A/N: Good morning, my ducks.

Edward had never considered the act of holding hands before. It was such an inane gesture. Never in his centuries of watching human existence had he considered it important enough to even spare a single thought.

It seemed he was making up for lost time. As they walked, Edward considered how something as simple as handholding could be so important.

Her hand was small and warm in his. He enjoyed the connection it provided—the physical proof that they were tethered. Strange the...comfort? Was that the correct word? He'd had no need of comfort before, so it was difficult to get a handle on what he was feeling now. He only knew that it was better to be bound to her this way, to feel the firm grasp of her fingers flexed around his.

He strongly suspected Bella enjoyed their touch for a different reason: support. She was scared. He could feel the fear emanating from her. By then, Edward didn't need to lament that he couldn't read her mind. He lamented instead that he was almost certain she wasn't afraid for herself. She never was. He could bet that she was afraid for Jasper.

That was okay. He was afraid enough for her. It was better now that he could be afraid for her while holding her hand. Every life, every day was in danger. Bella's life just seemed more in danger then most.

"We're clear on the whole no smiting thing, right? I know Peter is an asshole, but he doesn't deserve to be smote," Bella said, babbling.

Edward squeezed her hand. "As you say, I doubt he'll do much in a setting as public as a hospital." His cheek twitched. "At least nothing that would justify smiting."

She pulled him to a stop so she could wag her finger in his face. "Nothing justifies smiting." She was adorably exasperated. "I feel like I shouldn't have to be telling an angel these things."

Edward debated with himself a moment before he decided to broach the subject. "You said you didn't believe in angels before me. And certainly, the fictional angels you're familiar with, the Supernatural angels, are very vengeful. Yet, you seem to think I should fit a certain criteria." He smiled and stroked her hair back from her face. "I'm afraid you're the only one that good, Bella."

"Right."

Placing two fingers under her chin, he raised her head to look at him. "Do I disappoint you?"

"What? Why would you?"

"To harbor no firm beliefs is one thing. To have a theory outright disproven is quite another."

Bella eyed him and scoffed. "Edward. You ripped a bullet out of my body." She tilted her head. "Did I ever thank you for that? I think I was too busy telling your freaky ass to stay away from me."

He scoffed and drew her close to his side, continuing onward toward the front doors of the hospital. "I couldn't imagine this world without you in it. There's no need for thanks." He nodded in the direction of the doors. "I only wish there was more I could do."

She stopped him again as they entered the hospital. "You said you couldn't help Jasper because you didn't know what the repercussions would be." She rolled her eyes skyward. "Have you heard anything from..them. Or whatever?"

Edward felt a rush of what could only be fear course down his spine. He took a quick moment to reflect that he and Bella were very similar. Like her, his fear was not for himself. He didn't want to leave her. "I've not heard from any of the others, no."

She rested her head briefly against his shoulder. "Good." She took a deep breath and steeled herself. Edward saw why easily. Peter was heading toward them. He hadn't seen them yet, but he would. "I need you," Bella said.

Peter looked up and saw them then. For a moment, he'd looked the picture of a worried brother—all fear and grief. When he laid eyes on Edward and Bella, his face was a mask of fury. He quickened his pace, and Edward held on tighter to Bella out of instinct. He was already having trouble with her no-smiting rule.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Peter asked, surprisingly keeping his voice low.

Bella chose to ignore the question. "How is he, Peter?"

"Oh, are we pretending you give a fuck now?"

"Come on. Of course I care."

Peter leaned in close enough so he could hiss at her. "You really going to give me that shit after all this?" He gestured down the hall he'd just come from. "You really going to give me that after you took off without a second thought about anyone except yourself? Do you know if he survives. If. The police will be all over him the second he wakes up."

Bella took a step backward—Peter's height and anger were intimidating—and he grabbed her to keep her anchored.

Edward, who had been proud of himself for letting Bella lead, stepped up then. He put his hand out, grabbing Peter in a hold that was just a bit too hard to be a simple warning.

"Let the fuck go of me, freak," Peter said, his voice still low and dangerous.

Edward held his grasp for another two seconds, staring Peter down, wordlessly telling him that if he touched Bella again, he'd regret it. He could break all the fingers in the man's hand with simple, human strength. Surely, that couldn't be considered smiting.

When he loosened his hold, Peter yanked his hand back and put both hands up. Edward's stare had unnerved him enough that he was more scared than angry. His thoughts were venomous; filled with all the things he wanted to do to Edward.

