40

"Bella, pull over and let me drive, love." Edward said, his voice low and soothing. She shook her head and put her foot to the floor, the engine struggled and the dial crept up to 60 MPH, the wheel shook dangerously in her hand, she tightened her grip and continued down the private road to the highway, pleased that the way to the cottage wasn't as narrow a drive as the one to the Cullen main house.

She already felt slightly guilty for shouting at Alice, but she also didn't regret it. She had to learn not to try and push her around. She had had enough of being told her opinion didn't count by Renée, she wasn't going to allow Alice or Edward, or anyone else to bully her into doing things she didn't want to do any more. How dare she throw away Bella's things?

Bella swung onto the highway and headed into town, it wasn't until she was passing the police station that she realised Charlie was back at work. His cruiser was stood in his parking spot, she pulled into an empty space and sat for a while staring out of the windscreen, trying to ignore her husband sat beside her. If he said anything to her she would probably bite his head off too.

As she looked at the station she realised that no one had told her what happened to Renée while she was gone. If Edward knew on holiday he gave her no hint, and the woman wasn't mentioned even once in all the times she had spoken to the Cullen's or her father.

It was extremely unlikely that she was still in the small building in front of her. It just wasn't big enough to hold someone for any length of time, never mind almost 2 months. It was unreasonable of her to fear walking into the building just in case her mother was there. She stiffened her spine and got out of the truck, immediately she shivered as the cold wind penetrated the thin sweater she had on. Edward opened his mouth, but she raised her hand and he didn't speak. She really didn't want to have another argument, but if he started telling her off for not wearing a coat she would lose it!

Charlie looked up surprised as she walked in, but the smile died on his face as he saw her expression. "What's up?" he asked, glancing at Edward and then back to her.

"School." She said shortly. Her father ran his hand through his thinning hair.

"I thought this would come up." He said, "I petitioned the school council about it, and they denied it, if you get away with not going then the rule may as well not be there, as everyone who didn't like school would wish to leave as soon as possible."

"I already graduated, what can they do to me?" she asked.

"To you? Nothing, the thing is, I am the one who will be in trouble." Charlie said wincing in guilt. Bella's mouth opened in an O shape. She had never considered that Charlie would be held responsible. "It really wouldn't bother me, except there's a clause in my employment contract that says I will uphold the local as well as national laws, if I am in breach of the school rules and they prosecute, I could lose my job." He looked slightly ashamed, but she understood, Charlie loved his job, he always had, and to lose it just so she could finish school a year earlier? It wasn't worth the price, not for her and definitely not for him. She could not blame him for wanting to keep working, and she definitely didn't think he should feel guilty for it, she had known before moving to Forks that she would have to go back to school and she had agreed, it was only after realising how damn boring it was that it became a real problem. "I'm trying Bella. I will do everything I can to get you out of going. I promise!"

"What about if I'm emancipated." Charlie looked upset at the thought of his daughter, basically, divorcing him, but Edward stepped forward.

"She isn't really your responsibility, Charlie, she's my wife and an adult in her own right according to the papers Judge Yorkie signed before we married." Charlie frowned and stroked his moustache with his fingers as he thought. Bella looked around the small building, she could see most of it through the door to the office. There was no sign of Renée, but she wouldn't bring her up for now, until she had everything sorted she would allow them all the illusion of protecting her.

"Hold on, I'll contact Harry Greene, see what he says about it, and I'll contact E4."

"E4?" Bella asked.

"The judge." He said, distracted as he looked up the numbers for the two men, "we all called him E4 at school because his father insisted on calling him Eric Yorkie the fourth on every occasion he could!" he grinned and shrugged.

"So the Eric at school is E5?" she asked.

"Officially, yes, he is Eric Yorkie the fifth, but E4 is a lot more down to earth than his father and doesn't insist on the full title so as far as I'm aware he's just Eric." She nodded, not really interested any more.

Her father picked up the phone and Bella drew a copy of Pride and Prejudice from her bag. She ignored Edward, even though she could feel him watching her every move as he sat at her side. She did notice her father looking at them both a couple of times, and was almost sure she caught Edward giving him a shrug out of the corner of her eye. She huffed and turned a page. It was a good job she had read the book so many times, because she wasn't really reading it at all.

