fembuck | Fic: The Edge (Twilight, Alice/Bella 24/?)

Title: The Edge
Author: Janine
Fandom: Twilight
Pairing: Alice/Bella
Rating: R
Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Stephanie Meyer. I’m just borrowing them.
Summary: The crisis with Victoria has been averted, and things are changing in Forks, for the better and the worse.

Previous chapters here

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Later That Night

Alice paused in the frame of the open window and turned to look behind her.

Bella was still sleeping fitfully, and Alice was certain that she would remain that way for at least the next few hours. Bella’s time with Victoria in the woods had exhausted her emotionally, and when Bella had been able to escape to her room, the moment Alice climbed through her bedroom window to join her Bella’s hands had been on her, quickly stripping her of her clothes as she pushed Alice towards the bed.

Alice had been tempted to try and stop Bella, to suggest that they just rest together out of worry that her own fragile emotional and mental state would lessen her control. But, as she landed on the mattress and Bella climbed on top of her, Bella’s eyes burning into her own as her hands moved restlessly over Alice’s naked upper body, Alice knew that this was something they both needed, and lifted her hand to Bella’s cheek, stroking it softly before she guided her head down and kissed her deeply.

They spent the next hour clinging to each other, desperately making love to each other again and again, until Bella finally exhausted herself physically as well a emotionally. As the last ripples of her orgasm ripped through her, Bella had sighed contentedly and fallen forward in a deliciously sweaty heap, her head settling over Alice’s breast as her arms wrapped around the raven-haired beauties waist, drawing her tightly against her and within minutes was asleep.

That had been almost half an hour before, and while Alice wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of the night wrapped in Bella’s arms, the sound of Bella’s heartbeat lulling her into a pleasantly thoughtless haze, she knew that she had to leave.

Alice sighed, and turned back around, her gaze moving outside of the window until she was looking down at the dark expanse of grass below Bella’s bedroom.

She shook her head.

She never thought that she would be sneaking out of Bella’s bedroom in the middle of the night.

Sparing one last look at her sleeping lover, Alice leapt out of the window, landing lightly on her feet before she took off into the night at top speed.

She didn’t have much time.

She was certain that the decision, which had lead to the vision she’d had just before sneaking into Bella’s bedroom, had been made far before she had seen it. However, being in La Push territory, her visions had been blocked by the proximity of the wolves, and Jacob accompanying them back to Swan residence had continued to keep her ability at bay. It was only when Jacob had left the house, and gotten a fair distance away from it, that her talent came back and the vision came to her.

She had been tempted to leave and check things out then, but she needed to say goodnight to Bella in private and had climbed into her lover’s room before going. And then, once she was there, Bella had taken such desperate control of her, was still so obviously shaken up over what had happened in the woods, that Alice couldn’t have left if she had wanted to.

There had still been some doubt when the vision had first come to her, and so she decided to wait it out and stay with Bella until something more concrete came to her.

She’d had no visions as she and Bella were making love, and she began to think that the vision had just been a false alarm. However, as Bella drifted off to sleep another vision had come to Alice and she knew that she needed to leave very soon or she would be too late.

---

When Alice arrived home the rest of the family was standing around by the bottom of the stairs.

She looked at each of them, and then averted her eyes.

She stared at the softly ticking grandfather clock in the hallway for a moment, and then she moved towards the stairs racing up them faster than a human eye would have been able to detect.

“Edward,” she said softly, standing in the doorway of his room.

Clothes were neatly folded on top of his bed and a suitcase and duffle bag were lying on the floor.

“I was wondering when you’d show up,” Edward said turning around to face Alice.

He looked at her, and felt some semblance of his former affection for her.

“Took Bella a while to fall asleep did it?” he asked, his voice calm and conversational.

Alice nodded, watching as he picked the suitcase up and placed it on the bed. He began to move some of the neatly folded clothes into it.

“Don’t leave, Edward,” Alice said finally, her voice cracking as he continued to pack. “I’m sorry, I …”

But before Alice could finish her statement Edward was in front of her, his warm hands cupping her cheeks.

