Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. Please read and review. It makes me smile.
Bella tapped her foot nervously thinking that surely, what she was about to do couldn't possibly be more difficult than the rest of the day had been. But as she waited for Charlie to answer the door, she knew she'd take a few hours with a horde of teenagers any day over this. Just say hello, ask your question, and say goodbye, she thought to herself. Nothing to it.
She straightened when she heard his footsteps on the other side of the door and before she knew it, he was staring at her, a questioning look in his eyes.
"Hello!" Bella blurted, before she could deviate from her plan. "How are you?" Fuck. 2 seconds and you can't stick with a plan. Brilliant, Bella.
Charlie's face was blank. "Fine," he said flatly, then stood silently, waiting. A few moments later, he sighed and asked, "what can I do for you, Bella?"
Bella swallowed. "I came to ask you for permission to get a library card," she said. "If it's ok, can you please sign this application? I'm sorry to bother you, but they need a parent's permission."
Charlie nodded. "All right. Let me get a pen." He turned to go inside, then paused and faced Bella again. "You can come inside if you want."
Surprised, Bella nodded and followed him in.
The last time she was here she was so distracted with seeing Charlie that she didn't really get a good look at the place. Now, while Charlie rummaged around in the kitchen, Bella's eyes wandered and took in the place her father called home. The furniture was a little old-fashioned. She couldn't be sure, but it didn't look like Charlie had updated anything when he inherited this place. Everywhere, there were signs that this was a man's house. An empty pizza box, a can of beer, a very expensive looking entertainment center...the kinds of things she supposed were typical in a house without a woman's touch.
The only feminine-ish looking area was a table off to the side in the entryway that contained a set of tastefully positioned photographs in nice picture frames. Bella walked towards it to take a closer look, and immediately wished she hadn't.
Her breath hitched in her throat as she was confronted with a dozen pictures of her mother.
Renée was so beautiful. Her eyes glowed with warmth and laughter. She remembered her always full of life and funny quirks...the kind of person who would buy an ice cream cone in the middle of the coldest day just because the ice cream man was probably lonely...the kind of mom who didn't get mad when Bella got paint all over her shirt, but would instead laugh and help her paint her pants so they'd match.
There on the table before her, she saw pictures of her mother on her wedding day, when she was a teenager, younger than Bella playing on a swing, in a park with Charlie, laying on a picnic blanket, and many more. Bella stared and stared, like an addict within sight of his fix. In seven years, the only pictures she had of her mother were what she could conjure in her mind. And she was so young when it happened...this woman before her put her mental image of her to shame. She was perfect. And Bella had destroyed her.
The second Bella realized who was in the photographs she had braced herself for the pain. It didn't disappoint.
For the second time that day her body boiled, the pain strong enough to knock out anyone in the world but Bella, who was so used to this feeling that, even though it still shocked her to the core, it was practically second nature. To the casual observer, Bella looked the same as she did 10 seconds ago. Inside, she was burning.
She took a deep breath as she clutched one of the photographs in her hands. Renée wasn't smiling in this one. She was older, close to her last years of life. The picture was taken in a playground somewhere. She was sitting on top of a slide, looking off to her right in the distance...as if she could see something that nobody else could. Bella looked at that picture for a long time, wondering what her mother was seeing...wondering if she had any idea her young daughter harbored a monster deep inside her.
Charlie cleared his throat, and Bella took a step back, still holding that picture.
"Here you go," he said, handing her the signed application.
"Thank you," said Bella. She felt the pain rise slightly as she asked, "Can I-can I have one of these? Please?"
Charlie didn't say anything though he stiffened, like he was about to say no. But then he swallowed and slowly nodded.
"Can I have this one?" Bella asked, holding out the picture in her hand so her father could see.
Again, he nodded.
"Thank you, Charlie." And before he could change his mind, before Bella could burst into tears, she took the photograph and the application, and left for home.
Alice looked at her watch impatiently as she waited in front of the shed. She glared at it darkly. Now, now, she admonished herself. The shed didn't do anything to you, and Bella probably wouldn't appreciate you leveling her...home. She sighed as she paced back and forth in front of the door. One problem at a time, she told herself. Tonight, her task was to cheer Bella up.
30 minutes ago, Alice was painting one of her bedroom walls-something she liked to do every few weeks or so-when she thought she'd take a break and work on her Bella-gazing. Maybe if she practiced it would get easier. She concentrated hard, and then harder still on her favorite human. Fog. Ugh. She closed her eyes and imagined sweeping the fog aside. Gradually, tortuously, it worked. But she didn't like what she saw-Bella was curled up on her bed and crying. Alice quickly withdrew from the vision, grabbed her keys, and ran to her car before anyone could ask questions. Friends are supposed to help one another, she thought. It was her job to comfort Bella, so that's what she would do.
