Helllooooo!

You know, normally I would give an excuse for my horrific wait between updates, but I don't really have one, other than the fact that it was holiday time and since it was the end of the semester I had a bajillion finals, then after the finals school decided to go all "Let's Hate Ashley and Make Her Life Miserable' on me. But….yeah. Sorry.

Oh, and Happy New Year to all of you! I spent my New Years babysitting my baby cousin, but it was still good. :) I earned some extra cash for a trip that I'm going on this summer to Europe, so that's always a plus!

This chapter is kind of a filler, but it's necessary. I'm noticing people are still saying they want Bella to reveal herself. So do I. (: But you've gotta trust me with this! You will like the way I'm planning it much better than her just randomly popping into her real form right now, I guarantee it!

Also, I made a banner. It sucks by the way, so the offer of making one still stands. The link for it is on my profile. Well, hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, or any of the characters in it. I only own the AWESOMELY AWESOME Saviors and the rest of the Carter gang… and the people from their past. I also own a fat cat. She snores when she sleeps.

Previously:

"What's wrong?" I asked him, immediately on my guard. Did he suspect something? But he didn't live up to my fears. "Are you alright? Any normal human would be hyperventilating by now, but you are standing here acting like this is just another walk in the park." He questioned me.

I smiled up at him. "Haven't you figured out by now that I'm not a normal human?" I turned around and stood up on my toes to kiss him. "I'm fine, Edward. You shouldn't worry so much." I mumbled onto his lips. He mumbled something I couldn't understand, and pressed harder onto my lips.

Suddenly we were interrupted by Alice's high pitched voice. "Come on, lovebirds. We have to feed the human." Edward grinned lopsidedly at me, and my heart melted. He was so beautiful. "Let's go, Love." He whispered into my ear, then scooped me up and started running towards the house.

2 weeks later

What on earth was I thinking when I allowed them to ask to stay with the Cullen's?

This was about the billionth time the thought has run through my head as I watched Emmett, Shawn and John goof off with their strength and powers.

At the moment, Emmett and John were having Shawn throw huge boulders in the air at an atrocious speed with his power, and then John used his power to stop it in the perfect place for Emmett to jump in the air and smash it to pieces. I sighed, shaking my head in disapproval. Shawn glanced over at me briefly and grinned before resuming their little game.

I was currently sitting on the porch swing waiting for Edward to come back from talking to Carlisle and Tina. Carlisle had been overly fascinated with Tina, trying to discover every little memory and experience she'd ever had so he could record it. Rosalie and Alice were out shopping in Seattle, and they dragged Jasper along with them to be a bag carrier. I still felt horribly bad for Jasper, considering I was the one who was originally supposed to go. But luckily Jasper saved me and volunteered to go instead at the last minute. Esme was in back working on the garden, but was also making sure the boys didn't get too out of hand, as they tended to do quite often.

The past two weeks had been a bit hectic, to say the least. First of all, it was beyond frustrating to hide myself from the Cullen's when I was so used to being Bella Carter in front of the gang. But here, I had to be the weak human who knew nothing about the Saviors or the Carter's, and so on. Normally that wouldn't have bugged me as much as it does, but the thing is that Tina, John, and Shawn knew that, and used it to their full advantage.

They were constantly getting into things. Most of the time it was just John and Shawn who were being reckless, but every once and a while Tina decided to goof off too, just to tick me off. They would make absurd bets with Jasper and Edward, the guys would play dress-up with Alice, they would sneak into the garage and disassemble parts of the cars that Rosalie was working on, and would romp around with Emmett, like they were doing now.

The worst thing was, they taught the Cullen's how to make 'vegetarian' fruit.

I know it sounds absurd, but after all these years of roaming the world and just drinking animal blood out of a carcass, the boys, with their eccentric nature, got very bored with that. It was actually pretty recently, about 7 million years ago, that they came up with the idea of vegetarian fruit. You see, they took any kind of blood, and man-made, let's say, grapes. First off, they would make a skin for the grapes with the blood, don't ask me how they did it, and then they would inject the blood into it. After freezing, it was a very appetizing and thirst-quenching snack.

So now, the Cullen's were absolutely crazy about the vegetarian fruit. It seems now that whenever I open the fridge to get something to 'eat', there is a bundle of grapes, tomatoes, pears, or apples in the freezer getting prepared to be eaten.

As I was musing over the ridiculous idea of blood grapes, I saw a piece of tree come flying toward me in the corner of my eye. I automatically, but unthinkingly, pushed my shield out so that it wouldn't touch me. To the unknowing eye, it must have looked like the branch randomly burst into little slivers of wood in midair.

