9. Plans

A/N: Wow- so, over 2000 hits so far today, 350 readers..and only 10 reviews. Eh- can't ask for much considering I left you all hanging for so long. But really, thanks for the dozens of favorites and story alerts- that was phenomenal and hope all you new readers will stick around- and review next time! Here we go…

Edward's POV

I clenched my jaw as we all rushed into the living room, at vampire speed. I shouldn't have been surprised that the wolves were coming- Carlisle and I had discussed the possibility days ago. We had wondered if they would buy the evidence of Bella's animal attack, and had discussed the possible game plans if they didn't. We knew that the chances were about fifty-fifty and that war was possible. We certainly wanted to avert that at all costs, and it seemed that tonight wouldn't be the night, no matter how much they believed our story. There were too many of us and too few of them.

I had been sitting at the piano, playing an old composition that I always came back to when I wanted to calm down. I had been playing it every night the past few days, because I had needed its comfort a lot lately. I knew Bella had forgiven me. I knew that she wasn't angry, and I knew she was adjusting relatively well. Still, I couldn't banish the guilt she demanded I either eradicate or at least hide.

I had talked to Jasper, and he had confirmed my fears. Despite the front she put up, Bella was suffering, all because of me. He told me about the intense grief and pain that had emanated from her that first night. He had left the house after a couple of hours of it, unable to bear it. I knew she still felt those things, though they were now weakened according to Jasper- more manageable. He told me how she felt lost, unsure, and frustrated. There was no way I could cover the shame and self-hatred I felt for causing her anguish.

That was why I was now keeping my distance from her. At first I had felt I should do everything to help her, to somehow atone for what I had done. Obviously, even then, I knew that wasn't possible. Still, I had tried, but now I had decided it was best that I stay away. She shouldn't have to see me, and she certainly shouldn't have to pity or forgive me.

For all of those reasons, I was playing downstairs, aware that Bella had taken to spending her nights in the study with the books. Occasionally I would want to go up to her, just to check in on her, because I couldn't help but worry about her despite my resolve. I knew she was lonely, and I worried about her hiding away from the entire family, barely speaking to any of us. I wanted to go and ask her if she was okay, see if I could get her to talk. It was in the middle of pushing away that ridiculous protective urge that I had first heard four extra mental voices, out of place.

Immediately, I had listened closer, my hands freezing in place on the ebony and ivory keys.

"…wish I understood why we had to do this in the middle of the night…"

"….gah…too dark to be running in human form…"

"…stupid bloodsuckers…"

I suppressed a curse as I understood what the voices were- the Quileutes were on their way. I could even smell them, they were so close. That was when I had bolted up stairs, warned Carlisle, and brought the rest of the family down, minus Bella.

Now, we all stood at the ready, tensed for a fight but hoping that our group presence would be enough to restrict the situation to discussion only. Carlisle was standing as the leader in front of us all, ready to be diplomatic.

"Why aren't they here yet?" Rosalie hissed.

I listened in, wondering the same thing and getting a first-hand answer.

"They are on surveillance around the perimeter while they wait for Billy- he's on his way by car." I said quietly.

"Can you get anything else?" Carlisle asked, wanting as much information as was possible.

"They are only planning for a discussion tonight- they know there are too few of them. But- why are there three of them suddenly- I thought Sam was the only one?"

"He was." Carlisle said quietly. "They must have had a couple more change recently- our presence is most likely the trigger."

I didn't have time to consider this- we all heard tires on the driveway. It would only be a couple more minutes now.

We all waited until we heard four sets of feet make their way to the door, a loud knock shattering the quiet.

Carlisle slowly stepped forward, warning us under his breath to be civil. He opened the door, pasting a welcoming smile on his face.

"Billy. Come in, please." Billy rolled in, his wheel chair bouncing over the bottom lip of the door. Behind him, three others came in. They formed a semicircle behind his chair, Sam in the center. They all were nearly identical, with deep russet skin, shorn black hair, and black deep-set eyes. The only obvious difference between the three was size. Sam was easily 6'5" and looked older, while the other two were obviously only fifteen or sixteen, and not as tall.

"Carlisle." Billy acknowledged. "You know Sam, but I'd like to introduce you to Jacob," he said, gesturing to his left, "and Embry." gesturing to his right. I noted that Jacob was Billy's son, extracting the fact from Billy's thoughts.

Carlisle only nodded in recognition. Saying nice to meet you would have been a lie. "And may I ask what brings you here?"

"I assume you have heard of the disappearance of the police chief's daughter, Isabella Swan? She had just moved here about a week ago?"

"Yes. I heard- such a tragedy." Personally, I was astounded at how well Carlisle lied, giving nothing away in his facial expressions, words, or body language. We were all good liars out of necessity, but Carlisle was easily the best. It was probably his calm nature that helped.

Billy's reaction was equally good, even his thoughts giving little away. His son, on the other hand, was obviously disgusted, and his thoughts let me know that they were indeed suspicious.

"Indeed- they say it was an animal attack. I wonder what sort of animal would have been lurking so close to town?"

