EDITED RE POSTED JAN 22
Title: Twisted Twilight
Author: Midnight
BETA: Moonline
Synopses: A different version of Twilight. What if Renee never married Phil, but John Reed, a local cop. John is actually an alcoholic, and is abusive to Bella and Renee. It's after a brutal attack, that Bella decides to go to Forks to live with her Father. As Bella's life experiences have changed, so has our beloved story. See how!
Rating: T

Chapter: Fourteen
Chapter Title: Fate
Warning: Includes mention of violence, and rape.
Author's Note: I'm sorry, this chapter isn't as long again, but it's up fast and intense so I'm sure you'll forgive me. For all of you who brought mention to the lack of pervious mention of Jacob, surprise. REVIEW!!!! I love you all!!
Special Thanks: NinjaHandyMan08, Drama Kagome( you're not supposed to like it:P), TheKimikoGirl, mikan kisses, sunmoonwriter89, Ghostwriter, Nekokitten1123, moonlitone, Stargirlrox-hearts-Avatar, switzerland10105, RoryAceHayden147, A is for Angel, Crystallized Hope, Romance4ever(i hate Coke lol), -Azn-Grl-Twilight-Fan-, chloehudgens, ilovedracohemioneficts13, Angels-heart1, Koori Youkai Hime, kirallie, inuyasha finatic, HerLadyship

"I don't know anymore," Edward said, his voice extremely tense. "A few months ago, I would have said no."

"Funny," I whispered, "me too."

"Why do you ask?"

"Well," my mouth turned into a small smile, "I'm just wondering. It's- complicated, but it's intense. I can't comprehend it, yet it doesn't make sense. It's like an obsession, which frightens me. But it feels so right, that it welcomes me." I couldn't be sure if I was even making sense. For a long moment, neither of us said anything, we just stared out the front window.

"Bella, why are you interested in me?" He asked, finally breaking the silence. He looked at me, paying no attention to the road, yet not moving a centimeter away from the center.

"You don't want to hear my answer to that." My voice was shaky, as I stared into his honey eyes. I looked away, unable to maintain his look. "Why are you so interested in me?" I countered.

"You want me to answer a question that you, yourself refused?" He teased.

"Perhaps I'll answer after you do." I mumbled while twiddling with my seat belt.

"Trust doesn't come easy with you, does it?" I looked back up at him. "I've got a theory about that."

"It wouldn't be prudent for me." I chocked out, lost in his honey eyes. "Survival tactics die hard."

"You are unlike anyone I've ever met," he admitted before looking away. "I don't full understand it myself, but please don't take that as an insult- it's actually quite the complement. As I mentioned before, almost everyone's thoughts are the same, but although I can't hear your thoughts, I can see that they're not the same as others. You're extremely observant, which surprised me. You aren't afraid of me, even though you should be. Every day you struggle to find out what I am, and while I should run, I don't think I can leave you." My heart was beating rapidly in my chest; was he saying what I thought he was saying?
"I didn't want to go away this weekend, but it was- necessary. To think that was just a weekend, to be gone any longer..." he trailed off.

"Why didn't you want to leave?" I asked, softly.

"It makes me... anxious... to be away from you." His eyes were gentle but intense, and they seemed to be making my bones turn soft. "I wasn't joking when I asked you to try not to fall in the ocean or gen run over last Thursday."

"The letter..." I remembered it was still sitting in my purse- a sure sign of my growing obsession.

"As we where leaving, Alice called me to tell me you were sick, and I couldn't let it drop. Even though she assured me you were going to be fine, I had to do something. I apologize if it was- unwelcome help." His voice was sheepish.

"No, it was very welcomed." I assured him with a small smile.

"I was distracted all weekend, worrying about you. It was a very long three days out there. By the end, I'm surprised that Emmet and Jasper didn't try to kill me just to shut me up."

"Three days? Didn't you just get back?"

"No, we got back Sunday."

"Then why weren't you in school?" I was frustrated, almost angry as I thought of how much disappointment I had suffered because of his absents. "You might have called me at least."

He was puzzled. "But I knew you were safe."

"But I didn't know you were. I-" I hesitated, dropping my eyes.

"What?" His velvety voice was compelling.

