Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Maggie was sitting quietly, minding her own business, really she was! And maybe also listening to Liam and Siobhan discussing what their old friends the Cullens were doing, apparently taking a big shite on the Volturi and letting random humans in on the whole vampire secret thing. She’s pretty sure her pseudo-parents have no idea she’s there, and she would prefer to keep it that way, she really wasn’t supposed to know this. In fact, Maggie was supposed to be out hunting for her next meal, but it wasn’t her fault that they had started talking about this whole thing before she had left! And it really wasn’t her fault the gossip had been way too good to miss out on!

Suddenly the talking stopped and Maggie realized she had accidentally gasped a teensy bit when Liam had said about Edweirdo trying to kill himself and a human of all things saving his arse from the Volturi. She immediately cringed back from the door moments before it was basically ripped off its hinges by Siobhan opening it with way too much strength than needed. “Jus’ what do you think you’re doing lass?” Siobhan’s eyes were narrowed basically into slits and Maggie looked down shamefully.

“I was listening to your talkin’, but it was really gas and I’m a right gossip you know, couldn’t pass up an opportunity like tha’! Would you believe Edward, the right sap, could land anybody, but I guess it would be a human that he did. He couldn’t mani-”

“Maggie shuddup!” Liam called from the other room.

Maggie’s mouth immediately snapped closed and she looked up at her tall covenmate guiltily. “I’m not very sorry, but I shouldnta done it I know.”

Siobhan closed her eyes and breathed deeply before cracking an eye open to glare down at her sister/daughter thing she loved (most of the time), “Well you already know now, no point in hiding it. We were supposed to go for a visit soon but I don’t know if this’ll derail those plans now. ‘Spose I’ll hafta call.”

Sure enough as soon as Siobhan took out her phone the damned thing started buzzing and Alice Cullen’s name popped up onto the screen. Maggie’s eyes lit up and she tried to snatch the phone from Siobhan only to be thwarted when the bigger woman raised the phone up into the air and glared down at the girl. She walked back into the room Liam was in and closed the door right in Maggie’s face before answering. The old bat. “Siobhan! It’s so nice to hear from you again!” Alice Cullen’s high-pitched bubbly tone could be heard through the shoddy wooden door and Maggie once again settled in to listen, not having learnt anything from the previous time. LIke always.

“Dia duit, Liam’s here too by the way.”

“How ya?” Liam spoke up before shifting back in his seat and going on his phone.

“Hi Liam! To be honest we’re not doing really well at the moment. . .”
“Oh?” Siobhan asked, eyeing Maggie through a brand new crack in the door.

“Yeah, so basically long story short there’s this newborn army gathering to attack us sometime in the near future and we could really use some help if you would want to. I mean I know we’re not in very good standing with a lot of people right now but I will tell you it will be very beneficial to you all if you come down. You don’t even have to fight for us! Just. . .talk? Maybe? Just see us in person, if you would be so inclined. I mean you re-”

“Alright alright you don’t hafta be such a lickarse Alice we’ll come!” Maggie yelled through the door.

Alice squealed out a thank you and promptly hung up before Siobhan or Liam could say anything. Both adults turned towards their permanently seventeen year old, impulsive little shit, daughter/sister thing. “Maggie! Are you off your head?” Liam exclaimed, standing up out of his chair, “You’re gonna get us all killed you eejit!”

Maggie cringed away from both of them a bit and mumbled out a, “She was lying. I dunno, I wanted to know why.”

Siobhan pinched the bridge of her nose and ground out, “Which part?”

“The really needing our help. I dunno why she wants us there, but I wanna find out! It’ll be beneficial, apparently. Also we already said yea, so there’s that.”

Siobhan groaned and rubbed her face quickly, “No you said yes.”

Maggie grinned, eyes lighting up, “So we’re going! Unreal!”
____________________________________________________________________________

Bella Swan was having the worst couple of weeks of her life. Even worse than when Edward had left her alone in a forest in the middle of winter and she would have frozen to death were it not for Leah. God, what she would do to go back to that simpler time. First, just as she was getting over Edward and the Cullens abrupt entrance and exit from her life, and all of the trauma that came with that, Alice Fucking Cullen appeared in her home after she went cliff diving with Leah, who was trying to get her mind off of her fathers’ recent death, spouting out some bullshit about how she “can’t just kill yourself! What about Charlie?” and whatever other crap that came spewing out of her mouth. Honestly she was too tired to remember it all.

Then, just as she was getting done with her angry rant about how Alice’s entire family mistreated her and abused her trust, fucking Jacob came over and decided to tell Edward that Charlie was at “the” funeral. Fucking idiot! Why would Carlisle of all people randomly call to check on him? He doesn’t even know the dude that well! And of course Edward would assume it was her funeral! He’s an abusive little prick but she knew he loved her at one point at least. Then Alice came in and then Bella couldn’t just let the manipulative little shit kill himself over her, she would feel the guilt for the rest of her life! Finally, the whole Volterra thing. Now she was forced to become a vampire or die. Just great.

Now, of course, Edward wouldn’t leave her alone with his whining and groveling but Bella was really over his shit, and to be honest, she wasn’t even sure if she was ever into dudes in the first place. And on top of it all, Victoria, of all people, was building an entire army just to destroy her! One measly little scrap of a human surrounded by supernatural fucking creatures. Bella really loved the direction her life was going right now.

She was brought out of her inner ramblings by Jessica asking her a question, “Sorry what was that?” Bella asked, taking out an earbud and turning to her friend.

“Oh, I was asking whether you knew that Edward has been staring at you for the past eleven minutes or not?” She asked, her face neutral but her eyes ravenous for gossip.

“I know, I can feel his beady little eyes drilling into my skull.” Bella smirked when she heard Emmet snort loudly from the Cullen Table in the lunchroom of Forks High. “Also, were you counting?”

Jessica rolled her eyes, “Obviously. I was timing how long he could go without blinking. The dudes gotta have like, robot eyes or something.”

This time Bella snorted before she picked up one of her soggy school lunch fries and popped it into her mouth, “You know I think he does.” She said thoughtfully in between chews.

Jessica’s eyes grew wide and she immediately turned to Mike to relay the horrific news. Angela popped her head up from a book and glanced over at Edward, who was now staring at the mushed peas on his tray. “I think Jess really believed you.” She said quietly to Bella, who was scrolling amusedly on her phone.

“Oh the whole school will know by the end of the day. You should put it in the school paper, ‘Edward Cullen: Half Robot Half Man, or Just Really Creepy?’” Bella smiled as she texted Leah and Seth in their ‘Trauma Buddies’ group chat.

