Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Stephenie Meyer created it all.

A/N: Keep in mind that the story line changed when Bella went with Laurent, so Bella never went to Volterra, and never met the Volturi. Neither did Edward, he only knows what Carlisle has told him and Bella doesn't know much more than what Edward's told her and her fear is not of the Volturi necessarily, but for her father and Jacob.

This chapter covers material from chapters 19, 20, and part of 21 from Edward's perspective, so it's kind of long. I was ready to move forward but Edward told me I wasn't getting it right and demanded to speak. That's okay, I'll crawl inside Edward's mind any day : ) Actually, it was Chewie4370 who told me I wasn't getting it right as she was pre-reading the original chapter 22 that was told from Bella's perspective.

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Chapter 22: Edward- Unexpected

I knew they'd be trouble the moment they were introduced, I'm talking about Bella and Tanya. As we drove to Denali after we left Forks, Laurent and I told her and Jacob all about the Denali coven and their habits concerning men. Of course, I never saw Bella's silent contemplation as we continued our travels. As I said, they were trouble.

The first thing Bella said to Tanya after being introduce, she leaned over and whispered in her ear, I barely heard her say, "I'm going to need your help." Tanya peeked at me quickly and Bella gave a barely perceptible nod. I watch in horror as they ran away to "hunt".

Hours later, I was sitting on the love seat reading a book when Bella returned but Tanya didn't. Alice was humming something ridiculous to block her thoughts from me and Bella came and gave me a quick kiss before I watched as she snuggle up to Laurent on the couch. It wasn't anything that they wouldn't normally do, but something about it felt different and I could feel the jealousy bubble up in my stomach. I wondered if she was doing it intentionally. I pretended to read but kept my mind focused on Alice and on Laurent thoughts. One of them had to crack, something was definitely going on...

Alice got a quick vision of something before she reined in it and blocked me out again. All I could see was Tanya coming home and getting something out of the trunk of her car.

Alice jumped up and suggested that we go hunting together. She begged and begged me to go with her. I kept refusing, if something was going on, I wanted to be here to see it.

I'll tell you what's going on... She promised

I decided to take my chances, Alice couldn't hide her thoughts from me all night. We ran to a hunting spot that we had found a few decades ago before Alice told me that she wasn't going to tell me a thing, only that it was going to be good and then she just laughed hysterically. If she wasn't going to tell me anything, I was going back. I didn't really need to hunt right now.

I made my way back to the house and actually came up on the house sooner than I expected because I was listening for the thoughts. No one was home. As I got closer I heard music being softly played and... fire? I entered the house and followed the sound of the music all the way to my room. I looked around the room, it looked as if Tanya had turned the room into her own seduction playground.

There were candles flickering, massage oils laid out, and scattered flower petals. I started to leave, Tanya would probably be returning with someone soon. As I turned, I saw Bella leaning against the closet door watching me with amusement. I think I was hard from the very second I saw her in my periphery. She had this light blue lace demi-cup baby doll top with a matching thong. Her hair spilled down her shoulders begging to be tucked behind her ears. I couldn't reconcile the temptress in front of me with the Bella that I always knew.

She slowly stalked towards with a mischievous look in her eyes and I'd be damned if I could look away. She began to visually explore my body and as soon as she landed below my waist, her smile grew. I was frozen as she reached out to me and ran her hands up my abs and placed them on my chest. She inched closer and slipped one hand behind my neck and pulled my face down to hers but she didn't kiss me. She continued to my ear where she sucked the lobe in between her teeth and then trailed her tongue up the outer shell before moaning seductively in my ear.

I had her on the bed before I even knew what was happening. Before I could retain my composure, my tongue was exploring her mouth while my hands explored her body. I was drunk on her scent and she wrapped her legs around me leaving just enough space for her to begin to undo my pants. Hearing the zipper's noise brought me back to my senses.

