A/N: Two chapters in one night, just because I'm not sure if it is working lol. I swear this story starts to pick up soon! I just have to get some of it out of the way to move on to the better part of the story :)
Bella was now four and they celebrated her birthday by going all out and decorating every inch of the house. Alice was in charge, so everyone knew that it would be wonderful. Edward and Emmett took Bella into the woods that was just past their backyard, and brought her to her favorite spot, while Alice got everything ready. Bella's favorite spot wasn't too far from their house, there was a small creek that passed through the woods, an old tree had fallen over years before, and the huge trunk made a bridge across the creek, and Bella loved to go there and sit on the tree trunk.
Emmett held her left hand while Edward held her right one, and they walked to the middle of the tree trunk and sat down. Their legs were swinging above the water, and Bella laughed at how they were all swinging at the same time. Emmett reached over and picked up a handful of pebbles, and held them out to Bella. She smiled and took them in her tiny fist, and began throwing them one by one into the creek.
"So how old are you now, squirt?" Emmett asked, already knowing the answer.
"I'm four! How old are you?" Bella asked.
"I'm 18, and so is Rosalie and Jasper. Edward and Alice are 17," Emmett answered. This was routine for them, they asked each other all the time. Bella did that with a lot of things, but no one cared.
"Eddie says Rosalie acts younger than me," Bella said innocently. Emmett looked at Edward, who smiled sheepishly at him. Emmett laughed.
"Sometimes she does," Emmett answered. They sat in silence for a few minutes when Edward stood up.
"They're probably almost done; I'm going to go check. I'll come get you if everything is finished," Edward told Emmett quietly so Bella couldn't hear. He turned to Bella, "Stay with Emmett this time, last time you followed me, Emmett couldn't find you and almost had a heart attack," Edward said with a laugh. Bella gave Edward her biggest innocent smile and Edward melted.
"Okay Eddie," Bella agreed. Emmett held her hand and they walked back to the bank of the creek and he watched as Edward took off toward the house. He looked back to Bella, but she wasn't there. He quickly looked around, and couldn't see her. Edward was already out of sight, and Bella wasn't following him. Emmett panicked.
"Bella?" He called. He ran around, frantically looking for her. She wasn't on the tree trunk; the water was too shallow to drown in, where was she? Her scent was everywhere; it was too hard to tell which place held it the strongest.
"BELLA!" He yelled. He heard her laughter and let out a sigh of relief. She came out from behind a nearby tree.
"I'm right here Emmett!" Bella said. Emmett ran to her, picked her up, and crushed her into a bear hug.
"Bella, you can't scare me like that," He said quietly.
"I'm sorry Emmett, I was just playing," Bella said, her big chocolate eyes were concerned now, and her lips were set into a small pout. She hugged him as tight as she could.
"It's okay. I just got worried something happened to you," He said.
"That won't happen. You, Eddie, and Jasper all told me you guys wouldn't let anything happen to me ever," Bella said laying her head on his shoulder peacefully. Emmett chuckled.
"That's right, squirt. You'll always be taken care of," He said. He saw Edward emerge from the trees, and motion that it was okay to come back. Bella squirmed when she saw him. Emmett let her down and ran to Edward. Edward was Bella's favorite, mainly because she felt the most comfortable with him. He was the one that found her, so she formed a bond to him that she didn't have with anyone else in the family.
He smiled and lifted her gently and gave her a big hug. She giggled and hugged back. Edward was the one that would always help her sleep if she couldn't. He would sing, hum, play the piano, or simply talk to her until she was finally resting. Sometimes it took up to an hour, but it always worked.
"You're always cold. All of you are, we should go buy you guys better jackets," Bella said innocently. Emmett and Edward shared a glance. Eventually they were going to have to explain things to Bella. No one was looking forward to that.
"Well, it's YOUR birthday, so let's go see what everyone bought you," Edward said, giving her a light squeeze.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The time had finally come where they made the decision that they were going to have to tell Bella about what they really were. All of them were scared of the outcome, and what scared them more was that Alice couldn't see what Bella's reaction would be.
