Twilight and its characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.

When I woke up the next morning, I was cold, despite being cocooned in my comforter. I peeked under the covers at the culprit. There was, in fact, a cold-blooded mermaid sprawled over my body for warmth, like a lizard on a sunny rock. I chuckled under my breath. Even though it was a peculiar sleeping arrangement, I loved it. I wanted a thousand more mornings waking up like this.

In the past, I was unsure if I would get the opportunity to wake up with Bella in my arms. Bella typically slept in the ocean, and I always assumed there was a mermaid-related reason for it. Why else would she choose a rock under the water over a bed? The fact that she could spend the night in her human form opened a multitude of wonderful possibilities. Pleased with this new discovery, I lowered the covers, leaving her as she was. I crossed my arms behind my head and watched the sunbeams stretch across my ceiling.

Eventually, Bella shifted and crawled out. I laughed when her head popped out from the blanket, like she was breaching the surface of the ocean. "Good morning."

She ran her thumb across my lower lip.

"Can I tell you how much I loved waking up with you?"

Her lips curved up into that small, sweet smile that won my heart right from the start.

"Did you enjoy waking up with me?"

Her response was to tug the blanket up and over our heads and press her lips to mine.

I kissed her softly, languidly. It was our first cozy morning in bed, and I didn't want to rush it. My hand slid slowly down her side, fully appreciating each and every curve of her as she cradled the back of my head, keeping my lips locked on hers. As the morning sun rose, our kisses slowed and softened into snuggles. I had every intention to spend the rest of the day snuggled up with my perfect mermaid.

That was, until my stomach growled, reminding me that there was a real life with real responsibilities on the other side of these covers. Bella moved her cheek from where it rested on my shoulder onto my chest, and I decided I would rather go hungry than move from this spot.

Obligations of a loving boyfriend required me to make sure Bella felt the same way. "Are you hungry?" I asked as I gently rubbed her arm, "Would you like me to get you something to eat?"

She snuggled closer for a moment and I thought we were on the same page, but then she nodded her head.

I swallowed my objection. Worse than leaving Bella's embrace was the thought of facing my family. It was a miracle that everyone left me alone yesterday, and I did not expect the same outcome today. Today was Sunday, and everyone typically stayed in. Downstairs, there would be a whole lineup of people expecting me to explain my behavior on Friday night. Carlisle, ready to demand an explanation for my blood-stained, soaking wet appearance. Esme, prepared with another grounding sentence. Jasper, desperate to wring me out for spilling his secret. Despite the minefield awaiting me, I had to brave it. After the week Bella endured, she should want for nothing, including something to eat.

I stole a few more kisses for courage and rolled out of bed.

"You stay out of sight, okay?"

She made a show of burrowing into the blankets. I chuckled.

I crept out my bedroom door, looking up and down the hall for signs of any of the siblings. I couldn't hear any boisterous noise coming from downstairs, but that didn't mean no one was down there. As I started down the hall, someone grabbed me by the forearm and pulled me into Emmett's room across the hall.

After I restarted my heart, I hissed at the culprit, "Alice!"

"Shhhh…" she checked the hall and softly clicked the door behind her. "I need to tell you something."

"And you couldn't walk up to me like a normal person?"

"I didn't want anyone to see us talking."

Always so dramatic. "What's up Alice?"

"I wanted to let you know that I talked to Esme and came up with a story to explain what happened on Friday."

Alice was my literal savior. I could drop down on my knees and kiss her feet this very second. "Alice! That's incredible! I owe you…anything! Whatever you want, it's yours!"

She held up a finger, "One, you already owe me everything for helping Bella. Two, I wouldn't be thanking me just yet."

The look on her face caused every drop of gratitude to evaporate. "What is it?"

"Well… when I was coming up with the excuse, I was still peeved at you. So, it's kind of embarrassing."

"How embarrassing?"

Her response was a small wince; I groaned. Considering everything, I deserved an embarrassing story to be spread about me. I probably had worse rumors spread about me, anyway. "Let's hear it."

"I told her that you like to act out dramatic scenes as foreplay. Last night when we got home, I caught you in the middle of you pretending to find Bella bruised and beaten. Hence the fake blood on your shirt."

"Okay…" As far as embarrassing rumors went, that wasn't too terrible, "Why was I wet?"

