**Bella POV**

I was happy to be back home.

After Edward and Kate helped me escape Irina, the rest of the weekend was pretty boring. We helped Esme and Carlisle pack, we took walks, we helped with the packing, we made dinner, and we helped with the packing some more. Nothing interesting, overall.

The evening we got home, I heard a knock on my door. "Hey," Edward said, walking in. "I see you've settled in." I had already unmade my bed, and had dumped all of the weekend's dirty laundry on the floor outside my closet.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." Well, maybe something interesting happened over the weekend. Edward and I had finally started talking. The way we should've a long time ago.

"So..."

"So what?"

"Who did you call to complain about your horrible weekend in the Golden State?"

"No one. I don't exactly want to relive the whole Irina thing."

"I don't blame you. Listen, I really feel bad about that. I was very tactless when I spoke to Tanya, and maybe it would be better if I had broken up with her in person over the weekend." He sighed. "At any rate, Irina wouldn't have had the time to get those pills."

"It was no big deal, Edward. So she managed to get her hands on a couple of morning-after pills. So what?"

Edward looked up at me. His gaze was so intense that it scared me. "Is something wrong?" I asked tentatively.

"Bella. This wasn't just some simple morning-after pill. They only work the morning after. You've been pregnant for about two months. A morning-after wouldn't work. Anyway, morning-afters sometimes don't work even when they're taken the morning after. It's all about time."

"How do you know?" I interrupted.

Edward looked a bit sheepish. "I did some research on the subject. Anyway, Irina's pills required a prescription for a reason. Those pills would have killed you if you had eaten them. They're really strong. You have to be a lot older before you can have them and expect your system to be able to handle them. Irina didn't know this. It just said abortion pill in the database. I don't think she would have cared anyway, though."

"Again, how do you know?" I repeated.

"I hacked into the system. Bella, those pills weren't a joke. I don't want you to ever accept any kind of food or drink from anybody you don't know, especially once you start to show, which should be in about another month."

"Edward! I don't know what's freaking me out more? First of all, you know more about this baby crap than I do, and second of all, you actually seem to care what happens to me and the kid! What the hell happened to you this weekend?"

Edward looked thoughtful. "I don't really know. I think, for the first time, I was faced with the prospect of losing you. And I couldn't handle that. Bella, you don't know how much you've changed me, how important you are to my life." And then he did the strangest thing of all. He crossed the room in three long strides until he was standing less than two inches away from me.

He cradled my face gently, and tilted my head upward so I could see into his eyes. His beautiful, emerald green eyes. "Bella," he whispered. His breath tickled. In a good way. "Bella, you are the best thing to have ever happened to me. I really meant it when I told you I loved you, you know." I could barely believe it.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

Edward laughed. The sound was happy and carefree; I couldn't remember the last time he had seemed so....not uptight. The first time he had seemed to loosen up in my presence.

"Of course I'm sure. Why wouldn't I be?" He leaned in, and pressed his lips to mine. This was nothing like the kiss at Alice's party. That had been much more aggressive. This was...sweet.

I pushed him away. "What if Carlisle and Esme see?"

"They won't. They went to put the extra furniture in storage." He leaned in for another kiss.

"In that case, I have to go call Alice." I wasn't ready for this, even though it was kind of nice.

Edward chuckled softly. "Come on, Bella, live a little."

"Isn't that how we got into this whole mess?" I joked.

"Good point." Edward smiled at me. I pushed him out of my room and picked up my cell phone. Alice was number two on my speed dial, after Esme. She picked up on the second ring.

"Hey, Bella! How was California?"

"It was...really weird. Listen..." I told her what happened with Irina. After talking with Edward, I figured it would be a good thing to tell Alice or Rose what had happened, and I didn't want to stress Rose out, because of her own pregnancy.

"Wow," Alice said. "When I go to California, I'll make sure that Jasper comes with me to ward off all of the psychos."

