Most people think the one thing in any life that will always come back to bite you in the ass is Karma.

Most people were wrong.

It's hindsight.

Once Peter left her to own devices while he went to clean up the mess she made in the kitchen, Bella had taken a seat on the bed, and though she didn't actually want to, her mind supplied her with the start of every single argument she and Peter had gotten into, and it made her sick to her stomach. He had been right before; she really had started every single one, and numerous times, had actually gone out of her way to do so. Sure, she had her reasons, but her trust issues didn't translate to a defense. He hadn't deserved what she had been doing, and somewhere in her mind, she knew it at the time she did it. He had been far more patient with her than she deserved, and she had made up her mind that she was going to try and make it up to him. She had no idea how, but she was determined to do something to show him she was actually sorry for everything.

Convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt there had to be a way, Bella considered her options, but wasn't coming up with much. She couldn't help clean up the mess she made, she would only make it worse. She didn't know if she was ready for any kind of physical relationship, and though she was pretty sure he would be agreeable to it, she did know sex didn't really fix anything. She didn't have the means to buy him anything, though she was positive if she asked him for some money he would give it to her, almost with no questions asked, but he didn't strike her at the kind of guy that was into what would amount to little more than bribery to not be pissed off at her. She also knew most of their problems came from her inability to trust him, but that was the one thing she wasn't sure how to fix. No, he hadn't done anything to show her she couldn't. As a matter of fact, he damn near went out of his way to show her she could.

The week and a half she was human after their escape from Italy, there were numerous times he not only could have, but if she was actually honest with herself, should have killed her. She understood something changed for him, making him see her as something more than the means to an end she used to be. She understood she had been dead wrong about everything she ever thought. She understood she was holding a man she really knew nothing about to a standard that didn't actually exist.

With a sigh, she dropped back on the bed, her arms flopping and hands landing above her head. Looking at the ceiling, she pursed her lips. How could she do something like that? How could she possibly hold someone who clearly had more issues than an entire psychiatric hospital to any kind of standard? Especially one that had some kind of moral compass? She meant what she said before about the Cullens and using her past with them as a form of protection, using them to drive Peter away, but really, that wasn't completely true. The truth was, the man terrified her in ways she couldn't explain, made her feel things she didn't understand.

Then again, that also wasn't completely true.

She was afraid he would walk away, even though he said he wouldn't, because so did Edward. She was afraid he would hurt her, even though he said he wouldn't, because so did Edward. Even knowing she had given him plenty of reasons to do both, he hadn't, because he wasn't Edward. She was holding all kinds of shit against him, because of Edward, but he wasn't Edward.

Blowing a puff of air hard from her lips, Bella pushed herself to sit up, leaning against her hands, a slight sneer on her face. God, she was a bitch, but she had an idea now.

Bobbing herself to the side of the bed, she stood, straightening her mental shoulders before she left the room and headed for the stairs. She had an idea, but she wasn't sure how well it would go over. She let it run through her mind as she descended to the first floor, playing with her fingers. It was half-assed at best, but from what she had discovered about Peter was, he also planned shit half-assed, so maybe, just maybe, a half-assed plan was better than nothing.

By the time she reached the kitchen, she had convinced herself this was a good idea, and when she rounded the corner, she swallowed hard, her eyes falling on Peter as he swept up the last of the glass on the floor. Nose wrinkling slightly, she glanced off to the side, a stab of remorse coming from hearing the glass tinker together. That was pretty terrible of her, but, she had a plan, and letting out a breath, she crossed the threshold into the room, walking over to Peter as he stood up, and holding out a hand.

"Isabella."

Caught completely off guard at the presentation of the hand in his face, Peter jerked his head back so she didn't catch him in the nose, his brow sliding up his forehead. "Beg pardon?"

Biting into her lip as he turned away to toss the glass into the trash can, she let out a breath to calm herself, and once she was sufficiently talked back into the fact this was a good plan, she once again closed the distance between them, held her hand out again, and looked him in his very confused and standoffish eyes. "Isabella."

Puckering his lips, Peter set the dustpan on the counter, glancing at her once again outstretched hand, and crossed his arms as he leaned a hip on the counter's edge. "The hell you doin'?"

