Chapter 10:

As it turned out, Bella Swan was far more inquisitive than Edward had anticipated. He had expected her to be curious and it appeared that for every question Edward answered, Bella had two more.

"So out of all the animals, which is your favorite?" "I have a preference for mountain lions. The predators simply taste better."

"How can you be out in the daytime?" "Sunlight doesn't hurt us, but it is impossible to be out in it directly and keep our secret.

"Why?" I'll show you sometime."

"Could you eat human food if you had to?" "I have once or twice before to reinforce the human charade. It's quite unpleasant."

"What's your favorite color?" "Blue, dark like the night sky."

"How old are you?" "Seventeen."

"And how long have you been seventeen?" "A while."

"Are the rest of your family vampires too?" "Yes."

"Can they read minds as well?" "No, that is only a gift bestowed upon me. However Alice and Jasper have a talent as well. Jasper is an empath, able to sense and disperse emotions. Alice can see premonitions of the future."

"Your sister can see the future?" "Most of the time, yes. She can see things that are about to happen."

Bella had been less than impressed with the vague answers Edward had given to some of her questions, but hadn't pushed him to elaborate.

Even when she picked through the offerings in the basket Bella kept him talking. He took note of her choices, a lemonade of the same brand she had at school and a sandwich made with peanut butter and jelly.

All too soon Bella told Edward she had to return to make dinner for her father. Edward thought she must be exhausted, but she was clearly hesitant to leave the meadow and the solace that they found here. Worried about the time it took them to hike all this way, Edward offered to carry Bella back through to where they left the car. He was thrilled when she accepted.

Bella was skeptical that he could carry both the basket and herself, but allowed him to try anyway. The feeling of Bella's arms wrapped around his neck was something he had no comparison for. Where they touched burned with an emotion that Edward wanted to bottle up and keep for eternity. Her chin rested on his shoulder so she could see in front of them and her sweet scent surrounded him.

It was with a smile that Edward shot forward, perhaps he was showing off just a bit. Leaping over obstacles and dodging trees in a way to make Bella's heart flutter faster. She shrieked in his ear, but it was quickly followed by a laugh so Edward wasn't concerned. If anything it made him try harder to get her to make that sound again.

All too quickly they were back at the car and then soon after that they arrived at Bella's house. Internally Edward cringed, he could hear Charlie's upset thoughts from the car and knew it would only make things more difficult if he met Charlie formally now.

"Do you want to come in?" Bella asked. "Can you come in without permission? Or was that a myth?"

Edward smiled fondly at her. "That one is most definitely a myth." It's not like I've had your permission to crawl through your window these last few weeks. "Your father doesn't sound too pleased at the moment so perhaps we should wait on the introductions for another time."

Bella released a heavy sigh and looked up at the house. "I'm not exactly sure how to explain where I was today."

A chime rang through the cab of the vehicle. Edward pulled his phone from the center console and laughed at the text he saw.

Tell Charlie that Carlisle took off Bella's cast today. He will confirm the alibi.

"What's so funny?" Bella asked.

"Alice, is trying to help by giving you an alibi for the day." Edward flashed a smile at Bella. "If you tell your father that I took you to my father to get your cast off, Carlisle will back it up apparently."

Bella grabbed her left arm almost unknowingly, her face composed and thoughtful. Abruptly she turned to face Edward once more. "I have so many more questions."

Edward held back the exuberance that threatened to bubble out of him. The more he shared with Bella, the more she inquired and the more enthusiastic she appeared. The sheer acceptance that she exuded to him was astounding.

"Can I see you tomorrow?" He asked.

"Are you sure you can't read my mind?" Bella narrowed her eyes at him playfully.

"Is that a yes then?" Please say yes.

"Yes." Bella's voice was as soft as her eyes. Edward was enraptured by her and struggled to pull his attention away from her.

"You'd better go in before he decides to come outside." He said briefly looking back up to the house. He could hear Charlie grumbling near the front door.

"See you tomorrow Edward." Bella unbuckled her seatbelt, but Edward was exiting the car before she was finished. He walked quickly to the other side of the car and opened the door for her.

Edward watched her walk up to the house before he got back into the driver's seat. She waved at him from the front porch briefly before she disappeared from view. When he pulled away from her house he realized that he was fully surrounded in freesia and chamomile. The fire still burned in his throat, but he wasn't overpowered by it and it wasn't as significant as it had been. He hadn't feared for her safety from his monster this entire morning, but that didn't mean she was completely safe from him.

Absentmindedly Edward reached into his pocket where he had stashed the cap to Bella's lemonade bottle. He wasn't quick sure why this practically insignificant token ended up in his possession, but it did and he had no want to get rid of it now.

Everyone was home when he arrived. He could feel Alice's excitement from where she bounced around the living room. It seemed that she hadn't spilled any secrets from this afternoon, but everyone was aware that something momentous had occurred.

