A.N.: Okay, so you asked, you begged and you pleaded, and here it is: Chapter two of the wedding. Hope it pleases just as much as the first ;)

Disclaimer: Own nothing and no one (exception being Charlotte). All the truly amazing characters belong to the unique Stephenie Meyer. Charlotte in my invention, though

Enjoy!

I racked my brains, trying desperately to think of something else, but there was no escaping the feeling that crept inside of me whenever I looked at that letter.

He arched his perfect eyebrows at me. I groaned. I still had to get used to him being able to hear me. I had to learn to guard my thoughts better…

Of course, I could block him out, but then, Alice would be annoyed at me. I sighed.

Being a vampire was better than I had ever even dreamed of. Of course, the pain was horrific. I shuddered as I remembered it. But then, I was strong. And beautiful. And fast. Very fast. And, of course, the best part of it all, was I had Edward, and I’d be able to stay with him forever.

However, nothing is perfect.

Since the change, Edward could hear my thoughts. Of course, my power was to block each and every extra power of all the vampires. I had done that, as soon as I found it out.

It didn’t last for long. Alice had banged the door of my room open and demanded

“Since when are you a werewolf, Bella?”

“What?”

She’d looked at me then and, obviously noticing I wasn’t a werewolf, had proceeded

“Okay. Where are you hiding it, then?”

“Hiding? Hiding what, Alice?”

“The werewolf, Bella”

“What werewolf? There is no werewolf here, Alice…”

“But… then… why can’t I see your future…?”

Just then, Jasper and Edward walked in. Edward looked resigned, Jasper’s face had cracked in to surprise.

“We heard the word werewolf…” Edward started

“Alice can’t see my future,” I informed the two newcomers

Edward’s eyes narrowed in suspicion and he turned to Jasper

Jasper shook his head infinitesimally

“Well then… I guess we know Bella’s power now,” Edward had mumbled

Me and Alice looked at him, confused

“I can’t hear you; Jasper can’t feel your emotions and Alice can’t see you. It’s simple. You block everyone’s powers,” he said, smiling

Alice pouted. “I don’t like it.”

I sighed

“Is there any way for you to not block us, Bella?”

“Yes.”

“Well then, unblock us, and keep us unblocked, please.”

“Okay, Alice”

Ever since, I hadn’t used my power. It was maddening sometimes, but I kept my word.

Right now, was one extremely tempting time.

The official-looking letter lay to one side; a fancy-looking letter next to it. I didn’t want to open either one, but Edward’s gaze was making me nervous, so reached out and took the official one. Better start off with something which wouldn’t make me angry, I thought.

The letter was, as I’d known from the letter in the envelope, from Charlie.

Bella,

I don’t know if you even remember me at all. Probably not, since you’ve never visited in the past five years. Just to remind you, I’m your father.

I wanted to tell you that I’ve discovered your address, and that I will visit. I’m not asking for an invitation, I’m just stating a fact here, Bells.

You can expect me this Saturday, at noon on your doorstep.

Love,

Charlie

I knew my face was frozen in a disbelieving expression. I had to re-read the letter over three times to believe it. I groaned

Edward was rigid, completely still.

I felt a foot stamp my own foot. I looked up and found Alice staring at me with questioning eyes. I simply passed her the letter and moved on to the other one; the fancy-looking one. I took a deep breath and opened it.

It was a wedding invitation. I could feel Edward’s gaze on me again. I winced as pain shot through me. It was all computerized, his writing was nowhere, it could have been anyone’s wedding. But the person getting married wasn’t just anyone, and that was the reason why I wouldn’t go to the wedding. I couldn’t quite grasp why he’d invited us in the first place. Not unless he really wanted to lose his bride. I was pretty sure that wasn’t the case.

I should be happy, I told myself. He’s imprinted; he’s found real love, he isn’t suffering anymore.

It was easier thought than done.

Just then, the doorbell rang. My eyes shot up to the clock and, sure enough, it had both hands pointing up to the twelve. Suddenly, everyone was running to change clothes, Rosalie debating what she’d put on. I just changed out of my pajamas and into something a bit more presentable and raced downstairs, winning Alice, but losing to Edward.

Even though none of the Cullens had really rushed, it had passed less than a minute for us all to be ready.

I was nervous as I stepped forward to open the door. It would be the first time I’d encounter a human after I had been given the white flag to go to school by Carlisle. Of course, school was only going to start in two months’ time.

