Thank you for the wonderful work with your Red Pen, Chandra, you make this much prettier than I do.
Pien, once again, my friend, thank you for your hard work, reading and suggestions. You make my ideas all the better.
SM owns Twilight, we just like to expand on the world she created.
A little early, but I give you:
~HS~
Chapter 5 – Spanish Inquisition
Because this was our first date I wanted to take her somewhere special. I knew just the place. I hadn't been there yet but there were many others who had; I read their reviews and they were very happy with the staff and food.
When we arrived, I helped Bella out of the car; it was nice to be a gentleman again. I had heard that this place had a waiting list to get a table most of the time, but with a quick smile and a Benjamin Franklin we were seated in a quiet booth in the back.
"What is this place, Edward?" Bella asked.
"This place is called La Bella Vita. It's one of the finer eating establishments here," I replied as the waiter came to take our orders. "Can you please return in a few minutes? We haven't decided yet."
The waiter nodded and left us alone.
"What would you like to eat, Bella?"
"I think I would like this," she replied as she pointed to the menu, "and can we share one of these for dessert? One of the things I've enjoyed since I've been here is the food. The food up there isn't like this."
"Of course, love. You are going to get to try food from all over the world. I'll take you everywhere," I promised. "You'll have to tell me what you ate where you came from later."
She nodded as the waiter returned. "What can I get you this evening?"
"My beautiful lady here would like the Rigatoni alla Carre and I'll have the Veal Picatta. We'd also like one tiramisu for dessert. Could you recommend a good wine please?"
The waiter thought for a moment. "With the selection of foods in your dishes, I'd go with a nice Chianti Classico."
"Then we'll have a bottle of that too, please. I'll pour for the lady. Thank you."
The waiter nodded then left to place our order. He was back a few minutes later with the bottle of wine; he poured a little for me to taste and waited while I did so. It was perfect and I told him so. He left the bottle for us and went to check on his other patrons.
I poured Bella some wine and watched while she tried it.
"Mmm… that's delicious. He made a fantastic choice, I can't wait to try it with dinner." She hummed in approval and I agreed with her.
We enjoyed our wine and made small talk, continuing to learn little things about each other. Bella told me of her travels between Seattle and Colorado, all the places she'd seen, the people she met, and all those she helped. It was fascinating for me to hear about her drive to help. It put a lot in perspective for me. I lived for myself, for my family, and now Bella. While we did donate money, not one of us donated our time. Bella spent the last two years using her time helping others and the environment.
"I want to be able to introduce you to my family, Edward. They'll be happy to meet you. Seth will want to play with you, Dad will interrogate you then sit and talk for hours about sports, Mom will just love you to death. We don't have food in this sense up there, it's mostly like the freeze dried stuff that the army uses, but catered to angels. I'm not sure that will stop her from trying to cook for you. How edible it will be will be the question." Bella laughed.
I chuckled at her. "I'd love to meet them, sweetheart, but let's get settled somewhere first. I want you to have a home to show them, so that they can see I'm taking care of you. I can't wait to play with your brother; I'm sure he'll be a laugh."
"That he will be. He's always trying to pull pranks and tell jokes. I miss them very much." She sniffled.
"Soon, love, I promise." I would keep that promise, if it's the last thing I did.
The waiter came with our food, and we ate in silence. Although we were quiet I held her hand over the table. We were never far from each other's touch. When our plates were cleared, I climbed in on Bella's side, it would make it easier to share the dessert. The waiter dropped it off and I topped off our wine glasses. Bella let me feed her, and it was a very erotic experience. Watching her wrap her mouth around the spoon to take the pieces just did something to me.
When we were finishing, the waiter came up with the bill; I slid my credit card into the slip and tallied up the tip. I had to agree with the reviews I'd read. This place was fantastic: the food and the service, not once did I have to hear inappropriate thoughts of my girl. Once I had my credit card back I stood, held out my hand, and helped her out of the booth. I noticed that it was a little chilly when we walked out. Unlocking the car I reached in, pulled my jacket out of the back seat and placed it around her shoulders. I helped her into the front seat after a small peck to the corner of her mouth.
Once I got in the car I looked at her and sighed. "Time to go face the Spanish inquisition, Bella. Are you ready?"
"Mmhmm, baby. I'm ready. I know that we aren't staying there tonight. We can do this, so let's just get it done," she replied.
She placed her hand in mine after I started the car, put it in gear and left to drive home. While driving I'd lift her hand to give it a kiss, a relaxing gesture for both of us. It reminded us that we were there for each other.
