Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Twilight

Chapter 9

Getting Into a Routine

This house seemed to be prepared for everything, even a bedroom for me. Alice had taken it upon herself to stock the biggest closet I had ever seen in clothes. Alice brought me upstairs to look at it, and I thought it looked wonderful. I had never seen so many clothes except in a store.

"They should all fit you." Alice said.

"Thank you Alice, you have no idea how much I appreciate it." I said as I gave her a small hug. She was just as cold as Edward was.

"Okay, now you have to know some things about our family, that I know Edward hasn't told you before," Alice stated. I nodded my head and she lead me over to the bed.

"So first off, you know we don't have to sleep, so you are going to be protected even when you are asleep. You know we don't drink human blood, we only feed on animals, and since you are here we are going to be feeding more. It's very hard on us to have a human's blood so close to us."

At this I did feel a small bit of fear, but I knew that the Cullen family wouldn't do anything to harm me, I was sure of that now.

"Also we have to figure out how Doug is able to follow you even when we think we have covered the trail so well." Alice said.

"You know I have been wondering about that.' I said. I was so confused at how he could find me. There had to be an explanation!

"You also appear to have foiled Edward's mind reading." Alice said with a smile. "No one has ever done that before, but he says he can hear you, but not all the time. He said when you are thinking about him, he can't hear you.

I have been thinking about it though, maybe it's because you are connected to him. I want you to try something." Alice asked suddenly.

"Okay."

"Edward, could you come up here please?" Alice asked, and I knew there was no way Edward could hear her, we were on the second floor, but then Edward was there in a couple seconds, and I remembered that they had good hearing.

"Okay Nevaeh, I want you to think about Violet." Alice asked gently and I heard Edward growl.

It was so painful to think about Violet, I would never get to see her face react to something funny, or sad. I could never comfort her or her me. I felt tears spring to my eyes.

"Alice! What did you do that for," Edward asked menacingly.

"Could you hear her?" Alice asked with her eyes as round as diner plates.

Compression dawned on Edwards face. "Alice, your right!" Edward said loudly.

I was confused at what was going on here. "What are you two on about?" I demanded. I hated being left in the dark.

"Alice knows why I can't hear you sometimes. When you think about someone you are connected to, like your sister, I can't hear you!"

I blushed, because I knew Edward couldn't hear me when I was thinking about him. Now he knew how much I cared for him.

Alice seemed to get the hint because she left very quickly. I turned my face from Edward, but I felt him sit next to me on the bed.

"Nevaeh, I know things are moving so quickly for you, and I wish I could give you time you needed to heal, but I just can't. Not when he is still out there looking for you, I can't risk loosing you though." Edward said softly.

I stared at Edward with a blank look on my face. Could what he just said really be true? That I didn't loose my sister in vain? That I didn't break Todd's heart for no reason?

I looked down at my hand and noticed I was still wearing the ring Todd had given me. I reached over and pulled it off and dropped it on the floor. "I know how you feel about me Nevaeh, and I need you to know, that's how I feel about you too."

A smile came to my face. Everything I did wasn't in vain then. I felt the tears come to my face once again, but this time they were tears of happiness. I turned to face Edward once again and wrapped my arms around his neck.

I felt him stiffen and I pulled back quickly remembering what Alice had said about the smell of human blood.

"I really need to go hunting," Edward said with a small smile. "I'm taking Jasper, Rosalie, and Esme with me, but Emmett, Alice and Carlisle are going to be here to protect you. You don't need to be worried, because we have done everything we can think of to protect you. I won't be gone long."

I nodded my head and Edward stood up. He leaned in quickly and placed an almost nonexistent kiss on my lips. Then he was gone.

It was a few minutes before I got up and went downstairs, and I saw Alice waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.

"Have you figured out how Doug can find me?" I asked.

"No, but don't worry, we will." Alice said.

I spent the remainder of the day sitting on the couch with Alice and Emmett. Emmett was funny by trying to make me feel better by wrestling with himself. I didn't think that was possible, but Emmett made it look convincing.

