Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

A/N: You guys are the best – that's all I've got to say. Enjoy…

Best Definition of Good Intentions

33 – You Give Me a Smile

The crunch of gravel underneath the wheels died down as Jasper turned on the radio. With a few punches of the buttons on his iPod, the bluesy music echoed through the speakers and he lowered the windows. As the wind whipped Bella's hair around her face, she rested her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes, savoring the feel of the warm sun on her face. It was one of those rare sunny days in the Pacific Northwest and it was even more appreciated by the pair in the Jeep after the monsoon they'd experienced the day before.

When the sun had come streaming through the windows of their hotel in Seattle that morning, the group tried to make the best of it. With Carlisle and Esme footing the bill, they enjoyed a breakfast at an outdoor café then walked around before it was time to head back to Forks. Riding in the same cars as they had only days before, they hit the interstate with windows down and radios blaring. The group of six found their weekend ending similar to how it began in regards to the weather and in an effort to soak up as much sun as possible while cursing the vehicles they were confined to, the travelers stopped every so often, stretching their legs.

The drive took several hours longer than normal due to all the stops and upon arrival to the Cullen household, Alice and Edward inside with the luggage while Emmett took Rosalie home and Jasper took Bella to drop off on his way home.

"I really liked that Revolution place last night," Jasper said over the stereo, successfully pulling Bella out of her memories of the weekend.

"Yeah, it was really cool," she agreed half-heartedly.

"You don't sound too thrilled." Jasper turned down the stereo and turned to look at Bella as he slowed his Jeep. They were approaching the only stoplight in town as they made their way through the heart of Forks.

Bella laughed and shook her head, looking at Jasper. "No, no. I am – really. I was just thinking about the weekend." Her voice was quiet as she continued and turned to face her window. "It was nice to get away for a little while."

"Hey."

Turning to look at Jasper, a faint blush spread over her cheeks and she turned to look at him.

"Everything's gonna be alright, Bella. Don't be worried; it'll be okay." He reached over the center console and took Bella's hand in his. His calloused thumb – calloused from hours of guitar playing – felt rough over the smooth skin of the back of Bella's hand. She turned her hand swiftly and squeezed Jasper's in her own.

"Thanks," she whispered, blinking back the tears. She wanted to be strong in the face of the unknown but it was hard for her when simple reassurances from her best friends triggered the collapse of all the walls she built. Gratitude was the only thing she could feel towards Jasper though but it pained her to show it. Bella did want to have to rely on her friends for comfort; she didn't want them to carry her through this. She didn't want their pity.

Jasper nodded, easing his foot off the brake as the light changed from red to green. Not another word was spoken until he pulled into Bella's driveway a few minutes later. "I'll see you this week, right? Alice said something about going down to the beach on Wednesday – we're hanging out with some friends of yours?"

"Yeah, some friends from La Push," Bella explained. "I guess I should check with Jacob since Alice is being pretty persistent."

"When isn't she?" Jasper laughed. "Later, Bella."

She waved from the porch before unlocking and pushing the door in.

"Hello? Dad? I'm home!" she called out. The television wasn't on and she didn't hear any noise upstairs so after setting her bag at the bottom of the stairs, Bella headed to the kitchen.

Went down to La Push to see Billy. Should be back before dinner.

Dinner. Since Bella had been gone all weekend, there was a good chance that the only food in the refrigerator was leftover pizza and because Charlie wasn't out fishing like a typical Sunday, Bella was left with few choices when it came to dinner. Opening the door, Bella almost laughed to herself when her theories were confirmed. A trip to the grocery store was definitely necessary.

The clock on the microwave showed plenty of time until Bella could expect her father home. Without wasting time, she hurried upstairs to unpack. Throwing a load of laundry in the washer before grabbing the keys to her truck, Bella rushed to the store. In typical fashion, she was in and out very quickly, filling her cart with cereal, milk, vegetables and meat.

