Well, this is my usual Wednesday update. I had a day off today but I didn't do my homework. I probably should start that now. Oh well, please read and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Twilight belongs completely to Stephanie Meyer! But not for long .... XD

14. Damn Conscience

After Charlie had tracked us both down and made us clean up the kitchen, he ordered some pizza and we sat down to watch baseball. It was really quite funny because Charlie and I went for one team and Jake for the other. He ended up on the floor by the end of the game somehow. I may have tackled him, I don't know, I forget these things. Besides, he deserved it 'cause he was being a bad winner. Little idiot. We had just finished the second pizza when the front door slammed and we heard footsteps in the hall.

"Bella?" Charlie called. He sounded a bit confused. Well, to tell the truth, so was I. It was pretty early still.

"Yeah, Dad, it's me." She walked into the room and I frowned at her. She looked pale, more pale than usual and she seemed a bit out of it.

"Hey Bella," Jake waved at her.

"Hey Jake," she smiled.

"You're home early," Charlie observed.

"Am I?" Now it was her turn to frown.

"It's not even eight yet," I laughed.

"Did you girls have fun?" Dad asked.

"Yeah – it was lots of fun." She was dazed, and I definitely knew there was something wrong. "They both found dresses."

"Are you all right?" Jake asked. Ah, I wasn't the only one who noticed then.

"I'm just tired. I did a lot of walking."

"Maybe you should go and lie down," Charlie suggested, looking worried.

"I'm just going to call Jessica first." Wasn't she just with Jessica?

"Weren't you just with her?" Charlie asked, his thoughts clearly following my own.

"Yes – but I left my jacket in her car. I want to make sure she brings it tomorrow." I didn't hear Jessica drop her off, and Bella seemed to forget that she only just walked in the door. Add that to the dazed look and I figured she hadn't been dropped home by the girl she had been picked up by.

"Well give her a chance to get home first," Jake laughed, stuffing a last piece of pizza in his mouth.

"Right," she agreed and left the room. I heard her collapse into a chair just as the phone rang. Charlie had his attention returned to the television, but Jake was as worried as I was.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked.

"I dunno," I murmured. "I'll ask her about it later." We stood up and ran to stand just outside the kitchen, listening to the conversation on the phone.

"Hey, Jess, I was just going to call you." This town may be small but it wouldn't take her such a short time to get home if she had to drop Angela off as well. Jake looked like he was thinking something similar. "Yes. I left my jacket in your car – could you bring it to me tomorrow?" Now I knew she hadn't been dropped off by Jessica. What reason would Jess have to call her if not for the jacket? "Um, tomorrow – in Trig okay?" A pause. "Yes, that's right." A reply. "Bye Jess." There was a click as the phone was hung up.

"Well that was maddeningly unhelpful," I muttered to Jake, who nodded, curiosity clear in his dark eyes. "I'll talk to her when she's in her room," I decided out loud. Jake sighed.

"Yeah, something really seems to be bothering her."

"I have no idea what's wrong." We bolted back to the lounge when we heard Bella start moving, just so we wouldn't be caught eavesdropping. We heard her thud up the stairs and the shower start.

"I might get going," Jake sighed, stretching his arms out in front of him.

"Okay," I yawned.

"Night Tali," he smiled and gave me a hug. I hugged him back and he said goodbye to Charlie as we let go of each other.

"Bye kid," was Charlie's only acknowledgement, his eyes glued to his TV. Jake and I both rolled out eyes before he disappeared from the room, the slamming of the front door the only indication that he'd left the house. At that moment, I heard the shower stop.

"I might hit the sack too Dad," I yawned. "Night."

"Night," he mumbled and I giggled as I darted up the stairs and into my room. I gave her a few minutes and I slipped into my pj's; black shorts and a baggy black t-shirt that nearly reached my knees. I heard her door close and I walked slowly out of my room and knocked on her door.

