A/N And, because it's Christmas, a second one for you.

20

Bella floated back to consciousness slowly, she knew this wasn't the most comfortable bed in the world, but for some reason it seemed very hard. She put her hand under her cheek to cushion her face, instead of the flat, level, cotton of the sheet or pillowcase that she had expected to feel she felt a chest covered by a t-shirt.

{Please don't tell me…} she thought as she woke fully. She opened one eye and looked down at her 'pillow' She recognised the shirt, of course she did, she had spent quite a bit of time looking at it earlier… or rather at the vampire wearing it.

She groaned and rolled onto her back, hoping that he wouldn't realise she was awake.

"Good evening." Of course he knew! It was too much to ask that he wouldn't. Suddenly she thought of something else and sat bolt upright. Her clothes were the ones she had been wearing earlier and though rumpled by sleep they were still on properly. She knew herself that sometimes morphine effected her in strange ways, as if she was drunk, and waking up next to a man in bed was… disturbing. Her cheeks burnt as she realised that somehow Edward had ended up in bed with her.

"How…?" she asked. He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, she blushed harder, he was going to make her ask? He obviously was. "Why are you in my bed?" she lay back down and hid her face in her pillow in embarrassment.

"You grabbed me and dragged me here." He grinned down at her as she looked at him indignantly.

"Oh right, like I could drag you!" she said indignantly, "You must weigh more than my truck, or it feels that way."

He laughed; she was stunned momentarily at the sight and sound of him. A siren out in the street brought her to her senses. "Charlie!" she gasped, "What time is it?"

"A little after six in the evening." He told her.

"I have to make dinner." She said, jumping to her feet… or at least she tried to, her sheets had wrapped themselves around her legs, sticking to the denim of her jeans and she fell towards the floor, bracing herself for the impact. The only impact was with a pair of stone-like arms, and gentle, as Edward moved fast enough to catch her.

"Don't be in such a rush." He told her, setting her on her feet, as she blushed even more.

"Sorry, but Charlie will be home in half an hour."

"I'm sure he will forgive you, especially when he hears that you were ill earlier." He reassured her.

"NO!" she almost shouted. "He doesn't have to know… does he?" she chewed her bottom lip. Edward looked at her rather strangely.

"You should really tell him you know," he said.

"No, really Charlie doesn't have to know. He worries too much about me as it is." If they told Charlie then he would be forever checking up on her. She wouldn't be allowed out of his sight for ages. Especially as both his father and mother had died of heart conditions.

"How do you feel now?" he asked, touching her wrist as if to take her pulse, she knew that it wasn't necessary for him to touch her, Alice had said that their senses were sensitive enough to take her pulse at a distance. However the feel of his fingers as they gently stroked the inside of her wrist sent tingles all over her, and she couldn't help blushing.

"I… I… I'm fine… honestly, please don't tell Charlie." She begged.

He frowned but she was happy to see him nod in agreement.

He insisted on walking down the stairs in front of her so if she fell she would be caught as she hit him. She rolled her eyes but allowed it.

As soon as she got in to the kitchen she began preparing food. Edward sat at the tiny breakfast table a grimace on his face.

"Does it really disgust you that much?" she asked.

"It does, I can't imagine ever having eaten that stuff," Bella washed a couple of fish in the sink and cut them into pieces for a casserole. She put together the rest of the ingredients and put it into the oven. Then she got a couple more out of the freezer.

"What are they for?" Edward asked, making her jump as he was suddenly stood right next to her, his breath on her neck cool, sending shivers down her spine.

"Tonight," she squeaked, and had to cough to clear her throat. "The casserole is for tomorrow, I part cook it tonight and then it will only take an hour tomorrow and I can put it in after school, do my homework and not worry about it." He seemed to be fascinated by what she was doing, and she felt his eyes on her every second as she put the fish under the grill. She stabbed a couple of potatoes with a fork and put them into the microwave; while everything else was cooking she made up a cheese sauce. She wondered where Alice was, Charlie wouldn't be pleased when he came home to find she had spent the day alone with a boy.

