Chapter 31

When winter hit Mystic Fall's, Bella was happily reminded that she was no longer in Forks. No need to have a thick jacket on top of 4 different other layers of clothing. No need to put chains on the tires of her car, no need to be extra careful as she drove from one spot to the other. No slippery sidewalks. No risk of a snowball freshly thrown in an impromptu fight between kids hitting her.

No, winter in Mystic Fall's was much kinder.

She could wear only a simple jacket over her long sleeved shirt and be perfectly fine with it, and this was on a cold day. Scarves weren't as necessary as they used to be in Forks and there was absolutely no real snow. She was particularly happy with the fact that Mystic Fall's hadn't seen any real snow in decades. She hoped it would last a few more years.

Carlisle had come back, leaving Esme behind with the others to make sure Edward was really ready to know the truth. They were planning on coming over after Christmas. In the mean time, Rosalie and Emmett had come over for a short visit, bringing Alice and Jasper with them. Bella had taken the time to speak with them, to sort through the issues she had with them and they were now on good terms, even though Alice would probably never again step up to be her best friend. They had left again to pack everything up, leaving only Carlisle in town.

Even though Bella had spoken with Alice and Jasper together, she had also had a very long conversation with only Alice. They had talked about the past, why Alice didn't say goodbye, what she had seen, what she knew of the future, and then the conversation had naturally flowed and moved to the present, Bella's happiness, her love, her babies, her friends, and all the possibilities that Mystic Fall's offered them all.

Carlisle would stay until Bella's check-up, before the holidays, then he'd go home and come back at the beginning of January, with his entire family and ready to buy a house in town.

In her 6th month of pregnancy, Bella was positively glowing and things were going so well with Klaus that she felt like everything was right in her world. Ever since they had dealt with Esther, everyone was happy and seemed to have temporarily forgotten that there was still someone planning to come after the babies. Winter and the coming holidays were welcome distractions and Bella was sure that after that, they'd all go back to worrying about Dahlia.

"Well, everything seems to be perfectly fine Bella. Your babies are healthy and growing exactly as they should." Carlisle informed Bella as he printed a few copies of the sonogram he had just done, knowing several people wanted a copy, including Bella's father.

Bella's contacts with her mother ever since she had learned of her daughter's pregnancy were rare. The woman refused to know anything of the babies, childishly thinking that if she didn't see them or hear anything about them, then they didn't exist. Bella still sent her mother printed copies of the sonograms, but she was pretty sure that her mother didn't keep them and just threw them away.

Bella was still lying down on the exam table and she had Klaus by her side. He was holding her hand and they were both smiling happily.

"I could tell they were fine by the way they move around in there." She nodded.

"Yes, I think their father's blood is ensuring their well being." Carlisle confirmed.

The good doctor was just done printing the last copy of the sonogram when is cell phone rang.

"What is it Alice?" Carlisle asked as soon as he answered the phone.

"Carlisle, it's urgent, you need to put me on speaker so Bella can hear this." She replied and so Carlisle did as he was told, knowing that Alice must have a good reason for this.

"What is it ?" Bella asked, knowing that it must be important if Alice called when she had just left town.

Bella quickly prayed silently that it didn't have anything to do with Dahlia. They did deserve a break for the Christmas holidays, didn't they?

"Bella? First of all, I could see the sonogram, your babies as so adorable already. But that's not why I called. Edward managed to find out where you were. He couldn't read your father's mind because of the protection you placed on him but he read Billy Black's mind and now he's on his way. I'm not sure what he plans on doing, maybe just check on you, make sure you're really happy, but I can't be sure because he knows how to hide himself from me." Alice explained very quickly.

"Do you know when he'll be here?" Bella asked in a tight voice, trying to control her anger while Klaus started to growl and placed a protective hand over her belly.

"Not really… He's hiding from my visions but I can tell that you won't be alone, the others won't be far." Alice replied.

"Thank you Alice. I appreciate your warning." Bella told her sincerely.

"You're welcome but you should be careful Bella, I'll warn you whenever I can but people will keep on coming after your babies. Though I saw that once this Dahlia is taken care of, the attacks will be fewer and easily stopped. If you stop the old witch, your babies and your loved ones will all be fine." Alice warned her.

