Bella wished she could say that she had a productive night, but, if she was being honest, she'd spent most of the night staring up at the ceiling feeling a conflicting mix of comfort coming from the person laying next to her and swelling panic from within herself.

It was a full range of emotions. There was embarrassment, heavy and confusing. She'd pulled an Edward, trying to go all 'woe is me, I'm such a monster.', and Didyme was having none of it. Bella was glad the woman had managed to snap her out of that line of thought, she didn't know what she'd do if she became the broody vampire stereotype. And Didyme…

She'd kissed her.

Bella was used to living in somewhat of a whirlpool of anxiety and bewilderment, what with teenage hormones having taken up the last few years, and then all of this vampire crap, but one thing she never thought she'd have to deal with is this new realization. She'd kissed Didyme. She couldn't tell if the stunned thought that kept repeating in her head stemmed from the fact that Didyme was a woman, the softest, kindest woman that Bella had ever met, or if it was the fact that she was from a different time.

Bella could hardly believe that she'd allowed herself to become so complacent.

She had to be nearly a thousand years into the past! And instead of discovering how her powers worked, or, hell, exploring what life was like a thousand years in the past, she'd spent all her time following a human woman around like a puppy. Should she be ashamed of herself?

A quiet sigh emanated from the sleeping figure that lay curled up at her side, and the thought washed away with it. Bella turned her head to gaze at Didyme's relaxed face. She couldn't bring herself to regret that. Not even a little bit. She may not have known the woman long, but the connection she felt between the two of them was instantaneous; it pulled Bella toward the woman in ways she could hardly understand. Like when she kissed her.

She kissed her.

Bella's eyes drifted down Didyme's face, lingering on those full lips, just slightly parted from sleep. As another sigh left Didyme, Bella whipped her head back up toward the ceiling, feeling like she would be blushing if she still had blood in her veins. She needed to snap out of whatever this was. There was too much going on to linger on whatever kind of panic this was. She'd deal with it another time.

That brought Bella to another feeling that was in the strange mix. Worry.

She didn't know how much time she had left.

Bella had been lucky so far, and she wondered what it meant that her time in the past has been longer and longer with each trip. As much as she enjoyed the company of the woman at her side, she didn't think she could handle living a thousand years into the past, stalking around a cabin in the woods for the rest of her life.

And Charlie. Oh god. What was he thinking now? Bella had been fluttering in and out of his life since the Cullens had first showed up, paying more attention to the mysterious family than her own flesh and blood, and it shamed her now. And now that she'd finally realized it, she was thrown about through time with the smallest of warnings. She couldn't bare to leave him alone again. She needed to get back.

But there was something she needed to do, first.

Bella hadn't forgotten her mission. She hadn't forgotten what had caused her to pull so hard at this period of time, to try and bring herself back to the cabin in the middle of the woods with the woman from a thousand years in the past. She had to warn Didyme about her brother.

Bella's jaw clenched as she stared at the ceiling, watching as the slow light of dawn colored the room around her until, finally, she felt the woman at her side begin to stir. Didyme shifted, stretching up against Bella, and the action caused Bella to swallow at the feel of the other woman before she saw blue eyes open to look at her. A small smile graced Didyme's lips, and a look of awe entered her eyes as she gazed into Bella's.

"I thought it might have been a dream." Didyme's voice was husky with sleep, and Bella fought off a shiver at the sound. She bit her lip as she felt a smile take over her face without her permission.

"A good dream?" Bella questioned, the shy note in her voice peeking through.

Didyme's smile widened. "The best." And she leaned in, slowly moving until her nose brushed against Bella's, and Bella jolted away, standing at the side of the bed before Didyme could react. At the look of hurt in Didyme's eyes, Bella stuttered.

"Wait. Wait. That wasn't—I need to talk to you about something." Bella wrung her hands together, another habit she'd yet to lose from her human life. "It's important."

Didyme's brow scrunched in confusion, but she sat up in the bed facing Bella and gestured for her to continue.

"—" Bella opened her mouth and closed it again with a snap. She didn't know how she was going to explain this. "I have told you where I am from." At Didyme's nod, she continued. "And you know I must go back?" Another, much more hesitant nod, accompanied by an impossible to read look on Didyme's face followed. "Well, where I am from, there are…others like me. Many others." Didyme looked more confused by the topic. "Some of those are just random people, like me, who became what we are through circumstance or however, but there are some that are much more well known." Bella chanced a hesitant glance toward Didyme before continuing. "There are…royalty among my kind. Kings. I have never met them in person, but I have heard a few tales of them from some friends of mine. There is one bit of information about them that I received from an…acquaintance that worries me.

"These kings are not good people. They are, from what I know, rulers who seek power simply to rule. To have power. They don't care about the lives of their subjects, and even less for those unlike us." She spared a look at Didyme, whose eyebrows were slowly creeping toward her hairline. "…I have no idea how to say this."

