Twilight Undone

Chapter Four

Impending Visitors

Carlisle's POV:

We walked downstairs separately. I knew this was going to take some effort on everyone's part, but I didn't see how it would work at all if nobody actually put forth said effort. Nobody said a word until we were all sitting amongst one another in the den. "All right… who wants to go first? Edward? Rosalie? How about you guys? It seemed as though Bella took the news rather well. She didn't seem too broken up about it. What did you guys say to her?"

"We've got a smart one on our hands guys." Edward smiled.

"Yeah… when we told her that her parents went to Paradise and that they weren't coming back, she pretty much put the pieces together and figured it out."

"And she wasn't upset at all?" Emmet asked.

"Well she was, but it seems to me like she's been so closed off from her parents due to their fighting and such that she's built some sort of barrier to block out her emotions." Edward said. "She said she was a little bit upset but that she didn't want to be sad."

"Wow. That's pretty remarkable. Most adults don't even have that ability."

"Yeah it seems to me that she doesn't really know what it's like to have a family, and that's the reason it didn't bother her that much. She wasn't really losing much." Rosalie added.

"See, that's what doesn't make sense to me; she never stops talking about her mummy and daddy." Edward said with a questioning tone in his voice.

"Edward, you have to keep in mind that she's a four-year-old little girl. She doesn't even go to school yet. Her parents are all she knows. And just because they didn't show her the correct attention, does not mean that she didn't put forth an effort to show that she still loved them. They have, for better or for worse, raised her and she's going to apply that to her life for quite some time, I suspect. She's still at that age where she is molded by what goes on around her. By the way she talks about them, it's obvious that she has grown comfortable with it, which means we have to maintain that level of security, and if that means we have to do a few things the way that she's used to… then so be it."

"I wasn't going to deprave her of what she wants and needs Carlisle. I just thought her mentality of the situation was odd."

"I'll say it again. She's four years old. She is not going to have concrete thoughts and decisions all the time, and sometimes she'll be very concrete. That's how children work. We'll have to play along for a while until she grows comfortable with us, but eventually we'll have to enforce some discipline and rules."

"It seems to me like we're already following her rules." Edward put forth with a chuckle.

I smiled, "And although it isn't causing problems right now, we are now responsible for this little girl. That means we are liable for her upbringing. We're going to have to teach her things like manners, how to eat her vegetables, proper hygiene, her abc's, etc.… those sorts of things… it may all sound like fun and games but it's going to be difficult. We have the advantage of there being several of us and only one of her, but still. We also have to consider the fact that she's human. We, by no means, can tell her what we are. We're going to have to make a few adjustments, and that too is going to be difficult."

"So," Rosalie began, "I'm under the impression that you succeeded at destroying her family file and that she's up for our adoption?"

"Even better. Not only did I find her family file and destroy any evidence of family, which Alice was right in saying that she had none, but I spoke to child services in the hospital and I managed to swing the paperwork for her adoption. After her legal guardian or guardians sign and get it authorized with child services the adoption will be complete, and Bella will be ours." I said with a smile.

"Just like that?" Emmet asked. "How did you swing that?"

"Amy in child services owes me a few favors. She pulled a few strings and granted me access to the paperwork. I'm a well known man in the hospital and well trusted due to that. I don't usually take advantage of the connections I have, but I didn't really have a choice this time around."

"So they just up and let you adopt her, no questions asked?"

"Well I had to sit through a twenty minute questioning, and really Edward should have been there, but they understand that the living situation isn't merely going to be a father daughter one, but that we will all be raising her. I answered questions as the authority member of the family, though I daresay after Edward and possibly Rosalie sign the papers that title will shift in this household to them." I smiled and looked at the two vampires who were sitting on opposite sides of the sofa. "Have you thought about whether you would like help in this department, Edward?"
"I thought you said we were all in this together."

"We are… but would you legally like to have someone help you? As in, would you like Rosalie to sign on as the girl's mother?"

Edward looked over at Rose. She looked rather nervous as though, if she were capable, she might be sick. "What do you think Rose? Do you want to be a part of this?"
"I don't know if it's a good idea." She said looking down to the ground. "I might be bad at it."
"You? Bad at raising a child? Rose you were practically born to do this."

