Fanfiction: Related

-Robward Virkar 

I am so bored! The sun is out, which means I can't go out in public; Edward, Jasper and Alice are out hunting; Ness is with Jacob down at La Push; Carlisle is at the hospital; Rosalie and Esme are at the orphanage helping out and Emmett...where the hell is Emmett? Probably off doing some Emmett-y things. I sighed. I guess I could run to Charlie's...at vampire speed of course, don't want to attract more attention from the Volturi.

So that's what I did. I jumped through the mansion window (I was at the mansion because I thought there might be someone there to pass the time with) and landed gracefully outside. My skin shone like diamonds.Pretty skin...pretty diamonds- STOP! Focus Bella! I sighed. I found it was easier to get distracted as a vampire.

I ran to Charlie's house. Surprisingly, he was home, I stepped onto the patio and rang the doorbell. Charlie answered it and smiled when he saw it was me.

"Hey Bells! What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I was bored. Edward and Jasper were dragged to the mall by Alice, Esme and Rosalie are helping out at the orphanage, Carlisle's at work, Ness and Jake are at La Push and Emmett...have you seen Emmett by any chance?" I asked. Charlie laughed.

"As a matter of fact, I have. He's in the living room. He came here for the same reasons you did!"

Charlie laughed. I growled and stomped pass him to yell at Emmett. I knew he knew I was already here. I should of smelt his scent before I entered, but I was too focused trying to think of something to do.

"Hiya little sis!" Emmett said, tackling me into a hug.

"Emmett, put me down! I'm not as strong as you anymore!" I whined. He put me down and I glared at him. "I was bored and there was no-one to hang out with! And where were you? Chilling with my dad!" I growled at him.

"Ease up little sis. I just came over 'cause I was bored as well and I wanted to watch the game with someone, and your father had the day off and he loves sport as well, so I-" I cut him off from his rambling with a look. I heard Charlie chuckle behind me.

"A man as big as Emmett cowering from someone like my Bella? Now I've seen everything!" Charlie muttered under his breath. I looked around the living room for something to do. My eyes fell on a pile of boxes against the wall that looked like they were filled with interesting old stuff.

"Emmett, come with me," I said grabbing his hand with one hand and grabbing one of the boxes with another. Emmett grabbed the other three easily with one hand. I could have taken all four with just one figure, but I didn't want to give Charlie a heart-attack.

We ran up to my old room, which is now the guestroom, and I sat down on the bed. Nothing had changed from when I last slept in it. "Ok, this old stuff looks kinda interesting. I don't know much about my dad's family, so I'm gonna look through this. You're going to keep me company," I said to Emmett. He nodded. Emmett loves spending time with his little sis, no matter what we're doing.

I picked up an old-looking long sheet of paper with names written on it. This must be the family tree.

I noticed it hadn't been updated yet, so I grabbed one of the pens on the desk and fived up my name:

|
Isabella=Edward
|
Renessmeé

Much better. Once I had finished my changes, I looked through the chart. I have never seen Charlie's family tree. This should be interesting. My grandmother's maiden name was McCarty. Now why is that so familiar? I traced up through my great-grandfather McCarty, then my great-great grandfather. He had ten kids: Jon, Leroy, Christopher, Nathaniel, Winfred, George, Henry, Lawerence, Emmett, and Lilliana. Poor girl, to grow up in a family of just boys. I noticed all of them had a family...except one. If my heart was still beating, it would have beaten right out of my chest. Emmett McCarty died sometime in the 1930's. I looked at Emmett, who was going through one of the boxes. I decided to wait and find more proof before telling him about my little discovery.

I went through the box I brought up and found an old and tattered photo album. Emmett was also looking through an album, except he had another five by his side that he'd already read.

McCarty Family was the title of the album. On the first page there was a black and white photograph of twelve people.

I flicked through the album. I noticed that there wasn't very many of the older boys. Half of the book was dedicated to little Emmett and Lilliana. Oh my Carlisle, Emmett was so cute! He had dimples and curls, just like now! I could help the aaw that came through my lips.

"What is it?" Emmett asked, leaning over to look at what I was holding. I gave the book to Emmett, and also the family tree.

