards her small frame in the doorway with my hand in his and I nearly have to run to keep up with his long gate.
"Bella!" she breathes her arms are around me before my foot leaves the last step and she nearly carries me into the house with her, her stone like lips plant a kiss on my cheek just as Alice had done this morning. Edward gently closes the door behind us and begins to take his jacket off, opening a closet directly beside the door he places it on a hanger and then turns towards me.
Esme finally pulls away, her eyes study my face and she smiles warmly
"Your still as lovely as I remember darling. Here let Edward take your coat" I shrug my jacket off and Edward places his hand out to take it which frees me to remove my hat and shoes. He takes both articles and places them in the closet as well, Esme has disappeared into the kitchen and I can hear her already begin to unpack the 6 or so bags of groceries.
This gives me a small amount of time to take in my surroundings. The walls are all white in the short hallway, light wood panels boarder the bottom of all the walls and every door that I can see is of the same light wood. The floor in the hallway is a slightly darker shade of wood than the walls and in bringing my gaze up I notice that a set of stairs and what I assume is a loft overlooks the entrance way. Edward waits as I take everything in before he lightly grabs my hand
"How about a tour?" he whispers in my ear. I smile and nod. This place is so lovely. Why would I expect anything less from the Cullens, I mean their rich so of course they would want something this nice.
We make our way down the hallway and just to our left, across from the bottom of the stairs, is a door-less archway that opens into the kitchen. Esme is bent over the stove already and it seems like she's placing the lasagna in to cook. I let my gaze wander as Edward and Alice start to talk about some vision she's just had. The cabinets in the kitchen are of a deep mahogony, directly to my left a massive stainless steel fridge hums to life, and directly beside it a short row of counters expands to the back wall where it curves around the room to stop directly in front of opening to the kitchen. A small island juts out from where the counters end only long enough to fit 2 stools on either side. The stove with which Esme is cooking is the only thing to interrupt the mahoganywood with its black granite counter tops. Along the upper half of the wall are cupboards that follow along the same path as the counters. Over to my right Alice is seated at a long mahoganytable with 6 matching chairs. It looks to be an antique, most likely something Esme has come across. The walls are all an inviting off white, the paint is interrupted in the dining area of the kitchen where a sliding glass door is stationed on the right hand wall. Edward sighs and gently pulls me out of the kitchen where we turn left once more and continue into a rather massive but cozy living room.
The walls in here match the hallway, the only difference is the flooring where instead of wood its now a plush beige carpet. My feet sink in and rock back and forth slightly enjoying the feel of it. This makes Edward chuckle and begins to pull me back towards the stairs. His silence is odd and if finally clicks that he hasnt really said anything to me since we got here.
I take him by surprise and pull him towards me, his arms come to rest on my waist as he catches his balance. His eyes come to rest on mine, the worry and guilt is still there though now their accompanied by confusion.
I mere smile and pull him towards the long brown leather couch that is stationed against the far right wall. I take a seat and pat a spot to my right with a hopeful look on my face, he takes the hint and takes a seat close enough so that our knees touch.
"Edward..." I begin, his soft voice cuts me off and I press my lips shut
"I'm sorry. I should have never come back. I've ruined whatever normal life you've built for yourself here. I should have just left you alone. Your to good for a life such as this, and I'm just being selfish." he leans forward and places his elbows to rest on his legs as his head comes to rest in his hands. I sigh and gently run my hands through my hair in an attempt to gather my thoughts.
"Are you done putting yourself down?" his shoulders shrug, I close my eyes for a short second and open them as I reach out to place my hand on his arm.
"Edward. This life is perfect for me. You are perfect for me, I should be the one to say that your to good for me. I'm so unbelievably glad that you came back. I was a mess no matter how happy I looked to people it was all a lie - facade that I'd manage to perfect. I missed you Edward. I love you and no one else" somewhere during all of this he had straightened up to look me in the eyes, I just want to make the pain he feels go away but it seems like only time is going to do that. I've said all I can say to him about this and he's just going to have to live with it.
"Great. Just when I thought things were going so smoothly" a silky voice rudelyemanates from the bottom of the stairs and we both break our gaze to see who it is.
There looking as sickeningly beautiful as always stands Rosalie with her long blond hair pulled back into a low ponytail, her outfit every bit as inappropriate for the weather as Alice's outfit is. She has on a pair of short denim shorts and a strapless shirt that stops just at her waist where the jeans meet her body. Her skin is flawless, lovely and her eyes match the honey gold of the rest of the vampires in the house. Even when she looks rather angry she's gorgeous and a slight pang of envy hits my heart. Thought it makes me feel better that beauty doesn'tgive you happiness after all, at least in her case.
"Rose.. Go away." Edwards eyes show no emotion as Rosalies gaze matches his glare, she merely sticks her nose in the air and makes her way to the kitchen "What is that smell?" her voice makes its way down the hall towards us, no doubt we were meant to hear it.
A sigh from Edward is what brings my gaze back to his and we merely stare at each other, neither one seeming to know what to say.
"Oh!" I suddenly remember that I had questions I wanted to ask him. My little gasp causes his eyebrows to raise and he looks at me questioningly.
"You have questions about the whole vamp to human thing don't you?" a smile pulls at the corners of his lips though his eyes show he's only half here. The rest of him is lost in thought still.
I nod my head and he allows the smile to spread slightly before he leans back into the couch, his hands end up behind his head as he looks me in the eyes to await my barrage of silly questions.
"Well....what happens when you turn back into a vampire? Do you go through the same process as the first time? Will I not be able to see you again for another year as you re-find your ability to control your thirst for humans?" all of my questions tumble out in one long sentence and his eyes widen slightly the smile widens more as he reaches for my hands. I oblige, as soon as he has hold of them he pulls me towards his body and I rearrange myself so I'm leaning partially on his chest though I'm more under his arm. Said arm comes to rest around body and he gives me a slight squeeze as he concentrates on which question to answer first.
"Well... We're not really quite sure on any of those questions, but if I were to guess I'd say that the process will most likely be the same, though, since the venom is still in my system I'm really hoping that it wont be a three day long process. As for re-finding my control around humans, I don't think we'll have to worry about that. I mean, I've only been a human for around 48 hours but I still remember what the thirst is like." My head has come to rest on his chest and the sound of his heart beat is music to my ears. "So it's pretty much a - we won't know until the time comes - type of thing?" he shifts slightly so his other hand comes down to grasp my left hand which was beginning to play with the buttons on his black dress shirt.
"Pretty much" he sighs, I can hear the worry in his voice and can just picture how that same worry is etched on his features.
"Hey! Love birds, your gruel is ready!!" Emmetts booming voice resonates from the kitchen along with Alice and Esme's tinkling laughter.
"It's truly amazing how everyone looks and sounds when your human." he muses to himself as we both push ourselves off the couch.
I merely chuckle as I can only guess that he sees everyone the same as I have since the first time I met them.
A/N - Wow 3 chapters in one day! WOOHOO. RnR. XD
Loulabelle - haha yeah I did. Sad hey? LOLI love writing for Alice and I'm sure she'll be in tonnes more chapters, along with Emmett. Just cause I love him and his burly-ness. I know what you mean about Seth, he's such an adorable kid in the books you just don't want anything bad to happen to him! Thank you so much for reviewing all my chapters, it makes me haaappy! and a happy me means more chapters! XD