14. Daddy

BPOV

I opened my eyes to the sight of a very sad looking Carlisle. His gaze was intent on mine, like he had been staring at my face this whole time. I felt myself pressed up against a hard, cold body, that I knew was Edward. He had my arms pinned to my sides with one of his arms tight across my chest, and his other around my waist. I was sitting on the floor and both of my legs were being weighed down by one of his. I could feel his nose nuzzling on the side of my neck and felt his chest rise and fall with his deep breaths. I started to match my own breathing with his deep calming ones, as I started to feel myself panic a little at the sheer possibilities of what could have happened to land me in this position of restraint. I noticed that everything was very quiet. I moved my head a little to see the rest of my vampires standing around me in various positions in their living room. They all had worried expressions etched across their features, and I all of a sudden found myself needing some answers.


What the hell happened?

I knew that I had agreed with Carlisle to look at one of those blasted pictures, and then after my vision fills with tears, I could hear Marie’s voice in my head, a string of profanities spewing from her mouth. My vision was blurred by the tears, so I guess when she started causing the blurring, I hadn’t noticed. But apparently, that is exactly what happened…and this couldn’t be good if Edward had to hold me down like this.


I started to wiggle around a bit. I needed to stretch and I was getting a little cold. Edward didn’t speak, but reflexively tightened his hold on me.


Marie? Um…what the hell?


Still no response.

I sighed. “Edward,” I mumbled, realizing my throat was a bit sore.

Marie must have been screaming or yelling, or…something to make my throat feel this raw.

“Bella…” he whispered in my ear, his cool, sweet breath fanning across my face.

I cleared my throat and looked down at Edward’s arm around me. “Yeah?” I responded, wiggling around a bit.

He started to release his hold on me and repeated my name a little louder, but it was in question…like he was checking to see if I was myself again.

“Miss me?” I asked. When his only response was a relieved sigh, I started to try and get out of what was left of his grip. “Edward, what happened?”

He completely loosened his hold on me then, and Carlisle helped me to stand up. I stumbled a bit, but righted myself, and turned around to face the room full of my very still, very disturbed looking vampire family.

Edward came and stood in front of me. I kept my eyes on Alice, who was looking downright heartbroken right now as I asked Edward again, “Edward?” then turned my confused gaze on him.

He looked so concerned.

“What…why aren’t you guys talking to me?” I asked, bewildered.

Edward reached out and cupped my face in his hands and gave me a kiss. I knew it was meant to be a comforting gesture, but it really wasn't helping me out right now.

When he released my face, I pulled away, then spoke to no one in particular. “You guys are being all creepy-still and won’t talk…God, somebody please tell me what happened,” I pleaded.

Edward grabbed my hand and pulled me into his side when Carlisle started to recount everything that had happened after he had showed me a picture.


Marie stalking up to him.

Marie grabbing a fistful of his hair.

Marie screaming in his face.

Marie taking the pictures from him.

Marie demanding a lighter from Emmett.

Marie yelling at him when he didn’t have one on hand.

Marie getting hostile with Rosalie.

Marie calling Edward a liar.

Marie yelling at Edward as he went to wrap his arm around her and pick her up to keep her from running away.

Marie fighting against Edward and kicking him.

Marie crumpling the photos in her fists.

Marie screaming insults and profanities and her hatred for my vampire family.

Marie crying and turning her assaulting kicks on Carlisle.

Marie insulting Carlisle.

Marie threatening to burn the mansion down.

Marie telling them -


I gasped. “What did she say?” was my panicked whisper as I interrupted Carlisle.

Doll, I fucking love you.


What did you tell them?


You know I’m not a goddamn liar, so I told the Doc what he wanted to know so he would shut the fuck up about it already.

What?! Marie…oh my God…no...


S’not so bad, darling.


Carlisle‘s voice faded in, “…sexual torture, forced sodomy, an-”


“Oh my God!” I yelled out, slamming my hands over my ears, and completely interrupting Marie’s placating excuses and Carlisle’s explanations to me. Again.


Almost as a reflex reaction, I got out of Edwards hold and stood on my own, off to the side. I didn’t want to be touched. At all. And now, I was suddenly even more aware of everyone’s eyes on me.


I was panicking and disgusted. I never wanted anyone to know those things about me, especially my Edward. Besides, these past events weren’t anyone’s business. There was just no point in anyone knowing about it.


I could tell by the look on Edward’s face that he didn’t like not be within arm’s reach of me, as he began moving closer to me.

But I recoiled before firmly telling him, “No.”

I didn’t want to be touched right now. Not even by him.

Edward stopped in his tracks, looking crestfallen. I started to feel Jasper’s presence flowing through my tensing muscles then, forcing them to relax, as I started to calm my breathing.


“Bella, it’s going to be alright,” Edward told me in his soothing velvety voice.

