"You were there barely two days Damon!" I hiss as best as I can in a whisper.
After passing Renesmee off to Rosalie — who decided to take her up to sit with Bella and Edward for a while — I dragged Damon outside, deep into the woods, way closer to the treaty line than I'd like, but to be fairly honest I'd rather the mutts hear our convocation than the Cullen's. We're surrounded by trees, this clearing is one Alice showed me last week.
Damon leans back against a tree, his leg bent into a 'V' shape against it, his arms folded across his chest. His leather jacket scrunches up in the elbows, and the zip of the pocket is hidden by his arm. He seems calm, and collected; far too calm and collected for the conversation we're about to have.
"I'm aware of that, surprisingly."
"Now is not the time for sarcasm Damon!" I growl, clenching and unclenching my fist in an effort to release my frustrations.
He grins lopsidedly at me, shrugging his shoulders, "What am I supposed to say?"
"What are you supposed to say? You can start by explaining how the fuck two dead people had sex and managed to impregnate Caroline!"
He grins, "Well, when two people love each other very much—"
"Damon!" I growl, stepping forward threateningly, seriously contemplating hurting the man in front of me.
"What!" Damon protests, "You asked how sex works!"
"You know full well what I asked!"
He rolls his eyes, throwing his arms out as if to say 'what can I say?' and shrugs his shoulders lazily.
"Stefan and Caroline did the dirty, somehow, Caroline is pregnant." Damon says, a flush of cold breeze ruffling up his hair a little.
Caroline's pregnant. I wasn't imagining the entire convocation. Caroline is pregnant, with Stefan's baby. How is this even possible? Although, I suppose, look at Bella.
But she was human when she conceived, Caroline is technically dead.
I look for something in Damon's eyes to tell me he's joking, that he's messing with me. Whatever it is that tells me that, it isn't there. He's being one hundred percent truthful about this. No messing around. No games.
"How...?" I stutter, before regaining myself and gulping, "Maybe I should've called her before, when she left me a message."
"You think?"
Damon shuts up (and flinches, not that he'll ever admit it) at my glare.
💉💉💉
"She's waking up." Rosalie tells me as soon as I set foot into the house, Renesmee in her arms. I can smell Jacob, which means he's around here somewhere. Damon smells him too, obviously, because he nods to me and makes his way toward the scent.
Those two, I swear, are joined at the hip.
Wait, did she just say Bella's waking up?
"Really?" The hopeful word leaves my lips quickly, and in rush.
Rosalie smiles, nodding her head softly, "Yes, upstairs. I'm taking Renesmee out for a while — to be sure."
I nod, "Smart." I say, looking up at the stairs longingly, "I'm going to..."
She smiles at me, winking once, before making her way out the door. She begins to sing softly to Renesmee as she walks towards the woods, probably taking her to the meadow clearing she likes.
I turn back to the stairs, taking a deep breath, and begin to make my way up them. With every step the heaviness in my stomach progresses, and it becomes harder and harder to lift my leg and push myself up.
What if she doesn't recognise me? What if she's too blood thirsty to care who she sinks her teeth into and goes for me — because I smell different — or Damon, or Jacob, or Renesmee? There's so many things that could go wrong, too many.
Every head turns to me as I step onto the landing, a sea of golden orbs glaring into me as if I'm about to strike one of their own, and then, a few seconds later, they each soften into a welcoming invitation.
"Eleanor," Esme's angelic voice speaks my name in a soft tone, as though she's trying not to awaken someone from their slumber, "Come stand with us, come wait."
I step into the room, glancing around it cautiously. Edward is stood beside Bella's bed with an excited expression lingering on his face that is surprisingly more tolerable than the worried one he's worn since Bella began her change. Emmett stands in the corner, his burly shoulders hunched with his arms folded across his chest. Esme and Carlisle stand arm-in-arm opposite Edward, soft smiles on their faces. Jasper and Alice are beside Emmett, Alice with a restraining hold on Jasper's arm. Just in case, I suppose. I notice the small speck of dust in Alice's dark hair, and take slight enjoyment from it.
Suddenly I feel as though I'm intruding, which is strange because she's my sister, but for some reason it feels like I'm imposing on a family get together, a family I'm not apart of. Their golden eyes and sparkling skin makes them so different from me, and I start to fiddle with the daylight ring on my finger distractedly. Edward looks up at me, and I send him a glare.
Stay out of my head, asshole.
"She's waking up." Alice says, smiling around the room with her flashy white teeth showing.
Every eye turns to look at Bella, painfully aware of how this interaction could go.
