1. A DANGEROUS BUSINESS

"YOU'RE SURE YOU WANT TO DO THIS, BELLA?"

I sighed quietly. Edward had been asking me this question without pause for the past few days, ever since I said that I thought Charlie ought to know that we were going to marry. He wanted to be completely and totally sure that it was what I wanted, and that I wasn't being pressured by his insane desire to marry me.

"Yes, Edward," I said. "I want to do this. I want him to know about my choice – our choice."

Edward sighed as he interlocked our fingers and looked at the ring nestled there. I glanced up into his face and found it filled with a longing reverence, his eyes sparked with an emotion I couldn't quite identify before he caught me looking and he hid them behind a face of impassiveness and smiled.

We were lying across the bed in his room. I had been particularly grateful that he had not gotten rid of it since my "sleepover" with Alice. Charlie was under the impression that Edward was out camping with Jasper (who was actually hunting somewhere in the Olympic Peninsula) and that Alice had kidnapped me for another sleepover, because if he knew the truth, that I was alone with Edward in his room on a bed, he would have a hernia.

"What are you thinking about?" Edward whispered in my ear.

"Charlie's face if he knew what I was doing right now."

Edward looked as though he had been expecting a different answer, but he laughed quietly at the thought. "Yes, I would imagine him with quite the temper."

"Mm-hmm."

He was playing with a strand of my hair absentmindedly and humming a tune I didn't recognize, thinking about something, I guessed. I thought he might be trying to figure out how to rephrase the question that he'd been asking non-stop, so I let him work it out in peace, thinking about things myself.

I let my mind wander, casting about for something, anything that I could think about. My thoughts immediately went to Jacob Black, my supposed werewolf best friend, but the word "friend" was a loose term with Jacob and me. It was difficult to be friends with someone who was completely in love with you when you couldn't – though you did – love them back.

And then there was he and Edward. Their prejudices against each other (although their families were all obligated to have the same prejudices) caused them to dislike each other, and I supposed the fact that they were fighting over me probably didn't help either, though Edward said that he was over his prejudice, something I had been, and still was, thankful for.

I couldn't think about Jacob. I shouldn't be thinking about Jacob, but even as I told myself that, I knew that I couldn't not think about Jacob.

I found myself wondering where he was. Charlie had told me last night over dinner that he had been shocked when one of his officers came in with a Missing Person's report and Jacob's face was plastered on the front. This news had upset me, and I'd ruined another one of Edward's shirts over Jacob Black, crying into his shoulder.

I would often lay awake at night and think about Jake, Edward desperately trying to get me to sleep or pestering me about what I was thinking about, though I never told him. I was wondering where he was. What he was doing, when he was coming back. Or even worse yet, whether he was coming back at all.

It was difficult to talk to Edward about this. Of course I knew he would listen, but I also knew that it bothered him slightly, knowing that I thought about Jacob this much. And I knew that he would find a way to blame himself for that, but the truth was it wasn't his fault. I was the one who had stupidly fallen in love with two people. I would always be eternally grateful that Edward could never read my mind no matter how hard he tried. My little genetic quirk was something that I would never stop being thankful for. If Edward could read my mind, I would be blushing a lot more than I did now…

Edward sighed quietly, his breath ruffling my hair slightly.

"What?" I asked.

"Alice," he said shortly.

I didn't fully understand until Alice burst in through the door with a dazzling smile on her face. She loped in gracefully, causing me to narrow my eyes in envy as I watched her flawless form dance into the room.

"You might have knocked," Edward said irritably, though a smile did break across his face.

"What would be the point?" said Alice with a shrug, bouncing over to his CD collection and flicking through a few, apparently looking for something. "You knew I was coming."

"And you knew that I was going to tell you to knock."

She ignored him and turned to me with a disapproving look as she eyed what I was wearing, a pair of faded jeans and a loose t-shirt. "Bella, you and I need to go shopping sometime before the honeymoon."

I smiled as she said the word "honeymoon" at the same time Edward frowned. The honeymoon was the only reason that I was going through with this wedding. Edward would keep to his promise that we would try and I would marry him. That had been the agreement, and I wasn't going to let him duck out now.

"We'll go shopping later," I promised her.

