Chapter 25

Since Charlie wasn't home, Carlisle drove me back to the Cullen's. Alice was already there, of course, although she didn't see that the decision had been made until we drove far enough away from LaPush to become visible to her again. This was a source of unending irritation for the little pixie. She wasn't accustomed to being foiled.

I'd assumed Edward would call at some point, if for no other reason than to make sure Jacob hadn't kidnapped me and run off or some such silly idea the silly man might have had. He wouldn't take into consideration that Jake was in no condition to do any such thing, and that Carlisle was with me. He would only be worried. Since he hadn't called, I had to hope he was handling the unknown outcome of my visit to LaPush with poise and decorum.

He was most likely, however, driving the other guys insane.

Rather than calling Edward myself, I decided to go to the real source. "So, Alice… how is Edward doing?"

"Fine," she replied casually.

"Just fine?" I tried to dig a little more without it appearing so.

"Yep. Just fine." She was looking at her nails again, which I started to realize was a 'tell' of hers. She only seemed to do that when she was fixated on appearing to pay no attention to me.

"OK, that's all I wanted to know." I figured two could play at that game.

We both sat examining our nails until she could finally take no more. "Bella! I know you want to ask me, so why don't you just do it?"

I smiled on the inside, knowing I'd beat her at her own game… at least for now. "If you know what I want to ask you, why don't you just save us the trouble and tell me?"

"Are you crazy? If I just go telling you everything you want to know, I won't have anything to hold over your head! Don't you know me at all?"

I knew she was joking, but there was a little nugget of truth in there. "It's fine, Alice. I don't need to know." I picked up a home design magazine of some sort and feigned fascination with it.

"I know you aren't interested in 'Trendir,' so don't even pretend you're looking at it."

"How do you know I don't 'dream of a Zen-like living space entirely free of distractions and unnecessary complications'?" I read from the magazine. "Hmmmm?"

"Would you like me to tell Esme you've developed a sudden overwhelming love for minimalist design? I'm sure she'd be happy to tell you everything she knows."

I gasped. "You wouldn't…"

"Oh wouldn't I?" she challenged.

I stared Alice down for a minute. She looked entirely too serious, and even though there had to be worse things than lengthy discussions on home fashion, I couldn't think of one at the moment, so I caved.

"Fine. What is Edward doing?" I grumbled.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" she retorted with a smile two seconds before the back door opened.

"That's cheating!" I accused.

She stuck her tongue out at me on her way over to greet her husband.

"Your sister is a brat!" I announced to Edward.

"Which one?" he asked, chuckling as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Alice, of course! I wouldn't call Rosalie a brat."

"Maybe a different 'B' word then?"

"Edward, are you trying to get me in trouble? She already doesn't like me…" I hissed before rather loudly calling out, "Rosalie, if you're around here, Edward said that, not me!"

"Don't worry, Bella…" he laughed. "She went shopping in Olympia."

"And she didn't take Alice?"

"Alice was spending time with you today, remember? Besides, she didn't want to go."

"Alice chose to babysit me over shopping?" I'm sure my jaw was practically hanging to the floor.

"She wasn't babysitting you, my love. She was just watching to make sure nothing bad happened to you," he explained.

"Isn't that the dictionary definition of babysitting?"

He just laughed some more and kissed me sweetly. "Alice didn't want to go with Rose because she's shopping for… car parts."

"Oh, yeah… that would not be fun," I had to agree. I wrapped my arms around Edward's neck and wove my fingers into his soft, supple, messy hair as we kissed in earnest this time.

"Shall we go upstairs?" he suggested almost… suggestively. I nodded and before I knew it, I was being whisked up the two flights to Edward's room. Our room. He laid me down on the bed, removed my shoes, took off his own and was cuddled up next to me in no time flat. I was glad to be lying down, considering my head was spinning.

We spent some time touching and kissing and sharing deep, meaningful looks and affirming our love for one another. So far, it was definitely the best part of my day.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything, but aren't you back a little early? I mean, the way you talked, I thought you might be gone until at least tomorrow," I mused before planting a trail of warm kisses down his cool neck.

