Author's Note: I have a thread for this story over on the Twilighted forums, where I post reading questions and answer questions. If you want to check it out, I'm posting the link in my profile at the top. This chapter I hope will be interesting as them all. We're going to check in with a few of our other characters who haven't been mentioned all that much until now, see how they're doing, what they're up to, exactly. I had fun writing it, so won't you be kind and review? =]

Movie Recommendation: The House of Yes. [look it up, kids; some of the characters in this story emulate characters in that movie...]

x

x

Murderville

x

Chapter 4:

"Because You're Mine"

x

x

In reality she had to go straight home and act as if nothing extraordinarily horrible had happened to her that afternoon.

Her fathers were expecting her for the usual family dinner, and if she didn't show up, there would be consequences. Ever since she could remember, the four of them [once you included her older brother Emmett] had gathered around the table at six o' clock sharp, and their housekeeper Margretta would serve them dinner. There would be the normal, "So how was your day?" and everyone would get a chance to share. As she had started to get older, it felt more and more like a façade. Then again, Aro had always had a theatrical bent.

Alice got back on time, and even had time for a shower before she had to go sit down. The hot water calmed her better than anything so far, and the feeling of putting on a pretty new dress didn't exactly hurt either. It was the little things keeping her sane right now. She skipped downstairs putting on her happy face, and took a seat next to her father.

Tonight's meal was some sort of casserole that looked appetizing but was otherwise unidentifiable. The three of them helped themselves, taking the customary first bites that were polite before starting into their staged...normal family conversation. 'Can't wait for it to be all over,' she muttered inwardly. Alice had important plans tonight, and so was hoping that she could reasonably get excused from the table earlier than usual.

"Where did you and your friend get on to earlier today?" Aro began, glancing sideways at his daughter, seemingly good-natured. She knew better.

"The high school. He played some music for us, and we talked. That was all. The reception wasn't exactly a good time."

"He seems like an amiable boy."

She forced a conspiratorial smile, and nodded. "Yes, very nice boy." Nice in the fashion of someone else I hate that I know... Time for a subject change, she wasn't going to let him pry any deeper into that particular disaster. So she instead took the initiative, following their make-nice fashion. No awkward questions, right? "How was work, Father? Were you able to obtain the subpoena from the D.A.?"

"Yes, yes of course my darling. It all went rather well. Why don't you ask your father how his day went. He had an extraordinary day from what I've heard." Aro grinned at his partner, and she reluctantly turned her attention across the table. 'An extraordinary day, Carlisle, really?' she thought. 'Aro wouldn't believe how many of those you actually have, given the hobbies you enjoy. Not that you'll ever chat to him about that, will you?'

"And how was your work, Papa?" she said, feeling generally less than sanguine.

"Interesting," Carlisle commented. "I'm being considered for Chief of Surgery when Dr. Pauling leaves in September. I just heard about it today."

Before she had a chance to reply, Aro clapped his hands together in the seat beside her. "See Carl, it was only a matter of time, I did tell you that the job would be yours eventually. And so it will, come September. We shall have to celebrate this."

"Small town, not very stiff competition, Ari. But I expect it is, as they say, in the bag for me."

Dinner flowed about as smoothly as usual after that. Alice concentrated on just finishing her dinner so that she could get up, Aro chatted up Carlisle, and everything was happy on the surface. She finally had eaten enough to be excused, and Aro let her go without much notice. When she was heading for the stairs to her bedroom though, she was intercepted by her other 'father' - who wasn't even really her father - and he had something more to ask.

"Did you give that ring back to the lost and found at the hospital?"

An innocent enough question. She kept her face passive.

"Yes, I did, on my way out the other day. For all I know the real owner has already picked it up. Do they tell you if the person shows to claim it? It was such a beautiful ring, you know, it'd be dreadful for it to go to waste," she babbled on, pleased at how perfectly normal and believable she perceived herself to sound.

"I'm not sure they tell you, but I'm glad you turned it in. It would be have been a shame if you had disobeyed me. You know what would happen if you didn't," he stated, ignoring the slight expression of horror that crossed her face.

"I do," Alice agreed quietly.

"Goodnight then, sweetheart. Sleep well." He patted her cheek fondly, and she felt unhappy on the inside.

No, she wasn't going to sleep quite yet. Let him think what he wanted though, she wasn't particularly chuffed with the idea of how Carlisle would react if he knew exactly what she was getting up to just as soon as she went to her bedroom. It was better that he knew nothing, like he currently did.

Things were eminently safer for her if he was kept out of the loop. Still, there were things he knew that she didn't.

"Papa?" she called from the bottom stair. He turned around and looked at her.

