Chapter 10:Until we meet again…
Bella POV:
Bella was still in tears and could barely see where she was.
She whipped her eyes and looked around only to see white everywhere. In front of her was a big screen that was showing the story of her life as it was in the new time line she had helped create.
She smiled when she saw that Elijah had come to see her at the maternity in the middle of the night with Kol, Sage, Finn, Niklaus, Rebekah and Stefan.
The scene changed after a while and she saw her 6 year old self riding her bike in her street in Phoenix. She watched in horror a car that appeared to be out of control coming fast her way. Busy staying on the bike, little Bella didn't see anything. She sighted in relief when Elijah ran in front of the car in super speed and stopped it really fast before running away again.
She watched as she grew up with her mother, going back in Fork in the summer. That hand't changed.
She was surprised to see Niklaus with the Quileute a few times. She didn't know him by then and he just smiled at her from afar but he obviously was in very good terms with Billy and the other elders.
She was surprised when in later scenes, Sam, the alpha wolf, was acting toward Niklaus like he was the Alpha of the pack. Then she figured that maybe Esther had made Niklaus the biggest alpha, like the Alpha of all Alphas.
She watched the screen and was touched to see Rebekah babysitting her a few times when she was a 4 year's old little girl or Kol crossing her on the streets. Apparently, all the living Mickealson's had spent a lot of time watching over her ever since she was born.
Then she watched as she met the Cullen's and fell in love with Edward. Though it wasn't anything near as big as what she had felt later for Elijah, it had to hurt her husband...
She blushed when she realised Elijah was watching from afar to supervise their first meeting in the biology classroom, tu ensure Edward would manage to keep control around her and wouldn't kill her.
She watched as, when in Port Angeles, Edward was driving her away from the men that tried to attack her while Elijah was killing them, feeding on them and punishing them for thinking of hurting his mate.
Then came the moment when she met the Cullen family.
She saw recognition in Carlisle's eyes as he looked at her and she realised Elijah had taken care of him in his early years just like she had asked him to do. She wondered how Edward couldn't know this but figured Rebekah might have done something to help Carlisle keep some thoughts private.
She saw the whole James thing happening and was surprised to see, later, Elijah killing Victoria and Laurent without giving them a chance to escape. Apparently, Elijah's kind of vampire was friendly enough with the shape-shifter because Sam's pack helped Elijah hunting Victoria down along with the small Newborn army she had started to make.
She saw her own pain when Edward left her in the woods, all alone, and watched as Elijah attacked Edward later, kicking his ass for being so insensitive. She figured Edward learned there the whole story because his eyes widened and he threw an accusatory stare in Carlisle's direction.
"You'll be fine Edward. It wasn't meant to be with Bella, I'm sorry. She was always meant for Elijah. You'll meet someone soon." Carlisle told him while Esme comforted him.
"Carlisle, it was nice to see you, I have places to be but keep in touch okay?" Elijah told Carlisle in a friendly tone, one you used with all friends you cared about.
Bella couldn't help but realize just how hot Elijah looked in a suit.
"Goodbye my friend, keep in touch!" Carlisle nodded as he shook Elijah's offered hand.
Then Bella watched as Elijah went back to tell Sam where to find her. He was there, the whole time and he even stayed the night watching over her in her room. Apparently, her zombie period was much smaller in this time line and she was happy for it. She would have hated for Elijah to watch her in this state.
She figured that maybe his presence helped her feel better, even though she wasn't aware of it. Maybe part of her felt him near her after all.
Then came the time for her to go in Mystic Falls and she realized that in this timeline her Grandmother had asked Charlie to send her over, saying she was sick and needed company. She guessed her granny was still in on the secret in that time line and watched as she, Bonnie, Abby Bennet, Rebekah and Elijah talked about everything. When she looked closer, she realized that the entire Mickealson family was present (sadly minus Mikael, Esther and Henrik), along with the Salvatore brothers who seemed to be in much better terms than they were the last time she had seen them.
