Wow, after this only three normal chapters left and then the epilogue.
Thirty-Six – Edward is cool and calm
EPOV
I swallow as I look at the Volturi building in front of us. I grab hold of Bella's hand.
"Stark, you're cutting off the blood supply to my hand."
I ease off a little and take a deep breath to help shake off the nerves I have.
"You sure this is the best way?"
"Yes, they're not going to expect us to walk in the front door unarmed."
I close my eyes, and take another deep breath and kiss her hand.
"You're right, baby, let's do this," I say, and pull her a little as I walk quickly to the front door of the building.
Bella winks at me as she rings the bell, and then begins to look at her fingernails as we wait for the door to open.
"Miss Eclipse, Mr. Masen," a man says as he opens the door with a smirk, "come in, we've been expecting you."
I look at Bella from the corner of my eye, as I hold back the eye roll I so want to give this cocky bastard. We walk in; see the room's filled with over twenty armed men.
"Hold your hands up; we need to search you."
Bella does it and I follow her lead.
"No weapons found," the guard says out loud.
"This way," another one says and begins to walk.
I grab a hold of Bella's hand again and start to follow.
He leads us to a large room, where there are several men in suits.
"It is so good to see you both," the one at the head of the table says. "You both mean so much to us ..."
"Cut the shit and tell me where my father is?" Bella says harshly, and the men just laugh at her.
"He's in jail, of course."
"Why?"
"He became a threat to our country, so we had to neutralize him."
Bella narrows her eyes at them, and I squeeze her hand to remind her to stay calm.
"You're who we have been trying to get for decades, the ultimate soldier. Your intelligence is off the scale and you only get smarter as you age. You have the ability to heal fast, and you're never sick. Your fighting skills are the best we have ever seen without chemical enhancements. They used our testing and information from our failed attempts to create you."
I cut him off not understanding something.
"Why—why would they do it—as far as we know, Renee just wanted to be a mother."
His eyes go to mine and he tilts his head to the side.
"Ah ... that may be ... in the beginning anyway."
He stops and lets out a little chuckle.
"Renee was one of the children—a test pilot of sorts—she was given a special vaccine. There were special chemical enhancements we injected her and few others with. But, she along with the other children started to show signs of a reaction to it when they hit their teens.
"In women, it seemed to attack the embryos after they implanted, so carrying a child was out of the question. She found this out, while doing research for your grandfather, Aro Masen. She found more of our different vaccines that we were developing to help people become pregnant—these were prototypes and had never been tried out.
"She started taking them, if one failed, then she'd try another. She even tried to have a child via in vitro fertilization. When this process was done, the drugs they gave her to produce extra eggs, resulted in a plethora of eggs. Due to the drugs she took of ours, mixed with the others they gave her, created some sort of enhanced eggs.
"The last time, when she tried the in vitro—when she fell pregnant with you—it worked. We didn't know anything about you, until you were twelve, and then by God, did you spike our interest. But, it also upset us that one of our higher up men—one that we trusted—kept this huge secret from us.
"Of course by then, Renee had been dead for years. So there was no way to find what drugs she used to create you. Nahuel stole the eggs that were still stored, and gave a third of them to you," he says looking at me.
"The remaining twelve were spread across four women, but none of them took. Only two of the six you were given created a live birth. Yet, the twins they produced are not like her, so we know we had missed something."
"We hoped that Charlie could tell us, but he's not cooperating with us. Maybe now that we have you, he will."
"You don't have her," I say raising my eyebrow.
"But we do; you're both here, all alone, with no weapons."
"But we have this?" I say putting down a small vial that was in my pocket.
"And that is?"
"This is their—" I say pointing to the guards around the room—"answer to the serum. This is their ability to be free of all of the horrible things the serum does to them."
He swallows, and I can see a slight shift in his eyes, as he tries to keep them on me and not on the other men in the room.
"We only have your word on that," he responds with a halfhearted laugh.
"I have no reason to lie. This is their answer. Oh, and we do also have this."
I look up as if I am looking at the ceiling, yet never taking my eyes from the leaders.
"Chaos, are you here?" I ask with a smirk.
"Yes, Sir, and as requested, I have complete control," Chaos responds. "Sir, Charlie is in this building, and is being kept six floors down on the left, in a room locked by a magnetic locking system."
I watch as the men in suits' faces drop.
"That's good work, Chaos. Please open his door and let him out."
"Yes, Sir, should I allow the other prisoners out, too?"
"Yes, unless they are violent or a danger to society. Start the countdown at five, for five minutes and then start to wipe everything they have," I order as Bella and I rehearsed.
"T-minus 299 seconds and counting," Chaos responds.
"You can't do this," the mouthpiece for the group yells standing up. I watch as they frantically try to gain control of their computers.
