A/N: First I want to apologize for the delay; I've been in the hospital, but I'm fine now hopefully I can get caught up on this. Truthfully I've kind of lost train of thought also.
Second of all I want to thank Leibeezer for pointing out a major flaw in my plot, so I needed to take another route here. Note to self, fact check next time.
Chapter 17
EPOV
"Edward, what time is it?" Bella called out to me from the bathroom. I was just sitting there, lost in thought, trying to commit to memory every detail of the past two days. I'm still honestly afraid that I'm going to wake up and realize that all of this had been a wonderful dream.
"11:40 love, are you almost ready?"
I began gathering our things to take downstairs, hating this already. Checkout time, back to the real world, time to go back to the way things were before; After the past two days, how do we go back?
I don't want to hide our relationship and though I haven't specifically asked Bella how she feels about it, I have a feeling that she doesn't want to either.
We should never have to hide ourselves. While I know that my family will support our relationship, Charlie never will.
I can't say that I blame him either; If I am ever blessed enough to have a daughter, I know that I will be more than willing to die and go to hell to protect her and by that I mean from guys like me and if that means I have to take the boys with me so be it.
I am trying to imagine having a conversation with Charlie, trying to explain to him about how she means the world to me, and making promises to never hurt her, I want to explain that my intentions are honorable, but really I can't do that. First of all there was nothing honorable about my behavior last night or this morning and second of all, I know that I love her, I've never even been close to feeling this before, but really it's only been a week.
I have no idea what her plans for the future are, I know that at this moment I would happily follow her anywhere, but she may not want that.
I will never hold her back and I will support any and all of her dreams even if they don't include me.
I know that we need to take things more slowly but it's going to kill me to do it.
"Ok, I'm ready." I heard her beautiful voice, before I saw her. I noticed that she had a sad expression on her face that must have reflected my own.
"What are you thinking?" I asked her, hoping that she wasn't having regrets.
"This weekend has been so perfect" she explained, "I just wish that it didn't have to end."
I released a small sigh of relief, at least it wasn't regret and I knew exactly how she felt.
"It's going to be OK, I promise." I tell her, I just wish that I knew how I was going to keep that promise.
We were both pretty quiet as we checked out of the hotel and made our way back to the car. I knew that the 50 mile trip to Forks was going to go by way too quickly and wanted to drag it out as long as possible.
"Want to go get some lunch before we head back?" I offer.
She accepted and we began to discuss our options, I knew that I wasn't really hungry but I wanted more time; We decided on a sandwich shop apparently she was feeling the same way as I was.
I knew that I needed to do something that would make this easier on both of us; It was at that moment that I knew what I needed to do.
"Bella, baby, I'd like to talk to Charlie, if that's ok with you."
"What?" she almost yelled.
"I want to ask his permission to date you." "It would make things so much easier for both of us if he would allow it." I knew that even if he said no that it wouldn't change much if anything, but maybe this wouldn't hurt so badly if we knew that we could be out in the open.
I sat there watching her biting her bottom lip for what seemed like an eternity. I was beginning to get really nervous when she surprised me by saying "Ok, he'll be home when I get home."
"How do you think that he'll react?" I was hoping for some encouragement, I guess.
"Hmm, I don't know, honestly." "This has really never been an issue before with us." "He and his friend Billy always had hopes for me and Jake, but I think that he's already figured out that's not happening.""I want him to approve of us, I really do Bella." "I will do anything it takes to convince him and to not disappoint him."
"Well, I know that he thinks the world of your family, that will carry a lot of weight with him."
"Well I hope that it helps that my family loves you too already." "I can't wait for you to meet Carlisle."
"Won't he think that I'm too young for you?" She seemed really concerned about that.
"No, not at all." "He will love you as much as the rest of us already do."
"As much as I hate to, I think that it's time that I get you back to Forks." I tell her, and I admit that with a plan in hand I am feeling much better about the return.
"Yeah, I know." "I've been gone since Friday morning, I hope that he hasn't starved to death yet."
It was a short walk to the car and before I could open the door for her she had pushed me up against the door to give me a very passionate kiss. Damn how am I going to live without those kisses now?
"Don't worry baby, it will work out, I promise." I said kissing the top of her head while buckling her into the seatbelt.