"Mmmmmm…" he hummed and then backed away slightly so he could answer my question. "Yes, we were planning to be out longer, but this afternoon, Jasper and I caught up to a grizzly and I thought Fred should have it, his first taste of predator and all. Emmett complained like crazy until Fred agreed to arm wrestle over it. They got all situated, and I think Fred could have won fair and square, but he disappeared and the next thing we knew, he was bringing down the bear. We haven't heard the end of it from Emmett. I wonder if we ever will…" he shook his head, amused at the memory. "And if I hear the word 'rematch' come out of his mouth one more time…"

It was an idle threat, but I still found it funny, picturing the enormous Emmett storming around and pouting like the little boy he could be sometimes.

"Well, I'm just glad you're here. I missed you so much!"

"Missed me, missed me, now ya gotta kiss me?" he teased.

"I think Emmett is rubbing off on you."

"That's not funny, Isabella Marie Swan soon-to-be-Cullen," Edward said rather sternly, before chuckling. "I do like the sound of that…"

"Me, too," I smiled into yet another round of scintillating kisses. I could barely wait until we didn't have to stop, but now was not that time.

Edward rolled to his side and I immediately missed his weight that had been covering half my body. Somehow that side seemed warmer than the other.

He began playing with my hair and I could tell something was on his mind. "So, how did your talk go with Jacob?"

"Oh, we kissed and made up," I answered coyly, deciding to tease him just a little.

When he didn't respond in kind, I meekly uttered, "Too soon?"

"Yes, I'm sorry, sweetheart, but way too soon. I think it will probably always be too soon," he affirmed with a slight smile, but also a hint of sadness in his voice.

"OK… sorry… I should have resisted temptation on that one." I craned my neck up to kiss his chin before starting again. "The talk went pretty well. Not as well as I'd hoped, but better than I expected. I got a few glimpses of my friend in there, even though he's completely bitter beyond belief. But I know he's only like that because he's in pain. He admitted he tricked me into kissing him because he was desperate about losing me to you. I very gently told him I was already lost to you, but that was after the yelling and name-calling part was already over."

Edward pushed himself up onto his elbow. "He yelled at you and called you names?" he asked in that quiet, yet murderous way he had when he thought someone was trying to harm me.

"Take a pill, Edward. Seriously." Sometimes he could be so exasperating. "Carlisle can give you the play-by-play if you really want to know exactly what was said."

"Bella, I don't like it when Jacob is angry around you…"

I cut him off quickly. "It was just verbal sparring. I can hold my own."

"That's the least of my worries, Bella. I know you're more than capable in that area. It's just… he could phase, and with you so close?"

I closed my eyes and counted to three. And then to five.

"Edward, seriously, do you really think I don't know how dangerous it would be if Jacob phased with me in his tiny little room? I'm not stupid, Edward. I do think about these things. I know you don't trust Jake, but I do and he would never hurt me." I let out the rest of a breath I was apparently holding.

He was quiet for a moment, and then mumbled, "I'm sure that's what Emily thought about Sam, too."

"Edward! That's so not fair! You know Sam was the first wolf. He didn't even know what was going on when that happened. Everyone else learned a lesson from his tragedy and they're all a lot more careful now. Besides, that would be like saying…" I thought for a moment… "Like saying Jessica Stanley cheated on her boyfriend and now you can't trust me because I'm also a human female."

"Aaaand… this is why I'm not worried about you holding your own in a verbal battle," he all but snorted, pulling me close to him again. "Bella, you're so very fragile, like all humans are, but I know you're also incredibly strong. I've never, ever thought you were stupid. Ever. Jacob just doesn't have that much control and you're right, I don't trust him."

"Sweetie, it's not like he randomly phases on his way to and from the bathroom or something. He's actually developed quite a bit of control. If he could learn to control his mouth that well, we could probably be good friends again!"

He laughed. "He'd need to control a lot more than that to ever be my friend."

"I don't hold out high hopes that the two of you will ever be 'friends' per se, but maybe you could both eventually be civil? For my sake?"

"Believe it or not, I'm just about as civil as I can be with him. You don't know what he's thinking! And it's constant!"

Now it was my turn to laugh. "I spent a whole night with him in a sleeping bag. I'm pretty sure I know what he's thinking!"

