Chapter Twenty- Two

Sleeping soundly in my bed, curled up with my little kitty and dreaming of a certain boy who has consumed most of my thoughts and dreams lately. I was suddenly woken up by a loud earsplitting ringing in my ears.

It was really loud and annoying.

Groaning, my eyes broke open, reaching up I rubbed the sleep from them and turned grabbing my phone only to find out that it wasn't where the sound was coming from and looked at the time it was 10:30 at night. I groaned louder.

Rolling my eyes, I rolled over without crushing Piper and was going back to dreaming my lovely dream.

"E-Elena!"

My eyes snapped awake, realizing that it was coming from my head. Don't judge me, I know how it sounds. I sat up quickly knowing the tone.

"Sam? Oh, please don't tell me another one shifted!." I told him shaking my head awake. "Sorry I know you guys can't decide the big shift day, but this is ridiculous, I have school tomorrow, I'm exhausted!..." My mind flashed to Paul and suddenly felt my heart panic. "Wait is someone hurt? Paul???"

"N-no not him..." I heard him tell me and sighed in relief. "I-I need you help.... Emergency.. Em-Emily, I- I don't know what to do."

"I'm on my way." I thought back, and quickly got out of bed.

I looked at my door for a second and walked over to lock it before my eyes flashed gold and I was dressed.

'Sam is there anyone around?' I thought quickly.

'Just Emily and I'

I nodded before remembering he couldn't see me and in seconds I teleported out of my room and landed in front of wherever Sam was. We were in a section of woods; Sam was in wolf form shaking with anger and pain and watching something.

Paul and Jared were with him also in wolf form, they had just finished a patrol and must have heard Sam's message through the link.

'Thank goddess' I thought glancing at the silver wolf for a quick second. I sighed in relief.

Paul's wolf eyes softened at me.

"Okay what's the emergency?" I asked staring at Sam before following his vision and my eyes went wide seeing Emily on the ground screaming in pain covering her face. "Oh, my goddess! What the hell happened.?"

I kneeled beside the girl; the side of her face was bleeding from three sharp what looked like claw marks, I turned to the guys.

"Go get Billy or Harry get them over here now!" I snapped making the dark gray with brown spots Jared run off towards the Clearwaters,

Paul had gone behind a tree to shift back and came over to my side. I glanced at him.

"Call an ambulance, my phones in my pocket, passcode is-"

'I know' I heard him say cutting me off.

His hand reached for the pocket of my jacket, fishing my phone out, he unlocked it and dialed the emergency number.

He had a strange heart broken look on his face, feeling Sam's pain but there was something else playing as he stared at me.

Emily looked at me with wide eyes.

"You teleported?" She asked crying in pain.

I nodded.

"It was an emergency."

'I-I-I didn't mean to swear I didn't.'

"Just tell me what happened?" I told him quietly and calmly staring at him for a second before turning to Emily and raised my hand.

She looked into my eyes for a second and calmed down giving me her full trust.

I removed her hand so I could look it over and held my hand up. My eyes flickered gold as I scanned her face with my hand.

Sam thought back to a few hours ago, he had just gotten off a really long patrol and he was exhausted, Emily said something that angered him, he tried to run off, Em followed too closely.

"Okay it's okay Sammy, it's not your fault." I told him without looking at him. I frowned. "The bad news is I can't heal the scar, the claws went too deep."

I heard him whimper.

"I'm sorry my healing has it's limit." I said feeling horrible. "But I can make sure the skin underneath is fully healed and make the pain hurt less.."

'Just do what you can' I heard him say after a long pause.

I nodded.

'Hey, Sue, is on her way with Harry right now.' I heard Jared tell us through the link.

"Harry and Sue are on their way." I muttered glancing over at Paul. "Ambulance?"

"Twenty minutes away." He told me making me nod, he came over kneeling beside me. "Can I do anything else?"

"Help Sam calm down." I asked quietly, glancing around. "I always keep extra calming potions in my bag, one vial should do it."

We shared a look, our eyes were locked instantly, he said nothing else as he lifted the flap of my medicine.

"Wow you carry all these?" He asked staring at all the different colored vials. "How do you keep track of which is what?"