"Maybe when I was human… I just… what happens if I mess up?"

"What happens if any of us mess up?" I asked. "It's bound to happen Rose. We have to think of this in terms of Bella being a new born. We aren't perfect and we can't expect to be perfect parents."

"Right, but you wouldn't have the title of her mother."

"Rose… it's up to you, but I think you'd be wonderful."

"I agree." Esme stood up, nodding. "Rose. My child was taken from me, and ever since then I haven't been able to be a mother. I've taken it as a sign. Somebody didn't want me to be a mother, and well… they got their wish. This is something you have always wanted. I know you and I haven't talked much since we met, but I know you'd be making a mistake if you didn't sign those papers with Edward." Rosalie looked back over at Edward who gave her a sheepish smile and a shrug. "Okay. I'll do it."

"Thanks Rose."

"Someone's going to have to keep you in line with her."

Edward laughed, "And she's back in action!"

I turned to face Emmet and Jasper. "What did you guys find out?"

"Well it's as Alice saw. Bella's parents are dead. We got rid of the bodies as soon as we found them."

"I find it hard to believe that Charlie Swan would just up and open the door to two cops whom he didn't know." I said with a frown.
"Well I have a feeling it was Mrs. Swan who opened the door and invited them in. We found her right by the door. The sheriff was upstairs in what we presumed to be Bella's room."

"Alice." I said turning around to her. "You didn't say much about the vampires in your vision besides the fact that they showed up to the front door, dressed in police uniforms."

"Well I couldn't see who opened the door, because the two attacked almost immediately. They didn't waste any time."

"Could you tell who they were? Were there any distinguishing characteristics?" I asked.

"Not that I could tell, though one was rather short. Um… both brunette… by the length of the shorter one's hair it was a female. That's about it, I'm afraid."

"Short, brunette, female?" Edward asked, directing his question at me as though he was hinting I should understand where he was going with his inquiry.

I nodded. "Jane. The Volturi are here already."

"But that was so fast!" Rosalie practically screamed. "How could they possibly have figured out that Bella had seen Edward in the sun? She'd barely arrived at the house!"

"Calm down Rosalie. I'm asking the same questions, okay?"

"They weren't here to punish her." Esme spoke quietly.

"What's that Esme? Speak up dear." I said sympathetically.

"It has to be something else regarding Bella." She said lifting her head up to face the group. "Think about it. They must already know that Bella has this strange quality. Why else would the Volturi send out their marksmen to the middle of nowhere, Washington?"

"It is a possibility." I said. "And if they were Volturi, it makes sense why Mrs. Swan opened the door to two strange cops."

"What do you mean?" Emmet asked.

"Well think about it. She's the sheriff's wife. She's bound to recognize the rest of his men. I wouldn't put it past the Volturi to have sent a member of their coven who could persuade people to do what they wanted… i.e. make Renee answer the door."

"Wait… like a vampire who can put people in a trance? Like all the rumors." I nodded. "Ha! What a riot. A vampire like the movies. Who would have guessed?" The rest of us laughed quietly at Emmet's capability to simply amuse himself.

"So why are they here?" Edward asked.

"Well don't you think it's a bit of a coincidence that the day Edward finds a little girl in the meadow whom he can't hear the thoughts of and can barely catch her scent, that her parents are killed by the Volturi , a clan that is very much interested in humans with natural gifts?" Esme asked the group.

"You think Aro wants her? But she's so young!" Rose argued.

"Rose, no one is disagreeing with you. It would make much more sense for Aro to send his men to watch over Bella while she grew up and then attack once she is of age. Why they would kill her parents now confuses me, too. They would be in the same situation as we are if they took her now. It doesn't make any sense. Aro isn't usually this careless." We then sat in silence for a few minutes, before another thought came to me. "I haven't caught the scent of vampires yet." The rest of the coven looked up at me in thought, and I watched as their faces transformed to their own realization of the same fact. "This is quite odd. What about you Edward? Have you heard any thoughts on your daily journeys?"

He shook his head to my dismay, "Nope, not recently at least."

"What does this mean, Carlisle?" Esme asked me.

"Well I suppose it means it was a recent decision of Aro's." I shrugged unknowingly.