"Thank you, Alice. Maybe we should just change our plans and you should all come over sooner." Bella suggested sincerely.

"Sure, we'll be more than happy to ! I'll call back if I see anything else but I can tell you that you'll receive an unexpected ally in your fight against Dahlia, though I can't see who it is. Whoever it is will solve another small problem for you though." Alice added before she hung up.

Klaus wondered who this unexpected ally would be but he didn't have time to worry about that right now so he shook his head and concentrated on his girlfriend.

"Carlisle, do you have a picture of Edward with you?" Bella asked them before Klaus could say anything else.

"I think Esme does, back in the guest house, why ?" Carlisle asked her.

"I want to spread his picture around town, to our friends and to the council. This way, we'll know when he arrives." Bella informed them.

"Good idea." Klaus nodded.

"Yes, even if they can't stop him, they can warn us and help us locate him." Bella added.

"I'll go and get it." Carlisle replied before whooshing away.

The nice doctor came back in less than a few seconds and Klaus left with it almost immediately, though he gave Bella the time to look at the picture before he left.

"Why did you take this particular picture?" Bella asked Carlisle once Klaus left with it.

Indeed, the picture he had handed them had been taken on Bella's fateful 18th birthday party and she recognized it as one of the pictures he had taken out of her album before he left.

"It's the only picture we have of him in this area." Carlisle shrugged his shoulders.

"Great." Bella rolled her eyes before going to the kitchen to get some orange juice before asking Elijah, who had been reading in the living room, to drive her back to work for her afternoon sessions.

Before the day was over, Edward's picture was given to Liz, her deputies, the Salvatore's, the Gilbert's, every member of the Founder's Council and all of the Mickealson's.

.

"Do you want me to hang around until Rebekah comes back from school?" Elijah asked Bella once they arrived at her place.

"You worry too much Elijah, I think I'll be fine. I have a hybrid secretary and there are still two more hybrids patrolling around the street all day and all night, plus another one who scheduled a session this afternoon. You can go do what you need to do, I'll be fine. Edward won't be able to come through the front door without me inviting him first anyway." She smiled.

"I'll see you later then." He nodded.

"Of course." She agreed.

Bella walked inside and smiled when she noticed that Elijah waited for her to be in the safety of her office before leaving. He was just that sweet, a great friend.

"Bonnie Bennett is waiting for you inside. I figured it was okay to let her in your office." Her hybrid secretary informed her.

Even though they hadn't really bonded enough to become good friends, Bella got along well with her new secretary and the hybrid knew her well enough by now to know who she could just let in and who had to wait in the waiting room.

"Of course. Thank you." Bella nodded with a smile.

"Bella, I'm sorry to barge in but I had an idea and I wanted to see if you agreed before I did it." Bonnie told her as soon as she walked inside.

"Don't you have school?" Bella asked her.

"I do, but it's still lunch break." Bonnie replied.

"Okay, so what is it?"

"I can make a spell so that Edward's sun ring doesn't work if he comes too close to you, like 2 miles." She explained.

"You've heard about that already?" Bella asked her, surprised.

"Rebekah gave us a copy and explained everything. I think Klaus informed her." Bonnie replied.

"Oh, okay. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Klaus probably went by the school before he went to the sheriff." Bella nodded.

"So, do you want me to do it?"

"If you can and if it's not too much I'd love that, yes, at least until I've had the chance to talk to him. Thank you." Bella agreed.

"Of course he won't burn, but at last he won't be able to be out in the open without being spotted. I mean, people tend to notice a sparkling man." The young witch declared.

"True. What do you need to do it?"

"Oh, I have everything, I'll just need to be with Carlisle when I do it. I need to connect to his ring by using one of theirs." Bonnie told her.

"Good. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I have to go back now or I'll be late for Alaric's class and he's not as cool as he used to be about us being late now that he's a vampire. I'll text you when it's done." Bonnie told her enthusiastically before she ran out of the office, leaving Bella alone for a couple of minutes before she welcomed her next patient in.

.

"So, how was the rest of your day?" Klaus asked Bella that evening as they ate the dinner he had cooked for her.

"Better than I think tomorrow will be."

"Why? What's tomorrow?" he asked her confused.

