Disclaimer: I own it not.
An hour after Jane's not-so-subtle threat, I was saying goodbye to my father, who was looking at me speculatively, though it was obvious to me why he would do so. I was not the same person who met him out front today, and he knew it had to be something that happened while he was locked in Aro's office with its creepy owner. My father was never a fool.
"I'll call you around lunchtime, and if you can get away, we'll meet up somewhere, okay?" he said to me, and I nodded, not meeting his dark eyes. I instead stared at his mustache, which rustled with the breath of a sigh. "Later, kiddo. Stay inside at all times, unless me or Emmett or one of his boys come for you."
"But Alice is supposed to pick me up," I said, finally looking at him.
He shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck, not making eye contact. I rose an eyebrow because I knew that meant there was something he didn't want to tell me. "I am going to pick you up and take you to the hotel. I guess she'll be there, waiting on you, but for now Emmett is keeping an eye out on his sister. We, uh, are supposed to meet them for dinner at seven... and their parents."
"WHAT?" I screeched, my eyes stretching as wide as they ever had. "When the hell did that happen?"
Dad shrugged his shoulders, but still didn't look at me as he replied, "It was Emmett's idea. He called his mother up to reserve a table, and she suggested we all go." He finally looked at me and then shrugged again, a little more helplessly when my death glare didn't waver. "What did you want me to do, Bells? Besides, you're moving in with them this week, so you have to meet them sometime."
I groaned, leaning my head against the glass of the front doors. "I'm not exactly moving in with them, Dad. I am renting an apartment in their garage. There's a difference," I argued weakly, and he just chuckled, clapping a hand on my shoulder.
"Looking forward to meeting... what's her name again?"
I gave him a withering look. He knew her name. "Alice," I answered, humoring him. He grinned and gave me a wave before pushing the door open and walking out towards the parking lot.
All of a sudden, as I watched his black uniformed back disappear around the side of the building to his truck, I felt very alone in the store, very vulnerable. I felt like I was prey. At that same time, my cell vibrated once in my pocket, alerting me to a text. Turning back around and walking to the now empty counter, I fished it out of my deep pocket to look at it. It was Alice.
Remember how you just sprung the news about your father on me this morning? Well, I have somewhat of a surprise for you, as well. :)
Ha. She thought she was about to spring her parents on me.
I already know I am having dinner with your parents tonight. And Dad is picking me up from work, because he wants to make sure a badge is with us at all times. Emmett is going to be a stick up your ass today, fair warning.
A full minute had not gone by before my phone went off a second time.
UGH! She texted, That is so not fair! And Emmett's not going to be stuck up anything if he doesn't wake his fat ass up, he's passed out sitting straight up on the sofa. I don't miss hearing him snore, now that we don't live at home anymore.
I felt that pang of guilt again, knowing why he was so exhausted, but I still grinned a little at the image of Emmett passed out with his mouth wide and snoring loudly. It also explained why he hadn't texted me back earlier. Before I could even start to reply to that, another came in, and it was a single question.
What are you going to wear?
I glanced around for any sign of Jane or Aro, but they seemed to have locked themselves in his office, and the thought crossed my mind that what if that geezer was in on everything?
I don't know, I have to look, I told Alice, who shot a text directly back, as if she already had it typed and ready, no matter what my response would have been.
Do you trust me?
I paused, debating that. I did trust her. But I also was wary of allowing her to pick out my clothes. But the part of me that wanted her to know I have faith won out. Sure, I told her.
All I got back was a ;)
I did not see Jane nor Aro for the next few hours, though I did hear muffed yells coming from the office, and I couldn't help but over hear as Aro's voice went louder and deeper than I thought possible. "That was the most idiotic thing you could have done! Christ, girl, are you slow? And this fool you've chosen to do business with! You need to screen clients before taking them, you imbecile! And you want my company when I am gone? I think not!"
If Aro was referring to James, and everything in me said he was, then it didn't sound like he knew him. I strained my ears to hear something more, but all I got was a hiss of words from Jane that I did not catch, and a resultant scoff from her uncle. I moved away from the door carefully, going back to help one of the cashiers with some customers.
I was on autopilot through that, thinking about how Aro had called James a "client", someone Jane does "business" with. She might be just his dealer, or his proprietress. I couldn't think of any reason to believe she had anything to do with James' fixation on Alice and me. However, I knew she caught herself slipping when she realized that I had not mentioned Victoria, and as result maybe had a slight panic that I figured out that she knew more than she was letting on. As cold as Jane was, she was also intelligent, and there had to be a momentary lapse in judgment when she gave me that ultimatum. Aro was right: that had been pretty stupid of her to confirm what I had only suspected.
Despite what she said, I had full plans on discussing this with Emmett and my father. It's not that I wasn't mindful of her warning, but if getting information from her led to his arrest and Alice's safety, then I could take whatever Jane Volturi handed me. Be it an empty promise, or a bullet between the eyes, I would take either of them for Alice.
AlicePOV:
Poke. Poke. POKE, pokepokepokepoke! I jabbed my finger into my older brother's large chest repeatedly, getting more and more annoyed by the minute of enduring the bear-like growls rumbling through the entire downstairs of his house. "Em! Come on, this was your bright idea to tag along everywhere I fucking walk, so let's go! I don't have all day!" I said heatedly, earning myself a lip smack and a head loll to the left, his full lips vibrating with every deep exhale.
"Rose! A little help, please?" I called over my shoulder towards the stairs, and I heard the floor above me creak with her footsteps as she drew to the top of the stairwell. A jog of footsteps later and she appeared in the archway between the den and the foyer, her eyebrow up in question, her right hand resting on her hip.
"He's exhausted, Alice, what do you expect?" she asked me, and I sighed, tossing my hands up into my hair to tug a little at it in my frustration.
"I know he is, but he was the one who insisted on going shopping with us. I am just trying to save the both of us the annoyance of his lecture when he wakes up and we're gone," I argued, and she rolled her light blue eyes at me.
"Move. Go upstairs and keep C.J. busy until I call for you," she said, exasperated, waving a hand as if to magically remove me from in front of my slumbering brother.
"Oookay," I said slowly, backing away to give her room, and blanking out when she kneeled in front of him.
