Pay Back

Many thanks to Stephenie Meyer for letting me play with her toys for a little while. I, of course, own nothing. They are all hers.

Chapter 2 – The Plan

Bella's POV

Charlie was waiting for me when I got back to the house with our lunch. We ate without speaking much at all. Charlie was never a big talker and that suited me today. I had a lot of my own to think about.

By the time I finished eating, I had convinced myself that I'd lost my mind earlier. I couldn't possibly . . .

"Thanks, Bells. That was great." Charlie interrupted my thoughts. "Can you manage on your own for dinner? The guys asked me to go out with them afterwards. You can come too if you want to," he added as an afterthought.

I rolled my eyes. "I think I can manage on my own, Dad. I've only done the cooking . . . what? . . . every night since I moved here."

He chuckled as he cleared his plate. "Don't be out too late tonight, Bells," he reminded me as he left.

As I put away the last of the pizza and cleared the table, I analyzed again the plan that had seemed so inspired an hour ago.

Emmett had been teasing me for weeks. He loved to jump out at me and scare me. I never failed to blush (which he found highly amusing) and often he'd startle a scream out of me (which he found downright hysterical).

In short, he was treating me like a little sister.

While in many ways I thought it was sweet and was glad he felt I was part of his family, in many other ways it was getting annoying. He didn't seem to know when enough was enough. Hunh, I realized he was just like a big brother!

Edward had offered to tell Emmett to stop but I was reluctant. I needed to find my own place within this family and not constantly be defined by Edward.

When I had run into the guys from LaPush, I was surprised when a plan popped into my head, fully formed. Maybe a little revenge would do both Emmett and me some good.

I had acted impulsively in getting the shirt. Now that I had time to really think about it, I saw how my actions would affect not just Emmett but everyone in my family - my vampire family. I was embarrassed at having thought it was a good idea.

I was suddenly very grateful Alice couldn't see me when I was with the wolves. Maybe she still didn't know what I'd thought up. I hoped so as my stomach churned with embarrassment and worry. I hope she hadn't told Edward. A blush crept up my neck to my face.

No. There was definitely no way I was going to suggest something so completely idiotic.

I snatched the empty pizza box from the counter and darted outside to the recycling bin.

Having made my decision, my thoughts now turned to undoing what I'd started. I'd throw out the shirt and I'd have to make up a reason for the question I'd called Alice to ask . . .

My cell phone rang again. It was Alice.

"What just happened to my fun afternoon?" she demanded before I had a chance to speak.

"Alice, I don't know what you . . ."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," she countered. "I've watched you waffle about this since you came back into my sight."

Oh no.

"And we are going to have so much fun with this. Don't you dare back out now," she stated firmly.

"But Alice, Edward . . ."

"Edward thinks it'll be fun too."

So much for hoping she hadn't told Edward. "But Esme and Carlisle . . ."

She clucked her tongue at me. "Stop worrying, Bella. Esme and Carlisle left early this morning. They're at a medical conference in Vancouver. Esme wanted to stay overnight at the hotel. They won't be back until mid-morning tomorrow. We'll clean up long before they come home."

I was silent as I debated.

"Bella, if we're going to do this, we have a very narrow window of opportunity. Like I told when you called me, Emmett has not done any laundry since last night. And we got lucky – he hasn't moved around much. He's more or less stayed in the living room with Jasper." She laughed. "They've been betting on who wins at Mars Marauders – the new video game Jasper bought. Emmett's losing which means he hasn't allowed Jasper to leave until he's evened the score." She laughed again.

Still I debated.

"Oh Bella! Come on. It'll be fun. And besides, if you don't push back against Emmett a bit, he's going to keep on pouncing you for weeks and weeks and weeks. It will feel like years. Trust me. I've seen it."

"Well, if you think no one will get upset . . ."

Alice squealed. "We're going to have so much fun! OK Bella, you get everything ready. Just like you originally planned it. That was perfect. Except make the pieces really small. That stuff is like plutonium. A little goes a really, really long way. . . Yes, that's it. You've got it now. So get ready and come over. Edward will keep Emmett busy so I can brief Jasper. Oh I can't wait! Hurry! . . . But not too much! Be careful with the scissors!"