I tried to keep my head, for I could feel Edward was just as tense as I was. I saw him eye Jasper and, a second later, security washed over me, making the small smile on my lips seem quite natural. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

There, on our doorstep, was Charlie. I could see he was about to embrace me, and, not wanting to test my limits too much, I smiled at him and stepped aside to let him in.

Once he was in, I looked at Alice, questioning. She shook her head and I let him wrap his arms around me tightly. He sighed

“I missed you so much, Bells.”

“I’ve missed you too, dad,” I mumbled. I could feel his blood pounding against my cheek and decided it was time to put some distance between us. I pushed him away with as little strength as I could. It was enough. He broke apart and he moved to shake hands with the rest of my family.

“Look at you, Bella! You haven’t changed at all! None of you have! I feel like I’m the only one getting older here!” Charlie exclaimed, looking at all our faces, a huge smile on his own face

Carlisle shot me a huge smile and then, he and Esme took Charlie to the living room to talk. I sighed in relief. Edward was by my side, holding me against him

“You did perfectly, Bella,” he whispered in my ear

I smiled softly

“Very good, Bella,” I heard Alice approve a few steps away

“Yes, you did amazingly, Bella,” Rosalie added

Rosalie and I were the best of friends now a days. I supposed that was due to the fact that I was now a vampire, and there was no turning away from that. It was forever.

We started moving toward the living room too.

I didn’t see when Rosalie, Emmett, Alice and Jasper left, I only noticed it when I sat down on the couch next to Edward and didn’t see them. I laughed in my head

“So Bella, are you and Edward going to Jake’s wedding?”

I grimaced. Of course, I muttered in my head, trust Charlie to ruin it all by asking that.

“No, Charlie”

“Oh.” He seemed to ponder for a moment, his eyes darting toward Edward quickly, before going back to me. I noticed Carlisle and Esme had left too. “Why not, Bella?”

Again, he shot a glance at Edward. I sighed. He hadn’t changed one bit

“I don’t want to go, dad,” I said softly

“Huh. Shame,” he muttered “Jake was so eager to see you again.”

I winced slightly, cringing in to Edward’s chest. His arms tightened around me

“Here,” Charlie went on, oblivious. He pulled out a photo from his backpack and showed it to us. “Charlotte. Pretty, huh?”

And she was. Very pretty. Charlotte had long black hair, white skin and green, piercing eyes. Her wavy hair fell down to the middle of her back, swinging neatly. In the photo, she was wearing a huge smile and was hugging a tall, muscular man. His skin was reddish, his hair black fell down to his shoulders, his black eyes pulled back in obvious happiness.

I could hardly recognize him, he’d changed so much since the last time I’d seen him at our wedding. The eyes were the same, though. That’s what made me realize who it was. His eyes were still the child’s eyes. Those were eyes that I knew I’d recognize even if I lived for an eternity. Those were not the werewolf’s eyes; Sam’s eyes. They were Jacob’s eyes. My Jacob’s eyes.

The pain that shot through me as recognition hit, must have been apparent, because Charlie retrieved the photo, looking at me with concerned eyes.

“How is she? Charlotte, I mean. Is she a nice girl?”

I heard Edward snort in amazement, but I ignored him

“Yes. Well, at least, I think so. Haven’t really had much contact with her. Jake hardly ever shows up at home, these past years,” he shrugged. “but she seems pretty decent to me…”

I nodded. I felt numb all over. I had known it wouldn’t be easy, but still, this was ridiculous!

“Are you gonna stay the night, dad?”

“No, Bells. I actually have to go now. Promise to visit me?”

“Sure, sure”

He smiled, hugged me again and then left.

I sighed and flopped back down in the couch next to Edward.

“We’ll have to go now…”

“We don’t have to, you know Bella”

“Edward, I feel like I have to now…”

I held Edward’s had tightly as we walked into the little church of Forks. That church brought back memories… memories of our own wedding.

The wedding itself looked like a repetition of our wedding. The entire town crowded the benches, the flowers, the priest and the man in the black tux in front of the priest’s table. As we walked in, I saw his eyes focus on me, but I pretended I didn’t see that. His eyes were clear surprise in them, but I thought I could see something else…

Just then, the wedding march started and everyone stood up.

