Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Catharsis

By Mama4Dukes

Chapter 23:

As for Bella and Sam, let’s rewind our story a bit to one week following the battle. The couple stood in the living room of the Swan Home in Forks, saying their goodbyes to the friendly vampires. They had exchanged numbers and promised to keep in touch.

Alice rolled in two, large wheeled suitcases and two packed, school backpacks.

“What’s this?” Bella asked.

“It’s for the two of you. I bought your back-to-school clothes because I can’t stand how you dress. If I have to look into your futures, you’re going to do it looking good.”

Bella hugged Alice. “Thanks for looking out for me and coming back for me.”

“I will always look out for you. I love you.”

“Bella, you’re worth it,” Jasper stated from the side as he kissed her atop her head.

Peter spoke to Sam next. “Take good care of her, and call me if she gets into a bind.”

“Is she going to get into a bind?” Sam asked.

“Not immediately. She’ll stay on the down-low for five or six years, but trust me when I say that this will not be the last time we see you. Oh, and watch out for her buddy Paul, too.” He shook his head. “You’re one brave guy, taking her on for a wife.”

“I will. Thank you.” Sam wondered what in heck he had to watch out for. “But… but what’s going to happen to Bella? Is she going to be in trouble?”

Peter grinned at him. “Nothing illegal, just a bit… you’ll have to wait and see. Don’t stunt her by controlling her.”

“I would never do that!”

“I know that. You’re a good guy, Sam. Just keep doing what you’re doing.” Peter turned to Bella. “It was very nice to meet you, sweetheart.” He gallantly took her hand and kissed it. “Try not to drive your man too crazy. He’s a really nice guy, not naughty like you are.”

His wife Charlotte unbuttoned the top two buttons of Bella’s shirt. “For the love of God, display those assets of yours. I’ll see you in a few years, sugar.” She kissed her on the cheek.

Emmett took over and gave Bella a big bear hug. “Love ya’, peanut. You have my number. I’ll come running whenever you need me.”

He gave Sam a duffle bag containing his gaming console and his games. “I’ve got more in Tennessee. You take good care of her. Do you hear me?”

“I will.”

“I know you will. I’m glad she has you. She loves you, you know? She takes care of you in more ways than you know.”

“I know she does.”

“Bella, thank you,” Rose whimpered, with venom-filled eyes. “You’ve been a wonderful friend to me.”

“You as well. Make sure you keep in touch with me.”

“I will.” She handed Bella a bag. “It’s a new down jacket for you. It gets cold in Seattle. I don’t want you to be cold, ever.”

There was a hidden message in Rose’s statement, and Bella knew it. She wanted her to live out her human life, and never become a vampire. Rose didn’t have to worry. Bella planned on doing just that.

“Thank you.”

She also handed Bella a small box. “Give this to Sam tomorrow evening. You’ll know the right time. Tell him it’s a gift from me.”

“I will.”

Finally, Carlisle and Esme came to say farewell.

“We won’t say goodbye to you because Alice and Peter have both seen that we will see each other frequently in the next few years. Thank you both for being so open and accepting.”

“You’re very welcome,” Sam said. “Thank you for coming to assist us with the Edward situation.”

“It was our responsibility. I would say that we shouldn’t have ever involved ourselves with Bella, but I would be lying. You’ve both restored our faith in humanity.”

“Bella, you’ve become a wonderful friend. I want to thank you for having faith in me and for giving me the strength to believe in myself,” Esme said.

“Esme?”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to take a line from Jasper here, and tell you, ‘You’re worth it.’”

Esme hugged Bella firmly. She handed a couple of casseroles to her. “Sam likes my baked mac and cheese, and my fried chicken.”

“Oh, cool!” Sam chortled. “Thank you!”

In a matter of seconds, the vampires left the Swan home, and sped off in their vehicles to wherever they were headed to.

Sam and Bella brought their gifts upstairs to open them. They began by opening the backpacks, each contained brand new MacBookPros and iPads.

“Holy cow!” Sam cried. “We can’t accept these!”

A text message came through on his phone from Alice Cullen, which read, ‘ Yes, you can.’

Sam texted her back, thanking her for the gifts.

They stared at the suitcases. They were now afraid to open them up and look inside. “You go first,” Bella suggested.

“Why do I have to go first?”

“Because you’re the wolf! You’re stronger than I am!”

“That logic makes no sense when it comes to opening a suitcase, Bella!”

“Fine! I’ll open it!” Bella popped it open to find books and a greeting card inside, which read.

