Recap of Chapter 29:
Edward has a mini meltdown after his fight with Emmett and is wondering just how much worse it could get for him; he's ready to tear Emmett down for harping on Bella but he's also doubting himself in whether Bella's really only got eyes for him - something he knows deep down that she does but in his state of mind being unable to openly be with her is eating away at his psyche. After a chat with Carlisle, Edward's come to the conclusion that perhaps the time right that they should finally come out with their relationship. Wrought with worry and confusion Edward's having to push Jasper away from his prodding before he finally has a chat with his secret girlfriend that leads to a time frame of when they'll finally come out about their relationship to their friends. With this in mind, the teens head out onto the ice where Edward lets Mike and Ben know about the plan, and gains their promises that they'll come out too with Angela and Jessica so they don't have to face the ridicule alone. But just as everything seems to be going fine after an explosive, Edward and Bella land themselves in a situation that leads to the discovery the ice is not as thick and strong as they were led to believe. How will they get out of this mess now?
A/N: Hello again to another new chapter. I feel like it's been ages since I've given this story a quick update with a new chapter after leaving it on a slight cliffhanger previously. I personally blame it on the fact I've been sick, and dealing with a bad writer's block that's left me stuck on how to continue several stories - including this one. But I tried working past it and felt like I could get through it. So hopefully this chapter isn't too horrible but in the end to me it just reads are more 'filler' before we dive into another juicy plotline for the story.
Just as a bit of a headsup:
-For one, there's a bit of a lemony scene in here. For another, I'm trying my best with catching my own mistakes whilst proof-reading as I go and in the editing process before I post. But there's likely to be mistakes still be it spelling or grammar when reading. So please be patient with me while I'm trying my best here!
Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter Thirty
~Edward~
Bella and I stood there frozen for who knows how long, staring at one another wide-eyed, or down at the ice that was cracked under our feet. Us standing as still as possible with very little to no fidgeting was at least helping in that no new cracks formed under our feet. But it was becoming harder by the minute to not move; my flight or fight instincts were itching to come out as I wanted to run from the ice with Bella in arms. Being caught in the icy water wouldn't surely by the worst of it so long as we could do our best to stay above for the majority of the time. However we were quite a distance from solid ground that was the embankment of the pond. If we wanted to make it back safely, we'd have to crawl slowly to make our way back versus trying to skate back when the ice was thinner than we had thought.
This was certainly a predicament that did not bode well for us.
"What was that cracking noise I heard?" Jessica finally spoke up in a squeak beside us. She had finally shook herself from her stupor. Angela had woken up from her shock too then and out of the corner of my eye I saw that she had looked down. Then she gasped.
"Guys..."
"We know." I quickly muttered to them, and Bella whimpered.
"What do we do?" she whispered to me in a panicked voice, and I knew she would begin to hyperventilate any moment now if I didn't try to calm her down.
"Listen to me Bella." I whispered to her hurriedly and she focused her gaze back to me. "You need to remain calm with me. Any sort of panic will only worsen the cracks in the ice because it's a lot thinner than any of us thought it would be. The worst thing that'll happen to us is we fall into the water - but if you panic while in the icy waters, or slip under, your skates are going to weigh you down. Even worse in your panic, you are going to not think clearly while trying to find the right spot to resurface - and panicking under ice will only lead to shock and you will drown." I continued to hiss to her and I saw her brown eyes begin to look glassy. "I am not saying this to scare you - you need to think rationally with me and keep your head straight. We will get out of this - most likely wet and needing to get warmed up right afterwards. But we. Will. Make. It. Out. Of. Here. In. One. Piece." I added quickly after explaining the scary alternative scenario to her, and did what I could to emphasize to her that we'd be fine if we just kept level heads going about this situation.
Bella noisily sucked in some air and then nodded her head to me.
"Good girl. Just stay calm with me." I cooed to her quietly.
"Oi!" I winced when I heard Jasper's shout to us, and I jumped from fright of the suddenness of it. Crrrrick! The ice whined beneath our feet from my movement and Bella whined to herself when she heard it.
"Angela, Jessica, go." I hissed to them and they jumped beside us.
"Edward no! We can't leave you like this." Angela whispered to me and looked terrified.
"You two are at risk standing near us. I don't want more of us falling into the icy pond here if I can't help it - just skate away slowly and tell my parents about our situation. They'll get help from the Lodge employees. I need to work on slowly getting Bella and I to a belly crawl." I informed her, wincing when I heard another distant shout from Jasper.
"But -"
"Girls please, listen to Edward." Bella whispered hurriedly to them, gulping down some air.
"Edward! Let my bestie go!" Alice's shout came in then and I growled to myself.
"Okay, we'll go." Jessica finally agreed for the sake of the two of them, and then the girls slowly skated away from us. Bella looked up at me, gnawing on her bottom lip in worry while we stood there. She at least looked like she was trying to keep her anxiety under the surface, which I was happy for because I think overall she was trusting me to keep us above the water and make sure that we make it out of here. But boy could I tell that she wanted to run in a panic too.
"Some day this turned out for us." I joked quietly with her, snickering.
"You got that right." Bella muttered back, snorting. "How long should we stand here before we start moving to safety?"
"We can start now. But we need to be slow with our movements." I advised her, and she nodded her head. "Just go at my pace and we'll be able to do this. Do you trust me?"
"With my life." Bella breathed and I smiled down at her.
"Good. Now, keep your grip on my arms here okay? We're going to slowly lower ourselves into a crouch first. Once you're at your lowest you can go, you need to loosen your skates before carefully getting yourself on your stomach. We need to stay flat and lie horizontal on the ice." I began to instruct her. The only reason why I told her to loosen her skates was that in case we do fall into the icy waters that was the pond, the skates would be the only thing weighing her down. This way if they were pre-loosened we could easily chuck them off of our feet and not be dragged down in the waters. The other reason I wanted them loosened is that if we did need to pull them off, we could try to use them as something akin to icepicks to try and ground ourselves on the ice and try to pull ourselves back to the shore.
"Okay." Bella took in each word I said and nodded her head firmly.
"Alright now, on three. One... Two... Three." I murmured a countdown and then once I said three, I began to lower myself into a crouch. Bella followed my speed and mirrored me. When we moved, I could hear quiet groaning of the ice below us. It wasn't all that serious sounding initially but I knew that the ice could give away at any moment. Bella's lip trembled ever so slightly when she heard the noise but she kept her face still and neutral to try and remain calm. Once we were finally crouching, I released my grip on her - and she did the same - where we did our best to keep ourselves steady on our haunches. Then, we quickly unlaced our skates. "Okay, now very slowly put your hands out in front of you and get onto your stomach. I'll help you so you're not falling onto your face love." I murmured to her, and she nodded her head quickly again to me to show she understood the instructions. I carefully reached out and held her arms for her while she very slowly rolled forward. I guided her slowly while she moved forward, just as I heard more cracks sounding off due to the shifting of her weight. "Don't panic hearing those, just lay flat." I reassured her quickly when I could see the terror in her eyes.
