Veronica should have known that despite what her father had said to her in regards to Bella's behaviour that he would take everything back almost instantly the second he received a phone call from her. It was not a new idea that her father was a push over, especially when it came to either of his daughters but in particular his eldest. Therefore, when he took his words back and her back into his house, Veronica was not surprised. She gathered all it had taken was Bella informing their father that she had ended up in the hospital on the way back to Pheonix and bat her eyes a couple of times and it was all as though she had never said anything to Charlie in the first place. Like she had never made him cry. Veronica pondered if he was still under the false hope that he could save her from herself and make her better. They would all suffer from Charlie's saviour complex. Including Bella herself.
Veronica had very complex feelings about her sisters return, just like she had complex feelings regarding Bella taking off. At first she had been upset with the idea of her sister just running off and away from her problems and dumping them all on everyone else left behind. But in the less than 72 hours Bella had been gone, Veronica found herself almost happy it had happened. The atmosphere within the house was more serene than it had been in the last few weeks and the routine without Bella there was almost the same as it had been before she left. Evidence of how little the older girl was involved with the rest of her family. Therefore, when their dad had called from a hospital in Pheonix with news that both he and Bella would be returning within the next 24 hours, Veronica hoped that she wasn't over reacting in regards to being upset about her sisters return. Their relationship was fractured with no clear evidence that they could or would ever repair it. She had enjoyed the time without her sister around, and simply just did not want her to come back. But she would have to suck it up, considering her sister and father would be home shortly and their lives would revert to how they were prior to her leaving. Everyone walking on egg shells around Bella in order to keep her happy.
Veronica would be lucky that they only had a few more weeks of school left before the summer vacation started. Was that she no longer would have to deal with the constant lingering of the other students around her. The lingering which did not stop when it came to her own friendship group, the girls on the team had become very much invested in Matthew, but to those who often surrounded Bella. Veronica was frustrated with the constant looks she received from the Cullen family, she was unsure what exactly they were attempting to do, but she knew she had become quite freaked out. The constant looks, the subtle comments the family made when she was in ear shot, whatever it was for it was unnerving and Veronica could only assume was part of their plan. Their plan to prevent her from poking about in their business and their relationship with her elder sister. Enough to make Veronica more than uneasy about the whole family. And more concerned for her older sister, even if she knew there was no chance that Bella would ever listen to her.
Prom had come and gone at a much faster rate than anyone had expected. Veronica had gone with most of the softball team, the group having foregone dates this time around to spend time together as a team bonding exercise. And therefore, her photos taken with her 'date' prior to the beginning of prom had been taken of her and Matthew. The little boy who was not quite one year old dressed up in a little suit with a matching coloured shirt to the dress she wore. Because, it was not like Bella would want to take any photos with the infant.
And the summer vacation had also passed incredibly quickly that year. Between time spent with Matthew working on his mobility, his speech and his other skills and then doing a small local softball camp Veronica found herself barely having time to just do nothing. And therefore, when the new school year began to approach she chose not to bother focusing on her elder sister and her strange relationship with the Cullen boy, the incredible co-dependent relationship, but instead she chose this time around to focus on herself. Focus on the infant she had become the mother figure to and to whatever life threw at the pair of them. Not whatever her elder sister chose to do with her time. Because it was pointless, Bella was pointless.s
On the morning of the first day of school, Veronica was severely underprepared for what was going to happen. She had awoken on time, after having found an impossibility to sleep in late with a one year old in the house, but as she got up she found herself unfocused, unsure and left for a lot longer than usual to pick out an outfit to wear. And by the time she had finished getting ready she was running twenty minutes late than she normally was, which meant she would be dealing with a very grumpy Matthew. She held a quick pace as she walked the very short distance between the two bedrooms expecting to be met with a grumpy little boy who was still stuck in his cot.
Yet to come to find his room empty. Immediately her chest tightened as she took into consideration the chance that he had escaped his cot and was somewhere else in the room, but she found herself coming up blank as she checked each tiny nook and crevice he could have worked himself into. Rather she tried to think of anything else which could have happened to the infant, only for her logical part of her brain to try to kick in an take over. Not that she was exactly listening, choosing rather to dash her way down the stairs to inform her father of the missing baby.
