Chapter 2 – The Return

I parked in front of the house that I barely knew, coming to the realization that this was a whacked out idea and wondering why I came here of all places. I can't even believe I remembered how to get here! This place was a definite change from what I had just left. Yards with flowerbeds and kids riding their bikes up and down the sidewalks. People out walking their dogs and guys mowing lawns. This was suburbia at its finiest.

I continued to take in my new surroundings for a while. I was stalling, and I knew it.

After sitting in my car for what felt like hours debating whether I should stay or drive off, I swallowed the guilt, tugged at my big girl panties and walked up the path to the front door, pausing as I reached it. The door loomed in front of me, almost teasing me. I stared it down, as if it were challenging me. I paced in front of it a few times, looking like a crazed person.

'I came all this way,' I thought.

'There's no way I'm turning back now. Door doesn't scare me! I'll kick doors ass!'

In my moment of determination, I stalked up the porch and raised my fist to the door. I let it hover as I contemplated if I should knock or not. I don't really think she would be all that happy to see me. But I had nowhere else to go. She was the only one I could turn to at this moment. I had to, and it felt like this is where I was supposed to go.

My fist fell against the door knocking twice and then immediately falling limp at my side. I waited. There was too much silence in those few seconds and the panic started to creep in.

'I shouldn't have come. I knocked pretty softly, maybe no one heard', I thought to myself. 'I gotta get out of here.' I turned and took the first few steps towards my car and harshly stopped when I heard the door open.

"Who is it?"

I heard a small child's voice say. I turned around to see a little boy, barely able to reach the doorknob. His curly hair was a mess on top of his head. His bright face had smuggies of dirt on his cheeks and forehead. His blue shirt and blue jean shorts were caked with mud. And as his eyes grew wide as they looked at me, my thoughts of leaving almost immediately melted away.

Almost.

Then, I heard a voice coming from deep in the house and getting closer.

"Gabe, what did I tell you about opening the door by yourself?"

She finally made it to the door, standing behind the little boy who was a spitting image of her. Except for the hair that is. That was all his dad.

Her shock was evident as she looked at me with a mix of surprise and happiness in her eyes. For a moment I thought the situation would turn out better than I anticipated. But then her expression changed, that look of happiness not lasting long. Her eyes morphed into a look of anger and suspicion. But before she could say anything, the little boy ran towards me screaming,

"Aunt Bella! Aunt Bella!"

I eagerly opened my arms waiting for him to launch himself at me. When he reached me I picked him up and twirled him around grabbing him as tight around his middle as he was squeezing around my neck. Once I stopped, I loosened my grip and looked at him with the biggest smile on his face. For a moment, I returned his grin and wondered where all the panic from before had gone. Then I thought about the fact that he opened the door by himself. That just can't be happening. My face turned serious as I looked at him.

"Gabe, you're supposed to ask who is it before you open the door, ok?"

"Ok," he got out between giggles. I couldn't help but join him in his laughter, dropping the angry façade I had just pulled on him.

"Gabe, come inside." The giggle fest between the two of us was interrupted when we heard her.

We both turned to the door where his mother stood. Blonde hair framed her face, and her arms were crossed as she leaned against the door frame. She had her scary face on, and both Gabe and I knew what that meant as we stared at her for a few minutes. She was not happy.

"Aunt Bella, were you bad? " Gabe suddenly asked me. "Mommy looks like that when I do something bad, and I know I haven't done anything lately. Well, except for digging a hole in the back yard. But I already apologized for that. Mommy! I said I was sorry!"

"No Gabe, I forgave you," his mom said. "I just need to talk to your Aunt for a little while."

"Uh oh." Gabe whispered.

"It's ok Gabe. Me and your mom are just gonna talk." Let's hope so, I thought. The look on her face said something totally different though. That look told me to duck and cover cause something was about to blow up. "I'll see you in a minute, ok?"

He stared at me for a moment as I put him down on the ground. He looked so sad as he stared up at me. He looked like someone just kicked his puppy or something.

"You promise?" He asked.

You know how during some chick flicks, where the guy is about to go on some death mission and the love of his life is saying her last goodbye, and it just so heart wrenching you start to cry your eyes out?

Well not me!

I laugh at how stupid the girl looks with her makeup running.

But this, this was different. This little kid, with those puppy dog eyes, was breaking my heart. He looked almost scared that I would leave.

I knelt down to his level and looked at him trying to convey the sincerity through my eyes. "I promise." I said determined to get that look off his face.

"Now go inside before your mom gets you."

His mood immediately changed and a huge smile spread across his face as he said ok and turned to run back into the house past his mother.

Kids. Mood swings like a pregnant lady.

I looked up putting my focus back on my sister. Ah crap. She looks really pissed. Well, let's get this over with. 'Maybe if I'm happy and excited she won't be so harsh? Yeah, yeah, that'll work' I thought to myself.