"You were in the shower, so you could pretend it was raining."

Now, that was embarrassing; I felt my ears heat up in shame. I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the rest, but I needed to make sure my story matched up with Alice's just in case Esme tried to talk to me about it. "The throwing up?"

"Bella pretended to throw up blood. To make it more…"

"Dramatic," I completed the sentence with her. Then, sighed deeply, "And I talked to you about this?"

"You had to. If you didn't, I would have destroyed you for spilling my secret." She rose a single, expectant eyebrow at me.

"I'm so, so sorry about that!" I was an ass for waiting this long to apologize. "I was freaking out, and I wasn't thinking clearly. It was a stupid thing to do. So stupid."

She held up a hand, "I understand that you were under a lot of pressure at the time. I'm not quite ready to forgive you, but I'll get there."

I could accept that. "What's going to happen with Jasper?"

"We had a long talk with Carlisle and Esme. A long talk," she drew out the word for emphasis. "They're sending us to counseling to ensure everything else at home is alright. But, they're letting us stay together as long as that's what we really want."

Her expression was carefully blank, so I couldn't tell whether she took it as a good or a bad thing. "I think that will be good for you. You say you're together for the right reasons, so I can't imagine anything coming up at counseling that would say otherwise."

"I hope so…"

I cupped her elbow with a comforting hand. "You said that you were willing to fight through anything for your love. This is just going to be one of your battles. An easy one, at that."

"Yeah, yeah," she pushed her bangs out of her face, regaining her usual bravado. "You're right. It's a minor thing that will do nothing but prove we're right."

I smiled encouragingly, "Exactly."

"That being said, I did have to tell Jasper that story, too."

It wasn't the best news in the world. But, it made sense. Jasper would need an excuse as much as Esme and Carlisle would. "Okay."

"Well… just know that the last time we talked, Jasper was fired up to tell your secret since you had no issues with spilling ours. I tried to convince him to allow me to handle you, but I don't know if that stuck."

I dropped my face in my hands in shame. My entire family would know my shameful secret that wasn't even true. I wasn't sure which was worse: the story itself or the fact that I wasn't even having regular sex without reenactments.

Alice patted me lightly on the shoulder. "An easy fight for your love. It's better than explaining you've been dating a mermaid, right?"

"Yeah. It's better," I reluctantly agreed.

I asked her if she was going downstairs to grab breakfast, hoping for an ally when I joined the fray, but Alice had already eaten. I wished her luck on her school assignments, and she wished me luck with the family.

The first thing I saw when I stepped into the kitchen was Emmett's massive grin. That grin was all it took to confirm that Jasper had told everyone my fake secret. I met his gaze, as he was perched on a stool eating his bowl of cereal, smiling serenely at me.

"How's Bella?" he asked, to which Emmett howled with uproarious laughter.

I felt my ears get hot. "She's fine."

Emmett struggled to calm his giggle fit as I reached into the fridge to grab some eggs, discreetly looking for anything I could sneak up to Bella. I spotted some filets of some white fish at the bottom and made a mental note. With as much dignity as I could muster, I grabbed a pan and the other necessary items needed to scramble up some eggs and moved to the stove.

Emmett's arm slid around my shoulder; I cringed internally. "Edward. Bro-to-bro. I gotta know if it improves performance."

I decided to play dumb, "If what improves what performance?"

Emmett was already cackling too hard to give a coherent response.

"Do you write a script to follow?" Jasper asked, his tone mocking, "Or do you just go with the moment?"

I kept my eyes on my eggs. "I'm not sure what you're talking about."

Emmett was able to keep his giggles at bay long enough to ask, "Do you dress in costumes?"

"Boys!" Esme demanded the attention of the room as she walked in. "Leave your brother alone." The laughter ceased immediately at Esme's request. "Do your homework. I know you both have some." Both Emmett and Jasper scurried out of the room.

My gaze was still downcast as I transferred my eggs from the pan to the plate, but I was sure Esme was offering me a sympathetic smile. My guess was confirmed when she placed a small gift bag in my line of sight. "Make sure you stay safe while you, um, express yourself."

I peeked inside the bag to see a box of condoms. I squeezed the eyes shut in shame. "Thanks, mom."

I felt her pat my cheek, which only made the whole encounter feel more awkward. "Don't be ashamed, dear. Try to keep it down for now on."