"Alright." Bella whispered and then let me move her to where now she was lying flat on the ice. I made sure that her arms were pushed out in front of her. She lied there and waited for me to join beside her. This is where it'll be a bit trickier considering I was facing away from the embankment. So I had to take an extra step to try and turn myself around on the thin ice and then make sure I'm lying down beside her. How that was supposed to work without fully breaking the ice, I didn't know. But I had to do it.
I carefully turned myself around and shifted my body in the same process of lowering myself onto my stomach while turning around. The ice really didn't appreciate the shift in the weight on top and the cracks were louder than when I had helped Bella, but soon we were both lying down together on the ice. Bella looked worriedly over at me and I released a puff of air. "Okay, we got ourselves about fifty percent of the way out of this mess." I tried to reassure her that we were fine still with some encouragement; Bella released a nervous bout of laughter. "We just need to slowly belly crawl back to shore love. I will make sure you get back safely." I continued to whisper to her. When I looked back up towards the embankment I could see that the guys and girls were waiting on dry land, looking out to where we were with concern. My adoptive parents weren't anywhere in sight; they likely were inside the Lodge or the skate shop trying to get help.
"What now?" Bella asked in a shaky whisper.
"We should start to slowly crawl back to shore." I instructed her, and made sure that I inched my body forward with deliberate slowness. Bella copied my movements and together we kept an even pace together of moving across the ice. The ice groaned under us with our weight moving along the thin ice, and time to time I could hear new cracks forming. We'd stop briefly to gauge our situation as we went before we'd continue to move. By the time that my parents had returned with some Lodge employees, we hadn't made much progress. In fact things were starting to get worse by the second the longer we stayed out here. I could already tell the ice was going to give away at any given point; I could feel the ice shifting beneath us and it felt loose. Bella kept herself as close to my side as she could, and I knew if the ice gave way I'd grab her to make sure she doesn't sink. Luckily though I could see that the Lodge employees had a long thick rope in their grasp that they'd be throwing to us so we could use that to pull ourselves forward.
But before they could, that's when I heard it - and felt it.
CRRRRRAACK!
The loudest crackle of ice breaking was heard and tore through the quiet winter air. Bella and I froze together when hearing it first, while I could hear that the commotion on the shore - either from the employees giving orders to our party and each other, or the panic everyone was facing when watching us in our perilous situation - had suddenly stopped. Just as the crack had sounded, I felt the ice shift drastically below us. It split under Bella and I, to where I could feel myself slip and roll to the center of where it broke apart. Bella and I rolled into each other, where she shrieked and I gave a yell of surprise, just before we were pulled under the water.
The initial shock from the icy waters caused me to give a harsh gasp under the water, to which as soon as I opened my mouth, stinging frigid water rushed in and down my throat. I spluttered under the waters and felt my limbs and nerves were under immense amounts of pain. The severity of how bitingly cold the water nearly took away my strength and my breath upon those first few seconds I was submerged. I sunk downwards while trying to recover from the fall, while my blood felt as if it would stop flowing through my veins. It felt like years had passed but it was likely just seconds of being under. I tried desperately to find something to focus on, to calm myself and not let the fear and panic overtake me while I was under. It took all of my willpower that I could muster to push the cold that wanted cause me to cease up and I tried pushing out the panicked thoughts to recalibrate myself. Do not flail, do not let the water cause your muscles to tense. Keep yourself relaxed, focus. Get out of the cold water. Bella...
I whipped my head around in the water, holding my breath while I desperately tried finding her. Through my bleary eyes, I quickly spotted her and I knew that now my heart wasn't ceasing due to the icy waters - but rather it wanted to stop because Bella was a bit further below me. She was thrashing just a few feet below me, trying to get her skates off of her feet while she looked like she wasn't holding her breath well due to her freaking out. But she was sinking faster than I was. No no no no no...
I let my instincts take over then, giving into the power of fighting for our lives rather than letting my fear overtake me. No time for second guessing. Just go. I pulled my legs up to my chest and hastily yanked the heavy skates off of my feet which took no more than ten seconds. Then twirling around in the water, I began swimming down to her as fast as I could. She was still struggling when I finally reached her. I slid one arm tightly around her waist while I twisted my body around and pulled her legs up to her chest to where her skates were closer to me. I yanked them off and in no time flat they were off. They were sinking down to the bottom of the pond now and Bella no longer was sinking. I then shifted us around and with my finger I pointed up to the surface, mostly back in the direction that I had been. Swim up with me. I conveyed through the gesture. Bella nodded while she quickly tried to hold her breath now. Together we raced back up to the surface through the cold currents.
We made it to the edge of where we had fallen in and broke through the surface, gasping and sputtering for air. The cold winter air was even worse now that we were soaked to the bone after having fallen under. With my arm still around her waist I paddled us to the edge of the ice from the hole we were in, shivering with Bella. She was gasping for air while her teeth chattered.
"Use your elbows to hook onto the lip of the hole!" I could hear faintly in the distance from the shore. Someone was trying to shout out instructions to us. Once we were to the edge, I helped her up first onto the edge.
"E-Elbows, babe. P-Pull yourself u-up with th-them." I stuttered out to her when I did this. Bella, through her shivering, hummed and followed exactly both my instructions and the ones from the shore. She hooked her elbows up onto the edge of the hole and I helped her by hoisting her up some more. She was able to pull herself and laid there for a second. I followed behind her, hooking my elbows up onto the edge and pulled myself up to lay beside her. Shivering horribly, I did what I could to hear what the crew was shouting at us on the shoreline. When I looked back I saw they had tossed a long rope out to us and it was just a few feet in front of us.
"Kick and crawl your way towards the rope!" I heard a shout.
I gulped in air and then hooked an arm over Bella's waist. She was shivering even worse than I was next to me. She looked up at me with chattering teeth when I pulled her towards me.
"K-Kick and cra-crawl with me." I stuttered out, jutting my head towards the rope in front of us. Bella looked up and over at it, before she nodded her head. Then together we worked on kicking and crawling forward carefully. The ice was thicker now from where we were before and for that I was thankful because I don't think I had enough strength for us to get through another fall in the water. It took a few minutes of wiggling forward but finally the rope was within my grasp. I grabbed onto it with my free hand, with Bella mirroring me weakly with her free hand. Once we were holding onto the rope, the group worked together on pulling us forward. Slowly but surely we were yanked back towards the shoreline. Both of us were a shivering, shuttering mess. Our clothes were soaked through and sitting here in the absolutely freezing cold with it all worsened how I felt.