He put his hand to the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. "I could have gone my entire life without ever hearing that, you know."

"Well, I assumed you already knew, since you could read his thoughts and everything."

"I knew what he was thinking, but I didn't know what was 'happening'," he said with great disgust. "And I thought I wanted to kill him before!"

"Oh, honey, don't be silly. I'm all yours, for better or for worse," I assured him.

"For richer or poorer?" he asked.

I nodded.

"In sickness and in health, till death do us part?" he continued. "You do know we're going to have to rewrite those vows, right?"

"Yes, we are… How about…," I pondered this for a moment, "I'll love you while we're wealthy, healthy, and undead."

We laughed together. "Yes, that wouldn't make us sound odd at all," he guffawed.

"Or shallow."

His bright golden eyes darkened perceptibly as he bent his head to kiss me, and my heart was off to the races again.

Defying the laws of nature, the hours went by slowly, but the days passed in the blink of an eye. Alice had everyone completely packed for our trip, which didn't set well with me because I was still wearing some of the things I wanted to take.

"I know this is mean, but I'm just going to say it," Alice announced to me after our most recent clothing argument. "Everything you wear is horrible. Rosalie has shop rags nicer than half of your clothes! I wouldn't even give them to the thrift store!"

"Gosh, Alice, why don't you tell me what you really think?" I sardonically replied.

"Italy is one of the fashion capitals of the world! You can't go there in T-shirts and jeans and sweats!" she griped.

"Don't forget sweatshirts and sneakers," I added with a wry smile.

"Bella, if I could die, you would be killing me right now."

"Seriously, Bella, I don't know what you're complaining about," Fred interjected. "I've never been so well dressed in my life, and I don't even have to do anything! Clothes just appear out of nowhere and I put them on. And I look damn good, if I may say so myself, and I may."

"I know Alice picks out wonderful things, but most of them just aren't me," I almost whined.

"Hey, I had a peek at some of the things she got you for this trip, and I gotta say, Bella, you would look-"

He was literally cut off mid-sentence when Edward grabbed him by the throat and pushed him into the wall, making a fairly significant crack in it. Esme screeched, and I wasn't sure it if was due to the damage to her house or the fact that Edward seemed to be going all homicidal for no apparent reason.

"Edward! Geez! Calm down! Fred wasn't doing anything bad!" I yelled.

He released Fred just before Jasper and Rosalie arrived to pry him off. If they hadn't done it, I was prepared to try it myself, not that it would do any good.

"If anyone is going to imagine my fiancé in a silk gown and then ogle the image inappropriately, it's going to be me!" he shouted in Fred's face.

Once we all registered what he's said, everyone but Edward burst out laughing. Even Fred took his life into his own hands, laughing uproariously almost directly in Edward's face. He couldn't very well help himself.

Edward looked around at all of us, then took off upstairs in a huff. I wanted to stop laughing – really, I did, but I, too, was helpless. The frivolity died down eventually, but then someone, who I would swear was Carlisle, began chuckling again and the whole thing started over.

"Edward, come back! Please?" I said up the stairs, trying to quell my occasional guffaws. When I received no response, I warned, "OK, I'm coming up!"

I had ascended all of three steps when suddenly Edward was in front of me. I let out a startled yelp and I think I might have fallen backwards if he hadn't caught me.

"I'm going to say this once, Fred," he announced to everyone in the room. "Having you picture my Bella in a gown I've never seen made me just a little bit insanely jealous and, yes Rose, I overreacted. I'm sorry, Fred."

He offered his hand and Fred graciously reached to shake it. "Too slow" Edward said as he pulled his hand back. A few laughs later, everything was back to the Cullen's version of normal.

With only four days to go before we took the long flight to Italy, Carlisle seemed to have quadrupled Fred's training, which didn't seem possible since that's all they did all the time prior to that, too. Carlisle, as usual, was a man on a mission. He was very excited to show us what his pupil could do. For the first time since the ugliness in the field when Fred first arrived, I was asked to join the group of spectators. Edward was leery, of course, but even he had become more comfortable with Fred and agreed to check out his progress.

