Another Eclipse
Disclaimer: All the characters in the story are the property of Stephanie Meyer. I have borrowed them for my entertainment and (hopefully) your reading pleasure. I make no profit from their use.
Author's Note: This story is a continuation of my other story "New Moon Rewound," which envisions the Twilight Saga as if the original New Moon was only a nightmare. In order to understand this one, you really have to read that story.
Prologue
"C'mon, Bella!" Alice calls. "We need to get going now!"
I look around the room where Edward and I have lived for the past three months with a little bit of nostalgia. We will be returning here in June, but not to this house. The Cullen house was built farther up the driveway, and our cottage will be built by then. But as I look at the empty fireplace, I can't help but think that this was also a home, our first home together.
I have been looking forward to this day for almost two months now. Since the moment we got the news that Jacob and Embry had killed Victoria in the woods out the back of the Cullens' house in Forks, I couldn't wait to go back. I would see Charlie again, and all my friends. I could finish high school with my class and graduate. And then Edward and I would get married and live happily ever after.
And it was only after I got that news and Edward offered to change me on the spot, that I realized how much I had really wanted that plan all along. Poor Edward! He had assumed that I would jump at the chance to be changed right away. I suppose that I thought so too. But then I understood that I had to do things this way for myself. And whatever I wanted was what Edward wanted because that is how much he loves me.
Now I am ready to go back to Forks. I have completed all my college applications and sent them in. I had missed the deadlines for Early Decision, but I didn't care. I can wait until April 1. Besides, I'm not going to college anyway. We are all going to return here after the wedding, now scheduled for June 21. It's our own inside joke. We will be married on the day of the summer solstice.
All the Denalis are coming down. It really feels that they are more like family to me than my real family. Especially since Renee and I have still not reconciled. I suppose that I should be sad about that. My only family at the wedding will be Charlie, who will walk me down the aisle. Angela's family will be there too, and Ben. But I don't want anyone else, except Renee and Phil if she changes her mind. Edward doesn't care. He just wants to get married.
While we were up here, Alice had gone on a fashion designing spree, creating dresses for all the women, including my wedding dress. The only difficulty was that she had had to be very careful about designing it when Edward wasn't anywhere nearby. Of course, he can't see it in my mind, but he can in hers if she's looking at it. She's very old-fashioned about not letting the groom see the dress before the wedding.
And course, since Edward is very traditional, he is totally playing along with her. The dress is very traditional also. She has designed it in the Edwardian style with a few modern embellishments of her own. She is working with some fancy designer, whose name I can't pronounce, in Paris. It will be shipped by May 1, just to be on the safe side.
A couple of weeks ago we made a brief visit to Forks for Christmas. We stayed at a local motel. Luckily it was a white Christmas, so there were no sun issues. Charlie was happy to see me. He has decided, much to Edward's disappointment to accept the engagement and welcome Edward into the family as my husband.
When we get back, I will move back in with him for the remaining five months, rather than living with the Cullens as I had been planning. In order to make this happen, Charlie has agreed to treat me like an adult.
There won't be any curfews or threats of being grounded. I can come and go as I please within reason. Edward is welcome at any time, except overnight of course. When we got back on Christmas Eve, Charlie made the sad announcement that the truck had died due to neglect. It was no longer in front of the house. Billy and Harry had borrowed a flat bed tow truck and brought back to La Push where Jacob wants to try to resurrect it again.
I should have known that Edward would take advantage of this to buy me a new and safer vehicle, a Mercedes SUV. But he assured me that I would only need it until the wedding. When we leave Forks, he plans on giving it to Charlie so that he doesn't have to drive around in the police cruiser all the time. And when he saw it, Charlie totally approved that it was definitely a better car for me.
Despite the fact that he had purchased the big, red monster, he never considered me completely safe in it. At first he objected when Edward said that he was giving it to hims hen we left, but he accepted it after Edward implied that it would hurt his feelings if he didn't. Charlie had been thrilled at the news that the enviable vehicle would be his, but he didn't want to feel like a "poor relation."
