Hello all my lovelies! And a special hello and thank you to my reviewers. Love you all more than words can express!

This chappie is in Edward's point of view, and it's shorter than the rest. I needed to put this in Edward's pov but I didn't want him taking over the story, so it's a demi-chapter. I hope you enjoy it!

As always, Stephenie Meyer owns all. I own a Cheshire Cat key chain. My son loves to bat at it like a cat himself...

XOXO-Ka

Right Vs. Good

by: JudeOrion

Chapter Ten and a Half: Inquisitions

"Here are the files you wanted, Edward. Are you sure you won't come with us?" Carlisle leaned against my desk where he had just put the manila envelope.

I nodded. "Yes. I need to stay and keep an eye on Bella." I made my way silently across the room to him and picked up the files. "I assume everything is in here?"

"Everything the doctors know, yes. I had to pull quite a few strings to get these."

"And I thank you very warmly for that."

"You're welcome, Edward."

"Have you been over them yet?"

He sighed and shook his head. Just know that some things Bella hasn't told you for a reason, son.

"We have had this conversation before," I reminded him in a tone that ended the conversation.

"Yes." He straightened and grasped my shoulder firmly. "Just think about it. Have a good break. We will see you in a few weeks."

"Good-bye. Merry Christmas."

He smirked. "Merry Christmas to you, too."

I listened to my family leave before sitting on my lounge chair and opening the envelope. I had asked Carlisle weeks ago for this information, and he had had to pull quite a few strings indeed for them. He was not fondly remembered in Forks. He finally had to go through Jenks to obtain the files.

When Bella came to our house for dinner the first time, I heard Carlisle's confession about keeping tabs on Bella while they were talking in his den. I was shocked. I felt betrayed; how could he have kept this from me? Of course, I understood. I would have done it the same way if roles were reversed. It didn't stop me from feeling hurt, however.

"What happened last summer?" I had asked after she went home that night.

"Grace, Bella's daughter, died."

"She didn't tell me she had a daughter. She didn't tell any one of us."

"I can understand why. The whole ordeal was a nightmare."

"What happened?"

Carlisle frowned and rubbed his hands over his face; a human habit still deeply engrained in him. "She died over a year ago. She drowned."

"Do you have the reports?"

"No."

I insisted that he get me the autopsy reports. I didn't know myself why I needed them; I simply felt the urge to know the morbid details and my instincts rarely led me wrong. I hated that my instincts told me to get the papers. Carlisle had warned me against doing something Bella obviously didn't feel I should know. I listened and understood, but decided against his advice.

I pulled the files out of the envelope and read them. Everything seemed in order with drowning until I got to the description of the body.

Victim has two crescent-shaped marks on her neck. She seems to have been bitten, possibly by a wild animal. However, due to the amount of water in her lungs, COD still appears to be drowning…Upon further inspection of the body the bite marks appear to be human.

No note of exsanguination…what happened to Grace? It seemed like a vampire, that was a given. But what really happened to this little girl? I got onto the computer and searched the area's newspapers. They mentioned the same things over and over again. Only the Forks paper and the local paper here held a full article of the little girl. They had done a front-page article about the incident. The front picture was of Grace, all dressed up for Easter. I could see the edge of an Easter Bunny costume next to her that the cropper couldn't cut out. She looked so much like Bella except with blonde hair and blue eyes. Pictures following that one were more heartbreaking. A picture of the whole family; a picture of the beach where she was found. That particular article didn't say much about Bella, but the following ones painted a witch hunt for her. Mike had manipulated the situation, pegging Bella as a neglectful and dangerous mother. I could kill him.

Sometime later I looked at the clock. It was a little after six; they should have been on the road by now. I sent her a text message.

Be safe. Let me know when you get there, unless you want me to come after you again…on second thought, don't let me know. :)

It was only a few moments later that I got her reply.

Don't over react again, Edward or you will be sorry. I may be just human but I can whip your ass in other ways.

Unbidden, the image of Bella with a riding crop in her hand flashed through my head. Even though as a male vampire I am naturally dominant, the thought made wearing jeans suddenly uncomfortable. I adjusted myself and sent her a text back.

I'd like to see you try, Bella.

It was a challenge, but one I knew would put her in her place if I had the chance to test it.

She didn't respond.

The next day I was headed to Forks. After all, I had warned Bella I would be coming if she refused to tell me she made it there in one piece. Ah, technicalities. I had found it both amusing and to my benefit if I lived according to them when it came to Bella. I pulled up to her old house, hoping she would be there visiting her friend, but I could find no trace of her.

I could, however, smell a horrible smell that I hadn't experienced in years. If I needed to breathe, it would have taken the air from my lungs.

I saw a russet-skinned man exit the house and hurry down the path to a car in the driveway. I could just hear him talking on the phone to someone. This must be Jacob.

"I'll be there in a few, Mel. We need to stop and pick up some buns for tonight, too. Yeah, I went home to change a bit ago. I dunno, she seemed upset when she came back in from the beach with Josh. No, I don't think she was mad at him. Yeah, that's what I was thinking too, Grace. Oh, ok, I'll let you go. See you in a few. Love you."

He hung up the phone and drove down the street. I was surprised that he didn't seem to notice me; he was most surely the descendant from Ephraim and definitely a wolf from the smell of it. Maybe he just wasn't paying attention. Dangerous, for a wolf not to have his guard up.