Jasper and Alice had also been very involved in Fred's training, much to their chagrin. The only positive in Alice's mind was getting to replace all the ruined clothing. Jasper grumbled about spending so much time in the dirt, but even he couldn't hide the pride he felt as Fred progressed.

I was just plain excited to see what I'd only heard bits and pieces about in the past few weeks. I didn't see Fred, Jasper, or Carlisle much in that time, and Alice and I only seemed to spend time together when she was babysitting me. On those days, Rose or Esme would go to the field. Emmett, despite his protests, had been all but banned because time spent with Fred meant time joking, playing, and frequently fighting, sometimes all three of those things at the same time.

Today, Emmett stood in the living room, pouting, as the rest of us prepared to go to the practice field.

"You know, Carlisle, I can go if I want to. It's not like anyone is going to stop me," Emmett challenged yet again.

This was after he'd tried to appeal to:

Carlisle's scientific side – "Since Fred and I are buddies now, I wonder if that would make him more or less able to use his powers on me. There's only one way to find out, you know."

Esme's maternal nature – 'It's a family event, mom… don't you think the whole family should be there?'

Rosalie's soft spot for her husband – 'But, baby, I'm gonna miss you so much. I know we have eternity, but if you're out there and I have to stay here, we'll miss a little piece of it and we can never get it back.'

Jasper's strategic side – 'If something goes wrong in Volterra, aren't you gonna wish I was in on the practice? I'm not gonna be much help if I don't know what's going on…'

Alice's passion for fashion – 'I'll probably ruin my clothes out there, and you know how much you like the challenge of finding stuff that fits me. In fact, I could promise you I'd ruin my clothes, if you know what I mean.'

Fred's playful competiviteness – 'Dude, it'll be more fun if I'm there. Plus, you know I can kick your ass anytime. But if you're too chicken…'

Edward's over-protectiveness – 'I can help you keep Bella safe. Fred listens to me.'

And finally, my fondness for him – 'You can't leave your favorite big brother behind! It won't be the same without me.'

Unfortunately, all of his clever ploys and tugs at the heart strings were for naught, as Carlisle put his foot down. "Emmett, you and Fred can barely play your little video games without it coming to blows. We're on our third big screen in the past month! If anyone throws another shoe through a TV, Esme's going to have both your heads. Fred gets too riled up when you're around. Having you go out with us is just a bad idea. I'm sorry."

"This is no fair," Emmett grumbled. "Everybody else gets to go, even the human. We haven't had to get a new TV in nine days! Fred and I are getting along much better now, and I could prove it to you if you'd let me go! Please? Just once?"

Carlisle shook his head, smiling. "OK, Em, I'll make you a deal. You stay behind for now and tonight it'll just be the three of us: you, me, and Fred. And he can test his gift on you, and you guys can wrestle and fight and whatever else, on two conditions. One, no damaging each other, and two, you keep me out of it. OK?"

"I guess…" Emmett said glumly. "Deal." He and Carlisle shook hands on it.

Soon we were out the door. "Well played, old man," Edward whispered to Carlisle. He and Esme had stayed behind with us for a few moments to help get me ready for a day in the field. Alice had told them to prepare in advance since I would be coming, but Esme didn't want to seem presumptuous in case I, or more likely Edward, refused to go. She was mostly packed, but didn't quite have everything ready, at least keeping up the appearance of being unassuming.

"I had to give him something," Carlisle answered quietly. "I didn't think he would ever stop griping. I think my future self will be cursing my present self for making this deal, however."

Esme appeared through the back door carrying a cooler and duffle bag. Since I was the only one who needed creature comforts, I had to assume it was all for me.

"Kitchen sink?" I asked.

"Yes, it's in there," she giggled.

"OK, then I guess we're ready to go!"

I hopped on board the Edward Express and soon we joined the others who'd gone on ahead. We stopped well shy of the group, however, and it took me a minute to see why. Jasper, Alice, and Rosalie were running around like crazy, laughing uproariously, and I soon realized Fred was trying to zap them with his power while they tried to avoid the invisible force. It was like a psychic version of dodge-ball.

We had fun just standing there watching for a while. Fred was obviously far more able to control his gift than he had been before, and he was using both aspects of his gift together – he would disappear, sneak up on his prey and then unleash his ability to make them feel sick. Jasper was getting the brunt of it, but Alice and Rosalie went down their fair share of times, too.

