3. Revelations

"You've been very quiet," I told Bella as I drove us home from the airport that Sunday night. "Did the plane make you sick?"

"No, I'm okay."

"Are you sad to leave?"

"More relieved than sad, I think."

What? Bella had loved being with her mother for the weekend. I raised an eyebrow at her, curious.

"Renee is so much more…perceptive than Charlie in some ways. It was making me jumpy."

I laughed. Renee had been very observant of our relationship. She saw the intensity of my feelings for Bella within the first half hour we were there. It was a little unnerving. "Your mother has a very interesting mind. Almost childlike, but very insightful. She sees things differently than other people."

I was glad we'd gone to Jacksonville, and not just because I'd successfully gotten Bella out of the path of Victoria. Bella had had a great time with her mother and Phil. Though she'd protested some more at first, the minute she'd seen her mother waiting for us at the airport, a huge smile had lit up her face. I hadn't seen my angel so happy in a long time. It had been good for her. And Renee had missed Bella terribly. She was beyond thrilled to have us visit for the weekend.

We pulled onto Bella's street and I started listening for Charlie's thoughts. Well, at least he wasn't going to be too difficult with Bella. He'd missed her.

Bella had fallen asleep on our way home. I brushed my fingers against her cheek and leaned down to kiss her forehead. I was almost sad to do it. I loved watching her sleep. "We're home, Sleeping Beauty," I said softly. "Time to awake."

It was only then that I heard something else in Charlie's thoughts. Jacob had called, and Charlie was going to insist that Bella call him back. I tried to keep a serene mask on my face, but it didn't quite work.

"How bad?" Bella asked.

"Charlie's not going to be difficult," I told her. "He missed you."

Her eyes narrowed, and I could tell she knew I wasn't telling her everything, but she didn't say anything else. I grabbed her bag from the backseat and walked her inside.

"Welcome home, kid!" Charlie shouted before I'd even shut the door. "How was Jacksonville?"

"Moist," Bella answered. "And buggy."

"So Renee didn't sell you on the University of Florida?"

"She tried. But I'd rather drink water than inhale it."

Charlie turned unwillingly to look at me. "Did you have a nice time?"

"Yes," I answered politely. "Renee was very hospitable."

I hope she at least made you sleep in separate rooms. "That's…um, good. Glad you had fun." He turned away from me and grabbed his daughter in a tight hug.

"Impressive," Bella whispered in his ear.

Charlie laughed, a rare sound for him. "I really missed you, Bella. The food around here sucks when you're gone."

"I'll get on it," she promised.

"Would you call Jacob first? He's been bugging me every five minutes since six o'clock this morning. I promised I'd have you call him before you even unpacked."

I stiffened. I'd known this was coming, but it didn't make me any happier about it.

"Jacob wants to talk to me?" Bella asked. She sounded…happy.

"Pretty bad, I'd say. He wouldn't tell me what it was about—just said it was important."

The phone rang again.

"That's him again, I'd bet my next paycheck," Charlie said.

"I got it," Bella said, breaking into a sprint toward the kitchen. She grabbed the phone and turned so she was facing the wall instead of me. "Hello?"

"You're back," Jacob said. I was glad my hearing was good enough to be able to hear what he was saying to her.

"Yes," Bella answered, her voice thick with emotion.

"Why didn't you call me?"

"Because I've been in the house for exactly four seconds and your call interrupted Charlie telling me that you'd called."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Sure. Now, why are you harassing Charlie?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Yeah, I figured out that part all by myself," Bella said with an edge in her voice. "Go ahead."

"You going to school tomorrow?" Jacob asked after a brief pause.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I?"

"I dunno. Just curious."

I wished I could hear Jacob's thoughts to understand why he'd been harassing Charlie just to find out whether Bella would be attending school tomorrow.

"So what did you want to talk about, Jake?" Bella asked after a pause.

"Nothing really, I guess. I…wanted to hear your voice."

I didn't have to read Jacob's thoughts to know he wasn't telling the whole truth, although I was sure he was glad to hear Bella's voice.

"Yeah, I know," Bella said, the sadness back in her voice. "I'm so glad you called me, Jake. I…"

"I have to go."

"What?"

"I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

"But Jake—"

But he'd hung up before Bella had gotten his name out.

"That was short," she muttered. I could hear the disappointment and hurt in her voice. She wanted so much to be able to see Jacob.

I wished that there wasn't a treaty to abide by. I wished I could take her down to La Push right now to see him. I would have no problem with her seeing Jacob, if I could be there, too. But that was out of the question, so her seeing her former best friend was out of the question, too.

"Is everything all right?" I asked, though I knew it wasn't.

She turned to look at me. "I don't know. I wonder what that was about."

"Your guess is probably better than mine," I told her. I tried to smile.

"Mmm," she said as she started gathering ingredients to make Charlie's dinner.