"Go!" she snapped at me, flinging a hand towards the stairs. "Unless you just want to see me suck–"
"Ugh! Okay okay!" I whipped around and flew up the stairs, trying to ignore the sound of Emmett's zipper being undone.
C.J. was in his room, lying on his bed with his guitar in his hands, a pout on his face. I knocked on his open door, and he sat up quickly, eager to leave. I shook my head and shut the door behind me, and he laid back down slowly, disappointed, and resumed his strumming. I stood there and watched him in silence as he continued to ignore me, and I finally got the picture that he was mad at me.
"Honey... what's wrong?" I asked him softly, though I had an inkling of what it might be.
He shook his head, but his lips pursed with the words he was struggling to hold back, so I knew he would talk if I kept at it.
"Christopher..."
"Nothing," he mumbled, lying his guitar on the bed next to him with a reverence that reminded me strongly of Bella, and folding his arms across his chest, turning his face away from me to look out of the window.
I took a breath, but before I could say anything, he let loose.
"Why can't we go home? Where are you staying? Why is Uncle Em always at work? I know something's wrong, but since I'm little, no one will tell me anything! It's not fair that I can't be with you. We're like this, remember?" He held up two fingers twisted together, indicating that we were one in the same. "We promised to stick together, no matter what, because we're a team and that's what teams do, Mommy! Remember?"
My heart tightened in my chest, and I felt tears rise over my eyes. We had made that pact when he was four years old, and I did not expect him to remember it, but apparently he had taken that to heart... maybe even more than I had. But he was right. We are a team, and we always have been. He is my sunshine on a rainy day, and I am his support beam when he needs strength, his teacher when he questions, and his guide when he feels lost. The only thing I can't be for him is his father.
"I do," I whispered, a tear sliding down my face despite my efforts to blink it back. "I do remember."
He stood up and crossed the room, wrapping his arms around me, and I reached down and scooped him up in my arms, although he was nearly as tall as me now. I wondered if he would reach Jasper's height of six feet, even if he had my genes, as well. He buried his face in my chest as we both cried a little softly, and he told me he just missed me. "You never spend time with me anymore. I know you're with Bella, and that's okay, but... can I come, too? Please?"
There was no way I was going to be able to keep me and Bella a secret from him. It hurt too much to lie to him, and I didn't want him to hate me for it. There was something about Bella that told me my fears were irrelevant, anyway, as I saw... life... in her eyes. I saw my future mapped out in the warm hues of her chocolate eyes, and felt eternity in her pulse, rippling through me in a perfect rhythm to my own heartbeat.
"Of course you can, sweetie. It's not a problem at all," I answered him, cradling him to me and rocking him a little as I began to pace the room.
From the floor below us, I heard a loud grunt, and a drawn out "RO-SA-LIE!" that made me want to throw up a little. But I had to hand it to the girl: she woke him right up.
"Don't worry, he's okay. He just does that sometimes," C.J. said indifferently as I set him down on his bed, and he automatically picked his guitar back up. "Wanna hear a song I made up?"
"I'd love to," I answered honestly, making a note in my mind to tell my brother to keep his soprano sexual grunts to himself. C.J. grinned at me before his face fell into a hard look as his little fingers found the chords he was looking for.
He really loved this instrument, I could see the beginnings of the same devotion that Bella held, starting in his eyes. He was maturing through his determination to master this talent, and it blew my mind how soon it seemed that I was watching my baby boy grow up right before my eyes. He was only six years old, and his eyes were starting to hold a wisdom that was far beyond his years. How did this perfect little being come from me?
The song wasn't bad for a little guy that had only been playing for a few weeks, and I made a silent note to compliment Bella on her tutoring skills. But his song was short-lived.
"Alice, C.J., let's go!" we heard Rosalie's voice come up the stairs over C.J.'s soft melody he was strumming on his little instrument, muffled only by the closed door.
His face lit up, as we were finally leaving, an hour and a half after my arrival. Even in his excitement, he put his guitar back in its case for safe keeping and zipped up the sides, and I didn't miss the way he traced a finger down the closed zipper teeth, almost wistfully. It was like he was in love, as if he were old enough to understand the concept, and appreciate it for what it is worth. I shook my head at another thing that reminded me strongly of Bella. If my son were making me think of her, something was wrong. But it still made me chuckle as I followed C.J. out of his bedroom and down the stairs, where we found Emmett bouncing on the balls of his feet like he had consumed a case of energy drinks.
"Ready?" he asked, with a bright smile, and I couldn't help but to shake my head. He gave me a questioning look, which I answered with a pointed one. He blushed, but cleared his throat and clapped his hands. "Okay, last one in the Jeep is a rotten egg!"
C.J. squealed and took off out of the front door, and Emmett was right behind him, deep down very much still a little boy, himself. Rosalie and I exchanged a look and a giggle before we grabbed our purses and exited the house, but once we were outside, Rose shot me a devious look. I only had just enough time to register what the look was for, when she took off running and was at the passenger side door of Emmett's monster vehicle in three seconds flat.
"Alice is the rotten egg!" she called back to me in a sing song voice, and my mouth fell open, scandalized.
"That was cheating! You didn't give me any warning!" I laughed, finally drawing to the back passenger door as we literally climbed in.
"You know the name of the game, my friend," Rose said with a shit-eating grin, sliding her dark sunglasses over her eyes in the seat in front of me.
"Still–"
"Girls, girls, calm down," Emmett said placatingly from the driver's seat as he began to back out of the driveway. "As you know, we men won the race, anyway," he went on with a simpering smile directed towards his wife, and C.J. gave a yell of celebration from beside me.
Rosalie turned her face to look at him, not saying anything at first, and Emmett's grin faltered just a bit, and I saw the apprehension in his blue eyes. "Remember how I woke you up?" she asked softly, sweetly, after a long fifteen second pause.
Emmett merely nodded, not taking his eyes off the road in front of him.
"Good, because you'll need that when you're waking up by yourself with morning problems," she purred, and Emmett's eyes widened and he shot his wife a horrified look.
"Babe!" he protested, and Rose merely smirked, turning away from him to gaze out of the window.
