I do not own Twilight or any of its' characters

EPOV

Chapter 41

Unraveling

It was about eleven when Bella's phone rang, neither one of us were asleep, we were still up, high off the endorphins left behind by my 'birthday present'.

"Ugh." She groaned, pulling the sheet more tightly around her and leaning toward the bedside stand.

"Don't answer it. Just let it go to voicemail." I whined, sounding needier than I meant to.

"Hang on; I need to see who it is." She said disapprovingly as she grabbed it off the table. "It's Jacob."

"Tell the dog to call back at a reasonable hour." I grumbled, lying back against the pillows.

"No Edward, it might be important." She said very seriously.

"Fine," I sighed.

She reached over and mussed up my hair, giggling and then flipped open the phone. "Jacob? Hey what's up?"

I watched her closely, trying to eavesdrop on their conversation; he must have said hi and asked her what she was doing because she answered with, "we're home, just celebrating Edward's birthday." She threw me a glance like we were in on some secret together, smirking suggestively at me. Then he must have made some kind of derogatory comment about me because she frowned and said flatly to him, "Jacob is there some other reason why you're calling me or what?" I narrowed my eyes at the phone in contempt, as if the dog were standing right in front of me and could see me.

He then must have said something else offensive to her about me or us or whatever, because her expression was growing more severe by the second and she was now sitting on the edge of the bed. I decided to intercede; I crawled up behind her and closed my hands around her waist, and said in my most innocent and persuasive tone in her ear, "Bella, come back to bed." I hoped the dog could hear me. I thought he might be able to. She gave me no response, "Bella, please?" I purred. She could never resist me when I put those two words together in that voice. To my dismay, she threw a hand up to quiet me, and that was when I knew that something was wrong.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I asked, in my normal voice.

She turned her head and looked at me, her expression very solemn. "Jacob, Edward's right here, oh you heard that? Sorry, anyways, I'm going to put you on speaker so he can hear you too. No, you don't have to talk to him. Just talk to me, no, he's not going to talk to you, Jacob, this is serious! Stop being such a baby, I'm doing it now." She clicked a button on her phone and I could hear Jacob Black grumbling on the other end.

"I can hear you dog." I said loudly.

"Stop it." Bella hissed at me.

I rolled my eyes, "I'm sorry Jacob, what's going on? Is everyone alright?"

"That depends on who you consider to be everyone." Jacob replied. I was beginning to get anxious now. I gave Bella a concerned look and she laid a hand against my chest to calm me.

"Jacob, start from the beginning please." Bella said gently into the phone.

"Sam okayed the execution of a bloodsucker." My heart nearly stopped, my thoughts immediately went to my family.

"Who?" Bella asked quickly.

"It's not any of the Cullens." He quickly reassured, "So don't get yourself all worked up, your precious vampire family is fine." He sounded like he was half joking, half irritated, I growled under my breath at his tone.

I tried to think of who he was talking about, was Victoria back? I got goose bumps at the thought of her and her vengeance skulking around the town that housed our friends and family.

"I think we found your bloodsucking, healing, presto chango doctor person."

"Juno?" She asked in disbelief. "Why is the pack going after Juno?"

"The pack went after Juno." He said gently, "Bella, she's dead."

She gasped out loud and took my hand. "Bella, I'm sorry," he continued, "I don't know if you were friendly with her, or if it was more of a business arrangement you had, but she…she went after someone."

"No, Jacob, she wouldn't…she hasn't for years…she's a veterinarian, she helped Edward…she doesn't hunt humans…" She stammered, helplessly defending her, I gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Bella, I don't know what happened with her, but she, she went after someone, and…you know how the treaty goes, Sam went to find her and…"

She shook her head sadly, "she's dead." Bella whispered.

"I'm sorry Bella." His voice was deep and solemn and looked like it brought her no comfort like I knew it usually did.

"Why would she attack a human? Is the person she attacked dead?"

"Nearly."

"What do you mean nearly? How long ago did this happen? That person is out there transforming somewhere, they need to be found and helped." She urged.

"This happened last night. Wait, how do you…make a vampire Bells?"

She spouted off to Jacob as much as Alice and I had told her regarding vampiric transformation. "A vampire has venom, when they bite someone and drink, if they don't kill the person immediately, the venom travels through the bloodstream and changes them. It takes about three days and it's very painful." I silently nodded at her in agreement. Jacob was silent on the other end of the phone. I could imagine how disturbed he was, knowing that she knew so much.