"Bella will be arriving in two days." Isabelle informed the circle of supernatural beings around her as she hung up her phone.
"Is she doing okay?" Bonnie asked.
"Charlie told me she's starting to get over the Cullen's departure, Edward leaving was one thing but she was more hurt by Alice and Emmett leaving without even saying goodbye to her I think. Esmee's departure also hurt her quite a lot, she was the mother figure Bella wanted, one more loving and motherly than Renée…" Isabelle explained.
"Well, soon she'll have her new family around!" Kol declared in a booming voice.
"Sam is keeping me informed and he is having a wolf sleeping under her window every night. He's also making sure that the young Jacob Black stays away from her and knows that she is spoken for." Niklaus informed them.
"So… How will it happen… Her going to the past, I mean?" Elena asked and Bella realized she was here for the first time, seating on Damon's lap.
"A portal will open at some point, explaining everything to her. She will reappear later…" Rebekah explained.
"How much later exactly?" Isabelle asked.
"I'm not really sure, probably a few days… Not the whole 2 months she spent with us, that's for sure, but at least two days." Rebekah replied.
"If you will excuse me, I have a house to get ready…" Elijah stated as he left.
"He looks nervous…" Elena noticed.
"He's been waiting for that moment for over a thousand years! He's going to see Bella before she leaves and she won't recognize him… He knows the time he sees her again is near and he can't wait, he wants his wife back and after the time he had to spent without her... it's understandable!" Niklaus explained.
Then Bella could see her arriving in her grandmother's house and being introduced to the people she didn't already know. She smiled when she formed a friendship with Damon while the Originals did their best to stay away from her. She understood they were just trying to keep themselves from feeling too much for the 'younger' Bella when 'their' Bella was so close to coming back to them. She watched herself spend about a month with them before she got sucked into a portal in the middle of the night.
Then she could see Elijah sitting in the bedroom she was using at her Grandmother's house, waiting for her to come back. She watched 2 whole weeks going by and still Elijah was sitting in that rocking chair, waiting for her to appear with everyone coming to keep him company and to feed him once in a while.
All of the sudden, the portal reopened in front of her and she knew this was it. Looking behind her, she saw the same portal opening in the screen and Elijah calling for everyone to join him with hope and joy dancing in his eyes.
Taking in a big breath, Bella stepped into the portal.
Niklaus POV:
Niklaus had a hard time getting used to life without his best friend and sister Bella around.
"I need some time away from this place, I think I need to visit that Quileute tribe that Bella will meet later, I'll be back as soon as I'm done over there, I promise, but I do need some time away." He informed his family one day after breakfast.
They all nodded and he took off. He ran in his wolf form for a while before he finally reached the right place.
Once there, he introduced himself to the elders and they informed him there was others wolves there.
"The spirits warned us of your arrival Niklaus. They told us you were the big Alpha, the man above all Alphas." The oldest of the elders informed him.
Niklaus blushed and told them the story of Bella.
"You're sister will be safe on our land Niklaus, rest assured of that, no matter when she arrives." Another elder told him when Niklaus was done speaking.
The young shifter decided to stay some time with the pack and quickly made friends with the Alpha. He experienced the whole "One pack = one mind" thing and was glad he was above them all, it meant he could still protect some of his thoughts from them.
When he left them, he promised he would come back once in a while. He went back home and spent some time with his family. When Henrik turned 25, he married one of his childhood friends and ended up having the big family he had always wanted.
When Esther and Mickeal died of old age, Niklaus took his siblings to meet the wolf pack of La push before they all left this continent to go and spend some time in England.
Through the years, Niklaus stayed with his siblings and visited the Quileutes every few decades, making sure they remembered who he was and to keep an eye out for Bella when she arrived.
