Disclaimer: Any characters and/or places that you recognise belong to J.K Rowling, Stephanie Meyer or the USA.
A/N: This is unbetaed. I plan on getting one eventually but at this stage I'm more concerned with keeping my momentum while I still have inspiration. LOL but thank you to Callie for your kind words.
Chapter Six:
He waited within the shadow of a cluster of trees, listening to the familiar rumble of a vehicle heading his way; it was about one minute away now. Edward had thought long and hard about what he was going to say to Bella today but she was unpredictable... she would either accept this with pain and a semblance of dignity. Or it was going to become ugly. For her sake, he hoped for the former, it was the least she deserved after everything that she had been through.
He straightened from the tree he was leaning against when the car finally came into view. There was a small delay before Bella got out of her truck, but she paused once more as she exchanged a few words with Jacob. He could hear their conversation clearly, Jacob was trying to persuade her to let him come with her but she didn't think she'd need it.
Freezing in place, he sniffed the air by reflex when the tantalising smell of her blood drifted across the field to him. He could feel the venom as it pooled expectantly and knew that his eyes had gone black; as clear as day he could see exactly how he could kill her and drain her of her life's blood, who would stop him? Jacob Black? He took a step forward and prepared himself for the hunt but stopped when he glimpsed something green in the corner of his eyes. Turning his head he stared at it for a moment and then bent to pick it up. He held it in the palm of his hand and studied it. The leaf was a brilliant green, darkening as it got closer to the stem, it was still a baby leaf, soft and fragile to the touch but it was so very green... like the green of the eyes of his mate.
At the thought of her Edward slowly felt the control seep back into his body, the darkness in him receded and he swallowed the venom that had pooled in his mouth, revelling as it burned down his throat. When he felt that he had a firm grasp on his control he continued on his way to where Bella sat underneath a Cedar tree, waiting.
She got to her feet when she saw him approaching, bitting her lip nervously, he heard rather then saw the wolf pup get out of the truck. Turning his head to look at Jacob Black he raised his hand to wave sarcastically, looking back at the brown haired girl before him he took a good look at her while she stood there fidgeting. Jasper was right, she had lost a bit of weight and her face was drawn like she hadn't been sleeping. This neglect of her health was only because he hadn't tried to contact her for two weeks, he didn't want to know how she'd react when they no longer saw each other. He was so grateful that he asked Black to accompany her; she'd need a friend on the way home.
"Bella... you haven't been looking after yourself," he stated softly, looking her in the eyes.
She stared back, eyes not hiding the infatuation that she had for him, he could also see the hero worship that she held for him to and he wasn't happy to see it. Had it always been there?
"You weren't there Edward. I tried to... but you weren't there," she said almost desperately.
Edward couldn't help it, he had to take a step back from the misery that she emanated, this sense of despair wasn't healthy for anybody, and she shouldn't even have been this heartbroken to begin with. She should have been angry that he hadn't returned her calls, she should be fuming that he had been avoiding her, she should be at this very moment, calling him all kinds of names under the sun, but what she shouldn't be feeling is this level of... hopeless depression. Edward finally saw clearly what he had wrought with his... fascination of her. His disgust at her didn't run as deep as the disgust and self-loathing that he felt towards himself.
"Bella, you should never have allowed yourself to get to this state. No-one should even be able to bring you to this state!" he stated forcefully, willing her to hear and understand. But he was despondent to see her shake her head vigorously and look at him with eyes shining, he had to look away because he knew that he would never be able to return the love she thought she felt for him.
"Edward? Why aren't you looking at me? Is there something wrong with me?" she queried nervously, looking down at herself and tugging on a strand of her hair.
"Stop! Bella... just... stop! You just can't... Bella, sometimes it's not about you," he answered finally. She still looked confused and nervous so he chose to just put her out of her misery.
"Bella. We can't see each other anymore," he told her softly and solemnly, eyes sad at the shock that he saw in her face. "I can't be with you anymore."
Bella's eyes widened and her lips moved as if she was trying to say something, but no sound came out. Her eyes blinked slowly trying to make sense of what he had just said. He allowed the silence to stretch, giving her time to process. Finally she spoke up.
