Previously: Billy Black saw Bella riding in a car with a vampire. Everybody had something to say about it at the time. Also, it was 2011. Good grief, I've been sitting on this chapter for years!

It Could Have Happened

"So now we have to worry about the Quileutes?" Rosalie thundered.

Edward tried not to sigh as he sat through Rosalie's eighty-fourth tantrum of the decade, in what was the third…or fourth? At least the fourth family meeting since Christmas. At his antique-hardwood-loving mother's request, this one was in the living room rather than at the newly acquired dining table.

At least Carlisle seemed to have forgiven Edward for his temper tantrum from the other night. There was nothing in his mind but concern for the situation at hand and the safety of every single member of his family. Even his patients weren't in his thoughts for once.

"No more than we did before," Alice pointed out; she knew Rosalie wouldn't accept this reasoning if it came out of Edward's mouth. "They haven't trusted us since we moved here. Why should now be any different?"

"Because we're talking about people who know our secret," Rosalie retorted. Alice couldn't be expected to understand this; she'd never been in this position before. She hadn't seen canine teeth biting through nearby chunks of granite, just for show.

"They've known our secret for four generations," Edward reminded her, taking Rosalie's thought and fleshing it out logically. "You weren't the only one there when we met. If they haven't said anything after seventy years, they just aren't going to, teeth or no teeth." Except that one of them had said something. To Bella. Edward conveniently left that out, because he didn't want his sister murdering a naïve kid who didn't know any better, which would only bring about all the complications everyone wanted to avoid.

"Who would believe them if they did?" Alice added. "People today think vampirism is fodder for action movies, porn, and stupid teen dramas, not real life."

"I have noticed a lot of bullshit vampire romance novels lately," Emmett said thoughtfully. He'd even read through a few of them in private before he wrote them all off as soft-core porn for religious conservative housewives and twelve-year-old girls who hadn't experienced actual kissing with a real, breathing person rather than a Justin Beiber poster on a wall. Because he was kind of an asshole.

"You're oversimplifying this," Rosalie insisted. "We have the added complication of Edward spending alone time with a human in public. They won't stand for this."

"'Won't stand for it,'" Edward mocked her snooty voice. "What the hell are they going to do? Glare at me every time I take Bella on a date?"

"I thought you said their 'protectors' are extinct," Jasper said quietly, looking at Carlisle. Right before he'd gone away to war, Jasper's father had told him that starting out as a lieutenant, there would always be a boodle of brass slightly above him thinking they knew all, but not to set much by their answers to important questions. In spite of everyone's overly developed sense of self-esteem, Carlisle was the biggest toad in the puddle, so that's who his question was for. "If that's true, what is Rosalie so upset about?"

"When isn't she upset?" Edward grumbled. Not just because it was annoyingly true, but because he hoped reminding Jasper of this fact might discourage him from getting directly involved. "I'm not going to run bomb shelter drills every time our sister gets paranoid." Edward realized he was spending a great deal more of his time and subtle efforts on neutralizing Jasper than he used to, and he wasn't sure how much longer it would work, if it ever had at all.

"I can answer for myself," Rosalie said scornfully at both her brothers. "It's not paranoia if there's a legitimate reason to worry. As that tribe has already proven, there's more than one way for them to make our lives uncomfortable. What if they decide refusing to be treated at the hospital isn't enough? It's not that difficult to create some trumped up reason to file a lawsuit."

"Carlisle," Esme said quietly, worried now that there was talk of something that might become part of public record, "what if they go to the Chief of Medicine and make accusations?"

"Nobody is going to fire me over a malpractice suit brought against me by a patient I've never treated," Carlisle replied, patting his wife's hand reassuringly, even as he mentally reminded himself to check the fine print on his malpractice insurance.

"They can still spread rumors," Rosalie insisted.

"Like the rumor that I'm diddling my sister?" Emmett broke in, crass as ever. "Because that ship has sailed, and nobody's chased us out of town yet."

Rosalie bristled. "Nobody cares if we keep to ourselves. That's what we've always done, and that's what we should be doing now. But the moment Edward decides to snuggle up to some human—"

"Enough!" Edward snapped, surprising her. "It doesn't make a difference what the tribal elders think about me or what you think about Bella or what scandalous nonsense any small-minded people buy into. We can talk logistics and politics all night if you want, for all the good that will do. But I belong to Bella, and I'm going to be with her. That's not up for debate."

