Bella slept peacefully in my iron embrace and as much as I yearned to remain there, on that soft bed with an angel slumbering in my arms, I knew I could not. The first rays of the sun had begun to creep over the horizon, dawn only minutes away, and the Chief had returned from his patrol. I could hear him downstairs, talking in low voices with the rest of my family. Carlisle was filling Charlie in on what he had missed in his absence, including my argument with Bella and our eventual compromise. I grimaced at that, while I knew that the entire household would be privy to our conversation I didn't like them discussing it so plainly.

I moved slowly, each move gentle and deliberate as to not wake Bella from her much needed rest. Eventually I managed to disentangle myself from Bella's hold, her grip surprisingly strong, even in sleep. The moment my weight left the bed Bella murmured sleepily, moved over into the space I had just vacated and curled into herself, nestling into a tight fetal position with a grumpy mumble. I halted for a moment until she settled, not moving until I was sure she had returned back into a deep sleep. A second later Bella's body relaxed, and I took that as my cue to leave.

"I can't stay for long, I need to go home and get ready for work." Charlie announced the moment I entered the parlour. The man's usually well kept hair was a wild mane around his head, curls sticking in every which way, his beard was in a similar state of disarray and the clothes he had borrowed from Carlisle were wrinkled and torn in places. Specks of blood were smeared over the fabric of the tattered shirt and ragged pants, the scent of which was distinctly Charlie's, it was as if the werewolf had not managed to fully free himself of the garments before he had began his transformation. "I didn't catch any new scent trails, but I think we should still keep up a regular patrol anyway." The Chief scrubbed a hand over his beard in an attempt to hide a yawn.

"Maybe you should go upstairs and get some rest," Esme suggested gently. "Nothing good will come from you collapsing from exhaustion."

Charlie smiled ruefully, "I'm alright Esme," he assured her, "It's nothing I'm not used to." he continued with a roguish smirk.

Esme pursed her lips, her brow furrowed in doubt. "Okay, then." she relented uneasily.

Charlie turned to face me, "Edward, could I speak with you outside for a moment?" he asked casually.

I nodded in agreement and dutifully followed him out the front door, down the porch steps and around the front of the house. We came to a stop at Charlie's police cruiser still were he parked it in front of the closed garage doors, I scuffed my shoes against the gravel awkwardly as I wondered what Charlie could want to speak with me about. The only thing I could think of was that he wanted me to go on a patrol while he was otherwise occupied at his job – I could only hope that he would understand my reluctance to obey such an order. I did not want to stray far from Bella's side anytime soon, even if it were to hunt down threats to her safety.

I turned my back to the house to face the Chief with a strained smile, "So, what did you wa-" my sentence was violently interrupted by the Chief's curled fist slamming into the centre of my chest. The rest of my words left my mouth in a pained gasp of air as the Chief's knuckles solidly struck my sternum, the unmistakable sound of bones breaking filled the quiet morning air – a sickeningly wet snap that caused fiery pain to explode throughout my chest – as did the sound of my iron skin fracturing as easily as glass. The strength of the blow forced me off my feet, and I flew backwards through the air, my back smashed against the closed roller-door of the garage, and I just kept flying as my body left behind a person sized hole in the steel. I crashed against Rosalie's steel work-bench, which caused a bunch of her tools to rain down around me and clatter against the concrete floor of the garage.

I blinked up in confusion to see the Chief ducking through the punched out hole in the middle of the steel roller-door. "Wha-?" I tried to say but my voice came out in a pained gasp as I tried to pull enough air into my lungs to speak and the movement caused my broken but healing ribs to scream in agony.

"Good. I've got your attention." the Chief growled lowly.

"What in heaven's name is going on in here!?" I heard Esme shriek as footsteps came rushing into the garage.

"Everything is alright, Esme." Charlie replied nonchalantly, his fiery brown eyes never leaving my prone form. "Just having a little chat with your boy here." the Chief stalked across the garage, moving like a predator hunting it's prey, all tightly coiled muscles and soundless grace as each foot-fall didn't so much as echo in the concrete garage.

"Charlie, is this necessary?" Carlisle intervened, coming to stand by my side, using his body to partially shield me from the angry werewolf. "In this family, we talk out our differences. We don't resort to violence." Carlisle continued in his patented tone of scolding disappointment. Carlisle was a master at the 'I'm not angry, just disappointed' speech, and I had seen him use it on each of my siblings, and even other vampires with such effectiveness I had to wonder if it was a Gift.

