Hey there!
I hope ou have all had great weeks and I'm sorry for not updating sooner. I hope you like the chapter and I'll look forward to your reviews! The chapter had been almost ready for days but I had math test on Monday (and as some of you must know, math and I haven't been exactly best friends this year. My marks are getting better though) so I spent the weekend studying and I swear that on Sunday I studied since I got up (around midday, yeah I know it's late but I like to sleep in, sue me!) until I went to bed (around midnight), so I didn't have time to finish it. The test went well though, I think I'm going to have a good mark. I could have done better if I had more time, the test was too big and I didn't finished some exercises.
Anyway, sorry for the rambling and I promise that I'll do my best to get the next chapter up in the beginning of next week. My last test (Portuguese) is on Friday so I'll have the whole weekend to write (I hope).
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Disclaimer: SM owns The Twilight Saga and all it's characters.
Chapter 16
Kurt's POV
I watched as Bella left David's office, hurt clear as water in her eyes. She wasn't hiding her feelings like she usually did, she wasn't trying to hide that she was hurt and that she really didn't want this situation to tear our family apart.
"You are such hypocrites!" Luke spoke. "You say he's going to hurt her again, you don't want to let her go back because you think he's going to break her heart but you are the ones who are hurting her! The Bella that just left this office is not the same that entered our house in Forks yesterday; she's not even the Bella that walked into this office! For the last seventy years we did everything we could to convince her to go to him, to be happy! And now, now that she was so happy you are shaking her ground again! You're making her feel like she has to choose! You are causing her pain because of your over protectiveness."
"She won't be happy with him!" David growled.
"How do you know?" Luke asked.
"How do I know? How do I know? Weren't you there? Didn't you saw what he did? What he said to her?"
"He made a mistake but, unlike you, I'm willing to give him another chance to make her happy! I refuse to believe that everything Bella told us about him was a lie! I refuse to think that she was so blinded by love that she didn't saw the real him! That's not something that Bella would do. And most of all, I recognized the pain in his eyes when he was speaking with her that night. I saw it when she went to save him and the rest of the Cullens from Stefan and Cooper; I saw the longing and the regret and I do believe it was real." Luke argued.
"But how can we be sure that he won't break her heart again? How can we know that this happiness she's feeling right now will last? How can we be certain that he's right for her?" I questioned.
"We can't. Just like Bells can't. Just like he can't. No one can assure that he won't break her heart again. They will surely fight with each other; they will say hurtful things to each other but honestly I would be more worried if they wouldn't. We just have to trust her judgment and believe that they really love each other. If their love is real nothing will break them apart definitely, they will fight for each other, and they will overcome the obstacles. What we can't do is forbid her to live her life, stop her from trying to be happy because it's not our job! We have to support her, not fill her head with fears that may never come to life. We can't protect her from everything, as much as we want to, we can't. And we can't surely protect her from love. Bella has been locked inside her little bubble for too long, she has been suffering for too long. If after eighty years of pain they were able to find each other, forgive each other and try to be happy together, who are we to put an end to this?" Luke was really set on giving a new chance to that bastard.
If only I could know that he wouldn't break her heart, that he wouldn't make her suffer... But I just couldn't bring myself to trust him. Not after what I had seen and certainly not after knowing how much he could affect her, how much he could hurt my little sister.
I had seen how happy Bella was when she came home, the day before, after spending time with him. I had never seen her like that and that was how I wanted her to be all the time but putting her happiness in his hands... I was so afraid of losing Bella.
"I'm going to find her." I decided, leaving the office. I didn't want to be upset with her. We had never been mad at each other; it was so hard to ignore her, to look away when she looked at me. I wanted to make clear my position but being mad at Bella was something that I just couldn't accomplish. Not after all she had done for me. She was the best sister I could have ever asked for and I tried so hard to make it up to her. Deep down, though, I knew that no matter how hard I tried I would never be able to repay her all that she has done for me, everything that she has given me because the love of a family is priceless.