"Oh sweethearts!" Esme's cry of despair was the first thing I could register as soon as we were pulled onto the shoreline. The Lodge employees quickly put two large, heavy and thick blankets on top of Bella and I once we separated from one another. I was shivering but wrapped the blanket around me tightly, barely noticing that Carlisle was looking over us as he slipped into doctor mode.
"Thank god you guys are okay." Alice cried along with Esme while she crouched down to hug Bella tightly - or as best as she should get her tiny arms around Bella's frame with the huge heavy blanket on top of her.
"What happened out there?" Jasper asked me worriedly once he bent down to try and talk to me. I glanced up at everyone, finally taking in the concern that was apparent in each and every one of their faces.
I gulped some air in before finally trying to speak. "I-It was a-a-a-an acciiiident." I sputtered out, wincing. "B-Bella fell into m-me-ee. T-The ice wa-a-as thinner than I th-thought."
"We're deeply sorry that this happened. We thought the ice was thick and solid enough for skating finally for all of our guests." I could hear one of the employees apologizing to my parents.
"You couldn't have known that some parts would actually be thinner than the rest of the pond." Carlisle murmured to them after he finished examining us. "Please I think we need to get these two out of the cold and out of their wet clothes. Once they are warmed and in dryer clothing, I would like to borrow your onsite infirmary if you have one so that I can see to it that these two don't have any lasting side effects from their fall into the water." Carlisle explained to the employees while Jasper worked on helping me up to my feet. Rosalie and Alice worked on doing the same for Bella, keeping themselves tucked into her sides.
"Of course, we'll provide whatever you may need. We can take their wet clothes as well and dry them in our dryers for you." The Lodge employee offered to my father and he agreed to this before we quickly were ushered inside. I could see some employees were staying behind likely either to warn the shop employees to cancel any other times for other guests after us or to clear the pond for any other guests that were out there with us. We were a mess of a crowd for our group bumbling into the lobby which seemed to have startled some of the new guests that were coming in. But we paid no mind to them as we took turns taking the elevator. I went in the elevator with Carlisle - after Jasper handed me over to him, and Esme, who had taken Bella from the girls. She left no room for the girls to complain about not being able to go with Bella but I could only assume it was because they trusted that Esme would be able to take care of her well enough. We rode up to our floor and my parents hurried us over to our room where we burst inside.
"I'll help Bella in the bathroom." Esme told Carlisle where the two of them hurried in there and shut the door.
"Edward you need to take off all of your clothes." Carlisle instructed me while I stood in the middle of the room, shivering. I worked on shimmying out of the wet clothes that stuck to my skin after hearing him tell me this. It took me awhile before I was out of most of my clothes and Carlisle had went about finding something to hold all of our wet clothes that had could give over to the employees. Soon I was just down to my underwear but Carlisle waved his hand. "Those too, son. You need to get rid of every piece of wet clothing, get into something warm and dry." he ordered. I could feel my cheeks heat up at basically what he was saying, but realized he was right. I did have plenty of dry clothes - and dry underwear for that matter - that I can put on after losing my wet pair so it was whatever if I was to be naked I guess. I slipped them off from under the heavy blanket that was over me, hoping that I was covered enough, and then tossed them to my dad.
"W-What do I h-have to do to w-w-warm up?" I asked through chattering teeth, hating the fact that I was wet, naked and cold in my room. I was really tired of being this cold when I was probably only in the water for less than a minute or two.
"You just need to dry off first and foremost, and stay under that blanket. I believe if you wanted to try warming up you can also take a hot shower or bath. Do not start off with the water being scalding as that can send yourself into shock as well, or just burn your skin horribly." Carlisle explained, giving me a fair warning if I were to try and warm up through bathing. I had given that option heavy consideration since it seemed like the only logical option. I nodded to him to show that I understood what he was saying. Just as I did the bathroom door opened and Esme joined us. In her hands was a big towel balled up, likely carrying all of Bella's wet clothing.
"I've got Bella's clothes. You two take it easy up here and try to warm up. Once you're feeling like you're no longer freezing to death, we'll come by and take you down to the infirmary." Esme told me. Together, both her and my father left the room. Once they were gone, Bella shuffled out of the bathroom. She was wrapped up in the big blanket, hugging it to her shivering body tightly. She wandered over to me and I opened up my arms, noting she stopped to stare at me with wide eyes and pink cheeks.
"W-What?" I stammered out, wanting to smirk almost when she glanced quickly down at my form and then back at my face.
"Y-You're n-naked." she muttered and I chuckled. I waved her over, not even being bashful at the fact that I was in my birthday suit before her. We've seen each other naked well enough since we first came to the Lodge and got our room. Bella came towards me and after she opened her blanket, I drank in the sight of her naked form hungrily. She was flushed despite being pale as ever after being so cold, and I loved see the redness go over her body. "S-Stop sta-aring you p-perv." she got out through her chattering teeth, giggling shakily. Once she was in my arms, we wrapped our blankets around one another and hugged each other. Of course my body, even through the chills that wracked through me, reacted immediately when I felt her naked slender body come into contact with mine.
I cleared my throat a couple of times while Bella looked up at me. As soon as we stood there, my brain was in the gutters yet I couldn't help but wonder if perhaps there was another method for us to try and warm up one another. It sounds really crass and stupid in truth but hey, I was a man. When I have my woman's naked body pressed up against mine like this, I can't help but become a caveman with her. So I felt that maybe, just maybe, we could at least try this and then perhaps have a hot bath together and that'd make it to where we're not absolutely freezing anymore. Once I had cleared my throat, I tried to speak slowly and clearly, hoping I wouldn't be stuttering anymore through my chills. "I think, I have a solution of what we could do to warm up."
"Oh?" she asked shortly, blinking for a second. I snickered and after squeezing her closer to me, she felt down below just what I had to been thinking of. The redness in her cheeks deepened when the lightbulb went off in her head. "Oh!" she gasped, her mouth forming a tiny 'o' when it clicked for her.
