CHAPTER TWO

TIME

Edward and I took our time as we made our way to the main Cullen residence.
No one else in the family lived in a separate home - especially with Renesmee in their lives. Alice had a ball planning her daily outfits (which unfortunately didn’t seem to take away any of Alice’s attention to my own clothing decisions), and Jasper and Emmett loved to test her continuously developing abilities and strengths. Esme and Carlise were the perfect Grandparents; alongside Charlie who would visit every few days with Sue Clairwater – they were finally dating on an official level! Then there was Rosalie who was basically Nessie’s secondary mother; she was always more than just an Aunty, ever since the day I told her that I was pregnant – which really did seem like only yesterday. Only at times when I was thinking about the past did I realise at how easy it is to forget about time when you are living forever.

I could hear Nessie’s angelic voice from the living room a mile away. She was full of excitement as she shared her latest hunting experience with everyone in the room – a trait that Edward insists could only have come from Alice! There was no doubt about it that she would re-start the story for us when Edward and I came into the room – she was very descriptive, and always paid attention to detail. When we reached the river near the house I heard Nessie abruptly stop talking, she was obviously listening out for us and had heard that we’d arrived – she was no doubt already on her way to meet us. Physically she was about fifteen years old now and in about 6 months time would develop to a peak-physical-age of approximately seventeen years. We couldn’t expose her to the real world as her body was developing too quickly, so whilst she was a lot more mature than a normal fifteen year old, she still held onto a certain innocence. An innocence that I was only really staring to realise may soon be lost!

“Mum! Dad!” she cried out, with genuine excitement that melted my heart every time. “I’m so excited to see you both….I had so much fun with Jasper and Emmett. Emmett showed me how to –”

“Renesemee,” Edward interrupted. “We are so happy to see you too, but we should go inside so you can finish telling us all about your adventure without repeating yourself too many times.”

She looked at me then back to Edward with a genuinely large grin on her face, we all laughed. Renesmee knew that she had a tendency to get overexcited and very descriptive about things. Smiling back at her I stroked her check.

“Come on” I said, laughing before we ran inside.

In the living room Renesmee was content with being the centre of attention as she described every last detail of her hunting trip with Emmett and Jasper. Whilst I was genuinely focused on my daughter, and in another mesmerised state of awe over her candidly excited personality; I noticed Edward and Alice exchange a look. This look was familiar, but something that I hadn’t seen happen in a while. Alice had seen something! But what? We were safe now – living our happily-ever-after – weren’t we?

There was a knock at the door, but instantly my senses let me know that it was Jacob. Just Jacob. Except the anxious feeling that was triggered from Edward and Alice’s look remained – then I remembered the letter from this morning.

“Hey everyone,” he called out as he let himself in. Jacob visited most days so didn’t need to wait to be let in. “Hey Nessie,” he said, full of excitement and with his usual grin that I was so used to, and usually loved. “Catch any fish?!” I was subconsciously glaring at him now, convincing myself that his usual friendly charm was actually flirtatious.

“Are you hungry Jacob?” Esme asked, interrupting the moment. She must have noticed my reaction to his arrival.

“Ah, I’m fine thanks, I was actually here to ask Nessie something.”

“About the fish I caught, right?” Nessie replied. I really must have been going batty as my stomach was knotting and my paranoia convincing me that Renesmee was flirting back. I really was working myself up!

“No silly!” Jacob scoffed, “we’re having a bonfire tonight, and I was wondering if you wanted to come.”

“So that explains the letter?” I thought to myself. The pack has bonfires all the time that Nessie goes to. It didn’t make me feel any better though; their relationship was still a reality. I felt Edward’s hand gently squeeze my shoulder; I hadn’t seen when he had shifted from his spot on the other side of the couch.

“Sure you can,” Edward said to Nessie. I had officially lost contact with the outside world – she must have looked over at us for permission! But I hadn’t seen. Vaguely looking in their direction I made an attempt at a convincing look of approval. It must of worked – or gone unnoticed altogether.

“Its, ah….kinda like now – so lets go!” Jacob said, sounding excited about spending time with Nessie.

Nessie laughed whilst getting up from the couch, “okay, I’m coming……See you all later on!”

“You two have fun!” Carlise said.

As soon as I heard the door closed behind them I could feel everyone’s eyes on me.

“Is every thing ok Bella?” Esme asked.

Still in my own thought Edward answered for me: “Bella is worried about Nessie; we both are.” His voice was clam and serious. “We just can’t believe that its been six years; Nessie is almost fully grown, and whilst we have accepted this, we are both not quite ready for Jacobs imprinting stage to go to that next level.”

“Ohhh!” Esme said.