No. It's not.

I wanted to be alone. I wanted everyone’s eyes off of me. I clenched my eyes shut for a minute, before I pried them back open, and stared down at the floor, so that I wouldn't have to see seven pairs of gold eyes burning a hole through me as I lied to them.


“She’s lying…” I brokenly whispered, before I walked out of the room, not making eye contact with anyone.

I headed up the stairs in a daze, holding on to the railing on my way to the room that Edward and I would share from now on. I noticed that I was starting to cry again as I saw a tear drop fall from my cheek and splatter on the hardwood floor in the hallway on the third floor of this ridiculously large mansion. The fact that I was starting to cry angered me. I didn’t want to cry.

When I entered my new bedroom, I walked into the adjoined bathroom and took care of that problem. After I blew my nose and washed my face, I walked back out to the bedroom.


It was then that I took in the new addition to the large room. There was a monstrosity planted right in the middle of the room that I recognized as a king size canopy bed. With four large bed posts on each corner and a canopy fixture set on top of the long bed posts. There was a large, comfortable looking blanket on the bed with dozens of pillows decorating the gold comforter they laid on. My eyes traveled down the comforter and noticed that my dvds, cds, and Nintendo DS were laying on the bed, waiting for me to put them where they belonged.


I numbly walked to the foot of the bed and reached for my video game, deciding to just put that in the nightstand drawer for now. I would put it downstairs for permanent placement later, with the guys’ Playstation 3 and Wii systems, but I didn’t want to go back down there right now.


I noticed Edward then, standing in the doorway to our room, watching my slow, stiff movements with concern. I chose to ignore him for now, remembering that I was upset with him. He had lied to me. My bruised heart started to break a little at his new betrayal.

I was at the foot of the bed again, and started to gather up some dvds into my arms. I decided that I was going to put these on the shelf below the flat screen TV hanging from the wall. Edward walked into the room then, helping me by gathering some of the dvds into his large hands, then we proceeded to walk over to the shelf together in silence. It wasn’t until they were all up there, and I started to alphabetize them, that he spoke.


“Sweetheart, you know that I love you…” he said in a comforting gesture. “Just because we know certain things now that we didn’t know before, doesn’t mean anything is going to change. You know that, right love?”

He thought that I was upset and being quiet because I was fearing a rejection from him? Because of what he knew of me now? No…that’s not why I was being aloof right now. Somewhere in the back of mind I knew that with the Cullen’s knowledge of my disorder, they would soon find out the reasons for this problem.

I was putting the ‘I Love You Man’ dvd in between my ‘I Am Legend’ and ‘I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry’ dvds, when I decided to correct his assumption of why I was upset.

After all, rebuilding trust requires communication, right?


“Edward…“ I started, keeping my worn out voice soft and calm. I didn’t want to fight, or raise my voice…I wanted to have a mature, civil discussion about this. “We are supposed to be trying to heal our relationship and rebuild the trust, right?”

I glanced over to him at my side to see his reaction, before I turned my attention back to organizing my movies. He looked slightly confused, but nodded anyway.


“Well then, why did you go and pull a stunt like this? You lied,” I pointed out before placing ‘Silent Hill‘ on the shelf.


“Bella, it was for the best,” he defended. “You have to see that I did it for your benefit,” he said before I interrupted him with a sharp look that clearly said, ‘where have I heard that before?’. It stopped him short, he clearly interpreted my look well. Then he looked ashamed and whispered, “I’m sorry…” while looking into my eyes.


I looked away from those beautiful eyes, maintaining my refusal to be dazzled out of this conversation. I turned back to my distracting project that I was now calling: Alphabetize My Awesome Movie Collection, finding that, for some reason, working with my hands right now was keeping me grounded.

I slipped my three ‘Underworld’ dvds onto the shelf, as I spoke again. “You haven’t been back for more than five days Edward, and already, you’re fucking this up again,” I said, getting angry, but then sighed, and looked at him apologetically. I didn’t want to get mad, and hadn’t meant to let that expletive slip out.

He was quiet as I finished up with the last few of my dvd collection.


I continued after a minute of silence, glad that he wasn‘t trying to make up any lame excuses for his actions. Calmly, I spoke again, “You promised to destroy those pictures, Edward, but you didn’t. I mean, yeah…I totally get why you didn’t destroy them,” I said, now turning to face him and look into his eyes. “But…honey, you should have told me your intentions and reasoning, instead of keeping them from me until the last minute,” I explained.

He nodded with a pained, apologetic, and insecure look on his face. I saw his arms twitch then, as if he was restraining himself from reaching out to me, not knowing how his embrace would be received.

I shook my head a little and looked back up into his face. I didn’t want him to think I would reject him again, like I had done downstairs. I sighed and reached out for his hand, which he took quickly. His large hand wrapped firmly around my own.