Charlie spoke to the headmaster first, seemingly without any joy as he slammed the phone down after not much conversation at all. He seemed to have more luck with the judge though, he took some notes and nodded his head a few times. He finished up by inviting the man out to his boat at the weekend for a spot of fishing.

"We may be in luck. E4 says that as you are married, you are legally an adult and as such should not be bound by the local law for schools. It isn't like it is a federal law, the Washington Compulsory Education Law says between 8 and 18 BUT it says that there are exceptions, including…" he looked down at his notes, "'If the person has met graduation requirements or has received certificate of educational competence', which you both have."

"Several times," Edward interjected.

"It is Harry Greene that insists that pupils attend until 18, no matter what. He was the one who got it pushed through the council as well. Up to his taking control of the school five years ago it wasn't an issue. The problem was that a few of his best pupils left early when he had plans for state competitions and he asked for the regulation to be changed so he could force the kids to stay until graduation."

"It just drives them away, if you ask me." Bella said. "If he continued to threaten you with sanctions I would just move out of his jurisdiction."

"Well E4 is looking into it, he says you have had enough problems without this hanging over your head, especially as you have graduated once. He also says that even if you do refuse to go and they can't find a way of getting you out of it, it shouldn't be held against me, I'm no longer your legal guardian, I signed over the right to that when I allowed you to marry underage." He coughed and looked uncomfortable, but Bella was really happy to hear that he would not pay for her actions in that way.

"I'm just nipping home, I need some of the clothes that I left behind." She said, getting to her feet. "I have my key." Charlie frowned.

"I don't think that there are any left, Alice moved all your stuff before I got out of hospital." Bella gritted her teeth. "Why, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing!" she snapped. Charlie rolled his eyes at her.

"Nothing? Really, Bella, you are telling me 'Nothing' when it's obvious that something is wrong. Edward?"

"Alice threw all her old clothes away." He said, Charlie tried to frown but Bella could see he was grinning under that facial hair!

"Well, everyone needs new clothes some times, love, and you didn't have that many to start with."

"That isn't the point!" she thought that Charlie would have understood. "She threw away that shirt you bought me!"

He shrugged and said, "Then go and buy another one, if you liked it so much."

"It won't be the same." She felt the tears welling up in her eyes. Why did no one understand?

Edward tried to put his arm around her but she shrugged it off. She didn't know which was worse, vampires or men! And vampire men… well! Didn't he promise to love and cherish her and protect her? The first time Alice interfered he stood back and almost laughed. She stormed out of the police station and into her truck, damn it was cold after the heat of Brazil! It didn't help that she didn't have a coat. Edward opened the passenger door but before he could get in she snapped at him.

"I'm going to pick up my watch, you can't come." She told him.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because it's on the reservation and you aren't allowed there." She almost pulled her tongue out at him.

"Charlie can pick it up the next time he goes." Edward said, she stubbornly set her jaw. She was tired of them telling her what to do!

"I'm going to pick it up!" she said mulishly.

"Bella, be reasonable." He said. She shook her head.

"What you don't understand is I AM being reasonable, it's you that isn't. The tribe has already given you permission to change me, which according to their laws and prejudices they shouldn't have. The courts say I'm legally an adult and well able to care for myself, which by the way I have been doing for almost 10 years! But still you don't trust me enough to allow me out of your sight. I'm almost 18, I am old enough to drive and old enough to make my own decisions. And I have decided that I AM going to pick up my Grandmother's watch before Alice manages to get it and throws that away too."

"I'm coming with you then." He said.

"No, you aren't allowed on their land." She repeated.

"You aren't going without me!" he told her, he moved quickly around the truck and before she could blink he had taken the keys from the ignition. He closed her door and held them up to show her.

