Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

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Chapter 9: Laurent- Friends and Family

Alice was in the hotel room saying her goodbyes to Bella. I stood outside to give them the illusion of privacy as I eavesdrop without shame. And I needed to come down a little from my anger. There was so much more that I wanted to say to both Alice and Jasper, but in the heat of my anger, I couldn't make the words leave my brain. Jasper's word rang in my head, "you need to calm down before you slip and kill someone." I would rather rip my left arm off than bite Bella on accident. I took a deep breath to calm myself and walked through the door as Alice was leaving.

I stood against the door jamb and watched Bella. She looked relieved and... determined?

I shrugged my shoulders and said, "I'm back."

"I'm sorry," she said with shame.

"What on Earth are you sorry for?" I asked.

"I'm sorry that I thought you weren't coming back, I'm sorry that I was such a brat about you leaving, I'm sorry that you thought I was going to go back with Alice; I told you I didn't want to go back to Forks. I'm sorry that Alice and Jasper upset you."

I was fighting my rising fury at the mention of Alice and Jasper.

"See, look at yourself, look at your eyes," she said as she waved her hand at me. My stance had become hard and cold, "You look so mad and kind of scary looking," she offered a shy smile and then continued, "But you can't be mad at them. I don't blame Jasper for attacking me. He's the newest to the vegetarian lifestyle and he always struggled with being around me. I never blamed him. I understand now why Alice stayed away, Edward told her to. I know that you're mad at them in my honor, and that's sweet, but I've forgiven and I want you to forgive them, too."

I thought about Bella's capacity for forgiveness. The first thing that came to mind was how she had forgiven me when I hunted that human in Indiana. Either she was a doormat or she was the most compassionate person I had ever met. I though of how glorious it was to be on the receiving end of her forgiveness.

"If you insist, then I forgive them."

"All of the Cullens?" She added.

I huffed, I didn't feel ready to let my anger go just yet, but I knew that I would have to if she wanted me to.

"As I said, if you insist."

She raised one eyebrow up at me, "Really," I insisted, "the Cullens are forgiven, but Edward still has some answering to do."

"Fair enough."

She turned around and curled up on the couch. She tucked one leg under her and the other under her chin.

"There's something that I wanted to say," she started, "Thanks for taking me with you on all of this, and thanks for coming back for me every time. I know I'm not the most cheerful person right now."

"That's not completely true, you laugh sometimes."

"Yeah, I laugh because you make me laugh. You're like a ray of hope to me," she blushed, "You're my best friend. I realize now that you'll never leave me and that's what I really wanted to talk to you about. I want you to turn me."

"Seriously?" I didn't see that coming! "When?"

"Whenever you think you're ready." Her heart rate was increasing.

I was flabbergasted and excited. I wanted to do it right then.

"I think we should check out, then!"

~o~x~o~x~o~

I don't remember the exact circumstances of my change, I don't even remember the vampire that bit me. Whoever it was, was long gone by the time I regained consciousness. I didn't know what to do in this situation as I had never attempted to turn someone before. I hoped she wasn't expecting any fanfare.

I carried her out of Houston into the nearest surrounding forest. This would be among the last of the times that I would ever need to carry her.

"So, how are we going to do this?" She asked shyly.

"Maybe you should stay standing so that you can kick me in the shin when I don't stop eating you right away," I joked.

"Ha ha, very funny," she said dryly.

"I just thought that I would let you know that I would have bitten you without the pretty speech earlier," I told her.

"And I just wanted you to know those things before I forgot," she countered. "Both you and Alice said I might forget things."

I nodded, memory loss was by far my least favorite thing about becoming a vampire.

"Maybe you should tell me stories that you don't want to forget."

We sat on the forest floor for hours while Bella told me everything about her life; her mother, her father, childhood memories, the story of how she met Edward...

~o~x~o~x~o~

"I think I'm ready now," she said timidly.

I nodded, and she nodded with me. We sat there Indian style, facing towards on another and just stared.

"I'm nervous," she confided.

I took a deep breath and said, "Me, too."

Her heartbeat was racing and I was trying my not to think about the blood, but to concentrate on only biting. Awkwardly, I reached forward and cupped the back of her neck and pulled her closer to me.

"Are you sure," I asked.

"Yes," she said breathily. I could hear the nerves in her voice.

I used my thumb to tip her neck back a little and put my other hand on her shoulder so that I could push her away when it got to be too much. I held my breath so that it would be easier. Slowly, I closed the distance between us while venom pooled on my mouth. I bit into the soft flesh of her neck, I tried so hard not to enjoy it, I really did try. I let the venom that had pooled in my mouth seep into the wound while trying not too much blood flow into my mouth. I was trembling, I almost lost it until I heard a snap and her cry out.

