Chapter 18 - Earning Your Bubble
Carslie's POV
I glance at the new picture on the corner of my desk as I finish up the last of today's paperwork. It's a new picture of everyone on our front porch that Emmett insisted that the family take last weekend.
I can't help but feel the love and tranquility that I always feel when i see my family all together and happy.
My favorite part about this picture besides the fact that I have my mate smiling in my arms is the look on Rosalie's face.
Rosalie has her head resting on Amber's shoulder as she stares at the camera and Amber is almost sitting sideways on one of the steps with her back against the railing.
We are all laughing, but Edward, Jasper, and Amber have their heads thrown back in laughter after we all had watched Emmett fall flat on his face about 10 seconds prior to the picture being taken in his haste to make it back onto the porch for the picture after he set the timer.
My boys and Amber have all grown so close over the last few months. It doesn't surprise me that Emmett and Amber have grown to become best friends, but I'm astonished that Edward and Jasper have been able to open up so much.
It has been amazing to see my usually stoic boys Jasper and Edward so carefree as they show a true genuine happiness that they rarely feel relaxed enough to show outward, except with their mates.
The happiness on everyone's face is heartwarming to see.
Rosalie's tranquility is clear as day. It's a look that I feared that I would never be able to see on my daughter's face.
It makes me love my new daughter even more. Amber has a way of making everyone around her so happy and she's able to bring out a joyful side in all of us.
Over the past few weeks since Cody's funeral all of my children, including Amber. have been spending most of their time at home which not only delights my love to no end, but it also warms my heart to have my whole family under one roof on a near constant basis.
A surprising but delightful twist is that Amber has brought Mike along with her on numerous occasions.
I'm broken out of thoughts by Amber knocking on my open doorframe.
I can't help but return her smile. A smile that grows into a full blown euphoria when I see my Esme walking into my office as Amber stayed by the doorframe. Esme glided towards me and gave me a soft kiss. We both softly chuckled when we looked up at an embarrassed Amber looking at the wall and the floor sheepishly in an attempt to give us our privacy.
We both find the gesture adorable.
Esme is the one to break the moment by turning to Amber and saying "Thank you Amber."
Amber ever the polite one stands up straight and bows her head slightly and replies "No problem Ma'am. It was my pleasure to be of service."
My love turned to me and filled me in "Amber saw me walking around and offered to escort me."
I smiled and offered my thanks to Amber "Thank you for looking out for my wife"
Amber smiled in response.
"It's not a problem. I secretly just want to keep myself in Esme's good grace's, because she keeps me well fed." Amber replies with a sly wink at Esme.
I chuckle at Amber's antics and say "You better not be trying to steal my wife."
"No Sir. I'll try and dial down my charm." Amber says with a grin.
Esme decides to break up our antics by asking Amber if she's still going to be making it to the house for dinner tonight. Which Amber responds with "I wouldn't miss it."
Amber decides to give my wife and I some privacy and leaves my office after a quick hug from Esme.
When Amber is almost out of the door Esme grabs Amber's attention by saying "Oh dear before you go."
Amber sticks her head back into the room and catches the bag of cookies that Esme tossed to her. Amber gives a huge smile and excitedly exclaims "Sweet, cookies! Thanks Esme."
I decide to take advantage of the privacy and pull my loving wife into my arms as we fall into an effortless kiss that still holds the same amount of passion and love that we had when we first mated all those years ago.
Rosalie's POV
It was now 8:46pm. Over an hour and a half past the time that Amber was suppose to be here for a family dinner.
I have been pacing and stressing with every new unanswered call.
When I'm almost about to loose my mind and rush out of the house to try and hunt down my mate we all finally hear Amber's truck speeding down the long driveway.
Not knowing what had happened that kept Amber so long Emmett takes the chance to grab me before I have a chance to use my vampire speed to race to Amber.
My mate must have ran to door at lightning speed, because she was out of breath when Edward opened the door for her.
Amber shot Bella a grateful look as she hands her a cold glass of water as she was trying to catch her breath. After downing most of the water, Amber apologizes profusely to not only Esme and Carslie, but to the whole family about being late.
"I am so sorry. but it was unavoidable." Amber says full of regret.
"Why didn't you answer any of my phone calls?" Rosalie asked in a soft voice laced with hurt.
Amber walked up to Rosalie and gave her a hug. When she pulled away she replies with the same type of softness. "I didn't have my phone on me today. We were doing a lot of hands on stuff today at work. Then we had back to back meetings and I forgot to turn my phone off silent."
Amber gives a sly grin and says "The reason that I'm late though is because after the last meeting Mike and I were pulled aside and told that we were accepted into dive school."
Jasper seemed to be the only one to know what that meant because he yelled "Congratulations!" As he slapped my mate on the back then they exchanged a huge hug.
"I know I'm still in shock." Amber excitedly says.
"What is dive school?" Alice asked confusedly.
"Mike and I were accepted into Dive School. If we graduate we'll be military qualified divers. It's a hard military school to get into." Amber explains.