Bella gave me something I had never had, a loving, caring family to watch over me and help me when I needed, she made me feel like I belonged and I didn't want to lose that. I didn't want my family to fall apart, especially not because of that Cullen idiot.
I got out of the house and started walking through the gardens, looking for Bella. After a few minutes, I found her sitting on our dark brown wooden swing. Bella and I had bought it and hung it in a huge tree in the garden. It was one of those that people usually had on the porch of their houses and we used to sit there and just stare at the garden or talk until we had nothing else to say. We were practically the only ones that used it. It was our place.
She was sitting with her legs pushed up against her chest and her cell phone on high speaker in front of her.
"What if they make me chose? I can't choose between you and them! I can't!" She sobbed.
"Love... please don't cry! Do you know how much it hurts me not be able to be there with you? Not being able to take you into my arms to comfort you? You should have let me go! It's so hard to know that you're suffering so much and I can't even console you properly!"
"I've already told you why you couldn't come. It would be suicidal Edward!"
"I don't care! You need me and I'm not there!"
"You're already helping me!"
"I can't wait for you to come back! I miss you so much!" He sighed.
"I miss you too but I have to make everything I can not to let my brothers pull away from me. I need them too. I'll never be completely happy if I don't have them!"
"I know love and I wish I would have controlled myself better. You wouldn't be in this position if I was such a jackass. This is my fault and I would do anything to prove to your brothers that I want to make you happy. I need to make you happy, because that's the only way I'll be happy too. I would give you the world if I could Bella. I'd do anything and everything for you, if only I could fix this..." he sounded sincere and I was more than happy to agree that he was a jackass. Probably the only thing we'll agree on.
"This is not your fault, Edward! If they weren't so damn stubborn, if they trusted a little more in me... I love them so much, Edward! Kurt and I were so close and now he can barely look at my face. He's avoiding me like the plague and every time I look at his eyes, I only see disappointment and anger. He's never been so mad at me, before. I don't know what else to do to make them understand that I'm happy with you."
"I'm so, so sorry, love!" He said softly. "You'll see that everything will be okay. They are just worried about you. I promise that everything will be okay. I'll do everything I can to prove them that truly love you."
"I love... you too... Edward. I miss... you!" She sobbed.
"I miss you too my Bella. Please don't 'cry' anymore. I need to go. Esme and Alice need my help. They're preparing a little surprise for you."
"Edward! I don't want anything!" Bella said, firmly.
"Please love. They're so happy that you've come back to us... let them have their fun. I promise it's nothing too extravagant."
"Fine." Bella gave in.
"Love you!"
"Love you too!" Bella ended the call and remained with her knees pushed up against her chest, sobbing from time to time. I stayed put for a while, considering what I had just heard.
He sounded sincere, he seemed to care about her and willing to do anything for her, but I still couldn't trust him. I wasn't going to deal with the idiot anyway; my concern for now was Bella.
I walked to the swing and sat next to her feet. She looked up and I turned my head to look at her face. She was so sad!
"I'm sorry Bella. I should have controlled myself better. I'm not really mad at you; I want you to be happy, I just wish you'd choose someone else. I don't think Edward Cullen is good for you. I'm so afraid he'll hurt you again Bella. I don't trust him."
"Edward loves me, Kurt, he'd never do anything to hurt me intentionally."
"I don't want to let you go back to him just to have you come back heartbroken! Or worse, not to have you back at all."
"You're afraid that I'll never come to see you again? That I just ignore that you exist? Are you afraid that I'll leave this family behind because now I have the one I always wished to belong to? Is that what you're afraid of? Because that's never going to happen! You are my family too! I would never leave you behind!"
"What if you fight and you return to the comatose state? What if you stay like that forever? He can take you away from me in so many different ways. I don't want you to get hurt and I don't want to lose you! I don't trust him with you." We stayed quiet for a bit and then I started again. "I don't want to be mad at you! I hate it! Everybody knows that I'm closer to you than anybody else. You saved me! I'm so afraid of losing you Bells!" She tried to put her small, thin arm around my shoulder but she couldn't so I pulled her to my lap and let her lean against my chest as pushed the ground with my foot, making the swing balance.
