Hi all! This is a relatively quick update given my usual habits :P

Enjoy!

Chapter 21

Bella PoV

"I understand why you left me," Edward begins. I sit back in the chair ready to hear his speech. We'll see how far off the mark he goes. "I don't necessarily agree that we're not mates, but I'm not going to try and influence you in that regard." He's speaking to me as if we're in some kind of professional interview or something.

"Do you want me to be grateful for that? Be happy that you're not going to attempt to force your ideas and supposed feelings on me?"

He blinks in surprise. "Well, no. I mean, that's not what I meant."

"I know it's only been a few months since we broke up, Edward, but I'm a completely different person than I was before. Not just outwardly, either. On top of learning that I'm not entirely human and have some significant powers beyond keeping you out of my thoughts, I'm also a lot more confident than I used to be. And instead of feeling smothered and restrained, like I did with you, I'm in a relationship where I'm empowered and encouraged to be stronger every day."

"With Dean," he comments. He'd likely plucked that out of Charlie's mind. Or Jasper's, I suppose. He'd seen us together, too, shortly after the Fairy Realm encounter.

"Yes, with Dean," I agree. "And he'll be here in a few hours. I'll not have you start some pissing contest with him, nor go digging into his mind. You stay the fuck out, got it?" I wonder briefly if I could easily make my shield include his mind, too. I'd done it automatically with Charlie when Rowena had us, but that wasn't a conscious choice. But maybe my protective instincts would take over and I'd do it as soon as he comes into Edward's range.

"I wouldn't… you really are different, aren't you?"

I laugh and nod. "Sure am. Potty mouth and all. This is who I always was, but you smothered and repressed it in your attempt to mould me into your ideal mate. But I'm not your mate, of that I'm absolutely certain. And you can either get right with it or leave. Simple as that."

"I'll um… I'll get right with it, as you said."

"Good. So long as we're clear on that. And I'll remind you, if you have it in your head to bite me, in order to resume manipulating me with your venom, I'm immune now, so it won't work. Also, if I find out that you or anyone in your coven has had anything to do with this Djinn showing up in Washington, well… I'll let you use your imagination on that. Just remember… I can control the King of Hell."

"There's a king of Hell? Also… there's actually Hell?"

"Yep, and contrary to what you seem to believe, that's not where you're bound. Only those who sold their souls end up in hell. And maybe murderers, I guess… but any non-human creatures go to purgatory."

"Purgatory and hell are the same place," he says in his usual condescending tone.

"False," I say simply. "Those who die can end up in purgatory or in hell, depending on various circumstances. Once in Hell, there's really no way out. Purgatory, though, you can be released from, or escape, I guess." I recall Dean's story about how he got out of Purgatory after being sent there when he killed the Leviathan leader, Dick Roman.

My stomach chooses a lull in the conversation to make my hunger known. I haven't eaten since the plane, and even that was just a few bites. I was far too anxious and worried to think about eating a proper meal, but now, the anxiety has somewhat subsided, my adrenaline reduced, and my body is making me aware of its needs.

"Can I make something for you?" Esme asks, a warm smile on her face. She'd heard my stomach from the other room, of course. "I know we didn't part on the best of terms, but I really do care about you for you, Bella. Not just because I thought you were a good match for my son. Once I realized what he had done, what Carlisle had been doing, I had a change of heart, so to speak. You're your own person of course, and I would never try to change a single thing about you."

"Thank you, Esme. That means a lot," I answer. "And yes I'd love for you to whip up something for me. I'm not sure what all we've got in at the moment. I wouldn't be surprised if my dad has been subsiding on diner food and pizza delivery for the past few months." Esme walked to the fridge and peered inside. All I could see was a six pack of Vitamin R, a probably long-expired carton of eggs, and some condiments. "My money says the cupboards will tell a similar story. We've still got a while to wait, we could go pick up some stuff. Plus, if I know Dean, he'll be starved when he gets here. Driving like a bat out of hell makes it hard to eat and steer at the same time."