“C’mere…” I muttered, leading him over to the bed.

He trailed behind me, and I let go of his hand to hop up on the big bed. I quickly flipped around and got on all fours to crawl up to the top of this huge, comfy bed that I was quickly beginning to fall in love with. I was headed for those pretty pillows, and when I finally turned around and sat down, I propped myself up against them, and leaned back against the large headboard. I looked up and saw Edward still standing where I had left him at the foot of the bed. It hurt me that he looked so unsure about this. I should have never recoiled away from him downstairs.

I reached my arms out and repeated softly, “C’mere, Edward…”

Apparently, that was the only invitation he needed, because he was by my side on the bed in a flash. I chuckled a little at his eagerness. His face was inches from mine, so I reached out a tentative finger and traced it lightly on the skin below his left golden eye.


“I’m sorry, my Bella,” he whispered before kissing me softly.

When he pulled back, he gathered up a few strands of my hair and held it up to his face. I could tell he was smelling it when he closed his eyes and a small smile played on his lips. When he opened his eyes again to look at me, that smile was gone and his eyes were serious…and sad again.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated those words in a steady tone now, with conviction.

I bit my lip and nodded, believing his remorse, then wrapped my arm around his broad shoulders and brought his head down to my chest. I started lightly running my fingers through his beautiful, wild hair, realizing that our usual position was reversed right now, because he was the one needing reassurance.

Reassurance that I wouldn’t reject his embrace again.

Reassurance in my love for him.

Reassurance in our relationship.

I laid there, getting comfortable and kept up my lazy pace of my fingers through Edwards hair. After a few minutes of silence, Edward spoke up quietly. He talked about his love for me, then continued on, explaining his acceptance of me…all of me.

I knew he was talking about my personalities, and also, the reasons for them existing. Everything that had happened to me, didn’t change his image of me. He kept repeating that I was ‘his sweet, precious Bella and always will be’.

I found myself relaxing from the hold of his arm around my waist and his soft, mesmerizing voice lilting in my ears, and my mood brightened a little.


See, doll, what’d I tell ya? S’all gonna be okay… she said.

Then, out of nowhere, her voice started to sing what I recognized as a song from when I was growing up, called ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’.

Don’t worry….no, no, no, don’t worry

Be happy. Yeah…

Don’t worry be happy, now…


Oh. My God…


I heard her giggles before she starting up again, adding in her own little phrases.


Here’s a lil song I wrote


Mmmm yeah, I’m gonna sing it note for note, doll


Don’t you worry…


Nu-uh, doll, don’t worry…

Just be happy…

Don’t worry, be happy now! she sang brightly.


When she started whistling, I had to stop her.

Doo, doo, doo, doo, doodooodooooooo….


Okay! Okay, I’ll be happy I thought with a smile, still running my fingers through Edward’s hair.


“…there’s nothing you could ever do to change that, baby…” I heard Edward’s hushed voice fade back into my awareness, before I heard Marie’s remorseful one in my head.


You still mad at me?

No…


Welllllll, my Bellllll…that’s fuckawesome news.


“Ok?” I heard Edward’s voice say. “I love you. So much.”


“I love you, too,” I responded before telling him that I wanted to take a shower.

He let me get up and told me that he would take my Nintendo DS downstairs for me while I got out some pajamas to wear to bed. After I picked out one of Edward’s white wife beater undershirts and my black pajama shorts with little white stars on them, I went into the bathroom for my shower.


I was in the shower, enjoying the water's warmth and my fingers massaging the shampoo into my scalp, when I heard that little voice that I would know anywhere. It shocked me so much, that I froze my hands and just stood there, staring blankly at the tiled wall.

I like him… her small voice whispered to me.


It wasn’t until I started to feel the burn in my eye from shampoo dripping into it, that I realized I had been standing still for more than a few seconds. I squinted my eyes against the burn and hurriedly rinsed my hair, then let the shower spray pound down on my face for a minute. After the burn finally went away, with the help of the shower spray and a few of my own tears, I decided to experiment a little.


Isabella? I thought very, very hesitantly.

Hi Bella… she whispered back.


Holy shit.


Wanna play with him… her soft, child-like voice informed me.

I didn’t respond, instead I fixed my mind onto the task at hand.

I grabbed my scrubby, squirted some body wash onto it, and hurried through the rest of my shower. When I got out of the shower, I wrapped a very soft towel around my body and started to dry my hair with another. Once my hair wasn’t dripping anymore, I grabbed my purple toothbrush and lathered it up with some toothpaste. While I was brushing my pearly whites, I contemplated this whole Isabella situation.

No matter what I thought, it always came back to the fact that the Cullens already knew about the possibility of her, and when it came down to it, there wasn’t anything I could do about it. If she wanted to come out, then she would. And I’m guessing that she does, since she…’wants to play with him’.