"What?! I don't u-understand... y-you said you'd never leave... I-is it s-something that I-I-I did?" she cried brokenly and desperately.
"No, Bella. It wasn't anything that you did. And... I made you the promise not to leave before I knew what I do now," he explained with care, he held back a cringe when he saw her face fall.
"W-what do you k-know now t-that you d-didn't know b-before?" she sobbed, tears running down her face.
He sighed humanly and ran both his hands through his hair in aggravation. He was hoping to avoid telling her about his mate, hoping to spare at least that pain. He stood in silence looking up at the sky trying to gather his thoughts.
"You don't love me anymore... do you?"
"No... not in the way that you and I deserve. I'll care for you... in my own way, but something happened a few weeks ago that made me realise that it was time to change. I got... tired of pretending to be something that I'm not, Bella. I am not human."**
She shook her head again, tears still coursing down her face. She was now listening, but her next words proved to him that she still didn't understand.
"I'll change... just tell me what I need to do to fix this Edward and I'll change..." she started only to trail off when Edward shook his head firmly.
"There is nothing you can do Bella, you cannot change yourself for me, this is not about you, we are over... and I'm asking you to accept that," he replied with finality, voice gentle. "Don't make this harder on yourself then it already is. You'll hate yourself for begging. Goodbye Bella."
Turning to walk away he was stopped when Bella grasped his arm and ran around to stand in front of him holding onto his shoulders distraughtly, begging.
"Please don't go... Please! Don't go!... You aren't telling me the truth, I know you aren't... Please! Please!"
Gripping both her upper arms securely and trying not to bruise her, he shook her lightly until she stopped begging and looked up at him. Bending his knees he brought himself to her eye-level.
"The truth will hurt you more... Bella, are you sure you want to hear it?"
"I want to know why you're walking away from us... I need to know what's out there that's better then this that you can just give up on me!"
Edward let her go with a soft push and stepped back once more, he could sense the soon-to-be-wolf walking slowly towards them and he turned his gaze on him and froze him in his tracks. Black tensed, and then slowly backed up a couple of metres. Bringing his attention back to Bella he saw that she was memorizing his face almost hungrily, there was hope in her eyes that hadn't diminished and he realised that she honestly thought that she could change his mind. The idea that she could was laughable, he had finally discovered his True Mate, and there was now no going back for him.
"My kind... has something that we call in the common tongue, a True Mate. And some of us are blessed enough to actually meet them. Carlisle, Jasper and Emmett, they found their Lifemate. I... hadn't. When I met you... they knew that you weren't the one for me but I allowed my... curiosity for your mind and the tantalising smell of your scent to blind me..."
Bella's heartbreak and hurt were written all over her face as Edward explained, she knew what was coming next and she was now wishing that she hadn't begged him to tell her the truth. She saw the faraway look in his eyes and the soft smile that came over his face as he thought about the concept of having a mate. His next words drove a stake through her heart and completely shattered her. Her father was right; sometimes truth was a terrible thing.
"... But I met my mate a few weeks ago, my true mate. Meeting her means that no-one else is enough and I could lie to you and tell you that I love you and still care for you, but that won't be the truth. I'd be drawn to her on a level you couldn't touch and eventually I'd resent you for keeping me away from her."
She didn't want to let this go, this couldn't be happening to her, she was sure that he was wrong that this... this... other girl couldn't be the one for him. Maybe he was blinded and he just needed to see reason. The anguish and desolation was the only thing that could explain away what she said next.
"How can you be sure? You've only just met her; you haven't had the chance to actually form any bonds with her, not like us. Maybe if we moved away from here or you could kill her we coul-"
She cut off with a frightened squeal when Edward grabbed her suddenly by the throat and lifted her. He was growling and his eyes seemed to glow an angry black. He couldn't believe that the stupid little human had actually thought that he would kill his mate for her. He could smell the wolf getting closer and closer, but his anger was wreaking havoc with his control to care and he was still too faraway to save her. Just one squeeze and he'd break her pathetic neck.
Calm, Edward, Calm. Jasper's voice was faint but he could hear him. What was he doing here?
