Chapter 5:
The next morning, when Bella opened her eyes, the first thing she did was to look at her hand to see if Elijah's ring was really there. She smiled. It hadn't been a dream, she really was engaged to the man of her dreams and she would be married to him in less than 2 weeks. It was hard to believe she had only been here for a couple of days. To her, it felt like she had been here for ages, maybe this was the proof that this was where she truly belonged, by Elijah's side.
For a moment, she wondered how it would happen when she got back to her present, what she would tell her father who was completely clueless to the supernatural world, how her mother would react... Then she decided she would cross that bridge when she came to it. Hopefully, Elijah would have an idea by then, or she will… Well, someone will have an idea. If not she could always count on her grandmother to help her.
She got up, got dressed, and went in the main room to help Esther getting breakfast ready. Nobody else appeared to be awake yet.
"You seem to have had a better night." Esther noticed with a small smile after the usual greetings.
"Yes, I didn't have any nightmares. It didn't mean that I didn't speak though, I'm sure Rebekah has heard some weird stuff anyway. I always talk in my sleep, for as long as I can remember." She replied, smiling shyly.
"Have you always spoken in your sleep?" The witch asked her curiously to fill the silence.
"As long as I can remember, my parents told me I spoke in my sleep. My mother said that it was probably because I didn't speak much during the day, so I had to catch up during the night…" Bella explained with a chuckle.
"Don't you miss your parents?" The original mother asked.
"Of course I do. But when I lived with my mother, I always had to be the responsible one, the adult. With my father, it was different, we are both pretty shy and silent. I kept to myself when I wasn't with the Cullen's. When living with my father, I always felt like I was intruding on his life… We never really talked about anything… We don't really know each others that well…" Bella explained.
"Your parents didn't live together?" Esther asked.
Bella then explained to the woman about divorce, women's rights and other things that didn't exist in their time but existed in the future.
"I thought I smelt something good!" Niklaus declared as he got out of his room with his brothers.
They all had big smiles on their faces. Rebekah was already pouring milk in the cups.
"Where is father?" Kol asked.
"Right behind you! I had to check on the horses. Niklaus, I think the black mare is ready to give birth any day now." Mickeal said as his son nodded his approval.
"So, Isabella, how was your first night as an engaged woman?" Kol asked with a smirk.
"You're engaged? Why? To whom?" Henrik asked with big sad eyes.
"To me!" Elijah declared with a big smile on his face as he came to kiss Bella good morning.
Henrik looked really sad but muttered a little "As long as she stays in the family."
"As to if I slept well, yes, I did. But I'm sure that didn't stop me from talking…" Bella replied before she looked at Rebekah.
Everyone followed her look and Rebekah soon realised that they were all waiting for her reply and tell them what she had heard during the night.
"I think you were embarrassed, you kept saying 'please mom stop' and you were half chuckling, half growling." Rebekah chuckled.
"Yes, it seems to fit my dream." Bella nodded.
"What did you dream about?" Kol asked as they all sat to share breakfast.
As promised the previous night, Bella took place next to Henrik, in front of Elijah.
"I was telling my mother about the engagement and about Elijah when she decided it was time for me to have 'the talk'." She started.
"What's 'the talk'?" Kol asked her curiously.
"It's when your parents tell you about married life and your… hum… duties, as a married person…" Bella replied blushing, making them all understand.
"Of course she told me everything when I was 8 years old to get it out of the way and get it over with sooner rather than later. But anyway, in my dream she was trying to give me… weird advises by telling me how she and her new husband Phil do it… She was describing the games they play to keep each other entertained and interested…" Bella blushed a bright red.
"Sounds fun!" Finn said.
"Not really… Do you wish your mother to do the same?" Bella asked him.
He paled, as did his siblings.
"I guessed not." Bella guessed before adding "the worst part is that this scene has actually happened a couple of years ago…"
After that, they all talked about other things and when they were done, the boys left to work on Elijah's house while the girls would clean a little and go in town.
