A/N: Thanks for all the awesome reviews, gang! Sorry, I haven't replied. I've got no excuses. We're a little past the halfway point. There's going to be a total of 20 chapters. As always, all mistakes are my own.

It had been one heck of a week, and I was positive Edward felt the same. Monday had started off great, until we'd arrived at school. Almost immediately, Edward was assaulted by girl after girl once they'd learned that he and Tanya had broken up again. Plus, the whole school seemed to know that he wasn't the baby daddy which had led to the gossip mill going crazy. Everyone wanted to know who the father was and speculation was running rampant.

I'd caught a quick glimpse of Tanya on my way to my locker after third period, and she looked like crap. Her hair had been limp, her clothes wrinkled, and she had dark circles under her eyes. I had felt kind of bad for her. One minute she'd had everything, and the next she had nothing. Gone was the mean, popular girl and in her place was a miserable, pregnant seventeen year-old who seemed to have lost all of her friends save one; Victoria.

I'd made the mistake of mentioning to Alice and Rose that I felt kind of bad for Tanya, and both girls had snapped. They'd said Tanya had made her bed, now she had to lie in it. While that was true, she hadn't made that baby on her own. There was a father out there, but Tanya wasn't saying who it was.

By Friday afternoon, I was more than ready for the weekend. It had been a busy day full of exams, so I was more than ready for art despite Tanya and Vicky being in the class. They'd both been pretty quiet as of late, but all of that was about to change. Why they chose today of all days to start being bitches again, I don't know.

I sat down at my desk in front of them, pulled out my sketchpad, and began to work on the portrait we'd been assigned to sketch. Unfortunately, I'd let my guard down and as soon as Mrs. Dormien went to her office, Tanya started in on me.

"You're a real piece of work, you know that right?" she asked from behind me.

Choosing to ignore her, I kept sketching the portrait of Charlie. When Tanya didn't get a response from me she tried again.

"You're so fucking jealous of me, it's pathetic. That's why you had to go and break Edward and I up, isn't it? You couldn't handle the fact that he's in love with me."

I couldn't hold back the snort of amusement. "Jealous? Of you? That's funny," I commented as I stared at my sketch, trying to decide what else it needed.

"It's so fucking obvious, Swan. I had the one thing you wanted, so you planted this idea his mom's head that the baby wasn't Edwards."

Good lord, she just wouldn't shut up. "I didn't plant anything in Esme's head. She saw you for what you are; a gold digger. Oh, and what do you know? The baby wasn't his. The fact that you were more than willing to trap him into a relationship he didn't want by lying to him about the baby shows exactly what kind of a person you are. A liar who will do and say anything to get what she wants."

I saw her shrug out of the corner of my eye as if it was no big deal that she'd lied about Edward being the baby's father, and it pissed me off. She was so freaking selfish and apparently the only person she cared about was herself.

"Just watch your back, Swan. I'll get my revenge one way or the other. You can't have him. He's mine," she snarled right before Mrs. Dormien came back into the room. I rolled my eyes at her overdramatic comment. I wasn't too worried about her. As far as I was concerned, Tanya was all talk.

As soon as school let out, I asked Rose and Alice if they wanted to spend the night at my house. We'd been talking about having a sleepover for ages but had yet to do it, and Charlie was out of town for the weekend in Mobile at some cop conference or something. The girls quickly agreed to meet at my house later in the afternoon.

As soon as I was home, I cleaned up the place and got ready for our evening. I'd missed having just a girls' night out. Several hours later, the three of us were hanging out eating ice cream and watching Legends of the Fall when I got a tingling sensation on the back of my neck. It wasn't the kind I got when Edward was around; it was the kind you got when something wasn't quite right. I shook it off, deciding that I was being paranoid when it happened again.

"Do you feel that?" I asked them.

"Feel what?" Rose asked.

"I've got this weird tingling on the back of my neck as if something's wrong."

That was when the house plunged into darkness and the three of us let out screams and clutched each other. It took everything in me not to panic. We'd probably just blown a fuse that was all.

"What the fuck is going on?" Rose asked after a minute when the power still hadn't come back on.

"I don't know," I told them, but I knew I'd feel a lot safer with a weapon in my hand. Charlie kept a spare gun in locked case in the closet and a baseball bat behind his bedroom door. I started to head down the hall telling the girls to follow me.

"What are you doing?" Alice hissed.

"Getting a weapon. I'm not going outside unarmed," I told her.

Rose grabbed my arm, stopping me. "You're not going out there alone."