Angela smiled and went back to her book. The rest of the day passed quietly, well as quietly as it could with the Cullens’ sudden reappearance after 6 months out of town. When Bella got home she didn’t even make it two steps into her bedroom before her window was open and Edward was standing awkwardly in front of it. Bella sighed, “Edward, seriously, I have already told you to knock on the front door like a normal person.”

Edward grimaced and looked around, avoiding Bella’s piercing stare, “Sorry love,” Bella’s stare turned into a glare at this, “I just needed to see you.” Silence reigns for a few immeasurably long seconds, then, “I’ve missed you. We haven’t talked much since we came back”
Bella bristles at that, “We haven’t talked because we are not dating. We are exes Edward. I don’t talk to my exes. Nor do I like it much when they break into my home and watch me sleep. Or break in in general, actually.”

Edward cringes at that and looks down, “Sorry about that. I’ll use the front door next time.” He looks up with a hopeful smile on his boyishly angelic face. God Bella cannot believe she found him attractive before.

“Edward! I don’t want you to break in at all! That was like, the whole point of that!” Bella exclaimed, face starting to get red and arms flailing.

Edward’s eyes open wide and he stumbles into saying, “I didn’t mean that I was going to break in! I just meant that I would knock, and then you could let me in!”

“Oh my god! Edward! No! Just. . .please go home. I’ll head by later to discuss strategy with you guys, I just need to be alone right now.”

Edward looks over at Bella at nods, eyes drooping a little and with a small smile he disappeared through the window, curtains ruffling in the wind. Bella sighed and dropped onto her bed, staring up at her textured ceiling and imagined what would’ve happened had she just seen through his bullshit in the first place. She didn’t know if she would like that life or not, and she only had the one she had, so there was no use dwelling on it. With a huff she got up and trudged over to her desk to grind her way through her homework for the day.

She had to get ready to go see the family that had just callously abandoned her in a few hours, and she was behind in math.

Chapter Text

Bella’s old rusted chevy strained to get itself up the Cullen’s long, winding driveway and Bella sighed, patting the cracked dashboard, muttering, “C’mon girl you can do it. I believe in you. Just get me home tonight and I’ll make it worth your while.” She cracked a smile at that and relaxed back into her seat, watching the scenery go by at a crawl.

Just because she said she’d be there, doesn’t mean she’ll be on time.

A few minutes later and inevitably the old Cullen house appeared through the low hanging trees, and Bella sighed before parking her truck just outside the stupidly massive garage. She climbed out and strolled slowly up to the front door, knowing that the vampires could hear just how long she was taking, and knowing how impatient they usually were. Finally she knocked on the big oak door and it was opened before she could put her hand down.

Bella found herself staring into the warm, honey eyes of Esme, and she immediately felt a tightening in her gut, forcing her to look down at the ground and mumble out, “Hello Esme.”

She heard a small sigh and then a soft, “Hello Bella. Come in, please.”

Bella nodded and stepped into the foyer, still staring at the ground. She thought she was ready to face them, face her, after fending off Edward for a month, but it appeared she was sorely mistaken. She trailed after Esme’s feet and into the living room, where she could hear the rest of the family shifting in their seats and talking quietly amongst themselves. They stopped once she came in and Bella raised her eyes to take in the vampires she once called family.

Rosalie was glaring at her, Emmett glancing apologetically between them. Carlisle was sitting politely on his special armchair, smiling at her. Jasper was alone, which was a surprise, with Alice nowhere to be found. That was strange, they were practically inseparable. Edward was standing in a corner, staring forlornly at her. Bella ignored him and stood uncomfortably in the doorway while Esme went to take a seat by Carlisle.

A few minutes of silence passed until Carlisle spoke up, “Welcome Bella, I know you must be. . .exhausted with everything going on recently.” Carlisle paused to smile at Bella, but she just stared at him blankly. He cleared his throat in the silence and continued, “Alice has called in some favors with some friends of ours, and the wolf pack has already agreed to help us. Don’t worry, we will keep you safe and out of harms’ way once we know when the conflict will happen.” Bella blinked at him and kept quiet. Carlisle glanced around the room before looking back at Bella, “We were thinking you could go with Edward while everyone else fights-”

“I want to go with Leah.” Bella speaks for the first time. Most of the Cullens, save Jasper and Rosalie, look confused.

“But, she’s a wolf.” Edward says, staring at her with his brow furrowed.

“Yeah, I know. And don’t give me that crap about how the wolves are too ‘angry’ and ‘volatile’. I trust her a hell of a lot more than I trust you Edward. She’s actually been here for me for the past six months, working her ass off to protect both me and the tribe from the deranged lunatic you left me with when you abandoned me out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of winter! And you know what? She’s still going to fight for me, even after her dad died because of the deranged lunatic you all left behind to kill me. She’s a hell of a better person than you lot could ever be, and I am so grateful that she’s my closest friend.” Bella was breathing heavily at the end of her speech and glaring directly into Edward’s eyes.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Rosalie looking at her with a little bit more intrigue than malice. Bella decided she didn’t care anymore what Rosalie, of all people, thought of her. All of a sudden Alice flitted down the stairs and in front of Edward, effectively cutting him off from gaping at Bella, “Bella, before you decide anything just yet, maybe we could wait until our friends come to help. I think that’ll give you a clearer picture of what you want.” Bella glared at her and Alice paused, considering for a moment, “Oh I didn’t mean you wouldn’t want Leah, I see a blank spot regardless, I’m just saying you might want some extra protection.”

Everyone stared at the pixie and the vampire just looked around happily, glanced at Edward, and took off back up the stairs. “She’s hiding something.” Edward growled after her, before he could say anything else Bella groaned loudly,

“Of course she’s hiding something! She’s always hiding something! I don’t care about that right now. Maybe later. God I could use a drink.”

Esme looked over at her, brow furrowed and eyes dimmed, “When did you start drinking dear?”

Bella flinched before stating, “When do you think? You know what, nevermind. Thank you all for talking to me, I will be leaving now. Don’t follow, I’ll just. . .call later. Goodbye.”

With that Bella walked out of the house and into her car, slamming the door shut as she got in. She reached for her phone and quickly texted Leah and Seth, asking if she could go over to the rez and hang out with them. She quickly got a confirmation from Seth and turned her truck on, making the long drive to the Clearwater’s as fast as possible.

Around an hour later Bella pulled into the Clearwater’s driveway, her temper significantly cooler and her feelings far less confusing. God damn vampire dazzling making her head swim. She looked up after turning her car off and saw Seth smiling and waving at her. She smiled back and relaxed, getting out of her truck and jogging over to be pulled into a hug by the always exuberant boy. “Bella! We didn’t think you were going to come over today!” He grinned down at the shorter girl.