"Never could keep your mouth shut," I mumbled from behind, and he shot me a glare in the rear view mirror.
"No one asked an opinion from the midget battalion," he popped off, and if my son had not been sitting next to me, I would have given him the finger. So I opted for the next best gesture, and stuck my tongue out at him.
"Mature, Alice. Great role model," he scoffed with a roll of his eyes.
"Just drive, Jeeves," I shot back, ignoring the muttering he was doing under his breath, and thankfully Rosalie decided to turn on the radio.
I laid out the clothes I'd bought for Bella on the bed while C.J. looked around the room, standing still with his hands clasped in front of himself, and Rosalie sat down on the small sofa and opened the latest edition of Vogue, allowing Emmett a moment to himself in the restroom. I had a premonition of that very thing occuring, and thankfully had gotten air freshener while we were out.
"Where is Bella sleeping? There's only one bed," he pointed out, and my face flushed. Well, Alice, it's now or never...
Clearing my throat, I stood to face him, and he looked up at me with a knowing look in his eyes. He's six... what can he possibly know? "Well, C.J., I have something I want to tell you..." I saw Rosalie glance up at my words, but before I could look over for support, she shifted her gaze back down to the open magazine in her lap.
"Okay," he said simply, shrugging his little shoulders carelessly. "I already know what you're going to say to me, though."
"Then what am I about to say?" I asked him, and he grinned.
"Just tell me, Mommy."
I eyed him suspiciously. There was no way he could know, unless someone told him... I would kill Emmett. "Bella and I are... well, we're together." The smug satisfaction in his dark blue eyes told me that he did indeed know, and I cocked my head to one side inquisitively as I stared at him, watched his happy grin spread across his face.
"I know," he said, laughing. "Bella gave it away. She blushed the other day when we were in our lesson, and she said it was you texting her, and then you guys went out that night... and she was at Uncle Em and Aunt Rosie's house the next day."
"How does that constitute the fact that we're...?"
"Because," he emphasized as if he were the adult and I was the child, "I saw her head in your lap when I woke up, and you were smiling in your sleep." He crossed his arms over his chest, much like his Uncle Edward does, and smirked much in the same style as my younger brother. "I just went back up to take a shower and get dressed before you caught me." He blushed, his smirk faltering a bit. "I didn't want to surprise you."
"That was... very gentlemanly," I said, feeling a little light headed at the fact that my son had known all along. I sat down on the edge of the bed, and put my head in my hands. He certainly inherited my brains and logic, and the capability to put two and two together. It amazed me that he could call me out like that. My sister-in-law did not looked as shocked as I felt.
I felt his arm slip around my shoulder, and he patted my upper arm reassuringly. "Don't worry. It's gonna be okay. I like Bella. And I think she likes you just as much as you like her, so it's okay... Just... can you please work on spending more time with me? I miss you, Mommy."
I wiped away the tears that fell at his request and turned to him, pulling him into a tight hug. My little man, and he sure was that. I looked at Rosalie over his shoulder, and she gave me a wink and a smile, and I felt for the moment that everything would be all right.
BellaPOV:
I was just about to call Dad to tell him to please come pick me up from that godforsaken job when my cell chimed with a text from Alice.
C.J. knows about us. I told him today. He already knew.
I couldn't help but grin. Of course my little buddy already knew about me and his mom. I hadn't exactly hidden it, and Alice hadn't, either... We just... didn't come out and say it.
Is he okay with it? I texted back, biting my lip as I sent it, and then called my father while I waited for Alice's reply.
"You off?" Dad asked when he answered his cell phone and I hummed an affirmative answer.
"I am, and I would appreciate it if you would hurry," I told him honestly, and he grunted.
"That little... it's that little bitch Jane, isn't it?"
"Dad..."
"I'm coming, Bells. Stay put."
I exited out of the call, and Alice's text appeared on my screen as soon as I cleared Dad's name, and I opened it to feel a big smile cross my face.
He's completely okay with it. He might have even played matchmaker, if we hadn't beat him to it. He loves you, Bella.
I think it's safe to say the feeling is mutual. I laughed, shaking my head as I thought back to how this all started sitting in this very store, when Emmett came in after seeing the sign for my services. I owed him a big one. I am about to be on my way to the hotel, btw.
"Bella?"
I cringed at the sound of Aro's voice behind me, and I slowly turned to meet my boss's watery eyes. "I just wanted to let you know that you have my support in this," he said, and my eyebrow shot up at his words. Really, he is going to talk to me about this?
"I know what Jane said to you," he said, confirming my fears, but he adverted his eyes for a moment before he looked back at me. "I assure you that she has nothing to do with this... idiot's plans concerning you and your friend. The connection between the two is strictly business to my understanding, and I have seen to it that she cut ties with him. You are safe in my store, Bella. Safe from him, and safe from my bratty niece." He closed his eyes and shook his head, pinching the bridge of his overly large nose. After a moment, he released his wrinkled face and looked at me again. "You can take time off, if you need it. Just let me know beforehand."
"Okay," I said in barely more than a whisper, and he studied me for a second longer before he took a few steps forward, closing some of the distance between us.
"I know that Jane's association with this James fellow has not cast myself or the Volturi name in the brightest of lights, but I implore you, don't leave my company... Since you've started here, my books are coming out balanced, and none of my merchandise is... being misplaced. I cannot say the same for when Jane was the sole manager." He gave me a pointed look, and I got what he was telling me: Jane was stealing from him before I came to secondhand the books with her.
"Aro, I have no plans to leave Volturi Music at this point. Nothing has happened here in regards to James, and though I am wary of Jane, she doesn't frighten me half as much as she wishes she does," I told him truthfully. "But I might have to take you up on the time off soon. I am to be moving out of my apartment sometime this week, and I am sure you will understand when I don't mention where I am going. My address in the store files will be changed to a post office box, and nothing more."
Aro inclined his ancient head. "I do understand. Thank you, Bella. Will I be seeing you in the morning?"
"Bright and early, I'm sure," I answered him, giving him a return smile as he turned and went back towards his office, closing its door quietly behind him.
