Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Chapter 4 - Forks Gossip-Mill

He wasn't a happy man this morning.

Not because of last night's revelations, but because it was so Goddamit early in the morning for anyone to be calling at the door. Does no one respect a man's sleep anymore? As he made his way through the living room, he decided it would be the best for his sanity to ignore the pair sleeping on the couch, how Bella managed to get her leg tangled with Carlisle's arm in an angle that couldn't not be painful and stay fast asleep would, hopefully, stay as a mystery. And he wouldn't even go into the fact that apparently, vampires can sleep just like the next-door person without needing a coffin or something like that (and how did they manage to still be asleep with the doorbell ringing like this? Is it some vampiric superpower they didn't tell him about?).

Charlie opened the door to his best friend's son. Jacob seemed out of breath as if he had run the whole way from the Reservation to his doorstep but Charlie knew that couldn't be possible and the battered motorcycle a couple of feet from them confirmed the suspicions, so being out of breath was probably the boy hyperventilating.

"Jake," one could still hear the sleep in Charlie's voice as he opened the door fully and stepped aside so the boy could get inside, "What are you doing here? Did something happen? Is Billy okay?"

The boy looked a bit lost at his questions.

"Charlie, people in town have been talking about Bella being back," he said as if that should've been obvious, "The news even got to the Res. Someone was saying she came to see Cullen last night and...", his voice died when his eyes met part of the couch's back. That hair colour was new, and he felt a pang of sadness at the thought of how they should be the darkest shade of brown and not an almost white shade of blond. Even her eyelashes were golden, the blond eyebrows would almost disappear against her pale skin. It all made her look way too pale, almost sick and frail. What happened to his Bella? She smelled the same, he noticed with a bit of relief, and her cheeks had a faint blush, so he let himself hope. She was human. She was still his Bella even if she decided to change her appearance to look like that. Why she would do that he had no idea but he would get his answers later.

The boy followed Charlie fully into the house, making his way to the living room as if some stronger forces were pulling him towards the girl who occupied his thoughts the majority of the time. He froze in place when he finally saw her fully on the couch and realised, she wasn't alone. The vampire was there. Holding her.

How in the hell did the vampire go unnoticed when he arrived at the house? As Jacob tried to understand what was going on he remembered seeing the car outside, but for some dumb reason, he thought maybe it had been Bella's, that she rented it or something.

"What the fuck is going on here, Charlie?", the question came louder than Jacob anticipated, he didn't shout or anything, but his voice sounded higher and a bit louder in his shock. Cut him some slack, how would you react if you saw the girl you loved asleep with some middle-aged leech half on top of her?!

All that noise made Isa stir on the couch, mumbling something about not being half past seven yet. Her movement resulted in Carlisle hiding his face on her side to block the sunlight that filtered into the room.

"It's too bloody early, Isa...", he complained not even making an effort to open his eyes, "Go back to sleep."

"It wasn't me making the noise.", she defended herself. What? She wanted to stay asleep too!

Charlie watched the interaction with poorly disguised amusement, feeling avenged by not being the only one pulled out of bed at some ungodly hour. The pair was a sight to behold, and he looked around for Bella's camera, he knew it was somewhere around the living room, she had never taken it to her room after that birthday party months ago. When he found said camera the flash was all the warning the two vampires got. Charlie was smiling far too satisfied with himself. He knew he would be laughing every time he looked at that picture.

"You two are definitely not morning people.", Charlie commented, still smiling way too much in Isa's opinion.

"What gave you the idea?", she shot back, they hadn't moved yet from the couch.

"Why are you so okay with that, Charlie?", Jacob cut their banter, getting Isa's attention, "Why are you sleeping on a couch with... Him?", he almost called Cullen a leech, but that would be hard to explain to Charlie.

"Cause we never got to her bed." Came Carlisle's unhelpful reply as he finally moved away from her side, squinting at the light that hit him on the face.

"Don't worry, Jake," Isa got up stretching until she heard her spine popping, "Next time we will make sure to go to a room first. Happy now?"

Carlisle got up, his movements sluggish for a vampire, something that got the shifter curious as he watched the blond pair make their way to the kitchen. Isa getting started on some coffee while Carlisle was looking around for her bag.

"Have any pepper up?", he asked.

"Bag.", she said gesturing to somewhere around the living room, not even looking in his direction as she turned the kettle on. Charlie needed some coffee, and they needed some pepper up thanks to the shifter that couldn't just let them sleep.

