Chapter 21: Time to face facts

It was 11pm when edward returned to the Cullen house. He intended to return to Bella later, while she was asleep but he couldn't stay there without at least checking if his brother had things under control with the sick little witch, that now was part of their family. Bella needed to get ready for the night, so instead of laying around and waiting for her while avoiding Charlie, he used this time to see if the house was still stone on stone and everyone inside alive….well at least the one living person in there.

When he entered it was too quiet for the girl to be up, he noticed instantly. What he did hear was the soft noise of Jasper smashing his fingers on the buttons of the gamepad. He was playing with Emmett's Video-Games. So the Living room area was his first goal. He found his brother greeting him, while sitting on the floor, back against the couch and eyes glued to the TV. "I put her into Alice bed, when she fell asleep" was all he commented to an unspoken question. Edward nodded and couldn't hide a lopsided smile, a little proud of the consideration his brother had, despite the human nature being strange and foreign to him. He opened his mouth to say something but before he could he could hear the answer to his questions in his brothers thoughts. 'Yes she did eat a little before bed and yes I didn't burn anything'. "Thank you" Edward offered. He knew he should have been here with Jasper, but he was more than capable of dealing with this and while he had already plenty of years to spend with Alice, Edward didn't want to cut down the time he could spend with Bella…and then there was this other issue.

He knew that Hermione wasn't particularly fond of him. Not that she disliked Edward, but she couldn't hide the fact that his ability made her feel uncomfortable. She also couldn't hide the fact that she didn't like Bella very much. Despite the touching talk Jasper had with Bella before, about accepting each other as part of the family, the two human members didn't seem to have any desire to get closer than necessary. He didn't like that fact, but he couldn't really be mad at either of them. He knew it was not easy to be around him, a few of his siblings needed quite a time to adjust to the fact that someone constantly knew all the mean, sad and stupid thoughts in their heads, that no one ever would admit. This was hard enough when you were several decades old, how must it be for a 12 year old that has enough other changes on her plate?

He also could see, why Bella wasn't exactly thrilled to get around the witch. She still felt a little threatened by her presence, and to add a witch to the already shocking discovery vampires was a little too much to deal with and his love subconsciously decided that dealing with the first one was enough of a task for now.

What he did not quite understand was why Hermione had an aversion against Bella. Despite Mindreading he could not understand why someone would not like her. Naturally he knew the reasons that, were going through peoples heads. He played this game with Rose for a while now too. He just could not see those reasons being about his Bella, not if they knew her better. But it was a never ending circle and he learned, over time, to accept the weird thoughts people had about each other.

Somewhere during those thoughts he decided to check the kitchen and get a glass of water, he could bring with him when he went upstairs to check on his new baby-sister. Another thing he learned during the several additions to their family was, that he could never convince people to feel on ease around him, but he could give them time to get used to him, sometimes then they started to like him. Sometimes not.

He cracked the door open and was thankful that Jasper put the girl in his bed. It had a lot more space and you didn't have to bother with the little stairs that lead up to her own childish and girly bed. Somehow he found it easier to be around her when she was asleep.

While she was awake there were constantly thoughts of insecurity bothering him. Not the kind of insecurities one would expect in a 12 year old girls brain, no more the kind of insecurities, that happen when one knew their thoughts weren't private. And it bothered him to be constantly reminded of just HOW uncomfortable he made her.

But in moments like this when she was asleep and Rosalie wasn't watching her like a angry Dog her puppy, he could actually come to terms with the fact that she now would be a part of them. Edward didn't have many occasions to talk to her for the obvious reasons, but he found just by the way she was forming thoughts, that she must be a clever girl. Carlisle told him so, but seeing or rather hearing it for himself was a little stunning to him. He learned more about the witch than he would admit to anyone inside their family, or her in particular. Every night before she fell asleep, he was glad when he was not around, because the thoughts of guilt for leaving her friends behind, the doubts about her decision and the sheer pain about losing her parents were haunting him as much as her. Still he had to admit that she dealt just amazingly well with it, considering her age. He also knew that, every time when she felt at home with them, she felt like betraying her dead family.

He sat down on the edge of the bed and tried to feel if her fever still was there. Relieved he noticed that it was gone. Her breathing sounded heavy and now and then she took an exhausted breath through her mouth, that filled her lungs completely.

