Previously...

-Edward and Charlie were reconciled over a fishing trip...

-Bella discovered Jasper and Alice in bed together, and was shocked to find that Charlie knew about it, and had been allowing it. Charlie backed down, and grudgingly allowed Edward to stay over.

Tune of the chapter... Ne-Yo - One In A Million


Bella

I woke late on Sunday, pleasantly surprised to find Edward's arms wrapped tightly around me.

I could have happily stayed there forever, but a glance at the clock told me it was getting towards half ten, and Charlie would be in soon.

He had relaxed immensely yesterday, but I doubted he wanted to see me naked and wrapped around a member of the opposite sex. I gently pushed Edward's soft hair back from his face, and kissed him on the forehead, whispering, "Wake up sleepyhead."

He groaned, clutching me tighter, and all of his morning glory pressed against my back side. This, I suspected, had caused the groan.

I wiggled slightly, and his hands began to drift down my body. I sighed, knowing that this couldn't go anywhere right now, and slid out from under his arms, quickly grabbing some panties from my closet and pulling them on.

"Where are you going?" were Edward's first full words of the morning. I laughed; he sounded like a whiny five year old.

"I'm just going to the bathroom to change and brush my teeth before Charlie walks in." I explained, grabbing some jeans and a t-shirt from the cupboard and heading into the hall.

I made it to the bathroom and back in ten minutes without being seen. Edward was already sat up on the bed, getting redressed in yesterday's clothes.

"Right, we need to get going, can we just make a stop at my house first so I can change and pick some things up?" He asked, pulling his socks on.

"Sure, sure." I replied, pulling my hair back into a band. I'd slept on it wet last night, and now I looked like I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards.

We took my truck, and arrived on the Cullen's drive twenty minutes later.

It was an unusually nice day in Forks, even for June, and Esme was in the garden, watering the flower beds that surrounded the front porch.

She smiled and waved as we arrived, "Hello Bella! Edward, what you asked for is on the kitchen table!" She winked dramatically and gave him a thumbs up.

He rolled his eyes, "Thanks mom…" and pulled me into the house.

He led me into the living room and then turned to me quickly, "Wait right here, I'll be five minutes. Literally." Then he dodged up the large staircase, to get changed, I presumed.

Seconds later, Esme walked in, "Has he gone upstairs?"

I nodded quietly.

"Good dear. I wanted a chance to speak to you alone." She ushered me onto the sofa, "I'll be quick, we don't want him to hear… It pains me to have to do this Bella, because I've never seen him as happy as he is around you. But you seem like a lovely girl, and I really respected your mother when she was alive. Because of that, I feel compelled to make sure you know what you're getting into. Since that unfortunate incident with that girl Irene, or whatever her name was..." here she waved a hand, as if to dismiss the troubles completely.

"Edward's had a very long string of lady friends. He doesn't seem to have had much regard for any of their feelings, not that many of them were at all deserving. I just worry that the same will happen to you really… And I don't want you to disregard him, because I really do think he likes you very much, and I really hope that you can be the one who makes him change… But you have to bare it in mind, I think."

I blinked in shock at her kindness. It took a good mother to admit that her son was in the wrong. I could recognise that – It was something my mother had never been able to do. In her eyes, Jasper and I had been perfect.

"Th-thank you. I appreciate that more than you can tell…" I said, tears now springing uncontrollably to my eyes as I thought of Renée.

She probably would have loved Edward; good looking, polite, courteous. He was every mother's dream really. But at the same time, she would have worried, as Esme now did, about his reliability…

I didn't have a doubt.

When I told Esme so, she pulled me into a tight hug, whispering, "Thank you."

Jasper

By the time Alice and I woke up, Bella and Cullen were long gone – fortunately for him.

After Alice was sleeping last night, I'd crept downstairs for a drink, and the things I'd heard… It made my skin crawl to hear her calling out his name like that, in our own home of all places!

I didn't want to seem like a prude, and I knew that Bella was just as mature as I was, if not more. But Edward Cullen was so unsuitable for her. As were all the boys at out high school really. It would just be better for everyone involved if she'd wait until college to have a boyfriend.

