A/N: Sorry for not posting yesterday! I went to my cousins house, and it sort of became an all day affair. I did get my nose pierced though. I'm not Stephenie Meyer. I'm Hannah. It is about 9:10 PM here in Cali ;) lol.

Bella began stirring in her sleep, which woke me up. At first she looked peaceful, with a small smile. My heart melted at the sight. She was breathtaking, even in sleep.

Her smile soon turned into a grimace.

"Get out." She said frantically. I didn't know she talked in her sleep.

I began gently rubbing her arms to try and get her to wake up.

"Sweetheart, you're having a dream." I whispered soothingly into her ear.

"No! Edward!" She shrieked as she woke up.

She began swatting at my arms that were encircled around her.

"Please let me go! Please!" She was obviously disoriented as she began to cry.

"Bella, It's me, Edward. You're okay." I cooed to her as she turned to face me, with tears streaming down her face.

She didn't say anything. At first she put her head hard against my chest and began sobbing.

"Bella, you need to tell me what's wrong. I hate seeing you like this. Please let me help you." I told her. It was the truth.

Every time I saw her hurting I was overcame by a cocktail of emotions: anger, sadness, pugnacity. Mostly I just wanted to protect her.

I don't know what I would do if anything happened to her. I would be nothing.

"Edward, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I caused all of this." She finally squeaked out.

I couldn't understand what she meant. How could something in a dream be her fault?

"Nothing could be your fault Bella, you're perfect." I didn't know what else to say. To me, she was perfect. I couldn't imagine what she was thinking.

"Edward, I don't blame you if you don't want me anymore." She was still sobbing.

"Bella. Don't you ever say that. I will always want you." I said a little more stern than I had meant to. "Please tell me what's wrong, love. I want to help you. I don't want to see you like this anymore." I said softer as I kissed the top of her head.

"It's Jacob." She flinched as she said his name.

I felt rage rise up inside of me. I didn't want him to have anything to do with her ever again.

"What did he do to you?" I practically shouted as I looked her over for new marks and bruises other than the one's he'd already put on her.

She shakily reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper.

"I found this hidden in an application sent to me by a university in California." She said, trying to be calm.

I read over the letter, each word making me grow more and more furious.

"Damn it!" I pounded my fist down on the seat when I was finished. I was seething.

Bella began to cry again. "I'm so sorry, Edward. I should have never involved you in this."

"No Bella, you need to tell me things like this. I would never ever want anything to happen to you. No matter what happens to me." I began rubbing her back lightly as I pulled her close to me again.

"Edward, please don't do anything stupid. I know you're strong, but Jacob's friends…..." She took a second to wipe her eyes. "his friends, especially Sam…they don't care. They will hurt you." She was shaking.

"Bella. You have to tell me if they bother you. I will figure this out. I promise. I won't let them hurt you. And if hurting me, hurts you, then I won't let them hurt me either." The last part was a lie. I would gladly take any amount of pain to keep her safe. No matter how much she didn't like it. I would do anything to make her happy, except let her get hurt for me.

She was silent, looking contemplative. "Bella. Promise me you'll tell me if anyone of them talk to you." I took her face in my hands and tilted it up until she met my eyes.

"I promise." She nodded lightly and I kissed her.

Even with all the bad things going on, her kisses still melted everything away. They were magical. No matter how lightly her lips touched mine.

I leaned in to kiss her again when my phone began beeping.

"Charlie is going to be up in fifteen minutes. I need to get you home." I said reluctantly as I searched for her sweater that I had removed earlier.

Once I found it I wrapped it around her, and my coat from the floor as well.

"Edward, I can't take your jacket, it's freezing and you're only wearing a T-shirt." She complained.

"If you don't wear it, I'm just going to leave it here. So you might as well." I was just as stubborn as she was, but more patient.

"Fine. But promise you'll wear it on the way back." She batted her eyelashes at me. One thing I couldn't do.

"Okay." I grinned at her, and kissed her again.

I opened the car door and stepped out into the frigid morning air. I was glad Bella was wearing two jackets; it was much colder than it had been when we first gotten here.

I helped her out of the car, and we linked hands, slowly making our way back to her house.

I walked her around to the back door, and gave her a kiss that lasted probably longer than it had to, but still not long enough for me.

"I'll be watching out for anything suspicious. Call me immediately if anything happens." I told her seriously.

"Edward. I'll be okay. You need to get some sleep. I promise I'll call you if anything goes wrong." She assured me rubbing her small hands across my face as she handed me back my jacket. I shrugged it on.

"Okay." I began to walk away when I was overcome by a terrible thought. "Bella." I called to her, and she turned back to face me. "Don't stay here alone. The second Alice leaves I want you to either go with her, or have me come over, do you got it?" I felt almost bad for the tone I was taking with her.

"Calm down." She whispered. "I won't stay here alone. You don't have to ask me twice." She tried to make a joke of it, and I smiled lightly.

I made sure that she made it into the house and to her bedroom. She gave me a thumbs up out the window and I started back home.

