Blood Moon

Welcome home

Edward laid Bella into the house. He had told her that those people already knew and supposedly liked her, but she couldn't help being a little nervous because they would still feel like strangers to her and her current attire didn't exactly help matters either – being half naked with only panties and a big T-Shirt on and with animal blood all over her. So as they stepped into what she assumed to be the living room she made sure to stay hidden behind Edward peering up from behind his shoulder. There were six people waiting for them. She recognized Jasper and Alice from earlier. Alice beamed at her while Jasper gave her an encouraging nod and she felt her nerves calm down a little. The people she didn't recognize were a ridiculously beautiful tall blond girl, who gave her a strange look Bella couldn't quite read. A really big dark haired guy had his arm around blond's waist and beamed at Bella much like Alice but with a kind of expectant touch to it. Then there was a slightly older looking blond guy with a beautiful woman on his arm. They both seemed really kind giving her warm welcoming smiles. Just as she had taken all this in Edward cleared his throat and started to introduce them. "Well Bella, this is our family. You already know Alice and Jasper. Then there is Rosalie and Emmett." The big dark haired guy waved at her excitedly while the blond girl just nodded her head with a slight smile fluttering across her face. "And our 'parents'" He made little air quotes. "Carlisle and Esme." Bella stared at him puzzled. He sighed and elaborated. "It's to keep up appearances, so the humans won't get suspicious ... Like a cover story? Officially we are all adopted by Carlisle and Esme." Bella nodded slowly still a little confused. Esme just shook her head flashing a charming smile as she spoke up. "Don't worry honey. We can clear that up later. Let's get you settled in first."

That seemed to be Alice's cue, because she bounce forward making Bella jump a little. „Come on" She chirped grabbing her hand. "Lets get you cleaned up." She nodded and followed Alice upstairs down a hallway and into a big fancy bathroom. Bella took a look around astonished while Alice took off the bloody T-Shirt, helped Bella out of her panties. Then she turned on the water in the shower before she maneuvered them into it. Alice washed all the blood away carefully then she turned off the water and wrapped Bella into a big fluffy towel. "Follow me." She ordered and they stepped out of the bathroom and into a spacious bedroom. Alice pulled some underwear out of a dresser and threw it at Bella to put on while she opened the doors to a huge closet on the far wall and digged through the clothes. Bella couldn't see her anymore and wondered if she actually could get lost in this mass of clothes. Then she jumped out grinning with a cute little dress on her arm. "There you go." She beamed holding the dress out. Bella just stared at her dumbfounded then at the dress and back at her and a frown appeared on Alice's delicate features. "Fine." She huffed and turned around to disappear in the closet again. "Apparently your fashion sense is still like retarded." This time she returned with Jeans and a wide Shirt and Bella put them on.

After she was done Alice led her into a different room down the hall where Carlisle and Edward were waiting for them. Bella glanced around. There were a lot of books. Carlisle smiled kindly at her. "Well Bella would you like to sit down?" He gestured towards a small couch. Bella shrugged and sat down with Alice by her side. "So …" Carlisle spoke up. „Alice and Edward said that you don't remember what happened to you?" Bella nodded. "What exactly do you remember about yourself?" Bella thought for a moment. But all she could come up with was what happened after she awoke in that cave and the images in her head she couldn't quite make sense of. She shook her head frustrated. "It's OK." Carlisle reassured her. "Take your time." She wrinkled her forehead concentrating on the memories. "Well there was this pain and I couldn't move ... or cry … and then it was gone and I was in a cave and then there was the forest and it was so … loud. And I went like looking for … something … or … I don't know. And there were little girls and I was feeling really strange and he told me to run" She pointed at Edward. "So I ran. And then Alice, Edward and Jasper found me." Carlisle nodded contemplating this.

"Alice said you were … seeing her?" He prodded and Bella bowed assent. "Yeah she was in my head … and she was so … sad … she cried." She explained. Carlisle gazed back and forth between Bella and Alice seemingly deep in thought. "Interesting." Edward commented. Bella shot a confused glance at him. "Oh right! You don't know." Alice exclaimed beside her. "Edward can read minds – except yours that is." She explained. "And it's really annoying when he's conversing with somebody's thoughts and you're like left out." She glared at Edward, who shrugged sheepishly. "Carlisle is wondering if maybe she saw you having your visions of her. Like there has been a deeper connection formed between the two of you in the process." Alice bowed her head pondering the theory. "Hmmm that might be an explanation ... It certainly can't be memories since I have never cried in front of her." "Exactly." Edward stated. Bella was confused again. What were they talking about? "Visions?" She wondered out loud. "Alice can see the future." Edward explained. "And it can be pretty annoying when she's always the first to know about everything and not shutting up about it - Miss-know-it-all." He added smugly imitating Alice's words and she stuck out her tongue at him. Bella cracked a smile at their antics. "But you said you saw Edward too …" Carlisle mused ignoring their banter and Bella nodded her head again shuddering as she thought about it. "He looked scarry … angry and he yelled at me." She declared. And Carlisle seemed to contemplate that.

