DISCLAIMER: I'm still not owning Twilight. . .Any help?
A/N Helooooooo
Okay, well I said I'd give you this on Monday, so here you go fanfictioners. . . . Enjoy ;)
Chapter 32
Edwards POV:
Her words rang in my head for a few seconds after she'd said them.
It hit me.
"STOP!" I shouted into the deep forest where I had been for over three days with Heather. "Emmett, Jasper, Carlisle! Stop!" Grabbing Bella's hand I dashed into the trees, and I could hear Felix, Demetri and the woman following us, curious probably.
As we made it to the others, I could see Heather, her hair flowing down her neck, being held by Emmett, who had already pulled an arm from her body, which was lying a few metres away from them.
"Emmett, don't kill her. Don't." He raised an eyebrow at me suspiciously and turned to Bella.
"Bella, is your shield up, or is she making him say this crap?"
Before Bella could answer I growled at him. "Her shield is up, she isn't making me do anything."
This better work.
I turned to Felix, seeing as I saw he had the most authority of the three. He was the closest of them to Aro.
"She," I motioned my head to the woman, who told me then in a snide voice that her name was Melanie. "Melanie, said that it didn't matter who you took back. Take back Heather, she is nothing to me. Bella is everything to me, please." Bella beside me gasped. Had she not thought of this too?
"Nothing to you?" Heather spoke from Emmett's tight grasp on her. She laughed, "You weren't saying that the other night sweet cheeks," Emmett growled under his breath, twisting her neck slowly round, before Carlisle grabbed his arm, restraining him.
Felix was staring at Heather intently, and he turned his glare to me. "What, exactly, is her power. How would it be. . Beneficial to us?" His eyes returned to Heather, as he waited on a reply from me.
"She can control anyone or anything, merely by looking at them. She can make them do anything, make them say anything. . . Hurt anyone." I grabbed Bella's other hand, squeezing it lightly as she cowered into my neck. "She can ruin someone's life in the blink of an eye. She could stop someone from trying to attack you . You could utilise her powers in many ways.."
"And what about Isabella?" He countered, "Wouldn't her power be just as useful to our guard?"
He had cornered me. Of course Bella's powers would be useful to them; her ability was every bit as amazing and dangerous as Heathers. But I needed Bella.
"Yes. They would." I admitted solemnly, "But whom do you think would be more optimistic at the prospect of working for Aro. Who would fit in, and follow the normal diet of an immortal without any bother. Bella has never drank human blood. If she had even the tiniest drop, it would be weeks before she could stand to be beside a human again. Don't say it's too late. You know Aro would want Heather in the guard. Please, I'm begging. I'm holding on forever, to Bella. I need her to live."
Felix spoke to Emmett without looking at him, and told him to release Heather. When he did. Heather sped over to where her unattached arm lay and held it to her shoulder, until the wound healed, reattaching her left arm with a snapping sound.
"Now," Felix began, "it's Heather, correct?"
"You can call me what you want," She smiled seductively, and winked in Felix's direction.
Ignoring the comment, Felix waved his hand in a vague gesture. "Would you come with us, to Volterra. You have heard of the Volturi guard, I assume." He sounded doubtful, but Heather proved him wrong.
"'Course I've heard of you. Who hasn't? I've heard a lot about your men in particular. . ." This time she winked at Demetri, making Melanie growl defensively, and cling onto Demetri's arm.
"You will come then, to Italy?" Felix spoke in a rushed voice, as if he were in a hurry.
"Well. . ." Heather began. If she refused, I would personally disembody her head, and use it as a football. If she refused, I'd lose my love to the Volturi. "I haven't much choice. I come with you, or loverboy over there rips me to pieces. I choose Italy thanks," I breathed a sigh of relief, and Bella wound her arms around my waist, ducking her head under my arm.
I got to keep her. I got to keep my Bella. Forever and ever.
"Come," Demetri broke the silence that had overcome the forest. "we must return to Aro immediately. He will be more than happy to utilise your gifts."