"Yes?"

"You haven't gotten any letters from Emmett, have you? I've been writing him forever, but I haven't heard back yet."

"He might be busy. College is a rough time, especially in the beginning. Feel lucky you don't have to go." Carlisle shrugged.

Alice had already known he and Aro had no intention of letting their princess go to school far away, but it was still a slap to the face every-time he mentioned it. As if she weren't smart enough for uni, or something, that's what it felt like they were hinting at. She knew she could do well if only given the opportunity.

Truth was, she envied Emmett. He was able to escape to a different state, with loads of new people who knew nothing about him. A clean slate. No reputation. No problems dragging him down.

It wasn't fair. He didn't even have the bad end of things, she did. She was the one who could really use a fresh start, a get-away. But as always, her brother was the lucky one. He got every good thing in life, and she got all the worst experiences.

Despite this or perhaps because of his essential 'good-ness', she loved her brother more than anyone on the planet, except Jasper. Emmett had always been nice to her, protective, supportive and everything a brother ought to be. Yet some things were just too horrible for her to tell him about, so he couldn't protect her from them. What had happened today was a key example of such an event.

"All right. Maybe if I wait, he'll write back."

"I'm sure he will sweetheart. Just give it time, and you'll probably have a whole stack of letters waiting in the mail. Now, go get some sleep. You're volunteering at the hospital tomorrow, remember?"

"I remember Papa. In the cancer ward. I'll come on time."

Carlisle smiled again, and then turned off back down the hall. There was nothing wrong with him and Aro having an early celebration of his promotion, after all. Nothing wrong with that in the least. He had a few ideas of how they could spend the rest of the evening, that was for damn sure.

Somewhere - 3rd person POV.

Sleep. It seemed like all he was allowed to do these days, was sleep them right away. With a mind so foggy from that, he couldn't even remember where he was half the time, or why he was there at all. He had to be missing something; he knew he had had a life before this place. School may-hap, he was young enough to have come from there. Did he have any friends, family? Not that he could recall.

There was something different about today though, he could feel it.

The fluorescent lighting snapped on as he heard the door open beside his bed. A woman in all white walked in, and his eyes widened at the size of the syringe she was carrying. She had to have been some sort of nurse, dressed as she was. But what was the clear liquid inside of the needle's barrel? Was it for him? He couldn't remember, but he didn't hear anyone else in his room. It must be for him then.

The nurse knelt beside him so that their gazes were level with each other. Like a parent about to give her child a time-out. Was that the purpose of the shot? A time-out?

"It's all right, you're going to be fine if you just behave yourself," Nurse told him. He nodded. He was too tired and did not know why he would be wanting to cause trouble in the first place.

"The director isn't in today. I'm not going to give you this. I don't think you're dangerous." She waved the needle. "I don't know why they sedate you at all. You're not like the other high-risk ones. In fact..." but she broke off, clearly thinking better of finishing the statement.

"What is it?" It was odd to hear himself speak aloud. He had quite forgotten what his voice sounded like, having not used it lately.

"I don't even know why they put you in here at all. You seem normal to me. Harmless," Nurse added. Her eyes went all sad. "You're lifeless in here. Do you know where you are?"

"No. I don't even remember my name, to be honest."

She whispered it in his ear, and a spark began in his mind. It sounded familiar, like something from his life before. She must be telling the truth this time.

"Why am I here?"

Nurse shook her head.

"Dunno, I'm afraid."

He turned to face the wall in his bed. He was afraid too. Afraid of never knowing this much again.

He heard the faint sound of liquid hitting the floor, and the quick snap of the needle being disposed of in a sharps container. The door opened, and then closed. Nurse was gone, but it wasn't time for sleep now. No, it was time for thinking instead.

He felt like he should remember something about tonight in particular, but he couldn't conceive of it yet.

Maybe tomorrow he'd figure out what it was. It was bound to be important, or it wouldn't bother him so much to have forgotten it. That much he could deduce.

Not Her Bedroom - Forks, Washington.

She made her final preparations, smoothing down the skirt of her dress and checking the mirror to see that she looked well enough. This night was very important, and one she had been waiting for for a few months now.

It was her wedding night.

As soon as she had graduated high school, she had known that her and Jasper were going to get married, but it was finally happening tonight. She was almost relieved for that fact. Marriage was a huge commitment, she wanted to behave herself now. Turn over a new leaf, so to speak. No more letting anyone walk all over her, and just sitting back and taking it. She didn't want to hurt him anymore.

She knew he hated that she did these things, but on the other hand, he never tried to stop her. Perhaps that's what killed her the most about things. In her mind, Jasper should want to tell her to stop it. Tell her that he was going to be the only one that made love to her, kissed her, held her, the whole lot. He didn't; he never had come close to setting those kinds of limits.

