Not even gonna say anything. I know how much you've been waiting for this.
See you at the bottom.
I was really beginning to worry about Edward's physical health at this point. It almost looked like he was turning purple in the face, almost like my father did when he found out about the motorcycles somewhere in a distant memory. Edward's eyes kinda bulged out, then his eyes started darting between Gabe, Mace and I, and I decided to give him a few moments to let the new information sink in.
He audibly gulped and took one small step backwards before saying, "Excuse me?" He said. "My… My what?"
"Edward, these are our children, Gabriel, and Mason. They're twins."
"Umm…alright…so, how are you alive exactly?" This question was directed at me, but his eyes never left either of the twins.
"Well… kind of a long story, but basically, the jist of it was that the reason I left, was because I was pregnant and I did not know how you were going to take the news. Then later I found out that the twins were kind of growing into their powers, so before you jump to any conclusions, I did not change them when they turned seventeen. And I'm very sorry I left so long ago, and I sincerely hope that you will forgive me, please." Phew it felt so good to finally tell Edward all of this. Like with Alice, everything kind of came out in a rush, but I know Edward heard every word.
"Huh… well we certainly have a lot to talk about Bella." I was very excited about the fact that he still wanted to talk to me after the way I treated him so long ago. I nodded.
"Yes. Um. Ah." He turned his head to the house. "Alice!"
Not even a second went by before Alice danced down the steps to stand next to Edward, a knowing smile on her face.
"Would you mind taking the twins in to meet the family?" He said in a very hushed voice so everyone inside could not hear…yet.
Without a word, Alice glided over to the twins and I.
"Hey there." She spoke to the twins. "My name is Alice as you've already heard. I'm one of your aunts. Come on inside and meet everyone else. You can talk to Edward later." She grabbed both the boys' hands and pulled them reluctantly toward the house.
"Be good you two. Oh, and Mace, don't team up with Emmett for any kind of joke or anything." I told the boys before they disappeared into the house.
I tried to listen in on the conversation inside the house, but Edward cleared his throat. "Do you mind if we go into the garage, it will be quieter in there and we can talk more freely."
"Sure Edward, whatever you want." I said. He then took my hand and led me into their oversized garage. Emmett's jeep, and Rosalie's BMW were in there, but I could not focus on them right now. The only thing I saw was Edward's eyes as he watched me, leaning against Emmett's car. I leaned against Rose's car and looked him in the eye. We were less than a foot from each other again, and like before, I resisted the urge to reach out to him, until I was sure that I would be received in the manner I hoped for.
"So, what is it that you want to know first?" I asked.
"Well, Gabriel and Mason seem like a good place to start. You said I was their father." He said. It was more of a statement, not a question. But I answered it anyway.
"Yes. You are." I said. "Look Edward I know everyone is going to think I'm crazy and that this is just impossible and that vampires can't-" I stopped because Edward put his finger to my lips.
"Bella, I believe you, and I don't think you're crazy. I was just going to ask you how they felt about me, since I can't read their minds."
"Oh." I said feeling embarrassed. "You can't read their minds?"
Edward shook his head. "No. I'm not at all saying that I don't believe you but if they truly are our children, I guess it would make sense that they got it from you. So, how do they feel about me?"
"Well, they didn't object to meeting you and they actually seemed kind of excited about it. I've told them a lot about all of you so in a way they already know you and your family."
"That's good." He said. He was thinking about something. I could tell by his face. "I should have said something to them, anything. I just didn't know how to respond to such big news. I really hope they aren't hurt by my reaction."
"I think they'll understand."
"What did you mean, by telling Mason to not team up with Emmett?"
"Well Mace reminds me of Emmett so much, and he also has his personality, but Gabe really reminds me of you. He looks just like you, I'm sure you noticed, he even has your mind reading ability, that's how I found out you guys were in school today."
"And what power does Mason have?"
"Well, he can mimic voices, and movements his target makes, he got into a lot of trouble in school for that." I rolled my eyes at the memory of earlier this morning.
"Well, it seems that I really missed a lot haven't I?" He said guiltily.
"It's nothing that you can't make up for." I said trying to comfort him; I had to fight the urge to hug him.
