Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
Disneyland is amazing, that's all that's needed to be said. We spent a full week there and had a blast. There were a couple close calls with the sun being out, but over-all it was amazing. It was easier than I thought to get to go. I know technically I didn't need Charlie's permission to go since I'm eighteen, but I didn't want to go knowing he didn't approve. It turns out the whole Denali family was going, even though Tanya and I did spend most of the trip to ourselves.
Tanya actually made sure that Charlie knew she was going on this trip, which from what we told Charlie, Kate put together, so that the idea of her and I being together, even if just on a vacation, can be in his mind. She said if he sees that we've spent a lot of time together that it won't be so hard for him to believe that eventually a relationship grew. I agreed, so I told him. I don't really know what he thought about me going to Disneyland with Tanya, but he seemed to have no problems with it.
We got three hotel rooms, two in each. When we first got there, Kate tried to claim dibs on my room, something about wanting to hear my sleep talking better, but Tanya was quick to put out that idea. When Kate started to push the matter, I swear Tanya was about to rip Kate apart, she yelled out 'mine' as she grabbed me and then said 'our room' and she half dragged half lead me to the elevators to get to our room. Kate didn't mention the rooms again; but I happen to know Irina gave her a hard time about it.
We watched the fireworks every night from an area in front of the Haunted House ride, or at least near it. All six of us sat on the ground and I was happily cuddled next to Tanya while we watched them. We even got the chance to see the water works from both parks.
Every night I was able to cuddle next to Tanya as I slept. Towards the middle of the vacation I had asked Tanya how boring her night is since I know she lays with me all night. I remember Edward said he loved to watch me sleep, that even before we had started going out, that he would watch me; thinking back about that, it creeps me out. Tanya though, Tanya said it's very boring to watch someone sleep, what she likes is to have me in her arms. To her, she says, it's as good as cuddling when we watch a movie or T.V. or something. That's definitely a lot less, or actually not at all creepy like Edward. She also added that listening to what I say in my sleep is apparently very amusing.
The last leg of the trip, the ride home from the airport, it was just me, Tanya, Carmen and Eleazar in the car. Carmen and Eleazar were in the front and Tanya and I were in the back. Kate and Irina opted to run back so that they can grab a bite to eat on their way home. Even though this whole trip has made me tired, so I got a very good excuse to use Tanya as my personal pillow in the backseat even though I know she's not complaining, I don't want to fall asleep, so instead I started a conversation with her about something that has been bothering me.
"What do you think I should do now?" I asked Tanya.
The backseat was just a normal backseat of a typical suburban, nothing exciting since it was just a rental car they wanted to use to fit all of us in, but I was able to lie on Tanya and be fairly comfortable.
"What do you mean?" Tanya asked as she started to lazily comb through my hair with her fingers.
"Well, now that I've graduated, what should I do? When I was with Edward," Tanya let out a little growl at that, apparently she's still over the fact that we were at one point together. "I had wanted to be turned when I graduated since Edward was turned when he was seventeen, I didn't want to be that much older than him." I explained.
"Well, I'm twenty-five, so if you want to wait until you're the same age, we can. Or if you want to be turned sooner you can. What do you want?" Tanya said.
I really don't know what I want. I was so set on becoming a vampire when I moved to Forks, that instead of preparing for college and picking out a career like most juniors, I did my best to not get killed by a vampire that hunted me. My senior year, or at least the start, I was trying to figure out what to do to get Edward to agree to turn me after graduation. Then when they left me, a career after high school was the last thing on my mind.
"I don't know." I eventually answered her.
"Well, do you want to continue your studies, do you want to travel, do you want to be turned or do you want to remain human and stay here?" Tanya asked, giving me several options that I already knew about.
"What would you like?" I asked her, since I still don't really know what I want to do.
"It doesn't matter what I want as long as you stay with me. I'll follow where ever you choose to go and support whatever you choose to do." Tanya said.
I suppose I could go back to school and then get turned afterwards. From what I understand from the Denali's though, my human memories may not entirely remain intact. So what I learned from going to college could be completely forgotten and have been ultimately a waste of time. I don't want to put in the years to get a degree that I don't even know what I would major in anyways, only to forget it all when I get turned.
