The Lost Heir (10 year anniversary story PART TWO)

The 20th of Feb marked 10 years of me being on FF.net and just like my 5 year anniversary, i knew i had to write some little extras. This started off as a few thousand word fluff chapters on various characters and turned into a three part story. Unusually i am posting them in a different order because of the order i finished them. This is part two of three. I will be posting part one soon and then part three after. The reason I've done this is part one and two are sort of their own entity. Only part 3 requires the prerequisite of part 1 and 2.

This story is Edward and Bella centric with a lot of Emmett and Rosalie too. 

Stanford University, USA, 2219

Bella

My finger ran over the scar on my lower stomach instinctively as I thought about my children and what they were doing at this very moment. I often did this. After two hundred years of life, there wasn’t much I filled my time with, if it wasn’t my husband, or reading, or being with family I tended to just think. As a human id never imagine just lying down looking up at the ceiling and thinking about whatever I wanted to for hours on end. As an immortal, your mind was your own movie. Id go back in my memories to see Renesmee when she was little, or the day Holly was born, or the time on our island, or Lexi’s wedding, or basically anything happy in the past two hundred years. Perfect memory recall was more of a gift than any ability I could imagine. I couldn’t imagine ever forgetting the feel of holding Renesmee for the first time or the smell of her when she was a baby. I had at least 3 lifetimes of memories in my head and going back to remember some of the happiest times in my life was one of my favourite pass times.

I could draw the shape of the scar on my stomach on a piece of paper to the exact millimetre. It was jagged, having been cut open 3 times in the same spot made the line kind of unique but I knew it better than any other mark on my body.

I had my eyes closed so I only heard the door of my bedroom open and the scent of my husband walk in. His hand softly covered mine over my scar and his lips appeared on my stomach, just above our hands.

“are you ready to leave my love?” he asked, kissing his way up my body to place a kiss on my jaw. My eyes opened to see him centimetres from me.

Smiling was involuntary and automatic at this point in an immortal relationship.

I wouldn’t even know when I’m doing it.

“of course.” I said sitting up and swinging my legs off the bed. He held his hand out to me and I took it without a second thought. He pulled me up and into him for a moment, placing a kiss on my forehead before taking my hand and leading me out of the door.

I followed him to the ground floor where Rose and Emmett were waiting for us.

“Are you ready Bella? I’m so pumped!” Emmett grinned happily.

“you wouldn’t think this is the thirty second time going to college for us, would you?” Rose rolled her eyes at her husband. I chuckled at my siblings.

It was only my sixteenth, but I was definitely not excited like Emmett. This was mostly just for Rose and Edward, and where ever Rose and Edward went, Emmett and I followed of course.

Science evolved every day and even as immortal beings we had to keep up to date with education and new advancements. I’ve never had a science mind, but I knew this breakthrough in quantum physics was huge. The university we were going to was the first to ever teach a course on the latest discoveries, and of course Carlisle wanted to know everything. With him running the biggest medical industry in the world, he couldn’t go himself, so he got Rose and Edward in on the course and that’s why we were all off to college again. I was just majoring in history and Emmett had wormed his way into the sports programme on a scholarship for fun. This kind of physics course was only available to a select few students in the entire world and it was for the brightest minds of this generation. Edward and Rose would perhaps be surrounded by humans with more knowledge than themselves and it was sort of awe-inspiring.

It would take four years and I was more excited to spend that time with my siblings and husband seeing each other every day than the actual work we’d be doing. We’d all been living in Chicago for a while now, but we hadn’t lived together for a very long time. I hoped Alice and Jasper would come too but Carlisle didn’t want too much attention brought to us in such an important situation.

The entire way to the university Emmett sang old songs that gave him memories of the other times he’d gone to college. Rose and I sat and talked about various things the whole drive and Edward was already re-reading the pre-class material for the dozenth time.

When we arrived, we made our way straight to the student welcome event. We had to blend in when we were here, and we definitely couldn’t be the 4 weird students that only kept to themselves. We’d done college enough times to know where the fine line of blending and being the odd ones out was. I think this was why Emmett enjoyed college the most, he got to be a kid for four years, make friends, pretend he’s human, drink alcohol and have no worries in the world. Rose was happy too, I could see her face lit up at the dozens of students already introducing themselves. Her first suitor only took ten minutes to find the courage to talk to her. Emmett being Emmett quickly scared the poor boy away.

“Blend Emmett. Blend.” Edward reminded our brother.

“Wife, Edward. Wife.” Emmett replied.

“nothing ever changes” I laughed.

“he’d have done the same and you know it bells” Emmett countered.

“oh, I’m well aware he would have” I teased my husband and he didn’t even look down at me. His eyes were on a girl across the room. It wasn’t often I found my husband staring at another woman, so I knew something was up. I followed his gaze to a brunette girl holding the hand of a rather muscular jock. She was smiling as she shook the hand of the person in front of her. I focused my hearing on the conversation.

“Alexa Cullen,” the young girl introduced herself, a wide welcoming smile on her face, her dark hair pulled into a high ponytail. The boy on her arm, was also smiling.

“Aron Heart,” he announced shaking the hand of the student.

“Cullen?” the other student asked turning to Alexa.

“not that kind of Cullen” Alexa laughed, “Don’t worry, I get it a lot.”

“one day we’re going to trace her family history. Her dad refuses to answer any of our questions about it” Aron grinned nudging his girlfriend. The girl rolled her eyes in response.

“my dad was abandoned by his family, he was left to raise me on his own, I doubt if my family were the famous selfless Cullen’s that would have happened right?” the girl dismissed. I turned to look at Edward at my side, he faced me and smiled nonchalantly.

