Part seven! I really don't have a whole lot to say about this, just thank you to BloodsuckingLeech. Having a beta makes it easier and more fun. Like before, if you review me (which I love!) please let me know what you did and did not like so that I can become a better author. I think, after all, I'll stick to the original title I came up with. It's growing on me. Yay! Here we go.

Conscience, Part Seven: Savior

I was being stupid. I knew it. Jacob knew it. And Edward would know it soon. He was going to kill me. Hopefully he wouldn't hurt Jacob. I came around the corner much faster than I anticipated. Sure enough, the hairpin turn was sitting there, waiting for me. The road went straight before turning sharply to the right at something like one hundred and twenty degrees. If I braked now, I might lose control. I had no choice but to hit the turn at the ridiculous speed I was going and pray I stayed on the road.

I had taken this turn at breakneck speeds before. Unfortunately, I hadn't accounted for the layer of water on the pavement. As soon as I started into the turn, leaning into the curve, I felt the water splash up on my face. I knew in that second that the bike wasn't coming back up. This was going to hurt.

I cursed.

Jacob yelled.

The tires squealed.

And then the bike started to roll. I was leaning sharply to the right so that the bike could take the turn. Normally it would straighten once around the corner. This time, the tires didn't have the traction to stay at the angle they were. My weight was going to pull it over without the traction of dry pavement. It kept falling to the right. The bike was going to keep falling over before skidding across the ground. And half my body was going to be shredded underneath it.

I kicked my foot off of the right pedal, trying to detangle myself from the soon-to-be wreck. Maybe I could leap for safety. This was one time I so dearly wished for vampire speed. I felt like I was made of molasses. The road was coming up to meet my right side much too fast. I felt like I couldn't move fast enough, like my legs and arms were coated in cement. Each movement I made was slow and hindered and there was just no way that I could get free before I got grated into the ground. At least I had the jacket and the helmet on.

I tried to push off the bike but I knew the ground was there. As predicted, I smashed into something very hard. The small fact that the impact came from a different direction than originally anticipated didn't register right away. I winced, bracing, waiting for it to rip my leg to pieces.

Instead, I plunged under liquid. Was this blood? I couldn't see and all I could feel was lukewarm liquid all around me. The wreck had completely shredded me. I must be lying in a pool of my own blood. Where was Jacob? Shouldn't he be somewhere freaking out? Maybe he hadn't caught up yet.

I was jerked above the water - or was it blood?, still unable to see clearly. I felt a force on my head before my helmet was pulled off. Now my hair was plastered to my face from all the blood. My sight was cleared and the first thing I realized was that it wasn't blood after all. Just water. I saw the helmet thump on the ground yards away. My eyes wandered around, taking in my surroundings. I was bobbing in a small lake, just off to the side of the hairpin turn. The bike was in the bushes on the other side of the road on its side. There were skid marks across thirty feet of road. I shuddered when I realized those could've been made with my blood. Somehow I had ended up on the opposite side of the road than where the bike was headed. As if something had caught me and moved me out of its trajectory.

Then I saw Jacob. He was running toward me but he skidded to a stop, freezing. His eyes narrowed, and his body started trembling. He let out a low growl, doubling over. I recognized his actions as Jacob repressing the urge to phase.

Then I became acutely aware of two things. There was something tight around my waist and cold against my back, and I understood who, precisely, had moved me out of harm's way. Only my vampire. Relief and anger both flooded me. I was ecstatic he was here but furious he didn't trust Jake. I turned around in the water to glare at Edward, only to come nose to nose with… not Edward.

"…Laurent!"

"Oui?"

It was odd to be so close to such a foreign face. On pure instinct I pushed off his chest to put more distance between us. Despite his golden colored eyes glinting at me from under his tussled, damp dark hair, I didn't want to be so close to his mouth. It would've made no difference if he wanted to eat me, the small two feet of space wouldn't have stopped him, but it made me feel better at least. Even Jacob wouldn't have been able to phase and save me if he attacked.

He could've easily held me tight but he granted me my space and nodded in my direction as I treaded water, studying him.

"Are you alright?" I nodded in response, still studying him. He was beautiful, like all the other vampires I had met. He had dark hair. It fell before his golden eyes like damp spikes, water droplets dripping from their ends. His shirt was plastered to his body, leaving little to imagine of his defined chest. Like Edward, I thought. But not like Emmett.

