The weeks would pass with very little change in the current ongoings in both the household of the Swan family and the emotional wellbeing of its inhabitants. Isabella Swan showed no further signs of being able to push past the trauma she had developed from her relationship with Edward still unable to even voice that she had experienced a trauma in the first place. 

That was until one day at the end of November. With no advanced warning that Bella was even starting to accumulate to what had happened to her nor make any adjustments to returning to a slightly more normal life like she had lived prior, Bella seemed to suddenly start to push forwards. It was as though she had never gone through what had happened and had just reversed the time upon herself and returned to the character she was prior to the breakup in the woods. Something though at first seemed like it could have been a good thing, only worried those around her even more, nothing good could come out of ignoring everything that had happened. Veronica worried that her sister would just snap one day, having been pushed too far and all the change she had experienced without actually adapting to or taking the time to try and learn how to continue would lead the older girl to breaking point. And nobody would be able to bring her back from that point. Not even if her beloved Edward would make a sudden magical return. Not that anyone expected him to, potentially not even Bella. 

Bella had chosen to head out shopping with Jessica Stanley one Saturday morning. It was out of the blue considering the girls did not seem to be friends at all in that present moment in time, but if it was what Bella needed to start to move on and past what happened and forge a future for herself there was no chance that either Charlie or Veronica were going to stop her. There were worst people the girl could make friends with than Jessica Stanley. Sure the girl was a bit over dramatic and would most likely never leave the small town popular girl stereotype but she was safe, she was relatively calm and she would be able to bring Bella out of her shell in a reasonable manner. Out of everyone Bella could have chosen to pick to be her friend as she came out of the place she had been trapped in, Jessica was a good option. 

And as Bella spent more time with Jessica and seemed to be starting to heal properly, Veronica chose to not overly pay attention to her older sister. The girl seemed to be doing better when her family was not breathing down her back and watching her every movement. And Jessica seemed to be doing a good job at watching out for Bella so Veronica allowed the girls their time aware that if her sister needed support she probably wouldn't go to Veronica anyways. But she left the branch out for her to take regardless. Therefore, the days slowly ebbed into December, Veronica only looked from the corner of her eyes at to what Bella was doing. She paid her sister little attention allowing the girl to do whatever she wanted as long as she remained safe. And most importantly kept Matthew out of it. Therefore, when Bella shuffled into the kitchen one evening and only stood there in the middle of the room not doing anything before turning on the spot and leaving, she thought little of it. Bella had picked up some unusual habits since she had come out from the locked in state she had previously been in, and Veronica allowed her sister to continue on as long as she was better. 

"What was that about?" Jacob turned to Veronica and questioned, his previous topic of conversation long since forgotten as he lamented over the strange behaviour he had witnessed for the first time. 

"I'm not sure but I'm just leaving her to it." Veronica shrugged back in response, her attitude showing very little concern for what she had witnessed and further evidence that the teenaged boy should probably do the same. After all Jacob didn't really want to get caught between the two sisters unless he thought it was for a genuine reason. 

It wouldn't be for a few days that Veronica would work out just why Bella had been acting stranger than usual in the kitchen. As as usual, or what seemed to be forming the usual pattern forming, Veronica was the last to find anything out. She had checked her phone for new messages shortly after getting herself ready for the day to see a bunch of texts she had not opened. Most of them were from a the softball team as they planned their next team bonding activity. Yet there were a few which didn't exactly make sense from some of her friends on the Reservation. And she supposed she would only get answers when she went over there that afternoon. 

"Hey Dad, just reminding you that Matty and I are at Billy's this afternoon." Veronica interrupted her father as he sat on the carpet in the living room playing with Matthew. The pair were using a wooden block set they had recently been gifted by one of the ladies from down the road, one which Veronica was convinced had a crush on her father. And someone she might have to push her father into going on a small little date with if she continued to show such signs of interest. 

"Thanks bug, I had completely forgotten, are you guys having dinner over there?"

"I actually don't know, I'll have to let you know when we get there."

"Just give me an update as soon as you make your mind up, then I can decide what to do for dinner. Might be a night of a microwave dinner watching the game." Charlie seemed to be thinking aloud with his final words and Veronica wanted to maybe see if her father also wanted to join them for dinner. But she was also aware that despite it not being exactly healthy for him that sitting watching the latest game whether it be basketball, baseball or something else with a microwave dinner was the best self care her father could do for himself. And she missed the evenings when they would do it together, it was much harder to do with a baby in the house but maybe they could restart the tradition with Matthew as he was getting older. 

