fembuck | Fic: The Edge (Twilight, Alice/Bella 32/?)

Title: The Edge
Author: Janine
Fandom: Twilight
Pairing: Alice/Bella
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Stephanie Meyer. I’m just borrowing them.
Summary: Alice and Bella visit Charlie for the first time since Bella was changed.

Authors Note: First, I’d like to say thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed the story. I really appreciate the kind words and the encouragement. You guys are what give me the strength and the motivation to see this through! It’s the most daunting story I have ever undertaken, and I really appreciate the support. So, thank you, thank you, thank you! Secondly, I would like to take a moment to apologize for the rather long wait between chapters. Real life, my short attention span and a much needed vacation distracted me from updating for a while, and I am very chagrined by it all. But I promise, I am not abandoning this, and we’ve still got a few hurdles to jump before this thing comes to an end! Now without further adieu, chapter thirty-two! I hope you enjoy :D

Previous chapters here

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A Month Later

Charlie blinked slowly, his mouth still slightly agape as he observed his daughter.

She looked so different from the last time he had seen her. And it wasn’t just the fact that she had gotten her hair dyed and had begun wearing coloured contacts, like Alice. Her whole demeanor was different. There was a confidence about her, and a surety of movement to everything that she did that he had never seen before. She now moved so fluidly and with such poise.

The awkward teenager that he had seen at Christmas was gone. His little girl was gone. Before him now was a woman. A stunning, controlled, confident, radiant woman.

Bella had grown so much, changed so much, and he felt like he had slept through all of it.

“Did you learn any deadly, ancient forms of hand-to-hand combat?” Charlie asked, forcing the words past his lips.

He still couldn’t quite get his mind to wrap around all of the changes he had seen in Bella, but he knew that he needed to do something besides stare at her in disbelief. She had been good enough not to comment on it so far and he didn’t want to push his luck.

Bella smiled at her father, and then turned her head to the side, her eyes meeting Alice’s, holding her lover’s gaze intently for a few seconds.

“Unfortunately not,” Alice responded easily, drawing Charlie’s attention over to her. “Bugs only learned about ancient Terra Cotta depictions of deadly, ancient forms of hand-to-hand combat, I’m afraid,” she went on making a not-very-sad face that brought a smile to Charlie’s lips. “I,” Alice continued grandly, “on the other hand, learned some pretty sweet moves,” she went on, moving her hands in the air in a silly fashion to keep Charlie’s eyes on her.

As Alice distracted her father, Bella tried to get control of her rapidly increasing hunger. Charlie had shifted a couple minutes ago, and the movement had released a new wave of his scent into the room. She knew that Alice had detected it too because she had glance over at her when the smell reached them, but Alice was long used to such things. Bella however, wasn’t so practiced, and needed a minute to try and get her bloodlust back under control.

“Oh really?” Charlie asked disbelievingly.

“Ah, you doubt my prowess as a warrior,” Alice began slowly, shaking her head at Charlie in disappointment. “You leave me no choice. I must demonstrate my awesome and deadly martial powers for you,” she continued standing up and moving into the center of the room.

Bella watched Alice stand, only half aware of what her lover was doing. Most of her attention was focused inwards, as she tried to control her thoughts.

She thought about sand dunes, and long grass swaying in the wind. She thought about softly shifting fluffy clouds, and sunlight sparkling over the gently rippling surface of a lake. She thought calming thoughts, pictured beautiful serene things.

She thought these things over and over again. She kept this endless loop of soothing scenarios going in her head because she knew if she didn’t, that she would likely leap across the room and rip her father’s throat out.

“ … you have any planks of wood around?” Alice was in the middle of saying as Bella focused on the scene in front of her once again, the venom in her mouth draining down her throat as her mind cleared and her hunger abated.

Charlie blinked at her in a daze, and then shook his head slowly from side to side.

“Jeez,” he whispered finally, giving his head a good shake as Alice beamed at him.

He hadn’t taken her very seriously when she said she had learned how to fight. He had expected a silly little display like the way she had been waving her hands before, but the demonstration she had put on had been quite impressive.

Alice was tiny, but she was certainly a force to be reckoned with.

The thought made Charlie smile.

He wouldn’t worry about the two of them wandering around god knew where, probably at night together now.