"Okay, would you like to go to the store then?" Esme asks. I nod, patting my back pocket, to make sure my wallet's still there. "Just you and me?"

I nod again, and we leave the house, with the rest of her coven, Jasper, Peter, Charlotte, Garrett, and Charlie staying behind. I realize belatedly that Charlie's the only human, but I know she can take care of herself, and she seemed otherwise occupied with her computer when Esme and I made our way to the door. I'd let her know we'd be back soon, and she barely nodded at us.

Once at the store, we peruse the aisles. All my life, I'd had to shop in the bargain bins and find the deals, trying to make the grocery money stretch as far as possible. Now, having more money than sense, I can spring for the good stuff. Esme seems to think she will be paying, but for once I am quicker than the vampire and swipe my card before she can fish hers out of her wallet. "Bella, I was going to treat you," she complains.

"I know, and I'll tell you later, but I've got more money than even you do now," I whisper, just low enough for her to hear, but not the cashier. To the cashier, I was just smiling and shaking my head. I don't need it spread around town that Bella Swan is suddenly rich.

Back at the house, Esme and Rosalie help me unpack all the groceries and re-stock the kitchen. Then Esme sets to making one of her famous stews. I know my way around the kitchen, always have, but watching Esme cooking is always interesting to me. Human food is gross to them, so there is no tasting the progress to see if the flavor combinations she chooses are working. She says she relies on her sense of smell, but I have to wonder about even that.

Charlie is still plunking away at her laptop. When I ask what she's doing, she said she's investing some of the money we acquired in order to make it grow even more. "Oh yes, Bella, you said you'd explain how it is that you have so much money now," Esme says as she stepped out of the kitchen.

"Well, during one of our cases, we discovered that Dean, Sam, and I are all legacies of a corporation called the Men of Letters," I explain. "Their grandfather Henry Winchester, and my great-grandmother, Josie Higginbotham.

"They had a bunker east of here that houses books, maps, tools, weapons, all kinds of resources all covering the supernatural presence on our planet. It's housed underneath a power plant, which served as a cover. All the profits from the power plant have been sitting in an account, accruing interest for a very long time. Charlie was able to find all this, and we got the accounts switched over to our names. So, we're richer than Midas, really. It comes in handy for traveling, as is the nature of our job."

That reminds me. I grab my purse and pull out my checkbook, writing a check to Edward for the amount of money he'd deposited into my account. I know he doesn't need it back or even want it back, but I can't keep it. Not now, after everything. He sees the look on my face and knows better than to fight me on it.

After eating some of Esme's delicious stew with fresh-baked bread, we still have quite a few hours to wait for the guys. I've been keeping them updated on the goings on since our last phone call. Dean is not very pleased to learn that Edward is here, helping, but I remind him that my Dad is what mattered, not any past drama.

Marching up to my room, I decide to try and get a bit of sleep. Dad hasn't done anything with my room, including dusting, so there is a fine layer on everything in the room. I grab a rag from the hall closet and do a quick wipe down before crawling under the blankets.

Sleep evades me for a long time, but eventually, I do drift off, waking only when I hear the tell-tale rumble of Baby coming down the road. I figure I got about 3 hours of sleep. Which is probably three more hours than Dean has, considering he was about 6 hours early.

I hop out of bead and sprint down the stairs, jumping off the last three, landing gracefully. "Damn, Bells. You went and got rid of the clumsiness," Emmett comments. I cut him a look as I bound across the room and to the front door. Baby is just pulling up outside the house. I throw the door open, leaping off the porch and onto the lawn. Dean is getting out of the car as I run through the grass. I half decide to do a Dukes of Hazzard style slide across Baby's hood, but I figure that might piss Dean off.

Instead, I race around the front and throw myself into his arms as he closes the door. "Well, hey babycakes. I missed you, too."

