45

"Have you told her yet what Alice saw about Renée?" Jasper and Emmett had joined them on the hunt minutes after leaving the house. Evidently the women wanted some alone time with Bella in the hope that they could apologise and set things straight.

Edward groaned and gripped his hair. "No. What can I say? Hey Bella, your mother decided to piss off one of the women in the prison last week and she will end up in hospital next week having been beaten to a pulp?"

"What did Charlie say?" Emmett asked.

"He called the prison and asked for her to be put into solitary until after her trial, stating that as he was a police officer, and she couldn't keep her mouth shut, it may cause problems for her, but they said there isn't any evidence that she is in any danger and said she had to ask for protection before they would do anything. Renée, of course, can't see that she has said anything wrong and so wouldn't even think of asking." They all shook their heads. The woman was her worst enemy.

"Has Alice seen when exactly the trial will be and if they will call Bella as a witness?"

"No, not yet, and it's unlikely that the prosecution will allow Bella to be called as it wouldn't matter what Bella said, she wasn't even in the same state as Renée when she accessed the accounts. Renée didn't have permission from Charlie and no one else at the time was authorised to access it. Basically she's not got a chance of getting off. On the assault charge, she hasn't got a hope either. Apart from testimony from three highly regarded officers of the law, the camera's at the hospital entrance show everything, and the sound is clear enough for the court to hear Charlie did not provoke the attack. Added to which that lawyer also gave a statement that said she had attacked without provocation. Basically she's screwed." And good riddance to bad rubbish, he thought privately. "I don't know what to say to Bella." Edward looked to his father for help. "I mean the woman is downright evil where she is concerned, I don't even want to remind Bella she exists."

"I doubt she's forgotten it, son." Carlisle said, sadly. "The sooner this is over with, the better for all of us. We will look after Bella, you just need to be there for her and support her through this. However, the reason I asked you to come hunt is another subject."

Edward had wondered, Carlisle had been busy reciting drug doses ever since he pulled up outside the house.

"A body turned up at the morgue this evening, just before I left. Mark brought it in, he thinks the 'animal' that attacked the camper back in January is back." Edward grimaced at the visual his father projected.

"Another nomad?" he asked, Carlisle nodded and Jasper and Emmett stepped closer.

"How long ago did he die?" Jasper asked.

"I couldn't say, the coroner was there when he was brought in, I never even got a look at the body." Carlisle pushed his hands through his hair. "We will have to be extra careful with Bella, she smells too good to be left to wander around alone. Especially with you both living so far out of town now." Edward grimaced. Could they not catch a break? Was it really too much to ask for a month or two without any drama?

"I'll break into the coroner's office tonight and steal the report." Emmett said, "At least that way we will know if it is someone still hanging around or if they have moved on."

"I doubt it's someone who has moved on. I could tell the body was ambient temperature, and it was obviously fresh from the smell of it." Carlisle told them. "I could only glimpse it through the open door, it would have raised too many questions if I had tried to get closer."

"Yes, but he may have been frozen." Jasper pointed out. "There has been quite a bit of snow, if he was buried in a snow bank that has just melted it could be that he has been there a few weeks." The others nodded.

"Bella told me that the Wolves caught and killed a nomad, by the description I'm guessing it was Laurent, the Creole that I told you all about. They mentioned that he only had one arm and dreadlocks, so it's possible that he was the danger and he's now dead." Carlisle was slightly reassured by this. Still, Edward thought, better to be safe than sorry. Until they knew for sure he wouldn't allow Bella out of his sight. "Ready to head back?" he asked, everyone nodded.

Alice and Rose met them at the river as they approached the house. "Bella is asleep, don't go charging into the house in your usual fashion." Rose warned her husband, allowing him to throw his arm around her and pull her into his side.

"Is everything alright?" Jasper took Alice by the hand. She smiled and nodded.

"A Mercedes Guardian? Really Edward?" Alice asked. Edward shrugged, he wasn't going to apologise for doing everything in his power to keep his wife and mate safe.

Carlisle moved quickly into the house, he had been apart from his mate for several hours because of the shift at the hospital. They found her sat on the sofa, a peaceful smile on her face as she regarded the sleeping girl with her head on her lap. She looked around and stretched out her hand to him, he took it and sat on the sofa arm. Edward moved to the other end of the sofa and lifted Bella's feet, slipping under them to make her comfortable and give him a good contact with her. She sighed in her sleep and seemed to relax a little more.

