A/N: This is one of my favorite chapters in P&P...
Betad by Michelle Renker Rhodes.
Most characters belong to S. Meyer. Major plotline belongs to J. Austen. The rest is me. Sorry. :0
A&A Ch. 31 (P&P Chs. 55 & 56)
Though it was almost one in the morning, it was impossible to shut up Renee after Jasper and Edward took their leave in the early hours of the New Year. She reclined lazily against the sofa while Alice, Bella and Emmett finished cleaning up the mess that had been left behind.
"Well girls, I think that went extremely well. Dinner was delicious; dessert was grand. Even Edward acknowledged that was the best Tiramisu he'd ever had – so congratulations, Bella, because he's probably had Tiramisu made by the finest chefs in the country! But you, Alice," Alice tried to ignore her mother, and kept right on picking up every last bit of invisible confetti she could find on the carpet, "you were the one in your element tonight. The way you had Jasper eating out of your hand was priceless! You played your cards perfectly!"
"Mom, please," Bella begged on her sister's behalf, "don't tease Alice that way. She wasn't playing any cards."
Renee rolled her eyes. "I'm not teasing anyone. I'm merely stating the facts. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if he proposes marriage by tomorrow!" She cackled. "Even that brooding friend of his wasn't enough to turn Jasper's attention away from Alice!"
"I've told you before, Mom, treating Edward badly is no way to make a good impression on his friend," Bella said through clenched teeth. Though Edward had broken her heart, she still refused to stand by and let her mother talk badly about him.
"That's true," agreed Emmett. "Besides, you have no way of knowing what may have been troubling Edward tonight. "Nobody does," he added, with a pointed glare in Bella's direction, "unless you want to ask him directly."
"The problem with that is that I don't care enough to ask him," Renee chuckled. "All of Edward's millions put together couldn't induce me to care enough," she said almost convincingly. "Jasper is back, and he's groveling at Alice's feet; that's all I care about!"
OOOOOOOOOO
About an hour later, Bella and Alice were talking quietly in their bedroom.
"The evening went well," Alice said calmly. "Much better than I dared hope it would go."
Bella grinned at Alice, the light of the full moon outside illuminating her impish smile.
Alice pushed her sister playfully. "Don't look at me like that, Bella. Jasper and I have agreed to take things slowly, that's all. Don't go marrying me off already like Mom is doing. I've got a long way to go before I can trust him again!"
"You're very mean, you know," Bella said teasingly to Alice. "You don't want me to look at you this way or that, or to start planning your wedding, yet the way you and Jasper looked at each other tonight left practically everything settled except for the color of the bridesmaid's dresses – I'm thinking blue, by the way. I've always thought I look rather nice in blue."
Alice rolled her eyes, but she couldn't suppress a smile. "Sometimes you're just as impossible as Mom."
Now it was Bella's turn to shove Alice. They laughed for a few seconds, but then Bella looked at her sister solemnly.
"Remember what I told you last night, okay? It's okay to be careful, but this time, make sure he knows exactly how you feel. Don't hide your feelings from each other anymore because what you two have," – Bella had to swallow the lump in her throat and look away from her sister's curious gaze – "what you two have is special. Love like that doesn't come around very often."
She finished in a whisper, unable to trust her voice any higher than that, sure that if she tried to speak another word the floodgate she'd been holding back since Edward's departure, since the tender yet chaste kiss he'd given her on the forehead at midnight, would finally break.
"Hey," she heard Alice say, though she still didn't dare meet her gaze. "Bella, are you okay?"
Bella forced herself to smile, and then with another thick swallow, brought her eyes back to Alice.
"Yes, Alice. Yes, I'm just fine."
OOOOOOOOOO
On New Year's Day, Jasper arrived bright and early for a visit – alone. Bella forced a cheery expression regardless, if not for her sake, then for that of her sister and her cousin, Emmett, who appeared extremely concerned on her behalf.
"I don't understand," Emmett said. He and Bella were taking an afternoon jog around the neighborhood. Alice and Jasper had started the jog with them, but had already disappeared somewhere. "Things between you and Edward seemed so sure back in Ithaca. I don't know what could've gone wrong."
Bella, who understood Edward's dilemma, his brotherly instincts to protect Rosalie from any reminder of Mike Newton, couldn't say anything to clear things up for Emmett. Despite her own pain, she would never betray either Edward's or Rosalie's confidence.