"Come in," she called, her voice faint and wavering. I slid inside and closed the door behind me, catching sight of my sister lying on her bed, arms behind her head and her eyes dull and distant.

"Bella?" I murmured and she turned her head ever so slightly to look at me.

"Yeah?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Like I'm gonna believe that!" I snorted. "Something happened tonight. What was it?"

"Nothing!" she muttered. I sat down on the end of her bed and sat with my arms and legs folded, staring at her unblinkingly.

"I know Jess didn't give you a lift," I told her accusingly. She flinched and I smirked. I knew it.

"No, she didn't," Bella admitted.

"Well then who did!?"

"You won't like it," she murmured. Oh Hell no!

"Who?" I snapped.

"You won't like it," she repeated.

"Regardless, I want to know!" She sighed and her lips moved but no sound came out. "You're going to have to repeat that," I growled.

"Edward Cullen," she sighed and I struggled to hold back a growl. I knew it! He did something too her again! It was like their first bio lesson all over again!

"What were you doing with Edward Cullen?" I spat. She glanced down at me with pleading eyes.

"Can you drop it Tali?"

"No!" I snapped, "I want to know what happened and why you're acting like this!"

"You aren't going to let this go are you? Not until you get everything," she murmured.

"No." She didn't say anything for a long time. She had her eyes closed and I thought she'd fallen asleep, but I sat there stubbornly at the end of her bed, staring at her troubled face. Finally, she opened her – thankfully clear and alert – eyes and looked back at me.

"When Jess and Angela and I had been looking for dressed for ages, I decided that I wanted to go look for a bookstore. You know I can't shop for hours at a time." I nodded stiffly. How did Cullen get into this? "So Jess and Angela went off to keep shopping and we agreed to meet at the Italian restaurant on the boardwalk in an hour."

"You went off by yourself!" I couldn't help the exclamation that shot from my mouth.

"Stupid, I know," Bella sighed and continued. "Anyway, I found the book store, but it was more like one of those crystal shops, the ones that smell like scented candles and stuff. One like you used to work in. But it obviously wasn't what I wanted. So I kept walking and looking around. I couldn't find anything. I got lost I guess. I was around warehouse buildings more than shops. It's creepy around those things at the best of times, but it was getting dark too. It wasn't fun. But when I was about to turn the corner to go onto another street, I passed this group of guys. They were only in their twenties or something I guess, but one of them called out to me. I tried to ignore them and I started going a bit faster, I didn't want to stay around them for long." My hand grabbed a bunch of her purple comforter and squeezed it tightly, trying to keep my mouth shut. "I had no idea where I was when I kept walking. There weren't any shops any more, just warehouses and creepy chain fences. But about two minutes later I realised that I was being followed. I looked back and saw that it was two of the guys from the group I'd passed earlier, though neither of them were the one that had spoken to me. A car turned and drove past and I almost jumped in front of it, but I didn't want to be an idiot when I wasn't entirely sure they were following me."

"Of course they were," I whispered, my eyes wide. I didn't want to listen to this, but I had to know exactly how Cullen was involved. She nodded mutely.

"They started to fall back a bit, but I was still scared. They were definitely staring at me and when I reached a corner, I didn't know which was to go. I don't think it would have mattered though. I had no idea where I was. When I saw a couple of cars go past I decided to turn because there would be more people that way. But I knew it was a mistake as soon as I tried too. The two other guys from the group were leaning on the bricks on both sides of the road." Her voice had sunk to a whisper and I felt like my eyes were going to fall out of their sockets. My hand was so tight on the quilt I swore my fingernails were going to slice right through it to dig into my palm. "It was only then I realised that the other men weren't following me, they were herding me. I think I about had a heart attack when they started talking to each other. I had to slow down, there wasn't too much space left between me and the newer guys. I pulled my purse over my head and held it. I don't know whether I was going to give it to them or try to attack them. But I think it was the latter, I was thinking about some of the old defence moves dad taught us when we were little. My mouth was too dry to scream."