In the 1920's, he went with Rebekah and Kol to Chicago and, like Bella asked them, they spent a lot of evening at Gloria's bar, making sure to be noticed and have fun. When they finally met Stefan, Niklaus didn't like him at first but when he saw the suffering in the young vampire's eyes, he decided maybe he could be saved after all. He decided to let Rebekah date him if she chose to and she did. Kol liked the young man and they decided to let him in on all of their family's secrets. In turn, Stefan told them about Katherine and his brother. Rebekah suggested they went to find Damon and so they could try to mend things between them.
Indeed, just like Bella had asked, they let Katherine escape when they met her, thinking they wanted her dead. She had ended up in 1864, turning the Salvatore Brothers. Now she was on the run with her life on the line.
He went with Rebekah, Kol and Stefan and they were soon joined by Elijah when they tracked Damon down. It wasn't easy to tell him the truth about Katherine but they ended up managing to make him believe it. Damon of course was hurt and spent a few years drinking and having too much fun with girls but in the end, he managed to make friends again with his brother and they were now just as close as they used to be when they were humans.
When the current chief of the tribe, Billy Black called him, Niklaus knew what it was about.
Isabella Marie Swan was born.
A beautiful and healthy baby girl.
Niklaus thanked his old friend and with the rest of his family, they went to see her at night in the maternity.
As she grew up, they all stayed close to her, doing their best to keep her alive and safe the whole time, which seemed to be a full time job given her lack of luck and her clumsiness. It wasn't always easy to stay in the dark and Niklaus felt his heart swell when the little Bella smiled back at him.
"She's charming…" He told Billy as little Bella walked away with her father.
"Yes, very polite and with a heart made of gold already…" Billy replied.
Then Bella grew up and she met the Cullen. It was hard for Niklaus not to order his pack to destroy Edward and James both on the spot but he kept his promise to keep thing unchanged and to make sure he wasn't tempted, he left town for a while.
When Elijah came back in Mystic Falls and told him that Edward was gone, he felt his heart stop.
She was coming back! He would see her again soon.
They had several meetings with her Grandmother and her old friends to prepare her arrival and every change that would come from it. When they were introduced to her, he did like his siblings and did his best to stay cool, not to let her too closely until she had to leave.
Time passed by and soon, Elijah was calling him.
The portal had reopened!
Their Isabella was back, Isabella Marie Swan Mickealson was coming back to them.
Elijah's POV:
It was hard.
Going through life was hard without his Bella by his side. How did he ever manage to do it before he met her? He had no idea anymore. He was grateful for the blanket and the letters Bella had asked his mother to protect. He spent the last thousand years going to bed with the blanket around him. As for her letters, he knew them by heart but couldn't stop himself from reading them over and over again. Every time he read them he felt like she was right next to him, speaking to him. He also spent hours looking at the picture of her she left him. He made sure to always have it near him and was grateful when his brother Niklaus painted beautiful portraits of her.
In response to the letters she left him, Elijah wrote to her. Every day he wrote her in a journal to tell her how his day was and how much he missed her. He tried not to write too much so she could catch up to everything fast enough but it wasn't easy. Every time he wrote he pictured her by his side…
Over the centuries, he filled out a whole library of journals that he kept secure in their house.
When they met Katerina Petrova, they made sure every vampire around knew she was needed for a ritual involving the Original family of vampires but nobody knew what it was exactly. Just like Bella had warned them, Trevor warned her and she fled the country. They let her be until the year 1865, when they knew for sure she had created the Salvatore brothers. After that, Elijah put a bounty on her head. She was now wanted by the original family, dead or alive, but given her cunning nature, preferably dead.
Elijah wanted to surprise Bella when she came back to him so he bought her the original edition of every book she loved. He also got some of the authors, most of them really, to sign the books for her with a personalized dedication. Over the years, he had assembled quite an impressive and pricey collection for her. He liked to sit down and read them at night when he missed her, knowing she had read them too and they would be able to discuss them later. He felt closer to her when he did and it helped him keeping the pain away.
He also did his best to keep their house in perfect state. He upgraded it over the years and made sure it was at the top of technology and comfort at all times. He also enlarged it greatly. When Bella left a small cabin, she would find back a mansion. He made sure her favourites flowers were in the garden, growing and being more beautiful at each passing spring. The barn had been changed into a big garage were he planned on having a great, safe, car for her when it was time for her to come back.
