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Chapter 20 When You Least Expect It

-ε- The Cavalry

Ordinarily, someone messing with my car would have made me mad. Thinking of myself as the god of war or at least a good protégé, I would have stormed over and confronted the guy. I might have even threatened to bring out a saber.

But after I yelled out, I had a moment of panic.

Our lives hadn't been ordinary lately, and the way Bella stiffened but didn't resist when I threw my arm around her and pulled her close to me indicated that we were on the same page.

"Should I call Jasper?" she asked.

"I think that would be best. He can tell us what we should do," I answered.

We had an unspoken understanding that maybe it was best that we not touch the car at that moment. I didn't really think anything happened, but given the things I'd seen lately directed at Seth and Bella and even my mom, caution was a good thing.

"I know," she insisted. "Jasper, we're not stupid . . . Okay . . . we appreciate that."

"Let me guess. He told us not to go near the car." There were moments I understood why Bella had felt overprotected by the men in her life.

"Yes, and a few other warnings. I'm pretty sure a SWAT team, a bomb squad, the FBI, the CIA, and Jasper are on their way over."

"Hey, he's just worried." I couldn't believe I was defending him, and the look on Bella's face was priceless. Then she smiled and nodded.

"I know. Actually, so am I."

I grabbed her hand and let her over to some picnic benches, which were far enough away from the car but still provided a view of anything coming into the parking lot.

"Do you think it's something?" she asked cryptically.

"I don't know. I hope not, but given the track record lately . . ."

She put her head in her hands and rubbed vigorously.

"When I insisted on staying on with Seth, I didn't think about the fact that I was putting you in danger too."

"Hey, don't do that."

"It just seems like everyone I know is at risk now just by being around me."

"Bella, you can't do that. First of all, we don't even know what this was. Shoot, maybe the guy has a grudge against fencers; we don't know." That got a little smile out of her. "I'm sure Jasper is going to suggest a few more precautions, and maybe that's not a bad idea, but overall, you can't just stop living your life, and even I don't think you can abandon Seth now."

My arm was wrapped around her, and I rubbed circles on her shoulder, hoping to calm her. Meanwhile, my own thoughts were racing.

Jasper's cavalry didn't take long to arrive. Nothing had been tampered with on the car and there were no unusual finger prints. In short, we probably overreacted though everyone agreed it was the right response, especially Jasper.

He was working on getting round the clock security on Bella for now, but there wasn't really any evidence that she was in direct danger. Anything that had actually happened had been directed at Seth. They were stepping up plans to arrange that big meeting I'd heard them discussing and Emmett's house.

As much as I wanted to lock the doors and hide in our condo, life didn't stop. We still had to work; I still trained.

I got a surprise visit while I was driving a forklift in the lumberyard at work. I nearly ran him over.

"Hey there, Medal Man," Garrett said when I got out of the cab.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Just wanted to check in on you, and I didn't figure you'd be at the Y today." His tone was matter of fact, as if it were completely normal for him to show up here.

"Nah, I'll be at the club later."

"How are you holding up?" He didn't look directly at me; his eyes glanced all around.

"What do you mean?"

"The car?" He turned his gaze back on me and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh. How did you know?"

There was a split second of confusion before he answered, "Kate."

I nodded. "We're okay. Turns out they couldn't find anything so we probably just wasted taxpayer dollars."

"No you didn't." He tone was almost a warning.

"Really, it was nothing."

"Edward, right now, everything is something. You really can't be too careful."

"Not you too," I said shaking me head.

"Especially me," he insisted. "Listen, I like you, champ. More than I ever thought I would. I haven't had a lot of friends over the years . . . not anyone I could trust. I didn't really care in the beginning, but now I'd like to see you kids come out of this unscathed. So don't blow anything warning signs off. I can't do as much as I'd like, but I'll keep my eye out."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yeah, good. It would be worse if you did." He patted my shoulder. "Just be careful, okay."

I decided to change the subject particularly since I didn't understand this one. "So things seemed to be going well with Kate. You two looked really happy."

His face flickered. First, there was this flash of pure joy and contentment. I knew the face. It was the one we wore all night while we were at Emmett and Rose's, but then it fell.

"She's not like anyone I've ever known, and believe me. That's saying something."

"That's a good thing isn't it?"

"I don't know man. I don't know how I'm going to leave at the end of this one."

"Why would you have to leave? Where are you going?"

But he put up a hand to indicate that he wasn't going to say anymore. "Don't worry. I'll be around. I'll always be watching out for you."

He gave a wave, and I stood there completely confused.

