A Family Reunion Interrupted

(Another short time jump here – remember / means time has passed.)

Aurora stared at the laptop screen hard, while she sat cross-legged on the floor of her den. The words in front of her etched into her brain: FIRED. Bruce had sent her dozens of emails in the weeks following her departure from Italy and they quite a few more choice words than the emails she was accustomed to. But it wasn't until after the Italian photo agency that had given Aurora the maternity leave contract, had called him in the middle of the night, a distraught editing assistant yelling at Bruce in broken English, peppering in Italian curses, claiming Aurora disappeared, Bruce had had enough. He terminated Aurora's contract. Aurora kept chewing her lower lip, trying to craft some sort of response, but even she knew that Bruce was well within his rights to fire her. She had done the one thing she knew was taboo between a photographer and her editor: stop communicating. Carlisle who had been leisurely looking over the local newspaper on the couch, looked down at Aurora.

"Would you like me to talk to him," he asked.

Aurora shook her head.

"It's no use. He's right. I acted completely unprofessionally," she said.

Carlisle peeked over Aurora's shoulder reading the email.

"Well considering the circumstances, I don't think you did," Carlisle countered.

Aurora groaned, setting the laptop aside, as she stretched her legs. Carlisle ruffled her hair playfully.

"Aurora," he said. "Have you ever thought of going out on your own?"

Aurora turned to look at him, smiling, shaking her head.

"It's harder than everyone thinks. You need to have extremely close network contacts to send your photospreads to and be able to negotiate prices in a way that entices prospective buyers to continue to come back to expand their collections. On top of that, sometimes you end up being pressured to shoot photospreads that are just so not your interest, but you only do it because a contact begged you to. You end up spending thousands of dollars on travel and editing and you only end up being paid for the end result. It's a nice thing to do on the side when an agency is standing behind you and paying all your expenses, only expecting you to focus on the work."

Carlisle chuckled, hearing how very business oriented she sounded.

"So?" he asked. "Don't you have plenty of contacts?"

Aurora shrugged her shoulders.

"And you have the talent Aurora," Carlisle continued. "I think you should consider it."

Aurora sighed, rubbing her tired eyes.

"I'm not even thinking about that right now," she said. "I'm more worried about this."

Aurora picked up her laptop, opening an email from her parents. Carlisle read over her shoulder, smirking.

Dearest Aurora,

Your papa and I were absolutely elated to hear about your new beau – your papa won't admit it, but he couldn't stop smiling. He even bought a new sweater vest for his grand introduction to your man!

We shortened our trip in St. Petersburg – believe me if I never eat beluga caviar again it will be too soon - and changed our tickets! We are Forks bound and we will see you in two weeks my darling! We'll send you the flight details later!

P.S. I bought a few little gifts for your beau's family (I hope they like the little souvenirs)

Aurora kept re-reading the email. She stared hard the first sentence.

"Oh Alice, that's the last time I am letting you see my email," Aurora sighed

It was Aurora's mistake to show Alice the email she had drafted to her parents and had meant to send it later. Alice decided to take matters into her own hands and ended up pressing 'send' when Aurora wasn't looking. Aurora rubbed her eyes again. The email she had meant to send omitted some details, thinking it best to call her parents and explain things better. Apparently, Alice did not share her view.

/

Aurora palms were clammy. She kept spinning her engagement ring on her wing while she fidgeted with her hair. The day had finally come. Aurora's parents were landing in Port Angeles early that morning and driving to Aurora's home in Forks. She had argued countless times with her parents that she would pick them up, but when her mother and father got something into their heads, no force on earth could convince them otherwise.

