Chapter 16

Several hours later Eliza returned home still smiling, and an extra bounce in her step. It was well past two in the morning when she entered and she heard the sound of television coming from the basement, so she headed down to the Batcave.

She was surprised to find Henry channel surfing through news reports and notifications on the different monitors, and her mother staring at a chess board. She made sure to make some noise as she came down the stairs so as not to frighten Henry. "I'm home!" She announced and frowned at Isabella. "What are you doing Mother?"

Isabella looked up from the chess board at her daughter. "Hey sweetheart, I'm currently getting my ass handed to me in chess for the 3rd game in a row. Henry keeps being tricky and sneaking up on me." Isabella said grumpily.

"I did not sneak up on you!" Henry protested from his seat, glancing back at the pair.

"You just took my queen!" Isabella protested.

"With a pawn," Henry replied dryly.

Eliza tried to contain her grin with a solemn nod. "You have to be careful of those pawns. They're like ninjas." Henry snorted in amusement.

Isabella rolled her eyes and turned back to the board, and after a moment's consideration moved her bishop, and announced "Check!" with enthusiasm.

Henry turned around in his chair and reached across the table and moved his rook, taking Isabella's bishop. "Checkmate." He stated. Isabella sighed with irritation and began to put the pieces back in their starting locations, grumbling the whole while.

Eliza chuckled and gave her Mother a serious look, "How did things go with Aro?" she asked.

Isabella raised her eyes from the board to return her daughter's look.. "It went... surprisingly smoothly." When Eliza raised her eyebrow in disbelief, Isabella continued. "No, I'm serious. I mean he obviously wasn't thrilled. I told him what I found in town, and how we contacted the Quileutes."

Eliza nodded, "How did he react to the alliance?" she asked, nervously.

"He wasn't ecstatic. But I reminded him that he gave us full Volturi authority. He asked if I was willing to bear the responsibility of the alliance. I told him I was. He said he was surprised but said to let him know if there were any issues, and the council would approve it."

Eliza chuckled, "I bet Caius just about shit a brick." she stated. Henry couldn't help it and burst out in laughter at that finally stifling his amusement with a cough.

Isabella shrugged, "Probably, you know how Caius is with anything regarding wolves."

Eliza nodded, "What... did Aro say about the imprint?" she fidgeted as if she were afraid she might not like the answer..

Henry looked back at Eliza curiously, "What's this?" he asked

Eliza quirked her eyebrow at her mother, "You didn't tell him?"

Isabella glanced at him before turning back to Eliza. "I didn't bring it up. It's personal and no one else's business but yours, unless you chose to make it their business."

Eliza frowned and looked at Henry, "While we were at the council one of the members of the pack showed up and imprinted on me."

Henry nodded slowly, "Isabella was explaining to me what an imprint was but she didn't say that it had happened to you."

"How did the pact react to the imprint? And the wolf? How did he react?" Henry asked curiously

"It was a female wolf." Eliza responded her voice holding a note of challenge.

"Oh, my apologies, how did she react to the imprint? And how did the pack react?" He repeated.

Eliza frowned at him, "The fact that it was a female doesn't bother you?"

Henry blinked at Eliza several times before breaking out in a deep full-bellied laugh. "Young lady, I exist in a world with the knowledge that supernatural beings like vampires and werewolves exist. Hell, I live in a house with two vampires. By comparison, a person's sexual orientation, or sexual proclivities in general, seem a rather silly concern."

Eliza grinned at Henry. "Well she and the pack were both surprised as hell, though more by the fact that one of them imprinted on a vampire than on a female. At least with a female there is precedent for same-gender imprinting. After they recovered, things went okay."

"After she called one of the council members a douche." Isabella interjected

"Well he was, not just about Leah, but about the possibility of other wolf packs too, I just called him on it." Eliza huffed defensively. "Anyway, after we talked it out, and Mother offered them an alliance, Leah and I talked for a little after the meeting."

