A/N: Sorry about the long wait…I was having Internet problems because I moved. Nobody told me that the connection would kick me off every five minutes. Hopefully it's no longer an issue.

Bella sat at the table, pencil in hand. She was trying to finish Professor Hart's latest assignment. She and Alice were getting better at reading simple words, so he had introduced them to simple math. It got frustrating at times; though the addition problems were easy, she kept having to count on her fingers. Sometimes even then she made mistakes. Alice was better at math, but had some trouble with spelling. He had said that they could help each other if they wanted to, but they had to do the work on their own first. At least now, they could read smaller words. Every day, they practiced reading out loud either to each other or to the boys.

"I see Hart's been here recently," Edward commented as he stuck a bottle of blood in the microwave. He could have easily told her to do it, but decided not to.

"Yeah…he has," Bella said irritably. She didn't care for math.

"Feel like taking a break?" Edward asked.

"The rate I'm going, I'll never get this finished," she mumbled. There were two very long columns of addition on the page. She wasn't even finished with the first column. Alice was in the library working on her spelling. The reason they had parted ways was because they had a tendency to start talking and forget what they were doing.

"How long have you been sitting there?" Edward asked.

Bella slowly got up from the chair. Her bottom ached, her back ached, and she had to blink several times. The phantoms of the numbers floated before her eyes for a split second, then disappeared and didn't return.

"A long time, I guess," she said, stretching to pop her back.

"Come on," Edward told her, "let's go running."

"I can't run as fast as you can," she protested.

"Just come on," he urged her.

She sighed and followed him.

"My new computer came in yesterday, but it's in the next town," he told her, "I can wait for them to drive all the way over here and deliver it, or I can go get it myself. My old one's worthless now because the hard drive went out in it."

"But…can't you just drive?" Bella asked.

"Where's the fun in that? It's rush hour. Vampires get in traffic jams, too, you know."

He bent down.

"Climb on my back."

Bella stared at him.

"What?"

"Climb on my back," he urged her. It took her a couple of tries, but she managed to get her arms around his shoulders and legs around his middle.

"Now, hang on!"

Suddenly, the world lurched into motion. It seemed as though Edward wasn't moving at all, but the whole world was speeding by around him. He didn't jar her at all—his glide was smoother than any car she'd ever ridden in. The speed made her feel queasy at first, but she gradually got used to the blurs of colors passing by. The cars, even though they were vampire-driven, seemed to crawl as he zipped past them. They reached an overpass.

"NO!" Bella screamed, but Edward did it anyway. He launched himself into the air and they flew over a sea of moving cars. He landed smoothly and safely on the other side of the road, far away from any cars.

"Oh my God, Edward!" Bella gasped, obviously frightened. Her adrenaline had a sharp, burning smell to him.

"Did I scare you?" he asked, laughing.

"I nearly left a puddle on your back! Can you at least warn me before you do that again?" she snapped.

Edward's laughter increased. The more angry Bella seemed to get at him, the funnier he thought it was. She cuffed him on the back of the head, but the touch was feather-light to him.

"Hang on," he said finally, "we're almost there."

And he took off again.

They reached the post office. At a safe distance, Edward put Bella down so that no one would stare. She smoothed her dress and her hair and they went inside.

"I'm here to pick up a package," Edward said, his voice suddenly hard and demanding, "some dipstick delivered it here by mistake."

"Terribly sorry, sir," the vampire woman behind the counter said, "I'll get it for you."

Bella stared. This version of Edward scared her; she supposed this was what people expected him to be like.

She returned, carrying the box. Edward thrust it into Bella's hands, almost knocking her over with the force.

"Here's the refund on the shipping," the woman said timidly, counting out the money in Edward's hand, "we're sorry for this inconvenience."

"Good," Edward snapped, "don't let it happen again."

Bella followed him outside with the box. It wasn't horribly heavy, but she was shaking so hard she could hardly carry it. First with the jump, then this, she was very shaken.

"I'll take the box," Edward told her, "get on my back again."

She handed it to him.

"What was that all about?" she asked, stunned.

"Ah, they expect me to be like that," he told her, "when we're out in public, I have to treat you like a regular slave until you're changed. Don't take it personally…you know how I really feel."

"Okay…"

She situated herself on his back. This time, she expected the leap and it didn't frighten her so badly. They reached the house in hardly any time at all. She estimated that the trip had taken five minutes or less.

"Why are you worried about what they think?" Bella asked as they took the computer upstairs.

"Because that's the way the world is," Edward said, "we're a very powerful political family. We're being watched all the time. I'm amazed that Carlisle changing Esme and Melody wasn't really highly publicized. If we get caught acting strange, it brings scrutiny on our dad and we don't want him losing his job. They see being good to their slaves as a weakness."

Bella nodded. She remembered how Edward had kept his distance from her at the wedding and had been wondering about that.

"I hate it," Edward said, "you're way too stubborn to be a slave."

She smiled. Edward pried the box open and pulled out the new laptop. It smelled like new plastic and booted up very quickly.

"Do vampires think computers are slow?" she asked.

"Yes, we do."

She laughed.

"Wait until you see lightning from vampire vision," Edward told her, "you can actually tolerate the brightness and see the patterns it makes."

"I look forward to it," she said, watching the screen change colors.

"There it is," Edward said, "now I have to save all this stuff. You can bring your 'homework' up here if you want."

The temptation was big enough that she took him up on it. While Edward transferred things from his flash drive onto the computer, Bella continued working on her math. At last, she finished. Edward took the paper and looked over it.

"I see three mistakes," he said, "here, here, and here."

That surprised Bella. There were at least twenty problems on that page.

"You're still slow," he told her, "but you're making less mistakes. That's good."

She reworked the three problems.

"Now," Edward said, "put that stuff away, I have something else for you to do."

His father would have a heart attack if he knew, but Edward didn't really care.

"Sit right there," he said, pointing to a chair, "this will only take a second."

He rifled around in the cabinet under the giant TV and pulled out the controllers for his games. The first two looked like musical instruments.

"You want me to play games with you?" Bella asked, stunned.

"Yeah…that's what I got it out for," Edward said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"But…"

"No buts. You're still mine, right? This falls under your job description. Your job for the evening is to entertain me."

Bella shrugged and took the controller for the guitar.

"Now," Edward said, scrolling through the options, "all you have to do is hit the color that comes up on the screen. Make sure you hit the strummer bar too or it won't count. Let's see if you can get through a whole song."

The controller he had resembled a drum set. They started on what was supposed to be an easy song. Bella kept messing up and Edward kept having to save her.

"Oops," she muttered when she lost the game for both of them.

"It's only your first try. Now, watch."

He showed her a few shortcuts. It took her a few tries to get through an entire song, but she picked it up by bedtime. She didn't have very high accuracy ratings, but at least she could make it through an entire song. Her fingers ached terribly and she saw scrolling colors when she closed her eyes.

"Bedtime for the human," Edward announced, taking the guitar out of her hand, "let's go."

He kissed her in such a way that she was definitely awake after that. Though she wanted to stay with him, she didn't say so. Alice was already asleep when she laid down and Esme's bed, as expected, was empty. Though she knew Esme wouldn't ever sleep in the servant's quarters again, she missed her sister being in the house. She hoped that Esme and Carlisle would be home soon.