Telling people that he didn't want to "hurt the kid's feelings," gave him the excuse he needed to save his pride. I had also said that since I would be going to college, I didn't want to have to worry about parking the darn thing. The fact that he really shouldn't have been using the police cruiser as his personal vehicle didn't hurt either.
When we return, we will be bringing three vehicles: the Mercedes, the Volvo, and the Vanquish. We will also be bringing Jasper. It was thoroughly discussed and everyone decided that we shouldn't hide his presence. Instead, they would say that he had worked so hard during his first semester at Dartmouth that he had developed mono. Since he didn't want to leave the house much except to hunt it was as good an excuse as any.
The new, Denali Cullen house has been finished and that is where Emmett and Rosalie will live. Because they don't need a lot of furniture, they have only furnished a couple of rooms. The rest of the Cullen furniture will come out of storage for the house in Forks. The hospital is grateful that Carlisle is coming back, but the high school is less than pleased with our return.
In their eyes it is just a further inconvenience. The first thing that we have to do when we return is take our midterms. The guidance counselor is insisting that we take them at the school. I actually think that she would have let Edward and Alice take them in Alaska, but she didn't trust me.
After my fit over her remarks that I hadn't submitted my own work, Esme called her up and accused her of accusing her of lying. She was truly livid that the woman would dare to question her integrity. After that there were a few snide comments to Charlie about the amazing quality of my work. After the third one, Charlie responded that maybe Esme was a better teacher than the ones at the high school. That shut her down pretty quickly.
Once we knew that we were definitely returning to Forks, I began to correspond with Angela via my Mobile Me account. She kept me up to date with all the latest gossip in school and the various events. It seemed like nothing much had changed.
Jessica and Lauren were a little deflated to learn that I was coming back in January. It meant that there would be irrefutable proof that I had not gone into hiding to have Edward's baby, the story that they invented and spread "under the radar" to explain my absence.
It is only going to take us two days to drive back. Before we set the dates, Alice checked the weather forecast and said that it would be smooth sailing all the way. We would arrive several days before the end of the first term so that we could take our midterms with everyone else and set up the house. The only thing that I was not looking forward to was the moment that Edward and Alice would help me move back into Charlie's house.
I think that Edward was completely stunned when I said that I wanted to wait until June to be changed. He admitted that he thought that I would be thrilled that he was finally giving in. And he explained that having made that decision, he was looking forward to starting our life together even sooner. I felt so bad that I offered to change my mind, but he wouldn't let me.
When he said that he wanted me to be able to make my decision with no pressure, he had really meant it. And he knew that if, after all these months of begging, I had changed my mind, then I wasn't being fickle. I really needed the extra time to settle things up because I would literally be dying to live with him forever. He sees this as the ultimate gift of love.
Carlisle has compared my choice to become a vampire, end my human life, and how I would work through it, to that of someone with a terminal illness who knows the end is near. The hardest part is going to be that no one else will be in on the secret.
I can do my best to mend my bridges, particularly with my mother, but without the knowledge that I am leaving my human life forever, she will have no incentive reconcile. But in the end, that will be her choice, not mine. I cannot put my future on hold waiting for her to "forgive" me.
One discordant note in our return is the reaction of the Quileutes. Billy was furious that we were returning, but he had nothing to say about it. We had given them fair warning that if Victoria was destroyed that we would come back. Of course the assumption was that we would destroy her. When we came back at Christmas, Carlisle asked that he and Edward be able to meet at the boundary with Sam and his "second."
Since this was an issue not related to the treaty, the council couldn't say anything about it. It was completely Sam's choice as to whether he met with them or not. Carlisle wanted to simply review the various points with the pack, who would be enforcing the treaty from their side.
He wanted no mistakes or misunderstandings on either side. He simply wanted to live in peace for the next five months and then leave, never to return. Edward would be there to forage whatever information about Victoria's defeat that he could from their minds.
