Chapter Three

A few days later I was standing in the lobby of the Los Angeles Airport, waiting for my cousin and it was taking forever.

I was drinking a special blend of orange rose petal tea from my travel mug, and watching some of the people moving around.

Charlie had stayed behind at the house and I had him watching the food, the noodles and sauce was already done, he just had to keep it warm and take the garlic bread out of the oven, very simple.

I sighed a little impatiently, taking a drink from my tea when I noticed people coming out of the terminal and after what felt like hours Bella was walking towards me. She looked like she was relieved.

"Lena?"

"Hey Bells." I said smiling.

"I thought dad was coming?" Bella asked.

"I had something to pick up anyway so I told him I would do it." I told her shrugging. "And figured you'd want to ride in something other than the cruiser."

"Got that right." Bella said making me grin.

I grabbed her suitcase and linked arms with her, leading her out. I glanced down at the suitcase.

"Is this all you have?" I asked making her nod. "Hmm we'll have to go shopping and do something about that."

She smiled at me.

"God, I missed you."

"Missed you too." I said smiling. "Talking on the phone and emailing everyday just isn't the same as face to face."

I lead her out to the jeep.

"You got a car?"

"Yeah, Charlie bought it for my birthday." I said placing the bags in the back and hopped into the driver's seat "He found it at a junk yard and a friend of mine fixed it up."

"It's very purple." She muttered getting into the back.

"Well, my favorite color is purple." I said shrugging, I flipped my radio on and put in a CD with cat paw prints on it.

"Well, I can't wait to get my own." Bella said very determined.

"I can promise you, that is a for sure thing." I told her knowingly.

I backed up and drove off, turning the heat up a little.

Bella stared out the window and the talking kind of took a very long pause.

I loved Forks, it was a small town where everyone knew everyone, the weather wasn't so bad. The rain always made the air smell fresher.

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After passing a welcome to Forks sign, I drove slowly through the town and glanced around, making sure to keep eyes on the road. The town like I said was small town there was a museum, a small police station across from city hall and a bunch of small businesses which my family actually helped build.

I finally pulled into the Swan's residence: it wasn't as fancy as the Lovelace house, but it was still home. A two-story white house that recently got a fresh paint job. A woodshed full of chopped firewood and a few other things.

I got out grabbing my shopping bags from earlier a medium package from the back and Bella's suitcase and started to head inside when I noticed Bella getting out, looking nervous.

"C'mon Bells, you got this." I told her lightly.

She nodded, walking inside I sat our bags on the couch and headed into the kitchen spotting Charlie at the table.

The smell of mushroom sauce and cooked noodles filled the room, there was a faint of garlic mixed in with it.

I did a lot of the cooking since Charlie worked a lot keeping the town safe, it was small town so there wasn't a whole lot of danger but still.

He wasn't the greatest cook and preferred to order out, but I learned how to cook and budget every month to save money and keep my uncle healthy.

My mum taught me to cook before she passed. I like to think I'm good, Charlie's never complained. I find cooking a little like mixing potions.

Inside the house wasn't fancy either or stylish, the only new and upgraded thing would be the flat screen I bought Charlie as a gift, but the place was comfortable and had the touch of home.

I was actually pretty wealthy, my family owned a combined vault filled with thousands of dollars. There's a system we use, my dad used to oversee everything until he passed away but now it's fallen unto my aunt Athena. Although I only touch the money unless I really had too, most of the money I did spend was from my own pocket, I make it from selling potions like the calming potions I make for Jasper or my tea blends which have medicine in them, I usually sell them to the Cullens, those on the reservation and a few magic shops.

Pictures of Charlie, Mom and I fishing with Billy Black and Harry Clearwater. Hand crafts Bella and I made as children scattered were everywhere. There were other pictures, one of Mom, Charlie and their parents, one of Grandma and Grandpa Swan and one of Charlie and Renee's wedding.

We walked into the kitchen.

Charlie noticed us and looked at me in relief making me think he had a hard time with just watching the garlic bread.

"Oh, thank god you're here." He said getting up. "I might have burnt the bread."

I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing at him. He looked a bit flustered, wide eyed just staring at me.

I put Bella's suitcase down and walked over to the stove, grabbing my oven mitts and checked the bread.

"Your hairs longer." Charlie said looking at Bella.

"Yeah." Bella answered awkwardly. "I cut it since the last time I saw you."

"Oh, guess it grew out again." Charlie said nervously...

Bella nodded slowly.

"How's your mom?" Charlie asked.

"Good."

There was an awful period of silence until I decided to break it.

"The bread looks fine Uncle Charlie." I said straightening up. "Why don't you take Bella upstairs and I'll set the table?"

He nodded, going upstairs with Bella's suitcase.

I walked over to the China cupboard and pulled out plates and grabbed silverware from the drawer and walked over to the table, placing three plates down, Charlie came back down looking a little down and walked outside.

I hummed to myself a little plating the food onto serving plates and cut up the garlic bread putting them into a bowl. I also had a bowl of mixed salad.

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I was in my own little world till a honk came from outside, I walked over to the window and grinned, putting a jug of iced tea down and headed outside, finding Charlie there standing talking with Billy and Jacob. Billy was now in a wheelchair, he was one of my customers, I made him special tea blends that helped with his pain, I didn't always take the money cause I liked helping people, it felt good. I couldn't heal him magically, my healing has it's limits.

There was an orange truck in the driveway.

"Jake!"