"Bella," I groaned, "we can't do this. I told you I want to wait until you're my wife." I loosened myself from her grip and laid out beside her. I found myself going from being completely aroused to upset that she actually did all this to go against my wishes. I didn't get a chance to stay upset for long because she started crying. I couldn't stand to see her cry so I tried to comfort her. She wouldn't talk to me, she just rolled off the bed and got dressed and ran from the house. There was no doubt in my mind that she would go find Laurent, where ever he was, and confide in him instead. I was okay with.

That was the first time she seriously tried to seduce me.

After that, all attempts were much more subtle. "Edward, can you get my this or that," she'd call from the shower. I made the mistake the first time of peeking in as I handed it to her. The bubbles as they ran down her wet body hypnotized me, she asked me if I wanted to join her. I couldn't begin to tell you how close I was to almost taking her up on the offer. After that, I was more careful not to peek in anymore but it didn't stop her from requesting things. I swear she'd put her shampoo bottle on the counter before she got in just so that I would have to come in and help her get it. One time she needed a towel and when I returned with the towel she had the shower curtain wide open. She was killing me.

"I swear your body is more tempting to me now than your blood ever was," I'd told her.

The last straw came a few months ago when we were hunting, and really this time was really as much my fault, more than it was hers. I had just finished draining an elk and I was watching as Bella delicately wrapped her limbs around the elk she was drinking from. Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind, I wanted her legs wrapped around me. As soon as she pushed the animal off her I was on top of her kissing her and pulling at the seams of her clothing, of course she wasn't doing anything to stop me and it didn't help that both of us were high on fresh blood. I was tearing at my own clothes next and I couldn't think straight, why was it that we weren't supposed to be doing this? I couldn't remember. Only when I looked down at her shredded white shirt did I begin to regain awareness, I remembered that I would be upset with myself if I didn't wait.

I kissed her one last time before pulling away, "I promise you Bella, when we do this on our wedding night it will be amazing but I don't want our first time to be out here in the middle of the forest or up against a tree," She tried to interrupt me but I pressed on, "I want it to be more special than that."

She pouted, I suppose it's something I will never understand about the time the Bella grew up in. I decided right then that we shouldn't hunt together until we were married.

"I promise that as soon as you can handle to be around humans, specifically Charlie, so that he can walk you down the aisle, we can get married."

After that, Bella focused more of her attention on the boxes that arrived from the Goodwill. I wont say that she didn't try any more seduction attempt, but they were a little more sporadic now.

One day about six months after we moved here, Alice and I were hunting when she got the phone call from Bella saying that she got the box from the UPS man and to begin the wedding plans. As soon as Alice got off the phone she got in a vision. It our wedding, there were white chairs on a beach, it looked to be Isle Esme. The Denalis and Jacob sat on one side and the Cullens sat on the other. I was waiting at the end of the makeshift aisle with Emmett to officiate and Bella was being walked down the aisle by Laurent. Charlie was nowhere to be seen.

That was when I first knew that Charlie would most likely die before we ever got a chance to be married. The vision was still hazy, but it was a good possibility that it was what would happen.

When Charlie arrived a few weeks later, I struggled to keep my composure and not alert Bella to the fact that something may not be right. Tanya took a liking to Charlie and I wouldn't feel like a gentleman if I repeated some of the thoughts in her head. It wasn't long before Charlie's thoughts weren't the most gentlemanly either.

"At least you're not hearing their thoughts." I told her.

"Their thoughts?"

"Oh yeah, both of them. You know it's been a really time since he's been with anyone." I watched as she crammed her fingers in her ears and hummed to drown out my words.

"Can we please just go for a run?" she begged.

I gladly jumped at the idea of going for a run when Bella suggested, I'd be lying if I said I didn't provoke her by mentioning some of his thoughts. No child wants to hear that of their own parents.

However, If I had known how things were going to go after this, I wouldn't have suggested her leaving her father. I would have sat on that couch and took it, just like I always do. As we found our way to the frozen lake I was only thinking finding a moment alone with Bella. It had been a while since she's tried to do anything to seduce me, maybe it was the promise of the upcoming wedding. So when she started kissing me, I wanted, in a way, to reward her for being good and I let the kiss go on longer than I normally would have and I let myself get distracted.

