A/N: Okay, folks, I hope that this chapter is up to your standard. Also to CyberAngelOne, the story is not on hold, I was just exceedingly lazy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the Van Allen's, excluding Bella.

APOV

I had been worrying for several hours, which isn't like me at all, about how to keep Bella safe in Port Angeles.

The obvious solution would be to follow her discreetly and watch from a distance. That way, if anything happened, for example Bella getting attacked by a rabid vampire, then I would be there to step in and help.

The problem with that, however, was that I had no idea about Bella's limitations. As much as I hated to admit it, I really didn't know much about this girl, except that she lived with a coven of vegetarian vampires and she wasn't human. And, of course, she liked to draw and paint, loved most types of music, had a really sweet disposition, was really polite, looked cute as hell when she bit her lip while thinking, she was funny and kind and...I am going way off point.

There was a chance that Bella could have spotted me, because she seemed to have better senses than humans. She also might have been able to take this vampire, if it was a vampire. Then again, she might not and I had decided to err on the side of caution.

Once I decided to go to Port Angeles to protect her, I had been trying to figure out the best way of tailing her when Edward made an unexpected suggestion.

"Why don't you just go shopping with them?" His voice was calm, as though he were suggesting having deer for dinner.

I opened my mouth to tell him about all of the problems associated with that course of action, when I really thought about it.

It was the perfect plan. Sure, she'd know that the reason I was going had something to do with her, but at least I wouldn't have to spy. Then again, either way she'd see me as some kind of stalker.

Edward smiled slightly. "As long as she's safe, who cares?" Always the logical one.

I looked at him gratefully. "Thanks Edward. I'm glad that you don't have a problem with this anymore."

He sighed. "If it's what you want, then I have no right to stop you and she did save Jasper from killing that girl. You know what that would have done to him" I saw the love for his mate in his eyes, something that I had always been jealous of. Maybe I wouldn't have to feel jealous of it anymore...

Hearing the direction of my thoughts, Edward looked at me fully. "Alice, I know that you care about her but I don't want to see you get hurt. She proved with Jasper that she means us no harm, but just remember that she might not feel the same way you do."

My expression fell and Edward hurried on. "Look, Alice, I'm only saying this because our powers don't work on that family for some reason and Jazz can't get a lock on her feelings. That doesn't mean that doesn't have any feelings for you, I have seen her watching you on occasion, but don't get your hopes up. Just in case." Clapping me on the shoulder, he got up to go help Esme in the garden. She had been stealing people left, right and centre and forcing them into servitude in her garden lately. Seeing as it was Esme, none of us could say no to her.

After that I had to call Angela out of the blue and try to convince her to let a total stranger like myself go on a shopping trip with them. That was a fun conversation.

I picked up the phone and dialled her number, which I acquired from the phone book that we get in every new town we go to.

It took about three rings before she answered. "Hello, Webber residence."

"Hi, I'm assuming that this is Angela?"

The voice on the other end, which was definitely Angela, paused before responding. "Yes. Who exactly is this?"

Here goes. "It's Alice. Alice Cullen."

This time the pause was at least ten seconds. "Alice? Um, why...what..er, is there something I can help you with?"

Her nervousness bothered me. I may be a vampire, but I didn't like how people always shied away from us, without giving us a chance. Not that we ever let them. Still, Angela was always a sweet person, never judgemental or rude, like so many other high-school girls. She'd also never come on to Edward or Jasper, something that was very rare. No one seemed to notice that they were gay, and if the girls did notice it, then they were in serious denial.

"I know that it's on such short notice and everything, but I heard that you and a few other people were going shopping in Port Angeles tomorrow for dresses and I was just wondering if you had room for one more?"

I could hear a thump on the other end and I assumed that she had dropped the phone. After a quick scramble and a few minor curse words, which was truly surprising, she responded, sounding slightly out of breath. "This other person would be you?"

