Chapter 6: The News

Nope, I still don't own any of these characters, just in case you were wondering.

So, it's been a while since I posted. Between the holidays and coordinating an office move, I've been swamped. I'll try to keep up in the future, although the Christmas season is already looking busier than I care to admit to myself.

Thanks for reading!

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The four of us looked at each other with apprehension clear in our expressions. I didn't need to be a mind-reader to know we were all thinking the same thing: telling Fred about the wolves would be a bad idea. The Volturi didn't know about them and for everyone's sake, it was best if it stayed that way.

"What?" Fred asked. "What aren't you telling me?"

"About Sam…" Jasper started. "Well, let's just say he's an ally, but not necessarily a willing one. It's a long story, and frankly, it's on a need-to-know basis. Right now, well… you just don't really need to know. For now, we'll simply call Sam a 'friend,'" he emphasized by making little quotation marks in the air.

"Is he a vampire?" Fred asked.

Jasper rolled his eyes, but didn't answer, clearly conveying there was no more to be said on the subject. I could see that Fred wanted to ask follow-up questions, but Jasper was making it pretty clear he wasn't going to budge. It reminded me that Jasper could be sort of scary when he wanted to be.

Edward flipped open his phone to call Carlisle. "We're coming home." He paused while Carlisle spoke. Everyone could hear his answer except me, which was aggravating to say the least. I was practically ready to become a vampire just so I could listen in on the conversations!

"We'll talk when we get there. It'll only be a few hours. Just have everyone home, OK?"

Edward was about to end the call when I tugged on his sleeve, motioning for him to give me the phone.

"Carlisle, it's Bella. How's Jacob doing?"

"He's going to be fine. I just came from his house, actually. He's in some amount of pain, although if you heard it from him, you'd think he was dying a cruel and unusual death," he chuckled.

"So he's awake?"

"You could say that," he chuckled some more. "I don't think I've ever had a patient complain so much or yell obscenities so loudly in all my years of practice, and that's saying a lot. But, as you know, he heals fast. Don't worry, OK? If I may say so myself, he's in good hands."

"Yeah, he couldn't ask for a better doctor, although I'm sure you're not his first choice, all things considered."

"That's true. But he really didn't have much in the way of options. Billy was grateful, even if he wasn't happy about the circumstances," Carlisle answered.

"I'll bet. Thank you for taking such good care of him, Carlisle. I know Jake can be a pain, but he really is a good person under that gruff exterior… I can't say his bark is worse than his bite, but at least he barks more than he bites, so that's something," I quipped.

Everyone laughed except Edward and Fred. Fred looked completely bewildered and Edward looked angry, almost hurt. I couldn't tell what exactly was going on in his head, but it made me feel anxious. He held out his hand for the phone.

"Well, looks like Edward wants to talk to you again. See you soon!" I sounded much too chipper for the situation, a nervous reaction to Edward's intense, yet wounded expression.

"Carlisle, you need to tell Sam that we're bringing someone home with us, and we'll be responsible for him… If we can keep Jane and company from making a return visit, I don't see any point in warning him about the Volturi yet. No need to raise his hackles." Edward smiled grimly at his own jest. "We should be there in a couple of hours…. OK… Bye."

Edward sighed significantly. "Well, let's get back to the car. I'll call the ferry captain and arrange for him to take us back. "

Alice timidly raised her hand, like she wasn't sure she had the right answer to a math problem. Edward closed his phone as he nodded her direction. "We can't go back the way we came," she hesitantly offered.

"Why not?" I asked.

"I just checked, and he can't make it back today. He's in Port Angeles trying to figure out why his boat motor is smoking."

"And here I thought my gift was cool," Fred interjected, causing Alice to flash him a coy smile.

"We can't cross the border in the car," I thought aloud. "We didn't exactly come here legally, and I'm sure Fred doesn't even have ID."

"We could rent a small plane, although it might be hard to find someone on a moment's notice who would take illegal passengers…" Jasper trailed off.

"I'm not leaving my car here," Edward announced, ever-possessive of his vehicle. I thought he'd rather leave one of us behind than his precious car, although telling him that wouldn't go over so well. I decided it was best not to make that particular joke at his expense. This time.

"Who cares about the stupid car? We could come back and get it later. You're such a baby about your stupid car." Of course Alice would go where others feared to tread.

"Leave my car out of this," Edward said tersely.