“Stop apologizing,” he breathed out softly, his eyes fluttering closed a moment later. “I know you’re sorry,” he continued opening them. “I … I do wish things had turned out differently, but … it does no one any good for me to go on hating you,” he said releasing Alice’s face.

“You don’t have to leave,” Alice said again, grasping Edward’s hand. “Just … give it time Edward, you can adjust. We’ll all adjust. Jasper,” she began, desperate to believe the words coming out of her mouth. However, before she could say anything more Edward shook his head, denying her words.

“It’s not the same,” Edward said sadly.

If it had been true, he might have been able to adjust; he might have been able to stay. If he had truly had a part of Bella that belonged to him, even if part of her belonged to Alice as well, it might have been enough. But that wasn’t the case. As much as it pained him to admit it, that just wasn’t the case. Bella was Alice’s, and he was interloping now.

“You still want to be with Jasper,” Edward continued softly.

He didn’t know if that would be enough for them, and he knew that Jasper was wondering the same thing, but it was something at least. It was hope. Alice was still trying, whereas Bella had folded her hand, had forfeited the game and firmly entrenched herself by Alice’s side.

“Bella loves you,” Alice whispered as Edward began to pack once more.

“Maybe,” Edward replied, “but she’s not in love with me anymore … if she ever was,” he continued, the last four words coming out so low that even Alice had to strain to hear them. “I aggravate her,” Edward sighed turning around. “She finds me too controlling, too cautious, too … old-fashioned,” he went on sitting down on the edge of the bed. “You’ve moved through the centuries much more fluidly than I have,” he said, his thumb grazing against one of his sweaters as he spoke. “I’ve … never been able to give her what she needs. Even our quiet moments together were fraught with tension.”

He stood up.

“She always knows what to say around you.”

He began to pack again.

“She touches you easily, and you’re not afraid to touch her back. She … laughs with you,” he went on, almost finished with the suitcase. “She’s such a serious little thing with me,” Edward sighed. “I never knew she was so funny, so full of energy.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You make her happy, happier than I do … and so I surrender,” he said turning to look at Alice. “You win.”

Alice opened her mouth, but before she could speak Edward continued.

“I don’t begrudge you the victory,” Edward continued turning away again. “But I can’t stay here either,” he said, lifting up the duffle bag. “We’re the same age, but I’m much younger than you when it comes to matters of the heart,” he went on, his back to Alice as he spoke. “For the time being I cannot be mature about it. For all intents and purposes I am a seventeen year old boy right now, and my heart is broken. I must flee.”

“You’ll come back again,” Alice said, but her voice lifted at the end, making the statement sound like a question. She had no vision of Edward’s return to make her confident. At the moment his future was a blank to her, open to every possibility.

“We always do,” Edward said, and he turned offering her a small smile.

Over the years they had all left at some point, for months or sometimes years, but they always found their way back to each other.

They were a family after all.

“Yes,” Alice breathed out, and she sounded a little relieved. “I love you Edward,” Alice said finally walking into his room. “I know I’ve done a horrible thing to you, and that I must seem very cruel to you, but I do love you. And I’ll miss you … so much,” she said her voice cracking at the end.

“I know you do,” Edward said tapping his skull.

He stared at her for a moment, and then reached out and hugged her, his warm lips pressing against her cheek before he pulled back.

“Take care of her,” he said, turning back to his packing.

“I will,” Alice responded and she knew the conversation was over. He was going to leave, and she had to let him.

Her guilt made her want to beg him to stay, made her want to try and set things right, made her want to apologize in every language she knew, but it was best for him to go.

Something had changed in Edward. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, but she could feel that something was different. He was heartbroken, and emotionally drained at the moment, but in a strange way he seemed more open somehow, more receptive.

Edward had always been so closed off, so detached, so incredibly bored by everything. Being with Bella had opened him up a little bit, had forced him to look at the world around him with slightly different eyes. Bella had challenged him to grow and change for the first time in a century.

And Alice could see now that he had. He hadn’t grown and changed enough for things to work out with Bella, but looking at him then, Alice knew that some change had occurred.

Alice reached out and took his hand, squeezing it tightly and then she turned and walked towards the door.

She hoped that out there, in the world, that Edward would have the opportunity to bloom even more.

