Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns it all.

Rated M for several reasons.

Chpt 5 Involved

BPOV

The last two weeks have flown by an' I have to say been far less unpleasant than I was expecting. That doesn't mean I am a convert to large coven life, just that so far it hasn't been anywhere as bad as I was expecting.

The main reason for this is Jasper. There are no end to that man's talents, even while he's busy consolidating his powerbase, Simon's been giving me a crash course in the lingo, he's still found plenty of time for me.

And not, as Pete would have everyone believe, because we're having sex all the time. Although we have been having a lot of sex, marriage has done wonders for his already impressive libido, we have also found time to just be. Hunting together, reading books, escaping into town to stroll around pretending to be human, normal. I don't know what he's said to the Guard, family, tribe, whatever. But we've had a surprising amount of time ourselves, without everyone else hanging around, even just the four of us. An' they're not so bad. I've been practising with some of the others who have gifts, there's no one quite the teacher Jonathan was but nevertheless they have been able to help me. Gradually our movie nights have been filling up, now the living room is packed to bursting with vampires, cuddled on the furniture, laid out on the floors or just standing, statue like, around the walls.

Pete an' Char are in their element. They love having all these additional vampires hanging around an' I've certainly seen a new side of Char. Head Gossip. She's absolutely awful, not malicious, just joyfully into everyone else's business. The Guard have taken to calling her Lady Chatterbox behind her back. At least they think it's behind her back, my sister misses nothing. When she isn't talking she's closeted away with Daniel, whose geeking skills apparently rival her own. Pete is in intelligence gathering heaven, he's taken over the tiny office in the Virginia house an' from there is busily inserting his fingers into every pie he can find.

As for me, I don't quite know where I fit yet. A sensation I recall from my increasingly remote human life. There's no one to fight, at the moment. I can't be Mother Hen, it isn't in my nature. I don't understand politics, although Simon is doing his best to teach me. So far there has been nothing for me to set my mystery solving skills on. When I'm not spending time with Jasper, my family or Simon, he's teaching me to fence, I increasingly find myself cleaning. Something I did a lot to fill up my empty human hours.

Demetri an' Jasper run our increasingly complex living requirements with smooth military efficiency. Guards get trained, fed an' given downtime. The kitchen is festooned with rotas for everything, some wag's even added one for latrine duty.

When all of the above aren't happening Jasper, Demetri an' Pete are either in meetings or on the phone negotiating. We've had no actual visitors, since no one knows where we are but there have been many telephone calls an' e-mails.

All in the all the atmosphere is surprisingly upbeat an' positive. Wonderful for Jasper, he's almost glowing. An' if he's happy, I'm happy.

So why am I sat in this tree, covertly watching cars flash past on the highway, an' studiously ignoring Simon, who is hanging upside down from a tree the other side of the road?

"Are we done thinking Mistress?" He asks. "I am becoming bored."

I flick out my shield, cutting his tree branch, an' smile as he plummets to the ground.

"Is this the kind of Mistress you will be?" He asks with amusement, spittin' out leaf mulch. "One who tortures her underlings?"

"Only the disrespectful ones." I snicker.

"Mistress, we have been here for two hours. If I see another Toyota Prius I may be forced to crush it."

"Simon, what's my job now?"

He regards me thoughtfully, waiting for the road to be empty before he darts across an' scales my tree.

"Job?"

"My role, what is my role in the new coven?"

"What was your role in your last coven?"

"I didn't have one, we were team, we did things together."

"And you do not now?"

"Well yes of course. But perhaps, not as much."

"What are the Master and My Lord Peter doing now?"

"Meeting with Demetri, discussing the responses from the covens, talking about what to do next, looking for threats, plottin'."

"And you do not feel they want your assistance?"

"Probably not, it's not like I know anythin' about it."

"No?" Simon smirks. "You surprise me Mistress. It is my understanding that is was you who uncovered Rutilio's plot, you who worked out Caius's identity, you who faked The Major's death and you who came up with the idea to use the humans to trap Aro."

"I had help." I mutter, strangely embarrassed.

"Of course. You worked as part of a good team."

What is it with these older vampires?

"Friend or Shrink?" I ask with a smile.

"Suitably impressed underling, Mistress."

"Will you please call me Bella?"

"No."

