Eternally Sunrise

PLANNING

When I ‘woke up’, I was wrapped in Edward’s arms, as I was every morning. A rare ray of sunlight streamed through the cottage window and onto the bed, warming my face and causing it to shine like diamonds. Waking up for me wasn’t quite the same as waking up for other, ordinary, people - it was something me and Edward did when we weren’t... when we wanted to relax. We would close our eyes, lie in absolute silence, breathe slower and softer, and we could pass for sleeping any day, though it was probably more like meditating for vampires... I think from time to time I almost believed it myself. Sometimes, I would even let Edward hear my thoughts, or show him my memories, as if he was really dreaming. Of course, the feeling wasn’t quite the same - but it was nice. We’d only been ‘sleeping’ for about twenty minutes- up until then we’d been doing other, more tiring things, but I already felt totally revitalized.
I turned my body round in his iron grip so that my face was nuzzled into his chest and my hands on his waist, his hands closed round the small of my back. I couldn’t be sure if he was ‘awake’ yet - you got pretty good at shutting down your senses after a while and his eyes were still closed. I had a pretty good idea what would wake him.
I pressed my lips to his chest and slowly moved them upwards, kissing every part of his body I could reach - his arm, his chest, his neck, his cheek - until I reached his lips. I could have sworn I saw a smile playing around the corners. When I pressed my lips to his, it was just too much for him. He kissed me back whole-heartedly, our lips moving in synchronization and his tongue gently sliding across my lower lip. His eyes never opened, but there was no question now as to wether or not he was awake.
I could have gone on forever, but I swore I heard a heartbeat pick up ever so slightly in the next room.
“Edward,” I mumbled against his lips.
“Mmm...” He said absently - he, too, was a little preoccupied.
“I think Renesmee’s waking”.
He paused for a moment in the twisting of my hair around his fingers to hear her stirring softly - a sound most normal humans wouldn’t have picked up unless they were sitting right beside her. “You’re right. Hmm... Maybe we should get dressed”.
My days of buying clothes were long gone - but I was not sure wether that was a good thing or a bad thing. Sure, I hated clothes shopping, but Alice had a taste for the over the top. When you joined the Cullen family, Alice officially took over your wardrobe for you, something that would have suited me just fine if she had been a jeans - and - a - T-shirt kind of girl.
I kissed him again, leaped out of bed and practically flew to the walk in closet - now that I could do it without tripping over something, I liked to move fast. When I walked inside, Edward right behind me, and I felt a smug smile forming on my lips. I was now even better then Edward at sniffing out the silk from the denim. It took me about three seconds to pull on the faded jeans and V necked black sweater I found, and it took Edward four. There was little need for a shower when you were always clean, always smelt amazing, and had brilliant hair that never dried out or stayed tangled for long. All my mundane human needs were all but forgotten.
“Beatcha again”. I taunted.
As I headed for the door he grabbed me by the waist and pulled me closer to his body. “Where do you thing you’re going Mrs Cullen?”
This threw me. “Er... out of the closet? Oops - I mean - um... to the kitchen?”
“Ah, but you didn’t even give me a chance to tell me how beautiful you are this morning.” If I could have, I would have blushed as he leaned his perfect mouth toward my ear and whispered, “You look beautiful by the way”.
I turned my face to his and stood up on my tip toes to kiss him full on the lips again, savoring the moment, before walking out of the wardrobe and through to the kitchen - if you would call it walking. I hadn’t realized how late we’d ‘slept’ until I looked up at the clock and saw that it was nearly ten. Edward followed along behind me and sat down at the table while I put the kettle on (not for me of course - for Jacob and Charlie). We could normally rely on Renesmee to get us out of bed but she was out late hunting last night with Jacob and slept for a long time.
I stared absently out the kitchen window. As much as the fact that my best friend imprinted on my daughter bothered me, there was no denying that it had been handy, and I was finally starting to get used to it (that didn’t mean that I liked it). It was a Saturday, so Jacob would usually be here around eleven. We had already decided against sending Renesmee to school - she grew too fast not to cause suspicion and by the time she was legally five she would have the mental capabilities of an adult and the body of a teenager. Instead, though she was under a year old, we decided to begin homeschooling her immediately.
So when Jacob wasn’t helping school her he wasn’t here for much of the time a normal five year old spent at school - six hours a day every week day, because he had pack duties. He hated being away from her so he taught her whenever he could. Renesmee adored having three different teachers, and even Rosalie came by occasionally to educate her.
