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Word Count - 2591

Against All Odds

She jumped, soaring through the air as though flying. The deer didn't know what had hit it until it was far too late for anything to be done, and she sank her teeth into it, drinking down it's life force. Once the deer was drained, she buried the carcass in the forest and sat down on a large rock.

It was a chore, being alone all the time, and the silence of the forest only magnified that. Of course she could hear the occasional rustle of a distant animal, or the soft birdsong way up in the tall trees, but it had been a while since she'd had an actual conversation.

Standing up, she straightened her clothes and run through the trees, the feeling of moving so fast as exhilarating as it had always been. It didn't take her long to reach the edge of a small town, and with a brief check of her clothing to make sure she hadn't missed a drop of blood or a mud stain anywhere, she walked out of the forest at a human pace and within minutes, lost herself in the crowd of humans.

She could hear the gentle hum of conversation around her, and it made her feel less alone. The beating of their hearts created a background music for her wandering, and she smiled briefly to herself.

All those years ago, when Edward complained about being in crowds, and yet now she was the same as him, she still didn't understand the pain he'd complained of. In fairness, she didn't believe she'd come across anyone with blood that sang to her, but even so, she found the scents of humans comforting; and not at all appetising.

"Is that…?"

Bella blinked when she saw familiar golden eyes staring at her across the street.

"Bella?"

Wanting nothing more than to run in the opposite direction, but knowing that she couldn't risk exposure, she stopped walking, glancing around her. Nodding her head to a fountain in the middle of the square, she crossed over to it.

Two woman approached her, their hands filled with bags that Bella knew would feel weightless to them.

"Bella… Sweetheart, how?" Esme Cullen asked, reaching out a hesitant hand to Bella.

Bella blinked. "Erm. The normal way?"

"I think Esme meant who, Bella," Rosalie managed to reply, her face still beautiful even displaying the shock she felt.

"Victoria, you know the redhead who…"

"We remember," Esme replied, dropping her hand when Bella didn't make any effort to take it. Her eyes filled with venom tears that would never fall. "You should come home with us sweetheart, see the family. We've all missed you very much."

"Ah… no. Thank you but, um, no."

Bella rubbed her hands together in a decidedly human fashion. "I should, uh, go. It was, erm, good to see you both."

She internally cringed at the way she was stumbling over her words. She knew she must sound like an absolute idiot.

"Bella -"

"Wait -"

Bella smiled at them both awkwardly before walking away quickly, swerving back into the crowds of people. She knew that Esme and Rosalie wouldn't be able to follow her while still keeping up the charade, and she took advantage of that, making her way back out into the forest where she sped up, running and running and running.

She came across a house set back in the forest and instinctively knew it was the Cullens. She moved as close as she dared to, and in the distance, she could see Alice and Jasper through the large windows.

She felt a tugging in her chest as she watched them playing, almost as though her very insides were telling her to go to them, to forget the past but she couldn't. With one last longing look, she continued on her way, putting as much distance between them as her legs could manage.

…

"You're late."

Bella let out a squeal, crossing the meadow to jump into Jacob's waiting arms. They hugged each other tightly, having missed each other over the last year. Due to their opposing natures, they couldn't be around each other too often, but every year on the anniversary of Bella's change, she returned to Forks to see her best friend.

"How've you been?" Jake asked, as the two settled down in the grass.

Bella shrugged. "Same old, I suppose. I'm… bored. With life. With being on my own."

"Find a… family?"

Bella snorted. "I tried that once, which I'm sure you remember. It didn't end well."

"You were human then though. I mean… hell, Bells, I don't know what I mean. I don't like the thought of you being out there on your own."

She shrugged. "It's the hand I've been dealt, Jake. It is what it is. Tell me about the pack, how is everyone?"

They passed a few hours, Bella taking in every morsel of life on the reservation. Had things been different, that would have been her life to live, her spouse, her children, her job.

When the visit was up, they shared another hug, parting with promises of emails and texts to hold them over until the following year. Bella took a moment to bask in being where she'd once been happy after Jacob left, lying in the wildflowers.

She heard the movement too late, heard the many footsteps just in time to stand up and back away to the opposite end of the field.

