I do not own Twilight or its characters. Stephenie Meyer does.
CH. 18: Meeting
(BPOV)
"When?" Edward hissed and my eyes opened again immediately. I had been falling asleep on his shoulder feeling exhausted. Which is odd since weren't we just asleep?
"Now," Alice whispered. Edward stood up immediately and Alice was at my side trying to support me. I looked around trying to figure out what I missed and what was wrong. Apparently I wasn't the only one that didn't have any clue to what was going on judging the others' faces.
"Edward?!" I yelled after him when he disappeared. I wasn't sure where he or the other men went.
"Bella, it's okay." Alice tried to soothe me.
"Alice, what did you just see?" Rose sounded worried. Esme did too. Alice looked at her a moment then sighed.
"I was looking like Carlisle asked. I didn't see anything at first. I did see Bella ask me about Charlie." She started to explain.
"Is he okay?" my heart clenched tight.
"He is fine, but I did see a vampire we don't know in the house." Alice explained worriedly, then was quick to explain. "He is going to leave Charlie alone, but he was collecting some of your things."
"My things, why?" I was confused. What could I have that he wanted?
"I'm not sure. But I'm sure Edward won't rest until he finds out." Alice gave me an encouraging smile.
"Can't you see?" Rose asked innocently. Alice scowled and shook her head. I wondered if the two would ever be close like they use to be.
"I can't see at all, actually. So I'm guessing the wolves get involved." Alice grumbled.
"You mean Jacob." I grew nervous. Jacob was probably pissed that his plan didn't work. I hoped Edward and him wouldn't get into a fight. I knew that Edward was probably beyond angry with Jacob between this and hurting me earlier.
"Maybe… I can't see either way." Alice shrugged.
"I'm sure they will be fine." Esme looked hopeful. "Bella, dear, why don't you go back to sleep. I'm sure by the time you wake up Edward will be back."
"I can't sleep right now." I shook my head. My stomach was in knots and I was sure to have nightmares this time.
"Besides, I'm not going to get much sleep anyway. I promised Alice I would go shopping today." I noticed the sky looked lighter even thought it was overcast.
"I think it will be best to put that off. One, you look like you would enjoy it less than normal, plus I doubt we should go too far before we know what is going on." Alice told me.
"Well, come inside at least. You must be cold." Esme insisted. I could feel myself shaking slightly from the cold. Thankfully Rose stopped Emmett from dousing me with water.
I nodded and followed her inside. Rose and Alice followed behind me.
"I will make you something hot to eat for breakfast. Why don't you go change?" Esme told me. "Are pancakes okay, dear?"
"Pancakes will be perfect, Esme, thank you." I hurried on the steps tripping slightly.
"Bella?" Alice called as I was halfway up the steps. I turned and looked over the railing to see her.
"There are a couple of sweatshirts in Edward's bottom drawer." She gave me a smile.
"You're going to let me wear a sweatshirt willingly?" I looked at her in disbelief.
"Well, I'm realizing I can't control everything. Besides I rather the sweatshirt than a freaked out Edward if you get sick on top of everything." she shook her head.
"Thank you, Alice." I hurried up to the room to change quickly.
I pulled open his drawer and found several sweatshirts. I was surprised Alice let him have them in the first place. Not too surprising they were all from collages or universities. I grabbed a dark blue Penn State sweatshirt and slipped it over my head. I used my own yoga pants that I had from the night before.
I looked around the room for my hairbrush not remembering where I had it last. It was a shame that the window seat wasn't real. But I'm sure if I asked Edward he would be more than happy to make one for me. I finally spotted my hairbrush on the nightstand and went over to pick it up. I ran it through my hair a few times before placing it down.
I paused at the drawer again, remembering what was in there. Edward had called off the whole Marry me and I will change you thing. I wondered if that would still hold true or if we were back to the ultimatum once again. Even thought the vision quest was more like a dream those things really happened right?
I headed back to the kitchen as Esme was plating some food for me. Unfortunately I wasn't sure if I could stomach anything at the moment with how Edward left.
I sat and played with the food, only taking small nibbles.
"Anything?" I asked Alice. She shook her head, her eyes were closed and I knew she must be looking for the boys.
"Can I ask you something?" Rose asked. I looked up surprised to see she was looking at me.
"Sure," I shrugged.
"What is anchovy syrup?" she asked with a wrinkle of her nose. I wrinkled mine as well, from just of the memory of the smell. I must have talked about it in my sleep.
"Renée came up with that to go with her mushroom and olive pancakes." I informed her watching the disgust on her face. I could see Esme and Alice try to hide their grimaces.