"No, that makes sense!" Alice chimed in excitedly. "Think about it! When do I usually have my visions?" We all looked at her with confused faces, not knowing where she was going with her train of thought. "Right after the person in question makes their decision! So maybe the vision I had earlier wasn't actually a flashback…"

"It was the effect of Aro making the decision." I finished her thought. "Your mind picked up on a different visual aspect of his decision."

"That's never happened, though." Emmet said incredulously.

"Be that as it may, it makes sense for Alice's ability to broaden itself under the condition that she is seeing the future, than it is for her to develop and entirely new ability… especially this late in her life as a vampire. There's no way she could be considered in a new born's condition where her abilities are still revealing themselves."

"I think you're right, Carlisle." Alice agreed.

"So Aro wants Bella, and he's already making his move, which means it won't be long before they get here." Rosalie stated. "What about Bella? They're going to find out what happened. All Aro needs to do is touch the little girl and he will know the truth. What are we going to do? We can't let them find her."

The room exploded into uproar, led by Rosalie and Edward, and yet again I had to step in to calm everyone. "Guys! We aren't going to get anywhere if we argue with one another." Everyone looked at me in shock as though they were in disbelief that I should do such a thing; I wasn't their father, after all.

"Carlisle is right." Esme finally spoke up. She turned to Carlisle, and beckoned for him to continue by nodding her head.

"We're going to let them find us." I held my hand up to stop the almost instant arguing. "When they arrive Edward and I are going to explain to Aro exactly what happened. Bella will be in the room… if nothing her attitude will charm Aro into our favor. We're then going to explain that we noticed she was out of the ordinary and that we were planning on bringing her to Volterra for further examination."

"Absolutely not!" Edward yelled.

"Listen to me, Edward. We're going to explain that we had plans to bring her to Volterra to petition to raise her until she was of age, and ask that after her transformation she could be a part of our coven, if she so wished."

"But we aren't going to transform her!"

"Yes, well I know that, and we can walk around that when the time comes, but we'll have a good thirteen years or so to figure that part out. The point is we will have to get the Volturi on our side if we don't want Bella to be thrown to the vampires at the age of four. She absolutely cannot be raised in Volterra. It's a terrifying place for adults let alone children. Not to mention she's already attached to you Edward, and I'm sure she's forming connections with Rosalie and Alice already, too. It isn't fair to leave her to the Volturi right now, not after she lost her parents."

"I agree with Carlisle. I wouldn't subject any human to the Volturi if I had a choice." Rosalie added.

"There has to be another way." Edward said through his teeth.

"Edward… you choose. You're her guardian." Carlisle said.

"I am too." Rose chimed in quickly.

Edward laughed with an underlying mocking tone. "Ten minutes ago you didn't think you were capable of it."

"Yes well that was then, this is now. I'm her guardian too, and I also have a say in what goes on."

"Rosalie is right, Edward." I said with a fatherly face that implied warning.

"I think we should listen to Carlisle." Rose stated in a matter of fact tone.

"No."

"Yes. Listen, if we don't do as he says, then we automatically subject Bella to the Volturi. At least this way there is a possibility we can manipulate things into our favor." She argued. "Carlisle used to be one of them. He can talk to Aro."

"She's right, Edward."
"Will you stop saying that?" He grumbled. He looked around the room and saw that everyone was looking at him with the same face. They were all telling him that he should listen to me. For Bella's sake, it was safer. Eventually letting out a sigh, he agreed, "Fine. But what do we do until they come. What happens if they still take her away?"
"If they take her away, there isn't much we can really do."
"That is unacceptable!"
"Edward!" I yelled for the first time in a decades. "We are going to do everything within our ability to make sure nothing happens to her, but until the Volturi arrives we can't do besides wait."

"So we build her a family out of scratch, and then if she's taken, that's it?"

"Edward, if and when the time comes, I promise we will make sure Bella is okay." I tried as hard as I could to calm him, but he could read my thoughts better than any. "We will find a way to keep her with us." I could sense that he wanted to say something more, but before he had the chance we all her the door click open followed by the voice of a charming young four year old.

