Beginning Note From Raith: I would like to start this by saying that quick updates for this story are not guaranteed, but that I do plan on continuing this story. I have other stories to work on as well, and I'll write on this story when I have inspiration and if people want it updated. One important thing to know, before reading, is that this story ignores canon. If it was canon, there's a good chance that it's been changed. I started writing this story back when quarantine and lockdown first happened. The basic question I had was: What if the vampires were a little more traditional and there were other supernatural beings lurking about? Thus, this story was created. It has been fully planned out, I just have to write it now. I hope you enjoy the story!
Part I – Viridian
Chapter I – Forte
by chance; as luck would have it
Date – 20 December 2004
Perspective – Toni Swan
"I am going to ask you something, and I need you to be honest with me," came through the speaker. Toni paused mid-stir, the spaghetti could sit for a moment, and reached up to actually hold the house phone instead of cradling it between her shoulder and ear. She could feel her brows pulling down as she registered the overly serious tone, and her foot started unconsciously tapping against the floor.
"First off, I take offense at you even having to say that. I am always honest, it is both a virtue and a curse, and you know about this character trait because you make fun of me for it. Secondly, you can't just say something like that in that tone of voice without giving me palpitations. I mean, Bella, come on," Toni rambled out as she started to absently stir the pot sitting on the stove.
"I'm thinking of moving to Forks," Bella blurted out. At hearing that, Toni dropped her spoon onto the counter and audibly spluttered before getting herself under control. Her first reaction was joy, because she missed her baby sister. Bella hadn't visited at all in a few years, and it'd been two years since Toni had flown out to Arizona to see her sister and mother. The joy quickly changed into confusion though, and she hummed quietly as she thought. For once, she wanted to actually think before speaking.
"I'd love to live under one roof again, Dad'll be over the moon too, but why? You hate Forks," Toni pointed out.
"It's Mom," Bella sighed and then explained properly. Their mother had recently remarried, Toni hadn't been able to make it to the wedding but the new husband seemed like a good guy, and Phil traveled a lot. Bella could tell that their mom missed her husband but wouldn't drag Bella around the country, and Bella thought the most rational solution was to move to Forks.
"If it's what you want to do, then I think you should," Toni said after a tense silent moment. She knew that Bella didn't want to move for her own happiness; her little sister was selfless, almost to a fault, and she would move just to make their mother happy. It was ultimately Bella's decision though, and she couldn't deny that she would love to see her sister more often. Bella had been one when their mother left; left Forks, left their dad, and left Toni behind. She had grown up only seeing Bella during summers and occasional holidays.
"You really think Charlie will be okay with it?" Bella asked. She sounded nervous, and Toni imagined that she'd bitten her lips raw while agonizing over this.
"Dad loves you, Bella. He'll be thrilled. He might not really show it, but he'll feel it. For sure," Toni assured and moved the spaghetti pot to a different burner.
"Okay. I'll talk to Mom first. You know how she can be," Bella said quietly. Their mother could be a little dramatic at times, but Toni didn't think that she would refuse Bella's idea. She might need a little time to warm up to it though.
"Yeah, I know. I won't tell Dad. It'll mean more if it comes from you," Toni decided. She knew her parents didn't have favorites, despite them each raising a different child, but she also knew that her dad missed Bella. He had to deal with her as a teenager, and now it looked like he might get to parent another teenage girl. She could already hear his quiet sighs as he tried to understand how a teenage girl's mind worked. This was going to be fun.
"Thanks, for, um, listening to me."
"That's what big sisters are for. Now, hang up and go sit Mom down for a talk," Toni laughed quietly. She could smell the garlic bread in the oven and knew it was almost ready, and her dad would be home any minute. She wanted to get the spaghetti dished up before then, and she knew that her sister needed to have the big talk with their mother as soon as possible.
"Love you, Toni."
"I love you too, Bells."
Date – 15 January 2005
Perspective – Carlisle Cullen
"Me getting hurt isn't a bad omen, Bells. Me getting hurt means that I got out of bed today. You know I'm a klutz," he overheard a young woman saying. Carlisle had recognized the name when the young woman was admitted into the ER, and he had decided to take over the care of the chief of police's daughter even though her injury was minor. There weren't any current critical patients, and he usually enjoyed conversing with the young woman. She was in a curtained-off section, but he was still able to hear her clearly as he walked closer. When he parted the curtain and stepped into her line of sight, she smiled sheepishly and tightened her grip on the cell phone pressed to her ear. "Gotta go, the doc's here. See you in a couple of days and please stop stressing yourself out."
"Miss Swan," he greeted once she had lowered the phone.
"Please, call me Toni. You and I have done this enough times to be on a first name basis, and I'm sorry about being on the phone. Won't happen again," the young woman quickly said. She kept her chin tipped up so that her eyes stayed locked with his, and her smile remained pleasant even though he could smell the blood that was still dripping from her arm.
"Nothing to apologize for, Toni. May I take a look?" Carlisle asked as he stepped closer. She was sitting on the very end of the hospital bed, with gauze pressed down over to the top of her left forearm, and a slight blush rose into her cheeks as she slowly nodded. He was careful as he peeled the gauze off, and he looked the deep cut over as he stretched to dispose of the bloodied gauze. The cut itself was horizontal, about midway down her forearm, and it wasn't long but was very deep. "How did this happen?"
"It's kind of embarrassing," she said quietly. Almost as if she was afraid of being overheard, but her eyes didn't look away from his like most people tended to do when they were embarrassed over something.
"I can assure you that I will not laugh and that I will keep your secret, as always," he replied in the same quiet tone. That caused the young woman to smile, and it made her look younger than her twenty years.
