Bella reached the hotel just in time for check-in and inspected the room for anything amiss before unpacking. Once situated, she took a shower, put her hair up in a simple twist, and carefully applied her makeup.

She opted to wear her glasses after sleeping in the same contacts for three days. Then, she wasted too much time deciding what to wear to the restaurant. Despite dressing like this daily at home, it felt different here.

You are not the same Bella these people knew; she reminded her reflection. Let them see what everyone else sees every day.

Bella was still dressing when her phone finally alerted. She half-expected Charlie to choose The Diner in Forks, more out of habit than nostalgic reasons. Instead, they picked a little restaurant and bar in La Push, ironically just down the street from her hotel. She glanced out the window at the ocean view and sighed.

It surprised her that Seth, not Charlie, had texted her the address to the restaurant. Now that she knew her step-brother harbored no hard feelings for her, the idea of him contacting her didn't feel as unnerving.

Besides…in less than a week, you'll have no secrets to worry about keeping. Bella couldn't possibly have predicted then how true that thought would become.

As she finished getting ready, she couldn't help but wonder what her husband was doing tonight, a mere ten minutes away, give or take. Bella didn't know how to feel, knowing he was so close yet so far at the same time. She'd numbed herself to his memory for so long that sometimes their brief connection felt lifetimes away.

Then there were the occasional nights when it didn't, and her wine went down smoother than water.

Bella checked her appearance one last time, ignoring the urge to change again. She pulled a long, thin, burgundy cardigan over her short, tight, black, strapless mini dress, slid into her favorite black heels, tucked her room key into her purse, and left for the restaurant.

When she arrived, Leah, Seth, and Amy were already there. Bella was almost relieved to see Seth and Leah with beers in hand. She hoped there was a wine list.

Seth spotted her first. Bella blushed as his eyes bugged out, and he nearly spat out his beer. Her current appearance greatly differed from the sleepy-eyed, rumpled mess she was a few hours before - and entirely opposite of the girl he once knew. Her heels and short dress emphasized long, bare legs. The open cardigan emphasized her curves, along with a good bra.

Like most men, she could practically see 'sexy librarian alert' light up on his forehead. She'd heard the term applied to herself enough to know. The difference was that he was her stepbrother.

Awkward. His ears were as pink as her cheeks.

Once noticing Seth's reaction, Amy and Leah followed his gaze. Amy gaped momentarily before grinning as she stood to greet Bella. Seth seemed to come to his senses a second later and coughed as he stood, not meeting her gaze.

Leah remained seated, scrutinizing Bella's outfit. "Cute, Swan. That 'from office to bar' look works on you."

Quietly, Seth hissed, "Leah!"

Unoffended, Bella winked and said, "It works for me, too."

"Bella!" Seth looked blown away as he sat back down.

Leah laughed and said, "Ignore him, Bella. I'm thirty and get the same treatment."

Sliding into her chair, Bella said, "Once a protector, always a protector. Right?"

Leah held up her beer in salute. "Essentially."

By the time Charlie and Sue arrived, Bella was halfway through a glass of wine as Seth started on his third beer. As soon as they sat down, their server seemed eager to take their orders. The place was beyond packed, and Bella couldn't blame her. Still, it was rude, and she wanted everyone to enjoy dinner. So far, she'd gotten on with Leah just fine, and Bella was enjoying her company for the first time (that she could recall).

To the server, Bella said, "Can you give our parents a few minutes to see the menus, please? They just arrived."

Their server narrowed her eyes at Bella but kept her fake smile. "Of course, but your party will have to order soon. If you're only drinking tonight, I'll have to move you all to the bar section so we can free the booth for other diners."

Leah said, "Bitch, what part of 'they just got here' didn't you get? We're going to order, but you can fuck off with that condescending tone and send a different server to earn the big fat tip that comes later."

"Oh, and have them bring the rest of this. Please, and thank you so much," Bella said, raising her glass. She and Leah grinned at each other as the server stalked away, and their family watched them in awkward silence.

Breaking the tension, Seth teased, "Should I expect spit in my food?"

"I'll slit that bitch's apron strings," Bella said before knocking back the rest of her wine.

"Oh, this is going to be one hell of a week," Charlie muttered as he opened his menu, making Sue chuckle.

Leah grinned. "I might need to ask for a glass of whatever you're having, Swan."

"Be my guest," Bella answered, licking a stray drop of wine from her bottom lip. "How's your tolerance these days?

Leah laughed. "Maybe you should come home more often."

Bella grinned. "Yeah. Maybe I should."


The family moved to a different table, anyway. It was simply to accommodate all the food Seth and Leah ordered.

Midway through their meal, Bella asked Leah, "How do you still do it? I thought you had stopped phasing a long time ago."

