Disclaimer: I think I was Stephenie Meyer in another life. Does that mean I get royalties?

Author's note: Here is the chapter I promised despite me being insanely busy. I love you all!

Family Tree Chapter 19

Bella's POV

The bell rang and we stood up. We had five minutes until our next class. I couldn't help but notice that neither Dahlia nor Julian were in class. A few kids were whispering about the strange newcomers and wondering whether or not they would be coming back. Somehow I knew they wouldn't be. It was pointless really, so close to the end of the school year. Edward held the door open for me and I sighed, stepping out once again into the chilling air. I tried to avoid the puddles that had formed in the uneven pavement as we walked to our next class. The sky was dark and the rain was unrelenting. It blanketed the world in icy streams and caused me to shiver into my coat. Edward drew me close instinctively, wrapping his arm around my waist and though he was as cold as our surroundings, I didn't mind.

We had a test in English. I was glad that I didn't have any other tests today and English was my best subject. Five minutes into the test and Edward had finished. He was pretending to reread what he'd written. I rolled my eyes. I wondered how difficult it would be to pretend all the time to be someone else. I imagined being a vampire a hundred years from now, going to high school for the umpteenth time. I doubt I'd even want to do it. It was boring the first time around. Edward nudged me and I got back to work, regaling Mrs. Stephanopolis with my knowledge of Chaucer.

I finished five minutes before the bell. I didn't bother to proofread. My stomach growled and Edward gave me a grin which caused me to blush. Sometimes having a boyfriend with super hearing wasn't all that great. I didn't even want to know all of the things he heard.

The bell rang and I sighed in relief. I really didn't want to continue with my line of thought. Edward took my paper and scanned it in a few seconds. He nodded his head at me in approval and walked up to our teacher's desk to hand them in. I waited for a few moments and Edward returned to me, my favorite smile plastered on his face. I loved him so much.

We walked to the cafeteria in companionable silence. Edward took a plastic tray and began to place all of my favorite items on it. He paid for my lunch and then took the tray to an empty table on the far side of the cafeteria. He slid the tray forward and I grabbed half of a tuna sandwich. I ate that and some sun chips and Edward only watched me in amusement.

"What are you smirking at?" I asked him, self-consciously.

"You're adorable when you eat."

"I thought human food repulses you."

"Oh it does. But you don't," he added kindly.

I nodded and continued eating until I was full.

"Finished? Good. I wanted to ask if you had any plans for Friday night. I just happened to run across two tickets to a sold out Linkin Park show. Interested?"

I grinned. "Of course I am! But wait. Friday night…Edward, I'm supposed to be at the reservation then."

The light faded from his ochre eyes and his face fell. His lips formed the most adorable pout. "Surely they can let you go for one night Bella. Why don't you reschedule for Saturday?"

I considered it. I really wanted to go with Edward and I wanted to make him happy, but at the same time, something squirmed inside me, something that felt a whole lot like guilt. I thought about Jacob and how happy he'd been when I'd been learning the customs and about Billy, who was finally looking at me with something other than disdain. I felt a tug in my heart, a slight pulse that thrummed there, a desire to be there in La Push, surrounded by my people.

I became very still. My people. When had I ever thought of them in that context? I felt uneasy.

"Bella? What's wrong?" Edward demanded, searching my eyes intently.

I shook my head, not ready, or able to speak. I felt a strange disconnect somewhere deep inside and I couldn't shake the feeling that I needed to go to the reservation.

"It's so weird," I murmur, looking down at my folded hands, "but I feel like I have to go down there. Like I belong there, or something."

Edward had been leaning forward unconsciously in concern but my quiet confession seemed to really upset him. He sat back against the chair and I noticed that his hands were shaking. I'd never seen him do that before.

"I see. You realize though, that you don't really belong there. Don't you? You aren't Quileute Bella."

His words were solemn but they hit me as though he had shouted them at me and I felt angry. It was the strangest sensation and I fought to keep my voice down.