"But Alice never talked to you in your visions?" Bella shook her head no. "She was …" She wrinkled her nose searching for the right words to describe it. "… like behind a window? It's hard to describe." There was a long pause. "Well we'll figure this out. Is there anything else? Something you recognize? Something that might feel familiar to you, not just because of the visions?" Carlisle urged. And Bella thought hard again. Then she remembered when Edward had touched her in the woods. Just before Jasper had interrupted them. "Edward." Bella stated and they looked at her expectantly. Hopeful. "when … when he touched me – my face. It felt familiar. I liked it." She averted her gaze embarrassed. "And There were all those strange pictures in my head." Edward was grinning like madly while Carlisle smiled pleased and Alice was practically bouncing with joy. Why was everyone like jumping up and cheering at that revelation? Bella wondered. "Well that is a start. Maybe your memories or parts of them will come back to you when they are triggered. I think we'll leave it at that for now so you can get some rest."

After all that talk about her condition and everything Bella and Edward were going to recline to his room. As they stepped out into the corridor they ran into Jasper and Alice practically jumped at him smiling like a Cheshire Cat. Edward shook his head trying not to laugh out loud. "Keep it down. Will you?" He stated before he led Bella into what was supposedly his room and she glanced around. It seemed familiar. Like she had been there before. "No bed?" She asked and he grinned. "We don't sleep." Bella looked perplexed. "ever?" And he shook his head still that amused smile playing around his features. "We've had that same conversation the first time I showed you that room." He explained and she returned his smile. "Well what are we gonna do all night if we don't sleep?" She asked. He took a step closer. "We'll think of something." He stated huskily. She held her breath. Her body was tingling with excitement. And then he reached behind her turning on the stereo. "Clair de lune" she mused absentmindedly and his face lit up. He took her hand and lead her to the couch where they sat down. "Do you want me to tell you something about you or …?" She nodded "I'd like that." "Alright." He smiled marveling her. There was a moment of silence before she sighed. "It feels strange being the only one who doesn't know myself." She grimaced.

"Well what do you wanna know?" She thought for a moment before she answered. "How did we meet?" He cracked a smile shifting in his seat. "We met at school. You were the new student." Edward started telling her their story and everything he knew about her life before they had met. Telling her about her parents what they were like. What she used to be like. It made her feel a little more confident knowing a little more about herself although she still felt like they were talking about somebody else and maybe that even was the case after all she was something entirely different now. However she did recognized some of the pictures she had seen in her head as he had touched her face.

She was propped against the armrest of the couch with her legs in Edwards lap musing over what he had just told her. "So we were … together?" She asked sheepishly. Edward cringing at the past tense use but she didn't notice. "Yes we were …" He trailed off and opened his mouth to say something else but decided against it. Instead he traced the crescent shaped scar on her wrist absentmindedly staring off into space. Bella followed his movements with her eyes. And her forehead wrinkled in confusion. "Where did I get that one?" She whispered touching it entranced. He shook off his thoughts taking a deep breath. "That was the downside of our relationship." She stared at him bewildered withdrawing her hand from his grasp. "You did this?" He realized his mistake and struggled to clear up his miss-communication. "No! I failed to protect you. That's what I meant."

Bella relaxed a bit but was still sceptical. "Then who did this?" She asked. He inhaled slowly choosing his words more carefully this time. "We ran into some other vampires and one of them - James took an interest in you." Bella nodded slowly absorbing the news. "We tried to keep you out of harms way and kill him. But he claimed to have captured your mother and you ran off to save her." He frowned. "How was I gonna fight a vampire alone?" She whispered. And he laughed bitterly. "Well I wish you had thought like that back then." He shook his head. And Bella caught on. "Oh!" This had been a suicide mission. Her life for her mothers. "Anyway it turned out that he had tricked you. Your mother was safe but he attacked you. You got hurt pretty badly. That …" he took her hand again and trace the scare with his fingers. She stared down at it transfixed. "… is where he bid you."

