a/n: I totally do not own "Twilight" or it's characters. I do, however, have a cat with a plastic cone around his neck as well as an awesome beta, EverlastingMuse.
The Red Eye ch 7 Protection Racket
We miss Bella Swan. I refuse to admit it out loud but I'm sure that Jasper can feel it. I know he can feel the effects of our exile from her life in Alice. Alice is simply not herself, Christmas is a shadow of its former glory and my sister spends more time than usual looking off into the distance. It turns out the wolves block my sister's visions so she can't even tell what's happening with Bella. I feel bad for her but have to remind myself daily that we are doing the safest thing for Bella by staying away.
This is small comfort when we hear that Bella has taken a job at Newton's sporting goods. I know that Alice and I both look at the empty reception desk and picture her there. I am especially alarmed because I have heard the thoughts in Michael Newton's puny head and they are not very respectful to women.
It's downright painful when, after a few more months, Bella's growing stomach is detected by some observant teenage girls and her pregnancy becomes the talk of Forks. Chief Swan remains taciturn but I can read the concern in his head and Alice's stolen glimpses of Bella at school show her somewhat isolated from the other students. She hasn't exactly been ostracized but there is a malicious edge to the interest many of the students show her. A few kind students remain friends with her but I can tell from Jasper's head that she is uncomfortable. I know that Alice wants to be able to be her friend, protect her from the stares and the teasing, but won't defy Carlisle. And I know she blames me for agreeing to this.
After about a month of this I start doing surveillance on their surveillance, just to make sure they were doing a good job. I have to be really careful that they wouldn't detect me anywhere near them or make sure it was someplace I had good reason to be.
Which is why, three months after the agreement, Emmett and I found ourselves going to Newton's Sporting Goods.
Let me explain, just so I don't sound like more of a stalker than I already am, we are regular customers of Newton's. Our frequent "camping trips", a necessity to explain why my siblings miss so much school and to facilitate our al fresco dining preferences, mean that, even if we're not going to use them, we need to shop for tents, sleeping bags, tent stakes and the like on a regular basis. We even buy that creepy freeze-dried food, although it is the only thing less appetizing than fresh human food, and usually Emmett and I end up throwing it at each other.
So a trip to Newton's was totally justified and, since we had been staying away from Bella, there was no way for me to know that she always worked until 9 pm on Wednesdays.
At least that's what I told the two teenage boys hanging out outside Newton's.
"Besides, we have an illusion to maintain among the humans. Surely you understand. I mean, you probably have to buy a lot of dog food and flea collars so you tell everyone you have lots of pets, right?" One of the furry teenagers growls at me while the other one just kind of looks at me curiously, wondering why my family and I were having anything to do with Chief Swan's daughter. Then he's thinking: "Thank God they don't know what happened to Emily."
Before I can stop myself I'm asking him, "What happened to Emily?" Emmett looks at me curiously before saying: "Yeah, what happened to Emily?" and looking menacingly at the boy.
The boy gets a picture of a young woman, clearly from the reservation, with several deep scars on one side of her face. I swear, they're animals. Literally. One minute your talking to some smelly guy, the next minute you've got a wolf the size of a Ford Taurus breathing down your neck.
"Seth, you don't have to tell these over-grown mosquitoes anything," the older boy says. Seth thinks about how angry I look and is grateful that I don't know about Jacob phasing in front of her.
At which point I blow up.
It isn't easy to convince Carlisle to go to the local kennel/reservation and convince them that we should be on Bella duty from now on. We encounter a bit of a diplomatic crisis, our own little Forks "Bay of Pigs". Fortunately, Alice and I have Jasper and Emmett on our side. Jasper is game because he wants to see Alice happy and she hasn't been happy since she had to cut off communication with Bella. Emmett jumps on the bandwagon because he thinks that life is a lot more amusing with Bella around.
Esme even comes down on our side because she thinks that I have a romantic interest in Bella. Ha! As if! I laugh loudly at her just to show her how ridiculous she's being.