I didn't think this would be easy. The only one who will be positive about this would be Esme. In fact, I'm sure she'd be waiting by the door.
"All right, love, let's do some hiding. You go with gold eyes like mine, and hide your heartbeat, okay?" I suggested.
She nodded but sighed. "I hate to see your emerald eyes go, they're so beautiful." Bella ran her fingers one more time under my eyes.
"What about your temperature, can you hide that too? Because I'm sure Esme is going to want to hug you," I asked as an afterthought.
"Yes, I can lower it using your temperature as the gauge." She squeezed my hand with her warm one and I felt her body temperature lower. Her skin felt almost as hard, but since we're soft to each other it shouldn't be too noticeable.
"Are you going to be okay for however long this takes?" Bella was nodding before I even finished the question.
"I will be, Edward, because as soon as the others have hugged or shaken hands with me, I'll raise it back up again. That's the only thing that can't be masked for too long. A few hours at most. Hopefully we'll be out of there before anything happens," she reassured me.
"Okay, love, let's get this over with," I said when I pulled up to the house.
I was happy to see that I was right about Esme: she was waiting by the door. When she saw the headlights coming up the drive, she bolted out the door on a direct course for my car. I was up out of the door ready to catch her, but before I could Esme grabbed the passenger door and pulled it open, almost ripping it from its hinges. She grabbed Bella's hand and yanked her out of the car, nearly crushing her in her exuberance. There went my status as the most loved, one I was happy to relinquish.
"Oh my goodness. You are as beautiful as an angel."
'You don't know how right you are, Esme,' I heard Bella think.
"My name is Esme Cullen and I am so happy to meet you."
"Good evening, Esme. My name is Isabella Swan, please call me Bella. I am happy to meet you as well. Edward has told me a lot of lovely things about you," Bella replied like a true lady.
If Esme could blush she would have. "Thank you, dear. I haven't heard a lot about you yet but I can't wait to get to know all about you." She then came over to me. "Edward, I'm so, so happy for you. You've finally found your mate." As she was talking, she leaned in, giving me a hug. She was the only one I had allowed this from over the years.
"Let's get inside so we can properly introduce you to everyone. I'm sure we'll have a much better reaction than what you received this afternoon," Esme directed.
'I doubt it. They didn't seem too happy about it, and I'm sure my little display of power didn't help much,' Bella lamented.
I managed to catch her eye, to convey to her that it didn't matter what they thought; she was it for me. It was also why we were moving out; she was more important, she needed a place where she could be comfortable and herself.
'I know, I know. We'll just take this one step at a time. If I need to freeze them again I will.' I grabbed her hand and squeezed at that thought. I hoped it wasn't necessary, but from what I was picking up inside – most from Rosalie – I had a feeling it would be.
Esme went back to Bella, grabbed her hand, and started towing her towards the house. She was excited to introduce the girl who stole my heart to everyone and was hoping they'd all be excited too. I think she was going to be disappointed. Sure, there were some excited thoughts, but those came only from one of them, with genuine excitement anyway.
"Oh, Esme, the outside of this house is just spectacular, I'll bet the inside is just as beautiful." My Bella knew just what to say. Esme was almost glowing as bright as Bella had this afternoon.
"Thank you, dear, I had this place fixed up before we moved in. While it wasn't run down, it did need some work. Mostly just to get it up to code. However, the inside is where I focused most of my ideas. There were lots of little rooms on the first floor so I had it opened up, but I'll let you see for yourself." Esme was proud as punch at all the work she did, as she should be.
I followed them into the house, through the parlor, and into the sunken living room where everyone was waiting. Oh they'd been told to be on their best behavior, but how long that would last would be interesting. As we entered, the men stood as gentlemen should then helped their ladies off the seats.
Oh, so now we want to make a good impression, I thought. Too little, too late.
Bella wasn't impressed with them either. You could tell that her posture had changed; it went from relaxed to stiff, and she reached out for me with her other hand. Esme felt the change in the room too. She was not at all happy with her children, even though she didn't have the full story. It didn't stop her from being the consummate hostess though.
"Bella, I'd like you to meet my husband and mate, Carlisle Cullen." She introduced the two after leading Bella and I over to him.
I'm not sure if Bella could feel the curiosity coming off him, but I could hear it in his thoughts. He wasn't quite sure yet what he was curious about. He reached out to shake her hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Bella. I'm glad that Edward has finally found his mate." While that was sincere, you could hear the undercurrent of curiosity in it. Esme was not happy and getting unhappier by the second.
