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FOURTEEN; FAMILY DECISIONS

AFTER VOLTERRA GREW dark, the Volturi allowed the group to leave. Bella was shaken, thrown off by the group of humans they saw before they left, all becoming feasts for the Volturi to dine on. Edward had comforted her while Alice and Amelia found a new car to steal in order to get back to the airport.

Bella refused to fall asleep during the journey, insisting that if she did, she would only open a closet to hundreds of nightmares the Volturi had already created.

Amelia felt so relieved when she saw her family waiting for them at the Seattle airport. Emmett had picked her up and spun her around, causing her to laugh loudly at his actions. Alice and Jasper immediately embraced one another, while Esme scolded Edward for pulling such a stunt.

"Thank you, Bella," Carlisle spoke. "We owe you."

"Hardly," the human girl muttered back.

"She's dead on her feet," Esme noticed, scanning Bella's frame. "Let's get her home."

Once they arrived at the parking garage and saw Rosalie, Edward stiffened.

"Don't," Esme whispered. "She feels awful."

Esme was referring to the fact that Rosalie was the one who told Edward that Bella had committed suicide, causing him to travel to the Volturi in the first place. Her mistake was meant to provoke Edward to come back home, but it was evident that her plan backfired greatly.

"She should," Edward replied, holding no remorse for his sister.

"It's not her fault," Bella drawled in a tired voice.

"Let her make amends," Esme pleaded. "We'll ride with Alice and Jasper."

"Please, Edward," Bella murmured.

Edward sighed, and they piled into the car. Amelia squeezed herself next to Bella, who laid her head on Edward's chest and closed her eyes.

"Edward," Rosalie began.

"I know," Edward replied gruffly.

"Bella?" Rosalie asked in a soft tone.

It was the first time Rosalie had spoken directly to her, and Bella's eyes opened in shock. "Yes, Rosalie?"

"I'm so very sorry, Bella. I feel wretched about every part of this, and so grateful that you were brave enough to go save my brother after what I did. Please say you'll forgive me."

Amelia was surprised by her sister's sudden apology. It sounded a bit awkward coming from Rosalie's mouth, but Bella seemed content with her words.

"Of course, Rosalie," Bella mumbled. "It's not your fault at all. I'm the one who jumped off the damn cliff. Of course I forgive you."

"It doesn't count until she's conscious, Rose," Emmett joked, trying to ease the tension.

"I'm conscious," Bella responded in a pair of jumbled noises.

"Let her sleep," Edward insisted.

When Bella had finally succumbed to her drowsiness, Amelia tapped Emmett on the shoulder. "Could you drop me off at the reservation line before you go to Bella's?"

Emmett wiggled his eyebrows. "Looking to get some in before the sunrise, Lia?"

She smacked him upside the head.

◆◆◆◆◆

Paul heard a fervent knocking on his door, and he groaned, rolling over to check the time on his clock. He had just finished running patrol, and was wondering why someone had decided to wake him from his slumber.

He had been anxiously worrying ever since Amelia disappeared to save her brother. His constant calls and texts were ignored and as the hours passed, he became more and more worried about his imprint. He came really close to buying a plane ticket to wherever she had ran off to.

Once he answered the door, he was shocked to see Amelia standing behind it, a small smile on her face.

"Hey, handsome. Can I come in?"

"Is this that vampire thing where you can't come in unless I grant you access?"

She knew from his amused tone that he wasn't mad at her, which eased her nerves a little bit. "I can come in if I want, but I prefer to have permission first."

He opened his arms. "Come here."

She accepted his invitation for a hug, and found comfort in his arms. "I'm sorry I left without explanation," she whispered. "Edward was in trouble, and I had so much I wanted to talk about with you that it became very overwhelming. I'm hoping you'll forgive me."

He kissed her forehead. "Consider yourself forgiven."

He closed the front door and the two made their way towards the living room. They sat down on the couch, and Paul frowned when he saw the nervous expression on his imprint's face. He kissed her cheek and took her hands in his.

"What is it? What's wrong? Did you get to him on time?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "Edward's fine. I was just hoping you could listen for a while. I wanted to tell you about my past."

"Okay. You know you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, right?"

"I know," she looked at him, admiring his messy hair. "But I think you deserve to hear it all."

Paul straightened his posture, demonstrating that he was ready and willing to listen. Amelia chuckled at his hidden excitement to hear about her life.

"I grew up in a very conservative home. My mother was so elated that she was born with a daughter who was so handsome, for every wealthy man came knocking on our door, asking for my hand in marriage. My mother gave me the option to choose, but I allowed her to make the decision. She chose Richard Amelle, a wealthy man who possessed a very kind soul.