She worked more slowly than normal, trying, I assumed, to figure out what Jacob had wanted. All of a sudden, she dropped the hamburger meat she was holding. I caught it and threw it on the counter, then quickly wrapped my arms around my love, desperate to comfort her.

"What's wrong?" I whispered in her ear.

She just shook her head, a dazed look on her face.

How I wished I could read her thoughts right now! I knew she loved that I couldn't, but it was times like these, when I knew she was worrying about something and wouldn't tell me what, that I wanted so desperately to be able to read her mind.

"Bella?" I asked anxiously after a long pause.

"I think…I think he was checking," she mumbled quietly. "Checking to make sure. That I'm human, I mean."

I stiffened involuntarily and a low hiss escaped my lips.

"We'll have to leave," she whispered, pained. "Before. So that it doesn't break the treaty. We won't ever be able to come back."

I tightened my arms around my love, trying to comfort her. "I know," I whispered.

"Ahem," Charlie cleared his throat. Get your filthy hands off my daughter.

Bella jumped and broke free of my embrace. I leaned against the counter and tried to look casual.

"If you don't want to make dinner, I can call for a pizza," Charlie hinted. At least get out of the house if you're going to do that. Please. I really don't want to hear it.

I fought to keep back a smile.

"No, that's okay," Bella answered. "I'm already started."

"Okay," Charlie said, and propped himself against the doorframe to watch us.

Bella sighed as she got to work on dinner.

"If I asked you to do something, would you trust me?" I asked Bella as we drove up to school the next day. Jacob was waiting to talk to me there. Bella had been wrong. He hadn't been checking to see if she was human. He really wanted to talk to me, and he knew that I would be where Bella was.

"That depends," she answered.

"I was afraid you would say that," I said as I pulled into the parking lot.

"What do you want me to do, Edward?" she asked, suspicious.

"I want you to stay in the car," I told her. "I want you to wait here until I come back for you."

"But…why?" she asked.

Then she saw him. A look of pain crossed her face.

"Oh," she said.

"You jumped to the wrong conclusion last night," I told her. "He asked about school because he knew that I would be where you were. He was looking for a safe place to talk to me. A place with witnesses."

"I'm not staying in the car," she told me.

I groaned. I'd known she wouldn't. She wanted to see Jacob way too much to do what I asked. "Of course not," I muttered. "Well, let's get this over with."

Jacob's face got harder—if that was possible—as he saw us walk toward him, hand in hand. He was jealous of me, I knew. I stopped a few yards away from him and tried to shield Bella in case he phased. I didn't like having her so close to a werewolf, whether he was her friend or not. I pulled her partially behind my body, but I didn't have the heart to completely block her view of him.

He was here because the pack had accused Emmett of crossing the boundary line on Saturday night. Victoria was there, and both my family and the wolves had been trying to catch her, but she seemed to know exactly where the line was. Emmett had actually been in no-man's land, but the wolves accused him of crossing the line. And Jacob was here to warn us that if we crossed the line again, it would start a war.

"You could have called us," I told him in a hard voice.

"Sorry," he spat. "I don't have any leeches on my speed dial."

"You could have reached me at Bella's house, of course."

Jacob clenched his jaw. Even while she was grounded, she was still allowed to see the bloodsucker. And Charlie doesn't even like him. How is that fair?

"This is hardly the place, Jacob," I told him, desperate to get this conversation over with.

"Sure, sure. I'll stop by your crypt after school," Jacob said, his voice as hard as mine. "What's wrong with now?"

I glanced at the humans around us, humans who had no idea that vampires and werewolves even existed. These people were hesitating on the sidewalk, watching our conversation with intent interest.

"I already know what you came to say," I told him in a low but threatening voice. "Message delivered. Consider us warned."

I glanced down at my love, who was clinging to me with all of her strength.

"Warned?" she asked, puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

"You didn't tell her?" Jacob asked. "What, were you afraid she'd take our side?" Payback time, bloodsucker.

"Please drop it, Jacob," I begged in the most even voice I could manage. I didn't want Bella to know anything about this.

Not a chance. "Why?"

Bella frowned, confused. "What don't I know? Edward?"

I glared at Jacob, unwilling to answer her question. I could have killed him for bringing it up.

"Jake?" she asked.

Jacob turned to look at his friend for the first time since we'd been talking. He raised an eyebrow at her. "He didn't tell you that his big…brother crossed the line Saturday night?" His eyes flickered back to me. Yeah, I told her. What are you going to do about it? "Paul was totally justified in—"

"It was no-man's land," I hissed, furious.

"Was not!"

"Emmett and Paul?" Bella whispered. "What happened? Were they fighting? Why? Did Paul get hurt?"

I looked down at Bella. "No one fought. No one got hurt. Don't be anxious."