"Are you game?" I managed to get out, smirking down at her. Bella giggled and nodded her head up at me; I hummed happily at her before leaning down and capturing her luscious lips with mine. She gasped since we were pressed tightly together, where I felt myself get harder by the second when I felt her bare nipples - pebbled from the coldness of her skin - were grazing my naked chest. She moaned quietly around my lips when she felt my erection pressing into her stomach. I let my hands roam over her body, Bella mirroring me with her own tiny hands. I groaned when she grazed my backside, and I grinded myself into her, doing what I could to create friction and heat. Bella mewled when I had done this, her fingers becoming little talons while she clawed at my skin. She really enjoyed what I had done - and her clawing at me only pushed my arousal more into a heightened state. I loved it when she let loose like this, letting herself become rough with me. It only boosted my ego and made me feel something so primal with her - she wanted me just as much as I wanted her. I ground into her some more while letting my hands become rough over her as well; I grasped onto her upper back with one hand while my other went to her ass and I gave one of her cheeks a rough squeeze. She mewled again when I did this and I let my lips leave hers, leaving a burning trail from her cheek to go behind her ear and kiss one of her many sensitive spots that usually drove her mad with lust.
"Bed?" Bella asked in a breathy voice when I detached my lips from hers. I was peppering her skin with my lips, going from her ear to kiss down her neck.
"Yes." I ground out, licking and suckling gently on her skin.
We separated briefly to which she hurried over to the bed while I ran to my bags to find a condom. Thankfully from my hasty search yesterday, the pile of condoms were strewn about at the top of my bag. I grabbed some and when turning back to the bed I saw that Bella was laying on top of it, the blanket underneath her. She was laying there for all of the world to see, laying there coyly and waiting for me to join her. I dove straight to the bed and made sure that my blanket was covering the both of us, while I trapped her underneath me. I deposited the few packets I had grabbed behind Bella's head before descending to recapture her lips with mine. She thrusted her hands into my hair and scratched at my scalp which sent shivers of pleasure through my body.
"Edward!" she gasped when my hands wandered down to her chest and I cupped her pert breasts with one of my large hands. I kneaded the flesh there causing her to moan in response. "That feels so good..." she groaned, writhing under my touch. I continued teasing her, loving hearing her response the more I did it. Eventually we flipped and I groaned when she was sitting on top of me, her lower half teasing me when she purposefully rubbed herself over my length. She was wet beyond belief and I could feel myself twitch each time she'd rub her slit over my cock, and would growl when she pulled away only to come back and tease me. Bella had leaned down and was nipping at my neck with her rough kissing, which only further sent shocks of pleasure through me.
"I don't think I can last much longer the more you do that love." I murmured to her huskily, groaning when she once again rubbed herself on me. Bella giggled but hummed her agreement. She reached over towards the condoms I had brought over and grabbed one, carefully ripping open the packet and retrieving the rubber. There, I hissed while she slowly rolled it onto me. Then after grabbing ahold of my erection, she aligned herself with me and slowly lowered herself onto my cock. We both moaned when I was completely sheathed within her wet heat, feeling complete once more. "God!" I grunted once she fully sat down on top of me, my hands flying up to grasp her hips. Bella grunted with me and began her rhythm on top of me, her hands resting against my chest to give herself leverage. "You feel so fucking good baby." I murmured to her, moaning while I moved with her, watching her breasts bounce with her movement.
"Ungh...!" she cried out when I began to pump harder into her. "Yes, more!" she whimpered from my movement, to which I could only happily comply when giving into her demands. Anything for her so long as it brought her pleasure. We let our loving pick up in speed with our movements becoming more erratic. I leant up to where now I could be level with her perky chest and I latched onto one of her boobs, teasing her rosy nipple with my lips and teeth. "Oh, Edward!" she breathed out, her hands flying to my hair to grasp onto it and push my head harder into her chest. After having sit up with my mouth attached to her breast, my hands slithered up from her hips to become splayed across her slender back while I continued to pump into her. She was moaning more and more as this shift in our position seemed to create a better sensation of arousal within her. The angle definitely pleased her.
Our pace was speeding up even more, and our panting was becoming wilder. We were definitely working up a sweat now by this point as I knew we were both close to our climaxes. She pulled my head from her chest and firmly planted her lips on mine, kissing me sloppily. I returned her fervor of passion, while letting a hand snake away from her back to her front. I went further down to her bundle of nerves and began twisting the slippery bit of her skin in between her legs, knowing that this would send her over the edge. And it worked beautifully because she released a harsh cry of pleasure just as I felt her squeeze around me, her orgasm finally hitting her. "Edward!" she cried once she ripped her lips away from me, shuttering above me. Just seeing her let go and give into the feeling of her climax was enough to send me over the edge in the next two thrusts while she rode out her waves.
"Fuck! Bella!" I growled out before feeling the band of control within me snap and I was soon letting myself go. We shuddered together while letting our climaxes play out. After a few moments, I fell back onto the bed; she crashed down on top of my chest in tandem and we lied there panting, our naked, sweaty bodies pressed up against one another. My heart was rapidly beating in my chest while I came down from my high, holding Bella to my body as she tried her best to calm down herself. It took a few minutes but finally our breathing evened out and I glanced at her. "Well... I'd say we're certainly warmed up now." I joked, loving that I was feeling perfectly warmed up and no longer was shivering from being cold.
Bella giggled and pulled herself off of me, choosing to adjust herself where now she was lying beside me. I turned my head to look at her and her brown eyes were sparkling with mirth and amusement. "I'd say your observation is accurate." she teased, winking at me. "Now I think us bathing is in order - wouldn't you agree?"
"I do think you've the right of it." I surmised, pushing myself up to sit up now. The blanket that was on top of us fell away while I shifted in getting out of our bed. I came around to her side and offered her a hand. "Come on, I'd love to have a soak in our large jacuzzi tub." I told her, smirking. Bella nodded her head and took my hand, letting me pull her naked body out of the bed and to our adjoining bathroom. I disposed the used condom before I worked on starting up the bath for us. Bella dug around in the bathroom and found some bubble bath amenities that she wanted me to use for us and I gladly obliged to her wishes. It took awhile for the tub to fill but once it finally did, I shut the water off and slipped into the water past the bubbles. I hissed initially when my skin came in contact with the heated water but I was able to adjust after sinking further into the water. Once I was situated, I held out a hand to Bella who stood next to the tub. She took it and hoisted a leg over the edge, letting her foot touch the water first. She too hissed once her cool skin touched the water but she worked on quickly getting the other leg over the edge and sank into the tub before me. She worked on shifting around to where she was sitting in front of me and had her back pressed up against my chest.
"There." Bella sighed out once she was finally comfortable in where she sat now. I hummed in agreement with her, letting my arms wind around her slender frame. We just let the silence fill the air for the time being while breathing evenly together, enjoying one another. Mostly I was using this time to try and ground myself, doing what I could to push the worries away. My mind kept floating back to the scary moment when we had fell into the water together, and I couldn't help but go back to the moment of seeing her sinking further into the water while she struggled to get her skates off of her feet. I don't think I felt more scared in my life than I did in that moment. I was scared shitless thinking that I was so close to losing her when we fell into the water; if I hadn't reacted as quickly as I did, I feared that she would've slipped into unconsciousness due to her struggling and losing her breath. It only takes so little time for one to lose their breath when in the water - and that's even worse when you're in absolutely freezing water. The shock of falling into icy waters surely took my breath away, and no doubt it had done the same to her when she was trying to get the skates off of her feet. Bella felt me tense up slightly behind her and she turned her head slightly to gaze at me worriedly. "Alright, you're thinking about something back there - what's got you worrying?"
