Baby You Can Stop Running
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, or the parts that I borrowed from.

Chapter Thirteen

BPOV

Right now, I really wished Forks were larger than the three square miles that it made up. It had been a habit I picked up living in Palo Alto, the need to mindlessly drive around town in order to clear my thoughts and right now, I had a lot of thoughts and three miles just weren't enough. I aimed the truck North, at least a drive to Port Angeles would be pretty, it would be long, and I could stop at one of the bookstores so I would have something to occupy my thoughts, at the least, keep him from appearing in my thoughts as much as he was. How was it that he had managed to weasel his way into my mind the way that he had? The rain poured down on the truck and I turned the wipers on as I began my drive, thinking only for a moment that I should at least tell Emmett where I was going.

I pulled off the 101 for a moment, my hand reached into my purse and pulled the small phone out. There had been five missed calls and as I looked at the call log, I noticed that three of them were from Jacob. That, in and of itself, meant that someone had given him my number. Two guesses to figure out who that was. I made a mental note to kill Jessica the next time I saw her. I cleared the screen, I'd deal with the missed calls later, besides, Jacob should have known better, I told him to leave me alone. Really, right now that was all I needed, space and time to think.

"Hey Bells… Where are you?" His voice was quiet, as though he was hiding from something, or someone.

"Em? Why are you so quiet?" I asked.

"I'm kind of hiding."

"From what?"

"Rose…" I tried hard not to laugh but I couldn't help it as I began to picture my big burly brother hiding from his model like girlfriend. "It's not funny… She's insatiable today and I'm tired."

"Are you really saying you can't handle the sex? Are you really turning down sex?" My voice gave away my surprise. I had never heard such words uttered from the mouth of my older brother.

"We've been at it since last night… I don't think I can take any more physically…"

"Shhh Em. I really don't need to hear the details of your sex life."

"Please Bella come home so I have an excuse to come out of hiding."

"I was on my way to Port Angeles." I complained, not really wanting to turn around. I longed for the silence of the car, to be left alone with only my thoughts. "I can't just turn around."

"Fine then I'll tell her that you want us to meet you there."

"I really just want to be alone Emmett." I sighed, looking out the window, watching as a few cars passed splashing water all over my side window.

"You won't have to bother with us… We can meet up for dinner… I just need to get her out of this house." I sighed, loud enough for him to hear it and the begging started again.

"Please Bella? I'll owe you big."

"Fine…" I relented.

"We'll meet you at La Bella Italia at 7." He said the smile apparent in his voice and he hung up before I could protest. I tossed the phone on the seat and pulled back onto the road; I would have exactly four hours to myself before I had to witness the loving, over sexed couple. Exactly four hours to prepare myself, and I would need every single one of them.

I heard my familiar ring tone only a few moments after I had turned back onto the road and I saw the number light the screen. I thought very seriously about opening the window and tossing it out, never having to feel the sense of dread that took over my body as his name lit up the screen. Why was he being so relentless? Why did he feel that after all these years he could just show up in my life and act like nothing was wrong? Did he really believe that things could go back to how they once were? How they had been before I was pregnant. I wanted to scream, and yell and cry and, as much as I hated to admit it to myself, I wanted to be in Edwards presence, more exactly, in his arms.

There he was again, inserted into my life, into my thoughts without a second glance. He was unlike anyone I had ever met before and the way that he seemed to flood my thoughts was overwhelming. My one and only other relationship, had never stirred up these kinds of feelings and I even had seriously believed that I had loved Jake. Still, the more I compared them, the more I realized that with Jake, I had never felt the electricity that seemed to pulse through me the way it did when Edward touched me. Never before had one single person inhabited my mind to the point of obsession.

