Chapter 20

The following morning Isaac managed to take a nice, hot shower, easing the pain in his body. Every single part of his body hurt, and while he’d been through worse – electrical burns were a pain in the ass and he’d been in hospital then, this was far more painful. No morphine to keep him happily sedated.

He had thrown away his clothes and managed to get into a pair of sweats and a shirt before starting to make breakfast for himself and Bella. And the coffee, like he usually did every morning. It was strange to see an half empty bottle of whiskey standing on the table, or he thought it was whiskey, could have been really dark piss, but it smelled like alcohol and it didn’t have a label on it.

He took a swig from the bottle and blinked at the taste. It was delicious! He took another one, and maybe it was wrong to drink without having something to eat, but werewolves couldn’t get drunk, so no harm done there. He started to make the sandwiches and turned on the coffee maker, but by the time the coffee was done, he was wobbling on his feet as he had taken a few more swigs of the bottle.

It was numbing his pain, which was good, and whomever created this had a brilliant mind. He brought breakfast over to the table before sitting down and preferring the alcohol over the coffee while he nibbled on his sandwich. Oh yeah, the buzz was fantastic. He had eaten all the sandwiches and felt guilty, he was supposed to leave a few for Bella to eat! He got up with a whine, took the bottle with him and attempted to walk over to the fridge to get some more cold cuts out.

He tripped over his own feet, however, landing on the floor not so graciously, hurting himself again, but he couldn’t help but laugh at his own antics as he managed to sit up against the fridge and drank some more to drown out the new pain from his fall. Gracious, he was not.

“Hey uhm… Bella?” he called out to her. “Are you… like uh… awake?” Isaac then let out a giggle. He’d never been a lightweight even before he turned into a werewolf, what was in this shit?

Bella waddled out of her bedroom, her head feeling heavy as fuck, truly hungover but remembering everything she and Peter discussed the previous day and blinked when she saw Isaac sitting against the fridge with that whiskey in his hands. “Did you drink that?”

He took another swig from the bottle. “Correction; I am drinking this because it numbs my pain!”

“What are you doing on the floor?” she asked as she sat down next to him and took the bottle from him.

“I tripped,” he let out a snort. “That’s some serious stuff,” he said as he pointed at the bottle. “Where did you get it?”

“Peter and Jasper made it for us creatures who can’t get drunk the normal way,” she replied as she took a sip from the bottle and then set it aside. “But you shouldn’t be drinking, Isaac.”

“But it was there! And I ate all the sandwiches so I needed to make you new ones!”

“You’re not supposed to be on your feet. Not until Peter says so.”

“Peter can suck his own dick,” Isaac muttered with a sigh and tried to get up but failed. “Ah, I’ll just stay down here then.”

“Do your arms still hurt?” She asked him as she got back to her feet, ready to pull him up as she held out her hand. She saw the cogs working in Isaac’s head before he took her hand with his left arm so she could pull him to his feet. She was quick enough to steady him before he’d fall over again, and helped him to sit down in the chair again. “It sucks that you’ve numbed your pain, you know, I would have loved to know how you’re doing.”

“I’m fine,” he smiled at her. “Truly. I can walk, and once Peter says I can, I’ll turn and make me heal a bit faster.”

“I’d rather you take your time and don’t force anything, you have all the time in the world,” she said as she took a sip of her coffee. Yeah, the decision to have an expensive coffee maker in their apartment had been a great idea, it was very good for the soul. “Just take it easy, chill.”

“I’m in pain, Bella, I want it to go away,” he said as he glared at her, but he looked more like a puppy with his head cocked instead of threatening.

Bella hummed for an answer as she took a sip of her coffee, looking at him. “So, Peter got me drunk last night and I had an information overload, but that was necessary.”

“Do I need to be drunk for this?”

She shrugged then. “I’d rather not, because then you’ll fall over again. Drink your coffee, and until I find you’ve sobered up enough, you’re going to let me talk.” Bella fed him about five cups of coffee before he had sobered up somewhat, and she was confident that he’d retain the information she was about to give him.

“I’m going to kill Peter,” he mumbled after Bella had told him everything she had learned the previous night. The Cullens on the prowl, Peter advising to have Derek over… The truck being completely dead and not salvageable… “And I need to apologize to Jer when he gets back.” Oh yeah, because Isaac had been an idiot and not checked himself over for wounds, Jeremy died, and then came back again, but that wasn’t the point. He still died.

“Look, Peter believes that we can’t take on the Cullens by ourselves, which is why Derek is coming over. Just him. Argent is going to babysit. Yes, we have our new friends who could help us out, too, but maybe it’s not such a bad idea to have him here. You said it yourself, he’s no longer an Alpha, but he’s strong and capable.”

