A/N Before threatening to stop reading after this chapter please read the note at the bottom.

24

Bella swam back to consciousness rather like after a faint. Her head throbbed, which was nothing unusual, she often hit her head when she fell down. The bed was softer than she remembered, and the cotton sheets she was almost sure she fell to sleep on had turned into satin. She was also wearing something thin on her body. She could feel the very cool air on her arm, which was outside the covers.

"Here, you need to drink." She looked around, Edward stood with a glass of fresh orange juice in one hand and some tablets in the other. She frowned, she was sure she had been at Jacob's when she fell to sleep, she clearly remembered getting her legs soaking wet trying to walk to the island.

"Bella? Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine." She remembered clearly why she had left and nothing he was going to say to her would make up for the humiliation they had put her through. If they didn't see her as a true friend, or even show her basic respect, she saw no reason to be polite to them. She turned her back when Edward knelt at the side of the bed.

"I'm sorry for yesterday." His hand grazed her shoulder. She shuddered, not only from the cold of his touch but from the remembrance of him putting his arm across her shoulder even though it was clear she didn't want him to.

She looked at her bare wrist wondering where her watch had gone. Edward moved around the bed until he was once more in her field of vision. He held out the drink and tablets. Her mouth was very dry, but she would rather do without than take anything from HIM!

"Bella!" Charlie walked into the room, for a change he wasn't wearing his uniform. She looked at him exclusively, ignoring the vampire that was still holding the drink and tablets out to her.

"Dad? What am I doing here?" she asked, her voice was raspy as her throat was so dry. Charlie took the orange juice from Edward and handed it to her. "Thanks." She drank it down, the cool, tart juice was just what she needed. It was petty but she had no other way to show her displeasure.

"Does your head hurt?" her father asked.

"No, not really." She replied, he raised an eyebrow at her and she winced, she couldn't lie to save her life.

"Then you won't be needing those tablets Edward is trying to give you, will you?" he asked.

"I don't need anything from him." She spat venomously.

"Ahh. I think you should leave, son." Charlie said. She avoided looking at the boy as he placed the tablets on the bedside table and retreated from the room. She tried to ignore the fact that she could see his shoulders were slumped as he walked away. "What's going on?" Charlie sat on the edge of the bed.

"I don't want to talk about it, I don't feel too well." She said petulantly. She buried herself under the covers.

"Is there a reason why you are being so nasty to Edward? After all he just helped save your life." Her father pulled back the covers so he could see her.

"He should have taken me to the vet then." She snapped.

"The vet?" he asked.

"They see me as a pet, someone to be there when they want help but now things have worked out they get their kicks by teasing me." Her father frowned down at her.

"Listen to me young lady!" her father frowned. "I saw that boy when he saw you, he truly cares for you."

"Dad, please, you don't know…"

"The Cullen's have told me everything." He told her.

"I doubt that." She said quietly.

"Yes they have, from the moment they first met you back in Phoenix, to killing the nomads."

She sat up in bed quickly, realising as she did so that her head actually did hurt a lot. She couldn't help the groan of pain from escaping, but she had to know, "You know…" she couldn't finish the sentence.

"Yes, Bella, I know, in fact I probably knew months ago but refused to believe it."

"But how, why, when?" she asked.