She beamed and began flicking through Edward's CD's again. Edward walked over to her faster than I could see and handed her a stack from the top shelf, which she couldn't reach very easily. "Here," he said gruffly. I supposed he was loathe to part with the CD's. "These should suffice for the reception."

Alice eyed them doubtfully for a moment before she shrugged and looked at me. She stared for half a second, her eyes flicking between Edward and me, before she said, "Did you show her yet?"

Edward glared at her. "No, not yet. Thanks so much for mentioning it though, Alice."

"Show me what?"

"Nothing, Bella," he said quickly.

"Edward!" I said dangerously, or at least what I thought was a dangerous-sounding tone.

Alice giggled and sauntered out of the room. Edward chuckled as she left, and wrapped his arm around my waist. "She is a dangerous little creature."

"Absolutely ruthless," I said with a nod. "So what are you showing me?"

"It's nothing, Bella. Really."

He put his hand under my chin and kissed me a little more passionately than usual. He was trying to distract me, I supposed. Well, it was working. My lips moved with his at a pace that was normally prohibited by Edward and his morals, but this time he seemed willing to push his limits, and I certainly wasn't complaining. He pushed me away, an automatic reflex these days, when I became a little bit too intimate for him. (I'd wrapped my legs around his waist and actually left the floor.)

He set me down and pulled me closer again, and rested his cheek on the top of my head. "Just a few more weeks," he whispered in my ear. "It seems like years to me." I scowled, glad that my face was buried into his chest and he couldn't see it. He would have been hurt if he knew how reluctant I was to do this.

It wasn't that I didn't want to marry Edward at all; I just didn't want to do it so soon. Besides, the word husband could never be applied to Edward, of all people. It wasn't powerful enough. There had to be another word. Something with more meaning.

"Charlie will be home soon," he said quietly, looking down at me, analyzing my face for any signs of doubt or uncertainty. "If you want to tell him, now might be a good time. Alice has the wedding planned for two weeks from now."

I nodded, reaching up on my tiptoes to kiss him. He knew what I wanted and he leaned down a bit to make it easier for me.

We'd kissed before, of course, but I never really got used to how cold is lips were. How unnatural – yet still amazing – they felt on mine, and it struck me that in a few weeks they wouldn't be cold anymore. We would be the same temperature, and he would feel as warm to me as any other human, though neither of us would be human.

I would be just as cold. Just as strong, too, or maybe even stronger.

He pulled away from me when my tongue rolled out of my mouth and he smiled, shaking his head. "Are you incapable of controlling your human urges, Bella? I was enjoying myself until you did that."

"I always ruin it," I said with a smile.

"Don't worry. It keeps me on my toes," he promised with a smile of his own, which I knew would make mine look like I was missing half of my teeth. "Shall we?" He offered me a hand and I took it, controlling a shiver at how cold it was. He led me down the stairs and out to the garage where I assumed his Volvo was, but it wasn't there. Instead there was a slick black car that I didn't recognize. Emmett was examining the hood with Rosalie beside him, pointing things out.

Emmett grinned when he saw us. "Hey, Bella," he said with a smile. "Trip over anything on your way down?"

I glared at him and he howled with laughter. Rosalie smiled apologetically at me, and I was surprised. I hadn't seen her much since our conversation about her human life in Edward's room all those months ago. I had hoped that we would remain friendly, but I hadn't had much of a chance to test the theory. It seemed that she was at least trying.

"So whose car is this?" I asked, looking at it in awe. I may not have known too much about cars, but I could at least tell that this was a good one.

I felt Edward shift awkwardly beside me and clear his throat at the same time Emmett brought his hand to his mouth, covering a smile. Rosalie looked a little bit envious as she eyed me and the car, and something clicked in my head.

I rounded on Edward. "You didn't."

"I'm sorry, Bella. If you don't like it, I can return it…"

"Ugh!" I muttered. "You're unbelievable!" He bought me a car after I specifically told him not to? That was so Edward. And so annoying.

"Well, you needed one, Bella. Your truck only has a few months left in it, at best. I didn't want to leave you without transportation. What kind of husband would I be, leaving you to walk in the rain?" He was smiling down at me, but his eyes were worried about my reaction, afraid that I didn't like it, and I felt guilty. There really was no reason that I shouldn't, not in his eyes, but I would never accept this.