"I was checking the oil in my jeep, and I thought the hood was secure. I didn't move my arm in time, and the edge of the hood caught me," she told him and then shrugged with just her right shoulder. The cut itself had to be painful and would require stitches, but it barely seemed to bother her. "So tell me, Doc, am I gonna make it?"
"Sadly, yes," he teased and smiled before turning away. He heard her laughing quietly as he placed the supplies he would need onto a tray, and he thought about the young woman as he gathered what he would need.
Antonia Swan, Toni, was a somewhat frequent visitor to the emergency room. With most frequent cases, he would worry about abuse. Thankfully, Toni wasn't being abused by a partner or by her father. The young woman was, simply put, prone to accidents. He had treated her for a variety of different injuries, all resulting from accidents that she always appeared to be embarrassed about, but she had luckily never been seriously injured. Minor cuts, a couple of burns, some sprains, and she had broken a couple of ribs the previous summer after slipping in the shower. The ribs had been the worst injuries he had treated; he certainly never looked forward to seeing the young woman in the emergency room, but she was a favorite patient of his. She was kind and open, and she never tried to pry into his private life like most smalltown citizens.
"I'm thinking about getting one of those plastic isolation bubbles. That should stop me from getting so banged up, don't you think?" she asked as he wheeled the tray over. He knew most doctors would probably get a stool to sit on while tending to her, but he chose to remain standing as she held out her left arm and waited.
"I believe it would, but then you wouldn't be able to interact with the world," he said as he started to clean the cut. The wound itself appeared to be clean, no evidence of anything foreign, but he would still need to clean it thoroughly before applying stitches.
"You make a good point, Doc," she hummed quietly. She stayed silent as the cut was cleaned, and he was aware of her eyes watching his hands as he worked. She didn't wince or hiss in pain, not even when the cut began to bleed more after being thoroughly washed out. Not for the first time, he noticed the slight oddities of the young woman. She seemed to have an incredibly high pain tolerance, and he sometimes thought that she seemed detached even while remaining pleasant and friendly.
"How were the holidays in the Swan home?" he decided to ask. He had numbed the area and was preparing to start her stitches, and he wanted to distract her from the process.
"I saved up for months and got my dad a new TV, one of those flatscreens, and he seemed pretty happy about it," she said and smiled when he glanced up at her. Carlisle had met Chief Swan and had liked the no-nonsense man, and he could see traces of the chief in his daughter. The same hair and quiet voices, but that was just on the surface. They were both calm and straightforward people, inherently good, and that was something that Carlisle respected.
"What did you receive?" he asked as he carefully started another stitch.
"My parents got me the new little phone," she said and looked down. The cell phone she had been talking on was sitting on the bed next to her thigh, and her foot twitched in the air for a moment as she hummed. "My sister got me some fabric and yarn, because I've been learning how to knit."
"My wife enjoys knitting," he shared. Esme enjoyed knitting but preferred embroidery, and he let himself smile as he thought about how graceful her hands looked whenever she was working on a new project. Carlisle enjoyed watching Esme with her projects, because seeing his closest friend at peace brought him a simple kind of joy that he treasured.
"Yeah? I'm still new to it, but it's relaxing. I've even stopped pricking myself, mostly." She laughed quietly at that, and he made a note of the small Band-Aids wrapped around most of her fingers.
"You should be more careful, Miss Swan. You're hurt far too often." The words slipped out of him as he finished the last stitch, and he looked up to realize that she had been waiting to meet his eyes as she smiled up at him.
"I know I'm a klutz, but I really am okay. You don't have to worry about me, Doc," she said quietly. Last year, she had visited the emergency room eight separate times. Those were just the injuries that needed special attention, and he knew that she accumulated smaller injuries. Like the Band-Aids wrapped around her fingers and the other smaller scars that he could see against her skin.
"I worry for all of my patients," he said several moments later. He had gently cleaned away the blood staining her skin before wrapping the stitched cut, and he could hear her humming now as he walked over to a counter and made a few notes in her chart. "Wait here and I'll return with something for the pain."
"No need, Doc. My shift starts in about twenty minutes, so I need to stay clear-headed. Besides, it doesn't really hurt. Kinda itches, but I can live with that," she said and twisted to look over at him.
"If you're sure," he relented. She rarely accepted pain medication, and he wondered again at her pain tolerance.
"I am. Now, how about I sign some discharge papers and let you get back to work?" she asked and then smiled.
"That can be arranged, Miss Swan," he said while returning the smile.
Carlisle left the curtained-off area and walked over to the nurse's station, where one of the nurses immediately asked after Toni Swan. It seemed as if the young woman had all of the nurses charmed, because they all listened intently as he assured Nurse Reynolds that the young woman was perfectly fine and even ready to be released. Nurse Reynolds started to prepare the discharge papers, and he stayed at the station to finish his notes in Miss Swan's chart. He had just finished when Nurse Reynolds handed over the papers for Miss Swan to sign and was preparing to walk away when Nurse Kohl called his name, and he turned to look at the older nurse as she walked towards him. She glanced down at a piece of paper in her hand as she stopped in front of him, and there was a slight flush in her cheeks as she looked up at him.
"Your son is waiting for you outside. He said he brought some notes that you forgot?" The woman sounded a little confused as she folded the paper and stuffed it into a pocket, and he remembered calling Jasper and asking for the notes that he'd left in his home office.
"Ah, yes, thank you," he said and smiled before turning away. He hadn't expected Jasper to walk into the hospital, not when the possibility of running into a bleeding patient was so high, but he was glad that Jasper had decided to come and hadn't asked someone else to come in his stead. Jasper was still so new to their way of life, and he rarely interacted with humans outside of school. He needed to get out more, to acclimate himself and become more comfortable around humans, and this was a small step.
