Edward "came over" around seven the next morning. Charlie was sitting downstairs, eating his breakfast at the kitchen table. I supposed that he thought I was sleeping off the nights events. How I had missed this family unit type thing. Anyway, I knew that Edward was coming. It was one of those vampire senses – you could sense when someone was coming. Really, he hadn't been gone for that long. Just five minutes, maybe.

While he had been gone, I held my breath. After his shower this morning, Charlie smelled extremely, extremely good. If I smelled so good to Edward, how did he resist? Actually, I probably smelled better to Edward than Charlie smelled to me. So, how did Edward fight the temptation that he was born to have? I didn't understand.

The temptation seemed so hard to overcome. I held my breath, I paced around my room, I counted to one hundred several times. Nothing really seemed to work. I just had to do my best and hope that Alice was right. Actually, I was still betting on her being right. She hadn't been wrong yet.

I was happy to sense his arrival, no matter how short the time. It seemed like years waiting for him to come back. Literally. I guess, perhaps, time passes by more slowly when you can't die. Or maybe I'm just wrong. Who knows. Regardless of what I know, I flew past the kitchen where Charlie was eating breakfast, and yanked open the door before Edward could talk. My stone body slammed against his stone body and he smiled.

"Good job," he rewarded me, then kissed my forehead quickly before leading me back into the house.

Charlie had visibly stiffened, and he sat his fork down. He had made himself an omelet, or something like that. "I didn't know that you were awake, Bells." My father glanced at me, then at the arm that was wrapped around my shoulder tightly. I saw his mouth pull into a tight, thin line.

"Yeah," I said offhandedly. "I was pretty wiped out, though, last night. Thank you for letting me... come home, dad." I was trying to sound very thankful, and apparently Charlie understood that because he smiled his best smile for me.

"Where have you been, Bella?" Charlie asked me, totally ignoring my lovely boyfriend whose arm remained around me. "Where have you been, baby girl? I've missed you so much. So has your mother," he added, as though to remind me that I had a mother and that she loved me very so much.

"We were in L.A.," came Edward's strong voice. "Carlisle went back to the hospital for a bit there. He missed the rush and excitement that a big town can bring. It seems that aside from Bella, Forks does have a very slow hospital. Of course, Carlisle loves it dearly, but he needed to go to L.A. for a bit."

I smiled at Edward. Beamed, really. How he had come up with such the perfect lie was amazing to me. He had always relied on me or Alice for making up the "stories" about whatever we were up to. When he was honest with Charlie, it was fine. He just totally sucked at making up stories for Charlie. Something in my head, though, told me that Alice had helped him when he quickly returned home this morning. Who knew.

"Oh," said Charlie simply. His eyes were trained on me. I supposed that he was looking for any sign at all of my discontent. Any sign of my zombie-ness returning to my features. I knew that he wouldn't find a trace. Unless Edward and I were separated for a long period of time..., I would never be unhappy again. I knew that. I knew that I loved Edward so much that it was just his mere presence that kept me sane... that kept me happy.

Had anyone in the history of the world ever loved this much? Even Romeo and Juliette didn't seem capable of loving the way that Edward and I loved each other. I knew that the rest of the Cullen's loved each other very much so... I knew that Alice loved Jasper in a very tangible way... but was that enough? Was that more than Edward and I? No, I sincerely doubted it.

"Are you here to stay?" Charlie asked me lightly.

"No, I don't think so... We were in the area, though, and I missed you, daddy." I was playing it up just a bit. Yes, I had missed him, but I don't know. Just not the way I was leading him on to think. "But, if it's okay with you..., daddy? Can I stay here for a couple days? Two weeks at the most? I promise that I won't be any trouble to you at all. I promise. It'll be like I'm not even here," I swore. That would be true, too. We would be too busy tracking Victoria.

"That's fine, Bella. But you'll be leaving again, then?"

"Sorry, Dad... it's just... after L.A., I realized how much I miss Phoenix, miss the sun.. miss the city life. We need to go somewhere like that. Edward and I, I mean."

His eyes narrowed and he looked at Edward. "What're your intentions with my daughter, Cullen?"

"Well, Charlie... y'see, we kinda already tied the knot..." his finger ran over my wedding band. I remembered how cool his touch used to feel, but now it was just normal. It was the same as my skin.

"Dad, please..." I whimpered, he looked like he was going to go nuclear on us or something. I couldn't get the image of Charlie after Harry Clearwater's death out of my head. Oh my God. What if he had a heart attack? It'd be all my fault! Not cool. Please, just let him calm down, I thought. It was almost as if I was willing him to just be calm, cool about it. I could care less if he walked out the door right now. I just didn't want to be responsible for my fathers death. I couldn't handle that... besides, if he died, what was to stop me from drinking his blood clean? How horrible was that thought! Ugh, these stupid temptations sucked.

I looked up at my father, my eyes full of fear and worry about his health. He seemed to visibly relax, though, at the sight of my stress.

