Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

The Magic Of Heartbreak

By Mama4Dukes

Chapter 06:

By the time Bella got home from Port Angeles, she was exhausted. It was eight pm, and she had just made it into the house before her new curfew. After a thorough discussion with her, Charlie had imposed new curfews-eight pm on school nights and eleven-thirty on weekends, unless it was a special occasion. Bella thought it was fair, considering her mother had always had a curfew for her when she lived in Arizona.

“Bells, did you have dinner yet?” her father asked.

“Not yet.”

“Okay, sit down, and I’ll heat up some leftovers for you. The coffee shop delivered a pork chop dinner to the station tonight. There was a lot left, so we all brought some home.”

“Awesome.”

Bella sat down at the table and her father across from her. “So, what did you girls do in Port Angeles?”

“Oh, we were looking for something to wear to the Fall Ball.”

“Did you find anything?”

“Of course not. I don’t do girl well, Dad. Besides, I have plenty of stuff in my closet. I’m sure I can put something together.”

“You make sure you let me know if you need anything, okay?”

“I will. How was your day? You seem sad.”

“It’s nothing, kiddo.”

“It’s not nothing. Try me? I may be a high school student, but I’m not stupid.”

Charlie leaned forward and put his elbows on his desk, steepling his palms together. He lifted his gaze curiously at his daughter and took in her worried countenance, then made a decision to tell her. “Sometimes, when you’re in my line of work, you have days that are troubling. Today, I had a call that hit right here.” He tapped his heart twice with his right hand. “We got a call at about noon that a girl was sleeping in her vehicle at Forks Outfitters. When we got there, the girl wasn’t sleeping, she was dead. We found a note on the dashboard, she had committed suicide because she couldn’t get over the fact that her boyfriend had broken up with her.”

“How did she die?”

“She rigged her car to fill it up with carbon monoxide and suffocated. She’s not from around here. She’s from Olympia. I felt it was my duty to explain the circumstances to the parents when they arrived at the station. The devastation on their faces and the gut-wrenching scream of agony from both the mother and father will haunt me forever.” Charlie reached over and grabbed Bella’s hand. “It hit close to home, baby girl. For a while there, I thought you were suicidal about Edward, and I wondered what would have happened if Angela and Lauren hadn’t come to see you that day.”

Bella could see why this incident affected her father so much. She had been a walking zombie for a while there, feeling as if she couldn’t go on without Edward, but somehow, she had overcome it. Now, she felt strong and secure.

She also considered the fact that she had wanted to be changed into a vampire without even considering how her parents would have felt. She had been so selfish. She vowed to be more considerate of her parents’ feelings going forward.

Charlie looked her straight in the eyes. “I want you to promise me that you will always come to me if you need help. Do you promise?”

“I promise.” And she meant it. She couldn’t imagine having to fake her death while knowing her parents were still alive. No, Bella Swan was meant to be a living, breathing human-daughter of Charlie Swan and Renee Higgenbotham Swan Dwyer.

“Good girl.” He gave her hands a squeeze and encouraged her to finish her dinner. Then, they spent the evening watching a movie together. They needed that time alone together.

Bella trudged up to her room a few minutes past ten pm. She was exhausted from the day and was ready to hit the sack. She quickly put her pajamas on and got comfy in bed, falling into a deep slumber as soon as her head hit the pillow.

---

By five am, Bella was wide awake and ready to start the day. She decided to get a head start and surprise her father with an excellent breakfast. He was usually out the door by six am. By the time she got downstairs, she could hear the shower going. She assumed Charlie was going to work early. She whipped together some French Toast and bacon for him and set the table so they could have breakfast together.

Her father wandered downstairs around five-thirty am, still in his pajamas. “Good morning, Bells. You’re up early today. Did you get a good night’s sleep?”

“I did. I made breakfast for you.” She poured coffee into a mug for him and handed it to him.

“I can see that. I think I’ll sit down and eat while everything is hot and fresh.”

“Good idea, Dad.”

“Any plans for this afternoon?” Charlie asked.

“Not really. I think Angela and Lauren might come over later to help me put an outfit together for the Fall Ball. Otherwise, I don’t have anything planned.”

“Alrighty, I’ll leave you some cash so you can order some pizza for dinner for you and the girls. I have to cover Ken’s shift tonight, so I won’t be home until midnight. Make sure you lock the doors.”

“Not a problem, Dad.”

“Good. Breakfast was delicious, Bella. Thank you, kiddo.” Charlie stood up and brought his plate to the sink before turning to his daughter and saying, “I’m going to hit the shower and get dressed. I’ve got to get to work.”

“Sure thing, Dad.” As soon as she replied, Bella remembered that she had heard the shower going already. What the heck was going on?

She bolted upstairs to her room and swung open the door. Victoria was sitting on her bed, freshly showered, with a towel wrapped around her hair and one around her body. Bella quickly shut the door-pretty sure she saw things.

After a few moments, she opened the door just a crack and peeked into her room again. Yep. Victoria was still there. Bella walked inside, closed the door, and leaned up against it.

