22

Edward was still sat on the border of the reservation lands at 6pm when he caught the clear worry of Charlie Swan as he passed in his cruiser.

{Please God let her be ok, I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her.} it was especially frustrating because Edward could not read the man clear enough to find out what had happened. He gripped the steering wheel so hard the hollow tube flattened and buckled under his hands.

With a flash of movement that a human could not have seen, Jasper and Emmett were suddenly in the car with him and waves of calm were being sent his way.

"Chill out man, the last thing we want is a war." Emmett told him, one hand on his shoulder, pushing him down in the driver's seat so hard the chair protested.

"What if he hurt her?" He asked.

"There's no sign that any of the wolves has started phasing, Alice said Charlie got a call from Jacob that Bella was ill, not injured." Jasper told him. "If we intrude on the tribal lands we could start the phasing and cause injury to anyone close to a pre-wolf."

Edward nodded and allowed his body to soak up the calm Jasper was still projecting. He had already lost contact with Charlie's mind, less than a mile away. It was so bloody frustrating! He could usually keep contact with a mind for more than double that distance without effort. The one time he needed to see through someone's eyes, it was a mental mute he was trying to connect to! He got out of the car and paced at the roadside, what was wrong with her? Why hadn't they called a doctor? Taken her to the hospital? He thumped a tree, causing his hand to sink into the soft damp bark.

"Shit!" Emmett laughed and knocked the tree down and stamped on it a few times, to disguise the damage. "Calm down Edward," he said, "I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Did Alice see anything else?" he asked Jasper, ignoring Emmett, knowing that she hadn't, but needing to keep talking so he wouldn't brood so much.

"Nope." Edward rolled his eyes at the fact that his newest brother was as laconic as usual.

"You two can go home, I'll be fine here. I promise I won't do anything stupid." He told them. Both of them ignored him and leant against the side of the car watching him pace.

Edward's phone went off and he looked at it, Carlisle. "Yes?" he answered the call brusquely.

"We have a problem Charlie just called Alice; Bella is ill, she has a high fever and is delirious. She is calling for you and Alice. He wanted me to see her, but she's on the reservation and he's been told by Billy Black that I am not allowed on the land. Charlie is insisting that I go."

It was obvious that Carlisle wanted to go to Bella as much as Charlie did, but the treaty still stood, and if there were as many pre-wolves as Carlisle's research led them to believe, they could not risk setting off the phasing. One wolf they could cope with, 8 or 10 at once were just too many.

As Edward thought furiously of a way to invade the reservation without putting Bella at risk he caught Charlie's thoughts again. The man was almost apoplectic over his friend's refusal to get Bella the help she needed, and he had put her into his cruiser and was taking her to the Cullen house himself, which was almost 2 miles closer to him at that time than the hospital. Edward informed his father at the same time he could hear Alice in the background telling him the same thing. Jasper jumped into the driver's seat as Emmett dived for the front. Edward took to his feet and ran directly for the house, saving almost a mile of distance.

Charlie was still speaking on the phone to Carlisle when Edward arrived home. He rushed up to the study and started getting things ready for when they arrived.

The two in the car arrived at the house a good 5 minutes before Charlie and Bella did, Jasper didn't have to worry about losing control of the vehicle on the now icy roads, his reactions being so much better and faster than any humans.

Charlie pulled up right at the front steps. Edward had to be reminded by everyone in the family not to move too fast in his hurry to get to her. Still, he had her out of the car and in his arms before Charlie had a chance to even open his door. Quite a bit of invective was thrown his way by the Chief's mind as he carried Bella into to the house and up the stairs to his father's study. She moaned his name a couple of times, but she was obviously not conscious.

He carefully laid her on the bed; she was definitely running a very high fever, at least 106 degrees. She was shivering and obviously felt chilled, but a sweat stood out on her face and body.

"What happened to her?" Carlisle asked.

"She got wet walking on the beach!" Charlie told him. "Jacob put her to bed with some Tylenol and a hot water bottle, but that was at lunch time. She insisted she was ok and he went to school, it was only when he couldn't wake her when he got home that he called me. As soon as I saw her I knew she needed a doctor but Billy said that tribal laws meant you couldn't go onto the reservation and I don't have her registered at the doctors yet." He was gripping his gun belt so hard that the thick leather was bent almost in two. Edward was thankful that the man had put Bella into his car and brought her to where she could get help rather than allowing the Indians to have their way and keep her 'safe' on the reservation where she couldn't get the care she needed.