"Hmm?" I hummed, trying to avoid answering her.
"Edward. Talk to me."
I sighed and nuzzled my nose into her shoulder. "I'm sorry... I was just thinking back to earlier when we fell in the water." I whispered into her skin.
"Oh..." she trailed off, and we sat in silence for a brief moment before she took a deep breath again. "Were you scared?"
"Deathly." I immediately replied. Bella twisted slightly to have her head turned to the side looking towards me. She wanted me to elaborate. "Bella even if we were only in the icy waters for a short few seconds or even minutes, it's enough to cause damage to us. You must've felt how the icy waters took our breaths away when we fell in, how we were also sinking because of the weight to our skates. You were struggling to get yours off and if I had moved as quickly as I did you and I likely would've been too far to swim back up to the surface in time before we would've had internal damages done to us."
"It can't be as bad as you're making it out to be." Bella muttered. I snorted roughly and she pouted.
"You might not be as used to the winters here in Washington, but you have to know that the icy waters like that can be dangerous if you're not quick to act in moving." I explained to her in a serious tone, trying to get her to see the gravity of the situation. "We could've drowned out there if we didn't react or swim to safety. As well as the fact that at least we fell through while we had others nearby to help us out. We could've struggled to get off the ice, the cracks could've been completely worse and the rest of the ice under us could've cracked which would've left us in more water than we could handle before hypothermia is a real issue." I continued, sighing.
"Okay, I think I understand that everything could've been much worse." Bella muttered, her eyebrows furrowing. "But we made it out. You saved me from the ice and from drowning. You saved us both with your quick thinking."
"But that's just it." I interrupted, shaking my head roughly while shifting behind her. The intrusive thoughts, the negative 'what-ifs' still sat heavy on my mind. "If I hadn't been there with you on that spot, I don't know what could've happened or if you would've made it out alright..."
"Edward..." Bella trailed off then, taking this moment to completely turn herself around to now face me in the tub. Half of her hair was wet due to it laying in the warm waters past the bubbles and other bath extras we added to our soak. She knelt in between my legs and cupped my face with her dainty hands, forcing me to look her in the eyes. "What's really wrong... I feel like you're suffering from a horrible memory and you've got some deep rooted fear over this issue today. Can't you see that I'm alright? You saved us, you saved me. I'm healthy, nothing's wrong with me or you after we were in the water for only a brief bit."
I looked away from her piercing brown gaze and sighed once more. It was a repressed traumatic memory that sat heavy on my heart and my very being. I didn't like talking about it much but every time the winter's rolled around since the very day I nearly died due to falling through thin ice in a body of water, it's made me extremely more cautious of going out on ice to skate. Regardless of how confident I may feel about it now since I'm older, the risks still were there. I looked back at her after a few moments of thinking over whether I should tell her or not, Bella's gaze was unwavering while she stared at me waiting for me to give her an answer. I sighed and knew she wouldn't back down so I figured that I should tell her.
"I'm sorry I'm being overbearing about it. Years and years ago when I had first moved to Washington - when Carlisle and Esme adopted me - they already had Emmett. And a year later they adopted Alice. When we were younger we'd mostly stick to just playing in the snow when winter would roll around. But one year we decided we'd take up ice skating and went to a local area where there was a large pond frozen over for kids to skate around on. We went there one winter without Carlisle and Esme; the pond wasn't far from where we lived and so we figured we'd be fine on our own. The three of us were all about 10 and felt like we were big enough kids not needing to be watched and they trusted us to not do anything stupid or felt like we wouldn't be in any danger. So we went skating with the very little experience we had. Emmett and I had hockey sticks and would just punt the puck around, while Alice would dance around us or cheer us on. We had a blast that day... until it completely went to shit. I slipped and fell on a patch of the ice that was thin and it cracked underneath me. I panicked and rather than remaining calm to get off the weak ice, I tried to hurry on getting up and try skating off the ice. It gave way to my weight and I fell into the waters below. Alice and Emmett were going batshit crazy and didn't know what to do - so Alice ran home as quick as she could to get Carlisle and Esme, while Emmett resorted to first screaming for help in hopes someone would hear him before he tried crawling to me. Meanwhile my skates were weighing me down and I felt like I was sinking. I got also completely turned around when I fell into the water and had swam away from the original area I fell into, and couldn't find it amidst my panic while I was losing air... Carlisle's told me that when he and Esme finally ran back to the pond with Alice, they had found Emmett had finally pulled me out of the water - but I was unconscious..." Bella gasped suddenly when I trailed off in my story. I took a deep breath while flashes of that day flashed back into my head - the sheer fear I had felt while underwater, losing air while I desperately fought to make it back to the surface. Hearing the muffled screams both from Emmett trying to find help for me, and as well as the screams from my mouth suppressed by the water. Once I had gained some control on my nerves I continued. "I nearly drowned that day in the water due to thin ice and my siblings didn't know how to save me then. I guess Emmett had managed to just say 'fuck it' and dove in for me to rescue me else I likely would've drowned. I was in the hospital for a few days recovering from nearly drowning as well as the hypothermia that set in. I made it out though but not without its repercussions and the trauma that I'm faced with everytime I go out skating. Sure I'm older, I've had more practice and at least I have more knowledge to be able to tell if the ice is strong and sturdy. Today was a freak accident and I don't know how we missed the ice having its thin spots - but I at least over time gained knowledge and courage to not react like how I had when I was kid. I know how to save myself but I also know there's still dangers with falling into icy waters." I stated, shaking my head.
"Edward..." Bella blubbered and I looked up to see tears falling from her eyes now.
"Bella sweetheart, shhh." I hushed her, pulling her naked body into my chest. She let loose a racking sob and threw her pale arms around my shoulders, hugging me tightly as she cried into my skin. "Bella love, it's alright. You couldn't have known my fears and past unless I had told you. I've repressed that day to be perfectly honest because I don't want it ruining my mental state nor do I let it drive me - I've grown from that time, I've learned how to keep myself safe and prepared for situations like that. Sure I might've almost died but I also didn't. There's no need to cry like this." I soothed her, lightly rubbing the top of her back in hopes I could calm her down.
