Fic: The Edge (Twilight, Alice/Bella 25/?)

[fembuck]

Title: The Edge
Author: Janine
Fandom: Twilight
Pairing: Alice/Bella
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Stephanie Meyer. I’m just borrowing them.
Summary: Now that the threat with Victoria is over, day to day life goes on.

Note: I know that vampires in SMeyer-land don’t have fangs, but they do in this story because I am completely and utterly incapable of comprehending let alone writing about vampires without fangs. So, please excuse the inaccuracy. It’s necessary for my mental health.

Additional Note: Sad Sam picture

Previous chapters here

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A Month Later

Alice kicked her feet in delight as she fidgeted in Charlie’s arm chair; her perfect little feet pointed forward delicately like a ballerina’s, as her legs fluttered in the air in front of the chair again and again, the receiver of the phone pressed tightly against her ear.

Bella watched her, part captivated and part unnerved, her attention only turning from Alice when she heard the front door open.

“Hey Dad,” Bella said a minute later, tilting her head to the side, watching as Charlie made his way into the living room.

“Good evening, Bells,” Charlie replied looking at her contemplatively for a second before he bent down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

Bella smiled happily but didn’t say anything. Charlie was new to the whole fatherly gestures of affection thing and she didn’t want to make him self conscious.

“That’s perfect! That’s perfect!” Alice squealed into the phone.

Charlie turned his head to the side to find the petite brunette curled up in his arm chair, the phone held tightly against her ear as she jittered in the seat.

“I’m going to change,” Charlie said. His eyes were wide with alarm as he continued to stare in Alice’s spastic direction.

Alice was in super duper teenage girl mode and he was scared.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Bella said hopping to her feet. “She’s been like this for half an hour,” Bella whispered shivering a little. “You can keep me company,” she said grabbing her father’s hand and dragging him into the kitchen.

It was time for her to check on the sauce anyway.

Charlie plopped down in one of the kitchen’s wooden chairs as Bella made her way over to the stove.

“Rose?” Charlie asked, leaning back as he watched Bella begin to move around the kitchen.

He had never really sat down and watched her cook before, and he felt a smile spreading across his lips as he saw how steady and confident she was.

Bella shook her head.

“Renee,” she intoned darkly before shaking her head again. “They’re talking about shoes,” Bella continued lightly tapping the contents of a bottle of spices into the pot on the stove. “It’s a good thing you came home. I don’t think I would have been able to take much more of that.”

Charlie laughed and Bella glowered at his lack of sympathy.

“At least they’re getting along,” Charlie said finally when Bella turned back to the pot.

“Ha! Getting along,” Bella responded. “They’re bosom buddies. Phil and I were worried that we’d have to start hitting up the singles bar one day into the vacation. I’m lucky I met her first,” she continued making faces that Charlie couldn’t see at the pot of sauce.

She grumbled, but Bella actually couldn’t have been more thrilled about how the trip to Florida had gone. Things had worked out perfectly, even the weather had cooperated, and Alice had only had to hide herself indoors for a few hours over the whole weekend.

From the moment they met Renee at the airport she had been enamored with Alice. Actually, Bella thought with a small smile, from the moment they had met Renee at the airport and Renee had seen Alice’s outfit she had been enamored with Alice.

Renee had raced over to her the moment she had spotted them in the airport, and given her a long, enthusiastic hug that embarrassed Bella, but that she wouldn’t have given up for anything in the world. Once she had finally let Bella go, Renee’s attention had then turned to Alice, and they had looked at each other for a second before Alice smiled, shrugged, and then opened her arms up to receive a hug as well. Renee had found that charming and moved to hug Alice as well, though it was more polite than the lung crushing hug she’d given Bella.

Alice had then taken possession of the large suitcase that they were sharing, and Renee had begun to lead them out of the airport.

At first Renee had been very concerned about such a small girl carrying that big suitcase, but Bella had informed her that Alice was stronger than she looked, and that she insisted on carrying it anyway. Renee had looked at her like she was a lazy jerk after she’d said that, but before Bella could launch into a defense of her inaction, Alice had piped up saying that she really had insisted. Smirking, she had looked at Renee and said, “Bella has enough trouble staying on her feet as it is, I’d never add anything else to the equation that could threaten her equilibrium,” which Renee had seemed to find hilarious as well.

Bella had simply glared at them both and forged ahead of them.