"You'll never lose me Kurt! I'll always be here for you whenever you need and Forks isn't even that far! You can visit whenever you want, as long as you don't try to kill anyone. And I'll come up here too to visit you and the Jones. Just because I'll be living with Edward and the Cullens it doesn't mean we'll fall apart, I could never leave you behind. You are so important to me but none of you can see, none of you can understand why I'm being like this, and I don't blame you because you can't. No one can." She sighed and relaxed a little more against my chest.
Bella's POV
"But none of you knows what it is like to have your dreams ripped away from you, just before what was supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life. There was just this huge hole in my chest. Everything I had, everything I wanted was taken away from me. An entire life that I had chosen for myself vanished in a moment and I was left with nothing." I said.
Flashback
"Are you sure, love? I don't really need to go! Or we can go later!" Edward asked for the hundredth time. I swear that for a vampire his hearing doesn't sound that good.
"I've told you, you can go Edward! You haven't been spending all that much time with Em and Jasper, besides you need to hunt. I don't want you to scare our guests tomorrow with your black eyes. Honey suits you so much better." I caressed his face. "And it's your bachelor party!" I would prefer if he stayed but after tomorrow we would be together forever.
"I don't need a bachelor party! I'm more than happy to leave my single days behind!" He said wrapping his cold arms around my waist.
"I know Edward, but I really don't mind. As long as you're not late tomorrow..."
"I would never be late for our wedding, love!"
"I'm glad to hear that, now get moving before Emmet feels the need to come and get you." I put my hands in his back and tried to push him to the window.
"I don't even know why they want to go so early. We could just leave tonight and we'd still have plenty of time." He grumbled. The original plan was that they would go tonight but Emmett decided that it wasn't enough so they were leaving now.
I was still in the clothes I used to sleep, as I tried to convince Edward that I would be perfectly safe."I'll be great Edward! What can happen in one day? Don't worry!"
"It's you we're talking about Bella! A lot can happen in one day!" He chuckled.
"All right Mr. Smarty-pants, joke all you want but I will be fine .I'll just miss you a lot!" We were standing next to the window when he turned around to face me.
"Promise me, you'll be fine!" He was worried. I could see it in his eyes, it was always there when he had to leave me but today... it was different... there was something else... he was more worried than usual. "I have a bad feeling about leaving you alone! I don't know what it I but...!" His voice was strained.
"Hey, hey!" I said as I cradled his face in my hands and looked him in the eyes. "I'll be fine, Edward! Nothing is going to stop me from getting married to you tomorrow! Okay?" He smiled a little and nodded. "Good! Now, give me a kiss before you go!" This made him smile wider. He gathered me in his arms and kissed me sweetly, burying his nose in my hair after. I could feel his breath on my neck.
"I can't wait for you to be my wife, Bella! I just can't wait!" He murmured. It was my turn to smile. "I love you!" He claimed before jumping out of the window.
"I love you too!" I whispered, knowing the he could hear me.
***
Alice had called to know if I wanted her to keep me company but I declined. She was probably too busy, trying to handle all the last details for the wedding tomorrow and I really wasn't in the mood to be dragged to all that craziness.
I spent the morning doing some chores around the house while Charlie had gone to the station but after having a sandwich and orange juice for lunch I couldn't keep myself still! I had tried to watch TV, to read and god knows what else but I was too restless.
I think it had finally downed on me that I was going to get married the following day. I was so nervous that there was no way I would be able to be calm. I wasn't having doubts about Edward; I knew I wanted to spend forever with him but after spending so many years hearing my mom talking about how stupid it was to get married right after high school... She had reassured me that I wasn't making the same mistake that she did and what she had said wasn't meant to be applied to me but I couldn't help feeling like this... nervous. Marrying was never something I insisted on doing but the idea of being married with Edward sounded so right! I was actually more worried about the ceremony. All the attention centered on me and Edward, my lack of coordination that would no doubt make me look silly, especially next to someone so perfect as Edward... And the list went on.
