Author's Note - Thanks for all the great reviews. I love you guys! I tired really hard to get this chapter out sooner than the last one, but that wasn't even a possibility. I had two giant projects and about a hundred tests in the past couple of weeks. I also went on a field trip to New York for a day. There were no computers on the ten hour there and back bus ride. On top of all that, there was nonstop holiday shopping up until yesterday. I know, I'm just giving excuses, but I tried hard guys. Hope you like it : )

Disclaimer - I keep wishing for ownership of Edward Cullen, but so far dreams haven't come true.

Chapter 7

BPOV

"He's sleeping?" I asked in disbelief. What were they doing carrying my sleeping father up the stairs?

"That's what I said," Jacob told me as they reached the top of the stairs.

"Excuse me love," Edward said.

"Huh?" I was still trying to process what was happening, so my brain wasn't working properly at that moment.

"You're in the way!" Jacob shouted.

"Shh!" I hissed at him, and he groaned loudly back at me. Was he trying to wake Charlie up?

I looked at Edward waiting patiently in front of me, and something finally clicked in my mind. I was standing right in front of them, blocking the way off the staircase.

"Oops...sorry," I whispered and quickly got out of the way.

Edward and Jacob walked briskly past me and I wondered how they were carrying Charlie so easily.

Oh yeah, I thought, super strength.

One of them could have easily carried Charlie up he stairs on their own, and it surprised me to see them working together. I shone the light on Charlie's face, trying to reassure myself that he was actually sound asleep. He scrunched up his eyes and shifted away from the light. Jacob was unprepared for the sudden movement and nearly dropped Charlie on the ground.

"Support his head!" Edward repeated.

"I am!" Jacob growled.

"Can you two please stop arguing and tell me what you are doing?" I whispered anxiously as we walked into Charlie's room.

Edward and Jacob laid Charlie carefully down on the bed, where he continued to snore loudly. They separated themselves as far apart from each other as they could in Charlie's small room.

"Charlie's going to have to wash his hair when he wakes up," Edward said. "He smells like a dog."

"I bet he'd rather smell like the great outdoors than cheap perfume," Jacob retaliated.

"Hello!" I said, waving my arms in the air. "Can someone tell me what's going on?"

"Well," Edward began. "I know you were extremely put out when you found you had to spend the night alone – "

"What's that smell?" Jacob asked disgustedly.

"What smell?" I questioned him, slightly annoyed that he had disrupted the much-needed explanation. I sniffed hard, trying to smell whatever scent my underdeveloped nostrils could not detect.

"I really have no idea what you're talking about," Edward said innocently. "Now if I could get back to my story – "

"You know exactly what I'm talking about!" Jacob interrupted Edward once again. "There's another bloodsucker in here somewhere."

"Jacob, if you can't say anything nice..." I began angrily, wanting to scold him his use of the term "bloodsucker".

He cut me off, however, and spat at Edward, "Where is it?"

"You know it's very rude to interrupt someone while they're speaking," Edward said calmly.

Jacob didn't answer, but continued to glare at Edward.

After about a minute of staring coolly back at Jacob, Edward called quietly towards the door, "All right, Alice. We've been found out."

Alice appeared in the doorway in less than a second, smiling grimly at Jacob.

"How nice to see you again," Jacob snarled sarcastically.

"I wish I could say the same," Alice shot back.

Jacob turned to me and asked accusingly, "What is she doing here?"

"It's a long story," I sighed.

Charlie snored loudly, as if to remind us of his presence.

"Speaking of stories," I said, "Edward, you were about to tell one."

"That's right," said Edward. "As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, I knew you were upset, Bella, so I began thinking if ways for us to be together. Charlie was being incredibly nice to me, hoping it would convince me not to rebel against him while he slept. He was just starting to sing a campfire song, but before he was out cold before he got to the chorus."

I noticed Jacob rolling his eyes as Edward spoke. He was probably thinking that he could do a far better job telling the story than Edward could.

"I couldn't come upstairs once Charlie had fallen asleep because Kujo over here wouldn't take his eyes off of me." Edward turned to Jacob and smirked, "Am I really that attractive?"

Jacob growled in response, but Edward continued before he could think of something clever to say back.

"I knew Jacob would've woken Charlie up the minute I left. In fact, he was thinking of telling Charlie of my plan, right then and there," Edward said.

"Stay out of my mind, leech!" Jacob said loudly.

"Shh!" I shushed him again.

Edward kept going as if Jacob hadn't spoken. "Jacob and I could have come up here together, but I think it would have been slightly uncomfortable for both of us to be contained in Charlie's not-so-well ventilated room for an entire night. You and Alice could have simply come downstairs, but there was always the chance that Charlie could have woken up while you two were down there. Then we would have had a lot of explaining to do."

"And you didn't consider the fact that Charlie could have woken up while you were carrying him upstairs?" I questioned incredulously. I thought vampires were supposed to be smart. "How are you going to explain this to him?"

"I was getting to that, Bella," Edward explained patiently. "Anyways, I decided to let Charlie have the pleasure of sleeping in the quiet comfort of his own room, while the rest of us camped out downstairs. I, of course, could have single handedly carried Charlie up the stairs, but Jacob insisted that he do it himself."

