Originally this was going to be the next chapter but then I figured, we should see why no one was talking to Bella. I have been WAITING for this chapter (and a lot of the chapters that follow it) for FOREVER! When I first started this story (almost a year ago. So much for accountability), I knew how I wanted this to play out. And it just got better and better.

The song for this chapter is Hello/Lacrimosa by The Piano Guys.

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Disclaimer: I'm only doing this for a friend. I don't get anything from it but her undying appreciation. I certainly don't get to have fun with Emmett and the boys in my head.

Chapter Twenty-Five: Hello Lacrimosa

BPOV

"Rachel?"

"Bella?" The mass of shadow and branches fumbled around until it separated into two separate bodies. Rachel Black stood up and walked toward me. "Bella Swan! What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? I live here! What are you doing here? Why are you tramping around in the forest behind my house at this time of night? Are you crazy?"

"Ugh, we were on our way back from Port Angeles and my car broke down on the side of the road. We called someone but I thought that we might be able to walk over to the auto shop. Apparently, we got turned around."

"Who's with you," I asked, looking around her. Her friend was brushing sticks out of her hair. "Leah? Is that you?" She looked up at me and grinned.

"Hey, Bella! Long time, no see. How are you doing? I heard you moved up to live with your dad. Sorry about your mom."

"Yeah, that sucks," Rachel said and I smiled half-heartedly.

"Yeah, it's been hard. Do you guys want to come in and wait for your ride here? I was just about to start dinner."

"Oh my god, yes," Leah groaned. "Anything but walking in circles in the woods." They followed me into the kitchen and collapsed on chairs. Leah took her shoes off and began to rub her feet.

"It's been forever since I saw you guys. How are you? What have you guys been doing," I asked as I began to pull out ingredients for fajitas.

"I started college last fall," Rachel said.

"Wow. That's crazy. I feel like we were just kids running around the reservation and getting into trouble."

"Hey, you're the only one who got into trouble. No one ever caught us," Leah teased and I laughed.

"I'm sad to report that my clumsiness hasn't gotten any better with age." They laughed and stood up, grabbing glasses and filling them with water. "What about you, Leah?"

"School. Not much going on around the rez."

"Same. Charlie's been working some crazy hours and some nights I wish the laundry would just swallow me whole."

"Ugh, I come home to do laundry and make sure that my dad and Jake are doing okay. I wish I lived in a nudist colony," Rachel said with a grimace.

"It's too cold for a nudist colony here," I pointed out as I tossed sliced onions, peppers and steak into a pan. I grabbed tortillas to warm them.

"True," she conceded with a laugh.

"So college, huh. What are you studying?"

"I'm going into education."

"A teacher? Wow. What subject?"

"Elementary education. I like kids. And honestly, the idea of teaching teenagers terrifies me."

"Only because you'd have the boys falling over themselves trying to impress you," Leah said with a laugh and Rachel shuddered dramatically while I laughed.

"I didn't like teenage boys when I was in high school and honestly, I don't think I'll like them any better as I get older."

"What's Rebecca up to these days?"

"She's married."

"She's married?!"

"Yeah, last year. Todd. He's a cool guy. They're expecting their first baby in a few months."

"A baby," I said faintly. "It's weird to think Rebecca is old enough to have a baby."

"I know. She keeps trying to set me up with Todd's single friends but I'm not really interested in all that. She was always the one who wanted to get married and have kids."

"So no boyfriend back at school," I teased, nudging her side. She laughed.

"Nope. I am single and I am happy with that."

"What about you, Leah? Special someone in your life?" Leah adopted a silly grin.

"Yeah. His name is Sam. He's a bit older but honestly, I love him. He keeps me grounded. I don't know what I'd do without him."

"I still can't believe you and Sam Uley are dating," Rachel admitted. "He was such a goofball in school."

"Yeah but he's really sweet. I could see myself marrying him one day," Leah admitted quietly.

"Wow, it sounds serious." She nodded shyly and I pulled her into a hug. "I'm so happy for you, Leah. You deserve a really great guy." She pulled back and grinned.

"What about you, Bella? Any of these boys in town catch your eye?" I blushed against my will and she crowed. "Someone did! Spill! Who is it?" I hesitated, wanting so badly to talk about Carlisle the way she'd talked about her boyfriend. My phone rang, saving me from answering. I looked at the screen.

CC.

Carlisle.

I gestured for them to start eating while I stepped out of the room, answering the phone and holding it to my ear.

"Hi," I said, maybe a little shortly. In the excitement of my old friends showing up, I had forgotten that the Cullens had left without saying anything but seeing his name rekindled some of my annoyance.

