I had to take this opportunity to go back to my place without Bella to discuss certain things with Carlisle. I got into my car and speeded towards my house. Within short time, I finally arrived to see Alice standing out front alone. I already was aware she knew most of the situations of today, so I only looked at her once before getting out of the car. She didn't move from the front of the house and I tried to walk past her. "I'm glad that wolf kid didn't get into a fight with you. That would have been a disaster for our peace keeping treaty." Alice said stopping me from opening the door. I turned to look at her with an irritated face and she returned my look with a smile. I looked away and turned the knob of the door. "Carlisle will be behind that door in just a few seconds. You can talk to him out here at this point." Alice said stopping me once more. I didn't look at her. I just let go of the knob and walked back a few inches. Carlisle opened the door and stepped out in front of me. "What is it that you wanted to discuss, Edward?" Carlisle asked. I looked back at Alice with irritation again.
"Sorry." She said with a smile but not looking directly at me.
"It's about our hunt for Victoria and the problem of who claims this bounty." I said slightly angry. "We've been through this already, Edward. If the others find her first, we are not to intervene. In such a case that we happen to run into her, we'll make sure to claim the bounty." Carlisle said in a serious tone. "And if something should complicate things? In such a situation that both our sides run into her at the same time?" I asked curious. "That would complicate things very much, but we'll have to give the bounty to the others at that point." Carlisle said with a resentful tone. "But why?" I asked half confused. "You know as well as I do that the others can be very unstable in their transformation. As you've seem to found out through that kid." Carlisle said looking towards Alice for revealing that detail. Is there anything she can't just ignore? "It seems as we're standing here, those dogs are searching for Victoria right now." I said blankly. "So it appears." Carlisle said with slight annoyance. "I guess we'll halt our search party for another time then?" I asked. "We'll get right on it tomorrow. Alice has clearly seen it as a perfect day to do so." Carlisle said with a smile. I waved my hand in the air and slightly turned my focus behind me.
"Hey, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper." I said as they appeared.
"Hey, where's Bella?" Emmett asked. "She's at home recovering from an incident." I said while throwing a glare in Alice's direction. I expected her to talk, but she didn't say a word. All she did was walk up to Jasper and they both walked in our direction. Carlisle and I moved away from the front door as Jasper and Alice entered the house. Emmett wanted to ask about the incident, but Rosalie guided him inside. Carlisle followed suit and so did I. "Those hounds make it pretty difficult to hunt for food." Jasper complained. "They are a real pain in the thirst." Emmett joked lightly. "It's not something we can't work around, guys." Rosalie said annoyed with their complaints. Carlisle made his way upstairs and I just leaned on the wall nearest me. I had a lot to think about at this moment, but my thoughts focused around the real problem here. Jacob Black. Bella still seemed convinced she can hold a steady friendship with that immature dog. I made it my personal mission to prove her wrong at this point. Nothing good was to come of this, but Bella seemed too stubborn to listen to reason. As if I didn't put her in enough trouble… she has to keep seeking out that wolfs audience.
"Something bugging you?" Jasper said breaking my concentration.
"There is a lot bugging me right now, Jasper." I said frustrated. "I can provided help if you need it." Jasper said quick glancing to Alice. I knew right then that Alice told him what happened between Jacob and me, but I didn't care to get angry with that at this point. "No thanks. This is something I have to convince Bella of on my own." I said waving my hand lightly to shake off some irritation of the problem. "I wasn't talking about helping you with Bella. I was talking about that over-excited canine." Jasper corrected. "I wish." I laughed a little. Jasper smirked and patted my shoulder with his hand. He lightened my mood and I was sure that was his intention as he walked off back to Alice. "Bye Edward." Alice said waving in my direction. I was confused as to why she said bye, but then I realized that Bella wasn't in her best of moods right now. "Bye." I said blankly as I left the house. I got into my car and made my way to Charlie's. I made sure to not park close enough to get my car spotted. I got out and stopped to turn my head behind me. Immediately I turned around and readied myself for any unwanted situation. "I'm not here for that." Jacob said frustrated. "Then what brings you in front of me?" I demanded.