I cringed.

When Esme left the kitchen, I allowed myself to take a deep breath. That was going to be the worst of it. Bella and her secret were safe. My weird behavior was excused. It was all going to be okay. As I finished up my eggs in solitude, I wondered how much more I was going to have to take for Bella's sake. For far, I had been suspended, attacked, and now openly mocked.

After I ate and cleaned up the dishes I used, I snuck into the fridge and stuck a fillet of fish on a small plate for Bella. The coast was clear, and I made it back into my room without any unfortunate encounters. Bella was still cocooned under my blanket. She didn't move when I entered the room, and I wondered if she had fallen back asleep. Leaving her breakfast on the desk, I walked over to the bed to rouse her. "Bella?" I touched the lump in the bed. It was too soft. I lifted the blanket and confirmed that the lump wasn't Bella, but a stack of pillows.

Suddenly, Bella was on my back, legs wrapped around my waist, arms around my neck, pelting the side of my face with kisses. She must have hidden somewhere else in the room, waiting to pounce. Laughing, I fell backward onto the bed, trapping her under me. She squirmed out and rolled on top of me. Her chocolate eyes were bright with humor and she shook with her own silent laughter. She pressed my shoulder onto the bed to keep me still as she lowered her lips to mine.

Suddenly overwhelmed with love for her, I cupped her cheek with my hand. The worry over her wellbeing was worth it. The embarrassment from lies created to protect her was worth it. The trouble I went through on her behalf was worth it. "You are worth…" I shook my head in awe, "everything."

OoO

"Wow." Alice waltzed right into my room like it was her own, switched the record playing to something she found more appealing, and plopped down on my bed. "I think this is the first time I've seen you without Bella attached to your hip in days."

"She's with her dad right now." I glanced at the time on my phone. "I have to leave to pick her up from the marina in about an hour."

"And then Bella will be returning to the house? To hide in your room?"

"Yupp."

Alice quirked an eyebrow.

"Did you come in here for something specific or simply to cast your judgment on my relationship?"

Alice raised her hands in the air, "Hey, I'm not here to judge."

"Yeah, but you always do, anyway."

She smiled wistfully, proud of her reputation. Seeing where this would be going, I set my book in my lap. "I am fully aware that Bella's been a bit…" I searched for the least insulting word, "clingy lately."

"A bit?"

"Yes, a bit."

Alice tipped her chin down and looked at me through her lashes, preparing to read me like the book in my lap. "Let's see here… She spends every single night here. Mostly watching you sleep because she doesn't need as much as you do."

"She reads!" I argued on Bella's behalf, even though I wasn't actually sure if she read or not.

"Every morning, you sneak her downstairs, give her food you've hidden in the garage fridge, and drive her to school. Then, presumably spend every moment at school together when you're not in class."

"Not every, single moment." She didn't run to meet up with me between every, single class. Only a few of them.

"And then you come here after school, let Esme see you two act like a normal couple for a few hours, then sneak her back upstairs instead of driving her home. Is that everything?"

"You know, this is starting to sound very judgmental," I informed my sister.

"Isn't it kind of weird that she's not going back into the ocean?"

"No."

Alice pursed her lips at my automatic and absolute response. It clearly wasn't the answer she wanted. She tried to steer the conversation where she wanted it to go with a different question. "Is it starting to get annoying?"

"No, of course, not. I love her and I love spending time with her."

Alice leaned a little closer, like she was about to disclose a great secret. "You can love her and be annoyed with her at the same time."

"It's not annoying. For christ's sake. Last week for her started with public harassment and ended with an assault from her own sisters. She's allowed to be clingy and scared and whatever else she wants to be."

"You think she's scared?" Alice picked out that word with interest.

"I know she's scared."

"Has she told you that?"

"Not in so many words..." Not in any words, actually. Bella had yet to mention the reason behind her new schedule.

Alice tapped her fingers on the bedspread in front of her and abruptly switched subjects. "Bella hunts for food, right? Meaning she's a predator?"

I didn't know where this was going, but I did know Alice was wrong. "We talked about this, Alice. Bella isn't like her sisters. She hasn't hunted humans in years. We're not in any danger from her."

"Yeah. I get that. But that doesn't make her any less of a predator."

