Chapter 2

The mail.

In the morning I was woken by the sun shining through my window and I realised that I had slept rather long. It was probably already noon. I felt strong cold arms around my waist and snuggled closer to Edward, enjoying his scent. It was like peppermint.

"Hey sweetie," he murmured softly. "You slept unusually long. Did you have a tiring day? "

"Not really," I lied. The truth was that my legs were killing me from running as I had forgotten to stretch in my haste to have a hot shower and get to bed. I felt a stinging pain in my ankle and figured I had probably twisted it when I stepped into the hole and slipped. I was pretty sure it was swollen. "I just caught on with my homework and read. Nothing special." I thought it was better not to tell him about my midnight run in the woods. He would probably be worried and lecture me about dangerous animals and kidnappers.

"So what do you want to do today? Alice wanted you to come over. I think she plans to drag you off to shopping or something," seeing the horrified look on my face, Edward continued: "but we could just stay at my place. Charlie isn't at home anyway. I heard him leaving in the morning. He left you a note on the kitchen table and I took the liberty of reading it. He has gone fishing with Billy Black and won't be back before evening."

"Well I better get ready then; we don't want to keep Alice waiting – who knows what she might do," I mumbled the last part quietly and pushed the warm blanket away from me, but left it still covering my legs. Edward had a doctor's eye and I knew he would notice my swollen ankle and start questioning me. But with his super hearing, still heard me and laughed.

"Okay. I'm going to fix you a breakfast. Oh, and there is no need for you to take a sweater; the weather is rather warm. Even hot for Forks." Edward left and I took a quick look at my ankle. It looked awful: it was red from swelling and a big purple bruise was forming. I went through my chest of drawers and found some gauze and bandaged my ankle. I knew it wasn't much, but it was the best I could do. Alan had taught me some basics if I ever needed to take care of an injury, but I didn't have enough supplies and the time to put my leg in a splint.

Quickly I combed my hair and brushed my teeth as I didn't have time to take a shower. It wasn't really necessary as I had taken one the night before. Besides Edward was downstairs and I didn't want to keep him waiting.

As I looked out from the window, I realised that it was a rare day for Forks. There were no clouds in the sky and sun was shining. I hadn't seen the sun for ages and I was happy I could see my favourite vampire sparkling like diamonds again. It truly was a sight to behold, but I figured he would want to stay in the shadows until we were at his place. It would be difficult to explain my neighbours why they had seen my boyfriend sparkling while entering his silver Volvo, which was now waiting for us in the driveway.

I put on my short blue jeans which reached mid-thigh and left my knees bare and a light yellow tank top. I finished my outfit with a pair of white and yellow pumps and put my hair in a messy bun.

As I made my way downstairs, a sweet smell of French toast reached my nostrils and I heard my stomach rumbling; I guess I was hungrier than I thought. Edward was sitting at the table with a plate full of a high pile of toasts and a glass of milk in front of him. Before I could comment about the size of my breakfast, he reached me and pulled me in for a kiss full of passion. I was starting to get dizzy from being without air for so long when he pulled back, his eyes full of humour and love.

"Bells, you look far too tempting and irresistible. It is hard to control myself," he complimented me while letting his eyes roam all over my body with hunger in them.

"Look who's talking. It is much more difficult for me to control myself when it comes to you. You're the one with the charming attitude and great looks," I mumbled quietly not meeting Edward's eyes as I made my way over to the table. I sat down and took a bite of toast savouring its delicious taste and took a sip of cold milk. Once again Edward proved to be an excellent cook. It seems that he can do just about anything. We made small talk during my breakfast and Edward told me Emmett had had a wrestling match with two grizzly bears, which horrified me. Although I had had my fair share of life threatening situations, fighting with grizzly bear and winning the match wasn't one of my accomplishments.

Edward insisted on doing the dishes, which took him less than a minute, while I went upstairs and took my phone and keys. I made sure that when we walked towards his car he was few steps ahead of me, so that he wouldn't see me limping. It hurt as hell and I didn't want to go to a hospital. For a moment I thought I'd let Carlisle take a look, but soon banished the idea as he would like to know what had happened. It probably wouldn't be good for him to know that I had taken a jog at midnight. Besides, Edward could read his mind and find out as well.

Edward opened the door for me and I slipped in. In less than a second he was already sitting next to me and pulling out of the driveway. As usual he drove extremely fast and I pretended to be afraid. Actually I had faced speeds faster than this and I wasn't scared at all. I watched the trees and bushes as we sped by and they lost their shapes and transformed into a green blur. I wished I had taken my sunglasses with me as the sun blinded me and I could not look outside any longer. We reached the Cullen's residence fairly quickly and we were greeted by Alice, who was waiting for us on the front porch.

"Bella!" she shouted with excitement as she bulled me into a bone-crushing hug rivalling one of Emmett's. She sure was strong for a vampire and it became hard for me to breath. Luckily she noticed that she was cutting off my oxygen and released me, only to find myself in another pair of arms in a second, this time belonging to Edward's brother, Emmett.

"Can't breathe," I whispered and Emmett let go of me, grinning sheepishly.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"It's okay. I'm kind of used to those hugs by now."

Alice, Emmett, Edward and me made our way inside and went to the living room, where I was greeted by Esme, Carlisle, Jasper and even Rose. I don't what Edward and Alice did, but Rosalie's attitude towards me had changed drastically over the past few weeks. She was always polite and even friendly to me.

There was a baseball game on TV and Emmett and Jasper insisted on watching it. I didn't mind as that meant that I could snuggle close to Edward and be in his arms on the couch. Of course Alice had other ideas as she wanted to give me a make-over, but when she saw us all watching TV, she decided to join us and went to sit on Jasper's lap. Even Rosalie joined Emmett. Carlisle went over to his study to probably work and Esme went to work in her garden.

It was about half an hour into the game, when a doorbell rang, making me jump as I was the only one who hadn't heard it. But I could see that everyone else was also interested in knowing who it was, as the Cullens didn't get any mail or invite any friends over. Jasper went to open the door and as everything was so quiet, even I could hear what they were talking about.

"Is this the Cullens residence?" a deep male voice asked.

"Yes, how can I help you?" asked Jasper politely, but I could hear that he was anxious to close the door as sun beams where very close to reaching him. I decided to help him out as I was the only one who doesn't sparkle. I went to the door and saw a tall tanned man in a black suit and dark sunglasses. Behind him was a fancy black car with tinted windows. He was definitely no mailman.

"Are you Isabella Swan?" he asked me as soon as he saw me.

"Depends on who is asking," I said suspiciously as I had no idea who this man was or how he knew my name.

"I think you know who is asking," he answered as he handed me big white envelope with a stamp on it saying "CLASSIFIED".

I took the envelope with shaking hands, mumbling a quick 'thank you' and closed the door as the man walked to his car and sped away.

I paid no attention to Jasper who was looking at me curiously waiting for an explanation. I went back to the living room where everyone looked at me the same way Jasper did. Knowing that I couldn't say anything to them, I asked them to not to ask questions and asked Edward to give me a lift home. I was quiet all the way in the car not looking anywhere but the envelope in my hands. When we reached my place, I gave Edward a quick kiss on the cheek, mumbled 'thanks' and made my way inside. Charlie was not home yet as it was still rather early, which allowed me to think.

Something serious must have happened as they wouldn't send me an envelope otherwise. I must admit that I was a bit excited, but also sad as whatever this envelope contained, it meant that I would probably have to leave for awhile. I looked at the envelope in my hands thinking that MI6 had found me. I was back in the game.