After we pulled onto the highway leading to Forks, I heard her phone beep.
I look at her and she just answered by saying Alice.
Charlie, has called twice looking for you since you're not answering your cell. Told him you are still asleep.
A
"Oh shit" "I have two voice mails." She is panicking now.
"Relax Bella," I tell her. "What do they say?"
I watched as her face relaxed a little when she listened to the messages.
"He just wanted to see if I would be home in time for dinner tonight." "I knew it, he has been going hungry since I left."
"So no crisis huh?" "We're fine."
"We're fine" she said while smiling at me.
I know that from this moment on I will do everything in my power to keep that smile on her face.
"Uh, Edward, there's something that I want to talk to you about and I hope that it doesn't cause any problems.""Bella, what is it? You can tell me anything love." Now I'm in panic mode.
"Well, it's uh, sort of about Alice."
"What about Alice?"
"Well it's like this, first of all I want you to know that I love her dearly, no one has ever been so accepting of me and her generosity is insane."
"I feel like I owe her the world for helping orchestrate well us."
"Yeah, me too" I said.
"But, there are times that I feel like I've had very little choice, does that make any sense?"
"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean" "She has nothing but the best of intentions but overbearing is her middle name, it always has been.""So, I'm so grateful but I think that we need to kind of take control over our relationship." "I have no regrets at all, please know that Edward, but before she can have us at the alter, is there anyway to get her to back off a little.?"
"Oh and one other thing, please ask her to quit spending so much money on me, I'm not used to it and it makes me very uncomfortable.""I'm sorry, if I've upset you, I just needed to get that off my chest."
"Not at all love" I tell her honestly. "Truthfully, I feel the same way." "She paved the way, but now that we're together it's time that we took back some control." "I will talk to her tonight." "but as far as the shopping goes, I can't make any promises, that is just part of who she is and she loves to give gifts to those that she loves." "Actually all of us in the family are kind of like that." "Please don't let it make you uncomfortable, they are just tokens."
"But Edward, I don't come from money, I don't have anything to give back in return."I pulled her into a hug and whispered into her ear "you give so much more by giving your love." "That's all that I want."
The next thing that I know we are pulling into the drive of our home and as I parked the Vanquish back in its spot in the garage, I notice Carlisle's Mercedes is parked beside it.
"Well it looks like you are going to meet dad sooner than I thought." I tell her.
Immediately she began blushing and biting on that bottom lip. I couldn't help myself she just looked so damn adorable, I had to bend down and take that lip between my own.
"Don't be nervous, he's going to adore you." I grabbed our bags and started walking her towards the house.
We walked into the house and were greeted immediately by my parents. They were curled up together on the sofa drinking cups of coffee.
I loved the fact that after all of these years they were still so affectionate towards each other. I caught myself imagining Bella and myself many years down the road like that.
"Edward and Bella" mom got up and embraced us both.
"Bella, I'm so glad to see you again." "Hi Mrs. Cullen" she whispered, "Thank you so much for having me this weekend."
"It's Esme dear, and sweetheart we are thrilled to have you anytime."
I noticed her looking from me back to Bella and back to me again and I swear that her face lit up like Christmas lights, oh well at least now I knew where Alice gets it.
"Oh, I'm so thrilled for both of you." She was gushing.
Poor Bella looked like she wanted the floor to swallow her whole so I decided to introduce her to dad.
"Bella, this is my dad, Carlisle Cullen." "Dad, this Bella Swan."
"Nice to meet you Dr. Cullen."
"Please Bella, it's Carlisle and it's a pleasure to finally meet you; I have heard so much about you from the kids and from your dad."I decided that it was time to get the attention off of Bella before she ran away and never came back; "So how was Seattle?" I ask.
"It was fantastic, your father found the most romantic bed and breakfast, everything was perfect." "Maybe you should consider taking Bella there Edward.""Mom" I yelled "Esme" dad chimed in.
I was certain now that Bella was going to take off running, but as she usually does she takes me by surprise, instead she started giggling.
"No secrets right?" "Isn't that what you said?"
"Pretty much."
"So since the cat is out of the bag so to speak, we want to talk to you about how to best approach Charlie to convince him to allow me to date Bella.""I know that you both support our decision to begin this relationship; but we're very worried about Charlie and since she is only 17 any legal issues."