I seriously doubted Aro's knowledge or involvement of the contraband that Jane seemed to have her little thieving hands in, and if she were indeed stealing from him before I became a co-manager, that was lower than low in my opinion. Aro Volturi was a perverted, dirty old man, but at least he made an honest living, as far as I could tell, and he seemed pretty apologetic about Jane's actions in handling her own consequences of opening her fat mouth. He was her blood! Well, her great-Uncle, her father's uncle, but I was sure that neither he nor her grandfather would appreciate her helping herself to his money.
You're on your way? Damn I guess that means I need to put some clothes on, huh? :P
I rolled my eyes at her teasing, knowing damn well that she was fully clothed. Shame, I texted back with a grin, I was gonna strip down to my boxers and do stunts on the shower curtain rod. *sigh* guess I am all alone in my underwear sports today, huh? ;)
Pfft you're lucky, too! I'd hate to have to whip your ass in the Pantie Pole Vault again, she texted back in a true smart ass way, making my chest swell with pride.
This particular smart ass happened to be my girlfriend.
"I, uh... rented a room at that hotel you and Alice are staying in, and Sue is going to come stay with me for a few days here," Dad told me when I pulled myself up into the high cab of his truck.
"Seriously? Why?" I asked him, confused. Dad hated Seattle almost as much as he hated shopping.
He shrugged, his face turning red and his mustache fluffing out a bit. "It's been a while since we've had any time together, you know, without Seth and Leah... and since I planned to be here until you're moved in at the Cullen place, I figured why the hell not?"
I nodded. "I guess you're right. But Leah is staying home, right?"
He gave me a look from the corner of his eye. "Yes, she is staying in Forks, that's the point."
I gave a single nod and laid my head against the window, closing my eyes and listening to the Creedence Clearwater Revival Dad was playing on his radio. My peace was shattered after a minute, when he reached over and turned the volume down, meaning he wanted to talk.
"What happened at work today?" he asked me, and I gave a heavy sigh, and opened my eyes to look over at him.
"Jane..." I trailed off, not knowing how to put this where he would not lose his shit and wreck his truck, killing both of us. "She just... you know... she knows James. I think she deals drugs to him, but I'm not positive. I am only assuming, considering the text from Emmett that I received earlier, telling me he had some things pertaining to some smack and coke that he wanted to talk to her about."
Dad nodded. "We did find out that she is a major figure in the drug trade, purely on the club scene. She isn't connected to the streets, but that's where our boy James comes in. He is her do-boy, her little scapegoat."
I snorted. She didn't pick a very smart scapegoat.
"Did she say anything to you?" Dad asked me, and I nodded.
"She told me that if I told anyone that she knows James, she'd make sure it was the last thing I'd do, or some over-used villain line like that."
"So, she has no idea that we've connected her to him?"
I shrugged. "She might, now." I went on to tell him about the argument I had heard between her and her uncle that day, and also told him what Aro had said to me before I had left, just minutes ago.
"Yeah, I think he might have played the game when he was younger, but I am pretty sure Aro Volturi is a clean slate in this... creepy fella, though, isn't he?"
I nodded in agreement. "The creepiest. But I think it's just because he is a widower and he hasn't gotten laid in a really long time."
Dad scratched his head. "You'd think that with all that money, he'd buy a piece," he speculated jokingly, and I snorted in laughter.
"Maybe we could fix him up with crazy Tabitha, you know, that old biddy that lives off of First Beach. The one with all the cats?" I said, and Dad shook with his hardly contained mirth.
"The one that calls the station to report a murder whenever one of her cats gets killed by one of the wolves?" he said, shaking his head. "Poor old lady... she doesn't know any better."
We laughed and joked about playing Cupid with Aro and various elderly ladies in Forks, and just being with my father made it feel like the imminent danger in my life didn't exist. I appreciated his efforts in keeping my mind off of James and what he might be up to.
"Welp, here we are," he said, pulling up to the front doors of the hotel. "You go on up, and I am going to go park my truck, and wait for Sue in the bar."
"Knocking back a few before we leave?" I asked, thinking that it wasn't such a bad idea. It would do wonders for my nerves if Alice would let me take a double shot before we left the hotel.
"No, just grabbing a draft for the start of the Mariners game, since we are leaving about the time it'll get to the third or fourth inning," he grumbled, but I knew he wasn't too upset about the game. My father hated to meet new people just as much as I did.
"Okay. Well, I'll see you at the restaurant, and maybe we'll have time for a nightcap afterwards. We can rehash the horrible performance our ball team is sure to give tonight."
"Okay, kid. See you afterwhile."
I got out of the truck, and had to restrain myself from breaking into a run when it hit me that Alice was upstairs waiting on me, so I just kind of skipped to the elevator, pressing the number 11 and bouncing on my feet in anticipation of seeing that dimpled smile I had missed all day. I didn't pause in my speed-walking as I made my way down the hall, digging the card key out of my wallet as I went, and barely noticed the bottle of wine I kicked over in front of our door until I heard it thump heavily against the thick red carpet in the hall. Even looking down at the bottle now lying on its side, I opened the room door and called for Alice.
"Bella?" she answered, appearing from the bathroom with her hair only half-spiked away from her face; I must have interrupted her styling time.
I squatted down and was reaching for the bottle when she gasped and said quickly, "Don't touch it... Look at the tag."
Sure enough, when the bottle toppled over, the little gift note tied to the neck had fallen open to reveal a little note scribbled on it in sloppy handwriting.
Cungradulayshuns too my grils- J.
"But you didn't see anyone on your way up?" Emmett asked me for the thousandth time since he had shown up twenty minutes after I had.
"Not a soul since I was in the lobby," I repeated, looking at my phone again. Where the hell was my father? I'd called, texted... I was beginning to worry.
Emmett stepped into the hallway and looked up at the ceiling, a small smile crossing his features as he spotted what he wanted to see: a surveillance camera. "Did you ever hear back from your dad?" he asked me as he stepped back into the room.
"No," I said softly, looking back down at my silent cell phone, then to Alice, who was sitting on our bed, looking at the bottle that James had apparently left for the both of us.
"How?" she asked in a hushed tone. "How did he know what room?"