"Hi Sammy," I call out as I see him get out of his door. "Hey, Bobby." They both smile and wave at me. "I'm so glad you guys are here. Now we can go get my dad."

"Hold on there, Remi," Dean says. "We gotta do some recon first."

"I don't know if we do," I reply. "First, we have ten children of Diaman and six horse-sized wolves to help us storm the place, and we know exactly where they are. I doubt they know what's coming, especially with me. Would it make you feel better if I call Crowley and have him help, too?"

"As much as I'd love to see the look on his face when you summon him, nah," Dean answers. "I think we have more than enough supernatural help for this job."

"Okay then. Let's get the show on the road."

"It's not that simple. We need lamb's blood. Know any butcher shops nearby? We couldn't find any on the way. No that had any lamb's blood. Not one."

"Oh we already took care of that," Esme says as she pops out of the house. I'd read up on Djinn and had a follow-up phone call with Arabella to get more facts and figures about them. Carlisle and Emmett went out straight away to find lamb's blood and silver blades. Esme said we could use her china set as it wasn't like they had any real use for it anyway. "It's good to see you again, though still under not such great circumstances."

"Yes, we're all ready to go, Dean. We have silver blades, lamb's blood, 10 vampires, 4 hunters, and one very pissed off Simagre that's out for blood. I know the lore says they are stronger and faster than humans, but I'd bet the farm they've got nothing on these guys."

Dean looks like he wants to protest, but keeps his mouth shut. I think he knows full well that if it was his dad trapped in an abandoned sawmill being fed off of by a Djinn, he'd be mowing the place down with a bulldozer.

Charlie and I get into Baby with Sam, Dean, and Bobby, who take a few minutes to stretch their legs and use the bathroom. Esme had also made a pot of coffee and poured five travel mugs of it and hands it out as we were getting in the car. "Thank you, Mrs. Cullen," Sammy says.

"Esme, please," she replies, a beaming smile on her face. "And you're welcome."

"Best coffee I've had in a long time," Dean commented after a sip. "Sorry, Remi, there's just something about this coffee." I thought it had everything to do with the well water my dad had and nothing to do with the person that made the coffee, but I digress.

The vampires all pile into two large SUVs and the one Peter's in leads the way, as he knows exactly where the sawmill is. Within an hour, our caravan is pulling off on the side of the road as close to the sawmill as we can get. From here we'll have to go on foot. Thankfully, I dressed for the weather and found my old hiking boots in the hall closet at the house. I am armed with two silver blades, one from Dean's arsenal and another from Esme's china set that Jasper had sharpened so it could easily cut off the head of a Djinn. Before we head into the thick woods, we each take our blades and dip them in the container of blood that Carlisle was holding.

"Anyone wanna finish this off?" I ask, holding up the container. Every single vampire gives me a look of pure disgust. "Jeez, can't take a joke?" Edward is the first to laugh after a few more seconds of silence.

We head off into the woods, moving as quickly as our human feet can carry us. I'd have been willing to take a piggyback from a vampire and make it go quicker, but I'm positive that Dean, Sammy, and Bobby would rather die than be carried by anyone, let alone a supernatural creature. When we arrive at the sawmill, a couple hours later, Peter motions for us to stop while he goes ahead to scope out an entrance.

The wolves show up then, deciding to hold the perimeter in case any of the vampires that may have helped the Djinn in creating the lead room are around. Charlotte, Rosalie, Esme, and Garrett plan to remain outside, too.

"They're here," Alice whispers barely loudly enough for us humans to hear her. "I can hear four heartbeats inside. One of them sounds odd, the other three are pretty slow."

"The Djinn magic slows the pulse," Bobby comments. "They likely have another IV going into their opposite arm to give them nutrients. That way the Djinn can keep feeding on them for a while." I remember Arabella saying something about that. "The fourth pulse is probably the Djinn. They're not human, so their heartbeats are gonna sound different."