Bella grinned back, “Hi Seth, good to see you too.”

The boy loosened his grip on her and stepped back, looking a bit sheepish, “Sorry Leah isn’t here right now, meeting with the pack. Can you believe they still don’t think I’m old enough to join them? I’m not that young right?”

Bella chuckled and reached up to ruffle his short hair, “I don’t know Seth, you kinda act like a child. Plus you are only fifteen.”

Seth pouted and gently swatted her hand away, “Yeah well you’re only three years older than me! And I do not act like a child!” Bella only smirked at him, “Well maybe just a little bit. But whatever. Do you wanna come in? Mom’s making cookies for the rest of the pack, so you know there’s enough for you too.”

Bella smiled, “Sure.”

A few hours later and the entire wolf pack was destroying Sue’s cookies while Bella watched amusedly. Leah was in the middle of her sixth before her eyes caught on Bella’s. Stopping mid-chew she put the cookie down, where it was immediately snatched by Paul, and made her way to Bella. “Hey Bells.” She nodded at the girl, a not-quite-smile on her face.

“Hey Lee, you done destroying your mom's dining room?” Bella asked, glad to see Leah in a semi-good mood. Those had been rare after her father’s death.

Leah scoffed, “Yeah right, you’re just jealous I can eat anything I want.”

Bella rolled her eyes, "Whatever you say Leelee."

Leah narrowed her eyes pushed Bella’s shoulder gently, “You’re such a dork.” Leah looked down at her, affection shining behind the sadness in her eyes. “Hey we’re having a bonfire tonight, it’d be cool if you joined, then afterwards is the whole training thing it you want to come.”

Bella grinned at the girl, “Yes to both of those, any chance to drink I’ll take right now.”

Leah smirked, "What? Had a bad day?”

Bella's smile dropped for a moment and she nodded, "Cullen bullshit."

“Alright, you know I'll take care of you.” Leah smiled a bit and threw her arm around Bella’s shoulder, “Come on let’s tell Charlie you’ll stay the night, and then we can gossip about all of our bullshit.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Maggie did not account for the Cullen’s having a treaty with wolves of all things. They apparently weren’t werewolves, but they were still probably not okay with the Volturi. And apparently they couldn’t even eat their food in town while the coven was visiting because of the wolves. To be honest, Maggie was kind of regretting making her coven come help, not that they could back out of it now. They were already sitting in their house and learning way more than she had ever wanted to about Edward’s pet human. To top it off, Alice, her favorite of all of the Cullen’s, was nowhere to be found, and no one in the coven knew where she went.

The gombeen was currently going on about how dangerous the wolves were to his human, who’s name was Bella not Isabella, never Isabella, as he kept reiterating, and how we should go get her from their territory and protect her. Siobhan glanced at Maggie as he was talking and she subtly shook her head. Siobhan sighed, “Edward, nothin you’re saying is true. So, let’s stop your obsession and start talking bout this battle.”

Edward balked and Maggie smirked, waggling her fingers at him playfully. Siobhan glanced sharply at her charge and Maggie wisely stopped, “Victoria, what do you know about her?” She went on, focusing on Carlisle instead of his gobshite son.

This time Jasper spoke up, serious and all soldier like as always, “Victoria has been evading us for over a year now. She seems to have some kind of gift that helps her escape capture. We have confirmation of a battle happening between what seems to be a newborn army and us accompanied by wolves. We do not know what will happen during this battle for the most part, only spots and faint glances because Alice’s visions don’t work very well with the wolves involved. We do not know when this battle will be as Victoria's mind seems to be changing by the second, but we do know there will be snow on the ground.”

“Hmm, d’ya know where it’ll be?” Liam pipes up.

“It’ll be in a large clearing south of here, we’ll show you before the battle happens don’t worry. We’ll be training with the wolves here tonight, if you would like to see what we’re doing.” Alice called out as she glided through the foyer, kissed Jasper on the cheek and then skirted around the rest of the people sitting in the living room and out through the kitchen door.

“Oi Ally! What’re you doing?” Maggie called after her.

“Going hunting, would you like to join?” She poked her head into the living room, smiling warmly at Maggie.

“Awh you know I don’t eat that shite. Tastes nasty as feck.”

“Ah that’s too bad, it would’ve been really fun.” Alice pouted before withdrawing her head and dancing her way outside.

Maggie sat on it for approximately half a second and then called out, “Ah stall the ball I’m coming!” Shooting up from her seat and running after her friend.

It was a solid hour of running around the forest before Alice dropped the pretense and started saying what she really came out here to, “Maggie when Bella comes over tonight she’s going to be drunk as all heck.”

Maggie stopped squashing insects under her muddy toes and looked up at Alice confusedly, “Alright? What’s that gotta do with me? Isn’ tha Edweirds problem?”

Alice grimaced and looked around before answering, “Just. . .be aware of that. Don’t do anything rash.”

Maggie squinted at Alice, “You’re not gonna tell me anythin’ are ya?”

Alice smiled sadly, “No I’m afraid that Edward cannot know this right now, and he would know almost instantly if I told you.”

Maggie frowned, “That rubs me the wrong way Ally.”

“It would turn out extremely badly if Edward knew anything right now. It’ll all be clear tonight, when everyone’s around and it’s safe.”

“Ah well Edward’s always been a dose. Alright, you’re not tellin’ lies, so I believe ya. I’ll jus’ hafta see a hammered Bella for myself, that should be good laugh ey?” Maggie cracked a smirk.

Alice hummed, “Yeah I think it will.”

Chapter Text

It was past midnight when the wolves showed up. Their heavy footsteps and huge bodies crashed through the foliage surrounding the Cullen manor. They came out of the forest one by one, first one with fur as black as the night sky above them, then a brown russet furred one came sauntering out. On and on they went until finally, a small, sleek, gray wolf came out with a swaying Bella riding on top, happily looking around at the tense atmosphere. “We’re not late are we?” The girl slurred out, a dopey smile across her face.

The gray wolf snorted and sat down abruptly, causing Bella to fall off of its back and slide across the frosted ground. She grunted and looked around confusedly before struggling to her feet and glaring at the wolf, “Now that wasn’t very nice Leah.” She frowned and crossed her arms adorably. 

Leah just ignored her and strode over to where the rest of the pack was having a quite intense staredown with Edward and Carlisle, who were explaining something about Maggie’s coven and red eyes and blah blah blah. All Maggie was interested in was the human girl, who was currently being led very gently away from the scene by Esme. There was something about her, something that tugged in Maggie’s chest, where her heart should be beating, that screamed to get that girl’s attention. Maggie started towards her, eyes not focusing away from her face, forgetting for a minute that there were very aggressive wolves growling at both the Cullen’s and her covenmates.

