BPOV
It took nearly all of my self control to punch her. I wanted to knock her out so that I wouldn't have to drag her away and let her see where I was taking her, but I didn't want to end up breaking her jaw in the process. Luckily, it worked. I was sure she'd wake up with a bruise. I caught her before she fell to the floor, and I laid her carefully on the bed. I just needed to pack a few more clothes, and then I'd be off. My clothes were already loaded in the car. I was taking Edward's Volvo. If he wasn't here by the time I left, he'd find his car at the airport.
I threw the duffel bag on my shoulder and used my other arm to drape Elsie over my other shoulder. I half-walked, half-ran to the door of the garage. Alice's head poked out of the dining room, but I didn't stop. "Bella, what's going on? Why are you taking her away?"
"No questions, Alice. Tell Edward his car will be in the airport parking lot. I don't have time for any goodbyes." I slammed the door behind me, trying to make my point clear that I didn't want her to follow. Apparently, I made my point, but I heard the beeping of Alice punching numbers into her cell phone. I threw Elsie's bag into the already open trunk, slammed it shut, and carefully laid Elsie across the back seat. I was immediately turning the keys in the ignition, speeding backwards. I spun around to face the driveway. I stomped on the gas and took off, but not before I saw Jasper running out of the front door, waving his arms. "Bella! Bella, wait!"
I growled, squeezing the pedal harder. I turned out of the driveway, and Jasper had stopped, seeing that it was no use chasing me. I yanked my cell phone out of my pocket, dialing numbers and making transportation arrangements. I knew exactly where I would take her, someplace far away, someplace beautiful, someplace she would be safe.
APOV
I saw where Bella was headed before she even put Elsie in the car. It was hard for me to understand my feelings about the situation. On the one hand, I can understand why Bella wanted to protect her daughter, and imprinting with a werewolf was not the best way to keep Elsie safe. But on the other hand, imprinting with a werewolf would only give Elsie a tighter shield of people to protect her. Then again, if the only option was to turn Elsie…being with a werewolf could be deadly. Our venom was poison to them, and one kiss gone wrong could kill someone.
I shook my head, knowing the Edward was on his way back after talking more with Sam. I stood at the front door to greet him. He was running towards the house, and I could tell he wasn't going to stop. I stepped outside, letting the light shine on my face. Edward suddenly stopped, only a few inches from me. I went through the last few minutes in my head, letting him read over what had happened while he was gone. The pain twisted into his face, and he looked to the ground. "I should have followed her the moment she started running back." He shook his head slowly. "I can't let anything happen to her…to them." His voice broke.
"Edward…" There was a tiny crack in my voice as Edward's pain-filled eyes met mine, "Take my car. Go to the airport. You saw where she was going. I'll call and get you tickets so that you can follow her. She needs you. They both do." Edward nodded one tiny nod, and took off for the garage. "Don't let anything happen to them, Edward. I love you." I knew he would hear my thoughts as I pulled my tiny phone from my pocket, dialing the numbers swiftly.
BPOV
It wasn't hard to get Elsie on the first plane. I told everyone who raised an eyebrow that she had just gotten out of the hospital, and she was tired. No one questioned, and even if they did it wouldn't have stopped me from getting the both of us on that plane. It was only an hour into our second flight that she began to come around. I grabbed the nearest flight attendant, asking her for a soda and a glass. She handed both to me from the cart that she was pushing. I quickly poured some of the soda into the glass as I swiftly took two Valium and crushed them between my fingers, sprinkling the dust into the drink, mixing it with the straw. Elsie's eyes began to flutter open. She looked around, and then her eyes locked with mine. She started to speak, but I put my hand over her mouth. "Not here, Elsie. You're fine, you're with me. I got you a soda. Please don't make a scene." I took my hand away, and Elsie's mouth closed. Her eyes darted around, confused, but widened when she spotted the soda in front of her. She quickly grabbed it and gulped it down. Finished, she set the glass back down and cleared her throat; it had obviously been very dry.
"Can I at least ask where we are?" Her voice cracked, one glass of soda not enough to help. I signaled the flight attendant, raising the empty coke can, and she nodded, working her way down the aisle to us.
"I believe that we're in an airplane. I may be mistaken." I said, softly grinning. Elsie smiled back, but then caught herself, trying to stay serious.