"'ll be fine," I said, but she was adamant that I not go out alone.

Relenting, I handed her the old baseball bat that Charlie kept behind the bedroom door and forwent the gun. I didn't want to shoot it with my friends around and take the chance of one of them getting hurt. Not that I was a bad shot, I just didn't want to get scared or startled and accidentally hurt one of them. I then handed Alice the huge flashlight that Charlie had, while I grabbed my can of mace and a knife from the kitchen.

Armed, the three of us stepped onto the back deck. The flood lights that Charlie had put up didn't trigger as they should have. Alice swept the light from the flashlight over the yard, and all we could see were trees.

"Bella?" Alice whispered, tugging on my sleeve. "Let's go inside and call your dad."

Rose nodded in agreement, so that's what we did. Once inside, we double checked all the windows and doors to make sure they were all locked, then I called Charlie.

"Hey, Bells! You guys having fun?"

"We were. Dad, something doesn't feel right. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing up, and I don't feel safe," I told him.

"Can you get one of the boys to escort you to either Alice or Rose's house?"

"Probably."

"Do that. I don't want you staying at home if you feel unsafe. I can come home if you need me too," he said.

I told him that I was probably overreacting, but that I'd call one of the guys to get us. By the time, I hung up, Rose was already on the phone with Emmett.

"He'll be here with the guys in a few. We can head to my house if you want?"

We nodded and sure enough, fifteen minutes later, the boys showed up in Emmett's Jeep. We rushed out the door of my house and into the jeep. Soon, we were at Rose's house, and I realized that I'd never been there before. It was a much smaller house compared to that of the Cullens or the Brandons; more around the same size of mine. I knew that Rose's dad worked as a mechanic, but I had no idea what her mother did.

"Mom died when I was three," Rose explained to me as we walked in. "So, Dad raised me and my two older brothers, Riley and Derrick. They're attending college in Florida."

I couldn't believe that I'd been friends with Rose all this time and had never once asked about her family. I felt horrible.

"It's no big deal, Bella," she told me before she introduced me to her dad. Mr. Hale wasn't what I was expecting. He was covered in tattoos, had a beard, and a gruff voice, but he was extremely nice. He told us that were more than welcome to hang out but the boys had to leave before midnight. We all agreed.

The rest of the night was spent with the six of us watching movies and talking. I was sitting next to Edward on the couch and at one point, his arm ended up around me as I snuggled into his side. I caught the smirk Emmett was sending me and figured that was why he'd insisted on watching scary movies. I'd been annoyed with him later. For the moment, I was content to sit there and pretend that Edward and I were just like the couples in the room.

A little before midnight, the guys left, and I left myself sink into the hug Edward gave me. I wanted nothing more than to bury my face in his neck and hold on tight. Right before he let me go, Edward placed a kiss on my cheek, and I went up in flames. Ignoring the girls, I made my way to Rose's room where we bunked down for the night.

The following morning I woke up to my phone playing I Shot the Sheriff. It was my ringtone for Charlie, which he didn't really find amusing, but I did.

"Morning, Dad," I mumbled out through a yawn.

"Hey, kiddo. I'm on my way home. Why don't you meet me at the Loon for breakfast. I should be home in about an hour."

I agreed, then woke up the girls and asked if they wanted to go to breakfast with me and Charlie. They agreed. They loved Charlie, and Rose liked to tease me about how good looking he was for an older guy. I know she did it, just to see me gag and shudder.

A little over an hour later, the four of us were chowing down on pancakes, bacon, and eggs while Charlie asked us about the previous night.

"I didn't hear any noises, Dad, but I got a bad feeling. Like something wasn't right. When we went out on the back porch the floodlights didn't go on like they should have," I explained.

Charlie frowned. "I'll take a look when we get home. They were working just fine the other night. I would know because Bob set them off. Speaking of Bob, I havent' seen him lately. Have you?" he asked me.

"Come to think of it, no. Usually, he's wandering around making that creepy turkey gobble noise that he does. You don't think he ended up as someone's Thanksgiving dinner, do you?"

"I hope not. Hunting wild turkey isn't legal at the moment, but that doesn't mean that people don't do it," he told me.

After breakfast, Charlie and I said goodbye to Rose and Alice and headed home. I was really hoping we'd just blown a fuse, but I had a feeling it was more than that. Charlie pulled his SUV into the drive and we got out, heading toward the backyard.

"Stay here for a minute, Bells."

