Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Twilight or Vampire Diaries. Those rights are reserved for Stephanie Myer and L.J. Smith. Thank you.
Writer's note: Thank you LunaM303 for commenting! Lazygirl89, I can't say for sure if I want to pair Damon and Bella. It's open to many possibilities at this point. I have an idea of how I want it to go, but right now, I'm just playing with them. Let me know if you have any suggestions!
Sleep came fast for the girls. Bella and Elena lay facing each other on the bed with Caroline and Bonnie laid across the foot of the bed over Bella and Elena's feet. They had all been up late talking about Mystic Falls High School, and Bella had listened to Caroline speak, rapidly, about the ins and outs of the school. Bella offered small smiles and nods and hardly spoke, but that was okay. She enjoyed listening to the others talk about everything.
Bonnie painted Bella's toenails for her, an electric blue. It made Bella feel better, and eventually they all had succumbed to sleep.
I promise that this will be the last time you'll see me. I won't come back. I won't put you through anything like this again. You can go on with your life without any more interference from me…It will be as if I'd never existed…
Edward…no…
Bella began to toss in her sleep. Her face pained from her nightmare. Elena felt Bella shifting on the bed and Caroline sprung awake with Bonnie sitting up abruptly too. Bella's painful groans made Elena reach out and try to lightly shake Bella.
"Bella, you're dreaming, come on Bella wake up," Elena said gently, but it was no use. Bella started to thrash now, sending Caroline and Bonnie to a standing position now next to the bed.
"No…. No!" Bella groaned out in anguish, still asleep.
Her nightmare shifts and she's in the old ballet studio now. She hears her mother's voice and she rushed towards the sound. James laughter snaps Bella's attention to him. It was only a tape. A recording of her mother's voice. Her mom is safe and sound.
"Oh, still stubborn, are we? Is that what makes you so special to Edward?" James eyes are dark, almost like pitch as he lunges for Bella.
Bella starts screaming now in her sleep, and it has Elena violently shaking her now and yelling her name. "Bella!" Caroline and Bonnie are trying to help Elena shake her awake when Alaric runs into the room, witnessing Bella twist in the bed like she's in pain. Suddenly Bella's eyes fly open and she's sitting up abruptly in bed. She's panting and sweat has beaded her forehead. Her eyes are wild and confused at first. She had to remember where she was. She wasn't home in Forks; she was in Mystic Falls now.
Just then Jeanne and Jeremy were running into the room.
"Bella!" Jenna said as she flung herself to Bella on the bed. Bella caught Jenna awkwardly as she looked around the room. She was now embarrassed that she had woke the entire house up with her nightmare. It was always the same nightmare.
"I-I'm so sorry," Bella stammered as Jenna pulled back and looked at Bella. Her hands were on Bella's face and looking at her with a worried look.
"Hey, it's okay," Bonnie said and sat on the bed now, running a hand down her arm. "We couldn't get you to wake up," she said, and Caroline sat down now too.
"Are you okay Bella?" Jeremy asked with a shaky breath. When he heard Bella screaming like that, he thought that someone had gotten in the house somehow and she was in danger. He had forgotten that Alaric had told them about her nightmares.
"I'm fine Jeremy, I'm really sorry for disturbing everyone," Bella muttered and pulled her knees up to her chest.
Alaric leaned down on the bed, pulling Jenna away now. "Hey kiddo, it's okay. Nightmares are called nightmares for a reason. Do you want to talk about it?"
Bella looked around the room at her uncle, and her new friends. She smiled a small smile. "Maybe not tonight, thank you," she said quietly. He only nodded and stood and put a hand on Jenna and Jeremy's arm. "Okay. Well, try to lay back down and get some rest," he said before dragging Jenna and Jeremy out of the room.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Caroline asked, her blue eyes searched Bella's and Bella nodded. "Yes, I'm sure I'm fine. I have nightmares a lot. I really am sorry," she apologized again.
Elena pulled Bella against her side now and hugged her. Bonnie put her arms around Bella, and Caroline followed suit. Bella felt comforted and then the tears softly fell from her face. She didn't know why she couldn't keep them from falling, but here she sat, with three new friends embracing her, giving her support and love, and she didn't know what to say or feel. When she felt Caroline's embrace though, her white crescent scar tingled. Caroline didn't seem to notice, and this confused Bella. She reached a hand up and wiped away the tears.
