A/N: Look you guys! A long chapter! *Gasp*. It was gonna be split up but I figured fuck it.

Suddenly we're fallin' through the twilight zone

Watch the party playing out in slow motion

So tie a ribbon 'round my arm and throw me in

Is it an apocalypse or nihilism on your lips?

We sink or swim

Oh, what would your mother say if she could see what we're doing now?

Oh, what would your mother say if she could hear what we talk about?

Chapter 41: Hybrid at Heart

Bella POV

The meet and greet with the Denalis was surprisingly quick and painless. I will admit, the sisters were stunningly gorgeous, and my ego was definitely tested. Alice giggled when I draped my arm around her protectively. However, her laughter turned quite sour when Kate seemed to begin flirting with me. Edward was very entertained by the interactions and behind the scenes knowledge.

"Isabella, might I have a word with you." Eleazar inevitably called me his way, gesturing for me to follow him out to the patio. Alice gave me an encouraging pat, and Kate a glowering look, before shoving me his way.

"Bella, by the way." I corrected him once I caught up.

"Bella." He smiled sincerely and walked us to the nearby tree. "Carlisle and Esme speak very highly of you." I nodded politely, waiting for his reason for bringing me out to chat. "Your gift is…interesting."

"Gift?" I inquired, suddenly confused. Last time I checked, I was just a hybrid. "My gift of being able to turn into a wolf?" Eleazar chuckled and tapped his head.

"No dear, your mental abilities. Shields are pretty rare nowadays."

"Oh." I hadn't really thought of my weird mind thing. I guess I was a shield. "You've seen some before?"

"Yes. In fact, the Volturi tried to collect them for some time there."

"Oh I know." I muttered, instinctively rubbing my forearm.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bring them up. I'm sure the memories must be disturbing." He did look genuinely concerned about his choice of words.

"No it's fine. Just instinct." I motioned for him to continue on with what he was saying before.

"Right. Yes, shields are quite handy when it comes down to fighting."

"Why? I mean yeah I can protect myself, but it's not much help in the grand scheme of things."

"Do you-?" Eleazar started, extremely confused. "Did you not know that you could expand your gift to others?"

"I-wait what?"

"Isabella-"

"Bella."

"Right sorry. Bella, your gift is expandable. You can use it to shield others surrounding you."

"No I did not know that!"

"Really? Neither you nor Liam knew?"

"No!" I felt like my whole life was a lie. All those times Jane fucked with Alice and I could have stopped it. I was in a rage.

"Honestly I thought you knew."

"No I wouldn't even know- I don't even know how to-" I had let myself get too heated. My body shook and I felt a violent phase coming on.

"Oh no." Even though Eleazar was right next to me, his voice sounded far away in my tunnel hearing. The only sound I could hear distinctly was the deafening thudding of my heart. "Sh-should I get Carlisle?"

I couldn't trust my mouth to respond. The slight control I had right now was wearing real thin and I had to think fast. If the wolf came out now, she would definitely break free of this fucking boundary.

Sure I wanted to. This house arrest was a big shit show and it sucked, but I couldn't worry the Cullens like that. My family. Alice.

Alice. Alice was the trick to keeping me calm. I closed my eyes and sunk to the ground, balling my fists tightly to keep control. Think of Alice.

"Oh for god's sake Carlisle don't you fucking dare stick her with that needle!"

"It's just a sedative Alice."

"Do you want to piss us both off?" A small scuffle sounded nearby as I regained some of my hearing, but I still kept my eyes closed. "Bella you're bleeding." My angel called, running cool fingertips along my eyes to coax them open. Once her calming scent surrounded me, I looked up to see beautiful big bronze orbs staring down at me in concern. She smiled gently and knelt down to my level.

"Sorry." I mumbled out of instinct.

"For what?" Alice inquired, reaching for my still shaking fists.

"I don't know." She giggled at my stupidity, but immediately frowned once she pried one of my hands open. I had clenched too tightly, and my nails had dug deep into the skin in my palms, drawing the blood Alice smelled.

