A Talk Between Fathers

[Of course, all characters belong to Ms. Meyers. This chapter is based on Eclipse, after Bella hits Jacob for kissing her. Would really appreciate your review! -- Thanks, Kelli]

Chapter 4: Shopping

Edward Cullen

Bella picked up a calligraphy kit, filled with colored inks, paintbrushes and heavy paper. "I think I'll get this for Angela's birthday."

I nodded. I can't help being amused at the amount of time Bella had taken to make her selection, agonizing over the choices as if a life depended on it.

"Do you want to look at the men's clothes?" Bella asked.

"Me? Buy my own clothes?" I checked her face. A faint smile hovered around Bella's mouth. Relieved that she wasn't serious, I added, "No way. I'm too scared of Alice."

Bella tilted her head. "Maybe I'll buy you something then. I'm thinking lavender."

I groaned theatrically.

"Pink?" Then she giggled.

"What?"

"The look of horror on your face."

She stood on tiptoe and I bent down for her kiss. The touch of her soft lips, their warmth always moved me. Her scent, always so enticing, the pleasure of it overrode the burn in my throat.

"Shall we look at the music?" I deliberately checked my watch. "Then we'll have to leave. We don't want to upset Charlie by breaking his curfew."

"Right." Bella flipped through her stack of coupons. "Here it is. Thirty-percent off one CD."

It took me some effort to keep from sighing out loud. Bella and her money issues. With the advent of the Internet and downloadable music, I rarely had any need to visit a store and the tempting variety of humans wandering around in it. In any case, this kind of store, with its limited selection of music held no interest for me. It was much more fun following Bella, watching her face as she pondered her choices. I wasn't sure yet if she censored her choices when I was with her. I'd hate that. It'd mean that she was afraid of my opinion. As if I'd ever say anything that demeaned her taste. Trust issues, even now. I had to suppress another sigh.

Bella had a pair of the store's earphones on, sampling some tracks, when a loud voice intruded through the usual background of noises in my head. A male voice, cold, angry, determined. Thoughts full of murder and money, humiliation and revenge. Headed our way.

No. Headed toward Bella, the danger magnet.

I plucked the headphones off her head, snatched her purchases out of her hands and tossed them on the closest counter. I put a hand under her arm and started dragging her away.

"Edward! What are you doing?"

She made a futile effort to grab the calligraphy kit.

"We have to get out of here now," I hissed at her. "Don't fight me, or I swear I'll throw you over my shoulder and carry you out."

I wasn't sure why Bella listened to me. Maybe she heard the sincerity in my voice. Maybe it was fear of public humiliation. It didn't matter, she stopped pulling away. I hustled her to the back of the store to the storeroom, ignoring the startled comments of the employees. An alarm went off when I pushed open the door at the loading dock. Hopefully it would summon security. They would need it.

Eager to leave the area as soon as possible, I resisted the idea of slinging Bella onto my back and just running away. I didn't dare. Too many security cameras all over the parking lot. All I could do was keep fast-walking, half-dragging Bella along as we cornered the building. We were at the Volvo when the first shot rang out.

She didn't hear it.

"It's started," I said, waiting until we were speeding out of the parking lot. I didn't want to tell her, but she would have been even angrier with me than she already was if I didn't when she found out about it later.

"What's started?"

"A man with a gun. Planning on robbing the office." No need to tell her that the man was planning on gunning down one of the managers.

"Couldn't you have-" Bella cut herself off. She sighed. "No. I guess you couldn't."

"Not in such a public place. Besides, I don't know what would happen if there was any kind of struggle." It wasn't something I wanted to talk about, but Bella needed to know. "Too many things could go wrong. If there was any blood. If I lost my temper. If someone sees something they shouldn't have and it comes to the attention of the Volturi."

"Got it."

The sadness in her voice bothered me. I'd warned Bella that I wasn't the good guy. "Tomorrow I'll go back and get the calligraphy kit."

"No." Her voice softened when she added, "Sorry. Didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that'd give me a creepy feeling. Think I'll get her a gift certificate from Michael's instead."

"May I take you?"

She must have heard the uncertainty in my voice.

"I'd like that."

A surge of relief. She wasn't angry with me. I gave her a smile.

She leaned on my shoulder. "It wasn't your fault. You were just protecting me from my bad luck. I just feel bad about the other people stuck there."