That was if she went to college at all, something that was a constant source of arguments in our house – there was no way she was wasting her life on catering school. I mean, sure, she was a good cook. But that's not he only thing she was good at. She could do anything she wanted!

I was in a terrible mood that day as I followed Alice around Port Angeles Mall in silence.

She had attempted to initiate a conversation about six times, but in my current state of mind, I just gave her a quick, one word answer that left her with no response save for an angry glare.

I knew it was upsetting her, but I couldn't get over the fact that Edward Cullen, effectively my arch enemy, was trying to get into my sisters pants. Well, wasn't even trying anymore by the sounds of it. He was well and truly in.

I shuddered.

I saw straight through his games. He was fooling her into thinking he wanted a relationship, until he could fuck her, and then he's toss her aside like he had nearly every other girl at our school.

I wouldn't stand for it. It would only be Bella for now, but next he'd be after Tanya, and Kate, and Rosalie and even my Alice.

When I looked up Alice was looking at me expectantly and I realised she'd just asked me a question.

"Are you even listening to me?" She asked, irately.

Her tone pushed me over the ragged edge, "NO! I'm not! Because my sister, your supposed best friend, is sleeping with Edward Cullen. And she's going to end up like Irina, ruined and thrown aside! And you don't even seem to care!"

She laughed.

She actually laughed at me.

I growled, throwing down the six shopping bags I'd been carrying for her, and stormed out of the store.

Edward

I quickly climbed the stairs to my room, and grabbed the book from under my bed.

22 -Tell the truth.

This should need no explanation. Just don't lie. Ever.

That was fine. I'd never lied to Bella anyway. I discarded the book back where I'd gotten it from, pulled on a fresh shirt, and ran back down the stairs, taking them two at time – I didn't want to leave Bella vulnerable to my mother for any longer than I had to.

In the kitchen, true to her word, Esme had left a large picnic basket sat on the table. I flipped the lid open and took a quick inventory... Perfect.

I grabbed the basket and headed back to the lounge where I'd left Bella. I was surprised to find her sat on the sofa, locked in an embrace with my mother...

Great. Esme had probably poisoned her mind with horrible childhood anecdotes about bedwetting and soiled diapers...

I made a mental note to ask Esme what they were talking about later, and went to wait in the car.

Bella joined me a minute or two later, wiping her eyes, "Are you ok? What did she say to you?" I asked worriedly as she climbed into the passenger seat.

"Nothing, nothing. Really. Now where are we going?" She replied, with what I suspected was a forced smile.

I let it drop for the moment, "It's a secret." I quickly searched for a way to change the subject... "You're coming to the away game at the weekend right?"

She nodded, scowling at my avoidance, "Yeah. I guess I'll have to ride up in the cheer squad bus though, so... Unless you want to permanently join our ranks, I won't see you 'till we get there."

"That's fine thank you... It's only two hours away, but Coach is making us leave earlier, so we can get settled and have a practice before we go to bed." I replied.

She frowned, "Never mind... Maybe I can visit you room when everyone's settled...? I guess you're with Emmett?"

I nodded.

"Well, that works, I'm with Rose and I'm pretty sure they won't mind swapping." She winked at me.

I laughed, "Speaking of Rose, how is she?"

Bella gave a small shrug, "I'm not really sure. She seems so happy with Emmett though. Hopefully they'll last. I don't really know what's going on with her dad though..."

At that moment, we pulled up at the end of the trail I'd been driving along. "We'll have to walk from here..."

After about 3 miles of hiking through the forest, Bella was about to collapse. "You said it wasn't far!" She complained.

I felt a little guilty; I hadn't given a thought to the difficulty Bella might have with the hike up to my meadow. I'd barely broken a sweat, even carrying the picnic basket.

"We're nearly there. Quit whining." I told her, carrying on ahead.

I heard her huffing, but she was still following.

Luckily, after just another half an hour, and just as Bella was about to give up, we stepped into the large clearing.