“Oh, stop showing off and sit down,” Bella said, grinning at Alice as Charlie watched her looking slightly dazed.

“Jealous,” Alice mouthed in Charlie’s direction, sticking her thumb behind her at Bella as she did.

Charlie smiled and shook his head again as Alice then turned and walked back over to the couch, taking a seat beside Bella.

When she sat down, Charlie noticed Alice look at Bella searchingly, and while he couldn’t hear them say anything, it seemed to him that they were communicating with each other somehow. The look only lasted a few seconds, but when Alice turned away she seemed more relaxed and settled somehow.

“You look good, Dad,” Bella said, turning her attention to Charlie, speaking as she slipped her fingers between Alice’s casually, leaving them holding hands. “I take it the recipe book I left hasn’t just been gathering dust,” she continued, her thumb stroking the back of Alice’s hand gently.

Despite the conversation they’d just had that was too fast and soft for her father to detect, she knew that Alice was still a little worried about her, and physical contact always helped soothe the raven-haired beauty.

“I have become a modern man,” Charlie declared.

He was aware of Bella holding Alice’s hand, but was trying not to stare. It had taken him a while to get used to the sight of the two of them touching each other. They had touched a lot before revealing the true nature of their relationship to him, but back then he had just thought that it was a case of ‘girls being girls’ and hadn’t thought much about it. Since that conversation however, he realized how significant and intimate the touches were, and the deep feelings they signified, and that had taken him some time to get used it.

It was strange for him at first to see his little girl so obviously, so deeply in love. It wasn’t a bad strange however, it had just taken him a while to wrap his mind around the idea. He had reconciled the feelings a while ago however, and now he simply looked away because he was always tempted to smile at them happily, and he knew that that would embarrass Bella terribly.

“I can hunt my own food, sew my own clothes, shop smart at the grocery store, and I know what saffron, cilantro, lemon grass, cumin, and turmeric are,” Charlie continued sounding very pleased with himself. It was his turn to show off now, and Alice nodded at him looking suitably impressed while Bella smiled proudly at him.

“I wish we hadn’t already eaten,” Bella said, sadly. “You could have prepared us a feast,” she went on, catching Alice’s sideways glance at her, though she knew Charlie wouldn’t have been able to detect the motion.

It wasn’t until she had become a vampire that she realized how much of the Cullen’s interactions with each other she had been unaware of. While human, she had probably missed thousands of words and looks and gestures between them.

“Oh,” Charlie said, his face falling a little at the news. He had actually been hoping to cook for them. He’d even gotten a recipe for a gluten-free dish that Alice would have been able to eat. “Well, next time,” he said brightening again. They couldn’t have known that he was prepared to feed Alice this time, and he was sure that Bella wouldn’t have wanted Alice to have had to eat alone before they arrived.

“Definitely,” Bella agreed smiling, her response followed by Alice’s hand giving a little spasm in her own.

Since being turned she hadn’t tried to consume any human food, but she knew that it wouldn’t be pleasant. She had been informed that it would be like eating chalk or ash, utterly tasteless and dry. And she knew from her time in Florida with Alice, that ingesting the food was the most pleasant part of the process. As vampires, their bodies assimilated one-hundred percent of the blood they drank. There was absolutely no waste, and so their digestive systems were not needed. That being so, once food went into them they had to then purge it later, which was deeply unpleasant. She’d seen the effects first hand in Florida, and wasn’t looking forward to experiencing it herself, in addition to feeling terrible about forcing Alice to go through it again.

I’m sorry, Bella murmured to Alice in a tone and at the speed that Charlie couldn’t detect.

It’s okay, Alice sighed, squeezing Bella’s hand. He’s family.

Bella grinned widely at that, and it was all she could do not to fling herself into Alice’s arms and kiss her face all over.

“I feel like I missed something … again,” Charlie muttered, looking at the dazzling smile suddenly on Bella’s face.

“No,” Bella said soothingly, even though he had. “I’m just glad to be home,” she continued standing up and moving over to his arm chair. “I missed you,” she said throwing her arm around him, careful to make sure that she only touched the thick material of his sweater.

