Chapter Ten

Disclaimer: Twilight and its characters are the property of Stephenie Meyer. This story however, is mine, and all similarities to real persons are just that, similarities. Hope you enjoy this journey with me.

I probably should have posted this before chapter 9, but you don't mind going back in time a bit, do you?

Ready for some more Edward?

When Alice called Jasper at the club to come pick her up, I tagged along to make sure Bella was okay. Alice had told Jasper that he'd have to use the front window because she couldn't wake Bella to get her to move from the entry way to her apartment; she'd passed out after Jacob tried to talk to her.

When Jasper and I arrived, Alice had already opened the window and popped out the screen so we could climb through. My poor Bella. She was slumped in front of the door knocked out asleep. I leaned down to pick her up and carried her to her bed. I could see the track marks her tears had made down her face and I swore that I would never let anyone or anything hurt my Bella like that again.

I carefully placed her in her unmade bed, cradling her head on her pillow and watched as her eyes fluttered. I hoped she had only good dreams tonight; she should never have to worry about living through nightmares again.

I left her wrapped up in the green robe I gave her for Christmas two years ago and slipped her feet under the blankets at the end of the bed. Pulling the blankets up around her, I tucked her in and with a light peck to her temple wished her sweet dreams. Looking around her room, it was obvious she had had some help in getting to sleep; there was an empty wine bottle and a half-eaten carton of ice cream on her nightstand which I took to the kitchen to get rid of and gently closed the door behind me.

"Hey, big brother, ready to go? It's late, I'm tired, and all I want to do is snuggle with my hubby."

Jasper came up behind Alice and wrapped his arms around her waist, settling his chin on her shoulder.

"Nah, you guys go ahead. I'll sleep on the couch in case she wakes up in the middle of the night and needs someone to talk too. You go ahead and go home; I'll see you later."

Alice had gathered up her coat and purse on the way to the door.

"Answer me something before you leave. Why was she on the floor in the first place?"

"We-e-ell," she hesitated. "Jake showed up trying to talk to her. Guess he tried to apologize or something. I stayed in Bella's room to give them a little bit of privacy in case she wanted to talk to him, even though she told me to tell him to fuck off and leave her alone."

I waved my hand in front of Alice to get her to keep talking.

"And then she yelled at him that she never wanted to see him anymore and slammed the door."

Score one for Edward.

After Alice and Jasper left, I put Bella's screen back on her window and made sure it was closed and locked along with the doors and the rest of the windows. I peeked in again on Bella to make sure she was sleeping soundly, and left her door open a crack on my way to her living room. Bella still kept a quilt her mother made her of old touristy T-shirts on the back of the couch, so I spread out my lanky form on her tiny couch underneath it, and settled in to watch a little late-night television.

I was just nodding off to sleep when I could hear Bella whimpering from her room. From the door I could see her moving in her sleep and tears falling down her face again. I lay down next to her and pulled her into my chest, wrapping my arms around her and shushing her like a small child. She eventually calmed and fell back into a deep sleep. I tucked her back into bed and went back to my spot on the couch, losing myself in old re-runs of Friends.

The television was playing a Sham-Wow commercial when I woke up to knocking on the front door. Glancing at the clock, I saw it was 6:30 AM, and wondered who it could possibly be. I turned off the television on my way to peek through the peep hole.

Jacob – fucking – Black.

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