"I didn't like it. Not seeing you. It makes me anxious, too." I blushed to be saying this aloud. If he didn't know before, he certainly knew now. "You asked me why I was so interested in you, and that's why. I... it's..." I sighed heavily, lost for words. Edward looked frustrated, but said nothing.
"Look," I finally blurted out, "my life has been anything but simple, and emotions have rarely touched on the positive side of the meter. And the truth is, you're the first thing in a long time that's made me happy, that's made me feel alive- and like I'm wroth something. But it's also more then that, it goes into things I don't even understand- every day that you're not there, I worry, and I hope that everything is okay. It's like everything that's happened doesn't even matter anymore, all that matters is this."
He was quite for a long moment.

"I suppose once you read that book in your purse, you presumably wont be saying the same things," he said sadly. I looked up to see a pained expression on his face. "And I can't decide if that's a good thing, or a bad things."

"It doesn't matter what the book says," I admitted a moment later, selectively ignoring the fact he knew about the book in the first place without me even mentioning it. "I don't care what you are."

"Don't vote until you know the subject matter," his voice was low, harsh. I tried to fight the sudden, unexplainable burning in my eyes.

"Let me be the judge of that." The darkness slipped by us in silence.

"Tell me something," he asked after another minute, and I could hear him struggle to use a lighter tone.

"Yes?"

"What were you thinking tonight, just before I came around the corner? I couldn't understand your expression- you didn't seem afraid of your attackers, you seemed angry or something."

"I guess I was having a blast from the past," I mumbled. If he was going for a lighter tone, this wasn't the way to do it. "I didn't need to be afraid of them- we normally fear things we don't know, and I knew what he wanted. What all of them wanted. And I was angry- at myself for letting it happen-" My voice cracked as I chocked back the word again.

"You were angry- at yourself? Surely you jest." Edward's voice seemed not only upset, but completely baffled.

"No, I don't. People like that exist, it's a rule that marks society, and I should have been prepared for it, and I wasn't. It wont happen again." I was going to start researching some self defense.

"You were right- I'm fighting fate trying to keep you alive." He shock his head while he spoke, but his mouth was frightening back a smile.

"I wonder if Fate marked this trail at all." I whispered.

"I wonder that, too. But like I said, I don't know if I believe in fate or destiny."

"I think I've come to the conclusion that I do now. Everything seems to be happening too perfectly, for it to exist." I mused.

"Perhaps you're right."
I sighed. We were slowly, passing into the boundaries of Forks. It had taken less than twenty minutes.

"Will I see you tomorrow?" I demanded.

"Yes- I have a paper due, too." He smiled. "I'll save you a seat at lunch."
It was silly, after everything we'd been through tonight, how that little promise sent flutters through my stomach and made me unable to speak.
We were in front of the house. The lights were on, my truck in it's place, everything utterly normal. Billy Black's tan truck was also there, parked in front of mine. It was like waking from a dream. He stopped the car, but I didn't move.

"Billy's here," I said simply.

"Yes." Edward seemed uncomfortable as he stared at the truck, then back at the house.

"Do you promise to be there tomorrow?" I said, looking back at him.

"I promise."
I considered that for a moment, then nodded. I pulled his jacket off, taking one last whiff.

"You can keep it, you don't have a jacket for tomorrow," he reminded me.

I handed it back to him, any ways. "I don't want to have to explain it to my dad."

"Oh, right." He grinned.

"What?" I asked, confused by the sudden look on his face- amusement.

"I think that's the first time I've heard you refer to Charlie as you dad in a social context, not requiring an introduction or awkwardness if you didn't call him that." Huh- I think he was right.

"Oh." I hesitated, my hand on the door handle, trying to prolong the moment.

"Bella?" he asked in a different tone- serious, but hesitant.

"Yes?" I turned back to him too eagerly.

"Will you promise me something?"

"Yes," I said, instantly regretting my unconditional agreement.

"Don't go into the woods alone?"

"Okay," I agreed slowly. "Why?"

He frowned, and his eyes were tight as he stared past me out the window. "I'm no always the most dangerous thing out there. Let's leave it at that."

"Interesting, I don't even know for sure what you are." I mused, then opened the door unwillingly.

"Bella?" He called again. I turned and he was leaning towards me, his pale, glorious face just inches from mine. My heart stopped beating.