"How did that go?" Isabella asked without trying to make it seem like she was prying too deeply for more information

Eliza grinned at her mother impishly for a few moments. "We talked for a while. I told her a bit more about me, my history and stuff." Eliza looked uncomfortable for a moment before continuing, "She told me about herself She's really cool. We're going to try being friends, hang out a bunch and kind of see what happens from there." She stopped and looked at her mother nervously for a few moments. "Is that okay?"

Isabella stood up and gave her daughter a firm hug. "Sweetheart, I'm going to support you no matter what you decide, if she's your mate then I will fight anyone who tries to separate her from you. If not, I won't let anyone force you together. No matter what."

Eliza grinned and hugging Mother back and said quietly, half to her mother and half to Henry, "She'll probably be here a lot, so if you could make sure we keep stocked in food and stuff so she doesn't have to run off every time she's hungry, I would appreciate it. Apparently wolves tend to have a hearty appetite."

Henry laughed, turning his attention back to the computer screens, "That'll make up for the food the two of you don't eat."

Isabella gave her daughter another firm squeeze before releasing the hug, "Just so you know, you'll be flying solo at school again tomorrow. I'm going to head back down to Seattle with Jacob and a few others to hunt around a little bit."

"Are you sure you're not going to need me?" Eliza asked frowning

"No, I'll have Jacob and Paul with me at least, probably one or two others." Isabella shook her head and then grinned at Eliza, "I'll be sure to tell them that you were concerned about me anyway. That should make for a fun start to the day."

It was about 6:30 in the morning when Isabella came down the stairs, wearing black jeans, boots, a plain dark maroon tee shirt, dark leather jacket, and a book bag slung over her back. Eliza eyed her mother as she came down the stairs and said, "More black?", she asked rhetorically and then she frowned "What's with the bag?"

"We're probably going to be there overnight and into tomorrow. If they're down there we want to blend in a bit more than just showing up in the middle of the day. We'll get a hotel room when we get there today."

"Bow chicka bow wow." Eliza deadpanned.

"No more internet for you either." Isabella said sarcastically.

"Are they going to come pick you up?" she asked more seriously as her mother walked into the kitchen.

"No, I'm going to drive myself out to the highway to meet them." Isabella said, walking through the kitchen and toward the side door into the garage.

"One day and you're already borrowing my present? How am I going to get to school?" Eliza protested as she followed her mother out the door.

Isabella laughed and shook her head, "No, I'm not going to touch your new present. I got that for you. But I had to get myself something too you know."

"Oooh! Let me guess! You got it in black?" Eliza asked and then stopped short when she stepped into the garage. Next to her purple Kawasaki bike sat another motorcycle that absolutely dwarfed hers. Clearly emblazoned with the Harley Davidson logo on the side, the bike was a very dark red. Where Eliza's bike was compact and sleek, and clearly built for speed, the other motorcycle was the opposite. It was big and wide and obviously built for power.

"Holy crap. It's huge." Eliza sputtered, causing Isabella to laugh. Isabella threw her leg over the seat and settled in the seat, taking a moment to get comfortable.

"I'll see you tomorrow probably, have fun at school and I promise I'll get in touch with you if I need help." Isabella said, cutting her daughter's comment off before she could say anything. Isabella took a moment to don her helmet and gloves, before waving then backing the motorcycle slowly out of the garage. She started it up it with a loud rumble, chugging to life. Isabella grinned and waved at her daughter once more before riding away.

Eliza left for school about an hour later, waving goodbye to Henry after reminding him to do some extra shopping. She decided to wear lighter colors, choosing faded blue jeans, a blue button up shirt, with a white blouse beneath. When she pulled into the parking lot she almost groaned. Standing right next to the area she'd parked her bike yesterday stood Edward Cullen, clearly waiting for her. She almost parked somewhere else before gritting her teeth a moment as she pulled into the same spot.

She remained straddling her bike, taking off her helmet first, and then her gloves; she looked directly at him with a raised eyebrow. "What do you want?"