So, it was no surprise that Saturday was generally Jacob’s favourite day. Edward would cook something human for Jacob, who would normally bring Charlie along too. As I remembered this I grabbed my chocolate brown contacts off the window sill and popped them over my eyes. They were not that fiery crimson they once were, far from it, they were slowly but surely turning the same beautiful gold as Edward’s, but not quite brown enough not to cause Charlie alarm.
Right now they weren’t that same gold shade. They were black with the traditional bruise like shadows underneath them - I hadn’t hunted for too long. Me and Edward chose to stay behind last night because it was always nice when we got to be alone together. We really should have gone. Our eyes were both ebony, but not in an unattractive way. The same black Edward’s eyes were the first time we met.
It was a nice change having a normal lunch - though of course me, Edward, and most of the time Renesmee, didn’t eat it was just nice to watch Jacob and Charlie. I still couldn’t imagine how I ever found human food appetizing.
Edward cleared his throat. “Bella?”
“Hmm?” I said, awoken from my trance.
“Do you know what day it is?” He asked, gesturing to the calendar on the opposite wall. I turned back to him to see what he was getting at and chuckled when I saw the date. The seventeenth.
He raised one eyebrow. “What’s funny?”
“It’s the last day of my period - well, it used to be. I must say, I don’t miss it... Being a vampire truly does have it’s advantages”.
He smiled my favourite crooked smile. My body may have stopped changing but he still had the same affect on my mind - there was no doubt that if I had a beating heart it would have accelerated right there. “I’m glad you think so. But that wasn’t quite what I was getting at. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it before... but this time last year you didn’t have your period either, did you?”
I thought back. He was right - this time last year a little blue box of tampons had led me to discovering I was pregnant. And not a month later the baby was out and I, dying (and I would have died if Edward hadn’t thought to inject his venom straight into my heart). But I still didn’t see why it was relevant. He laughed at my confused and slightly nostalgic expression.
“Renesmee is nearly a year old, love. It just occurred to me - we have a few weeks to decide how we are going to go about celebrating this - Alice will be thrilled. I do not think Renesmee understands the concept yet - it will be interesting to see how she reacts”.
Yes, that made sense... but how did you throw a birthday party for a child who had approximately six years to go until she stopped aging all together? I almost groaned. She was growing so fast still, and she would be fully matured in a few short years and then she would be immortal, just like us. If I’d ever imagined having a daughter, I would never have imagined this sort of future for her. She would never age, never have a child of her own, never crave human food, only blood like the rest of us.
“Oh... well, maybe we can convince Jacob to babysit Renesmee for a bit - that won’t take much. After lunch we can go see Alice, maybe she has seen something”. it didn’t seem wise to tell Edward about my worries. That would only make him worried, and that was the last thing I wanted.
“You’re forgetting that she can’t see Renesmee - I think we might be on our own. And by that I mean without supernatural help”.
“Oh yes, I forgot... Well regardless - like you say, she’ll jump at the chance to help throw Renesmee her first birthday party. I still think we should go”.
Just then Renesmee bounded into the kitchen cutting our conversation short, dressed in a little white sundress that would fit a small four year old. When she reached Edward she held out her arms to be picked up, and he scooped her onto his lap effortlessly. I caught myself wondering if it was so effortless when he did that to me now that I was a vampire too. Maybe I would work up the nerve to ask him later. Now was not the time - I could hear a Volkswagen headed towards us, two hearts beating steadily inside it.
“Did you have good dreams, Nessie?” He asked, but seeing the look on my face hastily corrected himself. “Erm, Renesmee, I mean?” What was it with people and that stupid name?
Renesmee reached out her hand to touch his face and Edward closed his eyes, nodding occasionally, sometimes saying “Mmm...” Or “I see...”. When she was finished he opened his eyes and grinned at her. “Sounds like a busy night. I think-” But he was interrupted by a loud knock at the door. It wasn’t like he was surprised - he, too, could hear the Volkswagen approaching, the sound of the two heartbeats as they neared the door, but he stopped talking just the same. I went to get the door.
“Jacob! Charlie!”
A smile lit up Jacob’s face as he stepped through the door and straight through to the kitchen where he hastened to draw up a chair for himself next to Edward and Renesmee. Charlie took off his shoes and pulled me into a hug before stepping inside. The many layers of clothing he and I wore couldn’t warm the chill that was sent through his body, but he didn’t shudder - maybe he was getting used to it.