"Papa?" Matthew's voice would prevent Veronica responding to her father. The pair turned their attention to the infant who was looking at his grandfather with a slight look of annoyance  as Charlie had stopped playing as he spoke with his daughter. Something the young boy was not happy with. 

"Yes Matty?"

"Play." Matthew could not exactly string together many words to create a sentence, that was still a big difficulty but he was more than able to articulate what he wanted and ask for what he needed. And as the days progressed he continued to develop further and further. 

It took a little while for Veronica and Matthew to arrive at their location for the rest of the day, but upon pulling up at Billy's wooden house Matthew had worked out where they were. He was getting better at recognising the common places he was taken to and Billy's house was one of the most if not second most visited place other than his nursery. Veronica allowed Matthew to walk into the house holding her hand and using the ramp installed for Billy's wheelchair as both a help and a hindrance. It helped considering Matthew had not exactly mastered the stairs quite yet but also the steep slope was not ideal when it came to Matthew keeping his balance. But that was what Veronica was there for. 

Opening the door, Veronica called out for the older man hoping to alert him to their presence and not spook him out by accident. "Hey Billy it's just us, sorry we're a little late."

"Hey Ronnie, hey Matty, you're not late at all. I haven't even started cooking yet. Jake's somewhere in the garage no clue when he'll be ready so I've not started yet." Billy's voice called back before he slowly came around the corner in the direction the living room was in. That was the thing with her Jacob, he would often get so caught up on his little projects out there that hours would pass and he would have no clue only peeking his head out when there was no light left outside. Billy beckoned towards Matthew who looked up at his surrogate mother for permission. Veronica let his hand go and allowed him to potter his way over to the other grandfather he had.

Veronica trialed after the pair who ventured back in the direction Billy had come from, the man expertly wheeling himself backward with the infant perched upon his lap. Upon entering the living room, Veronica noted the rerun of the basketball game from earlier in the week playing on the TV the subtitles dancing their way across the bottom of the screen the 30 second delay ever prominent. 

"How are you Billy?" Veronica questioned as she took a seat opposite him upon the three seater. Billy tore his eyes away from Matthew who had climbed down and onto the living room floor.

"I'm doing no better, no worse than I usually am. How are you both?"

"We're okay aren't we Matty?" Veronica paused looking to her son who looked back up at her. His hands moved upwards as he motioned towards her. Veronica remembered the backpack she had picked up from the car and opened it up. Removing the toy she knew he was asking for. The soft yellow toy duck made its way out of the top of the backpack and was quickly snatched from her hands.

"Ducky."

"Matthew Swan no snatching." Veronica's voice was sterner then usual as she attempted to train him not to pinch and take from others using force. 

"Sorry Mommy." Matthew apologised but it was clearly only half felt, but Veronica knew not to push happy he had at least apologised. 

"Sorry about that Billy, but yeah I think everything is just about settled on our end." Veronica finished her original thought before the pair settled into a calm silence both attentions focusing on the screen in front of them. 

Time easily passed before anyone in the room had really taken notice. Veronica was enjoying watching the game she had missed part of earlier in the week but she was interrupted by a gentle pulling of her jean leg. She looked to Matthew the only one who would do something for attention, maybe, only to see him looking very bored. 

"Where Daddy?" His grammar needed a lot of work but Veronica knew that was many months if not years down the road.

"I don't know baby. Should we go find him?" Veronica questioned back waiting for any kind of response. When all she got was a nod, she took that as her queue to get up from the couch and take Matthew to where she knew Jacob was going to be. "See you in a little while Billy." She was waved off by the man too focused on the TV. 

Veronica offered Matthew her hand and allowed him to grab on with his left as his right clutched tightly to his duck. Gently leading him in the direction of the door of which would take them to the garage. To her luck, the door was wide open allowing her to see into the garage slightly. Though considered how cluttered Jacob kept it, Veronica was unable to clearly see that far into the room, her eyes only really picking out the things which would be dangerous to the 18 month old stood beside her. She gently lead Matthew to the stairs that entered the garage, waiting to see just how much help he was going to need to get down them. But she didn't have to overly worry as Matthew sat himself on the floor at the top of the stairs and shuffled his way down. She waited for him to get half way down before following him hoping that he would stop and wait for her at the bottom. But she knew that it was a pointless thought when Matthew had spotted something which had taken his fancy the moment he was at the bottom of the stairs. Or should she say someone. 

