Title: Protect My Heart

Author: Erik-in-CT

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

This is insane,

Tony thought to himself as he sat on the couch in his living room, Bella sitting next to him and curling against him. This bronze haired young man who had suddenly appeared in his bedroom and disrupted what was turning into a very fun evening had just finished explaining his bizarre story. If it wasn't for the fact that Bella seemed to know exactly what he was talking about and had taken very seriously his words, Tony might have thought the guy was completely nuts. As it was, he was still entertaining the notion. Vampires? Seriously? Hunting down Bella, and by association, himself?

"It is not insane," the man, Edward, said, glaring at Tony. The hostility in his voice and in his expression was evident, and Tony found himself easily returning the emotion. After a moment, Edward turned his gaze back to Bella. "As I said, you're not safe here..."

"I'm not leaving," Bella said firmly. "If Victoria really wants to find me that badly, she'd just follow anyway."

"I'll take care of Bella," Tony said, tightening his arm around Bella's shoulders, and taking a perverse delight in the scowl that crossed Edward's face at the motion.

"You wouldn't be any match for a vampire, even with your little toy suit," Edward growled. "You have no idea what you would be up against."

"Then why don't you share? I bet I'd surprise you."

"I doubt that," the vampire replied with a dark smirk, and suddenly disappeared in a motion to fast to see. Doing his best not to let his surprise register in his expression, Tony glanced about, and nearly jumped when Edward reappeared behind him, an icy cold arm wrapped around and pressed none to gently against his throat.

"Edward!" Bella exclaimed, a note of fury in her voice. "Stop it." A heartbeat passed, and the pressure against his neck was gone, and Edward stepped back away from them. Giving Tony an apologetic look, Bella turned back towards Edward. "If you're so worried about it, why don't you find her?"

"She's been evading me," he replied, frustration leaking into his tone. "I've been trying to find her for awhile. I tracked her for several months until we ended up here, and found you. And for the last week we've been playing a game of cat and mouse. She never gets close enough for me to catch."

"Apparently you're not much of a match for this Victoria either," Tony said under his breath, earning him a glare from Edward, and a poke in the side from Bella.

"You behave too, Tony," she said. "Seriously, you two are acting like a couple of middle school brats."

Tony gave her one of his customary smirks. "Sorry babe," he said quietly. "I'll be good."

"I doubt you can," she replied, but smiled slightly at him. He heard another low growl from Edward behind him, and delighted in it.

"If I remember my vampire lore correctly, Bella should be safe enough during the day. And then you can just flap around at night and watch for this woman." Tony said over his shoulder.

"Tony," Bella said with a roll of her eyes.

"Daytime doesn't make any difference," Edward said, his voice strained. "Sunlight doesn't bother us. That's just a myth."

"Can we just try to find a way for you two to work together for a little while?" Bella asked with a sigh.

Bella was beginning to regret suggesting they work together. Between the veiled insults, and the angry glares, she was surprised Tony and Edward hadn't tried to kill each other yet. And she figured the only reason they hadn't was that because it might upset her. And they would be right of course. And as for herself, she was fighting an internal battle that was tearing her apart. She knew she had fallen hard for Tony, and had been happier than she could remember when she was with him, and then Edward showed up again. She wasn't so sure about her feelings towards the vampire anymore. She had once thought that she loved him, and thought she couldn't live without him, but now those feelings had cooled. Maybe she had just been entranced by the mystery, and by the magic of a world she couldn't be a part of.

They had moved their talk down into the workshop of Tony's home, and she sat nearby as Edward explained how to kill Victoria. And now Tony, with help from Jarvis, was trying to figure a way to modify his armor (again) to incorporate ideas that had sprung from their discussion. With Tony engrossed in his work again, the conversation had died, and Bella shifted uncomfortably in the awkward silence.

"Can we talk?" Edward said quietly, moving to stand next to Bella in the little sitting area of the workshop. Glancing back at Tony and seeing he wasn't paying attention to them at all anymore, she sighed and nodded. Might as well get the inevitable out of the way. "I didn't come here to cause you pain," he said as he sat in a chair next to her. "I want you to be happy."

"So you've said," she replied, looking at the floor by her feet. "Do you have any idea how much it hurt me when you left?" She heard him sigh, and glanced up. He looked pained, as if he might actually be hurting as much as she had. "I was starting to get myself back together. I was beginning to be happy here."

"I know," he said. "I could tell."

"Then why are you acting as if it makes you so mad? Why are you being so...so horrible to Tony? If my happiness is what you wanted to desperately?"

For a moment, he remained silent, then he caught her eye and spoke in a low voice, thick with emotion. "I didn't realize how...hard it would be to watch you be happy with someone else. Despite everything I said before, the things I said when I left, it hurt me just as badly to leave you behind. I thought I was doing the right thing by leaving. Giving you the chance for a normal life, a safe life."

"I seem incapable of having a 'safe' life," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"So it would seem."

