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2. Wait

Carlisle was calm as he stitched up Charlie's head because he was assuming I could read Charlie's mind and identify what he knew. He was patiently waiting until we were alone to discuss our options and how to proceed. I was much less calm because I knew that I couldn't read Charlie's mind and therefore had absolutely no clue as to the type of threat he posed to our ability to keep our secret and continue living in Forks.

I watched Charlie closely the entire time he was in the ER. After his initial reaction to us, he showed no sign at all that he was any different to any other patient. In fact, the only peculiarity in his behavior was his adamant refusal to allow the nurse to draw his blood for testing but even that would be fairly unremarkable if I hadn't been analyzing his reactions so closely. He certainly wasn't the first patient I'd encountered who had refused a blood test. Usually though, I would be able to pick the reason from that person's mind…fear of needles, false bravado, illegal substances, I had heard many unspoken excuses but Charlie's motive remained a mystery due to the ominous silence where his thoughts should be.

As Chief Lewis was escorting Charlie back to his cruiser, Carlisle pulled me to one side. What does he know? Should we be worried? Carlisle had noticed all the same things as I had and was hoping for an innocent explanation for Charlie's initial reaction to us.

"I couldn't hear him. His mind was completely silent to me," I whispered so that only he would hear. It took Carlisle a second to process that unwelcome development.

Have you ever come across any other mind you couldn't read? As I was turning my head to indicate no, I realized that I couldn't be completely sure of that. I hadn't noticed that I couldn't read Charlie's mind until I actively sought it out. I felt shaken and off balance by the failure of my ability. Carlisle's mind was not so impaired. He was thinking that we needed to know more before we took this to the family. It was difficult enough for us to reach a consensus when we had all of the facts and he knew that there was a real potential for an overreaction to this. Rosalie and Jasper were so protective of the family. He worried for Charlie's safety and briefly contemplated not telling them at all but almost instantly dismissed that idea. If a human had even the smallest idea about what we were, the most basic precaution we had to take was to be more careful about maintaining our human façade. The most drastic action he would endorse was relocation but even that seemed ridiculous based on a few seconds reaction. Would you mind following him? I can cover for you here. We need to have a better idea of what we are dealing with.

I caught up with them easily. They were quarrelling, with more humor than heat, about where they were going. Bryan wanted to drop Charlie off at home to rest but Charlie was insisting he go back to the station and finish his shift. In the end it was Charlie who was more persistent but Bryan only conceded with the agreement that Charlie would be deskbound for the rest of the night. It was the promise of help with his paperwork that finally swayed him.

I couldn't follow them into that station without being detected so I had to settle for watching Charlie through the minds of others. Fortunately he was under a great deal of scrutiny because Chief Lewis had ordered everyone to keep an eye on him for signs of a delayed head injury, just as Carlisle had instructed. I could tell straight away how well liked Charlie was. No one considered it a chore to watch over him, they were simply caring and concerned. Charlie seemed uncomfortable with the attention but was doing his best to hide it. The first opportunity of perceived privacy he got, he made a phone call.

"It's me," he announced into the receiver. "Are you okay?...Just checking in…I'm absolutely fine, just a slight accident and the Chief had to take me to the hospital for a couple of stitches…I promise I'm fine…no you don't need to come and get me. B…No…Bells, listen to me! I want you to stay there but I need you to take extra precautions…There is only so much I can say right now… No, stay for now I think and we can discuss it when I get home." It was so frustrating to only be able to hear his side of the conversation. If I were in the room myself I could have heard both sides of the conversation but I was listening via inadequate human ears. What potential insights was I missing?

The phone conversation had set me on edge. None of the words he had spoken were actually suspicious but he was definitely worried about something and trying to warn 'Bells', whoever that was. I continued to watch as I considered my options. Charlie was now concentrating on paperwork and the clerical staff were leaving for the night. Those who remained started to get distracted and less vigilant of Charlie so it was more and more difficult to watch him. I thought about trying to find his home so that I could read the mind of whoever it was he was talking to. If they had been able to understand his unspoken warning, did that mean that they knew more than they should too? In the end I decided to return to my family and formulate a plan. It shouldn't take us long to find his address and it would probably to quicker than going house to house, reading minds.

As I arrived home, Carlisle met me outside. Did you find out anything more? Is he a threat to us? I shook my head with a frown. "I can't be sure," I told him. He took a moment to gather his thoughts and then solemnly called a family meeting. As we seated ourselves around the table, the mood was more somber than it would usually be. They had picked up on Carlisle's mood and were reacting to it.

"There was an incident at the hospital tonight," Carlisle began and I was immediately bombarded with their thoughts. They had unanimously assumed that I'd slipped again. They could tell I hadn't drunk from a human by my eyes but they were imagining a variety of other ways I might have exposed us. I rubbed my temples and closed my eyes in a futile attempt to block the cacophony of thoughts.

I'm so sorry I missed it, Alice was thinking. She had been trying to keep close tabs on me and hadn't seen anything that even hinted at a problem. That was surprising in itself because Carlisle and I had both been extremely tempted by Charlie's blood and it seemed implausible that Alice would miss that when she had been watching for us so closely.

