It's Been a Lifetime Waiting

Emmett’s eyes widened as intense light hit him. He panicked as he realised the sun had risen, and that it was actually shining past the cloud. Strong rays were hitting his body, exposing him for what he was. The worst part? He was outside with Veronica. The two of them had spent most of the night outside talking, and she had fallen asleep in his arms. He knew he only had seconds to get inside before she woke up from the light. As smoothly as he could, Emmett scooped Veronica up in his arms and stood up, taking advantage of his vampire speed to get the two of them inside instantly. Edward was waiting at the open back door, obviously having read that Emmett was outside.

“That was close,” Edward whispered

“Too fucking close. I can’t risk that again,” Emmett cursed

“You’re going to have to tell her soon,” Edward pointed out, closing the door and pulling the blinds

“I can’t,” Emmett whispered fiercely

“Em, you can’t keep this from her for much longer!” Edward exasperated

“Keep what from me?” Veronica asked groggily

Both Emmett and Edward froze in panic, not knowing what to say.

“They were meant to keep you from knowing about our Halloween surprise tonight,” Alice trilled, twirling into the kitchen, Jasper right behind her

As Veronica looked at Alice surprised, Edward and Emmett let out a silent breath of relief, thankful for their sister’s quick thinking.

“Halloween’s tonight?” Veronica gasped

“Duh!” Alice giggled

Edward quickly skimmed Veronica’s thoughts, his eyebrows shooting up at what he found. So that was why she looked so ashamed.

“You’ve never celebrated Halloween, have you?” Edward asked softly

The other three Cullen’s jaws dropped as Veronica shook her head.

“My parents thought it was a waste of time, and wouldn’t let us go out with the rest of the neighbourhood kids. And I’ve been constantly working since I was 16 so I had no time,” Veronica admitted

“Well that’s just changed my plans! We’re going to have to do everything different now!” Alice said to herself

“Please, don’t go to the hassle,” Veronica begged

“Are you kidding me? Alice lives for this kind of thing,” Jasper teased

“Halloween’s a huge time of year, especially in this little town,” Edward smiled

“I don’t want to be any trouble,” Veronica said, defeated

“Roni, you could never be any trouble. Let’s go and watch a film while Alice plots and schemes,” Emmett chuckled

*

[When night had fallen]

“I can’t wear this,” Veronica said bluntly

“Why not? You look cute!” Alice defended

“I’m wearing leather, Alice. Leather!” Veronica exasperated

“It’s not skimpy, it’s not that revealing and your legs are covered...don’t complain!” Bella giggled

Veronica sighed, looking at herself in the mirror. Alice had decided that Veronica was going to be a cat. But not just any cat. A leather corset, wet-look leggings, thigh-high leather boot wearing cat. With a tail strapped around her waist and hanging down her legs, as well as a pair of cat ears clipped into her hair and a black pair of arm warmers that her thumbs hooked into, Veronica looked raunchier than she ever had done in her life.

“You have the figure for it, Roni. You’ll pull it off,” Rosalie commented, poking her head into the room

Veronica pouted at the sight of Rosalie’s rag doll costume, her make-up down flawlessly. Alice was a gypsy, complete with flowing skirt, peasant top and scarf round her head. Bella was little red riding hood, which Edward had commented something strange like ‘at least we’ve left the wolf behind’. Veronica didn’t understand that. But their costumes weren’t half as bad as hers! Alice pouted at the distress on Veronica’s face, and walked over to the girl that was over a foot taller than her, looking into her eyes.

“Roni, you’ve got to get some self-confidence. You look amazing, and you’re not even dressed like a slut. Trust me, there will be so many girls dressed in outfits that will make you feel like you’re wrapped up in 17 layers!” Alice reassured

Veronica sighed but nodded. She liked her acrylic nails at least. Alice had applied creamy white nails with a diagonal stripe of leopard print across each one, as well as each stripe being outlined in gold gems. They were feminine without being girly. Veronica also wore black lipstick and a line of fake blood which went from the corner of her mouth down past her chin. She supposed at least that gave her costume a slight gory edge. And the smoky eyeshadow mixed with cat-eye eyeliner made her blue eyes pop.

