Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer and Paramount Pictures subdivision Summit Entertainment. The posting of this work is not intended for profit.

~*~ Chapter Three ~*~

There was something different about Isabella Swan.

Alice leaned back onto the heels of her hands, alone in one of her preferred spots. The night wind breezed around her, and she enjoyed the tingling scent of it. The air was cool enough that a less discerning person might not be able to sense that it was spring. Alice liked the spring: the gentling of the climate, dormant life rejuvenating itself. It was like possibilities sprang anew.

Isabella Swan was just such a possibility.

A large part of Alice wanted to get to know her better. Alice intuitively felt that the chief's daughter was someone who could belong with her family. Therein lied the uniqueness about the girl. Not since joining the Cullens had Alice come across the path of someone with whom she felt a kinship. Yet, somehow, there was a draw to the girl who preferred to be called Bella.

Alice could envision herself, her white arm around the girl's shoulders and Bella's own arm around Alice's waist as they smiled and laughed together. She could see Esme consoling Bella while she wiped tears from her eyes. These images were faint, but there, like mere wisps of potential on the air. It made Alice want to approach the girl, initiate that friendship. However, doing such a thing would be very dangerous, in more ways than one.

There was also a strong sense of Edward whenever Alice thought about Bella Swan. The day that the van had skidded on ice, Alice felt mostly Bella and Edward's presences wrapped around that van. Yet the image was smoke, though the fact that Bella had almost died was very real. Even if Alice hadn't had her extra senses, she'd noticed the old Chevy hesitate before moving forward into another open spot.

The very real possibility that Bella could have almost been snuffed out of the world gave Alice a cold sense of loss. There would be no friendship, no sisterly bonding, no love. Alice closed her eyes against the idea, though it was not completely dissipated.

Leaning forward, Carlisle kissed the tip of her nose. "It's Christmas, Bella. Indulge me."

Alice opened her eyes again. The image had been quick: Carlisle in his work clothes waking a sleepy Bella who was buried in blankets, the casual familiarity between them. Alice looked up at the moon shining gently above her, a mere crescent sliver.

No, she thought to herself with a sense of resolve. I shouldn't speak to her yet. I have to wait.

The decision made, Alice continued to hold still. When a new sweet scent swirled in with the night wind, she was up and running.

(~*~)

Tyler had required stitches in his forehead from where it had impacted against his window. The hospital kept him overnight for observation. His family kept him home an extra day to feed him his favorite foods, blast music and let him win a few video games. When Tyler returned to school on Thursday it was almost a hero's welcome. Everyone crowded in the lot that morning, smiling, asking him how he was doing and telling him how glad they were that he was okay. Lauren clung to his side between classes, which was just as well as the hackey sack was temporarily retired.

Bella was very relieved to see Tyler back in school again, as she told Charlie that evening when he asked.

"Do you remember him from elementary?"

Bella shook her head. "No, not really. There are a lot of faces that seem familiar, and names I should remember, but only a couple people really stand out. I've been hanging out with Tyler, though. He's fun and a nice guy."

"How nice?" Charlie was pretending not to watch her and Bella laughed.

"Great interrogation technique, Dad. Really, you must get the criminals shivering in their boots."

"It works better than you think," Charlie retorted, a smile just barely making itself visible. Bella rolled her eyes at him and continued folding her laundry as she took it out of the dryer. It had been left from the night before, so Bella had figured she'd get it done after homework and before dinner. Charlie was home earlier than usual today.

Living with Charlie was a lot easier than Bella had expected. Once he'd ceased playing watchdog, Charlie had gone back to working long hours and doing his own thing. Both days over the weekend he had been gone fishing before she'd woken up. It was almost like living on her own. Bella could deal with that.

"Bella?" Charlie's tone was expectant, as if he'd been waiting for her to speak.

"Huh?" Bella looked up at him.

Her father winced. "Don't make me ask again."

It took Bella a second to remember what he asked the first time. "Oh, no. Tyler's just a friend, Dad. No boys on my radar at all right now, promise."

"What about this Mike Newton?"

"Mike? No, him neither, Dad." Bella dropped the jeans onto the pile in the basket and straightened up so that she could look her father right in the eye. "Seriously, I'm just trying to fit in for now. Jessica and I have taken back up together, and I've just been hanging with her and her friends. You remember Jessica, right?"

Charlie nodded and his stance against the doorframe eased up. "Billy is coming by later to watch the game. He'll be bringing some of Harry Clearwater's fish fry for dinner."

"Alright," Bella called after her father as he moved out of the laundry room.

Bella already had the fish thawed when Billy arrived a couple hours later, Jacob in tow. She took the fish fry off his hands and brought it into the kitchen and began slicing up vegetables for a side dish: summer squash, zucchini, and tomatoes.

