Chapter 56 – Destination

Carlisle:

Silence…stunned faces…

"What?" Bella asked.

"Leaving…when?" Jake asked.

"Soon," I answered.

"Why?" Rosalie asked.

"That nurse, Gladys. She is trying to get back at me for kicking her out of the Emergency Room. She harbored these bad feelings toward me since then. She has been going around saying to everyone how I don't seem to age. She has even taken a picture of me around when I first joined the staff at the hospital pointing out how I look the same," I explained.

"Does she know about us," Jasper asked.

"I'm not sure," I said.

"We can't take any chances. We have to kill her," Rosalie said.

"We're not killing anyone," I said to her.

"We can't just go and kill someone. We're not the Volturi," Edward said to Rosalie.

"I don't know, I'm with Rosalie on this one," Jake said.

"Jacob," I chided him.

"That's enough talk about that," Esme said.

"We are not killing her," I said again.

"But what if she knows about us," Rosalie asked.

"Even if she does, no one would believe her," I answered.

"What do you mean, leaving?" Bella asked.

"We are leaving. We can't cause anyone else to become suspicious. Thanks to Gladys, people are secretly talking behind my back. They have no idea I can hear them," I said.

"Where are we going," Seth asked.

"We are moving to Maine," I answered.

"Maine? What's in Maine," Seth asked.

"Cold weather," Jake answered.

"Lobsters," Alice said giggling.

"More cold weather," Jake said again.

"Are we all leaving," Leah asked.

"Yes, all of us are leaving," I said. I then walked over to Billy who was visibly upset. "Billy, I know this is your land and you are the Chief of the Tribe, but I think it would be in your best interest if you moved with us so I can monitor your health," I said to him.

"But…you would want me to come along," Billy asked.

"Billy, if you don't know by know how we all feel about you," I said to Billy.

"Of course you're coming with us," Rosalie said rushing over to Billy.

"I don't want to be a burden," Billy said.

"You're not, so stop saying that," Rosalie said to him

"I have to think about this," Billy said.

"Take your time, but not too long," I said to him.

"How soon are we leaving," Bella asked worried.

"In about 3 months," Esme said.

"That soon," Bella asked.

"Our house will be about finished then," Esme said.

"What house," Leah asked.

"That's where we went these past 3 days. We went to Maine and talked to a realtor and builder," Esme explained.

"You knew," Seth asked.

"Of course, your father told me what was going on that night he snapped at some of you and I suggested we go to Maine and get things started," Esme explained.

"Why did you pick Maine, Papa," Jasper asked.

"Because it has a lot of secluded areas and forests. We will be living in the woods like here. I've already been accepted on the staff of Portland, Maine's hospital," I explained.

"Wow, we're really leaving," Leah said softly.

"I know this will be difficult for those of you moving for the first time, but this is how this works," I said.

"We all have to go? You said you wouldn't force any of us," Leah asked.

"This time, since it will be the first time for a lot of you, I want all of us to move. In fact, for the first couple moves I want all of us to go," I said.

"That means everyone will go every time then," Jasper said.

"Maybe," I said.

"Who would want to stay," Rosalie asked.

"Well, there's our mom," Leah said.

"Charlie," Bella said.

"Are you kidding? The way you two feel about them and now you don't want to leave them," Rosalie asked incredulously.

"I can't believe I will have to leave Charlie. What will I tell him and how do we explain our leaving," Bella asked.

"He already knows a little since Sue explained a few things to him and we talked about letting them know where we move to in the future and that they would always have access to us, but they cannot tell anyone else," I said.

"How long will we be gone from here," Nathan asked.

"We will not return in Charlie's or everyone in Forks lifetime," I explained.

"Ohhhhh," Bella gasped out audibly. Her anguish showing on her face.

"What about our mom," Seth asked.

"It will be the same as for Charlie," I explained.

"Dad, what does this mean for the Pack," Jake asked me.

"Once we leave, the Pack will no longer phase into wolves," I said.

"That's not going to go over well," Jake said concerned.

"Are you going to tell them," Leah asked.

"Of course, we will have to inform Sam and the Elders," I said.

"Dad, can't the Pack come with us," Seth asked.

"They could, but this is their land and their families are here," I told them.

"The Pack loves phasing into wolves. This will suck for them," Jake said frowning.

"Do we have to leave," Nathan asked.

"Yes, once doubt is cast, it is best to leave and be forgotten rather than stay and try to explain or avoid the problem," I answered.

"Man, I hate to leave this place…it's my favorite of all our homes," Emmett said.

"Yes, I love it here because this is where we joined the family," Alice said fondly.

"There's another thing you need to know and be prepared for. When we move to Maine, you will all be going back to school and starting over like when we came back here," I told them.

"Oh no…oh crap…," Edward and Emmett said.

"I just graduated," Bella said.

"Oh boy, this will be Bella's first time going back to school. This should be good," Emmett laughed.

