Chapter 31

Bella POV

I only puked twice more on the way back to the house with Jasper.

The smell of blood was still stuck in my hair and combined with my headache and the blinding speed, there was no hope for me not to puke again.

But finally, Jasper reached the back door of the big glass house and carried me straight to our bathroom.

I was exhausted and my head throbbed far too much to want to walk any of the stairs myself.

"I'm ready for bed, what's the time?" I asked as I finally stood on my own feet again.

"It's only about noon, 'fraid you have a bit longer to wait for nightfall." Jasper joked.

How on earth was it only noon? How had we been through so much before most people my age were even up and ready for the day? Moving towards the shower taps, and turning the hot water on full, I realised just how intensely my hands were shaking. Was I cold? In shock? Lack of blood?

His cold, firm arms wrapped around the tops of my arms and steadied me, grounded me.

"Bella, are you okay?" He asked.

As I started to nod my teeth began to chatter. And my resolve somewhat broke.

"I'm so overwhelmed." I barely breathed out between my shattering jaw. "I'm freezing, everything hurts, my head is killing me, and we were just ambushed by the woman who's spent the better part of a year trying to kill me." My words were coming so quickly. My breath just as fast.

In and out. In and out. In and out.

My chest was aching.

Jasper pulled me closer to his naked chest and soothingly rocked us a little as he made calming shushing noises.

"I know, I know." He began to repeat. "We've put you through so much this year. Too much. But it's all over now. We're safe now."

I allowed his sweet calming to wash all over me. To soak it all up. To fill myself and my heart with it, every empty part of me where the shock of today had ripped out my usual emotions.

I let myself sob uncontrollably as he helped me clean off.

And when we appeared from the shower it was like a new beginning.

I was safe. For the first time since the day Edward brought me to meet his family, I was now safe. In Jasper's arms. And ready to get on with my life.

….

I was dead on my feet and ready to pass out when Carlisle knocked on our bedroom door.

"Bella, I know you want to sleep, and I promise you can soon, but I just received a call from Sue Clearwater, and I need your help."

Instantly I was more awake and sitting up. I remembered how broken Seth had looked.

"Is it Seth? Is he okay?"

"He isn't doing as well as we hoped, he had trouble phasing back and Sue is concerned some of his bones aren't set right." He assured me as he took a seat at the foot of my bed. "They have asked me to come onto the reservation and you're the only one who can come help me and assist if necessary." He smiled. I knew he wouldn't need my help with anything medical and certainly not for my strength.

There was something else he needed. I raised my eyebrow.

"Your friendship with those in the pack, and especially Jacob, is going to be more important now than ever." He paused. "With the assumed addition of Bree into our family today, and then with your change still on the cards, we need to keep things as amicable with the pack and the tribe as we can."

"Okay, I'm there." I nodded. Not sure how my half dead brain was going to go with this right now, but it was time to be the diplomat.

"I'll give you a moment to get dressed." He smiled as he stood. "Oh, and also I brought you some pain killers, Jasper mentioned your headache." He smiled has he handed over the rattling bottle.

I smiled my thanks as I took the bottle and Carlisle as gone. Before I could even move out of the bed Jasper was beside me.

"Here," he said offering me a very tasty looking blended iced coffee. "Thought you could do with a little caffeine to wash down the pain meds." He sat beside me and rested a hand on my thigh on top of the covers.

"Thank you," I said, leaning in to give him a kiss. It wasn't often I drank coffee, but it was certainly needed now, and I was thankful for Jasper running into town to make my day a little easier.

But this moment couldn't last, I needed to accompany Carlisle up to the Res. At least I could see with my own eyes everyone was okay and work to make sure it stayed that way.

…

Seth's screams as Carlisle reset his broken bones were excruciating to hear. I couldn't imagine how much they hurt Sue and Leah as they helped hold him still.

The two women and Sam were in the house with Carlisle, while the rest of the pack and I sat outside the Clearwater's little house. Everyone flinched at every sound. And I was thankful for my very human senses allowing me to miss the details of the sounds.

Jacob had sat beside me on the front step when he saw me shivering, even through my layers of winter clothes. His warmth radiated through me, and I let him rest his arm across my shoulder.

"So, Bells," He began, "What's the deal with that new leech?"

"Don't call them leeches, Jake," I shook my head an took a deep breath. "It's pretty simple. Alice saw her and knew she was the one and there wasn't anything she could ever to do not be with her." I didn't need to say when she had seen her, that was unimportant.

"So, she fell in love at first site and that's it, new vamp in town?" Paul called from his seat on the path.

"It isn't quite that simple." I countered. Not really wanting to argue with Paul on this.

"It's that whole thing like Sam and Emily. Everything stopped when they met, soulmates." I added.

"Like me and Kim." Jared added, which was news to me, but I smiled at him anyway.

"And like me and Jasper." I finished.

"Wait," Embry asked, "I don't want to sound like an asshole but how can you choose to have that with one of them? They aren't even human?" He paused for a moment, but I could see he wasn't finished. "They could kill you Bella, they're probably planning to kill you and make you one of them."

"It wasn't something I chose, but I couldn't imagine my life without Jasper. He is as important to my life as the air I breathe, and when I'm away from him its physically uncomfortable. And I know that there is a way I can be with him forever. Why wouldn't I choose that?"

I hoped to God that I wasn't royally screwing up the little mission Carlisle had sent me on. My brain was far too exhausted for this.

"I think Bella and I have had this argument a hundred times in the last year." Jacob said. There was something authoritative in his voice. The way he sat. The set of his face. Half of the assembled boys and men were older than him and they all listened.

