Chapter 8

"Well I said hey, hey hallelujah

I'm gunna come on sing the praise

And let the spirit come on through ya

We got innocence for days!"

- "House of Wolves" My Chemical Romance

I pushed up on my toes and didn't think.

Before I could be nervous or afraid my lips were pressed against his and everything was good.

His arms tightened even further in surprise before relaxing into pleasure around me. His lips were warm and soft and nothing like I'd imagined a boy to feel like.

He slowly moved his mouth against mine, taking control and keeping everything gentle, slow, and convincing.

Nothing was more real than this.

He pulled away and smiled at me, a large, devilish, satisfied smile that was every color he'd ever possessed.

"No, I don't think you are," he concluded after searching back and forth, back and forth, between my eyes with his...

Now I know of something that I did not know of before.

I know of one thing that is very, very dark colored and cold feeling, and that is pulling my lips away from Edward's.

It's not at all what I wanted to be doing after he leaned down and captured my lips once again, but despite my knowledge of Forks being the afterlife (a place where I was more or less dead to the living world) I found that I still needed to breathe in order to keep my lungs from exploding.

I sucked in a large, crisp blue refreshing breath and sighed when his lips found my jawline.

If I hadn't already known I was in a coma then I would have been positive that I was going to pass out.

"Say it again," he mumbled against my skin as his hands squeezed my hips sharply just once.

"Say what?" I breathed and laughed at the same time.

"That you're not leaving. Say it again," he demanded.

His voice was low and forcefull and I couldn't believe how very much I loved it that way. It fell in dark green tones around us and I felt my breathing pick up just from that one moment.

"I'm not leaving," I said firmly as his lips found my neck.

"Again."

"I'm not leaving, Edward."

"You're not leaving me."

"No, I'm not."

"Not ever, Isabella," he encouraged, still in the dark tone.

"Call me Bella," I requested, finally comfortable with him using the more intimate version of my name, the one I asked people to use when I wanted them to feel familiar and near to me.

"Not ever, Bella," he sighed right into my mouth as his lips returned there hastily, making my name sound more soulful than I could have imagined.

The only thing I could do was nod and push my hands through his hair.

His desperation for me was flattering, if not a little off putting at the same time. It felt like now that he was expressing himself to me physically he wasn't able to reign in what he'd been feeling emotionally any longer. Every touch up until now, every interaction I'd had with him had been controlled on his part. Sure, a few times he'd been walking a fine, red line between control and explosiveness, but control had always won. Now, though, his words and his grasp on my body were needy. Not in an unattractive way, but new to me.

I felt so connected to him and so disconnected from myself, from the self that I thought I was. His colorful touches and heavy words clouded my mind, making me believe that I could be and was something else, something more that was meant to be here in Forks, just like Carlisle said. But doubt was still planted in my mind and still plaguing me.

"Do you really think I'm nothing?" I asked him in a small voice as my thoughts drifted back to the argument we had earlier.

"What?" he asked distractedly as his lips pressed against mine again.

It felt good, yes, but I was feeling a lot of other things as well - confusion and expectation and general overwhelm - so I could not stay centered on how very much his soft lips were touching me.

Edward actually growled at me when I turned my face away from his.

"Where are you going, silly girl?" he asked softly, blowing puffs of hot air onto my neck.

"I can't concentrate right now, I'm sorry. I just really want to know if you think that I'm nothing."

He stilled and pulled away from me slightly. He squeezed my hips again and his eyes grew dark and concerned.

"I think that you are everything, Bella. I told you that. When I first saught you out after Alice flooded me with visions of you, even then I knew you'd be everything..."

He trailed off and looked almost helpless, at least as helpless as I thought he could ever look. I smiled and shook my head a little bit.

"I know, and thank you for that overwhelming compliment, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about what I am. You know, you're Power, and Carlisle is Love, and I don't know what the others are but I'm sure they're all signifigant. You said earlier that I might be nothing. Do you think that's possible? That it's why Aro pulled me from the living world so early?"

I watched as something unpleasant filled his eyes. This time his grip on my hips wasn't a sudden squeeze, but rather a red-hot choke hold, as if he were trying to erase the particles between his hands and my bones.

"I was being an absolute ass earlier and I cannot apologize enough for that. Please forget that I ever said those things to you. When I loose my temper, I just... I don't think. You are something truly amazing, I'm sure of it. How could you not be? You were made for me, after all."