In under an hour, Bella had returned from the store and unloaded the groceries in the kitchen. There was still plenty of time before she needed to start preparing the stir-fry for dinner and Bella didn't want to idly pass the time. Since reading didn't seem appealing, Bella decided to clean up the house. Switching the laundry to the dryer, Bella then vacuumed the living room before setting about mopping the kitchen floor.

As Bella enjoyed the ache of her muscles as she scrubbed and cleaned, aiming to rid her house of dirt and grim in the same fashion she hoped to clear her mind, she found her thoughts drifting back to the weekend. She remembered with a smile, the grateful and amazed look on Edward's face when he opened her gift during their picnic on Friday. And at dinner that night, she remembered watching his face closely as his eyes had scanned the card from Esme and Carlisle. Bella had noticed when his eyes stopped moving across the page, no longer reading but instead glued to the surface. He looked haunted then, a faraway glazed over look making a home in his features, until Rosalie had cleared her throat and handed him the paper he'd dropped.

Fast-forwarding through time, she remembered staying up late with Edward Friday night, how they were both so reluctant to go to bed and leave the other's company, how Rosalie and Alice had interrogated her afterwards, as they had all weekend, begging to learn the details of their relationship. Could she even call it a relationship? They were both so hesitant around the other, always holding something back. At least that was how Bella felt. There was always something more she wished she had the courage to say, to do. She had no way of knowing how Edward felt, but she didn't dare risk their friendship. She valued him entirely too much to chance upsetting their friendship. Whether friends or something more, Bella could truthfully say that understood her and spoke to her in a way no one else had before.

Edward brought out a side in Bella that she hadn't even been aware of – she had the tattoo on her wrist to prove it. And it was obvious that Edward trusted Bella in a way that he didn't trust others. She'd been the one he'd invited with him on Saturday. He'd confided in her, and only her, as far as she knew, that he'd changed his name. She was the only one who knew of his tattoo. Bella had been the one who held his hand while he winced in pain.

That all had to mean something, right?

Across the kitchen, the sound of her ringing cell phone pulled Bella from her recent memories. Startled, she lunged forward, sliding across the slick, freshly-mopped tiles. Luckily, though, she made it to her bag, sans injury and answered the call before it went to voicemail.

"Bella!" Alice squealed before Bella even had to the chance to speak a word.

And before Bella could utter a single syllable, the house phone rang. Groaning, she said, "Hey, Alice, let me call you back. The house phone is ringing; I think it's Charlie."

She hung up without waiting for her best friend's response and, throwing the cell phone to the table, slid across the room to grab the telephone.

"Hello?" Her greeting was met with silence and she asked again. "Hey, Dad? I'm going to start dinner soon. Are you on your way home?"

After another pause of hesitation, a strangled voice came through the line. "Bella?"

Now it was Bella's turn to hesitate and she almost dropped the phone in her shock. The voice belonged to her mother, but it was almost unrecognizable. Whether it was the amount of time that had passed since she'd last heard it or whether it actually was different, Bella couldn't be sure.

"Bella? I…I was calling for Charlie. He told me you were gone for the weekend – in Seattle with the Cullen's." Some normalcy had returned to her voice as the surprise melted away. There was still a broken quality to her tone. The uneasy melody was dissonant to Bella's ears.

"He's not home," she managed to get out, no longer than a whisper.

"Oh, Bella, honey," Renee breathed into the phone. "It's so good to hear your voice." She waited for a reply, but Bella had none to offer. Her knuckles turned white from her vice-like grip on the phone. Her other hand held her steady against the counter. Renee tried her hand again at conversation, "How was Seattle this weekend? Did you have a nice time?"

Struggling for the appropriate words, Bella simply stated, "Yeah, I had a lot of fun."

What else could she say to her mother – to the woman who abandoned her family, who abandoned her? Renee had turned her back on the love and comfort Charlie and Bella had provided and now Bella didn't know how to act around her mother. It was one thing to be angry because of all the wrong she had done, but she was still her mother. Could Bella just so easily turn her back on her as she'd been pretending to do all this time?