"It's just..." she stuttered out, shaking her head into my shoulder. "I can't imagine a world without you now... I might not have known you when you were a kid, but it's horrible just hearing how you came so close to dying. I don't want to think about it ever being a possibility, and I'm just so sorry for giving you a hard time over today like I did. I understand now your fears and worries, I shouldn't have belittled you over it." Bella continued, sniffling.
"But you didn't know - on one hand you're completely right that we were only in the water for such a short time and we did make it out just fine. Cold and shivering, but fine." I murmured in response.
"And you said it yourself - even with that short amount of time, you can easily get discombobulated. You lose your focus due to the shock of the cold waters. You could easily get turned around and not recall where you fell in to try and get yourself back out. Hell I panicked and was sinking trying to get my damn skates off! If you weren't in there with me, I probably would've fallen unconscious." Bella whispered back, pulling back to look at me dismayed.
"But you are fine now like I am fine. We both made it out love." I hushed her, reaching a hand up to her cheek, holding it. She leaned into my skin and sniffled again. "Besides, it was a perfectly valid excuse for us to get some alone time together again. I rather enjoyed our method of warming each other up." I lightly joked with her, hoping she'd laugh at it and lighten up from our little traumatic event today. It worked somewhat since through her tears and sniffling, she gave a small snort. "See? We can laugh it off and move forward."
Bella breathed in deeply before exhaling, and gave a small nod. She opened her eyes and stared back at me intensely with her beautiful brown eyes, staring at me with love. "You're right... I'm sorry I got emotional there but I'm calm now. I love you Edward, so much."
"Oh darling don't apologize." I murmured to her, leaning forward in our bath to kiss her lips quickly. She pouted when I leaned away and I chuckled at her. "I love you too my dear."
"Don't leave my lips so quickly mister." She grumbled with her tongue sticking out briefly and she leaned forward again in my lap, pushing herself into me tightly. I hummed just when our lower halves rubbed against one another and Bella giggled when she felt my response. "See, your mini-me down there didn't want me to leave either."
"Mini-me? Honey, there's nothing mini down there." I boasted with a gruff voice, raising an eyebrow at her teasing. Her cheeks reddened but she again giggled. "You're laughing at my dick. I'm wounded."
"I'm not laughing at you or your size you dork." she countered, throwing arms around my shoulders once more and humming just when her nipples grazed my chest. "I know you're not mini down there and god do I love your cock." she purred, causing me to moan out loud for how dirty she was talking to me. "You're such a caveman."
"I know I am. But you cause me to be one." I teased her gruffly, smirking when she rolled her eyes at me. I leaned down towards her once more and kissed her lips with mine slowly, enjoying the pillowy feel that was ever present when I met her lips. She hummed happily at being kissed once more, engaging with mine eagerly which I couldn't help but smile slightly at her enthusiasm. Once we pulled away from one another, gasping for air, I could see her brown eyes had darkened and her skin was flushed. Her emotions were stirring once more, that much I could easily tell. I was in no better shape than her since she could physically tell I was worked up once more. "See, you do this to me."
"Oh hush!" she hissed, breaking her daze briefly to snicker at me.
We finished our bath then, stepping out of the water and grabbing our towels to work on drying off one another. She wrapped it around her torso and worked on brushing out her dark tresses, eyeing me in the mirror as I used a second towel to roughly dry my crazy hair. I had used my first towel to wrap it around my waist, and once I had finished with the second towel I met her gaze in the mirror. "See something you like, doll?" I teased her with a wink; Bella giggled and looked away bashfully.
"It's not fair you're so incredibly sexy - you're like a natural born model that's stepped out of a magazine." Bella murmured with a blush and I sniggered at the compliment. I came up behind her and pushed myself against her back, humming when my lower half met her covered backside. She gasped slightly at the feel, her cheeks reddening once again. "Not to mention when you do that..."
"Love, if anyone's the sexy one here, it's you - not me. Although I will accept the model compliment to a point, you're worthy of the compliment being called a goddess." I gushed to her, kissing her exposed shoulder languidly. Bella bit her lip to suppress her quiet moan at the touch. I looked at her through the mirror, loving the image I saw. I don't think I'd ever get over this time that we're able to spend together like we have been able to have. I loved that I could stand behind her like this in our room, towering over her petite form, naked after sharing a bath with her and getting to see her with flushed skin, dark wet hair and lustful looking eyes. Bella leaned into my touch, sighing happily while I peppered her exposed skin with kisses as I made my way up to her ear. Just before I could reach it, I heard a certain ringtone going off on my phone. I gave an annoyed sigh while Bella groaned unhappily. I pulled away and padded my way out of our steamy bathroom to retreive my phone. It was Carlisle calling me. I picked it up with a slightly rough, "Yes?" as my greeting.
"Well hello to you too son." Carlisle mused over the phone with a slight chuckle, not the least bit bothered by my slightly rude greeting.
"Sorry, I know that was kind of rude. What's up dad?"
"I'm just calling to check up on you two and your recovery process. I think you two have had enough time to get some heat back but I still think you two should head down to the infirmary to be checked out fully."
"I guess we've recovered well and fine." I replied, sighing heavily when I glanced over my shoulder to see Bella exiting the bathroom and heading to her bag of clothing. "You know me though... I'm just being selfish."
"I personally didn't need to hear that from you son, but I understand. At least humor the group since I know they're no doubt chomping at the bit concerned about you two. If you two keep away from them any longer they're no doubt going to be hunting you two down and dragging you to the infirmary themselves. So I'd say it's safe to say you two should just willingly come out now and go with your mother and I."
"You're right..." I grumbled, only imagining that Alice would be storming up here soon and banging on that door demanding that Bella comes out and be seen by the on sight infirmary. I glanced back once more at Bella, biting my bottom lip when I saw she had dropped the towel as she was putting on a new bra; she had shimmied on her bottoms under her towel first. She winked back at me and I groaned out loud. The cheating vixen. I sighed once more (probably for the fiftieth time by this point since we arrived at this lodge) and focused back on my phone call with Carlisle. "We'll get dressed and meet up with you and mom at your room soon here."
"Good to hear then son. Don't take too long." Carlisle replied, and after promises that we'd be quick, we hung up the phone. I minutely glared at Bella while she was shoving a new sweater over herself, smirking when she noticed that my eyes flashed to her cleavage. It was a nice deep blue sweater that complimented her milky skin perfectly with the neckline being a V-neck that gave me a good peak of what was underneath. The sweater reached the top of her thighs with her ass slightly hanging out from underneath. Once again, cheating vixen.
"We don't have much time to mess around, lover boy. Now come on, get dressed." Bella ordered teasingly, giggling as I grunted at her.
