Disclaimer: Not mine
A/N: Thank you for your reviews for last chapter. I am so excited to have over 400 reviews now! Dalloway5906's sweet little man is sick, so this chapter has not had her expert touch. Any mistakes/errors are mine. I re-posted chapter 1 after Dally gave it a once over. It reads much better now. I will be doing chapter 2 as well.
BPOV
Carlisle was standing at the doorway before I could blink. Jasper must have let him know my control was wearing thin. I could feel the scorching flames every time I took a breath of Charlie-scented air.
"Bella, your plane leaves shortly. I would be glad to take Chief Swan back to Forks if that would be agreeable with you sir." Carlisle said, his manners perfected after decades of practice.
"Well that sounds fine with me Dr. Cullen." Charlie said gruffly. His eyes never left Edward's hand that was wrapped possessively around my waist. He moved forward, as if to give me a hug. We Swans were not emotional people. I could count on one hand the times Charlie had given me a hug. Hell I could just use three fingers. My expression must have warned him that a hug right now would not be a good idea. My body was nearly trembling with the force of controlling myself and the hand Edward was embracing me with was there more as a restraint than a caress.
"I'll have Carlisle keep you updated Dad." I whispered as I leaned into Edward's body, hoping his familiar scent would help to mask the alluring fragrance that was oozing out of Charlie's pores.
"Thanks Bells. You take care of her, you hear me Edmund." Charlie said.
"Come on Dad, its Edward. He is going to be your son-in-law eventually, you should try and keep his name straight." I said, exasperated. I froze as I felt the fine tremor run through Edward's body and heard the two female gasps from the other room. Shit, did I just say that out loud?
I turned shocked eyes to Edward, who's normally golden eyes were coal black. Was he angry? Was this not something that he had thought about? I knew we were rushing things and I would have been the first to say that I was too young to get married. But this was not a normal relationship or a normal life for that matter. We were still going to have to deal with whatever was coming with Maria, and I had no idea if the Volturi were going to come after us as retribution for Aro's death. I wanted to join my life and future with Edward in the most basic way a man and woman could.
Edward swallowed stiffly and slowly brought my hand to his lips. He kissed the fourth finger on my left hand, his eyes never leaving my face. My breath was trapped in my chest as I saw the promise reflected in his eyes. He dropped my hand and slowly brought his palm up to my face, his smooth fingers running over my cheek.
"My precious girl, there is nothing more in this world I would rather do than to marry you and spend the rest of eternity showing you how you have changed my life." He whispered, dropping a chaste kiss upon my parted lips. Our breath mingled as our faces stayed inches apart. We were completely oblivious to our audience until Charlie cleared his throat loudly. We jumped apart and I raised embarrassed eyes to our respective fathers who were standing awkwardly in the doorway. I could see Esme and Alice jumping up and down in the other room, their excitement evident. I was going to have to put my foot down with those two before I ended up having to wear sky high heels and an uncomfortable coture gown.
"I'll just be heading out now. Are you ready Chief Swan?" Carlisle asked, and I looked at him, grateful that he was able to diffuse the situation. Charlie waved as he followed Carlisle out the door to find wherever they had parked the car. All I wanted to do was to take advantage of that giant shower with Edward and then crawl into …. shit. Can't crawl into bed, I can't sleep. I realized that I did not feel the least bit tired, but craved the familiarity of snuggling into a comfy bed and the ability to let my mind completely relax. My mood plummeted as I realized there were a million new things I needed to understand and start to accept about my new life.
Before I had time to really get into my pity party, I was attacked by two bundles of excitement. Edward had moved to the side in time to be spared their elation. They threw their arms around me and jumped up and down, bringing me with them.
"When do you want to do it? Do you want to have the ceremony in a church? Good thing that cross thing is a myth! Who do you want to be maid of honor, or I guess it should be matron of honor, because whoever you pick is already married." Good thing Alice did not need to breathe, because she would be dead after that mile a minute speech.
"Alice, one thing at a time girl. First off, no church. I think we can start planning whenever we want. I don't know what to do about bridesmaids and maids or matrons of honor. I had some good friends back home, maybe I should call them and see if they are busy." I teased. My words had the desired effect as her face fell and some of her jubilation decreased.
"Ok Bella, whatever you want. We have all gotten our dream weddings several times over. This should be whatever you want." She said quietly as Esme wrapped her arm around Alice's tiny shoulder. I guess I was a better faker than I thought. I put a hand on both Esme and Alice's shoulders, giving them each a little shake.
"I was kidding. There is no one I would rather have standing next to me than you both and Rosalie. "Their faces brightened and I was happy I was joining their family. After another round of hugs and jumping, Edward grabbed my arm and pulled me into the hallway.
"Bella, there is still another matter to discuss." He said, his face serious. My mind search for what he could be talking about. I knew we had to get Charlie settled as soon as possible before he became suspicious, but we had done that. What else did we have to worry about right now?