“I still don’t like the idea.”

“And you’re still hurting, so if the Cullens would arrive like today, you’d be incapable of fighting,” Bella said as she rose to her feet and ruffled his hair. “Come on, let’s get you back to bed.”

“I could just tu-”

“No turning until Peter says you can,” she said as she swatted him on his head. “Bed. Now. I’m going to take a shower and then I’ll be getting dressed. No more alcohol for you, either. Got that?”

~o.O.o~

Around lunch time, Peter came up to the apartment to get Bella and Isaac to join Myriam and Caroline downstairs for lunch while they waited for the arrival of Alaric and Jeremy. Isaac was doing a lot better, and, under the cautious eye of Peter, was allowed to turn or partially turn to speed up the healing process.

It had sounded like a bad idea, but when Isaac emerged from his bedroom, he looked significantly better; there was more color on his face than that morning, too.

A lot more coherent, too. The first thing he did was to give Peter a hug. “Thank you, man, you know, for saving my ass.”

“Anytime, Isaac. I could hardly leave my best employee stranded and left to die.”

Isaac then let go of him and punched his friend in the face, fracturing the bones in his hand again upon impact. “And that’s for telling Bella stuff without me, stuff that I don’t like!”

“It’s just Derek, dude. He’s her brother, and your beef with him is from a long time ago; get over it.”

Isaac growled at him then before realizing why he had been woken up. “Did someone say something about food?”

Bella punched his arm before looping her arm through his and started to lead him out of the apartment. “You’re feeling better then?”

“Oh yeah, loads,” he nodded. “Still not completely back to normal but turning definitely helped to give that extra push, you know. I’m really sorry for what happened. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You could have died.”

“Every mission has-”

“You could have died, Isaac,” she said again as she stopped walking and looked at him. “And I wasn’t kidding when I said you were grounded.”

“She’s right about that,” Peter said as he passed the two to give them some privacy. He knew that Bella still had to talk to Isaac about something important and he didn’t need to be there for that.

“But…”

“We help people. Here,” she motioned around her. “Peter has his ways to have the right people know about this place. You’re staying put.”

He looked at her for a moment, worry and pain all across her face and he couldn’t help but relent. For now. “Fine.” Yeah, he had worried her. Of course he had worried her, but it was what he did, did she really want him to stop? Solely focus on the B&B and food? Only play defense? He was going to be so bored out of his skull!

She wasn’t entirely convinced with his answer, but it was a start. At least he was coherent and back in his own mind so she could talk to him about something else, later. Although she was now wondering if maybe, just maybe, it was better to put it off. “Come, let’s join our friends for lunch. I was very thankful for Myriam and Caroline being here after your accident. There is no doubt that they’re wondering how you’re doing.”

“There he is, sleeping beauty!” Myriam grinned as she greeted him by raising a cup of coffee. “Good to see you up and walking, Isaac, you had us worried.”

Isaac stumbled slightly when Caroline rushed to him and hugged him tightly. “Woah, easy… Not completely healed yet…”

“Yes, and this is why Bella should have allowed me or Myriam to have given you our blood, so you’d heal up faster,” Caroline said as she playfully hit him on the head. “Our blood heals people, you know.”

“Now that’s just gross,” Isaac muttered as he had managed to pry Caroline off of him and sat down at the table. “I heal fast as it is… really don’t need your blood to help with that, sorry Caroline, but blood is gross.”

“Yeah, that’s what she said. On top of the fact that you hadn’t told her everything about your kind of wolf and all,” Caroline smirked at him.

“I did!”

“Not when it comes to wolfsbane and mistletoe, only the fucking basics,” Bella muttered as she sat down next to Isaac and poured herself a coffee. “So that will be something you’re going to teach me, and otherwise I’ll ask Derek,” she then looked at the other girls. “Who, by the way, is coming and we’re going to have to have a talk with Klaus, too. And Alaric, and Jeremy.”

“Oh, interesting,” Myriam smiled, intrigued. “What do you need my man for?”

“His help for when the Cullens come here to party.”

Myriam smirked then as she shot off a message to her boyfriend. “I think he’ll gladly leave New Orleans for that, and he might take some of his siblings and vampires with him.”

“Him and some of his siblings would suffice,” Peter said as he walked into the restaurant. “We wouldn’t want to risk drawing the attention of the hunters now, would we? Because while they’d love a fight, chances are that once we’re through with the Cullens, they’d come after us.”

“Wait, when are they coming?” Isaac asked as he took one of the sandwiches off the plate. Bella had said that Peter hadn’t known, but Peter was known not to say too much about things because things could still change. He still hated Peter for suggesting Derek to come as well, but on the other hand, Derek was a good fighter. Strong. Even as a beta. And Derek had experience with being an Alpha and with Bella having no experience at all, it would be nice for her to spend some time with her brother.