He wanted her to have the best and to feel like the princess she was in his heart. He would stop at nothing. Already he had hired a couple to take care of their house while he couldn't be there. It was always people he knew he could trust completely, there was no way he was letting dangerous or suspicious people near what was Bella's.
When photography was invented, Elijah took picture of the historical events Bella liked and of the people she told him she found interesting. For her, he even kept copies of historical newspaper issues.
Just like he had promised her, he made sure Carlisle Cullen was fine and took the right road in his life. He warned him not to change Rosalie Hale in the 30's and they stayed in touch through the years, becoming friends.
They were great friends and the minute Edward fell in love with Bella, Elijah knew it.
Carlisle knew what would happen and even though it pained him to know his son would be in pain, he didn't change anything and let Bella come into their lives only to know she would leave them in less than a year.
Thanks to Rebekah, he could keep some thoughts from Edward and he found that reassuring. Plus, Carlisle knew he would meet Bella again, after all, she was the wife of one of his oldest friends, they'd have double dates, birthday parties, anniversaries...
When Bella was born, Elijah could tell it the minute it happened because he felt it in his heart.
He rushed to Mystic Falls with his siblings and was moved when he saw her baby self sleeping peacefully. Ever since that day, he was never too far away from her, always keeping an eye out for her safety and her happiness.
It was very hard for him to stand by as she fell in love with a dangerous vampire that would end up breaking her heart but since it was what brought her to him, he let it happen, trying really hard not to intervene.
When Edward left her, Elijah stayed around for a while before he left Forks and went back to Mystic Falls to make sure everyone and everything was ready for her.
Then she arrived and he felt like the month before she disappeared was even longer and harder to go by than the past thousand years.
When she disappeared from her Grandmother's room, he started camping out in her bedroom to wait for his wife's return, knowing it would reopen where it had taken her.
When the portal finally appeared, he took a few seconds to call everyone before he went to stand in front of it, excited to finally see her again after so long.
Rebekah POV:
Losing Bella had been hard on the whole family but Rebekah decided to put all of her pain into her work and soon, she was a witch stronger than her mother ever was. She had perfect control over her vampire abilities and she worked with her brothers and Sage on theirs.
The years passed and she walked through them with style. She varied which brother she was staying with over the years so that she spent equal time with them all.
When they met Katerina, she immediately hated her and did her best to scare her away. However, even though she felt lonely at times, she had a feeling that time passed faster for her than it did for her brother Elijah.
When the 20's came, she realised Bella had made sure she would find love in the person of Stefan Salvatore. Thankful, Rebekah did what she knew Bella would have done: She helped him getting his good relationship back with his brother and she helped him get control over his bloodlust. She destroyed the ripper in him, giving him his life back.
After that, most of the time it was the three of them, sometimes with Kol, Niklaus or Elijah, it depended on what her brothers had going on at the moment.
She realised Damon and Sage already knew each other and that her sister in law was her boyfriend's brother's mentor. Sometimes, Damon would leave the couple alone and spend some time on his own, or with another one of the Mickealson's.
Years flew by and she was very happy with Stefan. When Bella was born, she decided to stick around and she even got to baby sit her a few times when she was too young to remember it later.
She was even happier when she learned Bella had been left by Edward and was coming to Mystic Falls…
Of course the pain of the heartbreak she was going though was a bad side effect but Rebekah knew what would come out of it and decided to think of it as a good thing.
After a while, Bella arrived, was introduced to everyone and stayed for over a month until she disappeared in the portal.
When Elijah called out to say she was back, Rebekah squealed and dragged Stefan out of bed and over to the oldest Swan's house to see Bella walking out of the portal.
"She's here!" Rebekah exclaimed as she squished Stefan's hand in hers.
