Okay, so this is a lot longer then the last one and we get moving into the plot a little more by introducing a rather big problem.

Bella had been about ready to turn off the lights and go to bed when the knock on the door changed her mind.

"Who could that be?" she wondered to herself.

It couldn't have been Edward. For one he wouldn't have knocked, he would have just let himself in since Charlie was snoring in dreamland upstairs. Another reason it couldn't have been the vampire was because he was out hunting tonight with Emmet and Carlisle. It wouldn't have been Jacob because he wouldn't have even thought about knocking, he would just barge in, or he would have smashed her window open. That was Jacob, as subtle as a monkey on a motorcycle.

Bella smirked at the image as she went to open the door. She found a dirty, exhausted, blue-eyed boy on her doorstep instead. She gasped in surprise because of two things—one, she didn't expect him, and two, she knew him.

"I need your help," he said, sagging against the doorframe, the cat on his shoulder dislodging itself and hopping inside the house.

She grabbed the boy and threw his arm over her shoulders to give him some support as he dragged his feet into the house. She put him on the couch and quickly took off his damp jacket and bag and threw them on the floor. She got the throw off of the back of the recliner and wrapped it around him, feeling the chill around him sink into her own bones.

"What are you doing way out here?" she asked him, bewildered and concerned for him.

He looked thin, and the rings around his eyes made it look like he hadn't gotten much sleep. It was obvious he hadn't showered for a while and his clothes looked worn to the point where they were about to fall off of him in their own exhaustion. The cat that had come in with him, hopped up to the back of the couch, then down to his side and started to rub her head into his side.

"Never mind, you can tell me in the morning," Bella ignored her own question. "Would you want something to drink?"

"Please?" he asked, blue eyes pleading that it be something sweet.

Bella gave in and warmed up some hot chocolate which she knew was his favorite. When she came back in with two hot mugs in her hands, the boy had taken his shoes off and curled up into the crevice of the couch corner, the cat fast asleep and purring on his lap.

She gave him the drink and he thanked her with a nod, diving right into it. Bella sat beside him, not touching her drink.

"Do you have anything else to wear?" she asked him.

He shook his head, taking a break from the mug.

"How long have you been on your own?" she was curious enough to ask, but she would probably have to wait until morning, he looked so tiered.

"Can it wait until morning?" he asked her.

"Of course," she nodded. "I'll set you up down here."

"Thanks."

Bella grabbed the spare sheets from the closet and was on her way back down, but she found him already asleep on the couch. She threw an extra blanket over him and tucked a pillow under his head. She scratched the cat behind its ears and it purred louder. Bella finally turned out the light and went upstairs, but sleep didn't find her.

She finally gave in around two in the morning to get back up and get under her bed for something. She pulled out an old shoe box labeled letters in messy second grade handwriting. Blowing dust off of the top, she put it on her bed and sat cross legged there. She opened the box and pulled out the top letter, dated just about a month ago. She took out the next one, dated a month before the first one. She kept pulling them out until she got to the bottom one. It was old and almost fragile when she unfolded it, but the writing was still clear.

Back in second grade, her class had been assigned a pen pal that they were supposed to write back to for the year. She thought that it was kind of stupid, no one would want to read her letters, but strangely enough, someone did. She had been paired with a Danny Fenton who lived in Amity Park, Indiana. She wrote him a very short letter, since a second grader can't make lively conversation on paper that was very coherent, and he had written back almost right after she had sent it off. This is what he had written back.

Dear Bella,

Yeah, I know what you mean when you say you're mom can be weird sometimes. My dad believes in ghosts, and my mom too, but she doesn't shout it to the stars every day. I don't like it when people call me by my full name either, I prefer Danny. So, I'll call you Bella if you call me Danny. That seems like a fair deal to me.

Anyway, I have this really controlling sister named Jazz. She's really smart, but she likes to ask what you're thinking. My mom says she's going to be a really good something-that's-so-big-I-can't-write-it-out. No, I don't have any pets. We had a hamster once, but it died when Dad accidently spilled something in the cage. We've been banned from having anything furry or flammable in the house again.

So what's it like where you live? What are your friends' names?

Danny,

P.S. That green smudge is ecto-plasma; I'd wash my hands if I were you.