He seemed perfect in every way, and it was frustrating. How could someone like him, someone as devastatingly handsome, as intelligent, as seemingly selfless as him ever see anything more than just plain me? He was hard to read however, and though I sensed that he was seemingly kind, at times I wondered what he really thought what was really going through his mind. From my experience he was warm one minute and cold another. I thought directly of my night at their house. How quickly he had come to the door to help me, how his hands had encircled my shoulders as he placed his jacket over them and how once he realized how long he had lingered, how quickly he corrected himself. Then there was the look that had fallen over his beautiful face when I had come down later that night to find him sitting at his piano, the one that seemed to struggle with whether or not he could stay with me, and yet, he did. And lunch, he had insisted that I join him yet as I tried to understand him more, to learn more about him, he was so curt.

Still, there was something about him, something that seemed to tell me that he was troubled, as though he understood my own pain in a way that I never thought anyone else could. Maybe that was why he was reluctant to talk to me. Two broken people trying to form any kind of relationship was never helpful. It was a perfect recipe for self destruction; how could you possibly help someone else when you couldn't even help yourself? Still, I longed to know what was plaguing him, what it was behind those vibrant eyes that seemed to darken them at times.

Scary… He has asked me if I thought he could be scary. As my mind switched to that conversation, I pictured his face in my mind, the look that had fallen across it and I was startled for a moment. In the heat of the moment I had failed to notice the slight hint of hope that was then replaced with anguish. Did he want me to call him a monster? It didn't matter though because when I thought of him, of his voice, his hypnotic eyes, the magnetic force of his personality, I wanted nothing more than to be with him, regardless of what he might have thought of himself.

Parking in Port Angeles was never a problem. The small tourist trap of a town had plenty of it and since October wasn't peak tourist season, there was more than enough parking. I pulled off onto one of the main roads thanking my lucky stars that I didn't have to parallel park, it wasn't exactly one of my strong suits. The rain had stopped around Crescent Lake, but as I stepped out of the truck, I could smell the wet ground and, though there had been a time that I hated it, it was oddly comforting. I felt, if even for the briefest a moments, a sense of familiarity, a sense that I was home and strangely happy about that. After so many years spent running from everything, being back, smelling the familiar scents, seeing the familiar, unchanging scenery, made me feel as though everything was going to be alright; Charlie would push through this and survive, I would come to terms with my past and finally come clean to Jake about it all, and most importantly, I would find the closure I needed to move on with my life.

I meandered through the streets, which were slowly filling up with the end-of-workday traffic as I made my way downtown, my eyes searching for the familiar sign of the bookstore that I often frequented when I lived here. I wasn't paying as much attention as I should to where I was going; I was wrestling with despair. I was trying to shard not to think about him, and what he had said… and more than anything trying to beat down my hopes that he wouldn't go to Seattle, and that tomorrow I would find him at the hospital, looking after Charlie. In my daydream, he was smiling his crooked, hypnotizing smile my way as I walked into the room… I looked up and to my left and I wished I hadn't, sitting there, parked across the street was someone's silver Volvo and it all came crashing down on me. Stupid, unreliable doctor… There was no way he was here; I needed to squish that new hope before I had the chance to fester.

I walked into the familiar bookstore, the scent of new books overwhelmed me for a minute. Still, it was a scent that I would never be able to hate, like the familiarity of a town untouched, it was comforting. I wondered for a moment how long some of those books had been on the shelves as I made my way to the classics, some were probably the same ones that had been there since my last visit. My fingers brushed over the covers as I read through the titles that they had available; for a moment I contemplated buying something contemporary as I had already ready through so many of the classics, but I realized that wasn't why I was here. Contemporary novels, though interesting, would not prove me with the distractions that Austen, Shakespeare, Hardy, or the Bronte sisters would provide for me. And I needed, more than anything else, distractions from the reality that I was coming to accept as my own.

I pulled out a new copy of Wuthering Heights, a novel that I had ready countless times, so many so that my own copy, which was tucked neatly away in the bookshelf at Charlie's house, was falling apart, the pages now falling loosely from the paperback binding. I tucked the book under my arm as I continued to scan the titles, my eyes landing on Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Ubervilles. Hardy spoke with such clarity the tale of the tragic, ruined woman and somehow, I seemed to understand, seemed to know exactly what that felt like. I pulled it from the shelf, adding it to my pile and deciding that two books would have to be enough, there were plenty more at home.

