Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.
Author's Note: Thanks to ALL of you that reviewed the last chapter! I appreciate the reviews now more than ever and I will answer all of them. I need and love your comments and support. This last week was just tremendously busy and the time got away from me. Sorry you all got no updates on time! I will try and get you three in the next week to make up for it! lol
Chapter 114 Don't be mad!
It was kind of surreal, the expressions on the faces of everyone in my family.
The child in Rosalie's arms reached forward and put a hand on each of his uncles shoulders
as they stood protectively in front of him, pushing them to the side.
He then sat back into Rose's arms and began to clap his little hands together
and laugh loudly, smiling and giggling.
No one said a word as their mouths hung open, staring at him.
~oooOooo~
Masen POV
"He'll have to kill it and be done."
What?
I woke up when I heard and smelled her. She was climbing in through the opening and though I had seen her in the museum earlier with my mom and dad . . . I didn't like her. I didn't like her at all. Her thoughts about my mom were mean and I was afraid she might try to hurt her. Dad had been calm though, kind of, and I knew that he would protect us no matter what . . . so I didn't do anything with everyone there.
This was different. I was alone in my room and she was bigger and stronger than I was . . . I just hoped that daddy wouldn't be angry with me. I could hear auntie Rose in the other room, so I cried loud to get her attention. It was better if she took care of whatever was needed and wow was she angry when she came in the room and grabbed me.
I wasn't scared in her arms. I really wasn't scared anyway, I just didn't want to make my dad mad at me and I had promised him I wouldn't.
Aunt Rose told her to get out but I needed to change her. She might come back and fixing it now would make sure she didn't come and hurt my mom when I wasn't around. For some reason, she didn't think of my mom like she did my dad or the rest of my family. She kind of thought of her like a pet or even like dinner.
Dad told me he was a vampire. He tried to explain over and over again what that was and that most vampires fed on humans, drank their blood, but that he and the rest of my family didn't. It explained why my throat burned around my grandma Renee and grandpa Charlie . . . but it didn't really explain my mom. My dad loved my mom, at least that was what he called the feeling I got from him, but I knew his throat burned like flames around her, especially when he gave her that feeling that she loved so much.
I never noticed the burn in my throat when my mom was around. She was just mom, like she was a part of me like my dad was. This lady in front of me didn't like her . . . and I was going to fix that and hope may dad would understand.
I couldn't help but laugh and smile at the confusion in aunt Rose's mind. She was so surprised when the mean lady called me a cute little man and asked if there was anything she could do for me before she left. Her mind was full - she must have been around a really long time for it to be so crowded in there, but it didn't matter. I took away the dislike for me and my mom and made her like us.
I was working on how she felt about my dad when we moved to the big room and my other uncles and my aunt came in with the other two strangers. I wanted my mommy and my daddy.
My uncles stood in front of me like they were keeping her away from me, but I pushed them apart so I could see her and I laughed at her surprise at how mad aunt Rose was at her. I took away her mean thoughts plus added nice ones - it was the first time I had taken away thoughts, not just added other ones. I was just about to fix the rest of her feelings when my dad walked in with my mom. I had heard him coming. I could hear my dad's mind from really far way now, he had spent so many hours and days with me that his mind was as familiar as my own. I would know him anywhere.
I'm fine, daddy!
He had only tuned in to aunt Rose after he asked me if I was okay, and he was mad. Really mad. He was always so worried about me and my mom.
That was funny, daddy!
My dad threw the mean lady far far away, and I heard her splash like the noises I make in the bathtub when my Auntie Rose baths me. Maybe I could get him to toss me like that so that I could make a really big splash, only maybe he had to be mad to do that. He was really mad right now, and I think he must have read Auntie Rose's mind, cause she was really mad, too. It must have something to do with the mean lady . . . but I fixed her.
Oh No! Maybe daddy is mad at me for fixing her? When he found out that I stopped the mean lady from hurting my mom, back before I was born, he didn't get mad at me. He told me not to change what people thought unless someone was going to get hurt, their bodies hurt not just their feelings.
Dad had explained feelings, and I had lots of them. I had feelings that made me warm and comfortable, mostly coming from my mom and dad and my Auntie Rose. I had feelings that made me want to do things and laugh and talk out loud better than I did now so that I could tell my uncles what I was thinking, and Grandpa and Grandma Cullen. I even had feelings that made me want to bite things, to stop the burning in my throat like nursing from my mom and the bottles they fed me did.
The feelings that I had for my mom were always there, kind of like they were part of me and not just thoughts. Dad tried to explain thoughts, and I understood it about other people, just not about me. It didn't seem like a thought, things seemed just like they were me, not thoughts. Thoughts in other people I could change, add new ones, take away bad ones . . . but not my own . . . and not dad's.