Well? I asked him in my head. Is she?

“probably” he shrugged. “we’d need Esther to make sure, I don’t remember an Alexa. Seems like a pretty memorable name though” he raised his eyebrows. I’m sure he or id remember if one of our descendants had such a similar name as our daughter. He had a point.

“we shouldn’t interfere anyway. She seems so human”

“she is” Rose sighed from my other side. She and Emmett must have caught onto what Edward and I were looking at.

“have you met the other Cullen’s here at the uni? I heard a rumour that they’re direct descendants of the original Carlisle Cullen” I heard the other student mid conversation with Alexa and Aron. We’d been here ten minutes and our names had already got around the room. We expected this to happen, the curiosity normally dies off after a few weeks, but it stays there enough for us to easily make friends for our cover.

“what? No way!” Aron gasped scanning the room. Luckily none of us had been looking in their direction at this point but all four of us were listening intently.

“it’s just a rumour” the students friend said, “there are lots of people with that name.”

“we should have used a different name” I murmured. I was enrolled as Bella Swan and Rose was Rosalie Hale but we kept the boys as Cullen’s for our story. Emmett and Edward were brothers and we were their girlfriends.  I didn’t use Swan much anymore, I couldn’t even remember my signature pre-marriage and had to make one up on the spot during enrolment. I hadn’t been at a school in a good few decades.

“we knew there would be rumours when we started. End of the day, no one knows really who we are. People don’t care.” Emmett reminded us.

“Except we didn’t realise there would be someone else with our surname here when we decided that” Rose hissed. “She might get curious. its Clara all over again.”

“Clara was different.” I countered, the mention of my husband’s ward would get him rattled if Rose said the wrong thing.

“why don’t we just find out who she is? That way we can avoid her and come up with a story if she does get curious?”  Emmett asked.

“I agree.” Edward said.

“I don’t.” rose frowned.

“me neither. She’s so simple and human, living a normal life. We find out who she is, we get attached, we get involved.” I said turning to my husband. I knew Edward, I knew Edward better than I knew myself and anyone in this world. He finds out who she is and he will want to know her, want to protect her and help her. He falls into the father role so easily, even if it’s not required. If she’s any way directly related to him, he’ll want to know her and that’s it then, its only inevitable she gets dragged into our world.

We made our way out of the common area and to find our dorms. Rose and I were sharing and the boys were sharing one on the other side of the building. For the first year we always did dorm rooms just to keep up the façade. It was easier to blend in and make friends. It was also easier to get invited to student parties, which were by far the easiest places at college to be ‘social’ and as long as we showed our faces every now and then then we didn’t have to bother for another few weeks.

After the first week of no classes I was excited to get back into learning. Even though I knew there was probably nothing in this class I wouldn’t already know, there was something about the feel of learning I missed. We were all hanging out in mine and Roses room the night before classes started just talking and reminiscing about previous college years.

“remember that guy? Oh my god what was his name? Eric? The one in the old Stanford when it was in California? He spent four years trying to get you to break up with Edward.”

“the dude was fearless,” Emmett agreed.

“he was lucky he left there alive” Edward sighed. I rolled my eyes, reaching over to kiss his jaw.

“the alleria girl was the best.” Rose laughed eying me. I sighed.

“do we really want to bring up this kind of thing? Remember the time in 2095 when Rose bitch slapped the senior mean girl for flirting with Emmett so hard, we thought we’d need Anelie to come bring her back?” I said smirking at Rosalie.

“bitch had it coming, and you know it. Who comes onto a guy that has shown zero interest in her for three years, a day before senior year ends?”

“a girl with nothing to lose” Edward answered.

“shed been trying it on all year. Suddenly she was a senior and thought the whole world revolved around her.”

“doesn’t every mean girl?” I laughed.

“nah best ones weren’t advancements on the spouses, nothing beats Emmett nearly killing Pancrazio” Edward smirked at his brother.

“oh don’t” Emmett said sadly.  He hated thinking about it. It seemed so stupid in hindsight.

“Jacob.” Rose smirked like she remembered some big thing we had all forgotten. I rolled my eyes at my sister.

“never living that down. Ever. Are we?” I asked her. She laughed loudly.

“nope, never. Not in a thousand years.”

“at least I never tried to kill him” Edward mused.

“Bella did.” Rose reminded us.

“yeah yeah okay” I mumbled. “the whole Jake thing gets old after two hundred years”

“so, does bringing up me and Zio” Emmett defended his wife, and himself in the process.

“let’s go back to happy memories of college rather than the times we avoided having to call in Anelie” Edward said changing the subject.

For the rest of the night we reminisced and laughed until the morning. Time escaped us quickly. Before I knew it, we were all due to our classes.

“I have to get to my first class” Emmett said looking at the digital clock on the wall.

“have fun babe!” Rose grinned at her husband reaching over to kiss him.

“don’t draw attention” Edward sighed at his brother.

“I won’t, ill only knock them around a little bit” he grinned back as he jumped up and headed to the door.

We all went our separate ways after Emmett left and I made my way to my history class. I knew I was old when my first lecture consisted of ‘history’ I was actually alive for. We were focusing on the destruction and reconstruction of the united states, politics, natural disasters and of course, healthcare. It turned out Alexa was also taking history as a minor, her major was the same as Edward and Rose, so all 3 of us had her in our classes to avoid as much as possible and Emmett had Aron to avoid. I should have known it would be easier said than done. She seemed to be absolutely everywhere which hardly seemed possible seeing how big the campus was.