If I travel, then I would naturally at least bring Tanya with me. We would have to be careful where we go to make sure no one see's her sparkle and we would have to make sure she always has a food source if we go somewhere remote. It might get a little hard to travel to a lot of places since we would have to time it perfectly and we would have to make sure to rent cars and book hotels and where ever we go will have to have for me as well. That's a lot of planning to accommodate both of us since we just can't go someplace too remote for Tanya because of me and we can't go to a lot of popular places easily at least, for me because of Tanya. I don't think I would want that.
If I decide to get turned now, what about Charlie and Renee? I can't just suddenly disappear from their life, I just can't. I would have to come up with something to slowly grow out of their lives and eventually just disappear, or actually probably die I think, when I'm sure it won't as much as it would if I would to do that now. I think at least, I'm not really sure how I would do that, but I can't right now.
Maybe I should just stay here with them and move in. I can tell Charlie that I'm taking time off from school but I still want to be on my own, since I am an adult and I can move in with the Denali's. This way, I get to see Tanya a lot more. I'll still technically live in town, but since I'm graduated, we can now be seen in town and not risk Tanya getting in trouble since she doesn't work at the school anymore. I think that would be the best option.
"I think I would like to stay here and just take some time off school. Even just move in with you guys, if you don't mind." I said, quickly adding the last part since technically the house is Tanya's since she's the leader. I know they gave me a key, but still, I don't want to assume and be wrong or just seem rude.
"Of course you can move in. Now, would that be moving into my room?" Tanya asked as she wrapped her arms around me.
I turned over, once Tanya loosened her grip on me, so that I could face her. This way wasn't as comfortable since I'm taller than the length of the backseat, but I made it work. Once I was facing her, I leaned in and gave her kiss before answering. I did my best to get Tanya as worked up as possible, I learned how from her and since she always seems to do so to me, I learned how to do so to her fairly quickly. Once I had her breathing heavily and her eyes almost black, I pulled away from the spot my lips had found on her neck.
"No." I said simply, then turned back around and laid back down on her.
I just barely heard Carmen and Eleazar chuckle a little from the front seat before Tanya pulled herself together to respond to me.
"You're spending too much time with Kate. What happened to just giving me a simple answer and not getting me all worked up." Tanya complained.
"I blame you, since you do it all the time to me." I responded.
"If Kate hadn't told you to do the same thing to me, I doubt you would have." Tanya said in a huff of breath, finally wrapping her arms back around me.
Yesterday, Kate pointed out to me that whenever there was a disagreement over which ride to go on, or even which store to go to (I always opted for the choice of not going to a store), Tanya would pull me into a very passionate kiss and I became so dazed from the happiness that always followed, I would give in. It's not like I really cared too much about what Tanya was persuaded me to do anyways, but when Kate pointed that out and also said that I could very much have the same effect on Tanya, I tested this out.
Now whenever I just want to mess with her, or get her back for something she had gotten me to agree to, I do the same thing to her. I find it funny and I know Tanya doesn't mind since she gets a mini make-out session from it. I actually really think that we both do this, not for one of us to get our own way or to just get back at the other, but just because we can. The reasons we come up with are just excuses so that it doesn't look like we want to make out all the time. Not that I think we're fooling the family, but I like the theory and I'm sticking to it.
I ended up falling asleep in Tanya's arms before we got back to their house. I was so tired from the trip and so content with being in Tanya's arms that I didn't stand a chance to not fall asleep. I didn't even realize when we pulled up and Tanya made sure to put me in her bed instead of another guest room.
Over the next couple days since I got home from the trip, I had built up enough confidence with my choice of what I wanted to do that I finally decided to tell Charlie that I'm moving out soon.
The last couple days I had spent as much time as I could with Tanya; both just with us and also in public. I wanted to start slowly with the public so that the others didn't assume we were together when I went to school and I told Tanya as much. She put her foot down on that. She said and I quote 'I'm really tired of telling you this, but I don't give a damn about the human laws. You are not in school anymore, you are eighteen and I don't teach at the school anymore. Nothing will happen, I swear. I'm not hiding this relationship, I've told you this already.', so I gave up that idea.