Dressed in the powder blue cashmere sweater Aurora's mother had bought her in New York and wearing the white gold hoop earrings her father had bought her on his trip to Dubai, Aurora stood at the large kitchen window, chewing at her nails, Aurora jumped each time someone came into the kitchen. For their part, the Cullens had planned everything to the finest, most miniscule detail – well Alice had. Aurora and her parents would have lunch at her home, cooking pot roast for them, allowing them to catch up. Carlisle would get out of work early, coming to meet them during dessert. He had already ordered a large bouquet of freesias for Aurora's mother and paired it with a small topaz pendant. He had already picked up the elegant white gold cufflinks that had caught his eye weeks ago for her father. After meeting Carlisle, Aurora's parents would take some time to unpack and freshen up, and in the evening they would all be invited to Carlisle's home for good wine and dessert. Rosalie had spent weeks teaching Aurora her famous pot roast recipe, endowing her with every little tip and trick she could, while Alice had perfected a dark chocolate cherry tart. Aurora groaned as her stomach knotted painfully.

"Are you that nervous to see your own parents?" Rosalie spoke up.

Aurora turned around to see Rosalie looking at her, her hands on her hips. Rosalie had offered to come to Aurora's house to help her prep lunch.

"Not nervous… Just… No, I am nervous," Aurora admitted

"Stop chewing your nails!" Rosalie cried out. "You won't have any cuticles left!"

Aurora jumped, quickly dropping her hands to her side, looking down in embarrassment. Rosalie walked over to her.

"You just have to remember one very important detail," Rosalie said, putting her hands on Aurora's shoulders.

Aurora nodded.

"Don't overcook the pot roast?" she asked hopefully.

Rosalie broke out into laughter, hugging Aurora.

"I'll see you tonight," she said.

She squeezed Aurora's hand one more time before leaving.

/

When Aurora's parents were late a little over 30 minutes, Aurora felt relief wash over her. She secretly hoped her parents had stopped at the Forks diner and were in a coffee and pastry coma. But when she called her mother's cell after her parents were over an hour late, and the voicemail automatically chimed in over the speaker, Aurora felt herself beginning to sweat profusely. She kept checking the time. Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours. By the time Aurora had called Carlisle at the hospital, she was sobbing into the phone. Carlisle had immediately left work and told Aurora he would drive down the main roads in and out Forks to look for them.

"It's possible they got a flat tire or hit an animal," he said to her over the phone, trying to come a frantic Aurora.

It was nearly 10 P.M. when Carlisle burst into Aurora's living room. Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Edward and Emmett were already there.

"There's no sign of them," Carlisle said slowly, his car keys still in his hands.

Aurora sat on the couch, hugging a pillow, her face streaked with tears as Alice was rubbing her back. Aurora felt another sob bubbling up. She threw her head into Alice's shoulder.

"Their flight wasn't cancelled," Emmett said in a low voice. "We checked. The plane landed in Port Angeles on time."

Edward turned to Aurora, then to Carlisle.

"Maybe we should report this to the police," he said. "Charlie can help."

Carlisle considered it for a moment. He looked to Alice; hopeful she would have foreseen something. Alice shook her head slowly, continue to try to calm Aurora. Carlisle walked over to a distraught Aurora, putting his strong hand on her shoulder.

"Aurora listen to me, I think Edward is right, we should go to the police," he said softly. "The faster we report this, the faster they can…help and look for them."

Aurora looked up, sniffling, stifling sobs.

"What if they just got lost?" she cried softly.

As Aurora spoke, she felt Alice's hand go rigid. Her whole body stiffened as her eyes went wide. Aurora gasped, leaning over to Alice.

"Alice? Alice? What is it?" Aurora whimpered.

Alice kept still, her face screwed up in confusion and pain. Carlisle moved towards Alice, as did the rest of the Cullens.

"Aurora's parents…" Alice choked out. "The… Vo…ltu…ri…"

Aurora's eyes went wide as she shook Alice.

"Alice, where are they? WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO THEM?" Aurora shrieked.

The glazed look lifted from Alice's eyes, as she stared into Aurora's eyes.

"The Volturi. They're here. They've taken your parents."