"I have Quileute blood in me Edward, whether you want to acknowledge that or not." The vitriolic tone of my voice surprised even me.

His mouth opened in shock. "Where is this coming from? I thought you weren't even sure you wanted to go down there! What exactly happened last Friday?"

Again, a strange emotion filled me. I wanted to answer Edward, to tell him what had gone on; the strange and unusual things that had happened but something kept me quiet. I struggled to form the right words but found that I couldn't. I stared at him helplessly.

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Edward's POV

I watched a variety of emotions play across her face. She was clearly struggling with whatever it was. I wondered what had happened that she couldn't tell me about. I suddenly was transported to the first day when we had sat together and our conversation had been so forced. I couldn't tell her what I was…I had to keep it bottled inside, despite my own desire to confide in her. I had no idea how frustrating it would be to end up on the receiving end of someone holding back something that seemed important. What couldn't she tell me?

"Bella?" I whispered, suddenly afraid. Was I losing her? What had happened to her?

"I think I need some air," she admitted, her features drawn and pale.

I stood and mechanically took the tray that was still laden with useless human food. I dumped it in the proper receptacle and steered Bella outside, into the rain. I sheltered her with an umbrella until we found an unoccupied eave in front of a classroom that offered protection from the pounding rain. I closed my eyes and willed myself to stay in control. Bella's floral scent wafted around me and I stopped breathing it in, sweet torture that it was. I needed to think logically.

"I don't like secrets," I told her suddenly, not able to keep the words from forming and escaping my mouth, "especially between us."

I tried to get her to look at me but she refused, staring off toward the school parking lot. I shook my head in irritation.

"Edward, it's not what you think."

"I have no idea what to think Bella. All I know is that you're hiding something from me and your whole attitude has changed. I'm really trying to understand here but I'm losing patience."

She looked up at me then, evidently surprised. I hadn't meant to word it like that, as though it was a threat. She took a step away from me and pain filled my long dead chest. I held out my hand to her but she didn't take it.

"I don't know why I feel like this," she whispered.

"How do you feel?"

"Like…I can't trust you."

I reeled in shock. Where had that come from? I forced my voice to remain even, though it was difficult. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm not saying that I don't trust you! I do! I just feel like I can't talk about what happened. It's private." Tears were forming in her eyes as she spoke and it was evident that she was struggling.

"No one hurt you though, right?" If Jacob or one of those other mutts had so much as looked at her wrong…I was prepared to take them out; alone if need be.

She sighed. "No. They wouldn't hurt me. It's a tribe thing, I guess. I just have the feeling that I'm not supposed to talk about it with outsiders."

That one word hurt more than I thought it would. Outsiders. She considered me an outsider. I suddenly couldn't be in her presence. As much as I loved her, I needed space, desperately, before I did or said something to hurt her back. I turned and walked away, not explaining myself.

Why should I explain when I was an outsider?

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Bella's POV

Edward turned and walked away. I watched him in dismay. I tried to follow him but then he began to run. I followed him with my eyes for a few seconds but lost him in the rain. I began to cry. I was extremely confused and angry with myself. How could I do that to him? I knew I'd hurt him and suddenly I felt lightheaded. I couldn't breathe. My chest hurt, so much. I wrapped my arms around my middle.

"Bella, are you all right?"

I turned to the sound of the unfamiliar voice and saw Julian walking toward me.

"What are you doing here?" My heart beat frantically in my chest. I looked him over. He was drenched; his hair was soaked and yet each strand seemed perfectly in place. Droplets of water slid down the planes of his too perfect face and settled in tiny crevices, where they froze against his icy skin.

He chuckled. "Just out for a walk in this wonderful rain. What about you? I didn't think humans normally enjoyed standing in the rain."

I shivered in response. It only seemed to amuse him and he stepped forward slowly, cautiously. "Let's get you somewhere dry, ok?"

I felt better instantly. My body relaxed. I took the hand he offered and he pulled me toward the small janitor's shed next to the gym. I walked after him in a daze.