"Despite his generosity, however, he had a lot of enemies in his line of work. One of his colleagues decided to take his anger out on me the night before our wedding, and the eve of my eighteenth birthday. He threatened to shoot me with his gun unless I kept quiet, and fortunately, a vampire nearby heard my pleads and came to rescue me. Unfortunately, the gun went off in the midst of the save, and he shot me in my side. It's funny to reminisce about it now, since all I could remember is the fact that if I recovered, my wedding dress wouldn't look as nice on me as it did when I first tried it on."

Amelia was laughing at her silly thoughts back then, but Paul was nowhere near finding any of this comical. He wanted to hunt down the corpse that dared try to hurt his imprint. He was blinded by this sudden fury, and she sensed his change of tune, cupping his cheek.

"Paul? It's okay, you know. I'm fine now."

"I wish I had been there," he hissed, clenching his jaw. "That guy wouldn't have known what hit him. I would've ripped him limb from limb and tore out his-"

"Paul," she repeated, moving closer to him and staring into his eyes. "It's okay. I'm fine. I'm with you, and I'm fine."

He relaxed his shoulders and nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry. Continue with your story."

"The vampire who discovered the scene turned me, for reasons unknown. I spent some part of my life trying to find them, but came up short every time. I'm thankful for the kindness they showed me, since not many vampires would do the same.

"I lived the beginning part of my new life searching for a home. I had spent all eighteen years being pampered to a certain degree because of my beauty, but I couldn't return home to my mother or my fiancé. I spent weeks starving myself until I fed on humans, only men who believed women were objects to play with. When I met Alice, she introduced me to Carlisle, who accepted me into the family immediately after he saw the desperation in my eyes.

"I suppose I enjoy the high school experience more than my siblings, mainly because I was deprived of my teenage years from such a young age. At sixteen, I learned how to behave a certain way in order to appeal to men and appease society. I was never allowed to enjoy anything for myself, and I indulged in my freedom when I became a vampire. I love moving to a new city, and I love meeting new people. My family's always worried that I'll let something slip one day, but I'm very careful in covering my tracks.

"The Volturi, which is like the government for vampires, has always harbored a special interest in my family for our possession of power. All of our gifts — Alice's visions, Edward's telepathy, Jasper's emotional manipulation and my mental manipulation — has stirred a longing in the Volturi for us to join their ranks.

"There was a point in my life where I was seriously contemplating becoming one of them, but their lifestyle was too difficult for me to follow. During the duration of my questioning, however, I met Demetri, a guard for the Volturi. He became a partner of mine in some aspects, but we never made anything serious between us. We kept the relationship light, but since you and I have been together, it's caused a disruption in our dynamic. Demetri always believed we were soulmates, and I know we weren't, so I never took any of his advances seriously."

"Wait a minute," Paul interrupted, one eyebrow raised. "This guy is still alive, and he thinks that my girl is his soulmate? Mia, we can't allow this to happen."

She giggled at his possessive nature and kissed his cheek. "No one could ever take me away from you, I can assure you that."

"Good," he smirked. "Is there more to the story?"

She shrugged absentmindedly. "Not that much. Would you like to hear more?"

"I'm not particularly fond of hearing about your former partners, so I think we can call it a night."

She kissed him gently. "Thank you, Paul. I know it's a bit odd to hear about my life before you stepped into the picture, but I'm grateful that you listened through it all."

"Of course. Can you stay the night?"

"Sure, but you know I can't sleep, remember?"

"I mean, we don't have to sleep. We can do other things-"

She elbowed his side and gasped. "Paul!"

He laughed wholeheartedly and pulled her into his lap.

"Just joking, Mia."

◆◆◆◆◆

Paul was awoken by the sound of Amelia's phone. He felt the girl leave his arms and answer it quietly, trying not to stir Paul from his slumber.

"Hey, Carlisle. I stayed at Paul's for the night," she explained to her adoptive father.

"Edward's called for a meeting," Carlisle explained. Paul lifted his head so he could hear more clearly. "Bella wants to speak with all of us."

He heard Amelia sigh, and he knew it was because that meant she would have to leave him.

"Okay. I'll be right over."

"Why don't you tell Paul to come over after Bella's finished? We'd love to meet him."

Paul opened one eye, checking for Amelia's reaction. She seemed to be nervous by the offer, and Paul wasn't going to lie — he was very anxious of the idea of meeting the whole Cullen clan. Being in a house with a bunch of vampires raised warning bells in his shapeshifter mind.

