New Neighbors

Billy sat in the living room, quietly reading a very large book. The silence in the house was not normal—especially since a game was on right now. He was too busy to watch it. Jacob entered the room, looking at the television confused.

“Hey, what's wrong with the television? Is it broken?” He looked at Billy who briefly looked up.

“No, the televisions fine. I'm just looking something up.” Billy said, going back to reading. “There's something about that girl, I know I have read about before.”

“What, the creepy 'let's-make-the-wolves-feel-like-house-dogs' girl?” Jacob snapped, not liking what happened earlier at all.

Billy shook his head as he continued to read. “Found it. 'Tamer, a female who has the ability to tame the wildness, in man and in beast. She can also tame the wildness of the wolves within the tribe. Within her, new peace will be found.' Hmm, never remembered it saying specifically before. But it has been a long time since I have read it.”

“What does it mean by 'new peace'? New peace for what?” Jacob looked completely confused.

“The books are not magic eight balls that give you the entire future, Jacob. I have told you this. They give you clues as to what may come.” Billy closed the book, looking at it oddly.

“But, she's a vampire dad. She's our natural enemy.” Jacob exclaimed. “How could she have this ability over us?”

“I have learned one thing about vampires. These abilities they have—the special ones—they are from their human lives. They become enhanced once they become vampires. This girl could do this before she was changed. It may have been her destiny to become one, so that it may become a better, stronger gift. You should get some sleep, you need to go to school tomorrow.” Billy nodded towards Jacobs room. “Sam agreed as well.”

“Fine. Night, Dad.” Jacob responded as he headed towards his room.

Once Billy knew Jacob was in his room and sleeping—the snoring being a big sign—he picked up the phone and dialed a number. “Hi Sam, it's Billy. I need you to take a ride into town to the hospital tomorrow...”

**********************************

The next day Alice, Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie, in full protest, were sent off to school. Alice and Jasper had come by to pick up Bella for school after Edward left to go back home. Reluctantly, he left her alone for ten minutes but knew Esme would need him home for Anna Belle. Alice had the duty of delivering a note to the office that Anna Belle was home sick with laryngitis and would not be in school for at least a week, until it cleared up.

The school secretary instantly felt bad for the girl. “Oh Alice, you tell her to get better soon. That poor girl has all ready been through so much and now this. At least she has the best doctor around for a new father and it's sweet that Edwards home helping your mother with taking care of her. All of you kids are so sweet and nice. Oh, here is her class schedule so you can pick up her work for her.”

“Thank you, I will tell her. But I have to get to class now. Bye.” Alice bounced out of the office to meet Jasper and Bella, who stood waited for her just outside the door. “All done.”

“Good. Now we just have to wait for Anna Belle to get better, hopefully it does only take a week. I mean, what if it lasts longer?” Bella asked as they started walking down the hall.

“I'm sure Carlisle has already thought of that and has a plan in place.” Jasper assured Bella. “He always has a back-up plan. But she's doing very well. She feed well so she's stronger, though not quite normal yet. That will take some time. Her ability is amazing, though. She tamed 3 wild bears like they were nothing.”

“You truly missed a sight watching her ride one of them. It was like being at a circus.” Alice exclaimed excitedly.

“I can imagine. So who is going to get her class work?” Bella was wondering about that.

“I will, I have her schedule right here so I'I will do it right after school before we take you home.” Alice said, holding up the schedule.

“What does Esme have planned for today anyway?” Bella asked, curious about Anna Belle and Edward's day today.

“Shopping in Port Angeles. It's a cloudy day today, so it's the best day for it. Rosalie is not happy that she had to come to school and leave Anna Belle at home.” Jasper answered before Alice could. “She has truly shocked us all with the way she is with Anna Belle. Its' motherly, the way she is with the girl. She is not even really mad that she's taking the spotlight away from herself.”

“Rosalie, not mad about that? Has she been abducted by aliens?” Bella joked before they had to finally break away to go to their own classes, but lunch would come soon enough.

***************************

Edward stood in the store looking through a rack of t-shirts for something to get Bella while Esme was busy getting Anna Belle this and that to try on. Edward was use to these shopping trips, having been on many of them with Alice, Rosalie, and Esme. At least this one was a little less stressful. Esme was being consistent on two things. Either Anna Belle's shirts had long sleeves or had a sweater that would match the shirt she handed the girl.

“She's coming out, Esme.” He called softly, knowing Esme would hear him just seconds before Anna Belle came out to show off an outfit. This one was a lavender shirt and a pair of blue jeans.

“Oh, now that is cute.” Esme smiled at Anna Belle. Her hair had been pulled up into a simple bun, unlike the complicated hair styles that Rosalie and Alice were fighting to do. Esme had quickly fashioned the bun to quiet the two of them down.

“It looks nice.” Edward agreed with a smile. He liked this kind of shopping. Anna Belle was not demanding compliments like Rosalie and Alice did. He looked and found a T-shirt that looked perfect for Anna Belle. He knew other girls were wearing stuff like this, since he had seen it around school. He held up the fairy shirt. It was a cute Amy Brown fairy shirt. It was a water fairy sitting on a wave. Edward smiled as Anna Belle's eyes widened with delight. “Looks like I found something she likes. She likes fairy's.”

Esme laughed as Anna Belle grabbed the shirt from Edward, jumping up to plant a quick kiss on his cheek and rushing back into the fitting room to try it on. “Your right, Edward. See if you can find anymore of those shirts. I'm sure I can find matching sweaters or something.” Esme was glad that Anna Belle was enjoying herself. But she was ever watchful of the time, since she promised Carlisle the trip today would only be two hours long, then home so she could take a nap.