Edward smiled a smile that her clearly thought was dazzling or seductive, but to Eliza it just looked like he was grimacing. "Hi there, we didn't get the chance to be introduced yesterday. I'm Edward Cullen." He held out his hand in offer of a handshake.

Eliza crossed her arms with a bored expression, "I'm well aware of who you are, as you're no doubt aware after my conversation with Jasper yesterday. You didn't answer my question."

Edward's smile flattened slightly before he regained it, dropping his hand. "I was hoping to get to know you, that's all." he replied, sounding vaguely injured.

"You know my name, you know what I am. I'm not sure what else there is you need to know." Eliza replied, raising her eyebrow further.

"Well, I was hoping to find out where you're from, what your family is like, whether we could meet up and talk a little bit as a group. Or you and I could talk meet somewhere and talk privately if you prefer." He made the last suggestion with a gracious smile, as if he were granting some great favor.

Eliza didn't even to try and hide her scornful amusement, as she slid off of the motorcycle. "Translation, you thought that you might be able to charm me enough to tell you more than I told Jasper yesterday. You sir, are a tool. If you don't understand that perhaps you could avail yourself of the Google search engine… my god, you really are as arrogant as I'd heard."

Edward's smile dropped off into a glare. "The humans here all think that we're arrogant. We don't have a choice. You know how hard it is to resist the thirst sometimes, especially being around all these humans. Not to mention we have to make sure no one learns our secret. You should at least not be so stupidly stubborn and let me give you the lay of the land."

Eliza threw back her head and laughed, "I didn't hear that you were arrogant from the humans here. Well, okay that's not true, I did hear it from them, but they were only corroborating. That opinion is pretty much universal. I'm not going to tell you any more than I told Jasper yesterday. Less even, because you're an asshat. At least he was courteous." After saying that she picked up her gloves and helmet and turned to head into the school

"You have no idea what you're stepping into. We're not the only ones you have to be concerned with around here. There are things you need to know!" Edward stepped forward and snatched her arm in his hand, turning her back around to face him.

Just as quickly he found himself flipped in the air and his back slammed into the ground. Leaning down she hissed in right in his face. "Let go of me or I'll shove that hand so far up your rectum it will tickle your stomach. You ever touch me again without permission and I will abso-fucking-lutely make you regret it." Then she was walking away toward the school.

Edward was quickly on his feet and looking around, and then reacted in surprise when no one seemed to have seen what happened.

Eliza stalked into the school, trying her best to calm herself as she marched to her locker to deposit her things and then head off to her first period class The entire time she was still seething with anger.

She slid into the same desk in first period that she'd sat in the day before, continuing to grit her teeth.

"Are you okay?" It took Eliza a second to realize the question was addressed to her. She turned to snap sarcastically, then she recognized the shy girl she'd talked to yesterday for a few moments, staring at her in concern.

Eliza exhaled slowly and then nodded, "Yeah, just irritated for a moment." she managed to smile at the girl, "Hailey right?" She asked, trying to sound tentative. She remembered perfectly, but she was supposed to be slightly overwhelmed with the new school and people and all.

The girl was watching her curiously with a concerned look on her face "That's right, I won't pry but if you need to talk, I'll listen."

Eliza smiled and shook her head, "No, that's okay, thank you for the offer though." True to her word Hailey nodded and settled back in her seat and started reading a book, a different one than she'd had the day before Eliza noted. At that point Jennifer entered and seemed to zero in on Eliza. Eliza privately wondered if Jennifer had to breathe at all for as much as she seemed to talk non-stop.

Eliza's day got easier after that. Her morning classes were a breeze and she managed to be attentive. Even lunch wasn't all that bad. She sat at the same table again. She realized that the table was what one would term popular, filled with the jocks and the cheerleaders. Today the conversation revolved around her, forcing her to talk about herself.

