DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS FROM TWILIGHT. THEY ALL BELONG TO STEPHENIE MEYER.
6 MONTHS PREVIOUS
BPOV
Even though I had not been able to stay with Edward throughout the last months of his treatment, I still went to see him as often as I could. Most of the time I would have to be in school so I would have to wait until the weekend to see him, which was hard at first for the both of us but we alwaysmade the most of our time together and even though I protested greatly each time, Carlisle insisted on paying for me to stay in a hotel every weekend I went to see Edward. Which to be fair was every weekend. I would have to pay Carlisle back at some point. I didn't like the fact that he was always paying for me to go and stay in Seattle. It didn't seem fair.
Over the past year the Cullens had become family to me. The family I wished that I could have had with my parents. Not the small family I had with them. If it was what you could call a family. My parents living on opposite sides of the country, never really speaking to each other unless it was about me and even then it was quick, fleeting conversations that held little or no emotion at all. I had always longed for a brother or sister, and now I had two of each, along with the love of my life, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen.
They had become like family to me, to the level where neither family - myself, Jasper, Emmett Rosalie and Alice - bothered to knock anymore when visiting each others houses. I had a key to the Cullen household and each of them had a key to mine, something Charlie was surprisingly okay with, as he knew how important to me they all were. They were a second family. I spent a lot of my time over at the Cullens' house. Alice loved to play what she had called "Bella Barbie" and constantly tortured me with extensive shopping trips in either Olympia or Seattle. Even though she was extremely hyperactive, could talk for America and constantly tortured me, Alice was a little sister to me and I loved her. Rosalie on the other hand, although she loved shopping as much as Alice did, was like me in a lot of ways. Even though she was gorgeous, to the extent where she could rival any model she wished, she was unusually shy. She didn't really like to speak up, something that both she and I shared. We had become close during the time that I had known her and she often told me how much she felt like I was a part of their family.
Emmett and Jasper were surprisingly similar, for looking so different. Emmett was huge. A walking boulder, but we all knew that he was a teddy bear on the inside, only capable of hurting those that hurt his family. Just as he had done when we discovered Mike Newton was spreading rumours about Edward. I had never seen Emmett so angry before, and being honest, it scared me a little. Mike had learnt from that incident not to say anything about Edward or the rest of the Cullens' again. He had once made a snipe at me, when Emmett was behind him, not realising how protective Emmett had become of me, and lets just say, he won't be making any more jibes at me. Jasper was in some ways, like Emmett but in a lot of ways he was like Edward. He was protective of his family, like Emmett was and he could be quite scary when he needed to be, but again he was as soft as Emmett was underneath. It was all for show really. But he was also extremely sensitive and caring. It was almost like he could sense what those around him were feeling and help them work it out. It was hard to ever feel uncomfortable and uneasy around Jazz. He just had that kind of persona.
The happiest day of my life so far had been the day Edward had been discharged from the clinic.
He had been in there from the middle of October to when he was released at the beginning of June, eight months after he had been admitted. So it was a great day for us all. Most of the time, patients spent three to six months in the clinic, so Edward's initial reluctance to accept the treatment they were offering had taken its toll. Something that, when I had heard, had almost shattered my heart into a thousand pieces, because the longer it took Edward to respond to the treatment, the longer he would be in there and the longer we would be apart.
He had also had to endure James' trial in the middle of his treatment. The clinic were set against him testifying, but the courts claimed that without Edward, then they had no evidence to hold against James and he would have to be released. After having to deal with the stress of the trial, Edward had taken several steps backand withdrawn into himself again, refusing food and sessions with Derek just as he had done in the beginning. It was tough for him, but he managed to get through and work his was up to being released. All on his own. Even though I had lengthy phone conversations with him each night, I didn't go back and stay. The clinic said that I was welcome to but I knew that if Edward were to really build up his strength then this was something he had to do on his own. And even though it pained me to do so, I remained in Forks during the week and stayed in Seattle over the weekends.
I had never seen him looking so happy or healthy as the day he stepped out of the clinic to restart his life. As I promised I was waiting there for him on the steps that led up to the clinic as he walked through the doors. He smiled as he saw me and I noticed that his eyes held a sparkle that I had never seen within them before. Of course he still had the scars of his past. Those would be constant reminders that he would never be able to erase or escape.
The main thing was that he was trying. He still had to be monitored at mealtimes and he had to take anit-depressants daily to ensure that he didn't fall back into his old thinking habits. It had become clear that there wouldn't be another day in his life when he wouldn't have to take some form of pill. Which meant that he couldn't drink when he was old enough either. He would still be held back by the depression and reminders of his past even though he was working so hard at trying to get back on track.
He didn't go back to school to finish junior year at Forks as there was only a few weeks left in the semester. But he would be starting Senior year with Rose, Jasper and I, upholding his end of our promise. This was something he was anxious and yet excited about. Seeing as he didn't have those overwhelming feelings of guilt over his parents death or the invisible walls surrounding him, that he had when he first moved to Forks, he was able to see everything from a whole new perspective.