"Violence?" Charlie asked innocently, holding out his hands to his sides in a gesture of peace and openness. A gesture that was not very convincing considering the man currently looked like a wild maniac, with his unruly hair and tattered clothes, standing in front of a ruined roller-door. "I'm not planning on being violent with the boy."

Carlisle's eyes flickered doubtfully to hole in the garage door, with its curled ragged edges where the steel had bowed inwards before it gave way to the force of my body hitting it, and raised a dubious eyebrow.

Charlie huffed out a breath and waved a hand in the air dismissively. "That was just to get his attention. Make sure that this conversation… sinks in."

"I'll be alright, Carlisle." I murmured as I finally pulled myself up off the ground.

Are you sure, son? Carlisle thought in my direction as he kept his eyes on Charlie.

"Go." I urged. I didn't think that Charlie would hurt me, not seriously anyway. I knew he cared about Bella too much to cause me any serious harm, and I figured that the Chief's love for his daughter would be enough to keep me safe. My family left the garage but I could still hear them hovering around the ground floor anxiously. I eyed Charlie warily, "You have my attention."

"Good." Charlie scowled. "If you ever, and I mean ever, make my daughter cry again, I will tear the limbs from your body and bury each in a different state. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." I responded evenly. I wanted to say more, ask for some additional clarification about the situation, but I didn't want to enrage the already angry werewolf any more than I already had.

At my quiet acceptance, the Chief's shoulders loosened slightly, the boiling anger melted from his eyes as he looked me over. "You gotta understand son, Bella was just trying to protect you. She was following her instincts."

"I understand that, but she got hurt and-" I tried to reason but Charlie was quick to cut me off.

"No. No you clearly don't understand." Charlie bit out sharply, his jaw tensing as he clenched his teeth. "Bella has finally embraced both sides of herself, she is coming into her own as a werewolf, for her, everything is turned up to eleven." Charlie lectured, he paused for a moment as if to gather his thoughts and I figured it was a good idea not to interrupt. "Packs, they work a hell of a lot differently than covens." Charlie continued in a gruff voice, he stared at me intently and I felt as if he were looking deep into my very being. "Whatever feelings you have that urge you to protect Bella, that tell you to keep her safe, I can guarantee you that Bella feels that tenfold. And not just for you, but for your family." I opened my mouth to disagree. I wanted to argue with him that I cared deeply for Bella, that I would do anything I could for her, to keep her safe, but I couldn't get a word out as Charlie just kept talking. "Now, I'll admit, you and your coven have kept much more of your… humanity… than other vampires I've met, you…" Charlie wrinkled his nose slightly and his lips pressed into a thin line as he planned his next words carefully, the expression an exact mirror of his daughters when she attempted to gather her thoughts. "You feel more than other vampires, but even so, you can not even begin to fathom how a werewolf feels when their Pack is threatened." Charlie huffed out an exhausted sigh. "You've… you've been good for Bella." Charlie admitted somewhat reluctantly. "But you can't go getting angry at her for following her instincts. This will be your only warning." Charlie grunted, and not waiting for a response, he turned on the spot and stalked away from me, he ducked back through the hole in the roller door, got into his cruiser and swiftly drove away.

We took it in turns to hunt, and although I loathed the thought of leaving Bella I knew I could not put it off if I wished to be effective in my duty to protect her. I chose to stay close to the house, the scents of so many predators warned away any larger game, so I made do with smaller prey – raccoon's and a few hares mostly, however I was lucky enough to catch a particularly wily fox that helped to satiate my thirst. I returned home around midday and after a quick wash I looked in on Bella. She was still sleeping soundly, and as much as I wanted to hold her in my arms again I did not want to wake her from her slumber. Still, I couldn't help but loiter in the open doorway for just a moment, only long enough to appreciate the way Bella's brown hair fanned out over the crisp white pillow, and the way her soft pink lips parted softly as she breathed in each calm breath. Leaving Bella to her rest, I closed the door and returned to the company of my family.

