Chapter 20

My legs ached. A lot. I was exhausted, all I wanted to do was get a nice, hot bubble bath in the Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom adjoining my room and then go to bed. Of course, Alice, who didn't need sleep and didn't get physically uncomfortable or tired, only wanted to spend the night ordering room service for me , watching girly movies, giving make-overs and having some sort of fashion show with the clothes we had just bought, and there were a lot of new clothes. I tried to fight her when we got back to the hotel room, I tried to tell her that, as a human, I couldn't withstand this kind of physical exertion, she just told me to stop being dramatic. Seriously, I mean, what would she know about what humans can withstand she's a vampire for crying out loud.

Thankfully Rose made a compromise and told me to go get my bubble bath, but to make sure I stayed with them until I absolutely couldn't keep my eyes open. I thanked her and then ran to the Jacuzzi.

It was like heaven. I wanted to lie in there forever and just soak until I turned into crinkled prune. It was made even better by Carlisle calling.

"Hello Isabella." Oh, that voice, what I would give to have him here right now. I think I actually sighed in contentment when I heard him speak.

"Hey Carlisle." I think my voice was kinda dreamy, but I don't mind, this tub was dreamy.

"You sound happy, has Alice not completely worn you out today then?" I could hear the smile in his voice, I loved it.

"Oh no, she has, it's just this tub." I stroked the side of the tub as I spoke into the phone wondering briefly if Carlisle would buy me one exactly like this, not that I'd ever actually ask.

"Tub?" He asked, sounding confused.

"Yeah, the Jacuzzi bathtub in the suite is amazing, it's like sitting in heaven, especially after the day I've had, the only think that would make it better would be if you were here."

"In the tub with you?" He asked and I laughed.

"Well I wouldn't say no to that." He groaned and I smiled down the phone at his reaction.

"Why do you tease me Isabella?"

"I'm not teasing you Carlisle, I just love your reactions."

"Then I shall never hide my reactions."

"Good." We talked for a while, but the Alice started banging on the door telling me to hurry up and Carlisle said the boys were pestering him to go hunting so we said goodbye. I washed quickly, knowing Alice wouldn't be happy if I lingered any longer. I slipped on some underwear and then just a robe knowing I'd probably have to change a million times soon enough.

When I walked into the living room of the suite there was already food waiting for me, and quite a lot of it. Alice had set up the room so we were sitting comfortably with lots of blankets around us and all her make-up and beauty supplies close by and a stack of chick-flicks with one already ready to watch.

As I sat down, Alice jumped on the seat next to mine and grinned at me. Rose came to sit on my other side with a bag of beauty products in hand.

"Eat Bella, and then we'll make you look beautiful." Oh God, why did I agree to this.

I tried to eat as slowly as possible but it turned out that I was pretty damn hungry and before I knew it I'd finished all I could eat and they were prodding and pulling at me; pampering me, Alice called it.

We spent a long time doing each other's hair, nails and make-up (yes they actually let me go near them with that stuff) and we watched a bunch of chick-flicks while we were doing it but I ended up being too tired for the fashion show. Alice pulled my head into her lap and started stroking my hair.

"Don't worry Bella, we can do the fashion show tomorrow when we get home, show the guys everything we've bought, it'll be fantastic. But you have to be up early, we need to take the old clothes to the charity shops before we drive home." I nodded and closed my eyes and before I knew it I was asleep.

I woke up on a couch with a massively comfortable duvet covering me, a very soft pillow beneath my head and someone stroking my hair. I sat up and Alice smiled.

"You sleep okay Bella?" She asked as she passed me some food.

"Yeah, fine, why?" I asked as I dug into the bacon on toast Alice had ordered me, having a psychic best friend is awesome.

"You were just a little restless, mumbling a lot." Rose smiled at me as she spoke but quickly turned back to the TV, which had no sound coming from it.

"Oh, well, I think that's normal. Why is the TV silent?" I already know I'm weird, don't need any more proof thanks.

"It's not, we can hear it fine, we turned it down because you kept mumbling 'turn it down' in your sleep, we thought maybe you were talking to us."

"Oh." I have no idea who I'd been talking to.

They turned the TV up so I could hear it but they were still watching chick-flicks so I wasn't all that interested. After I'd eaten I used the bathroom and got changed into a new t-shirt that Rose had made me buy, it was red and in black words it said 'I'm in Love with a Vampire'. It was cool. I put on some black skinny jeans, my converse and my leather jacket, packed up my stuff and met the girls by the door.

Alice went to check out as me and Rose went to load out stuff into the car. There was a lot of stuff but we made it fit. I jumped in shotgun as Rose started the car and as soon as Alice joined us we were out of there.

