Chapter Fourteen
Graduations and Confrontations
Grace Cullen-Swan

"Having fun?" Carlisle teased me as I sat beside him in the overly-crowded gymnasium, wrangling Elizabeth to stay in her carrier.

"Hardly." I muttered. "Between the P.T.O. moms all wanting to hold Elizabeth and having to make sure Charlie doesn't vomit mid-speech, I'm not getting much rest here." I chuckled.

"He'll be fine." Carlisle nodded firmly. "P.T.O. moms on the other hand..." he scowled teasingly and I took my chance to hit him.

"Grace!" Ashley Stanley cheered my name as she and her husband sat directly behind Carlisle and I. "Oh my goodness, look how big she's getting!" She cooed, straining to look at Elizabeth as she sat bundled up in her carrier.

"I know." I giggled politely and Elizabeth echoed me by chattering.

"Already a talker like her mom, too." Carlisle laughed, earning a playful slap from Esme as she sat down next to him.

"Stop pestering your sister." Esme ordered him.

"But dear, I-" Carlisle began, but was silenced by a sharp look from his small but scary wife.

"Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper are still outside. Maybe you should go get them and bring them to our seats?" Esme smiled, kissing Carlisle's cheek to show everyone she had just been teasing him, and I carefully maneuvered Elizabeth's carrier so he could get by.

"So Grace, is Chief Swan nervous?" Ashley asked me, butting into other peoples business as usual.

"I think he's just eager to make an impression is all." Esme answered her for me. "It is his daughter's graduation, after all."

"Well, if he messes up, I guess there's always Elizabeth's to have a second chance." Ashley laughed before settling back into her seat.

Carlisle returned with the kids then, further removing us from conversation with Ashley Stanley, and I couldn't help but take a few deep breaths in an attempt to keep myself calm for Charlie's sake.

"Don't worry, Aunt Grace." Jasper reassured me, offering me a calm smile as he sat beside me. "He'll be great." He promised and I smiled widely at him in thanks.

The ceremony began then and I forced the happily interested look that I've mastered onto my face as the principle droned on and on. A few members of the student council spoke before Jessica Stanley, surprisingly the valedictorian, gave a wonderful speech on the value of being young and making mistakes. I couldn't help but give the baby in my lap a loving look at her words. Without Bella and Edward's 'mistake' this angel wouldn't have ever entered our lives for the better. Finally, the principal unnecessarily introduced Chief Charles Swan to give the guest speakers address.

I was thrilled to see him looking so confident as he shook the principals hand and took the podium. I reached over and grasped Jasper's hand in my gratitude.

"Charles." Charlie grimaced, scrunching his face up as he shook his head, getting an easy laugh from the audience, and I knew he had everyone hooked. "Kids, I know it may not seem like it, but it's a real achievement to get to sit through this painfully long ceremony and listen to this oaf congratulate you." He laughed, and again the crowd echoed him.

Meanwhile, I was staring him down in an attempt to get him to return back to the script we had written out together and rehearsed.

"Oops, Mrs. Swan is giving me that look, let's get back on script." He returned to the topic and I sighed in relief. "I'm not standing here today because I'm the Chief of Police or because it's my daughters graduation and they wanted me to make it special. I'm standing here because I was once in your exact same place, wearing those awful yellow robes, and internally begging the speaker to get it over with already so that I could walk the stage and go party with my friends down at the reservation. I know the excited fear that comes with graduation and not knowing where to go from there or if you're making the right choices or not. I wanted to go to college, get a degree in psychology or criminal justice and spend my life teaching at some big university somewhere sunny and far from Forks, but, life obviously has different plans. Mostly for the better." He smiled, and I could tell he was looking at Bella.

"My parents got sick, and so I stayed home and joined the police academy instead of running off and fulfilling all of those silly daydreams that I didn't really want in the end. I met a girl, fell in love a little too fast, and gained a daughter that I live and breathe for. I rose through the ranks fast and got to be the youngest chief the great town of Forks has ever had. I was thrilled when my daughter came to Forks to finish out high school, and I was pleasantly surprised to meet her gorgeous English teacher Miss. Cullen." He shot me a wink and the crowd laughed. "And I suddenly went from having one girl in my life to having six." He shook his head, gaining another laugh. "Bells, Grace, Elizabeth, Esme, Alice, and Rosalie along with Carlisle, Jasper, Emmett, ...and Edward." He shot him a playful warning look. "Have all proved to me that Fate has a funny way of showing itself in our lives. We think we have everything figured out for ourselves, that we know what's best for us, but in the end a new surprise comes along and changes everything. So graduates, I urge you all to embrace the changes. Let yourself be open to the new, no matter how much you might fear it, because someday it'll all be worth it."

The crowd clapped and cheered then, and the diplomas were quickly issued. Charlie had just made it into his seat next to me and gotten Elizabeth in his arms when Isabella Marie Swan was called. Of course, Bella got a loud cheer and applause from the Cullen clan as we all stood and clapped for her excitedly, her responding blush and refusal to meet our eyes was enough to get her crowd of peers to cheer and laugh with us.

"So not funny." Bella grumbled, meeting us all outside after turning in her graduation gown.

"Really? We thought it was." I teased her, hugging her tight. "Come stand over here by Edward and Alice, Esme is taking pictures." I ushered her over and had her stand next to Edward.

"Oh, come on you three, give me a smile! You only graduate from high school once!" She laughed, and got everyone to smile at her joke. "Perfect!" She cheered. "Now let's get some with your parents." she directed.

After Carlisle and I convinced Esme that we had enough pictures, we all headed back to the Cullen house to get things set up for the party.