When they first arrived, she had kissed him on the cheek and he had commented about how cool her skin was. But, they had just come in from outside, and it was a chilly afternoon so she had been able to play it off as just being a bit cold.

After being in the house for so long however, her touch being that cold would have alarmed him.

Alice’s hands were always cool when she touched Charlie, but like so much about her lover, Charlie had just come to accept it as one of those ‘Alice things’ and barely paid attention anymore. Cool hands from her however, in addition to the other changes that she had undergone, would have deeply agitated him.

“I missed you too, Bells,” Charlie said, blushing a little as Bella rubbed his shoulder affectionately before standing up to move over to the couch again. “Both of you,” he added looking over at Alice who smiled winsomely at him. “Speaking of which …” he began.

“Speaking of missing me?” Bella asked sitting down again, allowing her body to lean into Alice’s a little as she did.

Charlie nodded. “Your mother’s been calling,” he informed his daughter as Alice draped her arm lazily across Bella’s shoulder, making it easier for Bella to lean against her. “I think she’d appreciate a call now that you’re back in the country.”

Bella nodded. She’d gotten a slew of emails from Renee asking when they’d get to see each other.

“I talked to her this morning,” Bella replied, trying to stop herself from collapsing fully into Alice’s embrace like she wanted to.

She was more comfortable touching Alice in front of Charlie now, but not so comfortable as to actually snuggle with her in front of him (which was strange, since she did it all the time before he knew that they were dating).

“We’re going to go and stay with them for a while at the end of the week,” she continued. “I deferred all my class for the semester, and Alice is a professional lay-about so …”

“Hey,” Alice exclaimed without much actual indignation. “I’m an artist,” she added a second later. “Besides, I’ve got to enjoy this freedom while I can.”

“Why’s that?” Charlie asked curiously.

He tried not to sound too hopeful, but he did hope that her comment mean that she was going back to school. He would be greatly relieved if she had plans to do something besides ‘be an artist’. He had seen some of Alice’s work, and he thought that she was quite good, but ‘the arts’ weren’t the most financially stable field of work around and it would be good for her to have something to fall back on.

Alice wasn’t shiftless. He knew that. The girl would work hard at whatever it was she was doing. But, the idea of her having a stable profession that would help pay the bills was one that he liked.

“Parents,” Alice grumbled looking down at her lap.

Bella bit lip, just barely controlling the urge to smile. Esme and Carlisle hadn’t said a thing to Alice about going to school. She had attended university many times in the past and when she told them she wanted to take a break from school, they had fully supported her. Alice was only acting the way she was because she liked play acting ‘teenager’ when she was around Charlie. The grumpiness she was displaying was all for his benefit.

“They say I’ve gallivanted around enough,” Alice continued sighing. “Now it’s time to buckle down.”

“I’m sure you’ll still have plenty of time to work on your art,” Charlie said, trying to keep his voice sympathetic though he clearly thought that Esme and Carlisle’s imaginary decision to send Alice to school was the correct thing to do.

Alice smiled. That was more than true.

“It’s fine really,” she said out loud. “I need structure in my life anyway. It’ll be good for me to be back on a timetable,” she continued truthfully. Before Bella had been around all day, she had been quite bored trying to figure out what to do with her days.

Bella nodded. Alice did not function well when her hands were idle.

“She made an action figure of Eliza Doolittle out of toothpicks,” Bella piped up looking over at her father. “She definitely needs a timetable.”

“You said that was very creative,” Alice said looking over at Bella, frowning a little.

“And it was,” Bella responded reaching out to smooth back from raven hair from Alice’s forehead. “It just also indicated that perhaps you had an overabundance of free time.”

“It was really complicated,” Alice responded pouting a little. “Not just anyone could have made that,” she continued her voice rising in pitch a little. “The arms moved, Bella.”

“And you painted it really well,” Bella added trying to smooth things over. She knew that she hadn’t really hurt Alice’s feelings, but lavishing praise on her lover was never a bad idea.

“I did,” Alice agreed. “The outfit was completely historically accurate.”

Bella nodded and rested her head against Alice’s shoulder conciliatorily.

“Making the bonnet wasn’t easy either,” Alice continued as Bella’s eyes drifted over to her father’s. “Toothpicks don’t really bend you know, and bonnets are curved,” Alice explained as Bella bit down on her lip, her eyes shinning with mirth as she watched Charlie try to contain the urge to laugh as well. “And … I can feel your body shaking, I know your laughing,” Alice declared peevishly.