As they walked in the dirty streets of the village, Esther introduced Bella as Elijah's fiancé from another village far away. She used the opportunity to inform everyone of the wedding date two weeks from now.
"Very far away indeed…" Ayana explained as she approached them slowly in an 'I know more than you ever will' manner.
She obviously thought herself superior to everyone else.
"Ayana, it's so nice to see you! Isabella, allow me to introduce you to the witch Ayana." Esther introduced.
"Oh, yes! It's a pleasure to meet you. I believe you're the ancestor of my good friend Bonnie." Bella replied with a smile, knowing that hiding where she was coming from to that woman was pointless, she decided to play the very nice and overly trusting girl.
"You did a very long and dangerous trip Isabella… Why is that?" Ayana asked.
"I've been told to tell just the minimal to the less people possible about the reason of my journey." Bella lied easily.
"I'm the witch here girl, you should have come to me immediately, I should have been warned of your arrival before hand!" The black woman exclaimed in a frustrated tone.
"Bonnie told me that the concerned people had been warned, if you don't know why I'm here, it means it doesn't concern you…" Bella replied in a friendly 'I'm so sorry' tone.
"Everything magical that goes on in this village concerns me!" Ayana raged.
"Fine, I feel that you can be trusted, I came here to prevent Henrik from dying from the werewolves. It triggered a chain of event that almost destroyed the world. I'll be here until his death is prevented totally. If he dies, I'll be stuck here…" Bella confessed.
It wasn't a total lie, but it wasn't the real truth either. Esther smiled internally at her daughter in law's ways.
"Good then. Try not to die." Ayana spat at her before leaving.
"Well, that was intense." Rebekah commented as soon as the witch was out of earshot.
"I think she knows I'm hiding something from her. She knows I've been channelling powers she can't even access…" Esther said pensively.
"Let's just forget about this for a moment. Look, Sage is here! I think we should tell her everything, she is going to spend at least a thousand years with Finn, she should know who I really am and what you're planning to do." Bella suggested.
"She will really stay with my son that long?" Esther asked sceptically.
"Yes, she will. What they share is true love." Bella nodded.
"I was hesitant when he said he would marry her, I never really liked her… Probably because she is so independent. But if you like her, she must be worth it. I will change her along with my children if she wishes so…" Esther decided as Bella waved at Sage.
The red-head was obviously busy but send a smile their way before joining her mother in shopping.
"She's really going to play a big role in women's right?" Rebekah asked, remembering what Bella had said the day before and earlier when they prepared breakfast.
"Yes, she will. From what Damon told me it's going to be astonishing." Bella nodded.
They met a few more people and bought a few items when Rebekah asked:
"Bella, what are the weird white tubes and coloured squares you have in the bag you brought with you?"
Bella blushed.
"Oh, they're tampons and pads, I didn't know how you dealt with menstruations here… You know… monthly bleedings. So I brought what we use in the future to be sure I could be comfortable. I could have asked future Elijah but I was too embarassed to do so and since he's a male and hasn't had to deal with this sort of things in a very long time, he didn't think of telling me hat to use." Bella explained.
"I'm curious to see how it works…" Rebekah said softly.
"Maybe you could show us?" Esther asked.
"Sure, we could go back now and I'll show you!" Bella agreed.
The next 2 hours were spent bonding with just the three of them. They prepared lunch and decided to put it in baskets and bring it to the men at Bella's future house.
When they arrived, they were all playing around. They seemed to be divided in two teams, the first one had Mickeal, Niklaus and Henrik in it and the second one had Elijah, Kol and Finn in it. They were playing what Bella figured must be the ancestor of Football.
"Well, everyone is working hard I see!" Bella said loud enough so they could hear her.
"Yes, I don't know if they deserve this lunch we made for them." Rebekah replied with a small smile as Elijah dropped everything and rushed to gather Bella in his arms.
"We were taking a well deserve break!" Kol exclaimed as Elijah whispered in Bella's ears:
"I missed you my love. How was your morning?"
she gave him a small version of their morning and they all sat in the grass to eat.
