Chapter 32
While shuffling through files piled on his desk, Carlisle was organizing his desk after letting his desk become untidy and piled with papers. He hadn't realized how messy the den had become over the months he spent mopping around in his own glumness over Edward's death that it barely mattered to him anymore to keep his office clean. Luckily, Carlisle would not spend much time on re-organizing his office thanks to his super speed which came in handy often, so a job that would have taken hours took only forty-five minutes. His office looks spiffy and tidy like it always was usually. Carlisle felt better now that he wasn't sitting around drowning in his own personal sorrows that had deeply affected his overall manner and how he acted. Feeling brand new and refreshed after waking up from a horrid nightmare, Carlisle sat on the comfortable leather seat reclining as he kicked his feet up to rest on the desk. He contemplated of when to make the conference with the family and Jake about Bella's amazing progress over the months. In order to make sure Bella remains as she does and on her road to getting past the newborn phase, they had to discuss all the good progress made along with what could be improved and how. He felt that Jake should be invited because Bella was her close friend and it would be wrong to keep him in the dark about Bella and what has happened to her over the several months. Carlisle would be super cautious to address the topic with delicate care, so not to enrage Jake and sent him into a violent fit. Jake had strictly told them that he wanted Bella to remain human, so if he discovered she was a vampire Jake would make sure the Cullens pay for it by showing what happens when you piss off a werewolf. Jake wasn't afraid of the Cullens. He was afraid that they'd brainwash her to believe vampirism was the best option for her to prevent Bella from being in constant danger, which was their fault for putting her in such dangerous situation and partially Bella's for hanging around them a lot. Carlisle was aware the Jake would be infuriated that Bella is a vampire, but would have to gently break it to him that it was purely an accident. As much as he hated fabricating false stories, Carlisle had been around more than enough to master the art of lying when it was needed such as would be in this case. Jake would have to be fed a made-up story about James changing Bella against her will and later when Bella awoke as a vampire she hunted down James and killed him. This way Jake wouldn't go after Rosalie for unintentionally changing Bella. Bella would only be brought in during the second half of the conference once he felt Jake was calm enough to see her. Though, someone would have to tell Bella ahead of time not to mention how she actually became a vampire and to tell the same fabricated story Carlisle fed him, so there would be no confliction stories and no need to question it. Anxious, Carlisle was edgy just thinking about the conference because inviting Jake was a risky move that could jeopardize the safety of their anonymity. Jake in his anger could blow their identities to the public because now with modern technology word could get around fast. If this happens, the Cullens and Bella would have to re-locate to another low-key location with suitable weather for them which mean not much sunshine.
Pulling out his Blackberry, Carlisle scanned his calendar for a date to have this conference preferably in the late evening. Through much difficulty of finding an ideal day for the conference, he came across a day which was perfect to hold the meeting. Being a doctor left him very little free time during the majority of the week. The meeting would be in five days and Carlisle had much work to do before then in preparation for the conference. Alice would be assigned to calling the Jacob's house to inform him about the meeting and when to arrive at their house. She was the only Cullen who interacted with Jacob and was able to make him listen to her no matter how stubborn that Jake could be. Alice had a calm approach of getting people to listen to her, so it could work on a pigheaded werewolf. Esme would prepare a mini-feast for Jacob that was fit for a werewolf only. Carlisle would need to consult with Jasper of how the conference is going to go down, so they had a game plan ahead of time with other plans in case the original game plan fails. Emmett and Rosalie would do a massive cleaning spree of the enormous house, which had gotten messy over the past couple months and only got worse. Carlisle and Esme were still shocked in how they could manage to continue to live in such a pig-sty especially with them being vampires. Their house was usually so clean that you wouldn't be able to detect the slightest amount of dust around the household. They kept the house in impeccable condition it almost seemed like a model house at times. Everyone was busy for the next five days that any extra-curricular activities or events planned would have to be put on hold till after this meeting. The only exception was Carlisle, who would be busy working long hours at the hospital.
