Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

A Fresh Start

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 24:

Bella POV

La Push. It was raining. It hadn’t stopped. Why won’t it stop? I guess the last time I was here I was so focused on finding out about my past I never stopped to realize how damn much it rains here. It’s a miracle that the damn State hasn’t washed away.

“Why won’t it stop raining?” I asked Bo. We were sitting on Emily’s
front porch watching the rain fall.

“Somebody did one hell of a rain dance one hundred years ago?” He suggested.

“You’re an idiot.”

“You got a better idea?”

I really didn’t so I shut up and curled up into him a little more.
We would be leaving in a few hours. The wedding was nice. It was a lot more of a subdued affair than Charlie and Sue’s wedding.

There were no bachelor parties. We all attended a bonfire.

Apparently Wolves don’t let their imprints out of their doggy site
often, much less to have strippers crawling over them.

It was quiet though. The wedding was pretty. There was punch
served at the reception. No alcohol. Jake tried to talk to me during
the reception and I shot him down. I hated to be a bitch but it almost seems like if I were to give him the slightest conversation he would take it the wrong way. His sister and her man avoided me. I was grateful for that.

Bo and I planned to make this our last trip to La Push. If Emily
wanted to see us, she and Sam could fly to Texas. The only hitch to
the wedding was a howl that ripped through the air. A few of the
wolves disappeared for a while. I guess to go furry. They returned an hour later. I asked Embry what it was all about. He said a blonde female vampire had been bothering them for the past year.

She never killed anyone. Just showed up and then left. Almost like she was playing with them. I thought of mentioning this to Esme but then thought again. It’s their problem not hers. If the vampire was killing people it would be different. Besides these boys needed something to do.

“When can we leave for the airport?” Bo asked.

“Charlie and Sue are visiting. Seth and Leah are saying goodbyes.
We leave in a couple hours.”

“I want to leave now.” He pouted.

“Well… you can’t.”

Bo rolled his eyes.

“Fine. We can sit here and look at the rain some more.” He was still
pouting.

I admit it was boring.

“We could go to the beach.” I offered.

“It’s raining.”

“We have rain coats.”

“I look stupid in a raincoat.”

“I think you look like a sexy duck.” I smiled.

“A sexy duck?”

“Yes.”

“You find ducks sexy?” he asked.

“If they look like you I do.”

“Let’s have a baby.”

“Oh…”

Wait. What?

“Uh… we were talking about the beach and sexy ducks.” I pointed
out.

“Yeah, I know. I was just thinking it would be cool to have kids when we would be young enough to enjoy and still have our lives to live when they were out of the house.”

“Bo… A baby?”

“Yeah…”

“We don’t even have a dog. We don’t even have a plant in the house we try to keep alive. Shouldn’t we start small?”

“If you don’t want to or it’s too soon, that’s cool. I was just thinking we are doing well in business and are pretty stable and…”

“I can’t legally drink alcohol yet.” I pointed out. A baby?

“I know. It was a dumb idea. Just forget I said anything.”

“No darlin. It wasn’t a dumb idea. I’m just saying we are young and a baby would cause us to make some serious adjustments to our life. Like no more partying?”

“Fuck partying. I’m happy just being at home with you. You are the
one who always says we need to lay off a little bit. I’m just taking it a step further. Besides it’s not like we would give up our friends. We… look I said it was a stupid idea. We can talk about it in a couple years.”

Great. Now he was sad. But you can’t be sitting discussing sexy
ducks one minute and throw a baby into the mix the next moment.

“Look, I’m not even saying it would take a couple years okay? You
just caught me by surprise. Give me a little while to think about it.”

A baby? Good lord, we need to get out of the rain. This is what
happens when Bo gets bored.

Still the idea, wouldn’t be bad. I mean I never thought how old I
would be when we had kids. I just knew I wanted kids with him.

“So… how about the beach?” I whispered in his ear.

“Sure. The rain looks like it is letting up.”

I threw on my rain coat. Bo refused to be my sexy duck. Instead the now light rain was soaking his hair and pressing his shirt to his body.

Damn. The water was dripping through his hair. It was a little longer and wavier than normal.

I wouldn’t mind practicing for a baby right now.

We made it to the beach and watched the waves roll in. I pointed out a cliff in the distance.

“Apparently, I jumped off that, once.” I told him, smiling.

“That was pretty fucking stupid. You did that on purpose or were you trying to get away from someone?”

“I’m pretty sure on purpose.” I said. I think it’s pretty cool actually.

“Oh. Well… it seems pretty fucking stupid to me.”

“Apparently the guys in the Pack do it all the time.” I pointed out.

