Chapter 34: Something in Common

~Edward~

As I held my wife in my arms while we stood looking out the window at the vast expanse of land in back of the house, we were for once at peace. For a week nothing out of the ordinary had happened and we were all settling into life in England. At the same time we were settling in, we were also being as careful as we could with how often we left the property, doing most of our hunting and any shopping we needed once the sun had set. "This reminds me of the fictional vampire, us staying inside during the day," Bella said as she effectively broke through my thoughts.

"It's not going to be forever," I reminded and she sighed before lifting her head from my chest to gaze up at me with her amber-gold eyes.

"I know it won't be forever. Edward do you know all of that training you and Jacob's Pack did when the newborns were coming after me?"

That was a dark time in my life, and thinking about it was painful, though I nodded, "It was difficult back then for so many reasons."

"Don't you think I should learn a little in self defense? I'm not worried about newborns, but what about something else that comes along. What if we would have needed to defend our children? I would have been pretty useless. You would have likely been worried about me and that could have been really bad. I know it didn't happen that way. I just want to do something useful."

My first instinct was to protect Bella by telling her there wasn't a need for her to worry about training in that way, but our lives were changing and my wife had a point. She needed to learn the skills to protect not only her, but also our children. "Let me talk to Jasper and see if he has any ideas on that," I said.

My wife nodded and once again rested her cheek against my chest. The peace had broken somewhat and my mind raced with ways we could help Bella learn defense when it came to a situation like what had happened at the house, and even what had taken place with the newborns at what only felt like yesterday to me.

Later on as Bella rested with Renesmee, I found Jasper in the main common area of the house where the Grand Piano sat off to the corner and the marbled floors were covered with very old but very colorful oriental rugs. His mind was focused on what most of us were concerned with, which was how these Children of the Night were tracking us, and also on Alice whose headaches were becoming increasingly worse.

My brother took in a deep breath as I approached and turned around. "You're worried and anxious," he stated.

"I think we all are. If this is a bad time," I began, but he put his hand up. "What do you have in mind?"

With that I told him what Bella and I had discussed and also brought up how she could now drop whatever barrier she had that kept me out of her mind. "I believe that training her how to defend herself will ease both of our minds. It seems like our guests are targeting her and our children."

My brother watched me for a time and we both stood as still as statues. "Maybe they want her, however it's difficult to tell," he said as he turned around and paced over to the large windows across the room from where we had been standing. Outside it was still dark, and the rain that had been falling had left a fog around the house.

"Alice?" His mind filled with thoughts over what he wanted to do if her headaches were caused by someone interfering with her ability.

"Jasper, if it was Lily wouldn't her headaches have come sooner?" I asked reading that particular thought before he could hide it from me. Rosalie still didn't know what Emmett and I along with Jasper had talked about. Unlike us we didn't think she could be objective when it came to her daughter, and truthfully if anyone thought that of Renesmee, I'd have a hard time too.

"When she gets those glimpses, she says it's like seeing through someone elses eyes, though it's clouded. After that her head hurts her so much, and nothing Carlisle has tried is working. I know that she can't die from this, but I'm not sure how much longer I can remain objective," Jasper admitted

What Jasper was telling me, I had witnessed the other day. It was like looking through another set of eyes with a hazy fog around what was being seen, and the visions never lasted more than two seconds at a time.

We were both suddenly pulled from those thoughts by a two piercing screams. Jasper and I raced out of the large room, down the winding hall way to the part of the house he and Alice were sharing. There were more screams, and I parted from my brother following the adjoining hall to Emmett and Rosalie's part of the house. My sister was holding Lily as the little girl squeezed her eyes shut shaking her head. I shut my eyes and focused on Alice seeing her sporadic visions, trying to remember everything she was being shown.

The sudden quiet jolted me back to reality and I walked over to where Rosalie was trying to sooth my very distraught niece kneeling in front of them as they sat on Lily's bed. "Lily," I said hearing her thoughts clearly in my mind.

Her eyes were glancing all around and at the same time she was trying to focus on the darkness. "No Lily, look at your mom. Look in her eyes and tell me what you see," I gently commanded, as I heard Bella approaching.