She pulled Bella along to the couple next to him. "Bella, these are two of my children, Alice and Jasper." She then moved further along after they shook hands. "These last two are Rosalie and Emmett."
Rosalie refused to shake Bella's hand and turned her face away, making Esme all the angrier. I laughed, because Emmett was going to be Emmett. He reached out, snapped her up, and gave her a great big bear hug. Bella was surprised; he was smaller than she was by an inch, after all, but after it wore off she was giggling up a storm at his antics.
"It's really great to meet you, Bella. I'm really sorry about before at the school." I was happy to hear someone was sorry. "It's so nice to see my older brother get everything he deserves. He's been alone longer than I've been alive," he teased as he put her down. He knew Rose was upset but he wasn't going to be anything but himself, and he was happy because he didn't care if she was something other, he just saw family.
Bella giggled again as she peeked back at me. I rolled my eyes for dramatic effect. "It's really nice to meet you, Emmett. Thank you for your very warm welcome." Cheeky girl, having a dig at the others. "And thank you for your apology, I accept."
All this talk about earlier had Carlisle's curiosity through the roof. When he sat down he asked the million dollar question. "What happened earlier?"
Emmett was too excited not to be the one who answered. "Oh you should have seen it, Dad! It was fantastic! We ran into Edward's classroom after school, and had a confrontation between us and Bella and Edward. Rosalie eventually lost her cool." This was said with a glare in her direction, which she ignored even though she knew she shouldn't. "She made to remove Bella from the room and away from all of us when Bella froze us all. Carlisle, you'd be blown away. It was like a force field holding us all still; Rosalie was in midair! Our energy was drained from us, and any impulse we added was absorbed. Even our thoughts were slower. It was FANTASTIC! It even held long enough for Bella and Edward to leave the classroom and get to the car."
'I've never heard of anything like this. Never seen a vampire with that kind of ability; if there is it's rare. I'm not sure what to make of this…' Carlisle's thoughts exploded; he wasn't so sure having her around us was such a good idea.
Bella sighed. 'He's upset about what I can do, isn't he?'
We sat down, I placed my arm around her shoulders and put my face in her hair, nodding to let her know that she was right.
Esme could tell that someone's thoughts had upset me; she even correctly guessed who it was. 'Why can't he just be happy? Why must he question everything that happens? Edward will finally be happy, that's all he should care about, what they all should care about.'
"Bella, we have to take you shopping. I know about all these cute little boutiques. We have to get you winter clothes, shoes, and boots, dresses, skirts, and tops." Oh she'd just got started, and she'd put her foot right in it. "Then there's all the accessories! I can't wait! We can spend the whole weekend out in the shops..."
"No, Alice." Bella was cool in her reply. "I will not spend my entire weekend shopping. Edward will be taking me on Saturday to get a few things that I need. I've managed for two years with the things that I have. I don't have a need for a wardrobe the size of Texas, thank you very much."
'I do need to get some things, Edward. But I forgot to tell you that all my tops need to be specially made so that my wings can come out without tearing my clothes.' I nodded that I was listening to her. 'There are lots of little shops in Eden – the Angel plane – that have these types of tops. When I take you up there to meet my family I'll get some then. For now, singlets and cardigans will do.' Again I nodded; we'll get what she needed, wherever she needed it from.
"But Bella," Alice whined, "It's what I do, I buy clothes for the whole family. I even buy Edward's…" She paused because she got a feeling, one that would be coming true, she would no longer be buying for me.
"That's right, Alice. I'll be taking back control of my life, starting with buying clothes that I want and using them more than once. Had you not thrown a toddler style temper tantrum originally, I wouldn't have let you buy them to start with. It just wasn't worth the hassle back then. Now, though, I want to be me, and to do that I have to start with what I wear," I advised her.
'I don't like this, I don't like this at all. When I get visions I can't see her; she's a black hole. I can't see you properly when you're around her, because you are blurry. This is not good AT ALL!' she shouted to me at the end.
"You don't have to like it, Alice. It's the way it's going to be from now on. Bella is my MATE! What is it you don't seem to understand, all of you?" I asked because I was just baffled. I didn't deny them their mates.
'This is ridiculous. He was supposed to mate with Kate so that she could be my sister. She's far prettier than this… this… Oh, who am I kidding? Bella is gorgeous. She might even be prettier than me.' Internally I scoffed; Bella was so far above Rosalie that they weren't even on the same chart. 'Though what really pisses me off is how Emmett is with her and that he got mad at me for attacking her earlier. I was only trying to protect the family; she's already tearing us apart.'
