A/N: Hey guys! Are you all ready for chapter 3 of my story? In this chapter we're just getting a little insight into Bella's head, and we've got some nice fluff and bonding moments too! Please feel free to review and tell me what you think so far! To all those who have reviewed, favourited and followed, thank you for your support of my story, that's what keeps me going! See me at the bottom for some extra info. Now, on with the story...

Chapter 3.

Bella's POV.

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

JANUARY.

Time goes by quickly when you are drowning in your sorrows. Every little tick of a clock sickened me as I counted down the hours. I had hoped and prayed to whoever could possibly listen, for him to come back. That, if he really loved me as he had said he did so many times, he would come back to me. But as the seconds swept by in an agonising blur, and the seasons began to change, my heart hurt even more with the knowledge that he would never return.

It was now early February, almost five months since he left, I had heard the quote "time heals all wounds" at least a thousand times, but even now it hurts just as much as it did in September, if not even worse.

It was 5:30 am, very early for a Saturday morning but I'd woken from a nightmare and couldn't get back to sleep so I figured I'd stay up and do something productive for the first time in awhile. I quickly hopped out of bed and quietly padded down the stairs so I didn't wake Charlie. I made a very small breakfast of scrambled eggs and baked beans on toast before leaving and heading out to la push. I decided to go and sit out on first beach, despite the rain I always felt extremely calm sat out by the waves, I often wished they'd take me away to somewhere I could be at peace with myself, somewhere I could be happy.

Happiness, that wasn't something I had felt in awhile, I had barely even felt content. If it wasn't for my father and some of the pack who randomly came by to see me, I'd probably be dead by now, drowning in the sea of thoughts thundering around in my head.

Charlie told me about my visitors the other day, apparently several pack members and some of their friends had been round to the house to come and see me but I was too wrapped up in my thoughts to even really notice. I decided to try and find Sam Uley's house, at least to thank him for finding me in the woods all those months ago, he deserved that much and more for his efforts.

With a sigh, I wearily picked myself back up off the ground and dusted the sand off my jeans before packing myself into my small van. I drove around la push for a little while before finally catching sight of Sam sat outside of a house wearing nothing but a pair of cut off jeans and reading a newspaper. I quickly cut off the engine and jumped out onto the slick side walk, barely managing to keep myself upright as my feet skidded on slippery wet patch

"Sam!" I shouted to him as I slowly walked over. His head shot up at the sight of me and he got a rather confused look on his face before he stood up and put his newspaper down on the ground.

"Bella, what are you doing out of your house?" He asked worriedly. I frowned at this, had I really been that bad? I thought quickly over the last several months. I had rarely left my room, I only left the house to go to school for a few hours per day, but even then I put in the bare minimum of effort with both my classes and my friends. I'd been so horrible, to everyone around me and I hadn't even noticed. Before I realised, I had broken down in tears and was a sobbing, snotty mess on Sam's front yard. He quickly bundled me up and took me into his house where he presented me with a tray of tea and some biscuits. I shakily picked up the tea cup and help it between two hands, letting the heat of the tea slowly warm me up.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Sam asked kindly.

"I've been so horrible, to everyone Sam. How could I do that?" I said between hiccups, I felt a stray tear slowly glide down my face before I angrily wiped it away.

"Bella, you've done absolutely nothing wrong, I promise you that. You've done what most people do during a breakup and there's nothing wrong with that. Instead of blaming yourself and feeling guilty, start making some more effort Bella, everyone will understand, we just want the old you back." Sam said passionately.

I sniffled slightly before nodding my head in agreement. He was absolutely right. As I thought about how I treated my family and friends, when all they'd done was try to help me and be there for me, I realised that I needed to stop feeling so helpless. I thought long and hard about Edward and what he put me through, and I realised that he was a damn idiot! And then, I started to feel angry, I let that anger consume me as I thought about Edward and Alice, the two people who had promised to be there for me always, and who had a dumped me without a second thought.

"You're right Sam! I need to stop wallowing in my depression, and I need to start making it up to the people I care about because I've been a pretty shit friend to them.

Charlie told me you and some of the pack came round to see me over the last few months?" I questioned him.

Same gave me a small smile before gently nodding his head.

"Yes, Jacob, Jared, Paul, Embry and I came round quite a few time. And Peter and Charlotte also came round, you haven't met them or their friends yet but you'll meet them soon and you'll probably be surprised. Also, we're having a big bonfire out at first beach tonight and discussing some important things, I think you should come, you're going to need to know all of the things we're going to be talking about." Sam said, it sounded almost like an order and I felt myself nodding my head in response.

Before I could give a proper answer I heard a loud knocking on the front door. Sam slowly stood up and opened the door, he talked to the person stood outside for several moments in hushed whispers and I strained my ears to try and hear what they were saying. Finally, Sam shut the door and came to sit back down.

