Runaway

Nice to see you again

Bella woke up with the nagging feeling, that someone was watching her and sure enough when she opened her eyes they gazed right into two faintly familiar butterscotch colored orbs. She shrieked and nearly fell off the bed, thinking she had seen a ghost.

Alice had been sitting cross legged next to the bed right in front of her face, waiting for her to wake up. Startled by Bella's reaction, she jumped to her feet and tried to calm her down. "It's OK. Calm down please. It's just me, Alice." She pleaded.

Bella stared at her in disbelief. "What the hell ... ?" She trailed off. Alice, seeming slightly offended, huffed crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Well nice to see you, too." She pouted.

"Alice? W... What are you doing here? You scared the hell out of me!" It wasn't until then that she noticed she wasn't in her room, and the events of the last night slowly came back to her conscience. "My car ... stuck ... Carlisle …?" She recapped while Alice observed with an amused expression. "Where am I?"

"You're at our house in Keeseville and I'm afraid" Alice informed her, nodding towards the window,"you're stuck with us for the holidays." She squealed. "Can I hug you now?" Bella stared at her in disbelieve, but eventually shrugged. "I guess-"

Within blink of an eye she found herself in a death grip. "It's so good to have you back. We're gonna make cookies and watch christmassy movies in front of the fireplace, get drunk on Christmas punch and play in the snow and we can dress you up ..." She rambled while Bella struggled to breathe. "Ah ... Alice … need ... breathe!" Alice quickly let her go. "Oh sorry, I forgot how fragile you are." She grinned sheepishly.

"Well ... yeah ... sooo you have a nice room ..." Bella tried to make conversation. Not really knowing what to say. "Oh this isn't my room. It's Carlisles and Esme's. But I can show you mine if you want. I can give you a tour around the house. Oh and we made you cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate for breakfast. Well, actually it's more like a late lunch I guess. But you just got up, so it's breakfast for you. Anyway it was my idea. It's very christmassy, don't you think?"

Bella was starting to feel a little dizzy with all the exitement radiating off of the little pixie. It had been some time since she'd had to deal with that. She shook her head trying to clear it. She had just woken up and Alice already had the freaking sun shining out of her petite ass. But Bella wasn't that much of a morning person. Or rather a talking much in the morning person. Even if technically it wasn't really morning anymore.

"Where is the rest of the family?" She asked. "They're waiting for you downstairs. You can use the bathroom. I laid out Shampoo, towels and fresh clothes for you." She pointed out the bathroom. Bella nodded. "Alright. So I'll meet you downstairs in a few?" She dismissed Alice who looked a little taken aback, but nodded anyways and eventually left the room.

Bella let out a deep breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. Silence. Finally. She took a moment to take a look around the room. Antique looking dark wooden furniture, thick golden curtains and a huge oval mirror with a rich golden frame above the vanity. Very rich and warm. Very Esme. She noted.

Then she went into the bathroom. It was very dark, clad in royal blue venetian mosaic tiles. She stepped in front of the counter to inspected herself in the wide mirror. She looked awful. Her hair was a frizzy mess. Her face looked awfully pale and her lips were chopped. She noted that she wasn't in her own clothes. Someone must have changed her while she was out. That thought made a blush creep up her cheeks. Hopefully it had just been Alice. She had already seen her naked.

She tried not to think about that anymore, and instead grabbed her lady shaver out of her toiletry kit, took off the foreign nightie and stepped into the shower. As the warm water caressed her tight muscels she thought about what this encounter with the family she once wanted to be a part of would mean for her new life. Would they sent her away again, once the snow situation was under control? Or would they want to stay in touch? Did she even want that? Sure she had longed to see them again. But wouldn't it hurt her more, having them in her life again, and knowing that she can never be one of them?

Still pondering this she wrapped herself into the fluffy new towel and inspected the clothes Alice had laid out for her. She frowned. Alice had got to be kidding. She was here for ten minutes and Alice already tried to dress her up? A dark blue mini dress, ornamented lace tights, heels and a leather jacket? Would have been a nice outfit for a night at a club.

