Disclaimer: Some's mine, some's not. I think you know by now which is which. :)

A/N: Did I actually write five whole chapters without a lemon? That's got to be a new record for me! ;) So I hear FF failed and didn't send out update alerts last chapter to a lot of people. So I did the only thing I could do to help -- post another chapter! :)

Chapter 6
Edward's POV

I had reason to believe that was what it felt like to be exhausted. Mentally spent. Shot. Drained. Whatever you want to call it, that's how I felt. I had never before just wanted to pull the blankets over my head, bury my head in the sand, escape to some uninhabited island near the equator with Bella while the rest of the world goes to hell. It sounded more like a good plan with every minute that passed in the war room.

At least this Evan character wasn't actually in love with Bella, just had some instant admiration for her. Rosalie compared it to how people adored Princess Diana and I guess that's as good a comparison as any. He was certainly willing to lay his life down for her, but thankfully his wife of 150 years had nothing to fear. For the moment.

I had to admit I was upset with Bella for what she did to Demetri, and indirectly to Gianna. Demetri was wrong when he attacked Francesco that way, no doubt about it, and I understood that Bella was angry, but amping up her powers on him that way was almost vindictive. And now I had two more vampires in love with my Bella.

Even worse than the unfamiliar and unwelcome anger I was feeling towards Bella, I was scared. I had to face the reality that Bella was gaining control of her powers; that we were really going on this crazy mission. Deep down, I didn't want it to work. I didn't want her to get control over it. I didn't want her to put herself in danger like this, consequences be damned.

I was overwhelmed by emotions, and my caveman side overpowered my exhaustion as I took her hand and dragged her out of the room to our suite. I was about five seconds away from throwing her over my shoulder and running out of there, but she wouldn't have appreciated it in front of all those people. I briefly considered doing it anyway. Show them all exactly who she belonged to. Smack her ass as she squirmed. Yup, really should have done that, I thought to myself as I adjusted myself. I pulled her inside the door and slammed it behind us, pinning her to the back of it. I devoured her mouth, my hands grabbing and squeezing and ripping while I ground my erection against her center. In seconds, her clothes were nothing but shredded ribbons of fabric in a pile around her feet. I picked her up and she wrapped her legs around me as I blindly walked to the bed, my mouth never leaving hers. When my knees hit the mattress, I dropped her onto the bed, ignoring its creaking protest as she bounced on it. I followed quickly, climbing on the mattress and crawling over her while she scooted back towards the pillows.

I lowered my head and took one of her nipples into my mouth, biting it semi-gently before showering it with attention, suckling it for all I was worth. Bella arched her back, moaning in pleasure from the feeling of my tongue flicking her peak within the vacuum of my mouth. After I had similarly worshipped her other side, Bella grabbed my hair and roughly pulled be back up to her.

She took control of the kiss this time, each sweep of her tongue a reminder that she loved me. Needed me. That I was hers as she was mine. My soul rejoiced with every caressing stroke of her hand on my back. "Now, Edward," she groaned breathily between kisses. "I need you now." I reached between us and slid my middle finger into her sweet, wet folds, delighted to find she was already more than ready for me. A few more thrusts with my finger, then I pulled my hand away and immediately thrust myself fully inside her.

I growled out loud with the feeling of her surrounding me, pulling me deeper and deeper in, holding me tightly inside her as if she were never going to allow me to leave. My neck muscles tightened with the tension already building inside me as I tried to control my thrusts, slow down. I needed to make this last. I nestled my face into the crook of her neck and kissed what skin I could reach, wrapping my arms tightly around her. No matter how close we were, how deep I was, it was never enough. I needed more. If I could cry, I would have.

Bella was panting, sighing "I love you" with every breath. Her walls were fluttering around me with her quickly approaching release. I couldn't hold back anymore, my strokes becoming harder. Faster. More erratic as I pounded into her. I screamed her name as I spilt inside her, my orgasm almost painful in its intensity as we came together. Bella kept her arms and legs wrapped tightly around me after my head collapsed on her shoulder, once again exhausted after my release. I could feel her trembling. I knew it couldn't be from the cold, but I drew the blankets over us anyway. There was a comfort in the weight of them over us, cradling us in their softness, creating a tiny sanctuary in the middle of hell for us.