"I'll tell you about it later, the light pink vial is the one we need for now." I added smiling softly for a quick second. I nodded in Sam's direction. "Go take care of him, leave Em to me."

Paul nodded, kissing my cheek before getting to his feet urging Sam towards the tree line.

Sam's black head hung very low, he didn't even fight Paul and followed directly behind him. Walking away, he drew Emily's attention for a second.

"You're going to be okay." I told her gently.

She looked back at me.

"This was all my fault..." She whispered quietly in tears. "What I said to him... Ellie-"

Raising both of my hands, I laid one on her face without touching her injuries and the other on her shoulder, slowly starting to heal her.

"No it wasn't your fault." I said cutting her off. "It wasn't Sam's either, fights between couples are normal... "

"Sam isn't exactly normal." Emily retorted.

"No you're right." I told her nodding. "He's not and I know you didn't ask for this whole imprint thing, especially after everything that happened between Sam and Leah." I gave her a knowing look. "I hate that one of my best friends got their heart broken and is taking the breakup hard but you are meant to be with Sam, it's your fate and I know for a fact he would do anything for you."

She stared into my eyes.

"Hurting you is killing him." I added nodding towards where Sam and Paul were. "His mind is going into overdrive I can hardly tell what he's thinking but I know he's in a lot of pain... and his aura is heavy... he's never going to forgive himself."

Taking in a deep breath, I closed my eyes and slowly started to heal her the best I could.

------

"Well it was a good thing you were here." Sue told me.

Eventually Sue, Harry and Billy all showed up with an ambulance.

I stood beside Paul with his arms around me, while I leaned on him a little, crossing my arms.

A sleeping Emily was being loaded up while we watched. The three adults, Jared and a tearful Sam stood with us. Emily ended up falling asleep once I relieved her pain, I did what I could for now.

"I came as fast as I could when I got Sam's mental call." I told her gently, frowning, Paul rubbed my forearm in comfort. "Unfortunately I don't know if the scars will heal or not... I can't make those kinds of promises."

Sue wrapped her arms around me in a motherly hug, and gave me a tiny pat on the back, staring at her niece.

"You did all that you could and I'm thankful you were able to help my niece." She told me.

I smiled at her, sighing and laid my head on Paul's shoulder feeling tired and watched the people work on getting Emily ready to go.

I felt Paul kiss the top of my head and smiled a little feeling his body heat start to warm up the cold.

---

It seemed like forever until I was able to tell everyone goodbye and hugging Paul, telling him I would call him later tonight after we both got some good sleep. I teleported home.

There was no time for me to lay down as it was around four in the morning, so I just took an energy potion.

I was able to do my morning routine, it was a quick one but it was enough for my energy to come back and go take a shower.

Summer had ended in a blur, and I was in awe by how fast it went and school was back in session.

I was standing in the kitchen, cooking a special back to school/Bella's birthday breakfast, I made a simple omelet with pan fried spinach and mushrooms, sided by hash browns and a mix of fruit salad fresh from my garden and orange juice.

"Hey you ready?" Charlie asked holding a couple gifts in his hands.

I was plating everything and added a flower vase with her favorite orchid and nodded.

"Yeah, let's go, she's going to wake up here soon." I told him picking the tray up and creeped up the stairs.

Pushing Bella's door open, she was sitting up in bed with a blank expression.

"Happy Birthday, Bells." Charlie greeted hanging her his gifts from him and Renee, one was wrapped and the other one wasn't.

"Guys we agreed, no gifts."

"If it helps this is considered your gift." I told her setting the tray on the bed.

"And at least mine's not wrapped." Charlie said at the same time, handing her a digital camera with a bow.

"Okay." Bella said looking pleased taking it and glancing at the food. "This is actually kind of great, thanks."

"Goes with this one from your mom." Charlie added hanging her the wrapped gift. "We coordinated, well, she coordinated me."

Bella opened the wrapped gift, uncovering a scrapbook with a pretty pattern on the cover.

"It's to put your pictures in, record your senior year." Charlie continued glancing at me and let out a sigh. "Man, senior year, how'd you girls get old so fast?"

I grinned at him in amusement.

"I'm not that old." Bella said shaking her head.

"I don't know." Charlie said attempting a joke. "Is that a wrinkle?"