"Hey Angel." Jake said pulling me into a hug, I could smell his scent, it was musky but sweet smelling. "Missed you yesterday, you were supposed to come over and help finish the truck."

I grinned tightening my hold until my mind caught up with me and I pulled back. He just smiled at me.

"I told you I had to pick my cousin up." I told him regretfully.

"Yeah I doubt that's gonna save you from Em and Quil." Jake told me with a smirk.

I let out a small laugh and crossed my arms, staring at him, scoffing at the idea.

"Please I think I can handle those knuckle heads." I told him making him grin.

I turned to Billy who smiled at me affectionately.

"Elena."

I smiled at him and hugged him for a minute and pulled back.

Bella came walking out of the house.

"Bella." Charlie called seeing his daughter. "You remember Billy Black?"

"Yeah, hey." Bella said quietly. "You lookin' good."

"Glad you're finally here." Billy said chuckling. "Charlie hasn't shut up about it since he heard you were coming."

I smiled lightly at them, knowing his personality.

"All right, keep exaggerating, I'll roll you down the hill." Charlie told him joking.

"Right after I ram you in the ankles." Billy retorted attempting to hit Charlie with his chair.

I let out a laugh watching the two grown men play around.

"So, how's the wrangler running?" Jacob asked.

I smiled at him. Jacob was around fifteen years old; he had the native touch russet skin, gorgeous dark brown eyes, when he smiled, they lit up the sky and the long dark hair.

"It's smooth and perfect, thank you." I told him and turned to Bella. "Bella this is Jacob. Billy's son, he's one of my best friends."

"He's the one who helped you fix up the jeep?" Bella asked making me nod.

"He's the one who did most of the work anyway." I said shrugging earning a praised smile from Jake.

"We uh, we used to make mud pies together when we were little." Jake told Bella shyly.

"Yeah, I think I remember, Elena used to make you eat it." Bella said cringing making me grin at that before looking at her father and Billy. "Are they always like this?"

"It's getting worse with old age." Jake said making me chuckle. He noticed and smiled; I could almost see a blush on his face.

Charlie and Billy calmed down after a while and came back over to us.

"So, what do you think of your homecoming gift?" Charlie asked patting the hood of the truck.

"No way." Bella said her eyes were wide in shock. "The truck is mine?"

"Just bought if off Billy here." Charlie said.

"I rebuilt the engine." Jake said making me cough. "And Elena here helped with painting and everything else."

I nodded, grinning at him.

"It's perfect!" Bella said beaming with a smile, probably the first true smile I've seen since she got into my car. She literally leaped over to the driver's side and hopped into the seat. Jake followed as he got into the passenger looking equally excited making me raise an eyebrow. I walked up to Bella's side leaning against the door.

"Okay so you gotta pump the clutch when you shift." Jacob explained handing Bella the keys. "But-"

"Maybe I can give you a ride to school?" Bella asked turning to Jacob.

"Oh um, I go to school on the rez." Jake told her.

"Oh, that's right, too bad." Bella said sighing. "It would've been nice to know one person."

"What am I? a stranger?" I asked raising my eyebrow. "I'm gonna be there."

"Thanks Elena." She told me smiling.

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After talking with Jacob and Billy for a while, they headed for home and we all went in to eat dinner.

"Wow Lena this is amazing." Bella told me chewing on her noodles.

"Thanks, made with fresh mushrooms and everything." I told her making her smile. "Did you like your room?"

"Yeah, it's nice." She said nodding.

"If you want to, we can go shopping for a new quilt, I wanted to keep with the topaz color theme, but they didn't have any." I told her.

"Yeah, we can do that."

Silence filled the room after that as we finished eating and then retreated back to our rooms.

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After washing dishes and cleaning up the dinner table, I put the leftovers in the fridge and walked into my room carrying my laundry basket of clothes I had washed and my package.

The entire house was tense with Charlie and Bella's relationship so I was trying to stay out of the way a little bit.

I spotted my cat Piper laying on the bed, she's been with me since I was a kid, she was one of the last things I had my father gave to me. Setting my basket on the bed, I picked her up and just held her for a few minutes.

"This is going to be a long couple of weeks." I murmured petting her head.

Piper nuzzled me making me smile, I put her back down and took my basket and started putting my clothes away. I turned to my dresser pulling out a random pair of jammies and got dressed, padding back over to my bed, reaching for my package.

Opening it I found all my new herbs I had specially ordered and looked through it. There was nothing I loved more than getting new potion stuff.  Deciding I would sort it out later I moved the package, setting it on my desk and crawled into bed. Grabbing my book off the bedside table and took my valerian necklace off setting it down.

Opening my book, I relaxed against my backboard and started reading.

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Time seemed to go by, it was around eight at night. I paused in my reading feeling like something was off. I put my book down and glanced out the window... something major was going to happen... I couldn't tell when or what it was but it was going to be big.

Piper let out a tiny mew, crawling onto my lap and nuzzled me drawing my attention. I quietly petted her head in comfort, setting my book back in it's spot and snuggled under my blanket.

Piper weasled herself in my arms, I continued petting her more as we cuddled up to each other.

I glanced over at the picture of my parents and grandparents, staring at Dad's face.

Sometimes I could still feel him, I could feel his power and my grandmothers. The power of the Lovelace coven was strong in my veins... it was almost like they were still beside me but I knew they weren't.

Because someone hated my family so much, they came after my family... and someday I was going to find that person and when I do, I'm going to get answers.

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Updated!

1/31/2024

Didn't change to much just a few things.

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