"Sleep well," he said. His breath blew in my face, stunning me. It was the same exquisite scent that clung to his jacket, but in a more concentrated form. I blinked, thoroughly dazed. He leaned away.
I was unable to move until my brain had somewhat unscrambled itself. Then I stepped out of the car, awkwardly, having to use the frame for support. I thought I heard him chuckle, but the sound was too quite for me to be certain.
He waited till I stumbled to the front door, and then I heard the engine quietly rev. Just as I opened the unlocked door, I looked over my shoulder to see the sliver car disappear around the corner. I realized it was very cold.

"Bella?" Charlie asked as I walked into the house. Who else would it be?

"Yeah, Dad, it's me." I walked int o see him. He and Billy where watching a baseball game. "Hello Billy."

"Hi there, Bella. How's school?"

"It's going well, thanks for asking." I smiled awkwardly. It was unbelievably hard to be normal.

"You're home early."

"Am I?" I was surprised/

"It's not even eight yet," he told me. "Did you girls have fun?" Fun. HA.

"Yeah- it was lots of fun." My head was spinning as I tried to remember all the back to the girls' night out I had planned. "They booth found dresses."

"Are you alright?"

"I'm just tried. I did a lot of walking."

"Jacob's in the kitchen- you should say hi." Charlie's voice was slow, concerned. "Or perhaps you should go lie down?"

"I'll go see him. Besides, I've sill got to call Jess- I forgot my jacket in her car."

"Well, give her a chance to get home first."

"Right." I walked into the kitchen, and Jacob was busy working in his homework. He looked fourteen, maybe fifteen, and had long, glossy black hair pulled back with a rubber band at the nape of his neck. His skin was beautiful, silky and russet-colored. His dark eye eyes, which were set deep above the high planes of his check-bones were scanning the page in front of him. He still had just a hint of childish roundness left around his chin. Altogether however, he had a very pretty face.

"Hi," I said warmly as I pulled a bottle of water from the fridge.

"Hey, what's up?" I looked back, and my heart suddenly froze. "Run, Bella, you have to run!" Echoed loudly through my head, and the bottle of water fell from my hands.

This Jacob Black looked just like the Jacob Black from my dream- which was impossible. Surely the Jacob of my dreams was just a manifestation which my mind had just determined was him. Then again, I hadn't really thought about it until now. How had I known?

"Are you alright?" Jacob was suddenly standing. I looked down to the bottle, and the large puddle of water.

"Oh, yes- clumsy though." I tried to laugh, and prayed it sounded normal. I quickly cleaned it up, after insisting that Jacob work on his school work.

I basically fell into a chair, exhausted. I was really feeling dizzy normal. I wondered if I was going into shock after all. Get a grip, I told myself. Jacob was looking at me with deep concern written all over his face.

The phone rang suddenly, startling me. I yanked it off the hook.

"Hello?" I asked, breathlessly.

"Bella?"

"Hey, Jess, I was just going to call you."

"You made it home?" Her voice was relieved... and surprised.

"Yes. I left my jacket in your car- could you bring it to me tomorrow?"

"Sure. But tell me what happened!" She demanded.

"Um, tomorrow- in Trig, okay?"

She caught on quickly. "Oh, is your dad there?" And company.

"Yes, that's right."

"Okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow, then. Bye!" I could heard the impatience in her voice.

"Bye, Jess." I hung up, and turned back to Jacob.

"Sorry about that."

"That's cool," he said, then shrugged.

"So, how are you? I haven't seen you in years." Except in my wildest dreams.

"I'm alright, got a stupid paper due tomorrow." I chuckled.

"Funny, I do to. I should go finish it, and go to bed. You should come down more often with Billy, so we can hang out." I smiled in a friendly way.

"Yeah, that would be cool."

"I'll talk to you later, then." I said awkwardly, before making my way to the stairs.

I walked up them slowly, a heavy stupor clouding my mind. I went through the motion of getting ready for bed without paying any attention to what I was going. It wasn't until I in the shower- the water too hot, burning my skin- that I realized I was freezing. I shuddered violently for several minutes before the streaming spray could finally relax my rigid muscles. Then I stood in the shower, too tried to move, until the hot water begin to run out.
I allowed my mind to just shut off, and not even attempt to process anything. Tonight had simply been too much and if I tried to think now, I'd probably freak out. I stumbled out the shower, wrapping myself securely in a towel, trying to hold the head from the water in so the aching shivers wouldn't return. I dressed for bed swiftly and climbed under my quilt, curling into a ball, hugging myself to keep warm. A few small shudders trembled through me.
My mind was still swirled dizzily, full of image I couldn't understand, and some I fought to repress.