Lily turned and looked at my sister. "She loves me," Lily said as her voice shook with un-shed tears.

"Yes and giving in to the darkness would take you away from her, and from all of us who love you."

"Edward?" Emmett began, but I held up my hand while keeping my mind focused on Lily's thoughts and my eyes trained on her. The rest of my family was confused, though right now I couldn't help them.

"It's me they want," she tried to reason, looking away from Rosalie into my eyes.

"Whatever it is they want they won't find it here. They are after something more than just you. Now, can you tell me what you saw and felt?"

Lily shut her eyes and Emmett sat down on the bed next to Rosalie putting his large arms around both of them. "Same as when I'm asleep, but I don't know what it means. There are flashes in the dark, things I can't remember, sounds that are very scary. He laughs when he knows I'm afraid, but he's mad because he knows I'm not letting him find me."

My wife put her hand on my shoulder and I reached up covering it with one of mine. "Is he Joham?"

Lily nodded once as Rosalie and Emmett held her tighter.

"Do I have to remember?"

"No, try and rest now," I answered.

My wife and brother followed me through the house to where Carlisle had finished giving Alice a look over while she rested her head on Jasper's lap. "Edward, what's happening?" Bella asked.

I knelt down in front of my sister and her eyes locked with mine. "It's a connection," she whispered weakly.

"That's what I think."

Her thoughts were on Lily and what that revelation would mean to Emmett and Rosalie. "How much older were you, what did the records say?"

Alice shut her eyes remembering the documents she had found about her family and about a sister her parents had once Alice was put in the institution. Her thoughts were on a gravestone someplace in Biloxi. The dates she focused on where from 1935-1955.

"What is going on?" Emmett said frustrated with the lack of information.

Alice shut her eyes and Carlisle looked at her again before standing up. "Your sister needs to rest," he said as he focused on getting his bags. He was trying to give Alice and me some time to figure this all out.

Once we were in the main common area Emmett glanced at me. "You know something," he said, and he was angry.

"Emmett, I can't tell you anything because I'm not for sure what it all means."

He growled and paced from one end of the room to the other. "Why did they scream at the same dam time? Is that what you meant by connection?"

My wife was at my side watching me, and it was Anthony's fussing cries followed by Renesmee's sorrowful cries that got me off the hook. Emmet stormed to the Northern section of the house while Bella and I headed upstairs to try and get our two little ones to get a little more sleep before the day began.

An hour or so later I laid Anthony back in his crib. My wife was at my side and I watched as she leaned over the guard rails and put a blanket over our little boy. Bella was such a wonderful mother. Watching her care for our children was something I never grew tired of. Once she straightened back up she looked over at me. "What are you not telling them?"

I shut my eyes and her arms wrapped around my waist, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so accusing."

Having her arms around me eased some of the tension I'd been feeling. "Do you remember, when you were still human Alice saying something about trying to find out about her past?"

My wife nodded pulling me over to the small love seat next to the fireplace. Once I was seated she pulled my arms around her, waiting. "Alice found out that her parents had another child, a sister in 1935. That sister Emily Amelia Brandon lived to be twenty years old. The records didn't show what she died from and Alice was satisfied with what she had found. There were never any records as to why her parents put her in that institution, so we have always thought it was for that original reason that she was always in the dark until her new life.

Bella nodded and I sighed. "Lily and Alice shared a vision, one that Lily's terrified to remember, so she focuses on the aspects of previous dreams she's had. The last part of what Alice saw was a woman giving birth to a child in a heavily wooded area in a cabin."

"Lily?"

I nodded. "The woman Alice saw was the same as the last picture taken of Emily that was in the family records."

My wife turned to face me. "How? How could they choose her sister?"

"We don't know, but it means we need to dig and find out what happened to Emily."

"So Lily is their niece, blood related, but she's got blond hair," My wife said not wanting to believe.

"The man who fathered her child may have had blond hair," I pointed out.

"Do you think it's Caius whose orchestrating all of this?"

"That happened so long ago, before you were even born. I don't think the Volturi know and they can't find out."

My wife nodded resting her head against me. "What does Alice want to do?"

"Right now find a way to get rid of the headaches so she can focus. Jasper's already thinking they might head back to the states to take a deeper look into what actually happened to her sister."