Her eyes kept glancing at said boy. He really was beautiful. Usually she would have protested that men were handsome, women beautiful, but Edward was more than handsome. The statue of David sprang into her mind. If Edward had had curly hair he could have been the model for the statue. His jaw was firm and chiselled, his nose straight but not too small or too large. She blushed as she looked at his chest, covered by the thin t-shirt material, though his muscles weren't over large, they were visible through the thin material. She forced her eyes to stop before they went any lower, she cursed as her cheeks reddened and she tried her hardest not to visualise the rest of the statue.

The back door banged, Bella quickly turned back to the cooker.

He was amazed, the clumsy girl who couldn't walk without tripping over thin air moved around the kitchen with an unconscious grace that astounded him. He also was annoyed with her habit of biting her lip, because it made him want to bite it too, and not in a vampiric way. He was trying to keep himself under good regulation and she was tempting him every second!

When he had touched her earlier he had detected her increased heart rate and the beginnings of arousal, he had to move away from her before he went too far. As a gentleman he would never allow her to know that her reactions were so plain to him, but he had to calm the situation down as he felt his own body start to react. His laughing suggestion that he had to walk down the stairs in front of her to catch her if she fell, annoyed her to the point that her body calmed and he felt safe being with her again, but as she was cooking she snuck glances at him and every time she did she showed her appreciation for him with her bodily reactions.

Edward heard Alice as she approached the house. She bounced into the room, Jasper followed her, the back door slammed shut behind them.

"Charlie will be home in three minutes." She stated, smirking at him, he refused to read what she was thinking. Jasper jumped over the sofa in the living room and plugged a games console into the TV; he threw a controller at Edward as Alice pushed him out of the kitchen and sat on the chair he had occupied earlier. "Enjoy your nap?" she asked, smirking at her friend.

{Stop it!} Edward told her.

"I… we… I…" Bella blushed worse than any time he had known before, both he and Jasper stiffened. He looked at Jasper in apology; it was HIS thirst that was giving the other man a hard time. Bella, however, turned her back seemingly determined to ignore her friend.

"Oh come on Bella, I'm just teasing." Alice pouted at Bella's reaction. She really didn't like being ignored. {I doubt she ever has been teased before,} Alice postulated, {she doesn't know how to react, so she is closing herself off. God I wish we had done something about that woman earlier, but all predictions showed that intervention would turn out very bad.}

{Alice is upset, is she ok? Is Bella?} Jasper asked, Edward shrugged but nodded as well.

Charlie walked in through the front door. "Who shovelled the front yard?" he asked. Jasper looked up.

"We did, sir… there's only so much beauty talk we can stand. Emmett went and got the games console then headed back home, while Edward and I cleared the yard." {you can thank me later for it,} Jasper grinned, {gave you a good reputation with the in-law.} His face gave nothing away but Edward could hear his mirth.

"Well, thanks, I would have done it later." Charlie told them. {It's nice to see youngsters willing to help out, makes a nice change, the Cullen's bring up their kids properly.} Charlie was thinking of someone called Mike Newton, whom he had had to have words with earlier while on patrol. The kid had been paid by his parents to clear access to the shop, and the way he chose to do it was to throw snowballs at the few cars that passed. He had made a mistake when he threw one at Deputy Steve's car as he was heading home after a double shift.

"It was no trouble at all Chief." Edward said smirking back at Jasper, the boys turned back to the game on screen while Charlie made his way into the kitchen, silently hoping he could get rid of the boys… and their game… before the match started that evening.

"Hello again Alice, thanks for keeping Bella company." Edward saw Bella roll her eyes at her father through Alice's vision.

"Any time, just let me know!" Alice told him. "Pack away the game boys; we have to be home for dinner."

"Oh, aren't you all staying for dinner? Feeding you is the least I can do for the work the boys put in." Charlie said. Bella almost choked, Edward guessed it was at the thought of the family eating at their table, either that or trying to work out how Charlie thought they could feed 4 teenagers and one adult on just 2 fish.

"That's very kind of you Chief Swan but our mother will be upset if we don't go home, we already had lunch here today, thank you all the same." Alice had him wrapped around her little finger. "See you tomorrow Bella!" Alice unplugged the game and the three Cullens left the Swans to the rest of the day.