"Is she in control?" Carlisle called a short distance away.

"Yes!" Alice yelled back blindly, her soft hands still evaluating mine. "And if you even come close to her with that syringe again, I'm going to rip your fucking arm off!" I raised my eyebrow at her, surprised and impressed. "You may be the irrationally angry wolf, but I'm the crazy bitch." She smirked at her joke and then pulled me to my feet.

"Her hands –"

"Are almost already healed." Alice snipped to a concerned Carlisle standing in the doorway. "We're going to wash them off." I let Alice lead me, expecting to go in the direction of the kitchen to wash my blood-soaked hands. But she took a sharp left and moved us upstairs to our room, for which I was grateful to get away from the prying eyes.

Once the door was shut, she sat me down on the bed and started to zoom around the room at vampire pace. I would have tried to keep track of her movements, but my eyes hurt. Moments later she returned to my side with a damp washcloth and began to gently dab my palms with it.

"Does it hurt?"

"Not anymore." A sweet smiled crossed her face and she continued until my hands were clean and the cloth was dark shade of pink.

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Eleazar said you were about to phase. And from what I saw before we went outside looked like you were ready to blow."

"I was."

"Then how did you stop it?"

"I don't know." Alice looked at me skeptically until I sighed in defeat. "I thought of you." A soft purr met my ears and she leant down to kiss the top of my head before disposing of the blood-stained cloth.

"So…" Alice started, flopping down onto the bed with me. "What started it?"

"I got pissed off." I mirrored Alice's position and laid down next to her with my eyes facing the ceiling.

"Well no duh." She propped herself up on one arm and ran her free hand along my side. "What triggered the anger?"

"Eleazar." I exhaled, trying to relive what he told me without lashing out again. Alice hummed patiently waiting for me to continue. "He said that my shield, my mental thingy, can be expanded to others around me."

"Mmmm." Alice kept tracing my side as I spoke to the ceiling, and she gave no indication of being upset with this new information.

"It means I could have protected you."

"You do protect me." Frustrated again, I sat up ready to pace the room. But Alice caught my waist and held me in bed.

"All those times Jane tortured you. I could have stopped it."

"If you knew. But you didn't."

"Wh- how is that supposed to make me feel better?" I asked exasperatedly. The pixie merely giggled into my shoulder.

"How were you supposed to know that Bella? I didn't know that. Carlisle didn't. The only person who knew was someone who can read gifts." Sometimes I really hated it when she was always right. And rational.

"Still." I collapsed back down into my prior position, defeated.

"Still what?" Alice followed.

"I'm like the stupidest vampire in the world. Not even knowing my own gift."

"I didn't."

"What?" I rolled over, surprised by this new bit of information. "But you said you've had the visions for as long as you can remember."

"Yeah I had visions, but they were random and constantly coming to me. I had no idea how to control them. Plus it took years to figure out I could kind of aim them at certain people, watching for decisions."

"I didn't know that." I frowned, forgetting my earlier anger. Alice always had a way of making me forget.

"Well that's cause I never told you silly." She booped my nose and sat up, bouncing in place. "Jasper didn't find out he could actually influence people's emotions until months down the road, and it took Edward forever to try and tune everyone's thoughts out in a large crowded room."

"Huh." I felt slightly better, but the thought of what could have been was still nagging at my brain. Alice leaned over me with questioning eyes, trying to read my mood.

"You're still fixating on something. What is it?"

"Things could have gone a lot differently if I had known."

"And that bothers you."

"Does it not bother you?" Alice actually paused to think about it before she shook her head no. "How?"

"Because I believe that everything happens for a reason." I scoffed, rolling away from her enthusiastic personality. "Hey!" She grabbed my shoulder and rolled me right back to her. "How can I not be! I see the future remember?"

"How ever could I forget?"

"So I firmly believe that if you did not know of your gift at those points in time, you were not ready for your future."

