Chapter Eighteen
Answers
Grace Cullen

"I found her!" Charlie cheered the instant I answered his phone call. "I can't believe it, but I found her."

"What? You've only been at the station for two hours." I gasped, looking at my watch. "How did you find her so fast?"

"Pure luck, I guess." He chuckled. "Are you around her? I don't have her number."

"Yes, I'm out hunting, but she's just at the house. I'll-"

"He found me?!" Alice suddenly cheered, appearing at my side. "I had a vision he called and said he found me!" Alice bounced on her toes excitedly.

"She's right here." I laughed, handing the phone to Alice.

"Grace and I will be right there! I already told the family I was kidnapping her for a dress fitting today." Alice rushed through her words. "See you in ten."

"It takes twenty minutes to get to the station from your place." Charlie grumbled on the other end of the line. "But I'll let it slide just this once." He laughed.

"Thanks, Charlie!" Alice giggled and hung up the phone. "Come on, let's get going." She ordered me, handing me a new dress and coat to change into.

"Alright, alright, miss bossy pants." I laughed, quickly changing out of my dirty clothes and following her back to the house.

Alice sped down the highway, quickly getting us to the station and dragging me up the steps. I was trying to appear as human as possible while she would much rather speed directly into his office. As we entered the station and approached the front desk, I had to make sure I kept Alice from barging right into Charlie's office. I had made enough of a scene the last time I was here.

"Hello." I greeted the woman at the front desk. "I was wondering if Chief Swan might be available?"

"I don't know. He's been busy in his office all morning. Can I get your name?" She asked.

"Grace Cullen." I replied politely even though I knew everyone in town knew my and my family members names after years of gossip.

"And what's the manner of the meeting today?" She asked.

"Personal." I frowned slightly at her.

"Look, she's his fiancée. We just have a quick question about some wedding details and then we'll be on our way." Alice told her with an angry but still sickly sweet tone about her voice. "He's expecting us."

"Chief Swan." The receptionist called over the intercom. "Your fiancée is here." She smiled tightly at me as she outed us to the entire station.

Charlie threw open his office door with an angry scowl on his face. The look dissolved the moment his eyes met mine as he motioned for us to come into his office.

"Grace!" Thomas Mark, a deputy and work friend of Charlie's suddenly caught my arm. "Did Brenda say fiancée?" He gaped at me.

"Yes." I smiled shyly. "We know it all seems a little fast, but it's meant to be." I shrugged.

"Well, congrats, I'm happy for you two." He smiled.

"Thank you." I offered him a soft smile. "If you'll excuse us, Alice and I are on a tight schedule today." I laughed easily, and he graciously let us slip away.

"Okay, spill." Alice spoke excitedly as soon as Charlie closed and locked the door behind us.

"Hi." He greeted me with a kiss.

"Hello." I kissed him back, not being able to keep myself from giggling.

"Oh cut it out you two. You have an eternity to be desperately in love. I don't know who I am!" Alice pulled me over to Charlie's desk to sit and Charlie joined us as he sat at his computer.

"So? Are you ready?" Charlie smiled excitedly.

"I'm dying to know." Alice laughed. "Come on, Charlie!"

"Your name is Mary Brandon." Charlie revealed.

"So I'm really not Alice." She sighed and I could sense the identity crisis coming on.

"Hold on." Charlie smirked. "Want to take a guess at your middle name?"

"No." Alice shook her head. "I'm a terrible guesser."

"It's Alice." He smiled widely at her and she leapt across the table to hug him tightly.

"You better not be lying Charles Swan!" She warned him.

"I'm not!" He laughed. "Look, here's your name on the list of incoming patients in the Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum. You were the only incoming Alice that was around the right age for that year. I cross referenced the name and found an article about your parents that had a picture of the family attached." He explained, handing her a manila folder.

She took a deep breath before pulling the picture out of the folder, and sat back into her seat when she looked at it.

A woman, man, and toddler blonde-headed girl was in the photo along with a girl who was distinctly a young Alice. She had long black curls that fell past her rib cage, a full face, and the same wide eyes. Alice's beauty was undeniable even then.

"So now we know you were always pretty." I smiled encouragingly, teasing her slightly as I wrapped an arm around her.

"Did you find out my parents names? And is that my sister?" Alice asked Charlie.

"I couldn't find their names, no." He shook his head. "That article I found was scanned poorly. All I could make out was the family name and the reference to Mary Alice it listed."

"So then there's still a lot to learn." Alice sighed.

"We could go find out." I offered, and Alice's eyes went wide as she turned to me. "I understand your need for answers. The lord only knows how many questions are going to be left unanswered in my life, but you have a real chance to learn your origins and I don't think you should pass it up." I explained.