"I agree," Jasper said, surprising everyone else. "Don't give me that look, Rose. It's pointless to keep harping on things we can't change, and it just distracts us from our real problem. What I want," he turned to the coven leader, "is for Carlisle to answer my question, because it was the one condition I insisted on before we moved here. Are the wolves extinct, or aren't they?"

"Ephraim Black died decades ago," Carlisle answered, "as did his brethren. I checked the state and county records before we moved here. I also checked Fish and Wildlife reports for the previous fifteen years and every month since we came to Forks. There have been no sightings of oversized wolves or any animals displaying unnatural activity."

Jasper lifted an eyebrow. "That's your evidence?"

Carlisle didn't blink. "Yes."

"Three old men died—men who, I might add, obviously had children to carry on their bloodlines," Jasper said flatly. "The wolves that have been spotted or hunted look normal according to the official public report, and that's the extent of the reconnaissance you performed before you decided to bring us to a county half populated by werewolf progeny."

Everyone glanced at each other uncomfortably.

"Were you expecting me to cross their border and knock on doors asking if anyone had transformed lately?" Carlisle said archly.

"Do they smell differently than regular wolves?" Jasper prompted. "Something we would notice when we're out hunting?"

"You're thinking of Children of the Moon," Carlisle answered, shaking his head as he remembered his old friend Caius's obsession with killing the beasts. "That's more of a necrotic infectious odor."

"Quileute wolves don't smell different from regular animals," Emmett supplied, sifting through his olfactory memory. "More like concentrated to the point of being repulsive. If you weren't looking for it, you wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary."

"So you've been looking for it and haven't found it?" Jasper asked.

"Oh, uh, no," Emmett admitted. "I meant that I notice wolf once in a while, but it's not my favorite meal, so mostly I ignore it."

Jasper sighed heavily, wishing he believed in God so he could have someone to complain to. "What about in their human form?"

Emmett shrugged. "About the same as anyone else who shares their home with a smelly dog."

"Christ," Jasper groaned, cursing the day he crossed the bridge into this rain-soaked, canine-infested shithole with these outrageously naïve vampires.

"Don't you think 'shithole' is carrying it a little far?" Edward replied aloud. This produced a suspicious look from Alice, which in turn earned Edward another irritated glance from Jasper, causing Rosalie to fume at the silent communicators.

It was Esme who ignored the series of glares and rushed to her husband's defense. "Surely if one of their people were a wolf, Edward would have heard them thinking it by now."

"How? And when?" Jasper demanded. "He's not allowed on the reservation. We've never hunted or explored within a mile of the boundary line, and they certainly aren't showing up here for coffee and pecan pie."

"The few Quileute who come in for treatment smell normal to me," Carlisle offered.

There was a collective eye roll at this statement.

"If they could transform, they wouldn't be coming in to see you in the first place," Jasper rebutted, the next inference forming as he spoke. "So the hospital ban could be an excuse to hide their wolves."

"Wouldn't Alice have seen them?" Esme wondered.

"Half the time I can't see Bella," she admitted reluctantly.

"What if Bella's descended from a werewolf?" Emmett blurted out, a goofy smile on his face.

Several throw pillows smashed into his face from all different directions, accompanied by groans of ew, gross! "What?" he complained.

"She'd probably smell bad if that were the case, you idiot," Rosalie groused. "That's like saying she must smell good because she's descended from a vampire. It's ridiculous."

"She could be descended from Israeli mermaid secret agents and I wouldn't care," Edward piped up.

"She's Israeli?" Esme exclaimed, mentally complaining that nobody ever told her anything. "But I thought Charlie was English or Irish. Isn't he a Lutheran?"

"She said she's a Buddhist," Emmett offered.

"She speaks Hebrew," Rosalie said thoughtfully, remembering Bella's mysterious song. It was a confusing language to her, and hearing the girl sing it made Rosalie feel…strange. Like she wanted to close her eyes. What was the word for it?

"She's a person," Alice snapped. The one thing she disliked about her family was that they still cared about things like nationality and ethnic origin. What difference did a family tree make to beings that a) didn't particularly care to socialize with humans most of the time, b) could no longer procreate, and c) were forever hiding their real identities anyway?

"I didn't mean it like that," Esme sighed. Alice desperately needed to learn the difference between predicting the future and jumping to conclusions. "Edward's a closeted Irish Catholic, and now you're telling me Bella's an Irish-Israeli-American Buddhist Jew. I have no idea how to begin to plan that kind of wedding."