What could I say? I'd play vigilante once. It'd nearly destroyed me. Even wanting to save lives instead of take them, my nature made me an unreliable hero. I wasn't safe.

We were close to her house now. I decided to push my luck. "May I stay tonight?"

"Tonight and every night."

I smiled. The last of my anxiety washed away by the desire in her voice.

----------

Carlisle Cullen

I'd refused to meet Charlie at his office in the police station. He rejected an invitation to my office at the hospital. We settled for meeting at the diner again. Charlie had requested that I bring a laptop. The request alarmed me, but I acquiesced.

Then Charlie asked to meet immediately, but I didn't dare. Edward was in class and wouldn't be able to answer his phone, not even to text me a message. Fortunately, I had a legitimate excuse, I'd be in surgery the rest of the day. We agreed to meet early tomorrow.

Alice hadn't been able to help. She'd warned me that not meeting Charlie would have worse outcomes than if I did meet with him. Unfortunately, she couldn't tell me what he planned to show me. I left a message for Edward to meet me at home. He was waiting for me in my office. Assuming that he'd read my mind, I didn't waste any time. "Tell me what happened."

Edward frowned. "You already know. You fixed Bella's hand after she punched Jacob."

"Go over it again. Step by step. Perhaps we missed something."

Sighing, Edward complied. He recounted the events, the conversations. Then paused. He tilted his head to one side as if considering things in another light.

I sat back and waited.

"I was distracted at the time from thinking about what Charlie was saying," Edward said. His brow furrowed. "Now I see that Charlie does know, consciously, that there's something different about me. He acknowledged that I'm dangerous."

"Tell me."

"I'd gone to pick up Bella to bring her here so you could look at her hand. Charlie tried to stop Jacob from coming out to confront me. Charlie warned me, not Jacob, to not get into a fight, asked me if he needed to put on his badge to make it official. Then as Jacob went to follow us outside, Charlie asked him 'What are you doing? Are you crazy?'. That's pretty clear, yes?"

"Unfortunately, I have to agree. Jacob is almost a foot taller, has the build of a weightlifter and looks like he outweighs you by at least seventy pounds." Carlisle shook his head. "Please stand up."

Following my thoughts, Edward stood without protest, keeping his face expressionless. I stood as well, tried to look at him as if he were a stranger.

Tall, a slim build, shoulders a trifle slouched. His face was composed of sharp angles with wide-set, brilliant eyes heavily fringed with dark lashes that matched his eyebrows. Chiseled cheekbones, an aquiline nose and a somewhat sulky mouth, a dimpled chin. Yes, his son was handsome, as all vampires were, but if Edward were human, no one would assess him as dangerous.

"It appears that Charlie isn't as oblivious of your nature as he seemed to be." I said. "Or he wouldn't have been concerned that Jacob would be the one getting hurt in a fight. This isn't good news."

"I know." Edward gave a tight smile. "He dislikes me enough that he wouldn't have warned me to be careful if he thought I'd be the one to be hurt in a fight."

"I'm sorry. I know it'd be easier for you and Bella if Charlie liked you."

Edward shrugged. "He can't forgive me for hurting her."

What could I say to that? I knew Edward continued to despise himself for what Bella had suffered when he'd left her. "This episode doesn't account for the tone in Charlie's voice. He sounded too pleased, too happy."

"Sorry Carlisle, I don't have any idea what else it could be."

"All right. Thank you." I added, "Please stand by with Jasper tomorrow morning as before. We're meeting at seven."

"I'll tell Jasper."

"Tomorrow then. Goodnight." Good night was a human word, but since my son would be spending the rest of the night with Bella, it seemed appropriate.

"Goodnight." Edward grinned at me, reading my resignation at his unwise, nightly choice.

----------

Charlie managed to get us a table in a corner. One that offered us some privacy. I didn't need Jasper's abilities to sense his impatience. He had cups and a carafe of coffee waiting.

"Doc, thanks for coming." He held out his hand.

"Of course." I looked at his hand. If he was going to keep forcing these meetings on me, I'd had to come up with a permanent solution to the handshaking problem. "I apologize Charlie, but as a surgeon I don't like to shake anyone's hand. I hope you're not offended."

"Nah, I understand."

We sat down.

"Thanks for bringing your computer. Would you start it up?"