"It's dry in here," he announced, throwing open the door and escorting me inside. He shut the door behind us and I listened in wonder to the rain pounding on the tin roof of the shed.

"How did you know about this place?"

"I didn't. It just looked like the closest, driest place I could take you. Why were you standing out there anyway? You looked upset."

My heart throbbed dully. "Edward and I had a fight. I tried to follow him but…"

"…you couldn't. Of course not. You're only human, Bella. Don't worry I'm sure whatever it was, it will be fine. Couples fight all the time."

"Not us," I whisper under my breath.

Julian inclines his head in my direction in acknowledgment. "It will be fine and if for some reason it isn't…you have other options."

I glared at him then. "No I don't."

"You think that Edward is unique, don't you? That there's no one else like him? No one that could make you happy?"

I nod. I know that there is no one else for me. Edward is my other half. I suddenly feel empty.

"Oh Bella…you have so much to learn. Did you ever think that maybe, somewhere, there is someone else for you? Someone who would never leave you standing in the rain? Someone who would want to change you, to keep you forever?"

I feel my heart breaking. I wrap my arms tighter around my middle, struggling to breathe.

"Don't you realize how amazing you are? You deserve so much better. If I were in Edward's place, I would give you immortality in a second and then I would whisk you away from all of this," he gestured to the shed but implied much more.

"You would?" I feel dizzy and the shed is so small…so dark.

"I would make you mine…forever. I would love you with every fiber of my being. I would spend my entire existence making you happy. I would do anything for you Bella…" he whispered in my ear, softly, seductively, "if I were in his place."

My heart rate accelerated, against my wishes. Julian leaned forward, his eyes locked on mine. He exhaled and my head swam in the cloud of his intoxicating breath. I struggled to keep my wits; and failed miserably.

Julian reached out and cupped my chin, holding my head in place. He closed his eyes, tilted his head and I knew then that he was going to kiss me.

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Edward's POV

I ran away from her. I was a mile away in five seconds, five miles away in thirty. I stopped in the middle of the deserted forest and then began to take out my frustrations on the helpless trees. I lifted them from their roots, tearing them from their peaceful place in the ground, murdering them, ripping the wood apart in great chunks. I hurled the pieces at other trees, felling them as well. I didn't stop until I'd cleared a large area of all that was living. I stopped then, standing in the center of the carnage. I wondered if trees could feel pain and hoped that they didn't.

I stood there in the silence and devastation, letting the rain wash the imagined filth off of me. I never thought that something so little could hurt so much. I didn't understand why she was so hesitant to talk to me. Hadn't I told her all of our family's secrets? Hadn't I risked everything time and again just to spend time with her? I was willing to die for her! Why couldn't she talk to me?

The questions swirled around in my head and I wondered why I cared so much. She was right, in a way; I didn't have any business knowing Quileute customs. I didn't care about that either. All I cared about was her and I didn't like her being influenced by people that were in essence my enemies. I hated that she was spending time down there, knowing what I knew. Jacob would do anything to take her away from me, anything at all. He would start a war. Luckily Sam had a bit more sense than that. He didn't want to start a war over Bella. He wished that Jacob would just let her go. The problem lay in the fact that it wasn't only Jacob holding on. Bella didn't want to let go of him either. She cared about Jacob in a deep way and it irked me that she could feel something so powerful for him. Hadn't she told me time and again that she loved me? Hadn't she said that I was the only one for her? If that were true then why did she care so much about Jacob?

I was startled from my musing when my cell phone buzzed in my pocket. I slid it out and up to my ear and listened with surprise and then horror when Alice told me what she'd seen.

The world tilted on its axis and I tried to quell the panic that released the beast from his cage; but I failed.

Only one word echoed through my mind as I ran as fast as I could…

Bella.

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Author's note: Here's a little poll for my lovely reviewers…does Edward get to the shed in time before Julian kisses Bella or not? It could go either way. Let me know what you think!