She’d thought that this would teach them a lesson, but all it really did was given them an opportunity to bond over bohemian fashion. When they caught up with Bella outside the main doors of the terminal, Renee had been commenting on how wonderful Alice’s moccasins were and Bella knew that she would have a lot of time to daydream on the way to her mother’s new place while the other two talked about belts and tunics and big socks and a bunch of other things Bella knew absolutely nothing about.

When they arrived at Renee and Phil’s new pad there had been a ‘Welcome Home’ banner up in the foyer, and the kitchen was decked out with cake and a number of other treats that Renee, Bella, and later Phil had barely been able to put a dent in.

Seeing the amazing preparations her mother had made, Bella’s self-deprecating streak had risen to the surface, and she had told Renee that she really hadn’t needed to go to all of the trouble. Renee had just looked at her and said, “Nonsense. You’re my daughter,” and Bella had nodded obediently though she still thought Renee hadn’t really needed to go to all of the trouble.

Alice, no doubt knowing exactly what Bella was still thinking, had then wrapped her arm around Renee and told her that Bella had been the exact same way when she organized a birthday party for her. “Cake, streamers, confetti, the good silver, five different mash-up CDs, and she didn’t even want to come,” Alice had sighed, while Bella gave her the stink-eye. Renee had looked at her in sympathy and then they had both looked at Bella (they didn’t shake their heads though it was implied in their gaze) until Bella picked up a party hat, put it on, and then ate a sausage roll, rolling her eyes at the deliciousness of it before she gave them an ‘are you happy now?’ smile.

They were.

A tour of the house had followed that, then the baby album had been whipped out (to Bella’s mortification and Alice’s delight), before they had gone for a walk around the neighborhood and stopped for ice-cream – Alice’s treat. Renee had tried to decline when Alice didn’t order any, citing lactose intolerance as the reason why, but eventually the two of them managed to convince Renee to enjoy a scoop of Pralines 'n Cream on a sugar cone.

Bella sighed as she stirred the sauce and winced a little at the memory of food. That was the one part of the weekend that she felt really badly about.

Alice was able to avoid eating around Charlie because she was always able to say that she had eaten just before she came over, or that she was going to eat when she got home. Since they were staying at Renee’s house however, Alice couldn’t use that excuse and she had been forced to eat dinner with them that first night.

There had been no immediate reaction to Alice consuming food, and Bella had been wondering what all of the fuss was about if nothing happened. However, about half an hour after the meal, Bella noticed that Alice was being much quieter than usual and that she had started shifting and fidgeting excessively – even for her. Very soon after that Alice had excused herself and disappeared down the hall.

Releasing that it probably had something to do with the food, Bella had quickly followed her, and for the next fifteen minutes had sat on the edge of the bathtub rubbing Alice’s back as she violently emptied the complete contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl.

Bella felt horrible, and as Alice had rested her head on the side of the toilet recovering from the intense fits that had taken over her body, Bella had sworn that she wouldn’t allow Alice to put one more piece of food into her mouth for the rest of the vacation.

Alice had told her that it would be difficult to explain not eating for two days and that she could handle a couple more trips to bathroom, but Bella had just shaken her head again and again. Exhausted, Alice had just nodded leaving it up to Bella and for the rest of the trip Bella had managed to get the two of them away alone for an hour or so, during which she always claimed they had eaten giving Alice an excuse not to eat again.

Renee had been a bit miffed at her, not doubt assuming it was some sort of comment on her cooking – which Bella hadn’t had any complaints about in the past – but Bella was more than happy to accept her mother disapproving looks if it meant sparing Alice what she had gone through after that first meal.

Bella allowed her mind to drift back to some more pleasant memories of the trip to Florida as Charlie made his way over to the fridge and started rummaging around for beer.

After the two of them had rejoined Renee and Phil that first night, Phil had mentioned needing to go in for the batting practice (which he had skipped out on to have dinner with them), and Alice had very eagerly asked if she could go watch. Due to the baseball games her family played, it was one sport Alice didn’t mind too much, and Bella knew that most likely Alice was hoping to be able to throw a few pitches at Phil (though she would have to control her speed quite a bit).

This left Bella alone with her mother. Usually at this point, Bella would have worried about Renee pestering her about a bunch of things she didn’t want to be pestered about, but she thought that she and Alice had been pretty platonic since arriving in town, and so she was confident that her relationship with Alice wouldn’t be one of the thing Renee started bugging her about.