As they argued, I started thinking. We could go to the border, cross on foot, then Edward could cross over legally, get his car, and come back. But that would take a while…. Then it hit me.

"Why can't we just drive down close to the border and you guys can carry the car until we're on the other side? Then we can take the Anacortes Ferry back to Port Angeles."

All of them stopped talking and turned to stare at me like I'd suddenly grown another head.

"Brilliant!" Jasper gave me a wink, and I had to admit, his confidence had given me an extra boost of courage to trust my ability to strategize. Or maybe he just literally gave me an extra boost of courage. Either way, I was on a roll.

Edward stepped behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing the top of my head. "It's clear I owe you an apology. I'm sorry I ever doubted that you belonged on this trip. If we'd come up here that way, it would have saved us a couple of hours and I wouldn't have had to pay that ferry captain such a ridiculous amount of money to smuggle us over the border."

Alice rolled her eyes and I laughed. As much as I hated being the center of attention, I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with a creative solution when nobody else had.

We returned to the car, Fred sitting in the back seat with Alice and Jasper. Edward ensured that Fred was sitting behind him, as far away from me as possible.

"I'm not going to hurt her, OK?" Fred said, becoming annoyed with Edward's overprotective nature. "I'll admit her blood smells… well, incredible, but she's your mate. I know if I even looked at her like she could be my next meal, I'd be dead before I even finished the thought. I'm alive because I'm smart, OK?"

His huffy tone suddenly became melancholy, his face pained. "Bree was smart, too…"

"Yes, she was, but even she could barely keep herself from lunging at Bella," Edward tried to gently explain. "Even with seven of us there to stop her. You'll have to excuse me for not trusting your self-control, although I'll admit you are much more in control of yourself than most newborns."

I heard the conversation, but my mind couldn't help but wander back to Bree – thrashing and snarling, red irises with black pupils honed in on me. Knowing that she had just found out about her mate being killed explained at least some of the hopelessness in her eyes as she dug her fingers into the frozen ground. I had mistaken it for simple bloodlust… that vacant stare more terrifying than anything else about her.

In a strange way, this information comforted me. My biggest fear about being a newborn was played out as I watched Bree struggling to keep her sanity in my presence, blinded by the scent of blood almost to the point of losing her life at the hands of my protectors. But she had nothing to live for, whereas I did. As sad and tragic as that was, I had to believe my experience could be completely different from hers.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Edward said softly, bringing me back to the present.

"Oh, it's nothing," I waved him off. "Not even worth a penny."

"Every thought of yours is priceless to me," he whispered.

Jasper made gagging noises, causing all of us to laugh. Edward wasn't amused.

"Oh, come on, that was funny," I teased him. "That was one of the cheesiest things you've ever said, but it was also very, very sweet." I lifted his hand to my lips and gave his knuckles a few soft kisses before he finally managed a smile.

It didn't take long before we were driving through Peace Arch Park. Everything around us was called "Peace" something or other. Sort of like everything around Disney World was something "World": Coffee World, Dry Cleaning World, T-Shirt World… you name it. It reminded me of the summer vacation Renee and I had taken when I was in 7th grade. We had made a game of spotting all the businesses with "World" in their name.

"Over there," Alice said, pointing to a small grove of trees.

"Are you sure?" Edward asked. "I hear people nearby."

"Why do you bother questioning her, man?" Jasper asked, sounding a little put out. "You know she's right."

"She could be wrong one of these times," Edward said smugly. "She's not always right."

"She's always right about stuff like this and you know it," Jasper retorted.

"If Alice says that's the spot, that's the spot," Fred agreed. "Even I've figured that out."

"Thank you, Fred. It's nice to have someone supporting me. Maybe you could be my new and improved brother," she joked, sticking her tongue out at Edward.

"Very mature, Alice. And here I thought Fred was the newborn in the group," Edward quipped.

"Hey, no picking on the new guy," Fred said with a laugh as we parked and got out of the car to survey the lay of the land.

The picnic areas were empty and only one other car shared the lot with us. I didn't see anybody, but Edward said there was a small group having a picnic in the pergola on the other side of the trees. Alice assured us they would never know we were there.

Edward opened the driver's side door for me and I took my seat as the four vampires lifted the car just enough to easily clear the ground beneath. If someone was watching, it might appear they were just walking alongside the car as I drove. Once we got to the trees, Edward and Alice did another round of checks, making sure the path was clear.