Sam, being the leader that he was, agreed to the meeting. Edward and Carlisle were both surprised when he showed up with Jacob. It seemed odd that the youngest pack member would be the second in command, but considering his good judgment and fine strategy during the Victoria episode, it was logical.
It took a great deal of trust for Sam and Jacob to face Carlisle and Edward in their human forms. Edward said that Jacob was very nervous the whole time. He was ready to phase at any moment if he felt that he needed to protect himself. Jacob, like Edward, was silent throughout the entire conversation. Edward was just as glad. Jacob's feelings toward the Cullens had changed since he had become a wolf.
Whereas Jacob used to look at Edward with envy because I was in love with him, now he was looking at him with anger. The whole time they stood there, Jacob paid less attention to the discussion between Carlisle and Sam regarding protocols and boundaries than he did to sizing up Edward as a potential rival. He actually thought that he might be able to convince me to drop Edward for him.
Most of his swagger was based on the fact that he had destroyed Victoria where the Cullens had been unable to catch her. Thus he viewed himself as my savior and thought that this should give him some kind of peremptory rights over Edward for my affections. I cannot imagine how difficult it is for him to understand my choice.
Throughout his whole life, he has been raised on the tribal "histories" of the cold ones and their role in the creation of the wolves. While a year ago, he was laughing at them, as soon as he phased, he learned that they were all true. He learned of the true cause of the theft of the children. And he learned that it was my contact with the Cullens and their world that had put my life in jeopardy from her.
In fact, before he knew the true story, he had no idea that I had been in danger at all from this mad, red-haired vampire. Billy had fueled his anger by telling him that if I married Edward as planned, I would become "one of them" and Charlie would lose his only child. He planted the idea in his son's mind that he needed to save me from this dreadful fate, or I would turn into a blood-sucking monster like Edward.
Edward has also had the opportunity to read Sam's thoughts. He was cordial, but cautious. He was also genuinely grateful for the information that Carlisle had given him about Victoria. He was well aware that without that information, Jacob and Embry could not have killed Victoria. Sam was all about results, not political rivalries and games.
Edward had been suspicious that Jacob and Embry had perhaps only claimed to have destroyed Victoria. However Sam and Jacob were both thinking about the encounter during the conversation. With his own keen vampire vision, Edward could see that without a doubt, they had been chasing Victoria. He could catch her scent in their memories.
He could see the wolves tearing the body to shreds. And he could see and smell the distinctive purple smoke with its vile stench. Thus while it seemed absolutely incredible that she had allowed herself to be caught, somehow she had. All that he could suppose was that just as the wolves interfered with Alice's future visions, perhaps they also interfered with Victoria's gift for escape.
This was what they were discussing when they came home from the meeting. Jasper listened carefully to the new details of the chase and capture that Edward had been able to mine from their thoughts. He thought that the wolf interference conjecture had to be the explanation. The best escape would have been across the river, which she could have easily jumped, and she didn't use it.
Alice was somewhat mollified by the idea that hers was not the only gift that was "jammed" by the wolves' presence. I still found the whole thing unsettling. I also worried that Charlie might invite Billy and Jacob over some kind of get together while I was there. Fortunately, he chose not to.
He simply asked that the Cullens give us the day alone together since it would be my last Christmas as his unmarried daughter. Since it would be our last Christmas together, and the Cullens didn't celebrate the holiday anyway, there was no problem. Charlie was pleased by my easy acceptance of his invitation.
During the day, Charlie didn't turn on the television once or even have a beer. We did our best to talk and make conversation but it wasn't easy. Luckily, he was satisfied that my reluctance to talk about the hospital stay was due to a desire to just forget it. Thus when my few prepared remarks were made, he filled in the time with talk of town, the police station, fishing (of course), and his friends at La Push.
I listened carefully and made a point of asking follow up questions about everything to encourage him to keep talking. But I had to admit that I was glad when Edward came to pick me up. At that time, Charlie awkwardly thanked him for taking such good care of me and bringing me back home. Edward said that it was difficult for him to say, but he was truly grateful that I hadn't completely disappeared from his life.