But maybe now, maybe tonight it would be important enough for him to make a speech about. She was to be his wife after all; they were going to have a baby, a fact she had only just found out about a week ago. She was going to tell him tonight, make the night even more special than it was already.

Alice had decided not to tell him about 'the incident' though. Not tonight. She didn't want him angry on their wedding night, there would be a plethora of better times to tell him, she was sure of that. She could survive another day without getting it off her chest; she had somehow survived eighteen years of life through different trials and tribulations, one more day wasn't going to ruin everything. He would understand why she didn't tell him right away, wouldn't he?

The ring Carlisle had asked her about earlier was in the palm of her hand. Of course she couldn't have told him or Father that it was really her engagement ring. They just wouldn't understand, considering she never had told them she was with Jasper in the first place. For all they knew, she wasn't dating anyone, and Edward was a nice boy who they hoped she might warm up to for the future.

All lies, but every one necessary.

Alice took one more look into the mirror, and smiled.

It was supposed to be the happiest night of her life. Hopefully it would live up to the hype.

The Woodstack Bar - Forks, Washington.

The Woodstack wasn't the finest institution Bella had ever been in, that was for certain, but it did hold a particular sort of charm when she was there with a guy like Jacob. He picked her up from her apartment right on time, and it had only been a ten minute drive to the bar.

Inside, they picked up twin brews and managed to find a quiet table off to the side where they could hear themselves think. Around them townies drank themselves away and went through time-honored mating rituals, or conversely, gathered up at the bar to watch the solitary flat-screen mounted to the wall. Some sports match was playing, and it was doubtful anyone even cared who was playing. Sports were just what one viewed at the bar.

An odd ensemble of rock and country came from the speakers placed strategically in each corner of the Woodstock, and you had your regular girls nearly falling out of their chair while sipping tequila shots with their friends. All very normal, for a weekend.

"It's strange how nothing changes sometimes. A bar in Forks is about what one is in Seattle," Bella commented after they sat down, her eyes darting around the room to take it in.

"Yes, bars don't get much classier than this," he joked. "There's a sort of glass ceiling involved."

They started in on their drinks for a quiet moment or two, but she knew he wouldn't be content to sit in silence forever. And she wasn't disappointed in her assumption, as he struck up some conversation not too much later. Jake was nothing if not forward, personality-wise.

"So, Swan, you know pretty much all about me, all that's relevant, anyway. Care to fill in your side of the story?" Jacob's eyes glinted a little, and she could instantly picture how much of handful he must have been for his parents in high school. Usually he wasn't her type, but Bella found herself strangely drawn to him in the setting of this small town; he belonged here, and he made her feel like she did too.

It was admittedly, nice, to feel that way for once in her life. Even back home it hadn't been something she'd necessarily felt.

"I grew up in Tukwila, my dad Charlie was on the force there; he's retired now. My mother Renee taught ballet and looked after me and my older sister Esme. Essie's married now, she has two little girls and a boy. They live in Sequim."

"Come on, Bells. Let's hear about you. I'm out with you right now, not them. No offense."

"Sorry. I don't know, I think my life has been kind of boring up until now. I went to school like everyone else, graduated, went to the police academy, graduated, worked, and then, now I moved here because Forks needed a detective." She shrugged.

"No hair-raising and/or salacious details?" he teased, taking a sip of his beer.

Bella laughed. "Salacious details, really, Jacob? Surely I don't strike you as that type of girl."

He looked her straight in the eye and spoke again, his words causing her to blush from the sound of their intimacy, their seriousness; everything about them was unnerving and yet so enticing at the same time. She genuinely couldn't believe he uttered them, but somehow he did. "I think you could be, with the right person. And I don't mean salacious in any negative way. Just... fun. Happy. That sort of thing."

When she didn't answer him right away, he managed to recover and salvaged the moment by asking her to dance. Bella wasn't generally the dancing type, but it was eminently preferable to sitting together at the table in the middle of an awkward pause.

They got up from their seats, and he guided her outside onto the patio. Quieter music could be heard out here, and no one was around to critique her if she was clumsy. It definitely made her more comfortable. And the fact that he seemed to understand this was better for her gave him major brownie points in her mind. Maybe Jake was a bit deeper or at least perceptive than she had pegged him before.

His arms were warm, one on her shoulder, and one on her waist. She hadn't danced like this since Prom. Neither of them were experts, but they found a good rhythm, slowly stepping back and forth across the small dance floor. It brought a genuine smile to Bella's face.