Jacob stared at us, not believing what he was hearing. Major payback time. "You didn't tell her anything at all, did you? Is that why you took her away? So she wouldn't know that—?"

"Leave now," I cut him off before he could tell Bella why I had taken her to Florida.

Jacob raised his eyebrows. Not a chance, bloodsucker. "Why haven't you told her?"

We glared at each other for a long minute. Too long. Bella was suddenly trembling violently at my side, gasping for breath. She knew.

"She came back for me," Bella choked out.

I held my angel tightly, angling my body so I was between her and Jacob, and stroked her face, trying to soothe her. This was why I hadn't wanted to tell her, besides the fact that Alice had told me not to. "It's fine," I whispered. "It's fine. I'll never let her get close to you, it's fine." Then I turned to glare at the dog. "Does that answer your question, mongrel?"

"You don't think Bella has a right to know? It's her life." Ha! How swiftly the mighty fall.

"Why should she be frightened when she was never in danger?" I said in a voice so low anyone besides the three of us wouldn't have a prayer of hearing.

"Better frightened than lied to," Jacob challenged.

Bella was crying now, scared for her life. I wiped the tears from her cheeks with my fingers.

"Do you really think hurting her is better than protecting her?" I murmured, still looking at my love.

"She's tougher than you think," Jacob retorted. "And she's been through worse."

Suddenly, I saw an image in Jacob's mind. It was Bella, or at least I thought it was. I couldn't be sure. I barely recognized her. Her face was twisted with grief, her eyes red. She was lying on the forest floor, shuddering and crying. This is what she looked like when Sam found her in the forest the night you left, Jacob thought.

I cringed. This was worse than any agony I'd been in before, even while I was away. I couldn't bear to see what I'd done to my sweet angel. How had I ever left her?

"That's funny," Jacob said, laughing at me, mocking my pain.

Bella glanced between us, her expression one of wide-eyed horror. I could tell she didn't understand my expression.

"What are you doing to him?" she asked Jacob.

"It's nothing, Bella," I managed to whisper. "Jacob just has a good memory, that's all."

Jacob grinned. Another image of Bella during the time I was gone came to his mind. This is what she looked like the first day she came to my house. Her face was blank, emotionless. She didn't even look human. She looked like a zombie. There was no life in her at all. There was nothing. Then, another image floated up. Bella was wincing, wrapping her arms around herself. It looked like she was trying to hold all of her organs inside her body. She used to do this all the time, whenever she thought about you.

I winced again. I couldn't take this. I would never leave my love again. I tightened my hold on her ever so slightly, making sure that she was still here with me now.

"Stop it!" Bella shrieked. "Whatever you're doing."

"Sure, if you want," Jacob said, and the image faded from his mind. I hope you got a good look, bloodsucker. I hope you saw what you did to her. "It's his own fault if he doesn't like the things I remember, though."

Bella glared at Jacob. She didn't like seeing me in pain.

"The principal's on his way to discourage loitering on school property," I said. "Let's get to English, Bella, so you're not involved."

"Overprotective, isn't he?" Jacob taunted Bella. "A little trouble makes life fun. Let me guess, you're not allowed to have fun, are you?"

I glowered at Jacob, baring my teeth ever so slightly.

"Shut up, Jake," Bella said, annoyed now.

Jacob laughed. "That sounds like a no. Hey, if you ever feel like having a life again, you could come see me. I've still got your motorcycle in my garage."

"You were supposed to sell that. You promised Charlie you would."

"Yeah, right. Like I would do that. It belongs to you, not me. Anyway, I'll hold on to it until you want it back." He tried to smile at his friend, but it didn't work. He missed her.

"Jake…" Bella began. She was in pain. She wanted so much to go to La Push and spend time with Jacob.

I wished I could let her, but it was definitely out of the question now, after that dog had put me through such agony. I was not about to give him what I knew he wanted most, which also happened to be the most precious thing in the world to me. But it was hurting Bella so much.

Jacob leaned in toward Bella. "I think I might have been wrong before, you know, about not being able to be friends. Maybe we could manage it, on my side of the line. Come see me."

I kept my arms around Bella, restraining her now so she didn't move any closer to Jacob. But I kept a calm look on my face as she looked up at me.

"I, er, don't know about that, Jake," she said, her pain evident in her voice.

Jacob's face became warm as he looked at his best friend. "I miss you every day, Bella," he told her. "It's not the same without you."

Bella's voice was still pained as she spoke. "I know and I'm sorry, Jake, I just…"

Of course he won't let her see me. He shook his head and sighed. His thoughts were pained. Good. He was getting a taste of his own medicine. "I know," he told Bella. "Doesn't matter, right? I guess I'll survive or something. Who needs friends?" He grimaced. It feels like part of me is gone without you, Bella. Please come back. Please.

I tightened my grip on Bella.