"OK, kids!" Carlisle called out more loudly than necessary, even for my benefit. I presumed he was trying to use his 'authoritative dad' voice. "Let's get organized here and put Fred through his paces."

Esme had already set up 'base camp,' which consisted of a blanket on the ground, a couple of small pillows and a half canopy that was a cross between a pop-up tent and a beach umbrella. It wasn't raining and it wasn't sunny, it wasn't cold and it wasn't warm, either. In other words, pretty standard weather for Forks, even in early July.

Carlisle had us all circle Fred much as we had done in his very early training. Edward and I were still a team, and I could feel him tense at the prospect of being incapacitated again. I had no doubt he was remembering the last time we were in this position.

Carlisle got Fred to focus on him. "OK, Fred… Alice!"

In a split second, Alice and the two flanking her, Jasper and Esme, were writhing on the ground, but nobody else reacted to the effect. It sort of looked like he was bowling with an invisible ball. I was duly impressed, although I got the feeling Jasper and Esme weren't nearly as excited.

"Wow, Fred! That was great! I didn't know you'd come so far," I praised.

Fred smiled widely as he apologized to his main target and two inadvertent targets. Even though his aim wasn't perfect by any stretch, he was clearly proud of his progress.

"OK, Fred. Eyes over here," Carlisle said calmly. "This time… just me."

Everyone went down except Esme and Edward, and me of course. Fred had obviously learned to release his victims as quickly as he dropped them, so they weren't in his proverbial clutches for long and were back up in a flash.

"This time… Edward," Carlisle told Fred, but only Rose and Jasper went down on either side of us.

"Fred, I said Edward," Carlisle reminded him as if he had somehow forgotten or didn't hear correctly. I wanted to remind Carlisle that Fred was a vampire, but decided against it. "Try again."

Fred did as he was told and again, Rose and Jasper found themselves in the dirt while Edward and I remained standing.

"That's odd…" Carlisle mused. "Bella, you stay by Edward, but everyone else move away." Once the desired scenario was set, Fred was once again told to drop Edward.

Nothing happened. I was asked to stand to the side with the others, so it was just Fred vs Edward, sort of like a vampire gunfight at the OK Corral.

Upon Carlisle's command, Fred tried again to put Edward on the ground, but to no avail. It was puzzling to say the least. Prior to today, Fred had no problem bringing Edward to his knees, but now he seemed to have no effect on him.

On some unseen cue, Edward dropped into a crouch and leapt at Fred, letting out an oddly feral growl. Fred disappeared to everyone else, and side-stepped just in time for Edward to miss him, but still, Edward remained upright.

"He's afraid," Jasper murmured. "I can feel it, clear as day. I believe Fred is afraid of what Edward will do to him, so he's avoiding him instead of using his ability to stop him."

"I'm not afraid," Fred hollered much like a five year old would when telling his mom he wasn't worried about monsters in the closet.

"It's OK, Fred. I know Edward is a jerk sometimes, but he's not that tough. He's certainly nothing to be afraid of…" Rose attempted to encourage Fred while simultaneously getting in a dig at her brother.

"The only time I ever gave Fred reason to fear me was when he threatened Bella," Edward defended himself.

"Or when he was 'ogling' her in his mind," Alice teased.

"Or every other time he irritated you in the slightest," Rosalie piled on.

Edward tilted his head and gave Fred an appraising look, concentrating on his eyes, which Fred averted right away. "Tell me what's really going on."

"Isn't it obvious?" Rosalie jumped in. "You've terrorized poor Fred so much, you broke him!"

"Oh, this is not good," Alice murmured as she was obviously having a vision. "Not good at all!"

"Whatever is going on, Fred's fear just doubled," Jasper announced.

Even without Jasper's abilities, I could feel the tension rising on the field. "What? Edward, what's going on?"

"Carlisle, call Emmett. Get him out here," was Edward's only answer.

A/N: OK, so just the littlest bit of a cliffie there…

Without attempting to make TOO many excuses for the delay in posting this chapter, I've been doing some grant writing and it's been sapping my muse. I got a break from it this week, so I finally got this finished!