A/N: By this point, I'm sure we're all aware at how terrible I am at posting regularly. Forgive me! Hope you enjoy, I'm currently uploading another chapter and writing the next bit. Bit slow for these two but things will be exploding in the one thereafter - enjoy the calm while it lasts!

P.S. OMG WHO HAS READ THE NEW TWILIGHT STORY? THOUGHTS? I'm currently reading it and I have to say, I'm not digging it. I love the original, you know? It's got a magic that can't be replaced (says the girl writing fanfic but you know what I mean).

Bella's POV

"Bella?" Charlie said.

I turned around slowly. "Yes?"

"Was there a boy here?" Charlie asked, his face set in stone.

"No," I said quickly—too quickly.

"Bella, please don't lie to me," Charlie said evenly. "Now, I don't mind you dating." And yet he looked the exact opposite of not minding. "Your mom already gave me an earful before you moved here about not getting in the way of your love life."

I would have rolled my eyes if my body wasn't flooding with fear, knots forming in my stomach.

"But I'd appreciate some honesty. I don't want to hear some guy has been at my house with my daughter without me knowing."

Charlie's Scary Dad act was a revelation to me. I wasn't used to him wielding his parental authority over me—not even Renée had ever spoken to me like this; mostly because I was the one that had to control her.

"Jacob's just being a jerk," I said.

"Just a jerk or a truthful jerk? Bella, I'm the town Sheriff. I can have a cop car tailing you if you don't tell me the truth."

I groaned. "Dad, can you just relax, please? It's nothing to get this worked up over."

"So you are seeing someone?" he demanded.

"Yes," I sighed through my teeth. "Yes. I am."

"And who is this guy?" he asked, putting his hands on his hips – his gun holster.

"Dad, you're not shooting him. Can you set the table please? Dinner's ready. You should probably get changed, too."

Charlie eyed me for a long, painful moment. "Fine. But we're talking when I'm back and I want real answers," he said firmly.

I sighed as he walked away and contemplated calling for help. This was not a conversation I'd intended having—not while I was living here, anyway. College would've been the better place to tell Charlie I was with someone—a million miles away.

Charlie returned quicker than usual and headed for the dish cupboard to set the table. "So, who is he? Name? Is he in your class?"

I forced myself to take several deep breaths as I transferred the pan to the dining table. Stupid Jacob. That boy had to ruin everything in my life. First he got off with my friend, tried to dump her and come on to me, and now he'd ratted me out to my dad. Jerk. JERK JERK JERK. How had I ever been attracted to him?

"Bella?" Charlie prompted.

"He's a guy from school," I said. That much wasn't a lie—Edward and I had met at school. Charlie didn't need to know exactly on what side of the table Edward had sat on.

"Hmph," Charlie said, getting water. "And what's his name?"

"Do you really need all the gory details?" I groaned.

"Yes."

"Dad, you're the Sherriff. I know you have access to everybody's address. I don't want you scaring him off."

"Well, I'm your father. I deserve to know at least that much."

"It's really just been a few dates," I said exasperatedly. "I don't want everybody to find out about us. It's a small town. Keeping it quiet at school is hard enough."

"Hmph," he grunted again, sitting down at his chair. "What was he doing here?"

"He dropped me off," I said. Again, not really a lie. Edward had dropped me home many times before and had technically dropped me off into the kitchen today.

"I see," Charlie said.

"Why did Jacob rat me out anyway?" I asked sullenly. "It wasn't his place to tell."

"He didn't actually, Billy called me."

"Fabulous," I said drily. "Is Jacob intent on airing my business out to everybody in the state or is he going for nation-wide?"

"Ease up, Bells," Charlie said in a gentler tone. "For what it's worth, Jacob was protesting against his dad saying anything in the background."

"That worked out well," I grumbled, stabbing my noodles.

"Bella," Charlie sighed. "I'm not angry you're seeing someone. I'm just offended you didn't tell me, that I had to find out through the grapevine instead."

I looked at him in surprise. "I'm sorry."

Charlie nodded and looked down at his plate.

"So why did Billy tell?" I asked after a few minutes of silent chewing. What use did an old guy like Billy have with telling on me to my dad?

Charlie wolfed down a heap of noodles before replying to me. "Billy was under the impression you were seeing someone older. Someone dangerous."

My stomach fell. "What?"

Charlie shook his head. "It's stupid really. The Quileute's have this grudge against the Cullen family—"

"The Cullen family?" I spluttered without thinking. How could Billy know?

"Yeah, he thought it was one of the Cullen boys you were dating from Jacob's description but none of them go to Forks anymore. I knew he had his wires crossed. Right?" he added, eyeing me shrewdly.