"How are Rebecca and Rachel?" she asked Jacob, who had followed her into the kitchen while Billy and Charlie positioned themselves in front of the television. The twins were his older sisters, a year older than Bella, and they had all played together on the beaches of La Push reservation.

"Rachel's going to Washington State. She got a scholarship."

"Really? That's great. What's she studying?"

"Marine biology."

"Nice," Bella nodded appreciatively as she moved the squash into the frying pan and set up the tomato on the cutting board. "What about Rebecca?"

"She's in Hawaii with her husband. She met some Samoan surfer and that was it."

Bella stopped slicing the tomato and looked up at Jacob. "Married. Wow."

Jacob smiled at her with one side of his mouth, causing a dimple to feature prominently. "Yeah, I know." He took a step forward, closer to Bella. "Listen, can I help with any of this?" His hands gestured to the counter full of food.

"Sure," Bella nodded. Jacob really was sweet. She pointed out the cupboard at the right of her feet. "Could you get out a small pot and melt some butter in it?"

Jacob was quick to obey, rummaging first in the cabinet and then the refrigerator for the butter. He also withdrew a container of minced garlic. He grinned, wiggling it at her. "I imagine this will be going in, too?"

Bella nodded and grinned. "You must cook, too."

Jacob shrugged, and started prepping at the stove, standing just to her right. "It helps to know my way around the kitchen, what with both the girls gone."

"Has it been hard to deal with, since your Dad got sick?" Bella asked gently, moving the sliced tomato into the frying pan and starting on the zucchini.

"Nah," Jacob grinned at her, showing off his white teeth. "The Blacks know how to bounce."

Bella smiled back. It was really nice chatting with him. Bella had such a strong sense of familiarity with the Black family that she could sense a real kinship there. It made her feel proud and even a little strong herself that they could, as Jacob put it, bounce. If Jacob could deal with his Dad suddenly becoming a cripple, she could deal with a little change in her scenery.

"So how's it coming with your Volkswagen?" she asked.

"The Rabbit?" Jacob swung the handle of the pot inward toward the center of the stove to get it out of his way. "I need to find-" but he cut off when his elbow hit Bella's right hand, sending the butcher knife clattering to the floor.

"Sorry!" he said reaching down, even as Bella called "I got it."

It took less than a second. Jacob was faster and lifting the knife up by the handle, sent it straight into Bella's grasping fingers.

(~*~)

When Carlisle walked through the emergency room's swinging doors, Bella was waiting for him on the closest bed. As Charlie was still going through registration for her, she was alone, still pressing the kitchen towel to the fingers of her right hand. It had hurt when Charlie took it off to show the nurse, for the blood had caked the fabric to her cuts. The pain was what had jolted Bella back to serious consciousness, for the moment she had seen the blood dripping onto Jacob's sneakered toe, she had fainted. Bella never really did too well around blood.

Jacob had caught her and called out to their fathers for help. Charlie had grabbed the towel that hung on the oven door handle and used it to staunch the flow of blood. Then it was back into the cruiser, and on the way to the hospital. Bella had been semi-conscious of once again being slumped against the passenger-side window. She knew her hand held the towel in place, but she couldn't recall if she'd done that herself, or if Charlie had placed it there.

Seeing Dr. Cullen arrive, Bella couldn't help thinking that she was starting a tradition. Step one: have Jacob and Billy over for a visit. Step two: get hurt. Step three: take a ride in the cruiser to the hospital. Step four: get treatment from Dr. Cullen.

"Miss Swan, visiting again so soon?" Carlisle smiled at her.

Bella smiled at him. She was finding it easy to like this man. "Oh, you know, bringing tradition into Forks."

"Yes, I remember seeing in your records that you seemed to visit the hospital in Phoenix fairly regularly." Carlisle answered her, and as he did last visit, rolled a stool over to her side to sit by her. "You've cut yourself today?" Carlisle gently drew her arm towards him, ignoring the scent of blood under the towel. Carefully, he pulled it up. Bella let out a slight hiss, but that was it. Carlisle noted that she kept her head averted, and wasn't looking at him or what he was doing.

"Are you doing alright there, Miss Swan?"

Bella nodded, eyes closed tightly while she faced away from the doctor and her hand. "I get squeamish around blood."

Carlisle couldn't help but smile. "It's a good thing I don't."

Bella simply nodded again, and didn't respond. She could feel the doctor examining the fingers of her right hand with his own. He moved her fingers sideways, obviously looking at the cuts. When he finished, Carlisle laid her hand back in her lap, palm up.

"I'm going to need to stitch these, but there won't be many, and they'll be small."

