Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Author's Note: If you are squeamish at all, skip this chapter. Real life is not for the faint at heart!

Chapter 16 Blood

EPOV

Bella woke in my arms, gripping me tightly. She had been dreaming again, though she wouldn't tell me what it was about. She excused herself to the bathroom before I could even get in a kiss, but returned quickly to cuddle in my arms. As our intentions became more serious, falling into our normal morning routine of always making love before we got up and started our day together. Though we had stayed up late talking about it, I had to stop her one more time to ask her if she was sure. Really sure.

"You won't hurt me, Edward. You never could! You haven't hurt me even when you thought you lost control!"

"Baby, I just don't want anything to happen to you."

"You are not going to hurt me! You're a vampire. Sex and blood go hand and hand for vampires, you told me that right?"

"Yes, but . . . "

"So it would be a big turn on for you, add even more pleasure for you, right?"

"Yes, but . . ."

"Edward! Yes, I think it's extremely yuck, but I'm not a guy or a vampire, so my perspective is not the same as yours."

"Bella, we can make love without . . . "

"Edward! I so want you to put your face . . . there", she blushed crimson when she said it.

I kissed her with all the love I was feeling for this woman. She could not possibly understand. I knew she thought this would be an extremely gross and tasteless thing to do, but she also respected the fact that I was a vampire, and vampires follow a little different set of rules than humans do. She seemed to truly believe that I was incapable of seriously injuring her and I was beginning to believe that she was right. She had proven over and over that she usually was right when it came to things about me.

"I love you more than anything."

I traced kisses down her chest as I moved my body lower down hers, my breathing was ragged. The smell of her arousal was always intoxicating, but mingled with her blood it was something I had not idea of how to even describe. It was the most amazing thing I could have ever imagined. I instantly soiled myself and our bed. Luckily, with our position, Bella could not know that had happened, unless by the tell tale stiffening of my muscles and catch in my breath. I had never experienced or even heard of anything like this. The combination of her scent and the blood was almost unbearable. I have no idea how long I continued, or how many times she climaxed. Hers might have been countable, were I paying attention, mine were continual and infinite. Absolutely mind blowing.

I raised my face from its place on her shoulder to kiss her cheek, not wanting to upset her by kissing her with the taste of blood in my mouth, but she took my face in her hands and kissed my lips, her tongue demanding entrance. I kissed her, watching her face to make sure I did not disgust her, but there was only love and passion showing. Dear God, I loved this woman. We came together and stilled. After a few moments, she wiggled and wiggled till I realized I had collapsed on her and she needed some of my weight off of her to be able to breath. I never remembered being this exhausted. I moved to lay beside her, my eyes closed and my body still while she stroked my face and my hair.

"You are the most amazing and dangerous creature on the planet, Bella Cullen."

"That was incredible, Edward. I adore making love with you!" She ran her fingers through my hair and scratched my scalp, calling me a "Crazy vampire!"

"I don't know how you can joke about something as primal as a vampire, Bella, but I love you for it. If it's OK with you, can we just stay right here in bed for a little while. I'm really tired, I need to hunt and we have to change the sheets!."

"Tell you what my husband, you rest, I'll go and make me some breakfast!"

BPOV

I wiggled from under his arm, the weight of it heavier than normal. I smirked at how tired and utterly spent he seemed. I had never seen him like this and I loved the fact that I could do that for him. I grabbed some clothes from the closet and my bag of toiletries to take to the bathroom and went in for a shower. I had almost finished my breakfast when my sleepy faced husband came down the stairs.

"How is it that you are so awake and perky, love? Did I not tire you at all?", he asked as he put his arms around my waist and rested his head on my shoulder.

"Actually, it just fired me up . . . want to do it again? I have cleaned up and eaten breakfast, so I'm good for a few hours!", she teased. At least I hoped she teased. I was literally spent.

"I have to hunt. I really really have to, right now. I have no energy at all, love. I can be back in an hour or two, is that alright?"`

"Not a problem sweetie, just remember, if you can't run with the big dogs, stay home under the porch!", her eyes gleamed at me as she kissed my lips. I so hoped Alice had not seen this. I would never be allowed to live this down . . . ever.

