May 14th, 2006
I smiled as I watched Alice scribble ideas down into a notebook.
She'd been so excited to plan my wedding that I was certain it was going to be absolutely wonderful.
I hadn't really minded how the wedding was, of course, I hadn't wanted to go to a wedding chapel in Vegas or anything, but as long as I had Carlisle, it would be perfect.
It had been just two short months since we'd returned to Forks, Washington. Two months since our visit with the Volturi. Two months since Carlisle asked me to be his wife.
Things have been going amazing since we came back. Carlisle accepted his job back at the hospital, which eagerly reoffered.
Alice, Jasper and Edward were attending school at Forks again, for the last few weeks anyways.
I was taking online classes to finish my schooling and retrieve my diploma. I had to go under the name Lillian Cullen, since Adelaide Swan was technically dead in the eyes of the world, but it was still something.
Any diploma, no matter what name was on it, would mean the world to me. I would be getting mine around the time Bella and the others graduated.
Graduation was a few short weeks away, and what followed after was Bella's change. She was going to become a vampire.
Carlisle was still set to change her, which surprised me considering that he was so sure Edward would want to be the one.
The Volturi hadn't sent us any messages, nor anyone to check Bella's status, but I was sure it would be soon. Another obstacle we were dreading was Victoria.
She had escaped during that wild Spring Break week and hadn't been seen. Alice was watching for her, of course, but there hadn't been any updates.
"This is going to be the most amazing wedding ever." Alice chimed happily. I grinned at her. I was excited for the wedding too, and it was soon as well.
We were getting married on July 10th. I figured we should have picked a date of significance to us but I didn't mind as long as we were married.
The only thing I was disappointed about was there would be no one to walk me down the aisle. My father Charlie wouldn't be able to come, seeing as he believed I was dead. It hurt me, seeing that I'd dreamed of having him walk me down the aisle since I was a child.
It also hurt me I couldn't invite my mother and Phil. I couldn't invite any of my old friends from school in Phoenix, or anyone from Forks.
I wanted to invite Jacob, but as he hated Bella at the moment and utterly despised me and the rest of the Cullen family, I didn't think he'd accept.
I was hurt at how quickly our friendship had seemed to end. Sure, we didn't spend much time together after I arrived in Forks, but we'd practically grown up together.
Every summer, I'd gone on fishing trips with him and Billy. We'd been inseparable as kids and now he hated me.
I supposed it was the price of gaining immortality.
"Addy?" Alice asked then, making me turn to her. "Sorry, I guess I was lost in my thoughts." I told her and she sighed.
"I'm sorry about your dad, Addy. I know you wanted him there." She told me and I nodded.
"It will be fine. At least I have Carlisle and the rest of you. That's enough for me." I told her, even though it still stung.
Alice nodded at that and set down her notebook. "Well, everything is set for the big day. Our cousins from Denali are supposed to come. And some other friends." Alice told me.
I'd heard stirues about the "cousins" from Denali. Of course, they weren't actually any relation, but they'd been good friends to the Cullens for years.
There were apparently five of them, three sisters, Irina, Kate and Tanya, and then two mates, Carmen and Eleazar.
"That will be nice. I'd like to meet them." I told her and she smiled. "Yes, they're very happy Carlisle has finally found a mate." She said and I smiled.
I heard the door open and I smiled. Alice noticed this and smirked at me before grabbing her notebook and breezing out of the room.
Carlisle came into the house then, appearing at my side. He pulled off his lab coat and placed it over his arm.
"Did you have a good day?" I asked him and he smiled.
"Well, if you call boring, good. I didn't have too many patients today." He told me and I smiled. "Forks is a small place." I stated.
"How's the planning going?" He asked me and I grinned. "You should see how excited Alice is. This is going to be the wedding of the century in her mind." I told him.
"What about you. Are you excited?" He asked me and I nodded. "Of course I am." I said quickly.
He sat down his lab coat and glanced back at me.
"Addy, if you're still upset about your dad, we can-" he said but I sighed.
"It's fine. We can't have him at the wedding. There's no way. If he even saw me he'd think he'd gone mad and everyone else would too." I told him and he nodded.
