Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight
This chapter is dedicated to Midnight1987 and rin09. Thanx for the thoughtful reviews.
Chapter 8 – England
EPOVI ran upstairs and came back into my bedroom after handing her my shirt. Bella had thrown herself onto the couch, sobbing. The poor thing, how could she possibly handle something like this?
"Oh Bella, don't cry, you're safe now, I promise" I murmured into her ear, as I stroked her hair soothingly.
Yes. She was safe for now, but for how long? Chris controlled hundreds of vampires and he is nothing if not determined. Besides that, he was very manipulative. What could I do if he threatened to kill us again? Would Bella leave me for my own safety? I held Bella close and tried to calm her but one thing echoed in my mind as she fell asleep.
What would she have chosen?
Bella had not gotten the chance to answer to Chris's ultimatum due to Carlisle's interference, but if she'd had the chance what would she have done? Or better yet what would she do if she were offered it again? I tried to put myself in the same position. If I had to either leave Bella, or she and her family would die what would I do? To have Bella die because of my choice was unfathomable. I could never do it. But to live without her… To know she was alive and wanting to see me, but to not be able to see her or feel her… that was just as terrible, if not worse. No matter what, I knew I could not let Bella get the chance to choose again.
I thought about this the entire night, as I held her. A few times she muttered phrases like "you promised" or "goodbye" I wanted so badly to know what she was dreaming about. I wanted so badly just to dive into the depths of Bella's mind and see her thoughts about tonight. Unfortunately Bella's mind was the only mind I could not read, so I knew I would just have to wait till she woke up to ask. After what only seemed like seconds later, Bella began to stir.
"Edward" She said turning to me.
"Good morning, love" I watched a slight frown form on her face as she remembered the events of the night before.
"Good morning. But Edward, you promised." She said determinedly. I chuckled.
"Is that what you were dreaming of, Bella? Getting answers." She looked distracted for a moment and then frowned more deeply.
"I – I don't remember what my dream was about. But Edward you said-" She said changing the subject back to her questions. G-d, she was relentless.
"Love, why don't you go take a human moment and then we'll discuss everything." I told her and kissed her forehead. "There are some clothes on the counter that Alice brought for you last night." Her expression flashed reluctance but then she nodded and left the room.
I waited in my room a while before I went downstairs to prepare her some breakfast. The whole family, along with the Neilans, was waiting in the living room, watching me intently. I blocked out their minds, not wanting to hear their anxious thoughts. I went into the kitchen and began to make Bella pancakes with some ingredients we had around.
"How is she?" Esme asked as she entered the kitchen.
"I don't know, but she has a lot of questions." I smiled halfheartedly.
"It'll be all right, dear, we'll figure everything out." Esme gave me a reassuring hug. I finished the pancakes and brought them out to the living room. Bella was taking a long time in the bathroom, but maybe the warm water would help sooth her.
"So - " Emmett stopped as we heard the bathroom door close upstairs. Bella inhaled deeply and then started descending the stairs slowly, so as not to trip. She blushed a beautiful pink, when she realized everyone's stares.
"Good morning everyone" She said as she made her way over to me. They all muttered replies as I breathed in her fresh scent and kissed her on her lips. I expected her to pull away quickly, as we were accustomed to, but she stayed pressed against me. Usually Bella was uncomfortable at showing our affection in front of others, especially strangers, but I guess this whole ordeal had gotten her very shaken up. I lightly pushed her away, onto the couch and handed her the plate of food.
"Edward, you shouldn't have" She chastised me with a small frown. I could tell she meant it though, Bella hated being spoiled.
"I know but I did" I smiled back at her and handed her a fork. She took a bite and nodded her appreciation.
"Whoa" Luke Neilan said, obviously fascinated by Bella's eating habits. Luke never had trouble expressing himself. Bella looked up and I noticed that all the Neilans were fixedly watching Bella chew her food. It occurred to me that they probably had never seen a human eat before. Bella swallowed and put her fork down.
"Umm, not to be rude or anything but, who are you?" She asked Luke. Her gaze shifted to all the new people in the room.