Jacob was feeling way too lost for his liking as he watched the leech look around for a bit before finding what he could only assume was Bella's bag. The doctor sifted through her bag, coming back with a little dark bottle, it didn't look any different than any other medicine bottle he had seen before other than the label being handwritten. Carlisle filled half of the bottle cap and drank it before serving another dose of whatever that was and handing it to Bella as Jacob watched the girl drink without even checking what she was given. Does she plan on acting like the stereotype of a blond girl? Her father is a cop, for fucks sake! She should know not to drink whatever people just offer her.

"What is going on?", Charlie had to ask, they were acting as if they had a hangover, and as funny as it was at first, he wasn't really comfortable with the idea of his daughter getting drunk with Carlisle in the middle of the week.

"What?", she asked as the feeling of her cheeks and ears getting warm thanks to the potion passed, "Oh... Right. We... May have taken something last night."

Charlie's face got very pale before it started turning a purplish colour that didn't look healthy.

"Are the two of you doing drugs?", he didn't care that Carlisle was three hundred years old, or that technically Isa was too. Those kids would send him to an early grave!

"No. No drugs," Carlisle was quick to assuage his worries, "It was just something to help us sleep, I swear. It's just that we weren't supposed to wake up yet, so there was still a little bit of... Haziness?"

"It feels like that time we found Garrett's stash," Isa sounded a lot more awake now, the smell of coffee also helped, "Remember me to buy a bottle of Ogden's as a gift for Charlie," she said to Carlisle, before turning to Charlie, "You will love it, Dad. Best whisky you can find in all of Britain, I promise you."

"Oh God...", Carlisle's forehead met the top of the table when he sat there followed by Charlie and a dumbstruck Jacob, "Don't remind me of Garrett's stash. You do realise he hasn't forgiven us yet, right?"

On an intellectual level he understood when Isa told him that Carlisle and her are almost the same age, it made sense as they told him their beginning as vampires. But it was still hard for Charlie to separate the image he had of the Dr Cullen that was presented to the whole town from what he was told. I mean... It was hard until this morning, watching them both acting like what one would expect of a pair of freshmen who shouldn't be left on their own in college unless he wants to receive calls about them doing something extremely dumb just because it sounded interesting.

"I'm getting too old for this shit." Both vampires heard Charlie's mutterings.

"Bella...", Jacob called the girl, he finally seemed to find his voice, "What's going on? What happened to your eyes?"

"What about my eyes?"

"They are blue!", the shifter said as if he was starting to guess her sanity.

"They have always been blue." Now, Isa was the one lost in the conversation. Her eyes shouldn't be red, she slept long enough for the freshness of the blood she fed from on the way to Forks to be gone by now, so why shouldn't her eyes be back to blue? She isn't using a glamour like Carlisle.

"I think he was talking about how they used to be brown," Carlisle explained, lifting his head, "There are some old pictures of you around the house if you didn't notice."

"Oh...", she didn't realise the girl in those pictures was supposed to be her. It had been so long since she had that appearance. Isa was used to what she looked like now, "I had forgotten." Her eyes, now crystal blue met Jacob's face, "A lot happened, Jake. And a lot has changed. I will explain, but not now."

She served two coffee mugs; Charlie took one and she offered the other to Jacob before taking the chair beside Carlisle's. It would be a long day; she could already tell.

"Jacob," the shifter almost choked on the coffee he was sipping when Carlisle talked directly to him, "Could you tell the Council we would like to meet them? At the line?", he noticed Isa's curiosity, "It will be better if we get this out of the way first before things escalate."

The blond nodded her agreement.

It would be for the best if they could explain to the shifters their situation before they start thinking Carlisle broke the treaty, especially since she intends to stay in town and graduate as Isabella Swan, even if it was more for Charlie's sake than anything else.

"Could you do that for us, Jake?", she asked the young boy, "I promise to explain things then."

They could see the slight tremor in his hands and Isa knew he was doing his best to keep the wolf in check and she was thankful for that, Charlie was human and she didn't want him to get hurt because of her. The mortals drank their coffee in silence, only interrupting to make a comment here and there, no one really sure about how to act. This was definitely an uncommon situation. Even introducing Edward to Charlie as her boyfriend was less awkward than how this morning started. When they finished drinking their coffee Jacob left to give their message to the Council, promising to call the house as soon as he knew when they could meet. Carlisle also left, saying he wanted to go take a shower and put on some comfortable clothes, after all, he was still in work clothes.

"So, Isa," Charlie started when it was only the two of them, "A Council?"

"Do you remember those stories they would tell in the Res? About Cold Ones and"

"And wolves." Charlie cursed under his breath, "Are you telling me those are also true?"