"But how? How can I find all of this?" She asked.

"Trace it backwards. Start at the asylum, work your way back to the start. When you run out of sources, go to the library." Charlie spoke from his detective knowledge.

"I can't do all of that alone." Alice shook her head. "I can't ask Jasper, he would just get too upset, and I don't think any of the others would understand."

"Well, it's a good thing you don't have to ask them then because I'm already going with you." I giggled. "I did say we could go find out."

"No, you can't go. You're supposed to be getting married in two months." Alice shook her head. "How would we even convince the others to let us go without questions?"

"We could tell them that we're gathering supplies for the wedding?" I offered. "You did say we needed to have several things shipped in along with going to get my dress and Charlie's tux. We could just pick up all of that on the way?"

"That actually sounds like a solid cover." Charlie nodded. "A cop would buy it." He laughed and Alice giggled at his joke.

"Okay, yeah, it could really work." Alice nodded, searching the future. "As long as we can convince Esme to stay home." She frowned.

"Oh that's easy." I laughed. "Leave that part to me. I know my sister in law like the back of my hand by now."

"Okay. When are you leaving?" Charlie asked, frowning a bit at the thought of me being away.

"We could leave now. Go ahead and go, take a break from all of this wedding prep, and come back in time to get everything set up."

"Sounds good to me." Alice nodded. "It seems silly to wait any longer when you think about it."

"Then let's stop by the house and let everyone know the cover story. I'll find someway to pull Edward aside so he knows what's going on. We can pack up a few essentials and then get on the road." I explained.

"Do you know how long you'll be gone?" Charlie asked me sadly. I could tell he was trying his best to look composed in front of Alice.

"No." Alice responded for me. "From the visions I'm getting it seems like we'll gone until July."

"So roughly a week? I can handle that." He nodded. "I'll make sure to spread the word that we're getting married and get the invitations to the humans handed out while you're gone."

"And don't forget Bella still needs help up and down the stairs." I reminded him. "Carlisle said this morning that he was going to take the cast off-"

"By the wedding." He nodded. "I know, I've got this." He smiled sweetly at me as we all stood from our chairs.

"I'm sure you do." I smiled back, wrapping him into a tight hug. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too." He swore to me. "Now, I'll walk you both out to the car. I don't want anyone pestering you." He told us, taking a protective hold of my waist and guiding Alice with his hand on her shoulder.

The staring began the moment Alice open Charlie's office door and didn't stop until Charlie closed the front door of the station behind us.

"I'm sorry about that Charlie." I frowned as he opened the car door for me.

"Sorry?" He laughed at me. "For what?"

"For causing another scene at the station." I sighed. "I know how serious you are about your work and I'd hate to cause any kind of awkwardness or tension."

"Don't worry about it." He soothed me. "They're all just shocked I somehow managed to trick Grace Cullen into marrying me." He chuckled.

"Trust me, there were no tricks involved." I smirked at him, leaning my head up for him to kiss me. "I'm going to miss you so much. Promise you'll call me?"

"Everyday." He swore to me. "Now, you two should get going. The sooner you leave the sooner you'll come back."

"I love you." I told him, not able to keep myself from kissing him one last time.

"I love you too." He smiled beautifully at me as I climbed into the drivers seat.

He shut the car door and watched as I pulled out on to the road. He stood there watching until the car was out of sight.

"You two are really good together." Alice nodded her head. "Even if there's still a lot of honeymoon phase stuff going on." She giggled.

"I don't think it's a phase, Alice." I shook my head, a wide smile on my face. "I can't imagine us ever being a different way. We're both just so happy after such a long time alone."

"Yeah, I see the future remember?" She teased me. "Every vision of you two, you're still desperately in love with each other."

"So, I say we both go and pack a bag before we tell everyone else what's going on. We need to just tell them we're going and go." I told her.

"I agree." She nodded. "If my bag is already packed, Jasper won't have as much time to question me about-" she froze up. "The others all left to hunt. It's just Carlisle in the house. We're in the clear."

"Good." I sighed in relief. "I was so nervous to talk to Esme." I confessed.

"You'll still have to call Edward when he's alone and explain what we're doing so he doesn't rat us out." She told me. "But other than that we're fine."

"Great, so I'll meet you in the living room in ten?" I asked as I pulled into the garage and parked.

"Ten." She nodded, blurring into the house.

I ran upstairs and immediately began packing a suitcase bag with only essentials.

"Grace?" Carlisle questioned me as he came into my room. "What are you and Alice up to? You never come in without stopping to talk."

