A/N – Okay some revelations, some speculations, some angst and some lemons. I'm thinking I may change the rating to an "M" in the near future just to be safe…so don't be surprised if and when that occurs. This chapter takes up exactly where the last one left off.

"Forget it." Bella objected. "I'm on thin ice with Charlie as it is. He'll never let me take off across country."

"You forget, I have a gift of my own. It's called compulsion." Damon reminded them proudly as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Carlisle's eyes widened at the possibilities even as he felt a stab of apprehension. "I did tell Charlie that I conferred with a neurologist in Maryland. If he thinks that's where you're going..." He suddenly shook his head, appalled with himself. "What am I thinking? I can't condone manipulating someone's mind like that, especially someone I like and respect as much as Charlie."

"I'm not fond of the idea myself." Stefan said with a pointed look at Damon.

"Ugh! Really?" Damon snorted and began to pace agitatedly around the expansive room. "You're having an attack of conscience…now?" He gave Stefan a disgusted look then turned to the others. "While you're all trying to figure out which way points north on your moral compasses, Isabella's life is at stake." He couldn't remember a time when he was more frustrated and his memory went back a long, long time.

Damon stopped in front of Bella and lightly grasped her shoulders, imploring her to look at him, his clear blue gaze a silent plea to understand how imperative saving her life was to him. "It's not like it will hurt him. He won't even be aware of it. All he'll believe is you are just going to visit the good doctor in Maryland and it's unfortunate that he will unable to take the time off work but you'll will be in safe hands. See? That's not so hard, is it?"

Bella had to step away from Damon's intense gaze. It would be so easy for her just to give in to the message in those piercing blues as she imagined she might have done so many times in a past life but she couldn't just think about herself. "Everyone seems to be forgetting one thing." Bella crossed her arms over her chest and looked at each of them with defiance in her eyes. "I can't leave Charlie unprotected…I won't."

"Bella…she's not after Charlie…she's after you." Alice told her sympathetically with a sad expression marring her features.

"Who is to say she won't try to get to me through Charlie? After all, James nearly succeeded with that same tactic in Arizona with Renee."

"But James never had your mom, he only made you think he did."

"I'll stay and watch Charlie." Esme said in a quiet but determined manner.

"Thank you Esme but I can't ask you to be separated from Carlisle especially when I don't know how long this will take."

"You're not asking me dear. Bella," Esme took her future daughter-in-law's hands gently within her own."You've saved my son in so many ways. Please, I want to do this for you."

Bella squeezed Esme's hand in reciprocated affection but she wasn't changing her mind. She shook her head adamantly. "I know what it's like to be away from Edward. I wouldn't knowingly put anyone through that. I'm sorry, Esme, but no."

"There is another way." Carlisle interrupted them not liking the thought of being without his wife anymore than Bella did. "The pack. They can protect Charlie."

"They could get hurt. I can't ask them to do that for me."

"That's what they do, love." Edward came up behind her and encircled her waist with his arms pulling her back toward him so he could kiss the top of her head. Even if Jasper hadn't alerted him silently that Bella was getting highly distressed, he would have already known. "That's what they have been born to do. As for them getting hurt…well she is clearly outnumbered." Edward was no fan of the wolves but he knew they would protect Bella's father without question as they had been doing for the months that he had left.

"That's not the point." She pouted but saw the truth in his argument. The wolves had been secretly defending Forks for centuries, if the myth were to be believed. It's what they have always done and why they were created. As much as she wanted, she couldn't dispute that.

Damon whistled loudly through his teeth effectively causing all communication and movement to come to a stand-still. "Okay, Stop!" He yelled out, his hands motioning in the universal time-out gesture. "You're lips are moving and sound is coming out but you might as well be speaking Cantonese. Would someone please tell me what in the hell you are talking about? Who is this mysterious "She", you're all so concerned about? Why is she after Isabella? Who's James? And what the hell is 'the pack'?"

"The 'she' in question is Victoria." Edward spat her name as if it was poison on his tongue. He couldn't help the vicious emotions hurdling through him as he spoke her name aloud. A wave of guilt surged through him at his utter failure in putting an end to the nomad that would kill his one and only love.