We were quiet for a few minutes. "So right now we don't say anything to anyone else?"

"No. I'll deal with Emmett if he persists but I think that sort of news would do more bad than good at this point in time.

When daylight finally arrived everyone was a little less stressed out. The second Lily saw me when they came into the common room; she ran over and gave me a hug thanking me for not letting her disappear last night. Rosalie didn't even look our way and instead went to talk to Esme about finding time to travel into London, just the two of them. Emmett was also a little distant, though he kept glancing at Rosalie and then to me. His thoughts were still on last night, and he still wanted the answers that I couldn't give him.

"Dada," Anthony said as he pulled on my pants leg.

I glanced down at my little boy as he smiled up at me, still wearing his warm pajamas from last night. As I reached down to pick him up he shook his head.

"What?"

He turned and toddled across the room to the Hobby Horse Renesmee was riding on glancing over at me, and I knew what he wanted. In his own way he was trying to get me to pull his sister away from what had become his favorite toy, along with hers. "Renesmee is playing with him right now," I said as Anthony shook his head.

"No," he said clearly and the other adults in the room along with his sister and his cousin glanced at him.

When I got to their side I knelt down. "Renesmee can ride him too."

"No, Ness, no," he said before he turned around ready to push her. His thoughts were on that and I easily lifted him away. At this stage the easiest thing to do was to get him interested in something else.

Luckily for me Emmett seemed to know he needed a distraction. "Hey Edward, do you want to play some chess?"

Anthony looked over at his uncle, watching as he walked over to the wooden table with the ivory pieces. Once Emmett sat down Anthony clapped his hands and any conflict that would have risen between my children was for the moment forgotten.

As Emmett and I began to play, Anthony sat very still in my arms watching us. It was one of the only times my son ever sat so still, and his mind was clear as he watched what we were doing with the pieces.

Emmett's thoughts were still on last night, but there wasn't a question in them for me. My brother seemed to know that I didn't have all the answers and he wanted them all before he was told. Rosalie on the other hand wasn't happy that information was being withheld, nor that it was me who was able to talk Lily out of disappearing. It made her feel insecure, and I'd have to find a later time to talk with her about that.

Our game didn't last long, though when I won, Anthony struggled to be free from my arms. Once he was standing on my lap he took my pieces and began to put them in the right squares.

"Daddy, he can ride it now, I want to watch," Renesmee said as she skipped toward us.

"Why don't you help me with my pieces?" Emmett suggested.

My daughter agreed, though Emmett had to help her, while her sixteen month old brother managed to get all of my pieces in the right place before he decided it was time for better things.

Night fell and I followed Rosalie's unhappy thoughts to the gardens in the back. She was sitting on a stone bench beneath a small cherry tree, and wasn't surprised when she heard me coming or when I sat with her.

"I wish I had your ability to know when she was scared," Rosalie whispered.

"You do fine without it," I answered

My sister shook her head and chuckled. "Then why was she about to disappear, and what is it that scares her so much?"

"It seems like she has memories she's tried to forget. As she gets more comfortable being around us, those memories are starting to push away from where she has hidden them. Lily needs to deal with what happened before she found us."

"And Alice?"

We heard a door opening and Alice's thoughts were in my mind. She wanted me to stay for this and Emmett was with her along with Jasper.

I got up letting Emmett sit with his wife, and on her other side Alice sat and my sisters looked at one another. "I had a vision while Lily was having her waking dream. In it I saw the cabin in the woods and a woman giving birth to a baby girl."

"Her mother?" Rosalie said, confusion ruling her mind along with Emmett's.

"Yes, but it's more than that. Before I say anything else, I want you to know that nothing is going to change for you, Emmett and Lily. You are amazing with her Rosalie, and you have to stop doubting that."

If my sisters could have cried I think they would have. Once I started to walk away Alice began telling Rosalie about the records she had found in Biloxi about her sister born thirty four years after Alice's birthday.

Inside Bella was waiting for me and led me upstairs away from the room we shared with our two children and into a different room. There were candles lit everywhere and the sheets in the bed were turned down. "Do you know how frustrating it is not to be able to read your mind?" I teased a second before her hands were unbuttoning the buttons on the blue dress top I had on.

