Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

Intensity

By Mama4Dukes

Chapter 25:

Bella’s POV

Our weekend away did wonders for us. It fully recharged us for the week, which turned out to be more hectic than we bargained for. The flu had been going around and Emily and I seemed to be the only ones left standing in our office. In fact, for the last two days, it had been just the two of us. We were lucky, of course, because we had those crazy anti-viral properties that came with imprinting. It was definitely an awesome flu preventative. Thank goodness today was Friday because I really needed to go home and get some rest.

“Glad today is over with,” Emily commented.

“You’re not kidding. It was chaos in here. I bet you’re looking forward to getting home to the kids. How is Sammy doing, by the way?”

“He’s doing better. Sam is dropping him off at school in the mornings now.”

Phew! What a relief! Emily had a tendency to smother her kids.

“What about wrestling? Is he leaving the program?”

“No, there are only two weeks left in the season, and with his hand out of commission, he can’t participate in practices. Anyway, his coach is going to keep him on the roster so he can earn a JV letter because, even if he didn’t win any matches, he did do his very best at practices and at matches. The coach thinks he deserves to letter. All he has to do is show up at the remaining matches to support his teammates.”

“I think that’s wonderful. How does Sammy feel about it?”

“He likes the idea that he’ll be able to letter in wrestling.”

“Good. Let’s close up shop and get out of here.”

It was Friday at 6:20 pm, and I had just sent my last patient home. My cell phone started ringing incessantly. From the ringtone, I knew it was from the hospital. Emily, who was familiar with the ringtone, turned to me with a concerned expression.

“This is Isabella Swan.”

“Bella, this is Rich Greenbriar. You need to come to Good Samaritan ASAP.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Just get over here.”

“I just have to lock up. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I shook my head. Dr. Greenbriar was one of the few doctors who spoke to me so casually. Of course, it may be because his wife and he had watched me grow up because his daughter Katherine had been my best friend from elementary school through high school when I lived in Phoenix. I hadn’t seen Katherine in years because she now lived somewhere in the Midwest.

“Em, we need to shut down. I need to get to Good Samaritan-there’s some sort of emergency.”

“Okay, just call if you need me for anything. Did you need Paul to come to our house for dinner?”

“He’s in Oklahoma, remember?”

“Oh, that’s right.”

“Give Sam and the kids a hug for me.”

“I will.”

After locking up the office, we went our separate ways. I drove to the hospital, parked, and walked inside. The receptionist sent me straight to Rich’s office.

“What’s the emergency?”

“Have a seat, Bella.” I sat down, concerned, because I’d never seen Rich so serious. Okay, there was the time when Katherine and I didn’t come home until two am after the homecoming dance, but he was more angry than serious then.

He took a deep breath. “Tom Blanchard passed away about an hour ago.”

“Tom Blanchard as in Dr. Blanchard, my boss?”

“Yes, Bella.”

“Oh… how…” I had tears streaming down my face. He had been my pediatrician long before I started working for him. I took a few deep breaths and composed myself. “How did it happen?”

“I had to admit him because he was having respiratory problems from the flu around noon time. Before I knew it, he was on a ventilator, and he passed away shortly after that.”

“So, complications from the flu?”

“Bella, believe it or not, Tom was eighty-seven. He was my doctor when I was growing up and Katherine’s, too. He loved doctoring so he never retired.”

“Oh, God. He was such a good man.” My tears wouldn’t stop. Rich came around the desk and held me just like a father would. The man had watched me grow up so I had no problem with his physical proximity.

It took a few minutes for me to finally calm down. “What should I do now?”

“Well, obviously his funeral arrangements are being handled by his wife, but you and I need to take care of his practice. There’s the staff who need to be informed about his death and other matters relating to his practice.”

“Okay, but why me? Why not Krista?”

