Hello to all! I hope I haven't kept you guys waiting too long for the next chapter. I start school next Tuesday. tear And my mom starts back at school today i believe. So with that said my updates might by a little spaced out. I tried to update every couple of days like but seeing as how school is starting i won't get the computer much. The chapters just might be a little longer than the previous ones, just keep you guys occupied until I update again. You didn't beat the review count but you did tie it and I'll accept that. You guys all know what that means, too. XD.

A few announcements

Lady Saruman has given me the funniest and craziest reviews ever! She's so crazy and oh so fun to talk to.

SimoneCullen-x has threatened to kill me a few times over and then bring me back and then do it all over again and/or beat me into unconsciousness. It was amusing but I plan on living a little bit longer so yea...I had to post soon.

Marchen Awakens Romance attacked me with a glow worm that barks!

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ilovemclife again had the LONGEST review ever. I LOVE THEM.

VampireLover2234 threatened to provoke the Volturi and then blame it on me if I didn't update soon. It was 'uber' hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing.

Midnight-blackOpal threatened to hunt me down with a bagpipe marching band and earmuffs and says she CAN BE EVERYWHERE. Lol. And I'm a writer in mind, body, and spirit, too. No doubt about that.

My beta, BellaTonks is still amazing as ever! She rules.

And now I'm done with the ranting. On with the reading.

Disclaimer:"R4L told me to do the disclaimer just because 'you gus are so awesome'. Her words, not mine. But I would've done it regardless. Alice says she's super happy because she now has a shopping partner. I don't know what that's about but whoever you are you know what I'm talking about or what she's talking about. Geez. The Cullen family says hello to everyone including Bella. R4L owns nothing. Please remember that and don't sue her because I like her, she's my best friend besides Jasper and Emmett. Read on!Smiles crooked smile" E.C.

Chapter 16

EPOV

I hadn't actually known when I fell in love with her. I just did. It was… overwhelming to say the least. I couldn't explain the feelings I had when I first laid eyes on her. It was all so sudden. And when I told her I loved her, I hadn't even realized I did until she pulled back when I kissed her.

I'd run the words slowly through my head and then everything became clear. I did love her, more than she would ever know.

I felt this unyielding need to protect her from everything. After the letter from her mother, after the things in the bag, and after the birthday incident, I knew that there was no way, no force possible and impossible that could make me leave her or take her away from me.

Not ever.

I packed her clothes from the previous day and the black bag into one of my old back packs. I put it in my car before we left the house.

We'd left my parents' after some pleasant goodbyes and see-you-soon. Bella was quiet the whole ride back to school. She took her meds and slept for a while. When she woke up, we did some of the homework Alice and Jasper had given us. There was enough for the whole week!

We talked about everything. She told me about her field hockey team in high school, about how good they were. She told me about the boarding school she went to before, about the obnoxious teachers and perky girls that wore clothes too small for their bodies. I laughed at her facial expression when she talked about them.

She told me how Charlie used to be before he turned into the monster that he is now. He used to be a nice loving and caring father that wouldn't let anything happen to her or her mother. She's still unsure of what happened to make him snap the way he did. All she has is what her mother told her in that letter.

I think she deserved to know more, but there's not much either of us can do about that now.

Bella asked me again about the lullaby I wrote for her and I smiled her favorite smile. I recorded it in one of the studios here at school and I played it for her in my room. She had tears in her eyes by the time the whole song was over.

"Why do I have to feel so insignificant all the time?" She cried into my chest. I'd held her close as I chuckled softly.

"Silly, Bella. You are utterly ridiculous." I murmured into her hair.

She leaned up a little and kissed my neck. I shivered and I felt her smile against my skin.

That was Tuesday.

It was now Thursday night. Everyone had stopped by over the past two days, even Esme and Carlisle. Esme brought some of her oh so famous chicken pot pie. Bella all but jumped her when she ate some it to get her to give her the recipe for it.

Carlisle and I stood by and watched the two ladies exchange recipes and such. While they rambled on I talked to Carlisle.

"You love her, don't you?" He asked. Bella and Esme were in the living room talking. Carlisle and I cleaned up the food in the kitchen.

"More than you know." We both smiled.

"I can see it plastered all over your face. Every time you look at her you start glowing." I almost blushed at that. I've gotten caught staring at Bella a lot lately.

"It's that obvious, huh?" He chuckled.

"It reminds me of me and your mother when we were your age."

"Really?"

"Yes. I was much the same way. Your grandfather would say she had me wrapped around her delicate little finger the moment I saw her and he was right. We were married right out high school. I wouldn't be surprised if you and Bella do the same. Your mother would love some grandchildren." He nudged my arm as he said this and I blushed.

