1: Skinny Love (Ed. Cullen)

18.

"Hey, Billy" Bambi greets as she, Jacob and Caleb enter the small house, he smiles at the older Swan girl and then to his sons.

"Can she stay?" Jacob asks, Bambi pouts and pulls out the major puppy dog eyes, Billy smiles and shakes his head.

"You don't even need to ask" he tells them, Jacob lifts Bambi up as he laughs, she laughs with him, Caleb shakes his head amused and walks past them.

"I'll order pizza" he states and looks to the pair as they talk through chuckles. He smiles and leaves.

...................

Jacob holds out a shirt to Bambi and she takes it as he sits at her side, the small tv in his bedroom playing old reruns.

"Shame Bella didn't want to stay" Caleb mumbles grabbing a pizza slice, Bambi shrugs.

"It's not her sort of thing" she mumbles, Jacob slides his hand under her shirt and shares a look with Caleb who smirks, Jacob scratches at Bambi's back, she arches up and hisses. "Dude...seriously?!" she slaps his chest as he laughs. "You know how sensitive my back is!" he laughs as she nudges at him. He pulls her down and wraps an arm around her.

"Dog pile" Caleb teases and crowds them both. Squashing Bambi between him and his brother.

"No!" Bambi argues lightly. "Guys, come on!!" Bambi complains trying to wiggle free, Jacob and Caleb have her pretty stuck between them, though she smiles, she loves her best friends. The brothers laugh. The three of them settle together to watch tv. Jacob keeping an arm around Bambi. She sets her head on his chest and smiles as he threads his fingers into her hair.

.......................

Jacob shifts Bambi slightly as she sleeps, laying her up the right way, Caleb grabs the empty pizza box and looks to Jacob.

"Are you ever going to tell her?" Caleb asks, Jacob shoots him a look, Caleb smirks and pats Jacob's shoulder. "You've had a raging crush on her since we were kids....."

"We're just brothers to her" Jacob argues. "And it's not like you've told Bella" he grumbles pulling off his shirt. Caleb scoffs and leaves mumbling under his breath, Jacob climbs into bed beside Bambi and lifts a blanket to pull over them, this is nothing new, they've always slept beside one another during sleepovers, but now. Now, she's wearing his shirt and a pair of panties just one side of inappropriate and she's in his bed. She groans and curls up and he pulls the blanket over them with a sigh. She turns over and curls around him, nuzzling into his neck, Jacob smiles and wraps an arm around her.

"Jake" she whimpers in her sleep, he smiles and kisses her head, before settling to sleep at her side.

.............................

Edward taps a pen against a large book sat before him, his mind repeating everything he'd seen in chemistry with Bambi and her hand, the speed at which she healed, he sighs and sets the pen down, it's not enough to go on, it could be anything. She could be anything. Carlisle looks to him.

"Edward?" he asks, Edward looks to him.

"Just....nothing" he mumbles and closes the book, stands and slides it back into it's place on the shelf. "Bambi" he admits. "She....she burnt herself in chemistry today..."

"Okay, is she okay?" Carlisle asks.

"Yes" Edward answers. "She healed in seconds, not a mark on her" Carlisle frowns and Edward nods. "I've been wearing that frown all day, I don't know what happened.....or why" he looks to Carlisle's bookshelf.

"Do you want me to search?" Carlisle offers. "For an answer" Edward shrugs.

"I don't know if I want an answer" he admits. "Because I don't think she knows herself, I think she thinks that she's just....weird....and I don't want to know because then the responsibility of telling her falls to me....and I don't want to be the person to tell her"

"And Bella?" Carlisle asks. "If they're twins"

"She seems....human...." Edward answers and looks to Connor as he walks into the room. "I've not noticed any of the same....symptoms? Is that the right word?"

"Connor?" Carlisle asks.

"Not that I've noticed...." he answers sitting next to his brother. "She seems remarkably human" he adds with a shrug.

........................

The next week is event free, classes go as usual, Connor continues to ignore Bella whilst Edward seeks out Bambi's conversation, they talk about music mostly, or her childhood, surprisingly they talk very little about him. Bambi thinks as she runs, headphones in, through the forest, weaving through the trees, she's barely out of breath. She skids to a stop, literally skidding in the mud under her trainers, she stretches her arms up over her head and stretches pushing her chest out and bending her back before looking out over the view before her. Perfect vista view. People that say nature isn't beautiful clearly hasn't seen anything like this. As far as they eye can see is green.

"Bambi?" she turns around abruptly, her foot getting caught in the ground, her eyes widen as she stumbles and then Edward is there, grabbing her arm and stopping her from falling, he takes a deep breath and then regrets it, out here, her scent seems stronger, potent. "That was completely my fault" he tells her. She nods as he stands her up, stood close to her, perhaps a little too close, he looks down at her, his hand still on her arm, still so warm. There's no one around he could easily take what he wants, but if that was going to happen, why did he call her name, why did he draw attention to himself when he could have done it in a flash, she would never have known.

"Yeah, kinda was" she teases, he blinks and looks to her, a smile creeping onto his lips. "Sneaking up on a girl"

"My apologies" he offers leaning down to pick up her phone which she'd dropped in the almost fall.

"Your family's making a habit of saving Swan girls" she teases, he laughs and looks to her.

"So it would appear" she takes her phone back and raises an eyebrow.

"What are you doing here?" she asks.

"I like taking walks" he offers, she raises her eyebrow higher. "What about you?" he asks, then cringes, it's a stupid question, he can guess.

"I like to run the trails....." she answers and crosses her arms over her chest. "This is a long way from any road....you walk this far?"

"You run this far?" he asks back, she laughs, he smirks.

"Fair enough" she answers walking along the trail, Edward moves to walk at her side.

"Okay, so you run and you play violin" he points out. "You're smart...and you like your fashion"

"Is there a point?" she asks.

"What don't you do?" he asks, she smirks and shrugs.

"I'm terrible at car maintenance" she answers. "If I were to ever break down, I swear, I would be stranded" he laughs and looks to her. "I don't even know where my spare is" they share a look and he smiles.