I decided I was too tense to stay locked inside the house. Surely a small walk would help me calm down a little. I grabbed a brown jacket and went outside. I started walking and followed a small path into the forest. I walked for a little while, making sure that I didn't went too deep into the forest and didn't get out of the trail.
Suddenly someone appeared behind me, grabbing me and hitting me in the head. And darkness took over me as I slid into unconsciousness.
***
When I woke, I didn't recognize my surroundings. I was lying in a bed, covered with silk sheets, in a room with dark burgundy colored walls. My head was hurting and my back was sore, I didn't know how long I had been out, but the situation didn't seem good.
"Ah! Isabella! What a pleasure! I'm glad you're finally awake! I'm sorry if my boys were a bit harsh! They're not used to deal with humans, I'm afraid they've hit you a bit too hard." Aro's voice sounded as he entered the room. I could feel the tears pooling in my eyes. What had happened? What was Aro doing here? Where was I? Where was Edward?
"Where am I?" I whispered.
"Welcome to Italy once more, Isabella." Italy?
"Where is Edward?" I choked, trying to keep my tears from falling.
"I'm sure you understand that if I'd let you marry Edward, it would be much more difficult to convince you to join the guard. Don't you agree? I'm sure you'll be quite happy, here with us. I'm so eager to see what else you'll be able to do with you shield once you're changed!"
"I'd rather die than stay here with you!" I said.
"I'm sure you'll change your mind soon. Now, I believe that you'll have three busy days ahead of you." I slipped to the darkness again.
End Flashback
"Shh, Bells! I'm so sorry." Kurt whispered.
"I had been unconscious for three days already. It's the last thing I remember from being human!" I said as I sobbed. "But my first vampire memories are so much worse, so much clearer that it's like I'm reviving everything!"
Flashback
The pain was finally fading. Starting in my toes and making its way up my body, retreating to my heart. Then a few minutes later my heart thumped its late beat and stopped. The pain was mostly gone, only a burning stinging remained in my throat. I was thirsty.
I tried to open my eyes and everything was so much brighter, cleaner... so defined! I looked around in wonder. I could see the dust around me and a so many colors...
"Go get Aro! Tell him she has awakened!" One of the vampires in the room ordered the other and then turned to me. "Hello, Isabella! My name is Scott." Before I had the chance to form a reply, Aro waltzed into the bedroom.
"Isabella!" He exclaimed in a pleased voice."I'm sure you must be thirsty but before we take care of those needs of yours, I have something more pressing to talk to you about. It won't take long, there are just a few points that I want to clarify for you so that your stay with us will be only pleasurable."
"The Cullens will look for me! Edward will look for me!" He would, wouldn't he? Of course he would! He loved me, he would never just conform to the idea that I had gone missing! He would never just let go!
"You see, my darling, a few minutes before my venom entered your body, I drew as much blood as possible; add pieces of your clothes and you have everything you need to set up a perfect fake death. Everything went so well that the Cullens won't have another option but to believe you're dead. Also the heavy rain that has plagued Forks was a major help, since it washed away all the scents that my boys could have left." I noticed that I was no longer wearing my jeans and sweater. "I'm sure you know I wouldn't just take you and wait for the Cullens to show up here to take you away, such a wonderful coven... it would be a shame if they had to be destroyed. This leads me to my next point: if you try to run or to contact the Cullens or any other vampire outside Volterra, unless you're on a mission of course, your dear Cullens will be the ones to pay for that mistake! If your life here proves to be as miserable as you think it will be, I wouldn't mind at all that your beloved Edward or your friend Alice and her husband joined us as well." And with that he and Scott left the room, leaving me alone in the impersonal room.
I would die before I had Edward, Alice or Jasper join this hell! If I had to endure a life of misery and pain, working for the Volturi, to prevent Edward or any other member of my family from this, then I would gladly do it. Maybe if I did everything I was told and helped the Volturi they'd let me leave someday. Maybe...
In that moment I realized that even if someday, I could leave, my life would never be the same again. All of my dreams, the life I had chosen had been destroyed and I had no other choice but to accept this poor adaptation of it.