I held her there for what was probably hours. Neither of us spoke, just caressed and touched and kissed languidly. We both jumped, startled when we heard a knock at the door. We were so lost in the moment that we weren't paying a bit of attention. "Just a minute," I called as we quickly dressed. "It's Carlisle," I told her. I could tell from his thoughts that he wanted to talk to her about a few things, namely using her powers responsibly. I had to hold back the chuckle at the backlash he was sure to receive, but I wasn't about to stop him if he wanted to play Dad for a while. It saved me the trouble of having to confront her about it myself.

Bella opened the door and Carlisle smiled warmly at her. He did truly love her as a daughter. It was the side of her powers I was grateful for. She was lucky to be surrounded by so many people who genuinely cared for her. Outside of my family, it was something rarely found in the vampire world. Of course, we would all love her anyway. After all, she was Bella. What was there not to love?

"Hello, Bella. Do you think we could go for a walk?"

Carlisle's POV

After the meeting, Bella and Edward disappeared, clearly needing some alone time to reconnect after what was a very productive, but stressful, set of developments. I gave them some time. I needed to gather my thoughts together before I took Bella aside.

I heard a quiet knock on the door to Esme's and my suite. Esme opened the door for Jasper and Aro and excused herself to go check on Gianna, whom Alice and the rest of the girls were apparently trying to comfort. What a mess.

"Jasper, Aro and I wanted to discuss something with you privately before we informed the rest of the family. Please, have a seat." Jasper sat in one of the wing back chairs facing the fireplace, turning it to face me. "The Romanians aren't the only dangerous ones in this. We learned today from Felix's friend that they have Maria working with them."

Jasper put his elbows on his spread knees and hung his head into his hands, his body shaking just a little. Aro raised an eyebrow at me in question, but I just nodded to tell him it was alright, just to give him a minute.

"Now what?" he finally spoke after what was probably five minutes of deep thought, his hands hanging limply between his knees. "Bella's powers won't work on Maria. Plus, knowing Maria she has probably already bedded one, if not both, of the Romanians, and if Bella manages to turn them, she's just going to have yet another female vamp pissed off at her, only this one is an evil, vengeful bitch. We've put all our eggs into one basket, and now we're screwed."

"Not necessarily," I countered. "For one thing, we've only assumed her powers only work on men. We've never actually had her try to enchant a female. Alice and Esme had an instant bond with Bella, and Rosalie hated her with a passion, and had no real valid reasoning to explain it. It is entirely possible that gender doesn't matter." Jasper nodded his head, but seemed unconvinced.

"This plan had too many holes in it already, too many uncontrollable variables, Carlisle. To add another unknown element to it and still plow ahead is reckless," he said.

"We've got to try," Aro spoke, so quiet it was barely a whisper. He had confided in me that he felt responsible for this whole mess. If only he'd dealt with the Romanians all those years ago, we would not be here now. He'd underestimated their threat and was swimming in regret of that fact now. He was no happier than the rest of us about the idea of sending Bella into the lion's den, but he would feel personally responsible for the destruction of civilization if we didn't.

"Why? Why do we have to try?" Jasper yelled, standing up and starting to pace. "I've gone along with this, even though I have had my reservations, for lack of a better option, but this is ridiculous. I haven't felt this way since I stood beside Custer, and we all know how that turned out!"

"Jasper, try and calm down. I understand your concerns, and we value your sense of strategy, which is why we are coming to you. We need to figure out a way to make this work."

"Bella turning Maria to her side is not a viable option. Even on the off-chance her powers would work on Maria, it's not as though Maria would suddenly feel the urge to go shopping and paint each other's toenails. Bella's abilities do not seem to alter their personality at all, just their affinity towards her. Maria is power hungry, obsessive and a hundred times more possessive than Edward or myself. I will not allow Bella to be put into a position where Maria has even a remote chance of sinking her claws in her."

"Alright, so what do you suggest?"

Jasper sighed and sat back down. "We need to find out if Maria is just working with them from her territory in the states, or is physically stationed at their headquarters with them. We also need to know the exact nature of her relationship with them. Maria uses sex to control men, and she's damn good at it. It'll complicate things immensely if the situation is as dire as I'm imagining. I won't object to Bella testing her powers on females, but for use with the pawns only, not for Maria. I would strongly suggest her first test subjects be Heidi and Gianna, if they're willing, before we have more than one mutiny on our hands. Also, and I can't believe I'm saying this, God forgive me, but I think we need to go back to having Bella testing on humans who come 'for the tour.' We can't have another problem like the one with Francesco."

