(A/N)

I'm so sorry and I'm trying and all the things that I normally say when I'm really late in updating.

And Twilight is in a contest (March 2014) Go Vote!( replace * with periods): parade*condenast*com/271713/ashleighschmitz/ya-novel-showdown-vote-for-your-favorite-in-our-tournament/271713/ashleighschmitz/ya-novel-showdown-vote-for-your-favorite-in-our-tournament/


Disclaimer: I am not Stephenie Meyer and therefore I don't own Twilight.


EPOV

"No," I objected, "Absolutely not."

"Edward, it makes sense," Jasper said, backing Bella up. I growled at him in frustration.

Was Jasper deliberately trying to put my family in harm's way?

I looked at my wife. My fragile human wife, who was carrying my child, quite possibly the only child that we could ever had. A baby who already made us so happy.

Jasper continued. "They've got the numbers we need and we'd have the advantage of surprise since the newborns won't even know that they exist."

"Jasper has a point, Edward," Carlisle murmured. We would never allow Bella to be harmed Edward. You know that.

"But team up with the wolves?" Rosalie asked in a disgusted voice. Last thing I want to do is interact with the smelly mutts, Rosalie complained. At least she agreed with me.

"The wolves could help," Bella insisted looking at me.

"They're dangerous," I said, refusing to sway on the topic. I was not going to compromise the baby's or Bella's safety.

"Edward," Alice said, "I don't like it either. I'll be blind. But we need the help and I'm willing to bet that they'll give it to us."

I glared at her. I expected her to on my side seeing as she wouldn't be able to see with the wolves around.

"Bella," I said, addressing her directly. I had to work on that. "The wolves are dangerous, love."

"But they can help," Bella said, "and that will give more protection to Forks. To me," She said looking at me pointedly. "To all of us."

She gave me the eyes.

Alice was good at the eyes. They normally let her get her way.

Bell was better at it, which was worse for me. Her eyes were expressive, the deep chocolate brown that I loved so much. Her eyes were pleading and insistent.

"Edward, let us at least try to set this up." Bella said, eyes still wide. "Please."

I closed my eyes. "Your evil," I groaned in defeat. A few chuckles came from our family members. I open my eyes and caught her now slightly triumphant look. "Fine. Fine. But if anything happens…" I couldn't finish my sentence. I didn't really have an end to it.

What if something did happen?

"Nothing will happen," Bella assured me. "It'll be fine."

I wasn't sure that I agreed. I let out a small sigh as Carlisle got up and picked up the phone. Rosalie was frowning, unhappy about having to work with the mongrels. Emmett wrapped his arm around her, trying to comfort her.

Bella leaned into me. "It'll be fine," she assured me again. I placed my arm around her waist, my hand automatically falling over her stomach.

"Billy," Carlisle said when he picked up. "This is Carlisle Cullen."

"Dr. Cullen," Billy greeted cordially. "What can I do for you?"

"There is a group of vampires causing havoc in Seattle. They are going to come here, with the intent to hurt Bella. They pose a threat to others in the area as well. We hate to ask this of you, but there are too many of them for us alone to defeat."

"You want our help," Billy said gruffly when he pieced it together.

"Yes," Carlisle said with a nod.

"I'll have to talk this over with the council members, Dr. Cullen," he said in the same gruff, unfriendly voice.

"Of course," Carlisle responded.

"Expect to hear from us soon," Billy said before hanging up the phone. Carlisle hit end and turned to the rest of us.

"That went better than expected," he said with a pleasantly surprised smile.


"They've called," I said the second I walked into our room.

"And?" Bella asked, putting down her book and sitting up in bed.

"They want to meet with us," I told her. She raised an eyebrow, asking for more detail. "Later tonight around 12 o'clock."

"I want to go," Bella stated matter-of-fact-ly.

I nodded. "Alice says that it's going to be cold and to wear the jacket she bought you last month."

Her lips twisted as she tried to conceal her smile. She ended up smiley anyway. I smiled back.

"Okay," Bella said. I sat next to her on the bed. She leaned into me and said, "Thanks for not fighting me on this."

"I'm tired of fighting," I said, putting my arm around her. "You should be there and I have no right to stop you."

Even if I thought this was crazy, it was right for her to be there.

"Emmett is going to be right next to you though, ready to take you away if anything gets out of hand," I added.

Bella chuckled and muttered, "Overprotective as always."

"I'm just worried about you," I said. A silence fell over the room before I said, "I'm sorry."

"You've said sorry," Bella said, knowing immediately what I was sorry for. I touched her stomach lightly; her stomach which was definitely showing. "Sorry doesn't fix everything, Edward."

"I know that," I said. But there's really nothing else I can say, is there? Words were supposed to help convey meaning, but overused words like "sorry" and "love" had lost some of their power of the years.

I looked at her bandaged arm. They had to be changed.

I'll bring the stuff up, Alice thought.

"Thanks, I muttered.

"What?" Bella asked.

"Alice is bringing stuff up so we can change the bandages," I explained. I took her arm lightly and began unraveling the bandages. I almost cringed at the four deep nail marks that had been made. It had to hurt. Why hadn't she said anything?

"Carlisle," I said. "I think she might need stitches."

Bella rolled her eyes. "I'm fine."

Carlisle walked into the room and examined Bella's arm quickly. "She may," he agreed.

She sighed. "Is it really bad enough that it needs stitches?"

"Just to be safe," Carlisle answered, "I think you should."

"Fine," she agreed as Alice walked in with Carlisle's bag.

"The jacket is slung over the arm of the couch downstairs," Alice informed Bella before winking at her and walking swiftly out the door.

"Thanks, Alice," she said, watching Carlisle as he dug out the supplies he needed.

Carlisle got to work, stitching her arm quickly. I kept my eyes on Bella's face as he worked. Bella gazed down at her arm as it was stitched. There was no sign that it hurt.

"Didn't it hurt?" I asked quietly as Carlisle finished the last stitch.

"Honestly, I'd forgotten about it until you mentioned it," she answered, keeping her eyes on her arm as Carlisle wrapped her arm.

"All done," he said a minute later, getting up from the floor.

"Thank you," Bella said, smiling at him.

He nodded with a smile and said, "You may want to get a bit of rest before tonight. We don't know how long the meeting will take."

"Okay," she agreed. Carlisle left and closed the door behind him.

I touched the edge of the bandage lightly before getting up and helping her get into bed.

"Sleep, love. I'll wake you when it's time," I said, kissing her forehead.

"Okay," she said.

"I love you," I told her, meeting her eyes. She smiled at me.

"I love you, too."


(A/N)

I'm so sorry guys the next update will be up sooner (at least I hope it will be).

We will be seeing the wolves again! Thoughts?

And, by the way, Twilight is currently (As of March 2014) in a knockout type contest against Beautiful Creatures and we're behind. Go vote! (Replace * with periods):

parade*condenast*com/271713/ashleighschmitz/ya-novel-showdown-vote-for-your-favorite-in-our-tournament/