I shook my head. "No way. I'd rather walk."

He sighed. "So stubborn. And when Charlie notices that we just came from my house with no car?"

He stumped me there and I had to think about it a moment. "We'll take your car."

He frowned but jerked his head outside where his Volvo was parked. It was there, around the corner of the Cullens' huge garage, looking as normal as the Cullens could. I knew Edward would have preferred to drive something a little bit faster – not to mention something a bit shinier – but he and his family had to appear somewhat normal. In Forks, a small town in Washington that barely ever saw sunlight, no one owned a Porsche or a Mercedes, and certainly not whatever car that was.

"Would you at least take the keys?" he pressed, pulling them out of his pocket and jiggling them slightly.
"No," I said.

"Okay," he said, pocketing the keys again. "A Christmas present, then."

I grimaced as he held open the passenger's door for me and he laughed at my expression. He was around the car and in the door faster than I could blink, still laughing. He started the car and sped down the drive, headed towards my house. I was used to Edward's driving by now, but the knot that usually formed in my stomach whenever he drove me places was back as he pushed past one-twenty.

"What are you going to say to Charlie?" he asked me. He wasn't paying attention to the road at all, but that didn't make me nervous anymore. There was a time when I would have been screaming, but Edward would never crash and he would never get a ticket.

I got the feeling that he was trying to distract me and keep me from dwelling on the whole car thing. I answered him as best I could.

"I don't know," I said honestly. "You know what he's going to think, right?"

"I do have a fairly good idea," he said with a smile. "But we'll need to get a little bit closer to the house for me to be certain."

"He's going to think I'm pregnant."

He seemed taken aback by that and he laughed quietly, looking away from me. I guessed he was trying not to think about what that would mean. He didn't say anything for a minute or two, though he didn't concentrate on the road. He was staring at me, examining my expression for something. "I suppose that would be the only real reason an eighteen year old girl and her boyfriend would sit a father down and pull out the classic, 'we need to talk'."

I frowned at the word "boyfriend", but let it slide because I couldn't think of a better word that didn't sound corny. "Yes, because marriage isn't a real reason."

"That's not what I meant."

"Well, that's what I meant." An edge of anger had slipped into my voice, though I wasn't really angry at Edward. I was angry at Charlie, because I already knew what he was going to say. He wouldn't accept this at all. Not easily, anyway.

"Bella, you would tell me if you didn't want to do this, wouldn't you?" he asked, his eyes smoldering. "Please tell me that you would say something."

"I would say something, Edward," I told him. "And I do want to marry you." His face brightened slightly at those words, but he seemed to sense that there was a but coming. "But Charlie won't accept this very easily, and neither will my mother. She has a lot of opinions about marriage, and she's not going to go for this."

"Bella, I would never ask you to choose me over you parents, if that were the case."

"I know that. That's not what I was saying. I only meant that it's going to be a hard sell."

He smiled my favourite crooked smile and pulled into Charlie's drive. "I can be a good salesman." I didn't doubt it. He seemed unnaturally good at everything. He helped me out of the car and took my hand as we stepped up to the threshold. His face was composed for a moment before his head snapped to the right side of the house where the living room was, and he chuckled in a low voice. "Ah, we're in luck."

"Why?"

"Charlie is in a good mood." He smiled again. It looked triumphant. "His football team just won."

"Ah," I said past the lump that had formed in my throat. "Well, let's not deprive him of anymore good news."

His hand reached toward the handle, before he hesitated and turned back to me.

"Are you ready?" he asked me with an amused smile. "Out of the frying pan and into the fire."

I nodded nervously and he pushed the door open and we stepped into the front of the house, Edward closing the door behind us quietly. Not much had changed since I'd last been here. Charlie didn't seem to have bothered cleaning up. The vacuum I'd used on the front carpet was still leaning against the wall, still plugged in. I shook my head at Charlie's neglectfulness, causing Edward to raise an eyebrow in my direction.

"Hey, Charlie," he called, completely at ease after a second or two of eyebrow raising at me. I couldn't hope to mimic his perfect composure. He seemed totally comfortable, and I couldn't tell if he was acting or not.