We stopped off at a few charity shops all on our way out of Seattle. I stayed in the car for most of them but the very last shop Alice stopped at was next door to an animal shelter and I couldn't resist the urge to go in and have a look.

"Be back in a minute." I told Rose, who nodded and turned the music up in the car. I took my purse and made my way inside. The woman at the desk looked up as I entered and a bright smile lit up her face.

"Hi, welcome to Seattle's animal shelter, I'm Mary, you looking to adopt?" Mary looked to be in her forties, with slightly greying hair and a big, warm smile.

"Er, well, looking is the appropriate word." She nodded, like she'd heard it before and pointed to a door behind the desk.

"Well, you want to look?" I nodded and she lifted a part of the desk so I could walk through. There were lots of noise coming from behind the door, a lot of barking and I got a little excited. I wonder if Carlisle would let me get a dog. She led me through the door and the noise got significantly louder. There was a walkway, straight down the middle of the room and on both sides were lots of pens, all with a different dog in them. She told me about all the different dogs we passed but none seemed to catch my eye until we got about halfway down the room.

And there he was, he looked small curled up on a bed, big brown eyes staring at me. His fur was thick, white and brown, with brown ears and brown patches around both eyes. I bent down to look at him but he didn't seem to want to get out of his bed.

"He's adorable, isn't he? He's a Saint Bernard, two months old, full pedigree. He's been here for three weeks and everyone who comes in usually just looks right passed him, probably because he doesn't get out of bed for any of them."

"Is he ill or something?" I asked, concerned for this little adorable puppy.

"No, perfectly healthy, personally I think it's grief, he was found amongst his dead brothers and sisters, he looked to be the runt of the family, don't really know what happened to the rest but somehow he survived, he was very lucky." It was then that I knew I had to have him. I knew we could help each other through our grief, as sad as that might sound, but I just knew he was here for me. As if to confirm my idea, he looked at me, directly in my eyes and deliberately got up to come over to me. I put my hand through the bars and scratched behind his ears. He licked my fingers and then sat down in front of the bars, never taking his eyes off me.

"Huh? He's never came over to anyone before." I smiled and got out my phone.

"I'm just going to call my," what would I call Carlisle to this woman? "My partner and make sure it's alright I have him." She grinned.

"Alrighty then, I'll just give you a little privacy." She moved away to check on some of the other dogs as I called Carlisle.

"Hello Isabella, is everything alright?" I smiled, his voice making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

"Everything's fine I was just wondering if you would let me have a pet." There was silence on the other line for a minute before I heard Emmett shout.

"Say 'yes' Carlisle, say 'YES'. I want a pet too. Nothing crappy Bella. SAY 'YES'." I laughed and I heard Carlisle do so too.

"How can I say no to you and Emmett. What kind of pet are you thinking Bella?" I grinned and nodded over to Mary who smiled and mouthed 'I'll set up the paperwork' I nodded and she went back into the front.

"You'll meet him when I get home, he's gorgeous Carlisle, you'll all love him I know it."

"Alright then, I'll see you in a few hours." I said goodbye, promised my new puppy I'd get him in a minute and then followed Mary into the front.

I signed some paperwork, paid for him and then Mary showed me into the shop part of the shelter and I bought some necessities for him. After what must have been at least half an hour, Rose came to find me.

"Bella, what are you doing?" She asked as she saw my arms filled with bags of stuff for the puppy.

"I'm adopting a puppy, Carlisle already said yes, and Emmett wants him too so you can't be mean." I pointed a finger at her and smiled.

"Alright, I won't be mean, I'd love an animal too although I can't say the same for Alice, when are you getting him?" She asked as she took the bags out of my arms and held them all comfortably.

"Any time now." Said Mary and Rose nodded, telling me to get the puppy and meet her in the car.

Mary led me back to him to find him sat in the exact same place waiting for me.

"Strange, it's like he knows he's going with you."

"I know." She opened the door to the kennel and he plodded out right into my arms. I picked him up and he licked my cheek before settling into my arms.

I thanked Mary before I left and she said goodbye to him. I got back into my seat in the car and Alice pretty much freaked.

"Bella, what the hell are you doing with an animal?" Her ordinarily high pitched voice was even higher and she slid back in her seat, as if trying to get away from him.

"Don't be mean Alice, he's just a baby." Rose leaned over in her seat to stroke him yet seemed shocked when he lifted his head and licked her hand once before settling back down and letting her stroke him.

"That's weird, most animals shy away from vampires." She grinned as she carried on stroking him and I smiled and kissed his little furry head.