"Well most people don't like the feeling of ice touching their bare skin," Jacob interrupted, "so I thought he might wake up."

I heard Jacob's emphasis on "most" and knew he was talking mostly o me as he spoke.

"Us arguing over the job definitely would have woken him up, so I, being the generous person that I am, offered to share the job," Jacob finished. "I had no idea your dad was such a heavy, Bella. I guess a near death squirrel attack really takes a lot out of a guy. And that's how we got where we are now, so can we please leave where we are now? It's getting harder to breathe deeply without the urge to gag."

"Oh please!" Alice whispered furiously. "I smell horrible! Jasper probably won't even want to be around me when I get home." She sniffed her arm tentatively and pulled away quickly in disgust. "Ugh! I'll wash, but I'll never be clean!" She tugged hysterically on her sleeve and said, "This outfit is ruined! I'll have to burn it now!"

"Hello?" I said, frantically waving the flashlight over my sleeping father. "Can we please continue this discussion elsewhere?"

No matter what Edward and Jacob said about Charlie being a deep sleeper, our voices were getting steadily louder. If my screams in the middle of the night had sent Charlie running to my aid, then two vampires and a werewolf arguing loudly five feet in front of him might send him through the roof. It was hard to stick to that theory, though, as I looked over at Charlie, who was putting sleeping babies to shame.

Jacob left the room quickly, looking relieved to be able to breathe some fresh air. Alice danced after him, and Edward and I followed, hand in hand, closing the door behind us. While walking down the stairs I noticed Alice moving deliberately slowly, trying to keep as much distance between her and Jacob on the cramped stairs as possible. It was taking much longer than usual to climb down, so I gave Alice a small push. She turned around quickly, stopping the decent all together. Jacob stopped as well, wanting to see what the hold up was about.

"What?" Alice asked guiltlessly.

"I know you three aren't getting any older," I replied. "I, on the other hand, am getting older by the second, so can we please stop wasting time and hurry it along?"

Alice sighed and continued to walk, this time quickening her pace. I had the feeling that Edward and Jacob were laughing on the inside at my little outburst, so I made sure to be extra careful walking down the stairs. There was no need to give them a reason to laugh out loud.

We walked into the living room and Alice giggled at the sight of my dad's handiwork.

"Don't ask," I mumbled. I laid the flashlight facing upwards on the ground I plopped myself onto one of the sleeping bags. The sleeping bag wasn't as soft as I had expected, however, and I ended up with a sore behind.

"Ow!" I said softly.

Jacob chuckled and both Edward and Alice smiled sympathetically at me. Edward walked over to the wall, and easily retrieved the large couch.

"I think you'll be more comfortable on this, Bella," he said.

"Thanks," I said, sitting down carefully on the couch. "By the way, no one has explained to me what you're going to tell Charlie when he wakes up. He may be oblivious sometimes, but he's not an idiot. I think he's going to remember telling me to sleep in his room."

"Don't worry about it, Bella," Edward answered. "I've got an explanation ready for Charlie."

"I doubt if it's any good," said Jacob.

"Shut up, Jacob," I said.

The moment I stopped talking and began to relax, fatigue washed over me. I had forgotten how exhausted I was. I felt myself quickly dozing off, so I was grateful, but slightly annoyed, when Jacob sprawled out nest to me, causing the couch to shake. He stretched his arms and yawned loudly, while Edward and Alice looked at him in disgust.

"Getting sleepy?" Edward questioned him hopefully.

"Are you kidding me?" Jacob scoffed. "The night's just getting started!"

He wrapped his arm around me playfully, but Edward apparently couldn't take a joke.

"Don't you dare touch her!" he growled. He looked absolutely menacing.

"Get off me Jake," I said, attempting to push him off. I was extremely annoyed that Jacob seemed to be trying very hard to get on Edward's nerves tonight. Jacob's grip around my neck remained firm, and I was worried that he might strangle me if he wasn't careful.

"What's wrong?" Jacob taunted. "Is little Eddie afraid of a little competition?"

"Edward..." Alice cautioned, holding onto his arm. However, she too looked at Jacob with malice.

"Jacob let go!" I repeated. "There is no competition."

Edward inched forward slightly, getting into crouch position.

"Edward no!" I said, but he obviously wasn't listening to me.

I saw fear in Alice's eyes as I looked over at her. She couldn't see what was going to happen, and therefore didn't know what Edward would do next. He was stronger than she was and would be able to release himself from her grasp if he really wanted to. It was completely silent in the house as Edward and Jacob glared at each other from across the living room.

"Jacob," I said quietly, "get off me please."

I saw the pain in his eyes as I spoke, but Jacob released his grip on me and moved to the other end of the couch. Edward straightened up and Alice let go of his arm. I breathed a sigh of relief that no one had been killed on my account tonight. Well, at least not yet.

After a few more minutes in silence, I looked warily around the room and asked, "So...what do you guys want to do?"

Well...what do you think? And be honest. I'm a big girl guys. I can take the criticism (as long as it doesn't make me cry).

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