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Post by Bella Swan on Nov 22, 2008 19:54:18 GMT -5
(OOC: It's up to you if Edward's there, or if he's away hunting like in the book - if you're not up for this thread, then I can advance it on to the phone conversation with Rosalie, just let me know.)
Bella slept fitfully, despite the amazing night that lay behind her. Images of predators, humanoid predators... Vampires... the Volturi... flashed before her eyes and they frightened her. An ethereal fright that extended beyond herself to something else, something or someone that she was protectively tucking behind her legs. She heard a feral snarl erupt from her own lips and felt a podgey hand grip her wrist. This distracted her and she looked down to see first of all the most strikingly beautiful green eyes she had ever seen. Her mouth fell open a little and her fear was momentarily replaced with a fierce love - just as hot and fierce as the love she felt for Edward, except in this instance she was the protector. And now a more dangerous growl ripped from her lips, hissing through her clenched teeth. She rocked back to give herself the greatest amount of propulsion and then threw herself into this fight that she was going to win.
Rather than screaming as she woke, Bella took a rapid, wheezing inhale, the air screeching into her lungs with enough velocity to burn them. She was covered in her own sweat, her hair a bird's nest on her head that had matted into place. Now breathing heavily, trying to get over the vivid nightmare, she wrenched herself free from the thin sheet that covered her and looked around for her husband.
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Post by Edward Cullen on Nov 23, 2008 0:50:25 GMT -5
Edward was over by the window, planning out what he would attempt to cook for his bride for breakfast when she awoke. His mind ran through several recipes he had seen on the food network trying to pick out which ones he thought she might be interested in. It was a difficult job for him when he couldnt remember the feeling of human food being appetizing. He could only try to go by what she seemed to enjoy in the past. He'd have a much easier time picking out a grizzly for Emmett than he would knowing if the recipes he knew were actually edible, and good enough for his new wife.
He heard her breathing change suddenly and was at her side in an instant. His eyes were widened with concern as he tried to look her over to see if everything was alright. He couldnt help but wonder if she was in pain. He thought he was in more control last night than their first night here, but there was still that possibility. With the previous bruises still marking her skin it was difficult to tell if he had made them worse. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he had hurt her yet again, especially after he had seen how easily it could happen. "What is it Bella?" He asked filled with worry."Are you in pain?"
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Post by Bella Swan on Nov 23, 2008 9:21:14 GMT -5
As quickly as the irregular breathing began it died down again, though her heartbeat maintained its erratic pace for a little while longer. That was some dream, those vivid green eyes were still staring out at her, just behind Edward’s own concerned ones.
That was why they were so familiar, she thought to herself. She had only been told that Edward’s human eyes were green relatively recently, the image must have affected her more than she had initially registered. So she was dreaming about something she could never have now? Way to start dreaming of an absolute impossibility, self.
At this point she realised that she was leaving her husband hanging on his words, waiting for her response. She closed her mouth, which had fallen open slightly at the realisation of the subject of her dream, and smiled at him, tilting her head a little. She then slowly and carefully raised her hot hand to his face, resting it there enjoying the coolness just as much as the feel of his granite skin. She shook her head,
“No, not pain, just a bad dream,” her smile grew, showing a flash of white teeth between her lips, and she shifted her fingers on his cheek, stroking it a little, before allowing her hand to fall back into her lap. “You mustn’t worry about me,” she told him, thinking back to that feeling she had in her sleep of her as the protector. “Maybe I’m not as fragile as you think…”
Her little speech was cut short, however, by a very audible stomach growl. She pressed her hands to her stomach, her cheeks flushing even more. She looked up at him with a small, wry smile, her heart rate and breathing had returned to normal and the dream had receded to the back of her mind.
“Sorry, human moment - that must have sounded like thunder to you…”
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Post by Edward Cullen on Nov 23, 2008 23:06:08 GMT -5
Edward stared at Bella for what seemed like hours when all he had was uncertainty to the cause of alarm. He noticed the change in her breathing as it slowed down, but could hear her heartbeat still racing. He was sure this was his fault, she was probably pausing trying to think of a way to gently tell him that it wasn't, or that he shouldn't be blaming himself, when she should be yelling at him, being furious at him for hurting her, for letting himself get so out of control.
