Day with Edward

Disclaimer: Don't own Twilight, but I do own Johnna.

"Ocean Gypsy" belongs to Blackmore's Night.

Huge thanks:

To Clio1792 and Pintos for their many reviews of this story. Pintos and I had a lovely conversation about our mutual dislike of Bella. To Clio1792 for asking wonderful questions and bringing up points that I hadn't thought of.

to amaris12345 for reviewing my story. It really made my day. If you haven't read The Warlord go do it.

Finally, to Gotta Dance 88 and Xo BellaItalia oXfrom being my betas.

Edward walked down into the living room the next morning. The room was filled with sunlight, which meant they would be stuck at the house today. It was then that he noticed Johnna. She was curled up on one of the upholstered chairs on the left of the couch with her laptop in her lap. She was in her pajama pants and had a bright light orange Cape Cod sweatshirt on. Her face was blank and Edward could see that she wasn't really looking at her computer.

Johnna turned and looked straight at him. "You 'ave no idea 'ow lucky you are Edward."

"Oh?"

"Oui. Your parents died before you were changed. Mine weren't. I 'ave secrets because I 'ave been 'urt to many times before. Carlisle es my best friend. 'E's one of ze only people who 'ave any idea what's going on inside of me. I'm going to spend a day with you, Jasper, and Rosalie, because zat's what 'e wants, and I respect 'eem too much to bluntly disregard his wishes. 'E zeenks zees es going to 'elp." She said with a sad smile.

"And will it?" Edward asked as she closed her laptop and got up from the chair. Johnna merely rolled her eyes.

"'o knows. Perhaps eet will at least make it easier to be social and civil to certain people, but I 'ave my doubts." Johnna said as she dashed up the stairs to her bedroom.

"Touch my laptop and you won't last long enough to see Bella again." Johnna threatened in her light airy voice.

"Possessive much, Johnna?" Jasper asked as he and Alice entered her room. Alice gasped loudly as she took in Johnna's outfit. Johnna rolled her eyes and entered the closet.

"Non. Not at'all" Johnna laughed to herself.

She came out again and headed straight for the bathroom she shared with Edward. She came back downstairs in denim shorts, a white tee-shirt with a pretty pink flower in one corner and a denim baseball cap with the letters ABT stitched on it with dark blue thread. She had earplugs in her ears and nothing on her feet.

"Au revoir, mes amis." She said as she walked out the door.

Edward found her a little while later in the garden at her house. Her long braid was shortened to just reaching her back and her hands, legs and bare feet were covered in dirt. Outside the brick barrier of the garden were gardening tools, a big purple tub and a yard waste bag.

"Tried to take it all away,
learn her freedom... just inside a day,
and find her soul to find their fears are laid...
Tried to make her love their own,
They took her love... they left her there,
They gave her nothing back that she would want to own...

Gold and silver rings and stones,
Dances slowly off the moon,
No one else could know, she stands alone...
Sleeping dreams will reach for her,
She cannot say the words they need,
She knows she's alone and she is free...

Ocean Gypsy of the moon,
The sun has made a thousand nights for you to hold...
Ocean Gypsy where are you?
The shadows followed by the stars have turned to gold...

Turned to gold...

Then she met a hollow soul,
Filled him with her light and was consoled,
She was the moon and he the sun was gold...
Eyes were blinded with his light...
The sun she gave reflected back the night
The moon was waning almost out of sight...

"When I disappeared, everyone in town thought I left my husband to find Jacque. Vincent took more from me than just my humanity. So much more. Because of him, my brother was drained, my maman's heart broke and she died and something even more precious died the day I was turned. Vincent had the gift to make people fall in love with him, but I didn't and for that I received my first physical scar in this life."

"So you were a depressed newborn?" Edward asked. He was taken aback as her accent had not slipped out nor did she accent any of her words with sounds. Everything was said in perfect English. Johnna rolled her eyes not looking up from the garden she was weeding.

"No, duh. Tell me, Edward, what are a newborn's first instincts."

"To feed." Edward said.

"Feeding is only one. The other is to go home. Most newborns unfortunately ended killing their families because of this instinct. Some sires, like Maria, cruelly make them, in order to break them. Thank goodness Carlisle didn't let me do that. He waited till I was at least a year old before he let me return."

"But weren't you stronger and faster than him?" Edward asked.

"I had all my memories after my change, and Carlisle used that to his advantage. I refused to drink from humans. Vincent would bite me to get me to change my mind. My first drop of blood in this life was from a deer. I was so glad I didn't have to kill an innocent family member of another that I didn't mind the taste. Instead turning red, as a newborn's eyes already are from their human blood, my eyes turned vivid blue which happened to be my human eye color. When I was ready, we returned so I could collect a few of my possessions. We then left for the outskirts of Paris. Three years later, I met my singer. The poor woman was already bleeding when she knocked on our front door. I answered as Carlisle was out doing his rounds. I was so ashamed that I crawled into a corner and stayed there till Carlisle came back. He gathered me up into his arms and gently rocked me as I sobbed. That was my first and last taste of human blood. I despised what I had become." Johnna said as she finished weeding the first bed that was right up against the house and moved on to the second one on the other the other side of the walkway.

