I don't own twilight. What I own is my character's behavior, personality, background, and plot of the story.
A huge thank you to my beta Madmooey18 for putting in the effort and helping me make this story what it is.
Author's Note at the end.
With her hand holding her phone, and earpods ringing in her ears, Bella watches from the balcony through the glass door as her boys play when a voice chimes in her ears, "Hello Bella."
"Hey, Aro. How are you doing?" she replies after their customary security code word.
She picks up the cup of coffee on the table and raises it to her lips as she hears Aro ramble about his day as she oohs and aahs in all of the appropriate places until he asks her, "what about you? How is everything going on for you? How are the boys coping?"
"Life is not interesting, today especially," Bella gives him the same answer she typically makes when she has nothing interesting to say.
"Well, you couldn't have called to listen to me ramble about the fun I had fishing with my sons, so out with it," he tells her. That's something she likes about Aro. Like her, he isn't one to beat around the bush.
"Yes, that is true," she tells him then pauses to pick her words carefully, but it seems not fast enough as Aro urges her to speak by saying, "So. what is it you want to ask me?"
Rolling her eyes at Aro's impatience, she places her coffee down and asks, "What's up with the Cullens?"
Aro is silent for a moment then he asks, "You're interested in Edward?"
That prompts her to quickly reply, "What? No!" her voice raising a couple of octaves high. She glimpses her reflection through the glass of the balcony and touches her face with her cold hands to calm down her blush.
Huffing out loud, Aro asks, "Then why are you asking about them?"
"Where you even there the day before yesterday? Jasper is dating my friend. I need to know what the hell she got into," she replies annoyed that she has to explain things to him. Usually, when she talks to Aro, she doesn't need to finish her sentence. He is smart and he gets her. It's like their brains are synched together or something.
"You aren't her mum and you can't fix everything," Aro tells her.
"I am not trying to fix anything I just wanna know what my friend has gotten herself into. What is the point of being your goddaughter when you can't tell me such a simple thing?" Bella replies. You see Bella doesn't save or fix. That wouldn't work with Alice anyway. Bella probes. She gives seemingly unrelated advice. She pushes her slightly in the right direction, and when it comes to taking action, Alice ends up thinking she did it all on her own.
"I will tell you, although, I know you won't listen to my advice. The Cullens are like our family. We have a similar business model. For decades we were enemies until the Platt sisters came into the picture."
"How so?" Bella asks not sure what his last statement is supposed to mean.
"Well, when Carlisle and Esme Platt got married, naturally Marcus and I both went on the date to attend the wedding-,"
"Of course, because enemies make a habit of attending each other's weddings," she cuts him off, rolling her eyes. If she doesn't understand why political enemies have to be diplomatic with each other, she doesn't understand even more why mafia enemies have to be diplomatic.
For whose sake are you trying to look like you are taking the higher moral ground? For another criminal?
Humans are weird.
"B, shut up and let me finish," he tells her and laughs letting her know he isn't serious. "Esme's sister and Marcus hit it off. Less than a year later they were getting married, both Carlisle and Marcus are persuasive and got our dads to back off and create a treaty between us, hence why we are no longer enemies and I consider the boys my nephews," he ends.
Bella nods her head while drinking her coffee until she realizes that he can't see her. She drops her coffee on the table and tells him that she understands.
They chat a bit more about this and that until Bella asks him, "If you feel like I am crossing a line don't answer me, but it seems that your relationship with the older Cullens is a bit tense, why?"
He sighs out loud and is quiet for a minute before he says, "I wish I could give you a definite answer, B all I have is a theory."
"I won't judge you for whatever you think," she replies encouraging him to continue.
"As a kid, it was obvious that Edward had no interest in the business family. While his siblings loved to watch the adults shoot, he was inside on the piano or violin. He didn't like violence. I knew that everyone would shun him and make him feel lesser than; family, friends, and enemies. So I decided to not be one of those people. I would hang out with him over his siblings and when it came to not joining the family business I supported him and applauded him every time he stood his ground. Over the years our relationship grew stronger. His siblings I guess didn't like the attention their younger brother was receiving especially when everyone preferred them over Edward and shamed Edward for supposedly not being man enough."
Bella is quiet for a moment as she processes what Aro just told her. A part of her wants to hug Aro and tell him how proud of him she is. Her respect for him grew. To know that he supported someone for completely rejecting a choice he is proud of isn't easy to make.
