We went to the local diner for breakfast. Everything in our kitchen smelled like smoke, and we didn't want to eat there. That also gave the vampires a chance to go home without having to refuse breakfast. They just told us that they would see us in the evening and left, leaving Charlie, the now conscious Mark, and me to go eat. We were joined by Renee and Phil, who drove up (in a car they had rented from the airport) right as we were leaving.
Mark and I caught up with Renee and Phil while we ate, and as a result we were almost late to lunch. As soon as we were done eating and talking, we went to La Push. Charlie drove the cruiser because he was on call, Mark and I took my truck, and Renee and Phil drove their rented car, because they weren't sure when they were going to leave and they couldn't fit in my truck.
We drove to the cultural hall and went inside. Billy said Jacob was out finding his friends and would hopefully be back soon. He seemed surprised to see me there, and took the first opportunity possible to pull me aside.
"Bella, could you come inside and help me get some things out of the kitchen?" he asked.
"Sure," I answered, and followed him out of the main room and into the kitchen, leaving Mark, Charlie, Renee, Phil, and the rest of Billy's family to mingle around the tables.
"Do you know where Jake is?" Billy asked once the door was closed.
"I think he's at the Cullen's house," I said, and Billy looked at me worriedly.
"Why is he there?" he asked suspiciously.
"I think the pack went to make sure Victoria knows the rules of the Cullen coven before she agrees to join," I said. "I kind of made friends with her last night while she was trying to kill me, and I think she's considering joining the Cullens. I told everybody that they couldn't kill her."
"They're adding another bloodsucker to the coven?" Billy asked. He looked outraged.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "I like Victoria. Once I got to know her and she decided not to kill me, I found out that she and I actually have a lot in common. I don't think anyone is excited about her joining, if she even does. She may choose not to join if she doesn't feel that she can stick to the different diet."
The angry reply that Billy was going to say got cut off by the door opening. Jacob walked in and came over to give his dad a hug. He looked unhappy.
"Hi, Dad," Jake said.
"Hello Jake," Billy said.
"I'm glad you're safe, Bells," Jake said as he gave me a quick hug.
"Thanks," I said. "I'm glad that you're okay too. I was really worried about you guys last night." I returned the hug and he let go. He gave his father a look that I didn't understand before going out to the main room.
"Let's take these pots of hot chocolate out there," Billy said, ending our discussion. I sighed, because I knew he was not happy. None of the tribe would be when they heard that Victoria might be joining the Cullen's coven.
The party was tense. The werewolves were tired and upset with me. The wives of the werewolves were glaring daggers in my general direction. Billy wouldn't speak to me. Charlie was oblivious, Renee seemed curious, and Mark looked like he needed to go back to bed and stay there for a few days.
'No, let's not be happy that Bella's alive and safe, let's just hate her because she won't let us kill a vampire who was just as heartbroken as she was,' I thought to myself. Honestly, all they want to do is kill vampires. Can't they just accept the fact that not all vampires are evil?
Of course, the Cullens weren't very happy with her either. I just hoped that she would still be alive by the time we went to the Cullen's house for the party.
"Bella? Hello, Earth to Bella. Come in, Bella. Your attention needs to come back to us. Hel-lo?! Bella!"
"What?" I asked, jumping in surprise when I finally heard Mark.
Everyone laughed at my reaction, and Mark rolled his eyes. "No more late night parties for you, missy. You go deaf when you don't get your sleep."
"I'm fine," I argued. "What did you want?"
"Helen wants to know how things are going between you and Edward," Jake said. A panicked look crossed my face and I glanced at Charlie and Renee.
"So he is back?" Charlie thundered, taking my panicked look and glance at him as confirmation. "Why didn't you tell me?!"
"I was afraid of your reaction," I answered meekly.
"Has he talked to you?" Charlie thundered.
"Yes," I answered, feeling like a school girl instead of a married adult.
"Has he-" Charlie started, but Mark cut him off and came to my rescue.
"Perhaps we should discuss this at some time other than at the Christmas party," Mark suggested quietly. "I'm not feeling very Merry from this topic, and it is Christmas day, after all."
I glared at Helen and she smirked at me. I threw another glare in her direction before turning to Mark.
"I think I'm ready to go," I told him quietly. "Are you?"
"Yeah, I think I am," Mark answered. We stood up and everyone looked at us.
"We're leaving. Thanks for inviting us, Billy," I announced. No one smiled at us. Billy barely even acknowledged that I had said anything. I left the party feeling miserable.
"It's a good thing we drove the truck, huh?" Mark asked jokingly. "Otherwise we would have been forced to wait for Charlie or Renee and Phil to want to leave. It's a good thing they have their cars."
"Yeah," I answered half-heartedly. "It's a good thing."
Mark drove the truck, and I sat in the passenger seat and wallowed in my misery. We returned home faster than I thought we would and Mark took me inside and up to our room.
"It's not your fault that they're all in a bad mood," he tried to assure me as we sat on the bed, but it didn't work. I knew better.