"But you don't know my future." I gently reminded her.

"No. But that doesn't mean I don't have feelings."

"Feelings? Feelings about my future."

"Our future." Alice corrected, and whatever Kool-Aid she was drinking began to rub off on me as I smiled once again that day. "And yes. Just because I can't see it doesn't mean I can't feel our happiness."

"How?"

"Isabella Swan must you need a reason for everything in this world?" Amused, I shrugged at her spot-on jab to me.

"Maybe."

"Well you're not getting one. You're just going to have to deal with the fact that there are some things in this world that cannot be explained. They just are."

"Ok." I caught her off guard, she looked like she was ready to rant for another couple minutes.

"Ok?"

"Yeah. Ok." Alice continued to look at me as if I had just smacked her in the head or something. "I trust you. So if you say something, I will follow you wholeheartedly." She grinned and I pulled us both back up off the bed. "Shall we?" I offered her a hand to escort us out of the room, but she had a much different idea and latched herself onto my back.

"How about we learn about that shield huh?" Alice knocked lightly on the side of my head and I laughed at how I became figuratively and quite literally attached to such a woman so different than me.

"He said it'll take some practice." I said while walking us to the top of the stairs.

"That's what I'm here for. Now, let's roll."

Alice POV

"Oh man. I can't wait till those two are trained up. Two shields to protect us! Bad fucking ass." Emmett guffawed while playing video games with Jasper. Most of us were inside and hanging around the living room. Bella, Liam, and Eleazar were outside learning about their shields and Eleazar wanted minimum distractions. Occasionally, I would peek over Rosalie's head seated across from me on the couch and glance at Bella through the windows. They seemed alright.

"Stop that." Rose smacked my knee when I peered over her for about the tenth time in two minutes. "Just let her concentrate."

"You know you're not very nice." I quipped, grabbing a random magazine sitting on the coffee table.

"Nope. That is not what I'm best known for." I groaned at my sister's pesky personality and then promptly absorbed myself into some articles surrounding the latest fashion trends.

This continued on for a few hours. Emmett laughing and playing video games with Jasper and Edward, Rosalie making snide or risqué comments every once in a while, and me picking up a new magazine.

"Whatchya reading?" Bella had managed to sneak up on me, causing me to jump off the couch and smack her with my magazine.

"Bella!" I cried out while the others around us laughed.

"What? That was priceless." She grinned and wrapped her arms around me in an apology hug.

"So how was it? You a fully equipped shield now?" Emmett moved to tackle her, but Bella side stepped his attack, causing him to crash into the couch.

"Most definitely not. I just started to be able to see the damn thing before the lesson ended."

"See it? Your shield?" Jasper began to tidy up the living room as any good son would.

"Yeah. It's weird." Bella scratched her head and gave me a pleading look. I smiled because I knew that look. That was her 'please get me the hell out of here I'm tired' look.

"Alright. I do believe it is bedtime." I called to the room, giving Liam a pointed head nod. He seemed to agree right away as well.

"Aw no fair! I didn't even get to wrestle her today." Emmett whined as Bella and I climbed the stairs.

"She is not your play thing!" I called back down to him.

"That's cause she's yours." Rosalie sung, making Bella's face grow red. She retreated into the bedroom before any further embarrassment fell unto her. I followed, but threw the magazine I was still clutching at Rosalie's head full force.

"Ow!" Happy with my retaliation, I joined Bella in private once more. The poor thing had already collapsed on the bed, fully clothed. She groaned like a child when I dressed her for night.

"Wow you are not helping me at all here." I struggled with her resisting limbs for a bit until finally getting her tucked in.

"I don't wanna go to school tomorrow." She grumbled to room. I couldn't tell if it was a joke about their shield lessons, or if she was really just that out of it.

"Just go to sleep Bells. You'll feel better in the morning." She moaned around for about a minute more before falling into a snoring slumber. "Ah." I cooed at her awkward looking position. "My sleeping beauty."

