I don't own Twilight or any of its' characters

BPOV

Chapter 26

The Homecoming

"Flight 303 to Anchorage is now boarding." A sharp nasally voice announced overhead, snapping me out of my slumber.

"Come on love, it's time to go." A smooth, soft voice pressed in my ear lulling me into a state of relaxation. My eyelids flickered and opened and there he stood, looking exhausted and unshaven, holding his hand out to me. I yawned and took his outstretched hand, in his other, was Topaz in his little Sherpa cat carrier mewing softly and the largest Starbucks coffee cup I had ever seen.

We were on our way home, and for some reason, the only flight back we could get was at three o'clock in the morning, both of our circadian rhythms would be shot for the next few days. I grabbed Edward's coat and mine and my backpack, now filled with snacks that Esme had packed for both of us. As I lifted the bag, I grunted at the heft of it and threw it on my back.

"Geez Edward, does Esme think you're a diabetic or something? There's enough stuff in here to last us for four days in the wilderness." I grumbled.

He chuckled softly and led me down the hallway to the plane, where we quickly took our seats. He put our coats in the overhead compartment along with the backpack and slid Topaz under his seat. As soon as he reclaimed his seat, he took a deep sip of his coffee, wrapping his hands around the warm cup.

I watched him curiously and smiled. "You're um, really digging on the whole coffee concept aren't you?" I teased.

He looked over at me mid sip and lowered his cup into the holder in front of him, folding his hands calmly. "Bella, it's three o'clock in the morning and I've gotten a grand total of four hours of sleep. Even if I couldn't stand the taste of coffee, I would still be drinking it right now to keep myself lucid."

"Rosalie seemed really aggravated that you made her stop at the only twenty four hour Starbucks in Seattle to get that." I said looking over at his beverage with a smirk.

A wide grin crossed his face, "Yeah, that was priceless wasn't it?" He asked making us both laugh.

For the last week we were in Forks, I saw Edward very infrequently because I was spending most of my time with everybody else. I even went out with Alice and Jasper a few times; Edward had spent a lot of time with Carlisle and Emmet. We still saw each other practically every day, but only for a few hours, which was fine. But now, we were heading back home and I was glad to have him all to myself again, I missed our privacy and I think he did too. Not that I didn't love the rest of my family and friends, but Edward was my Edward and that was the only way I could explain it.

When we finally touched down in Alaska, the sun had risen and the day had started for most of the world, Kate was waiting at the gate for us to drive us home. I felt like I hadn't seen her in quite a while and was hesitant to greet her at first. She walked over to me and hugged me, welcoming me home. Edward followed behind me, dragging our luggage, even with only a few hours sleep he still looked stunning. His hair was completely out of control and he had the slightest shadow of stubble outlining his perfect jaw, but his eyes were bright and alert, his complexion flawless and he smelled heavenly. Kate saw him and gasped, I wondered if Eleazar had told the girls about his intentions when he left on his winter break, I supposed we would find out soon.

"Edward, my God, look at you. I didn't think it was possible." She Gasped, "I told Eleazar he was crazy, but here you are, changed." She smiled to herself as she looked him over. His cheeks blushed slightly at the fuss which seemed to intrigue her even more. She walked closer to him, examining him carefully.

"Hello Kate." He said politely, knowing that this was going to take a minute, he lowered our bags to the floor.

She raised a hand in hesitation, similar to the way I had when Edward had woken up that first day. She lowered her hand, and raised it again.

"You can, it's alright." Edward reassured.

She slowly reached up and touched his face and retracted her hand quickly like he had just burnt her. "You're warm," she whispered.

He nodded with a smile, "I have a heartbeat too." He joked, trying to lighten the moment that was clearly starting to make him uncomfortable.

"I can hear it." She said. Kate reached up again and touched his face, running her hand along the roughness of his stubbly jaw. "You have green eyes. I never knew that." She smiled warmly at him and leaned in closer and sniffed him, "you smell wonderful."

"Don't get any fresh ideas. I'm taken." He chuckled in her ear loudly enough so I could hear him, as if it were some kind of code to keep me from getting jealous.

She backed off immediately, "I'm sorry Bella, this looks terrible, it's just, I've known him for so long, it's a very strange thing for me to see him this way. You probably don't detect the differences, but I do."

I was insulted by that comment, as if I hadn't stared at him for immeasurable amounts of time since the first time I saw him. I'm sure she didn't happen to notice the scar on his chin or the lines around his eyes or… "I don't know Kate, I think I've grown very accustomed to Edward's face after all this time. You tend to do that when it's touching you constantly and in your thoughts on a regular basis. I think I can detect even the smallest of changes at this point." I said firmly.

I saw Edward smile his crooked smile at the floor in amusement at my defiance. Kate narrowed her eyes at me in annoyance. "You look amazing Edward, wait until Tanya sees you."

"I think I'll wait on that for now." Edward said calmly, "With a reaction like that from you of all people, Kate, with Tanya's reputation, she'll probably lick my face or something as equally inappropriate." He lifted the bags again and said, "We should get going."