It been a while since I've been home.

It only took me a fraction of a second to decipher the voices, it was Irina and some member of the Volturi guard. I pushed at Bella as she moved closer to me, I couldn't worry about her feelings right now.

"Ugh! I swear you do that for ascetics!" She whined, but I filed the thought away for later consideration.

"Shhh, somebody's coming." I needed to hear a little more just to be sure.

It's so secluded here, where am I supposed to find a human? That's okay, Bella's father will suffice. He's going to die anyways.

"Oh, shit! We have to go!" My body was in motion almost before my mind was and I grabbed Bella and ran, not for our lives, but for the sake of her fathers. This was the catalyst that I had been dreading.

We arrived at the house in no time, but I still feared that Irina and Demetri (I heard her think his name) had gotten there before us. I looked around for Charlie and I saw him through Tanya's thoughts sitting on the guest bed.

I called for her and Laurent so that I could speak with them outside. I could see Bella worrying and it killed me that she would find out like this. I sat her on the couch and followed Laurent out and waited for Tanya to arrive, all the while listening as the guard's thoughts got closer and closer to the house.

Huh, Laurent thought, that's an odd pairing, what do we have in common?

"Actually Laurent, a few things," I said, more as something to fill the time with instead of worrying.

When Tanya stepped out onto the porch I began speaking quickly, "There is a small Volturi Guard coming, apparently they heard about the upcoming wedding and Aro sent them, I couldn't tell why just yet. The problem is that it's Demetri and Irina. Irina isn't too happy about the thought of seeing you, and she doesn't know about Jacob."

"Not to be callous, but what does this have to do with me?" Tanya asked.

"I need you to run with Charlie, this might get ugly and I don't want any humans around for the Volturi to use against us. That's includes Jacob, Laurent. We definitely don't want the Volturi to be aware of any Vampire-Werewolf alliance. It's not safe. I wish I could explain more, but you guys need to go now. The guard is less than a mile and a half out. We can't take a chance that Demetri will be able to track Charlie or Jacob."

Tanya's thoughts took me by surprise, Nobody's going to kill my human. My Charlie.

I watched as the four that were leaving packed a small amount of things and left. It was curious to see how disappointed that Laurent was in himself when he left Bella there on the couch broken. He really was a good guy.

No sooner had Laurent and Tanya left with Jacob and Charlie, I had the house was buzzing with activity. Things were being removed and put in the garage, food was taken out of the fridge, and couches were being moved back to where they sat when Irina lived here. The couch where Jacob and Laurent often sat was removed completely.

I crouched down in front of where Bella sat on the couch and whispered almost too low for anyone to hear. "Come on, love, you've got to perk up. Just for now." The Guard was too close for comfort

Knock, knock, knock.

Glances were thrown around the room, who should answer? The room occupants held their breaths as Carlisle and Eleazar stood and went to the door. We met strength with our own quiet strength. Part of me thought it was odd seeing a former resident of this house knocking at the door.

"Hello, Demetri, Irina," Eleazar said. "What can we do for you?"

"We come of Aro's behalf to attend Edward and Isabella's wedding," Demetri answered.

"Please come in, we'll show you to a room." The wedding wasn't for another couple of days, so the guard would be here until then.

They were in the room settling in for a long time, it was odd, they didn't make any noise at all other than their thoughts. It put everyone downstairs on edge, we were afraid to talk. Anything we said could be misconstrued. I truly felt like a criminal, there were rules and I had disobeyed them, it was me that confirmed to Charlie what we were. Now a guard was here to rectify the situation. Later in the day Demetri and Irina came down and sat with us, no one knew what to say. The silence made me feel all the more guilty but I wouldn't let it show on my face.

Finally, Kate spoke, "Irina, I can't believe you've returned to drinking from humans."

Irina shifted in her spot on the sofa. "When in Rome," she replied. In the corner of my eye I could see that Bella was very uncomfortable.

It was one of the main reasons that Carlisle left Volterra, because of their near forced lifestyle.