"Thank you," she said softly. She laid back down on the bed with Elena and Bonnie on both sides of her. They still kept their arms wrapped around her, as Caroline sat at the end of the bed looking at them. Her eyes met Elena's. Caroline seemed to be worried deeply about Bella. She had felt the tingling when she hugged her, and she wondered what this meant. She watched as her friends fell asleep. When they were out for sure, Caroline stood and went to the window. She pulled out her cellphone and texted Stefan about the tingling she felt when she hugged Bella.
I felt it too. He sent back quickly. This only confused Caroline more. She decided that she would get Stefan alone tomorrow and talk to him about this new discovery. For now, she would curl up on the bed with the other three and try to get some sleep.
When daylight peeked through the windows, it was quiet in the house. Bella didn't fall back into a nightmare trap, but that didn't mean she didn't feel exhausted when she woke up. The other girls were still sleeping, holding her tight. She didn't want to move in fear of waking them up, but she really had to get up to go pee. She tried to wiggle out of their hold gently, but that didn't work, and Bonnie and Elena started moving around. They realized that Bella was awake and released their hold on Bella. Bonnie moved and bumped Caroline, sending Caroline into the floor.
"Ah!" Caroline said as she hit the ground. Her hair fluffed around her in her face, and it had Bonnie giggling. Bella giggled too as she leapt out of the bed now and darted into the bathroom.
"Bonnie!" Caroline whined and Elena busted out laughing.
When Bella returned to the room, Caroline was sitting up on the bed now. Her and Elena were talking quietly, and Bonnie was heading out of the room, bumping into Bella. "Oh! Sorry," Bonnie laughed. "I was going to go uh…check on Jeremy," she said, heat rising to her face. Bella only smiled and stepped aside. "It's cool. Thank you for last night," she murmured quietly. Bonnie gave her a gently squeeze on her arm, and then walked down the hall quietly to Jeremy's room.
"So, what's the plan today?" Bella asked as she plopped down on the bed.
Caroline's phone started ringing and so she got up to answer it, offering Bella a smile and held up a finger as to tell her one second. She shifted over to the window to talk on her phone.
"Well, I was thinking we could just go into town and just do some light shopping or something like that," Elena offered. "I mean, you don't have a lot of clothes." She inserted quickly.
Bella wrinkled her nose. She really didn't like shopping. "Well, I have to call Charlie this morning, and let him know that I'm really okay and to just check in. Can I borrow a phone?"
"You don't have a cellphone?" Elena quizzed, raising a brow. Bella shook her head. Elena smiled and reached over to the nightstand and grabbed her cellphone and handed it to Bella. "Here you go. We're definitely going shopping and getting you a phone. Alaric will have to come with," she said and bounced out of bed.
Caroline finished her phone call. "Sorry, it was mom. She got home late from her shift and wanted to check in with me." She said and stretched her arms above her head. "So, shopping sounds nice," she said and quickly went to Bella's closet and looked through her clothes.
"I'm not going to get out of this shopping thing, am I?" Bella asked Elena. Elena smiled and shook her head.
"Bella! You don't have any girlie clothes. Everything is jeans and shirts." Caroline complained.
Bella looked to Elena and then over at Caroline, who was emerging from the closet now. "Elena, she's going to have to borrow a top, jeans will do, oh and that cute pair of white wedges you have. I can make that work," Caroline said quickly before dashing back into the closet.
Before Bella could protest Elena left to her room to gather the items Caroline demanded. Bella sighed and looked down at the cellphone. She dialed Charlie's number and hugged her knees up to her chest. He answered on the second ring.
"Chief Swan," he said gruffly, and sleepily. Bella forgot about the time zone difference.
"Dad, it's Bella, I'm using Elena's phone to call you," she said. "I'm sorry I woke you. I forgot about the time difference. It's six in the morning there isn't it?"
"Hey Bells," his voice was softer now. "It's okay. I'll have to save Elena's number in my phone, so I know who's calling. How are you? I heard you had an attack yesterday, and a nightmare."
Bella sighed. "I'm fine. I'm getting better, I promise. I didn't mean to worry anyone," she said quietly. Elena came into the room now and moved to the closet to Caroline, not wanting to interrupt Bella's conversation with her dad.
"Well, I love you Bells. They're talking about the Chief election in a couple weeks, so we'll see how that turns out. I figured Ryan would step in as interim, but you know how he is, so I'm stuck for a bit." He said with regret in his voice.