"Bella, I am so, so sorry. I was going to text you and tell you that we were leaving for a camping trip while the weather was nice but I assumed that Edward or Alice had already told you. It was completely my mistake. I feel awful. Please forgive me."

"I can't say I haven't felt a little… left out of the loop or abandoned," I mutter into the phone, trying to hold back the hurt but I know it seeps into my voice.

"I'm so sorry, darling. This is my fault."

"You aren't required to tell me everything you're doing."

"But I should have told you. Edward has been telling me that I'm bungling this relationship thing. I fear that I am. I'm so sorry. From now on, I will tell you everything instead of assuming someone else will."

"Even though I missed you guys, it did give me the opportunity to get to know a couple of the kids here. You know, the ones who don't hate my guts already."

"That's good. I'm afraid I've been rather poor company here. I miss you so much that Edward and the others keep accusing me of moping and sulking."

"I miss you, too," I said softly. "Although I don't know how anyone could be worse company than Edward."

"Hey, I heard that," I hear Edward yell from somewhere nearby. I laugh to myself.

"Good. I wouldn't want distance from me to give you the delusional idea that I might actually like you or miss you." There was a scuffle on their end and I laughed as Carlisle and Edward threatened and insulted one another.

"Do you know when you'll be back," I ask after it quiets down.

"Probably tomorrow. This good weather is coming to an end, I'm afraid."

"I never thought that I would wish for more rain in Forks but for some mysterious reason, I find myself upset with the sunshine and praying for a downpour." He chuckled warmly in my ear and warmth bubbled in my chest. Leah and Rachel's laughter broke through my focus and I jumped a little.

"It sounds like you have company."
"Yeah, a couple of old friends showed up unexpectedly."

"Well, I shan't keep you from them. I just… I'm sorry that I haven't been meeting your expectations in this… relationship. I guess Edward is right and I am an old man who needs his help."

"My only expectation is that you exist and continue being yourself. I'm no expert at relationships myself. Also, maybe don't listen to Edward because the only advice that he could possibly offer would probably give me homicidal tendencies since that's how I feel with all his other advice." His rich, full laugh filled the line and I wanted nothing more to be pressed against his chest or in his arms, watching his face light up with laughter.

"Oddly enough, I feel the exact same way. Go have a nice time with your friends. And take care of yourself. I'd hate to come back and have to sew an arm or a leg back on," he teased gently and I rolled my eyes.
"You know I haven't lost a limb yet, right?"

"An accomplishment for which I am extremely grateful and hopeful that it remains that way."

"You're ridiculous. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight, sweetheart."

"Goodnight, handsome." I hung up and took a steadying breath before heading back into the kitchen.

"Ooooh girl, you better spill right now," Leah said.

"What?"

"You have got the sappiest smile on your face right now," Rachel said with a smug grin.

"What? No I don't."

"You do too! Now tell us who the hunky guy on the other end of that phone call was or I'm going to summon our wolf spirit ancestors to whip your ass until you do."

"Fine." I paused and they both leaned back and crossed their arms over their chests, leveling me with equally unamused looks. "It's Edward Cullen," I said quickly, hating that I had to lie to two of my closest friends growing up.

"You're dating Edward Cullen," Leah screeched. I leaned away from her warily.

"Um. Yes?"

"Holy shit, Bella," Rachel breathed. "Does your dad know?"

"Yeah. He likes Edward. Well sort of. He doesn't dislike Edward."

"Does my dad know," Rachel asked.

"I-I don't think so. Why?"

"Because he would flip the crap out if he knew that his best friend's daughter was dating one of the Cold Ones," Rachel said with a laugh.

"The what?"

"C'mon, Bella, you remember the fireside stories with the elders," Leah teased. I tried to remember back to the nights I would spend on the reservation while Charlie worked.

"Vaguely, I guess. I remember that there were a few nights where we had sleepovers and we'd all sit around the campfire and the adults would tell stories. But I don't remember any of the stories. What does any of that have to do with the Cullens?"

"We have this old legend about our ancestors. They could turn into wolves to protect the tribe. And their greatest enemy was the Cold Ones."

"What are Cold Ones?"

"Vampires," Leah said with a skeptical laugh.

My world grinded to a halt.

Vampires.

Snippets of memory came floating back to me as Rachel told the story of one of her ancestors fighting off a deranged vampire and turning into a wolf to tear her to pieces.

"What does that have to do with the Cullens?"

"Legend on the rez is that the Cullens are Cold Ones who showed up when my great-grandfather was chief and claimed to be different. They only drank the blood of animals. Grandpa Ephraim made a treaty with them that they wouldn't bite any humans and they would stay off our land. It split the reservation and the town up so that there wouldn't be any fighting."

"You're suggesting that the Cullens have lived here since your great grandfather was chief and no one has noticed?"