Through the line, Bella could hear her mother take a steadying deep breath. "I know your father's mentioned this to you. I'd love to see you, Bella. I want the chance to explain, to apologize. Are you busy this week? I could come by on Wednesday – I have the day off. And I'm sure Charlie could get away from the station for a little bit." She spoke quickly, trying not to let her hope be too obvious.

"I've got plans on Wednesday. I'm going down to the beach with Jacob," Bella found herself saying, her voice stronger in her denial. She was almost thankful to her Native American friend, for forcing her to stick to the cliff-diving plan. She made a mental note to call Alice – and Jacob – to confirm.

"Oh, alright then," Renee conceded. "Maybe over the weekend then."

Bella's stomach turned at the thought of seeing her parents in front of her as a united front. She knew she'd have to face Renee eventually, but she would have to do it on her own. And now wasn't the time. Now was the time to get off the phone; Bella wasn't sure how much more she could take before she broke down. On the positive side, she was proud of how strong she'd managed to last in this unexpected and unwanted conversation.

"Look, Ma…Ren…," she stumbled over the words yet again. Renee had left behind the title of 'Mom,' but Bella did want to be harsh by calling her by her given name. "I've got to go," she said shortly. "I'll tell Dad you called."

"Thank you. Have fun with your friends this week." The happiness sounded too forced to Bella's ears. "I love you, Bella. Let me know about this weekend."

"Bye," was the only thing Bella had left to say.

Once she replaced the phone in its cradle, Bella felt herself sinking to the floor. No amount of cleaning was going to be able to distract her mind now. A few minutes had passed when she heard the chiming of the familiar grandfather clock. It was five o'clock; Charlie would be returning any minute now. With the pressure of having a task that needed doing, Bella pulled herself to her feet and went about preparing dinner.

As she grabbed the ingredients from the fridge, she pulled the phone to her ear, checking for the dial tone. She punched in the number for the Black's house and listened to the ringing as she chopped the vegetables.

"Hello?" Billy answered the phone.

"Hey, Billy, it's Bella." Her voice carefree and light again.

"You just missed your old man, Bella. He left maybe ten minutes ago."

"That's alright, I was calling for Jake. Is he home?" She pulled a skillet from the cabinet and turned the stove on.

"Sure thing. Let me get him." In the background, Bella heard Billy's deep voice announce she was on the phone, then the jumbling noise of Jacob clamoring through the house.

"Hey, Bells," Jacob greeted.

"Jake," Bella smiled, immediately feeling her spirits lifted. "Sorry to pull you away from whatever you were doing."

"Don't even worry about it. What's going on?"

"Just wanted to make sure we're still on for Wednesday?"

"Cliff-diving? Heck yeah! I can't wait!" Jacob's enthusiasm, even through the phone, was contagious and Bella found herself laughing freely as she combined the meat and vegetables in the pan.

"My friends are really excited, too," she offered. "Especially Alice. She's so tiny, though, I'm a little worried about jumping off a cliff."

"Don't worry, Bells. I won't let anything bad happen to you." Just like that, Bella's fears melted away. A little reassurance from Jacob was all she needed to know that everything was going to be okay in the end. And if it wasn't, she had the friends who would help her get through.

"Thanks, Jake. Well, I've got to go; Charlie should be home any second."

"Alright, I'll talk to you later."

No sooner had Bella replaced the phone than Charlie walked in the front door, dropping his keys on the table by the front door.

"Smells good in here," he called out.

"Should be ready in about ten minutes," Bella answered.

"I'll get cleaned up."

Bella listened to her father's heavy footsteps on the stairs as he made his way to their shared bathroom. In his absence, she finished the final preparations of dinner, set the table and made up a plate for each of them. She'd just finished pouring two glasses of water when Charlie walked back in the kitchen.