"Okay, get to class," Mr. Greene said as he walked out into the parking lot. "Move along, Mr. Crowley."

I released Bella, keeping only her hand, and pulled her behind my body again.

"Get to school, Jake," Bella whispered.

"I mean it," Mr. Greene threatened. "Detention for anyone who's still standing here when I turn around again." He saw me, and headed in my direction. "Ah, Mr. Cullen. Do we have a problem here?"

"Not at all, Mr. Greene," I tried to make my voice reassuring. "We were just on our way to class."

"Excellent. I don't seem to recognize your friend." He turned to Jacob. "Are you a new student here?" He scrutinized Jacob, and he sensed a threat.

"Nope," Jacob said with an arrogant smirk.

"Then I suggest you remove yourself from school property at once, young man, before I call the police."

Jacob grinned, imagining Charlie showing up to arrest him. Of course he could get out of any trouble he had with the law. Charlie loved Jacob. "Yes, sir," Jacob said, snapping a military salute. He got on his motorcycle and rode away.

"Mr. Cullen, I expect you to ask your friend to refrain from trespassing again," Mr. Greene told me.

"He's no friend of mine, Mr. Greene, but I'll pass along the warning."

Mr. Greene pursed his lips. My spotless record and perfect grades were definitely weighing things in my favor with him. "I see," he said. "If you're worried about any trouble, I'd be happy to—"

"There's nothing to worry about, Mr. Greene," I assured him. "There won't be any trouble."

"I hope that's correct. Well, then. On to class. You, too, Miss Swan."

I nodded and pulled Bella toward the English building. Once we were past the principal, I worried that Bella might be feeling ill. She had a weak stomach, and this had been a very eventful morning. Besides, I was sure she would want to talk to me, after Jacob had told her about Victoria. "Do you feel well enough to go to class?" I asked her.

"Yes," she whispered.

We got to class late and took our seats quickly. Mr. Berty didn't acknowledge our entrance at all. He was reciting a Frost poem and refused to let us break his rhythm.

As soon as we were seated, Bella yanked a blank sheet of paper out of her notebook and began scribbling furiously.

What happened? Tell me everything. And screw the protecting me crap, please.

I sighed. I guessed there was no way around it. I cursed Jacob silently as I took the paper from her and wrote down my explanation.

Alice saw that Victoria was coming back. I took you out of town merely as a precaution—there was never a chance that she would have gotten anywhere close to you. Emmett and Jasper very nearly had her, but Victoria seems to have some instinct for evasion. She escaped right down the Quileute boundary line as if she were reading it from a map. It didn't help that Alice's abilities were nullified by the Quileutes' involvement. To be fair, the Quileutes might have had her, too, if we hadn't gotten in the way. The big gray one thought Emmett was over the line, and he got defensive. Of course Rosalie reacted to that, and everyone left the chase to protect their companions. Carlisle and Jasper got things calmed down before it got out of hand. But by then, Victoria had slipped away. That's everything.

Bella frowned, then shuddered. She scrubbed out the paragraph I had just written with her eraser and wrote a new sentence over it.

What about Charlie? She could have been after him.

I was shaking my head before she finished writing. I held out my hand, but she ignored me.

You can't know that she wasn't thinking that, because you weren't here. Florida was a bad idea.

I agreed with her, to a point, but I was desperate to distract her and get her mind off of Victoria, and Jacob, for that matter.

I wasn't about to send you off alone. With your luck, not even the black box would survive.

She cracked a hint of a smile, so I knew my attempt at distraction had worked, at least for the moment.

So let's say my bad luck did crash the plane. What exactly were you going to do about it?

Why is the plane crashing?

I tried to hide a smile as she wrote.

The pilots are passed out drunk.

Easy. I'd fly the plane.

Apparently that had been too obvious. She was trying to stump me. She pursed her lips as she tried again.

Both engines have exploded and we're falling in a death spiral toward the earth.

I'd wait till we were close enough to the ground, get a good grip on you, kick out the wall, and jump. Then I'd run you back to the scene of the accident, and we'd stumble around like the two luckiest survivors in history.

She stared at me, awestruck.

"What?" I whispered.

She shook her head. "Nothing," she mouthed.

She scrubbed out the conversation and wrote one more line.

You will tell me next time.

I stared into her eyes, trying to gauge her mood. Her face was whiter than normal, terrified, and her eyelashes were still wet from crying. It probably would have been better if she'd found out from me before than from Jacob after the fact. I sighed and nodded once.

Thanks.

Mr. Berty was coming up the aisle, so I quickly grabbed the paper from under Bella's hand. He saw the gesture, but I had hidden it before he could see.

"Is that something you'd like to share there, Mr. Cullen?" he asked.

I held out my notes, a perfect transcription of his lecture. "My notes?" I asked innocently.

Mr. Berty scanned the notes, then walked away, frowning.