"Okay," Bella looked back at the doctor, but he had already moved away to get some supplies from the cupboard on the wall. He placed them on a rolling tray and sat by her again. Taking her hand back in his, Carlisle looked her in the eyes and smiled. Bella felt herself calm and looked down at her fingers as the doctor wiped the blood away with sterile water.

Oh no. Red. Bella shut her eyes and tried to steady herself.

"Tell me how this happened, Bella."

Bella almost started to shrug, but the resistance of her hand being held by Dr. Cullen made her stop the motion. Man, his hands were cold.

"I dropped a knife chopping vegetables. Jacob was in the kitchen with me and we both reached for the knife at the same time. I lost."

"Wasn't Jacob the name of the boy who hit you with the door of your truck?"

"Yeah."

"It sounds to me like maybe this Jacob isn't good for you."

At first Bella thought that it was the doctor's cold fingers rubbing into her skin that caused the chill, but when she looked down she realized that it was the numbing cream he was putting on her. With the blood cleaned away, she could see the cuts more clearly. The pads of three of her fingers were sliced open. The damage was worse on her pinkie, where the knife's edge had caught it around the finger, from the pad to just under her nail. Ouch. Bella looked away.

"No, Jacob's a nice kid. I used to know him and his sisters before."

"Old friend, then." Carlisle was trying to keep her distracted. Her averted face, darting eyes and accelerated heart rate were obvious signs that she was still experiencing discomfort. "Have you reunited with his sisters, too?"

"No." Bella wasn't oblivious to the tugging sensation as the doctor began to suture. The white wall and tan color of the cupboards were too bland to study for too long. Changing tactics, she faced the doctor and watched his face instead. Less than two weeks hadn't made him any less pale, but then she hadn't really seen the sun once since she'd been back in Forks. "They're not here. One moved on to college, the other married." Bella didn't know why she kept speaking, sharing the thought, but she found the words just flowing out of her mouth. "They're twins, just a little over a year older than me. I can't believe that she's married."

"Why's that?" The fluorescent lights of the bright ER should have washed out the doctor's blond hair, but Bella noticed the yellow-gold gleam to it as he bent over her hand. Good, she thought to herself. Focus on him, not what he's doing.

When he looked up at her expectantly, she was startled all over again by the uniqueness of his eyes. They were so… ochre. "What?"

"Why does it bother you that she is married?"

"Oh. Well, it's just that she's so young. I couldn't even begin to think about being married."

"Eighteen isn't all that young. Not too long ago a young woman might have been considered a spinster if she was still unmarried at nineteen."

"Well, thank God for modern times. Women can vote and hold jobs nowadays, too, y'know."

"Hey," Carlisle was very amused. The girl was insinuating that he was old-fashioned. She had no idea. Yet he could play with a little modern colloquialism. "Ease up, Miss Swan. I'm a firm believer that women can do just about anything they put their minds to."

Bella was immediately remiss. The man was kind and charming; he hadn't deserved her sarcasm. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright." He smiled at her again before bending his head down back to his task.

There was silence for a moment, and then Bella once again found words making their own way out of her mouth. "My mother married right out of high school. She doesn't hide the fact that she thought it was a mistake. I guess I'm just… used to her mindset."

Carlisle understood, more than she was saying. After all, the girl had come from a broken home, and he knew from town rumor that the Chief had been very much in love with his wife. It was Bella's mother who hadn't been able to stay in the marriage. To learn that she had been openly negative in front of Bella pained him a little. Children shouldn't have to grow up believing that love and commitment were mutually exclusive.

Carlisle was surprised that the girl had opened up to him. It wasn't unusual for doctors to inspire confidences out of patients. It some cases it was very useful. Yet Carlisle tried to avoid becoming too intimate with the personalities of those he worked with and on. It was a danger he couldn't afford. The chief's daughter hadn't really struck him as someone who easily confided either. He'd have to be more careful.

"That's understandable," he said.

Bella was silent again, and Carlisle did nothing more to prod her into talking.

Author's Note: At first I was determined to completely make this a long chapter, from the afterwards of Tyler's accident all the way to Port Angeles. I realized tonight that what happens in Port Angeles is such a different dynamic that it had to be a separate chapter. Which, of course, enabled me to post. :)

For those of you who did not read my one-shot "Moonlit December," be aware that this is the full story behind it. Starting with the moment Bella first arrives back in Forks and meets Carlisle, I begin three years previous to that one-shot. This story will encompass that one, and move beyond. In this chapter, hopefully, you see the beginnings of the natural comfort Bella and Carlisle have with each other. I'll be interweaving several different themes as the story progresses.

Please feel free to leave a review if you have a moment to spare. :) Reading your reviews and responding to them help keep me in the mindset of the story. It's always wonderful to hear what you thought - and don't be afraid to be honest!