The Sister
Chapter 9
Beth raced down the hallway as she heard her phone ringing in the bedroom. She jumped at it swiping to answer it so the noise would stop. She had forgotten to put it on vibrate and Juliet stirred in her crib at the noise.
"Hello?" She said, half out of breath. She had expected it to be Sam, there nightly phone calls had become a regular thing all week. She looked forward to hearing his voice before she went to sleep and was partly disappointed to hear her father's voice.
"Elizabeth there's been an accident, Bella is in hospital. I'm going to Arizona to see her." That was a lot of information for Beth to take in at once and she tried to understand it all, but some things didn't make sense.
"When did Bella go to Arizona? What happened to her?" Beth asked sitting on the edge of the bed.
"She had a fight with Edward and drove back to your mothers. Apparently, Edward and his father went to see her to convince her to come back and she tripped and fell through a window at the hotel. Renee is with her now. Sounds like she broke her leg and got a few deep cuts but she's going to be okay." Charlie said. Beth could hear him packing on the other end of the phone, throwing things around as he spoke to her. Beth couldn't believe what she was hearing, it sounded fake. How does someone just fall through a window. Even Bella couldn't be that clumsy.
"Okay dad, let me know how she's going when you get there," Beth said.
"Will do. My flight leaves in a few hours so I've got to get going to make it there on time. Be safe, I'll call you when I get there and have more news." Charlie said.
"Okay dad, travel safe. Love you," Beth said.
"Love you to, bye." Beth hung up the phone sitting there for a few minutes as she thought about the information Charlie had given her. The phone started ringing again, Sam's name appearing on the screen. She pressed answer and held it up to her ear, laying back on the bed.
"Hey, how's your night going?" Sam asked.
"Strange," Beth said.
"Care to elaborate?" He asked.
"Dad just called. Bella was in some kind of accident, she's in hospital. Apparently, she had a fight with her boyfriend, went back to Arizona and then fell through a window." The words leaving her lips didn't sound real to her ears. Could they not have come up with a more convincing lie to cover up whatever had happened to Bella.
"That definitely sounds strange," Sam said. Beth could hear him heating up food in the microwave. The beeping of the buttons clear through the phone. He would have only just finished patrolling and getting a quick meal and sleep in before he had to go back out for another day of running the reservation. It seemed Sam spent more time in wolf form then human form, but Beth had mostly wrapped her head around that idea. The idea of vampires being around her human sister though was a harder pill to swallow.
"It just sounds fake," Beth sighed.
"Well, if she's in hospital she's definitely not bitten by one of them. That's a good thing at least. Still sounds very strange though," Sam agreed.
"Dad is going to see her," Beth said. Getting out of bed she went to turn off the last few lights in the house. She kept her voice low trying not to disturb Jake or Billy. Jake wasn't talking to her since he saw her kissing Sam a few days ago. While Billy had opened up to her about the pack's role and duties once the whole wolf thing had sunk in properly.
"You're not thinking of going, are you?" Sam asked, even though he was pretty sure on the answer. There was still some worry in his voice.
"God no. She would have to be on her death bed for me to do that." Beth said. She wasn't sure if that was true or not, but it would definitely take more then a broken leg and some cuts for her to rush off to see Isabella. She retired to her bedroom shutting the door behind her. A mushroom nightlight next to the crib kept the room coated in a warm glow of light. Juliet had started to hate the dark and was terrified of stormy nights, but the light had seemed to help her sleep better.
"What did she do to make you hate her so much?" Sam asked. "If you don't mind me asking," Sam said quickly after woulds.
"She snitched to Renee that I was pregnant and got me kicked out of home." Sam could tell it went deeper then just that, but she would elaborate when she was ready.
"Well, that's a shitty thing to do, on both their parts," Sam said as he got his food out of the microwave and sat down at the island bench.
"Yeah, I haven't talk to Renee since that day. Didn't talk to Bella either until she arrived in Forks. I know it's probably a petty thing to still be angry about, but I just haven't been able to let it go." Beth got under the covers as she spoke.