-β- Tilting

The car incident happened on a Tuesday. It was enough to light a fire under my brother. Jasper called Felix and gave him an earful.

Felix promised he would be back on Thursday afternoon. He would meet us for breakfast on Friday morning. Apparently he had news to deliver, and he wanted us there to hear. In the meantime, he said he'd do what he could to get round the clock surveillance for the condo and my office. It was surreal.

Kate and I met at our little diner early on Friday morning to catch up over a plate of French toast. Life had been crazy enough lately that our girl time had become few and far between.

"God I missed this," Kate sighed as she poured maple syrup over the plate. "As much as we talked about wanting to meet 'the one.' I didn't realize how important it is to strike a balance."

"So things are going well then?"

Our time together lately had all been work focused, so the opportunity to get the gory details on her and Garrett had been virtually non existent. Even that night at Rose and Emmett's, they'd hardly left each other's side.

"So spill it. I didn't peel myself out of a nice warm bed at an ungodly hour just to enjoy mass quantities of cholesterol." I stabbed a piece of French toast, "What gives with the God of Sex?"

Kate colored a bit and took a sip of her orange juice. Then she closed her eyes and frowned.

"Kate, are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. Just not feeling very good this morning. Must be stress." Kate gingerly set the glass of orange juice down on the table, and then continued. "He showed up at my house about a month ago. We'd stopped seeing each other; I couldn't handle his hot and cold routine and told him when he decided to man up, he knew where he could find me. I figured that was truly the end of the things. Exit stage left, you know?"

She bit her lip and looked down at her hands.

"So he shows up out of the blue right after Edward won Nationals, apologizing. At that point I was mad and hurt, so I pushed him. I told him there was only one thing I wanted to hear, and if he couldn't say it, he could leave. I figured it would finally get him to stop torturing me. But if there is one thing I can count on, it's the enigma that is Garrett Marrs."

Kate hesitated before looking up at me, a small blush creeping across her cheeks.

"He told me he loved me, Swannie. Right there, totally unexpected. Any other guy, I would have thought he did it just to get one more lay. But with him I just knew, if that makes sense. This is meant to be. It just is. I don't understand why or how, but it is."

She laughed bitterly and took another sip of her orange juice.

"Gah, this stuff tastes like shit. I should know better than to drink OJ after brushing my teeth. It always makes me sick."

"So he's the one, huh?" I asked, trying to decide how I felt about the situation. Kate wasn't family, but she was pretty damn close. Anything that would put her at risk or hurt her would hurt Jasper and me too.

While Edward was close to Garrett, choosing to place his trust in him, I wasn't so sure yet.

"Yeah. He's the one. No one else could even hold a candle."

She glanced down at her glass, and it seemed as though she was debating saying something more. But she never had a chance.

"My two favorite women!" Jasper called as he came blowing through the door.

"Good lord, I thought he was happy when he got laid on a regular basis. But him in a relationship is downright saccharine," Kate mumbled under her breath.

Jasper dropped down in a chair next to me, slinging his arm around my shoulders.

"Hey. I just talked to Felix. He'll be here a bit late. He's gotten approval for some of the extra security precautions we've talked about. Once we're done here, I want to go over to the condo and look around, come up with some ideas."

"You should talk to Edward about that, Jasper. It's his place."

While I was living in the condo, and I knew that Edward considered it home for both of us, I still felt the need to get his approval to do things. It was probably stupid, but I felt like I didn't have the right.

"Already done, grasshopper. He's going to be tied up, but he said no problem."

"That's it, the world is officially turning on its head." Kate wisecracked as she darted a glance back and forth between us. "You are happy, you are dating one woman consistently, and you are totally copasetic with your sister's cohabitation arrangement. What the hell happened to you?"

"Hurricane Alice is what happened," Rose cracked as she pulled out the chair next to Kate. "Hey all."

"Hurricane Alice?" Kate and I responded in unison.

"She's a force of nature when she goes after what she wants. Jasper never stood a chance."

"Ah, but Rose of the double last name who could only ever smell so sweet, that assumes that I wanted to stand a chance in the first place. Maybe I laid down right away."

We all groaned in response.

"That was bad, Jasper. Even from you."

"What can I say, sis? A little in-your-endo always brings the pants, I mean house down."

We all groaned again and broke into laughter. It felt nice to be normal again.

-ε- Calm Before the Storm

I admit it. I started to get a little paranoid. Maybe I'd seen too many mob movies or something, After Garrett's confusing warning, I just didn't know what counted as a sign of trouble. It wasn't even just when I was with Bella. I thought about her constantly. All the things that could happen to her that would seem like an accident.