"Gah!" Edward choked. "Plan what?"

"I'm not going to have the two of you living in sin, Edward."

"She's in high school!"

"Can we skip the interreligious underage matchmaking," Jasper shouted, "and get back to the part where there might be werewolves living down the highway from us?"

"There's no evidence of that," Carlisle rebutted.

"Lack of evidence isn't proof," Jasper replied. "I shouldn't have to explain deductive reasoning to a man with several Ph.D's."

"I think you're overreacting," Emmett told his brother.

"You think everyone is always overreacting," Rosalie sighed.

"You're always calling everyone a moron," Emmett retorted. "I don't give you a hard time because sometimes you're right. You can't extend the same courtesy to me?"

"I think we might have a bigger problem," Alice whispered. All heads turned her way, watching nervously as her eyes lost focus.

"Damn it," Edward sighed, tuning in to her head.

"God, now what?" Rosalie snapped.

"Visitors," Alice murmured. "Three vampires."

Everyone grew silent.

"Maria?" Jasper asked, his guard immediately up. The last thing he wanted was a visit from his ex-ladyfriend. She had the nasty habits of always propositioning him, annoying his family, and going on killing sprees, though not necessarily in that order. He thought they'd agreed that she'd only visit once every forty years from now on.

"Strangers," Alice answered, reaching for his hand. "Nomadic, I think, from their clothing."

"Here for us?" Carlisle guessed.

"Port Angeles. Four men they're tasked to kill."

"Odd," Jasper observed. It wasn't like traditional vampires to do that kind of work, at least not on a human's orders. "Tasked by whom?"

"No idea. I can't see who made a decision. I can only see their behavior. It looks purposeful."

"Where in Port Angeles?" Edward asked quietly, thinking of Bella and her weekend plans.

"An abandoned building near the courthouse."

"When?"

"Today. When the bail is posted." Alice blinked twice. "After that they'll return to Seattle, but I don't know exactly when."

"Can you see who they want to kill specifically?" Edward asked.

Alice tried to focus, and came up with hardened, unwashed faces.

"Son of a bitch," Edward swore.

"Who is it?" Carlisle asked, worried about the recognition in Edward's eyes.

"The Forks K-9 unit officer has been thinking about them because he has to testify in court," Edward answered, turning his head in the direction of Bella's house. "They're the ones who ran the meth lab."

Not that she was complaining, but Bella found it a little strange that today Edward spent every possible moment with his arm around her shoulders, especially after he'd been so insistent before about his being dangerous to her in close proximity. At first she thought it was a possessive thing—more to do with the turf war, should a certain Quileute elder pass by. But Edward wasn't leading her around or parading her in front of street-facing windows; if anything, he oriented himself around her movements and position. She told herself she must be imagining things—she wasn't that self-centered, thinking anybody, even her own boyfriend, would seriously adjust themselves to her like that. However, she noticed everyone walking toward her quickly moved out of her way after the merest glance from her companion.

"What's going on?" Bella finally asked at lunch. Neither of them bothered with food—Edward because there was no point to the pretense anymore, Bella because she'd been plagued with dreams of an angry Billy Black striking her with lightning, mingled with visions of her childhood trip to Israel, where a strange man waved perfume bottles and rotten meat under her nose while her mother and grandmother argued on the other side of their hotel room.

"What do you mean?" Edward asked innocently.

Bella's eyebrow went up. She swore she was turning into a cartoon character with this eyebrow thing. A few more days and it would be jumping right off her face.

"You're being extra affectionate today." That wasn't the right word for it, but it would do. "Are you…trying to get me to sneak behind a building to make out?" Bella guessed.

"I…no," Edward said slowly, considering it. "I like the way you think, though."

"No dice," Bella replied with a shake of her head. "You've skipped too many classes this semester. Sooner or later the truant officer is going to step in."

Edward didn't respond to that. He was planning on skipping classes after lunch to conduct an expedition. "Actually, I was hoping to nail down what we're doing this weekend. You know, since the dance is off the table for religious reasons. I understand there are costumes involved in your gathering?"

Bella brightened. "And cookies. I could use some help baking in the morning. You know, if you're not busy. Two in the kitchen will help free up the rest of the day for us. The Purimshpiel isn't until seven o'clock."

