Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight saga characters, Meyer does. I own my characters and my ideas. Does Cynthia count in there, I wonder?

Idle Threats

"Do we have to go to school today?" Alice whined, pouting adorably as she rested her head on my stomach, gazing up at me. "I'd rather just stay here and snuggle with you."

We'd already gotten ready to go to school, but there was still a good hour left before my family would be leaving, so I was up in my room with Alice. I smiled at my girlfriend and gently combed a hand through her silky short hair, chuckling as I did.

"Unfortunately, yes, we do," I said. "We have to keep up appearances. It surprises me that the humans haven't really noticed the little things about us that hint at what we are. We're pale, we don't go to school in the sun, we're rich, and there are pairings in our family, something I know many people would question. Still, we need to go."

"Damn," she grumbled.

I pulled her closer and kissed her cheek. "Trust me, I'd love nothing more than to stay here, snuggle, and talk with you, but we have to keep this up for a little while longer. Once school's over, we're free for a good while. You can definitely look forward to that."

She nodded in agreement, but still pouted. "My lucky sister gets to stay home, I hear."

"That she does," I replied, snickering. "Esme will be teaching her since she's been given the day off at the hospital. She'll still have homework, she just won't have to deal with all the wondrous joys of actual school like you and I will."

She sighed quietly and closed her eyes. "Tell me something, Bella."

"Yes?" I asked.

"What do you really think about me becoming a vampire?" she asked.

"It's a big decision to make because you can't undo it," I replied. "It's a one way trip. For some of us, we never had the chance to choose, but we've all come to terms with that fact, and we enjoy our immortal lives. Rosalie is probably the one who misses being human the most, but even she's grown attached to being a vampire. You may or may not feel the same way, though."

"Why wouldn't I?" she asked, her eyes shimmering. "I'll be with the woman of my dreams, my sister, and the loving family I've always wanted. What bad could possibly come from that?"

"I'm not saying it'll be bad, Alice," I said. "I'm merely stating that there are a lot of drawbacks to being a vampire, some of which you have yet to learn about. The bloodlust is definitely the biggest one. Even now, I still sometimes struggle with mine, and I've been mentally training myself for years. Your appearance helped, but it's still there. It always will be."

"You're worried my tune might change if I kill someone," Alice said. "Is that it?"

I nodded slowly. "Yes, that's…one of the things."

Alice smiled warmly at me. "Bella, I don't care if I kill someone. It might bother me a bit if it happens, sure, but to be honest with you, I'd much rather struggle with bloodlust than take the easy way out. I'll never learn if that happens, and plus, I'd hate to be the only person aside from Carlisle to never take a life. I'd feel…weird."

I lifted an eyebrow. "You do realize the oddness of your statement, yes?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"You just admitted that you want to feed on humans," I remarked, smiling at the underlying irony of her comment—I knew what she was getting at, but I felt the need to tease her a bit, although I was genuinely curious to her thought process.

Alice blinked rapidly. "I…wait, no, that's not…um…I mean…fuck…you know what I mean!"

I giggled and kissed her. "I do know, yes. I was just teasing. In all seriousness, learning to control your wild side will be difficult, but I'll be there to help you as best as I can. And if all else fails, you could live off a human blood diet. I wouldn't tell anyone, nor would I care. The simple knowledge that I would have you for eternity is really all that would matter to me."

Alice appraised me. "You…you would let me feed on humans?"

"Yes," I replied. "I would keep it between just us, although I know no one else would care. You would still be welcome here, and they'd treat you the same regardless. To be brutally honest with you, there are times when I've considered it because I slipped up so much. But I know if I did, most of my family would join me without a question. They've done it before, in fact."

"They did?" Alice asked.

"There was one time years ago when I accidentally lost it and killed a person when I was out hunting with Rosalie," I admitted. "Rosalie killed the other person without saying a word. She, Jane, and Victoria have all killed humans when I did to make me feel better so I wouldn't be alone. And they've all told me they'd change if I ever chose to."

I stroked her cheek. "All I'm saying is that you won't be alone in this, Alice. I'll always be there for you, even if it means feeding on humans. You'll have the power to choose in the end, and we can always switch back whenever you wish, too."

