Midnight
a Twilight story
by me211152004

A blast of chilly air against my neck and a strange noise interrupted my dreams. I mumbled a protest and rolled over. I was resettling my covers around my shoulders and preparing to slip back into slumber when a thump caused my eyes to fly open. I sat up and peered hard into the shadows cast across my bedroom. If only I were still my room in sunny Phoenix where a heavy cloud cover was hardly heard of.

Finally, my eyes caught a glimmer of gold in my doorway. My heart leapt in my chest when I realized there was a pair of eyes watching me. I opened my mouth and drew a breath. However, before more than a sigh had passed my lips a hand was clapped over my mouth.

"Shh," a voice behind my ear said.

I shivered. My senses were firing on overdrive. The person behind me smelled exquisite and their breath blew cold against my skin like the north wind.

"Efwerd?" I guessed. My lips—being in such close proximity—kissed the word to the cold hand of my assailant.

"Yes," the voice whispered, "it's me. I let myself in with the spare key under the eave." He removed his hand and came to stand in front of me.

I breathed in deeply. "Charlie's going to have to hide that key again." I ran a hand through my hair and winced at the tangles my fingers felt there. I smiled ruefully. "I must look dreadful."

Edward's mouth hooked at the corner. "You look no worse than usual at this hour."

"Thank you." I laughed. Then I froze as his words sunk in deeper. "What do you mean I look no worse than usual at this hour?" I gave him a suspicious look. "Have you been spying on me? Is that how you knew where to find the spare key?"

Edward's smile widened so that all of his teeth flashed in the dim light of my room.

"I must have been a terrible host," I said.

"I have to admit," Edward replied with the smile in his voice, "you never have offered me a place to sit, but I can't say you didn't provide entertainment."

My cheeks burned. "I talk in my sleep."

"Yes, your eyes were shut and yet you seemed to know I was here," he teased.

"I talked to you?" The heat from my face was crawling down my neck.

"Well, it was hard to tell at first but then you said my name," Edward replied.

I tried hard to will away the red color from my skin. "What were you doing spying on me in the middle of the night anyways?" I said and narrowed my eyes at him.

"What better is there to do in the middle of the night?" Edward reminded me. "Vampires can't sleep." His eyes shot me a wistful glance similar to the first time he told me. "I can't think of anything closer to dreaming than being with you."

My efforts to rid myself of my blush were in vain and its fire burned in my face with a vengeance. However, his eyes caught mine and he stared into them with such conviction that I relaxed and accepted his kindness as truth not flattery.

The color of Edward's eyes was very light tonight—probably the lightest shade of golden brown I had seen them. "Have you been hunting?" I asked recognizing the color as for when he was satisfied and content. Tonight it was like looking into twin flames.

"Not much," Edward responded, "I shared a deer with Emmett on the way here, but Emmett ate most of it." He chuckled. "Emmett eats like his favorite food: irritable grizzly bear."

I joined Edward's laughter but it sounded high in my ears. I cleared my throat. "Grizzly bears?" I asked deliberately keeping my voice light.

The idea that Edward and his family were vampires who feasted on blood was still a new idea to me, and while it may not have been human blood they enjoyed it was blood nonetheless. It was a concept that I was still adjusting to, but vampire or not I wasn't giving up on him.

I could feel Edward's eyes on me heavy as weights. He was probably trying to assess whether I was going to run screaming from him or not. I smiled and looked straight into his smoldering eyes. "Irritable grizzly bears, you said?"

Edward's smile was huge with relief. "Irritable grizzly bears," he said solemnly.

I laughed again, but this time I did it properly.

When I finished I asked, "What do you do in my room when I'm not awake?" Then I added after a beat of silence, "I mean besides listening to my midnight ramblings."

"Mostly I just watch you." Edward said. "You move a lot in your sleep too."

"And tonight?" I asked remembering the thump that had caused me to open my eyes.

His eyes held mine. "I was watching you," he answered, "and wondering what you were dreaming about."

"Did you knock something over?" I asked. I was willing to wager my truck that he had knocked my desk chair over. I had tripped over it often enough to know the sound it made when it fell intimately.

Edward weighed the situation before he replied. "Yes, I...I was afraid I was interrupting your sleep, but I bumped into your desk chair as I was leaving and woke you up anyways."

I grinned and then confessed, "I've tripped over my desk chair too many times to count."

He smiled back at me but I noticed it was wobbly. "Excuse me a moment," Edward said and turned his back to me. "Hup-TUSSShoo!"

When he turned around I raised an eyebrow at him. "Did you just sneeze?"

Edward's mouth curled. "A bit strange isn't it? I've been doing that for the better part of tonight. Emmett complained that I was scaring away all the good deer." He sniffled.

I watched him carefully. "Is it an insult to say bless you to a vampire?"

Edward chuckled. "The myth about a stake through the heart isn't true and Carlisle's father was even an Anglican pastor, so I think it might be okay to say—to me, at the very least." He sniffled again and turned his head. "Hah-USShue!"

"Bless you," I said and then added, "are vampires supposed to sneeze?"

