Title: Protect My Heart

Author: Erik-in-CT

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Stephanie Meyer, and not myself.

Bella sat back in her chair and sighed with a mixture of relief and joy. She had just finished putting the finishing touches on her new programming for the computer she had modified from her old desktop. With Eric's enthusiastic help, she had been able to figure out just about every little detail that she could forsee, and felt that she had come up with a pretty complex and unique program. The question now was...would it work? She felt pretty confident that it would, and now was the big test.

She checked to make sure that all her components were plugged in properly, and held her breath as she flipped the main switch. For a moment the screens remained blank, and she feared that she had somehow messed it all up, but then she heard the whirring of the computer motors, and suddenly the main monitor flared to life. She watched as the operating system she had designed booted up, the codes flashing across the screen as they loaded. Then the home screen loaded and she was up and running. An exclamation escaped her lips as her hands eagerly darted to the keyboard, pulling up the command prompt and loading the programs she had put together to make the computer fully interactive.

A small blinking light on the webcam mounted abover the monitor informed her that the visual input was active. Then a flash on the smaller screen next to the main monitor drew her attention. Green text flashed across the screen, a boot up routine for the AI program she had painstakingly written over several months. Then the scrolling codes disappeared, leaving a single blinking phrase. 'Hello Ms. Bella.'

It was late when Charlie finally made it home from work. He was surprised to find Bella sitting in the living room with a plate of food watching TV. Nowadays she was usually holed up in her room with her tech stuff.

"Hey Bells," he called out as he stripped off his jacket, hanging it and his gun belt on the hook next to the door.

"Hey Dad!" Bella called back. "There's a sandwich for you in the fridge."

"Thanks kid," he said as he opened the refrigerator and found the promised food. Grabbing the plate and a handful of potato chips from a bag, he joined Bella on the couch. Looking her over, he was surprised by what he saw. For the first time in months she looked truly happy.

"What?" Bella asked, noticing his scrutiny.

"Nothing…you just seem…in good spirits. Something happen?"

Bella smiled. "Yeah. Finished the first part of my project."

"That's great Bells," Charlie said. "When do I get so see what you've been up to?"

"I'll show you after dinner dad, "she said. "It's really cool."

"I'm sure it is," replied as he dug into his sandwich, turning his attention to the TV. She was watching some mindless sitcom that didn't really interest him, but he watched it nonetheless. It was just nice to have Bella back and socializing with him.

After they finished eating, and Bella had washed and dried their plates, Charlie followed her up the stairs to her room. He had gotten used to her room looking like the 'Geek Squad' had blown up all over it, so he wasn't shocked to see bits of computer pieces, circuit boards, wires, and such laying around. But it did seem that a lot of it had been reassembled into something resembling a computer, albeit a very complicated looking one.

"It's mostly voice activated now," Bella was explaining as she moved some spare parts off of the work space. "Though I don't have the voice response programmed yet. I need to find a voice I like first."

"Wait a minute," Charlie interrupted. "Are you saying you can talk to it and it'll do things?" That seemed a bit beyond him.

"I told you it was cool," Bella responded with a laugh. "Artificial intelligence." Turning towards a small blank screen off to the side of the main computer, she spoke again. "Hello Twain, you there?"

"You named it…" Charlie stopped as he saw the screen flash on, words filling out as if someone were typing as he read.

'Good evening Ms. Bella.' It spelled out as Charlie gazed dumbfounded at the screen.

"Twain, this is Charlie, my dad." Looking over at him she grinned at the look on his face. "Say hi dad."

"Um…hello…Twain."

'Good evening Charlie. It is a pleasure to meet you.'

"Bells, that's…amazing," he stuttered, looking at his daughter in a new light. "Can it...see me?"

Pointing to the top of the main monitor, she replied, "Yeah, he's got a camera so he can see who's in the room. And he remembers who he sees, so if you come in here again, he'll recognize you. When I get the voice response up, you won't have to read his answers either. He'll be able to speak aloud. And watch this. I got a LCD touch screen," she reached up a hand towards the main monitor as she spoke. Touching the screen it blazed to life, putting up what appeared to be a technical blueprint, though for what, Charlie couldn't guess. "See," Bella continued, "I can manipulate the image, move it around, and look at it just by touching the screen. Eventually I want to get the parts to make an interactive 3D hologram generator for it."

The smaller screen flashed again, calling their attention back. 'This is a list of the materials you must acquire to create a functional 3D hologram generator.' As it finished, the printer on the other side of the desk came to life, spilling out a page with the list of items.

"Wow Bells, that's really something else," Charlie said as he moved to leave the room. "I gotta go shower and clean up, but I'm really impressed with what you've done."

"Thanks dad," Bella said with a smile as she turned back towards the computer.

"One question though. Why did you name it Twain?"

Bella shrugged her shoulders and grinned. "It's an acronym actually. It stands for 'Techonology Without An Interesting Name'."

"Ah, I see," Charlie responded as he moved out of the room. "Goodnight Bells."

"Night Dad."

'I think he was very confused Ms. Bella.' Twain told her through his readouts.

Laughing, Bella replied, "I think you're right Twain, but just because he doesn't really understand basic computers, let alone the concept of artificial intelligence." As she spoke she grabbed the printout of items that Twain had provided a few minutes before. "Some of this stuff will be very expensive. I might need to get a part time job. I can't keep asking Charlie to buy me all these parts."

'A decent idea Ms. Bella. I am sure he would be pleased with that thoughtfulness.'

"I think so too." Yawning, Bella flicked off the main screen. "I've got to get some sleep Twain. Go ahead and power down for the night."

'Yes Ms. Bella. Good night.'

"Good night Twain."

The next morning at school, Bella walked around with a tape recorder, letting it record the sounds of the students around her laughing and talking. It was one idea she had had about giving Twain a voice. Perhaps with a sampling of other voices, he could create a voice for himself based on a composite of other voices. She wasn't sure how it would work, but it was something to try. And so she was sitting at one of the cafeteria tables for first bell just watching everyone around her.

"Bella!" Angela called as she and Eric came up to where she was sitting. "Eric found the coolest thing, we thought you'd be interested!"

"Morning guys," Bella responded with a small smile. "What is it?"

Eric produced a flyer that he had obviously torn out of some magazine and layed it out in front of her. "I found this in one of my techonology magazines, and thought of you."

Bella looked over the page, recognizing the coporate logo emblazoned across the top. "Stark Industries..." she said as she looked over the rest of the page.

"Yeah," Eric said as he practically bounced in his seat. "They're holding a kind of technology fair for high school students to show off their skills, and the top prize is a scholarship to study at a top school, and an internship at the Stark Industries headquarters in Los Angeles!"

"Wow, that's definately pretty intersting." Bella said.

"You should totally go for it Bella!" Angela said as she leaned across the table towards her best friend. "You could definately win with what you can do now! And just think of the oppurtunities it would open up for you!"

"Maybe..."

Author's Note: There ya go...now Bella just may be on her way to LA. Tony is in the next chapter, I promise. lol

Thanks to everyone for the great response to the first part of "Protect My Heart"!