14.5. While She Sleeps (an interlude)

I embraced my little sleeping Bella as long as I could, but after only an hour, she began to shiver under my cold skin. Even the blankets and clothing couldn't keep the cold out forever. I sighed as I effortlessly slipped off of the bed and stood in the middle of the room. Charlie was fast asleep on the couch, so I decided to venture out into the house and explore for a while.

As I drifted past the bathroom, I caught lingering notes of Bella's scent – so I went in. Why not? It was a small bathroom. Clean, yet lived in. Charlie's razor mingled quietly with Bella's hairbrush. Like them, I thought. Inside a small cabinet, I found a tub of moisturizing cream. It was a natural cream, without any perfumes. Bella never wore makeup, perfumes, or ornate accessories, thankfully. They would only serve to take away from her natural beauty. I wondered, briefly, if I would have reacted so badly upon my first encounter with Bella in that tiny classroom – if her skin had been covered in perfumes and cosmetics. Would the false fragrances have distracted me from her scent? I smiled a dark smile to myself, knowing that my vampire senses could not be so easily tricked. I would have still ached for her.

My mind wandered, as it usually did. So easily distracted we are - my kind. So many sensory things, so many memories…and in my case, so many thoughts, to absorb and filter. I thought about how humanity had dulled their instinctual sense of smell with all the unnatural fragrances they used. Every generation wondered why the sexes couldn't 'read' each other, or how people could so easily miscommunicate. I knew the answer – they failed to rely on their natural instincts. The musk of a person; it tells you so much. Throughout history, humans have sought to develop their minds and ignore their animal instinct. Civility?

Or blindness? Were they really so advanced? It seemed to me, that with every advance humanity made, they distanced themselves further from one another.

Bella was more instinctual. She didn't even know it. She was more human than most humans I'd encountered. Her emotions were real and raw. Her scent was natural. Her presence was electric.

She wonders why people in this small town are drawn to her. It is because she is this raw, honest thing. The people of Forks were not even aware of how she affected them – but she did affect them. They only knew she was different, but it wasn't because she was from somewhere else. It was because this sleepy town was full of two kinds of people. The older generation – tired and lethargic, going through the motions, accepting this town as 'what life is', and the younger generation – bored and distracted by the glittering big cities, doing everything they could to make themselves more like what they thought 'life was supposed to be like'. But, they were all, every one, numb to the world. They lived in the past and in dreams. They did not live in the moment. Bella did.

I often wondered why she was so drawn to me. Her reaction was unlike the others. She probably thought I had awakened this onslaught of senses in her, but I knew better. She was different. She had always been aware of the world in a raw and instinctual way. It was how she knew to leave her mother and come to Forks.

I had wandered back down the hall to her door, gazing at her sleeping form. She had stopped shivering and was curled in a warm ball under her blanket, mumbling her dreams aloud. I crept in and kissed her hair lightly. She stirred, but did not wake. "I love you," she whispered in her sleep.

"I love you too, Bella," I whispered into her ear. She smiled. I studied her for a few moments more before slipping out of the room again.

I walked slowly past Charlie's room. His door was ajar. An unmade bed, a pile of metal objects – keys, his badge, an ink pen – occupied the top of his dresser. A picture of Bella. I did not enter, I only lingered. His scent was strong in the room, but I could also smell a faint note of flowers and soap. Bella must have laundered his bedding or clothing recently.

I let my feet carry me to the staircase. Charlie's thoughts were still lost in dreams, so I quietly descended and hovered at the living room entry. Charlie was draped over the couch uncomfortably. My eyes drifted from Charlie to the far wall. There was a painting of a serene lake surrounded by trees. Small. Simple. Not a masterpiece, but beautiful in its own right. I wondered what it was about the painting attracted Charlie. He wasn't the type to worry about décor. I doubted it was a lingering decoration from when Renee dwelled in the house.

I pictured him at a flea market or garage sale and the painting catching his eye. Did he linger on it? Did he study it? Or was it an impulsive buy – a choice made simply because it would fill an empty space on the wall? It didn't seem likely, as the painting was far too small to fill the space it occupied. Perhaps it was a gift. But from who? Billy? Charlie didn't have any romantic attachments, so it wasn't likely from a woman.

I was intrigued. I studied the painting further and noticed a small girl playing at the river bank. I considered the possibilities again and realized that something had not occurred to me. Could it be that this painting was found soon after Renee took Bella back to Phoenix? Was the little girl representative of Bella? I gazed at Charlie and imagined him at a garage sale, probably having stopped to say a polite hello to a townsperson, browsing the items without a thought. Perhaps he had passed by a box of old paintings and frames and noticed the little girl? I'd gamble that his every thought at that time was tinted with thoughts of Bella. How alone you must have felt after she was gone.

