All characters are Stephenie Meyers. I don't own them I wish I did ;o)

Well hubby's toe is all better – Just a little bit sore. He was acting like a big baby for a few days but is now fine. We are just getting read for Halloween. So enjoy this chapter. I know it is not as long as some of the others but the big ones are coming.

Here is the last little bit from the previous chapter.

"When you go to them…. Can I come with you?"

"It's not safe Bella."

"But I will help you plead your case." She was determined to come with me. I could see it in her eyes. Today was a day for Bella. I wanted her safe.

"We will see okay." I wasn't going to let her near any of them. Not one of them. She wasn't going to come. I would make her stay home.

"That is all I ask." She said settling back in her seat.

I hated not letting her go, but I didn't want her hurt. This was something beyond her control. This was something I could control. I loved Bella with all my being. She didn't deserve to see what may come from the next meeting.

I drove home at my speed this time. Bella didn't object at all. She was rather quiet. I listened as her heart beat was steady. I looked over and she had fallen asleep. She looked so peaceful and serene. I could only hope she'd be like this in a few days. It was going to be rough for her. Her emotions being tugged every which way. They would settle soon. She didn't deserve this. She should be happy. Her happiness meant the world to me and I would do anything right now to get it back. Including destroying the treaty.

~munchkin1978



Why?

Chapter 10

I lifted Bella from the car and she stirred waking from the slumber I thought she was in.

"I'm okay Edward. I can walk."

"All the same I like carrying you." I smiled at her.

"Please put me down."

"If I must," I put her down leaving my arm around her waist. I reached back into the car to take out the boxes that sat in the center console then we headed inside the house. I directed us to Carlisle's office and he told us to come in before I even knocked.

"Bella my dear how are you feeling?"

"Better. Sad that he is gone but I know somewhere in my heart he is in a better place.

Did he suffer at all Carlisle?"

"There was a little pain but he fought it well."

"As long as he didn't suffer. I didn't want him to suffer."

"No I don't think he did Bella."

"Thank you both for watching out for him. If I hadn't been for you both I would have come to late."

"Bella it's…."

"I know it's your job but someone has to thank you."

"Your welcome then." Carlisle realized that there was no backing out of it and just obliged her. "So what brings you both by?"

"A legal matter." I said.

"Legal?" I knew what was coming after and true to Carlisle's thoughts it came 'Legal how Edward?'

"That I am, with Bella an executor of Charlie's estate. I can't leave till it is all handled."

"Really, Charlie left that to you?"

"Yes well he left it to Bella mainly and Bella will have the final okay but I am to over see the estate with her."

"This certainly changes things."

"I want to call a meeting again." This time we were going to be in control.

"I will arrange it. Not till after the funeral."

"Carlisle, Bella wants to come." I said quietly so Bella couldn't hear. She was watching our exchange anyhow so it really wasn't necessary.

'Why does she want to come?' He asked in his head.

I only nodded that I got his question.

'You don't want her hurt do you?'

I nodded again.

'She looks like she wants to help you Edward. Let her. We will protect her at all costs for you.'

I nodded that I acknowledged his statement but sighed as well. He was right. Bella did want to help. I could stop her but it would probably upset her more. Or on the flip side make her more determined. I watched Bella look at the pictures that lined Carlisle's study. Her face was sad and withdrawn but when she laid her eyes back on me she smiled. I needed her. My life revolved around her.

'Let her come Edward. I'm sure she will be fine. We will be on guard.' Carlisle's thoughts rang out breaking my trance with Bella.

I nodded once more and wrapped my arms back around her waist. She was looking at me with thoughtful eyes trying to cover up the sad ones.

Carlisle and I set a time that we would toss at the wolves for another meeting. I had taken Bella to our room so she could get some more sleep. She sprawled across the bed instantly and fell asleep. She was tired and deserved a good nights rest. I set the documents and her boxes on the dresser top. I wouldn't put them away yet. Well all but one. The ring. Bella's grandmother's ring.

I took the small box and placed it in the jewelry cabinet I had in the back of my closet. It held all my mother's jewelry in that cabinet. Some of it was in Esme's possession and also in Alice's. But in time the remainder would be Bella's. I wanted so much to give her my mother's ring ages ago. Now I had two. I would do something so she could have both in one.

When I came out of the closet Bella was stirring but didn't wake up. She was dreaming of something. I stopped and listened. She was talking in her sleep. Something I enjoyed listening to years ago. Something I would enjoy doing again, as she had yet to do it since we had first seen each other. I stopped to sit on the bed with her and she stopped only to start again.

"Edward no don't go." She very nearly shouted it. I didn't want to wake her but it was turning to a nightmare. She was starting to thrash. "No don't leave me. I don't want you to leave." She needed to be woken up. But I didn't have the heart incase it wasn't a nightmare. I waited again just a few moments when I finally realized it was a nightmare she was having. "You don't want me…."

Shit. Those were my words I spoke all those years ago. She was dreaming of that day. The day I left her. The day I left my world behind. I touched her waking her from the nightmare of that day.

"Bella love your alright."

