~ Paris, France - June 12, 2005 ~
It was a warm evening, so we sat outside at the cafe. I tipped the hostess to seat us away from the other patrons. No one would be able to hear us, as long as we kept our voices low. After reviewing the menu, which luckily was in both French and English, Charlie and Bella ordered their meals and drinks. After the waiter dropped off their beverages, Irina was the first to speak.
"So what do you need to talk to us about?" She asked anxiously.
"We wanted to talk to you both about us being changed," Charlie said.
"You no longer want to be changed?" Irina said in a mild panic.
Charlie reached out and held her hand. Shaking his head, he said, "Irina, you have an uncanny ability to jump to false conclusions."
Irina pouted at Charlie's characterization, but he was right to a certain extent. Irina has always been impulsive. She was prone to act without taking time to properly assess a situation. Charlie on the other hand was the polar opposite. He would analyze a situation, sometimes overly so, before committing to an action. They were perfect for each other.
"We still very much want to be changed. It's just that this Volturi incident got Bells and I thinking. At first independently, but we talked it over and we both had arrived at the some conclusion."
"Which is?" Irina asked nervously.
"We want to get changed soon," Bella answered. "This summer, hopefully just after you two get back from your honeymoon."
Irina opened her mouth, but nothing came out. I searched Charlie's thoughts. They were both serious about being changed, however I had to make sure.
"Are you sure this what you want?" I asked. "I do not want either of you to do this because you feel some duress to do so. We can keep you safe."
"Under duress?" Bella said in an annoyed tone. "Really, that is why you think we want to do this? Feeling helpless while you were away, that was duress. The feeling of guilt and worry that we are putting both your families at risk with the Volturi, that's duress. Knowing you both worry constantly about our safety, our health, and knowing there isn't a damn thing we can do to ease that worry, that's duress." Bella looked into my eyes with a pleading look for me to understand what she was saying. "Being human another year would be duress."
"Edward, Irina, as I said, we've talked this through," Charlie added. "We both came to this same conclusion separately prior to talking with each other. This is not a knee-jerk reaction to the current situation. We are currently a risk to the people we care about. We have the power to mitigate that risk by being changed sooner, rather than later."
Charlie picked up Irina's hand and held it steady in his as they locked eyes. "I've been thinking about this Maria situation. Now that her informant is no more, she is bound to become unpredictable. It is not unreasonable to believe that Edward's family or your's may be dragged into this mess. Additionally, Maria has placed a price on Jasper's head and the Volturi will be looking for allies. Listen, I know you can protect me. I know that Edward can protect Bella. But don't you see, you're my wife and my mate. I need to know I can protect you as well. As a human I can't do that. This feeling of being helpless and inadequate is something Bella and I do not want to endure for another year."
Bella nodded emphatically. "One of the reason's Dad was holding off was me. But I want to be changed now. We can do this together."
"Bella, I want you to understand, I am not against this. Do you believe that?" I asked.
"I do, however I have feeling there is a but coming." She answered.
"Your right, and that but is concerning your plans to finish high school. I know that it was important for you to do that. If you get changed now, that won't be possible. Are you ok with that?"
"Edward, let me ask you this. Do you think that if I don't get changed this summer, that next year I will graduate high school?"
"I have no doubt, Love. You will graduate easily with honors. You are one of the smartest students at the school."
"I agree and you are correct, at one time it seemed important to me to finish high school as a human just to prove that I could. But we both just admitted it would not be much of a feat for me to finish." Bella paused and gave me a sly little smile. "Plus you told me that you matriculate a lot, so at some point I am pretty sure I will actually get a high school diploma handed to me. I was even thinking that I could get my GED after my newborn blood lust calms down enough for me to focus on it."
At that moment the waiter returned with Bella and Charlie's food. As the plates were being placed down, my phone buzzed. A quick glance confirmed my suspicions.