"Yes, it really is," I answered. "I'm the one who wouldn't let them kill Victoria. I'm essentially the one who asked her to join the Cullen's coven."
"No, it isn't your fault," Mark assured me, and he pulled me closer.
"Then why were they all glaring at me?" I asked.
"Because you're so beautiful that they were jealous," Mark answered.
"Really?" I asked. I hadn't thought of that. I knew it wasn't true, but it was nice to pretend.
"Sure," Mark answered. "If you weren't mine, I would have been glaring at you too." He tilted my chin up and gave me a slow kiss. I wasn't in a mood for kissing when he started, but halfway through I melted. I kissed him back.
"I love you," I whispered when we pulled away.
He smiled and kissed me again before answering, "I know. I love you too." We both tried to forget our problems as we let the kisses guide our emotions and let the emotions guide our actions.
When Charlie and Renee returned home about an hour later Charlie came storming into my room, his face purple with anger. It quickly flushed red with embarrassment and he hurried back outside to let Mark and compose ourselves. Once we were in a slightly less intimate position, in a few more clothes, and I wasn't bright red from blushing I opened the door.
"Sorry about that, Dad," I said sheepishly, "but knocking is advised at all times, you know."
"Why didn't you tell me Edward was back?" Charlie demanded. Renee and Phil stood behind him, silent supporters of his cause.
"The same reason I don't want to talk about it now," I answered quietly. "I'm still having a hard time with it and I didn't want to talk about it."
"You obviously told Helen," Charlie pointed out.
"No, I told Jake," I corrected him. "When I went to go see him he wanted to know why I seemed so distracted. I kind of blurted it out without thinking."
"Why did he bother coming back?" Charlie asked, still suspicious.
"Can't he come to see his family?" I asked. "Esme was so happy to see him. She almost cried from the sheer joy of her family being in the same house for the holidays."
Charlie hadn't thought about it like that. He looked ashamed. "Oh," he said. "Well, I guess that's good for Esme. But if he tries anything with you…"
"I'm married to Mark," I said. "I'm fine."
"Just tell me if he tries anything, okay Bells?" Charlie asked.
"Sure," I answered. I gave him a hug, and then gave Mom and Phil hugs too.
"We really are worried about you, honey," Renee said. "We know how depressed you were when he left both times, and we don't want any boys hurting our baby." She smiled, and I smiled back.
"Are you two hungry?" Charlie asked. "You left before they served lunch."
"I'll go fix something," I said. "I'm not sure I want Mark in the kitchen again, and it's not fair to make anybody else fix us lunch because we were party poopers." I gave Mark a kiss on the cheek and followed the parade of worried parents down the stairs.
Mark followed me into the kitchen. I watched my parents file into the living room before I opened the refrigerator and pulled out some lunch meat. I straightened up and closed the refrigerator door before turning around.
I came face to face with Mark. He took the lunch meat from me and set it on the counter with one hand and cupped my face with his other hand. He kissed me again and my breath hitched in my throat.
"What are we doing?" I asked once I could frame a coherent sentence.
"We got interrupted," he answered quietly. I took a step back and my back ended up against the refrigerator. Mark followed me, not even breaking the kiss. I lost any argument I would have made as he kissed me again.
A polite cough broke our concentration. Mark and I jumped guiltily and Mark stepped away. We were both blushing.
"Take it upstairs, you two," Phil suggested jokingly. I giggled guiltily and Mark grinned.
"I'm going to finish making lunch," I said. Phil laughed and went upstairs.
"Lunch meat, eh?" Mark asked.
"It's simple and fast," I answered with a shrug as I opened the bag of bread. I stepped back and motioned towards the meat and bread. "Help yourself, I'll get the mayonnaise and mustard."
"Yes, honey," Mark answered. He started making a sandwich as I opened the fridge again and pulled out said condiments.
"Is it safe to come in here?" Phil asked as he returned to the kitchen from upstairs.
"It's safe," I assured him. "We're being good little children now."
"Good, because I'd hate to have to tell your parents that you were making out in the kitchen," Phil responded, and I blushed again.
"We're being good," I promised.
Phil laughed and returned to the living room.
"How did you manage to get your Mom to come to Forks?" Mark asked me quietly. "I thought she hated this place."
"She does," I told him, "but she loves me enough to sacrifice loosing some sun to see her daughter, who refused to go anywhere but Forks for Christmas. I'm sure you can figure out why now."
"Shouldn't you be spending some time with her?" Mark asked.
"I'm sure they're talking about how they're worried about me now that Edward's back," I said. "I'm sure they want to have that conversation privately."
Mark didn't reply, and, sure enough, we heard Renee say, "Are you sure she's not telling us something? She seemed like she was hiding something."
Mark and I started laughing, but we kept it quiet so they wouldn't hear us.