"Doc! I thought you had forgotten about me," Toni said as he walked past the curtain again.
"Apologies, Miss Swan," he said and passed over the discharge papers. She took his offered pen with a smile and quickly signed, and he added the papers to her chart and then watched as she slipped off the edge of the bed.
"You're fully forgiven, Doc. Thanks for patching me up." She thanked him as they walked out of the curtained area, and he passed her chart to Nurse Reynolds as the bubbly nurse told the young woman to take better care of herself. Miss Swan laughed good-naturedly while promising to do her best, and she raised a brow at him in surprise as she realized that he was walking next to her and out of the emergency room. She was still smiling as she asked him, "New walk-out policy?"
"My son brought some of my notes that I left at home," he explained. They were walking through the waiting room now, and Toni tilted her head up to maintain eye contact. He was able to see her eyes widen, first in confusion before realization set in, and she slowly nodded.
"Right, right, I almost forgot. Your kids are in high school, right?" She had never asked about his family during any of her visits, he assumed because she respected his privacy, and he realized that he didn't mind answering her. Questions usually made him nervous, a little on edge, but he didn't feel any of the usual unease as they walked out into the cold air.
"They are," he answered. He looked out into the parking lot but didn't see Jasper, and he heard a quiet squeal from next to him. When he looked back to the right, where Toni had been walking, he felt his expression shift in surprise at the scene.
Several realizations occurred to him at the same time. The first was that Jasper must have been waiting outside of the entrance for him, instead of in the parking lot and farther away from the hospital, which meant that he was trying to get closer to humans. The second was that Toni must have slipped against an icy patch over the pavement, and that explained the startled sound he'd heard while looking in the opposite direction. The last realization was that Jasper must have reacted without thinking, because the younger vampire had caught her before she could hit the ground and was still tightly gripping her arms to hold her upright. The two of them appeared to be in shock, staring at each other while Toni was still held off-balance.
"Well, this is embarrassing," Toni muttered. Her words seemed to catch Jasper's attention, and he slowly straightened as he pulled her upright and then quickly released her. "Thanks for saving me from taking another trip inside."
"You're welcome," Jasper said quietly and slowly. He seemed to be handling himself well, despite his usual difficulty with being close to humans. He had his bloodlust mostly under control, but he still struggled with feeling others' emotions.
"Your son's a total hero," Toni said as she turned to smile at him. He could see Jasper's eyes widening now that the young woman was no longer focusing on him, but he still appeared calm and even a little curious.
"It's lucky that he was here. Jasper, this is one of my favorite patients and Chief Swan's daughter," he started to introduce.
"Toni, please," she said and extended a hand towards Jasper. Carlisle waited to see how Jasper would react, and he saw the younger's jaw set into a hard line before he slowly reached out. Their hands clasped as Toni smiled up at him and said, "Thanks, again, and holy wow, your hands are freezing. How long have you been waiting out here? Sorry for holding up the doc."
"There's no need to apologize, Miss Swan," he said as Jasper stuffed his hand into his pants pocket. Toni nodded slowly and then looked over her shoulder, he assumed towards her vehicle since she hadn't arrived by ambulance, and he thought of all the frozen rain across the parking lot.
"Jasper, why don't you escort Miss Swan to her vehicle?" Carlisle asked. Toni's eyes widened and her mouth parted like she was about to protest, and Jasper looked at him like he was trying to figure out his reasons for asking.
"What? No, I'm sure he has other things to get to," Toni quickly said. Carlisle raised a brow at Jasper, and he was only a little surprised when Jasper turned and made himself smile at the young woman.
"It's no problem, Miss Swan," Jasper told her. Toni's eyes narrowed as she looked up at Jasper, clearly thinking it through judging by her tight expression, and then her shoulders lost tension and dropped.
"You can walk me to the jeep if you promise to never call me that again. Got it, kid?" Toni asked and then cracked a genuine smile. Carlisle covered his laugh with a cough; to Toni, Jasper was a teenager in high school while she was twenty.
"Yes, ma'am," Jasper instantly replied. Carlisle accepted the leather shoulder bag that he'd left in his office from Jasper and then quickly said his goodbyes before going back inside the hospital.
Perspective – Jasper Hale
The small human looked up at him and smiled with a bit of color in her cheeks, but he could barely feel her slight embarrassment. He could barely feel anything coming from her; it was as if she was muted, detached from her own emotions, despite her expressive face and eyes. After holding eye contact for a drawn out moment, she huffed out a laugh and then reached up to rub at the back of her neck. He noticed for the first time that both of her sweater sleeves were pushed up to below her elbows, and he could smell faint blood and antiseptic coming from under the gauze on her left arm. She was clearly injured but not impaired, especially if she was going to be driving herself away from the hospital, but Jasper didn't retract his agreement. Sometimes he thought that his family was testing him, judging his reactions to others, and he could walk a single human to her vehicle without incident.
"It's good that you're polite, even though calling me ma'am is a bit much, but you don't have to actually walk me to the jeep. I am an adult and capable of walking across a parking lot," she said quickly. He watched as her expression shifted through emotions, from smiling kindness to bewildered amusement before settling on open frustration, and he raised a brow as she stared up at him. He'd caught her as she slipped walking out of the hospital, and she clearly caught his meaning because her light blue eyes narrowed in a glare that was canceled out by a wide smile. "Okay, so maybe you caught me on an off-day, but I'm serious. I can walk on my own, so you're free to return to your Saturday."