I look to Edward to see if he can hear any thoughts. "I hear Lauren, Jessica, and your Dad. I can't hear the Djinn, though. Maybe because it isn't human. Your dad is dreaming about a beach somewhere with your mother. Lauren and Jessica are both having rather um… x-rated dreams."

Dean smiles. "Those aren't dreams, pal. That's the hallucination that the Djinn put you under. It looks, feels, and smells so real. They probably don't even know it isn't real."

"You sound like you speak from experience," Garrett states.

Dean nods. "Yep. I was on a Djinn's trail a few years ago, got myself cornered and he touched me. One touch is all it takes. I was under for only a few hours, but it felt like a couple days at least."

Peter returns and motions for us to follow him. We go through a door that looks like it hasn't been used in years, save for Peter just having broken it open. Completely silently, somehow. The last thing we want is for the Djinn to see or hear us coming and kill the victims before we can save them.

We go down a flight of stairs and come to a door that looks like it's made of lead. Just as we thought. Peter, Jasper, Emmett, and Edward all post up around the door and using Peter's instruction, lift the door silently, pulling it off the hinges. Alice is quick to catch the pins as they fall towards the cement floor.

SIlent as the grave, we inch forward and into the room, only to realize it's a hallway. Completely made of lead. At the other end is another door. This one, we believe will lead to the room he's got my father, Lauren, and Jessica in. Alice taps me on the shoulder and mimes that she can hear the heartbeats louder now.

This next door, no matter how quietly we remove it is going to alert the Djinn of our presence. Maybe it's asleep and we might gain a few seconds, but still, we want to get in there quick enough that it can't act on any plans to kill the people in there.

I motion for them to wait a second. Feeling the boundaries of my shield, I try to push them out and into the next room. Closing my eyes, I try to picture where the Djinn is in the room. Just then, I hear footsteps moving through the room. I can't stand the idea of it being close to my Dad and want nothing more than for it to be as far away as possible in the small lead room. My shield latches on to this and the Djinn is pinned and flung to the wall. I hold him down and then signal the guys to open the door.

They do, not bothering to be quiet about it this time and toss it into the corner. I step into the room first, my eyes first landing on Jessica. She, Lauren, and my Dad are all strung up on these cross-like devices with their arms all connected to IVs. One to drain the blood, another to provide nutrients, just like Bobby said. To my right the Djinn was pinned against the wall, bamming against my invisible shield with its fists.

It was vaguely masculine in appearance, with a bald head covered in tattoos. The exposed parts of its arms were also covered in ink. I wondered if it was artwork or just part of its skin. Like stripes on a tiger or something. It started spouting off some words in a language I didn't know. It sounded like maybe Arabic, but it could have been Greek or Russian for all I knew.

While I kept him pinned down, Alice, Edward, and Sam worked to get my Dad down from the

"How are you doing that?" Dean asks.

"I'm holding him down with my shield," I explain.

"And when did you learn you could do that?"

"About twelve seconds ago," I answered. "All I could think about was getting the Djinn as far away from my Dad as possible, and then it just happened."

"Well, keep it up, we've almost got them all untied. They're all still unconscious, but should wake up soon." I nod, keeping my concentration on the Djinn. He's still mumbling to himself in the foreign language. It almost seems like a chant, but I don't see any spellwork implements anywhere if he's trying to summon someone or something. None of the lore I read or heard about indicated they could work magic other than the hallucinatory states they induce through touch.

Carlisle starts tending to the girls and my dad right away. "They all need transfusions. Bella, any chance you know your dad's blood type?" he asks. He'd brought a cooler full of pints of blood. Having a doctor on my team was rather handy. We could treat these people here and not have to wait for the hospital.

"He's O-neg," I answer. "Same as me."

