Ch - 2

"We're going to be late."

"We are not going to be late. What's up with you?"

"We so are. And nothing's wrong."

"You're such a poor liar and honestly, Carlisle, you should be friends with Charlie," Callie finished brushing her light blonde hair, putting in in a loose bun for work. "The both of you fuss the same way." She then followed Carlisle downstairs.

"Since I know you didn't prepare your lunch, here." Esme handed her a lunch bag as Callie was gulping down her second cup of coffee of the morning.

"You are godsend." Callie kissed the other woman's cheek, before noticing how quiet the house was. "Where are the kids?" They might have decades on her but they were still kids in her eyes.

"It's the first day of school."

"Oh, right! I completely forgot." Callie hit her forehead. "I have to send Bella a good luck text."

"Do it from the car," Carlisle didn't even leave her the time to reply before she was strapped in the car, her work bag and lunch bag in her hands.

Ignoring her laughter, Carlisle started the car towards the hospital. "You're such a stickler for the rules," she laughed. "We don't even have patients until later in the day, I've checked your schedule."

"Still, we have to be on time at work. It's common courtesy." Came the silvery reply.

Callie narrowed her eyes at the man in the driver's seat. "You're hiding something." She mused, opening her calendar to see if she'd missed something. "But nothing's happe— oh .. oh!" Noticing the date, Callie fell over in another fit of laughter, her husky voice echoing in the car. "I'm guessing Alice put you all up to this because they're never at school this early. You're preparing something for my birthday, aren't you?" She had forgotten today was her birthday.

Carlisle's mouth tightened, his gaze evading hers. He did that every time he had to lie to someone close to him.

"Fine, fine, I won't ask more," light chuckles still evaded her. "And promise, I will act surprised tonight."

"... Thanks."

Before Carlisle parked in the usual spot, Callie sent Bella a good luck text, smiling at her niece's birthday wishes. She also quickly replied to Charlie, telling him she'd join them for dinner after Bella was out of school to celebrate her birthday early.

"Don't wait for me tonight," she warned Carlisle. "Charlie's picking me up for a birthday dinner with Bella but I'll be home on time for Alice's surprise."

Carlisle shook his head, quietly laughing. "You know, we should all be glad it's Edward that can read minds and not Alice." Callie's laughter echoed in the car.

"That mischievous little one would wreak havoc with a gift like that."

≛

After a tiring day at work, Callie changed out of her scrubs, took a quick shower in the doctors' bathroom and told Charlie she was ready. While waiting downstairs, she noticed a missed call from Edward and decided to call him back as she waited for her brother.

"Hey Ed', I just saw your missed call. Did something happen?" The Cullens didn't usually call her. They just dashed to wherever she was, if she was alone, and they would communicate like that. Forks was not a big town anyways and she rarely hung out with people so they could do that with ease.

"Isabella ... Bella's your niece, right?" Came a hesitant voice on the other end. Edward was many things but timid wasn't one of them. Callie's heart tightened as Charlie's police car stopped in front of her. She bent down, holding a finger up to tell Charlie to wait while she finished the call.

"Yeah that's her, why, what's up?"

"She makes me uncomfortable," He confessed. "I'll tell you more at home but Carlisle told me you had a dinner with her and Charlie soon, can you not tell her about our family?"

Callie heaved a small, relieved sigh. She'd expected the worst. "That I can do." She promised, wondering what her niece had to do with Edward since he did not mix with other students.

After a few more seconds of chit-chat, Callie hung up and climbed into Charlie's cruiser. "Hey, big bro," kissing his cheek.

"Happy birthday, Cal'," Charlie kissed her forehead with a smile, something her late dad always did and her brother took over when he died. "Ready for a dinner with your niece?"

Callie shrugged. "I'm not the one scared by the teen in my home, Charlie. I'm good." She smiled at his grimace, she loved teasing him. Charlie was a good dad but she was amused by how flustered he got when dealing with his own daughter when he was ok with Forks' other teens.

"Teenagers scare me," Charlie grumbled, his eyes alert on the road.

Callie was looking through his stuff to see if he had a mint. "Correction, Bella's the only teen that scares you," she finally found a new mint, removing the paper and eating it. "I don't get why. She's pretty easy to deal with."