"Finn, I would like you to tell Sage about who Isabella really is and what I'm planning to do. If she desire, I will change her at the same time as you. It will make her stronger." Esther said, shocking everyone.
She had been very against the wedding until now.
"Very well mother." Finn nodded, trying to remain calm before bending toward Bella and saying: "You're a miracle maker sister!"
Bella laughed lightly and went back to small talk with Niklaus as Elijah had one of her hands in his.
Later in the day, as the girls went back to the house with Henrik, they spotted Ayana talking in a suspicious and secretive way with Tatia Petrova. Bella pointed it out and Esther agreed with her, the needed to keep an eye out for both Ayana and the Petrova girl who would be the first of a line of doppelganger.
"What could she possibly want with Tatia?" Bella wondered.
"Why did the doppelgangers exist in the first place?" Esther asked her.
"You used her blood in the transformation ritual, then you sacrificed her to create the curse you put on Niklaus. The doppelganger was created as a means to break the curse, I don't know what could be her use now…" Bella answered.
"I didn't really think about whose blood I would use… But she is far from being a choice I would make now…." Esther frowned.
"Maybe Ayana wants to make sure the line of doppelganger exists, and it would actually be for the best. If the doppelganger doesn't exist, there is no Katherine, she doesn't use Stefan and Damon, they don't complete the transition… If the doppelgangers don't exist, the whole world could change a lot more than we want it too." Bella realised as she spoke.
"So we need to use her somehow, in a way were a doppelganger would be used later… We also need to warn our children to make sure that this Katherine ends up the same." Esther commented.
"Yes, but first we need to find out what Ayana's business is with Tatia…" Bella concluded as they went in the house to put away the lunch basket.
"Maybe you could use Tatia's blood to make your family as vampires and make sure the doppelgangers exist so they can change me into an original vampire too in the future. Something like you would seal in a bottle the initial potion and I would have to complete the transition with some blood from the doppelganger… As for Katerina Petrova, we could simply make sure they find her and pretend they need her for a ritual when all they really want is to have some of her blood. She will run away like it already happened and it won't change much of history…" Bella suggested after thinking a bit about it.
"It seems to be a good idea… But I sense some doubt in you. Why is that?" Esther asked as Rebekah helped Henrik cleaning himself off a little.
"In the future, Katerina said that when she returned home after her transformation, she found out that Klaus had killed all of her family. I have a hard time believing it since she left England first. He stayed in England to look for her several weeks according to Elijah… So either someone else killed her entire family to make her evil or she did it herself…" Bella noted.
"Well, it won't change much whatever we do, it was probably Ayana and her spirits that made sure Katerina turned evil… We need her to be right?" Esther noted.
"Yes, that's something that shouldn't change." Bella agreed.
Since Esther was supposed to train Rebekah in magic that afternoon, Bella went on her own around town to see if she could find something interesting to do. She had informed both Mother and daughter that a vampire wouldn't be able to be a witch but Esther thought she could fight it somehow if she researched it enough far away from Ayana's influence. Bella decided that if anyone could do it, it was her.
Bella and Henrik left the house together and the little boy decided to show Bella the caves where they wrote their names. They took the long way and talked about a lot of things. Bella guessed that the little Mickealson was a bit in love with her and wanted him to know she was willing to be his friends but that her destiny was with Elijah.
"Do you know if mother will make me a vampire too?" Henrik asked Bella.
"Well, you're a bit young for now… If that's what you want, she'll probably wait until you're older." Bella replied with a smile.
"I'm not sure. I want to grow old and have lots of children…" Henrik told her.
"Well, with your siblings as vampires, they will be able to protect you against the wolves every full moons… I don't see why she would force you to change. You'll just have to ask her about it. Be honest, always." Bella told him as they entered the cave.
They had a quick look before they went back, taking their time, picking mushrooms and berries on the way.
