Back to the Start
Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.
Meeting the Family
Bella had completely passed out from motion sickness by the time she reached the Cullens mansion. The next thing she was aware of was a sudden rush of cold. She opened her eyes, pale skin turning ashen. She found she was back on her feet. She stumbled forward, head spinning as if she had just downed several vodka shots, until an icy hand caught her around the waist, gently guiding her aching head to rest on a stone shoulder.
"We're here now, Bella."
She blinked blearily, her vision swimming as she stared up at the house. Bright light shone from every window on the first two floors. A long line of glowing Japanese lanterns hung from the porch eaves, reflecting a soft radiance on the huge cedars that surrounded the house. Big bowls of flowers – pink roses – lined the stairs up to the front doors.
"I feel sick." Bella moaned.
Edward took a few deep breaths to calm himself. "The nausea will pass." He said sympathetically. "Try to be a good sport. You are about to meet my family for the first time."
"What?" Bella muttered.
Edward let go of her waist and took her hand instead. He pulled her up the front steps, and then opened the door for her, gently pushing her in front of him as he closed it behind them.
They were all waiting in the huge white living room, when Bella walked through the door, they greeted her with a loud chorus of "Hello's" as if she was a prodigal daughter returning from some far away land. It was unnerving as well as freaky. Maybe Edward wasn't the only delusional one in the family.
It was also a hundred times worse than she had ever imagined.
Edward, attempting to relieve her obvious distress, wrapped an encouraging arm around her waist, daring to kiss the top of her head as if they were an actual couple.
Edward's parents, Carlisle and Esme -looking impossibly youthful – were the closest to the door. Esme approached first, reaching out and hugging Bella carefully as if she was made of fine bone china, her soft, caramel colored hair brushing against Bella's cheek in a familiar fashion as she kissed her forehead.
Carlisle's step was measured, careful as he approached her. "It's nice to finally meet you properly outside of a hospital setting, Bella." He said with a warm smile. "Welcome."
Bella stared up at him like a rabbit caught in the headlights of an oncoming car at the bizarre introduction. The last time she had set eyes on him was at the hospital after Jacob had saved her from being hit by Tyler's van.
Rosalie and Emmet stood behind them. Rosalie didn't smile, her expression was stony. She looked like she had been forced to attend this strange meet and greet against her will.
Emmet's face was the total opposite. He was sporting a huge grin, as if he found the whole charade amusing. "You look like you're going to be sick." He said to her, laughing.
"Be quiet, Emmet." Edward said tersely.
The next to greet her was Alice. She let go of Jasper's hand and skipped forward, all her teeth sparkling in the bright light. Jasper smiled, too, but kept his distance. He leaned, long and blond, against the post at the foot of the stairs.
"Oh, wow, you do smell nice." Alice declared. When she saw the look of alarm crossing Bella's face at this pronouncement, she quickly apologized.
"Alice has no filter." Edward explained, smiling fondly at his sister.
No one else seemed to know quite what to say. Bella gazed around at them all, tense and clearly on edge, until an unexpected feeling of ease spread through her, and she was suddenly comfortable where she was. Bella caught Edward staring at Jasper, raising one eyebrow, and she suddenly became suspicious.
"You're doing this to me, aren't you?" She demanded, glaring in Jasper's direction. The feeling of wellbeing quickly dissipated as a bemused expression crossed Jasper's face. "Well say something! Don't just stand there like a piece of wood."
Carlisle stepped forward again, his tone soothing as he tried to smooth things over. "Please do not be alarmed, Bella." He explained gently. "You're right. Jasper has a very special talent. He can sense and change the emotions of those around him -calm down a room of angry people, for example, or excite a lethargic crowd, conversely. It's a very subtle gift. He sensed how overwhelmed you were feeling and was genuinely trying to put you at ease."
Carlisle's attempt to ally Bella's concerns fell on deaf ears. She had endured Edward's manipulations for weeks, and now she found that yet another member of his despicable family was able to do the same, but much worse in her mind, he was able to mess with her emotions against her will.
"That is no justification." She argued, stepping away from Edward, who was attempting to calm her down by placing his cold hand on the small of her back. "Get off me." She put her hand out to ward him off. "I didn't give you permission to touch me. Just like I didn't give you permission to bring me here in the first place."