"That's why he was so delicious," the Djinn hisses. I snap my eyes back at him. He grins at me evilly. "And you will be, too." I realize that my shield has rescinded. Now that my father isn't in imminent danger, it has stopped pinning it down. I have several vampires and humans around me to keep the Djinn off of me, but I signal them to hold off. Something tells me I can do this without anyone's help. It stalks towards me, seemingly oblivious to the threat around him. I see its eyes light up blue and some weird heatless flames come out of its hands as it reaches for my hand. I let it touch me and I am sure it expects me to succumb to the hallucination, but nothing happens.

It's my turn to give the Djinn an evil grin. Its eyes widen as it realizes I haven't passed out or fallen asleep. With my free hand, I sock it right in the face. It falls back, tripping over a piece of concrete and landing unceremoniously on the floor. I would have killed it outright, with the lamb blood-soaked knife in my other hand, but I want to ask it questions first. Like who hired it to kidnap my father.

Alice, Edward, and Carlisle are carrying Lauren, Jessica, and my dad out while the boys and Bobby set to cleaning up. Peter slings the Djinn over his shoulder and carries it up the stairs and outside.

"Looks like Felix won't be collecting on his bet," the Djinn says once it regains consciousness. I had been overseeing Carlisle caring for my dad and wasn't watching to see if it woke up.

"What do you mean?" Edward asks. I can tell he was frustrated that he can't see the Djinn's thoughts.

"It was a 50-50 shot, really. Would you save your father or your mother? I guess your father won out."

I nearly drop the knife. Grabbing my phone out of my pocket, I quickly dial my mom's number. In all the rush to get to Charlie, for some dumb reason, it never occurred to me that my mom might be in danger. Not my sweet, loving, erratic, hair-brained mother. Not in sunny Florida.

It rings several times before going to voicemail. "Mom, it's Bella. Call me as soon as you get this. I love you." She could be out… or she could be missing. Like Charlie. Dammit, and we were close to Florida! I should have sent Dean and Sam to check on her while I flew here. I at least should have called.

"He could be lying, Rem," Dean said, trying to assuage my emotions. "He would have read your dad's thoughts. Djinn can do that. It's how they create the hallucinations."

Then I remember Arabella. She is still in New Orleans, or nearby, I hope. I dial her number. "Bella, did you find him?" she asks rather than a standard greeting. I like that she's straight to the point.

"Yes, we found him. He'll be alright. Doctor is taking care of him right now. But I need your help."

"What do you need?" She could likely hear the franticness in my voice.

"I need you to go to Jacksonville and see if my mother is alright. Something the Djinn said… I think maybe they took both my parents. Gambling on which one I'd save. He said someone lost a bet that I would have saved her over him. Dean says he could be lying. But I… I just need to know. She didn't answer her phone, but that's common. If she's out and about she probably left it at home."

"Text me the address. I'm about 5 hours from there, in Mobile. I was headed East anyway. I'll let you know as soon as I'm there."

"Thank you, Aunt Bella." My hands are shaking as I hang up the phone. I let it fall to the soft ground rather than stuffing it back in my pocket and stalk towards the Djinn. "Where is she?" I'm holding the silver blade at its throat, using just enough pressure to make it freeze in place.

It simply smiles in return. "If I tell you, you'll kill me anyway, so what does it matter? You took my meals from me. Why would I give you anything?"

"Because I can do far worse than kill you," I tell it. "You think we don't know you had help here? You think we don't know you specifically targeted these people? I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night. Tell me where she is!"

The Djinn remains silent, his eyes glowing blue as if touching a human. But it is bound to the ground with a pair of silver cuffs that Dean or Sam must have put on him. Realizing the usual tactics aren't going to work, I decide to pull out the big guns. "Ever met the King of Hell?" I yell Crowley's name out as loud as I can and within seconds, he appears.

"You bellowed," he complained as he realizes where he is. "How do you wish to enslave me today, my mistress?" His disdain for me is palpable.

"The Djinn… it may know something that it is unwilling to share. Do encourage it, would you, please?"

