Honeybee

Chapter Fifteen~American Pastime

Chapter Fifteen
American Pastime
Elizabeth Cullen
Forks, Washington. March, 2005.

"How you love to torment me..." Carlisle smirked, his gorgeous eyes praising my form-fitting baseball uniform from across the field where he stood with the girls.

I sent him a discrete wink as I continued playing catch with Emmett, expertly tuning out my sons smack-talk.

"Not very discrete." Edward laughed as he entered the tree line behind me and set Bella on her feet.

"You've got your switch on?" I questioned him, surprised as he tends to prefer to keep his off.

"Monitoring moods." Edward confessed with a simple shrug as he worked to steady an unbalanced Bella on her feet.

"Shame on you for running with her like that." I chided him, sweeping forward to place my steady arms under Bella's arms to brace her properly. "You know you're too fast. You should've slowed down for her. Or, better yet, you should've just asked your brother to clear the way for the Jeep."

"I would've!" Emmett cheered while jostling Edwards shoulders excitedly.

"I'm fine, really." Bella assured me as she came to her senses. "I promise."

"Okay." I nodded, carefully releasing her as I didn't want to hover. "But the moment you start to feel faint you need to tell someone, please."

"Promise, Elizabeth." She nodded.

"Great." Edward smiled sardonically at me with a teasing playfulness in his eyes. "Anything else, Mom? Or can we get started?"

He didn't want me to know how much he liked seeing me care for Bella, but the boy was practically screaming it in his open mind.

"That's all." I chirped, pinching his cheek sweetly before turning to face the rest of the family. "Alice, sweetheart, we're waiting on you." I called out unnecessarily as Bella and Edward began to follow me to home plate.

"Three...two...one..."

A rippling crack of thunder vibrated the field at that moment.

"It's time!" Alice announced entirely delighted with her own timing.

"Hope you don't mind umpiring, Bella." Carlisle smiled angelically as I reached his side. "We so rarely have enough to make even teams."

"I think that's best. I don't have the best hand-eye coordination." She giggled. "Who's on what team?"

"My parents very much enjoy playing against one another. It's the only time there's any discourse in their marriage." Edward laughed at us.

"A little healthy rivalry is a good thing." I giggled, wrapping my arms around Carlisle's waist to distract him. "Especially when I'm the one with the winning streak!" I laughed, slipping his favorite bat from his hands and dancing away from him.

"Not fair." He chuckled as the kids laughed at us. "To answer your question, Bella, I have Edward, Emmett, and Esme on my team while Elizabeth has Alice, Rosalie, and Jasper. It's the best way to keep the teams mostly even in strengths."

"Because the mind readers are on separate sides." Bella nodded. "Plus, Elizabeth has Alice's precognition but you have Emmetts strength."

"And Jasper helps balance that out." Carlisle agreed with her. "Very astute, Bella." He praised her.

"Thank you." She smiled, sending a proud smile over her shoulder at Edward.

"Enough talking, we'll lose our time, let's play." I laughed as I handed Carlisle his bat back. "You're up at the plate, lover boy." I teased him. "Alice, you're pitching!"