"Can I speak to you?" he asked as he knocked politely on their bedroom door.

"Of course, come in." Alice spoke aloud so Jasper could join in the conversation if he wished to.

Edward slowly moved into the room, he looked about curiously. The last time they had lived in this house, this was a storage room. His bedroom and bathroom took up about a third of the top floor, this suite took the rest. He smiled as he noticed that the open doors led to a closet larger than the actual room.

"What can we do for you?" Jasper asked.

"I wanted to apologise," Edward told the pair. Alice smiled softly at him; of course she had already seen this.

"We were wrong." Jasper said. "It wouldn't have hurt to wait until y'all got home."

"To be honest, I'm not sure it made that much difference," Edward admitted. Even Alice looked surprised at that. "It was just too much, you know? I'd spent years trying not to mind that Carlisle had Esme and Rose had Emmett, but then you two arrived and moved in. It wasn't the bedroom as much as the fact that they welcomed another mated pair with open arms, and I felt displaced, unwanted." Protests rang through the house, he ignored them.

"I can see how that could be." Alice told him. "one of my first visions of Jasper was of him with Maria. It hurts to be alone, especially when you can see what you don't have in front of you. But you have Bella now." She pointed out.

"Do I?" he asked, making his mind up to air his uncertainty. "I'm not so sure, I REALLY don't think changing her is best for her."

"Isn't that up to Bella?" Alice asked softly.

"No, it is up to us. Without our help she cannot turn."

"That isn't fair," Jasper pointed out, "you cannot take away her right to chose."

"What isn't fair is condemning her soul when she has no idea of the life she will get!" Edward said heatedly, a wave of calm enveloped him. "Stop that!" he snapped, trying to shake off the effect. Carlisle suddenly appeared in the doorway.

"Edward you have to calm down." He told his son, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Think about it, what are you going to do if you do not change her? One way or another Bella will die, what happens then?" he asked.

The pain in his chest stabbed at him as he thought of it, worse he presumed, it hurt Bella too.

"You are a selfish git!" Rose said as she entered the bedroom. "You would put Esme through losing both of you?" he winced as his mother gasped and tried to hide the fact that she was about to cry.

"Rose! I thought you of all people would understand." He implored. "You spent the first 30 years of your new life resenting Carlisle for changing you!"

"That was because I had no CHOICE! You are taking away her choice the same way Carlisle did for me, you think she isn't going to resent it?"

"You seem to have got over it." He snapped.

"I'll be honest with you, Edward, to start with I was against Bella becoming one of us, but, if it is her choice, and it is an informed one, at least we can give her a life better than the one she had."

"What about children?" he asked. "That was your main resentment."

"No, you never did understand me as well as you thought." She shook her head and allowed him to see fully, for the first time, what was behind her actions and feelings in the past. "my resentment was that I was wishing I was dead when I was saved, my regret was that I could never have children, but honestly… I don't think Bella wants any, not after the way she was brought up." She had a point. Children who were abused the way she had been usually either did not want to bring children into the world at all or were determined to have them and do better than their parents.

"You need to think long and hard about this Edward." His mother told him, the tears she could not shed manifesting themselves in her voice. "I don't want to lose either of you, but if you insist on this course, that Bella isn't changed even if she wants to be, I will ask your father to do it."

He probed Carlisle's mind and was angry to note that he would agree to change Bella himself if it came down to a decision. He slammed out of the house and ran north into the woods. His mind was in turmoil. There was nothing he secretly wanted more than to have Bella to himself forever, to have what he saw in the other pairs at home for himself, but he knew she deserved better than the life they lived. As he ran he startled a herd of deer, after killing and feeding off one he seemingly automatically turned and ran back into town. He climbed the tree at the front of the house and looked in her window.

