Thanks to Igoogleeverything, fire enturnal, Ta1ia, friehkie, Adipocere and emily-0192010. Really hope you like this brand new chapter! I'd love to know what you think about it!

Ironic

Part II: of how Bella Swan learned to expect the unexpected.

So, that's quite how I ended up, after being arrested by my own father, in the office of Dr. Alice Brandon, a vivacious woman who, rather than look like a psychologist, appeared to be a fugitive from a mental hospital. Well, it wasn't like she seemed too crazy, but in Forks, where there isn't too much to do, it is insane to see so much joy.

However, Brandon was, ever since her sudden arrival to Forks, the director of the local group of the Vampires Protection Program. The name, at least to me, sounded like some cheap Disney movie, but these groups were serious business, dead serious for my taste or that of any poor devil like me who could represent a threat for vampires while yelling insults in their drunkenness. The VPP, for short, was present even in the most remote towns of the planet, or so it was said, usually located in places a little hidden, because the Volturi were still determined to prevent humans to know the identity of the members of their different covens. While we all knew how to get there (in the unfortunate case of finding ourselves converted), for their privacy protection, it was forbidden to us to hang around (ironic if you considered there was a global database with their names, photos and addresses). Nonetheless, I had already haunted the place more than once, in my typical walks through the woods with Jacob.

When we walked into the office, Dr. Brandon was on the phone in the reception room. She indicated Charlie that we had to wait for a minute, and I took a seat in one of the little yellow plastic chairs. Charlie stood all the time, watching me as if I were some dangerous criminal.

I wanted to apologize, but the doctor abruptly ended the call, clattering loudly all the way to us. "Chief Swan!" greeted she as if it were a friendly visit. "I knew you would be here today."

My father shook his head, extending his hand toward the extravagant woman. "You probably saw my beloved daughter's funny video last night. I brought her here ASAP, after all, last time you did an impeccable job with that Whitlock kid.

The doctor's smile widened more, if that was possible, with the mere mention of Jasper. Actually, I had no clue what kind of situation had obliged him to provide community service at the VPP, but rumors indicated that he and Dr. Brandon had formed more than a beautiful friendship. "Oh, Chief, I did no more than anyone would have."

After an exchange of words my ears wisely chose to ignore, Charlie set off without the slightest regard for me, but could not help a gentlemanly gesture towards the friendly woman of the infectious smile, which she returned with a grace so natural that seemed, well, inhuman. Once we were alone, she pointed the way to her private office. Leaving the security of the reception, I must admit, scared the shit out of me, because what was behind the door was unknown to me. I had often seen the row of abandoned yellow chairs through the glass that occupied one of the walls. Torture chambers, electroshock, possibilities were infinitely frightening.

To my surprise, a more than welcome one, it was nothing but a boringly, ordinary office. I didn't know if she hadn't finished unpacking her stuff (although three months in town were enough to complete such task), or if her decorative style was sort of minimalist, as the white walls were devoid of an ornament, except by a huge red wall clock and her, I must say, plenty of degrees. Her desk was not very different, as was only occupied by a laptop and a couple of blank sheets.

Relieved, I sat in the black leather chair in front of her spot. She did the same, crossing her legs elegantly.

"I knew you would come today."

"You probably saw my funny debut on YouTube last night," I said, slightly imitating my father's response. She seemed to be a little distracted...

"I understand what happened, Bella," she ignored my sarcastic reply, using the diminutive of my name as if we had known each other for years. "It's been difficult for everyone to accept this situation, even if it's been years. People are afraid..."

"I am not afraid!" I interrupted her impetuously.

"... Of things they can not understand." Once again, it seemed that her ears were unable to hear me out. I knew a sermon like that of Mr. Jenkins was being delivered to me, so I rolled my eyes and I try to become more comfortable, leaning back in the chair. "But vampires are not more different than you or me. They're people..."

"... That can live forever as long as they drain blood out of us."

The doctor chuckled, somewhat silly, as if she were some chick in love talking to the boy of her dreams. "Oh, Bella, if you only knew! If you had the chance of meet a vampire, you'd realize what I'm talking about."

Now it was my turn to laugh out loud. Right then, Dr. Brandon was very quiet, while I thought how ridiculous her words were. Meeting a vampire? As if that were possible!

But part of me complained about my reaction. I could only deny it for so long... I was not like the other girls, who wanted a vampire to bite their necks and turn them into their lovers for life. I was certainly not that way, but I was human and had an insatiable curiosity that was pleading for a little wise response. Perhaps, deep down, all I wanted was to understand, to comprehend what had happened during the war, the things that my mother and I had to deal with. I truly wanted to know if Dr. Brandon's words were true.

