Chapter 3: Scars

Quick throwback to the previous chapter 'Grandpa'. The last thought was Renesmee running to ask Bella about her scar. singergurlxoxo wanted to see the outcome of that conversation, so, here it is!

“And if you should forget me for a while, and afterwards remember, do not grieve. Better by far you should forget and smile, than remember and be sad.”

Momma closed the poetry book gently and smiled at me. “There. All done. Now, I think it's time for you to get some sleep.”

I pouted, and she laughed softly. “Come on darling. We have to be up early tomorrow to go to the airport, and it's already past your bedtime.”

I smiled with her as I remembered the trip we were taking to Grandma's island for the summer. Then I remembered something else; a question I had been meaning to ask her since yesterday.

“Momma, what happened to your scar?”

She looked at me, her eyes wide with surprise. “What do you mean?”

I touched her arm, showing her my talk with Gramps, and the photo he showed me. Then I took her left hand and held it up, tracing a line on her skin where the curved mark should have been.

“Ah,” she sighed, understanding. “I don't know exactly what happened to it. It just disappeared after I was changed. Maybe it's still there, just too faint to see, or maybe the venom healed it completely. I guess we'll never know. Either way, it's gone now, and you don't have to worry about it.”

“Where did it come from?” I asked.

Momma huffed; she obviously wanted to close the subject, but I wasn't near done yet. “Didn't Gramps tell you this?”

“He said a vampire bit you, and Daddy sucked the venom out. That's all. I want to know who the vampire was. Why did they bite you? How did they get close enough? Oh please Momma, tell me the story!”

She sighed again. “If I tell you, will you go to sleep afterwards?”

I nodded.

“Promise?”

She held out her little finger, and I linked mine with it. “Pinky promise. Now tell me!” I bounced excitedly and she laughed.

“Ok, ok. Calm down. Now, where do I start?” She tapped her chin thoughtfully.

“The beginning, silly. Where else would you start?” I giggled.

She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. “Of course. The beginning. Well, it was just after your father and I first got together...”
As I sat enthralled by her words, Momma told me the story of how she had gone to watch the family play baseball and had thereby come to the attention of an evil vampire named James, and his coven mates Laurent and Victoria. She told me how she had run away to her old home in Phoenix with Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper, while Daddy, Gramps and Uncle Em had gone after James, and Gran and Aunt Rosie had stayed in Forks to protect Grandpa from Victoria. She told me how James managed to find her, and tricked her into thinking he had Grandma Renee so she would come to him, and she told me about Emmet and Jasper killing him, and Daddy and Gramps saving her life.

“And that's how I got my scar.” she finished.

I sat silent for a moment, taking it all in. Then I frowned.

“But what about the others? Laurent and Victoria, what happened to them?”

Momma sighed sadly. “Well, as I said, Laurent went to live with Tanya in Alaska for a little while. But he had trouble living our lifestyle, so, I assume, he left them. He was still friendly with Victoria, and she asked him to come here and see if the Cullens were still protecting me. You see, Victoria and James were mates, and she wanted to avenge his death. But, rather than kill Daddy, she thought it would be more fair to kill me, and make him feel what she felt.”

I gasped, and she nodded.

“I know darling. Anyway, Laurent came to Forks, and found the big house empty.”

I frowned. “Empty? Why was it empty? Where was everybody?”

“They left.” she said simply.

“Why?”

Momma cringed. “Daddy thought I would be safer if I weren't around vampires. The whole family left Forks for about seven months, and it was during that time that Laurent came back. There was no one there to protect me, and I happened to meet up with him in the forest. I went looking for a place Daddy took me too once. I found it, and Laurent found me. He was going to kill me, not for Victoria, but simply because he was thirsty.”

My eyes were wide. “But if Daddy wasn't there, who saved you?”

She smiled. “The pack. It was around that time that Jacob and Embry first became wolves, and they, along with Sam, Jared and Paul, chased Laurent away and caught him, and made sure he could never hurt anyone again.”

“Yey Jakey!” I cheered, and Momma laughed. I pursed my lips then, remembering the reason Laurent was in Forks. “What about Victoria? Did she really come looking for you?”

