Love Comes from Unexpected Places

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Curious Alice

Sophia smiled settling Mia down for bed, the blonde hadn't been anywhere near her cousin and the vampire since Charlie had come home. 

Sophia had done her best to comfort Charlie but she felt so useless and on edge because of Alice; the blonde knew that Victoria had done a lot more damage than she had thought. 

Sophia made sure that Mia was warm enough before she padded over to her bed and sat down, she was wearing a navy racer back lounge top and golden feather PJ pants since she wanted to relax a little while she could. 

Sophia had spoken briefly with Paul and she couldn't have been more worried about the news that with Alice staying at the Swan house that the pack were unable to protect her and Mia. 

Bella didn't even seem to notice the trouble that Alice was causing just by sticking around, it was almost like she didn't care that the vampire had abandoned her for six months. 

"Knock, knock... I brought you some hot chocolate," Alice announced stepping into Sophia's bedroom with a sweet smile on her face, she had come to check on the blonde who seemed to be avoiding her for some odd reason. 

Bella had been so happy to see her that Alice didn't know why Sophia wasn't more welcoming; she knew that her best friend would only have nice things to say about her even if she had left her behind. 

"No thanks," Sophia said eyeing Alice warily, she didn't trust the vampire and she never would; she wanted nothing to do with her and she couldn't wait for Alice to leave. 

Alice frowned watching at Sophia, she didn't understand why the blonde was so unwelcoming to her; she blamed the wolves for turning Sophia against her. 

"Listen whatever the pack have said..." Alice started knowing that she needed to clear the air with Sophia, she didn't want to cause any problems between the two cousins while she was just visiting.

"The pack have nothing to do with my dislike for you and your family. It was like night of the living dead around here after you left. I still hear her screaming in her sleep every night..." Sophia said with a shake of her head.

Sophia knew her cousin had avoided telling her so-called best friend about what she had really been like in the six months that the Cullens had been gone. 

Sophia wasn't going to hold back and she knew that the vampire needed to know just how much she had broken Bella when they had all walked away without looking back. 

"It was that bad?" Alice whispered looking at Sophia, she carefully held the mug of hot chocolate in her hands as she realised that there were things that Bella hadn't told her when she had asked her about school and such. 

Alice had thought that her friend would have healed after what had happened between her and Edward; that she would carry on with her life instead of shutting down. 

"My mother told Uncle Charlie to have her sectioned. It's not normal and it... it frightens me as a parent. It wasn't like someone left her, but like someone died," Sophia explained looking over at Mia, she didn't know what she would ever do if something like that happened to her daughter; she didn't think she could be that strong like her uncle was. 

Alice's golden eyes flickered to the sleeping infant, she still didn't know much about Sophia and Bella hadn't been willing to tell her much about her or the baby. 

"I've been in Forks for just over a month now and she's only just started to pull herself together. You being here isn't good for her," Sophia said shaking her head, she wasn't worried about what the vampire thought of her only the damage that was going to be done. 

Alice looked at Sophia as she realised that the blonde was right, her staying would cause more trouble than good; especially now she knew what Bella had really been like while they had been gone. 

"We didn't mean for this to happen," Alice whispered looking at Sophia apologetically, she was glad that Bella had someone like Sophia around since she clearly needed someone to help her. 

Sophia scoffed knowing that she didn't care about any of that, she didn't want the vampire thinking that she could just come and go when she pleased. 

"Like you didn't intend for her to be targeted by Victoria... the leech nearly killed me two days ago," Sophia snapped glaring at the vampire, the Cullens had left a mess behind when they had abandoned Bella and they were going to face the consequences for it. 

Charlie only seemed to hold Edward responsible since he had been the one to break up with Bella, however Sophia held them all accountable for what had happened to her cousin. 

"Victoria's back?" Alice whispered in horror wondering how she hadn't known about this, she knew Edward had been trying to track Victoria down but to know she had been around Forks the entire time was worrying. 

Sophia nodded her head as she crossed her arms, she was still angry that Bella didn't seem to care that Mia could have been killed let alone her; it was almost like the brunette really didn't notice the danger that she had gotten herself into by dating Edward. 

"We didn't know," Alice said with a shake of her head, they had all been so sure that Victoria had just disappeared and Edward had assured them that she wouldn't be coming back. 

Sophia snorted knowing that there was no way that they could not have known that Victoria wouldn't want revenge; she doubted that they cared about all of the trouble that they had caused. 

"There's nothing I can say to change your mind is there," Alice said watching Sophia for a moment, she was a little disappointed that during their talk that Sophia hadn't warmed her. 

Charlie was rather fond of her after she had helped Bella recover from her injuries that had occurred the summer before; he was gratefully that she had been around to help so things weren't awkward. 

"Nope," Sophia replied waiting for the vampire to leave, she wasn't going to warm to any vampires and she hoped that Alice would be leaving soon so that she could see Paul again. 

Sophia had been excited about her date with Paul until Alice had shown up and now she didn't know when she would get to see him or the pack again since she currently had no way to get down to the reservation without her car. 

"Alice?" Bella's voice called making Alice sigh as she looked at the door knowing that her friend was going to come looking for her; she had hoped that Sophia would warm to her even a little. 

Sophia closed her blue eyes as she took a deep breath, she wasn't going to fool herself into thinking that Bella was going to see sense anytime soon. 

"You better go... I won't hold my tongue if she comes up here," Sophia said bitterly opening her eyes to look at Alice, she ignored the look that the vampire gave her knowing that she wasn't going to fall for it. 

Alice stared at Sophia for a moment as she tried to work out what she could do, she was great friends with Bella and she hoped the same would be true with Sophia. 

Sophia watched Alice leave as she sighed in relief, she quickly got to her feet and moved to close the door over; her uncle was asleep and Bella was holding a 'sleep-over' downstairs. 

Sophia chewed on her lip as she walked over to her daughter and checked on her, she had a feeling that Alice's visit was only the start of the trouble that would happen. 

Sophia just couldn't shake the feeling that with Alice's return, it would lead the others to come back and that would change everything.