The distraction from hearing Jasper's voice was all he needed; he threw the human to the ground where she laid sobbing and crying clutching her throat. He stared down on her one last time before turning around and jogging away as Jacob reached her, he never looked back. As soon as he reached the cover of the trees he put on a burst of speed, meeting Jasper and Emmett a mile away. They didn't say anything to each other but together they continued to the house.
When he entered the kitchen he was met with a hug from his mother, then Alice and finally from Rosalie, who surprised him with a longer hug then the others. He had gotten used to her showing public displays of affection over the years but it was still a lovely surprise when she said or did anything that could be misconstrued as being 'nice'.
"How did you know that I'd need help," he asked looking from Jasper to Emmett and then back to his father. They all turned to look at Alice in answer. He inclined his head in thanks, with a soft smile of relief on his lips.
"It's done," he told his Sire, now he could concentrate on his mate.
Carlisle nodded his head before telling him seriously, "You will need to give it some time before claiming your mate Edward. From what I can understand about Miss O'Carroll from Rosalie, she would find it highly suspicious if you were to start pursuing her barely a few days after your relationship with Bella has ended."
Frowning, Edward growled in annoyance. He didn't want to wait but Carlisle was right, he needed to give it time for the dust to settle on his old relationship. "How long do I have to wait, Carlisle?"
Sharing a significant look with his wife, he looked at Alice to see if she had seen anything yet, at Alice's shake of her head Carlisle spoke up, "Give it a few weeks Edward and then Rosalie can organise a meeting with her."
As it turned out, Edward didn't need a few weeks or Rosalie's help. He only needed until the next Friday.
A week after the end of his relationship with Bella he was at his piano composing another song, when he heard the purring of Rosalie's BMW come up the long drive. Jasper and Emmett were playing a video game and the car coming back wasn't out of the usual, so no-one took any notice when only Alice and Esme walked in.
Esme walked straight to the television and turned it off before standing in front of them with her hands on her hips. Her caramel coloured hair shone under the light and her topaz eyes conveyed both worry and excitement.
"We're going to have a guest for a night or two. A human guest," she said bluntly. The announcement was met with bewildered silence from the male vampires in the room. Edward tried to get into her mind to see who the guest would be but the only thing he saw was... a lot of Carlisle, ewww.
"Serves you right, Edward. That should teach you not to go looking," Esme said sternly, with hilarity shining in her eyes. Addressing the room at large, she clapped her hands and directed them to what she wanted done, everything went smoothly and the only hint of trouble was when Emmett asked where Rosalie was. The brusque answer was "with Carlisle" but they all knew that there was something more to it. They tried to get Alice to tell but she was too busy setting 'something' up in Rosalie's room.
Three hours later, the garage door opened indicating that Carlisle and Rosalie were home and they all tensed slightly when they smelt a human. Edward kept sniffing at the air because he could also smell a hint of something else, something familiar, a few sniffs later he still wasn't sure what it was but he knew it smelt like cinnamon and apple.
When Rosalie came into view she carried Teddy – Lija's son, who was wide awake and looking around his surroundings with a sense of curiosity and panic. Rosalie was talking softly to him, trying not to frighten him in the new and unknown environment; she continued on past them and into the kitchen where he could hear Alice and Esme cooing over him.
Quietly, Edward asked the question that was on his mind, as well as Emmett's and Jasper's.
"Carlisle, what's going on?"
Instead of answering Carlisle turned to Jasper and asked carefully and urgently, "Can you handle yourself around the child?"
Jasper thought for a second, taking the scent deep within him, and then nodded confidently, "He doesn't smell like food."
Carlisle was pensive for a second before nodding his head once as if the answer was to be expected, turning back to answering Edward's question he preceded his explanation of the events of the day with the request that Edward sit down and try not to overreact.
After he explained to the room what happened, he looked worriedly at his bronze-haired son. Jasper and Emmett shared a look and inched closer to Edward in case he reacted violently; they all knew the helplessness and the anger that he felt, having all gone through this at one time or another with their own mates. But it was worse for Edward because he hadn't yet claimed her.
