BPOV

Consequences and such…

Oh, and two new characters enter – a little OOC, but who cares, right?

Enjoy…

BPOV

We got back to the house before the kids and Elizabeth returned; I breathed a sigh of relief at that.

However, my relief was short-lived as we walked into the house.

"Hello? Who's there?"

Edward and I stopped dead in our tracks: Carlisle was home. He walked out of his study and approached us with a stern look on his face.

"Where were you two? And where are the children?"

Before I had a chance to answer, we heard a voice at the door.

"Bella? Edward? We're home!" Rosie called.

"Rosie, where were you?" Carlisle asked running to pick her up.

"DADDY!! You're home!" Rose cried as her father held her close.

"Hello Carlisle, long-time no see," Elizabeth said walking into the house.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Daddy!" Rose said. "You said a bad word!"

"Rosie, Emmett, go up stairs, please," Carlisle said.

The kids obeyed their father immediately. I couldn't blame them; the tone of his voice was starting to frighten me – especially when he looked at Edward and me with that expression of distain.

"I'll deal with the two of you later," he growled.

We took that as our cue to get the hell out of there, fast! We were up the stairs in quick, determined steps; I was about to go into my room when Edward grabbed my arm and led me behind a wall where we would be out of sight, but still able to hear Carlisle and Elizabeth.

"It probably goes without saying that you don't look happy to see me," Elizabeth began. "But, I'm not going to apologize for showing up like this; I wanted to see my niece and nephew."

"You had no right to come here," Carlisle replied in a low, dangerous voice. "I told you, I don't need you coming around the kids anymore. All you're going to do is make them think of their mother; and once you leave, I'm the one who's stuck with the job of taking their minds off of Esme."

"Maybe they should think of her more often. And maybe you shouldn't be so quick to take their minds off of her! How often do you talk about my sister? Especially to Emmett; that poor boy needs help, Carlisle. He's so angry and depressed."

"Do not presume to insinuate that I'm not paying attention to my children," Carlisle was livid at this point. "There is nothing wrong with Emmett! He's just a normal boy who's still sad about losing his mum, that's all!"

"That's not all!" Elizabeth managed to match Carlisle's anger, blow for blow. "He feels like you're abandoning him, but he's too angry to bring it up to you. If you were around more, you'd see that!"

"I did not abandon him! I love my son! And I want you out of my house this instant! If you ever try to contact my children again, I'll have a restraining order out on you!"

Edward and I sat there stunned; I secretly hoped that Elizabeth would say more, I didn't want her to give up without a fight. But the next sound we heard was the door slamming behind her as she left – maybe forever.

"BELLA! EDWARD!" Carlisle called after a few moments.

Edward squeezed my hand and we walked down to face our fate.

Carlisle stood in the foyer glaring back and forth between us; I held my breath, waiting for him to speak.

"Miss Swan," he began; I didn't like the sound of that. "I'm sorry I did not inform you that the children were not to be allowed around their Aunt Elizabeth. But, as their care-taker, I had hoped you would have known better than to let them walk off with a person you had never met before."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Cullen," I said, hanging my head. "I thought the children would want to spend some time with their aunt."

His expression softened a bit, "It's alright, Bella; you didn't know."

Carlisle's face hardened again when he turned to Edward, "Where did you take Bella today while the kids were with Elizabeth?"

"We were home most of the day," Edward said. "We had just gone to have dinner a little bit ago, that's where we were coming in from."

He beheld Edward skeptically before turning back to me.

"Have the children eaten?"

"I'm not sure; do you want me to go find out?"

"No, I'll do it. You two can go now."

As soon as he dismissed us, Edward and I ran back upstairs. Edward tried to grab my hand and lead me into his room, but I brushed him off. "Not now."

He glanced at Carlisle coming up the stairs then and nodded.

"I'll come by later," Edward whispered as he pushed his door open and went into his room.

"Goodnight," I called to Carlisle.

"Goodnight Bella," Carlisle said, giving me a reassuring smile.

EPOV

That was close – too close.

Bella and I had been laughing as we stumbled into the house, and I had been carry that box of Trojans for all the world to see. I had to hide it behind my back and tuck it down the back of my pants so Carlisle wouldn't see it.

Once all of the tension and drama was over, I flung myself on my bed and thought about the last 24 hours. I went from drinking scotch with Jasper on the balcony, to finally getting intimate with the most beautiful woman alive, to wondering whether my uncle was going to send me, or my girlfriend, packing.

As I stood there in front of Carlisle, I was ready to take the blame for every thing that happened today; though, I'm sure Carlisle already suspected it was all my fault anyway.

I looked up to my clock, it was 7 p.m. I would have to wait here for at least another two hours before I even thought about going to Bella's room. I rolled over and wondered if she was thinking about me, too.