"You don't own me!" she was so livid she couldn't even cry in anger! "You can't tell me what to do! And I'm serious now Edward, I want my keys back, and I AM going to the reservation and if you try and stop me I may not come back!" The pain in her chest made her gasp, she clutched her clothing and pressed into the pain, but refused to relent. "You can't rule me. I won't allow it." She got out of the vehicle and moved slowly to the police station, fighting the pain every step. She was determined. Esme had lived through it, she could too. It was intolerable that her every move was governed by the Cullens. What she could wear, who she could see. The last time she looked she was a US citizen and not a slave. Her vision narrowed to a tunnel, blackness encroached upon her, determined she pushed through it. She would not give in!

"Bella?" She almost fell into Charlie's arms. Her chest hurt so much! She could hardly breathe.

"Take me to Jacob." She gasped.

"Jacob? Why?" he held her up as she slumped into him.

"Please. Dad. Take. Me. To. The. Reservation." Each word was achieved only with a painful gasp. She passed out.

It seemed that every time they had an argument she threatened to leave! However he was worried at how far she had taken it this time. She had actually collapsed from the pain, yet she was determined right to the end of her consciousness to get away from him.

Carlisle and Esme appeared at the police station seconds after she lost the battle to stay alert, sent by Alice. Edward could hear that even in her unconscious state her heart was racing. Why was she so stubborn? He was only trying to protect her, young wolves were not safe to be around. The further away from them she was the better for her. With her luck she would be stood too close to one as he phased and would get seriously injured or even killed, and he wouldn't be around to help her if it happened on the reservation.

"I don't know what to do for her, we know that painkillers don't work." Carlisle said as Charlie carried her into the cell, grunting with the effort on his partially healed ribs, but when Edward stepped up to lend a hand his father-in-law scowled and shook his head. He managed to get her to the cot and laid her down. "What happened?" he asked. Edward recited everything that had happened since Bella woke. He shrugged at his parents helplessly. He was lost for an explanation.

"I told Alice not to get rid of her clothes!" Esme exclaimed angrily, "I knew she would react like this. I can't believe that she didn't listen to me and went ahead and did it."

"Why though? They are just clothes." Edward said, still unable to understand.

"No they aren't," his mother filled her voice with a 'give me strength' tone as she explained. "Bella has never had a lot her whole life. She had worked hard for everything she has, OR… in the case of the shirt,… was given it by someone she loved." She nodded to Charlie who blushed, "Renée begrudged her every single cent she spent on her. All her clothes growing up were second hand, bought from charity shops so Renée had more for herself. Is it any wonder that the things she worked so hard for mean so much to her? And to have Alice come along and just throw them away as if they mean nothing? I can't blame Bella for being upset."

"But why take it out on me? Or even why punish herself?"

"You are trying to make all her decisions for her. Her freedom is also hard won and you are taking it away. Can you imagine Rose allowing Emmett telling her what she was allowed to do? Or Alice letting Jasper? Just because they are vampires that does not mean that they have better judgment. Bella has her own mind and you cannot restrict her from doing what she wants to."

"But it's dangerous!" he protested.

"And pushing her into doing this isn't? Can't you hear the strain her heart is under?"

"She was acting so childish!" he protested.

"Was she getting through to you acting grown up? But just think about it," Esme clenched her fists and Edward could read that she wanted to grab him and shake him, but he still did not understand what she meant, even being able to read her mind wasn't helping, he could not follow her thoughts, they didn't make sense! "Bella hasn't really been a child since she was 7 years old. She grew up, she had to! She's a 40 year old in a 17 year old body. And you are treating her as if she is 5! On the other hand the only real example she had of an adult while she was a child was Renée, she wasn't exactly the epitome of a well balanced, responsible adult. If being sensible wasn't getting your attention is it any wonder that she tried the method her mother used to such good effect for so many years and threw a tantrum?"

He rubbed the back of his neck with his hands, trying to alleviate the tension he felt there, even though he had no flesh muscles to tighten, the pain in his chest throbbed as he looked down on her.

"I just…" he shook his head, he didn't know how to put into words how frightened he had been when she had said she was going to the reservation.

"She needs to feel some control." Esme said, her voice softer now. "Also you have to remember that she is due her period in a couple of days, so she is feeling hormonal, her medical notes from the school nurse have said that she gets very emotional, she recommended that Bella be put on birth control to regulate her mood swings but Renée had refused to allow it, she said it was too expensive." Charlie, already blushing over the subject matter, grew an alarming shade of red, he growled a curse and internally swore at his ex, words that Edward was shocked to realise the man even knew. "If you keep pushing her she will damage her health. She needs to feel some control."