She should have given her mother more credit.

Despite the fact that they hadn’t even touched since arriving in Florida, Renee had picked up on something, and the moment they were alone together, Renee had immediately started to question her about Alice.

“So?” Renee had asked.

“Yeah?” Bella responded, knowing that this was likely to be as pleasant as her ‘so’ conversation with Jacob a month before.

“She’s even lovelier than I remembered,” Renee said.

Her tone was a bit breathless and Bella couldn’t help but smile. The Cullen’s had that effect on people, especially if you hadn’t seen them in a while. Renee had been bowled over by them when she’d met them in Phoenix, but Bella knew that memory faded and that Renee had probably forgotten just how incredible looking they were.

“Yeah,” Bella said uncomfortably, avoiding Renee’s gaze. “She’s a looker,” she continued, really, really not waiting to talk about how gorgeous Alice was since she knew that if she got on the subject she’d get all moony-eyed and give herself away.

“Excellent fashion sense,” Renee had commented, clearly impressed.

“She does like to shop,” Bella replied turning to look at her mother again.

“I love her hair cut,” Renee said, unconsciously running her fingers through her own hair as she spoke. “The short cut looks great on her. It really accentuates her features.”

“Yep,” Bella replied, even though she knew that Alice had had very little say in the length of her hair.

“She’s a ball of energy that one,” Renee said chuckling a little bit.

Every single thing seemed to captivate and enthrall Alice. The world was a beautiful, wonderful, mysterious place to her, and Renee related to that quite a bit. She liked to try and see the beauty in things too, to keep a sense of wonder about her, and she felt Alice a bit of a kindred spirit that way.

Bella often forgot to stop and smell the proverbial roses, and Renee was happy that her daughter now had someone in her life that would not only encourage to stop every once in a while to smell them, but would probably pick some and bring them to her.

“She’s spunky,” Bella agreed, trying to keep it casual.

“How long have you two been dating?” Renee asked breezily as she dipped a nacho chip into some cheese.

Bella’s hand froze halfway to the dip.

“W-what?” Bella chocked out turning to look at her mother.

She hadn’t even touched Alice since they got off of the plane! She didn’t understand how Renee had put it together so quickly unless … Charlie! Charlie must have called to warn Renee.

Bella’s jaw clenched at the thought.

He probably called to tell her to make sure that they didn’t share a room!

He’d had the sex talk with her, or at least stumbled through something that resembled one before she had left, and Bella knew that he was convinced that if she and Alice weren’t already active that they would be soon.

He knew her pretty well, and he knew that if she had still been a virgin, or had been planning on staying one for the foreseeable future that she would have pulled that card out and waved it in his face to end the embarrassing conversation.

The fact that she hadn’t brought it up had most likely sent him into a panic and caused him to call her mother, so that she could take up the Florida watch of “Operation No Sex For Bella, If I Have Anything to Say About It” – which he didn’t.

“Did Charlie call you?” Bella asked in an exasperated and offended tone of voice.

“No,” Renee said smiling at her, taking no note of her tone. “I know you’ve been trying to be careful around each other, but you’re not very good at it,” Renee said, her smile growing for a second. “It’s very obvious how you two feel about each other,” she continued, her tone becoming softer. “I wasn’t sure how Alice felt about you at first. But, now that’s we’ve spent some quality time around each other, I can see that she’s just as fond of you as you are of her.”

Bella stared at her mother for a second and then sighed. There was no point trying to deny it. For all of her immaturity, Renee was an amazingly intuitive person, and had moments of deep insight and perception. Renee had clearly figured out what was going on and she seemed to be handling it well so there was no reason to fight a useless battle.

“We’ve barely even touched since we got off the plane,” Bella muttered dourly.

Just because she wasn’t going to fight, it didn’t mean that she had to accept defeat cheerfully – especially since Renee was probably going to make Phil take the couch and make her sleep in her bed while Alice got the spare room.

“Which is quite telling,” Renee said smiling gently. “Accidentally leaving a pillow between you on the couch was really very suspicious,” she went on, and Bella looked away blushing. Alice had told her that wouldn’t help. “Besides, it’s more in the way you look at each other and the tone of your voice when you speak to each other. It’s very sweet.”