---

A Week Later

Charlie’s shoulders slumped and he let out a relieved breath of air as he walked into the house. As he kicked off his shoes he could hear the sound of the television going in the living room and knew that Bella, and probably Alice, were home.

“Hello,” Charlie started to say in a regular voice as he walked into the living room, “there kiddo,” he finished in a softer tone of voice, his eyes catching Alice’s before they drifted down to the inert lump resting in her arms.

“Hey Charlie,” Alice said softly, glancing down at Bella’s sleeping figure for a second before looking back over at him.

“Long day?” Charlie asked, careful to keep his voice down even though Bella hadn’t even stirred.

“I think it was pretty busy at Newton’s,” Alice said glancing down at Bella. “And she was studying for that test last night,” she added knowing that Bella had been up until the wee hours of the morning pouring over her notes.

“Ah,” Charlie said nodding.

His living room floor had been strewn with textbooks the night before. Bella had been stressed beyond belief, but even though they were studying for the same subject Alice had seemed as calm and bubbly as ever – which, Charlie had noted with some amusement had seemed to annoy Bella to no end. And, as the night wore on, Bella had kept rounding on Alice and muttering, “Do you think you can take this a little bit seriously? We didn’t all go to International Baccalaureate’s before moving to Forks, you know,” over and over again.

He’d made the mistake of laughing the fifth time he’d heard her say it, and after holding up his hands as a peace offering he had quickly gone upstairs to finish watching the game in his room, leaving Alice to deal with Bella’s homework induced wrath.

“Pizza for me, I guess,” he said focusing on Alice once more.

It was too early for Bella to have started cooking before she fell asleep and he didn’t want her expending the energy if she was already tired enough to be taking a nap.

Alice smiled.

“Get pineapples,” she said as Charlie shifted his belt.

He needed to get out of his work clothes. He never liked to be in them for any longer than was necessary.

“Are you actually going to have something to eat?” Charlie asked his voice lifting as he stared at Alice in wonder.

“Not unless it’s gluten-free,” Alice responded shaking her head at him, though a little smile played on her lips to let him know she wasn’t really upset that he had forgotten about her made up medical condition.

Bella had told her that Charlie was asking about her not eating, and she had indeed noticed him watching her carefully at meal times after Bella brought the subject up. So, the week before she had casually dropped an explanation for why she usually only ate at home.

“Oh, that’s right. I forgot,” Charlie said sounding genuinely apologetic.

He worried about her less now that he knew the reason she avoided eating away from home was because of her wheat allergy, although he thought that it must have been quite a pain to need to monitor what you ate so closely.

“It’s alright,” Alice said smiling. “Esme made me something before I came over.”

Charlie stared at her for a second and then frowned. “Why’d you want me to order pineapple if you weren’t going to eat any?” he asked curiously.

“Oh, I don’t know. I hear they taste good on pizza,” Alice replied shrugging as much as she could without jostling Bella too much.

“Ah,” Charlie said as if that explained everything, even though he still looked a little confused.

Alice laughed lightly. “I like to watch people eat things that I can’t,” she explained. “Is that weird?” she asked sounding genuinely curious. “Bella thinks it’s weird.”

“It’s … quirky,” Charlie responded diplomatically.

Alice laughed again. “You think it’s weird. That’s okay,” she said smiling at him. “Go change,” she said waving at him after he began to fiddle with his belt again. She had held him up from changing for longer than usual. “I’m not going anywhere,” she added looking down at Bella, who was lying almost completely on top Alice, pinning her to the couch.

Charlie smiled and nodded and then turned to head for the stairs. He stopped at the threshold of the living room however, and turned back to observe the scene on the couch.

Alice had turned her head back towards the television screen and seemed to be completely absorbed in the old black and white movie playing on it, and Bella was still soundly asleep, their conversation not having disturbed her in the least.

He wasn’t sure why he had stopped walking, but despite that he found himself standing still, watching them, and as he did he saw Bella shift against Alice, pressing her face into the nook of Alice’s neck, her arms flexing around the tiny brunette’s waist, as if she was checking to make sure that Alice was still there. Then, without turning her head from the screen, Alice’s hand moved to Bella’s back and began to stroke it softly, Bella’s body instinctively relaxing once again at the contact.