That morning, we had gone to Dr. Weber's church for the Christmas service. Angela had asked us to come to the eleven because she had organized a Christmas pageant of the Sunday school kids. It was as cute as these things can be. Some of the younger children improvised lines that were hysterical, but that only added to the gaiety of the morning.
After the service, Dr. Weber shook our hands and said that he was glad that we had taken the time to come on our very brief visit. He also told Edward and me that he was looking forward to our pre-marital counseling sessions when we returned for good. Edward did a very good job of not throwing another tantrum, but he admitted that if I had let him change me in the fall we could have gotten out of that. And that wouldn't have bothered him at all.
When the cars are packed up, we stand in the driveway outside the Denalis' house to say our farewells. I am going to miss all of them (surprisingly enough even Tanya) very much. We promise to stay in contact by phone and email. And then we leave for Forks. Edward and I are driving back in the Vanquish and it promises to be a pleasant journey. As we are about to exit the driveway onto the A3, I take one last look back. Yes, I definitely feel like I am leaving home.
Chapter 1: Return to Forks
"Hey, Cullen!" calls out Ben Cheney as we enter the high school. "Good to see you back!"
He means it too. The other students pretty much ignore me, which is just fine as far as I am concerned. As I am walking back into Forks High School, it feels like I had never left. Since the students are all caught up with anxiety for their midterms, they hardly take notice of Alice and me.
Bella's entrance into the school parking lot in her brand new SUV caused quite a stir however, at least for ten minutes. But after the guys as come over to examine and salivate over it, they all went back to trying to remember the dates, formulas, and vocabulary that would get them through the next three days.
Alice and I arrived first and then stood by the car waiting for Bella to come in. If anyone is going to benefit from vampire speed, it's going to be her. She won't have to eat in the mornings and she can drive wherever she's going at least 100 mph. As it is, she entered the parking lot carefully, aware that her large vehicle was capable of taking multiple cars at a time.
What I hadn't told her was that the Mercedes SUV that I got her was one of those bulletproof, maximum security jobs that they use for ferrying around presidents and prime ministers in war zones. Her own disinterest in cars meant that she didn't even bother to check out the specs. To her, the most exciting things about the car were the radio, the built in GPS, and the "new car smell."
It was a good thing Rosalie and Emmett weren't around when I presented it to her. Emmett would have been laughing his head off, and Rosalie would have hissing and growling in frustration. As it was, Jasper couldn't stand there listening to her without laughing, so he went running into the house to email them with the reaction. He had also just won a couple of hundred bucks off of Emmett. Alice had tipped him off before they left what her reaction was going to be.
I'm glad that we are coming in for finals because it meant that by the time school was back to normal, everyone will be used our presence. Bella had been insulted that we had to sit for them in school, but that was because she thought that it was due the guidance counselor's lack of trust in us.
However as Mr. Berty greets us, I see relief in his mind. He is glad that he won't have to write a make-up and then grade it separately. He had his own issues with the guidance counselor, who had harassed him every time our work came in because she was convinced that it wasn't Bella's own work. After a year of teaching her, Berty certainly knew her writing style. And she had always been an A student in his class.
"Good to see you, Mr. Cullen, Miss Swan," he says. "You may go to your seats in the back of the room."
Naturally, a few of the kids have to turn around and look at us. However once the tests and blue books are passed out, no one does anything but write. I finish my exam in about fifteen minutes and then pretend to write for the next hour and fifteen minutes before I am able to hand it in.
At lunch, there isn't anyone who cares that the three of us were back. As I quickly scan the minds in the cafeteria, everyone is either thinking about the exam they just took or studying for the one they were about to take. Even the usual din is lower. The seniors are especially anxious to do well, since many colleges want their midterm grade reports before making any acceptance decisions.
I had never realized before how stressed out the humans were over exams. That's probably because I had never listened very carefully to thoughts. Jasper had felt their high level of anxiety, but I always thought that he was exaggerating. Now I could see that he was definitely not.