"How long has she had this temperature?" Edward asked. Charlie's mind told him that he didn't know before his words could be formed.

"This isn't just a fever, she's hyperpyrexic." Carlisle said worried. "Emmett! Run a bath of cool water!" Emmett ran to the closest bathroom with a tub.

"She needs fluids!" Edward grabbed a bag of saline and a line and quickly pushed back the sleeve on her arm and put the line in. He was terrified. It was true that both his parents had died of an infection, but Bella's condition reminded him strongly of how his mother had looked the last time he had seen her just before she died.

"Bath is ready!" Emmett shouted a minute later. Edward started to strip of her leggings while Carlisle quickly cut off her blouse and sweater so he didn't disturb the drip. Both of them had forgotten the presence of Charlie Swan in the room.

"What do you think you are doing?" he snapped, trying to stop Edward's removal of her clothing.

"She needs to get her temperature down quick." Edward snapped, growling at the man trying to interfere with his mate, he pushed him aside without thought, desperate to get Bella to the cold bath.

They left her underclothing on and he lifted her into his arms, glad for once of his cold temperature as she curled into his embrace, her shivers increased to almost violent movement as he carried her into the bathroom as quickly as he could. The water was only about 6 inches deep, but still running. He felt it, it was too cold. Swearing to himself he started to run hot water. If they put her into a bath that was too cold it could cause the heart attack that they were worried about the day before. Eventually the water was tepid, and he lowered her into it. She convulsed, it was obviously painful being dropped into the moderately cold water when as warm as she was. Carlisle had been less than a step away the whole time, holding up the saline drip, he now hung it on the shower rail and moved around the other side of the tub, trying to stop her flailing arm disturbing the line. Rose rushed into the room with a large bag containing ice. She was about to empty it when both Edward and Carlisle stopped her.

"Is she ok?" Esme asked from the doorway of the bathroom. Carlisle looked down at her as she struggled weakly to get out of the water. Her temperature was falling, but it was slower than he liked. There was a danger of brain damage if they could not reduce it fast.

"Rose! Bring back that ice." He shouted. He stopped the flow of warm water and increased the cold, now that she was in it, there wasn't such a danger of shock. He emptied half the ice from the bag into the water near her waist, she moaned in protest.

"It's ok love," Edward brushed her wet sweaty hair away from her face, trying to stop her moving and maybe pulling the line out of her arm or causing herself damage, he kissed her forehead gently the heat on his lips was scalding.

"Edward!" Edward saw what Carlisle was going to suggest and quickly stripped to his boxers. Between them they lifted Bella until he could slip in below and behind her. His body was still colder than the water and he gently cradled her to him as the water rose and the temperature dropped.

When there was sufficient water to cover them both Carlisle emptied the rest of the ice into the water. Her temperature was down to 100 degrees, he knew from her medical charts that her usual body temperature was 97, which was on the low side for the average human. So that meant the fever was even higher than her father had suspected.

Carlisle pulled the plug and let the water start to drain away to see how she would react. Bella was still shivering, she had never stopped from the moment Charlie had pulled up in the cruiser, unfortunately this indicated that her body wasn't done with the temperature increase. As the water uncovered her body it was obvious that her temperature began to rise again.

"We need to give her an antipyretic." Edward told his father. "Do you have any NSAID's?" He could see that he didn't, why would he? They had to do something! He started the water back into the tub, it was an aggressive way of cooling but allowing her temperature to keep going up wasn't an option.

The front door slammed and Alice appeared beside them, in her hands she held several packets of medication that had obviously come from the hospital pharmacy. Carlisle grabbed both a packet of quinine and some basic acetaminophen. He handed the tablets to Edward. "See if you can get her to take these." He told him, Bella had settled somewhat, not moving as much as before, he slipped out from beneath her, carefully he opened her dried lips and put the tablets onto her tongue. Alice once more appeared at his side with a glass of water, he held it to her lips until she drank and he was satisfied the medication had been taken.

"Quinine?" Edward asked. "that's a bit old school isn't it?"

"It works, and fast, that's all we need." He held out his hand and Carlisle gave him the syringe of now diluted quinine crystals, he injected it into the port on the IV line.

Everyone watched and held their breath, her temperature stabilised at 99. The whole family sighed an unnecessary breath as Edward and his father managed to get her out of the water and to the study. They wrapped her in a silver thermal blanket and as a precaution sat in the room watching her.

A wheezing cough reminded them that Charlie was still there and had witnessed everything.

"Want to explain what I just saw?" he asked. Edward actually groaned out loud.