She looked at me with wide eyes. Eyes like she was still dreaming. She was quiet for a moment before she spoke. "I remember everything from that day." She paused. "I couldn't remember parts of it. Now I know everything. I remember everything that was said."

"Bella it is in the past." I said weakly. I wanted to forget what I said.

"I guess I still want to know why you left me the way you did."

"I lied to you Bella. I'm sorry. I will forever be sorry. At the time…." I paused I didn't want to make an excuse but it was going to come out like one. "I didn't know what I was doing."

"You must have known Edward or you wouldn't have done it."

"Alice had seen it. She had seen how it was going to end in two ways."

"I want to know."

"I shouldn't tell you."

"Tell me Edward. I have a right to know."

"I don't want to upset you."

"I don't care right now. Tell me." I didn't want to tell her but I had to. I didn't want to keep secrets from her.

"Shit….." I said quietly pausing to gather my thoughts. "The first out come we played out already. The second one….."

"Go on…" She was watching my every movement. Looking for anything that would tell her I was keeping something from her.

"The second one there was a fight. Not with you. With a wolf."

"Tell me Edward." She paused. "Please..."

"Do you really want to know Bella?" I didn't want the answer. I already knew it.

"Yes."

"Charlie told me you had a re-occurring dream. A dream where you were standing in the forest with me and a wolf shows up. A brown russet wolf. This wolf gets too close and I go after him to catch and kill. Your dream was the second outcome. I don't know how you figured it out." I added at the end. I had no idea how she picked up on it.

Bella was quiet. Too quiet. I looked at her. She was starring at her hands. In particular her hand with the scar on it.

"Bella what are you thinking?" I asked taking her warm scared hands in my own cold ones.

"I don't' know. I don't know what to think. I have been having that same nightmare over and over since you left."

"I don't want that nightmare to come true. It may if you come with us to the meeting. I couldn't live with myself if you get hurt."

"I don't think it will come true Edward. It is just a dream."

"We don't know that Bella." I said in earnest.

"I don't want to leave you so you better make sure it doesn't come true." She said.

I left the conversation at that. It would go on and on if I continued it. I went to rise again and now that Bella was awake I didn't really want to leave her. I watched her sit up on the bed and curl her legs under her chin. She was watching me.

"Edward?"

"Yes love."

"What do you think may have happened if you had come back earlier?"

"I don't know Bella. It's in the past. We may never know."

"Don't you ever wonder?"

"I did in the beginning." I paused. "Not now, I have you back in my life again."

She was quiet again. She was thinking. I still couldn't read her and it still frustrated me to no end. Carlisle had told me it is probably a gift of some sorts. I had disagreed. Now I wondered if he was actually right. I watched her as she placed her head on her knees and closed her eyes. I watched her brown locks fall to the side, each strand rippling off one another. She still kept her hair long. A little longer than she had in high school. The venom was not pooling in my mouth for once when I thought back to that time. I now wished I could sleep and dream I would dream only of her.

"Just so you know I wish I hadn't left you. If I hadn't we'd probably be married by now." I said just loud enough for her to hear.

She looked up at me and smiled back. I think she must have thought that too. I went into my closet and got a change of clothes. I needed to change and shower. I would have done it if Bella was asleep but since she was awake. I also needed to hunt again. I had come back out a few minutes later after hunting down a pair of black pants to find Bella had the documents in her hands. She was reading them to her self. I stopped for a moment to see if a response was coming and she didn't say anything at all. I watched her roll them back up and re-place them in the boxes. She was thinking of something. I could read it all over her face.

"Bella, love what are you thinking?"

"Nothing." She replied.

I knew her better than that. We may have been apart for a long period of time but I did not forget. She had tricked Jasper for crying out loud. No one gets away from Jasper very easily. I was not going to blow this off as nothing. Something was being worked out in her brain. I put the clothes down in the washroom and turned to come back out when I saw Bella cross the room to the window.

"Edward would the wolves cross over the border?"

Wait a minute…. She knew about the border? "How did you know there is a border?"

"I figured with a treaty there was usually a border." She paused. "There is one isn't there?"

"Yes there is a border and no they don't cross it unless we are not here."

"Oh."

She went quiet again. It was frustrating still not hearing her thoughts. I wanted to know them. I wanted to know what she was working on in that head of hers.

"What are you thinking Bella?"

"Right now?" She paused. "Right now I am thinking about the past and my possible future."

"Your future is not set in stone Bella."

"I know."

I wanted to scoop her up and not have to deal with any of this. No arrangements, no debates, no wolves to stop us from being together. I watched her walk back to the bed and curl up again. She finally laid her head on the pillow. Her face still read that she was thinking and I still had no idea what it was.


Well what did you think?

It is kind of a filler chapter. I know but the next few are going to be big ones. I have to get to that point.

Didn't have a particular song for this chapter. Just listened to anything that happened to pop up on the ipod.

I am thinking about posting some of my works on my website – I have to revamp it as I got my domain name switched. My whole site is at the moment a mess. So I will be working on typing this story up and re-doing my site. Wish me luck I don't take too long. I don't want to keep you all hanging as to what is going to happen here.

Please read and review. Let me know what you think!

~munchkin1978~