AN ~ This Chap/Reviews: New Moon chapter! Fluff plunges into drama this chapter...it was a challenge but a good experience to write. Let me know what you think!
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Disclaimer: New Moon is not mine. Otherwise Edward would have bloody well called his parents or left a note or SOMETHING when he decided to run off to Volterra. Nice going, Eddie boy. *scowl*
Chapter Nineteen: Happy Birthday Bella
Esme:
Bella's eighteenth birthday snuck up on us all - except, unfortunately for Bella; Alice. Apparently, Bella had specifically requested that we ignore her birthday. Alice, being Alice, had chosen to ignore that request. Carlisle had too, although he was being somewhat more subtle about it than our exuberant daughter.
I took his bag and coat from him, and noticed a slip of card sticking out of his pocket. Carlisle looked nervous all of a sudden and reached for the jacket, but I whipped it out of his arms' distance. The slip of card floated out of his pocket and wafted slowly toward the ground. I snatched it out of the air and examined it.
THIS IS NOT A TICKET, it read. Exchange this voucher at the desk for one Business-class flight to Jacksonville, Florida. Valid for one year from purchase date.
I looked up at Carlisle, who seemed to blush furiously - even without the pink cheeks, his embarrassment was obvious.
"She said she didn't want anything, dear," I scolded, trying not to smile at the adorable, childish expression on my husband's face. "Bella feels awkward enough without us buying her things."
"It's not really a birthday present, it's a thank you," he explained. "Besides, Bella hasn't seen her mother in ages – well, except for the hospital, but that hardly counts. She deserves to go over there at some point, and her mother is probably missing her. Think of it as a present for Renee. Anyway, apparently Florida is nice."
I laughed and shook my head, and Carlisle looked surprised at my apparently sudden change of opinion.
"Well what's she going to do with this one, then?" I pulled a second voucher - an exact copy of his own - from the pocket of my jeans and held the two up together. Carlisle stepped a little closer, and wrapped his arms around me so that his hands touched mine.
"Hmmm..." he murmured, thinking. "Maybe Charlie or Jacob Black wants to go." He gave a non-committal shrug before stepping away from me, sliding his jacket effortlessly from my grasp. We smiled darkly at each other like criminal masterminds: Edward would be the one to use that second ticket.
.o.o.o.
Ten minutes after school was out, Alice came zooming home in Edward's Volvo.
"Well you don't think I'm going to let her weasel her way out of this one, do you?" she said by way of explanation as she darted through the door Carlisle held open, carrying a box far too large to look manageable in her petite arms. She set it on the floor and started pulling out smaller boxes of pink candles. She noticed the thin silver package on the table beside Edward's piano and I think her grin got wider - if that were physically possible.
"What'd you get her?" she asked.
"Tickets to Florida." I grinned at the memory.
"Great minds think alike," Alice remarked: she probably already knew the whole story. "By the way, your cake is ready."
No sooner had the words passed her lips than the timer went off for the oven. I set up the icing equipment, then dashed upstairs to change while the cake cooled. When I came back down, Alice and I iced the cake together. We hadn't thrown a party since 1935, Emmett's last birthday. The excitement was getting to all of us, even Carlisle, but Alice's usual energy was a powerful catalyst to turn excitement into complete lack of coordination.
"No, use the knife sweetie," I instructed, passing it to her. "If we did the whole thing with an icing bag, we'd be here 'til Christmas!"
Alice beamed proudly, scooping up as much icing as she could and dolloping it onto the cake, proceeding to smooth it out into a thick, sugary layer of pink.
"That's better," I praised, deciding to remove the icing-covered knife from my daughter's eager hands before she got any of it on the roof. I looked up. Scratch that; any more of it on the roof!
"Sorry!" Alice squeaked, passing me the knife and reaching for the icing bag.
"Calmly, Alice," I instructed warily. She ignored me, setting the nozzle against the cake and squeezing.
"Oh, I can't bear to watch!" I covered my eyes and felt a chunk of something land on my face. It gradually slid down my cheeks, with the consistency of mud. I opened my eyes to find Alice already offering me a tea-towel to wipe off with.
"Sorry!" she squeaked again, taking the tea-towel back once I had finished removing the last remnants of white icing from eyelashes - luckily, none of it had dripped onto my dress. "Maybe you should take care of the icing. I'll go light the candles."
"NO!" I cried, catching her as she darted out of the room.
"You're right...you light the candles, I'll try and be more...calm."
.o.o.o.
Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett arrived home not long before the party, acting strangely secretive about the box they carried between them. I didn't get a good look at it before they disappeared upstairs to change.
Alice put a small package – wrapped in silver to match, of course – beside the plane tickets from Carlisle and I. Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper came downstairs a moment later, the mysterious package also wrapped in silver and left on the table with the other gifts.
"Now, Alice, behave," Carlisle warned as we heard Bella's rather loud truck roll onto the drive. I disappeared into the kitchen and returned with the cake – which, luckily, Alice had managed to decorate quite nicely.
"What happened to not making her feel awkward?" Carlisle teased, scooping me towards him as soon as I had set the cake down.
"Well it's better than giving her a single slice, isn't it? Besides…maybe Charlie or Jacob Black will want some," I replied, teasing back.
"Here they come," Rosalie muttered, rolling her eyes.
"Be nice," I scolded. She and Emmett had been away in Africa – supposedly at Dartmouth College – and had only just arrived back. Rosalie was still bitter about Edward and Bella being together, but I could understand that: she hated being what she was, and she was shocked and insulted by how easily Bella was willing to throw her life away. I simply hoped it wouldn't come down to that, to the change. Things had worked out well so far, after all.