“Yeah, and they seem pretty fucking stupid. Let’s see them do that if they didn’t have superpowers.”

He had a point.

“So? A baby huh?”

“Mary, just drop it. I shouldn’t have brought it up. I was bored and
you know how my mind wanders when I get bored. My mind just
happened to be thinking about making love to you and then it went to babies. Not a big deal.”

“So if I said yes, you would still drop it?”

“Are you saying yes?”

“That wasn’t the question.” I smiled.

“Stop fucking around with me.” He smiled back.

“I’m saying I would consider it but…”

I stopped talking when I saw the look on Bo’s face. He just went
white. He was facing the water and I had my back to the water. I
hope it wasn’t a tsunami. Bo grabbed my shoulders and spun me
behind him. I peered over his shoulder and wished it had been a
tsunami.

A gorgeous blonde woman was walking towards us out of the surf.

She had golden eyes.

“Hello you two. I saw you both once before. Walking in the woods.
Do you remember? I didn’t get to introduce myself because of the
pesky dogs that live around her. My name is Irina.”

She stuck out her hand and Bo shook it. He didn’t appear scared. I
was. A little. I mean it was a strange vampire. She had gold eyes and everything, but still.

“Irina, I’m Bo and this here is my wife, Mary.”

“Oh. You two aren’t from around here, are you?”

“No ma’am.” Bo said, looking her in the eyes.

“So what brings you to La Push?”

“Visiting friends. What about you?” I stepped up to Bo’s side. Not like hiding behind him was going to make a difference if this bitch went crazy.

“I’m pretty sure my friend got killed by the local wildlife.”

“Oh. That sucks…” I said, not really knowing else what to say.

“Yes. It does suck.”

“So why are you here?” Bo asked.

“I don’t really know. I guess you could say I am studying them. Esme knew about them. I’m curious…”

“You know Esme?” I asked. Gold eyes. Of course she does. I bet this
is one of those Alaskans Esme was talking about.

“Yes. Do you?” She asked.

How to play this? May as well be honest.

“Yeah, she is a very good friend of mine.”

“You are very good friends with a vampire? How the hell do you even know about vampires?” She was looking agitated now. Probably should have played stupid.

“I’m related to one.” Bo said quickly. Glad one of us is thinking.

“You are related to one? Who?”

“Peter Whitlock is my great, great, great uncle.”

That shut her up.

“You are related to Peter Whitlock?” She said quietly.

Bo smiled.

“Yeah. You two know each other?” Bo asked.

“Not personally no. I have heard of him.”

“Oh. You should meet him one day. Strange guy but seems like he
would be fun to party with if he ever lightened up.”

“I see. Well it was nice meeting the two of you.” She suddenly
seemed to be in a hurry to get away. Was Peter that unpopular?
She started walking back towards the water.

“Hey wait.” I said, as Bo mumbled oh fuck.

“Yes?”

“So what are you going to do about your friend?”

“Probably nothing. I haven’t decided yet. It is possible he just came after the wrong person and got caught. I learned he was doing a favor for a real bitch who I couldn’t stand. Apparently he went after some human who pissed her off. If he was helping her, he probably got what he deserved. If they attacked him for no reason… well that may change things.”

“Oh… okay. Good luck with your study and everything.”

“Good luck with the baby thing.” She smiled and jumped underwater, disappearing.

“Huh. She seemed kind of cool.” I commented. “I guess she is the
vampire that is driving the wolves crazy.”

“Yeah. Even she thinks we should have a kid.” Bo mumbled.

“What?”

“What?”

“What did you say?” I asked, knowing exactly what he said.

“She seemed like a cool vampire. It’s a good thing she had golden
eyes or I would have had to deal with her.”

“Deal with her?” I asked, grinning.

“Yeah. Deal with her. Take her down. Take her out. You know… deal with her.”

“How were you planning on dealing with a vampire, great protector?”

“I was working on it. That’s why I was making small talk. To stall for time until my plan could come together.”

“Oh really? Tell me what you had come up with so far Van Helsing.”

Smart ass.

“So far I had decided to throw your skinny ass at her and while she
was draining you, I planned to run.”

“Excuse me?!”

“What? It was a good plan. I didn’t say it was good for both of us.”

“You asshole.” I told him laughing. I hit him in the shoulder.

“Calm down Rocky. Let’s go tell your love sick puppies what we
found out about the big bad very polite vampire we just met.”

We walked back to Sam and Emily’s. The wolves were in front,
sniffing air.

“Don’t bother. We ran her off.” Bo said walking up.

“You saw a vampire?!” Jake asked.