Crowley turned toward the creature in question, heaved a loud, annoyed, sigh and then picked it up and flung it towards the wall of the sawmill without laying a hand on it. I left him to his own devices, knowing that if anyone, he could get what I wanted out of the monster.

"That's the king of hell?" Edward asks. "He doesn't look like much."

"Appearances can be deceiving," Crowley replies, not meeting Edward's eyes. "Don't you lot sparkle in the sunlight, for hell's sake? And yet your nearly as lethal as me."

I can't help my snort of a laugh. I look to Dean and Sam, who are snickering, too. Bobby probably would be laughing, but I think he's still trying to figure out how in the hell I summoned Crowley without the summoning ritual. Dean had described it to me once, it involves a weird bowl and blood and some candles and symbols and words. I don't need any of that. I simply say that I need or want his presence and he appears. Seemingly without a choice. Dean mentioned earlier that he filled Bobby in on as much as he could about the Simagre business, and assured Bobby that while I wasn't fully human, I wasn't a creature they'd ever need to hunt, no matter how powerful I got. I would always use my powers for good, to help our hunts and help humans. And the supernatural creatures that aren't harming humans, but I added that last caveat myself, to Dean's dismay.

A few minutes later, I took a look at the Djinn, only to see its flesh sliced to ribbons, blood pooling out of its body, but it was still alive and singing like a canary. I had wondered if, when it mentioned the name Felix, he was speaking of the gigantic Volturi guard. Turns out, he was. And my initial theory was correct. The Volturi were behind this. And if they had my Dad, they would have gotten my mom, too. And probably Phil.

"Milady, I take it the names Felix, Demetri, Jane, and Alec mean something to you?" Crowley asks. I kinda like the way he says "Milady." Makes me feel almost royal.

"They sure do," I reply, malice covering my voice thickly like the blood that slowly seeps out of a thousand cuts on the Djinn's body. "Anything else he has to say?"

"Yes, Demetri is expecting to hear from him on this, once your father is dead or you save him. Whichever was to come first." He produces a cell-phone. Dean takes it from him.

"It's a pre-paid burner phone." He scrolls through the menu. "Only one number in the contacts, give you one guess who it belongs to.

I nod, turning back to Crowley. "Anything more?"

"They really did take your mother and her husband. Will you require my assistance any further? I was in the middle of a meal." I can tell he does not want to help with saving my mother, and I have more than enough here at the moment. Plus, if I do need him again, I'll simply wish him into appearance.

"No no, thank you, Your Majesty," I answer, bowing. I want him to believe that while yes, I can control him, I still respect his status. Even though I don't. Not even a little bit.

He beams at my gesture, salutes me, makes kissy faces at the boys, calling them Moose and Squirrel, and disappears as instantly as he'd appeared.

"I'd love an explanation of all this," Carlisle mused, waving his hand in the direction that Crowley puffed out of vision. "But it seems as though you were right. It is the Volturi. Using the holes in Alice's visions and having someone she doesn't really know call the shots. Alice, are you able to change your focus to any of the four guards that Crowley listed off?"

"I'll try. Usually, once I've met someone, I can see them, and I've met all four of them. Briefly, as it was. But I've seen nothing." She turns to me. "Honestly, Bella. I've seen nothing. I know you don't fully trust me, but all I ever wanted was my family's happiness. I'm so sorry that my visions were so wrong, or at the very least, that I interpreted them incorrectly. I should have seen from the beginning that you and Edward were not suited for each other."

I put my hand up to silence her. "I appreciate your words, Alice, and I'm not trying to be rude. But Renee and Phil come before any semblance of repairing our friendship. I do trust you so far as to help me with this problem, and we'll see about the rest later. Okay?" She nods and smiles at me. "Alright, so my Aunt Arabella is on her way to Jacksonville as we speak to see if she can find my mother and Phil. Until we hear from her, the best thing we can do is wait. Let's put this Djinn out of his misery and get these three back home."