Emmett and Jasper were pretending to play a game of chess, but Edward could see that it was merely a pretense to be in the room when he talked to Carlisle and Alice. Rose was in another part of the house in complete disagreement with Edwards actions. Much to his surprise, it was Esme who pounced first when he walked through the door.

"Oh Edward, how was it? Alice won't tell us a thing." Esme grasped Edwards hand in hers and led him further into the room.

I promise I wasn't watching you all day. I just glimpsed bits and pieces.

Alice didn't even bother to try and look remorseful in any way. Then she pulled up memories of visions she had from earlier in the day. They flashed through quickly like snapshots on a picture role. Some were things Edward could recall and others were hazier possibilities of the future.

Edward and Bella lying near each other in the meadow.

Holding hands in the cab of Bella's ancient truck.

Bella sleeping in her bed, Edward's arms wrapped around her as he read from a book.

Alice, Jasper, Edward, and Bella, seated in the cafeteria smiling.

There was one snapshot that Alice tried to avoid, but Edward was able to catch a glimpse of it before Alice moved on.

It was very clearly Bella running through the woods with Edward. Her head was thrown back in laughter, but when she opened her eyes instead of the milk chocolate color Edward had grown to love, they were as golden and bright as his own.

Edward's heart lurched at the sight of Alice's vision and he felt conflicted and rightfully so. In that vision it was clear that Edward and Bella were together which Edward yearned for. However it also meant that Bella had gone through the change and sacrificed her life and soul. She had died for them to come together as such and Edward could only feel revulsion at the thought.

A growl had torn itself from his chest before he could stop it, but Alice only held her hands up in defense. "I only saw that it could happen, not that it will."

"What will happen?" Emmett asked curiously.

Edward glared at his sister, but she pointedly ignored him. "I saw Bella with Edward, as a vampire."

Wicked cool, we're getting a new sister.

Thank goodness, I hated for him to be alone.

No. Fucking. Way.

In his mind, Edward had already laid claim to Bella, but hadn't thought through what that claim entailed. Would Bella willingly choose this immortal life they had all fallen into? Or would her human life end in tragedy and force their hand? Perhaps Bella would prefer to stay human and follow the natural course of her life. Edward didn't allow himself to form an opinion on which path he would prefer for Bella, he wouldn't take away her choice.

"You would put her through this? For all your claims of loving her?" Rosalie's voice was vicious and venom dropped from every word. She had appeared at the top of the stairs to glare down at her brother.

"If she were to go through the change, it would be her choice." Edward replied, his words equally fierce. "I won't put her through this if she chooses otherwise."

"No one will force the change on Bella. This vision of Alice's doesn't show the entire story and we know that it could alter with time. There's no need to fight about something that might never come to pass." In spite of Carlisle's calming words, his thoughts were similar to Esme's in happiness. For some time they thought that Edward was changed too young and that he might go through this second life without a partner. In his personal opinion finding Bella was one of the best things that had happened to this family since Alice and Jasper joined them.

Jasper spread his influence lightly over the family, taking the edge off of all the sharp emotions. Edward couldn't tell if the thankfulness he felt was his own, but was grateful all the same.

"I only came to change." Edward said, trying to brush past Alice who braced her arms against his chest to keep him from moving.

"At least tell me if I can start hanging out with her!" Alice whined in her wind chime voice. For as small as she was, Alice hardly ever acted like a child, but she pouted and turned her wide eyes to Edward. Any other time Edward probably could have avoided the sad puppy look, but combined with Jasper's gift poor Edward was helpless.

"Maybe by Monday she will be comfortable enough to see you. There was a lot of information passed along today and I don't want to overwhelm her."

Does she know what we are? Did it frighten her? Carlisle thought calmly.

"She knows what we are and that we won't be a danger to her." Edward disentangled Alice's hands from his shirt. "She's incredible, Carlisle. She pulled me into her memories and I felt like I was actually there."

Memories?

Oh! Her gift! How exciting!

This is too dangerous.

Did you ever find out why she was drunk last night?

Edward turned to Jasper, but kept his eyes on Carlisle. "Bella showed me how she brought her mother back to life. A year ago she passed away in a car accident. Bella had healed herself and then raised her mother back from the dead."

The mental and physical silence was heavy with the weight of Edwards words. It only took a moment before everyone was shouting.

From the dead?!

"Was she truly dead? Or just unconscious?"

My goodness how awful to see such a thing.

"What else can she do?"

This is just too fucking cool.

"Do you think she could do something similar so that I could observe?"

Of course Carlisle was thinking from a scientist's perspective. The wonderment that coated his thoughts on the possibilities of Bella's gift overshadowed the others.

"Could she turn a vampire human?" Rosalie's question silenced everyone once again.