I rolled my eyes, regardless of whether she could see it or not. "Yes. Like I said, I know that it's short notice and everything, but I really need to get a dress before all of the good ones are gone and you're going, so I thought..?" I trailed off, waiting for her response.

I had a brief vision of her saying yes two seconds before it became reality. "Of course you can come."

I smiled. "Thank you. Do you think that Bella and Jessica will be okay with this?"

Angela laughed. "I think that Bella will be fine and Jessica will have a heart attack. Although, after two years of trying to get a Cullen in her car, I don't think that you're what she had in mind."

I smiled, imagining the look on Jessica's face.

After she had calmed down, Angela asked me for directions, having absolutely no idea where I lived.

We had anticipated this and decided that it wouldn't do any harm for the humans to know where we lived, unless, of course, Jessica came over in a drunken stupor, begging Edward to give her a chance.

She seemed surprised by the amount of directions needed to get to our house. "Wow, um, I'll give these to Jessica. She's driving."

Snickering at Edwards groan from upstairs, I told her that I'd see her tomorrow before I hung up.

That was how it was decided that I would be accompanying these girls on their shopping trip. I thought of little else that night but the prospect of seeing Bella again. This would be the first time I'd seen her since the incident with Jasper and the van and I couldn't help but wonder how she'd react to seeing me.

It wasn't until the next morning that my nervousness caught up with me. I was waiting just inside the front door, not wanting to wait out in the rain, when I heard the sound of a car coming down our insanely long driveway.

I shuffled my feet and took a deep breath.

"Alice, dear, relax. It'll be fine." I turned to find Esme walking in from the living room, a reassuring smile on her face. Her knees were mud-stained and she carried a trowel in one hand.

I sighed. "I know. I honestly don't know why I'm so nervous."

Esme chuckled. "I have one or two guesses."

Raising an eyebrow, I crossed my arms. "Care to share."

Her face softened and she placed her hand on my arm. "You'll find out soon enough. All you have to worry about now is enjoying yourself."

"And protecting Bella from a ravenous vampire."

"Alice, we don't even know if it is a vampire. It could just be a string of animal attacks. Now stop worrying and get outside, they're here."

Realising that she was right and they were already outside, I gave her a quick, but firm hug, silently thanking her for her pep talk. I had always been the most touchy-feely person in our house, but Esme came in a close second. She returned the hug and gave me a small shove towards the door.

Taking one last deep breath, I opened the door and hopped down the step, throwing a wave over my shoulder.

Ignoring the two in the front seats, I focused my attention on Bella, who was waving at me mother with a smile on her face. She was a very polite individual and I couldn't help but smile slightly at her.

I hopped in the car and immediately noticed Bella tense, a slightly confused look on her face. I really hoped that she didn't mind too much that I was coming as well. Regardless, I wasn't leaving because she tensed up.

My natural excited state of mind couldn't be ignored for long.

I turned to face Bella, whose eyes shot to my face after looking at my outfit. Internally smiling at her reaction, I greeted her. "Hey Bella." Remembering the two in the front seat, I glanced at them. "Thank you for letting me tag along. I really appreciate it." Upon shutting the door, I realised that Bella hadn't moved over to give me space. Glancing over, I could see the cause of the problem, a derelict computer, that I highly doubt worked, was sitting on the far seat, limiting the space we had.

We were sitting really close together, and our arms were pressed together. The amount of warmth emanating from her was astounding. Had I not already known that she was something other than human, this would have made me believe that she had an incredibly high fever and was in need of a hospital. Or that she was about to spontaneously combust.

While I had noticed this before, the one and only time we had physical contact before this, the handshake when we first met, it hadn't been long enough for me to really take it into account. In all honesty, it was really quite pleasant.

Jessica merely nodded. From her face, it was obvious that she was in shock.

Angela looked back at us. "No problem, the more the merrier, right?" She noticed the lack of space and immediately became concerned. "You guys aren't too cramped back there, are you? Jess really needs to get that thing fixed today."

I looked at Bella just as she looked at me. "It's fine." We said in unison. I held her gaze for two seconds, golden meeting brown, before she looked away, a slight tinge on her cheeks.

