Chapter 24 – And off we go….
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No, no, no… This was not how it was suppose to go down!
"What do you mean closed off?" This exclamation could be heard ringing through the snow filled parking lot of Lakeside Garden resort as Bella stared in disbelief at Emmett McCarty.
"Closed off as in snowed in…as in all flights are cancelled," he clarified as he opened the rear hatch of his Jeep. "Now, let me take those bags for you. I know you're an independent gal and all, but I want to keep this cold, wet sh- stuff out of my car."
"WAIT! It can't be snowed in. It's only been snowing for a few hours and I've checked the website multiple times this morning. I've seen no reports about flights being cancelled."
"Sorry to thwart your plans Swan, but there is really not much I can do about the snow," Emmett shrugged, as he easily wrestled first one and then the other of her two bags out of the iron grip she wasn't even aware she had been resorted to.
"No, not that one. I need that one," she protested reclaiming her laptop case, nearly slipping on a patch of ice in the process.
Emmett cursed eloquently, but resigned to give her a helping hand as she struggled to regain her balance. "See, snow is evil. Snow is what happens when the atmosphere solidifies and falls on your head." He made his point by scooping up a handful of snow, pretending like he was going to throw it in her face. He didn't, instead he shoved it in his brother's direction. "Quit stalling, Eddie! Get over here and give me a hand!"
Edward, who narrowly escaped getting hit square on, scrambled for the nearest suitcase to use as a shield.
"Not with the luggage, stupid. I got that covered…,"Emmett grunted with a dismissive shake of his head. "Get the girl and the kid into the car, before we all turn into ice cubes,"he instructed impatiently, taking the suitcase from Edward, while muttering, "And they think I'm the slow one…" under his breath.
For a moment Edward considered picking up a handful of snow on his own, but in the end he decided against it. He was not dressed for this weather, none of them were. So rather than retaliating he took the hand of the little boy that was hovering in his shadow, and turned towards Bella. "It pains me to admit, but I think my meat head of a brother is actually right for once," he relented with a scowl.
She shook her head. "I checked it every ten minutes until my connection died. There were no cancelled flights, Edward. Plenty of delays, sure, but that's only to be expected, right?"
"Right, but come on. Look around, if it isn't closed down already, it will be real soon. It's been over an hour and a half since both our internet connections died; an hour and a half of constant snowing. I'd offer to call the airport for you, but I have like zero phone reception right now."
"No. It can't be closed," she whined like a petulant child. "There were no cancellations, not a single one, nill, nada, NONE. Are you sure about this Em?"
"Yep, Rose was supposed to fly in this afternoon, remember?"
Edward frowned, "So does that mean they are all stranded? Rose, Alice and Jasper?"
"Well, not necessarily. There is nothing wrong with the weather in NY and besides you know Alice… She's been on the phone with the airline non stop since she woke up this morning. As usual she just knew what was going to happened, before it happened. They are on various standby lists for all available Portland flights, departing within the next 24 hours. So I guess all we can do is to wait and see."
"Portland?" Bella repeated it like it was a foreign word. "And hey, if she knew the weather was going to turn bad, why didn't she give me the heads up? She knew I was planning on flying home today."
"It's Alice we're talking about. Do you really need me to answer that?" Edward asked dryly.
Bella groaned in frustration. "She wants me to tag along to your parents place for Christmas," she guessed turning to Emmett for confirmation.
"Ah, yeah pretty much," he nodded. "We all do, Swan, but don't let it get to your head. Now get in the car before I freeze my ass off!"
"Sorry, but that won't work for me. How far is Portland? A five… six…. hour drive, right? That means if I start now I could maybe make it there by nightfall."
"Seriously, Bella…" Edward crossed his arms over his chest. "Stubborn is one thing, but sweetheart, this is ridiculous."
"Don't 'sweetheart' me! If they can fly in, I can fly out!"
"Yeah, but aren't you forgetting something?"
"WHAT?"
"We're two days shy of Christmas; the flights are all booked up. Besides you can't drive a hundred and eighty miles in that car."