Edward wondered if he should tell Carlisle, for her own good. What held him back was this unspoken agreement, that Edward would not do such things for anyone in the family. Carlisle wanted everyone to come to him on their own, if they felt ready. He did not want to spy on his family through Edward and force them to word issues. But the bronze-haired vampire wasn't sure if this also counted for Hermione. He did not think humans could take such mature decisions at her age.

His thoughts got interrupted by hers. Obviously her sleep got restless, because short and confused thoughts like 'can't wake up yet, need to sleep' or 'they will wake me if they plan something' broke through the thick fog of sleep. A rough cough finally woke her and she sat up straight to get it under control. Instantly her brown eyes looked at him, but this time she was not scared to find one of them around. A good change of pattern, as Edward found. He gestured to the glass of water he had ready for her and was glad that she accepted it without question. "Do you feel a little better already?" he asked, even though he knew the answer. Her thoughts got more and more filled with complaints about headache and trouble to breath, as she woke up more. But there was one particular thought that stung his dead heart. 'Why is he here and not Jasper?'.

Edward knew by experience, that such thought were not ever meant the harsh way they came off, because it were just split seconds to form the idea and get rid of it again without any bigger process behind it and he was well aware that the girl grew rather fond of Jasper fast. But it still hurt him to know that she would rather have someone else around in situations like this.

Maybe he should not have avoided her so much after all. He could never imagine Alice or Rose thinking that way. If they would be in need of help they would be as glad to see him as if it were Emmett or Jasper or their parents. He frowned as he came to a decision.

"Jasper is downstairs, playing a few video games…I think he earned himself some playtime" he tried to give her a smile and was thankful that she didn't not connect the dots between his statement and her thought. In fact, she was to tired to recall that he was a mind-reader, and therefore did not struggle with his presence as much as usual. He pulled his phone out of his jeans-pocket. "Do you think you can go back to sleep?" he asked in a soft voice and watched unsurprised as she shook her head in a childish manner. His attention shifted to his phone, as he opened the Text chat with Bella and typed "I am sorry, Bella. I need to take care of a few things tonight, but I will be back when you wake up and make up for the lost time together." Then his attention shifted back to Hermione, who was rubbing her eyes tired between a few coughs. She was obviously still tired. "Well then let's do something about it, shall we?" he offered an looked at the stacks of books that still were laying on Alice nightstand. "Did you read any of those?" he asked a little skeptical. Most of those books weren't something he would consider her thing….or anyone's thing. Hermione looked confused, not recognizing the books at first, until she remembered her first night here. Then she tapped on one "Not really, but I wanted to start reading this one."

At least it was the only book Edward considered good for anything as well. He guessed Alice picked them, not knowing exactly what Hermione liked to read. Edward put the other books aside and then half sat, half laid down next to Hermione. She looked at him in confusion, as he wrapped the blanket tighter around him, knowing exactly well from Bella, how much his coldness could bother humans. Then he placed a Pillow against his Shoulder, so Hermione could have a look at the pages as well, while lying down. "Let's read then. I read, you try to go back to sleep." He ordered and was pleased to see the puzzled look forming into a sick, but excited grin. She got comfortable and waited for him to start reading.

Edward actually wasn't that bothered by the book choice. He actually was someone to give modern books a chance. The first chapter was quite catching, and he found that he would not mind reading more of it. As for Hermione…..it did not take long for her to fall back asleep. He assumed that all girls worked a little the same when it came to this kind of things, no matter the age. Bella often commended on how much the rumble of his chest made her sleepy, when she as cuddled up against him and he spoke. His safe guess was, that the same trick worked with the little witch.

She was still heavy breathing, but sound asleep and Edward just gave in into his fate and kept reading. Without any doubt she would wake up a few times during the night. He put a sign at the site, where he lost Hermione's attention, so that he could start reading there again, when she woke up, but until then, he kept going with the book.

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AN: Hey. So as I already said in the misused review, It's not dead, I am still on it! I just need more time these days cuz I kind of decided two part time jobs would be a great idea additional to my study. Please don't hate me but you know the drill…..need money to kinda live and all that. But yeah as you see it still goes on. Granted this chapter is a little short, but not because of the lack of time and rather because I thought this would be a good end to the chapter. It just made sense. I actually have more written already, but will put that into a next chapter. So you don't have to wait as long for the next one. And for all of you who were complaining about the missing Edward-Bonding-time. Here it is. I planned all along to give him this little Moment of regret…also I really wanted a situation where he ditches Bella….sorry xD but I am just no fan of her.

Anyway I hope you enjoy it anyway and bear with my messed up time management