Charlie and Bella lost it at that, and began to laugh while Alice sighed deeply.

Bella was laughing at the moment, but Alice knew that the brunette would soon discover the desperation that an eternity of sleepless nights could drive a person to. And when she did discover it, and spent hours on-line looking up recipes to make jam, Alice would be there to point and laugh … and then make love to her, because she was considerate like that.

When Bella and Charlie began to calm down, Alice leveled each of them with a serious gaze.

“You are both horrible people,” she declared somberly.

That had the effect she knew it would, and both Bella and Charlie began to laugh again.

Alice smiled serenely. Bella was right.

It was nice to be home.

---

Two Months Later

Charlie leaned against the doorway, watching as Bella moved effortlessly around the kitchen, his moustache hiding a frown as he observed his daughter.

He had gone to visit Billy a few days before and, as was usually the case, he had run into Jacob while he was there. During the visit, Jacob had mentioned that he’d gone to visit Bella in Seattle, and had talked a little bit about what he had gotten up to with the girls. It sounded like he’d had a nice visit, but seeing Jacob had reminded him of a scene he had walked in on when Jacob and Bella were reunited for the first time after she returned from Japan, and he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it, despite the fact that things seemed to have improved between Bella and Jacob.

The first time they had seen each other after Japan, Charlie had been the one to let Jacob into the house.

After opening the door, he and Jacob had chatted briefly in the foyer, and then they had made their way into the living room. Everything had been normal at that point and Charlie had been quite relaxed. Jacob had made a comment about how he was planning on bugging Alice for a bit about taking their girl away for so long, which had confused Charlie since Alice was not at the house at that moment. But, he assumed that Jacob had come to associate Bella with Alice, as he had and simply assumed that where one was the other would be.

When Jacob had entered the living room and seen Bella for the first time however, he had gone completely still, his eyes narrowing as he looked at her, and he had begun to breath in and out rapidly as if he was just barely managing to control some violent reaction.

Charlie had been startled at the reaction, but Bella seemed perfectly at ease and had calmly turned to him and asked him to excuse her and Jacob for a moment. Charlie had been hesitant to agree based on Jacob’s demeanor at the time, but Bella had told him that it would be fine, and had walked over to Jacob and indicated for him to follow her out into the yard.

He wasn’t a natural eavesdropper, but despite Bella’s confidence and her attempts to put him at ease, Charlie wasn’t at ease and after pacing around the living room for about five minutes he had gone to the back door to keep an eye on things.

He had known Jacob since he was a child, and he doubted that the boy would ever hurt Bella, but Bella was his daughter and he wasn’t going to take any risk with her well-being.

When he had got to the door, he hadn’t even had to strain to hear what was being said outside. Jacob wasn’t just talking loudly, he was yelling and his voice reached Charlie’s ears clear as a bell.

He had been yelling, “What have you done to yourself? Look at you! What have you let her do to you? My god, Bella! LOOK AT YOU!”

Charlie couldn’t explain it at the time, but he’d had a visceral reaction to Jacob’s words and had actually shuddered and gotten light headed for a second. Jacob’s words hit him deeply, and he realized that the concern in Jacob’s voice was the vocalization of something he had been feeling since he had first seen Bella upon her return.

Bella had seemed more confident, almost luminous, and had been steady as rock since her return. But she was also pale, and cold, and distracted, and looked as if she hadn’t slept in days. She was aloof, and despite her attempts to hide it she had no appetite. When she had gotten back, Angela and Mike, and even Jessica had called, the grapevine having informed them that she was back in town. But instead of being happy, Bella had avoided them until it was time for her to go back to Seattle.

And everything that he observed of Bella was true for Alice, except for the fact that Alice seemed less agitated than Bella. In fact, after overhearing the argument he had begun to pay closer attention to the two young women, and he noticed that when Bella got particularly agitated or distant, that Alice would purposefully try to catch his attention to distract him from Bella’s shifting, and rapid blinking, and general jitteriness. She was covering for Bella, trying to distract him from her behavior.

