I was floored at the response to the outtakes I posted. So here, have some more. Editing on the chapter is still ongoing, so thanks for your patience.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot of the Twilight Saga are the property of its author. I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media. Copyright infringement is not intended, nor will I ever make a dime from this fanfiction. So there.
Outtake Four – I cut this from the story for fear that readers would burn Edward at the stake and piss on the ashes.
"I know that here," I pointed to my temple. "But here," I touched my chest where my heart was, "is another story. I would never agree to put you through something like that. I would never send you away and then threaten you with legal action if you tried to contact me."
"What are you talking about?"
"When I lost the baby, I called you. I called Esme, Carlisle, Jasper, everyone. No one picked up. All I got were messages. The day they released me from the hospital, I had a visitor. It was Christmas Eve."
"Who was it?"
"Some guy named James Hunter."
"He works at the law firm we use. He's new."
"He threw a pack of papers in my lap and told me they were an application for a restraining order to keep me from contacting you or anyone in your family."
"He what?" Edward kind of shouted that part.
I just stared at him. "He said if I continued to pester you all that he'd file it. He told me to stay away from everyone's places of employment and homes. I could not believe that you could be so cruel. He said Esme insisted on it, wished me a Merry Christmas, and told me he'd see me in court."
"I never told anyone to do that."
"Doesn't really matter now does it? Someone did."
"Is this why you won't see Esme?"
"Mothers don't throw their children to the wolves." I hissed. "The last thing James said to me was 'Sorry you lost your meal ticket. Better luck next time.'"
The swear words that came out of Edward's mouth caught me off guard. I waited until he stopped ranting to continue.
Outtake Five – A little bit from Bella's childhood to see how she handles conflict.
It was the first week of December. I was on my way home from school when I saw a crowd at the corner.
"You're Isabella, right?" This tall guy asked me. I nodded.
"Cool, I'm Eli. Let's walk." He followed me home. We never spoke. When I arrived at my front door, he said, "Thanks for agreeing to go to the dance with me."
"What?" I blinked at him.
"You're the lucky girl who gets to be my date. I can't wait to get my hands on you."
My lips moved but no sound came out of my mouth. I was so scared I just froze. He ran his hand down my cheek, to my throat, to my collarbone, and kept going lower. I whimpered and said, "Don't." I was so scared, for a second I was afraid I was going to urinate on myself.
His breath stank. It literally smelled bad enough to make me choke. "What are you going to do to stop me, little girl? I think you owe me a kiss."
The next thing I knew I was flying through the air and landed in Jasper's arms. I was shaking and crying. Edward punched Eli so hard I heard something crunch. A crowd of kids gathered.
"Jasper, go call the police." Edward then proceeded to beat the living daylights out of Eli. Edward had a black belt and a temper. Eli never stood a chance.
Ten minutes later, a bruised and bloody Eli was sitting in the back seat of a police car, cuffed. Edward held my hand when the officer asked me what happened.
"H-he tried to kiss me. And was touching me. I didn't like it. I asked him to stop and he laughed." The burly police officer Sgt. McCarthy patted my shoulder and said, "Don't you worry your sweet head about a thing. He'll never bother you again."
Mom and Dad went over to Eli's house that evening. When they returned they told me that the problem with Eli had been solved.
Edward stayed up with me late watching movies.
"Bella, you have school tomorrow. You really need to get some rest." I had my head on his shoulder.
"I am afraid to go to sleep. I didn't want to have bad dreams."
"I'll stay with you. No bad dreams on my watch, okay?"
"Deal."
I curled up against him and buried my face in his shirt.
"Bella?"
"Yeah?"
"You have to learn how to stand up to people like that or they'll walk all over you."
I could feel my face flaming. "I know. It's just so hard."
"It always is, but with practice, it gets easier. Just wait. You'll see."
Mom told me that Eli's parents sent him off to military school the next day.
When word spread about what happened, that made me officially off limits to all the boys at school. No one wanted to deal with my crazy brothers, and I was just fine with that. I only had eyes for Edward.
Outtake Six: This needs some explanation in order to make sense. This is NOT part of Unbecoming's story now, but where it could have gone. One of my betas jokingly called it, "As the Family Tree Burns," (Go ahead and snort. I did.) and I realized I needed to rethink my plot. In the first draft of Unbecoming, Aro was the bad guy, Jacob was Bella's attacker, and Bella got the surprise of her life when she was in Prague and walked around the corner only to find...
For a corpse, she looked fantastic. She embraced me and I inhaled the scent I had long forgotten of lavender. "Isabella, child. You must come with me." Mother led me to a car that was idling down the way.
Once we were in the back seat of the car, the driver took off. I threw myself into her arms and burst into tears. She smelled exactly like I remembered.
"My poor baby." Hearing that word only made me cry harder.
"I lost him, Momma. I was pregnant, but . . ."
"I know, Isabella. I know. Your papa and I have kept track of you all these years."
"How? Why?"
She pulled away and met my eyes. "Your last name isn't really Swan. It's Vojacek."
"Vojacek as in the family that is hosting the gala for my job?"
"The very same. Your father and I came from warring families. We fell in love and eloped to America. We changed our name to Swan to hide from our families. We were both expected to marry others, you see."
"What would have happened if you had stayed?"
"His family would have killed me, or mine his. Back then it was violent fighting all the time."
"Why did you leave me?"
"We did not want this life for you. Things were very bad for families back then. We knew that you would be forced to marry someone from one of the families around us. We wanted you to have a better life, so we hid your existence."