Dad always seemed to know when I put a thought in his head. I would think it was working, like I wanted mom NOW, or I wanted the other stuff that mom didn't give me - she always fed me yummy stuff from her body, not the thick gooey stuff that my Auntie Rose gave me. Sometimes other people gave me stuff kind of like from my mom, but it was never as tasty as when I sucked it myself from my warm mommy. She was really really warm when I was next to her skin!
Anyway, daddy always knew. Even when I tried really hard to make the thought always stay there, to change what he thought. He noticed the thought like it was different, somehow . . . separate from his other thoughts. Other people never noticed. But . . . other people couldn't read minds like my dad could.
What daddy? Yes, I'm fine. No, she never touched me.
I could tell from his thoughts that we were going to have a lot to talk about when everyone left us alone.
"Mama!" I said quietly, reaching for her as she stood on the other side of my dad.
Everyone seemed to be busy talking about the mean lady. Two ladies I didn't know were saying how sorry they were that she acted badly and my uncles were talking about lighting her if she ever came near me again. Maybe auntie Rose shouldn't have told them she wanted to hurt me . . . I guess she had no way of knowing that I fixed it already.
"Mama!" I said louder, everyone turning to stare at me as I opened and closed my hand, reaching in her direction.
~oooOooo~
EPOV
I couldn't help but smile, even with all that I was taking in from the minds of my family . . . especially Rosalie.
"Bella, I think he's demanding attention from his mom," I smiled in spite of myself as I hugged her to me, gesturing toward our son.
"You want your mommy little man? Did the wicked witch of the west scare you, baby?" she said as she quietly crossed the space between them and took Masen from Rosalie, his arms trying to encircle her neck as he nuzzled close to her and patted her skin before burrowing closer and closer to his food.
The ladies in the room stood with their jaws dropped, stunned into complete silence as they took in my wife's demeanor . . . as well as her assessment of Tanya. Jasper was beaming at her, as proud as any brother could ever be at the confidence she showed and the level of calm she maintained.
I knew different.
I knew her.
She was calm on the outside, for all to see, as she had become poised and confident in front of my family. Inside though, my wife was crumbling at the very thought of that woman being in the room with our son - and she didn't yet know even the sketchy details I had gotten from Rosalie's thoughts. Tanya had come here to harm Masen. Had I known that, I would have dismembered her before I threw her in the lagoon.
"I'm so sorry about my sister's behavior, Edward," Kate said after Bella excused herself to our room to feed Masen, "We came here just to make sure she wasn't up to anything the minute we realized she had left the club alone."
"She came here to get a better look at Masen, Kate," Rosalie spat.
"I'm sure it was only her curiosity," Irina added, trying to defend or at least explain her sister.
"No. It was a lot more than that," Rosalie quoted, "I hope he knows that when he comes to his senses and wants me, I am not raising that for him. He'll have to kill it and be done."
The minds of everyone in the room were stunned . . . no thoughts at all for the longest moment before they were all filled with disbelief and rage. Even her sisters wanted to punish her. Emmett was planning where he could dismember her and lite her pyre where he wouldn't be seen, as was Jasper, and Alice was giving me a play by play of what Tanya was doing right now.
"It's late. I know Bella would like to get some sleep, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to join her. We can talk about this in the morning - late morning. Kate, Irina . . . I assume you will make sure to stay with Tanya to insure she doesn't come anywhere near me or my family. I will end her on sight, I want you to know that," I explained, determined that they should understand where my loyalties were.
"Of course," Kate said as she and Irina made for the door.
"She's in your rooms changing right now. she'll still be there when you get there," Alice told them as they left.
'If we know where she is, why don't we just go and rip her apart?" Rosalie asked.
"I'm in," Emmett bellowed.
"Count me in," Jasper added, trying to control the anger in the room but having trouble doing so because he was just so angry himself.
"No, no, no. Everything is fine now," Alice insisted, "Masen took care of it." "Rose, I have some dresses I need you to choose from on line and I think the new Battlefield III just downloaded for the guys," she said handing the controller from the coffee table to Emmett.
"Seriously?" Emmett said, astounded, "You want us to just play a game while you and Rosie look at dresses? What the hell? Tanya needs to not exist!"
"No. She's right, Emmett. Let me talk to Masen. From what Rose and Alice have shown me, she may be right," I told them.
"Dude! Masen? He's not even two months old, Edward. What the hell?" Emmett continued.
"Masen can change people's thoughts, remember. He did it to Victoria when she had Bella. He saved her life then, and I think he may have used his power again, on Tanya," I explained, "I need to at least find out the whole story before we dismember her. She is family, brother."