"I'm not your little sister, Em," I said. Emmett's face went into a sad frown. I couldn't help but be sad at that face he was pulling, so I let him off the hook. "You're my great-great uncle!" I exclaimed.

Emmett laughed and tackled me into a hug. "So you're my great-great niece instead!" Emmett said happily. "Well, that's just too much of a mouthful, so I'll just keep calling you little sis!" he proclaimed. I squealed when he tickled me.

"Stop Em!" I said between laughs. A bit of advice: the only way to tickle a vampire is to get another vampire to tickle them for you.

"OK, OK, what's going on in here?" Charlie asked, amused.

"Emmett's my great-great uncle!" I laughed.

Charlie raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"Where did you think you got your curls from? Your great uncle!" I laughed.

"That's not possible kiddo. For one thing: I'm older than Emmett," he explained slowly. I replayed what I said in my head and I realized that I sounded ridiculous to anyone who didn't know about us immortal vampires.

"OK, thanks dad. The others should have returned by now," I said, and I quickly got up and hugged him.

"That's OK Bells. See ya Emmett!" He called to Emmett, who already had one foot out of the front door. I raced down to meet him.

"See you soon Charlie!" Emmett chuckled and ran out the door, with me following.

OoOoOoOoO

"What did you do today, love? Edward purred in my ear when he came back to the cottage.

"Nothing much. Got bored, went to Charlie's, found Emmett, yelled at him a bit, updated my family tree, found that Emmett is my great-great uncle and looked at some of his baby photos. What did you hunt today?" I asked.

Edward froze at what I said and I could feel him raise an eyebrow.

"Emmett is your great-great uncle?" he asked and I giggled and nodded my head.

"I even found some of his baby photo's at Charlie's," I said.

"Well weren't you busy today..." Edward trailed off.

"Yep. It's not every day you find out that you're related to one of your brother-in-laws."

Disclaimer: I do not own "The Twilight Series" or the fanfictions by other authors...
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Fanfiction: Mighty Meal

-Robward Virkar

Emmett was watching a TV show and was barely paying attention to it. He was, as usual, bored out of his mind. He thought about torturing his brother, Edward, and his little sister, Bella, when they got back from hunting. He also thought about asking his other brother, Jasper, to fight with him. That was always fun.

All those thoughts vanished when he heard those words from the TV: Mighty (kids) Meal.

He was mighty for sure, and with all the jokes that he got from the family it sounded like this was his kind of thing. All he needed to do was get the family along with it!

THEY COULD MAKE IT INTO A CONTEST! He thought happily.

Alice usually went along with his plans if the outcome was really good, so when she came running down the stairs to him with a smile on her face she made his day. Her smile was the one that they shared when Edward was away and they came up with things that annoyed him. She was laughing which meant his plan would be great!

"Bella hasn't had human food since she has changed either!"

This made Emmett laugh gleefully. He really couldn't wait for this now.

He remembered his first time eating human food, it wasn't pleasant, and with Eddie-boy being over protective of Bells she hadn't had one taste of human food since the turn. He could picture her face as she had a bite of the food. They had once gone to McDonald's before Bella and Edward had gotten married and all the stuff with the pregnancy happened, but Bella was the only one who ate. She happily chomped on her burger and fries then . . . now would be a different story!

"Please tell me you will bring the camera for this." Emmett said looking to Alice for a confirmation.

"Bella's first taste of human food will be documented." Her high soprano voice sang with excitement.

Emmett was jumping up in down in his seat. "When?"

"Tomorrow we will all be going shopping. We are moving soon and I want a wardrobe change out. Everything will be new and perfect."

The Cullen's were indeed moving soon which was why he needed this last piece of fun here. This was where all the fun was. Where all the danger had collided because Bella was such a danger magnet. (She had punched a werewolf in the face for petes sake.) It was pretty bad-ass here even though the locals didn't think so.

"When are they getting back? I wanna go now!" Emmett was always impatient when he had fun ideas. Well, fun to him.

". . . Like a five year old . . ." He caught Alice saying. He did the mature thing in the situation and stuck his tongue out at her.

"Am not."

"Oh, are too!" She said rolling her eyes.