Bella sighed. She didn’t realize that she sounded much different when talking to Alice, but she did know what Renee sounded like when she was around Phil, and how embarrassing yet also adorable it was, and she figured that she must have been pretty much the same around Alice.

“Well,” Bella said looking back up at her mother expectantly.

“Well,” Renee began thoughtfully. “I am a little surprised. Well, not anymore, but when I first started to suspect,” she said, her features turning thoughtful. “You had seemed so taken with Edward,” she said shaking her head a little bit. “But, I wasn’t too surprised because before you moved, I had wondered a little bit about how you never seemed to be all that interested in boys.”

Bella groaned and turned her head away.

She hadn’t been uninterested in boys, just uninterested in the ones she had been going to school with in Phoenix. Not wanting to date those particular males didn’t mean one was gay, just that one had taste …and standards. That being said, it would have been unfair to dismiss her mother’s instincts completely since she hadn’t exactly been uninterested in some of the girls at her school. However, boy or girl she hadn’t been particularly adept at attracting people, so her interest in, well either sex really, had been a moot point.

That being true, she really didn’t particularly feel like explaining that Renee, so she let her mother’s statement stand. She was certain that one day she’d be forced to have a conversation with her mother about the evolution of her sexuality, or whatever, but they weren’t going to have that conversation at the moment.

Mercifully, Renee seemed to take her hint, and sighed before switching tracks.

“If you’re happy, I’m happy,” Renee said smiling at her. “Love is love and it’s a beautiful thing,” she continued.

Her hippie roots were showing, but Bella couldn’t help but smile.

“And I like her,” Renee added shrugging before she smiled at Bella. “She’s very charming, and has a wonderful energy about her. And … maybe she’ll help you update this wardrobe a little,” she went on plucking at Bella’s vintage “Milk is Chillin’” t-shirt.

Bella looked down at her shirt. There was nothing wrong with it. Besides, Bella didn’t think that Renee would think Alice was so charming if she knew the type of clothes Alice would try to get her in. In Port Angeles, Alice had bought her a dress so skimpy that Bella was convinced it was lingerie. She hadn’t worn it anywhere except in her bedroom, and even then she only wore it when Alice asked her to.

“I’m sure she’ll try to tomorrow,” Bella sighed knowing that she was in for an afternoon of her mother and Alice forcibly pushing her into change rooms and throwing clothes at her like they were on fire. ‘It’s gonna be grrreat!’ Bella thought to herself sarcastically, her shoulders slumping as she did. ‘Extra special super fun!’ she mentally sighed.

“There’s my little Sad Sam,” Renee cooed and she stepped forward and hugged her pouting daughter.

Bella wrapped her arms around her mother, accepting the hug even though she didn’t appreciate being compared to a droopy-eyed, depressed stuffed animal.

Despite the mortification that came with talking to her parents about her relationship with Alice, Bella realized that she was extremely lucky to have such supportive parents and she really did appreciate how understanding they had been.

Honestly, she hadn’t been too worried about Renee’s reaction. Renee had tons of gay friends, marched in the Phoenix pride parade, had an ‘I’m not gay but my girlfriend is’ t-shirt that she usually wore at the parades, and was very vocal about her dislike of discrimination in any form.

Still, it was nice to be wrapped up in her mother’s arms and to know for certain that Renee loved her and supported her.

“So, does this mean I’m sleeping with you tonight?” Bella asked when they separated, really trying to keep any trace of petulance out of her voice even though the thought of not being able to sleep next to Alice made her feel very petulant.

Renee looked at her steadily for a moment, her gaze thoughtful.

“No. I think I can trust the two of you,” Renee said slowly a few seconds later, her eyes holding Bella’s knowingly for a second longer before she reached out and placed her hand on Bella’s shoulder.

Bella just barely contained the urge to sigh. Renee just had to go and pull out the ‘trust’ card.

‘Renee, you evil genius,’ Bella thought annoyingly impressed by how her mother still knew how to handle her.

“Of course you can,” Bella said forcing a smile onto her face. “We’re good girls,” she added. “Completely trustworthy,” she went on, knowing that in this case it was true and that she and Alice wouldn’t be having wild, crazy vacation sex that night – even though she really, really wanted to. Snuggling – and some making out – was non-negotiable, but she would have felt have felt too guilty to actually do anything more.

