Chapter 2

Charlie stared at the young Renee look alike. He scanned her for any resemblance to him. He found it when she took one step and almost tripped over her own two feet. That certainly wasn't a Renee thing.

The realization made him chuckle.

Thinking her was laughing at her clumsiness made Bella's cheeks turn bright red.

"Maybe you are my daughter, after all. Two left feet runs in my family," he explained.

"Your highness," Bella said, "may I be blunt?"

"Charlie and yes."

"Why did you want to meet me?"

"Because, unless you have a twin, you are the only child I've sired. I potentially could name you as my heir."

Bella stared blankly at him. Then she burst out laughing. "Oh… oh… for a second I thought you were serious…" she laughed harder.

"I was."

Bella's laughter ceased abruptly. "Charlie, I am not ruler material. I was raised like all the other common people. I follow orders. I can't give them…"

"Isabella," Charlie stated, "I don't expect you to do that on you own. Your husband will help you."

"I'm not married or engaged. And you can call me Bella."

"Bella," Charlie tested. "That's all the better, I'll find a husband that can take care of you."

Bella froze. "That's not your job," she whispered.

"If you're to be my heir it is. But don't worry I won't make you marry anyone. I'll just set up options for you that you otherwise might not have had."

Bella thought on the arrangement and upon realizing that one, he was entirely serious about naming her his heir and two, she didn't really have any arguing points, she nodded slowly. "That could work, I suppose."

Charlie smiled. "Now then, have you eaten yet? I brought food."

Bella forced herself to smile. Obviously things were going to change more than she originally thought.

*BREAK*

"Has it been an hour?" Alice questioned.

"No," everyone stated boredly.

"You can leave in ten minutes," Jasper soothed. Soothing waves rushed through the entire room.

At that moment a panicked Edward ran through the door. "Alice, I'm not going with you. Go alone and be warned Bella Swan smells like heaven."

His family looked at him, shocked. "You ran into her?" Carlisle questioned.

"Yes and she's lucky to have made it to her meeting with Charlie," Edward snapped. "I've never felt more like a vampire than I did when I smelled her."

"Nice control then," Alice complemented. "But you should come and desensitize yourself to her. Besides Edward, she's practically part of the family."

"No," Edward stated threateningly.

"Actually," Carlisle said calmly. "Alice is right, Edward. With Bella being so close… it might be better if you got desensitized to her."

Everyone in the room knew this was the final ruling. They were well aware of whom the father was, the king was.

No one expected Rosalie's rage.

"No! It would be better if she died than to let her in. Do you think she'll miss the fact that we're inhuman if she's that close to us? Carlisle, please… don't let her in…"

"That's what you said about Charlie, too," Carlisle said. "And he comes pretty close to knowing at the very least. It's never been a problem with him."

"But she's not going to be thinking of alliances," Rosalie insisted.

"Neither is Charlie," Edward broke in, ignoring that he was really digging himself into a hole. "And he knows what we are; he just doesn't realize it yet. He notices that we never eat, that we never sleep, and that we all have aversions to blood. He thinks the word vampire and then pushes it away because we're his friends."

"And... what does his daughter think of you?" Esme asked.

"There's another thing," Edward murmured. "I don't' know what she's thinking. If it weren't for the formation of sentences I would believe she didn't think."

"Well at least someone gets some privacy from you," Emmett laughed.

"You two should go," Carlisle said. "Or you'll both be late."

Edward sighed resignedly and followed a skipping Alice out the door.

"Don't worry, Edward," Alice said happily. "You aren't going to hurt her."

Edward held to that thought for dear life.

*BREAK*

Bella took a bite out of a fruit that was fairly foreign to her. It was sweet and really juicy.

"We've been here an hour now," Charlie said thoughtfully.

As he said those words Bella saw a pixie-like girl come skipping toward them. Behind the pixie came Edward, even more gorgeous than she had initially realized.

"It's been an hour!" the pixie said happily. "You said we could meet your daughter now!" then her expressions darkened. "But Edward cheated he ran into her in town."

Charlie's eyes widened slightly. "I hadn't realized you two had already met," he said. He looked from Edward to Bella.

"Not formally," Edward said.

"Ah well," Charlie said. "Bella these are Alice and Edward Cullen."

"I see," Bella said looking between the two gorgeous teens. "It's very nice to meet you."

"I'm so glad to meet you, Bella," Alice chirped. "We'll be great friends, you and I. And I'll even introduce you to my Jasper, if you promise to not flirt with him. I don't like competition." All of this was said in the same happy tone.

Bella blinked twice. "Alright…"

"Now you've done it," Edward sighed.

"Oh goody! We'll do all kinds of things together. We'll have all kinds of fun adventures. Rosalie isn't any fun. She won't do things with me. She's too busy with Emmett. Emmett this, Emmett that. It gets terribly dull." Alice sniffed Bella delicately. "Bella, you smell nice, what perfume are you wearing?"

