It took me mere moments to cover the required 'couple of miles.' I stopped running, but started pacing, my mind full of what might be happening at Bella's house. There were two options: either Chief Swan had come home early, or - or it had to be another shifter.

That second one seemed more likely. It also had much more potential for disaster.

I waited and paced, paced and waited, keeping my mind to myself, and keeping it swirling. I wanted to so badly to know what was happening and if Bella was all right. But I couldn't risk trying to look ahead to find out. If it was a shifter, there was too much chance that they'd feel my mind as I searched for Bella's. Not that it was likely her mind would be open anyway. But it was such torture to just wait.

It seemed like forever before I heard a voice in my head, one I instantly recognized. "Edward. It's safe now."

That was all, and Bella's mind withdrew. I immediately turned in the direction of her house and ran.

Bella was waiting for me on the back porch, barefoot, without a jacket, her clothes rumpled, her face still a little pale. I slowed to a normal pace as I walked up to her, and she watched me, her eyes round, her hands clenched at her sides.

She reached out for me as I approached her, and in a moment she had her arms around me, her head resting against my chest. She let out a long sigh as I hugged her back. "You're safe," she said quietly. I wasn't sure if she was telling me or reassuring herself.

She wasn't as warm as usual, and as I held her I could feel her shivering. "You're freezing. Let's get you inside."

She nodded against my chest, then let me go.

She went right back to the living room, grabbing the blanket off the floor where it had fallen and pulling it around her shoulders. She sat on the couch, tucking her feet up under her, wrapping her blanket securely around herself as she stared at the floor.

I sat on the end of the couch again. "What happened?"

"Jacob." The word was mumbled, barely audible. "He wasn't happy with what he saw on Sunday. Wanted to see me again."

So it had been a shifter, and the Jacob one at that. I let out a breath, trying to calm myself. "And?"

"You're safe," Bella repeated, huddling in on herself even more. "He saw your car outside; I told him it must belong to a neighbor. He thought I looked weird; I told him I'd just woken up. He thought the house smelled a little weird; I told him I'd burned something cooking."

Smelled a little weird? I hadn't considered this before, but - "Do vampires have a scent, then?"

Bella nodded. "But we're lucky there. You and your family smell different from normal vampires - in fact, you barely smell at all. He would have known in an instant if you were the kind of vampire who drank human blood."

I was silent for a while, realizing how close a brush this was. I couldn't help but feel a little guilty for a moment, thinking of my family and the trust they - most of them - were putting in me and Bella. But I pushed the thought away. Her quick thinking had kept both of us safe, I reminded myself. And it's not like we didn't expect there to be some danger with us being friends.

Bella sighed again. "But it's not just that he came here again and almost saw you. He told me he was just passing through. Which means he's on a job. And - he's a tracker."

"A tracker?" This didn't sound good.

"He and his friends all are. They find nomadic vampires who are... causing trouble, I guess, and they... stop the trouble." She glanced at me, her eyes full of worry. "It might be that he's after Jasper's friends."

"We'll warn them," I said firmly. "I'm sure they'll be fine."

"I hope so."

We were silent for a moment, but then Bella sighed again. "Do you mind if we get back to reading?"

"I don't mind, but - are you sure you're up for that?"

She nodded. "I'm awake again. And I'm mostly calm. And I just want to do something - normal."

"Okay," I said, watching her as she leaned over and fumbled on the floor for the book. My heart ached a little for how distressed she'd sounded, for her desire for normality. The best way to help her was to try to give her that. "But you need to get some more sleep. I don't want you to be this tired when we hang out on Saturday."

"Then let's not do homework after school tomorrow," Bella suggested. "You can have a day off, and I'll get a longer nap."

"Deal." Not that I wanted a day off from helping her, but not seeing her after school tomorrow was a decent trade to ensure she'd be awake and aware on Saturday. I leaned a closer to Bella, a little closer to the book, and we went back to reading.

It seemed to work. Though all we did was read, Bella was much more calm by the time I had to leave. She actually gave me a smile, though a small one, as she saw me to the door.

"See you tomorrow," she said softly. Her hand reached toward me for a moment, but she pulled back before she touched me. I wished she hadn't.

"See you," I said, holding in my own desire to reach for her.