Rosalie hissed softly under her breath. I had forgotten at how aggressive she could be. She still didn’t like Jacob, but had learnt to tolerate him. Everyone else was silent. I was finally beginning to come back to the real world. I looked around the room, everyone seemed to be in thought – they wouldn’t have thought about this before; after all, it only hit me this morning!
“What are we going to do?!” I whispered. I knew everyone had heard me, but they seemed to treat it as a rhetorical. The deep thought continued.

Fifteen long minutes later all eyes were on Carlise, as he was the first to breath since we all went into our frozen, statue-like states.

“That’s true,” Edward said, agreeing with something he had heard from Carlise’s thoughts.

“What is it Carlise?” Jasper asked.

“I don’t like the idea of Renesmee entering a romantic relationship with Jacob so early in her life as any of you do, I am still trying to understand exactly how she functions as an even rarer creature than us – as well as come to terms with the fact that she is roughly like fifteen at only six years of age.” He was vacant as he spoke, his mind in a continual thought process.

“She still is six years old!” Emmett demanded, cutting through the state of deep-thought throughout the room.

Edward nodded in agreement knowing what else he was thinking, “yes Emmett, Nessie may look like fifteen but its only in six months that we can even think about exposing her to the real world, sending her to school – interacting with other Humans outside of her family.”

At this, my fears around Jacob and Nessie’s future romance became significantly smaller. A whole knew range of questions came rushing in. As I was beginning to become deeply overwhelmed I decided to share my thoughts with Edward. I took a deep breath and pushed the flexible walls of my mind out, encapsulating him within my bubble. I could tell that he had noticed my presence in his mind as his breathing changed slightly for a split second. Reading my mind was still a surprise to him.

“Bella – you have a point,” he said. “Carlise, have you thought at all about your presence in the hospital, as the community doctor? People really will soon start to notice that you’re not aging.”

“There hasn’t been much to cause concern in that area yet, but your right – ” Carlise said.

“Trying to keep up with Nessie’s growth has really meant that time has just gone so fast,” added Esme.

Rosealie shifted from her statue-like position, and I noticed she had a pleasant smile on her face; “Well that’s it!” she exclaimed. “We have a responsibility – certain ethics to uphold. The Volturi would soon see-to-us if we were to start causing suspicion. Its time to leave!”

“I think your right,” Edward said. “But its not going to prevent what you think it will.”

“Prevent what?” Alice asked looking to Rosealie then Edward.

“Leaving won’t stop Nessie and Jacob from seeing each other,” he said to Rosalie. “The rest of the pack will be trying to avoid phasing soon – immortality is a choice, and most have imprinted now and want begin living their lives with their sole mates.”

Rosalie gritted her teeth, and glared at Edward, “so you expect him to what? Come live with us!?”

“Yes”

“Edward is right,” Carlise calmly interjected. “Just as people will start to notice that we are not growing older, they will notice that Jacob isn’t either. We don’t have much of a choice, he’s a part of Nessies life which makes him a part of ours.”

Rosalie seemed furious now. I was surprised that I wasn’t angrier either, but figured that I would be more-so when things sunk in. I loved that Jacob was a part of my life, just not with the future son-in-law tag attached. Rosalie got up and stormed out of the room and up the stairs to her room.

“I think I’ll go try and talk to her,” Emmett said, “before she breaks something!”

“Good idea,” Carlise said as Emmett left.

“We have over-stayed and it wouldn’t be safe to stay any longer than 4 months – at the latest.” Looking at Edward and I, he added, “I think you two should talk to Jacob first. I can’t say when his relationship with Nessie will become romantic, but when everyone’s in school again she is going to need him more than anything and so are we. Jacob is her friend and can teach her what she needs to learn about interacting in the human-world. Nessie may get confused with the role that is required to be played-out in order to blend in – we can’t risk people finding out you two are her parents for example, it would cause to much suspicion ”

Edward nodded, his hand had made it into mine somehow – which was comforting. This wasn’t just Nessie’s first time living the normal Cullen way of life. We ran home in silence, Renesmee would be another hour or so which was good, as I needed to process a lot of things.

I followed Edward inside our small house, and when we got to our room he turned around to face me, and pulled me in to kiss him, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist. His kiss was strong and reassuring, and there was a particular tone of passion to it; I moved my arm around his neck kissing him back.
After a while of this Edward gently pulled away. Still close though, he whispered, “its going to be ok. Forty years or so will fly by and we will be back here.” He kissed me again. There was so much that I had wanted to say, to discuss with him; but his kiss was so addictive, so reassuring that I gave in to kissing him back again. I was feeling so much love, vulnerability, comfort and more that I subconsciously extended my mind to let him in becoming one. Among other feelings my mind began to subconsciously retrace the day. However, when my mind passed that moment just before Jacob came over to the Cullens house I remembered the look that Edward had sheared with Alice, and how something wasn’t quite right; and it wasn’t, as I felt Edwards body language change, and become more tense.

