14. Agree to Disagree

Edward's POV

"Us to leave."

Bella's mouth fell agape but she said nothing. I kissed her forehead and ran downstairs before she had a chance to gather her thoughts and speak.

The thoughts of the pack became louder in my head as I neared them. Jacob was glaring at the alpha, his body trembling in preparation of phasing into the wolf. Carlisle stood in front of Billy Black's wheelchair trying to calm him down. Unfortunately, Alice and Jasper left to hunt after I went upstairs. I assumed she would be back once she saw our futures go black.

"Jacob you had no right to allow them to bite her and you know it! You are not the alpha of this pack until you declare yourself as such, which you have not. You promised these leeches an intact treaty and it was not yours to give." Sam Uley, the leader of the pack was directly in Jacob's face, the look of pure fury in his eyes. The other transformed wolves where close behind him, their thoughts mostly screaming obscenities at Jacob and my family. Two of them, however, were showing thoughts of concern for Jacob. I could only assume they had been his friends before he allowed us to bite Bella.

"I don't need your permission to allow them to save Bella in the name of my grandfather. I am the rightful alpha of this pack even if I have not officially declared myself as such. You will not touch them Sam!" Jacob's body shook further but he kept his composure, his thoughts were racing.

"What is this about Billy? You were there when Bella was bitten. You saw the shape she was in and you didn't disagree when Jacob allowed us to save her life." Carlisle was speaking with Billy in a calm and composed voice. I desperately tried to listen to all of the thoughts around me but none were on anything other than hatred towards my family at what we had done to Bella.

"I'm only here to get Charlie." Billy looked ashamed as he spoke to Carlisle. Though the pack was angry with Jacob, Billy's only concern was for his friend's safety. "Anything between the pack is none of my concern."

"Billy," I said before Carlisle could respond. "Charlie is fine. He is receiving medical attention upstairs as we speak. He was found nearly unconscious in the woods and he is dehydrated but recovering. Why are you really here?"

Before Billy could answer, his thoughts answered for him. In his mind, he pictured us giving Charlie to Bella as a snack. The images he allowed his imagination to conjure up made me wince. He and his son both had very clear minds as compared to most humans. His next image was of Bella biting Charlie and turning him into one of us as well.

"I can assure you that everything you are imagining is false. I can take you to Charlie now if you will allow me to carry you in your chair upstairs. We have no intentions of harming him in any way."

"If you don't mind, I would prefer it if my son took me." Jacob snapped his attention from Sam to his father. Though Billy didn't utter it aloud, he was worried Jacob and Sam would fight. He didn't want his son to be hurt.

"Jacob, will you kindly escort your father to Charlie's bedside?" Carlisle asked in his doctor's voice.

"Sure thing dad. Sam," Jacob turned his attention, "you will not harm the Cullens. If I have to step up and take my rightful place as alpha to end this matter, I will. I will also banish you and anyone else who disagrees with my decision to protect these… vampires." Sam didn't retort as Jacob walked to his father's side and pushed him towards the front door. Carlisle knew he would have a hard time getting Billy and his chair up the stairs so he gave me one last glance and joined them inside.

"We don't care what Jacob told you leech. The treaty is broken and we want you and the rest of your coven off of these lands. As soon as Charlie is out of this house, leave or we will force you to leave." Sam stormed off into the direction of La Push, the rest of the wolves trailing behind him. Once out of site, he phased and ran with his pack.

As I turned to go inside, I could hear thoughts coming from upstairs. Billy was not happy that Bella was allowed so close to his best friend in her newborn state. To keep the peace, Bella reluctantly released Charlie's hand and made her way downstairs and outside to where I stood. She wore a look of sheer agony on her beautiful face.

"I take it things with the pack didn't go well?" She said as she made her way to my side. The wind blew her hair in a fan around her shoulders and into her face. I gently pushed it back from her eyes and tucked it behind her ears like I did so long ago.

"As well as to be expected I suppose." I pulled her into my arms and kissed her gently. As I was pulling away, Bella decided that our kiss was not nearly as long as she wanted. She pulled my lips back to hers and kissed me with all of the passion she could muster. I returned every ounce of passion she was bestowing upon me. Before things could be pushed further, I heard someone clear their throat behind me.

"So I saw everyone's futures go black and decided to come home. It looks like we didn't miss anything too important." Alice was beaming from where she stood, arms folded in a mocking fashion. Even Jasper had a smirk on his face as he took in the sight of Bella and I in front of him.

"The wolves showed up. Billy thought we were throwing Charlie to Bella and the alpha wolf wants us to leave. He is claiming that we broke the treaty even though Jacob, the rightful alpha, gave us permission to bite Bella. I swear their minds are like a smutty soap opera Esme watches."