"…I'm… not wearing perfume," Bella said awkwardly.

"Wow… then you must always smell nice. Are you going to come the palace? You really must meet everyone before we have to return to Volturra. We'll be seeing quite a bit of each other, I believe," Edward said. He smiled crookedly at Bella.

Bella stared at him in a daze for a moment. "That's nice," she managed.

Charlie looked between the two of them carefully. "Alice, what am I missing?"

"I… don't know," Alice said. "But whatever it is… it's absolutely adorable!" Her eyes went blank as a vision washed over her.

The vision ended and Alice waited patiently for Edward to respond. After several moments she realized Edward was focused so intently on Bella that he hadn't noticed what her vision was of. It was then she realized he was trying to get around the block in Bella's mind so he would know what she was thinking.

"If we're going to take Bella to the palace, now would be good," Charlie said, breaking Edward's intent focus.

"My mom would probably want to know," Bella whispered, still slightly dazed by the full force of Edward's eyes.

"I'll tell her!" Alice exclaimed, skipping off without waiting for an okay from anyone.

Bella blinked slowly. Before she could come to terms with what had just happened Edward was at her side. She looked at him, surprised at how gorgeous he was up close.

He offered his arm to her, "May I?" he murmured.

Her eyes widened slightly but she nodded carefully and took his arm. His skin was colder than she expected. Like ice instead of skin but somehow it made her feel more comfortable.

They walked off toward the palace. They ran into Alice coming out of a market with Renee.

"Alice?" Bella murmured.

"Hmm?" Alice asked. Renee was looking at Bella in shock. Her eyes occasionally wandered over to Edward but would quickly return to Bella when Edward glanced at her.

"How did you know who my mom was?"

"You look just like her," Alice explained cheerfully. "I saw her in the market and thought, 'It's like Bella only older.' I knew then that she had to be your mom."

Renee smiled believingly, but Bella still stared skeptically Edward noted her expression and quickly caught her attention by asking a question and smiling. His attempt at diversion worked perfectly. Bella got the same dazed expression on her face that she had earlier.

"Umm… could you repeat the question?" she finally managed. Edward smiled crookedly.

"Was that boy who yelled at me earlier you fiancée?"

Bella made a horrified face. "No! Never! Not even in a million years!" she exclaimed.

"Mike is quite a character," Renee agreed. "That girl Jessica has her hands full with him, I'm sure."

"Actually, Edward," Charlie mentioned, "Bella tells me she isn't engaged." The suggestion was clear. Please consider Bella practically hung in the air.

Alice smiled. "Bella, are you interested in anyone? I could help you."

Blood flooded mercilessly to Bella's cheeks. "I… I… That is…"

Edward became as stiff as a board. Luckily only Alice noticed.

Renee simply sighed. "Bella has several guy friends but she sees them all like brothers."

"Aww… and I wanted to dress her up like a doll, too," Alice complained. "Guess I'll just have to do so for no reason then!"

Bella's eyes widened in horror.

Edward smiled. "If you run, she'll catch you. If you hide, she'll find you. If you fight, she'll overpower you. If you go along willingly, no one gets hurt."

"Fine," Bella whimpered.

"But if you ask," he continued. "I'll protect you."

"Edward!" Alice shrieked. "That's not fair!" Bella's cheeks heated up rapidly.

"It isn't fair to leave her to your devices either," Edward said. "Today I'm not on your side."

"You can't be with her everywhere. Eventually you'll leave her side for one reason or another and I'll be there." Alice warned.

"We'll see," Edward said with a confident smirk. "But I'll know what you're planning."

"I'll know when you're leaving." Both glared at each other for a moment.

"Regardless," Charlie said, clearing his throat. "We were heading to the palace to show Bella around."

Renee's eyes widened slightly and Bella could practically see her mother's rising panic.

"We'll have her back, safe and sound by twilight," Edward said with a smile. Renee stared at him, disoriented by his beauty. She nodded slowly after giving Bella a quick glance.

"It was nice meeting you, Renee," Alice called as she skipped off. Charlie followed her with less enthusiasm. Edward led Bella forward carefully making sure to keep her balanced.

"Bye, mom," Bella called. She caught a glance of Renee waving as she walked away on Edward's arm.

"My poor mother," Bella said once they were out of her mother's earshot."

Edward glanced at her in confusion.

"You shouldn't go dazzling people like that," Bella accused lightly. "They'll hyperventilate."

"Dazzle?" Edward said thoughtfully. "Do I dazzle people?"

"Did you not see the effects you had on my mother? She didn't even have enough sense about her to refuse the prospect of me going to the palace. You shouldn't be allowed to smile and look someone in the eyes at the same time."

Edward smiled pleasantly. "Do I dazzle you?" he questioned.

"Since I ran into you this morning," Bella admitted.

Edward smiled. He was strong enough to be in her company, regardless of how good she smelled… He had to be.