There was a prolonged silence until Bella spoke up again. "How did I get away?" She whispered softly glancing up at his face. He smiled ruefully. "We came to rescue you ... We destroyed him and you made it." He edited. After her reaction before he assumed that it would probably not be very wise to tell her about the sucking out the venom part now. He would explain that some other time or maybe she would remember it herself at some point. She leaned forward laying her head on his shoulder. "So you saved me …" She breathed staring off into space musing about the familiarity of his touch and how he made her feel so safe even though she just met him. Well she obviously knew him before she lost her memory, but … wait. Her head snapped up as she put the pieces together. He was startled by that sudden change of attitude. "What's wrong, Bella?" He asked uneasily just as he heard Alice wince in the other room but she was hiding her thoughts from him.

That was when Bella spoke up. "Where .... were you when this happened?" She demanded gesturing at herself and staring at him precautiously. He froze like deer caught in the headlights. When he didn't answer she spoke up again. "Back in the woods Alice said that we hadn't seen each other in a while or something like that. And you said ... something similar." That seemed to bring him out of his trance and he cleared his throat noisily running his hands through his hair. He looked distressed. She noted. That kind of confirmed her suspicion and she stood up walking away from him. "What's been going on?" She requested anxiously. He reached out for her. "Bella it's not what you think." He declared desperately.

She cocked her head to the side furrowing her brows. "How do you know what I think? I thought you couldn't read my mind?" He took a few steps closer reaching out for her. "Bella, please let me explain." This caused her to stumble backwards shielding herself with her arms. "Don't come any closer. I just want to know what is going on here. Explain this." She pleaded. And he slumped shifting on his feet. "There was an … incident at your birthday party about eight month ago … You had a paper cut … and Jasper lost control." She gasped stepping farther backwards and her back hit the wall. It pained him to see her shy away from him like this. Like she should have done when she had first found out about his identity. Ironically she did it now that it was to late and she was even stronger than he was as a newborn vampire. He didn't comment though realizing that nothing he'd say would make her drop her guard now. He just had to tell her the ugly truth and hope for her forgiveness.

So he continued. "We stopped him ... He didn't hurt you. But it was the second time since we had been together that you were in danger like this so …" He took a deep breath eying her wearily. "I decided it would be better for you if we stayed out of your life … And we left …" He ran his hands through his hair exasperated and his voice was weak when he spoke again. "I just wanted you to be safe and have a normal life." She eased up her stance. Something in her reacted to his despair. She couldn't see him like this. Miserable. Desperate. Forlorn. Discouraged. It hurt her.

"I didn't know this would happen. I'm so sorry." He shook his head frantically keeping his gaze down. She walked over to him warily. "What is it that happened to me?" He looked up startled by her closeness. She had lowered her guard. That gave him some slight hope again. Maybe he wouldn't loose her after all. "That vampire … the one that bid you … he had a mate – Victoria and she was ... resentful because we killed him. So she …" He closed his eyes a painful expression flashing over his features as he remembered what he had seen in Alice's visions. "… she abducted you … Alice saw it, but it was too late. We were too far away to make it in time to safe you …" He gulped. "There were more vision as we tried to find you … the one's Carlisle was referring to earlier." Bella nodded making the connection. "When I saw her?" "Yes, probably" He answered. Knowing the next question before she even asked it. "What were they about? She was so … upset."

Bella knew it must have been bad. But she had to know. "Victoria … she … she took her time … tor-torturing you." Bella squeezed her eyes shut. This was horrible. She was thanking whatever power of the universe that she didn't have to remember any of it. "We were running against time to find you. In the end she changed you and was going to destroy you afterwards." He met her confused gaze. "Why?" He swallowed taking her hand glad that she didn't shrink away this time. "The pain you remember. It was the change. It is very painful. It usually lasts for about three days. That was the final torture." Tears were streaming down her face. He embraced her rubbing soothing circles on her back. "I'm so sorry. I wish I could have spared you all of this. I would have done anything." He whispered in her ear a few solitary tears rolling down his cheeks. "Why … why wasn't she there when I …" She trailed off for a loss of words. He loosened the embrace to look at her and she saw his tears. Something inside her rebelled at this sight. He should never be so … sad. And she reached up her hand and carefully brushed the tears away. At first he was somewhat perplexed by her actions but then he leaning into her touch savouring the feeling.

As she was done he spoke up to answer her question. "Rosalie and Emmett found her." "The blond one and the big guy?" She asked and he chuckled. "Yeah. She was hunting. They chased her up to the border to Quilleute land. We can't cross it. But the wolves on the other side killed her." He explained. "Wolves?" She wondered but he brushed it off. "It's a long story." She nodded. Some other time. There had been enough to process for one night especially after such a strenuous day. They settled on the couch once again holding and consoling one another in comfortable silence for the rest of the night.

A/N: This took forever to write. Hope it was worth it. At least now I'm back on the track.