Charlotte looked just like she had in the photo Charlie had shown me and Edward two weeks ago: beautiful.

My eyes narrowed suspiciously at her. Her skin was too pale, her movements too graceful. I looked at her eyes, and I felt my face harden in shock. The eyes weren’t the same tone of bright green I remembered from the photograph; today, they were a dark green, almost black. I frowned at her, trying to understand… then it clicked.

I gasped in surprised disbelief. Her eyes fell on me for a second, and I saw comprehension flash in her eyes too. We stared at each other for a second, and then she had passed us.

I looked up to see what Edward’s reaction was, and I found him pulling his cell phone out. He looked at me and I nodded. He turned and swiftly walked through the church doors, already whispering softly in his phone.

My mind was whirling. Another vampire?

I wondered mildly if Jacob knew… I looked up to the couple and found the groom staring at me.

Yes, he knew perfectly well.

He smiled tentatively, but all I could do was stare at him. And so the wedding carried on and, at some moment, when the priest was reading something from the Bible, Edward came back and sat next to me. He whispered to me his conversation with Carlisle, too fast and too low for even the people to around us to notice we were talking. But she did.

Carlisle had told Edward to try to talk to Charlotte, find out where she came from. But we were not to start a fight. I could hear the bitterness in his voice when he told me that bit.

I agreed to go talk to the couple later on, in the party.

Suddenly, everyone was standing again, and there was a lot of cheering. I didn’t need to ask to know that the wedding was over.

People started to fill out of the church doors, talking in low voices.

“Oh, come on Bella!” he asked, exasperated “Jacob won’t want to speak to me!”

“And you don’t want to speak to him, either,” I reminded him

“Yes, but if you go, he’ll be more open. Please, Bella?”

I scowled at him

“Please?” he insisted taking my face in his hands

“Okay, okay. Just don’t complain later,” I said

He smiled at me, and then took me by the hand toward the biggest table in the room. I should have been sitting at that table, anyway, since Charlie was there. When we got closer, I saw there were to spare places next to Charlie and that we were heading toward them…

Charlie saw us and jumped to his feet, telling us to sit down. He seemed surprised, but delighted.

I looked to my right, and was shocked to see Charlotte sitting right next to me. She looked at me as I sat down and smiled tentatively. I smiled back, just as unsure. On the other side of Charlotte, Jacob was staring at me. The look in his eyes reminded me of things I didn’t want to remember, especially not with Edward hearing me… I sighed and blocked him out, when I felt him let out a low rumble. I’d deal with Alice later.

As the dinner was served, I started talking with Charlotte. She seemed just as interested in my and Edward as we were about her.

About four hours later, when Charlie and Billy had said their goodbyes, their eyes drooping, Edward turned to look at Charlotte. I knew the place was empty but for us four, sitting at that big, round table right in the middle of the room. I sighed.

“Well, Jacob,” Charlotte said, in her low, musical voice “aren’t you going to present me formally to your friends?”

I saw her eyes scrutinizing his face, and did the same. He was looking warily at me, almost pleadingly. I turned my gaze away from him.

“Yes, because me and Bella here have already introduced ourselves informally,” she added lightly. I stared at her. Didn’t she know, didn’t she notice he was uncomfortable? The look in her eyes shocked me. She knew. But was still testing him

How mean.

“Erm… Charlotte, these are… Bella and… Edward. You two, this is Charlotte,” he mumbled in such a low tune that I was sure that, had I still been human, I wouldn’t have heard.

“I figured,” I muttered. Edward snorted

Charlotte, however, looked deeply interested “Bella and Edward, huh? I’ve heard many people talk about your story here in Forks,” she mused

Her eyes were glued on Edward. It was impossible to know what she was thinking by his expression.

“Charlie told me you weren’t planning in coming,” Jacob said to me

“And we weren’t.” I replied coldly

“Then why did you come?”

“Edward wanted to come,” I said, shrugging.

Ever since I had become a vampire, I had also improved a lot in the lying matter. That was probably the reason why Jake believed me. He seemed hurt by my words.

I turned my attention back to Charlotte and Edward. Edward’s perfect pose was starting to crumble. I could see, though, that he wasn’t in any state of telling me, so I decided to find out for myself what was bother him so much

“Where are you from, Charlotte?”

“I’m from Italy,” she said, flashing me a smile

I thought I knew what was bothering Edward. Images of black, flowing cloaks filled my mind, but I fought them back

“Nice. From Rome, or…?”

