Author's Note: I know I'm a terrible person. I'm not even going to promise when I'll have the next chapter out. I know we've all heard it a million times but I really was extremely busy. But, I should be writing the chapters quicker since I've got the storyline better planned out than before. Thanks to my ninja beta, VioletWilson. I thought we needed a bit more Edward....

Chapter Seven – Look After You

"Look After You" by The Fray

Bella looked brighter and healthier every day. She walked with a small bounce in her step and her eyes had some depth and life in them. I could still tell she was unsure of trusting herself and everyone else, but she had come a long way from the almost-dead girl on the bathroom floor.

There wasn't much of a change between friendship and a relationship for us. We slipped from one to the other so naturally I knew it was one of those things that was just "meant to be." I already knew that I loved her. It wasn't something I'd ever doubted from the moment I discovered it. I just kept it hidden from Bella. It wasn't that I didn't want her to know, I just wasn't sure if she was ready to know, it had only been a few weeks.

Caution about her general emotional state seemed like a smart idea

"Bella?" I asked.

"Yes?" she smiled and blushed slightly. She still hated the way her cheeks would warm to an adorable pink hue without her control. No matter how many times I told her it was one of my favorite things about her. I knew the power I had over her blush, and I knew that I abused it.

"We're going to need to get out of the car sometime," I smiled.

Bella was so nervous that Charlie would explode the second he found out about us, she decided not to tell him for a while. I had come to the realization that Bella seemed to have a bit of an aversion to conflict. But now, I insisted on letting him know. I didn't like that he still asked about boys with me around and that I couldn't pick her up for a date or say that she looked beautiful.

"Can't we wait a bit longer?" she pleaded, more nervous than she needed to be.

"Nope. He finds out now." she opened her mouth as if she were about to comment. "And yes, thank you, I am well aware that your father owns a gun. No need to remind me. Again."

She groaned as I got out of the car, and still moaned as I opened her door for her.

We walked into the house, Bella stalling with the front key while throwing glances through the curtains. Finally I grew so exasperated that I just took the keys from her hand and unlocked it in one swift movement. She threw me a look but walked in.

Bella led the way into the living room where Charlie sat staring blankly at the TV screen. I pulled her down onto the couch next to me and nudged her side, to urge her on.

"Hey, um, Dad?" she mumbled, looking down at the carpet as though there was something extremely fascinating to be found there.

"Yeah, Bells?" he asked, eyes still glued to the TV.

"Um, Edward and I are, um, going to dinner," she chickened out. I wanted to groan out loud at her cowardice, but I didn't because it would have been rude and secretly I found it adorable.

"On a date," I added. She was never going to get anywhere at the rate she was going.

"What?" that certainly caught his attention, and his eyes zeroed in on my face.

His gazed shifted from me to Bella multiple times. Had he really not noticed when I'd started to pick her up everyday before school? Had he still not noticed when I would stare at her all the time? Had he been so oblivious that he didn't even notice the way I would say her name?

"Well," Charlie seemed to be at a loss for words. "then I'll just take a moment with Edward and you two can be on your way."

Bella made no move to leave the room. "Alone," Charlie added.

"Oh!" Bella jumped up and scurried from the room, throwing me one last pleading look over her shoulder. I knew she would be in the kitchen, she would hear every word we said.

"Well, Edward," Charlie began. "That's my little girl in there, you know that?"

"Yes, sir," I decided it was best for him not to know that this wasn't a new thing.

"And, if you hurt her I'll wring your neck," he almost smiled at the idea of it. Goosebumps rose on my arms. "You know as well as I do what that Newton boy put her through. If I wouldn't have to arrest myself for it, I'd kill him with my bare hands."

"Sir?" I asked. "I know what Mike did to her. I would never do anything like that. I care about her too much to harm her in any way."

"Well, then," I'd obviously caught Charlie off guard with that one. "You have her home by ten then... it's a school night."

"Will do."

Charlie said good-bye and grudgingly turned back to his game. As Bella and I walked out the front door I heard him yell, "And keep your damn hands to yourself!"

- - -

Government was the longest class of the day. Any class without Bella was long enough, but I didn't have any friends or siblings in this class, which didn't help. So then there was nothing to do except listen to the teacher, a last-resort option for me. I could teach this class better than he could, hands down.

I pulled out some sheet music that I'd been scribbling on since I met Bella. The first notes of it had come to me from the hours spent next to her heart rate monitor in the hospital, when I was too worried to think of anything but her and the notes that scrambled through my head.

The beats came unevenly, but they formed the beginning of a song in my head. It played out again and again internally, I could just never capture it just right on paper or on the piano keys.

I moved my left hand across an imaginary keyboard on the surface of my desk as I scribbled. My fingers glided across the invisible keys as I pictured Bella's face in my mind. The music flowed into my head, but I just couldn't find a way to put it onto paper. It was an elusive melody, and I just couldn't seem to pinpoint it.

My hands kept their dance along my desk as I thought furiously.

I was so absorbed in my composition that I didn't notice the conversation that took place just behind me until Bella's name was said.

I was pulled out of my music and listened fiercely.

"She doesn't even look dead anymore. Actually getting pretty hot again."

