Chapter 2 – Bad Luck

I could only imagine the possibilities behind that one simple sentence. I was utterly speechless; wondering who on earth might want me dead this time. I wracked my brain for a minute, trying to remember if James had another girlfriend that I was unaware of. The curiosity and impatience inside of me was going to explode, but at the same time I didn't want to know.

"Who is it?" I enunciated each word as I felt my face growing paler.

"The Volturi, Bella. The Volturi are coming to Forks, but we're not absolutely sure you're what they're looking for. Let's hope it's another soon-to-be-vampire," he joked, though the timing was hardly appropriate.

"But you said I'd be at least thirty," I frowned at the word, "until they remembered me again."

"That's what we were counting on, but of course, your bad luck had to join the party. The Volturi remembered you only a year after they saw you. You must really be special," he tilted his head, so his diamond-like face was turned to me.

"If I had a dime every time I heard that."

He sighed, "Listen, Bella, I think it's best for all of us to go to Denali and live with Tanya's family while the issue gets resolved in Forks, then we can get married without worrying about the Volturi trying to find you and slaughtering everyone in the way," the last part was probably supposed to be a joke, but I didn't laugh.

"Tanya? The one that had a thing for you?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Don't worry, though. She's like the water when I'm the alcoholic and you're the aged wine. Not appealing at all," he winked.

"Let me get this straight. We're going to live with a vampire that had a crush on you, and you are unavailable to her because you're with me, me being the person going to live under the same roof as her. Hmm, good idea; not dangerous at all," my voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Once you put it like that…" he looked puzzled.

"Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine. My blood is only the best-scented and the only thing stopping her from getting you is me, why on earth would I possibly fear for my life while we're with them?"

"Bella, I told you before, even if you didn't exist and I would have never found my soul mate, that is if you consider what I have a soul, I would still be unavailable to her. And I'm sure she understands that now," he smiled, as if that was going to change anything, "besides; I think they'd really like you! Maybe not Tanya, but the rest of them for sure."

"Don't you know any other covens of secretive vampires roaming the earth we could visit instead?" I tried to sound optimistic.

"It'll be fine, I promise. Now, we better get you home, Charlie will be back in an hour."

As I jumped on Edward's back and tightly shut my eyes, I imagined what fun adventures would be in store for me this year. A royal, three-thousand-year-old group of vampires in search of me as their servant, maybe a revenge-seeking broken-hearted vampire, and what else could possibly happen, another vampire falling in love with me? As if Jacob, my ex best friend and werewolf, wasn't enough.

Before I knew it, I was in my bed, cradled in Edward's arms.

"Sleepy today?" he gently kissed my forehead.

"What time is it?" I managed to groan.

"Five-thirty."

"Charlie! He'll be home in half an hour and he won't have any dinner unless I make some!" I spoke as loud as I could, but my voice was still muffled.

"No, stay down, it's been taken care of. I've watched you make dinner so many times that I've learnt how to make it myself," he grinned, clearly proud.

I was very surprised, and he took that into consideration, not knowing if my shock was a compliment or not.

"What did you make?" I was scared of the answer.

"Pasta. It was simple, and Charlie loves it," he chuckled, "although I still say it's outright repulsive."

I didn't know what to say. Edward, cooking?! I thought about going downstairs any trying the pasta, just to make sure it wasn't poisonous.

"I have a present for you, by the way. It's for the wedding, but I thought I'd give it to you a bit early," Edward smiled.

"Usually I'd be opposed to this, but since we're getting married, I guess you can buy me a present. Only one though," I didn't feel happy, but if it made him happy, I'd take it.

"Good. So you'll wear it? Promise?" he looked flattered.

"Yes. Now give it to be before I reconsider!"

"Alright, eager beaver, close your eyes," and he smiled his downright gorgeous grin.

I closed my eyes, and I could feel his chilly fingertips on my wrist, the wrist with the hand-me-down heart he'd given me for my graduation.

"Open them."

As I opened my eyes, there was something new on my bracelet. There was now another heart keeping my first one company, only this one was more fragile-looking. I couldn't take my eyes off both of them; they were so beautiful! The first one alone was definitely stunning, but together it seemed like they brightened up my whole room.

"Edward, they're amazing," I had nothing more to say.

"I'm glad you like them. Look real close into the centers of both the hearts," it seemed like he had a few more tricks up his sleeve.

As I squinted at the tiny lettering, I slowly began to understand. He had carved Edward into the original and Bella into the center of the new addition. They were simply gorgeous.

I smiled and pressed my lips to his. I wanted to keep this moment going, so I tore myself off him mid-kiss and put my head on his chest. I noticed it was the first time I'd ever ended any of our kisses and was hoping he'd now know how dissatisfied I felt every time he did that.

We lay there for another twenty minutes before I heard the front door open, and shot my head up.