"It must be terribly frustrating, maybe you should try not to think too much," my wife said as I helped her get the shirt off. Her hands moved over my chest followed by her soft, warm lips. Bella touches and kisses moved from my chest lower to my stomach. Her hands traveled downward as her lips found the area below my belly button. My wife kissed her way down to where her fingers were effectively unbuttoning my dress pants, and she gazed up at me as she got the zipper down before cupping her hand around my very swollen member.

It was all I could do to stand there and let her have her way with me, but I realized that this room with all the candles was her way of helping me relax, and tonight I was willing to let my wife do what she wanted, at least while I was still in control of my wants and desires.

When she knelt down on the floor and I felt her fingers tracing down the inner area of my thighs I wasn't very successful at holding in a growl. My own hands shot down and I grasped at her head a moment before she began to kiss and lick where her fingers had been. There was a tugging at my boxers before Bella slid them down my bare legs, and she glanced back up at me with hunger in her eyes.

"God Bella," I moaned as her tongue touched the very tip of my member. Idly I wondered if she had been reading those books Emmett and Rosalie had gotten us back when we had first gotten married and realized as her mouth drew me in, that I didn't care. What she was doing with her mouth and tongue was driving every thought out of my mind until there was only the beautiful woman I married kneeling before me giving me one of the greatest pleasures I had ever known.

When her mouth sucking and moving against me wasn't enough I grasped her arms. Bella gave me one last suck before she stood up. One moment she was dressed and in the next she was bare to my gaze. As I bent down grasping her bottom with my hands, Bella jumped up and wrapped her legs around me. My member brushed against her entry and we both moaned as my lips found hers. Grasping her bottom with both of my hands while Bella reached between us holding my thick shaft, I pushed her sinking into her body loving the way we fit so perfectly.

Moments later she was lying on the bed as I drove the rest of the way into her waiting depths, all the while kissing her, tasting her sweet taste as her arms wrapped around my shoulders.

"I love you so much," Bella whispered as we lay joined together in every way possible.

When I looked into her eyes I could see that love and I wanted to show her my love. I began to slowly move out of her, as her body tried to hold me in place. My eyes never left hers and as I pushed back in her eyes darkened. Maintaining that slow pace, at least for now, wasn't enough and soon Bella was arching off the bed in order to meet my demanding thrusts. Our bodies molded together as I thrust one last time, sinking into her depths as her walls began to spasm around me. My wife kissed me to muffle the cries of pleasure from her release which were mixed with my own.

Moments, or hours later we lay facing one another. Occasionally one of us would reach out to touch, or even to kiss while the candles continued to burn. "You really know how to take care of me," I whispered as I reached out and moved some hair that had fallen in her face out of the way.

Bella smiled, "You seem surprised."

"No, just a little undeserving."

Her brows furrowed and I touched between them with my fingers until her face was relaxed again. "Why do you feel that way?"

"Maybe because I'm not used to needing a break from it all. With my gift in times like these our family relies on what I can hear in other's thoughts to help understand things that are so illusive, like Lily's dreams."

"Everyone needs time to take a step back, and I needed to show you how much I love you. I guess sometimes I need the chance to take care of you," she added with another breath taking smile.

I leaned in and kissed lightly over her lips. "Any time you want to take care of me, feel free to pull me away," I said just a breath away from her.

My wife leaned in and kissed me. "I think I need to take care of you again," she said.

To her surprise, and pleasure, I grabbed Bella and rolled on my back lifting her up and settling her so she was straddling my stomach. No other words were necessary and if I had my way I'd spend the rest of eternity in the loving care my wife was offering me right at this very moment.

AN: So, my first question is how everyone liked the plot twist. I hadn't intended on the story doing this at all, but when I was writing it just sort of pushed it's way into reality, well as reality goes to the story. So what will it mean for all of them, and what will Alice and Jasper find when they dig deeper. There is so much more to come and I don't know when it's going to stop or what more my twisted brain will come up with, but I am glad you all are enjoying the adventure. Thank you to all of you who read and to those who reviewed. More to come.

~Ella~