"Yes, well, that may work to our advantage. Still, Bella and I are going to have a conversation about the incident with Demetri. While I am thrilled at the empirical results, I'm sure she wasn't thinking about how it would affect Gianna. She can't abuse her power like that, not with the ones on our side."

"I agree completely, although I understand where Bella was coming from. Demetri was out of line. But we can't be worried about Gianna's feelings without taking into consideration everyone else's too, Carlisle. Have any of you really given any thought to what this is doing to Bella? How about to Edward? Felix and Kelly? Heidi? How about this new dude, Francesco? What kind of life is he going to have as a gold card member of the Bella Fan Club? Fuck...what about me? This is tearing me apart! I'm feeling and thinking all sorts of things I thought I'd managed to bury in the past twenty years, or at least got a helluva lot better at pretending they were buried. Thank God Edward is understanding about it, because Jesus, it took everything I had not to kiss her tonight at the club. Look at my eyes -- I killed for her tonight! This has destroyed any chance Heidi and I had of ever working through our 'Bella issues' as she calls them and having a real future together. You three are so focused on the final goal that you're not paying enough attention to the carnage it's reaping along the way."

"Well, when the final goal is the world as we know it, I think we are justified. That being said, I am painfully aware of the ramifications," I replied calmly, trying not to take his tirade personally. "There may be something to offer some reprieve. Bella's ability to alter Demetri's bond is causing Marcus to rethink some of his assumptions. He now thinks that, while the strength of the bond with Bella can only grow stronger with time, she may be able to focus her energy towards a new subject in such a way as to create the type of bond she wants. For example, she could choose to make someone love her as a sister, instead of be in love with her. We're talking about running when she's barely learning to walk right now, but hopefully she'll be able to exert that kind of control over her power soon. If that is indeed possible, you and Edward would not have to worry about any additional gold card members, just an army of Emmetts and Adrians." I thought my joke would at least garner a chuckle from him. No such luck.

"What about those of us who have already fallen under her spell? If she can turn up the dial on Demetri, wouldn't it make sense that she could dial down on some of us by the same token?"

"No, Marcus does not believe she will be able to downgrade already created bonds, simply manipulate new ones. I can find nothing to give me cause to disagree with him." I could feel him projecting his emotions, a tempest of so many powerful and contradictory emotions that I couldn't put them in words if I tried. It broke my heart. All of my 'children' were sacrificing so much of themselves for this mission. It was a larger burden than anyone should have to bear.

"Jasper," Aro touched his hand to get his attention, and probably to gain a little inside information. "Even if Bella could alter the part of your bond with her that is a direct result of her powers, it would not be as though you would suddenly only have platonic feelings for her. Your bond is based on a close, loving relationship that changed both of your lives. Altering her powers would not make that disappear for you. If you have 'Bella issues', you need to seek another avenue for dealing with them. My suggestion would be...acceptance. Edward has, for the most part, accepted this situation for what it is. That is how he is coping, and why he hasn't switched sides just so he can murder all of Bella's suitors." Jasper just nodded his head. Sensing that Jasper wasn't comfortable talking about this with Aro, I changed the subject.

"Alright, back to the matter at hand. Maria. I think that this might be a good mission for our new friend, Francesco," I said, trying to get us back on course.

"He's going to be a newborn, how is he going to be any help to us?"

"Well, for one thing, Francesco's exceptional ability to 'tail' your group was not a coincidence. Francesco has connections, and a unique set of skills he's learned from them. If we can get him past the newborn phase quickly, I'm confident he can make his way inside and get the information you seek."

"Connections?" Jasper asked, and Aro started chuckling.

"The Volturi are not the only powerful family in Italy, son."

After an extended conversation with Jasper detailing our plans for Francesco, Jasper concurred with our plan and headed back to his rooms. Aro excused himself as well. I decided I'd given Bella and Edward enough time. Taking a deep breath, I headed to their suite.

I knocked, and heard them rustling around for a few minutes before Bella opened the door.

"Hello, Bella. Do you think that we could take a walk?" Bella turned to look at Edward, who nodded with a small smile, before turning to me and smiling as she met me in the hall and closed the door behind her. We walked in silence until we were outside, far enough away that no one could hear us.

"Bella, how do you feel about what happened in there today?"

"Good, I guess. I mean, it's progress, right?" Bella said, but she didn't sound as though she was telling the whole story.

"Well, yes. But what I mean was, how do you feel about what happened with Demetri?" Her eyes got fiery again.