Edward smiled, liking the idea that she wanted to be with him for the entire day. "I'd love to. In fact, if we're going to have free time together, there's some place I'd like to take you." He pictured the little flower meadow where he liked to go when he wanted to be alone. It was still too early for full bloom, but the grass was green already, and a few wildflowers were beginning to bud—

His head suddenly turned toward his family table a split second before an abrupt, wordless shriek from Alice.

You can't take her there, Edward!

"What's wrong?" Bella asked, looking in Alice's direction. "Is she sick?"

"Wait here," Edward said, standing up at the same moment Alice did. The pair of vampires strode to a far, abandoned corner of the little cafeteria, aware that the whole school was watching. The two siblings only cared that Bella stayed in her seat.

You can't take her to the forest, Alice thought at her brother, eyes darting over to Bella's table. What are you, an idiot?

"We'll be fine," Edward assured her as quietly as he could. "I won't hurt her. At least…" At least I don't think I will.

Your confidence is so reassuring, she replied sarcastically. "I meant that it's stupid to take her into the woods when you know some rogue nomad vampires are going to be traipsing around the peninsula. What if they find you with her?"

"But they're having their meal today. I'm taking her out tomorrow," Edward said logically.

"I don't have their day planner," Alice protested. "They could decide anything at the spur of the moment."

"I thought you said they were in Port Angeles for a purpose, not to go sight-seeing. Why would they go trawling for meals in the woods after feeding on four grown men?"

"Why have you been feeding twice as often as usual?" Alice pointed out. "You just ate five days ago. Why were you planning on cutting class to go feed before tomorrow?"

Edward didn't have to answer this one out loud. To stay in control of myself for something more important. "Alice," he asked quietly, "what else are they planning?"

"I don't know," she groaned, frustrated. "Whatever it is, it's contingent on something that hasn't happened yet."

"I thought you said they weren't coming to Forks."

"I never said that! That's just what you wanted to hear." I know you didn't believe it. That's why you've been hovering around Bella all morning.

"Well what in God's name are we supposed to be able to do about it?"

"How about not taking stupid risks, Edward?"

As Edward and his sister argued about whether to remain passively defensive, proactively defensive, or preemptively offensive, their siblings, Bella, and Bella's friends watched from their respective tables.

Elbowing Jessica lightly, Lauren said, "Looks like a new love triangle in the Cullen family."

"Give it a rest, Lauren," Angela said, not out of loyalty to the Cullens, but to Bella. "Like you never have family drama with your kid brother."

"Oh whatever, church mouse," Lauren said dismissively. "Go back to your Bible study."

"Go die in a hole," Angela shot back, sick of Lauren's bullshit.

Lauren flicked her eyes over Angela. "Excuse me?"

"You need to shut up," Angela replied. "You're always talking trash about everybody behind their back, even your friends. Just shut up."

Ben stared at Angela in awe, wondering what on earth had gotten into the nice, quiet girl he liked so much, and also if she'd be the type to slap him for kissing her, like in the old Hollywood movies.

"Mind your business," Lauren said (ironically). But the looks she was getting from her tablemates made her nervous.

"What have you been saying about me behind my back?" Jessica wanted to know.

"Nothing!"

"She thinks you're stupid," Eric supplied, because he couldn't stand Lauren.

"She said you're white trash," Mike told Eric.

"She called you a loser," Jessica told Mike.

"She called at least two of you raging dykes," someone said from the next table over.

Edward and Alice politely bade Bella an early farewell in order to patrol around what they considered their home territory, though Edward lied and said it was just to hunt. He even kissed Bella's hand.

Nobody saw this gesture, though, because Lauren had just become the sole target of the Forks High School Mashed Potato Assault of 2011, a food fight so hostile and enthusiastic that it left gravy stains on the ceiling that would remain there for another fourteen years.

The event was so dramatic, in fact, that no one noticed when Bella took a deep breath, stood up, and walked over to the Cullen table.

"Hi. I'm Bella."

Wide-eyed looks were exchanged among the remaining Cullen siblings before they nodded at her.

"May I sit with you for a few minutes, please?" Bella asked politely.

"Yeah," Emmett answered, just as Rosalie said, "No."

Unsure what to do, Bella did exactly what Jasper's father would have advised: looked to the biggest toad in the puddle. Her senses told her that toad was Jasper. His eyes, she noticed, were much darker than Edward's had been. And he didn't look any friendlier now than he ever had before.

"Oh," she said quietly, touching the skin beneath her own eye. Two weeks since he last fed, she calculated. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize…I'll go."