Charlie was on the phone with Billy, talking about the game. He gave us a glance, though I imagined that we were hardly important compared to his discussion with Billy, as we continued into the kitchen and sat down waiting for Charlie to become available. Edward seemed determined to try and get in a few last minute warnings before we went into the fire, as he had said. Edward checked at least three more times that this was what I wanted to do.

"Bella, you're sure this is what you want?"

"Yes, Edward. I want this. I want Charlie to know what we're planning."

"Leaving out the fact that I'm a Vampire and you'll soon be becoming one," he added offhandedly. He didn't sound pleased about the last part.

"Yes, leaving out that."

Charlie walked into the kitchen with a smile that quickly faded when he noticed Edward sitting at the table. Charlie had become considerably warmer towards Edward over the last few weeks, mainly because I all but pulled a fit when his thoughts started to echo the cold, hard glare he was throwing at Edward every time he saw him, but I had a feeling that his attitude towards him would soon be changing again, right back to the glares and hateful comments. "Hey kids," he said.

"Hey, dad."

Edward didn't seem to notice Charlie eying him warily as he walked over to the fridge and started digging around, looking for something to eat. Edward was looking at me, silently prompting me along but I didn't know how to start it, or even what I was going to say. I silently cursed myself for not preparing for this more thoroughly. How long would it have taken to run through a few lines, an opening statement? This was a dangerous business, and right now I'd say I wasn't dealing with it too well.

Edward seemed to realize that I wasn't going to say anything because he cleared his throat and Charlie looked at him. "We need to talk to you, Charlie. We have good news."

Good news. Maybe in his mind. I was pretty sure that Charlie wouldn't find this to be very good.

Charlie seemed to realize what was happening before Edward said anything more, but he sat down warily beside me, across from Edward, and waited for him to say something more. Charlie stared at me for a second or two before he frowned. "Bella, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," I lied, not too convincingly. "Everything is fine."

"Then why are do you look like half of the punk kids I bring in to the station?" he accused. I glanced at Edward who was looking at me nervously, apparently as concerned as Charlie, but Edward turned back to my dad.

"Charlie, I want you to understand a few things before we tell you what we're here to tell you." Edward seemed very calm, something I knew that I didn't look. It looked as though Edward was totally comfortable talking about this with Charlie. He may have been bulletproof, but I sure wasn't. Charlie's eyes narrowed, but he didn't say anything, so Edward continued. "I love Bella more than anything else in the world, and I could not – cannot – live without her. We're-"

"Oh, god!" bellowed Charlie standing up so quickly that his chair fell over and crashed to the floor. "Oh, no! You're pregnant! Oh, Bella, no!"

"No, dad!" I said in desperation. "I'm not pregnant! Calm down and stop jumping to conclusions and give us a chance to explain!"

Charlie blushed a bit and picked up his chair and sat down again. "Sorry," he said. "But I couldn't think of anything else…"

"It's okay, dad." Ugh. I told him Charlie would jump to that conclusion. And he wouldn't be the only one, either. Once news of our engagement became public, it would be the first thing that would come to everyone's minds. What other sane reason was there for a pair of eighteen year olds to get married?

"Sorry," he said again, this time to Edward for interrupting him. He looked expectantly at him, trying to make up for going ballistic over nothing.

"We're getting married, Charlie. I love her completely and totally, and there is no one else for either of us. I understand that we're going about this backwards and that it's all moving quickly…" Charlie's face registered nothing. He was dumbfounded. Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't this. It took him a moment for it to sink in, and Edward took the opportunity to continue. "The wedding is in two weeks, Charlie, and Bella and I would like nothing more than for you to be there, and, of course, I would like your blessing and your permission to marry your daughter."

My face soured at the old-tradition of men trading off women, but I didn't say anything because that was how Edward had been raised all those years ago. Sometimes I forgot what century he was from. Besides, I knew he didn't mean it like that.

Charlie's face still hadn't registered what was happening and he turned to me for some kind of explanation. Wordlessly, I raised my left hand and put it flat on the table, displaying Edward's ring, biting down on my bottom lip. Charlie stared at it for a moment before he started shaking his head slowly.

"Bella, you're too young. You don't know what you're getting into."

"We know exactly what we're getting into, dad. I love Edward."

Emotion crept into his face for the first time in my memory. "I know, honey, but sometimes it's just not enough." He was speaking of his and my mother's failed marriage.