"And...there's another thing," I said hesitantly.

"What?"

"Well...after the whole thing...Edward and I got talking, and I think...that...he likes me."

"It'd be kind of cheap for him not to," Alice said. "After all, you're having his kid, aren't you?"

"Yes," I said, "but I got the impression that he really likes me. More than a sister."

Alice didn't say anything. I couldn't imagine what was going through her head.

"Alice? Are you still there?"

"Yeah, Bella," she sounded strangely detached. "Are you sure about this?"

"He told me himself."

"I know, but are you sure he wasn't lying?"

"Why would he? What would he gain?"

"I don't know, Bella, but it doesn't seem right to me. He barely knows you."

"It seemed really real."

"No offense, Bella, but you don't really have much experience when it comes to guys."

"Yes, Alice. Please enlighten me with your eons of experience," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I didn't mean for you to take it that way," Alice said, clearly hurt.

"Sorry. Damn hormones."

Alice laughed. "It's so hard to think that you'll have a baby in a few months, Bella. Really, it is."

I smiled. "Same here. So what did I miss this weekend?"

Alice started to tell me all about the movie that she went to see with Jasper, Emmett, and Rosalie. Somewhere in the middle of her monologue, I fell asleep. I woke up to the sound of her screeching in my ear.

"Bella! Bella, why aren't you talking? Isabella Marie Swan, I am not so boring that you fall asleep on me, are you?" Alice was furious.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled groggily. "I just dozed off for a couple of seconds. Sorry."

"It wasn't a couple of seconds!" Alice yelled. "It was half an hour! I was describing the ending of the movie, when I realized that you weren't saying anything. I got worried, and I called Edward from the landline, and he looked in your room and told me that you were asleep." Alice paused and took a deep breath. "What is wrong with you?"

"I'm sorry, Alice. I just got really tired all of a sudden. I can't help it, Alice, you know I can't."

"I know, Bella, but it isn't fair to me."

"Oh yes, Alice. My life is about to change completely, and it isn't fair to you. Am I right?"

"No, that's not what I mean."

"Then what do you mean?" I asked. Just then, I heard the front door open. "I'll talk to you later. Esme and Carlisle are home," I said quickly, as I hung up.

"Bella!" came Emmett's booming voice from outside my door.

"What are you doing here? Where are Esme and Carlisle?" I asked.

"They aren't back yet. When you thought it was them coming home, it really was Alice, Jasper, Rosie, and me coming in."

"Why didn't Alice say something?"

"I think she was going to, but you hung up first. Or maybe she wanted to surprise you."

"I wanted to surprise you," Alice said, opening the door to my room. She turned around. "Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie, have Edward entertain you for a few minutes. I want to talk to Bella. She turned back to me. "Anyway, returning to the phone conversation, what I meant was, I know it's not fair to you, but why did you call me if you wanted to go to sleep so badly?"

"Alice, what do you think Esme would say if she comes home to find me fast asleep?"

"You could just say that you were tired and dozed off."

"And why would I be tired?" I asked her. "I've barely done anything at all. Edward won't let me. Whenever Esme tells me to do something, he does it all instead."

Alice raised her eyebrows. "That doesn't make it sound like he was joking."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you all along," I said. "He sounded really serious when he was talking to me earlier.

When Alice spoke again, it seemed as if she was choosing her words very carefully. "I don't really know what to think here. Edward is very difficult to read. He seemed very different to me when I first met him."

"Alice, your first impression of Edward had nothing to do with him. It was all about his car, for you anyway."

Alice screwed up her face, as if she was trying to remember. "Oh yeah," she said eventually. "You're right. That is what happened." Then she looked confused. "You remembered a tiny detail in a conversation you had with me over a month ago, but you forgot about the condom that I put in your purse?"

"I was in no condition to reach that, Alice," I told her.

"Good point," Alice admitted. "Should we go talk to the others now?"

"Okay," I said.

