DISCLAIMER: The characters do not belong to me…they are all the creation of the wonderful Stephenie Meyer.

So! After numerous threats of folks jumping off chairs, smacking heads on keyboards, and one threat to steal my trusty laptop, I have decided to end your torture! Hee Hee!

And just so you all know, it was time for the two "weak" Cullens to band together and save everyone else - Jasper & Bella deserve more respect than either of them get!

EBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEBEB

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Stephen decides to try to make his dreams into reality.

Deadly Dreams – Part 4 of 4

LAST TIME: She looked into his eyes. They were void of all emotion.

"Well?" I asked Alice, becoming just as impatient as Edward.

Before she opened her mouth, I saw a glint in her topaz eyes. That little, lying, pixie-haired vampire! What was she trying to do? Give Rosalie another thing to write down on her list about my very un-vampire like life?

"It works. I can't see what he tells you, Jasper, but I see you holding a bag and looking very disgusted by it as you hold it. We'll put it in a phone booth near the police station and call in an anonymous tip. There's obviously some sort of DNA evidence in that bag because they arrest him. He dies by lethal injection, but it seems like a few years off."

"Humans have their rules, too," Jasper mused. "When do I need to leave?"

"If you go now, you can catch him at his apartment. Just make sure you aren't seen by anyone. When he gets arrested, he'll remember bits and pieces of your conversation with him. He'll try to say that you gave him the bag to hide. The cops will know right away it's a lie, but let's just be extra careful."

"I'll go on foot," Jasper said. "No one will see me."

"Jasper, thank you," I said, walking over to him. I gave him a big hug.

"We should be thanking you, Bella," he said. "You found a peaceful solution when we all felt none existed."

"Be safe," I told him, giving him one more hug.

"Don't you worry about me, Bella. I'm a major, remember?" Jasper said with a big grin. He pulled away and disappeared from the house.

"Major pain," Emmett chuckled, staring at the door Jasper had just flown out of.

I turned to Edward. "Can we go for a walk?"

He nodded his head and stood up. We went out the front door, not holding hands for the first time in a long time. I had my arms wrapped around my chest and I wasn't ready to let him comfort me just yet. I was still feeling hurt about him lying to me. We continued to walk until I was sure we were out of our family's hearing distance.

"I have to admit this was really eye opening. I've been so focused on the mythical monsters that I never realized there were human ones, too," I said.

"I'm confused about something." Edward seemed hesitant to continue speaking.

I stared at him, waiting for him to arrange his thoughts. He'd had to wait on me enough times.

He opened his mouth, but then closed it. He sighed and lowered his head slightly. "Knowing that this human wanted to take you away from me, you still wanted to let him live. Why? You swore to me you wouldn't leave or sacrifice yourself. You promised me your training was to stay with me. Why, Bella?"

"Because I know he can't actually take me from you. Edward, if I was human right this second, I would view his death as a necessity. I need to be with you and no one has a right to take me from you. But I'm not human and he can't harm me. While the easy thing would be to end his life, it would also be the wrong thing. We have so much talent in this family and I just felt there had to be a way to solve this without any of us having a death on our hands. I know none of you would have felt guilty because you all would have viewed it as part of keeping our secret. But I can't say the same for myself. Something about it just…It seems wrong when we have so many advantages and he's so fragile compared to us."

"Your mind…I never will understand it," he whispered, shaking his head.

"I'm really sorry this happened, Edward." I rubbed his chest, right over his heart. "I'm sorry I keep causing you pain."

"Don't say that," he said, pressing his hand against mine. "You bring me more love than I ever dreamed existed. This is in no way your fault, Bella. He could have just as easily fixated on Alice or Rosalie if they had been in that class with him."

I nodded my head, not really believing that, but I didn't want to argue about it. "I'm very hurt that you kept this from me, Edward. I didn't press you a few weeks ago when you were upset about him. I told you I would let it go, but that you would eventually need to tell me. I never saw you get that upset again, so I thought whatever had happened was over with. You had no right to keep me in the dark like that. I wouldn't do that to you."

"I'm sorry I didn't know what the right thing to do was, and I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about it. The training sessions have been so…"

"Brutal?" I offered.

"I feel like every hit you take is a bruise to my heart, Bella. Every mark on your body is a tear in my soul." Edward was holding my face in his hands, rubbing his thumbs over my cheeks.

"But I've healed from every punch and every kick that I haven't been able to block. And you are always there to take care of me and make sure I heal correctly. I know my training has been hard on you and I'm sorry for that."

Edward wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a tight embrace. I let him since I knew he was sorry. I rested my head on his chest.

Now that everything was decided and handled, the enormity of the situation was hitting me. Another person I'd never done anything to had wanted me dead. Would it always be like that for me? Would Edward and my family always be trying to save me? More than ever, I felt it was important to stick with my training and do it correctly. Even though I had found a peaceful solution today, my eyes had been opened. There would come a time when I had to protect my family at all costs, no matter how much I didn't want to pay them. Nothing in life is free, not even this version of it.

"What are you thinking?" he whispered, kissing the top of my head.

I put my hand against the side of his neck and opened my mind to him, letting him sift through my thoughts and anxieties.

'Yes, that may happen one day. You may have to end a human life to protect your own. But know that I will always try to take that burden onto myself.'

'That's what worries me most. I've gotten spoiled by the non-brooding version of you.'

'I won't brood if something like that happens. I'll be too thankful that I could protect you. I love you, Isabella. There is nothing I wouldn't do to protect you.'

'Except leaving me.'

'Except that. I will never again do that.'

'And I will never do it either.'

We were quiet for awhile, just enjoying the random thoughts floating around in our minds. Edward was thinking of what types of karts he wanted Rosalie to build. I was happy Alice had helped me find my iPod. I was determined to keep track of it this time, maybe even put it on a lanyard.

'Edward.'

'Yes, love?'

'Do you think I made the right choice?'

'You made what you felt was the best choice, Bella. I'm very proud of you.'

'Some college experience this has been.'

'Don't let this one incident ruin it. Besides, did I tell you what happened to Emmett yesterday?'

'No. What?'

Edward's chuckle in my mind felt like I was being tickled. 'He got invited to a Frat party.'

'Someone was brave enough to approach him?'

'Two someone's, but they were both very drunk at the time. The party is Hawaiian themed. Emmett has chosen a very … interesting costume. But I'm not saying what it is. You'll have to be surprised with everyone else. Alice doesn't even know what it is because Emmett is holding off on deciding to go.'

'Does Rosalie know what he's up to?'

'She's still attempting to talk him out of it. At this point, I doubt changing his major will even get him to not go.'

'Emmett has always enjoyed playing with drunk humans. He even tried to get me drunk once.'

'When?'

'One of those times you went hunting and left me home with him before the wedding.'

'I'll strangle him!'

'For what? I didn't drink it and it was over a year ago! I bet Emmett would be a really funny drunk, if vampires could get drunk.'

"Isabella," he laughed out loud.

"Too much for you, huh?" I chuckled.

"I love you," he said, placing a kiss on my head.

"I love you, too. So are we going to go to the frat party if Emmett goes?"

"I'll consider it."

"It might be fun…"

"I'm not dressing up."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not."

"Don't be a party pooper, Edward. You have to dress up if it's themed."

"You are absolutely, without a doubt, spending way too much time with Alice."

"If you feel that way now, what are you going to do in ten, or twenty, orfifty years?"

Edward looked at me with a very serious expression on his face. "Be as thankful then as I am today that you are my wife and will be with me forever. And I mean that, Isabella. With all my heart, I mean that."