A few days had passed and the shield training was about to begin vampire trials. Naturally, I had volunteered as a subject, while others like Edward and Kate were to be the provokers. Bella had flat out refused Kate's presence, so she was replaced by Jasper.

A nagging thought kept running through my mind though. Bella and Liam had consistently ended lessons completely mentally drained. If this much mental power was taken just from figuring out the shield, I worried how much power would be consumed by actually using it to protect someone.

Much to Bella's annoyance, Edward and I had been paired up with her, while Emmett and Jasper were with Liam. Eleazar kept us in separate corners of the backyard as to avoid distractions.

"Whenever you're ready Bella." Edward said politely enough, but I could tell he still pissed my mate off. I started to recite the alphabet in all the languages I knew.

"Ok." She seemed hesitant when she closed her eyes and furrowed her brows together in deep concentration. Several minutes of awkward grunting went by before she released a breath of defeat. "Anything?"

"Nothing. Sorry." Edward confirmed the loss.

"Ok. Just give me a few minutes and we'll try again."

"Take as much time as you need love."

The second attempt went just like the first. Bella fell back onto a rock to regroup after the third attempt. I squatted down in front of her, hoping she wasn't losing faith.

"You can do this. I trust you."

"It's too hard." She rubbed her head with her knuckles, frustrated at her performance.

"Hey." I grabbed her hand to stop the furious rubbing at her face. "I didn't marry a quitter. Just think about what you would do if Jane were torturing me. Take yourself back to where we were." Bella nodded and took my steady hand to help herself back up.

"Ready?" Edward scrutinized us, but held his hands up when I mentally threatened to murder him a few different ways.

"Yes." Confident this time, Bella closed her eyes once again.

Full fathom five thy father lies, of his bones are coral made. Those are pearls that were his eyes. Nothing of him that doth fade, but doth – A strange feeling interrupted my thoughts. I felt warm and fuzzy, content where I was.

"Alice?"

"Hmm?" I hummed back to Edward.

"I can't hear you."

"I said hmmm."

"No. I mean I can't hear you anymore."

"Oh! Bella you're doing it!" I shouted to a concentrating Bella. Either she was too focused on the task at hand to hear, or ignoring me.

Less than a minute passed before she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. The cozy feeling I had went with her. Eleazar had suddenly appeared and rushed to her side with me.

"That was excellent. Nice job." He patted her shoulder.

"I wanna go again." Blindly, Bella struggled to stand, stumbling on top of me to get up. "I can hold it longer. Let me try again."

"No, you're done for the day." I pushed her back and looked at Eleazar for some support on the matter.

"Alice is correct. You've done enough today Bella. Celebrate and rest. We can do more tomorrow." Together, the two of us hoisted her up and carried her back inside to lay on the couch.

"But what if the Volturi come in that time? I can do it again."

"Well if Aro comes you'll definitely be of no use if you can't even stand." I lectured, wrapping her in a straight jacket of a blanket job.

"I can stand. Just let me g…" Mid-sentence she succumbed to the fatigue and swiftly fell asleep. My work here was done.

Liam stumbled back into the house about ten minutes later, supported by Emmett. He seemed to go down with much less of a fight than my stubborn wife.

"How did it go?" I asked Jasper as he walked in behind them.

"It went well. He finally managed to block me at the end. Unfortunately it wasn't very clear to tell from my point of view. I hate to say it, but I think we do need Kate."

"I know." I sighed and pinched my nose in frustration. I knew Kate was the better choice, she was what we were trying to prepare for. But Bella was so protective. Even the thought of me possibly getting hurt would send her over the edge.

"I can take her." Emmett offered, sensing my turmoil. "And maybe you should practice with Liam next time. It's best to keep Bells on her toes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I can take a little shock. Might even be fun." I glanced to Rosalie, who seemed to be questioning it in her head. But she gave Emmett and I a nod of approval.