"Oh like you already don't…" Jacob cut himself off before reminding me of my ability.
"I'm here to apologize for what happened before." Jacob said reluctant. "Apology accepted." I said with an angry tone. Jacob wanted to say a lot more in anger, but he just turned around and ran into the forest. I shut my car door and made it to Bella's window. Charlie was already asleep in his room, but Bella was lying down with her eyes open. I knocked lightly on the window and Bella shot up looking in my direction. She waved her hand and signaled me to come in. I entered and shut her window behind me. "I thought I'd take a more civil approach to entering your room." I joked lightly. Bella slightly smiled and resumed her lying down position. I walked up to her bed and took the same position. Bella didn't seem eager to hug me this time as she kept to herself looking directly at the roof. I turned over and leaned towards Bella. "Is this something we have to discuss?" I asked. Bella took her focus off the roof and looked at me with eager eyes. "It might help." She whispered. "I'm sorry you had to see that, Bella. It wasn't very wise of me to allow you to go near him in his state." I said blaming myself. "Can't you blame me for once?" She said annoyed. "No. None of this was your fault. I allowed you to see him." I clarified. Bella looked at me with sad eyes. "I don't like when you blame yourself for my decisions." She said while getting up slowly. She initiated the kiss this time as she pulled away slowly. "What was that for?" I asked smiling. "I need something to distract me." Bella said while breathing heavy and lying back down. I waited for her to calm herself before I spoke again.
"So that wolf ran into me again." I said with slight annoyance in my tone.
Bella sat up quickly with a shocked expression. I re-positioned myself with her. "You didn't let me finish." I said annoyed. Bella's tension lightened a little when I said that. "He came to me directly to apologize for his behavior." I said finishing my story. "He said sorry?" She said confused. "The leader of his pack told him to. I did nothing threatening to provoke him and he was forced to apologize for his actions." I said with a serious tone. "You read his mind, didn't you?" Bella said annoyed. "I'm sure he knew I was reading his mind. He kept his apology brief and ran off when I accepted it." I said while looking at Bella's face. I knew it was late at this point because Bella's eyes were finding it hard to stay open. "Maybe you should get some rest now. We can talk more about this tomorrow." I assured her. Bella nodded in agreement as she smiled convincingly at me since before our Jacob ordeal. Bella fell asleep quickly, but she wasn't in any mood for contact with me today. I kept my distance as she slept calmly, but I knew after what she'd seen recently was about to bother her sleep again. Sure enough she started to turn in frustration with her eyes squeezed tightly together. "Jacob… I'm sorry." Bella mumbled slowly.
"Don't… Edward…no." She continued to mumble while turning her body again.
She went quiet after that, so I assumed that part of her dream had passed. I waited next to her as she slept quietly again for the next several hours. Around that time, I noticed the sky was getting dimly lit blue and it was 7 in the morning through Bella's clock. "Stop… NO!" Bella yelled as she jumped off of her bed and fell forward completely. I got around to catching her by her shoulders before she could hurt herself. Her yell wasn't quite so loud because she was entirely much too tired to muster the strength, but I knew she wanted to yell so much louder. Charlie didn't awake, so that was a plus on our part. Bella looked up at me slowly with tears in her eyes. "It was just a nightmare." I said slightly shaking her. She didn't say anything as I pulled her to hug me. "…I shouldn't let this get to me." Bella said slowly. I shook my head in disagreement as I pulled Bella away from me slowly. "None of this is your fault, Bella. You're only human. It's Jacob's fault. If he hadn't acted the way he did, maybe today would have turned out fine." I said with an angry tone. Bella seemed surprise that I wasn't taking the blame for this one, but her eyes still burned with agony. "Please don't hate Jacob. I really want to remain friends with him… and you." Bella said while placing her hands on my chest. "There's no way this can work out for the better. You know that." I said while lightly gripping her hands on my chest. "I still have to try." Bella said sincere.
"Since it seems that you are officially awake, I will wait for you to get ready." I smiled.