Sometimes, I got really pissed. I mean what kind of monsters put people in this position? While the target was obviously Seth, whoever was going after him obviously had no trouble messing with others in order to keep him quiet. The scare tactics seemed to be working, because he still hadn't been giving up much information.

Every once in a while, my inner caveman swung his club and tried to make fire. What good was I? Give me one on one combat with a sword, and you're going down, but I was no use against the potential of cut brake lines, bombs or whatever else they wanted to throw at me.

Basically, I had to trust Jasper. I think maybe his worry for Bella's safety may have been almost as high as my own. Maybe more like the same, but different. I sure as hell knew neither of was prepared to see anything bad happen to her.

His protection was what allowed me to let her out of my sight.

Friday morning, Bella had a meeting with everyone about Seth's case. I didn't have to work, and I felt too on edge to stay home, so I ended up at the Y.

Emmett and Alice were standing near the front desk, laughing about something.

"Hey, Edward, what's up?" Emmett said nodding his head toward me.

"Don't you ever work?" I joked, knowing full well that as we approached the end of August, so too did his days of hanging out at the Y.

"School starts back soon enough. And I could say the same thing about you."

"I'm off today. Thought I'd see what I could do around here."

"Are you doing okay?" Alice interjected. I think Emmett and I were trying to avoid it, but it was clear what she was referencing.

"Yeah, well no, but there's only so much I can do."

She nodded. "Need a distraction?"

I shrugged.

"Oh it's your lucky day then," she grinned. "I was just telling Emmett how badly the equipment room needs reorganizing, and my college interns never got around to it this summer.

I threw my hands up. "Not more manual labor."

"Come on, Edward. I'll help," Emmett encouraged.

It was a pain in the ass job, but Emmett and I worked well together.

"Do you worry this much all the time now?" Emmett asked out of the blue.

I gave short laugh. "Pretty much. But I was just thinking about the fact that I'm out of town again next week and then World's are coming up in October."

"Can you take Bella with you to any of it?"

"I have to travel with the team, but she'll be at Worlds. I wouldn't like being away from her anytime, but right now, it seems especially weird."

"Maybe they'll have some sort of breakthrough at this meeting today. And maybe it'll be all wrapped up by next month."

"It has to be hard on you, too."

"Different hard. Rosalie is stressing herself out trying to figure this case out. And yeah, I'm worried, but so far nothing's been directed at her."

"How will you concentrate on the rugrats?"

"They don't give you much choice."

I wondered why he and Rosalie didn't have kids yet. I kind of wanted to ask if it was something they'd be thinking about in the near future, but then it wasn't the kind of thing a guy asks another guy. He got kind of quiet after that though, and he spent a little extra time putting a small glove back on the shelf.

"You all right man?"

"Yeah, just having a chick moment." I have him a funny look, and he laughed. "It's just that I can't wait for this case to be over either. We'd been talking about having kids for a while, and then things got crazy, and we had to put it on hold again. Once things are back to normal though, all bets are off."

I laughed. "Poor Rose. It's going to be hard on her raising two kids at once."

He punched me in the arm, but he was laughing too.

"What kind of a meeting of the minds is this?" a voice interrupted our fake fight.

"Hey Garrett, what's up?" I asked.

"Feel like going a round?" he motioned toward me.

"Yeah, sure. Just let me finish up here, and I'll be good to go. I warn you though. I'm in the mood to kick some ass."

"Good. You better bring it because I was thinking the same thing."

"Why don't you make yourself useful and take this bag up to Alice to see what she wants done with it. It's all in pretty crappy condition," Emmett suggested.

"Since when do members have to do work around here?" he joked.

Things were light, almost happy. It couldn't last.

A minute later, Tanya was pulling Garrett away. "I need you. Now."

They disappeared around a corner, and the last I saw of him, he was running at warp speed out the door.

Before either of us had a chance to even say, 'What the fuck was that all about?' my phone buzzed, and music chimed from Emmett's.

-β- Fragments

Considering what we were together to discuss, our mood was deceptively light.

Rose was in the middle of telling us a funny Emmett story when Felix walked into the diner.

Jasper shot his hand up to wave him over.

Felix started in our direction, then paused as his eyes went wide, his arm swinging wide in a gesture that almost looked like 'get down'.

That's the last distinct memory I had.

Everything after is just fragments.

Felix shouting.

Jasper pushing me backward out of my chair.

Screams.

Other noises that make no sense.

Pain. Oh god, too much pain.