Carlisle had told me frequently that it was down to me that Edward's walls had crumbled. That because of my inital friendship and eventual love he ahd been encouraged to open up and in doing so, his protective barriers had all but disappeared. I didn't really want to believe that, but the fact that everyone was telling me that it was true, even Edward was, there was something in me that started to believe that it might be. I mean, if I hadn't started talking to him, who knows where he would be right now. There was some tiny part of me that was proud to have been able to help in such a way.
When Edward had been discharged from the clinic the atmosphere had been tense to say the least. Everyone had been waiting for him to slip back into his old ways as soon as he could and I could help the feelings of overwhelming happiness and pride when I heard him utter the two words that I never thought I'd hear him say. It was only quiet, whispers at first but as he gained more confidence, his voice grew louder as we heard him say, "I'm hungry."
Edward had been out of hospital for two and a half weeks and it was nearing the 20th June, his eighteenth brithday. Alice was planning a surprise party for him, something I wasn't sure that he would be too impressed by as he was as big a fan of surprises as I was, which wasn't a very big fan at all. That wasn't enough to deter Alice though.
We had two days left before the part and I was headed over to the Cullens to keep Edward out of the way while the rest of them planned it. Alice had assigned me to "distract Edward" duty before the party, something that was absolutely fine with me. It meant that I got to spend more alone time with Edward.
Pulling into the Cullens' driveway I saw Alice standing there, waving at me excitedly. It looked as though she was greeting someone that she hadn't seen in years when in fact I had been in class with her not an hour ago. I walked up the steps to the house and she immediately began whispering to me about what was going to happen on Edward's birthday. She had it all planned out. I was to take Edward to Port Angeles, getting him out of the house and out of the town for a few hours. We would go for dinner and a movie, which Alice had insisted that she pay for, something I had point blank refused on, but being the sneaky little pixie that she is, she tricked me into agreeing.
We would then drive back to the Cullens' where Alice and the others would "surprise" Edward with the party. I just hoped that it didn't scare him enough to give him another heart attack. That was not something that I could deal with, ever, ever again. Seeing it once was enough for me. Too much for me even.
"Okay, Alice." I whispered harshly before we entered the house. "I get it. I understand, okay." She nodded and bounded ahead of me into the living room. I called out a hello to everyone and got "hey's" and "hi's" back. From what I could tell everyone was home. I walked into the living room and saw Emmett and Jasper battling it out on Grand Theft Auto. Which game it was I have no idea. They seemed to have them all. Rosalie was sitting there reading a magazine and Alice was now sat at the coffee table "umming" and "ahing" over some plans that she obviously had for Edward's party. I noticed that she also had her open Chem book in front of her, strategically placed so that she could hide the plans quickly, should Edward walk into the room.
I heard Esme and Carlisle talking in the kitchen and poked my head in to say hi. They both smiled and greeted me before I walked up the stairs and entered Edward's room.
He was asleep. Lying on his side, as he normally did, headphones in his ears. I slowly walked over to him, marvelling in his beauty. He looked so peaceful, so calm. There was nothing on his face that would show of all the things that he had been through in his life. He was perfect. Even more so now that he had filled out. He was healthy, and for once it seemed that he was happy with it. At the clinic they had started him on a gentle muscle building programme, so that all the weight that he gained didn't just turn into fat. And I was glad that they did. He was now nicely toned and defined, his muscles now flexing as he stretched in his sleep. A definite Greek God. And at 140 pounds with a BMI of 19 he was healthy. Finally.
I knelt down in front of him and gently brushed a few locks of his dishevelled bronze hair out of his eyes. His hair had become noticeably healthier as well. It now shined naturally and had regained thickness. He was all round a much healthier person, in body and in mind. The only problem was, that whereas a normal person would be able to keep this up naturally, he had to work every day, all the time, to keep himself on track. I kissed him softly on the lips and I felt his mouth curl upwards slightly in a smile. He opened his eyes as I pulled away and smiled at me sleepily.
"Hey," I whispered softly to him.
"Hey." He mumbled back, his voice thick with sleep.
I stood up and went to move around to sit on the other side of the bed, but he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me down on top of him. I smiled down at him and he grinned back at me. I pressed my lips to his and he placed on arm around my waist squeezing me closer to him and on hand on the back of my neck tenderly.
Oh yes, this Edward I liked. This Edward I could get very very used to. Even though we hadn't taken our relationship to the next level, neither of us felt the need to. We were both quite content to let things go at their own pace. Everything would fall into place when the time was right. All that mattered to me was Edward.
He was happy, healthy. A real life Greek God.
And he was mine.
There's chapter two. I hope that after the prologue I won't be hunted down like an animal.
*Runs and hides*
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