"I'll see if he's ready."

The two ended the conversation shortly after that and when Amelia turned back around, Paul was already staring at her.

"Hey," she greeted warmly. "Good morning."

She crawled back into bed with him and he wrapped his arms around her. "Have to go back?"

"Yeah, Bella wants us all to be there. Did you happen to hear what Carlisle said?"

"Yeah. Do you want me to go?" He questioned.

"Do you want to go?"

He nodded. "I think it's time I meet your family. I know how important they are to you. Can you give me a hour to wash myself off, though? I probably smell like a dog."

She giggled and kissed him. "You smell wonderful. But yes, I'll come get you once Bella's finished with the meeting."

Before she left, Paul asked, "Hey, does Jake know that Bella's back with Edward?"

"I believe he took the hint once Bella left to rescue my brother, yes. Why?"

"Just wondering if I have to hear his complaints while we're on patrol, that's all."

She shook her head at him and laughed.

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The whole family was already seated at the dining table once Amelia arrived. She took a seat next to Jasper and as soon as Carlisle saw that they were whole, he nodded at Bella.

"The floor is yours."

"Well," Bella began. "I'm hoping Alice or Amelia has already told you everything that happened in Volterra?"

"Everything," Alice assured. Amelia blushed once her family threw her questioning looks pertaining to her whereabouts last night, and Emmett wiggled his eyebrows.

Bella threw Alice another look. "And on the way?"

"That, too," Alice nodded.

"Good," Bella sighed with relief. "Then we're all on the same page. So, I have a problem. Alice promised the Volturi that I would become one of you. They're going to send someone to check, and I'm sure that's a bad thing — something to avoid. And so, now, this involves you all. I'm sorry about that. But, if you don't want me, then I'm not going to force myself on you, whether Alice is willing or not."

Esme opened her mouth to speak, but Bella stopped her.

"Please, let me finish. You all know what I want. And I'm sure you know what Edward thinks, too. I think the only fair way to decide is for everyone to have a vote. If you decide you don't want me, then I guess I'll go back to Italy alone. I can't have them coming here."

Edward murmured in protest, and Bella ignored him.

"Taking into account, then, that I won't put any of you in danger either way, I want you to vote yes or no on the issue of me becoming a vampire."

Bella gestured for Carlisle to begin.

"Just a minute," Edward interrupted. Bella glared at him. "I have something to add before we vote. About the danger Bella's referring to, I don't think we need to be overly anxious."

Edward leaned forward as if he was sharing a dark secret. "You see, there was more than one reason why I didn't want to shake Aro's hand there at the end. There's something they didn't think of, and I didn't want to cine them in."

"Which was?" Alice prodded. Amelia furrowed her eyebrows at Edward's vague explanation.

"The Volturi are overconfident, and with good reason. When they decide to find someone, it's not really a problem. Do you remember Demetri?" He asked Bella. Amelia shifted uncomfortably in her chair when Rosalie's eyes moved to her at the mention of her former partner. "He finds people — that's his talent, why they keep him. Now, the whole time we were with any of them, I was picking their brains for anything that might save us, getting as much information as possible. So I saw how Demetri's talent works. He's a tracker — a tracker a thousand times more gifted than James was. His ability is loosely related to what I do, or what Aro does. He catches the flavor? I don't know how to describe it — the tenor of someone's mind, and then he follows that. It works over immense distances."

Alice glanced at Amelia, who looked as if she already knew all of this information. Demetri had shared his deepest secrets with her, so it was understandable that she knew the basics of his talents.

"But after Aro's little experiments, well-"

"You think he won't be able to find me," Bella finished.

Edward had a smug expression. "I'm sure of it. He relies totally on that other sense. When it doesn't work with you, they'll all be blind."

"And how does that solve anything?"

"Quite obviously, Alice will be able to tell when they're planning a visit, and I'll hide you. They'll be helpless. It will be like looking for a piece of straw in a haystack!"

"But they can find you," Bella reminded him.

"And I can take care of myself."

Emmett laughed, and gave Edward a fist bump. "Excellent plan, my brother."

Amelia rolled her eyes. "I think you both are forgetting that Demetri can read me like an open book. This plan of yours is so idiotic that I cannot comprehend how you two have been alive for so long."

"Idiots," Alice muttered.

"Alright, then. Edward has offered an alternative for you to consider," Bella took control of the situation once more. "Let's vote."

Bella glanced at Edward first. "Do you want me to join your family?"

Edward didn't skip a beat. "Not that way. You're staying human."

