A/N: I'm back! This time with a Paul and Bella fanfic that diverges from the original timeline.
Our chapter begins with an 18-year-old Bella on Christmas break by herself. This is after the Cullen have returned. After new moon but before eclipse.
Bella is 16 when she moves to forks and meets Edward.
They the day of her birthday party she is turning 17.
Currently in chapter one Bella is 18 just to clarify.
Chapter 1: free to breathe but its only temporary.
The fresh air filled her lungs as she took in the warmth of the Norway sun.
All around her were tall mountains covered in snow. The ground beneath her crunched as the light snow dusted the ground.
Bella sat on the cabin porch and smiled as a lynx cautiously made its way past her.
She sighed in relief at the silence of it all. No one was watching her or hovering over her shoulder.
Besides, only one person in the whole world knew where she was. And as if they knew she was thinking about them, Bella's phone rang.
"there's she wolf in disguise…" the ringtone went off.
"Leeee!" she groaned into the phone "We agreed to talk once a week! This the second time you've called me this week!" Bella complained.
Her stepsister sighed on the other end and said "I know! I know! And im sorry but Dad's kind of losing his mind right now. The pack has been over here every freaking day and it's driving him nuts. They just need to hear your voice, Bella."
Bella held back a sigh.
She wouldn't lie and say that she didn't miss her pack family. The Quileute people were more than just a tribe. They were a community. A community of people that cared for her and her them. She had a loving stepmother and a great pair of step-siblings. She had an overprotective alpha who looked at her like a daughter and pack brothers who treated her like a sister. However, there was a darkness that overshadowed familial love.
The darkness of people she once cared for. The darkness of people whom she once saw as family. But now, they were just demons hiding under the bed, ready to reach out and grab her at any moment.
"The pack knows ill be back at the end of the month Lee. Come on we all agreed to this. I needed this."
"I know…but…the leech calls here every day and he shows up at the border. It agitates our wolves. And not having you close by makes our fur stand up…..." Leah whispered vulnerably.
Bella sighed sadly as she looked up at the sky.
"Put me on speakerphone."
There was a shift before she heard Leah announce her presence over the phone.
Immediately there was a clamor of voices and shuts of her name.
However, a deep timbered voice shut them all up.
"Bella.?"
Bella wiped a few tears from her eyes as her alpha called her name.
"Hey, sam."
"We miss you little bit."
"I miss you too. I miss all of you."
"You could take the next flight out of wherever you are." He suggested trying to convince her to come home.
Bella laughed.
"yeah, and ruin the only vacation I have had in years. Yeah right. Listen, ill be home before you know it. Tell everyone I said hello and I love them. I have to get off of here, im limited to an hour a day."
Her alpha let out a lupine whine.
"I got go alpha. I'll be home soon."
With that said, she hung up.
Bella was quick to put the phone in her suitcase and turn it on silently.
She needed this.
Her overprotective family was partly why she was out here. And yet the people she once thought of as family were the other reason she was out here.
Both of them thought they knew what was best for her but at the end of the day, Bella was the one who had to make the choices in her life.
She fought hard to even get to leave
Flashback:
A loud chorus of "NO" echoed throughout her childhood home as Bella sat in the living room chair facing the people, she cared for most.
It took all the persuasion she could give to get all of them in the same room.
On one side were her shapeshifter family and on the other side were Cullen's.
The only reason she invited them was because of the drastic and regretful decision she had made just a few months ago.
That decision kept her tied to them even if she didn't want it.
"Im not asking. im telling you." Bella said as she looked all of them in the eyes.
Her father and stepmother sat at the kitchen table looking confused.
"Bella sweetheart, can you just help us understand? Why do you need to leave all of a sudden? Running away from your problems wont help anything." Sue said as she gave the Cullens a side eye.
"I have to agree," Esme spoke up quietly.
Bella shook her head as she clasped her hands in front of her.
"I have been going to therapy for the past two months. I am constantly surrounded by the supernatural. It has been my life since I moved here. It's obvious there is an unresolved tension between everyone. And I for one am sick of being in the middle of it. I just need to be alone for a while and clear my head. I am not running away. I just think it would be nice to spend the Christmas holiday by myself." Bella explained.
"But that defeats the whole point of Christmas Bella. It's about family." Quil lightly chided.
Bella shook her head. None of them were listening to her.
"I don't think it's safe love. At least to go by yourself. Maybe someone of your choice can go with you." Edward tried to compromise.
Bella shook her head.
"I have to do this alone…"
"Bella I can't agree to this…not with all these missing hikers and dead bodies turning up. It's just too dangerous for a young lady to be going anywhere by herself." Her father began. "Now if you want to visit Renee- "
"no," Bella told her father sternly. She did not want to visit her mother. Not right now anyway.
"Well, then I can't agree to let you go and I think everyone here agrees." Her father said with a tone of finality.
Bella hung her head.
End flashback
….
Of course, Bella's feeling of defeat didn't last long because two days later, Leah was sneaking her out of the house and into the airport.
She had been very grateful for her sister at that moment. Her family had been angry and still was, but they would have to get over it.
She explained to them the first days he got here, that her trip was therapist approved. And had been set up by the facility she was a member of.
They had a timeshare for their patients to have time away from the pressures of life. Right now, the next four weeks would be Bella's time.