"And I'll be more than happy to utilise his." She laughed, licking her red lips. "See you later sweet cheeks." With a wink in my direction, and a resounding growl from Bella, the Volturi members – and Heather – disappeared into the forest, heading towards the coast.
I looked down at my beautiful wife.
Wife. . .
Oh!
Grabbing her hand I ran with her deeper into the forest, to where I'd been the other day.
"Edward, what are you doing?"
I didn't answer her, I just dug into the small mound of dirt that I had formed a few days ago, until I found what I was looking for.
Dusting it off, I placed my wedding ring back onto my ring finger and smiled at Bella, taking her hand.
"She made me take it off, and bury it here in the dirt. But it's back in place now, Love. And it's staying there for. . . well, forever!
I leaned down, kissing her forehead, and she wrapped herself around my waist tightly, as if adamant to never let go.
Bella's POV:
We heard Alice calling on us and we headed back to our family hand in hand. When we got to them, Edward stopped, and spoke in a loud voice.
"I can't thank you all enough for what you did for us. You are the best family anyone could ask for. I know it means a lot to Bella too." He nodded to Seth and Jacob, who had phased into humans while Edward and I were in the forest. "You guys too. Thanks."
They both strolled over, and Seth nudged Edwards shoulder with a fist.
"No problem, mate. And I think if we hadn't agreed to help, Bella here would have ripped our heads off." He laughed, showing that he wasn't serious, but he was right. I would have done anything to get him back, and I had.
"We should start the journey home," Carlisle's voice was calm and. . . relaxed. I realised no one had been relaxed around me since Edward had been taken. "Esme will be worried sick. About both of you." He looked sternly at me.
"I know," I admitted, "I shouldn't have volunteered to go to the Volturi. I'm sorry Carlisle, for giving you all a fright."
"You bet you did! Don't ever do that again Bella Cullen." He took on the protective fatherly role again, and I had to laugh. He smiled back at me warmly, showing I was forgiven.
"Come on," Edward's hand stroked my back, "Carlisle's right, we should go."
Nodding, I started back towards the edge of the forest, and we headed in the direction we'd come in.
Louise's POV:
"Louise, what happened with Seth happened sixteen days ago. You've been here for almost three weeks."
I had been asleep for sixteen days? But wait, that would mean I was now. . . Over seven months pregnant?
I sighed, which caused a throbbing pain in chest. "When am I going to be able to get out of hospital Paul?"
"We don't know yet Love. You've broken your leg, so It's hard enough to walk, and in addition, your twenty nine weeks pregnant. It's not looking good. But the doctors said that after you've had the twins, everything will be fine and your leg will heal normally."
Just then, a nurse walked in, and smiled when she saw I was awake.
"Hello sweetie, I'm Samantha. I'm just here to check your heart monitor results." She fiddled around with the buttons on the noisy machine to my right and smiled at me. "Everything's looking okay. It's good to see you awake. Your boyfriend here hasn't left your side since you got to intensive care. It's a wonder he hasn't starved!" She laughed, "Okay, well I'll go and tell your Doctor that you're awake and go get your painkillers. I'll be right back."
"You should try to get back to sleep," Paul beside me murmured, "The more rest you get the faster you will heal." He kissed my fingers again and saw the fear in my eyes. "Don't worry, I won't leave your side. You can sleep sweetheart."
I closed my eyes and felt his lips brush my fingers again, and I drifted into a deep, dreamless slumber.
Edward's POV:
We reached the house in just under seven hours. Alice, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett went off to hunt before we made it into Forks and Jacob and Seth left at the same time, heading back to La Push. As we left the forest edge to the east of the house, there was only Carlisle, Bella and I.
As soon as we entered the back door, Esme could be heard jumping off of the sofa and running through the unused dining room to the kitchen where the back exit was.
She stopped in her tracks when she saw me and Bella, expecting only to get one of us back. Her bottom jaw dropped and she stood staring at us for a moment, speechless.
I laughed, and it sounded relaxed and carefree – things I hadn't felt in so long.