Smiling internally once again at her reaction, I sat back and looked out the window. The rain was as persistent as ever, coating the car windows in a semi-opaque sheen. Despite the fact that rain was present in almost every town we moved to, which meant that I had seen almost one hundred years worth of it, I had always liked the rain. I mean, I liked the sun better, but the rain had a sense of beauty to it, each individual drop like a tear shaped diamond falling from the sky, giving life to plants and animals the world over.

I was focused on the rain, but I couldn't ignore the fact that Bella was right beside me. I hadn't expected conversation, so when she cleared her throat, I turned to her, curiosity plain on my face.

She looked extremely nervous and awkward, shifting slightly and avoiding direct eye contact. "So, er, how've you been?" Her voice was so low, that I wouldn't have been able to hear it if I weren't a vampire. As it was, Angela and Jessica wouldn't be able to eavesdrop.

I snapped my head around to face her in surprise. After three weeks avoiding me, why was she talking now? Did it have something to do with what happened to Jasper?

Despite my excitement over the fact that she was talking to me again, I still felt a little miffed about the whole thing. "Oh, I've been fine. I've also been ignored and avoided, but you already know that."

She winced visibly and I felt happy that my opinion of her mattered to her. "Listen, I'd like to apologise for my behaviour over the past few weeks. I just didn't know what else to do." I raised an eyebrow at her, not willing to believe that it would be so easy. She noticed this and quickly continued. "Really, I'm sorry."

Despite myself, I began to believe her, she just didn't seem like the kind of person to mess with me and she was genuinely sincere. "I guess I understand. I should probably thank you for what happened with Jasper, it was pretty risky for you." And it was. Diving in front of a charging vampire consumed by bloodlust wasn't something that I'd recommend if you wanted to live long.

"You're welcome. It was the least I could do."

I smiled cheerfully at her, deciding not to let her off the hook just yet. I said that I should thank you, not that I did. Had you been nicer to me, then I would have, but now you get nothing."

I chuckled internally at the confused expression on her face. I had really missed talking with Bella and I was excited that she was beginning to trust me.

"Well then, I guess I'll have to make it up to you then."

Instantly, my mind was filled with images of week-long shopping excursions, with Bella carrying the bags and not being allowed to complain. From Bella's lack of enthusiasm whenever shopping was mentioned, I guessed that she wasn't as big a fan of shopping as I was, Then again, I don't think that anyone was as big a fan of shopping as I was.

I turned to look at her fully. "I'm sure I can find something for you to do to gain my forgiveness."

Her expression shifted to one of worry, as though realizing her mistake. It was common knowledge in my house that one had to jump through all kinds of hoops to get me to forgive them. That's why they generally avoided upsetting me, knowing that I could guilt-trip them into almost anything.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm going to regret saying that?"

I kept the grin on my face. "Don't worry about it now, Bella."

She frowned at my avoidance of her question. "Are you implying that I should worry about it later?"

"Maybe a little." No need to dissuade her fears too early.

"How much is a little?"

I pretended to think about her question, giving it serious consideration. "Less than buying a fallout shelter, but more than sleeping with both eyes closed at night." I absentmindedly wondered how difficult it would be to sneak past four unknown vampires to scare the crap out of a sleeping Bella. Then I wondered if she even slept.

"Ok, now you're worrying me." Mission accomplished.

As much as I enjoyed freaking her out, I had to get the answer to a question that had been bothering me to no end.

"You should be worried, but let's put thoughts of your impending doom behind us. I heard that you weren't going to the dance. Why not?"

"It just isn't something that I'm that interested in."

Not interested...My God, she was serious.

"But why not? It's a party. How can you not like parties?" My eyes widened as a new thought occurred to me. "Is it because you can't dance or something embarrassing like that?" I had been using dancing as a generality, something that humans avoided dances because of, not because I thought she couldn't dance. She didn't see it that way.

Her brow furrowed. "Why would you assume that I can't dance?"