I pushed her away and noticed that I must have been gripped her shoulder too tightly. It was broken, I had broken it. Her breathing became shallow as the pain of the fire spread, made worse by her broken right shoulder.

She collapsed to the ground screaming and I panicked.

"Bella, oh my god, Bella!" I knelt over her and cradled her face in my face, "The pain will stop, I promise."

In all my time alive, I never really encountered vampires in the transformation process and I didn't know how the human body healed. I worried about her shoulder healing and I just didn't know the mechanics of it. The only thing I could think to do was to find Carlisle. He had changed many vampires, and not only that, he was a human doctor. As much as I knew that Bella didn't want to go back to Forks, I knew she needed Carlisle.

Gingerly, I picked her up, trying to be careful with her shoulder but knowing that the venom hurt the worst.

"It hurts!" she screamed, "So bad!"

"Shh, I'm going to take care of you. Remember, I told you I'd never leave."

That whole first day, she screamed. Her skin started to lose its heat and what little color she had began to drain from her. I was so afraid that the transformation would finish and her shoulder wouldn't heal or that it wouldn't set right. I ran as fast as I could trying to get to Carlisle.

In the early hours of the second day, we arrived in Forks. I, once again, skirted around the town and raced to the Cullen Mansion on the outskirts of town.

Bella's screams had turned into whimpers, but they would still hear me coming once I got close enough. There were sounds of life as I approached the house. When I was about a hundred yards away from the house, Carlisle emerged from the front door and waited for. He looked calm.

"Welcome," he said, "We've been expecting you."

I walked up the front steps and followed Carlisle into the house where there were three other vampires inside, his mate, the blonde and the beefy one.

"Alice called yesterday and told us that you'd be looking me, she said you would be requiring medical assistance?" He looked over Bella while I still held her.

"I broke her shoulder on accident."

"And you bit her," he pointed out.

"Yeah, that too," I said and he motioned me to lay her on the white couch. I tried to lay her down put she clutched to my shirt, ripping it as her strength was increasing. I told her that I was here and that I wasn't leaving and she seemed to relax a bit.

"I've never done this before, I didn't know if it would heal or what? I'm so worried."

"Well, the good news is the bone would have healed with or without my help. But I'm glad you brought her to us, we missed her so much," he put the back of his hand on her forehead and then opened up her eyes. The color was changing red, but the brown was still visible. "She looks to be right on course, everything will be fine."

Esme came over and sat with her, she was so motherly.

"It's okay, dear, the pain will stop and everything's going to be fine. We're so glad that you're home," Esme said as she doted on Bella.

Then Esme turned motherly attention to me, "Laurent, there are some clothes upstairs that we were going to donate; why don't you go and get changed out of those clothes."

I made my way upstairs and found the basket of clothes that Esme was talking about. I picked out a pair of blue jeans, an undershirt, and a black button down shirt.

I decided to get in the shower while I was up there. It was, by far, the nicest bathroom I'd ever been in. I felt guilty about having any kind of pleasure at all from the warm water so I showered quickly and rushed back to Bella's side.

I stayed by her side and she didn't seem to cry out as much when I was around. Emmett and Rosalie returned from their hunt. I suspect they just needed to talk about everything that had happened. We stood vigil over Bella, talking only occasionally. Rosalie glared at me every now and then and Emmett told bad vampire jokes. He was glad to have a new audience for once.

"What does Mrs. Dracula say to Mr. Dracula when he leaves for work in the evening?"

Emmett asked. I had to restrain my eye roll.

I glared at him and huffed, "What?"

"Chill out, dude, she says 'Have a nice bite!'"

The phone began to ring and I couldn't contain my relief, anything to stop the jokes! Carlisle got up to answer it. It was Alice.

"I could have called about five minutes ago but I was waiting for Emmett to quit with the jokes."

"Was there something important you needed to tell me, Alice?" Carlisle said.

"What? Laurent's reactions were funny," she said in defense, "Actually I called to tell you that we found Edward. We found him in an old condemned building in the attic, just like my visions. Anyways, we explained to how he was mistaken about Laurent and Bella and that she's in the middle of her transformation right now. So, Edward and Jasper are off hunting before the plane takes off, but we all should be home soon."

"That's wonderful news, I can't wait to see my family all together again. See you soon, bye." He hung up the phone and came to over and asked to speak with me.

We walked out to the front porch where he proceeded to ask me if I would be interested in joining his family. I told him I would take my cue from Bella when she woke up, after all, this was Edward's family and she still wasn't convinced that he wanted her.

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