"Well," Edward admitted, "vampires don't actually need to breathe, so the reflex is really just from my human instincts."

"So why have you been sneezing?" I paused thoughtfully. "Do vampires have allergies? I might have eaten something that's making you sneeze."

"Do you mean garlic?" Edward asked.

I smiled.

"No," he said, "that's a myth too." He pinched his nose and then rubbed it. "I'm not terribly sure why I'm sneezing."
"I've been awake for at least fifteen minutes," I said suddenly, "and I haven't offered you a seat." I chortled at the realization and moved over on my bed for him. "Even when I'm awake I'm a bad host."

Edward hesitated. He was looking between my desk chair and my bed, but eventually sat beside me. "Are you telling me I haven't been missing anything?" he joked as he sat down.

"You could have woken me up before," I grumbled. "I'm not going to die if I miss out on a few hours of sleep." I picked up his hand and wove my fingers with his.

Edward made a sound of protest. "That might not be the best idea." he advised.

"Oh," I said and color rose in my cheeks yet again, "is this too close for you?"

"No," he assured me quickly.

I looked at him to make sure he wasn't just being polite. I was surprised to notice he had a bit of heat in his cheeks too. It was a very small amount, but it was there. I blinked a couple times to make sure I wasn't seeing anything. It seems impossible to think that Edward could blush.

Edward continued. "You never know when I might need to sneeze again and when I do I'll want that hand."

"I don't mind," I said and reached my other hand to stroke one of his cheeks. "I didn't know vampires could blush," I told him.

"Blush?" Edward echoed. "Vampires don't blush. Our hearts are not beating so it's not possible."

"Well you are," I said and reached for a handheld mirror I kept on my night table. I grimaced when I caught a glance of my rumpled reflection and passed the mirror to Edward.

He looked into it and disbelief puckered his unnaturally handsome face. "My cheeks are a bit pink," he agreed sounding bemused.

"They feel less cold too," I added. His cheek that I had touched was the smooth texture of marble but not the cold temperature of marble. Instead, it had been neutral.

"Hmm..." he murmured and rubbed his nose.

"Maybe you're sick?" I suggested. "Can vampires get sick?"

"Well, I've not ever heard of it, but maybe Carlisle hah-hah-has. HUP-!"

Edward seemed to be on the brink of a sneeze when his face closed. I waited for him, but after a minute I gave up.

"Edward?"

There was a pause before he answered. "Y-Yes?" He sounded rather reluctant.

"Did you sneeze?"

"No," Edward replied slowly.

"I didn't think so." I was pleased that I had been right but I refrained from celebrating as I listened to him sniffle. It was quick and desperate, and a felt a ripple of empathy. "Did you lose it? I hate when that happens."

"No," he said.

"Then what happened?" I asked. I turned to face him, but he had freed his hand from my grip and turned his face away into both of them. What I could see of his face was tense.

Regardless of his position, Edward answered me from behind his hands. He sounded like he was wearing a mask, but I could still understand him. "It was an experiment, but I d-don't think it worked v-very well. Hah-TSSShue!" He sniffled. "Huh-USSshoo!"

"What was the experiment?"

"Well, a sneeze is just an expulsion of air at high speed," Edward explained, "so I thought if I stopped breathing then I wouldn't sneeze." He sniffled again and rubbed his fist against his nose. "I was correct that it would stop me from sneezing but it seems to have only applied to the moment. Now I think it has actually made me s-sneeze more. Hup-KUSSShue!"

"Bless you," I said and watched him sniffling behind his hands. I stretched out for the tissue box on my bedside table and offered it to him. "I guess you haven't been sick in a while," I observed after watching his slight apprehension. I took a few tissues from the box and tucked them into his hand for him.

Edward nodded stiffly and pinched his nose with one of the tissues I had handed him. "Not since I became a vampire. I can hardly believe this is happening."

I put an arm around him. "How do you think you got sick?" I asked.

"Well," he began cautiously, "if I am sick then it might actually be from being around you."

"I've made you sick?" I asked and felt immediately sorry. "Have I given you human germs?"

"Sort of," Edward sighed, "it's complicated."

I stared at him at him unblinkingly. "Please, I really don't mind missing an hour or two of sleep."

His golden eyes gauged me and then he acquiesced. "Being around you is like nothing I've experienced. I feel my human instincts more sharply than I've ever felt them since being a vampire. Normally, vampires are practically invincible and are hardly bothered by anything other than the smell of human blood" —he grinned wryly at me— "but I'm not much of a vampire, am I? After all, most vampires pursue human blood and I'm certain most do not fall in love with what should be a tasty meal."

"If it's any comfort," I interrupted, "I'm not much of a human either. I should be scared of you, remember?"

He laughed. "I remember. You refuse to think of me as a hazard to your health."

"So you're not a good vampire and I'm not a proper human, but that can't be what made you sick."

"No, I was trying to be a good friend too," Edward said and his eyes drew to the left where my desk was.