"That's not true; you had to do all of this yourself. You were all alone. Why didn't you come find me? You know I would have been there for you. Whether you wanted me there or not. I still love you with all my heart, and I'm so sorry. I should have ignored your note and looked for you." He was ranting at this point, running his hand through his perfect hair, so I had to stop him from putting more blame on himself. Without thinking, I went up to him, and hugged him. I was ecstatic that I was received in a rather tight embrace.
"Bella, I should have been there. You had to raise two children all by yourself. Even being a vampire, it's still a lot to do all by yourself." he was truly beating himself up over this. Now I had to fight the urge to do more than hug him.
"Edward, it's fine, really, they were perfectly behaved children for me. I could not have asked for better sons. Oh, and I'm sure you are wondering, they don't hate you, they need you. It's my fault that they grew up without you. I'm surprised that they don't hate me for it. They need their father. Now more than ever." I said, still trying to comfort him.
"Thank you. But I guess that's something I need to hear from them."
"I understand." I realized that I was still hugging him, so I stepped a foot back out of his embrace, to lean on Rose's car again, still watching him.
"Bella?"
"Yes?"
"Do…Do you still need me? …Want me?"
For what was probably only a few seconds, but what felt like an hour I just stared at him, trying to read his thoughts from his face. I could easily turn his powers back at him to read his mind, but I thought better of it. Better to not push him for now, by showing off.
"Yes, Edward, I still need you, just as much now as ever. And I want you more now than I ever have. I know I said I was sorry for leaving, but you'll never know how sorry." I loved everything about this man. His eyes, his hair, his voice, even his smell- that's my favorite. I knew that he was something I never should have run from, let alone tried to stay away from.
Edward just started at me. And after an excruciating moment or me trying to measure his reaction, he smiled my favorite crooked smile. He leaned forward and just before his lips were about to meet mine he said "Well, I guess that's all I could ever ask for."
And then he kissed me. At first it was soft, as if he were waiting to measure my reaction. So I kissed him back, just like I'd always wanted to, with no barriers, with no excuses for him to stop. But he did stop after just a moment. "Bella, by the way, I need you, too. I'll always need you. I love you."
When he said these words to me I couldn't stop myself. My body came to life of its own accord, my right hand went up to thread itself in his hair while my other hand reached down to grab a fistful of his shirt.
He moved his left hand as it came to rest on the small of my back, and his right began to caress my cheek. I felt him part his lips and brush his tongue against my closed mouth, silently asking for my permission to enter. I moaned softly, and opened my mouth a little. His hot tongue met mine and I moaned again, while feeling the hand that was on my back, tighten into a fist. The hand that was on my cheek moved down to my chin. He proceeded to tilt my head back slightly to give him better access to my mouth and deepen the kiss.
Once he was satisfied with my position, the hand that was on my chin traveled down to join his other to rest on my hips, pulling me flush against him. Our lips moved against one another's like we were never apart. He remembered exactly what made me breathless, not like that was a problem anymore.
We stayed like that for what felt like days, and I would not have noticed, but I guess it was short lived, because someone cleared their throat out in the driveway. Edward and I stopped kissing, and he took a step back, looking embarrassed that we were caught.
"Looks like you two made up." Came a gruff voice. I looked up to see Gabriel standing in front of his Hummer. He had a rather large tear down the side of his jeans, and his shirt was missing. He truly did look like Edward in that moment. I guess that they could pass as twins now more than Mace could, he looked more like me, so that would make him my brother, or my twin. I stifled a giggle. The thought, of my 'seventeen' year old boys could pass as their parents twins.
"Gabe, what happened to you?" I asked.
Gabe shrugged his shoulders and said, "Mace didn't listen to you about Emmett, I was their first target. I couldn't take it anymore." He did not look like he cared that he just found his parents making out in the garage, but that was Gabriel. He could hide his emotions very well.
I was kind of annoyed with the fact that Mace did not listen to me, but I was a little more annoyed that this interrupted my time with Edward. But still, now that Gabe was out here, I might as well get this over with. I grabbed Edwards hand and dragged him out into the darkening sky. I brought him right in front of Gabe and said, "Edward, this is one of your sons, Gabriel, and Gabe this is your father, Edward," I said, pointing to each one of them in turn. Edward was the first to speak.