"Did you have any trouble hunting?" Esme asked in a voice that couldn't wake Bella.

"We found out that the bond has slackened since we… erm, came back off honeymoon." As much as he loved his parents, he was not about to discuss his sex life with them.

"Fascinating." Carlisle said. "How long after you consummated the relationship were you able to be apart without pain?"

Edward grimaced. Just because he didn't want to discuss it, didn't mean his family didn't. The other two couples entered the room and discussion now.

"We didn't notice a difference straight away, but then we didn't test it. I was reluctant to try because it causes her so much pain," they all nodded, "Bella realised yesterday, she went to the reservation without me and I stayed at the cottage without a problem."

"Do you feel the pull towards her, wherever you are?" Jasper asked, Edward thought about it a while.

"I believe so." He said. He had known where she was every second that they were apart, so he wasn't entirely sure it was the bond leading him home, or his knowledge of her.

"Go try it." Emmett urged him.

"No thanks, I just got back from a hunt, and I'm comfortable where I am." He looked down at his wife. Esme was softly stroking her hair. She looked relaxed, even more than she usually did when asleep. "Did you all have a good time while we were hunting?" he asked.

"She really doesn't like shopping, in any way shape or form, does she?" Rose stated.

"Well, if you never had the money to buy all those things you really wanted, I don't suppose shopping would be fun? Would you?" Esme asked.

"But now she can afford them!" Alice protested a little too high pitched, the others all shushed her. "I would think she would go mad shopping for everything she ever wanted as soon as possible, instead she just won't spend anything."

"Not quite, she bought herself a bracelet in Rio, and a nice lacy blouse she saw in a shop window this afternoon. I think it will take some time before she feels comfortable buying things, at the moment she feels guilty because she sees it as us running down the way she has lived so far, and she is trying not to be offended with our generosity." He sighed wishing she would spend a little more on herself, especially if she wouldn't let them buy for her.

"We just have to give her time." Esme said, she was delighted that Bella had fallen to sleep on her, that she was comfortable enough and trusted her enough to let her guard down so much. "Maybe when the charity starts up she will find something worth spending money on. People like Bella feel like they have to take care of the people around her, I'm guessing that as soon as she can spend money on the tribe there will be no stopping her."

"She really has the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met." Carlisle said, looking fondly and proudly down at her.

"Our lives would have been a lot poorer if we had not met her, thank you Alice, for seeing what we needed." Jasper kissed his wife as the others echoed his statement.

"Most of all for me," Edward said, "I had no right to expect you to be thinking of me so much for so long, but I will be forever grateful to you and your gift for giving me such a treasure." His fingers worked their way up her tight jeans leg until they reached flesh just above her socks. She flinched in her sleep, maybe from the cold temperature of his body, and maybe from the electric jolt of the bond, which was always so much stronger skin to skin. The thought of Bella's skin made his body react. He tried all his usual methods to calm himself, but even thinking of Emmett in those chaps didn't really help. He glared at Jasper, who raised his hands.

{This has nothing to do with me, I tried to calm you down, but you just resist.} Edward frowned, he wasn't resisting Jasper's influence. His fingers moved away from her skin, just a couple of millimetres, and he felt calm descend, he touched her again, lust bombarded him. Either Bella or the Bond was negating Jasper's gift. He frowned and got to his feet, disturbing his wife slightly and waking her.

"Time for bed I think, for a certain young lady." He said. She frowned and stretched and then glared at him.

"Don't speak to me as if you were my granddad." She said sleepily, causing Emmett to laugh loudly. However she softened the rebuke by taking his hand, her fingers danced on the palm and sent tingles of electric running through him, her pupils dilated.

Suddenly she blushed and pulled her hand away from him. She wrapped both arms around her middle and groaned.

"What's wrong?" he asked, grabbing her quickly and doing a quick visual examination.

"Stomach pains." She said, he grimaced.