Alice soaked my words in and kissed my cheek. "I'm not sure yet because I'm not a vampire, but thank you, Bella. It means a lot to hear you say that to me, especially the fact that you'd willingly kill humans alongside me if I ever chose that path."

"Good," I replied. "Now, let's change the subject to something less death-oriented, shall we?"

"Agreed," Alice giggled.

There was a knock at the door at that moment, and Esme poked her head inside. "Hello girls," she greeted us with a smile. "I hate to interrupt whatever moment you're having, but I'm afraid it's time for you to get going to school."

"Yes, Esme," we said in unison, bursting into giggles directly afterwards. Esme chuckled and closed my door as we groaned, once again perfectly in sync with one another.

After a moment, we headed downstairs holding hands, meeting up with the others. Cynthia was in the family room watching TV, turning to smirk at her sister, who in turn stuck her tongue out. The rest of us chuckled at the humorous scene before we made our way out the door, splitting up to take two different cars. Alice and I got carpooled with Emmett and Rosalie.

"So how's the romance going?" Rosalie inquired as Emmett drove.

"Good," I replied, glancing at my smiling human. "We're making steady progress."

Emmett snickered. "Yeah, but I bet you two haven't done anything other than make out."

I frowned. "Why is that your business, big brother?"

"It isn't," Rosalie said, rolling her eyes.

"What?" he whined. "I'm just trying to help my little sister get laid, that's all. And why exactly are you the "little sister"? You're older than I am, so shouldn't you be the older sister? Or are we basing this off height? I've always wondered…"

"I don't think Bella likes to be thought of as old," Rosalie chuckled.

"That's not the point," I interjected calmly. "Em, I get what you're trying to do, and I appreciate it to a degree, but not everybody can jump on the sex bandwagon like you and Rose did. And don't lie and say you didn't, because we all know you did. Besides…" I lowered my voice so only they could hear. "She's a human and I could hurt her if we ever tried."

"You should do something kinky with her," Emmett said, clearly unfazed by my comments. His overgrown grin was proof enough of that fact.

I ran a hand through my hair. "Ugh, I give up for now."

Alice giggled next to me. "I wouldn't be opposed to…experimenting."

My eyes widened and I turned to eye her, noting the smirk her lips were curled into. "You…"

"I mean it," she said, winking. "I'm not saying we have to do anything too hasty, but you don't have to be afraid to try things with me, Bella. I'm openly curious, after all. Besides, have you ever lived in a house where masturbating was considered wrong? My parents aren't even religious, and they felt that way, not that I'm against religious people, but, you know…"

Emmett turned around and shook his head. "You've got my sympathies, Alice."

"Thanks," she giggled.

I was baffled—and a little excited—at her remarks. "Um, well…"

"Poor Belly-Button," Rosalie laughed. "Left speechless by her girlfriend. I guess you'll be the whipped one in the relationship after all. And here I thought it'd be the other way around."

"Now just a damn minute," I said, scowling. "I'm not 'whipped' in any way, shape or form unlike the two of you, nor do I ever intend to be."

I turned to Alice and immediately pressed my lips to hers, kissing her passionately as my tongue shot out to graze her bottom lip. Alice's heart fluttered and she moaned as I cupped her cheeks, gently moving my tongue inside her mouth and swirling around, reveling in the intense flavor that was pure Alice. When I pulled away, Alice looked dazed, a sight that made me smirk.

"That, my dear, is but a portion of what I can do to you," I said. "Don't you forget it."

I turned back to my siblings, both of whom had huge shit-eating grins on their faces. "Nice job, Bella," Emmett crooned, giving me a thumbs up. "I knew you could do it."

"I guess I'll have to take back my comment," Rosalie said. "For now, at least."

I snorted. "Bitch, I'll prove you wrong without a doubt, just you wait."

"Jeez, Bella, when did you become so feisty all of a sudden?" Rosalie asked.

I cocked my head to one side and considered her question, realizing I had no idea what suddenly brought on the change in my demeanor. I turned to Alice, who was appraising me in awe, and realized it was likely an effect only Alice would have on me.