Licking her lips, Bella glanced off to the side for a moment, letting out yet another breath before looking back at Peter. "Everything... this is... nothing is right. From start to finish, everything is wrong. The situation. Our perception of the situation. It's... it's all wrong. I'm not..." shaking her head, she sighed. "I have nothing to fall back on to tell me how I'm supposed to act. I've never done this before, and I'm not talking about the change in species. I've never done this, and I have nothing but...him, to tell me how this is going to go. It's not fair, and I know it's not fair, and I am sorry, but really, this whole thing is stupid and..."

Pausing and giving her head a shake, Bella scratched the back of her head and flicked her eyes back to Peter and his raised brow. "I know we can't go back. I know I can't change what I've done, but..." gulping back the lump in her throat, she once again held out her hand, looking up at Peter through her lashes. "My name is Isabella, and I would like to start over."

Nothing she said lessened his confusion, and with a slightly chuckle in his throat, Peter's lip curled. "What?" Scoffing only slightly, he sighed. "Baby Doll, listen carefully." Leaning toward her, he lowered his voice. "No." Straightening back up, he cocked his head to the side as he watched Bella's face fall. Clicking his tongue, he elaborated. "I ain't all that interested in startin' over, Bella. Movin' forward? Hell yeah, but not startin' over. We come to far to go back like that. You really wanna go through all this shit again?"

Bella was quick to shake her head. "No, no not at all and that's not what I meant. Um, I just think, not that we had much of a choice of course, but I think we started out on the wrong foot. I mean, we really didn't have a choice, but come on Peter, think about it. Since day one it's been about... everything it shouldn't be. I want to start over so everything that's coming makes sense. I want to start over because right now it doesn't. Right now..." jumping tracks, "what are we fighting for, Peter?"

Nose wrinkling, Peter scoffed much harder this time. "Our fuckin' lives, that's what."

Bella, though, just shrugged. "Okay, but why?" Bella crossed her arms when Peter jolted at the question. "I'm not asking why are we fighting to survive. I don't want to die, but I'm asking why? Why should we? When this is all over, what's going to be left that we can look at and say this is all worth it? You said we're fighting for our lives, and I'm asking what life? A life of fighting over bullshit we can't do a damn thing about? I'm not interested, so again I ask, what are we fighting for?"

Opening his mouth, Peter paused a moment, not really sure how to answer that. Well, any of it really. She made a couple of valid point, but he wasn't sure how to deal with it. He certainly wasn't interested in spending the rest of eternity fighting with the girl, and no matter the fact things seemed to been smoothed out, recent history said it was only a motter of time before something else cropped up and they would be at the other, once again. So, deciding to humor her for once, Peter uncrossed his arms, reached out with one and, hooking a finger through her belt loop, pulled his girl to his chest. Wrapping his fingers around her hip, he tilted his head to the side. "So, what is it you proposin', Dolly?"

Looking up at him, Bella pressed her lips together, biting into the inside of her cheek. She didn't know how this was going to go, how he was going to take what she was about to say, but she decided to stop hiding behind her fear and, after licking her lips, she cleared her throat. "I'm proposing that we stop acting like we're going to die, and start giving each other something to life for when this is all over." Looking away for this next part, she dropped her eyes. "You're all I have. They took everything else. You have Charlotte, and the.. people in your head, and your... other half or whatever. You have normalcy, or what you know as normalcy anyways, and I'm still trying to figure out what normalcy is for me. But right now, all I know is, you are all I have, and that's terrifying, and more than just slightly pathetic to be honest, but it's..."

Glancing back up at him through her lashes, "you are all I have and I don't want this crap fucking that up, too. If you meant what you said before about having plans that come after this, then I think we need to start over, from the beginning, and try again. I think we need to forget how we met and the circumstances that brought us together and... I don't know." Lifting a helpless shoulder, her voice took on something of a pleading tone. "I guess what I'm proposing that we stop treating this like it's the end of the world, and start figuring out what the hell is going to come next."

The look that overtook Peter's face was nothing short of pure indulgence. Grinning wide enough to show teeth, he held the hand that wasn't on Bella's hips over her head. "That's a pretty large order from such a tiny thin', Baby Doll."

