Bella was no longer in my car, but that didn't mean that I wanted to go home yet. I wasn't sure what would be waiting for me there and I was reluctant to find out. Instead I drove the dark highways, barely leaving enough attention for the road while most of my mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Bella.

Her expressions. Her words. Her tears. Her smiles. Her stories of herself. I ran through the entire evening again and again, committing everything to memory.

It was nearly dawn when I finally found myself driving toward home again. I still didn't want to face the music, but I was running out of time. I assumed I'd have to tell them something. I wasn't going to be allowed to head to school without making an appearance at home, and anyway, I wouldn't want to. Not until I could be assured that none of them would touch Bella.

The house seemed quiet and empty when I returned. A quick scan for minds showed that Rosalie and Emmett were actually gone, Alice and Jasper were cuddling in their room, and Carlisle and Esme were talking in their room. I headed upstairs to my parents and knocked on their door.

"Come in," came Esme's quiet answer.

I entered, staying just beyond the doorway. Questions swirled in the air between Esme and Carlisle. I waited for one of them to ask.

It was Carlisle who spoke first. "I made the others agree that they were not to take any action against you or Bella unless I gave the go ahead. Can you prove my decision the right one?

I nodded slowly. "Bella's not a threat to us. I'm sure."

"Explain."

I thought through the night again at high speed, pulling out the tidbits that would plead Bella's case. "I knew where to find her because of a previous vision of Alice's, where she was meeting with another shifter. I avoided this man myself, recognizing him from the vision, but when Bella saw me she pulled me away to make sure he didn't see me."

They were both pleased by this relation, but it wasn't enough.

"She was afraid when I told her about tonight, when she realized - I didn't even have to say it - that Jasper had wanted to kill her," I continued. "Afraid, not calculating or anything. And when I assured her that he wouldn't try anything, and explained the vision that had halted everything..." I hesitated, not wanting to say anything about her that she might be embarrassed having my parents know. "She was... surprisingly happy. She even surprised herself by how happy she was."

Confusion was visible on Esme's face and in her mind, so I continued trying to explain. "I get the impression that Bella's lived a somewhat isolated life, with few friends. The shifter she met tonight was one of those friends, but she said that, tonight, she was more happy about the idea of being friends with Alice than she had been in that shifter's visit."

Esme was smiling now, and even Carlisle was calmer - and relieved. He was trusting my words, and my belief in Bella, and he was glad. Though he'd do anything to protect the family, he would have been distressed to harm another to do so.

Hopefully that would be enough for now. And the sun was up - it was almost time for school. "Anything else?"

"Not right now." Carlisle stood from the couch he and Esme had been sitting on, reaching out to hug me. "You've done well." I read his acceptance and his forgiveness in his mind, and my shoulders relaxed as I returned the hug.

I was in my room changing for the new day at school when I heard Alice's knock on the door. I picked up what she had to say from her mind, but opened the door and waited for her to say it aloud.

"We're leaving without you." She said it lightly, but it was obvious from her mind that this was intended to be a slight toward me - even if Alice herself didn't mean for it to be. "See you at lunch."

"Maybe," I said, possibilities rolling through my mind. A brief vision flashed through Alice's mind in response - me, at Bella's doorstep. We both smiled. "That's a great idea."

"Let me know as soon as I can meet her," Alice said, nearly as happy as I was.

I nodded, and she headed down the hallway.

I waited until everyone else had left before pelting down to my own car, my chest tight and a wary smile on my face. I wasn't sure how Bella was going to respond to this, but nothing was going to stop me from finding out.

I parked at the end of her street, wanting to be sure to avoid Chief Swan. Looking ahead with my mind, I found his, and saw Bella through his eyes. She was eating breakfast at the kitchen table as Chief Swan cleaned his dishes, thinking about the day ahead of him. Turning from the sink, he paused briefly on his way toward the front door to give Bella a pat on the head. I was surprised by this gesture of affection but Bella gave him a small smile.

Chief Swan headed to the door right after and left. His car turned at one end of the road as I was pulling up in front of the house. Another moment, me moving just slowly enough to be unremarkable should a neighbor look out a window, and I was at the front door and knocking.