Surrounded by trees, and full of wildflowers and long grasses, it was one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen. When I'd found it on a hike one day last summer with Emmett, I'd been amazed, so I could well understand Bella's wide eyed expression, "I know. It's gorgeous, isn't it?"

She nodded mutely, and then followed me to a patch of shorter grass, and sat down, watching me unpack the food.

Bella

"Edward?" I asked as we lay on the ground side by side after having stuffed ourselves full of Esme's delicious food.

"Mmm." He replied gently reaching out and stroking my hair.

I didn't want to bring this up, especially if it was going to ruin the moment, but I was dying to know, "Edward… What happened with Irina? I know you probably get asked all the time. But I find it hard to believe that you don't have a side of the story to tell."

He froze, not moving a muscle and I cursed myself silently for even asking.

He cupped my cheek in his hand and looked into my eyes, "Well…' He hesitated briefly, before deciding to respond, 'We were together for a while... You know that obviously. That was back when we were all friends... But anyway, despite that, after a month or two, I realised it wasn't working. I just didn't like her that much. She was so self-involved. Of course, at first that was great. I got to walk around with one of the hottest girls in the school... But the novelty wore off pretty much as soon as she opened her mouth."

I nodded. Having endured many 'conversations' with Irina myself, I could fully sympathise.

"I broke up with her. But then a week later, she was on my doorstep crying, telling me she was pregnant. With hindsight, I think she did it on purpose. She sensed that I wasn't happy, and she stopped taking the pill. I can't believe I fell for it at the time, but it's so obvious now..."

I drew in a sharp breath. This changed everything. If that was true, then we had spent a whole year treating him like a leper for no reason. My heart sank, I felt terrible for not having given him the benefit of the doubt from day one...

He took in my expression and frowned, "It wasn't your fault. You didn't know. Anyway... When I found out, of course, I immediately offered to support her. What else could I do? I spoke to my father, he agreed to keep it from Esme for a little while longer, and we made plans, talked about college funds for it, even looked into knocking one of the spare rooms into mine and turning the other into a nursery. I wasn't happy about it. Certainly not at having to spend at a minimum the next 18 years with Irina. But I didn't see that I had a choice.

"I talked to her about everything, I didn't want her to think we were getting back together, you know?" I told her that I would raise it with her. That maybe I'd even marry her. But that I wouldn't, and couldn't, love her. I thought she'd taken it well..."

He hesitated, and I nodded, wide eyed, wanting him to continue.

"The next day at school, she was absent. I thought maybe she had morning sickness or something. I mean, I've never had experience before with this sort of thing, but I was reading a book about pregnancy and it said that was a symptom. So I called over at hers on the way home... Her mother answered the door, and I really expected her to beat me around the head with a baseball bat, but... She didn't seem to know anything about it, she said Irina was upstairs, she'd missed school because of a doctors appointment according to Mrs Denali...

"I went upstairs to find Irina lying on her bed crying. And when I asked her what was wrong, she told me... She'd terminated the pregnancy. That's when Tanya and Kate arrived home, and the whole thing came out."

I nodded. I knew this part of the story. The rest didn't quite correspond with it, "Edward... I'm sorry. I didn't know. She told us you forced her. You refused to support her... I thought she didn't have a choice."

I paused, shocked, "I don't know why I believed her."

He shook his head, 'I had a reputation... It was easier to believe that I was the bad guy, especially for Tanya and Kate. I fit the role perfectly."

I lay on the damp grass, staring at the clouds silently for ten minutes or so. "Can you forgive me?" I asked quietly. "I know we're fine now. I know we've moved on... But do you blame us?"

"No. I could never blame you for anything. I would like to see Jasper's face if he ever finds out though..." He smirked, "Serve the smug bastard right..."

I playfully slapped him on the chest, "Hey! That's My brother you're talking about there..."

He grinned and rolled onto his side to face me, "Did you just slap me?"

I gulped, "No..."

"I think you did..."

I barely had time to argue before he had dived on top of me, tickling my sides and stomach manically, while I writhed beneath him, giggling happily.


Review please! I know this has been a long time coming, but the next few chapters are already written, and on their way during the week!