"You keep saying that, and it's flattering, sort of, but I'm not sure that it's entirely true, Edward-"

"It is true. You're mine."

I paused before my next retort came pouring out of my mouth. I didn't want to offend him or send him into a fit about what my exact thoughts were about his obvious want to proclaim ownership of me, but I couldn't continue to let that want control his actions and emotions like this, either. I took a breath and settled down before pealing his hands off of my hips and curling my fingers in the spaces between his.

His eyes were still lit with emerald fire and his lips were still a very kissable hue. I forced myself to speak instead of just agreeing to be his property and pulling a few more kisses out of him.

I wanted at least part of our relationship here in this fantasy world to resemble something normal, and that meant communicating.

"I have no problem being 'yours', I truly don't, but you have to stop saying it like you own me, Edward. I appreciate that because of our intense connection to each other you think I'll have to embody something important since what you are is so... so..."

"Powerfull?"

He was smirking as he said it and the little devil that liked to play in the spanse of his lips was back, skipping through the attractive colors on his skin. I liked that part of him a bit too much to be truly annoyed by it, but I managed to huff at him just for good measure.

"Well, yes, powerfull. I guess I'm just trying to say that you have to let go of me a little bit if this is going to work out. I want to belong to you, to your heart, but I don't want to be owned by you. Does that make sense?"

He was calculating my works with a careful look and a slight frown that I could barely identify. A bit of deception flashed across his features but I was beginning to notice that that certain feature was always there, always a part of him, I suppose because of what he was. He couldn't give control over easily unless he figured that he would benefit from it more than he would be hurt by it, so there was always a part of him that needed to deceive and take back what others requested.

I hoped in this moment, though, that he would find more benefit in giving me what I was asking of him. It's true that I hadn't ever embarked on a romantic relationship before, but I knew how these things were supposed to work. I needed to not be a piece of property or a trophy. I needed to be an equal.

"I understand what you are saying," he finally concluded with a nod of his head. "I definitely do not want you to feel like I don't respect you. I do. You're strong and beautiful and I do not know what you are yet, but I know it's going to be inspiring. And, even though I do believe you are made for me, and me alone, I believe so strongly that what you are is going to be something amazing because I don't believe that you could be anything short of that, with or without me as a part of your destiny."

I liked these words of his very much. The were still riddled in colors unique to him: gold and ruby and forest green, but they were soft and falling lightly into the air around us and full of a affection I hadn't yet heard come from him.

He leaned into me and pressed his forehead against mine as he brought our hands around his back in an effort to pull me closer to him.

"Besides," he continued,"you own me just as much as I long to own you. You really, truly, already do. I've not been myself ever since I saw you in Alice's visions. Or I only then started truly being myself. I'm not sure."

We both laughed silently at that but the comedy very swiftly fled us and was replaced with something richer, something much more tense.

I lifted my chin and kissed him again, softly at first, just to be sweet.

He cleared the sweetness away with one moan and after his mouth opened to mine we went on painting part of the day away with passionate colors.

oOo

That evening Edward took me back to the house for quality time with the family.

We walked hand in hand blissfully through the forest along the large dirt path I was growing to love more and more. I still couldn't weave my way through it without assistance, there were too many turn offs I wasn't familiar with, but I didn't feel apprehensive about traveling on it anymore because it felt more familiar.

But the best part about the walk was not the familiarity of the path, or the green in the trees, or the even the feel of Edward's hand firmly in mine. It wasn't the way he'd stop every few steps to kiss me, though each and every one of those kisses did compete rather heartily for "best part of all of my experiences alive or after life". All of those things were very nice, very surreal and pleasant, but they were not, any of them, the best thing about our walk back to the Cullen's house.

The best thing about my walk with Edward was that the sun was out.

Bright and brilliant and happy.

The second we'd stepped outside of my little bungalo and into the bright rays I'd lost it (in a good way) and Edward had very cooly pulled out a pair of Ray-ban sunglasses and slid them onto his face with a very pleased yet almost sinful smile.

He was happy. Truly, sunshine worthy, happy. And it looked good on him.

We walked for what I felt was about half the distance to the house before I started to feel the urge for more information pulsing through me once again.

"Edward, can I ask you what all of your siblings are? Or is that a personal thing I should ask them directly?"