It was when a dark brown wolf tried to jump her that she remembered where she was. Maggie yelped and shot back, while the black furred one growled and snapped at the other wolf, making it back off. Although the whole commotion did cause Bella to look over at her, eyes clouded with drink, and an almost comically fearful expression fell over her face. Maggie cursed under her breath, she wasn’t supposed to be afraid of her! She was supposed to. . .well she didn’t know but it certainly wasn’t to be afraid of her!

Bella was still staring at Maggie, until Esme gently grabbed hold of her arm and brought her towards the house. Maggie frowned and stared longingly, afraid to go after her if she would scare her again. She was really too cute to be afraid of her, and, though she didn’t get to see her eyes, she was sure they were a lovely color. Way better than red or gold, perhaps a nice green like Maggie’s used to be. Behind her Edward abruptly stopped talking to the black wolf and turned towards Maggie, brow furrowed and a quizzical look on his face. Then his gaze snapped to Alice, who was looking between him, the wolves, Bella, and Maggie very quickly over and over, seemingly doing calculations in her head. 

Rage trampled his handsome features and he very nearly launched himself at the poor girl, who quickly shook herself into the present and shrank behind a very confused but determined Jasper. “Alright Edward, calm down now. We don’t need to fight each other.” The soldier said, raising his arms in a peaceful surrender.

Edward turned his glare onto Jasper, “You knew! How could you do this to me?” His jaw was clenched so tight that spittle flew from his lips as he spoke.

The wolves had stopped growling and were now watching intently as the Cullen’s broke down into inner fighting.

Maggie decided this was the perfect time to slip away and speak to Bella, who had been herded inside by Esme. Surely if she could just talk to her, all of this mess could be sorted. Behind her Siobhan and Liam followed quietly, not wanting to be a part of whatever drama was going on. The coven walked past Emmett, who seemed to be guarding the back door, with him just nodding his head towards them. Maggie pushed the old screen door open and entered first, glancing around and breathing in, smelling a tantalizing scent of smoke and honey that she couldn’t believe she had missed before. 

Maggie immediately started after it, leaving her covenmates to look after her confused. She wandered through the kitchen, up the living room stairs and onto the second floor landing. She heard whispering coming from a room covered in Edwards ginger and lemongrass scent and headed towards it, as the mouthwatering honey scent was leading towards it. She stopped outside the door and listened for a second, hearing Esme’s soothing words towards Bella, whose heart rate had picked up and who was breathing rather heavily. Maggie frowned, the girl was panicking, why was she panicking? Was it something she had done? 

She started to reach out for the door handle, but at that moment Alice appeared in front of her, a finger to her lips and a stern look in her eyes. Maggie then remembered their earlier conversation. But she wasn’t going to do anything rash was she? She just wanted to see her, maybe talk if she was up for it. Maggie had so many questions she wanted to ask, she wanted to learn about this girl. She frowned at Alice and crossed her arms, shifting her legs into a wider stance. All in all, she quite looked like a toddler about to throw a tantrum. Alice sighed quietly and just grabbed the girl, pushing her around and leading her back downstairs. The only reason Maggie went along with it was because she knew that yelling in the hallway would only upset the human more. They were fickle like that. 

Once in the living room Maggie saw that the rest of the Olympic Coven, along with her coven, were waiting for them. Maggie just raised an eyebrow, “Wha? You guys stopped the whole trainin’ thing tonight?”

Edward growled at her, which in turn caused every vampire other than Carlisle to growl back at him. He quieted down immediately, the dope that he was. Carlisle raised his hand to quiet the rest of the vampires, mainly Siobhan and Liam, and started to speak, “It has come to our attention that some. . .other matters have come up now that Siobhan and her coven have come. Matters that we have decided-”

Alice gasped and blurted out, “No! You can’t do that!” The vampires all stared at the outburst, and the little pixie looked around anxiously, “It’s too late, it’s already set in motion.”

Edward immediately lunged for her. Jasper hopped up and tackled the boy from behind, both boys toppling into the tv, shattering the poor thing on impact. “Goddamnit Edward.” Emmett growled, hopping into the fray. The three managed to then move into the dining room, destroying the old wooden table and the doorway and wall to even get into the bleedin’ room. The two more experienced fighters eventually got the gobshite restrained after breaking through the wall and into the side yard. Rosalie and Carlisle were just staring right gobsmacked at the destruction while Siobhan, Maggie and Liam just looked at each other, silently agreeing that this coven was supremely fucked up. 

“Well, he’s made a show of himself.” Liam remarked. The Cullen’s that remained indoors turned their stares onto him, “What? Thought t’was funny.”

Maggie snorted, “Yer such an eejit Liam.”

Finally Siobhan broke in, “So what’s goin’ on here? Edward’s attacked Ally twice now. And for what, exactly?”

“Wait, he attacked her before?” Maggie asked. Siobhan promptly glared at her and she shut up quickly.

Carlisle grimaced and opened his mouth to speak, but Rosalie beat him to it, “Edward’s just mad that Bella isn’t his pet anymore and is taking it out on Alice.”

“Rosalie!” Carlisle snapped. Rosalie just shrugged and gazed outside flippantly as the two stronger vampires dragged Edward towards the woods.

Maggie eyed Alice, as the girl looked just awful, and her mouth ran before she could think about it again, “I thought everything was ‘sposed to be clear tonight. I’m right confused and some gobshite has destroyed yer house. Ye mind tellin’ us what’s goin’ on? I’m sure Siobhan and Liam are pell-mell’d ‘s well.” 

“It wasn’t supposed to be this way, everything has gone wrong and I’m trying to fix it, I promise.” Alice said, eyes wide and pleading.

“Yer still not sayin’ anythin’! I mean jaysus, what’s it with the human? Why’s Edward being such a fookin’ langer?”

Just then none other than Isabella Swan stumbled down the stairs, Esme fast on her heels, trying to get her to come back up. The girl stopped abruptly, almost falling over, and stared, first at the pure destruction, and then her gaze snapped onto Maggie. Their eyes met for the first time all night and Maggie could swear her dead heart stopped.

____________________________________________________________________________

Bella was having a really shit night, not that she could remember most of it past the last couple of beers with Jake. God she’d have to ask him what happened as it was clear she was somehow not in Leah’s room and was definitely not in her bed like she usually was after a night of drinking. There were a few glimpses of wolves and woods and. . .Victoria hanging out with the Cullen’s and the wolves? That couldn’t be right. Anyway, the loud crashing and thumping sounds that woke her up had faded away, and the only thumping was now in her head. 

