Sunrise, for the First Time

Disclaimer: Me no Stephenie Meyer, and me no owny Twilight thingies.

Chapter 6: Rivalries

"So in addition to cliff-diving and hallucinating on command, are there any other skills that you have acquired during my absence?" Edward asked as we drove home.

I didn't really relish the idea of discussing anything that had happened to me while he had been gone. I was already beginning to think of the entire time period without him as an extended nightmare; it was barely real to me. But he had answered my questions; I would answer his. "I have a motorcycle now."

"You what?!"

"Calm down, I'm not interested in riding it anymore; I was never very good at it."

"Bella, what on earth would possess you to get a motorcycle?! You can barely walk without falling; what compelled you to add 500 pounds of barely controllable metal into the mix?!" Edward gaped at me, both angry and incredulous.

I rolled my eyes. "If you're going to get mad at everything I say, I'll stop answering your questions." Edward stared at the road, and I took that to signal his concession. "Besides, Jake was with me; he wasn't going to let me get hurt."

Edward nodded and stared at the road. "Jake," he said quietly.

I waited for him to ask another question, but he didn't. I decided to continue without his prompts. "Yes, Jake was a good friend to me. A very good friend." I was suddenly overcome with guilt. What would I do about Jake? He had, of course, known that Edward had my heart, but I didn't think he would be thrilled with his return. I sighed. Not to mention the whole mortal-enemies thing. Wonderful job, Bella: becoming best friends with a guy who could never be around your boyfriend without wanting to kill him. Brilliant.

"Speak of the devil…" Edward said quietly as he pulled into my driveway. I looked at him inquisitively but then saw what he meant: Jake was standing on my porch, fists clenched, eyes narrowed.

I started to get out of the car, but Edward grabbed my wrist lightly. "No, Bella. You'll stay here; I'll ask our visitor to leave."

I stared at him. "Edward! He's my friend, and I probably hurt his feelings because he hasn't heard from me." I was starting to get angry. How dare he tell me with whom I could and could not speak?

"Well you might have mentioned that he's a werewolf."

Really? That was what he was freaking out about? I rolled my eyes at him. "And you're a vampire. And maybe later on Tinkerbell will join us and we'll have a tea party. Who cares?"

"Bella, werewolves are volatile! They're dangerous, especially when they're angry, and your friend over there is infuriated. I will not have you around him."

I sputtered, angry beyond words. Edward took my momentary indecision as a sign of my consent and got out of the car.

I watched him walk to where Jake was and stop about ten feet away, below the porch steps. They seemed to exchange words, and Jake, indeed, looked livid. Edward, however, seemed very calm. I doubted he'd be able to reason with my "volatile werewolf" friend, though.

I was right. Jake lunged at Edward; Edward stepped away in the blink of an eye, however, and before Jake could regain his bearings, I jumped out of the car.

"Jacob Black!" I yelled. He turned, his eyes blazing. I was, admittedly, a little frightened, but I couldn't just sit by and watch as they tried to tear each other apart. I walked to the area between the two, facing Jake; Edward tried to pull me out of the way, but I ignored him: "Jacob, I would appreciate it if you would refrain from trying to murder my boyfriend."

Edward scoffed quietly. "Like he could."

Then, in an instant, Jake's spine started to shiver, and before I could process what was happening, the huge russet wolf was towering over me. The back of his paw swiped the side of my head, knocking me to the ground, and everything went black.

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The first thing I noticed was that my head throbbed beyond measure. I thought that if I so much as moved a finger my skull might disintegrate, though I couldn't remember what had caused my headache. I was lying down in what felt like my bed, and I could hear voices around me.

"It's not as if my actions were unprompted, Carlisle. He broke the treaty first by trying to attack me, and I wasn't going to fight him. But I couldn't just let him go after he had hurt her!"

"I'm not saying that it's your fault; I'm sure anyone would've done the same in your situation."