As on cue, they all turned to stare at the car in question, even Anthony. The rental was smaller than most cars of its class. Toyota IQ may be good for city driving and parallel parking, but it looked like a matchbox car next to Emmett's Jeep.
"Well, I suppose I'll have to trade it for something sturdier…" Bella agreed hesitantly. "…with snow chains perhaps. I'm not kidding around though, I'm not changing my plans. If Alice can get on the standby list so can I."
Edward made a motion as if he wanted to strangle her. "How are you planning on achieving that? With no internet connection and limited phone reception? You really don't get it do you? It's the week before Christmas, the busiest travel week of the year. "
Emmett hummed in agreement. "Not a single car to rent in the entire Portland area. And Portland is bigger than Seattle… Just saying..."
"Ugh, you two are no help at all," she huffed. Stomping her way back to the cabin to get the rest of their luggage.
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"Come on! It's not the end of the world," Edward coaxed, as he turned the ignition and put the car into motion.
Bella looked at him like he'd just grown a second head, but refrained from commenting.
"It's just a slight modification of your plans, that's all. I'll do everything in my power to help you get where you need to go. I can't make any promises about making it in time for Christmas dinner, but there will be plenty of time for you to chug down eggnog and fruit cake with Renee and Phil, if that's what you need to get in the right spirit for the holiday season."
She snorted at the mention of eggnog, "This has nothing to do with holiday spirit, and everything to do with self-preservation. She'll be guilt tripping me for months, if I'm not there when they carve the turkey. "
"Yeah, I've guessed that much. I've met your mother, remember," he teased, steering the car out of the parking lot and onto the snow-filled, slippery road. "You heard Emmett, though, he'll drive you all the way to Portland, first thing tomorrow morning. All you have to do is sit tight until then."
"Yeah, I heard him. He'll be heading to Portland to pick up Rose… if she makes her flight. That's a big IF."
"If my brother won't drive you, I will. You have my word, alright!"
Bella grabbed the dash board as the car skidded through the first turn. "Geez, thanks Edward. That's reassuring… NOT!"
Edward pumped the brakes and steered against the spin before he spoke again. "Driving in this mess is no picnic, Bella. You'll have to trust me on that one. I'm pretty sure 24 hours in Forks won't kill you. Focus on the good stuff. It can't keep snowing like this forever and while we wait it out you'll have access to both landline phone service and optic fibre broadband."
"Fine, the roads are bad and Forks beats camping at some over-crowded airport anytime. You were right, it was a lousy idea. Is that what you want to hear?"
"Yes, thank you! Now, shut up and let me drive!"
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," she remarked with a pointed glance at the two little boys, strapped into car matching seats in the back of the car. "Language Edward, language…"
"Sorry, I forgot we weren't alone," he grumbled, easing his foot off the gas pedal to slow down further.
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Neither one of them said anything for another ten minutes or so. Mostly because Edward was busy trying to keep the car on the road, but also because Bella was busy trying to keep her lunch down. And this was the jeep, mind you. She could only imagine what the Toyota experience would have been like.
They were in Emmett's car, with both the kids, because Emmett had decided that since he was the only one who had any recent experience with winter roads, he was the one best suited to drive the Toyota, or the death trap, as he liked to call it. Needless to say, he wanted Elliott or Anthony in the jeep, with the four-wheel drive, the snow chains and the anti-spin control. Emmett was right to be cautious, of course, but damn, there went the alone time she had been hoping for…
The conversation she had been prepping herself for all morning would obviouly have to wait. Maybe it would be alright to broach the subject in a wider context, though, because thankfully the kids were actually co-operating for once. Elliott was blissfully asleep and Anthony was mesmerised by the snowflakes hitting the window. Maybe she could make an attempt to pave the way, so to speak, before the actual bomb-dropping conversation took place. It couldn't hurt, right?
"I had a doctors appointment set up, that I'll be forced to cancel," Bella revealed, choosing her words carefully
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know that, " Edward said without taking his eyes off the road. "I'm sure Carlisle can check your blood pressure if that helps."