Asshole's not worth it, Peter told himself, reminding himself that he couldn't get kicked out of the hospital right now.

The whole exchange took only a few seconds. Bella looked relieved when Peter took a step back. She looked to him. "How is he?" she tried again.

"Fuck off. You're the one who got him in here. You can fuck the hell off."

Edward shouldn't have been surprised at what happened next. Bella's face went from one of stricken pleading to a seriously pissed off woman. She was diminutive, yet somehow, when she stood up straight and fixed her glare on Peter, she looked to be six feet tall.

"I'm the one who got him in here?" She leaned forward so she could whisper-hiss at him. "Are you serious with that shit? How delusional can you possibly get? Why was he there in the first place, Peter? You and I both know he never wanted to get into all that. I went there to try to get him out of it. Who dragged him there in the first place, huh?"

"Because of you. Because you can't keep your mouth shut. Because you can't—"

"Oh, would you come off it? You and James and Victoria can all go fuck off with that shit. I'm so fucking sick of it. I grew up the same way you did. The difference between you and me is you won't stop being a fucking victim. I don't owe you anything, least of all my complicity in your criminal activity. Your fucking friends tried to kill me. They tried to kill me and hit your brother—their friend—because they cared more about taking my life than about him. And why, Peter? Why do you and your friends think I deserve to die?"

"You stick your nose where it doesn't belong, and you get what you deserve."

"That's the point, you delusional asshole. I didn't stick my nose anywhere. You brought it to me. James brought it to me. My work. My fucking life. And I get it, Peter. I do. You've been pushed down and shit on every damn day of your life. You don't care about anyone because no one cares about you."

Bella's face twisted from furious to sad. She gulped, her eyes going glassy with tears. "Except Jasper. You've always cared about Jasper. You've always loved him more than anything else in the world. Why now? You kept all your bullshit away from him for so long, why the hell would you drag him into it now? He shouldn't have been there. He should never have been there."

Edward could feel the guilt and shame twisting in Peter. His hands were clenched in fists at his sides. "Shut up," he said, trying to find his fury again. "You shut the fuck up. You—"

"Excuse me."

All the breath left Edward in a gust. A thrill of fear—pure fear—went down his spine, and the world seemed to stop. He found himself grappling with an uncomfortable, choking feeling. As though his lungs would not accept air. It was odd; Edward didn't need to breathe, so it shouldn't have bothered him.

It was a different fear than what he'd felt when he knew Bella had been shot, that she was dying. It was very different, and yet just as intense.

At the sound of the gentle, yet authoritative voice, Bella and Peter each took a step back. They looked to the source with expressions on their faces like children about to be scolded on the playground. Edward didn't turn around. He saw the man who approached through Peter's thoughts.

He was tall, svelte, and blond. There was something about the way he moved that was a step above regal. There was something about him that stunned. Peter's thoughts grew cloudy around the edges as he took him in. He was wearing a lab coat that suggested he was a doctor, though Edward knew for a fact he wasn't.

The man came to stand to the side and slightly behind Edward, looking at both Bella and Peter. Edward felt a touch at the back of his mind. Calming. Like a hand on his shoulder, but he didn't relax.

"Mr. Whitlock, are these your brother's friends?" Carlisle asked.

Peter opened his mouth, intending to make a smart alec reply, but the buzz around his thoughts made words difficult. "I...uh. Yeah," he said instead.

"That's wonderful," Carlisle said, his voice serene. "They can sit with him while you run your errand. It helps, you know. Even though he's unconscious, the presence of friends and loved ones helps. Sometimes, it's the sound of their voice that guides them home or gives them the strength to fight."

"I… Yeah, I… Yes." Peter rubbed the back of his neck.

"Don't worry, then. I know you're eager to be back with Jasper. Go run your errand so you can get back sooner. I'll show them back."

Edward felt Peter's uncertainty, but Carlisle's gentle suggestion was more than mere words. Edward felt the pressure Carlisle put in the man's mind, making it a command Peter was almost helpless but to follow. If he'd had a stronger mind, he might have been able to fight it off. But Peter was, at his heart, a follower. It wasn't difficult to plant the idea that he really needed to be elsewhere.

Peer cleared his throat. "Okay." He looked to Bella, his eyes narrowed slightly. "I'll be back."

Bella turned to watch him go for only a moment before she swiveled back. She looked at Carlisle, blinked, and then looked to Edward. He did his best to school his expression, but he must not have done a good job. Then again, Bella was a very perceptive person. The way she clutched his hand, he knew she knew, or at least, she'd guessed what Carlisle was.