"I just got a text message from Alice." I told everyone after the waiter left us. "She says that Bella could easily pass her GED now before her change."
Bella beamed in pride over Alice's confirmation of her plan. A moment later the phone buzzed again. I looked and Alice's next message and laughed out loud.
"What did she say," Irina asked.
"She said, tell Bella and Charlie...yay!" I said the last word using my best Alice impersonation, including clapping my hands. We all laughed before Charlie turned serious.
"Are you ok with this, Irina?" He asked "You haven't really said anything."
Irina leaned over and kissed Charlie deeply. He was not one for open PDA, especially in front of Bella or I, so the unexpected kiss caused the Chief to blush.
"Of course, I am ok with it!" She said caressing his cheek. "Why wouldn't I be? Everything you said makes perfect sense." She leaned in so she was right next to his ear. "Plus it will be nice not having to worry if I'm going to break you instead of the bed," she said in a whisper, but Bella and I could easily hear. Charlie blushed so much the tips of his ears started to tint.
"I am ok with it too, Love." I said to Bella while Irina and Charlie shared a loving look. "More than ok with it!"
"Really?" She asked
"Really, I am. I want to start our forever together as soon as possible." I normally did not kiss Bella on the lips in front of Charlie, but this occasion called for it. Bella and I kissed for a few seconds before we heard Charlie coughed a couple of times telling us that he has seen enough.
"Why don't you both eat?" Irina said as she motioned towards their plates. Both Bella and Charlie did not hesitate to dig in to their meals.
"This may not be the best dinner conversation," I said, "but while you both eat, let's talk about some logistics, starting with what we are going to tell people."
Bella and Charlie both paused eating and looked at me expectantly. In Irina's thoughts she let me know to go ahead and she will chime in if she needs to. She had never dealt with newborns before so she really didn't know how to handle creating the cover story.
"The simplest thing is to stage an accident. The people you know will believe you perished in the accident. However, I believe you both would find that scenario not to you liking."
"Um, yeah. I am not a fan of that approach," Charlie said.
"Neither am I," Bella added.
"I have no idea what I will be capable of after my change or what I will feel like doing with myself," Charlie told us. "I would like to leave the door open to at least return to Forks to visit, at least for a while, if possible."
"I am not attached to Forks, per se," Bella said. "But I would like to at least keep in contact, in some form, to a few people. Namely, Mom and perhaps, Angela."
"Ok, so we need a cover story as to why you both will be absent for at least a year, most likely longer." I told them. "My family's experience has been it takes about five to seven, sometimes even ten years, for humans to realize we are not aging. We can deal with what happens then at a later time."
My phone buzzed again. It was Alice. She of course already had a cover story ready for both Bella and Charlie. I read through the three text messages it took to detail the story. It was good. It would be believable to most and would allow for a variable amount of time.
"So, Alice just texted me her ideas on this," I told the group. "She thinks Bella and I should enroll in an international student program where we spend our senior year abroad. Charlie, you will of course not be comfortable with Bella being so far from home and in a foreign land, so you will request a sabbatical from work so you and Irina can travel with us. Mark will take over as interim Chief of Police in your absence, which I believe was going to be your plan anyway."
Another text came in from Alice.
"She also says that this was going to be her plan for next year. She does not see why it can't be moved forward with just some of the details changed a bit."
The three of them thought about Alice's idea for a moment.
"What do you think, Bells?" Charlie asked. "It sounds believable. Anyone who knows you will believe you would want to travel and anyone who knows me will easily believe I would want to make sure nothing happens to you."
"I like it," Bella said. "How about you Edward? Irina?"
"I really don't have any experience with this, so I'm for it." Irina said. "It would allow either or both of you to eventually resurface in Forks or really, anyplace else."
The three of them turned toward me.
"To be honest," I started, "it really doesn't matter. People will believe almost anything reasonable. But I like the general tone of the story. It does feel like both of you. I say we go with it."
