Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Twilight
Chapter 2: The News
The kids reached school with Lillian winning the race. EJ and MJ came out arguing with Lilly how it was unfair and that she cheated, while Lilly straight out denied. Mia waited for them, ready to comfort her husband over his loss, while Nessie, Allie and AJ walked to their school.
"So I need some new plot twist for the murder mystery I'm writing on right now. I have the culprit figured out, but I was wondering if I should add a completely new character as the accomplice or maybe have a character that seems to hate him, but secretly has an alliance with him." Nessie said to Allie.
AJ didn't bother listening to Allie's reply as he was scanning through the crowd looking for someone. He eyes then locked in on a girl with straight raven black hair and light brown eyes coming towards him and his sisters.
"Hey AJ." The girl greeted.
AJ's face broke out into a smile. "Hey, Des." He replied. The two then shared a kiss.
Desiree Johnson was not like any other human AJ has ever met before. She comes from a wealthy family and although she wears expensive brands, she never flaunts that fact. She is a kind-hearted adventurous girl who isn't very interested in her wealth. She met the Swan coven during freshmen year of high school when she worked with AJ on a science project and came to his house to work on it. While working on their project, they would talk about other things in their own lives and became really close friends. They started hanging out more and more after they submitted their project. It wasn't until one night at the movies that AJ realised that he has feelings for her. So with the support of his family (except for EJ and Lilly, who were both feeling a bit cautious and weary) he asked Des out on a date and was ecstatic when she said yes immediately without any hesitation. Being half-human, AJ doesn't have to be worried about getting tempted by Des' blood, nor does he has to worry about any of his siblings getting tempted. They can survive on both human food and animal blood. Bella and Mia have perfect self-control over their thirst having never drunk from a human before, although they would both go out to hunt before Des would come over to be on the safe side. The wolves are now able to control their phasing without letting their emotions get in the way, so the coven were able to disguise their secret from AJ's girl-friend.
But they weren't able to keep it that way for long. One day the hybrids, wolves, Mia and Des were out for a hike while Bella was at college. They ran into another vampire coven, one that hunts human. With Nessie and Allie's illusion they managed to disguise themselves and Des as vampires, without Des noticing. But then Mia recognized the leader of the coven as the one who turned her and mentally alerted the others. Then Mia, the wolves and the hybrids tried to get themselves and Des out of there and keep Masen from starting a fight with the leader, but then the leader remembered Mia and ended up provoking MJ into a fight which turned into a battle between both sides. Poor Des got a shock of her life by what she saw.
Fortunately the Swan Coven won and they disposed of the bodies (Nearly causing Des to get a heart attack). Now the trouble came of what to tell Des. Lilly mentally suggested to erase her memory, but AJ didn't want it. It turns out he secretly contemplated on telling Des their secret for a while, so he decided to tell her the truth. They then opted to tell Des and if that doesn't work well then Lilly will step in (An agreement EJ and Lilly were reluctant to agree on). After bringing Bella from the university and explaining to her what happened, they told Des the truth. After explaining everything, they could only looked at her and wonder what she would say. And what she did surprised all of them. She took AJ's hands and said to him "You're a lot more incredible than I thought you were."
AJ was so relieved to know that Des was okay with them and that she promised to keep their secret. The two of them fell deeper in love with each other and continued their relationship. But then the topic came that neither of them could ignore, what was going to happen after high school and college. The Swan Coven will have to move out once Bella graduates from college and the wolves, hybrids and Mia graduates from high school. And there was also the fact that AJ is immortal and Des is not, to be considered. So they had a family meeting with Des to discuss that. After a bit of debating, it was decided that a month after the high school graduation, Des will be turned into a vampire and will be with the Swan Coven. They will tell her parents that she will move away to be with the same college as AJ. Des was completely fine with it, in fact it was her idea in the first place and AJ was okay with as long as it was what Des wants. And he was happy that her transformation will be taking place after their graduation because being freshmen allowed Des plenty of time to make sure that this is what she wants. She even talked to Bella and Mia about their experiences with being turned.
Although majority of the coven welcomed Des as their new member, EJ and Lilly were still a bit wary of her intentions, wanting to look out for their youngest sibling. So one day, Lilly visited Des and using her talent of manipulation, made sure Des did not have any ulterior motives or insincere feelings. Satisfied with what she found out, she relayed the message to EJ and they both became more welcoming to her. AJ was not happy at first when he found out what Lilly did, but he was glad to see his two older siblings finally accept his girlfriend. So three years have passed and their relationship is stronger than ever.
"I'm happy to see you too, AJ. Um… do you have a minute?" Des asked, sounding a bit hesitant.