"He's special, he was meant for me." Rose grinned and moved back into her seat and started car.

"Yeah, well good for you Bells, just do me a favour and keep it away from me." Alice grimaced as she looked at him and I rolled my eyes.

"Alice Cullen, the future seeing vampire who's scared of a little puppy."

"Yeah well, he won't be little for long." I smiled down at him as he snuggled into me and fell asleep.

"I know."

The journey home was pretty much like the journey there, once Alice got over the fact that there was a dog in the car she livened up and kept up a constant chatter, sometimes making snide remarks about my puppy but usually just pretending he didn't exist. I rolled my eyes at her quite a few times but she ignored that too.

The puppy slept the whole way home and I kept him wrapped inside my leather jacket, which I still had on.

After what felt like forever of Alice chatter and me smiling down at my puppy (he really needs a name) we were finally pulling into the garage. I went to get some of the bags but the guys came and took all the bags off us. Carlisle kissed my forehead as we made our way inside and smiled down at the puppy who was still asleep in my arms.

Carlisle took my bags up the stairs as I sat down on one of the sofas and Emmett sat next to me.

"Oh, my God, he is so adorable, Bella, you made the right choice." Emmett reached out and started stroking him and he finally woke up. He looked up at me as I kissed his head and he licked my cheek before he turned his head to Emmett and licked his hand. Emmett made a little squealing noise.

"Can I hold him?" He asked, like a child on Christmas and I couldn't say no, no matter how much I wanted to keep him with me right now. So I passed him over and watched as he stood up on Emmett and bumped his head against Emmett's face.

"You've made Emmett's day." Carlisle said as he sat down next to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder's pulling me back to lean against him.

"I missed you." I said as I smiled up at Carlisle and kissed his lips softly.

"I missed you too." He said when we pulled back. I felt a weight drop on my legs and looked down to see the Puppy had walked off Emmett and come back to me. I stroked his head and he pushed his head against my hand before moving close to Carlisle and sniffing him. He looked at Carlisle for a second before looking back at me and curling up on my lap.

"I think he approves of you." I said as I stroked my new little baby.

"I hope so." Said Carlisle. We stayed like that for a while. The guys asked how our shopping went and Alice went into a full detailed explanation about how 'amazing' it was. Rosalie and Emmett didn't seem to be paying any attention, they were too busy watching the puppy and smiling.

Soon he got up and started sniffing around the room, he went over to Jasper and Alice. Jasper grinned at him and stroked him whereas Alice looked like she was about to have a heart attack, Jasper made her stroke him to show her he was harmless, but she still didn't seem to like him.

Emmett got out some of the toys I'd bought for him and started playing tug of war with him, although he had to be reminded a few times that the puppy was only an ordinary puppy and he had to be careful.

I decided that was a good time to put all my clothes away and set up his bed and stuff.

I went upstairs and after putting all my new clothes away I put the bed I'd bought for the puppy next to my bed, right next to where I sleep. I then put two bowls with food and water in my bathroom for him, next to the sink. I went down stairs and put another bowl with food and water in the kitchen for him. He followed me into the kitchen, took a little drink of water and then sat at the back door.

I opened the door and he jumped outside to do his business, already house trained, awesome.

Carlisle came to stand with me as I watched the puppy sniff around everywhere.

"You had fun then?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Yeah, it was great." He smiled and kissed my cheek. We looked over at the puppy and laughed as we watched him pouncing on a flower and then another.

"Have you thought of a name for him?" He asked and I shook my head. "Well, I'm sure you will soon, although be prepared for a lot of name choices from Emmett."

I turned around and looked at Carlisle, just a day away from him and I had missed him so much. I smiled and kissed him. He kissed me back and pulled me close but we pulled away when I felt something furry walk between my legs. The puppy had come inside and was looking up at me and Carlisle, he stayed there staring at us for a second before he loped off to get something to eat.

"Are you sure he approves of me?" Carlisle asked.

"Yeah, he's just a little protective is all." How I knew my puppy was protective over me already? No idea, I just sort of knew.

Carlisle nodded and looked at me, properly looked at me, I saw his eyebrows raise as he looked at my top and I blushed.

"New t-shirt?" He asked and I nodded. "And is it true Miss Swan?" He asked, clearly noticing the 'I'm in Love with a Vampire' caption. I nodded again, my cheeks feeling red hot. "And who might that vampire be?" He asked, but I swear I could detect a little nervousness in his voice.

"You Dr Cullen, that Vampire would be you."

Okay people, I'm going to need possible names for the Puppy, remember he is a male Saint Bernard, look them up and give me some Idea's.

Thanks for reading. Leave your thoughts.

KV =D