Summary - "Bella is an average girl, struggling with her homosexuality and her life at home. Can the love of not one, but three vampires help show her that she shouldn't be afraid? A/B/R/V".

Author's Notes – Inspired by my dear friend Hollowgo.

Rating - Older Teen to Mature

By: WDG and Lash_Larue

The Garden of Four - Chapter Thirteen – Punishment

The next day after school Bella met up with the Cullens at their house; they all were gathered around the living room. Bella moved with Alice to sit down on the nearest open spot, which just so happened to be the single remaining chair. Meaning that Alice made herself comfortable in Bella's lap. Emmett grinned and gave Bella a thumbs up, only for Rose to smack the back of his head. Bella gave a soft laugh at his look of pain, and Carlisle smiled at his growing family before clearing his throat and gaining everyone's attention.

"As we all know, it was Leah that forced Bella to run off into the woods; it was Leah who led to Bella's current predicament, forcing Bella to live life as something more than human. Now then, I have already taken the liberty to call a meeting with the Pack Members and have told them to make sure that Leah is brought along. We will be meeting at the treaty line, and I talked with the Alpha this morning and we moved the meeting up to this afternoon. We have about an hour to spare, so let's go ahead and get ready for this meeting, because I can assure you that they will not like it one bit." Carlisle stood and paced back and forth a moment before he turned to face his family.

"I think that since Bella is still just coming into her powers that she should be near the middle of our formation, so that we all may protect her. Immortal she may be, but she isn't yet as strong as she will become; she hasn't even had her first full moon transformation yet. Which leads me to believe that she would be safer in the middle." Carlisle looked around, "Are we all in agreement on this issue?" All of them nodded in agreement, even Bella.

"Good then, now all we have to do is wait." Carlisle moved to sit back down beside Esme and watched the clock on the wall.

When the time was up all of them moved to the door and then headed outside towards the woods. Emmett offered to carry Bella, seeing as she wasn't quite as fast as the rest of them yet. They arrived at the treaty line on time, and Emmet set Bella down on her feet and then moved to stand by her right side. Edward and Jasper stood behind her while Alice, Rose and Victoria stood to her left. Carlisle and Esme stood right up front, all of the vampires on alert standby in case anyone dared to try and get near Bella.

It wasn't long after that wolves began to pour out of the woodwork, followed by the soft sound of footsteps, and a few people came to stand amongst the wolves. All of them were tan, with dark hair and a tattoo on the right shoulder. Bella saw Leah, and had to withhold a growl that threatened to burst forth. Alice didn't withhold hers, though, as soon as she saw Leah she growled and glared straight at the girl.

Rose held Alice in her place while motioning to Jasper to help cool both Alice and Bella off. Jasper nodded, and moved to gently hold Bella's shoulder while letting his powers help soothe both Bella and his sister. Bella watched as the last of the pack members piled in and reached up to Jasper's hand on her shoulder, and turning her head to face him, she smiled and nodded her thanks.

Taylor walked right behind Paul and Sam, glaring at Leah, she still couldn't believe that her own girlfriend had done this just because of an old crush she used to have on Bella. Well, maybe it wasn't just an old crush, she still had feelings for Bella, and they had all came rushing back when she saw Bella again for the first time at Charlie's.

Shaking her head, she lined up with Sam and Paul standing off to the left. She looked over at the Cullens and saw all the usual members of the family, but then she saw Bella smiling at the blond haired male, and she had stepped forward to say something when Sam whispered -"Don't…Stay put!" Taylor gritted her teeth and felt her anger build at the supposed alpha of their little group, she couldn't wait 'till she was older and could challenge him for his spot. Until then, though, she would follow his orders, no matter how much she wished she didn't have to.

"We come together to have a meeting, so lets start the discussion, shall we?" said Sam as he moved to the front of his pack. Carlisle nodded and motioned for Bella to come forward with him. Holding out his hand, Carlisle waited, and then Bella grabbed his hand and both walked down to meet Sam. Leah watched Bella with hatred in her eyes, only to be smacked in the back of her head by Paul, who grinned and shook his head at her.