"Dad," I dragged the word. He just chuckled again and we finished up the dishes.

When Alice came over, Bella refused to talk to her. She even avoided her Puppy Dog Eyes. I thought it was quite amusing, so I just stood by and watched. After fifteen minutes of pleading, begging, frowning, and chiding, Alice couldn't give Bella a makeover or take her shopping for two weeks.

When Alice left, she looked like a child that just lost her puppy. She glared at me on the way out the door and I laughed. I congratulated Bella. Five minutes later, Jasper called me asking what I did to his girlfriend.

Bella explained the whole thing. He and Emmett knew everything because Alice just couldn't keep her mouth shut any more. She got an extra added two weeks to make her punishment a month for talking too much.

Quite amusing indeed...

Jasper was surprised, but he felt for Bella. He sometimes helped her with her emotions when she really needed it. I couldn't thank him enough for that.

Emmett was ready to go to Forks and give Charlie a pounding 'for hurting his little sister'. We all laughed at that one.

These past few days have been a little crazy, but we got through them. Bella's scratches were healing very well and she didn't need the bandages on her elbow and wrists any more. Her ankle was doing better, too. She didn't need the crutch. Her neck and cheek were back to normal. And she'd stop taking the pain medication. She was doing great.

We'd managed to finish all of our homework with two days to spare. It was pretty easy when each of us had GPA's of 3.9.

Emmett and Jasper stopped by once, while Bella was sleeping. We were planning to have a little fun with Mike Newton when I returned to school.

He was released from the hospital on Tuesday with a slight head injury. He was stuck with two thousand hours of community service. When I found out, I was about to explode with anger. He deserved a far worse punishment for what he did and almost did to Bella.

We got a restraining order against him. He can't be within 100 ft of Bella. Personally I wouldn't mind a few hundred miles more, but it didn't work out that way so I had to deal with it.

But Mike Newton will get what's coming to him soon.

It was Thursday night and there was nothing to do. I gazed at Bella's sleeping form on my chest. We were in my bed. She'd fallen asleep watching some random show on T.V.

Her breathing was even against my chest. I could feel each one that she took. I matched my breathing to hers so we were breathing together in sync. She hasn't had a single nightmare since her first night here. Sometimes she'd mutter my name in her sleep. My heart would skip a beat every time she did that, if I was awake to hear it that is.

Bella was a little upset because she thinks that she bores me with all her sleeping. I'd laugh because she'd apologize for it a million times.

She could never bore me. I liked to watch her sleep. She looked more peaceful, more serene when she was sleeping. She didn't have creases in her forehead from concentrating on her homework. She didn't have pain slapped across her face from any movement she made from her injuries. She had nothing but calm spread across her face as she slept and I love it.

There were draw backs to it, though. I missed her blush, her bright smile and her beautiful brown eyes. Even if she were sleeping for only a few short hours, I still missed them.

I think my father's right about Bella having me wrapped around her tiny little finger. I fell for her nice and hard. There was no turning back now. I don't even think I would ever want to turn back.

And speaking of my father, I'm going to have to talk Bella into telling Esme and Carlisle. They need to know. Maybe they can help with her grandmother's will and get her mother away from Charlie. I'd tell them myself, but it is not my place.

I know Bella's just worried about their safety and all, but the whole gang knows and we haven't spoken a word to anyone who doesn't need to know.

I sighed.

I absent-mindedly played with Bella's hair, my breathing still the same as hers. God, how I love her hair, I thought to myself. I looked at the clock on my bedside table. It read quarter to one.

I'd better get some sleep or I'll be too tired to take Bella out tomorrow. I turned the T.V. off and pulled the blanket tighter around us. I wrapped my arms firmly around Bella's waist and let sleep take me.

"Where are we going?" Bella asked.

It was quarter to four in the afternoon. I was going to take Bella to the mall where we would meet up with everyone else. Afterwards, I was going to take her somewhere I know she'd have fun.

"You'll find out, soon, love." I smiled at her.

She stood before me in denim jeans that hugged her curves and a formfitting plain black shirt. I had her where her tennis shoes because we would be walking for a while. If she needed to, we could stop and sit down because of her ankle.

Bella frowned at me and tossed her hair to the side as she leaned down to tie her shoes. I tried to keep my eyes away from her derrière, but I couldn't help it. Those jeans just hugged her in all the right places. It was so unlike me to stare at a woman's behind but…I couldn't help it.

When she was done she leaned up and looked at me. There was mischief clear in her brown eyes. She did that on purpose! She's going to be the death of me one of these days. I never took her to be so…sly. She'll pay for that. She'll definitely be paying for that.