I tried to stay busy, to occupy my mind so I could delay the endless cycle of fear and blame that endangered my sanity as it whirled inside my mind like a wild bird trapped inside a wire cage. The frenzied beat of its wings thrashed inside my head and fluttered inside my chest – the only thing keeping me grounded was the book I held in my hands and pretended to read while I focused on the sound of Bella's steady heartbeat that echoed from the otherwise empty room upstairs.

I could hear the minds of Carlisle and Jasper as they returned from their hunt, they had gone out with Esme and Rosalie also, however I could not detect their minds along with those of my father and brother, instead I could sense a third mind, a foreign mind travelling alongside them.

"We have company." I murmured quietly to Emmett and Alice who were lingering around the ground floor like idle ghosts. We moved in silent synchronisation until we had congregated on the back porch. As we waited for their arrival I looked to Alice and raised an eyebrow in question.

As soon as Alice had returned from her hunt she had been obsessively searching the future – however this came with some drawbacks. When a vision of the future forced itself into Alice's mind, it was almost always fated to come to pass, it was usually about something important, or about someone important to Alice and was so certain that it would take direct intervention to prevent the events from occurring, or in some cases to ensure they did occur. However, when Alice put her mind to it, she could compel her Gift to scan the near and distant future for any and all possibilities, some much more likely than others. What resulted was dozens if not hundreds of different futures all floating in a murky puddle in Alice's mind. It took Alice a moment to pull a few different snapshots out of the darkness, each of them held an image of Laurent's red-eyed visage.

I do not believe he is a threat. It is highly unlikely he will attack us. Alice thought pointedly. From what I could gather from the fuzzy filled visions, Alice was right; there were a multitude of possible futures were Laurent came to our home, some where he found it on his own and others – like the one playing out at that very moment – where he approached our family during a hunt to request a meeting with our Coven.

Once the trio came into the range of my sibling's lesser senses, I noticed the way Emmett set his shoulders and clenched his fists at his side as he stood up straight in order to make his already imposing frame just that much bigger – he was squaring up for a fight, a fight that I wanted to avoid. I shifted closer to my brother's side, and whispered under my breath, "Easy, Emmett. It's Laurent, he's just here to talk. Don't do anything unless Carlisle tells us to."

Emmett nodded stiffly and loosed his fists just as our father as brother appeared in the back yard, closely followed by the dark skinned rogue.

Carlisle quickly met my gaze, Where is Bella? Carlisle thought pointedly.

"Resting." I answered cryptically.

Carlisle nodded and turned to our guest, "It would be best for us to speak inside." he said genially.

"Of course." Laurent nodded agreeably.

The three of us waiting on the back porch for Carlisle and Jasper to lead Laurent into the house, and once they had we followed close behind, caging Laurent in between our ranks to ensure he would not cause us any harm. Of course, Laurent didn't miss our not so subtle display, but he also didn't say anything about it. We came to a halt in the living room, no one offered Laurent a seat and I was glad that Esme was still out hunting so she couldn't chastise us for our poor manners.

"You said you wanted to talk. So talk." Jasper drawled dangerously.

A brief flicker of amusement crossed Laurent's face before he covered it with careful indifference. "I regret how our first meeting played out," Laurent began in a measured tone, he spoke mainly to Carlisle, but his eyes flashed to Jasper periodically. I could see in his mind that he knew Carlisle was our leader, both this interaction and our one in the field told him that, but he had sensed that Jasper was the biggest threat, and therefore was the one most in need of placating. "I've returned only out of a sense of… responsibility." he continued.

"Responsibility for whom?" Carlisle asked.

Laurent sighed, "In a way, responsibility for Victoria."

"Victoria?" I spoke up, narrowing my eyes in distrust.

"Yes." Laurent nodded softly. "I've travelled with both her and James for near a century, and out of the two of them, James was always the more… stable one." Laurent smirked, "Which if you knew him, you would know that that's not saying much."

"You've come to… warn us?" I speculated.

"Precisely, Victoria is viciously deranged, and will not stop until she gets what she wants. Also, I am curious about you. Your eyes are… unique, and the creature you keep in your company, even more so."

Growls broke out and echoed around the room at Laurent's words. "Bella is family." Carlisle said tersely, struggling to keep his own growls at bay.

"Alright, I did not mean any offence." Laurent raised his hands in surrender.

"And, as for our eyes it is because of our diet. My family and I consist entirely on a diet of animal blood." Carlisle continued.