"Yes, they are." The blond started making eggs and bacon, it would be quick and Charlie needed to have more than just anxiety juice, "Carlisle has a treaty made with the Pack. The Cullens aren't allowed in Quileute land and they are forbidden from drinking from humans in Forks or turning people."

Her dad nodded as if he understood what she said, but truth be told, it all sounded crazy to him. Vampires? Shapeshifters? Witches? What's next? Was she going to tell him mermaids and fairies are also real?

"The thing is," she was consciously putting her attention on cooking now and her Dad probably also noticed, "We don't know how they will react to the news that I'm not human anymore. I mean... It's not like Carlisle broke the treaty or anything. When he turned me there was no treaty, by Merlin's beard! It was more than three hundred years ago!"

"But you don't think it will matter to them." He guessed.

And correctly.

"I don't. The Pack, the Council... They have some preconceived ideas about vampires in general. I'm not saying that they are unfounded. Merlin knows they have reason to be wary of vampires, especially Cold Ones," she reached for a plate so she could dish some of the bacon that was done, "But the thing is, we are not considered Cold Ones, not really. Carmilla called us abominations, and I kinda agree with the description now. Anyway... I'm getting sidetracked. The point is, they have these ideas about vampires, and ignore the fact that Carlisle has never killed a human to feed before."

"But he has killed?", she was hoping he wouldn't catch on to that, but her Dad has always been more perceptive than people tend to give him credit for.

"Dad," Isa sighed, "We are old. We have lived for more than three centuries by now. We have seen war. We have seen plagues wiping entire cities. No one can live that long, do as much as we did, and have no blood staining their hands."

"The people you... The ones you killed. Did they deserve it?"

The vampire wondered what he meant by that. Maybe he was thinking about his own job as a Police Officer, about the times he was the one having to make the call about shooting someone or not.

"I would like to believe they did," came her reply after a moment, his breakfast ready, "Some of them were true monsters, those are the ones I have no regret about having to kill, the ones I wouldn't think twice about doing it again. You know the type, Dad. Those who wouldn't think a second time about doing far worse than just killing the innocents. Those I will never regret, I think neither will Carlisle, although we don't talk much about those times anymore. Not after the last war." the Second Blood War, is what the wizarding community had been calling the war against Voldemort. Were it any other conflict they wouldn't get themselves involved, even if England is their home. However, Voldemort targeted Hogwarts, he put the children there at risk, and that was something they couldn't just watch and do nothing about. "My point being... Some deserved it, some others... Some others probably could've been avoided. Do we truly need to talk about this, Charlie?"

Maybe he saw in her eyes the hurt and the conflicting emotions that the topic brought forth. It is impossible to be a vampire and not be surrounded by violence from time to time, she always found it curious how some of the other members of her coven (even if they don't know they are in the same coven) never experienced that kind of violence. She knows Jasper did, she heard stories about him from nomads, the God of War. His past was bloody and sad, but knowing he would one day find his way to their coven always gave her hope that he would be safe in the future.

She watched Charlie eat his breakfast, deciding not to have any blood for now, it wouldn't go down well if she went to see the shifters with red eyes like that of a newborn.

"And if they refuse to accept?", her Dad asked when he was halfway through his eggs.

"I'm really hoping they will be understanding of our situation. I was planning on finishing high school and graduating here." She confessed.

"I thought that by now you would have done that at least a hundred times." Charlie was surprised at hearing that.

The blond laughed a bit.

"I did. Even attended Hogwarts for a little while at Carlisle's insistence that I properly sit my N.E.W.T.s before working as a Healer. It was fun if I'm being honest. And the castle was beautiful, even if Ilvermorny has a special place in my heart," she had an easy smile on her face as she told him about those things, happy at not having to hide it from her Dad anymore, "But I wanted to finish school as Bella Swan too. I know how important it would be for you to see me graduate with all my human friends, wearing that ugly gown and everything, taking lots of pictures where my eyes would never be fully open or I'd be making some weird face. The whole experience. I want you to have it just as much as I want to have it with you too."

Oh, dear Merlin... Maybe she shouldn't have talked so much. Isa saw the tears forming in Charlie's eyes and wasn't sure of what to do. She knows he isn't sad, that those are happy tears at knowing how much his daughter has been thinking of him during all her time as a vampire, that she hasn't forgotten about him and just moved on with her life. At first, when she said Carlisle was her Sire, he worried that she had replaced him with another father figure, but after seeing the two interacting he realised how wrong he had been. The two were the closest of friends, closer than even siblings could be. There was trust in there of the kind you can only achieve by building it with time and effort from both parts, but at any moment did she act as if Charlie had been replaced. When she was finally back in town Charlie was the one she came to see first, he was the first thought in her mind as she wanted to tell him the truth and make things right between them, and now she was telling him about how she wanted to have all of those experiences a child can have with their parent with him.