"Are you seriously teasing me about this? You just tempted a vampire that was making love to you with blood causing him to come all over himself and the sheets so many times he couldn't even tell when one started and the other finished and you're laughing at me! Have you no instincts for self preservation, woman!"

"Go, go so you can get back here and be tempted again! I'll do the laundry while you're gone!", she laughed at me.

"I hate being apart from you! Be back soon?", I kissed her lips and ran out the door.

BPOV

Edward was the best and I was so lucky to have him. My life had changed so completely from last year. There had been so much pain then and it was replaced now with only happiness. I would be sad about leaving my Dad and Mom, but even if I had Edward change me now, I could see them in a year or two. I could probably get by with the no aging problem for 4 or 5 years and prolong my time with them, maybe. I just didn't know that it might not be better to just make a clean break.

Clean break. I hated that term. That had been the term Edward had used for the way he left me last year. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Edward did have a point with the concept. I would have to think about that. I still had time but I really didn't want to turn 20.

Ever.

He was only 17. I needed to be a teenager forever as well.

I went upstairs to our room to get the sheets. They really did need washing and I wondered if tonight would go as well. My periods only lasted about 3 days and only the first two appeared to be fresh blood. While the whole concept of blood kind of made me sick to my stomach, it certainly had a different effect on my husband! I wonder how I will manage being a vampire if I can't stand blood! Guess that will have to change, too.

I wondered how the Cullens managed to endure the scent while they were in high school. All those girls, there had to be the scent of blood almost every day. I remembered that most people kept their distance from them and I supposed that it helped. Edward was the only vampire that any of them had ever heard of being this close to a human for a prolonged period of time, and I had had periods during the year that we were together in the beginning. Of course, we were not intimate then.

Carlisle told us it wold be dangerous and that we should be really aware of when to expect it, but this was the first period I had had since Edward had been back. Come to think of it, it was the first period I had since I had left Forks.

I remembered basic biology and realized that if body fat dropped to below 5% of my total weight, my body would not experience periods, as the body considered itself starving and unable to reproduce. I suppose it explained it. I had dropped down to skin and bone after Edward left and was only now recovering some of the lost weight. Huh. I had never been worried about keeping up with what time of the month it was because Edward had said we would not be able to have children, but I suppose I should keep up with the timing if Carlisle thought it was important.

I had finished the laundry and remade our bed with the gorgeous gold comforter and fluffy throw pillows. I really hadn't seen the need for a bed to be in his room here, but Edward insisted that if his human wife was sleeping there, she had to have a proper bed waiting for her and he had one delivered while we stayed at Charlies. It was much like the bed we had at home! He was so nineteen hundreds. The bed looked so comfy when I had finished, I crawled to the middle of it and yawned. Maybe I was tireder than I thought. I considered that as I fell fast asleep.

EPOV

It took no time at all to find a small herd of deer in the woods near the house and devour them. I had not felt this thirsty in awhile and I suspected it was the sex as well as the blood that had me so thirsty. I needed to do everything I could to make Bella as safe as possible around me and one of those things was to satiate my thirst as much as possible, especially now while she was bleeding. It wasn't this bad before, the year when we were here in Forks together. I had spent the night in bed with her during her period then, of course then we both had our clothes on and our relationship was chaste.

This morning was all I could think about. The combination of blood and sex was beyond anything I had ever imagined. It was intoxicating. I just could not believe my wife was real! How did she take all these vampire quirks in stride and still love me? I needed to do something nice for her, something special. Women liked it when guys planned special things, right?

I returned to find Bella asleep on our bed. It was freshly made so she had obviously done the laundry and she had found the evidence of how out of control I was last night. Damn. That would only encourage her to have me do it again and I really didn't need any encouragement! I left the room quietly, determined to let her sleep, as much as I would have loved to have her company.