"Well isn't that just wonderful?" Alice's happy smirk was replaced with a scowl. Jasper moved closer to her side to wrap his arm around her tiny shoulders. He was trying to calm her to no avail.

"So do we have to leave then?" Bella spoke from my embrace, her eyes sad as I noticed her glance to the window of the room Charlie was currently in.

"Jacob seems to think he can make them reconsider, being that he is, after all, in charge by technicality. Sam doesn't seem weak though. He has no conscious thoughts of backing down, only thoughts of what he will do if we refuse. Of course he is taking into account the large number of our coven, which is why he is hoping we will listen to him and not try to fight. He doesn't want to love any of his brothers."

"We can leave. I don't want things to end badly between anyone on account of me." Bella was too selfless, always putting others before herself. She sighed but didn't say anything more.

"Don't worry love. Everything will work out." I soothed her. "Now, while Billy is with Charlie, we should allow you to finish your hunt so we can all catch up." Bella smiled and we were on our way, Alice and Jasper still deep in thought in our wake.

After hunting, Bella and I returned to our home to meet with the family. Billy refused to leave Charlie's bedside, which frustrated Bella to no end. She wanted to be next to her father. To keep matters under control, our entire family met downstairs in the living room to discuss what Sam had said earlier and to hear what happened to put Bella under their control in the first place. I knew this story would be difficult for Bella to tell. She already admitted that these human memories were still clear as crystal to her. Luckily, Jacob was out of the house on patrol of our land and Billy wouldn't be able to hear us. I believe if I had to see their thoughts of Bella's story, I wouldn't be able to allow her continue to tell it.

"So Bella, lets start with transformation. Do you remember any of it?" Carlisle, always the doctor first and the vampire second.

"Well, I was only in pain in the beginning but feeling the ache in my body from Victoria, the burn really didn't make things any worse than they already were. I really only woke up once. I was in the bed at that point and Edward and Jacob were trying to calm me down. Getting Edward to hold me cooled my body down enough to allow me to drift off again. Even while unconscious, I could feel the burning of my body but I didn't recognize it as pain. When I woke up again, I saw Edward's face." Bella smiled as she leaned her body into my chest. She was sitting on my lap on the couch, the rest on our family with their significant others in similar positions around the room.

"Excellent." Carlisle said. "And when we left… What happened to you from there?"

"Well… I wasn't exactly human when you left. I mean, I got out of bed, went to school, and kept my grades up but I was only going through the motions of life. I lost myself for a long time even as far as getting arrested by my own father for breaking into the school."

"You broke into the school?" Alice gasped. "What could you have possibly been doing there? You're there five days of the week without having to force your way inside."

Bella would have blushed if she had been able, "I wanted to see your records… I wanted to see if the school had any idea where the mysterious Cullens moved. Once I found them, I realized the printed location was just a cover. I knew there was no way you could really be living in Los Angeles. There is just too much sun. Anyway, a janitor saw me and called the police. Charlie was upset to have to put me in handcuffs."

"Edward I told you she would get into trouble without us here!" Alice was fuming but holding her position. All of her echoing thoughts were smug and angry.

"Anyway, I decided to spend time in La Push. Jacob and I were friends in the past and I realized that human interaction was really what I needed. Well, human enough. I found out later that he was a werewolf, this was before Laurent came back."

"Irina called us about him. She said he just up and left one day and she couldn't understand why. She asked us to keep a lookout for him." Carlisle said. "Did he try to attack you?"

"Well I spent more and more time in La Push, eventually staying over night. Charlie became tired of waking up and me being gone so he took my truck apart. I couldn't stand the silence of the house so I walked back to La Push, the only place I felt human. When I decided I was okay to go home, Billy insisted that I stay to protect Charlie. I listened and stayed. Eventually I became depressed there as well so I decided to seek out the meadow. On my way there, Laurent found me. If Jake hadn't come along, he would have killed me where I stood. Unfortunately he got away."

"We don't know where he is, but we do know that Victoria received information from him. I don't think he has any intention of coming back for you." I rubbed soothing circles on her hand as her heart rate increased.

"How long were you in the woods Bella?" Esme asked from Carlisle's side. I knew Bella spent at least two days there from her scent.

"I was out there for three days. Once Laurent was gone and I was alone again, I decided to walk to your house. It was stupid but… I had to do it." Bella's voice was barely a whisper now and we were all thankful for our powerful hearing.

