Wait for it, wait for it…oh yes…yes…here's the legalize…
Disclaimer: All Twilight characters belong to Stephanie Meyers, while I'm just teasing and bending them for a bit. No profit is being collected from the fiction contained within.
The storyline and non-Twilight characters are my creative fault and mine alone.
The storyline has women loving women, oh my, "Danger! Will Robinson Danger!" If this kind of love scares you, well darling turn around and go back the other way.
All language boo boos, whether it is in grammar or spelling or other miscues they lie at my feet, oh I could blame MS Word but heck fire that would be just silly.
Oh my, I feel much better now…
Dark gray clouds made promises of rain but so far the cold November skies were holding on to the moisture. Like most residents of Forks, Bella was dressed to ward off the cold, but for her it was for show not need. Setting down the groceries she shrugged out of her jacket then with vampire speed she had hung it up in the closet and was back in the kitchen in mere seconds putting the food items away. After the first week of being home she and Charlie had gotten use to each other again and life had settled back down into a comfortable routine. During that time they had formulated several plans on what to tell her mother Renee and finally settled to try the truth. Both hoping Renee would be open minded enough to allow for the possibility that the unacceptable was in fact the truth.
Sighing slightly at the pain her parents had gone through over the two years Bella felt another tug of anger towards Edward. Her mother like Charlie had been thrown into a hell of hope and fear when Bella had disappeared. When Charlie had called her, she had become hysterical on the phone on hearing Bella had returned safe. It had taken several minutes to calm her down enough for Bella to talk to her mother. Upon hearing her daughter's voice Renee slipped back into hysterical tears, which caused Bella to cry non-existent tears.
'Snap out of it,' Bella silently command herself as she felt the sadness again from that night trying to weave it's way back in.
Her mother had practically jumped on the next available plane out of Florida to see her daughter. It was then Charlie and Bella told her the whole story of what had happened. In the end her mother had been after several hours of incredulity of what she had been told finally accepted the truth. Of course, seeing her daughter's skin sparkle brilliantly in the sunlight had actually been the final push in her acceptance.
"I've got the most amazing parents." She mumbled with a small smile as she went about preparing Charlie's dinner. "Of course they'd deny it, but I really think they did drugs in their youth. Really mind expanding drugs for them both to be able to accept the idea of vampires."
Throwing the final ingredients into the pot of stew she was making Bella hummed happily as the feeling of content washed over her. Since her return, Bella had resumed her past behavior of cooking dinner for her father and she was pleased to see he was putting on weight his body desperately needed. Even though the smell of the food was less then pleasant to her, Bella found she did enjoy cooking because it made Charlie happy.
Wiping her hands off she was about ready to zip up to her room when a god-awful smell caught her attention. Wrinkling her nose in disgust she blurred into the living room and saw Jake and Sam coming to the front door. Grunting slightly at seeing them both she forced a smile on to her lips.
Bella didn't mind seeing Jake at all but Sam was another subject all together. The young man roiled with animosity towards her, even after she and the elders of the tribe had come to an understanding with the help of Jacob and his father's Billy Black. Oh she understood a lot of his hostility was basic instinct. Bella had to fight her own desires to tear into the man him any time he was near which wasn't an easy task since the Sam's scent was quite revolting. Whereas Jacob only smelled like a wet dog, Sam smelled like a wet dog that had rolled, no wallowed in sheep shit along with most of the others in his pack.
Opening the door before they could knock, Bella stepped out on the porch there was no way she was going to be inviting Sam into the house. His smell would drive her crazy to distraction.
"Hi Jake, Sam," she said with a nod to both. "What brings you both to my neck of the woods?" Allowing her genuine smile for Jake to be passed along to Sam.
Ignoring Sam's growl of disgust, Jacob wrapped the lovely vampire, his best friend into a tight hug, "it's great to see you Bella."
Returning the hug automatically Bella chuckled, "you to Jake but you know it's only been two weeks since we last saw each other."
"Yeah, I know, but hey I'll take whatever excuse I can to have a beautiful woman in my arms."
Neither acknowledged the snort from Sam as they pulled away from the hug. Bella reached up and lightly touched Jake's face. He had been her savior and constant companion for two years, while she adjusted to being a vampire. The young man had risked so much when he took her away and Bella knew she would always be grateful to him. Smiling she noticed his boyish features were almost completely gone and with her vampire vision she could see the increased sharpness to his face that regular human's would miss.
"Did you grow another couple of inches? I thought you had finished filling out."
"Yeah, I had one more growth spurt," he grinned at her. "I'm the tallest in our pack." Puffing out his chest with pride."
Reaching up and patting him on the shoulder, "it looks good on you." Smirking over at Sam who was now a few inches shorter then Jake. "So what bringing you two here?"
"Guess it would be too hard to believe it's just a friendly visit?"
"If it was just you then yes," hooking her thumb towards the other man "but with Sam in tow definitely not."
Running his hand through his dark locks, Jake grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess that that's a dead give away."
Huffing towards Jake, Sam shoved the younger man aside, "enough chit-chat Jake." He snarled first at Jake and then at Bella. "We came to tell you that they've returned and we don't want you or them to stir up trouble."
Anger rose in Bella first towards Sam and then at the information he blurted out. A litany of curse words as well as unwanted images flashed through her mind as she absorbed Sam's statement.
Finally finding her voice she asked trying to keep the furor inside from erupting, "all of them?"
"To be honest we're not sure, but we think at least five of them," Jake responded gently. "They've been back for two days."
