Lola Swan: Trough her eyes (1)

30 a long night

The Jeep arrives at the Swan residence. Lola follows Bella inside. Bella looks nervous, but it can be mistaken for frustration.

'Bella?' their father asks her. She doesn't answer and goes straight to her room. 'Lola, what happened?'

'I'll go talk to her.' Lola assures him. She runs upstairs. She didn't want to look at him and risk exposing the truth. When Lola is in her sister's room, Bella cries slightly while Edwards puts clothes in a travel bag.

Lola puts her arms around her sister, who hugs her back: 'It will work out, Bella. I promise. It's to protect him, Bella; remember that.'

Bella takes the bag and starts to leave.

'You're leaving? Why? What did he do?' Lola hears her father downstairs.

'I'm going home to Phoenix, to Mom.' She hears her sister scream.

'She isn't even home. Just wait a little bit. Did Edward break up with you?'

'I broke up with him!' Bella tells her father.

The sound of the door closing makes Lola shiver. She looks at Edward: 'We'll keep her safe.' He whispers.

She nods. She could only hope this was the right thing to do: protect Bella and their father. 'I hope so.' Edward replies. She goes downstairs and looks at her dad. 'Bella will be fine. She needs this now. She'll realize she was wrong.' She hopes Bella will be able to come back soon.

It doesn't take Lola long to convince her father that Bella will be back. He went to bed, and Lola took a coffee. She must stay awake this night for her father. If the vampire comes back, she needs to be awake.

An hour later, she gets a text from Edward to tell her that her sister is with Alice and Jasper. They are on their way now. She would get to safety.

The night doesn't go fast. She takes her book to read about protection spells. She starts studying the one about stopping a transformation: 'When a human is bitten by a cold vampire, the transformation can be prevented. The human will keep a scar but will not turn into one of them.' It's only a part of what the book said, and it's the sentence she understands bests. The spell itself is rather complicated. It would take a lot of her power. She hopes she won't need it, but she knows her sister. She needs to be prepared.

She doesn't want to think about Bella or where she is. Is she somewhere safe? Did their distraction work. Edward is not with Bella because they would expect him to be. It's why she isn't with her sister right now.

Lola looks up when she hears her phone moving on the table. It is a message: 'We arrived safely.'

She feels relieved. At least it's going as planned. She goes upstairs and takes her time to shower. When she goes to the kitchen, she finds her father eating breakfast.

'Good morning.' He says. He doesn't say much.

'I thought to go for a run later today.' She says and makes a coffee.

'The weather is nice; you should go outside today.' He replies.

'Maybe you can take your own advice and go fishing?' Where the pack could keep an eye on him.

'Yes, maybe you're right.' He mumbles.

She nods, encouraging. He leaves the room, she hears him walk up the stairs, and ten minutes later, he shouts that he'll be back tonight. 'Let me know if you hear something from her.' He asks. She can see he wants Bella to be back, to know she isn't alone.

'Of course.'

Her father leaves, and she calls Jonah: 'Hey.'

'Lola, what is wrong.'

'Can you come?'

'Of course. I will leave right now.'

Lola opens the door and embraces Jonah. He holds her close, his hands move over her back, comforting her. She leans in and listens to his heartbeat. It calms her.

He follows her towards the kitchen. 'What is wrong?' he asks. She takes a seat and tells him what happened. 'I hate that I cannot do anything. I must trust that everything will work out.'

He listened and never interrupted. He walks to her and kneels beside her, taking her in his arms again. He gives her a kiss on the top of her head. She lays her head on his shoulder and feels her eyes closing. 'Bella is going to get through this.'

She nods: 'Do you think so?' She mumbles, her eyes still closed.

'Yes.' He lays one of his hands under her chin and makes her look at him:' Have you slept at all?'

She shakes her head and looks at the empty cup. He follows her gaze: 'No more coffee for you. You need sleep.'

Just thinking about it makes her more tired. She cannot stop it and yawns.

'See.' Jonah points out. He picks her up, bridal style and carries her to her room. She lays her head on his shoulder and falls asleep.