"You were going to try and fight four fully grown men?" I croaked. Why had I shoved her out the door!? Why!? I should have gone with her! She was a danger magnet! I knew that better than anyone and I just let her go!

"I knew I couldn't scream," she murmured. "But I was going to try. I told them to stay away from me, but they just laughed."

"Of course they did!" I sounded on the edge of hysterics, "God Bella! What were you thinking?" She ignored me and continued, a small smile on her face. What is there to smile about!?

"I was about scream when a car drove up around the corner and it stopped only a few feet from where I was. And Edward got out and told me to get in." I tried to slow my heart. She was safe, she was alive, she was unhurt... and Cullen had saved her. "I got in, and he scared them away somehow. He started driving, and he took me to dinner. Then he drove me home."

"That's it?" I asked, my voice light with relief.

"That's it," she yawned. LIAR!

"What did you talk about?"

"Nothing much," she murmured, rolling over and curling up. LIAR!

"Okay," I whispered, slipping off her bed. "Night Bella." I think she was asleep before I left her room. I slipped soundlessly down the corridor and into my room. They must have talked about something big on the way home, she told me everything else. I can't believe what those low-life mother fuckers tried to do to her though! If I was with her, they would have been torn up into little pieces and burned alive! And Cullen saved her ... That one fact was stuck in my mind. For all my yelling at him, for all my threats and telling him to stay away, he had saved her. The calm part of my brain shoved the van incident forward. He had saved her then too. He had avoided blood-typing because he didn't want to hurt her. He had looked out for her since forever. He and Jasper had both tried to tell me, but I had let my fear and anger get in the way.

They aren't like the others ... I whispered to myself. I ran my finger across Jasper's letter again – which was resting on my bookcase – and whispered, "'if you gave my family a chance'..." URGH! Why does my conscience have to tell me to be nice to the vampires! Grrness. I better not regret this. I stumbled over to my window and threw it open, taking a deep breath. "Edward?" I called softly. I stood back and a moment later the vampire in question was sitting on my window seat.

"Yes?" he asked quietly.

"Bella told me what happened tonight," I murmured. For some reason I couldn't bring myself to speak above a whisper.

"Oh?"

"I wanted to say thank you," I almost choked on the words but managed to get them out.

"I did not do it for you, I did it for your sister," Edward muttered.

"I know, but I'd still like to thank you and ..." I couldn't get out the sentence so I merely held out my shaking hand. He eyed it warily. "I won't do anything," I promised him, staring him straight in the eye. He gave a small smile and took the offered hand shake, his freezing hand closing around my already cold one.

"Thank you," he murmured.

"Just don't hurt her, whatever you do," I whispered.

"I wouldn't dream of it." He let go but remained standing. There was silence for a moment before he spoke again, curious this time. "How much of what happened tonight?"

"Everything except what you two talked about."

"Ah yes, I can see why she would have withheld that information from you. She still believes you ignorant of our nature."

"I'm confused," I frowned, "What do you mean 'she believes I'm ignorant'?"

"She knows." I sucked in a deep breath.

"How?" I breathed.

"She guessed. Like you pointed out she is very intuitive." My breathing stayed regular as the vampire surveyed me.

"What does she think?" I asked, fearing the answer.

"She said it doesn't matter," he sighed, shaking his head.

"She said WHAT!?" I nearly screeched, my hands balled up into fists. "Is she insane?!"

"That was my first opinion when she said it," Edward heaved a sigh.

"She's okay with it?" I asked unevenly.

"It appears so." And with that, he was gone, leaving me alone with my very confused thoughts. EDWARD! I called to him in my mind, certain he could still hear me, Don't tell her I know.

Le Gasp! This is what Eddie and Jaspie have wanted since forever, for Tali to stop yelling at them! Who else reckons Tali's not gonna leave them alone together for a while? Yeah, I think so too. Oh well, please review!