"Fascinating. And you find no… drawbacks to this lifestyle?" Laurent queried.

"None so far. If you are interested in learning how, I would be happy to direct you to some relatives of ours in the north. They would be happy to help introduce you to the lifestyle." Carlisle offered with ease.

"I must admit, I do find the concept intriguing. I may take you up on the offer, if only to satisfy my curiosity."

We were all so engrossed in our conversation, that none of us had noticed that Bella was no longer asleep in her room, and unfortunately, Laurent was the first to realise that fact. I was still entirely focused on Laurent, scrutinising every micro-expression the second it happened. So, I was acutely aware of the moment that Laurent's expression morphed from stoic vigilance – all thin lips and pinched eyes – to one of mocking amusement, Laurent's lips twitched upwards slightly into a taunting smirk and his crimson eyes glimmered with unbridled curiosity. I followed his gaze to find Bella standing in the arch of the entry way, and while part of me was relieved to see her up and walking about, the other part of me was horrified by the entire situation. Bella stood there, all but naked with only her cotton underwear and the plethora of bandaged over her chest and torso to protect her modesty.

There was a moment of perfect stillness. It seemed to last an eternity, the event surpassed time and space to exist within it's own tiny pocket dimension, only to be shattered into a million pieces like a crystal wineglass falling in slow motion until it finally collided with the harsh, unforgiving ground.

"YOU!" Bella roared spectacularly, and then she was moving. Bella lowered herself down into a crouch and in the next second she launched herself into the air, flying clear across the room and heading straight for Laurent.

"Bella! No!" I thundered as I raced across the room. I caught Bella midair and wrapped my arms securely around her body and arms, tucking them tightly against her torso as she did her damnedest to throw me off.

"Edward! Let me GO!" Bella howled as she writhed in my arms, she kicked her legs out and arched her back dramatically as she tried everything she could to get me to loosen my grip. With my arms wrapped so firmly around her chest I could feel the vibrations of her terrifying growl. "I'm gonna kill him!" Bella bellowed as she continued her attempts to free herself – I could feel my hold loosen by the smallest of margins and I grunted as I readjusted my grip so that I each of my hands were solidly grasping the opposite wrist.

Laurent's amusement poisoned the air, I could see it in his mind. The image of me grappling with Bella – and, my form seemed so much larger than hers in Laurent's mind's eyes, and while I knew I had quite a few inches on her I knew that I did not dwarf Bella the way I seemed to do so in Laurent's mind – it was like looking into a fun-house mirror, our bodies distorted by Laurent's perceptions of us. I especially despised the way Laurent's mind zeroed in on Bella's long, toned legs as they kicked out as she tried to free herself.

"What the fuck are you smirking at!?" Bella roared as she continued to buck wildly against my hold, "I'll rip you to pieces, you un-dead bastard!"

With a barely stifled grunt of exertion I managed to maintain my grip. "Bella. Bella you need to calm down, love." I whispered hastily in Bella's ear, at my words I could feel Bella's struggle start to slow. "Laurent isn't here to fight, he came to help us. To warn us about Victoria." I continued in what I hoped was a reassuring voice. Bella continued to calm, her thrashing about stilled even if I could still feel how each of her muscles were tensed and primed for a fight – at least she had stopped actively fighting me.

And then Laurent had to go and open his damn mouth. "Perhaps I should leave until you gain better control over your dog." he drawled sarcastically.

Bella growled dangerously. "I'll show you control you backwoods leech!" she spat. "I'll feed you your own entrails! I'll make you wish that you had never been born!"

"Maybe it would be best for you to leave now, Laurent." Carlisle quickly interrupted as he began to herd Laurent out the door. "Thank you for coming and warning us, it is appreciated." Carlisle made sure to keep Laurent from Bella's sight by blocking Laurent's body with his own.

I waited until Laurent was out of earshot before saying, "If I let you go are you going to run after him?" I asked warily.

"I am not some rabid dog, you insufferable jackass." Bella sneered bitterly.

Emmett cackled loudly, but eventually managed to cut himself off with a snorting chuckle as I put Bella back on the ground. "Man, things haven't been this interesting around here in decades!" Emmett grinned like a toddler at the state fair.