As we left the room, I met a very strange sight. Rosalie was standing outside the door to Edward's room, eating a piece of chocolate cake.

"This was in your fridge, Bella. I hope you don't mind?"

"No, Rose, it's okay. But why are you eating that outside of Edward's room?"

"Oh," said Rosalie airily. "No reason. I was coming over to your room to see why you and Alice were taking such a long time, but you came out before I had a chance to walk all the way over there."

"Um....okay, then." This explanation sounded really suspicious. "Are Edward, Emmett, and Jasper in Edward's room?" I asked.

Rosalie hesitated for a few seconds. "Well, yes, they are." This raised my suspicions to a whole new level. Before, Rosalie had been whispering, but now she was almost shouting.

I had an idea. "Let's go see what they are up to, Alice," I said casually, placing my hand on the doorknob of Edward's room.

"NO!" Rosalie shouted. "Don't go in there?" This seemed to have struck a nerve.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Emmett and Jasper wanted to talk to Edward privately for a few minutes. You know, sort of like you and Alice."

"Then why did they have you on guard duty?" I asked. Without waiting for an answer, I opened the door, and was greeted with the most shocking thing I had seen outside of a movie.

---

**Edward POV**

After Alice disappeared into Bella's room, Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie turned to face me.

"We would have done this before, but we didn't want to do it in front of Bella. It would upset her," Emmett said.

"We don't want to upset Bella," Jasper said.

"We all know that Bella is...or rather...was...very inexperienced with guys. Alice and I had decided that if Bella ever expressed an interest in anyone, we would check him out to make sure he was decent. At the party, you seemed okay, but then you ruined Bella's life! I don't know what you think of yourself, but don't go acting all concerned for Bella, because we all know you don't care. You're just taking care of her because you feel obligated, and not because you actually like her," Rosalie said.

Emmett and pushed me into my bedroom, while Jasper spoke to Rosalie quickly. "Rose, keep watch. Act natural, and knock on the door or something when Alice and Bella come out of the room. Oh, and signal us if they try to come in."

"Signal?" Rose asked.

"Just talk really loudly," Emmett yelled over his shoulder. "Can we get started now?"

Jasper nodded, and walked into the room. "What's going on?" I asked. I was getting a very bad feeling about this. In response, Jasper had me in a headlock, and then somehow managed to position his arms in such a way that I was completely immobilized.

Then, Emmett stood in front of me, and flexed his muscles. He planted his feet firmly on the floor, pulled back his arm, and—OW!

Pain, pain, and more pain. Agonizing pain.

Emmett hit me over and over again, while Jasper made sure I was unable to escape.

After what seemed like a century, there was an urgent knocking on the door. Emmett and Jasper quieted down, and I could hear Rose talking. I didn't catch her exact words, but I heard her mention 'chocolate,' 'Alice,' and 'walking.' I didn't want to know what kind of story she had cooked up. I wanted her to let Alice and Bella in, because that was the only thing that would stop Emmett and Jasper from injuring me further.

"Well, yes, they are," I heard Rose shout. That was the signal. Excellent. They were coming.

I was so caught up in my moment of relief, that I didn't notice Alice and Bella come in.

"Emmett, Jasper, how could you?" Bella yelled. "I told you not to do that."

I couldn't believe it. Bella was defending me. Me of all people?! What had the world come to? And she had told Emmett and Jasper not to beat me up? After what I did to her? I really should have listened to Mike more. He had told me that since I couldn't deal with my 'problems' in a normal way, I would end up doing something I'd really regret one day, and that was exactly what I did. Mike should become a psychologist. He's awesome with this stuff.

I knew that there was only one thing I could do, though it didn't appeal to me at all. I had to go and talk to someone. A professional. And once I could do that, and finally learn to get over what happened, I would be able to move on. And I wouldn't behave in the stupid manner I behaved in ever since I lost my mother. It was the only thing I could to help Bella. And I would do it. For her. I had made my decision.