A/N: All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, the story is mine.

Thanks a lot to Ashlie Christine for being my Beta now, you're the best.

Chapter Two: Back Home

The wet, cold air of the place hit Isabella's face filling her with disgruntled feelings. This was her home. The home where she was born and raised, but also the place where her heart had been destroyed.
To much displeasure of the girl, Friday had come way too soon for her and here she was in the place she had avoided visiting for over the past five years. She couldn't delay it though, at least not anymore.

Her mother had been sending her messages everyday for the past week about how excited and happy she was for her visit, more so the fact of having her only child with her for her birthday. Even her father had called her to tell her, with few words, how much he longed for her visit. They had set a trap for her and now there was no escape.
Rosalie had organized her schedule in order. She was free all weekend.

"How lovely this is!" Rosalie exclaimed as she jumped out of the van that had driven them from Port Angeles to Forks. The blonde girl took off her sun glasses looking all around the place at all the green that surrounded them; the tall trees, the Olympic peninsula, and the charming house of tiles in front of them.

"Tell me if you think the same in two weeks," Isabella laughed at her, walking the pathway to the house with Garret and Rosalie right behind.

She rang the bell, which was decorated with a lot of different pictures. There was no doubt that Renee's artistic soul was still alive. It took not two minutes until the door was finally opened and a skinny woman with vivid grey eyes, red hair, albino skin and face covered in paint showed up. Renee Swan.

"Isabella!" The woman yelled, hanging onto her daughter's neck, and weeping like teenager instead of the forty year-old woman she was, but that was Renee.

"Hey, mom, happy birthday," greeted Isabella hugging her mother who cried a little bit more after the girl's words. The truth was that she had missed her child so badly.

"Come in, please?" asked Renee once she saw her daughter's companions. "Isabella, you should have told me you'd be bringing company."

"I didn't think you'd mind" was all she responded. And Bella was right.
Renee never bothered about all the etiquette issue, however, despite what everybody thought, she knew how old she was and she was aware of the behavior she must have had on certain occasions, even when she hated it. Renee reprehended her daughter gently, as they came inside, because of her messy outfit. It was a tradition, every time on her birthday, also on Charlie and Isabella's, that she painted a new portrait. Isabella rolled her eyes at her mothers antics.

Mrs. Swan attended to her daughter's guests the best she knew how. Garret insisted on staying at the towns hotel, and for her husband's mental sake, she allowed it. She settled Rosalie in the only guest room she had and Isabella in her old bedroom which made the girl nervous and sad at the same time.

"Mr. Garret, you're more than welcome to come tonight." Renee said nicely when she saw that He had intended to go after seeing that his bosses were safely settled in.

"It'll be and honor, ma'am," assured the man as he said goodbye to the girls he considered as his own.

"Thanks for coming with us, Garret," said Isabella, who showed him the way out.

"It was my duty, Miss. Isabella" he said. She smiled and watched him disappear down the way back to the town. The brunet girl sighed a bit of relief. To be honest with herself, she hadn't only missed her parents, but also that old and grey little town that she knew so well.

"I'm a bit tired, mom, I'll come down in a minute" she told her mother as she walked upstairs. Her mother just nodded and started to talk to Rosalie.

Isabella let them be and walked towards her childhood room. When she opened the door, it felt like it was as if a wrecking ball had struck her. Everything was exactly as she had left it five years ago when she left her parent's house. Her mother, thoughtfully, had kept everything immaculate. The bedroom felt warm and tidy, as if it hadn't been alone for several years.

The purple sheets, the drawings and the posters that decorated the blue walls were still there. The yellow curtains, in order to have a bit of color, still hung. The old desk filled with her old books and the Christmas' lights that hung over over her headboard, all that used to be her once. How different it was from her actual bedroom in her apartment back in New York! There was nothing alike between them. Her new style was simple, modern and high fashion, just like her.

"Nice!" whispered Rosalie behind her frightening the girl.

"Knock on the door before walking in, please! " snorted Isabella, sitting awkwardly at the edge of the bed.

This wasn't her safe place any more, her refuge. It was only the box of her sad memories and pain now.

"I think this place suits you" said Rosalie in a carefree way, as she took a look at Isabella's old books.

"Romeo and Juliet?" she asked amused. Isabella just snorted, again.

Rosalie always knew Isabella loved reading, back in her place she had a very fancy and complete library, but none, without exception, was a love story, from Shakespeare. She only had some historical dramas, nothing romantic at all; however, most of the books in there were that, pure romance.

"Interesting books." She said as she found one about a vampire and his crush on a regular town girl.

"Thank goodness I don't read that rubbish anymore." mocked Isabella, laying on the bed, very carefully to avoid remembering all the times she had jumped sharply for crying entire days.

"Those are very lovely stories." Isabella heard Rosalie's comment very far away, falling asleep. She couldn't quite sleep on the flight from New York to Seattle, even less the one from Seattle to Port Angeles.