"Umm, I don't think she bit this person, I think she seriously went after him and tried to kill him."

I was completely confused, I could understand even the most stoic of vampires having a moment of weakness, but this, this sounded like a crime of passion. It seemed very odd behavior for the eternally damned.

"Where did it happen?" She asked.

"On the reservation." That seemed even odder to me.

"Jacob, none of what you're saying makes sense. You're telling me that Dr. Juno did not bite, but instead attacked a person on the reservation, nearly killing them and was then taken down and killed by the pack?"

"Bella, I'm just telling you what happened. I don't know most of the specifics, when you say it out loud it doesn't make a lot of sense but that's what happened." He snapped at her and I wanted to choke him, he was so childish at times.

"It sounds like some kind of dramatic suicide attempt." I said half joking and then it hit me. The scenario sounded a lot like the alibi that I had come up with on the off chance that the Volturi came around looking for us. There were too many similarities, too many unexplained circumstances, something wasn't right here and I had a sickening feeling that Jacob and the pack had played right into some elaborate scheme unknowingly. I felt like something irreversible had just been set into motion right under everyone's noses.

"Jacob, tell me exactly what happened." She demanded.

"They were monitoring the perimeters when they got her scent. They tracked her for awhile, keeping their distance because she had a human with her. She and he were talking one minute and then arguing the next. She grabbed him and threw him down and clawed his neck open. From what Sam said, she looked like she was doing everything she could to avoid biting him."

"She didn't want to change him."

"But still, she could have just drunk his blood until he was dead and he wouldn't have been changed right?" Jacob asked, as if it were all so simple, idiot.

"She didn't want to go against her beliefs Jacob. Clearly, she doesn't want to kill people, she's a healer."

"Well, that's all very noble Bells, but I think you're reading too much into this."

"Of course you do." She said quietly, I was furious with him for making her feel belittled and small. I knew how much Jacob cared about Bella, but he had no filter and at times could be a complete and utter prick. This seemed to be turning into one of those times.

"Come on, Bella, I didn't mean anything by it, I just, I don't think you should worry about this."

"Then why did you call me?" She asked dryly.

"I, I called because…" he had no answers for her, the whole situation was making him uneasy and we both knew it.

"Exactly." She said with a tone of finality in her voice.

"Please don't be worried Bella," he said trying to soothe her addled mind. "Nothing's going to happen to you or Edward, you're like a million miles away. This was just a stupid isolated instance. Everything is going to be fine."

I knew how much he wanted to comfort her and I sensed a tone of regret in his voice, probably for telling her about the incident in the first place. She didn't want him to be upset, so Bella did what she did best and appeased him. "Yeah, you're probably right. Everything will be fine. What happened to the guy anyway?"

"He disappeared into the woods. The pack has spent most of today looking for him and can't find a trace of him."

"Oh, he must not be as bad off as you thought." She said her tone and facial expression deadpan.

"Guess not." Jacob agreed.

There was an awkward silence between them for several moments. She sighed heavily into the phone and reached over and placed her hand on my leg. "Have you seen my father recently?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Charlie, yeah, I saw him the other day, my dad and I went over to watch a game with him."

"How's he doing? I just spoke to him yesterday and he seemed fine, but you actually get to see him from time to time. Is he alright? Eating okay? Keeping out of trouble?"

Jacob chuckled on the other end, "sure, sure, Bella, he's fine. He misses you, but he's so happy that you're in school and doing well. He's really proud of you." Her eyes looked teary for a second, she missed Charlie so much.

"Did he get my care package?"

"I don't know Bella; didn't you say you just talked to him?" His tone was more cheerful and casual now.

"Well, yeah, but I forgot to ask him," she protested.

"Isn't it usually the parent that sends the kid the care package?"

"I suppose it is, but we're not your average family." She glanced over at me and smiled, I chuckled softly at her comment.

"Well, I should probably let you get back to what you were doing." He said in an uncomfortable tone, remembering that I could hear him.

"Thanks for calling Jacob; you should do it more often."

"Last time I checked the phone worked both ways sweetheart." He said sarcastically.

"You're right; I'll call you next week okay?"

"It's a date. Bye Bells."