"No telling... he probably had someone come to the desk and ask about it, or overheard something... we'll find out, that's for sure..." Emmett's voice trailed off as his attention was drawn to something in the hall. "Hey, Charlie, I was starting to wonder about you," he said to the unseen person, and my heart jumped that finally Dad was showing up.
"Bella!" Dad said, shoving past Emmett and pulling me up from beside Alice, wrapping me in his arms. "I'm sorry, I was- er- well, I got here as soon as I checked my phone." From the red hint to his cheeks, I didn't think I wanted to know what he'd been doing.
"And who might this beautiful young lady be?" Emmett said from the door, and I looked over Dad's shoulder to see my step-mother standing in the doorway, and Emmett shaking her hand politely. "Emmett Cullen, miss," he introduced himself to Sue, and she looked at my father, a grin on her face, before she looked back at Em.
"Well, kind sir, my name is Sue Swan, and I quite belong to that handsome devil over there, with his arm around that beautiful little girl of ours," she answered, dipping her head in acknowledgement of Emmett's impeccable manners.
I felt a wave of affection for the tall, tan skinned woman, who was the only mother I had grown up knowing. She was my caregiver when Renee left, years before she and my father were anything like they are now. She was still married to Harry, one of my father's best friends, and Leah and Seth's father, at the time, and remained so until his death when Leah and I were twelve. He passed away with a massive heart attack, and Dad was the one that helped keep Sue together for her kids, because his death shook her otherwise sturdy spirit.
"Bella, this is your mom?" he asked me, and I smiled.
"The only one I've ever known," I answered in a chipper tone, holding an arm out to Sue for a hug, which she immediately accepted.
"Bella, honey..." Sue kissed the top of my head, and I couldn't help but to feel like a kid again, between my parents such as I was. "You look like you're losing weight. Have you been eating?"
"Yes, Sue, I swear," I laughed. "But Seattle has no food that compares to the tango that my tastebuds do when I eat your fish fry," I added, and she laughed, kissing my cheek hard before looking at my father.
"See? This is why I love your daughter more than mine," she joked, and I bit back a snort of laughter.
I pulled away from both of them to properly introduce them to Alice, who was still sitting on the bed, albeit a little more shyly than mere seconds before. "Dad, Sue, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Alice Cullen. Alice, this is my dad, Chief Swan, and my lovely step-mother, Sue."
Alice gave a small, shy smile as she extended her tiny hand to my father first, who shook it with a twinkle in his eye but a frown set in his face. He surveyed my Alice from her face, down to her heeled feet, and back, pursing his lips. "So, you're the one she can't stop thinking about," he said gruffly, and Alice and I both went beet red simultaneously.
"I suppose so, sir," she said in a tiny voice, not at all like her normal energetic tone.
"Dad..." I started to protest, but he held up a hand, and I went quiet, knowing it was better to let him speak than to make it worse on her. I didn't mention to Alice that my dad had never met anyone I was ever involved with, other than Leah, which to this day he and Sue both were clueless about; so I had no idea really how he planned to handle this.
"Hold on, Bella, I am talking to... Alice, right?"
"Charlie..." Sue chimed in her own warning, and Dad gave her a glance, but continued.
"What exactly are your plans with my little girl?"
I was mortified. I ducked my face down into my chest and let my hair swing out to cover the blush of embarrassment that was slowly coloring my pale skin. How could he do this to me?
"Well," Alice said slowly, swallowing audibly, "I hope we'll date for some months, maybe years. I hope that we'll buy a house together when she's ready, and that we'll be the kind of parents that I hear you are, and that my parents are. I plan on wearing a ring, eventually, if she likes, and then I plan on having a double burial plot reserved for when we die, because I can't imagine eternal rest without her next to me."
No one said anything for a long five seconds after she finished telling my father that she planned to keep me as long as I would have her.
"Damn," Dad said, looking at me. "She's got it all figured out. I like her."
I let go of a breath that I didn't realize I had been holding, and the tension in the room melted until Emmett brought Dad's attention to the wine bottle a few minutes later, and while Dad and Sue were distracted with that, I checked on my tiny girlfriend, who had collapsed back onto the bed with a sigh. I eased myself down onto the edge of the mattress beside her.
"Are you okay? I'm sorry, I didn't know he was going to do that," I said softly, taking her hand between mine and gently squeezing.
"It's okay, I am fine. Just... I didn't want you to hear all of that... not yet, anyway," she whispered back, and I felt my brow knit together in confusion.
"Why not?" I asked her, and she gave a dry chuckle.
"It's not normal to have a life planned with someone that you've known less than a month, Bella," she told me, but I shrugged, shaking my head.
"Alice, there is nothing about this relationship that is normal," I pointed out, and she gave me a tiny grin.
"That's true," she admitted. "But I feel like it should be... I feel like I should show you how it's supposed to work between two people, not just sign you up for matrimony."
I laughed at that, and got a few stares from the three people standing to our left, but I didn't acknowledge them, because I was lost in deep pools of navy blue. "I want to kiss you so badly right now," I found myself whispering to her, and she gave me a smile that caved both of her dimples.
"Do it," she whispered back challengingly. "I dare you."
I swiftly leant in and pressed my lips against hers, and made to pull away, but she wasn't allowing that. She followed me until she had kissed me for a full ten seconds, thankfully without tongues, and she didn't pull back until a light clearing of Sue's throat sounded. We jerked apart and I didn't look up, blushing hard, and refusing to meet anyone's gaze, not wanting guilt to ruin the euphoria instilled in my heart whenever Alice kissed me.
"Hey, Charlie? You think you could escort Bella and my dear little sister to the restaurant in an hour or so? I need to drop this off at the station, make a few bad jokes about his first-grade spelling level, and then shoot to my place to change," Emmett said, and my father nodded immediately.
"Sure, boy, go make yourself pretty. After dinner tonight, I want you to go home and get some sleep, though. You've done all you can do today," Dad said, clapping a hand on Em's shoulder, and Emmett nodded.
"I don't think I could survive another night without it," he admitted sheepishly. "I kind of passed out on the sofa today."
"Kind of?" his sister repeated, deadpan, rolling her beautiful eyes. "You sat down and died, Emmett."
"All the same," Dad said, nodding in approval of his assessment of Emmett and his bad habit. "Go on, get out of here, we'll see you tonight."