Hushed whispers and a wet thumping sound invaded my thoughts and I suddenly realized that we still had to deal with Angela. Where was she? Was she safe? Edward must have seen the alarm on my face because he was quick to reassure me.
"She is upstairs playing with Emmett and Rose. She is fine. We need to figure out what we are going to do with her." He said, as he rubbed soothing circles up and down my back.
"We need to take her home. She is a tough kid, I think if we explain that she needs to forget everything that has happened she will believe it." I said, praying that the shit I was spouting could possibly happen. I knew if I had been in her shoes I would never be able to forget the fuckery that I had witnessed in that house. I was amazed that she was holding it together at all.
"I think you may be right. According to Emmett she has been asking for you. She keeps calling you 'her hero.'" He said, pride coloring his words.
I was no one's hero. The only thing I did was keep her safe, which is what anyone would do for a child. I reached up for a kiss, unable to help myself when he was looking at me with those big golden eyes.
"Let's go see her." I said as I pulled him towards the stairs.
"Don't you think you should go hunt first? Jasper said you were having some real difficulty towards the end with your father." He said as he tried to steer me towards the door.
"Dude, she is a kid, I got this." I said, shrugging off his hand and starting up the stairs. I turned around, expecting him to follow but found he was still standing at the bottom of the stairs.
"Um, Edward, are you coming with me?"
"Did you… did you just call me 'dude'?" He asked, his beautiful face a mask of confusion. I could not hold in the laughter, and realized that there was laughter coming from both floors out of the mouths of both Emmett and Jasper.
"I'm so sorry Edward. I often forget that you are from the 'old school.'" His face turned vicious as I continued to mock him. I was actually afraid for a second before he started up the stairs and pulled me in for a scorching kiss. When he finally came up for air he was back to his old self.
"I'm the one who should be apologizing Bella. I was just not expecting you to call me that. Let's go take care of Angela. If you feel strong enough to resist her then I will trust you." He said as he dragged me up the rest of the stairs.
We entered a room at the end of the hall, and I was surprised to see Rosalie stretched out on the floor coloring with Angela. Rose was such a hard-ass, I could never imagine her having a soft spot for children, let alone one who smelled as delicious as Angela. Her head jerked up as we entered the room, no doubt surprised that I would be aloud entry in my newborn state.
"Hey Angela." I said quietly as she looked up from her book to see what had caught Rose's attention. I was unprepared for her as she launched herself at me, grabbing hold of my pants as she wrapped her little arms around my legs.
"Oh Bella, I am so glad to see you! I was worried I would not get to see you before I left to go home." She squealed as she clung tighter to me. I looked up at Edward, praying he would help me get her off of me. I said I was not going to hurt her, but I was not going to push it.
Edward calmly detached Angela from her death grip on my legs and handed her to Rosalie, who looked more then happy to snuggle the little girl. Angela turned her angelic face to Emmett who was cleaning up the fallen crayons from the floor.
"You ready to head back home kido?" He asked.
"Yes I am." She said as she struggled in Rose's grip. I could see a silent conversation happening between the other vampires in the room. No doubt they were trying to see if Edward thought it was safe to have me around Angela. They were totally going to pay for that later. Edward hunkered down next to Rose and Angela.
"Ok Angela. Do you remember what Emmett and Rose told you about what you need to tell your parents?" He asked, reaching out to smooth her hair down. My heart stuttered as I watched his innate fatherly gesture towards the little girl. I must have made a sound, because Rose's eyes flew to mine, her gaze filled with regret. She knew first hand what it felt like to have decades pass with the yearning ache for children go unfulfilled. I felt a new bond with her, knowing that we will both be denied something that was ingrained deep in our souls.
"Yes Edward, I remember. You can count on me, I will not let you down. Bella saved my life, I will never forget that." She said as she turned her soulful blue eyes to mine.
"Ok darling, Esme will take you home and drop you off a few streets away from your house. You are to tell your parents you ran away, but got scared and wanted to come home. You have only been gone a few hours, it should be believable." He said as he rose from the floor and returned to my side. The child extricated herself from Rose's grip and made her way over to us. She looked so happy to be going home and I was glad I had been able to master my shield in time to save her.
"Thank you so much for saving me Bella. I will never forget you." She said as she extended her tiny hand. My cold hand enveloped her warm flesh as I shook her hand and gave her a small smile.
"I think you have that wrong Angela, it was you who saved me."
A/N: I will be participating in the June Fandom Gives Back Auction. Keep an eye out for information. As soon as they release the site info I will post it here.
If you are an A/J fan (Or even if you are not) go and read shalu's Down the Rabbit Hole. It is complete and oh so good. I am not really an A/J fan, but this story is awesome and let me tell you, a cowboy hat in the bathtub has never sounded better!