"So you can dance?" It wasn't so much a question as a statement. I had seen her in gym, dodging balls and playing basketball and she was incredibly graceful in her movements. She would be a wonderful dancer.

She seemed to be about to say something when she stopped, a pensive look on her face.

"You know, I've never actually tried."

I felt my mouth drop open. How could she have never tried to dance? Toddlers danced. I blame my shock for not thinking about what I said next, before I said it. "You've never danced? At all? But you move so gracefully, you'd be a fabulous dancer."

I froze. While that comment wouldn't bother me were it directed at anyone else, saying it to Bella made me feel shy and embarrassed, two emotions that I'm not used to dealing with. Biting my lip, I turned away from her and the frozen look on her face.

She snickered. "So, you think I'm graceful?" Damn her, she was enjoying this way too much.

I shifted in my seat trying in vain to get rid of my embarrassment. "Well, um, yeah. I mean, we have gym together and you're really good and everything." Good God, I'm losing the ability to speak eloquently. How was she affecting me so much? I only called her graceful. If any of my family could see me now, the self-confident Alice, stuttering and looking like she would be blushing of she could, they'd fall over laughing and I'd never live it down.

From the corner of my eye, I could see her smile at me. "Thank you, Alice. You're pretty graceful yourself."

I smiled back at her, embarrassment forgotten. As I was about to respond, Jessica piped up in the front seat. "Ok guys, we're here. Time to go shopping."

Feeling a bubble of excitement explode in me, I threw myself out of the car, cursing the surrounding humans for making me go slowly. While I was well aware that I was here to look out for Bella, I was still determined to enjoy myself, an easy task when surrounded by clothes.

For a good few minutes Angela, Jessica and I got into an in depth conversation about the types of dresses we would need. While Bella was talking to me again, this particular conversation she avoided like the plague.

We went to a few of the closest dress stores and worked in teams. Angela and Jessica helped each other and Bella gave her opinion on each of the dresses I wore.

She ignored the other two and gave me her undivided attention, something that I was grateful for. I was even entertaining the idea that she didn't hate shopping after all, when I saw her expression glaze over. She was sitting in one of the leather chairs designed for friends of customers who aren't trying anything on, in front of the storefront window, hands clasped on her knees.

I was wearing one of my favourite dresses of the evening, a simple black number with silver design and I was waiting for her to say something. "So, Bella, what do you think?"

Her expression didn't change so I waved my hand in front of her face, trying to get her attention. I guess all of the shopping had bored her into a stupor.

She twitched slightly and looked at me. "It's a really beautiful dress and it looks great on you."

I smiled at her compliment. "Really? It looks okay?"

She rolled her eyes at me. "Alice, it looks more than 'okay', it looks great. Now I command you to buy it." Her tone was firm, brooking no argument.

I thought of her hate of shopping and gave her a stern look. "You're not just saying that to get out of shopping, which you seem to hate, are you?"

She scoffed as though the very thought was ridiculous and not something that she'd been considering. "I don't hate shopping, I just dislike it immensely. And no, I'm not just saying it to get out of shopping. It really does look great."

I stayed looking at her, wondering how good a liar she was, before accepting her words as the truth. I smiled and nodded at her. "Okay, I'll get it."

Soon, Angela and Jessica came out in their own dresses. The former complimented my sincerely and the latter was trying to hide a scowl, and failing miserably. I smiled at Angela before heading into the dressing rooms to change.

After about ten minutes, I was back in the dressing room with five more dresses, Jessica in the stall next to me. I could hear Bella complaining to Angela that we'd already picked our dresses and inquire as to why we were still trying things on.

"They're shopaholics, Bella. It's all about the process." How right she was. Buying clothes was fun, but searching and trying them on was better.

I had just put on the last dress, a pale yellow number, and was looking at myself in the mirror out in the hall, when Jessica approached me.

I turned to her, a quizzical look on my face. Without Bella and Angela around, she didn't have to hide her scowl. "Is there something I can help you with, Jessica?"