"Sounds like a plan. However, rest and sustenance is the schedule for today. We'll start again bright and early tomorrow." Eleazar called his lesson plan and then retreated to a spare guest room with Carmen.

"So we're kind of screwed if Aro decides to attack soon." Emmett said what we were all thinking at the moment.

"He won't though. He needs to try to build a guard and that'll take some time." Jasper reassured, sitting down on an armchair with a book in hand. "Here's to hoping he doesn't recruit anyone with powerful gifts."

A few weeks had gone by and the training was getting much better. Both Bella and Liam were now able to hold their shield for hours on a single person. Their mental fatigue was getting stronger, and it took much longer to collapse.

After the first week of team Emmett, Kate, and Bella, Emmett couldn't take the shocks so much anymore and tapped in Rosalie. Unfortunately for Bella, Rose had a much bigger temper when it came to her shield falling.

"DAMMIT BELLA!"

"I'M SORRY!" I heard from all the way across the yard one overcast morning. Within seconds my sister had stormed over to our side to confront me.

"We're switching."

"But Bella-"

"Needs the pressure." Rose interrupted before I could get my argument out. "Besides, I wouldn't mind making Edward uncomfortable with all the thoughts in my head." She smirked at our brother, who immediately cringed at whatever was going on in her mind.

"Fine. But if Kate loses an arm, I blame you." I walked slowly over towards where Bella was situated, knowing she would have a fit.

"Not a chance." Bella called the second my scent came near.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Rose is right Bells. You do need real life pressure."

"Not on you."

"Do you really think Aro won't send someone after me during the battle? He knows your weaknesses."

"Weakness." She said quietly. She knew I was right, but hated it all the same.

"Ok Kate, put your dukes up." I nervously joked. Bella sighed in defeat and closed her eyes. The cozy feeling surrounded me again, like a warm hug.

"Ready." Bella called, knowing I was safe in her shield. Kate kept her hand on me, obviously trying to shock me, but I didn't feel a thing. As the time ticked away, I started to feel slight vibrations that grew uncomfortable. It wasn't until the sun set that the shield must have fallen and I yelped in pain.

"Good Bella. I think you're ready to try multiple people." Eleazar must have been watching nearby. Bella glared daggers into Kate even though I reassured her it was more shock than discomfort. "Go get some rest for tomorrow."

The next week we did multiple people tests. This was more of Edward and Jasper's line of field seeing that Kate couldn't try and shock numerous vampires at once. We were all very impressed with the progress the two had made, and soon our daily lessons were disbanded. It was more of a keep practicing on your own kind of thing. So whenever I felt a fuzzy bubble surround me, I would smile at a nearby Bella.

The general mood had turned tense again due to the continued house arrest. At least with shield lessons there was something to do. One lucky evening I had convinced a majority of the household to take a hunting trip, leaving one semiprivate night for Bella and me.

Our date consisted of me plying my wife with wine until she was tipsy horny. One of my favorite Bella moods.

"Everyone else is in their rooms." I muttered under my breath as we sat on the living room couch with a roaring fire in front of us. "Their sound proofed rooms." Bella snorted a laugh at my terrible flirting and proceeded to carry me upstairs to our room. We were a giggling mess once collided with the bed. It had been a really long time for us, both way too self-conscious when the entire family lived in the same damn house.

"Shhhh." Bella hushed, still laughing. "We still can't be that loud."

"I take you up on that challenge." I quipped, pushing her underneath me as I did so. I paused to study her flushed face. "How drunk are you on a scale of one to ten?"

"Three. Maybe four." Bella grinned and removed my underwear.

"Hey, remember that night – ?"

"Oh my god Alice." She groaned, knowing exactly where my mind was. "Are you ever going to get over that?"

"Four minutes Bella! I'm never going to get over that. That's gotta be some kind of record."

"I was worked up." She was embarrassed and I found it adorable.