But why was she here in the first place?
Well, a year ago her vampire boyfriend and his family left her in the woods. He broke up with her and then left her.
She was then found by Samuel Uley. The leader of the current pack. of course, at the time she had no clue who he was. He was just a guy who rescued her from hypothermia.
Over the course of a year, Bella, who had been a junior at the time became very depressed. She had nightmares and barely slept.
But her depression didn't just impact her, it impacted her father. However, her depression would lead her father to the love of his life.
Slowly but surely sue clearwater began to inch her way into Bella's life.
It started with simple dinners. Most of the time, Bella was the one who cooked but her depression just had her locked down, unable to do anything.
And with Sue came Seth and Leah. Their entrance into her life had been monumental.
It started when Seth and Leah would just sit with her, both of them talking about nothing at all and some days they would just sit in silence.
Eventually, over the course of months, Bella started to come out of her shell. She would spend nights watching the game with her father and some days after school visiting Seth and Leah.
And then Jacob stepped into her life. Their families decided to have a potluck, and Jacob stuck to her side like glue.
He made her laugh. And with Jacob came Quill and Embry.
And one by one she was introduced to the pack. of course, at the time, she had no clue some of them were shapeshifters.
However, on a cloudy day, her small bubble of contentment burst, when she, Leah, Seth, quill, and Jacob all decided to go on a hike.
And that's when a random nomad vampire decided to show his face.
All four of her friends phased for the first time. Killing the cold one in one stride.
By the time the rest of the pack showed up, Bella had somehow calmed her friends into phasing back.
The wolf was out of the bag.
But things only snowballed from there.
On a day when the whole pack was together, they decided to go cliff diving.
It was fun but their fun didn't last. on that same day, Embry's mother Tiffany died in a tragic car accident.
Tiffany had been close friends with Sue and Charlie. Everyone decided to gather at their house in forks. because of the stress of his mother's death, Embry phased right there in her father's living room.
Everyone was shocked. Embry was Makah, he wasn't supposed to phase. That only meant one thing.
Embry's father was Quileute, and his mother wasn't there to tell him who.
In the chaos of it all the swan-clearwater home phone rang.
Her stepmother answered the phone and told whoever it was that Charlie was planning a funeral and couldn't make it to the phone.
At midnight, when everyone was asleep, Alice Cullen stood over Bella's bed and woke her up. Asking her why she would try to kill herself.
Bella tried to explain that she wasn't, but Alice dismissed her and chided her for being reckless.
It was then that Alice had a vision. When she snapped out of it Alice was dry sobbing and claiming that Edward was going to kill himself.
Bella had to make a choice.
Just downstairs one of her best friends slept with tears still in his eyes. he was grieving his mother and the sudden change of turning into a wolf.
Could she really leave him for Edward?
No. no, she couldn't,
Bella sent Alice away. Telling her to call when she reached Edward, maybe talking to him would persuade him and she was right because the next morning Edward was on the phone.
Flashback:
Bella stretched as she threw a blanket over embry. He had finally fallen asleep without crying.
It was 6 in the morning and Bella knew the pack would be coming in to comfort their pack brother.
In lieu of that, she began to cook a massive breakfast for all the people that would be coming in and out of her house.
As she cooked, her phone rang. The caller id glowed Alice's name.
"Alice? Hello? Did you get to him?" she questioned without greeting her.
"Bella? Love…is that really you?"
Bella's throat went dry when she heard Edwards's voice. Hurt and unforgiveness filled her heart.
"Edward."
End flashback.
…
A week after Edward said her name, the Cullens moved back to Forks. The treaty was set up again and the pack didn't come around as often. It was too risky. Forks were Cullen's territory.
It was then the Swan-Clearwater family decided to move unto the reservation permanently.
In order to keep his job as sheriff, Charlie kept the house in forks and Bella would often hang out over there when she wanted to be alone.
However, living on the reservation didn't stop the Cullens from contacting her. Alice called her every day and whenever she was at school, they would try to speak to her.
Bella finally relented and agreed to see them.
It wasn't because she was happy about their return, but she needed closure. She needed to know why they left her and when she got her answer, she would ask them to leave.
Yeah right, things were never that easy.
Talking to Edward had its consequences. The vampire rulers found out that she knew of their existence and gave her two choices in letter form, along with a tortuous visit from a red-eyed man with dark hair.
He bruised her pretty badly and Bella refused to reveal his identity.
This made both the Cullens and the pack angry.
But Bella couldn't say anything, or she wouldn't say anything.
She didn't have a choice anymore.
It was either become one of them …or die.
So, she made a choice. In order to protect her pack family, she told the Cullens she would be changed and when she graduated, she would join them. This meant being near Edward again. She was sure he thought they were together, Bella however never disagreed but she didn't agree either.
They were very pleased.
Her pack family however was devastated. She was choosing to leave them forever. Bella however made false claims of "loving Edward"
The pack hated her decision and so did her parents. at least once a week someone was trying to convince her not to do it. if she did, she could never see them again.
For now, everyone stopped talking about it but she could see the looks of pain, anger, and disappointment.
Bella shook her head as the memories played back and forth in her head.
This was why she was out here, in the cold mountains of Norway.
She needed room to breathe.
But for some reason, Bella felt like there was more to it.
She just didn't know what.