For once, Rosalie was home when I got there; she and Emmett were curled up on the couch watching a movie. I ignored her and she ignored me as I crossed the room to the other couch, where Alice was in Jasper's lap, drawing on her tablet as Jasper looked over her shoulder. "Bella had a message for you, of sorts," I said, my voice a little louder than it needed to be.

Alice looked up hopefully, but it was Jasper's eyes that I met. He looked confused. I went on. "A shifter is passing through here, and he's a tracker - specifically a tracker of nomadic vampires. Bella's worried that he might be after Peter and Charlotte."

Jasper's eyes widened. "I - I don't have a way of contacting them."

But Alice turned in her place in his lap, reaching up to pat his shoulder. "Didn't they say they were going to visit the Denalis? Give them a call, and they can pass on the message."

"Right." Jasper let out a breath, hastily standing, carefully depositing Alice on the couch as he did so. "I'll do it right now." He left the room at a near run.

Alice gave me a smile as Jasper left. Do I get to meet her yet?

"Not yet," I said softly. "But probably soon."

I can wait a little longer. She looked back down at her tablet.

I turned now and met Rosalie's eyes. I had known she was listening, and had read the moment of surprise when I'd explained Bella's warning. But she looked away from me in a huff. This doesn't mean I have to trust her.

Maybe someday Rosalie would come around. She could hold a grudge for a long time.

I was even more eager for my Bella time on Friday knowing that it was going to be cut short. She needed her sleep, but I was sad I'd miss seeing her for those hours. Some part of me me found it funny, how much I liked her, how necessary to my life she was becoming. I was being a little ridiculous. But then again, I was a perpetual teenager, and this was my first love. What else could I have expected from myself?

The best part of the day was still biology. I had gone back to carefully not touching her throughout the day, especially as not only Mike and Jessica but others of our classmates seemed to be watching us and our developing relationship, but there were still fifteen minutes of the movie left in class. Bella sighed as the lights went out, turning to me with an exaggerated distressed expression. "I"m still tired," she whispered.

I offered her my hand, unable to keep from smiling. She smiled back and took my hand without hesitation, resting her head on her other hand propped up by her elbow on the table. As with yesterday, her thumb soon started stroking the back of my hand, and I sighed in contentment.

The rest of the movie was over far too quickly. Her hand slipped from mine as the lights came on. I curled my fingers inward in a vain attempt to keep her warmth with me longer.

I walked Bella to gym as usual, dropping her off at the entrance to the girl's locker room. I watched her leave, the door closing behind her, before I turned to confront Mike behind me. I'd been aware of him following us from the biology room, and heard in his mind the intention to confront me.

Mike glared at me as I turned around. "Yes?" I asked, keeping my voice smooth.

"You and Bella, huh?" he said, his voice and mind full of resentment.

I raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong, Newton?"

I caught the brief fear that flashed through his mind as my expression darkened. But to my surprise, he held his ground, stepping closer, almost toe to toe with me. "I don't trust you," he said, his voice low and tight. "If you do anything to Bella - anything at all -" he stopped for a moment, too angry and worried to put his thoughts into words. I waited impatiently, wanting this conversation to be over "I'll - I'll - I don't care who you are, I'll -" A sudden thought occurred to him. "I'll tell Chief Swan to keep her away from you."

Mike looked pleased with himself, though he couldn't possibly know how legitimate his threat was. I tried to keep my expression calm. "That will be unnecessary," I said crisply. "Ask Bella yourself. She's happy for us to be friends."

Mike regarded me a moment. He didn't believe me. He thought I'd done something to her. "Just watch it," he said finally.

I didn't dignify that with a response, instead stepping around him to get to my last class.

Bella looked a little abashed when I picked her up from gym. She looked away from me as I approached, turning to walk next to me without a word instead of greeting me as she usually did. It had to have something to do with Mike. I was suddenly worried, but Bella clearly wasn't going to talk right now.

Thankfully, Bella started into it as soon as we got in my car. Well, kind of. "So... Mike," was all she had to say at first.

"Mike," I repeated.

Bella let out a long sigh. "I don't understand. I know your family had the reputation of being standoffish, but - Mike isn't just jealous. He's actually worried." She glanced at me quickly. "I didn't realize people were actually afraid of you."