Before AJ could answer, Masen came up behind him, having finally finished his argument with Lilly and EJ, and clapped him on the back of his shoulders. "Come on, man. We got to go. Our class is at the other side of the building, remember?"
"Hang on a second MJ." Anthony said, before turning back to Des. "You wanted to tell me something?"
But Des shook her head. "You guys go to class, I'll tell you later."
"Are you sure?" AJ asked. Des nodded her head. "Okay, then let's go MJ." Giving a kiss on the cheek to Des, AJ and MJ ran off to their class while Des walked with Lilly and Allie to their class.
"Is everything okay, Des?" Allie asked as they entered the class.
"Everything's fine right now. It's just something found out that I wanted him to know. In fact, it's something that all of you should know." Des answered as she took her seat.
Allie and Lilly took their seats in front of her and on her left respectively. "What is it?" Lilly asked.
"Well I was hoping I could tell all of you at once, but here it is. Last night at dinner, my mom was telling me and my dad about the latest gossip. You guys remember that there's going to be some new kids in school in two days, right?" Des asked.
The two hybrids both nodded. They have definitely heard all the gossip about the new kids, but they didn't get any names.
"Well, one of my moms' friends' husband works as a doctor in the hospital and he talked to the new doctor joining the staff, the new kids' dad, or their adopted dad."
"And?" Allie asked. Neither she nor Lilly knew where Des was going with this.
"And my mom talked about how attractive the new doctor is, with pale, cold skin and topaz eyes."
The two girls froze. "Pale, cold skin?" Allie asked.
"Topaz eyes?" Lilly asked. "What's the new doctors' name?"
"Carlisle Cullen." Des answered.
Lilly immediately stiffened and Allie looked at her sister with worry. "Does your mom know the name of his family members?" Lilly gritted, struggling to remain calm.
"This is my mom we're talking about, she knows everything about any gossip." Des replied. "There's his wife Esme and their children, Edward, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper and Alice."
Then their teacher walked in, ending the girls' conversation. Des gave worried glances to Lilly who was glaring at her table and gripping her pencil, not bothering to pay attention to what her teacher is saying.
'Lilly! Get a grip! You are going to break your pencil!' Allie mentally sent to her sister.
Lilly looked down at her pencil and saw that she was indeed crushing her pencil. She put it aside and got a new one. She then sent a mental link to the rest of her siblings and Mia.
'Listen up, everyone! Emergency meeting outside at the bleachers during break! Be there!'
'Why, what's it about?'EJ asked, getting concerned.
'You'll find out when you get there.' Lilly answered before closing her mind to her siblings. She then took out a piece of paper and wrote a note in it. After that she folded it and tossed it to Des as soon as the teacher turned his back to his students.
We're going to meet at the bleachers during break to discuss the news The note said.
After reading the note Des slightly nodded, enough for Lilly to notice.
Lunch could not come sooner for the three girls as they kept glancing at the clock, waiting for the bell to ring. Finally it came and the three girls were the first at the bleachers. They waited until the others joined them.
"Alright, we're all here, so what's going on?" EJ asked, protective brother mode on. He knew Lilly had a serious reason for calling them all.
"Des just told us some serious news." Lilly answered.
"What's wrong?" AJ asked getting concerned as he walked to his girlfriend.
"I was hoping to tell you guys this before class, but I didn't get the chance so I just told Allie and Lilly because they were in my first class and I thought I should tell you guys immediately." Des explained.
"Well, get on with it already. Don't leave us in suspense." MJ said as he relaxed on the bleachers.
"The Cullens are coming." Lilly simply said.
Those four words alone created a tense atmosphere in a second.
"Explain." EJ gritted through his teeth, eyes narrowing.
"The five new kids that everyone in school is talking about? They're Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, Emmett and…him." Allie explained, being careful not to say her biological dads' name because she knew her eldest brother hates that.
"Are you guys sure?" EJ asked, hoping they were wrong
"We're sure, EJ. Des listed all of their names. We may have told her the story but we never told her any names. There's no other way for her to get the names." Lilly explained.
"So what do we do?" Mia asked, sitting next to MJ.
"We can stop them from coming here." EJ suggested in a serious tone.
"That sounds extreme." AJ commented.
"That sounds like fun." Masen said with a grin. "I'm in."
"Hold on, why are we the ones making this decision." Renesmee spoke up. Mom should be deciding what we should do."
"We can't tell her! It will hurt her knowing that they are going to be in the same town as her once again!" EJ exclaimed.
"It will hurt her more if we keep her in the dark about something like this." Renesmee argued back. "I know you want to protect mom, EJ, we all want to do the same, but we have no right to keep this from her. She was the directly hurt from the Cullens and she deserves to know."