I nodded and stayed where I was, watching as Charlie drew his gone and quietly walked into the backyard. I heard a few muttered curses before he came back.

"I found Bob," he said, and I could tell from the look on his face it wasn't pleasant. "It looks like he was shot and then gutted. I'll need to get animal control out here to take care of his remains."

Well, I hadn't been overly fond of Bob at first, he'd come to grow on me and I was sad and angry that someone had killed him.

"Why would someone kill and gut a turkey and not take it with them?" I asked.

Charlie shook his head, having no clear answer for me. He also informed me the fusebox had been tampered with and the lock on the back door was jimmied.

"I'm gonna call Sam and have him come out here to take photos. It looks like someone thought it would be a good idea to break into the Chief of Police's house. It's a good thing you girls left when you did."

Holy shit! What if we hadn't left? Would are bloodied bodies have been found on the couch? I shivered as the disturbing thoughts raced through my mind. As if Charlie could read my mind, he wrapped an arm around me, reassuring me I was fine. I knew I was fine, but I suddenly didn't feel quite as safe as I had. I'd thought one of the points of moving to Wild Turkey was to get away from the high crime rates of the big city. But, I guess even small cities have crime as well.

"It was probably just some kid who was dared to break in here," Charlie said, but he didn't really sound all that convinced which did nothing to convince me he was on the right track.

Half an hour later, I was allowed into the house and told to look and see if anything had been taken. Nothing in the living room looked disturbed until I noticed one of my paintings missing. It hadn't been hung on the wall yet, but it had been propped up in the corner of the living room. I pointed it out to Charlie and Sam, but I couldn't figure for the life of me why someone would want to take a painting. It had no monetary value.

I made my down the hall and to my room, and when I opened the door I let out a gasp. My room was a disaster, and I hadn't left it that way. Calling for Sam and Charlie, I slowly made my way through the mess.

"What the fuck?" Charlie growled as he took in the state of my room.

My bed looked like it had been slept in, the covers and sheets pulled back. Clothes were hanging out of my dresser as if someone had rifled through the drawers and my desk was a mess.

"My laptop's gone," I told them before rushing to the closet and pulling out a jewelry box where I kept some earrings and rings that Grandma Swan had given me. Thankfully, they were still in there, and I let out a sigh of relief. It was hard to tell if anything else had been taken, but after Charlie and Sam documented everything and I was putting stuff away, I noticed that I was missing my favorite blue shirt. I was more than a little scared and weirded out that someone was walking around with one of my shirts.

Later that night, after washing my sheets and bedspread, I called Alice and Rose to let them know what had occurred. They were both just as scared and as upset as I was, and after talking to them for a while, I gave Edward a call.

"Hey, Bella," he answered, his voice thick with sleep.

"Crap! Did I wake you?" I asked, checking the clock on my phone and seeing it was only a little past nine.

"Nah, I was just dozing while watching a movie. So, what's up?" he asked.

"Turns out that someone broke into my house after you guys got us," I informed him.

"What?!"

I explained everything that had happened and what Charlie had learned, which unfortunately wasn't much. Whoever had broken in has used gloves leaving no fingerprints behind, but a dark hair had been found near the door outside. Considering that Charlie and myself, not too mention Alice, Edward, and Emmett all had dark hair, I wasn't encouraged by the finding. Wild Turkey didn't have a forensics lab and the hair would have to be sent out to Mobile for examination, assuming they could get any DNA from it.

"But everyone's okay?" Edward asked after I was done.

I nodded even though he couldn't see me. "Yeah. Although, my laptop and favorite shirt are gone."

"Why would someone take your shirt?" he asked, and I told him I'd been wondering the same thing. My laptop I could understand, but a shirt? I guess the world was just full of crazy people.

"Well, I'm glad you're safe and that you're dad's on the case."

"Me, too, but I'm still a bit scared," I told him quietly. I'd actually broken down into tears in the shower earlier.

"Completely understandable. Your sense of security has been compromised, but I'm positive the chief has upped your security?"

"Oh, yeah. We've got all the bells and whistles now."

We talked for a while more until his yawns began to interrupt his words. I bid him goodnight, and curled up under my covers with an old teddy bear that I had. It seemed a bit silly to be cuddling with Mr. Bear, but it brought me a sense of safety so I held on tight.

It was a restless night though. Every little noise kept waking me up, and eventually I just gave up on sleep. I was a bit surprised to see Charlie in the kitchen making coffee when I wandered in a little after three.

"Couldn't sleep?" he asked, sitting down at the table.