When he got his emotions under control he got up, knowing he had to get ready to go to work no matter how much he wanted to stay with his daughter and catch up on all of the time they missed.

"Well... It's time I get changed and go to the Station."

"Dad," she called when he was leaving the kitchen, "We will be meeting the wolves today and after that, I believe it's finally time to bring the coven back to Forks."

"So you will be gone again." It wasn't a question.

"Only for a couple of days. Hopefully, we will be back before Monday so that I can resume school. I just wanted to give you a heads up so you don't worry about me being gone for the next few days."

"And if the that Pack doesn't accept you being a... A vampire?"

At that question, she sent him her most mischievous grin.

"Do you really think a Pack of mutts will be enough to keep me away from my Dad?"

...

Sweet Caroline was blasting inside the car and Isa was singing together to the song, she was glad Carlisle opted for a convertible, the cold didn't bother them as much as it did mortals and having the top down certainly added to the feel of going on a road trip. It has been so long since they had done anything even closer to that.

"You know," she started as she unwrapped the blood pop she fished out of her bag, "Things went better than I thought they would. For some reason, I was picturing you being all sarcastic and shit and we being told to leave and never come back, like in that bar in Sioux Falls." Isa put the treat in her mouth, the taste of blood was always so fresh and strong in those. Carlisle should be more thankful that she showed these to him.

"If I'm not mistaken, that incident in Sioux Falls was your fault."

"Details." She completely ignored the fact that he was right, "Want one?"

He just opened his hand for her to deposit one. They were pretty much addicted to those lollipops by now, Garrett kept insisting the two of them were, single-handedly, responsible for its continued existence.

...

Carlisle was leaning back against the car, his fingers doing an almost acceptable job of braiding some strands of Isa's hair as they waited for the wolves, their bags already on the backseat.

"Denali?"

"Eleazar and Carmen are there so, I thought it would be the safest choice," he explained, "They know how to guard their thoughts against mind-readers, you know that."

She let out a bit of a huff, uncrossing her arms.

"I know. And I know that Eleazar won't tell anyone. I'm just nervous about dealing with the wolves and having to face the coven."

"You worry too much." He was close to giving up and undoing all the work he put on her hair. How was it possible that after centuries he hasn't got any good at doing that?

"Said the one that hasn't stopped braiding my hair."

Whatever route that conversation would be taking was thrown out of the window by the smell of the shifters. Isa's nose made that twitching motion she was never truly able to hold back even before they could hear the sound of the Pack approaching. The wolves weren't the only ones, she recognised a few faces from the Council, such as Billy and Old Quill, Harry didn't come. A boy, Sam Uley, the one who found her in the woods, approached in his human form. He wore battered jeans and a faded T-shirt, sensible choices when one tends to turn into a massive wolf, much better than ripping your way through a lot of good clothes.

"Jacob said you wanted to meet."

Okay... So no greetings or introductions. Great... They were off to such a great start. Please note the sarcasm.

"We just wanted to make sure there would be no misunderstandings. That's all." Carlisle was trying so hard to be the diplomatic one.

"And what would the misunderstanding be about?", one of the boys asked, "Your side chick?"

Oh... He shouldn't have.

Carlisle has never taken well to people talking shit about Isa. She's his progeny, his family, the one that has been by his side since they began this life as undead.

"What did you just say, mutt?"

"Wow! Hold your bloody horses, boys." Her hands holding Carlisle's arm hugged tightly to her form was the only thing that stopped Isabella herself from making the situation worse. Sanguini was right about the two of them, it only takes seconds for them to find trouble no matter where they go, "First of all, I do take offence to being called a side chick. What the fuck? You barely know me, you jerk." She then turned to Carlisle, "And you. No antagonizing the big dogs when we intend to stay in town, if we fight here Charlie will get very mad. He's a Police Officer, Carlisle. He has a gun."

The smirk threatening to make its presence known on her Sire's lips was enough for her, the mini-crisis was averted for now.

"For real now," she said to the boy who spoke out of turn, "Don't try calling me names or whatever again, boy. This time we came to talk, the next one you try it, I won't be stopping him. Actually, I'm of half a mind to join him in dog training. Keep that in mind."

"What was that about Charlie?", Billy was the one to ask, clearly worried about his friend.