I growled low under my breath at that last thought. What a load of crap! If anyone was going to tear the family apart it'll be her and her attitude. Bella looked up at my growl, she could see in my eyes that something was being said. I flicked my eyes over to Rosalie, to which Bella rolled her eyes.
"So, Bella, what can you tell us about yourself?" Carlisle asked, hoping that she would give him something to go on. He was now almost positive that she wasn't a vampire. 'She's dangerous, Edward. She's going to be a danger to all of us.'
I rolled my eyes again; this was becoming a very bad habit.
"Well, my name is Isabella Swan. I'm 20 years old. You've heard of my…" she giggled, "force field. What more do you want to know, Carlisle?" That there was a challenge. She was calling him out, wanting him to make that leap and piss off Esme even more.
I heard his next question and cut him off before he could voice it. "Not yet, Carlisle. None of you have earned the right to know what she is."
Esme asked the obvious follow up question. "You mean she's not a vampire? If she's not she portrays one very well."
"No, Esme, I'm not," Bella answered in her sweet voice. "Unfortunately, I'm not able to divulge what I am to anyone but my mate yet either. You have your leaders in the Volturi…"
'How much did you tell her, EDWARD? We're supposed to keep it a secret! You're going to get us all KILLED!' Rosalie screamed into my head.
"…I also have mine. There are things that need to be done and followed up on before I can reveal what I am. I'm sorry," Bella finished.
Esme patted her hand with genuine affection while Emmett voiced her thoughts. "That's all right, Baby B, we can understand that. Did Edward tell you what we are?"
"No, Teddy." Bella giggled at the nickname for him, while he scowled. "No, I already knew what Edward was before I found him. My kind have known about you for centuries."
This line of conversation was just enraging Rosalie all the more. Although my thoughts were now focused on Jasper; he was coming up with an argument to get some answers. I leaned in, pretending to kiss Bella's ear, and whispered his name. She caught onto what I was saying immediately. It was him and Carlisle that we'd have to counter argue.
"Edward, I can see that you two are mated; any of us can see that. But you know how dangerous our world can be. Bella is beautiful and talented, she's going to be coveted by not only our kind but by many others. How are we supposed to help you protect her," at this Rosalie scoffed, she wasn't helping, "If we don't know what she is and what she needs to be protected from?"
"I agree with Jasper, Edward. This is a safety thing for all of us. We will need to know so that we can better prepare ourselves for things to come," Carlisle agreed, although he just wanted something to study.
I admit that their line of thinking was a fabulous one. I looked down at Bella, to make it look like I was considering their words. Bella could see that I was listening to what was going on around me.
'I don't understand what their problem is with her. I think she's lovely. So what if we don't know her completely yet, or what she is? I'm happy that I have a beautiful new daughter to dote upon.' Ah Esme, always the mother. I have a feeling that if we ever let her know, she'd love to cook for us.
'Bella is AWESOME! That power of hers could be so much fun. She reminds me of my little sisters, all grown up. I hope that they hang around, or at least come around. Rosalie is not going to be happy when she finds out that I helped compile a list of homes for them to look at.' I made a mental note to thank Emmett later. He's the only one of our siblings who were looking at the positives.
'This is so not cool. I have done the shopping in this house for the last fifty years. Now she waltzes in and it all goes to hell. I'm not going to get a new shopping partner, I can trust my visions even less with her around, and I've got one less person to shop for. Carlisle is going to drop my spending limit now.' Gee, Alice, I'm glad that you've got your priorities straight. You're only going to see less of us, you'll still be able to see everyone else. Bratty teenager.
'I don't want her here. She's going to muck everything up, we're going to fall apart, and it's ALL YOUR FAULT! You were supposed to mate with Kate, that's how it was supposed to happen. Why did you mate with her? Why is Emmett fawning over her?' Ah, Rosalie still worried about herself.
'There's something about her. There is more to her than what she seems. My fight or flight seems to be kicking in like there is someone higher up the food chain, but we're at the top, aren't we? What is she, Edward? She's more and she's dangerous. What have you brought into our lives?' Carlisle's curiosity will not be abated, but until they've proven themselves that's not going to happen. But it was Jasper that I was intently listening to; there was more to his argument than what he was saying.
'There's too much unknown here, about her, about what she can do. Sure, Edward has now got a one hundred percent chance at happiness. But at what cost? She's ninety-six percent more deadly than any other vampire we've ever met. From what I can tell she's also eighty-three percent more deadly than the Volturi; now that's saying something.'