Eliza gave bland details about traveling around a lot because her father moved around for business. She noticed the flirting from the guys had begun in earnest. Kevin was by far the most aggressive, asking her about what she liked to do in her spare time, and what sort of movies she liked to see. Eliza had quickly formed an opinion about him. He was conceited, liked to talk about himself and a bit of a bully. Half of his conversation was him openly putting down others around them, even his 'friends' ended up being mocked from time to time. Jennifer shot her more than one glare from across the table, clearly irritated that Kevin was openly flirting with her.

She kept her ears focused on the Cullen table, but while they all seemed to be looking at her, especially Edward who had the nerve to glare at her, they didn't seem interested in discussing her, at least with her in range.

After lunch things got interesting again. She showed up in chemistry, remembering she was assigned to sit next to a Cullen. She got there just before the bell, after being delayed by Jennifer for what seemed like an eternity, while she talked about nothing. She sat in the chair next to Jasper, and the teacher turned on the projector while his lecture began.

"He really irritated you this morning didn't he?" Jasper asked her out of the blue, his voice a whisper, far too low for the teacher to hear. It was not the question or tone Eliza had been expecting.

She turned her head and nodded. "How did you know?"

Jasper actually chuckled a little bit. "I saw you earlier today, and could... read your emotional aura for a minute before it closed off again. I saw that you were angry, and knew he had planned on talking to you before school. I put two and two together."

Eliza shook her head and muttered, "He's an asshole."

Jasper coughed slightly and murmured in amusement, "You're not the first person to say so."

Eliza shrugged her shoulders, "I'd be stunned if I was."

The rest of the class passed quietly, the professor gave them a few minutes to work on homework at the end of class. Eliza finished hers quickly, though Jasper had his done far before hers. She turned and regarded him with a curious expression. "You're not going to ask me any more questions?" she inquired.

Jasper looked puzzled, "You were rather direct in telling me that you were not going to give me the answers I asked for. I assumed asking a second time would irritate you."

Eliza frowned and then nodded, smiling in a grudging way. "Thank you for respecting my wishes."

He inclined his head and then murmured, "I should tell you though, you also forfeit the right to complain when we find out what's going on through other means. You aren't giving us much alternative. We do have to be aware of who's in the neighborhood. It's generally common courtesy to do so in our particular community."

Eliza frowned , turning it over in her head in consideration. "Normally I would agree with you, but in this case, let's just say there are special circumstances."

He inclined his head slightly in curiosity but didn't more, knowing that she wasn't likely to offer anything further.

Eliza's day finished quickly. Gym, which she decided was the silliest class ever conceived, went quickly as they played kickball. She changed quickly and the teacher split them randomly into teams. She spent her time on defense in one corner away from most of the action. She found herself standing hear Hailey, who also seemed to have the same idea. Eliza spent most of her time chatting her up, mostly exchanging basics.

Eliza's attention was drawn away when it was Kevin's turn to kick and he called out her name, obviously determined to show off. When he was rolled the ball, he kicked it as hard as he could. The ball sailed up into the rafters of the gym… and got stuck; for which he was ruled out by the gym teacher, much to several people's amusement.

While the teacher got a replacement ball, the teams switched sides. Kevin insisted on pitching, eager to avenge his embarrassment, he began rolling the ball as hard as he could to the kickers; forcing a series of off balanced and weak kicks. When Eliza's turn came up she made sure to kick it lightly past the person playing third base, her success at making it to base causing Kevin to scowl.

The person following her to kick was Hailey unfortunately for her, and Kevin took out his frustration. Throwing the ball hard enough that it skidded across the ground rather than rolled, Hailey attempted to kick it but the force of the ball and her momentum from her kick caused the ball to bounce right to Kevin and her to stumble and fall flat on her face. Kevin showed no mercy in tossing the ball and hitting her in the side just as she began to stand up, knocking her down again.

The teacher's whistle stopped play at that point, calling the game to a halt; telling everyone time was up and to go get changed. Eliza went over and gave Hailey a hand up, and got a small "thanks" from her before Hailey turned and headed into the locker room to change.