As soon as she finished speaking, she turned on her heel and started walking away. He considered walking in the other direction, towards the vehicle that he had driven instead of running, but he watched her for a moment. She took a few confident steps and then slid across a patch of ice, and he took two strides forward and locked his dominant left hand around her right forearm. He felt her leaning against his side for a moment as she breathed and steadied herself, and more blood had risen to darken her cheeks when she looked up at him and smiled again. She looked like she was going to thank him again so he quickly cut in and said, "For my peace of mind, may I walk you to your car?"
"Yeah, okay," she sighed and straightened up. He thought about stepping away, but touching her wasn't painful. Sometimes it pained him whenever someone brushed against him, if their current emotions were too strong, but she was so muted that he barely felt anything from her. So instead of stepping away, he held his arm out in a way that he never imagined himself doing for a human. After looking at him curiously for a moment, she shook her head in amusement and then laced her arm through his.
"Alice is never going to believe this," he thought as they started walking. Alice was his best friend and had made it her mission to make his life better, which she had already done but kept insisting that she wasn't done yet, and he knew that she would be happy to hear about how he had escorted a human to her car. An injured human with a recent cut, judging by the smell, and yet he didn't feel an increase in bloodlust.
"So, you wouldn't happen to be a junior at Forks High, would you?" she asked him. He looked to the side and down, realized that the top of her head barely even reached his shoulder, and then met her eyes.
"I am," he said slowly. He couldn't tell exactly how old she was, but he knew she wasn't a student at the school. She couldn't be older than early twenties though.
"My sister is moving to Forks." He hummed, a quiet questioning noise that she could easily ignore, and she tightened her hold on his arm as they walked across another icy patch. "Our parents divorced when we were kids. I stayed with our dad, she went with our mom, but our mom is going to be moving around so my sister is moving here. She's going to be a junior at Forks too, hence the invasive question."
"I'm sure she will be very welcome," he settled on. He didn't interact with the other students much. Most of his time was spent with Alice, who had perfected the ability of keeping him calm, but none of the students were particularly cruel or bully-types.
"Moving to a new school can't be easy though, especially a new school in a small town," she said and looked up at him pointedly.
"I had my family. It made the transition easier," he said honestly. Going to high school was still somewhat of a novelty for him, but having Alice and Edward in the same classes helped. So did knowing that Emmett and Rosalie were close by.
"Good point." She looked up at him like she wanted to say more, possibly ask another question, and he tried to imagine what he would ask in her situation. The most likely question would be about him and her sister, befriending her or maybe just showing her around her new school, and he wasn't sure how he would be able to respond to a request like that.
"Toni. What's it short for?" he asked before she could ask him anything. The question made her laugh, a little louder and higher-pitched than before, and she stopped them next to a faded blue jeep. He waited for her to let go and step away, but she held on instead and looked up at him.
"Antonia, which I am only telling you because you've taken time out of your day to walk a klutz to her car. Please never use it." She smiled too easily, and he could still only feel faint traces of amusement as she continued to look up at him.
"I won't." Then he added, "Toni."
"You're alright, kid," she declared and then slipped her arm out of his. He wanted to argue that, he was centuries older than her, but held back. There were probably teenagers who protested against being called a kid, but he didn't want to draw any attention to his age. Not that he had any time to correct her, because she unlocked the jeep and opened the door. "Before you go!"
"Antonia." The name seemed almost odd, amongst the Jessicas and Angelas of her generation, but it also seemed to suit her.
"Here, as a thank-you. You need mittens for those cold hands, but I think this is better than nothing." She spoke while she was mostly inside of her jeep, her feet were on the pavement while she leaned inside of the vehicle, and she quickly turned around and stretched her arms out towards him. Resting in her palms was a coiled length of dark green fabric, and she held it up a little higher when he didn't move or say anything. "Come on, it's just a scarf. It's not gonna bite ya."
"You want to give me your scarf?" he heard himself ask. That wasn't a normal thing for a person to do. He was a little out of touch with humans, but he knew that much.
"I've been making them for my coworkers, as really late Christmas presents. So it was made to be a gift," she explained. He could refuse, politely, but her eyes were hopeful. He could even feel a little bit of nervousness coming from her.
"Thank you," he said as he took the scarf. It was clear that it hadn't been bought in a store, there were small imperfections in the knitted fabric, but it was thick and would probably work well at keeping a human warm. So while she was still looking, he took the scarf and loosely wound it around his neck. She flashed him a wide smile, with a hint of teeth and showing faint dimples, and it was hard to believe that the genuine smile came from someone with such muted emotions.
"Nice meeting you, Jasper!" she called out after climbing into the jeep. He stepped back as she closed the door and then waved as she started to back out of the parking space, and he stayed in the same spot until she had pulled away from the hospital.
"Nice meeting you, Antonia."
Date – 17 January 2005
Perspective – Toni Swan
"We got all of her new bedroom things?" Dad asked. He was quickly shoveling in the eggs she had scrambled up, already wearing his uniform, and she smiled to herself as she poured them both some coffee in their usual thermoses.
"Bed, dresser, desk," Toni ticked off. Then she widened her smile as she looked over her shoulder at her dad and added, "Everything's ready, don't worry."
"I just, I want her to be happy here. With us," Dad said and glanced at her as she placed his coffee on the table. She had already eaten and was dressed for work, which she needed to leave for soon if she was going to make it on time, but she couldn't leave when her dad was worrying himself into knots. So she slid into the chair across the table from where her dad was sitting and stared forwards until he met her eyes.
"Bella loves us, and I'm sure she'll love it here. She'll miss Mom, of course, but she'll have us. Now, do I need to call in and come with you?" she asked and fought down a smile. Because her dad had already straightened up and was giving her a very unimpressed look, and she raised her thermos and took a long sip so he wouldn't see how amused she was.