"I know. I just hate seeing you upset about this." He told me, wrapping his arms around me.
"I'll be fine, I promise. It's going to be the best day." I told him, turning to him.
"Yes, it will." He told me, kissing me. I kissed him back as I heard someone speed into the room.
"Get a room!" Emmett yelled and I broke away from Carlisle.
"Are you seriously going to say that everytime we kiss?" I asked him and he laughed. "You bet." He said as Rosalie flitted to his side.
"Yeah, just wait for the wedding. He won't stop talking about what he's going to say for his speech." Rosalie told me.
I gave him a worried glance. "But only the best man and the maid of honor have speeches, right?" I asked and he smiled.
"Yeah, like anyone can keep me from that stage." He joked and I sighed. It was true, Emmett was one of the strongest vampires I'd even encountered. It would take a hell of a lot to stop him from making a speech.
"Don't worry, I'll make a speech too, to make up for his." Rose told me and I grinned at her.
Rosalie was one of my bridesmaids, as was Alice. Bella, of course, was my maid of honor.
Carlisle had Edward as his best man and Jasper and Emmett as his groomsmen.
"Thanks, Rose." I told her.
The door opened once again and we all glanced over as Edward came in.
He must have been kicked out by Dad again. Bella had told me that Dad had grounded her and only allowed Edward to see her for a few hours. Of course, she couldn't tell me this in person, seeing as she was grounded in the house. I was only allowed to talk to Bella on the phone, and not the house line. I couldn't exactly risk my father picking up and hearing my voice.
"Hey, how's my sister?" I asked him and he smiled. "Being stubborn about college once again." He told me and I laughed.
"Of course she is." I said.
Bella had been trying to figure out what "college" to go to, even if it was really just a front for when she'd be turned.
She'd settled on a college in Alaska, which Edward had applied to as well. Edward was still stubborn at trying to get her to apply to others, though.
I was sure he wanted to try and persuade her to wait to change until after college, but we all knew that wasn't happening.
"There is something else we need to talk about though." Edward said and Carlisle looked grim all of a sudden.
"The newborn situation in Seattle is getting worse. I think we may have to step in ourselves if it gets more out of hand." Edward told us.
Ah, yes. The newborn situation. Thankfully, I was no longer one. The spring had marked a full year since I'd been turned.
The newborns in Seattle were causing trouble everyone, with hundreds of unexplained deaths.
Carlisle was worried the newborns would attract the attention of the Volturi and that worried me as well. If they came here and saw Bella was still human, they might not allow her to remain one long enough to change.
The worse case scenario would end up with some of us going to try and stop the panic in Seattle.
"If it gets any worse, we will have to. We can't have the Volturi come here." Carlisle said.
"Yeah, that would definitely be bad for the wedding." Emmett said and I gave him a look. "Sorry, Mom." He joked and I reached out and hit him on the shoulder.
"Yes it would be. Hopefully the situation will take care of itself." I said.
The weekend flew by, what with Alice still planning down to the last detail and me helping her.
The only thing left was to try on my wedding dress, which Alice had assured me I would love.
When I saw the dress, I was surprised at the wave of emotion that came over me. If vampires could cry, I would surely be doing it.
It was exactly how I'd always imagined my wedding dress would be. It has straps that rested off the shoulders and a corset in the waist, from which beautiful fabric flowed. It was gorgeous.
After the weekend ended, I mostly looked over the guest list for the wedding and finalized the last details as Alice was at school.
When Alice and Jasper arrived back that day, I could see something was wrong. Since Carlisle wasn't there, I supposed I needed to figure out how to handle whatever happened.
I greeted them as they came in. "Alice, Jasper, what's wrong?" I asked, feeling the tension between them.
"It's Victoria. She's coming back here this weekend, it seems." Alice said and I winced. Just when I thought everything was going just fine.
"Let me guess, Edward isn't going to tell my sister." I stated and Alice nodded.
"So what are we going to do?" I asked, glancing between the two of them.