"Alice, do you still have a hard time seeing me?" Amber asks.
"You're still usually fuzzy, why?" Alice asks confused by this turn of topic.
"Well dive school is one of the hardest military schools to graduate from and it had a high attrition rate. It would be a load off if I knew if I would graduate." Amber shyly says.
"Mike and I are already pumping Josh and Walter for information. They both graduated dive school a year or so ago. They're going to be helping us get ready so we're prepared." Amber informs us.
I'm still unsure of what exactly entails dive school, but I do know that my mate getting accepted is a big deal so I congratulate her the best way that I know how. Well as best as I can under our current non relationship status. I would have rather given Amber a passionate kiss, but I settle for giving her a lingering kiss on her cheek. My inner vampire purrs at seeing my mate blush under my ministrations. I love being able to see the visible signs that my love is attracted to me. It gives me hope that we will keep moving forward until we are finally together. I have to keep reminding myself of what Alice had told me about rushing Amber. If I kept trying to push things along instead of letting them happen organically I would only end up pushing my mate away.
Even though it's frustrating I know without a doubt that I would never jeopardize the chance of being with my true mate. I would wait a million years if it meant that I would have my mate for the rest of time. I'm comforted by the fact that even if I'm not with Amber in the way that I long for, that at least she is apart of my life.
I tune back into the conversation just in time to hear Amber say something that I never thought about.
"Yeah, Panama City for approximately 12 weeks isn't such a terrible assignment." Amber jokingly says.
I realize with a sinking heart that this will be another 3 months away from my mate. I know that in the greater scheme of things another three months isn't very consequential and I would never stand in the way of my mate and her calling to service, but that doesn't mean that I have to be happy about it.
I hug Amber's arm a little tighter to myself in an effort to keep her as close to me as I can while she's still here physically.
-Time Skip -
Amber's POV
I can't believe that I finally graduated Dive School. Mike and I share a smile as we wait for our turn to be presented with our certificates and our bubble (which is just a nickname for the dive qualified badge).
As I look into the audience I find my grandparents first and I can tell that they are beyond proud of me especially my grandpa. I know that he is proud of me, but I always wondered if he would have been happier if I decided to join the Navy instead of the Air Force. That train of thoughts leads me back to a conversation that we shared about getting me back on track with school a few months after I had stumbled upon their ranch all those years ago.
I remember how thrilled they both were of my choice to serve my country and to not only continue my family's legacy but to continue theirs as well.
Being a Naval Aviator my grandpa Roar understood the importance of SERE and I knew that he was immeasurably proud of me making a difference with my life.
I spotted the Cullen family taking up the last few rows. I was surprised and delighted that the whole family decided to come and celebrate Mike and my graduation.
It melts my heart at the soft almost loving look that Rosalie gives me.
I wish that Mike's family would have been in the audience, but when it comes to things related with his job and the military his family tends to stay far away from it.
It's not that they don't love and support him, but they don't understand his choices.
They would of rather had him serve a few years and 'get it out of his system' as they say and then get a 'regular' job.
Like me though he's what you would call 'a lifer', someone who is going to be in for at least 20 years and retire out.
I'm broken out of my thoughts when it's my turn to get my certificate and my diver badge.
Everything seems to become a blur until I have my Grandparents in front of me smothering me with hugs and my Grandma Mags smoothing out my uniform.
My Grandpa grabs my attention by putting his hand on my shoulder and giving it a small shake. "I know that you never wanted to get your own military ring, but I always hoped that you would accept my Naval Ring when the time came for me to pass it down to you." My breath seemed to be stolen out of my lungs as I watched my Grandfather slide his ring off of his finger and hold it out in between the two of us. "You are my Granddaughter, my blood, and my family. I want you to have this as you continue to bring honor to our family. I figured that you graduating from a Navy School was the perfect time to pass it down to you. Thankfully we're the same ring size so I didn't have to get it resized. Seems like it was always destined to be yours."
I held back the tears in my eyes as I reverently took the ring and slid it onto my finger and made a slightly shaking fist as I tried to hold onto my emotions.
We both gave each other a ferocious hug as we held onto each other expressing all of the love and pride that we both felt in that moment.
We broke apart at the sound of a tearful sniffling. As we both turned we saw my Grandma with tears sliding down her face at our display. We opened our arms and we all continued to hug each other as a family.
We broke out of our little family bubble when Mike jumped onto my back demanding to be apart of the family hug.
All four of us laughed and hugged some more.
I saw the Cullen family approach from where Mike had come from, but at a slower pace.
After lots of pictures and more congratulations we had decided that we would all have a late lunch all together to celebrate.
-Time Skip-
Amber's POV
After lunch it was early evening and the adults decided to go have a drink at the Officer's Club which left all of us 'kids' to ourselves.
It was decided that we would all go to the carnival that was going on downtown.
So we all went back to our hotel rooms to change.
Mike and I were going to be crashing in my grandparent's suite tonight and leaving the next day to start our leave to go home and visit our families.
