Chapter 18: What did you do, Bella?

It was the next morning, I saw that I was left alone in the bed. There was a sticky note by the nightstand, and the note said

I went to work in the morning with Sam. I be back by 5pm. I left my debit card by the note. Use it to grab whatever you need for the bonfire tonight. Seth is coming over at 8am.

Paul

I looked at the clock, and it was 7:30am. I still have time to get ready before meeting Seth. I rubbed myself from the sleepiness. My body still tired from the long drive to Seattle, I was reminded of the text that Bella texted the night before,

I texted,

Sure. When?

I went to proceed to get ready as I wait for Bella to respond back. I showered and dressed in casual jogger black jeans and dark loose T-shirt. Since I would be decorating the house, no need to look cute. I rather be comfortable.

I went to the kitchen when I heard someone knocking at the door. I opened the door, and standing there was a smiling Seth. His smile and energy are so contagious and inviting that I can't help but smile back at him.

Seth said, "Hey, Ale! I'm here to help more things around the house. Tell me what I need to do, and I do it swiftly.

I laughed, "Sure thing, Seth."

I let him inside the house, and I asked, "Have you eaten breakfast?"

He said, "Yeah.."

I added, "But..?"

He scratched his head, and said, "I ate in a hurry because I was running late here, and if I ran late here then Paul would've kicked my ass later."

I said, "Oh Seth. I may be a punctual person myself, but I am also lenient. I won't get upset if you are running a little late. Just give me head up whenever you are running late."

He said, "Okay…"

I said, "How about this. You go put my wardrobe in the bedroom, and set up the bookshelf in the bedroom, and I go make something for you."

He said brightly, "I would like that!"

I nodded, and I went to the kitchen. I went to make eggs with ranchero sauce, and I pulled out Goya family-sized black refried bean can. I pulled it out onto a pat. I added a little water, oil, garlic salt, Goya all-natural seasoning (A/N: adobo/sazon whether nickname most people know it by, but you get the gist) to fix the taste and make the refried bean more smoother than thick. I know my family would be so disappointed in me for not actually make beans, but I don't got time to wait hours to make beans. I am still waiting on Bella's response, and I still need to help fix things around the house to make it more of a home for me. I don't got time worrying whether I am gonna burn the beans because I would be getting distracted with helping Seth around the house. I also pulled one platano to make fried plantains, and next to it, I warmed a lot of corn tortillas too, hoping tortillas would satiate the young wolf.

Seth came out of the room, and he said, "I finished! And Ohh, that smells so good."

I turned around, and said, "I don't know what you are used to eating, but I made a typical Hispanic dish we eat in the morning. I hope it isn't too much of a new experience for you"

He said, "Ohh! I love Mexican food!"

I bit my tongue back. Yeah, there is this conception that anytime someone see a Hispanic dish they equate it to Mexican like how people do it with Asian food, they equate it to Chinese food.

I said gently, "Yep. Not all Hispanic dishes are Mexican dishes, so I would be showing you some Salvadorean food as well."

He said innocently, "ohh" as he sat down in the dining table.

I brought his plate, and I brought the container that is keeping the corn tortillas warm. He waited for me to sit down before he digs in. When I sat down, he asked everything that was on the plate, and I showed him that most people usually use the tortilla to scoop the red beans and eggs like a breakfast taco. He tried each thing curiously and he would smile brightly, "this is so good!" He would eat the friend plantains like chips, and it was so funny to see it happening.

Then, I heard my phone in my pocket made a sound. I dug it out, and when I looked the screen, it was Bella. She was finally responded back.

She texted,

Can you come over to my house in an hour? I know the pack won't like it if you go meet at Cullens house. We can meet halfway in my place.

I don't know why, but I just have a feeling that I can't say no to meeting her right now.

Seth asked, "What's up?"

I looked at Seth, and said, "Bella wants to meet up with me."

Seth expression got a little troubled. He said, "I don't know…you're Paul's mate..I think it is too soon for you to go meet with Bella since she is connected to the Cullens..As Paul's mate, your safety takes priority of hurting her feelings..I'm sorry. I don't want Paul to get upset over this."

I nodded in understanding, "I get it..but how about you tag along with me? I won't be completely alone, and I really need to talk to her. It is something very important."

He looked at me, and I could tell he was thinking about it before he sigh, "Okay Okay, but the moment things gets intense, I will whisk you away." He said the last part a little more serious, and his eyes flashed silver for a second.

I texted back,

Sure. Seth is going to come because as a newly imprint, Paul wont like it if I go over there alone.

There was a moment of pause, before she texted back

Okay.

From the looks from the texts, Bella appears to be furious. Seth gave me a shy smile and said, "Well, Paul said I can use his truck. "

I said, "Okay, can you drive? I don't know how to drive a truck, and I am not too familiar with the area."

Seth replied, "Yeah!"

Seth offered to help me wash dishes as we got ready to throw boxes from the bookshelf out to the trash in the yard. We got on Paul's truck, and Seth drove us out of the reservation. As we were driving, I asked Seth, "Do you happen to know why Paul's eyes are still lighting up silver? Is it a wolf thing because sometimes I see the other's eyes light up once in awhile."