"I love you." Her body wiggled as she tried to regain control. But I remained in place and bent over to place a chaste kiss on her lips. "And I'm going to beat that record tonight."

"Ah fu-" My hand placed over her mouth drowned out the rest of her curse. If I had to be quiet, then so did she. Her muffled groaning only became louder when I settled between her legs with our sexes grinding against each other.

My plan seemed to backfire because the sound of her stifled moans underneath my palm was turning me on much more than regular. Her hands roamed up my hips to keep me steady as I rocked against her. The pressure she was using was definitely harder than normal, and she kept eye contact. Fuck me.

Trying to concentrate, I threw my head back and tried not to look at the body beneath mine. Bella caught on to the fact that I was falling apart fast and gripped my hip bone even tighter. She even bit my hand in an effort to bring my eyes back down to her. Finally giving up, and realizing Bella would get to do the bragging about this night, I let her do the guiding.

Her eyes twinkled mischievously when I gave back into her, and once again she pulled me further down into her hips with her hand. A tickling pain crept up my waist and I gasped at the new sensation.

"Faster." I muttered to her. She complied, this time showing some weakness herself as she started moaning again. I didn't dare move my hand from her mouth as I knew how loud we could get if restrictions weren't set.

Finally after an embarrassingly short amount of time, I couldn't take it anymore and let the orgasm overtake me. Even as I released grateful moans of pleasure, I heard a distinct cheer of triumph from my mate. It was quickly followed by her own delighted cries. She kept us rocking until I couldn't hold myself up any longer.

"Fuck." I gasped, breathing hard against her chest.

"I'm sorry what was that you were saying before about a record?" Bella retorted once regaining her awareness.

"Shut up." Our legs were still tangled together but she didn't seem to care. "I blame the fact that it's been so long."

"Yeah. I can't wait till we have our own place again."

"I second that." I chuckled at her post sex face staring back at me. It was so pleased it looked almost drugged. She beamed back, her eyes wandering down to her hand still resting on my hip.

"Oh shit." Her smile faded and I looked down to see what she was staring at. Apparently in the heat of the moment she had squeezed too tight, causing cracks to form where her hand was. Well that explains that weird painful feeling. "I'm so sorry." I knew her guilt was about to ruin a perfectly good night so I had to act fast.

"Stop. Obviously I didn't feel a thing. Honestly I still can't. And considering the amount of bones I've broken of yours I would say we're still not even close to being even. So, please don't go all Bella and get angry or depressed."

"Alright." Surprisingly she agreed, only lightening my mood further. Bella broke our position and scooted down to kiss the area. Gently, she rolled me back over and trailed her kisses down my inner thigh.

"Oh it's that kind of night." I exclaimed at the foreseeable future in front of me.

"Mmmhhmm."

"O-ok!" I gasped midsentence as she shocked me with the entrance of her tongue. I grabbed a nearby pillow this time to muffle my moans. After all, we had no idea how long it would be until the next time this many vampires were out of the house at once.

The next morning the house was full again much to our dismay. Bella complained about having to get out of bed and put clothes back on. I completely agreed.

"You do need to hunt yourself though." Bella tugged my shirt up slightly to check on the injury from the evening before.

"I can go tonight?"

"No you should go this morning." I raised a skeptical eyebrow, I hated leaving her in the day. "With all the vampires in this house Alice? I think I'll be safe and well entertained."

"Alriiiight." I groaned and walked out of the bedroom to the family chaos below us.

"Oh Bella, Bella!" Emmett called the second my mate was in view. I gave her an apologetic glance before gliding down the staircase banister. "Practice fighting today with Jasper and Kate. You in?"

"Sure." She followed me down the steps slowly. "I could let off some steam."

"Oh man it's a full moon tomorrow huh?" Emmett didn't seem to understand the physical toll it took on her to not phase for this long. But then again, I don't think most knew. "What do you say Alice, you in as well?"

"Um no. I'm going to take a quick hunting trip."