"That sounds…" Esme trailed off.
"Disgusting." I offered.
"I was going to say interesting." Esme hid a smile.
"Yes, Renée came up with a lot of interesting things in her time. It was the main reason I took over cooking when I was about seven." I shook my head in amusement. The anchovy syrup was just a blimp on the radar of things she tried to cook.
"You did the cooking?" Rose asked in surprise
"Among other things. Renée was a bit absentminded. So I was in charge of most of the household chores and bills." I shrugged slightly uncomfortable admitting these things. Luckily Phil also seems to be on top of those things.
"You were just a child." Esme looked horrified. I blushed slightly embarrassed.
"I never knew that," Rose mumbled just loud enough for me to hear.
"Well, maybe if you took the chance to get to know her you would've," Alice spoke up. The tension between the two was still very noticeable. I hoped things would get better soon. They seemed to be total opposites but never seemed to be at odds.
"Rose, when we do go shopping would you like to join us?" I ventured hoping that she wouldn't burst my olive branch into flames. She looked stunned for a moment.
"Sure, we can make it a girl's day. Esme should come with us too." Rose smiled softly.
"I think that is a wonderful idea." Esme beamed.
"Yes, it does. It will be the first time the four of us did something like that." Alice smiled too.
"Bella, does it taste alright? I can make you something else." Esme offered. She looked worried at the pancakes on my plate.
"They taste delicious, Esme. I just have no appetite right now. I'm sorry." I forced in another mouthful to make her happy.
"Don't force it, I understand you're worried. We all are." Esme reached over and patted my hand.
"Finally," Alice let out a relieved sigh. "They will be here in about three minutes. We can wait for them in the living room."
I stood and reached for my plate to find it already gone and Esme at the sink. I thanked her before following Alice into the living room. I curled up on one of the sofas to wait. Alice tossed me a blanket that I wrapped around myself. Esme had just sat across from me when the door opened and the guys entered.
"You could have brought those back to her room and hung them up." Alice said as Edward tossed a trash bag down on the floor by the couch before sitting beside me.
"That can wait, we have more important things to worry about than wrinkled clothes." Edward said.
"Is everything alright?" Esme asked looking up at Carlisle who had remained standing.
"The vampire that was in Bella's room was there to collect her items to bring to Victoria and an army of newborns. She has been behind what was going on in Seattle after all. They were going to use Bella's scent to have them find her and us." Carlisle explained looking tense.
I shrunk into Edward's side and he wrapped an arm around me protectively.
"They're not going to touch you," he promised. But I still looked around at the rest of my family. What about the rest of them?
"So we are looking at fighting a war now?" Rose was obviously upset.
"It looks like we have a good chance so we need to prepare. Jasper will help us prepare. The wolves also agreed to help." Carlisle told her.
"Can we even trust them?" Rose had her arms crossed defensively.
"I think we can. Jacob won't be an issue. He ran away and is somewhere in the forests of Canada sulking." Edward glanced down at me to gauge my reaction. I just shook my head and looked away. I can't believe this is what it came to, in the end.
"Alice, can you see anything now about maybe when to expect them?" Jasper asked her.
"Not yet, but I will keep trying. Having the wolves involved won't help." She answered.
"To be safe we still start practicing tonight. I will get in touch with Sam." Carlisle was barely finished speaking and I found myself being carried up the steps to Edward's room.
BS&EC
"Edward, what are you doing?" I asked as he placed me on the bed in the room.
"You look like you were about to nod off downstairs. I thought you would like to get some sleep." He shrugged innocently lying down next to me.
"But we were in the middle of talking?" I was slightly annoyed. I sat up thinking how rude it must have looked for us to run off like that. His arm snaked around my waist pulling me back on the bed.
"We were finished for now, everyone else is off doing their own thing." He pushed my hair off of my neck and kissed it.
"Please try to get some sleep. I will stay right here with you." He promised.
"I don't think I can. We just got done talking about having to go to some war and you expect me to go to sleep." I turned again to look at him.
"They won't hurt you, I won't allow it. I can distract you if you want," he leaned forward and started to kiss me. I could feel him try to push me back on to the bed. I placed a hand on his chest to stop him. He pulled back but was still very close.
"What about you and the others? I would care if anyone of you got hurt too." I was very worried about everyone that I loved fighting while I stood by.
"We will be fine, love." He sounded a bit smug.
"You can't promise that for sure. Did Alice see that? You were talking about war down there." I would never forgive myself if anything happened to them because of me.