She was asleep, but the covers of her bed spoke of a restless night, he hoped it wasn't the pain that had caused it. He was appalled to see that she was sleeping in a t-shirt that wasn't even fit to be turned into a rag, and a pair of leggings that looked to have been worn and washed too much. He scowled at the decade-old computer on the desk beside the window, and then frowned down at the truck parked in the yard, and again at the shiny new truck next to it, with trailer and a relatively new boat attached. He was definitely going to have to do something to help her! He needed to plan, to think… and he could think of nowhere better to be while he contemplated, than watching over her and making sure she was safe, well, and had a good night's sleep.

Silently he reached out and slipped open the window, he sat in the rocking chair and watched her sleep, breathing in her delicious scent. About an hour after he arrived she started talking, he smiled as she told him she loved him, and frowned as she told him not to leave, that she was sorry she wasn't good enough for him, tears streamed down her cheeks as she repeatedly apologised for some imagined reason for him deserting her. He moved to the side of the bed and held her hand. She gripped him so tightly he was afraid she was hurting herself, if he had been human she would definitely be hurting him! Tears streamed down her face, she pulled his arm until once again he slipped into the bed with her and held her in his arms. As soon as he did she relaxed and slipped too deep into sleep to dream. As he heard Charlie wake, ready for his shift at work, he left the room, a new determination in his mind.

During the night he had thought long and hard about the girl and how he/they should act. He came to the unmistakable conclusion that if she had bonded to him the same way he had evidently bonded to her then there was no point, or use in fighting it (not that he really wanted to anyway).

Though he was reluctant to 'court' a human to start with, he was even more reluctant to change her; he had every intention of showing the girl what she had missed being brought up by her mother.

At first he decided that he would go back to a more polite era, though he had no problems now with a certain level of intimacy that would have never been allowed in his youth, like holding her hand or even cuddling her (and maybe if he was lucky and the bloodlust continued to diminish he may steal a kiss), some things were just too far unless there was a ring involved. However for now he could shower her with affection, attention and gifts, just as she deserved. He laughed to himself, he had avoided physical contact of any type for decades and now he had no problems holding her in his arms while she slept.

Alice had sent him a text to warn him that he was going about things the wrong way, but he was sure he was right… after all who didn't like gifts?

As the morning progressed closer and closer to school time he started having major doubts. He didn't want to make her feel uneasy, and his form of courtship would seem strange to her. Courtship rules had changed dramatically since he was alive; he would have to do some research on teen habit in this day and age. He laughed silently to himself, he had spent the last 90 years trying NOT to see other peoples thoughts when they were thinking of their partners and now he realised he had no idea how to act.

Oh, he had seen couples in the street, but he doubted that some of the PDA's he had seen would be acceptable to such a reserved girl. He just had to find the correct balance.

Alice the weather predictor was proved correct as the rain through the night cleared the majority of the snow and meant that they had to go to school. He made sure he arrived at school early so that he could spend some time reading the thoughts of all the kids as they arrived. He stood under the tree line and watched, and read. He was disgusted by the minds of some of them, especially the boys. Though at least one of the girls was just as lecherous as the males. One boy in particular almost ended up as fertiliser as the thoughts in his head focussed on what he wanted to do to Bella. Not WITH Bella, Edward noted, the boy was totally focussed on how she could please him, and Edward knew for certain the light bondage he planned didn't actually count on Bella's consent or willing cooperation. In fact the pervert was getting off on the fact that she would struggle. Only the fact that fifty odd other pupils were walking around saved the boy from instant evisceration.

Edward blocked him from his mind before he was driven mad. The child would NEVER get close enough to Bella to enact the fantasy, and if Edward ever read in his mind that he planned to implement the plan with any female then Forks would have one less citizen. He wouldn't murder the boy for a fantasy, but if he ever crossed the line he wouldn't live long enough to carry it out.

The next person to enter the school car park was Philip Bates, a young man who had been 'going steady' if that was still the correct term, with a girl a year his junior for almost 3 years. They had both taken a pledge not to have intercourse before marriage and it was in the front of the boy's mind that morning as a cuddle while watching a movie the day before had got a little hot and heavy. He was berating himself for his lack of control, funnily enough the girl, Angela Wilby, walking by his side was doing the same thing. Edward 'listened in' while they both reviewed their courtship, he was pleased to note that the morals he grew up with still had a place in the modern world. The pair in front of him had a solid foundation and would probably be together for the rest of their lives. Philip put his arm around Angela as they walked up the steps; she smiled up at him and blushed, her hand rising to hold the hand curling over her shoulder. They both silently reaffirmed their pledge and promised to respect their partner more in future. Edward smiled, that was a better example to follow than any other he had seen.