Alice and Emmett continued to bicker until Bella and Edward walked in the door with Nessie (looking like a teenager), and Jacob shirtless as usual. Edward looked at them in question and saw that he wasn't going to get anything out of them. Jake had been in on some of their plans in the past years and knew what was going on with out spilling a thing.

Emmett and Jake hung out a lot and they thought very similarly about things. Mainly Edward and how he was so dense with things. It was around the time for Rosalie and Emmett's anniversary, so Emmett focused on that. Alice went along with the romance road and thought about Jasper. Edward shuddered and hissed at them.

"Please, please, stop thinking. Just go wander off somewhere. Hunt. I don't care just leave so I don't have you guys screaming those thoughts and images to me!"

Emmett and Alice took the opportunity to hunt, and be away from Edward, to plan more of their plan. They got the camera, Jasper was in on it too (because once Alice wanted to hunt he thought he should too) as well as Rose. She wanted to have fun and well, it was always great to be seen.

~The next day~

"Shopping time!" Alice trilled out. Everyone heard her, and everyone in the little cottage groaned.

Emmett went along with the groaning as planned and the family went off. Esme and Carlisle had to work, so it was just the "teens". This made Emmett and Alice even happier. No parents to say no to the plan. They thought about this stuff in code so Edward wouldn't realize and keep Bella home.

They went off to the mall and saw some kids from the new school they went to. The kids noticed the good looking family and quickly looked away. Edward smiled at Bella and the family. They were content with just their family.

After hours of Bella, Nessie, and Rose Barbie, Emmett and Alice decided it was time. Alice smiled and paid for the last of the clothes and then dragged the girls to the food court. Bella tilted her head to the side to look at Alice.

Nessie who tasted the food as good flavor had her stomach growl a little bit.

"Are you hungry, sweetie?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, I am."

Emmett and Alice couldn't have planned this better. There was a McDonald's in the food court!

Emmett and the guys had stayed gone to the girls after getting sports stuff. Then Alice had dressed them.

Alice took out a camera stealthily and began recording.

"What do you want?" Emmett asked Nessie.

"McDonald's. I want their fries." She was sheepish but had no need to be. She didn't gain a thing from eating. She would forever have the perfect weight.

The family went to McDonald's and Nessie ordered her stuff. Emmett ordered too. This surprised Nessie, Edward, and Bella.

"I WANT A MIGHTY MEAL BURGER." Emmett boomed to the cashier.

"Emmett what are you doing?" Edward hissed too low for humans to hear.

"Bells, you wanna have a bet? You have to eat this, all of it, so do I. Who ever gags or changes their face has to be the slave of the other for a month!"

Bella didn't back down. She nodded to him and smiled. "Have fun being my slave."

"Yeah right little sister!" Emmett laughed.

The food came and Bell a and Emmett had a stare down as they sat at a table. They ate with Nessie and Edward could clearly see how amusing this was for everyone. Bella and Emmett had to eat at a human pace. Bella had a regular teen expression on, talking with Nessie and Em, but Jasper could feel the disgust coming off of her.

Emmett had a few more bites to do, but he couldn't.

"It suuuuuucks!"

Bella laughed. "What is it slave? The mighty meal to big for you?"

The whole family and Alice stopped taping. She got her documentation of Bella's first time eating food alright.

Emmett just groaned and cursed the mighty meal for making him a slave for a month.

Disclaimer: I do not own "The Twilight Series" or the fanfictions by other authors...
LINK:

Fanfiction: The Christmas Surprise

-Nollie Marie 
Rated: M 

Edward aka Santa Claus

I wasn't entirely sure how I got roped into this. It might have to do with the fact that my mentor, dear friend and colleague, Dr. Carlisle Cullen, was the host of this year's annual charity fundraiser with his wife, Esme. Normally he was the jolly old soul who gave gifts to all the good boy and girls while I had been doing what I normally did as an intern. I partied, of course. However, since Carlisle had been drawn by the chief of staff to host this year's Annual Christmas Fundraiser, to help raise money for the children's wing, so the role of Santa Claus remained unfilled.

It was the highlight of most children to see Santa Claus and ask for something special. And, not the one who wants to disappoint the kids, I decided to be Santa Claus this year after both Carlisle and his darling wife asked me to. Carlisle owned me big time.

"Dude, you need the pillow," Emmett, Carlisle's nephew, said, pushing a large pillow at my stomach with some force.