"I know! She almost looks better than before. Too bad she's attached to Cullen. I'd love to get back together with her if his brother wasn't around to beat me up," Mike Newton's voice caused me to clench my other hand- the muscles that could beat him to a pulp if I was inclined to. My other hand continued it's frantic dance across the desk, the melody wouldn't stop.

"Maybe there's a way to get him out of the picture. Make it look like he cheated on her or something. The way Lauren talks about him, any girl would gladly help us." Tyler's voice said.

"Yeah, that could work." Did they seriously not know that I was seated right in front of them? My hand was almost out of control.

"I guess I'll have to dump Jessica, but Bella is so worth it. I'll text her once we get this together."

"Isn't that a little harsh?" Conner, who had apparently listened to the entire conversation but hadn't said anything so far.

"Nah. It's so much easier. They don't have to worry about crying in front of you, and you don't have to deal with the water works. Win-win situation." Mike assured them.

Wow. How could someone be so heartless to a girl? No wonder Bella was always so surprised when I treated her like gentlemen should treat a girl. Because pigs like Mike Newton got away with treating everyone like crap.

And did Mike really think that Bella would take him back, even if she did (for reasons beyond me) believe I'd cheated on her, which she knows I would never ever do? Mike was the main reason Bella had ever tried to kill herself. I was the only person she could ever talk to about it, but she still was very closed about it, even to me.

I was furious, and Bella's face flashed into my mind. All at once, my hand stopped it's mad scramble and suddenly something fell into place. The bell, like it knew I'd just had an epiphany, rang out, and I was on my feet.

Mike's words rang in my head as I almost ran to lunch. I saw Alice with an arm around Bella, their laughter met my ears in a sweet melody. Just the sound of it seemed to soothe my muscles. It was a strangely physical reaction she had on me.

"Something wrong, Edward?" Alice asked, she noticed easily my suddenly strange demeanor.

"No, nothing's wrong," I smiled, all the while I threw her a significant looks over Bella's head that clearly told her something was.

Alice had already been with Carlisle and Esme when I had joined them. She didn't talk about her past, and it was a rule around the house that we didn't talk about pasts unless the person it involved brings it up. Alice, Emmett, and I all had sad and painful stories that had brought us to Carlisle and Esme, and the happiness we now had.

We were all closely bonded, more than any natural siblings, but Alice and I had a special connection that Emmett just didn't seem to have with me. I could just give her a look and she would know exactly what I was thinking, and vice versa. And right now my look said "Something extremely big just happened."

After Bella and I had kissed, everything in my world had changed, and yet it was exactly the same. She was welcomed into the family, and my life was forever changed.

Rosalie was still icy to her, but I didn't really consider her a close friend. Rose wouldn't say anything because Emmett found Bella hilarious and he wouldn't let Rose be mean to her. Jasper was quiet, but he was always shy, except when he was around just Alice, so I wasn't bothered.

"I missed you," Bella whispered into my ear.

"I missed you, too," I sighed and kissed her forehead. She could never believe the lies Mike might spread. She knew me better than that. And once my plan was carried out, I would make sure she knew it. There would never be a doubt.

I glanced over at the table where Mike sat. Mike, Tyler, and Conner had their heads bent together and were oblivious to everything that surrounded them. They couldn't plot to try to take Bella away from me. It wouldn't work anyway, so I didn't need to worry.

I tried to reassure myself, but a seed of doubt was still planted in my mind. I needed Alice to confirm that it would never work, that Bella wasn't as stupid as to think that I would really cheat on her. I wouldn't be able to talk to her until after seventh period, when Bella had Gym, with Mike. I clenched my jaw at the thought of him, he made me sick.

Like Bella made me happy, Mike made me feel ill.

Everyone else at the table smiled and laughed at some joke I missed. I joined in. Alice sent me a look. She knew that I had no idea what I was laughing at.

I leaned my face down into Bella's hair and breathed deeply. Her scent washed over my senses and worries were quickly forgotten. I whispered, "I love you." But my words were lost as the table burst into laughter. She hadn't heard me, but I sure hoped she knew it.

- - -

I rushed to my piano bench when I got home. In all my fury, the song had poured out of me and I was out of blank sheet music. I'd scribbled it on notebook paper in a hurry.

Once my hands touched the keys, I didn't need the scribbled music. The melody flowed through me, as if it had waited all day to get onto the keys. I played again and again, I added and took away notes here and there. I wrote it out again and again until waded up balls of music littered the entire area around the piano. The rest of my family must have come home sometime, but I wouldn't have known. I was too entranced in my music.

The sun set and the moon moved across the sky as I continued to perfect my lullaby. I stared at the pages of music that were finally perfect. Across the top I wrote, Bella's Lullaby. A grin crept onto my face just at the thought of her.

"Are you still up, Edward?" Esme's voice came from behind me.

"What?" I was jerked out of the trance-like state I must have been in all night. "Oh, yeah. I was working on this song for –for Bella."

"That's so adorable. I'll call the school and tell them that you've got a cold or something. Now, you get your butt upstairs and get some sleep."

I smiled gratefully at her and took the music up to my room where my bed greeted me. Tomorrow, after Bella was out of school, I would play her the lullaby. And, I would tell her that I loved her, and be sure she heard me.

A/N- What did you think? Please, please review. I'll love you forever and ever if you review. Please.