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CHAPTER FOURTEEN
NEVER GONNA BE ALONE
*
The car was silent. Next to her Charlie slept. He had been sleeping ever since his coughing fit. She looked over at him. He looked so peaceful, so at ease. She listened to his heart. It was beating erratically. She looked away. It was hard to watch him slowly leaving her.
It was going to happen sooner or later. Then she would be alone again. What would she do? Nothing on this earth held any interest for her without someone else to share it with. She had never thought that she would be alone in the world. Of course she knew that her family and friends would surly pass away, but she had always thought that Edward would be there with her, helping her though it all. But he wasn't. Neither was Jacob; the smelly mongrel that he was.
She couldn't risk that type of hurt again. There was only so many times a heart could break, even a dead one. She smiled bitersweetly. Even though she hated them for breaking her heart and rejecting her, she still loved them. With her memory now complete, she was now able to remember the good times that she had had with them and she was glad for that. At least knowing that she had been truly happy at one time helped her to feel that she had had a good life and that was all she could ask for at this point.
The more she thought about it, the more she came to a realization: she was okay now. She was at peace with what had happened in her life. There was no going back, only forward. With that thought in mind, she knew what she would do with herself now.
"Stop looking for her!" Edward shouted into the phone. He was out hunting trying to forget everything about Bella.
It wasn't working.
"It's not like her to do what she did to you" Carlisle's voice sounded, "Maybe if you just talked-"
"I don't care what you think" Edward said harshly, "How can you even be sure-"
"Her dad is dying" Carlisle broke in, "I'm sure it's her"
"It doesn't change anything" Edward said, cutting off the conversation. The phone sounded like it hit something hard then went silent.
"Carlisle"
He hung up his phone and turned to the stairs where Alice and Jasper were coming toward him hand in hand. Oh how he wished Edward would fix this all so that he and Bella could have the same happiness as Jasper and Alice.
"I can see Bella now" Alice said. "She's somewhere on a beach in California".
Carlisle nodded but then tilted his head, "How come you can see her now?"
Alice shook her head, "I don't know"
Carlisle looked thoughtful as he leaned against the counter passed.
"You say she could remember her human years?" he asked.
Alice nodded.
"And that her remembering them caused her to run from Edward?"
Alice nodded.
"But you still couldn't see her then?"
She nodded again.
"Maybe she didn't have all of her memories" Carlisle suggested. "It has been a long time that she hasn't remembered" He started nodding to himself.
"Yes, that makes sense" he looked over to Jasper and Alice. "With all that she has been through, It would make sense for her memories to come back in chunks as her mind thought her ready for it" Alice looked confused.
"The mind is a wonderful thing" Carlisle said. "It will protect itself from any trauma by dimply blocking any memories of that trauma"
"I have no doubt that Bella's mind would do that seeing as it seems like Edward's leaving her was such a traumatic event for her"
"But she remembered that way before this" ALice said.
Carlisle thought for a moment.
"Then there must have been some other trauma blocking her memory"
Alice looked as if a light bulb had gone off.
"The werewolf" she said. "Shortly after Edward left her, the werewolf did too"
Having those two events so close together without enough time to heal between the two must have caused her mind to close off" Carlisle hypothesized. Depending on when she was changed, this blocking must have affected her after she changed. Who you were as a human does affect who you are as a vampire"
Alice thought for a moment.
"If she didn't know who she was and what she wanted, then I couldn't have possibly expected to be able to read her future!" she exclaimed.
She looked to Jasper. "If I can see her now, then she must know who she is, what she wants and how she's gonna get it".
"Keep a watch on her" Carlisle said, "She must be hurting right now, we wouldn't want her to go do anything rash because of it"
Alice nodded and left the room with Jasper.
They were gonna get to the middle of all this. Hopefully Edward and Bella's relationship could still be fixed.
He had to know.
That's why he was where he currently was. He hadn't been here in a long time. He knew Charlie blamed him for Bella's disappearance and seeing as their last meeting hadn't gone very well, he had chosen to stay out of the other man's way. But with the appearance of a new vampire in town, one he suspected was Bella, things had changed.
Looking up at the house before him, he noticed that the place hadn't changed a bit. It was a little worse for the wear but still the same old house he remembered coming to. Knocking on the door, he waited for someone to come.
And waited.
And waited.
And waited.
He looked around him. There was no car in the icy driveway, but that didn't mean no one was home. He knew that Charlie was sick, perhaps something had happened? Using his strength, he forced the door open. No one was in the immediate room. He took a sniff. There was the faint smell of vampire and the stronger smell of human, but they were older. They hadn't been here for a while, weeks maybe.
They had left. He looked at the ground, disappointed.
On the floor was a large white envelope. Curious, he bent down and picked it up. The address on it was from California. It was from some Lawyer representing a Rebbecca Stone. He looked at the paper with a raised brow. Why would something for such a famous actress come here?
Though he knew it was wrong, he found himself opening the envelope. If that vampire was Bella and she had left, then she probably wouldn't be back. She obviously couldn't stand to be here. Reading the paper, his mouth dropped. Rebbecca Stone was Bella? Then that meant that...
It was her! She was alive! Well, for the most part... He read on.
He was silent for the next few minutes. Then his jaw dropped.
"That...why...how dare she!" he sputtered.
He had to find Bella, and the sooner, the better.