I was the first to work out how she was related to us. Rose was adamant she was a stranger but the more I saw her mannerisms, the way she could own a room if she wanted, and she was clever. Really clever, almost supernaturally intelligent. I had a growing doubt she was closer to us than we originally realised. During the first week of our classes we did a ‘get to know me’ exercise. The lecturer thought it would be a fun way to make friends. Most of the class couldn’t think of anything worse, however we all did it. We had to find out the meaning of our names and if we knew the reasons our parents picked it. As it came to Alexa, I was curious and I had the right to be.

“so, I’m not close to my family, but my dad always said I was named after his grandmother Alexandra. I’ve never met her because my dad didn’t want anything to do with the family after my mom died. He never told me why. My name means ‘defender of man’” she said and took a seat.

I sat there for a moment after trying to work it out in my head. It was only a few seconds before I realised who she was. One of Lexi’s many grandsons had disowned the family after his wife died in childbirth, he tried to get Lidiya and Anelie to bring her back but there are rules in place, even to save Cullen’s. She had died in a very public place in a very public hospital, that hadn’t been one of Carlisle’s. She was dealt with before any plan could be made to save her. Finn, Alexa’s dad, in his grief, sent one letter to Lexi, telling her how upset he was and that he was moving away. Making sure she knew he was okay and that he and his daughter would be fine. Alexa was my great great granddaughter and she was also Rose and Emmett’s great, great, great, great granddaughter. Lexi had got Chloe to track Finn down a few years ago to make sure he was okay and safe and that had been enough for Lexi to know her grandson was okay and living a happy life. He had left her life nearly nineteen years ago now. She had no idea her great-granddaughter was named after her, that some part of Finn still loved his family, otherwise he definitely wouldn’t have named her Alexa or kept the Cullen surname.

“oh my god” rose sighed. It was just me and her in our dorm room and I had caught her up on what I had found out about Alexa.

“I know right!” I sighed back. 

“You’re going to tell Edward, aren’t you?” she asked turning on the double bed to face me lying next to her.

“I have to” I mumbled.

“he’s going to go all grandpa Edward and we won’t be able to stop it. He’ll want to take care of her like a little baby bird.”

“rose” I sighed.

“you know I’m right Bella. We shouldn’t tell him”

“Rosalie. I haven’t kept a secret from Edward in two hundred and fifty years, do you think I can start now? I’m lucky he didn’t see me before I got back here, he reads me like a book” I mumbled. She reached out to take my hand on the bed.

“I know. But can you maybe keep him away from her though? She deserves a normal human life.”

“I’ll try Rose. I feel it too though. It’s like a pull, a need to know them. Every time we’ve met someone that’s our descendant, it’s so hard not to want to know them. To protect them” I explained.

“I get it Bella, I do. She’s related to me too and a part of me thinks what if? What if she has Chantelle’s mannerisms, or Ben’s authority, or Arya’s selflessness. I get it. Part of me wants to know her too but a bigger part of me wants to protect her from our lives, for her to just be normal. For her to not know she’s related to vampires or the most famous medical family in the history of humanity.” Rose mumbled.

“I know.me too” I said resting my head on my sisters’ shoulder.

“we have to protect her. In our way, not Edwards.”

“you know Emmett will agree with him. He’ll be excited to tell her, to see her reaction and teach her.”

“oh, I do” Rose laughed.

“we’ll persuade them, we have to” I mused and there was a knock at the door. I jumped up to answer it, what I didn’t expect on the other side was Alexa.

“hi! I’m Lexa, I’ve been told to inform every dorm that there’s a party in one of the frat houses tonight, all freshman get free drinks if they turn up” she grinned.

“I’m Bella and thanks” I smiled at her, handing out my phone for the invite to pass over. There was no paper in the future, only wireless information that gets passed between phones and tablets.

“hey, you’re in my history class, right?!” she asked enthusiastically. I nodded, smiling softly. “well nice to officially meet you” she grinned, “see you at the party?” she asked.

“sure” I smiled back as she waved and turned to the next dorm.

“Bella” Rose hissed from the bed she crossed her arms disapprovingly.

“it’s just so hard.” I groaned closing the door. Rose laughed but jumped off the bed and headed for the closet to find something to wear. “party?” I asked her with a grin. She grinned back.

“of course. Call the boys.” She announced as she threw a dozen dresses onto one of the beds.

We arrived at the party, meeting the boys there. Edwards eyes went straight to me and he smiled at my dress. I rolled my eyes as I reached him. He tucked me into his side, smirking as he kissed my hair line.

“damn girl, we should have gone back to college years ago” Emmett said taking Rose’s hand and twirling her in front of him, she giggled and I smiled at him idolising his wife.

“all you have to do is ask and I’ll wear a dress for you any time” she teased. I felt Edward laugh and I couldn’t help but smile at my siblings.

“I’ll remember that babe” Emmett said taking Rose’s hand and leading her to the house.

is it too much? Will we draw attention to ourselves? I asked Edward in my mind.

“Bella, you’d draw attention in jeans and a hoodie.” He muttered as he led me into the house.

“well you don’t look so bad yourself” I murmured. He was in a loose buttoned shirt and jeans that hugged his body in all the right places. He didn’t reply, he just placed a kiss on my hair and continued to lead us into the house.

“Bella! You came!” Lexa was immediately there she grinned and reached to hug me.

“hi Lexa” I laughed. I saw Edward glaring at me from my side

“oh, is this your boyfriend?” she asked turning to Edward. I could see the usual ‘holy crap he’s hot’ thought register in her mind as she looked up at him. She smiled politely and turned to Rose and Emmett.

“hey hang on, aren’t you two in the inclusive physics class?” she asked turning to Edward and Rose.

“yep! Hey!” Rose grinned at her.