"Did they bully him when he was a kid?" She feels sorry that a kid had to go through that all because he was born in the wrong family.
"Carlisle started taking him to the family corporations. They only stopped bullying him when it became clear that Edward has the brains for it and will probably head it. You don't wanna piss off the one with the family fortune under his thumb," Aro answered her.
"Good for him," Bella mutters. She hates bullies. They have the option of doing nothing yet choose to bully people. Bella was popular in high school. She could have bullied people if she wanted to. She never did that. Bullies have no excuse.
"You know he is a very nice gentleman," Aro states.
"Oh, shut up, Aro," Bella mutters, not interested in anyone setting her up.
He laughs loudly at her and changes the subject.
Bella drops on the couch. She just put the boys down for their nap and now she can have the house for herself for the next two hours. No noise, or crying, or someone spilling something. Just her and a book. She picks it up and props her feet on the coffee table when the doorbell rings.
Bella huffs loudly and mutters, "Of course when I decide to relax, someone shows up," and then she drops her feet to the floor and walks to the door then asks," Who is it?"
After a moment of silence, she hears a voice she knows too well, "I have chocolate, open the door." A wide smile stretches on her face and she throws the door open quickly and hugs the midget behind it. The girl seems to be taller than before.
Bella pulls back and looks Alice up and down before she states, "Who are you? And what did you do to my friend who swore that she will never ever wear heels?"
"She grew up and realized that she didn't win the genes lottery and needed something to compensate with," Alice replies as she strides into the house.
She places the box of chocolates on the marble counter separating the kitchen from the living room then walks into the living room and spins around before her eyes land on Bella, stops and says, "It's like everything changed yet nothing did."
"Tell me about it," Bella replies as she stores the chocolate box in one of the upper cupboards that Adam can't reach. She can't have him sneak a couple of pieces of them. Next thing she knows, he will have finished the box in a week.
Bella walks towards her and stops her from putting her feet up before she says, "So, how is life?" Bella knows that that will get Alice to talk a lot and not ask many questions while Bella gets accustomed to having the tornado that is Alice back in her life.
If there is any topic Alice likes to talk about the most, it's herself, right? Wrong. That was the Alice of the past. Turns out that this new and improved Alice can talk about another topic more than herself. What topic do you ask? Jasper. That's right, the girl really went from being self-centered to being boy centered.
"So what do you think?" Alice asks her looking expectingly at her.
"What do I think about what?" Bella asks confused.
"Bella, are you even listening to me? What do you think of Jasper? Why hasn't he proposed yet?" she asks demanding an answer.
"How would I know?" Bella complains after placing her cup of tea on the table in front of her.
"I just told you everything about us. How can you not know?"
"I don't know Jasper. I can't give you an educated answer," Bella tells her, raising her hands in a peace gesture.
Alice huffs out loud and then states, "God, I thought you would be useful. What, with your experience?"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Bella asks, frowning as her eyebrows scrunch.
Alice looks at her as if she is slow before she states in a duh tone, "I mean you have two boys. You couldn't have been sitting ideally twiddling your thumbs. You must have had boys clamoring at you for your protection to fail twice."
Bella looks up at Alice in shock but covers it quickly by bending to collect the chocolate wrappings and letting her hair act as a curtain as she exclaims offended, "Alice you are getting pretty close to slut-shaming me!"
Alice rolls her eyes at Bella before shrugging and replying, "There is no shame in being a slut as long as the knowledge you gain can be beneficial for your friend."
Bella goes to the kitchen to throw out the chocolate wrappings as she states, "Well I didn't have guys clamoring at me as you put it. There has been only one guy that I have ever dated and he's the boys' father." By the time she returns to the living room she has her expression under control.
"So you're useless?" Alice asks, looking slightly disappointed.
What is wrong with her?
This time Bella doesn't hide her appalled expression as she reprimands Alice. "I am your friend. I am not supposed to be useful. Also when did you become this mean?" She ends her statement with a question.
She doesn't want to lose Alice. She is her only friend, but when your friend says the shit Alice just did, does your friendship count as one.
Alice doesn't like being at the receiving end by Bella and as she crosses her arms over her chest and looks towards the balcony, she replies, "When you decided to not answer my phones."
Now it's Bella's turn to roll her eyes at Alice's immaturity as she tells her, "Are you going to punish me for something I did when I was 16?"
