6. Fireball

MPOV

While I was smiling at my own personal sex god, I noticed that the other Cullens were coming into the room and taking a seat around this big, long, wooden table. Well, all of them except for blondie.


Good, I don’t fucking like her anyway.


I know from Bell’s memories that the one named Rosalie is a particularly rude motherfucking bitch. We will not be getting along.


So, this is a family meeting now? Wow, I’m fucking important.


“Marie…?” I heard Carlisle hesitantly ask me.


I looked in his direction as a response, but not making eye contact yet, and raised my eyebrows. “Yes…?” I mimicked his hesitance.


“Where’s Bella, Marie?”


I smirked, glad that he wanted to play my game. I met his eyes and said, “Hiding.”

Everyone’s eyes grew a little bit wide with that response.


Ohh, this is gonna be fun!


After a few seconds of silence, I put my amusement aside and remembered my responsibility tonight. I gave the room a quick once-over then turned my gaze back to the direction of the table, “Where’s Katy?” I asked to no one in particular.


“She’s fine,” Carlisle replied.


I narrowed my eyes a little in irritation. “That’s not what I asked, Doc. Where is Katy?” I asked more forcefully.


He ignored my slight hostility with ease.

Hmm…interesting.

“She is in the front room with Rosalie watching her cartoon movie. Does that answer your question, Marie?”


“Yes,” I replied with a nod. “Yes it does. Why the fucking Rose vampire, though? I don’t like her.”


“I’m sorry you feel that way, Marie, but I assure you that she won’t harm the child.”


Harm?


“I never said she would hurt the kid, I just don’t motherfucking like her. I’ve seen that she’s a rude, conceited bitch and you better hope that what you say is the truth.” I narrowed my eyes in warning, “If she harms one hair on her head -”I growled but was interrupted.


“She won’t,” he assured me again, but in a firmer tone.


I could hear that now familiar growling rumble coming from the other room, and then was surprised to see my Edward turn his head in that direction and growl back. Loudly. And then wrap one of my hands up in both of his.


I looked at him in question. “Arguing?” I asked once he quieted down.

He just nodded, looking at me with apprehension.


Jesus, is he scared?


I decided to voice my concern. “Are you scared?” I asked with a penetrating stare.


“No,” he answered sincerely, in a steady tone of voice. And I believed him.


Damn, looks like I just lost ten bucks.


I smirked and licked my dry lips. “Aw, well that's good…”

He smiled back, but I saw how it didn’t reach his eyes.


Next thing I knew, my favorite little buddy came running into the room, crying. Her eyes frantically searching until they landed on me, and then she bolted over to me, trying to climb her way up into my lap.


“Shit, the growl noises scared her…” I heard Edward whisper.

EPOV

My Bella had split personality disorder. This is fucking mind-blowing. I know about it, I’ve read about it, learned about it in all those college classes I took. But to handle somebody with it…someone as special to me as Bella was, is going to be a completely strange experience. I am quickly beginning to realize the huge task at hand.


I love her and can deal with all of her imperfections, including this disorder, it’s just that I am more afraid that I am going to mess up somehow. How do I handle this Marie person? And the more I think about it, the more today’s events make sense. Bella wasn’t acting like herself, and I never knew until this moment how true that statement actually was.


I watched as a distressed, crying little girl, tried to climb her way up into Bella’ lap. Or…Marie’s lap. Shit, is Marie good with kids? How will she handle Katy?


Well, she seemed pretty protective a second ago. Threatening a vampire, and all…


Right.


Marie picked Katy up and immediately cradled her to her chest making shushing noises and rocking a bit. Then she glared at me and scolded harshly, “No more growling around the baby!”

I nodded to her.

“And tell blondie the same thing. I will not have that cunt scaring Katy with all her bitchy growling. If she wants to say something to me, then she can walk her high heels over to this motherfucking table and say it to my face, instead of fucking growling from another goddamn room. The same room with a two-year old in it, for Christ sakes!”


I completely agreed. “She can hear everything you just said, love,” I told her, letting her know that I didn’t have to repeat everything she just said.

It was quite a speech. Everyone at the table just kept watching the display that was Marie. All eyes seemed glued to her. It would seem she’s not just an angry person, she can be affectionate as well…Katy was proving that right now.

She started kissing the top of Katy head while the child cried into her shoulder. “Katy, doll…” her voice softly sang. “My special girl…what’s wrong, sweets? What happened to my baby?” she cooed into the child’s ear.