Her phone rang, then. She picked it up and paused then started texting. After a few messages she frowned, sighed and glared at the phone. My guess was that she was trying to figure out where we were going through Alice and/or Rosalie.

I grabbed my hoodie and hers from my room and we made our way to the car. She refused to look at me or talk to me. I couldn't help but laugh at the pout she had on her face. She was mad because she was left out of the loop once again.

Forty-five minutes later, we were at the mall. I found the closest parking space I could get and pulled in. Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, and Alice were at the entrance. We received some 'hello's' from everyone as we made our way in.

"This is Alice's doing, isn't it?" Bella asked. I laughed.

"No. She's not allowed to take you shopping for a whole month, remember?"

"Yes." She answered slowly. "Why are we here, then?" She looked confused.

"What? I'm not allowed to take you shopping?" I gaped at her in mock horror.

"Oh, no, Edward, you know I don't like it when you spend money on me." She complained.

"I know, but I like to spend money on you." I smiled her favorite smile and she blushed.

She sighed and muttered 'fine'. I grabbed her hand, wrapping it in mine before kissing the promise ring I gave her only a week ago. It seemed so far away.

Em and Rose were ahead of us going on and on about some sports car she liked. If anyone knew cars, it was Rose. She was better at fixing cars than some of the professionals that were out there. Emmett was the jack, but he knew a little something about them here and there.

Jasper and Alice were to my right, Bella was on my left. Jasper had his hands on Alice's waist trying to keep her from bouncing up and down while she looked at all the stores. When she didn't stop bouncing Jasper leaned down and whispered something in her ear that made her blush and she stopped bouncing. He kissed the top of her head.

I shook my head. I still don't know how he does it. He was the only one that could get Alice to calm down in a matter of seconds, when anybody else tried to get her to do that, it would only intensify her…er, bounciness. Bounciness?

"Jazz," I asked.

He turned to look at me.

"How do you do it?"

He shrugged. "It's my gift, I guess." He grinned then.

I grinned back and shook my head at him. Alice pulled him into some clothing store a second later and I saw a flicker of fear in his eyes before he disappeared.

"So, Bella," I turned to her.

She looked up at me.

"What do you want?" I asked her.

She brought a finger to her chin and pretended to think really hard. I laughed and she blushed. We walked around for a little while, following Emmett and Rose around. A few guys walked past us. They eyed Bella and I had to suppress a growl. As we walked by I turned my head in their direction behind me and they paused in their step to look at Bella's behind.

When they realized I was watching them, they jumped, turned and continued in the opposite direction. Jealousy ran through me like a cheetah chasing its prey. It was almost as overwhelming as the love I felt for Bella, but then again not even close.

I heard a chuckle next to me. I looked down to see Bella's bright smile.

"Is something funny?" I asked her.

"I think someone's jealous," she said.

I could see that she was enjoying my jealous rage. I decided to try and play it off. Hopefully she would let me down easy.

"No one's jealous here. Not even close." I worked to keep my voice calm an collected. I looked up to see Rosalie staring at us.

"Okay, Edward, whatever you say."

I smiled thinking I'd won her over.

Then suddenly she stopped walking. Emmett and Rose stopped and turned to look at us. I turned to see if something was wrong.

"Bella," She looked at me and then beckoned me to come to her with an index finger. I walked towards her cautiously; the mischief in her eyes apparent and her face too innocent.

I leaned down a little to be at eye level with her and she smiled. She moved forward so her lips were at my ear. "I think it's kind of hot." She whispered. She kissed my ear, making me shiver, and then she kissed my neck, my chin and finally my lips.

I almost jumped on her, then.

Right when I was about to return it she pulled back. I almost whimpered from the loss of contact.

"Yup," she said, "definitely hot."

"You will be the death of me, Bella. I swear you will," I growled at her. She laughed again.

She was so going to pay for that tonight. Emmett and Rosalie snickered behind me. I heard him mutter something about being 'sexually frustrated' which earned him a slap from Rosalie. I smirked.

Bella pulled me along by my shirt into a store. It was filled with books. I missed the name coming in.

"I thought of something I want," she told me.

Bella let go of my shirt and trailed the aisles looking for some unknown item, well unknown to me really. Five small aisles later she stopped at one and walked through it slowly. The books looked like notebooks or diaries. I saw that they all various designs on them; polka dots in different colors, stripes, shapes, animals, etc.

Bella stopped in the middle of the aisle and scaled the line of books from top to bottom, slowly. When she got to the middle of it she stopped.