She closed her phone softly and touched it to her chin, and just sat for a moment like that, still wrapped tightly in the bed sheet. She glanced over at the foot of the bed where my shirt still lay. She reached over and put it on to cover herself up. She looked positively adorable in it, simply because it was enormous on her. I never realized I was so much bigger than her, the sleeves were rolled up on it and they still went down practically to her wrists. She tilted her head slightly and sniffed the collar and a look of calm passed over her weary face. I was glad that I had that effect on her. She certainly had the same effect on me.

"I don't like this." She said staring down at the mattress and biting her lip.

"Neither do I." I agreed very seriously, "too much is happening."

She stared up at me with a look of understanding and dread and she nodded her head slowly.

"Something is coming, soon." I said, "but I have no way of knowing what, and now, there's very little I can do to prevent it. Why hasn't Alice said anything?" I asked out loud to no one in particular.

"Edward," Bella said in a very small voice, "she has."

I turned my head so quickly that I nearly gave myself whiplash and stared at Bella, "What? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because, there was nothing specific that I could tell you, just that we would 'face adversity'" she said making quotes with her fingers. "That there would be times where you would be in danger, but at no point did she say, Juno's going to die, or Edward's going to have magical healing blood, or a professor is going to give Edward a hard time…"

I was incredulous, how could she keep something like this from me? "Bella," I said placing my hands on her shoulders and locking my eyes with her, she looked up at me as if I were going to beat her. I immediately lowered my voice so as not to frighten her, "Bella, when did Alice tell you this?"

"Before we left for Alaska…in August."

I dropped my hands from her shoulders and had to bite my tongue so as not to fly off the handle at her. I nearly drew blood I bit it so hard. "August? Jesus Christ Bella, why didn't you tell me? I could have stayed the way I was; none of this would be a concern now. Now we're just…sitting ducks waiting for something awful to happen to us. I could have stopped this, I could have possibly prevented this, I can't do anything now!" I sat on the edge of the bed and dropped my face into my hands.

"Edward stop it!" She said loudly, sitting beside me, "you wanted this, I wanted this. We both decided together. Would you take any of it back?"

"Bella, we're in a completely different situation now." I said evasively, looking at the floor. "If I knew this was going to happen, I would have never even…"

"I know." She interrupted, "that's why I didn't tell you. Look at me," she said through gritted teeth, grabbing my face and turning it to her, "would you take any of it back? Tell me the truth."

I wanted to give her the noble, selfless answer, but she wanted the truthful one, "No." I said finally.

"Good." She said, "I wouldn't want you to." She kissed my forehead and my phone rang. I reached over and looked at the screen, Alice. She was going to get a mouthful from me.

"Hello." I grumbled into the phone.

"Don't be mad at Bella," she said quickly.

"I'm not." I said holding the phone with my shoulder and grabbing my pants up off the floor.

"Don't be mad at me either."

"That could be a different story," I snapped, adjusting my belt and walking out of the bedroom.

"Edward…" She started.

"Alice!" I said impatiently, interrupting her mid sentence, "I don't care. I don't want to hear it. Just tell me if Bella is safe."

"Yes, she's safe."

"Good. Is she going to remain safe?" I asked as I trotted down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Yes, directly," she answered.

"What do you mean directly?" I asked suspiciously as I poured myself a glass of water.

"What I mean is, no one is going to hurt her, nobody is going to inflict any physical harm against her. But, should someone harm you, it will devastate her."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Honestly Edward, were you always this dumb?" She asked impatiently, I was slightly taken aback becoming swiftly annoyed with Alice. "Is it the hormones? Have they taken over your mind completely?"

"Alice, I'm in no mood for this." I said tiredly.

"You're right. I'm sorry. What I meant was, nobody is going to try to hurt or threaten Bella, somebody, however, may want to hurt you, quite seriously. You, Edward are in danger this time, Bella is not the focus. However, if something happens to you, something that separates you from Bella, it will destroy her. You both need to be safe; one of you can't survive without the other. It would be like severing two conjoined people. Do you understand what I'm saying now?"

I was silent for a minute, mulling over that statement in my head. My life was in danger, my life, as opposed to Bella's.

"Your life is not in danger Edward, stop being so dramatic. The path I'm seeing you on isn't one hundred percent clear yet, but as long as you include Bella, you'll both be fine."