That was it, I had enough. "No," I stated out loud to get them all to stop thinking so loud. "No, Jasper and Carlisle. I will not tell you what Bella is until she's comfortable telling you. She has her rules as much as we have ours. She's told me, as her mate, and following the rules the Volturi set, I've told her about us. I love her; that's all that matters to me, as it should be all that matters to you."
Esme was furious with some of the members of the family, after watching them get mad, pout, or push for what they had no right to know yet. She got up, went into her drawing room, came back, and handed us a folder.
"Here, Edward, this is a printout of houses that are available in the area. Take them, look them over, and I'll help you get the paperwork done when you've chosen. You can thank Emmett for helping me," Esme advised. "I'm sorry for all of this, I really am. I thought that your family would have the same consideration for you that you had for us when they found their mates."
Emmett winced at Esme's reveal. He was hoping that it would take a little longer to get back to Rosalie that he helped.
"WHAT?" Rosalie screamed as she jumped up. "How could you, Emmett? How could you help facilitate him leaving us?" she screamed at him. "Isn't it bad enough that you've found this… this THING and telling us she's your mate? Now you've decided that you're going to leave us with her, that we now have to protect ourselves."
Bella and I stood up as well, to be heard over the screeching we yelled together, "It's not all about YOU!" At that, Bella couldn't help herself and froze Rosalie, only this one felt different from inside her mind. Her mind was still working as normal but she was completely frozen everywhere else, not a twitch anywhere.
I continued, "You had your time with Emmett, after his newborn rage. Now I'm taking mine with my mate. If anyone here is selfish it's you, Rosalie. Wanting me to be with someone who is not my mate… Do you have any idea at all how the mating connection works? Or did you just stop listening when it was explained to you because you had Emmett?
"If you'd made my mate feel welcomed we might not be leaving at all." As if. "But no, the self-centered debutante still cannot be happy for anyone but herself. As long as you can control it that's all that matters to you. I think you need to look in the mirror and see that you are more like your father than you want to admit." I know that was a low blow but it had to be said. She's controlling in a very bad way.
"And you, Alice. You need to learn to keep your attitude to yourself. Just because you sometimes see the future of those around you doesn't mean that you are our boss. We have free will to do, be, and wear whatever we want to. We don't need to listen to the little girl you still seem to be.
"But, Carlisle, you and Jasper disappoint me the most. You should know that I would never bring something dangerous into our lives. I accepted it, Carlisle, when you went back to see Esme. I never said a word when you saved her because I knew that you loved her and she you. She became the mother I had lost. Jasper, did I not accept you as my brother and Alice as my sister when you found us? Any vampire can be dangerous and yet you two waltzed up into our home like you owned the place. Now, though, your perceptions are what are pushing us out the door. You've proven to Bella, and me, just how untrustworthy you are to know her secret. You'd judge her before getting to know her," I explained as I looked to each of them. "I'm sorry, Esme, Emmett. I had hoped for your sake that things would have gone differently."
Emmett stood, looking down at his mate with a disappointed look on his face. "I understand, Edward; this should not have happened. Esme mentioned that you wanted to stay at a hotel until you picked a house to move into. I was going to book one for you, but then decided it might be best if I didn't know where you were. I hope to see you soon."
Esme was sobbing without tears, she was so disappointed. She wouldn't even accept comfort from Carlisle at this point. Esme hugged us, telling us in silence that she loved us and then left the room to lock herself in her drawing room. Carlisle followed her but had the door slammed in his face. Jasper was still adamant about his feelings, so he towed a pouting Alice up to their room.
I watched as Bella walked up to Rosalie while Emmett came over to me. He looked out the window behind me, not really listening to what was going on around us, which was good considering what I could hear Bella was about to whisper to Rosalie.
"I just want you to know, Rosalie, that while I'm only twenty years old here and am considered twenty years old in my world; that equates to two hundred actual years old right now. That means that I have over a hundred years' experience on you. Do you know how easily I could kill you right now? That nobody could stop me?
"You are your own worst enemy, you know, thinking that you're always right, that you're better than everyone else. Guess what, you're not. You are not the center of the universe; believe me, I know. I may not be able to get visions or tell the future in the way that Alice sometimes can, but know this: If you do not change, I can see that your attitude and the way you handle yourself will be the very thing that will rip this family apart. You and you alone. Can you handle that burden? I might just leave you frozen here to think about that for a couple of days. Have a good weekend, Rosalie."
With that Bella grabbed the folder with the houses in it and walked out the door.
I took one last look around, wishing things had gone just a little bit different, and followed her out.
~HS~