On his way to the table, he passed Bella and reached his arm around her. With her hands full, she leaned into her father's half-embrace as he placed a kiss to the top of her head. "I missed you this weekend. Did you have fun?"

"We had a great time!" Bella accepted the sweet sentiment, but it was unlike either to dwell on it. Instead, she enthusiastically dove into the details of her trip – leaving out, of course, mentions of tattoos and name changes. Charlie hummed and nodded at all the right places during his daughter's spiel, unable to get a word in edgewise. It wasn't until they were clearing the table and washing the dishes that Bella gave him the opportunity to speak. "No fishing today?"

"It'd been awhile since I got to spend some time with Billy, so Harry and I decided to forgo fishing for the day. We're going on a big trip on Saturday to make up for it."

Bella knew what 'big trip' meant – he'd be on the water by sun up and would only be home after they were happy with their haul. "Sounds fun, Dad."

Charlie laughed, knowing it was the last thing his daughter found entertaining. "Jake was pretty excited about hanging out with you later this week. You guys doing something special?"

Was that his way of asking if they were going on a date, Bella wondered. She answered cautiously, not wanting her father to have any of the same misconceptions that Jacob hoped for. "A bunch of us are getting to together to go to the beach. Some of Jake's friends will be there and Alice and the rest of them are coming, too. It should be a lot of fun."

"Hmm," Charlie acknowledged picking up the phone. "I've got to check in with the station."

Bella took that as her cue that she was dismissed, having put in the appropriate face time for father-daughter bonding. Charlie had reminded her that she needed to call Alice about cliff-diving.

"Oh, Dad," Bella started timidly.

Noticing the hesitation in her voice, Charlie turned to face his daughter, cupping his hand over the mouthpiece of the telephone. He raised his eyebrows, encouraging her to continue.

"I forgot to tell you…Mom called earlier. I said you'd call her back." Bella dropped her eyes and went to the leave the room.

"Your mother called?" Charlie verified, rubbing his palm across the scruff of his cheek. "You talked to her?"

"Yeah. I'm going to go call Alice." Bella rushed through her words and, grabbing her phone, ran up the stairs.

Flinging herself on top of her bed, Bella dialed Alice's numbered and took deep breaths as she listened to the ringing from the other line. Normally, Alice was so quick to answer her phone – if it wasn't in her hand, it was in her pocket, never out of her sight. Why was it ringing so many times?

Just as Bella was about to give up and try again, Alice answered the phone in a whisper. "Hello?"

"Alice?" Bella asked to verify; typically, Alice squealed when answering Bella's calls. She felt the need to add, "It's Bella."

"Hey," Alice said, subdued, still no louder than a whisper.

"Is everything okay? Why are you whispering?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. Edward was acting strange – quiet – at dinner and then he asked if he could talk to my mom and dad privately. So, of course, Emmett and I are outside Dad's office eavesdropping. We have no idea what's going on."

Bella, however, had a pretty idea of what was going on behind that door, but she couldn't let Alice know that. "What have you heard so far?"

"Nothing!" Alice's voice almost rose to more than a whisper in her frustration, but she was quickly shushed by Emmett in the background. There was silence on the line for a few moments – save for the clicking of Alice's shoes on the hardwood floors of her home. When she spoke again, it was at a regular volume. "So what's up? Took you long enough to call me back."

"Sorry about that. Charlie came home and we just finished dinner. But I wanted to check to see if you were still game for hanging out with Jacob and his friends on Wednesday?"

"Oh!" Alice exclaimed. "Cliff-jumping! Of course, I am!"

"It's cliff-diving, Alice."

"Same thing."

"And it's not just cliff-diving. We were going to hang out at the beach for the day. I thought maybe we could put together a picnic – you know, like we usually do," Bella suggested.

"That's a great idea! The weather's suppose to be really nice this week – who knows why – but that'll be a lot of fun. I'm sure the boys will want to play football or something, so that'll give us the chance to tan!"

"Are the boys definitely coming?"