Edward's POV:

"And I get to go to big school next year, and then I won't have to go to daycare ever again!" Bella was absolutely ecstatic as she came through the door, and by the sound of Alice's thought's she was thoroughly amused. I decided to welcome them, and immediately removed myself from the living room to find them in the hallway; Alice trying to pull an oversized sweatshirt off of Bella's headless body.

"Where did Bella go?" I asked laughing.

"I don't know… Her head just disappeared! Where ever could it be?" I watched as Alice looked around the vicinity of the sweater that was still covering Bella's head and laughed as I heard the little girl giggling inside.
Bella finally pulled the sweatshirt off her head and squealed, "I'm right here! I fooled you!"

I pretended to be thoroughly shocked, as I clasped my hand to heart and faked a huge gasp of breath. "Bella! I thought you lost your head! How did you do that?"

"I can't tell you." She giggled.

"Why not?"

"Because," she looked up at Alice for confirmation, and when she got the go ahead she smiled and looked back at me saying, "a magicmachine never tells its secrets. Alice said so."

I laughed as I walked over to the little girl and picked her up, "I think you mean magician, Little Miss."

"That's what I said." She said as she pulled my hair, causing me to pull back in laughter once again.

"Did you have a good dinner?" I asked.

"Yes, I did." She said with a strict manner of fact tone in her little voice. "But guess what?"

"What?" I said adjusting her body in my grip.

"Alice doesn't like pizza!" I looked over at Alice who was laughing at her new friend, and I shook my head smiling.

"She doesn't?" Bella shook her head as though this were a very serious issue. "Well she's just strange! Who doesn't like pizza?"

"That's what I said!" Her eyes lit up at the possible phenomenon that two people could share a thought. "I also told her she was being dumb, because nobody hates pizza."

"Well you're probably right, but I think it's time you get to bed missy. We have a long day tomorrow."

"We do?"

"Yes, but it's a surprise." I smiled as I watched her little smile grow even wider. "But you have to march up to Carlisle's bed right now." She began to wriggle out of my arms, and I quickly placed her little feet on the ground. I laughed deeply as I watched her tiny legs scramble up the stairs to Carlisle's bedroom. "Alice, I'd run after that little monster if I were you." Alice then quickly skipped up the steps behind our new member of the household.

Alice's POV:

I walked into Carlisle's bedroom to find the little girl bouncing on the king sized sleigh bed. It was obviously a mistake to let her have two mountain dews with her pizza. "Hey! What did Edward say about you going to bed?" The little girl immediately fell to her knees and let out a soft mischievous giggle.

"Who me?" She smirked.

"Yes you!" I ran to the bed, ridiculously slow, I might add, and jumped on board. The little girl immediately started crying out in joy as she began jumping around me on the bed. Letting her have her fun for a minute, I eventually caught sight of the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. It was already eleven o'clock. Bella needed to get to bed. I had no idea what time little girls went to bed, but I knew it was nowhere near this late. I scooped her tiny body up in my arms and slammed her body down into the cushion. She immediately squealed in a fit of laughter. "Now, listen you! You've got to get to bed or you aren't getting a surprise tomorrow."

"Quick!" She yelled as she began throwing the decorative pillows aside. "Get me in bed! I'm going to get caught!" I laughed as I watched her quickly tuck herself in and shut her eyes extremely tight. "If you could turn off the light, but make sure to leave the door open a little bit that would be great." Her eyes remained shut as she waited for me to fulfill her requests, but instead I just laughed.

"You are still in your clothes, silly! Don't you want your green shirt?"

She didn't let one eye open. "What if Edward comes in and sees that I'm still awake?"

"He won't. I promise. Come on now. Chop! Chop!" I helped the little one out of her overalls and tiny red t-shirt and tucked her nicely into Carlisle's bed. I walked to the door and asked just how much she wanted the door to be left ajar. When she was content I reached in the room and flipped the light switch. "Goodnight, Bella!"

"Goodnight, Bella…" She said mischievously making me giggle to myself. " Oops! I mean Alice!" Listening to Bella laugh hysterically at her own joke made me laugh all the way down the stairs, as I went to join the rest of the group.

I skipped into the den to find that everyone was sitting silently, barring Edward and Carlisle. They were missing.

Author's note: Okay…. Let me hear your thoughts!

Disclaimer : I do not own Twilight.