"I don't think they would mind me telling you," he said confidently, if not a little slowly as if he were testing the statement as he said it, making sure he himself could honestly back up his words. "None of them are anything scandelous, after all."

He smirked and I laughed.

"You mean Alice isn't Lust and Jasper isn't Murder?"

"Unfortunately, no, though both of them have experienced both, oddly enough. You'll have to ask Jasper about the murder, that definitley isn't my story to tell."

"I would like to hear that story, I think. I'm just so curious about what everyone is, but I'm not sure how comfortable I am around all of them yet."

"That's silly. You should be very comfortable around them soon enough. They all love you already."

"I really don't think that Rosalie loves me and I heard what you and Alice mentioned about her being apprehensive, or something, about my arrival here."

My fingers twitched nervously in his grasp. When Rosalie had babysat me after mine and Edward's fight she was nothing but cordial to me, if not a little hard, so there really wasn't any indication that she disliked me. It was that hardness, though, that separated her from all of the others. They had all shared moments with me already. Moments that I felt were warm and inviting. Moments that could lead to a nice relationship. She had yet to pull me into one of those moments with her and I couldn't understand why, but I also couldn't reason why not. I was virtually still a stranger to her, after all. She wasn't under any obligation to run to me with open arms.

"Rosalie is of a different breed, please understand that. She does not trust easily and she is not typically a warm person. She is loyal and full of love, though. She's my sister and my friend, and someday you'll see that side of her. Hopefully soon."

I nodded my head and sighed a little bit. He was skirting around exactly why Rosalie wasn't open to the idea of me, I could tell, but I didn't want to pry because it wasn't a situation that was all bad, just uncomfortable. I trusted what he said about her coming to see me as part of the family and decided to move on to the original question that I had.

"So... what is everyone? And why are they all so young, like us? Did Aro get tired of their influence? Did they meet each other and upset him just like Carlisle and Esme?" I asked, my words growing more and more empassioned as I spoke because I couldn't help but throw in a little lining of orange fury when I thought of Aro separating Carlisle from his literal other half.

"No, it's nothing like that. Settle down," he chuckled at me, rubbing circles in to my palm with his thumb before lifting my hand up to his mouth and kissing the same exact spot he'd just soothed with the pad of his finger. "Carlisle was the first embodiment, we'll call it, that Aro created. Esme was the second. This you already know. They were his first experimentation with this concept he had of turning an abstract idea into a human and unleashing it in that form to influence the world, so they got to stay the longest because he was still enthralled with watching them spread what they were. The rest of us are after thoughts, almost. We are inklings of entertaining experiments that Aro drempt up, sort of just to see how we would make the people in the living world react now that they had texture to their personalities."

"So Aro didn't leave any of you - any of us, I mean, on Earth for as long as Carlisle and Esme because he already knew what was going to happen?"

"No, he's still obsessed with free will, remember that. That's why he designs us to be human as well as whatever embodiment we are. It's actually quite the opposite of him forseeing how we will act and teach others. In reality he probably let us all stay longer than he originally planned because he enjoyed seeing the change we made in the normal humans more than he thought he would. When it comes to the humans he is very easily entertained. Until he gets bored."

"Oh. I guess it just seems pointless to me since Aro is eternal, isn't he? I mean, to an entity that will be around forever isn't your seventeen years, or my twenty, just a spec of dust in time?"

Edward peered down at me ran a hand through his hair before he spoke again. I reached up on my toes and kissed him briefly, just because I could.

"Your observation of Aro's value of time is correct," he sighed as our lips fell apart and a lazy smile took over his face. "Still, he created Earth so he understands how it's occupants view time and he's sensitive to that. Plus, after Love had come and gone and changed the humans for better and for worse the rest of us didn't have to do much but emphasize what we were rather than introducing it. Love spawned new life in the world... with that came almost every other emotion and reaction and desire."

"So the rest of you - the rest of us, sorry, are just things that Aro wanted to deepen in the, uh, normal humans?"

It still felt odd to speak of other people in that way. The term "normal humans" felt beige and awkward tumbling out of my mouth because I still saw myself as something normal, no matter who or what's hand I was currently holding.

"That's pretty much the jist of it, yes. Aro didn't need to plant any of us down for a long amount of time because we were already forming in the lives of everyone thanks to Carlisle and Esme's influence. So, now that you have backstory, here's the inventory of the family..."