"Edward," she began, then stopped. She tried to gather her scattered thoughts, and make sense of the feelings rushing through her. He seemed to realize she needed a moment and waited for her to speak again. She looked up at him for a moment, then over his shoulder towards Tony, who was working with the holotable. Looking back at Edward she sighed and spoke softly. "I still love you," she said. "But it's not the same anymore. "I don't think it can ever be that way again. Not after everything that's happened. I...I don't know what's happening with me now, where this thing with Tony will go...but I know I have to give myself a chance to see. I've been...so happy with him, and with being here, and I have to let things fall into place for me. And I need you to respect that Edward."

"I understand," Edward said quietly. For a moment they were silent, then Edward sighed and turned his eyes to the floor. "He and I are alike in one way," he said. "We both care for you very much, and want to protect you."

She gave him a small smile. "Well let's use that as a start, and maybe we can work together without you two at each other's throats."

He returned her smile, and nodded. "I'll try."

"Hey you two," Tony called out, catching their attetion. Bella glanced up at him with a smile as he moved towards them. "Think I might have something figured out here. As soon as the boys finish machining the parts I can put them on the suit. And then we can go on a little hunting trip."

A few hours later, Bella found herself sitting alone in Tony's workshop. He had finished putting together his latest idea, and Edward had approved of his designs, even going so far as to commend Tony on his inivativeness in finding a way to electronically track a vampire's movements. They had decided to take it for a test run, leaving Bella in the safety of the workshop, which had a lockdown mode that they felt reasonable secure enough since they wouldn't be going too far. Still, she felt a little uneasy at the thought of being left alone. Or almost alone.

"Ms. Swan," Jarvis said, drawing her out of her thoughts.

"Just 'Bella' please, Jarvis," she said. "What's up?"

"As you wish Bella," replied the AI. "I thought you might wish to know that Mr. Stark seems to be having luck with his new device. The tests so far show positive results."

"That's good to know," she said, appreciating that Jarvis was trying to ease her nerves. "I just hate being alone. I mean, I know you're here, but it's different. I'd like having someone actually here. But I know they both had to go out to test the equipment."

For a moment there was no response, then Bella saw a flicker out of the corner of her eye. Turning her head, she saw an image start to appear on the holotable that Tony used for his work. After a moment it came together, and the holographic figure of a man took form, sitting cross legged on the glass top. Slender, and tall if he were to stand, with white-blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin, and dressed in a very formal black suit and tie, he looked very...regal. He smiled gently at her. "I know it is not the same as having someone physically here, but I thought perhaps it would help," the man spoke with Jarvis' voice.

"Oh wow Jarvis," she said, moving her chair closer to the table. "That is really cool. You are quite handsome, if I may say so."

"Thank you Bella," he replied. "I don't often have need to use my holographic form, but I've developed it for the times when it might be useful. And it seems it was as well that I did."

"I'm glad you did," she said. "It does help having a face to go with a voice. You look just like I would have pictured from your voice. Did you develop the image yourself, or did Tony..?"

"I created the image," he said. "I endeavored to cultivate an image that fit properly with my position," he gave a wan smile, "as Mr. Stark's assistant."

She laughed. "I think you're more than that. He seems quite fond of you, from the way he's talked about you when he was helping me with my own AI program."

"It is nice to know I am appreciated," he replied with a smirk that reminded her of Tony when he was being snarky. She was quite amused how the two shared similar qualities like that, but supposed it came from the fact that Tony had programmed Jarvis. But still, Jarvis did seem to be a seperate person on his own. She wondered vaguely just how advanced his programming was, but would never ask. It wasn't her business. "Mr. Stark and Mr. Cullen are on their way back," he said, drawing her attention away from her musings.

"Already?"

"Their tests went very well."

"Well, that's good to know," she said. "Maybe we aren't in as bad of trouble as we thought." She heard a rumbling from behind her, and turned and watched as Tony in the Iron Man armor flew down the entry way and into the workshop, followed closely by Edward running in after him. Tony landed, the faceplate of the armor's helmet flipping up, and he smiled at her.

"So far so good," he said. "Hey Jarvis," he added, glancing behind her at the holo image of his AI.

"Hello Mr. Stark," Jarvis said with a nod of his head. "I was just keeping Ms. Swan company while we waited for your return."

"Ah, I see," Tony said as he moved towards the loading deck to remove the armor. "If we ever get to that upgrade we were talking about to install the projectors into the workshop floor, you won't be confined to that table."

"One thing at a time, sir," Jarvis replied as he started up the robotic arms to disassemble and store the suit in the platform.

Author's Note

I'm sorry I missed the weekend update! Please don't lynch me! lol Spent the end of last week, and the weekend, moving into our new house with my roommate, so things were a bit crazy. But here's a nice long chapter to make up for it!

I just had to add some more Jarvis in the story, cause he wasn't getting nearly enough love, and I felt bad.

I hope you enjoyed this part! Please read and review!

~much love~