"I can pick her up," her dad stated. He sounded confident about that, so she lowered the thermos and nodded once.
"Good. Then I'll see you both this afternoon," she said and stood up. She bent down and pressed a quick kiss against her dad's cheek before heading towards the front door. She already had her most comfortable boots on and a thick sweater, and she passed her thermos between her hands as she twisted around to pull on the coat she'd left next to the front door.
"Dammit, Sasha owes me for taking the early shift," she thought as she stepped outside. She had to be at the diner at six, which meant that it was still dark outside as she maneuvered her way down the driveway to where her jeep was waiting on the street in front of the house. Her and the diner's other fulltime waitress usually traded off weeks for who would have to work early, but she was covering for Sasha this week. It meant that she would be on her own until eleven, when their halftime waitress would come in to help with the lunch crowd.
She was really starting to feel the cold as she slid inside of her jeep, and she wished for a moment that she still had some extra scarves lying around in the passenger seat. She'd given her last one to Misty, their evening cook, and the one before that went to Doctor Cullen's son. Well, one of his sons. She had asked her dad Saturday night about the Cullen family, since she generally didn't pay attention to town gossip, but she knew that her dad had talked to the doctor on several different occasions. Mostly for work and sometimes when she had to visit the emergency room. All her dad knew was that there quite a few adopted Cullen kids, possibly two boys and two girls. He was fairly sure that they were all still in high school, and she hoped that the others were as kind as Jasper had been to her. If they were, maybe Bella would be able to make a few friends. Because Toni loved her younger sister, and she knew that Bella had struggled with making close friendships. (Not that Toni had much room to talk herself. She lost contact with her high school bestie after she moved to New York for college, and she didn't have any close friends now. Friendly with everyone but close to none, her former best friend had told her once.)
Bella wouldn't start school until the next day though, so she didn't need to worry about her younger sister making friends just yet. Today, it would just be about the Swan family. Toni would be stuck at the diner until the afternoon, and she knew that her dad was going to have to go into work before she'd be able to make it home. That would leave Bella alone in the house for a couple of hours, but that might be a good thing. It'd give her a chance to settle into the home without eyes on her, and she wanted her sister to be comfortable in the place that she had called home her entire life. Her and her dad had even carefully picked out new bedroom furniture for Bella, with the hopes of making the room really feel like her room, and – great. Now she was starting to worry and stress, just like her dad and her sister tended to do. Toni was supposed to be the calm one in the family, and she reminded herself that there was nothing to worry over. Bella had decided to move to help out their mom, yes, but that didn't mean she didn't want to be with them. Everything was going to be fine.
Perspective – Bella Swan
The front door closed, the sound was audible despite her still standing upstairs, because the house was completely quiet. Charlie had shown her to her room, which was small but already felt cozy, and then had left to answer the phone. He'd come back upstairs a few minutes later, while she was tracing her fingers across her new desk, and told her that he had to go into work. He had apologized for having to leave her so soon, but she had waved him off and promised him that it was okay. Because it was. He told her that her sister would be home that afternoon, probably with a late lunch from the diner, and then he'd had to rush out. So now, here she was, standing in her bedroom that hadn't been hers since she was a year old. She curled her fingers into the purple blanket, Toni must have picked it out, and then pushed herself up to her feet.
Bella moved her clothes into her small closet and narrow dresser first, and that didn't take long at all. She had never cared much about being fashionable and wasn't a big fan of shopping, so she didn't have very many clothes. She set up her laptop on the desk, along with a few books, and then carefully placed the few things that she had brought with her around the room. Her framed picture of her and her mother went on the small table next to her bed, beside the boxy lamp already waiting for her, and she smiled as she tapped a finger against the lamp. Definitely another thing picked out by Toni. Her older sister was always teasing her for trading sleep for reading, but she had still put a small lamp next to the bed for her. Still, unpacking didn't take her long at all. Even placing her things in the single bathroom only took up a few minutes.
Across the hall from her bedroom, her sister's bedroom door was cracked open. Like she had left in a hurry and hadn't closed the door all the way. Charlie's bedroom was downstairs, off of the living room, so it was just her and her sister upstairs. After a moment of debating internally, she crossed the hall and pushed her sister's door open a little wider. Her shoulder pressed against the doorway as she peered inside, but her sister's room was completely ordinary. The walls were the same pale green color as Bella's bedroom, and her queen-sized bed took up a large portion of the room. There was a rocking chair shoved between the bed and the far wall, close to the window, and she could see a bundle of yarn and knitting needles sitting on the chair. Her desk was cluttered with text books and notebooks, and she could just see the edge of a laptop under the mess. Her dresser had a few pictures on top of it, Bella could even see a picture of the two of them as kids, and there was a pair of jeans hanging halfway out of the top drawer. The dark blue blanket on her bed was perfectly made with her dark yellow pillows lined up evenly at the head of the bed, so her room didn't look very messy.
She wasn't going to snoop in her sister's room, so she pulled the door until it was only cracked again and then stepped away. She slowly walked down the stairs, listened to her feet connect with each step, and then walked out into the living room. The old couch and her dad's recliner were still in the same place from the last time she visited, years ago, but the flatscreen was new. She knew that Toni had saved up to get it for their dad for Christmas, and she smiled at the thought before moving into the kitchen. Everything inside was the same as well, and she was surprised at how comforting that was. She had been worried that moving to Forks would feel like moving to a strange place, but this was the same home where she had spent her summers. The kitchen was clean, but there were little touches that showed how often it was used. There was a large pot sitting in the drainer next to the sink, a dishtowel had been left out on the counter, and there was a grocery list stuck to the door of the refrigerator. Along with another note. Bella walked over to the refrigerator and quickly read the note that had been left for her.