“Uh huh,” Renee said her eye-brow arching slightly, as she turned a very dubious gaze in Bella’s direction.

Hearing the doubting tone in her mother’s voice, Bella immediately turned to look at her, her lips parting to release some indignant phrase upon Renee, however she stopped herself before she could utter a syllable.

Renee might have lived in La-La land some of the time, but the things that she spaced out on were different than the things Charlie spaced out on, and Bella knew that her mother wasn’t in denial about how close she and Alice were. Renee didn’t suspect they were already sleeping together, she assumed that they were, and if Bella opened her mouth she knew that she wouldn’t be able to avoid a conversation with Renee about it.

“You can trust me. Us. You can trust us,” Bella said hastily, relaxing her posture. She didn’t want to appear to be challenging her mother in anyway.

“Your father must be going crazy,” Renee sighed shaking her head.

If she’d had any doubt about where Bella and Alice’s relationship had progressed to, Bella’s response had erased it.

There was a part of her – the part of her that was more mother then liberal-democrat-ex- hippie-organic food shopper – that was freaking out a little at the idea that her baby was now all grown. But, she knew that it was inevitable, and she could see how much Bella and Alice cared about each other, which made it easier to deal with. Bella had waited for love. She couldn’t have asked for more than that.

“What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him,” Bella muttered before she could think better of it. Once she realized what she had said, her head shot in her mother’s direction to see her reaction.

Renee laughed, and then covered her mouth with her hand, a chagrined expression coming to her face.

“I think I said the same thing about my parents when I was your age,” Renee murmured sharing a look with Bella before she shook her head again.

Bella scratched her neck uncomfortably and looked around the room awkwardly. She was not going to get drawn into conversation about it. Even if she was now sure that Renee knew they were sleeping together, she was not going to talk about it.

“Do we need to have a talk about …” Renee began.

Bella clamped her hands over her ears and shook her head emphatically from side to side.

“No. Just, no,” Bella said slowly, still shaking her head. “I’m eighteen. I can handle … things that need to be handled,” Bella continued, finally lowering her hands from her ears.

“Okay,” Renee said holding up her hands in a sign of peace.

“Okay,” Bella repeated relaxing a little, hoping that this conversation was finally going to end.

“Do you like the dip?” Renee asked realizing that Bella had reached her limit ‘emotional chat’ limit for the moment.

“Huh?” Bella asked, her mind still reeling in horror from the talk they had been having for the past half hour.

“The nacho dip,” Renee said smiling as she gestured towards it. “Do you like it? I got the recipe from Syl, well Sylvia. She lives a few houses down, the house with the red door. Do you remember? We passed it on the way in. She and her husband had us over a few weeks ago, and she served this deep, and I couldn’t get over how amazing it was. It was like ‘pop’ ‘pop’ ‘pop’ my taste buds couldn’t handle it. So, I just had to ask her …” Renee continued, launching into the complete story of how the dip came into being as she picked up the dip in question and the bowl of nachos and brought them over to the couch.

Bella followed, a smile touching her lips as her mother went on. She had missed Renee’s voice, and it was nice to hear one of her long, rambling narratives. She had never quite appreciated the fact that she never had to carry a conversation around her mother, until she had moved to Forks. The first few weeks with Charlie had been very quiet, and it had been jarring for her since Renee had always been banging around in the house somewhere, yelling out the window to someone across the road, rambling at her – even if she wasn’t really paying attention – or doing something else that seemed to create a lot of activity and a lot of noise.

“It’s good,” Bella said finally, in her concise, Charlie-esque way when Renee stopped talking long enough for her to answer her mother’s original question.

Renee turned her head to the side and chuckled. Bella’s economy with words had always alternately amused and confused her.

“Well, have some more,” Renee said pushing the bowl towards Bella. “You’re getting too skinny.”

“I am not,” Bella complained as she accepted the bowl of nachos.

“You are. Is your father feeding you? What did you have for breakfast before your flight?”

“Mom,” Bella said rolling her eyes.

“Are there fruits in the house?”

“Yes. I do the shopping.”

“Vegetables?”

“Yes. I do the shopping.”

“Are there …”

“Mrum!” Bella interjected, her tone losing some of its sting because her mouth was full of chips and dip.

“I’m just asking,” Renee said holding up her hands again.