Bella glared at the too-white bed she was laying on in the too-white room that could only belong to Edward. Why the absolute fuck she was in his room was a complete mystery and she could only hope it wasn’t because she said she was still in love with him or some shit like that. The red blinking lights of an alarm clock drew the ire of her attention and she could see it was barely three in the morning. Why it was even there she had no idea. Next to it was a glass of water with some ibuprofen. She immediately grabbed the pills and downed them along with the glass of water. 

It was then she became aware of the vampire in the corner of the room. Bella sighed and turned to look at it, and, seeing it was Esme, decided to just get up and walk out. Well, as best she could anyway, she was still pretty drunk. Esme got up and walked after her, “Bella dear, why don’t we stay in here. I’m sure you could use some sleep after the night you’ve had.”

Bella just ignored her, the tightening of her heart even more pronounced than usual. God how could she still pretend to care about her after all that had happened? Why was Bella even in this damn house in the first place? And where was Leah when she needed her? The two made their way to the landing where Bella could just about make out murmurings from downstairs. Great, she had to confront the rest of the family while barely able to stand. Bella got out her phone from her pocket, glancing at the messages and missed calls from the pack and from Charlie. Shit. Charlie. She forgot to let him know she’d be staying with Leah that night. Bella groaned and stumbled down the stairs 

The first thing she was aware of after stepping into the living room was the deep gouges in the floor. Then her eyes raised to the crushed tv, then to the rubble that was the dining room, and through to the destroyed hole in the wall that let her see into the dark of the night. Then her eyes landed on the violently beautiful face of a redheaded, red-eyed vampire that was decidedly not Victoria. Well that explained some things. The two made eye-contact and the vampire froze, face opening into pure shock.

A few seconds passed of pure silence in the room, and Bella was made intimately aware that she had not looked away yet. With an awkward clearing of her throat, Bella looked to the other vampires standing around the room, noting that Edward, Jasper and Emmett were absent. She noticed two other new vampires, both with red eyes. Her heart started to speed up at the sight of them, and she definitely noticed when all eyes, gold and red, looked down to her chest. Alice quickly smiled and danced over to her, “Bella! What a surprise! We were just talking about you.”

“Um, I, okay?” Bella nodded, and glanced back over to red-eyed vampires spread throughout the room. “I’m, uh, going to go back to bed. I’ll deal with this in the morning. It’s too early now.”

“Yes I agree that would really be best for now.” Alice agreed, swiftly ushering Bella as fast as humanly possible back up the stairs.

Bella’s head was swarming, her already muddled thoughts seeming to come to her through syrup. Before she knew it she was in Edward’s bed being tucked in at the edges by a fussing Alice and Bella just had no energy to argue. In the end she pushed the buzzing in her mind to the side and turned towards the wall, curling up into a ball and falling asleep as Alice whispered to Esme too fast for her to even begin to interpret. 

Chapter Text

Maggie was freaking out, and the love of her bleedin’ life had just seemed to completely ignore her, and go back to sleep of all things! Maggie immediately started after her, only to be stopped by Siobhan’s strong arm grabbing her shoulder. Maggie growled at her, but immediately straightened when Siobhan just raised an eyebrow, hand tightening minutely. Rosalie, Liam and Carlisle were watching her, each with drastically different expressions on their faces. If Maggie could she’d be red as a tomato in the middle of the autumn heat. She instead grimaced, shuffled back slightly behind Siobhan and stared longingly up the stairs, where she could faintly hear Esme and Alice talking to each other. Her human was already back asleep, if the steady beating of her heart and soft snores told her anything.

She really, really, wanted to be with her, but she couldn’t very well ignore a command from her coven leader, even a silent one. But what would she look like, sleeping soundly? Would she be peaceful, or would she start murmuring in her sleep? Humans were known to do that. What did her face look like right now? Was she still beautiful even as she drooled? Of course she was, she was obviously always beautiful no matter what. Would the drool make her even cuter? Maggie supposed it would. Anything that girl would do would make her cuter. Hell she could just breathe and the space where Maggie’s heart should be beating would clench and stutter for her. Maggie would do anything for her. Gods she was doomed wasn’t she? 

Maggie only started zoning back into her surroundings when Alice and Esme made their way downstairs, the former glancing worriedly towards the woods through the dining room hole. It was silent for a while, and Maggie only barely noticed when Siobhans’ hand left her shoulder to turn towards the remainder of the cullen clan. “So what's it now? Obviously somethin’s wrong with Maggie, and half yer coven’s gone and destroyed yer house. Honestly, we’re not sure we should stay given how this night’s gone. I know ye needed our help and all, but things ave gone way downhill since we’ve arrived.”

Maggie shot back into the present at that, but before she could speak Liam did, “Can’t help but feel we mighta had somethin’ to do with that. If all a yis would like us ta leave, we will.”

Maggie’s eyes widened even more at that and she looked desperately towards Carlise, who looked back at her with some kind of pity shining clear in his eyes. He wasn’t going to help, Maggie realized. He was going to tell them to leave. He was going to tell her to leave Bella . Maggie looked over to Alice, who looked just as distraught as she felt. No, no this can’t happen. Maggie couldn’t just leave, not after she had met her. . . “Mate! I can’t leave me mate. Ye can’t make me leave me mate.” That was directed towards both her covenmates and Carlisle. Of course it was pure shite, the three of ‘em could very well force her to leave, but Maggie would not go down without a fight. That was for sure.

Silence met her, Siobhan and Liam’s eyes lightened in understanding, while the Cullen’s all froze as still as statues. “Oh, well we can’t right leave now.” Liam said, as if that settles things.

Alice was frozen, eyes clouded with the future, Rosalie was staring at the youngest irish clansmen as if she was the one who was stupid, Carlisle looked defeated while Esme looked confused. “Who would your mate be Maggie? You’ve only seen us and the wolves.” Esme asked, a kind sort of way to her obvious doubt. 

Maggie looked right back at her, head tilted to the side like a puppy and everything, “Whaddya mean? Bella, obviously.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Bella woke up groggy and confused, dreams of wild cherry-red hair and scarlet eyes that for some reason only made her want to come closer fading away. She tried to figure out why Leah’s bed was so comfortable only to be hit for the second time in just a few hours with the knowledge that this wasn’t, in fact, Leah’s bed. Bella sighed as memories from early morning came back, although the memories from last night stubbornly refused to surface. She turned over in bed, almost about to just go back to sleep and try to forget about it, when her phone rang from the bedside table. She was pretty sure that it was in her pocket, but, with a wince at the loud ringing, she grabbed the phone and squinted at the blurry letters. Eventually she made out the word ‘Charlie’ and a jolt of panic shot through her spine. 

She still hadn’t told him she wouldn’t be home. God he must be freaking out. Bella quickly answered and tried to clear the sleep from her voice, “Hi Dad, um, how are you?”