"Why wouldn't I include Bella?"

"To protect her," she stated firmly.

"Alice, I can't let anything happen to her." I argued.

"I know that Edward, but you need to understand that she feels the same way about you. She has a very important role to play in keeping you safe and you need to let her play it. You need to be very honest with her and allow her to do right by you."

"Can't you just tell me specifically what I should be expecting to happen?"

"No, because I don't know specifically."

This phone call was useless, I thought bitterly, useless, cryptic and hollow. I felt like I was talking to someone on a psychic hotline, all generalizations, and no real answers. All it did was stir up anxiety in me, at least I knew Bella would be okay and that gave me a little piece of mind.

"Carlisle wants to talk to you." Alice said suddenly.

"Okay." I sighed, sitting down at the counter and glancing at the clock, midnight, I would be useless in class tomorrow or today rather. I looked at the scar on my hand from where I had cut myself months ago when this all started. I'd probably end up slicing my hand open again if I didn't get some sleep.

"Edward," my father's smooth voice said.

"Hello." I said politely.

"Son, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get in touch with you. I've run several tests on the blood you sent me."

"And?"

"And, I can't find anything abnormal about it."

"Aside from the fact that it can heal open wounds?" I asked sarcastically.

He laughed softly on the other end of the phone. "Yes I suppose that is a little different, but genetically, it's a very sound sample. I did, however find a separate protein in it that I could not find in any of the control samples I matched it against. I have theorized that this separate protein has a great deal to do with your blood's ability to heal. You say that it doesn't heal systemically, but more locally, correct?"

"That's right." I said, growing increasingly uninterested. Who cared about the science behind it? It was what it was and it was just a continued reminder that I was not now or ever would be normal.

"It's very interesting Edward. Perhaps, whatever powers the healer has, she passes a small piece of it to her recipients. Maybe that's how the bloodline of the healer evolves to create another healer."

"You mean like a virus?" I asked. How appropriate. I was a walking biohazard.

"Exactly, but in a good way."

"That's a very good theory, thank you for taking the time to look into that for me."

"Edward I'm very sorry about what happened to Juno. I'm supposed to be meeting with Sam to find out more about it. I'll contact you as soon as I know the specifics."

No. I thought to myself, don't contact me. I don't want to know anymore. I just want to live my life as it was with Bella until I couldn't any longer. I didn't want any more messages, or warnings or pearls of wisdom from anyone. I just wanted Bella, I just wanted to live with her and eat with her and sleep with her and enjoy every minute I could with her. I didn't care anymore; I was done with puzzles and role playing. I wanted to live my life, no matter how long or short it was.

"Carlisle, you know how much I love everyone, but honestly, my mind can't handle any more of this. I don't want to know the future. I don't want to know what happened to Juno, I'm sorry she's gone, but really, there is so little that matters to me now. I just want to be able to enjoy whatever time I am given. I'm done putting Bella and I through this." If I had said that to anyone but Carlisle, I would have been met with resistance, but I knew he wouldn't push the issue. Carlisle knew me, and when I said I couldn't handle something any longer, he knew that I couldn't. He knew what was important to me.

"That's a reasonable enough request." He said gently, "I'll just find out for my own knowledge then."

"Thank you Carlisle, I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be difficult, I just, don't want to think about this anymore."

"Are you happy son?"

"Yes, I'm very happy."

"Then that's all that matters really."

"Thank you."

"You sound tired."

"I'm very tired. It's been…a very productive night."

Carlisle chuckled softly on the other end, "get some sleep. We'll talk to you soon."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight son."

I nearly dragged myself back upstairs, shutting the light off behind me. I quickly changed clothes and when I got back to the bedroom, Bella had tucked herself in, leaving a dimly lit end lamp on for me. I walked around to her side of the bed and sat beside her. I could tell by her breathing that she wasn't asleep yet. It amazed me how much I knew about her. I wondered if she knew as much about me as I did her. I wondered if she knew my footsteps like I knew hers, or if she knew what my favorite sleeping position was, or what my favorite shirt looked like. I had made it a point to learn all of these things about her and ingrain them in my memory so I could never forget them.

"Bella?" I murmured.

"Yes?" Her muffled pillow voice answered. I wondered why she hadn't sat up and looked at me. I hoped she wasn't upset.