They may as well start as they meant to go on, and though he wouldn't take their physical relationship to its ultimate while she was not his wife, not to mention so fragile and human, it didn't mean he couldn't gently stake his claim in front of the Neanderthals that inhabited Forks High.

Bella arrived as usual in her truck; he watched it enter the car park and winced as it backfired. He waited until she parked and opened the door for her, holding out his hand to help her down from the vehicle.

"What a piece of…"

"Don't you dare pick on my truck!" Bella said abruptly, guessing with surprising accuracy what he was going to say, she pulled her hand back from his grasp and jumped down to the ground, he winced as she slammed the door, flakes of rust littered the ground.

"Wouldn't you rather have a nice car? Like an Audi coupe for instance?" he asked, leaning over her and breathing right in her face. Bella blinked and shook off the influence.

"No, I would not!" she said. He was amazed; he had never known a human so resistant to vampire influence.

"You can have any colour you want." He pushed. "I saw a beautiful one…"

"I want my truck." She pouted. He had to smile, she was so cute, like a kitten that thinks it's a tiger.

"But it's a death-trap." He protested once he could keep his face straight.

"I didn't ask you to ride in it, did I?" she asked, swinging her bag over her shoulder and almost unbalancing herself. He laughed as he caught her and she glared at him, he put his arm around her shoulder and squeezed gently as he had seen the boy do earlier. He could hear some not very nice comments from some of the other pupils when he did it, but he didn't really care what the other humans thought. He did glare across at the boy who had been fantasising about Bella earlier though.

Bella tried to shrug his arm off her, evidently she was uncomfortable with the weight of his arm, he lightened it… he hadn't thought he had put a lot of pressure on but she was so delicate and frail he could have been hurting her. She stepped forward slightly faster; he kept pace with her, putting his arm back across her shoulder. There was no way he was letting her go while ever THAT boy was close by.

She stepped forward again, leaving his embrace once more.

"Behave," he whispered right in her ear, delighting in the shiver that ran through her.

He was puzzled about her behaviour, if she was as bonded to him as he was to her why was she acting like this? Shouldn't she want to be as close to him as possible as much of the time as she could? What if she WASN'T as bonded to him? Not that it mattered; it may even work out for the best. She may decide not to undergo the change if the mating bond was less for her. As she turned slightly his fingers brushed her neck and she shivered, her eyes darted to his face and he could not help the smug look he displayed as she reacted so much to just a simple skin on skin touch.

She ducked from under his arm totally this time and stormed away from him. The disgusting boy watched it all and he thought he saw an opportunity to get close to her with her reaction to Edward. He was imagining that they were having an argument, and his fantasy was that Edward and Bella had had sex and Edward was unable to please her!

As the boy moved in Bella's direction Edward took four slightly too-large-to-be-human, strides and caught up with her and put his arm across her shoulders again. This time he frowned slightly at her, Bella sighed and evidently acquiesced. She allowed him the contact but put her head down and concentrated on her feet, he didn't like that as her hair hid her face from him, but having heard just how accident prone she was he supposed it was a habit of hers to watch where she stepped. She did protest again slightly when he reached over and took her bag but when he smiled at her she just glared.

He smiled even more as she got to the door of her English class and he followed her into the room instead of handing over the bag. He took the place he knew was his and watched as Bella blushed brightly, realising that Alice wasn't going to sit next to her, he was.

"Where is Alice?" she asked through her clenched teeth.

"She swapped to be with Jasper in the other AP Biology class." He explained. She groaned and put her head on the desk, her voice was muffled by her arms that she wrapped around her head. He was again puzzled by her reaction.

"Please don't tell me you are in 6th period Biology?" she almost begged.

He took his timetable out of his pocket and put it in front of her.

Lit, Government, Trig, Spanish, Art, Biology, Gym.