His hand released itself from mine and he draped his arm around my shoulders, bringing our sides together as we strolled along. The gesture was comfortable and natural and perfect and I found myself relaxing into him as the smooth tones of his voice carried into the forest around us.

"Alice, our little sprite, is Youth. We believe that it's why she's reamined so small, even though she is full grown," I found a hint of playfullness in his tone and thought that maybe his last statement, while perhaps founded in truth, was just a bit of a light colored joke as well. "A lot of what comes with her is some shade or another of happiness, because pure Youth is untouched by the troubles of the world and holds on to mirth far easier than anything more grown up. You will find Alice to be far more excitable than anyone else you've ever known or ever will know. It's refreshing and annoying all in one second at times, and it's just what she is. Aro gave her to Earth after people became too serious and downtrodden with the more undesireable effects of Love. He created her to remind everyone of the innocence and hopefulness that Youth exudes so that they all, even in adulthood, could re-embrace those values as well.

Jasper was a much more broad experiment than Alice. He is Vulnerability. He was basically created to show the human race how to reconnect with one another. Love had brought on so much ungliness into the world as an unfortunate side effect of it's power so Aro decided to throw Jasper in the middle of it all to be the one person who could show understanding and compassion to all of the hurting, suddenly harsh people. He brought openness back to a people who'd turned to closing themselves off to each other in an effort not to get hurt any more. Their hearts were too hard and Aro coudln't stand it. Anyway, Jasper is very unique and very sensitive because he can literally feel everything that the people around him can feel."

I breathed a small, "wow" under my breath that I'm sure Edward could hear because he paused in his speech and allowed me a moment to digest this information. It was all just so very, very interesting when I remembered that not too long ago, I'd believed such a boring, bland history of the world.

"Emmett is not as deep, I'm afraid," he began again in a more playfull tone. "He's simply Strength. We're not entirely sure why Aro made him, honestly. All Emmett will concede to us is that men needed to be more manly. I doubt that Aro was that actually concerned with the manliness of mankind but the reasoning behind all of us is only told to us by Aro and it's our choice to share it or not. Emmett's explanation of himself is all we have to go by, and that's all he will give us. As you get to know him more you'll swear he's the other half of Alice's Youth, but that is merely the human nature he took on. He is rare because he is a physical ideal embodied to be an example, rather than an emotional element like the rest of us. He is the only one of that kind that Aro has ever created.

This brings us to Rosalie. Rosalie is different from the rest of us because she was the only one not designed to make man kind better. She was one of Aro's more... let's just say immoral experiments with the humans. Rosalie is Vanity and she spread like wildfire through the world."

I gasped a little bit, just to myself, just in my head. Out loud I contained my surprise at this revelation and tried to converse as if I wasn't so offended that Aro would unleashing something so ugly on the world.

"I don't understand why vanity would need to be emphasized. It seems as if Love's bad side effects had spread enough and corrupted the Earth already."

"It's complicated, I suppose. It's true that jealousy and greed were driving a lot of the humans to turn to more distasteful ways of dealing with each other, mostly do to the influence of Love. Vanity had not yet shown up as a vital part of human nature, though, as I'm told. Aro decided to throw it in, in the form a human who was so beautiful she actually deserved to be vain about it. He created her specifically to be the perfect example of what she is. As I understand it, he was looking for something else to drive the humans to their more interesting, conflictive behaviors. With Love around they turned on each other in the name of someone they desired, they were driven by all of their needs for someone else. All of the conflict between humans was motivated by seemingly selfless passion and Aro wanted to see what the conflict would be like it they started turning on each other with selfish, arrogant motivations. Again, no one knows how Aro works exactly, and why the idea of watching them fight for themselves intrigued him so, but we do know that Rosalie's work pleased him for a while."

I felt a little bit disgusted. I did not want to believe that the man - the being - that controlled all of this was as inconsiderate as this made him seem. I remembered what Carlisle had pleaded with me to understand about Aro and tried to focus on that so I didn't have an unnecessary outburst. I reminded myself that he was different than anything human, so we could not understand his reasons entirely. He was not made of the same wants and needs as we were so he could not understand fully how his decisions looked to us.

"What do you mean by 'pleased him for a while'?" I asked, doing my best not to sound hostile, just interested.

