I drove my siblings home, ready to be yelled at. It was a silent ride. Carlisle and Esme would most likely be calm. Rosalie was already furious.

It was strange how one human boy could become the center of my universe. I was a vampire, and yet I cared so much about one little human, my natural food source. I personally think that he'd make a beautiful vampire.

I was talking with Alice by my red Audi. Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper had already headed inside. Though it was under 30 degrees out, I wore a creamy cashmere long-sleeve shirt with a v-neck crisscross, black pants, a black leather jacket, and black rubber lace up ankle boots. I wore no winter coat

"No!" Alice gasped. I stared at her before I heard a loud screeching. I turned and saw Tyler Crowley's van sliding across the ice. It would hit the frightened-looking Edward.

I didn't have time to think before I was running across the ice. As a human, ice was my worst enemy because I was so clumsy. But now, I'm as graceful as a gazelle or Swan, or as dangerous and deadly as a lioness

.I threw myself between Edward and the van. I was able to stop the out-of-control moving vehicle with my shoulder.

"Edward, are you alright?" I asked him, a bit worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you." He smiled.

"Don't worry about it."

I closed my eyes and expanded my physical attack shield, moving Tyler's van away slowly. Far away enough that stretchers could be brought in.

I stood up and left the scene just as the students started rushing over to the scene. I waited for the ambulance to arrive. I was anxious to get Edward to the hospital, to get him checked out, and into my father's care.

I pulled the car into the garage behind our three story home. I saw that Carlisle's black S55 AMG, which means that he was already home. I sighed, and we all got out.

We exited the garage, and ran along the path to the front of our modern home. We went inside and up to the dining room on the second floor.

The room was, of course, never used for its intended purpose. But it was furnished with a long rectangular cherry wood table surrounded by 10 chairs—we were scrupulous about having all the correct props in place. Carlisle liked to use it as a conference room. In a group with such strong and disparate personalities, sometimes it was necessary to discuss things in a calm, seated manner.

I had a feeling that the setting was not going to help much today.

Carlisle sat in his usual seat at the eastern head of the room. Esme was beside him— they held hands on top of the table. Esme's eyes were on me, their golden depths full of concern.

I wished I could smile at the woman who was truly a mother to me, but I had no reassurances for her now.

I sat on Carlisle's other side. Esme reached around him to put her free hand on my shoulder. She had no idea of what was about to start; she was just worrying about me.

Carlisle had a better sense of what was coming. His lips were pressed tightly together and his forehead was creased. The expression looked too old for his young face.

As everyone else sat, I could see the lines being drawn.

Rosalie sat directly across from Carlisle, on the other end of the long table. She glared at me, never looking away. Emmett sat beside her, his face wry.

Jasper hesitated, and then went to stand against the wall behind Rosalie.

Alice was the last to come in, and her eyes were focused on something far away—the future, still too indistinct for her to make use of it. She sat next to Esme. She rubbed her forehead as if she had a headache. Jasper twitched uneasily.

I took a deep breath. I had started this—I should speak first.

"I didn't mean to put any of you at risk. It was thoughtless, and I take full responsibility for my hasty action."

Rosalie glared at me balefully. "What do you mean, 'take full responsibility'? Are you going to fix it?"

"Not the way you mean," I said, working to keep my voice even and quiet. "I'm willing to leave now, if that makes things better." If I believe that the boy will be safe, if I believe that none of you will touch him, I amended in my head.

"No," Esme murmured. "No, Bella."

I patted her hand. "It's just a few years."

"I agree with Esme," Emmett said. "Bella, it will look very suspicious if you just disappear."

"Alice will catch anything major," I disagreed.

Carlisle shook his head. "I think Emmett is right, Bella. The boy will be more likely to talk if you disappear. It's all of us leave, or none of us."

"He won't say anything," I insisted quickly. Rose was building up to the explosion, and I wanted this fact out there first.

Rosalie's palm smacked down on the table with a loud bang. "We can't allow the human a chance to say anything. Carlisle, you must see that. Even if we decided to all disappear, it's not safe to leave stories behind us. We live so differently from the rest of our kind— you know there are those who would love an excuse to point fingers. We have to be more careful than anyone else!"