"Go! Get out! Come back after dinner though," I smiled, hopeful.

"Why? He knows we're getting married, Bella, he should adapt to the idea that we're going to be spending a lot of time together," his smile disappeared.

"I want to take this one step at a time. We only told him yesterday, he should get some time to think before we tell him I'm pregnant." I rolled my eyes.

"Pregnant? I was just hoping to stay for dinner," he joked, "but that's fine. I understand what you mean, so I'll see you later. Oh, one last thing. Tell Charlie we'll be spending an extra week in Vegas, but we'll really be in Denali both weeks."

He touched the tip of my nose with his fingertip and before I knew it, he was off.

As I got downstairs and took my seat at the table, Charlie had strange look on his face.

"New recipe, Bella?" he eyed the pasta in front of him.

"Actually, yeah. Like it?" I kicked myself for not testing it before Charlie got home.

"It's amazing. What did you put in?" he grinned.

I could feel an expression of shock spread across my face. I tried to remain calm, but my features gave me away.

"Honey? Are you okay?" he looked concerned.

"Yeah, sorry. Just a little off-beat from yesterday. Oh, speaking of yesterday, are you okay with it, honestly?" I tried to say it casually, like I asked him if it was okay to get married every night.

He dropped his fork and gave me his undivided attention, "Honestly, Bella? I think you're too good for him. What he's put you through, what I've seen that boy do to you, for those reasons I'll never completely approve of him. But if this is what you want, and I can see it is, I'm happy for you."

He tried to smile at the end, and I did too.

"Thanks, dad. He's really not as bad as he seems. You know, if you had some bonding time, I'm sure you'd trust him more," Edward would probably be against it, but I could try.

He frowned, "Does he fish?"

"Uh, yeah, dad. He loves fishing. You should take him out this weekend while Alice and I, um, look for wedding dresses. Oh, I forgot to mention. Edward and I thought it would be best to spend another week in Vegas since we're not going on a proper honeymoon." three lies jumbled together. But the no proper honeymoon part was true, at least.

Charlie's face went blank, "If that's what you want."

That was all he managed to choke out before getting up, thanking me for dinner and putting his plate in the sink. That's when I noticed I hadn't started eating and picked up my fork.

xxx

"That pasta was delicious, by the way. How did you make it?" I wondered aloud.

We were sitting in the field at two AM with thunder ripping across the sky. I was sitting on Edward's lap, watching the rest of his family play baseball.

"You really liked it? Maybe one day I'll teach you," he grinned.

"Since when do you cook, anyway?" I was sure he wanted something.

"Actually, I wanted to soften you up. To get you to agree to go to Denali, and since you told Charlie, I guess it worked," he winked.

"What was Charlie thinking? Was he mad at me?"

"No, not mad. Although he is hoping you'll call the wedding off. He wants you to give it more time and not end up like him and Renée," he frowned at the thought, clearly not wanting to call the wedding off.

Suddenly, everything was a blur. A ball came flying at an unbelievable speed, aimed directly at my face, so I closed my eyes and waited for the pain. Instead, I felt wind through my hair and when I didn't immediately open my eyes, I heard a voice.

"Bella? Are you okay?" the sweet voice sounded urgent.

I tried, unsuccessfully, to open my eyes.

"Bella! We're so sorry! The game got out of control!" I recognized Alice's voice.

I felt someone's arms tighten around me, and I opened my eyes. The whole Cullen family was standing around me.

"Oh, thank goodness! We thought the ball was going to hit you for sure, but then Edward dodged it with you in his lap," Esme cheerily replied.

I looked around us, and we were across the field from where we had originally been sitting. I couldn't believe how fast Edward had reacted, since when I saw the ball it must have been ten meters from my face. I guess I should have expected it. He's a vampire, after all, I told myself.

"Are you sure you don't want me to check out your head, Bella?" Carlisle looked worried.

"We wouldn't want to lose silly Bella after all the times we've rescued her now," Emmett joked, and Edward shot him a look.

"No, I think I'm fine. It's really no big deal, these things happen all the time," I wasn't kidding.

Edward chuckled, "She's right. Well, I'd better get you home."

As I started to stand up, Edward's arms caught me and put me on his back.

Before we were at top speed, I heard Emmett shout, "We won, by the way. If it wasn't for you, Carlisle would have gotten the ball and made us lose! Thanks, Bella!"

I rolled my eyes and we were gone, silently dodging the dark figures in the forest.

xxx

When I woke up, Edward wasn't beside me. This frightened me at once, but just as I was getting up, he appeared through my window. His god-like face shed a horror-struck expression.

Before I got the chance to ask, he poured out a sentence so fast I almost couldn't distinguish each word. The sentence that made my heart stop.

"The Volturi will be here next week."

Sorry for the cliffy, but hopefully it was still good. Tell me what you think otherwise this will be the last chapter. Thankies!

-AnaCullen♥.