“Isabella Marie Swan,” Bella cringed, that meant she was in more trouble than usual, “Where were you last night? I called Sue’s and she said you never made it there from the bonfire, I-I thought you-” Charlie’s voice broke and he couldn’t finish his sentence.

He didn’t need to. Bella knew well what Charlie must’ve thought and guilt slammed into her at the speed of a freight train. “I’m sorry Ch-Dad. I just-I forgot to tell you I was with some friends.” She finished lamely, like that would satisfy her cop father.

“Yeah well, just, which friends Bells?” She could hear the resignation on his voice and could tell he had guessed close enough to the truth. 

God she was an awful daughter wasn’t she? Nonetheless she spoke quietly into the phone, “Um, Alice, and. . .Edward.” 

“Cullen?”

“. . .Yeah.” 

Charlie sighed, “Just get home soon alright? We have some things to talk about.” Charlie said gruffly before saying, a little softer, “Be safe Bells.” 

“Love you Dad.” And the phone call ended.

Bella groaned and cursed the entire wolf pack for somehow leaving her at the Cullens house of all places. Not that they deserved it, but she needed to push the blame onto someone else right now. Maybe she should blame the Cullens for kidnapping her, but knowing herself she more than likely went willingly. God she hated herself. Just then there was a soft knock at Edward’s door and a warm, sun-filled voice drifted through, “Bella, honey? Can I come in?”

Bella’s immediate instinct was to scream no and throw herself under the bed until everyone left, but instead she steeled herself and responded, “Sure Esme, that’s fine.”

Esme let herself into the room, gently smiling at a disheveled Bella in the late morning light. “How did you sleep dear? Would you like some more painkillers?”

“No, I'm okay.” Bella responded dutifully, although if she were being honest her head was slightly killing her.

“Alright, I have some fresh clothes for you and you know where the bathroom is if you would like to shower. I’m terribly sorry for the mess downstairs, we just haven’t gotten to clean it up yet.” Esme laid some clothes on the edge of Edward’s bed and left the room, closing the door behind her gently.

Bella grimaced as she saw the pale blue dress and lacy underwear laid out for her, obviously Alice’s doing. She thought about just leaving her old clothes on, but she felt way too grimy and dirty to do that. With a sigh she got out of bed and picked up the pressed and folded clothes, cringing slightly at the silken feel of them. God she hated silk, felt awful on her skin. Opened the door and walked into the hall, noting that the house was eerily silent, with no murmurings or soft thumpings of vampires doing things. Was she alone in the house? Did they seriously leave her alone in a house in the middle of nowhere with a psychotic vampire coming after her? Honestly she wouldn’t put it past them.

She pushed that out of her mind and walked into the bathroom. Gently shutting the door behind her she stripped and stepped into the shower, turning it on and just soaking in the hot water. Eventually she cleaned herself and stepped out, drying herself and shrugging the dress over her undergarments. This time when she stepped into the hallway she could hear low murmuring coming from down the stairs, barely audible to her human ears. Bella stepped down the stairs carefully, trying not to make too much noise. Of course, as soon as she stepped onto the landing the talking stopped. Stupid vampires. She quickly walked the rest of the way down, trying not to trip over herself, and stopped at the end, reorienting herself with the living rooms’ late night destruction. 

She looked around, seeing that the entire Cullen family was now in the living room. Edward was glaring at Alice, who was hiding behind Jasper while Emmet stood close by with Rosalie at his side. Carlisle and Esme stood next to Edward, Carlisle with a restraining hand on Edward’s shoulder. The red-eyed vampires were mysteriously absent, and Bella couldn’t help a foreboding feeling forming in her stomach. She frowned and shuffled uncomfortably at the tense silence before choking on her saliva, breaking the silence. Everyone’s eyes turned to her and Bella’s face immediately flushed red and she tried desperately to silence her coughs, only making it worse for a couple of seconds. 

After she finally got over her coughing fit Bella straightened up and tried to regain some dignity, “Um, I gotta go. . .so. . .” Then Bella realized her truck was still at the Clearwaters and she grimaced, “Will one of you drive me back to my house? I, uh, don’t have my truck.”

Esme smiled at her, “Of course Bella, why don’t-”

“I’ll do it!” Alice blurted out.

Carlisle grimaced while Edward only glared harder. Jasper shifted uncomfortably and Emmett subtly moved closer to Alice. Rosalie just sighed loudly, “No you won’t. Come on Bella, I'll take you.” 

With that Rosalie started strutting out of the room and Bella just looked awkwardly at Alice before following after her. Rosalie led her to the garage and grabbed the keys for Carlisle’s Mercedes, unlocking it and slipping inside gracefully. Bella followed suit and the two started out of the garage and off of Cullen property in total silence. Eventually Bella gathered her courage and cleared her throat, trying to gain Rosalie’s attention. Obviously she ignored her, her eyes instead glaring out of the windshield even more harshly. Bella tried again. “Are you choking on your spit or something?” Rosalie’s harsh words cut Bella off mid-third cough.

Bella blushed, “Oh uh, no.” Rosalie didn’t respond and Bella just decided to go for it, “Um, what happened to those other vampires that were there last night?”

“They left.” Roslalie said. Bella nodded and it was silent until Rosalie glanced over at her, seeming to think about something before asking, “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, I, uh, I don’t know. They seemed important? They had red eyes. I can’t really remember what happened last night, but I remember them.” I remember her, she really wanted to say.That one with the fiery red hair and bright ruby eyes that reminded her so much of Victoria. Although this vampire didn’t scare her like the other red eyed vamps did, instead Bella remembered a feeling of warmth and safety that had confused her so much she had given up on socialization.

Rosalie exhaled heavily, causing Bella to come out of her thoughts abruptly, “They’re nothing anymore. We’re here, get out.”

Bella startled when she noticed they were in her driveway. She looked back at Rosalie, who was resolutely picking at her nails, and got out quickly. Her truck still wasn’t here, probably back at Leah’s, she’d have to call and ask her to bring it. Charlie's cruiser was parked in the street. Damn, she’d have to face him sooner than she thought. Bella trudged up to the front door and grabbed the key from its hiding spot under the eave, unlocking the door and walking inside. 

The tv in the living room was blaring a baseball game and there were dishes clinking from the kitchen. Bella’s shoulders lost the tension straining them and she tried to walk quietly towards the stairs. Of course as soon as she left the safety of the foyer Charlie cleared his throat from behind her. Bella turned slowly and offered an awkward grimace as she saw his stern expression and his folded arms. “Bella, let’s talk.”

