Chapter 40 - Bella
A/N: 40 Chapters! Can you believe it? I can't. Alright Bella and Jared are back. What's gonna happen now? Dun dun dun…
Jared and I were finally heading home. I had been glad to get away but at the same time I missed everyone. Especially Charlie. I felt bad for him. He spent most of his time alone. I kept hoping that something was going on between him and Sue. I knew that when Harry had died, he'd gone over and helped out but part of me just assumed that it was Charlie feeling like it was his duty to one of his oldest friends. When I'd been cleaning his house one day, I'd found an old shoebox in the top of the hall closet. I'd been surprised when I'd opened it though. It was full of love letters. Part of me hadn't wanted to read them but the other part of me had been curious. When I'd read the first one, I'd been shocked. It had been from when Charlie was in high school. Before he'd met Renee. He'd been in love with Sue before she'd married Harry. I wonder what had happened? Why did they break up? Had it been because of Harry? Had Sue fallen for Harry and Charlie had just stepped aside? I wanted to be a better daughter to Charlie.
I had so much to do when we got back. I knew that Sam and Quil were picking up the furniture from Angela for me so that I could work on my surprise for Leah. She'd been through so much. I'd managed to get Uncle Quil to give me the apartment over the store for Leah. I felt that she needed a space of her own. Sam and Emily just lived right down the road from the Clearwater's house, so I knew that it couldn't be easy for her still living at home. I just hoped that she wouldn't think that I'd over stepped…She was one of my best and oldest friends.
Driving down the familiar road that led to our house, I couldn't help but think about imprinting. Everything that we'd learned so far. Everything that I still wanted to know. I wanted to talk to Uncle Quil to see if it was possible for me to willingly go to the in-between. I wanted to talk more with Ephraim and possibly even Levi. I had more questions for them.
I guess that Jared could sense that I was lost in my thoughts. "Are you okay?" He asked me.
I nodded. "Yeah. Just thinking." I said.
"What about? You seemed really deep in thought." Jared said.
I turned to look at Jared. "I was. I have a project that I'm working on for Leah. Then I got to thinking about Imprinting. What we've learned, what I still want to learn. Then something occurred to me. Do you think it's possible that I could willingly go to the in-between?" I said.
Jared nodded as he listened. "Honestly? I don't know, babe. But it might be worth talking to Old Quil about. I mean, if he can commune with the Spirits, why can't you? Wouldn't it technically be the same thing?" Jared said.
I shrugged. "I'm not sure. I don't know what he exactly does when he communes with them." I said.
Jared reached over and grabbed my hand, intertwining our fingers. "We'll figure it out babe. We'll figure it all out." He said. The only thing I could do was nod.
When we pulled into our driveway, I was surprised at all of the cars. I was at least hoping that they'd let us get home and settled before they bombarded us. "What's going on? Why is everyone here?" I asked Jared.
He shrugged. "No clue. Sam didn't say anything when I called to let him know we were headed back." Jared told me.
Jared parked the truck in our front yard, telling me that he'd move it later after everyone had left. We climbed out and started to make our way towards the front porch where everyone was waiting for us. "What's going on?" I asked.
The girls stepped off the porch and walked towards me. Emily was the first to speak. "So, we might have done something." She said.
I looked at her skeptically. "Might have or have?" I asked.
"Oh definitely have." Leah and Rach said at the same time, laughing.
I rolled my eyes. "What did you do? Is my house a mess?" I asked.
They all shook their heads. "Nope. Come with us." Kim said.
I followed my friends into my house and down the hall to where one of the guest bedrooms was. When we got to the spare bedroom the door was shut. They stood in front of it. "Are you guys gonna tell me what's going on, now?" I asked, with a slight smile.
"So, while you were gone, we were talking and we realized just how much you were doing for everyone and we decided to do something for you. We felt that you deserved to have something that was all yours." Rach said.
"What did you guys do?" I asked.