I sighed, worried about Edward’s reaction, but resolved myself to my fate by the fact that I was helpless in the situation. I repeated his reassuring words in my head about his acceptance of all of me, and began getting dressed.

When I was slipping my white cotton panties on, there was a knock on the door. I jumped a little, surprised by the sudden noise interrupting my reverie.


“Yeah?” I called out.


“What are you doing?” Edward’s voice responded.

“Getting dressed,” I answered, pulling my panties the rest of the way up my legs.

“Bella, are you alright?” he asked, sounding unsure.

“Yeah,” I assured him, picking up my star crossed pajama shorts and starting to slip them on as well.


Why wouldn’t I be?


Um. ‘Cause you’re not.


Yes, I am.


No, you’re freaking out over my new friend she knowingly argued.


Marie, not now…


Where the fuck has Isabella been all this time?


I. Don’t. Know.


“Okay, baby…your heart rate just spiked really high there for a second….alright,” he hesitated. “Do you want to watch a movie, or something when you come to bed?” he hedged.


“Sure, go ahead and pick one. I’ll be out in a second,” I told him while I slipped his wife beater shirt over my head.

I grabbed my hair brush off the counter then, and opened the bathroom door to find him still standing there, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest. I smiled up at him and he smiled back, then held out his hand for my hair brush. I handed it over and then walked over to the bed...the really big, comfy bed, that was, for some reason, kind of tall.

I looked down and noticed that it was on bed risers.

Yeah…as if it didn’t look big enough already.


Looks fun to play on Marie notified me.


If you say so…


I didn’t want to know what she meant by ‘play’.

Putting my hands on the edge of the bed, I jumped a little, and leaned my waist onto the bed, then started pulling myself up the rest of the way. I heard Edward’s chuckle when I was in a position that had my ass stuck in the air as I brought my knees up to help me crawl onto this freakin monstrosity.


Of course he would just stand there and watch the show, instead of helping me.


He thinks our ass is sexy…


Probably.


He probably wants to fucking bite it, or something.


I blushed at our internal conversation and got settled onto the bed, now that I was finally on it. I turned around to find Edward standing off to the side with a big grin on his face, staring at me adoringly.

“In the morning we’re taking the bed risers off, Edward,” I tried to say seriously, but it was pretty clear I was fighting my own smile while I blushed.


He chuckled again, then agreed. “Yes, dear,” he said all mockingly-domestic like.


I nodded, glad that I wouldn‘t have to embarrass myself by doing that every night. “Which movie are we watching?”


He walked over to the dvd collection that was now below the flat screen TV hanging from the wall. “What would you like to watch?”


“Um…War of the Worlds,” I decided, and he immediately grabbed that one.

While he was putting it in the dvd player, I got underneath the blankets, and soon he joined me. He got under the covers, dressed in pajamas as well, and pulled me onto his lap while he sat up, leaning against the headboard.

While we watched Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning’s acting skills, he brushed my hair and ran his cool fingers up and down my arms. His actions were lulling me to sleep and my eyes were getting harder and harder to keep open with each passing stroke of the brush through my hair, or his fingers traveling lightly along my bare arm, leaving goose bumps in their wake.

Once he was satisfied that my hair was dry, he put the brush down on the nightstand and scooted down the bed a little bit, allowing him to lay down. I was still sitting on top of him, so I turned around to face him, and straddled his hips.

"C'mere baby," he said as he reached for me, then enveloped me in his arms as I layed down on his chest.

I rested my head on top of his shoulder, enjoying the feel of his soft cotton shirt against my cheek. He turned the TV down so that it was barely audible anymore, but still kept the movie playing. I felt his kiss on my forehead right after I finally let my eyes fall closed.

EPOV

Bella fell asleep surprisingly fast, for which I was thankful. Today had been another hard day, and I could see her exhaustion written all over her feautres when I came up to our bedroom earlier after she had quickly walked off, avoiding the situation and leaving seven worried vampires behind, all of whom were wondering about her well-being. When I came up here, she was moving slowly, almost like her mind was in a fog, trying to put her dvds away.


I felt guilty when she brought up those fucking pictures in a conversation. I knew I should have told her what I was planning on doing, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I guess a part of me was hoping that she would place all the blame on Carlisle, since it was his idea, but I knew that was farfetched. I was just as involved in what had happened, and she wasn’t going to let me get away with it.


But, as bad as the subject that she had brought up made me feel, I’m also glad that she brought it up. It let me know that our line of communication was still open, and she let me know that she understood why I did what I did. She was just upset about being lied to again by me. And I couldn’t blame her for feeling that way. It was a shitty thing to do, especially after my promise to her of always being honest with her from now on.