Bella cut her eyes in Emmett's direction and if I knew anything, it was that the expression on Bella's face meant she was seconds away from delivering a scathing insult. Bella's mouth opened, but no words came out as she abruptly glanced down at herself and a ruby red blush flushed across her face and down her neck. I could see the muscles in Bella's jaw and throat tighten as she clenched her jaw as she attempted to reign in her embarrassment. Where she was so confident and sure-footed only moments ago, Bella now shifted anxiously in place, "Okay then." she mumbled quietly before turning and rushing from the room, not quite running but moving quickly all the same.

Without wasting time with words to my siblings, I hurried after Bella, following her upstairs and into the guest room she had been resting in. When I arrived in the doorway I saw Bella sitting on the edge of the bed, her elbows planted on her knees as she cradled her head in her hands. "If you're here to give me another lecture about my impulsive need to attack strange vampires, do us both a favour and don't." she muttered morosely, "I already feel bad enough about it as it is."

I chuckled ruefully and Bella peeked up at me shyly, "No, no lecture from me." I promised with a sheepish chuckle. I slowly stepped into the room and sat down next to Bella, the mattress dipped under my weight and made Bella tilt slightly in my direction, with our shoulders pressed together I silently delighted in the warmth from her body. I reached down and took Bella's hand in my own, craving another point of contact like a starving man craved food. "I'm sorry about that, by the way." I murmured as I ran my fingers over the back of her hand, I relished the way my fingertips seemed to spark into delicious flames as they danced over Bella's skin, and when Bella raised her other hand and placed it over-top of mine and began to trace nonsense patterns on my icy skin I felt like I had passed through the pearly gates, my wicked fiendish soul elevated by her very touch.

"Hmm?" Bella hummed dreamily, equally enthralled by my touch as I was by hers.

"I spoke with your father, while you were sleeping." I paused a moment, wanting to choose my words carefully. Bella blinked up at me, cocked her head slightly to the side and remained silent as I gathered my thoughts. "He… explained a few things to me." I continued, purposefully leaving out the methods Charlie employed to make sure his lesson sunk in. "All this time I have been encouraging you to embrace your instincts, to not shield parts of yourself from me…. And then when you act on those instincts to-… to protect me I get angry at you. That wasn't fair of me."

"You were frightened." Bella mumbled, so quick to jump to my defence. "When you get scared you get angry." Bella shrugged slightly, her movements hindered by her wounds and the bandages that still covered them. Bella smiled beautifully at me and I couldn't help but return the expression. Bella drifted closer to me, her hand left mine but I didn't have enough time to mourn it's loss before it curled around the back of my neck, setting my skin ablaze. I was helpless against her, the unmovable object met the unstoppable force, and the unstoppable force won as I yielded easily to her touch. I was mere inches away from deliverance, salvation in the form of her honeyed lips, when we were interrupted by someone clearing their throat from the doorway.

Bella groaned pitifully and dropped her head dramatically against my chest as Carlisle spoke from the entryway. "Sorry to interrupt." he said, amusement clear in his voice even if I couldn't feel it in his mind. "But I think it's time your stitches were removed."

Bella heaved out a sigh, "Yeah, alright." she grumbled against my shoulder.

I chuckled and pressed a loving kiss to the top of her head. "I'll be outside." I vowed.

XxXx

While Carlisle treated Bella, helped Esme prepare food for both werewolves – Charlie would be returning to the house after his shift and I knew Bella needed more than just soup to sate her appetite. Esme directed me around the kitchen as we made large burgers for both wolves, loaded with meat and a variety of greens. I could hear Bella upstairs in the shower, and just as she turned the water off I heard the telltale sound of the Chief's cruiser turning down our gravel drive. I yearned to return to Bella's side, but I did not want to intrude upon Bella's reunion with her dad. I offered Esme a quick smile before retreating from the kitchen, I stepped outside to the back porch and jumped up and through the open window of my bedroom. I didn't want to risk meeting Bella on the stairs, I knew if I did I wouldn't be able to leave her side.

From my room I could hear Bella's thundering footsteps as they raced down the stairs, coming to an abrupt halt at the bottom as I heard the front door open and shut with an audible click.

"Don't you knock?" Bella teased.

"Didn't see the point, kiddo. Considering everyone in the house could hear me coming from a long ways off." I heard Charlie reply gruffly.