"It's not petty. Did they ever reach out to you in that time?" Sam asked.
"No. Renee's new husband checked on me often. I'm sure he would have told Renee anything I said but she never called to check in." Beth said.
"Then it sounds like they should have apologised to you first. At least made some kind of contact in that time," Sam said. Beth let out a tired yawn. "Sounds like you are ready for bed."
"Do you mind just staying on the line for a little while?" Beth asked quietly.
"Of course not. Did you want to talk about something?" Sam asked.
"No, I just want to know you're there."
"I'm always here for you Lizzy." Sam said. They shared a few more words about their day until eventually Beth didn't reply, and Sam was sure she had fallen asleep. He stayed on the line though until the phone went dead.
Beth woke with a kink in her neck the next morning, her phone still in her hand pressed to her ear. Julie shook her crib, calling for her mother. Beth stretched pulling herself from bed.
"Hush you little goose you're going to wake everyone up," Beth said picking Julie out of the crib. She kissed her cheek and went to get her cleaned and ready for the day ahead.
Beth got changed and made breakfast for everyone. Billy woke a short time later. He sat at the table reading his news paper and drinking coffee.
"Don't you have work today?" Billy asked after a little while.
"Yeah, why?"
"You're late," Billy said pointing to the clock.
"Hu," Beth looked at the clock confused. "My alarm hasn't gone off." Beth said trying to understand what was going on. A light went off in her mind and she hurried to her room cursing as she went. She pressed the power button on the phone, but nothing happened. Of course it was dead.
She dropped the phone in her pocket and grabbed her bag rushing for the door. She wavered at the door for a second before making a detour down the hallway. She banged on Jake's door.
"Wake up you're going to be late for school," she yelled. She could hear movement on the other side of the door and that was enough for her. Beth hurried to put her boots on and raced out the door. She ran through the forest back tracks arriving at the diner twenty minutes late. She was out of breath and looking a mess when she entered the back door.
"About time you showed up," Harry said his eyes flicking to Beth.
"I'm so sorry Harry my alarm didn't go off," she quickly put her stuff away and found an apron.
"Go clean your hair up and get out front, it's just starting to get busy," the older man waved her on. She went to the bathroom putting her hair up in a bun and throwing some water on her face. She caught her breath before getting on with her day. She felt like she was running behind the whole day, the morning putting her off.
By the time Sam and the guys arrived at the diner Beth was inundated with other customers. Leah had left early for an appointment and Kim had only just arrived. Apparently, everyone was running late today.
"Hey," Beth said to the guys.
"Hey yourself, you look tied." Sam said squeezing her arm. His touch made her feel better even though she was having a horrible day. With Sam there she knew it couldn't get any worse.
"Yeah, it's been a busy day. Do you guys know what you want, or did you want menus?" Beth asked looking at Paul and Jared.
"As long as it's food I don't care," Paul said. He looked ready to collapse on the table. They all looked just as tired as she felt.
"Are you all just happy with food and don't care what it is?" Beth asked raising an eyebrow. They all nodded their heads, and she wrote out a large order for them. She took the order to the kitchen and returned to their table with drinks.
"Did you want to swing by your dads and grab some stuff for the weekend?" Sam asked.
"Yeah, that sounds good actually." Beth wanted to do a trip to Forks herself but since Jacob had her truck to pick up and drop off Julie at daycare, she wasn't sure how she could get there.
"Great, I'll go grab my truck when we are done here and meet you out front after your shift." Sam said.
"Okay sounds good," she smiled. The kitchen bell rang, and she hurried to get the food to the waiting tables. The shift went quickly, and Beth was glad when she was able to sign off. Dreading having to return for a shift in the kitchen in only a couple hours. Sam was parked out front with the truck running when Beth left the diner. She glanced around before getting into the truck but no one else was in the parking lot.
"You stress too much. No one cares if I give you a lift somewhere," Sam said rubbing a hand on her thigh. He pulled out of the parking lot and headed up the road to Forks.