"But it is her choice, and though the treaty with the Cullen's still stands, clearly times have changed, and it may be time to look at that."

"That isn't your call to make Jacob." Paul said, trying to puff out his chest and seem to be the bigger man. He looked ready to jump up and fight over it if necessary.

"It sort of is, and you know it, Paul." He answered, though by the increase in weight on my shoulders I knew he was relaxing, he saw no threat there. "Sam and I have spoken about it and are going to take it up with the Elders." He looked over his shoulder, towards where Carlisle still treated Seth. "Clearly, we decided it was okay for the doctor to come onto our land, and if Bella is entering into this freely, then why not. They are no threat to us."

….

Eventually Carlisle was done with Seth, who he had managed to sedate, and we were ready to head home.

I wanted to ask Carlisle how I went with speaking with the wolves, I thought it had been managed well, but as soon as I sat in the soft leather seat of the shiny Mercedes my eyelids began to droop. With a soft chuckle Carlisle turned up the heater and I gave in to the tiredness.

I barely stirred when someone picked me up out of the car and seeing as they curled up into bed with me, I assumed it was Jasper and fell back into the deep sleep.

Eventually though, I wasn't able to sleep any more.

"Good evening." Jasper whispered. "Have a good nap"

I merely nodded as I stretched out the kinks in my body, my arms above my head.

"It's about six, are you hungry?"

"Absolutely starved." I answered with a yawn.

"Well then, it's time for you to have some dinner, and meet your first newborn."

Bree was beautiful, of course. There was no denying that.

But she was tiny. Taller than Alice's tiny frame but the same bird-like build and thin in the extreme. Like a stiff breeze would send her flying away. And she was young. Maybe fifteen when she was changed. Not much more than a child.

But her eyes. They were the worst.

Not only where they the most vivid red I had ever seen, redder than even our traditional vampire friends after hunting, but the look in them was haunting. Traumatised and traumatising.

What had this girl been through in her life.

She wasn't covered in physical scars like Jasper was, but it was just as plain in the way she held herself, the way she watched everyone and everything, and the way she barley spoke.

I could even see her fighting between wanting to stick as close to Alice as possible, like she wanted to hide behind the other tiny girl. But also like she couldn't quite bring herself to touch Alice.

As I sat at the kitchen bench eating my pasta, Alice and Bree sat at the loveseat in the furthest corner of the living room. For my safety.

Everyone else had positioned themselves between us. Again, for my safety.

I should have been terrified, but with everyone in our family, our cousins for lack of better word, and friends, I knew there was no chance of danger.

But they were all on edge.

And it only got worse when Alice made an announcement.

"Bree and I are leaving." She said, her eyes looking at another world. "Alaska." She smiled vaguely towards Tanya.

"How long for?" Esme asked, seemingly about to cry. I could have joined her.

"Not too long, only until everything is worked out for Bella. I'll be home for that." She smiled at me, her eyes finally present. "I wouldn't miss that for the world."

"I'll miss you, Alice. Even if it's only for a few months." I replied, my voice betraying how much it hurt me.

"It looks like summer. You look beautiful in the sun." She spoke. "And you'll still be able to talk to me all the time, and I can shop online for you."

I nodded to stop my voice cracking when I replied.

"But it is better for you, and for us, for it to be this way. For my safety, right?"

In a heartbeat she was in front of me and pulling me in for a hug.

"Unfortunately, it will be so much easier for both you and for Bree," She smiled and looked over her shoulder to the girl in question, "Otherwise you won't be able to be in the house as much and Bree has been through a lot, I think some seclusion would be good for her."

I held her a little closer, my closest friend and the closest thing I had to a sister, and then she was stepping back.

"As for why I am dropping out of school, we need to come up with a good reason and one that also lets the rest of you off with skipping a little more." She laughed after a brief pause of her eyes looking elsewhere again. "The school is concerned about how much Bella misses already, we need a good excuse for the rest of the year."

Emmett laughed. "What are they going to do about Bella's truancy, call her dad?"

Everyone had a little laugh at my expense, and everything seemed to relax a little in the room. Alice was back on the loveseat, and everyone between us had visually relaxed almost to the point where it could have been a normal gathering.

If it weren't for the unnaturally still girl staring directly at me with her bloody eyes.

Everyone began throwing out suggestions as to what would work as a long term cover story. An accident, faking her death, a runaway.

All had potential but all sounded shockingly like what we had discussed about my planned disappearance.

It would be too much to have two unexpected and unexplained deaths in the family in such a short time. A double tragedy worthy of media attention we could not afford.

Finally, Rosalie suggested a long term illness, sudden in onset and requiring Alice to be in a major hospital for some time.

"Epilepsy." She simply told. "You have a reputation for zoning out when you have your visions and being a little spacey, why not play that up?"

Everyone in the family all looked at each other, mulling over the idea.

"We could say you've had a severe seizure and have been admitted into a specialist clinic, maybe in Seattle?" Carlisle said.

Alice got that far off glazed look again. Then a smile and nod as she came back into the room.

"That works, it keeps questions away from us and makes us seem a lot more normal, having a slight family tragedy. And it means if needed anyone can come and 'visit' me if you need to skip school."

"Looks like I have some new records to arrange." Jasper said, still standing next to where I was sitting, his hand laid gently on my shoulder.

I couldn't manage for my voice to be louder than a whisper, but I knew it would be heard.

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow."

I was thankful for Jasper's calming presence and it's ability to stop me from straight up sobbing. And from the slightly tighter grip on my shoulder, I knew he was already feeling the pain of Alice leaving too.