A/N: Please, I know this chapter may be cliche, but I'm setting up a bigger plot, I promise. Bare with me for a chapter or two longer and I swear it will get better. This was needed for plot advancement. Plus I really like the bit in Emmet and Jaspers apartment. It started out as a writing exercise and I ended up liking it so much, I had to fit it in! as always, review, review, review!! I love hearing from you all!
Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of its characters (though I wouldn't mind my own Edward... just saying)

Ch 3: Leave

Opening the door to my brother's apartment just off of campus, I didn't have any idea what to expect. Emmett's room back in Forks had always been littered with empty water bottles and cluttered with sports gear and garbage. I didn't know how much of that Jasper would let spread to the rest of their shared apartment, but I had a feeling this place was going to be a wreck. After all, how clean could two boys be? I cautiously poked my head in the door, looking around. I saw an open living room just beyond a small kitchen and open dining table. A sigh of relief escaped my lips and I opened the door further.

It really wasn't that bad.

Sure, there were empty water bottles obscuring the counter and side tables, but there was no open and exposed food left out to rot or garbage begging to be taken out. The furniture was distinctly masculine; dark colors and hard edges and the kitchen looked like it was hardly used (they must eat out a lot). But strangely everything matched. Dark blues, blacks and grays made the room looked pulled together and I suspected Rose and Alice had been involved in the color coordinating.

'Hey Bells,' I heard Rosalie's voice from the living room, her beautifully smooth voice laced with boredom.

As I walked into the living room I saw Alice and Emmett clutching video game controllers as Rosalie and Jasper looked on without any real enthusiasm. I glanced up to the screen where two figures were fighting with swords; a small woman was clearly beating the crap out of a larger, more muscular opponent.

'Who's winning?' I asked as I took a seat on the floor near Jasper.

'Me!' Alice informed me at the same time Emmett yelled 'it's a tie'. He shot her a tense glare and in the split second he had taken his eyes off the screen her character thrust her sword through the others chest. Alice jumped up and started dancing a bizarre victory dance in front of Emmett's face while chanting something that sounded like 'Who's the man?'

Emmett merely scowled at her and leaned back into the sofa. Rosalie draped her legs over his lap and began to absent-mindedly play with his hair and a grin instantly played across his lips as he closed is eyes.

'Rose, stop that,' Alice whined. 'I want him to wallow in defeat.' Everyone chuckled.

'Don't be too smug Alice. I'll happily kick your ass in a rematch.' Emmett shot back.

'You're on.'

And so the afternoon continued into the evening. Jasper ordered some Chinese take out and we laughed our way well after dark. Emmett beat everyone but Alice several times (except Rose, who I suspect he let beat him, just to make her feel special) and every time he won he would flex his arms and tell one of the ladies to bow to him. I would have stayed longer, but Alice reminded everyone that we started classes the next day, and would need a least a few hours sleep in order to not piss off our professors the first day of the new semester.

'Why bother, really? I'll just end up sleeping through most of their classes anyways.' Emmett commented. 'Why not be honest and up front about who I am on the first day.'

'How do you put up with him, Rose?' I asked.

'Practice. And Patience.' She answered as she smiled at my brother. They were too adorable.

'Plus, I'm good in bed.' Emmett laughed to himself as Rosalie slapped his arm and I covered my ears.

'Too much info, Emmett,' I yelled at him.

By the time I finally left Emmett's it was darker than I had imagined; I must have been there a lot longer than I thought I had. Emmett didn't live more than a few blocks from my dorm, so I had decided to walk there in the early afternoon and that was a decision I was quickly regretting. The unfamiliar streets looked menacing in the pitch-blackness, the only light cast in long, jagged shadows from a lamp on the opposite end of the street. I shivered involuntarily; this was the perfect scene for one of those murders they reenacted on Unsolved Mysteries.

I scolded myself. My imagination was getting the better of me.

My eyes adjusted slowly to the lack of light, and my other senses seemed to sharpen in its absence. My ears became painfully aware of every sound and I jumped as I heard something that sounded like a well-worn shoe scuffing along the concrete. I widened my eyes, willing my sense of sight to be keener and more alert but all I continued to see was blackness. I continued walking in the direction of my room. Around me all I saw were closed storefronts, locked after a long day of business, not a soul around.

I heard the alien sound again and I instantly felt uneasy. Was it my imagination or was it getting closer?

Without glancing back I quickened my step, and stumbled slightly. Perhaps running was a bad idea, considering I could barely walk over a smooth flat surface without falling over. I privately chastised myself for my wildly overactive imagination and returned my pace to a quick walk. I was being ridiculous.

I walked a couple of blocks and turned the corner. The light here was a little more visible, though a mist hung in the air making the atmosphere even more chilling. I found myself suddenly wishing for he blackness. It wasn't until I was in the parking lot of my building when I felt it. It was the feeling you got when you could sense someone watching you; it make the hair on my arm stand up and a second shiver shot down my body. I looked around desperate to see anything of comfort or any face that looked friendly.