"And it's only natural," Demetri added. His gaze fell on my Bella for entirely too long, "Aro would love to meet you." I couldn't help the growl that bubbled in my chest, I tried with all my might to keep in inaudible.

Although I was monitoring all the thoughts in the room, Alice's vision caught my attention. Apparently Irina had a few things she wanted to say to Bella and no matter how Alice tried to deflect or distract her, Irina always found a way in Alice's visions to speak her mind to Bella. I let out a sharp puff of air as Alice's settled in next to Bella on the couch. For support, she said, and I nodded.

"That was quite a stunt you pulled when you ran away," her tone was like fire as she glared at Bella. I fought everything in me that told me to try to shield Bella from this, I knew it wouldn't help in the long run. "Your father was all over the news stations drawing attention to Forks and the Cullens. Naturally, when Forks was mentioned, a member of the guard was assigned to keep up with the case." the most boring assignment, if you ask me, she added mentally, "We almost sent a guard then to silence him. You should know that your father's actions have been closely watched." I could feel Bella shaking and I just about had enough of her tirade myself. "All his trips to the Cullen's while you still lived in Forks, and even his most recent trip here to Denali. Do you want to expose my sisters, too?"

"I... I... " Bella didn't know how to respond to the accusations.

"I noticed he's not here... hmmm. Do you really think you can hide him for long?" She mused.

"Charlie is away with Tanya," I answered truthfully enough.

"She always had a thing for men with facial hair," and you, of course. "By the way, where is your partner in crime, Bella?" She asked as she sneered her name. Why does Edward keep him around? Why would he protect Laurent? I don't understand. I know it's progressive, but maybe they're polyamorous. Edward doesn't seem like the type, but this slut has conned our kind into worse predicaments.

Her spoken tirade was unbearable, but her inner thoughts were downright offensive. Strangely enough, it was not Irina's thoughts that were the most unsettling, It was Demetri's. I reached for Bella's hand, "Come with me, I have some things to take care of before the wedding." The wedding that, most likely, would not be anytime soon.

While we ran, Bella asked me if Irina and Demetri were mated now. I told her no and that it seemed to me that Irina was still pining over Laurent.

We didn't stop until we were deep into the forest. The trees were thick here, some were no more than shoulder width apart. We slowed to accommodate the spacing of the trees until I couldn't run openly any further and I stopped and slumped down against a tree. My fist found its way to my hair.

"This is why I didn't want this!" I screamed. "I never had a choice, but you did. I left and it didn't even stop you from getting hurt, now Charlie's going to get killed-"

"WHAT!" She cut me off, I sometimes forget that not everyone hears everything that I hear. So I explained

"Aro knows, he sent Demetri to kill him. Demetri didn't even try to hide his thoughts. Irina is here for our wedding, and, of course, to give you a piece of her mind, but Demetri has no intentions of letting you father live long enough to walk you down the aisle."

"What do we do?" She asked in a small voice.

"We have to find Tanya and Charlie and tell him what has been decided, that way he has the option to make the choice..."

"What about Jake?" Her voice was pained and I stood and pulled her into a hug.

"Right now, we can't worry about him. The Volturi still isn't aware of him so we're going to try and keep it that way. Irina is thinking about finding Laurent while she's here, but we'll have to cross that bridge when we get there." For a moment before the storm, I held in my arms and breathed her scent. In that moment, I tried to just forget everything.

"Where are we going to find my dad?"

"Tanya should have her phone on her, I'll call her and tell her to wait for us where ever they are."

I pulled out my phone and began dialing Tanya's number. She answered the phone slightly out of breath but I wasn't about to ask. Quickly I told her everything I'd heard from Demetri. She told me that they headed Northwest and with that information I grabbed Bella's hand and began running. After only an hour of running, we caught up to Tanya's car pulled over in the tundra. Charlie sat in the front seat with a blanket wrapped around him and Tanya was leaning with her head on the steering wheel watching him. I couldn't get over the intensity of her thoughts. They got out of the car when we approached. Bella ran to her father and held onto him while Tanya and I held a half-silent conversation.