"Oh, drop the polite act. You need to know that you tagging along is not appreciated."

My eyebrows drew down. I knew that she didn't like me, but I had no idea where this sudden animosity came from. "Have I offended you in some way?"

Her scowl deepened. "Like you don't know. He'll never go for you and he's mine so back off."

She didn't seem to notice that I had no idea what she was talking about. "Who the hell are you talking about?"

She looked at me as though I was an idiot. "Lee Van Allen, the only guy worth my attentions in school, now that I'm over your fag brother."

I briefly registered that she finally realised that Edward and Jasper were together before I burst out laughing. "Where...did...you...get t-that crap?" I choked out between giggles. The mere thought of Bella's brother in that way was hilarious. Sure, he was handsome, like all vampires, but it was his sister that I was interested in. This only made me laugh harder.

Jessica seemed offended by my outburst. "I've seen the way you two look at each other and I saw you talking in the hall last Monday."

I doubled over, clutching my sides, trying in vain to stop the giggles.

I had been looking at him because he was Bella's brother and I wanted to know about her family, he'd been looking at me because I was a strange vampire who'd an interest in his sister and we

had been talking in the hall because he'd wanted to know why Emmett kept grinning at him.

Somehow, I doubted Jessica would listen to that explanation, so I just said, "I hardly know the guy, he's all yours," before walking back into the dressing room to change back into my clothes. I should probably tell Bella about this and have her warn Lee. Honestly, after his first rejection you'd think that Jessica would get the message and lay off.

I was still chuckling when I walked into the main room, automatically looking for Bella.

She wasn't there.

I felt slight panic, cursing Jessica for distracting me. Spotting Angela at the entrance, I ran over to her.

She turned and looked at me, holding the bag with her dress in a loose grip. "Angela, do you know where Bella is?" I kept my voice level, she could just be in the bathroom, not out on the streets where there could be a homicidal vampire lurking in the shadows.

"She left about a minute ago, said that she had to go check out this bookstore and that it was closing soon. She'll meet us at the restaurant when she's done."

There was no reason why I should be so nervous. The chances that there was a vampire were slim and I'd only come just in case. Still, I wanted to make sure. "I know the store that she's talking about. I'm done here anyway and I've got plenty of shoes at home so I'll see you at the restaurant too."

"Sure." She said slowly, nodding.

I smiled at her before walking out of the store and taking in a deep breath. Something that I'd noticed about Bella, was that her scent, intoxicating as it was, dissipated amazingly quickly. Angela had said that she'd only left a minute ago, but the trail was already fairly faded. I turned in the direction of her scent and took off running at a human pace, eager to track her down.

I had been following the scent for about twenty seconds when it veered into an alleyway, where I lost it. Surprised and worried by that turn of events, I ran around the entire alley, trying to pick up the scent. Rubbish littered the side of the dark, grimy alley and almost masked the scent, but I finally found it, going up the side of the building.

Staring in shock at the wall, I backed up slightly. How did she go up the wall? Was it some ability or did she jump? I was acutely aware that I still had no idea what Bella was or what she was capable of.

I sighed, resigned and jumped upward, digging my hands and feet into the side of the building to propel myself upward, the concrete giving way easily under my strength. Flipping over the lip of the building, I landed in a crouch, testing the air for the elusive scent.

Once again picking up on it, I took off across the tops of the buildings, leaping across the gaps when they came, my feet silent on the cold bricks.

I had just gotten to the last building when I realised that I would have to vault across an empty street to follow the trail. What the hell was Bella doing? Steeling myself, I ran at the edge of the building and pushed off. There was a moment of weightlessness as I hung suspended over the street, before I landed on the other building with a slight thud.

At this point I could hear muted sobbing, which were not Bella's and I approached the edge of the building.

Crouching down, I looked the shadowed alley behind the warehouse and gasped in shock at the sight below me. Bella stood in the centre, surrounded by four men on the ground, two of which appeared to be knocked out, the other two moaning loudly. In her arms, was a young girl with her head buried in Bella's shoulder, sobbing quietly.

