The next morning, as soon as I woke up, I rolled out of bed and peered out my front window, half expecting to find the street below empty. I smiled to myself upon catching sight of Edward's Volvo parked in front of the house, just as we'd agreed upon. After getting dressed, downing a quick breakfast, and then saying goodbye to Charlie, I hurried down the front steps of the house. Edward had already exited his car and was leaning against the passenger door, a hopeful expression on his face. I realized then that his car was still running. I grinned at him, shook my head, and pulled out my eyes. "Not a chance," I said. "I'm still driving. Get over here."

Edward's smile faltered and, with what appeared to be a small eyeroll, he opened the passenger door and leaned into the car, turning it off. After pocketing his keys, he shook his head and trudged over to the truck.

"Good morning," I greeted when Edward silently entered my truck. He merely hummed a small reply. My insistence on driving him to school had clearly confused him. Hiding my smile, I turned my keys in the ignition and turned them. As my truck roared to life, I realized the radio was still on from yesterday's drive home. I made to turn it off, but heard the newscaster talking about the animal attack Charlie had mentioned yesterday. I paused, my hand hovering over the dial, and listened as he summarized the details from the case. Edward listened, too, his gaze fixed on the speakers.

"Charlie was telling me about this yesterday," I said when the newscaster had finished, clicking off the radio and then putting the truck in reverse. As I started to back out of the driveway, I noticed that Edward was unusually silent. Something was up. "Do you know something about that?" I asked, nodding towards the radio as I put the car in drive and started the trek to school.

Edward shifted uncomfortably in the seat and then murmured, "Yes."

I frowned, creasing my brows together. "Care to share?"

"That's not the first 'animal attack' that's happened around here recently," Edward said with a sigh. "We've been tracking the situation for some time."

"We… as in your family?"

A nod.

I was beginning to put the pieces together. "There's other vampires here?" I asked, my voice quiet, somber. "As in… the bad, human-eating kind?"

Edward grimaced. "They've been skirting the boundaries of Forks for a few weeks. We think they're just drifters, moving through, but they've spent more time here than we'd like."

A sudden chill coursed through my body at the implication of what Edward had just said. They've spent more time here than we'd like. I knew what that equated to. Suddenly, I was very cold; my fingers shook against the steering wheel.

"Bella?" Edward asked, his voice gentle and concerned. I could feel his eyes on my trembling form.

"Just got a chill all of a sudden." I could sense Edward's frown and concern deepen, so I changed the subject. "Have you met them—the other vampires that are here?" I asked.

"Not yet. They've proven difficult to locate."

I frowned at this, confused. "But can't you just… use your spidey senses to figure out where they are?" Upon being met with silence, I glanced at Edward to find that he had levelled me with an unamused gaze. I chuckled in spite of myself and then shrugged. "Got it. Don't call them 'spidey senses.'"

Edward ignored me and continued. "It's not that simple. Vampires are… we're good at eluding capture—even from other immortals."

Immortals. This was the first time Edward had ever used this word to describe himself. For some reason it unsettled me. I choose not to mention this, however and instead simply nodded. His logic made sense to me. "Do you think they're going to move in closer to town?"

Edward shook his head as we pulled into the school parking lot. "I doubt it. Most of our kind don't like to stay in one place too long; it attracts suspicion."

"And yet here you are," I murmured, throwing a faint smile in Edward's direction as I parked in my usual spot. I gazed at Edward from across the cab. The atmosphere between us was easy, relaxed; I felt as if we had known each other for years.

"Here I am," he whispered in agreement.

I let the moment hang between us for a minute further and then sighed, "Well, we should probably go in."

Edward released a small breath of air through his nose and then broke our shared gaze. "Indeed."

We met at the back of my truck. I dared a glance at the Cullen clan and was unsurprised to find Rosalie, Alice, Jasper, and Emmett staring at me. My determination to confront Alice faltered at the sight of them all standing across the lot. Summoning my courage, I locked eyes with Alice, who was gazing at me, her expression smooth and relaxed—neutral. Throwing caution to the wind and coming firmly to the conclusion that I needed to talk with her, I nodded at her and managed a small smile. For a moment, her expression appeared suddenly glossed over, as if she was deep in thought.

Beside me, Edward's entire body froze. I glanced up at his face and saw that he was staring intensely at Alice, a frown set on his lips. He was shaking his head. Before I could ask him what in the world he was doing, I realized Alice had snapped out of her reverie and was grinning at me, bouncing up and down as she waved a hand in my direction. "Wow," I murmured, giving her a small wave in reply.

I scoffed, shocked that Alice Cullen had actually seemed pleased to see me, and then turned to Edward, poised to ask what the hell had just happened. Instead, I watched as Edward glared at Alice, his expression burning and intense, as she and Jasper strode into the front of the school, their hands interlocked.

"What was—"

Edward turned on me suddenly and interrupted me. "You were going to talk to Alice," he said accusingly, his expression hardened and… hurt? "I'm not going to let you do that."