"Now, what do you want," said Sam as he eyed Bella, "and why have you brought the human with you…." Sam paused when the wind picked up and carried Bella's scent over all the pack members, making some of the newer pack members whine and try to back up. Whereas Carlisle and his family couldn't detect a change in Bella's scent, they could; they could smell the Lycan in her and the way it gave off the power that was building towards her coming change.

Carlisle smiled when he saw Sam's eyes go a bit wide before saying, "As I am sure you have already found out, Bella isn't quite human anymore, thanks to one of your own pack members, and that is why we have come here. We feel that they should be punished for what they have done to Bella." Carlisle heard a soft snort and looked towards Leah before turning his eyes back to Sam. "After all, she did break your law, she was supposed to protect humans, not chase them into the woods and leave them to become the snack of something that she knew would be in there."

Taylor turned her head so fast that she felt her neck crick a little, and turned her eyes filled with anger to glare even more hotly at Leah. She clenched her hands and felt her anger boil to the breaking point. Bella turned her gaze quickly from staring at Leah to Taylor when she heard clothes tear followed by the sound of bones snapping and popping. Where Taylor had once stood was now a dark russet colored wolf that was growling at Leah with its sharp teeth bared threateningly.

Bella shivered a little when she felt something in her stirring, and gripping Carlisle's hand even harder, she felt herself shaking. Carlisle felt Bella's grip becoming tighter in his own, it was actually starting to hurt, and seeing the girl eyeing Taylor and Leah, he leaned into her a bit and whispered "Bella, shhh… its okay, calm yourself, or you will be in pain, you are not ready for this. Please listen to me." Bella tried, really she did, she tried to fight this feeling inside of her that was screaming at her. Her eyes started to sting and her teeth ached. She felt Carlisle tense beside her and whisper something else into her ears, but to her it felt like he was yelling. "Bella, please, your eyes are already turning blue, calm yourself…Bella you're bleeding, stop it…STOP IT NOW!" Bella froze and took deep breaths, she smelt something metallic in the air. It was blood, her blood, and opening her mouth more of it spilled out. Bella had been clenching her jaw so hard that she didn't feel the change in her own teeth, and they had split her mouth open. Spitting out the blood, she took calming breaths and crinkled her nose up in disgust.

'Damn, what smells like wet fucking dog?' she thought, and looking over to the pack members she got her answer.

Letting go of Carlisle's hand, she moved to step forward when - "Bella," she heard. She turned her blue eyes to meet Alice's gold ones, and shaking her head she felt herself relax. Carlisle watched in astonishment as Bella calmed and her eyes went back to their chocolate brown, and her teeth shrink back to normal, not fangs. Looking to Alice, Carlisle nodded, and gripping Bella in a soft hug he pulled her close and kept an eye on her.

Sam stepped back when the girl almost shifted right there on the spot, and taking a breath he watched her with careful eyes before speaking. "Yes, we were already discussing young Leah's punishment before you called this meeting, we had no idea Bella was changed to a Lycan though. Now the punishment must be more severe." Sam looked at Leah in shame before turning to Bella and saying, "However, seeing as this is happening to you, Bella, what do you think would be the appropriate punishment for her?"

Bella looked at Leah, then back at her family; she didn't know what to do, she had never had to punish anyone before, she was at a loss. She looked to Carlisle, then to Sam, then back to Leah. "I am sorry guys, but even after all she has done to me I just can't be cruel to someone I don't know and have hardly met, I just don't have a cruel side to me, not after what I have been through," said Bella looking away.

Bella backed away from Carlisle and moved to Alice, and Alice smiled and welcomed her with open arms. She had known that Bella was a great person, and now this just proved it; her girlfriend was amazing. She was such a kind and forgiving person, even to the ones that hurt her.

Sam watched with rapt attention the way Bella and the short Cullen acted together, and he also noticed the redhead and blonde female Cullens glance their way. Turning to Leah, he walked over to her and grabbed her arm, and then pulled her with him to stand in front of the Cullens.