As soon as I did it, though, my eyes widened like a deer caught in headlights, and I quickly glanced at the boys. John and Shawn's eyes were wide open as well, but thankfully Emmett seemed completely oblivious to what just happened.

Just as I thought I was off the hook, Tina appeared in front of me, saying, "They're coming." while giving me the evil eye. I just wrinkled my nose at her.

Just then, Carlisle came flying out of the front door, followed closely by Edward who had a look of complete worry on his face. His eyes immediately closed in on me, and as seeing I was alright, began looking at his surroundings. When he saw the pile of splinters about 10 feet in front of me, his brow wrinkled.

Carlisle noticed too. "What's going on?" He questioned the boys and me. I quickly turned my head and looked accusingly at Shawn, whose eyes impossibly widened even more than they already were. "Well-, you see, we- uh, we…- the thing-"He stuttered.

John interrupted him. "We were playing a, well, a game, and things got a little out of hand. A branch broke off of the tree, and Shawn must've mistaken that as a boulder, and consequently threw it the wrong way, at Bella." He explained.

Edward looked completely enraged. Tina looked completely amused. Esme, who had showed up when John was explaining, looked very concerned. Carlisle, though, was still looking at the pile of splinters with puzzlement.

"So how did that branch end up in a million pieces, John?" asked Carlisle. John's eyes widened and he started to fidget. He didn't have an answer for that one.

Thankfully though, Tina did. "I told you before that Isabella would be watching over us while we were here. She covered Bella with her shield before any harm could come to her." She said, half-telling the truth. Carlisle nodded with understanding, as did Esme, both seeming satisfied. But Edward still looked like he wanted to rip something apart.

"Something wrong, Edward?" Tina spoke lightly. Edward whipped his face to her, and flashed over to her so that he was in her face. "Yes, something's wrong!" He hissed at her, his face contorted with rage. "Bella could have died because of the foolishness of your mate and friend over there! I thought you were professionals! But it seems to me as if you are just three gifted vampires who were randomly turned by a very famous and powerful vampire!"

I stared incredulously at him, too shocked to be mad at him for what he said. John and Shawn were seething, anger seeming to come off of them in waves. But Tina had a detached, cool look on her face. It was a face that I recognized. She had faced many situations to be able to master this look of professionalism. Tina could be very scary when she wanted to be.

"First, Mr. Cullen, I suggest you get out of my face." She said quietly. Edward's eyes widened and he wisely took a few steps back from her. Seeming satisfied, Tina continued in her quiet, menacing voice. "Second, John and Shawn know how to control themselves. They have lived for 3 billion years, in case you forgot. If we are supposed to be so professional all of the time and not be able to still have a light and carefree attitude as well, we would be very miserable. But because we are able to have fun, we are still very happy with this life. And third…" She started stepping toward Edward with a look of anger forming on her face, an emotion I very rarely see on her. "We have earned our place with The Saviors, and we have earned our Carter Marks. Yes, it was convenient that Bells was the one to change us when we were dying, but all three of us have saved Isabella's and her brother's life at one point or another. We have all gone through hell and back to make sure that peace is kept and the secret is hidden, so that the world can continue on. Hell, the Carter's have been doing it for almost 5 billion years now! So don't you go around saying that it was just luck that made us members of The Saviors, because that is far from the truth. Also, for future reference, I would advise that you treat us with a little more respect, since we are here making sure your family doesn't get killed!"

By the end of her speech, She was completely in Edward's face with her voice loud, breathing heavily. Then she turned on her heel and stormed into the trees, John immediately following her. Shawn looked around, looked at me, then shrugged and followed them as well. I imagined they were going to our 'shack', what we made our little home in Forks. It was basically a mansion-cabin house thing deep in the forest. But I couldn't be sure, since she refused to open her mind to me right now.

After giving up my pathetic attempt at making Tina open her mind to me, I turned to Edward. He had a look of absolute shock and dread, knowing he may have blown our protection. It served him right. I couldn't believe he actually thought that about them, let alone said it to their faces.

"Edward, that was horribly rude. None of us have any idea what they go through, and you have no right whatsoever to question that!" I said heatedly.

He looked over at me with shame written all over his face. "I know, Love. I realize that now. I shouldn't have said what I did. I was just so angry that they were careless over your safety… I acted irrationally. I apologize." He said quietly.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, Edward." I told him. "Go tell them." A look of determination spread over his face. "You're right. I'll be back soon, hopefully forgiven as well." He quickly kissed me on the forehead then ran off in the direction they went.