"I'm still a bit pissed at him. Francesco didn't need to die. I mean, really, it shouldn't have been that hard to lose him, or worst case knock him out or something. But Demetri was going to drain him dry just because he was irritated at him. Another death that I would ultimately be responsible for, and a preventable one at that. It was bullshit."

We found a large boulder by a babbling brook in the woods and sat down. "I get that. I do. You'd made your opinions about your test subjects wellbeing very clear and Demetri clearly ignored those wishes. But Bella, dear, do you really think that using your powers on him that way was the right way to handle it?"

"I wasn't even sure it would work, Carlisle. I was just so angry."

"But you had a feeling it would work, right? You intentionally tried to strengthen his feelings for you." Realization set in and Bella suddenly looked horrified.

"Yes," she whispered, hanging her head in shame. I rubbed her back and tried to comfort her.

"Bella, I'm thrilled you're gaining control of your abilities, but you have to remember to use them wisely. You have very strong opinions about Jasper using his abilities on people without their knowledge or permission, which is a good thing. You have taught him to recognize when he may be abusing his power. The line is fuzzier with you because of this mission, but don't lose sight of it altogether. You are being put in a position where you have to use your power on people without their knowledge or consent, but you still need to be conscious of the consequences of your actions. Demetri is now in love with you, and that will never change. There will be ramifications of that. Gianna is distraught right now, and understandably so. She has seen the pain Heidi has suffered because of Jasper's love for you, and is undoubtedly trying to decide whether or not she is willing to endure it for Demetri or if she is going to decide it is more than she can take and leave him. Regardless of his love for you, Demetri will be just as heartbroken as Gianna if she abandons him because of feelings for you that are entirely out of his control. And Edward now has yet another vampire who will be pining for you for all of eternity."

Bella looked up at me, pain in her eyes. "How do I protect Edward from this? You're right, maybe I shouldn't have enchanted Demetri that way, but isn't this what you all want from me? Did Gianna screen all our tourists to make sure they were single? How do you know Trevor wasn't married with two kids? You're all thrilled that I enchanted Francesco, that he's in love with me and so high on that chart. Has anyone asked him if he has...had...someone waiting for him at home? No? Didn't think so. What about Evan? You brought him to me like a lamb to the slaughter. You can't tell me Aro and Marcus didn't know he was married. I mean Christ, Carlisle, you want me to make men, human and vampire alike, fall in love with me so they're loyal to me and to our cause, in the hopes of stopping a war. What about how Edward feels about that? He's allowed to be upset about Demetri, but not about the hundreds of others yet to come that you condone? Don't you think that seems a bit hypocritical?"

I couldn't deny a single world she said. She had put me in my place, but good. I just nodded and took in all that she had said. Bella skipped a couple rocks on the water while we sat in silence.

"Bella, let's talk about the positive things about today. Do you realize that you altered an already existent bond?"

"No, I guess I hadn't thought of it that way."

"I'm not sure what that means for the future, but it definitely means the scope of your power is wider than we imagined." Bella huffed, not really excited with the prospect that she was even more powerful than we thought.

"I will make you a deal. I will take precautions to ensure that you won't test your powers on anybody who is committed to anyone in the future, although I can't promise that will be the case once you're undercover; that's just something we will all have to live with. But we will go back to practicing on tourists, both male and female," Bella looked at me, surprised, but didn't say anything. "I also want you to try and focus your power, try to not make them fall in love with you, but rather create the type of bond you created tonight with Evan, or the type of bond you have with Emmett and Adrian. Make them love you, adore you, willing to lay their life down for you. But don't make them in love with you, don't make them lust after you. Do you think you can try to do that for me?"

Bella thought about it for a moment and I could see the hope building. "Yes, I think I can do that! I need Jasper, though. I can't just make the strong emotions needed appear on cue."

"I'm sure Jasper will be more than happy to do that for you. It would be good, actually. We can experiment with different emotions, see if one works better than another or if a particular emotion creates a particular bond." Bella nodded and turned her attention back to the brook, once again lost in thought.

"Bella, there was something else I wanted to say to you."

"Yes, Carlisle?" she asked, turning back to me. I pulled her into my arms and hugged her tight, kissing the top of her head. "I'm so proud of you, my brave, beautiful daughter." I felt her smile against me as she hugged me back.

A/N: Admit it, when you saw the chapter title, you thought Bella had worked her mojo on Daddy C, didn't ya? So who's up for a Jasper/Edward Oreo cookie -- with you as the creamy filling in between?