There's stuff for sandwiches if you get hungry, but I'll have lunch home after two. Make yourself at home. Watch some cable and drink some lemonade. Made it fresh yesterday.
Recognizing her sister's handwriting was easy, quickly scrawled and barely legible, but she was still smiling as she read the note over again. Toni had grown up with the slightly more responsible parent, but it looked like her older sister had a bit of a caretaking personality as well. They called each other so frequently that she already knew that Toni took care of most of the cooking and cleaning; not because their dad was a slob or lazy or even forgetful, but because she knew that Charlie worked a stressful job and liked to be helpful. She still wasn't sure how Toni managed to do housework while balancing a fulltime waitressing job and taking online classes, and she decided to help her out with the house as much as possible. She also decided to follow her sister's suggestion and made herself a glass of lemonade before wandering back into the living room. Watching a little mindless television seemed like a good way to pass the time.
Perspective – Toni Swan
"Hey, Misty," she sang as she leaned in the kitchen doorway. The worst of the lunch crowd had left, leaving the diner only sparsely occupied, which meant that they could all breathe a little easier. Her feet were killing her though, and she couldn't wait to get home and kick her feet up for a bit.
"What do you want, Swan?" the cook asked without turning away from the grill.
"To see your beautiful face," she replied. Misty was scowling when she looked over her shoulder, but she broke out in a grin when Toni blew a kiss in her direction.
"Okay, now that you've got me buttered up, what do you really want?" Misty asked while still smiling. Toni liked Misty; the beautiful woman was only a few years older than her, and she had an easy sense of humor that made her enjoyable to joke around with. Working was so much more bearable with people like Misty around.
"You mind making my sister one of those chicken burrito things? Maybe one for me too?" she asked and then fluttered her lashes.
"Only because you gave me a cute scarf," Misty huffed and turned back around. She'd still been smiling as she said it, so Toni knew that she really didn't mind cooking up a little extra food. "Go sit at the bar. I'll have Dom bag it up for you."
Toni wanted to tease Misty about the crush she had on Dom, the guy who worked the bar of the diner in the evenings, but she held back. Misty was doing something nice for her, something nice for Bella, and she could save the teasing for another day. Those two shared so many longing glances that she was sure to have plenty of other opportunities, so she held the words in and slowly backed out of the kitchen. She avoided eye contact with everyone as she walked out into the diner, because she didn't want to get locked into a conversation that she wouldn't be able to easily get out of once the food was done. Instead she watched her boots move across the floor until she could sit at the very end of the bar, and she propped her arms across the top of the bar before dropping her head. She had never really liked getting up early, and she'd been awake since four. If it had been any other day, she would have planned on taking a nap as soon as she got home. Bella was at home though, her baby sister was finally home, so sleep could wait.
"Mind if I sit here?" The voice came from her left, and she didn't even bother to lift her head. Just turned her head so that her cheek was resting against her folded arms instead of her forehead, and she felt her eyes widening in recognition.
"Go ahead, kid," she said just to see the quick flash of annoyance in his eyes. She would have missed the look if she had blinked, and the tall teenager quirked a small smile before settling into the seat next to her. There was a couple at the other end of the bar, so maybe that was why he had asked to sit next to her.
"Cullen?" Dom called out. Toni watched as Jasper nodded, and Dom promised to have his order out soon. People rarely called in to order for takeout, most people just ate inside the diner, but maybe the extended Cullen family didn't want to pile into the diner. She could understand that.
"How's your arm?" Jasper asked her after a moment. She had spaced out while looking in his general direction, and she almost felt like apologizing for unintentionally staring at the kid. She didn't want to make things more awkward, he had already asked the question with a careful tone like he was trying to make polite conversation, and she slowly lifted herself up.
"Better. A little itchy," she admitted. Her sweater sleeves were pushed up to her elbows, and there was a thin layer of gauze taped over the cut. She let it breathe at home, but she knew better than to come into work with an open wound. Well, stitched wound. Jasper dipped his chin at that and then met her eyes, and she thought it looked like he was struggling to think of something to say. She wanted to tell him that he didn't have to make conversation with her, but maybe he was just shy? Her eyes looked away from his and down, and she realized that he was wearing the scarf she had given him. He must have noticed the direction of her gaze, because he smiled a little and lifted one shoulder in a shrug.
"It's a nice scarf," he said quietly. He was keeping his voice low, head turned towards her and away from everyone else, and his shoulders were pulled down. Almost like he was trying not to be noticed. Maybe he really was shy or possibly didn't like crowds. He hadn't gone inside of the hospital when he was meeting the doc, and there weren't many people in the diner but more than three was considered a crowd.
"Most of me was sure that you only took the scarf to be polite, but there was a small part that hoped you would actually like it. I'm glad the underdog of my thoughts won this round," she said in the same quiet tone. Hearing her voice echoing in the diner would be nothing out of the ordinary, but she didn't want to draw attention to them when he was so obviously trying to stay under the radar. Although how someone as tall as him stayed under the radar was beyond her.
"Always cheer for the underdog," he said as he met her eyes again. Which, now that she was fully paying attention and not suffering intense embarrassment from slipping across the hospital parking lot, were a color that she had never seen before. Her mind tried to tell her that the color was a golden brown, but his eyes were closer to a dark gold without any hints of brown. Odd but beautiful. Contacts maybe?
"Of course. I always root for the underdog, because someone has to," she said and shrugged. She had shifted to rest her elbow on the bar and had her cheek propped against her fist, and her eyelids felt heavy. She was so excited to see her sister, but she might have to turn in early.