"Sometimes I wish I could understand what wounded you so much, Isabella," was the last thing she heard from her friend before falling completely asleep.

Isabella woke up suddenly, agitated, with her heart beating utterly fast, and covered by a very light layer of sweat on her forehead. She couldn't quite remember what she had dreamt, but she was sure it had been good, hadn't it?

"Isabella?" The familiar voice of her friend called to her as she walked into the dark room. She turned on the white Christmas lights and got close to her. "You mother wants you to get ready for the party now."
The girl grew alarmed a little after hearing that.

"How long did I sleep?" Rosalie smiled at her noticing her annoyance.

"Almost three hours, don't worry," she assured her, anticipating her complaints, "I helped your mother with everything for the party and a very nice woman gave us a hand as well. Everything is ready and she wants you to help her greet the guests."

Grumbling, she went into the bathroom that was in her room; it was added after her parents noticed how uncomfortable it was for her to share one with them. A couple of hours later, Isabella came out of her room with all the glamour she had acquired through the years as a model; she could walk in a pair of high heels without a problem. Her outfit was impeccable and her hair and make-up were always perfect now.

"Honey, you look stunning!" Renee praised her daughter when she saw the black dress. Simple but elegant, the shoes and her hair had been done as a cloud around her.

"Thanks, mom, you look beautiful too," assured the girl, but that was Renee. She could wear a white and elegant dress or a pair of jeans with her old hippie shirts and she would still look beautiful, her mother was a natural.

"The guests are here." announced Rosalie, who wore a skirt and a grey jacket. Her blonde hair was in a high pony tail and the make-up highlighted her pretty face. Charlie was right behind her dapper as ever.

"Kids?!" greeted the man to his daughter. Isabella got closer to her father who received her in a short and quite awkward hug; she just kissed him tenderly on the cheek.

"Hey, dad" the girl smiled slightly after seeing her fathers shyness. They were so alike, or used to be.

"We've missed you, darling." Those were the man's words as he walked to the door to open and greet the guests with his wife by his arm.

Rosalie gathered with them at the door, nodding kindly to the people who greeted her after Renee and Charlie introduced her.
Everybody, or at least most of them, where surprised at the young girl at the party. They couldn't see the old girl who used to wear baggy jumpers and tennis shoes even with the woman standing in front of them. Even more because in that tiny town they could recognize the face of several public campaigns for the top brands.

"Isabella?" The soft voice of a woman made Isabella tense once she heard it. How could someone ever forget Esme Cullen?

"Esme,"Rosalie affably greeted her, as the woman looked to Isabella surprised and impressed.

"Good evening, Mrs. Cullen" said Isabella, not very excited, surprising both Rosalie and Esme, but her friend got it. It was the same attitude Isabella used to take whenever she didn't want to hear anything from the other person, and she had seen her doing the same thing before with some of the photographers or executives.

"How nice to see you again." The woman smiled with affection towards the girl.

Isabella gave the woman her usual smile and nod without any real emotion and nodded to Mrs. Cullen's words. Carlisle, her husband, noticed the increasing discomfort in Isabella and the determination in his wife for making her talk, so he decided to interfere.

"Really nice to see you once more, Isabella," said the man continuing on his way leading his confused wife by the hand.

Rosalie didn't say anything and she wouldn't bring up the subject either. She knew her friend enough to know that that wouldn't help at all.
Fortunately for both of them the evening went through without any other discomforts. They cut the cake, danced a little, gave Renee her presents and showed her the latest creation, a surrealist portrait of herself in which was pictured the different ages through her forty years.

Gradually soon though, people started to leave. One or two people asked the girl for a picture and congratulated Renee again for her birthday and were gone. Naturally, Esme and Carlisle were the last who left.

"It was a lovely party, Renee, I'm so glad I could help." said Esme. Isabella then realized Esme had been the woman Rosalie had talked about before.

"Thank you so much, Esme" smiled Renee, a little bit drunk because of the Champaign. Both women kissed each others cheeks and said goodbye to their respective husbands.

"Isabella, let us know whenever you come back to Forks again. I'd like very much to have a nice chat with you." Mrs. Cullen finnaly mentioned hugging Isabella all of the sudden.

"Goodbye, Mrs. Cullen." Esme smiled sadly when she understood that behind her cold civility there was a negative to her request. Even with that, she wouldn't give up with her.
Behind all the make-up, the fancy clothes and the cold smiles, Esme Cullen saw the seventeen year-old girl who had once shown up at her door, totally wet by the rain and with the biggest smile someone could ever have.

When they were finnaly alone, Isabella let out a sigh of relief for the first time since the Cullens had arrived to her house. The thought of that one certain son of theirs, that could appear through that door at any moment and recognize her, had been tormenting her all evening. Luckily that didn't happen. The young woman said goodnight to her parents, hugged her mother tight, avoided all the questions her friend obviously had, and ran away to her old bedroom where all the memories and the pain didn't allow her to sleep.