In the afternoon we have history and it is a repeat of the same entrance to the test room, relief that there will be no make-ups involved and annoyance at the guidance counselor. Once we are done, we walk out to the cars with Angela and Ben discussing the tests.
"I didn't think that English was so bad, but history?" Angela says. "What a nightmare!"
"I thought that it was interesting," Bella replies.
"That's because if you had stayed in Phoenix, you would have taken AP Euro," she responds. "Oh, well! Math and Science tomorrow."
"And then Spanish on Wednesday and a four-day weekend so that the teachers can grade," she says.
"Good for them!" Angela grumbles. "We should have had a four-day weekend to study."
As usual, Angela is over-anxious about her tests. She is a very good student, but has no confidence in her own abilities. I can see in her mind that she had been more than adequately prepared for her exams this morning, but was still second-guessing all of her essay responses. It takes a great deal of self-control not to tell her that all of answers were on target.
I am tempted to try and discuss them with her to see if I can settle her mind, but she wants to bolt out right away to study for tomorrow's tests. So we leave right away and Bella follows us back to our house. Although Charlie hadn't said anything about it, we decided that it would make him feel better if Bella actually used the new car and didn't rely on the Cullen chauffeuring service, as he called it (in his mind).
So in addition to driving herself to school, she would drive home from our house some afternoons in time to make him dinner. The only problem with this was that I had to drive at human speed so that I wouldn't lose her behind me. Naturally I would have preferred that she still live with us, but if she was coming back for Charlie's sake, she should really be living with him. Luckily, we weren't going to be bothered by the invasive presence of the mutts anymore.
Over Christmas, Carlisle and I had a meeting with Sam and Jacob about the various points of the boundaries and what they meant, as well as certain aspects of the treaty. One of our key demands was that the wolves no longer "guard" the Swan house. It essentially boiled down to spying. It made Bella uncomfortable and me very annoyed to have them constantly around.
Sam agreed to this point, much to Jacob's annoyance. Apparently, Billy had anticipated that Carlisle would make such a request and had ordered Sam not to agree. However, since it was the pack that was left with that guard duty, Sam was the one that owned the choice.
I could see in both Sam and Jacob's minds that there was a power struggle going on between the council and the pack, as well as Billy and Sam. Although as Alpha wolf, Sam was technically the chief of the tribe, he had never pressed the point. I suspect that he didn't want that responsibility in addition to his own. But there were disadvantages to not being the chief.
Since the threat of Victoria is now gone, Sam wants Jacob and Embry to be in school full-time, only serving on limited patrols on the weekends to give Paul and Jared some time with their friends and family. Since Sam is the Alpha, he feels that it is important that he stay on patrol or on call at all times.
He also had encouraged the other two to get part-time jobs so they would at least have some life outside of the pack. This was the main reason why he had so readily agreed to giving up on the nightly guard duty outside Charlie's house. It would free up the four younger wolves to actually have lives. And Paul and Jared lobbied him before he decided it. They hated the boredom when they could be doing something (anything) else. Only Jacob (who had never done it) still wanted to.
Sam was also hoping that after the Cullens left, a couple of the other guys would stop phasing. But since he couldn't be sure of who they might be, he wanted to make sure that they kept all their options open. As for himself, Sam knew that he would be Alpha for life, or least until a new generation of wolves was born, potentially even his own son, if he and Emily were to have one.
And so, while Sam was grateful for all the help that Carlisle had given him so that they could destroy Victoria and end that menace to the tribe, the same was not true of the others. Billy stubbornly held onto his belief that if there had been no Cullens, there would have been no Victoria. Jacob wasn't entirely aware of the role that Carlisle had played in giving Sam the intelligence to defeat her.
He had convinced himself that he had done it all on his own, with a little help from Embry. His father had fed that belief with the idea that since he was the one who went in for the kill, it was all his. And he was the great grandson of the last Alpha. From the hints I picked up in his mind, I could see that Billy was trying the groom his to challenge Sam for the role of Alpha in the pack.