The grass rustled beside me and I looked up to see Jacob standing over us, his face and jaw taught with the suppressed urge to eat Laurent. Roughly, he shoved his hand down to me. I reached up with both hands and took his palm and with one swift movement he hoisted me out of the water and onto my feet.

"Are you alright," Jacob inquired, his expression softening as it moved from Laurent to me. I sighed. I had a feeling I would hear that question several more times before the day was over. …Or maybe not. Alice wouldn't be able to see this. Jacob was with me. I smiled slowly.

"Yes, yes," I answered quickly.

"Edward's going to kill me," Jacob whined.

"We don't have to tell him." I smiled, but he just shook his head.

"One of us is going to think about it sooner or later, and then he'll know, even if the psychic didn't see it." He nodded at Laurent, who was climbing out of the pond now, when he said 'us.' My face fell. Even if we could get by with not mentioning it when I went home and somehow managed to explain why Laurent and I were soaked… Laurent wouldn't be able to never think about it. I sighed.

"Probably should tell him then. He seems to take it better when I'm completely honest with him," I said, walking over to pick up my fallen helmet. I glanced over to Jacob over my shoulder. His face was very serious. My heart grew heavier. I glanced to Laurent. He looked somber, too.

"Thank you." He had been regarding Jacob and his eyes snapped to mine when I spoke. He looked confused, so I continued. "I don't know why, but you saved my life. Or at least… you saved me a lot of pain." I tossed my helmet up once and caught it.

"It was nothing," his lightly-accented voice floated across the air back to me. I snuck a peek at Jacob. He was glaring at me still. After a moment, a smile cracked across his face.

"I told you so," he said casually. "I told you that you'd never make that turn at that speed."

"I didn't realize the road was wet."

"How could you not? You were spraying it all over me!"

"That's because you were behind me, eating my dust. Water, apparently," I retorted in good nature. I had this feeling that a do-over was going to surface soon. A rematch. If Edward ever let me ride the bike again. I groaned suddenly. Laurent was first to respond.

"Are you hurt?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "Just dreading explaining to Edward how I almost killed myself." A silence fell on us, and I bit my lip before adding, "Again." Laurent and Jacob both chuckled lightly and I rolled my eyes then marched over to the bike. After quite a bit of effort, I managed to put it back on its side, and then looked at Jacob.

"Think we can fix it?" He shrugged.

"I can fix anything, Bella," he said, grinning at me. I returned the grin. His eyes drifted to Laurent and the two studied each other for a moment, the smile slipping from Jacob's features. I could feel the tension slowly start to escalate around me. Biting my lip I fought with the bike trying to keep it standing.

"Why don't we head back and get this over with, then?" I winced slightly as the bike fell over, pulling me on top of it. I grunted and struggled to my feet.

Laurent's cold hand grabbed my upper arm gently – more gently than Edward ever did, perhaps he didn't know how strong he could hold me and decided to err on the side of gentle – and tugged me to my feet. I started to bend forward to fight with the bike again, but he stopped me and surprised me again. With a dramatic sweep he had lifted up the hunk of metal and carried it like one would carry a flower basket; as if it weighed nothing. Jacob hid any emotional reaction to that and kicked his bike so that he could push it.

We walked like that, Laurent carrying my bike on my left and Jacob pushing his on the right.

"So you know this guy and the other vampires at the house," Jacob asked me conversationally, but I could sense something beneath the question.

"Not the others. I met them for the first time when they came, but Carlisle has known them for quite a while. Before Carlisle settled here with his family, I think they spent some time together in Alaska, but there were too many, so they moved here."

"What about him?" Jacob inclined his head to Laurent who was remaining quiet through this encounter. Neither of us spoke up for a moment and I could feel Jacob's curiosity starting to peak.

"We've… met before," I hedged. Jacob studied me closely for a moment, and I glanced to him out of the corner of my eye. "Back when you were still human." I nudged him playfully, and he nudged me back. The problem was Jacob's muscled frame sent me stumbling into Laurent. I steadied myself and murmured an apology. Jacob snickered, then sobered.

"It would be so much easier, wouldn't it? If I were human?" Jacob's question startled me and I turned to look at his face. It was sad, contorted with some kind of pain. I draped my arm around his shoulder and squeezed him in a half-hug before letting go.