"Hey sis!" I almost yell while keeping a big smile on my face. "Long time no see!"

"What are you doing here?" she spat.

Oooookay, that didn't work.

Her tone was flat and almost cold, but there was a hint of true curiosity and something else mixed with it. Worry, maybe? Let's try a different approach.

"I missed you?" I tried. It came out more as a question as I hoped she would go for it.

"Hmph." Nope, she wasn't buying it. Why did I think that would work?

"You better start talking, or I'll call mom and ask her."

"No!" I screamed. Her expression changed as she quickly turned to glance back into the house, listening for any change. She turned back to me,

"Sshhh! You're gonna wake up the baby, and Emmett doesn't know you're here yet."

"So." I deadpanned. "You act like it's a bad thing. Besides, I need to see my niece anyway."

"Not before we're finished talking. I haven't heard from you in months Bella. What's going on?"

"Nothing, I just…I needed to get away from Miami for a while. Mom doesn't know I left and I'm not ready for her to know yet."

"What about James?" she asked.

Dammit! I was hoping she wouldn't ask about him. My distaste at the mention of his name could probably be realized by the expression on my face. And, of course, it didn't go unnoticed by my sister.

"Bella?" She tried looking into my face with worry lacing her tone. I did the only thing I could think of. As childish as it may be, I dropped my gaze to the ground so she couldn't see my face. After a few seconds of silence she spoke my name again, "Isabella?" This time there was no worry in her voice. It was more knowing and irritation. I could tell she had put two and two together and knew my departure had something to do with my boyfriend. Or, I guess, ex-boyfriend.

"It's Isa." I said to her as I picked up my head. The fact that she used my full name seemed to snap me out of my shyness and replaced it with rebellion. I hated it when anyone called me Isabella, except my mom and uncle.

"Oh, excuse me Isa," she said with a sarcastic tone, "is that what you're going by these days?"

I ignored her and turned my gaze to the inside of the house, not looking her in the eye. So what if my name changed with my mood. I seemed to always alter it somehow whenever I ran. Miami was no exception. They all knew me as Isa and nothing else there.

I heard my sister huff and shift her weight a bit.

"Bella, what did he do?" she asked. That was always the first question when James was brought up.

"Ugh, he didn't do anything," which was true in more ways than one. "We, um, had a disagreement."

My gaze moved back to the ground, but I knew she was watching me. She confirmed it when she spoke.

"You know I can tell there's more, right? A lot more that you're not telling me. Despite what you think, I am your sister and I've learned to read you pretty well, even after the two years I haven't seen you. You can talk to me."

I finally looked up to meet her gaze. I could tell she cared and was just worried about me. I wanted to tell her so badly, and almost did at that moment. But I knew I couldn't. I knew I was taking a huge risk by coming here, and I didn't want to bring my family into it. If I had anywhere else to go, I would have. But there was no one. Since it was my selfishness, my desperation that brought me here and potentially put people I loved in danger, I would do anything to protect them. I knew I couldn't tell her. The less she knew the better. They'd be safer that way.

I finally found my voice to respond to her after my inner battle with my thoughts.

"I know Rose, I know. And believe me when I say I want to tell you everything, but I… I can't."

My voice was barely above a whisper now. I hadn't been this serious or sincere in a long time. But she deserved as much of a truth as I could give her. So, I put my normal sarcasm on hold to be real with my sister for a change.

"I just need you to trust me on this, ok? Just for now, and I promise I'll tell you later, I just can't right now."

She just stared at me, considering my proposal. She was trying to read my expression to see if there was anything else she could get out of me.

After a while, her face relaxed and she stepped inside the house turning to stand by the door and look at me.

"Well, you coming in or what?" she asked.

I was dazed for a moment, thinking that maybe it was a joke. But after a minute of staring her down, I knew she meant it. I straightened my posture and took steps closer to the door, my demeanor going back to my normal self and away from the seriousness that hung between us a few minutes ago.

"It's about time." I said as I walked through the door. That earned me a slap across the back of the head and a mumbling of 'smartass' as we went deeper into the house. After that, we easily stepped back into our sisterly routine: Rose, who went through so much at an early age, but the experience, turned her into the strongest woman I know. She's a great mom and is protective of the ones she loves, but she can also show a playful side, and whose number one annoyance in life is, well, I guess I hold that spot.

Then there's me, the younger sarcastic baby that tries to get under her older sisters skin at all costs and has witnessed the rarely seen childish side, but knows deep down that her older sister is the mature woman that she has always looked up to. And even though my actions have caused some pain and I have a laundry list of issues, I know I can always count on her.

Hello there! Smiley here! Let me know what you think by reviewing. I'm hoping that will make me write faster, which means I'll get to the good stuff faster, which means I'll get to Edward, which means I'll get to why Isa's running, which means violence, which means the continuation of kick-ass Bella, i.e. Isa, which means... which means I may have had too much candy today.

This is Smiley, signing off.

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