"The red-haired vampire." Stefan said remembering his run in with the feral creature the day before. "Why is she after Bella?"

"Revenge." Rosalie explained. "Edward killed her mate, now she wants to kill his. It's stupid really." She scoffed. "She had to have guessed what Edward would do when her own mate decided to go after Bella. If she had more control over him, things would have never escalated this far."

"Let me guess." Damon said with a wry twist of his lips. "The mate's name is James."

Bella winced and shivered at the unwanted memory of the attack in her old ballet studio and the wild look in James' eyes as he taunted her with the video camera and subsequently tortured her both physically and emotionally. She absently lifted her sleeve to rub the cold part of her arm that would always bear the evidence of the near fatal assault.

Damon didn't miss the way Isabella abruptly retreated mentally or the somewhat shell shocked look in her now glazed brown eyes. He focused on the sudden albeit absent attention she was giving her wrist and the crescent shaped scar that marked it.

Bella noticed Damon watching her and the pain that twisted his features. She hastily tried to pull her sleeve down but Damon reached out and stopped her, gently grasping her arm towards himself so he could see what she was desperately trying to hide. Edward went to move forward with a low growl forming in his throat to stop Damon but Jasper caught him before he could do so.

He won't hurt her, Jasper's thoughts were confident and clear. But Edward wasn't worried about that. He knew how sensitive Bella was about the scar on her wrist. He had told her many times that it could and should be considered a badge of honor. No one had ever, as far as he knew, survived a vampire bite without becoming one themselves. In typical Bella fashion, she had retorted that if she should look upon it as a good thing than so should he. Didn't it also mark the triumph that his love for her bested the beast within him that thirsted for her blood? He saw things differently though. If it weren't for him, she wouldn't have the scar in the first place.

Bella swallowed and watched Damon with fathomless eyes as he inspected the small disfigurement. He touched it lightly with shaking fingers and she flinched. His eyes shot to her face, concerned that he had inadvertently hurt her.

"It doesn't hurt…not anymore." She assured him.

"James did this?" He asked horrified as he traced he grooves in her skin that, to him, were so obviously teeth marks.

"Among other things." Bella tried to wrest her arm from Damon's grasp but he wasn't letting go.

'It's cold to the touch." He observed.

"Lingering effects from the venom of the bite." Carlisle explained. "It will always feel cooler than the rest of her skin."

"He bit her?" Stefan felt sickened at this revelation. "Wait…I thought you said the venom would turn her."

"Normally it would. It had already started to when Edward pulled James away but Edward…he withdrew the venom by sucking it out of her, thereby keeping her human. It was almost impossible for him to do considering how much her blood appeals to him" Carlisle stated looking at his son with pride.

While Stefan's admiration for Edward shot up a few notches, Damon couldn't get a handle on how he felt about Carlisle's little revelation. In truth the image it had put in his mind was disturbing at best. He was glad Isabella was still human but he wondered if he would be able to do the same in Edward's place if it had been Elena…if he would even want to do the same, given the choice and the knowing the consequences.

"Well that's just stupid." Damon finally said. "If he loves her so much he should've just let her turn. Unless she didn't want it." He looked at Bella, questioningly.

"No, I did…I still do." Bella told him seriously.

"Ah" Damon voiced in complete understanding. Edward was beginning to remind him of another bunny eater he knew well…his own brother. It was the exact thing Stefan would have done…bless his little unbeating heart.

"I didn't want to damn her soul." Edward's tone was defensive. Who was this vampire to heap judgment on him? He wasn't there. He didn't know how insanely difficult the choice was and how impossible it was to stop once the choice was made.

"I would have done the same." Stefan said quietly.

"Oh, I am well aware of that, brother." Damon rolled his eyes. "Well three out of four questions answered. How about the last one…ah…yes, I am very curious as to who or what "the pack" is."

"Let's just say they protect Forks in their own way and leave it at that." Bella told them not willing to divulge any information yet about Jacob and his friends. It wasn't her secret to tell and if they could just get out of town without each knowing about the other, it would make things a lot less complicated.