Bella nodded and walked out of the room. I waited as usual and then she returned to her bedside where I remained standing in her direction. Bella sat down on her bed and I sat next to her. "So, how is today going to work?" Bella asked curiously. "We're going hunting today. Alice has seen it to be the perfect time to do so." I said with a slight smile. Bella didn't look surprised as she grabbed my hand lightly. "Thirst?" She asked concerned. "You could say that." I said blankly. Bella looked at me oddly and let go of my hand. "Something else?" Bella asked more concerned. "Victoria." I said with anger in my voice. Bella's eyes widened as she began to show signs of panic. I grabbed Bella's hand this time to comfort her. "Look Bella, I told you not to worry about us. We can handle it." I assured her. Bella started to compose herself as she returned my grip with her hand. "Who is going with you?" Bella asked still worried about me. "Carlisle, Emmett, and Jasper." I responded with no expression. Bella's mood lightened up a little when I said who was going with me.
"Where will I be during all of this?" Bella asked.
"You'll be with Esme, Alice, and Rosalie at our house awaiting the outcome". I answered. Bella proceeded to get up from her bed and I did the same. "So… we'd better get to your place then." Bella said still with worry. I sighed and made my exit out of the house to her front door again. I knocked and she came downstairs slowly. Charlie was finally awake with my knocking because I made sure my pound would reach his ears. It wouldn't make much sense to not let him know we were leaving. Bella opened the door and looked at me with worry again. "Can I come in?" I asked with a smile. Bella was able to return my smile and gesture me inside. "We need to wait on your dad." I said lowly as I knew Charlie was approaching our direction. "Who is it, Bells?" Charlie asked half concerned as usual in the morning. "It's Edward. We're going to go to his place today. It's been a while since I've talked with everyone." Bella said honestly. "That's fine." Charlie said while yawning and descending downstairs. He didn't bother to look at me this time. "Let's go then." Bella said with a forced smile, but still full of worry. I nodded and opened the door letting her out first and then following soon after. We got into my car and made our way to my place with complete silence. We arrived and everyone was waiting on us inside. Bella got out of the car slowly and I was already waiting for her in front on my car.
"I told you this was going to happen. I'm sorry it doesn't make you feel good." I said while walking next to Bella towards my house.
"It's fine. I'm always going to be worried about you Edward. I love you." Bella said while she put her arms around my waist. I stopped us at the front door and lightly turned Bella to face me. We stared at each other for a moment and shared a kiss. I pulled away in time for Bella to compose herself before we entered the house. I opened the door and Alice stood 5 feet away with a smile aimed at Bella. Bella walked in first and hugged Alice lightly. I walked in as well and shut the door behind me. "Welcome back, Bella." Alice said happily. "Thanks." Bella responded with a smile. Emmett walked in with Jasper and smirked in Bella's direction. "This is all for you Bella." Emmett said confidently while lightly punching Jasper in the arm. Bella waved in Emmett's direction retaining her smile. Carlisle came downstairs with Esme. "How are you feeling today, Bella?" Carlisle asked concerned. "I'm fine. This whole thing has me worried though." Bella admitted with a grim expression. Esme parted with Carlisle and wrapped her arm around Bella.
"They'll be fine, dear." Esme said reassuring Bella.
Jasper and Emmett exited outside and Carlisle waited for me to do the same. Esme and Alice escorted Bella to the living room where Rosalie awaited their arrival. I looked at Carlisle and he nodded. I made my exit and Carlisle soon followed. Jasper, Emmett, Carlisle, and I were standing outside facing each other's directions. "…Edward." Carlisle said. "I know. I'll try make sure to stick within your speed." I assured him. Just then the front door swung open and Bella stood in the doorway breathing heavy. It was obvious she was trying to fight back her fears of what she believes might happen to me. Bella ran out towards me and gave me a hug. "Please be careful Edward." She said while looking at me with fear in her eyes. "Bella. We'll be fine." I said with a sigh as I kissed her forehead. "Bella!" Alice said loudly in calling. Bella let go of her hug slowly and walked back through the door she opened. She stopped to turn her head towards me at the doorway and I just smiled before taking off with the others.