Chapter 17

BPOV

Edward helped me prepare dinner for Charlie. Well, actually, he kept me company while I prepared it. He stepped up behind me, his arms around my waist, and rested his chin on my shoulder to watch me putting things together. When it came time to cut the veggies to be included in the sauce, he insisted on being the one to wield the knife. I giggled at the expression on his face when he saw the knife in my hand. I had to admit his precautions were reasonable, considering my accident history. The funniest part was watching him slice and dice at vampire speed. It made me think of a commercial—Don't have a food processor? Just use your handy dandy neighbourhood vampire!

I chuckled to myself. It was a good thing Edward couldn't read my mind, or else he'd be scared away by all the random, bizarre thoughts that pass through my head in the course of a day. Sometimes I even scared myself.

As I started making the layers, he moved his hands to my hips, started humming, and helped my hips move to the rhythm. I moved in place enjoying the contact of my body with his. Well, since I had committed myself to attend Prom, I guess I needed to learn how to dance.

As I placed the lasagne into the oven to bake, I heard a gentle knock on the kitchen door. Edward smoothly went over to open it.

"Who is it?" I asked, closing the oven.

"Surprise!" Alice shouted, bounding into the room and giving me a big hug. "We came to keep you company for a bit."

"Good evening, Bella," Jasper greeted me, strolling calmly and quietly into the room.

"Hey, Alice and Jasper!" I smiled and nodded, amused by the contrast between the two. They were definitely a case for those who believed opposites attract. Come to think of it, so were Rosalie and Emmett. But Carlisle and Esme were a case for those who believe like attracts like. In some ways, Edward and I were opposites now, but we wouldn't be once I was changed. Huh. I wonder if that will make a difference in the way Edward feels about me. Well, according to Meyer, we become even closer after the change, so I'm not going to worry about it. We were opposites in superficial ways: predator vs. prey, vampire vs. human, dead vs. alive. I chuckled internally again. Let's not forget our most significant opposite: man vs. woman. That's what it all boils down to in the end. I love Edward the man, who just happens to be a vampire, and that's why it doesn't matter what he is. All that matters is that he is Edward, and there is no one else for me, nor will there ever be.

"Soooo," Alice began, then looked at me expectantly.

"So what?" I responded, deliberately pretending to be obtuse.

"So is there anything you want to tell me?" Alice demanded.

I pretended to think. "Hmmm, nope, can't think of anything."

Alice sighed in exasperation. "Obviously, I know all about your little talk in the meadow, Bella."

"Uh, huh," I agreed as if I were merely humouring her.

She waited for another minute, but I just stared at her wearing a peaceful smile.

"Uggghh! You are so frustrating!" She raged.

My smile became a little smug. "Me? Frustrating? I can't imagine how you might find me frustrating. How about having a best friend who forces you to go shopping when you hate it, buys you clothes when she knows you hate her spending money on you, drives more than double the speed limit when she knows it scares you, dresses you up in fancy clothes when she knows you are more comfortable in jeans and sweats, carries on silent conversations with her family members, which she knows annoys the heck out of you, answers questions before you ask them, and makes you suffer through repeated makeovers. None of that is frustrating, right?"

Alice scowled at me, knowing I had a legitimate case, but not wanting to change her ways. "Isabella Marie Swan, make a decision on the theme for the after-Prom party right now, or I will give you a makeover before school every morning for the rest of the school year!"

Oh, my. Alice was looking a bit frightening. Maybe I shouldn't push her anymore.

"Only if you can block your thoughts," I conceded. She was all smiles again as she solemnly swore to keep her vision from Edward. Once she indicated she was successfully blocking, I made my final choice. She received the vision, her eyes glazing over. She came out of it with a squeal of pure delight.

"That's perfect! Absolutely brilliant! Oh, we are going to have so much fun!" She rushed over and spun me around in a circle, radiating her glee. Jasper picked up on it, and sent it out to Edward and me, so that we were all dancing around the kitchen like we had just won the lottery and been granted world peace all at the same time. It was into this chaos, that Charlie bravely entered, pushing Billy Black in his wheelchair.

Jasper and Alice were toe steppin' Texas style, with a lot of fancy moves, while I was wrapped around Edward, my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, as he spun effortlessly in circles, making me dizzy. All four of us were laughing loudly, caught up in the moment. Alice was the first to notice Charlie and Billy staring incredulously at the four of us.

"Charlie!" she shrieked, running over and grabbing him up in an embrace. He appeared completely bemused. "Your daughter is a genius!"