"We've left rumors behind us before," I reminded her.

"Just rumors and suspicions, Bella. Not eyewitnesses and evidence!"

"Evidence!" I scoffed.

But Jasper was nodding, his eyes hard.

"Rose—" Carlisle began.

"Let me finish, Carlisle. It doesn't have to be any big production. The boy hit her head today. So maybe that injury turns out to be more serious than it looked." Rosalie shrugged. "Every mortal goes to sleep with the chance of never waking up. The others would expect us to clean up after ourselves. Technically, that would make it Bella's job, but this is obviously beyond her. You know I'm capable of control. I would leave no evidence behind me."

"Yes, Rosalie, we all know how proficient an assassin you are," I snarled.

She hissed at me, furious.

"Bella, please," Carlisle said. Then he turned to Rosalie. "Rosalie, I looked the other way in Rochester because I felt that you were owed your justice. The men you killed had wronged you monstrously. This is not the same situation. The Masen boy is an innocent."

"It's not personal, Carlisle," Rosalie said through her teeth. "It's to protect us all."

There was a brief moment of silence while Carlisle thought through his answer. When he nodded, Rosalie's eyes lit up. She should have known better.

"I know you mean well, Rosalie, but...I'd like very much for our family to be worth protecting. The occasional…… accident or lapse in control is a regrettable part of who we are." It was very like him to include himself in the plural, though he had never had such a lapse himself. "To murder a blameless child in cold blood is another thing entirely. I believe the risk he presents, whether he speaks her suspicions or not, is nothing to the greater risk. If we make exceptions to protect ourselves, we risk something much more important. We risk losing the essence of who we are."

I controlled my expression very carefully. It wouldn't do at all to grin. Or to applaud, as I wished I could.

Rosalie scowled. "It's just being responsible."

"It's being callous," Carlisle corrected gently. "Every life is precious."

Rosalie sighed heavily and her lower lip pouted out. Emmett patted her shoulder.

"It'll be fine, Rose," he encouraged in a low voice.

"The question," Carlisle continued, "is whether we should move on?"

"No," Rosalie moaned. "We just got settled. I don't want to start my sophomore year in high school again!"

"You could keep your present age, of course," Carlisle said.

"And have to move again that much sooner?" she countered.

Carlisle shrugged.

"I like it here! There's so little sun, we get to be almost normal."

"Well, we certainly don't have to decide now. We can wait and see if it becomes necessary. Bella seems certain of the Masen boy's silence."

Rosalie snorted.

Then Alice gasped as she was pulled into a vision.

"What? What did you see, Alice?" Jasper asked.

Then Alice's lips turned into a grin. "The new boy is Bella's mate."

"Of course! How did I not see that coming? Bella, in love with a human!"

"You know we don't get to pick and choose our mates, Rose." Carlisle reminded her.

"You think I'm happy about this?" I snapped. "Yes, the idea of finding my mate and not being alone sounds very appealing, but I don't want him dragged into my world!"

"Would you change him, Bella?" Carlisle asked.

I shrugged. "If he wants me to."

I sighed and ran out of the room. What I said was true. Edward couldn't be pulled into my world. As selfless as I was, I wanted to change him and make him mine. But I couldn't.

I ran to the side of the river and sat down, pulled my knees to my chest, and wrapped my shield around me. Whenever I wrap my shield around me, it gives me a sense of comfort. This was my second time using my shield today. My first time was after I stopped the van. I used my physical attack shield to push Tyler's van away.

"Bella," It was Alice. She came to sit next to me. "What are you going to do?"

"Try and stay away. I need him to have a normal life. If I can't stay away, then at least I tried. Would you be mad if he figured out what we are?"

She shook her head. "No, of course not. He's your mate. He kind of has a right to know."

I smiled. "I know. I think he's perfect."

"Now I know why I had a vision of him coming to school. At last, Bella Cullen has found her mate." I threw back my head and laughed before hugging her and heading back to the house.