Then she smiled. That beautiful breathtaking smile. The one that weakened him. Her hand against his skin felt warm. He wondered how much longer she would let him keep her human to have that warmth.
"A dream? What were you dreaming of?" He asked her. Not knowing her thoughts was so hard for him. "Whatever it was, isnt going to happen...we're in paradise" He said, trying to comfort her as he gently put his arms around her, holding her now that he knew he had not caused further injury. "I'll always worry about you. Protecting you is the most important thing I can do"
"I have to disagree" He gave a crooked smile as she tried to convince hime she wasn't so fragile. He had seen her in the hospital too many times for him to believe a word of that. Mentally she was strong, but physically, she was as fragile as a china doll. He always had to worry about her being hurt, and not just by himself, or others of his kind, she had often proved through her clumsiness just how capable of breaking herself she was.
He laughed as her stomach started growling. "That just proves I'm right, you are fragile. Your need to eat so often or else your body starts protesting, audibly!" He shook his head. "I'm not being a good husband, I should be feeding you more, not waiting until you're starving. Let me get you something, what are you in the mood for?"
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Post by Bella Swan on Nov 24, 2008 8:22:29 GMT -5
Paradise, the word coming from Edward's lips send a pleasurable shiver down her spine and she rested in his arms, perfectly contented. A warm breeze blew across the room from the open window and she closed her eyes, nestled into Edward's cool chest. This was perfect, absolutely perfect - if she could keep them here, in this moment, then maybe she could wait just a little while longer before she made Edward transform her. After all, what was another year or so? Nothing really.
"You, naturally, and... the Volturi," she responded to his enquiry into her dream. It was sort of the truth, in a manner of speaking - the child had his eyes and was no doubt a product of him. Her gut squirmed a little in what she assumed was guilt, but she didn't want to upset Edward with the main subject. She knew what she was getting into when she set her heart on this life, she knew that there was no chance of producing a baby Cullen.
She shifted a little in Edward's arms and forced her mind to set the dream aside, returning to the paradise of Isle Esme and the honeymoon. She sighed happily and begrudgingly sat up, supporting herself once more as her husband found mirth over her human functions. She made a face at him and her own laugh joined in with his, but she also kept a tight hold of one of his hands. She pulled him closer - well, she tugged at his hand - she could never really pull him anywhere.
"You, Edward Cullen," she said, her lips upturned into a happy smile. "Are the perfect husband. I couldn't ask for more..."
She trailed off and looked up and to the left, as if in deep thought. A beat later those chocolate brown eyes slid back over to her husband's face and the content smile was replaced with a cheeky one. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything her stomach growled again.
"Darn it - spoiled my punch line," she poked at her stomach with the forefinger of her free hand. "Eggs would be good, though - if you don't mind. I could just make them myself."
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Post by Edward Cullen on Nov 24, 2008 13:40:27 GMT -5
Edward became less tense as he felt Bella relaxing in his arms. He could hear her heartbeat start to slow a little to a more relaxed rhythm. He listened to her tell him what her dream had been about. He wished he could know her thoughts so he knew exactly what had worried her, be able to comfort her the best he could.
"The Volturi aren't going to hurt us. They know what we've agreed to. If they think about coming to check again too soon, Alice will let us know. She'll know before they leave Italy" Edward assured her. The wedding would keep the Voturi calm for awhile, it would show them they were taking the steps to get closer to turning Bella.
As Bella tugged on his hand, Edward moved closer to her taking a deep breath of her intoxicating scent. "Far from the perfect husband, but you are the perfect wife" He told her, knowing it had taken some convincing to get her to agree to the marriage, but hoping she was happy with it now that they'd gone through with it.
He laughed as her stomach growled again. It was always so unexpected to him. "You can save your joke for next time" He leaned foward and gave her a gentle kiss, lingering for a moment on her warm lips before pulling and gettnig up. "I dont mind at all, honestly I need the practice" he told her wanting to be able to wait on her now and then. "Eggs, coming right up" He said heading off for the kitchen.
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Post by Bella Swan on Nov 24, 2008 17:28:31 GMT -5
Bella leaned in and returned the kiss with an eagerness and a delight that this sensation was hers for the rest of eternity. She inhaled, slowly, through her nose, taking in every glorious particle of that scent she loved. So what if it was only there to lure in his unsuspecting prey? It was still unique to him out of every human and vampire that existed - essentially Edward - and she loved it. She wondered, briefly, whether he would smell the same to her once she became one of them. He smile extended on one side - he would probably smell even better.