Edward nodded as he turned back to the rack, finding a few more t-shirts. Anna Belle came out in the shirt and the same jeans and a sweater that matched a blue in the fairy. “I really like that.” Edward nodded towards Anna Belle, whose smile grew bigger. Soon enough they left the store, needing to hit one more before heading home. Edward looked down at his watch. “You know, Alice will not be happy with this amount of clothes.” Edward said, making reference to the few bags of clothes they had as they headed to a small shoe store to get Anna Belle a few pairs of shoes.

“I know, but it's all we can do on our time schedule. I want to go shopping a few times this week without Alice and Rosalie, I think it will be better for Anna Belle this way. No stress from those to.” Esme revealed her plan to Edward about the girls week. “I am hoping maybe he will let us have one really long day out this week.”

“He simply worries about Anna Belle being away from Forks for long periods of time. At least until she starts feeling better, I have gotten that from him.” Edward held the door open for Esme and Anna Belle into the shoe store.

“I know. It's how he is and why I love him so.” Esme smiled at the thought as they went about finishing their shopping trip for today.

*********************************

Carlisle had a busy day with patients, getting little time to go back to his office. He caught a scent in the hospital that his attention and drew him towards office. When he opened his office door, the smell hit him hard. As he entered the office, he stood face to face with Sam and Billy.

“Well, this is a surprise. What brings you both here?” His surprise was genuine as he looked at the two males before him.

“I have brought you something to help Anna Belle and her voice issue. It's mostly used on those who have laryngitis, but it may help here.” Billy held up a bag filled with an herb. “It's normally brewed in a tea, but you may be able to crush them further down and mix it in to something else.”

Carlisle stepped forward to take the bag and examined its contents. “It's funny you talk about laryngitis, that's what was on the note I wrote for Anna Belle to remain home from school. Thank you, though for this. But I must ask, why are you helping her?”

“I don't think she should be punished for something that was not within her control, also I am sure you all are getting tired of Edward's interpretation of what she is saying.” Billy explained.

Carlisle regarded the older male with a nod. “I truly thank you for this. Anything that will help Anna Belle regain her voice sooner is greatly appreciated.” Carlisle smiled at him.

“Bring her around again when she can speak, I would very much like to hear her voice.” Billy started to roll himself to the door with Sam right behind him. They left Carlisle to examine the contents of the bag.

Carlisle regarded the bag with interest, curious if the herbs would help Anna Belle or not. He did not think Billy would do something to harm the girl, after all that would not do well for their treaty.

*************************

Anna Belle slept peacefully up in her room while Edward and Esme spent some quality time together playing a game of chess. Edward was winning, of course. “It is not fair playing this with you, you know all of my moves before I play them.” Esme teased watching Edward. “I wanted a chance to talk to you anyway.”

“What about?” Edward looked up from the board to look at Esme. “To talk about you and Bella. How are things going with her Edward? Seriously.”

Edward sighed softly. “I don't really know how to answer that, Esme. She and I...” Edward sighed softly. “I don't know what to say to her,. I don't want to hurt her Esme, but she wants more than what I think I can give her right now.”

“Edward, remember what happened with James? You thought you could not stop before you killed Bella, but what happened?” Esme was gently reminding him of the time he wanted to forget.

“I stopped. She's just so fragile, I'm afraid...I'm afraid I will break her.” Edwards voice was slightly strained as he spoke.

Esme smiled at Edward before speaking. “You need to stop seeing her like that, Edward. After spending some quality time with her while you were gone, I have learned a few things about Bella. She is strong and is not made of glass. Granted, yes we need to be a bit mindful that she is breakable, but she is not so breakable that we would snap her bones just by breathing on her.” She reached a hand across the board to hold her 'sons' hand, gently but firmly. “She looks at us as family, Edward. She doesn't see vampire's, she sees a loving boyfriend and his family. She doesn't see the monster that you see inside yourself. Trust her instincts. Just look at what they have brought within the last week to us.”

Edward smiled. Bella had done a lot. She befriended an unknown vampire, saved her from an abusive coven, even got the wolves to help protect the girl. His Bella was so much. “Do you think it will be safe to let her come by?”

Esme nodded. “I think so, she hasn't shown any aggressiveness and she is well fed.”

Edward's head perked up and laughed. “Anna Belle wants to know if we can cook her dinner.” He turned his head to find Anna Belle at the top of the stairs wearing the first fairy t-shirt he picked out for her with the jeans she was wearing when she tried it on. Except for she wore no sweater and the scars upon her arms were very visible.

“I don't see why not, except for we haven't cooked much.” Esme responded.

Edward's eye brow rose. “She says 'do not worry about it we can handle it'.” He pulled out his cell phone and started to type a text message.

***************************

Alice was in history class when her cell phone went off. She pulled it out and saw a message from Edward.

'Bring Bella home after school.'

Alice smiled. 'I know already silly, we are having the human over for dinner.' She held in the giggle as she quickly typed the message back. She had a short vision during the lecture, luckily no one noticed. She was happy Bella was going to be allowed back in the house and could not wait to tell Jasper. She would not tell Rosalie or Emmett for fear of leaking the news to Bella, she wanted it would be a surprise.

AN:

Yes at long last Ch 16 is up hehe, sorry my beta reader and myself had some issues going on, which is why I am still working on Ch 17 hehe. Hope u enjoyed it. We will see more of the wolves I promise. Even have some things cooked up that my beta reader gave me some idea's for. So till Ch 17, enjoy.