"I suppose he just had a change of heart," she said, her eyes trained straight ahead of her as she ran.
"But that's not possible," Emmett insisted. "I saw the way he looked at you, the way he acted around you! I'm telling you, I've never seen a guy as much in love as Edward was with you in Ithaca! Even Jasper's display over the last couple of days couldn't hold a candle to it! Bella, you have to speak to him!"
Bella stopped running and rounded on her cousin. "No, Emmett. Edward has a right to his decision, and it's not my place to question it."
"Fine, if you won't speak to him, then I will!" Emmett retorted.
Bella dug her index finger into her cousin's concrete-like chest. "No, you won't! It's none of our places to question Edward on what he has to do!"
"What he has to do?" Emmett asked, frowning.
Bella took a couple of steps back. "Look, sometimes…sometimes there are things bigger than us, reasons bigger than love, especially if that love wasn't all that consuming in the first place," she added dryly, unable to fully suppress a streak of resentment in the face of such bitter disappointment.
"If that love wasn't…" Emmett mimicked. "Bella, that's bull. Back in Ithaca, it was clear to anyone with two eyes that what you two had was special. I mean I may never have been in that kind of love before, but even I know that when you find something like that, you should never let it go. That kind of love doesn't come around very often."
Bella eyes widened in realization that Emmett's words were basically the same ones she herself had spoken to Alice in the past couple of days.
But Alice and Jasper's circumstances were completely different from that of Edward's and hers.
"Just…" – she sighed – "just promise me that you won't speak to him about this."
Emmett glared at her defiantly.
"Emmett," she warned with a raised brow.
"I'll promise not to speak to him about it, if you promise that you'll at least consider speaking to him before he returns to New York tomorrow."
"Emmett…" she complained.
"Bella…" Emmett retorted.
Bella exhaled loudly. "Fine. I promise to at least consider speaking to him."
OOOOOOOOOO
When Bella returned to the house, Alice was in their bedroom, sitting on the bed with a huge grin on her face and tears in her eyes.
"It's not right to be this happy!" she chuckled. "It can't possibly be right to be this happy!"
Bella approached her. "You deserve your happiness, Alice."
"He told me he just realized last night how much he loves me."
"Of course he loves you. How could he not?"
"We're still going to take it slowly when we return to New York, but I have a good feeling about us this time."
"I have a good feeling too," Bella grinned, thinking to herself how wonderful it was that after months of her sister's heartache, after interference from Edward and lies from Tanya, things were finally falling in place for Alice.
"He told me that he had no idea that I'd tried to contact him when I arrived in New York a few months ago."
Bella knew this to be true. Edward had told her how he and Tanya had kept this information from Jasper.
"What else did he tell you about that?" Bella asked.
"That's it. But I'd spoken to Tanya at the time, so it's pretty obvious that it was she that kept that information from him. Tanya and Irina never wanted Jasper and I to be together; I see that now. Though I can't help hoping that they change their minds once they see how happy we are together, at the end of the day, their opinion no longer makes any difference to me."
"Bravo!" Bella clapped joyously. "That right there is the most unforgiving speech I've ever heard you make, and I applaud you for it. Honestly, it would piss me off to ever see you get duped by Tanya and Irina again!"
"He also apologized for allowing himself to be so easily persuaded that I didn't care for him a few months ago."
Bella nodded solemnly. "Yes, he should've used his own judgment, and I'm glad to hear that he acknowledges that."
Alice agreed, and Bella was relieved to see that Jasper hadn't betrayed Edward's involvement any further to Alice. As far as Bella was concerned, Edward had already more than made amends for his involvement in that scheme. Though Alice was the most forgiving person she'd ever known, she didn't want her to have any reason to hold the slightest grudge against Edward.
"Oh, God, I'm so happy!" Alice repeated. "Bella, I hope you find someone as great as Jasper someday!"
"If I were to find fifty men like Jasper, I still wouldn't be as happy as you are, Alice. I'm simply not made that way," she joked. "But give me time. Maybe if I'm very lucky, I may someday find myself another Jake."
Alice stared at her, and then both girls broke out into fits of laughter that brought tears to their eyes once again.
OOOOOOOOOO
Later that evening, Sue Clearwater came by for a visit. Of course, she'd already heard all about the reconciliation between Jasper and Alice, and the Swan family was once again pronounced to be the luckiest family in all of Forks – though it was only a few days ago, when Jessica's predicament had been all the rage, they'd been pronounced to be anything but.