It was one of the most intimate displays he had ever witnessed.

Charlie drew his head back, realization slamming into him like a fist.

His eyes drifted back to the scene in the living room. Bella was still cocooned around Alice, and the raven-haired beauties hand was still gently stroking Bella’s back.

Charlie blinked rapidly, and then breathed in and out deeply.

He looked away from the couch, his eyes drifting up to the top of the staircase. He took a few more deep calming breaths, and then began to ascend the stairs once more.

It was all clear to him now.

---

An Hour Later

Bella’s eyes drifted over to Charlie across the table. They had finished eating the pizza he had ordered a few minutes before, but having eaten right out of the box there were no dishes for her to do, and they had remained at the table listening to Alice talk even though they were finished eating.

“So what are you going to do with your binders now that the class is over?” she asked grinning at Bella. “Burn them? Toss them into a wood chipper? Throw them off a bridge?” Alice continued, rubbing her hands together with an exaggeratedly gleeful expression on her face.

“That last one’s illegal,” Charlie piped up, shooting Alice a comically unconvincing look of regret.

“Party pooper,” Alice accused grinning at him. “Next thing, you’re going to be telling me that I can’t set an old car on fire and hold a naked bongo party around it.” She shook her head sadly. “I’m young and crazy Charlie, you can’t control me. I’m like a hurricane.”

Charlie rolled his eyes, but his lips were turned up in a smile and Bella relaxed a little.

He had been giving her a strange, contemplative look all evening and it was beginning to freak her out. Only bad news and embarrassing conversations came about when Charlie looked at her like that. The last time she had seen that look he had asked her if she wanted him to pick up any tampons or sanitary napkins for her while he was at the store. It had taken all of her will power not to drop to the floor and curl up into a fetal position and begin rocking herself to and fro upon hearing that.

It had been even more mortifying than her conversation with Alice about the subject, and she hadn’t thought that any conversation could be more embarrassing than that.

“Aw, you’re a little Tazmanian devil,” Bella cooed, pinching at Alice’s cheeks before the vampire playfully knocked her hand away and glared at her.

Bella continued to look at her, and as she did she saw Alice’s eyes lose focus for a second before they widened and then narrowed at her.

“Oh no,” Alice moaned piteously. “I have enough nicknames,” she continued shaking her head back and forth.

The last time she had seen Jacob he had started referring to her as Shortie, and she got the distinct impression that he wasn’t going to stop doing it any time soon, which meant that she had to take a stand presently. Tink, Al, Pipsqueak, Little Freak, Allie-Allie Oxen Free, GAP Kids, Allie-gator, Shortie and Kiddo were more than enough nicknames for one person. She did not want anymore.

“I beg to diffah,” Bella said in a bad New York accent, before she gave Alice her best fierce look.

“Oh, you don’t need to beg, you know I’m open to alternative lifestyles,” Alice responded saucily, smirking as Bella rolled her eyes at her.

Bella parted her lips to respond, but before she could say anything, Charlie cleared his throat, and then coughed into his hand twice before he began shifting his eyes between the two of them.

Bella’s bad feeling came back with a vengeance, and she knew that whatever it was he was planning on bringing up that it was going to be something she wasn’t going to like it.

“Well,” Charlie began slowly, his eyes lingering on Alice for the moment. “Since Alice was just speaking of alternative lifestyles,” he continued, “I was … I mean, I thought this would be a good opportunity to ask you girls if there was anything you wanted to tell me,” he went on, his gaze shifting over to Bella.

Bella blinked and her heart began to pound in her chest. Charlie couldn’t have been asking what she thought he was asking. There was no way that he was asking what she thought he was asking. It was impossible for him to be asking what she thought he was asking. He had to have been talking about something different. It was just best to play dumb and see what he was talking about. Yes, Bella decided, she would be safe and play dumb.

“Huh?” Bella asked, her face transforming into a mask of confusion.

Charlie sighed. He hoped that they would have made it easy on him and just admitted that they were dating each other, but it didn’t seem like it was going to work out that way.

