Chapter Five – Videos of Forgotten Memories

"Good morning Bella! Are you ready to work hard?" asked Edward, his face beaming.

I wanted to slap the smirk right off his face. I wasn't in the mood to listen to any of his jibes; thoughts of what he could – no, what he would do to me had kept me awake all night – I had barely gotten an hour of sleep. I nearly punched him in the face when he turned up on my doorstep at six-thirty in the morning looking fresh and cheerful.

I almost wished that Charlie had been the one to answer the door so that I wouldn't have to go at all – but then Edward would probably have told him about what had happened in Port Angeles and I'd get a lecture for not telling Charlie about it… it was a lose-lose situation.

"Have you had breakfast yet?"

I glared at him blearily through eyes that weren't quite awake. The tone of his speech was suspicious and so was his politeness. I preferred it when he was still being an ass.

"It's the crack of dawn so, no," I replied, the sentence just about incoherent from sleepiness.

My stomach lurched as he turned sharply and parked in front of a café.

"One day, you're going to do that and I'm going to throw up all over your precious car," I threatened irritably.

He ignored my mutters and got out, walking around to open my door just as he had done yesterday. "Don't be like that," he said, holding out a hand to help me out. "Besides, I'm buying you breakfast."

I knocked his extended arm away and eyed him suspiciously wondering what the breakfast was going to cost me as I got out of the car without his assistance. He caught the look on my face and chuckled. "Come on, Bella," he said. "You're already my slave, what else can I do to you?"

Plenty; that was what I wanted to say to him but the muscles that moved my mouth didn't seem to want to work. I followed him numbly through the doors of the café barely aware of what I was doing. He stopped abruptly and I walked into him.

"What do you want to eat?" Edward asked.

An incomprehensible splutter worked its way out of my lips. My face didn't want to co-operate.

He laughed. "You really aren't a morning person are you?"

"Well whose fault is that!" I snapped at him. "I didn't get a wink of sleep all night and it's all because of you!"

An evil grin worked its way onto his lips. "Bella you dirty-minded girl," he said suggestively. "Maybe we should have gone to the hotel after all. Of course, we could always go now."

"I didn't mean it like that! You stupid, perverted, egotistic…"

"Bella?"

I turned around slowly and forced a smile onto my face. "Um – hi, Mike!"

Edward scowled, grabbed my hand and quickly pulled me into his embrace. I turned red with both indignation and embarrassment.

"What are you doing?" I hissed at him.

"He's going to try and take you away from me," whispered Edward in my ear.

"Don't treat me like an object!"

He simply chuckled at me then turned his attention to Mike. "What do you want, Newton?" asked Edward irritably – I fought back a smile, he sounded like a child who had just been asked to share a toy but the smile dropped after I realised that I was the toy. "Bella's busy."

Mike stood there staring at Edward and me looking dumbfounded. He ran a hand through his hair and said something that sounded suspiciously like, "Oh shit, the rumour's true."

Rumour? What rumour? I went pale. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours since Edward had 'rescued' me and we had started 'going out'.

"What rumour?" Edward calmly voiced the panicky thoughts running through my head.

Mike didn't bother answering; instead he asked a question which was obviously intended for me. "Are you sure it's safe to be going out with him?"

Edward chuckled and rested his chin on the top of my head. "You make it sound like I'm a bad guy," he whined before I could reply to the question, absent-mindedly playing with a loose lock of my hair. "I'm a perfectly good guy for Bella to be going out with! It's not as if I'd drag her into a perilous situation. I'm not stupid."

"Bella, the Vampires can get into some really dangerous stuff."

"Do you really think that I'd let anything happen to Bella while she's with me?"

"I have reason to worry about leaving her with you. You don't care about anyone but yourself, Masen!"

I scowled as they argued about me and my safety, neither boy let me get a single word in. We were gathering a number of spectators. From the whispers I gathered that most of them were expecting a fight to break out between Mike and Edward. I blushed and fidgeted, waiting for the squabble to end so that we could just leave.

After ten minutes of endless insults and accusations, Edward chuckled to himself and ended the verbal dispute by kissing my neck and pushing me out the door and into his car.

"Stay here," he ordered. "I'm going to get something from the bakery and then we can be on our way."

I sighed and rested my head against the window. I'd only spent fifteen minutes in his company and already I was exhausted. I wallowed in self-pity and sobbed to myself wondering what kind of effect a whole day with Edward would have on me though I stopped the moment he came back.

I scarfed down the apple danish he bought in an instant then asked him what I was supposed to do today. He shrugged and mumbled something about cleaning up then turned on the CD player.

"Debussy?" I asked, surprised by his taste.

He grinned at the expression on my face, "Aren't delinquents allowed to like classical music?"

"I've never heard of one that did."

He laughed. "There's a lot you don't know about me, Bella."

I sighed. He was right about that and it worried me.

~x~

"Bella, are you here?"

I lifted my arm and flopped it about in the air in what was an exhausted attempt at a wave, I couldn't muster enough energy to reply.