The question now, of course, was what he was doing there.

"Come with me," Carlisle said, waving them down a hallway. The woman at the check-in desk, who had been eyeing them during their hissed conversation, was now ignoring them completely. Edward guessed Carlisle had taken care of that as well.

Edward and Bella fell in step behind him, both quiet. It struck Edward what a terrible thing it was to have to walk to your own execution. He'd watched countless people over the centuries put in that position. He understood now how each step was a show of incredible bravery.

He felt anything but brave then. He had to keep himself in check, or he'd give in to the urge to scoop Bella into his arms and fly far away. He knew of other planets where she could breathe the air. He imagined she'd like to see them.

"His condition is critical but stable," Carlisle said even though he knew damn well neither of them thought he was a real doctor. He kept up a steady conversation, telling them of Jasper's various struggles, as they wandered down hallways and up elevators.

When they were outside the door of Jasper's room, Carlisle turned to them. He looked directly at Bella, his smile kind, and touched her arm. "He's going to live," he said. "He'll make a full recovery."

Bella made a small noise in the back of her throat, something like a whimper, and exhaled in a gust. "Oh, God," she muttered, closing her eyes as a tear slipped down her cheek.

"Go sit with him. He's trying to find his way in the darkness. Edward and I need to talk."

Bella's eyes snapped open wide. She looked again between Carlisle and Edward. Her grip on Edward's hand tightened as though she could keep him there by her strength of will alone. He could feel her fear. She knew Carlisle was powerful. More powerful than Edward.

Still, his brave human girl took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "Don't take him," she said, looking Carlisle right in the eyes. "If he broke a rule, or… I mean, you have to see how fucked up it all is. Rules that aren't rules, or whatever. You can't have a one size fits all system. It just doesn't work. There are always what if's and—"

Edward was startled to hear Carlisle chuckle. He reached out and touched her arm again, calming her. "Don't worry, child. I'm not here to take him from you. I promise."

Now it was Edward's turn to exhale in a gust. The very-human gesture caught him off guard, but he couldn't help his relief. He finally looked at Carlisle and saw he seemed amused.

"Rest easy, Bella," Carlisle said. "You should have a moment with your friend, and I wish only to speak with Edward. That's all. Go to him. It will be all right."

Edward squeezed her hand and turned her toward him with a tug. He brushed his free hand down her cheek, relieved that this would not be the last time he touched her. "Go on. I'll be close by."

She looked at Carlisle once more. Edward could see she didn't trust the other angel, but she did trust him. She nodded. "Okay," she said, and pushed up on her tiptoes to give him a resolute kiss. Basically showing Carlisle how little she thought of any rules he might have about them.

Edward couldn't help his smile as he kissed her back. The kiss lasted only a second or two, but it was momentous. He wasn't ashamed of himself for this. This could not be wrong by anyone's definition.

Then again, as he fell into step beside Carlisle, Edward wondered whose definition they were playing by. Carlisle wasn't going to drag him back today, but that didn't mean there were no repercussions.

"Peace, Edward," Edward heard the words in his mind. "You're right. Your choices have repercussions but not punishment. There will be no retribution. Not from us."

Edward considered this a moment. "You're aware of what I did?"

The color of Carlisle's thoughts was bemused. "Of course. You're not the first angel to be seen, as you well know. You remember Gabriel. Gabriel started a rather prevalent myth with his appearance. There have been others as well. Less grandiose, but that's Gabriel. And he's of my echelon. You'd think he'd be held to a higher standard, but I suppose that would assume there is a standard for this kind of thing to begin with, which there is not."

Carlisle waved a hand, knowing he'd gotten tangled up in his own musing. He gestured to an office and closed the door behind them once Edward had entered.

"We exist, Edward," Carlisle said, sitting down behind the desk and looking to Edward. "Because we exist, because we interact with the humans, these little sightings are inevitable."

"But there must be some reason you've come. Last time, you came to warn me. I know exactly how many days I have left, believe me. Now, you've come again." Edward stopped there, waiting for Carlisle to fill in the blanks.

At that, Carlisle was quiet. He stroked his chin, thinking and not letting Edward hear his thoughts. "If you want to know the truth, you fascinate me, Edward. You and your human. I came for many reasons. The first is that you have been worrying needlessly, which is a curiosity in and of itself." Carlisle grinned. "Angels have a singular personality and thought process. There are defects, of course. Gabriel for instance. But when an angel develops such a defect many millennia into his existence, I take notice."

"Is that not a defect in and of itself?"

