It was later, when Bella had been roped into letting Tanya and Irina do her makeup and paint her fingernails, that Irina's mate appeared. Kate was upstairs doing god only knows what and making a ruckus even though she was definitely a thousand of years old vampire who should have been able to do anything quietly. Tanya had muttered something about "Kate being Kate" when it had started and Bella had just laughed.
"Hey, babe," Irina said in the middle of painting Bella's fingernails and the human furrowed her eyebrows before she heard the front door open. Oh, her mate was back. Made more sense.
The human looked up before anyone else in the room and made eye contact with someone that she never thought she'd see again. She froze and her breath caught in her throat before she forced herself to relax. Both vampires in the room had noticed the change though and Tanya looked up at Bella curiously as Irina turned towards Laurent.
Kate came barreling down the stairs in that moment and made eye contact with Bella questioningly. Bella assumed that she'd heard her heartbeat pick up. All was silent for a long moment before Laurent was the one to break the silence, "It's been a while, Isabella," He said simply and Bella shrugged and relaxed. Kate wouldn't have brought her into a dangerous situation. And Laurent had never been the one that Bella was truly scared of anyway.
"It has," She agreed, "What? Five years?" She asked and he nodded after thinking for a moment, "So," She started and trailed off, "How's life?" She tried and Laurent cracked a smile.
"Same old, same old," He said in the same tone that she'd asked the question in. Everyone else in the room looked truly confused.
It was Kate who finally spoke up, "Care to fill the rest of us in on what's going on?" She asked and Bella could hear her voice about to become hysterical.
"That your mate?" Laurent asked and Bella just nodded with a smile, "Then I don't think I want to be present for this conversation," He said and Bella laughed.
"Probably wise?" She said with a shrug, "No hard feelings though, dude," She threw in and Laurent gave her a smirk.
0~0~0
Irina and Tanya had left with Laurent. He'd promised to fill them in, but Kate had wanted to hear whatever it was from Bella and Bella alone. She'd pulled the human into her lap on the couch and Bella was currently straddling her mate and twisting Kate's blonde hair between her fingers distractedly.
"Bella," The vampire said pleadingly and Bella sighed and dropped her hands to her lap. She could feel Kate's hands wrapped around her lower back and tracing soft patterns there to soothe her. She really didn't want to relive this and tell this story again.
"Okay," She sighed and took a deep breath, "I was playing baseball with the Cullens," She started from there and told her story. Every detail, everything she could possibly remember. She didn't spare Kate from anything. Her stupid decision to leave by herself. James biting her. Edward almost killing her. Victoria setting her sights on her. Jacob and the pack protecting her. Edward leaving her alone to fend for herself against Victoria. She told her everything.
When she finally finished, she sat back and let out a breath. Kate's arms had tightened around her marginally, but the vampire was rigid now. There were no more patterns being traced against her skin, no smile gracing vampire lips, nothing.
The human brought her hands up and cupped Kate's cheeks gently, "Kate?" She asked softly and the vampire blinked and seemed to realize that she'd checked out. She'd heard every word Bella had said, but she was processing it all. The next thing Bella knew, she was being pulled into a crushing hug. She didn't really mind and tucked her face against Kate's neck, "Kate, I'm fine," She tried to reassure her mate and the vampire just tightened her arms around Bella's back. Bella just sank against Kate to give her the time to process.
She eventually felt Kate relax some and sat back to look into golden eyes, "Why didn't you tell me?" Kate asked quietly and Bella just shrugged.
"It's not something I like to talk about… Or remember to be honest," She said after a moment, "I hoped it wouldn't come up."
"Bella," Kate started and she scrambled for words, "Baby," She said and then shook her head, "God, I'm so sorry," She finally said with a sigh and Bella shook her head as she brought her hands up to Kate's face.
"There's nothing for you to apologize for."
