Summary: Edward Cullen has been moping for the better part of a century. What happens when his reason comes back? OR: Bella Swan has Wolverine-esque powers and enough attitude to hold her own, so no, Doc, she's not going to die because some stupid disease killed her husband. She's got plans thank you very much-! Oh... well then. Hey, Tony! (Warning: cursing/mentions suicide)
She rocked back on her heels as the person inside walked toward her at an easy, measured pace. The door opened and a beautiful woman with soft, motherly features and warm, orange eyes stared back at her.
"I don't suppose the Doctor is in?" She murmured, a hint of accent slipping through. She usually did that when she was nervous. The woman's eyes lit up but she shook her head.
"Carlisle should be back from work soon. You're welcome to come in and wait for him if you'd like." She offered.
She nodded and blinked her thanks as the vampiress led her into the living room.
"Who's this?" A young blonde girl with the same orange eyes flitted down the stairs, followed by a large, brawny man with dark hair and dimples.
"No one of consequence." The newcomer chuckled, voice humorless. "Stopping by to visit a friend."
"How do you know our father?" The brawny man asked.
"Not my story."
"Bullshit." A new voice snorted. The man she was looking for shut the door behind him and loped past her easily, eyes on his wife.
"Nice to see you too, Doc."
He didn't bother responding until Esme whopped the side of his head.
"Really?" He groused. She stared and him and he rolled his eyes.
"Hello, Isabella. It's good to see you as well." Carlisle deadpanned.
"Better." She snorted.
"What do you want?" The doctor asked, impatient.
"What makes you think I want something?"
"You don't call, you don't write… and then you show up in the middle of the day and take over my house like it's your own, so you must want something."
That gave Bella pause. He was right. She'd done her best to stay as far away as possible, because Carlisle Cullen brought nothing but old memories, and she was done being depressed… or she wanted to be.
"Something pulled me here." She admitted. "I'm not sure what it is, but it's not any of you."
"That's surprising… I hope you find what you're looking for. You can take one of the guest rooms in the meantime."
"What makes you say that?" Bella asked.
"This sounds like a journey, and those usually take more than one day. Take a seat, put your feet up, kid. Surely you've gotten up to something in the past few decades."
"I should be asking you the same. You've got some new companions."
"Yeah, got bored."
"So you turned a bunch of kids into vampires? That's a bold-faced lie, Carlisle Cullen."
"What do you know?"
"You wouldn't drink from the dead on a battlefield. No way in hell you've been anything less than your God-forsaken wholesome All-American self."
"That's British thank you." He scowled.
"And I'm Canadian. Big whoop. Point is, there's a story behind these cats, and I'll find out sooner or later. Anyway, besides giving the gift of eternal life, what the hell have you been up to?"
"Jack shit, I tell you. Nothing important, nothing fun. The War was my last foray into American culture, and you damn well know it. I'm sick of people."
"And yet you've got at least three more living with you?"
"Six, actually. Where are the others?"
"Hunting, I assume." The blond offered coolly. A vibrating sound killed any hope of response and Carlisle picked up his phone, visibly confused.
"Yes, Alice?" He asked when the call connected.
"You can't let her leave!" A shrill, female voice blasted through the phone.
"Alright…wasn't planning on it."
"Good. We'll be there is a few seconds and he's caught her scent… he's going wild, dad! I've never seen him this… emotional. 3...2...1, and-." They cut off as someone barrelled through the already open door and froze completely.
"Huh, and here I thought she was lying." The familiar voice mused.
"You heard that too, right?" Bella asked, gaze not wavering from Carlisle.
"Yes." He sounded far too amused for her liking… "You should turn around, Bells."
"Good. Just making sure I wasn't hallucinating or anything." She assured him as she whirled to face the newcomer. "God, it would be just my luck to wake up and find all this gone-."
She broke off when the bronze-haired boy smothered her in a hug.
"Holy shit." He muttered. "How is it that even after all this time you still smell like strawberries and gunpowder?"
"No clue." She snorted. "At least your hair stayed the same."
"I know, it's ridiculous!" They broke apart and dissolved into snickers at the looks on the others' faces.
"Um…"
"Oh, yay! He found her!" The shrill voice from five minutes ago squealed.
"You knew?!" Edward growled, whirling on the pixie-like vampire who had just spoken.
"I knew there was something about her, but other than that I knew nothing." She admitted.