Still, she forgave me, and I was both grateful and little bewildered, because I knew that I didn’t deserve her love or forgiveness. I’ve put her through so much turmoil and pain, but she still chooses to be with me and love me, regardless.

From now on, I will always be honest with her. No matter what the situation. Especially if it has to do with her therapy, because she has a right to know about these things.

The credits to the movie we had been watching were rolling when my Bella started to stir against me. I tightened my hold on her a little and started lightly running my fingers along her spine.

Hoping she would stay asleep. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was just after 2AM.

She moaned sleepily and I shushed her. Her warm little hand that was on my chest, began to curl up into a tiny fist. I took that hand in mine, and started to gently pry her fingers apart. I didn’t want her fingernails biting into the skin of her palm while she slept. Once it lay flat on my chest again, she breathed out a restless sigh.

Six minutes later, Bella's eyes flashed opened. She blinked a few times before trying to sit up. I didn't stop her, or try to keep her held to me. Now that she was awake enough to open her eyes, she might need to use the bathroom, or just want to switch positions. When she was sitting up straight, and still didn't speak or make a move to get off of me, I put my hands on her hips and started to soothingly rub the muscles on her upper thighs, thinking that it was possible that those muscles might be cramping up from staying in her sleeping position for so long. At my cool hand's touch on the soft bare skin of her legs, she turned her gaze down to me. Her bleary eyes met mine and I smiled.


"Hey, baby..." I softly greeted her.


She gave me a very small smile and held my gaze, then bit her bottom lip. A second after her teeth caught her lip, she slightly sucked it into her mouth. A few seconds later, she switched to her top lip, bringing it slightly into her mouth and using her bottom lip to hold it in place. Then she switched back to her bottom lip.

I looked away from her intense stare to watch her lips, wondering when she had picked up this particular habit. I've seen her bite her lip a million times before, but...never suck on them. The movement started to pick up speed a little, and I saw her jaw moving to accomodate her top lip when she would switch to that one from her bottom one.


I stopped my massaging hand's movements on her thighs, and looked back into her eyes, suddenly wary that this wasn't Bella. She hadn't spoken up yet, and this new lip sucking thing was unnerving me. There wasn't anything wrong with it, it was just...she had never done that before. Her subtle action put my cautious mind on alert.


She had only been doing that for about a minute, before she stopped and kept her sleepy, but intent stare on me. I took my hand that was resting on her right thigh, and reached up to move some of the hair that had fallen into her face. She took her stare off of my face and moved it to register the movement of my hand. And I swear I saw her minutely flinch away from it. I paused my hand midair, and was positive now that this was not my Bella. And it wasn't Marie, because she would have made some sort of smartass comment by now. Okay, that would leave Isabella....five year old Isabella.


Ummm...


I lowered my hand, and when her eyes met mine again, I decided to just go with the flow, and smiled softly up at her. She mirrored it with her own small smile. And then she blushed, suddenly being shy.


Adorable.


I watched as she lifted her right hand, then very slowly, reached for my face. She lightly traced her fingertips across my hard flesh with a look of wonder in her eyes. I watched her face while she carefully watched her own fingers, as they moved across my skin and stopped just below my left eye. Her gaze moved fractionally from those fingertips to my gold eyes, and kept her wonderous stare fixed there.

"Pretty..." she whispered so softly, I wouldn't have heard her if not for my vampire senses.


Then her soft touch went into my hair, feeling the texture of it. I kept my eyes on her face, but stayed quiet and still while she continued her explorations. She watched her own hand in my hair, then her gaze went back to my eyes. I was wary that her now wide-awake eyes seemed guarded all of a sudden, as her fingers started to very hesitantly twirl a few strands of my hair between her fingers. After a few seconds, her gaze softened and I saw her smile, apparently happy that I wasn't going to tell her she couldn't play with my hair. Her fingers weren't hesitant in my hair anymore, and when she was satified there, her eyes followed as her fingers lightly trailed down my shoulders, to my chest, and down a little further to my stomach, stopping in front of her own body.

She looked back up into my eyes and pointed her finger at me, lightly touching my chest with one single digit. Then she spoke. And it fascinated me that it was in a voice so child-like and soft. It almost sounded like she had a stuffy nose, and it was an entire octave higher than Bella's. Her voice tone was definitely that of a child's.

Her pointed finger lay gently on my chest as she said, "You're mine," taking that same finger and pointing to her own chest as she pronounced the word 'mine'.


Sudden relief washed through me and I smiled at her. Nodding, I assured her "Yes I am, baby."

Her sudden, and unexpected statement of possessiveness made me extremely happy and warmed my heart. And I don't know why. Maybe it's just because her already apparent claim for me, meant that I didn't have to convince her to like me or of the fact that I loved her. She already liked me.