"Oh, how inconsiderate of me I'm Luke. Luke Neilan" He gave her a dazzling smile and walked forward to shake her hand. He stared down at the pancakes in wonder. "Do you mind if I -?" He picked up a piece of pancake with the fork and brought it to Bella's mouth. She blushed brightly when she realized he wanted to feed it to her.
'How does she eat this? Ha ha ha, look at her blush, she's adorable, no wonder that Christopher wants her' I read Luke's thoughts and growled loudly. Luke gave the fork to Bella and put his hands up in mock surrender.
"I just wanted to see how the whole eating thing works, I wasn't going to try anything" He said with a grin. At that point, everyone started laughing.
"Oh don't mind Luke, he's just a clown. I'm Diane Neilan, this is my husband John, and this is Sara" Diane told Bella pointing to each of her family members in turn. "We're old friends of the Cullens, from England."
"I'm Bella Swan, nice to meet you all, oh and thanks for coming to the rescue the other night." Bella smiled politely.
"It was our pleasure" John said. I came up behind Bella and rubbed her back tenderly.
"But, well, I was wondering… how did you know to come?" Bella asked, unable to contain her curiosity. I smiled down at her.
"As soon as Chris showed up, I asked Alice to do two things. One was to escape with you, which obviously failed, and the other was to text message Carlisle." I told Bella.
"Oh" she said. Carlisle took this as his cue to continue.
"We were relatively close by. Actually on our way home to Forks with the Neilans, when we got the message, and I immediately knew he'd be trouble" Carlisle paused. "But I expected him to go after Edward, not you Bella" He turned to me for a reply.
"That was his plan originally, but you know Bella has to always go and be so appealing" I grinned playfully at her, "So he changed his mind" I told Carlisle
"So he had no previous knowledge of Bella?" Carlisle asked. I shook my head. "Well that's good news." he finished.
"What is?" Emmett asked.
"That at least he has no one on his side who can see the future. So he won't know where we're going, who we're with…We can use that to our advantage." Carlisle said.
"What do you suggest we do?" I asked him.
"We run." Carlisle stated simply.
I looked at Bella to gage her reaction. She looked both stunned and aprehensive.
"Is there no other way?" Esme asked.
"Well we can't fight them, they're too powerful, even if John's power shield could hold up against hundreds, their numbers alone would defeat us." Carlisle sighed. "Leaving is our only option."
Bella shook her head fiercely. "I am not going to let you leave your home for me." She said firmly.
"Bella, this would have happened anyway, Chris would still be after me, even if he never met you." I told her.
"Maybe, but still, I can't just pick up and leave to – where would we even go?"
"England" Luke said surely. We all stared at him.
"Actually, England doesn't sound like a bad idea, you can easily come live by us" John stated.
"Yes, that might actually work" Carlisle thought it over. "First we would drive to some other state, to throw him off our trail, and then we could fly to England under fake names. He won't be able to find us."
"But what about school, what about Charlie? I can't just move to England!" Bella exclaimed.
"Bella, there are schools in England, and we can tell Charlie you've been offered an exchange program at Oxford or something. We can easily forge all the papers." I told her and then sighed. "Bella, I don't like this plan any more than you do, but I blame myself for all of this and I am not going to let Chris get you. Plus, this may turn out to be a temporary thing."
"Yeah, temporary" Bella muttered darkly. She took a deep breath. "Well I guess we have no other choice." She gave in.
Alice squealed. "Come on Bella, let's go pack and tell Charlie. Now I know this isn't the best thing that could happen, but it's going to be so much fun, you'll love England." Alice rambled as she towed Bella towards the door.
"Bella, I am going to take care of some things here, I'll be over to pick you up in a few hours, ok?"
"Ok" She responded and pulled me into another long kiss.
"I love you." I said
"I love you, too" She responded. Then she turned around to look at my house as if for the last time. "I'm gonna miss it here" She whispered, but we all heard.
"Yeah, me too" I said as Alice and Bella left. I looked around at my family's solemn expressions. G-d, what had I gotten us all into?
Author's note: Hey, don't worry guys this chapter was more of a filler than anything else, there'll be more action in the next ones, Chris is not finished I promise! But you will only get to find out what happens if you review. 20 reviews or the story stops. I'm serious, and I don't mind anonymous ones either!
