Disclaimer: I dont own anything but the plot

Chapter 8 Lucky Luke

Bella POV

I stood up and walked out into the hall. "Luke. I'm sorry did I wake you up?"

No, I wanted some water. He told me.

"Oh, okay."

Were you talking with someone?

"Yes. We have a guest. Actually, I'd like for you to meet him. Would that be okay?"

Is he a friend?

"Yes. He's one of my new classmates from school."

Okay. He nodded and took my outstretched hand. We walked into the living room and I saw that Edward had stood up, waiting expectantly.

"Luke, this is Edward. Edward, this is my little brother Luke."

"Hello Luke. It's very nice to meet you." Edward greeted him. He didn't hold out his hand and I think I knew why. We always had to be very careful when trying to touch humans, to make sure we didn't hurt them. Edward might be afraid to hurt Luke's hand by accident. I knew the feeling.

Hello sir. It's nice to meet you too.

Edward didn't look surprised that Luke was signing all his words. He just smiled. "That's a little weird." I was about to translate when Edward responded.

"Your sister tells me that you started school today. How did it go? Did you make any friends?"

Yes. Two of them. Twins.

"I heard Isaac and Joshua Webber are supposed to be mischievous little troublemakers."

I think they are nice

"I'm sure they are. And If you chose them as your friends then they couldn't be anything else right? I mean, I don't believe for a second that you would make friends with bad people."

No. Bad people are bad.

"As well you shouldn't."

I stared between them, looking back and forth as though I was watching a tennis match. A smile was plastered onto my face. I had guessed what was going on. Which is why I didn't think it strange when some of Edward's comments hadn't made much sense in context to what Luke had signed. I had noticed how Edward's eyes didn't, even for a second, look at my brother's hands as they moved. No, they held eye contact the entire time. "Edward is reading his thoughts."

Shouldn't what? Luke looked at him questioningly.

"Trust bad people. Like you said."

But I didn't sign that.

"No. You thought it." Edward looked at me, and returned my knowing smile.

Luke turned to me. What? I bent down and sat on my knees in front of him. I signed my next words to him without speaking.

He doesn't know ASL. He looked you in the eyes, not at your hands. Try speaking to him in your head, without signing the words.

He looked at Edward again.

"Yes I can." Edward answered Lukes unspoken question. "You're right. It is really cool."

Luke turned to me again.

Bells this is so cool! He was jumping a little in excitement.

"Wait." Edward said. "Bells?" He raised an eyebrow at me and looked like he was fighting a laugh.

"Yes, Luke calls me Bells. You see, there are no actual signs for different names like Luke, Bella or Edward. When having to say a name in ASL one would need to spell out the name every time. That can get rather tedious though, so usually ASL users give certain people specific signs to mean their specific names. Luke has given me the sign Bells." I demonstrated the sign for him. Holding up my left hand like a wall pointing out from my body, fingers pointing up, I took the pincher fingers of my right hand and made it look like I was holding a small bell, then tapped those fingers lightly to the palm of my left hand twice. "Bells."

"I like that." He said. "It fits you perfectly. Bells." "Are his eyes shining? Wait, there's no way. They just look so bright."

Luke yawned then. "Alright. Let's adjourn this midnight meeting. Go back to bed Luke. I'll come up with a glass of water for you. Okay?" He nodded and said goodnight to Edward who returned the comment.

When I came back down we sat on the couch again.

"He's adorable." I smiled at his comment.

"He likes you."

"I know."

"You did really great with him. Have you spent a lot of time around children?"

"Not really. The only time I encounter children is when I visit my father at the hospital. And it's not like I talk to them, I just hear their thoughts from afar."

A shame I thought. If Edward had been given the chance, I was sure he would have made a great father. "Wait. Your father is in the hospital? Is he okay?"

Confusion, then he laughed. "Yes Bella he's fine. He works as a doctor there."

"Oh." I sighed in relief. "How can he do that though? That must be really difficult for him with all the injuries and surgeries going on."

"No, it doesn't actually bother him. Carlisle has had a lot of practice in this field. I've never seen anyone with as much control as him. Well until I saw you tonight. Holding Luke like that when you carried him upstairs earlier, showed how much control you have."

I huffed slightly. "That's only with Luke though, and only because I've grown used to his scent and the feel of his warm body. If it was any other human that was that close, I'm not sure it would have ended well."

Edward waited a moment before speaking. "So will you tell me now, why you were crying before?"

"Oh right. it was just all the things you said. How you and your family have been waiting for me. How you want me to join your family and not be alone anymore. How you would help me protect Luke because he, as an extension of me, would also quickly be loved and accepted." My eyes landed on his shoulder. "I've been wishing for someone to say those words to me, or something resembling those words, ever since we escaped the first time. I've been praying every night to whatever God is out there to send someone my way to help so I don't get crushed under this pressure. Because that's what I feel like is happening. I feel like I'm about to break and I'm so afraid that Luke is going to break along with me if I don't do something to prevent it, but I've had no ideas of what to do other than moving here. Hoping I wasn't making a huge mistake."