After the entire household had retired for the night, Bella lay awake in her bed. Alone with her thoughts, she could no longer hold back the ache in her chest. She'd be returning to school in Seattle the next morning, and with the holidays behind her, all her hopes for the New Year would be left behind as well.
He hadn't even said a proper goodbye.
The doorbell suddenly rang.
Bella snuck a quick look at the alarm clock on the nightstand, which showed it to be past two in the morning. When the doorbell rang again, it woke up Alice. Both girls looked at each other in confusion.
Again, the doorbell rang. Bella leapt to her feet and went straight to the window.
"Who is it?" Alice asked.
"I'm not sure," Bella responded, "but there's a big, black limo parked across the street."
Both girls hurried downstairs, where Renee and Charlie were by the door. When they opened it, Bella had to get on her tip toes to try to see past them to the person standing outside.
"Yes?" she heard her father ask.
"I'm looking for Isabella Swan."
Bella recognized the voice, but couldn't quite place it. Slowly, the two bodies in front of her parted and made it possible for her to come face to face with none other than Senator Jane De Volturi.
"Senator?"
The Senator glared at Bella, making no attempt to respond.
"Senator?" Renee repeated.
Without an actual invitation, the Senator made her way into the house, bypassing Bella and her parents. Once in the front room, she turned around to face Bella once more.
"I suppose these are your parents, Isabella."
"Yes, they are. This is my father, Charles Swan, and my mother, Renee. Mom, Dad, this is Senator Jane De Volturi."
"And I suppose that's your sister," the Senator continued, without acknowledging the introduction to Bella's parents.
"Yes!" Renee answered anxiously. "This is Bella's older sister, Alice! She's dating Jasper Whitlock. I'm not sure if you've heard of him, but he's a wonderful young man. He practices Law in-"
"I've heard of Jasper," the Senator sneered, cutting off Renee mid-sentence. "He's one of my nephew's closest friends."
"Your nephew?" Renee questioned.
For a few seconds, the Senator simply glared at Renee in a way that managed to shut up even someone such as herself. The Senator then switched her hard eyes to Emmett, who was standing in the back with his arms crossed over his huge chest.
"And who is this?"
"This is my cousin, Emmett."
The Senator continued glaring, but unlike Renee, Emmett glared right back.
Senator De Volturi snorted and turned around, her eyes taking in every inch of the house with an obvious lack of pleasure.
"You have a very small place here. How you all manage to live under one roof is beyond me."
"Uhm, yes, it's small," Renee stuttered stupidly, "but the girls manage to keep it clean and comfortable."
The Senator smirked at her. "This front room is cold and drab."
"I keep telling my husband that we need to redecorate, but you know how men are…" Renee trailed off, unsure as to what else to say.
Bella interrupted anxiously. "Are Leah and Jake alright?" Their imprisonments or deaths were the only reasons Bella could think of for the Senator's middle-of-the-night visit.
"They're fine," the Senator responded curtly. "I was with them just a few hours ago."
Bella nodded, relieved for her friend Leah if no one else. But now that that was cleared up, she was more lost than ever as to the reason for the Senator being in her house.
"Senator, may I get you something to drink?" Renee asked, having recovered enough from her shock to realize that she had a Senator in her house, for goodness sake! "Some water or coffee? Or perhaps some champagne from last night's celebration! Alice," she said quickly, "go bring the Senator a flute of-"
"I don't want anything to drink!" the Senator snapped. "Isabella, is there anywhere in this tiny house where you and I can speak with some modicum of privacy?"
Bella blinked silently in bewilderment.
"The kitchen, though admittedly small, is the furthest room in the house, Senator. If you'd like to speak to my daughter privately, you and she can certainly go in there, while the rest of us stay here," Renee suggested.
Once more, Senator De Volturi turned a withering gaze towards Renee, who watched her with a mixture of misplaced respect and fear. Then without a word, the Senator turned on her high heels and proceeded towards the kitchen.
"Bella, go!" Renee hissed desperately, shooing her away.
"Bella, if you want me to call a couple of the guys down at the precinct and get her out of here, I will," Charlie offered.
"Yeah, and in the meantime, I'll help," Emmett volunteered.
Bella shook her head. "No, that's fine. I'm rather curious to see what she wants."
Emmett smirked.
"Well, you just let us know if you need anything," Charlie growled.
Bella smiled at her father and patted his arm as she walked past him into the kitchen.