"Emmett, I don't want to keep holding the pillow to my stomach when I walked," I simply said, pushing it back towards him.

"That is the reason why I brought this," Jasper, Emmett's cousin-in-law and Carlisle nephew-in-law, said, holding up a ball of yarn and waved in my direction with a smirk. I knew then that I had lost this argument.

I groaned and let them attach the damn thing to me. I first meet Emmett and Jasper one night, about eighteen months ago, at one of Carlisle's dinner parties. It was a bit confusing trying to figure out the family relations between everyone but I finally got it after two tumblers of Carlisle's finest French brandy.

"At least it's a pillow and not one of those pregnant stomachs we had to use during health education's parenting project," Emmett muttered almost to himself.

"You had pregnant stomachs?" I asked in surprise.

"The school wanted us to have the full experience," Emmett muttered a little louder, rolling his eyes.

Jasper chuckled. "In Texas, we still used sacks of flour as babies. None of that fancy stuff for us."

"Yeah, lucky you. Rosalie made me carry the stomach around saying that she'll be the one carrying a baby for nine months, I could at least carry one for nine days."

"I didn't have health education," I replied. Jasper and Emmett didn't hear a word as they went on to tell about last years' hot pediatric nurses that came down to help the children meet Santa Claus.

"Aren't you two married?" I said, shrugging into Santa's thick red jacket. God, this thing is heavy and hot. Seriously, if there was a Santa Claus, why would he still have a big ass belly?

"No," Emmett said, rocking on back and forth on his feet with a dopey grin on his face.

Jasper punched him straight in the stomach. "Dude, don't make me tell my cousin, your fiancée, that."

"You wouldn't," Emmett snapped back in a deep growl. It would have been scary if I didn't know them both so well.

I laughed, shaking my head as I attached stupid itchy white beard.

"But seriously, these girls are hot," Emmett said, looking at me, fighting back a smile when he realized I had the beard on.

"Go ahead, laugh, mother fucker," I said, holding the repulsively scratchy beard to my face as it slipped off my ear. "But just you wait, I'm sure next year you'll be Santa Claus."

"Great, Rosalie will make one hell of a Mrs. Claus," the bastard smirked.

"Gagh, Emmett, that's my cousin you're talking about," Jasper said with a heavy frown, looking like he just vomited in his mouth.

"Please, like I want to hear your sexual adventures with my cousin," Emmett smirked at Jasper's expression, a little too pleased with himself for grossing him out.

Either way, I wasn't going to get in the middle of it.

Just then Carlisle, God bless him, entered the locker room for the interns, officially ending any talk about sex. Thank God.

"Thanks again for doing this, Edward," Carlisle said, handing me some black leather gloves. "Esme found these these the other day and thought that it would complete the look."

"Thanks," I mumbled, putting them on. They were warm and I knew I'd be uncomfortable by the end of the night but I'd have to deal with it.

"You ready? The kids are already starting to line up," Carlisle asked with a slight jovial smile on his face.

"Sure," I muttered, shoving the Santa's cap on my head. The white little ball swung in my line of sight and no matter how many times I pushed it out of the way it would just fall back into place. Finally giving up, I left the silly thing be where it was and headed out off the locker room.

Carlisle wasn't joking about the kids lining up. There were already at least twenty children waiting in line, a few where in wheelchairs, IVs attached to the chair's pole, while the others were dressed in normal play clothes. And I was sure that there was still more to come. Sighing, I went to sit down in a huge chair, saying "Ho, Ho, Ho, merry Christmas," in deepest voice I could muster.

There were a few squeals and "Mommy, Mommy, look it's Santa Claus!" but the rest where quiet, probably thinking of what they wanted to ask me. As I took my seat, I noticed three nurses each dressed in scrubs that had some sort of Christmas theme on them. Despite Emmett being engaged to a woman who most likely would have slapped him for noticing other girls, he was right about the nurses being hot. Especially the brunette wearing pale ice blue scrubs with little white snowflakes scattered around the fabric.

I wondered idly as I took my seat why I had never seen her before. Sure, I didn't spend a lot of time in the pediatric units, but I should have seen her at least in the cafeteria once or twice. I knew I would have noticed her.