"Hello, Gabriel, it's nice to finally meet you. Would you prefer Gabriel, or Gabe?" He asked, extending his hand toward his son.
"Hello, I glad that we could finally meet, and you can call me whatever you want to call me. Mom usually calls us by our nicknames, except for when she's yelling at Mason." he said. Gabe sidestepped Edward's hand, and embraced Edward hard. Edward seemed shocked at first, but relaxed quickly and put his arms around his son just as tight.
Edward and Gabriel were truly like twins at that point; the only difference I could see was that Gabe had short hair, and that he was two inches taller than Edward. They cut short their embrace, because Edward said, "Wow you do look a lot like me." he said laughing. Gabe laughed with him, and I was excited to have the most important things in my life together finally.
"Alright, you two stay out here, I'm going in to do damage control, alright?"
"Alright Bella, we'll be right behind you." He looked like he wanted to kiss me, but he did not move. Probably because Gabe was watching.
I told the boys to have fun, and made my way into the house. I found everyone in the living room, sitting on the many pieces of furniture that they owned, with Mace and Emmett in the middle. Emmett was doing his best impression of a grizzly bear, growling and snarling at Mace, and Mace was copying him move for move. Everyone was laughing at the exchange. I giggled to myself. Well, that explained Gabe's missing shirt, and ripped pants. I'm guessing that they tag teamed and wrestled with Gabe. Without me to put my shield around Gabe, he can't properly combat his brother fairly. Mace's powers were very formidable when he wanted them to be.
I made my way over to them. Emmett was the first to notice my presence. He stopped his advance on Mace and turned to me. He swept me up into another bone crunching hug.
"Baby sister! We all missed you so much." Just like his sister before him, his hug would have broken every bone in my body if I wasn't just as indestructible as he was. "But now you need to explain to us why you're here. All we know is that Mason, and Gabriel are part of your coven." he said with a lot of enthusiasm, not putting me down until he was done speaking. When he did I looked around him at Alice and said, "You didn't tell them?"
"No, I was waiting for you. Remember, even I don't know the whole story." she said protecting herself. At that moment, Edward and Gabriel came into the house. Gabe had his arm around Edward's shoulders, almost like he was having trouble standing. But they were both laughing. My long dead heart warmed at the sight.
Now everyone was crowded on the furniture in the room. Mason was sitting between Emmett and Rosalie, and Gabe was sitting next to Edward on the floor, all of them were staring at me standing next to the fireplace.
I took a deep breath. "Okay, I guess I'll start at the beginning. Um… well, about a day before the newborn fight, Edward and I were talking about our wedding, and the conditions that led to that. I'm still not sure what led to it, but our talk led to some…very intimate moments…" I looked down at my feet. I couldn't meet their eyes. Then, Emmett, oh ye of one track mind, piped in after a second.
"Dude! Our little Eddie had sex! Woo!" He raised his hand to give Edward a high five, but Rosalie reached across Mason to smack him in the back of the head. I silently thanked her with my eyes and continued.
"Well, after two or three weeks I began to feel really sick and was throwing up a lot. Edward was really worried about me, and talked me into seeing a doctor after two more weeks of this. I told him that I wanted to see another doctor besides Carlisle. Sorry Carlisle." I looked at him.
"That's alright Bella. I know how adverse you were to being treated by anyone. No offence is taken. Please go on."
I nodded. "Okay, I waited until Edward was on a hunting trip with Emmett and Jasper to go to a doctor I found in Port Angles. Edward wanted to come with me but I remember assuring him that it probably was just a little stomach bug that was going around. He countered by saying stomach bugs don't last three weeks, but I wanted him to hunt. He hasn't hunted for three weeks since I got sick.
I went to the doctor and she did some routine tests, but what shocked me was the urine test. It came back positive for pregnancy."
Everyone was stunned. So I just took the horse by the reigns and continued, "The doctor thought that my reaction to the news was that the pregnancy was unplanned, and started talking to me about options. Of course the pregnancy was unplanned but I just COULD NOT get an abortion. And I couldn't very well put it up for adoption. What if the baby started showing vampire qualities? That would blow the whole vampire secret out of the water when the baby started going after the family pet.