Ha-ha! We scared you both. We didn’t buy you clothes because you need to pick your own. Instead, we got you gift cards at stores you like so you can do that. These are your textbooks for this year. Study hard! Alice and Jasper.

They went through the books, which took up one side of the suitcase, and then unzipped the other side to find it was filled with stacks of gift cards to all kinds of stores, restaurants, and gas stations.

“This will save us money.”

Sam nodded his head in agreement before he casually popped open the next suitcase.

“Oh, hell! Mom and Dad are gonna kill us!” Sam blurted when he saw the contents.

“Holy shazam!” Bella cried. She unzipped the other side. It was filled with the same.

“What are we going to do?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know!” She closed the suitcase up and shoved it under their bed.

“Hiding it isn’t going to do a thing!”

“Out of sight, out of mind.”

A message came through from Jasper.

Stop pussy-footing around, and put that shit into a joint bank account before it gets stolen! And don’t tell your parents whatever you do! You’ll be in enough hot water about the other gifts.

“Well, what bank is going to accept this much cash from a couple of teenagers who just graduated from high school? Seriously? Do these vampires even think?” Sam asked.

“We’re going to jail, aren’t we? They’re going to accuse us of robbing a bank and we’re going to jail,” Bella babbled.

You are not going to jail! Gee whiz! Stop being so over-dramatic! Go to Wolf Bank and Trust in Port Townsend. Tell them the Whitlocks sent you. That’s where we keep our money. They won’t even bat an eyelash at the cash. Get in your car and go there now before the damned bank closes!

Bella and Sam hopped into her Beetle and drove the two and a half hours to the Wolf Bank and Trust. They rolled their suitcase in and were immediately approached by the bank manager, followed by a security guard.

“May I help you?” the manager asked.

“Uh, we were sent here by the Whitlocks.”

“The Whitlocks?” the manager appeared alarmed. “Mr. Peter or Mr. Jasper?”

“Both.”

“Both of them?”

“Yes, sir. They said we could open a joint bank account here without any issue.”

“Of course, of course. Anything for the Whitlocks. What are your names?”

“This is my fiancée Isabella Swan and I’m Samuel Uley.”

“Uley?” Both the bank manager and security guard had stunned expressions on their faces. “Any relation to Mr. Levi Uley?”

“Sure. He’s my uncle.”

The bank manager gulped, and suddenly snapped to attention. “Please, follow me,” he instructed the kids. They followed him into an office located in the back and were left there alone while the bank manager conferred with his staff. Sam could hear everything being whispered. “Mr. Uley’s nephew is in my office. He is of the highest priority. Cancel all my appointments, I don’t care what excuse you use. I need two senior tellers in the counting room immediately!”

Lunch was ordered in, and two tellers were called in to count the cash in the suitcase in a secure counting room. Sam lifted a bundle out and popped it into Bella’s tote bag so they could get some ice cream and fill up the gas tank before the teller wheeled the suitcase out. It took almost the entire afternoon for the cash to be counted and re-counted.

“If I could get each of your signatures, please.”

Bella and Sam signed in the areas pointed out to them. “Would you like your statements mailed to you or would you like to do your banking online.”

“Online!” they both replied quickly. They didn’t need their parents finding out about this. There had to be a few thousand dollars in that suitcase, at the very least.

“And would you like the full amount deposited into a checking account or would you like some in a savings account?”

Bella turned to Sam with a confused expression on her face. “It’s good to save, right?”

“Right,” he replied. “Ahem! Uh, we would like to save some of it.”

“Okay, how much of it would you like to save?”

“Most of it. Between the two of us, we only use like a hundred dollars a month because our parents still give us gas money. Sometimes, we actually splurge and spend a little more like if we go to Forks Outfitters and buy a t-shirt or something, but we both have jobs lined up for the summer so we have that covered. We also have gift cards now so we really don’t need much in our checking account.”

The bank manager looked a bit perplexed at their answer. “Uh, you mentioned earlier that you’d both be college students in the fall?”

“Yep, we’re going to UDub. We’ll be living in my uncle’s house in Seattle.”

“Mr. Uley is letting you live in his house?”

“Sure, why not? Sam is his favorite nephew,” Bella informed him.

The manager’s eyes widened as if he were stunned. “And do you see your uncle often?”

“Of course we do. When Mom is too busy to cook, we eat at their house,” Sam replied. “Don’t tell my mom, but Aunt Ellen’s food is way better. My mom can cook, but it’s mostly stuff in the crock pot. Aunt Ellen makes real gourmet stuff like filet mignon and Alaskan King Crab. Once, she had a crate of lobsters flown in from Maine for us.”