"Excuse me?" I asked, my voice confused and offended in equal measure. "How did you—" I stopped short, as I suddenly realized that Alice's dazed expression must have been her having a vision. In the moment I had decided to go through with confronting her, she must have had a vision of me doing so which Edward, with his seemingly all-powerful mind-reading capabilities, had witnessed. I quirked my bottom jaw and squinted accusingly at Edward. "You cheated."

It was his turn to scoff. "I did not."

I raised my eyebrow at him. "Bullshit. Just because you can't read my mind doesn't mean you get to peer into it vicariously through Alice. You don't get to decide what I will and will not do." I was suddenly fuming. Unable to look at the conflicted expression on Edward's face anymore, I turned my back on him and made my way into the school, leaving him standing at my car. Though he couldn't read my mind, my intentions must have been clear because he didn't follow me.

By the time Biology rolled around, my anger had calmed some. During the school day, I had intended to find Alice and confront her without Edward's peer gaze or mind-seeing abilities, but I was never able to locate her. After walking into Mr. Molina's classroom with a forced and measured calmness, I glanced at Edward's direction and met his guarded expression with a firm one of my own. As I took my seat next to him, I linked my fingers together atop the lab table and stared ahead, waiting patiently for Mr. Molina to start class.

"I'm sorry," Edward whispered, his gaze also fixed on the front of the classroom.

"Are you?" I asked, not convinced.

Edward sighed deeply and the sadness and exhaustion contained within was almost enough to break my measured persona. Edward tilted his head just slightly closer to me and whispered, "I'm not trying to control you. I'm—I'm trying to protect you."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh my God," I scoffed, squirming uncomfortably with the suggestion that I was some fairytale-esque damsel in distress. "Protect me from what?"

"Yourself."

This was unexpected. My lips parted just slightly as I considered my response. When I couldn't think of anything, I pulled my brows together and turned to face Edward; his mesmerizing eyes glowed with intensity. They were pleading, but not with anger—with fear. What about my future could possibly cause this much fear in a near-indestructible vampire? The thought nearly sent another chill through me. Just I was about to push the subject further, Mr. Molina started talking at the front of the classroom. I took a steadying breath and then murmured, "Okay. I'll let it go. For now."

Edward closed his eyes and then sighed in relief. He nodded at me in a silent thank you. I nodded back but with an expression that clearly indicated this conversation was not over.

After a few minutes of Mr. Molina's introduction to the lesson, the tension between Edward and I settled. Today's task was to dissect a local flower and diagram its various parts on a piece of paper. Mr. Molina gave each lab pair a freshly-plucked flower, a handout with labelled boxes for the flower parts, and a dissection tool.

Edward grabbed the flower and twirled it gently through his fingers, examining it. "Queen Anne's lace," he murmured with a small smile, setting the plant back on the tabletop.

My gaze travelled between Edward and the flower. It was aptly-named, given that its delicate white flowers did, in fact, look like lacework. Eyeing him curiously, I said with a chuckle, "Okay then." Edward turned to look at me, eyebrows pulled together in confusion. "Are you secretly a horticulturist?" I asked jokingly.

Edward smiled and then shrugged. "I've had a lot of hobbies over the years," he answered simply. He gazed at the flower again. Something about Edward's gentle fondness for this simple little flower filled me warmth and made me smile. Regathering myself, I tapped the tabletop. "Guess we'd better get to work, then."

"I guess so."

I pushed the handout to Edward's side of the table and then plucked up the flower and set it in front of me. "You draw and I'll dissect."

Edward frowned and pushed the worksheet back in front of me. He grabbed the dissecting scalpel and then tenderly extracted the flower from my fingers. Though I should have been used to his cool touch by now, it still sent a small jolt of lightning through my skin.

"How about you—the one with the bountiful artistic talent—draw the flower parts," Edward suggested, uncapping the scalpel and settling the flower on the tabletop, "and I—the one with the razor-sharp senses—wield the very sharp cutting utensil?"

I chuckled in spite of myself and then nodded in agreement. "Deal."

Edward and I worked in relative silence the rest of the class, with him expertly dissecting the flower at the appropriate parts and I sketching the flower's anatomy into the appropriate boxes. As I glanced back and forth between my sketches and the flower, I would occasionally become aware of Edward's warm gaze on me, studying me with a warmth and curiosity. "What are you looking at?" I asked him with a faint smile as I added the finishing touches to the last sketch.

He shook his head and smiled. "You're just…very good at that."

I glanced at my drawings and shrugged. I'd always been relatively skilled at freehand sketching, but I never thought much of it. "Thanks."

At the end of the day, I met Edward at the front of the school and we walked back to my car in relative silence. Today, I ignored the rest of the Cullen family and Edward appeared to do the same. I felt some small triumph in the fact that I appeared to have both Alice and Edward on my side.

On the drive home, I probed Edward for more information about Alice. "You two are close, then?"