"If only she knew what you were hiding," Mark joked. He set his four sandwiches on the counter and started to clean up behind me as I made mine. By the time I was putting the mustard on my turkey sandwich he had everything else cleaned up, and the mustard went back in the refrigerator as soon as the lid was twisted shut. He grabbed his sandwiches and took my hand. He pulled me up the stairs and into our room again.
"Are you okay with Edward being back?" he asked. "I know I've already asked this before, but since I know more now I thought maybe the answer has changed, or at least become more detailed."
I took a big bite of my sandwich and took my time chewing so I could have a moment to think. "I'm okay with it, I suppose," I finally answered hesitantly. "I want to love him again, and I still do love him, but I don't trust him. If he has already left twice in the short time we've known each other, then what am I supposed to think about him promising to stay with me until I die, or until we find a loophole around the treaty? Eternity is a long time, and if we do manage to find a way to change me, then how am I supposed to know he won't just run off again? I mean, I suppose if he did run off, I could follow him, but who wants to spend all of their immortal existence chasing someone? That's not high on my list of things to do with my life. I want to be happy. I hate to say this, and please don't be offended, but if I can't have Edward, who is the only way to make me completely and totally happy, then I might as well have someone else, like you, who can make me mostly happy."
"I'm not offended," Mark told me. "I know why we married each other."
"You're far too good for me," I told him. "You're too understanding and kind."
"No, I'm not," Mark said. "You deserve someone better than me. You deserve Edward, or at least someone in his league. I'm not even close."
"You took me as broken goods, second hand, and irreparable. Yet you still seem to love me, you still seem to care for me. I can't bear to hurt you. I'm afraid if I leave you for Edward, that you'll be hurt. I don't want to hurt you. You deserve the best."
"I want you to be happy," Mark told me. "If you're happy, then I'm happy. I'll find somebody else, if you go back to Edward. I think he's sincere this time. I think he finally realized that you won't wait for him, and that if he wants you, he'll have to fight for you and stay. He asked me the other day if I would mind if he proposed to you."
I gasped. "What did you say?!"
"I told him if he was willing to treat you like the Angel that you are, if he was willing to stay with you forever, if he knew that was what you wanted, and if he was willing to let us get a divorce first, that I didn't mind. He looked at me like I was nuts and asked why I was okay with it."
"What did you say then?"
"I told him that I want you to be happy. I don't want to tie you down if you would rather be free to go with him."
"What did he say?"
"He said that I either must really love you, or that I must really hate you to want you gone."
"He said that?!" I exclaimed.
"I assured him that it was the former option. I love you enough that I'm willing to let you go, if that's what you want."
"Mark," I said quietly. "You do realize that you just told the most determined vampire in the whole world that I'm available, don't you?"
"He already knew," Mark assured me. "I just confirmed the story."
I wasn't sure what to say. So I just sat there and stared at him.
"You aren't mad, are you?" Mark asked worriedly after several moments of silence.
"No," I said. "I'm just a little shocked, that's all. I… I… I just don't know what to say. I'm not sure if I want to leave you. You're special. You're my best friend. I haven't even allowed myself to hope that I could be with Edward again, but it's all working out, and I'm not sure I want it to, because I do like you. I love you. It's not a love like I love Edward, but it's almost as strong. I hadn't really realized until today how much you really mean to me. It's a lot to take in."
"Now you know how I felt about last night!" Mark laughed as he ruffled my hair. I noticed gratefully that his hands were clean and empty because he had somehow managed to eat all four sandwiches in the time that we had been talking. "I had an information overload. Apparently I've done the same thing to you. Now we're even." He grinned and I grinned back.
However, I dropped my grin almost immediately. "Are you ready to go to the Cullen's?" I asked.
"No," Mark answered. He kissed me again. "We still haven't finished what we started before we were so rudely interrupted twice."
I rolled my eyes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Alice will be going insane waiting for us to come. We should probably get cleaned up and head over."
"Aren't we clean enough?" Mark asked.
"Vampires have a very strong sense of smell. And Werewolves, the guys in La Push, smell bad to them. We'll have everyone telling us how much we smell if we don't get cleaned up."
"Are you going to ruin your hair and make-up?" Mark asked in horror.
"No, I'll take a bath so my face and hair don't get wet," I answered. "Alice and Rose would probably kill me if I ruined their work before everyone else got a chance to see me."
"I'll go shower first," Mark offered.
"I'll go spend some time with my mom and Phil," I said. "If they aren't done talking about me, then they need to stop."
"Way to take action, Bella," Mark said, and rolled his eyes. "Good luck with the impending interrogation."
"Good luck getting that lipstick off," I returned. Mark looked at me skeptically and I giggled. "You obviously haven't looked in a mirror since we got interrupted the first time."
He grabbed his shower bag and sprinted off towards the bathroom. I laughed again and went downstairs to go talk to my parents.
A/N: Sorry about the long wait. This chapter just didn't want to be written. I'm not sure why. Anyway, here it is. I hope you enjoy it. :)
Until the next chapter,
Addie