After Jacob and Charlie were fed they were a lot easier to talk too. Me and Edward sat hand in hand on the sofa making polite conversation, while Charlie collapsed into an armchair with Renesmee on his lap, humming tunelessly, and Jacob sat by the fire watching her like she was the centre of the universe. Which, to him, she probably was. It was two o’clock in the afternoon and it was plain that neither Jacob nor Charlie wanted to leave, so I cleared my throat nervously and exchanged a glance with Edward, who understood immediately and gave me a small nod.
“Jacob, do you mind babysitting Renesmee for a bit, me and Edward just wanted to go see Alice about something? Charlie, we can drop you back home if you want, or you can stay here if you prefer?”
Jacob beamed. “Yeah, I’d love to stay. Come on Charlie, don’t leave, Nessie doesn’t want you to go, do you, Nessie?”
She shook her head - she wasn’t allowed to talk openly around Charlie incase it was just too much for him.
Charlie melted under her wide eyed gaze. “Yes, of course I’ll stay”.
“Excellent!” I said, jumping up and grabbing the keys to the Volvo with my free hand and kissing Renesmee on the forehead. “See ya guys, we’ll be back in about an hour I expect. Be good for your Grandad, Renesmee.”
As we walked towards the door Edward, too, leaned down to kiss her on the top of the head and waved goodbye to Jacob and Charlie.
When we got outside Edward turned to the Volvo and started walking.
“Where are you going?” I asked, not moving.
“You grabbed the car keys - I assumed you wanted a change from running?”
“It’s all for show, silly. If we told Charlie we were going to run to Carlisle’s house don’t you think he’d be a little confused? He’s not interested enough to check the garage for the car, as if Jacob would let him get that far.”
“Oh right... Let’s run then”. He grabbed my hand and we set off through the woods.
When we were running, we didn’t breathe any quicker or let go hands. We could’ve been walking. I still couldn’t beat him in a race - he was just too fast. When we got to the house the door was opened before we could knock.
“Hi guys!” Came Alice’s wind chime voice.
“Hey Alice - I don’t suppose you can see why we’re here - it involves Renesmee?” Asked Edward, smirking.
Alice frowned. It always had frustrated her that she couldn’t ‘see’ Renesmee. She ignored Edward’s question and held the door open. We all headed to the living room and sat down, though there was really no need too, we were just as comfortable standing and we were in a houseful of vampires - as Edward had once called it ‘the one place we never had to hide’. So we sat down more out of habit then anything. Rosalie was there, playing chess with Jasper, which was no where near as entertaining to watch as Edward and Alice playing chess. Esme was curled up on Carlisle’s lap, who was reading an old, thoroughly battered book of poetry to her. Emmet was... reading? That was a change. When I got a better look at the magazine I understood - it was big and bright with a picture of a red, scary looking car on the cover. The Cullen’s all had a passion for fast cars.
Carlisle looked up from his book and Esme beamed. “Edward, Bella, always a pleasure.” Said Carlisle, inclining his head.
“Hey Carlisle”.
“Hey Bella, hey Bro”. Said Jasper, eyes still on the game of chess. Rosalie also shot a smile my way - she’d warmed up to me considerably in the last year.
I raised an eyebrow. “Chess?”
Rosalie threw back her beautiful golden hair and laughed. “Well it brings out Jaspers strategic side, so he loves it, but he can’t play with Alice or Edward for obvious reasons - and Emmet isn’t the kind of guy to sit down and play chess. I’m playing because I’ve got nothing better to do as Emmets just discovered car magazines.” She rolled her eyes and Emmet chuckled, not taking his eyes off the magazine.
I remembered Charlie being here at night for the first time - I was used to it and forgot how it looked to a human. It was when the Cullen’s let their guard down, let themselves be themselves.
“So what does bring you here?” Alice asked, cocking her head to the side curiously.
“Renesmee’s approaching first birthday”.
A dazzling smile lit up Alice’s features and she clapped her hands together - the kind of thing you normally only saw in movies. She was practically skipping up and down with delight. “Oh my gosh how could I forget! Oh can I plan it, please, please, please?” She begged. She could be very irritating, but also very persuasive.