"Are you in danger?" Didyme asked, her voice hesitant and concerned.

"What? No. Well, I mean technically I might be?" Bella shrugged, but at the look of growing worry on Didyme's face she continued, "This isn't about me. This is about you."

"Am I in danger?"

"No! Yes. Maybe." Bella could tell Didyme was trying to be patient, but Bella had even confused herself with that one. "There is absolutely no good way to say this, alright? Cause I have been trying, but it will be confusing and painful no matter what I do."

"Bell, just tell me what is wron—"

"Your brother is dangerous."

Didyme's mouth snapped shut as she stared in complete bewilderment at the vampire in front of her. Bella tried not to flinch at her own bluntness.

"My brother…is dangerous." Didyme said the words like she was testing them out, scanning Bella's face. Bella could only nod. "I'm sorry, I'm failing to understand what my brother has to do with this conversation." Bella opened her mouth to respond, but Didyme held up her hand, steamrolling on. "And how could you possibly know what my brother is like?"

"Wait, Didyme I swear—"

"He is MY brother." The harsh tone stunned Bella silent. This was the first time she'd truly seen Didyme upset with her. "My brother, who you have never met, is dangerous?" Didyme stood from the bed, stepping up to Bella. "And this, coming from you? I watched you kill a man just last night!" She poked a finger at Bella's chest, and while Bella knew Didyme couldn't physically harm her, she flinched from the impact of the words. "My brother raised me! He was there for me after our father was taken from us."

"That's what I'm trying to tell you—"

"And you want to take him away from me, too?" Didyme's eyes scrunched up in an expression of pain before she turned on her heal and stalked out the door.

"No, wait! Didyme!" Bella raced out the door after her. "I'm not trying to take him from you, I swear. I'm just trying to tell you what he's hiding."

At that, Didyme whirled around. "What he's hiding?" She stalked up to Bella. "How dare you." Her voice was as soft as a whisper, but it rattled something deep inside of Bella's chest. "My brother is not the one hiding things from me, Bell. I went along with your story of coming from a later time because I have seen how different you are. I have seen the sun on your skin, and I know you to be something more, but you have lied to me since the moment you met me." Her voice slowly rose in volume as she spoke. "What are you doing here, Bell? Why did you come to our home? How did you even get here? Where is your family? Do you have a family? Is your name even Bell?"

Bella flinched at that, and Didyme's face spasmed at the reaction. "Is it?" Bella's eyes dropped to the dirt path below her feet. "Look at me!" She painfully dragged her eyes back up to the woman in front of her that was looking at her with something painful written across her face. Betrayal. "It isn't, is it." Didyme wasn't really asking.

"It's part—" Bella couldn't get more than half way through before Didyme's shoulder started shaking, and she watched in horror as the woman began to cry.

"You," Didyme wiped a tear away with the back of her hand, "You come into my life with all your mystery, and I can't help but be drawn to you. It would be impossible to ignore. You appeared after my father died, when I needed someone to talk to, and I thought that was you. I thought maybe the gods had heard my prayers and sent you to me. But you leave. You leave right when I need you and I waited years for you to come back, and then you say this?" A swallowed sob strangled the next words, but Didyme seemed to force them out. "It would have been better if you had never come here at all."

"No." The word was a desperate plea as it fell from Bella's lips. "No, Didyme, you don't mean that. I never meant—"

Bella's hands tingled.

Dear god, please no.

Didyme was looking at the trees, seemingly searching for something for a moment before her eyes landed on the crumpled body of Alexius, still laying underneath the cover of the large tree.

Bella's vision blurred at the edges. She tried to get a word out, but her mouth wouldn't move. It was like her entire body had frozen. Ever so slowly, she tried to regain control of her hand as panic began to fill her.

Didyme let out a tired sigh. "I think it would be best if you just…"

Bella's hand entered her field of vision, trembling fiercely as it reached out to Didyme, ever so slowly closing the distance.

The world tilted.

"Just go."

Her fingertips were less than an inch away from Didyme.

Please. Please don't make me go. Whatever is controlling this, please. Just let me-

The world faded to white.


Bella stomped a hole in the top stair of the staircase.

She stumbled forward a few feet, stopping at the entrance to her room, and dropped to her knees. Vampires didn't technically need to breathe, but the air that rushed into her lungs felt more than necessary as she clutched at her heaving chest.

God damn it. She had been so close!

Close to what though? Bella shifted from her knees to her side, then turned so she was sitting with her back up against her door. She was close to making contact with Didyme, but what then? She would've disappeared one way or another, whether it be today or in a couple weeks. Bella was never meant to stay there. Bella knew that. She acknowledged that her trips were temporary.

Still.

There was an empty feeling in her chest that pulled at her with each pointless breath. And she hadn't even managed to get Didyme to listen to her! She'd said that her brother was dangerous, but she didn't get to explain as to how. Bella sighed. At least she said something. Whether or not Didyme appreciated her candor, she deserved to know the truth.