Katy lifted her head to answer, “The lady in there,” she pointed to the door she just came through leading to the living room, “was makin scawy noises!” she cried out, sniffling and sobbing.


“Shhhh, I know, I know…” she whispered to Katy. Then she looked away from the crying child and gave the door a death glare. Before I could tell her that Rose didn’t mean Katy any harm, Marie spoke up, “Get rid of her,” she said to no one in particular. Then she turned to Emmett and demanded, “Now. Take your bitch for a walk or something,” she instructed. “I don’t want her around Katy anymore, she is obviously not good with children.” When Emmett hesitated at the insult to Rose, she yelled at him, “I said NOW, goddamnit!" slapping her hand now on the table. "Don’t make me repeat myself,” she warned.

He glared at her.


She glared right back and I joined in.


No one glares at my woman but me.


Carlisle broke the awkward tension. “Emmett, why don’t you and Rose go hunting for a while, alright? Give us a while to straighten this out.”

Emmett nodded and walked out, taking Rosalie with him.


We all remained quiet and still while Marie calmed Katy down and got the situation under control. She left the room for a second to get a warm wash cloth to wipe away Katy’s tears and she let her blow her nose. Then she bought Katy’s coloring supplies into the room and set her up a spot on the table in front of Esme. Katy sat in Esme’s lap and started to color with a smile on her face now. Esme seemed to be enjoying Katy's company a lot. When she sat back down in her seat next to me, I asked her the question that had been bothering me for the past twenty minutes.


“Marie, how long?”


She gave me a quizzical look.


“How long have you been around?” I tried to clarify my question.


She nodded in understanding, “It was November. I know this because I have an obsessive compulsion with checking times and dates, Edward. My Bell has the same habit. Have you noticed?”

I slowly shook my head.

“Hmmm, maybe you should pay more attention,” she said sharply.


I felt compelled to apologize. So I did. “Sorry…”


She smirked. “For what?”


I shrugged. “Not paying attention…?” I answered as if it was a question.


Her face instantly fell and she gave me a hard look. “You are so goddamn clueless, Edward. What you should be sorry for is leaving in the first place. And for fucking lying to my Bell. All because you’re too cowardly to be truthful and communicate with the person you say is ‘your everything’, ‘your life’. What the fuck ever, Edward. Until you learn how to be truthful with us, all of that sweet-talkin bullshit is just that. Bullshit. Do you hear me?”


Wow, so this is where it all went.

All of her feelings of anger and resentment due to her abandonment, went into Marie. I knew that her quick forgiveness was too good to be true.

Damn it, this is going to get complicated…


My tortured thoughts were interrupted by Marie, continuing on. “Her self-worth? It doesn’t exist anymore, in case you haven’t noticed. All day and all night I am plagued with her thoughts of motherfucking worthlessness and depressed ramblings, and horrible, painful longing feelings for you. And it’s all your fault! How could you do that to her?”


“I-”


“And don’t you dare say it was for her own fucking good,” she growled, “‘cause everyone can see how she fucking turned out, right?! So don’t play coy with me, Edward Cullen. I showed up to be what I need to be. I protect her. I take care of her. I am damn good at my job.”


“When dad was laying into her ass over that goddamn ticket, where the fuck were you?!“ she screamed at me.

She didn’t give me time to answer her, though. I was starting to think all of these questions were rhetorical.

“That‘s right. You weren‘t there. I was. I stepped in and handled his ass and made sure he didn‘t leave unscathed after he had the audacity to fucking slap her. I broke that motherfucker‘s nose,” she informed everyone.

She closed her eyes then and took a deep breath through her nose and let it out slowly through her mouth.


Ah, smart girl.

She was trying to calm herself down.


When she opened them back up, she kept talking. “In fact, that brings me back to why I’m here right now. I believe you were in the process of calling my Bell a motherfucking liar,” she accused, glaring at me.


Regret showed plainly on my features as I whispered, “I was…”


“Well, maybe you shouldn’t accuse people of things they didn’t fucking do, ever think about that? My Bell wasn’t smoking the pot, I was,” she revealed casually. “She doesn’t know about my stash or my tin box, which, I want back ASAP, buddy. That shit is mine, Bell isn’t even allowed to touch it.”


I looked at her evenly, “No.”


“Yes.”


“No.”


“Yes, goddamnit,” she insisted, exasperated.


“No,” I persisted.


“I fucking said yes!” she exclaimed, anger plain on her features.


She is testing you....don’t back down and stay firm.