She smiled at my response and laid back down on my chest, snuggling her head tightly into the crook of my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her and she lazily ran her fingertips across my exposed collarbone and throat for a while.


I looked at the clock and noticed an entire hour had passed. I knew she should still be asleep right now, so I kissed her forehead and started subtly rocking her from side to side.

"Go to sleep, Isabella," I instructed softly.


I heard her whispered, "Mine," before she stuck her thumb in her mouth and closed her eyes.

Three minutes later, she was fast asleep, and when I thought it wouldn't wake her up, I pulled that thumb out of her mouth and kept a hold of her hand, so that she wouldn't subconciously stick it back in or something. I found that I didn't mind the idea of Isabella sucking her thumb at bedtime to go to sleep, but it would need to come out shortly after. Keeping it in all night wouldn't be good for Bella's dental health.


I kept up the subtle rocking of Isabella's body with ease and spent the rest of the night hours pondering my realization of the fact that I tailor myself to fit Bella's needs. I turn off my ingrained instincts to bite into her supple flesh and suck her dry, only to ensure that I can be by her side. And with the different personalities becoming a factor, I find that when she is Marie and needs a boyfriend, friend, authority figure, confidant and someone who not only puts up with her attitude, but dishes right back out to her...I am exactly that. And with Isabella's needs...I'm guessing she's going to need a best friend, confidant and authority figure. I smiled, knowing that I can be all of those things for her with no problem at all.


And something else that I'm realizing now is that I am happy to do it. I'm actually enjoying all these different aspects of her. I thought her mind was interesting before because it was closed off to me and I could never guess what she was going to do, but now it's just down right fucking fascinating. I get to know all the facets of every personality that she's got in her beautiful mind, and I love that they all have that one thing in common...Bella's strong and unique love for me.

They are all bonded to me through her main point of view of me and our relationship. Marie is definitely sexually attracted to me and is always looking for my approval. It's very apparent that she wants to please me. Isabella will most definitely be the possessive one of the bunch. Her claim on me was the first thing out of her shy mouth. Even right now, her hand is clutching onto my shirt in her sleep. Granted, Bella does that sometimes too, but that's usually only right after she has a nightmare and she's holding onto me to keep herself grounded with reality.


Eventually her grip on my shirt loosened and the sun began to rise. Soon the bedroom was lit up by the cloudy sunlight outside. I stopped my rocking movements and just lay still, fixating my gaze on my sleeping beauty's face that was currently laying half on my shoulder, and half on my chest.

Her long eyelashes fanned across her cheekbones, which had a permanent light blush dusted across them. Her flawless cream complection skin was glowing in the subtle sunlight of the room. My eyes eventually landed on her sweet, rosy lips that were pouted out right now as she slowly drew deep breaths in and out through them.


She is perfect.


After a while more, Bella's eyelids started to flutter, and her heart rate increased a bit, indicating that she was waking up. I smiled, anticipating looking into her chocolate eyes again. When they finally opened a little, I gave her nose an Eskimo kiss, knowing how much she loved those. She giggled a little and started to stretch.


"Mornin..." she said, her voice thick with sleep.

"Good morning, beautiful," I responded with a smile.

She smiled back before starting to remove her body from mine, stating that she had to use the bathroom. When she came back into the room a minute later, she was sleepily rubbing at her eyes. She started coming back over to the bed when her stomach gave a small growl.

"I'm hungry," she informed me, then yawned.

I nodded. "Okay, what would you like for breakfast?" I asked, getting up from my spot on the bed, now that I knew she wouldn't want to go back to sleep.

She grabbed the hairbrush off of the nightstand. "Ummm...." she thought for a second before replying, "Eggs and toast, please."



"Sure, sweetheart," I said while walking towards the door. "I'll come get you when it's done."

She nodded at me as I left the room.

I was downstairs in the kitchen, telling my family about Isabella's appearance last night, when I started making Bella's breakfast. I was scrambling two eggs for Bella, making sure to add cheese, just the way she liked, and I had just popped a slice of bread in the toaster when I heard sudden loud music blare out from my stereo speakers upstairs. I immediately knew that Bella was playing around with my stereo system and smiled, knowing that she felt comfortable enough to treat my belongings as her own. But when I heard her voice start to sing along with the lyrics of the song, I knew it was Marie.


I turned towards my family then, who were looking in the direction of the stairs with amused but confused expressions on their faces, and let them know that Marie would be coming down for breakfast, instead of Bella.

They nodded and I asked Esme to finish up the food and get it on a plate for her, while I went to bring Marie downstairs for her breakfast. She happily obliged, always ready to do some kind of motherly duty, and I went to make my way up the stairs. I passed by a giggling Alice and looked at her, wondering what she wasn't telling me when I realized that she was blocking her thoughts.


"You'll see," she told me with a smile on her face.