Dean and Sam move to carry out the first of my actions while three vampires are each carrying one of the humans the Djinn was feeding on. Carlisle arranges their transfusion bags in such a way that they can still receive the blood while we make our way back to the vehicles. I realize that while I was very resistant in receiving their help the other day, I am glad they're all here now. Carlisle especially. It would have been another few hours before I could get them to a hospital if I hadn't had their help, and that may have been too late.

Once back at the house, I'm pacing back and forth, waiting for Arabella to call. When we arrived, I called Angela and Mike telling them we'd found Lauren, Jessica, and My Dad. My next call was to the Police Station, and they had unis out to my house within minutes. Many of the vampires hid, only a couple staying in the house. It would have looked mighty odd to have that many people.

"Bella, why did you let us know you had a lead?" The deputy asks. "We would have checked it out. You're a civilian." He was lecturing me.

"I really don't think you want to get into this conversation, officer. Just look at her face," Jasper says, interceding on my behalf. The deputy looks confused. "She's pissed. Thinks you're incompetent. She was able to figure out what was going on within a matter of hours and it took you days to find absolutely nothing.

"The chief is safe," Jasper continues. "You can leave. Why don't you head on over to that old abandoned sawmill about an hour north of town? That's where we found them. But their kidnapper was long gone. Maybe you can find something there." Jasper is sending them on a wild goose chase, which couldn't make me happier.

Soon, Lauren's parents arrive, followed shortly by Jessica's. Carlisle gives them information and tells them how to best care for them. They're going to need a lot of TLC, but they'll be just fine."

Their parents thank him and me and take their daughters to leave for home. I sincerely hope Mrs. Mallory at least figures out how to properly parent her child, even though she's grown and off to college.

WIthin a couple more hours, my dad wakes up. I had him up in his room on his bed. "Bells?" he asks, his groggy eyes clearing.

"Yeah, Dad. It's me."

"Your hair's purple," he comments. I laugh.

"Yes, it is. How are you feeling?"

He wriggles around a bit, testing his muscles. "I'm okay. What happened? One minute I was out looking for two of your school friends, the next, I was on a beach in Brazil or someplace, and then, I was in this horrid smelling room with your friends strung up just like me, back to the beach, and now I'm at home here in Forks. I don't know what's real."

"This is real, Dad. I'm real. I'm here. You were um… under the influence of a really trippy drug called Genie Juice," I say off the top of my head. "Lauren and Jessica were, too. It was their dealer that took them. I guess they were behind on payments or something. Very vivid hallucinations, I guess. But the important thing is they're okay, they're home with their families. You're okay. The dealer is gone."

"What about your mother?" he asks.

I swallow. "What about her?"

"Are she and I still together? When I was on that beach, she and I were, and I just… I can't remember."

"Mom took me and left you when I was a baby," I remind him. "I grew up in Phoenix, and moved in with you part-way through junior year while Renee and her Husband Phil were going to travel around."

He nods. "Yeah, that makes a hell of a lot more sense. And my sister… your aunt Arabella. She's dead." I'm grateful that he doesn't ask whether or not she's dead. He'd said it as a sentence, not a question. "But man, having her in the dream or hallucination or whatever really threw me. She even looked like how she probably would if she hadn't died and kept aging. There was someone else… you had a boyfriend in the dream. Husband, actually. Do you have one now?" I nod but don't say anything. "And his name is…"

I didn't think he knew about Dean, but I wasn't about to start lying about that. The lie about the Genie juice was bad enough. "Dean."

"Not Jacob."

I sat back. "Um no, despite your wishes otherwise, I've never dated Jacob. He is here though, he was part of the search party." I'm doing what I can to get his mind off of Arabella. I really don't want to lie about her not being dead.

"And you're not pregnant, are you?"

"What? No… Dad, what kind of hallucination were you having?"

"Now who's this Dean character?"

"I'll get him," I say, standing up.