Once Edward had abandoned her in favour of preparing her breakfast for her, Bella flopped down backwards on the enormous white bed, wriggling about in a delighted fashion. After all the awkwardness of their first night, well, first morning, on the island, she had feared that Edward would regret ever marrying her. She knew that she had made it difficult for him to get his way with the marriage thing, but in the end she had done it for him. But seeing him standing there, at the front of the room, on their wedding day, looking so handsome and so hers, Bella had melted, she had wanted nothing more than to be his wife.
"Ouch!"
In one of her enthusiastic wriggles of happiness she had somehow managed to kick the heavy base. That wasn't the main reason for the cry, though, as her stomach squirmed uncomfortably as she twisted. She assumed it was the result of her tensing some unaccustomed muscles and thought nothing more of it as she scrabbled to her feet to follow Edward into the kitchen. She sniffed at the air and smiled, her mouth watering with uncommon ferocity in anticipation of her breakfast.
"Smells great."
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Post by Edward Cullen on Nov 25, 2008 23:05:44 GMT -5
When Edward got to the kitchen he started moving at vampiric speed getting everything ready. In a matter of seconds the eggs, were out and in the pan on the stove and he had a plate and silverware out for her. If only he could make the stove cook at his speed, then Bella would already be fed. He heard her ouch from the other room and listened closely for any sign of trouble, or that she had been seriously hurt. He instead heard her start to get up to join him in the kitchen, and decided he would try to be patient and wait for her instead of rushing to ask what had happened.
"You smell better" Edward told her looking over at her with a smile. He then looked her over from head to toe, checking for injuries. "Did you hurt yourself? Trip and fall?" He tried to guess.
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Post by Bella Swan on Nov 26, 2008 12:54:44 GMT -5
Bella laughed lightly a Edward's concern and lifted one of her feet from the ground.
"Nothing life-threatening this time," she reassured him. "Though it's not often that even I manage to hurt myself while horizontal... I managed to kick the bed base."
She padded up to him on bare feet, peering up into his face as he cooked, she liked it. Well, of course, that was already a given at this point, but even with their familiarity, she was still astounded by Edward's beauty. And it would be there to make her stomach turn somersaults for the rest of their combined existence. It was that thought that made her heart warm at that moment, and her eyes shine with tears. What? That's not how she usually worked - her tears were hotwired to her temper, not to her happiness. She bounced on to her tiptoes, gave her husband a quick kiss and then swiftly turned towards the kitchen table in an attempt to hide the unexplained tear. Strange; stranger and stranger.
"Love you," she said quietly, because it was there, in her head and it needed to be said.
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Post by Edward Cullen on Nov 26, 2008 14:23:54 GMT -5
Edward looked down at the foot that she had lifted off of the ground and inhaled. He could smell the blood rushing closer to the surface. She'd have another bruise there in a few hours. "Maybe I should have lined the entire room in pillows before bringing you here" He told her with a smile, thinking that even then she'd probably find some way to hurt herself on the pillows.
Edward looked over at Bella as she approached and was happy to return her kiss. There was something in the look in her eyes however that made her question if everything was truly alright. He wished he knew her thoughts so he wouldnt have to keep asking to her to explain them. It seemed tedious to him, even if it was how most people found out this information. "Bella...what are you thinking?" He asked softly, before hearing her quiet declaration of love.
"I love you too" He told her meaning every word. He looked back down to the pan and saw that the eggs were done. He put them on the plate and brought it over to her, setting it down on the table. "If it tastes awful, dont try to spare my feelings, I can try again"
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Post by Bella Swan on Nov 26, 2008 21:19:31 GMT -5
The words sent shivers through Bella's body as she looked up at Edward from the kitchen table. She had quickly swiped the errant tear from her cheek and hoped vainly that the tear track didn't show up to his enhanced senses. She didn't quite trust her voice just yet, so she just let her husband place the plate of eggs before her with a big, grateful smile. She sniffed at the eggs, the glorious scent of food seeming to solidify her being.