She stirs, her eyes blinking open to reveal a bright, blood red in place of her old brown orbs. My heart sinks at the loss, reminded yet again of how much more different she seems to the old Bella, the one who looked more like Charlie than mom. Her skin is paler, if that's even possible, and her hair seems shinier than it was. The brown more... I don't know... darker, I guess. She doesn't move for a moment, her eyes darting around the ceiling until they move to rest on Edward. A smile graces her lips when his eyes meet hers.
She pushes herself up at lightning speed, and then stumbles slightly once she's on her feet. Edward reaches out to catch her, smiling at her with so much love in his eyes that it makes my insides ache from the urge to gag.
"You'll get used to that." Edward says, his voice carrying across the room.
"It's rather easy, Bella, after a while." Alice agrees, and Bella looks towards her with wonder in her red eyes.
"Alice." Bella grins, "You have dust in your hair." She seems far too fascinated by the fact Alice has dust in her hair, although I'm guessing she's more fascinated by the fact that she can actually see it.
Did she have to tell her, though? Why ruin my fun?
Alice frowns, lifting her hand to brush it away. It drifts to the floor slowly, fluttering like feathers, and Bella watches it fall wondrously.
Well, it was fun while it lasted I suppose.
"Eleanor..." Bella says quietly, turning toward Edward as if asking where I am. She seems worried that I've left already. As if I'd actually leave, and not be back in time to see her wake up.
Edward looks over at me, smirking to himself, and nods. Bella follows his gaze, turning her entire body around to face me.
A grin lights up her face as she sees me, before she disappears, and reappears in front of me, throwing her arms around my neck and hugging me close. She tucks her head into my neck, her grip tight — so tight it would've broken a human's neck and killed them. I wrap my arms around her, hugging her back with just as much force. The feeling of being the odd one out disappears completely, and I relax into the hug.
"Thought we'd lost you there Bels." I say into her hair, not letting go.
Bella nods into my hair, "Well, now you're stuck with me for eternity."
I grin, pulling away slightly, "You're stuck with me and Damon for the rest of eternity."
Instead of retracting painfully as most may have done at the idea of spending eternity with Damon and I, she continues to grin.
"It's strange, isn't it? It hurt like you said but it's strange. Like I have all these new abilities but nothing to do with them." Bella says, her voice like an excited five year olds with the prospect of going to the candy store.
I share a glance with Edward, before smiling across at Bella, "We can fix that."
💉💉💉
"Are we sure about this? She only woke up today, I'm not adamant we should risk it." Jake says, his voice anxious as his eyes flicker from the door to the small child in my arms.
Renesmee gurgles, lifting her hand and showing me the images of her mother.
"She wants to meet her, Jake. You know she does." I reply, knowing that nothing I say is going to make Jake's mind change.
"I know," he looks torn, "but if she..."
"Bella won't hurt her baby, Jake, not after everything she went through to keep her," I reason, although even I have my doubts about the entire thing.
On the one hand, Bella has every right to see her daughter no matter what, and we'd be awful, terrible people to keep her from Renesmee, or Renesmee from her.
But on the other hand...
On the other hand if it all goes south, Bella will end up hating herself, and I'd end up burying my niece.
"How about," Damon begins, "You meet Bella outside first, when she arrives, so you know she's safe." He shrugs, as if he's just said the most obvious solution in the world.
Argh, then what if she goes for Jake? He won't fight back.
Reading my mind, he flashes me a smirk from the couch he's lounged on and says, "I'll even go with you, to defend you from the big, bad, fairy vampire if she goes for your throat."
I roll my eyes at Damon's teasing, and without even trying know that it means Rosalie and Emmett are on their way into the room. Rosalie has a short fuse, so Damon likes to push her on it. Blonde, easily angered, slightly controlling... I think, really, she's his replacement Caroline until he goes home.
Until we go home, I mean.
"It's a good idea, Jake." I agree, watching as Jacob mulls it over. He rubs his jaw, glancing down at Renesmee with protectiveness flaring in his eyes.
He nods slowly, looking up as Rosalie and Emmett enter the room (Rosalie casting a, well deserved, glare toward Damon, who in return sends her the sweetest — sarcastic — smile I've ever seen).
"Alright," he says, turning his attention over to the door, "We'll do that then."
"Excellent." Carlisle says, from his place in the corner by the bookshelves, and I barely contain my shock. I forgot he was even there. God, how does he stay so silent all the time? I'm going to have to get him a bell or something to stop him from scaring the undead heart in my chest to yet another death.
"And, for the record," Jake glowers, "I do not need you to protect me from any vampires."
Damon smirks up at him, running his tongue across his front teeth once, "We'll see about that Wolfie."