"No, no way." Bella said firmly, racing to a mirror, searching her face.

I let out a giggle.

"He was kidding Bells." I told her smirking.

"So not funny, dad." Bella told him.

Charlie gave an amused smirk and slowly backed out.

"Okay well you eat your breakfast and finish getting ready" I told her before walking out and headed into my room to get ready for the day.

----

After getting dressed, I sat on the edge of my bed for a second contemplating that this was my senior year and my parents wouldn't see me graduate, they've missed so much already but this one was really hitting me hard. I was graduating at only seventeen.

A knock came at my door, Bella opened it and poked her head in.

"Hey, you ready to go?" She asked before seeing my face. "You okay?"

I stared at her a few seconds before nodding.

"I'm fine." I told her standing up to grab my new school bag that Leah had given me for my birthday, it was my favorite color purple, but it had a native touch to it and matched the bracelet Paul gave me that I wear nearly every day and turned back to my cousin. "Are you riding with us this morning?"

"If you don't mind."

"Of course not, Bells." I told her gesturing for her to get going, we walked down the stairs together. "As long as Edward can bring you home afterwards, the girls and I have plans."

We got to the bottom of the stairs and looked around; Charlie had already left for work.

"He always does." She said making me nod.

Grabbing a smoothie from the fridge, we headed out to the wrangler and hopped in, backing out we went to go pick up Jazz and Quinn.

I never knew how much I missed those girls until I went through all this by myself.

Over the last few weeks school has started, I had been thinking about the Lovelace house.

I've talked to my aunt Athena and she promised she would meet me in Los Angeles and we could talk about it. Don't get me wrong I love living with Charlie but the house my grandparents built was very important to me.

Pulling into the parking lot of the school, I shook my head clear and parked in my usual spot. Bella was in the passenger while Quinn and Jazz were in the back Bella was scanning for Edward and looked disappointed, we got out and met at the hood of the jeep, she let out a deep sigh.

"Don't worry Bella, he'll be here." I told her making her look at me, I tapped my head knowingly making her grin.

"Wherefore art thou, Bella and Elena." A voice said.

We spotted Mike, Eric, Angela and Jessica coming over to us, Quinn and Jazz gave their brother and cousin smiles.

"Say Elena did you finish the Shakespeare assignment?" Mike asked me.

"He means will you finish his assignment?" Jess retorted giving Mike a look.

"No, I don't." Mike said trying to defend himself, but I raised an eyebrow giving him a look, he noticed and backtracked. "Okay I do, please."

"I suppose I can help you with it." I told him shrugging. "English is my favorite subject but I won't do it all myself."

He smiled at me in thanks, nodding.

"But first I need a picture." Bella asked pulling her camera out. "My mom's expecting a scrapbook full of memories."

"I take 'em." Angela told her holding up her own camera. "I don't pose for 'em."

"You do today, for Bella." I told her and pushed her over to the others, Jazz, Quinn and I stood back on this since Bella already got us earlier.

They all arranged themselves, Eric threw his arm around Angela.

"You'll photoshop my nose if it looks big right?" Jessica asked earning a look from Jasmine.

"Don't worry, I'm in the picture." Eric told her cockily. "No one will be looking at you guys."

Jessica scoffed at him, Angela pointed her camera at Bella while Mike and Eric jousted playfully and Bella took the picture.

Sensing someone's strong and powerful aura like someone had been watching us, I glanced around. I didn't see anyone making me frown.

I looked at the girls they gave me concerned expressions and turned back to the group seeing they were now frowning at something behind us. Turning around, I saw Edward getting out of his volvo.

"Oh good, Cullen's here." I heard Mike say drily.

"Yay." Jess said even more drier.

I rolled my eyes at them.

"Check ya later." Eric told us, as they moved away looking uncomfortable.

Jazz, Quinn and I linked arms staying where we were and just watched.

"Happy birthday." Edward said stopping in front of us, Bella's face fell a little.

"Don't remind me." Bella told him.

"Your birth is definitely a day to celebrate." Edward told her glancing at me and the girls for a second and back.

"Not for me."

"Eighteen is a little early to be worrying about your age." Edward added.