Bella's footsteps approached, and then the door opened a crack, Bella's cautious face peeping around it. Her eyes widened at the sight of me. "Edward?"

"I thought," I said, keeping my voice light and casual, "since I'm coming to your house after school anyway, we might as well ride together."

Bella opened the door a little wider, looking past me to my car. "Your siblings?"

"They rode with Rosalie today."

She gave me a look that I couldn't fathom the meaning of, but grabbed her backpack from the floor by the door. I waited by her while she locked up, then walked beside her to the car, taking care to get there just early enough to open the door for her.

Bella was silent as I pulled away from the curb. A glance in her direction showed that she was staring hard out the windshield. "Something on your mind?"

"I... I was just wondering."

"What?"

She shot a quick glance my way. "Are your siblings upset with you?"

Sometimes she was more observant than I wanted her to be. "You could say that."

"And it's my fault?"

"No!" I said quickly, before I had time to think. Then I had to hesitate, but continued with, "They're upset about you, I'd say, but it's my fault that things turned out the way they did. I could have found a way to keep my family informed while also protecting you."

Bella gave me a small smile. "It's okay. I could have handled this better too."

We reached the parking lot in a comfortable silence. For now, though I still had a million questions for her, I was content to just be with her. There would be time for questions after our relationship was a little more settled. This whole thing still felt incredibly delicate to me, and I didn't want to do anything that might overwhelm or scare her.

I took care to note where Rosalie's car was and parked far from it. I didn't want to risk running into them with Bella at my side, not until we had a few days between us and the night they'd wanted to kill her.

As we started across the parking lot, side by side, Bella hummed a little in her throat. I looked down at her curiously to see her biting her lip yet again. "Stop that," I said in a low voice, nudging her with my shoulder.

She jumped a little, but stopped biting. "I have a question," she said eventually.

"Yes?"

"Well..." she licked her lips now, pressing them together afterword. "How much do you read minds during school?"

"It depends on the day," I said, a trifle cautiously, uncomfortably reminded of how much I'd been watching her through the minds of others.

She glanced up at me, her brows furrowed. "I've been keeping my mind closed most of the time, just in case you try to read it."

"I haven't tried to read your mind at all." It was true enough to fool Rosalie, though it wasn't quite the full truth.

She let out a breath. "Good. Keep that up. And I'll start letting my mind open more. That'll be a relief. I was worried about trying to talk to Jessica today."

I had also been thinking about that conversation, and intending to follow it. But now I had a question. "Do you think you'd be able to tell, if I was reading someone's mind at the same time you were?"

"Probably not," Bella said thoughtfully. "I mean, your mind isn't built for two way communication like mine is..." she trailed off, and glanced at me again. "Do you often read the minds of people around me?"

Whoops. Caught. I tried to smile. "Sometimes?"

"You'll have to stop that." Her tone brooked no argument.

I shrugged helplessly. "I just wanted to know more about you."

"You could ask," Bella said mildly.

"That wasn't an option until just recently," I pointed out. "And you edit."

"Of course I do!" Bella shook her head. "You might not realize this, since you can't turn off your power, but - sometimes people should be able to keep their thoughts to themselves."

I suddenly recalled what she'd told me last night. The very words flashed through my mind - "I have enough people checking up on me already." Guilt, an emotion I was rapidly getting familiar with, rose up in my chest yet again. "I always find myself having to apologize to you," I said softly.

But there was that small smile of hers, again. "You can ask me, now," she repeated. "I'll answer."

"I am curious how your conversation with Jessica is going to go." I hesitated, then offered. "Want to sit together at lunch? My siblings are upset with me, after all."

"Won't us sitting together make them more upset?"

I shrugged. "I don't particularly care."

"Okay, fine." Bella was looking down, fiddling with the hem of her jacket, but I could hear the smile in her voice.

We were approaching her first class; I'd followed her all the way here without even thinking about it. She stopped at the doorway and turned to me, almost meeting my eyes. "I'll... see you at lunch, then, I guess."

I had to smile at her fumbling. "Yeah. See you."