"What?" I asked Esme, who still stood, flabbergasted. "Your son's been gone for almost a fortnight and I don't even get a hug?!"
It took her no more than a tenth of a second to fly over to me. I was almost flattened as she hugged me.
"I was scared stiff! Oh God, thank goodness you're both okay." She left me and went to Bella, hugging her tightly too. "So what happened? Bella why aren't you. . ."
I smiled and explained to Esme. "The Volturi were going to take Bella, yes, but we did a. . swap. They took Heather instead, and we get to keep Bella. They figured that Heathers gift was as useful to them as Bella's was. And thank God, because otherwise we'd have a war on our hands to get you back!" I turned to Bella, who was smiling up at me.
"It was his idea," she said to Esme, "Edward thought of it."
"Well, Demetri's wife gave me the idea," I admitted, not wanting to take all of the credit, seeing as it was my fault they were out there searching in the first place.
"Anyway," Esme said, "It's good to have you all back." She slipped her arms around Carlisle's waist and he kissed her hair.
"Where's Renesmee?" Bella asked, and before Esme could answer, Bella started to walk through to the living room.
I followed behind her, but slowly, and when I got to the living room, Bella was already sitting on the couch with Renesmee snuggled into her neck.
"I missed you too sweetheart," She mused, kissing the side of our daughters head. She looked up at me, smiling weakly.
When Renesmee saw me, she didn't smile. She scrambled off of Bella's lap and went back to playing with her dolls house absently.
This was going to be hard. What if she couldn't forgive me. I had hurt her so much. How could she forgive me? I used to be one of her favourite people in the world, and I'd let her down. Yes, this was going to be hard.
I strolled over to where she sat, her legs crossed, on the carpet, and crouched down beside her.
"So how are you Nessie?" There was a long, awkward silence, and Renesmee's face stayed emotionless.
"Fine," she whispered eventually.
"And what have you been up to in the last couple weeks?" It took so much restraint not to grab her and hold her in my arms, but if she pushed me away, it would break my heart.
She didn't answer my question, she merely shrugged, so I continued.
"Do you want to know what I did?"As I spoke, she looked up at me from the floor, and I could see tears starting to pool in her eyes. But she blinked them away and nodded.
"Well, I got a phone call." Her eyes flashed up to me, and her bottom lip trembled. "And a little voice came on the phone, and asked when Daddy was coming home."
She began fiddling with one of her curls absent mindedly. "Me," she whispered, and I nodded.
"I wasn't very nice, and I said lots of things. Nasty things that I didn't mean. And I'm really angry at myself for saying them. So from now on, I'm never going to say anything nasty again." Last thing I said was almost whispered - "Can you forgive me? If I say sorry?"
I wasn't even sure she'd hear me, until she stood up, walked the few inches that were between us and threw her arms around my neck.
I sighed in utter relief and stood up, holding her close to me.
"I'm so sorry baby. I'm never going to hurt you again." She had burrowed her head into my neck, and I kissed her .
"I missed you Daddy." She mumbled into my collar bone as I stroked her back and sat down on the couch with her.
"I know sweetheart, I missed you too. But I'm never going to leave again." I held my arm out and Bella came and sat beside me, and snuggled into my chest beside Renesmee and she kissed me lightly.
When she put her head back on my chest, I leant over, kissing her ear and then whispering into it.
"With all this fire that burns between us, there's so much to lose yet so much more to gain. And if I could choose the world around me, the world I'd choose would all revolve around you." I sat up straight again and looked down at the most important people in my world. I looked right into their beautiful eyes. "I love you. I love you both so much."
Both of them spoke at the same time.
"I love you too."
In minutes we were all laughing again. Together.
A family.
Well, there you go, that was the last chapter. But there will, I repeat will be an epilogue (possibly split in two) up very soon. The more reviews I get, the longer the epilogue will be! So if I get no reviews, you might get five or six words. If I get ten reviews, you'll get at least 2000! Lol, thanks again to all my readers / reviewers. You guys really rock.
FailCullen, Over and Out :'( on the last chapter.