"But you think I did the wrong thing."

"No; I think you did the right thing for you. I am just worried that the Qileutes might see it differently."

"It's not as if I killed him."

"Not for lack of trying though, Edward."

This couldn't be my fault. I couldn't let the Cullens and the Qileutes go to war with each other just because I had been stupid enough to get in Jake's way when he was angry! He couldn't help it; he wouldn't have hurt me if he had been capable of controlling himself. This couldn't be happening.

I opened my eyes and sat up quickly, but immediately regretted that decision, as the pain that filled my skull threatened to crush my brain. I drew my breath in sharply, and Edward was at my side in an instant.

"Bella, you shouldn't be moving too much just yet, love." He put his cool hand on the side of my face and looked at me with concern. I wanted to force the pain out of his eyes; why was I always making him hurt?

"Edward, it's my fault," I said, trying to force strength into my voice. It wasn't very effective, but I continued. "I'll talk to the Quileutes -- you can't fight each other, not over me!"

"Bella, calm down. You aren't going anywhere right now." Edward took my hands in his and looked at me sternly. "Especially over the treaty line, where I can't follow you to make sure you're alright."

I wanted to argue with him, but my outburst seemed to have zapped my energy. I suddenly needed to lie back down.

Edward was nothing if not observant. He noted my submission and the reason behind it. "Lie down now, love; Carlisle needs to have a look at you." He stood, and Carlisle appeared back in the room. I hadn't even noticed him leaving. "I'll go and get you some water."

Edward left, and Carlisle smiled at me. He rubbed his hands together, presumably to warm them, and gingerly touched the side of my head. "Does your head hurt?"

"Yes," I answered, the pain evident in my voice.

Carlisle nodded. "I thought it might. If aspirin doesn't work I'll get you something stronger. Do you feel dizzy or see spots or have any other vision problems?"

"No, just the pain."

"Good; you should be back to normal in no time. You're very lucky," he said, then hesitated. "Usually, werewolf attacks aren't quite so…. Anticlimactic."

I shuddered, thinking of Emily's face.

"Your friend must have had extraordinary self-control."

I looked at him, confused. Was he siding with Jake? "Carlisle?" I took a moment to pray Edward wasn't listening; this was a question I knew he would not answer. "What, um. What happened, exactly?"

Carlisle seemed to be expecting this particular inquisition. "Edward attacked the wolf after he hit you. The werewolf did not seem too determined to retaliate against Edward, however, as Edward received no injuries, and the wolf, I'm afraid, will spend some time healing. Edward left him to tend to you." Carlos paused, letting me process what he had said.

"So Jake didn't want to fight Edward?" I was sure he had only hit me to get to Edward.

"So it would seem."

"And now everything's ruined? Your treaty, the agreement, just because I made Jake angry and he lost control?"

"Not necessarily. I, for instance, see the argument as being not between vampires and werewolves, but between two men who care about the same girl." I sighed as I listened to Carlisle confirm my fears. "Which means, Bella, that they would have fought without their respective… characteristics."

"Will Jake be okay?" I asked timidly. I wasn't sure what I would do if Edward had left him permanently injured. Could I really forgive him for that?

"He will," came the answer, but not from Carlisle: Edward had returned, water and a tray of food in hand. "As Carlisle so indulgently pointed out, I left him as soon as I could to take care of you."

I took the glass of water -- I had no interest in food at the moment -- and said nothing.

"Bella?" Edward said. I looked at him, trying to find any anger in his face, but there was none. "I never intended to attack your friend. I just felt I had no choice after he had hurt you; I had no way of being certain he wouldn't try again if I didn't stop him." He looked at me imploringly.

I wanted to cry; I couldn't imagine what he must have thought when he saw a huge werewolf knock me to the ground. "I'm sorry I got out of the car after you told me to wait. I just didn't want you two fighting over me." Some good that had done.