Then Esme stuck her head into the room, making the girls giggle at her hippie costume. Esme had gone all out with her tie-dye bell-bottom pants and flowery shirt, as well as securing a large flower in her hair.

“Are you four nearly ready?” Esme asked warmly

“Yeah, we’re done,” Rosalie nodded

“Great, let’s go then. The boys are all waiting downstairs,” Esme grinned

Alice linked arms with Veronica, leading her out of Alice’s bedroom. Rosalie, Bella and Esme walked in front of them. Veronica smiled as they walked down the stairs, noticing each of their costumes. Edward was a circus ringmaster, top hat and all. Lucas was a pirate, and he had a plastic sword and authentic pirate’s hat. Carlisle had dressed in his doctor’s uniform, but that was because he was on call tonight just in case. Jasper had let Alice dress him up at The Joker from Batman, including temporarily dying his hair a dirty green and slicking it back, and putting extravagant make-up on his face. And Emmett was dressed as a Zombie, another one of Alice’s make-up flourishes. His face was a light-greeny grey colour, his eyes were dark purple circles, his lips were grey and he had patches of ‘rotting flesh’ on his arms and chest, exposed by his ripped t-shirt.

“Everyone ready?” Carlisle smiled, lifting his wife’s hand to his lips in greeting

Emmett’s eyes went wide as Veronica walked over to him, surprised at the audacity of Veronica’s outfit. His thoughts started to travel down a dirty road as she got closer, but he was interrupted by a punch to the arm from Edward, who had a grimace on his face. Emmett just grinned, unashamed. Veronica was his tonight, and no-one else’s.

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” Emmett murmured, taking Veronica’s hand in his own

“I feel like an idiot,” Veronica sighed

“Well you look stunning,” Emmett smirked

Veronica blushed slightly, nudging Emmett with her hip. Emmett just chuckled, opening the door of Edward’s car for her. The whole family were going into the town of Anchorage tonight, for several reasons. One, seeing as Veronica had never celebrated Halloween before, they were taking her to the main street in town, which was always decorated in an extremely elaborate way, before leading her into the town hall, which was transformed into a haunted house. Two, they were testing Lucas’ strength, seeing as they needed to get him used to being around lots of humans without attacking them. Three...they hadn’t been out as a whole family in a very long time.

“Oh, I almost forgot, these are for you,” Emmett smiled

Veronica chuckled as he handed her a small pot containing two contact lenses. They were white and black, and in the style of cats eyes.

“Thanks, how did you know I was a cat before?” Veronica asked curiously, opening the pot

“Alice told me what she had planned for you. I thought these would set it off perfectly,” Emmett said warmly

Bella smiled up at Edward, seeing as they were in the front of the car, ecstatic by the chemistry between Emmett and Veronica. Emmett waited till Veronica had put the contact lenses in, before pulling out a small digital camera. Veronica giggled and leant her face up to Emmett’s, smiling as he took a picture of them both.

“Aww that’s a keeper,” Emmett teased

Veronica just laughed and leant against Emmett’s chest, smiling as he wrapped his arm around her. Tonight she would tell Emmett how she felt about him. Edward grinned to himself as that thought passed Veronica’s mind.

[Much later that night]

Emmett smiled down at Veronica, amused (and slightly worried) by her reaction to the haunted house. Why was he slightly worried? Because Veronica didn’t find any of it scary. At the goriest parts, like mannequins dropping down from the ceiling hanging with ropes round their throats, and mutilated heads spiked onto the walls, Veronica just laughed. It was like she enjoyed seeing the gruesome things, like she got her kicks from watching the people screaming around the Cullen family. But he wasn’t too worried. After all, Veronica had been on his arm all night. Then Edward appeared beside him.

“Veronica’s hungry but she doesn’t want to ‘ruin’ our fun,” Edward whispered

“Thanks,” Emmett nodded

Emmett didn’t say anything until they were all out of the haunted house, holding Veronica to the side.

“Do you want to get something to eat?” Emmett asked warmly

“No, I’m okay,” Veronica replied with a smile

Her stomach rumbled loudly, indicating that she was lying. Veronica dropped her head to rest of Emmett’s chest out of embarrassment as he laughed.