He opened his mouth and then shut it again, ordering his thoughts before speaking. "When I was 14 your granddad Swan died of a heart attack, you know that, right?" Bella nodded, it wasn't often that Charlie spoke of himself or his life so she only knew fragments. "The only family left on the Swan side was my Aunt, Molly, she was married to one of the Quileute tribe. I spent a lot of time over at the reservation with them, because my mother had to work. My cousins were Quil Ateara IV and Sarah… you know Jacob's mom?" she nodded astonished that she had never known that her father and Jacob were related, never mind so closely. "Well, Sarah was a bit older than me, she and Billy were already going steady when my dad died, and it was obvious they were going to get married. I spent quite some time with them and that's when Billy and I became friends, Billy, Quil and I were always together, and when Billy and Quil were told the tribes secrets the elders just seemed to accept that I would find out too so they told me. Of course none of us believed in the legends, so to us it didn't matter that as an outsider I knew. Then a few years ago the Cullen's moved into town, they were only around for a month each year, and most of that month I was busy with you being here for the summer. They weren't seen very often, but I caught the occasional look at them around the edges of town as I patrolled, year in, year out they never changed. The tribe were very unhappy that 'the cold ones' had returned. Billy, who used to scoff at the old tales was now one of the most vehement against the family. I suppose Quil would have been too, but he died the year before the Cullen's came back. Then, last year, they moved in permanently. The elders seemed to think this significant, but I wouldn't let them make any trouble for the family unless something happened to make me change my mind. I know that was probably dangerous. If something happened it meant someone would lose their life, but you can't convict someone you THINK is a murderer, especially when there are no dead bodies or reported missing people." He grinned wryly, she understood what he was smiling about, it wasn't like the law could be applied to the Cullen's anyway. "I never put it together that your friend Alice was a Cullen before you arrived, I suppose I should have done. Phil had hinted to me years ago that someone beside himself was looking out for you, and they only came when you were in Forks to start with." Phil? Something nagged in the back of her mind, Rose and Alice looking guilty, something about Phil. She shook it off and concentrated on her father. "… though he protested a lot, in fact he even wanted Jacob to move in with us, hoping it would trigger off the gene that would bring out the wolf."

"He… who? What?" Bella asked, realising that she had missed something while woolgathering.

"Billy, he wanted Jacob to move in with us, to 'protect' you from the Cullen's. I told him no way."

"Is that why every time I go to the Res Jacob is there?" she asked.

"Probably, in fact when you got ill Billy outright told me he wasn't going to let you be seen by Doctor Cullen, he tried to stop me leaving with you!" her father sounded indignant. "Luckily Old Quil, my uncle, stepped in and told him he couldn't stop me, I'm not officially a member of the tribe so Billy can't tell me what to do."

"I wouldn't have thought he could tell anyone what to do." Bella said picturing the jovial obese man in a wheelchair.

"Well he is the chief, though they don't call him that anymore." She was astonished, Billy Black was Chief? That meant Jacob was to be chief later? It was almost laughable that the sweet boy she had met would someday lead the tribe. However she also remembered the way he had swept her up and carried her. He was definitely good at making decisions for others!

"So… you know about the Cullen's?" she didn't know if she should be ashamed of keeping it a secret or not. Renée would have made her feel guilty if she had known something that could be used to her advantage and didn't tell her.

"I do, and don't worry, I'm not going to be on your case about it." He smiled.

"What… what happened yesterday?" she asked. She was sure it was yesterday and not more, though she couldn't have said why.

"Jacob called me just before 6 to let me know you had got wet through at the beach and when he got home from school you were running a fever and was delirious. I rushed over to the res."

"6?" Bella interrupted, wondering why it was so late, she knew the school let out at 4.

"Yeah well Billy was insistent that he not call me, he had to wait until he went for the doctor from the clinic to ring."

"Why?" she asked.

"Billy knew I would want Dr. Cullen to see you and like I said…" he waved his hand, she nodded. "Anyway Jacob rang and I got to their house about the same time Jake got back with their Doctor and Old Quil. The Doc. recommended you go to the hospital, I called Carlisle and he told me to bring you over. He said he had everything that was needed, and it was closer to get here anyway, so I brought you here instead of the hospital."

"I wish you hadn't." She told him, wishing he had taken her home instead.

"Bella, you really have to realise that this family cares for you…" he told her everything that had happened the evening before. She was astonished that Edward was the one who had done most of the treatment. She also blushed profusely when her father told her that he got in the bath with her when she only had her bra and panties on.

A knock came at the door. Charlie got to his feet, Bella noticed that he winced as he did so.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I'm going to see who is at the door." He told her.

"No, I mean, why are you wincing?"

"I cracked a couple of ribs." He told her.

"How? When?" she worried that her father had got into a fight at the reservation.

"Well, I tried to stop Edward from helping you and he may have pushed a little too hard." He smiled at her as she narrowed her eyes at him, "now don't go giving the boy a hard time." She didn't know why her father was so pro-Edward all of a sudden. Was this the same man who last year had told her she shouldn't be thinking of boys until she was at least 30?

"How is she doing?" Esme came in through the open door, a tray with a steaming bowl of soup in her hands.

"She's grumpy, but then she always is when she's ill." He told her with a slight chuckle that made Bella even more annoyed. She was IN the room, they could ask HER.