While it was starting, I asked. "What is this about?"

"You'll see."

The gloating tone in his voice increased my apprehension.

"It's all set up. You just need to hit play." He handed me a DVD.

The video was a series of clips from a store. Edward and Bella shopping. Well, Bella shopping with Edward trailing her. Not unlike a lot of other couples. Except for Edward's complete focus on Bella. His eyes rarely strayed from her. I had to assume that Charlie saw the way that Edward positioned himself, always between Bella and anyone approaching. Bella seemed oblivious of it. I wondered if Charlie could see the softness on Edward's face as he watched her. He tucked Bella's selection under an arm and followed her to the music department.

Bella was listening to music when Edward went on alert. His face went rigid, hard. Confusion, annoyance flickered over Bella's face, then her expression changed to concern as Edward tossed her purchases and began dragging her away. Short clips from different angles followed their progression Edward had her out of the store in under two minutes.

"He snapped. Look at what he did. How he treated her. Tossing her things away. Dragging her outside." Charlie's voice was impassioned. "I told you, he's trying to control everything she does, every decision she makes."

That Edward hasn't told me about this incident meant that he'd considered it too trivial to mention. "What night was this?"

"Four days ago."

"Bella was at my home with Edward yesterday. She didn't seem upset with him."

"'Cause she's not thinking right." Charlie threw up his hands. "I know that."

"Have you asked Bella about this?"

"We can't talk about him." Charlie leaned forward. "If Bella was your daughter, would you want her to have a boyfriend who treated her like she was his property?"

Again, I couldn't help feeling sorry for Charlie. He knew too much about domestic violence, about abusive relationships. I could even understand why he interpreted Edward's actions the way he did.

"No, I wouldn't," I said. I kept my voice calm. Met his eyes. "And because I know my son, I know he wouldn't act as he did without some compelling reason. What happened at the store?"

Charlie blinked.

Ah, I'd guessed right.

"What difference does that make?" Charlie asked.

"Because Edward obviously was reacting to something he saw, or heard."

Charlie's lips pressed together. Reluctant. Finally, he said, "An attempted robbery. Fortunately, no one got hurt. But Edward couldn't have known about it."

I shrugged. "Something must have alerted him that something was going on. In that light, his actions make perfect sense, don't they? He wanted to make sure Bella was safe. And he did."

He grunted.

I considered commenting on his own behavior, spying on his daughter, but thought better of it. Pointing out the problems with someone's own actions rarely worked out well. I stood up. "Charlie, I'm sorry that you're still worried about their relationship. All I can do is repeat what I've said before. Edward would never deliberately hurt Bella." I gave him a nod and left.

----------

The meeting with Edward and Jasper was brief. Edward added more details to what had happened at the Target store. As I'd suspected, he hadn't considered it worth mentioning.

Jasper was clearly worried. "This isn't good news. What else might he have been doing? Guess I'll have to bring Jenks in to start tracking the chief's actions. See if he's trying to research us."

"But you don't want to," Edward said.

"No, I don't. Giving Jenks Charlie's name would tell him too much. He'd know it'd be a personal connection. It'd give him an ability to track us down."

"You think Jenks is a danger?" I was surprised to hear it.

"He likes to have an edge on his clients. He wouldn't be able to resist the chance to learn more about us."

"Then let's not bring him in," I said. "Maybe we should Alice to help keep an eye on Charlie?"

"Sure," Jasper said. "But she's already trying to track so many things."

I nodded. Alice did already had so many responsibilities. I hated to ask more of my children, but there was more we could do to protect our family. "Maybe we need someone in the family to learn new skills. Be able to do this kind of tracking ourselves."

Edward and Jasper exchanged glances. Edward shook his head in answer to Jasper's unspoken question.

"Okay. I'll do I," Jasper said. "I'll see if Alice wants to learn too."

"Thank you. Let me know what you need."

Jasper nodded, face solemn.

Edward nudged Jasper. "I'll buy you a trench coat and a fedora."

Jasper laughed. "No thanks."

I loved hearing them laugh together. Be comfortable together. Jasper has come so far from where he started when he first joined our family. He actually likes Edward now.

"I have to go," I said. "Tonight we can talk about your new hobbies."

I could hear the groans behind me as I left.

Tonight's family meeting was going to be amusing.