I sighed too. "No matter what we actually choose to do, the fact of the matter is that me and my family are a human's natural predators. And sometimes, no matter how much we try to mask it, humans can pick up on that." I was quiet a moment. "Though of course his jealousy is not helping matters."

Bella was biting her lip. Somehow, after the Mike thing, I didn't want to touch her. "Stop that," I said wearily instead.

Bella looked away, out her side window, hiding her expression from me. "I'm beginning to wonder if I should say something to Charlie. Maybe... I think he might listen to me, if I told him not to tell the others."

"That's too big a risk," I said quickly. "Once he knows, he can do whatever he wants with that information. He could even agree with you, say he won't tell them, and then change his mind later and tell them anyway."

Bella looked down now, at her hands in her lap. "I wish I could trust him, really trust him," she said, so softly I barely heard.

I was angry, I realized suddenly. I was angry, and I didn't know why. I continued driving in silence, my hands curled tightly around the steering wheel.

As we neared her house, Bella's quiet voice broke the silence. "You're upset."

I didn't respond.

Bella pressed on. "Is it Mike? Or Charlie? Or, or me?"

"I really don't know, Bella." I pressed my lips together.

We stopped in front of her house. Her house that, today, she'd be entering without me. I wondered if I was happy about that. I sat still, waiting for her to leave me.

But she didn't. She sat quietly, still just like me. I could hear her breathing in the quiet. I could hear her heart beating, a little faster than usual. What was she feeling? Why wasn't she leaving?

Slowly, hesitantly, Bella reached toward me. She placed her hand on mine, still on the steering wheel. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding, and suddenly the tightness in my chest eased.

"I'm sorry." I nearly whispered the words. I relaxed my hands, my left coming down to my lap, my right curling around Bella's. I had meant to bring our hands down to my knee, as we'd been doing in biology, but as I released the steering wheel she pulled my hand toward herself, and it was her knee now that our hands rested on.

"Just... talk to me," Bella said. "Tell me what you're feeling."

Still not understanding my own feelings, I searched for something to say - and said the first thing that came to mind. "Bella, do you trust me?"

Bella chuckled a little, the sound warming my chest. "Yes, boy whose car I'm in, who is at my house every day while my guardian is away, and who I'm spending the whole day with tomorrow."

She was mirroring my words from a few days ago. I couldn't help squeezing her hand, and she squeezed back. "I trust you," she said.

I could wade through my feelings a little more easily now. "I think... you were talking about Mike, and Chief Swan, and you've talked so much about Jacob... I want to be the important person in your life."

"You are important," Bella said quietly. "But you aren't the only person. Edward, it's okay for me to want to be able to trust and interact with other people. You're important, but you're not my whole world. Should I be upset that you're close to your siblings and your parents? Should I want to keep you from them for myself?"

The realization flashed through me, and I laughed ruefully. "You're right. How come you have this figured out and I don't?"

"Don't get sad again, but it was probably Jacob." I couldn't help sighing, but I tried to keep my smile. "I wanted him to be everything for me, but he couldn't, and he was upfront about why - and about how it wasn't even healthy." She shook her head. "That's one of the reasons he was against me coming here. He was worried what I might do, with only Charlie as my support."

"So, in a way," I said slowly, "Jacob should be happy that you and I are friends."

Bella laughed. "And I'm so sure he'll see it that way, if he finds out."

I chuckled too at her sarcasm. I loved it when Bella's sass shined through her shell. "And now that we've gotten through that..."

"It's time for me to leave, huh." Bella gave me a rueful smile. "I'm already used to you coming in with me."

I smiled back reassuringly. "I'll be here tomorrow. You just get your sleep."

"Okay." Bella yawned adorably, and I smiled a little wider. "When will you be over tomorrow?"

"When do you want me over?"

Bella considered a moment. "Well, no earlier than Charlie leaves, of course. He's going fishing with some friends."

That should mean he'd be gone pretty early. Would Bella even be up then? I was probably going to be impatient enough that I'd find out.

For the second time that day, Bella's hand slipped from mine. I watched Bella walk up to her door and open it with her key. She turned and waved at me before disappearing into the house. I waved back, disappointed that I wasn't there with her. But it would be worth it to have her all to myself tomorrow.