"Daddy!" Matthew's voice was not short of a shout as he interrupted whatever was going on in the garage before he had entered. Veronica trailed after him considering he was moving as fast as his little legs allowed him to move. She finally got to take a proper look at the inhabitants of the garage to notice it was pretty full as Jacob seemed to have all the people he could have invited over in the room at once. Jacob was surrounded by his two childhood best friends from the Reservation, Embry and Quil, and for some reason Veronica's sister. But she would think about why everyone was gathered later focusing more on her son who was currently being bounced in her best friends arms. 

"Hello my man. Where's your mom." Jake had focused his full attention on Matthew, something the boy demanded and therefore Veronica assumed had not spotted her following him down and into the room. Veronica debated answering for a little while before deciding to let the pair ride out their reunion before making her presence overly acknowledged. "Oh there she is." Jake noticed a matter of seconds later and Veronica hoped that he really wasn't as disappointed to see her as the tone of his words indicated. 

"Feeling the love man." Veronica sighed out dramatically before turning her attention to the two other teenaged boys in the room. She went to hug both of them, considering their friendship was well developed over the years of Jacob forcing them to spend time together. 

"Hey guys, how's it going?" Veronica awaited their response choosing in that moment to pull a Bella and take one out of her books and ignore her sister only speaking to the people she wanted to. 

"Not bad, Matty's vocabulary is getting so much better." Quil was the first to respond. 

"I know is it bad to say I miss him making errors on the way he was pronouncing words?" Veronica had fond memories of the words Matthew had accidentally pronounced when trying to say something else.

"No there was some great ones. I'm surprised he's not picked up on you two insulting one another." Embry joined the conversation fully as he baited Veronica, and she willingly fell into the trap set out before her. 

"I only say nice things about Jake you must have me confused with someone else."

"Yeah and Quil's not taking his cousin to prom." Embry brushed off only to bring the other boy back into the conversation point.

"Hey. You can't just pull that up whenever you're trying to prove a point man. I'm being a great cousin and taking her to her first prom. You wish you were as nice as I am."

As Embry and Quil began to bicker between themselves, Veronica gave Bella a small little nods to not completely ignore her sister. But she had no clue why the older girl was even there in the first place. She turned her attention back to Matthew and Jacob only to be met with the grabby hands of Matthew who wanted to be back with his mother figure. He might just be a mommy's boy. Not her fault.

"Oh come here baby. Mommy's got you." Veronica cooed as the infant was swapped between caregivers and the 18 month old instantly settled his head onto the lower section of her shoulder he had seemingly tired himself out with all the movement in the last few hours. Once he was settled she turned back to see just what the gathered group had been doing prior to her arrival. Her brain wondering just why they would all be in one place at the same time. 

"So Ronnie, have you heard of Jacob's latest adventure?" Embry dropped the teen right into the deep end. 

"No I haven't. Latest adventure Jake?" Veronica gave a pointed look at the boy in question only to watch him clam up at her stare. Indicating immediately he was doing something she might not be overly happy with. As the silent pause continued Quil let out a loud sigh in disbelief, annoyed that Jacob had done it once again. 

"The bikes?" He nudged hoping that either Veronica had forgotten being told or Jake would at least be prompted to tell her. 

"Vero, I promise I was going to tell you." Jake started

"You're making it sound illegal. Like you're dealing. You're not dealing right?" Veronica replied.

"No, come on. Me dealing? Please the person most likely to be a dealer in here is Embry."

"Hey keep me out of this."

"The bikes then?"

"Bella made me do it." Jake tried to push the blame away and onto the oldest teenager in the room. Veronica therefore, turned her attention onto her sister looking for some sort of explanation of what was going on around her. 

"Rebuilding bikes Bella?" She questioned Veronica didn't know what her sister was doing at any point the last few months and was unsure where this new desire to rebuild dirt bikes which looked as though their best life was one hundred years ago. 

"I like the adrenaline rush. This was cheaper than buying a brand new one. Not like Charlie would let me have one." Bella's eyes were cast upon the floor as she spoke and Veronica hesitated from rolling her eyes. She couldn't wait for their father to hear about this from Bella. Veronica wouldn't snitch on her sister but she expected the girl to inform their father what she was doing. 

Veronica only sighed knowing that there would be no point in arguing anything to do with this. It wasn't like she could stop them even if she had any say in the matter, not that she did. She just hoped that when it came to testing the bikes the two teens would be as careful as possible.

"You're not mad at me?" Jake questioned the girl his tone sheepish. 

"I don't own you Jake nor do I make decisions for you. Am I concerned about you taking on another project when you can't even keep up with your schoolwork as it is? Of course I am. But I'm not mad at you. But if you even think for a split second about taking our son onto one of those I'll have your head."