Immediately after Jacob phased, Sam had graciously offered to step down from the position because of Jacob's superior bloodline. Sam's great-grandfather had been the "Beta" of that pack to Ephraim's position of Alpha. However at that time, with the looming threat of Victoria, Jacob had wisely chosen to reject his offer. He simply didn't have the field experience needed to assume that role.
Things had changed since then. Destroying Victoria has given him what I felt was a false sense of confidence. Both Sam and Jacob had been replaying the defeat of Victoria in their minds when we met them. It was obvious that the only reason that Jacob and Embry had been able to take Victoria down was because of the series of Alpha orders that Sam had given him. They were the eyes, ears, and paws of the operation, but Sam was the brain.
It was the only explanation that I could think of for their success in capturing and killing one of the greatest vampire escape artists in the world. They were close enough when she was on the ground that I could both see and smell her. When she was up in the trees I could maintain sight of her, but not scent, which was normal.
When she leapt back down to the ground and the dogs got a hold of her, her scent was still evident. And it hadn't taken long for them to dismember her and then phase back to human and set the pieces on fire. This produced the thick, purple smoke that was usual for a vampire burning. By the time that Sam and the others got there, she was pretty much gone.
I still could not believe that she just hadn't jumped across the river rather than up into the trees. If she were any other vampire, I might think that she was toying with them. But Victoria's strongest instinct had always been escape. There wasn't even a revenge motive to distract her. By the time that we were finished talking, I was convinced that there had been no mistake.
The worst part of the whole encounter with them, was having to return to Bella with the news that Jacob was no longer the sweet boy we remembered from the fall. He had developed the inbred hate that came with being a werewolf. The was a certain degree of jealousy involving me.
He had not turned sixteen yet, so he knew that he was still a "kid" to Bella. However his growth spurt had physically given him the height and girth of a twenty-five year old. He was taller and certainly more muscular than me. He thought that this would give him an edge when she saw him for the first time. He was also her savior from the vampire threat.
For her part, she was just hoping that he would stay away from her rather than "press his suit" because she hated to hurt him. But if he was going to make her choose between my love and his friendship because of his hatred, she could only choose me. That commitment was made and could not be broken. I was really hoping that he would force that choice early on because in the long run, it would save him a lot of grief and frustration from an unrequited love.
I had no reason to hate him or wish him ill. In fact, none of us did. There was a great deal of enmity between European werewolves and vampires because we truly were natural enemies. However other than the smell, we had no reason to dislike the Quileute wolves. They were an annoyance because of their feelings toward us, but that wasn't enough reason to feel anything more than dislike for them.
Unfortunately, the vampires who had come before us to the region had given them more than enough reason to loathe us just because of what we are. Their tribe had nearly been wiped out by vampires in the past. If they chose to be careful of us, we understood that, but it was the "hate factor" that made things so difficult. That, and the fact that they wanted to do anything they could to prevent Bella from marrying me.
Oddly, this idea had barely been around the edges of Sam's thoughts. He really couldn't care less what happened to Bella, as long as it happened far away from Forks and La Push. He had no desire to pick any battles that he didn't have to. Jacob was another story, but his adolescent mind was such a chaotic stew of emotions that it was impossible to tell how many ideas were his own and how many had been given to him by Billy.
When we returned from the conference, I didn't give Bella all the details of their thoughts, especially those of Jacob for her. It wasn't so much that I wanted to protect or hide anything from her. It was because I hadn't entirely sorted them out for myself. And if I explained them wrong, she might feel the need to push up her transformation up to a closer date. Bella's reactions were never predictable.
But having laid all the groundwork for our return to Forks including the visit to Charlie, making arrangements with Dr. Weber, and organizing our return to school, we would really have to do some fancy footwork to back track on all of that. To be perfectly honest however, I would have been completely happy for her to make that decision.
Of all the unpredictable responses that Bella had ever had to any situation, her decision to wait for me to change her until after the wedding was definitely the most shocking of all. We had had that argument so many times before that it almost sounded funny when she said that she wanted to wait. And it had been a much greater disappointment to me than I let on.
