Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
Author's note: If you care, these are the exact recordings that inspired last chapter's musical numbers. Canon: Youtube this exact phrase "Brian Crain - Canon in D (piano and violin)"
Habanera: Youtube this exact phrase "Bizet Habanera from Opera "Carmen" (Piano 4-Hands)"
Bella's heart somersaulted in her chest when she realized Rosalie's gaze had shifted to her lips.
She released a ragged breath, and watched Rosalie slowly lean forward, while her stomach coiled around itself painfully.
Outside, a tree exploded.
Rosalie froze. Bella went into hyperdrive.
Keeping her eyes screwed shut, Bella slithered out of her seat by Rosalie and bolted to the front door, relying on her memory of the house's layout to guide her.
She expected Rosalie to come after her or shout for her to stop but she didn't. Within seconds of the explosion, Bella was pedaling as fast as she could away, far away from the house and the mangled tree.
Rosalie remained in her seat, still as a statue long after Bella had disappeared. She kept her eyes trained on the empty spot next to her and took a few deep breaths more out of habit than out of necessity. What. Just. Happened?
She rose from her stupor like a zombie and walked to the nearest window where she got her first view of what had made that terrible noise. It used to be a tree. It used to be a tall, straight, proud tree on the edge of the woods, very close to the house. An eerie feeling overtook her as she inspected what had become of it. The trunk, formerly 3 feet in diameter, looked like someone had set off dynamite inside of it. It was missing all its leaves. And it was charred black as coal.
She stood rooted to her spot, and may have easily remained there for hours were it not for Esme poking her head from her office.
"What was that noise, Rose?" She shouted.
"Lightning strike," Rosalie replied without hesitation. Then, before Esme could make any further inquiries, she darted out the door and, in the pouring rain, she pulverized the tree till nothing remained but the still smoldering core of the trunk.
Alice huffed in annoyance at the stack of phone books in front of her. It was during times like this that she couldn't wait for computers to make these damn things obsolete once for all. It was happening, but it was happening far too slowly for her. She needed it to happen yesterday, or rather before she got the brilliant idea of tracking down Bella's old teachers. Ugh.
"Hi there. I found another one for ya," a young librarian grinned and handed her a thick yet flimsy phone book. He looked way too happy. Hmm. Maybe she should dial down the charm.
"Thank you very much," she said politely. Shoo, she thought, and sighed as she flipped through the book to the page the man had marked for her.
She waited through the ringing impatiently.
"Hello?" A female voice on the other end answered.
"Hello, ma'am. I'm Alice Webber," she recited her speech for the hundredth time that day. "I work for the Washington State Department of Children and Families. Please forgive my intrusion on your day. I'm hoping I have the correct Julie Cross. You see I have a case here involving a young woman whom I believe you once taught in the second grade. This is quite some time back. Tell me, do you recall a girl named Isabella Swan? She may have gone by Bella."
The woman was silent for a moment. "Yes," Julie said. "I remember her."
Alice sat up straighter in her seat. Finally! Now for the next part of her speech, the one she had yet to perform.
"That's a relief," she said, sighing dramatically. "I'm so glad to finally find someone. I'm in a bit of a bind here actually. There have been some...strange...notes on the girl's records, and they're severely hampering my ability to place her with a family. To be honest, I'm having a difficult time believing some of these...claims, and I've been trying to locate anyone who knew Ms. Swan and who could perhaps shed some light on the matter."
Again, an unbearable pause.
"How did her folks die?" Julie asked.
Alice raised an eyebrow. "A fire," she responded, not bothering to explain that only one parent was deceased.
"Figures," Julie sighed and continued, "I don't think you should put that girl with a family, Ms. Webber. In fact I think you should lock her up if you can."
40 minutes later, Alice hung up. Before she could reflect on the things Bella's teacher had told her, her phone rang.
"Hello?" She answered.
"I've been trying to call you for an hour." It was Rosalie.
"Sorry, Rose," she said. "I was on the phone. What is it?"
"It's Bella. I need your help. How fast can you get here?"
Charlie sighed in relief when the firefighters gave him the OK signal. They'd gotten everyone out of the store. For a few minutes he'd feared the worst. It took the fire chief and two members of his crew so long to find the last little boy. But he was safe in the ambulance now, hooked up to an oxygen tank and holding his sobbing mother's hand.
As usual when he found himself in a situation like this, his thoughts turned to that awful night seven and a half years ago. Unlike now, no amount of jetting water was able to put that fire out. He remembered watching in fascination, the part of him that knew he had a wife and daughter inside the flames almost completely disconnected, as the flames actively fought back any attempt at containment. It was as if the fire was a wild creature that refused to give up its newfound freedom. It could have-would have been beautiful if it wasn't so devastating.
Even then, thinking of his wife and daughter perishing inside, the suspicion remained in his heart. He had long feared the worst from his daughter...could it get any worse than that?
Charlie winced out of reflex when he thought of his daughter. But his emotions did not torture him tonight as they had on many occasions since he-since she had lost control. He glanced back at the receding fire in Newton's sporting goods store and thought of his wife...his beautiful, wonderful wife. She refused to heed his warnings. She refused to listen to his pleadings. All of Bella's life, he tried to be a good father but there is only so much a parent can do. Whatever was wrong with Bella...it was a sickness that neither he nor Renée were fit to cure.
