I kind of let the talent issue up in the air. It's still in development, but, to all you worried people, it will come out in this chapter or the next one. Thank you, once again, to all of you who reviewed.
They arrived back at home at the crack of dawn. The sun was barely visible through the cloudy Forks sky. It was going to rain heavily today and they were hoping for a storm. Bella had, after all, never actually played a game of baseball and wanted to give it a try.
When they walked through they door, they found a not on the counter.
'Alice says it's going to storm. Come play ball with us. Bella, you'll love it. We're at the usual place. We won't start until you get here so hurry. – Emmett.'
"Well, we shouldn't keep them waiting. I wonder when they left, it's still early," said Edward with a huge smile on his face. Bella was a lot more cheerful than the previous night and was smiling with him.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want to keep Emmett waiting. Playing has got to be more fun than just watching." They stood there in silence for a moment. Then Bella said playfully, "Race you to the car."
They took off running into the jeep. Bella found herself not bouncing around like she did last time. She also didn't care when she saw the speed they were going.
"Can't we go any faster?"
Edward looked over at her, surprised. "What ever happened to obeying the speed limit? You used to freak out when I drove this fast."
She gave him a powty look and gave up. It was nice having him in a good mood and it kept her perky. They arrived in ten minutes then took off running.
Alice was the first to notice them. "I saw you coming. Come on lets get started."
They all smiled. "You would. Did you tell anyone else when we'd get here?" asked Edward.
"I did. They're just setting up and waiting for thunder." There was a loud clap of thunder. Carlisle came running over to great them.
"Oh good, you saw Emmett's note. Esme, are you refereeing?" They all new that she would. After they divided up into teams it was Carlisle, Edward, and Bella against Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice. Everyone was eager to see how Bella, the newest addition to their family, would do in the game.
Carlisle's team was up by the sixth inning. Bella was proving to be a very hard hitter and fast runner. She hit as hard as Emmett and could run almost as fast as Edward. After about three hours of good game play, the rain ceased and they had to stop. Carlisle ran to retrieve the bases and they all walked somberly back to their cars.
The eight vampires arrived back at the house with no surprises. There were no evil vampires hunting them after all.
"So, how was it for you're first game?" asked Rosalie. She was definitely friendlier now that she had time to accept Bella's change.
"It was wonderful. It was much more fun playing than watching." They all nodded in agreement.
They discussed when their next hunting trip would be and tried to figure out what Bella's talent could be. They knew that she could read minds but she only could after Edward tried to read hers. Alice was talking about Bella's power being a combination of Aro's and Edward's when she froze.
"Alice, what is it? What do you see?" asked Jasper anxiously. When Alice sees something big coming she just goes into a trance and they all noticed it.
"Shh, I'm concentrating." There were a couple more minutes of agonizing silence while she saw the future play out. "The Volturi, they're coming. They will want to see Bella and they will want to know what her talent is." Alice looked at them with a sad look. "They can see Bella as one of us, but they won't see her talent and that may anger them."
"We can't push this Alice. We may know what it is when they get here, we may not. Hopefully I can figure it out by then, but it may take a while," Bella replied. Edward put his arm around her instead of voicing his opinion on the matter.
"Do you know when they will arrive?" inquired Carlisle. Edward could see the plan playing out on his face.
"They will be here within the month. I can't see the exact date."
"Okay, if Bella doesn't realize her full talent by the end of next week, we will go to Denali. There we should-." Emmett cut in angrily.
"No, we should stay her. They will follow us to Denali any way."
"Oh Emmett, why do you always have to start fights?" asked Rosalie.
"He's right. We can make something up when they arrive," agreed Bella. "When we left Italy, they only said that they wanted to see me changed. They never said anything about my talent. For all they could know, I don't have a talent."
"I've said it before, I'll say it again. She's devious. That will work." Emmett loved the Bella's mind worked. They all pondered this. It would be difficult for them to leave and, no matter what, the Volturi would follow them.
"We'll stay," decided Carlisle. "Bella is one of us now so we don't have to hide."
After that, there was no real discussion. They all went there own ways. Carlisle went to his study, Esme went to her room to read, Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, and Alice watched the television, and Bella and Edward went to his room.
"So," said Bella as she flung herself onto Edward's bed. "What do the immortal do at times like this?"
He walked over and sat down beside her. "Times like what? When someone is, once again put in danger because of what the people she loves are?"
She sighed, exasperated. "No, at night. When we can't sleep and the rest of the world is a sleep."
"Ah, that time. Well, we could dream. Just doze off and pretend that we're sleeping."
Bella looked at him with big, now golden, eyes. "I don't want to sleep. I'm like you now. I want to have some fun."
This time he looked troubled; like he had a severe dilemma going on in his head that he wasn't sharing with anyone. It was hard for Bella to see him so troubled.
"You're regretting that you changed me aren't you?"
He looked up at her, shocked. "What would make you say that?"
"You look sad every time you look at me. Did something get lost in the transformation?" Then, to lighten the atmosphere, she added, "Do I not smell as good anymore?"
Edward laughed. It was a glorious sound in the dark night. "You smell just as good as ever. And I don't regret what I did. I'm just thinking about my next trick."
Bella smiled and sat up. "You're next trick? I didn't know there was more."
Lightly he pulled her off the bed and got down on his knee in front of her. Bella's face flushed as much as a vampire's face could as he pulled out and opened a little black, velvet box.
"Isabella Swan, I have loved, and always will love you. I would be honored if you would marry me." He slipped the ring on her finger and stood up to look into her eyes to see the answer.
Her eyes welled with happy tears. "Yes, and I would be honored to marry you." At that moment, the other six Cullens ran into the room congratulating them now that Edward actually proposed formally. Alice was the one who announced it to the family when he was going to do it.
"Okay everyone," said Esme. "Let's leave them alone."
"Yes, besides, we have a wedding to plan," exclaimed Alice cheerfully. They all hurried out the door. When the room was empty, Bella and Edward embraced.
"I hope you didn't spend too much on this rock," said Bella sarcastically. The ring had a single diamond in the center. The band was silver with small sapphires around it.
"Oh yes," he responded just as sarcastically. "It was horribly expensive but I had to pick that one because I just knew it would bother you."
She gave him a light hit on the chest for being sarcastic. "Oh, I hope Alice doesn't go too overboard with the plans. I hate getting dressed up."
"You'll look beautiful in whatever she puts you in."
"You have no choice but to say that. We need to think about who's coming."
It was Edward's turn to sigh this time. "We don't have to think about this tonight."
"You're right. I should kiss you though. That's what couples do when they're engaged." With that, they began their 'lip- locking.' They held each other for the rest of the night.
Forks had a gorgeous sunrise. The clouds left enough of a break for the sun to get through and cast rays over the dense forest. Morning also brought an unpleasant surprise. The door bell rang while they were all sitting around the piano listening to Edward play. Carlisle answered the door.
"Hello," a sickly familiar voice said. "We said we would be come."
Well, that's chapter four. Exciting? I hope so. Cliff hanger, but I think you all know who was at the door. Chapter five may take a while to put up as I'm going to be on vacation for the rest of the month. I will be working on it though. Please review.