And then I saw him. He stepped from the shadows between me and the entrance to Mercer Hall twenty yards away. He was smiling, but I couldn't trust a smile with that many teeth. This man was tall, probably six three; with legs that I knew I had little chance of outrunning. He was thick, though not completely muscular, and his face was clouded in an expression I couldn't recognize. His stringy blonde hair stood in stark contrast to his black eyes that looked hungry for something, though what, I couldn't comprehend. If it hadn't been for his nice clothes I would have thought this man was wild form the crazed expression on his already frightening features.

He took a step closer.

I stood paralyzed to the concrete. No matter how I willed my feet to move, they remained in their spot like trees that stood in the same place for hundreds of years. My heart suddenly began thump quickly in panic.

'Aren't you out a bit late?' the man's cold voice was deep and husky like something straight out of a nightmare.

I opened my mouth to tell him to go away but found my throat had dried up. I swallowed hard attempting to add some moisture to my mouth and shook my head.

He took another step closer to me. 'It has been my experience that only bad girls are out this late.' The same wicked smile played across his lips.

I didn't know what to do next. I could try to run, but really that would just be making me an easier target, I'd more than likely just end up on the ground, completely at his mercy.

He took another step closer, and then another. He was only five feet away now.

'Don't come any closer. I'll scream.' I said as I finally found my voice. It sounded weak and frail.

'There's no need for that.' His voice was flat and uninterested and his stance was still entirely to tense for comfort.

We stared at each other for a moment, and he took another step closer. I swallowed hard for a second time, summoning up my power to scream. But just as my lips parted for breathe, another sound, a sound that was music to my ears, reached me.

'Bella, where have you been?' Edwards voice sounded through the darkness and I instantly felt safe for reasons I couldn't explain. 'What's going on? Bella, who's your friend?'

'He's not my friend.' I replied, my voice like ice, and then Edward's face lit up as comprehension washed over him. He walked to my side quickly and wrapped his arm around my waist protectively.

'Leave.' His voice was hard and commanding as he spoke to the strange man in front of me. 'Leave now. She may not be able to hurt you. But I will.' He voice was ruff, if satin or velvet could ever be menacing. I hugged myself closer to his side, shrinking into him.

The thick blonde man shrunk back into the shadows as Edward watched, holding me tightly to his side. He began to steer me towards the door of Mercer Hall and I felt my knees suddenly turn weak as the anxiety of the situation hit me with full force. I clung more tightly to my guardian angel as we entered my room. He let go of me as he sat me down on the couch, and quickly walked over to the door, locking it, then over to the widow, closing the curtains swiftly. He returned his attention to me as he kneeled in front of my position sitting on the sofa. I felt my strength return to me as I looked into his green eyes. I was safe again.

'Thank you, Edward.' I whispered to him.

'I'm glad I was here,' he replied, and my heart took off again at the sound of his voice, thudding unevenly as butterflies consumed my stomach. 'Are you hungry? Thirsty?'

I shook my head. 'I'm fine now.' I was with Edward. Everything was better. Was there ever really a problem? I couldn't remember. What had brought him to my room?

Wait. What had brought him here? Why had he been here?

'What were you doing here?' I asked quizzically.

'Alice called me. She's staying with Jasper again and you had left your phone at Emmett's. She asked me to come tell you so you wouldn't worry. She must have known you were in trouble. She called just a few minutes before I came down there.' He sighed softly, he must have been referring to Alice's self proclaimed 'sixth sense'. 'You still look pale. Are you sure you're alright?'

'Just shaken. Will you sit with me for a while?' I knew that would instantly melt away all my remaining fears. He nodded and sat next to me on the couch. I curled up into his side and he placed me on his lap, wrapping his arms around me. I couldn't think of anything else.

I pressed my face into his chest, taking a long deep breath. He smelled wonderful. Clean and sweet, he was the most intoxicating scent I'd ever smelt and I snuggled myself closer to him.

'What happened?' he asked me, his voice no louder than a whisper was brimming with concern and compassion.

I was quiet for a long moment as I forced myself to think of what had passed outside. 'I think… I think he followed me.'

Edward held me tighter and shook his head.

'Will you stay with me tonight?' I blurted out the question before I had thought about it and I instantly felt my cheeks burn.

I felt him lean his head against the top of mine and whisper, 'I'll stay as long as you need me to.'

I smiled to myself. I would always want Edward; even if it wasn't the way he would want me. After all, how could this angel among men want to stay with accident-prone me, plain me?

I felt my eyes begin to droop as sleeps darkness claimed me, and the last ting I remembered was the sound of this angel humming me to sleep with some unfamiliar tune.