"Edward?" Carlisle questioned abruptly, his eyes shooting in his direction. "Is this true?"
Edward looked extremely discomfited. "Bella can be…. stubborn." He struggled to find the right words to justify his actions.
"Why are you asking him and not me?" Bella was practically shouting. She was in a houseful of vampires, some with some very special talents, and she was yelling at them at the top of her voice. She was either mad or dangerously unhinged, with no thought to her own safety. "He turned up in my room uninvited this morning and kidnapped me."
"Edward?" Esme said, clearly distressed. "Why would you do that?"
Bella felt a flash of guilt when she saw how upset Esme appeared to be. She did look genuinely anguished, but Bella was on a roll now, and determined to speak her mind. It was time the family knew the extent of Edward's delusional behavior.
"I don't mean to cause anyone here any undue suffering, but Edward has been tormenting me for weeks." She said, her voice thick with repressed emotion. "My dad has already been here to see you, but I wonder if he managed to make you aware of the extent of your son's behavior."
"Bella, I have already – "
"Shut up!" Bella cut Edward off before he could make his usual excuses. "I never asked or wanted your protection. You have been hiding in my room, spying on me for weeks now without my knowledge, manipulating and gaslighting me at every opportunity. You stalk me at school, trying to insert yourself into my life, when I have told you repeatedly to leave me alone. And now you bring me here, to meet your family, abducting me against my will. I'm telling you this stops right now. If it doesn't, you'll force me to go public with my accusations, and I highly doubt any of you want the spotlight focused on you, considering what you are."
The air was suddenly so brittle it could snap, and if it didn't, Bella thought she might. No-one spoke, what was there to say? The usual platitudes wouldn't cut it right now.
Rosalie, Edward's gloriously beautiful sister, was the first to crack. She flew at him in a rage, her lips pulled back, revealing rows of pearly white teeth. She grabbed hold of his bronze-colored hair and yanked his head back, so he was forced to look into her eyes. "How could you?" She snarled, there was nothing soft and genteel about her now, she was like an angry wildcat.
"Rose, please." Carlisle pleaded.
Emmet rushed to her side, all humor gone, he pried her hands away from Edward and pulled her away. "Not this way, Rose." He said close to her ear, trapping her against his burly body.
Rosalie ignored him, turning her fury onto Alice instead. "You started this." She seethed. "You've been feeding his delusions with those worthless visons of yours!"
Alice looked as stunned as Bella felt at the normally cool blonde's ferocious outburst. And what did she mean by worthless visions?
"Will somebody please explain what is going on here?" Her nerves were taut. She was close to snapping. "What does she mean by visions?"
Bella watched as a moment of wordless communication passed between Carlisle and Edward. Emmet had already taken Rosalie away. Jasper's hands rested on Alice's shoulders. Once again Bella felt the same sense of ease that had spread through her the first time, even though she was upset. She glanced sharply in Jasper's direction, guessing he was using his special gift again to calm the tension in the room. He looked back at her, his expression inscrutable.
"Bella, why don't you come to my office so we can talk?" Carlisle suggested, smiling kindly.
There were days the tiredness comes in both forms, physical and mental. Bella had reached that point now, the point where her body needed to rest yet her mind needed it to move, to burn the anxiety right out.
"And then will someone please take me home?"
"I'll drive you home myself." Carlisle promised.
"Okay, then, I'll hear you out."
Carlisle pressed a gentle kiss on Esme's forehead, before gesturing for Bella to follow him. She walked behind him up the massive staircase, her hand trailing along the satin smooth rail. The long hall at the top of the stairs was paneled with a honey-colored wood, the same as the floorboards. As they walked down the hall, Carlisle pointed to the different rooms.
"Rosalie and Emmet's room…. Alice's room." He said as they passed each door.
He would have continued, but Bella had stopped dead at the end of the hall, staring incredulously at the ornament hanging on the wall above her head. She heard someone chuckle, and turned round to find Edward standing a few paces away from her, clearly amused by her bewildered expression.
"You can laugh." He said. "It is sort of ironic."