Sage POV:
After Bella left it had been hard but Sage worked hard to be someone Bella would be proud of. She was happy with Finn and they had a very happy married life. As it turned out, she did exactly what Bella told her she would end up doing and she defended women's right and abused children with Finn.
She met Damon Salvatore in 1912 and decided to help him as best as she could. Soon, he became friend with Finn too and she understood why Bella liked him so much. When he let himself be, Damon could be very charming and funny, or he could also be an insufferable ass, but then again, that was the case for most men she had met through the years. But she liked that about him. He was true to himself and spoke his mind. He also wasn't afraid to challenge a vampire way older and stronger than he was, he had guts.
When, in the 30's, Rosalie Hale died, Finn and her got revenge for her and killed her rapists. After that, Sage worked really hard on women's rights all over the world and was pretty proud of the results she got.
Years and decades passed pretty fast and one day, Bella was born.
After that time passed pretty fast and soon, Bella was back in Mystic Falls and in the portal. When it was time to see her again, Finn and Sage were both more than ready to have the missing member of their family around them some more.
Elena's POV:
After her parents died in a car accident, Elena seemed to enter a whole new world.
First there was the stranger, Damon Salvatore, who helped her out of the car and saved her life and, after a few months of friendship, became her boyfriend. Then there was that girl Anna, who tried to use her brother Jeremy to open the tomb under the church to free her mother and a bunch of other vampires. Thankfully, her Damon knew a lot of people and was able to save the day by bringing a vampire witch in the mix that allowed Anna to enter and locked her inside, reuniting her with her mother but refusing to let them run freely if they were going to try and get revenge on innocent people.
After that, Elena got to meet a lot of other vampires and learned some incredible news about her childhood friend Isabella Swan.
She couldn't believe it!
Then she watched carefully at the look of pure adoration on Elijah's face as he spoke about his wife and she knew it was true love, the kind you could only read about in a fairy tale.
After a while, her aunt Jenna met Alaric Salzmann who turned out to be her vampire mother's ex husband. She learned soon that Damon had been the one to change Isobel and forgave him when she realised the woman had zero maternal instinct and was being loyal to Katherine the bitch.
Elena became fast friend with Damon's younger brother Stefan and his girlfriend Rebekah. They got along pretty well. She managed to meet Niklaus once but he didn't stay in town for long, he insisted he was needed in Forks to keep an eye on Bella. He also had other packs of wolves to supervise all around the country (maybe even the world, who knew really!).
When she met Kol, she couldn't help but compare him to Damon and notice exactly how similar they were. However, when Damon had settled down with her, Kol liked playing around and having fun. She could only hope he would fall in love soon so he could understand what having someone who loves you could mean. She knew that right now he was with some Cold one coven in Alaska who had 3 supposedly sexy sisters and were related to a friend of Elijah (the Cold one who was the head of the coven Bella was hanging out with.)
After Bonnie started to really practice her magic, she got big support from Jeremy who fell quickly in love with the youngest Bennett. Elena was very happy for them of course, and she knew they would be happy together.
It was strange to see all those very old people thinking of Bella as their family even though she had stayed with them for only two months. However she understood that when things were meant to be, they just clicked together and nothing could prevent it from happening.
Elijah had warned Elena that they would be in need for her blood later to change Bella into an Original. To make sure nothing went wrong with this, Elena insisted they took a few bag right away so now Elena's blood was stocked into the fridge of Elijah and Bella's house, under lock.
The house Bella would see once she came back.
About a month after she arrived to live with her grandmother, Bella disappeared out of the blue and Elijah started to camp out in her room, waiting for her to come back and Elena thought it was very romantic that he had waited for her for so long, always being faithful, never doubting his love, never looking at another woman.
She thought he really deserved happiness now, and Elena was excited to be able to finally witness what she felt was like a historical moment.
When the portal finally opened, everyone was called and gathered into the small bedroom and in the corridor.
Since I'm rewritting everything, I've decided to divide this big chapter in 2 chapters of a more normal length.
REWRITTEN May 2020
Lorelei Candice Black