Damon suspected that this "pack" might be the same thing as the council back in Mystic Falls, a bunch of wannabe vampire hunters with an even more ridiculous sounding name.

"Okay, I'll let that one go…for now." Damon emphasized the last few words. If there were vampire hunters nearby, he wanted to know all the who, what, where, when and why's of the potential threat.

XXXXX

"Well that was certainly interesting." Damon remarked as the door to the rental house slammed shut behind him.

"Kind of like stepping knee deep into a hornets nest." Stefan replied as he raked fingers through his hair.

Damon immediately poured himself a drink, as was his ritual and took a long swallow letting the alcohol burn down in his throat. He wouldn't let Stefan know but his nerves were seriously frayed. His mind was heavy from too much information, how much Isabella had been through and he had a feeling he only scratched the surface with that.

"I knew I liked my original plan better but noooo, you had to go all Emily Post on me."

Stefan sighed tiredly. "And what original plan was that, Damon? The one where we kidnap Bella in the middle of the night? Do you really think we could have gotten away with it?"

"No, but it would have been fun to try."

"This isn't a game, Damon."

Damon turned swiftly fixing a deadly glare on his brother. "Don't you think I know that?" He waved his glass angrily causing the liquid in it to slosh over the sides. "I know what's at stake here, believe me." He muttered drinking what was left of his bourbon. "Bringing the Cullens back to Mystic Falls is a bad idea."

Stefan went quiet suddenly and he had that squinty look on his face that suggested he was deep in thought.

"Do you think she knew?" Stefan finally asked.

"Who and what are you talking about?"

"Katherine. Do you think she knew about the Cullens? Maybe she sent us here knowing they would come back with us…to protect Bella. Think about it. They are the only ones I can see that have a chance of defeating Klaus. We obviously can't do it but maybe they can."

Damon shrugged. "Who knows what goes on in that bitch's mind? She plays people like pieces on a chess board so it wouldn't surprise me. It's the why part that would worry me. She doesn't care one way or the other if Elena dies." He internally shuddered at the thought of the lifeless form of the girl he had come to love so deeply.

"To save herself. Klaus must want some vengeance against her if she has been hiding from him for all these years. And Isabella's involvement in all of this? She just can't be a means to an end for Katherine. No. Katherine wants or needs her for something and it has nothing to do with reuniting the family."

"Now that brother, is the most sense you've made all day."

Long after Stefan retreated to his room, Damon sat staring unseeing into the flickering lights of the small blaze in the fireplace. Usually watching the orange-blue flames dance to an unknown rhythm calmed him but not tonight. He had only listened with half an ear to Stefan's side of the conversation with Elena from the floor below telling her what and who would be descending on Mystic Falls.

Isabella would have to be warned of Elena's exact likeness to Katherine and unfortunately the sun and moon curse. He wouldn't do it until they were on their way. Damon wasn't about to risk the overprotective boyfriend freaking out and throwing their travel plans out the window.

Getting up from his seated position in front of the fire, he walked stealthily outside, careful not to alert Stefan of his exit. All had been quiet upstairs for some time and he had no doubt that his brother was asleep. Damon didn't have the luxury of being relaxed enough to close his eyes and wondered briefly how Stefan managed it. He, on the other hand, was feeling restless and needed to prowl in the open air.

The only noises were the wind as it whispered through the trees and somewhere there was an owl making it's presence known in the vast forest behind the rented house. Stars shimmered yellow-gold throughout the clear sky and there was just a hint of clouds hovering, waiting to make their descent to enclose the Olympian Peninsula within a ceiling of grey overcast once again.

With all of the scheming and plotting and questioning going on, Damon hadn't had time to come to grips with the fact that his sister, his stubborn, willful, adoring sister was truly alive…that he had been given a second chance. The gravity of that knowledge …the depth of that feeling brought him to his knees even as his undead heart took flight in the joy of it.

In the dead of night with only the nocturnal creatures like himself to bear witness, the sarcastic, quick with a snarky one-liner vampire was gone replaced with a young man who had born the debilitating grief of loss for far too long. Unleashing broken, wrenching sobs that had formed from the deepest parts of his core, he looked up to the heavens and silently thanked whatever higher power he no longer believed in for making this miracle possible. And it truly was a miracle, for it could be called nothing less.