“Ah, I see. It must be nice.” The bank manager smiled. “Right. Let’s begin by opening up both a high-yield savings and a checking account, shall we?”

“If you think it’s a good idea. Sure. We’ll take your advice.”

“Thank you for having faith in me,” the manager blurted. “Please be sure to mention it to your uncle the next time you see him. For some reason, I keep missing him when he’s in the office.”

After a few minutes, one of the tellers returned with the empty suitcase, two debit cards, and a receipt.

The bank manager took the items and placed them into an important looking folder, which he handed to them. “This is what we have done. You have opened up joint savings and checking accounts, which are linked together in case you need to access one or the other. You have deposited two million nine hundred thousand dollars into a high-yield savings account, and ninety thousand dollars into a checking account. Combined, the total amount is two million nine hundred ninety thousand dollars. Is this correct?”

Sam made a choking noise just as his cell phone buzzed with a message from Peter.

Just tell him ‘Yes,’ and then thank him.

“Yes, thank you,” Sam managed to whisper. He noticed Bella fiddling with her cell phone. Wasn’t she concerned about the insane amount of cash they now had in their names?

The bank manager extended his hand to shake theirs, and thanked them for banking with Wolf Bank and Trust. On the way out, Bella grabbed a couple of business cards she saw on the manager’s desk because she’d heard it was a good idea to keep the name of contacts.

Sam put the empty suitcase into the trunk of the car, and sat at the wheel hyperventilating. “Oh my God! Oh my God! We’re going to hell. Mom and Dad are going to ground us and we won’t see the light of day ever again!”

“What? What are you freaking out about?”

Bella, we’re like bazillionaires. Why did they give us so much money?”

“I don’t think having ninety-thousand dollars in the bank makes us bazillionaires. It makes us wealthier than normal teenagers, but we’re certainly not bazillionaires.”

“Bella! He said that we have two million nine hundred ninety thousand dollars! Where did you get ninety thousand dollars from?”

“I only heard the end part.” She narrowed her eyes. “Alice distracted me by sending some pictures of us. She must have known I’d freak out at the bank.”

“What are we going to do, Bella?”

“Maybe we can call the bank manager and have him give it back to us so we can mail it to the Whitlocks. Here, I have his card.”

Sam took it, read it, and slapped his forehead. “We can’t call him. We can never call him. If we call him, he might tell my great-grandpa.”

“What do you mean?”

“The bank-the whole, entire freaking bank is owned by Levi Uley!”

Bella snatched the card away from Sam and read it. “Well, no wonder why it’s called Wolf Bank and Trust. Your great-grandpa did say he was an investment banker by trade.”

“He never mentioned that he owned the whole bank that he does his investment banking from! What are we going to do, Bella?”

“We can’t do anything about it. We’re going to go home and pretend like we just decided to go for a drive to Port Townsend.”

“Bella! This is terrible!”

“Meh! It happened, now we have to just roll with it.” She leaned over and stared at the dash. “How are we doing on gas?”

“We’re almost empty.” Sam put the car into drive and then into park again. He whipped his cell phone out and sent a text message to Jasper.

‘ Thank you for the generous gift. Love, Bella and Sam.’

A reply text message from Jasper came in immediately.

‘ Just study hard in school and live your lives to the fullest. We’ll be watching over you both. Trust us, with Bella as a mate, you’ll need us to. Love Jasper, Alice, Peter, and Charlotte’

---

When Bella and Sam arrived home, Alison and Charlie lectured them about leaving the house without informing them.

“We don’t mind if you go out, but you need to tell us so we don’t worry! For Christ’s sakes, you went all the way to Port Townsend. Did you even have gas money?”

Both kids nodded that they did-more than usual. Sam discovered that the bundle he had pulled out for gas and ice cream contained ten thousand dollars. Well, now they had nine thousand, nine hundred, fifty-seven dollars, after filling the tank and buying two chocolate-chip ice cream cones.

“We have another issue to bring up with you,” Alison said, as she rolled out the suitcase filled with books and the two backpacks. “What are these? Hmm…? I’m waiting!”

“They were graduation gifts from the Cullens,” Sam explained. “They told us there were only back-to-school clothes in the suitcase. We didn’t know about the books and the gift cards. Apparently, those are the textbooks we’ll need for this school year.”

“And the Macbooks and iPads?”

“They were in the backpacks. They left before we could open anything.”