When we could no longer see him, Esme spoke. "Oh, dear. I hope everything will be alright. I'd hate to have their departure be on bitter terms with us. They were so kind." I smiled at her reassuringly. "Don't worry, Esme. I'm sure they'll be back. They seem like the forgiving type." That was true, we were pretty forgiving. For some people.

"Well, I hope so." Emmett pouted. "I've had so much fun these past two weeks!" He boasted, smiling so wide it made my lips hurt looking at him. I shook my head, and Carlisle did the same. "Yes, and you have gotten in no trouble either, of course." Emmett just continued smiling at Carlisle, his comment completely ineffective on his mood.

Eventually Carlisle, Esme, Emmett and I all wandered back inside, waiting for Edward's, and hopefully Tina, John, and Shawn's, return. And sure enough, after about fifteen minutes of waiting, they came back. When Tina entered the room following Edward, I immediately tapped on her mind, and this time she opened it. 'I'm sorry, Tina. That was inexcusable. I talked to him, and he feels horrible about doing what he did.' I explained to her. Tina giggled. 'Oh, I know. He explained it all to me already, Bells. Even though he's a jerk for saying it, it just shows how much he loves you.' She smiled at me, apparently now pleased with Edward, forgiving him of his leaving me. But I wasn't all convinced yet. 'Yes, let's just hope that he will love me enough to forgive me for lying to him about who I am for all this time.' I muttered at her. She just gave me a look of disapproval.

Carlisle stood to greet them. He came up from behind Edward and put his hand on his shoulder in a fatherly gesture. "Has everything been sorted out?" He questioned Edward warmly. Edward smiled. "Yes, Carlisle. I have explained my actions to them and apologized for my inexcusable words. I will forever be trying to make it up to you." He said, addressing Tina, John and Shawn now. Tina just waver her hand in a dismissive gesture while rolling her eyes and plopped down on the sofa next to me. "Don't fret, my boy. I understand your compulsive need to protect the ones you love. I've been in the situation myself before," She flashed a quick but loving smile to John, and continued, "Just don't do it again. Oh, and I'm not usually all PMS like that, normally that's Isabella's job. You just made me angry." She smiled again, and I ignored the urge to jab her in the stomach with my elbow.

Then, of course, since my life can't have any peace, it was right then that Alice came bursting in with a wild look on her face, followed by a worried-looking Rosalie and even more worried-looking Jasper on her heels. Tina and I glanced at each other, the guys, and then back at Alice, looking apprehensive.

"What did you see, Alice?" Carlisle asked immediately. Alice glanced at him for a fleeting moment, and then turned her gaze on Tina. "They're coming. They're almost here. I don't know why I didn't see it before. They're all coming. All of them! We have no time, Tina! They are five minutes away!" Alice was almost frenzied at this point.

Tina attempted to soothe her. "Okay, will they be in the clearing?" She asked gently, and Alice bobbed her head quickly. Tina nodded, and then turned to John and Shawn. "See if you can get a hold of Raymond and Lucy. If not, we're all alone on this one. Carlisle, take your family and go to the clearing. Be ready, and we will be there as soon as we can." They all nodded, but Edward looked worried. "What about Bella?" he said. Tina glanced at me. "She will stay here. She'll be safe here, don't worry." I glared at her, and she quickly reassured me. 'If it comes to a point where we need you, I'll come and get you, alright?' I grudgingly agreed. The Cullen's all headed off to the clearing.

Meanwhile, John had been trying to get a hold of our close friends, Robert and Lucy. Rob was sort of a doctor, except for the supernatural. It was extraordinary what he could see and had an amazing amount of knowledge, as well as good fighting skills. His mate, Lucy, had the ability to change her appearance to any other person, human, vampire, or otherwise. She had very good fighting skills as well. John snapped his phone shut and turned to Tina. "They weren't answering their phones." He said with frustration. Tina nodded. "Okay, that's alright. It'll just take a little more convincing from us to Aro to drop the situation." I snorted. "Like that was gonna be an easy thing anyways?" I questioned. Tina sighed, shaking her head,

"We need to go." Shawn interrupted us. I clenched my teeth together. "I'll come get you if we need you. Hopefully we won't. We'll keep our minds open so you know what's going on." I nodded my head with approval, and then said a departing 'Good luck', and they were gone.

I hope you liked it. This chapter was a little short, but again, it was a necessary filler. AND I still need a beta. Please. :)

Please review and let me know what you thought!

Lots of Love,

Switzygirl