Smiles greeted me from around the table. My phone buzzed a few more times with more message from Alice.
"Alice says we made the right choice. Charlie, Jasper will have all of the paper work for your sabbatical ready for you to sign when you get back. The Forks Town Council will review the request for two days then sign off on it."
My phone buzzed again.
"If everything goes as planned, you both can be changed as soon as the first week of July."
After our cover story discussion, we headed back to the hotel. Charlie and Bella were exhausted, so Charlie and Irina said their good nights. I went back to the room with Bella, but all we did was lay together in her bed until she fell asleep, which did not take long. I told her that once she was asleep, I would leave for a bit to call my family so we could go over everything that transpired in Volterra and Paris.
That call was long and included a lot of questions from my family.
Jasper was quite upset that Maria had placed a price on his head. He was equally upset over the events in Volterra. He felt it was not a question of if, but rather a question of when the two remaining Volturi brothers would turn to our family for assistance. He was glad Charlie and Bella were thinking strategically. Newborns were unpredictable, but also very strong. With their change, Jasper saw them quickly becoming assets rather than liabilities.
Jasper also felt that he needed to warn his friend Peter and his mate, Charlotte, that Maria was looking for them as well. Unfortunately, Peter did not embrace technology or modern conveniences. He had no phone or computer to receive email on. Their flight home from London would now include a side-trip to California. Once there, Jasper and Alice would head to the outskirts of Bakersfield, California, which is where his friends had last been. Jasper hoped he could persuade Peter to relocate someplace up north and further away from Maria's influence, however he also knew that he would not jeopardize Alice or the rest of the family for Peter's sake. They would warn Peter and then come back. If Peter decided not to act, then the weight of his fate was on his own shoulders.
Emmett and Rose were somewhat worried about the Volturi and Maria, but mostly they were excited about Bella's and Charlie's decision to be changed soon.
Carlisle and Esme were also very upset over what transpired in Volterra. The upheaval of the Volturi's perceived position of power was to not be underestimated. Likewise, the knowledge that Aro had been involved in the demise of Marcus' mate was shocking and caused Carlisle to question just how well he knew the man. Carlisle was also surprised and pleased in my gift's ability to thwart Alec's powers. Esme was livid that Alec even used his powers on me. However both expressed their joy that Bella and Charlie would be changed before too long.
Garrett's reaction was somewhere between Jasper's and Carlisle's with regard to the Volturi and the Maria situation. He was not shy about voicing his opinion that both camps should be considered unstable, and therefore dangerous. Kate remained largely quiet except to inquire about how Irina was handling Charlie's decision to be changed this summer.
Alice was worried about Jasper, but she was also trying to stay focused on her visions and making sense of them. She told me that some number of further decisions, maybe one or maybe many, were still to come before she could see Bella's and Charlie's change with any kind of consistent clarity. She hoped that over the next few days those decisions would be made.
In total, we talked until the sun had risen. The family knew I was to stay in Paris for a few days and they would be leaving London before that. Alice and Jasper were expecting their layover in Bakersfield to only last a half-day at most, so they should be back in Forks when Bella and I arrived.
I told them I would call again the next evening.
Bella and I had an amazing day in Paris. After the call with my family, I got back to Bella's room to find her awake, dressed, and eating some room service breakfast. Given that the day was to be rain free, but overcast, we decided to spend the day wandering around the city, viewing the iconic sites that Paris offered. Tomorrow was expected to be party sunny, so a day at the Louvre would be best. So after leaving Charlie and Irina a message of our plans, we explored Paris.
Bella and I were now walking hand-in-hand to the Eiffel Tower. The sun would be setting soon and I wanted her to see the transition from twilight to night from the top of the world famous landmark.
Earlier, I had called Sheri at the charter office and asked he to make some arrangements so Bella and I could forgo the tourist lines at the tower and head straight up. We were given the VIP treatment by the tower staff, and in short order, Bella and I were standing at a private observation area at the top looking out onto Paris.