"Come on, Rose. Let the boys play here and keep their ears open in case she comes back and we'll add to our wardrobe. Give big brother some time to get all the facts . . . you know yourself that something happened with her attitude, and it could have been Masen. Just keep Masen's power to yourselves, everyone. No one else needs to know what he is capable of."
We all agreed, finally, and I headed to my bedroom to join my wife and son. Bella had changed into a nightgown that would pull down, exposing a breast for Masen as she lay on the bed next to him as he fed, I quickly loss the clothes, except for the boxer briefs, and crawled into bed behind Masen with my arm over both of them. It was a position we all loved, close to each other and content.
"Everything okay, love?" I asked her as I kissed her soft lips with the moonlight coming in through the windows.
"It is now that you're here," she quietly answered, stroking my cheek.
She fell asleep moments later, exhaustion taking her. She had been up since early morning, toured Venice and endured meeting Tanya. While she seemed to be controlling most of her emotions to the outsider, I knew what meeting Tanya had done to her. She knew that was the one female that had been after me for years and she was beautiful, even among vampires. She didn't hold a candle to my wife, but Bella was still extremely insecure deep down and the scars from the wreck and small stretch marks from carrying our son only compounded it. It was also very emotionally draining for both of us when I sang to her, publicly declaring my feelings for my wife. Add to that the upset of Phil getting hurt and Renee leaving suddenly, along with Tanya's unbidden appearance in our rooms and it was no wonder she was exhausted. It had taken its toll on me, and I never tired. My very human wife was on overload.
My son, however, was busily faking being asleep, obviously knowing that I would want to know exactly what happened . . . and exactly what he had done.
He was quite good at faking, his mouth partially open as though he had nodded off while drinking from his mom, his lips still millimeters from Bella's nipple and drops of milk on his lips. I had to wonder if that was something similar to how I appeared when I had actually fallen asleep while indulging. It was times like these that I wished for just a glimpse into my wife's mind to see how she viewed some of the things that only she was privy to.
I couldn't help but smile at the little faker. He had become such a part of me in such a short time and I loved him beyond all reason.
"Alright you," I thought.
"Masen."
"I know you're awake, son."
He turned his head to stare at me, his mind trying desperately to remain blank.
"So, what exactly happened, son," I asked him silently as he rolled over towards me.
"Hi dad!"
"Masen!"
"Dad! She woke me up, I heard her at the window then I smelled her. The same lady that was at the museum earlier."
"And . . ."
"She doesn't like me or mommy very much."
"I know, son. It's not you, she's just obsessed that she wants me with her, not your mom."
"She thinks mom is a pet, dad. She is so different, the way she thinks."
"I know, Masen. Did she hurt you at all son, did she touch you?
"No. I cried really loud and auntie Rose came and got me. The mean lady just kept saying things about you and my mom and me . . . things I didn't like," he told me as he remembered the entire encounter for me to see.
"That's why you used your powers, son?" I asked.
"You said it was alright if someone was going to hurt someone, right dad?"
"Yes. I said that. I'm glad you wanted till she mentioned harming you, son. You were right to change her mind for her."
"You're not mad at me?"
"No, son. I'm not mad. I understand why you did it, and you were right."
"I took away the mean thoughts, too. I put in different ones, but I took the others away. She will never ever think differently, dad."
"Masen . . . I had no idea you could remove thoughts, I thought you just added ones or changed their minds."
"Well . . . this time I took her thoughts. She was just so mean and she thought my mom was a pet or even food and she wanted me gone so she could have you. I had to take them."
"I'm not mad. I'm just glad you're okay, son. I'm sorry I wasn't here to keep her away from you."
"Aunt Rose was here. She was really mad," my son laughed as he remembered how tense she was as she held him. "She was trying to decide how to rip her apart while keeping me away from her," he told me.
"It's all right, son. Just so you and your mom are safe. I love you, Masen."
"I love you, daddy, and I love mommy."
I thought he was nodding off to sleep, but he was staring intently as he mentally asked, "Um, dad . . . do you have any of the gooey stuff for me to drink?"
"No. Masen, I don't. I'll hunt for you as soon as I can, though. Meanwhile, if you're still thirsty, I think mom still has some milk for you, son," I said as I exposed her other breast and turned him toward it.
~oooOooo~
Morning came and my wife stirred as I brought fresh coffee, fruit and pancakes to her on a tray. I had put Masen in his bed an hour or so ago, after he had fed again. I placed the tray on the night side table and crawled on the bed to hover over her, kissing the side of her mouth, her jaw, her neck . . .
She reached into my sleep pants and I moaned, dropping my head against her shoulder. My breathing stopped as she giggled and pulled me down on top of her.
I had never felt more seventeen in my life. It was all over from only her touch.
"I love you, sweetheart," she whispered in my ear as she kissed the side of my head and held me to her.