"First of all Edward" my dad spoke up; have you even bothered to check to see if there are legal issues?" "I'm guessing no, because if you had you would know that in Washington the age is 16," "So no problem there."
"But the real issue is Charlie" "As far as he's concerned Bella is his baby, I understand this since I have a daughter, and you are some grown man coming to corrupt his baby." "The best advice that I can give you is to ask his permission, take your time, allow him to get to know you so that maybe he can feel comfortable with you." "Take things slowly and build his trust."
"I intend to talk to him this afternoon, when I take Bella home." I told them honestly.
"How about we have him over this evening for dinner instead?" Esme offered.
"That way he can see us as a family, supportive of the kids, Jasper and Rosalie should be here too, in order for him to see that we are very involved in our children's lives."
"That's a great idea mom." "I want him to be comfortable with us.""Esme, I don't want to put you out, I would hate for you to go to all of that work for me." Bella said.
"For us, Bella." I reminded her "it's for us and there isn't anything that she and dad wouldn't do for us.""That's true Bella" dad added, besides I know that the other kids want some time with you guys today.
"Well let me call Charlie then, and thank you so much, both of you,."
Now it seems like everything is falling into place for us; at least I now know that I can't be arrested for this weekend at any rate.
Hell, I can be a charming guy, this shouldn't be too hard right?
Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Once again thinking about how I would be if she were my daughter.
Finally the plans were made, Charlie would be joining us for dinner at 6:30 and everyone had been warned that they were to be on their best behavior. This was directed specifically at Emmett of course.
Now that everything was set for tonight, I desperately wanted some alone time with my Bella, I didn't know how long it would be before I would get another chance.
I started leading her up the stairs to my room, when we were intercepted by two excited females.
"Bella, Edward." Alice chirped, "I'm so glad that you two are home," "I hated to text you this morning but I knew that you would need to know that Charlie was looking for you.""It's ok Alice, I really appreciate everything you did." Bella said.
"Really?" "Yes Alice, I do." Bella answered.
"Well since he is coming to meet the family tonight, we need plenty of time to get ready.""Alice" I growled
"Well we all want to make the best impression that we can" Alice wailed.
"Yes and while we will make the effort, there is no reason that you have to play Barbie Bella, her dad knows her."
"Well, how about her hair and make-up?" "She can pick her own clothes?"
"It's ok Edward." "She can do my hair and make-up."
"Are you sure?" I asked "Yeah, I'm sure."
"Fine Alice, you heard her, but if she tells you that she's done, she's done." "and we need to talk later ok.?" I gave her a tight hug to let her know that we're fine, but I wasn't joking.
"Now if you two don't mind, we're going to go hang out in my room for a little while, just give us a couple more hours and we will come down and socialize."
"Fine" Alice huffed, but we all want to spend time with both of you so please two hours only." With that she and Rose both gave Bella a hug and we promised to see them in a little while.
I really had intended to just spend a couple of hours with her, holding her and just enjoying time alone with her, but once the kisses started, there was no stopping us.
"What about your parents?" She asked concerned.
"They" kiss "would" kiss "never" kiss "disturb" kiss "us". "They are happy about this, now where was I?"
My hands were roaming down her back and up her sides, hers were fisted in my hair. Damn I love it when she pulls my hair.
I rolled us over so that I was on my back and she was straddling me. Oh yeah, I really like this position.
I reached up and pulled her shirt off. "Fuck Bella, you are so beautiful."I pulled her hair out of her standard ponytail, she really has amazing hair; I need to find a way to get her to keep it down.
I was trying to get her bra off, but she was doing too good of a job distracting me. She had started grinding on my cock and I was about to explode, "Bella baby, damn that feels good, but baby I want you naked now."
"Uh huh Edward" "This is about you."
She wiggled down my legs and popped the button on my jeans and started sliding them down. I think that she was a little shocked by the fact that I was going commando today,
I was about to protest that she wasn't nearly naked enough when she shocked me further by taking me in her mouth.
"Fuck, that feels good" She was taking more of me than I ever thought that she could. "she moved up my shaft, taking time to lick the pre-cum off of my head."