“Tom obviously trusted you more because he specifically requested you and I handle any business arrangements in case of his death.” He opened up a manila envelope on his desk and took out some papers. “I’ve had this for two years now. It’s a detailed document on how he wants his business taken care of. He’s already made arrangements for the practice to be sold to Dr. Marcy Cohen within two weeks.”

“Dr. Marcy Cohen?” I snarled her name out. I couldn’t stand the witch.

Rich chuckled. “Don’t hold back, Bella. Anyway, the staff has a choice to stay or go after seeing the practice through for the next two weeks. Everyone will be receiving their usual pay plus a bonus of six months salary from him as his final compensation to his staff; it’s all been pre-arranged with his lawyer. Your cut is substantially larger than everyone else’s because, obviously, you’re helping with the final arrangements. He also predicted you’d be flying the coop.”

“How did he know I would be leaving the practice?”

“Come on, Bella? This is me you’re talking to. I watched you grow up, and so did Tom.”

“Rich, would you work for Marcy Cohen?”

“I fired her Bella. She’s not a people person.”

“Why did Tom sell the practice to Dr. Cohen?”

“She overpaid him. Tom wasn’t a stupid man, and he took the best offer he could get.”

“Ah, I see, but she’s going to lose all of his patients, isn’t she?”

“Most likely, but that’s not our problem or his. Do you have a list of all of your personal patients?”

“I do.”

“Good, because by law, they need to be given the option of keeping you as their primary care provider, finding a new one, or staying with Dr. Cohen.”

“Understood.”

He patted me on the shoulder. “We’ll get through this Bella.”

“I know we will.” I sighed before standing up. “Where is he?”

“His body has already been transported to the funeral home.”

“I’ll swing by there tomorrow, and give the family a chance to mourn in private first.”

“And I’ll see you at the office on Monday. I’ll be taking his appointments for the next two weeks. It’s part of what we agreed on. We’ll talk to the staff together then.”

I hugged him one more time. “How is Katherine?”

“Pregnant. You know, I always thought she’d stay in Arizona. Never, in my wildest dreams, did I imagine her living in Kansas of all places.”

“I just can’t picture her in Kansas.”

“I know, but she’s thriving. She always sends her love to you, Bella.”

“Well, tell her that I love her, too.”

“I will.” He smiled warmly at me.

---

I walked out of the office and headed to my car. I didn’t want to be alone really so, instead of going home, I drove to the Bikini Lounge. I walked inside, threw an apron on, picked up a spatula, and simply started helping in the kitchen.

“Someone’s had a bad day,” Madge commented.

“I didn’t want to be alone. Tom Blanchard died today.”

“Oh, Bella, I’m sorry.”

“It was his time. He was a good guy.”

“Blondie, I need two burgers, hold the lettuce on one!” Frank yelled from the bar.

“Frank is happy you’re here.”

“Yeah, well, it’s kind of my home away from home.”

Madge gave me a hug. “You’re welcome anytime here. You do know that, right?”

“I sure do.” I worked in the kitchen for the rest of the night to take my mind off of things. It’s what I needed to do the most.

The next two weeks were insanely busy. After notifying the staff of Dr. Blanchard’s passing, Dr. Greenbriar and I took the steps needed to ready the practice for transfer of ownership. The majority of the staff was staying put with the exception of Emily, who was hired away by Dr. Greenbriar. I didn’t make any decisions regarding my future. I decided I needed a bit of a break from the hustle and bustle of work before making my next move.

---

Three months later…

Paul’s POV

The highway restoration project was in full swing and, so far, everything was on schedule. The men and women I hired were all dependable, hard workers. They were happy to have employment for the next few years and were putting their best efforts into the job.

Joe Cameron moved his entire family to Arizona and was now living in the house next door to Bella’s old house that Jared and Kim were renting out. Normally, I didn’t deal with finding housing for new hires, but this was a special case. Joe had, more or less, stepped into the role of father when I was a kid. He made sure I was well fed and gave me whatever guidance he could to keep me on the right track. So, since the house next door to Bella’s was on the market, I paid cash for it, and moved Joe and his family in, charging an outrageously low rent like I did with Jared and Kim. I had a second reason for doing this: I wanted Jenny to be in a good school district. I talked to Mr. Trainor, and he referred me to many social service programs which would benefit Jenny. On top of that, Babs came through with a whole slew of programs available only to Native Americans registered to a tribe.