I noticed the floor was worn in that corner of the room. Had he spent time hovering in front of the painting, willing the little girl to jump out and smile at him?

I studied Charlie for a long while. I felt a kinship with him. He was alone until Bella came into his life again. She had the same affect on me – awaking me from a long slumber. Finally, I dared to reach out and cover Charlie with the quilt from the back of the couch. He was deep in a dream and did not stir at my light movements. It wasn't much of a gift, but it was what I could give.

I left him then and wandered back up to Bella's room. She was falling into a deeper sleep now. I didn't want to leave, but I figured this was as good a time as any to sneak away for a moment, so I lightly kissed her on the shoulder and drifted to the window.

*******

Back at home, I was greeted at the door by a bubbling Alice.

"Oh, didn't I tell you? I knew it was going to be a wonderful day!"

I rolled my eyes at her, refusing to give her any satisfaction. I was still annoyed at her other visions of Bella. She couldn't win me over that easily. Ignoring her pleads for attention; I ghosted to my room and began gathering a new outfit for the day. She was fast behind me.

"Please tell me all about it. Every detail!" she squealed.

"You already know all the details, Alice." I said in the best bored and uninterested tone I could muster.

"No I don't! I don't!" she bounded in front of me and leaped up into my arms. I caught her for an instant and then promptly dropped her, huffing at her.

"Leave me alone, I have to change," I said, bluntly. But she was not so easily deterred.

As soon as I turned to refocus on my clothing, Alice was atop my shoulders, giggling.

"Get off me, sprite!" I yelled.

"Oh, Edward," she sighed, resting her head on mine and completely ignoring my attempts to remove her from my shoulders, "I'm so happy you've found her. You're much more fun…even when you are pretending to be annoyed."

"I'm not pretending! Get the hell off me!" I yelled, finally succeeding at flinging her off my shoulders. She flew across the room and landed on her feet, smiling.

Suddenly, Esme's voice echoed through the house. "Don't break anything!"

"Yes you are," Alice smirked, ignoring Esme's commands.

"You're disgustingly annoying," I said flatly.

"You love me," she said and then wilted her entire body into a pathetic pleading masquerade, "Could you bring her to meet us, Eddie?"

"Don't call me Eddie."

She immediately straightened up with wide, bright eyes. "You didn't say no!"

"I didn't say 'yes' either."

Alice smiled and sprinted over to me, wrapping her tiny arms around my waist. "Esme wants to meet her too, you know," she said as she buried her little head in my chest.

"Clever, little Alice….and yes, I do, Edward. Won't you bring her to meet us?" Esme pleaded with me in her thoughts.

Ugh. They are ganging up on me! I let a small smirk appear on my face, "Fine. I'll ask. I can't guarantee she'll want to come."

I hardly had the words out of my mouth and Alice was squealing as loudly as she could, bouncing off every surface in my room. I sensed Jasper enter and lean on the door frame.

"SHUT. UP." Rosalie roared at Alice from down the hall. "Ugh. The human? Here?!"

"Alice, darling, why don't you calm down a bit before you gut the entire room, hmm?" Jasper said in a calm and amused voice, grinning at Alice.

Esme was at the top of the stairs now, with Carlisle in tow. "Oh, very good, Edward! We will all be on our best behavior," she said, smiling.

Rosalie burst out of her room, "Correction, YOU will be on your 'best behavior'. I will be hunting. There is NO way I am going to be stuck in this house with that foul smelling human!" "She shouldn't even be in our lives!" Rosalie added in her mind, glaring at me. I instinctively crouched and growled deeply at her. She hissed back at me.

"Stop." Carlisle said, flatly and firmly, looking both of us in the eyes.

I straightened my pose and looked away from Rosalie, while every other eye stared at her, quietly condemning her for her behavior. A smug smile crossed her face and she turned on her heel and retreated into her room. Emmett rolled his eyes and followed. "I'll talk to her, Edward."

A second of silence passed before Alice was behind me; her arms around me again. She leaned her head into my back and giggled, "yes, my very best behavior. I promise!"

I rolled my eyes and looked at Carlisle and Esme who smiled knowingly and glided down the stairs.

"I'll keep things calm, Edward. Don't worry." Jasper smiled and gathered Alice up in his arms. "Why don't we leave Edward alone, sweets," he winked as he carried her down the hall.

I smiled to myself and my eccentric family. It would be amazing if Bella didn't run screaming from us.

After changing clothes and freshening up, I returned to Bella. The house was still deep in sleep. I leaned down and breathed in Bella once more, letting her sweet warmth radiate through my steel skin. After a moment, I retired to the rocking chair to wait out the rest of her sleep cycle. A tattered copy of Emma lay nearby, so I snatched it up and began reading. I chuckled as I read, realizing I was picturing Alice as Emma the matchmaker.