Carlisle and Eleazar had both talked to me about the issue for a long time. We had looked at it in all of its various aspects. In the end, they convinced me that I needed to put the decision completely in her hands. I should make no demands upon her choice and set no conditions. We were all convinced that she would be happy to be changed immediately so that we could begin our new life together.
As we analyzed it later we realized that by stripping out all of my conditions and arguments, she suddenly felt that she could truly make her decision. And just as I had known that she really wasn't ready, she now knew that too. Afterwards, Carlisle ruefully told me that if I hadn't wanted to hear the truth from her, I shouldn't have asked. The only clear benefit in her choice was now we wouldn't be arguing about it anymore.
When we arrive at home, it is obvious that Carlisle, Esme and Jasper have been busy moving things in and around. Carlisle is at work, while Esme is puttering around the kitchen. My piano is back on its place on the platform and I can't help myself. I go over and play a few chords to see how far out of tune it was. Groaning at the sound, I immediately turn on the dehumidifier to dry out the air around it.
One of the hardest parts of maintaining the tuning of a piano on the Olympic peninsula is the heavy damp and humidity. The climate in central Alaska is so dry that you need a humidifier to maintain the balance. The opposite is true here. I sigh and wander back over to the others.
"So Bella," Jasper is saying. "How was your drive to school today in the bulletproof tank?"
"Ha, ha," she replies. "It's not my fault that Edward doesn't trust my driving."
"Actually, love," I say. "I trust your driving. It's your magnetic force for danger that I don't trust. If another car crashes into yours, I want to make sure that you've got plenty of protection."
"But bulletproof?" she asks, to my consternation. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Oops! My bad.
"Well, if there was only one stray bullet in Forks, it would be sure to find its way to you," I reply. "Thanks a lot, Jasper."
Sorry bro, I thought you told her.
"Hey, Alice!" Jasper says as he samples my mood. "Why don't we go out for a run and check out the old hunting grounds."
Alice takes a look into the future, grabs his hand and runs.
"What was that all about?" Bella asks suspiciously.
"A herd of elk to the west," I reply.
"Oh, so she wasn't trying to see if we were about to have a fight?" she asks.
"No, she's sick of caribou," I answer smoothly. "And she prefers elk to anything else, although I don't know why."
"Don't you like elk?" she asks curiously.
"I prefer mountain lion," I say. "Remember? I told you that after we first met."
"What's the big difference in taste?" she asks.
"It's difficult to explain," I reply, avoiding the whole herbivore versus carnivore issue. "It's like trying to describe color to a man who has been blind since birth. You'll understand the first time we go hunting."
"I hadn't really thought about animal blood tasting that different by species," she says. "So it's really that different?"
"I told you that Emmer prefers bear," I say.
"Yeah, but I thought that was because he likes to wrestle with them before he kills them," she says. "But I guess it makes sense because different meats taste different."
I am getting sick of this conversation. I'm still annoyed that Jasper spoiled her initial joy in my gift.
"Do you want me to help you study for your calculus test?" I ask.
"You might as well," she replies. "I really hate math."
"Yes, but don't you have a point to prove to the guidance counselor about all the work that you did in Alaska?" I ask. "Just think of how pissed off she'll be if you pull an A."
"True," she says, nodding.
But she is still reluctant as she pulls out her textbook and binder. Both Carlisle and I had tutored her so that she would get two more approaches to the subject after Esme taught her. Her biggest problem is that she really doesn't like math and numbers. Carlisle had the most success with her because he presented it as a kind of beautiful, symbolic poetry.
I had a harder time because when I finally learned with my vampire brain, I was never really conscious of how I acquired the knowledge and know how other than I just got it. In the end, we just did a lot of extra practice problems together. However, as we begin to review the material from the beginning of the year, Bella is surprised by how much she actually knows.
And this knowledge gives her the confidence to review for the exam based on the desire to get an A rather than just hope for a C. The goal of challenging the guidance counselor's assumption that we had been doing her work for her became an added incentive when she finally realized that she was capable of getting one.