When she got to the Swans' house, she parked her car (well, it was Edward's car, technically) a little ways off. She saw Bella almost immediately, walking up to the house from somewhere else on the property. She knew the vision's timing wouldn't be for a 10 minutes or so, and she was curious, so she ran in the direction Bella had come from to see what was out there.
The garden shed confused her at first, then horrified her as the obvious truth sunk in. She leaped up to the only window to look inside and sure enough, there was the bed from her vision. This was where Bella lived. She hissed into the night. There would be time for that later, she thought. Bella would get here in a couple of minutes and she didn't want to scare the poor girl.
She heard the front door of the house open and close. Alice darted into the shadows to wait until Bella made it inside that goddamn shed. She waited another minute then she made her way over and knocked.
Bella looked so cute with her mouth open like that.
"Hi Bella!" Alice said with as much cheeriness as she could muster.
"Uh, hi," said Bella. "What-how?"
Alice was nothing if not quick on her feet. "I was coming over to see you, and saw you walk in here," she said, shrugging. "May I come in?"
"Oh...yea. Sure," said Bella. The poor girl looked ready to die of embarrassment as Alice looked around.
"Hmm," said Alice, trying to hide her distaste at the uncomfortable looking couch. "When were you planning on telling me about this place?"
Bella blushed even more. "Umm, I wasn't...going to."
"Bella!" Alice said indignantly. "I thought we were friends!"
"We are!" Bella quickly said.
"Friends don't keep things like this from each other," Alice pouted, but felt a little guilty even as the words came out of her mouth. There was so much she had to keep from her friend...She wished, as she had many times that week, that she could really spill everything to Bella.
Bella looked down, and Alice felt even more guilty at Bella's sad face. She wasn't doing a very good job cheering her up.
"Oh don't worry about it. We will talk about this later," Alice said sternly. "But I didn't come to yell at you. I came to ask if you wanted to come over and play!"
"Play?" Bella asked, smiling now. Yes! It was working! "What, dress-up?"
"Oooh, well since you suggested it..."
"Oh god, no!" Bella exclaimed in mock horror. "Alice, you can't possibly be serious."
"I'm always serious you silly girl," Alice tisked. "But I'll reward you for coming up with the idea yourself...let's see, you only have to try on 10 outfits tonight...and let me pick something for you to wear tomorrow!"
Bella made a show of thinking about it for a second. "Promise no skirts or dresses and you have a deal."
Oh well, small moves, Alice thought. "Deal!"
Alice waited while Bella made sure her homework was in her backpack, then together they ran off to Alice's (Edward's) car.
"Can I ask you something?" Alice started.
"Sure," replied Bella.
Alice paused, hoping she didn't do anything to upset the girl. They had just started off in the car, and Alice was driving painfully slow so she would have the chance to ask this question.
"When you opened your door, your eyes were red," Alice said softly. "Why were you crying?"
Bella didn't say anything for a while, and Alice again cursed whatever block Bella was putting on her. She didn't usually start a difficult conversation without vetting possible scenarios first.
"There were some pictures of my mom in Charlie's house," said Bella. "They made me sad."
"Because you miss her?" Alice asked.
"Yes," said Bella.
"What was she like?" Alice asked. If Bella was the product of her mother and father, and her father was such an asshole-she held back a growl-then her mother must have been a saint, Alice thought.
Bella smiled sadly. "She was amazing. She taught kindergarten, and always acted like a child herself. Drove Charlie crazy sometimes, but I loved it. My mom was this big kid. She was my best friend."
Alice wasn't sure if it was appropriate to ask or not. Humans can get so touchy about death.
Bella sighed. "It's ok, you can ask."
"What happened?" Alice asked.
"Gas leak," whispered Bella. "Whole neighborhood went up. A lot of people died. I was with Charlie, on our way back from some store when it happened."
If Alice could cry, she would have. "I'm sorry, Bella," she said.
A little while later, Alice spoke up again. "You know, I don't' remember my life before Carlisle and Esme adopted me."
"You don't?" Bella asked, obviously surprised.
"No," Alice said, sadly. "I'm not even sure if Alice is my real name...I wish I could remember my life before...What my parents were like, if I had any brothers and sisters. I know it must be hard missing your mom like you do, but at least you have the memories. She sounds like she was a really awesome person. You were lucky to have her, even for just a short while. And I think she was lucky to have you...because now she lives on in your memories."
Bella said nothing, but reached over and grabbed Alice's hand. Alice felt the tug of a smile on her face as she looked at her best friend.
"Thanks," said Bella, just as they reached Alice's house.
Emmett is right, Alice thought. This one is so worth it.
Author's note: I'd love to hear what you think of this one. First time Alice POV. It was hard figuring out where to begin with her. How do you write a story from the perspective of someone who, in theory, has the potential to know everything that's gonna happen before it happens? Looking forward to reading your reviews!