“Come on, I’ll take you to get some food,” Emmett smiled

“I already ate dinner,” Veronica pointed out

“There are doughnuts and churros on that stall over there,” Emmett suggested

Veronica bit her bottom lip lightly, before nodding. Emmett smiled and took her hand in his, taking her back over to the family.

“We’re going to get something to eat, is that alright?” Emmett announced

“Yeah, sure, we’re going to walk around for a while more,” Carlisle nodded, placing his hand on Lucas’ shoulder to tell Emmett their reasoning

Alice suddenly looked at Emmett excitedly, grinning wildly. Emmett assumed that meant something good was going to happen? So Emmett grinned back and guided Veronica over to the churros stall.

“How many do you want?” a cheerful plump woman behind the counter asked

“Just 1,” Emmett smiled

He pulled a note out of his pocket, waiting for the change and churro before walking silently with Veronica to a bench a little way away.

“1 churro for the sexy cat,” Emmett winked

“Shut up,” Veronica blushed, accepting the food

Emmett just laughed, wrapping his arm round her shoulder as she wiped the black lipstick off her lips so it wouldn’t go on her food. The two of them sat in content silence for ten minutes, just happy to be in each others company as Veronica ate. She felt guilty for always being hungry when he never seemed to eat much, but was glad he never said anything. When she was finished, Veronica wiped her hands and mouth on the paper napkin that came with the churro, before dumping her trash in the bin.

“That tamed the beast,” Veronica smiled contentedly

“The beast?” Emmett mused

“Oh, yeah, you don’t want to see me when I’m starving. I get really scary then,” Veronica chuckled

Emmett just thought that she had no idea.

“So how was your first ever Halloween?” Emmett asked warmly

“Pretty fucking awesome actually. I can’t believe I’ve missed out on this for my entire life,” Veronica laughed

“Well I’m glad to help,” Emmett smiled, happy he’d been part of what caused her smile tonight

“There is one thing that could make the night better though,” Veronica said innocently

“Oh?” Emmett frowned

Veronica just smiled and tucked her legs up underneath her, before pressing her lips to Emmett’s. He inhaled sharply, not expecting her to be so forward, but immediately cupped her face with his hands, kissing back eagerly. Veronica crawled into his lap and straddled his waist, not breaking the kiss as she pressed her chest to his, bringing them closer together. Emmett moaned softly, his hunger rising, but his desire preventing him from breaking away. One of his hands travelled over her bare shoulder, down the leather on her back and onto her ass. Veronica just smiled, running her tongue over his bottom lip shyly, before nibbling gently. Emmett swallowed heavily to rid his mouth of the welling venom, parting his lips slightly. Never had anyone made him feel this way so quickly, let alone a human. If only she knew what she did to him. But as her tongue brushed his, Emmett’s hunger reached a point where he knew he could snap any second. So he pulled away and placed Veronica next to him.

“Too soon?” Veronica asked softly

Emmett just nodded, not breathing to keep his hunger at bay. Veronica sat awkwardly for a minute or two, until Emmett lifted his head, guilt filling his eyes.

“I’m sorry. Will you forgive me if I say you have no idea what you do to me?” Emmett offered weakly

Veronica just blushed and nodded. Emmett smiled in relief and laced their fingers together. That had been too close for his liking. Much too close.

“Emmett, there’s something I want to tell you,” Veronica said suddenly

“Okay?” Emmett said, confused

Veronica took a deep breath, looking up in the dark golden eyes of the beautiful guy in front of her. She knew she was doing the right thing.

“I like you. I like you so much that it scares me, but I can’t deny what I feel anymore. I can’t let you go, Emmett,” Veronica confessed quietly

“You like me back?” Emmett asked, a broad smile spreading across his lips

“Yeah,” Veronica nodded, blushing

“So does this mean you’ll stay in Anchorage?” Emmett asked hopefully

“For now, yeah,” Veronica replied with a shy smile

“You have just made me the happiest man ever,” Emmett groaned, pulling her to his chest in a firm hug

“This doesn’t mean we’re together. I still want to take that slowly,” Veronica pointed out

“Does it mean I can still kiss you though?” Emmett asked

Veronica laughed, but nodded.

“Maybe not like we just did, but yeah, we can kiss,” Veronica smiled

Emmett just grinned, before pressing his lips to hers in a quick kiss. There was no way he was letting Veronica go now. No way.