“Emmett my man!” Aron suddenly bellowed, coming up behind his girlfriend and holding out his hand for Emmett to take. They gave each other a high five and Emmett grinned at him.

“Babe, this is the guy I was telling you about. He’s a beast on the field.” Aron turned to Lexa. Lexa grinned up at Emmett.

“what a small world” she laughed.

“you have no idea” Rose mumbled low enough for only the vampires around to hear. I saw Edwards head whipped round to Rose. Damn it.

“Rose” I hissed far too low for Lexa and Aron to hear.

“oops” she mumbled and Edward’s eyes zeroed on me.

I was going to tell you. I thought, pulling my shield away for a moment before I snapped it back in place.

Lexa reached out for my hand to drag me to the drinks table and originally, I wasn’t going to drink but seeing the look on my husband’s face I decided one wouldn’t hurt. Edward didn’t leave myside, nor did his eyes leave the back of my head as I spoke to Lexa.

“we have to get away from her” Rose said as Lexa went to the bathroom. Aron had gone to get more drinks.

“why? They’re really cool. I like them a lot” Emmett responded.

“because she’s our damn granddaughter” rose hissed.

“she is? How do we know that? How far down the line?”

“she’s Lexi and Ben’s great-granddaughter to be precise” Edward mumbled, one of the first things he’d really said to us.

“oh shit!” Emmett called out. “Arya’s granddaughter? The one who’s dad took her away after we refused to resurrect his wife?”

“that’s not really how it happened” rose mumbled, “but yes. That’s the one”

“so, she’s the lost Volturi heir and she has no idea!” Emmett mused right as they came back over. Rose slapped Emmett’s arm but luckily, I don’t think they heard over the music. After the resignation of Ben, the line of ‘succession’ in the Volturi was put into question. We knew that it had to remain close to Zio’s line, even this far in the future, not everyone liked the Cullen’s, but the vast majority liked Zio and his ideals, he had been doing this job a very long time now and most respected that. They knew he’d pass his ways onto his children and so on. The term Volturi Heir was coined and followed the line of the first born of each generation. It defaulted to siblings should the first in line decline the offer of leadership. Arya was offered the job when her father decided he wanted to step down but she declined, With Finn, her eldest child, gone from our lives, the default next heir fell to Allesandra or Asta. Asta ended up taking the job in the end. But should Arya, Finn or even Lexa wish to claim their title as the Volturi Heir, they could theoretically dethrone Asta.

“you should go mingle, seems like there’s lots of people wanting to speak to you.” I said to Aron.

“yeah, I probably should, do you mind babe?” he asked Lexa.

“not at all, go have fun” she grinned.

Damn it, she wasn’t going to go with him? Weren’t normal young relationships super clingy and have lost puppy vibes. Lexa didn’t seem bothered one bit.

“So, you two been together long?” Edward asked, clearly thinking the same thing as me. This was dangerous territory asking her about her life.

“ten years” Lexa laughed. “we were childhood sweethearts. He was the first boy I held hands with, first boy I kissed, first boyfriend, first… well you get the idea” she laughed. “what about you guys? I think we’re the only people here that have started college already in a relationship” she laughed.

“Bella and I, since junior year of high school, Rose and Em freshman year.” Edward lied easily although ours technically wasn’t a lie, just that junior year of high school had been two hundred and fifty years ago.

“aw that’s so sweet! So, did you follow him here too? Because of the physics thing?” she asked me.

“yep, he can’t get rid of me” I grinned winking to my husband.

“I love that. Aron came here on a sports scholarship, even though it’s not the best place for sport, just so I could do this once in a lifetime course. He’s amazing. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have him” Lexa cooed, she was getting tipsy, I could hear it in her voice.

“does your dad like him?” Edward asked, I shot him daggers over the table. He ignored me.

“oh yes. He really does. My dad is amazing too, he gave me a real role model to find a man” she laughed. “he always tells me my mom would approve too, so it’s a double win”

“sorry to hear about your mom by the way.” I said softly, I was technically the only one she’d told from our history class.

“oh, I never knew her. I know it effected my dad quite a bit, but he doesn’t really talk about it. He says we’re better off without my family.”

“do you not want to know them though? To find out for yourself?” Emmett asked. Both Rose and I turned to glare at him the exact same time. She shrugged.

“they haven’t tried to find or know me. So, I guess he’s right. I must be better off without them”

“what if that was at your dads request, what if they wanted to know you but didn’t want to upset him?” Edward asked and I kicked him under the table.

Careful. I thought and he didn’t even turn to look at me.

 Lexa laughed awkwardly.

“this got deep real fast. Can we change the subject?” she asked.

“yes! Let’s do that!” rose said enthusiastically.

I hated to admit how much fun we had with Lexa and Aron that night. Rose and I were adamant we weren’t going to fall into the trap of being in her life, but the pull of your own blood is the hardest thing to resist. She was brilliant, she was wonderful, and she was ours.

And she had no idea.

Rose and I eventually caved to the boys. We had all agreed we weren’t going to tell Lexa who we were but none of us could deny the want to know her, to be her friend and so that’s what we were. We agreed we weren’t going to tell her what we were, even though Edward and Emmett wanted to be grandfathers to her. We managed to persuade them that revealing who we were would ruin the life she had. She was so beautifully human, with her human boyfriend and human friends and human life. She clearly had some supernatural intelligence from being one eighth vampire, but it wasn’t enough for herself to notice how different she was. She had always been that clever, she didn’t need to know that it was some supernatural brain capacity helping her along. We settled on just getting to know her. For the next four years to live by her, to impact her life as friends only.