He closed his eyes, overcome by a deep sadness for the life he had lost and the life he was now doomed to live. Would his life forever be dictated by these flames? Leaning against his cruiser's doors, he asked himself again...would he always be at the fire's mercy? When the time came, and he knew that it must come, would he have the courage to do what should've been done years ago? Would he be able to extinguish the monstrous flames that have already taken his wife and daughter from him?
It was the bike that caught his attention. He stared at it for a moment, then fear gripped at his heart. Bella. No, he gasped as he looked back at the smoldering flames behind him. He squinted in the hazy light and sure enough, there she was. She was standing still as a statue on a corner sidewalk about 20 yards away. And she was staring, his stomach plummeted as he realized, at the fire in the store. She was staring at it intently, almost...hungrily.
Automatically, he reached for his gun and turned off the safety, then stalked toward the monster.
Bella gripped the handlebars of her bike so tightly they were in danger of breaking off. The flames...they were so beautiful. She hated that the most...that she loved that awful and destructive thing. But it was so lovely. She was always drawn to fire. For as long as she could remember, fire took her breath away...even before it took her life. As a little girl she loved that the colors kept changing. She loved the fire's playful dance, its teasing sparks, and its warm touch. Touching the flames, as she often did when she was little and long before she understood its danger to normal people, was like being wrapped in a favorite blanket.
Even now, after everything she'd been through, fire still had a way of enthralling her. She gazed longingly at the waning flames and wished she could enter its warm embrace. It would be almost as exquisite as Rosalie's. Away from her burning gaze, Bella allowed herself a moment to think about what had transpired in the living room with Rosalie. Mostly she thought of the unspoken yet palpable message in Rosalie's eyes. She closed her own eyes, not wanting anything, not even the flames to interrupt her visions. If she had to go blind she would ask only for the chance to see Rosalie's face one more time looking as she looked at her today.
God, she wanted her. Bella's heart, her soul, her very being yearned for Rosalie in a manner beyond description. She still couldn't believe nor understand the glow that ran through her body whenever they were physically close to each other. If the flames made her feel safe and secure, Rosalie's blazing touch made her feel...like she was home at last.
She's not yours. She'll never be yours. Even if Rosalie wanted her too, something Bella did not doubt now, she knew she'd never acquiesce. She could not hurt Emmett like that. Rosalie might be able to live with it, but Bella could not. She would have to find a way to be content with merely looking at her wondrous body and listening to her melodic voice.
Her voice...
She was...she was right here, calling her name. Rosalie was walking fast in her direction from her right, Alice trailing behind, and she was calling her name. Bella smiled happily before starting to panic. The tree...
But Rosalie looked panicked as well. She was walking faster now and looking at something behind Bella.
Bella turned to her left. Her heart fell. Charlie was coming her way too...and he did not look amicable. In fact, his hand was resting lightly on his holstered gun. Oh no.
He couldn't. He wouldn't! Not here in front of all these people. Not in front of Rosalie and Alice. Like a train, it hit her that her dying tonight would not be the worst outcome that she had to prevent. No...because if she knew Alice and Rosalie, she knew they'd do something drastic... something that could force the Cullens to blow their precarious cover. She couldn't let that happen.
Bella immediately stamped down her rising emotions and turned to face her father.
"Hello Charlie," she said.
Her hopes fell when he snarled his greeting. Bella didn't understand. Why was he so angry?
"What do you think you're doing?" He asked her through gritted teeth. His hand was still lightly touching his gun. It was in its holster but the latch, she noted, was unclasped.
"I'm not doing anything, Charlie," she said slowly. "I'm just meeting my friends."
Alice and Rosalie were upon them now. She hoped Charlie couldn't hear Rosalie's growls.
He looked at the two women flanking her then turned his sharp gaze back to Bella.
"Did you have something to do with this?" He asked and looked at what was left of the burning building.
Understanding crossed Bella's face. That's why...
"No," she sighed with relief. "I just got here."
"You're lying!" He nearly shouted and stepped closer. "I saw you. I saw you with that...look. I saw you!"
Once again in less than two months, Charlie moved for his gun.
She heard the strangled hissing on both sides of her. Bella knew she had to act fast before something irreversible occurred. She grabbed Alice and Rosalie and stepped forward while pushing the two of them behind her. As soon as she was sure they couldn't see her face, Bella focused her gaze on Charlie's weapon. Before he managed to fully remove it from his holster, the magazine clip fell from the gun, strewing bullets all over the sidewalk. For good measure Bella helped the bullets roll into the nearest storm drain.
Charlie stared at his gun. Bella stared at Charlie. Behind her, Rosalie and Alice stared at Bella.
Charlie broke the spell first. He glared at Bella with terrified and angry eyes then turned on his heels and stormed to his car.
Instead of feeling relieved as his cruiser took off like she thought she would, Bella felt overcome. Those few minutes of tension, Alice's and Rosalie's presence, the energy that still remained locked in her body that hadn't been satisfied with merely one tree's destruction, and especially this afternoon by Rosalie's side...it all suddenly weighed very heavily on Bella's psyche. She could feel the rumbling in her chest and the coils moving in her stomach. She shook in fear. No...
"It's ok, Bells," she heard Alice say. "I understand."
What was she talking about? Alice slinked to her side and grabbed her arm until she faced her.
"Go. Do what you need to do," she said. "Come back to the house when you're ready. We'll be waiting."
Author's note: Review notifications make the best morning alarm.