Emmett waved goodbye and left, taking the wine with him, and Dad looked at Alice and I. "You girls going to be okay? We're just a floor down, if you need me."
"We'll be fine. We still have to get ready for dinner," I said, and Alice nodded eagerly in her agreement. That reminded me...
"Okay, we'll meet you two up here, and the four of us will go down together," Dad said, looking between Alice and I for any objections to his plan.
We looked at each other and shrugged, nodding in agreement. "Sounds good to me," I told him, and he gave a small wave with his hand, and Sue leaned in for a one-armed hug, pressing her lips to my forehead.
"Be good, see you in a little while," she told me, and I smiled.
The door had barely shut behind them before I found myself staggering backwards onto the bed with a very eager mouth against mine, and a very happy pixie in my arms. I landed on my elbows, and allowed her to straddle my lap, and though her weight was not touching my thighs, her mere presence above me was enough to send my heart into cardiac arrest. I reached up with my left hand and cupped the back of her neck as she playfully nudged my tongue with hers, trying to hold her toying affection still so I could reciprocate her actions; but Alice was in complete control of this lengthy display.
"Alice," I mumbled unwillingly against her advances a few minutes later. She ignored me, and I reached between us and slipped my hand beneath the hem of her collared yellow shirt, smiling when she let go of a sharp gasp. I pushed against her abdomen, and she sat up on her knees, still straddled across me, her gorgeous mouth plump and wet, and I fought the urge to bite her bottom lip and keep going. "We have to get ready," I said instead, swallowing hard at the words that were coming from my mouth. I really wanted to stay here, staring up at her eyes that were brimming with unsaid emotion, and feeling her hands that clutched at my shirt as though I might evaporate in her grasp.
I was caught in that moment, listening to and feeling our hearts dueling against each other to see which could reach a higher B.P.M., and Alice broke eye contact first, sighing deeply and leaning her forehead to mine. "Fine," she grumbled. "I'm only relenting because I know how sexy you're going to be in the clothes I bought for you today."
"Will I like them?" I asked skeptically, watching as her eyes began to dance in good humor.
She got to her feet and held out a hand to help pull me to mine, then she twirled around in a blur of excitement to go to the clothes rack mounted between the bathroom and the sitting area. "We're matching, but I picked the color to go with your dark hair and eyes, but it looks good on me, so it works perfectly."
"You color-coordinated us?" I deadpanned, and she gave me a slightly apologetic look, biting her lip hopefully that I wouldn't chastise her too much for her fashion sense.
"I promise, it's going to be hot," she said, and I shook my head at her, my shoulders quaking with silent laughter for how adorable my girl was.
"Well, go on, then. Show me what we're going to look like tonight."
"You should have worn the tie," Alice muttered to me sullenly from the driver's seat of her car, and I looked over at her with a wary look, afraid she was going to start this argument again.
"It looks fine without it," I replied softly, and she huffed.
"It looks more than fine, but that's not the point. The tie set it off."
"I look retarded in ties."
"It looked good- are we really doing this again?" She giggled at the end of her question, shaking her head, and I joined her on the laugh.
It seemed fashion was something upon which we did not agree. The crimson silk dress shirt was fine, as were the nice black slacks and the glossy shoes, but asking me to wear a black neck tie with it? Too much, I looked just fine in the shirt and slacks.
But Alice? Alice? She looked amazing. She had gotten a little black dress to match the color of my shirt, one that only came down to mid-thigh, and was very form fitting, from the not-too revealing neck line to the hem that rode just a smidgen when she sat and crossed her legs, like she had in the room earlier to apply her eyeliner. She had the nicest legs I'd ever seen, beautifully sculpted from her years as a dancer, and they ended in tiny, petite feet onto which she had strapped the sexiest pair of red high heels known to mankind. Not stripper sexy, in that trashy, tasteless-but-dirty kind of way, but a sleek, classy pair that made something I didn't know existed in me poke its nose up and sniff. I discovered that night that I loved Alice in heels, especially the ones with heels long enough to push her to eye level with me, such as this pair she was wearing tonight. And when she asked how I thought she looked, and I leant to kiss her neck so as not to have her lip color on mine, I also discovered that I loved the scent of Pure Poison by Dior, and Alice seemed... pleased... that I enjoyed it so much.
It was with even greater reluctance we left the room, and I ended up with her lip color on mine, anyway.
I gave a deep sigh when we pulled up to the restaurant and Alice parked her car, waiting on my father and Sue to park beside her and get out before we unlocked our doors; it was my dad's idea. Alice reached over and slid her fingers through mine. "It's going to be fine, I promise. I really doubt they will give you the third degree... Emmett is usually the one that does that, and he really likes you. You can relax, Bells."
I smiled, loving that she called me by my nick name, same as the people closest to me. "Just don't let me drown in here, please?" I requested, and she gave me a tender look, reaching up and tucking some hair from my face, leaning and pressing her lips to mine softly.
"Never," she promised, and I nodded, jumping when a sharp knock sounded on my window.
We both looked up to see Dad standing there, tapping his wrist to indicate the time, and I rolled my eyes at him as Alice began to gather her things and stuff them into the little red purse she was carrying. "He did that on purpose," I muttered, and Alice giggled.
"With good reason, I'm sure," she replied.
I opened to the door and stood up next to Dad, and he shook his head at me, but didn't say anything.
"What?" I griped to him, but he held up his hands.
"Nothing, nothing," he insisted, but he couldn't hide the grin in his eyes. He was messing with my head, and he was doing it on purpose.
"Whatever, come on, let's do this, old man." I giggled at the look he gave me, as I turned to Alice and offered her my arm, much like Dad did for Sue.
She smiled at me as she did a half-curtsy before taking the proffered arm, squeezing my elbow affectionately, and leaning into my ear. "Your father really did raise a gentleman," she whispered, letting her lips ghost over the cup of my ear teasingly, making me shudder with the sensation.
"I told you so," I whispered back, and as we drew even with the doors, my father broke free of Sue long enough to open the door for the three of us.
