We were running through the forest close together at first, but we created space between each of us to cover more ground. I was running slower than normal as ordered by Carlisle to keep up with them. I didn't feel like we'd run into anything until I picked up the dying thoughts of a human. His mind was asking for help and I knew instantly that Victoria was responsible for this as I picked up her thoughts soon after. I looked in Carlisle's direction, turned my attention forward and picked up the pace.
"What are you doing!" Carlisle asked before I outran him and the others.
I was closing in on Victoria's location through the smell of blood from the human she was attacking. The smell was stronger, much closer at this point. I instinctively crashed into Victoria and pushed her towards a tree bark. She slammed the tree with a loud sound and caught herself on her landing. The human she attacked was dead and there wasn't anything I could do for him. Victoria seemed to be aware of my speed at this point because she didn't bother to run. She readied herself and waited for me to make the first move. I tensed and prepared to run directly at her, but a pest gave me a reason to wait. A large wolf lunged itself onto Victoria's arm knocking her to the ground. The wolf looked exactly the way Jacob did when he tried to attack me, so I knew instantly that was that immature kid. Victoria almost knocked him off before four other wolves descended upon her like an avalanche. The larger one waited looking in my direction as the other 3 helped pin Victoria down. I was getting very angry at that point and I knew I could find an opening to pull Victoria away to claim my kill. I prepared to spring forward when I caught sight of an opening and Emmett hopped in my way bracing my shoulders. "You know the drill, man." Emmett said in a serious tone. Carlisle and Jasper waited behind me. "You remember the deal, Edward. This is their kill now." Carlisle said calmly.
"I got it." I said with an angry tone.
Emmett let go of me and walked to my right side. All of us were watching the wolves prepare to tear Victoria apart. My rage fueled higher and higher as my eagerness began to spark, but I had a control on my actions. I kept a tense fist while watching them get closer and closer to tearing her to shreds. The biggest wolf was watching my eyes as I shot a quick glance at him before returning my attention to Victoria's covered location again. The largest wolf growled at his pack and they moved out of the way. The apparent leader of the pack stepped on Victoria's arms and shot his claws into her stomach. It looked at me directly and catapulted Victoria in between our line. I was already ready to go at this point as I quickly launched towards Victoria pinning her to the ground again. I cracked her neck to get a good bite with all of my rage. I pulled away from Victoria's neck and locked my angry eyes with hers. My mind was going insane at this point because I just wanted to tear her apart in as many ways as I could. Before I got to do anything else, an image of Bella's shocked and worried face flashed in my mind.
"Edward!" Bella cried in my memory.
My body was less tense and my rage seemed to have faded away slowly. I couldn't understand why I didn't want to kill her anymore… but I knew I wanted to be with Bella right at this very moment. I jumped back to Carlisle, Jasper, and Emmett's location just standing a few feet in front of them. Quickly the Jacob wolf pinned her down again and the others followed soon after. I turned around and walked in the other direction. Carlisle nodded and everyone else followed. We all began to run back to our place as we could hear the wolves tear away at Victoria. As we were running I was still stunned at my sudden decision to not take advantage of the kill that was given to me. We reached our place within good time. I stopped several feet away from our house as Carlisle, Jasper, and Emmett stopped at the front door. Jasper and Emmett entered the house without a word, but Carlisle turned to look at me. "Is there anything I can do right now?" Carlisle said carefully while examining my confused expression. "Could you send Bella out here? This is the kind of thing I need to take up with her alone." I said still confused. Carlisle nodded and turned to go inside. Within a few minutes Bella opened the front door and slowly walked towards me. I looked at her and everything was completely clear at this point. Bella finally made it to me and stopped for a moment as I waited for her to talk first. "You… didn't do it?" Bella said in low surprise. I knew Alice told her everything that happened, so I didn't bother being annoyed by that.
"…I couldn't." I sighed.
