AN: I do not own Twilight. I wish.
When they first met, she was only thirteen. Although she was roughly the size of a ten year old. She was scared and it was dark and she was starving. One might think her lost, but no, she was in her home.
Her mother had gone out for another night of partying while she stayed at home. Her mother had been gone for three days now and since she hadn't bothered to pay the bills, the electric was off and so was the heat and water.
The fridge was empty, the cupboards were empty. There was nothing Bella could do about it. She knew how to pay the bills herself but when her mother caught her doing that she got her hands smacked or sometimes worse.
Bella was never taught the normal things like don't take candy from strangers or, don't open the door to people you don't know. Which might explain why when the doorbell rang, she went over to answer it. Of course it could also be that she felt she had very little to lose. After all, she didn't have any food or water or anything already.
"H-hi." She said with a dry throat as she looked up at the man that was standing on the doorstep.
"Hello little one. May I come in?"
"Renee isn't home." She said miserably. She assumed the handsome man was here to see her mother.
"I'm not here to see her little one." The next thing she knew she was swept up into his arms and he was closing the door with his foot before carrying her into the livingroom and depositing her on the couch. He knelt in front of her.
"What's your name?" She asked quietly.
"It's Peter darlin'. Peter Whitlock."
She didn't ask why his eyes were red or his skin cold. For one, although she probably should feel scared she didn't. For two, that was how you got yourself into trouble and she didn't want to anger the nice man and make him hit her.
"Darlin' I got a few things I should tell you but I want to wait until you're a little older, alright?"
She nodded. What choice did she have?
"I will tell you that I'm not going anywhere and when you need me I'll be here. Now, little one, why is everything shut off and why are you so hungry? I can hear your tummy growlin'."
She blushed and looked down.
A cool finger below her chin tipped her face back up. "I ain't gonna make you, but I wish you would tell me." He implored gently.
Bella let out a little sigh and blushed even more in embarrassment. "Renee won't let me pay the bills for her and she forgets." She said quietly.
"And the food?" His eyes darkened.
"She didn't buy any. Don't have any."
The red eyes she had decided she quite liked turned black and he looked pissed.
She cowered slightly. "Are you gonna hit me?"
His face took on an expression of horror. "No little one! I am not gonna hit you!" He pulled her off the couch as he, quick as a flash, sat on it. He pulled her right into his lap and held her close. "Sweetheart, I need your bills, account numbers."
She reached to the coffee table and gave them to him. "I'm going to call on these in the morning. For now, you're going to come with me to my hotel room for the night. Your mother won't return to see you missing don't worry."
"She wouldn't care if she did." Bella mumbled.
The arms around her tightened slightly. "Tomorrow we will be getting you a cell phone so you can reach me at all times and a few other things. And I'm going to buy a house close to you."
Bella nodded slowly. It surprised her how nice this man was being. How nice Peter was being to her.
He looked at her clothes with a grimace. "We will buy you some clothes. Is there anything else you need for the night? Do you sleep with a stuffed animal, perhaps?" His tone was very caring so she knew he didn't mean to be condescending.
She shook her head slightly. "Don't have any anyways."
The arms tightened slightly again and she felt a cool kiss press to her head. "Alright little one. We will go then. I'm going to need you to wrap your legs around my waist and put your face against my neck and close your eyes, okay sweetheart?"
She nodded obediently. She never wanted to upset him.
He stood and she did exactly as she was told. He had a hand under her bottom as he went to the door, opened it and closed it behind him. Then his other came around her back and then she felt wind. A fairly strong wind.
She focused on inhaling his scent. He smelt like rivers, forests, and citrus. It was the perfect smell.
A few minutes later the wind stopped and he held her a bit firmer. "Alright little darlin'. We have arrived." He let her down and she saw they were at the mall. It wouldn't be closing for another hour or two.
Bella looked up at him, confused.
"Well we need to get you some clothes and what better time then right now? We can get everything else tomorrow."
And so it was that Peter ignored all protests she made about prices and she left the mall with him carrying a full wardrobe of hers. He had called to hire a car to take them back to the hotel he was staying at and they climbed in the backseat after he put all the bags in the trunk.
Bella, like in the mall, automatically found herself gravitating to Peter, taking in every bit of comfort he offered her. Which was quite a bit to be honest.
For the next three years, Peter was able to watch and help Bella grow into a more confident woman. It had taken a full year before Bella was confident enough to talk back to him. The first time she had done it they both stood there shocked until Peter started laughing. He had pulled her into a hug and planted a kiss on her forehead.
When she was fifteen, he had explained to her about the Vampire World and about mates. He had explained how red eyes meant he drank from humans. Also quickly explaining that her personally, and another who was like family to him, only drank from criminals. He explained that his brother had joined another coven and they had golden eyes which meant they were vegetarian vampires. That was the Cullen Coven and he thought that if she ever met them she would like them.
Half of him had expected her shock or horror at the revelation that was vampires but was quite shocked himself when she stuck her arm under his nose and asked if he would be able to stop drinking from her. He had nodded dumbly.
That was the first day he had drank from her. He had never bitten her, not wanting to mark her beautiful skin. Instead they would put a light cut on her arm that his venom would later easily heal.