Coming towards her were six vampires, and she had a feeling she knew exactly who it was. Sure enough a few seconds later, the Cullens entered the clearing through the trees, all slowing their pace when they saw her.

"Bella?" Carlisle said, his intonation a question as he neared her, slightly in front of the rest.

"Why are you here?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

That same tugging from when she saw Jasper and Alice was back, trying to draw her towards him. She saw Jasper take a step towards her, before he turned back to Alice with a questioning look. Bella tried to focus on Carlisle.

"When Esme and Rosalie came home and told us that they'd seen you, we began searching for you. We hoped you'd come back here around the anniversary of your disappearance. Bella… why did you run from Esme and Rose?"

Bella grimaced.

"I'd say that should be relatively obvious," she murmured, though of course it would be easily heard by all of them. "You left me."

"Bella…"

She shook her head. "No. You left me. You didn't even say goodbye, none of you did. You can't just stroll back into my life like that didn't happen."

Jasper's eyes were boring into her, and she didn't like it. "I'm going to leave now," she told them, meeting Carlisle's eyes.

"Bella please, just… A conversation. That's all I'm asking," Carlisle begged. She felt her resolve waver. He looked so sad, holding his hand out to her. She could see the pain in his eyes, and suddenly realised that perhaps she wasn't the only one hurt by the separation.

She nodded minutely, taking a few steps towards them. "Okay. A conversation."

"We're sorry we left you," Esme said, stepping up beside Carlisle. "We thought we were doing you a favour. Edward said it was for the best and… we know it hurt you, Bella, but you told him that you understood. I don't…"

Looks of dawning comprehension passed over all of the faces.

"I told Edward nothing of the sort," she confirmed. "Where is he, anyway?"

"Edward isn't with us anymore," Carlisle said, his eyes hardening slightly. "He seemed to think that we encouraged him to get closer to you, that he'd be better on his own so he wasn't lured by the temptation of being around couples as he was with us."

Bella blinked. "Huh. That's different. I guess he really was a self centered jackass."

Rose, Emmett and Jasper all snorted. Bella shrugged apologetically at Esme.

"How long have you been… like us?" Carlisle asked after a pregnant pause.

"Twenty two years. I was nearing my twentieth birthday."

She could tell that Carlisle wanted to ask more but he restrained himself admirably.

"Bells?"

She moved her gaze to Emmett, smiling at him when he grinned at her. "Not so breakable now, huh, Little Sis?"

She rolled her eyes but her smile widened into a grin. "I missed you, Bear."

His face softened and he moved around Carlisle and Esme, pulling her into his arms. She didn't try to fight the embrace, and his scent was comforting to her in a way that she hadn't felt for years.

She could feel herself getting emotional and moved away from him. Her gaze was automatically pulled back to Jasper. He was still staring at her.

"Bella," he said quietly. "I'm very sorry for what happened, the last time I saw you."

He was about to continue, but she shook her head firmly. "Edward might have believed that I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I always knew the danger. It was never your fault. Please don't feel guilty."

The idea of Jasper being in pain because of her was abhorrent.

"I, um, I'm going to go now. I'm sure I'll see you all again… eternity is a long time after all."

She made it to the edge of the meadow before Alice spoke. "Bells? I'd like to introduce you to my mate… maybe we could meet up sometime in the future? Please?"

Bella frowned, looking between Alice and Jasper.

"Like I said, eternity is a long time."

And with that, Bella ran away.

…

She drifted for months in the forests, straying further and further from Washington. Eventually, snapping out of her funk, she made her way to New Orleans. She enjoyed the city, the nightlife, and it was often easy to get cash in hand jobs there that didn't ask questions.

It was there she ran into Peter and Charlotte, a couple of nomads she'd first met when she was only a year into being a vampire.

They exchanged easy hugs, and Charlotte was practically bouncing with excitement that she'd have a female to talk to for a while.

"My brother is visiting, I think you'll like him," Peter told her, as they approached the house they'd bought. It was a charming home, with a wrap around front porch that Bella immediately fell in love with.