Bella would just be more persuasive next time she saw her.

With that thought in mind, Bella stood from her spot on the floor and opened her door, making her way into her empty room. As she entered, her phone buzzed in her pocket, and Bella pulled it out to reveal 5 missed messages. After checking the date and noticing that is was only evening on the day after she left, Bella went through the messages. 2 were from Jacob, telling her that Sam wanted her to meet up with the council and talk about either extending the Cullen's treaty to include her, or creating a new one. They needed it in writing, apparently. 2 more came from Charlie, checking in once he realized that Bella had disappeared again.

She sent off a message letting him know she was alright before moving on to the final messages. They were both from unknown numbers. The first read 'We need to speak to you at your earliest convenience. -Tanya'. Bella saved her number in her phone before responding, asking if they wanted her to head over to the Cullen's' house. Her confusion about how Tanya had gotten her number was dispelled at the second message. 'Yo we got ur # from fido. -Kate'.

Bella didn't fight the smirk that appeared on her face at Kate's nickname for Jacob. She sent a message to Jacob, asking him when the council wanted to meet with her, only subtly mentioning not giving out her number to strangers, and received a response almost immediately.

'Head over. I told the council to expect you.'

Bella bit her lip, running her hand through her hair. She wasn't so sure this meeting was going to be all sunshine and rainbows, and she really didn't want to have to deal with that after the day she's already had, but she sighed and stood from the bed. She needed to do this eventually, and putting it off would probably only make it worse.

After leaving a note for Charlie on the counter, telling him where she was heading, Bella pulled on her 'disguise' of sunglasses, a hat, and a scarf that wrapped around the lower half of her face, and she made her way over to Jacob's house.

She was not expecting the sight that greeted her at Jacob's house.

At least 20 cars were parked along and around the driveway, with dirt bikes and motorcycles filling in the gaps between them. Bella could hear the sounds of laughter and the smell of barbeque coming from the back of the house, so she slowly made her way over. The pack was spread out around a campfire, many of them holding sticks with more than one hotdog skewered on the end over the flames. Sitting among them were what Bella assumed to be the council members: Harry Clearwater, Billy Black, Quil Sr., etc. Mostly, it seemed like the 'coucnicl' was made up of the parents and grandparents of the wolf pack. Jacob looked up from his hotdog, which had caught on fire, and saw her.

"Bella!" He shoved the crispy hotdog down his throat in seconds as he made his way over to her. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only person to have noticed her. As soon as her name rang out, a stiffness settled into the council members. Most of them watching her warily, others with obvious distrust. Some even bore their disgust plainly on their faces.

Oh, this is going to go great.

She let Jacob lead her over to the fire, sitting down between him and Sam Uley, who gave her a firm nod before turning back to the woman at his side that Bella noticed had some serious scars on her face. She turned away before she started staring, not wanting to be rude, and looked directly into the eyes of Billy Black across the fire.

She was expecting to see the wariness still there, but the look of grief was gone. Maybe Jacob had managed to talk some sense into his old man, after all. Before too long, a hush went around the fire, and the jolly mood shifted into a more serious one as Billy began to speak.

"You all know the legends of our people, so just this once I will spare a repeat lesson." Bella could here a small yet triumphant 'yes!' come from the log behind her, where she knew Seth was sitting. "We are all here tonight to discuss more important matters." His eyes returned to Bella. "Bella Swan, daughter to my friend, Chief Swan, had become a Cold One." The silence that followed the rather obvious statement was tenser than Bella could have expected.

"The treaty with the Cullens is void, then. They've turned a human!" A member of the council, unnamed to Bella so far, spoke out rather aggressively. "This is an act of war!" A few murmurs of agreement followed from other council members.

Billy held up his hand and they went silent once more. "The Cullens did not break the treaty, and they were not here to turn Bella. Another Cold One came into their abandoned territory and attacked her with intent to kill. He was stopped by our Protectors," a nod to Sam, "but not before he had already bitten her. We are not here to discuss the breaking of one treaty, but the creation of another."

"Can we not just extend the previous treaty with the Cullens to include young Bella?" Quil Sr. spoke with a calm voice.

"The treaty we have with the Cullens is specific in certain terms." Sam answered. "They cannot bite a human or cross into our territory without breaking it. They treaty we will create with Bella will be different. She will be able to cross into the reservation without breaking it, as she is friends with many here, and the border prevents us from doing our jobs adequately, as previous experience has shown us." He gestured to Bella. "And there will need to be one other change in this new treaty." Bella held her breath, she knew what was coming. "It will include a clause that allows Bella to feed off of certain humans."

All hell broke loose.

Please leave a review! They make me keep writing. And I'm probably going to be updating about once a week. That way I can keep writing without burning myself out too bad, and I can hopefully continue on this schedule when classes start up again soon.