Jenny was finishing off the school year being homeschooled by Rachel and Jessica. She was due to have her baby in July, and after a thorough discussion between Jenny, her parents, and Mr. Trainor-it was decided it would be best if she started off fresh in September without the challenges of having to explain her pregnancy to fellow classmates.

So now we get to Bella.

Bella.

Bella, who was jobless and constantly organizing the closets because she had nothing better to do. Bella, who tried to clean our pool out by herself-also because she had nothing better to do. Bella who was destroying our house with all of her DIY improvements because she really didn’t know how to handle tools. Bella who attempted to change the oil on her Lexus by herself, only to shower herself, and the garage floor, with a few quarts of oil. Bella who needed to get a damned job because I couldn’t take her goddamned pacing around the house anymore!

The worst part about it? It was my fault. It was my fault because when Dr. Blanchard passed away three months ago, I suggested she take a break from working and try her hand at being a homemaker because I really hated the long hours she’d been keeping. There was also a bit of my stupid male pride that wanted to prove to the world that I could support my wife and support her in style. Little did I know that my wife was someone who needed to be constantly busy. Well, I did, but I was hoping she would keep busy by doing normal wifely things-whatever the heck they were-because I only had one wife who was currently… I smell paint… “Bella!”

I rushed out to the garage where the smell was coming from and… holy shit! “Honey, what are you doing?”

“I’m painting over the spot where I spilled grease on because you were so upset. I thought I’d use paint to cover it up and figured I could repaint the entire floor.”

“Bella, you’re using hot pink spray paint.”

“I know, isn’t it pretty? I thought I could spray paint a giant heart to cover it up. You see, I even drew around the spill with a Sharpie, and I’m really good at painting inside the lines.”

Did she say she wanted to spray paint a freaking heart?

“Put the can down, Bella.”

“Let me just…”

“Give. Me. The. Can.”

“No.” She put the can behind her back, and scowled at me.

“Give me the can.”

“No.”

“Bella, you can’t spray paint the floor. Now give me the can!”

“Paul, I saw it on one of those DIY shows on…” I rushed towards her, pulled her into my arms, kissed her, and grabbed the offending can of spray paint. “Hey! I was using that!”

“Bella, it’s the wrong kind of paint! You need special paint for floors and I’m going to have garage tiles put in to cover the damage from the oil.”

“Yeah, but pink is so pretty and…” She broke down and cried. Oh God. Why me? I can’t handle it when my wife cries. “Oh, Paul-I make such a sucky housewife.”

Yep, you sure do. Damn it, I can’t tell her that. She tries so hard. “No, you don’t. You’re organized… I mean, you sorted everything in our closet and our dresser drawers by color. And you work magic with that new label maker you bought. I appreciate how you Ziploc each pair of clean socks I own, and label them by color. How about you take up a hobby? You like playing tennis. Why don’t you work with the pro at the club?” What the hell was wrong with me? This was my opportunity to tell her to go back to work; instead I tell her that she makes a great housewife because she just looks so sad and forlorn.

“I guess I could,” she whimpered. “My serve can use some work.”

“Good, good. Take lessons everyday if you have to.”

“I’ll call Anders and ask him if he has any time available.”

She’s going to call the new tennis pro who just arrived from Sweden? Oh, no, no, no ! “Or golf? How about you take private golf lessons?” I suggested.

“Oh, I can do both. I’ll call Scott Redeagle.”

No, no, she won’t be calling Scott Redeagle with the built physique from the Maricopa Nation. Nope. No way! No how! I smiled at her. “Hey, honey, I’ve got an idea. How about you and I go out and get some dinner? You haven’t started cooking yet, have you?”