I headed to our old house after that. It was dank and musty-smelling, but at least the house keepers we had hired weren't shirking their work. I was pleased to find my bedroom how I had left it. I dawdled around the house for a few hours, went for a short hunt, then made my way back to Jacob's house in the late afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised to discover him pull up to the driveway a few seconds after I did. He would have smelled me by now and I weighed my options. In the end I decided it would be better to step out of the car rather than hide in it; I didn't want to seem on the offense. He pulled up to the house and warned the woman he was with to stay in the car.

"What do you want?" He called as he got out of the old decrepit vehicle.

"I just want to talk with you. I have no intention of harming you or anyone else." I took a couple of steps forward with my hands raised in submission.

He nodded and told his very pregnant wife to go inside. She obeyed without argument and kept her head down the whole way. Jacob crossed the street to me and stood a few feet away.

"What do you want, Cullen?" And why can I smell you all over Bella?

He could smell me on Bella? What had she told him, if anything? I decided to play dumb.

"I came to check on Bella and ask you some questions, that's all."

"It seems to me you've already seen her. I can smell you on her."

There goes playing dumb. "Yes, I know. I ran across her a few months ago and have been keeping an eye on her since—"

"You mean stalking her." His arms were crossed over his rumbling chest. He was trembling.

"I only mean to see that she is well, Jacob."

"She's fine. Now leave."

"See, now, that remains to be seen. It has recently come to my attention that she has come in contact with a vicious vampire. I need to know what happened."

"Why do you need to know?" He yelled. Hostility rolled off of him. I knew I needed to calm him down before something set him off.

"Look Jacob. I am aware of the whole mortal enemy thing, but can you just calm down for two seconds, please? I left Bella, I know, and it was wrong of me, I know. Not only how I left her, but that I hurt her so much. I left her for her safety, because I was scared of I or my family losing control and killing her." No need to go into details and have them go after Jasper… "I came across Bella by accident and I didn't want to interfere with her, but I need to know if she is in any danger from a vampire. I know that however she came in contact with them happened here, and I came to you for answers. All I want to do is keep her safe."

Jacob sized me up, scratching his head. He sighed. "You nearly killed her by leaving her, you know."

"I realize that. And I feel dreadful about it. But would you have rather I slipped control and bitten her?" He flinched. "I didn't think so. Would you please tell me what happened?"

He debated for a moment and I wished I had Jasper here with me to calm him down and be in my favor.

"I'm assuming you know about the pack?"

"I guessed as much by your scent. I remember it from your great-grandfather."

"It was last summer. Bella was here with her family. I'm sure you've figured out she has a son, right?" I nodded. "She had a daughter, too. I wasn't there when it happened. We were watching fireworks on the beach and a storm started up. Mel had taken the car home earlier because she had to work, so Charlie took me home. He had Bella's son, Nicky with him. When I got back my phone was ringing and Sam told me to get down to La Push immediately, so I left. They were maybe a mile from where I had been, in the forest. When I got there they had already killed the vampire and were ripping her up, getting ready to burn her. I could hear Bella screaming on the beach, just faintly over the storm, but Sam assured me she was fine. The bloodsucker had killed Grace and made it look like a drowning, he said. I asked if Bella knew anything, but he said no. She would probably guess because of the bites, but she had no idea about who or about us. We burned the leech and I went to take care of Bella. That's all I know about it." He was heartbroken over the loss of Grace, that much was apparent.

"Did you get a look at the vampire?" I asked.

He nodded. "Woman. Changed in maybe her late teens, early twenties. It's hard to tell with you…people." The way he stressed the word clued me in to his waning patience with me. He continued, though. "Red hair…I'd never seen hair that color before, it was like fire."

No. Not possible. "You didn't get a name?" I asked frantically.

"No."

"She didn't say anything?"

"Not to me, but Sam was thinking about it over and over when I go there. I think all she said was, 'kill me, go ahead. I got my revenge.' We can hear each other when we're in wolf form. We didn't know what the hell she was talking about, who would have wanted revenge against little Gracie?"

"I know who." I told him an abbreviated version about what happened to Bella with James and he looked confused.

"What does that have to do with the redhead?"

"She was James' mate. I and my family didn't expect her to come after Bella, we figured she would come after me."

"Huh. Too bad she didn't."

I rolled my eyes at Jacob. "At least she's dead now." But at the expense of Grace? I didn't voice it, but the thought was shared a second later in Jacob's mind.

"Are you satisfied now? Will you leave Bells alone?" Jacob asked.

"I am satisfied. However, I cannot promise I will not leave her be."

"You've been in contact with her, huh?"

"Yes," I said simply.

"I knew I smelled you on her too much for just being near her. Listen. If you hurt her again—I don't care if it's physical, mental, or she bumps into your freakishly hard body and gets a tiny bruise—I will violate the treaty, and I will come after your ass. Got it, glitter boy?"

"I have no plans to harm her, pup. Thank you for the information." I made my way to the driver's side and started my car. Jacob knocked on the window and I rolled it down. "Yes?"

"I'm going to tell the rest of the pack about this."

"I expected nothing less. At least now you can tell them why Grace died."

"Does she know about us?"

"No, I never told her. I'm surprised you never did either."

"Wasn't allowed to. If she needs to know, though…you know. I'm not giving permission, because I'm not supposed to…but that part's not in your side of the treaty." Please tell her. Please. I need her to know, I can't keep going like this.

He didn't know I could hear him. I nodded and rolled the window back up, and debated for a moment before taking off back to Montana. She would be safe enough with the wolves around, and as long as she was on the Quileute land I couldn't see her anyway. I sighed.

This was going to be a long-ass break.