Chapter 2

Bella opened her eyes. She couldn't believe what she saw: as much as she could see, it looked like the whole audience was standing and applauding to them, to her. Bella felt dizzy and exhausted but most of all exhilarated. She had done it! She'd played without any mistakes, and the audience loved her piece! She bowed and took the flowers handed to her.

She turned her eyes to Paul, expecting him to be looking at her, cheering her, but instead, he looked around nervously and was visibly highly agitated. What on earth was going on? Bella looked around the audience, but it was impossible to tell what he was looking for. Then he turned his head and eyes on her, and she was startled by the look on his face: he looked worried and angry, furious. Something must have happened.

But Bella didn't have time to ponder more about what was going on; the conductor gestured to the orchestra to stand to acknowledge the applause, and after a few moments, he and Bella left the stage. The audience's cheers got louder, and they returned to the stage. Bella could not stop smiling. All this was her dream coming true: she was acknowledged, she had made music that the audience loved, music that had touched people around her. Paul was now applauding with others, but his smile didn't reach his eyes. He nodded at her and mouthed, "later."

Bella left the stage with the conductor and went back two more times, but the audience didn't settle; they wanted more.

"What do you want to play?" John Stephenson, the conductor asked. "We could do a short piece from your work, starting from the second movement but add tempo, the way you first suggested we could do it when we started the project together?" John offered.

"Yes, let's do that, but then I'm finished. My legs and back are killing me," Bella said. She had opted to stay standing throughout the concert because she didn't like playing while sitting down, but she was feeling the effects now.

They returned to the stage, and the conductor silenced the audience by tapping his wand on the note stand.

Bella closed her eyes and massaged her pectoralis with her right hand to relax her shoulders. She was a bit stiff, but she started to feel more relaxed after taking a few deep breaths.

The conductor told the orchestra what they were going to play, and then he informed the audience. It was remarkable how quiet such a large group of people could be.

Bella lifted her violin under her chin and nodded.

The orchestra started, and Bella followed. She pictured Paul in his wolf form when she played her piece; it helped her focus and took her to the emotional level she wanted to be at when playing her tune. Then his dark brown human eyes flashed in her mind, and her heart started to beat faster with the music rising in tempo.

No one else in the orchestra knew what the music was all about. Patrick knew the origin, but she had asked him not to tell anybody about the legends of La Push. She felt that if anyone was to tell the tales of La Push, it was those part of the tribe. Although she was with Paul, she didn't feel it was her place to reveal the legends. And there was no need for that; the music meant different things for her and the rest of the people. For them, she said it was about the magic of nature, but nothing more specific.

The short encore ended, and Bella stayed on the stage a little longer to receive the excited applause. Paul still looked worried but less than before. She and the conductor left the stage, and so it was finished.

Bella felt being on the verge of tears. She had worked so hard to be in this exact moment in her life. She could hardly believe it was happening. John wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed a little. "That was one hell of a performance Bella," he said, his voice thick with emotion.

Now the tears spilled and fell on her cheek. Bella nodded, sniffing and wiping off the tears but said nothing, not trusting her voice. John smiled knowingly and opened the backstage door, giving her one more squeeze.

Bella gasped; the big room was full of flowers.

"Oh my god! What are we going to do with all these flowers"? Bella gushed. She had never seen so many flowers in her life. And people working in the concert hall kept bringing them in.

John chuckled.

Then she felt Paul's arms around her, and she turned to face him. The worry was still on his face, but his eyes were glowing when he looked at her.

"Baby, you were amazing," he said, kissing her.

"Yeah, I must admit that we did brilliantly," Bella admitted, hugging him tightly. "Hey, what happened? Why did you look so worried?"

"Let's talk later, many people want to congratulate you, and I cannot tell you while they are listening," Paul said.

"Please, tell me quickly," Bella begged. She needed to know.

"A leech. I smelled a fucking leech, and it wasn't any one of the Cullens," Paul said closer to her ear so that no one could hear him.

"Oh," Bella was taken aback. Of course, she should have guessed by Paul's look on his face. But leeches were the last thing she had had on her mind when she'd been on the stage.

Their semi-private moment didn't last long. The door leading to the hall was smashed open as Renée charged in.

"Bella, my baby, you were amazing!" she shouted when she rushed towards her Ben in tow. She grabbed her into a bone-crushing hug.

"Careful, Renée," Paul said.

"Oh, shush, Paul. Your babies are perfectly safe inside their mummy."

Bella glanced at Paul rolling her eyes. He didn't look as amused as she felt. He really must be worried sick over the leech thing. He usually found Renée a bit ridiculous and didn't bother to hide it from Bella.

