Chapter 38

"Bella, Bella, it's OK you're safe. We are all safe." Edward's face was close to mine, his hand slowly stroking my hair.

"I'm sorry I had to wake you but you were talking, well, shouting, again, and I didn't know what you'd say next. What with Demetri and Fred here I thought it was best.

"Demetri was asking why you were talking to yourself. I didn't tell him you were asleep but if I left it another minute he would have come to check for himself." Edward was murmuring so quietly in my ear that not even sensitive vampire ears would pick it up.

"Oh, what have I said this time?"

Edward smiled the crooked smile I loved so much, a warm glow shot through me and I smiled in return.

"Nothing too bad, you just kept saying don't kneel, don't kneel, and that was it. Nothing else that I or anyone else heard."

"Oh that, not so bad I guess. What are they making of it downstairs?"

"They think that you're cracking up under the pressure. It has been a hard day. They assumed that you were telling yourself not to give in to it." He smiled again.

"What's going on now down there, with the wolves I mean?"

"Ah, problem resolved, or put to bed for now anyway. All the wolves have gone home now, Jacob included.

"It's a bit of a long story really. And it's all because Paul is a fool. Paul was at Billy's when you called but left in a hurry half way through your conversation. He appears to have thought that you were warning them that this was a dangerous vampire and they should go kill it because we couldn't.

"Paul thought this was the ideal time to show off what a good wolf he was to Billy and Rachel as he feels that he is outshone by Jacob. He feels he needs to win their respect as he isn't an alpha.

"Well, he went off with his little pack to meet a lone vampire which he thought would be easy to take down with five of them. He hadn't bothered to find out what talent that vampire might have.

"When he found you he was so cross that you'd interfered with his plan he didn't just want to let you through without some kind of a show of strength. And then it all got out of hand, he just didn't feel he could back down, not against Jacob.

"Paul wasn't going to give in until a thought came into his head just move aside and let them through. He didn't understand what happened because it wasn't Sam's thought, but he still felt he had to obey.

"After you'd got away from him in the wood, the fool thought that he'd be able to take us by surprise here at the house. He has no sense of strategy at all. He thought that we'd be so busy arguing with Fred for causing trouble that we might even be pleased if they could burst on to our land and take Fred out for us.

"I can still hear Jacob's thoughts and 'fool' would be the nicest thing he could say about Paul.

"But I don't think Jacob is being as hard on him as Billy or Rachel are. They phoned Jacob here, and they are practically disowning Paul at the moment. He is going to have to work hard to rebuild what he had with them."

"Where was Sam?"

"At his wedding rehearsal, so he couldn't be contacted."

"Oh, I guess that explains it. And what did Sam think? Did you get to hear that?"

"Yes, he came up here and apologized to Carlisle in person. It was very big of him to come to our house as a human. He's never done that before.

"He has demoted Paul to the lowest ranking dog in his pack. He'd expel him but the last thing any of us need is a lone wolf on the prowl, especially Paul.

"Sam and Jacob have agreed to carry cell phones from now on, for emergencies only. We are going to get them some satellite ones like ours so we can call them when we need to."

"Will they be red?" I asked, so relieved by the situation that I wasn't taking it seriously any more.

"Red? Does the color really matter?"

"In all the cold war films I've seen the president always has a red hotline to Moscow."

Edward gave the slightest of smiles. Evidently he was not too impressed by my flippant comment.

"And what is Demetri thinking?" I asked, trying to take the situation seriously again.

"He is thinking of diplomatic niceties that may help the situation. He isn't too bothered by the wolves' response because we were on their land. He considered it to be justified. I think that he has really changed since he has been on the vegetarian diet. I'm sure that he wouldn't have seen it that way the first few days that he was here."

Edward paused, "I can hear Fred is getting impatient. He has finished his books and wants to go and talk to people. Maybe you ought..."

"I'm right on it. Uhh, this is going to get tiresome quickly. We've got to get him to cope without me."

I went swiftly upstairs and retrieved Fred from the guest room and we went downstairs together. After my sleep the shield didn't bother me at all and I managed to cover him without physical contact. I just sat in the next chair to him.

Demetri was discussing with Carlisle how to stabilize the relationship with the wolves.

"I have seen regular joint working or social events work well in the past between groups where conflict can easily spring up. Some kind of coming together that is not just at a crisis point but is regular to help build trust and knowledge of the other party," Demetri continued.