I shook my head and poured a cup for myself, grimacing a bit at the taste. "No. Every little noise has me freaking out."

We sat in silence for a while before Charlie asked if I wanted to go fishing. Might as well since we were both up so early. By six, we were out in the boat and reeling in fish. Of course, the bad thing about waking up so early is that by noon you're ready for bed. As soon as we brought the boat back in and returned home, I crashed on the couch for a nap with Charlie snoring away in his room.

The ringing of a phone woke me up, and I smiled when I saw it was Edward.

"Hey, Ed –Edward," I said through a yawn.

"Napping already? It's only two," he said with a laugh. I explained how Charlie and I had been up since around three and had gone fishing.

"Ah, I see. Well, if you're not too tired would you like to go to a movie with me in Riverton tonight?" he asked.

Inside, I began squealing like a pre-teen at a One Direction concert, but I maintained a cool facade as I told him I'd love to. I didn't even care what we went and saw as long as we were together.

"Awesome! I'll pick you up around six, so we have time to make the seven o'clock showing. See you later."

I hung up my phone and did a little dance around the living room much to the amusement of Charlie.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" he asked.

"Oh, uh … Edward and I are going to the movies tonight in Riverton. That's okay, right?"

He nodded but warned me to be careful with my heart. He knew Edward was a good guy and all, but Charlie had also seen how hurt I'd gotten when Edward had rejected me. I promised I'd be careful and Charlie already knew Edward was working hard on regaining my trust. It was still going to take some time, but that didn't mean I couldn't hangout with him in the meantime.

A little after six, there was a knocking on the door, and I rushed to beat Charlie to it. Knowing him, he'd give Edward a lecture on not hurting his baby girl and then we'd never make it to the movie on time.

"Hey," I said as I opened the door and was almost stunned stupid. The man was too gorgeous. It should be a crime to look that good. He was wearing a simple pair of khakis and a blue button-down polo, but holy hell, did he wear it well.

Edward gave me a smile, and told me how nice I looked. I was glad to see he noticed the effort I'd put into getting dressed. Granted, I'd had to call Alice for advice which was why I was wearing a khaki skirt and a light blue sweater.

"We match," he joked, and I realized he was right. We did. I offered to go change so we didn't look like one of those old people couples that wear matching outfits, but he grinned and shook his head as he told me he liked that particular shade of blue on me. Cue blush.

We told Charlie goodnight and walked out to Edward's Volvo. He opened my door for me, before rushing around to the driver's side. We talked quietly the whole way up to Riverton, discussing homework, TV shows, movies, and music. We did stay away from the topic of Tanya. I don't think either of us wanted to ruin our evening with thoughts of her.

"So, what are we seeing?" I asked as we pulled into the parking lot of the theater.

He let out a little huff. "I told you last night."

He did? I must have zoned out, having been stunned by the fact he'd asked me to the movies.

"I'm sorry. I must have zoned out," I told him.

His lower lip jutted out as he looked at me. "You mean you don't hang onto my every word?"

Snickering, I hit him lightly on the shoulder. "I'm afraid not." He let out a sigh and shook his head as if he couldn't believe me.

"You're not going to make me watch the last of those vampire/werewolf movies are you? Because if you do, I'll never forgive you. Never!" I told him as we got out of the car.

"I wouldn't do that to you or to me," he said with a grin before taking my hand in his as we made our way across the parking lot.

I glanced down and looked as his larger hand grasped mine, and I felt a giddy smile break across my face. I was such a dork, but I really liked the way our hands looked clasped together.

"I figured the new James Bond movie looked good. You okay with that?"

I nodded. Charlie loved James Bond and owned all the movies as well as the books. I didn't mind them all that much and Daniel Craig was quite hot.

As we reached the door, Edward let go of my hand to hold the door open for me, then took my hand back in his. He bought our tickets despite my protest and then we made our toward the concession area.

"O.M.G. Edward Cullen just showed up," I heard a girl whisper to her friend nearby. I turned toward them and saw it was the two girls from the other day. Lauren and Jane, I think there names were.

The girls continued to whisper to each other and when they were joined by some other girls, the talking and giggling really began. And it was all about Edward and hot he was. Poor Edward's face was bright red, and I couldn't help but laugh at him.

"It's not funny," he mumbled as we moved up a bit in line.

"Yes, it is. You have fan girls!" I said, poking him in the stomach.

He rolled his eyes and sighed with relief when it was our turn to order. We decided on a large popcorn and a large soda to share and once again he paid. I tried to argue with him about it and lost.