"This is amazing!" Bella said. She was standing in front of me with my arms wrapped around her. "It's so beautiful. Promise me we will come back here after my change. I want to see and experience all of this with my new super senses."
I leaned down and place soft kisses on the shell of her ear. "I promise, Love. We will go anywhere in the world you want to go."
A few minutes later we faced a different direction and took in the new vantage point. "Bella, I want to talk about where you would like to be changed. For at least a six months you will not be fit to travel, so choosing a good location is important. Have you given it any thought?"
Bella stayed in my arms but pushed back further into my embrace. I noticed both yesterday and today, that during any talk of her change, Bella often sought a more deeper physical connection with me. I was more than fine with that as I wanted her closer as well.
"My Dad and I assumed we would be changed up in Alaska or someplace remote like that. Are there other options?"
"Alaska does make a lot of sense. As you said, it can be remote and there is plenty of food, at least until winter settles in. Before Charlie mated, and it was just you being changed, another idea I discussed with Carlisle was to go to Isle Esme."
"I still can't believe Carlisle and Esme own their own island!" Bella replied. "I mean who owns an Island!". Last fall I had told Bella and about Carlisle and Esme's private island off the coast of Brazil. I guess it is an odd thing for people to randomly own.
"Well, it's tough for us to enjoy the sun and beach without sparkling like a disco ball. A private island seemed to make sense." I told her.
"Is it really an option for my change? What would I eat?"
"Well, that's really the big issue. The island is secluded and far from humans, but it does not have many large animals. There are some wild boar that we have transplanted from the Brazilian countryside. We feed from them when we don't feel like traveling back to the mainland. Carlisle and I talked about having some regional marsh deer relocated to the island, and possibly some Brazilian tapirs, which are like stocky ponies."
Bella nodded. "Would this be a location for just me, or for me and my Dad to be changed?"
"Even though the island is quite large and would be plenty of territory for a single newborn to roam, it might not be a good location for both you and your Dad."
"Why's that?"
"Well, feeding is going to tap into your more animalistic urges. I can guarantee that after a hunt, you will be feeling quite amorous, which is something I am quite looking forward to." Bella playfully slapped my arm, but she also wiggled her delectable little rear against my groin. She was heaven and hell all in one wonderful package. "I think it might be best to have a bit more real estate between you and and your father during those times."
"Ew!" Bella laughed. "Yeah, that is something I don't want to deal with. I really don't want to be a continent away from my Dad for a year while I settle in to my new life, though. I think my Dad would like to have me around too."
I thought about it for a few moments. As much as I would like to have Bella alone on isle Esme with me for a year, I can understand her wanting to have her Dad near as well. Plus, stocking the island with enough large mammals in such a short period of time, may not be feasible. If the original schedule was still an option, then maybe we could properly and safely introduce deer and tapirs in enough numbers, but now with the shortened timeframe, Isle Esme was not looking like a good option. Luckily, shortly after Bella moved up to Forks, I made some inquires into property up by where my cousins live in Alaska. Maybe I was being overly hopeful at the time, but I decided to purchase it on speculation. However, I did not want to completely give up Isle Esme either. I liked where this new idea I was having was leading to.
"Bella, how about this. Irina's family has a large piece of property up in Alaska. It is remote, which is why Irina's family does not have to move like we do. There are very few humans around to question a family that never ages. About 75 miles away from there is another plot of land that became available. It's a good size, also remote, and even has a cabin on it, although the structure needs some work. Both Irina's home and this other property both abut the Denali national park, which is vast and largely unpopulated. Charlie and Irina could stay at her property and we could move into the other property. You would only be about a thirty to forty minute run to see your Dad, but we would be far enough away from them that we would all have our privacy."
