Somewhere To Begin Chapter 2 The View, a twilight fanfic

We want to send a S/O to our awesome team! Liz Vesper, Editor, and our pre-readers, Connie & BohemianRituals. These wonderful ladies are a tremendous help, and this story wouldn't be what it is without them!

Chapter 2: The View

Bella

Eight months later…

"That box goes there." I pointed toward the living room.

The movers grunted in response.

"Mommy!" Aiden yelled as he ran out of his room and slammed into my legs.

"Yes, Honey?" I chuckled and placed my hands on his shoulders.

"I like my room." He smiled up at me.

I ran my fingers through his hair and smiled back at him. "I thought you would."

"It's so cool." He bounced on his tiptoes. "Shrek, Fiona and Donkey are on the wall!"

I nodded my head. "That is pretty awesome." Shrek was his favorite movie, and with wanting to make him comfortable, I may have gone overboard with his room. Okay, that would be an understatement. His room looked like a shrine to Shrek, but if he liked it, it was worth it.

"Yeah, it is." He laid his head against my stomach.

I wrapped my arms around him and kissed the top of his head.

I tried to make this transition as smooth as I could for Aiden, and even though he seemed fine, I worried that this was too much for him. I wanted to think I did the best I could for him, but I can't deny the doubts in the back of my mind.

"Mommy."

"Yes?"

"You're squishing me."

I loosened my hold on him and chuckled.

He leaned back. "Can I go play with my toys now?"

"Of course." I kissed his forehead and watched as he ran back to his room.

If only I had his energy.

I sighed as I placed my hands on my hips. As the movers went in and out of the different rooms, putting our things in their proper places, I looked around our new condo. I was exhausted, but relieved. The actual move from our old house to here had been extremely tiring, and trying to decide who kept what was way more difficult than it should have been, but that's all of that is behind me now.

Taking in my surroundings reminded me how much I loved this place. The rooms were enormous, the kitchen bright and spacious, and it had an open concept with top-of-the-line appliances. In the living room there were custom ceiling to floor windows, and my bathroom had a large clawfoot tub. All of those things were great, and added character to the condo, but it was the balcony that I loved that most, and what made me buy this place. I had the most amazing view of Lake Shore Drive.

I stepped out on to the balcony, feeling the pleasant breeze wash over me.

I watched as traffic and people passed, going on about their day.

"Get out of the way." A man stuck his head out of his car window and hollered at a man who was crossing the street. To be fair to the driver, the pedestrian shouldn't be walking yet.

The man walking waved his finger at the driver and walked slower.

The driver honked his horn until he was across the street.

Gotta love downtown Chicago.

I chuckled as I looked at Lake Michigan. The sun was setting, and it seemed to sit right over the lake. It was easy to get lost in the ripples of the water. But even with this beautiful view, my mind wandered.

Flashback:

I lifted the envelope and held his hard stare. Mine was just as cold. "Is there anything you want to tell me?"

"What?" Alec's eyebrows squished together.

"Is there anything you would like to tell me?" I said slower.

He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "Isa would you just tell me what the hell you're talking about?"

"This is what I'm talking about." I threw the envelope on the couch.

"Dramatic." He muttered as he rolled his eyes, picked up the envelope and opened it.

He let out a sharp intake of breath and as he went through picture after picture, his eyes widened. "Wh—Wha—" He stumbled over his words, cleared his throat, and tried again. "What is this?" He asked as he continued to flip through the pictures.

I tilted my head to the side. "I think I should ask you that."

"Bella." Alec walked toward me, clutching the pictures in his hand. "What did you do?"

I shook my head. "I haven't done anything, Alec."

A range of emotions crossed over his face, shock, disbelief, and finally anger.

"You haven't done anything?" He glared. "You had me followed." He held up the pictures. "Have you lost your mind?" A vein pulsed in his forehead.

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, he began pacing. "What in the hell is wrong with you? What if the tabloids got a hold of these? Are you trying to ruin my fucking career?" Alec stopped in front of me and glowered.