I chuckled at that thought, I've never cared if a bird thought about me; I've never stayed up at night, wondering if she liked me or not. But, then again, no other girl was quite like Bella.

I pulled my book out from under my bed and lost myself in it until I dozed off. I woke up a little later with a start.

"Shit! I fell asleep!"

The clock read 10 p.m.; I sprung out of bed and made my way to Bella's door.

"Bella!" I whispered as I heard her get up and walk to the door. She opened it and let me in.

"Are you OK, Love?"

"I'm fine," she said, sitting back on her bed. "I'm just glad to still be employed."

"I wouldn't have let Carlisle sack you," I said. "I would have taken the blame for everything."

She rolled her eyes and smiled. "You're sweet, but I don't think even you could stop Carlisle from firing me."

"Well, let's play a little devil's advocate here," I began as she looked at me, confused. "If you had been sacked, we'd get to go back to England and be together all the time."

She pondered the notion. "I guess I never thought about that."

I sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders; I pressed my forehead against her right temple as she wrapped her arm around my waist.

"I love you," I said.

"I love you, too," she answered.

I pulled her back onto the bed and started placing kisses on her face; she turned her head to allow me access to her lips.

I removed her shirt as she went for the button on my pants. I was about to pull my own shirt off when we were stopped by a deadly voice.

"I should have known this would happen," Carlisle said from the doorway; he stood with his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the door jam with a disgusted expression.

"Carlisle," I said. "We…we were going to tell you when the time was right but…"

"I want you both out of my house before the children wake up tomorrow."

Carlisle turned to leave when I leaped up and raced after him.

"Wait! Carlisle, don't do this! This is my fault, not Bella's; just tell me to leave and I'll go. But, please, don't let Bella go! She needs this job, and the kids are finally really starting to like her!"

I felt like my plea was falling on deaf ears as he continued to walk back to his room. Then he stopped and turned to me, "You're right; it is your fault. Like most things in your life, you managed to cock this up supremely and almost got a very nice young lady fired. You're poison, Edward; you just can't stop yourself from spoiling everything around you. Pack your things and leave, now!"

"Fine," I said, holding back the tears that threatened to spill. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing he got to me.

I packed my things and left without even saying goodbye to Bella.

BPOV

He really did it; he took the bullet for me. Carlisle was probably seconds from calling for a plane ticket to send me back to England when Edward took the blame for everything – just like he said he would.

But then he left. He left without saying goodbye. Was he upset that I didn't fight for him?

I was left to worry that the man I love doesn't love me anymore; why else would he not tell me goodbye? Not hold me in his arms one last time?

Or was he afraid that he'd get me in more trouble? Yeah, that had to be it.

I got up the next day and went immediately to Carlisle's room.

"Yes," he answered at my knock.

"It's Bella; can I talk to you for a minute?"

He opened the door and gestured for me to walk in.

"What's up?"

"I'm sorry," I said. "You're right; I shouldn't have left the kids with their aunt today. But, Emmett said they hadn't seen her since their mother passed away, and I caved."

He chuckled, "Yes, both of my children can be very persuasive when they want to be."

"Also," I continued, "I hadn't planned on what happened between me and Edward to go that far. I was hoping we could keep things quiet until we got back to England and I wasn't working for you anymore."

"So, you were just going to lie to me all summer?"

"Not lie, just omit certain truths," I said.

He laughed out loud at that, "My god! Edward really is a bad influence on every person he meets."

"He's really not as bad as you think," I said defensively. "I could see him trying to be more responsible; he was really good with the kids when we were alone with them. He even tried to talk to Emmett about why he's been so surly these days."

"It's not his place to talk to my son," Carlisle said, suddenly upset again. "And I really wish people would stop suggesting that there is something wrong with Emmett. He is fine; he just needs time to heal."

"Maybe he would heal faster if he got to talk to you about it," I said. "When Edward talked to him, he got very upset; I think he's waiting for you to approach him to talk."

He looked like he was about to yell at me, but he stopped himself. He looked at me with tears welling up in his eyes.
"I don't know how," he said sadly. "I just…I can't bring myself to talk about Esme with anyone, not even my children. I miss her so much."

He broke into tears and I stood there awkwardly as he cried. I wanted to comfort him, but was unsure if that was crossing the employer/employee line – even if said employer is weeping. Luckily, he pulled himself together quickly.

"So," he said. "Let's get the kids up and have breakfast, shall we?"

Later that day, we headed to Greystones – a town about 5 miles south of Bray – to do a little sight-seeing. However, even the beauty of Ireland couldn't do anything to lift my mood.

Edward was gone and he still hasn't tried to contact me. I was getting worried.

The car dropped us off near the marina as Carlisle announced we'd take a two hour cruise around the Irish Sea with some old friends of his.

