Yes, I am, yet again, definitely late updating. BUT! I just got done with Summer School, so hopefully I'll be able to update a bit more often. ; ). And, you guys, thank you so much for the reviews, and marking me as one of your favorites. Even when I get e-mails saying that so-and-so marked my story for alert, I get sooo happy. It's really nice to know that other people like my little story in my head, too. : ) SO, thanks.

BTW!

I remembered that I didn't tell you a pretty big part about the Carters. You see, there are Carter Marks. There are 5 degrees to the Carter Mark.

Marks:

CA: If you have this degree of the Carter Mark, it means that you have Carter blood in you. The only people who would have this would be Adam, Eve, Bella, Greg, and Brian.

CA: If you have this degree of the Carter Mark, it means that you are a member of the Saviors, and you do not have Carter blood in you.

CA: If you have this degree of the Carter Mark, it means that you are very close with the Carters/Saviors/Ones. You help them if you are needed from time to time. You will learn of some characters with this Mark later in the story.

CA: If you have this degree of the Carter Mark, it means that you have done something for the Carters/Saviors/Ones, or they are fond of you.

ca: If you have this degree of the Carter Mark, it means that the Carters/Saviors/Ones have given you their 'blessing', and will 'watch over you'… If that makes sense.

Only Adam, Eve, Bella, Greg, and Brian can give these marks.

So…yeah. Oh, when Bella is in her human form, you cannot see her Mark.

Okay, I'll stop blabbing now so you can read the next chapter.

Previously:

Once we were surrounded by the trees and out of the big field, Edward scooped me up in my arms, and whispered in my ear. "You can sleep, sweet-heart. I'll carry you." I smiled up at him, feeling a surge of love for him go through me, and closed my eyes.

I dozed off, feeling the love of my life's arms holding me close.

'You know, I think you should wake up now. I don't think even human's sleep this long.' Shawn obnoxiously announced to me in my head, and I bit back a sigh. I didn't want to move from the position I was in. In fact, I probably would have been content to stay like this forever.

Edward had his arms wrapped around my waist, trapping me to his body, and gently giving me a kiss on the head every moment or so. I was pressed up against him, so I could feel every detail in his muscular chest. No, I was very happy right where I was, but Shawn did have a point. 'Yeah, yeah.' I snapped back at him, then started to stretch, giving both Edward and Shawn a hint that I was 'waking up'.

"Are you really awake this time?" A velvety voice questioned, and I bit back a smirk. I felt kind of bad having him sit there all night, so I may have pretended to wake up once or twice to amuse him a bit.

"Why?" I said innocently. "Have there been many false alarms?"

"Well," He chuckled. "You've been pretty…restless. Talking and moving around all day."

"All day?" I exclaimed, shooting up into a sitting position and looking outside, where I found light coming from the window. Maybe Shawn was right when he told me that I should get up. "Wow."

"Are you hungry at all?" Edward asked. "Do you want breakfast in bed?"

"No, no, no." I responded, stretching again as I moved into a standing position. "I need to get up anyways." I started to move toward the kitchen, and made an effort to stumble a bit, which was probably necessary considering I was a human who slept almost all day.

Resulting in my unstableness, Edward grabbed my elbow and led me down the stairs and into the kitchen. When we got down there, I grudgingly headed over to the toaster to make one of those revolting pop-tarts.

When it popped out of the toaster, I went and sat down at the table, with Edward right next to me. We chatted about random things for a while, like the fact that I went to the clearing with him last night, the bracelet Jake had given me at the party, and that he wanted to give me something. Just as we were talking about how he didn't have to give me anything, because he already had given me everything, we were interrupted by Edward's phone buzzing, signaling a call.

He answered the phone. "What is it, Alice?" I could hear on the other line about my… idea of being in the clearing while the fight was going on. I felt so bad, doing nothing. "Yes, I sort of thought as much, she was talking in her sleep." He told her, disapproval heavy in his voice. Okay, so maybe I gave him some hinters to the idea while I was 'sleeping'. He paused, and then said, "I'll take care of it."

While he said his goodbye, I put on the best innocent expression I could muster up. After he hung up, he glared at me while saying, "Is there something you would like to share with me?"

I glared right back at him for some moments, and then finally looked away, giving up. "I like Jasper's idea." I murmured.

He groaned.

"I have to do something. It would be completely unfair to all of you if everything you are doing is for me, and I don't do anything!" I exclaimed.

"You will be doing a lot if you just stay here and let us handle this. That way we will know you are safe and sound." Edward reasoned with me, but I was having none of it. As we continued to banter back and forth, Edward succeeded in distracting me, talking about something with the pack.

I let his distracting go on a bit, but finally I had enough.

"I have to be in that clearing, Edward."

"No." he said, his tone making it final.

At that moment, an idea came to me. If I couldn't be in the clearing, then maybe he could be where I was. After all, he did say that one person could sit out…

NO. I immediately blocked that thought, thinking of how selfish I was, almost making him leave his family for my own selfish needs. I decided to try one more time.

"I could be of so much use if I was there, though! Like Jasper said, it would be almost too easy to pick them off; they would be so distracted by my scent." I insisted.

"Bella, you are not going to be there. It will be easy for us either way." He told me firmly.

I sighed, and then gave up. 'Just think of it this way, Bells." Tina said brightly. "If any one of them are even close to getting hurt, we can stop them!"

'I didn't realize you three were still listening.' I replied, my voice icy. 'Aw, come on, Bella, cheer up. You've been too grumpy lately.' Shawn said gently. I realized the truth of this, and immediately felt guilty. 'You're right. I'm sorry, you guys. You know how much I love all of you.' I said, and then mentally smiled cheekily at them all. They all laughed, then left, leaving me and Edward alone to enjoy the day.

Hopefully everyone noticed my very dominant change there!

In case you didn't, Bella just DIDN'T totally convince Edward to stay with her during the fight. Which means that only Bella and Seth will be in the secluded little place away from everyone else, which means Edward will not be there to protect Bella from Victoria and Riley… : D See where this is going?

Well, hopefully you liked this chapter, and sorry again for having it so late.

Please review!

Love, love, love,

Switzygirl