I chuckled humorlessly. "I hand you proof, picture proof, of your recent activates," I looked him up and down. "and the only thing you can ask me is if I'm trying to ruin your career?" I raised one eyebrow.

His nostrils flared. "This could destroy my reputation." He threw the pictures on the floor, they scattered all around us.

One fell at my feet. It was a shot of Alec and Buttercup walking hand in hand into the hotel.

I looked up and moved closer to Alec. "I just want to make sure I'm clear. You're concerned about your career and reputation?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Yes." He said through clenched teeth.

I hit my forehead in the 'duh,' motion. "How foolish of me to think that you would even care about the fact that you've lost your wife. That would just be ridiculous, of course you should worry about your career as a half rate, wannabe Walter Cronkite!" His head jerked back "And as for your reputation that went down the toilet, around the same time you started cheating." With the tip of my heel, I slid a picture toward him. "You and Chelsea didn't seem to be concerned, so why should I?"

"Half rate?" Alec placed his hands on his hips and forced out a laugh. "Wannabe?"

Of course, he only noticed that. His ego had gotten so big it would take a few seconds for him to catch up to everything else I said. I put my hands in my pockets and waited.

"I'll have you know that I'm an amazing anchorman." His face reddened. "The way I report stories is like no other, America loves…" He squinted his eyes. "Wait, wait a minute." He roughly rubbed his hands over his face.

He finally caught up.

"Isa." He swallowed. "How long have you had me followed?"

"Long enough."

In two short strides, he was in front of me. We were centimeters apart. "You know her name?"

"Of course, I know her name." I said, unblinking. "I know a lot about your Buttercup." His jaw clenched at the use of her pet name.

"Enough of the games." He said through gritted teeth. "Tell me everything you know." He looked at me with a hard stare and pressed his lips together.

"Tell you everything I know?" I snorted. "That's cute, you're trying to be demanding."

"I'm not joking." His posture was stiff.

"Neither am I."

We stared at each other for a few moments.

He clenched and unclenched his fingers.

It's not like not telling him would save anything.

"If you must know." I exhaled. "I had my investigator working on this for some time now, you know how I like to be thorough, so not only do I know her name, I know that she's a model, very original by the way, I know you meet her at the same hotel every Thursday at 2:30 and with you being the big spender you are, you even sprung for the penthouse suite."

He crossed his arms but said nothing.

"I know you had flowers, chocolates, and a chilled bottle of Dom Perignon—1996 to be exact—waiting for her when she gets there." I paused. "Aren't you romantic?" I smirked.

He narrowed his eyes.

"Isn't it ironic?" I tilted my head to the side. "The very person you said you would never be like is exactly—"

"Don't." Alec said in a sharp tone. "I'm nothing like him and you know that, besides my mother forgave him."

"Yeah, right." I scoffed.

Only if forgiveness means controlling.

"Leave my mother out of this Isa."

"Why?" I drew my eyebrows together. "She's been an active part in our relationship since the beginning."

That woman has hated me since the moment she met me, she still does, and has had no problem making that known.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Here you go, complaining about my mother again."

"And I have every right to. Your mother is Lucifer incarnate—"

"My mother," he bellowed, "has nothing to do with this, so drop it."

This was true. She had nothing to do with him cheating, but it would be a lie to say her strong dislike for me didn't affect Alec's and my relationship.

"Look, I'm getting a headache, so let's just cut to the chase." Alec groaned and rubbed his temples. "You caught me. I was wrong. I made a mistake. It was a lapse in judgment, and it won't happen again, I promise."

That almost sounded sincere; you know if his tone wasn't so condescending.

"Mm, a mistake?"

"Yes, that's what I said, a mistake."

"I don't know." I sucked my teeth. "Two years seems kinda long for it to just be a mistake."

He blinked at me.

I don't know why he would assume that I didn't know how long this had been going on.

"Nothing to say?"

That snapped him out of whatever trance he was stuck in.

"Okay, so it's been going on for a while, but it's done. I won't see her anymore."