"I have no clue," I admitted. "The point is, I'll take your words to heart. And Alice, I—"

She cut me off with a kiss, one that I easily settled into and returned. We continued making out until we got to school, at which point I pulled away, giving her the chance to catch her breath. Nothing could make us wipe the grins off our faces as we got out of Emmett's jeep, not even the guffawing of my siblings, which earned them confused looks from the others.

Alice and I laced our fingers together and headed towards school without saying a word, our eyes locked the entire time. Soon enough we had to pull apart, however, and head to our first class of the day as the bell rang rather obnoxiously.

I thought about my reaction in the car earlier and wondered if it was part of the whole "mate" thing, something I didn't know about because I'd never experienced it. It wasn't that big of a deal right now, but it was definitely food for thought. I set my thoughts to something a bit more important: the knowledge that, within three weeks, I would have a chance to catch Edward.

Victoria sat next to me and English soon began, though my thoughts were elsewhere. Occasionally I would glance at what my sister was doing, smiling at how she amused herself by playing with her hair or pencil, but then I would drift back into my thoughts. Normally my sister and I would be talking, but we both had a lot on our minds this time.

Just as class ended, however, Victoria placed her hand on my shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I replied, offering her a pleasant smile in thanks. "What about you?"

She sighed. "Doing better, I suppose. The thing with the Thornes rattled me a little and I know that won't be the last we see of them. They don't give up on their objectives easily, and given how we reacted to their presence, they'll likely begin antagonizing us."

"We'll be ready for them when they do," I said. "We've got a secret weapon, after all."

"True," Victoria replied. "But if they find out about said secret weapon, things will become even more complicated. Nikala has a habit of wanting vampires with gifts in her coven, much like the Volturi. I've heard stories of several vampires that used to be in the coven but were either kicked out or killed because they didn't meet Nikala's standards."

"I won't let them take Alice," I growled quietly. "Or Cynthia, for that matter."

Victoria smiled as the bell rang and we exited class together. "Don't worry, I won't either. You've grown fairly close to them, haven't you?"

"Of course," I replied. "Alice is my mate, what do you expect? As far as Cynthia goes, I like her a lot. She's really cool and protective of Alice, which scores her bonus points with me. I think they'll fit in nicely with our family once a decision has been made in that area."

"Jazz and I were talking about it before, actually," Victoria said. "You should go see Jenks and have the old fool write up adoption forms for the two of them."

I considered her advice for a moment and nodded. "Actually, that's not a bad idea. You two should come with me, though. You know how to deal with Jenks better than I do. Besides, I don't like the way he tends to stare at me whenever I see him. It's creepy."

"Speaking of creepy," Victoria said. "I do believe your stalker is back."

I frowned and looked at her curiously until I realized who she meant. "Oh God," I groaned, sneaking a speedy glance over my shoulder to see good old Mike Newton trailing behind us with his eyes fixed on me, scowling at something. "Does this boy ever learn? I swear, no matter how many times you tell him no, he just doesn't know how to listen."

"You should tell Alice," Victoria suggested. "She could kick his ass."

Not a bad idea, I thought to myself, smirking. Victoria and I ended up parting ways at that point and we went to our next classes, which I dreaded because I wasn't looking forward to dealing with Mike Newton for a whole fucking hour and a half. Then again, I tended to be a little hard on the guy, but at the same time, he couldn't take "no" for an answer.

As I expected, when I sat down in class, Mike sat next to me. But for once, he didn't automatically speak to me, though I was aware that he was looking at me. After a minute of silence, Mike cleared his throat and I, for whatever reason, looked at him out of the corner of my eyes, wondering what nonsense he had to say today.

"There are rumors about you," Mike said in a low voice. "Did you know that?"

"I wouldn't have guessed," I deadpanned. "You wouldn't be behind them, would you?"

He looked offended. "What? No way! I would never start rumors about you!"

Yeah, right, I replied in my head as I eyed him with disinterest, remembering what happened last week with him and Alice. "Shouldn't you, oh, I don't know, not be speaking to me? Was getting your ass handed to you be Alice Brandon not enough?"

"I'm not going to ask you out," he grumbled in response and I thought I'd actually been hearing things. "They have to do with her, though, and you, too." He narrowed his eyes accusingly at me like I'd committed a crime, but I was too shocked that he admitted to not wanting to ask me out to really care much. "Are you two…dating?"