These observations had disturbed him, but even while all of this was going on, Bella had been so sharp, so steady on her feet, and so lovely that he pushed his concerns down. He told himself that she was just getting used to being back. He told himself that he was being paranoid, and that if anything was really wrong with Bella had he would have seen more concrete signs, that something more than clammy hands would have manifested itself. He convinced himself that if anything serious had been troubling Bella that Alice would have talked to him about it, or looked into taking care of Bella herself.

However, seeing Jake again the other day had reminded him of his concern from weeks before and this time he hadn’t been able to shake it.

All of the things he had observed about Bella before were still present. She was somewhat less jumpy, and she had begun to spend longer chunks of time around him without Alice being present, but she was still cold, and pale, and had dark circles under her eyes, and had long moments where she struggled to control some emotion or impulse that he couldn’t fathom.

“Bella,” Charlie said, blinking as the word came out of his mouth. He hadn’t made a conscious decision to speak.

“Just a second,” Bella said, her hand moving incredibly fast and accurately as she chopped up some carrots. “What’s up?” she asked when the carrot was diced, wiping her hands on her apron as she turned around to face him.

“No matter how I go about asking this you’re going to get mad at me, so I’m just going to ask it,” Charlie said pushing away from the door frame so that he was standing up right. “When Jacob came over after you got back from Japan, I overhead some of the fight you were having, and …” Charlie paused and sighed, lifting his hand to stroke his moustache for a moment before he continued. “He seemed quite worried about you, and I have to admit that I have been too.”

Bella was still, her expression giving nothing away as she regarded him.

“It was a misunderstanding,” Bella said finally, her voice steady. “Jake and I are getting along fine now. He was in Seattle visiting last week.”

“Yes, I know,” Charlie admitted, his eyes skittering away from Bella’s for a second. “However, I’m still concerned.”

“About what?” Bella asked, crossing her arms, her tone and gaze wary as she regarded him.

“About the influence Alice may be having on you,” Charlie said, speaking slowly and carefully.

Bella arched a perfect eyebrow at him.

“Excuse me?” she breathed out a second later. She seemed caught between amusement and offense.

“Don’t pretend that you haven’t changed since the two of you went away,” Charlie said, his back straightening even more as he looked at her. “The way you look … the way you act,” he continued waving his hand at her. “The pale skin that’s cold to the touch, the dark circles under your eyes, the loss of appetite,” Charlie went on walking towards her. “Alice had always been like that, and I think … perhaps I was foolish to, but I always thought that was just Alice. But seeing the physical changes in you as well …”

Charlie stopped and shook his head, his eyes closing momentarily as he ran his fingers through his hair.

“Are you taking drugs, Bella?” Charlie asked, forcing the words past his lips. “Has Alice … has she introduced you to …”

Charlie stopped speaking as Bella dropped her head down and covered her face with her hands. Her body was shaking slightly and he automatically took a step towards her thinking that she was crying. However, a moment later a high-pitched kind of yip escaped from her, and Charlie realized that she wasn’t crying. She was struggling not to laugh.

“This is funny to you?” Charlie asked his voice lowering. He was not amused.

Bella shook her head from side to side, and after a few more seconds of hiding her face looked up and over at him.

“No,” she said shaking her head again. “No,” she repeated, really taking in the look on his face. “Dad, I’m not taking drugs. And neither is Alice,” Bella said seriously, her eyes holding his. “I swear that neither of us is on anything.”

“I want to believe you,” Charlie began, but all of the things he had been mulling over for weeks were still running through his head and he couldn’t let it go. “But, your skin Bella, the change in body temperature, the loss of appetite, the jitteriness and the dark circles,” he said shaking his head as he looked at her. “I’m not making that up. And you weren’t like that before. I … I need more than words Bella. I need for you to make this all make sense.”

Bella stared at him, no trace of amusement on her face anymore.

She turned away from him, her eyes scanning the side of fridge.

“I don’t know what to say,” Bella said finally, her head still angled away. “I’m really not on drugs,” she added a second later turning to look at her father once more. “I promise. But, I mean … I don’t know what to say about the other things.”

“That’s not good enough, Bella,” Charlie said chewing on his bottom lip.

Bella was silent for a long moment, and then sighed deeply, her eyes gaze turning regretful.