"So?"

"Well, predators are often… predatory. Like, if a wolf were to become attached to a human, it would become very protective of said human. Sometimes, enough to kill for them."

"What does that have to do with Bella?"

"Think about it. You've gained the affection of a predatory creature high up the food chain." Alice held her hand way over her head, like she was measuring something much taller than her. "I don't think she's scared at all. I think she's staking a claim on what's hers."

"Bella isn't an animal."

"She isn't a human, either."

With no good retort to that, I flexed my jaw.

"Edward, she fought her own sisters seven-on-one for you."

"They upset her. They told her I didn't love her."

"They told her that they could get you to love them." Alice corrected.

"Same difference." I shook my head.

Alice bit her lip for a moment. Then, seemingly switched subjects again. "Have you noticed in all the stories about encounters with mermaids, the men writing about them fall in love with them immediately? Like the mermaid can hold some sort of spell over them?"

I narrowed my eyes. "What are you implying?"

"I'm not implying anything," Alice said in a way that sounded like she was implying a whole lot, "I'm just telling you what I read."

"Spit it out, Alice."

"What if Bella's sisters could do more to you than make you drown? What if they could mess with your head somehow?"

"That would be impossible." If her sisters were to have the capabilities Alice described, it would mean Bella would, as well. And she would never keep something like that from me.

Alice continued despite my absolute opposition, "And Bella knows that, and that's why she attacked her sisters, because they threatened to take what belonged to her. And… and… she's not scared to go back into the water at all! She's guarding her territory!"

"If she's so territorial, why did she leave me unguarded while she went to see her dad?"

"She had you drive her there, didn't she? Keeping tabs on you. And I bet she gave you that book right before you dropped her off and encouraged you to read it before she got back."

That was exactly what happened. "That's not true," I lied.

Alice saw through that right away. Her responding smile was triumphant and smug.

"Alice, I understand your concern. I really do. It's a bizarre situation in general, and you became involved at a very stressful time. But, Bella doesn't have some crazy, instinctual claim over me. She fought her sisters because it was the final straw of a very difficult week for her. She's staying with me now because we make each other happy, and she needs an extra bit of happiness at the moment. She's only as protective of me as I am of her, and it's because we care for one another. That's it. Bella is not a monster."

"Okay…" Alice wasn't convinced.

"I love her," I pressed.

That didn't seem to be enough for Alice. She eyed me up doubtfully. "And you trust her?"

"With my whole heart."

"And she did something to earn that trust?"

"The first time I ever encountered her as a mermaid she saved me from drowning."

Alice searched my face for a long time before she slumped back, sighing to herself. "You trusted me when I said something felt right. I guess I have to do the same for you."

"Thank you, Alice. It's good that we'll call each other out though, right?"

"Yeah," a small smile played at the corner of her lips. She lightly hopped off the bed. After taking a few steps towards the door, she turned back one last time, "Promise you'll be careful?"

"I've been plenty careful so far."

When Alice lightly shut the door behind her, I slid down the headboard of my bed so I was fully laying down. I moved the open book from my lap onto my face, letting it block out the world literally for a moment. The whole conversation left a bad taste in my mouth. When it was finally time to leave to pick up Bella at the marina, I was practically bouncing out of my skin to see her.

It was oddly relieving to see her just as I remembered her. Ponytail swinging behind her head. Sundress swaying around her legs. Flip-flops pattering on the ground. My sweet girl wasn't some oceanic predator like her sisters. She was so much more.

I stepped out of the car and walked towards her—only to get to her sooner. My kiss hello was a bit more intense than I'd intended, but Bell didn't seem to mind. She matched my desperation with her own exuberance.

"What did you do today?" she signed after I broke our kiss.

I took one of her hands in mine and kissed the tip of her middle finger, trailing kisses down her hand all the way to her wrist. "I sat upon my balcony and stared longingly at the ocean, awaiting the return of my sweet love from sea."

She thumped me on the chest with the heel of her hand, asking for a real answer.

"I read the book you suggested. How was your day with Charlie?"

Bella and I continued our walk down the sidewalk as she launched into a story about her day. As I watched her hands, adoringly enraptured by her, I thought about how ridiculous it was that Alice could think of Bella as anything other than she was. Sweet, loving, kind. Not a threat to anyone in any way.