“I’ve just … noticed certain … things lately. Different things, not bad,” he added hastily, “not bad at all, just different. And I was wondering if you two wanted to talk … about these …things.”

“Is this because I cooked vegetarian lasagna last week?” Bella asked.

Charlie sighed and looked over at Alice, who met his gaze steadily. The look in her eyes was mature and knowing, and Charlie knew that Alice was exactly aware of what he was trying to get at.

Alice dipped her head down, her eyes still holding his giving him permission to ask. She knew that he was aware of the change in her relationship with Bella; she had seen how the conversation would go when he had made the decision to first ask about it. Things would be a little bit awkward at first, but Charlie loved Bella and would support her and their relationship. Despite Bella’s fear at the moment, things would work out wonderfully, so there was no reason to avoid having the conversation.

Charlie straightened his back and kept his eyes focused on Alice. “Are you …” he began, but he needed to pause for a moment to gather his courage. “Are you dating my daughter?” he finally managed to get out.

Bella’s head snapped in Alice’s direction.

“Yes,” Alice responded calmly, a soft smile touching her lips as she held Charlie’s gaze. “I adore her,” she continued, her voice soft and serene.

Charlie stared at her for a second then blinked and slumped back in his chair.

“How long has this been going on?” he asked, his eyes traveling between the two of them again. “Does this have anything to do with why Edward left?”

When Bella told him that Edward had left to attend an exchange program in Europe, a wave of anxiety had taken over Charlie as he was bombarded with images of how Bella had been the last time Edward had disappeared for an extended period of time.

But, the depression he had been waiting for hadn’t set in. Bella had been upset, he had heard her crying one night in her room, and for a few days after telling him she had refused to talk about Edward, but she had remained Bella throughout those days. The zombie imposter he had been living with all those months ago never made a reappearance, and after a few days, he saw her smile, and he heard her laugh, and he saw her eyes light up and he knew that the depression would not come.

Some part of him had realized then that Bella’s deep sadness the last time had been brought on by Alice leaving, not Edward. Edward’s exit had exacerbated the situation, but it was Alice’s departure which had been the cause. But even realizing this, he hadn’t been able to put together exactly why Alice leaving affected Bella so much.

Not until he had seen the two of them on the couch earlier.

“This has been going on for a while, hasn’t it?” he added before either of them could respond, and he was suddenly happy that he had banned Alice from sleeping over after they had absconded to L.A. together.

“Dad,” Bella began, but then she looked down at the table top and didn’t seem to know what to add.

“It’s a bit complicated Charlie,” Alice said glancing over at Bella, before reaching out to take her hand.

“I’m sure I’ll be able to follow the narrative,” Charlie replied, narrowing his eyes at her a bit.

“You’re right and you’re wrong about it going on for a while,” she began calmly, knowing that stating things plainly would be the best way to handle the situation. “We had feelings for each other for a while, probably since we met, but there were complications,” she continued.

“Edward,” Charlie said and Alice nodded.

“Yes, Edward for one,” Alice said, “and Jasper…”

“Is he the big one?” Charlie asked.

He knew that Jasper was Alice’s boyfriend, he had heard the name mentioned a few times while she and Bella were talking, but he had only met the whole family on a few occasions and still had some trouble telling the boys apart.

“No,” Alice said smiling a little. “He’s the blond one,” she explained. Other than Carlisle, Jasper was the only blond male in the house. “And then there was … another issue,” Alice said sighing, her eyes dropping away from his for a moment as she remembered Bella’s party and taste of her blood.

“Because you’re both girls,” Charlie said making very sure to keep his voice level.

“Uh … yeah,” Alice said slowly, agreeing even though that had never really been a concern for her. She had been thinking about her vampirism and hunger for Bella’s blood when she had spoken before, but Charlie’s statement made much more sense for the human girl she was pretending to be, and she realized that she should go with that before he began to wonder what she meant by ‘another issue’.

Curiously, Alice glanced over at Bella, wondering if them both being girls had ever bothered her. However, when she looked over at her, Bella was focused on running the pad of her thumb over the edge of the table again and again and Alice realized that was a talk they would have to have later.

“That was a bit of a surprise,” Alice added focusing on Charlie once again.