{Period pains.} Esme corrected. {she's embarrassed that we all know when she is bleeding so don't mention it. I doubt she will be up for any bedroom activities for a few days, I cannot imagine Bella being the type to dismiss the fact that she is bleeding, especially as you are a vampire.}

He nodded. Bella had been very reserved the last time her cycle had hit too, even though it was obvious that she was aroused several times, she wouldn't even sit on his knee while ever she was bleeding. He wasn't going to push her into doing anything she wasn't comfortable with. As long as she was close by and he could touch her hand. He would be satisfied and happy until she stopped menstruating.

"Time to get home?" he asked. Bella looked at her watch and smiled slightly. He had noticed that she smiled every time she looked at it, he wasn't sure why though, again he cursed not being able to read her mind. She nodded and grabbed her coat from the back of the chair, where she had thrown it when she arrived.

"I'll see you all tomorrow," she yawed. Edward laughed lightly and swung her up into his arms. Bella protested and slapped him.

"OW! Hell!" she protested loudly, she cradled her hand into her body, Carlisle sped to her side.

"Is everything alright?" he grabbed her hand and carefully examined it.

"Yes everything is fine, I just should learn not to hit vampires, it's like slapping a brick wall." She laughed. "I didn't do any damage, it just stung a little, there's no need to over react." She smiled to show she didn't mean it nastily and withdrew her hand, Edward noted that Carlisle believed she was accurate in her assessment, he quickly examined it as he put her seat belt on for swelling. She scowled and raised her hand, threatening to slap him again.

"You are taking this too far, Edward," she protested, "I can walk to the car myself and I can definitely fasten my own seat belt." She folded her arms and huffed, he somehow managed not to smile at her infantile reaction.

"I just want to take care of you, and you are sleepy." He looked deeply into her eyes and smoothed his hand down her cheek. She closed her eyes in defeat and gave up fighting. He smiled and kissed her lightly. "Thank you for allowing me to look after you," he said.

"You owe me chocolate for that," she opened one eye and he put his hands out in surrender.

"I know, I know, no more than $2!" she closed her eye again and smiled.

"Take me home love," she told him, he dashed around the car and drove her home.

Bella sat in the living room of her father's house watching Jake and her father as they watched the 'Big Game' on the TV. In all the times she had visited her father, she still had not worked out the rules to any of the games he watched so avidly.

Edward had gone hunting with Carlisle and Jasper. Emmett, Rose and Esme had travelled to Seattle to sign some papers for the lawyer to start up the charity. She had no idea what Alice was doing.

For some reason Edward had been reluctant to allow her to stay at their home while he was away. She hadn't been alone since she came back from the reservation. Not that she wanted to be parted from Edward at all, but he had even taken her to his parents' house the day before and insisted that one of the girls come back with her when she wanted to return.

Something was going on, and they weren't telling her what it was. She felt annoyed that they were wrapping her in cotton wool. It wasn't as if she couldn't take care of herself, she had been doing it all her life!

She frowned as Jacob gave a loud cheer, evidently someone had scored a goal, or a run, or something. She moved into the kitchen and ran a cloth over the units. She looked through the freezer and planned out what she was going to make for dinner.

She decided on individual pot pies, the ones Esme made had been delicious. She had got 4 pots from the cupboard when she remembered that Billy wasn't there. She doubted he would accept anything she made either so she replaced the extra pot. Charlie had been upset by his best friend's unwillingness to compromise. The fact that the youngsters who actually were wolves were willing to see the Cullen's as decent folk, and had allowed her to be changed when she wanted, meant Billy's intransigence was even more unjustifiable than if he was supported by the rest of the tribe. However the fact that his generation hadn't phased at all had given them the idea that the wolves were invincible and he seemed to think that they should destroy the Cullen's and any other vampires that came into the area with ease. No matter how many times Sam and Jacob told him that it wasn't that simple, he dismissed their claims as them trying to justify their leniency with the family.

She looked out of the window and smiled. Sam and Emily were just getting out of Jared's truck. She grabbed 2 more pots and filled them with the steak and gravy. She placed all 5 pots onto the tray in the hot oven and stabbed a few potatoes and stuck them in the microwave.

Emily came into the kitchen and gave Bella a hug.

"Men!" she smiled. "Sam has been on at me all morning to get a move on so he could come watch the game." She grabbed a pack of beers from the fridge and ducked into the living room to hand them over. "Anyone would think we didn't have a TV anywhere on the reservation, all I hear is Charlie's 45" this… and Charlie's 45" that." Both girls blushed as the other connotation of what she said dawned on them and then Emily giggled and Bella grimaced, not wanting to think of her father in that way.