"Who was at the door?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, it was just Jacob, he saw your truck out front and he just wanted to make sure you're okay. He's gonna be at the bonfire tonight so you can talk to him then if you want to?" Sam asked me. I slowly nodded my head. Jacob was yet another person I'd let down. He'd always been there for me, and he'd always been nice to me but I let him down, along with everyone else.

"Hey, you did nothing wrong Bella. Jacob doesn't think badly of you, he's just worried about you, we all are." Sam said sadly.

"I'm gonna apologise to him, and everyone else at the bonfire tonight. It's time I get back to being normal Bella." I stated confidently. Sam gave me an encouraging smile before he put the tea tray in the kitchen.

"What are you doing today Bella? You can always hang with me if you'd like if got nothing to do until tonight".

"Sure, Sam I'd like that. What exactly are we gonna do though, there's not much fun to be had around forks and La push". I said and he let loose a small chuckle.

"Well, I need to go see my girlfriend for a little bit, I was planning on going round for some food, so feel free to come with me I know she'd love to meet you."

"Sure, are you sure she won't mind me tagging along?" I asked whilst nervously chewing my nails.

"Nah she loves having guests, plus she does really want to meet you, she's heard a lot about you from Jacob and the others." Sam quickly checked his watch before getting me up off the couch and pulling me towards the door.

"Come on, we're gonna be late let's go!" He said with an excited grin on his face. Sam gently tugged me out of the door and I just about had the time to pull the door closed behind me before I found myself in the passenger seat of Sam's Ford Fiesta, he quickly pulled out of his driveway and we were off to Emily's house.

8 hours later.

Sam and I stayed at Emily's house for several hours, until it was finally time for us to go down to first beach for the bonfire. We were the last to arrive and we sat down around the bonfire as people began handing out plates of food.

"Bella, do you remember me mentioning two people called Peter and Charlotte to you before"?

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Well, they're at the bonfire tonight and I think you might know their friends. Now, I don't want you to freak out, because you do them and your last experience with them wasn't exactly nice, to say the least."

I stared at Sam for several minutes whilst thinking about who these people could possibly be.

"I can't think of who it could be Sam, please enlighten me," I said in a confused voice.

"They're called Victoria and Laurent" Sam said in a slow voice as he watched my face to gauge my reaction. I tried to stay as calm as possible but in reality I was anything but calm.

"Oh and Bella, we know they're vampires. Peter and Charlotte are as well." Sam said shocking me even more. I stared at him wide eyed for several moments trying to formulate some sort of sentence that he could understand.

"How do you know that they're vampires? And why did you invite them Laurent and Victoria drink from humans what if they hurt someone!" I hissed at him. He let out a small chuckle before grinning at me.

"You'll find out how I know soon, and you'll also see how they won't be able to hurt anyone." Just as Sam finished speaking Old Quill stood up in front of the group and cleared his throat.

"Welcome all of you, and thank you for coming. This meeting is very important for all of us." Old Quil said whilst looking around at the crowd gathered around the bonfire.

"Most of you already know of the events that will occur but myself and Peter Whitlock will explain for any who do not yet know. If you have any questions, please wait to the end of the meeting as we would like this to go as smoothly as possible". Quil said. My mind began to race as the elders began murmuring to each other. I had no idea why I'd been invited to such an important meeting, i was no longer in contact with the Cullen's so it couldn't be anything to do with that. I also wanted to know how the quileutes knew about vampires in the first place. I was quickly brought out of my mental musings by the sounds of someone clearing their throat. I quickly looked up towards the front of the bonfire and gasped slightly. Two red eyes vampires stood proudly in front of the group.

"Hello, for any of you who don't yet know, my name is Peter Whitlock and this is my mate, Charlotte. I have the gift of clairvoyance, which is basically a sixth sense. To put it simply, I just know things, whether that's about people, places or certain things that will happen in the future. Now, I ain't God so I don't know everything that happens but if it's something important or something that will threaten our world, I usually get a lil inkling about what's gonna happen. And that's what I'm here to talk to ya'll about. If ya'll are ready, I'll begin". Peter stopped talking briefly to scan the crowd. After several seconds he began to speak.

I found out all about, shape shifters, some of what the Cullen's were up to, and our trip into the past. To say I was shocked would be a huge understatement. And I didn't 100% believe that going into the past was possible, Peter had explained the process, but I wasn't quite on board. I guess I'd just have to wait until the time came for us to try it.

I kept my eyes on Victoria and Laurent for the whole meeting, I didn't trust them one bit and I wasn't sure I ever could trust them after what they had put me through. I wasn't sure about trusting vampires as a whole to be honest, but if I had to work with Peter, I was going to have to try and put my differences aside for the sake of everyone on La push and forks. Sighing, I wearily stood up as the four vampires cautiously made their way over to me.