Esme placed the tray on Bella's lap. "Chicken soup." She told her, Bella's mouth was watering, but she kept remembering the pet analogy. However one look at Esme's face and the curt rejection she was going to come out with died on her lips.

"Thanks." Was all she said. She ate the soup, surprised to realise that it was homemade, not from a tin or packet.

"Is it ok?" Esme asked. Bella smiled at her and nodded. "Oh, good. I can't taste it so never know if I have seasoned things correctly." Bella assured her that she had.

"I'd like to apologise for the family," Bella's smile dropped. She pushed the dish away. Esme looked devastated but Bella knew she wouldn't eat any more now. She got out of bed, surprised when she didn't fall over, her legs felt like jelly. She staggered her way into the bathroom and it was there she finally got a look at what she was wearing, she groaned. There was no way in the world she would ever have put those clothes on if she was conscious. A deep, almost midnight, blue pyjama set, if you could call them pyjamas! A short camisole top and shorts, in satin as well! And Edward had seen her in this? In fact he had seen her in less if her father was right. They had no right to treat her like this! Alice knew what she wore to bed usually. She could have found something similar in the house, she was sure they could. Even one of the boys t-shirts would have been better.

Talking of whom… a knock on the bathroom door was followed by inquiries of her health. She used the facilities and washed up, she noticed toothpaste and a brush still in the packets on the side of the sink, they had to be for her. She brushed her teeth adding the quite cheap prices to the running total in her mind.

She brushed her hair when she noticed a hairbrush… it was obvious that Edward never used one, not with his hair the way it was! As she exited the bathroom her father was waiting, arms folded and that look on his face that meant she was in trouble.

"There was no need to be rude." He told her.

"Can we go home now?" she asked, ignoring his censure.

"You will stay here, at least another day, to make sure that you don't have a relapse." He told her sternly. "And you will apologise to Esme, that woman has been nothing but nice to you and you just upset her." she did feel guilty about that, Esme had always been nice to her, but then so had the others. She shouldn't take her anger at Edward out on the rest of the family, for all she knew they didn't even agree with what he had done.

"I'm sorry Esme," she said rather quietly, but she knew she could hear her. "can we go home NOW?" she asked again.

"You don't know how ill you were, please Bella, just stay for a while." Her father was almost begging. She hated to see him show emotion like this, it made her uncomfortable because she didn't know how she should react. She gave in and nodded and he gave a thankful sigh.

"I'm not staying in his room though." She told everyone who was listening. She looked around but couldn't see her clothing… wait, hadn't Charlie said something about them cutting her top off? And her jeans, she supposed, were still at Jakes. She let out a frustrated sound and opened the closet door. All the clothes in there were designer, she looked through the 'Bella' side of the closet and found nothing that she would choose to wear. She could have sworn that there were more pairs of jeans after she took the others. She grit her teeth as she realised that not only were there no jeans, the entire space was filled with dresses and skirts.

She looked at Edward's side of the room, no she wouldn't borrow anything of his! She went into the bathroom, hoping to find a robe, but there wasn't one. She marched back out and confronted her father, "Where are my clothes?" she asked, almost in tears.

"I can bring you some tomorrow," he told her.

"Why didn't you bring some today?" she insisted.

"You aren't well enough to come home today, there wasn't any point." He told her patiently.

"I want my own nightclothes." She had a fleeting thought that perhaps she was being childish, but she couldn't help herself. "Are you going to work?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm on light duties, office work only, until my ribs heal." He told her.

"When you get off later bring me my clothes please." She was satisfied when he nodded in agreement.

"You going to be OK?" he asked her.

"What do you care?" she snapped, "I told you I want to go home." She burst into tears… damn she hated when that happened, was it that time of month already? She counted the days since her last period, oh right, that would explain her shitty mood then. She suddenly had a terrible thought, blood! What would happen if she was still in the Cullen house when she started to bleed? She usually only got so bad a day or two before her period started, which could mean that she was due on anywhere from later that afternoon to the evening the day after. She made up her mind, she would wait until Charlie left then she would make her way out of the rear of the Cullen house and go home by herself. It was only about 3 or 4 miles. She felt tired just thinking about it, but she was determined.