His question snapped me out of my thoughts. "Now where would you hear that?"

"Around," he replied. "Is it true?"

"Does it matter?" I asked. "Yes, we're dating. Big deal."

"It's a very big deal!" he shouted, grabbing the attention of the other students in the classroom, whom I ignored. "Bella…that would make you…"

"Gay?" I asked. "Why yes, it would, because it's true."

"That explains everything," he muttered under his breath, glaring at me. "Why didn't you tell me this before? If I'd known I'd be wasting my time, I would have never bothered with you!"

I rolled my eyes. "If only. Leave it alone, Mike. Don't bother me."

He remained silent afterwards, instead glaring down at his desk even after class started. For once, I was actually happy to sit next to him because I didn't have to listen to him constantly whine and try to get me to go out with him. I could tell the news of my being gay had taken him by surprise, but it mattered little to me in the end.

Class went on as it normally did until the bell rang and I left to meet up with Riley as we headed to Spanish. We talked a little about Newton being a nuisance, but again, I mostly kept quiet, lost in thought about everything that had happened in the past few days and everything that would happen in the not-too-distant future.

At long last, the chance I'd been waiting for arrived when the class bell sounded and I dashed out of the classroom, Riley following behind me with an amused smile on his face. But when I reached the hall, I caught sight of Rosalie leaning against the wall, scowling.

"What's wrong?" I asked as Riley and I stopped.

"We have a problem," she said in a low voice.

"Let me guess…the Brandons," Riley replied.

"Unfortunately," Rosalie replied.

"Where?" I asked. "Here?"

"Outside," Rosalie said, motioning us on. The three of us started speed walking—at a reasonable enough pace—to the front of the school, Rosalie sighing. "They've been out there for a while and I overheard them asking a student about you. Apparently they want to have a word with you and it doesn't sound like they're here for idle chit-chat."

"They're here to cause more trouble, no doubt," Riley remarked.

I snorted. "I couldn't care less. What are they going to do about it? Sue us?"

Rosalie chuckled. "That would be an entertaining sight to behold. Personally, I still think we should just kill them. It'd be so much easier that way and besides, who would miss them?"

"No one I can name," I replied as we exited the building.

Alice and Cynthia's parents were indeed in the parking lot standing under a tree, glancing about for any sign of me or perhaps their daughter. They saw the three of us moments later and jumped to their feet faster than I thought possible before making their way towards us.

"Cullen," Mrs. Brandon hissed, crossing her arms in dismay. "How good of you to come when you've been summoned." Her eyes narrowed into slits. "Do you have any idea what you've done to us, you mindless little…" She paused when Rosalie growled next to me and smartly halted her response, though her anger remained. "Where are our daughters?"

"I'm pretty sure you relinquished your right to call them that," I said dryly.

"They're our daughters," Mr. Brandon growled. "We own them and I demand that you release them from whatever cell you've confined them to so they can come back home!"

"You own them?" Rosalie questioned. "What the fuck kind of parents say they own their children in such a cold, callous way? And for the record, that shit-hole you call a home is more of a prison than ours will ever be. Alice and Cynthia are delighted to be living with us and why wouldn't they be? We've got the best fucking house in all of Forks."

"You have no right to keep them there," Mr. Brandon barked, ignoring her remarks. "We'll have our lawyers come down on your family faster than you can blink unless you give them and their things, which we know you stole, back."

"We're not keeping them there," I said. "They're staying with us because they chose to. We would never keep anyone against their will in our home. Besides, they're better off with us since then they don't have to deal with your tyranny, especially Alice."

"I can speak for myself." We all turned to see Alice hovering near the entryway to the school before she slowly walked towards us, coming to stand by my side. I laced my fingers around hers and gave them a gentle squeeze of reassurance, smirking at the glares I received from her idiotic parents. "I'm not coming home, Mother, Father. Ever. And neither is Cynthia."

"Mary Brandon, stop this nonsense!" her father ordered. "You're our daughter and you belong with us, not the Cullens. Have you learned nothing over the course of your life?"

