Our honeymoon lasted one glorious week; it had been the first time that Edward and I had been isolated together, I had realized about halfway through it. Wedded bliss did not have nearly the magical intensity behind its wording that could do that isolation we had shared together justice.

Arriving in Forks again as a married couple was a feeling that was both surreal and beautiful. I had never imagined what it would be like to be married, and now that thought did not terrify me. Edward had reassured me of the sanctity of marriage, taking away the fear that had been ingrained within me. No moment with him was dull or dreadful, and I could see my wedding vows unfolding before my eyes. Somehow I knew I hadn't really been doubting us all along, after all.

We pulled into the driveway of my house just in time to have dinner with Charlie—I had promised him that I would keep in touch despite being married. It was bad enough that Charlie would have to go back to living alone, and he had hinted that it would break his heart to lose me after finally managing to keep his only daughter for only a few years.

Edward opened the car door like a gentleman and held out his hand. I placed my hand in his and we walked to the door. I was still on cloud nine after spending so much time with Edward, and it was almost difficult to believe that I would have this heaven forever.

Edward put his hand on the doorknob, but paused before opening the door. Chuckling, he told me, "Charlie bought food from the diner for us and he's hoping that you won't notice that he didn't actually cook the meal." He leaned on the door with a thoughtful look on his face, but straightened up and said, "Sorry. My mind is easily distracted."

"I want to know what's on your mind..." I asked bashfully.

He smiled. "Later. For now you need some food. Our plane flights have made this a long day for you, I'm sure, and a relaxing dinner should make things better."

I returned his smile and he opened the door to let me in. Imagine, having an unlocked door in these modern times. It was one of the few—nay, one of the only—good things about living in a small town. Everyone knew everyone and the place was so small that it was unlikely that anyone with foul intent would cross this place.

Charlie seemed excited to see us, but was silent. It was odd, because I could only imagine the thoughts that were running through his mind about what Edward and I had done on our honeymoon, even though it had not been the typical honeymoon that most couples would share after their wedding day. Edward would probably have an interesting meal, listening to Charlie's thoughts. My only hope was that Edward would not feel guilty for not doing what Charlie expected. He had more than replaced my disappointment the first night with a cornucopia of love and kisses for the rest of the week. Only someone who had lived for over a hundred years could learn how to love someone so thoroughly...

The dinner was just as Edward had predicted: steak and fries. Charlie had even managed to keep it warm, which I thought was an accomplishment for him. I devoured my food, while Edward ate slowly and politely. I snuck a few fries from Edward's plate every now and then when Charlie wasn't looking to lessen the amount of food that he had to pretend to eat.

About halfway through the meal, Charlie finally managed to find some words to say to break the silence. "So..." he started awkwardly. "How are you two doing?"

I chuckled nervously. "Fine, Dad."

"We had quite an eventful honeymoon," Edward broke in. "We went to Hawaii, but there was so much to experience on the island that we barely had time for anything else. Luaus, dolphin watching, those kinds of things. We were pretty much exhausted by the end of the day every day."

Charlie grunted. "Mmhmm."

In other words, he didn't buy it for a minute.

"Hawaii is such a beautiful place, especially this time of year."

Charlie grunted again. "So I've heard."

This was just getting awkward. It almost felt as if Edward was trying to make this dinner tread along as slowly as possible. However, he got the hint that the atmosphere was not what he had hoped to accomplish, and did not continue speaking.

Charlie was silent for a few moments, then tried again. "Do you like the food?"

I smiled in an attempt to lighten the mood of the table. "It's great. You did an amazing job."

He chuckled, blushing slightly. "Actually, it's from the diner," he confessed.

"That's okay," I reassured him. "Dad, you shouldn't even be let near the kitchen anyway. Getting food from the diner is probably the best bet for you."

He laughed at that comment and I felt the tension melting away. Hopefully he would try to not think about me and Edward having sex—it was just awkward wondering what he was wondering.

Although the laugh had been a good means of easing the tensions between the three of us, neither Charlie nor Edward spoke for the rest of the meal. I was thankful for that, though. It bothered me that Charlie resented Edward so much, even though I understood his reason for it. I just found it hard to not be perturbed by him hating the one that was perfect in my eyes.

The meal did not drag on as long as I had imagined it would, but we decided to stay afterwards for the game that was on.

"Bella, if you want to watch something else..."

"No, Dad, I'm fine with basketball," I told him. I was going to be sitting next to Edward, after all. I almost felt guilty for thinking that right when the thought came into my head.