Carlisle didn't answer, recognizing the real question behind the obviously rhetorical one. He waited for Billy to show his cards.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about any of that would you?"

"Billy, I must say I don't like what you are implying." Despite his biting words, only the tiniest drop of civility vanished from Carlisle's tone.

"That wasn't the question." Billy's face hardened, all pretenses gone. "They didn't find any animal tracks around the attack site. No animal that could kill a human should have been out there. The boys have been out there, and they picked up some faint scents. Why don't you explain all of that to me?"

"Billy, none of us have killed the Swan girl. That was the agreement, and none of us have broken that- you can see that in our eyes."

Indeed- there was no evidence of human blood in any of our eyes- I had taken in so little no remnants were left now after gorging myself regularly on blood of dear nearby.

Carlisle continued. " The scents could be expected- the woods are near the school and sometimes they are used by Jasper, Alice, Rosalie, Edward, and Emmett to run back here. Accidents happen, and it is possible a bear or some other animal wandered through, even if it shouldn't have been there. Now, if you are done accusing my family, we would like to carry on with our night in peace."

Anger. It flared on every single one of the Quileute faces. Not a one of them believed Carlisle, not fully. They were still suspicious, and their hatred fueled their disbelief.

"If that is your story Carlisle, then we will leave for now. But remember the agreement was to not bite- not only to not kill. And we will be watching. Good evening."

Billy nodded his head at us all, before gesturing to Sam to open the door for him. He did, and they trailed out, Billy in the lead.

--

As soon as we were all sure that the wolves were long gone, Carlisle called an emergency meeting. Esme went up and brought Bella down, and we all sat around the dining room table, waiting.

"We are here to discuss how we are to proceed, as the Quileute werewolves have now become a part of the equation. I believe we must change our plans, but before discussing that, I wanted to open up the floor to any questions."

For once, Bella wasn't shy. Her irritation permeated her voice, and it allowed her to speak up without reservations.

"Can someone please explain to me what is going on? Why didn't I know about the wolves- and what the heck do they have to do with anything?"

Everyone shifted in their chairs, looking to me. I sighed- fine.

"The Quileutes have been our enemies for a long time. About a hundred years ago, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmett and I lived here- Alice and Jasper hadn't joined us yet. The Quileutes had encountered vampires before- but not our kind."

Bella looked stunned, and a little afraid at the thought of other vampires coming through the area before.

"The wolves serve as protectors for Forks and La Push, the reservation. When we came, they wanted to kill us. But, Carlisle told them we were different, and our eyes convinced them to listen. Eventually, he was able to negotiate a treaty, allowing us to live here on the promise we would never hurt another human. Apparently, Billy seems to think that includes biting humans, not just killing them. Thus, they can't know about you."

"If they did?" she asked, obviously knowing the answer.

"Then they would see the treaty as violated, and a war would begin." Bella gasped.

"War?"

"Yes- but they don't have a chance with just three wolves versus all of us. There is no way they can attack now, even if they knew."

"But we don't know how quickly more of them may go through the change- there are already two more than before!" Esme rang in, clearly worried.

"Exactly. That's why we have to come up with a new plan. Who knows what they may do. They said they would be watching, and while they can't do that while we are all here, they could easily pull it off if it's just you and Bella." Carlisle said.

"What's the plan?" Emmett asked, an excited gleam in his eye. He loved this kind of stuff.

"Well, I think we will have to rush our move." Carlisle answered. I agreed.

Not too soon of course, because that would be even more suspicious. We had to ensure the townspeople wouldn't have any questions, and we also needed to leave the wolves with as little proof as possible for their theories. Yet, the longer we waited, the more likely they would gain more wolves and potentially find Bella here as well.

"How soon?" Rosalie asked, with the hint of complaint in her question, but mostly resignation.

"I think two weeks- I don't see how we can leave sooner, and that's as long as I feel comfortable waiting."

"Where are we going?" Jasper questioned, while Alice bounced up and down by his side, obviously seeing the answer in the future.

"Outside Syracuse, NY. Its relatively cloudy there as well, and we should be able to pull off mostly normal lives."

Alice squealed. "And we can make trips to New York City!"

We all rolled our eyes at Alice, and continued on. Of course that is what Alice would think about. Thank God Syracuse isn't that close to NYC- Alice would have made the run every day if it was possible.

Esme nodded. "I'll start looking at real estate right away- shouldn't be too difficult. I assume any small town in the vicinity will work?"

"Yes- we just need a small town within commuting distance- I'll find a hospital in the city to work in."

"High school, I assume?" I asked.

"It's up to you all- I don't think we will be spending long there. I was thinking we could move again once Bella is in shape to finish high school herself."

I nodded- considering those terms, I knew none of us would be attending high school. The only reason we ever did it was so we could stay in an area longer, and there was no need in this case.

"What do we do until then?" Bella asked.

"Other than the usual moving protocol, you need to stay inside the house as much as possible, and away from windows. Hunting trips must be in groups of four or more, otherwise we risk attack."

We all looked solemnly, considering the very real danger we could be in.

"Okay- what's usual moving protocol?"