Please don't take him away, I l-love him, she begged me with her eyes.

"If that's how you feel then you should keep running with him, but you should discuss some things... options with him." It made me feel sick to offer this life to him as a kind of escape to death.

Is the Volturi's decision final, or is there anything I can do? I will if I have to but I don't want to change him, I like him warm.

I just shook my head, it was either death or life as a vampire. She let out an uncharacteristic cry.

I watched as Charlie moved away from Bella with the intention of going to comfort Tanya.

"There, there, don't cry, honey," he said as he squatted awkwardly beside her. She turned to cry into his lapel. What could make such a beautiful girl cry? He thought. He sank down against the car's bumper and pulled Tanya closer. I went and wrapped my arms around Bella, too.

"What's got you crying dear? Tell me. Remember I told you my problems." All his problems! That's why I can't have him! Tanya cried even harder, if it was possible.

"Shhh." He looked to me, What did he tell her? He wanted to know why I made her cry, but he didn't know I could hear his thoughts. I shook my head again and waited for Tanya to come around, she would tell him.

Although she still cried, she managed to speak through her tears, "Charlie, the Volturi wont let you live and... and I... want you to...live. I want you to stay... with me. I... I..." love you, she finished in her head. She shook her head furiously, she didn't want to say it aloud, she still didn't want to admit her feeling with such finality.

"I don't know what to say," he stammered.

"Say that you'll stay, they wont kill you if you're a vampire. Please stay with me? Please?" Tanya begged.

Charlie cocked his head to the side as if he were assessing her but couldn't find the right words. His thoughts were as muffles as ever but I could make out things like 'immortality' and 'never-changing' and 'blood', but the thing that made me lose any hope was when he decided that this life was 'not natural'. He frowned and cleared his throat and looked over to Bella and me.

"Um, can you kids give us a minute?" Tanya let out a small breathy giggle through her tears and seemed a little relieved. She was expecting him to tell her yes, that he'd stay with her.

"Sure, we'll be back at the house, call us if you need anything." I tried to keep the lump out of my voice as I spoke. I grabbed Bella's hand and began walking away until we were out of hearing range my.

"This is all my fault," I said when we stopped walking, she looked at me like I had sprouted a third head. I was about to explain that it was my fault that I didn't stay away the first time I ran away after meeting. I was about to say that I was my fault because I was the one who told him we were vampires. If I hadn't left after her disastrous birthday party, maybe she would still be human. Maybe.

But before I got the chance, she looked at me with this fierce expression on her face and said, "I don't want to hear, I don't want to talk about it right now, just kiss me do not stop until I tell you to."

Kiss her? Right now? Although it was inappropriate, I did. I let myself get lost like I had earlier. I felt her tongue enter my mouth and her hands snake up the back of my shirt.

"Now," she begged.

"Bella..." I moaned into her mouth.

"I know..." she said then began to give me small kisses between words, "you want... to wait... but life is being... stupid... can't you just give me... one ounce of happiness?" She hopped up and wrapped her legs around my waist. "Marry me with your body."

All I could think was that every decision I had made regarding Bella was wrong. Part of me wanted to push her away, I knew where this would lead but I was so afraid to be one more thing that would hurt her. Then I remembered her accusation that I only denied her this simply for the practice of self-denial. So I let her keep kissing me and I kept kissing her back. It was easy to lose myself when the only thing I could feel and see and smell was her. She surrounded me. My hands began to roam her body in a frenzy. I pulled at her jeans until the inside seam ripped open. I reason I had for doing this was wrong, I wanted to prove her wrong, I wanted to make her happy one last time, and I just wanted to forget everything and lose myself in her embrace.

I would have, too, if my phone hadn't begun its shrill ring.

Irina's cold voice said, "If you don't get that human here within the hour, I'm going to look for him myself."

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A/N: So again, a big thank you to Chewie4370 for pre-reading this chapter for me and talking me down. Chewie4370 writes Moon Light Lovers and its sequel Love and War. Check 'em out. You can find her profile link all over my reviews page, she's one of those awesome people that reviews every chapter.

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