The thought had not occurred to Edward, but the moment she spoke it aloud it was planted. Could Bella turn him human? Turn them all back human? Would Edward want to be human again? Would Bella even be interested in him if he wasn't a vampire? If he couldn't read minds?

Humans were so fragile, succumbing to injury and sickness constantly. Their lives felt so short and almost insignificant in comparison to a vampire's. Many aspects of their human lives were long forgotten as human memories often faded to nothing overtime.

Edward thought of Bella's hands on his, so warm against his hard, chilled skin. What would it feel like if they were the same temperature? What would Edward have done had she pressed against his lips again, without the fear of his venom? Would he feel differently about her if he wasn't tempted by her blood when he was around her? He had to remind himself to be gentle with her, to move slowly and with purpose. Every moment they were together she could be hurt or killed if he let his attention slip for just a second.

Edward knew that regardless if he were human or a vampire that he would be in love with her, but in this instant he couldn't help but ache over the idea that he could be human with her.

Everyone knew that Rose hated being a vampire. She had lost her life tragically and had been spiteful to Carlisle and Edward until she had come across Emmett. He was what made her life worth living at this point, but she couldn't help but covet what humans take for granted. Rosalie would grasp any chance to be human again with both hands and no thought of the consequences.

"Bella is under the assumption that her power results in an opposite effect somewhere. On the night her mother was revived, a close friend of hers died suddenly from seemingly minor injuries." Edward said clearly. "If that theory is to be believed then if a vampire were suddenly returned as a human that somewhere a human would consequently become a vampire."

"That does sound like a fair theory." Carlisle mused almost to himself. "Surely Bella would have the best grasp on her gift. It would be foolish to ask for her to attempt such a feat, especially with the history she's had with her mother."

Rosalie disappeared once more from the room, but Edward heard that she was still stuck on the possibility. The hope to be human again was quickly hidden in her thoughts as if she knew that Edward had been listening in.

Did you kiss her? I have $1,200 riding on this.

Edward rolled his eyes at Emmett. Jasper and Emmett had steadily raised the stakes on their bets on Edward and Bella's relationship. Alice had been good at keeping most of her visions quiet, but Edward knew that she held no secrets with Jasper, so if he asked she would answer truthfully and with no hesitation.

"No."

"Did your lips, at any point in time, end up on Bella?" Emmett voiced his question this time, not even bothering to hide his impatience.

Edward didn't answer right away. He didn't kiss her, truly, in most senses of the word, but his lips had come in contact with her. The memory of the soft pad of her thumb brushing against his lips had been much more intimate than he had anticipated. Did that count as a kiss?

"Ha!" Emmett grinned widely at his blond brother. "Calling it quits or do you want to double up again?"

Jasper's eyes flashed with the challenge and he grinned back, showing all his teeth in a twisted mock smile. "Double up that he visits her tonight."

"Ugh! That's so not fair!" Emmett grumbled. "He hasn't spent a night at home this whole week." He crossed his arms as he pouted, looking surprisingly childlike for a six foot man.

"I bet-" Alice began, but was shushed by Emmett who complained that she was a dirty rotten cheater. Edward blocked out the rest of their conversation as he went up to his room to change.

Within minutes Edward was out beyond the boundaries of their land. The night was quiet, but his mind was full of the conversations from earlier. When Edward appeared at the treeline outside of Bella's house he could still hear shuffling in her house.

Charlie was asleep in his room, the deep breathing and soft snores were hard to ignore. There was a creak in the floorboards approximately two steps from Bella's bed followed quickly by fabric shifting and springs squeaking. It was likely that Bella was finally settling into bed for the night.

A pang of uneasiness went through Edward. Now that he had inserted himself into her life would it be wrong to observe her as he had the nights previously? Yes, completely and undoubtedly wrong. He was a voyeur of the worst kind, preying on the unknowing. As much as it tore at his heart to do so, Edward turned away to find a distraction somewhere out in the night. He would have made it further than one step had he not heard a single word that gave him pause.

"Stay."

It was whispered in sleep by a girl who had no idea he was in the unique position to hear her from outside the house, but Edward knew that it was meant for him which was reinforced by the breathy way she said his name right afterwards. Edward was back up in his tree before Bella finished drawing her next breath. He told himself that this was where he would draw the line, that he wouldn't return to her room without an invitation.

Thirty-two minutes and forty-nine seconds later Edward was crawling through Bella's window. She had been thrashing about under her covers in distress. Another nightmare had managed to take over her again and Edward refused to watch her from afar when he knew that he could soothe her. As valiant as his reasonings were, Edward knew underneath of it all that he would have found any justification or excuse to get closer to her. He was a planet struggling to stay in orbit with his sun.

Once he had taken his customary place on the floor by the head of her bed Edward began humming her lullaby. The reaction it caused was almost immediate. Bella ceased her motions and settled back into the mattress, her face smoothing out its frown. Her breaths were still shallow and uneven, but Edward was sure they would stabilize.

