It's been so long since I've updated. I apologize, school has just gotten in the way.
And wow! So many requests! I will try and write everything that you have asked for. A had a request for a story about Bella's childhood a while back, so I tried to cover that a little in this oneshot. As to more oneshots about characters by themselves, those are definitly coming, probably when I hit the halfway mark. And more character pairings will be coming too, with fluff. Thanks for the review guys, keep them coming. :]
Happy Valentines Day!
I do not own Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, or Breaking Dawn. These characters will be shoved back in the box labeled "Twilight Characters" and put back in Stephenie's attic when I am done with them.
Container
Ah, spring was here. Birds were chirping, snow was melting, and warmer weather was well on its way to the tiny town of Forks. The windows were cracked open in Bella's small house, letting the fresh air pour into the kitchen. It filled every corner with its freshness, instilling a sense of euphoria that only came when you were standing in the same room as an overly happy Jasper. And with spring, comes spring cleaning.
Only one thing put a damper on this perfect day. Edward had to attend a college interview, much to his dismay. Bella knew that they wouldn't appreciate tag-along girlfriends, so she opted to stay home. Of course, she missed him. Ever since they had returned from Italy it was an actual physical pain to be parted. Shaking her head, she threw on some old clothes and tramped into her cellar. She needed a distraction, and spring cleaning was just what the doctor ordered.
Bella had never really taken a look at the clutter that was their cellar. Mostly she came down to grab a can of some food item from the pantry shelves. Now, she saw the mountains of boxes and plastic bins that contained memories. It would take hours to sort through all of this, maybe more. Perfect.
She pulled down the first box and set it on the floor before her.
"Scrapbooking, this is odd."
Charlie definitely did not have any interest in scrapbooking. It must have been an old obsession of her mother's, back when she still lived here. Bella smiled, remembering the antics of her lovable mom. Her hobbies changed like the weather.
The box was filled with bright-colored paper, stickers, glue, scissors, embellishments, and all types of odds and ends used for scrapbooking. There were also some old pictures too; tucked in the photo pockets you received at the store. Bella laughed when she recognized the tiny, mousy little girl smiling at the camera. She was clad in a bathing suit, licking a popsicle and sporting a lovely black eye.
She remembered that incident all too well. Her grandmother had just got a new kiddy pool, one that Bella loved to swim in. Like any other child, jumping around in the water was one of her favorite things to do. Well, on one of the jumps she took the landing wrong and ended up in the water, face down. Of course, a rock just happened to be conveniently placed in that tiny space under the pool.
Moving on….
She set the box aside, planning to call her mom later and ask if she was still interested in this. If not, she could donate it to Fork's tiny spring fair that was coming up. She'd been to the fair, and there wasn't much but a small baked goods table and hand-knitted mittens. There were a couple of kid's games, but there weren't many small children in Forks.
This time she grabbed a plastic container, bearing the simple title of "first grade." Inside were the knick-knacks that a first-grader accumulated over the school year. Why couldn't homework be this simple anymore? She laughed when she realized how illegible her writing had been, even then.
Something caught her eye, and she lifted out a small snow globe. It was filled with sand and glitter, a pathetic looking island glued to the center.
Mrs. Bruin's first grade class was impossible to quiet that day. It was right before Christmas, and no one could keep the minds of the little ones on the task of learning. Ditching the lesson plan, the teachers pulled out a craft and set them to it. They were all creating snow globes. Aaron sat on one side of her, already filling his jar with glitter and fake snow. Kelsey was doing the same. Bella took a lump of clay and rolled it in her tiny hands, dropping it into the jar with a tiny plop.
She took some more clay and molded it to look like a castle, thought it looked more like a jagged rock. She dropped that on top, and then filled the jar with sand, and finally water.
Aaron stared at her jar and shook his head. "That's not a snow globe Bella!" Kelsey laughed, she liked the castle.
"I don't like snow, so I made an underwater castle!"
The now 18-year-old Bella shook the ancient snow globe in her hand and watched the sand flutter through the water and settle back towards the bottom. She set the jar back in the container and shoved it over to the "consider" pile. It was up to Charlie if he wanted to keep this box.
She sifted through more boxes, moving them to the piles they belonged in. Tools, holiday decorations, old clothes, bedding, old ice skates, and a few toys filled the remaining boxes. There was one with old books, and those were set aside for later reading.
Finally, the cellar held some order.
She walked back upstairs and gave a smile to her father who was hanging up his coat and belt near the door. He surveyed her old clothing and knew what she had been up to.
"I've been meaning to clean up that cellar, thanks Bells."
She chuckled and headed up to her room. "I'm surprised you even knew there was a cellar under all those boxes!" She changed her clothes and paced around the room, glancing anxiously at the clock. There were still a couple of hours before Edward would be back. She sighed and sat down, grabbing a book.
Reading wasn't enough to distract her. For today, it seemed that memory lane was the only thing that could do that. She hopped back up, and grabbed her coat and car keys on the way back to the kitchen.
"I'm heading out dad. I'm just going a little drive to Port Angeles and back."
He looked up from the paper and surveyed her face with growing concern. "Hey, you alright kid?"
She swallowed guiltily, regretting all the worry she had caused her father. "Yeah, I just have a case of cabin fever. It's such a nice day too."
Charlie gave one of his crinkly-eyed smiles. "Be safe out there."
Moments later she was cruising down route 101 north. It was quiet in the car, the silence allowing room for thought. She pulled her Linkin Park disk from the glove compartment and popped it into the player, turning the music up loud. It never failed.
There was a park in Port Angeles that she used to visit as a child. She pulled up to the sidewalk and hopped out, stepping onto the familiar grass. The grass smelt fresh, now that it wasn't covered by snow. There was a bench near a little glade of trees, and she sat down on it, inhaling the air. She used to go rollerblading down this path with her parents. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back, feeling the sun on her face.
"She's pretty mom."
Bella sat up with a jerk and glanced wildly around her. The sun had begun to set, and she glanced at her watch, thankful to see that she had only been out for about an hour. She'd be home in time to get supper ready for Charlie. The boy who had woken her up was staring at her sheepishly, wielding a pail and shovel.
"Sorry miss, I didn't mean to wake you up."
Bella smiled at the little boy and his mother. "No problem, I didn't mean to fall asleep anyway." The pair continued down the path and she gathered her things. She stood up and headed towards her truck, stopping in her tracks when she saw Edward heading towards her.
He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him, leaning down and burying his face in her hair. "I just can't leave you alone, can I?"
She leaned against him as they strolled slowly to her truck. "How did you get back so fast?"
He winked and smiled in a way that made her a little uneasy. "We drove." She didn't even inquire about how fast they had to be traveling. "Now, what are you doing alone in the park?"
She smiled and hooked a thumb into her jeans pocket. "A little nostalgia, until you were back. I missed you."
He bent down and lifted her lips up to his. "And I missed you. It's not worth going so far, I couldn't keep my mind on what they were saying. Of course, it didn't help that I've heard it a million times before."
She rolled her head over to smile at him before taking his hand. "We have to get home. I need to feed Charlie before I lose the keys to the kitchen."
"I can get you home in less than half an hour."
Bella choked and shook her head. "No… that won't be necessary."
I made up the route 101 bit. I have no idea how to get to Port Angeles. I believe Edward mentioned that road when they were driving to their meadow for the first time.
R&R Please! I'm always seeing the same people, I don't know if anyone else is reading these stories.