A/N: Hey, guys. I know it's been, like, FOREVER since I updated, and I'm really sorry for that. ) : I've just been suffering from some minor writer's block with this story. On a completely different note, you might have noticed that I changed my pen name. I like this one better. ; ) The chapter title rightfully belongs to Linkin Park, whom I believe should have whipped the Jonas Brothers for 'best band' at the KCA's. But don't fret. I'm a huge Nick Jonas fan as well.

Twenty-One

Leave Out All the Rest

EDWARD

"You don't have to do this, Bella," I reminded her. Again.

"I know, Edward," she replied, same as all of the other times.

"I mean, we're vampires, for crying out loud!" I was beginning to sound like a broken record. But she wasn't getting my secret meaning. When I said that we could take care of ourselves, I really meant that she couldn't. And when I said that she didn't have to do it, I meant that I didn't want her to.

"Edward," she repeated, taking my face in her hands. I stared into her eyes, trying to understand what she could possibly be thinking. "Alice said she saw me confronting Mike. She said that it will solve everything. I don't know exactly how, and neither does she, but I have to do this if I want to get the Cullens out of danger."

I growled subconsciously, throwing my arms around her. "No one expects you to be the hero, Bella. You're the human. We're supposed to be the ones looking out for you."

She sighed softly into my shoulder. I held her closer. "And anyway," I continued, "I won't put you in that kind of danger, love. You can't just 'confront' Mike. That's ridiculously masochistic."

"Maybe masochism will finally get us somewhere with him," she whispered.

"I don't care. We're not going to do it that way. We'll stick with the original plan. Emmett, Jasper, and I will surprise Mike in the clearing. He won't even see it coming," I pleaded. I felt her small head shaking against my chest.

"That's not what I want, Edward. That's not what will get rid of him once and for all," she said.

"What are you talking about, Bells? The three of us can easily take him on. We'll take him apart and burn the pieces. Easy. And I know you worry about Alice, but she and Rosalie won't even have to go with us," I babbled. She was still shaking her head, but now she was looking back into my eyes, my arms still encircling her, keeping her close to me.

"No," she said in a small voice. "I mean it won't end it for me. I have to do this for me. Let me yell at him a little, tell him that he ruined the better half of my life, and if I had never found you, I'd still be dead. Then you and Emmett can take turns ripping limbs off of his body."

I smiled in spite of myself. "I'm still not happy about you endangering yourself but…"

"But you won't stop me," she finished sternly.

"I won't stop you," I agreed solemnly. "But there are a few conditions I would like to request."

"Such as?" she asked, her tone businesslike. I smoothed the crease between her eyebrows with a kiss before continuing.

"Don't kiss him," I joked. The corners of her mouth twitched upward, but she did not allot me a full smile. "Don't provoke him, and please, in the name of all that is good, please refrain from doing anything that could cause blood, Bella."

"Deal." I kissed her lips softly.

"I can't believe I'm letting you do this," I admitted.

She curled into my shoulder once again. "It's one of the things I love about you," she crooned. I almost laughed at her mock, fan girlish affection. She glanced out of one of the many windows in my room and sighed. "Let's do this."

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BELLA

"Fine, Emmett," Edward growled into the phone's receiver. I looked up at him as he snapped it shut.

"What is it?" I asked stupidly, frustrated that I was the only one who didn't know what was going on, just like always.

"Complication," he answered simply. I suppressed a groan. He was in pain enough already.

"What kind of complication?" I prodded gently. His knuckles turned bone-white as he tightened his grip on his unlucky victim, the steering wheel.

"Mike decided to stop for a… snack," he supplied. I did groan at this.

"I'll be happy when he's dead and gone," I muttered, turning my face out the window. I caught a glimpse of his crooked smile out of the corner of my eye, and he took my hand in his, never taking his attention off of the road.

I wondered again, absentmindedly, why he'd chosen to drive. He'd said that it was fast, but I'd argued that running would be faster. He'd said that is would be more inconspicuous, and, of course, I had no argument for that. Still, it seemed odd. That had never stopped him before.

"Soon," he promised, nodding his head a little. I leaned my head against his shoulder.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, suddenly remembering that he was, in fact, driving a vehicle. "Sorry, force of habit."

"You know, Bella, I am a vampire." As if I needed to be reminded of that. "We can focus on more than one thing at once. So, believe it or not, you weren't distracting me from anything too important." I giggled for the first time in what seemed like ages.

"True that."

"Alice thinks that he'll be back in the clearing in about an hour now. At least, that's what he's planning right now. I don't know why he'd come back. Not while all of us are just standing around here waiting for him. It's too bad I can't read his mind."

"What do you mean you can't read his mind?" I lifted my head from his shoulder and removed my fingers from his.

"He seems to have some sort of shield around his mind. Just like you, Bella. You and him are the only ones I can't read like an open book. It's even more frustrating with him than it is with you. At least if I knew what he was thinking, I could anticipate his moves before he made them," he stated.

"And where was I when you made this revelation?" I demanded.

He looked at me, incredulous. "I'm-I'm sorry, Bella. I didn't think you'd care that much."

"This was while I was out cold, wasn't it?" I asked, irked.

"Yes. But I assure you, if I had known that it meant this much to you, I would have informed you of- BELLA!" he suddenly screamed.

I stared at him in wonder, and then looked at the spot on the road that he was staring at, open-mouthed in horror. The spot was getting closer and closer. The spot was Mike.

A/N: Sort of a cliffy, wouldn't you say? Haha. So review. And I promise I will try to make the next chapter longer and earlier. Thank you, thank you,

C.J.