Bella's POV:
I woke up the next morning, to the entire house submerged in the early morning sun.
The shrill ringing of the landline, down in the kitchen, echoing off the walls within the empty house.
I groaned for a moment, before quickly throwing the blanket off myself. Beginning to shiver delicately as my body became exposed to the sudden air of the cold room, and slowly tried to adjust to the temperature of the house, I walked out of the room.
As I reached the kitchen, I quickly picked up the phone and answered it. "Hello?"
"Hi, is a Miss. Isabella Swan there?" A smooth masculine voice answered back on the other end.
'Of course, I am. Who else would live here? Dorthy Jepkins?' I thought, rolling my eyes.
"Yes, this is she speaking. How may I help you?" I asked as I pulled out one of the dinners I prepared last week and froze, before placing it in the microwave to defrost.
"This is Edward Cullen, from the Federal Bureau of Investigation…" he replied carefully.
FBI? What did they want?
"Ah-huh…" I mumbled as I slipped my food out of the microwave.
"I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me?" He finally asked, after a few moments of awkward silence.
"It depends on the questions you are asking," I replied, stoically.
The suddenly tightening in my stomach, causing my nerves to shoot up.
What was this call pertaining to? And why were they calling me?
"Yes, well… we have reason to believe you know the location of the Archugan tribe residence within the Amazonian wilderness." He said.
I do. Like the back of my hand, in fact. But I wasn't about to reveal this bit of information to him.
"That wasn't a question." I point out, as I place my food on the breakfast nook.
"We need your help." He finally whispered.
"I can't help you," I replied, honestly.
Truth be told, I hadn't been there since my parents died. If I was being honest with myself I didn't know if I was ready to go there again. If ever.
"How do you know you can't, if you don't even know what kind of help we need from you?" He asked, annoyed.
Ah, the general 'we' welp, it was generally an entire team that usually did these kinds of jobs. So, of course, he was using a plural rather than a singular noun.
"My guess is that you need some sort of guide to lead you through the wilderness, or you are looking for something in that particular area and only a member of said tribe has access to," I replied, enjoying his annoyance.
His grumbling response confirmed my suspicion, along with a swear before he sighed.
"Be honest with me," I stated, calmly.
I had a feeling that what he was about to say was going to cause problems for me. The feeling caused me to begin hating him, despite the fact of not actually knowing him entirely, or personally.
"Alright. Fine. There was a crash near the area of the tribe, two agents are missing, we looked through our list of the top archaeologists and pathologists. Your parents were in there. It says here you are their only child. " He says.
The air freezes in my lungs as I hear him casually mention my parents. "My parents are dead," I informed him, once again stoically.
"Oh… I— Sorry for your loss. I didn't mean to…" he stuttered.
"It's fine. It happened long ago… Can you please just get to the point?" I asked, looking down at my forgotten food before me.
"Sure. What I wanted to ask you, before you interrupted me...was if you would please guide me to the tribe, possibly, translate for me?" He asked.
"How can I help you? I'm not a pathologist or archaeologist, I'm a midwife. I don't have anything you need to help you." I argue, confused.
"You have knowledge of their customs, the land, and the general area." He responds, calmly.
I knew it! Now my feelings of disliking him were justified.
"I'll have to get back to you," I replied before ending the call.
I sat there, numbly, staring at my food as it cooled down.
Eventually, I was brought out of my trance by a sharp knock on the door, forcing me to go open it.
"Bella, oh! I'm so glad you're home today! Have you had a chance to eat now?" Mrs. Cope asks as she pulls me into a tight hug.
"I was about to.," I mumbled.
"Well, let's get a move on then! Go on!" She orders, pushing me towards the kitchen again.
She looks at my glass container and shakes her head before snatching it and placing the food onto a plate before heating it up again and giving it back to me.
"Eat." She orders again.
I relent, already feeling the oncoming headache forming on the back of my skull should I choose to argue with her.
When she sees that I am finished, she takes my plate and orders me away.
"You don't have to do this, Mrs. Cope," I say, trying to take the plate so I can wash it myself.
"Nonsense, Bells, you're away a lot, days at a time. You need someone to baby you. Accept it. You won't get rid of me so easily, dear. I know you think you are alone in this world, but you're not. You have people that love you, and that care for you, and those that are willing to do anything to see you happy. You just haven't realized it yet." She whispers, patting my arm.
"Thank you, Mrs. Cope. What would I do without all of you?" I ask, hugging her.
"I don't ask questions I don't want the answers to. Now, go back up and get some more rest." She says, as she rushes me out of the kitchen and quickly does the dishes.
I don't go back to sleep when I go back up to my room. I simply lay on it, with my blanket pulled around me.
The question of what I should do bouncing around my mind.
Over the next few days, I manage to distract myself by going into the clinic and checking on my patients.
None are due until close to the end of the year so I happily check on the babies with the doppler and then head back home.
As I reach the house, I am surprised to see a large navy blue SUV, with darkly tinted windows, parked just outside of my driveway.
A tall, 6'3, lean man with bronze hair is pacing outside on my porch.
As I pulled in, he turned to look straight at me as I turned my baby off and hopped out.
"Isabella Swan?" He asks, looking at me in question, his voice sounding familiar.
A moment later I realized why. It was the man who called me a few days ago.
My eyes widen in recognition. "Fuck! How the hell did he find me?" I mutter to myself, as he slowly begins approaching me.