Chapter 4
Decisions

EPOV

Isabella was passed to each family member, and she was obviously exhausted at the end of it. She was yawning by the time she reached Alice again and started to cry. I don't think I'd ever felt so helpless in my life.

"Shh." Alice and many others soothed her. She continued to cry.

I stepped forward to see her and as soon as I stepped into her view she stopped crying. May be I was just lucky, there was no way this girl liked me that much that I managed to stop her from crying, there was no way I comforted her.

Alice moved her out of mine and her view and she started to cry again. Alice was looking worried.

"What's wrong with her?" Alice was debating on hungry or tired, the truth was, neither.

I walked over to her and held out my arms, "Give her to me." I said sighing.

Alice was wary and she had every right to, her blood still appealed to me in all the wrong reasons. She saw nothing and handed Isabella to me, she immediately stopped crying. I rocked her gently side-to-side and she started to smile and calm down.

Everybody stared at me in disbelief. But there was something about this girl - other than the fact that she smelt delicious and that I couldn't read her mind - that interested me. It was the fact that she didn't react the way I would expect her to. Every other human child would cry and run off to their parents if I even smiled at them, but Isabella just smiled back and giggled at me.

"I hate this. She likes him more than me! It won't last because Edward won't be able to stay this close to her forever; he's got to keep a distance at some point." Alice was starting to annoy me and it was only the fragile little girl in my arms that stopped me from kicking her across the room. I wouldn't hurt her; she would probably just jump back up and hit me.

"Edward, stop staring at me! I know you can hear me!"" Alice said out loud glaring at me.

"Well maybe you should be careful about what you think around me!" I growled at her.

I was suddenly very aware of the small bundle in my arms which had frozen at my words. I looked down to see her staring up at me, frightened. But she simply put her hand on my neck and said,

"Shhhh."

She was trying to calm me down; she didn't want me to get upset. But the way she looked at me, she looked as if she trusted me, and that was a big mistake to make.

"Edward." She said, "Shh. . ." I calmed myself down before hugging her tightly to my chest, obviously not too tight; I don't think I could live with myself if I hurt her.

"Edward she looks tired why don't you go and put her upstairs on your couch while we debate what and how much we tell her when she is old enough to understand." Carlisle's words sounded concerned, even though his face was reassured.

I nodded and took Isabella upstairs and into my room. I went to my cupboard and pulled out a thick deep blue blanket and wrapped her carefully in it before placing her carefully on my couch. She looked so adorable, so warm. I wished at that very moment that I could be warm, human, so that I could be able to teach her things and act like a real brother. But I couldn't, I would never be able to act like a real brother, obviously I would be able to protect her much, much more than anybody else, but I wouldn't be able to do anything else. I would just be her protector.

She smiled at me and then her eyes closed and her breath became deep and even. I knelt next to her and watched her sleep. It was fascinating, to watch somebody go into a trance they don't know they're in until they wake and then to have dreams about fantasies and magical places or to have nightmares which scare and frighten them. I was watching her closely but my mind was somewhere else.

"So when she is old enough to understand, shall we tell her? Or when do we tell her? And what do we do about the Volturi?" Carlisle looked around the room at the rest of the family, waiting.

"Well, personally I think we should tell her in the next seven years. But that's my opinion." Rosalie was siding with Jasper but Jasper had a longer period of time in mind.

"I think 11 years or more."

"Why?" Carlisle asked. "It might be a hazard when she is older, even though she understands more at that age. But I don't like the thought of keeping her out of the dark for so long."

"Because I don't think she will understand what we are and might tell somebody accidently. She is still a child and they aren't that smart to be honest." I was already down the stairs and had Jasper up against the glass wall.

"Don't you dare insult her intelligence!" I hissed at him. I realised I had overreacted.

"Edward calm down. I'm sorry, I never meant to offend you or her." Jasper's sincerity was obviously clear and it took me only a few seconds to calm down. His words shocked me, he could probably sense how much I cared about the girl already.

"I'm sorry." I said, embarrassed at the thought of hurting my brother in front of my family. I had insulted them and myself for doing this in their presence.

"Sorry. . . " I whispered and ran back up the stairs to my room.

Isabella was sitting up on my couch and was staring at me intently. I walked into the room and knelt down next to her. She had a worried look on her face, something she shouldn't be expressing until she was older and something that made her look older. I stroked her small and pretty face and played with her small mahogany curls.

"Edward?" She said curiously. She was asking a question, she was asking me if I was ok.

"I'm fine. It's nothing to worry about." I told her, as if I was talking to any other member of my family, not a two year old child.

She didn't look like she believed me and I guessed that unless I told her the truth, she wasn't going to let it go.

"Sometimes Isabella, I have a problem with my temper. It's nothing to worry about though." But she needed to worry about other things, like how her blood appealed to me and how at this very moment my throat was on fire and if I didn't restrain myself I would end up hurting her.

Isabella Cullen." I whispered. I liked how that sounded, her name was beautiful, but I wondered if changing her name was the right thing to do. "Isabella Swan." I whispered to myself. That was who she was and I wasn't going to change that.

She was staring at me and then suddenly gasped. I looked at her and the curiosity was extremely annoying, I didn't know why she had gasped.

"Look." She pointed outside and I turned to see Tanya hanging from a nearby tree, her eyes were pitch black.

I growled and Tanya stared at me shocked. I got up and hid Isabella from her view. She couldn't know she was here, she was hungry and her blood was appealing to everybody, not just me.

She jumped and landed on the balcony to Alice's room. I ran to my door and locked it quickly. She walked down the corridor and then knocked on my door.

"Hello?" She said." Edward let me in."

There was no way in hell I was going to let her in.

" Why won't he let me in? I haven't done anything to him, I didn't do anything inappropriate last time I was here. What is that smell, it's. . . delicious." I growled at her thoughts and she heard me.

"Edward? Why won't you let me in?" Tanya called.

"Go downstairs, Kate and Irina are already down there and Carlisle will explain everything." I told her.

"Ok. I'll be back later." She left then and I walked back over to Isabella.

"Sorry. " I apologized, "Did I scare you?"

She shook her head and smiled weakly.

"Yeah right." I scoffed.

She laughed at that and I did too. "Isabella?"

She shook her head.

"What then?" I asked.

She shrugged her shoulders, she obviously didn't like her name, even though I loved it. Her name was kind of a mouthful.

"Bella?" I asked.

She smiled and reached up to me. I smiled too and picked her up.

"Bella it is then."