"Dad, everything will be fine. You'll come to the wedding, and-" I lost track of where I had been going with that so I shut my mouth and stared at the table. Charlie turned to Edward slowly and deliberately, I recognized the expression on his face. Charlie was thinking.

"You two are positive about this? You want this?" he asked us.

I nodded; uncomfortably reminded of the many times that Edward had asked me that, and Edward said, "Yes" confidently, which seemed to satisfy Charlie.

"Okay," he said. "I always had a feeling, I guess… I didn't think it would be this soon, though… I had hoped for a few years." He was mumbling unintelligibly now, and only Edward could possibly hear his low mutters.

My first impulse was to apologize, but I bit that down. Edward wouldn't like me apologizing for marrying him.

"Dad, it'll be okay. I love you."

He smiled. "I know, Bells."

He stood up slowly and carefully, looking at Edward. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. I prepared myself for something, though I wasn't quite sure what, as I watched nervously. "You're a good kid. Both of you."

I nodded. What else could I do?

"But, Bella…" he said seriously. I looked up. If Charlie was being serious then this was a serious matter. "You have to tell your mother. That one is your responsibility. Your mother isn't going to like this one bit. When she hears what you're proposing…"

"Dad, it's okay. I'll do it."

He looked relived that I wasn't going to make him break it to her and his eyes flicked towards the living room where I heard the sounds of a hockey game.

I smiled. "Go dad. Go Detroit."

"Michigan," said Edward and Charlie simultaneously. "Emmett was talking about it earlier," added Edward when I gave him a look. Charlie left for his game with some leftover pizza and Edward and I went up to my room.

Charlie heard us on the stairs. "Keep the door open," he called from the living room. Edward chuckled quietly and jumped down on the bed, folding his arms behind his head. I lay down beside him and he wrapped his cold arms around me.

"What's Charlie thinking?" I asked him. I wasn't entirely sure that Charlie had accepted it completely.

"Hmm…" mused Edward quietly. "Did I ever tell you that I find it difficult to read Charlie's mind?"

That threw me off guard. "What?"

"Your mother's was a little bit easier… But still more challenging than most." He looked down at me with a smile. "Apparently your mind works fine; it's your parents' genes that are keeping me out of your mind."

"Remind me to thank them for that."

He laughed and pulled me a little closer so he could kiss the top of my head. "Remind me to blame them for every thought of yours that I've missed out on."

"Why do you think that is?" I asked after a short pause. We had never really known what kept him out of my mind, but the fact that my parents' genes had created my little quirk had never really been discussed as a theory.

He sat there quietly, deliberating possible theories. "I suppose that your parents just have very unique minds, and in combination they make someone so irritatingly immune to my ability, not to mention everyone else's, so long as they involve your overly complex mind." He smiled down at me again and sighed. "A mind I so badly wish I could read."

"So I am a freak?"

"Mmm… Maybe, but you're my freak."

I sat there for a moment, thinking about that. Edward couldn't read my parents' minds as easily as other peoples'. They had the same genetic quirk, but it had doubled over in me, and now Edward couldn't read my mind at all. I frowned as I realized that he had avoided answering me. "You never did answer my question."

"No, I didn't."

"Well?"

He hesitated for a moment before he exhaled quietly and explained my father's thoughts. "Charlie thinks that I'm pressuring you into this. Or, at least, he suspects it. He's going to talk to you about it afterward, when I leave…" His tone made me think that there was something else that he was considering leaving out, but he seemed to decide against it and plowed on. "And he's running through scenarios with your mother, imagining her reactions to the news. They're entertaining." He laughed again, his body quivering, and I didn't know why, but I laughed, too.

"Anything else?" I asked innocently.

"He thinks that the referee needs to re-think that call. I'm not sure what happened, exactly. I missed the play."

"Well, that's good, then, I guess," I said.

He raised an eyebrow at me so I explained. "It's better that he think about all of this in a comical light than grabbing his gun and shooting you."

"That might be interesting," he admitted.

"It might be, but he might decide to shoot me too, and we're not all bulletproof."

I unconsciously clung closer to him, but it made me a little bit colder. Edward noticed my shiver and he slid away from me.