"Bella, baby, please." I pleaded
She let go for a moment and said "I want to taste you Edward, I want you to cum in my mouth."
"Holy shit" This woman was too fucking good to be true. I had my hands in her hair and began urging her head down further, I felt her swallow around me and I just about lost it.
Her mouth is so incredible; she began sucking harder and began scraping the underside of my cock with her teeth. She began stroking me when she could not take all of me in.
"Bella, baby, I'm cumming now and with that I let go. I continued to pulse in her mouth for several seconds and then I finally regained control of my mind.
"Oh my god, did I hurt you?" I had forgotten that I had been using my hands to guide her head and I was afraid that I may have pushed too hard.,
She laid back and put her head on my chest. She just smiled at me;
"What are you thinking?" I had to know.
"You taste so good, I love doing that for you."
"Now, I need to do something for you, fair is fair." I say
"Nope." she said popping the p. "I'm good, I promise, kind of sore, but thank you for wanting to."
"Well, you know that there are things that I can do that won't cause you any more soreness; I promise."
I knew that I sounded like a spoiled child that had been told that they couldn't have a new toy, but the thought of my taking and Bella not getting anything back didn't sit well with me. I had sworn that her needs would always be met and I feel like I'm already letting her down.
"Edward honey, stop. I'm fine, I feel loved and satiated and just content."
"That was an amazing experience for me, I loved knowing that I could make you feel that way."
"Ok love, I just don't want this to ever be just about me."
I wanted to pull her to me and hold her while we went to sleep, I could tell that she was running on fumes and the day is far from over; but I knew that we didn't have long until Alice came back and demanded that we come out of our room.
Our room, that has a nice ring to it. I wonder what the odds are that I can talk Charlie into believing it would be in Bella's best interest to move in with us.
Yeah right, I think I would get further convincing Alice not to shop at all for one year.
"Are you nervous about your dad coming tonight?" I asked her while gently playing with her hair.
"Not really, I mean the worst that can happen is that he doesn't approve." "Since the law is not an issue, he really can't stop us from seeing each other; I just hope that he doesn't make it difficult."
"The thought that he will give you a hard time, worries me; but it's my choice and I choose you Edward.""I love you sweet girl." "We will make this work.""Umm, I love you too, I just don't know what I did so right to make you want me."
"You're just you and that is exactly what I want." I tell her.
I knew that we needed to get up and get dressed, but I really didn't ever want to leave this spot.
"Our two hours are up" I told her and she agreed with me by groaning.
"I think that they've been really patient actually, I know that they were all dying to assault us when we came in the door." "I guess that Rosalie had to threaten Emmett with something pretty big to control him." That made her laugh.
As soon as we were dressed we got up and headed down to the family room; I was on edge, even after the amazing gift from Bella; I would kill whoever dare embarrass her. I can take it, but she is totally off limits.
"There they are" I heard Emmett's booming voice. "Oh shit" I groaned. I felt Bella's body tense up next to mine and she buried her head into my chest.
"Emmett" I warned.
"Yo, chill bro." "I'm just glad that you brought her back in one piece man."
Three things happened at once, Rose hit Emmett in the head hard, Alice came and pulled Bella away from my side and I lunged for Emmett.
I had gone for his throat when I felt Jasper pulling me away from him; Jasper is really good about being a peacekeeper.
I knew that we wouldn't make a good impression on Charlie if he came in and we were all bruised and there was broken furniture everywhere.
"Dude, what the hell?" I was just saying that we didn't know what happened to you guys last night." "It was like one minute we were all at dinner and the next thing we knew you were gone."
"Charlie had been calling this morning and I didn't know what to say."
Oh, I guess that the girls didn't clue him into the fact that we had a room for the night.
After that everyone in the room began to relax; Emmett, Jasper and myself got into a very competitive game of guitar hero. I won of course.
Bella and the girls were on the couch talking, I don't think that I want to know what they were talking about. Bella's blush was giving me a good enough idea.
Eventually Alice ordered everyone upstairs indicating that it was time to get ready.
She demanded that everyone look perfect and that meant Emmett especially.
She can be such a pain in the ass, but right now I love my little sister more than ever.
Before I knew it the doorbell was ringing and I was walking downstairs to meet my fate.