Leah paused with her fork midway to her mouth to answer, "I did, but apparently, my wolf doesn't care about that."

"So it's still with you?"

Seth nodded and said, "Everyone's is. And we never knew that. All our legends talked about the protectors becoming fully human again, but for those who stopped? It's still there. We just started aging again. If we phase again, we will cease to age again. Apparently, it's why Taha Aki could shift as an old man when his sons were killed."

"That's incredible," Bella said. "So, Seth? Does that mean you stopped?"

"I did, for a few years. But, I missed it, and since I already looked older than I should, Amy and I discussed it…" He turned to smile at his wife before leaning in to kiss her forehead. As she beamed at him, he finished, "I started phasing again, and it was the right decision. I took over as Alpha last year so Jake could handle things like learning Billy's job as Chief for his eventual takeover. He never wanted to be Alpha anyway, and Sam just wanted to have a normal life with Emily and their kids."

Bella couldn't help but glance toward Leah at the mention of Sam, and the she-wolf snorted. "It's fine, Swan. I haven't cared about Sam Uley romantically in almost ten years. I even get along with Emily now."

Charlie grumbled, "You know, Bells… a little heads up back then would've been nice. I about shit my pants the first time I saw Seth phase."

"Lovely dinner table talk, Dad," she teased, reaching for her wine as the others laughed. "And, I only knew what little the guys knew…what little they could tell me, anyway. I repressed some things over the years, so I don't remember everything clearly."

"You really shouldn't have married the Leech," Leah said, glaring down at her plate while stabbing a chunk of steak with her fork.

Seth, Charlie, and Sue all frowned at her simultaneously, but a surprised Amy looked at Bella and asked, "You… married one of them?"

I guess she doesn't know the whole insane story. And Bella definitely didn't want to elaborate now. She kept her gaze firmly locked on Leah, waiting for her to look up at her again. When Leah finally did, Bella said, "You're right. It was a decision I'll always regret. I learned my lesson the hard way."

Leah asked, "Why didn't you come home to Jake, Bella?"

"Leah…" Sue warned.

"No," Leah huffed. "I'm not being a bitch. I genuinely want to know. He was so fucking happy to find out you'd left Cullen, and he kept expecting you to come home or call him… something? But you never did. Why?"

"I had my reasons…" Bella sighed and knocked back the rest of her drink. Her family waited in silence as she carefully put down the glass. "It wasn't fair to keep hurting him, and that's all I ever seemed to do. And I was right to stay away. How many kids does he have now? Three? That's not the life I wanted. That's part of why I was okay with Edward being… what he was. I didn't want kids. To be honest, I didn't even want to get married, but he kind of blackmailed me into it."

Charlie asked, "Blackmailed?"

Bella nodded, feeling the heat of her blush fill her cheeks. "Yep. And, I'd rather not discuss those circumstances, if you don't mind. I loved him, not that it matters."

Charlie scoffed.

Leah asked, "So why did you leave Cullen, then? You never told anyone what happened, and they refused to tell us. When he came back without you, everyone thought the worst."

Bella glanced around at her family, feeling everyone's eyes boring into her as they waited for her answer - especially her father, who had begged for that answer for the last ten years. She looked down at her plate and shook her head.

"I don't… I won't talk about that. Let's just say it didn't take me long to find out how thoroughly insane I was for… the things I wanted."

Seth's eyes narrowed in anger as he took a deep breath, clearly understanding more than Bella had intended for anyone to. Then again, Seth had been there, helping remove Jacob from their reception after learning Bella intended to remain human during said honeymoon. The entire incident, and everything afterward, was a disaster.

Leah said, "I saw Edward twice before they packed up and moved. I knew you had to be alive because he truly looked devastated. His whole family was furious with him, too. Lots of yelling going on over there."

Bella closed her eyes as she pictured her once-beloved in-laws fighting over the end of their relationship and the many lies they'd have to tell to escape The Volturi's wrath. Bella's long-repressed memories of her terror in Voltaire made her shudder.

"P-please, can we… just not talk about this anymore? It was ten years ago. I want to leave it there." She opened her eyes, directly meeting Leah's gaze. The she-wolf actually seemed apologetic as she nodded once and flagged their server for another beer.

Bella glanced toward Seth to find Amy staring at him, wearing an expression that practically screamed, 'I can't believe you didn't tell me this shit.'

Despite the tension at the table, it made Bella chuckle. She said, "Seth, I don't care if you tell Amy all of the bullshit that happened back then. Just… wait til I'm not within earshot to do it."

Blessedly changing the subject, Charlie asked, "So, Seth? Did you catch the game last night?"

Sue rolled her eyes at their daughters, and they continued with dinner like nothing had happened.