"Hey mom, I need to run home and change. Alice has decided to force me into an outfit twice today." Bella grumbled.

"Okay, do you have a ride?" I asked, knowing she left her truck at home before graduation.

"Yeah, Alice said everything left can be delegated so she's going to play Bella Barbie." Bella frowned.

"Okay, you girls have fun." I laughed at her, squeezing her hand before letting Alice drag her away.

"I don't know what you think you're smiling about." Carlisle suddenly chuckled, surprising me as he handed me a large box. "Alice left us to handle the rest of the decorations." He frowned.

"Lighten up. It's your daughters first party and she wants to have some fun. That's hardly something to mope about." I teased him.

"Wouldn't you be the same way if it were one of your daughters in a frenzy over 'just the right shade of pink' ribbons?" He asked.

"Maybe." I shrugged. "But, luckily for me, the one that's grown has a huge distaste for human things and the baby is a half-vampire genius who already thinks like a trained sociologist. I don't think she'll ever like anything mundane." I laughed, watching Elizabeth as she played with Charlie and her stuffed dog on the floor of the living room. "Let's get this all done so we can enjoy the rest of our evening, hmm?" I smiled.

Carlisle and I were able to finish things quickly. Streamers, ribbons, and balloons were put in place to Alice's precise instructions. Minus one pink balloon Elizabeth was absolutely obsessed with. After decorating, I went to help Esme in the kitchen, and we were just finishing up when Alice arrived with a newly made-over Bella. The party soon kicked into full swing as more and more students arrived. I put Charlie and Carlisle on chaperone duty while Esme and I stayed upstairs to look after Elizabeth and, somewhat guiltily, to escape the noise and crowd.

It wasn't until the party was wrapping up that Carlisle came to get Esme and I about an unsettling vision Alice had.

"How long, Alice?" Carlisle asked, motioning Esme and I into the study before shutting the door behind us all.

"A week." She answered worriedly.

"What's going on?" I asked the room as I joined Charlie's side and reached out to take one of Bella's hands in mine.

"Alice has seen the newborn army coming here." Jasper responded. "There's no way to avoid a fight."

"Newborns?" Jacob Black asked from across the room, flanked on either side by one of his gang members.

As Carlisle explained our differences, and Bella argued with Jacob about the packs involvement in the fight, an unnerving feeling settled into my bones. Something in my body was trying to tell me that something wasn't right about all of this.

"If Victoria really is behind all of this, then how are we going to outsmart her enough to ensure that everyone survives this fight?" I asked the room. "The army is huge by Alice's predictions, even with the shapeshifters involved, I don't see how we are going to avoid casualties."

"I think I have a few ideas." Charlie smiled proudly, immediately gaining the rooms interest.

"I don't know about this, Charlie." I frowned, hating the face staring back at me in the mirror. Victoria's, I mean. Cold taunting red eyes, sharp dangerous facial and body angles, and wild red curls just as bloody as her soulless eyes.

"Grace, I know you, your illusions are powerful and you have practically mastered the art of lying after so many years of acting human. I trust in you completely to be able to pull this off." Charlie reassured me from the other side of the bathroom door.

"Okay." I sighed, opening the door and nearly giving Charlie a heart attack.

"You look just like her." He nodded, a torturously fearful look in his eyes as I saw him try to remind himself that I'm not her. "Let's go show the family." He urged me as I followed him downstairs.

The house, unsurprisingly, had already been cleaned of all decorations and was returned to its normal bright open spaces. Completely devoid of all human teenagers, but Bella, of course.

As soon as we turned the corner into the living room, everyone bristled in defense at the sight of my newly red hair.

"I told you it was convincing." Charlie nudged me proudly.

"If you weren't wearing your normal clothes, I think we all would've been very convinced you were Victoria." Carlisle nodded in approval.

"However, it's not enough to just look like her, Aunt Grace." Jasper offered his opinion. "You've got to act like her, too. She's a nomad that's angry and vengeful after losing her mate. She moves like a trapped jungle cat and she talks like she's from the fifties. You've got to find that anger for you to convince anyone you're actually her."

"You're right." I nodded. "I'll work on it."

"So, now that we have the plan of using the wolves and Grace to throw off the army in place, what idea did you have about helping Charlie?" Carlisle asked him, and I quickly shot my husband a warning look.

"Nothing. There is no plan here that involves you." I spoke firmly.

"I shot down that chandelier and pinned James long enough for Emmett and Jasper to come." Charlie retorted, stunning me into silence. "I've proven I can hold my own against vampires. So, using the same idea of the chandelier, I can set up small explosives in the ground of the field we're luring the vampires to. I'm a good shot, so I can fire at the devices and probably knock the newborns off their feet long enough for you all to intercept them." He explained.

"The man's a genius." Emmett declared quickly, his crush on Charlie very apparent.

"It's a good idea." Jasper nodded. "Let's test it."

"What?" I panicked. "No, I'm not going to let you keep risking your life." I frowned up at Charlie.

"It will work." Alice declared, coming out of her latest vision. "As long as nothing changes and the Volturi stay away, he'll stay perfectly hidden and perfectly safe. His plan works and is a huge help to us."

"Well, thats kind of twisting my arm into agreeing." I sighed. "I guess we can try it." I shrugged, seeing the determination in Charlie's eyes to help keep our girls safe.

"Good." Charlie nodded excitedly. "Could you maybe not look like that anymore?" He asked quietly, the nerves getting to be too much for the room.

"Thank goodness." I sighed in relief, dropping the illusion and relishing in the return of my pale blond curls. "So, when do we start training?"

"Tonight." Jasper replied. "A week should be just enough time to cover everything with the shapeshifters and your gift involved." He added with a wicked smile.