Falling To The Sun | B. Swan + E. Cullen

BONUS BLURB

Edward had always understood and known the extent of his feeling for Bella. He had nurtured affection until hunger turned into a longing for a girl who was always at his side. His happiness came with the fact of knowing her, with the possibility that one day she would grow old and eventually be with someone that she deserved, someone who was not cursed.

When he had been told of her death, he admittedly did not take the news well. And after reuniting, the events that had taken place in his absence were difficult to understand.

Because while Bella hadn't moved on from him, her desire to have him just as deep and infallible, she had found love again elsewhere.

Alice had shared with him what she had known, the way that they acted together. His sister was quick to remind him of what she had seen in visions.

Roman Elders was an anomaly. Her thoughts would dance in and out of his range, losing focus or cutting off mid way through. She flickered through visions as though her future had never once been certain, yet she was always there somewhere.

There had been a time when Alice would tease that Roman would be steadily at his side, that she would be his mate. But then those futures snuffed out the moment his Bella had arrived and the odd things that Alice would see were not brought up again.

Her entrance left him curious. Bella's near hysteria over her disappearance was interesting.

It made sense later, as time passed and he got to know the girl. Roman crept up on him, hidden until she suddenly popped into existence and claimed an equal portion of his heart.

Edward had always thought himself selfish, and if he could keep them both for at least a little while then he would.

He was bulldozed by the pair of them, married off to both in a moment that was pure incandescent happiness. He had Roman and Bella both, two loves that loved each other just as equally. He was getting to spend the rest of forever with them despite the damnation of his soul.

They give him children, they gave their lives for a family. Romulus and Renesmee. Beautiful half human children that were theirs.

And when they went missing, his son and dear wife who he was eternally thankful for remaining steadfast, after a threat to the family... Edward could only recall the threats he believed empty made with the fiery impulsive and rashness of a pregnant human. Edward had not believed her possible or going through with it after the full force of a mate bond pulled through.

But they were gone. His Roman and Romulus. Both missing. His tracker of a wife with a perfect camouflage instinct that had the potential to evade him always.

There was a mixture of rage and deep despair that was there. How could she leave them? How dare she take his son?

Bella was a perfect picture of denial, unwavering in her belief that Roman would ever just leave them for the sake of it.

But Roman was a tracker like no other with the senses of a prey. It would not be so out of place for a newborn to get caught in the sense of being hunted and flee.

The fact she had left with Alice and Jasper made it all the more difficult to understand. Alice would know that Aro was after her. It was reasonable to assume his sister would flee with the hope of drawing the Volturi away again, even more so to decide that leaving would be the best bet to keep herself out of Aro's hands. Who better to avoid detection and capture than his smart little tracker?

Edward harboured those thoughts to himself when he comforted Bella late at night, as he reassured his daughter and his new brother-in-law. Seth had taken the news hard, he could hear each thought, but not as much as his little family.

Roman. Roman. Roman. He couldn't decipher the way she thought, at times. Couldn't piece together the disjointed ideas that she flit between. Right before she left, he could sense nothing. Her thoughts were normal, reflecting his own fears and worries, his despair at the threat to their family. Edward could not understand why she had left in that moment, a flicker of nothing in the wind and faster than many of them even made decisions.

They were all gone before he had even had time to wonder where they had gone.

This, he assumed, was what stung the most. Had Roman been prepared to leave? Did she have a bag packed in the event of 'just in case'?

Did he notice her so little, not pay enough attention to his lovely, beautiful, brave wife that something this monumental had slipped him by? The mere idea was anguishing.

Hope came in the form of the Amazonian coven. Missing a member, but a relief all the same, they brought news of Roman and Romulus, Alice and Jasper. They claimed they were searching for something, for answers, but to be prepared all the same.

With them came the ability to see them I. Their memories. Romulus looked about the same age as Renesmee, his boy growing fast and wicked smart. He seemed to be getting much of his personality from his mother, aunt and uncle. Even the way he moved was like a mini Alice.

His Roman was much the same. Wearing hiking boots and an outfit of someone at ease in nature, she was just as beautiful, in not more so. Edward clung to those memories greedily, playing them over and over in his mind whenever he allowed himself a moment to be free of his fears.

If what they claimed was true, Roman had left to protect them, to save them somehow. Bella was smug to have been right, and Edward allowed her to be. She deserved it, never having a doubt for their wife.

He clung to that stunning image of her till the moment they were stood in the cleaning once more. Edward wondered where she was now? How far away they could be?

God forbid this was to be the end, but he would give anything to see her one last time.

Like an image from his prayers, Roman had come gliding out from the trees with all the grace and sharpness of a predator.

And then she dropped, crumbling with a moan of pain. Edward had her mind in his grasp now and refused to release it for a moment even as his perfect, wonderful, deadly wife crumbled under Jane's thumb.

He was aware of Bella protesting and the crying of his daughter, but he couldn't tear his focus away for a moment, not as his Roman wanted to curl into herself and stay.

"Momma!"

His son. His baby Romulus.

Edward watched in disbelief as Roman's mind shutter, the pain remained but no longer debilitating as she stood on shaky legs.

He could see his son clearly now, clung to the back of his mother like a little monkey. Edward drank in the sight of him. Of them both. Greedy and selfish he picked through the thoughts at the surface.

Things moved quickly then. They won. The Volturi left. Safe. They were safe and free and his children were immortal.

The smile on Roman's face when they had revealed that tomboy was exquisitely.

Romulus was running and Edward met him halfway. He clung to the boy. Romulus. Romulus. Romulus. He cradled his son to him, breathed in the scent of him. Memorized the new weight in his arms.

Bella came to him next, slipping their boy from his arms, and suddenly there was only one thing he wanted more.

His wife. His wife. Roman. Roman. Roman.

Edward had his confusing little anomaly back. He had Roman tucked to him, pressed tight to his chest and a hand tangled in her hair. He was kissing her, tasting her skin, drawing in her scent.

Never again was Edward going to let her go.

Unedited.