"Mmm... even Charlie can handle eggs, I'm sure they'll be gorgeous," she told him in a heartfelt tone. It was true, when she had first arrived in Forks, Charlie's idea of a family meal was egg on toast, which was when she decided to take over the domestic arrangements. She wondered, idly, if he would manage to find someone else to feed him once she was changed.
Her hands worked quickly with her knife and fork, shovelling the first egg into her mouth at lightning speed - much quicker than was really polite. She had barely swallowed one piece before her body craved the next with a ferocity that she had never felt before. She was halfway through her plateful before she remembered her manners and glanced up at Edward again.
"And they are," she popped another piece into her mouth. "Great."
She took another long sniff at her breakfast, expecting the exhilirating smell that she had assumed came from a vampire's incredible sense of smell and timing. However, this time the smell twisted her stomach into an agonising contortion and she dropped her cutlery suddenly.
"Oh!"
This was new, new and yet familiar, recognisable in that discomfort this morning that she had put down to her crazy wriggles of pleasure. The pain passed a moment later though, as if it had never been there, though she now looked warily down at her plate. She picked up her fork again and spiked the piece of egg she had just cut, placing it in her mouth with greater care. She took one bite, then another, a strange non-taste spreading through her mouth, making it water, but this time with irrational revulsion. She paused mid-chew, unable to continue, even to avoid bruising Edward's ego.
"Ahh!" she pushed herself away from the table, her chair clattering over on to the floor behind her and she raced as fast as her legs would carry her to the bathroom, where she proceeded to empty her stomach contents into the pristine porcelin bowl.
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Post by Edward Cullen on Nov 29, 2008 0:31:25 GMT -5
Edward laughed as he watched his wife devour the eggs. "Pretty fast for a human" He joked with her. He had never seen her eat with this much ferocity before. It was surprising to him, but indicated to him that she must have been overly hungry. "Maybe we should start setting a timer so that we don't forget your feeding schedule" He suggested, half kidding. He could go weeks without hunting, so the need to eat 3 times a day was something he had to continually remind himself that she needed.
He was a bit distracted by his thoughts of what he would prepare her for her next meal when he heard the loud clanging of the fork drop. The sound seemed amplified to his hearing when he wasn't expecting such a sound. If his heart was beating, it would have started racing at that moment. He felt immediate concern as he looked at her face, seeing the pain there, before she reached for her fork again. "Bella? What is it?" He asked her, knowing something wasn't right.
He watched her take another couple bites of the egg, but could see she was no longer enjoying them a she previously had. Something was wrong. Within moments she was running off to the bathroom. Edward followed closely behind her, able to pull her hair back before she leaned over the toilet. He tried to think back to when he was cooking the eggs. Had he been distracted and left parts of them undercooked? Did he do this to her?
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Post by Bella Swan on Nov 29, 2008 11:49:04 GMT -5
So consumed was she in the discomfort of her stomach upset, Bella didn't mind Edward's close contact in this least attractive facet of 'human moments'. In fact, grossing him out was the last thing on her mind as her stomach threatened to turn itself inside out; she was actually grateful for the cool presence at the nape of her clammy neck. For a worryingly long time, Bella sat in front of the toilet, her body apparently rejecting everything she had eaten in the last week. However, once the ordeal was over, other than fiercely aching stomach muscles, she felt... fine. There was an unpleasent taste in her mouth and she was hot, but she didn't feel ill. That was unusual wasn't it? She twisted around to face her concerned husband, a tired and apologetic look on her face.
"Sorry," she said, her voice emerging as an uncomfortable scratch. Her face was pale, even the blush that was stealing across her cheeks was faint and new shadows seemed to have formed in the hollows of her face - eye sockets and cheekbones. She leant towards him, careful to keep her head inclined away from his, for now she was beginning to get self conscious about the whole situation.
"I have no idea what that was - it must have been that chicken I had last night..." Although she knew that she had only eaten a few bites of it before deciding to throw it out. "Maybe we can skip the hiking today?"
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Post by Edward Cullen on Nov 30, 2008 23:23:36 GMT -5
None of Edward's thoughts at the moment were the slightest bit grossed out. All of his focus was on the worry. Despite Bella's protests, humans were fragile creatures. Humans got sick. Horrible sickness. For the first time in decades, Edward's mind flashed back to his mother when she first started getting sick. She got sick with the influenza before Edward did. She looked much like Bella did right now. Edward couldn't bear the thought that this could be something serious. Maybe bringing her to the island wasn't the best idea. Islands had all sorts of new diseases that her immune system wouldn't be used to. If Bella attracted danger, it made sense that she would also attract disease if it were around.