“Yep. Nice lady. Blonde, pretty.” I commented.

“What happened? How did you escape?” Jake asked.

“I kicked that bitch’s ass.” Bo said casually.

“You did what?” Sam asked.

“I broke out some Chuck Norris on her ass. I don’t hit women but I
make exceptions for vampires.” Bo looked so tough. It was cute.

“Bo stop it. She came swimming up while we were at the beach. We had a nice conversation.”

Since they were all looking at me like I was crazy, I went ahead and told them what we had learned.

So she is studying us?” Jake asked.

“Yep.” I responded.

“She is looking for weak points. She plans to attack us.” Jake said
quietly.

“I don’t think so. She genuinely seemed curious. You should
probably stop chasing her and she will go away.” Bo suggested.

“Same concept as a stray cat. You feed it once you never get rid of
them. Same with her. You chase her, she gets a kick out of it and
keeps coming back for more.”

“She is a vampire on our land!” Jake yelled.

“Yeah, with gold eyes, who is seriously just fucking with you all. She didn’t seem that broke up about her friend. I have a feeling if you stop chasing her she will get bored and leave. Believe me, it isn’t hard to do around here with all this fucking rain.” Bo made a good point.

“Vampires are not allowed on our land.” Sam said, staring at Bo and I.

“Hey, do what the fuck you want. We don’t care. Your land, your
business. Now does anybody know where Charlie is? We got a
plane to catch.” Bo said throwing his hands in the air.

It was at that point that Charlie and Sue walked up with Leah and
Seth behind them. They did not look good. Charlie looked shell
shocked. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

“What’s wrong Charlie?” Bo asked, not even bothering to pretend
something wasn’t wrong.

“Bella…” oh shit he just called me Bella…”can I talk to you and Bo
inside?”

I said nothing.

“Of course Charlie.” Bo grabbed my hand and guided me inside. We
sat down on the couch. I noticed only Sue and Charlie came in. Leah and Sue stayed outside.

“What is wrong, Dad? You are kind of freaking me out.”

Charlie had tears in his eyes.

“Bella… your mother and Phil were involved in a car accident this
morning. A deputy just called me.”

“Okay… is she okay?” I knew already. He wouldn’t tell me about a
fender bender. She must be seriously hurt. Bo just squeezed my
hand and put his arm around me.

“No Bella.”

“That’s not my… why the fuck are we hear? We need to leave now!
Is she in… what hospital is she in? We have to go. How badly is she
injured?”

“Be… Mary, Renee and Phil didn’t make it. Phil died on scene. Your
mother…” Charlie was crying. I wasn’t. This was a sick joke. I don’t
know why he thought this was funny.

“Tell me Dad. What about my mother?” I was yelling. I didn’t want to.

This was just a joke but it was pissing me off and in poor taste.

“She died on the way to the hospital. They tried to save her but… it was too late. She was too injured.”

“You are a fucking liar and this isn’t funny!” I tried to stand up but Bo wouldn’t let me. I looked at him and stopped cold. He had tears in his eyes.

Bo never cries. The only time I had ever seen him with tears in his
eyes was when we got married. This was real. He would never lie to
me. He believed Charlie.

“Are you… are you sure? She could be in a coma or something?
Maybe she is just really sleeping and they don’t know…” I couldn’t
see Charlie anymore. My eyes were wet. Rain drops I guess. Now I
couldn’t breathe. Bo was squeezing me. Somebody was screaming.
I buried my head in Bo’s chest to get away from the screaming but it wouldn’t stop.

I realized finally that I was screaming. Bo grabbed my head and
squeezed it to his chest. I was hyperventilating. I had to catch my
breath. Charlie is a fucking liar!

I couldn’t catch my breath. I couldn’t see. My eyes wouldn’t clear. I
felt myself waling from the chest. This was not real. Not my mother. She was too happy to be gone. She taught kids for God’s sake. This wasn’t happening.

I couldn’t get my breathing under control. I saw blackness. I opened my eyes and found myself on a bed. Bo was next to me. Charlie was standing in the corner. Sue was wiping a cloth over my forehead.

“Bo what happened?”

“You passed out baby.”

Oh yeah.

“Mom is dead?”

He nodded.

“Take me home Bo. We have to get… we have to take care of her.
Her and Phil. Take me home, Bo.”

I don’t remember the plane ride home. I don’t remember much. Mom didn’t have any family besides me. Phil’s family came down. I
cleaned Mom’s house. I cooked. I cooked a lot. Bo kept trying to get me to stop but things needed to be done. I had to talk to the funeral home. I had to deal with life insurance. Bo and Charlie offered to do it but I wouldn’t let them. If I stopped I would have to think about the fact that she is dead and the only reason she was here in the first place instead of Florida where she would be safe was because of me. I brought her here.