Emily turned around and opened the door to the spare bedroom. She stepped aside next to Leah to let me walk in. I was completely amazed. They had managed to turn the spare bedroom into my own personal library. "What do you think?" I heard Emily ask, as I took in everything about the room. There were floor to ceiling bookshelves. There was a big bay window on the far wall with a big overstuffed chair in front of it. In a corner there was a Keurig with everything coffee and tea related and mugs.
"It's incredible. I can't believe that you guys did this for me." I said, as I could feel the tears building up in my eyes.
They walked in and pulled me into a hug. "It wasn't just us. The guys helped with all of the construction stuff, your Dad too. Angela helped us decorate and track down all of the books that we put in here." Leah said.
"Angela?" I asked.
Leah nodded. "Yeah. Come on, let's get some coffee. A lot has happened while you were gone." Leah said, linking her arm with mine and leading me out of the room and towards the kitchen. We sat down at the kitchen table while Emily made some coffee.
"So what all did we miss while we were gone?" I asked.
They all looked at each other before they start telling me everything. I couldn't believe everything that had happened. Jacob and Leah had imprinted on each other. Quil had imprinted on Angela so she was in the know now. Leah told me that she and Jake were taking things one day at a time. I nodded. I knew that I'd have to talk to Angela, see how she was dealing with things. No doubt she was probably upset with me after she'd found out the truth about the Cullen's. I would deal with it. I reached across the table and grabbed Leah's hands. "So, I have a confession." I said and she looked at me confused. "The reason that I sent Sam and Quil to get furniture from Angela?" She nodded. "Was because I've been designing an apartment for you." I told her.
She gasped. "What? Why?" She asked.
"Lee, you have been through so much. Everything with Sam. Your Dad. Phasing. The pack mind. And now imprinting. I felt that you needed your own space." I told her.
She stood up from the table and walked over to me. She pulled me up from my chair and wrapped her arms around me. When she pulled back she had tears in her eyes. "Have I told you lately that your my best friend?" I shook my head. "I love you Bella Swan. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't around to look out for me." She said, as tears fell down her face.
It didn't take long for the guys to come running into the kitchen. "What's wrong, Lee?" Jake asked coming to our side.
Leah shook her head. "Nothing. Happy tears, I promise. Just once again Bells looking out for me." Leah said.
"What are you talking about?" Jake asked her.
I looked over at Jake. "I've secretly been designing an apartment for Leah, so that she could have her own space away from everyone." I told him, with a smile.
He pulled me into a hug. "Thanks Bells. How is it that you always know what everyone needs?" Jake asked me.
I shrugged and smiled. "It's a gift." I said. Everyone laughed. "I want to thank you guys. I appreciate what you guys did for me while we were gone. It makes me love you guys even more." I told them. I looked at Jared who had a confused look on his face. "They all built me a library in the downstairs guest room." I told him.
"You guys did that for my girl?" Jared asked. I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
They all nodded. "We did. It was mostly the girls. They found out the extent of everything that Bella was doing for everyone and wanted to do something nice for her. They wanted Bella to know how much we all appreciate her. How much we all love her." Sam told us.
I watched as Jared nodded at Sam before he hugged each of the girls. Jared might be a big bad tough shape-shifting wolf but he could be a big softy when it came to me. "What do you say we order some pizzas?" I asked everyone. Cheers went up around the room.
Later that night, I stood in the doorway to my living room and watched as everyone was in their own conversations. This was my family. The pack. The imprints. The only people missing from our gathering was Billy, Charlie, Uncle Quil, Sue, Angela and Renee. Renee…I needed to call her. It'd been a while since I'd talked to her. I'd have to go see Uncle Quil tomorrow and talk to him about the in-between. I felt that I really needed to talk to Ephraim and Levi. I made a mental note to call Angela tomorrow and talk to her. I also needed to talk to Uncle Quil about the in-between.