A/N: Sorry this took so long to get up. I had a hard time trying to figure out what to put in this chapter. This is the shortest chapter I've made and hopefully I'll get the time to try and make it longer. For right now…read and enjoy.

P.S. HAPPY 2009!

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Twilight. The Twilight Saga respectively belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

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Learning to Breathe

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Chapter 4

Encounter

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"Bells? You home?"

He did this every time he came home from work. My guess was to check and see if I came home and didn't wander off somewhere else. Of course he would already know where to look if I wasn't here. I let out a sigh.

"Yeah dad. I'm in the kitchen." I shouted. I was putting his hamburger on the plate and stuffing the rest of the patties in a container and shoved the plastic bowl on the top shelf of the refrigerator. I grabbed the two plates and put the burgers on the table, then turned around for the condiments. Burgers weren't his favorite food but it had been such a long time since I'd made them.

I could hear him putting up his gun belt and kicking his boots off. The soft thud of his feet were echoing down the hall to the kitchen.

"Mmmm…something smells good." he said as he rounded the corner and headed for the table.

"Enjoy." I said as I took my seat and started making my burger. He took his and grabbed for the ketchup.

While I was eating I was thinking of how to coax the subject in of me going off and playing baseball with the Cullen's. I could just lie to him and tell him that me and Alice were going shopping. But if he found out I'd be I big trouble. And if I told him the truth there was a good chance that he would say no.

"Well, no murders were reported today." Charlie said out of the blue. He didn't look up from his food. "But we did find a large Grizzly Bear in the woods between here and Port Angeles. It was killed and then…eaten." I could tell that there was probably more to the story but he didn't feel like telling me the rest while we were eating.

I didn't know anything that was strong enough to take down a grizzly. They were always fierce creatures and could intimidate anything. Then it dawned on me…Emmett. He loved taking grizzly's on. He said they were especially fun when they just woke up after hibernating. But Emmett never actually ate them. So there was something else out there that got it.

I glanced at the clock. Oh shoot. 4:30. I wanted to start getting ready by now.

"Hey dad?" I opened up.

"Yeah?" he asked chewing on a piece of his second hamburger.

"Edward and Alice asked me to come play baseball with their family." he paused the minute he heard Edward. I knew what to expect when I put Edward in the sentence. That's why I added Alice. Surely he wouldn't let Alice down.

He leaned back in his chair and I knew I was taking a big risk asking him this. I guessed I should've just lied. Although he probably wouldn't believe that I was actually looking forward to going shopping with Alice.

"It's Friday and I don't have anything planned." I tried persuading him into thinking that it was a good idea.

"I don't know Bella." he told me scratching the top of his head. "Do you remember what happened the last time you went to play baseball with the Cullen's?"

Of course I remembered. But what he thought had happened was not even half of what really transpired almost two years ago. And he would never find that out. So I tried racking my brain of the story we used. I only nodded trying to hide my emotions of that fateful day.

"It wont happen again." I promised him. He knew how much I loved Edward. He just didn't want to face the fact. Then again what father would want to face the truth that their only daughter was falling in love.

He looked me straight in the eyes as if he were searching for the truth. He heavily sighed, "What time are you supposed to leave?"

I didn't want to get my hopes up in case he was planning to say no, "They're supposed to pick me up at five-thirty." I informed him.

He glanced back at the clock and looked at me again. "Fine, but on one condition." he answered with a catch, "You have to be home before ten."

I got up from the table keeping myself intact. I was happy that he was willing letting me go out and spend time with the Cullens. I took his empty plate and stacked it over mine and put them in the sink to let hot water run over them. I grabbed the condiments and put them in their proper place in the fridge then went back to the dishes. Cleaning them was easy since it wasn't a very gooey dinner then I folded a dry towel and laid it on top of the counter to dry the plates.

Charlie had already made his way to the front room and turned on the T.V. I walked over to the side of his chair, "I'm gonna go get dressed." I told him. He nodded and said okay then started cheering for his team to get the ball.

I ran up the stairs and shut my door. I was going to dress in a pair of jeans and a stripped t-shirt that Alice had gotten me for when I went to play baseball with them. I remembered that she told me a coat wouldn't be necessary tonight. The shirt had a small 'C' embroidered on the top left just above my heart. I could only imagine what it stood for. The jeans were snug and fit comfortably around my thighs and belled over the comfortable tennis shoes I slipped on. I glanced in the mirror and declared myself ready. I spun around in a circle to examine my outfit further.

"I like the shirt." an all too familiar voice reached my ears.

I jumped a little and looked back in the mirror to see him sitting in my rocking chair that was in the corner of my room. He looked like he had been there this entire time.

He smiled at the way I was looking at him in the mirror.

"What?" he asked sheepishly.

I turned around to face him and narrowed my eyes, "How long have you been there?"

That smile was still on his face, "Not long. I heard you dressing earlier and decided not to come in."

He was such a gentleman. Nothing you could find now-a-days. I didn't miss the playful smile that was tugging at his lips, "Uh-huh." I made my way over to him and he pulled me into his lap. "So what are you doing here? I thought you weren't picking me up until five-thirty?"

The smile broke through, "Yes, but I wanted to spend time alone with you."

Time alone with Edward was the best thing in the world but sometimes we were never really alone, "You do know that Charlie is just downstairs right?" I already knew the answer but it still didn't hurt to see if he knew.

"Yes."

"Well, you don't plan on sneaking me out do you?" I knew that he could easily get past Charlie but me…there was just no hope.

"No. Alice is going to come by and pick you up. I heard you discussing with your dad about getting permission to come to the game. So I called her up and asked if she would pick you up."

The little eavesdropper. "So exactly how long have you been here?"

"Just after Charlie got home."

I wondered if he knew about the bear killing. "So did you hear what Charlie said about the bear that was found?"

He looked away like he was disgusted. "Yes. But don't think Emmett was the one that did it. Like your father said it was eaten. Emmett would never eat a bear…well, not in that fashion."

I knew it wasn't Emmett. How could it be?

Just then I remembered, "So what did you do for Math today?" I was curious as to what his answer was.

Confusion swept across his face, "What do you mean?"

I put two of my fingers together and put them to my neck on the carotid in my neck. He figured out where this was leading, "Oh taking pulse in class? I faked it of course."

I knew he faked it. He had to of. No heart beat meant no pulse. "How? I mean how did you know how many were enough to count as a normal pulse rate?"

"Easy." he grinned. "I went off yours." he told me. He took my two fingers off my neck and replaced them with his own. He didn't need to feel my pulse. All he would have to do is listen to my heart. Not right now of course because it was going faster than normal pace. It always went faster than normal when he was touching me.

"Just relax Bella." he whispered to me. I tried to do as I was told and calm myself but I didn't think it was any use. I shut my eyes and tried to think of a river. The fish swimming up the current. The birds chirping in the trees over hanging the water. Sunlight peeking through the little holes of the leaves. It was working. I opened my eyes for a brief second and saw him staring at me with those molten eyes of his. He smiled at me. Well there went all my concentration.

"I don't think my heart will ever stop acting the way it does when you're around me. Unless of course…"

His eyes immediately narrowed at where I was leading, "Bella," he said sternly, "We are not discussing this. Not now."

For once, I decided he was right. We had bigger issues to worry about other than my mortality. I sighed and edged off his lap to stand up. I walked over to the bed and sat down crossing my legs on the mattress.

He exhaled a breath of air, "Bella, please don't be mad at me."

"I'm not mad." Okay, maybe a little.

"Yes you are." He stood up and was standing over me looking down trying to get me to cave in.

"No I'm not." I challenged.

"Fine." yes, victory, "You're not mad. Just stubborn."

I glared up at him and even though I wanted to say I wasn't, I knew he was right. I could be stubborn at times. And this was one of them.

We sat in silence for a moment before Edward broke the silence, "So what do you think is the reasoning for me and Alice's disadvantages?"

I almost forgot to tell him about that. Although after he heard it he would probably think it was crazy, or I was crazy. I started off anyways, "Well, I saw how well your abilities worked on them and then suddenly they just stopped. But did you see that they stopped working when the Mustang pulled into the lot?" from the confusion plastered on his beautiful features, I saw that I needed go into further detail. "What if one of them was causing it when they were in close contact with you and Alice?"

"And by one of them, you mean, Nic, Katie, or Raven?"

I nodded in agreement.

"But if that was the case, wouldn't it affect all of the people they came into contact with and not just them?" He raised one eyebrow and was obviously considering what I was telling him to be true.

"I thought that over and maybe whoever was doing it was doing it purposely for them." now I was starting to make no sense.

Edward looked like he was considering it for a moment and then he turned to the door.

"Bella?" my dad called.

I jumped off the bed and ran to the door. I fumbled with the locked and cracked the door open, "Yeah dad?"

"Alice is here." I looked back to my clock.

5:30

"Right on time." Edward said.

I looked back and he was headed for the window, "I'll be in the car." and he quickly slipped out.

I ran around my room and got my things together. Iran down the stairs nearly tripping on the last one. Great, Bella, tripping and falling already and the game hasn't even started yet. I heard talking coming from the living room. I entered the room to find Alice sitting on the couch the TV turned on mute and Charlie laughing at something Alice must have said. He was laughing so that obviously showed that he was in a better mood.

Alice rose to her feet anxious to go. I saw that she, too, was wearing a stripped shirt that had 'C' embroidered on the sleeves. Her hat had a white 'C' on a dark blue color and her pants were tight blue spandex that ran just a little below her knees. The socks were a bright white that gave a little tint to her pale complexion. The cleats she wore looked brand new and were black in color. Altogether, she looked like a professional baseball player. All she needed was the bat and she was good to go.

"Ready?" she asked me.

"Yep. Let's get going." I told her heading for the door.

"Alright girls, have fun. But if that storm hits you guys I want you to get out of the rain." he encouraged us.

"Will do Charlie. See you later." Alice said as we walked out the front door.

Alice drove the Jeep over here. Figures. I hated trying to find out which buckle belonged where in those seats. Edward rolled the window down and smiled at Alice. He was in the driver's seat ready to go.

"What? Didn't want to go say 'hi'?" Alice teased him while hopping in the back seat.

"Maybe another time."

She snickered at him. I opened the door and Edward grabbed my hand and helped me make the leap from the ground. Once in the seat he helped me put the buckle in the proper place. The rain was starting to drizzle as we left the house.

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We reached the area where the road stopped and parked the Jeep. The rest of the Cullens were already there. Rosalie was sitting in the car brushing her hair to put up in a ponytail. Jasper and Emmett were getting their stuff ready to go. Putting bags over shoulders slipping on cleats. Carlisle and Esme came over to greet us at the car.

"Hope you didn't have to hard of a time convincing Charlie." Carlisle gestured. He knew that my dad could be hard headed. After all where else would I get it from?

"A little bit, but I think Alice was really the one who softened him up." I watched as the little pixie bounded her way over to Jasper and Emmett. "By the way, I have a theory that I think will help out with our dilemma with the new kids at our school, but we can discuss it after the game."

He nodded and turned around to face the rest of his family and Esme followed, "Alright, lets get going."

Edward crouched down for me to get on his back. Once on we started running ahead of the others. They were close behind us now but it was hard to tell because I couldn't even hear their feet hitting the ground. I had look back every-now-and-then to make sure they were still there. This was one of those times that I wished I was a vampire, that way I wasn't dragging Edward down by having to carry me. Even though he would tell me that, carrying me was like lifting a back pack to him, it would still be nice to run next to him rather than being hauled on his back.

The breeze was nice tonight. Crisp and refreshing. It felt good against my skin, although I knew my hair would be a mess when my feet were back on the ground. I listened to the sound of Edward's even breathing, and every once in a while his foot would land on a dry leaf. Trees were passing by us in blurred lines. I heard thunder start to roll over the earth and knew that the game would start soon. As I listened further there was something else in the distance. The sound of snapping jaws and loud growling. Edward immediately slowed.

"Carlisle." he glanced around me toward his father.

"It's probably just a couple of bears fighting." Carlisle told him, which was probably true being out here in the woods.

"Well, if it's a couple of bears," Emmett said catching up to us, "then they'll easily scare away once they see me."

We were still running toward the noise and then I felt a low rumble in Edward's chest. We reached the edge of the clearing and all of us immediately stopped. Edward set me down on my feet and pulled me tight to his side, shielding me from something. All of the vampires tensed when a loud growl and then the sound of something smacking together were emitted.

Just then and dark colored creature bounced into our view, hitting the ground hard, and then bouncing out of our sight. It didn't look like it did it on purpose. It looked like it was thrown. But what was it?

Another creature stalked into our view and I gasped. It stopped dead in it's tracks. I froze and Edward tightened his grip around me.

It had four muscular legs with giant paws, and on those paws were sharp black claws. It had a long lean body and looked like it stood about five feet from where I was standing. But I was just guessing. A long almost whip-like tail shifted from side to side behind it. Two spikes jutted out from the joints on it's legs and four came out on the tip of it's tail. On it's head were two horns and in the middle of those horns was what looked like a shield that grew from the top of it's head. Tiny triangle-shaped ears swiveled to listen in our direction. The light hit it's fur and if I didn't know any better, I'd say it was dark blue in color.

Then I felt déjà vu sweep over me. I quickly whispered to Edward, "That's the thing that Katie was drawing." He didn't look down at me but it looked like he realized it too.

"No, it's not her."

I glanced up at him. Apparently there was an unspoken question. That or I was too fear ridden to comprehend anything at the moment.

Edward growled as the creature started swiveling it's body to face us. And apparently it didn't like being growled at. It lowered it's head, pinned it's ears back, and shifted into a crouched position. My breathing hitched when it's lips wrinkled over it's muzzle. Pearl white teeth were now being shown to us and two of those teeth were longer than the others. Fangs. Deadly, sharp fangs. I don't even think vampire skin could withstand them. A low, but loud growl reached my ears and I realized it wasn't from Edward or one of the Cullens. It came from the throat of the creature in front of us. Edward shifted in front of me so that I was slightly shielded from view of this being. I was now utterly and horrifically terrified for our lives.

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A/N: Like I said it was short. I hope by now you realize I love cliff hangers. They're a lot of fun…for me at least.

I have Katie's drawing up on my DeviantArt here (put blubug125(dot)deviantart in front of the (dot)com): .com/art/Katie-s-Drawing-107495807

As Always please read and review. Also I'd like to know what you think is going to happen next. Until next time guys.