Kate nodded and led the way; I obediently followed, smirking to myself. The more we associated with the Denali clan the clearer it became that Edward had a limited amount of respect for the girls, Tanya especially, and selfishly, that made me feel better.

Kate brought us straight home, it seemed like ages since I'd gone up the familiar driveway and a sense of homesickness swept over me as the garage door slowly rumbled open. I truly loved it here, I loved Alaska, I loved our school, I loved the fact that the house belonged to Edward and I, that it was where we spent our lives together. It really had become my home. It had been even longer for Edward since he'd been back and I could almost feel the same knot in his stomach as he walked into his beautiful home.

Everything was as I had left it down to the dirty coffee mug I had accidently left on the counter. We had no caretakers or maid services of the sort coming to clean or reorganize. Everything in the house was maintained by the two of us, every part of the house echoed with the words Edward and Bella's. It was perfect to me.

Edward wandered around looking at everything as if he hadn't seen it before and I patiently watched him. I saw him walk into the dining room and smile when he saw some of the leftover wrapping paper lying out that I had used to wrap Christmas gifts. Christmas seemed like it was years ago.

I hurried over to the table and gathered up the scissors and tags and paper, "Sorry about that, I was kind of running late the day my flight left."

He just continued to stand there smiling and said quietly, "It's fine love. Just leave it. It's perfect."

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"It's perfect because it looks like someone actually lives here. Like it's someone's home," he explained. "That means more to me than you could ever possibly know."

"Well, it is someone's home," I said sounding a little confused, "It's our home."

He put his arms around my waist and pulled me against him and kissed my cheek, "I'm so glad to hear you say that." He whispered smoothly.

We spent the majority of the day unpacking and catching up on household stuff. I did loads upon loads of laundry it seemed. Edward went out and got groceries. I was a little nervous because he had never had to do that before, think about what we both needed and then go out and find it. I half expected to see him come home with, well, actually I didn't have any idea what to expect. I tried to think of everything I needed for my meals and made a list and instructed him to get enough for two or two and a half depending on his appetite. He seemed a little confused at first, but didn't ask any questions and went on his way.

Grocery shopping was followed by bill paying and cleaning the house. By the evening, we were both so exhausted that we ordered takeout and went to bed early to watch a movie.

I followed my normal evening routine of showering, changing, brushing and headed to bed. I waited in anticipation to see what the new Edward now did before going to bed. It was silly, but I was so used to seeing him sitting around in his jeans watching me sleep that I had no idea what to expect. I wondered what he slept in, if he showered, what his toothpaste smelled like. It was obsessive really, and ridiculous, but even knowing all of that I couldn't help but wonder.

I didn't want it to look like I was waiting up for him, so I grabbed the remote and threw in some dramatic new release DVD that Edward had ordered through Netflix. He liked thought provoking moody dramas with substance while I was more into creepy horror movies. I figured a dramatic thriller was a reasonable compromise. I heard him shuffling around quietly in the bathroom and listened more closely. I couldn't hear the water running so I assumed he wasn't an evening showerer. I heard the sink turn on and splashing, he was washing his face. Then I heard him brush his teeth and the snap of a piece of floss off the spool, followed by the sound of him swishing around mouth wash. I wondered if he was going to be one of those ocd guys where cleanliness was actually considered a flaw. I felt like an idiot expending so much energy listening to Edward clean up before bed, but it was such a weird concept to me. The light snapped off in the bathroom and the door opened. Edward entered the bedroom wearing a clean black v neck t-shirt and a pair of loosely fitting, black, cotton lounge pants. He looked like a model for Hanes.

I looked at him nonchalantly and smirked a little. "What?" He asked with a laugh.

"Nothing," I said trying to stifle a giggle. "I just never thought the day would come when I got to see Edward Cullen in his jammies."

"You and me both," he said rolling his eyes and climbing under the covers next to me.

"Why don't you just sleep in your underwear like most guys?" I asked.

"Why don't you?" He retorted looking down at my pajamas.

"I will if you will."

"You first," he purred, smiling wickedly.

He called my bluff and I felt my cheeks flush red. I was so embarrassed that I actually pulled the sheets closer to my body, clearly doing the opposite of what he had requested. His smile grew wider at the thought of his comment making me blush.

"So what are we watching?" He asked with interest, changing the subject.

"Some kind of suspenseful drama with a creepy plotline. It should be right down both of our allies." I said pressing play on the remote.

"Perfect." Edward said removing his wrist cuff and setting it on the bedside stand. I waited for him to take off the necklace I had given him for Christmas, but he never did. He just sat back against his pillow and put his arm around me as the movie started.

I sunk down beside him, resting my head against his shoulder and sighed contently. I was by no means trying to get fresh with him, but instinctively, I reached one of my hands behind his back and let the other slip under his shirt and rest against his stomach. I felt his posture stiffen slightly, but then he seemed to realize that the gesture was purely innocent and reveled in my hand being there. His skin was warm and perfectly smooth and when he took in a breath, I could feel tiny ripples just under the surface, indicating where his muscles were. The movie went on and I eventually dozed off, not waking until the morning. When I woke, Edward was still there, breathing softly, fast asleep, and my hand was right where I had left it.