"You just went a week ago." Edward questioned my sudden need for a hunt so soon again. However I glared at him and gave him a slight peek on the why and he turned his head down in discomfiture, immediately dropping the subject.

"Lame." Emmett jeered at me before turning his attention to Rosalie. "Rose baby, you in?"

"I'm always up for kicking your ass bear man." She smiled and flipped her hair. The group then left one by one out the patio door. Bella turned back briefly to me and I gave her a wave.

"Good luck." I called to her. She put a strained smile on her face and followed the rest of the group. I really hated seeing her like this. How much longer could she go denying her instincts? I'm sure the blood diet helped to be quite honest, but she was a hybrid at heart.

I did keep my hunt rather short. The woods in Washington were much more fruitful than some of the places Bella and I had been hunting during our nomad phase. So it was easy to bag a deer and a few smaller creatures to heal my wound right up. Upon my return, I took a quick shower to get the wildlife and gamey smell off me before meeting up with the fight club.

"How's it going?" I approached Bella who was sitting next to Emmett on a nearby log. Jasper and Rosalie were locked in a heated battle, and Kate stood secluded leaning on a tree.

"Good. Rosalie is keeping Jasper on his toes." I nodded and then rested my head on Bella's shoulder.

"For now." Jasper called cockily. Rosalie growled in response.

"How are you?" She turned into me and once again lifted my shirt discreetly to check if the hunt had done the trick.

"In perfect health. See?" She smiled, this time genuinely, and turned back to the fight.

"Huh. I would have thought Alice would be the one with the tougher hand in bed." Kate sneered to us. She must have been spying on us during the interaction. "But then again, Bella is the actual animal." Emmett collapsed into a fit of giggles and Bella's heartrate went skyrocketing.

"Well shit Bella Bear! I always tell Alice to not break you. What on earth did you do to my little sis?"

"Emmett!" I yelled at him. Bella just stood up and walked away. I wasn't sure if she couldn't take the humiliation anymore, or she was getting too worked up. I was too mad at my moron brother to tell her mood before she left. "Nice going idiot!" In his defense, Emmett did seem to show remorse on his face, and he kept his mouth shut as I jogged after Bella's scent around the yard.

I found her on the porch, sitting a top the railing. She looked downright miserable.

"So what's up?" I hopped up onto the railing with her. Bella merely shrugged and kept her eyes down. "He was just teasing Bella. That's Emmett's nature."

"No it's not that. It's – " She looked up to the sky, trying to find the right words. "I love your family. Our family. I love them all so much and would do anything for any one of them."

"But they're driving you insane." I finished for her. These last several weeks had been hard on us.

"I mean, we were on our own. Like, completely free. And it's just kind of hard to go from that freedom to total confinement under everyone's noses all the damn time."

"I know." I agreed wholeheartedly. But at least I still had some freedoms. She was surrounded at all times. We had been spoiled for months. "I miss our old place." Bella sighed and wrapped her arm around me.

"Sorry for running off. I'm just tired." I squeezed her side. There was really no need for an apology.

A pleasant breeze flew in and I felt Bella bristle naturally to the feeling. I missed running with her. I missed the way her chest would rumble when I scratched her wolf ears. I missed how overjoyed she used to be after phasing.

"Ah fuck it." I declared suddenly, causing Bella to jump. "Fuck it!"

"Fuck what?" Bella grew concerned when I jumped down from the railing without notice.

"We're going for a run Bella. You need this. I need this. Let's go."

"They'd kill us."

"I don't care! I'm so tired of all these damn rules. Look at how miserable you are! We need this Bella. If the Volturi came right now, you would be nowhere near your full health. I want you happy and healthy."

"You're serious about this?" A light grew in her eyes at the prospective of what I was saying.

"Hell yes! Let's do this Bells. Let's go." I took her hand, ready to start running. Already I could feel it begin to vibrate.

"Ok." She let me tug her, smiling ear to ear.

"Come on love. There's no time to waste."