Edward had left me at his house – a lovely, white cottage with a green garden full of different coloured roses, not the kind of place I had expected the perverted gang member to live in – and ordered me to clean the place up then left me staring at the door as he locked it.

The place looked as if it was owned by a caveman. The kitchen was overflowing with dirty dishes; there were clothes all over the furniture and takeaway containers littering the floor. I almost did consider running away but I had done as I was told – mainly because I couldn't stand the stink that was wafting through the house.

Now, I was completely worn out. I couldn't even sit up. I just lay there, sprawled in the middle of the floor.

"I'm amazed, the house is actually clean," mused someone from the door.

I lifted my head and found Edward staring at me with a bewildered expression and a young woman with a heart shaped face standing behind him, trying to hide a smile.

The woman walked over to me and offered a hand. "You must be Bella. I'm Esme, Edward's sister. I'm sorry you had to clean up this pig sty. Edward has always been a slob."

"Esme!" grumbled Edward. "Don't talk about me like that."

"I hope you threw out the dirty magazines in his room."

"Esme!"

"Edward, why don't you be a good boy and get some lunch for the three of us," said Esme, ignoring her brother's complaints completely. "Knowing you, there's probably nothing in the fridge but ice-cream and mould."

I stared, amazed, as Edward flushed with embarrassment before turning heel and striding out the door.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" I asked Esme.

Esme giggled and helped me up. "He's really a good boy at heart," she told me with a wink. "Seventeen and he still acts like a child – maybe that has something to do with the fact that he wet his bed until he was eight."

I coughed and choked; well, that was a shocking piece of information. Bad-boy Edward used to wet his bed?

"Anyway, it's good you're back in Fork, Bella," continued Esme cheerfully. "He hasn't been the same since you left."

What was she talking about?

"You make it sound like we knew each other," I muttered.

Esme blinked rapidly. "You don't remember?"

"Don't remember what?"

She smiled slightly. "I'll take that as a yes," she closed her eyes as if musing over some thought then finally she got up and led me into the living room. I sat down on the couch as she wandered over to a cabinet and browsed the contents. Finally she shouted with triumph and put a tape into the VCR.

"Perhaps this will jog your memory," said Esme cheerfully, and joined me on the couch.

The static cleared and showed a room that looked surprisingly familiar. Was that… my house?

"Charlie, they're here!"

I froze, I knew that voice.

"Trisha, Marcus!" gushed Mum as Charlie followed her with the camera. "So good to see you! Oh Esme, you're so gorgeous! Wow, Edward, you're getting to be a big boy aren't you?"

My eyeballs almost fell out of my head. Edward? "Is that…?"

Esme smiled broadly the little boy turned around and tilted his head to the side. Dark-bronze locks, emerald green eyes. No way…

Mum winked at the camera then knelt and whispered into the kid's ear, "Go up to Bella and…" her voice became inaudible to the camera.

The boy nodded then ran off.

Mum giggled then beckoned to Charlie behind the camera. "You have to film this Charlie!"

"Renee, what did you tell the poor boy to do?"

Mum simply smiled and hushed him.

The camera followed mum into the kitchen then focused on Kid-Edward as he ran up to a little girl with dark brown hair and ivory skin (me, I realised) and kissed her on the cheek with a cheerful, "I love you, Bella. Merry Christmas!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?"

I jumped about a foot into the air and fell off the couch as Edward stormed into the room and quickly turned off the TV.

Esme beamed innocently. "Oh, welcome back, Edward. Did you bring lunch?"

I'd never seen Edward look horrified before. His face was red and his eyes were wide. He looked almost, embarrassed. Yeah right. Edward Masen wouldn't get embarrassed…

He dumped the containers on the tables, grabbed me by the hand. "Let's go Bella, I'll take you home."

~x~

The silence in the car was awkward. The air itself seemed tense. I wouldn't even have minded if he cracked one of his horrible sex jokes. I kept glancing at him, the video on my mind. I should have had at least some memory of the time when that video was taken, but for some odd reason I didn't. We had obviously been family friends; that explained the flash of recognition the first time Edward had laid on me but how come I hadn't had any recollection when we'd first met?

"What?" he asked gruffly.

I hesitated then asked quietly, "When was that video taken?"

He ran his hand through his hair and looking uncomfortable he mumbled an answer that I didn't catch. The words reached his feet but failed to reach my ears.

"Huh?"

"Christmas Day," he replied quietly. "Thirteen years ago." He glanced at me. "You don't remember?"

I wrestled with my mind; trying to remember then finally shook my head. "No, I don't."

An odd look crossed his features. "Really?" he asked softly. Was it just me or was there a trace of disappointment in his voice?

The conversation ended.

We pulled up in front of my house. Like last night, Edward got out first and opened my door for me. I got out and to my surprise he followed me to the front door and grabbed my arm as I tripped over nothing.

I sighed. "Sorry, that happens a lot."

"Bella, look out!"

Edward threw himself at me and knocked us both onto the porch as something crashed to the ground where I had been standing barely seconds ago.

"Does that happen a lot too?" asked Edward breathlessly.

I didn't reply. There was a new message on my truck.

I told you this would happen.