"She's right, E." Lilly spoke up. "Mom is stronger than she was before. She should be the one to decide what we are going to do about the 'Cullen Situation'."
EJ sighed and decided to put it to a vote. "Okay, all those who support this decision raise your hand." He said as he raised his own hand. Everyone followed suit. "Okay then, right after mom gets home we are going to have a family meeting and we will tell her."
It was a long day for all of them, but eventually school ended and the hybrids, Mia and Des came back to the Swan household. It was a very old and simple cabin when they first found it, but after quite a bit of renovations over the years, they turned it into a mansion. It has seven bedrooms each with a bathroom and a walk-in closet, one of each couple, one for AJ and one for Bella, a game room, a room for the girls to dress up in, two guestrooms, a wide-spaced lounge connected to the kitchen and a dining hall, an attic and basement to store forty-five years' worth of memories, a training room, a dance studio (mostly for Lilly), a music room, a study, a library, two balconies on opposite sides and a garage to store the boys' car, the girls car, Bellas' car, the motorcycles and an RV. Outside the mansion is a swimming pool and a fire pit.
During their wait for Bella no one did or said anything. AJ and Des held each other's hand in silence as did Mia and Masen only those two seemed to be having a mental communication. Lilly and EJ were having their own conversation while Allie and Nessie were wrapped up in their own thoughts. At last they heard the familiar sound of tires coming into the driveway and prepared themselves. This is it.
"Hey guys, I'm back." Bella said as she walked inside. She then noticed that everyone was sitting silently in the lounge, even Masen and Allie, as if they were waiting for her. "What's wrong?"
Lilly stood up and spoke. "We have something we need to tell you. You might want to sit down."
Bella was worried, but complied. "Tell me."
"Well, you've heard about the new family moving here, right?" Lilly asked.
"Of course, the whole town's been talking about it." Bella answered. These days, every time she met someone other than her family, they would always talk about the new family moving in to town. No one knew their names though.
"Well, Des told us that her mom's friend's husband welcomed the new doctor joining the staff. And well…" Lilly trailed. She didn't really think about how she was going bring the news.
"The new doctor had pale, cold skin and topaz eyes." Mia finished for Lilly. The blonde girl sent a brief, grateful look to her sister-in-law.
Bella froze up. "A-a vampire? Working as a doctor? Don't tell me…"
"His name is Dr Carlisle Cullen and he and his family are going to be moving here in two days." Des confirmed.
Bella took some deep, unnecessary breaths as she tried to process the news. The others watched her silently, ready to comfort her if needed. Not a word was said for a few seconds.
EJ decided to break the silence. "We know this is hard for you to hear, and I speak for all of us when I say this, we ready to accept whatever you decide to do. If you want us to move to a different town, we can pack our bags and be ready by tonight."
The last statement snapped Bella out of her trance. "Wait, move away?"
"Well, we figured it would be hard for you to face them, after what happened. And we completely understand if you don't want to." Nessie spoke up, supporting her oldest brother.
"And we certainly don't want to, either." Lilly added. The others nodded in agreement.
Bella then stood up. "Guys, we can't leave just like that. That's just going to raise suspicions."
"We could think of a good reason." MJ muttered.
"And what about Des?" Bella added. "She's a part of this family too and she still has a life here in Port Angeles. We can't make her leave everything behind. And we certainly can't leave her behind."
Des was silent about this. As much as she loves her boyfriend and her second family, she also loves her first family and her life here. She wasn't ready to say goodbye to that yet.
"So what are we going to do about this?" EJ asked.
"We're going to do nothing." Bella declared.
That surprised everyone. "What?" AJ asked.
"You heard me. We're not going to do anything." Bella repeated. "If they're going to move here, let them. They'll go on with their lives and we go on with our lives."
"What about the fact that six of us are related to him." Nessie asked.
Bella thought about that before answering. "Obviously none of you are too keen of going up to them and telling them who you guys are and I wouldn't force any of you to. But they're vampires. They are bound to notice the abnormalities that others can't notice, as well as the resemblance. If they do manage to figure it out….well that is something we'll face when we cross that bridge."
"Are you sure about this, mom?" Allie asked. "There's still time, we can find another way to deal with this." It was clear that everyone else was in agreement.
Bella smiled at her family before answering. "Guys, listen. It's been forty five years, since it happened. I'm not going to lie to you and say that I'm completely over it, but I have come to accept what happened. And you know what? I don't regret ever letting it happen, because I got six amazing, yet somewhat crazy-" She chuckled when she heard a chorus of 'heys' "-children as a result. Ever since I woke up from my transformation, I knew that one day, we would bump into the Cullens, it is a small world after all. And I've been preparing myself for that. My age might be frozen, but I have definitely gown over these years. I'm not the same girl they knew in Forks and I'm ready to show them that."