"Why did you leave?"
"We knew that they were onto us, that they were near. We also knew they did not know about you. We had to move fast. When they ran us off the road, I have never been so scared in all my life. We feared that they were going to kill you if they found out who you were."
"So the accident really happened? I didn't imagine that?"
"It happened. We killed the people who crashed into us and put their bodies in the car."
"Did the Cullens know?"
"No, honey. They believe we are dead. They were friends we met at church. They knew nothing about our background. You look so tired. Here." She handed me a bottle of mineral water and a small paper bag.
I peered inside. It had three small boxes that had my name written on them. "What is this?"
"You forgot your medicine. I arranged to have it replaced." I gawped at the bag. How did she know?
She smiled at me. "A mother never stops loving her child, Isabella. You are like me, you don't like to admit being weak. Take the medicine. It will do you good." So I did. A thought occurred to me.
"You set up the trust fund for me, right?"
She nodded. "Your Papa and I would not let you go without money. Your Edward is lucky I did not put a bullet in his tiny brain." I couldn't wait for the two of them to meet. It would be epic.
"Why now?"
"Your grandfather now knows you exist because of that film on the Internet." She patted my cheek. "You have your grandmother's temper, and you look very much like her. She was very difficult to anger and like a devil gone wild if someone did manage to make her angry."
The car stopped for a moment. I felt the door beside me open and a young man got in. I could not look away from his eyes. They were just like mine.
"This is your brother Vladimir."
My brother looked fierce. He hugged me and kissed my cheek and said, "I am so happy to meet you at last." His English was perfect. He said to mother, "Her security has been increased." My what?
"We have had you watched."
"Why?"
"Aro Volturi is an old advesary. When we heard about the attack on you, we did not want to reveal ourselves, but we wanted you protected. So we set up as much security as we could. Perhaps," she shrugged, "We saw that evidence made it's way to the authorities of his crimes. When you decided to leave that place, we helped get you to Africa."
"I got shot in Africa," I tried to say that without asperity.
"Yes, you did. But we paid for the doctor that kept you alive so you could leave." Alec? Oh. We always wondered why he was there.
I said to my mother, "I have to buy a dress for that gala."
She smiled, "I have one for you."
We were now in a part of Prague that I did not recognize. The car stopped before a large house. It had started snowing. I didn't have the right kind of boots so walked carefully on the slick sidewalk to the front door. Vladimir kept a steady hand on me, which I appreciated.
"How old are you?"
"You are six years older."
"You don't look younger than me."
He beamed. "Thank you."
"Where is this?" I asked.
"Your home. We all live here. I will take you to your room."
"I have a room?"
He had such a warm smile. His entire face lit up. "Mother has gone, what do you Americans say, 'hog wild?' buying things for you." He lowered his voice and jerked his head toward her where she walked ahead of us. "This has been a long running pain for all our family. We wanted to bring you home, but did not want to interfere with your life after all this time. You seemed so happy in your life until recently. We have fought over it for years."
"Why didn't you?" It seemed no matter whose family I belonged to, they were always keeping me in the dark. I didn't like it one bit. Despite the joy I had in meeting my family, it was tinged with resentment that I couldn't help but feel.
"There is another family, powerful like ours. Grandfather has been trying to make an alliance with them. They have no daughters. Only sons."
"So?"
"Father did not want you forced into marrying someone you did not know. We know you are shy."
"But your . . . I mean our Grandfather now knows about me?"
"Yes, but it is recent. He is very angry that he has been left in the dark all this time. Papa has been out of town. So he's been trying to smooth things over by phone. But Grandfather is very stubborn." Now that I could identify with, along with the anger at being left out of the loop. Vladimir saw the sardonic curve of my lips.
"I say this with love as your brother. If you want to be treated as if you are strong, then you have to act that way. I was very proud of you for hitting that man with the desk." His astute observation made me pause. I had let everyone take care of me growing up. I hated talking and preferred watching everything from the sidelines. Perhaps he had a point.
"We are here." He said.
I hadn't noticed where we were going. I stared around the room as discreetly as I could. A man sat before me on a chair that could have been mistaken for a leather throne. He had a short white beard and dark eyes that stood out from his snow white hair. "I am your grandfather Vasilii. Come, sit. We must discuss your marriage."
Vladimir jumped into the fray, "Grandfather. It is cold outside. She has only just met us and you are trying to talk business? Where are your manners?"
I didn't notice the man standing against the wall until Grandfather Vasilii gestured to him and rattled off orders in Russian.
"Will you sit and have tea with an old man?" Vasilii asked.
"Thank you, I'd be delighted." Vladimir led me to a leather sofa and sat down beside me. I was grateful for the company. This man intimidated the hell out of me. He had the fiery eyes of some Old Testament prophet.
The servant returned and placed a cup before me on a tray. I thanked him and took a sip from the cup. I almost choked on it. My relatives liked their tea so strong it had a bite to it.
"I am sorry that I was not in your life, Isabella. I did not know of you until last week. You made me very proud to see you take on that animal with a rock." He smiled. "They tell me that you are shy."
"Yes."
"How does a shy person take a desk to the head of an armed man? That boy is the son of a childhood rival by the way." Grandfather Vasilii all but beamed at me. "Hey called me whining that you have hurt his son."
Mother came back and saved me. "I have your dress ready. Please come and try it on. The seamstress is waiting."
I stood and put down my cup. "Please excuse me, Grandfather."
He waved me away. "I will keep your tea warm for you."