“It was very generous of them-too generous. I suppose there’s no way of returning the items so you’ll have to thank them.”

“We already did. We can reach them by phone or by Skype, but we have no idea what their addresses are. Otherwise, we’d send everything back.” And he meant everything.

“Fair enough.” Charlie sighed. “Now did you kids have dinner?”

“Not yet. We were going to have the fried chicken and mac and cheese that Esme made for us.

“Oh,” Alison and Charlie actually blushed.

“You didn’t, did you? She made that for me!” Sam huffed.

“Well, you should have left a note! You can heat up a frozen pizza or make some hot dogs.”

“I’ll make us some grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. That always makes you feel better, Sam,” Bella told him.

“Yeah, and I’ll bring everything back upstairs.”

Sam was now thanking God that they were warned to get the money in the bank. If his mom had found the other suitcase full of cash, and there was no doubt she would have, they would have been toast. He made a mental note to himself to bring the other suitcase upstairs and shove it into the closet once the parents were asleep. Tomorrow was Saturday, after all, and he didn’t want to keep an extra suitcase in the car for his mother to find.

---

On Saturday afternoon, Sam walked into the house after mowing the lawn.

“Are you ready for lunch, Sam?” his mother asked.

“Yeah, I’m starving.”

“You’re always hungry.” She shook her head. “Well, sit down.” His mother sat across from him. “This is so nice. It’s rarely just you and me having lunch together anymore. It used to always be like this.”

“Yeah, this is nice.”

“You’ve had a tough year.”

“Some parts of it were, but for the most part, it’s been a great ride.”

“This is very true. I just worry about you. You’ve been given so much responsibility at such a young age.”

“But at the same time, you’ve kept things as normal as possible for me.”

“Have I?”

“Yes, you have. I’m the luckiest kid on the entire reservation.” He smiled at her. “Mom, you’ve done the job of two parents up until the point you married Charlie. You made sure that I never went without, even if it meant going without yourself. You were busy with going to school and work, but you always made time to take me to football and baseball practice, and if you couldn’t do it, either Tiffany or Old Quil did. And you always sat with me until I completed every bit of homework. Considering all that I had going against me while growing up, I think I turned out okay, and it’s all because of you.”

“Sammy, you’ve exceeded my expectations in every way. I am so proud of you.”

“Thanks, Mom, but it was all you.” He looked into her eyes with a serious expression on his face. “I have to tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“I asked Bella to marry me two nights before the battle. Nothing is official yet, of course, but she’s my fiancée in every sense of the word. She keeps me grounded, and she’s strong. She’s stronger than I am-not physically, but she has a way of keeping her cool.”

“She’s like her father. When Josh came here to attack me, Bella did everything she could to defend me. She first tried whacking him with a baseball bat, and then she punched and kicked him repeatedly until he threw her across the living room. After that, she grabbed Charlie’s rifle, and calmly aimed it at him. She didn’t hesitate to take him down as soon as she saw she had an opening. And then during the battle, it was Bella who defended Esme after Edward mocked her. She put herself in harm’s way for the sake of someone who was physically much stronger than she was, but emotionally and mentally incapable of causing harm. When Edward’s mate became angry, she had Bella suspended by the neck against the wall.” His mother sobbed. “I have never been so afraid in my life. All of us were terrified for her, but Bella kept her cool. And when Victoria dropped her, she set the vampire’s hair on fire using her torch.”

“So it was Bella who torched her?”

“It was, but the reason why I respect Bella so much is because of something she did for me. You were having your chat with Edward when she turned to look back at me. I was terrified of what I was about to see. She declared to Lauren that no mother should have to witness her child killing another. Then she stood up with her torch to go and do it herself, but Esme Cullen stepped in at that moment and said, ‘Let me do it.’ You see, Sam, your imprint would rather I always see you in a good light, so she was ready to sacrifice the image her father has of her, for my sake. Thankfully, Esme Cullen stepped in when she was most needed. I will always be grateful to her for that.” His mother smiled at him. “You have my express approval to marry her. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

“I love you, Mom.”

“And I love you, Samuel.”

They finished their meal at a leisurely pace, chatting and reminiscing about the past, and discussing hopes for the future.

Around three-thirty, Bella walked inside the house. “How was your first day back at Newton’s, honey?” Alison asked.

“It was fun. Mike and I spent our time perfecting our beer pong skills.”

“Really, Bella? I am your mother! How can you stand there and tell me about preparing for college drinking games?”