Everyone was quiet as they listened to her and took in what she said. Masen then spoke up. "Just to be clear here, we're not going to do anything to the Cullens to make them move away?"
"Definitely not." Bella answered straight away. "And no pulling pranks on them. In school or after school." MJ and Allie groaned at that.
Bella ignored them. "So it's decided, then?" Everyone nodded at that, although some people like Lilly and EJ were a bit reluctant to agree with this decision but it was their moms' decision and they trust her, so they will go with it. "Now, is there anything else anyone would like to talk about now?" Everyone answered no. "Then this meeting is over, then."
Des glanced at time on her phone, before she stood up. "It's getting late. I should be going."
AJ stood up as well. "I'll drop you." He offered. Des nodded and the two walked to the garage.
"Anyone want to join me for hunting?" Nessie asked getting up. EJ and Lilly got up. "Allie, MJ, what about you guys?" She asked her two other siblings.
"Nah, I'm good. Mia and I are going to watch some TV." MJ answered, laying back on the couch and handing his mate the remote for one of the TVs. The living room wall has seven wall-to-wall TV screens with wireless headphones connected because there were way too many fights over one remote. One screen was connected with their spy camera usually worn by EJ in any animal form, two were used for video games and the rest were used for watching purposes. Mia took it and rested with him.
"I'll pass too. I'll talk to Seth if he's free right now." Allie said.
"Okay, then. Race ya!" EJ said, before he, Lilly and Nessie ran out. However, after just as he stepped outside, he was suddenly pulled back into the house while the other two ran ahead. EJ turned to glare at Masen, the culprit.
"You may want to step on it if you want to win the race." MJ said smirking.
Huffing, EJ darted out of the house, transforming into a cheetah on his way to the forest.
"He's so going to get you back for that." Mia said to Masen.
"Totally worth it." MJ replied, putting an arm around Mias' shoulders as Mia turned on the TV.
"Don't stay up too late guys. Remember you have school tomorrow and also tell your other siblings as well." Bella said to her remaining children.
"We got it." Allie and Masen both replied.
"Don't worry Bells, I won't let these guys stay up late." Mia said.
Bella went up to her room and laid down on her bed. It is true that full vampires never sleep, so buying a bed is not really necessary, but Bella bought one anyway for two reasons. One, to keep up with appearances and two, because there were times where she just wanted to lie down and let her mind be deep in thoughts. Right now is a perfect example for the latter, as Bella thoughts is filled with the Cullens.
Three hours later
There was a knock on Bella bedroom door. "Bella, can I come in?"
Recognising that voice, Bella shook herself out of her thoughts and answered. "Yes Mia." She said, sitting up on the headboard.
The door opened and Mia walked in. She went on the other side of the bed and sat beside Bella. "They're all asleep." She informed.
"That's good." Bella said looking straight ahead.
"And I put a sound shield around your room, so our conversation won't wake them up."
Bella nodded. She knew this was coming, after all, ever since she met Mia that fateful day, the younger girl acted like her older sister.
"So how do you really feel about them coming here?" Mia asked.
"To be honest, I don't know. I really don't know." Bella answered. She finally looked at Mia. "I've spent forty five years thinking about them, wondering what they were doing, where they were, did he ever moved on…" She said the last part softly. "I knew somehow we would meet again. I keep trying to tell myself that when that day comes I'll be ready because I'll be different from the girl they once knew. But to be honest, I think that resolve could break when I see them."
"Do you still love him?" Mia asked.
The silence answered that question. "Bella, don't force yourself to go through this. Your kids all love you and care for you. They want you to be happy. And so do I. If you want us to move before they get here, we can get in the RV and be on the road.
"No." Bella answered. "I meant what I said in the meeting. "We can't force Des to suddenly leave her family like that and we can't take AJ away from her. I know what it's like to be taken away from the love of my life and I would never put Des or anyone through that ever. Look." Bella turned her back away from the headboard and faced Mia. "I won't lie. I still love him. I don't think I will ever stop loving him even after all this time, but I don't need him. I've learned to live without him and I have you and my kids and the wolves and now Des. I don't need anyone else."
"Well, if you're sure." Mia said.
"I am." Bella said. "If I can get through living in the same town as them, then maybe it could help me finally move on."
Mia thought about that before answering. "Alright then. Just remember what we said, we're all here for you. You don't have to go through this alone."
"Thanks Mia. I really appreciate it." Bella said.
The two girls hugged each other and then Mia left the room, leaving Bella to lie down on her bed with her thoughts until morning comes.