"Are you awake?" Silly question, of course she was awake, I knew that before I had even said anything.

"Mmhm." She muttered. I placed my hand against the back of her neck and pushed back her hair. "Edward?" She asked as I traced circles along her skin.

"Hmm?"

"Are you mad at me?" I stopped moving my hand on her and was silent. How could she think I was angry with her? If anything, she should be angry with me for choosing to change myself and thus leaving us vulnerable to be attacked. She was safer with me when I was a vampire, how ironic.

"Of course I'm not mad at you." I said gently, starting to trace circles on her neck again.

"What about Alice?"

"No Bella, I'm not mad at Alice. I'm not mad at anyone. I understand why you didn't want to tell me."

She sat up suddenly, planting herself next to me on the bed. She threw me a confused sideward glance, "You do?"

"I think so." I said brushing a strand of hair off her face; I couldn't not touch her it seemed.

"What did Alice say?"

"She didn't say much, and neither did Carlisle." I answered.

"You spoke to both of them? Did Carlisle talk to Sam? Does he know anything about Juno? What about Alice, has she seen anything?" The questions coming from her mouth seemed endless.

"Bella, I asked them both not to tell me anything else in regard to that subject matter." I said carefully. Any other girl would raise an eyebrow at me and ask me to translate into English for them. But not Bella, she was so accustomed to the dated way in which I spoke that she was almost surprised when I sounded like a normal, casual person.

"Why?" She asked, a little breathless.

"Because," I said quickly, lapsing into the awkwardness that I felt sometimes when I had to explain myself to her. "Because, I don't…I don't want to know anymore."

She opened her mouth in protest, "Let me finish," I interrupted. She closed her mouth and waited. "I want to be…as normal as I can be. Normal people don't have access to vigilante werewolves, and families of vampires and siblings that have premonitions. I don't want to know anymore. I don't want to worry about things that I can't control. I'm tired Bella, I'm tired of trying to piece together things and anticipate and dread. I don't want to do it anymore. I really don't have any control of these things anymore." I was starting to sound slightly incoherent. I blamed it on the late hour and the three glasses of wine I drank.

"But what if something happens?" She asked, her deep eyes wide with questioning and concern.

"Then we'll deal with it." I said confidently, "We'll deal with it like we deal with anything else. We just won't have the leisure of knowing until the last moment. That's the way it should be. That's the way it is with most other people. Does that make any sense to you?"

"Yes, it does."

This was going to be the most difficult part, "Bella, I…I don't know how much time I have. Whereas before, I did, I don't know anymore. I could have another sixty years or another sixty days. I don't want to spend that time, however long it is, worrying about how and when it's going to end." I said quietly, so she wouldn't hear the fear in my voice, I wasn't supposed to be the fearful one of this equation. Bella had enough to worry about, for the last two years, she had been tormented and frightened by the things that my life had brought into hers and her family's, and yet, here she was, as loving and immovable as she always had been. I wouldn't let her know how panicked I was.

"I just want to live my life and be with you, and that's it." I said staring up at her boldly, even though I nearly had tears in my eyes. I hoped she was hearing what I was saying to her.

"Okay." She said firmly, nodding her head. She was so strong, I was the weak one. I was talking about our future together and nearly blubbering like an idiot. She said one word and I knew she would follow me anywhere. I admired her so much.

"Thank you."

She smiled warmly at me and placed her hand against my face, hypnosis ensued as I leaned into it, so grateful for her and her touch, I loved her more than I could even comprehend. "Do you want to go to bed now?" She whispered tiredly.

"Yes, very much."

"Let's go."

I climbed in beside her and shut off the light. She rolled over next to me, resting her head against my heart, where it belonged, and she hitched a leg over mine. I never realized how sleeping with Bella, actually sleeping with her was like being in bed with a spider monkey. No matter what point in the night it was, she always had some part of herself touching me, like I was some kind of magnet to her. I loved it.

It wouldn't take me long to fall asleep, with the wine, the birthday sex, the phone calls, the discussion, and the pure exhaustion of being a college student in the last months of their freshman year, I was nearly out cold in seconds.

"Edward?" Her sweet voice asked dreamily right before I hit darkness.

"What love?" I muttered, my eyes still shut.

"Let's skip school tomorrow." She suggested.

Fantastic, the best plan we had all night, "You read my mind."