"You are so going to get it later tonight Swan." I threatened her with a taunting smirk, winking at her. Bella licked her lips and nodded her head slightly to the proposition - well it was meant to be a threat but of course she saw it as a challenge.
"You better keep that promise then."
She's going to be the death of me someday.
(A Few Days Later...)
It had been a few days after the skating accident and things were just about the same as it had been when we had first arrived to the Lodge. Once Bella and I had gone down to the infirmary with my parents that day to be checked up on our health, we regrouped with the others who worried over us, panicking that we were still suffering the effects of the icy waters. The girls huddled around Bella and did what they could to offer her comfort and warmth but Bella did her best to reassure them she was healthy and fine. Even in front of the girls, she had thanked me for what I had done to help her out of the water and had kept her from drowning. The guys were shocked at hearing this, considering this had to be the first neutral, 'kind' statement Bella's ever said to me ever since she came to the school (at least to their knowledge) and figured even through that she'd never would've said thanks to me saving her.
I, having to play the act, had to act stunned by her words as well but otherwise I awkwardly accepted her thanks and told her it was nothing. Truthfully I was shocked she had said that in front of the guys and girls, but later on when we were alone that night she explained really even if we were supposed to hate one another she wasn't going to not say thank you to me out loud for saving her life.
The guys were at least not crowding me as much as the girls had crowded Bella that day, but they still voiced their concerns for me. I assured them that I was fine and they didn't need to worry. Emmett, after our traumatic past, only came over and clapped me on the shoulder before he left the infirmary by himself. I guess that's about as much as I would get a "Hey man, glad to see you're okay" out of him when we're not on speaking terms still. Alice briefly came over to me, looking a bit teary eyed while she quickly hugged me but clocked me on the shoulder. I glared at her briefly and she shook her head at me. "I'm glad you're okay you idiot and I'm happy you saved my best friend. Just don't do that ever again." was all she said to me before she flocked back over to Bella. I had grunted at that but otherwise took it in stride. The only observation I made that day was that Jasper seemed slightly... off. Maybe I was looking into it too hard or imagining things. But once he was reassured that I was fine with my health, he would stare hard either Bella or me, or both of us for some weird reason. He would zone out occasionally when doing that but once one of us would snap him back to reality, he'd shake himself hard and wouldn't answer us if we pressed him to tell us what he was thinking about. I tried to not think much about it because honestly overthinking things right now was not something I wanted to do. I wanted to believe I was overthinking things or imagining his dozing off as nothing more than him thinking back to our accident and fearing the worst case scenarios - so I left as that and pushed it out of my head.
Instead I focused on relaxing with my friends and family, while enjoying my nights with my girlfriend. The days seemed to have blurred while we spent our time up at the Lodge. We spent it skiing, snowboarding, playing in the snow with one another, loud dinners and lunches, enjoying mugs of coco by the end of the night. It was a small routine of our winter trip for the next few days and nights. Soon New Year's Eve was upon us. The day passed by quickly and the night came with our group spending time in the Lodge's lounge watching the countdowns on the News. Once the clock struck Midnight on a New Year, the lounge (that was filled with other patrons beyond our large group) cheered and clapped, hugging friends and kissing loved ones. I gave a passing glance to Bella in what I could only hope was a subtle look - and thankfully none of the girls or guys caught it. Later on that evening, Bella and I in our room celebrated in our own way for the New Year. It was definitely one of the best ways to ring in the New Year.
But now it was New Year's Day and our time at the Lodge was up. School would be starting up again soon and we needed to get back to reality. It sucked that my private time with my girlfriend was about to end and we'd have to go back to figuring out how to sneak away together once more at the school away from our friends. I hated this secrecy thing still with a burning passion - but I recalled back to the brief talk I had with Bella. We had a time frame by this point of when we'll come out to our friends about our relationship. It was just a matter of waiting for the right window and waiting on when we think we'll both be ready to come out.
We were currently loading everything back up into the cars, donned in our winter attire and getting ready to leave. Once again most of the crew stuck with Esme in her large van. That left Carlisle, Alice, Bella and I once again with his SUV. Alice wasn't pleased that I'd be tagging along with her and Bella again. "Love you too sis." I grumbled at her after she scoffed at the sight of me loading my stuff up in the SUV.
"Please don't bicker on the way back you two." Carlisle admonished lightly, focusing his narrowed eyes on Alice. She huffed but kept quiet. I glanced over at Bella who was focused on her phone, texting someone repeatedly. I raised an eyebrow at it, curious as to who she was texting. I knew I needed to reel in the silly jealousy that was still itching to come out - everything that happened days ago related to the Ian mess still sat under my skin but after we had our talk, I tried to keep it all at bay and not let it get to me. Besides, for all I know she's likely trying to reach Charlie. I could remember she had said something before that today once she gets back home to Charlie the two of them would be spending the day down at the reservation with Jacob and everyone there. So that's probably who she was honestly talking to. After I had my bags and Bella's things set up in the trunk, I closed it and climbed into the back where Bella was sitting there on her phone still - this time she had the phone pressed up against her ear and almost looked agitated - while Carlisle started up the car.
"Who are you trying to reach Bella?" Alice asked once she noticed Bella pressed on her phone's screen angrily.
"My dad." Bella grumbled, pouting. "I've been trying to reach him by text, and by calling him all morning but he's not gotten back to me at all. The last I heard from him was last night." she continued, once again tapping furiously on her phone.
"It could be the fact that the reception's up here spotty since we're getting ready to leave Bella." Carlisle tried to reassure her as he began backing out of the parking space to head out of the parking lot of the Lodge. I glanced over at her to see her weighing that option. It was a likely possibility in retrospect - even though there was basically decent reception at the Lodge, the more we moved away from it the weaker the signal could be getting.
"But to not answer all morning even when I was in the Lodge or in my room..." Bella trailed off in a counter argument. I wanted to desperately reach over and pat her hand, worried she'd go into a panic attack if she wasn't calmed down right away.
"You think you could call up your mom and see if she could reach him? Or maybe a family friend that lives nearby to check up on him?" Alice suggested then. With her gnawing on her bottom lip, Bella nodded to that offer and then began tapping away on her phone once more.
First she had called up her mom and asked her if she could reach her dad. Once she had done that she began calling around asking others in the area if they had heard from them. She did her best to keep up with calls and texting on the whole drive back to Forks. She managed with the spotty reception areas while we worked our way down the mountain; whenever she'd have signal she'd call someone to check for updates, or resorted to more texting. It took us a few hours to make it down the mountains and be back within city limits of Seattle. She was a nervous wreck the whole time we were on the road, either staring out the window or at her phone. I wanted to reach over and cuddle her into my side, offer her some form of comfort that she didn't need to worry this much. But I couldn't do that, not with my sister in the car. Alice and Carlisle voiced their comforts to her to try and get her to calm down but it was no use to her as she continued to visibly worry beside me in the backseat. At least it was in our original plans to drop her back off first with her things rather than take her back to our house and then drop her back off, so at least she'd get her worries eased as soon as we'd reach her house.