One of the things Edward missed the most about being human was the ability to dream. To be able to find relief from the world, take a break from the hectic and insufferable parts of life. Edward often craved the silence that solitude allowed, but it was a lonely existence.

Edward laid his head on his arm next to Bella's face to watch her sleep. He combed the loose hairs back from her face while continuing with the lullaby. In the previous nights Edward hadn't let his fingers come into contact with her skin and contented himself with the gentle brush of her dark hair. Now though, since he had felt the way her warm, soft hands felt across his skin, he couldn't get enough.

Tentatively Edward used a single finger to trace the knuckles of Bella's hand. After a few moments when he was braver, he moved upwards to her wrist and then forearm. He only stopped because the blanket was covering the rest of her, but he was immediately addicted to the feel of her warm skin.

The only time Edward had allowed himself to touch humans in the past was when he was feeding during his dark years. They had been warm in a way that electrified his body, with venom flowing freely knowing that the monster was going to be sated. This time however, the feeling was akin to a sunrise. The heat drifted over him softly, bringing with it a contentment and sense of well-being. Even with the ever-present fire in his throat begging for relief Edward had never felt such a sense of wholeness.

Edward had spent hours next to her while she slept, enough to be able to see the infinitesimal changes to her body language that told him when she was about to wake. It almost caught him by surprise when her pulse increased at an alarming rate and her body tensed suddenly.

It was only his vampire speed that allowed him the time to duck out of her room, into the hall before she shot up in her bed gasping for breath.

He watched Bella press her hand to her chest as if to hold her heart still. It was beating far too quickly for Edward's liking. From the dark hallway he saw her rub the sleep from her eyes and force herself to take deep steadying breaths. She paused when she went to get up out of bed, looking around the room cautiously as if her nightmare were somewhere in the shadows.

Edward moved from the hall quickly, his footsteps barely making contact with the creaky wood floors. Bella walked to the bathroom and grabbed a glass of water. She soon returned to her bed, but it was quite some time before she finally slipped back into slumber.

Before long Edward was back in his place, watching her sleep. Whatever nightmare had plagued Bella was gone and she appeared to finally be getting rest. There he stayed until dawn crept up over the trees. He was out of the house and in the trees by the time Charlie rose for the day.

Then it was back to the meadow to wait for a more appropriate time of day for Bella. The distance between them grated against his desire to be close to her. Edward chose to run full speed down the coast, avoiding the Quileute reservation and any populated areas.

Edward ran in a large circuit, circling back to the meadow after more than an hour of relishing the wind whipping through his hair. Yesterday when Bella had allowed him to carry her back to the car he had been overjoyed to show her one of his favorite pastimes.

Although he had not run at his full speed with her on his back for fear of hurting her, Edward had been pleased to find that Bella enjoyed it as well. Perhaps he could take her running and show her all the wondrous places he had found in the mountains. The weather had begun to turn so she would require warmer clothes and Edward wondered what she had brought from Arizona to keep her warm.

Edward's thoughts drifted back to Alice's vision from earlier of Bella and him running through the forest. They looked so happy together at that moment. The vision had been dreamlike in its quality, like it was being seen through a watercolor lens. It was less hazy than some of Alice's other visions so did that mean it was destiny solidified? That the path they walked now led to that future?

What of Rosalie's question? Was there another path Edward could follow? Would Bella be interested in attempting to revive Edward back to her side of the living?

Edward could imagine it now, himself a normal human boy free from the monster that lived in the back of his head. With his humanity restored, his mind-reading powers would dissipate. Sometimes it was difficult to block out all the thoughts when he was in a crowd and with time he could manage to focus. To be able to walk through a group of people and not hear their deepest secrets or regrets or even frivolous nonsense would be a blessing.

Edward could hold Bella's hand without fear of breaking it. He could press his lips against her without his venom pooling in his mouth. Her blood would no longer hold temptation for his monster. He could take her out on a proper date, meet her family, he wouldn't have to be careful about hiding the truth from everyone around them.

Would Bella be content with a normal human boy? She was drawn to him perhaps because she knew that he was different. Edward could understand how isolating it was to be gifted, especially when she couldn't share it with the people who were supposed to support her. Edward hadn't yet described to her the worst parts of himself or his family, that they've done unspeakable things. Bella shouldn't fear that they would do anything to her now, but could she reconcile the reprehensible dark urges they've had to suppress?

Edward lay back in the grass as a stray beam of sunlight broke through the clouds. His hand was caught in the light, refracting prisms of every color onto the foliage around him. With a sigh Edward watched his skin glimmer as he turned it, trying to determine what Bella would see when she finally saw him in the sunlight.

Would it be a bright, shining future or an inhuman monster that still craved the taste of her blood?