This chapter was both fun and challenging to write – I hope you enjoy it and agree with what happens.

This story is copyrighted by me, but the characters names, the ideas, the settings and basically everything else belongs to SM and Summit. Lucky them :(

Previously:

Was this the vampire that had broken into our house?

A tentative knock sounded, and Carlisle gripped the door handle, sending us all glances before yanking open the door.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Bella's POV

I moved up the front steps to the porch and couldn't hear a bit of activity going on inside, which had me worried. Were they even in there?

I knocked slowly on the door, frightened of their reaction. They didn't want me, did they? Maybe they would ban me from ever seeing them again. Would Edward be there now? Or would he still be gone?

The door was suddenly yanked open, and my eyes focused on four vampires.

Their faces though, were not like I expected.

Carlisle was shocked, Esme's eyes were wider than I thought they could be, Jasper confused with his mouth hanging open, and Alice squeaked and covered her mouth with her hands.

"Wha... Bella?" Esme was the first to speak, whispering my name and still clearly in shock.

I smiled a small, shy smile, and nodded.

They were like statues frozen in time, only Carlisle's hand losing grip on the door and flying to his side, and Alice starting to jump up and down slightly.

"Hi," I said in a small voice.

Alice squealed and ran to me, hugging me full force and yelling loudly in my ear. That seemed to bring Esme out of her trance, and she looked me up and down while I was frozen by the force of Alice's hug.

"How did this happen?" Carlisle deliberated, almost to himself.

Esme walked up to me. "Come inside, Bella. It's so great to see you, and I think you have a few things to tell us," she smiled and took my hand, leading a stunned me and an attached shrieking Alice inside, past a frozen Jasper and Carlisle.

Alice finally let go of me when we got to the couch in their new home, taking my backpack off my shoulder and frowning at it, depositing it roughly by throwing it at the staircase. She sat on the couch and pulled me next to her, her smile lighting up her whole face and her body vibrating with excitement.

Esme laughed quietly, and I looked up to see what it was about.

"I was about to ask you if you wanted a drink. But obviously..." she smiled again.

"Obviously I don't want one." I finished for her.

"Yes..." she trailed off, narrowing her eyes at me.

In the awkward silence I looked around and their new home. It was sparsely decorated, all of Esme's favourite paintings on the walls. Wooden panels decorated one of the walls, distinctively different then the wall of glass in Forks. I saw a large kitchen disappearing round the corner, and the oak staircase leading up to the second level. This house was obviously very big, and I couldn't help but utilize my extra senses and realise the four vampires in front of me were the only ones that had been in the house for some time.

"Where's E– Emmett?" I cut my self of from saying his name.

"Emmett and Rosalie are currently enjoying their second honeymoon in the north of Africa," Carlisle informed me, sitting down next to Esme. We all stared at each other uncomfortably, and nobody broke the silence till Alice couldn't help but burst.

"Oh my gosh Bella! How are you a vampire? Did you ask somebody to do it? Did somebody bite you? Did you just turn? When did it happen? Why can't I see you? Why did you come here? How did you get here? Was it you on the phone? Oh, it was, wasn't it! How didn't I see this before! Are you coping? You seem to be fine around humans, otherwise you would have bit the cab driver... how do you do it? Did you see–"

"Alice, please," Esme reprimanded her, seeing my flustered expression, "let Bella explain."

I decided that since these four people in front of me deserved to know the truth. If they were going to let me stay, I might as well tell them now. It's not like it was a big secret.

"Laurent came back," I whispered, hearing shocked gasps around the room. "He... he was getting revenge for Victoria. He said that she wanted me because Edward killed her mate, and so she wanted to kill his. Mate for mate. I guess she didn't know..."

"Anyway, he said he would be kind, kill me quickly. He bit me, but then the wol–" I stopped myself, I forgot that they wouldn't know about the werewolves in La Push.

I tried to think of how to keep the secret of the wolves out of this, but I realised that having spent the last three weeks with them, there was no way I could keep them out of this.

But hadn't I told Jacob some things about the Cullen's? Hadn't I stood in front of everyone and guiltily admitted his mind-reading ability? About Alice's visions? Jasper's empath powers? Wouldn't that mean, logically, I could tell Alice, Carlisle and Esme about the wolves?

But more so, would I want to tell them? Was I putting the packs lives in danger if I would tell their secret?

"So, he bit you." Alice's voice was clipped and short, tinted with a hint of annoyance.

"Yes," I replied curtly.

"How come he didn't drain you?" Carlisle asked, still genuinely interested, even though Alice was furrowing her eyebrows and muttering incoherently away at herself.

"Uh..." I decided to get it over and done with. "The wolves dragged him off me. Then they killed him."

I looked at Esme, who was staring at me with wide eyes. As soon as my eyes rested on her she catapulted off the couch and squeezed in next to me, hugging me around my shoulders.

"My poor girl," she said softly, kissing the side of my forehead. I folded into her, relishing in the contact and motherly protectiveness only Esme would have.

"I'm so sorry I didn't come back, Bella. If I had known..." Alice trailed off, burning into my eyes to try to get me to understand. "I would've come back. But I couldn't see!" She cried out, frustrated as she pulled roughly at her short hair, and then sobbed into my lap.

The combined emotions of Esme and Alice must have woken Jasper up from his daze, because he knelt down beside Alice and patted her head, smoothing down her spiky hair.

Esme squeezed me tighter, as if it was at all possible. "It's our entire fault. We should have never let him leave. Why didn't we stay? Why did it have to come to this?" She rambled, almost to herself.

I hoped that was a rhetorical question, as I didn't know what to say to that, so I just kept my mouth shut and absorbed Esme's motherly comforting. I indulged in her love while I could get it.