There was something about it, the way he held her that spoke volumes. Clutching her to him a bit too close for propriety; another step and they'd be flat out against each other, but with each passing moment, she found herself giving into the notion more and more as the oddly hypnotic song kept playing.

Or was it his eyes that were drawing her in? Tough call. Jacob was staring at her intently, and she for once wasn't so embarrassed as to look away.

She held the gaze, though admittedly her cheeks did grow a little hot as things progressed. She wanted badly for him to say something, or for herself to have the guts to say something, but the moment was too high-strung.

She could have almost melted when his hand went up to stroke along the side of her face. They paused momentarily, just standing.

He slowly ran his finger over her lips, and smiled a bit mischievously.

"Perfect," he noted.

You are too, Bella thought, much too shy to say it aloud. But from the looks of it, he already knew what she was thinking.

She stared at him, a bit wide-eyed. It wasn't a question of interest, no, rather was this professional?

He technically was her boss. But did that really matter?

"Bella, hold on a minute, will you?"

He released her suddenly, and started walking the other way. She turned around quick, both relieved to not have to think very hard about the situation and also trying to see what he was doing. All she saw was two people locking lips against the side of a car. Normal enough it would seem. They were a bit dressed up, that was really the only odd thing about it.

Jacob made his way over to the couple, and in his most authoritative voice, broke them up with a simple "Why good evening, there, young lovers."

Bella cringed a little on the inside for them, but immediately ceased that train of thought when she saw who one of those people was. She found herself heading towards them too, mind going overtime as she remembered. Alice Cullen was supposed to be going out with the Clearwater boy, last she'd known. The tall, blond guy she had been cavorting with definitely wasn't Seth. Question is, why was she stepping out in the first place?

Jake summed about that much as he reprimanded the poor girl. Bella said nothing, just watching. The guy was glaring at them as if he would like nothing more than to break Jacob's nose-which he very well might be wishing-and Alice was simply nervous, on-edge.

And there was a ring on her finger. A very nice, old looking ring.

Noticing Bella's gaze, she made a quick move to cover that hand with her ring-free hand, and leaned into the arm her companion had around her shoulder. She then looked resolutely at the ground, never bothering to look back up again the whole confrontation.

"I don't hope you thought you could sneak in and get a few drinks at the bar, did you?" Jake said. He looked pointedly at Alice, "Being that at least one of you is under drinking age. Maybe I ought to call her parents?"

"She's a legal adult; she has every right to be out with me," the guy said defensively, still not stopping with his aggressive front as far as Jacob went. "And we were just hanging around, not getting into trouble. It's a date, Chief, nothing sinister, okay?"

Jake eyed him pensively for a moment as if making his mind up about something, and then nodded. "As long as she's with you of her own free will. But I would suggest finding somewhere else to 'hang around', kid."

"She is, she's..." he glanced at Alice, who wasn't at all smiling.

Still with her head down, she muttered, "I'm his wife. Suppose you can't really hide a ring on your finger for too long, but my fathers don't know about it yet. They can't know. So if you'll please, don't call them. I want to be out with Jasper, but my dads just... it's none of their business, alright?"

Noting the undertone of fear in her voice, Bella jumped in. There was no use in scaring the poor girl if she and her partner technically hadn't committed any sort of crime. And Bella knew that in her shoes, it would have been just as scary. "We won't tell anyone your private matters. But as Chief Black said, this probably isn't the best place for your outing. Maybe Port Angeles would have some better places to spend a few hours?"

"Maybe so. We were about to just go home though, so if we're free to go..." Alice began.

"Yes."

"Good then."

Their goodbyes weren't particularly eloquent.

The young couple got back into their car and drove off, leaving Jake and Bella alone in the Woodstack parking lot, both of the officers in a contemplative mood, their brief moment of romance having been dashed by the strangeness of this encounter. Both found themselves wondering, without much success, as to why the girl's parents couldn't know about her recent - or so it had seemed - nuptials. And especially why she had pretended to be another man's girlfriend when they had last seen her.

Nothing added up, and it was suspicious.

Then again, it might be and probably was just some silly teenage drama, given the hormones and all, but in a town still reeling from its first dose of true crime, one had to ponder the silly things a little harder than usual...they might turn out to be important when you least expect it.

x

"Because you're mine
The brightest star I see
Looks down, my love, and envies me
Because you're mine, because you're mine"

-"Because You're Mine" by: Nat King Cole.

x

x

Author's note: Long time between updates, but it's kind of a busy time for me right now. I'm about to move far away, and getting ready for that is... involved, for damn sure. Anyway, what are your thoughts upon finishing this chapter? Any new theories about anything?

I look forward to the reviews. :D