I politely told the doctor that I was planning to keep it, but what I was not sure about was Edward reaction."
I knew that everyone had already put two and two together but they were silent and let me continue.
"When I got home Edward was waiting for me in my room. He noticed my change in behavior right away and immediately thought the worst. He was about to call Carlisle but I stopped him by saying that nothing was wrong, it was just a normal test and that the sickness would only last another day or two at the most. I threw all of the papers that the nurse gave me in a trashcan outside of the doctors so no one would find them accidently, but not after I read through them.
I did whatever I could to alleviate the morning sickness: eating saltine crackers, getting rest. I remember Edward being very confused by my new behavior over the next week, but I told him that the doctor to just treat this like a pregnancy. I thought then that it was a mistake to tell him treat it like so but I couldn't think of anything else at the time.
I was still trying to figure out what to tell Edward. I wasn't sure if he would be supportive. Or just call me crazy. It was a very long thought process but in the end I figured Edward would be better off not knowing about the baby that was growing inside me.
Then I set to plan out my escape. I couldn't let Edward, Alice or anyone else know. I spent more time with Jacob so Alice couldn't see me planning. He knew nothing about this either. I waited until Alice dragged Jasper to France for some designer show and everyone else was hunting. I was very careful not to decide anything until the last second so that Alice wouldn't pick up on it."
"I remember that. I kept seeing flashes of you walking with your mom on the beach but I just thought that you and Edward just went to Florida to see her, since he wasn't with you in the sunlight. Now that I think about it you did look a little larger, but I thought you just gained the Freshman Fifteen. I didn't think anything of it." Alice piped in.
I nodded and kept going. "I left a note on the table saying not to look for me. I left the ring that Edward gave to me and the keys to the new car in the ignition. It hurt me very much to do that to you Edward, but it was the only thing I could think of. I just didn't think I could handle you saying that we should get rid of it." My voice cracked on the last word with the hint of dry sobs, and I looked down, ready for damnation.
Edward rose from his spot next to Gabe and put his hands on my face, forcing me to look at him.
"Bella, please don't beat yourself up over this." He leaned down to place a feather light kiss to my forehead. "Please. What happened next?" his eyes shone with so much love that I couldn't deny him. I nodded and he went back to his perch on the floor. Once I calmed down a little I started again.
"Once I was off the plane in Florida and at my mom's house. I explained my situation to her. I simply said that I didn't want Edward to know, because we weren't ready for children. And that once the baby was born I would find him and explain. She was kind of ticked off at you for a little while. Knowing my mom, she thought that you would make me get rid of it, but I told her that that wasn't the case. It was just a little more delicate. She also thought that I cheated on you with Jacob at some point and that it was his! But I'm sure that everyone here is smart enough to know that is not true."
I heard Edward growl under his breath and I smiled.
"At some point during the pregnancy I found out that I was having twins. I was such a shock! There were no twins that ran in my family or Edward's as far as I knew.
I was relieved when the twins were finally born. They seemed fully human. Not an ounce of vampire qualities.
I was finished high school so my mom watched the twins during the day so I could finish my college classes and get my degree. When the twins were about six months old I found an apartment for rent. It was really hard for us for a while. More than once, I had to borrow money from mom and sometimes Charlie would send me money. But everything got better when I got a teaching job at the local school. Mom still watched the kids during the day. As the years went by I started seeing changes in the twins. At six years of age they started exhibiting the speed and strength that I immediately knew what was happening. My boys were slowly morphing into vampires. About a year after the first changes started happening they stopped eating human food I was then forced to teach my seven year old boys how to hunt. They stopped sleeping at around ten years old. Finally at seventeen years of age Gabriel and Mason stopped aging and their little 'transformation' was complete. Just like me, they exhibited almost no pull toward human blood, and also like me they only showed a faint glow in the sunlight." I took a deep breath…and waited.