"Aro didn't account for Rosalie's human nature to play such a big part in who she was. When Aro creates us as humans, we stop become just a what. Does that make sense? Sometimes who we become overpowers what we are."

"Like Carlisle and Esme, kind of? He didn't anticipate them connecting with each other so deeply according to Carlisle."

"Exactly like that. Just as Aro couldn't forsee the two forces of Love connecting so deeply because of their human free will and motivations, he didn't know about the human side of Rosalie, either. He didn't know until she was fully created and already at work that she had a huge heart. And that's what makes her so damn interesting. You see, Rosalie is sort of always at battle with herself. Her who is just as strong as her what. She is Vanity, and please don't misunderstand what I'm saying, it shows that she is Vanity. She is very good at being what she is. It's unpleasant at times, and utterly unattractive in my opinion, but it's almost always balanced out in some way, given some time, by who her human nature dictates her to be. That side of her wants to love and encourage others. It doesn't want to be as indepenent as the element of what she is demands her to be."

"Wow. Did that make Aro angry while she was on Earth?" I inquired, imagining this giant being in the sky, thumping his fists on clouds because he was disappointed in his creation.

"Not at all. Remember, Bella, it all comes back to Aro's fascination with free will. That's why he's always made us all human. He wanted to see if we would unfold in the ways he thought we would. If, and in most cases when, we haven't he has simply been more entertained by the repercussions. He loves us all, really, for being exactly what he wanted us to be and exactly the opposite of what he could have dreamed we would become."

His words were floating through the air on rainbow colored clouds in my mind, painting a picture of this exciting little senario where a creator that loved us accepted us and shaped us just as we were and then clapped at our surprising achievements. As wonderful as these flightly words felt, I wasn't feeling all to light about them myself. I really did feel like I understood, if not Aro then the difference between us and him, but I couldn't become satisfied with it in my mind and heart.

"And then there's you," I said quietly, gazing up at him with admiration, choosing not to argue with Edward over the conflict I had about Aro in my own thoughts but rather to get to the part where I heard more about how fascinating he was.

He squeezed me tighter to his side and took a deep breath in.

"And then there's me," he replied simply, hesitating for a moment as he turned his head to casually gaze around the forest surrounding our slow progression down the path. "I'm Power, as you know. I was created to give mankind something besides Love to fight over. I suppose I'm a mixture of the entertainment Aro found in Love's work and the influence Vanity had on people mistreating each other. While I wasn't specifically created to make humans act worse like Rosalie, I wasn't entirely created witht he purest intentions, either. The good side of me is my ability to provoke leadership and drive. With Power available humans have the ability to succeed and push themselves to limits they never thought were possible. The other side of me, though, the side that Aro wanted to see most, I'm afraid, was how people would battle each other for something selfish. See? It's the mixture of the fighting they were doing over Love and the selfishness they were experiencing dure to Vanity. He instantly found that I made them very clever, he tells me. He has always been quite pleased with the change I brought about."

I heard so many things lacing his words. Royal blue pride was very evident. It was easy to see that Edward was pleased that he pleased Aro. The other thing I heard the most, though, was something not so royal, not so bright, as pride. It was, perhaps, the remorse that Edward's human side felt at creating what were surely rifts in relationships due to his influence in the world.

I swallowed hard and pushed up the courage I had deep down inside of me so that I could press him for more information on his existence. I may have also slipped my hand underneath the hem of his shirt in an effort to distract him from how upset he could grow over my next line of questioning.

"You, um, you said to me once that on Earth you were alone and that you asked Aro to take you from that, uh, life. Is that really true, Edward?"

"Yes," he replied immediately.

I think I felt his skin grow tighter, more tense, underneath my hand, but other than that nothing changed. Much to my delight no clouds rolled in, no heavy rain drops were shed. He was apparently going to handle all of his dark emotions regarding his life underneath the bout of happiness he was experiencing.

"Why?" I asked cautiously.

"Bella, Aro didn't insert me into a normal human life as he did with you. I never had a family or a childhood. Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and myself were all placed on Earth that way, they just delt with it better than I did. We were inserted exactly as we are and left in the same fashion."

"So you lied to me," I accused in a mock suspicious tone. I was trying to lighten the mood just a bit, not wanting any trace of a cloud to form on this day I because I started to detect a slight shift in his voice.

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

"You told me that you are seventeen."

He rolled his eyes, seeing how ridiculous I was being about something so trivial.