The only person who wasn't busy in the household was Bella. Carlisle had instructed all of them to keep Bella in the dark of this meeting till it were the actual day of it. This left her with nothing to do but wander around the house aimlessly trying to find something to occupy her boredom during the five days. Bella passed the days voraciously reading books that she had borrowed from Carlisle's mini-collection of books in the library which was part of his den. Even after several months, Bella found that she missed her family and friends, who she had not contacted since she became a vampire. There were times she wanted to send an e-mail to them just to let them know that she was fine because they were probably worried about Bella. Bella had just disappeared all together from their lives one day without even leaving a note or telling them how much they meant to her. She wanted to especially get in touch with her mom and dad just to tell them briefly that she was alright and not to worry sick about her and that she loved them. When Bella's nose wasn't buried in a book, she would walk around Edward's room, which was hers temporarily for now till he returned, and reminisce about her days as a human. All the wonderful moments spent with her friends and family would flood her memory and it seemed so real as if Bella was actually in them. She often remembered a lot of the time in Florida when Bella went to visit her mom and Phil, her stepdad and the precious times spent with her father at home whether it was over dinners that she would cook or watching a sports game on television. Bella really missed her close friend, Jacob, who she had not talked to ever since her transformation. She missed her best friends from school a tad because as much as school wasn't her favorite place to be, her school friends made the day easier to bear. Mike no matter how annoying he could be at times by following Bella around like a Labrador Retriever, Mike was a pretty nice person that she liked to talk and spend time with. It helped that he was in a lot of her classes and he would keep her entertained when she was getting bored. Angela was pleasant company as well for she was a naturally shy and not talkative person and reserved. Though, she was exceptionally chatty when the discussion of photography or any ingenious ideas for the school newspaper which she was a member of. Bella was left to figure out something productive to do since no on e had assigned her a specific cleaning duty, therefore she ventured to Carlisle's den to scan his vast collection of books. When she was bored, Bella found amusement and joy in reading for pleasure classic novels and non-fiction occasionally. Luckily, Carlisle was an avid collector of the classics as in the almost the original manuscript that has been carefully bound in leather hardback. Bella was overjoyed when she investigated the manuscripts that were listed meticulously in alphabetical order only found her two favorite reads of all time, Wuthering Heights and Pride & Prejudice. She cautiously slid the books off the shelf and nestled them in one arm while Bella wrote a terse note on a post-it leaving it on Carlisle's desk. Delicately carrying the heavy manuscripts, Bella went to Alice's bedroom to crash on the comfy sofa in the room to read on. Now, Bella would be buried for days in the books thus keeping her occupied while the other Cullens scurried frantically around the house to clean it up as if it was a massive spring cleaning.
Alice and Emmett tackled cleaning up the basement to remove the excessive dust that had collected over the months. Jasper and Rosalie swept the outside perimeter around the property to make it appear tidy and neat as it typically was kept. Esme was completing the finishing touches on a recent remodeling project within the house that had been taking a long time to accomplish. It would have been finished nearly two months ago if she hadn't been to grief-stricken to work on any or her numerous remodeling projects. Contently reading, Bella was occupied with her nose buried in the manuscripts as she marveled over each of the intricate pen strokes on the aged pages of Wuthering Heights. The five days went by quicker than anyone thought it would. Carlisle was busy with his own patients and paper work at the hospital that he contributed only very little to the extensive spring cleaning of inside and outside the house.
The day rolled around for their small meeting with the family, Bella, and Jacob to discuss Bella along with all her amazing progress made during her newborn phase. The house was completely cleaned that not even a speck of dirt could be detected with a microscope. Now, the last task was to call Jake and convince him to come over without telling the true reason. Jake had to be handled very delicately, so not to anger him or annoy him because the Cullens knew well that Jake hated the Cullens. The only reason Jake had to tolerate them was because Bella was his best friend who was close with the Cullen family as she was dating Edward Cullen.
Carlisle convened a meeting that morning around eight o'clock. Patiently waiting for the rest of the family to congregate in the sitting room, he switched on the television to watch the morning news to see what was happening in Forks, Washington and its surrounding cities. Forty-five minutes later, everyone was gathered in the sitting room sitting idly anxiously awaiting what Carlisle had assembled all of them for this early in the morning. Emmett and Jasper discussed amongst themselves about the upcoming baseball games, while the ladies chatted about planning a massive shopping spree soon because it had been awhile since it had been months.