“What did Alice see?” I demanded.

© Copyright to Jonathan Cameron 2010

CHAPTER ONE

LETTER FROM JACOB


Don’t open it, I WAS PLEADING WITH MYSELF. Don’t open it, it doesn’t belong to you. You can’t be one of those Mothers! Don’t open it!

I closed the front door to our beautiful, isolated cottage to sit down, taking the letter with me. Physically I didn’t need to sit down, I could stand in the same position for days if I wished – forever even; but emotionally…I felt like I was about to faint. The letter I was grasping was from Jacob, it reeked of his dog-like smell and I could recognise the handwriting; but it wasn’t addressed to me - Renesmee. Reading her name really did cut like a knife – or more like Vampire teeth piercing my metallic skin as a knife would no longer have any effect on me in that way. I stared blankly at the letter, as my mind re-traced the past – how could six years have gone so fast? It seems like only yesterday that I was holding her for the first time, staring into those beautiful yet strangely mature brown eyes. Carlisle said it would be like this, that she was subjected to an unnaturally fast development through her early stages in life – peaking out to a frozen age like the rest of us after only six and a half years. Had time really gone so fast - I guess changes would be harder to notice during the latter stages of her growth. But, I was prepared for this part. I new she was developing fast, and besides, being a Vampire meant that time became more of a blur – after all, forever is more than just a long-time. No, Nessie growing up I could handle; Nessie’s destined romance with my best friend Jacob – now that was something else. I new this was going to happen, but, this part of it I really wasn’t prepared for. Jacob’s imprint on Nessie from his first glimpse of her didn’t mean love in a romantic sense, it wasn’t like that! Jacob looked after Nessie and took care of her like a big-brother would; he was her friend. I new it would happen eventually, that’s what imprinting meant; but I wasn’t prepared for it – not now. I starred at the letter, trying to somehow force my way into being able to look beyond the barrier of the white envelope.

“Your talent really is a pain sometimes, if only I could read your mind all the time – I guess it does make you more entertaining to observe.”

I snapped out of my concentrated state. Edward was casually standing in the adjacent archway. “How long have you been standing there?” I asked, trying to mask the startled tone to my voice.

“About fifteen minutes,” there was clear amusement in his voice, “you haven’t moved a muscle – are you going to open it? Who is it from?”

I stood up, blushing – not that this would have shown on my face – and placed the letter on the table by the front door. “Its from Jacob….for Renesmee – ”

I really made an attempt to hide my feelings from him. I didn’t want to seem so protective for our daughter; I should have been more prepared for this. I tried to change the subject, “we better get going, Alice will be waiting.”

Just as I’d turned around to face him, expecting him to be about three metres away from me I felt his no-longer cold hands guide my shoulders to face him. Edwards face was close to mine, staring into my eyes trying to read my thoughts, he asked in his discerning tone “`Bella, what’s wrong?”

I looked back into his eyes, I felt overwhelmed with emotions but tried not to express this – I gave in, like always; “its from Jacob, and its been – “

Before I had the chance to even begin explaining my feelings to Edward the front door swung open lighting his diamond skin, which still filled me with awe, and a familiar high-pitched voice spoke through, “come on you two!”

It was Alice. The three of us were going hunting today as Nessie had insisted on Emmit and Jasper taking her deep-sea “fishing” for Orca – she was fascinated by the creatures and had been begging someone to take her to see one in real life for days now! I preferred not to see my daughter wrestling with new and larger species to hunt, despite the need not to worry at all – I use to do the same with Jacob. Jacob - his name made the temporary distraction from my earlier feelings come flooding back in all at once. “Come on, we don’t have all day,” Alice’s chime broke my thoughts again. “Nessie will be back soon and I have to make sure she wears the outfit I’ve picked for her today.”

“Always so impatient,” Edward replied in a somewhat tiresome tone. Alice just chuckled.

As we began out the door to go and hunt with Alice I felt Edwards’s hand on my shoulder, and he whispered into my ear, “tell me what’s on your mind when we’re back. We’ll go to the meadow to talk. I love you,” and he kissed my check softly.

Alice threw an arm around each of us, “Good morning you two!” She was always so cheerful. I couldn’t help but smile.