“No, I haven’t. I’ve been so worried about the garage floor. You were so upset about it last night.”

“Well, you deserve a treat then. Let’s go.” Why the heck didn’t I just tell her to go back to work? Then again, she does have to come to the realization that this homemaker thing isn’t working for her on her own.

“You know, Paul-I was thinking I could plan next year’s Christmas party for your work. It’s going to be a much larger event than last year because of all the new employees.”

“Bella, it’s still May-you want to plan the party now?” She nodded her head at me. “Honey, you generally procrastinate and don’t get to these things until the beginning of November.”

“It’s part of the new me. I have nothing better to do anyway.”

“Sure, whatever you want to do, hon.”

God! Grow some balls and just tell her straight up to get the hell back to work!

One month later…

“Paul, just give her time. She’ll come to her senses and realize she should be working. Look on the bright side, Crispy ran into her on the tennis court the other day and he said that she was volleying like a pro with Anders.”

I scowled at my friend. “Jeff, at seventy bucks an hour, three times a week, to work with the tennis pro-there had better be some improvement.”

I took a frustrated swing, missing the hole completely. My golf ball rolled straight into a sand trap. “You know, Paul-you should work on that swing with Scott Redeagle. He’s done wonders for Bella’s swing.”

I growled at Jeff for that. He knew I’d been shelling out eighty-five bucks an hour for my wife to work on her swing with the golf pro twice a week. I didn’t care about the money, we had plenty of it-it was the whole concept of her taking lessons from these new young pros. Yeah, I was jealous, but I refused to show it, so I bitched and moaned to my friends about the cost instead. They probably saw right through me.

After losing miserably by going so far over par that I even scared myself, we headed to our own homes to shower and get ready for a pack barbeque I was hosting at my house.

“Hey, honey,” I greeted Bella as soon as I walked in.

“How was your golf game?”

“I was fifteen over par today, Bella.”

“Fifteen over par? Isn’t that a bit excessive? I’ve been well under par lately.”

Yeah, with the amount of golf lessons you take, you had damn well better be under par, wife! “My mind wasn’t on the game.”

“Well, maybe you can work on your swing with me on Monday when I have my lesson with Scott?”

“Do you want me to?”

“Yeah, I like spending time with you.” For some reason, that one response warmed me inside and out.

“Okay, you schedule it and I’ll be there.”

“Good.”

She kissed me on the lips, and damn it, it had been so long that I just couldn’t control myself. I picked her up and carried her upstairs, peeling her clothes off on the way. I hopped into the shower and lathered her beautiful body up, running my hands all over her curves. She purred in delight and started licking me all over my body, she dropped down to her knees, took me into her warm mouth and…

“Paul! You aren’t even going to believe the shit I just saw!” a familiar voice interrupted. The offending wolf looked down and grinned. “Oh, hey, Bella. You look hot like that.”

Bella popped me out of her mouth, stood up, and scooted behind me. She was the brightest shade of red I’d ever seen.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I shook my head and my hands too. “Forget it. Just… just let us get dressed and you can tell us. Wait downstairs.”

“Sure, sure.”

“What the heck is he doing here on a Saturday afternoon?”

“I don’t know, but he must have seen something serious.” I kissed her on the lips. “I want more of that later.”

Bella simply giggled. We finished our shower, dressed hurriedly, and then went downstairs. The wolf was passed out on our sofa snoring like there was no tomorrow.

“Did he drive here?” Bella asked, her natural nursing instincts prompting her to check his pulse. That’s another thing she’s been doing-checking everyone’s pulse wherever she went.

“I don’t know. I’m going to check our driveway.” When I peeked outside, I noticed his truck was parked there. “Yep, he drove. What do you think happened?”

“No idea. I don’t want to wake him up though.”

“We’ll let him sleep.” I peered at the clock. “Everyone’s going to start showing up soon anyway.”

Right on cue, Brady walked into the house. “What’s Collin’s truck doing here?”