I don't want Tanya to think I'm hiding out relationship, because I really don't care what other people besides my family and close friends think anyways. Tanya already agreed to break the news to Charlie slowly so that he doesn't get mad at me. Since he doesn't know the town folk that well like he did in Forks, word about me hanging out with a former teacher won't reach him that quickly if at all. So since I don't have to worry about someone spilling the beans early to Charlie, I don't need to hide our relationship from anyone. So as soon as I said that idea, and Tanya said her fill, I quickly tossed the idea out.
I know Charlie knows that my boss, Kate is Tanya's sister and that I've gotten close to the whole family. I talk about them as much as I can to him, especially since I got back, so that he could get used to the idea of me being with the Denali family. So now that it's been a couple days since I've been back, I really want to move out with Charlie and in with the Denali's. I now I'll miss living with Charlie, since he did take me in and all and he is my dad, but I want to spend as much time as I can with Tanya. It's almost like I've become clingy, but Tanya said that that's just the mate bond we have.
"So, I've decided what I want to do, for now at least." I said; breaking the silence Charlie and I had fallen into as we ate dinner.
"And what have you decided?" Charlie asked, putting his fork down to give me his full attention.
"Well, as you know, I don't know what I would want to get a degree in if I go to college. So I don't want to waste time and money to work towards something that I don't know about. I also don't want to continue to live here. No offense to you Charlie, but I am an adult and I want a chance to live out on my own." I said as quickly as I could.
Charlie didn't look offended that I wanted to move, not that I thought he would. Don't all parents want their kids to move out of their house as soon as possible anyways? I can't read Charlie's face; it seems he's waiting for me to tell him exactly what I plan on doing before he passes judgment.
"Okay, I can get that. I myself didn't go straight to college out of high school either, so I don't expect you to if you don't want to. I can respect that you don't want to continue living with your old man in favor of living in your own space with your own rules. So what exactly have you decided to do?" Charlie asked in a very calm voice.
"Well, Kate has an extra room in her house." or several extra rooms, but Charlie doesn't need to know that. "She offered to rent it to me cheap in exchange to working more hours at her store at a lower wage. Since she wasn't paying minimum anyways, I'm okay with taking the hit; which won't actually be that much. We worked it all out about the electricity and cable and all the other bills, I really want to do this." I said as quickly as I could again.
Of course I didn't actually talk about the different house hold bills with them, but Eleazar suggested that help persuade Charlie to not have any problems with me moving in with them, that I would need to cover all my bases as if I was moving in with people that weren't completely loaded with money. So Eleazar told me what to tell Charlie to make it seem like I would pull my weight around the house while being able to do so and still have a little extra money on the side.
"Your bosses' house?" Charlie asked, sounding a bit hesitant about it.
"Well ya, I don't really see her as a boss; more like a best friend." Or a sister really, but I don't think Charlie would understand that that well.
"She doesn't mind at all?" Charlie asked, still hesitant. I don't know what's going on in his head, but I hope it's good.
I've never told Charlie that the Denali's all live together. So I bet he thinks that Kate lives on her own as does Carmen with Eleazar, and Irina and Tanya on their own also. I don't want to point out that they all live together in case that makes him change his mind because of any possible issues he might have about living with a recently former teacher. I'm not lying, just not telling him the whole truth, which he hasn't asked about, so it's okay.
"Nope, she said it would help ease the cost of everything, so she's actually excited about me moving in." I told him.
"When will you be moving in?" Charlie asked with a smile.
I gave him a big smile in return, he may not have actually said yes, but I know his question is as good as his approval. He doesn't mind me moving in; I just hope he feels the same when he learns the full truth.
"Within the week; the whole family will help me move." I answered.
"I'll help you to you know. Just let me know when and where and I'll help." Charlie said.
I got up from my chair, since I was done eating, and gave him a big hug. He blushed at the affection and I'm sure I would have also since, well it is Charlie that I'm hugging, but I'm too happy to get embarrassed.
"I'll clean this up in a bit, I want to call Kate and tell her." I told Charlie excitedly.
"Don't worry about, you do all the cooking and usually clean up, I'll get it this time." Charlie said as I rushed out the kitchen and to my room.
