"WHAT?!" I nearly screamed. Max covered my mouth with his hand.
"Listen. I already told them that neither of us would be interested, but they want a second vote on that, so they said that I was to come back-with you- and show them that you wouldn't either." He said, all very calmly. I just looked at him, thinking 'oh crap' over and over. He pulled me close and stroked my hair. I leaned into him and though over what was about to happen. Max just listened, answering any questions. It finally sank in that we had to do this, so I accepted it. Max looked at me and smiled. I smiled back, but it quickly disappeared.
"Max…where were you, when, you know?" I asked. He looked over my head, clearly remembering. I looked at him, and took in what he was feeling. He had cloaked it. I glowered. He looked back down at me, eyes still far, far away.
"I went around the world; saw everything-which is how I ended up meeting the Volturi."
"But I thought you said….that you found the ashes first…." I said.
"I did. But I remembered that story, and I hadn't been to Italy yet, so…"
"Oh, Max, what are we gonna do?" I groaned.
"We go to Italy, politely decline, and go on with our lives. Aro promised he wouldn't give us any trouble if we declined."
"How'd he know it'd be a 'we'?" I asked.
"He didn't. I was in denial when I went to them."
"Oh." I said. Max sighed and looked at me, but he was still miles and miles away. I didn't say anything. Finally Max looked at me and smiled grimly. I placed my hand on his cheek and just looked at him until he let up his cloak. I was hit with anger, sadness, regret, love, more regret, and even more anger. I looked at him, fighting the slight urge to let go, and calmed him down. He smiled at me and mouthed 'thanks'. I lay down and pulled him next to me.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"Close your eyes and let your mind come up with the most random stuff. But don't think. It's just like dreaming, or sleeping, just as if we were human, and it helps when your stressed-trust me, it's really nice." I explained. He did just as I said and I felt him relax a little. I smiled and snuggled up to him, and 'fell asleep'. We 'woke up' a few hours later, feeling so much better. Max looked at me and smiled.
"You're right. That was nice." He said. I grinned and nodded. We went hunting for a few hours and then came back to house.
"So when are we gonna go?" I asked, but quickly covered my mouth because we were in the front room. Max looked at me. So did everyone else.
"Go where?" Esme asked. I looked at Max, who nodded.
"Well….." I said. I didn't bother talking, since Edward and Max were there. And the end everyone was kinda like 'whoa'. I nodded. Max spoke up.
"We decided that it would be best if we did this as soon as possible, so I was thinking we could get the next flight." Max said in that calm, I'm-in-charge-of-this-and-matter-of-fact way he had when he was dealing with something that needed to be dealt with as soon as possible. They all nodded, knowing just how important it was. Bella picked up Nessie and pulled her close. I felt bad, because they had to worry about everything all over again. Max was collected. I was worried because Max couldn't take all of this himself, no matter how much he thought he could. I took his hand. Jasper came back into the room holding a few pieces of paper, and handed them to Max silently, but he looked at me and smiled reassuringly. I half-smiled back and mouthed thanks. He went over to Alice, who looked like she was still secretly scheming something. Part of me wanted to know what her deal was, but we had other matters at hand. Max looked at me, then looked at everyone else.
"We'll be back in a few days." Max started for the door. I looked at everyone and in an attempt to make everyone smile I shook my head and sighed.
"Men." It worked, everyone laughed. "Bye guys!" I said and ran out. Max had the car already warmed up. I got in and he took off. I froze for half a second once I registered just how stressed out Max was. I put my head on his shoulder. He relaxed a little and took one hand off the steering wheel and wrapped it around my waist.