When I got home the light in the living room was on, and my Dad was sitting in his chair.

"Hi Dad." I muttered. I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, but I was ashamed. What did he think when he saw his son get into the car with a girl? Not only a girl, but a beautiful perfect sweet girl.

"Hello son." He grinned at me, and I knew I couldn't be in too much trouble.

"Dad please let me explain." I started. "Her ex boyfriend was bothering her again, and she got scared, so I let her sleep with me. That's all we did." I had briefed him and my mom about Jacob earlier after my dad had to wrap up my injured hand.

"I know you wouldn't have done anything like that, Edward, or else I have failed you as a father." He was obviously going to use disappointment instead of anger to make me realize the error of my ways.

"However." He began. "I would like her over for dinner soon. Her friend, Alice, as well. Your mother and I would like to meet the girls that have you and Jasper so…taken." He was still smiling. As much as he wanted to punish me, I knew he was glad I found someone in Forks.

I nodded and headed for the stairs. "I'd like you to sit with me for a minute." My dad caught my attention and I made a face before I turned to go back to the seating area.

I sat down across from my father and tried to analyze his face. "Yeah Dad?" I asked innocently, trying to look cute like Bella. Which was foolish.

"What had her so scared? If her Father is the chief of Police, then why does this young man think he can incessantly pester her?" My dad always knew when there was something more.

I had to think over my answer for a moment. I couldn't lie to him, but I couldn't tell him the truth. He was proper, and would probably drive to La Push and have a very passive aggressive discussion with these boy's parents about 'responsibility' and 'parental involvement'.

The sad part is, that it would work. My Father could be sickeningly sweet, which would intimidate anyone. I saw him do it once to a man who tried to steal my mother's purse.

His inflection would be as if he is praising you, while his words would spew nothing but hatred.

"Edward." He broke me out of my thought, and stared at me demanding an answer.

"She doesn't want to tell him because he's friends with Jacob's dad. And she doesn't exactly know who is bothering her now, just that they're doing it for him." I was trying to keep my cool as I told my half truth. The last thing I needed my father to see was how angry I could get.

It was like a constant reminder of why we had to move.

"Oh." He looked like I had given him an answer he didn't expect. "She seems like a nice girl. I just don't understand why someone would do that." He seemed to be getting angry too.

"She is a very nice girl." I conceded, and smiled as I thought of Bella.

"Go to bed, son." My dad smiled back at me.

Once again, I rose and headed to the stairs.

Once I got to my room, I looked out my window to make one quick check on Bella's house.

Everything looked normal so I let my head hit the pillow and fell asleep.

I woke up around 11, which was incredibly late for me. I quickly remembered everything that had happened the night before and grabbed my phone praying that my Bella hadn't been trying to call me to tell me there's something wrong.

I saw that I had a text message from her, and my heart dropped.

Hey. Thanks for everything last night. I'm going to go ahead and go to Alice's house for the rest of the weekend. I hope u sleep well. I'll call you tonight if that's okay.

Bella

My heart slowly started beating again as I took a breath of relief. I began sending her a message back.

Of course u can call me. I'll talk to you later. Be safe, and have fun.

Edward

I was extremely happy that she went with Alice, as much as I would have loved spending the day with her.

If anyone was going to look for her to harm her, they would look here first, not at Alice's.

I had to smile at the thought that some idiot might show up at Bella's empty house, and have to deal with me.

I spent the rest of the day trying desperately to busy myself. I did homework that wasn't due for weeks, helped my mom decide what to do with a garden, played basketball with Jasper.

Finally around 9:30 my phone began ringing.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Bella." She said nervously.

"Bella. I know your voice." I chuckled. "How was your day?"

"It was good. I miss you, though. Alice made me shop." She said in a disgusted tone.

"I missed you too. I'm surprised Alice doesn't still have you shopping." I smiled to myself.

"Nah. She's in the shower, so I finally had a break to call you." She giggled. I loved that sound.

"I'm glad you did. So what time will you be back tomorrow?" I asked her.

"Well actually." She suddenly sounded nervous. "Alice and I are coming to dinner tomorrow night, Jasper said that your parents wanted to meet us. I thought you knew." I could picture her looking down with an adorable blush.

"No. I knew that they wanted you over; I just didn't know you knew. I can't wait." I was a little mad at Jasper for asking her; I wanted to do it myself. I felt like she might think I was trying to keep it from her.

"I'm a little nervous." She admitted.

"Don't be. My parents will love you, I promise." I assured her. I was confident that they would.

"I hope so. But Alice is getting out of the shower, and I need to change into my pajamas." She sounded disappointed.

"Are they sheep pajamas?" I teased.

"Ducks, actually." She giggled.

"Goodnight Bella. I'll see you tomorrow." I said, still chuckling slightly.

"Night. Sleep well."

And with that, she hung up.

A/N: Sorry it was a little bit shorter than usual. Yeah. And that good chapter I promised is coming chapter after next. I changed the path of the story a bit so it wouldn't make sense if I posted it now. I have the rest of the story mapped out finally! Thanks so much! Review?