Bella nodded, a frisson of nerves running through her. She wasn't good at meeting new people. Peter led the way into the house, shouting out to his brother to come and greet their guest.

"He's being an unsociable fucker," Peter complained loudly, when they heard slow movements up the stairs.

Bella raised her eyebrow when a familiar scent assaulted her, and moments later, Jasper was walking into the room, stopping short at the sight of her.

"Bella."

She nodded to him, offering a strained smile to Charlotte. "I'm just going to grab a bite, I'll come back."

Charlotte raised her eyebrow. "Promise."

Bella softened. "Of course I'll come back. A few hours, max."

Charlotte nodded, and Bella left, feeling three sets of eyes on her until she slipped out of sight.

She ran deeper into the forest than she needed too, cursing herself. Why did she keep finding them? Why couldn't she escape them.

Draining two elk, more for her eyes than for actual want, she buried them and returned in the direction she'd come, at a slower pace. She could do this. She could stay for Charlotte.

…

"You've been avoiding me."

Bella looked over her shoulder to see Jasper standing behind her. She couldn't deny his words, they'd been staying in the same place for almost a week and she'd barely spoken five sentences to him, choosing to stick to Charlotte's side.

She turned away, leaning against the porch though of course she didn't need to. He moved up beside her.

"Why are you hiding from me, Bella?"

She shook her head, dislodging her hair in the process so it fell down and covered her face.

"You know what the tuggin' in your chest means, don't you?" he asked after a moment. "The one that pulls you to me, I mean."

She looked at him then, curious despite herself. "How did you know about that?"

He reached out slowly and tucked her hair behind her ear. When his fingers touched her skin, she felt a spark between them.

"Because I feel it too," he told her quietly. "That tug is telling you that you should be by my side. That you're mine, that I'm yours. Mates, Bella. We're mates."

She stumbled back from him. "No. We're not. You're wrong."

He smiled at her, reaching out once more. When the thought to run away entered her head, it must have shown on her face because he shook his head. "I'll follow you," he murmured, stepping ever closer. "To the very ends of the earth, Bella, I'll follow you."

"I don't…" she was hyperventilating, an odd feeling for someone that doesn't have the need to breathe. "I can't."

"Why?" he asked, his breath fanning across her face he was so close. "What are you so afraid of?"

Pulling back the shield that had long kept her safe from mental gifts, she allowed him to feel her fears, the abandonment that she still felt so keenly when thinking about the Cullens.

It was Jasper's turn to stumble, and she reapplied the barriers, ensuring herself fully protected.

"That's why Alice could never see you," Jasper murmured, looking thoughtful. "They've certainly grown in strength. I wondered, in the field and for the last week, why I couldn't feel your emotions anymore."

She thought he was going to ignore what she'd tried to show him, and she turned away, but he wrapped gentle arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"I'll never leave you, Bella. Not ever, I swear it."

"But you'll want to go back to the others," she whimpered, her chest aching with the need to just let herself give in, to turn in his embrace and let him take care of her.

"Yes," he admitted, "but they want you too, baby."

She shook, trembling in his arms. "They don't. They left. You all left."

"A mistake that none of us will ever forget, nor will we ever repeat. Come home, Bella. Stay with me, let me love you."

A sob broke free.

"You said it yourself, sweetheart. Eternity is a long time. How about you stay with me that long?"

…

"This is Matt," Alice introduced proudly, pulling her mate forward to meet Bella. "Matt, this is Bella, my sister, and Jasper's mate."

Being introduced as that was still enough to surprise Bella. She'd already been passed around the family upon her arrival, apologies and promises being whispered in her ear as she went. Even Rose, which had been another shock.

Jasper had been amused by her emotions. When he'd realised she could release her shield at will, he'd begged for it constantly, wanting to feel her even when she wasn't in the room with him.

As the family all seated themselves in the living room to catch up, Jasper pulled a shy Bella onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her.

"You're happy," he murmured against her neck.

"Hmm," she agreed.

Against all odds, she was happy. And it was all to do with the man holding her like she was the most precious thing in the world.

Written for;

Auction - Romance

365 - 250. Fight

1000 - 952. Vampire