A smirk pulled on his lips.

"Well, I am."

"Not really. You never earned it. You started out that way!"

His laugh was made up of beautiful sounds and I bathed in it, despite how short it was. He stopped walking and turned me to him, hugging me tightly against his lean body as he kissed my temple.

"You don't earn your age. Not when you are what we are. I promise you I felt just as seventeen as any other teenager that has roamed the living world has ever felt. It was part of Aro's formula for me."

I tightened my grip on him in an attempt to absorb some of him into every part of me.

"Why did he choose seventeen specifically?"

"He claims that it is one of his most favorite ages," Edward declared with a flourish that I assumed was a mock of Aro. "He is enthralled by the irrationality and passion enveloped in the teenage ages and decided to play with giving that sort of age group power. He told me that there was no other way for my influence to spread as swiftly as it did. Seventeen is the age when you are between being a man and a child, in his opinion. It is the time in which the two are conflicting, pulling you in opposite directions of maturity. He wanted that sort of volital combonation to be even more explosive. He made me, Power, as a seventeen year old human being because he correctly assumed that it would be a very, very, bold combonation. I was not a good person, Bella. Not when what I was overtook who I was trying to be. I'm so very grateful he put you on Earth only after I'd already left it."

A cool breeze was springing up around my feet. It was not a pleasant summer breeze. It was chilly and felt like a harsh spattering of colors that were seeping out of him and threatening his beautiful day and beautiful mood and I needed to erase them all immediately.

I pulled Edward's face to mine and kissed him with every comforting motion that I could muster through my lips. He kissed me back, but not in the way he'd been kissing me so far. There was a calm about his movements that was nice to feel, but also alarming because I didn't know if it meant he was slipping away from me into a passive, self-loathing place or not.

I pulled away and smiled at him as my fingers ran through his hair slowly. He seemed to be happy about that and the air around us was growing warm once again, slowly. I couldn't see his eyes through his sunglasses but I could feel the tension slipping out of his skin so I started to feel better about his control over his emotions.

"You seem more balanced than that now," I said quietly, hoping to encourage him.

"I am. Part of Forks' purpose is to be a place where I could mature when I got here, at least a bit, with time. I'll never look any different or completely shed my young human nature, but I'm allowed to exercise more of what I am here so that balances me. I was very confined on Earth, Bella. Here, in a world that actuallydepends on my control to thrive, I don't have to endure restrictions and therefore can remain more stable than I could in an environment that was not mine. It's not normal for me to feel completely content, though, no matter if I am in Forks or not. You have to understand that. It's part of what I am; the unattractive part. I will always feel like I do not have enough to be completely content. It's a curse I carry around with me and if we are going to be... together, you know, have what Alice and Jasper or Rosalie and Emmett have... then you need to understand that it's something you cannot soothe, either, no matter how much you mean to me. I have to make sure you are not offended by that part of my nature. Power will always long for more, Bella. I cannot help it."

His words sounded desperate and his forehead was creased but the rain clouds were not billowing in and blocking the sun so I was happy that he was at least giving me a chance to accept what he was asking of me before he grew hopeless over the situation.

"I don't think I have any choice but to accept you exactly as you are, Edward. I can't promise that it won't be hard for me at times, because I love seeing you so happy," I smiled and received one in return from him as I lifted a finger to trace his cheekbones, "but now that I'm more informed on you and how you were created to be I know I can be more understanding and patient with what you go through everyday just being what you are."

He nodded slightly and leaned into me, breathing, "thank you, thank you, thank you," over and over again between kisses.

Soon enough the kisses grew longer and deeper, though, and there was no room for his words. I'm not sure how long we stood in the middle of the dirt path entwined with each other, but it felt like too soon when he pulled away and sighed that we needed to get going before Alice showed up.

When we breached the clearing that led to the giant white house I felt an odd sense of comfort, even though the last time I'd been here I hadn't received the most comfortable news.

We met all of the others, minus Carlisle, near the front porch where they'd set up a really large, fluffy blanket on the grass. It was riddled with giant, colorful, plush pillows and a few umbrellas were stuck in the grass on the outer edges, but none of the four of Edward's family members were under their shade. They were all wearing their classic black clothes but their style had switched into something that seemed more summer-chic. Alice wore a small, flowy summer dress while Rosalie was in nice black shorts and a loose tank top. On her head was a rather large, elegant black hat reminded me of what women in the 50's wore to horse races. The boys were in casual shorts and t-shirts and they all looked sort of normal for once, but that was probably mostly because their unique colored eyes were all covered by sunglasses. Rosalie was pouring everyone something that looked like pink tea that looked very refreshing.