Anyway, we are able to convince Carlisle to try to convince the pack that we are better Bella-sitters than they are. He makes a smart call when he insists that I stay at home while he talks with them because I can be kind of a dick about this stuff. They aren't exactly eager to do this but after reminding us about the terms of the treaty they reluctantly agree to let us hang out with her again. According to the agreement we are supposed to share her which I can see being a little hard. It's been a century since I was in kindergarten. I don't share very well.
Without an actual threat (beside the usual vampires and werewolves, of course) we don't really have an excuse to lurk around Bella but Alice was relieved to be able to hang out with her again and Emmett picked up his surveillance duties eagerly.
I'm getting prepared to do all that sweater-sniffing all over again so that I can be around her when Alice lets me know that she's coming over after school.
"I thought you might want to be around, you know, make sure she's ok and everything." Alice calls me from school to let me know.
"It doesn't seem very safe. I haven't been close to her in three months. All my acclimation is worn off." I want her to talk me into it.
"Practically the whole family will be there, Edward. Anyway, it's safe, I haven't seen anything."
I agree to be in the house but not in the same room, mostly out of curiosity, and leave the office early. Predictably, Emmett is thrilled to finally meet her.
I decide to hang out in my room and eavesdrop on their conversation. Esme is so excited about having her over she's decided to make appetizers and even Rosalie has started to take some interest in Bella. She and Emmett are hanging out in the kitchen listening to Bella and Alice talk.
I end up having to creep down the stairs because without the ability to hear her thoughts and the talking of my family it's hard to hear her voice.
I quickly realize that things are tense, however.
"I understand that you were just doing what you were supposed to, but it hurt my feelings to have you just ignore me like that, Alice. Especially when the whole school found out about…" In Alice's head I see Bella gesture to her stomach. While I wouldn't say she's enormous or anything she is clearly about six months along and her stomach looks pretty big compared to the rest of her tiny frame.
"Bella, I'm sorry. I wish I could explain. I really want to be your friend and I'm sorry that I abandoned you when you needed one." Alice is getting pretty upset and Jasper is trying to calm her down from in the next room.
"Just so you know, I know about all the…blood drinking and wolves and stuff." WHAT! The thoughts of my whole family blend in with mine. I clutch the banister of the staircase while Emmett, Rosalie, Esme and Jasper all rush into the living room.
"What are you talking about?" Alice is trying to play it off but the fact that my entire family has rushed into the room kind of makes it a meaningless gesture.
"I don't have a problem, Alice. In fact it kind of explains why your brother is such a freak." Emmett laughs and Alice whispers to Bella, "You know, he can hear you." I hear a "Sorry, Edward!" from Bella and decide that there's no point in me hiding on the stairs anymore.
"It's ok," I say, walking into the living room. She smiles at me hesitantly, obviously embarrassed that she called me a freak.
"I know it's supposed to be this big secret but once I saw Jacob turn into an enormous wolf I guess the vampire thing was easier to accept." Bella seems pretty calm.
"They told you?" Jasper asks her.
"Well, Jacob did. He felt pretty bad about turning into a big, hairy dog in front of me so he started telling me how it's all your guys' fault anyway. Speaking of which, how many of you are there?" We all realize that we have been standing around the living room staring at her.
"Well, you know Edward and Jasper." Alice begins introducing Esme, Emmett and Rosalie and we take seats on the couch.
"You have to know that it's very dangerous for you to know about us." Jasper looks at Bella with concern.
"I'm not going to tell anyone, like anyone in this town talks to me anyway." We look at her with surprise and she points to her belly again. "I'm kind of wearing a big scarlet "P" on my chest. I'm not really seen as a good influence on teenage girls."
"That's ok, I'm not really a teenager." Alice laughs.
"Eddie is though. You probably want to stay away from him." Emmett grins and I give him a glare.
"Yeah, maybe you want to pass that on to him. I saw you outside my work twice last week." She looks at me suspiciously. I wish I could read her mind. No wonder she thinks I'm a freak, though. I try to think of possible explanations for my presence in front of her work. I got nothing.
"Small town," I say, shrugging my shoulders. Nice cover, Cullen.
a/n: Thanks for all the awesome reviews! I think that that was actually the last bit of angst for this entire story. I actually have an angsty, dark story that I'm working on that I put all of my bad things into. You could put me on Author Alert if you're into that kind of unpleasantness. JuJu