Edward was frozen to his seat, almost vibrating with his rage he struggled to control it before asking in a voice so cold that even James would have paused, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Edward, Peace. Neglecting to inform you was not done out of malice. You have no legal right to be at her side, we would not have been able to explain your presence away to both the staff as well as Lija."
"That doesn't matter, I should have been told the moment you found out," he growled, low and feral.
Raising his hands in surrender, Carlisle conceded that Edward was right. There was a silent etiquette concerning a Vampire's mate, the health, wellbeing and safety of them come first and Edward should have been advised about anything that threatened that, "I apologise my son, it will not happen again."
Rising smoothly to his feet, Edward paced the room, he wanted to kill Bella. He had never been surer of anything in his life then the absolute need to destroy the one who caused harm to what was his.
"You cannot harm Bella, Edward. The girl is lost and upset, she is not hers-"
"I don't care Carlisle. As long as she's alive she'll be a threat to our family, we'll be solving everyone's problems by getting rid of h-"
"Lija went out of her way to save the girl's life, how do you think she will feel about you when she finds out that you... killed her for an imagined threat? Edward, you are allowing your anger to blind you. We have a treaty with the wolves and they know that the girl knows what we are, if she is found dead who do you think will be the first person that they point their fingers too?"
"I need to see Lija. Where is she?" he asked restlessly, he needed to know that she was alright and that she hadn't been harmed too much by his unintended actions.
Carlisle gave him her location but not before asking him to wait until nightfall, "The hospital will have a skeleton crew by then and you should be relatively uninterrupted."
To pass the time until nightfall he watched Rosalie interact with his mate's child. His 'oldest' sister was a natural and watching her with the toddler saddened him, any child would have been very lucky to have her as his mother.
Teddy had unsurprisingly asked for his mum many times, always looking to the door as if he expected her to walk in any time soon. He was a quiet child with an infectious laugh and adorable brown eyes, everything that was there should have made him love him on sight, but he hadn't. The moment he saw Teddy he had felt a bubble of unexplainable anger and he had fought to squash it and succeeded, but the brief moment of hatred had not gone unnoticed by Jasper.
Jasper took him aside to query it and it wasn't long before they thought that they had found the reason why.
This innocent child was a reminder, was evidence that his mate had been with someone else. That she had loved someone that was not him, to the extent that she had had a child with him and that she had allowed herself to become intimate on that level. Jasper had pointed out that a lot of people had children which started off from nothing more then what was meant as physical indulgence, but hearing that didn't make it sound any better for him. He supposed that the real reason was his fear that this child had a connection with his mate that he didn't and what if she decided that being with a Vampire would be too much of a danger for her son? Had Rosalie not told him once that mother's rarely saw anything else but the welfare and happiness of their child?
Whatever he was feeling, he thought as he sped to the hospital, he needed to sort it out before it destroyed his relationship with Lija... before it started.
Entering the medical centre at vampire speed, he did not encounter any of the on-duty staff; he unerringly made his way to the room his mate was in and paused at the door to compose himself before entering.
The moment the door opened he was hit with the most alluring scent he had ever smelt in his life. It smelt like Cinnamon and Apples with a hint of Vanilla, it was sensual and exotic and it made him think of dark nights and silky sheets. He reigned in his imagination before it could get him into to trouble but he couldn't ignore how absolutely mesmerized and heady this smell was. He was in so much trouble.
Approaching her bed he ran his eyes down her form, he could see where the bandages were hiding underneath the blankets, and at the sight of the cast around her right hand his raging hormones were cooled to be replaced by anger and protectiveness. Taking his eyes off her cast he moved around to the other side of her bed so that he could face the door, he continued his perusal of her body, cataloguing all of her injuries before he finally moved his eyes to her face.
Rosalie's memories didn't do her justice.
As Edward looked upon his mate that was the only thought that was going through his mind, Rosalie's memories didn't do her justice.