"I've learned that you two are heartless, spineless assholes," Alice replied. "You're not true parents; you're controlling barbarians who deserve to be thrown in jail for the things you've done to me throughout my life. You don't deserve to call yourselves parents, either. You're scum, nothing more, nothing less. I'm never coming back to your shitty home, so deal with it.

"And another thing: I may not be one of them, but the Cullens have been kinder to Cynthia and me over the course of several days than either of you have been throughout our entire lives. Plus, I love Bella. She's my girlfriend and she means the world to me." Her eyes flickered to mine, pulsing with love. "Not to mention the fact that she's saved my life in more ways than one."

Her parents looked utterly baffled by her response and I couldn't stop myself from grinning ear to ear, pride swelling up within me at my girlfriend's awesomeness. Even Rosalie was smirking, clearly impressed with Alice for what she'd done.

"I don't care what either of you want," Alice said. "Leave us alone and go fuck yourselves."

She turned, kissed me on the lips, then strutted off with her arms crossed, not even bothering to give her parents a chance to react. Once she was gone, I glanced at the Brandons' faces, absorbing the shock etched into their eyes for a good minute before they sobered up and scowled angrily at nothing in particular, though I know their anger was directed mostly at me.

"We're done here," I said. "Goodbye, Brandons. I hope I never see you again."

"You brainwashed our daughters!" Mrs. Brandon shouted. "You'll pay for this!"

"No, we won't," Rosalie replied, wrapping one arm around me. "Let's go."

The three of us walked inside, heading to the cafeteria to meet up with the others. We ran into Alice midway there and I wrapped my free arm around her as we entered the cafeteria, where there was a mass explosion of chattering going on for some odd reason. However, most of the chattering stopped the second we walked in.

"Odd," Riley remarked quietly as we sat down at our usual table, where the others were busy doing their own thing. "What's all the commotion about?"

"Didn't you hear?" Victoria asked. "The gossip table is at it again. They're having a field day with the knowledge that Alice is a lesbian and Bella's girlfriend."

"How nice of them," Alice deadpanned.

"What do you expect?" Jane asked. "These peons have nothing else to yak about."

"What kinds of things have they been saying?" I inquired.

"The usual shit," Victoria replied. "Mike Newton is at the center of a good portion of it. He's so bitter that he lost you to Alice that he's been relentlessly insulting her, spreading all kinds of lies that most of the students are starting to believe."

I rolled my eyes. "Let the bitter pansy vent. His word means nothing to me."

"I suppose I'll have to get used to being on the enemy list," Alice joked, shaking her head.

"You say that as if it's happened before," I remarked, frowning.

Alice rested her head on my shoulder. "It has. Constantly. I've gotten used to it, though, especially now that I have you with me. Besides, I'm better than all those dipshits anyways, so why do I care what they think? They'll find something new to gossip about soon enough."

"True," I chuckled. "Aren't you going to eat, Alice?"

"I'm not that hungry," she replied with a giggle. "Your mom made us such a huge breakfast, I haven't even been able to glance at food. Actually, I did want to talk with you about something, if that's cool. We can come right back afterwards until lunch is over."

"Sure," I said, intrigued by what she wanted to talk about. I ignored the grin Emmett shot me as we stood and exited the lunchroom with ninety percent of the cafeteria glaring at our backs as we exited. "What's up, Alice? How come you didn't want to talk in there?"

"Too noisy," she replied, wrapping her arms around my waist. "I also had a vision of us standing here talking because I have a feeling what I'm going to say isn't going to go over well."

I furrowed my brow. "And why might that be?"

"I…received an invitation to go with several nice students to the beach," Alice said. "It was an invitation from Angela Weber. She clearly knew I was with you, but she didn't care. She said I could invite you and your family to come, which is what I'm doing right now, although I know what your answer will be without even needing to ask."

I kissed her forehead. "By beach, do you mean…?"

"La Push," she replied.

The name brought a bad taste to my mouth and I ran a hand through my hair. "Ah, yes, La Push."

"That's what I figured," Alice murmured. "Tell me…how come you don't like La Push?"

"It's a bit complicated," I said, looking around. "It's not so much that I dislike La Push as it is that my family and I don't see eye to eye with a handful of the Native Americans living there, the Quileutes. They don't care for us and we don't care for them, which led to a treaty being formed between us, as they know what we are and vice versa."