Momma nodded. “She began to build an army of newborns, very young, very strong vampires, in Seattle. She was sloppy though, and there was no control among them. Stories of killings and disappearances were all over the news, and that warned us that they were coming, even though she was deliberately not making decisions so that Alice couldn't see her. Our family joined forces with the pack to fight them, but I convinced your father to stay with me instead of fighting. I made a trail to the baseball field, so that the newborns would come to where we wanted them, then Jacob carried me to our camp-site so the wouldn't smell me and find us, and Daddy went another way to meet us there. Unfortunately, Victoria, coming to watch the fight, crossed his trail. She knew we would be together, and she came to find us, bringing her second in command Riley with her.”

“What happened?” I asked, fascinated.

She smiled. “Daddy and Seth fought them, and won. The rest of the family and the other wolves won the fight against the newborns as well, and we never had to worry about them ever again.”

“They're dead then?”

“Yes baby, they're all dead.”

I considered this for a moment. “Good. People like that shouldn't be aloud to live and keep killing people. It's not right.”

Momma smiled at me. “I know darling. But the fact is, that is the way most of our kind live. I wish it were different, and I wish we could change their minds, but it just isn't possible.”

I sighed. “I guess you're right. Thank you for telling me your story.”

“You're welcome darling. Now, time for you to go to sleep.”

I snuggled down under the covers, and she kissed me goodnight. I fell asleep to dreams of Daddy fighting evil vampires, and Jacob chasing them through the woods in his wolf form.

I slept very well that night.

Chapter 2: Grandpa

This chapter was suggested by Black Phoenix-2009 and Konekoko
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“Gramps?” I asked timidly, peeking my nose around the office door. I wasn’t supposed to interrupt Gramps when he was working, but I had a rather urgent question I wanted to ask him.

He looked up from the papers on his desk, smiling at me warmly.

“What is it Ness?”

I entered the room and closed the door behind me. Not that it would make much difference. There weren’t that many people in the house- in fact I think it was only me, Gramps, Grandma Esme and Jake- and they all had hearing strong enough to hear us, but a closed door made it more private.

“I was just wondering... a few things.” I felt very embarrassed, and hoped I wouldn’t sound silly. “I can go away if you’re busy.”

Gramps laughed. “It’s nothing that can’t wait a little. What’s on your mind?”

He patted his lap, and I bounced over to sit in it.

“Well... I was wondering... why is Grandpa so different from us? I mean, I know he’s human, but so is Jake - sort of - and they’re so different too.” I felt myself flushing. “I don’t know how to explain it right.”

He laughed again. “You still don’t know why Daddy told you not to bite him, do you?”

I shook my head and blushed deeper. “Not really. I can bite Jake any time I want.” I backtracked quickly. “Not that I do that so much any more.” I wasn’t a baby; I didn’t need feeding, and most of the biting was down to impatience when I was hungry.

Gramps looked at me in a way I didn’t entirely understand. His smile dropped, and he looked very serious.

“You have to understand, Nessie,” he said, “Grandpa and Jake may both be human, but Jake is a shape shifter, while Grandpa is completely ordinary. Jake will heal fast, so your bites don’t make a difference, but Grandpa would take a long time to heal, and he would always have a scar from it.”

I frowned. “What’s a scar?”

He chuckled, but the serious look did not entirely leave his face.

“A scar is a mark on a person’s skin when they have a very serious cut. It’s something that never goes away. Here, look...”

He pulled out a little photo album from the shelf above the desk. It seemed lost among the medical journals and history books. This was a personal one, full of family photos he liked to have close.

Gramps flipped the book open to a page dominated by a photo of my parents, standing side by side. Daddy wore a black suit with a white shirt. Momma was dressed in a light blue chiffon dress. Flowers were pinned in her hair, and she smiled at the camera while Daddy kissed her cheek.

Gramps pointed to a spot on the picture. “See that?”

I leaned in a little, my keen vision focusing in on the place he pointed to; her left hand. A little curve marked the skin there, shining slightly in the light.

“What is it?” I asked.

“That is a scar that your mom had right up until she was changed. A vampire bit her there, and, even though your dad sucked the venom out, the mark his teeth left stayed there.”

My brain whirred as I put the pieces together. It suddenly all made sense. Grandpa was something so entirely different from us, and from Jake, something that wouldn’t affect us could have a devastating effect on him.

“But why?” I whispered. “Why are they so different?”

Gramps sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t think anyone does. It’s all very complicated.”

I gave him a quick hug. “Thanks Gramps. For trying. I’ll let you get back to work now.”

He smiled as I jumped down and ran out the door.

I wanted to ask Momma about that scar on her hand.

Chapter 1: Mommy

Hey guys!