Soon we reached Forks and were pulling into her neighborhood. "Bella I'm sure Charlie's got a good reason he hasn't answered you this morning. Please don't fret so much." Carlisle continued to try and calm her down while we drove down the road of her neighborhood. Bella was currently texting on her phone and gnawing her lip into oblivion by this point. Finally we rounded the corner and we were on the street where her house was. Just as we turned, I could see in the distance -
"Oh no..." I muttered out loud when I noticed the flashing red and blue lights. Bella's gaze snapped up from her lap when she heard me speak up for the first time, and she followed my line of sight. Alice gasped once we drew closer to Bella's house. Carlisle slowed to a snail's pace and pulled up slightly away from Bella's home, stopping across the street. We sat in the car staring at the scene before us.
Police cars were crowding the narrow streets of Bella's neighborhood, lights flashing and doors partially open on some vehicles. Some were standing around in the streets, some were chatting with nearby neighbors, some were coming and going out of the Swan home. The front door was wide open, with Charlie's cruiser parked in the driveway. But what was the most jarring sight was the yellow police tape set up around the yard, hanging from the trees and any nearby structures that could hold onto it.
Oh no...
Suddenly I heard a door opening and I whipped my gaze towards the sound. Bella was bursting out of the car. "Bella!" Alice cried. I quickly unbuckled my seat and bolted out of the car after her, not caring if it looked suspicious or odd. I was running after her while she was quickly rushing towards her house. I heard Carlisle and Alice exiting the SUV and running after us. "Bella stop!" Alice cried after her, while I quickly caught up to her. I caught her in my arms and held her tightly to my chest.
"Let me go! That's my house! LET ME GO!" Bella shrieked once she realized she was being stopped by me. The screaming caught the attention of the nearby officers and neighbors. I noticed that some that recognized Bella's screaming, had saw her and then looked away - almost ashamed. The nearby neighbors that were out had looks of dismay on their faces and turned away when they saw Bella running up the road to the house.
"Bella stop." I murmured to her, holding her tightly against me and trying to avoid her flailing limbs. She wanted to break free from my hold, and was ignoring my hushed words at trying to calm her down.
"Bella please wait, calm down." Alice caught up to us and stood next to her friend, looking extremely worried and concerned. But her words didn't reach her ears.
"LET ME GO! THAT'S MY HOUSE - WHERE'S MY DAD?!" Bella shrieked at the top of her lungs while desperately trying to break free from my hold. Carlisle was with us now, looking between the officers near us, the neighbors and the Swan House. He was drawing conclusions just like the rest of us were.
"Isabella." I looked up and saw a big burly officer was approaching us now. I recognized him as one of the deputies that Charlie introduced me to when we were getting my gun and license to carry finalized. Deputy Henry Thompson I think; big old burly man with greying black hair, bushy facial hair and while he was intimidating with his strength and size, he was like an uncle with teddy-bear energy since he cared about Bella as if she were a niece to him. He stopped in front of us, his face looking grim.
"WHERE'S MY DAD?!" Bella cried through her screaming, tears streaming down her face. I glanced up at him while holding her back still, and felt my heart sink into my stomach. Nothing on his face held good news. I could only fear the worst.
"Bella... It's... I'm sorry to do this to you kid." he tried to begin, clearing his throat. Bella paused in her flailing, heaving ugly breaths through her tears while she finally looked up at him. I glanced down at her and I wanted to weep for her. In that moment, she looked broken and lost - as if she already knew that what he was about to say would be the worst thing she could ever hear. She looked like a lost child who couldn't find her parents and all she desperately wanted was to be held by her father after enduring a long period of time wandering around alone. Deputy Thompson looked down at the ground briefly and then back at Bella, his expression grim. "I'm sorry Bella but... we came to do a wellness check on your dad when no one could reach him this morning. After you had called around, we kept getting calls asking to check up on him. We were all concerned about him just as much as you were. And well we rolled up... And we found his front door wide open. After heading in to see if he was in... We found him - in his chair... He's... God... I'm sorry Bella but he's gone."
It took a few minutes for the words to sink in but when it hit her, Bella lost it. She sunk in my arms and began to sob heavily, screaming and wailing while she laid crumpled at my feet. I sank to the floor with her and held her to my chest, noting that Alice had released a broken gasp and a sob of her own, tears rolling down her face. Carlisle murmured his astonishment under his breath and cradled Alice in his arms. I held Bella to my chest tightly, feeling my own tears fall from my eyes. Deputy Thompson's words were a soft murmur as he tried his best to explain the situation and that they'd be doing everything they could to help, but Bella's screams and cries were all that could be heard for what felt like miles. Her anguish was palpable and soon Thompson gave into his own crying.
Charlie was gone. And Bella was beyond devastated.
A/N: And what a sad way to close out the chapter.
It's been awhile since I had updated, once again. I've been suffering a nasty, huge writer's block once more trying to find a way to get over a hurdle that feels like I was stuck on how to progress with this story (and also how to progress some other stories of mine that I've been working on chapters for other works, but stuck in the middle with them much like I had been with this one).
For one, does it feel like I might be writing too many 'gratuitous' sexy scenes of Ed and Bella? Probably yes, very much so. But hey, can I lamely use the excuse that they had their private time finally and after so much pent-up frustrations of them not being able to spend it together fully while they're at school they felt like they wanted to abuse their time together as such? Sure? Eh okay probably not but meh, I'm using it.
Now for another, it might also seem like I jumped waaay too quickly into the 'at least canon for me' Death of Charlie right there at the end. And while this is a rewrite of my old story (of which I had Charlie die in the original unexpectedly and had like 'briefly' wrote about the grief Bella had felt before seemingly breezing past the grief and loss of her father as she acted hunky-dory for the rest of the story,) I felt like I could've rewritten it better or hell not killed him off in this rewrite. However, I'd argue weakly that his death serves a purpose or at least will serve a purpose for the plot later on and is not a means of a weak plot device to just add drama or more pity for a character. It's not in vain but no I don't enjoy it still in killing off sweet Charlie. So it'll not be glossed over this time around and will serve more of a purpose this go-around.
But now, the Lodge Trip (filler chapters really nonetheless) is done we can progress with the story.
Any feedback is appreciated as always. I proof-read and edit as I go but I'm human with a tired brain; there is likely still bound to be some mistakes here and there so please be patient with me as I try my best here.
Until next time,
~Lady Eleanora~