I took the opportunity to plan an outing for tonight while she slept. I had never dated, so I really didn't know what I was doing, but I looked up a nice restaurant on line in Port Charles, got the schedule for the local movie theater and set about to come up with a plan. I had read the minds of teenagers in school for decades and dinner and a movie was considered a big deal, even in in the minds of college kids. I looked for concerts in the area, my other option, but there weren't any tonight. Dinner and a movie it is!

I had taken Bella to dinner once before in Port Angeles and I thought we would go back to the same little Italian place, she might like that. I made a quick run into town to get her flowers and placed several vases around the house before taking off my shoes and curling up behind her in our bed.

She snuggled into me even in her sleep and I spooned her and played with her hair, not wanting to wake her . . . well, wanting really badly to wake her, but letting her rest instead. She would not need sleep once I changed her and we would be together all the time. I wanted to savor these moments of hearing her heartbeat and listening to her gentle breathing, not to mention the words she sometimes said in her sleep. These things would soon be gone.

I dressed in slacks and a nice button down and blazer. I was just tying my dress shoes, sitting on the edge of the bed when she woke.

"Hey!", she said sleepily as she scooted over to snuggle against my hips.

"Hey!", I said bending over to kiss her on the top of her head, "Did you have a nice nap?"

"Ummm, I did. You look handsome, has your girlfriend been over?"

"No", I looked at her, smiling as I rubbed her back, "Actually I was hoping to take my wife out to dinner."

"Well, if she isn't here soon, maybe I could just go with you, you are kind of cute!" she said as she smirked at me.

"I don't know, my wife is pretty possessive! She doesn't like me around other women!"

"I bet your wife trusts you no matter what. You could probably be in a room full of naked women and tell her you walked in there by accident and she would believe you!"

"I'll have to remember that!", I said as I put my arms around her and leaned to kiss her, "and I love you for it! Would you like to go to dinner and a movie with me?"

"Well," she said as she put her hand on my thigh and winked at me, "I'd love to . . . unless you can think of something else to do!"

I was on her in a minute. I had her pinned beneath me in the middle of our bed, straddling her hips and holding her wrists by her head, one in each of my hands.

"You are the most dangerous creature alive, Mrs. Cullen! I'm trying to be human here and take my wife to dinner, not just keep her in bed and ravish her day and night!", I said to her as I released her hands and tickled her.

She ran her fingers through my hair, knowing that tickling me was totally ineffective. I grabbed her hands again as she continued laughing, "You are messing up my hair! I just tamed it to go out with you!"

"Tamed it? Sweetheart, the hair on your head would be the last thing about you that could ever be tamed!", she said and reached up to kiss my lips, "Will you please get off of me, I have to get dressed, my very human husband is taking me to dinner!"

BPOV

Edward rook my hand as he helped me out of the R8. We had arrived at the same little Italian restaurant we had eaten at years ago, the first time I had ever been out with him.

"A quiet table for two, please", he requested at the door. We were escorted to the perfect table in the back, in a quiet corner by a window. I ordered mushroom ravioli and two cokes.

Instead of a movie we walked along the shore front. They had something of a boardwalk there for tourists with games, arcades and stores. We strolled along, hand in hand, not a care in the world. It was absolutely amazing how life could change in a year.

We posed for an artist to sketch us by the docks and it turned out well. Edward wanted to take it home and frame it! He did look handsome tonight in slacks and a sport jacket, and when another man offered to take a picture of us, I agreed. The green dress that I had on tonight was the color that Edwards eyes had been when he was human, according to Carlisle, and it showed enough cleavage to put a sparkle in those eyes. It was a photo worthy of framing, just from the expression on his face as he looked at me. How could anyone ever not take one look at us and realize we were in love! I would have to remember to thank Alice for the green dress that I had found in the closet!

We even played some of the games, throwing the baseball to knock down the stack of three milk cans, which Edward conspicuously won every time he tried.