“Because I can, and because you know I don’t drink. It’s a good skill to have, though. On Monday, we’re going to play darts.”

“You have the oddest part time job in the world.”

“No, that would be Paul. He texted me earlier today and said a group of bachelorettes tipped him an extra three hundred bucks for letting them slather baby oil on his chest. He didn’t mind except he had to practically use a whole bar of soap to get his skin squeaky clean again.”

“Oh my goodness! What is the world coming to?”

“Heck if I know.”

“What’s in the bag?”

“Oh, it’s the stuff Daddy asked for. He ordered some sort of specialty fishing vest. Did you know that this thing costs a hundred-fifty dollars.”

Alison clutched her chest. “I do now!”

“Don’t worry, I used my employee discount and got it for a hundred-five dollars for him. Plus I used one of the gift cards from his stash in the drawer.”

“I like how you think, Bella.”

“You know, between all of Dad’s saved up gift cards and the ones Alice and Jasper gave us, we won’t have to pay for anything all year long.”

“I’m sure that was the whole point of them giving you gift cards.”

A few minutes later, Charlie walked into the house carrying a case of beer and his fishing gear.

“Why must you always insist on walking into the house with your muddy boots?” Alison asked.

“Sorry,” he replied sheepishly. “Hey, do you know who that black truck outside belongs to? It’s been sitting on the curb by our driveway for two days now.

The entire family walked to the window to check it out. “No, but it’s really nice,” Sam commented.

“I’m going to run a plate check on it after I get settled in.”

A half hour later, Charlie rushed downstairs and angrily approached Sam. “Boy! You have some explaining to do!”

“What explaining? What did I do?”

“I just ran a plate check. That truck out there is registered to a Samuel Levi Uley of 775 K Street, Forks! It even has your old plates on it. Now, I want an explanation and I want one now!”

“Oh, shit,” Bella cursed, and then slapped her hands over her mouth for swearing.

“Oh, shit, what, young lady?” he turned to his daughter, who reached into her tote bag.

“Rosalie Hale said to give this to you, Sam. I’m supposed to tell you it’s a gift from her.”

“Well, open it!” Alison ordered. She had her hands on her hips and a fierce expression on her face.

He slowly tore at the gift wrap and stared at the box, afraid to open it. He took a deep breath in, closed his eyes, and exhaled as he popped the lid off the box. When he opened his eyes, he found two sets of keys.

“Alrighty, I’m going to assume that those keys are for that truck. Go ahead and unlock it so we can find clues as to what happened to your old truck.”

They all walked outside. Sam hit the key fob to unlock the door. Sitting on the driver’s seat was a manila envelope. He handed it over to his stepfather, who opened it and pulled out some documents. Inside were the sales receipt, title, and registration. There was also a letter addressed to his mother. She opened it and read it aloud.

Dear Mrs. Swan,

I’ve probably overstepped my boundaries when I purchased this truck for your son. Oh, what am I saying? I know I’ve overstepped my boundaries, but I need you to understand that I truly wanted to do this for you. Your son drove his truck to our house everyday to train for the battle. I noticed his transmission was about to fail, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before he needed to replace the truck. I didn’t want Chief Swan and you to have to bear the expense, especially since you have two college tuitions to pay for.

Mrs. Swan, you have provided many hours of counseling for me out of the goodness of your heart, and I expect you’ll be spending more time with me on Skype in the years to come. The few weeks you spent counseling me have had such a positive impact on my life. Emmett says I glow after each session with you.

I can never repay you for giving me the means to finally start healing from my internal wounds, so please allow me to do this one little thing for your family.

With Love,

Rosalie Hale McCarty

P.S. I brought Sam’s old truck with me to Gaitlinburg. It’s my next pet project. I’m going to rebuild the engine and transmission, and turn it into a monster truck for Emmett.

“After a letter like that, I hesitate to not accept the truck,” Alison stated. “It was very nice of her.”

“Very generous,” Charlie agreed. With a softened expression on his face, he turned to Sam with a smile. “Well, son, are you going to take us for a spin?”

“Sure. Let me just grab my license.”

Sam rushed into the house, grabbed his wallet, and shut the door. He hopped into the driver’s seat. Charlie rode shotgun while his mother and Bella took the crew cab.

“Where to?”

“Let’s get some dinner in Port Angeles. I think we should celebrate. Maybe we can go to the hibachi place where they do the fancy knife tricks,” his dad suggested.

“Sounds like a plan.”

As Sam started the engine to his new truck, he realized how lucky he was to have such a wonderful family.