The Edge

Bet on Alice

Summary: Alice comes over to sweep Bella away for a romantic weekend

Three Weeks Later

Charlie watched as Bella paced back and forth in front of the entrance way to the living room, lifting her watch one more time and looking down at it before frowning and continuing with her pacing.

Shaking his head he turned his attention back to the television set. She had been acting similarly jittery since he had returned from work. He was actually quite surprised that she had managed to keep moving for so long without collapsing in exhaustion. The pacing wasn't making the time go by any faster, she could as well have just sat down and waited, but when he had suggested that to her, he had received such a withering glare in return that he knew not to bring it up again.

He would never, even if he lived to two hundred years of age, understand teenage girls.

"What time do you have?" Bella asked suddenly, speaking for the first time in nearly half an hour. She was looking down at her watch again. She shook the watch by her ear and then frowned at it once more. "I think there's something wrong with mine."

Charlie looked down at his watch. He knew there was absolutely nothing wrong with Bella's, but it would be less troublesome to just confirm the time for her, than to try and convince her of that.

"It's, 7:05," Charlie responded lowering his hand, shaking his head again as Bella sighed deeply and continued to pace. "Bells," Charlie sighed, unable to take it anymore. "She's probably tired after her trip. She might not even be coming. You should probably let her rest up. Kiddo doesn't look like she gets enough sleep as it is," Charlie continued frowning as he thought about the perpetual dark circles under Alice's eyes.

"Oh, she's coming," Bella said in response, "if she knows what's good for her," she added under her breath a moment later as she glanced at her watch again.

"If you say so," Charlie responded giving up. He was just going to have to put up with her insane pacing until Alice arrived ... which he hoped was soon.

A few minutes later, the sound of a car pulling up to the driveway could be heard, and Charlie turned his head towards the door in time to see Bella dancing back and forth, taking a step forward and then back, as if she couldn't decide whether to run to the door and fling it open, or play it cool and wait until the door bell rang. Deeply mystified, he watched her continue her dance of indecision until the door bell rang and she darted forward, disappearing from sight.

Alice laughed delightedly as Bella flew into her arms, her arms wrapping around Bella as she kicked the door shut with her foot.

Bella breathed in deeply, taking in Alice's scent and then pulled back, pressing her lips against the vampire's, drinking in Alice's surprised gasp. A moment later, she felt Alice's arms wrap around her more securely, and she sighed into her mouth as Alice began to kiss her back, her hand moving up and down Bella's back.

"It's good to see you too," Alice murmured, smiling softly as she cupped Bella's cheek.

Bella blushed a little knowing that her greeting had perhaps been a bit too enthusiastic, but she didn't much care.

"I missed you," Bella breathed out, leaning forward to brush her lips against Alice's again, more softly this time, just savoring her closeness.

"I missed you too," Alice responded, hugging Bella once more before she looked past her into the hallway. "I should probably say hi to Charlie before he wanders out here to see what's taking so long," she could hear him shifting in his old arm chair, and knew that he was on his way to see what was holding up the show.