No one moved for the longest time. Even Edward seemed to be shocked still. This story was nothing new to the twins so they both got up from their seats and walked over to me. Gabe was the first to reach me and wrapped his arms around me in a very comforting hug that I returned. Mace came over and wrapped his arms around us both. No one said anything, it was all the encouragement I needed. They both let go and turned to the family and waited with me.
"Wow." Was all Emmett said. After a moment Rose piped in.
"Wow is right. We are all aunts. And Uncles." she said, looking around the room.
"And we're Grandparents." Esme said, looking first at Carlisle, then at both of my sons.
"Yes, it seems we are, but I can't help but wonder. How did you change Bella?" Carlisle said wondering. I felt Gabe stiffen at my side. I can't blame him for his reaction. When I told them they wanted to find this unknown vampire and kill her. Edward finally got up from his position and came over to me. Mace and Gabe stepped aside to let him in. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, looked in my eyes and said, "Love, are you alright? You don't have to tell us right now if you don't want to." I nodded but I knew I had to.
"No it's alright I can't keep it in anymore. You all deserve to know." Edward looked like he was about to say something but decided against it and the three of them went back to their seats. I took another unnecessary deep breath, and began again.
"It was a three months after I graduated from college. The twins were a little over a year old. It was almost Christmas time and I had to go shopping for them. My truck was almost the last one in the parking lot. I was nearly there when I was suddenly aware of something behind me. I turned around and realized that it was not a something but a somebody. I did not recognize the person but I knew immediately what they were. It was a female vampire."
Edward hissed loudly, surprisingly startling Gabe who was sitting beside him. I pretended not to notice.
"The female vampire then grabbed me and proceeded to drag me into the nearby alleyway. I then knew that it was all over for me, I would never see my children or Edward again. I gulped back the scream that was building and prepared myself for my fate. The woman bit me right underneath my jugular. God the pain was incredible, it was like someone shoving a million needles into my neck, removing them and pushing them in again. But to my great surprise, she let me go after the first few seconds and threw me to the ground. Through the haze in my brain I heard the words:
'You left your mate to protect him, but let's see how you fare when you are forced into our world with him forever.' It was like she knew me, but I did not know who has done this to me. The unknown female then decided to leave me to my fate.
I braced myself for the upcoming pain I knew was supposed to come, but none came. Although there was some tingling feeling in my limbs, there was no pain that Edward had described. I stood up I realized that this was the change for me. I had decided that it was because Edward could not read my mind that was why I was special. I then decided to go and check in to a nearby motel before it was too late, before the unfamiliar burn in my throat would cause me to try and kill someone on the streets.
As I sat in the hotel room on the unstable bed, I could make more sense of what was happening. My mind could now wrap itself around more possibilities of why I was not feeling pain at this point. I could also start to see everything in minute detail. I could see every microscopic crack in the walls and floors of the small room. I could also think clearer. I began to worry about not being able to see my children again, would they recognize their mother after they grew up for about a year.
When the tingling feeling was finally gone in just under two days, I was still confused as to why there was no dehydrated feeling in my throat. I had decided to risk it and go out in to the sunlight. As soon as I walked out into the sunlight did I realize the urgency of my mistake, I knew I should shine like the rainbow just like Edward did but I didn't, it was just a dull glow, nothing that would keep me inside for the sunny days. I looked up from my non-glowing skin to realize that I had not tried to kill the dozens of people beginning to line the sidewalks and streets. That exited me even more, now I would be able to see my boys again.
I had decided it was not a time to take risks so the first thing I did was drive out to the nearest forest to hunt. After that was over went home to my mother and the twins. But another thought struck me. Now that I was a vampire, how was I going to explain this to my children when they got older, that their mother was stuck forever twenty. When I got home Renee was the first to notice my new look, I was in such a hurry to get home that I did not think to look in the mirror. She said that it was just motherhood finally agreeing with me. Though the bright red eyes freaked her out a little.
Still, no one said anything. Carlisle was the first to speak.
"That's so strange. Who would hate Bella and Edward so much that they would not just kill her on sight?"
Edward growled again and came to stand next to me, wrapping his strong arms around me. I buried my face in his shirt, savoring his scent.