"Cullen, Swan." She was startled upright as Dom dropped a bag of food in front of her, and he raised a brow at her before turning and walking to the end of the bar where the couple was waving him over. Next to her bag of food, there were a few bags sitting in front of Jasper.
"Big family, right," she mumbled and then smiled up at him. She grabbed her food and slipped off her seat, and she realized that Jasper was doing the same. So she fell into step next to him as they started to walk out of the diner, and she waved to Sasha as she got close to the door.
"Toni! I'll take tomorrow morning if you take the evening!" Sasha called after her.
"Deal!" she yelled over her shoulder. Luckily for her, Jasper was holding the diner door open and saved her from walking face-first into it. She smiled gratefully up at him and listened to the door close behind them, and they started walking in the same direction. He must be parked close to her. So before the air around them could turn awkward, she held her smile and met his eyes. "Thanks for holding the door. I was so happy about not having tomorrow's morning shift and being able to sleep in that I wasn't paying attention."
"It was no problem," he assured her. It sounded like he had cut himself off at the end, like he was going to call her ma'am again, and she was so glad that he didn't. She was twenty, which meant she was still too young to be addressed like that.
"Still. Thanks, kid." She wanted to laugh as he looked down at her, even though he looked more amused than annoyed this time.
"I'm eighteen, not a kid," he told her. She reached the front of her jeep and slowly came to a stop, and Jasper stopped as well and stood in front of her.
"Eighteen? Shouldn't you be a senior then?" She regretted asking the moment that the question left her lips, because he quickly looked down away from her eyes. She sometimes spoke without thinking, but she hadn't meant to be insensitive. Before she could apologize though, Jasper looked up and met her eyes again.
"I was sick my freshman year and missed too many days, so I had to repeat the year," he explained.
"I'm such an ass, sorry," she rushed out.
"I'll accept the apology if you stop calling me a kid," he said and then smiled. It was a brighter smile than the halfway smile he'd given her inside, and she felt herself calming.
"What am I supposed to call you then?" she asked. The name Bella was repeating in her mind while an excited nervous energy caused her fingers to twitch as she held onto the bag with both hands, but she didn't really feel like she was in a hurry. This conversation was going to end soon, she could sense that, and she might have regretted it if she didn't have her sister waiting at home.
"My name?" he suggested.
"Well, if you want to be boring," she joked and smiled a little. Her foot slid back against the ground, towards the side of the jeep, and she didn't want to be rude but also really wanted to see her sister. "It was nice seeing you again, Jasper."
"Nice seeing you again, Toni," he said and dipped his chin before stepping away. There was a softer edge to his words that, paired with the small gesture, made her think that he was from somewhere farther south. She didn't think on it too much, just raised her hand in a wave and then walked backwards to the door of her jeep.
Perspective – Jasper Hale
The bags of food that he'd been asked to pick up were still hot when he passed them to Carlisle, and he leaned back against the side of the jeep instead of climbing back inside. He knew that Carlisle needed to go back into the hospital, the food was for a staff meeting, but there was something that he wanted to ask. Carlisle picked up on his hesitance and remained silent, waiting patiently, and Jasper couldn't explain how much he appreciated Carlisle's never ending patience. He loved his adopted family, but none of them had the same kind of patience and understanding as Carlisle did. Alice had been able to see him in visions and Edward could read his mind, but Carlisle had seen things similar to his upbringing and could understand his experiences more than the others. Which was why Jasper never complained when Carlisle asked him specifically to do things, because he knew that Carlisle only wanted to help him.
"I saw Toni Swan at the diner," he started with. There hadn't been many people in the diner, but most people in small towns had no problems with starting conversations and asking questions. He'd had people ask him how the good doctor was doing and then move on to more personal questions afterwards, and he had wanted to avoid that. There hadn't been a place for him to wait alone, but he had recognized Toni Swan. She'd been sitting slumped over with her face covered, but he had remembered her scent.
"I'm not surprised. She works there," Carlisle said with a questioning look. "She didn't have another accident, did she?"
"No," he answered quickly. He hadn't seen any fresh injuries or been able to smell any blood, and he wondered how often she visited the hospital for Carlisle to be worried about her.
"Did something happen?" Carlisle didn't look concerned, just curious, and Jasper crossed his arms as he thought of a way to explain.
"Her emotions are muted, I can barely feel anything from her," he said as he thought over their brief interactions. She smiled easily and her face was expressive, and the emotions that he could sense appeared genuine. He just couldn't really feel any of her emotions.
"Have you ever met anyone else like that?" Carlisle asked after a moment.
"No, never. Human or vampire," was his honest reply. There were some people who projected their emotions more strongly while others he could only feel when he was physically close, but he had always been able to sense the emotions of everyone around him.
"Do you have a theory?" Carlisle looked like he did whenever he was studying something new, a new sense of curiosity, but Jasper generally didn't like things that he couldn't understand. Unknowns could be dangerous.
"Is it possible she could be like Santos?" Jasper finally asked. The thought of the young Santos girl made him feel unsettled, but it was a question that needed to be asked. Carlisle didn't brush the question off and instead carefully thought it over, and Jasper could feel a mixture of curiosity and apprehension coming from his adoptive father.
"Santos's kind is very rare, very solitary, and Miss Swan has never displayed any characteristics of being such. She seems to have no recognition of what we are. Does Santos have muted emotions as well?" Carlisle's fingers twitched, crinkling the bags of food he was holding, and Jasper imagined that he wanted a pen and paper to take notes. Perfect memory or not, Carlisle always preferred to write things down.
"Cloaked, not muted," he answered.