A few seconds after that she started talking about the garden she had started up in the backyard, telling Bella what her plans were for it, and how she still missed the one they had left behind in Phoenix.

Bella leaned back contentedly and continued to eat her nachos, happily letting the sound of her mother’s voice wash over her.

The next day had been filled with a torturous amount of shopping, but with her mother present, Alice had managed to control her impulse to show off Bella’s milkshakes enough to pick out some slightly more stylish articles of clothing that still fit in with Bella’s general aesthetic sense. It was an update in fashion instead of a complete change, and even though she never wanted to step foot in another clothing store for a least a month, Bella was happy with Alice’s purchases.

After shopping, they’d then taken a very pleasant stroll around the downtown area – there was never a group so happy to be out on an overcast day – and then spent some time in the park. A little later on, they’d gone to visit Phil at the park and watched the team practice for a while, and then Bella and Alice had gotten away to a club at the beach – where they’d been able to indulge in some of the kissing and touching that they’d had to avoid during the daylight hours – before returning to Renee’s in the early hours of the morning.

Overall, it had been a fantastic visit, and Bella was pleased that Alice (and Charlie) had talked her into it.

Charlie lowered himself back down into the chair he had been occupying before and popped open the can of his beer, the sound of it drawing Bella out of her thoughts.

“Think positive Bells,” Charlie said helpfully. “Now that Alice has your mother to talk to about shoes, she’s bringing over those fashion magazines less.”

Bella stopped stirring, and turned to look at Charlie thoughtfully.

“You’re right,” she breathed out slowly. “Hey, that’s not so bad!” she said brightly a second later, smiling before she turned back to the sauce.

Charlie smiled, but didn’t say anything. He knew the real reason that Bella was feeling a bit cranky was because Alice was paying more attention to Renee at that moment than she was to her. Alice had been in Seattle for four days to see a symphony or something, and now that she was back, Bella, no doubt, wanted her undivided attention.

“Charlie!” Alice said happily as she walked into the kitchen, channeling every character from “Cheers” when they spotted Norm.

“Kiddo,” Charlie greeted as Alice gracefully lowered herself into one of the kitchen chairs as well.

“Have you given anymore thought to my proposal?” Alice asked resting her elbows on the table as she leaned forward to gaze at Charlie.

“Oh, I don’t know Kiddo,” Charlie said shifting uncomfortably. “I mean, I’ve been going to Tony forever, and I’ve sort of got my hair exactly the way I want it right now so …” he said, running his fingers through the hair in question as he spoke.

“I’m really good, Charlie,” Alice said earnestly. “I cut Jasper’s hair all the time,” she continued, “even now,” she added remembering that as far as Charlie was aware she and Jasper had broken up around the same time as Bella and Edward.

Charlie had taken the news of the two of them dating quite well, but they realized that revealing that Alice was still with Jasper would have been way too much for him to handle.

Bella looked over at Alice and frowned slightly. Alice did no such thing all the time. Just like every vampire, Jasper’s hair didn’t grow.

“It’ll be fine,” Alice continued soothingly. “I know it will. I’m one-hundred percent certain you’ll love it,” she went on, and Bella relaxed realizing that Alice had had a vision of Charlie agreeing, and that the haircut must have gone just fine.

Charlie looked into Alice’s golden eyes and sighed. He suspected that she manipulated him quite a bit, but he just couldn’t seem to help giving into her.

“Fine, alright,” Charlie said his shoulders slumping. “But just a trim!” he warned. “It hasn’t grown out too much, and I want to keep as much on top as I can while I’ve still got it.”

Alice laughed and clapped her hands together. “I promise, just a trim,” she said as Charlie stood up.

“I’m going to change,” Charlie declared and then headed for the stairs. He needed to get out of the room before Alice talked him into something else.

The sound of Alice’s delighted laughter followed him out of the kitchen, and Charlie couldn’t help but shake his head in amusement.

That kid was something else.

Partway to the stairs Charlie stopped. He intended to call something back at Alice, but when he turned to face the kitchen again the words died on his lips as he watched Alice glide over to Bella and wrap her arms around her waist from behind as she pressed her lips against Bella’s shoulder.

Charlie closed his eyes and took a deep calming breath.

‘She’s an adult now, she’s an adult now,’ he chanted in his head, hoping that one day he would actually feel that way because as much as he loved the kid, whenever he saw them touching like that he kind of wanted to kick Alice out of the house, shriek at her in a hysterical voice, and then barricade the doors.