"I think I just did," I say as I pull a seat out and sit down pulling Bella on my lap.
"Charlie and the prisoners are out. I'm directing them to you," Chaos says.
"There are four explosives that have been triggered to start detonating. I suggest you start deciding what is best for you, if you want to go on, that is."
I smirk at their shocked faces.
"Why are you doing this? We are the world's only hope. We are what allow you to sleep at night in peace, and we need her. She holds the answer to make a super race, a race that is designed to protect our country—to save us. With her, we can stop sending out our love ones. We can use her and ones like her," he says yelling as he points at Bella.
"T-minus 200 seconds," Chaos announces.
"Stop this, and we'll let you go. You, your family and kids will be safe," the man offers.
"She's my family, my wife-to-be," I counter.
He rubs his face.
"You can't do this," he argues.
"You say that a lot, but we are doing it," I say smugly.
He pulls out a gun and points it at us.
"Killing me, her or anyone else, won't help or stop this," I say waving my hand around in the air, as if I have no doubt or concern at all.
I watch as he starts to shake.
"What do you want?"
"My father-to-be safe and not sought out, and for us—our family—to be left alone," Bella says, speaking for the first time since entering this room.
"And what do we get?" he snarls and I chuckle.
"WE ... won't kill you?"
I watch his eyes go between Bella and me.
"Not if I kill you first."
I smirk as the room goes dark, as we planned. When the lights come on a few seconds later, most of the men are down, and I have a gun to his head.
"Wiping all files. Charlie and the guards will be with you in three, two ..."
"You should have been more cooperative," I sneer into his ear.
A few of the other guards come in and point their weapons between Bella and me.
"Drop it," a harsh voice says.
"Dad?" Bella asks, and I can hear the faint sob in her voice.
"Bella, baby girl?" the man I now know is Charlie says.
"All files are dissected and destroyed, sending Dora around the world to all bases," Chaos confirms.
"Whoever wants to join me, you are free to do so. We'll guarantee you're safety and we have a counter drug for the serum," I say to the group of guards and prisoners. "We have a serum that can counter the one they've been giving you. It may take up to three years for you to be free, but I promise you, that you will be, and we will keep working on improving that time frame."
"We'll leave this for you," I say placing the small vial back down. "Bye," I say grabbing Bella's hand and we start to walk out of the building with Charlie and the other prisoners on our heels.
We don't slow our quick walk, and we're just over a mile from the place, when Emmett and the bus are in our sights. We all get on and I count the men that followed us. I see in the end, including Charlie, we got twenty extra men.
"All files from around the world have been infiltrated and destroyed," Chaos says, and I smile a little.
"Okay, now that we're in the clear; you want to explain this?" Charlie says waving his hand between Bella and me.
"That's going to take some time, so if you could wait until we get to the place we'll be staying at and get looked over, that would be best."
He nods at me, and Emmett stops the bus, letting my dad and Peter on board. As soon as they're on board, we get to work on deactivating any and all GPS they have on or in them. A few hours later, Bella and Hawk question them, making sure the men who are with us really want to be here. Once they all passed, my dad injected them each with the new serum, and we walk them to the bunker.
It's in the early hours and Charlie has just been cleared, and he walks to where Bella and I are.
"Well?" he stands looking at us, as if he is ready to rip off my head.
Chapter: Thirty-Six – Bella sets Charlie straight
BPOV
Stark sighs a little and stands up.
"I am ..."
My dad cuts him off almost right away.
"Edward Masen, son of Carlisle and Esme—yes, I know who you are."
Edward gives his normal half smile as his shakes his hand.
"Okay, if you'll have a seat, we'll get you up to date," Stark carries on again.
"Daddy, Mommy," Cassie yells as she runs in the room and jumps into my arms, with Cullen right behind her jumping to me as well.
"Hey, you two, I missed you guys so much," I say kissing the top of their heads. I instantly feel a little on edge, and I see my father's hands are balled up in fists, and the rage is clear on his face.
"Kids, go find Hawk – tell him I need him right away, and then you go find grandma Esme. Hurry now – go quick, fast as you can."
They both nod, almost as if they, too, can feel the tension coming off my dad. They run out and my father leaps up out of his seat and charges at Stark.
I jump between them and Stark tries to move me out the way.
"You son-of-a-bitch, I'm going to kill you," my dad yells.
"You'll have to kill me first, and for the record, it's not what you're thinking, so slow your roll."
"He took advantage of you—you must have been, what, fourteen at best!" my dad yells moving closer.
"Albatross, move out the way," Stark says through gritted teeth.
"What the hell's going on in here," Hawk asks as he and Peabody run in.
"The kids called me Mom, and now he thinks they're mine—like as in I gave birth to them."
My dad tilts his head a little as I explain.
