Here is the next chapter, I hope you enjoy. This is a really fluffy chapter because I think they deserve it, and I hope you love it.
Chapter 10-
"What did he just say?" Edward says quietly and slowly.
Rose and Jasper have been shocked into silence, they all look at each other.
"What did he just say?" Edward shouts.
Rose and Jasper jump at the sudden rise in volume. Rose walks towards him and places her arm on his shoulder.
"Go to her, tell her, and support her. Jasper, Ali and I will look into it." She tells him quietly.
"I don't want her to get her hopes up if it isn't true though."
"It will be worse if she finds out we're keeping information from her." Jasper tells him being the voice of reason.
Edward hangs him head and nods. Suddenly, he kicks the tub with Laurent's dead, melted body inside. "Get someone to clean this up." He says to Jasper before walking out of the room into the corridor.
Alice walks out of her office and sees her brother lean against the wall and slide down it. She walks over and sits next to him, leaning her body against him and he wraps his arm around her shoulder as he lays his head on top of hers. "What happened?" She asks him quietly.
"He's dead." Is all Edward says.
In the room Edward just vacated, Rose and Jasper hear Alice and Edward talking so they stay where they are. Jasper pulls out his phone and texts Alec, Carlisle, and Marcus to help search for threats while they look into Laurent's claim.
"I guessed as much, but you're never this affected." Alice replies.
"I killed him too soon." Edward's voice sounds empty as it always does when he's being self-critical.
"What do you mean?"
"Just before he died he said 'Isabella isn't the only one who survived.'"
Alice gasps. "I'll look into it, but it isn't your fault. He did that on purpose, he wouldn't have said anything unless he knew he was dying and there was no bringing him back. You did nothing wrong, it may not even be true, just something to distract us. Especially now they know Bella's with us. We'll up the surveillance and the protection details, no unnecessary trips out of this house, and whatever else you, dad, Alec and Marcus think we need. Now go to Bella, tell her what's happened because it will hurt her if you don't."
Edward nods his head, unwraps his arm from around her shoulders and stands up. He reaches down to help Alice up off the floor and gives her a hug. "Thank you, Pip." He says.
"Anytime Eddie." She replies.
Jasper and Rose walk out of the room and into the hallway as Edward steps back from Alice. Rose walks towards him, "I don't think so. I want in on this sibling love." Alice smiles and pulls her sister to them both by her sleeve.
"Come on then." Alice says.
Edward wraps his arms around them both just as Carlisle and Alec walk down the stairs.
"Aw, look at all of my babies." Carlisle says to Alec.
The three siblings break apart and look at their father. Edward laughs and opens his arms, "Want to join?"
Carlisle runs for them. "Of fucking course I do."
He grabs his son and two daughters and pulls them to him while Alec grabs his phone and takes a picture of the gathering. They break apart. He looks at his father and uncle, "Do you know what was said?" He asks.
They both nod their heads and Alec says "Jasper texted us. Dad needed a lie down after earlier but he will be down soon."
"Okay. I'm going upstairs to talk to Bella and I want you all to look into the claim from Laurent and also try to find out what Aro's planning." Edward tells them all.
They all nod their heads and Edward walks to the stairs, passing Alec on the way. Jasper walks over to Alice, takes her hand and they walk into their office together with the others following close behind. 2 men walk out of the furthest room on the left and into the room Laurent is in, the clean-up crew. Edward watches his family and smiles before moving up the stairs and into the living room. He sees Esme and Bella on the sofa in the same positions as they were in earlier. They must have put Charlie to bed, along with Jacob who was in the kitchen doing homework the last time Edward was up from the basement, as she's not in sight and the kitchen light's off, but the new baby monitor they bought is sat on the table. They look up and Esme runs over to him after seeing his expression.
"What's wrong?" She asks him.
"I need to talk to Bella. It's up to her if you stay but you'll hear it later. There will be another family meeting when we know more, Jasper, Alice, Rose, Carlisle, and Alec are looking in to it now."
"Don't worry, I'll go." Esme tells them both.
Bella nods her head and watches as Esme walks into the kitchen and the light is turned on. Edward sits down next to her and Bella leans against him. He wraps his arms around her and she relaxes into him with a sigh.
She no longer feels worthless around Edward and his family because they always include her and make her feel like an individual. She also no longer doubts Edward when he says that he likes her, no matter the situation that arises. When they first made contact with the man that James had sold her baby girl to, Edward had pulled her to one side. She thought he was going to tell her he changed his mind about her, and when she told him he fears, he didn't get angry but he told her that he doesn't and she needs to stop thinking the worst of every situation. After that, she went to Esme to ask her questions about Edward, after asking his permission. During her talks with Esme, she realised that everything Edward has told her is true and she also found out how happy Esme is at the change in her son; Esme then offered to be Bella's councillor and she accepted. Everything they talk about it confidential and no one pressures either of them to say what has been discussed. Bella tells Edward most of it anyway when they're in bed, which is also a nice development. After Bella's first counselling session, she felt broken and couldn't sleep so she decided to knock on Edward's door to see if he was still awake. He wasn't, but he woke up to see who was at the door. He opened the door and saw Bella with tear stains on her cheeks and pulled her to his shirtless chest, Bella blushed when she realised this detail and that only made Edward laugh.