"Victoria seems to have a gift for being evasive. She escapes far too easily. I'm sure if we cornered her, with Alice's ability, we'd be able to catch her. Then again, she could also slip from our hands and head straight for Bella." Jasper said.
He was very good at strategy, which made sense because of his past as a solider. The fact he thought she could escape made me nervous.
"How are we going to chase her and protect my sister at the same time?" I asked him, to which he looked to Alice.
Her eyes went blank as she looked for a solution.
"I think it's time to put those plane tickets you and Carlisle got Bella to use." Alice said.
I remembered the gift we'd given Bella - two tickets to Jacksonville to see our mother.
"Do you think Bella will go for that?" I asked her.
"I think Edward should be able to convince her. After all, she hasn't seen Renee in ages." Alice said, then glanced at me apologetically.
"Sorry, I know you must miss her."
"I do, but that's fine. I'm happy Bella will be able to give her a proper goodbye before graduation." I said.
"Well, once they're in Florida, we should be able to finally catch Victoria." Jasper told me.
The rest of the day passed quickly and I found myself smiling when Bella and Edward showed up. I saw the look on Bella's face and knew he'd suggested the trip to her already. Alice must have given him a call.
"Bells!" I said, pulling her into a hug. She smiled and hugged me back.
"Good news, Dad let me off the hook." She said.
"Thank goodness. I was starting to miss you." I told her.
Alice and Jasper were playing chess once again, something they did frequently. It was funny to watch seeing as Alice usually beat him in one move.
Edward and Alice were even more fascinating to watch as Alice could see his moves and in turn, he could read her moves she was going to make.
Edward walked beside Bella as we went to sit on the sofa. I was glad to have some company, especially since Carlisle was working later tonight.
"So, how have things been? How's Dad?" I asked her and she sighed.
"I'm happy to be free once again, that's good. Dad is doing better, but Harry's passing hit him hard, and well, he still misses you." Bella told me and I sighed.
"I wish I could see him, make it easier on him. I miss him." I told her and I noticed the others were watching us.
"And Mom?" I asked her, trying to distract myself.
"Mom is Mom. She's super excited for graduation, but you know the extravagance she has with every important event in our lives." Bella told me with a soft smile.
"You'll have to get lots of pictures. I can't wait to see you in your cap and gown." I said excitedly.
"How are things going here? I've missed coming over." Bella asked and I smiled.
"Things have been great." I told her.
"And the wedding planning?" She asked with a smirk.
"It's going wonderful, Bella. Just wait until you see your dress!" Alice chimed, making me grin at Bella's expression.
I knew Bella really loved me for her to be donning a fancy dress and walking down the aisle in front of vampires she didn't even know.
"It is beautiful, Bells. You're going to look amazing!" I said and she gave me a nudge.
"Come on, we already know you'll be the most beautiful." She said and I rolled my eyes.
"Unless Tanya is there." Bella said suddenly, with a look at Edward.
I held in my laughter. Tanya had apparently made it clear that she liked Edward very much in the past. Edward had not reciprocated those feelings, of course.
"Nonsense, Bella, she's a blonde. You know I have a thing for brunettes." Edward remarked and I fought a grin at Bella's lovesick expression.
The rest of the week passed quickly and soon it was the weekend once again. Apparently Bella had been convinced to go to Florida and they were leaving today.
I knew Victoria would show up sooner or later. I felt guilty about not telling Bella, but if she knew, she'd be worried sick.
We saw them off at the airport and went back to the house to wait for Victoria.
It was tense, waiting for Victoria to show up at any moment. On Saturday she showed up and Alice saw she would be rushing right past our house through the woods.
It didn't take long for all of us to gather and go after her.
We ran to a certain point in the forest and then stopped as Alice did.
"She's coming from the left! Go!" Alice said to Emmett and Jasper.
I caught a faint familiar scent that was clearly Victoria as she breezed through the woods.
Emmett and Jasper took off after her, following her scent and listening to Alice's instructions.
We'd nearly caught her when she suddenly disappeared from Alice's visions.
That meant one thing-the wolves were joining the chase.
Emmett sped ahead of everyone else and nearly caught her, but she was making sure to stay on both sides of the lines between the Quilulete pack lands and ours.