We were immediately ushered to a large table set up in a private dining room that was set for ten, and I saw that three people already had beat us to the table, and two of the three rose as we approached, one of which I recognized as Jimmy Neutron- er, I mean, Edward. His hair was still very much defying all gravity, and he was just as safe from the roof falling in as the first time I'd seen him.
Then there was the tall, thin man with the silvery hair slicked back, and I thought maybe it was to cover a bald patch like Aro's, but as we drew closer and he extended a hand to me, I saw that it was just as full as Edward's. I shook his hand as he introduced himself in a soft and polite voice. "Bella Swan, a pleasure to finally place a face to the name I have heard so often in the past month. I am Carlisle Cullen, Alice's father, and this is my wife Esme, her mother."
I turned to the kind-faced woman to his left, and felt the blood rush to my face when I realized I was looking at my Alice in twenty-odd years. Alice favored her mother greatly, but she was right that she had her father's navy blue eyes, as her mother's shone a emerald green that Edward had indeed taken from her. "Hello, dear," she said, rising to her feet to envelope me in a hug, which I awkwardly returned, not used to being hugged by people I have only just been introduced to. "C.J. has told us so much about you. I would say the same for Alice, only I think she was a little shy to admit-"
"Mom!" Alice cut in, her face as red as my shirt, and her little hand clamped down on my elbow, where it was still attached to my arm. I smiled at my beautiful girl to reassure her that I wasn't offended that she hadn't said much to her parents about me.
"It's nice to meet you, both," I said as Alice tried to relax beside me, and then her father pulled out two chairs on Edward's side of the table, and then he and Dad began introductions before Dad pulled out the chair on Esme's other side for Sue.
I somehow ended up between Alice and her younger brother, who was absorbed in his iPhone, which seemed to vibrate in his hand twice every thirty seconds. "Hello, Eddie," his sister said pointedly, leaning across me to slap at his phone, but he tugged it away just in time.
"Stop it, I'm trying to- Oh, God, he is going to be the death of me!" Edward started to get onto his older sibling for her interruption of his text message conversation, but another text came through before he could finish, and it seemed to upset him so much that I swore I saw his hair move in the wind as he shot to his feet. "I'm very sorry, please excuse me for a few minutes," he said distractedly to all of us before he rushed away towards the front doors.
As Edward exited the dinig room, Emmett, Rosalie, and C.J. appeared, Emmett looking over his shoulder with a curious expression. Dad, Dr. Cullen, and I rose as Rosalie came to the table and Emmett seated her between himself and Edward's vacant seat, and C.J. took the last seat next to his mother. Alice leaned down and placed a kiss on top of his head, and I reached over and gave his shoulder a tiny shove before I held my fist out and he bumped it, like I'd shown him in his second lesson. He grinned at both of us, his eyes spotting our interlocked fingers as I sat myself back down.
"How's it going, little man?" I asked him, and he laughed.
"Okay," he answered, eyeing his mother's hand as her thumb started to stroke the back of my hand. "How are you?" he returned politely, though I knew what he was asking.
"Better than I've ever been," I told him honestly, and he grinned before his grandma swooped in to cover him in kisses.
"Chief, Mrs. Swan, I'd like you to meet my son, C.J.," Alice said as her doting mother backed away to resume her position next to her husband. "C.J., this is the Chief and his wife, Bella's parents."
"Hi," C.J. said brightly, not as shy as when he first met me. I was surprised at first, then it hit me that we were in his environment, with his family, and in their establishment. C.J. was completely in his element. "It's nice to meet you."
"Thank you, it's nice to meet you, too," Sue said with a wide smile, and I knew right away that she was smitten with the little guy just as much I was. The kid was cute, and he had a way about him that just drew people to him.
His inner rock star bleeding through, I found myself thinking, and I allowed myself a chuckle at the thought.
"So, where was Eddie's fire? I asked him when he passed us, and he gave me a hand gesture that I'm not sure I appreciated," Emmett said to his father, who shrugged wordlessly before turning to my dad and striking up conversation.
"He flipped Uncle Em off," C.J. elaborated helpfully, and half the table choked on laughter while the other half tried to appear stern.
"Don't say that, it's inapproriate," his mother told him firmly, but when she looked back at me, she had a tiny grin etched in her features.
"I've got a couple guys getting your hotel room cleared out," Emmett told me and his sister, who looked at him with an eyebrow raised.
"Well, where are we supposed to stay? And have you had anyone check out my house since you forced me out of it?" Alice asked him, and he nodded, sipping his water.
"You're both staying with me and Rose until we start moving Bella's stuff in the next couple days. I have a moving team lined up for Wednesday. And yes, we have been watching your house. Nothing seems amiss, but Freeman found a few cigarette butts outside the dining room window, and as none of us smoke, I had her send them to the lab for DNA testing. If it comes back as a match to Chatham's DNA profile, then we have solid proof he was at least trespassing on private property with criminal intent, if not canvassing for a crime."
"The case is air tight as it is," Dad said, breaking into the conversation. Dr. Cullen also turned his full attention to it, though I saw his eyes flicker to his grandson, who was listening raptly, his navy eyes darting between the adults speaking. "We have visual evidence of him drugging Bella, and we have his handwriting, and if we can get that Volturi girl to talk, we'll have him, case closed. That girl knows more than what she's saying about where he is."
"What's going on?" C.J. finally had had enough of the talk, and wanted to know the story.
"Don't worry about it, honey," Alice said, reaching over to play with his hair. "We've got it under control."
C.J.'s face fell into a scowl and he sat back hard in his seat, his arms locking stubbornly across his chest. "Whatever," he mumbled with an attitude that made Alice's mouth fall open.
"Christopher!" she whisper-yelled at him. "You better lose that tone before you find that you've lost your guitar when we get back to your aunt and uncle's house."
Even I had to wince at that. It was one of Dad's favorite restrictions for me when I got to be too much growing up. But I had to give it to her, it was a threat that was effective, because his eyes teared up and he deflated, but he did not speak to her for another twenty minutes, and even then it was only to ask her to pass the salt once his food had arrived.
Dinner conversation did not last long about James, and when the food was on the table, no one said much of anything because everything was too amazing to pause long enough to chit-chat. Edward showed back up at some point between ordering and waiting for its arrival, with murmured apologies for his absence. Sue looked at Esme at one point and asked if she had written the recipe for the seasoning in which her filet mignon was doused.