"Which stuffed animal would you like Sir, you can have you pick of any of them!", the attendant asked. I eyed the large stuffed lion and Edward snickered. "The lady wants the lion", he said, raising his eyebrows and passing it to me. We walked back towards the car with me carrying the lion, almost as large as I was. He would have to share my seat in the car, if he fit at all!

BPOV

We had a wonderful night out and snuggling into his chest in bed was no less wonderful. I stroked his cheek and relaxed into his arms as we settled in for the night. I wasn't going to push him. He knew that I wanted him, I always wanted him but this was his decision. I would understand if a human male didn't want to fool around when I was on my period and I needed to respect Edwards decisions about this, whatever they might be. We spent some time kissing and holding each other like the teenagers we were.

"Edward!", I said in a hushed, tense voice.

"What, what's wrong!", he answered, alarmed from the tone in my voice and assuming an almost defensive posture.

"We're being watched!"

"What?", he asked, wondering what the hell I was talking about since his senses were so much better than mine.

"The lion, in the corner . . . it's starring at me!", I exclaimed.

He broke into laughter, grabbing me and tickling me as we rolled around in our bed! I had to lighten the moment and it had worked! I held him and gave him a serious kiss, tongue running along the edge of his lips, asking entrance. He obliged by caressing my tongue with his in one of his tingly mind blowing type kisses. I responded by nibbling and biting his chin as he tried to speak to me.

"Bella, are you not worried at all that I'll loose it and hurt you?", he asked as he tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"No, not at all", I told him as I looked at his perfect face, "You would never hurt me and I am willing to bet my life on it."

He sighed, kissing my neck,"You are betting your life on it, on my ability to restrain myself, every time I take you in my arms."

"I have absolute confidence in the love we have for each other, Edward. You won't hurt me. I won't pretend that I understand the attraction to blood, I'm not a vampire. Most humans, well . . . not all humans, but most would find the idea of being close while I'm bleeding absolutely repulsive, but you aren't human, baby, and I understand that! Vampires literally live off blood - it would seem to be a natural thing for you. If I can give you pleasure then why would I object?", I held his face in my hands as I tended to do when I needed to get a point across,

"I love you, silly vampire!"

I decided to start something myself, since he seemed reluctant. I kissed down his chest, feeling his rock hard abs and tracing the lines of his muscles. He was perfect, his body was absolutely perfect. Soft, velvety skin covering hard muscle. I felt the soft bronze hair that trailed below his belly button as I kissed his stomach. Edward had worn pajama pants to bed tonight, we never wore clothes to bed and I tugged the offending garment till he raised his hips and allowed me to take them to his knees. Edward kicking them the rest of the way off. He was mine.

I heard him grab the headboard and I hoped that our new bed was not doomed to be replaced, as the guest room bed had been and the sofa in his room. He had not destroyed anything when we had both done this to each other at the same time and I had hoped he would get the idea himself. I was thrilled when he lifted my body and placed me fully on top on him.

He reached for my breasts, he massaged my butt, he stroked my thighs. He never once grabbed me too hard, or held me too tight. I, on the other hand, sucked with all my might, grasping his butt and stroking the inside of his thighs. I have no idea how many hours we spent. I knew that I was exhausted and after one particularly amazing instance when we both came together, I released him, moving to put my head on his shoulder and hitch my leg over him to hold him to me.

He was not done yet and rolled me to my back. He kissed me so sweetly, so lovingly. He rolled to his back and pulled me to his chest, covering us with blankets and wrapping his arms around me as he cradled my head on his chest.

"I am so in love with you", was the last thing I heard him say as I drifted to sleep.

~oooOooo~

The morning light woke me as it streamed in the window. Everything was calm in the woods outside the floor to ceiling windows, and very still. I realized my husband was not breathing, but I wasn't alarmed. I knew he didn't need to breath. I raised my head to look at his face, expecting to stare into his golden eyes only to find his eyes closed. His face was so peaceful, so much of the 17 year old boy shining through, he was beautiful.

His eyes were closed and he wasn't breathing.

I waited.

He didn't move . . . he didn't move at all.

I froze.

It took me a long moment to realize what I was witnessing.