When I said goodbye to my grandparents who would be headed to the Officer's Club, my grandma whispered in my ear that I should lock down the Rosalie thing.
At my astonished look and before I could try and explain that Rose and I were just friends my grandma Mags just patted my cheek and said that she wasn't blind and then got into the car and shut the door.
I was left stunned and Mike didn't help by slapping my on the back and saying "See everyone knows that you two will get together, so hurry up and make a move."
That's how the Cullen 'kids' found us. Me chasing Mike around the front of the hotel and both of us yelling at each other like the idiots that were truly are.
After our brief scuffle we were all on our way to the carnival.
-Time Skip-
Rosalie's POV
Today has been an amazing day. We all seemed to effortlessly and naturally break up into pairs as we explored the carnival all together as a group. Thankfully Mike and Emmett seemed to be on the same page about wanting Amber and I to be paired off since they made sure to stick with each other.
I can't help but laugh at my mate and her brother's latest antics.
Right now they are at the game where you throw a ball at a stack of cans to try and win a prize by knocking them all over.
They would high five and do a spin and funny dance combo then throw their ball at their respective targets. You would think that they would miss, because they were too busy being silly but they were surprisingly accurate.
Emmett seemed put off the sillier that they got. When I gave him a puzzled look his only response was a pout as he said "She's suppose to be my best friend".
We all couldn't help but laugh at Emmett's logic.
Amber and Mike had both won prizes and I swooned quite a bit when Amber presented me with a stuffed wolf. I noticed that Emmett was hugging a stuffed bear, which means that Mike gave away his prize as well.
Alice and Bella both aww-ed at Amber's cute gesture. They both latched onto one of Amber's arms and dragged her around to the other games so that she could win them a stuffed animal as well.
In the end Alice ended up with a stuffed Tinkerbell doll, which I'm surprised that Amber got away with calling her tink or a fairy, but if anyone was going to be able to get away with it it would be Amber.
Bella walked away with a stuffed Mater from the movie Cars, which reminded me of Bella's beloved monster of a truck.
As we started to get into the line for the farris wheel and I started to daydream about all the different scenarios that my mate and I could find ourselves in. Of course my love being the ever chivalrous one would give me her jacket, she might even put her arm around me to keep me warm. We also might exchange soft loving words or even share a kiss or two under the twinkling lights of the city.
Alice nudges me out of my fantasies in time for me to hear Amber say "I'm going to go walk around while y'all are riding the farris wheel".
I'm confused and my heart is dashed that my fantasies even if they are far fetch won't be able to come true.
"You're still freaked out over heights? Aren't you supposed to be Airborne?" Mike teases.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I like heights". Amber defends herself.
"Call me when y'all get done. Have fun and be safe." Amber says as she starts to walk away from us.
I seize the opportunity to spend some alone time with my mate so I hurried after her leaving everyone with knowing looks exchanged with each other.
I'm rewarded with a smile and an offered arm when I catch up with Amber.
I did end up wearing my mate's jacket as we walked around and enjoyed the quality time together. We walked around for awhile until we heard someone shouting Amber's name.
I was introduced to a man named Keith, who was a fellow Airman (a member of the Air force) and his fiance named Megan. We made idol chit chat for a few minutes as Keith and Amber caught up.
After we said goodbye to Keith and Megan we ran into 3 more military members that Amber knew. After we were alone again I couldn't help but tease Amber a bit.
"So how many people do you actually know?"
Amber smiles, chuckles, and says "A lot apparently".
"You do seem to be close with pretty much everyone." I say offhandedly.
"I know a lot of people, and I consider most of them to be family, but they're still not family family...if that makes sense?" Amber struggles to voice her thought process.
Amber continues her train of thoughts by adding "I guess it's just hard for me, because I lost my whole family at such a young age and then I was alone for so long. I feel close and connected to people, but I never truly feel like I belong. Besides my grandparents, Mike, and Clay that is. Clay use to say that he always thought I was searching. Searching for meaning, searching for a place in the world, searching to make a difference, but most of all searching for the family that I lost. And he was right, on all accounts. Especially about searching for a family and a place to belong. It's not to say that I don't love my friends or think of them as my extended family, it just never felt like that's where I truly belonged. Where I was meant to be." Amber stopped talking as we continued to make our way around the carnival grounds.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to get so heavy with our conversation." Amber apologizes.
I pulled on her arm to stop her and turn her so that we're facing each other. I place my other hand on her upper chest near her clavicle as I spoke with conviction "I told you that you never have to hide from me. I want to know every part of you."
We get lost in each other's eyes and I finally think this is it. We are finally going to kiss.
That is until Amber picks me up around the waist and we are spinning off onto the side of the walk way. That's when I see a group of about 15 or so rowdy teenagers running down the walkway and they would have run us over in their haste to get to their fun.
I also realize that my arms are on Amber's broad shoulders and her hands are on my waist and we are still very close together.
We both freeze for a few seconds and then begin to lean back into each other's space until our lips finally meet is an earth shattering kiss that's so perfect I could almost die.