I walked back to the truck, still having a few hours to waste before meeting with Emmett and Rosalie, and tossed the bag that contained my two new books onto the seat. I glanced briefly up at the sky, watching as the dark clouds rolled in, it would only be a matter of a few minutes to an hour before they released the moisture that was building up within them and I thought twice about going for a walk. Instead, I pulled out Tess and tucked the book into my purse, I would settle with finding a coffee shop to read for a little while. I press the lock down and slammed the door, watching as the rust flaked from the car and fell to the floor.

"Bella?" I heard my name called and I turned around, narrowly missing being hit by a truck as it passed, eliciting a gasp from the pixie haired girl across the street. I closed my eyes trying to block out the image that flooded my system: the one in which the large truck actually did hit me and I saw only one thing, Edwards face as a look of complete and utter terror washed over it, his words echoed in my mind. "Don't be offended, but you seem to be one of those people who attract accidents like a magnet. So… try not to hurt yourself? I won't be around to stitch you up." Apparently, it was barely four hours later and I was already finding myself in need of rescuing. What was it about Washington that made me completely vulnerable?

"Oh god Bella I'm so sorry!" Alice cried as she ran across the now dead road. Just my luck that there would actually be a car on the road when I'm distracted and now that I'm completely, totally acutely aware, there is no one. "Are you okay?"

She was by my side and I had managed to steady my heart slightly as she pulled me from the street to the sidewalk. Still, I was at a loss for words, unable to think of anything else but my luck, which of course, seemed to bring me back to him. Did he really think that I was incapable of not getting hurt? How could he know me so well? Had Emmett told him all about my clumsiness?

"Bella?" I heard her voice as it broke through my trance.

"Sorry."

"What are YOU apologizing for; I was the one who nearly got you killed! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I stated, my voice lower than I had anticipated but my heart was still racing, though for different reasons than before, this time around it was Edward related.

"Are you sure? You're not hurt or anything are you?"

"No I'm fine… Really Alice." I smiled. I noticed then that Jasper was there with her, hadn't Edward mentioned that he was traveling to Seattle with him? "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to go shopping and since Edward and Jazz are leaving tonight for Seattle, we figured that he could just meet us here for dinner and then they would travel north." She shrugged. "What are you doing here?"

"I needed to clear my mind." I held back the rest of my thoughts, the part that would have revealed that Edward was inhabiting them and that I found her brother completely and totally desirable and wondered if there was even a slight chance that he might feel the same way. Foolish though, I knew the answer to that. Edward Cullen would never feel the same way that I felt about him towards me. "Emmett and Rosalie were going to come down a little while later. No one really feels like cooking since Charlie isn't at the house and apparently Emmett has exhausted all the restaurants in Forks."

Alice smiled brightly, as though she was picturing the image in her head, or maybe something else as her smile faded quickly and she appeared pensive. "The three of you should join us and Edward tonight." I felt my cheeks color as she said Edwards name and I watched as she raised an eyebrow, unfortunately she had noticed that.

"I don't know…"

"Think about it! We are meeting at Bella Italia tonight at 7."

"It appears that I'll see you there regardless." She cocked her head to the side. "It's where I'm supposed to meet both Emmett and Rosalie."

"Perfect!" She smiled and I couldn't help but smile back, damn little pixie and her infectious smile. I hoped that she didn't take it the wrong way, that we would be joining them. Still though, the prospect of seeing Edward again lifted my spirits slightly and I looked down the road for a coffee shop. "Where are you off to?"

"I think I might walk down to the boardwalk, find a coffee shop or something and sit and read for a bit." I stated as though it was the most normal thing in the world, which, for me it was. The barista's at the Starbucks near my apartment knew me so well that they always had my drink waiting for me when I got there.