"He's here?"

"Yeah, Dad. He came to help find you. Him and his brother, Sam. You've met them already, actually. Remember those guys from the diner that one day we went to breakfast? Well, we hit it off and started traveling together. Dean and I becoming a thing happened later." I step out into the hall and call Dean's name.

Charlie is silent as he hears Dean's boots trudge up the stairs. "Hello sir," Dean greets, putting on his "meeting Remi's Dad" face. He shakes my Dad's hand. A good firm shake, which I can see my Dad approves of. "I'm glad you're feeling better. Remi, er Bella was really worried about you."

"Well, thanks for haulin' ass to get here and find me. Where were y'all anyway. And who's Remi?"

"New Orleans," I answer, truthfully. "Had a job there. Remi is his nickname for me. Long story."

"Yeah? What are you doing for money these days, Bells? I can help out y'know. Simple guy like me doesn't have much in the way of expenses."

I smile. "Thanks, Dad, but I'm good. We actually found out we share a mutual history, Dean and I. His grandfather and my great-grandmother were both shareholders in this power company out in Kansas. Turns out we were the beneficiaries… so we're set." Not exactly a lie.

"What is it you're up to, Bells? You seem different. And I don't mean in a bad way. In fact, you seem more like your old self. Before that Edmund character." He never could get Edward's name right, something I think he does on purpose.

"I am more myself now," I agree. "We're traveling around the country, checking out the sights, doing a few odd jobs here and there. Mostly to pass the time since we don't need the money now." Also not a lie, I'm just not going to elaborate on the word "odd."

"What are the chances that two strangers that happened to meet in a random diner in Forks, Washington are both beneficiaries of some company fund?" Dad asks, ignoring my statement.

"Yeah, it threw us for a loop, too. But stranger things have happened," Dean answers confidently. "We, my brother and I, that is, found our dad in the register. He and I are from Kansas and were looking into our ancestry. Bella was looking it over and recognized one of the other names. I guess her great grandma was from Kansas, too."

Charlie is silent as he mulls that over a bit. "yeah, wasn't she the one that went missing right after your grandma was born?" I nod in response. "Wow, what luck that you found her."

"I know. It was crazy. I thought for sure it wasn't the same one, but really, how many Josie Higginbothams could there be?"

"Now, what's a guy gotta do to get some food around here?" he asks, sitting up slightly.

Esme takes that as her cue to bring up some of the stew she'd made. "Hi Chief Swan," she greets as she steps into the room, holding a tray.

"Uh, Mrs. Cullen? How nice of you to stop by. Thank you." He eyes me, trying to gauge my reaction to her presence.

"Of course," she answers. "When we heard about what happened, and that Bella was back to find you, we couldn't just sit idly by. We had to help."

"We? meaning your whole family?" Charlie asks.

I nod. "Yeah. They all stopped by not long after I got here, to offer their help. Esme was really a rock for me, Dad. She even helped re-stock the kitchen, so no diner food for a while, huh?"

Esme sets the tray down, smiles at Charlie and touches my shoulder affectionately as she leaves the room. "Eat up dad, rest, we'll be back tomorrow to check on you."

He nods, eying the stew. Living off nothing but a nutrient IV for a few days clearly has him thinking about nothing but downing the whole bowl.

We head downstairs and the second my feet hit the carpeting at the bottom, my phone rings. It's Aunt Bella. I'm glad she didn't call 30 seconds earlier. "Arabella," I greet. "What's the news?" I try to remain optimistic.

"Oh, Bella. Bella, I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." She's sobbing.

I sit down on the stair. "What did you find?"

"They're dead. Oh God, Bella. I'm so sorry! Renee and Phil are both dead."

The phone slips from my hand.

AN: A bit of a shocker, I'm sure... sorry about that.

Up next will be Dean's PoV as Bella/Remi will be just a bit out of sorts, to say the least. She's really gonna come into her Simagre power now, though.