"Perhaps we should both be more careful around her until we know for sure, but I think it might just be something unique to Miss Swan," Carlisle settled on. His look was pointed, clearly communicating something, and Jasper thought he understood. Some humans were just a little different. In his human life, he had been extremely persuasive. Edward had been able to read people remarkably well, and Alice… Alice had always been extraordinary.
"See you at home, Carlisle." Jasper uncrossed his arms and opened the door of the gray jeep he was driving, and he thought about the older blue jeep that Toni had been driving.
"Jasper." He stopped with the door still open and met Carlisle's eyes, and the older vampire smiled at him. "We have to be careful with humans, but that doesn't mean we have to avoid them. That we can't befriend them."
"I'll keep that in mind," he promised. Carlisle nodded and turned away, and Jasper closed the door before starting the vehicle. He might think on it, but not at his home. The last thing he needed was Alice trying to talk him into making friends with a human.
Perspective – Bella Swan
She was staring mindlessly up at the flickering screen when she heard the front door open, followed by heavy footsteps on the wooden floors and a quiet curse. She knew it wasn't Charlie, the quiet voice was too soft to be her dad, which meant that it had to be her sister. Her hand quickly shot out and grabbed the remote, and she switched off the TV before standing up. She dropped the remote onto the couch as she walked to the end of it and then around, and she could hear her sister muttering quietly under her breath as more sounds drifted from the front door. It sounded like she was kicking her shoes off, rustling that sounded like she was hanging her coat up, and then footsteps were heading in her direction. She felt herself straightening up, spine going straight as she pulled her shoulders back, and she realized that her hands were twisting together nervously as her sister came around the corner and then froze with wide eyes after seeing her.
"Hey, Toni," she said quietly and tried to smile. She didn't think she succeeded because her stomach was tied up in nervous knots, but Toni clearly didn't have that problem. Her flushed cheeks dimpled as she suddenly smiled wide, and she dropped the bag she was holding as she sprinted forward.
"Bella!" Toni called out right before slamming into her, and Bella felt her socked feet sliding across the wooden floor. She couldn't tell which one of them yelped louder as they fell to the ground, and air was temporarily knocked from her lungs after hitting the floor. She sucked in a quick breath as Toni groaned in her ear, because her sister was lying half on top of her.
"Not the welcome I was expecting," Bella huffed out. Toni mostly slid off of her and propped herself up so that she was leaning over her, instead of crushing her, and Bella felt herself smiling as her sister grinned down at her.
"Really? Because this seems to be in character," Toni laughed and then started to get up. Bella pushed herself up into a sitting position and then saw Toni's hand in her face, and she slapped their palms together and let Toni pull her up from the floor. "I knew all that working out would be useful for something."
"For helping up the people you've knocked over?" Bella asked. Toni laughed as she locked her arms around Bella's neck, pulling her into a tight hug, and she returned the strong hold by locking her own arms around her sister's middle.
"I'm so glad you're here," Toni whispered as they clung to each other.
It was so strange to hold onto her sister after not seeing her for a couple of years, and she picked up on the small subtle changes. When she was a kid, her sister seemed larger than life. Now they were practically the same size, she thought she might even be an inch taller than her sister now, but she could still remember looking up at her sister and thinking that she was a superhero. Especially when she pulled out random snacks for them. The thought made her laugh, and she felt Toni squeezing her for a moment and then pulling back. She was still smiling, wide and toothy in an easy way that Bella had always struggled with, and she felt her sister's rough palms against her cheeks as their eyes met.
"What?" she asked when her sister just continued to stare at her.
"I just…I dropped the food!" Toni yelled and abruptly released her. The complete shift was a typical thing from her sister, and she heard herself laughing as Toni scooped up the bag from the floor and then looked inside to make sure whatever food she had brought home was okay. "Alright, let's eat!"
Toni turned to walk into the kitchen, and Bella slowly followed behind her. When she got inside, Toni grabbed her arms and steered her over to the table. She let herself be pushed into a chair, and she propped her elbows on the table as she watched her sister move around the kitchen. While getting down plates for them, she talked about her day. About how she hated waking up and leaving the house before sunrise, little stories about her coworkers, and the endless talking reminded her of their regular calls. It was just Toni, talking about whatever was on her mind, but now Bella could see all of the little movements that she could usually only hear and guess at. Wrapped food was distributed between the plates, which was then placed on the table. Then Toni was talking about running into one of Bella's new classmates while she poured them each a glass of lemonade.
It was comforting, and she felt herself relaxing fully. Phoenix was her home, but maybe Forks could be too.
Ending Note From Raith: Firstly, I am not a medical professional and just simplified Toni's meeting with Doctor Cullen. I'm also sure that doctors aren't supposed to be so casual with their patients, but this is a story and I want to show that Toni really does come into the ER frequently. Because I know Bella is described as being clumsy in the books and is shown to be a bit of a klutz in the movies, but Toni is truly accident prone. When she gets hurt, she gets hurt. Ain't none of that cutesy oh-oops-I-tripped-someone-catch-me in this story, unless there's a bloody accident somewhere to balance it out.
In this story, Toni works at The Lodge instead of the Carver Café. Because I like the sound of The Lodge better, and it seems more like a diner than a café. The other employees at The Lodge will be mentioned throughout the story, but you don't have to worry about remembering their names or exact jobs. I'll always explain who they are and what they're doing, since they're just background characters.
One thing that confused me in the movies (it's been a while since I've read the books), Jasper and Rosalie were meant to be twins. I can believe that. The problem? Rosalie graduated while Jasper didn't, and there was never any explanation. So I came up with my own.
Who is Santos? What is Santos? Mysteries to be revealed in later chapters.
If you've made it this far, thank you for reading! If you have any questions, you have options. Leave a review, send me a message on here, or message me on tumblr: raith-way