Somehow we ended up face to face with the wolves, with Victoria in between. Emmett made lunge for her, but she breezed by him. Emmett accidentally flew into one of the wolves and it sprang on him.
Luckily, the wolf didn't hit him and Emmett made it back to our side of the line.
I looked at the wolves and found one looked familiar. It was a russet colored wolf and I was sure it was Jacob. He tensed when he saw me, which confirmed it.
The other wolves didn't seem to surprised to see me, but it made sense seeing as now Jacob saw me in the house two months ago.
Rosalie stepped in front of Emmett angrily and I knew this could get out of hand. Carlisle stepped forward to talk to the leader, the black wolf, which I assumed was Sam. Bella had told me that Sam was the leader the pack.
"Let's all be calm, please. I apologize for the intrusion." Carlisle said calmly and I saw Jasper to his side.
I could feel hostility and anger rolling off the wolves, but I could also feel Jasper quelling it.
They became calm, very calm and it was easier to negotiate then. Sam shifted into his human form and spoke with Carlisle. They agreed Victoria was the main priorty and each of us started to chase her again.
She slipped away through the waters in their lands and they didn't permit us to follow after her.
I knew it would only be a matter of time before we saw Victoria again.
The weekend passed by quickly after that and soon Bella and Edward arrived back home.
Bella didn't come to visit after they returned, and I assumed she was staying home to make better terms with Dad.
It was Monday soon enough and Edward, Alice and Jasper left for school once again, leaving only Rose, Emmett and I.
Emmett left to hunt, while Rose and I hung out.
"Do you think the wedding is going to go smoothly?" I asked Rose suddenly and she looked up from the sketch she was drawing. Rose like to work on cars, her car especially, and she was sketching a few parts she could add to it.
"Of course it will. What makes you say that?" She asked me.
I'd been worried since Victoria escaped that she was going to crash the wedding somehow.
"Well, Victoria might show up." I said and Rose shook her head.
"I think we will have gotten rid of her by then." Rose said calmly and I let her convince me.
Everything was relatively calm for the rest of the day until Edward came storming in.
"What's going on?" I asked him.
"That stupid wolf! He told Bella about Victoria. He came to the school to make she was still human. And then she went with him to the reservation." Edward said, his words coming out in a rush.
I wasn't surprised that Jacob showed up at the school. He seemed to hate Edward deeply and it didn't seem to matter if anyone else saw that.
And he didn't seem to care what he told Bella, either. Bella had to have been pissed to go with Jacob.
Edward read my thoughts and winced.
"She's angry we didn't tell her. But nows she putting herself in danger. I can't even make sure she's okay!" Edward said angrily.
"Edward, I'm sure she'll be fine. I know the kids on the reservation, and I used to know Jacob. I don't think he'd ever hurt Bella." I said, attempting to assure him.
I didn't think it worked as he still seemed pissed.
His mood didn't approve as the day passed and I knew Bella must still be at Jacob's.
We were all hanging out in the den when Edward suddenly stood up and sped from the room.
"Guess Bella is back." I stated and Carlisle sighed. "I hope this doesn't come to a fight between the pack and us." He said, looking worried.
I knew he wasn't only worried for us, he was worried for the wolves. Carlisle wouldn't want to hurt anyone.
"It won't." I assured him, even though I wasn't too sure it wouldn't myself.
I was playing a game of chess with Carlisle, one he was winning, when Edward and Bella suddenly rushed into the house.
I could feel the urgency and knew something was terribly wrong.
"Edward? What is it?" I asked, seeing the tears on Bella's face.
Edward looked pained as he looked at me.
"It's your father." He said and I stiffened. Carlisle held onto me as I waited to hear the news.
"Please don't tell me-" I started but Bella shook her head.
"No, Addy, he's not dead. He's-" she trailed off, her voice breaking.
"He's what?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
"He's turning into a vampire."
***
Told you there would be major change in the storyline. I always wondered what it would be like if Charlie was a vampire and was let in on the supernatural world more early on. Hopefully I do the theory justice.
Anyways this is how I envision Adelaide's dress.