"I don't want it to be in the town gossip," Beth shrugged.
"How was your morning?" Sam asked, trying to get her mind on another topic.
"All over the place. My phone died so my alarm for work didn't go off and I ended up being twenty minutes late."
"First time being late to work?" Sam asked with a smile.
"First time being late to anything," Beth sighed.
"It's fine, I'm sure Harry doesn't care. You turned up that's the main thing." Sam smiled, trying to reassure her.
"I know I just feel bad about it." Beth said still all in her head over bing late to work. Sam didn't say any more on the topic giving Beth time to work it over in her mind. She would see soon that it wasn't a big deal. Sam parked in front of the Swan's house and the pair got out of the truck.
"So, what does Juliet need?" Sam asked as Beth unlocked the front door.
"I have an extra portable crib. We can take that and the mattress from her crib since she's not using it," Beth said leading the way to the bedroom.
"Why can't we just take the whole crib?" Sam asked looking at the wooden crib.
"It would need pulling apart," Beth said.
"Looks pretty easy, I can grab my tools from the truck and get it apart in no time. That's if you want, if you don't want to move it in yet then that's completely fine. Whatever you want," Sam didn't want to push her. He was actually surprised she agreed to take stuff to his house.
"I guess it's dumb for it to just sit here collecting dust. Are you sure you will be able to get it back together again? It took me and dad like two days of arguing to work it out, and that was with the instructions." Beth stressed, remembering how hard the thing had been to put together.
"Yeah, should be pretty easy. Do you have an old blanket or towels we can wrap the sides in, so they don't get scuffed up in the tray," Sam said lifting the mattress out of the crib and looking at the screws that held it together.
"I can find something," Beth nodded. Sam went to grab his tools and Beth found out some old blankets that Charlie wouldn't notice missing. She left them by the door then started collecting other items she wanted and knew Julie would need at Sam's house. The pile grew quickly and by the time Sam had dismantled the crib and gotten it all into the truck they had to do five more trips to get the rest of the stuff to the truck.
"Is that everything?" Sam asked, a smile on his face. He had worried Beth would find it hard moving things to his place, but it seemed she was really going to give this a red-hot go. They had taken a large amount of the items from her room and everything of Juliet's. She was overly organised, so most items were already in plastic storage tubs. Beth said some things she would take to Billy's, but Sam was happy to have it all at his place. Beth knew if she couldn't stay at Charlie's for the foreseeable future then Juliet would outgrow most of her items by the time she returned to the house, which seemed too wasteful.
"I'll just be a second. Dad's not going to be home for a few more days so might as well take the perishables. It will just rot otherwise."
"Any word on how Bella is?" Sam asked hovering in the doorway.
"He texted while I was at work. Said she was doing well, and he would be bringing her home Monday." Beth said, she was glad her dad had confirmed Isabella was okay and not vampire food.
"Thats good. I'm sure he's relieved," Sam said.
"Yeah, it's good."
"I'll go strap down the things in the back of the truck. That stuff should fit on the back seat." Sam said before walking out the front door. Beth heard a thump as the door blow shut behind him.
Beth throw out some items that were no longer good, they were probably past their use by date before Charlie had even left. She filled a shopping bag with some items that were still good enough for her to save. There was a flash of colour out of the corner of her eye and Beth turned her head to see what it was.
The milk bottle slipped from her hands smashing against the floor. Beth stood frozen her eyes locked on blood red irises. In the hallway stood a woman with flaming red hair and eyes to match. She stood still as a statue, head slightly crooked as she watched Beth with curiosity. Beth's first instinct wasn't to run from the creature, her first and only thought was Sam. She needed him.
Somehow being late to work no longer seemed like a big deal to her.
Author Notes***
Would people be okay if Leah wasn't a wolf in this fiction or would you all still like to see Leah as a wolf? She would still be in the story of course. I have an idea that could go either way I'm not overly worried which way it goes I just wasn't sure how people would feel about Leah staying Human and having to deal with another set of challenge's. thoughts?