Charlie Swan would have told anyone who asked that he never panicked, but seeing his daughter so delirious and sweating with fever sent him into a state he never wanted to be in again. He had briefly wondered at her calling for the boy who had just moved into the neighbourhood, but her condition soon drove everything else out of his mind. He pulled up at the Cullen's house and even before he could get his seat belt unfastened the boy she had called out for had dashed out of the house, pulled Bella from the rear seat where she was laid and took her inside.

Charlie followed, only noticing on the edge of his awareness the rest of the family as he passed. Once in what looked to be a small office, he watched as both the boy and his uncle hovered over his daughter.

"What happened to her?" Carlisle asked. Charlie told him everything he knew, which to be honest wasn't a lot.

"How long has she had this temperature?" Edward asked. Charlie's wasn't sure but before he could say so the boy turned around as if he had already got his answer.

"This isn't just a fever, she's hyperpyrexic." Carlisle said. Charlie didn't like the sound of that, nor did he like how worried the doctor sounded. He knew the Cullen's…well Alice… had been friends of Bella's for years, but the way Carlisle was acting you would think HE was her father. "Emmett! Run a bath of cool water!" Charlie saw the largest of the other two boys run past the open door to the office.

"She needs fluids!" Edward said, and Charlie was astounded to see him grab a bag of saline and a piece of tubing and inject Bella with it. He would have objected but the lad was so quick he didn't get a chance. Carlisle looked at his work and nodded, so he must have done it correctly, but Charlie didn't like the thought of a high school kid injecting his daughter with ANYTHING.

"Bath is ready!" Without saying a word the two men started taking off Bella's clothing. Charlie drew the line at that. It was one thing for Carlisle, he was a doctor, but he would be damned if he would let the boy undress his daughter while he stood and watched!

"What do you think you are doing?" he snapped, grabbing hold of the boy's hands as he tried to take Bella's sweatpants off.

"She needs to get her temperature down quick." Charlie was astonished because the boy growled, actually growled, at him! Edward then pushed Charlie away, he flew back and hit the desk, a sudden pain in his chest where the boy had pushed him made Charlie pause to catch his breath. He looked at the boy in shock as he realised he had just broken his rib. He had had a broken rib a few years before when a bar fight had got nasty and one of the drunks had thrown a table across the room at him, so he knew the feeling.

He put his hand onto his chest to try and hold the rib in place and staggered after the pair who were carrying his daughter.

"Is she ok?" Esme stood next to him in the doorway. Bella was in a bathtub in just her bra and panties; the boy was splashing the cool water over her chest, trying to get her temperature down.

"Rose! Bring back that ice." Carlisle shouted. The blonde girl came up the stairs carrying a large bag of ice, Charlie watched as the doctor poured half the ice over his daughter, she moaned in protest and he moved to go into the room, Esme put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head.

"It's ok love," Edward seemed to be trying to calm her, the saline bag was now hanging from the shower rail above where Bella was laid, but her constant weak struggles jeopardised the line in her arm.

"Edward!" Carlisle almost shouted, the boy jumped to his feet and stripped down to his shorts, Charlie was outraged but he saw the boy get into the cold water, his arms held Bella still, protecting the fluids pumping into her body and saving her from damaging herself as she knocked against the side of the tub.

Charlie winced as he tried not to breathe too deeply. Carlisle poured the rest of the ice over the pair in the tub. Charlie winced again, but this time in reaction to what they were doing. That boy really must think a lot of Bella if he would suffer that cold without protest.

Carlisle pulled the plug and let some of the water drain away.

"We need to give her an antipyretic." Edward said. Charlie had no idea what he was talking about but it sounded medical. "Do you have any NSAID's?"

The front door slammed and a blur in his vision cleared as he saw Alice appear in the bathroom, her hands full of various medicines. Carlisle grabbed two boxes and handed the boy some tablets from the first, "See if you can get her to take these." Alice blurred past him one way and then another, too quick for him to see clearly, there was definitely something different about this family, the uncomfortable feeling that he had on the back of his neck as he walked in had said trouble, but he had ignored it because Bella needed help. Now watching them work he realised he didn't much care HOW they were different at the moment, as long as it helped his daughter to recover.

Carlisle in the mean time was dissolving something into a small glass; he took a syringe and filled it with whatever he had prepared.

"Quinine?" Edward asked. "that's a bit old school isn't it?"

"It works, and fast, that's all we need."