Her thoughts immediately tumbled towards Alice and wondered for a moment if the little pixie would seek her out. As much as she wanted to banish the thoughts, the feelings towards the small vampire Bella found she couldn't. The spiky black haired girl who tormented her with shopping came rushing into her mind. Bella was always drawn to the mischievous girl who held the beauty of an angel. Alice had been the first of the Cullens outside of Edward to embrace her and declare they would be the best of friends. She couldn't deny that she still missed Alice, even when she was furious from the betrayal she couldn't stop the part that missed her best friend.
Internally shaking her head to try and rid herself of the image of the girl she inhaled deeply, allowing Sam's stench to assist in the process.
"I've not encountered them," finally finding her voice.
"Keep it that way," Sam sneered at her. "I don't want any of you leeches bringing trouble."
Bristling Bella hissed at him, "you are not the boss of me dog face boy. I'm not one of your pack wolves to order around. I'll see whomever I want and interact with them however I please."
Sam growled at Bella and moved closer but was halted in his actions by Jake who moved in between the two and placed a hand on Sam's shoulder.
"Bella's right Sam, you have no authority over her or what happens outside of the reservation if human's aren't involved." Jacob kept his voice calm. "Even if you don't like it the elders have an agreement with Bella just like the Cullens."
Grumbling and mumbling Sam backed down but he gave Jake a look letting the young man know there would be a private discussion later. Jake tilted his head in acknowledgement before turning his attention back to Bella.
Gently touching her, "I just want you to be safe, Bella. I don't want them to hurt you again." Pausing and scrunching his face slightly, "rest assured if they hurt you in anyway I will personally deal with them."
"I know you would Jake, but trust me I won't let them." She replied softly. "Thank you."
"Hey, that's what friends do, protect each other. I know you'd do the same."
"We've told her now let's go Jake," Sam stated wrinkling his nose as he moved from the porch.
Rolling his eyes Jake gave Bella a quick smile, "hey how about we get together over the weekend?"
"Sounds good, I can make dinner for you and Charlie, you two can watch football together. Apparently my inability to keep the teams straight takes the fun away."
"Cool, I'll bring some chips and stuff." He said jumping off the porch after giving Bella a bone-crunching hug.
Watching the get into their car Bella sighed deeply before reentering her house, her mind filled with thoughts and imagines she didn't want.
After a quiet dinner with Charlie, well him chowing down on the stew she made him, while they both watched TV, Bella had gone to her room under the guise to study for her GED. They both had decided that her going back to high school would probably not be the best of ideas. She had chosen for the moment not to tell Charlie she knew the Cullens had returned to Forks, but she wondered if he already knew they were back. He seemed a bit more reserved in his conversation. Every now and then she would catching him frowning shaking his head as if he was having an internal debate. It would make sense he would know being the chief of police in such a small town. She wasn't troubled if he did know and hadn't told her yet; Bella understood that Charlie was probably trying to figure out the best way to tell her.
Sighing Bella glided away from her desk over to her bedroom window and gazed as the promised rainstorms began to beat down from the sky. Truth be told Bella loved the rain and considering she lived in the pacific northwest it was a damn good thing. She didn't even mind the drizzling drool that would encapsulate the region, coating everything, but what she really loved were the powerful rainstorms. It was magical how a simple natural occurring event could be so cathartic as it poured down from the clouds. There were probably tons of explanations as to why the rain felt so cleansing to the soul but Bella didn't care for the whys. She was just thrilled the threat of storms earlier in the day had finally come true.
Staring out her bedroom window watching trees bend from the fury of the storm beating the town. The turmoil being displayed outside her window was a mirror to what was happening in her mind. Hurt and anger towards the Cullen Clan churned with need and desire to see them again. There were so many questions she needed to have answered. Why were they back? Why didn't Alice see what was going to happen to her? Was Edward's sway over them so strong that they completely turned away in her hour of need? Where was Alice did she no longer care? A flash of lightening crashed the darkened sky, followed almost immediately by booming thunder that rattled the windows, snapping Bella from her questions.
As the storm intensified, Bella found herself focusing on one thought, well one person, Alice Cullen, and her feelings towards the girl. During the two years, while Bella worked through being a newborn, her thoughts always drifted towards Alice and how she missed the little pixie. Gentle sweet loving Alice always seemed to float into Bella's mind during the two years and now she knew they were back Alice's imagine, like the girl herself danced gracefully into Bella's mind almost constantly. Of all the Cullens, Alice's absence seemed to cause the greatest ache in her heart, while Edward caused the most anger.
Thinking of the bronzed hair boy with the crooked smile, Bella clenched her fists together and she had to fight the urge to punch a wall. During her two years of struggling to survive and adjust she had plenty time to think about her relationship with Edward. In the beginning she had been heartbroken and bemoaned the loss of her boyfriend, but in a short amount of time her feelings shifted.
All she could compare it to was like she had been shrouded in fog around him and once he was gone the sun broke out clearing her misty view of him. Everything she had found enduring about his archaic beliefs was no longer true, in fact Bella realized his attitude was one of pompous superiority and not just because she was a human. She would never have been so accepting of such belittling behavior from anyone else and for the life of her Bella couldn't understand why she had from Edward.
Sucking in an unneeded deep breath of air Bella slowly exhaled as she realized what she was going to do next. She was going to see the Cullens and confront them. It was exactly what Edward would not have wanted her to do.
"Whether they like it or not, Bella Swan is coming back into their lives even if it's just long enough for me to raise holy hell with them for leaving me." She growled as another flash of lightening lit up her pale face.