When they arrived home, Bella decided to sort what she picked up while Henrik went to play with some of his friends. When she was done, Bella got out of the house, thinking she could try and make some friends or find Sage to spend some time with her. As she walked through the streets, she realised that word of who she was had travelled quite fast. Everyone knew she was to marry Elijah soon and some were very curious about her. She answered some questions, doing her best to keep to the story and not tell anything that would make people suspicious of her. At some point, Tatia Petrova came to her and she got nervous.
"Hello, you must be Isabella, I've heard quite a lot about you. Yesterday Niklaus couldn't stop speaking about you." The original doppelganger said and Bella understood that she was jealous of all the attention she was getting from everyone, including Niklaus.
"Yes, and you are…" Bella pretended not to know who the woman was.
"Tatia Petrova, It's a pleasure I'm sure." The egotistic young woman replied.
"You can call me Bella. Only my father called me Isabella." Bella declared, knowing it would be better to play nice and friendly.
"So, I heard you were from far away…" Tatia asked as she motioned for Bella to seat with her on a nearby log.
"Yes, I actually have a very good friend who looks a lot like you, her name is Elena." Bella told her, trying to bond with the woman who was plotting against the Mickealson's.
"Oh really? Well, I've heard that you're supposed to marry Elijah in only two weeks, was it an arranged wedding?" Tatia asked, sounding like she was hoping to hear Bella complain about the wedding.
Bella remembered that they had decided it would be best if she said the wedding was an arrangement between her father and Mickeal.
"Yes, Mickeal has arranged it with my father since we were very young." Bella tried to be convincing.
"That must be hard… My father said I would marry whoever I wanted!" Tatia declared in a tone that showed she was obviously trying to show off.
"Well, it's not that hard, Elijah is a very nice man and we are already really close and I love everyone in his family…" Bella replied in an innocent tone.
"Oh well, that's good then. Do you know that Esther is actually a witch? Like a real witch?" Tatia asked the woman who was steeling attention from her.
"Oh yes. My mother told me that before I came. I don't mind…" Bella answered her before adding "I was raised to be very open-minded. I don't judge Esther for being a witch just like I don't judge you for having a child out of wedlock." Bella spoke in a nice tone.
"How do you know this?" Tatia asked, angrily.
"Well, this place is really small and people always love to gossip… I've been told that what people like better than talking about someone with a good reputation is to talk about people with a bad reputation or to tear a good reputation apart…" Bella told her, trying to get her point across.
"Well, maybe you should listen to some people, Esther is up to some really bad things. Ayana told me so and she is a way better witch than Esther ever was or ever will be." Tatia spat in a tone that reminded Bella of Lauren the bitch of Forks' high school.
"Really? Esther seems so nice to me, and I've always been a really good judge of character…" Bella replied with fake sadness.
"Well, at least you've been warned, be careful who you put your trust into. Chose your friends well if you want to survive on this lands!" Tatia told her before she stood up and left Bella alone.
That last sentence from tatia made Bella chuckle, it reminded her of a part of Harry Potter, in the first book, when Drago Malfoy offered his hand and friendship to Harry who refused, saying he could tell the wrong sort by himself.
Bella stood too and got ready to walk back to the Mickelson's place when she spotted Finn and Sage in an isolated area, in deep conversation. She guessed that the man was telling everything to his wife to be and smiled at them before going to the house. She saw Sage returning her smile.
When she arrived, Esther was in the back, showing different herbs to Rebekah and testing her knowledge of them.
"Bella, did you find something to do? I'm sorry we left you all alone!" Esther appologized.
"Don't worry, I spent some time with Henrik before going for a walk in the village. I also talked with Tatia." Bella then proceeded to tell them every thing that she talked about with the Petrova girl.
"Well, now we know whose side she's on. Don't worry Bella, you're well protected." Esther smiled.
"I'm not worried. Do you need some help here?" Bella asked.
"No, we're just reviewing Rebekah's knowledge and testing her powers." Esther shook her head with a smile.
Bella walked out to see Mickeal and Niklaus working together on the horses, nursing a mare about to give birth.
"How is she doing?" Bella asked them as she came close.
"Pretty good actually. The little one should be here before morning tomorrow." Niklaus replied with a big smile.