"Bella, it's nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot about you from the pack, and I also heard a fair bit about ya from Jasper." Peter said with a welcoming smile on his face.

"You, you know Jasper"? I stuttered back.

Peter let out a small chuckle before he nodded his head.

"Yeah sug we do. We fought in the southern wars with Jasper back in the 1800's. we consider him our brother." Charlotte said whilst grinning at me.

"I never knew about that." I whispered. The two of them rolled their eyes at that.

"Nah you wouldn't know. Jasper's mate Alice doesn't like us and doesn't like Jasper talking about us or what he did before he met the Cullen's. She doesn't think it's polite conversation or some stupid bullshit." I giggled at that.

"I take it you don't like Alice very much then"? I asked.

"Not even close. We sorta hate her for taking our brother away from us and turning him into an animal drinking pussy Vampire."

"I thought drinking from animals was better than drinking from humans?" I asked in a confused voice.

"Nah it isn't. The Cullen's think that drinking from animals makes them more humane, but we're vampires. We're not supposed to be trying to be like humans. Animals blood fills the senses and lowers a vampires control because it's not our natural food source, so they are making themselves more like humans but it's not doing them any good. Animal drinkers are the weakest of vampires". Peter stated.

I thought about everything I knew of the Cullen's and compared my limited knowledge of human drinkers to what I knew about the Cullen's. When we went to Phoenix to kill James, it had taken three vampires to kill the red eyed vampire, and even though Edward could read James' mind, James still managed to overpower Edward on several occasions.

"Yeah, now that I've thought about it I see what you mean." I mused.

"Although I still don't condone the killing of innocent humans." I said whilst frowning at Peter.

The four vampires chuckled at that.

"We don't feed off of innocent humans, there are definitely vampires who do feed off innocents but we feed off hardened criminals, the terminally ill or homeless people." Victoria stayed with an amused smile on her face.

I was still wary of the two nomads and I'm sure that they realised that as they both had looks of resignation on their faces.

"Bella, could we talk to you in private." Laurent said whilst sharing a look with Victoria.

"I promise, we won't hurt you. And even if we attempted to, there's two vampires and several shifters who would protect you with their lives." Victoria said sincerely.

I assessed them for a moment before nodding my head. We slowly walked over to a less crowded corner of the bonfire and each sat down on the muddy ground. I could feel the heat of the fire at my back as I tried to relax. I glanced at Laurent and Victoria for several moments and they both looked nervous. Why vampires could possibly be nervous I would never know. As my mind wandered, I found myself staring into the campfire. The fire itself was pulsating, the sparkling embers almost moved rhythm with the flames, almost like a hypnotic dance. Colours of orange and red gave way to yellow and white near the centre where the emanating heat was the greatest. I was brought out of my reverie by Laurent clearing his throat.

I quickly looked around and focussed on the two vampires before me, they both looked rather amused as they took in my half dazed state.

"Bella, we wanted to talk to you in private because we wanted to apologise for our part in James' plan. He was a sick man and we wanted nothing to do with his games, but he was a master manipulator and a tracker so, if we tried to leave, he would always find us. We thought he would be controlling us forever but now, we are finally free. And we have no one but you and the Cullen's to thank for that." Victoria spoke passionately.

"Why wouldn't he just let you leave?" I asked in confusion.

"James kept me around because I'm a strong fighter and also because of my gift as a shield." Laurent.

"And he kept me around both for my talent or evasion, and also to use me as his sex slave. He'a had many of the years but I suppose I was his favourite." Victoria said with a bitter snarl.

"Oh wow I'm so sorry Victoria, no one should have to go through that." I said in a shocked voice.

"You're right, no one should, but ultimately it's these things that make us stronger in the end." She said with a small, sad smile.

"Yes I agree. It's best to use whatever happens to us, to our advantage." I murmured. Laurent and Victoria didn't respond. Instead, the three of us sat back and watched the flickering, flames of the bonfire together as we basked in our new found friendship. Peter and Charlotte came to join us along with the wolf pack and we sat around the fire in a small group, chatting about the upcoming events and getting to know one another more. Despite the enormous amount of information that was dropped on me, I was happier than I had been in months and I finally felt like I had a purpose, and that I had people with me who actually gave a damn.

I felt myself slowly drifting off as I listened to the crackling of the fire and the beach waves, the next thing I knew, I was being carried up the stairs in my house and up to my bedroom by Peter. He quickly deposited me in my bed and said goodnight before he left and quietly closed the door behind him, I stayed awake long enough to hear him leave the house and then I fell into a much needed sleep.

A/N: Hello again friends! I just have a quick question for you all. Would you prefer Bella to be a vampire or a human when she goes back in time? She will be turning at some point but I wanna hear what you all have to say! Leave a review with your answers and see you next chapter!