"Really?" Charlie asked. "Well, you know, she gets that from my side of the family." He winked and chuckled, hoping he could help diffuse some of the tension.

"Thanks, Dad," I said, wanting to roll my eyes, but realizing I hadn't quite recovered from all the spinning yet. I laid my head on Edward's shoulder and closed my eyes, hoping the dizziness would pass quickly. Edward placed a gentle kiss on my neck, and I heard a hiss from the doorway. Edward tensed, and I lifted my head to locate the source of the noise. Billy was staring at the two of us with wide, fearful, angry eyes. He turned and looked in disbelief to see Charlie with his arm around Alice's small shoulders.

"In or out, Charlie!" Jacob called from the hallway. "You're blocking the doorway!"

"Sorry, Jake!" Charlie quickly rolled Billy over to the table. "Sorry to surprise you, Bella, but Billy was hoping to catch the game with me tonight. I invited them on over, but forgot to let you know. If you haven't made enough for all of us, I'll be happy to call for pizza."

"Something sure smells good!" Jacob exclaimed as he sauntered into the room, wrinkling his nose at the scent of so many vampires in such a small space. I laughed, as his expression was the complete opposite of his words. He grinned at me, having guessed at the source of my amusement. "Well, it smelled better by the front door. In here, it's mixed with an overwhelmingly sickly sweet smell. Maybe it's time for you guys to stop wearing such a noxious perfume." We all grinned.

Charlie looked at us in confusion. "It smells just fine in here to me."

"Me too," I agreed with a smirk.

"So, what's up, dog?" Edward asked Jacob.

"Hey, that's Alpha dog to you, leech," Jacob taunted playfully, drawing himself up to his full height.

Edward set me gently on my feet, steadying me to make sure my dizziness had passed. I flung myself into Jacob's arms, and he gave me a bear hug like Emmett usually does. After he released me, he did the same for Alice. I was watching Billy now, and his eyes looked like they were about to bug out of his sockets. Then Jake bumped fists with Edward and Jasper.

Billy couldn't take it anymore. He began rapidly speaking to Jacob in Quileute. Jacob shrugged and grinned. He answered in Quileute. Billy looked shocked and horrified. At one point, both of them looked at Edward and me. Billy was gesturing and his tone was hostile and angry. Jacob remained calm, even though his father was clearly trying to provoke a fight. Billy began to appear uncertain as Jacob remained calm and rational in his replies. He finally fell back in his seat with an air of confusion, carefully looking at all the people in the room.

"Why don't we just enjoy the evening together, and you can judge for yourself, based on your own observations?" Jacob suggested.

"Is this about those superstitions of yours, Billy?" Charlie growled. "I'll have you know that I've grown rather fond of that family in the past two weeks, particularly Alice and Edward. Edward and Bella are perfect together, almost as if they were made for each other, and Alice is Bella's best friend. Bella has even participated in a sleepover at their house with some other girls, and they all came home safe and sound. If the Cullens wished her any harm, they've had plenty of opportunity. She goes over there every day after school. Blind prejudice doesn't do anybody any good. I would think you would already know that."

Billy nodded, slightly embarrassed.

"Okay, well, there's about fifteen to twenty minutes left on the lasagna," I announced, hoping to smooth over the awkward moment. Charlie left to turn the game on the TV. Billy took advantage of Charlie's absence to call Sam.

"Hello, Sam, this is Billy Black."

"Hello, Billy, what can I do for you?"

"I just found out that Jacob has been hanging out with the Cullens."

"Yes, I know. They are such a nice family, really. They're not at all like others of their kind. Emily spent four days with them this weekend."

"She did?"

"Dr. Cullen performed reconstructive surgery on her face for free. He fixed everything so you can barely even tell something happened."

"He did?"

"Yeah, she and I are both so thankful. Emily doesn't feel so self-conscious anymore, and I feel so much lighter too."

"Oh, well, that's great, Sam."

"Yeah, we've worked out a better treaty arrangement too. The Cullens are our allies. They work to protect the local humans from vampire attacks like we do. We'll be working together against the human drinkers."

"Um, okay, so, we need to talk about the new treaty arrangements with the tribal council tomorrow. When did you work all this out?"

"Yesterday."

"Oh, well, a heads up today would have been nice."

"Sorry, Billy. I was so caught up in Emily today that I didn't even think about telling anyone other than the wolves."

"Okay, well, please don't make any other changes without alerting the council first."