"OK, let's run, but not too fast," Edward instructed. "I want my car in one piece when this is over. Bella, you should put on your seatbelt. I really want YOU in one piece when this is over!"

On some invisible cue, the four of them took off for the border. The ride was actually smoother than driving on the road. I felt a bit like I was floating, which is suppose I was, in a way. It was an odd sensation, but sort of fun. I knew any one of them could have carried the car by themselves, and I chuckled at the image of a passerby doing a double-take upon seeing tiny little Alice running around balancing a car over her head.

We cleared some downed trees and went soaring over a tall fence, which took my breath away. Of course, I was fine and even the seatbelt was completely unnecessary, but the whole flying car experience outside the confines of a theme park was odd, to say the least.

We got to the US side of Peace Arch Park and paused again to check for onlookers before breaking away from the treeline and heading for the road. From my vantage point, I could see a vehicle coming our direction. "Car!" I yelled in a panic.

"It'll be OK, Bella. Don't worry," Alice said, as a wave of calm overtook my senses.

"Thanks, Jasper," I called out.

"Don't mention it, darlin'," he called back.

A few yards from the pavement, the Volvo was gingerly placed on a patch of gravel. Edward opened the door, unbuckled my seatbelt, and whisked me to the hood of the car, sitting me down before I even registered what was happening. He stood close to me, holding my hips to keep me from falling off the car while I gathered my senses.

"Try to look natural," he whispered as a truck with a light bar on the roof and the words "US Customs and Border Patrol" on the door pulled up next to us.

"Was this part of the plan?" I whispered to Edward.

"Alice says it will be OK, but this guy is wondering what we're doing here."

"So, what are you kids doing here?" the officer asked.

I gave Edward a knowing smirk. "I thought Alice was the one who reads the future."

Edward flashed me one of his dazzling grins before becoming all business. "Actually, sir, we were just getting ready to leave. Is there a problem?"

"You tell me, son. Is this your car?" he asked.

"Yes, sir. Can I get you the registration and proof of insurance? And would you like to see my driver's license?"

"Well, yes. That would be helpful." As the officer waited for Edward to produce the needed documents, he gave the car a good once over. "I see you don't have a park pass. How did you get in here without a pass?"

"I told you we had to keep that paper!" Alice shouted from the opposite side of the car. "But noooooo… you know more than I do about everything, don't you! Well, now look. We're going to get in trouble and dad is going to ground us all because you didn't want any 'trash' in your precious car."

Alice's pout alone could have won her an Oscar. The only thing missing was an actual tear, but I think the officer was too drawn in by the poor-little-waif-girl-with-the-big-mean-brother act to notice.

Edward looked down at the ground sheepishly and kicked at the gravel a little. "She's right, officer. The person at the gate, Holly I believe was her name, she told me to display the pass in the window." I was sure he plucked the name from the officer's mind.

"So why isn't it in the window?"

"I guess it's dumb, but I figured since we were in the park already, we didn't really need the pass. I mean, how else could we have gotten in here?"

I decided to join in the play. "Edward is a bit… finicky about his things, officer. He's actually in therapy for OCD. He's doing much better now that he's on medication. Isn't that right, dear."

Jasper coughed loudly, trying to cover his laughter.

"He doesn't like to talk about it," I continued. "I suppose I'm violating his HPPA rights by telling you all of this. You don't arrest people for HPPA violations, do you?"

"Ummm… no ma'am. Just people crossing the border illegally. Speaking of which, I'm going to need to see some ID from the other three of you."

"Three?" Edward asked, looking around the car.

"Yes, three," he said, pointing to Alice, Jasper, and me, and giving Edward a puzzled look. "Unless you're saying there's someone else…?"

"Oh, no, not at all," Edward said hesitantly, trying to covertly look for Fred. I was a terrible liar, but Edward was making me look like an expert. "It's just that there are four of us altogether, but you already checked my ID, so you probably weren't going to check it again…" he trailed off.

The officer furrowed his brow and slowly shook his head as he went back to his truck to run our IDs. And here Edward had told ME to try and act natural!

I glanced over to Fred, realizing he had made himself invisible to everyone else. We made eye contact and I nodded ever so slightly, hopefully conveying to him that he should stay hidden.

Fred, on the other hand, decided it was time to play.

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Please review, and IF I don't get another chapter out before Christmas, hope you have the best holiday season ever! (Also, please forgive me… ) :-)