I shouted a thank you over my shoulder to him as I went into my room, only tipping once when I narrowly avoided running into a corner, the stupid thing came out of nowhere. I immediately pulled out my phone and call Tanya because when I say I'll call Kate, I really mean Tanya of course.
"So what did he say?" Tanya asked immediately when she answered.
I told her earlier today that I would be telling Charlie I moving in with them, or at least with Kate, so Tanya said she would be waiting to hear what Charlie's reaction is. Apparently she meant she would be waiting for me to call, because the phone didn't even finish the first ring before she answered.
"He's okay with it, even offered to help move." I told her.
I heard someone grumble in the background then Tanya laughed. Luckily I've been through this before that when the person in the background is done complaining, usually Kate; Tanya will tell me what happened.
"Kate is complaining that we're going to have to move the slow way now whenever Charlie is there since he thinks we're human. And since we only have male, supposedly the stronger sex with humans, we still can't move that fast since us females can't just move what you consider heavy stuff, on our own." Tanya said, sounding amused.
"This will teach Kate some patience." I said knowing she would hear me.
"I have plenty of patience. I just don't want to have to pay attention enough to make sure I don't lift something too heavy." Kate yelled from the background to me.
"Okay Kate. So when do you want to move in?" Tanya asked.
Ever since I picked out the room I want yesterday, which of course is right next to hers, Tanya has been anxious to get me to be completely moved in as soon as possible. Not that I mind, but I feel like she's up to something with how fast she wants me to move in.
"Well, if we start on Wednesday, then in theory we should have most of it done by Thursday, which is when Charlie would be able to help me move. I want him to help, especially since he seemed to really to help me. On Wednesday, when he's at work, we or actually you guys I guess, can get all the really heavy stuff and on Thursday Charlie can help me with small left over boxes." I said.
"That works. By Thursday my present for you will have come in. I had wanted it in for your graduation, but unfortunately it wasn't, so I went with plan B for your graduation present. The gift will definitely be in by Thursday, and when you're fully moved in, I'll give it to you." Tanya said sounding very happy and excited.
My only response to her was to groan into the phone, causing a couple people to laugh in the background; probably Kate and Irina.
"Don't complain love, I've gotten this gift for my whole family and you will be no exception." Tanya said with authority in her voice that made me not want to argue with her.
"Okay Tanya, if you want to give me the gift, I won't complain about it." I said.
"Good, now, there is something that we need to tell. I would rather tell you in person and I have no problem if you want to come over after I tell you if you want, but I feel telling you this as soon as possible is only fair to you." Tanya said. Her tone lost the authority quality it had, but she still sounded serious.
"What do you want to tell me?" I asked, trying not to sound as concerned as I feel.
She better not have any bad news for me. My thoughts started racing with what she could possibly have to tell me. Could she be doing what she told me she wouldn't, like the Cullen's? Is this how she will tell me they are leaving me?
"Our cousins are coming to visit in a couple weeks." Tanya said.
I was so caught up in being relieved that what I had thought she would tell me was horrible wrong, that I didn't put the dots together to figure out what she meant by that. When I didn't even respond, Tanya elaborated.
"The Cullen's, all of them, are coming to visit us in a couple weeks." Tanya said.
Oh, ya, she could have told me a different way. The phone dropped from my hand as soon as my mind understood what she said.
As the phone fell, I thought I heard Tanya shout to me that she's coming over, but I couldn't focus on her. I can only think that they family that left me, left me to Victoria's wrath, left me with a huge hole in my chest that I got very lucky to get Tanya to fill. The family I thought had loved me is coming here.
Do they know I'm here? Did Alice tell them? Why would Alice let them come when they didn't want me in the first place? How do I actually feel about this? I don't know how to feel or what think about them coming. The only thing, the only actually solid thought that is stuck in my head on repeat is 'the Cullen's, the family that left me, are coming'.
A/N: Sorry about the delay, but I've re-written this a couple times and I guess this will just have to be another chapter that I don't like but can't do any better. The Cullen's will be in the next chapter; all of them; I just don't know for how much of the chapter yet… I'll figure that out… eventually…