"Once I made my way to the house, I was starving. There was nothing really left here that was edible so I went to the river to at least hydrate myself. I knew Jake would come for me eventually. I was soaking in the water when he appeared. I was happy to see him but I realized he was looking behind me and he began to growl. When I turned around, I saw Victoria perched in a tree watching me. Jake took off after her even with me screaming for him to stop. I just knew she would kill him… After he chased her away, he came back for me and took me back to La Push. Billy was in contact with Charlie constantly telling him he hadn't seen me. It was the easiest way to keep Charlie safe."

"I had the vision of you in the water and thought you drowned. We all thought you were dead Bella. I can't see the wolves or anyone who is around them. My visions go black which usually means someone is dead."

"Alice, I'm so sorry I worried you!" Bella almost jumped from her seat next to me to embrace Alice but Carlisle's next question stopped her.

"When Victoria attacked you on the reservation, what happened? Your body was in quite a state and no human medical treatment could have saved you." It was the question we all wanted to ask but also didn't want to hear answered. For the first time since meeting Bella, I was thankful that her thoughts were silent to me.

We sat on bated breath as Bella told us of how she didn't realize we were back and how Victoria had tortured her and taunted her. We all cringed at the image placed before us. Though none of my family saw Victoria's actions towards Bella, their conjured images were enough to make me want to scream.

"When I saw Edward walk in the room, all of my pain set in and all I wanted was to be in his arms." She smiled into my eyes, her eyes filled with venom wishing it could fall.

"I'm glad she's gone." Alice whispered. We all nodded in agreement.

We all spoke with Bella of our time away from her and of what we were doing to try to keep our minds off of her in our absence. She eyed all of us with her crimson gaze in shock that we would miss her as much as she missed us. We only stopped talking when Jacob burst through the front door, a look of terror on his face.

"Sam is on his way. He wants to see Charlie. He's going to tell him everything unless you leave."

"So it's come to blackmail now?" Rosalie huffed from her corner with Emmett.

"Apparently so. He can't think of another way to get you to leave without a fight." Jacob caught his breath and made his way over to us. "Is Charlie even awake?"

We all listened silently to the sounds coming from upstairs. Charlie was mumbling, Billy speaking to him softly, but he wasn't quite coherent.

"Yes," I answered, 'but he isn't awake enough to speak clearly. He thinks he is at home in his bed recovering from a long night of sleeping pills."

"Should we just move him to his house and make him think he was home all along? I could easily say I came across him while hiking in the woods." Jacob's idea would at least save us some explaining.

"But that doesn't explain how he saw Bella. He's asking for her. He knows that she was with him earlier and Billy can't seem to convince him otherwise." Carlisle stood from the love seat that he shared with Esme.

"No." I said. "But at least that is one less question we have to find an answer for." Rosalie nodded but didn't speak.

"So it's settled then. Carlisle, give him something to knock him back out and I'll take him home. I'll be back to deal with Sam." Jacob went to stand but I felt Bella tense in my lap.

"No. I'll take him home. He's my dad." Bella stood from my lap and made her way towards Carlisle.

"Bella you can't be serious. You've pushed your self control enough for one day don't you think? You're being stupid." Jacob moved to grab Bella's arm. Without thinking, I dashed across the room and grasped his wrist before he touched Bella. He jerked from my hold and growled in response.

"Look you two. If Bella says she can handle this, let her handle it." Rosalie smiled at Bella from her corner of the room. It was still impressive to see Rose be kind to anyone.

"Thanks Rose." Bella said. "Carlisle, can you give him something? I don't want him to wake up and see me holding him."

"Of course Bella. Jacob, I may need you to get your father back home or at least outside. I'm sure he will be upset with the turn of events but I will not deny Bella her request." Carlisle's voice was stern but Jacob still chose to argue.

"How can you let her do this? What if Bella kills him?"

"Edward will be there with her and I trust my daughter Jacob."

Jacob snorted at the thought of Carlisle being Bella's father but he chose to say nothing outside of his thoughts.

"I know this is morbid but… I think I want to have a funeral for myself. I can hold my breath as if I'm dead and allow myself to be buried. I just want to give Charlie closure after we leave. At least this way he will be safe and we can move on without having to cause a tear in the pack. It's the least I can do for him after all I've put him through."

"You can't be serious?" Jacob's voice caught up with his thoughts before anyone else.

"I am serious Jake. I can't leave knowing my dad still has hope that I'm alive. He will never live in peace if he keeps looking."

"I think it's a bad idea Bella. Sam isn't going to make you leave. I'm going to handle that. Forget having to throw your own funeral. That's just creepy."

"Well Jake, I guess we're just going to have to agree to disagree." Bella smiled but showed no intentions of backing down.