"Right," I said firmly. "Why would dating a Cullen be such a bad thing to Billy?" I asked hesitantly.

"Some old feud that goes back to way back when," Charlie replied nonchalantly.

"And I thought these suburb feuds only happened in the movies."

Charlie shook his head but smiled—the worst was over. "Bella, I don't want you to have to feel like you gotta keep things from me. I know I'm not your mom but I'm still your dad."

Guilt swept over me. I looked down at my plate. "I know. I am sorry. It's just early days with us. I didn't want anybody finding out until things were more…solid."

"How solid is solid?" Charlie asked curiously.

"I don't know, like a few months maybe?" I replied.

"Hmph," he said again. "Well. Is he a nice boy? Treating you okay? I have a gun, you know."

"Jeez, dad, yes," I said, embarrassed. "He's great. Can we talk about something else now?"

"Wait, does your mother know?"

Panic flooded me. Renée did know. She also knew his name. Edward was such an old name—nobody else had it in town—if Charlie got wind—"No, and could you not tell her? Please?" I begged. "If you do, she'll get all kinds of crazy and I'll never sleep in peace again."

Charlie actually laughed. "All right."

"Dad, do you promise?" I pressed. "Swear you won't tell mom?"

"I promise, I promise," Charlie said, chuckling. "Jeez, Bells, you must really like this guy."

"And I have officially lost my appetite," I said, getting up with a flaming red face.

"Aw, come on now Bella, I'm only teasing," Charlie laughed. "So, what's his name? I'd like to meet him too."

"So you can scare him off? No, thank you!" I was so hot around the neck. This conversation was beyond uncomfortable.

"Bella, if this is serious—"

"If I'm still seeing him in a few months, I'll let you know," I said, hurrying out of the kitchen as fast as I could.

Charlie's laugh echoed after me as I ran up to my room.

Edward's POV

YOU PROPOSED TO HER?! Alice was screaming at me before I had even stepped inside our house.

I sighed and proceeded up to my bedroom, Alice right on my heels, cursing me mentally.

"Where are Esme and Carlisle?" I asked innocently.

"On a date," Alice said curtly.

"Rosalie and Emmet?"

"On a date."

"Jasper?"

"Hunting."

"Alice, stop glaring at me," I sighed, sitting down on my sofa.

"You proposed to her," Alice growled. "Without telling me."

"Why are you so mad?" I said, trying to read through her anger.

"Edward," she sighed through gritted teeth. "How could you just propose to her in her bedroom?"

I sighed inwardly with relief.

"You can't propose to the love of your life while you're both essentially wearing pyjamas without even the slightest hint of occasion? How could you Edward? No wonder she said no!"

"You think if I dressed up and took her somewhere nice she'd have said yes?" I asked incredulously. Women were fascinating.

Alice glared at me. "It's a possibility."

I rolled my eyes. "Everything is with you."

"A heads up would have been nice. I might have saved you…the… well."

Awkwardness filled the air.

"Was it a certain no?" I asked, feigning nonchalance.

Alice showed me the other version; Bella bursting into happy tears, accepting the ring – but the vision was blurry, wispy like smoke – her saying yes had been a slim chance.

"Is anything happening with Jacob?" I asked abruptly.

Alice tried to squash her pitying thoughts towards me. "Oh, yes." She showed me Charlie storming home, questioning Bella…

"Great," I sighed. "That stupid boy."

"You need to be more careful next time," Alice said sternly. "The Quileute people are practically waiting for us to slip up."

"And I suppose you would have just stood by if somebody had been hitting on Jasper?"

"That's neither here nor there," she said, waving a hand. Edward…

I eyed her tiredly. "Just say it. I can hear you thinking it anyway."

"It's just… marriage, Edward? Really?"

"So?" I challenged. "A decade or so ago, it wouldn't have mattered."

"It's not about that. It's just a huge commitment."

"Symbolically," I said shortly.

"Not for humans," she said. "And… well… how are you meant to really be together if you can't be together? You can't expect her to stay a virgin for the rest of her life."

"I really don't see how I can help that, Alice," I said. "She'll die."

"She might not," Alice hedged.

"What? What did you see?"

"More than I wanted to, believe me," she said grimly.

"So it's a possibility?" I asked, cringing even as I said the words.

Alice grimaced. "It's not certain. It really isn't safe, either way. Not now, at least," she added as an afterthought.

"What does that mean?"

"It means you need to really learn to control yourself. You're not entirely there yet."

"The boot camp that never ends," I grumbled.

"Anyway, what shall we cook on Saturday?" Alice asked, brightening considerably.

"Saturday?" I looked at her in confusion.

"You're thinking about asking her to come and meet us? About time, I think. Esme will be ecstatic."

"We'll see," I said after a moment.