The scent of blood hit me full on, coming from at least three separate individuals down below, the sweet, intoxicating fragrance calling to me, luring me in with promises of satisfaction and fulfilment. The drum-beat of their hearts a symphony of temptation, causing the ever-present fire in the back of my throat to intensify and only my rigid control and force of will stopped me from jumping down and tearing the bleeding girl from her arms. While I wasn't the oldest in my family, I had the second best control, next only to Carlisle.

I moved slightly, leaning my hand on the lip of the roof, when Bella's head snapped up in my direction. Her eyes widened and she glanced at the men on the floor before bringing her gaze back up to meet mine. Even from up here I could read a myriad of different emotions on her face; shock, panic, fear, resignation and, oddly enough, relief.

The girl in her arms was still sobbing, repeating 'thank you' over and over again and from what I could tell, Bella had saved her from those men. This thought sent a strange burst of pride through me and my curiosity about the enigma that was Bella Van Allen only intensified.

Before either of us could do anything, the sound of three sets of running feet reached me and I saw Bella's head jerk in the direction it was coming from.

"Kasey! Kasey where are you?" The voice was male, with a hoarseness to it that implied a smoker. It was also close enough for the human girl to hear.

She gave the men on the ground a wary glance and seemed reluctant to cross over them to get out of the alley. She also seemed reluctant to leave Bella's arms, where she felt safe. Sniffling, she turned in Bella's grasp, keeping a firm hold on her arm, relief plain on her face. "Dad! Dad I'm back here, behind the warehouse!"

From my perch, I could see three people run around the corner of the warehouse, following the voice of the girl. The man, and the one who spoke, was in his early forties, with a light sprinkling of dark stubble, his muscular frame encased in a big black jacket and his green eyes immediately focusing on the girl called Kasey. As he ran forward, he seemingly noticed Bella behind her and then the men on the floor.

"Oh my God! Kasey, what happened? You're hurt!" This voice belonged to the woman at his side, her brown hair shifting in the slight breeze. Running forward, she pulled the girl, Kasey, into her arms, eying Bella warily. The man walked forward and faced Bella.

"What happened here? Who are these men and who the hell are you?" His voice was firm, obviously believing that she had some part in the events. The two men that were still conscious tried to get up but a glare from Bella made them quickly sit back down, fear in their faces. The man who I'm assuming was Kasey's father, noticed this and looked more closely at her.

Kasey pulled away from her mother slightly and looked at her father. "Dad, it's okay. Those men attacked me," her mother gasped and her father's face twisted in rage, levelling a solid glare at one of the men, causing him to scramble backward, holding his chest in pain, "but she saved me. It was amazing, she took all four of them down."

He looked back at Bella, who was looking increasingly uncomfortable, with new respect. "This true? You saved my little girl?"

Bella shifted her feet slightly and cleared her throat. "Um...yes sir."

He took a deep breath, stepped forward and put his hand on her shoulder. "Thank you."

His wife wasn't satisfied with a pat on the shoulder, instead she grabbed Bella in a fierce hug. In any other circumstance, I would have laughed at the look on Bella's face, a mixture of shock and confusion. She cleared her throat again and patted her on the shoulder, her movements that of someone unused social interaction. "Ah...you're welcome?" Her statement came out as more of a question.

The man put his hand out to Bella, who shook it around the woman who still refused to let her go. "I'm Tony O'Malley. This is my wife, Fran, our daughter Kasey and this is our son, Mark." The final member of the family was a boy of about sixteen, with dark hair and grey eyes. He stood back from the others, but watched his sister in concern, gaze flickering towards Bella often.

"I'm Isabella Van Allen."

After giving her a grateful smile, which faded when his eyes skimmed over the leader of the group, Tony turned around and faced his son. "Mark, call the police will ya. Tell them what happened and give 'em directions." The men on the floor started to panic, only the threat of Bella kicking their asses keeping them from bolting. Mark pulled out a cell phone and dialled, waiting only a second before someone picked up.