The turn of the handle chased the contemplation of the future from my head.
"Happy Birthday Bella!" we called simultaneously as Bella and Edward entered, practically joined at the hip as per usual. Bella flushed bright red and looked extremely uncomfortable, so Edward stepped in and put his arm around her waist. Determined to be the first to greet them, I hugged Bella – a little hesitant, careful with the fragile girl – and kissed her cheek. Carlisle stepped forward next.
"Sorry about this, Bella," he stage-whispered. "We couldn't rein Alice in."
"You haven't changed at all," Emmett remarked, pretending to be disappointed. "I expected a perceptible difference, but here you are; red-faced as always."
"Thanks a lot, Emmett," Bella replied, blushing deeper.
"I have to step out for a second," he said, pausing to wink conspicuously at Alice. "Don't do anything funny while I'm gone."
"I'll try," she replied, a mischievous glint in her eye as she danced forward to Bella, smiling. Jasper smiled too, but he didn't approach Bella. He was just taking precautions – it was so much harder for him than the rest of us – but I wished he would join in sometimes. I felt sorry for him for having to stay out of the way all the time.
"Time to open presents," Alice declared, guiding – or rather, dragging – Bella to the table where our gifts sat.
"Alice, I know I told you I didn't want anything-" Bella groaned.
"But I didn't listen," Alice interrupted. She picked up the largest, the one from Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper, and handed it to Bella. "Open it."
Bella tore the paper off, and then stared at the box, confused. She opened it, clearly searching for some explanation, but the box was empty.
"Umm…thanks," she said. Rosalie cracked a smile. Jasper actually laughed.
"It's a stereo for your truck," he explained. "Emmett's installing it right now so that you can't return it."
"Thanks Jasper, Rosalie – thanks Emmett!" Emmett's booming laugh made Bella laugh too, and Alice grinned even wider as she picked up the next silver package.
"Open mine and Edward's next!" she insisted. Bella turned and glared at Edward.
"You promised," she said.
"Just in time!" Emmett cheered, shoving his way in behind Jasper, who had drifted a little closer to get a better look.
"I didn't spend a dime," Edward assured Bella, stroking a lock of hair out of her face. Her heart jumped.
"Give it to me," Bella sighed, turning back to Alice, who eagerly handed it over. Emmett chuckled. Bella rolled her eyes at Edward as she slipped her finger under the edge of the paper. She jerked it forward to rip the tape off, but instead jumped. She pulled her finger out from the paper and inspected it.
"Shoot," she muttered. I stiffened as the scent of her blood freshened. A paper cut.
"NO!" Edward roared, throwing himself at Bella and knocking her into the table. The glasses shattered around her as everything was knocked to the floor.
Suddenly, I was seeing red.
.o.o.o.
My thirst was no longer a manageable itch, but a mad tiger, desperately trying to charge its way out. I closed my eyes.
Focus, Esme. You can do this. I focused on the soothing sounds of Carlisle's reassuring voice as he spoke to me inside my head. The smash of colliding boulders announced that one of us had slipped and been fought back.
Don't let go of this. You have control. Open your eyes. That's it...
I slowly opened my eyes. I dared a look at Bella to see the cause of my sudden need, and now saw that the glass she had landed amongst had left blood running from her elbow to her wrist. Suddenly I felt as though someone had just tried to pull my front teeth with pliers. The invisible force willed me forward, begging me to try that rich, luscious red liquid flowing down the poor human's arm.
No, Bella's arm. You don't want to do this, Esme! Close your eyes!
But even the blackness of closing my eyes offered no respite. The burn in my throat roared into life, determined that no amount of positive thinking would quell it. My legs ached with the desire to run forward: it took all my willpower to make myself stand still. Just a few steps...that's all it would take...just a few mere steps between me and this glorious bounty that was so quickly going to waste.
NO!
This time it was my voice. A shudder ran through my body, and for a moment I thought I was really going to give in. I threw a hand over my mouth and nose, desperately resisting the urge to breathe. My eyes flew open, trying to escape the nightmare, and I took another look around the room. The splotches of red didn't clear, but a pair of warm, loving golden eyes burned through the haze.
Carlisle, of course, was the only one of us who had retained his composure: centuries of experience in the emergency room were evident in his collected, authoritative tone.
"Emmett, Rose, get Jasper outside," he instructed calmly. He blinked, and I felt a new kind of burn as those reassuring eyes were stolen from me for an instant. When they returned to me, they were so sad, so...disappointed. Did I do that?
No, no, I didn't mean it...don't look so sad! I backed up to the door and held it open as Rosalie and Emmett dragged a resistant Jasper into the open air.
The wave of outside air washed the last of the red patches from my vision. I looked again on the scene before me, this time with my own mind. Edward was crouched over Bella, protecting her from me. He and Alice had managed to keep their control, though their eyes had plummeted to black. They were both holding their breaths.
Carlisle's golden eyes still gazed steadily into mine, and I realised I had been seconds away from betraying him and all he had done for me – again.
Bella's eyes were locked on mine, wide with horror. She quivered like a deer in the headlights, helpless, watching the predator before her. Watching me.
"I'm so sorry, Bella," I cried, ashamed. Why did this have to happen? Why now? Why couldn't it just work out? I was sorry to more than Bella. I was sorry to Carlisle and Edward too. To all my children for letting them see me like this - their mother figure, so weakened by such a desire.
Carlisle moved to come after me, but he had more important things to do. I shook my head, begging him to leave me alone, and ran. I ran deep into the forest, taking deep breaths of the cool, damp air, trying to get rid of Bella's scent as my shoulders wracked with sobs.
Crying is not nearly as cleansing without the tears.