Edward held out his hand and his uncle put the syringe into his palm. The boy injected it into the IV line. His movements were assured, as if he had done things like that so often they were second nature, but he was only 17 and showed none of the signs of drug use. Charlie looked at the unclothed boy. There were no track marks on his arms or legs that he could see, the only thing wrong with the boy, as far as Charlie could tell was he was so pale he looked ill. Anaemic wasn't in it, he was positively white. Charlie remembered his youth and his Aunt telling stories, but the drama in front of him took all his attention and he pushed it to the back of his mind.

Suddenly everyone of the family, who were now all gathered on the landing outside the bathroom gave a sigh of relief. They turned away and removed down the stairs. Charlie hadn't noticed any sign or signal, but when he looked back Edward was lifting Bella out of the water and dabbing her dry with a large towel. He carried her at normal pace back into the small office and Carlisle wrapped her in a silver thermal blanket, the kind they gave marathon runners after the race.

Charlie struggled for breath, and when he had almost killed himself coughing to clear his airway, he asked the question that summed up what he wanted, "Want to explain what I just saw?" he asked, rather calmly he thought.

It was obvious from their reactions that the Cullens' had forgotten he was there.

Edward groaned and looked at his uncle. Carlisle raised an eyebrow and the boy nodded with a frown.

"Let's see to your ribs first." Edward said, he got to his feet and pulled several large bandages from the doctor's bag open on the desk.

Carlisle wondered how the hell was he supposed to explain all the things Charlie had seen? Edward may have some ideas but he seemed intent on strapping up the ribs he had cracked when he had pushed Charlie away when he tried to interfere with Bella's treatment.

"How old are you?" Charlie asked looking at his son.

"17." was the rather curt answer; Edward set his jaw in a hard line.

"And how long have you been 17?" Charlie asked, much to Carlisle's amazement.

"A while." Edward admitted.

"How long a while? 6 months? 6 years? 6 decades?"

"A bit longer than that." Carlisle shook his head, more than amazed at the question.

{How much does he know?} he asked.

"Most of it." Edward replied. Charlie looked puzzled. "Why don't you tell Carlisle what your Aunt Molly told you of the old legends?" Edward turned to his father, "Charlie's Aunt Molly was married to Quil Ateara III, which means he is…was first cousin to Quil Ateara IV who was a pre-wolf that never phased."

That explained why Charlie had so many friends on the reservation, he was related to a lot of them through marriage. Though the tribe was supposed to keep the stories and traditions a secret from outsiders, there was always a risk when one of those outsiders became an insider.

"Are you…" Charlie asked.

Edward nodded, "Except Alice and Jasper, they joined the family later."

"Joined?" Charlie looked rather sick.

"Not in that way, Alice was turned in 1920, we don't know who by and Jasper was in the Civil War." Charlie raised both his eyebrows in surprise at that.

"Thanks." Charlie got to his feet and carefully started to put his shirt back on. "Does Bella know?" he asked.

"Yes she does." Carlisle said. The chief nodded he seemed unsurprised.

"You know if she becomes one of you, you will be breaking the treaty?"

Was there anything he didn't know?

"Not much," Edward answered his thoughts.

"You are the mind reader the legend tells about?" Charlie guessed, Edward nodded, Charlie laughed nervously.

"Don't worry about it," Edward said in what must have been an answer to the older man's thoughts.

"You wouldn't mind if Bella was one of us?" Carlisle was astounded. If Charlie knew the lore of the tribe he must also know exactly what they were, Edward nodded at that thought.

"If you had asked me a month ago I would have said there was no way in hell would I allow my daughter to become a cold one, however, I meet a lot of folk in this job. I can usually tell if they are decent or not, in fact the only time I have ever been proven wrong about someone, I married her." he grimaced. "You all seem like decent… people… and I have never had cause to think you were anything other than what you pretended to be, until now. I also know from the legends that your family relies solely on animal blood. As there has only been one suspicious death since you arrived here, and that was this week, I'm going to guess that as you all still have gold eyes, it wasn't one of you feeding on that camper anyway."

"No it was a couple of wanderers." Carlisle told him, "they won't be bothering anyone ever again."

"What happened?" Charlie asked, Carlisle paused but Edward nodded so he explained simply what had happened the day Edward arrived and his part in the conflict.

"May I ask…?" Carlisle started to say, and then paused. He didn't want to upset Charlie or persuade him to act any differently to what he was already, but it had to be voiced. "The rest of the tribe don't trust us, we have not had a single Native American in the hospital since I started working there, and Billy Black made it quite plain today that I wasn't welcome to help Bella, why are you not worried by our family befriending your daughter, or treating her?"