"Sure, sure. I'll hook up with you tomorrow, Billy. Thanks. Bye."

Billy pressed end with a dazed look in his eye. His world had just been turned on its head.

"So, I guess I just need to make my own observations."

"Good for you, Dad!" Jacob encouraged.

I called Charlie back in from the living room as soon as the lasagne was ready.

"Wow, homemade lasagne! This is quite a treat, Bella," Billy remarked politely, but sincerely.

"Yeah, I bet Charlie's really glad she decided to move here," Jacob teased. "Though his uniform might start getting a little tight in another couple of months if she keeps feeding him like this. I do think it may be our solemn duty to share his burden by relieving him of some of the delightfully delicious meals she cooks."

Suddenly, Jacob's cell phone went off, exposing his new ringtone.

Little Red Riding Hood, You sure are looking good. You're everything that a Big Bad Wolf could want. Arroooooo.

Jacob practically ripped his own pants off trying to get his phone out of his pocket. He blushed so red I could see it even with his skin tone. He flipped the phone open and practically growled into it.

"What? …Yeah, I know. Thanks for the heads up though. …Okay, see you tomorrow. Bye."

I couldn't help laughing at the perfect irony of choosing to use that song as his ringtone for Sam. He glared at me. "Way to be supportive, Swan," he growled.

"Sure thing, Jake. Anytime," I replied.

By the end of the evening, Billy was much more comfortable around the Cullens. He at least agreed to keep an open mind and continue his observations another day.

BPOV

Things had calmed down considerably over the past few weeks. I was closer than ever with the Cullens and truly felt like one of the family. Additionally, our relationship with the wolves was firmly cemented. Once the tribal council had gotten a look at Emily's new look and heard the testimony of the wolves about the times they had personally witnessed the Cullens resist flowing human blood, there was no further objection. All of the Quileutes were actively encouraged to take medical issues to the Forks hospital. Carlisle was given free range to enter La Push in official medical capacity and was recruited as the formal physician for the wolf packs.

A new treaty was drawn up, which allowed for 'living will' vampirization of individuals in case of imminent death. This meant that individuals could give written consent to allow the change as a 'life saving' measure in case of emergency. One copy of the consent form would be kept by the tribe and one by the Cullens. The form had to be signed by the individual and witnessed by Carlisle or Esme and by Jacob or Sam. No vampires were allowed to hunt within the boundaries of the reservation. This was simply a measure of caution to protect stray humans from being accidentally targeted by vampires when they were acting on pure instinct. The treaty also allowed the Cullens to enter the reservation, at any time while not hunting, with prior authorization from any member of the wolf packs or the tribal council. Any human drinking vampire who bit a human or drank from a human within a hundred mile radius of La Push was automatically marked for death by the tribal Protectors. If a human drinking vampire was found within a hundred mile radius before he or she fed, he or she could be given warning not to hunt in this region and escorted out of the area. Any animal drinker found unknowingly hunting on Quileute land would be given warning and escorted to the border. The wolves would not attack any animal drinkers, but were allowed to defend themselves if endangered. Any newborn vampires found during times of peace would be dismembered and turned over to the Cullens to determine whether or not they could be taught to drink from animals instead of humans. Any newborn vampires found during times of war would be immediately destroyed for the safety of the humans in the area.

Charlie was still getting along great with Edward and had actually started bonding with all the Cullens. He and Emmett like watching games together when they were each rooting for opposite teams. Though Charlie pretended to dislike Emmett, he really enjoyed their good natured jibes and competition. They would make small bets on the scores and winners and yell at the screen in excitement or disgust as the game progressed. Alice used to try and nudge Charlie in the right direction without him being aware of it, but Emmett quickly caught on to what she was doing and forbid her from interfering. Charlie and Jasper would sometimes discuss weapons technology and police tactics. Upon finding Jasper's excellent battle planning skills, as well as his ability to put himself in the mind-set of the criminal, Charlie had even begun consulting him about difficult cases. Each time, Jasper's ideas had led the criminals conveniently into a trap, causing the steel jaws of the law to clamp down on them.

Charlie absolutely adored Alice and Esme. He was putty in their hands, a sucker for their smiles. Rose kept her distance, not terribly comfortable with him, especially in his role as an authority figure. Charlie had the utmost respect for Carlisle and frequently would engage him in discussions of moral vs. legal ethics.