"I just put some steak pot pies in the oven, you are staying until the end of the game aren't you?" she asked, rolling out the pastry for the tops.

"I don't think I could physically drag him away, if the house was burning I'm sure they would just dodge the burning timbers to watch around them."

"How is school going?" Bella asked, trying to find a subject that they could talk about.

"It's hard," Emily frowned. "It's not the school work that's hard, it's just… setting up a life with Sam and everything involved in it, as well as school. It gets to be a bit much sometimes, you know?"

"Has Leah come around?"

Emily sighed and shook her head. "I can't say I blame her, Sam and she were together for almost 5 years and then suddenly he breaks up with her without giving her a reason and started following me around. I didn't know what was happening, you know? I just felt this pull towards him, like I couldn't be without him. But I love Leah and didn't want to hurt her. Then when I found out about the wolf thing, and imprinting, I couldn't resist him any longer, Leah just went postal, she kicked me out of the house and Uncle Harry won't let us tell her what happened."

"Why not?" It would have been much easier on Emily and Sam if Leah knew, Bella thought, and it wasn't as if Leah wouldn't find out, according to the genetic map Carlisle had produced it was likely that Seth would change sooner or later, and then tribal law said that Leah would have to be let into the secret.

"I don't know… there's something strange going on over at Uncle Harry's. Leah and Seth are both acting weird. Sam said the other day that he thinks Seth is going to change any day now, but why Leah is acting that way no one knows." They both sighed.

"Is Sam still working at the garage?" She asked, knowing he wasn't.

"No, what with all the new young wolves and the threat of nomad vampires about, they had to let him go." She sighed. "It's not easy living on the money I make at the cafe on weekends."

"Have you thought of asking for a grant?" Bella asked, glad it had been so easy to introduce the subject. "When I was down south I heard about this charity that was put in place to help Native Americans, to stop all the youngsters leaving the tribes because they couldn't get work or a proper education there. Look into it, I'm sure there must be something up here the same."

"I'll see if I can get an hour with a computer at the centre, see what's available… Someone donated several top of the range computers this week, so there's plenty to go around!" Bella managed to keep a straight face and told her to sit down and gave her a coffee. "Did you know we have our own house now?" The girl's face lit up. Emily was very pretty, Bella had always envied the good looks of the tribe, her pale skin was in direct contrast to their milky coffee complexion, and their hair, though straight like hers, always seemed to do as it should, unlike hers.

"So, not only are you attending school, and working 16 hours a weekend at the cafe, you are running your own house?" Bella thought it was a lot of responsibility to heap on her shoulders, especially with the money worries they had. She looked at the girl more closely, Emily wasn't just tired she looked exhausted, but as Bella was about to comment on it Emily put a finger to her lips, asking her not to say anything. She inclined her head to the living room. Bella grimaced but nodded. Emily didn't want Sam to know how tired she was.

Bella took the pots out of the oven and put the pastry lids onto them, glazed them and returned them to the heat, she wrapped the partially cooked potatoes in foil and put them at the top of the oven and stabbed the rest for microwaving. She had just closed the door and set the timer when Charlie poked his head into the kitchen, "How long until dinner Bells?" He grinned at Emily, she smiled brightly at him.

"About 25 minutes," Bella looked at her watch, smiling as she noticed it was still running perfectly.

"K, that should do great, it's half time in 21 minutes," he said, heading quickly upstairs to the bathroom. Bella smiled, he shouldn't have drunk that second beer before half time!

Sam came into the room and grabbed Emily by the waist and kissed her deeply. Bella busied herself at the far side of the room and tried not to look in their direction. She heard a noise outside the house and looked over. A scream tore from her throat as she realised what she saw. Red evil eyes glared into the house from just outside.

Before she could scream a second time Sam and Jacob had phased and flew out of the house. In shock she looked at Emily, just in time to realise that something was wrong. Blood poured from her face and shoulder, skin hung off the bone and Bella felt light headed at the sight and smell of the blood. She felt pain in her stomach and, looking down, saw blood seeping into the ragged remains of the woollen sweater she was wearing.

"Charlie!" she managed to scream before falling into blackness.