"It's one year older than you." Bella said pointedly making the girls and I snicker; Bella shot us a look while Edward had an amusing smirk on his face and leaned forward.

"Bella, I'm a hundred and nine."

They got close enough to kiss making me clear my throat reminding them that we were standing there.

"Okay on that note I think we'll head in." I told them turning my head and spotted Jacob suddenly appearing in my vision.

"Elena! Bella!"

Jacob jogged up to us carrying some used car part, he had filled out nicely during the summer.

I smiled at him and met him part way, he sat what he had down and pulled me into a quick hug.

"What are you doing here?" I asked pulling back. "Last I checked your school is ten miles that way... you ditchin school Black? I'm soo telling Billy."

I felt Edward's mood change and glanced at him seeing an irritated look on his face and turned back, I just realized Jake still had his arm around my waist and slowly pulled away.

"Was just buying this for the Rabbit." Jake told me. "I'm almost done with the rebuild and as soon as your done sucking faces with Lahote... and make up your mind about paint color, I might take you for a ride."

I rolled my eyes a little at what he said, feeling a little defensive and tired of his issues with Paul.

"Jacob we had this talk." I told him narrowing my eyes at him. "Don't pick a fight, not today..."

I gave him a firm look, turning as Bella came to my side.

"God, Jacob what are they feeding you on that rez steroids?" Bella asked jokingly.

The small tiff we had stopped when she said that, bringing back the good feeling.

"Funny." Jake retorted making me grin. before looking like he remembered. "Oh before I forget." He pulled something from his coat and handed it to her. "Your dad told my dad so.."

Jake handed her a really pretty woven dream catcher with feathers dangling from it.

"It catches bad dreams." Jake added glancing at me. "Elena usually likes these things so I thought you would too, hope it's okay."

I smiled at him.

"It's perfect. Thank you." Bella told him looking the dream catcher over. "This, I need."

"Bells about to ring." Edward told us, coming to join us slightly, moments later the bell rang.

"Ooh look at you." Jake said in a snarky tone. "All psychic."

Jazz, Quinn and I shared a look before my eyes trailed on my best friend.

"I don't have that particular gift." Edward retorted . "But I can read a watch, I'm clear that way."

'Edward please don't start trouble, he's already mad about me dating Paul I don't need this after last night's incident' I thought giving him a small firm look.

Edward read my mind seeing what I was talking about, th whole thing with Emily.. he nodded, wrapping his arm around Bella and lead her away, Bells looked back.

"Thanks again Jake."

They walked away and I stepped in front of Jacob and turned to him.

"I will see you later." I told him.

"Yeah."

I gave him another quick hug before turning, linking arms with my sister witches and headed towards the building.

Halfway there Jazz leaned over.

"You're sucking faces with Paul?" She asked.

I raised an eyebrow at her and nodded.

"When did this happen?"

"This summer while you and I were on our trips." Quinn told her.

Jazz stared at her with wide eyes.

"Quinn knew?" She asked a little louder.

Quinn and I shared a look, shrugging.

"Sorry Jazz." I said smiling innocently. "It wasn't planned, Quinn came home earlier, while you just came back into town yesterday... A lot has been going on."

She raised an eyebrow, staring at us.

"We'll talk later."

---

The girls and I went to our lockers to grab our things and put our bags in and whatnot.

Bella and Edward joined us, and we headed to class.

"Bella!" A voice exclaimed.

I had to blink twice as Alice appeared with a small, wrapped gift and three shopping bags.

"Happy--"

"Shh." Bella told her.

"Birthday." Alice finished whispering.

I grinned at Bella's face.

Jasper was keeping his distance but gave her a pleasant nod, as she tried to hide Alice's present.

"Alice, didn't I say no gifts?" Bella asked.

"Bella, have you met Alice?" I asked earning smiles. "She's not someone you can say no too."

Alice smiled at me with appreciation.

"Ellie's right." Alice said shrugging. "I've already seen you open it and guess what? You love it. And you're to wear it tonight." Alice handed me one of the bags before handing the other two over to Quinn and Jazz. "As will you three, for the party."

She gave me an Alice firm look making me nod.

"Yeah we'll be there." Jazz told her.

"My party?" Bella asked confused, glancing between Alice and I.