This was the happy medium we all agreed with and it worked, for nearly a year, the four of us quickly became her friends, her confidants, each of us having a different relationship with her. Emmett and Edward became like her brothers, they teased her and played pranks on her and protected her from unwanted bachelors, they became Aron’s best friends, Emmett specifically. They bonded like brothers. Rose and I had the typical girl best friend relationship with her. She came to us with everything, from Aron to school, to eventually her dad and her family.

It was one Friday night late in the year, we only had a few weeks left before summer break and we decided we weren’t going to the party at the frat house that weekend and just had a girl’s night in. The boys had their own version in their dorm room across the building.

We were watching movies in pyjamas and ‘eating’ popcorn. We had been talking and laughing in between barely paying attention to the movies we were watching.

“so, you guys should come to New York in the summer. Its actually a lot more fun than people make it out to be” she grinned at us.

“New York is the most densely populated city in the world. Why would that be fun?” Rose asked. We had been to New York a few times over the past few decades. Ever since the entertainment industry moved from the now sunken city of LA, California to New York nearly a hundred years ago it had gone from one of my favourite places to my least favourite places. I had never seen so many people in my life, and that is after the population crisis the world had after several natural disasters split the world population in half. Everyone congregated now in cities. Rural areas were left to farms and forests to help grow the worlds environment. People were funnelled to cities. That’s why I loved La Push so much. Native American reservations were the only protected places in the united states from population immigration. You could only live in those areas if you had relatives there.

“because its full of life. I know you guys are from Chicago, but New York is just a whole other story.” She grinned. We had admitted to her that we were relatives of Carlisle. We told her as much of the truth as we could in that we were part of the famous ‘Cullen’ family. Or at least Edward and Emmett were.

“I doubt your dad would like four university students rocking up on his doorstep” I laughed with her.

“oh, he already knows all about you guys, he actually really wants to meet you” she responded, me and rose both just span to look at each other at the same time in horror.

“he does?” Rose asked carefully.

“obviously doesn’t know you’re Cullen’s” she laughed awkwardly. “I promised I wouldn’t tell a soul. I wouldn’t break that” she said seriously. Both Rose and I let out an audible sigh of relief.

“ok good.” I chuckled.

“I don’t know how he would react if I told him that. I don’t want to sound all mopey and soppy, but the last year has honestly been the best year of my life. Getting to know you and the boys has been amazing, I feel like you’re almost family to me now. I don’t know if its because we share the same surname or I just really like you guys, but I’d just love to see my dad’s face if I introduced you guys with your surname to him” she laughed, I smiled weakly at her.

“do you wish we were your family?” I asked carefully. Her joking tone disappeared and there was almost a tear in her eye when she replied.

“more than anything” she said softly looking at us just for a moment before she laughed away her serious tone and shook herself out of the stare.

“I’m sorry, just sometimes I think about what it would have been like to have a big family. To have aunts and uncles and grandparents. To have had siblings. My dad gave me the world and he loves me more than anyone, I know he did everything he did to protect me, but I can’t help but wonder, you know? Wonder about the family he ran away from.”

“does he ever talk about them?” I asked softly.

“not really. I once saw a picture of him and his sister and their mother. I don’t remember my aunt or grandmothers name.” she mentioned looking down at her hands. Hope was her aunt and Arya was her grandmother I wanted to tell her immediately, but I bit my tongue. She continued without looking at the conflict on mine and Rose’s faces.

“I remember them being beautiful though. He told me once when he was drunk that his mother had seven siblings and he grew up with so many cousins nearby it was like having twenty siblings. He seemed like he missed them when he told me. I asked him about it the next day and he denied he ever said a thing.” She said sadly and paused before swallowing her emotion and continuing.

“I’ve felt like something was missing ever since I was old enough to ask about it. Ever since I was a child and my friends would ask me where my grandparents were, where my cousins or siblings were. Every time someone said the word family id have a pang of pain in my heart, I know I have grandparents and an auntie and probably cousins and extended family out there and I wouldn’t know them if I walked past them on the street. Sometimes I feel abandoned by them, that they don’t care but then I think what if? What if they want to know me just as much as I want to know them? They just don’t know where to find me. For all I know you guys are my cousins and we just don’t know about each other.” She said trying to joke towards the end.

“Lexa, you’re nineteen years old. You don’t need your dad’s permission to find them if you wanted to. You can find out who they are if you wanted” rose said to her. I shot her a warning look, she ignored me.

“I wouldn’t do that to him. I trust my dad took me away for a reason. I have to believe I’m better off without them, because if I meet them and they’re wonderful I will hate him for it and I don’t ever want to do that” she said, tears falling from her eyes onto her cheeks. I wanted to hug her, I wanted to hold her to me and tell her that I loved her and that I was her family and that we always loved her even without knowing her. The urge was almost impossible, but I settled for reaching for her hand in comfort and not saying a word.

This girl was strong and brilliant and beautiful, she had a good life and good friends and a good boyfriend. It was true, her father loved her and protected her but at what cost? The girl in front of me was crying because she couldn’t stand the thought of disappointing her father for her own happiness.

It angered me.

The next night I hadn’t thought about a single thing except Lexa cry for the family she didn’t know.

It was different now. Lexa had completely opened up, she had sobbed over the fear of disappointed her father but still wanting to know that missing part of her. My maternal instincts hated seeing her like that, she was my flesh and blood and she wanted her family.

“I don’t know what to do Rose.” I sighed she was finishing off her prep for her final exam tomorrow.

“about what love?” she asked not really listening.

“Lexa!” I exclaimed.

“Bella…” she sighed turning to look at me.

“she wants to know her family. You heard her. I’ve been ok up to this point, just knowing her has been enough but to see her in that pain. I have to help her.” I begged. Rose stopped typing and walked over to me pacing.