"You loathe being a hybrid? You seem so comfortable in your skin and the world you live in." Edward said. He was confused. She talked with Jasper about doing exercises to help control his thirst without a hesitation and talked about her hybrid-ness as if was no big deal.

Johnna laughed softly as she weeded. A little while later she walked to the garden in the middle of the yard and started to tear out weeds. "Not anymore. I am comfortable in my skin and with who I am. The inscription on the inside of my locket says, and I quote 'May your pride in yourself, your native land and your heritage never cease or fade away.' I was raised to hate vampires by my maman. Carlisle showed me through everything he said and did that not all vampires were bad, but Vincent showed me through everything he did and said, just how evil and unscrupulous vampires could be. So naturally I was scared of how I what I could become in my new form. Carlisle and I didn't find out that I still had my fairy gene in me until 1736 when I smelt and heard a human that Carlisle couldn't."

"What is your opinion on what we are?" Edward asked her, curious to hear her response. Johnna smiled softly at him.

"You don't think we have any redeemable qualities. The majority of vampires aren't given a choice in regards to being changed and how they hunt. However, everyone has a mind and they have to decide how they are going to use their immortality. They can be evil and unscrupulous like Vincent. Not caring who they drain or what they do to others. Maria is also in this group, as are many of the warlords in the South."

"So are the Volturi." Edward added. Johnna shook her head.

"Not everyone in the Volturi is like that. Yes, they don't discriminate who they drain and who they don't, but they don't drain children; which is a good thing. They aren't completely evil, like you think, nor are they completely good like Carlisle thinks. They are in the middle. Our world needs them, needs a sense of balance. I know this because I have lived with them. That is why Aro, Marcus and Caius rule together. Aro takes Caius and Marcus's opinions on a subject matter or during a trial and adds his own to the mix. Then, they decide what the best course of action is." Johnna turned to face Edward, taking her ear buds out of her ears.

"The human world is not set in black and white, but neither is the supernatural. Both worlds are set in varying shades of gray. People and mythical creatures have both good and evil inside them and it is up to each person to decide which they are going to act on. This decision happens millions of times a day. Each day is a new day with new decisions. There are vampires, like Carlisle, who are good at heart despite the vicious nature of their kind. Carlisle does all that he can to help humans, going as far as not even draining humans. Everything he does is for the good of others. That is why when I am mad at him and want nothing more than to hurt him, I can't. I won't. I know that he will just let me hit him and release my frustration and anger on him. Then when I am done, he will comfort me. Carlisle is just too nice sometimes." Johnna smiled ruefully at that. "Peter and Charlotte are on that side of the spectrum too. They drain humans, but only the scum of the earth; criminals, rapists, abusers of women and children, drug dealers, and so on. Being sired by Maria, they could be like her, not caring who they drain, but they do. They rid the world of one less criminal. They, like Jasper, did not come into the mythical realm, in the easiest of ways. They haven't always had the nicest, easiest life, but they made it out of the Newborn Wars and were able to find their humanity again. There's a saying among humans: 'Never judge a book by its cover'. This refers not only to books, but to people too. You can apply the same saying to vampires: 'Never judge a vampire by his eye color.'"

Edward gaped at her. He expected her to disagree with him, as did everyone in the family, expect Rosalie. What he didn't expect was for Johnna to fully explain her point of view. He could see now why she and Carlisle had remained friends for so long. He could also see why Jasper liked her. She was the kind of person that you could have long intellectual conversations with.

"Close your mouth, Edward. You're catching flies." Johnna said, a smirk gracing her face. She picked up her gardening supplies and returned them to the garage. Edward walked with her into her house. He sat and talked with her, while she made herself some lunch.

As they ran back to the house, Edward thought about what Johnna had said. Johnna smiled sadly. He was so rooted in his views of vampires that it would take a lot more than a lecture of sorts from her or anyone else to make him believe otherwise.

Johnna stopped him, just before they got to the river. "Oh, you need to go to Port Angeles. Bella will be getting into trouble and you need to help her. She should not have to suffer like Rosalie did when she first became a vampire." He turned to look at her. "If you don't, She won't let you anywhere near her for a very long time, if ever, again. You need to save her from this threat if you want to have any kind of relationship with her."

Edward nodded and kissed her cheek. "Thank you Johnna."

Johnna smiled at him as he ran off. "Oh, Edward?"

Edward turned back around to see her, eyebrow raised. "No one likes a stalker and watching someone sleep is creepy. Wait to do that until she asks you."