"Can't sleep?" He asked her
"No. I can't turn my brain off."
"Want to cuddle until you drift off?"
She nodded her head.
"My room or yours?"
"Yours, your bed looks comfortable but we're still close enough to Charlie."
He stepped away from their embrace, took her hand and led her over to the bed. The covers were already pulled back due to Edward being asleep when she knocked on his door. Bella walked around to the other side of the bed.
"What are you doing?" He asked her.
"Um, getting into bed?" She answered unsurely.
"But you're so far away." He pouted.
Bella laughed. "I was giving you your side of the bed, I can move over."
He nodded his head in acceptance. "Okay, but you better."
They got into bed and Bella scooted over to Edward, laying her head on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and hummed a song.
"What song is that?" She asked him quietly.
"It was mom and dad's wedding song."
"It sounds familiar. What's it called?"
"At Last by Etta James."
Bella smiled. "My mum loved that song."
Edward lent down and gave Bella a kiss on the top of her head. "Sleep." He whispered.
She snuggled deeper into him and sighed. "Okay."
Within a few minutes, her breath evened out and she was asleep. Since then, they've slept together most nights, sometimes in his room, sometimes in her room, but always in his room on counselling nights.
Bella is brought out of her thoughts by Edward saying her name.
"Bella, love?"
"Sorry, what's up?" She says.
"Where were you just now?" He asks her squeezing her tighter.
She burrows deeper into him before saying, "I was thinking about how far I've come in the last month. How I feel wanted and accepted by you and your family while still being an individual and that I no longer doubt your feelings. Then I thought about the first night we slept together."
Her cheeks flame red when she realises what that sounds like, even though they are the only two in the room and they both know what she means.
"I love your blush. I hope that never goes away." Edward says. "That's a nice memory to get lost in. I know I do, often."
Bella smiles up at him. "So, what do you want to talk to me about?"
The mood changes and Bella can hear Edward's heartbeat speed up. She sits up and turns towards him. Not liking the distance, Edward reaches out for her hand. "Bella, before Laurent, the man downstairs, died, he told us something. It was on his dying breath and this was done on purpose so we couldn't ask him more. It may not even be true, I just want to get you ready for the possibility it's just a lie and a diversion while we look into it."
"Okay. What did he say?"
"He confirmed what we already knew, both him and James worked for Aro and he knows that you survived the fire. He also said that… you weren't the only one to survive the fire."
Bella gasps and starts to sob. "What?"
Edward grabs hold of her and pulls her to him, she grabs hold of his jacket and sobs into his chest. Esme hears Bella start to sob and runs into the living room. She stops in the doorway and meets Edward's eyes. She silently asks him if she should intervene when he shakes his head, she walks back into the kitchen and worries about the girl on the sofa. When will it end for her?
After a few minutes, Bella calms down but doesn't stop crying. "What were his exact words?"
"'Isabella isn't the only one who survived.'" Edward tells her softly.
"Oh my god." Bella's head drops and she falls silent trying to process what she's been told. After a few seconds, she looks up. "So my mum, dad or Emmett may be alive?"
"Yes, but they may also be dead and this was just a distraction. I want you to know, that we are putting almost all of our resources into this, the rest is looking for any threat that may befall this family, including you and Charlie. If we find out that Laurent told us the truth, we will do whatever we can to bring whoever it is to safety."
She falls back into Edward and he holds her tightly to him. "Okay. So until then we just need to wait?"
"Unfortunately, yes. We'll keep you informed every step of the way."
"Okay." She nods her head. "Thank you."
"It's about your family, you deserve to know."
Bella shakes her head. "Not just about that, about everything. I'm fat, and don't say that I'm not because it's true. I'm not being down on myself, just making an observation. I'm fat and you all look like models but you don't treat me any differently. You put me back together, literally. I was a mess, broken bones, bleeding, bruising, I was and still am actually, a mental mess. I was depressed, still kind of am but I'm getting through it, and that's all thanks to your mum helping me sort through my head, Alice and Rose for being like sisters to me, your dad for patching me up and treating me like his own, and Alec and Marcus for treating me no differently than they treat you or Alice or Rose or Jasper. You look after my baby, you all love her like she's a Cullen. Give her clothes and anything else she needs. So thank you … for everything"
"You don't need to thank us, Angel, we enjoy it. You should just get better and love yourself and that is thanks enough. Now it's late, let's go to bed."