I looked at my desk suspiciously. "Your jacket?" I asked my eyes on the beige leather I had deposited there. "Thank you—it kept me warm—but are you saying that you needed it? Was it too much for you: being with me and giving me your jacket? You had a sweater on, but..."

"Vampires do not need clothing or warmth," Edward said smoothly interrupting my rambling, "but...I think maybe...the odds were against me. I felt cold after I left you even though, as you said, I was wearing a sweater. I have never felt cold while I've been a vampire." He smiled crookedly at me. "You make me feel things I haven't felt in a long time."

I gently ran my fingers over the cool pale skin on the inside of his arm. "Why didn't you come back for your jacket then?"

Edward stared at me as though the answer should be obvious. "For one, I wasn't sure how Charlie would react if I knocked on the door and asked to see you, and..."

"Yes?"

"At first, I thought it might just have been because you'd left." He looked down at me. "You have a very warm presence, Bella."
I blushed and he smiled. However, not a moment later a corner of his mouth pulled down into a grimace. He turned away. "Hah...ISSSHue!"

I offered Edward the tissue box again. Then, feeling guilty, I asked, "Is there anything I can do for you? I mean seeing as this is at least partly my fault for leaving my jacket behind in Jessica's car."

Edward fisted the tissue I had given him and smiled again at me. His smile wasn't quite as strong as his last and I noticed his eyes drooped a little.

"Are you sure vampires can't sleep?" I asked. I was half teasing and half concerned.

"I haven't felt this tired since I was a human," Edward admitted, "but no, I don't think I can sleep—even now." He released a deep breath then smiled. "Maybe another deer on the way home will help."

Whether it was the talk of sleep or just that I really should have been sleeping at this hour, a yawn crept up on me. I turned my head to the side to hide it.

"I shouldn't be occupying your time," Edward said immediately. "You need sleep." He missed nothing.

"I don't want you to go," I moaned. "Why don't you lie down with me?" I got off my bed and turned my covers down again.

"I really can't sleep," he warned me.

"That's why I suggested you lie down with me."

He still appeared reluctant to stay, so I added, "You really don't have to sleep. Just stay with me."

Edward looked at my twin bed with a hint of disbelief.

"At least until I fall asleep," I amended.

"Alright," he softened, "I'll stay, but only until you fall asleep."

"Thank you," I said. I crawled under the covers. I looked behind me for Edward and motioned him closer.

"You get the covers," Edward said. "I don't want to wake you up when I leave."

"You won't be cold?"

Edward shook his head. "I'm always cold to touch, right?"

"Yes," I said and missed whatever point Edward had been making.

"I'm cold because I don't need heat. I might enjoy it at times, but I don't need it." Edward explained.

"You're sick," I reminded him. "If there ever was a time to indulge wouldn't that be now?"

But Edward remained resolved. "If you're worried about me please don't be. I'll probably be better by tomorrow morning. Vampires are very good at healing."

"As long as you stay," I nodded, "you can lie on top of the covers."

We settled beside each other. I lay on my side and he put an arm over my waist and held me. It was a bit awkward with all the covers between us, but we found a comfortable position.

"I can't tell you the last time I spent so much time on a bed," Edward chortled. His breath moved my hair gently as he spoke and my nose filled with the heady scent of him.

I laughed gently with him. There was a careful balance between us that we both were hesitant to break.

After a while, however, when my breathing was evening and my eyes were drifting shut; a sniffle wobbled the balance.

I smiled sleepily and muttered, "The tissues are behind you."

Edward was already screwing up for a sneeze though. His arm tensed around me involuntarily as he wavered on a sneeze. "Hih-hih-hih-HIH-!" He ducked his head against my shoulder. "TSSSSShoo!" The burst of cold air from Edward's sneeze sent a shiver down my spine.

"This isn't working," he said quietly into my shoulder and sniffled several times. He held me close for a few moments more and then removed his arm from my waist when his nose wouldn't wait any longer. "I don't need to sleep," he repeated as reached for the tissue box. "You do, and if I stay I'm just going to keep you awake." He sniffled again but muffled it against the tissues he had found.

I felt his eyes on my back. "It nearly worked," I insisted rolling to face him, "but I understand. You may leave, but don't let me sleep through all of your visits. You can keep me company again sometime and we'll make it work." My mouth quirked. "For now, enjoy your midnight snack. I'll see you tomorrow."

Edward rose from my bed and swept his coat off my desk. He walked silently to my door and then paused in the doorway. He turned back to me. "I'll bring two coats tomorrow morning when I pick you up," he said.

"Okay," I replied, "but don't change our routine too much. I've been enjoying it as it is."

Edward left my door and moved deftly down the stairs.

I sighed and sank more deeply against the mattress. Edward had pulled my covers snugly around me and their heat was lulling me slowly back to sleep. My mouth twitched as my eyes shut and I breathed his lingering scent in deeply like I was a thirsty vampire and his smell was blood. I was discovering, and I thought Edward was too, that there were similarities between thirst and love.

For Twilight readers, I tweaked canon so that Edward let Bella keep his jacket. Let's just say that she rushed it upstairs before Charlie saw her and could ask her about it.
Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight.