Thanks to my lovely beta MeSh17, who had lots of feedback on this chapter! And as always, thank to Ms Meyer for permission to play in her sandpit.

Published Tuesday 12/6 3:10ish PM AEST. 1640 words.

It's a bit short, but on the upside, it's less than a week AND I've already sent the next chapter to my beta!


Chapter Thirteen – Meeting

"You told her," Edward accused as Jasper walked in the door.

He'd gone for a quick hunt after leaving Bella's. He hadn't been that close to a human for any length of time in, well, ever, and it had taken its toll. He would have hunted for longer in fact, but Alice had texted as he left Bella's saying Carlisle needed him home soon.

He hadn't wanted to leave Bella at all, but Charlie had come home, and given that Bella was supposed to be sick it hadn't seemed appropriate to stay. He'd introduced himself to Charlie—he did hope he'd be in the house more frequently now—and given his excuse of dropping off the soup on behalf of Esme.

Bella hadn't had a chance to ask any more questions—not about his cold skin, nor how he'd known she was grieving his death just then, nor why he hadn't known her at first. He knew she'd ask them later, and he still didn't know what he'd say.

"I didn't tell her what we are, just—that I'm me," he replied to Edward's accusation.

Carlisle sighed. "That's enough though, isn't it?" He asked. The whole family was gathered, waiting to interrogate him. "She'll be asking questions now. We usually move on if anyone gets suspicious. Or even more than passingly curious. She's beyond that."

"She's not just anyone!" Jasper flung back. "She's Bella! She's mine!"

He could feel Esme's sympathy, Carlisle's concern, and Edward's disapproval, but above all he could sense Alice's excitement—he looked at her and saw her glazed eyes. She was having a vision and she liked it. His eyes flicked back to Edward, who was radiating even more disapproval, but it was tempered with a hint of relief. What did that mean?

"You've decided!" Alice crowed.

"I have?"

"You're going to tell her! You must have decided because I've seen it! And it's going to be fine Jazz! She'll be fine with it."

"You'll change her?" Esme asked.

"I—yes. If she wants it. If she'll have me." He hadn't thought he was sure, but suddenly he knew he was. It would be her choice, but if she was willing... "Only when she's ready though," he added.

"Of course she'll have you!" Alice said. "She's only been waiting all her life for you!"

"You've seen it?" he asked eagerly, "You've seen her changed?"

"Well, no, I haven't actually seen her as a vampire—I can't see that far ahead with her—but I can tell you she'll accept you for what you are. She loves you, Jazz. Finding out you're a vampire isn't going to change that."

"It would be problematic to do it in Forks though, I do realise that," Jasper said, hoping he was addressing both Edward's disapproval and the concern he felt from Carlisle. "She'd likely want to go to college first anyway, so I think there'll be time to worry about logistics later."

Carlisle interrupted then. "In the meantime, we have a more immediate concern," he said. "I asked you to come home tonight because we've had a call from the Quileutes. They've asked to meet us at the boundary line tonight. Alice said you would be hunting so I put them off until 10pm. I suspect your talents will be useful."

.

The Cullens waited silently, and Jasper allowed his senses to reach out as he heard the Quileutes approach.

A tall, burly young man carried Billy Black in his wheelchair, seemingly with little effort. He was followed by a woman Jasper presumed to be Sue Clearwater, as it had been her late husband, Harry, who'd met with them previously. Flanking them were four enormous wolves, two on each side. He wondered idly why there were so many of them in this generation, as he knew there were only three when Carlisle had lived here previously. Presumably, the man carrying Billy was also a wolf, perhaps even the alpha, if his position immediately beside Billy was an indication.

"Thank you for coming," Billy started, addressing Carlisle. "There are two things we need to discuss."

"Of course," Carlisle replied. "What can we help you with?"

"They are two completely separate issues, but equally important to our treaty," Billy began. "Firstly, our boys have been detecting the presence of others of your kind around the reservation. Are they friends of yours?"

"I'm not aware—" Carlisle looked questioningly at Alice but included the whole family in his question. "Is anyone expecting company?"

Alice was frowning, confused. She mustn't have seen anything then, he thought. Edward gave a slight shake of his head, probably responding to a question Carlisle had asked in his mind, as everyone responded verbally in the negative.

"Are they certain it's vampires they've detected?" Carlisle asked. Edward nodded his head very slightly at the same time the wolves growled.

"We're certain." The young man stepped forward. "We haven't met, he said. I'm Sam Uley. I'm the alpha of the pack, and I can assure you, it's vampires we've been scenting. There's no mistaking it." His lips turned up in a sneer. "So far no dead bodies have shown up, but if they keep coming around, I'm sure it's only a matter of time."

"We wanted to ensure they weren't affiliated with you," Billy said, "but also to warn you. We will destroy any red-eyes we come across."

"We understand," Carlisle said. "We're certainly not aware of who it could be."

"How long since you first detected them?" Jasper asked. "And how many are there?" He hated that he was away from Bella right now—or at all—but the idea that there could be rogue vampires around...

"It's been two weeks since we found the first trail," Sam said, "and there are two of them. Not always together."

"Would you be willing to show one of us where their trail crosses the boundary line?"

"So you can warn them about us? I don't think so," Sam sneered.

"I was thinking we could see if we recognise them, and if not, make sure they know this area is protected and off limits," Jasper replied, impatiently.

"We'll consider it," Billy said firmly.

"And that brings us to our second concern."

Jasper could feel that Billy was both anxious and angry about something. Nervous about bringing it up with the Cullens, perhaps, but feeling self-righteous about whatever it was too.

"It has come to our attention that a human has been spending time with you. Not only has she been to your house, but there are multiple vampire scents around hers."

"Yes," Carlisle said. "Bella Swan, has become important to our family." Jasper wasn't sure if he was pleased or angry that Carlisle claimed her for all of them, without acknowledging Jasper's specific claim.

"Not acceptable," Billy stayed baldly.

Jasper couldn't hold back his growl at that. He could feel the mix of fear and anger it elicited from the Quileutes, but he couldn't be worried by that. Bella was meant to be with him.

"The Swans are practically a part of this tribe," Billy continued, "they do not need vampires hanging around their home. If nothing else, I think you'd agree that it makes their house a more...interesting target for any nomadic vampires passing through. I assume your kind can identify other vampire scents as easily as the wolves?"

It was true, Jasper realised, his concern growing. If there were other vampires around, he needed to get back to her.

"We will ensure no harm comes to the Swans," Carlisle said calmly.

"Don't be ridiculous," Sam said scathingly. "Are you going to have someone constantly watching them? You didn't even know there were other vampires in the area!"

"Your children," Billy sneered the word, "may play at being teenage school students, but we all know that's a mockery. They do not need to be befriending the teenage population of Forks!"

"Nonetheless, Bella has become close to some of them, and our treaty makes no provisions for you to interfere with that," Carlisle said firmly.

There was a growl from one of the wolves at that response, and Billy Black looked equally furious.

Jasper sent out some calm, although he was struggling with his own feelings of panic now, imagining what could happen to Bella in his absence.

Carlisle quickly added, "However your points about our presence at her house are well taken. We will discuss the best way to approach her safety. Let me assure you that keeping her safe is paramount to us."

"Then you'll leave her alone!" Black all but growled.

"We'll discuss it," Carlisle said. "In the meantime, if one of the pack would show us the unknown vampires' trails, perhaps we can at least eliminate that threat."

Jasper knew he'd used the word "eliminate" deliberately, but also that Carlisle would never agree to permanently eliminate anyone—including a red eyed vampire—unless he felt there was no other choice. When James had decided to go against them the previous year, recognising Alice as the "prey that got away", his death had become inevitable. But even then, Carlisle had struggled with the need.

"We'll discuss it," Black echoed. "I believe we are done here." He gestured to Sam, who lifted him, chair and all, and turned to leave, with no further comment.

"Let's go," Jasper said impatiently.

None of them spoke again until Edward assured them they were out of the wolves' hearing range.

"I have to go back to Bella's," Jasper said then. "They weren't wrong that our scents there could make her a target."

"Agreed," Carlisle said. "Edward, Alice, why don't you run a perimeter around Forks and see if you come across any foreign scents. If not, we'll expand the search to just outside the Quileutes' territory. Let's not wait to see what they decide."


A/N

Recs:

An old but fabulous fic—you've probably all read Windchymes' stories already, but if you haven't, you should. So—

Distractions, by Windchymes (along with pretty much anything else she's ever written). She's a fabulous writer, and I think I'm not misremembering that she's Australian too, so added bonus. :) I think she's pretty much a strict Edward-Bella fan though. /s/5759303/1/Distractions

Summary: An unexpected discovery and Bella realises Edward lied when he left her. She is determined to find him, but as she searches she finds there is more to Edward Cullen than she ever realised.

Also, here's a fun little one-shot from my Favs list:

The Warmth of the Earth by Mrstrentreznor s/12079578/1/The-Warmth-of-the-EarthIt's Bella-Sam. Summary: Sam thinks that maybe Bella Swan got lost after they saw her in the clearing with Laurent. She's done that before, right? New Moon AU

(January 2020 - as I type it's been months since I updated, but if you are reading this now, just so you know, I am still working on it, and plan to start publishing again when I have the rest all completed. It's not abandoned.)