"I don't know. But don't worry Bella. We'll figure this out. If not now than later down the road. This female has to make an appearance sooner or later. What matters right now is that we are all together again." He spoke only to me now. I could see the determination in his eyes. I knew then that I could never bear to leave him again.
"But Edward, if this vampire knows about her, how come she didn't seem to know about the twins? Bella, are you sure that was the only thing she said to you?" Carlisle asked me.
All I did was nod, I was done talking. Carlisle thought for a moment.
"That is strange. What did she look like? Can you remember?" he looked at me expectantly.
I sighed and pulled away from Edward. "Of course. It's not something I could easily forget. She had long black hair, her tattered and ripped clothes suggested she was a nomad, her eyes were gold like all of ours, but when she spoke she sounded like she smoked one too many cigarettes in her human life but she could have easily disguised her voice."
Carlisle seemed to nod to himself, "That doesn't seem like anyone we know."
"Maybe one of the newborns escaped and started sporting a grudge against them." Jasper said. He seemed to be in full-on tactician mode.
Alice shook her head. "No that's impossible. I saw every one of them get killed in the fight."
"I said it doesn't matter!" Edward shouted so loud I had to cover my ears.
Everyone became silent and looked at him. "Look, I don't care who this female thinks she is. I don't care if she comes back. Between the ten of us, there's no way that she'll get away next time."
The conversation was officially dropped.
Everyone became very relaxed suddenly. Every one of the family got up to officially meet their nephews or grandsons and the conversations just flowed from there.
"So, does this mean you guys are back together now?" I heard Rose ask.
Everybody looked at us at this moment, even the twins. I began to open my mouth to say something but Edward answered without missing a beat, "That's not something for us to talk about now; we'll talk about it later."
Everyone seemed to be alright with that answer for now. We then continued to talk all throughout the night, I could not focus on one conversation by itself until I heard, and "So, whose H2 is that out there?" It was Rosalie.
"That's mine." Gabe said.
"Do you mind if I took a look at it? I want to see under the hood."
"Of course not, go ahead. What's mine is yours, Rose." Gabe said in a very polite tone. Rose started to rise then Mason piped in.
"Oh, I'll come with you, I like cars too." Mace stood up, and he and Rose both headed out into the night to see Gabe's Hummer.
"Mace, you touch my car, and you'll be nothing but a pile of ashes." Gabe warned, with a hint of malice in his voice. Edward, from his position sitting between my legs on the floor-I was on the couch- looked at me worriedly. I smiled and shook my head.
"Don't worry. He said this last time Mace put a 10 inch lift kit on his last ford truck, when we lived in Texas at the time and Mace is still alive, though he had chased him halfway to Maine, and wouldn't let him go within a three mile radius of the house for the next two weeks."
We continued talking all night. Most of the talking was done by me, telling stories of the twins when they were babies.
"You wouldn't believe how hard it was keeping two eleven year olds occupied in the middle of the night. I eventually had to take them cloths shopping almost every night. They stopped eating years ago so restaurants were out of the question. We have a few storage spaces here and there just full of cloths. Video games and teaching music also played a big part."
Emmett was eventually called outside to help play the jack. Still we talked, until we got on the subject of sports, then Gabe piped up considerably, "My game of choice was football back in the day." By the time the twins got into high school the first time, they learned how to control their strength, and Gabe went out for football, while Mace went for the track team.
I spoke this thought aloud, then said, "Mace won all of his races, showing off a little bit, and Gabe was the star player on all of his teams, reading minds helped a lot too, he played defensive end. Put quite a few people in the hospital when he got mad too."
"That's cool. Are you playing this year?" Edward asked.
Gabe shook his head. "Nah. I played the last four years at my other schools. I wanted to go for hockey this year but Forks isn't that big of a town so there's not much choice in teams. Maybe the next one."
"Wow, do you think you could teach us to play football? All we really play is baseball; it gets kind of boring after a while. We could play on Wednesday night, the weathers going to be perfect, followed by a sunny day, for us to play. We could play all night then hang out all day." Alice said this, our own personal weather girl, and always ready to try something new.