Bella's eyes widened and she glanced around, her gaze landing on me. "Um...I really should be going, I need to meet up with some friends and I'm running late." Managing to get out of Fran's arms, she took a step back.

"Wait. You need to give a statement to the police and tell them what happened, you're a witness." Tony said, putting a protective arm around his daughter's shoulders.

"Well, see, I really need to go, so maybe you could just contact me later and we'll sort it out then." She took another step backwards before he called out again.

"Well, I suppose that's fine, but I'll need to give the police your number."

Sighing, she gave him her house number to give to the police when they arrived. As she was about to walk off, she glanced to the men on the ground. Crouching down, she looked the still-conscious leader in the eye and spoke so quietly that the humans wouldn't be able to hear. "I'm going to go now. You are going to wait for the police without making a fuss. If you do cause this family any more problems, I will hunt you down and most likely castrate you, you sick, perverted man. Also, there is a very angry father standing over you and you can barely stand up, so I would just lay here quietly and not move if I were you, or you'll be in even more trouble than you are now. Understand?" Her voice was filled with such malice, so unlike the Bella that I'd come to know, that the man had leaned backwards as she leaned forwards in an attempt to get away from her.

"Y-yes, we're clear." His eyes were wide and his breaths were coming in short gasps.

She smiled, clapping him on the shoulder and stood up. "Good boy."Glancing once more at the family, she turned and walked towards the warehouse that I was sitting on, raising a hand to acknowledge the thanks still coming from the family. Her steps were quick and she obviously wanted to get away from them. Ducking into the alley in between the two buildings, I heard her sigh.

"You followed me?" Spinning around, I crouched down before recognising Bella, standing to the roof five feet away from me, arms folded with a questioning look on her face.

Rising from my crouch, I shifted my feet, much like she had done down below only moments before. "Um...yes. But it's not what you think."

Her eyebrow rose.

"I'm serious. I'm not some crazy stalker. I mean, I know that it may seem like that, seeing as I followed you half way across town and was spying on you from the rooftop but there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for my behaviour. I really don't-"

"Alice." Her tone was slightly amused. I stopped rambling and looked at her. "Alice, I know that there's a reasonable explanation for this. I...trust you." That last bit seemed to surprise even her. Walking over to the edge of the building, she crouched down and looked at the people below. "I don't, however, trust them, so I'm going to wait for the police." She turned her head and met my gaze. "While I'm waiting, why don't you tell me that reasonable explanation."

Relieved that she didn't freak out, I crouched down beside her and watched Kasey kick one of the downed men, only to be half-heartedly restrained by her father, who looked tempted to follow her example.

"I don't know if your family heard, but there have been some deaths near Port Angeles recently. We can't be one hundred percent sure, but it seems to be vampire related based on the reports."

She didn't respond, merely waited. "And you came here because..?"

I sighed. "Well, if it was a vampire and it was still around, well, you have a very distinctive scent and I was worried that it might, you know, attack you or something." I finished, my gaze dropping to the roof top.

There was a noticeable pause, only broken by the distant sounds of police sirens. "You came to protect me?" I nodded. "Even though I've been incredibly rude to you recently?" I nodded again, still looking down.

When she didn't reply for a few seconds, I glanced up at her from under my lashes.

Her eyes were on me and I was shocked to see that they were slightly damp. She blinked a few times and cleared her throat. "Well, um...thank you." This close, her amazing scent washed over me and I started slightly when I noticed that it soothed my throat, still burning from the blood below. I took a deep breath, still expecting my thirst to kick in but more of her scent washed in. It was like the Quileute's, but where their scent repulsed us to the point where we lost our appetite, Bella's was like water being poured on a fire. Her scent had never affected me like this before...