"Well, at my fitting today Alice got a call from the designer of my dress and she wants me to come in for a final fitting there. So we thought we'd just go and wait for the dress to be ready and pick it up then." I explained. "But we have to leave soon or else we'll be late for the only appointment time she has tomorrow morning."

"Oh, alright." He nodded, wedding prep not being one of his known languages. "So you're just staying a few days?"

"Right." I nodded. "We decided to go ahead and pick up some things on our way instead of get them shipped here."

"Just to ensure nothing gets damaged." Carlisle added, easily picking up the clues.

"Exactly." I agreed. "I hate to just come in and run out like this, but we really need to get going. I've already stopped and explained to Charlie what's happening. I just need you to let the others know."

"Of course." He promised me, following me and Alice down the stairs and out to the garage. "Be safe you two." He told us, hugging Alice tight. "See you soon." He kissed my cheek before opening my car door for me.

"I have never lied to him in all of our existence." I sighed as soon as Alice hit the highway, doing 105 in my vanquish.

"He'll understand." Alice waved me off. "And besides, most of it was the truth. There were only a few tiny white lies thrown in the mix."

"I suppose your right." I laughed. "I'll just beg for forgiveness when we get back."

"He'll forgive you no problem." Alice nodded, not needing to scan the future due to Carlisle's predictability.

My phone rang out suddenly and I was surprised to see Bella's number flash on the screen.

"Bella? Is everything alright?" I worried, already preparing myself to have Alice turn the car around if something had happened to her or Charlie.

"It's Renee." Bella sighed deeply. "She cancelled her trip last minuet on me." She sniffed and my heart ached to be there to soothe her tears in person.

"Oh Bella, I'm so sorry sweetheart." I cooed. "I really hoped she wouldn't. I know you were so excited to spend some time with her."

"I feel so stupid, Grace." She huffed, and I heard the sound of her throwing herself onto her bed. "I should've known she would cancel like this. You and Dad both told me not to get my hopes up but I did anyway."

"Bella, you are not stupid for believing in your mother." I told her, sharper than I meant to. "That's just who you are, our sweet trusting Bella."

"I wanted her to be able to meet everyone formally. And not in a hospital or something just because the circumstances call for it. She hasn't even met you yet and she doesn't know about you and Dad either." She explained.

"Well." I sighed, knowing I was about to regret the words out of my mouth. "Maybe you should call her and invite her to the wedding."

"Grace, you can't be serious?" Bella asked doubtfully, but I could hear the hope in her voice.

"I am. I don't see the harm in it besides things being a bit awkward at first, maybe. Charlie is always going to love your mom because she gave him you, Bella. But, he's moved on now and maybe it will do her some good to see that." I explained. "Call and invite her, and if she tries to back out of it tell her I'm the one who invited her."

"Why?" She asked. "Why would that make a difference?"

"It's a girl thing." I told her. "She'll be so curious about me that she won't be able to help herself but come."

"Okay, if you're sure." She agreed. "Should I ask Dad too?"

"No, he doesn't get a veto in this case." I told her. "I'm sure he would agree with me, but let's not risk it."

"Okay, thanks mom!" She spoke excitedly before hanging up.

"Wow, I hadn't realized you two had become close so quickly." Alice mused as she shifted gears. "Mom is a big step in the right direction."

"I'm thrilled." I smiled at her.

"I imagine so." She nodded. "Having a daughter must be a big thing for you after two boys." She giggled.

"Well Carlisle, Esme, and I have always thought of all of you as our kids collectively. It's hard to pick and choose. I was the one who cleaned Rosalie up after she had been attacked, but Carlisle technically changed her. Even though she and I are quite close because of it, she still calls Carlisle dad." I told her. "I'd like to think I've been a mother figure for you and Jasper as well, even if you both don't really need one."

"It's funny, I used to not understand human things like parents and siblings and familial relationships. That all seemed so foreign and strange. To hear you call Edward and Emmett 'your boys' and to see you love on dote on them like they were children seemed so odd, but now I'm starting to understand." She thought aloud. "We don't need parents, but having people more experienced than we are really means a lot, even concerning everyday matters. When I first joined the coven, you taught me how to sew. That seems like such a simple thing, but it's made all the difference in my life. It gave me a hobby and a passion for designing. There's a million other examples like that that I could explain, but I think it all boils down to you being a mother to me and me not being able to thank you enough."

"Aww, Alice." I cooed, reaching over and hug her tightly. "I'm touched."

"And I'm about to find out who I used to be." She sighed heavily, changing the conversation.

"And I'll be right here beside you." I promised her, taking one of her hands off of the steering wheel to squeeze tightly in reassurance.