Emmett came into the room then, with grease on his hands. I groaned inwardly at the thought of how much grease Mace has on him. Gabe was now explaining the basic rule of football, and then he moved on to more technical stuff like, blitzing, sacking, and the complicated juke move. We talked like this about football for the rest of the night until the watch I was wearing started beeping. I sighed. That meant it was time to go get ready for school. You would be amazed at how much you lose track of time when you don't sleep, so I always set my clock to go off at 5:30 every morning, witch left us an hour to get ready. Then half an hour to get to school, and get to classes.
Mace must have heard the beeping sound, because he came in from the garage, and I was right. He was covered almost head to toe in grease.
"You didn't touch my truck did you?" Gabe snarled.
Mason snorted. "No, I didn't touch your precious baby! Do you smell diesel on me?" Uh-oh. I knew what was going to happen next by the tone of Maces' voice.
Gabe's H2 was specially fitted to take only diesel gas, and from what I knew, none of the other Cullen's had diesel vehicles around here.
Gabe took a tentative sniff and growled again. "You did! That's it!" Gabe rose from his chair like a flash of lightning.
But Mace was faster. Laughing almost hysterically, he was already out the front door and halfway down the driveway by the time Gabe made it out the door.
"Take it easy bro! I swear I didn't touch your truck. Emmett has a Mercedes in the garage that's fitted for diesel and Rose let me under the hood." He almost couldn't get out that sentence with all the laughing he was doing. I actually saw a small smirk on Gabriel's face as well.
I don't think Gabriel was listening or he just chose to ignore Mace's comment. He kept trying to grab at Mace's running form, but he kept just half a step ahead of him. Mason was using his power that much was for certain. He would copy Gabe's movements until he was ready and moved just out of reach of Gabe grasping hands. Like I said, just because Gabe was the 'older' brother, didn't mean that he could beat Mason in a fight.
By then all of the Cullen's were gathered on the porch. Edward looked a little fearful, but didn't say anything. I knew that they were playing. By now they were nearing the river and would soon be in it.
So I took matters into my own hands.
I tapped Edward on the shoulder and he turned his head to see me.
"I'll take care of this. Watch." I quickly glided down the steps and close by to the twins. I quickly started playing with the invisible material of my mental shield and expertly stretched it to wrap around Gabriel's rushing form.
It all happened very quickly then.
I saw Mace's eyes widen just before Gabe crashed into him. Despite what I had been trying to avoid, they both ended up toppling into the river.
"Alright! I give! I give! Hahaha! Let me go!" Mace chocked out, still laughing hysterically.
Gabe jumped up and reached his hand down to help his twin up. "I knew you were joking again Mace. Telepathy, remember. I just can't miss out on the chance when it presents itself." Gabe said, slapping Mace on the back, effectively knocking him into the water again.
Once both of them got themselves together again we all walked back up to the house. Every one of the Cullen's was staring at us with mixtures of shock, awe, and confusion in their faces.
"What?" Mason asked, bringing his hands up.
"How…Why…How did…?" Wow. Even Emmett could be rendered speechless with the right actions.
"So, what happened out there?" Edward walked down the steps to address us.
I giggled. "Well, like I said, Mace likes to play jokes on everyone around him. So he told Gabe that he messed with his truck when apparently, Emmett has a diesel car in the back. But Gabe can read thoughts like you so he knew he didn't, but Gabe never passes a chance to pick a fight with Mason."
Edward still couldn't say anything, and the twins were of no help. They both walked over to explain to the rest of the family what happened, so I decided to continue. "Well, just because they are both 60 years old, doesn't mean they don't act like 17 year old brothers most of the time."
"I guess that makes sense." A small smile lit up his face, "Funny. For a minute there, I thought Gabriel was really trying to kill Mason."
"Oh, you'll get used to that. It's just a part of our everyday lives." I finished with a smile.
Edward's face darkened for a moment when I said that. He had a look I could only describe as…longing in his eyes. We were startled out of our moment by none other than Mason.
"Well, alright boys and girls! It's time to get this Wagon Train a'movin if we want to be anywhere remotely ready for school on time." Sometimes, I get really annoyed by that power of his.
Everyone got up at that moment, and started hugging me and the twins, saying goodbyes and 'see you after schools'. The rest of the family then went their separate ways into the house leaving me, Edward, and the twins in the driveway.