Bella smirked and set the letter down, remembering how eager she was to write back. Most of her class had stopped writing to their pen pals when they could, but Bella and Danny hadn't. They had continued to write to each other, even after all of these years. He truly had been her first best friend, even if she had never seen his face besides a photo every now and then. Although, his letters had become less frequent when they had started high school. Bella always thought that since they had a busier schedule then normal that he didn't have that much time to write, she knew she didn't have the time to write as often. She had proposed to do it via E-mail, but they decided to still do it by snail-mail. It seemed like a tradition that shouldn't be broken. In fact, Danny hadn't sent a letter for a really long time, and it had never crossed her mind until she saw it in the mail. Then she would write back and stick it in and forget about it when something else got in the way.

In other words, Edward had no idea about this. Alice wouldn't have had any idea at all either since it was rare for Bella to even come across a reminder besides looking in the mail for the same screwy handwriting and return address. It would have been so quick and Alice wouldn't have thought to look down that avenue. They would have to know now since Danny was here, and Charlie would have to know too. She wondered if Charlie would kick Danny out of the house or send him back home, but it looked like Danny didn't want to go back home.

What if something had happened?

Now more troubled than ever, Bella put the letters back in the box, put it on her bedside table, and crawled back into bed. Surprisingly, sleep came fast.

The morning brought a dreary sky and slick roadways from the heavy rain the other night. Bella shivered slightly as she got up and wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. She found the box of letter on her side table and remembered what had happened. She rushed downstairs to see if Charlie had gotten up yet, but she saw that his door was still shut and his snores were still loud enough to let her know he wouldn't be up for a long time.

She came into the living room to find that Danny wasn't there. She was about to grab her keys and go out to find him, when she heard something in the kitchen. She quietly walked over to the doorway and saw Danny laying down a saucer of milk for the cat on the floor.

"Morning," he said when he saw her standing there.

"Morning," she said with a slight smile, but it was pained, he looked worse than last night. "Why don't you go upstairs and grab a shower while I make something for breakfast alright?"

"Thanks, I need one," he said looking down at himself and grimacing.

"I know," Bella wrinkled her nose in a tease.

He laughed slightly as he made his way up the stairs. Bella watched the cat lap at the milk. She bent down to look at the collar, finding the design curious and strange.

"Minnie," she read on the tag. "Cute name."

Getting up out of her crouch, she began to get breakfast ready, like she promised. He was down sooner then she thought. The eggs were fresh out of the pan and the toast wasn't popping up any time soon.

"Smells good," Danny commented as he came back into the kitchen.

"When did you get a cat?" Bella asked him. "I thought you weren't suppose to have animals."

Danny winced slightly, but his composure came back like lightning. Bella wasn't sure if she had seen anything it was so fast.

"I found her on the road," Danny said, picking Minnie up from the ground. "If you feed them once they never leave you."

"True," Bella nodded, still uncertain about what she had seen, "sit down and I'll get you a plate."

The toast popped up then and she grabbed it quickly. She set everything on the table for him and he dug in with vigor. She grabbed a shower quickly while he ate, she hoped that there was something left for herself. When she came back down, Danny was still eating at the table, with Charlie in the room.

"Bella, why didn't you tell me we have a house guest," Charlie asked, and Danny seemed sheepish.

"Sorry Dad, but you were sleeping and it was really late," Bella explained. "You remember my pen pal right? Danny Fenton?"

"Somewhat, never face-to-face though," Charlie said, scrutinizing Danny.

"I'm sorry to come in unexpected, but I had nowhere else to go," Danny said, looking at his hands under the table. "There have been some problems and I couldn't take it anymore. Really, I won't be long. Just a few days at the most."

"You're not in trouble," Charlie told him. "I just want to know why you're here."

"Like I said, there's been some problems," Danny muttered, being vague on purpose Bella saw.

"What kind of problems?" Charlie pressed.

"The family kind okay?" Danny was getting irritated now. "It's gotten really bad and I left to get away from it. They don't know where I am, and frankly I don't think they care."

"Is there a way they can reach you?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, I have my cell, but it's been dead for a few days. Low battery and no place to put in the plug."

"Well, Danny, you can stay for as long as you like," Charlie said, getting up from the table. "Just don't get my daughter into trouble."

Bella was shocked that her father would say such a thing to a boy he didn't know, but then another thought hit her. She walked her father to the door and straightened his badge for him.

"You're going to check him out right?" she asked him.

"Oh yeah," Charlie nodded and left. "You keep your guard up, and for once I'm glad Edward is coming over today."

Bella smiled at Charlie's frown and waved goodbye as he pulled out of the drive.

Edward—now there was going to be some trouble when he found Danny here alone with her. Jake might be okay with it, so long as Danny wasn't moving in on her, but Edward could be very overprotective. She hoped for Danny's sake that Edward wouldn't interrogate him like Charlie did.