"Have you seen Elijah?" Bella asked them, knowing there was absolutly nothing she could do to help them.
"He's still working on your house." Mickeal replied with a small smile.
Ever since the protection spell had been placed on him, he was a totally different man, it was obvious and Bella wondered if Ayanna would try anything to change him back to the mean man he had been before her arrival.
Bella smiled back at them and left, hoping she would be able to find the house on her own. Fortunately she did. She had paid attention to the way they took earlier and the way was pretty easy to find, at least during the day. She arrived and saw Elijah fixing a ramp for the stairs.
"I see you're working pretty hard on that." Bella called out to him as she came closer.
"My Bella! How long have you been here? I didn't see you!" He exclaimed as he half ran to meet her and gave her a sweet kiss.
"I just arrived, you seemed to be so concentrated on your work I was afraid of disturbing you." Bella told him as she kissed him back.
"You could never disturb me my Bella. Do you want to see what we got done today?" He asked his wife to be.
"Of course I do." She agreed with a bright smile as he showed her that after a couple of day of work it would be completely finished.
"Tomorrow I'll work on some curtains and sheets with your mother and sister." Bella informed him.
"That's great, I really want you to feel like home here. I know it's not the comfort you're used to in the future, I'm sorry about that…" Elijah appologized as he sat on the front porch's steps with Bella in his arms, between his legs, one step down.
"Don't worry Elijah, I'll be happy here. I can get used to any situation! You'll just have to make sure I get a warm bubble bath when I rejoin you in the future." She replied with a small smile.
"Whatever it is you've got it!" He promised before he kissed her behind her left ear.
"I talked with Tatia today…" Bella informed him.
"How was it?" He asked her, softly rubbing her shoulders.
"Weird… She looks exactly like one of my oldest friends but she acts so… selfishly. She obviously wants attention all to herself and doesn't like that you're getting married to me. I think she's jealous, Elena isn't like this at all… it's so strange." Bella told him as she turned around.
"Don't worry. You're the only one I see now. You're the only one I love. We'll be happy together! I'll do my best for that." Elijah promised her faithfully.
Bella went to sit behind him and started giving him a massage.
"I know that and I trust you, I just can't help but think that it's unfair of me to ask you to wait a thousand years for me to come back to you…" Bella confessed as she massaged him.
"God, that feels good! Sweet Bella, I don't mind at all, as long as you come back to me, I'll wait." Elijah told her.
Bella smiled and kissed him on the cheek from her spot behind him.
"Do you like this? I thought it would help you relax a little…" Bella asked him as she kept massaging his back and shoulders, dropping an occasional kiss here and there.
"Yes, I like it very much, thank you. It actually feels very good." He smiled as he turned around, grabbed Bella by the waist and puller her into his lap.
They kissed some more before Kol came running toward them:
"Hey love birds, mother said to come and get you, we'll be eating soon!" He called to the kissing couple before running away again chuckling.
"Kol can be such a kid sometimes!" Elijah protested as he stood up with Bella still in his arms.
He put her down and together they walked toward the well he had done as soon as he chose the land. He poured some water in a bucket and did a quick cleaning. Bella grabbed a cloth and after wetting it, she washed his arms and shoulders. He turned towards her and kissed her softly, murmuring how much he really loved her.
When they arrived to Elijah's parent's house, everyone was already here, including Sage. Bella let go of Elijah's hand to go great her friend and together they talked a lot about everything. Bella had really found a good friend in Sage and she liked it a lot. She knew the woman would be like the big sister she always wanted. Henrik seemed to have forgotten about his little crush on Bella and Niklaus was talking with Mickeal about the mare that would keep them up a good part of the night.
Elijah couldn't help but glance in Bella's direction every few minutes and he chuckled when he realised Finn was doing the same about Sage. They were both in love with their soul mates and everything would be fine as long as they stayed together as a family.
When the night ended, Elijah and Bella spent about 15 minutes kissing goodnight while Finn walked his soon to be wife home.
Rewritten May 2020
Lorelei Candice Black