Bella cringed but nodded her head, following her father into the dining room. Charlie waited to sit after Bella had, plopping down in the seat across from her. They stared at each other in tense silence before Charlie sighed and lowered his head down towards the table, “So, you’re back with Edwin?”

Bella’s eyes widened, “No! No, no I’m not. I don’t like him anymore, I promise.”

Charlie frowned and looked up at her, “Bells you don’t need to promise me that. It-It would be fine if you did, you know. I-”

“No Dad I don’t.” Bella blurts out, “I think I’m gay, actually. So. . .” Bella paused and her face turned beet-red. She looked everywhere but the shocked face of her father.

Charlie’s face slowly turned the same shade of beet juice that Bella’s had and he cleared his throat, throwing out a rough, “Oh, alright.”

The two sat in silence for a little bit before Bella cleared her throat and muttered, “I’m going to go to my room now, so, talk later Dad.”

Charlie nodded, looking out the nearby window, “Later Bells.”

Bella shoved out of her chair and tried not to trip up the stairs in her hurry. She opened her door only to scream as she saw the red eyes of a vampire sitting on her bed. Luckily, before it could come gushing out of her mouth the vampire shot out of her bed and slapped a hand over her mouth, muffling it as much as possible. Unluckily Charlie still heard it and both vampire and human could hear as he stumbled out of the dining room and towards the stairs, “Bells? You alright?”

Bella and the vampire looked at each other in panic and the vampire put a finger to her lips, stepping back and letting her hand fall from Bella’s mouth, “Uh, yeah Dad I’m fine! Just. . .stubbed my toe! Sorry for worrying you!” The lie almost fell easily from her lips, if not for the warbling fear heard quite plainly throughout it.

Alas, Charlie was an idiot at the best of times and called out, “Alright, tell me if you need anything.” Before turning back around towards the living room. 

Now that they were alone without fear of being interrupted Bella studied the vampire across from her. Violently red hair, stunning red eyes, full, pink lips quirked up in a mischievous smile. Her eyes drifted down before snapping back up. Shit, don’t check out the random red-eyed vampire in your room, even if she’s fucking gorgeous . Then it hits her, this is the vampire from the Cullens living room last night. Words tumble from her mouth before she can stop them, “Who are you?”

The vampire’s smirk widens into a full blown grin, “I’m Maggie, who're you?”

Chapter Text

Bella stared at the beautiful creature in front of her, eyebrows raised and her mouth pulled in an ‘o’ shape while the vampire just looked around her room interestedly. “Ya got a real shite bed, ya know tha’?”

Bella snapped her mouth shut as her brain tried to pull itself out of the puddle of mush it had become while captivated by the pretty vampire, “Uh, yeah.” Shit. That’s not what she wanted to say.

Thankfully Maggie laughed, a warm, throaty sound, “Yer cute,” That same mischievous smile flashed back onto her face and Bella’s face flushed red for the second time in a couple of minutes. “Ya never did say wha’ yer name was lovey.”

“Bella.” Damnit, her voice sounded way too breathy, how red was her face right now? God you can’t fall for every pretty, mysterious vampire that breaks into your room while you're unaware Bella! 

That last thought was enough to snap her out of that weird trance the red-head had put her in for a minute or two, “Sorry, what are you doing here? And your name doesn’t explain who you are. What were you doing with the Cullens last night? Why are you in my room?”

Maggie looked over from where she was messing with Bella’s math notebook, a small frown playing with her lips, “Tha’s a lotta questions sweetheart, but alrigh’, fair enough. My coven was called down ta help with yer li’l problem with tha’ other coven. Tho from what I hear most a them’re dead now. Just one left an’ she’s a helluva slippery little thing isn’t she?” Then Maggie’s frown deepens as she stares hard at Bella’s cork-board, eyes roaming greedily over the snippets of her life, “As fer las’ night, apparently Eddie didn’t like what I was thinkin’, and they all decided they don’ need our help any. ‘Cept fer Alice, tho’ I ‘spect she had a hand in all a this anyways. Said she had a surprise fer us, and I guess I figured what it was.”

Bella blinked as she registered all of the new information, and then she turned and sat down heavily on her bed, breathing out a long suffering sigh, “Okay, well, what was the surprise?” She asked quietly.

Maggie finally turned her body fully towards Bella, a small smile on her face as she walked over and sat gently next to her, “It was you, I think. I dunno what else it coulda been, she told us about everythin’ else, and when I saw ya fer the first time. . .I dunno, it felt like everythin’ was finally right in tha world.”

Bella sucked in a giant breath and held it, squeezing her eyes shut as hard as she could. Please be a dream, or a nightmare, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease. But when she opened them again, the gorgeous vampire was still sitting there, smiling at her warmly, red eyes sparkling. Fuck . Bella then realized she was still holding her breath and forced herself to release it and start actually breathing again. Alright, alright this is okay. Just. . .tell her to leave. And never speak to you again, if she really thinks that she’s your. . .thing. . .then she’ll do what you say and you can just forget about her and continue on. “W-Well, um, uh. . .pleaseleavemealone.” Bella squeezed her eyes shut again at the abrupt silence.

“. . .What?”

Bella took a deep breath and tried again, “Please le-”

“No no, I heard what you said. I jus’, what?” 

Bella opened one eye to see the utter confusion on Maggie’s face. Far too pretty to look so hurt. Goddamn it Bella no! Make her leave! “Please, I don’t want to deal with this again an-”

“Wait again? Whaddya mean again?”

“Stop interrupting me!” Bella blurted out, then her eyes widened and her mouth snapped closed, “I mean. . .ugh, sorry. Just, let me finish, please.”

Maggie closed her mouth and frowned a little bit, but nodded anyway, Bella took a breath and then continued, “I-I just, I’ve been through the whole. . . soulmate . . . thing . . .before. I don't want to deal with it again. Even if you were telling the truth, you’d probably just leave when you realize I’m not worth it. . .or something stupider like thinking you’re saving me. I just can't deal with that again, it almost killed me before. It would have too, if not for. . .anyways, just go. Please. I don’t want this, I don’t know you, and I don’t want to. I’m going to go downstairs and when I come back up, please be gone.”

With that Bella got up and left the room, closing the door softly behind her. She really needed to call Leah, and not just to get her truck back. Fuck. Stupid supernatural fucking creatures.

____________________________________________________________________________

Maggie sat in the silence, the air thick with it. She could barely feel the softness of the blankets underneath her, and she knew she must look like a living statue, with how she couldn’t get herself to breathe, or blink, or move in general. Bella’s proclamation was full of a mix of lies and truth, intricately weaved together to make an incomprehensible mess. It didn’t help that she had just essentially rejected Maggie with the excuse of some other vampire already claiming her? Obviously it was Edward, hell even Maggie thought that she was Edward’s mate. Is that why everyone at the Cullen house was acting so weird last night? Wait. Duh. Edward had read her mind when Maggie had first seen the girl, and it was increasingly obvious that Alice knew about it too. Shite, that was why the Cullens kicked them out! 