"Seeing as how you have no punishment, I will administer one to Leah," Sam started, and then turning to Leah he said, "Leah, as punishment for your crimes, you are to first apologize to miss Swan, secondly, you will be put on patrol duty for the rest of the year on your own, thirdly, you will be denied entry to any more meetings and your vote will account for nothing, and fourthly - you will receive ten lashes."

Bella gasped and turned to look at Sam and then at Leah, "Wait…." Alice looked at Bella in confusion, as did all who were there.

Sam watched the girl, waiting, "Yes? What is it?"

Bella looked long at Leah before sighing, "Please, don't do that last punishment, no one deserves to be beat upon…not even Leah."

Sam looked at Bella, then back to Leah before nodding and deciding. "Fine, no lashing then, but the rest will be done as her punishment, agreed?" Bella looked at the Cullens before nodding. "Done then," said Sam.

Leah looked at Bella in shock, was this girl crazy? A sharp poke to her ribs made her look at Sam. "Don't you have something to say, Leah?" Sam nodded towards Bella, and Leah nodded and looked the girl in the eyes.

"I am sorry. I am truly sorry for what I have done, Isabella Swan. Forgive me for all my wrong doings towards you; I should have never let any harm come to you, once again, I am sorry." Leah bowed her head in shame, looking into those chocolate brown eyes had made her feel even more ashamed of herself. No wonder Taylor liked the girl, who the hell could compete with a girl that forgiving and kind?

Bella looked at Leah then walked away from Alice and stood in front of Leah and said, "You are forgiven, but I still have to do this..." Leah was about ask what she meant when a fist cracked into her jaw, sending her flying back into Sam's arms. Looking up into shocking ice blue eyes she bowed her head to the girl. Bella looked at her for a few more moments before turning to Alice and walking back to her.

"I believe this is all, my family and I are going to take our leave now," said Carlisle to Sam as he turned to watch his children take off through the forest, Bella once more in Emmett's arms as they ran towards their home. Carlisle and Esme then took off themselves.

Sam watched them go before turning to Leah, who he still held in his arms, "You should be ashamed of yourself, girl, you deserved much worse than that for letting a human get hurt on your watch. Not only did she get hurt, but now there is one more Lycan walking around for us to worry about." Dropping Leah to the ground, he turned to march, ordering Paul to bring Leah along for her other punishments to be taken care of.

Once everyone was back and things had settled down, Bella was sitting on the kitchen stool as Carlisle was checking over her mouth to make sure the cuts from Bella's fangs weren't too bad. "Well it seems as if they have already started to heal, that's good," he pulled back and patted Bella on the head, "I am proud of you Bella, you were kind when you did not have to be." Bella smiled and blushed under such praise, but then frowned.

"Carlisle, what about my dad? He's still out there looking for the person that did this to me, how I am going to tell him that it's already been taken care of without raising suspicion? Do you think we should just tell him….I mean tell him everything, even about …what my mom did." Carlisle looked at Bella and thought for a moment.

"Well, I guess me, you, and Esme can all sit down with your dad and have a chat, if that's what you want, Bella."

Bella looked over to Esme, who was cooking away as they talked, before smiling and saying "I would like that, I don't really like to lie to my father anyway, plus I don't want him to get hurt for not knowing." Carlisle nodded.

"Then it's final, this weekend when you come up here for the full moon, we will talk to him, how does that sound?" Bella nodded, happy with the prospect of getting this off her chest.

"That sounds great, but what if something happens, I mean I will be changing that night" said Bella as she looked at Carlisle.

"Then we will protect him from you, don't worry nothing will happen" said Carlisle as he walked out of the room. Bella watched him go before turning to look at Esme who was now turned to face Bella "Now, my dear what are you hungry for" Bella looked around before shrugging "What ever you want to cook me" Esme smiled "Will then pasta it is, good thing I already started on it" she then turned back around and went to work.

Bella smiled and watched her work.

End Chapter Thirteen

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