"Get back here," I growled.

"Half a moment," he whispered to me. He pecked me on the lips softly and then disappeared.

I missed him already. "Edward?" I whispered to the darkness that was my bedroom. "Edward?"

"I'm back," he said, holding something out for me. It was another blanket that I recognized from the closet in the hall. "It's supposed to be cold tonight," he explained. I took the blanket a little more roughly than I would have normally, and I felt something hard wrapped up inside it. My eyes narrowed in his direction and he pulled an innocent expression and shrugged.

I shook the bundle slightly and heard a faint jingling. I quickly unwound the blanket and dumped the contents on my bed. Edward stepped forward to hover behind me, his arms wrapped around my stomach. I stared down at what had landed on my bed.

It was the keys to that stupid car of his.

"Very funny," I said sarcastically, picking them up and striding with them to the hallway, his arms falling away from me. He followed me quickly, laughing brightly.

"I thought it was. You don't have to be so stubborn, Bella. The truck really won't last much longer and you need to get around somehow."

I ignored him and kicked open the bathroom door and strode over to the toilet. He probably could have stopped me, but he didn't. He watched me throw the keys into the toilet and pull the flusher. I turned to him triumphantly, a broad smile on my face.

He stood there for a moment, a bit shocked at my actions but then he smiled even more widely and pulled something out of his pocket. It was another set of identical keys. "You probably just clogged your drain, too."

"You're impossible!" I snarled.

"Well, I needed the keys to our car, too."

I froze for a moment. "Our car?"

"Certainly. Don't married couples normally share a car? Or at least have something together, something to share." He wasn't smiling now, and there seemed to be genuine disappointment in his eyes and I immediately felt guilty.

I hadn't realized that it was our car. I had thought that it was just my car. "Oh." I blushed crimson.

"Are you regretting flushing your set of keys down the toilet? I can have another set made, if you've changed your mind."

"No," I told him defiantly. "I just didn't realize that it was both of ours. I thought it was just mine." I should have realized.

"Hmm," he said with a smile. "Well, maybe you'll change your mind when your truck dies." His eyes flashed with amusement and his face was too cocky for my liking.

I walked over and elbowed him in the ribs. It hurt me more than it hurt him, but he pretended to wince for my benefit. "No hitting – you'll hurt yourself. I still haven't forgiven Jacob for breaking your hand, but I'd never be able to forgive myself."

I grimaced at the memory and flinched at the mention of Jacob's name. Edward seemed to notice and he immediately backpedaled.

"I apologize. That was stupid. I forgot… Bella, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to mention him." I nodded but pushed past him and walked back into my bedroom. Edward followed me and stood a few feet away from me, looking horribly remorseful. "Sorry," he said again.

"It's okay."

But was it? Jacob wasn't here. He'd been missing for almost a week now...

"Bella?" I heard Edward call. There was concern and worry in his voice and I glanced up into his face, which mirrored the emotions I'd heard in his words. "Bella, are you all right?"

I nodded, but the tears that were streaming down my cheeks betrayed me and I hastily brushed them away and turned away from him. I didn't want him to see me cry, especially not over Jacob Black.

I made a promise to myself, right then, that I would never cry about Jacob Black again. I felt his hands slide down my back gently, rubbing it consolingly. "Bella, it is okay to cry."

"But I don't want to, Edward. I don't want to feel like this!"

"Shh, Bella, shh," he whispered, pulling me closer. "Bella it's all right."

"No it isn't, Edward! He's run away and it's all my fault! What if he doesn't-? What if he never-?" I couldn't complete my questions, but he had an inkling as to what I was trying to ask.

"Bella." He spoke the word clearly, and his tone made me look up into his face. "Bella, Jacob just needs some time alone. He needs to think some more. He will be back." He smiled here and I couldn't help but smile back. "He wouldn't give you up to me that easily." He paused for a moment, considering something. And then he said, "Are you going to call Renee?"

I thought about it for a second. "Tomorrow," I said eventually. "I'll call her tomorrow. Right now…" I turned to him with what I hoped was a seductive face. His eyes popped slightly before he controlled himself. "What do you say for a bit of practice?"

I didn't leave him time to answer, I just crushed my lips to his with an intensity that he frowned upon, but this time he didn't stop me.