Alice looks at her hands in her lap for a minute then nods her head and says, "You are right. I am being irrational."
They sit in silence for a couple of minutes each one deep in thought until Bella tells Alice, "I think your best bet is to ask someone who knows you both."
Alice gives her another annoyed look before saying, "I asked Edward. He wasn't useful either."
Bella raises an eyebrow at that and gives Alice a scrutinizing look as she asks, "Wasn't useful or didn't give you the answer you wanted."
Alice glares at her and then says, "If you can't give me the answer I want then you're not useful."
Bella leans back on the couch and hides her smirk as she asks, "What did he say?"
"It's not important."
Bella doesn't hide her smirk anymore as she stares Alice in the eye and asks again, "What did he say, Alice?"
Alice glares at Bella as she says, "Drop it, Bella."
She really thinks that she can intimidate me with her glare.
It's actually funny because Adam has a more intimidating glare than her.
"I won't until you tell me. It must be pretty important or else you would not make such a big deal out of saying it," Bella states, refusing to budge. Had Alice not chosen to make her feel terrible, she might have stopped.
Alice crosses her arms against her chest in defeat and slams herself against the back of the couch as she huffs, and mutters, "He said that he hasn't proposed yet because he is a lousy boyfriend and if he does I am supposed to give him hell and make him work for my yes."
Bella almost smiles at the answer she gets, but keeps a neutral expression as she asks, "How is your relationship with Edward?"
Thinking the topic has changed Alice smiles happily and replies, "It's great. We get along pretty well."
Bella nods her head and continues, "So you haven't cut him off over his negative opinion. You have your answer. You agree with Edward."
Alice gets a frustrated look on her face as she mutters under her breath, "No, I don't. My relationship with the two of them is separate."
Hearing her, Bella knows that she got her message across, so she tells her, "If you say so."
"No, seriously. Jasper is a great boyfriend. He isn't a perfect one but he is a good person," Alice says in defense of her boyfriend.
Bella snorts at that and tells her, "Yes, sure he is a good person."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Alice demands bothered by her friend. Turns out that Alice will get angry at her on behalf of her boyfriend and won't separate the relationship.
Bella gives her a duh look as she replies, "Come on, Alice. Your boyfriend actively works for his family's mafia. Objectively speaking, he isn't a good guy."
Alice gets an alarmed look on her face for a second then she schools her expression and replies, "I don't know what you are talking about."
Bella rolls her eyes at her as she says, "Don't play this game with me, Alice. I am Aro's Goddaughter. I know such things."
After meeting the boys Alice leaves but not before promising to bring each one of them a gift the next day, and like she promised she does. She ends up spending the entire week visiting them every day which is why when Alice has dinner with the Cullen family on Friday night, she has nothing to add to the work discussion.
"What?" Alice asks when she hears Esme mentioning her.
"I was just saying that everyone should learn from you and not talk about work like you did today," Esme tells her, smiling at her over her glass of wine.
"I am afraid I am not a great example. I haven't talked about work only because I didn't do any work this week," Alice replies smiling.
Everyone stops. The sound of spoons clattering on the plates ring as everyone stares at Alice in surprise.
Noticing everyone looking at her she asks mid-chew, "What?"
Jasper turns to her and questions her, "Don't you think it's weird that you didn't do any work this week?"
Alice looks at him and shrugs as she answers, "Sure, if things are normal but they aren't. It's not always that my friend returns to New York after years of absence."
Edward perks up at that and listens closely while he pretends to be very busy with his food.
"Do we know her?" Carlisle asks which is natural since Alice has no friends. Since she and Jasper started dating when she was 20, she hasn't mentioned a single friend.
"No, you don't but Aro happens to be her Godfather, so there is that thread of commonality," Alice replies.
"Well, hopefully, since you're such close friends we will invite her to the next gala we host and meet her then," Carlisle tells her, which is normal. Alice doesn't have a track record of being someone to depend on. She can be easily swayed. So naturally, Carlilse will worry about her.
"Not happening," Alice tells him dismissively as she hands her glass to Edward to pour wine in.
"Pardon?"
"Bella wouldn't say yes. She is very particular about attending things and wouldn't attend something you're hosting because she doesn't know you."
Carlisle nods his head in understanding and doesn't say anything, but Rosalie does, "How about you host a party and invite her. That way we will get to meet her."
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