I should have been embarrassed . . . but somehow I wasn't. I loved her completely, beyond all reason and I knew that she loved me the same. Her giggling at me just made me smile.
"What?" I asked, sheepishly, "I can't help it if you do that to me, love. Your touch just makes me come unglued sometimes."
"I love that I have that much of an effect on you, sweetheart. It's part of how I can be confident about your love for me around other way more beautiful women . . . like Tanya."
"Bella . . . there is just no comparison between you. You're everything to me and if it takes me coming at just your touch to let you know how much you effect me, then it doesn't embarrass me at all."
"Well, luckily you need no recovery time," she said as she pushed my sleep pants down, her ankles crossing behind me.
I kissed her, my tongue tracing her lips as she opened her mouth to me and I breathed her in. She never stopped grinding into me, her breathing quickened and she moaned into my mouth as our tongues caressed each.
Rather than slowing, our passion continued to increase with my wife meeting each and every thrust with all the strength she had. I lost myself in my wife, just feeling her around me. Her hips left the bed as my arms encircled her and held her to me. Her body was damp now with exertion, and I couldn't help but lick the moisture from her neck and chest as we continued to enjoy each other with more and more energy and enthusiasm. I had to continually remember not to hold her too tight, but my wife was clueless as to the danger she could be in. She pushed me to my very limit limits as she encouraged . . . no, demanded that I push harder, deeper, faster . . .
We finally both fell over the edge together, rolling wildly around on our bed and down onto the floor, screaming into each others lips. I kissed her tenderly on her neck as she stroked her fingers through my hair and told me how much she loved me and how glad she was I had come back to her and how she wanted forever with me.
I wanted it, too. I wasn't sure I was willing to wait for us to have another child. I wanted her . . . immortal, safe . . . and mine forever. I wanted to be able to make love with her without worrying about hurting her, breaking her. She really had no idea just what I was holding back . . .
Her food was cold, of course, though I was pretty sure she didn't care.
"Let's go for a swim," I suggested after we showered and dressed.
Masen was up now and playing on the floor in the living room while we admired the view from the window.
"Edward, it's freezing out there!" Bella said with a shocked look on her face.
"It's a heated pool, love. Heated seawater, and the only pool in town. I think it would be fun to take a swim in warm salt water . . . relax those overworked muscles of yours from this morning's workout," I told her, wincing as I said it.
"Edward . . . what is it?" she said, concerned as she lifted my chin so that she could look me in the eye.
I walked her to the mirror in the foyer and pointed out the finger shaped bruises on her shoulder, kissing them and telling her how sorry I was that I had hurt her.
"Baby, I hadn't even noticed," she insisted, "This morning was hot, Edward. I wanted it that way . . . you're so unwilling to be even the least bit rough with me and I like that sometimes . . ."
"But . . . ," I stammered.
"If going for a swim will make you feel better cause you think it will make me feel better, then let's go. What about Masen?"
"Masen can come, too. I think he'll probably already be able to swim," I explained.
"Wonderful idea!" Alice said, entering our room with her swimsuit already on. "Hurry and change while I put a swimsuit on Masen," she said, waving the suit for him in her hand.
"Alice," we both laughed together.
"Did you have a good time out last night, little sister?" I asked her, reading the answer from her head long before she spoke.
"We all did. All three Denali sisters went with us and Tanya wasn't a shit for once!" she exclaimed.
I bristled at the mention of her name, but I told Bella and Alice what Masen had done and it all seemed to make sense to my sister.
"Well, that explains it," she said, looking relieved.
Bella sat, open mouthed and staring at our son as he walked from one piece of furniture to another holding on to them, though I suspected he didn't need to.
"Edward, our son did that? You're telling me that she likes me now? Tanya. We are talking about the strawberry blond vampire, right?" Bella asked, incredulous.
"She certainly does, and it flabbergasted us all when we were out last night. She just kept going on about what a cute couple you two were and how wonderful the baby was and how happy she was that Edward had finally found someone. Honestly, her sisters thought she needed a psychiatrist or something or that maybe she had hit her head when Edward flung her out into the lagoon!" she turned to look at me, "Tanya is very hurt that you flung her out the window, she had no idea what could possible have caused you to do that, brother. No memory at all."
"I know, Alice. Masen told me. We just have to forget the way she used to feel as it seems our son has completely changed her attitude and thoughts about Bella and me. It's weird, I know," I marveled.
"Well, at least she isn't running off to the Volturi to tell Aro we made an immortal child or some such thing like that! Keeping her quiet and on our side could be important, so we need to all just be casual with her today. Act as though everything is fine, understand?" Alice asked.
Bella and I both shook our heads, though it was going to be a really strange day . . .
~oooOooo~