A/N: Just a little thank you, 'I Know A Man That Can!' just passed the 10,000 hits, you guys are the best xx AAP
Bella
Jasper, or should I say the Major is taking this time to interrogate his mate and he is finding her to actually be cold, heartless and beyond greedy, all that and she hasn't been on the animal diet, he has plans for her, a reintroduction to the ways of real vampire mating and she's looking terrified, if he bites her she knows her lifestyle is over, permanently. She will become the one thing she never wanted to be, the good little wife and mate, doing her dominant mates bidding.
I can't believe her whole attitude, I thought we had been friends before they left me! Turns out she need a toy to play with and it was me! But if she could do that to her mate and family, then I was just a fly in her ointment. I really am having a hard time reconciling what I thought happened before to what actually did, I was taken for a first class fool!
My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out to see my father's name, "Hi dad, how'd the game go? Sorry, I was sick when I got back, junk food you know!" I say and I hear the barely restrained tears in his voice, "Bells honey, I'll be late back, there's been a tragic accident at the rez" he says and I gasp, that was quick.
"Jake was working on his car, it fell off its jacks and crushed him, ruptured his heart, he would have died instantaneously!" my father says and he barely holds the sob that's trying to escape . "Oh dad, how's Billy coping? Stay with him as long as he needs you ,okay! Dad, Esme says I can stay here for as long as you're at the rez, so I'm not alone and you don't need to worry" I reply and I am once again crying for the father and not the son.
The vampires all agree that was a good cover story and he will be cremated, as is their tradition so all evidence will be wiped away. For a moment I find it all a little callous, then I realise the ages of the people surrounding me, they have seen death many times and I am only eighteen, that's just a nanosecond in the grand scale of time. "Are you alright Little Swan?" Garrett asks and I nod "My tears are for his father, not for him!" I inform them all.
"So before I take my mate away for some intense trainin'! Any other business we need to address? Jasper asked, Alice whimpers and Edward clears his throat, "If I'm to go back on a human diet! Bella can't be around the house, I struggle as it is with her being my singer! but if she's my food source as well! he says and I shudder at this, "No problem Major, I'll stay at Bella's place with her or the Cottage! Can you handle that Edward?" Garrett says and Edward nods relieved.
"Oh Edward, before you were all set to take on the world as a soldier! What did you want to do? I mean what were you going to be?" I ask randomly,
"I... Well... I don't know! Why?" he mutters, "It's not important, but think about it please!" I tell him. He looks perplexed but nods slowly. Everyone is still buzzing about what happened and I was right Emmett was a little hurt, that we didn't ask him to help. "Sorry Emmett, but this needed a woman's touch, no one would have fallen for you taking food to Charlie or babysitting me while I was sick!" I remind him and he nods feeling better.
Esme
Rose tells Emmett she want to get Garrett to teach them to hunt and she also wants to get a place of their own, like Bella and Garrett and Peter and Charlotte. "It doesn't have to be a ranch or anything like that! Maybe a base to start a business from, what do you think?" she enquires and he nods enthusiastically, "Yeah! Separate but together" he agrees. This is going to be the beginning of the end, everyone living separately, but if we were human that's the way it would work out, so I suppose it's right.
"Emmett, when Carlisle and I get back, I was thinking about a Restoration Business, If you liked we could be partners, me doing the interiors and refurbishments, you doing the exteriors and renovations! What do you think? We don't have to live together as the jobs would be all over, but I'm guessing Rose's business will be car based? Whereas building is your forte!" I ask him hopefully.
Rose is smiling at me and she says "You'd be so much happier doing that, wouldn't you baby?" Emmett scoops her up for a big kiss and then gives me a hug "Thanks, mum" he says "That would be super awesome!" So as Garrett and Bella leave for the cottage we three discussed business plans and locations.
Edward
Why on earth did Bella want to know what I wanted to do, for a living before I decided to join the Army when war broke out? I sat with my eyes closed and my head bowed as I contemplated this puzzle she's set me! I remember arguing with my father about becoming a soldier, he wanted me to..., What? I just kept sifting and digging through my memories hoping to trigger one that would answer her question. Oh good lord! He, wanted me to become a soldier and fight for my country, I had other plans, I was going to become a ...! Well, hell and damnation, that explains a lot, at least I think it does, I must talk to Carlisle.
Garrett
I was glad to get back to the cottage, I needed to be alone with Little Swan, to be sure she was okay and tell her all that had happened, while she had been in the safe room with Rose, I know she heard Peter's report, but not the details, she needed to hear them from me. I was all ready for a night of talking and tears, recriminations and what if's! But as usual, my angel didn't react as I expected.
She held her finger to my lips as I started to talk, "Tomorrow Garrett! Tomorrow will be soon enough!" she said as she started to undress me and herself, then lead me by the hand into the bedroom, sitting me down and slowly covering me with kisses and licks as if she was checking me over for damage, just as I had been going to do to her! She crawled over me not missing an inch of my body from my feet to my head. It was possibly the most calming, but intensely erotic thing, that had ever happened to me.
I was now on my back on the bed, as she looked me directly in the eyes while she started to lower her body down onto my by now rock hard and throbbing erection. It was wonderful to watch her, her eyes darkened and her breathing speed up as she set a slow languorous rhythm. I held her by the hips guiding her up and down my length as she started to slowly lose control. Her hands were behind her braced on my upper thighs and her body has arched away from me.
But the view was beyond breath taking and I could feel her tightening around me as the blood infused her skin a soft pink, so I slid one hand down to her clitoris and started to gently massage it and she was panting and cursing now! God, I loved her filthy mouth, she was my perfect match, the half I didn't know was missing till I met her, with a gentle pinch from me she was flying and I sped up just a little before I joined her in our own little ecstasy filled bubble. Here together nothing and no one existed but us. I held her tight as she slid into a deep slumber, as the day caught up with her.
Bella
I awoke to the sound of Garrett singing softly to himself in the kitchen, as he I presume prepared my breakfast. I grabbed his shirt off the floor and padded in there as I buttoned it up. We sat on the deck and talked about yesterday at length and I was so happy he held nothing back. I had made a decision, I told him I was going to tell my dad I was deferring college for a year, going to help him on the ranch first.
My reason, as poor Jake showed us, life is not a guarantee, and I wasn't going to lose out on time with Garrett for the sake of something I could do later, either when we were a couple living together or married, but I was grabbing my future with both hands now, not putting it off for anything or anyone.
When we got back to the big house, Emmett was in the huff, not talking to anyone including Rose! "What's up?" I asked her and she shook her head answering "We decided to move to Ellendale North Dakota, it's half way roughly between Silver Lake and Forest Grove" Emmett grunted "Okay I decided we're moving there, but the reason why's Emmett is sulking is, I wouldn't live in Eureka! Deadwood! or Fargo!"
"Never mind Emmy, we'll go visit them together okay!" I said smiling and roughing up his hair. "Thanks, Belly, you're the best!" he said giving me his signature rib-crushing bear hug. Everyone else was laughing at him and smiling at me for forgiving him at last, about our past.