I took a few breaths to calm myself down so I didn't start sobbing again. I looked up to see his face. His smile held a hint of concern and a lot of understanding.

"Consider the pressure lifted. You can lean on any one of us anytime you need to. I will personally make sure that you don't break. That won't happen as long as I'm here." I hugged him again.

"Thank you."

For the rest of the night we just sat there talking. Edward offered to help me with all the financial stuff, having guessed that I was running low on cash. I didn't accept right away, but after he kept insisting, I allowed him to help a little bit. We talked about so many things. He told me the story of how Carlisle had found him in a hospital in Chicago, dying of the Spanish influenza. How he had come to see him, not just as a friend, but as a father and mentor. He looked up to his father and consulted him often, when in need of advice. I told him about how I had homeschooled Luke and how we had learned ASL together. And so many more things from our lives.

It was around four in the morning when he told me he needed to go home so he had time to change for school.

"I'm sorry I kept you so long."

"No, don't be. I enjoy spending time with you Bella." I smiled. "I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"Yeah. See you then." I said and waved goodbye.

- Edward POV -

It took me longer than necessary to get home. I've always loved going fast and racing through the forest, but tonight I wanted to take it slow. I didn't want this night to end. I wanted to go back and talk to Bella some more, but I knew my family was wondering where I was. Alice had no doubt seen where I had gone, and very possibly told everyone. But she wouldn't have seen what we had talked about, what secrets had come to light.

When I finally entered the house I was met with a scowling Alice. The others were apprehensive behind her, they didn't know why she was in such a fowl mood, but had guessed that she had seen me do something she didn't like.

The smile I had been sporting all the way home vanished from my face. Before I could ask what was wrong, she showed me in her head a vision of Bella sobbing.

"What did you do to make her cry?"

The others were shocked and Esme gasped. "Who did you make cry?"

I lifted my hands in a surrendering gesture. "You got it wrong Alice. She wasn't crying out of sadness or anger. She was happy. She became too overwhelmed when I told her something she wasn't prepared for, and couldn't stop the tearless sobs."

Alice's stance relaxed. "Oh. What did you tell her?"

I walked further into the house and told them everything that had happened. Bella had given me permission to tell them about Luke and the vampire who (I would very much like to throttle) was after them.

"This is outrageous." Esme announced.

"What a sick, evil, sadistic, twisted bastard!" Rosalie yelled.

"We should move them here." Emmett said. "Give them more protection. That house is not safe for them to live in."

I took note of Jasper's thoughts and agreed with him. I had the same worries as well. "I don't think that is a good idea."

"Why not? Don't you want them to be safe?" Emmett accused me.

"Of course I want that. More than anything." I snapped at him. "But the reality is, that Luke is human, and while we've taught ourselves to be around his kind most of the day, having one live in the house with us 24/7 is an entirely different thing. We can not be absolutely certain that we won't accidentally harm the boy, while he is here. We've all had lapses in control. And even though I trust every single one of you, I can't with good conscience ask Bella to bring him here full time. I'm confident that she wouldn't agree either. Luke's protection and happiness is her one and only priority."

"Edward is right." I had thought it would be Jasper who would agree with my views first, since I could see his mind was as worried about his own lack of control as I was, but It was Carlisle who had spoken. "I think it would be better to watch out for them from afar. Maybe we should make sure one of us is always with them or at least near them at night. We should consult Bella and see what she thinks. She has been with him his whole life and knows better what the boy is comfortable with. If this vampire is still looking for them, then I would hate for them to be alone when he comes, for I am certain that he will. A man like that doesn't just give up the chase, even if Bella has been able to stay out of his sight for four years."

"What do you suggest?" I said.

"I say we take turns guarding them. Bella needs to hunt too. She's probably not comfortable going far from him for very long, and that could be problematic when living so close to the humans. Ask her what course of action she thinks is best, what she herself would be comfortable with."

I nodded.

"This is a rather serious topic, son. But you were smiling happily when you arrived. Am I right in assuming that you had a better conversation after she told you all this?" Carlisle asked me in his thoughts.

I just kept eye contact with him, let one corner of my mouth tilt upwards just the tiniest bit, and nodded again. He smiled a little too, seeing that the smile had even entered my eyes.

"I wonder if.." He started, but quickly pushed the thought away.

"What was that about?" I thought.

Everyone agreed with Carlisle's opinion, and we all started to prepare for school and work. I went upstairs to my room to take a shower and change. I heard the others worry for Bella and Luke. Esme especially for Luke. She had not even met the boy yet, but already she was fiercely protective in her thoughts. I had known she would be, but I still smiled when I realized that I hadn't lied to Bella. Luke's presents didn't make her appeal to our family lessen in the slightest. On the contrary, it might actually have made it stronger.

Please R&R, Thank you