"I talked to your father before he picked you up from school," she went on, and I lost the train of thought of my confused mind. "I know it wasn't easy for you because of the position your mother took over the war, but try to understand, please, that it is on my hands the duty of taking you out of a very delicate problem. The Volturi will soon sue you, claiming that your behavior is a breach of the Treaties of Tuscany, and they will be right. I'll evaluate you psychologically, and tell 'em, only if I buy it, that you don't represent any threat to their existence, and so I'll spare you a long and expensive legal procedure that will eventually take you to prison."

I had not contemplated that possibility. Somehow, I thought I wouldn't be so scared, if weren't for the doctor, who spoke with a brutal seriousness, just like Renée when she was really upset with me.

I nodded awkwardly, before starting to talk, releasing all those wild ideas that, never before, had ever left my mind.

I told her everything. I spoke of the friendships I lost, the grimaces in people's faces as they looked at me, the hurtful words that were daubed on the front of my house every single morning, even about the day they threw me pork blood so I could eat (I felt like all Carrie White that time). I told her everything, even the smallest details I thought I'd forgotten, even the stupidest conceptions of my brain.

As time passed, I felt increasingly assured with the doctor, who took notes in a gilded notebook that rested on her slender legs, but I still wondered what would she think, what would she say about me.

"So, it upsets you that Jessica's sexual fantasies are always about vampires?" she asked, arching her eyebrow in an obviously amused manner.

"No," I quickly answered, "rather, it bothers me that she shares them with me."

She chuckled, and I immediately was caught by her laughter. We kept talking a little more, until she considered the evaluation was over. Then, I asked her what would I have to do for my community service. She was thoughtful for a while, before saying that my duties would include distribute flyers at school (which she'd send to me with Jasper), painting a mural of the VPP, help her with paperwork and typical stuff of an office... It was not so much, so I doubted that the Volturi would feel pleased with so little, but I didn't question her. If she considered it was enough...

I didn't realized it was after 7 p.m. until Dr. Brandon put an end to our conversation, claiming it was time for me to go home. "After sunset is when they come," she said, "you know, when even anybody who may be around won't be able to see them clearly. Night is the only time when they can be themselves."

My heart sank with that. I could not imagine what it was like to live like that (that, if you could say vampires actually lived), always denying their very nature, lying about themselves, ignoring the instincts that emerged from their cores. It was so overwhelming and, for the first time in my life, I felt sorry for them.

The doctor offered to take me home, and I accepted without a second thought, thus saving me from spending a few minutes in the same atmosphere that my angry father. While she called my dad to inform him (and I knew he would not deny her the privilege), I offered to help her by carrying some boxes of files to the car's trunk. The first one was very light, but the second, God, it was incredibly heavy!

That, and my usual clumsiness, caused the box to hit the ground, a few steps away of reaching the safety of the car. I bent down quickly to collect documents, striving not to look any of them.

I thought I had successfully completed that task, standing up and lifting the heavy box with my wimpy arms. However, something crunched under my feet when I took the first step. It was too late when I remembered that I should not look, because my eyes had landed on the photograph that graced the top right corner of the paper.

There was not much light, but had I seen that face enough times to recognize its owner immediately. The murmurs of the forest fell silent around me; all I could hear was the violent, erratic beating of my heart against my chest. I looked at his face, his fine features that'd glared at me with such contempt that morning and a cry of horror escape my throat.

The doctor ran towards me, at first scared, and then, though she tried, she was unable to hide the piece of paper from my eyes and make me believe I hadn't seen anything, since my feet was still pressing the sheet against the paved ground outside the VPP.

Still, my brain seemed determined to make me forget what I was watching, as hundreds of ideas (as random as absurd, I might add), invaded my head, distracting me from what had just happened. However, the doctor gave up, lifting my face from the ground, forcing me to look into her eyes. On a cold, brief threat, she said the obvious, and my mind went blank, with the exception of a single name bouncing inside it.

"Bella, no one can else know that Edward Cullen is a vampire, do you understand?"

I threw the box on our feet, but did not have time to hear her moaning or feel the pain by myself. I passed out much earlier.

To be continued...

Oh, where's Edward? Well, he's, umh, I can not say so. The VPP told me not to.

Reviews, please? I promise I'll make a bigger effort if I see a good response to this...