My sister grabbed me forcing me to look at her.

“She has family. She has us. Some part of her knows, you heard her say it. We are everything she needs us to be. Having the title of grandma or cousin wont change that for her or us. She is happy, she also said that if you remember? She is happy with us and that’s all that matters. Her problems with her dad are her own to deal with. Not ours.” She soothed me. I let out a deep breath to relax. I reached forward to pull Rose into a hug. She returned it holding me, our breathing matching out of habit.

“ok, thank you” I said pulling away to smile up at her.

“you’re welcome but I really need to finish this prep.” I nodded, getting out of her way and feeling a little bit better over the situation.

We only had a few weeks left. A break from Lexa, no matter how much I loved her would probably make me feel better about it. Rose was right, Lexa was happy. We had just caught her in a vulnerable place and what friends would we be if we didn’t support her through that as well as her happiness?

The last day of the semester the atmosphere was infectious. Everyone was excited for a break and people were flooding out of dorm rooms with furniture and bags piling into cars ready to leave when the day ended at 2pm.

Edward and I were walking through campus holding hands just taking in our surroundings. After several hundred years of life, sometimes it was reflective being an immortal, watching these young humans going about their lives, so excited and in a rush. Edward and I walked slowly, like we had all the time in the world through to the main cafeteria area where they were holding a farewell lunch. We wanted to make sure we said goodbye to Lexa and Aron before September. One thing I didn’t expect to see was Lexi and Ben waving at us from the front gates of the campus, visitor passes hanging round their necks.

“Lexi!” I called after my daughter as we reached them

“hey momma” she whispered as we hugged.

“what are you guys doing here?” Edward asked greeting our son in law and daughter.

“I missed you. A lot” Lexi said, her face definitely agreed with her words. She looked between us like she was finally home. I swallowed the emotion in my throat and pulled my daughter back into a hug. Of all my children, Lexi was the one I had spent most of her actual life with. Eddie spent most of his life in England and whilst Edward and I often did a few decades living over there we never stayed their too long because America was always our home. Renesmee stayed in la push and whilst we visited her at least twice a year every single year of our lives, we haven’t actually lived by Renesmee since our 2^nd daughter was born, Elizabeth. As for Elizabeth, she travelled a lot. She spent a lot of time in Chicago with us but eventually found her home in La Push with her older sister. Alexandra on the other hand never really left us since the day we adopted her. She travelled with her sisters for a while but that was only a couple of decades of her life early on after leaving our island. She found her home in Chicago and so did we. Lexi had been in our lives nearly every day for her entire human and vampire life. It was not a surprise that the year her and Ben had been starting their new life she’d miss the two people who would give up the world for her.

“I missed you too baby” I whispered to her holding her against me tightly. Edward reached over us to kiss her head.

“you have no idea how many times I’ve made her put off this trip, I managed to persuade her that surprising you on your last day of the semester would be much for fun than just randomly turning up. We were hoping you’d come to La Push with us to visit Nessie and Beth. Eddie is making his way over next week to visit his sisters.” Ben asked. My heart suddenly ached for my children.

“yes, oh my god yes please” I said spinning to Edward almost asking for permission. He just grinned.

“like I’m going to say no?” he asked.

“I’ve also persuaded my grandmother to take a vacation. My dad said his parents are well overdue their few months off.” Ben grinned at me.

“Chantelle and Zio are going to la push too?” I asked.

“maybe, I need to get Nessie in on it to help persuade her” he grinned.

“it won’t be hard” Lexi smiled. “it will be good to have everyone back there, even if its just for a few weeks.”

“it sounds amazing” Edward said taking my hand. I still hadn’t really detached myself from my daughter. Lexi was leant into me, our arms around each other.

“Bella! Edward!” I heard a family voice and a lump rose in my throat. Oh god. I looked over to see Lexa and Aron waving at us as they came over. I took a step away from Lexi but kept her hand in mine.

Story? I panicked in my head.

“I’ve got it” Edward hissed quietly so that Lexi and I could hear it. I couldn’t look away from Lexa coming over to us to see the confusion on Lexi’s face.

“hey guys! Are you ready for the lunch?” she asked then looked over to our visitors. “family?” she asked.

“yeah, these are our cousins, Ben and Lexi.” Edward lied smoothly like it wasn’t something he just plucked from his head.

“oh awesome. I’m Lexa, this is Aron.” She grinned at them smiling directly at Lexi. I felt Lexi’s hand tighten the grip on mine. I turned to look at her and I saw her work it out the second Lexa looked at her.

“what?” she asked.

“sorry?” Lexa asked with a little laugh. Before anyone could respond Rose and Emmett had appeared.

“hey guys!” Emmett’s voice boomed, there was an invisible tone of destress hidden beneath his usual bounciness.

“hey Em,” Aron said reaching for a high five.

“Lexa! They have your favourite” rose called, distracted Lexa from Lexi’s awkward stare.

Lexa span to her friend and they both started fangirling over the chef’s chocolate brownies.

Emmett and Rose successfully distracted the pair and made their way to the cafeteria. Rose taking a quick look over her shoulder to make sure we were okay. I immediately turned to Lexi, grabbing her hand and pulling her as fast as I could under the guise of a human to our dorm room. She followed me, almost numb from the situation and not saying a word. Ben trailed, confused and asking what was going on.

“Lexi” Edward said the second the door closed. She span on us, her eyes glaring with anger.

“why the hell didn’t you tell me?!” she shouted.

“Lexi? What is going on?” Ben asked his wife seeing her angry.

“Lexi… it wasn’t like that at all.” Edward said softly.

“get out of my head dad!” she screamed.