“You sure sleep a long time!” Victoria stated. “I got here at two am.”

“Shh… My father is still home,” Bella whispered.

“Oh… I forgot. You still have parents.”

“I do. Just… Hang tight, okay? He has to go to work soon. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay. I’ll just hang tight.”

Bella left the room, went downstairs, and quickly did the dishes, and did some quick thinking. She wondered why Victoria chose her house to come to. On second thought, she didn’t have to wonder. Of course, she was going to select her home; she was the only one who knew about the existence of vampires.

A few minutes later, Charlie walked downstairs, dressed in his uniform and ready to start the day. He reached for his wallet and gave Bella two crisp hundred-dollar bills, and said, “Pizza money, and I need you to go to Newton’s and pick up my order for me. Make sure that they give you the law enforcement discount, okay?”

“No problem, Dad.”

“You can keep whatever is left. I imagine your gas tank took a hit after your trip to Port Angeles yesterday.

“Thanks, Dad.”

Charlie ruffled his daughter’s hair and left for work.

Bella rushed up the stairs to find Victoria still sitting on her bed in the exact same position.

“Okay, why are you here?”

“Well, I didn’t have a place to go, so I figured you wouldn’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all, but my dad can’t find out, and we have to figure out what you’re going to do while I’m at school. You should put some clothes on first.”

“That’s a good idea.” Victoria pulled a suitcase out from under Bella’s bed and opened it. “Let’s see what we have here.”

Bella’s eyes widened. “Where did you get that?” She was pretty sure nomads didn’t have much in the way of belongings. She had only ever seen Victoria with a leather backpack.

“In Seattle.”

“Where in Seattle?”

“I got it from the airport.”

“From whom?”

“I don’t know her name. She grabbed her luggage from the baggage carousel and left her suitcase behind when she went to use the bathroom.”

“So, you took it from her? She’s probably frantic looking for her luggage.”

The vampire shrugged her shoulders and explained, “She was just about my size and right around my age, too. At least I didn’t feed from her. I’ve been feeding from animals. I promised Kachina I would.”

“That is something.” Bella nodded. “Okay, I’m satisfied. You spared her life.” She took a closer look at Victoria. “Hey, your eyes aren’t red anymore. They’re actually getting close to gold.”

“I know. I binged on animals for four days. They should change completely soon.”

Bella reached for the luggage tag. “It says this belongs to Astaria Jayne. She’s from Australia. We should probably remove that cause you don’t want to leave any evidence behind.”

Victoria opened the suitcase and looked inside. It was fully packed with clothes on one side. In contrast, the other side contained miscellaneous items, including a pair of sneakers, black high-heeled sandals, a cosmetic bag, an archery bow, six foam-tipped arrows, some sort of protective headgear, glittery D&D dice, and a whole bunch of food.

“I can’t use half of this stuff,” Victoria griped, pulling out a scarlet red cocktail dress.

“What are Tim Tams?” Bella questioned as she reached for the package and opened it up. She took a bite and exclaimed, “They’re cookies. Yum! I’ll take those.” She scrounged around for more food. “Ooh! I’ve always wanted to try Vegemite. Let’s see; I’ll take the Maltesers, the Wagon Wheels, the Shapes, those Cheezl things, and-give me all the snacks. You can’t eat anyway.”

“What should we do with the bow and arrow?”

“Um, we’ll shove them in the back of my closet,” Bella said as she tried on the helmet. “They might come in handy someday. I’ll take the D&D dice, too. Who knows? I might learn to play someday.”

“What should I wear?” Victoria pondered as she examined a pair of leggings. “What are these?”

“I’d say they’re yoga leggings.”

“And you wear them out in public?”

“Uh, yeah. They’re super comfortable. You should wear them with this t-shirt.”

Victoria quickly got dressed and read the t-shirt she was wearing. “It says ‘Dodgebow’ on it. What’s that?”

“Beats me. Maybe it’s an Australian rock band.”

Bella looked at the time and realized she had to leave for school. “I’m going to get ready for school. After I leave, you can hang out here, watch TV, read, whatever, but if you hear my dad coming home, you have to find a hiding spot, okay?”

“Oh, I’m really good at hiding, so you don’t have to worry about that. What time will you be home?”

“I should be home by three-thirty.”

Bella quickly showered and got ready for school. She grabbed her backpack and said goodbye to Victoria, warning her to lock the door. As she headed off to school, she began to think she had bitten off more than she can chew.

---

Victoria twiddled her thumbs for a few minutes-not knowing what to do with herself. Bella Swan was so lovely, and she wanted to do something for her. Hmm… There were only two dominant scents in this house. It appeared she lived alone with just her father, meaning they probably had to do a lot of work to keep the place running.

The house looked lived in. It wasn’t spotless like the homes Victoria used to serve when she was human, but it was still clean. Victoria decided a thorough dusting was what this house needed. She was pretty sure she remembered how to clean. She found a bucket and some rags and went to work for the first time since she was human in the sixteenth century.