"Finally, you two. We almost sent Alice in to pry you apart," she said to us as we approached them. She glanced from Edward to me quickly and spoke with a blank expresion that looked like it just might want to be a smile.

I could almost feel a warmer part of her trying to break through and though that being around her family probably helped that come forth.

"I held her back for you," Jasper teased as he wrapped an arm around Alice who was laying next to him.

"You did nothing of the sort. I do have will power!" she argued.

"No you don't," Edward, Rosalie, and Emmett all answered at once making every one laugh in the midst of this already happy, summer scene. I instantly fell in love with the way the very air around us felt rosy and light.

Edward and I settled into their little set up, taking a spot on the blanket that wasn't already occupied.

"So... Edward... sun, huh?" Emmett asked with a sly smile as he lifted his eyebrows towards the sky.

Everyone grew quiet and looked straight at Edward with expectant faces, except for Alice who was beaming at me instead.

"Yeah, looks like it," Edward replied with a stunning smile and a squeeze of my hand. He took a glass of the pink tea from Rosalie and clinked it together with Jasper's.

They all looked truly happy for him and Alice literally began clapping when he turned and kissed my cheek after taking a sip of his drink.

"I'm so glad Bella's here," she sighed as she rested her head down on one of the bright blue pillows next to Jasper. "I've missed lazy days in the sun like this."

"And Flush Bud Tea," Emmett added, gulping down the last of his.

"Is that what that is?" I asked, pointing to the glass Edward was sipping from.

"Mmm hmm. And we only get it about once every ten living years," Emmett replied as he held out his own glass to Rosalie for a refill.

"That's not true," Edward admonished.

"Ok, sorry, I meant to say we only get it once every nine and a half years..."

Chuckles filled the air and even Rosalie cracked a smile that she threw in Edward's direction. He sighed and started rubbing circles on my back as he stretched his legs out in front of him. It was nice in the sun and I found that watching him relax was quite nice as well.

"They're teasing you, this much is obvious, but I can't figure out why," I said, earning more chuckles.

"We can only make Flush Bud Tea from the Flush Bloom which is a flower only found in Forks and only blooms when the sun comes out," Alice told me.

"So we don't get it often thanks to Captain Storm over here," Emmett added with a nod towards Edward.

Edward dipped his head and chuckled darkly under Emmett's more booming laugh. I could tell he was used to joking around like this and that he wasn't hurt by the comment but he didn't look comfortable with it either. I nudged his foot with mine and saw a small smile appear on his face.

"I'd like to try some, please," I asked Rosalie who already had a glass ready for me.

I sipped it and instantly fell in love. Wonderful blush colored sensations filled my taste buds. The taste was a mixture of something apple and something sweeter than that. It had an earthy feel, but you could taste the light pink shade of it as well.

"This is really good," I said right before I went back in for another sip.

"We make as much of it as we can when the flowers bloom, that way we're stocked up for the times we don't have the sun around," Alice explained. "Unfortunately we've had a rather long storm season... so we haven't been able to have any in a while."

"It's ok, though. It makes it that much better when we do get it!" Emmett cheered, I think mostly for Edward's benefit.

"It's Emmett's favorite," Rosalie told me.

"Mine too," Edward said quietly as he reached for my glass and took a sip himself.

It grew peacefully calm as everyone watched him sip happily. He sighed and leaned back into the large yellow pillow just behind us that looked like it was going to swallow him up as he fell back into it. I gazed around at everyone and found looks of contentness dashed across all of their faces. I realized then, just from knowing him for as long as I had, that they didn't often get a chance to see Edward in such a restful, easy state. It made me sad, but also determined.

Since I would be here with him always I would do whatever I could to make more days like these for all of them. For him, mostly, but for all of us, as well.

Hopefully some things are getting cleared up for you, but not all the mystery should be gone ;) I promise things get shaken up in the future... there's still so much story to tell!

Thank you so much for reading! Let me know what you liked and, if you feel strongly enough about it, what you didn't. I need to hear it all.

LOVE YOUS

-Car