I overheard Charlie tell Bo that Renee and Phil were going to a diner to eat breakfast when a drunk driver coming home from a hard night of partying ran into them head on. He died too.

Bo’s parents died in a wreck. This was bringing back memories for
him. I had to be strong. I was strong. Right up till the funeral.

It was an open casket. Her face hadn’t been hurt. Everything else
had… but her face was okay. She looked so different. She didn’t look real. Like a doll. I passed out when I saw her. Bo caught me. He usually did.

I sat in the front row at the cemetery. Bo on one side and Steph on
the other. I was wearing a black dress. Esme had been there. I saw
her in the back. I hugged her before the funeral started. Esme didn’t try to tell me it would be okay. She understood death. She had lost a child. Death was final.

I barely listened to what Mom’s co worker said in her eulogy. I didn’t hear what Phil’s brother said. I barely looked at the people who walked by and placed their hands in mine whispering condolences.

Mom had changed her will. She said she wanted to be buried in
Tyler so she could be near me. I never would have thought someone as happy as she was, would give thought to something like that.

I remembered the first night I had re met her. After my honeymoon.

She slept with me that night. She did it a few times after that.
Gradually she stopped acting like I was going to disappear at any
second and we got to know each other again. She showed me
pictures of the good times we had and we talked about places to go in the summer. Neither of us had seen much of Texas besides what was around us. There were so many places we wanted to go to. Things we planned to do. New memories to make. Bo had wanted to do a big camping trip with both sets of my parents and our friends to Big Bend this summer. We were going to rent RVs.
There would be no new memories.

I stayed while they lowered the coffins. Phil would be buried next to her. Bo wouldn’t let me watch the dirt go over them. He pulled me away.

The crowd came to our house. I had food ready for them. I had a lot of damn food. My friends tried to help. But I needed this. I was in such a daze it still didn’t feel real.

“How you doing kid?” Charlie asked quietly.

“Mom moved here to be close to me and she died because of it.
How the hell do you think I am doing?” I whispered back.

“Don’t say that Bella. She would do the same thing over again.
Spending this time with you was the greatest thing to ever happen to her. She got you back. The two of you became close again. She
wouldn’t trade that for anything in the world.”

“Really Dad?”

“Yeah really.”

“What about staying in Florida and seeing her grandkids on visits?
What about getting to keep teaching or watching the sun set over the ocean? You think she might have liked that? The worst thing I ever did was leave her the first time. It started all this shit. Then you had to find me and she is dead because of it!”

I ran out of the room. I didn’t want to hear it anymore.

I slammed my bedroom door and climbed under the covers, throwing them over my head. It was daytime outside but under the covers it was dark. In here I didn’t have to think. I heard the door open. I knew it was him. I swear I may not be some mystical imprint but I can feel his presence when he is near.

He didn’t say anything. He lifted the covers and got under with me. I felt his arms around me. The only good thing that happened to me since I moved to Forks, took a fucking rapist to bring to me.

He was the only reason I could deal with this. Deal with the guilt. I
ruin people’s lives. How long till I ruin his?

“You’re not. You are my life.” He whispered.

“Did I say that out loud?” I whispered back. I didn’t want to speak
loudly. It was nice and dark. The dark deserved silence.

“No. But I know your soul. You are feeling guilty and blaming yourself for the actions of a drunk driver and thinking you ruin people’s lives. That you will ruin mine. She lost her child. She found her child. Not many people get that opportunity. That was a gift.”

“I didn’t remember her.”

“Not your fault. You got to know her again. You could have ignored
her. Instead you loved her again and let her continue to love you.”

“You don’t understand Bo. She died because she was down here to
be near me.”

“The night my parents were killed they were going to pick up Hunter from soccer practice. I had a chair I was working on. I didn’t want to stop working so I called them and asked if they could do it. Steph was working. I burned the fucking chair.”

“That happens all the time Bo. People do favors for each other.”

“Yeah,and drunk drivers hit innocent people sometimes. I’m going to let you feel bad today. Tomorrow you get your ass straight. This
wasn’t your fault Mary. This is life.”

He was right. As usual.

“Thank you. I love you.”

“I love you too Mary. Now be quiet and let our friends out there take care of the guests. Let me hold you.”

“Okay.”

I fell asleep I guess. The sun was down when I got up and Charlie
and Sue were the only ones in the house, along with Bo and Steph.