When it was an okay time to go to bed I excused myself and made my way up to my new bedroom. I turned on the light and saw something glinting on the floor. It was Todd's ring. I fell to my knees and picked it up in my hand and felt the tears return.

I couldn't stand how I had done that to Todd, but I couldn't stay with him if I was in love with someone else could I?

I started rocking back and forwards, what I usually did when I was distressed. I let the silent sobs work themselves out of my body as I was officially saying goodbye to Todd. I just hoped that he would forgive me and find someone better for him.

I had felt the tears continue to stream down my face, and I laid my head against the bed while my knees were still on the floor. My feet had fallen asleep because I was sitting on them.

I felt like I had been asleep for two seconds before I felt cold arms lift me gently off the floor. I curled into them and they placed me gently on the bed. They started to pull away but I grabbed onto them and held them closer.

When I finally opened my eyes, eight hours later, I saw that it was Edward and he was still holding on to me.

"Good morning." Edward said with a smile.

My eyes seem to not want to cooperate, because they were still hazy. "Morning" I said and I could barely recognize my own voice. It was dry from not having anything to drink for eight hours, and from me crying.

"I'll go make some breakfast for you." Edward said as he got out of my bed. I rolled over and headed towards the bathroom and took a shower.

I went downstairs and saw that Esme and Edward were in the kitchen cooking a huge meal.

"Is all of that for me?" I asked with my eyebrows raised.

"Yes of course it is." Edward said.

"That's way too much!" I said surprised.

"Well honey you just eat as much as you can." Esme said. "We have to buy enough food for our whole family so the people don't get suspicious.

"Are we staying here then?" I asked as I sat down at the kitchen table and started eating pancakes.

"Yes, Carlisle has gotten a job at the local hospital, and I have convinced Alice, Jasper, and Emmett to go to school, but Rosalie refused, and so did Edward." Esme said looking at Edward with a knowing smile.

"You can go to school?" I asked surprised as I looked at Edward.

"Yes, it's something to do; we get very bored just sitting at the house doing nothing." Edward said and I nodded my head and ate a couple strawberries.

"Can I go to school then?" I asked. I did enjoy school, sometimes it was boring, but I liked to learn.

"Well we have been talking about that, and if you really want to I think you can, but only if you convince Edward." Esme said with a twinkle in her amber eyes.

I turned to look at Edward and his jaw was set. I gave him my puppy dog eyes. "No." Was all he said.

I knew it was useless from the set look in his eyes. I sighed, but knew that the last time I convinced him to let me do something that he didn't want to do we almost got caught.

"Okay, okay. No need for the harsh look." I said with a small smile.

I finished eating all I could, 2 pancakes, 1 piece of French toast, a handful of strawberries, and a huge glass of milk.

"So what do we do now?" I asked as I stood up.

"We can do whatever you want to do." Edward said.

"Can we just go for a walk? I feel like I have been so cooped up I need to get out of the house."

Edward held out his arm for me, and I linked my arm through his. We walked through the woods, and he never once seemed to mind my slowness, because I knew Edward could go so fast.

After a while Edward stopped and turned to face me. "I know your bored being cooped up in the house, but you know this is the safest thing for you."

I looked into his eyes and couldn't be mad anymore. "I know, I'm just not used to this. Even when I was grounded Violet and I could still sneak around and do things we wanted to do, but I can't with you. You guys are full proof, either you will hear what I'm up to, or Alice will see me."

Edward chuckled. "Well you're safe, so that's all that matters. I want to keep you safe and sound as long as possible."

"I guess I need to say thank you." I said with sarcasm in my voice.

"It would be nice." Edward said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Thank you." I said with a whisper.

Edward smiled at me, and brushed a piece of hair out of my eyes. I felt his cold fingers touch my forehead, but it seemed to radiate heat and I felt butterflies in my stomach. This was something I could get used to.

So if you have any ideas how Doug is tracking Nevaeh, let me know, I love to see what my wonderful readers are thinking. So please review, review, review. Oh I have also published a Twilight one-shot, New Beginnings, so you should check it out.

Desiree'