Alice pulled a face. "What's there to see?"

"It might be too much too soon," I said carefully.

"Ah." Alice's thoughts coloured heavily with sympathy.

"Can you leave, please? I'd like to be alone," I said.

Alice, surprisingly, didn't object and left my room, heading outside to find Jasper.

The empty house felt pleasant. Alice's thoughts were soon lost to me as she went farther and farther. Pure silence, so rare a thing for me, felt oddly comforting as I lay back on my sofa and tried not to think about being rejected by Bella. Technically it wasn't me she'd rejected but the marriage proposal –that was a healthy way to see it.

But weren't they the same thing? I didn't know.

As time ticked closer to my usual departure for Bella's, I found myself hesitating to move. There was something weighing me down. It felt a lot like embarrassment.

She had said no.

I turned on appropriate mellow music and let myself sink into my sofa. I closed my eyes and willed my mind to be quiet, just for a time.

Minutes slipped by until the skies had turned black with night. I had no reason not to go; Bella had said no to marriage, not to me. But how could a man not be burned by a rejection like this? I felt like I'd held out my soul to her and she'd kindly pushed it back. We wouldn't have needed to tie the knot anytime soon either—just being engaged would have been enough for me. I wanted her to see how serious I was about us.

Part of me knew I was being foolish; Bella loved me. It was as clear as day. She knew what I really was and still loved me.

But she'd still said no.

Bella's POV

The evening was dragging. Every minute seemed longer than the last. Where the hell was Edward? I was actually doing my homework, trying to pass the time I should've been spending with him.

Was he okay? Had something happened at home? Was Tanya back? Had Billy taken trouble to the Cullens?

I really wished I had a way to contact Edward without resorting to telegram. There was Alice but… something kept me from calling her. I didn't want her involved, although I guess she'd already seen what had happened today. I wondered what she thought of me. Was she indignant on behalf of her brother? Was she at home comforting him? Why wasn't he here?

I gave up waiting at eleven-thirty. He wasn't coming.

The nerves I'd been feeling as I waited had pooled into my stomach, carving a hollow pit that made me feel afraid. I got ready for bed, my anxiety climbing. Was Edward angry with me? Was that why he wasn't here?

I tried to put myself in his shoes: if I had proposed to him and he'd said no… My stomach sank further than humanly possible. If Edward had rejected my proposal, I'd… feel like I got slapped in the face. Repeatedly. With metal.

But I wasn't rejecting him. He had to know that, right? He had to know how crazy I was about him. But marriage—even an engagement this soon? They were such big words, too big for teenagers with such uncertain futures ahead of them.

Because how can someone like me keep someone like Edward?

There it was. That thought I'd been trying to squash—again.

I tried to push it away and got into bed, burying myself beneath the covers and curling into a tight ball.

Maybe he just needed some space.

I wish he didn't need space.

Maybe he just needed some time to think.

I hoped he wasn't thinking anything bad about us.

Maybe he was busy with family stuff…

I slipped away into worried darkness, my thoughts hopelessly swirling around as I tried to fall asleep. Just as I was fading into unconsciousness, somebody called my name.

"Bella? Bella?"

I was dreaming. Such a beautiful voice couldn't be real.

"Bella," softly now.

"Edward," I realised in sleepy euphoria, trying to open my thick eyes.

"Shh, you can sleep. Sorry for waking you." I felt his cool lips on my forehead, waking me right up.

"You came," I said with relief, reaching out to him.

I saw him smile, his pale face illuminated by the streetlight outside my window. My heart swelled, all my fears disappearing.

"Sorry I took so long," he murmured.

"I'd wait forever," I said.

The smile on his face nearly made my heart stop. He kissed me tenderly. I buried myself in his arms, comforted by the feel of his strong body around me, inhaling him in like he was my oxygen. And I guess he was. I needed him.

"Love you," I mumbled as sleep began to claim me.

"You are love," he whispered back.

Edward's POV

Bella drifted off to sleep, her body slacking slightly in my arms. I traced the lines of her face gently, careful not to disturb her. My beautiful Bella.

I hadn't thought I'd end up here tonight. But not being with her meant worrying to no end and I didn't want that. I didn't want to keep making the same mistakes with her. I had to move on, not bury myself under the wreckage.

God, she was so beautiful. Her face had softened as she slept, making her seem more peaceful. She was too mature for her age, already bearing more than her lion's share of problems on her shoulders—not least helped by me.

But we were in this together. I realised as Bella slept away in my arms—her slow breathing a comforting sound—that true love wasn't measured by attraction or time. It was measured by strength; endurance; a willingness to persist, to try again and again when the road steeped downwards or curved unexpectedly.

"I'll never stop trying," I whispered. "Never."