"Do you think he's dating her?" one of the girls whispered as we passed them.

"I'm hoping she'll let me," he murmured to me, and I almost lost my grip on the soda. I turned to face him, staring into his eyes, and saw the sincerity there. For a moment, all I did was stare into his beautiful green eyes before I looked away.

"I'd like that," I told him quietly, "but I think we need to ease our way into things. Take it slow. You just got out of a drama-filled relationship for the second time in not so many months, and I still remember what it was like to have you push me away instead of talking to me."

He nodded and winced a bit. "I can't ever apologize enough for acting the way I did, but I'm so very sorry for the way I acted. I want nothing more than to be with you, and to give us a chance."

"Well then, you'll have to ask me out properly then, won't you? This," I said, waving my hand around, "doesn't count as a date. This is more like a pre-date. If it goes well, I'll be more likely to say yes when you do ask me out."

"Then I promise you, Bella Swan, this will be the best pre-date you've ever been on," he said with a silly grin that matched my own.

As we sat down in a couple of seats that were off to the side, I took a moment to stare at Edward. He was so heartbreakingly beautiful, and I knew, without a doubt, he had the power to break my heart. He'd already cracked it once and a part of me was scared to take another chance, yet a bigger part of me, a stronger part of me, wanted him and was willing to risk it all.

"Popcorn?" he asked, interrupting my thoughts and holding out the bucket.

The movie was good, or at least I think it was, I didn't honestly pay much attention. I was too focused on the crackling energy that seemed to surround Edward and I went the lights dimmed down. I wondered if he felt it too. I really noticed it when I went to get some popcorn at the same time Edward had. Our hands had touched and it was like I'd been struck by lightening.

"That was weird," Edward said once the lights came back up.

"What? The movie?" I asked.

"No. Us," he replied, and I knew he'd noticed the energy as well.

"Must be my sparking personality," I said with a smile as he laughed.

"Must be," he said, shooting a wink my way. "Come on, let's get out of here."

We were both quiet on the way home, and I was a bit sad the evening was ending, but when Edward drove past my street and toward the beach, I knew it wasn't quite over.

"I'm not ready for the night to end yet. Is the beach okay with you?" he asked.

I nodded and a few minutes later we were pulling into a parking spot at Pelican Beach. Edward got a blanket out of the trunk and we walked hand in hand down the dune and found a spot to sit. I looked around for the dolphins to see if they were out, but I didn't see them anywhere.

"Storms rolling in," Edward commented softly, and I turned to face him.

"How do you know?"

He pointed out toward the gulf. "See how the waves are getting bigger and the crashing sounds louder?" he asked.

I nodded, "Yeah."

"It does that when a storm is coming in. We've been lucky this year. A couple of hurricanes and a few bad storms. We're probably due for some rough weather."

I hadn't even thought about hurricanes occurring here, but it would make sense that they would and they were something I definitely wasn't looking forward to. I shuddered a bit at the thought which caused Edward to wrap an arm around my shoulders.

"Cold?" he asked.

I shook my head. "A bit freaked out by the prospect of a hurricane."

He grinned and held me a bit tighter, telling me not to worry. That when a hurricane came we'd have plenty of time to get our house boarded up and he and his family would be more than willing to help us out.

We sat out there for about an hour until the wind began to pick up and the waves became more violent. I began to shiver despite the warm arm around me, and Edward suggested we call it a night. As reluctant as I was for the night to end, I agreed with him.

A short ride later, we were pulling into my drive, and I saw the curtain in the kitchen move to the side as Charlie peeked out. Edward got out and opened my door before walking with me up to the porch.

"Thanks for a great pre-date," I told him.

"Does this mean when I ask you out on a real date you'll say yes?"

"Most definitely," I said, watching as the smile on his face grew.

"Excellent. Well, I'd better let you go before the chief comes out and shoots me," he said with a teasing grin.

"Have a goodnight," I told him.

"You too," he said before leaning down and placing a kiss on my cheek.

I don't know how long I stood there after Edward drove away, but it was long enough for Charlie to open the door and ask me if I was coming inside or if I planned on sleeping on the porch. Blinking, I headed inside and tried to contain the cheesy smile that wanted to break free. I wasn't very successful.

"I take it you had a good time?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, I did."

Charlie and I stayed up talking for a bit before I started yawning and excused myself. Within minutes of my head hitting my pillow I was out like a light and dreamed the most wonderful dreams.

a/n: As always, let me know what you though. See ya next week.