Carlisle cleared his throat loudly immediately hushing everyone's individual conversation. "I know some of you, particularly Emmett and Jasper, are curious of why I called this impromptu assembly this morning," he began in his usual calm tone. "Today is the day of the meeting. I wouldn't be stressing it this much if it was just our family and Bella attending the meeting, but Jacob will be present too."
"Why the hell is that mangy werewolf coming," Emmett expressed irately.
Jasper elbowed Emmett, who was getting out of line and being rude by making such an immature comment like that, in his side. Emmett glared at him then re-focused his attention back on Emmett. Emmett had an unpredictable temper at times, so Jasper just had to calm him down using his powers despite if it was against Emmett's will.
Jasper spoke up. "Jacob has been invited because it is only fair that he knows about Bella being a vampire through us and no matter how we may not like it he had always been Bella's closest friend. We have no right to alienate her from all her friends and family, since Jacob is now a werewolf therefore he understands the supernatural realm of both our existences. Bella will be no harm to him because Jacob is no longer human, so we need not worry about the possibility of him ever hurting Bella in anyway regardless of him being a werewolf. If he does get unruly, we have taught Bella enough techniques and skills to fight vampires and werewolves if she were ever in danger. Nevertheless, I believe that Jacob needs to hear of the remarkable progress Bella had made during the short months of being a newborn vampire. It is better Jacob hear it from us rather than a third party who will twist the truth and make us look like the bad guys."
"I agree with you, honey. We have seen Bella accomplish and overcome many issues that typically a newborn vampire is not able to tame and would take couple years to manifest. Bella was always a quick learner and this helped her to absorb techniques and skills to overcome her constant bloodlust and cravings. I do no know how she does this but I have been pondering lately about if it might be one of her powers that she obtained after her transformation. Yes, it may not be like the powers that Jasper and I have, but it is still important that we cultivate and enrich her powers whatever it might be. After all her hardships and struggles these several months, she deserves to still be able to keep in contact with someone she knew when she was human. It helps that we do not have to worry about her uncontrolled bloodlust if she was in close proximity with a human. Jake is not even human, in fact he is a werewolf which makes this simpler because she will not have to worry about craving human blood around him. The werewolf within him taints his blood so it is not as sweet or desirable like human blood." Alice stood up during the middle of her lecture as she explained in simpler terms, so Emmett could comprehend why Carlisle decided what he did.
It took some time to register, but eventually it all began to make sense to Emmett as he nodded his head that he understood what Jasper and Alice was telling him. No matter his own annoyance at Jake, Emmett could not deny that they both had valid points in their explanations. "Alright, I understand what you guys are trying to convey, but one aspect I am not still certain about is his reaction when we unload all this on him at one time. He still has not controlled his anger issues, so he can easily snap or become irate from this mother load of information you are cramming down his throat to swallow in such a short span of time."
Esme responded in her usual soft, sweet tone, "Well, I guess we will have to see, but that doesn't mean we will not have back up plan for every possible scenarios that could occur. I think that it would be best if Alice called Jake to inform him to attend the meeting this evening. I'll whip up a delicious meal for Jake since it would be rude to starve our guest."
Everyone turned their gaze on Alice, who sat calm and composed revealing no sign of doubt even though she didn't think it was best she called Jake. Carlisle had this way with people that it was impossible to refuse an invitation or be annoyed with him also it might also do with his presence. It was as if he had Jasper's powers and was able to calm people down as he compelled them with his relaxingly soothing voice that hypnotized humans. "I do not know if I am the best person to call Jake," she suggested subtly. "I cannot guarantee that he will accept our invitation to meeting and it makes it all the more difficult since he despises us."
Carlisle reassured her, "You can do it, Alice. Just believe you can. You're best person who can persuade people without having to compel them using your abilities."
Alice pondered.
"Babe, you're the best person for this job as it seems that out all of us Jake has listened to you in the past," Jasper stated frankly giving her shoulders an encouraging pat.
"Fine. I'll call in a couple hours."
"Well, now that we gotten some issues cleared I know that whatever may happen tonight that we will be ready for anything and everything. Assembly is dismissed."