Batting Peter's hand from above her with a playful glare, she wrinkled her nose. "Shut up, I'm not that short. You're just freakishly tall." At the cocked brow she got, she huffed. "Okay, so I'm short, whatever, fuck you very much." Rolling her eyes, she tried to hide her smile, but it was still in her eyes as she cleared her throat. "Seriously, back to what I was saying. Say an army of Italians showed up at your door, without prior warning; what would you do?"

Snorting hard, Peter actually belted out an unexpected laugh, catching Bella off guard enough to make her jump. She blinked at him, and when her eyes reopened she found herself looking into the darkest red she had ever seen Peter's eyes turn. They weren't red, but they were black either. His voice was deeper, but not so much as when his other side came out to play. However, it held every ounce of sadistic amusement the Captain always spoke with. "I'd fuckin' kill 'em." Leaning over her, he forced Bella to lean back, but he didn't let her go. Locking his eyes on her wide ones, he teeth almost snapped together as he spoke. "No one without a death wish would be that stupid. Them Italians on they way, right now, as we speak, have nothin' ta live for and know they on a suicide mission. This ain't the end a the world, Baby Doll, not by a long shot. Might seem like it. Might even feel like it, but it ain't, I can promise ya that. Can also promise ya I ain't treatin' it like it is."

Even as a vampire now, Bella was still forever caught off guard by how fast Peter could move. Even with her new eyes, she couldn't follow him, and she was still left coming up short when his speed was used on her. Blinking as the world spun around her, she grabbed onto Peter's shoulders to stop the tilting of the Earth's axes when he picked her up by the hips, spun her around, and sat her on the counter.

His hands to either side of her, he was bend at the waist still, his eyes level with hers, but still that same dark red. His voice now, however, held a growl. "This a bullsit hurtal put in place by a candy ass that ain't got the balls ta face his absolution like a man; that ain't got the balls ta face me like a man. That's what's I'm treatin' this shit like. Not like it the end a the world. Not like the damn sky fallin'. When I said we fightin' for our fuckin' lives, I didn't mean it like ya took it. I didn't mean we fightin' for survival, cause Baby Doll, if I gotta kill the Devil himself we survivin'. Swear that on my life, as condemned as it is. There ain't any other outcome I'm willin' ta entertain. We fightin' for what comes next. Sucks somethin' awful this shit gotta come first, but it is what it is. If you ain't got the stomach for bloodshed, if you ain't got revenge in ya, that fine, Darlin'. I got plenty enough for the both a us."

Looking away from his piercing eyes for a moment, Bella's hands slid down from his shoulders to his chest where she played with a button on his shirt as she chewed on the corner of her bottom lip. "Well," looking back at him, "I'm not gonna make you fight for us by yourself."

Chuckling deep in his throat, Peter leaned into her, stopping just before their lips touched, lowering his voice, his lips brushing hers as he spoke. "I ain't gonna make you fight for anythin' at all." Pulling back to look in her eyes, he ran the tip of his tongue slowly along his upper lip, tasting the hint of her flavor that transferred from her own before he clicked his tongue and tilted his head slightly. "What was your plan tonight, Baby Doll? What was it you came down here wantin' from me with all this start over stuff?"

Her own lips tingling from the almost kiss, Bella's head was swimming from his nose gripping scent. Trying very hard to focus on something other than how close he was, she cleared throat, but it didn't do enough. There was still a slight growl to her own voice she couldn't completely make go away. "I um..." shaking her head, she locked her glossed over eyes on Peter's, "just, wanted to wipe the slate clean, to forget everything up to this point and start," waving a finger between she and him, "this again."

Lips parting into a smirk that all but melted Bella's panties, Peter's nose even wrinkled with his one word response. "Done."

To which Bella jolted. "Really? Just like that? Even with the kind of bitch I've been to you for no reason, you're willing to forgive and forget it all?"

Peter merely popped a shoulder. "'Course I am. Know why?" When Bella shook her head, Peter's face softened. "'Cause ya asked me to." Then, he smirked at her again. "See what happens when ya actually open your mouth and talk ta me? Generally speakin', you gonna get whatcha want."