Was it sad that he hadn't recognised her by now? She knows her colouring changed, but the shape of her face is pretty much the same. Yes, vampirism made her somewhat prettier, even though she's sure that had more to do with Carlisle's blood lineage than the vampirism, she had seen his mother's portrait before, the woman was a true beauty, to the point where the blond is pretty sure she must have been a half-veela but never came around to look for proof on that...

"My Dad is very happy to have me back, Billy. I just thought he wouldn't appreciate it if he knew this was how I was greeted, that's all." And there was the shock on his expression when he realized the blond girl was Bella Swan, "He wants me to stay around and I intend to do just that."

"Bella?", he asked still not believing in his eyes, "What happened to you?", his eyes turned to Carlisle, distrustful and a bit afraid of what the answer would be, "What have you done to her?"

Carlisle, on his part, never tried to get out of Isa's hold, he wasn't even that mad at the mutt. Displeased and annoyed? Yes. But not mad enough to get into trouble when they have more pressing matters to discuss.

"That's why we needed to talk." The doctor started, "I wanted to make sure you all understand that there was no breach of the treaty," the wolves were starting to become restless when they understood where that was going, all the changes in Isabella, her closeness to the leader of the vampire coven, "Yes. Isa is a vampire," they could hear growling coming from some of the wolves and the devastation on Billy's face, "However, she has been one for far longer than the treaty has existed."

...

"Sometimes I forgot how ridiculously large the US and Canada are. Why do they have to be this big?", the journey was taking them far less time than it would take a human since they do not need to stop to eat and sleep, however, she was starting to question her decision of not taking a portkey and just renting a car there.

"You got far too used to Europe, Isa." He laughed.

"Excuse you," she moved on her seat so that her body was now facing him, "In case you don't remember, my oldest documents, and the ones I can still use on the wizarding side, stated Isabella Cullen as just as Londoner as they come. Thank you very much."

They were passing Talkeetna when Carlisle decided to stop at a petrol station. It was a quick stop and while he was filling up the car, Isa was checking to see if her mobile had a signal. She had a lot of missed calls from Charlie and that worried her. A lot.

"Hello?"

"Charlie? I saw your missed calls," she went straight to what had worried her, "Did something happen? Did the Pack go to interrogate you or some shit like that?", she was reaching the early stages of mama bear.

"No, Isa... It's," she could hear the distress in his voice, "It's Harry. He died. He had a heart attack."

"Oh no, Charlie... I'm so sorry." Whatever she was expecting it wasn't that, "I had no idea. We saw the Pack and the Council yesterday and I did notice Harry wasn't there, but no one said anything about it... If I knew about it, I would have stayed with you."

"It's okay, Isa..."

"It's certainly not okay, Dad," she cut him off before he could pretend everything was fine, "Do you need me to go back? Just say the word, Dad and I will be on my way."

Isa got out of the car and started pacing, Carlisle had come back from paying for the petrol and was watching her, worry etched on his face as he got the gist of what the problem was.

"It will be fine, Isa. You go do what you have to do. There is nothing we can do here. The funeral is today so I will be going to check on Sue and the kids."

"Fine...", she sighed, "But if you ever feel like you need me just call or send a message and we will be back in Forks."

She felt Carlisle's fingers on the nape of her neck, massaging that spot that would always help her get centred instead of spiralling out of control. Moments like this are some of the things she missed the most during the past eighty years, she got used to having him around, someone who knew her better than she knew herself, who would pay attention to little details and care for her simply because he wants to, because they are friends and family, because they are Sire and Progeny. There were no strings attached to the things they did for each other.

"Don't you think I'm way too old for you to still be babysitting me?", She could hear how he was trying to joke even though his heart wasn't on it.

"Oh, Dad... That's my way of showing love, didn't you know?", Isa went along with the joke, "I have been babysitting you even before all of this. If you don't believe me, you can always ask Carlisle. I do the same to him and he hates it." She sounded way too proud and she heard Charlie chuckling on the other end of the line, "The two of you could even start a club together to talk about how amazing I am."

"I don't think feeding that ego of yours is a good idea." Charlie's reply brought a smile to her face, "Anyway. Have a nice trip, the two of you. Just make sure to come back safe."

"We will. See you on Sunday."

As the call ended, she let herself sink into her car seat before turning her eyes to Carlisle. It was nice seeing his eyes without the glamour, they were almost the same shade as hers, but his seemed bluer while hers tended to a greyish hue. See why she thinks he might be the son of a half-veela? He had so many of the physical traits...

"I can't believe Harry is dead." she finally found her words.

"Me neither," he agreed, "Especially since we saw the Pack yesterday, I wouldn't have thought that... We sure have shit timing."

"That we do."