Bella shook her head and left the the bathroom in search for her bag with her own clothes in it. She found it by the window. Lucky Alice hadn't thrown it out right away. She dug through her clothes settling for Jeans, a T-Shirt and a cardigan. No shoes, but her nerdy reading glasses - just to piss Alice off.

As she descended the stairs everyone turned and stared at her – well Alice glared. She blushed and winked timidly mouthing "Hello" trying to avoid Edwards intense gaze. Though she had to admit, seeing that he was there had her heart like jumping up and cheering no matter how much she knew he didn't want her – proably didn't even want her in this house.

They couldn't believe how light and graceful she moved. Not much like the Bella they used to know. They had half expected her to fall rather than walk down the stairs. Once she reached the bottom, Jasper discreetly signalled Emmett to pay up. Bella caught it nonetheless and smirked. She sheepishly tugged her hair behind her ears as she approached the kitchen counter and settled on one of the bar stools kind of awkwardly.

Esme smiled warmly as she set a plate in front of her. "Did you sleep well, dear?" Bella nodded returning her smile. She grapped a cinnamon roll, picked on it and shoved the piece into her mouth. "Hmm this is good!" She exclaimed surprised. Alice and Esme smiled proudly.

"Soo .. you were on your way to visit your friend in Massena?" Edward asked impatiantly. Bella nodded while swallowing the food. "And you reside in …?" They all held their breath waiting expectantly. "New York City" She filled in the gab. They waited for her to specify, but she didn't. Finally Edward broke the awkward silence. "Why did you run away?" He asked in a somewhat accusing tone.

Bella's head snapped up as she nearly choked on the food. "How … How do you know about that?" She stammered. "We came back for you. You were gone. Charlie is devastated." Bella nodded slowly taking all this information in. "How could you do this to him? To your mother? How -" He got on accusing her. Accusing her of the very thing he had done she realized.

This was it. Bella jumped up and balled her hands to fists at her side. "Because I didn't have damn choice! I had to protect them!" She shouted at him. "And you," she pointed her finger right at him, "have no right to judge me on this. You don't know anything!" She was fuming. Everyone was staring at her shocked. They hadn't expected such an outburst from her. They had never even seen her angry before.

Carlisle was the first to recover. He walked over to her and took her hand. She met his gaze apologetically. "What happened?" He whispered softly. She shook her head 'no' but didn't let go of his hand. She had missed this cool touch on her skin. He led her over to the couch and sat down with her. "Bella, please tell us what happened." She looked up at his face timidly. "Well I ran away from Victoria." They all gasped. "You see when Laurant attacked me he told me I was lucky it was him, because he would make it quick. He said quote: 'If you knew what Victoria has planned for you …'"

They stared in shock. "Laurant? Victoria?" Alice stammered. Edward growled. Esme looked like she was about to cry as she sat down next to Bella squeezing her hand. "How did you get away from him?" Jasper asked. "Well there were these really big wolves. They attacked him and I ran." Jasper nodded. "I figured I could at least try. And if she had caught me at least everyone else would have been save. But she didn't."

Edward had sunk to the ground by this point, his head in his hands. His expression pained. "I'm so sorry. I should have never left. I wanted to protect you. I wanted you to go to college and have a normal life." He rambled.

"I go to college and I have a somewhat normal life. Well at least there are no fairytale creatures in it anymore. Until now that is." He stared at her confused. "But you didn't even finish High School … and …" She smirked at his artlessness. "Well Bella Swan didn't finish High School but Annabell Clark did." They all stared at her dumbfounded. "Oh come on. Don't try to tell me all of your papers are legal." She rolled her eyes. Emmett smirked. "Bad ass, little Sis'!"

Now it was Bella's turn to stare at them dumbfounded. 'Little Sis'? What was that supposed to mean? "So you attend NYU then?" Edward averted her attention. "No. Juilliard." There was a short pause while they stared at her in disbelieve "Well I certainly didn't see that one coming …" Alice trailed off.