Bella sank onto the couch and put her head in her hands.
"You remember how to breathe or do you need help with that?" Edward snarked as he sat beside her.
"Fuck you, Tony."
"What, now? There are people around, Bells. That's just sick!"
"I hate your entire life." She growled in response.
"Love you too, Princess. What've you been up to?"
"Nothing fun. I enlisted in the second War to end all wars about ten years after I left Chicago, so there was that. Not much fun it was. The usual stuff. Met the Doctor, over there. That was Interesting, I'll give you that." She chuckled. "He was so determined not to have red eyes that he starved for half the war. Kept himself busy, for the most part. Even when the Nazis captured him, he managed to hold out. First thing he did when he got home was kiss his wife and gorge himself full of Bambis and Simbas and all the other forest critters. Never seen that bastard move so fast. It was funny."
"What else set you off?" Edward wondered.
"Say what?"
"You got worse, don't deny it."
"I thought you were dead, asshole!"
"I sure wished I was." He grumbled into her hair.
"If I weren't getting over the shock of you being alive, I would slap you for that."
"Sure, Bells."
"Seriously, I thought you were the normal one."
"I'm better at playing human, there's a difference."
"I'll give you that one."
"Stop avoiding my question."
"My entire squad ended up dying off toward the end." Bella huffed after a few moments. "'Cept for the Doc, but there was a close call… anyway, there was this one mission where we got completely made and it ended with Mike getting roasted via flamethrower and John getting shot full of holes. After that Nickey blew her brains out and poor Chuck got captured and we never saw him again."
"What happened to Carlisle?"
"Nazi scientists. Not to be confused with German scientists, because Germans are perfectly fine. It's the Nazis you gotta keep an eye out for. Anyhow, they tortured him for info, found out he wasn't human, and when he outlived their need to move on, they tried to roast him along with whatever else they kept in that gas-covered shack. God forbid the poor bastard kill any of them to save his own goddamned skin, you fucking masochist!" Bella snapped toward her friend. "At any rate, I got him out and now here he is… and here the rest of you lot are."
"I'm sure I speak for all of them when I say thank you." Edward muttered.
"I didn't do it for them." She yawned. "Or for you. Maybe Esme. Yeah, Esme would have been completely pissed and I was not looking forward to that. You would have liked Mike, Tony. He was smart, that boy. Had a sister waiting on him, but of course he didn't make it back so… yeah. He asked me to look after his family." Bella informed him.
"And did you?"
"Yeah. That's probably part of the reason I came back too. Stubborn boy, he was… I didn't want him to die."
"No one wanted to die." Edward snorted. "Why would his family be here?"
"This is where he grew up. With his dad and his sister. Got a grandson now. Ran into him the other day. The boy shares his name, but that's about it. Fucking disgrace, that poor idiot. Needs to use what's between his ears rather than his legs." She scoffed.
"Mike Newton tried to hit on you?"
"The high schooler, not the army boy. Army boy was awesome. You really would have liked him."
"Alright," Edward offered. "Sorry I didn't get to meet him."
"Yeah," She yawned. "Me too."
"Sleep, Princess. I'll be here when you wake up."
"Sure, Tony. You know the rules."
She was out like a light after that, and Edward eased her onto the couch.
"Holy shit." He muttered.
"I know, right?" Carlisle snickered. "Who'd have thought."
"We got real fucking lucky, I'll give you that." He scowled. "I guess it's a good thing I never found her… after."
"Call me selfish, but I have to agree with you there."
"How was she, then?"
"Depressed, at first. Then she started opening up, having fun. It took a lot, though. And I guess it was good to see a familiar face. Didn't think I'd see her after the first one."
"You saw her in World War I?"
"Briefly, I'll say. More of an observance on either part. At any rate, she got her head out of the ground long enough to bother focusing on me. And Mike. And Nickey…. Mostly me and Mike, but that was more because he had common sense. Other than that, she was as normal as she could be."
"Did she talk about me?"
"She wasn't ready. All she said was that her husband died. Got choked up if anyone asked about it. I swear, I'd have done more if I'd known, but like I implied earlier, she's something of a roamer."
"Not much could keep her in one place, that's for sure." Edward groused as he got to his feet.
"Don't stay out too long. You don't know when she'll wake up. You know how she gets."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll be back before dinner. Just need to clear my head."