"Alice?"

"Yes."

"Jasper?"

"Yes," he said, shocking Bella a little.

"Amelia?"

She grinned. "I'd love to have you a part of the family, Bella, but only if you come to prom dances with me every year."

Bella's shoulders slumped. "Fine."

"Yes!"

"Rosalie?"

The blonde hesitated before responding. "No." Bella blinked, and was about to move on before Rosalie held her hands up. "Let me explain. I don't mean that I have any aversion to you as a sister. It's just that this is not the life I would have chosen for myself. I wish there had been someone there to vote no for me."

Emmett was next, and his answer was no surprise to anyone. "Hell, yes!" He grinned. "We can find some other way to pick a fight with Demetri."

"Emmett," Amelia warned.

Bella moved on to Esme. "Yes, of course, Bella. I already think of you as part of my family."

"Thank you, Esme."

Carlisle wasn't looking at Bella, but instead, focused on his son. "Edward."

"No," Edward growled, reading his mind.

"It's the only way that makes sense," Carlisle insisted. "You've chosen not to live without her, and that doesn't leave me a choice."

Edward left the room in a fit of anger. "I guess you know my vote." Carlisle sighed.

Bella stared after Edward. "Thanks." A crash echoed from the other room, and Amelia sighed. "That's all I needed. Thank you. For wanting to keep me. I feel exactly the same way about all of you, too."

Esme moved to hug her. "Dearest Bella."

"Well, Alice," Bella said when her and Esme separated. "Where do you want to do this?"

Alice's eyes widened as Edward came storming back into the room. "No! No! NO!" Edward roared. He came over to Bella. "Are you insane? Have you utterly lost your mind?"

"Edward," Amelia scolded, rushing over to push him away from Bella.

"Um, Bella," Alice interjected. "I don't think I'm ready for that. I'll need to prepare."

"You promised," Bella reminded her.

"I know, but seriously, Bella! I don't have any idea how to not kill you."

"You can do it," Bella encouraged. "I trust you."

Alice began to panic at the idea of turning Bella so fast. "Carlisle?" She looked at him.

"I'm able to do it. You would be in no danger of me losing control."

"Sounds good," Bella agreed.

"Hold on," Edward snarled. "It doesn't have to be now."

"There's no reason for it not to be now," Bella shot back.

"I can think of a few."

"Of course you can," Bella hissed.

Edward crossed his arms over his chest. "In about two hours, Charlie will be here looking for you. I wouldn't put it past him to involve the police. In the interest of remaining inconspicuous, I suggest that we put this conversation off, at the very least until Bella finishes high school, and moves out of Charlie's house."

"That's a reasonable request, Bella," Carlisle nodded.

Bella pursed her lips. "I'll consider it."

"I should probably take you home," Edward spoke in a calmer tone. "Just in case Charlie wakes up early."

Bella looked at Carlisle. "After graduation?"

"You have my word."

Bella smiled. "Okay. You can take me home."

Edward quickly rushed Bella out of the house. Just as Rosalie was about to leave, Esme spoke up.

"Everyone stay. Paul's coming over."

"Ah, so we finally get to meet Lia's love interest," Emmett grinned. "Can't wait to scare the shit out of him."

"Oh, please, Emmett. Paul could kill you if he wanted to."

Just as she was about to call Paul to tell him she was going to pick him up, the doorbell rang. Emmett and Jasper exchanged a look before they both left to answer it. Amelia silently cursed them and followed them to the front of the house.

They were already staring expectantly at Paul, who was dressed in a black t-shirt and his signature cargo shorts. He was a bit intimidated by the sight of the two vampires and Amelia pushed her brothers aside.

"Hey," she smiled, pressing a kiss to his lips. "I was just about to come get you."

"Yeah," he chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. "I figured I would just meet you here. Nice place."

"Thank you," Emmett spoke, extending his hand. "I'm Emmett."

They shook hands and Jasper introduced himself. "So," Jasper began. "You've been keeping our sister company for these past few months?"

"Yes," Paul chuckled. The shapeshifter in him was going insane by the amount of vampires near him, but Paul wanted to make a good first impression on his girlfriend's brothers. "I've been making sure she hasn't drained your bank account."

Amelia glared at him while the two vampires chuckled. "I like you, Paul," Emmett smiled. "Come on in."

Amelia rolled her eyes when her soulmate walked through the door, talking animatedly to her brothers. She closed the door and giggled to herself.

Paul fit perfectly into her family already.

this is the end of new moon and the beginning of eclipse!! also, mia and paul are so cute i'm in love