OOOOOOOOOO
Senator De Volturi was standing and waiting with hands on hips when Bella walked into the kitchen. For the next few minutes, neither woman said a word to each other. As it was the Senator that had gotten Bella out of bed for this late night visit, Bella was determined that it would be she who would have to explain her presence.
"How could I have ever thought her to resemble her nephew in any way?" Bella asked herself while she waited.
"You must know exactly why I'm here," the Senator finally began. "Your own conscience must tell you why I've found it necessary to make this drive at this time of night."
Bella stared at her with undisguised confusion.
"I'm sorry, Senator, but I have no idea what you're talking about. I have no idea why you've honored us with your presence."
"Isabella Swan," Senator De Volturi spat, enunciating each syllable with clear scorn, "I should warn you, in case you aren't aware, that I'm not someone with whom you want to play games. If you want to play dumb, I won't reciprocate. The reason I'm in office is because I'm known to be tough and frank even if people don't want to hear what I have to say, and that's not going to change now."
Bella was more than a bit shocked at the contempt with which this woman spoke to her, but she refused to give the Senator the satisfaction of seeing her disconcerted. So she remained silent, waiting for the Senator to make the reason for her visit clear.
"A most disgusting piece of gossip fell on my ears last night while I celebrated the New Year! Imagine my shock when I was informed that you, Isabella, might soon be part of my family since you're currently involved in a serious relationship with my nephew, Edward!" she cried. "Now though I know that this garbage has to be false because I wouldn't insult my nephew's tastes so much as to believe it to be true, I decided I had to come here immediately and let you know personally of my thoughts on this subject!"
"If you were so sure that it couldn't be true," Bella hissed through her teeth, her entire frame burning with indignation, "I don't understand why you needed to drive all the way over here. What was the point?"
"The point was to have the rumor contradicted right from your own mouth!"
"Your making your way up here to Forks to see me and my family," said Bella coolly, "would seem to me to be more of a confirmation of the rumor, if such a rumor exists. Wouldn't you think?"
"If?!" the Senator questioned harshly. "Are you going to pretend not to know anything about it? Wouldn't you and your family be the ones who began the rumor in the first place? Do you know how far it's already spread?!"
"I haven't heard anything of it."
"And can you also assure me that it's not true?"
"You may pride yourself in being a frank speaker, Senator, but I never claimed to be the same. You can ask me questions which I may refuse to answer."
At this reply, the Senator's eyes widened so much they appeared to be ready to pop out of their sockets.
"This is unbearable!" she seethed. "I insist on an answer! Are you and my nephew, Edward, involved in a romantic relationship?"
"According to you, it's impossible."
"It should very well be, at least while he's still got his senses! But you…" – the Senator sneered in disgust – "only God knows what the likes of someone like you would do to catch a rich man, what you may have done to my nephew so that in a moment of lust he forgets what he owes to himself and to his family! You've bewitched him!"
"If I have bewitched him, I certainly wouldn't admit it, now would I?"
Senator De Volturi's head reeled back as if she'd been slapped. She stomped her heel angrily into the linoleum.
"Do you not know who I am? I refuse to be spoken to in this manner! I'm one of Edward's closest relatives and have every right to know what's going on in his life!"
"But you have no right to know what's going on in mine, and your current mode of inquiry sure as hell isn't going to induce me to open up."
The Senator drew in a sharp breath. "Let me make myself clearer, if I haven't been clear enough yet. This relationship to which you think you can aspire will go nowhere. Never. Edward will marry my daughter! Now what do you have to say to that?"
"Isn't she his cousin?" Bella asked innocently.
"She is not his cousin! Heidi is adopted!"
"It's still weird."
"It is not weird!"
"Fine. Then this is what I have to say: If Edward and Heidi are truly in love then you have no reason to concern yourself about any relationship he may have with me."
Senator De Volturi suddenly seemed uncomfortable.
"The relationship between Heidi and Edward is…difficult to explain to an outsider. Since they were babies, Edward's mother and I always said how wonderful it would be if they grew up and married. It was a dream of hers, and now that they're both older, old enough for those wishes to come true, do you think I'm going to let someone like you, a common nobody, destroy that dream? Don't you care at all about what this would do to his family? Are you that cold and calculating? Are you going to pretend not to understand what I'm saying?"