With this last word of advice, she hung up.

I stared at the phone still in my hand for a few minutes and tried to sort out my feelings. Part of me was still really nervous (there was no way this could actually work). But there was a part that was excited too. Well, I was in now. There was no backing out.

Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I went back into the house for supplies.

I took the rubber gloves from under the sink. I wondered if I should wash them afterwards or simply throw them away. Edward spent a lot of time at my house. "Plutonium" Alice had said. I decided to throw out the gloves afterwards.

I also gathered a box of small snack-sized zip-lock bags, a grocery store plastic bag, a pair of scissors, a J-cloth and the bleach. I ran the sink full of hot water and added a generous amount of bleach to the water. I'd need that as soon as I came back in. I left the bleach bottle, the J-cloth and the larger plastic bag on the counter beside the sink.

Gathering the rest of my supplies, I headed out to my truck.

I climbed into the back of my truck for this next part. I wanted the smell of werewolf to be even stronger back here. It would need to be if I were to convince Emmett that this was the original source of the smell. It would all depend on him believing he had underestimated the strength of the smell last night.

My plan was simple. Well, it was simple in principle, if not in execution.

Last night, Emmett had lain down in the back of my truck. It was in the exact spot that Jared had sat when I gave him, Kim and her sister a lift about a week ago. Emmett hadn't noticed the smell at first but when he did, he was extremely offended by it. It had worked like a charm for aborting his "attack" on me last night.

Years ago, in Phoenix, a friend's dog had been sprayed by a skunk. She tried everything to get rid of the smell. She bathed the dog over and over, in different shampoos and in tomato juice. The smell seemed to go away and then, just when she thought it was over, the smell would re-emerge. It was weeks before the smell truly went away for good.

It occurred to me that it would drive Emmett crazy if he couldn't get rid of the smell either. What if he kept showering and the smell kept coming back?

So my plan was to have the smell of werewolf follow Emmett. The success of my plan would be judged on how many times I could get him to shower. Not to mention how crazy I could drive him. I smiled to myself picturing that.

So with that in mind, I got to work. I put on the rubber gloves and knelt in the back of my truck in the spot where Emmett had lain last night. I took Quil's shirt and carefully began to cut it into small pieces.

The largest piece was about one inch square. Most were even smaller. The smallest was a single thread only half an inch long. As I cut them, I put them in the zip-lock bags – one piece for every bag. Finally I ran out of zip-lock bags.

So I used the last of the shirt to rub down the matting in the back of the truck where I knelt. Then I hopped out of the truck and put the shirt and the rubber gloves in the garbage can.

I gathered the scissors and the zip-lock bags in my hands and went back into the house.

I quickly washed my hands in the hot bleach water. I used the J-cloth dipped in bleach water to carefully wipe down the outsides of the zip-lock bags to remove any werewolf residue and laid the bags on the countertop to dry. I dropped the scissors into the bleach water, then pulled the plug in the sink.

Next I had to remove any trace of the smell from me, to make sure Emmett couldn't smell werewolf on me at all. I ran upstairs and had a quick shower, leaving my clothes in a heap on the floor. I'd deal with them later, when I got back and the prank was over.

I quickly dressed and went back to the kitchen. I gathered the zip-lock bags and put them all in the grocery store plastic bag. Umm. Too obvious. I went back upstairs and dug my purse out of the bottom of my closet. I didn't usually carry a purse, but I doubt if Emmett would notice. I smiled to myself thinking that soon enough, he'd have other worries than me showing up carrying a purse.

So I put the zip-lock bags in my purse together with my wallet. Yes, that was much better.

OK, was I forgetting anything? I looked around the kitchen. No, I think I had everything. My heart was hammering. A combination of excitement and fear clutched at my chest. I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. It was now or never. Somehow it was very hard to leave that kitchen.

All right, all right, enough stalling, I scolded myself. I made myself pick up my keys and went out to my truck.

With Alice and Edward's help, maybe this could work afterall. We'll know soon enough.


Author's Note: Phew, that chapter was actually quite hard to write. I find set-up chapters usually are – especially when one character is by herself for most of the chapter. Hopefully, you're all still with me. Next chapter, we'll start the action. I hope you're still enjoying this. Please let me know.