Edward took my hand and looked at me intently. "This is not your fault, Bella. Werewolves and vampires are natural enemies, but we should have been capable of remaining in control. He and I both," he sighed. "I'm the one who antagonized him. I should never have done that with you standing right there. I'm so sorry."

We both remained quiet for a moment, then Edward cocked his head to the side, listening to something. "Charlie's home," he said, and I immediately moved to get up, but he forced me back down. "No, Carlisle will talk to him. He's going to say that you were hit with a ball during gym class today, and that he happened to be at the school today and brought you home after examining you."

I groaned. Charlie was going to put me in a plastic bubble if I didn't stop showing up with bruises. Then, remembering the force of Jake's blow and the inevitable resulting bruise that would remain on my face for the world to see, I groaned again.

Edward smoothed my hair. "And I, my love, must take my leave. I'm certain Charlie will not be entirely pleased with my presence at the moment," he said, attempting humor.

"No, don't leave, please?" I asked, though he was right: Charlie didn't even know Edward was back, let alone that I had forgiven him, and add to that equation a mysterious injury that happened to show up on the day of his return -- This would not make Charlie a happy camper. "Hide in the closet or something, or just outside the window; I want you with me."

Edward nodded and kissed my hand. "I'll be just outside," he said, and flew out the window.

Charlie came in not a moment later. Vampires and their timing.

"Bella?" He asked, concerned, and walked to my bedside. "Bella, are you alright? What happened?"

"Sports," I groaned, but tried to smile at him so he would know I was okay. "Can I just not be allowed to go to gym anymore, Dad?" That would, at least, make this day somewhat of a success.

"I'll have to consider it if you don't stop hurting yourself," he said, apparently deciding that I would survive. He sighed. "So Dr. Cullen brought you home?" He asked, seeming to be wary of my reaction.

"Yes, he was at the school today."

Charlie nodded, and paused. "So Dr. Cullen has moved back to Forks, it seems?"

Oh. So that's what he was worried about. Because with Dr. Cullen comes…. "Yes, all the Cullens have. Including Edward."

That's what Charlie was waiting for. He clenched his jaw and pursed his lips. "I see," he said, seeming to recognize the significance of the information. "So after everything, Bella, you're just going to let him come back to you? After hurting you like that? You're going to let him do that to you?"

I sighed. I did not want to have this argument with him, not now. "Charlie, Edward and I belong to each other. I'm sorry if you don't understand, but could you just trust me when I say that Edward never meant to hurt me?"

"I don't care what he meant to do, Bella; you were lost for months! I thought I was going to have to get you professional help, you were so…" He stopped, struggling for words, "And now, after everything, you just let him back after one day? What about Jake? You two seemed to be getting along so well, and you were so happy with him."

"I wasn't happy, Dad; I just wasn't as sad as before." I sighed. "But it was never like that with Jake. It couldn't be, not with the way I feel about Edward."

Charlie shook his head angrily, but remained silent. I waited and, finally, after what seemed like forever, he seemed to concede. "Do you need anything?" He asked, glancing at my untouched food.

"No, I'm fine. I just need to sleep."

He nodded and got up. "I'll be just downstairs if you need anything. I'll check on you in a little while." He left the room.

Edward waited until the sounds of the T.V. floated up the stairs before he climbed through the window. I looked at him: his mood seemed to have shifted back to a sullen brooding.

"Edward," I said, "You didn't know. You said yourself you had no way of knowing whether or not I was hurting, and once you found out, you came back. Everything's okay now," I finished, leaving out the obvious: Everything's okay, except the whole Impending Vampire-Werewolf War. But aside from that minor complication, things are just peachy.

Edward was obviously not going to see my side of things, but he didn't argue, just returned to his place on my bed and took my hand in his. After kissing it again, he said, "I love you, Bella."

"I love you, too." I was suddenly exhausted. I let myself drift into sleep, wondering vaguely if people with concussions were supposed to sleep at all before my dreams overtook me.