Twilight isn't mine, but the idea is. I was inspired to write this after a marathon of Fast and Furious. All the songs on the soundtrack helped me create this, so you should check them if you don't know them.
Many thanks to my dear friends m0t0b33 and TeamAllTwilight for the pre-reader and beta work.
"I want to go home for Easter break," Bella announced loudly as they were working on their late dinner.
The last day of school before break had been the longest in existence, and they wanted to relax with a movie and fries.
"Aw, but I already talked to Jazz. We're going to one of his friend's cottage a few miles south."
"I know, but I want to go home. You don't have to come with me."
Edward frowned, taking his eyes off the frying potatoes. "I don't want to spend the holiday apart. And since when do you want to spend more time than necessary around Victoria?"
"I want home to be with Jimmy. April is a bad month for us."
"Why's that?" Edward rolled his eyes. "If you want, we're going to Fredonia."
Bella narrowed her eyes at him. "You don't know anything."
"Why are we fighting? What's wrong? Why do you want to go home so much?"
Tears welled up in her eyes and she abandoned the strips of bacon she was preparing for frying. "Because in April…it's… uh, our parents…." She gulped thickly. "I need to be with my brother and you don't even care."
"I do," Edward protested softly, realizing why the fuss about going home. Why couldn't she tell him from the beginning? Girls were so confusing.
"No, you don't. You think it's a joke and prefer to spend the holiday apart from your family…with friends doing who knows what."
"I don't even know these guys that well. They're Jasper's friends, and I just told you I'll come with you."
Bella glared at him before storming out of the kitchen, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"The fuck?" he muttered, turning off the stove.
"What have you done, honey?" Esme asked as she made her way into the kitchen. "I just passed Bella on my way down and she looked distressed."
Turning to face his mother, he lifted one shoulder. "I told her about the plan on going away with Jazz."
"And she doesn't want?"
"She wants to go back home and won't tell me why until she finally admitted it had to do with her parents. How the fuck could I have known?"
"Her parents?" Esme cocked her head to the side. "She never mentioned them."
"That's because I think they're dead. We never talked about it."
"You know what I think? You should go and talk to her. I'm sure you'll both feel better once she tells you everything." She strode to the stove. "I'll finish here and bring it to your room later."
"Thanks, Mom. How do you always know what to say?"
"It's a mom-thing. Now go, honey." She ushered him to the stairs.
Edward stopped in front of his room and stared at the door. He raised his hand to knock but berated himself at how silly he was. Pressing the door handle, he opened it and looked around. Bella was on his bed, face down, sobbing into a pillow.
Apprehensively, he approached her and sat gingerly on the edge of the bed. What could he say? Sorry—it was probably not strong enough.
"I had no idea, baby. You never told me," he started in a soothing voice.
Bella sniffed and rolled on her side to see him. Her eyes were blotchy and red. Wiping under them, she sat up, leaning against the headboard, hugging her knees to her chest. Edward sat in front of her, crossing his legs.
"Truthfully, it's never a good time to talk about that. I'm sorry I snapped, when it's my fault," she said quietly.
"I understand it's a…sore subject."
"To put it mildly." Bella took a shuddering breath. "Well, where to begin?" She looked lost in thought, staring at the top of her knees. "About ten years ago, there was this crazy guy killing people in our area. He was called Thirteen Strike—the name he gave himself."
Edward had suspected it was bad, but not that bad. He kept his mouth shut, waiting for Bella to continue.
"I was eight back then, so I didn't really understand the full meaning of what was going on. I remember that day so clearly, I wish I didn't." Sighing heavily she glanced at Edward. "Jimmy was back from college, on Easter break, and I'd missed him, so I kept pestering him to take me to the cinema and ice cream. On a very warm Saturday he finally caved and took me to the cinema. The Girl Next Door was running, and I remember that I didn't like it. I was too young for that shit, but it appeared Jimmy loved it. We had fun. He then took me to ice cream and bought me a big one, then we stopped at a store and he got me a stuffed giraffe. I couldn't wait to go home and show it to Mommy and Daddy." She stopped talking, burrowing her face in her knees.