“No idea. He kind of just showed up and then went to sleep.” After interrupting the blowjob I was getting from my imprint.

“Weird. Does Linda know he’s gone?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged my shoulders.

One by one, everyone started showing up-all wondering why the baby wolf of the pack was here. We all let him sleep and started grilling. Once the smell of barbequed ribs hit his nostrils, he bolted awake.

“Is that food I smell? I’m starving. I drove straight here, stopping only for gas, coffee, and the occasional piss.”

“Well, what was so urgent that you needed to drive here, and why didn’t you just call us?”

“No way. This was something that I had to tell you in person.”

“You could have just asked us all to phase.”

“Not for this. Here’s what happened…”

Twenty-three hours ago…

Collin’s POV

I sighed as I made the deposit at the bank. I was tired. The week had been long and hectic. Seemingly every car in Forks and La Push had been in for some sort of repair work. It was great for our profit margin, of course, but I was beat. I had worked until well past closing every night except for the night the boys had Boy Scouts. I wanted to give Jake a bit of a break because he needed to get home to his kids. This afternoon, though, my exhaustion must have been apparent because Jake insisted I go home after I made the bank deposit.

“ I’ll stay and finish up. Don’t worry about me so much, cuz. My dad has the kids and he’s comfortable driving the van so we’ll be fine.”

“ I just worry about you and the kids.”

“ I know you worry, but I think I’m finally growing up,” he joked and flashed me his trademark smile. I knew he was hurting inside, but at the same time, he was almost relieved that the situation between Angela and him had occurred. He had no love for her-that much was for sure. She had crossed the line when she hit his kids. What was ironic about the situation was that I wanted to beat the crap out of her. It took both Seth and Jake to hold me down in wolf form so I wouldn’t go on a rampage and tear apart Angela for hurting my nieces and nephews. My anger was only tampered down when Paul had phased in and told me to cool it. Of course, this didn’t stop Linda. She confronted Angela a few days later and gave her a piece of her mind plus a swift slap across her left cheek, immediately following Reverend Weber’s services on a Sunday, in front of all of his parishioners. God, I love my wife!

I hopped into my truck, yawned, and stretched out my arms. I really needed to get home and rest a bit. I started the engine and began my trek home. I waved to Chief Swan as he drove by me slowly, warning, “Put your god-damned seat belt on, Collin!” I rolled my eyes, but put on my seat belt. “That’s better,” he told me.

I continued on my path home, I guess the gods of sleep weren’t working in my favor today because I was stuck in some sort of traffic jam in the middle of Forks, where this sort of thing was unheard of. I heard sirens coming from behind me and pulled as far as I could to the shoulder. Charlie’s squad car had doubled back followed by Seth’s. A fire truck and an ambulance were the next two vehicles to pass. It must be an accident. I inched forward in the traffic only to find I was completely stopped again. I stuck my head out of the window to try to see what was going on, but even with my enhanced wolf vision-I couldn’t see anything. I let out a frustrated sigh then took in my surroundings. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something. My eyes widened when I turned to get a good look at what was happening. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I grabbed the camera I always kept in the truck for taking pics of my kids and snapped a few pictures using the zoom lens. I listened in to the conversation closely-I could hear clearly what was transpiring in the parking lot. I continued to observe the scene for fifteen minutes straight, until traffic started moving again. I passed Charlie again; he was outside surveying the scene of an accident. “Tell my wife I’m going to Phoenix. Not a word to Jake.”

He looked up at me, surprised, and so did Seth from a distance. They both nodded to me as I took off for the highway. I needed to get to my alpha quickly and I needed to drive there because I didn’t want to risk Jake phasing in. Of course, twelve hours into my drive, I realized that I should have flown to Phoenix from Seattle, but oh well, I never said I was a genius.