Sooner said then thought, Edward's Volvo came up the drive just as Charlie's cruiser rounded the corner. Bella watched as he parked it on the curb and got out. He was by her side in an instant, holding her hand.

"Is something wrong?" he asked her, seeing the look on her face.

"Well, I'm kind of ashamed to say I forgot to tell you something," Bella blushed.

"And what would that be?" Edward asked, his voice holding curiosity and wariness.

"Well—"

She was cut off when Edward looked down sharply. She followed his lead and saw Minnie down by his feet. She was scratching his pant leg and looking up at him pleadingly with large green eyes.

"You got a cat?" he asked, brows raised in surprise.

"It's not my cat," Bella shook her head, pointing at the animal.

"It's odd," Edward said, picking up the now mewing cat, "Animals normally hate us and run when they catch wind of us, not run right to us."

Minnie purred loudly and jumped up to his shoulder, rubbing her head on his neck.

"Ah, she likes you," Bella pointed out, and couldn't help but laugh at her boy friend's pained look.

"Ack, felines," he said, taking Minnie off of his shoulders and putting her back in the house. "So if that isn't your cat, whose is it?"

"She's mine."

Edward looked in the house to see Danny standing there, Minnie propped up on his shoulder like a little statuette.

"And who are you?" Edward asked, his face creasing in a frown of disapproval, or a snarl, Bella couldn't tell which.

"Why don't we just go inside?" Bella suggested.

Edward nodded and went inside, brushing against Danny's shoulder roughly as he came in. Bella frowned at his behavior, that wasn't like Edward at all.

"Edward, this is Danny, he's an old friend of mine," Bella explained when they all settled in the living room.

"Oh, so this is the boyfriend," Danny said, the mystery cleared up for him and he smiled.

"Yes Danny," Bella had to smile, but Edward seemed less then amused. "Danny is my old pen pal."

"Pen pal?" Edward asked incredulously. "You never told me about a pen pal."

"That's because I honestly forgot," Bella said, hoping that he would see that she wasn't lying. "It never came to mind unless the mail was on the counter and there was a letter in it for me."

"Do you really think so low of me?" Danny asked, faking to look hurt.

"Oh stop it," Bella said, smirking as well, but it really wasn't the time to joke around with a disgruntled vampire in the vicinity.

"I see," Edward said after a moment to think, "and how long have you guys been writing each other?"

"Since second grade," Bella answered.

"It was a stupid class project that we actually liked to do," Danny filled in, letting Minnie jump onto his shoulder. "We just couldn't stop, and we became friends over it."

"Then why are you here?" Edward all but snapped.

"Well, it's none of your business, now isn't it?" Danny said calmly back, but his eyes narrowed, showing he wasn't going to take Edward's bad attitude towards him.

Edward seemed to only get angrier at this comment. Bella was confused, normally Edward didn't let things like this bother him so much, but he seemed to be going overboard today.

"Um, could I talk to you outside?" Bella asked him, almost literally having to push Edward into the back yard.

"What is wrong with you!?" she shrieked at him once they were alone. "You're acting all hormonal in there."

Edward blinked and shook his head, as if to clear it.

"I'm sorry Bella," he said, his voice normal. "I don't know what happened. I suddenly had this instinct to run when I saw him, but with you there, it was more like to defend. I have no idea what triggered it."

"So you're saying that you're scared of him?" Bella asked incredulously. "Edward, you have nothing to be scared of. Danny's harmless, a dog could do more damage to my truck by peeing on it then Danny could by wreaking it."

"That's a pleasant image," Edward mumbled frowning. "I can't read his mind either, and it's not like with you either. With you, it's like slamming face first into a wall. With him, I'm twisting through a maze, a rather crazy one. Every time I think I got it, I run into a dead end and have to go right or left. He's not normal Bella, he's dangerous."

"That's your over-protectiveness talking. Still, what you said is unnerving. I mean, you scared of something?"

"I know, but I'm not scared," he said stubbornly.

"Okay, now I know that's your wounded pride," Bella said with a smile. "Do you think you can stay around and be nice to him?"

"I'll try, but if I can't handle it, then I'm leaving. I don't want to think about what I can do to him if something happens."

"Okay, that's a deal. Oh, and do you think that some of your cloths might fit him?"

"I'll go back home and see," Edward said, making a beeline for the gate. "Are you sure you're going to be alright?"

"I'll be fine!"

Edward nodded, but still seemed doubtful, as he jumped the fence and got into his car.