Most of the time, Alice was sweet as apple pie, but every once in a while she’d touch Bella like that, or look at her with a particular expression in her eyes, and Charlie knew exactly what she was thinking about and had to use all of his strength not to go get his shotgun in an attempt to protect Bella’s chastity.

‘She’s an adult now, she’s an adult now,’ Charlie repeated as Bella turned around in the loose circle of Alice’s arms and pressed her lips against Alice’s, her hands lifting to cup Alice’s face as she kissed her slowly.

Charlie ripped his gaze away from the two of them. He didn’t need to or want to see the two of them like that … ever.

‘She’s an adult now, she’s an adult now,’ Charlie chanted once more continuing on his way to the stairs, even though he still really hoped that she was a virginal adult.

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A Week Later

Alice’s eyes closed as the scent washed over her. Her chest began to rumble, a longing purr escaping from her as her lips pulled back over her teeth, revealing glistening white fangs.

Blood.

Blood.

Blood.

BLOOD.

Alice moaned and stepped forward.

She wanted it. She wanted the sweet smelling blood. Human blood, she thought moaning again.

She imagined it flowing into her mouth, the smooth, heavy feel of it as it trickled down her throat. It would taste so delicious, so wonderful. She felt her body tremble, and a shiver of excitement tore through her.

She imagined her lips coated with it, her chin smeared with it, stained red.

She felt a throbbing between her legs and knew that she was getting wet.

The scent was amazing, it was overpowering.

She wasn’t supposed to drink it. She knew that. She wasn’t supposed to drink it. But there was so much of it, and it was right in front of her, and she wanted it so much.

She had to have it!

Alice’s head snapped back and she found herself flying backwards into the wall of the study. The plaster cracked under the weight of her body and the force with which she had hit it, dust and flecks of the wall falling onto her as she sat on the floor blinking.

“Shit,” Alice murmured, looking up at Carlisle.

“Don’t be discouraged,” Carlisle said moving over towards her, offering her his hand. “You resisted for longer that time,” he continued helping Alice to her feet. He patted her on the shoulder. “Stop breathing for a moment,” he requested.

Alice nodded and complied with his request.

Carlisle then made his way over to his desk where a blood bag from the hospital lay cut open in a bowl. He took the bowl and opened up the cooler he had placed beside his desk, and then carefully put the bowl inside before sealing it again. The scent of the blood would still be in the air, but if any of the others came into the room it would be manageable for them.

“It’s so overwhelming,” Alice moaned sadly when Carlisle took a seat across from her. “And that’s just a blood bag,” she said waving in the general direction of the cooler. “The scent didn’t even compare, didn’t come close to being as enchanting as Bella’s,” she continued despondently.

“I know it seems like you’re not making much progress,” Carlisle began, resting his hand on Alice’s knee comfortingly. “But you are,” he told her confidently. “You know that Jasper, or Emmett wouldn’t have lasted ten seconds in here before they slammed into me trying to get at it. And Rose and Esme wouldn’t have last much more than a minute or two,” he continued. “You held off for ten minutes that time, that’s very good, Alice. Very good.”

“It was … torturous,” Alice said shaking her head. Denying herself like that was actually physically painful.

“Yes, it is,” Carlisle said knowing exactly what she was going through. “It will get easier,” he promised.

“Until it gets harder again,” Alice mumbled looking over at him. She gave him weak smile to let him know that she wasn’t upset with him, so much as with the situation.

Carlisle returned the smile before sighing. “Yes, you’re right of course,” he said realizing that Alice would know exactly what he had planned for her next.

Once she was able to resist the blood bag without the scent making her want to claw at her own skin, he was going to have to bring her into the hospital and get her used to being around blood and people at the same time. That part of her training would be even more taxing on her than what they were doing at the moment, and with her visions she knew exactly what type of unpleasantness was in store for her.

Alice looked away, the nail of her thumb digging into the flesh of her index finger as she stared at the wall.

“What is it?” Carlisle asked.

“I’m scared,” Alice admitted returning her gaze to him. “It’s like … every time I walk in here, I’m confident. I think I’ll be able to do it. I tell myself that I’m going to be able to withstand it. But then you cut the bag open and the smell hits me and it’s like what I want doesn’t matter anymore. I can barely think, I’m just taken over by this animalistic lust,” she continued hissing out the last two words in disgust. “I’m scared that we’ll go through all the training and I’ll think that I’ve got it down pat … but that when I get to Bella, it’ll be like walking into this room. I’m scared that I’ll lose it when I bite her.”