“Was it?” Charlie asked curiously.

Somehow it made him feel better to realize that their attraction had taken them by surprise as well. When he realized what was going on, he had wondered how he could not have known something like this about his daughter. He was a cop, he was supposed to be good at reading people and putting clues together, and yet somehow he had missed the fact that his daughter had fallen for her female best friend.

“Sure,” Alice replied wanting to move on.

Gay panic was a good defense but she wasn’t sure how to fake it convincingly. Because she had no memories of being human, when she had woken up a vampire she’d had very few hang ups. There were no lectures from mom, or the Reverend or a school teacher in her head telling her what was right and what was wrong, and what was normal and what was abnormal.

She learned other people’s views on subjects soon enough, but she was able to follow what was in her heart and what made sense to her, not want other people had told her to believe when she was young and impressionable. She didn’t have any deprogramming to do, and it had helped her move rather fluidly through the decades.

“Forks isn’t exactly San Francisco,” Alice mused sadly.

“I think folks around here might surprise you a little,” Charlie murmured thoughtfully.

He knew of course that there would be people that wouldn’t approve, but he also knew that a lot of the town had their feet firmly planted in the 21st century and wouldn’t be anything except mildly curious about the development. Hell, the fact that people barely raised an eyebrow at the Cullen household was testament to the town’s expanding view point.

Alice smiled. “I hope so,” she said dreamily. “I love it when people do that.”

Charlie smiled at her and then looked over at Bella. She was no longer playing with the edge of the table, her eyes tentatively meeting his.

“Are you one of those people?” Bella asked softly, watching him carefully.

Charlie looked at her surprised. He had taken her silence for embarrassment before. He knew that discussing her lesbian relationship with her father probably wasn’t comfortable for her. But he realized now that she had been apprehensive, maybe even scared about what his reaction would be. As if being gay, or bisexual – or whatever she was – would have made him stop loving her.

“Of course,” Charlie said, his voice shaking a little. He felt tears begin to burn his eyes. “You’re my daughter Bella. I love you. Nothing, nothing in the world could ever change that,” he swore, his voice cracking as he reached across the small table to take Bella’s other hand. “All I want … all I’ve ever wanted for you is to be happy.”

Bella sniffled a little, her own eyes watery with tears. She hadn’t allowed herself to think about Charlie finding out about them too often, but when she did she had worried about how he would react. They didn’t exactly have long chats with each other about important political and social issues, and Bella had no idea really what his stance was on gays. She knew that he wasn’t a hate monger or anything, but people could be funny when it came to their own kids, and she couldn’t help but worry. He had been so hostile with Edward, and Edward was a boy. She just worried that he would take it much worse when he found out about Alice.

“Really?” Bella asked softly, a small, hopeful smile touching her lips.

“Really,” Charlie responded squeezing her hand.

“You were so hostile with Edward,” Bella began softly, her eyes skittering away from his as the words left her mouth.

“Edward was,” Charlie began his eyes narrowing and his voice hardening as he spoke. He looked over at Alice and forced himself to calm a little. He might have not liked Edward, but he was Alice’s brother. “Edward was not right for you,” he continued looking back over at Bella. “You … weren’t happy with him, you weren’t … yourself,” he continued looking at the table top. “I don’t care if Alice is a girl or a Cavaliers fan or whatever as long as she makes you happy. And I think she does,” he continued glancing over at Alice.

“I am happy,” Bella said smiling over at Alice, unable to stop the content and delighted expression bubbling within her from showing on her face. “Really happy,” she added as Alice smiled back at her, her golden eyes dancing merrily.

Charlie looked between the two of them and then glanced away, feeling himself to be an intruder at that moment. He could see the affection they had for each other, he could practically feel it radiating off them and he couldn’t help but be moved by it.

There was a part of him that wanted Bella to stay his little girl forever, but he knew that it couldn’t be that way, and if he had to lose her to someone else, he supposed he couldn’t have asked for someone better than Alice.

“So,” Charlie said when they finally managed to tear their eyes away from each other. There were other things to talk about, and one conversation in particular that he needed to have alone with Bella, but those things could wait … at least until the next day. Right now, Bella was happy and content, and so was Alice, and for that matter so was he, and he wanted them to be able to bask in that for a while. “Have you told your mother yet?”