We weren’t running for too long when we reached a point that we often Hunted from, right on the Canadian boarder. We split up as usual. I wasn’t thirsty, despite the fading gold from my eyes, so I strayed from my usual choice of Mountain Lion making a complete mess of things with a large Bear as I used the opportunity to vent some of my frustration. My ears were so much sharper compared to when I was human, and I could hear its deep breathing, its heavy heart beat from miles away. It was asleep inside its cave. The bear couldn’t hear me as I entered its cave and I jumped on the bears back sinking my teeth into its warm flesh, tasting it sweet yet never fully satisfying blood. It roared with pain as it woke up in shock and pain from its deep sleep. As he got to its feet I slide off its back ending with a back flip so that we were facing each other with about a metres gap between us. The bear lunged at me, but my reaction was too quick – it was as if the bear was moving in slow motion. I crouched slightly, dodging its attempt to grab me and then kicked my leg up into its chest, which resulted in the bear flying into the opposite wall of the cave. A final breath, a slowing heart beat. The bear was dead. I noticed a large crack in the wall of the cave just above the slumped bears body. I smiled to myself – my own strength was surprisingly satisfying when I needed to vent any frustration.

Edward was waiting for me at our meeting point, “where’s Alice?” I said.

“She went home. I told her you needed to talk about something, and she is excited about seeing Renesmee.”

I considered this for a second, why would Alice be excited to see Renesmee? She sees her everyday –

“Come-on!”

Edward grabbed my hand, and with his other hand lightly under my chin he lifted my head so that I was looking up at him – he kissed me. When kissing Edward all my thoughts instantly slipped away, and I became the light-headed, clumsy human girl again. I gave in to this effect he had over me, and kissed him back whilst running my fingers through his hair. We could continue for all of eternity, but Edward broke the moment.

“Lets go,” he mumbled.

We ran hand in hand to our Meadow.

When we got to our place we lay down side by side; Edward took my hand and effortlessly I pushed the walls of my mind out to encapsulate the two of us. I didn’t need to talk in a normal or physical sense anymore; Edward could read my mind now as I had learnt to control my natural barriers, letting him in whenever I wanted. This had taken us about three months to perfect once we’d realised it was possible, we would practice each night for hours as we had guaranteed alone time whilst Renesmee slept.

I let my feelings about the Jacob and Renesmee bubble to the surface of my mind – I remembered images of the letter from Jacob, addressed to her. I thought about how this was a first in their relationship which I was sure would indicate a new level to it. I dwelled upon the idea of time, and how whilst we were immortal, certain aspects of our lives were not, and never would be. I dwelled on the idea, or really the fact that Renesmee was barely six years old in human years.

I felt Edward’s hand squeeze mine. I knew that he understood what I was feeling, and I guessed that he probably felt the same – he squeezed my hand again, so I knew that thought was right. We lay in the grass for at least an hour, and I dwelled on all my thoughts, anything and everything, whatever came to mind letting them blur together at the surface of my mind. This was the best part of my gift, being able to just express all my thoughts into Edwards mind. Not having to focus on one thing at a time in order to express through words my feelings.

Edward sat up, I followed suite. “Lets just take one thing at a time” Edward said, his voice clam and velvety.

I smiled back at him. I still didn’t like the idea of Jacob and Renesmee’s relationship becoming romantic, but it did feel good to know that I wasn’t alone. Edward was my hero, and with him I felt like I could do anything. “I love you,” I said.

“I love you too, my beautiful Bella”

“Lets go home, Renesmee is dying to see you. She loved her fishing trip and is dying to tell you about it”


© Copyright to Jonathan Cameron 2010

ABOUT THIS BLOG!

Hello,

I am going to attempt to continue the Twilight series for you. Whilst reading the series I was continuously finding myself trying to hold onto those moments that for a "split second" seemed like Edward and Bella could just BE TOGETHER. Don't get me wrong - I love everything that happens in the books, but I loved Edward and Bella's alone time: the times when we get a glimpse into what their life will be like after (what seems like) "never-ending" dramas that keep getting in the way, preventing their relationship from blossoming more-so.

The idea came from the "Twilight saga community" blog, where some minor attempts to extend the book/story have been done. This has also highlighted to me that in "Breaking Dawn" we are left with some questions un-answered. Questions such as: what is it like for Edward and Bella 20....50....100 years from the end of the book (when she is pretty much 19 years of age - as Vampire AND as Human!)? Will they still be in Forks? Do they attend Highschools, continuing the impressive framed collection of graduation hats in the Cullens house? What happens to Renesmee Cullen: the book indicates that she will grow up fast, but "peak-off" at her late teens (an convenient age for her"destined" love with Jacob Black)? How does Bella deal with the death of her parents, as times slips by? ETC ETC ETC

So, my final message to Twilight fans reading this blog is: comment comment comment.....I can only express my thoughts in regards to "what happens next," so any direction from readers is more than welcome. I want to know what you want to hear, what you envisage for Edward and Bella moving forward.

Take care....chapter one of "Twilight Ever After" is on its way!

Jonathan :)

All existing and future chapters on this site are copyright © to Jonathan Cameron 2010