"Shh." Edward crawled to her and took her frame in his arms, slowly rocking them from side to side. "You don't have to tell me everything."
"Yes I do, Edward. I never talked about it," she admitted between sobs, leaning into his chest. "When we arrived home it was early evening, and the second Jimmy stopped the car—we had an old thing back then, it was falling apart—I sprang out, clutching my new toy."
He smiled at the image of a little Bella running excitedly to the front door, clutching her giraffe, but then he sobered, realizing what she must have found inside the house. He ran his hand over her back, hoping it gave her comfort when he had no idea what to say.
"Jimmy shouted after me to wait for him. His voice was strained and I had no idea why, but I stopped on the path and waited for him. I remember he moved me behind him as he inched closer to the house. I kept asking what was wrong but he didn't reply." Bella bit her lip glancing up at her boyfriend. "He told me to wait on the porch, and then he disappeared inside."
"You didn't listen."
"Of course not. On the door, carved in the wood was the killer's name: 13 STRIKES. He always attacked on the thirteenth of the month at thirteen hundred." Chills ran up her spine as she remembered the moment she saw the door. Young Bella knew that if she went into her home she'd find something terrible. "Jimmy ran directly to their room, but as I followed him inside, I went to the living room. They were there." She gasped, closing her eyes.
"Dead?" Edward whispered, his heart breaking for his girlfriend.
"Yes," she sobbed, burrowing further into him. "They were on the couch, side by side, their heads touching, holding hands. Their eyes were wide open and so…opaque. I stood in front of them, gaping at them, not saying a thing, just staring and willing them to move, to ask about my toy, to ask why Jimmy was shouting so loudly from somewhere in the house."
"Oh, Bella."
"Jimmy barged in the living room, stopping in his tracks, bewildered then quickly came to my side and fell to his knees, hugging me tightly. I petted his head, not really understanding why my big and strong brother was weeping like a baby. Then he asked me if I knew what was going on, and I so nonchalantly said that Mommy and Daddy were gone. It made him cry harder." Bella shivered, at the memory. "What came next is very fuzzy in my head. The police and FBI were involved. I've never seen my brother so drained and helpless as back then. He was constantly talking to people—the police, the FBI, the neighbors, parents of my school friends… There was Special Agent Sally stuck with the little cry baby, but he didn't seem to mind. He told me that his wife was expecting a baby and staying with me qualified as experience. He made me smile in that fucked-up situation. Of course, for me it didn't mean much…anything. I was too young to fully understand what was going on, to grasp why my parents weren't in the kitchen every morning, why Mommy wasn't bathing me, why Daddy wasn't tucking me in and reading me stories."
"I can't even imagine how it was for you," Edward said quietly.
"Difficult to adjust…to put it mildly. And then…one day it was just me and Jimmy. We usually had someone dropping by every day, but then one day it stopped. I think about a year had passed."
"What about your brother's school? You said he was in college."
"He put it on hold until he figured out what was going on home. After my fourth grade, Jimmy decided we needed some time away from Fredonia and the bad memories. He'd enrolled to Glendale Community College in Law Enforcement. It was summer when we packed and took the old rusty car to Phoenix. We stayed in Phoenix for the duration of his college. He always came home to me, always apologizing when he had to stay more than he had promised." Bella shook her head, slightly amused. "If I come to think, now, he never went out. If he had friends…I had no idea. It was just us. School-home-battling depression-sleep and repeat."
"I thought you went to Phoenix for Brady…not that you lived there."
"Yeah, well. A girl has to keep some secrets."
Edward sighed, relaxing a little. The storm was over. He tightened his arms around her, kissing her head. "Thanks for telling me this."
"I feel so much better. I kept this bottled up so much… God, what an idiot. Jimmy told me a thousand times to talk about it."
"I'm sure it's difficult, Bella. So when he graduated you went back to the little town?"
"Yes. It was home, Edward. I missed it. I missed my friends."
"How was it like going back inside the house?' he wondered, curiously.
"Odd." She giggled. "I was old enough to know better, but I remember checking the door—now clean and polished—then peeking into the living room, all the while clutching to Jimmy's hand."
