Act II
Chapter 24 ━━ Just A Week

━━━━━━━━☆★☆━━━━━━━━

Shelley is sitting beside Esdras at the Cullen's residence which has been restored to its original warmth and beauty. The Cullens are back as Bella after three full days. It was hard to lie to Charlie but the blonde did that for her sister's sake.

"You all know what Edward wants. And you know what I want. But I won't force myself on you..." Bella trails off, gesturing at the entire Cullen family and the blonde who surrounds Bella. Edward sits off to the side as Bella addresses them. "I think the only fair way to handle this is by vote."

"You can't be serious." Edward says.

"This is my meeting, Edward." Bella states firmly. Edward, frustrated, sits back. She faces the family again. "However this turns out, I'm not letting the Volturi hurt you. I'll go back to Italy alone."

"The hell you will. I'm not missing another fight."

"That's not up for a vote, Emmett. I don't want you involved."

"We've always been involved, honey, and we're not going to stop." Esme tells her with a kind smile.

"No, please. I want you to seriously think about this. If I join you, you'll be stuck with me for a long time. Forever. It's a huge decision. And I want... I need your honesty here." Bella says and they all nod or otherwise communicate agreement.

"Then let's take a vote... Alice?" She turns to Alice.

The pixie Cullen jumps up and hugs Bella. "Like you're not already my sister. Of course, yes!"

Bella smiles and Jasper rises but keeps his distance.

"I vote yes. It'll be a relief not to want to kill you."

"Um. Thanks? Okay, Rosalie?" She then turns to Rosalie.

Rosalie, torn, looks at Edward who's stony toward her. "Edward, I'm sorry for what I did. I really am. And I know you're not ready to forgive me..."

She then turns to Bella. "But this isn't the life I'd have chosen for myself. I wish there'd been someone to vote no for me..." She exchanges a glance with Carlisle then presents her answer. "So... no."

Bella takes it stoically when Emmett bounds over and lifts Bella into a bear hug.

"I vote hell yeah. We can pick a fight with these Volturi some other way."

"Edward can be a dick sometimes. But he is my brother and he means a lot. So yes. You have my vote for the sake of his life." Esdras steps forward and hugs Bella.

Bella looks at her sister nervously. "Shells."

"I know that I shouldn't agree with you on this. But I know that you can't think of a life without him and..." The blonde twin rambles.

"It is a yes." Esdras chuckles, cutting her off. She glares at him as others laugh except Rosalie and Edward. Esdras shrugs innocently. "Sorry, had to. You're rambling."

Esme approaches and embraces Bella warmly. "I already think of you as part of the family. Yes."

"Thank you, Esme."

Carlisle moves, not to Bella, but to Edward who looks torn. "Edward."

"You can't go along with this, Carlisle, you know what it means." Edward says with a low and broken tone.

"You've chosen not to live without her, which leaves me no choice. I won't lose my son." Carlisle says to him and turns to Bella. "But Alice has never turned anyone. It'd be safer if I did it."

The front door suddenly slams. Edward's gone and Bella blanches but turns to the family. "Thank you. Thank you all."

Later, Edward had to drive Bella early because Dad grounded her and he had to get her back before Charlie woke up.

After eating breakfast Esme prepared for Shelley Esdras decides to drop her home.

"When is it happening? Bella becoming a vampire."

"After graduation."

"Just two months?"

"Carlisle thinks it'll be best for Charlie that way. Bella can pretend to be at college somewhere."

"That means I won't see her for a long time after graduation."

"The soon she'll learn to control bloodthirst. The soon you can see her again." He states and then suddenly slams on the brakes.

Shelley looks up to see someone standing on the road directly in front of them. It's Jacob. He glares, then turns and walks into the woods. "What is he doing?"

"He wants to talk to me." Esdras says.

"Well, he can talk to me first." She pushes out of the car and they tramp through the woods to find Jacob leaning against a tree. His expression is hard.

"He thinks I'm keeping you away." Esdras says.

Jacob spins on him. "Stay the hell out of my head!"

Esdras takes a step toward Jacob. Calm and diplomatic. "Jacob, I know you have something to say to me, but I'd like to say something first. Alright?"

"Okay." Jacob leans back against the tree, arms folded, waiting.

Esdras speaks sincerely. "She deserves to know what you're keeping from her. And I hope you won't hurt her again. If you do, you'll have to face the consequences."

"Okay."

"And we'll handle Victoria from here on out."

"She's been laying low. Ever since you and your freaky sister showed up. Guess she can't stand you Cullens either."

"She'll come back."

"She does, she's ours. She was killed on our turf."

"We'll see."

"My turn to talk. I'm here to remind you about a key point in the Treaty. I did remind your brother. Just want to note you again."

Esdras reads his thoughts and nods. "I haven't forgotten."

"Good."

"What? What key point?" Shelley asks curiously.

"If any of them bites a human, the truce is over. That's bite, not kill." Jacob speaks before the vampire and she shares a look with Esdras as the realisation hits her. Bella's going to be a vampire in another two freaking months.

"I guess we should leave."

"No, I want to talk to you. Alone."

"Not now, Jake." Shelley shakes her head. She intended to talk to him earlier but not anymore. She wants to talk to Bella and tell her about the treaty if she doesn't know about it.

"I just want a few minutes." He pleads, grabbing her arm.

"She said no!" Esdras glares at Jacob and Jacob starts to shake with rage.

"Shelley, step back." Esdras warns the blonde, shielding her away from him and it is even more intense for Jacob. He grabs her arm, starting to pull her away. "We're done here."

Jacob lunges, trying to extract her from him. "You don't speak for her!"

Esdras pushes Jacob away and he flies back ten feet in the air, but mid-air he phases into a wolf! The Jacob-wolf lands on all fours, spinning to face Esdras in an attack stance. Esdras shifts stance, as well, readying for a fight.

"Stop!" Shelley yells but Esdras and Jacob circle one another, seconds from lunging.

"Get out of here. Now!" Esdras shouts at the blonde but she races between them, forceful, insistent.

"You do this, you'll be going through me." Shelley says to both of them. She notices that none of them back down, it could go either way. "I swear to God, I'm not moving."

Both rivals finally see that she's dead serious. Esdras backs off, ever so slightly and the Alpha does the same.

She turns to Esdras. "Give me a second. Please."

Esdras shakes his head. Doesn't move an inch.

"Read his thoughts. Is he going to hurt me?"

Esdras does, and finally, reluctantly backs away. But his eyes never leave the wolf. They glare at one another.

Shelley carefully approaches Alpha, blocking his line of sight. "Jacob, I have to figure out some stuff with Bella. And I just want to give my top priority to her. I know that we've been in some kind of a relationship for the last few days. But I want you to stay away from me. Just a week."

Anguish sweeps through the wolf's fierce face at her words. Mostly the latter part of it. It's even harder to take than when he's in human form.

"But you know how important you are to..."

Suddenly, Alpha bolts out of there. Battling tears as she watches him disappear.