"Oh, yeah! Emmett's really excited about this cliff-jumping…diving thing. And, of course, Jasper will be there. Edward, too. We're all kind of a package deal now. Oh, wait!" Alice cut herself off rather abruptly.

"What? What is it?" Bella asked concerned, thinking something was wrong. Had Edward left the room? Was something wrong?

"Do you not want them all to be there? I mean, Edward. Do you not want Edward and Jacob to meet?"

Bella let out the breath she was unknowingly holding. "Give me a heart attack, Alice. I thought something was wrong. Why wouldn't I want Jacob and Edward to meet?"

"Well, for starters, because Jacob's been your boy toy all summer but now you actually like Edward."

"Alice!"

"It's true!"

"Look, Jacob knows there's nothing going on between us. I made that as clear as I could to him. And Edward…well, there's nothing to worry about there. He doesn't like me."

"You are crazy, Bella. Crazy." Bella could practically hear Alice's eyes roll through the telephone. "Oh, I gotta go. Something's happening – Edward's leaving the office. I'll call you tomorrow; we can go suit shopping in Port Angeles."

Bella couldn't even warrant a response to Alice's excuse to go shopping – after all the shopping she'd done over the weekend. She hung up the phone and flipped over on her bed and stared up at the sealing. Strands of her hair landed across her face and she tried to blow them out of the way with expelled air but had no luck. She brought her hand up to brush the hair away, and saw the bandage across her wrist. She'd barely remembered about her new tattoo throughout the day. It was almost as if it was already incorporated into her very being.

24 hours had passed since the artwork was completed and Bella deemed it an appropriate time to unwrap it and see the finished product. She threw the gauze in the trashcan without thinking twice. Even if Charlie noticed the slight bloodstains, he'd just assumed it was due to one of her commonplace accidents. Running her fingers over the small design, Bella noticed that the black ridges of the star were slightly raised, swollen from the inflicted injury. Her skin, though, was barely red anymore, as compared to what it was looked like immediately after Laurent had finished.

Rubbing her thumb across the star one last time, Bella thought about the design. Her very own star, on her own body, telling her it was up to her to make her dreams come true. Every wish she had, she could grant. It was all up to her. She was the only one with the power to get what she wanted.

It was something she knew she wouldn't share with many people, and it would be easy enough. It wasn't a unique design like Edward's, something he'd always have to explain. People could see it and just assume she liked stars, and, if ever asked, she could brush it off as though that's all there was to it. Bella remembered having a similar conversation with Edward, just a few nights ago, before they'd left for Seattle. The night she'd almost kissed Edward again.

She shook her head, clearing all thoughts of kissing Edward from her mind. Bella refused to dwell on her feelings for Edward. There wasn't much she could do – he didn't feel the same for her, not that she even knew what she felt. All she knew was that she truly valued having Edward in her life, more than she'd ever thought possible. She enjoyed their relationship as it was and would not put that in jeopardy.

Crawling off her bed, Bella made her way to the bathroom and called out to Charlie that she was going to take a shower so he knew not to enter. Her shower was short but the steam still helped to clear her mind. By the time she'd pulled her pajamas on and brushed her hair, she was exhausted, feeling the whole weekend catch up to her.

The lights in her room were off and the still-clear sky allowed the brilliant moon to shine in her window. The square glass lit her room as much as she needed as she grabbed her cell phone from her bed and went to plug it into her charger at her desk. Connected with the electricity, the screen came to life and Bella saw she had a new text message. Quickly, she opened it and read the message from Edward.

"Well, that could have gone better." The message only came through a few minutes before; Bella must have missed it while she was drying her hair.

She rushed across the short distance that separated her from the bed and sat on top of the blankets, staring out the night sky. Dialing Edward's number, she decided sleep could wait if he wanted to talk about what happened. She would not begrudge him this if it was what he needed.

A/N: The song for this chapter is "Where Do We Go" by Ben Jelen.