Isaac finally trusted Bella enough to know that she’d never turn into an asshole. He vaguely remembered her laying with him in bed, taking his pain away, and she’d been so gentle. But then again, that could have been his feverish mind. He still found it strange that he was back in a pack, a pack of two, but he knew that it had saved him after the accident. Isaac knew he should have died while the car tumbled down that side of the mountain. However, he would never admit that to Bella because she’d get really angry.

“I can’t exactly say when, all I know is that they’re coming. Rather sooner than later. You know very well that what I do isn’t quite exact science, Isaac,” he said with a sigh. “But what I do know is that Jasper is close with Alaric and Jeremy. He sent me a text message,” he added as he waved his phone around.

“I’m just glad they’re okay,” Caroline said with a nod. “I’ve asked the girls if they put a spell on their dad after he told them he’d be gone for a few days and that I wouldn’t be mad if they had and… well, I ended up hugging them because they had saved their dad. Not that I told them that he was in an accident, because that would have upset them… but they shouldn’t have done it… but I’m happy about it… I can’t be mad at them for this.”

“Yeah, neither can I,” Alaric’s voice sounded, causing Caroline to squeal and hug him tightly. “They’ll be getting all the ice cream they want for the next week,” he laughed as he returned the hug.

“Hey man, glad to see you up and around,” Jeremy smiled at Isaac. “You look a lot better than you did yesterday!”

“Yeah… I’m really sorry guys… about what happened. I should have known better,” Isaac apologized.

“Hey, it’s also on us,” Alaric said after Caroline let go of him. “We should have checked each other over for wounds before leaving the way that we did.”

Jasper walked in behind them with a box of pastries they picked up in Richmond for lunch. “But at least that Ikiryō is safe, right? I think that’s all that-”

Bella growled at Jasper and dug the nails of her transformed hand into her seat. “That’s not all that matters, Jasper, and you know that!”

He blinked at her for a moment as he picked up on her feelings before looking at Peter. “They haven’t had the talk yet?”

“He’s her beta now, I think that’s a step in the right direction,” Peter replied all smug as he stepped closer to his friend. “But you need to be careful what you’re saying, she’s still not happy with you around, but we’re going to need you for when the Cullens come.”

“What?” Jasper looked at his brother. “They’re coming?”

“Emmett and Rosalie are on their way too, for protection and helping to get rid of the rest of them,” he said before turning to Bella and Isaac. “Hey, maybe you two should go to the mayor and give her a heads up that a bunch of vampires are coming to town. Ones that are sparkly and might attract some attention.”

“Oh no,” Bella shook her head. “You go. You’re our boss, you go. And while you’re at it, go have a chat with our sheriff, who’s not happy with more supernaturals in town.”

“Well, we could all avoid this by going some place less secure, to keep the humans of Mystic Falls happy,” Peter shrugged. “It’s not too late to divert your brother to some other place, either.”

“Pack your bags, you two, we’re going to New Orleans,” Myriam smiled widely. “Klaus has enough room for sleepovers, and if not, I know places you can stay. It’s like the most secure place there is, loads of vampires for protection and New Orleans is used to supernatural warfare.”

Bella looked at her friends and slowly nodded. It was the better option. For Mystic Falls and for her, because while she invited Derek over, she wasn’t really sure yet about opening her new home for him. A place that she and Isaac still had to get used to themselves. “Only if Klaus doesn’t mind,” she pointed out, but Myriam already handed Bella her phone with the conversation showing that Klaus would rather have them come to New Orleans to keep Mystic Falls safe, too. “Well, okay then,” she let out a breath as she took her phone and texted her brother that they were going to New Orleans instead, and that he needed to go there himself.

I am not going anywhere near you and Isaac until you’ve talked about your… situation. That was my plan for coming to Mystic Falls too. Only arrive when you’ve talked about it. Did you two manage to do that yet?

“Motherfucker,” Bella scowled as she gently elbowed Isaac. “We can’t leave, apparently, not until we’ve talked, so let’s go to our home.”

“Is it something I did?” Isaac wondered out loud as he followed her back upstairs. “I mean… it’s not something bad, is it? We’re good, right? Are you having second thoughts? Already?”

Oh, of course his head went straight for the anxiety and his issues with trust and that same anxiety. “No, Isaac, it’s not something bad. Don’t worry, but we do need to talk about something but without them.” She gently took his hand as she continued to lead him up the stairs.

Oh god, what if her admission would send him running?

2 Comments:

  1. Oh boy she just needs to kiss him and tell him she’s in love with him!

  2. Just tell him you suck with words then grab him a kiss the hell out of him. Loved it thank you for the awesome update.

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