"By yourself?" She seemed to scrunch her nose at the comment and my eyes fell on Jasper who merely was looking around the town, his body language seemed to give away his discomfort.

"Sure."

"Come shopping with Jasper and I!"

"Thank you for the invite but I really do just want to read for a bit." I said, watching as her face fell slightly. "Besides, I'd only slow you down… I'm not really a very good shopping companion, I'd be complaining the whole time." It seemed to appease her slightly as she nodded.

"Okay, but I will see you tonight at dinner." It wasn't a question, at least, it didn't come out like one. Instead her words were demanding, as though I would be sorry if I didn't join them.

"We will see you at the restaurant, yes." I replied, letting her know that it didn't necessarily mean that we would be joining them. I wasn't sure what kind of a relationship Emmett had with Edward and Alice, and I wasn't sure how happy he would be if I had agreed to something without his knowledge.

She raised her eyebrows, surprised by my response. "I guess that will have to do for now." She linked her arm with Jaspers and began to walk down the street as I looked at their retreating backs. I wrestled with the decision to call out to her, to ask if Edward was already here in town but I refrained. Alice was very perceptive, much more than I would have liked to admit, and she would have seen through the comment. I felt a raindrop as it hit my forehead and began my walk towards the boardwalk, hoping to find somewhere warm and a shelter from the rain that was threatening to fall in any minute.

EPOV

I wanted to follow Bella, to make sure that she made it home but I had other obligations, ones that, although I went with reluctance (more so now that this angel had appeared in my life), I knew I had to follow through with. In my Bella induced daze, I had failed to hear the calls that had come in, three, all from Jasper asking where I was, the last saying that he and Alice were shopping in Port Angeles and that I could pick him up there.

I headed to Port Angles twenty minutes after dropping Bella off at the hospital, a small overnight bag packed for the night that Jasper I and would spent in Seattle. The rain was coming down hard and I knew that if I didn't get out soon, the wind would only blow them more towards the worst part of the drive, the five or so mile stretch by Lake Crescent which consisted of more twists and turns than I would have liked on such a narrow road, especially when it was slick.

My thoughts wandered as I gazed through the wet windshield. Bella was so different from all the other girls that I had ever known, who had ever thrown themselves at me and I couldn't help but wonder if that was part of the attraction. True, before her I had never found myself interested in anyone, but it seemed that her reserved personality, her complete unawareness of how wonderful, of how beautiful she was, was breathtaking. She had no idea what kind of things the stirred deep within me, things that had been dormant for so many years. She was selfless to the point of an extreme, always thinking about others before herself, and though it should have shocked me, I knew that it fit all too well with what little information I'd learned of her character. Her parents separation mixed with her irresponsible mother, had caused her to grow up early, to become the caretaker. She would make a wonderful mother.

I was shocked with the thought. Children. Did I want her to be the mother of my children? Yes… Stupid to even ask myself that. Would she even want me? I was unsure of that. Her protests of coming to lunch with me had served as a curveball; especially after the words I had heard her speak in her sleep. Still, I couldn't help but feel the glimmer of hope that she would want me. Her apparent lack of enthusiasm when I had told her that I wouldn't be at the hospital had warmed me like I never thought it would. She seemed upset about that, distraught that she might not see me for a few days. Still, it couldn't compare to the ache that I was feeling knowing I wouldn't see her, that I couldn't hear her beautiful voice, smell her intoxicating scent, listen to the words that she spoke. I wanted nothing more than to get to know her and this trip to Seattle was interrupting it, still, I owed Jasper and I knew how important this was to him.

Pulling into the town I saw the familiar truck and I felt the palpitations in my heart as I realized she had not gone home but had taken a drive here. She drove here, to Port Angeles, in that kind of rain. My concern for her well being seemed stronger than ever, I could see her, the slick of the road against the rubber of the tires, the tires hydroplaning as she took the curve, the truck submerged within the cool, crystal blue waters of the large lake. I was frightened, not because I was finding myself concerned, but more as what would happen if anything had happened to her. How could I ever cope with her not here? The world was already a bleak, depressing place, her presence was the only thing that seemed to bring any kind of brightness, any light to my dark world and I wasn't sure what I would do if that sun was never to rise again.