And then everything faded out. Not black, but no clear shapes or images either.

I was cognizant of things going on around me. People shouting and crying. A crunching noise.

"Jas…" I mumbled, unable to get the words out. "Jas…where are you?"

But he didn't answer. Or I don't hear him.

Someone pressed against my shoulder, and I whimpered in response. It hurt. It burned and ached and was ice cold all at the same time.

"Stay still, Bella. We need to stop the bleeding."

I recognized the voice but I couldn't place it.

"Jas…' It was hard to speak. I couldn't get out his whole name.

"He's fine. He and Felix are helping Kate. Now stay still. The ambulance is on its way."

"Ed…"

"Stop talking. Jasper already called Edward. He's with Em. They'll meet us at the hospital."

More of the strange crunching sound. The pressure on my shoulder let up for a moment, only to be replaced by searing pain.

"Ms. Swan, can you hear me?" A man's voice.

Not one I recognized.

"Yes…" I gasped out. The pain burned its way through my body, working its way down my arm to my fingers. The pressure returned, causing me to cry out again.

"You need to be still, please. You have a large shard of glass on your upper arm, and a lot of blood loss. You also have a nasty cut on your head. I'm applying pressure to your shoulder to stop the bleeding. Then we are going to move you to a stretcher and take you to a hospital. Do you understand?"

"Yes." I tried to fight through the haze. I needed to know what was happening. "Jas…per. My bro…"

Another man's voice cut through the fog.

"Bells! Oh god, Bella…"

"You need to stay back, sir. We need to get her stabilized and get her to the hospital."

"I'm her fucking brother you idiot, get the hell out of my way!"

"Jas…" I gasped out. I tried to move my right hand, but I couldn't make it follow any directions.

I felt a cool hand on my forehead.

"I'm here, Bella. You are going to be okay. They'e going to take care of you."

Hands slipped underneath me, and my body shifted involuntarily. I cried out again, and I could hear Jasper yelling at someone, although I couldn't understand what he said.

"Take her to the second bus. They aren't ready to move the second woman yet. The trauma team at the hospital has been alerted and is on stand by."

"Jas…" I called out, reaching with my left hand this time.

"I'm here kiddo. You are going to be fine. They're taking you to the hospital."

"Katie?" Her name came out as a gasp.

"She's hurt bad, Bells. I am going to ride with her. Rose is going with you. I already called Edward. I'll see you at the hospital."

He squeezed my hand.

"I love you, Bella. You are going to be fine. I'll see you in a few minutes. I promise."

"Jasper." The same voice from before, it must be Rose. "They are getting ready to move her. You need to go."

Jasper squeezed my hand one more time before letting go.

"Rose?" My hand groped frantically, trying to find someone, anyone.

"I'm here, honey. It's going to be okay. I promise. Everything is going to be okay."

Hers were the last words I recalled as the darkness settled in over me. A blissful, pain free darkness.

-τ-Helpless

Everyone would expect me to be angry. I was seething somewhere deep inside me that they were using peoples' lives in this way. They could say I was doing the same, but I knew this was different. It was Bella who they slated to die. I understood that. The rest were innocent. Of course, there were cuts they didn't plan; it happened all the time. They controlled a lot, but not everything. People often made decisions that altered the course.

I almost wished anger were the dominant emotion. I would know what to do with that.

This emotion was new to me. I hurt. I worried. I didn't really know these people, but I had helped build connections, and that meant if something happened to one of them, they would all be affected.

You never knew for sure how it would go. Last time, the tragedy brought them closer, strengthened the ties so to speak. But it could just as easily sharpen scissors.

As I had never been human, I'd never known this kind of fret. In the old days, we were so disconnected from them, they we played and taunted as if they were toys. Now, it made me sick.

I was completely helpless. I couldn't do anything for any of them.

Except Mars.

But I couldn't find him.

We warned you not to get too comfy….

A few housekeeping things:

- Have you checked out www[dot]fandomgivesback[dot]com yet?

- Indies New Writer Challenge Voting is open – Link in H's profile.

- H's darkward entry is in the running –voting is up in her profile…how about a little support?

- November is crazy – so we'll be sticking with one update a week.

So what do you think happened? And who is behind it?

1. Tanya – Love Life

- Edward and Bella DONE

- Alice and Jasper DONE

- Carlisle and Esme

-?

2. Garrett – Get a Life

- Win Nationals DONE

- Edward grows up

- Jasper grows up DONE

-?

3. The Fates – Save a Life

- SUV 'accident' DONE

- Attempt to get Seth DONE

-?

-?