AN ~ another nice little fluffy one, Baseball. Did I mention that ever since Edward left Carlisle alone in Port Angeles, there is no more Midnight Sun? This isn't as behind-the-scenes as the next few chaps will be, but I'd like to hear from you about how you think I'm handling their characters without training wheels! (and anything else, of course)
Also, voting for the Musical Cues contest starts very soon! there are nearly 40 entries so get reading guys, and pick your top three!
Disclaimer: twilight and characters are not mine :(
Chapter Twelve: Baseball
Esme:
Bella had taken to us surprisingly well, and it wasn't too long until Edward brought her to see us again. This time, though, it would be more like Emmett's idea of a good time than mine. From somewhere deep in the forest came a strangled laugh. I smiled and shook my head; Bella was so good for my son. Her very presence made him happy.
And if she sticks with him through this, anything is possible, I mused cheerfully, watching Emmett toss a baseball bat a few hundred feet into the air before it whistled back down into his hands.
"I still think this is a dumb idea," Rosalie muttered as Edward and Bella came into view. She huffed and headed out to our makeshift baseball field – twice the size of any human one – with an exaggeratedly graceful step as Emmett and I started towards Edward and Bella.
"Was that you we heard, Edward?" I teased, recalling the very loud, twisted laugh from their direction.
"It sounded like a bear choking," Emmett clarified, grinning.
"That was him," Bella said, smiling shyly at me.
"Bella was being unintentionally funny," Edward explained. Suddenly, Alice launched towards us – half running and half dancing – and, as always, came to a sudden, yet graceful stop.
"It's time," she announced gleefully. A deep rumble of thunder punctuated her words.
"Eerie, isn't it?" Emmett remarked, winking at Bella.
"Let's go!" Alice grabbed Emmett's hand and they both sprinted off towards the field.
"Are you ready for some ball?" Edward asked Bella enthusiastically. She tried to mimic his enthusiasm…but I got the feeling she wasn't as rapt by sport as my bizarre family: even the refined, book-loving Carlisle jumped at the chance of a game. I preferred to stick to the sidelines and try and enforce a few rules.
...
Edward ran off after Alice and Emmett, and for a moment Bella stopped breathing. Her mouth hung open as she stared after Edward, stunned.
"Shall we go down?" I offered, pretending I hadn't noticed her vacant expression. Bella jumped slightly, reassembled her features and nodded. We started walking, but I kept a few feet between us to avoid frightening Bella: we weren't exactly lowering her into this slowly, and I speak from experience when I say it is a lot to take in. And she isn't even one of us...I fought the 'yet' out of my head before Edward could hear it. He had his good days and bad days about their future together.
"You don't play with them?" Bella asked shyly, probably having noticed that I was in no rush to prepare for the game.
"No, I prefer to referee," I explained, thinking back on some of the fights I had had to break up. "I like keeping them honest."
"Do they like to cheat, then?"
"Oh, yes," I agreed. "You should hear the arguments they get into! Actually, I hope you don't; you would think they'd been raised by a pack of wolves!" I recalled the time Edward and Emmett got into a fight so intense I had literally had to throw them apart, and smiled at the irony.
"You sound like my mom," Bella commented with a laugh of surprise. I laughed too – it was strange that I considered myself their mother when Edward and Jasper were technically older than I was. Again, Edward and Emmett's hot-blooded fights that resulted in my throwing them to opposite ends of our baseball fields came to mind.
"Well, I do think of them as my children in most ways. I never could get over my mothering instincts – did Edward tell you I had lost a child?"
"No," Bella replied, shocked but sad. She was worried about prying. She blushed.
"Yes, my first and only baby," I explained. "He died just a few days after he was born, the poor tiny thing. It broke my heart." I remembered holding him, cold and lifeless, and I sighed. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Carlisle's cheerful face, and I remembered the good that had come from that. So much good.
"That's why I jumped off the cliff, you know," I added matter-of-factly, trying not to ruin the good spirit of the evening.
"Edward just said you f-fell," Bella stammered.
"Always the gentleman," I said, smiling as I tried to wipe the sadness from my eyes. "Edward was the first of my new sons. I've always thought of him that way, even though he's older than I in one way at least." I turned to Bella, smiling warmly now, and added; "That's why I'm so happy that he's found you, dear. He's been the odd man out for far too long; it's hurt me to see him alone."
"You don't mind then?" Bella inquired, hesitant again. "That I'm…all wrong for him?"
"No," I replied. "You're what he wants. It will work out, somehow." As I spoke, Alice's words rang through my head; there are really only two options left for her now…I hoped the second peal of thunder had distracted Bella, and stopped her: we had reached the edge of the field. Carlisle was waiting between the first and second bases, Alice on the pitcher's mound and Edward far to the back of the field. Jasper was catching, for the moment, though he was on Emmett and Rosalie's team. Emmett stood a few feet in front of Jasper, on home base, flipping around an aluminum bat - at a human altitude this time - as he waited. He took his stance when he noticed my arrival.
"All right, batter up," I announced clearly.
Alice waited, still perfectly straight, and then whipped out like a cobra all of a sudden. The ball flew straight into Jasper's hand with a smack.
"Was that a strike?" Bella whispered, keeping her eyes on the game, as one tends to do as a spectator of sports.
"If they don't hit it, it's a strike," I explained.
Jasper flung the ball back to Alice, and she grinned for a moment before letting the ball fly again. The crack of speeding bat against speeding ball rang out through the ranges, reverberating all around us. Bella's eyes widened as the ball sailed across the field, disappearing into the surrounding forest.
"Home run," she murmured.
"Wait," I told her, raising a hand and listening intently for Edward. Emmett shot around the bases, Carlisle shadowing him. There was a faint smack, and Edward announced;
"Got it!"
"Out!" I declared. Bella stared in awe as Edward returned, holding the ball above his head and grinning triumphantly.
"Emmett hits the hardest," I told Bella, "but Edward runs the fastest." I chuckled, and the innings continued. Bella's eyes flew around the field, but she still couldn't keep up.
When it came Jasper's turn to bat, he hit a ground ball towards Carlisle in an effort to avoid Edward. Carlisle flashed a grin, grabbed the ball and shot after Jasper in a race to first base. When they collided, a crash echoed around the clearing. Bella jumped, no doubt surprised and concerned, but I laughed and shook my head, sharing a joke with my ridiculous husband, and Carlisle smiled sheepishly at me as he got to his feet.
"Safe," I called.
...
At the changeover, Edward jogged in to Bella, glowing.
"What do you think?" he asked.
"One thing's for sure; I'll never be able to sit through boring old Major League Baseball again," she replied.
"And it sounds like you did so much of that before," Edward commented sarcastically. He laughed.
"I am a little disappointed," Bella went on.
"Why?" Edward inquired, honestly puzzled.
"Well, it would be nice if I could find just one thing you didn't do better than everybody else on this planet," Bella replied. Edward smiled crookedly at Bella's ignorance, but it was his turn to bat before he could say anything more.