"Please?" Alice asked pouting. "It'll be fun."

I gave Bella a look, raising my eyebrow as she stared at me.

"Fine." She said giving in. "I'll go."

"Great! See you at seven!" Alice said happily making me smile at her, she skipped over to her mate.

The girls and I shared a look smiling and turned to walk into the classroom.

"Jasper, no fair with the mood control thing." I heard Bella say and let out a chuckle.

The girls and I walked in and went to our seats.

------

Classes went by pretty slowly today, being a senior there was a lot to get done. The girls and I talked through our mind link that was how bored we were.

And when lunch came, the girls and I decided to take our lunch and go into the woods for a quick ritual and check our special force fields we placed over the town, it would give off warning signals if anything bad or dark crossed.

While doing that we talked about other things like Paul and the wolf pack, and everything else.

Ever since Paul was the last one to shift, I've been sensing a powerful dark and angry aura,... I didn't know what it meant but I knew something was coming our way.

I really hoped I wasn't going crazy cause we just dealt with James last year. I was so not ready for anything crazy like that.

Anyway, after the final bell, the girls and I were headed over to hang out at Jazz's house, I checked on Paul with a quick phone call, telling him where I was going. The girls and I also did some circle stuff hoping to find anything, until around 6:30 and then took showers and headed to the Cullen's and pulled up in our new dresses that Alice gave us.

(Jasmine- Navy Blue, Quinn- Forest Green)

Walking inside the house, I did my usual thing and made myself at home.

Just like my birthday party, Alice went all out, there were pretty flowers and candles and all fancy looking.

Heading into where Alice and Esme were finishing getting everything ready. I greeted Emmett on the couch and Jasper beside him.

"Hey guys." I greeted getting several hellos.

"You finally made it." Alice said pouting a little. "Bella's upstairs already."

"Sorry Alice." I told her gently. "The girls and I had a job to do."

I gave her a look, she sighed and nodded in understanding.

"Hey Jazz, play you double" Emmett said gaining Jasmine's attention.

Jazz went over to where Emmett was, grabbing the second controller and sat down, with her game face on. I looked around at everyone.

Esme was in the kitchen working on her sculpture of a cake, Carlisle helped by bringing trays of food she had already made and sat it on a table.

Rosalie was messing with tangled lights and made an angry face at the stupid things.

"Let me help." I told her waving my hand and all the twinkly lights were unraveled and hanging in their spots.

"Thanks" Rosalie told me smiling.

I smiled back.

"Okay everything is ready, mind going to get your cousin?" Alice asked making me nod.

I headed upstairs standing in Carlisle's office, I knocked on the door before opening and found them staring at a painting.

"Hey." Bella greeted.

"Hello." I told her before glancing at the painting seeing which one it was, and my eyes trailed on the faces of the Volturi before my eyes narrowed on one of them that had snowy white hair and sneered.

"Lena, you okay?" Bella asked making me look at her.

I saw a knowing look on Edward's face, and a worried one, on hers, I masked my feelings and nodded.

"I'm fine." I told her giving her a small smile. "Alice said it's time and if I don't get you down there now, I'll never hear the end of it."

I grabbed her arm and tugged her out of the room and downstairs.

The living room was decorated in hundreds of pink candles and rose-filled crystal bowls, the Cullens all looked up at us, stunningly beautiful.

Getting to the bottom, I headed over and stood by Jazz and Quinn.

"Sorry about all this." Carlisle said hugging her warmly. "We tried to rein Alice in."

"Like that's even possible." I said smiling making them smile.

Esme gave her a motherly hug.

"Happy Birthday, Bella."

A flash went off, I turned seeing Alice holding Bella's camera and took a picture of the two, Emmett moved to Edward's side on the stairs.

"Found it in your bag, mind?"

"Dating an older woman." Emmett said nudging Edward. "Hot."

I laughed at that, seeing Bella's face nearly turn red. Edward elbowed him sharply but had a playful look on his face.

Rosalie stepped up to her and shoved a silver package at her.

"It's a necklace." Rosalie told her snarky. "Alice picked it out."

I watched her walk away and sighed; I just couldn't get Rosalie to accept Bella like she did me.

"Show me the love!" Alice said aiming her camera and taking a picture. "For your scrapbook. Now open your presents!"