"Bell-Bell, you were very good," Ben chimed in, and Paul picked him up to his arms and gave him to Bella.

Bella placed him on her hip, his other leg swinging over her bump. Ben smacked one big moist kiss on her cheek.

"Thank you, Ben. If you say it was good, it must be just that."

Ben beamed and showed Bella the figure he'd been holding in his hand, most likely throughout the whole concert. It was a girl figure with long dark hair, a blue dress, and a violin. "This is for you," he said.

"Bella, you were magnificent! Didn't I tell you that you would be a success? The audience went crazy over you," Patrick hollered when rushing backstage. Paul took Ben so Patrick could hug her.

"Yes, you did," Bella grinned at her uncle.

"Are you sure you need to leave tomorrow?" Patrick asked. "There is a line of journalists who want to interview you."

"Yes, I'm sure," Bella answered and took Paul's hand, squeezing it. "Maybe we could let them ask a few questions to keep them happy and give them something to write about. But we will leave tomorrow. I'll come back to New York at the end of January, and you can schedule more interviews for later if there is someone eager for that."

Patrick didn't look too happy, but he knew that there was nothing he could do or say to change her mind.

"It's only two weeks, Patrick. Nothing in the field of music starts or ends in two weeks," Bella chuckled. She could see how her uncle was like a new person. He'd been overly excited about the project and the possibility of returning to Juilliard. He'd been missing teaching, even though he would deny it if asked. Patrick had never specified to her why he'd quit teaching in one of the most respected music institutions in the country, just that he had had enough. But clearly, he was in his element now, enjoying himself immensely.

"Okay. We'll start in half an hour with the media. Many people have already asked me when you will perform again. We did agree on one concert, maybe two before the babies are born, right?"

"Yes, we did. But only until the end of March if everything goes well with the pregnancy. I won't travel after that for a while."

Patrick nodded and vanished to speak with the journalists waiting behind the closed doors. The Dean of the music came in and brought many people with her to chat with Bella.

Bella's head was spinning; so many people came to congratulate her and ask questions. Paul was standing close by, looking worried, but she knew it wasn't about the leech this time. He could feel her exhaustion through their marking bond.

He made her sit down and hovered over her, ensuring no one got too close. Her silly husband. But she was secretly happy that his, a bit intimidating appearance helped people to keep their distance.

It took over two hours for them to get out of the concert hall, and it was past midnight before they were home, getting ready for bed. If not pregnant, they would probably still be talking to different people. Many orchestra members had gone to celebrate and asked her and Paul to join them, but she was so happy to have an excuse not to go.

Paul made them something light to eat, and after finishing their meal, they went to bed. Only now could Bella ask more about the leech.

"I don't know anything more than what I smelled," Paul answered. "It was right after people got up to applaud when the sickening stench hit me. But I couldn't see anything. It took all the strength I had not to phase. The wolf went fucking ballistic."

"I could see it in your face."

"I bet you did. And there was not a goddamn thing I could do. I just couldn't try to follow it. I had to be near you all the time. It drove me mad to let you out of my sight, even for a minute. The going back and forth –thingy made me fucking crazy."

Bella had to laugh at that. The curtain call performance had gone a bit out of hand tonight.

"What should we do?" she asked.

"I don't know. I should go and try to follow the stench. It hadn't been raining tonight, so I probably would find the trace, but I can't leave you. My wolf just doesn't allow it. Maybe I could if I had any of the pack here, but not now."

Paul pulled her close to his body and nuzzled her hair, inhaling deeply. "I couldn't live if something happened to you or the babies," he murmured into her hair.

"You know how to keep us safe," Bella sighed. But she felt his stress and fear he didn't put in words. Would they ever be free of those parasites threatening their lives? Had it been a threat tonight? Or just coincidence? Paul thought it wasn't.

"Can you sleep?" Bella asked, yawning, feeling her body getting heavier and heavier as her eyes started to close. The babies were sleeping too, and she hoped they wouldn't wake her up in the middle of the night. She was sure she had never been this tired before, totally spent mentally and physically.

"Not sure. But you sleep. Baby, you were fucking incredible tonight. I hate that it was partly spoiled by this … what the fuck it was. I was trying not to let it show and not tell you, not tonight anyway, but it just got me off guard. I couldn't hide it."

"And I'm glad you couldn't. You must tell me everything. We're in this together, right, baby? We are a team."

AN

This chapter was surprisingly easy to write after struggling a bit with the first chapter, so I decided to post it right away. It seems that I'm unable to start next chapter before updating, so chapters will show up sporadically, sometimes sooner sometimes later.

Thank you so much for your comments, faves and follows. Love to hear what you think.