"Oh, I understand you. I simply don't care," Bella shrugged. "If your sole objection to a possible relationship between your nephew and myself is a dreamed up marriage from Edward's childhood, it certainly won't stop me. You've told me how much you and Edward's mother wished for his and Heidi's marriage. Well, now they're both grown-ups, and if Edward isn't tied to Heidi by love, why can't he make another choice? And if I happen to be that choice, why should I not accept him?"
"Because common decency and class forbids it! Yes, Isabella, I said class! Don't think for a moment that those people in Edward's rightful class will ever accept you into their circle! They'll whisper and laugh about you, and about him by association! Your relationship will be a joke!"
"Wow, that sounds really bad," Bella said with false solemnity. Then she shrugged again. "But I'll have Edward, so what the hell will I care what stuck up, arrogant, fools have to say about us?"
"You money-hungry, filthy…" the Senator trailed off. "I'm disgusted by you! Is this how you thank me for letting you into my home last fall? Don't you think you owe me something for that? You need to understand, Isabella, that I came here with the sole purpose of having my will carried out, and I will not change my mind! I am quite used to having my way, and am not in the habit of giving in!"
"I suppose that'll make your disappointment all the greater, but it'll do nothing to me."
"Be quiet and let me finish! Heidi and Edward are from the same social standing! They're cultured, well-traveled, well-educated, and financially well-off individuals. What do you think is going to keep them apart, the pretentious aspirations of a young woman with nothing to her name? Do you think I'll stand for that? If you had any class whatsoever, you wouldn't try to better your position in the world by connecting yourself to someone whose class is so wholly out of your reach."
"Assuming I was in a relationship with Edward, I wouldn't consider his position in the world to be any better or more valuable than is mine! He's a gentleman; I'm a lady. So far, we're perfectly equal."
"A lady!" Senator De Volturi snickered. "What about your mother? What about your uncles? Don't think I don't know all about your family!"
"Whatever you may think my family to be, if Edward has no problem with them, then why should you?"
"Tell me once and for all!" the Senator bellowed. "Are you in a romantic relationship with Edward?"
At that moment, Bella wanted more than anything to withhold the satisfaction of an answer from the Senator, but there was no point in it.
"No, I'm not."
Senator De Volturi let out a long, ragged breath, closing her eyes in obvious relief.
"And will you promise me to never, ever engage in such a relationship with him?"
"I will make no such promise," Bella hissed.
The Senator's eyes snapped open. She shook her head, but she seemed much calmer now.
"Isabella, I have to say, I'm completely disappointed in you. When I first met you back in the fall you struck me as a much more reasonable, young woman. But please don't deceive yourself into thinking that I'll ever back off. I'm not going anywhere until you give me the answer I want."
"And I'll never give it," Bella responded, her voice shaking with fury, yet full of conviction. "I don't care who you think you are, Senator, but please don't deceive yourself into thinking that you can come in here and bully me with empty threats and insults. Do you really think that by getting me to agree to never date Edward it will somehow magically bring about that marriage between him and Heidi, for which you're so desperate? Let's say Edward was in love with me. Do you think that by my turning him down he'd automatically transfer that love over to your adopted daughter? I'm sorry, Senator," she chuckled, "but I've got to say, I hope you present better arguments before the Senate because the arguments you've presented here tonight have been totally lacking of any sound judgment. What's more, you've greatly misjudged me if you think I can be persuaded by such insane arguments as those you've proposed. Whether Edward approves of your interference in his business, I have no idea, but I'll tell you right now, you have no right whatsoever to interfere in mine. I'll have to ask you to leave now."
"Not so fast, Ms. Swan," the Senator snarled. "I'm by no means done with you. You may find all my previous arguments insufficient, but I have one more to add." She grinned evilly. "I'm no stranger to what's going on with your dear cousin, Jessica, and her impending motherhood, nor of how that came about. I know it all. I know that Mike Newton is the father, and I know that Jessica ran off with him willingly and only came back once he was thrown in jail! Now is that the kind of garbage that's to be forever related to my niece and nephew? I don't know why Mike and Edward don't get along any longer, but I rather doubt he'd want Mike's bastard as part of his family! For God's sakes, Isabella, what are you thinking? Are the grounds of Pemberley to be polluted by the likes of you and your trashy family?"
"You've now insulted my family and me about as much as is humanly possible," Bella said, shaking in place, "and can having nothing more to say. I'll have to ask you once more to leave before I call the police and have you physically removed from here."
"Selfish, arrogant creature! Don't you see that a connection to you will only be a degradation to Edward in every way possible?"