"Like I said, you seem decent folk. Bella also has an uncanny knack for only being friends with trustworthy people, and I know you have been looking out for her, not just keeping in touch by email all these years, I knew someone was, Phil hinted at it years ago when he asked me to help him find a teacher for self defence classes for Bella… I assume it was you?" Carlisle nodded, amazed. "Added to which, though I know the histories and the stories, it doesn't mean I am bound by the superstitions of the tribe, I respect those people, but they can be rather bigoted and short sighted about 'outsiders'. The only reason they accept my authority is because I am related through marriage, if any of my deputies travel onto tribal lands for any reason, the council refuses to co-operate until I get there. I know it may sound like quite a risk, but until one of you gives me reason to doubt you, I will keep on trusting you."

Carlisle got to his feet and shook hands warmly with the man. He felt grateful that he would treat the family so fairly.

"One thing though, tell Alice to stop buying gifts for Bella, she doesn't need a fancy phone, never mind such fancy clothes. Do you realise she offered to pay me back for her truck? And I'm her father! She will work herself into an early grave to pay you back every penny you spent. I mean, I am grateful that you saw fit to make sure she had a decent winter coat and all, but rein her in in future." Carlisle almost chuckled as he heard Alice give an indignant huff in response to Charlie's speech. He could see where Bella got her personality from now. Charlie had worked out almost everything they had done, and seemed neither surprised nor worried by any of it.

Edward frowned, "I don't see why we shouldn't be able to buy her a few small presents," he said.

"Like what?" Charlie asked.

"Well… I was thinking of a new car, a computer… things like that." He told the Chief. Charlie laughed.

"If you did buy a car she would never drive it. And now I have yet another question… What is Bella to you!" he looked pointedly at Edward, and Edward alone.

His son cast a look at him and Carlisle sighed. "Have you heard of imprinting?"

Charlie nodded, "Isn't that where one of the wolf pack meets his true love or something?" he asked.

"Well we have a similar thing, when one of us finds the one they are supposed to be with through eternity the mating bond draws us together, it is actually physically painful to part. Not part as in when, for instance, I moved here with the others, Esme stayed in Phoenix without me to look after Bella, but more if something happened that made us part permanently, or even make us THINK we were going to part permanently, like one of us dies, the other would be in pain forever."

"Are you trying to tell me he and Bella are mated?" Charlie's face reddened and Edward jumped in.

"Not like that! Well, not yet, I swear!" at vampire speed so that Charlie couldn't hear he told his father "he thinks Bella and I have physically consummated our relationship!"

"Chief Swan," Carlisle said formally, "Edward was brought up in a different time; he would never be so disrespectful as to be physically intimate with your daughter outside wedlock."

"Is that right?" the man looked sceptical.

"Yes sir, it is!" Edward told him firmly, "and I would like to take this opportunity to ask you formally for permission to court your daughter with a view to marriage."

"She's only 17!" her father protested.

"So am I." Edward pointed out.

"I mean REALLY 17, she shouldn't think about getting married until she is 30."

"Would you condemn your daughter to a life forever aged 30 when her husband is forever 17?" Carlisle asked. Charlie wiped his hand across his brow. "You know she would never consent to marry him if they waited that long. Think about it," he turned to include Edward in his speech, "both of you," he hoped Edward would read her father's thoughts on this point. "she would look older than her mother and father-in-law!"

"But she's too young!" Carlisle noticed that he didn't deny his point.

"I agree, sir. I didn't want to change Bella until she had lived a full human life, but after today I have to say I am seeing it as inevitable. If I had lost her…" his voice choked. Charlie put a consoling hand on his shoulder.

"I know what you mean son, it is a tempting idea, never to have to worry about her falling and hurting herself again, not worrying about accidents or illnesses, but she is only 17, that is much too young to make a major decision with your life, take my word for it, I was only 17 when I decided I wanted to marry Renée, and though I would never wish for anything more wonderful in my life than Bella, I wish we had waited until we had matured more."

"Do you know what I wanted to do when I turned 17?" Edward asked, Charlie shook his head, "I couldn't wait until I was 18 so I could join up and fight the Great War in Europe. Jasper was already in the confederate army by the time he turned 17, Emmett was looking after his parent's farm and helping to raise his 3 younger sisters by 16, and Rose was engaged to be married when she was 17! I'm not asking to marry her straight away, I don't think she would accept it, I would just like your blessing to court her for now."

Charlie looked at his daughter, asleep and exhausted after the trials of the day. He wiped a hand across his face again, "Well…"