"Not that kind of doctors appointment, but thanks"
"Are you like seeing a shrink or something… or is it about your head injury?"
"What? No! I'm not seeing a shrink and my head is fine. I thought we'd been over this before. My head has been fine for more than three months now."
"Sorry, I guess it's none of my business."
"It's fine. I wouldn't have brought it up if I didn't want you to know. It's more of a female-related-check-up, if you catch my drift."
"Riiight. Nothing for Carlisle then," he grumbled, daring a glance in her direction.
"No definitely nothing I'd want your father to handle," she grimaced.
"So it's an annual thing, then? Or do I need to be worried?"
"Uhm..." What to tell, what to tell...He was dangerously close to hitting the nail on the head.
When she didn't answer right away, Edward banged the steering wheel with his fist. "Christ Bella, don't tell me Black left you with a parting gift from one of those skanky hoes he was messing with!"
"No! Just no" she hurried to assure him as the car wavered all over the road. She waited until he had the situation under control again before she apologised. "Sorry, I didn't realise you'd react that way, or I would have worded it differently. It's nothing contagious. It's nothing like that at all."
He nodded, but his jaw remained clenched. "My fault. I'm the one that should be apologising. I guess I overreacted, kind of… Sorry."
"It's okay. Keep your eyes on the road. We can talk about this later. I'm fine, you're fine. You don't have to rush off to get tested or anything. I promise."
"Crap, is that what you think? No, Bella, I was worried for my own sake, I was… it was… ugh…" He hit the steering wheel in frustration again. "I wish I could say I always stay safe, always keep it wrapped, always take proper precautions, but obviously that's not the case," as he spoke his eyes sought out the rear mirror and the two little boys in the back seat. "I'm such a hypocrite. I'm just as big of a jerk as HE was."
"Edward, that's no-… " she started, but then the car jerked to the left and the words 'Watch out!' registered in her mind. "Watch-out-watch-out-watch-out!"
"SHIT!"
In the blink of an eye the car had slipped off the road and tipped over sideways into the ditch, leaving two wheels firmly buried in snow and the other two spinning in free air.
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AN: This was not at all how I had planned this chapter to play out. Inspiration hit in a way I hadn't expected. We're in a middle of a pretty bad storm right now. No snow, but strong winds and flooding. Nothing too extreme in my region, but from what I've seen on TV it's pretty bad.
Emmett drives a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited with enough space for kids in the back seat and a crap load of luggage. If you're not familiar with the Toyota IQ, google it and be prepared to laugh. I don't know if it's even available in the US. I just know I test drove one when I was shopping around for a new car and it's ridiculously small. But then again my budget was on the smaller side so… you get what you pay for…. Anyway, I ended up with a Renault Clio, which I love. The anti spin control system has saved my ass more than once.
I got a realy god question I thought I'd address it here:
Q: My question is why can't the FBI, Bella, Edward or any of the Cullin's put two and two together with Edward being drugged, nude photo's of Edward being taken and the birth of Anthony 9 months later? I figured this out chapters ago...maybe ;)
A:This is a really good question. It's two different events though. The one where he was drugged and photographed against his will, took place several years prior to the one where he found himself straddled in the front seat of that car.. The night Anthony was conceived Edward was simply coaxed into drinking too much and then taken advantage of. In his nightmares these two separate events blurs into one. His subconscious has figured out something that his conscious mind has not yet grasped. Even though the two events are completely separate they still share some similarities. We know through the diary entries that Angela (aka the stalker) is Anthony's mother. We also know that Angela is James sister and that James is the photographer that took the nudie pics. The piece of the puzzle that Edward, Bella, the FBI, and the rest of the Cullens is missing is the fact that Angela is the mother. They've all thought the thought at one point or another, but dismissed it for various reasons. Angela was already dead when Anthony turned up abandoned in Seattle for starters. Nothing in the background check that Bella and her colleges has made on Angela shows that she had any other living relatives beside her mother and her brother. Nothing indicated that she had birthed a child. No one knew anything about the child. No one, except two people… but now I'm getting ahead of myself….