A pause, and then Bella spoke, worry clear in her tone. "Are you alright, Dad?"

"I should be the one asking you that." the Chief grumbled in reply.

"I'm not the one who looks like they haven't slept in the past 24 hours." Bella muttered petulantly.

"I've been trying to track down the red head that got away." the Chief replied, sounding strangely abashed.

"You wont be doing any one any favours if you collapse from exhaustion." Bella admonished and I smiled at her never ending concern.

Soft footfalls told me that Esme entered the foyer. "That's what I tried to tell him, Bella." Esme spoke kindly.

There was a deep chuckle in response to Esme's words and then, "You weren't kidding, Bells. Vampire in an apron." the Chief snorted.

"I've made you both some dinner, it's in the kitchen." I could hear the lovingly amused smile in Esme's voice as she spoke, and it made me smile even as I sat alone in my room, trying to give Bella and her dad some space, even if I was listening intently to everything they said.

I listened as both Bella and Charlie followed Esme down the hall to the kitchen, their footsteps clear and pronounced and completely at odds with how quiet I knew they were capable of being.

A low but unmistakably aggressive growl rumbled out from Charlie's chest causing me to sit up ramrod straight as I scanned the area for threats, "God, get a whiff of that." he muttered.

"Laurent was here," Bella replied in way of explanation, her voice moved through the house as they continued into the kitchen. "He was apparently here to help, warn us about Victoria." There was a scrape of the plates being placed on the marble counter before Bella murmured a soft, "Thanks, this looks great."

I heard the sounds of Esme moving about the kitchen as she cleaned at a human pace, everything sounded completely ordinary but I couldn't help but quirk my head to the side as Charlie scoffed in contempt. "I'm sure. Probably just wanted a closer look at our numbers. I'm telling you Bella, vampires never do anything without an ulterior motive."

Every muscle in my body locked in place as I fought back a violent flinch at the Chief's words. I could hear that I wasn't the only one affected by the Chief's caustic words – there was a soft clatter as whatever dish Esme was cleaning dropped into the kitchen sink, and a muffled whine as if Esme was biting her lip to stop the sound escaping. Jasper, who was reading in the parlour, braced himself for an attack that would never come as he tried in vain to not let the words bother him. Jasper understood a vampire's nature better than anyone – even me with my ability to read minds could not compete against Jasper's decades of exposure to the violence of the Southern Vampire Wars. Jasper carried the weight of that with him, the guilt bogged him down and coloured everything he did – some days were better than others, but he was like Sisyphus with the boulder, constantly struggling against the burdens of his past.

"Dad!" I heard Bella snap in disgust. "Apologise. Now." she growled angrily and a part of me I didn't know existed preened at the fact Bella was defending me – defending us – from her father.

To Charlie's credit, I don't think he truly meant to say what he did as he groaned tiredly, "God damn it. Esme, I am so sorry." he paused for a moment and I looked through Esme's mind to see what she was seeing, and the Chief looked absolutely wrecked, his face crumpled in exhaustion and marred with guilt and sadness. "I didn't...- I mean." the man stumbled and ran a harried hand through his hair, "I didn't think. I didn't mean you." the Chief pleaded. "You and your family are nothing like any vampire I have ever met. You are so much more. So much more… human… that sometimes its easy to forget that you're not."

Esme immediately softened, always so kind, she crossed the kitchen and placed a gentle hand on Charlie's arm. "It's alright, Charlie. You're tired and stressed, think nothing of it."

Charlie smiled sadly and placed a large, calloused hand over Esme's dainty one that still rested on the mans arm, and through the echoing remnants of Esme's thoughts I felt the heartbreaking sorrow like an icy fist had punched into my chest to grasp my still beating – beating – heart, the soul crushing fear, the undying respect, andthe burgeoning love that Charlie held for not just Esme, but for all of us. The message was clear, if not a little bit overwhelming, I'm so sorry, and thank you for looking after my daughter when I could not.

"Oh!" Esme squeaked and stepped away from the island bench, removing herself from Charlie's grasp.

"You gotta warn them before you do that, Dad. It spooks them." Bella mumbled around what sounded like a mouthful of food.