Eliza made quick work of changing back into her clothes. She caught Jennifer trying to catch her eye, and pretended to miss the non-verbal communication. "Might as well call it recess," She muttered as she left. She didn't bother hanging around to chat with anyone before peeling out of the parking lot on her motorcycle.

This time Eliza knew she was being followed almost as soon as she pulled out of the parking lot. She waited until she was out of sight of the school, and she caught a glance of her pursuer as he ran into the trees, following her. "Of course," she thought to herself, "It had to be Edward." Eliza knew it was probably dramatic, but she was still irritated by his actions earlier. She waited until she was positive he had an unobstructed line of sight of her and cloaked herself, completely obscuring her from sight, sound and smell.

She drove a bit further up the road and then watched in amusement as he emerged from the woods looking around wildly, trying to figure out just where she had gone. That amused Eliza quite a bit, so much so she laughed all the way home.

She hadn't been home 20 minutes when there was a knock on the door. Opening the door she came face to face with Leah who stood there looking very self conscious.

"Hey," Leah said awkwardly.

Eliza frowned at Leah's expression, while she opened the door, "Hey, what's the matter?"

Leah came inside, though she was clearly still uncomfortable. "Oh..I.. ah.. wasn't sure how soon you'd want to see me. I don't want to.. you know... Smother you." Leah said, looking for all the world as if she were giving her own shoes a thorough inspection.

Eliza frowned then gave Leah a quick but firm hug. "You are my first real friend, and I'm not all that experienced at it yet. I'll make you a deal. You visit me and hang out with me as much as you want, and I promise that if you start to smother me, I'll tell you, if you promise to do the same for me."

Leah laughed, relaxing and nodding as she looked around. "I think I can manage that."

"I thought I heard voices out here." Henry said as he came down the stairs, still wearing a robe, pajama bottoms and a tee shirt, obviously he'd just woke up. "Oh, hello there!" He said, seeing Eliza and a girl he didn't recognize.

Leah looked at Eliza in surprise, as she spoke up "Hey Henry, I'm sorry we didn't mean to wake you. This is my friend Leah Clearwater."

He smiled and came forward and offered his hand, "Ah you must be one of the Quileute pack I've been hearing about. It's a pleasure to meet you I'm Henry Jansen!" He said, looking genuinely pleased to meet her.

Leah overcame her initial surprise and took his hand then smiled back "It's nice to meet you. I'm sorry you caught me by surprise."

He shook his head as he made his way into the kitchen to pour himself a glass of orange juice. "It's no problem. Though if you have some time sometime... I'd like to pick your brain about you and your pack. Your history and such... I'm.. kind of a history nut."

"Emphasis on nut," Eliza stage whispered with a grin.

"You're human?" Leah blurted out curiously.

Henry laughed and grinned, "That depends on who's asking. I've met more than one person who believed I was more stubborn ass than human." Both women to laughed.

"So tell me something Leah... this treaty you have with the Cullens..." Eliza expression looked as if sugar would melt in her mouth, "Now that we're allies...would I endanger it if I were to seriously maim Edward Cullen? Even just a little bit?"

Leah's expression was confused for a moment, "I... uh... don't know. How do you seriously maim someone... a little bit?"

Eliza's expression was earnest and sincere. "I'm not sure. But I'm sure I'd have fun figuring it out!"

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Author's notes!

1st) For those of you wondering if the Cullens had dropped off the face of the earth. They're back! ^.^;; Edward might take a teensy bit of abuse.

2nd) Alice is back in the next chapter, and shall start being more and more intertwined in the story. But... Bella will probably not see Alice next chapter. But it's coming. I promise. (I know I'm turning into a broken record)

3rd) Once more DarkBella has done an excellent job editing. Seriously she's edited sooooo much this weekend X_X and We're... only about 45% through the story that's already typed. She's awesome. 3

4th) I have no idea how long this will be in the end. So there will probably be a long haul. I am just as anxious for Bellice as anyone else. But I like detail and story. I won't hurry things.

Lastly. Please read and review! I like detailed reviews telling me what you like and don't like! The more you review the more it encourages me to write.