"I know that. I meant…maybe where we're going?" I broke her gaze, taking the soda from the flight attendant with a smile. I handed it to Elsie, who then guzzled it straight from the warm can, not bothering to pour it in the ice-filled glass. A minute later, she set the empty can next to the first and looked back at me, the question still in her eyes.
"You'll love it, honestly. Your father took me there for our anniversary, you were only three at the time so you don't remember, but you stayed with Alice and Jasper. Trust me, honey, it's so beautiful."
"That doesn't answer my question." Elsie glared at me, but I could see that she was trying to figure it out in her head.
"It's a surprise, Elsie. We're going to have some mother-daughter time. Don't worry." I reached over and stroked her hair.
"But back at the house, when you said…" I covered her mouth once again.
"There are going to be some rules. Rule number one: We're not going to talk about anything that's happened before we got on this plane. We aren't going to worry about the past right now. We're just going to be together. OK?" I slid my finger under her chin, making her eyes lock with mine. She nodded slowly. If she started to worry and get stressed, I would have to give her some more Valium. I needed her to stay calm. "Do you want anything?" I waved my hand at the flight attendant again, who pushed her cart to our seats once again.
"Uhm…" Elsie looked over the contents of the cart, skimming over random brightly-colored packages of candy, sleeves of cookies and crackers, bags of chips, cans of soda, and bottles of water. "I don't care, I'm still thirsty. I'll take anything." She looked at me, and I smiled. I loved when she would talk to me through her thoughts. It was our own little conversation that no one could take from us.
I turned to the attendant. "We'll take one of everything, please." The attendant's eyes got wide, but she did as she was told, placing the bags and bottles on the trays in front of the both of us. I slipped a twenty-dollar bill out of my pocket and handed it to her. "Thank you so much."
The attendant took it, stuttering 'thank you's and staring at the bill. I laughed and turned to Elsie. "It's like she's never seen twenty dollars before, the poor thing."
"Mom, she's probably never gotten a tip, let alone a twenty-dollar tip." She reached for the package of cookies nearest her and ripped it open. I smiled, knowing that sugar always gave her a buzz, but she wouldn't be worrying about anything for a while, especially with all the sugary snacks piled in front of her.
Time passed faster than I had thought when I felt the plane start its decent. Elsie had made it halfway through her snacks. The attendant came over the intercom telling us to buckle our seatbelts and secure our trays, so I helped Elsie put the remaining snacks into a small carry-on bag that I had packed for her, which only held a few books of hers, so there was plenty of room.
Soon enough, we were able to take our seatbelts off and stand up. Elsie stretched her arms out in front of her, standing on her tiptoes, stretching out her muscles. I picked up her carry-on, not having brought one for myself, and held my hand out to her. She took it, and we walked off of the plane together. When we got into the terminal, she started looking around at the signs. She groaned as she walked, seeing that none of the signs were in English. I smiled a little to myself.
After we grabbed our two large suitcases, we walked outside into the warm night air, and I steered us to a cab idling in the drive. I gave him instructions, and slid into the backseat beside Elsie. "You're really not going to tell me where we're going, are you?" she asked. I shook my head with a grin, which earned me a groan.
The cab ride was quiet, both of us watching the lights pass the windows. Finally, we turned into a small parking lot and stopped. I gave the cabbie a large tip as he took our bags out of the trunk. He tipped his hat and got back in the car, driving off. Elsie was looking around. "OK, where the hell are we?"
"A boat dock. Obviously." I chuckled, steering both her and our bags toward one boat in particular. She stood on the small wooden dock as I loaded the bags onto the large motorboat. I held my hand out to her and helped her on. Having inherited my clumsiness, she managed to stumble even with my help. She sat on a seat next to the side as I started the engine and pulled away from the dock, steering us into open water.
Like the cab ride, the trip was quiet. Both of us stared out at the water, watching the light from the moon reflect off of the surface. Elsie was squinting, trying to search for some clue as to where we were going. I already knew where we were going, and I knew from experience that it wouldn't be visible until we were a few miles from it. Sure enough, our destination was visible, looming in front of us and becoming clearer with each passing second. Elsie spotted this and gasped. "What is it?" she asked.
"This…this is an island. Isle Esme. Carlisle bought this island for Esme, and she let me and Edward use it for our anniversary." I looked at Elsie, who was still staring at the island. "Do you like it?"