Tonight was the night of the Sadie Hawkins dance, the girls' choice dance. Just thinking about that made me laugh, remembering the way the boys of the school had seemed to completely miss the point. I had several of them come up and ask me if I was going to ask them to the dance. I couldn't believe their nerve. I had been with Edward since my first day at this school, and it was well known he was my fiancé. The only humans I willingly entered into conversation with were Angela and Ben. The rest of them I ignored just as easily as the Cullens did. I couldn't understand where those human boys got the idea I would ever be interested in going to the dance with them. What were they thinking? I would rather get a root canal.

The girls and I had made a Hit list with the names of all the girls who had dared to ask our men to the dance. Emmett, Jasper, and Edward were all obviously 'taken', 'spoken for', yet they had the nerve to try to ask them out on a date. I mean, what kind of girl would ask out a man who is clearly happily committed in a long term relationship? We had a name for those girls—home wreckers. These were the girls who would someday come between a husband and wife, who would steal away a married man from his wife and children by lying and cheating. They would flatter a man, praising him and tempting him, slowly undermining his resistance. Once they had successfully captured the men, they would change into clingy, vindictive nags, knowing that if the men had been drawn away once they could be led astray again by another of her kind. These were the human succubus, seducing the menfolk with their womanly wiles, only they were far less honest than the vampire kind. Thus, our Hit list, Home wreckers in Trouble. All's fair in love and war, and this was both. As far as we were concerned, those girls had declared war with their actions, and we would defend our loved ones by dispensing our own brand of justice against the perpetrators. Besides, some of them had actually been brazen enough to ask Edward right in front of me, ignoring his arm clearly wrapped around my shoulders.

I had a sneaking suspicion the boys had a list of their own, but I chose not to pry. I didn't think Edward would approve of our actions, so I didn't want to explain to him about my own list. I figured what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. I would tell him about it after the fact and could find out then how he had dealt with the boys who asked me out. Each of them had waited to single me out during the few seconds each day I was alone. None of them were brave enough to actually ask me in Edward's presence, considering his glare was frightening enough to send them cowering into the corner.

Alice and Rose were playing their favourite game at the moment: Bella Barbie. I had spent the past hour modelling different dresses for them. Both of them had finally agreed on a dress, but spent another twenty minutes haggling over shoes. Now, Rose was working on an intricate hairdo, and Alice was working on my make-up.

"Alice, I've got a question for you. Why does it take you guys so long to do my hair and make-up? I mean, if you worked at your normal speed, you'd be done in no time at all, yet you manage to stretch it out for hours on end. What's up with that?"

Rose met my eyes in the mirror, surprised by my question. "Why would we rush through something we obviously enjoy? I mean, sure you could do a quickie, a 'wham, bam, thank you, ma'am', and there are times those are necessary or desired, but you wouldn't want a steady diet of those. Personally, I enjoy spending hours making love with my husband, so why would I want to tell him to 'hurry up and get it over with', instead of extending it as long as possible? It's about more than just the end result. The time I spend being intimate with my husband is a time of bonding, of growing closer, of learning more about one another, of meeting each other's needs. If all I wanted was satisfaction, I could achieve that all by myself, by my own hand. So, the analogy is the same. If all I wanted was to braid hair, I could braid my own hair. It's not just about playing with your hair. It's about spending time bonding with you, about giving of my time and expertise to help you look your best, about getting to know you better. We spend this time talking amongst the three of us. It's a shared experience."

"Wow, Rose, I never thought of it that way. I must say, it does help me resent it a lot less. Once I'm a vampire, we'll take turns being the one in the chair though. Sound fair?" She nodded. Alice cleared her throat.

"That was a lovely response, Rose, however I do believe she asked me. Bella, the answer is really quite simple. While the friendship and love and bonding, yada, yada, yada, is all true, there is another factor. Your face is like a canvas, and the make-up is my paint. Each time I give you a makeover, I am creating a masterpiece, a work of art. Don't you know you can't rush art? My delicate masterpieces only last a few short hours, which is why I am always careful to capture the creation on film. So you see, my dear friend, tonight you shall be a living, breathing work of art, stunning to behold, and the attention you garner is merely a tribute to Rose's and my genius. So hold your head up proudly, as you shall be the only human sporting a Rose and Alice original."

"I see, Alice. Feeling humble today?"

Rose laughed out loud, and Alice gave me a stern look. "Merely stating the facts, Bella."

A/N: Hey guys, i would've updated earlier but i had to go cheerleading and then the hospital cause my friend Holly dropped 5 exam desks on my foot so i now have a fractured foot. Hope you guys are happy but sorry for the short chappy :)