His body was like marble, he knew he was looking at her with such longing and he was transfixed with the sound of her breathing. He could feel the hormones that had banked at the worry about her injuries flare back to life as he realised that his mate was in a bed. His fingers itched from the wanting, he wanted to run them through her dark raven locks over and over again, he wanted to bury his hands into her hair and cradle her head his hands and when he tired of the feeling of her soft silky hair falling between his fingers he'd let them trace the curves of her face. Over her perfectly arched eyebrows, down the line of her nose, over the slope of her cheekbones, down the side of her face to finally run his thumb over her full lips. And just maybe, she'd part her lips and he'd –
"So this is your mate huh?"
Spinning his head around he snarled in irritation at the intruder, recognising who it was he slowly straightened up from his attacking crouch. Emmett who had raised his hands in submission slowly lowered them and grinned sheepishly at the mind reader.
Sorry! He thought.
"Damnit Emmett, what are you doing here?" he asked in annoyance, thankful that the hospital bed hid his arousal from him. If Emmett knew he'd never hear the end of it.
"Just thought I'd visit, show familial support you know? After all she is going to be my little sister... Ha! She's a beauty," he said rather pleased with himself, the smile froze on his face when his 'little sister's' heartbeat picked up for a half a minute as if she was going to wake, before it settled again. They both stood as still as statues listening to her breathing to make sure that she hadn't awoken, when they were sure they turned back to each other and resumed their conversation.
"Can you keep your voice down?! "
"Oh come on, have you seen these charts, your mate's on mild sedatives, she's going to be out of it for a while."
"Emmett..." he growled, patience wearing thin.
"Alright, alright. Sheesh. It looks like I won't even be able to play with her until she's been claimed, man, you're no fun," he said playfully, before turning serious. "Carlisle sent me; he received a call from the doctor that's on duty tonight saying that Bella has been kept overnight for observation. He trusts you'll be able to control yourself but didn't want to take any chances with –"
Emmett cut off because they both heard the cough at the same time, spinning to look at the bed they saw green-eyes staring back at them with an eyebrow raised.
"Now normally, when a girl awakens to find strangers at her bedside she thinks one of three things," she started in a conversational tone as if she was discussing the weather. "One: That I managed to get myself absolutely trolleyed that I don't even remember picking either of you up. Two: That I've had a terrible tragic accident and I now have amnesia. Three: That I'm still asleep and therefore you're part of my imagination. Now, I know it can't be any of those since the last time I checked I was still 18 and therefore not yet legal to drink at any venue that would allow me to pick you up and if I can remember my age then I definitely don't have memory loss, and I know I'm not asleep since there's this burning feeling in my bladder that indicates that I need to take a leak. So it then begs the question, if it's not any of my 'normal' answers, just why are there two very good looking gents in my room after visiting hours... discussing me?"
Edward shared a look with Emmett and before he could finalise an answer, his rather odd mate held up a hand to forestall any explanations.
"You can give me your explanation when I get back from the bathroom. I need to pee."
She struggled for a moment trying to untangle her legs from the bed sheets in a way that wouldn't hurt her before she gave up. Taking a deep breath she looked to Edward and gesturing to the bed she asked for assistance.
While she was in the other room Edward and Emmett conversed in vampire tone and speed to settle on an explanation to give her, they both stopped when she limped out slowly from the bathroom. Edward helped her back into bed and hovered while she made herself comfortable, his hovering caused her to give him an odd look, and she gestured imperiously at the both of them to sit down.
Trusty Emmett was the first to break the silence.
"How did you fake being asleep?" he asked confused.
"How do you know I was faking?" she replied using Emmett's tone.
"Because the heartbeat of a person faking sleep is faster then someone who is asleep, your breathing should have hitched, but it didn't. Well it did for a moment, but you shouldn't have been able to slow it down," he explained.
Edward wanted to slap his brother over the head and he also wanted to groan out loud, the fool had just sold them out, up the creak without a paddle. Feeling the eyes of his mate on him he turned his head to look at her, she had a mocking little smile on her lips and her eyebrow was raised as if to say 'you honestly thought you could lie to me'.