Welcome to the Nessie's Questions blog! This is a repost of my Twilight FanFiction, found here on FF.net. It's just something that was floating around in my brain randomly and I thought I would put it up.

To make it a little more fun, I let you guys help me out. How, you ask? Well, this is basically a series of one-shots about Nessie discovering the world around her. And I want you guys to suggest some ideas via comments. Just give me a question, and who Nessie is asking, and I’ll do the rest.

Hope you like it!

Glitterb

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To start us off, here’s Nessie asking Edward about what Bella used to be like.

Daddy sat at his piano, playing softly. It was something I had never heard before; he must be writing again.

I loved listening to Daddy play. It was so peaceful, so restful, watching him get utterly lost in the music. My very favourite song was Mommy’s lullaby. If I closed my eyes, I could imagine Mommy and Daddy together, dancing on big puffy clouds.

Though he didn’t turn around, I knew he could hear me, because the song he was playing turned into the lullaby I had been thinking about, and he glanced over his shoulder at me.

“Hi Ness,” he said, smiling brightly, “Not hunting with Momma?”

I shook my head. Not thirsty. I thought.

“Why don’t you come over here?”

I skipped lightly across the room and scrambled up onto the piano stool beside him. I leaned my head on his arm, watching his hands dance across the keys.

“Daddy?” I asked, making the effort to speak aloud. I didn’t want this conversation to be one sided.

“Yeah baby?”

“What was Momma like? When she was human, I mean.”

He looked down at me, an odd expression on his face. “She was pretty much the same as she is now. She hasn’t really changed that much.”

I frowned. “But she must have changed somewhere. She doesn’t look the same, that’s for sure.” I pulled out my only memory of a human Mommy, comparing it to how she looked now.

Daddy laughed softly. “No, she doesn’t look the same. But she wasn’t exactly in the best shape when you saw her.”

I smiled. He carried on playing until the song drifted to a close, then pulled me onto his lap. I snuggled into his chest, happy to have his arms wrapped around me.

“Tell me about her.” I whispered. I closed my eyes and put my hand on his neck, showing him a blank canvas, ready for a picture.

He was quiet for a moment before he began.

“Well... imagine her the way she looks now.”

I did that, painting a beautiful portrait of my mother, sparkling in the sunshine.

“Ok. Well, for starters, she didn’t sparkle before.”

I giggled, and took away the sparkle.

“Her skin was a little darker than it is now, but not very much. She was always pale. When she would blush...” he sighed. “Her skin was like cream and roses; absolutely beautiful.”

My picture shifted; Mommy’s skin changed, so it was pale, but not stark white, with a light pink blush across her cheeks like the one on mine. Daddy sighed again, a happy, contented sound, so I knew I had it right. I continued to tweak the vision as he spoke.

“She was softer too, not so many harsh lines. Her mouth was the same; the way her lips are a little mismatched. Her hair was the same too, though not so thick. When the sun shone on it, you could see little red highlights. And her eyes...”

He touched my cheek, and I opened my eyes to look at him. He was smiling happily, looking right into my eyes.

“You have her eyes exactly,” he whispered. “Whenever I look at you, I see her echoed in them.”

My eyes closed again, and I finished the picture, swapping her golden eyes for my own.

“Did I get it right?” I asked.

Daddy chuckled. “Yes, you did.” Then his voice turned dreamy. “That’s exactly right.”

I smiled, and my picture smiled too, the smile from my memory; adoring and sweet.

He sighed again. “Perfect,” he breathed.

I snuggled closer to Daddy, my eyes still closed, letting my mind wander. My picture grew, so that it was not just of Mommy’s face but her whole body. I made her dance with Daddy, floating on a cloud.

Daddy chuckled. “She never liked dancing. Your mother was one of the clumsiest people I have ever met. She would quite literally trip over her own feet sometimes. You know,” his voice turned teasing, “she was more afraid of prom than vampires.” He chuckled again, and I laughed with him, imagining it. I couldn’t quite put together what he was telling me. Trying to picture my gorgeous, graceful mother falling over all the time was like trying to imagine a bird that cannot fly.

“Do you miss it?” I asked quietly. “You know, the way she used to look.”

“No,” he said, decided. “I love your mother now more than ever. She has never been more beautiful to me. She will always be my Bella.”

I smiled and opened my eyes. “And she’ll always be my Momma.”

He laughed. “Yes she will. Now, how about we go see where she’s got to?”

I jumped up, grabbing his hand and pulling him with me out the back door. I couldn’t wait to show Mommy my new picture.