“Actually, we were just wondering how you go about planning a first birthday for a child like Renesmee - I mean, she’s hardly your average one year old, is she?” Said Edward, smiling proudly, as if an abnormal child was every parents dream. But she seemed to have that effect on everyone - you only had to be around here for five minutes before she had you wrapped around her little finger.
“Well I don’t see why that’s a problem and neither will Renesmee. Oh, you know, you two will have to go down to Denali to invite Tanya’s family - if it wasn’t for them Renesmee might not be here”. I flinched at the memory of the swirling grey cloaks of the Volturi coming towards us, their eyes blood red. I felt Edward stiffen next to me, and though I felt the same way I rubbed soothing circles on the back of his hand with my thumb the way he sometimes did for me. I could feel him relax.
I thought about this. I’d never been to Denali to visit my new cousins and time alone was hard to come by these days - though I didn’t resent having Renesmee always near at all. I wondered whether they were still in mourning for their sister, Irina. She was the one who had betrayed us to the Volturi and even though that had nearly resulted in the death of the entire family - I could forgive her. She only saw what everyone else saw, and her healthy respect for the law meant that she was obliged to do what she felt was right.
And when she found out the truth I could see the remorse in her eyes. I knew she didn’t deserve her fate. That was what made up my mind more then anything - I felt like I had to do whatever I could to help.
“Actually Edward, it could be fun to go down to Denali don’t you think? It would be a short trip, and I’ve never seen their home - why don’t we go together, we can find someone to take care of Renesmee..?” I probed. I knew better then to reveal my real reason - that would only stress him or upset him, we didn’t like to drag up those painful memories, though those were the ones I could remember in sharp focus. We remembered the good things we got from the experience - the new friends we’d made, the new ties from all around the world - and the feeling of victory when we got one over the Volturi. I also knew if he said no there would be ways to convince him, but it was easier then I’d thought.
“We’d love to have her.” Said Alice, still thrilled at the prospect of another occasion she could plan. I found that when I wasn’t on the receiving end of one of Alice’s over the top schemes, it could be very fun.
“Yes, it’d be great to catch up with them and we owe them big time - I wonder if Garret’s still with Kate... Though of course, you could tell me that right now Alice..?” “And spoil the surprise?” But Alice was eager to be able to use her talent, and she closed her eyes in concentration, as did Edward. When she opened them again, they were both smiling.
“Alice? Edward? Do one of you want to tell me what’s going on?”
“They’re getting hitched. They don’t know it yet, but they are. Good luck keeping the secret - don’t you dare tell them!”
“No, I love a good secret as much as the next man. Anyway, I suppose they’ll know soon enough anyway. We’ll leave tomorrow. You sure you can take care of Renesmee? If something happens there’s always the possibility that we could be a bit longer..?”
She didn’t look like she was really listening. I knew what irked her - it was the same thing as usual. Now that she had made the decision to spend an extended amount of time with Renesmee, her vision must have became blurry and out of focus.
“Of course, it’ll be fun.” She said absently.
“Nice to see you Carlisle, Esme - we’ll be back tomorrow before we leave”. I said.
“Okay then, have a good night you two, tell Jacob, Nessie and Charlie I say Hello.”
Edward nodded and smiled.
“Bye guys!” I called over my shoulder, and Edward raised a hand in farewell.
We turned and ran, and were back at the cottage in under three minutes.

After Jacob and Charlie had left and Renesmee was fast asleep, me and Edward lay on top of the covers, me in my favourite place to be in the world - his arms. They no longer felt cold around me, but pleasantly warm - without the unnatural heat of Jacob’s. My head nuzzled into his chest and my hands traced the planes of his bare upper body. I looked up to see him gazing at me - that look I never understood, like I was the prize, not the amazingly lucky winner. And then he kissed me, slowly at first, then building up in intensity, urgency. When he kissed me it was the kiss that always kicked off a brilliant night. A brilliant night that didn’t involve the ‘sleeping’ thing because we just could bring ourselves to stop what we’d started - and why would we?
He slid his hands gently down to my waist, and then one of them down my thigh, down to my calf, resting at the hollow of my knee. His hand closed gently around my knee and he pulled it upwards over his hip, his lips not losing mind for a second. He still had one hand on my knee and the other on my waist, and gently rocked me over on top of him. His eyes closed but mine wouldn’t, still staring at his perfect face. I knew what kind of night this was going to be. My favourite kind of night...