"Bella, please calm down. Nothing is going to happen to me or any of the others. With the wolves helping us everything should work out." He gave my hand a gentle squeeze being careful of my injury.
"I think you should change me so I can help too." I decided. His eyes narrowed and tensed right away.
"No." His voice was firm. I blew out my breath and pulled my hands from him.
"Are we really back to this again? Did you change your mind about changing me?"
His eyes softened and he cupped my cheek.
"I didn't change my mind. I will still change you. In fact the wolves have even given us permission to do so as long as we don't kill Jacob and that you want it." I bit my lip and tried to focus on one thing at a time.
"So then what is the problem with changing me," I asked.
"Even if I did change you at this moment, you would not be ready to fight well enough to help us. Newborns don't think rationally and lose focus easily. You could wind up hurt because your instincts would be off. Their lack of focus is why we will have the advantage over them. With Jasper's help training us, we will be able to take them down easily; plus with the wolves working with us it wouldn't even be much of a fight." He explained to me and I felt slightly more reassured.
"You were planning on killing Jacob?" I went back to a comment he made before. He raised my injured hand to his lips and kissed it gently.
"After all the trouble he has caused I have thought about it. The mere thought that he won't give you up and has gone to great lengths to prove it, wants me to retaliate against him." His eyes were cool and face was tight with tension.
"I wish you wouldn't." I said softly. He frowned and his eyes turned flint black.
"You're going to forgive him then?" he practically growled. I slid forward and climbed into his lap wrapping my arms around his neck. He arms stayed motionless at his side. I sighed and started to play with his hair.
"I don't know if I could ever forgive him completely for what he did. I definitely won't forget it. But at the same time retaliating against him isn't going to solve anything or make anything right. I want to take the higher road and I hope you will do so with me. As angry as I'm with him, I don't wish him to be dead. You said he ran away, so as far as I'm concerned, if he stays out of my life I will be happy."
Edward remained silent for a moment. The tension had lessened in his body as I spoke.
"You're a better person than me." His voice was calm now. He wrapped his arms around my waist and buried his face into my hair.
"I will do as you ask. But as I told Sam, I will make no promises if he tries to hurt you or separate us again." He vowed. I knew it was the best I could ask for from him.
"Thank you."
"Now will you try and get some sleep." He asked.
"One more thing, I want to go with you tonight." I had a feeling he was going to give me a hard time about it and I was right.
"I think it would be best if you stayed here. I'm not sure how well it will work out with the wolves. Plus you need to catch up on your sleep, you're already exhausted." He answered quickly.
"Why? All of you're going to be there right? You can't leave me behind. What if Victoria tries to get around Alice's visions again? It would be better if I stayed with you. I need to stay with you for my own sanity. I'm not going to be able to sleep with you gone, I will be sick with worry the whole time. Even if I was able to sleep, I would just have nightmares." I winced as, the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.
"What nightmares?"
"I don't suppose you can forget I said that?" I whispered.
"Love, don't hide things from me, please. I want to know these things." He rubbed my arms gently.
"It doesn't happen all the time. But some times when you don't spend the night I get nightmares."
"About?" he prompted, his voice stayed gentle.
"They are similar to the ones when you were gone." I admitted and I heard him take a sharp breath. "But I know they aren't true." I added quickly.
"Bella, I will never leave you again." Edward said firmly turning me to see him. His eyes were earnest and he was frowning sadly.
"I know, I believe you. It is just dreams, I know it isn't real." I insisted.
"Apparently, in your subconscious mind, you think I might." He frowned sadly.
"Edward…" he hushed me.
"It is okay, I only have myself to blame for them. I don't know if I will be able to ever fully make it up to you. One great thing about that vision quest was I thought I had a chance to not make that same mistake of leaving you again. I wish I could still change it. Why didn't you tell me before about the nightmares?" he asked.
"I knew you would never leave my side if you knew and you wouldn't hunt like you should." I admitted.
"You could've told me. I hate to think of you having those nightmares when I'm gone."
"Which is why I didn't want to tell you. If it makes you feel any better, I slept okay here while you were gone. But I don't think I will be okay tonight if you leave me here."
"Alright, you can come. You may be right about Victoria, she is trickier than we thought. I will be more comfortable if you're in my sight as well." He fell backwards on the bed taking me with him. He was careful so that I landed softly on the mattress beside him and snuggled into his body. He started to hum lulling me into a deep sleep.