Bella didn't laugh, instead she just flashed him a look of complete disdain. Her hand raised automatically, one finger extended to touch the large wooden cross, its dark patina contrasting with the lighter tone of the wall. She didn't touch it, though she was curious if the aged wood would feel as silky as it looked.
"It must be very old."
Carlisle, too, looked amused. "Early sixteen-thirties, more or less." He revealed.
Bella looked away from the cross to stare at him. "Why do you keep this here?" She couldn't help asking.
"Nostalgia. It belonged to my father."
"He collected antiques?" Bella asked doubtfully.
"No. He carved this himself. It hung on the wall above the pulpit in the vicarage where he preached."
Bella's face registered her shock. "How old are you?" She wondered.
"I just celebrated my three hundred and sixty-second birthday." Carlisle revealed with another one of his warm smiles. "I was born in London, in the sixteen forties, I believe. Time wasn't marked as accurately then, not for the common people anyway. It was just before Cromwell's rule, though."
"Does that shock you, Bella?" Edward ventured, watching her reaction carefully.
Bella kept her face composed, not wanting him to see that she was affected at all by this extremely disconcerting set of facts. "As entertaining as this trip down memory lane is, I thought we were going to your office." She said, ignoring Edward and focusing on Carlisle.
"Of course." Carlisle walked a few more paces, stopping to open a door on his right.
Bella followed him inside, peering around with interest at the high-ceilinged room with the tall west-facing windows. The walls were paneled again, in a darker wood -where they were visible. Most of the wall space was taken up by towering bookshelves that reached high above her head and held more books than she had ever seen outside a library. At any other time, she would have loved to browse the shelves, but right now, her lingering sense of disquiet prevented her from truly relaxing.
Carlisle walked over to a huge mahogany desk and made himself comfortable in the leather chair set behind it. "Please take a seat, Bella." He offered politely.
"I think I'll stand, thank you." Bella answered tersely.
"So stubborn." Edward murmured from behind, making her scowl.
"I could show you some more of our history." Carlisle suggested. "Maybe it will give you a better understanding of – "
"Not to be rude." Bella butted in. "I am not interested. I would rather you get straight to the point. What did Rosalie mean when she spoke about Alice's visions?"
Carlisle sat forward in his chair; his expression thoughtful. "Alice has a very special gift. Very different from Jasper's." He paused, shooting a glance in Edward's direction, before continuing. "She sees things—things that might happen, things that are coming. But it's very subjective. The future isn't set in stone. Things change."
"And what has that got to do with me?"
Carlisle's eyes darted to Edward again. "She saw you coming."
"What does that mean?" Bella persisted, getting angry with the older man's evasive answers.
"He means that I was the one who was meant to save you from Tyler's van that day." Edward answered impatiently. "But the dog's impromptu decision to skip school and pay you a visit changed the outcome."
"Please, Edward, there is no need to be so coarse." Carlisle chided him.
"Jacob saved my life. And I'm glad he did." Bella emphasized the word he. "I get it now." She said sarcastically, turning to face Edward directly for the first time. "Alice saw you swooping in a like a regular superhero to save me, and I was supposed to be so grateful that I swooned right into your arms, falling madly in love with my savior. Is that it?"
"No!" Edward blustered. "Not quite like that. His interference- "
"His interference saved me in more ways than one it seems." Bella cut in again. "If that's all, I'm ready to go now."
"But, Bella, you – "
"Enough, Edward." Bella cried; hysteria clear in her tone. Her sanity was balancing on a knife edge. She was desperate to escape, to go back to normality. If normality existed anymore. "You talked. I listened. Take me home now."
Carlisle quickly rose from his seat. "Of course, Bella." He agreed quietly.
"But, Carlisle, you know that Alice saw – "
Carlisle shook his head fiercely at Edward, effectively silencing his protests. "No more, my son." He admonished him. "Stay here and wait for me, we'll talk further when I return." He met Bella's glance and smiled. "I hope you'll forgive my son's impertinence."
"Please, I just want to go home." Bella said again, weariness making her body droop.
"If you'd like to follow me." Carlisle ushered Bella out of the room, giving Edward one more meaningful glance as he passed.
A/N-thanks for reading!