Edward was the first to address the twins, "Well I'll see you guys today during school, you are more than welcome to sit with us at lunch, in fact, I think if you don't, Alice, Emmett and even Rose will find you and drag you there." he said laughing, and Gabe laughed with him, Mace just smiled. That was so unlike him. I would have to ask him about it when we get to the house.
I chose that moment to say to the kids, "Why don't you go to the Hummer and I'll meet you there in a second."
"Alright mom, don't take too long, I have to get this grease off before school. The water didn't get as much off as I hoped." Mace said, gesturing to himself.
"Oh no. you are not riding in my truck like that, you are running behind us." Gabe said.
"Hey, you're just as wet as I am!"
"Yeah, that's why I keep towels in the trunk. Grease is another story all together." Gabe said as they walked off to his truck. I shook my head, deciding to let them work that out without me.
When Edward and I were finally alone again, he said, "I guess I'll see you in school today, alright?"
"That's fine Edward; you guys can come to our house after school if you want."
Edward said, "That's fine. We'll be there right after school, along with Carlisle, and Esme." he then bent down to press his lips to mine, and like before I could not help myself. My hands entwined in his hair as I pulled his face closer, and his lips parted, and his tongue snaked its way into my mouth. Our kiss was cut short again, but this time it was where Gabe was revving his car and honking his horn. We broke our kiss, said our goodbyes and I went outside to see Mace sitting in the bed of the hummer, and Gabe was sitting on his towel in the driver's seat. (If you haven't already, just look at my profile and you'll see pictures of the cars they drive.) I got into the passenger seat, and we were off to our house to get ready for the day.
~o~O~o~
When we got into the house, we all went our separate ways to get ready. The boy's rooms were on the second floor, while mine was on the ground floor. I was done first, so I decided to get Mace's clothes from his bedroom floor, and start them in the wash. I then went to the living room to watch TV while I waited. Surprisingly, Mace was the next one down the steps.
"Hey, mom, can I ask you a question?" I had a feeling this had something to do with Edward.
"Of course." I said. I turned off the TV and looked at him.
"Alright, well when I was in the garage with Rose, she said something about you and Edward getting back together. I was just wondering if you… well if you were." I noticed that he didn't call Edward, his dad.
"Well, we haven't had that discussion yet. Why were you wondering?" I didn't really understand why he would be so tentative to ask me this, as if he were afraid of my answer.
"I was just wondering, I mean I don't really know him yet and if you two did get together he would probably move in right?"
"I don't know. But I wouldn't do anything unless you and Gabe were both okay with it. I would never have someone stay with us unless all of us were comfortable with that situation." I would have thought he'd have known this already.
"Okay, thanks Mom." He stood up and started to walk towards the closet were we kept their backpacks.
"Hey Mason?"
Yeah, Mom?"
"Your father, Edward. He's not a bad guy. You should get to know him."
"I know he's not a bad guy. It's just… he's a bit intimidating don't you think? I mean he's done a lot of really awesome things. Alice told us a lot about him, and a lot about when you two where together before. He just seems really serious all the time. And mom you know me, how often am I actually serious?" He said the last part laughing.
"Not very often. We've all had a lot to deal with lately, just give him time, he'll loosen up. And Emmett is the same way that you are and they both get along so well. It'll just take time. We should do something together as a family, with everyone. I think we were going to play football tomorrow night. Would you like to come?"
"Really? Yes, of course I would, what makes you think I would miss kicking Gabriel's ass across the field." he said loud enough for Gabe to hear.
"I heard that! You are dead so tomorrow night." I heard Gabe's voice ring down upon the living room.
"Alright guys, it's time to go. You ready?" I said.
"Yep." both boys said at the same time, Gabe coming down the stairs.
We both got into our separate cars, and started the mildly short drive to school, all the while I was thinking about how I could not wait to see Edward again, in school or otherwise.
*Just stands there with hands behind back, eyes looking at her feet, shyly kicking at the ground.*
So what did you think? Please let me know in a review.
The whole fight with the twins was simply just to show that they are very much like the 17 year olds I'm trying to create for the story.
Next up is another night at Bella's house.