“Alexandra” I hissed at my daughter. “sit down and let us explain, please” I begged her.

“can someone tell me what’s going on? explain what?” Ben asked rather frustrated.

“that girl, Lexa. She’s our granddaughter ben. The one that Finn took away. The one we never got to know. My parents and your grandparents have been playing happy families, getting to know her without telling a single member of the family they had found her.” She said glaring at us the entire time.

“hang on a second Lexi! You’re the one that put a ban on finding Finn. You respected his wishes and told the rest of us we couldn’t find him. You told Chloe we weren’t allowed to know his location. That he had a right to a human life, and you would do anything to protect that! We didn’t go and find Lexa, fate just had us turn up at the same university as her.” Edward chastised his daughter.

“that was before you’ve been playing best friends with her without even telling me!”

“it doesn’t matter now. We know her and she’s wonderful and beautiful and she’s happy. She doesn’t know who we are, she doesn’t know about the supernatural world. She’s just living a human life and we had the pleasure of getting to know her for a while. We’ll go our separate ways after university has ended and that will be it. It will just be a pocket of forever where we got to watch one of our descendants live a normal life without supernatural getting in the way.” Edward explained to her.

“that sounds kind of nice Lexi. I get you’re mad, but you can’t blame them for doing it this way.” Ben tried to comfort his wife.

“she’s our great-granddaughter” Lexi said, her voice pained as she looked at her husband.

“and she’s happy, and healthy and loved. Isn’t that what matters? We can’t be selfish here amore. We can’t. We promised our grandson and he has fulfilled his promise of raising her into a wonderful young woman. We just have to let them live their lives. That’s what you told me twenty years ago.” He said softly. I saw Lexi relax under her husband’s words.

“she’s named after you Lexi. Her name is Alexa. She has our surname. Finn didn’t completely disown us. He kept us with her. He kept you with them both.” I told her.

“what is she like?” she said softly, all anger gone.

“why don’t we tell you over the summer?” Edward asked with a smile.

“ok” she nodded, seeming to accept the situation we were in.

“let’s go say goodbye to our friends and head to Washington. Schools out” Edward grinned raising his eyebrows. I smiled at my husband and nodded.

“let’s get out of here. Its been a long year” I agreed. Grabbing my last bag from the dorm room. We made our way out, Lexi and Ben following hand in hand. We found Rose and Emmett with Lexa and Aron in the common room, there were hundreds of people congregated, saying good bye and making their way home for the summer.

“Bella!” Lexa ran to hug me.

“are you crying?” I asked her.

“I’m going to miss you guys” she laughed into my shoulder. I held her tighter.

“ill miss you too Lex, call me whenever okay?” I asked her as she pulled away. She nodded and reached to hug Edward.

“will you guys come meet my dad?” she asked picking up her last bag. “he’s been putting my stuff in the car.”

“your dads here?” I panicked.

“yeah, he was kind of surprised me, like your cousins did for you!” she laughed looking over to Lexi and Ben.

“we gotta get going Lexa, thanks though, maybe next time we’ll get to meet him” Rose said giving her one last hug.

“oh, come on! He’s literally coming over to us now! There he is!” she pointed behind us. We all span around to face him, and he stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes scanning over us and then landing on Lexi.

Shit.

“oh my god Lexa! You didn’t say goodbye to Will and Lara, they’re going now! look!” Rose pointed.

This woman deserved a medal for successful distraction.

“oh my god quick!” Lexa laughed, she ran to her father, completely oblivious from the colour that had drained from his face.

“dad I just gotta say goodbye to one more friend, we’ll be back in a sec and then you can meet my best friends” she said, he nodded, swallowing without saying a word to his daughter and Lexa and Aron made their way over to their other friends.

“what the blazing hells are you doing here?” he turned bitter, he scanned over all of us. “and why the hell were you talking to my daughter?” he asked.

“Finn…” Edward said carefully. “perhaps this isn’t the best location for this conversation.”

“Explain. Now,” he said crossing his arms.

“she doesn’t know who we are. She doesn’t know what we are or where she’s from. We’ve just been her friends, nothing else” I explained the best I could.

“20 years I’ve managed to live without you lot breathing down my neck. What changed? Why the sudden urge to find her?“ he asked staring at us all.

“we didn’t go looking for her. Edward, Rose, Emmett and I happened to enrol in the same university as Lexa and Aron. After befriending them we quickly realised who she was.“ I explained to him

“and you didn’t tell her when you realised?” he asked with a frown.

“no” I answered immediately. “she’s beautifully human and innocent. We don’t want to burden her with her famous heritage and role in our world.”

“role? She has no role in your world. She's human. 100% human” he said angrily.

“she isn’t. She’s one eight vampire and that shows in her intelligence. Surely you've thought about it” rose argued I held my hand up to my sister to calm her.

“she is a Volturi heir. That is her role” Ben said for the first time. Lexi hadn’t said a word to her grandson yet.

“what the hell is that? “he asked with a frown.

Lexi stepped forward and Finn softened. With everything that happened with his wife, Finn still loved his grandmother and she had been the only connection he had with our world after his wife’s death, even if it was just to tell her that he and his daughter were okay. I don’t think Finn could hate his grandmother even if he wanted to. Lexi had been there to comfort him after the news we couldn’t bring Lexa’s mother back. She had held him as he cried and helped him set up a new life. She had protected him from even his own mother who wanted to find him.

Lexi began explaining the process of her husband stepping down as leader and of how Zio declared the heirs. With no direct line remaining the job had been passed onto Benjamin’s sister Asta.

“good. Neither me or my child will ever step foot in that mansion. My daughter isn’t the heir to an entire supernatural world. She doesn't need that kind of pressure. She's just human. She’s just a normal girl. She doesn't have any understanding of running a world like that.” Finn stammered.

