After The Curse

Carlisle's POV

Ever since the Volturi have tried to take us down by making us forget who we are, I fear we have been giving Edward and Alice headaches. We are constantly pressuring them both to use their talents to keep an eye on the Volturi; Edward makes sure they aren't anywhere close and Alice is making sure they aren't planning anything new.

But we think for now we're going to get a break. Bella told us about Marcus fighting Aro and I remembered in my time with the guard that Marcus can be a vicious fighter when we wants to be.

Bella. That's another thing. Her attitude has completely changed since she was forced to watch us in so much pain, but in a good way.

I remember the day after she broke the curse...

***Flashback***

"Carlisle?" The voice was Bella's, and it accompanied the sound of a knock on the door. I put my book aside, happy to be back in my study with Esme by my side again.

"Yes Bella?" I asked, smiling at her as she slowly walked into the room.

"I wanted to thank you," She whispered in the smallest voice I have ever heard her use.

I was shocked, and I heard some of the kids stop breathing downstairs. Why would Bella want to thank me? We should be thanking her, in fact none of us would let her be alone for a minute all night and all morning because we were thanking her for so long. "Why would you want to thank me?" I finally managed to get out.

Bella smiled a little sadly. "Because when I was forced to watch you lose your memories, Aro told you I would be punished and that it was my fault. You screamed at Aro to let me go, and told him none of it was my fault, and then you said, 'Leave my daughter alone!' and I can never thank you enough for trying to protect me."

I heard some of the kids sigh downstairs, probably Alice and Rosalie. I quickly pulled Bella into a hug. "It was the least I could do for my daughter, Bella. Besides, I can never thank you enough for bringing Esme back to me."

I fell Bella smile against my shoulder. "Of course," She murmured next to my ear. "What are daughters for?"

***End of Flashback***

I pull out of my thoughts to hear Rosalie say, "But what if the Volturi come back?"

"Let them," Bella says from the window, casually flicking through the complete works of Jane Austen. "We've proven we're more than a match for them. I mean, come on. If I can punch Aro while I was human, God knows what damage Emmett could do now." She grins at us and wonks at Emmett. Everyone laughs.

"Don't give him ideas, Bella," Jasper says, going to sit by Bella at the window. We all smile at the scene; before the curse Jasper and Bella weren't that close but now they're best friends. Some good things did come out of that curse.

"So, Bells. What was your favourite part of the curse?" Emmett asks with a smirk, and we all shake our heads at him. We had tried asking Bella about the curse and it turns out it's still a touchy subject with her.

Well, why wouldn't it be?

To our surpirse, Bella chuckles and sits up. "Seeing Jazz squirm."

"Why thank you so much Bella," Jasper says sarcastically while rolling his eyes.

"No, that's not what I meant," Bella giggles, hitting him playfully on the arm. "I mean, you were so nervous about asking Alice out and I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or ifI wanted to scream, 'She's your wife you idiot!' in your face. Although I think that might have freaked her out." She stops talking for a second before her eyes light up, she grins at Emmett. "Either that or when we found Carlisle with memories and Charlie thought he'd abused us."

I groan at the memory and everyone looks at me in shock, except Edward who starts laughing hysterically from the thoughts going through Emmett's head. "I would have loved to have known what was going on inside Charlie's head," Emmett laughs, and Edward laughs with him.

"What happened?" Jasper asks.

"Mrs Newton saw me show Emmett and Bella Esme's grave, and then because Bella smashed her fingers with a hammer I brought them both up here to treat Bella's hand. Of course, Mrs Newton didn't see the drive and assumed I'd brought them into the forest to..." I didn't bother, nor know how, to finish my scentence, as all the kids were in hysterics. Even Esme was trying not to laugh.

"It's not funny!" I sigh, but even Bella and Emmett are laughing.

"It was when Charlie threatened to put a bullet through your head!" Emmett cries and suddenly everyone is laughing harder. I roll my eyes at their antics.

"It wasn't funny afterwards though," Bella sighs.

Emmett chuckles lightly. "It was when you slapped your dad for running dad out of town."

Everyone smiles and some even chucles quietly. I smile for a different reason though. I can't help it; I smile every time one of the kids calls me dad. "Right!" I say just loud enough. "We need to sober up. Yes, there were some funny things, but somehow it doesn't feel right to laugh about it right now. Even if we have been back to our normal selves more almost a month."

Everyone smiles even wider at the mention of us being ourselves again, but we mostly smile at Bella. Who looks down and buries her face in Jasper's shoulder. He laughs and gets up to sit by Alice. Edward takes his place immediately and pulls Bella in for a quick, short kiss that no one comments on like they would have before the curse. None of us bother to interupt their moments for now; Bella's been through enough without the rest of us torturing her.

Bella and Edward begin talking quietly amongst themselves, but none of us listen as Jasper puts on the disk that holds the film Bella made.

We must have watched this thing at least four times now, but we still can't stop watching it. There were so many things we enjoyed watching; even Bella watched it sometimes, but she winces every time she sees Charlie's face.

She still feels like she killed her father.

We hoep she can get over it, but something tells us she won't any time soon. Something like that stays with you for a while.

But for now all we do is relish in the fact that we are ourselves again, and that Bella did this for us, after all the pain she went through she is still trying to cope with it.

And I never thought I'd say this, but after all the angst and pain the Volturi put Bella through, I want to kill the Volturi myself.