A/N:

[EDIT:] I know you're thinking, I got an email so where's the update? I felt like I was massacring the story by breaking chapters into pieces, so I'll be writing the full chapter now before I post it. It means longer waits, but it'll be better. Trust me. The new material is towards the end of the chapter. Good stuff, people!

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This is part two. But wait!

I know how tempting it is to exit out of the window or press the back button when you are done. But, how hard is it really to drop a review or two once and a while? I'd appreciate ones that just said something like 'It's okay' or 'It didn't make me puke while reading it'. I'd even settle for a smiley face.

:)

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13. Balancing

I slowed the car once I reached her street, but I did not turn down it just yet. After a few moments of sifting through a few dozen groggy thoughts, I found Charlie's, slightly muffled. His thoughts were on the school dance, of all things, as he pulled away in his cruiser. I parked in the driveway once he was gone, and only moments later I spotted Bella peek her head out from behind the curtains. She dashed away and came downstairs, looking like she was running from something.

I struggled to wipe the laughing grin off my face and replaced it with a softer, relaxed one. She hesitated outside the door, appearing to be contemplating whether I was serious or not. I waited, and she stepped in.

"Good morning." I looked over her face, noticing her tired look. "How are you today?" My mind wandered to what she could have possibly dreamt about the night before.

"Good, thank you." A smile broke out across her soft face.

My eyes lingered on her face for a moment longer. "You look tired." I could ask her later what the dream was about, if I ever finished with the other thousand questions.

Her cheeks blushed. "I couldn't sleep," She pulled her hair over to her other shoulder.

"Neither could I," I smirked slightly as I headed down the road at a slow, but legal, pace.

At the sound of her laugh, I felt a rush of emotions. "I guess that's right. I suppose I slept just a bit more than you did."

She was running on only about two hours of sleep, but that would not stop me from pestering her with questions later, I reasoned. "I'd wager you did." Again, I tried to keep the smirking to a minimum.

"So what did you do last night?" She asked me with a smile.

I laughed to cover up the sudden twist in my stomach. "Not a chance. It's my day to ask questions."

"Oh, that's right." She had a thoughtful look on her pale face that sent my curiosity over the edge. "What do you want to know?"

I thought for only a moment to pick one of the hundreds I had come up with. "What's your favorite color?" As she rolled her eyes, I caught a thought from the car down the road. I had expected my family to already be at school by the time I got there.

"It changes from day to day."

I tried blocking out the rude thoughts coming from Rose as they passed us, but Bella did not notice them. "What's your favorite color today?" She was practically screaming thoughts at me as they sped up.

"Probably brown." She continued.

I snorted, looking over her with a quizzical expression. "Brown?" I asked.

"Sure. Brown is warm." I sighed, but she could not hear. "I miss brown. Everything that's supposed to be brown — tree trunks, rocks, dirt — is all covered up with squashy green stuff here." I looked over at her when she finished her complaint, but I enjoyed hearing her thoughts spilling out without her fully realizing it more than she could know.

"You're right," I said at length as we came up close to the school. I was disappointed I would have to leave her soon. "Brown is warm." I finally had to brush her hair back over her shoulders, needing to see her blushing face. It was quite a struggle to pull my hand back away from her.

As I pulled into the school parking place, my ears caught the booming sound of music pouring from a car stereo. "What music is in your CD player right now?" I decided to ask, picking up Rosalie's thoughts once more as my family headed off to class.

She had that same thoughtful look on her face once more as she answered and I could not help but feel slightly surprised. With a crooked grin, I pulled out a CD from beneath the player and handed it to her.

"Debussy to this?" It really had not seemed like her type of music.

She looked over the cover, not meeting my eyes, a small smile on her lips.

Throughout the day, she seemed confused as to why I was so curious. She obviously did not realize how much of a mystery she was to me — how I could not bear to tear my thoughts away from her for even one small second. We talked through lunch, and I regretted her lack of appetite, traded for simply answering my questions. But only slightly.