"Tomorrow I have the first complete Gilbert family therapy session. Jenna, Jeremy, Elena, John and Alaric. It's going to be very emotional. We need to speak about John killing Anna, about Isobel, about Jeremy's parents, about Jenna and John's past and short lived relationship..." Bella explained.

"You want to cancel?"

"Of course not, I couldn't do that. I just hope that John will be on his best behavior. He's the one who can bring everyone else from anger to tears in the span of two seconds, but he's been trying really hard to evolve lately, so I have hope." Bella chuckled.

"Yes, he seems to have that talent." Klaus nodded with a chuckle.

"Elena came by after school, she wanted to check on me." Bella informed him, moving the subject away from John Gilbert and his many problems.

"She seems to come often…" He noticed.

"At first I did my best to help her make peace with her biological mother, Isobel and I used her presence to lessen the pain I felt after Isobel's death… I guess she kind of sees me like her last connection to Isobel, a friend." Bella tried to explain to him.

"It's more than that, I think Elena sees you like a big sister, or an aunt, and you see her like a little sister, or a niece."

"As usual, I'm an open book to you." Bella smiled.

"So, tomorrow, there's the party in town to celebrate the holidays. You're going, right?" He asked her.

"Yes, of course, you're auctioning one of your paintings and I promised you I'd come. You know I don't go back on my word, just like you. And tell you what, if nobody bets on it, I will, though I'm sure it will be a success, you're very talented." Bella replied with a smile.

"We're going together, then?" he asked her.

"Of course, we can always meet up with the rest of our friends and family later."

"Do you have anything else planned, someone to see?" he asked her.

"Well, after the auction, Matt wants to see me. I said I'd help him chose a college for next year but we might do this later, another day, he just needs to be reassured that he's not alone in this. I also promised I'd eat lunch with Jenna and Elena. Rebekah and Sage will probably be here too. You're more than welcome to join us." Bella explained.

"I love you." Klaus replied simply, making Bella blush when he took her in his arms.

« I love you too. » She replied, loving that he was able to say those words to her now.

.

Elena was in her bedroom when someone knocked on her door.

"What is it Aunt Jenna?"

She guessed it was her Aunt, Jeremy was out with Tyler and Matt and Alaric wasn't staying with them tonight.

"It's me Elena." John told her after he opened the door of her bedroom and stood in the doorway.

"John… What's going on?" she asked him, putting her pen down and closing her diary.

Recently, thanks to her sessions with Bella, she had stopped calling him "Uncle John". She couldn't call him "dad" yet but she was trying and her father appreciated that. They were both making an effort.

"Are you busy? What are you doing?" He asked her.

"Oh, I'm writing my diary to Isobel." She replied.

"Isobel?" He asked her, confused.

"When I first saw Bella, she said it would help me make peace with her if I wrote a letter to Isobel but a letter wasn't enough so I write a diary… Things I'd like to talk with her about, how my day or my life could have gone under different circumstances… Anything that crosses my mind really." She explained.

"That's nice, I'm sure she's thankful from the other side." He replied.

"Bella says that she believes Isobel is by my side when I write it, reading over my shoulder… I always imagine her there." She told him, pointing to a spot behind her.

"You're quite close to Bella." John realized.

"Yes, she's nice… I kind of think of her like family, another aunt."

"I think she would have been if Isobel had kept you." John nodded.

"So, why did you come here? I thought you had gone back to your apartment after dinner." She asked him.

"I had to discuss some things with Jenna about your brother and buying him a car for his next birthday. I wanted to say goodbye before I left and ask you if, maybe, you'd like to spend tomorrow with me." He asked her.

"The winter holiday festival?"

"Yes, I know it's last minute and you might have plans with your friends already but I'd really like to spend a day with you, try to bond." John explained.

"I think I'd like that. I had plans to get lunch with Bella and everyone else but I can cancel, or you can join us. I'd love to spend time with you." Elena replied honestly, showing just how much things had change.

"Good. I'll pick you up around 10 then. Give you time to sleep in a bit and to get ready." John told her before he wished her goodnight and left her room.

Elena knew that John was trying to be a better man and to show her that he could be a good father to her and spending tomorrow with her was part of it. She could guess that Bella had suggested this to him but she didn't mind. She liked this new John. She liked that he was involving himself in her and Jeremy's life and that he was trying to get along with Alaric and Jenna.

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Lorelei Candice Black