I walked up and hugged Charlie. He started crying a little. I told him I loved him. I wouldn’t make the mistake of not saying that enough to anybody else. We had a light dinner that Bo made me eat and then I went back to bed.

The next morning Bo was nudging me.

“Come on. Get up.”

“Why?” I moaned.

“It’s 5:30. Time to get to work. Life doesn’t stop Mary. I told you the feeling bad stopped yesterday. You can mourn but you aren’t going to stop living. We got orders to take, product to go out and shit to build. Let’s get busy.”

I rolled out of the bed and watched him get ready. He walked out and I walked to the kitchen to start the coffee and breakfast. Later today we would have to meet the real estate person who was going to sell Mom’s house and then settle her estate with a probate lawyer. But first we had work to do. I could do this.

Irina POV

Something was wrong.

I could smell it when I walked into the house.

Eleazar walked up to me.

“Welcome back Irina. We have visitors.” He looked tense. I heard
footsteps behind me. Oh fuck.

“Hello lovely Irina. Eleazar tells me you have been studying
werewolves.”

Aro reached out to grab my hand before I could stop him. He kissed my hand with his freaky lips and let go.

“Very interesting. You are right to be concerned dear. This threat
needs to be dealt with. Perhaps…”

“Perhaps?” I asked quietly. He just knew everything I did. He knew
about Peter Whitlock’s nephew. If this was a problem a war would be started. Peter wouldn’t back down. I had heard the stories of him and Jasper. I knew what they were capable of.

“Yes, perhaps. We will take over studying them from this point on.
Should they roam from there little village we will handle them. If it appears they are keeping to themselves then we have to weigh the costs of potential losses in war to the benefit of wiping them out. Very interesting that the Cullens knew of them. How is Esme? I understand she left Carlisle. Over a dead human?”

“That is what I was told.”

“Strange. That girl had an amazing effect on those around her. Most likely a very strong shield. Possibly physical as well. I was very disappointed when Carlisle let her escape and then die. Very
disappointed.”

“Yes, I imagine you were.” I said quietly. I noticed Tanya had walked in the room along with Kate. Felix and Jane were with them. This isn’t good.

“Ah well. Such is life. We move on. I understand you were close to
Laurent?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“I have been close to many people.”

“Yes. That is what I understand.” Asshole smiled. I didn’t smile back.

“Well, my sympathies regardless. Unfortunately you have caught us at the end of our visit. It was good that we spoke before I had to
leave. I want you to stay away from the werewolves. They are much too dangerous for someone as beautiful as yourself to be around. We will handle the situation and decide what needs to be done.”

“Of course.” He hasn’t mentioned the humans. He could kill me for
leaving them alive with knowledge of our kind. Why isn’t he?

I watched Aro and his two minions walk out. I turned and saw
everyone had relaxed somewhat.

“So, a little warning next time would be nice.” I said, glaring at my
family.

Aro POV

“Very interesting visit.” I said to myself.

“I was quite bored, Master.” Jane said.

“Yes. Not the most exciting family. But I learned some wonderful
news. Bella Swan is alive and well!”

“What?” Felix yelled. “The Cullens lied to us?”

“No. They didn’t know. Carlisle and Edward still do not know and I
would like to keep it that way. But Esme Cullen knows. Bella is
married to Peter Whitlock’s, great, great, great nephew. He knows
about her as well.”

“What are we going to do, Master? Collect her at once? Turn her?
Kill her? Can I kill her, Master?”

“No Jane. She will only be more powerful with age. We will find her. We will watch. I would rather not start a war with Peter Whitlock. I am certain we could destroy him but the newborns he would make to fight us stagger the mind. It could cause quite the scene. I left Irina alive because I do not want a scene. We will do this quietly. We will find her. We will watch her. Once I decide the time is right we will take her and turn her.”

“Of course Master.”

Jane looked so sad. She has been wanting to kill poor little Bella
Swan since the moment she realized her powers did not work on
her. Jane had no concept of the greater picture. I took out my phone.

“Demetri. Can you track Bella Swan?”

“I thought she was dead Master”

“I did not ask for your thoughts. She is not dead. Answer the
question.”

“No. I get no signature off of her. I barely had one when she was in
the throne room with Cullen.”

“Yes. It is as I have thought. She grows more powerful even as a
human. Okay Demetri. Find Esme Cullen. Find her but do not
approach. Do not let her know you are there. Watch. When you find her location I can promise you that Bella Swan will not be far behind.

Let me know as soon as you find her.”

“Yes Master.”

What a wonderful trip. I admit I thought it would be boring. But now… now it appeared I would be getting my little shield after all.