"Here you go, Tommy," said the blond, placing a little boy in a white shirt, black pants, and a dark blue unbuttoned vest in my lap. I bit back a grimace as she moved her hand pretty close to my groin. Great, Santa was getting hit on.

Bella Swan, Nurse

"You guys are insane," I stated, shaking my head. There was no way I was going to do it.

"Come on Bella," Jessica said, folding her arms across her chest with a smirk as she watched Lauren prance up to 'Santa Claus', leading a little two year old boy by the hand. "You have to admit, you're so vanilla yogurt. I mean, have you ever done it in more than one position?"

I was blushing as I looked around to make sure that no one over heard Jessica. This wasn't exactly something you spoke about at work or around a lot of children. I liked my job and I wanted to keep it.

"Yes, I have," I whispered.

Jessica raised an eyebrow, not believing me.

"What?" I said. I was telling the truth; after all I was still red faced.

"Anyways," Jessica said with a roll of her eyes, "you still virginal."

"Just because I haven't had-" I leaned forward and whispered so that no one would hear, "-sex in public doesn't make me virginal."

Lauren decided then to join us in the conversation after she made sure that her patient was safely in the transport chair, waiting to take him back up to his room.

"Bella, you need to seriously spice you your dull sex life or else you are going to live a very lonely one," Lauren commented.

"I bet you Lauren that she couldn't go up to-" She quickly glanced around before smirking at her choice of men. I didn't like that smirk in the least. "-Santa Claus and tell him that she's been a very very naughty girl."

If my face wasn't red before, it was now. I bit my lip and turned to look at Santa Claus. I never was the person who did the whole dare thing. I never really saw the point. You typically looked like an chicken if you didn't it or an ass afterwards if you did. But I was seriously getting tired of them making fun of me. Just because I wasn't as slutty as them didn't make me a prude. I could have fun if I wanted to and I was going to prove it to them.

"Fine," I said, turning towards them.

"What?" Lauren said, surprised. Jessica's jaw had dropped nearly to the floor.

"I'll do it," I said just as little Britney Thomas came up to me, tugging on my scrubs with her tiny hand.

"Ms. Bella, can I go see Santa?" She asked before sticking her thumb into mouth, looking up at me hopefully with large hazel eyes.

I smiled down at her and nodded once. I led her back to line, feeling the other two nurses stare at my back, grilling holes into it. The line was pretty long, about fifteen children in line and there was still some more coming. We'd be here a while.

"Ms. Bella, are you nervous about meeting Santa?" Britney asked thoughtfully, her large doe eyes gazing up at me from her tiny height.

I looked down at her, wondering why she'd ask such a thing. "No, not really. Why do you ask sweetie?"

"You're tapping your foot," she pointed down at my bouncing clog covered foot. Sure enough, I was. "Daddy does that when he's nervous."

I smiled and tapped my finger against the end of her nose. "I'm just not sure what I want to ask Santa yet."

Britney's eyes went wide with surprise for some reason. "You have to think of something to ask Santa for! You're the greatest nurse, you're always so nice to me. That has to put you on the nice list!"

I chuckled at cute logic before moving forward a few more inches in the line.

I really couldn't believe I was doing this. Seriously, I must have lost my mind somewhere on my way to work today. I never let the slut twins get to me before, now I was about to embarrass myself. I was pretty sure after this I would need to move to another country.

Seventeen quick minutes later, Britney and I were the next in line for Santa. There were only a couple of kids behind me, surprisingly. It was starting to get late for a lot of the kids and most of them wore out so easily because of whatever illness had them in here.

"So, what would you like for Christmas, dear?" The man in the awful suit said in a deep voice. He touched his leather gloved finger to the tiny girl's chin, making her smile a wide and toothless grin. "Two front teeth?" He teased her.

"No," the girl scoffed. "Mommy said those will grow back on their own soon. I want one of those dolls that crawls and makes noises."

Santa's deep green eyes flicked over to the girl's parents who just nodded their heads. Santa smiled at the girl, nodding his head. "I might just be able to do that. But, you have to promise to be a very good girl!"

"Yes, sir!" The child squealed happily, hopping off of his lap before they could take her picture because she was so excited. Her parents laughed and herded her back to Santa so they could take a picture of her.