"Speak for yourself," Bella said to him.

"I always speak for myself," Emmett said.

"Yep, you definitely need to go back to school," Jake said to him.

"Will we go to a Reservation school again," Seth asked.

"No, we can put you in a mainstream school," I said.

"So we will all be together?" Seth wondered.

"Yeah, if it's a small enough town, we might be the biggest population in the school," Jasper chuckled.

Cullen siblings later that evening:

"Man, this sucks," Jake said.

"I don't know how I feel about it," Leah mused.

"Anyway we can change Dad's mind," Seth asked.

"Once Pops makes the decision, we're moving, no if, ands or buts about it. It's his call," Emmett said.

"Jake, what's Uncle Billy going to do?" Seth asked him.

"He's going with us, of course," Rosalie spoke up.

"He hasn't made his mind up yet," Jake said.

"Well, he has to go…that's all there is to it," Rosalie said.

"It's his choice stink weed. Don't pressure him," Jake said to Rosalie.

"Wolf bro's right Babe, don't interfere with Uncle B's decision," Emmett told her.

"Well, I'm ready to go," Nathan said.

"Why are you so anxious," Alice asked.

"Nothing but bad memories here," Nathan said.

"You have a point Nate," Leah said.

"Huh, then we should leave Rosalie and Leah here," Jake joked laughing.

"Shut up, you deranged jackal," Rosalie said to Jake.

"Lick my ear," Jake said to Rosalie holding his ear out.

"Get out of here…go lick your wolf butt," Rosalie said.

"Stop being so gross," Alice said.

"This is going to be hard for me," Bella mused.

"The first time is always the hardest," Edward said putting his arm around her.

"The more I think about it, the more I want to move from here and get away from all this drama," Leah said.

"Yeah, who created the drama," Bella said glaring at her.

"Like you didn't," Leah came back.

"All right, everyone calm down. We don't want Dad coming in here and going all parent on us," Jake said.

"Jake's right for once," Rosalie said.

"I wish we could see the new place," Seth said.

"Would you like that," Dad said as he and Mom stood in the doorway.

"You mean we could go there," Edward asked.

"We could take a week and go there and look around and get acquainted with the surroundings," Dad said.

"Yeah, let's do that," Jake said.

"I'd love to check the joint out," Emmett said.

"We're not going to a night club, doofus," Jasper said to Em.

"Jasper, no need to be insulting," I said to him.

"Sorry Papa," Jasper said.

"I'm not the one you should be saying that to," I reminded him.

"Oh okay, sorry for calling you a doofus," Jasper said to Emmett.

"Okay southern bro," Emmett replied.

"That's better, Jasper. Now would you make the arrangements for all of us to fly to Maine?" I asked Jasper.

"Of course Papa, I'll get right on it," Jasper said heading to his computer.

Later that afternoon:

Jasper:

I just finished making the arrangements to fly to Maine. It's not easy to make arrangements to fly to Maine from Washington State. We have to make a stop in upstate New York, then take a smaller plane into Portland, Maine. I hope everything works out…

"Did you make arrangements," Dad asked me.

"Yes," I replied.

"When do we leave," Jake asked.

"Tomorrow, we are staying a week from Saturday to Saturday and I booked a suite in a Portland hotel for us. The only problem is we have a connecting flight and we have to downsize to a smaller plane. It's only for about an hour to an hour and a half though," I explained.

"That will be fine Jasper. Thank you," Dad said.

"Everyone start packing," Seth said running up to his room followed by Nathan and Jake.

"In a hurry," I asked as they scurried up the stairs.

"Yes, we get to go somewhere on a plane," Seth said with excitement.

"I'll help everyone bring the right wardrobe," Alice called out.

"NO!" everyone said in unison.

"Well," Alice said feeling insulted.

"You can help me pack, Ali girl," Uncle Billy said to my helper bee.

"I'd be honored to," Alice said lifting him from his chair and flashing upstairs with him.

"Whew, Uncle Billy saved us on that one," Emmett said.

"I heard that. Don't blame me if you all look like a bunch of rag pickers," Alice said back.

"Everyone settle down and get packed," Esme said.

"Yes, we leave bright and early tomorrow morning," I notified the family.

"How early," Jake called out.

"We have to be at the airport by 6 a.m.," I told them.

"What? My alarm isn't up that early. What kind of arrangements did you make," Jake said disgusted.

"Hush up, it's not too early. Besides, you probably won't sleep tonight anyway you will all be so excited," Dad said to the wolfies.

"Easy for you to say, you guys don't sleep," Jake came back.

"You can sleep in the van on the way to the airport," Momma said.

"Oh yeah, that will work. The wolf in me needs my beauty sleep," Jake said.

"In that case, you should never wake up from sleep, fur ball," Rosalie taunted.

"Aww, kiss my tail, tumbleweed," Jake said.

"I can see how this is going to go," Dad said to Mom…

To be continued…

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