He waited quietly until the worst of it seemed to be over for the moment. She was able to turn around to face him. "Don't be sorry" he told her reassuring her there was nothing to apologize for. He moved his hand from its place behind her neck to the side of her face, gently stroking her cheek.
"Of course, you're going to stay in and rest today" Edward said, not even thinking of letting her try hiking after seeing her so ill only a moment earlier. "Or maybe I should take you back to Rio, have a doctor look at you, give you something to calm your stomach?"
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Post by Bella Swan on Dec 1, 2008 14:10:40 GMT -5
Bella smiled weakly at her husband, feeling much better as the seconds and minutes ticked by. It was a little strange, she thought, being that every other time she had gotten sick in her life it struck her down for at least twenty-four hours with sheer weakness. Now, bar an ache in her stomach muscles from unaccustomed usage, she was fine. She didn’t even have to lie about it. She leaned into her cool touch of Edward’s solid finger, using them to quench her flush before shaking her head, vehemently.
“No, no doctors,” she stated, firmly. Doctors had all sorts of needles and contraptions that drew blood and she didn’t need to add fainting to the list of the day’s catastrophes. There was only one person she would allow to draw blood from her and that was already scheduled, not firmly, but definitely there. She would almost prefer to just be turned if she was sick - what was the point in shelling out for all the expensive medical care if she was just going to become a vampire anyway? She knew that was a selfish thought, but it was safe in her head, so she left it safely there.
“Besides, I’m fine now, it was probably just something I ate - don’t worry about me,” she reiterated the statement from before. She gazed at Edward with a crooked brow as she thought of a way to appease his concern and her mind suddenly swung to the little toiletry bag that had been packed for her by Alice.
“Oh, I know!” she said, suddenly, jumping unsteady to her feet. “Alice packed me anything I could possibly need for a ’human moment’.”
She scuttled off to the large, airy bedroom, searching for a box of Pepto-Bismol in the crammed toiletry bag. Jeez Alice, how sick and hurt did you think I was going to get? she thought to herself as she pulled bandages and icepacks and lozenges out of the way - she just hoped that this wasn’t a promise of what was to come! Finally, as it seemed she was going to fall inside the Mary Poppins style never-ending bag, she lifted out a small blue box and the little box of medicine she was looking for with the same hand. At last.
“Oh,” she muttered as she looked down at the products on her lap. She pushed herself back from her knees and sat cross-legged on the floor among the human, girly carnage, slowly and carefully counting backwards and then forwards, counting down the days on her fingers. A slight frown wrinkled her pale brow as she recounted for the third time and one of her hands fell to cup her stomach as she finished counting with it. She stared ahead with perplexed brown eyes, her gaze intensely focused on the wall in front of her.
“Impossible,” she muttered to herself, beginning to count on her free hand again. However, before she got up to her second hand, a strange happened. The hard surface of her stomach, which she attributed to being sick, moved. Not even discreetly, it hit the palm of her hand right in the middle, like it was playing a game with her. Bella couldn’t help but cry out a little. She tried to keep her voice down, but that event caused a great amount of shock - it was all she could do to stop herself from screaming the exquisite house down, but there was no way her vampire husband would have missed it.
There has to be some kind of explanation, she thought to herself, wheeling around and jumping on to her feet to face the full-length mirror. There must be some kind of disease that mimics pregnancy and makes the stomach convulse in strange ways… and swell… Oh….
Her thoughts came to an abrupt stop as she caught sight of herself in the mirror, lifting her shirt up she saw the small but definite bump in her skin. A shiver ran down her spine. It looked alien. She shifted her hands to press on to the peculiarly hard skin and looked at herself again. The image was a strange one, but it sent a surge of something through her veins, something fiercely protective, a feeling that reminded her of bright green eyes. Her own brown ones misted over as she mulled over the situation. If this was what she thought it was.
“It’s impossible,” she repeated to herself in an awed tone, a tear running free of its cage and escaping down her cheek. She turned, stiffly, and turned to find Edward.
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