"Maybe we could come together to do some sort of good work for the community," Esme suggested, "I'm sure that there are things in La Plush that we could help with."

"I don't think that they would like us on their territory yet. Only Jacob would trust us that much, and then not all of us," Carlisle responded.

"How about something neutral in Forks, or out here in the forest. We could volunteer to paint the library or something."

Edward made a confession. "Well, I have been helping one of the wolves with his school work, just doing a little tutoring as he'd missed so much school. I could make that more regular and organized and extend it to any of the others who wanted to join in."

Edward had been helping Seth with math and Spanish. For some reason, Edward had been keeping this from Demetri, though I didn't understood why. The young wolves took so much time off from school they must all be behind in their studies. They were probably little or no use when they were at school, what with being dog tired all the time.

"Yes," Demetri said, "I can see that helping a lot. I'm sure that it must be a trouble to them when they are young, and it is when they are young that we want to prove to them that we can live in peace. Maybe we could construct somewhere on the line to meet. It may be a useful meeting point in future. We could disguise it as a ranger's hut.

"But I think that we also need something where they can use their skills to impress us. It really needs to be two-sided."

"How about we play some sport with them?" Emmett suggested. "We could have mixed teams … Soccer? Maybe adapt the rules so we can't do inter-species tackles or we'll take their legs off."

"Well, you have a point Emmett," Demetri agreed. "We know that they like soccer and some of them are highly skilled. They might like the challenge and the chance to shine. Yes, I think that is a good idea. Perhaps you could run it by the two pack leaders at some point and see what they think."

"I think that they were both embarrassed by today's incident and will want to find ways to make amends," Edward added. He was grinning now, clearly up for the sport.

Emmett was off in his own little world. "We need to think carefully about the rules. Let me print them off from the web and see what we can think of."

"I really enjoy soccer, but I haven't played for a year." Fred was joining in now, sitting forward and obviously wanting to contribute, not only to make himself useful but also for the sport.

It must be a guy thing, I thought. I didn't want to embarrass myself like I had in every gym class through school.

"I spent two years living in England in my early teens," Fred continued enthusiastically, "and all we played was soccer, and then when I got home I took it up at school too."

"Right, you get to help with the rules then," Emmett said, now warming more to Fred and actually managing a friendly grin.

I had to ask but I already knew the answer, "Where would we play?"

"In the clearing," Carlisle answered. He watched me carefully as he said it. He knew that it would be hard for me to go back there again, it held so many bad memories: James and his coven, the newborns, and the Volturi. It was always the place where things happened. "We'll have to be really careful."

"But Alice won't be able to see, not past the wolves."

"It'll be OK Bella. I'll make a point of listening really hard even if that means I have to sit out. And we can have some people out of the game patrolling," Edward tried to reassure me.

I wasn't reassured at all. This had the potential to go wrong, very wrong. But if Demetri thought it was a good idea we needed to give it a go just to be polite, and he did have experience in diplomacy.

"But what if someone gets hurt?"

"The wolves mend quick. And anyway it's not like we are going to try to hurt them, and if we adapt the rules well we don't have to put them in danger," Emmett replied.

But the images were there in my mind. Wolves in their human form injured on the ground, a vampire and wolf having a disagreement about the offside rule and the wolf phasing. And so they went on, each ending worse than the last. Could any good really come out of this? Would it be worth the risks?

But the men were off, trying to think up good new rules for the inter-species game.

"Maybe if we widened the pitch and had strips on the wings for vampires and gave the wolves the middle."

"But we'd need to be able to have a good shot at the goals too."

"How about we make it more like this ..."

And then the paper and pens were out. The male camaraderie was showing through and they were all pitching in with ideas, Demetri and Carlisle included. It was going to be a very long evening.

I looked over at Alice, her face a picture of worry. She notice my gaze and answered my quizzical look by mouthing the thoughts that were going around my head as well.

"This is bad. I can't see what is going to happen."

She got up and quietly but gracefully and left the room. Esme and I were the only ones who saw her go. I wanted to follow but I was trapped in the house babysitting a fully-grown man. I nodded to Esme and she got up from her armchair and left by a different door but I knew she was going to find Alice.

To make matters worse, Emmett started clicking through channels on the TV to find a match. It was going to be a very, very long evening.