And then it was our turn.

I picked Britney up, carrying her up to Santa's chair. Placing her on his lap, I stood beside them nervously. "So, what's your name?"

"Britney Ann Thomas!" She beamed, very proud of herself for knowing her full name. "Santa, can you get something nice for Bella for Christmas?"

I blushed brightly at her words. Santa chuckled, turning his vivid eyes in my direction. "Well, if there is anything she wants, she needs to ask me. Why don't you tell me what you want for Christmas, Britney?"

She leaned in, whispering something in his ear. He laughed softly, touching the tip of her nose sweetly. "Well, I'll have to talk to your mommy and daddy about that but I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you!" She beamed, hugging him tightly. Just as he did, a camera flashed. Britney giggled and ran off towards Jessica, telling her excitedly about her visit with Santa.

I decided to let the two other kids go first before I embarrassed myself. I'd just go wait in the back of the line. Or, that's what I was telling myself. I just wanted to give myself more time before I embarrassed myself. But, as I moved, I felt Santa's gloved hand on my own. "And what would you like for Christmas, little girl?"

I looked over at Jessica and Lauren who were smirking at me and I could just tell they thought I was going to wuss out on this. Well, I couldn't let that happen so I decided to play along with Santa Claus.

I came around his front, sitting myself on his lap. He wrapped a tight arm around my waist and another hand on my knee. I heard cheers and laughter from the kids that remained in the room and some of the people that were there for the fundraiser. They were cheering for two totally different reasons though. I flushed red, picking at a piece of fuzz off of Santa's coat. "Well, I don't know if I deserve a gift this year," I said innocently, looking at him from underneath my eyelashes.

"And why is that?" He asked, looking directly into my eyes. His voice was deeper now and I could tell he was making no effort for it to be that way. It wasn't strained or fake at all.

I leaned in, pressing my lips against his ear so that no one else could hear. "Because I've been a very bad girl."

Santa's grip on my knee tightened.

"I seriously doubt that," he said breathlessly before clearing his throat. "You seem like a very good girl to me."

I bit my lip, pulling back to look at him. "So, you think I deserve a present?"

He nodded his head slowly, the little white ball on his hat bobbing up and down. "Anything you want."

I giggled stupidly at what I was about to say, leaning my lips against his ear once again. "Well, I want to get laid. Do you think you can help me out with that, Santa?"

The man in the red suit groaned, squeezing my waist slightly. I could tell he was stumbling for words so I decided to help him out with that some. "I'll be happy with whatever you give me, Santa." He just groaned again.

"We'll see what I can do for you after I get done here," he whispered quietly, giving me another squeeze of the waist. "Now smile for the camera."

I leaned against his chest, smiling as the camera flashed once again. With a quick peck on his cheek, I got off his lap. I was practically skipping. The stupidly I just committed made me giddy for some reason.

"I can't believe you did that!" Jessica laughed, patting me on the back. "That was awesome. Santa's face was priceless. You can consider THAT my Christmas present."

Lauren didn't seem nearly as amused. "Come on, we've got to get the children back. It just about time to do rounds."

After we had finished our rounds we were standing around the nurses station, doing what nurses tend to do best. Gossip. Or, they were gossiping and I was listening. I leaned against counter, my chin on my palm, as I listened to Jessica recount the Santa tale for perhaps the sixth time since it happened to some of the other nurses.

"And his FACE! Oh, my god! And Bella won't tell me what she told him!" She pouted in my direction.

"Because it's none of your business," I rolled my eyes. "Poor Santa though. I think I embarrassed him."

"I think you turned him on," Jessica snorted, scribbling something down on a chart. "I think I know exactly what Santa wants to stuff your stockings with this year."

"Ugh, don't be vulgar," I said, but I couldn't help but laugh. I rubbed a hand over my forehead before checking my watch. "It's almost my lunch," I informed the girls but they didn't even look at me. They were looking past me with wide eyes.

I turned around slowly to see a man in a Santa suit standing about five feet away. His beard was gone now, shoved somewhere in his pocket. He was smirking and he was downright beautiful. I flushed a furious shade, totally and completely embarrassed now. "Um, yeah," he said, waving something in my direction. "You forgot your picture and I was wondering if you'd like to discuss your Christmas present in a little more detail."