Seth frozed, looking nervously before he said, "Oh. You know, it's the first few days as a new imprint, his wolf is still getting used to having a mate and he is very in tune with his wolf."

I said quizzingly, "Oh yeah? Is there something you're not telling me?"

He said nervously, "..uhh. Its something Paul needs to tell you himself..I can't tell you, sorry Ale."

Oh.. so there is something up, and it wasn't me being too suspicious, but I didn't want to pester him, so I said gently, "That's okay. I'll go ask Paul myself. Don't worry about it, ok?"

He nodded.

When we pulled up to Bella's place, Charlie's police cruiser was still parked there. I winced because I wasn't prepared to meet Charlie. I like Charlie, and I wish I had a dad like Charlie. Unfortunately, Bella doesn't see it and put him through a lot of things since she first moved in with him. I walked behind Seth as we walked to their front door. Seth knocked loudly, and I heard a man opening up the door and it was definitely Charlie from his appearance. He had his uniform on, his iconic mustache, and kind brown eyes with wrinkles at the corner of his eyes.

He looked surprised, "Oh Hey there Seth, what brought you over here? How's Sue?"

Seth replied back cheerfully, "Hey Charlie. Mom's doing great, busy as usual with handling the diner. Uh, we came over to hang out with Bella."

Charlie eyes light up, "oh! I'm glad to hear that."

He looked to the side and saw me standing there.

He asked nicely, "you must be Alexandria, right?"

I nodded and replied politely, "Yes sir. Pleasure to meet you Chief Swan."

He waved his hand away, and said, "no need for formalities when you are in my house, you can call me Charlie. I have heard about you from Bella and Edward this morning."

Not liking to the sound of that. I questioned, "oh yeah?" I was worried what they say and what cover they gave me since Charlie is still in the dark with everything regarding the supernatural.

Charlie scratched his beard as he was trying to remember, "Ah! You are Jasper's relative right. You hanged out with Jacob and Bella during spring break this year, even though I don't know why Billy didn't tell me anything that someone visited the reservation. That is how you got together with Paul and moved up here recently. "

I nodded faking my enthusiasm, "yeah!"

He nodded, "Well I have to go now. It is nice meeting you, Ale. Come inside, don't be a stranger."

I nodded as he walked and drove off from his police cruiser.

We waited until we saw him drive away before we got inside and closed the door, Bella appeared and said with fake cheerfulness, "Hey Seth! I made chocolate cake and I have a chocolate shake by the fridge. How about you help yourself as I talk to Ale? How does that sound?"

Seth smiled thankfully, "thanks bells! Now, I get the chance to eat your famous cooking that Jake always brag about."

Bella had a forced smile. Yep, she was bothered about Jacob disappearing based from her reaction.

Seth went to the kitchen and she told me, "would you mind going up to my room to talk?"

I said nonchantly, "sure."

I walked up stairs behind her slowly. We walked awkwardly into her bedroom, she sat down in her bed as she motioned me to sit the chair in front of me. I am getting a bad feeling about this. It feels like I am going to be interrogated instead of chatting with her..

I sat down and looked at her. She was biting her lips, unsure what to say, so I went first, "What is it you want to ask me?"

She stopped biting her lips. She looked and said testy, "Uhm, what did you say to Jacob?"

I said, "I told him what he needed to hear which isn't really your business unless Jake tells you himself. I won't talk about it in detail until he comes back."

She said, "It is my business because now my best friend is gone for who knows what. I don't know how long he is going to take in his spirit walk, and he won't be here for my wedding. My wedding is coming up in three weeks."

I said, "If he was really in danger, then I would've told you. I promise you that he is okay…Do you even understand why he went on a spirit walk? This is really important to him, Bella."

Bella said, "My wedding is important too…It would be my last time seeing him before I go become a vampire. I wanted him to see me as a human one last time. He couldn't have waited until after my wedding?"

I said snidely, "No, he couldn't. If I hadn't stepped in, things would've gotten a lot more worse. Either way, I think seeing you one last time at the wedding would actually be really hard on Jacob..It wont help him at all Bella."

Bella said pesteringly, "How would've gotten a lot more worse? What happens to Jake?"

She avoided answering the last thing I said.

I said, "Lets say he would have faced a fate worse than death. He needed someone to help him, and I happened to be there, so we talked."

Bella stuttered, "But why you ?I..I'm his best friend…I know everything about him. A lot more than you!"

I said, "You are closer to him than I am, but you only pay attention certain things about him only if it was in your favor. Hell, even when you knew, you still treated him this way and that actually hurt him a lot more than it hurt you."

She looked taken back, and frowned, "He knew where I stand with him. I always chose Edward, and it will always have been Edward."

I said, "Yeah, but you still made him stick by your side because 'you couldn't be without him' and because he is the "sun" in your life while Edward is the "moon" that you can't live without. Knowing how he felt about you and still forced him to see you with Edward, that was the most despicable thing you could have done. It was Jake's fault for trying to keep latching onto you when you kept saying no to him, but you weren't a saint either Bella."