"Ok..." I responded hesitantly, but shrugged it off and continued up the stairs to get Marie.

What I saw when I got up to our bedroom though, had a huge grin splitting across my face.


Pink's song, 'U + Ur Hand' was blasting through my stereo speakers, but the fact that I don't really like that song didn't seem to matter at the moment, because there was Marie...her pajama shorts gone, and tossed absently on the floor. She was dressed in only my white wife beater undershirt and a pair of little white cotton panties. Her wild hair that framed her face was left unbrushed because she was currently using that hair brush as a microphone prop. She was jumping on top of her new king size bed, holding the handle of her hair brush up to her mouth, shaking her ass and jumping all around the large surface, singing her little heart out.


She finally turned her jumps around, and started jumping over in my direction, and when she saw me, instead of getting embarrassed, a beaming smile lit up her beautiful face. The fact that I was watching her didn't seem to spoil her fun at all, because she continued on until the end of the song. When it was over, I turned the volume of my stereo down, and she started giggling.


"Too fucking loud?" she asked.

"A bit," I said, laughing lightly and turned back to her.

She was still standing half naked on the bed, flushed and a little breathless, but had that beautiful smile lighting up her glowing face. She bit her lip. "Edward I'm so fucking hungry. Did you make me my mmm-mmm yummy cheese eggs?" she asked hopefully.


"Sure did, sweetheart," I responded before picking up her pajama bottoms off the floor. She would not be going downstairs dressed in only my shirt and some panties. I tossed them to her, "Here, put these back on," I said while catching another glimpse of her pretty little ass, outlined by that flimsy piece of practically see-through cotton.


"Yes, sir," she said giving me a mock salute with a smile on her face. I rolled my eyes and she bounced a little more in place before deciding to put her shorts back on. After she slipped them on, she asked, "Breakfast?" while looking into my eyes.


"Mm-hmm," I nodded.

"Piggy back ride!" she suggested, excitement lighting up her eyes when she started bouncing again.


Wow. How'd she get so much energy first thing in the morning?

I laughed at her eagerness, glad that she was in a good mood after last night and walked over to the bed. Her excited, bouncing form met me at the edge, and she hopped onto my back without hesitation.


"Giddyup, Edward!" she said in a southern accent that would rival Jasper's, then wrapped her arms around my neck and planted a warm kiss to the back of my head.


I started walking towards the steps, when she informed me that 'faster is funner', so I picked up my pace to jog down all the steps. Her peals of giggling laughter echoed off the walls in the stairway and I found myself laughing along with her. Marie's moods seemed to affect the atmosphere...literally. When she's upset, the tension in the air is thick, but when she's happy, you can't help but to smile along with her.


We buzzed past everyone, Marie flashing them all her smile, and when we reached the dining room, I sat her back down on her feet. But she shook her head and said that she wanted to eat in the kitchen. I didn't see anything wrong with that, so we strolled into the kitchen, where Marie proceeded to hop up onto the counter, and lazily kicked her feet out, the motion very child-like. Her kicks would make the light thump-thump sound every time her feet padded back against the cabinets below her.


I handed her the plate of food and a glass of chocolate milk. She put the milk down beside her, and sat the plate in her lap, taking a stab of her eggs. She smiled at me and hummed, letting me know that she enjoyed the taste. I smiled back at her adoringly.

Alice came into the kitchen then. "Hey, Marie," Alice tentatively greeted.

I could tell by her thoughts that she was cautious from what she had seen of Marie last night. She didn't know that Marie, apparently, got over things quickly, and changed moods often.

"Hi, Ali!" Marie smiled at her, then took a bite out of her toast.


Alice smiled back then, encouraged by Marie's enlightened mood. "What are you guys gonna do today?"

I shrugged before Marie answered, "Edward's gonna get me a new box," she said brightly.

Oh yeah...


I had forgotten that I offered to buy her a new one after taking away her tin box full of marijuana. Marie looked at me for confirmation and I nodded at her.


"I get a wicked new box, and it's gonna be all mine," she said with a smile. "Not my Bell's or Isabella's....just mine," she explained further with a slight nod.


"Sounds fun," Alice commented.


"It is. Yeah...shit, getting stuff that's just mine is always fun, Ali. It's always my fucking dirty little secret, ya know? From my pretty Bell, I mean. She doesn't have to know about fucking everything, ya know?"


She nodded, understanding how important personal possesions must be to Marie. She's not even her own person, so she's always desperate to mark things, such as a tin box, as her own.


Her hand reached out towards her drink then, and she accidently knocked it over, sending half a glass full of milk across the counter and dripping onto the floor. I heard her gasp as I quickly grabbed some paper towels to clean up the mess. It only took me a couple of seconds to get everything back in order and grab Marie another small glass of milk, but when I went to hand it to her, I looked up and froze when I saw her face.