The fact that I hadn't had the chance to say o Edward that I loved him, that it was not his blood that ran in my veins tore me apart and the possibility of never seeing those I loved the most ever again cut my heart deeply. I knew this wound would never close, this pain would never fade and I would never be the same again!
I had never felt so alone! I was completely and utterly alone and for that I wanted to cry. I wanted to sob and mourn for what I had lost in such a short moment but I couldn't bring myself to do it, because being numb was such an easier way to deal with pain... if only I could slip to unconsciousness and numb myself completely...
End Flashback
"You never told us all these things. Not so detailed." Kurt murmured, holding me closer to his chest. I let my head rest in the middle of his chest, as he kept swinging us.
"It's not something I like to remember, especially not now; it's not a time that I like to go back to, it hurts too much but if it is necessary to make you understand how important this is to me..."
"We understand that this is important to you, we just don't want to see you get hurt. We care too much about you to bear seeing you in pain. I know you've been suffering during all these years and now you're happier than we've ever seen you, I admit that. I think I just don't want you to go back to being in pain. We're afraid he'll show you how happy you can be together and then things end up badly." He sighed.
"Just give him the benefit of doubt and trust my judgment. Let him prove to you that he can make me happy; let us prove we can make each other happy." I looked up at him, his worried golden eyes looked at my green ones. "Edward makes me happy! Just give him a chance." I begged.
"I'll think about it Bells. But I'm not going to change my mind overnight, none of us will. Give us some time to adjust to this new situation. I just don't want to be mad at you, particularly if you're going away."
"I'm not going away... I'm just not going to live with you anymore. You won't lose me; I'll always be your sister and you'll always be my sweet big brother. I can come here whenever you want and you can visit me and the Cullens every time you feel like it. You can call or give some use to your web cam. That way you can see me when you want. "
"It's just... it won't be the same Bella. I'm not going to see you every day, you won't be in your room whenever I feel like talking to you, I won't hear you playing in the music room when I arrive home, I won't be able to show up at your room's door with two guitars, silently inviting you for a music session, or grab you from behind and take you outside when it's raining, making us get soaked to the bones... Remember that time Rosie came running after us for getting mud and water all over the foyer, screaming 'Miss Bella! I can't believe! You're older than me, you should be wiser!'." We laughed, remembering. "You can say we won't lose you all the times you want, but I still can't help thinking that he is stealing you from us. It's a nagging feeling that is always in my heart. I can't help it!"
"We'll always be close to each other. We're family and maybe one day the Cullens will come live with us. I know you like the other Cullens and with time you'll love Edward too."
"Yeah and then he'll like me so much he'll dump you for me. I think it's better for you if I just hate his guts." He joked... and my Kurt was back!
"You're right! So as long as you don't kill him..." I played along.
"Can I beat him up for what he did a few days ago?" He asked, serious again.
"Give him the big brother talk?" I tried to negotiate.
"Deal!" He said, grinning mischievously. I think Kurt was going to have a little too much fun giving Edward the big brother talk but as long as he didn't hurt him...
I wanted to stay in the swing with him for a bit longer but I felt bad for having Catz packing my things all alone.
"We should go back! I need to help Catz to pack." I said.
"Sure thing little sis!" He grabbed me by the waist and put me over his shoulder running to the house as we both laughed. I noticed how his face fell when I mentioned packing, though. I figured it would take him a while to get used to the idea.
We would just enjoy these last few days before my depart...
So... What do you think??? I hope you have liked and you already know the drill: REVIEW PLEASE!!!!!!!! It only takes a minute and it'll make me very happy, even if you don't like it, it's important to me to know what you think! I need to know what I'm doing wrong!
Also, next chapter I'm thinking of doing a flashback on Edward's POV of what happened when they found out that Bella had gone missing. What do you think? REVIEW and let me know your opinion! I'll be waiting!
Love you!
PS. I'll reply to your reviews to last chapter tomorrow cause today is already late and I have to go to bed. Classes in the morning... arg!!!!!
HUgs