If Bella had the ability to blush, she would be beet red. Biting her lip so she didn't give herself away, she shrugged. "Who knew, right?" Giving her throat another clearing, she sighed as she looked up through her lashes. "So what now? More defense training?"

Peter shook his head slowly, and upturn of his lips setting Bella slightly on edge. "Nope. Ain't much in the mood for that right at the moment." Fingers slipping into her hair, he grabbed a handful at the base of his girl's skull, pulling her head back to make her actually look up at him. Stepping up to the counter, he locked his eyes on hers. "Right now, I'ma kiss you till ya forget how ta talk. Then, I'ma throw ya over my shoulder, take your little ass upstairs, tie ya ta my bed, and spend the next two days with either my tongue or my cock buried between your legs." Dipping his head, Peter gently nuzzled his nose along the length of Bella's, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Any objections?"

Bella's mouth went dry halfway down her throat. So far back, in fact, were she still human, she would probably throw up.

Peter chuckled deep in his throat as he continued his assault on his girl's senses. "We ain't goin' back, 'member. We startin' over, and I can't think a any betta way ta do it."

Reflectively swallowing, and choking on it, Bella's voice was airy, but it did carry a hint of desire buried under her confusion. "But... but before you said..."

Nipping at her lips, Peter grinning in anything but a nice way. "Changed my mind. Still gonna wife ya, but right now, weddin' bells ain't exactly what I wanna hear." His lips now hovering over hers, "so nows the time ta voice them objections if ya got 'em."

Putting in a very valiant effort on her part, or so she thought, Bella licked her lips, but since Peter was still so close, the tip of her tongue glided along his as well, which, honestly, did nothing to help her keep her wits about her when the flavor of aged whiskey with a hint of tobacco and leather seeped into her tastebuds. Her voice shook as much as she did, but she wasn't as against the idea as she thought she would have been. "I... I don't... I've nev..."

Fingers tightening in Bella's hair, Peter used his grip to pull her head back just a little more, dipping his own and running his nose along the column of her neck before scraping his teeth over the mark he left when he turned her, her body all but melting at the action. "Not a deterrent." Nuzzling his mark, "if anythin', it just makes me wantcha more. "Lifting his head, he locked his smoldering eyes on Bella's. "Last chance, Baby Doll. Either tell me a flat out no, or we goin' upstairs."

Then... she realized something. Peter wasn't the one that called her out on not talking to him about what she wanted or what was bothering her. The Captain was. Lip curling in the corner, her eyes crinkled as she caught her breath. "How did you know to ask that?"

There was rough growl on the air as Peter's head dropped down so his chin was nearly touching his chest. Untangling his fingers from Bella's hair and placing his hand back on the counter, he huffed. "Well, ya certainly knows how ta kill the damn mood, don'tcha." Letting out a hard breath, Peter picked his head back up, pure irritation on his face as a brow slid high on his forehead. Even for as annoyed as he was, he was just as confused by her question as she was to ask it. "Ask what? If ya had any objections ta me fuckin' your brains out? The fuck you really think a me that I ain't gonna getcha permission first?"

Bella was already shaking her head before he finished the second question. "No, not that." When she paused, she found herself under the weight of a look that clearly told her to get the point. So, she did. "How did you know to say 'see what happens when I open my mouth and talk to you?"

Not having any idea where this line of questioning came from, Peter's lip curled. "I know you new at this recall shit, but I said it before; in the livin' room."

Looking at his eyes once again, and still seeing they were red, dark red but still red, Bella shook her head. "No, you didn't. I didn't have that conversation with you. I had it with him."

Pushing himself to stand straight, Peter's eyes shifted back and forth as his top lip pulled away from his teeth. He could clearly recall the conversation, word for word, but if he wasn't the one that said it, he shouldn't be able to. He only ever knew outcomes of conversations, not the actual conversation. Head cocking to the side, "I... don't know." After another moment, he shrugged, deciding this wasn't the time for exploration into his, admittedly, fucked up head. "I also don't care. Wanna know what I care about right now?" When he saw Bella shake her head, he grinned at her as he hooked his hands behind her knees and jerked her to the edge of the counter and right up to him. "Them objections."