Twilight Fan Fiction ❯ First Tooth ❯ Oneshot ( Chapter 1 )

AN: Thanks to rarity for the beta job.

 

First Tooth

 

On the floor in her bedroom, Bella sat Indian-style as Edward hovered over her, sitting on her bed. She leaned comfortably against his legs, and he peered over at the package she had just gotten from her mother.

 

Bella sighed. "Great. I know exactly what this is," she said with a tinge of exasperation. Edward was content in his silence, his expression molding into his usual abounding curiosity when it came to her most basic human characteristics.

 

"Let's open it," he suggested, gracefully masking any sort of impatience in his tone. Bella knew he was excited, as if it was the Question Date all over again. She presumed he knew she wasn't excited, but as usual, he would persuade her to follow his whim without much effort.

 

She grunted, carefully sliding the letter opener along the edges of the box. She felt Edward tense behind her, and she frowned. Did he think her so clumsy she'd hurt herself on a measly letter opener?

 

"Ow!" she called, looking at the bruise from the blunt edge of the tool. Thankfully, no skin was broken. She wasn't worried, though. Edward squeezed a hand on her shoulder and lightly chuckled. She pouted.

 

When she pawed through the crumpled newspaper and lifted the treasure from inside, Edward craned his neck to what she held in her hands.

 

"My old music box," Bella said, eying the sparkling pink ceramic box with nostalgia. She traced a finger over the intricate painting of a unicorn torso on the lid. Slowly, she opened it and a light melody cranked out, and both of them became entranced to what was inside. Bella, however, had some suspicion.

 

"I swear, my mom keeps the most peculiar things," Bella commented, and Edward guffawed with amusement behind her.

 

In smooth tones, his words cascaded off the shell of her ear. "What is that? And that? Tell me about it."

 

"Well... it's not much," she said languidly, hoping he would lose interest. Fat chance with Edward. She leafed through some old ribbons and folded notes. Before she could set them aside on the floor, Edward grabbed them up. Bella watched him with intrigue. He looked at her things with abounding interest, and she couldn't believe that he, a vampire, could treat looking in an old dusty box of her things as something of an adventure.

 

She would think vampires would find other things more adventurous, like hunting food, for instance.

 

She blew a pesky stray stand out of her face and leafed through the box again. Edward, who was once entranced by her copious attendance ribbons, suddenly craned his head and directed his attention back into the box. Bella looked down at the bottom, and curiously, she picked up a small baggy and gazed at the contents.

 

"My first tooth," Bella said with light-hearted awe. "I can't believe she kept this." Bella felt a strange sense of sentimentality rise in her chest. She could feel Edward watching her.

She turned to read his expression, and he seemed delighted in her discovery.

"The first baby tooth you lost," he said, and idly she handed it to him for inspection. Seconds went by an he still couldn't avert his eyes away. Bella wished she knew what he was thinking, but she guessed it had something to do with her humanity. She sighed as he smirked at her.

"Let me guess, you trying to imagine me much, much younger, and holding out my newly fallen baby tooth proudly to my parents?"

"I suppose you could say that," Edward teased.

"Well, it didn't happen that way. I could feel it loose in my mouth, and Mom got so excited that she reached in and tapped it. I cried, and she tried to soothe me when she saw that I was in pain. I tasted blood and felt sick to my stomach. Suddenly, I hear a crunch, and the tooth scrapes against gums before falling out in a bloody mess. Then... when I woke up, I realized that I had passed out, and the horrible tooth was lying by my bedside, clean and ready for me."

"Ready for you?" His interest couldn't have been more irksome. Bella snorted.

"To put under my pillow for the tooth fairy. Mom was more than ready to tell that story."

"It sounds wonderfully enduring," Edward commented with fondness. Bella paused, taking in his tone.

She relaxed against his legs and looked up at her ceiling. "You're right. Why are you always right?" she said with frustration.

"Bella," he said softly, his voice leading a path of goosebumps down the curve of her neck. "Stories like these are precious." He held up the bag with the tooth inside. "Things like these... well, you must never take them for granted."

"I know," she said. She didn't want to quarrel or make a fuss, but Edward was trying to make a point again about her mortality. Sometimes, he just got on her nerves when he did that.

But he was right.

He handed her back the tooth, and neatly, she arranged all her keepsakes back into the box. The trite melody that was playing silenced as she shut the lid, and soon they were entrapped in their own warm silence again.

"You should thank you mother for sending that to you. It was a great gift."

"Yeah," Bella said, scrunching her forehead in curiosity. "Hey, do you get the feeling that as my mom sends me packages like this, that she... senses something is going to change soon?" Bella turned around and looked into Edward's face. When she met his eyes, he didn't even need to answer.

"Esme tells me that a mother's intuition is very strong," Edward replied, ruffling her hair and running a finger down the curve of her cheek.

"Hn," Bella agreed, and then like in a trance, her gaze locked onto the floor, and she became lost in her thoughts. Edward reached over her and grabbed the music box and opened lid to return them to the world of memories and soft music.

"Soon... it's coming soon," Bella said, wrapping an arm around Edward's leg and hugging him close.

Edward made a noise of affirmation above her, and she closed her eyes. She thought of herself as a child, and took a firm grip onto the memories. A sudden drip of fright fell into her belly, and she hoped when that certain day came that she would not lose them.

END