Carlisle was silent for a moment as he looked at her thoughtfully.

“How are things between you and Bella … intimately?” he asked.

Alice groaned and looked away from him.

She was going to kill Esme.

“Fine,” Alice said still averting her eyes.

“Esme said when you and Bella first became intimate that you had to stop quite often to gather yourself,” he continued keeping his voice steady. He knew that Alice didn’t want to talk about this with him, but it was necessary.

“Not really often, more like every once in a while,” Alice said defensively, glancing over at him before looking away again.

She was really, really going to kill Esme.

“Is it still the same, or are you finding it easier to be with her now?”

“It’s … easier,” Alice said sighing, turning to look at him again though she doubted she’d be able to keep it up for long. “As long as I feed regularly, I hardly have to stop anymore,” she admitted.

Carlisle nodded. He’d suspected that would be the case which was why he wasn’t too worried when Esme shared with him what Alice had told her. Esme had been afraid that Alice might not be able to control herself for much longer, and she had wanted him to bring up the idea of allowing him to change Bella to Alice. However, Carlisle was confident that Alice would be able to handle it, and had put off bringing the subject up.

“This works much the same way,” Carlisle said reassuringly. “You have a strong will, Alice,” he continued. “Just as you have been able to gain more and more control over your appetite while you’re making love to Bella, you’ll gain more and more control over it around blood. It’s simply a matter of training. In fact, eventually, I’d actually like to …”

“Oh no,” Alice moaned shaking her head again and again as a vision of what Carlisle wanted to do came to her. “Carlisle please,” she said shaking her head. “Rose will never let me live that down. Emmett either. You’re setting me up for an eternity of being mocked,” she continued still shaking her head.

While Esme was busy yapping away to Carlisle, Alice realized that she must have also told him about how hard she found it to be around Bella at ‘that time of the month’ and also that that hadn’t gotten any easier for her. She could be around Bella for a few minutes at a time when she was menstruating, but not for much longer than that before she began to feel overwhelmed. Carlisle realized that the combination of fresh blood, and Bella’s scent together would be one of the last hurdles that she had to jump over before turning Bella, and at some point he planned to have her in the same room as Bella when she was menstruating to help Alice learn how to control the urges it brought out in her.

“Hmm,” Carlisle hummed thoughtfully glancing over at her. “Perhaps we can arrange it so that the others are hunting when she comes over,” he said finally, acknowledging that Alice was probably right about Rose and Emmett making fun of her.

As many decades as they lived, there was always a teenager inside of them and they did like to bug each other so.

“This is going to be so mortifying,” Alice complained.

Even if the others were out of the house, they would still know what was going on and they would still mock her. Especially if she was still all keyed up when they arrived home.

“Bella’s not going to like the idea either,” she mumbled.

Just bringing it up to Bella was probably going to get her slapped. Bella hadn’t wanted her talking about it with Carlisle, and proposing to have her over during that time, when everyone knew it was that time was not going to go over well with her lover.

“Bella wants to be turned,” Carlisle replied, and Alice sighed. He was right, Bella wouldn’t like it but she would agree.

Alice sighed despondently.

“I think I’m ready for round two,” Alice said, straightening her back.

She was chatted out.

Carlisle nodded and moved over the cooler.

Alice began to breathe once more, the scent of blood making her head swim the moment Carlisle opened the cooler.

Alice bit down on her lips and closed her eyes.

It was going to be a long night.

To be continued …

.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I have been following this story on ff.net (just easier for me to keep track of stories on that site) I really have liked your take on Bella and Alice's relationship.

Also I agree with you, I don't know what was going on SM's head she made them fang-less, it's just not right lol.

[padme2468.livejournal.com]

that was me, sorry I thought I was logged in.

[fembuck.livejournal.com]

I don't know what was going on SM's head she made them fang-less, it's just not right lol.

So, not right. Honestly, she messed though vampires up so much. It was so much fun for me to actually be able to write Alice being a little feral, and vampire-like here. I mean, the vamps can be cuddly, but they should be Care Bears with fangs (tm Cordelia Chase).