"I don't mean to sound rude, Bella," Carlisle's kind voice startled me, "but, why did you come here?"

I bit my lip and thought over what I was going to say before I blurted out incomprehensible and embarrassing things.

"Well... I– I thought that since you guys were... like me, uh..." I stumbled through the sentence, and took a deep breath, "like me, that you could..." how did I say this? "Um... kind of help me?" It came out as a question. "Like, you know... err... settle" I used my fingers to make speech marks in the air.

"Of course we would, Bella," Esme crooned, and I looked into her deep golden eyes. She reached up and brushed my matted hair, and I realised with a pang that she didn't feel cold to me anymore. She felt... normal.

I truly smiled for the first time in days.

"Ooh! Bella, come with me! You can have the guest room! It's even got purple bedding! How awesome! You could be like my little sister!" Alice got even more exited, and squealed as she thought of something else, "I can buy you HEAPS of clothes! You didn't bring any of your old stuff! Yay! Ohmygosh I am so exited! We can go to New York! Ooh! NY Fashion Week's coming soon! Yay! I can have a little sister who could come! Are you going to go–"

She stopped at once when she looked behind my back, and I turned slightly to see what had caught her attention, but I only saw a calm Esme staring back at me.

"Let's ask Bella what she wants for once, shall we, Alice?" Alice's eyes widened, she nodded and pressed her lips firmly together, however she was still bouncing in her seat.

I looked around the room and saw everyone's eyes on me, looking expectant. I remembered I had a question to answer.

"I mean... I could get my own place somewhere. Um... I don't know," I brushed my hand through my hair, "I guess I don't have any money though... and I'd need to somehow fake papers or something..." I obviously hadn't thought about this much, and I chastised myself for not thinking about this earlier. I guess I had been too worried about their reactions to seeing me on their doorstep, and I hadn't thought much beyond that.

"But Bella..." Alice whined.

Esme interrupted her daughter, "You can always count on us, no matter what Bella, even though I know it contradicts what happened earlier," she sniffed once, and patted my hand. "We would be happy if you needed to lean on us for a while."

I stayed quiet, replaying her words. Alice squeaked, and I really hope it wasn't because she saw my resolve faltering.

"I guess... that would be nice." I said quietly.

"Then it's all sorted, Bella. We can help you get over your apparently un-existent new-born phase," Carlisle said, saying the second part of the sentence with a smile.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Several hours and conversations later, I was escorted to the guest bedroom by Alice.

She looked in my backpack with disgust, and plopped it on the floor next to the armchair.

"We're going to need to get you some new clothes," she said, serious for once. I nodded.

"Everything look okay?"

I nodded again.

"Okay..." she drawled out, "well, I suppose I'll let you get settled, then. Did you want–"

Alice stopped mid-sentence and her eyes glazed over. I instantly got worried, but a second later she focused back on me and smiled. I remembered vaguely from my human life the look that came on Alice's face when she was having a vision.

"We'll have fun, Bella. You don't have to worry about anything anymore." Alice hugged me more softly this time, tenderly, and walked out.

Well, how could I not worry?

I sat down on the edge of the bed and peered around the room, taking in the events from the past 24 hours. I felt oddly tired. Emotionally, not physically.

A knock sounded on the door not much later, and after my meagre come in, Carlisle appeared around the door. He smiled and closed the door behind him, not coming any further into the room. There was deep silence for a minute while he studied my face, and I looked around the room, feeling the weight of his stare.

"How are you feeling, Bella?"

I couldn't help but smile at his question. The doctor in him had clearly taken over. I did however know that he wasn't talking about headaches or stomach trouble.

"I don't know how to explain it," I said to the expensive duvet covering the king bed, "it's overwhelming." I waved my arms around in a hopeless gesture.

Carlisle nodded, "I understand. You must know how it was for me at first, knowing I had become exactly the creature I had hunted before. I thought I didn't deserve to live, that vampires and witches weren't real, and I was simply dreaming. I tried to abstain from the thirst. I didn't want to believe that my worst nightmare had come true."

"I hid for months, trying to figure out what I'd become. Despising myself." He came to sit next to me on the bed, "I repressed any urges to quench my thirst, to run, to test my capabilities. I too was overwhelmed. But I'm glad that you have us to talk to, to relate to now. I hope that the wolves took care of your needs for the weeks that you were there. I must apologise, again, for–"

Carlisle had started this familiar sentence enough times already – so had the rest of the family – and so I cut him off. I hated apologies now. It was the only one anyone ever said to me.

"Its fine, Carlisle. Thank you for explaining. Explaining how this was for you. I... I think I'm finding it easier than everybody else. I can't be sure... but I think it has to be something to do with me knowing about this whole... thing, "I waved my hands around in the air, "before the change happened. That's my theory."

Carlisle thought about my statement. "I guess that's way of looking at it – your preparation."

There was silence.

"Have you thought... about what you would like to do?"

I shook my head no.

'It's all right. You can stay here for as long as you like. Don't worry about anything, Bella," and with that, he patted my hand and smiled before leaving the room, leaving me to my own wild and scattered thoughts.

What did you think of the sob fest?

The next chapter might take a while. Why you ask? It's because I don't know what's gonna happen – and I'm the author, so I kinda need to know what happens next. I need to think, and then write.

I'm recommending Help Wanted by jaxon22. Bella Swan applies for the job of PA to the rude, arrogant and distant Hollywood star Edward Cullen. Will she be able to do her job without letting feelings get in the way? I love the versions of Edward and Bella used in this story, and some of the settings used are beautiful (ie. Italian holidays!)