"No, I don't think so."

"Why's that?"

"If you were human, Jake, I couldn't tell you anything. We couldn't be like this. I'd have to hide everything from you, about Edward, about the Cullens, and about… next month." I nodded. "To you, I'd just disappear to go off to college for a year and not be able to find the time to visit. Eventually I'd come back… but… there'd be something different that you couldn't quite place." I gave him a reassuring smile as he scowled.

"So you're still going to go become a bloodsucker." It wasn't a question. I let my smile fade and refused to answer. "Don't," he pleaded suddenly, startling me. "Pick me. Stay with me. You can stay human, he doesn't have to have you, and if he does, we can protect you." I knew where he was going with this as he started to slip into the pack plural. "There isn't anyone we can't protect you from, Bella. You don't have to do this."

"I want to," I said through clenched teeth, I was tired of having this discussion. I sighed. "I love him, Jacob. You saw what happened when he went away. I can't do that. I'll still be Bella. I won't change. Not inside. And I'll be a more durable Bella. We can go play. I'll come back and visit… …if you still want to see me, that is." I risked a glance in his direction and he sighed, rolling his eyes to the sky before thwapping me on the back of the head.

"You better come and visit or we'll have to track you down." I laughed, falling back into an easy step, grateful that the storm had passed. It had been weird; I didn't feel awkward talking about such things in front of Laurent. When I checked Laurent's facial expression, he was staring ahead. As if he felt my eyes on him – or perhaps he heard my head turn in the wind – he glanced down, a warm smile on his face. I smiled back.

By now, we had made our way to the Cullens'. Jacob quietly set his bike up in the driveway, and took the mangled one from Laurent's hands. Poor Jake, he tried so hard to save me. He ran to the garage to try and set it inside before anyone noticed. Except Edward was standing on the porch, waiting.

My destroying angel. He crossed his arms slowly and purposefully across his chest and just stared at the three of us. Jacob set the bike down halfway between us and the garage before loping back over to us. I looked down at the helmet in my hands meekly.

Edward was staring at Laurent, and after a minute he gave a snarl and looked to Jacob.

"Is that what happened?"

"I don't know what he thought," Jacob replied tartly. Edward's lips pressed together tightly.

"With the turn, and the pond and Bella losing control?"

"Sounds about right." Edward was standing in front of us within a heartbeat. He looked down at Jacob coldly, as if contemplating what to do. He shrugged, then turned his attention on Laurent.

"Why," Edward asked, rather growled, after a moment. Laurent looked startled by the question.

"Pourquoi pas? Why wouldn't I save her if I could," Laurent's French rolled off his tongue as he studied Edward's cautious expression with confusion.

Edward's eyes narrowed faintly before closing completely. With an exasperated sigh, he opened them and looked down at me.

"Why, Bella," he asked quietly this time. I just stared at him, and he continued. "Why do you keep finding ways to scare me to death?" Without waiting for a response, his arms wrapped around me and pulled me against his chest, lifting me off the ground and into his arms. The helmet fell to the ground with a thud. One hand wrapped around my legs holding me up as I curled against him, his other hand wrapped around my back and rested on the back of my head. "I'm so happy you're safe." He kissed my temple, then my cheek, once on the lips and once on the neck.

Satisfied, he turned and carried me back towards the house, leaving Jacob and Laurent exchanging awkward glances. I wrapped my arms around Edward's neck and peeked over his shoulder at Jacob. He looked dejected. I waved at him faintly.

"Later, Bells…"

"Thank you, Jacob. For being there for me," I murmured as Edward opened the front door, carrying me inside. I heard his motorcycle start up and I heard him peel out. When I glanced over Edward's shoulder, I saw Laurent had followed him inside and after tossing me a strange look, went to join Irina and Tanya in the den. He was carrying the helmet which he set on a table. Edward didn't seem to notice. Or pretended not to.

"You need some dry clothes," he murmured into my neck. "And maybe a hot shower. How does that sound?" I felt my heart skip a beat in my chest. "Or a bubble bath. You'd probably prefer the modesty of the bubbles to an open shower…" My heart stopped when I realized the implications. I wasn't going to be alone. My skin turned a flaming red as he carted me up the stairs. He just chuckled against my skin, kissing me again.