"Billy Black is one of my dearest friends," he said. "He and his family have lived in Greystones for generations. In fact, they own the ship we'll be taking."

Carlisle continued to drone on about the trip, but I eventually managed to drown him out. I kept checking my phone, hoping by the sheer power of my telepathy that Edward would realize I wanted him to call. I at least wanted to know he was OK.

Rosie was bouncing around me excitedly, "Bella! This is going to be so much fun! I love going on boats! Do you think we'll see any sharks? Or dolphins? I love dolphins!"

"Maybe," I answered, still distracted.

"Are you OK, Bella? You seem sad."

"I'm fine, sweetie."

We boarded the ship as a tall man with long, dark hair approached us.

"Billy!" Carlisle called. "Good to see you, mate!"

"Carlisle! It's been too long, son!"

"These are my children, Emmett and Rosalie," Carlisle said, motioning to the kids. "And this is their au pair, Bella."

"It's nice to meet all of you," Billy said. "My son, Jacob should be here shortly. He's coming in from Dublin."

"I haven't seen that boy since he was a baby," Carlisle said. "How old is he now?"

"Almost 19," Billy said.

Just then, we all turned at the sound of a car pulling up with music blaring. The BMW stopped near the dock and out stepped what had to be the tallest guy I've ever seen. Upon closer inspection, he was at least 6'7". If his long, black hair was any indication, he must be Billy's son.

"Jake!" Billy called. "Come say hi to everyone!"

Jacob boarded the ship and took off his sunglasses as he smiled at all of us, "Hello everyone!"

"Jake, this is Carlisle – one of my oldest friends – and this is Emmett, Rosalie and Bella."

"Hi," he said, I noticed his gazed lingered on me for longer than it did on the others.

And, I must admit he is a very good looking guy – as tall as he is, he's still well built; I could see the muscles underneath his tight, black shirt as he put his sunglasses back in place. He had a killer smile, a slightly darker complexion – I'm guessing he's in the sun a lot – and beautiful brown eyes.

I was so enthralled with him; I almost didn't notice my phone vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out to reveal Edward's name on the caller ID. I stepped away from the group to answer.

"Hello? Edward?" I whispered.

"Yes, Love, it's me. Why are you whispering like that?" He chuckled.

"I'm with Carlisle and the kids, I don't think it would be good if he found out I was talking to you."

"True enough; how are you doing?"

"I'm fine, just worried about you. Where are you?"

"Jasper's."

"Should have known, I guess."

"Look, I don't want to keep you long; I just wanted you to know I'm not leaving Ireland until you do. Call me when you all are coming back to Dublin and we can meet somewhere, alright?"

"OK, I love you."

"I love you too, angel."

I flipped the phone shut and looked up to find Jacob standing not ten feet away from me.

"Secret boyfriend?"

"No, just a cousin of mine; he's been in some trouble," I don't know why I was lying to Jacob, it's not like he'd tell Carlisle on me – at least I don't think he would.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said sincerely. "Anyway, I think we're about to launch, so we'll be getting ready to eat not long after."

"OK, where did everybody else go?"

"Lido deck," he said offering me his arm. "Come on, I'll show you."

He led me to meet the rest of the party, as we walked down to the deck, I could see Billy looking at us with an excited expression on his face. Once we were within earshot, I heard Billy say, "Make a very nice pair, don't they?"

Carlisle smiled and looked our way; I could have sworn he gave a little nod to Billy.

A man in a white suit came up and whispered something in Billy's ear.

"Looks like lunch is ready," he said.

We all filed into a very nice dining room; I went to sit next to Rosie when Jacob came up behind me and pulled out my chair for me.

"Allow me, milady," he said bowing.

"Thank you, kind sir," I said, sitting as he push the chair back in gently.

I heard a little cough beside me and turned to find Rosie giving me a perplexed look.

"You don't like him, do you?"

"Who?"

"Jacob."

"Why wouldn't I like him, he's very nice?"

"But, I thought you liked Edward," she said, lowering her voice. "I thought you were going to marry him, and then you get to be my cousin."

I felt a strange feeling in my chest at that moment. I was touched that Rosie wanted me to be a real part of her family; but, I couldn't let her believe in things that may not happen.

"Edward and I aren't getting married, Rosie," I said. "We're just dating right now; we're too young to get married."

"My mum was your age when she married Daddy."

"Well, I think I'm still too young," I declared. "I need to finish school first."

Jacob sat beside me then and handed me a glass of wine.

"Oh, I can't drink while I'm working," I said.

"One glass won't kill you," he replied raising his glass in toast.

I tapped my glass to his reluctantly – this guy is going to be trouble.

So thanks to whoever suggested I bring Jacob into the story. I like the direction this may be going in…