Carlisle's grin broadened. "Oh, yes. Amongst my echelon, I am another they shake their heads at." He cocked his head, considering. "That seems to reinforce the idea that we don't know all we think we know, even of our own species. Have you considered the subject of angels and evolution?"

Edward cocked an eyebrow and waited.

"Humans, like so many other species, evolved from a state of biological impulse—eat, sleep, defecate, procreate—to the thinking creatures they are today, all varied and complicated. Have you considered that angels too may evolve? It would be different, of course. We are immortal beings." He waved a hand. "Well, as immortal as it is possible to be. At any rate, because our species doesn't procreate, it's not our offspring who carry the genetic mutation that is evolution, but ourselves. Theoretically, of course. So we begin to see mutations here and there. Gabriel ages ago. Me. Rosalie. You. We are beginning to evolve into beings with...well, emotions in your case. Perhaps curiosity in mine." He tapped his fingers on the desk, not looking at Edward at all now but thinking out loud. "We begin to evolve into creatures who perhaps question our own biological impulse. Have you considered that? That though we are thinking, reasoning creatures, we adhere to a call within us without questions. We are like animals that way who are cable of logic and philosophy. Capable of questioning what we're doing, and yet we do not."

Edward hummed. "We are no more than trained dogs, when you put it that way."

Carlisle nodded. "We interact with the humans as we do because that is our part in the grand design. That is what we were made for, is it not? And yet, here we are. You and I and our defects. Yet still, the world spins on. And so it is with our realm as well."

He looked to Edward. "I came for two reasons. The second is that you've been worrying about the fixed points in this young man's life. That and your Bella has wanted so badly to see him. You would not have been able to get past Peter in your human state. There are rules. A family member must give you permission to visit Jasper, and he would not have." He chuckled. "Strange, is it not? To consider that human words and ideas could stop a will as strong as Bella's from seeing her friend.

"In any event. His death is not one of his fixed points. I know you wished to save him, so I did it for you. Don't thank me," Carlisle said, holding up a hand. "He would have lived in any case, but now he will make a full recovery. It was not much of a stretch."

Edward nodded slowly. "You like Bella."

"I believe I already said that. Yes. I became fascinated with what, or rather whom, could make you so fascinated. So consumed. Edward, you were the picture of the obedient angel for all of your existence until her. Of course I was curious."

Again Edward nodded, accepting this. "And the first reason you came down?"

Carlisle fixed him with a probing stare. "How would the humans put it? For an angel, you are, at times, obtuse. I want to make this clear. You can fall. It is your choice, of course, but there would be no trouble from the angels." His look was kind somehow. "I suppose I'm curious why you have not, and I thought it best to ask you directly seeing as I cannot divine the answer from my observations."

Edward was quiet for a long while. "Who will protect her?"

"This threat will be over soon enough, but there will always be another. She is human, Edward. They are very fragile creatures. There was always going to be a time when you could not protect her, but you know this."

"Yes," Edward said, looking down at his hands. He swallowed hard. "But therein lies the rub. If I were to fall, I would become human. I would be part of the eternal cycle, would I not? Death and life and death and life." He swallowed again. "And I would forget her. If I were human, I could lose her while I still lived, but after I died, I would forget."

"Forgetting is not permanent. In the in between, the time between death and new life, you would remember."

"And live lifetimes without remembering?" He sighed. "That's not all, but that is the worst thought. There are others, of course, not the least of which is Bella herself. Humans are not so steady as we are. Feelings change. Love changes. I know her. If I were to fall and, some time down the line, she were to not love me or not want whatever life we could have together, she would stay. She would stay because she would consider my sacrifice too great." He shook his head, closing his eyes against the pain. Knowledge of an impending separation, especially one as deep and total as this would be, was agony. What would it be like to truly experience it?

Carlisle spoke after a long moment. "That is, as they say, a hell of a choice."

Edward huffed, amused at his words in spite of himself.

"Come," Carlisle said, standing. "Bella is perhaps more curious than I am. Her questions are getting louder, and she's worried I was lying about not absconding with you."

Edward's head snapped up. "You can hear her thoughts?"

"Of course." Carlisle patted his back in a conciliatory fashion. "And there is yet another mystery for the ages. How in the worlds is she blocking an angel? I've always wondered. Ah, well. I expect you and I will always have to live with the same truth as the humans do. We will not have all the answers we want, celestial beings or no."

A/N: My thanks to Songster, MoH, and Barbarella.

Well. Edward won't be dragged away from her screaming. Hummm.