He didn't ask her until she was sixteen what it felt like. And it was a good thing he had waited because he hadn't wanted to take her innocence until that age.
"Bella?" He called as she walked in through the front door.
She made her way to him and plopped onto his lap with a bright smile. In seconds she had made a cut on her arm near her elbow and he was drinking again. Words left him when she moaned softly.
After he finally convinced himself to pull away, he tried again. "Bella, what does it feel like when I do that? Why do you like me to do it?"
She blushed ever so slightly. She never blushed for anyone else anymore. He was the only one that could make her blush. "It turns me on." She said softly.
It was an hour later when they both flopped back onto the bed. "Was that everything you hoped for little one?"
She cuddled up to him. He was cold and she was very very hot. "And more, Peter. But I have to tell you something."
He was sitting up in a flash and gazing at her intently.
"My mother has decided to get remarried. She is sending me to Charlie's in Forks, Washington."
And then his laptop was in front of him, already searching a house to buy. He paused. "Thats where the Cullens live."
She nodded, grinning at him. "Also I used that credit card you gave me."
"That was the whole point of givin it you ya darlin. What'd you buy?" His attention was mostly back on houses."
"Hair dye." That got his attention. He liked her hair but he also preferred her having choices that she made by herself. He knew she always enjoyed his advice and sometimes she took it. Others she didn't. She also knew the difference between advice and an order. She respected him and followed his orders. If she didn't agree with one she just asked him for a reason. Their relationship was one of mutual respect and he didn't want it any other way.
"What color?" He asked curiously.
She bit her lip. "I was going to go for a more reddish brown. Something with red and gold highlights maybe."
"Aw babe. We don't need hair dye for that. Let's go. I'll take you to a salon. Get dressed beautiful."
While she obeyed and got dressed, he arranged the purchase of a fairly big house up in Forks. Then he too got dressed.
Bella touched her hair with a happy smile. They had trimmed it a bit, giving it more of a distinct layered style and had actually darkened her hair color a bit before putting red and gold highlights throughout it. It looked very cool and Peter seemed to love it since he couldn't stop touching it.
When they were home again, because Bella thought of his place more as home than her own, he smiled. "I have purchased a house in Forks. It's four bedroom, five bathroom. State of the art kitchen for my favorite little chef."
Bella grinned at him. "I'm supposed to leave this weekend."
"Tell Renee you're spending the last few nights with a friend and that she will take you to the airport. Renee will be thrilled to get an early start on her nonsense and we can pack everything we want to take and drive up there and have a few days to settle in before you have to meet up with Charlie."
She was smiling until the mention of Charlie and Peter pulled her into a tight hug. "Don't worry about it, darlin'. I'm going to switch to an animal diet while we are there and enroll into that school of yours once my eyes are golden like the Cullens. I'll pass myself off as Jasper's blood brother who went to a separate family."
Bella was smiling again and nodded before calling Renee from the much cheaper phone Renee had given her. Peter's remained hidden from her mother at all times and Peter had the number to both cell phones.
"Mom?" She questioned when she heard the phone get picked up.
"Oh Bella!"
"Yes. Listen I'm going to stay the last few nights with a friend and she can take me to the airport. You guys can get started early on your trip."
"Alright then. We'll leave right now! Bye!" There was no I love you no nothing. Before Renee hung up the phone Bella heard, "Phil get the bags! I was right the Bitch is going to stay elsewhere! No, leave the door unlocked so she can come get whatever shit she wants to take with her." Then the phone hung up.
Bella sighed sadly. "It's one thing to know she doesn't care."
"And another thing to hear it. I know little one." Peter gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. "Come on. We can go upstairs and pack there. Is there anything you want from your house?"
"Ummm can I be vindictive and take the money she will have forgotten about in the safe?"
"You can be anything you like darlin'.
Bella smiled. Peter always supported her no matter what and she loved that, and many other things, about him.
It only took an hour, with Peter's Vamp speeds, for a moving truck to have been hired and loaded and on it's way to the address in Forks he had given them.
Anything they took from Bella's house would be put in the mustang with them and driven up. They both knew they would beat the moving truck.
They headed over to Bella's and she did, in fact, take the ten thousand dollars Renee had squirreled away into the safe and consequently forgotten about. She also made sure she had her identification papers and passport as well as a few other treasures she had hidden around her bedroom. She went into her mother's room and stole the jewelry that had been passed down through her family on her mother's side and passed down and given to Renee on her dad's side. She shoved everything she took into a very large purse that Peter had once bought her before nodding. "Alright, I'm ready."
He took the purse from her and brought it down to the car while she followed behind, silently bidding her childhood home goodbye. She knew that after she graduated from Forks, Peter would turn her. So she fully believed she would never see this place again and she was more than alright with that. The only good memory this house held was being the first time she saw Peter.
Even with stopping to get fast food for Bella and bathroom breaks, they still beat the moving truck easily.
Bella was simply relieved to get out of the car for longer than five minutes finally. It showed quite clearly on her face which made Peter start laughing.
"Go on ahead inside, Kitten. I'll find out where the moving truck is."
AN: All I can say is I really couldn't decide on a good place to end this chapter.