“It’s going to have to be,” Bella said gently. “It’s all I can say.”

“Can say, or will say?” Charlie asked crossing him arms in displeasure.

Bella said nothing, simply dropped her head to look at the floor.

It was then Charlie’s turn to be still. He stood watching Bella silently for close to minute, then resignedly muttered, “Fine” and turned to head out of the kitchen and into the foyer.

“Where are you going?” Bella demanded, careful to watch her speed as she started out of the kitchen after him.

“To see Alice,” Charlie said without turning around.

The Cullen’s spent most of their days in Seattle now, but whenever Alice and Bella were in town the whole family usually made the trip with them, and Charlie knew for a fact that they were in Forks. When Alice wasn’t with Bella, she was with one of her family members and if he wanted to speak with her all he had to do was go over to their house and wait for her.

“Alice? Why?” Bella asked watching as he picked up his keys, wondering whether she would have to move suspiciously fast in order to make it to the door before him.

“We need to talk,” Charlie said, turning to look at Bella, holding her gaze for a second before he started for the door.

“Charlie!” Bella called, deciding that she couldn’t worry about whether it was suspicious or not. “This is stupid,” she said darting in front of him to place herself between him and the door.

Charlie blinked, momentarily dazed by the speed with which Bella had just moved. However, Bella words soon registered with him and his eyes narrowed as he focused his gaze on her.

“Stupid?” Charlie repeated. “I don’t care how old you are, where you’re living, or where you’re sleeping. You’re my daughter,” Charlie continued emphasizing the last word. “You are my child. Worrying about you, caring about you is not stupid.”

Bella looked down at the floor, humbled by her father’s words. She knew that he loved her, and that he was concerned, and that he had plenty of reason to worry. Actually, the trust that he had in her was probably the only reason it had taken him so long to broach the subject.

She shouldn’t have been flip with him.

“Dad, I’m really not on drugs. There’s nothing wrong with me. Really there isn’t,” Bella said, keeping her voice soft and calm.

“I don’t believe you,” Charlie said. It sounded as if it hurt him to force the words past his lips. “I’m going to see Al …”

Bella blinked, her head snapping around incredibly fast as the doorbell rang. Luckily Charlie was distracted by the sound as well and hadn’t been paying attention to her or else he would have been wondering how her head was still attached to her neck.

Bella breathed in deeply, and had to control the urge to sigh with relief when the scent behind the door hit her.

With one last glance back at her father, she turned and made her way to the door.

“Hello, Sweetness,” Alice said smiling as Bella flung the door open.

“Hey,” Bella said, her tone somewhat subdued though her lips still curved up in a smile at the sight of her girlfriend.

“Alice,” Charlie said guardedly, surprised to actually see Alice standing in front of him.

He’d thought he’d have some time to pull himself together before speaking to her.

“Charles in charge,” Alice said, her voice serious despite the silly greeting which she had taken to using every time she saw Charlie. “It’s terribly rude inviting myself over like this. I’d apologize, but I’m afraid that’s not the end of my boorishness and I must confess all my sins before begging forgiveness. In addition to barging in on you like this … I’ve brought guests.”

Charlie blinked, uncertain what to make of the flow of words just directed him. Hoping for some kind of camaraderie, he turned to Bella and found that her eyes were on him as well. However, she didn’t seem the least bit curious about who was outside of the house which left Charlie feeling even more befuddled.

Charlie turned his attention towards the door curiously. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness outside of the door, Charlie realized that a figure was moving towards the house. He thought about going for his gun, a crazy thought that Alice had brought her dealer with her entering his head, before Carlisle Cullen’s form appeared in the door, and then Esme behind him, and finally Emmett and Rosalie.

“Wha …” Charlie began, startled and utterly confused to find a brood of Cullen’s in his foyer. “What is going on here?” Charlie asked his voice rising as his frustration began to get the better of him.

“Alice told us you have some concerns,” Carlisle began.

“Alice told you … what?” Charlie asked looking between Carlisle and Alice for a second before frowning deeply and sighing. “How would …” he began before pausing and shaking his head. This evening made no sense. He didn’t understand what was going on. “I just said … just a minute ago. How could Alice possibly know?” he asked exasperated.