"She was easy to deal with when she was nine and didn't have much expectations," Charlie mused. "Now she's all doom and gloom, and the small town where it rains three hundred days a year is probably not helping."

"Charlie she's young but not that young," Callie grabbed his arm, squeezing it in comfort. "And she chose to come back to our rainy town of her own volition. It's only been a few days so let her adjust herself to Forks and if she's still all doom and gloom, you'll adjust, you're good at that."

Comforted, Charlie parked in front of his house and honked to call Bella down. A big red truck caught Callie's eye and her brow arched. "Isn't that truck Billy's?"

"It is," Charlie gave a small smile. "I bought it for Bella and Jacob worked on it before she arrived."

Callie frowned in slight disgust. "And she liked it?" One could never catch her in that death trap.

Charlie pinched her nose. "You're such a fancy pants. I'll have you know that she loves it." Callie made a face at him but before the pair of siblings could bicker some more, Bella awkwardly walked out of the house, struggling to close the front door.

Staring at the more grown-up brunette girl with the same awkward demeanor, a twinkle lit up in her eyes. "I see she's still the same old Bella," she tittered before she climbed out of the car, waiting for her niece to come closer before she pulled her in a hug. "Hey, Bells."

Bella hesitantly patted her back before she pulled back from the hug with a forced smile. "Hi, aunt Callie."

All these little actions entered Callie's eyes but she kept a smile on her face, ushering Bella in the backseat so that Charlie could drive them to the restaurant. Internally, Callie was reminded why she did not like kids. They were not cute at all. It wasn't long before the small Swan party were at the local restaurant, a nice greasy meal in front of them. Callie rewarded herself with a nice glass of wine since she had to deal with keeping the conversation going with the two awkward sticks in front of her. Leave it to Charlie to have a child just as quiet as him.

"So, Bella, how was your first day of school?" Callie inquired.

"Um- it was nice."

Callie glared at Charlie. She'd tried to engage with her niece for half an hour without much results now. While Charlie was gloating, she had to admit Bella was indeed difficult to speak to.

"Made any new friends?" Charlie asked, saving his sister from the suffocating atmosphere.

If anyone saw their table, they would think the siblings were asking Bella to give her first child to the devil. "Uh- yeah, um- a couple of kids are nice ... those who talked to me, anyways."

Callie did not pry further. She didn't want to carelessly expose her relationship with the Cullens to Bella after Edward's call.

"Dad .. do you, uh, do you know the Cullens?"

At Bella's query, Callie rolled her eyes at herself. It was just her luck to mentally jinx herself. And since her idiot brother couldn't get her signals, he nodded at Callie. "I don't know much about them personally but your aunt's pretty good friends with them, she's living in their house right now, why?"

Bella turned her gaze to Callie, her eyes shining for the first time since they'd picked her up. Callie arched her brow, gripping her fork, a bit miffed. It seemed like this niece of hers found her aunt uninteresting until she could get help from her.

"Why do you ask?" Callie's voice was low as she calmly proceeded to eat the rest of her hamburger plate.

"Um- nothing," Bella was intimidated by Callie's piercing stare. The blonde woman looked inviting until she didn't. "Hey, aunt Callie, we should um- we should have a girls trip one of these days, to catch up on the years I was away." Her excuse was so bizarre that even Charlie frowned.

"I'm pretty busy with the hospital and the practice," Callie hummed. "But we'll see." showing a tight-lipped smile.

The dinner quickly came to an end after that, with Callie repeatedly assuring Charlie that the Cullens would pick her up so he could get Bella home. She didn't miss how focused her niece was on their conversation and with a scowl, she sent the father-daughter pair away.

When Charlie's car couldn't be seen anymore, she felt a gust of wind and looked to her left. Rose was there to pick her up.

"Yay, a Rose ride," Callie childishly clapped her hands, easing the perpetual frown on the other blonde's face. "Is Ed' feeling better?"

"Much better," Rose picked her up princess style, used to this mode of transport. "He wanted to make a trip to the Denalis for a few days but we managed to convince him otherwise."

Callie's heart skipped a beat. That serious? Edward had told her that he made a trip to the Denali Coven only once since he'd become a vampire and that was because he'd lost his hold on bloodlust. But now, her own niece elected that reaction out of him.

She had to get to the bottom of this affair before it cost her her family and friends.