"It's Logan?"

"Shhh," Bella told Paul. "A lot happens in this episode. You need to be quiet."

"But he's been terrible to her!"

"Do I need to turn this off, or can you control yourself?" Bella asked, pausing the show.

"Everything all right in here?" Charlie Swan asked coming in from the kitchen with a beer in his hand.

"Yeah, Dad. We're fine. Did you want to stay and watch?" she asked.

"No, thanks, sweetie. Once was enough for me. Although, that Keith Mars character is okay. And I kinda get what he was saying about 'smartening' up the criminal element now," Charlie joked.

"Dad!" Bella joked, throwing a pillow at him, while Paul scowled. "There's no criminal element here. Nobody in this room has been picked up on any charges, including fighting, in the last year."

"You're absolutely right, Bella. Keep up the good work, Paul," Charlie said as he headed for the stairs.

"He doesn't really think of you as a criminal, you know," she said to Paul's scowling face.

"I am what I am, B. Leopards, spots, you know what they say," Paul said sarcastically quoting Weevil.

Bella put down the remote and turned on the couch to face Paul. Paul did not expect her to grab his face with both of her delicate hands and pull him around to look in her eyes. "I adore Weevil, seriously. In my perfect world, they would be together. But you are over-identifying with him, Paul. You are not that guy."

"You mean the guy who runs with a gang? Or the guy who gets in fights all the time? Or the guy who sleeps with rich, blonde girls? Or the guy who is smart but sucks at school? Or the poor, brown guy from the wrong side of town? I'm not that guy?" He was angry. Bella wanted to kill her Dad for his little comment. She knew he'd only been sort of joking, but he'd hurt Paul's feelings.

"You run with a pack that protects people, without stealing car parts. You do fight too much, but not as much as you used to. I don't know about the blonde thing, but I'm pretty sure you never had your heart broken by any of them. The color of your skin is beautiful and your side of town is my favorite place to be. I wish I actually belonged to a community that took care of one another the way you all do."

Bella smiled softly as the angry look left Paul's eyes and was replaced by confusion. She seemed to all of a sudden realize where her hands were and quickly pulled them away from Paul's face. Paul felt a rush of heat as her thumbs brushed down his cheekbones when she pulled away and turned to face the tv again. He didn't know what to do with that. Bella wasn't like any of the girls he hung out with.

"Will you promise to behave when I turn the show back on?" Bella asked, holding the remote again.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Fine."

"I can't believe you're not going to let us watch another episode!" he grouched when it was over.

"We'll watch another one tomorrow after you study and do homework."

"You know I outweigh you by at least a hundred pounds of muscle, right?"

"I do. But I also know that you wouldn't ever hurt me. And it would require torture to get me to give up the disc," she said, sliding the case under her shirt.

"Please. I can charm the pants off any female. You think I can't convince you to let me put my hand under your shirt?," he said moving in a predatory, and Bella had to admit, sexy way towards her.

"I'm sure you could," she said, gulping a little. "But I'm also sure you won't. And if I thought you really would do something like that against my will, not only would you not be here, but my well-armed father would be in the process of flicking the safety off of any one of his guns and pointing it straight at your crotch."

Paul stopped. It was weird knowing that she trusted him that much. Maybe whining would work. "Damn, Swan. C'mon, one more episode, please?"

"No. And it's time to go. You have school early tomorrow. But I'll see you tomorrow night," Bella said while pushing him back into the kitchen to gather his books.

It was just a stupid tv show Paul thought when his alarm went off early the next morning. He didn't need to do any of it. School. Studying. What was the point? He was never going to leave the reservation, anyway. It's not like he had money for college or trade school. He didn't have parents who cared. Paul's stomach growled, which caused him to finally roll out of bed and into the kitchen where he found almost nothing to eat. He hated shopping. And cooking. Bella would feed him, though.

He growled at her having beaten him and convincing him to go to school without even knowing that he was mentally arguing with her. He went off to get ready for school and hopefully get there in time for the free breakfast. He supposed the free meals were one more okay thing about staying in school, and then wondered what Bella would make for dinner tonight.

And so that's how the weeks went. Delicious homemade dinners with always enough leftovers for Paul to take some home. Bella insisted that she and Charlie would never be able to eat it all and that Paul taking it would save them from throwing it out later.

Paul was slowly catching up in all of his classes. And his grades were steadily improving. After they spent an hour or more doing homework and studying each night, Bella would walk over to the DVD player and cue up the next episode. Then she and Paul would sit on the couch and watch.

"She's with Duncan? Tell me she's not gonna end up with that guy! He broke up with her, then slept with her, then treated her like she didn't exist, THEN started liking her again when he thought she might be his sister! What kind of guy does that sh- stuff?" Paul looked quickly around to make sure Charlie hadn't heard his almost slip with an expletive.

Bella paused it again. "It's hard to forget your first love. And I think that as much as she's changed, being with Duncan reminds her of how it felt to be safe before everything she knew changed.

Paul harrumphed. "Safer than with Logan, anyway."

Bella just smiled the smile that annoyed Paul, because she knew everything that was going to happen and he didn't.

"Stop that," he grouched.

"Stop what?" she asked, barely pretending to not know exactly what he was asking.

Paul growled his lupine growl at her and moved towards her only to be bopped on the nose with her cool hand. "Bad doggie," she said. And then pointed the remote at the tv and pressed play.