"Alice came by when you were gone to pick up a few of your things. Told me the rest of the Cullens had gotten you a nice place to live."

I nodded, but Edward interjected.

"Actually, Charlie, I'm sorry, but we better leave." The statement was a bit out of character for him, since Edward usually did not speak unless it was necessary. I noticed that Edward's cell phone was in his hand; he seemed to have received a message without me noticing. I observed his facial expression, and he truly did seem regretful.

Charlie seemed disappointed by the request. "You could leave, and I could spend some time with my daughter," he retorted.

Edward seemed taken aback. "I'm sorry, Charlie, but this is urgent." He glimpsed the infuriated expression on my father's face and changed his mind.

"You're absolutely right, Chief Swan. I'll come back around ten to pick Bella up." He turned to me and kissed my cheek.

"Have a good time with your father," he said stiffly and walked out of the door quickly, not even providing me the opportunity to ask what was wrong.

Charlie grunted. "That's not too surprising."

"Dad!" I complained. "I know you don't like him, but could you at least try to be a bit more polite to him? He's always a gentleman to you!"

He seemed a little ashamed, but at the same time not very regretful. "Sorry," he apologized.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I really do care so much about him."

"I know," he said reluctantly.

"Let's just watch some basketball," I said, sitting down on the couch.

Charlie sighed and sat down next to me, then turned on the television. The game had already started; so far Charlie's favorite team was in the lead. I ended up not paying much attention to the game though; I was too distracted with Edward's urgent leave from my house. So many questions ran across my mind. Was something wrong with one of the Cullens? Had more vampires come to attack us? Had some kind of conflict arisen between the Quileute tribe and the Cullen family?

I was thankful when the evening had come to an end, though I felt guilty for not paying more attention to the game or Charlie. He said goodbye to me sadly, asking me to make sure to visit again sometime. I nodded half-heartedly, though I was trying not to look rushed.

Edward waited patiently for me outside with the knowledge that Charlie was not intent on seeing him. He held open the car door for me and then got back into the driver's seat as I closed my door.

"What's wrong?" I asked when he started up the car.

Edward was silent for a second. "Alice had a vision. She's not sure what it means, though."

Confused, I asked, "Not sure what it means? How can she not know what it means?"

"Her visions can be very unclear sometimes. She wouldn't have worried about it, but…" Edward paused, trying to get the words out. "It was about you," he finally finished.

We arrived to the house in about five minutes, and Edward rushed me inside. "I want to know if you can make some sense of what Alice has seen," he told me.

"Edward, if you can't figure it out, how could I? If it was so unclear, how can you even guarantee that it was something to be alarmed about?"

"Bella, with your luck I can guarantee you it was something to be alarmed about."

"But Alice could have predicted our wedding. It's not always something bad."

He was unmoved by that opinion. "Alice knows at least the tone of what she saw. She wasn't sure of what she saw but she knows she saw something bad."

My stomach started turning from the idea of yet another horrifying event occurring to me.

"You don't have any idea how much I blame myself for this," Edward muttered, pain etched across his face.

"Edward…"

"Don't try to console me. Your life was completely normal before you met me. It's only because you've been meddling with vampires that you're getting into trouble now. If you had decided to be with Jacob…" Edward shook his head.

"No…I couldn't be with Jacob. I love you," I told him in an attempt to comfort him. I couldn't live my life without Edward. And I blamed myself as much as he blamed himself when I ended up in bad situations. It wasn't his fault that I had horrible luck.

He shook his head again. "Everyone is in the kitchen," he said stiffly.

I put my arm around his waist and he walked me to the kitchen, where all the Cullens were gathered discussing Alice's vision. I imagined they had been doing this since Edward had arrived, three hours earlier. Was I really worth all this trouble? I know that Edward had waited decades for me, but I felt guilty for taking up all their time.

It's okay, Bella, I told myself. They have a lot of time on their hands. Still, though—I didn't believe I was worth all the worry. I just told myself that the worry now would save the trouble of fighting off other vampires later.

Rosalie glared at me when I sat down at the table, unsurprisingly. Emmett put his arm around her shoulder and embraced her, then kissed her cheek as an attempt to calm her down, or at least keep her from looking at me so evilly.

Everyone else stopped talking when I sat down, giving Alice the opportunity to share her vision with me. She took a deep breath, readying herself.

"As I'm sure Edward has told you, I've gotten a rather startling vision of you." She paused a second before continuing, "It's not entirely clear—the only thing we can decipher is that they're about you…and that you may be in danger." She frowned. "Or, you may not be. We can't tell."

