Alice had watched out the window for him, knowing he was coming like a storm, but not sure why. Her eyes were wide as she stared at his advancing figure, wide as he slipped into the driver's seat.
She couldn't keep the alarm out of her voice, "Edward?"
Edward didn't wait for the wave of reaction from Jasper or Rosalie. He couldn't wait, he couldn't breathe enough. She could be coming out this way. He might not even make it past just seeing her and tearing off the car door to breach the space between them, to let the monster revel in her blood.
He threw the car into reverse, not even hearing the squealing reaction of the tires and the groan of the car as he did. He swung around the parking lot, only nearly missing two people who jumped out of the way.
The speedometer was near forty before he left the lot.
There were no obscenties and no compliments, nothing sweet enough and sharp enough, as the future changed lightening fast.
Bella's scent would be overpowering, drawing him into her, a moth before a candleflame. Her wide brown frightened eyes, a hand thrown back, pale peach against the yellow of the cabinet. Her throat would warm, pulse racing so quickly against her thin skin, heart thundering through the room as he--
The steering wheel groaned beneath the sudden tension of his fingers digging into it.
"Stop!" He groaned struggling with the urge not to yell; not to turn the car around and take her now. He was not that person. He wasn't supposed to be.
They piled out of the car, all of them except Alice. She knew they'd make her explain once Edward was on his way, but for now she had to speak to him herself.
Her fingers gripped his shoulder. "You will do the right thing." It wasn't a vision, it was what she knew. It was an order.
"She's Charlie Swan's only family. It would kill him, too."
He couldn't look at Alice when she touched him. Alice, who had his secret, the entire dissolution of his world, without his permission. Who had always had all of his secrets with every permission.
He couldn't look at Alice.
Her word slid through his mind, debated and discarded. He could still see that kitchen. He was still trying to cling to the pristine image of Carlisle's face. He couldn't be sure he would do the right thing even now, once she left him, trusting him to do the right thing.
Visions danced before her eyes, the good and the bad and they didn't stop as Edward fought with himself. Her eyebrows drew together with anxiety, and she slid out of the car, moving toward the others.
Her hand gripped her husband's as they ran through the forest, leaving Edward to his thoughts.
They were gone from view by the time he turned around, their thoughts a scatter of concern and confusion. Would Alice tell them? Would Alice keep the horrible truth to herself?
The tires squealed as the Volvo pealed back for the city and his thoughts shifted. Could he make it back to Bella before Alice, who would certainly be watching him closer now, could see the decision? Before the four of them could outstrip his car?
No.
He couldn't entertain those thoughts.
He couldn't think about her hand and her pulse and the curtain of her hair and how the scent of her blood would only be a garnish to the flavor of it.
Edward tried to shove the images away, hands tightening and foot pressing the pedal into the floor. The hospital was less than ten minutes away the way he was dodging in and out of traffic, disregarding every safety law Forks might have.
A doctor's paperwork is neverending. Even for a doctor who never felt a need to sleep could find the process tiresome. Still, the process was not for Carlisle to change. After grand rounds, he peeled off his coat in the sparse office with the Dr. Carlisle Cullen, M.D. on the door, dropping himself into his chair to set to work.
There wasn't even time to pull the cap off of his fountain pen when he heard Edward coming up the hallway.
Every step he took was one that he debating running the opposite direction. What was the human adage? It was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission? Surely, Carlisle would forgive him. Carlisle...
He slid past a nurse with a cart, moving faster than he should have. He should have faked even noticing that it almost hit him. But he couldn't. He couldn't think beyond the door down the hallway and how he wasn't going to make it if he looked at anything else.
Edward only barely remembered not to tear the door off when he opened it.
Carlisle is out of his seat immediately; even if a human were watching, it would simply be a father concerned for the son who should obviously not be as distressed as he is.
She couldn't keep the alarm out of her voice, "Edward?"
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He threw the car into reverse, not even hearing the squealing reaction of the tires and the groan of the car as he did. He swung around the parking lot, only nearly missing two people who jumped out of the way.
The speedometer was near forty before he left the lot.
It was near seventy as he hit the road.
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She couldn't see what had happened, only what would. She looked out the window, her hand on the window as they sped down the road.
--edward fleeing, white snow, familiar white snow, pristine and the denali clan--
"You're leaving?" She looked at him with wide eyes.
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Edward hissed, white-hot, angrily. "Am I?"
He should kill her for ruining his world.
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--bella swan dead, edward's eyes glowing crimson with fresh blood, the search that would follow, the waiting until they could leave and start again--
"Oh." It was sharper this time and her fingers twitched on the glass of the window, highly distressed. The picture sharpened.
--edward walking into the swan household, bella with her back to edward, the cabinets yellow, her blood pulling him to her--
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Bella's scent would be overpowering, drawing him into her, a moth before a candleflame. Her wide brown frightened eyes, a hand thrown back, pale peach against the yellow of the cabinet. Her throat would warm, pulse racing so quickly against her thin skin, heart thundering through the room as he--
The steering wheel groaned beneath the sudden tension of his fingers digging into it.
"Stop!" He groaned struggling with the urge not to yell; not to turn the car around and take her now. He was not that person. He wasn't supposed to be.
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"I'll miss you," She whispered. "No matter how short a time you're gone."
The turn was coming up; Alice set her hand on Edward's shoulder. "Drop us here. You should tell Carlisle yourself."
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Edward nodded, sharp and stiff, the car coming squealling to a sudden stop.
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Her fingers gripped his shoulder. "You will do the right thing." It wasn't a vision, it was what she knew. It was an order.
"She's Charlie Swan's only family. It would kill him, too."
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He couldn't look at Alice.
Her word slid through his mind, debated and discarded. He could still see that kitchen. He was still trying to cling to the pristine image of Carlisle's face. He couldn't be sure he would do the right thing even now, once she left him, trusting him to do the right thing.
Her last sentence caught.
"Yes," he said, hard and hollow and small.
Thinking of Charlie Swan -- and Carlisle.
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Her hand gripped her husband's as they ran through the forest, leaving Edward to his thoughts.
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The tires squealed as the Volvo pealed back for the city and his thoughts shifted. Could he make it back to Bella before Alice, who would certainly be watching him closer now, could see the decision? Before the four of them could outstrip his car?
No.
He couldn't entertain those thoughts.
He couldn't think about her hand and her pulse and the curtain of her hair and how the scent of her blood would only be a garnish to the flavor of it.
Edward tried to shove the images away, hands tightening and foot pressing the pedal into the floor. The hospital was less than ten minutes away the way he was dodging in and out of traffic, disregarding every safety law Forks might have.
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There wasn't even time to pull the cap off of his fountain pen when he heard Edward coming up the hallway.
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He slid past a nurse with a cart, moving faster than he should have. He should have faked even noticing that it almost hit him. But he couldn't. He couldn't think beyond the door down the hallway and how he wasn't going to make it if he looked at anything else.
Edward only barely remembered not to tear the door off when he opened it.
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"Edward?"
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