She dragged Bella over to the table with gifts and a huge cake and tall stack of China plates. Bella eyed the big cake.

"Alice there's only four of us who even eats cake." Bella told her. "That thing could feed fifty."

"Hope you're hungry." Alice retorted grinning. "This one's from Emmett." Everyone crowded around watching Bella who wasn't a fan of being the center of attention but sucked it up.

Jasper stayed beside the girls and I.

Bella opened a big gift to find an empty car radio box.

"Um...thanks." Bella said looking at him unsure.

"Already installed it in your truck." Emmett told her.

"Finally." Edward remarked. "A decent sound system in the piece of-"

"Hey." Bella said cutting him off. "No hating the truck, Thank you, Emmett."

Just then Quinn grabbed my hand in panic, I glanced at her seeing she was seeing something.

"Open Carlisle and Esme's."

Alice handed her a box, Bella started to open it but then she being Bella cut her finder on the wrapping.

"Ouch, Paper cut." She told us.

She held it up for us to see a small bead of blood, my eyes instantly snapped to Jasper sensing a change in his aura.

"Jasper don't!" I yelled everything seemed to go in slow motion as the tension in the room changed.

He let out a disturbing grisly snarl just before he lunged at her. Edward flung Bella behind him causing her to crash into the table with all the plates.

My mouth dropped, I pulled from the girls and ran over to my cousin as Jasper slammed into Edward.

Jasper tried to come at us again, I threw my hand up and shot at him with a ball of energy, he sailed backwards hitting the wall but he ricocheted off it and came back at us.

"Elena!" Jasmine and Quinn exclaimed in worry.

"I got this." I told them.

I held my hand up ready to protect us again, but Emmett and Carlisle tackled him from the side and dragged him to the ground.

Alice helped hold him down.

"Jas, shh..." Alice told him soothingly. "It's okay, it's just a little...blood."

She trailed off as my head turned looking down at Bella, sitting on the ground, seeing that her arm was slashed by the shards of the broken glass, bright red blood pulses out of her, pooling.

"Oh my goddess." I muttered kneeling down beside her to check it out.

Within seconds Carlisle joined us on Bella's other side.

"Emmet, get jasper out of here." Carlisle told him.

Hearing no response, I turned to him.

"Emmett." Carlisle tried again.

Emmett reined himself in and elbowed Rosalie, together they dragged the snarling Jasper out.

Esme held her nose, politely exiting with the others. Alice looked at us, staring at Bella apologetically.

"I'm sorry...I....can't...."

She slipped out the door.

"Quinn, can you get my bag from the jeep?" I asked not removing my eyes from my cousins' injury trying to determine how deep it was.

She nodded, looking at me with worry and walked out.

Edward was still on guard.

"We'll need to remove any glass before I can heal it." I said earning a nod from Carlisle. "Luckily it's not too deep."

"I'll carry her to the kitchen." Edward said moving to pick her up but his eyes darted to the blood.

"No." I told him trying to stay calm and collected. "Carlisle and I'll take care of her."

His eyes darted to mine, looking pained.

"She'll be okay Edward." I told him, Quinn came back in with my herb and potion bag and stood up taking it from her.

"Check on Jasper." Carlisle told him.

He didn't move.

"Go."

He looked from me then to Bella, then stepped back and allowed Carlisle to lift Bella up

My phone instantly started going off, I quickly pulled it out seeing Paul's ID. Biting my lip, I glanced at Bella.

"I have to take this, I'll be there in a minute." I told them not giving her any chance to argue and stepped away from everyone and clicked the green button.

"Elena are you okay? There was a sudden pain in my chest... I could feel your fear... You okay? Did those nasty leeches do something?!?

"No, no it's okay." I mumbled into the phone, trying to calm him down. I watched Carlisle led Bella into the kitchen. "They didn't do anything promise, I told you they wouldn't do that...." I sighed pausing, running a hand through my hair. "I have to go, but I will call you once I'm home and I'll tell you okay, I can't talk now..."

"But you're okay right?"

"Yeah, don't worry." I told him sighing.

He sighed on the other end, before I told him goodbye and hung up.