I wanted to close my eyes, but I kept going-stopping only to fill my tank up and buy cheap gas station coffee. I arrived at Paul’s house, making excellent time. I walked in through his back porch door and scented him out upstairs. My mind was focused on telling him. Of course, I wasn’t counting on walking in on him getting a blow in the shower from his wife, who I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention had almost as nice a body as my Linda. In any case, I went downstairs so they could finish up in private. I found a couch and fell fast asleep.

I woke up to the smell of ribs. I hadn’t eaten in over a day.

“So what is it? What did you see?” Paul questioned.

I sighed and looked up at my alpha. “Angela Black and Tony Fuller are having an affair.”

You could hear a pin drop in the room it was so quiet.

“She’s having sex with my father?” Brady asked, completely appalled.

“Yeah, it appears she is.”

“That’s sick! She’s sick! He’s sick!” Brady clenched his fists and took a few calming breaths. How he always managed to not phase and stay in control baffled me. “Does my mother know?”

“I don’t know, Brady. I’m just telling you what I saw and heard in those few minutes.”

“You haven’t told us anything. What…” He was interrupted mid-speech by the doorbell ringing. One of the coyotes, Manny-went to answer the door.

“Hi, my name is Linda Littlesea. I’m looking for my husband Collin. I see his truck here… and… and… I brought tequila.”

“I’ll take the tequila.”

“No, you can’t! It’s for Bella, Jess, and Babs.”

Everyone started laughing. “Linda, get in here!” Bella called.

My wife was soon standing in front of me screaming, “What the hell is going on? I had Chief Swan and Seth both telling me that you were on your way to Phoenix and that I couldn’t say a word to Jake. I waited and waited until morning, but you didn’t call.” She fished my cell phone out of her pocket and held it in front of my face. “You forgot this on the dining table, by the way!”

“Linda, where are the kids?”

“My parents are watching them. I freaked out when you hadn’t called by morning so I took them to my parents’ house and hopped on a flight to Phoenix.” She slapped my arm. “Don’t do that to me ever again!”

“I’m sorry. I was so focused on getting here that I forgot.”

“I don’t like to worry, you know that! You made me worry!”

“I’m sorry, baby. I really am.”

“I’m just glad you’re safe.”

“You know? This is how imprints are supposed to react. They aren’t supposed to be sleeping around on their wolves like Angela is,” Jared pointed out. “Uh, how are you Linda?”

“Good. You lost weight.”

“Oh, yeah, Paul and Crispy have all of us working out.”

“It’s about time. You were getting pretty fluffy looking there.” She turned towards Quil and poked his stomach. “Especially you.”

“Nice to see you again, too, Linda.”

“How are my nieces and nephews?”

“They’re good. We’re having an adults-only barbeque today. Number Six is babysitting his brother and sister.”

“I see. Can I see them while I’m here?”

“Of course you can. You’re their aunt,” Rachel told her.

“So, is Angela sleeping with Brady’s dad?” Linda asked.

“How did you guess?”

“I’ve always thought she had an unnatural relationship with that guy. Think about it? She defended his son over her own son. Who does that sort of thing? Then there’s the fact that she’s set up in a comfy, cozy, luxury townhouse where the Cullen home used to be. How the hell can she afford that on her pay?”

“When did this happen?” Jeff asked.

“Who are you?” she asked suspiciously, looking him up and down as if he were some sort of a dessert. Actually, maybe she wasn’t suspicious. Aw, hell, I think she’s checking him out. She’s focused on his biceps.

“I’m sorry, Linda. Let me introduce you to everyone.” Bella proceeded to introduce my imprint to the coyotes and their mates.

“You weren’t kidding. These guys are hot. We don’t have guys who look like them where we’re from.”

“Hey!” I protested.

“Sorry, Collin, but it’s true. Hands down, the coyotes are better looking and they stay in shape. Brady, Paul, and you are excluded, of course. You three are in great shape. The rest of you wolves are all pathetically soft. I can probably run circles around all of you.”

“Alright, can we get back on topic here? Collin, tell us more of your story!” Paul ordered.

“Right, so here’s what happened…”