"Dad. I can't find Matty." She rushed out the second she entered the kitchen not taking a second to look around the room.
"What was that Ronnie?" Charlie asked turning to his youngest with a grin. As he stood beside an occupied high chair spoon feeding the 'missing' infant.
"I panicked and thought Matty had gone missing." Veronica took a moment as she worked on re-centering herself as the tightness in her chest resolved the longer she looked at the perfectly fine baby.
"Oh. I heard you getting ready and thought I might as well as we don't want a grumpy Matthew on our hands. Do we?" Charlie had turned his final two words to the baby using a more teasing tone. The pair both being aware just how cranky the little baby could get and neither wanting it when everyone was returning to their normal work days. Matthew clapped his hands towards Veronica when he noticed the pair had stopped speaking and Veronica found herself giving him the fond smile she only held reserved for him, to her knowledge.
"Good Morning Matty, you can't come out until you've finished your breakfast. Grandad will finish feeding you whilst I finish getting ready." Veronica explained to him before kissing the top of his forehead and moving to fix herself something to eat. She gently pulled at the large jumper she had chosen that morning, one which was big enough that she was sure it probably belonged to Jacob at one point before finding its permanent home in her wardrobe. She poured herself a bowl of cereal knowing that she had to eat but also knowing that the first day nerves would make it so she could not have something overly heavy.
She pulled out the chair next to Matthew's high chair before taking a seat and diving straight into eating her food. She still had a lot to do before she was ready to go and therefore, could not take the time to eat slowly and or like a lady. Strong footsteps would take her concentration away from where it had been equally split between her bowl and the infant and towards the stairs. Bella had finally made her way to the bottom of the stairs dressed in a typical outfit for the girl, nothing particularly outstanding or something that would draw the attention of the student body towards her. From what Veronica could make out, Bella chose to dress as plainly as possible so there was less for the student body to talk about in regards to her other than her relationship. Which seemed like a big change in comparison to how the girl used to describe herself whilst she was at school in Pheonix. Another red flag for the girls relationship. Something Veronica would keep note of for now until she could make a strong argument in the future.
"Bella, are you driving yourself in today?" Charlie asked his eldest already knowing the answer wanting to be interested in his daughters life yet knowing that it revolved around her current relationship. Charlie too, felt as though this relationship was not healthy, he had voiced it to Veronica this, but he was also aware that Bella had to figure this out for herself as she would not listen to her other family members and it would only ram a wedge further between them.
"No Edwards going to pick me up. Are you okay for a lift Veronica?" Bella replied and Veronica felt her eyes widen in shock as she took a second to wonder as to why her sister would offer her a lift. Their relationship was not good, but this could be seen as a way that the older girl was reaching out to try to improve it. And Veronica was a sucker for TV like relationships and found herself almost compelled to agree. But she knew she had other things to sort out.
"I would love to take up the offer another time, but it's also the first day back at nursery for Matty and I have to do his paperwork." Veronica shrugged as she spoke as if it wasn't a big deal. Before checking the time. She held herself back from saying anything she did not want Matthew to repeat before standing from the table.
"I am running so late." She grumbled before rushing back upstairs to throw together her backpack, having been only slightly happy she had decided to pack Matthew's bag for the nursery the night prior. She zoomed back down the stairs and to the kitchen stopping to collect Matthew and press a gentle kiss to her father's cheek before they were out the door. The paperwork for Matthew this time around would take just a little longer as the nursery required Veronica to sign for the changes made to his emergency contact system. They had sorted it so that Bella no longer had anything to do with the nursery unless it had been directly stated by either Veronica or Charlie. Just because they could not guarantee that Bella would actually follow through with the promises made or responsibilities otherwise.
Luckily, the first day of school and the few that followed seemed to go okay for Veronica. She no longer was a talking point within the large gossip community with her 'pregnancy' and young mom status no longer being something that was pressing and new. People would still give her the occasional dirty glare or judgmental look but she found it easy to ignore them otherwise. After all, the people who she wanted to know the truth did so, and the others well high school did not last forever. And yes it was a small town, and many of them were probably never going to leave it but in a few years time she was sure it would be their turn to be the talking point of the town gossip. And the talking point of the town rather than the high school seemed much worse in Veronica's own opinion.