I parked a few blocks down, slouching down in the car as my eyes fell on her, watching as she stumbled along the road. Even on paved cement she still couldn't find steady footing and I smiled for a moment, until I thought of how hurt she could get in the process. Her file seemed to tell me that she always seemed to get hurt; a broken arm here, a broken leg there, deep gashes… It was all too much to bear. As she walked closer I watched a scowl appear on her face as she looked at the car. For a brief moment I feared that she had seen me, though if she had, she chose to ignore me as she passed by, not bothering to even look into the window, where she could have seen me.

I wanted to follow her, but I refrained, choosing to call Jasper to let him know that I was there. I feared that if I didn't leave soon, if I saw Bella again, I wouldn't be able to get into the car and head East with Jasper.

"Where have you been?" His voice was demanding. Though I knew he loved Alice, I imagined he didn't enjoy being dragged around with her while she shopped.

"Sorry… I was taking care of the sick?"

He grunted, "Sure you were… I'd bet my life that you weren't anywhere near the sick."

"Technically I was checking on Mr. Swan…" Jasper knew the truth, knew my feelings, probably better than even I did.

"And I'm sure you didn't see Bella at all right?" I was silent as I began to think of my response.

"She is my patient." I responded wryly.

"Yea, sure… I'm sure that's the extent of your relationship." He grumbled. "Just hurry and get here so that I can get out of here, I'm not sure how much more shopping I can take."

"You realize that the reason we are going to Seattle is to go shopping right?"

"That's different… It's a future investment." He was vague though I hoped Alice wouldn't pick up on it, her sixth sense however always made that a probability.

"Don't remind me."

"Are you opposed of my plans?"

"If I were opposed would I really be going with you?"

"I suppose not."

"Where are you both?"

"I'm sitting down… She is trying more things on."

"And that would be where exactly?"

"Jazz, if that's who I think it is, tell Edward that we are staying for dinner… I'm having one of those feelings that is telling me that you both have to stay a little longer than you had planned. Plus, if it's what I think, it should be worth his while." I heard Alice call from wherever she was… Damn her 'clairvoyance' of course I already knew to what it was she was most likely speaking of.

"Did you catch that?" Jasper asked and I could hear the amused tone in his voice.

"Yes." I grumbled though I was once again fighting an inner battle with myself, the one that was happy to know that I would be seeing her, and the other that was afraid that if I saw her again that it would be a turning point, that I would never be able to leave her alone again, even if I knew it was the best option for her.

A/N:

I'm so sorry that it's taken so long to get a chapter out! It's been a VERY stressful week as my computer crashed and Dell has been completely unhelpful about it all… They sent me the WRONG disks to restore my computer and I'm still waiting for them (I've been to the point of tears on the phone with them as I'm being punished for their mistakes, again… This isn't the first time, though I'll never buy a Dell again… I'm so getting a Mac book pro next year)… Thankfully my mom took a trip up here to visit and she left me with her laptop. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to write anything and I've been itching to write.

So it's just a little bit of a filler chapter, setting up a few things for the encounter with the stalkers that she met in the actual book… It's also obviously, going to be the turning point in the Edward/Bella relationship, still they aren't really going to be together either just yet… It's still too early, but their friendship will be strengthened.

Thank you to everyone who continues to add this story to their alerts/favorites! And a special thanks to my awesome reviewers:

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I hope that everyone enjoys this chapter! Please please let me know what you think!

Also, for those who celebrate: Happy Halloween! It's going to be a crazy night so I might need a few days to post chapter fourteen as a recovery though I'm DEFINATLY looking forward to the extra hour of sleep on Sunday!