Bella smiled. "It's okay dad. I'm going into town with the girls today…to shop…" she shuddered, and she heard her dad chuckle.
"I put money in your account Bells, so you just have fun, and don't stress or worry about anything, Love you." He said, with a yawn.
Bella smiled. "Love you too dad. Go back to sleep. I'll call you tomorrow," she said and hung up with her dad. She took a breath and then got up off the bed as Elena and Caroline came out of the closet with clothes in hand.
Bella hated wearing anything with remotely any heel, and she complained about it to both Caroline and Elena, but they fussed over her. They curled her hair at the bottom and applied some smokey-eye makeup to her as well. She hated being primped up like this, but she let them dress her up like a little doll. Instead of jeans, they forced her into a ruffled white skirt that came down to her ankle, and the navy-blue blouse seemed to fit her perfectly, only showing a little of her bellybutton when she raised an arm up. The coat that Elena let her borrow flowed to her ankles. She wore some warm leggings under the skirt to keep her legs warm from the winds. It was February, and some snow was still on the ground outside. It was supposed to snow later on, the weatherman had said, so they had to be prepared. She didn't own a purse, so Elena graciously let her use one of hers. They headed into town after grabbing a couple bagels from Jenna and they darted out the door. Bonnie promised Jeremy that they would meet up later since he had to go to school.
They weaved in and out of stores buying all kinds of things that Bella really didn't need. Makeup, shoes, curling iron, a straightener, bras, panties, the whole works. Bella's head was starting to spin with all the stuff that they were loading down in Elena's small sized SUV. Alaric met them at the phone store, and he got her a new phone. It wasn't like she disliked technology, it was just that her last phone, sort of bit the dust after a little incident. She just never replaced it. She texted her dad her new number, and after a few thoughts, she text Jake too.
They made it to the Grille for lunch and they all plopped down in a booth. "I'm actually pretty happy we did this," Bella said after the waiter brought them their sodas. "I really don't like shopping, but I think that I could get used to it with you Caroline," Bella said. She really didn't like shopping, but she could appreciate all the effort that Caroline, Elena, and Bonnie put into it today. She wanted to make this work and keep these friends.
"Awwwww, Bella!" Caroline said, grinning really big.
Suddenly, Damon walked into the Grille. Elena saw him saunter over and she rolled her eyes as she took a long drink from her soda in front of her. Caroline didn't seem to be as bothered by Damon, like Bonnie and Elena did, Bella noted.
"Ladies," he said and winked at Bella before moving to the bar.
Bella watched him walk to the bar and she couldn't help but be intrigued by him. He was definitely a peculiar character.
Stefan walked in not long after Damon and smiled to Elena as he walked over. "Hey guys," he said and drug a chair over to the booth.
"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" Elena raised a brow.
"Well, you see, I decided to ditch after lunch period," he said with a white grin.
Bella smiled to Stefan as their eyes met. Suddenly she saw his eyes change, almost like an alert. His smile stayed on his face, but his eyes said something differently. She wasn't sure why the sudden change happened, but it made him tense up. She glanced away, and saw Damon getting up from the bar as well and heading towards the entrance. She smiled to Elena who was talking to Bonnie about something and moved to get out. Elena let her out, looking to Stefan and saw Damon moving through the Grille. She wanted to stop Bella from going to Damon, but Stefan placed a hand on Bella's to stop her.
"I'll just be right back," Bella murmured to Elena with a smile and turned to follow Damon. After a few moments Stefan was behind her.
"Bella," he said lowly. "I don't think you should go outside," he put a hand on her shoulder and the tingling shot through her and him. He didn't move his hand this time, and neither did she shrug his hand away.
"I'll just be a moment," she said and then moved away from him. She walked to the entrance and noticed how the clouds had shifted outside to be overcast. She knew it was supposed to snow today. Damon was standing just outside the entrance looking at something or someone.
"Damon?" Bella said as she came to stand next to him. She followed his gaze and the shock went through her and chilled her more than the winter air.
"It can't be…" Bella murmured. Damon's hand reached out to Bella to steady her.
"What are you doing here?" Damon's voice called.
Bella's thoughts were raging around in her head. Why? What did this mean now that…? blackness overtook her suddenly as the attack ripped through her body suddenly.