"To answer your question Emmett... I'm assuming you're Rosalie's Emmett; she's described you often enough whenever your name is mentioned, that woman is love sick," she said with a laugh. At Emmett's smirk and nod she continued. "I was quite accident prone in school so I was always in and out of the infirmary, there were times when I wasn't very amenable to the idea of spending the night so I would always try to sneak out... unfortunately I was never successful. It turns out that our nurse had these wonderful... instruments... to monitor our vitals when she was not in the room, so she always knew when I was faking sleep. In my sixth year she taught me... meditation, it was completely by accident that I realised that it also regulated the breathing and controlled the heart rate. Wonderful thing meditation."
"My question," she continued giving Edward a very sexy little smile, the little blood that he had rushed away from his brain at the sight of it, "How did you hear my heartbeat when I'm not connected to any monitors?"
Use the explanation we came up with bro! Emmett thought to him with a small nod that couldn't have been seen by the human eye.
"We have really good hearing," Edward replied after a slight pause. "And the room is quiet; the sound is sort of magnified."
"Oh really?" she replied with a snort of disbelief, looking from Edward to Emmett wondering if they were going to change their stories. When they both just stared back at her unfazed she allowed all her pent up anger at the events of the day and her worry of Teddy to explode.
"You've got to be kidding me! That is your explanation?! You expect me to believe that the both of you have super hearing? That is the worst explanation that has ever come up in the history of explanations, the only way that explanation would have ever made sense is if you said that you were a Vampire! I am tired, I'm in pain, I am hungry, I'm angry at you," she said stabbing a finger at Edward, "And your crazy nutcase of an ex-girlfriend for endangering my son's life and putting me in this hospital. So No! I'm sorry! But the explanation of 'we have really good hearing' just doesn't cut it! And stop trying to calm me dow-mphh"
At the start of her rant, Edward had jumped the small distance between his seat and her bed and attempted to calm her. It didn't work, and she was becoming progressively louder, when she mentioned vampires he and Emmett had tensed a little, now they were afraid that someone would come and check up on all the noise so Edward did the only thing that he could think of.
He kissed her.
For him it worked and it was also an added opportunity to become closer to her. He was unaware of everything in the room except the feel of her lips against his and the provocative allure of her unique scent. When she kissed him back, he could feel himself losing control, and when her hands moved up from their lap to his chest he thought nothing of it thinking that she intended to wind it around his neck. So he was completely taken by surprise when she pushed him away. He only had a split second to see her passion-clouded eyes before his face turned with the force of her punch. He grabbed the side of his cheek out of reflex and shock rather then pain, but the screech of agony that followed didn't come from him.
"Fuck-me-daisies that bloody hurt!"
Glancing at his mate he saw that the cast which had covered her right hand had split and cracked from her knuckles to just above her wrist where it had made contact with his cheek. She was trying to hold her tears in check and was cradling her wrist tenderly; this was in direct contrast to her mouth which was cursing up a storm. At the sight of the tears he took a step forward before freezing when she pinned him with a cold furious look.
Directing her fuming green-eyed glare at Emmett she stared at him for a few seconds, breathing heavily through her nose.
"Hurt him!" she ordered, in a voice filled with fury.
Edward who was upset at being the cause of his mate's distress was taken completely off guard when Emmett actually punched him. As he crashed through the side wall of the hospital room his last glimpse was of his mate's horrified and surprised face.
A/N: There we have it... I think I've made it really obvious but can anyone guess what happened at the end of this chapter? I have been really surprised at the response that this story has received and I thank you all for your encouragement and your feedback. Just one little thing I need to mention. If you ask a question and you leave it in an anonymous review, it's not going to get answered. I also don't mind negative feedback; I'll accept it in the spirit that it was given and either I'll ignore it completely (if it is a flame) or use it to improve my writing. But if you choose to leave this negative feedback anonymously, then I'm sorry, that's just cowardly and it's telling me that you're just pissing up a stick for the sake of flaming.
Thank you again for reading!
**Aficionados of the books will know where this quote came from; or rather this interpretation of the quote came from. In full the quote is actually:
"Of course I'll always love you... in a way. But what happened the other night made me realise that it's time for a change. Because I'm... tired of pretending to be something that I'm not, Bella. I am not human." - Edward Cullen, New Moon, Chapter 3, Stephanie Meyer.