Edward stands up, holds out his hand and she takes it, he pulls her to her feet, she grabs the baby monitor off of the table, and they walk up the stairs to her room together. She stops him before he can follow her in. "Can we sleep in your room tonight?"
"Of course, I'll meet you in there, but can I say goodnight to Charlie first?"
Bella smiles and moves out of the way, allowing Edward to walk in the room. She walks over to her dresser, places the monitor on the top of it, grabs some pyjamas out, and walks towards the bathroom. Edward watches Bella walk away before walking over to a sleeping Charlie. She's dressed in a pale purple Babygro and has her favourite blue dummy in her mouth. Edward gently strokes her cheek before leaning down and giving her a kiss. "Goodnight baby girl. I love you." He whispers.
Bella opens the door to the bathroom and places her dirty clothes in the hamper by the wardrobe. She looks over to see Edward kissing Charlie and smiles before walking towards him and placing her hand on his lower back and rubbing it. She wraps her arms around his waist and looks down at her baby girl.
"She looks so healthy now."
"It's because you're eating nutritious food so your milk is better."
"It's more than that, she's happy, and clean, and safe. I really cannot thank you enough."
Edward wraps his arms around Bella. "You don't need to thank me, we all love her."
He unwraps his arms from around her and walks out of the room. As he goes, he says, "I'm going to get changed, I'll see you in a minute."
Bella watches him go and unknowingly does the same thing as Edward. She gently stokes Charlie's face and then leans down and kisses her head. "Goodnight baby girl, mummy loves you so much."
She walks back into the bathroom and brushes her teeth, getting ready for bed. She then walks back into the room, grabbing the baby monitor off of the top of the dresser, takes one more look at Charlie, and walks into the hallway, closing the door quietly as she goes. Walking into Edward's room, she hears him still in the bathroom brushing his own teeth so she gets into his bed to wait for him.
Edward rinses his mouth and walks into his bedroom seeing Bella in his bed. He smiles at the sight wanting to see that for the rest of his life. "Hey Angel."
She looks up and smiles. "Hi." She pats his side of the bed, "Come on, I'm getting cold."
He walks over to the bed and climbs in, pulling her to him and laying her head on his chest just like the first night. "Have I told you how cute you look in your pyjamas?"
"Not tonight you haven't." She smiles up at him.
"Good, because it would be a lie. You look beautiful, gorgeous, sexy, and absolutely breath-taking in you pyjamas." He kisses her forehead.
She hits his chest gently, ducking her head so he can't see her blush and smile.
"It's true. You're gorgeous."
She looks up at him and he sees something in her eyes that he can't identify. Suddenly, she leans up and kisses his cheek. He smiles and hugs her closer to him. Her top has fallen down so her cleavage has been revealed; Bella hasn't noticed but Edward's eyes stay on Bella's. She then leans down and kisses him on the lips. Edward stays frozen for about 2 seconds, as this is the first time this has happened in the month they've known each other, until he feels her pull away so his hand comes down on her head, pulling her back to him, his other holding her tighter over her back and he's kissing her back.
After a few seconds of this, they both pull back, panting. Bella rests her head under Edward's, but he can feel the heat from her blush and her smile. She kisses his throat before resting back on his chest. "Wow." She says.
"More than wow. Fantastic." Edward replies, a smile clearly in his voice.
She looks up at him, "In case I haven't made it obvious before, I like you too."
His smile gets wider and he leans down to kiss her again, just briefly, but she pulls him back to her and he feels her tongue asking for entrance. Opening up, they kiss for a few minutes longer before they pull apart, panting worse than before. "That's never going to get old." Edward says, awe in his voice.
"I know I've only known you for a month, but I can't stand the thought of you with anyone else." Bella says slowly.
"I haven't been with anyone for years. I wouldn't be with anyone else now I have you. Even if you didn't want me, I don't think I could move on. My feelings are too strong."
"I want to be your girlfriend and for you to be my boyfriend. I know that seems a little juvenile calling us boyfriend and girlfriend, I'm probably showing my age, but that's what I want us to be." Bella says in a rush, hiding her face once more, afraid of rejection.
"Bella, look at me." He waits until she does. "Are you sure you're ready?"
"Well, we practically are anyway. I don't want us to have sex anytime soon, I'm defiantly not ready for that, but I want to stake my claim on you, make us official. Just calling you my boyfriend will make me more sure of us because then I know what to say. God, I'm rambling now. Yes, I'm ready."
Edward smiles. "Then yes. I, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen would love to be your, Bella Marie Swan's, boyfriend."
She beams up at him and reaches up to kiss him. He meets her halfway and they kiss for another few minutes before breaking apart and falling asleep in each other's arms.
I hope you liked that chapter as much as I liked writing it. Please review. ~Megan xxx