Disclaimer: I do not own "The Twilight Series" or the fanfictions by other authors... 

LINK:http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5608392/1/The_Christmas_Surprise

Fanfiction: Invisibility Chapter 14

-Insanity's Partner

Rated T

Bella:

I hadn't really noticed when my eyes changed color, but I'm fairly certain it has to do with finally being with Edward again.

I had a theory about that… That maybe, since a vampire's eyes will become black when they're angry, just like when they're hungry, that it might be an emotion thing rather than a condition thing.

Even if they don't consciously think it, human-hunting vampires feel uncivilized… Especially after feeding.

I guess when I was away from Edward I felt uncivilized, too.

After a week of doing the gothic thing while I was with Edward, I found myself wondering why I was still pretending to be something I wasn't.

I found myself becoming my old self. Becoming exactly the same as before, falling into my mold from being a human.

I had gradually stopped using the make-up… Slowly using less and less eyeliner and lip stick…until I stopped using make-up entirely.

There was no reason to hide once I'd been reunited with my Edward.

Sitting here, in the living room in his lap, I found myself absolutely euphoric. I was right. It would be stupid to think things would just go back to the way they were.

They were much, much better. I snuggled into his chest, smelling his scent that used to drive me mad as a human…that still drives me mad now. He smiled and cupped my face to bring it up to his. He gave me a sweet, but hungry kiss. I reveled in the euphoria at being able to kiss him back.

And then he broke of the kiss. I whimpered quietly at the loss of his lips on mine, and he smiled.

"You know, you were right, that night in Italy." he said, hugging me close to him as I nuzzled in face into his shoulder, trying to take an inconspicuous whiff of his neck. But he heard me and was shaking me with his silent laughter.

"About what?" I asked, dazed.

"Well, for one you were right about things not being the same as before—"

"It's much better," I said, cutting him off, immediately knowing where he was going with that.

He smiled. "Yes, and you were right about something else, too." He said, frowning slightly.

"Well…?" I urged, after he'd stopped talking.

"I know it was stupid, even after I'd left you so harshly, and after so long…" he said, closing his eyes, frowning at the bitter memories. I took his hand squeezed it,

"But I did expect you to run into my arms when I'd found you." He said, smiling from my reassuring touch, but ducking his head in shame. I just looked at him with an understanding look. "I always thought that if I was miserable, that perchance, you were too. That you'd always love me, even after I'd left you. And then, when I'd gone back to you, only to find Charlie's house empty, I thought I'd lost you forever. I kept trying to find you. For nearly thirty years, I'd searched and hard as I could to find you…I thought I'd lost you… But Alice kept having those visions…"

He trailed off, frowning at the memories. I took that moment to speak.

"Yes," I agreed, "It was stupid… But I'm glad you did." And he smiled looked down on me, cupping my chin to bring my lips back up to his again.

I parted my lips and sighed in his face, inviting him to go further, but Jalin stepped in the room and sat in the adjoining couch. She coughed a few times to get our attention, and I reluctantly tore my face away from his to turn to her.

"I've been thinking." She said, thoughtfully.

Jalin's relationship with me had grown since I'd returned from Italy. More than the typical sisterhood relationship. I wasn't sure how to identify it, but I knew that I'd rip out the throat of anyone who ever hurt her.

"About what?" I said, feeling like a broken record.

"About us. I'm not sure when it started… But I don't think you as strictly my sister anymore, or even my best friend." She said, pausing to think again.

I nodded. "Yeah, I know. So what would you call me?"

She sat silent for a minute, thinking.

"I don't know about you…" she said, almost unsure, "But I was thinking, maybe… my mother."

My mouth dropped in surprise, but as I thought about it, it was true. I did think of her as my daughter.

I smiled, "Come here, Jalin." I said, my grin growing bigger with each passing moment. She plopped on the couch between me and Edward. I wrapped my arms around her, and Edward wrapped his arms around us, and I couldn't help but think…

I have my own, perfect, happy family.

"Well what do you know," Edward said, happily, "I guess there are happy endings for vampires."

And though no one said it out loud, I knew we all agreed with it.

Because I could feel everyone hug a little tighter.