I smiled at the sound of her voice and stood up, not able to be apart from her any longer. As I rounded the bottom of the stairs I heard Charlie mumble a soft, "Sorry,"

I entered the kitchen and smiled lovingly at Bella who was happily munching on her burger. Before I could make my presence known Bella looked up at me and smiled a closed lip smile around a large mouthful of food, her cheeks bulging slightly and the sight caused me to smile at her adoringly. "Hello, love. It's good to see you up." I greeted as I glided over to her, I snaked an arm around her in a half-hug and pressed a chaste kiss to the side of her head.

Bella pulled away from me and stared up at me with narrowed eyes, "You need to hunt." she accused.

I wanted to argue that I had hunted, but I knew that no one, not even Bella, would consider a few squirrels, raccoon's and one fox an adequate hunt. "I didn't want to leave the house until you were better." I replied.

I heard Jasper shuffled awkwardly before he walked out of the parlour and through the dining room before coming to a halt in the archway between the kitchen and the dining room, he frowned as he leaned against the archway, one ankle crossed over the other as he studied Bella. Curious, I dipped into Jasper's mind, only to find that he was picking up on Bella's unnecessary feelings of remorse and self-loathing. I was about to say something when Jasper beat me to the punch.

"You stop that, now. This isn't your fault." Jasper drawled kindly.

Bella scoffed, "Thanks for saying that, but I think we all know it is. If I hadn't-" thankfully, Jasper cut Bella off before she could continue.

"If you hadn't done what? What is it you think you've done? Because I am tellin' ya darlin', I've seen vampires like James before and you were right on the money when you said he wouldn't have stopped until he got the fight he was lookin' for." Jasper ranted, his southern drawl deepening as he spoke. "None of this is your fault. And if you hadn't relieved that bastard of his head, I would have done it m'self."

Silence. Bella's head cocked to the side as she studied Jasper with a measured look. Then, she stood up and confidently strode over to him and my breath became stuck in my throat as Bella pulled Jasper into a bone crushing hug. Jasper froze, his vampiric body unyielding as he did his best impersonation of a marble statue. Bella was stubborn, however, and was not going to let that stop her as she nestled in closer. Jasper finally seemed to break out of his shock and cautiously raised his arms to return the embrace. Then, for the second time that day I caught the reflected aftershocks of a werewolf's empathetic abilities. Devotion and gratitude fell over Jasper's body and mind like frothing ocean waves, followed by a deep seated sense of admiration – Jasper could feel these things has Bella pulsed the emotions she was experiencing into his being, but he could also feel them through his Gift and as Bella sent him a surge of familial love the feedback loop created by Bella's abilities and his own Gift caused Jasper's knees to tremble before buckling completely under the powerful weight of everything he was experiencing.

Suddenly, Bella was the only thing stopping Jasper from falling to the ground. "Jasper?" Bella asked worryingly as she pulled back slightly to glance at Jasper's punch-drunk expression. Moving with careful gentleness, as if Jasper were a fragile glass figurine instead of a near indestructible vampire, Bella slowly lowered Jasper to the ground until he was sitting on the floor with his back pressed against the frame of the archway. Bella crouched down in front of Jasper and began to inspect him, checking him for any obvious wounds.

Slowly Jasper blinked up at Bella's worried face and smiled crookedly, "You're very welcome." he slurred.

Bella's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she turned her head to stare at me in bewilderment, "I don't understand?" she puzzled.

I couldn't stop the smirk from blooming over my face as I chuckled lightly, "Jasper's an empath, love. I think you just… overwhelmed him." I explained softly.

"Sorry," Bella whispered as she helped Jasper back to his feet with a guiding hand on his arms, and only once she was satisfied that Jasper wasn't going to fall back to the ground did she let go.

Jasper shook his head slightly in good-natured fondness, "Nothin' to be sorry for, just give me a little warnin' next time. Yeah?" he chuckled as he casually swung an arm around Bella's shoulders and pressed her to his side for a brief embrace. It only lasted a second before Jasper was retreating, but Bella was beaming up at him with a toothy grin, clearly very proud of herself for breaking through Jasper's usually cool exterior. As Bella returned to her dinner Jasper caught my eye, his lips quirked upwards just slightly as the skin around his eyes crinkled.

She sure is something. You hurt her, and I'll kill you.

Jasper's pointed thought was only half-teasing, but he needn't worry, I would rather throw myself into the sun before I caused Bella any harm.