Bella looked at my mixture of emotions. I was confused and angry at the same time because Victoria's death is something I truly desired by my own hands. Bella walked closer to me and placed her hands on my chest. "Can… you tell me why you didn't?" She said in a low voice while looking into my eyes. I placed my hands on her waist and took a moment to find the right words. "I saw… you… in my memory." I admitted slowly. Bella's eyes grew more curious at what I said. "You… saw me?" She asked confused. "Your face was scared… and full of worry. I felt all of my anger fade and it was just sorrow. I felt bad for putting you through this worry… so I couldn't kill Victoria." I said while rubbing Bella's face. Bella removed her hands from my chest and hugged me as much as she could. "So… you stopped for me?" She said with appreciation. "Yes. My decisions… revolve around your approval." I admitted. Bella pulled away just enough to lock eyes with me again. "Thank you." She said with a smile and slight tears in her eyes. I smiled and kissed her lips lightly.
"Let's go inside for a while." I said while gesturing my hand towards my house.
Bella nodded and kept her smile as we walked towards my house. We entered and Emmett was leaning on the wall to our right side. "So, why didn't you do it man?" Emmett asked confused. "It's complicated." I answered with an annoyed face. "All right man. I can take a hint." Emmett said while turning to walk away. "You'll have to tell me eventually." He said while walking away. "Maybe you should just… tell him?" Bella said confused. "This is something that must remain between us, Bella. He can believe I'll tell him all he wants to." I answered truthfully. Bella smiled as we were walking towards the stairs. "Question time?" She asked. "I don't have any… oh wait." I shook my head because my original intention was to just relax with Bella by my side. Bella laughed a little as we were climbing upstairs and going towards my room. We entered my room and took our seats on my couch. "You really need a bed." Bella joked. "So what do I have to answer today?" I asked changing the subject. Bella studied my face for a moment as she pulled herself closer to my shoulder. She took a deep breath and paused for a moment. "I don't have anything to ask today." She said smiling in my direction. I was surprised as I returned her smile.
"What were your intentions?" She asked curious.
"I just wanted to sit here with you. You are a constant gift that I appreciate in my company everyday." I admitted. "I wouldn't call myself a gift." Bella sighed. "Stop under appreciating yourself. I've already made clear on how much I need you." I said in a serious tone. Bella didn't respond as she leaned her head on my shoulder and hugged me. "I love you." She whispered. "I love you too." I said while kissing her hair. We stayed in this position for an hour before Bella's stomach rumbled. "I'm sorry." Bella said while holding her stomach. "Don't be sorry. You're hungry" I corrected her. Bella moved herself from me and got up from the couch. "I guess I have to eat something then." She noted. "I'll take you home. You have more options there." I responded. I got up from the couch and guided Bella out of my house. It was still around 4 in the afternoon, so we had plenty of time in the day to do much after she ate. We entered my car as normal and pulled out heading towards Charlie's. Bella looked embarrassed about the reason we were going to her place as she was looking forward trying to shake it off. I had to say something to change her attitude.
"What's on the menu today?" I asked with a smile.
Bella turned her direction on me with slight laughter. "I'm thinking spaghetti… or maybe something quick like a salad." She said with a smile. It appeared my plan worked, so I returned her smile and turned my attention back to the road. We didn't have to talk about much because our drive was cut short due to my speed. We pulled into Charlie's and Bella removed her seatbelt. I exited out of the car and opened the passenger door for her, as she was about to try the open the door herself. Bella got out of the car in a quick happy mood as she gripped on to my arm. "Shall we?" She said happily. "We shall." I answered. I noticed Charlie's cruiser, but I tried my best to ignore the annoyance he might bring as I kept walking with Bella to the front door. She opened the door and we both walked in. I knew Charlie wasn't around, but Bella was confused at him not being in the living room as usual. "He's in the bathroom." I said pointing up with a smile. "Oh. Well let's get to the kitchen then." She said gesturing her hands. I decided to stand in the middle of the kitchen as Bella grabbed a lot of things for Spaghetti. I followed her movements with a confused look while she kept her focus on what she needed to use. She placed one pack of uncooked pasta, one can of sauce and half of raw meat on the table.
"I thought you said you were hungry?" I asked.