"Aha!" She exclaimed. She picked up a book. It was dark blue with light blue circles in random designs spread out all over it. It had black spiral rings going down the side connecting the cover and pages together.

"I like this one," she said happily. She held it out for me.

"What do you need this for?" I took it and looked at it some more.

"My poetry," she said

She writes poetry?

"You write poetry?" My eyebrows rose.

"Yes, Edward." She giggled. "I find it… relieving."

I was bemused. She was teasing me now. I have no idea where she got this confidence from or where she got her sneaky little tricks. I might have to have a talk with Alice and Rose about it.

She tugged on my hand. I walked up to the register and paid for the book. The blonde cashier that was wearing too much makeup stared at me the whole time I was standing there. I started to get annoyed. When she returned my credit card and the receipt she wrote her number on the back of it.

I guessed Bella saw the exchange because she hissed quietly beside me. Bella grabbed the bag almost violently and we made our way out of the store.

I laughed at Bella's face as we walked around the mall. She looked pissed, but she was cute when she was angry.

After an hour I'd bought Bella a few pieces of clothing she liked and a bracelet she couldn't seem to take her eyes off of. It was sterling silver and had five square blue diamonds on it that were wrapped in sterling silver. It was quite beautiful. She protested, of course, but whatever she wanted I'd do my best to get it for her. (A/N: link for pic on profile)

Bella didn't look to see how much it was and as soon as I bought it she asked me to help her put it on. I kissed her wrist after I snapped the small latch in place. She blushed and smiled up at me.

We met everyone at the food court. After getting something from a Sonic®, Bella rushed over to Alice and Rosalie and showed them the bracelet I'd just bought her. They practically screamed. I shook my head as I sat down near Emmett and Jasper. The girls were at the table in front of us.

I gazed at Bella. It had only been about a minute without us touching, but since she'd been with me for this past week so much, I almost felt emptiness at the space between us. She was only a few feet away, but I still felt…hollow.

Jasper interrupted my thoughts.

"Edward, are you okay?"

"Yes, fine. Perfectly fine," I said. I eyed Bella for minute. When she caught me looking, she blushed and turned her head back to Alice and Rose. I smirked.

"Man, Edward, you fell hard, didn't you?" Emmett laughed. It felt like he was shaking the floor.

"You're one to talk, Em. Rose has you wrapped around finger, and then some." I said.

Jasper chuckled next to me and we smacked fists. Emmett scowled next to us and muttered something unintelligible.

"How is she?" Jasper asked.

"She's great. Everything's healing well. Dad says that her ankle might take a little more time to heal, but other than that she's well."

Ever since that night, Bella ran into him with tears in her eyes, he's been…worried. He cares about her well-being almost as much as I do. I don't know how he does it, but Jasper has an uncanny ability to control peoples' emotions. It helps a lot.

"When are you guys going to tell Mom and Dad?" Emmett asked around a bite of a huge sandwich.

I sighed. I hadn't talked to her about that.

"Soon, Em, soon," I said looking in Bella's direction.

"So, when is the thing with Newton going to start?" He asked.

"I don't know. Halloween is coming up soon."

"Trick or treat." He laughed.

"We're going to get him good." Jasper said.

"Yes, we are." I said.

After a little more talking and a few stupid jokes from Emmett we left the mall. We said goodbye to everyone else because they weren't going where we were going. Bella didn't know that, so she got upset when I told her about another surprise.

"You'll love this, Bella, trust me." I winked at her. She blushed and turned her head to look out the window.

I'm not sure if she'd ever been to a national game before, but I knew she'd love it. There was no doubt about it. I had her put on her hoodie when we got to the stadium. It was murder trying to find a close parking spot. There weren't any. We were going to have to walk for a minute.

I heard Bella's breath catch as she took wind of the stadium. She gazed out the window.

"Edward, where are we?" She sounded breathless.

"You'll find out soon, love."

I finally found a parking space and pulled in. We were a little late, but the game hadn't started yet, we had some time.

I grabbed her hand as we made our way to the stadium. It was crowded. It took us a minute to find our seats, but we did.

"Edward, tell me this isn't what I think it is." Bella said her eyes on the field.

"It is."

I apologize for their OOCness but they kinda took over my brain while I was typing the chapter up. They did what they waned to do. PLus I felt it was good to have a little fun to alleviate all the tension and stuff that's been happening lately. The review count to beat is 49 to keep Edward doing the disclaimers. I person that cracks the count will get a preview of the next chapter. Again upon reqeust you guys can have anyone you want to reply to your reviews.

OH! Emmett says that he has set something 'really funny' up for someone that has been messing with him for a while. He says you know who you are.

Well, if that's everything...

Reader4Lyfe, peace.