Claiming a Swan

Chapter Six

Chapter Six
Present...

She was flustered. She didn't lie to Aster. So why did she feel guilty? And she doesn't have to feel guilty. She wasn't going to do anything, period. Wasn't, being the conjunction word that shamed her with doubt. She loved Aster. That was enough to ground her.

She would tell Carlisle when he knocked and came into her apartment. Making it clear she had changed. She had Aster. She loved her, and Bella thought if she said it enough times like armor, then it would block whatever feelings that were showing up.

A soft knock alerted Bella that Carlisle was there. It felt like her heart was going to explode. She needed to calm down. She wasn't the young Bella from the past. Yet - when she's back in the vampire Cullens' presence - it makes it hard to be and to act like an adult. Carlisle made her mess up. Was it a good thing, or was it bad? Was she wanting to mess up? Or was this an excuse to be who she wanted to be before Edward left? When the option of being a vampire was taken from her.

"Carlisle." Bella greets when she opens the door. "Bella." Carlisle greets her back, she opens the door wider.

"Please, come in." He steps foot into the apartment - and Bella gets a whiff on his scent as he brushes his body beside hers. Losing her senses for a moment. She shook her head, getting her bearings in order - "I'm cooking pasta. Please make yourself at home." Bella made her way to the kitchen, she heard Carlisle walking. She didn't want to focus on him.

She was already scatter-brained enough. And thinking of the past wouldn't do her any good at the moment.

Carlisle sat on the sofa. He was as still as a predator ready to pounce. Having Carlisle here was something close to impossible. Never in her ten years of being apart from the Cullens, she'd never expected to run into the doctor himself.

It was weird. Mysterious and filled with tension between them.

"It's not much." I say. To focus on something, anything other than her thoughts.

"It's perfect, and it's you." His voice soothes her like no other.

"I still can't get over the fact that you're here."

"Well I am. I've been here for a while looking after you."

"How long?"

"A month or so..."

"A whole month!" Bella wasn't much for surprises. And didn't react well when given one. But was it a chance encounter then? Or had Carlisle simply chosen the day and exact moment they would have run into one another?

"Yes, why is that so surprising?"

"It's weirdly creepy."

Carlisle stood up with a vampiric grace. He was behind me in the next second. Trailing his cool hands down the length of my arms.

"Isabella, I found you over a month ago. I was intent on just watching you and leaving you. But on that day of our chance encounter- I couldn't not be away from you."

Confirming her suspicions.

Bella was stumped and she was trapped.

Never in her wildest dream did she think of Carlisle as more of a familial figure. But he certainly changed. And it was dangerous. The thoughts she had earlier were now visible

"I invited you over here to talk. Not for romance."

"You can call it whatever you want, romance... dinner..."

"Hanging out with a friend. I don't slide that way anymore. Not since Edward..."

"Edward was a fucking fool. I never would have guessed he would be so prude when I changed him."

Carlisle revealed. He walked to the far right- where a window overlooked the city.

For a moment Bella thought Carlisle went silent. Like he was thinking of the past.

She left him to think and started to cook herself something to eat. Bella was thinking of some pasta and red sauce. She needed a minute. To think. To cool off her thoughts. Heating the stove and filling a pot filled with water to boil and emptying the jar of sauce into another pan, to heat later when the pasta was cooked.

All while she set herself cooking. Carlisle was glancing her way. He never left his place at the window. But tracked her every move. It made me nervous.

"Want to help? Or are you fine with looking?" Bella questions him.

Distracting herself from the predatory gaze he kept giving. With vampire reflexes - Carlisle holds the pan without oven mitts, vampire power and all, and dumps the pasta into the strainer.
Bella sets the pasta sauce on medium high and it shouldn't take too long to heat up.

Carlisle already poured the pasta into a bowl. And he leaned against the counter. He was giving off heated vibes. And Bella's girl-loving heart quickly sped up, and chastised herself for even reacting like she was. But Bella couldn't help it. Carlisle was becoming everything she wanted to be... Bella left that thought where it was. She couldn't betray Aster.

Aster was there for her when she had no one, when Bella first moved to Pennsylvania. It took them three years to move our relationship from friends to more than friends. She was the love of Bella's life after Edward. She understood her. But with one look at Carlisle, ten years of a relationship all but goes out the window.

Bella sighs. It was hard.. deciding on what I should do, versus what I shouldn't, she thought, she needed time. Hopefully Carlisle would be understanding.

"I need space."

Bella closed her eyes. She didn't want him to react in a bad way. But all she felt was his arms curling around her waist. .

Hugging her in a comforting way. "Then I will give you time, but not too much, Bella."

With a gentle comforting kiss on the top of her head, Carlisle was out the door. And Bella was left with pasta sauce boiling and popping and ruining the white backsplash.

"Great..."