I didn't really know what to say to that. "Is there anything I can do?" I finally managed.

She shook her head. "I don't know. I don't understand any of it. It's difficult to say that there is anything you can do."

"Well…" I started, wanting to at least try to help out. "What was your vision?"

"It's so difficult to understand…It was you, but you were…different. It kind of came in pieces—you were in a jail cell, then it looked as if you were dead. But there was something else…something that said you weren't really dead."

Maybe she shouldn't have told me that after all. I put as much thought into as I could, but could not figure it out. Alice hadn't somehow seen the afterlife, had she? That seemed silly.

"We thought maybe it was you being changed."

"We think someone may try to kill you," Edward said bluntly. I noticed he was acting very aloof—he was blaming himself. I tried to take his hand, but he rejected it. "And that they'll be unsuccessful and one of us will have to change you to save your life."

"That might not be it, Edward," Alice tried to reassure him.

"Oh, who are we kidding‽" he asked angrily and stormed out of the room.

Alice looked regretful. "I'm sorry for telling both of you this—but it was necessary. No one wants you in danger."

"I just wish Edward would be a little less hard on himself."

"Well, he wouldn't be if you had just left him alone," Rosalie snapped. "If you would stop putting our family in danger."

I scowled. "Is it really my fault that everyone is deciding to attack me?"

"If it's another coven of vampires, then yes, it is your fault. Your kind isn't supposed to mingle with ours."

I wasn't in the mood for arguing with her anymore. "I'm going to go see how Edward is doing," I said, rising from my seat and making sure to meet Rosalie's glare.

Edward was in his room, dramatic classical music blaring as he gazed out his window. I turned the volume on the stereo down a little bit and put my arms around his waist.

"If you shut me out, you'll regret it if something does happen to me," I reminded him.

"I can't live with myself always putting you in danger," he muttered just loud enough that I could hear him.

"I can't live with myself always letting you take the blame for me being in danger," I retorted.

He sighed. "Bella, love...You deserve someone who can keep you safe."

"Either way, I know that vampires exist and someone will come after me for that."

"I never should have let it get this far. I never should have told you that you were right about us."

"Well you did and we can't change that now."

"I regret it so much…"

"Edward, if I'm going to die, then do you really want our last moments together to be filled with regret? Don't you just want to enjoy us being together?"

"It will be tainted with the knowledge that you will die because of me," he said through gritted teeth.

"I wasn't fully living before I met you. I've come to realize that…"

"Stop trying to comfort me."

"Edward, you changed my life completely—"

"For the worse."

I sighed. He was not letting me through at all. I just held him tighter and cuddled into his cold hard side in the last attempt I could think of to make him feel better. It seemed to work a little, since he moved me in front of his body and wrapped his arms around me. I could still almost feel his pain, but at least I was getting somewhere. Edward rubbed my arm softly. I looked to the doorway and saw Jasper standing there, calming Edward down. He was probably giving Edward some information as an excuse to stand in the room so he could use his powers over him.

"Feel a little better?" I whispered after Jasper left, head turned back to looking at the window.

"Just a little." Edward let go of me and turned to turn off the stereo.

"Let's go home. I'm sure you're tired, love."

I nodded and took his hand. Edward still seemed incredibly solemn, but he was willing to touch me now, at least.

"I'm not taking any chances, though," he said. "We're bringing an escort with us."

I nodded again and we headed downstairs. Emmett was waiting for us, not surprisingly. I tried not to smile at the idea of this huge, muscular man escorting us to our house. He would be perfect to shred anyone who tried to attack me, but he was just a huge teddy bear when he was not on the defense.

Emmett cracked his knuckles, serious. "Come on, guys, let's go," he said. Edward hoisted me onto his back and the two vampires ran to the small cabin in the woods.

When we got to the cabin, Edward gently lowered me to the ground and unlocked the door. "Stay here," he told me, and I kept my ground next to Emmett. He went inside, and Emmett said,

"He's just scouting the place out for anyone—didn't want to leave you out here all alone, but didn't want to bring you in there with him if there is anyone in there."

I nodded, glad for the precaution, especially if it made Edward feel better.

Edward was out in less than a minute, saying, "It's alright, there's no one here. I can't hear anyone's mind, either. Emmett, you can go."

Emmett nodded. "You know where we are if you guys need us, bro."

"Of course," Edward said and led me inside. He led me to our bedroom and laid me on the bed.

"Now sleep tight, my love," he said to me, and kissed my cheek. I closed my eyes, and amazingly, I fell asleep quickly.