We could never rely on the light to get us out of bed in the morning - not in Forks. When I became a vampire it also became strangely easy to lose track of time. Especially when Edward was kissing me. And when I was free of all those human frailties, when I didn’t get tired, or breathless, or hungry, or need to use the bathroom, I could just be with Edward forever. His hands on my waist, mine on his chest, and our lips everywhere they could reach. And I just couldn’t get over that we had a life time of this ahead of us - until the end of the world. That was a long time, but it would never be long enough - not when I was with Edward.
So, as usual, it was the tiny increase of Renesmee’s already frantic heartbeat that only a vampire would notice that did it. The sounds of her gentle snoring (and as I didn’t snore, we both knew who she inherited that particular gene form - but even though Edward remembered very little from his human life he still denied it) drawing to a close, and the rustle of her sheets as she tossed and turned her way into consciousness.
For once, it was me who pulled away - one of the hardest things you could ever imagine doing. “We have a job to do, remember?”
“Oh, right, Denali... Well, so long as we’re together it doesn’t really matter where we are...” He had already pulled on a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and long back overcoat.
I was running out of normal clothes. I was getting better at keeping them clean, but Alice wouldn’t allow me to wear the same thing two days in a row. Now that I thought about it, I could probably take her in a fight if she tried to get me into her girly frills by force, but she was my sister - and I had long since accepted that this was a part of who she was. Still - I was out of jeans and cotton tops. I rummaged through the wardrobe, sniffing out anything remotely casual. Just when I was giving up hope, I caught a whiff of cotton. I unzipped the bag and pulled out the sky blue dress - and it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared. Almost plain, nipping in at the waist with some red embroidery down the sides and a plunging neckline - that worried me a little. I pulled on the same black sweater I wore yesterday over the top - Alice would get over it - and even though I preferred bare feet these days, especially if I was going to be running, I threw on a pair of blue slip-ons.
By the time I was out of the wardrobe he had slung a heavy looking backpack over his shoulder and was throwing things into a more feminine looking one on the bed for me. When I emerged he looked up, was still for a minute as if in awe, and then smiled. He reached out and using one arm pulled me closer into his body. In my old body this would have crushed all of my bones. In this body it was marvelous.
I still had to stand on my toes to kiss him, he still had to lean down, but it was not uncomfortable in the slightest. I inhaled, and even though I no longer needed the air it still felt good.
“Mmm...” I mumbled.
“What’s ‘Mmm’?” He asked, grinning.
“When I was human you smelled so delicious. Now I am a vampire and every time I inhale that scent it is still so deliciously overwhelming... ten times as powerful as it was before... sort of like honey, and lilac, and sun... But not quite.” I trailed off, inhaling again.
This made him smile even more, and when he leaned in to kiss me again he inhaled also. “And you... you smell so sweet and nice, I cannot describe it, no word is quite right... Almost like rain, and freesia, and moss, and berries, and so many other things... You just smell like you.”
We kissed for a moment longer, before he felt for my bag on the bed without taking his eyes off my face, flung it over my shoulder, took my hand and we headed through to the kitchen where Renesmee was already perched on a chair smiling serenely. I began to chuck several packets of emergency contact lenses into the bag.
“Good Morning Honey. You’re Dad and I are going to take a trip to Denali today, we should be back tomorrow evening. Now Aunty Alice is very happy to have you stay with her and the family - unless you’d rather come with us, but it won’t be very exciting. Do you want to go stay with Aunty Alice?” I hoped she would agree to stay with Alice and Jasper, because it could be a lot harder to keep our plan a surprise if she came, but at the same time I wasn’t keen to be separated from Renesmee, even if it was only for a short time.
But she nodded her head and smiled, so I zipped my bag, grabbed a piece of paper off the bench and started scrambling around for a pen. Before I could look very far a smooth white hand held one out to me. It made sense to scribble out a note to Jacob because no doubt he would be round here today or tomorrow and he would probably panic if he saw the empty house. I couldn’t mention why we had gone to Denali, because a few months ago we had been pleased to discover that Renesmee could read, so I kept it short.

Jacob,
Me and Edward have gone to Denali for a short trip, should be back tomorrow evening, maybe longer. Left Renesmee with Alice - go see her and she will explain it all. Sorry it was such short notice, something came up - wish I could say more but you’ll have to talk to ALice. No need to panic, it’s good news.
Lots of love,
 Bella