Even with her thoughts racing, Maggie could hear Bella murmuring into a phone downstairs. She was talking to someone named Leah, telling her she was okay and asking her to come get her. Was that her girlfriend? Is that why Bella rejected her? The feckin’ devil himself couldn’ta picked a better snag in Maggie’s plans. Even though Bella had explicitly asked Maggie to leave her alone, Maggie knew she couldn’t do it. It was breaking her heart to not be in the same room as her. And her smell, gods her smell. Woodfire smoke and freshly made honey was surrounding her, infused into the very air she breathed. And when Bella blushed , Jaysus, Mary, and Joseph, ‘twas infused inta her very soul. 

Maggie sat there so long in her mind that the firing of a bad exhaust pipe actually startled her. She jumped and immediately reached out with her senses to make sure Bella was okay. She heard her telling her dad that she was going with a friend, and the door opening and closing behind her. Maggie walked over to the window and saw as Bella jerked the door to an old, run-down red truck open and crawled in next to a smirking, beautiful native girl. Ah. That must be Leah then. Maggie immediately wanted to rip that smile off of her face. Then she smelled it: half-rotted wet dog. “Shite, feckin’ gaddamn bloody bullshite.” Maggie stood up and walked over to the door, half a mind to just storm downstairs and pull Bella outta th’ car.

Then she remembered the very warm-blooded, very ignorant human downstairs that ‘must not know about us or the werewolves, it’s really important!’. Feckin’ Alice. Such a feckin’ gobshite. Shite, and now tha truck’s already leaving and slowly making its way down towards the reservation. Maggie’s not allowed on the reservation. She should talk to Alice, it was all her stupid idea anyways. Gods, Maggie’s such an eejit, of course all of this was constructed by Alice. She knew just how to lure Maggie in, and Maggie fell for it straight on her arse. And she’s not allowed on Cullen property because of that gobshite Edward. She could call her. Actually, where did she put her phone? 

Ah, it’s still with Siobhan. She knew they should’ve gotten more than one phone, but noooo, they’re a coven and always together anyways. Such feckin’ bollocks. Now they’re both. . .somewhere. Gods she knew she should’ve been paying attention, now she has to find their trail. Feck!

____________________________________________________________________________

Bella stared out at the trees flying by as Leah drove them to her house on the reservation. She could feel Leah’s eyes on her every once in a while but ignored them, preferring to surrender to self-pity and sulk in silence. Eventually Leah’s world renowned patience wore out and she scoffed, glaring out of the trucks’ windshield, “What’d he do this time? Knew we shouldn’t have let you stay there. Stupid Sam wouldn’t let me try to get you, said it was too dangerous . And thanks, by the way, for telling us about the new red-eyed leeches that your special little Cullen's recruited without asking. Would’ve started a war if not for the bloodsuckers’ inner-family breakdown.” Leah snorted, a grim sort of smile on her face, “Though next time we can’t guarantee that we won’t just go for it and kill them all.”

Bella just continued staring out of the window, intently watching as the beginning of the small reservation town started to go by. A few seconds of silence and Leah pulled the truck over and turned towards her, a frown on her face, “Alright you’re acting like you were when I saved you from killing yourself. Do we need to set up another suicide watch?”

At this Bella blinked and looked over at Leah before snorting slightly, “Oh, no. Not like the last one worked anyways.”

Leah’s eyes widened before she choked out a laugh, grinning at Bella and turning back to pull the truck back out onto the street, “Alright, fair enough, but when we get to my house, you’re telling me what’s up with you, ‘kay?”

Bella smiled a bit, “Yeah alright, just let me text Charlie and tell him I’m not coming home tonight”

__

Charlie, it turns out, is a little bit smarter than Bella gave him credit for, and didn’t let her stay over on a school night. He gave her a curfew of eleven and ‘not any later alright?’. He also decided to mortify Bella by asking her if Leah and her were ‘a thing’, and Leah definitely made fun of her after Charlie finally hung up. The two eventually pulled into Sue’s house, Bella with a face quite similar to a ripened tomato, and went up to Leah’s room. Luckily Seth and Sue weren’t home yet, so they had the house to themselves and Leah could blast rock music as loud as she wanted to.

The two girls were currently laying opposite each other on the bed, listening to the blaring guitars and screaming vocals of heavy metal. Bella had her eyes closed and her fingers were tapping along to the beat while Leah was singing along as loud as possible to be heard over the music. After a time it seemed like Leah had had enough of waiting so she got out of bed and turned the music down, turning towards Bella once they both could hear their thoughts again, “So, you gonna tell me what happened last night? Or this morning?”

Bella sighed and turned her head towards the window, looking out at the woods beyond the suddenly uncomfortably small room, “I don’t really remember much, to be honest. I think I woke up at like. . .I don’t know, three or so? Didn’t want to be there so I went downstairs to leave, obviously I wasn't thinking since I didn’t have any way to leave anyways, but there were three red-eyed vampires there. Freaked me the fuck out cause, you know, red eyes, and the living room was just. . .destroyed. Like there wasn’t a wall where there was supposed to be. I decided I didn’t want to deal with any of it and went back upstairs and fell asleep again.” 

Leah’s brows furrowed as she took in the information, then she nodded and looked back up at Bella, “What about this morning? Obviously something happened or you wouldn’t have asked me to come pick you up. You still seem freaked out Bells, so don’t give me any crap that you’re ‘okay’ or whatever.”

Bella closed her eyes as images of warm smiles and earnest red eyes filled her brain. God she was lucky nobody could read her thoughts, “Nothing I promise. Rosalie just brought me home and I wanted to be with you. It was a rough night, that’s all.”

She could still feel Leah’s stare drilling into the side of her head, trying to figure out if she was lying or not. Actually Leah probably already knew she was lying, Bella was a shit liar. Eventually Leah sighed and turned the music back up, throwing herself back onto the bed beside her. Bella could feel Leah’s breath against her ear as she said, “I’m gonna get it out of you eventually Swan, trust me.” 

Bella sighed and started singing along to the music, hearing Leah’s huffed laughter before the girl joined in. It wasn’t until they were forced to turn off the music, after Seth slammed his fist against the door hard enough to almost break it, that Bella truly felt a bit better. She decided that she had done enough, and if that stupid vampire truly felt like she was Bella’s ‘mate’ or whatever, she could deal with it without involving Bella anymore, as she didn’t want her back.