Bella groaned and dropped her head down on the table.

“Renee suspects,” Alice whispered to Charlie in a confidential tone.

“She does not,” Bella muttered into the table. “She just thinks I have a crush on you.”

Alice laughed lightly. “It’s okay, she understands,” Alice said smiling. “I am ‘quite an attractive girl’ after all,” she continued lifting her hands to air quote the last part of her statement. “Sweet too,” she added, quoting from one of Renee’s emails Charlie was sure.

“Oh shut up,” Bella murmured, lifting her head to glare at Alice though she was smiling at the same time.

Alice looked over at Charlie and lifted her hands up, shrugging helplessly.

“Speaking of Renee,” Alice began, her gaze becoming more serious as she looked at Charlie. “Did Bella ever tell you what my parents got her for her birthday last year?”

“Alice,” Bella hissed, her eye narrowing in earnest at her girlfriend, as Charlie lifted a questioning eyebrow.

“No, she didn’t,” Charlie responded, leaning forward curiously.

“Normally, I would have waited for Bella to bring it up,” Alice began. “But she’s been a bit distracted with school and work lately, and well, time is running out so I thought I better mention it,” she continued, her thumb stroking the back of Bella’s hand as spoke.

“Bring what up?” Charlie asked, noting the unconscious caress.

“Esme and Carlisle got Bella two plane tickets to Florida so that she could visit her mother,” Alice related. “Things were a little complicated for a while there, but now there’s not much of a problem,” she continued, the last part of statement being directed at Bella. “They’re going to expire soon and I think that Bella should go see Renee. Apparently I’m not a very persuasive speaker however, so I thought you might have more luck convincing her.”

Bella had mentioned missing Renee and wanting to see her a couple of times, but when Alice had brought up the tickets all those weeks ago, Bella had refused the idea, murmuring about timing. Alice knew that the real reason she didn’t want to use them was because she would have then had to choose who she was going to take with her – herself or Edward – and Bella hadn’t wanted to have to choose.

“That was very generous of them,” Charlie said glancing at Alice, who smiled.

“They love Bella,” she said happily. “I think they like her better than Rosalie.”

Bella smiled and slapped Alice lightly on the arm. “I’m gonna tell Rose you said that.”

“Please don’t,” Alice said in a cowed voice, though her eyes were bright. “She scares me.”

Bella laughed at that and Alice grinned at her, while Charlie looked up towards the ceiling wondering how it could have taken him so long to see it.

“Well, I for one think it’s a wonderful idea,” Charlie said looking over at Bella when she was through worshiping Alice with her eyes. “Your mother would love to see you, and it would be a shame to let such a thoughtful … and expensive present go to waste,” he continued.

Charlie was silent for a moment after that, his eyes tracking over to Alice, watching her contemplatively for a moment.

“I take it the second ticket would be for you?” Charlie asked holding Alice’s gaze.

Alice nodded, her face composed and serious as she did, which Bella was glad for. She was afraid that Alice was going to shoot him a lascivious smirk or something that would have made him refuse to let them be alone together ever again, let alone take a trip together. She should have known better though. Alice was very good at handling people, and she was an expert at handling Charlie.

Charlie nodded, his brows furrowing a bit. He breathed in and out deeply, then relaxed back into his chair.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” he repeated, though it was clear to everyone in the room that he was less than enthused by the idea that Bella would be going away on a sleep away vacation with her … girlfriend. “You’re mother would love to see you,” he finished, deciding that he would have a talk with Bella before she left.

The truth was, the more he watched them together, the more he began to think that the talk would be coming too late. And, when he considered the amount of times they had been away together already, he was almost convinced that the talk would be coming too late. However, the fact remained that he was a father and it was his duty to have the talk with Bella whether it made a difference or not.

Besides, if he was too late with the talk, it wasn’t like she was going to end up knocked up, and that thought made him feel better about the possibility of his little girl already having become a woman.

“Alright,” Bella sighed looking between the two of them before throwing her hands up in the air, “fine. We’ll go.”