"Everything on this menu has my handiwork, I promise. It's not called Esme's just because I own it," Alice's mother joked, and Alice rolled her eyes at how lame the line came across.
After dinner, however, is when it took a turn for the worst, and I blame it all on Emmett.
"Mom," he said suddenly, "tell Bella about Alice's first dance recital."
Alice stiffened in the seat next to me, and her face went deathly pale, and I gave her a questioning look before I looked at her mother, who was chuckling to herself. "So, we really are going to tell embarrassing childhood stories?" she teased Alice, who shook her head, giving her mother a pleading look, which was completely ignored. "It was a ballet demonstration, Alice was... four? Five? Well, anyway, she was a beginner level student, and she was sooo excited to have her own little slippers and her little tutu-"
"Mother!" Alice hissed, her face going red, and I chuckled, placing a hand on her thigh, squeezing a bit to give her support through this memory.
"Well, she wanted to wear her favorite pair of panties for good luck, and they happened to be a really frilly pair of Hello Kitty underwear, and she wore her tights over them, but they were strained against so much... frill."
Oh, this was going to be good.
"Half way through the first song, Alice was supposed to jump and throw her legs out in different directions, but the tights ripped with the jump, and Alice fell on her face, with little rear up in the air, and Hello Kitty's face was looking at everyone in the crowd."
Alice looked like she wanted to melt into the floor, and I couldn't help but laugh, and she shot me a dirty look. "I'll have you know I cried for a week, and refused to go to rehearsals for almost a month," she told me, and I felt kind of bad for laughing.
"Aw, poor baby," I said, and she elbowed me in the ribs.
"I've got one on Bella," Sue piped up, and my eyes shot to the other side of the table to give her a death glare that went just as ignored as Alice's had to her mother. "Bella and my daughter Leah are the same age, and went to school together all through the years, and when they were in second grade, the class took a field trip out to farm to show the kids how things were done. Bella and Leah were always getting into something, so I volunteered to chaperone the trip just to keeps the girls in line, and thank God I was there that day, because Bella caused an uproar all across the farm."
Alice was looking at me curiously, and I shook my head. "Wait for it," I told her quietly as Sue went on.
"She got away from the group, and it was Leah that called my attention to it, asking me where Bella went. I started to tell the teacher in charge that we'd lost a kid, and then all you hear is the emu fifty yards back go nuts. We all ran back to the holding pen, and there's Bella, standing in the paddock with a stick, trying to run the birds out of the fence, covered in black and white feathers, tears running down her face." Everyone burst into laughter at the image I am sure it invoked in their minds.
"I didn't like seeing them in captivity. I thought I was doing a good deed, setting them free," I explained, my face red and hidden behind the curtain of my long dark hair.
"I had a heart attack, thinking about what your father would do if you were killed in a stampede of panicking overgrown chickens," Sue laughed, and I looked up at her to shake my head.
"It took them hours to round up all those birds," my father added for my benefit, and I sighed heavily.
"Well, I still say free the animals, and what not, you know me... PETA all the way," I said sarcastically, and Alice gave a sardonic chuckle from beside me.
"Wow, look at the time," Edward said suddenly, flashing his cell phone face around. "It's nearly ten-thirty, I should be going. It was a pleasure to meet you all, and Bella, glad to see you are doing well, even though it's clear I didn't have a shot at all that night."
I laughed and shook the hand he extended to me. "Nope, not one bit," I answered cheerfully. "But thank you again for saving me from an ugly fate, all the same."
He grinned, and I could see how someone could find him... okay looking. His hair was ridiculous, but when his smile was genuine, it was a nice smile. "You guys stay safe, and have a good night," he said to us all, and took his leave through the door.
C.J. gave a big yawn after his uncle had disappeared, and Alice didn't miss it. "Sleepy, sweetheart?" she asked him, and he was so groggy that he forgot to be mad at her, laying his head on her upper arm and nodding his little head. Alice looked over at me, asking silently if I were ready to go, and I nodded, looking back at the parents.
"I guess we're gonna follow Edward's lead and go on ahead," I told Dad and Sue, who both nodded, smiling at C.J.
"I'll come with you," Rosalie said, among the only things she had said at all that night. "Emmett is stopping by the precinct before he heads to the house, and I don't want to wait in his office for an hour while he does whatever it is he does."
"I'll have Carter and Freeman sit outside until I get home, babe," he said with an agreeing tone, leaning to kiss his wife before she stood with Alice, C.J., and me.
The Cullens rose to their feet to bid us good bye. "Bella, I am very glad we have now properly met," Dr. Cullen said to me, shaking my hand once more.
"Me, too, Dr. Cullen," I replied, and he waved a hand.
"Call me Carlisle, I will become your landlord in two days, after all," he laughed, and I chuckled.
"And your father-in-law in a year, the rate that you two are going," Emmett cracked, and Alice, Rosalie, and I all gave him the same glare at once, making him wince and be quiet.
"Call us if you need anything," Alice's mother told her, and Alice nodded, reciprocating the kiss that Mrs. Cullen laid lightly on my girlfriend's cheek. "Bella, sweetheart, I'll see you on Wednesday. It was lovely spending time with you tonight."
"Thank you," I said graciously, and I felt Alice's fingers thread through mine as C.J. kissed his grandparents good night and waved to my parents.
The only thought in my head as we four rode to Rosalie and Emmett's was where I was going to sleep, because I was exhausted.
A/N: I am so sorry it took over a month to update, but to be honest, things are so nuts in RL that I didn't even notice it had been that long until the other day.
11,654 words... kinda like giving you guys two chapters in one. I hope a chapter this long doesn't bother anyone.
Well, what did you think? It's not my favorite, but the story is moving along...
We'll have a time jump soon, because all this detail is giving me a headache lol
OH and for those few of you that read my Alice/OC fic, I am working on chapter 2 of the sequel... just thought I would throw that out there so you can keep your eyes open. I have decided that Hide and Seek will cease to be merely a one shot and will carry on into the sequel... read When You Think You Know Her first to be able to follow...
Have I run my mouth enough, yet?
Thank you guys, and I love you all.