"Bella,... I just want what's best for you," he told me gently, looking me in the eyes. "I need to go, though. Work and all," Charlie said gently, touching my shoulder. I wanted to attack, but Edward squeezed me closer.

"You two behave," Charlie muttered as he walked out the door.

I stared after my father quizzically, wondering what he possibly could be thinking. My gaze then traveled to Edward, who knew exactly what I wanted from him.

"Charlie's... trying to not... he's just scared, Bell. He loves you very much. You hurt him a lot when you left. You knew that. He just wants what is best for you... even if that means me. He is going to go to work and pretend that you didn't show up here."

"Oh," I echoed my father's sound perfectly. I guess it made sense. I had hurt him, he needed to know that I meant well. I swore, though, that this time... when I left, I would try to keep in contact. There was nothing against that, was there? I didn't think so. I could "be" with Charlie for the rest of his life that was. Same way with Renee. I could never visit, but... I could at least let them know what was going on. Perhaps... I'd talk to Edward about it later.

Edward was dragging me out to his car. "Where're we going?" I asked Edward, voicing my thoughts.

"My house. Carlisle needs you to call Black and set up a time and place to meet. We need to know what's going on."

"Oh! I know how to get to his place, though!" I exclaimed. "Why can't we just go there?"

"We're not allowed at La Push, remember? Besides, technically, we broke the treaty." Edward reached over and ran his finger down my cheek. It left a tingling sensation where it touched. "We're in 'trouble' with those wolves," he snorted. I had a feeling that Edward figured that a bunch of werewolves weren't any trouble at all.

Later, when I made the phone call to the Black's place, no one answered. I had figured as much. Those poor boys down at La Push were probably going wild – the Cullen clan was back, plus they were still dealing with Victoria. That must really suck for the wolf pack. I didn't know who I would pity more – Us, being stuck in the middle of all of this, or the wolves because they were being torn in two different directions.

"Edward," I called in a low tone that no human would have ever heard. Edward heard it, though; he was at my side in seconds.

"Yes, Bella?" He questioned, his eyes searching mine. I looked away first.

"I'm going to go for a walk, okay?" I just wanted him to know, just in case I didn't come back. That was totally a possibility. Just because..., I was going to try my hand at tracking. I was looking for Jacob, but I knew full well that I ran the possibility of running into the pack, or worse, Victoria. I tensed at the thought of that. Yuck, last person that I wanted to see!

His eyes narrowed into slits. "Why, Bella?"

"Because... I want to go for a walk..."

"Then I'll go with you."

"I want to go alone."

"No, Bella. It's too dangerous. Besides, I think there's something that you're not telling me, Bells."

I rolled my eyes. Even though Edward couldn't read my mind, he always seemed to know. We had thought that if I became a vampire, perhaps my mind would open up to his. Instead, it remained just as locked as before. Perhaps that meant our dear friend Dimitri from Volterra would never be able to find me. That would be quite funny, I thought. Well, not even funny, but interesting. I hadn't shown and "powers" since I had changed, so I wondered why I was immune to their special powers. Perhaps my inability to react to things like that was my power, though I doubted it because it was kinda sucky if you asked me. I wanted to be able to do something cool like Jasper or Alice or Edward, or even one of the Volturi. That would be wonderful.

But, no. Even in this life, I was just plain, simple Bella. How fun was I? Not very.

"Fine, Edward," I said, my arms drawn across my chest. "I want to find Jacob."

"Absolutely not!"

"Yes!"

"NO!"

"YES, Edward!"

Carlisle and Esme both came to find what we were yelling about. It wasn't too often that the "perfect couple" got into a fight that had us baring our fangs and growling viciously. We were in a stalemate, it seemed. Another impasse in our turbulent, loving relationship. I wouldn't change this for anything.

"What's going on you two?" Carlisle asked, stepping between us. He placed his hands on Edward's shoulders and pushed him back.

"She's trying to get herself annihilated!" He growled, snapping his teeth at me.

"I am not! He's being impossible!" I snapped back. Esme placed her arms around me in a hug.

"How is she trying to get herself annihilated?" Carlisle asked Edward calmly.

"She...wants...to...go...looking...for...Black..." He breathed out.

"That is a problem," Carlisle agreed. "But you can't stop her, Edward, if she wants to. Besides, how beneficial would it be for her to talk to someone who has been tracking Victoria actively? We haven't been able to pick up her scent yet – Emmett just got back twenty minutes or so ago. He found nothing. Perhaps Jacob Black and his... crew... would be of some help, don't you think, Edward?"

"Fine," he snapped. "Come, Bella. We're taking the car."

He drove like a maniac.

"This has got to be the dumbest idea you've ever had," he said between his teeth. I was keeping my eyes on the woods, searching for any sign of anything.

Tree, tree, tree, tree, deer, tree, tree, tree, possum, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree... Person!

"Stop!" I screeched.

The wheels locked onto the road and I flung the door open as I ran towards the familiar person who was emerging from the woods half dressed.