She was all wide-eyed, her demeanor completely different from just a minute ago. Her feet had stopped their rhythmic kicking against the cabinets below, and she was pressing herself hard up against the wall behind her back. Her plate of food lay forgotten in her lap. Her body's posture was tense and her heart rate started picking up. I could smell adrenaline and knew then, that she was afraid.


Okay...what...what the hell?


Her fearful eyes pierced right through me. Was she afraid of...of me?


I set the glass of milk that I had in my hands, down on the counter.


"What is it?" I whispered to her, hoping with all of my being that she didn't say she was scared of me.


God, what had happened??


Alice stayed still as stone, watching our exchange.


She softly whispered back, "Am I in trouble?" Her whisper was almost too soft.


Oh, Isabella...


I shook my head quickly, trying to reassure her that she wasn't in trouble for spilling some milk. It was a fucking accident. And that train of thought led me back to the fact that she was expecting some kind of punishment, almost bracing herself for it. That thought nearly enraged me...that she was used to abuse, and was now on guard for it.


"No," I whispered back with a reassuring gaze, trying my best to reign in my newfound fury.


She watched me for a second more, seeming to be making sure that I was telling her the truth, before she started to relax her posture. I grabbed her glass of milk off the counter again and placed it by her. She carefully reached for her fork from the plate that was on her lap, and slowly put some eggs on it. When she took a bite, I noticed that the sweet smell of her adrenaline hadn't went away with her tense posture.

She was still afraid.

That's when I noticed where her eyes were trained. She kept her wide staring eyes on Alice, and her small movements with eating were slow and calculated...almost cautious.


She didn't know Alice, so she was scared of her? Scared of strangers in general? Was it something specific about Alice?


I was getting ready to ask Alice to leave the room when Carlisle came in, fully aware that we weren't dealing with Marie anymore, and eager to meet Isabella. But when she saw Carlisle, she quickly put her plate off to the side on the counter, hopped down, and came over to me. She rushed to step behind me, keeping my body between her and them.


"Isabella," Carlisle said her name soothingly.


She peeked her head out from behind my shoulder and looked at Carlisle. He smiled at her, but she didn't smile back.

"Isabella, my name is Carlisle," he introduced.


She didn't respond, just stared at him.


"You're safe here, sweetheart, no one is going to hurt you. You don't have to be afraid," he assured her.


More silence and staring from Isabella.


I twisted my body around so that I could tuck her into my side and keep my arm around her waist to provide some comfort for her. She was clearly very scared right now.


She clutched onto a fistful of my shirt and never took her gaze off of Carlisle and Alice. I picked her up and sat her back down on the counter, but kept my body close, stepping in between her legs.

I knew from Carlisle's thoughts that he had a picture with him in his pocket. He wanted to see Isabella's reaction first hand, then closely examine the differences between Bella's and Marie's. I cupped her face in my hands, and she tore her gaze away from them to turn her eyes to look into mine.

She instantly relaxed and smiled at me, blushing a little, then pointing to my chest, like she had last night, and whispered, "Mine."


I smiled and nodded. "Your's," I assured her softly.

As Carlisle watched our exchange, I decided to explain to Isabella about that picture. "Isabella, Carlisle wants to show you a picture. Can he do that? Is that okay with you, baby?"

She gave one more look in his direction, then turned her gaze back to me, before she nodded.

I removed my hands from her face then, needing to clear the counter around her from her breakfast dishes. I heard her whimper when I moved away from her and towards the sink, so I looked back in her direction to see what was wrong.

She was watching me intently, the longing look on her face clearly saying that she wanted me back by her side.


Hmm, clingy...


I hurried back over to her and she reached out for my hand, then turned to face Carlisle just as he was digging in his pocket for the picture. He walked closer to the counter to set it down beside her, but with every step he took toward her, she would inch herself in the opposite direction, closer to me. Eventually she was pressed firmly against my side, her head on my shoulder, and I had my arm wrapped around her.


He placed the picture down beside her and she turned her head down to look at it. After being silent for a second, she giggled, surprising us all, and pointed to the image of a young Bella.


She blushed. "That's me," she said with a smile. "See? I got my pretty pink swimmy suit on," her incredibly soft voice pointed out before she looked back up at Carlisle.

He smiled at her, and she tightened her grip on my shirt when he reached his hand out in her direction to point at something on the picture.


He touched the image of that Jim motherfucker and carefully asked, "Who is this, Isabella?"

She looked away from his face and back down to the picture to see who he was talking about.


I tensed, preparing myself for the dramatics of her reaction. I kept my gaze on her face, carefully reading it for any signs of distress. I was prepared for any kind of violent or dramatic event that was sure to come any minute now.


I was not, however, prepared for her answer.


"That's daddy," the child-like voice answered.