“Fantastic,” Alice declared leaning back against her chair happily, ignoring Bella’s surly tone. “We can go swimsuit shopping tomorrow!”

Bella gave the fakest smile in the world to that and Charlie couldn’t help but smile. Alice may have loved shopping, but he knew his daughter liked it about as much as he did. He didn’t have a doubt in the world that they would go swimsuit shopping the next day, however. Both of them seemed to be willing to endure activities they weren’t all that fond of in order to be around each other.

“Now that that’s settled,” Charlie began, turning his attention to Alice once more. “You don’t like the Cavs, do you?”

He had said it wouldn’t stop him from objecting to their relationship, and that was true. But, finding out she was a fan might have made her seem a little less wonderful and shiny to him.

Alice smiled and shook her head happily.

“You don’t even know who they are, do you?” Charlie asked knowingly a few seconds after that.

Still smiling, Alice shook her head from side to side once again.

“You know I’m going to teach you know, right?” Charlie responded smiling.

Alice sighed and nodded, before turning her head to look at Bella, her eyes wide.

“Dad,” Bella whined on Alice’s behalf. “She’s a girl. She likes shopping … and head bands … and Sephora, not sports franchises.”

“And shoes,” Alice interjected. “I really, really like shoes,” she added grinning.

“You’re dating my daughter, we need to bond,” Charlie said crossing his arms.

It’s what father’s did when people were dating their daughters. Usually it was easier because most boys liked sports, but he was going to give it the old college try anyway. Heck, he’d even tried to bond with Edward, and he didn’t even like him.

“You’ve already bonded,” Bella replied staring at Charlie. “You guys talk all the time,” she continued frowning a little bit. “You two have been talking to each other on the phone every week for like two months,” she said shooting Alice a pissy look because the vampire still refused to tell her what they were talking about all the time.

Charlie uncrossed his arms. He couldn’t disagree with her, he and Alice got along pretty well, and they had been conspiring together about Bella’s university applications for months. Not to mention that sometimes Alice just liked to call him to say ‘hi’, sometimes literally just ‘hi’, which amused and charmed him to no end.

Charlie almost laughed at the thought. He often had no idea how Alice’s brain worked, but strange and foreign as it was to him, he found her utterly enchanting; which, he supposed, meant that they had ‘bonded’. But, he still kind of wanted to get her into sports.

“I like cars,” Alice said seeing Charlie’s face fall.

“You’ve got a 911 Turbo, don’t you?” Charlie asked, and Bella could see him beginning to salivate. She knew he had wanted to take a look under the car the moment he had seen it, but he had been shy to ask Alice about it – no matter how many times she had told him that Alice wouldn’t mind.

Alice nodded, and then smiled slowly at him.

“You wanna drive it?” she asked, and the way his eyes lit up she could have sworn that she was looking at a five year old who had just been given a double-scooped ice-cream cone.

“Yes,” Charlie said nodding. “Yes, I do.”

“Do you want to drive it now?” Alice asked knowingly, fully grinning at him.

“Yes,” Charlie said nodding. “Yes, I do.”

Alice laughed happily and popped up onto her feet, her hand still holding onto Bella’s as the brunette rose to her feet at a more reasonable pace.

“Road trip!” Alice declared holding up her hand, grinning at Charlie and wiggling her hand until he gave her a high five.

Despite the high five, Charlie began to say, “I don’t know about a road tri…”

“We’ve gotta leave the Forks city limits,” Alice interjected.

“Why?” Charlie asked.

“So that you can gun it,” Alice said. She lifted her free hand and held her thumb and index finger minutely apart. “Just a little,” she said seeing his sense of duty rise within him. “It’s a Turbo!”

Charlie screwed up his face uncertainly, looking around the kitchen for a moment, and then a tentative smile appeared on his lips.

“Just a little,” he said pointing at Alice as if she was going to be the one driving.

Alice nodded, “Of course, of course,” she murmured.

Charlie and Alice grinned at each. Bella sighed and leaned into Alice’s body, allowing the vampire to wrap her arm around her waist.

It was going to be a long night.

To be continued …

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Fic: The Edge (Twilight, Alice/Bella 24/?)

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