“she is a descendant of the most powerful creature in the world and the greatest dynasty that has ever lived. She will never be just normal.” Ben glared at his grandson.  Lexi reached out to calm her husband instinctively.

“well none of us asked for that! I haven't been the only Cullen born that doesn’t want to live with that influence and I know I won’t be the last.”

“you have every right to decide how you want to live your life Finn, you're right, sometimes our name is more pressure than it’s worth, but it can also mean great things. It's a lifetime of support and love from an endless family. Something your daughter is missing, and I don’t think that's your decision to make. She deserves to know she wasn’t abandoned” I said softly. Rose gave me a warning look.

“abandoned? “he frowned. “She never mentioned she felt abandoned”

“well she does. She feels like part of her is missing and she never wanted to ask you about it because she didn’t want to disappoint you. She loves you so much. You did an amazing job Finn, Lexa is an amazing young girl, but she is a woman now, with her own decisions and choices. Maybe you should remember that next time she asks you about the grandmother she was named after.” I said knowing Lexi’s eyes were on the back of my head as I said the words.

“At the end of the day Finn, we have known her for a year and we never exposed what we are to her or what she is. We don’t want to pull her into the supernatural world. She deserves a human life, you are right. Not every Cullen born into our family wants the life it comes with and she should be given a chance to thrive without it but if you think that we will ever not protect her, support her, or love her you’re going to have to guess again. We will respect your wishes in not telling her what we are, but we would very much like to tell her that we’re her family. Long distant cousins or something. Give her a piece of that family she craves so much. Let us know her.” Rose asked her grandson.  I was hoping he was going to be the bigger person in this situation and agree to a compromise. Before he could reply Lexa and Aron had made their way back over.

“dad! You met my friends. Dad, this is Edward and his brother Emmett and their girlfriends Bella and Rose and the other two are Ben and Lexi, Edward and Emmett’s cousins” she explained with a happy smile. “I invited them to New York for a few days in the summer so we could hang out. Ill let you know the details when we’ve worked them our ourselves.” She said happily.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea” he said bluntly. I inwardly sighed. So much for being the bigger person.

“dad?” Lexa asked shocked.

“I have a really busy schedule over the summer. I won’t be around much, but you guys can use the penthouse in Manhattan to stay with your friends” he said to his daughter.

“really?” she asked her voice rising in excitement.

“of course, darling” he said to his daughter.

“oh my god dad you’re amazing thank you!” she said happily hugging her dad. She then spun to us.

“ok guys we can discuss it in the group chat over the next few weeks.” She grinned and we all smiled back at her.

“um Lexa there’s something you need to know about your friends.” He said to her and she frowned immediately.

“you never told me they had the same surname as us” he mentioned to her.

“I didn’t think it really mattered” she said with a shrug.

“I thought it was odd when you told me their first names, but I just put it down to coincidence but Lexa, these people are family. They’re quite distantly related cousins of ours. I guess fate made you run into them”

“what?” she asked.

“seriously?” Aron asked in shock. “does that mean you’re actually related to Carlisle Cullen?” he asked his girlfriend.

“you are, and I’m sorry I kept that from you, but I had my reasons. I never expected you to find and befriend anyone in our family.” He said to his daughter. The happiness on Alexa’s face was radiating.

“that’s okay daddy” she said hugging him. She then turned to us. “did you know?” she asked.

“that’s just as much news to us as it is to you” Edward lied swiftly. That man and his lies.

“but this is amazing!” she said smiling at the boys. “you’re my family” she said suddenly her voice broke. “I have a family” she said more emotion breaking through.

“you always had a family Alexa, and I will tell you anything you want about them with as much candour as I can. I promise.” Her father said softly to her.

“thank you, daddy,” she said softly then turned to hug Edward and Emmett with a giggle.

“I knew it. Some part of me just knew it” she grinned at them then turned to Ben and Lexi.

“I guess that means your family too” she grinned at them. Lexi smiled at her granddaughter. “and we have the same name!” she added looking at Lexi.

“you were named after the same person. The best person I knew” Finn interjected, looking over to his grandmother for a moment. Lexi looked over to her grandson with a sombre expression before smiling softly at him.

“Lexa I’m sorry we have to get going, our flight back to Chicago is in an hour.” Rose said reaching to hug the girl.

“oh my god I feel like a baby” she sobbed holding onto Rose tightly.

“we’ll always be here for you Lexa, no matter what” Emmett said hugging her afterwards.

“guys stop it. We’ll be back to normal in September” Lexa laughed wiping her tears away quickly.

“bye sweetie” I hugged her, and she hugged Edward next. We all watched Lexa walk away with Aron and Finn, Finn took one more glance back at us as he climbed into the car to drive away. I immediately turned to my daughter to check she was okay.

“I’m fine momma” she whispered before I even said a word. I stroked her hand briefly before following Emmett and Rose over to our car we had waiting for us.

I honestly didn’t know what the next three years would hold with Lexa as our ‘cousin’, but I knew the lie was to protect her. The supernatural wasn’t for everyone and it was our secret to control. Lexa was a tiny blip in our forever, but if the four years we spent with her could make her feel loved then every second of it would be worth it.

      -------------------------------------

A huge dilemma for our OG Cullen's but a bit of their reasoning will be discussed in part 3 as to why they think its best to keep the secret from Lexa. If you have read the Esther chapter, Naarah, i think you'll have some idea as to why Cullen's are more reluctant now a days to tell people who they are. I always thought being a Cullen could be just as much a curse as a blessing especially this far into the future and in the world I've created.