"What about Alice?" Edward said.

"I will control Alice. I know she is watching this, and let me assure you all, I won't allow her to risk Bella's health over something as stupid as fashion. If Bella wants to dress in sackcloth and ashes, she WILL! It wasn't as if the clothes she bought were terrible, though Alice will probably argue that they were. They were chosen, if you consider it, for her to fade into the background. Nondescript, and plain. Not too scruffy, not too smart. They hid her shape so she didn't get the attention of any boys and the girls wouldn't feel jealous of her. Alice, basically, took away her armour and planned to put her into the spotlight. For people who are supposed to be blending in, she makes sure we do a good job of standing out in a small town like this."

The door to the outside of the station opened and Mark, one of Charlie's deputies entered, stopping all the discussions dead.

"Chief?" he asked, looking worriedly down at Bella. "What happened? I thought she was better. Is it her head?"

"Just a minor setback, jet-lag you know." Mark frowned and nodded slowly. He didn't say anything but Edward could read that the only reason he didn't was because Carlisle was there.

"I'll take her home." Edward lifted her into his arms, pretending to struggle slightly with her weight, as a boy his size would. He looked down at her, she was so precious to him… he had had that thought many times since they met. But she wasn't a china doll, she was a living, breathing human. Though fragile compared to him, it was also true that humans could live under extraordinary conditions if they had to, he had seen it time and time again in Russia.

He put her into his father's car, as it was already warm. He sat with her as Esme drove them back to the cottage.

If she was a vampire would he act any differently? He supposed he may, but really, deep down he knew he was a product of his times. Though women were expected to run their homes by supervising the staff, as well as having children, they were not expected to actually make any real decisions for themselves in his era and social strata.

Though they were, by law, allowed to own property, especially that that they had held prior to marriage, and were also allowed to earn money independently of their husband, the reality was that many women of all classes entered the marriage state with no independent income or property and so their husband made all decisions about everything and the woman had no say in the matter. Hell, a man could even hit or rape his wife and the law would do nothing. Women were powerless and totally dependent on men back then.

It was different for Carlisle and Jasper. Carlisle had lived so long he truly had outgrown his background. Basically because the world was so different and changeable back then that the practises of the society he had been born into were outdated almost before he was turned.

Jasper had been brought up in the turbulent era of the American Civil War. And while it was true that the laws weren't that much different, the fact of the pioneer lifestyles and such a war, in such a place, meant that the women he had grown up with had a much bigger role to play, as the men were often away from home for long periods, leaving their females to run the homes, families and farms or businesses without them. Life was hard even before the war, in Texas, and men and women were on a more equal footing just because they had to be to survive!

Though the Great War was raging in Europe while Edward was in his mid to late teens, it did not truly affect him. Oh he dreamed of being a soldier, but had no real idea of what that entailed. Only a few of the men he knew had left to go to war, and of those that had gone, fewer still had left families behind. Conscription didn't come in until mid 1917, and most of the people of Edward social sphere were in 'occupations' that meant they were exempt or they were family men with children under 16 who were not able to earn, making out that their wives were unfit to run the home properly and so dodging the draft. And it was in this mindset that Edward was raised and changed.

He remembered his mother once mentioning to his father that she wished she had been able to attend a rally for the suffrage movement. His father had vehemently opposed even the idea of her going and had even threatened to lock her in the cellar of their house to stop her if she spoke of it again. She had immediately reassured him that she would do as she was told and stay at home.

Though he would tell anyone who asked that his family was close and loving, it was also true that his father had ruled the household with an iron (though never violent) fist. What he said was law and not to be questioned in any way. He even picked his wife's clothing for her, telling her what she may or may not wear to specific social functions.

Edward groaned and leant his head against the car window. He was his father! The trouble was, Bella was not his mother. She was nothing like her. Even though she seemed demure, it was because she was always trying to escape notice rather than true shyness.

She too, after all, was a product of her times.