She isn't the least but worried about Spanish. She spent so much time with Carmen reading and speaking that she pretty much has it down cold. Eleazar had helped her with her grammar and writing. Mrs. Goff was going to be pretty astounded by her progress.
When Carlisle returns home from work, we suddenly realize how much time has passed. This is a problem because she had planned on arriving home by five.
"Darn," she says. "I'm going to be late for Charlie's dinner. And this is my first full day back too."
"Call him up and tell him that you were studying," Carlisle advises her. "Apologize of course, but I think that he will understand if you were doing your schoolwork."
"It's Bella," I say, as soon as he picks up. "I'm sorry that I'm late, but Edward and I were studying for finals and lost track of time."
"That's okay, Bells," he says. "I can fend for myself."
Esme walks in with a casserole dish filled with some vile-smelling concoction and a loaf of bread. Bella smiles and heaves a sigh of relief.
"Actually, neither of us will have to," I answer. "Esme is sending over a cheese and ham casserole."
"She doesn't have to do that," Charlie says unconvincingly.
"She already did," Bella says. "I should be home in a half hour."
"No problem," he says. "Drive carefully.
"See you soon," she says.
"Drive carefully," she mutters. "As if I could get hurt in that thing."
I carry the food out to the car and give her a kiss goodbye.
"I'll see you later, love," I whisper in her ear.
"I'll be looking out for you," she replies smiling sweetly.
When I go back into the house, Esme and Carlisle are waiting to talk to me.
"I know that you're disappointed that she's not living here anymore, but it really is for the best," Esme says.
"Charlie called me up to let me know that he had scheduled a physical with Dr. Gerandy," Carlisle adds. "He's also tried cutting back on the beer, to two cans a night."
"That's good, I say. "So he's decided to turn over a new leaf with his health?"
"Harry had another cardiac episode over the weekend," he answers seriously. "It was pretty sobering for him. On Saturday, he was visiting and Harry started to have an angina attack. He drove him and Sue to the hospital. While they were waiting for word, Leah came in with Seth and just fell to pieces. It made him realize how badly Bella would take it if anything like that happened to him."
"I'm sure that had a greater impact on him than if it was just Sue that was so upset," Esme says. "Is Leah the same age as Bella?"
"A year older he told me," he answers. "Seth was pretty shaken up too. Seeing how scared the kids were about possibly losing their father really made him think twice about his lifestyle choices. But he asked me not to tell Bella. He said that he wanted to tell her in his own way."
"That's good," Esme says. "So he's really trying to open up the lines of communication."
"If we could just get him away from Billy, it might really do him some good," I say.
"That is something that we are not going to become involved with," Carlisle says sternly. "That is between Charlie and Billy. It has nothing to do with us."
"I know," I say, failing to keep the petulance out of my voice.
"Listen, why don't you go out and find yourself a nice, big mountain lion while you're waiting to go to Bella's house for the night," Esme says. "It will put you in a better mood and give them a chance to reconnect. If you absorb too much of her time, then that won't happen. You can't be jealous of the time she spends with her father. Remember that it was the primary she came back here."
"I know," I say. "We've been through this before. I need to give her the space that she can cultivate her relationships with him and her other friends. I'm just so used to having her all to myself."
"Son," Carlisle says. "After you are married, you are going to have her all to yourself for eternity. You know how much she loves you. Don't make her feel like she is being pulled in two directions."
"Okay," I say. "I get it. I'll go find a nice, big old mountain lion and have a feast."
As I run out the door and leap over the river, I run on my usual trail out to the mountains. For a minute I am tempted to take the side trail over to the Crumbling Cottage but I change my mind. I'd rather go back for the first time with Bella. I feel like it is kind of our place and I don't think that it would be the same without her.
Author's Note: I promise that I have read through all of my reviewers' questions and suggestions. It may be awhile before the story fully unfolds, so please try to be patient! I love you all and I hope that you will enjoy this story!