I cocked my head to the side, and let my eyes squint into a glare as spoke to her in a low voice. “And I fucking said no.”


“Alright…” Carlisle interrupted us.

She kept our gaze for three more seconds before breaking it and turning her attention to Carlisle.


Edward: 1, Marie: 0


“I know from my education, Marie, that major traumatic events cause the human mind to split to deal with the emotions that those events cause, resulting in the alternate personality.”


Marie rolled her eyes, “I know this, doc, I read about the basics with Bell,” she said in a bored tone. “In fact, we still have the classic argument.”

He lifted his eyebrows, silently asking her to continue. She did.

“You know, the one about whose body this really belongs to,” gesturing to the front of Bella’s body. “Is it mine? Is it hers? Hmmm, I think today it’s been mine,“ she said with a smirk.

“Good times,” she said lightly, nodding her head.


He eyed her carefully. “So our leaving…what that did to her, this is the result of it?”


“Nope,” popping the P at the end and giving her head a little shake.


He gave her a puzzled look. “Marie, please help us to understand,” he pleaded.


She returned his look with one of skepticism. “Right, because watching your best friend change into a motherfucking werewolf right before your eyes isn’t disturbing,” she said, shaking her head a bit. “Oh, and rogue vampires hunting you down like a goddamn dog isn’t traumatic at all,“ her tone dripping with sarcasm.


Carlisle just nodded and said, “I see…”


“Do you?” she asked with her eyebrows raised. “Do you really?”


Nobody answered her and I wanted to speak now. “Marie…?”


She turned her gaze towards me. “Edward…?” she mimicked with a smirk.


“I need you to understand that I did what I did because I really thought that it was in Bella’s best interest at the time. I do realize now what a mistake it was -”


She interrupted me, “Stupid mistake.”


“Stupid mistake,” I agreed. “An-”


“A very stupid mistake that you will never fucking make again,” she insisted. “And I’ve already heard your apology to Bell. I was there, you know.”


I nodded slowly.

What a weird concept...she was there.

“Right. And no, it will never happen again,” I agreed, then continued on, “and I will always be here from now on. For her. For you. This doesn’t change anything, you and her both have to understand that,“ I stressed. “Alright?”

“Yeah, okay,” she nodded.


I looked at her quizzically. I thought I was going to have to do more explaining than that.

She seemed to interpret my look and answered it with a sigh, “Look, I’m not the insecure one, alright? You won’t be hearing any whining from me,” she said with that same devilish smirk.


I smiled at this. “I would love to get to know you as well, Marie. You are apart of my Bella and I love her. All of her. You understand?”


She nodded, “I’m so fucking happy you see things that way Edward,” she said and licked her lips. “Bell couldn’t keep you all to herself even if she wanted to,” she smirked and leaned forward on the table towards me. Her eyes darted down to my lips for a second, before we connected in a kiss.


It started out gentle, but then I felt her hands in my hair and the sharp tug of her fingers and the moan from her mouth let me know that we had to stop. My jeans were getting uncomfortably tight. I broke away from the kiss and Marie started panting for oxygen. She rested her forehead on mine and I ran my fingers through her hair. When she backed away, she had a dazed smile on her face.


“So fucking yummy,” she declared with a little giggle.


I smiled at her. Looks like I’m gonna have to teach Marie some boundaries. She has been testing my lust and anger constantly today. She’s a fucking fireball.


I like it.


Jasper cleared his throat then, to remind Marie that there were others in the room. I knew that he could feel her emotions, as well as mine, and I also knew that they were all over the place. She seemed to go from complacent, to angry, to affectionate, to horny, back to anger...it was a never ending cycle.


"It is true, Marie. We will accept you the same as we have accepted Bella. Neither of you need to fear a rejection of any kind," Carlisle assured her.


"Well, that's fuckawesome news, doc," Marie said quickly with a smile. "But like I said, my Bell is the one that's going to need all that reassurance, so try and save it for her, m'kay?"


He nodded and asked, "So how are you doing Marie? What has brought you out and about so much today?"


I could see the doctor in him rise to the surface with this line of questioning, and I'm sure everyone else could too.


"Ahhh, you think you're slick, huh Doctor Dad?" she asked slyly, looking at him through the corner of her eye. "If you really must know, I feel just fine. Angry, but that's a given. I'm always pissed off at some type of fuckery or another. For instance, my man Edward, here," she said, jerking a thumb toward my direction. "He was getting my Bell all upset by calling her a goddamn liar, and I had to come straighten out the motherfucking situation. Understand? I couldn't just let it get out of hand, and you guys were doing a shit job at comforting her, if I do say so myself."