She turned away, heading for the cafeteria doors, wondering if maybe she should cut class today and just go home. Except that she couldn't, because Edward had given her a ride in his car. She was going to have to walk home. Damn it. You'd think his fortune teller sister would have seen that one coming.

"Way to be assholes," Emmett said to his wife and brother as he stood up.

"Where are you going?" Rosalie demanded.

"My turn to stalk Edward's human for him while he's gone," Emmett answered, rolling his eyes.

"Not this again," Rosalie complained, looking to the heavens.

"Oh put a cork in it, woman," Jasper sighed. "I'm not any happier about it than you are, but the more you whine, the less anyone cares what you think."

"Haven't you been paying attention?" Rosalie looked in the direction of the door Edward and Alice had just fled through. "This is The Edward Show now. No one cares what either of us thinks anymore. We're tertiary characters in our own lives."

Emmett caught up to Bella at the door, watching the food fight with her for a moment before speaking.

"I'm Emmett."

Bella let out a small breath, feeling encouraged and nervous at the same time. "I know."

"Any idea why your friends are shoving fried chicken down the back of Lauren's shirt?"

Bella smiled, wishing she could join in. "She had it coming."

Emmett didn't apologize for his wife's manners, Bella noticed, not that it would have meant anything if he did. Rosalie didn't strike Bella as the type to need or want others to speak for her.

"How much is this little conversation going to cost you with the missus?"

"More than the time I accidentally spilled bleach on her favorite dress," he answered, remembering when he had to go without sex for three days. "Less than it will cost me to offer you a ride to your house after school."

"Thanks," Bella answered, glancing at the highly annoyed vampiress, "but she looks like she'd be really upset if you got human all over her car. I was going to ask Jessica for a ride home…" She returned her gaze to the food fight, ducking to dodge a stray pickle.

"Yeah," Emmett said dryly, "she's going to be busy getting an ass-chewing from Mr. Greene."

"I'll be fine walking," Bella assured him, turning away now and heading for the science building. In the rain. By myself. Damn it, Edward.

"I insist," Emmett said, following her. After all, he knew his brother would appreciate his keeping a close eye on her, just in case any vengeful drug dealers, opportunistic vampires, or wolf-descended grandchildren decided to put in an appearance. Besides, Bella was going to become Emmett's new sister. Obviously the relationship between her and Edward wasn't a secret to anyone anymore, so what was the point of his family shunning her in public?

"What is going on around here?" Bella demanded. "First Edward's acting all clingy, now you're tailing me to my class and risking the wrath of the goddess to get me safely home."

"You came to my table," Emmett pointed out.

"To introduce myself, not to acquire a bodyguard." The light went on in Bella's eyes. "Am I in trouble with Billy Black or something?"

"Not as much trouble as I'll be in if you trip over something and I don't save you from a scraped knee," Emmett smiled, and tried to leave it at that.

"I find it hard to believe you care about the condition of my knees," Bella remarked.

"All scraped knees are of interest to people like me," Emmett replied, dropping his voice. "But in my family, it's because we want to avoid them."

"I can think of at least two members of your family," Bella said, stopping outside the science building, "who would prefer to avoid me altogether. I would have put you in the same category, but here you are, offering me a ride. You can't expect me not to have questions."

Emmett shrugged. "Never met a girl who didn't find reasons to question everything."

Avoidance. Great. Bella knew there had to be more to this, but she didn't think Emmett was going to tell her anything else, no matter how many conversational traps she laid for him.

"What's my excuse for Edward skipping Biology?" she sighed, resolving herself to walk through the classroom door.

"Alice had a petit mal seizure in the cafeteria, so he's taking her to see Carlisle at the hospital," Emmett said smoothly.

Bella glanced at him sideways. "You came up with that one fast."

"We've been doing this a long time," Emmett said, sounding tired and ready to be done with it. In fact, he was ready to be done with everything: high school, cloak and dagger crap, living in a full house, and especially the way his family was handling the Bella situation. He hoped that whatever Edward had cooked up to get this girl ready to be turned wouldn't take much longer than a few more months. Rosalie really would be pissed if he got human all over her car, even a car she didn't like. Maybe he would just hotwire Bella's truck and bring it over.

Meanwhile, in Port Angeles, one of three vampires from Seattle was paying a bail bondsman. Soon there would be a feast. But first, there would be an interrogation.