"No. They left for a while and only came back recently. Most of us don't believe it. But the elders refuse to come into town to the hospital here because Doctor Cullen works there and they don't trust him." I sat back, mulling on the information dump I'd just received.

"If they were vampires, wouldn't they have to stay indoors and sleep during the day?"

"In our legends, Cold Ones can walk in the daylight. They're superhumanly fast and strong. They're pale and have red eyes and they are cold like stone and can't be harmed except by our wolf's teeth and by fire. It honestly sounds like a way to justify racial prejudices amongst the older generations but my mom used to tell us that if we didn't go to bed or eat our vegetables that the Cold Ones would come for us."

Cold skin.

Superhuman strength.

Impossible speed.

Strange eyes.

Pale.

The room seemed to spin as my mental list of oddities about the Cullen family and what Edward had done fell into place against this new information.

Could it really be this, though? Vampires? The idea seemed utterly outrageous.

And yet…

I'd watched Edward push the van away from me. I'd watched him lift it and move me out of harm's way. He'd been too far away to get to me at human speed but he'd been at my side in mere seconds.

The family all looked the same but the illness that Carlisle had claimed to share with them had yielded no results except leeches and…

Blood deficiency.

Had Carlisle told me exactly what they were in a clever, made-up medical condition?

Leeches.

Bloodsuckers.

It seemed so obvious if you chose to believe that things like vampires existed.

Did I believe in vampires?

"Hello, earth to Bella," Leah said, snapping her fingers in front of my face. I snapped my attention to her. "Don't worry, Bella. No one but the elders think that the Cullens are actually Cold Ones. I doubt he'll suck your blood. Might give you a big, ole hickey though," she said with a wink. I forced a smile.

"Yeah. I guess it's just weird to know that people could think that about them."

"Don't get me started. My dad has been so paranoid since they moved back in. It's the stupidest thing. We've had to drive twice as far for his doctor appointments and we've had lots of arguments about it before I left for school."

"Yeah," I said faintly, mind still whirring with the reintroduction of information that I'd been given as a child. Leah's phone buzzed on the table.

"That's Sam. He's out front. Thank you so much, Bella. It was so good to see you again. Next time your dad goes fishing, you should come down. We can hang out." She gave me a hug and I squeezed her back on instinct.

"Seriously, next time I come back, I'll text you. We can all go see a movie or something," Rachel promised and I nodded and hugged her as well.

"It was really great to see you guys again. I'd love to get together. And, um, can you guys not say anything about me and… Edward? I just really don't want to deal with a whole bunch of Charlie's friends butting their noses into our relationship."

"Are you kidding? If I told dad, he'd probably have an aneurysm. I'm annoyed with him but I don't want to kill him," Rachel joked and I smiled wanly. They headed down the porch steps to a car waiting in the driveway and climbed in. I waved until they had headed down the street and out of sight.

I went inside and locked the door, robotically cleaning up our mess in the kitchen and then heading upstairs, head churning with memories and questions. When I got to my room, I closed the door and paced the floor while I tried to sort through the jumble in my head.

According to the Quileute legends, Cold Ones had cold, pale skin. Their eyes were usually red but the Cullens had yellow eyes because they drank animal blood.

The Cullens all shared the exact same alabaster pallor and ochre eyes. But sometimes, their eyes darkened. Was this what happened when they didn't eat? Usually when Edward's eyes darkened, he was short tempered and impatient.

Was that vampire equivalent of being hangry?

They were so fast, it seemed like a blink of the eye.

Edward had moved the length of at least four cars before I could even blink.

They were supernaturally strong.

He'd lifted the van off me. Emmett had mysteriously put our cars on the roofs of the school buildings.

Their skin was hard and impenetrable. How many times had I shoved or playfully punched Edward or Emmett only to feel like I had just hit a statue? When I kissed Carlisle, it always felt like I was molding myself around him.

They were immortal unless they were torn to pieces and then burned.

Admittedly, I hadn't experienced anything to back that up but I wasn't blind to the way the Cullens stiffened when someone mentioned the tribe or the reservation.

After what felt like hours, I finally sat on the edge of the bed and held a hand to my mouth, holding back the words swirling in my head.

The Cullens were vampires.

This was the big secret that they were all keeping from me.

They were vegetarian vampires that chose to live in this small town and attend high school.

Edward's reaction to me on my first day of school took on a whole new light.

Had he wanted to kill me then? Was he resisting the urge to drink my blood?

But if it was that hard for them to resist, then why put themselves in a school with hundreds of humans?

How did Carlisle handle being around blood at the hospital day in and day out? He'd stitched up my foot when I'd sliced it open and was bleeding profusely. He…

Carlisle.

My secret boyfriend was a mythical creature that drank blood.