"What?" I laughed.

That caught me off guard. I mean, I knew he was lying, but it was still surprising.

"I won't see her anymore, so now we're good."

"You're delusional." I guffawed.

"We both know you aren't really going to leave me, so cut the act."

Whoa, that was bold.

"We can do counseling or whatever to get past this." He waved dismissively. "I apologize okay, are you happy now?" He walked back to the couch and plopped down. "Like I said, it won't happen again, my bad. Can we stop talking about this now?"

My bad?

Now maybe I was naïve to think that Alec couldn't say or do anything else that could have baffled me, but 'my bad?'

Honestly, this conversation went completely differently from what I expected. I thought I would walk in, hand him the pictures, say I want to divorce and then leave, but no, that would have been too easy.

I swear I didn't want to argue or be angry with him. There was no point. But 'my bad?' Did he really think that was an apology? Did he not how to use those two words properly?

This is how you use my bad: 'Oh honey, I forgot to put gas in your car, my bad.' That would have been fine… annoying, but fine.

This is how not to use my bad: "Oh honey, I've been cheating for two years, my bad."

See what I'm saying?

While a part of me found that humorous, another part of me was angry. That response was too indifferent, too nonchalant, and to make matters worse, he really thought I wouldn't leave him. It was very insulting.

"My bad?" I laughed; my voice had an edge to it. "My bad?"

He looked at me and frowned.

"I should shove my heel up your—"

End flashback.

"Ms. Swan, Excuse me, Ms. Swan." Kyle, a mover, stood in the balcony's doorway.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Kyle." I shook my head. "How can I help you?"

"I just need your signature, and we'll be out of your hair." He held out a clipboard.

"Sure." I signed and walked him to the door.

"Have a good evening, Ms. Swan."

"Thank you, Kyle. You too." I closed the door and leaned my back against it. There were boxes everywhere.

Now I just have to unpack everything. By myself. Fun.

"Mommy?" Aiden ran out of his room toward me. "I'm hungry, what's for dinner?"

I leaned down so I was on his level. "What would you like?"

"Mmm." He hummed as he tapped his chin. "Pizza?"

"Pizza sounds perfect."

While we waited on our food to arrive, Aiden took a bath, and I unpacked some of the boxes in the kitchen.

After we had dinner and watched Shrek again, I got Aiden into bed.

"Are you ready for school tomorrow?" I ran my fingers through his damp hair.

It would be his first day of kindergarten. I couldn't believe the time had already come. It was a bittersweet feeling; I knew he wouldn't be a baby forever, and I was happy to see him grow into his own person, but I guess I wasn't as prepared as I thought I would be.

"Yeah." He gave a sleepy smile. "It's gonna be cool."

At least he wasn't nervous. That made one of us.

What if I was one of those moms who cried while their kid was practically pushing them out of the door? Nah, I should wait to do that when he gets older, you know, and really embarrass the both of us.

"It's going to be very cool." I kissed his forehead. "Goodnight, Sweetheart."

"Goodnight, Mommy." He yawned and rolled over.

I walked out of his room and went to the kitchen, grabbed the bottle of wine, courtesy of my sister, my real estate agent, and a cup—I would have to find my wine glasses later—and headed to my bathroom. I needed to unwind.

As the tub filled with water, I gathered my pajamas and put on some soft music.

I poured myself a glass, well cup, of wine, set the bottle by the tub, stepped in with my cup in hand and sunk down into the hot water.

While I drank my wine, the thought finally hit me.

It would just be me and Aiden.

It had been just me and Aiden.

Not that it'd be different, but it just felt more… real. And not real in a bad way, for me at least, I was ready to move on with my life, but I wasn't the only one affected, and it wasn't all about my needs and wants.

I was ready for the changes that would take place. I looked forward to them. But was Aiden?

I groaned and leaned my head back. I was supposed to be unwinding.

I took a sip of wine. I could worry more tomorrow.

A/N: So… how do we feel about Alec? What are your thoughts about this Bella?