It was ten thirty, and Bella was sound asleep in her bed after Edward had played the lullaby that he had written for her. Her door was slightly ajar so they could hear her if she woke up. She did that at least once or twice a week. She always had nightmares, and a lot of them had been about her parents.
They were all in the den, speaking quietly, trying to come to a final decision. Rosalie sat on the couch reading a magazine, trying to block out what was going on around her. It wasn't that she hated Bella, she was threatened by her. This one human girl could ruin their existence, and no one seemed to care about that.
"I say we need to tell her before she starts kindergarten. That gives us about two weeks, the sooner, the better," Alice said.
"How do you know she's not going to run around telling her little friends our secret?" Rosalie hissed.
"Bella loves us. Even you, Rose. If we told her how important this was, she would keep our secret," Emmett said. He loved Rosalie, but Bella had become a topic of many of their fights. Technically they were married, and this was the biggest issue they have had in over fifty years.
"What happens if she gets scared and tries to leave?" Rosalie shot back.
"She won't leave. I highly doubt she could survive without you kids," Esme said.
"The same goes for you two," Alice reassured Esme and Carlisle. "She adores both of you." She smiled.
"Jasper, what do you think?" Carlisle turned to Jasper who had been leaning against the doorjamb of Bella's room. He usually stayed close so he could gage her emotions, if she was sad or distressed, he would try to send her waves of happiness before she would wake up.
"I think we should tell her now. I don't think she will be scared, she loves us too much. If she is, I can help with that as much as possible," Jasper answered calmly. He was definitely getting stronger, because her scent no longer affected him the way it did before. He purposely stayed near her often so he would grow accustomed to it. It was still difficult at times, but he managed.
"Edward? Do you think it's too soon? That she might be too young?" Carlisle asked. In the end, Carlisle felt like Edward was the one that would make the final vote. He was the one that brought Bella into this family, and he was the one Bella was closest to.
"We should tell her now. As much as I don't want to, I think she would be angry at us if we kept this from her any longer. She is very intelligent, you all know this. She is already noticing that we are different. She asks a lot of questions, things that a child her age wouldn't normally understand. I think it's time," Edward sighed.
He wanted to shield her from this life as much as possible. He didn't want her youth to be affected by their existence. They were damned; he didn't want that for her. If Edward had thought that she would be safer somewhere else, and if he and the family hadn't grown so attached to the girl, he would want her as far away as possible.
"Okay then, it has been decided. We will tell Bella before she starts school," Carlisle announced. Everyone but Rosalie liked the idea. She sighed loudly, and kept reading her magazine.
"Um, I have a question. What about changing her?" Emmett asked quietly. Everyone started talking at once but Edward's growl had silenced them.
"Out of the question. She will not become one of us," Edward hissed. Rosalie actually thought it was a good idea.
"It would be safer all around if we did," Rosalie pointed out. Edward glared at her.
"I hate to say it, but I think she's right," Alice agreed from her spot on the couch. Edward was pacing in front of everyone. He couldn't believe they were actually considering this.
They took a family vote, and he was shocked to see that everyone agreed that it would be a good idea. He growled in frustration, still pacing back and forth.
"We aren't talking about changing her without talking with her about it. We will let her decide when she's old enough," Jasper said calmly to Edward.
"And when is that?" Edward spat.
"High school. We will ask her then, she will have the option to say no, and she will have the option to change her mind as many times as she needs. If she doesn't want this, then she doesn't have to accept it," Jasper answered. Edward calmed down a little.
Jasper could feel that Bella was getting restless. He sent her waves of happiness and hoped that would help. For some reason, the feeling of restlessness was stronger. He slowly opened her door a little so he could peek in on her. She looked like she was calm, but she didn't feel that way. He sent more waves of happiness and slowly started closing the door, still leaving it open just a bit.
Jasper finally felt the waves of happiness hit him, in full force. He had given her so much that he couldn't help but feel happy too. Then he heard the "thud" from her room and he smelt the blood before he saw what happened. She had rolled off her bed, when she hit the ground, her nose started to bleed a little. She remained sleeping, feeling too happy to realize what happened.
Edward inhaled and that was all he could remember. He instantly was rushing to her door, the bloodlust was too strong.
"Edward! No!"
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