"What?" the rest of them yell jointly.
"Fuck you, Charlie, I would've put a bullet in him if that were true, and you know it. Get off your fucking high horse, because you'll lose her forever if you hurt him. She's forgiven you for so much, but if you hurt him or try to, the odds of her forgiving you are well, hell no." Hawk growls at my father.
I keep my eyes locked with my dad, and I let out a little sigh as he moves back to the seat he was in.
"What do you mean?"
I let out a breath and go through everything I have been through. I did not hold back anything at all. I told him everything – each and every step of my life since he's been gone. The whole time Stark held my hand, giving me the strength I needed to do it.
"So, they are Renee's kids and you're their sister-come-step-mom?"
"No," Stark says harshly.
"She's their mom—no step or any other word you want put in front of it—she is the only mom they will ever know—end of story."
My dad shakes his head and I see a faint tear running down his cheek.
"She always wanted a big family – always. She loved you, you know that, right? No matter what you did when you were younger, she loved you so much."
I nod at him, unable to speak out loud as he wipes his face.
"I—they wouldn't tell me about you—I prayed every day. I prayed that you were okay."
I move to him, kneeling in front of him.
"I am."
He shakes his head.
"This was not the life we wanted you to have. Aro was supposed to keep you safe."
"He did, Dad, it wasn't easy, but he did."
"I am so sorry that ..."
I move closer to him and hug him, cutting off his words. It takes him a few moments, before he's hugging me back.
"I have only just gotten you back, and now I find you belong to another."
I chuckle lightly and move back from him.
"I love him, Dad, and you're a grandpa to two of the best kids."
"Does that mean I'm allowed to hang around?"
The way he says it, makes me think he thought we'd send him away.
"Charlie, of course you're welcome here, you are her father, and therefore, you're – like it or not – a part of the Masen family."
My dad looks back at Stark for the first time since he was glaring daggers at him. This time I see his eyes are not holding anger, and he holds out his hand.
"You hurt her; I swear I'll find a way to make you pay."
Stark gives him a smirk and nod, while he shakes his hand.
"If you'd like to join us, come meet the family and your grandchildren," Edward offers.
We walk him out and Guido walks right to him.
"It has been a long time my friend, I've missed you, Charlie."
Cassie and Cullen walk slowly back over to Stark and me.
"And this is Cassie and Cullen. Cassie and Cullen, this is my dad Charlie."
They frown a little.
"Hi, are you a zombie?" Cassie asks as she looks him up and down.
"Eh ... no?" my dad says carefully.
"Huh, well – it's just my mom said you were dead, and now you're not, and in films that means you're a zombie," Cassie says still trying to work it out.
"Or maybe like God did it with Jesus?" Cullen says tapping his sister's arm.
"Cullen, you're so smart, it's almost Christmas, so that makes sense," Cassie agrees.
"Oh, okay, how about this: I was given some medicine to make it look like I was dead, when I was not really dead? And since your grandpa Carlisle was not my doctor, no one noticed."
Cassie and Cullen seem to silently ponder over what my dad said, and then they shrug their shoulders.
"Yeah, that could be it, too, but kind of like the idea of you being a gift from God better. Can we call you Grandpa Charlie?" Cullen asks matter-of-factly.
My dad chuckles as he looks at us. Seeing my agreeing smile, he nods at the kids. "Yes, if that's okay with your dad," he says looking to Stark, who smiles, but gives the kids a nod to say they can.
The rest of the night goes by with my dad getting to know the family, some new, some reacquainted. Thankfully, they all seem to take to him very easily. We also plan to enjoy tonight—not only are we off code one—tomorrow the family will all be going home – to their own homes.
Beaker, Cinna, Yin and Yang and their families are all planning on coming back for Stark's and my wedding in a few weeks. The only one that seems sad is Sookie, and I know this is because Garrett is one of Stark's men, and she lives more than three hours from us.
We say our goodnights, when the kids get tired and head to our room to read them more of Charlotte's Web.
"Mom?" Cullen says with a yawn.
"Yeah?" I ask rubbing his head.
"There's only one thing I don't understand."
"Oh, what's that?"
"Why are your eyes brown now?"
Stark looks at me with a smile, since we've taken down the Volturi—and my whereabouts were known—I knew there was no need to use my contacts, much to the happiness of Stark.
"This brown is my real eye color. I was wearing green-colored contacts before."
"Oh," Cullen says, but gets cut off with a yawn.
"I liked your green eyes, but these are better," he says touching my face gently.
"You're so much like your father," I whisper as Cullen's eyes fall closed in his sleep.
A/N: Well Charlie is safe, the Volturi are taken down, Stark has gained a few men and the family is off of Code One. Coming up, we have some more family times and a little more time with Stark and family. Thanks for reading and reviewing.