Turning I walked into the kitchen, letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

----

Bella was sitting on a chair opposite of Carlisle who was cleaning up the blood and removing the glass carefully.

Jazz, Quinn and I stood at the counter with our herbs mixing a healing tea remedy while Jasmine helped make a calming potion for Jasper.

"I sure can kill a party." Bella muttered trying not to look at the blood.

"It's not your fault." Carlisle told her. "Jasper hasn't been away from human blood as long as the rest of us."

"Seems like you're the only one it doesn't effect."

"Centuries of practice.' Carlisle told her with a small smile.

"Did you ever think of...living differently?" Bella asked.

"I enjoy my work too much." Carlisle told her, I glanced up at him seeing the look in his eyes. "Helping people...saving lives. I'm hoping there's a point to my existence, even if I am damned-"

"Damned?" I repeated earning his attention. "Carlisle you're not damned."

He gave me a fatherly smile.

"My grandmother didn't think you were, Dad didn't and neither do I." I told him shrugging. "You and Esther were meant to cross paths, it was your fate."

"Elena's right."

"Then you girls and I agree." Carlisle said gently. "But Edward doesn't believe there's an afterlife for our kind...he thinks we've lost our souls."

"That's why he won't..." Bella trailed off. "He thinks he'd be damning me?"

"Would you risk it?" Carlisle asked making her look at him. "If you believed as he did, or lived through what he did."

She opened her mouth to say something.

"Remember what I tell you Bells." I told her as Quinn handed me a cup so I could pour the tea. "What's meant to be will happen rather you or Edward like it or not... There's a reason for everything."

I walked over joining them, setting the tea beside her.

"Drink this, it'll speed up the healing process." I told her before grabbing the potion. "I'm going to check on Jasper and then I'm going to take the girls home, and go home myself... Have Edward drop you off.... talk it through.

I walked out and sighed, running a hand through my hair.

------

"Is Bella okay?" I heard Paul's voice grumble through the silence.

After dealing with Jasper and dropping the girls off, I walked into the house, Charlie wasn't here, he was working so I headed into my room and suddenly felt exhausted.

Grabbing a pair of fluffy jammies, I took a hot shower letting my mind catch up with everything, everything melted.

I sat on my bed, cuddled up talking on the phone with Paul.

"She's okay, just a few scratches." I told him quietly. "With the tea I gave her, no one will know... other than us." I paused sighing. "I don't think I'll ever forget seeing Jasper like that."

"He's a leech what do you expect?"

"Look Paul I know you don't like me being around them but the Cullen's aren't like the vampires you know." I said firmly. "If it wasn't for Carlisle, my grandmother and her brother and sister would have died... I wouldn't be here... Carlisle saved my grandmother's life."

I heard a long pause on the other end.

"As much as I care about you and the pack, I would never do anything to harm you all but I won't betray the Cullen's either..." I added petting Piper. "As a Lovelace I can't take sides, we have to stay neutral it's in the-"

"Treaty I know, I just hate those damn bloodsuckers, if it wasn't for them none this would have happened. I wouldn't be this monster thing and Sam wouldn't have hurt Emily."

"You're not a monster, your a protector." I muttered glancing over at the window, it was dark out. "And what happened to Emily, wasn't Sam's fault, it was an accident."

"An accident that could have killed her... If Sam's capable of that, think about what I might do..."

I frowned hearing him talking, feeling my heart break a little.

"You can't think like that." I said sitting up, adjusting myself. "No one knows what's going to happen, Sam didn't know this would happen to Emily, just like we didn't know Jasper was going to lose his mind and go after Bella... It wasn't no ones fault."

I sighed seeing lights outside my window, and slowly got out of bed, moving to see Edward's Volvo in the driveway.

"Bella's home, I have to go... just think of what I said."

Paul went quiet for a few seconds, making me think he hung up until he let out a long sigh.

"Goodnight, sweet dreams."

"Night." I mumbled hanging up.

I crossed my arms watching Bella get out of the car.

So much happened today started out horrible with Sam attacking Emily, changed into something happier and ended with disaster. I was worried... worried for Emily, Sam.. worried for Bella, Edward and his family... Worried for Paul and my friends on the Rez...

'I pray to the Goddess protect us all'

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4/24/2024