"Mmm-hmm," he nodded. "And do you think you've suceeded? Is there something else you would like to do?"


"You miss my Bell, huh?" she guessed. Before he could answer, she gave a slight nod. "Not to worry, Bell will come back around soon enough...whenever I let her come back," she said nonchalantly. "You see, I am in charge, and whenever I come around, it's usually for a good fucking reason, ya know. Today's mission was really about giving you all the scoop on me. I think it's safe to say: Mission Accomplished," she smiled. "I made a motherfucking marvelous show of coming out, didn't I? Oh, and that 'hiding' comment?" she started giggling. "You guys should have seen your faces. I really freaked you out on that one," she said laughing.


The mood in the room seemed to have lifted with the sound of Bella's laughter. Erm...Marie's laughter.

Whatever.


"Before I forget, it's been fucking delightful to finally meet you all," she said with a smile that all too soon fell into a haunting frown.

"Even if I do hate you sometimes..." she whispered sadly, while looking at all the vampires before her.


Well, this is disturbing Alice thought at me after a bit of silence.

I gave her a slight nod.


"Bewwa?" Katy called from her spot on Esme's lap.

Marie didn't look towards her though. Her wide-eyed gaze had fixed on the table.


"Bewwa?"

No response.


"Bewwa!" Katy almost screamed.

Bella's eyes started fluttering and she took a deep breath then her eyes flickered over to Katy voice.


"Yeah, munchkin?" Her voice came out in a whisper. She cleared her throat and spoke again, louder this time "What is it Katy?"


"I want Momma..." she started rubbing her eyes. She was getting tired.


Bella sighed and looked around table at all of us. I could see the worry return to her features and I knew my Bella was back. She looked at her watch and said, "Momma won't be here for a little bit longer, ok?" she replied.


Katy immediately starting pouting, "But I want her..." and I could see the beginnings of tears in her eyes.


Bella sighed, closed her eyes and started rubbing her temples. "I know, baby, and I'm sorry. Do you wanna lay down and watch Monsters again? I'm sure Alice's mommy will help you out with that," Bella suggested while looking at Esme.

Esme smiled at Bella and nodded, silently communicating that she would be happy to help Katy out.


"I want you..." Katy said and then yawned at Bella.


"C'mere, gimme kisses, and then go lay down in the other room with Esme."


Katy climb down off of Esme's lap and went over to Bella. Bella scooped her up and they embraced, then Bella gave her a quick peck on the cheek, which Katy returned in the same fashion and then Bella started to put Katy down.

But Katy held on. "No, want you...." Katy whined.


Bella sighed and then spoke in a slightly firm tone. "What did I say? Go with Alice's mommy, she will put on your movie and then you can lay down on the couch."


Katy shook her head while Bella leaned down to place Katy back on the floor. After prying Katy's arms from around her neck, she gave the little girl's bottom a slap. "No arguing," she insisted with a kiss to the top of Katy's head. "Now go, I love you," she said and nodded in the direction of Esme.

Katy sniffled, "Wuv you too..." she replied sadly, then walked out of the room with Esme.


Once they were out of the room, all eyes were on Bella. Again. It was starting to feel a little like deja vu. Except this time, Bella hopped out of her seat and into my lap with a quickness, and latching onto my neck with a fierceness that would have given little Katy a run for her money. Not even a second later I could feel her little body wracking with sobs and her tears wet my skin. She was quiet though. Very quiet. All you could really hear was her hard breathing.

Immediately, on instict, I hugged her tightly to me and started caressing anywhere my hands would reach. I whispered words of love and reassurance in her ear, just comforting her and hoping to stop her crying. It made me want to rip my hair out and scream in frustration that she wouldn't stop crying. I needed her to stop. Needed her to feel better.


"My beautiful girl, I love you," I told her softly. "Sweetheart, it's ok. Really. I know, okay? I know about Marie, everyone does now, and it's okay. Nothing's going to change, I'm not going anywhere and I still love you," I kissed the top of her head.


She finally lifted up her head to gaze into my eyes. What I saw there broke my heart. So much pain, worry, and just fucking defeat haunted those chocolate depths and tears were constantly pouring out of them and streaming down her rosy cheeks.

Bella sniffled and then asked in a weak voice, "You promise?"


I kissed her runny pink, button nose then looked into her beautiful eyes. "I swear it, baby," I vowed.