Bella? Is that you?

Chapter 16

BELLA'S POV

It's been about 6 weeks since my dads funeral. I was a mess, but I'm slowly pulling myself together. There were times where I just broke down in tears, though. But, Alice is always there. She held me every single time I broke down and told me that she was here for me and that she wasn't going anywhere. I'm not great but I'm doing better.

"Bella?"

I looked at Alice. We were in our room, sitting on the bed.

"Yeah, pixie?"

She smiled, she always did when I called her that.

"Want to go for a walk? And why do I get the feeling you want to phase?"

I kinda did, but I didn't want to bother her.

"I kinda do. Would you mind? It helps me relax, sometimes?"

"Bella, you never have to ask. If you want to walk around the house as a fox, that's fine. Although, that would mean Emmett would bother you."

I blushed, looking away. I phased and jumped off the bed. Alice said she didn't mind me sitting on the bed when I was like this, but I didn't want to get fur on the bed. I looked up at her, and she reached out and scratched behind my ears. I whined, and nuzzled her hand. She laughed, moving closer to the edge of the bed.

"So, is that a no to that walk?"

I shook my head and we left. Emmett tried to pull my tail, and I moved closer to Alice. She smiled down at me, and looked at Emmett.

"Emmett, don't. She doesn't like that."

He smiled down at me, and knelt down. I'm a Hell of a lot smaller than him, when I'm like this and he knew that. He rubbed the top of my head.

"Aw. I'm sorry, Bella. You OK?"

Alice moved away, watching us. She sat next to Adam, and started talking to him about something. I nodded, and Emmett sat in one of the arm chairs. No one minded me going around like this, which was a relief.

"So, you doing OK, Bella?"

I nodded, and he seemed happy about that. They all knew how bad I had gotten, and were relieved to see me doing a little better. Adam looked at me, and reached out to rub my back. He couldn't reached and made a big deal of trying to reach. Alice and Emmett laughed at him, and I moved closer.

He rubbed my back, and smiled. We spent a little while with them, and went for a walk. We ended up going to the meadow, and I lay down with my head in Alice's lap. I was doing better thanks to her. It was tough, but I was doing OK.

"You comfy?"

She looked down at me, rubbing the top of my head. I whined, and she laughed. We didn't always use our link, sometimes it was nice to be like this.

"Good. Hey, you want to go back to the cottage?"

I sat up and nudged her shoulder. She laughed, and stood up. She tugged at my tail, gently. I felt it, but I didn't find it painful.

We reached the cottage and walked to one of the bedrooms. Well, Alice did. I stopped to phase and she disappeared. I followed the scent of strawberries and found her in one of the bedrooms, smiling at me.

"You feeling any better?"

I nodded, I was. I sat on the bed, moving closer to her. She cuddled into my side, kissing my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her, looking at her.

"Yeah, I'm doing better."

She kissed me, and I could tell something was bothering her.

"But, something was bothering you though."

She started fidgeting and looked away.

'Will she freak out?'

"Alice, nothing you tell me will make me freak out, pixie. What is it?"

She moved away a little, but I stopped her. I grabbed her hand, stopping her.

"Bella, I........................."

"You can tell me anything, pixie."

She looked at me, and I could see that she was trying to tell me something important.

"I .................. I love you, Bella."

She ................... Loves me. I knew I loved her, but I didn't want to bring it up, with everything that had happened.

"I ............... I love you to, Alice."

She was surprised that I felt the same way, but kissed me. She tried to pull away, but I stopped her. I was tired of her being so careful around me and I wanted it to stop. I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her closer.

"Bella, what-"

"Ssh. It's OK."

I kissed her. I wanted this, I knew it was OK. Things are finally starting to calm down a little. I'm doing OK, and want to be close to her. This way.

HOPE'S POV

"Hayley, I wanna talk to you about something?"

Hayley looked at me, she had invited me over. Lucas and Melody were upstairs, but they did speak to me for a while.

"What is it, Hope?"

"Well, I was thinking that I wanna slow down a little. I don't want to rush into anything after what happened with Jasper."

Hayley shook her head, looking at me.

"Hope, no one is rushing into anything. I just want to be your friend, nothing more. We barely know each other. I know what he did was horrible, I know. I just want to be near you, nothing more. It's been what 2 months since we met?"

I nodded, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I really like her. I don't, do I?

LEAH'S POV

"Kate!"

I laughed, trying to get away from Kate. Someone had discovered I'm ticklish, and was currently on top of me. I was a little nervous, being in this position, but Kate had told me that she liked knowing she had this effect on me. She squirmed, laughing. She grabbed my arms, pinning me to the bed. I was panting, looking up at her.

"To bad I'm not ticklish.

She had a point, and sat back on my hips. I got a little nervous, and she shook her head.

"It's OK, Leah."

She lay next to me, throwing her arms across my waist.

"I just-"

"Stop. I like knowing you feel that way about me. I know you're not ready for anything more that this, but tickle fights are fun."

I hit her arm playfully, and we spent the rest of the day talking. I felt good, knowing that she was OK with me not being ready yet.