On the Thursday, was Bella's 18th birthday. Something that the older girl had wanted to keep incredibly quiet, something she wanted nobody outside of the family to know about. For reasons unspecified. Therefore, Veronica and Charlie chose to allow Bella to spend her birthday doing whatever she wanted knowing she would object to anything the family wanted to do with her anyways. They had been informed she would be spending the evening with Edward anyways. Veronica rather spent time trying to work out what she would get her sister. Being Irish twins and only 11 months apart, Veronica thought it would be easy for her to work out what she could get her sister for her birthday. But it was much, much harder than she had expected and eventually she had given up turning to Renee for assistance. Because no matter how many months Bella had lived with them, Veronica did not feel as though she knew her sister enough in order to actually know what to get her. Therefore, when informed that the parents were working together to buy the girl a camera for her 18th, she decided she would buy her a case to go along with it. After all, it was not like Veronica had a lot of spare cash she could willingly drop on Bella's birthday present. Any money she had spare or she earnt at her part-time job went straight onto Matthew as she found herself struggling to say no when he wanted something or when she saw something she thought he would like.
It was a shame to come to the realisation that Bella would continue to give bother Veronica, and their father false hope that she wanted to spend time around them and have a relationship with them before breaking the charade just days later. But it was a necessary one for both Veronica and Charlie if they wanted to remain sane whilst the girl lived under their roof. But as long as neither of their names were Edward Cullen, they were not going to have any sibilance of a relationship with Bella. It hurt but it was the reality they were faced with, and a reality they would have to make peace with at some point in the near future.
"Good morning Bella, Happy 18th!" She had greeted the girl, after her father had woken Bella up, downstairs in the kitchen. Matthew sat beside her in his highchair playing around with the animal biscuits she had given him that morning not sparing much of a look to the one person in the house who never seemed to pay him any attention.
"It's no big deal, nobody at School can know." Bella harshly snapped at her sister and Veronica just had to roll her eyes. She raised her hands in a mock defeat pose.
"It's all good, your secret is safe with me." Veronica replied before turning her attention away from Bella if the girl insisted on behaving in that manner. That evening like she had suspected Bella headed to celebrate her birthday with the Cullens who she overheard was throwing her a birthday party. More evidence of the strained relationship between the family and the unlikelihood of any changes to it in the near future. Rather the two remaining Swans, considering Matthew had gone to bed early that night, sat watching TV together a documentary playing as they talked between themselves about any and everything.
The next morning, when Bella's usual attire also featured a thick hoody zipped all the way and the hood up, Veronica chose to ignore it. Having decided she didn't really want to know what her sister had gotten up to the night prior with her boyfriend. She continued on leaving the chance to question it behind her. This would continue as the day passed and Veronica did not see her sister at school at lunch time. Having gathered Bella had skipped school like she had begun to do more frequently in the last few weeks to be with Edward. When she picked up Matthew that night nothing was out of the normal; she collected him from the Nursery, Matthew attempted to explain to her a little bit about his day though he didn't really use any proper words but only sounds which could have been considered as words and they returned home to start their usual evening routine.
It would not be until 7pm when the atmosphere shifted and it started to become clear that something was not quite right. Neither Veronica nor Charlie had heard anything from Bella since that morning when they had last seen her head for the front door to travel to school. This was out of character for Bella, because even if she did spend most if not all of her time after school away from the house, she would always contact at least one of them to let them know what time she would roughly be back. Yet nothing of the normal had come through, not even one of Bella's short two word messages came through. Therefore, out of curiosity Charlie tried to call her phone, a couple of times yet each time it went to voicemail. His next logical step was to attempt to contact the Cullen Household where it was most likely his daughter was, only to find the phone line to have been disconnected. He started to ring around her friends to see if any of them had seen or heard from her, aware it was still only early in the evening, but he could not fight off the concern that was building at a rapid rate. And as it creeped closer and closer to 9pm that pit of concern had grown into real dreaded fear.
Charlie had worked to gather a small search party of officers to head out into the local woods to search for the missing, now, adult. Fearful that his daughter had got lost in the vast woods that she did not know very well, and that she could have easily become victim to an animal attack. He focused on that theory rather than the one he knew would utterly shatter his heart if it was a reality. Because both he and Veronica knew that now Bella was 18 she legally could just leave, she was an adult she could do that. And it was not a completely unplausible idea that she had done so.