I put this amazing discovery at the back of my mind, to be thought about later. We didn't speak again for a while, both watching as the police came and rounded up the four thugs, asking the family some basic questions. I could hear the entire story as Kasey told it to the police. As I suspected, those assholes had tried to rape her and they would have succeeded had Bella not come along and 'incapacitated' them, as one of the police officers put it. When she heard her name being mentioned, Bella tensed up slightly and sighed. "Way to lay low Bella," I heard her mumble under her breath. I really hoped that this didn't cause any problems for her in the future.

We waited until the police and the family left to go to the station for a more thorough interrogation before standing up. Walking over to the edge, I watched as she glanced at me once before jumping off the side of the warehouse, landing soundlessly below, the distance not bothering her in the slightest.

Looking down and seeing that she was waiting for me, I stepped off the side and landed next to her, neither of us saying anything.

We started walking back in the direction of the city centre, listening to the sirens fading in the distance.

"How long have we been gone?" she asked, obviously thinking of Angela and Jessica.

I looked at my watch. "About an hour. They should be at the restaurant by now, that is, if they haven't eaten already and gone to find us."

It took us about three minutes walking at a human pace to get to the restaurant, a small, brightly lit affair called La Bella Italia, which I found amusing. Angela and Jessica were both outside, looking at their watches and pacing nervously. Well, Angela was nervous, Jessica was just annoyed.

We both ran towards them, appropriately apologetic looks on our faces. Jessica stepped forwards, shooting me a dirty look. "Where have you guys been? We've been waiting for ages. We had to eat without you."

"We're so sorry. We got lost and it took us a while to find someone to ask for directions." I made my voice sound breathless, as though I had been running around.

Jessica looked at me suspiciously. "Well, we can't wait for you guys to eat, we gotta get home."

"Jessica! That was rude." Angela hissed. She looked over at us, a sheepish look on her face. "Sorry guys, but she's right, we really don't have time. I know it's only six o'clock, but I promised my parents that I'd be home by seven."

I looked over at Bella. We'd been in town for a good few hours now and she must be hungry. "It's no problem, it's our fault for keeping you waiting. But, if it's okay with Bella, we could always grab something to eat and take a cab home."

Bella turned to me, a surprised look on her face. A small smile spread across her face. She knew full well that I didn't have to eat. "Yeah, I'd like that."

I smiled, happy that I'd get to have a real conversation with her again.

Angela glanced between the two of us. "You sure you're okay with this?" We both nodded, still smiling. "Okay. I guess we'll see you on Monday then." She was about to turn away when she seemed to remember something. "Oh, Alice, I almost forgot. You left your dress in the store. Here."

She held out the black bag containing my dress and I took it from her gratefully. I can't believe I forgot an item of clothing that I just bought. Never in all my years has that happened. Shaking my head in wonder, I thanked Angela and watched as they both headed to the car park, Jessica's heels making an annoying clacking sound because they were a size too big for her. That had been annoying me all day.

"So, Alice, what are you hungry for?" I turned to Bella, whose smile was still in place.

"I wouldn't mind a bear."

She eyed the restaurant. "Somehow, I don't think they sell those here. We could always try McDonalds. God only knows what they put in those burgers."

I laughed. "Oh, shut up. Now, what do you want to eat? Or would you prefer to run around beating up more people?"

"Well, if I had the choice..." She trailed off, the serious look on her face only ruined by the slight curve of her lips.

I smacked her on the shoulder lightly.

"Okay, okay, no need to resort to violence." She looked at the restaurant again. Shaking her head, she seemed to think of something. Gently, she took my hand and guided me down the street.

I went along with her, enjoying the feel of my hand in hers way more than I should. "Where are we going?"

"I saw this beautiful boardwalk by the bay earlier and I'd really like a pretzel. You in?" I gave her a look. "The boardwalk, not the pretzel."

I smiled at her and she smiled back. "Sure. It's a date."

A/N: I'm sorry for the delay in updating, I got lazy. This is officially my longest chapter ever, so be proud of me, I did this for you guys 'cause I took so long.

For those of you who want to know, the romance will be coming soon but I want it to be natural and progress in its own time, so don't rush me.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. R&R.