Bella spun around in my arms. She had a big smile on her face and happy tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "Oh, Edward, that sounds perfect! Do you think the land is still available?" Bella caught my eyes darting from hers when she asked about the property's availability. "Oh my god! You already bought it, didn't you!"
"Um, yeah. I did purchase it." I said sheepishly.
"When? When did you buy it?"
"Shortly after you moved to Forks." I replied. Bella eyes opened wide as she processed that bit of information. "I knew it would be a good location should you ever want to be changed, so I just did it. Are you mad?"
"Mad?" Bella asked before reaching up and kissing me. The kiss was wet and passionate and amazing. "No, I'm not mad," she said in between breaths and more kisses. "Thank you for wanting forever with me. I love you so much."
"I love you too, more than I will ever be able to show. And thank you for also wanting forever with me. You should be warned though Bella, the cabin is a bit rough. The roof may have a few leaks and it is not very big, but it does have a working well, a stone fireplace, and an electrical generator that may or may not work."
"It sounds perfect."
"Bella, I was also thinking that after spending a winter up in Alaska, you should be settled enough for some private travel, so maybe we can spend the spring on Isle Esme, just the two of us."
"Oh, Edward! I love the sound of all of that. You and I, alone in the cabin, with a fire going. Then you and I, alone on a sunny beach. I think it all sounds perfect!"
With the lights of Paris twinkling beneath us and our discussion complete, we held each other and just enjoyed the night.
The next evening, Bella was exhausted from our day at the Louvre, so we had an early dinner at the hotel. While eating we met with Charlie and Irina. Except to meet us now for dinner, they really hadn't left their suite for the better part of two days. I could see from Irina's and Charlie's thoughts that one of couches in the main lounge area was broken, as well as the four-poster bed in the bedroom. I guess I will need to speak to Etienne before I check out to warn him about the state of the room.
Charlie ate like a starving man. He was also quite tired and a bit sore. Irina may be able to go for days on end, but Charlie was only human, after all. Tomorrow they would venture out into Paris if for no other reason than to allow Charlie to recharge.
While Bella and Charlie ate, we all talked about going to Alaska once everything was settled in Forks. Irina was excited about the plans, and she too thought that Alaska made the most sense. She also liked the distance between our two properties. We would have our privacy, yet Bella and Charlie could see each other regularly. We didn't discuss our plans to go to Isle Esme. Bella thought it would be best to leave out that portion of plans, at least for now.
After retiring to her room. I drew Bella a hot bath. She was now seated in front of me leaning back against my chest. The warm, sudsy water was nearly up to her chin. Under the water's surfaced she drifted fingers up and down my extended legs. It was a wonderfully causal, yet sensual experience being in the tub with her.
"Edward, do you think we can stop in Jacksonville on our flight back to Port Angeles?" She asked quietly.
I knew something was on her mind for the past several minutes, and I was just waiting for her to bring up what she was thinking through.
"We can do anything we want, love. I just happen to know the owner of the airplane."
Bella playfully elbowed me. "I want to see my Mom before my change. Edward, are you sure you and your family are ok with me not severing all ties with her? I don't want to create problems between me and the family, but I would like to at least keep the door open that I can at least talk to her either via email or the phone."
I wrapped my arms around Bella, securing her against my body. "Bella, no one in the family wants you to have to sever ties with your Mom. You have a chance that none of us have had. We already know Charlie will be around, but you get to control when you say goodbye to your Mom. At some point your lack of aging will become an issue. Even before that time comes to pass, you will look much different. We won't be able to hide the new you. We'll just have to see how things play out. I will be keeping a close watch on her thoughts, if she starts to get too close to the truth, we'll have to reassess."
"Ok," Bella replied before a yawn slipped out. "I don't want to place either my Mom or ourselves at risk with the Volturi. I just want a bit more time with her, that's all."
Author's Note:
Thank you for all of the reviews and for reading! This story got some new readers this week, so to everyone new...welcome!
On Friday we'll get to visit with Renee.
-Chris