"What are they?" Alice questioned. I made the decision to tell her so she would see in a vision, which she did moments later when she zoned out for a minute and a half. "Oh." She blinked rapidly. "That's…different."

"You see my point, at least," I said. "Don't let that make you not go, though. If you want to have fun with other humans, by all means, I think you should. You and Cynthia, too, in fact. It'd be good for the two of you to be around your own kind, as long as you both understand that you have to keep quiet about your knowledge of the Quileutes."

She nodded. "I promise I won't say a word. But Bella…aren't you going to tell me not to go?"

"Part of me wants to, but I'm not your master," I said, stroking her cheek. "You have the right to do whatever you want, Alice. I think it could be fun, honestly. I'll just miss you like crazy. By the way, when is this little event going down?"

"This weekend," she replied. "Saturday, to be specific. I tried to see how long it would be, but I couldn't get much of a reading, for some reason. I guess it's to be expected because it hasn't happened yet." She smiled warmly at me. "Thank you, Bella. Hearing that you're willing to let me go means quite a bit. I think I will go because I'm kind of intrigued by the Quileutes now."

I chuckled. "So you're going just to learn more about them?"

"No," she replied, sticking her tongue out. "I have other reasons, that one is just…up there."

"Uh huh," I replied, leaning in to kiss her. "Alright, come on, let's get back in there."

"You going to tell your siblings?" she asked.

"If you want me to, yeah," I replied. "Their reactions will be much more entertaining than mine."

Alice giggled and latched her hand around mine. "I'm sure they will be, although I have to admit, I was a little surprised that you didn't react the way I thought you would."

"What did you expect me to do?" I asked. "Demolish your car so you wouldn't be able to go out into public? Come now, Alice, I may be a little possessive of you, but I'm not controlling for crying out loud." I shook my head. "Controlling people are assholes, like your parents. I can't stand those kinds of people. They're mindless fools."

"Agreed," Alice said. "That's why I'm glad you're so much cooler than they are. Then again, you're cooler just because—" She suddenly stopped talking and I glanced at her to see that she was having a vision. She froze in place and I patiently waited for her to come out of her vision state, noticing the expression on her face change into one of horror.

"Alice?" I asked.

"No!" she screamed, flailing about and nearly falling backwards. I caught her, though.

"What's wrong?" I asked, pulling her close. "What did you see?"

She blinked and clutched me. "We need to go, now! I just saw Cynthia going into town and getting into a car accident, then someone took her!"

I helped her up immediately. "When and where?"

"I don't know, but it's going to happen soon," she breathed. "Please, Bella, we have to go!"

"I'll be back," I said, speedily moving into the cafeteria, ignoring everything and everyone else around me until I got to the table. "Em, I need your keys, now. Cynthia's in danger."

Emmett wordlessly reached into his pocket and tossed me his keys. "Go."

I nodded, whipped around and sped out the door at a speed as human as I could, then scooped Alice into my arms and dashed down the hall. Once we were outside near Emmett's jeep, I opened the door and set Alice down before practically blurring into the driver's seat. I had the engine going just as Alice buckled up.

As I reversed and drove off, Alice began dialing her cell phone, intent on making sure that nothing happened to Alice's sister.

A/N: Drama, drama, drama...

Thanks for the interesting responses to the previous chapter questions. They helped me in seeing what people felt about Amara. :)

I have a new question, naturally, but this one is one I'm hoping to get more responses out of, because they'll help me a great deal. My question is this: say I do get my novel published and you buy it, read it and enjoy it. One of my ideas concerning the series is that I am considering writing shorter books centered around side characters whose importance will grow as the series continues. They'll look into certain aspects of these characters in a way that will add depth to them and give you, the reader, a better understanding of who they are, what they go through, etc. Anyways, my question is would you be interested in such a thing?

Think how Meyer did that Bree Tanner story, only the characters featured will be featured more prominently in my story (in other words, it's not going to be about every single side character I throw in, only the important ones or ones who will become more important, but you'll be more likely to remember who they are when you see their name without having to go back and check). Please let me know, the more opinions I have, the better of an idea I'll have when I continue my novel writing. Thank you.