"Senator De Volturi, I have nothing else to say to you."
"Then you are going to try to snag him for yourself?"
"Whatever I do or don't do will be because I'll believe it to bring me happiness. It'll have nothing to do with you, or with anyone who has nothing to do with me."
"You refuse to listen to reason, then! You're determined to ruin him!"
"Reason has absolutely no claim on me at the moment, Senator, and if I were to enter into a relationship with Edward, I don't believe I'd be foregoing reason at all! As for what his friends or family would think of our relationship, if that relationship made Edward and I happy, I wouldn't spend one second of my life worrying about anyone else's opinion! Besides, I personally don't believe that the majority of people are as stupid, shallow and ridiculous as you're making them out to be!"
"So this is your final answer! Fine! I now know what I have to do! Don't think that you've won, Isabella! I came here hoping to be able to reason with you, but even if that wasn't possible, believe me, I'll have my way!"
Bella turned around and walked out of the kitchen then, not giving the Senator a chance to continue. She heard the Senator's heels clicking loudly against the floor. And when the Senator walked out the door, Bella slammed it soundly behind her.
Everyone stared at Bella in bewilderment.
"What the hell was all that yelling and screaming about?" Emmett asked.
But Bella was still too infuriated to answer her cousin with any measure of calmness.
Instead she turned to her mother, who was frowning at her.
"Bella, what in the world did you say to the Senator to upset her so much?"
"Mom, the question is what have you been telling Sue Clearwater?"
"About what?"
Bella's nostrils flared. Ever since she could remember, Renee's mouth had been a source of embarrassment to her two daughters. But this time, she may have gone too far.
"About Edward," Bella hissed, her chest heaving. "What did you tell Sue about Edward?"
"Just…that…" – Renee stuttered. Something in her least favorite daughter's demeanor warned her that she had to proceed carefully – "that he was an arrogant, conceited jack-ass. And that…that despite all that garbage he talked last summer about you not being pretty enough to tempt him, he couldn't take his eyes off of you when he and Jasper arrived here the other day. I told her that he obviously wanted you badly and that if you had any sense, you'd play around with him for a little while, get him to buy you some pretty jewelry and take you to some fancy dinners and such, and then dump his ass like he deserved."
"I would never…why would you say that?" Bella whispered in amazement.
"Oh, I know you'd never actually be smart enough to do something like that!" Renee snapped. "I just wanted to make Sue jealous by making her think that both of my girls could get rich, smart and beautiful boyfriends, while her daughter was stuck with an overly-muscular oaf!"
Bella pressed down on her eyelids with her fingers, trying desperately to hold off the migraine that was threatening to take over.
"Do you realize," she said in a low, menacing voice, "that Sue went back and told Leah what you told her, Leah told Jake, and Jake told Senator De Volturi – after adding his own spin on things, I'm sure?"
Renee's bottom lip quivered, but then she squared her shoulders and glared at Bella. "Oh, so what? Who cares what anyone in that family thinks of you, anyway? As long as Jasper doesn't get a whiff of this little debacle, none of it matters. Alice, Honey, make sure you don't tell Jasper about Senator De Volturi's-"
"You are the most clueless woman I've ever met," Bella seethed through clenched teeth.
Renee gasped.
"Do you realize that it was your mouth that almost ruined things for Alice in the first place?"
Renee gaped at Bella, mouth hanging open.
"You defend those that deserve disapproval and disapprove of those you should be defending."
"What in the world are you talking about?" Renee questioned.
Bella simply shook her head. "I'm not even going to bother trying to explain it to you because it would take more energy than I have left right now. Please just do me one favor, Mom," she asked, her voice breaking. "When Jessica's baby is born, please, please, please try to remember that it's that child that'll have to deal with the consequences of your mouth."
And with that, Bella ran up the stairs to her room.
A/N: Thoughts?
Some things remained true to the original in this chapter, other things changed/were added. We're in different times here, and I'd like to think Bella would've had to say something to her mother at some point about her behavior.
And speaking of bad behavior, modernizing Lady Catherine's/Senator De Volturi's tirade reminded me of how insulting she really was to our Lizzy/Bella! What a bitch!
Alright, I know we've been wanting some E & B interaction. Those of you who know P&P know more or less what's coming up next chappy. For those of you who don't and missed Edward this chapter, let's just say you won't want to miss the next installment!
Twitter: PattyRosa817
Link to 'Stories by PattyRose' is on my profile page.