"Nothing you need to worry about- but, you should know I suppose. We start letting others know we're leaving, so I can take another job. We give them a false place- I think North Dakota works well enough in this case." He said, looking at us all with this last bit of information we would need to spread.

I nodded- it needed to be somewhere we could conceivably go so that the wolves wouldn't have too many reasons to investigate too closely.

"Esme- will you see to getting their records released, and tell the school we're going to home school them?"

"First thing in the morning." She replied.

"Alright- I'll start looking at hospitals. Anything else?"

No one said anything. "All right then- you're all dismissed." At his words, they all went our separate ways, fanning out to our various corners of the house. Eventually, they had all left, in couples, leaving Bella and I- even Esme was gone, unlike the last time.

I looked intently at Bella were she stayed seated, searching her face to see her reaction to the quickened upheaval. She was toying with the frayed edge of the denim skirt Alice had given her before she looked up suddenly. I dropped my eyes, curiously embarrassed.

"What is it?" she asked.

I sighed- how many times had I asked her this question before? And why wasn't I leaving her alone as I had promised myself?

"I was just wondering what you thought about all of this."

She smiled slightly. "You ask me that question a lot."

I remained somber. "Its frustrating for me- to not be able to know what you're thinking when I can read everyone else's mind- especially when…" I stopped trailing off.

"When what?"

I sighed- I wished immediately I could just keep my mouth shut.

"When yours is the mind I want to read the most." The statement was true- I was always wishing I could understand Bella. Every time I thought I knew exactly how she would respond to a situation or something I said, she did the exact thing I would never see coming. She intrigued me in every way.

For instance, I expected her to scoff at the triteness of my statement then and walk out, but she took me seriously.

"Why? I'm not that extraordinary. I'm really actually boring." She said quietly, looking down as she had when she used to blush.

I laughed at her silliness and lack of self awareness. "You couldn't be more wrong."

She shook her head at me, incredulous, but finally answered my original question.

"Well, mostly, I'm just worried about how I'm endangering you all. I don't want any of you to get hurt."

Now it was my turn to be incredulous.

"You think you're the reason we're in danger? You're the one who is innocent in all of this- I'm the one who broke the treaty!"

"Don't start with that- I didn't tell you what I was thinking so we could talk about it- I was just answering your question."

I was amazed at her, but for whatever reason, I obeyed her wishes.

"Was that all?'

I knew immediately it wasn't. Her face told me that much- like most of the time, reading her mind wasn't entirely necessary. Right now, for instance, I knew she had been thinking something she though I wouldn't want to hear.

"No…I…I was just thinking about leaving Charlie behind. I know I wouldn't see him anyway, but still…" She was right to think I didn't want to hear it.

Her words pierced me to the core, and once again I was convinced that I was a monster. I had nothing to say in response, but in some masochistic way, wanted to hear more.

"But anyway, I think it might be better for me and help me adjust to get a fresh start. Don't worry about me."

Again, with the self-sacrifice and martyr complex. "You know I can't help it." Her face softened.

"I know- but you know I wish you would stop, and you don't seem to be trying at all- you just stay away from me like I'm the plague. I'm starting to think you wished I wasn't around at all." She said, half joking, but the tiniest tinge of hurt snuck into her voice.

I was jolted by horror, and the flood of unexpected emotion overrode all the remorse and guilt I had been feeling. Without thinking, I slid down a chair, closing the gap between us. My hand reached out for hers, taking it. I couldn't stand the idea of her believing her own words.

"No! I don't feel that way at all- I just don't want to force you into forgiving me or having to deal with me. I…I don't want to hurt you, though I seemed to have failed at that too."

She looked at our hands together before meeting my eyes with her own bright red ones. Our faces were close enough together to invade any personal bubble, and she searched me before casting her eyes back down.

"You're not a failure. You made one mistake, and now I'm here." She was whispering now. "I'm glad to know you don't hate me." She said.

I promised myself in that instance to stop with my foolish resolve to keep myself apart from her- I had to start treating her like a member of this family, or I was just going to make things worse. I saw now that I had to move one, and put my mistakes behind me. I couldn't erase the things I had done, but I could make the future better, even if I would never pay my debt for the sweet girl in front of me.

I smiled at her, encouraging her. "Of course not. I'm glad you stayed with us." I said, meaning every word. Right now, sitting across from and holding the hand of the angel, I could never mean it more.

She smiled back, before removing her hand from mine, standing up from the table.

"Well," she began, sounding a bit nervous. "I was in the middle of reading before I came down here…"

I nodded, feeling a little strange myself. How had the atmosphere gotten so uncomfortable? "I'll see you tomorrow." She nodded back, before turning on her heel, and heading up the stairs.

A/N: I promise, promise, promise that there will be some romance in the next chapter! I just needed to find a way to get a few weeks into the future- because lets be honest- it would be really strange for Bella to immediately fall for Edward right after he tried to kill her, and equally odd for Edward to allow himself to feel anything but remorse for a while. Anyway- review!!! I know there are tons of you reading this, but only a few clicking on that nice little button down there…