They were in the familiar snow covered forests of western Washington once again. The drive had been very quiet and good for Bella. It gave her time to organize her thoughts and memories and plan ahead for what was to come.
She looked over to Charlie and saw that he was waking up.
"Almost there?" he groaned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Almost" Bella replied quietly.
The next few moments were as silent as they had been for the entire trip, then Bella glanced over at Charlie.
He was staring at her strangely.
"Dad?" she asked worried.
He looked away, "You're planning something"
Bella looked away, pained.
"What is it Bella?" he asked, concern in his hoarse voice.
"Nothing" she said tearsly.
He shook his head in disbelief then started to cough violently.
"Dad!" Bella said, slowing the car down.
"No" he said between coughs, "Keep...Keep...Driving"
Bella did as she was told, her eyes on the road ahead. She couldn't bear to see him so sick. The coughing went on until suddenly they stopped.
Looking over, Bella gasped. Charlie was passed out, blood all over his lap. She listened for his heart and found it to still be beating. Knowing that stopping now would not do any good, Bella hit the gas pedal and sped on to Forks, all the while keeping a part of her attention on the beating of Charlie's heart.
By the time she reached the outer limits of Forks she was in a panic. Charlie's heart was steadily slowing down the closer they got to home.
Once they reached the driveway, Bella burst from the car and grabbed an unconscious Charlie from the passenger side and took him inside, laying him gently on the couch. She went back to the car and pulled out some medication. Then coming back inside, she grabbed a glass of water and went back to Charlies side. As softly as she could she tried to wake him up. His heart was beating more steadier now, but it still was weak.
Minutes passed, but soon he began to show signs of waking.
"Here dad, take this, it will help" Bella coaxed him, helping him to take a sip of water and to swallow the medication.
Not truly aware of his surroundings he did as she was told and laid back down on the couch heavily. He then fell into an uneasy sleep.
Bella knew the time was fast approaching. She would not leave his side for a moment.
"Is Dr. Cullen here?" Jacob forcefully asked the front nurse.
The nurse looked up affronted at his rude tone. It was the middle of the night, no one had come in for hours.
"May I ask why you want to see him?" the nurse said looking him up and down. She looked unsure of whether to be angry at him or to admire his fine physique.
"It's a family matter" Jacob said, not backing down.
The nurse looked skeptical. Jacob looked to be about as closely related to the Cullen's as a dog. "Look lady, it's about one of his kids"
The nurse kept an eye on him as she rang Carlisle.
"He will be here momentarily" the nurse said.
"Thank you" Jacob gritted out. He went over to the waiting area to wait, but he didn't have to wait long.
"Jacob Black" a strong voice greeted. "I trust the tribe is well"
Jacob nodded, doing his best to overcome the horrid smell. Dr. Cullen on the other hand looked like nothing was bothering him and was as polite as ever.
"So" Dr. Cullen began, "The nurse tells me-"
Jacob broke through the pleasantries and handed Carlisle the letter he had taken from Bella's house.
Carlisle took a few minutes to read through the letter. Jacob couldn't tell what he was thinking, the man was a still as a statue.
"This is..." he shook his head, then turned around. Walking to the front desk he told the lady there that he would be taking the next few days off due to a family crises. He turned back to Jacob and motioned for him to follow him.
Once outside, he spoke again.
"Where did you find this?" he asked.
Jacob looked uncomfortable. "At her house, I know it was-"
Carlisle cut him off, "It doesn't matter" he said, "She wasn't there was she?"
Jacob shook his reached Carlisle's black Mercedes.
"Go home Jacob" Carlisle said, "Check by her place tomorrow to see if she's there, I'll work on my end of this to see if there is anything that can be done"
Jacob nodded, his respect increasing for the Cullen patriarch.
As soon as the car pulled away, Jacob turned toward the cover of the forest and transformed. He needed a break from the soap opera that was his life.
"He isn't answering" Carlisle said into his phone.
"He doesn't have his phone, he threw it in the dirt" the voice on the other end said disdainfully.
"What is he doing?" Esme asked, leaning on Carlisle's shoulder, ever the concerned mother.
"What is he doing Alice?" He said into the phone.
"Out running in some forest".
"You haven't seen him since..." Carlisle left off.
"No".
"We have to find him" he stated, "It was all a misunderstanding, he glanced at the paper he was still holding in his hand.
"I know" Alice answered. "If she wasn't already dead, I'd find her and kill her, at least we can fix this now".
Carlisle nodded into the phone.
"Me and Jasper will go and find him and bring him over" Alice said, "You focus on finding Bella, she's in a car as far as I can tell, judging from the scenery she's coming back".
"Any idea on what she is going to do?" Carlisle asked.
"No" Alice replied, "I think her mind block is getting in the way of me being able to see what she is going to do".
Carlisle nodded and said his goodbyes. Then he turned to Esme, holding her in his arms.
"Soon this will be over and we will be a family again".
She smiled and tightened their embrace.
Once she had calmed down and was assured that Charlie was okay, at least for the moment, Bella started doing some light cleaning of the surrounding living room. It was all she could do to keep herself busy passing by the hours of the lonely night and keeping herself from thinking about Charlie's condition.
As she passed by the door, she caught the scent of wet dog. She scrunched up her nose in disgust, then a look of surprise came over her.
Jacob had been here.
Today.
What did he want?
Did he know?
Outside the sun was barely starting to rise. Hopefully Charlie would wake up soon.
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