The pair had alternated in trying Bella's number and the Cullens only for Bella's phone to say it had run out of charge and turned off, considering that it no longer rang and went straight to voice mail. Charlie had also called Billy for his help to see if they could start searching the woods from their end and hopefully the two parties would meet in the middle. This had caused Billy and Jake to come over to the Swan house to offer their support. Within seconds of arriving Jake was out of the car and rushing over to Veronica.
"Hey, are you and Matty both holding up alright?" He questioned, despite knowing that the search party was indeed for Bella he also knew that he had to check on Veronica and Matthew before he could turn his attention to the actual task on hand.
"I'm fine, Matty's asleep and will hopefully remain so until we find her." Veronica waved the baby monitor around a little. She was also telling the truth, she was fine a little worried about her sister but otherwise fine. She had come to the conclusion that they would either find Bella lost in the woods or not find her ever again and she was unsure as to what this would make her feel.
The hours soon ticked on and by the time it was nearly 11pm the group became unsure of what had happened to Bella. Nobody even knew exactly how long she had been missing with Veronica being the last one to see her around 11am during a class switch over so they could only assume that was her last sighting. The group began to fear the worst, that they were not going to find her. And Charlie would have to adjust to not knowing where his eldest daughter was ever again. And as the new drew on, the temperature dropped. Yet Veronica did not want to leave her fathers side, knowing how vulnerable he was in that moment, as his brain racked through every single possibility of what was happening to Bella in this moment. She could not leave her father's side and it would turn out she would not have to either as before she could state that she was beginning to feel cold, she was hit rather ungracefully in the face by a jacket.
"Some star softball player you are. You looked cold, say something next time you idiot." Came the loud and boisterous voice of her best friend and she sent a sheepish smile towards Jake.
"Cheers nimwit." She called back before pulling the jacket on. It was about three sizes too big but the bomber jacket was lined and incredibly warm. It was definitely not making its way back to its owner tonight.
At 11:30 there had been no development in her sisters location. In fact, the mood had become quite somber as Veronica watched her father realise that he was very likely going to have to create a police report and deem her missing. She went up to embrace her father hoping to offer him some form of support as she still tried to process that her sister had just vanished in thin air. Her father went to try to call the Cullens one last time drawing on desperate.
"That's no use Charlie the Cullen's have left town." Billy finally announced and Veronica knew that if her sister was never found she would be with the little cult. But before she even got the chance to voice this opinion the baby monitor she had chucked into her pocket started to go off picking up that Matthew was awake and upset by the sounds of his voice the distress evidence.
"I'm going to go get him." She announced before marching her way into the house at a speed faster than normal and taking the stairs three at the time. Upon checking upon the infant, Veronica noted that he required a diaper change and quickly did so before redressing him. But Matthew did not want to head back to sleep as quickly as he had awoken and neither did he seem to want to be separated from Veronica, possibly sensing her distress at the current situation. Seeing no other option in the immediate future, Veronica dressed him in his favourite, and thickest, coat something she knew she would have to replace prior to December before heading back outside. Wanting to be present just incase they did find Bella, or to be there for her father when they decided to call the search party off.
Once back outside Veronica found herself being pulled over and to the side by Jacob. The taller boy wrapping his arms around her from behind as he started pulling faces at the baby. He stopped for a second quickly dashing off to the truck he arrived in before coming back with a stuffed toy in a colour and shape the three of them recognised immediately.
"Fucky." Matthew commented something which caused both Veronica and Jacob to laugh at for a second before they went to correct the boy once again on the word he was using. Something they had been unsuccessful in so far with the first and only real word the boy used.
"Ducky Matthew, that a ducky." Veronica attempted to not sound so amused as she spoke to the boy but knew it was impossible. It would only take another twenty minutes for Matthew to fall back asleep new toy clutched tightly to his chest with one hand whilst the other remained clasped on Veronica's arms. The group returned to a solemn silence for just a little while longer until static from Charlie's radio broke the news that at this point nobody thought would ever come across.
"We've found her."