"Are you kidding? It's amazing." I looked back at the controls, slowing down so that we wouldn't crash through the tiny dock that I was steering towards. At last, I turned the boat off, hopping on the dock and tying the boat to the dock so that it wouldn't float away. Elsie grabbed the bags and handed them off to me before climbing out of the boat. I took the bags and steered them towards the house at the edge of the trees. The door was unlocked and the lights were on, just as I had requested. Elsie followed me into the first bedroom.
"Here's your room, unless you'd prefer to sleep with me. It gets really hot here, and my skin might feel pretty good…" I trailed off, letting her look around.
"It doesn't matter. Here is fine. If I get hot, I'll climb in with you."
I nodded. "Do you want me to help you unpack?"
"No thanks, I think I'll just grab my pajamas and get in bed. I'm kinda tired, surprisingly. I think I'm crashing from all the caffeine-enhanced sodas." She smiled at me, and I nodded.
"OK, I'll let you sleep." I gave her a hug, kissing her lightly on the cheek. "Goodnight. If you need anything, my room is just two doors down the hall."
"Thanks. Goodnight." Elsie started to unzip her suitcase, rummaging around for her pajamas. I strode down to my room with my suitcase, closed the door, and slowly began unpacking my clothes into the dresser. Far in the distance, further that Elsie would be able to hear, was the sound of a boat. I changed into a black silk nightgown, opened the glass door to let in the night breeze, and laid down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
After a few minutes, the sound of the boat's motor cut off abruptly. I closed my eyes and inhaled the salty air. I heard the sharp intake of his breath, and sat up at lightning speed. "Bella," he whispered. Oh, that sweet voice, but it was filled with so much more pain than I could bear.
"Edward, I…" I couldn't finish my sentence, because at my intake of breath he crossed the room, grabbed me roughly with both hands, and fiercely pressed his lips against mine. He then crushed me to his chest, his breath hot on my ear.
"I thought you had left me, Bella. I thought you left me and I wouldn't be able to find you." His voice broke in all of the right heart-wrenching places. If I was still human, I would most definitely be sobbing.
"You'll always find me. I would never go anywhere where you couldn't find me." I didn't have the strength to say it out loud, because I was so sure my voice would break, too. I pulled away from him, placing my hand on his cheek and looking into his eyes. "You have my heart, Edward. That's not something I can just walk away from." I stroked his cheek lightly with my thumb. "You have no idea how hard it was for me. I knew that you would follow, but just knowing that I would be without you…" This time it was my voice that broke. I shook my head, unable to find the words.
"Bella…I'm so sorry, Bella." He pulled me to him once again. "I love you," he whispered in my ear. Our lips met once again, and I pulled him back onto the bed. His hand traced my body as I pulled his ear to my lips.
"Edward, this time, try not to eat the headboard." He looked at me for a fraction of a second before he remembered our last time here, and then flashed his beautiful sideways grin before pressing his lips to my neck, his hands trailing lower, time slipping away until it was a distant memory…
A/N: Hey, guys I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while. I have a very good explanation. I'm seven and a half months pregnant with a baby boy. Yes, I'm 17, and the father is an asshole, for lack of a better and more appropriate word. I'm going to be raising him as a single mom, and I have the full support of my parents, as well as the rest of my family. His name will be Connor Lee. My due date is July 8, even though my parents don't think that I'm going to make it until then, and I'm determined to prove them wrong.
I am going to try an write some more before he is born, and I'm not sure how long it will take me before I'm able to write again after he is born. Don't worry! I'm not giving up on this story. I am really sorry that it took me so long to finish this chapter and get it up here, I just had to get into the swing of writing again. I hadn't written in so long that it took a little while for me to find my writing self again.
I hope that you like the story and you continue to read it. Please be sure to comment, even if your comments are negative. I need the resistance to be able to grow as a writer, even though some of the flames that I've gotten are really very stupid and they just didn't read it well enough, because they say stupid things like "well that can't happen" even after I explained how it can, or whatever. And I ask you to please not waste a comment on something like "it's good. write more." I would like substantial feedback, please. I get my inspiration from my commentors.
I hope you like that I incorporated Isle Esme and the things that happened there in Breaking Dawn into this chapter, even though with this story, Breaking Dawn never took place. Remember, I set Sunrise after Eclipse, before Breaking Dawn ever came out. This being the sequel to Sunrise, Breaking Dawn still never happened, but I felt that maybe a few events could be incorporated into the story.
Well, as always, enjoy, comment, and subscribe! I love you all!