Alice walked into the bedroom at that moment, she walked past Charlie… who looked as if he was about to explode… and as soon as she managed to meet Bella's gaze, Bella knew that she had seen her plans.

"You won't stop me." She told the vampire. Alice looked at her sadly.

"Why don't you trust us anymore?" she asked.

"Why aren't you in my English class?" she responded.

"That wasn't my fault!" Alice protested. "Edward went to see Mrs. Cope and she changed everyone around." Charlie grunted, Bella wasn't sure if he was laughing or angry.

"You didn't protest much." Actually Bella wasn't sure if Alice had protested or not, she just knew by the time the bell rang it was all fait accompli. "Everyone was staring." That was what had upset her most, she hated being the center of attention.

"It wouldn't have made any difference. Edward has this way of persuading humans to do what he wants."

"It doesn't seem to be working on me." She pointed out.

"No, you seem to be immune to his… powers, for want of a better term." Alice actually looked rather smug about that, which went a way to mollifying Bella.

Alice dumped a designer backpack on the bed, Bella glared at it but when the zip was opened she almost grabbed Alice and hugged her. There were her holey sweats and the extra large t-shirt she always wore to bed, and under them was a pair of jeans, a shirt, a t-shirt and a sweater.

"Thank you." She told her friend.

"Your truck had been driven to Charlie's house too, Jacob delivered it, so I brought it here for you." She was told. She smiled, she loved her truck!

"I'm not going back to school." Bella stated.

"You don't have much of a choice." Charlie told her, "I told you, you would have to go if you came here to live, and you agreed. I've covered for you with the school so far, but I won't keep on doing it."

"I'll move away then!" she snapped, suddenly she collapsed to the floor, a burning, stabbing pain in her chest made her cry out in pain. Charlie was on his knees beside her straight away. Edward rushed into the room and gathered her into his arms.

"What happened?" he asked Alice.

"She decided to move away." Alice told him calmly.

"I know that!" he snapped, Bella struggled weakly to get out of his grasp, the pain shot through her, it was worse than any pain she remembered.

"This is your fault!" Alice told him.

"YOU were the one who said we were mated!" Edward smoothed her hair from her forehead and kissed her exposed skin softly. Mated? She tried to remember what she had heard of mating and vampires. She was almost sure it was embarrassing. Why was he kissing her? She was angry, but it hurt too much for her to say anything.

"Bella, calm down." Alice swam into her vision. "Listen to me very closely, you have to change your mind, decide to stay in Forks and the pain will go away." She didn't understand, she couldn't understand. All she knew was the pain in her heart was incredible.

"Help… hurts" she gasped.

"What's going on?" Charlie asked panic in his voice. "Give her something!"

"It won't work, it's the mating bond. Bella just threatened to break it by moving away. Every time one of them decides to separate then this will happen."

"Just to Bella?" he asked.

"No, I feel it too." Edward's face was tight with suffering, she could see that now through the haze of pain.

"Is this what Carlisle was talking about?" he asked. Edward nodded, Charlie pushed him out of the way slightly and took Bella into his own arms, she tried to protest that he would hurt his ribs but she couldn't get her breath. Her chest felt so tight and painful that she almost wished she would die and then it would be over.

"Bella, listen to Alice. You HAVE to decide to stay in Forks, just for now. As soon as you do the pain will go away. Please honey, I just got you back. Stay… for me… just for a while, at least until you are 18 then we can see." Something penetrated the haze surrounding her and she nodded her head. If it would stop the pain and Charlie said it was for the best then she would stay, at least until summer. The pain immediately eased and she could breathe again. Edward nodded to the others and taking her back from her father he lifted her to the bed.

A/N I'm editing this to add a note which I have sent to several people in various forms after they have threatened to stop reading because of Bella's behaviour:

Please do give it a chance, she WILL grow up soon. When you consider who her role model is it isn't surprising that she does not behave well in certain circumstances. It will only be a chapter or 2 until she submits to the bond and accepts that they are trying to help. As I will point out later, when something went wrong for Renee she would throw a temper tantrum and so Bella is pushing the limits for a while. After all she IS 17 (and due her period in a couple of days as will be pointed out soon) Sorry if I'm giving out spoilers but there IS a reason for my writing her like this, I can't see her being a totally balanced individual with just low self-esteem, there has to be more damage than that after her years with Renee!