“No. It was a little town close to the Tuscany… it was called Volterra”

I felt the blood drain completely from my face. Jacob looked at me, frightened.

“Volterra?” I mumbled

Charlotte nodded, her eyes searching. My mind snapped back. If she was from Volterra, then… my eyes grew wide with fear, and I started backing up

She seemed to understand, because she lifted her hand up, asking me to calm down

“Yes. I was one of them,” she said, glancing at Jacob when she said that. His face was confused. “But that was long ago. I heard Aro talk about how your father, Carlisle lived, and I decided I’d had enough of that mediocre life of slaying.” She shot another glance toward Jacob. His face seemed uneasy now. “I left and started looking for the Cullen family. Unfortunately, I did not find you until now.” She flashed us a smile

I looked over at Edward to see if she was telling the truth. I sighed when I saw she was.

“But I already knew the basics of your lifestyle, so I worked on it alone, while I searched for you. I’m fine with it now. I feel much better living like this than when I lived in Italy”

I nodded my comprehension. She smiled at me.

Jacob seemed tortured.

“What’s the matter, Jacob?” Edward asked calmly

“Nothing, bloo – … Edward”

My eyes narrowed. “I think we better go, Edward”

To my utter surprise, Edward agreed. He nodded and both of us got up.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Charlotte. Maybe you’ll go visit one day? Meet the full Cullen family?”

Her eyes lit up at that “Oh, really? I’d love that!”

“Sure,” I smiled as we hugged “drop over whenever you feel like it.”

“I will,” she promised eagerly.

I turned to Jacob “’Bye, Jake,” I said, and turned to leave

“’Bye, Bells” he murmured “miss you”

I pretended not to hear the last bit, waved and walked out after Edward. We walked silently together, holding hands. When we got to the cover of the forest, both of us started running. While I ran, I studied his face

“An ex Volturi… interesting,” I muttered, more to myself

“Interesting and potentially dangerous,” he replied.

“Maybe,” I agreed “but she seemed to be telling the truth alright”

“Oh, she was.”

“Then I don’t get it,” I muttered “what are you scared of?”

“People can change their minds, Bella.”

“Yes, I know… but I don’t think she will, Edward”

“I don’t either, but there’s still that possibility”

“I guess so. But even if she does… she’s married to a werewolf”

He laughed “I’d forgotten that detail”

I smiled and we both slowed down to a walking pace. We were near Seattle’s airport already.

“It shocked me, though”

“Yes, who would’ve imagined? Little old vampire-hater-Jacob married to…”

“… A vampire!” I completed, laughing with him. I rolled my eyes and was still smiling lightly as we walked into the airplane back home.

A.N.: Okay, first of all, I’d like to thank everyone that reviewed. You guys are the responsible ones for this chapter!

I apologize if it seems a bit strained; the original idea was just one chapter, but you guys asked so much… And anyway, I got a few questionings as to what happened to Jake, so there you have it! ;) He imprinted (with a vampire…) and lived happily ever after with the said vampire xD. Of course he died. I’m not sure if Charlotte followed him; you imagine that the way you want to! I give you free reign there ;)

Just in case this wasn’t clear, Bella and Edward moved to Alaska for ‘college’ and the rest of the Cullens went too. But, for obvious reasons, she couldn’t visit Charlie, so Charlie, having gotten pissed off with not seeing his daughter for five years (okay, I’m just guessing here, right? Alice said in Eclipse she didn’t know how long it would take for Bella to be able to be around humans again, because Bella had chosen that life. So instead of making it be too long, I shortened it up to still have Charlie alive…) and thus, decided to visit! Lol.

Jacob’s wedding was, with no offence intended, a way to get rid of him xD. Charlotte is totally another case. She wasn’t supposed to be a vampire, even less an ex Volturi vampire! But she kinda grew, and grew, and grew in my head, and I thought it’d be cool to just let her loose, and see what happened! I think it came out quite alright, even if I say so myself :D

Anyway, thanks for your kind response. However, there will be no chapter three. I can’t think of anything else to write about. Jake is happy, so are Bella and Edward… not much more to talk about ;)

Thanks again to those who commented. You guys rock! And if you read but didn’t comment… well, you still rock! Although you’d rock harder if you commented ;)

Peace,

Mandy