"It was normal."
"I lived there for months after it happened. Anyway, we slowly got back on the right track, and readjusted to living in that house. And when everything was better, Brady happened. It was so unexpected, it blew me away. Then when I was getting better after Brady, you appeared in my life and it was perfect."
"Then you found out I was into racing."
"And you got shot. I don't think I can take another shock. It's too much too fast."
"We're going to Fredonia for Easter break," he told her seriously, nuzzling her neck. "Anything you want, baby. I'm here. Just talk to me."
"I love you," Bella whispered, turning to face him, straddling his hips.
"As I love you." Taking her face gently in his hands, he leaned to kiss her.
"Make love to me. Please. I need to feel you close."
"Wait here. I need to make sure Mom won't come upstairs." He winked before rushing out the door.
Esme was still in the kitchen working on dessert.
"Hey, Mom. Is dinner done?"
"Did you talk?" she asked, looking anxiously at him. "Is Bella okay?"
"Uh, not exactly. We talked…and it's her story to tell. It's worse than I thought. I'm here to get the food and stay with her."
"Here, honey." She handed him a tray with the plates on it. "Juice?" He nodded, and she grabbed two bottles from the fridge. "Let her know I'm here if she needs someone...aside from you."
"Will do." He went back to his room, footing the door closed then locking it. "I have food."
"I'm hungry, too," Bella acknowledged. "But later. Now I want you."
"Your wish, my command, baby." Grinning wolfishly, Edward jumped on top of her on the bed, kissing her hungrily.
Later that evening, when they resurfaced from Edward's room, Bella was stolen by Esme for girl talk, and Edward went to his father to get plane tickets for Flagstaff. It turned out all tickets were sold out, but Carlisle kept giving him alternatives. Edward didn't seem interested in any until an idea came to him.
"I know!" he shouted making his father jump, startled. "We're driving."
"Most definitely not."
"Come on, Dad."
"I hate to say it, but I don't trust you not to speed, son."
"I won't. I promise. Bella hates speed…she gets sick."
"Oh, thank God for small miracles. Fine, fine. Do you need more money? I'll wire you some in the account."
"Thanks." He beamed at his father. "I'll go let Bella know about our upcoming road trip."
Bella turned out to be just as excited as him about driving back home. Easter was a week away, but they'd make at least two days, so having decided on leaving, they packed up that night ready to hit the road early in the morning. Edward couldn't wait to drive Betty out in the open road—he'd never done it before.
OOOO
Two days later, at sunset Edward parked in front of Bella's house. He stretched his arms in front of him yawning loudly.
"As much fun as this was, I'm exhausted."
"I can drive back," she teased.
"No way. My Betty."
When they got out of the car, James's cruiser pulled up behind them. He was surprised to find visitors—and such visitors.
"Baby sis! What a nice surprise." In a few long strides he was at her side, hugging her tightly. "Edward." He nodded to his sister's boyfriend over her shoulder.
"Hi, Jimmy. I missed you too." Bella greeted him.
"Why are you here?" He wondered, looking between her and Edward. Then, for the first time he realized what car was in the driveway. "You drove here, kid?"
"Looks like it." Edward shrugged, chuckling. "It's tiring as fuck."
"I bet it is. Did you speed at all?" James checked, holding his sister closer to his chest, narrowing his eyes at the teenage boy.
"Your faith in me is astounding."
"He didn't. I had to beg him to hit sixty at times. We'd had never gotten here before nightfall if he cruised leisurely," Bella told James, giggling.
"If you don't like my driving—" Edward stopped talking.
"Yes? Go on, sweetie. Can I drive Betty?" Bella said sweetly.
"No. No one touches her." He scowled. "Listen, can we go inside? I'm about to crash."
James laughed at the teens' banter and helped them with their bags. At Bella's questions about Victoria's whereabouts, Jimmy explained that she had the nightshift, and that he was home only for a little while himself.
While Edward made a beeline to the bathroom to shower so he could finally go to bed, James thanked Bella for dropping by at that time of the year—the time they both hated. She told him they'd always be together on April thirteenth, no matter what.
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