"I am." She answered confused at my question. "But it looks like you're serving more than just yourself." I added while looking at the materials she lied on the table. "Charlie has to eat too, you know. It would be rude to just cook for myself when I have the time to make something for both of us." She said with slight laughter. I smiled and didn't say anything. Charlie came walking downstairs as expected. "Bells?" He called. "I'm in the kitchen!" She said loudly as she was putting the uncooked pasta in boiling water. Charlie started to trail in our direction and finally entered to look directly at me. He was in uniform and I knew he was heading out for a long while. "Hey, Edward." Charlie said sounding forcefully welcoming. He took his attention away from me and looked in Bella's direction. "What's cooking?" He asked curious. "Spaghetti." Bella said turning to smile at him. "I'll have to wait on that for when I come back." Charlie sighed. "Why?" Bella said staring back at Charlie again. "There's been another… situation and I have a lot of work ahead of me. I may not even be able to come back at all today." Charlie stated. He threw a glare at me and detested the idea of leaving me here with Bella alone.
"Don't worry sir. I respect your daughter." I assured him.
I convinced Charlie this time, but this actually wasn't a lie anyway. Bella ignored the issue at hand and walked up to Charlie for a quick hug. "I'll place most of it in the fridge. You can heat it up when you come back." Bella said with a smile. "Thanks, Bells." Charlie said while heading out of the house. Bella tapped my face with her index finger and then returned to mixing the pasta. "Can you give me a hand?" She asked. "With what?" I said confused. "Can you open that can of sauce?" She asked, turning to point at them on the table. "…I can try." I said with worry. Bella stopped mixing the pasta and turned to look at me with an embarrassed face. "I'm sorry. I forgot you don't know much about making human food. I'll grab the item you need." She said while going to one of the drawers and pulling out a metallic object. "You'll be using this." She said while walking up to me and placing it in my hand. "And this is?" I asked confused. "It's a can opener. It's pretty old fashioned. Here let me show you how it works." She said with a smile. Bella grabbed the can and proceeded to slowly show me how it works. "So you turn like this… and it opens the can eventually." She said as she stopped turning the can opener. Bella went back to the pasta and began to stir it gently.
"Seems easy enough." I said with confidence.
Bella turned to look back at me to see if I got the idea right. I was already behind her with the open can gesturing her to pour it in. "Oh right. I forgot about your ability." She laughed as she took the can and poured it into an empty pan. "Anything else?" I asked. "I can take it from here. Thanks for your help." She admitted. I leaned on the kitchen wall giving Bella plenty of room to walk around. It was fascinating how much she actually had to do to get this meal created. It made me feel better about how I eat. The amount of effort she needed to put in this meal just seems ridiculous, but I didn't comment on that. Her meal was finally finished. She went to grab a plate, a fork and a few storage containers for Charlie's share. She began filling her plate first, put that aside, and started to fill the storage containers.
"I'll help you put those away." I offered.
"Thanks." She said with a smile. I took the containers to the fridge with ease and Bella made her way to the kitchen table. I sat myself across from her the same as last time. She had no problem eating in front of me as she did with my family. She put her fork down halfway through the meal and gave me an annoyed look. "Well, this just isn't fair." Bella said annoyed. "What isn't?" I asked confused. "How come you get to see how I eat?" Bella said still annoyed. "I've told you the reasons why you can't come along with me for that." I answered with a sigh. "It's still not fair." Bella crossed her arms and looked at her food. "…If you want me to leave?" I asked slightly saddened by the idea. "No it's fine. Forget I said anything." She said apologetically while looking at my face. "Forgotten." I said smiling. Bella returned the smile and began to eat her food again. She finished her plate and proceeded to get up placing everything in the sink.
"So what now?" Bella asked while washing the dishes.
I got up from my chair and walked next to her. "Well Bella… you see." I said blankly. Bella finished washing her dishes and turned the water off, looking directly at me with a curious face. "I'm kind of hungry too. I can be quick about getting a meal if you just give me a little time." I assured her. "I'm sorry… for keeping you from that." Bella said while gazing in my eyes. "You don't have to apologize for everything. Besides, this was my own fault. I was so busy with you that I neglected my own thirst up until now." I corrected her. "So you're going to go hunt for a bit?" Bella asked. "Yes. Did you want to wait at my place?" I asked. "I'll do fine here." She answered. "I'll be back." I said smiling at Bella. She returned my smile as I quickly left the house.