Seriously? We've been back less than two days and he couldn't hold it together. If we have to move because of this…Rosalie was impatient and her hypocrisy did not sit well with me. None of us had complained either verbally or mentally the times we had been forced to move by Emmett's slip or her indiscretion.

Esme's overriding thoughts were of concern for me. She worried they had pushed me too hard to return to medicine and she felt responsible for whatever had transpired. Emmett and Jasper were not judgmental in the slightest and prepared to do whatever needed to be done and would support me unconditionally. I felt a wave a gratitude and love for them wash over me which helped to calm the racket in my head. Jasper sensed this and added a quiet serenity to it making me doubly grateful to him.

As soon as he realized the effect his words had had, Carlisle regretted them. "Edward is blameless," he told them firmly. Everyone expect for Rosalie felt repentant for jumping to conclusions and sat in still curiosity as Carlisle outlined the events surrounding Charlie's arrival at the hospital.

"You were tempted by him?" Esme voiced the shock that the rest of the family felt as she took his hand to offer him comfort and support.

"I did wonder…" Carlisle began, but I saw the direction his thoughts were taking. He was remembering the time that Emmett had been so tempted and the speculations we had made as we had tried to understand what had been so compelling about her blood that Emmett had not even hesitated before drinking from her.

"I don't think so," I interrupted him. I had had to relive Emmett's slip with him countless times as he had tried to process the guilt of ending that women's life "Charlie's blood had the exact same effect on Carlisle and I but it was different to Emmett's encounter. The underlying bloodlust was different somehow." The others were unconvinced, not really understanding what I was saying and I was at a loss as to how to coherently explain it. We moved on from it because it was Charlie's reaction to us and his subsequent phone call that were the more immediate concern.

Carlisle was explaining his perspective of the situation; that we had no proof of anything so we should just watch and wait whilst taking extra care to appear human when Rosalie's harsh train of thought became impossible to ignore. We have to put up with Edward's horrifically invasive gift for our entire existence and the one time it might actually be useful it completely fails us. I glared at Rosalie and she glared back unrepentantly. She knew I had heard her. Stay out of head if you don't like my thoughts. How I wished it were that easy. Rosalie's thoughts were even harder to bear when I agreed with them.

Everyone was debating what he could possible know, how he could know it and all the potential ramifications for us. I pointed out that it was not us who had exposed the secret to him. Whatever he knew, he had clearly known it before he set eyes on any of us. Jasper argued that that didn't matter…if we knowingly ignored a human with too much knowledge we were breaching the law, regardless of how they gained that knowledge. Alice was trying to force a premonition but I knew she was asking too much of herself. Trying to see the future of a human she had never met before would have been difficult even if she wasn't hampered by our indecision on the subject. The discussions continued throughout the morning until Emmett had enough.

When he stood and bellowed for our arguments to stop, we all listened. It was so rare for him to run out of patience that he had commanded our complete attention.

"The situation is this…a bleeding human stumbled into an ER where he came face to face with two bloodthirsty vampires. You have already told us that you reacted to him first. What if his response was simply his natural sense of self-preservation when confronted with the two of you looking like you wanted to kill him and once you reigned in your reaction, so did he. We only have a few seconds to go on. He smelled amazing to you both…maybe he has had a close call with a vampire before and he recognized the danger he was in but not necessarily why he was in danger. We might be seriously overreacting here because we have started to complacently rely on Edward's gift. I agree with Carlisle that we should just wait and see what happens. Everyone needs to decide to do nothing for now and so we can find out what Alice sees." It took us a few seconds to settle and do as Emmett suggested. It was a good idea and we all thought we should have had it hours ago. We waited in silence as Alice searched for our future.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," she told the others what I had already seen from her mind. "The foreseeable future has nothing even slightly concerning in it."

"Okay," said Carlisle, relieved. "We'll wait and see."

"I think Edward should still watch the human though," said Rosalie petulantly.

"Why me?" I asked, instantly regretting that I sounded equally as childlike.

"You can watch from a greater distance without creating suspicion," she said reasonably when what she was actually thinking was that I was alone and everyone else had much better things to do. I narrowed by eyes at her and she gave me an almost imperceptible smirk.

"I think it's a good idea," Jasper's thoughts were repentant because he knew I hated the idea. I'm sorry Edward but I really think we need to keep tabs on him and you are best placed to do that. Rosalie's smirk had widened. She knew I was much less likely to challenge Jasper's opinions than hers.

"I need to be at the hospital," I told them, not verbalizing my other reservations ranging from not wanting to be a creepy stalker to my abhorrence to the idea of purposefully listening to the thoughts of humans for prolonged periods of time.

"We would be really grateful if you would agree to do this, Edward," Carlisle's compassionate eyes met my defiant ones. "You can still do your shifts at the hospital. I think we should try and keep our invasion of his privacy to a minimum but I don't think we can ignore this either. There is too much at stake and being informed is the best way to be prepared." With that statement I was doomed to follow a human around in my spare time because there was very little, if anything, that would cause me to rebel against Carlisle's wishes again.

So this afternoon I would hunt. Tonight I would do my next shift at the hospital and then tomorrow I would start stalking Charlie Swan.