Edward nodded his head slightly from side to side. "Closer than I am with any of my other siblings," he concluded. "Because of our gifts, Alice and I have always had a connection that the others just don't quite understand. Expect for Jasper, that is. But he's still relatively new to us. Rosalie and Emmett have always been in a world of their own." Edward chuckled to himself and shook his head. There was clearly something there I was missing. "Carlisle is probably the one I'm closest with. As I've mentioned, he and I were the only two members of the clan for so long. He's like my father."

"What can Jasper do?" I asked; this was the first time I had heard of any other Cullen family members having special skills, apart from Edward and Alice.

"Jasper can sense and influence emotions," Edward explained. "He can make others feel calm, scared, confused. But he can also sense those emotions in others."

I frowned. "That seems very invasive."

Edward raised his eyebrows in silent agreement. "It is. Thankfully, he doesn't use his gifts often. It's different from Alice and me. For the most part, Jasper can choose when he wants to utilize his skills, whereas Alice and I don't have a choice."

I considered this. "Are the gifts influenced by your human lives?"

Edward's eyes studied me; he seemed impressed by my question. "We're not sure, but we've wondered that very same thing ourselves. Unfortunately, most of us remember very little of our human lives, so it's hard to say."

I scowled at this and, as I pulled into the driveway and put the truck in park, I turned to face Edward. "You don't remember your human life?" I asked, saddened by the thought.

"Very little," Edward admitted with a faint shrug. "I remember Carlisle finding me. I remember being very sick. I remember the pain…" Edward grimaced as he trailed away.

"Pain?" I asked with a frown. "From the Spanish flu?"

He shook his head. "From the venom. The change is an excruciating process. Mine lasted days." Edward closed his eyes and grimaced, clearly remembering.

A silence fell between us as I thought about this new information. I wanted to know more about the changing process. What would have to happen to the body's cells, to its crucial systems to not only inflict that much pain, but to make one immortal? "Has anyone ever tried to study the change? Determine how it's done?"

Edward's expression was once again curious. There was a fondness in his eyes that seemed to be directed at me. "I think Carlisle tried once or twice, but none of us have ever devoted much time to it. It's not reversible, so there's little point."

"How do you know?"

"Know what?" Edward asked, his deep voice patient and engaged.

"That the process isn't reversible?"

He considered this and pursed his lips. "Somebody would have done it by now if it was possible," he concluded with a shrug.

"Unless nobody's tried," I countered with a raised brow.

Edward and I stared at each other once again—we were getting very good at it—and I wondered what would happen if somebody took the time to study and examine the physiological, genetic, and biological changes that occurred during the change. Such important musings would have to wait for another day, however. Charlie pulled up beside my truck in his police cruiser. He smiled at me and then the smile faltered just slightly, transforming to a curious expression upon catching sight of Edward in my passenger seat. I waved at him and exited the car. Edward followed me lead.

"Hello, Mr. Swann," Edward greeted with a small wave as Charlie rolled down the police cruiser's window; he walked in front of my truck and positioned himself beside me.

"Hello again Edward," Charlie said with a small nod. He was being polite, but it was clear he had questions for me. I smiled reassuringly at Charlie and then nodded to Edward's parked Volvo. "I gave Edward a ride to school today. And yesterday," I added, realizing Charlie likely would have noticed Edward's parked car the day before.

"That's mighty nice of you," Charlie said, clearly confused as to why I—in my shitty, beat up red truck—would ever need to drive a Cullen to school. "I was just stopping by to let you know that I won't be home for dinner tonight—got to work an extra shift tonight."

I nodded. "Thanks for the heads up."

"You'll be good to get dinner for yourself?"

I raised an eyebrow at Charlie. "Seriously, dad?"

He flapped his hand in the air at me. "Right, right, I know. You're more responsible and capable than me. I just wanted to let you know. I'll leave you two to it, then." Eyeing us rather suspiciously, Charlie backed out of the driveway. I waved to him reassuringly and then, once he was gone, said to Edward, "Care to stay for dinner?"

Edward smiled warmly at me and then chewed his bottom lip, considering. "I would love to, but—" He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I'm still building up a tolerance, as it were and…"

I tsked in understanding. "So you're telling me that all of this—" I gestured vaguely up and down the length of my body with both hands, "—is too much for you today, hm? Can't handle the smell of my deliciously potent blood? I get it; totally understandable." I shrugged casually.

Edward stared at me for a second, his lips parted, revealing a few of his beautifully perfect teeth beneath. I worried I had gone too far and rearranged my expression, about to apologize. It was then that Edward laughed out loud, revealing the full extent his glowing smile. For the first time, I noticed faint creases that appeared at the corners of his mouth and eyes. Edward shook his head as he ran a hand through his auburn hair and then smiled appreciatively at me. It was clear that Edward wasn't quite sure what to do with me but was thankful for my casual approach.

I returned his smile with one of my own and then tilted my head towards the front door of the house. "Same time tomorrow?" I asked, expression playful and mischievous.

"Same time tomorrow."