BS&EC
Apparently I was so tired that I slept most of the day away. I awoke shortly before twilight was about to fall. At that point I was actually hungry and Esme had made lasagna that I had a second helping plus salad; satisfying both Edward and Esme that I had eaten well.
Luck was also on my side that Charlie didn't expect me back until tomorrow so I didn't have to sneak out of the house. Alice had called him making some excuse about traffic that would make us get back late.So after dinner I worked on the little homework that I had. Since it was the end of our senior year there wasn't very much left.
It was shortly before midnight before we left the house. Edward carried me easily on his back to the same clearing they once played ball in.
After placing me gently down he took my hand in his as the rest of the family gathered around.
"The wolves will be here in about twelve seconds." Edward told everyone. I noticed he discreetly shifted me behind him.
Sam led the pack and the others slowly came out with him. I was surprised to see two more than I was expecting. One looked oddly enough like the one that Seth had turned into. I wondered if it was him.
"Is that Seth?" I asked Edward.
"Yes, I forgot to mention earlier that he wanted me to thank you for pushing him out of the way." He explained. Why wouldn't I try to help him? It was my fault he was in that position.
"How did he know?' I frowned. Just how many went on this vision quest?
"When Jacob phased the wolves saw everything that happened." Edward placed a quick kiss to my forehead before turning his attention to Carlisle.
Carlisle took a step forward to greet them with Emmett and Jasper at his side.
"Thank you for coming and agreeing to help us."
I tuned him and the others out looking around. I was vaguely aware of Edward translating for Sam. I kept expecting Jacob to pop out suddenly. I was a bit shocked that he would leave his brothers during this fight. I felt guilty I should've let him go when Edward first came back. But I never thought of him more than a friend so I never saw the harm until it was obviously too late. In fact, I regretted ever taking those motorcycles to him in the first place.
I felt Edward tug slightly on me. I looked up at him curiously.
"We need to move out of the way while they practice." He shifted me back closer to the tree line. I was absentmindedly rubbing my arms.
"Are you cold?" he asked looking concerned.
"No," I leaned into him. He wrapped his arms around me and rested his chin on the top of my head as we watched Emmett and Jasper fight. Jasper had Emmett down within a matter of seconds. The ground shook slightly as he landed on his back. Edward steadied me to keep me from falling over.
"No, fair, I want to go again." Emmett pouted.
"Maybe later." Jasper offered him a hand up.
Alice was next. It seem like we were watching a private moment between the two, because it seemed more like foreplay than anything else. I ended up adverting my eyes else where. Edward chuckled a moment later and I looked up in time to see Alice jump out of the tree and land on Jasper's back blindsiding him.
With a giggle from her and a quick kiss to his neck, she jumped down and headed out in our direction.
"My turn, are you going to be okay?" Edward asked as he loosened his arms.
"She is a big girl. I'm sure she will fine." Alice rolled her eyes coming to stop next to me. Edward kissed the top of my head before joining Jasper.
I took a seat on the ground by the base of the tree.
"It will all work out. I'm sure." Alice sat next to me. "I know what you thought about asking. I think you should talk to him about it."
I nodded slightly, still not convinced. I would feel nothing but guilt for asking him what has been weighing on my mind.
We watched silently as Jasper and Edward fought. So far they had been fairly evenly matched and the battle was lasting longer than the others. I'm sure Edward's mind reading came in handy.
I watched his muscles move as he counteracted Jasper's movements with precision. I squirmed slightly as I couldn't help but feel turned on watching him. I felt slightly guilty looking at him this way in front of his family and the wolves. But after watching Alice and Jasper I had to wonder if that could be us someday.
Edward and Jasper stopped stepping back and shaking hands. Jasper looked amused. Edward moved quickly back in my direction.
"I'm going to take Bella back to the house so she can catch up on her sleep." Edward turned to the others. His brothers had smirks on their faces but Carlisle just nodded.
"Enjoy the rest of your night." Alice let out a small snort of laughter before joining the others.
Edward held out his hand to me and helping me to my feet. His eyes were dark still and looked at me in way they did before when he wanted to be intimate.
I was hardly settled on my feet before he lifted me up on his back and took off.
A/N:
Things are on the mend between Alice and Rose. They aren't really mad at each other. Just a little off kilter. Nothing a little girl binding can't help.
Everything else is on the right track to confronting Victoria.
Unless otherwise stated it 2006 from here on out.
Thank You For All Reviews!
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Preview Alert
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Preview:
"Is this still a what if or are you really asking?" my voice was barely above a whisper. Edward's lip twitched slightly.
"Nothing would make me happier if you said yes, right now." His smile was warm and inviting.