She groaned in her sleep. The pain in his chest spiked again and then settled. If her pain was half as bad as the pain she was making him suffer he had to stop it for her. He had asked why she fought him several times, maybe Esme was right and he should be asking why he was trying to control her every move instead? Her breathing grew shallow and the regular pulse of her heart skipped a beat… and then another. He grabbed her tightly to his body in fear, the movement seemed jolt her closer to waking as she groaned and her lungs filled to capacity again and her heart returned to a normal sinus rhythm. He had to do something! It was almost as if she was willing herself to die, just to escape. Was that even possible? He wondered.

Again he looked down on her beautiful face, no longer peaceful in sleep, now it was lined with anger and pain. It was true that she was accident prone, and yes, she was fragile compared to the family, but she was correct in being angry with him. He had not stood up for her against Alice. In fact he had sat and actually enjoyed the battle of wills, right up to Bella getting so upset. Alice was an interfering busybody who liked to get her own way, seemingly no matter the cost.

Maybe he ought to take Bella away from the family? Leave with her and go back to the life he had had before… separate from them? Maybe she would be happier that way. After all THEY had been the ones who had left her with Renée all those years. At first he had believed that they had done right, but that was based on the visions Alice showed him. Who was to say that those visions were unbiased? Really just how damaged was she now compared to what she could have been? If something as simple as a plaid shirt could bring her to the brink of hysteria like it had earlier, maybe he needed to take her somewhere where they could be together without the interference of his family. Everything had been fine when they lived on the island. Maybe he could find somewhere similar, just for the two of them, and stay there, away from everyone, for as long as she wanted.

His phone pinged. He crushed it in his hand without even looking at it. Esme's phone pinged, she looked in the rear view mirror.

"Alice?" she asked, he nodded. "I take it you have decided to leave the family again?" inside she was crying, but he could see that she understood and accepted, even agreed with his decision.

"Tell me what else I can do?" He begged her. "You say you have told Alice before, Bella told me she had had this argument with Alice before too. She is too used to ruling the family and getting her own way. It will kill Bella, she will fight the bond and push it until it does, you can see that. Her heart is under tremendous strain as it is, she seems to think that because you survived being separated from your mate that she can… what she doesn't realise is we have completed the bond now, we are tied together forever. I can and will learn to give her the space she needs and allow her to make her own decisions. We were fine on the island, but I won't allow her health to suffer just because Alice wants a doll to dress up and bully." He could hear Alice's mind wailing in his head now they were in range, and he blocked her immediately.

"I understand Edward." Esme sobbed dryly, wishing, not for the first time, that she could cry proper tears. She angled the rear-view mirror so that she could see Bella, a girl as dear to her as any others of her family… in fact privately she regarded Bella more like her own child than any of the others (except Edward) as she had watched her grow from such a young age. She bitterly regretted leaving her with Renée, another decision Alice had made for the family. "I wonder…?" she drifted into silence, but like he had earlier she was questioning the wisdom of leaving the girl with her mother for so long and letting her be abused so much.

A terrible thought passed through Esme's mind, did Alice allow it to go on so long so that she was more malleable for Alice to control later? Something Edward hadn't even speculated on. She silently told him that Alice had told the family that if Bella had moved to Forks earlier (the only real alternative to her living with her mother as foster care would have definitely been detrimental to her physical as well as mental wellbeing) she would have courted Mike Newton well before Edward had arrived. But even by the age of 8, she was too sensible to allow someone to pressure her into doing anything she didn't want to and Charlie terrified the boy… there was no chance that she would have allowed an uncomfortable level of intimacy with him. In fact there was no way that anything in Forks could have affected her enough to stop the mating bond occurring as soon as Edward arrived. The family could have introduced them, and nature would have run its course.

Esme pulled smoothly up to the front of the cottage. She opened the rear door and Edward lifted his still-unconscious wife from the seat. His mother smoothed her hand down Bella's face and lowered her head to kiss her on the forehead. She met his eye and nodded. "Take care of her."

"I will, I promise." He went into the cottage and closed the door behind them. He had half expected Alice to be there, but if she had been he would definitely have said some things that were best left unsaid at the moment. Before he made any irrevocable plans he had to see what Bella wanted. They would decide together from now on.