Bella replied defensively, "I know I am not perfect. Do you think letting Jake go was easy for me? Letting him go was the most difficult thing that I ever did because he means too much to me. He helped me in my worst times, and I wanted to be there for him in his worst times. I thought he finally accepted my decisions."

I crossed my arms and said, "Oh, I know very well what you went through. Don't think I don't but I just cant trust you with him right now Bella…You know why he is struggling, what good would you do? Rub it more in his face, that he can't have you? I know you were hurting when you first approached Jake, but you didn't approach him with good intentions. I know exactly why you first approached Jake and it wasn't about the bikes and finding a new hobby. Also, just because he finally comes to terms to your decisions doesn't mean he isn't hurting Bella."

She looked at me nervously, "What do you mean by that?"

I said, "you know exactly what I mean. You went to Jacob because by doing dangerous activities, you would get a hallucination of Edward speaking to you. You were so desperate to hear his voice that you used Jacob's kind heart before he transformed and tossed him aside the moment Edward came back to the picture. You never told him about that, haven't you? No offense, but what happens with being honest with your best friend? You still hold back things from Jacob, and you get mad when Edward does it to you, but you do almost the same thing as Edward."

She froze and glared icily, "Are you going to tell Jake? Please don't. I know I messed up a lot with him, and I already the paid consequences of how I treated him. Either way, didn't you say that I am Edward's mate? How can you say that?"

I sighed, "Just because you are Edward's mate, it doesn't justify that how you treated your life and those around you when you weren't with him. That was just not healthy no matter in what angle you see it. You were willing to get yourself killed to hear Edward's voice. Hell, even when you smack Paul in the face, you heard Edward's voice. Those few months without Edward, you didn't learn anything. All it confirmed that Edward did love you, but you personally didn't learn anything about yourself. You didn't grow as a person during that time. I'm sorry Bella, but you need to hear this hard truth."

I continued, "Right now, you are not acting like Jacob's friend. You are acting selfish, self-centered, and inconsiderate of Jake's feelings."

She grumbled with her arms crossed to her chest, "I am not going to sit here, let you talk to me like that."

I said, "Well, I can't change how you see this conversation, but know this, just as you made Jacob accept your decisions in life. You too need to accept of what he is going to do once he comes back and whether he is going to show up to the wedding or not. Once you become a vampire Bella, he wouldn't be able to treat you the same no matter how much you wanted things to be back the way it is. You gotta accept that not everything is gonna go the way you want it, and you gotta adapt to that Bella."

I heard a loud thumb in the living room, and I said, "What was that?"

Bella just stood there, looking anxious and guilty?

Worried, I stood up to see if Seth was okay. I left her room. When I went downstairs, I saw that Seth was on the floor snoozing away.

Bella came behind me, and she said stuttering, "When.. when you told Carlisle that it might be hard for you to come, Edward and I started planning things. ..Edward ..he went close to the borders, and he heard one of the wolves thoughts. They heard Sam thinking about sending Seth to stay with you for few hours, and Paul wouldn't be home with you. Edward took that chance to tell me, so I texted you. When you replied that you had to bring Seth, Edward got an idea for me to cook something with heavy doses of sedatives that Edward took from Carlisle office to knock Seth out, so we could bring you to the Cullen's house. I think..I think Edward said it would knock him out for 2 hours before Seth burns it off?"

I said astonishingly, "You didn't think of asking of how I felt about that plan?"

Damn Edward and his manipulative tendencies.

Bella opened her mouth and closed it, not knowing what else to say.

I frowned, pinching my nose bridge, "Did you guys even think that if Paul can't contact Seth when he passes out, he would go look for me? Do you guys want to face a very pissed off wolf at the front door of the house? Hell, he might think that you guys have knidnapped me. The fact that you guys drugged Seth, it really looks bad on you guys, and the Quileutes would not forgive so easily. Not only that, I don't think I would be able to get near you and the Cullens any time now..but..sigh since its already done, lets go and not waste any more time"

She nodded in understanding before frowning. She went to grab her keys, and I wrote a quick note to Seth that I went out with Bella and I would be back soon, and to not panic. I got on to her truck as she drove speeding toward the Cullen's house. She asked softly, "What is it that you want to tell us?"

I said, "Lets just say that in my timeline, something big happens to you during your honeymoon and it changes the fate of you and the Cullens forever. I need to talk to Edward, you and Carlisle together regarding that. But I need to hurry because I don't want the wolves to know about it because in the other timeline, they didn't take that news well."

She gasped and covered her mouth.

As we were approaching the house, I thought loudly,

I hope I made the right decision. I am risking a lot.

Author's Note:

Remember how I mentioned that I had this chapter already being written as I was writing Chapter 16 and 17? Well, here ya go!

I have work, so I won't post until later in the week. Let's see how the Cullens react to the news, and whether Paul is going to find out about Ale being taken to the Cullens residence.

As always, reviews are very much appreciated, and thank you guys so much for the support and feedback/comments that I have been receiving. Don't worry, I have been reading them, and it has given me encouragement.

See you guys soon!