XXXX

Edward had his arms wrapped around Bella as they lay in her bed. Even though she was quiet, he could tell by the sound of her breathing that she wasn't yet sleeping. He wished she would. She would need her rest for the days ahead.

"I love laying her like this with you." Bella spoke softly as she began to trace indistinct circular patterns on his arm. "It's like we can shut ourselves off from the rest of the world and just be Edward and Bella; two normal teenagers in the throes of first love...for a little while at least."

His arms tightened around her in silent response. He was too filled with emotion to speak a coherent sentence. Here, in this moment, it was as if neither time nor distance had ever separated them and he was still awed that he could be this lucky...that she was still his.

He would need to tread very carefully, taking care to find the balance between protecting her and giving her the freedom to make her own decisions. He had taken it for granted in the past that he should be the one making the choices. He knew better now. Never again, he vowed silently.

She turned in his arms to face him giving him a look of concern. "You're awfully quiet tonight."

Edward gave her a one sided smile and nuzzled the sensitive spot behind her ear. "Just enjoying the feel of you in my arms, love."

"Why do I get the feeling that's only part of the truth?"

"Hmmm. I'm also thinking about how lucky I am and more importantly how stupid I've been."

Bella opened her mouth in an automatic response to disagree with him but changed course as she started to speak. She found she agreed with him but there was no point in punishing themselves for the past. "Do you know what the best part of making mistakes is?" She asked him instead.

"What?' He chuckled affectionately as he kissed the inviting flesh inside the crook of her neck.

"You get to learn from them so you don't repeat them."

"Well then I guess I will learn a lot as I seem to be continually making mistakes." His voice held a sad sort of amusement. "The biggest one was foolishly thinking that I could leave you…that I could live without you for even a moment let alone months. It was an irrational decision born from desperation to keep you safe."

"Edward, we've discussed this already. Yes, you made a huge lapse in judgment that could have and very nearly killed us both but we can get past this. Just don't keep bashing yourself over the head about it or it will always be a dark ghost that haunts us. It's not healthy."

He kissed her lips then reveling in their warm softness as he coaxed them to part for him. Gently he sucked on her bottom lip, gliding his tongue over the plump rim. Minding her delicate frame he pulled her on top of him as his fingers fisted in her hair. The moan that fell from her mouth was music to his ears as he deepened the kiss. He could smell her arousal and he felt himself burn.

Edward groaned in frustration when he felt Bella unconsciously (or maybe consciously) grind against the throbbing, hard heat at the apex of his thighs, her body automatically seeking fulfillment of pent up desire. He needed to stop before they both went too far and his tenuous control completely fragmented into tiny shards.

Breathless, he dragged his mouth from her succulent lips yet his hands still remained entwined in strands of mahogany silk. As if knowing she pushed him to his limit, she tried to roll off him but he wasn't going to let her go.

"No. Stay. Please." His speech was disjointed but that was all he could manage for the moment until his near overwhelming lust subsided into the more manageable state he usually kept it in.

"I'm so sor…"

He cut off her misplaced apology with a quick kiss. "Don't apologize for this." He said closing his eyes and resting his forehead against her own. "Never for this."

"But it can't be easy for you. I don't want to cause you pain."

He disentangled his hands from her hair so he could gently cup her cheeks with his palms. "You don't understand." He whispered brokenly. "You are so heartbreakingly beautiful and you are mine. To have you in my arms like this…" One of his hands strayed downward to cup her rounded bottom towards him."…like this…when I had despaired for so long that I'd never be able to do it again…well it's as close to heaven as I'll ever be allowed. If it's a little uncomfortable, I don't care. I'll take it."

Edward's heartfelt confession brought tears to Bella's eyes and he brushed them off gently with his lips. "There are certain boundaries I'm not willing to cross…not yet at least but this…right here…right now…it's perfect. We're just Edward and Bella; two normal teenagers in the throes of first love…remember?"

She nodded and rested her head on his chest as he held her close hoping to delay the inevitability of morning and all of the complications that came with it.