I questioned her on her favorites first — books, movies, stores. I strayed towards books most often, however. She was an avid reader, and books were timeless. I quickly found some common ground with her. Each time I saw her between classes, she looked so insecure as she answered. How could she not see I was sincerely interested? I was unable to look away from her for one second, even when Rose would walk by with a glare and another stream of hateful thoughts.

I walked without watching where I was going, knowing fully well that people would avoid my path anyway. "What's your favorite gemstone?" I barely had the patience to wait for a full answer before continuing on to the next one.

"Topaz." She had begun to keep up with my pace, blurting out thoughts without pausing to think about them now.

Her face flushed again, and I could not look away. "What's wrong?" She shook her head, her face only turning a deeper shade of rose. "Tell me." I could see that she carefully avoided looking at my face.

"It's the color of your eyes today," She yielded, playing idly with her hair. "I suppose if you asked me in two weeks I'd say onyx."

I felt a wave of what I could only describe as elated joy, but I had other questions to ask. "What kinds of flowers do you prefer?"

I continued until Biology, my sentence trailing off as Mr. Banner stepped in, pulling the audiovisual frame inside the room. Another movie meant another hour in the dark — an hour of torture and temptation. I tried to subtly move my chair away from her own, her scent already filling the space between us more potently than it had been before. The electricity between us was unbearable, and I sat in agony, resisting against my longing to touch her skin. I watched her fold her arms and rest her head on them, her eyes on the screen but slightly unfocused.

I willed myself to move not an inch. It felt odd, since most of the time I tried to keep from staying too still and giving the humans something to question. I paid the movie little attention — my focus remaining on the quiet mystery beside me.

The second the lights returned, her gaze shifted towards mine, and I stood quietly. Her eyes sent an extra electric shock through my system, and I was disappointed I would have to surrender her to her next class. My questions ceased as I walked with her to the gym, but only for the moment. She seemed eager to be in my presence, as I in hers, but I contemplated the seriousness of this Saturday. She could never see the danger in going with me. She was blind to it.

No matter how much I loved her, that day would hopefully help the truth sink in. She would not be able to doubt who — no, what I was. Whether for the better or the worst, this day would change the both of us.

As she paused outside of the gym, I once again gave in just slightly to the temptation, allowing the back of my hand to touch the warm skin of her face. I could not say anything, and she stood with a captivated look that I did not understand. Without a word, I tore myself from the moment, heading towards my next class and not glancing back. If I had, I would not have been able to force myself into the classroom.

I was beginning to feel much more obsessed than I had originally thought.

I sat throughout Spanish, seemingly comatose, while watching Bella from the eyes of her unfortunate classmates. Most of the students shied away from her, afraid of getting hurt. She seemed to be a bit relieved that they had finally learned. Emmett sat beside me, his arms crossed over his chest with a bored look on his face. We knew the language better than our instructor, so, at times, it was easier just to slip into a daydream rather than hear a lesson we could have taught ourselves.

Every time Newton's thoughts turned towards Bella or me with Bella, I tried to hold back a smirk. I took a small pride in her choice. When his thoughts became too much, I switched over to Jessica, though hers were hardly more bearable. I began to wish sweet Angela Weber had Bella's seventh period so I could see her through sincere and honest eyes. The way Jessica and Mike would think of her would often make sitting through my classes the most difficult — my desire to protect her multiplied intensely at those times.

I glanced up at the clock, reading its face quickly and sighing. I wanted to see her with my own eyes badly, and I sat rigid in my chair, suffering through the next thirty minutes. I watched over her for the time remaining until the bell sounded and I was in the hallway before most students had even gotten out of their seats. Alice passed by me, having left class early knowing I needed to question her. "Anything?" My voice, nearly silent to the passing humans, sounded desperate to my ears.

She blinked, not even stopping. I'm sorry, Edward. The vision she replayed in her mind for me was different than the previous one, and although it played out differently, it still had the same outcome. My teeth locked together and I walked at a faster pace — one that barely passed for a strolling human's gait.

No matter what she had seen, I would not allow the animal inside myself to harm Bella.

Seeing her precious face as she exited the gym caused my face to twist into a genuine grin and I focused on questioning her more thoroughly. Somewhere, in my mind, I knew that the more I knew about her, the harder it would become for even the monster to take her life. I drove with less than half my attention on the road, but she seemed too preoccupied with answering to notice. For hours, she allowed me to question her more on her home in Phoenix while we sat outside her home.

My questions spilled past my lips quickly — some of them ones that she struggled to reply to. I wanted to imagine Phoenix as best I could, since it was likely I would never willingly step foot in the city. From the way she described it, the place sounded beautiful, and it became difficult to imagine why she had ever grown to stand Forks. Her words came out much easier than earlier today, and I found myself smiling, while internally disapproving, at her acclimation to my presence.

I asked her about her room, more wanting to hear it from her point of view than trying to make her think I had never stepped foot in it before. As she responded, my attention snapped towards a string of thoughts a few miles away. Charlie was stuck in a bit of traffic and would be home in just a few minutes. Bella had finally stopped, taking a deep breath.

"Are you finished?" She asked when I did not throw another question at her.

"Not ever close — but your father will be home soon."

"Charlie!" She exclaimed, suddenly seeming to remember the man. Her gaze shifted to the window, probably trying to assess the time. "How late is it?" She looked to the clock with a surprised expression.

I did not want to give her up just yet, but I it seemed I didn't have much choice in the matter. "It's twilight," I muttered, answering her question and gazing out of the window.

Soon, she would end her day and be lost in her dreams while I could not. It was here that our worlds collided and the line between them became prominent. The grey clouds gathered on the horizon, and I turned from them, meeting her eyes.

"It's the safest time of day for us," I said, seeing the curiosity in her look. "The easiest time. But also the saddest, in a way… the end of another day, the return of the night. Darkness is so predictable, don't you think?" My face still held a small, longing smile.

"I like the night. Without the dark, we'd never see the stars." She gave the smallest of sighs. "Not that you can see them here much."

I grinned and gave a short chuckle as the atmosphere grew softer. "Charlie will be here in a few minutes." I reminded her. "So, unless you want to tell him that you'll be with me Saturday…" I felt my small ray of hope slowly dwindling.

"Thanks, but no thanks." She replied, picking up her things as I sighed so quietly she could not hear. Why did she love to put her life in such danger? "So is it my turn tomorrow, then?"

I wanted to laugh. "Certainly not!" How could she think I was finished? I was barely getting started… "I told you I wasn't done, didn't I?"

"What more is there?" She had a weary look on her soft face.

I heard Charlie's thoughts growing closer and… something else I could not place at first. "You'll find out tomorrow." I could hear her heartbeat jump when I opened the door for her but my hand stayed there for a moment, stiff. I heard a different mind coming down the end of the road — one that was too familiar.

"Not good." I mumbled, my hand tightening on the handle.

"What is it?" Her voice seemed worried.

I looked at her for only a second before throwing the door open. "Another complication," I said, pulling away from her solemnly. The car pulled over to the curb just ahead of us, and she still sat in the seat, looking through the rain at the dark vehicle. "Charlie's around the corner." I added, throwing a glare at the man in the car as she got out and onto the pavement.

Cullens.

I stared back at him, returning the scowl before pulling away. He had thought the name with disgust and my hands curled around the wheel as I looked straight ahead.

Did someone give her a ride home? I wonder if it was that Newton kid…

The younger one's thoughts revealed that he did not recognize the car and was pretty much unaware of who — or rather what — had driven her home. However, it did not give me much comfort as I thought about what they might tell her.