Jasper looks up, beautiful smile lighting up his face, as I slip into the dining room an' settle into a free chair.

"Well we're gonna to have to meet all these detractors at some point." Pete is saying in exasperation. "They need to know we are capable of enforcing our claim."

"Is there really any rush?" Jasper asks easily. "Don't have eternity to do all this?"

"J." Pete sighs. "Most of these vampires don't know who you are. The idea that you usurped Aro is powerful but abstract to them. They need to see you, talk to you and understand you, before they'll bow to you."

"How would Aro deal with issues like this?" Jasper turns to Demetri.

"The old fashioned way Master." Demetri smirks. "He would have sent someone like Caius or I to visit the miscreant and give them a 'bloody nose' to remember him by."

"There are a few too many of them for that." Jasper observes dryly.

"I take it not everyone has the warm fuzzies for The Cowboy coven?" I ask, attempting to lighten the atmosphere.

"I am not a 'Cowboy' Mistress." Demetri says a little stiffly. "I am a pirate."

"Lighten up Big D." Pete chuckles. "We'll get you on a horse as soon as we move, you'll love it. An' no lil sis, at the moment they seem to think we are just that, a bunch of cowboys. We need to find some way, preferably peacefully, to show 'em we're not."

"Didn't Char say there was a ballroom at the new place?" I ask.

"I think so." Jasper says, eying me curiously.

"Then summon 'em here. Have a huge party, diplomatic reception, whatever. Show 'em how united we are, how strong we are." I am really overusing the term 'whatever', makes me sound like a whiney teen.

"Royalty not rednecks?" Pete laughs.

"Exactly." That idea makes me smile. "An' anyone who thinks they're above turnin' up we can pay a visit to later."

"It is not a good idea to have all our strengths on display Mistress." Demetri says carefully looking from me to Jasper an' back again.

"I agree." Pete chips in. "Sweet thing, my BFF tells me we should hide your light under a bushel."

"A what?"

"He means darlin', that it ain't a good idea for everyone to know how strong you are."

"Why not?" I ask, surprised they even think I'm a strength never mind that they'd want to hide it.

"Your gift is very powerful Mistress." Demetri explains. "It could make you a target. As such you are both one of our greatest strengths and one of our greatest weaknesses."

Offended an' confused is a dangerous combination and I feel my temper rising.

"Darlin'." Jasper drawls. "What he means is, you are my greatest weakness."

Everyone jumps when the china bowl in the center of the table disappears in a puff of fine white powder.

"Demetri, bro." Pete says quietly. "It's time for us to leave."

Smirking at me Demetri follows him out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

"Wrong color?" Jasper asks quietly.

"It was fluted." I reply nonchalantly. "Too fussy."

Pushing his chair back from the table he pats his lap invitingly an' I flit around the table and climb onto it, automatically pressing my lips against his heart scar, stiffening slightly when he doesn't bury his nose in my hair.

"Demetri is a very straightforward military man." He says quietly. "He will say things as he sees 'em, it's his job."

"I'm not mad at him."

"You're mad at me?" He asks softly. "Because I maybe empathic but I'm basically still a soldier at heart."

"No. I'm mad at a world where the fact that we love each other would be considered a problem, a weakness."

"So what do we do about it?" He chuckles. "Get a divorce?"

"Funny." I grouch, slapping his arm. "I guess we hide it in front of outsiders."

"Easier said than done." Now he drops his nose into my hair, I relax immediately. "It won't be forever."

"Humph."

"Humph?"

"Don't forget I'm only a baby, I can't think in forever yet. I'm still on a very human timeline."

"It's all relative darlin'. Compared to a lot of these guys I'm a baby too."

"The kids are runnin' the world, huh?"

"Feels like it." He mumbles.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I ask, rubbing my cheek across his scar.

"I don't think we have a choice darlin'." He sighs. "There's nowhere for us to hide after everythin' that's happened. We either move forward from here or choke on the past. Can't change anythin' now."

"Well, for what it's worth, you've got my vote." I whisper. "But just so you know my bein' a baby doesn't mean I'm stupid."

"Hmm?" He hums into my hair.

"I don't think you get to retire from bein' ruler of the vampire world. At least not with your head still attached to your shoulders."

"You'll think of somethin' darlin'." He chuckles.

"Humph."

"Can I do anythin' to help with the thought process?" He asks, voice dropping a few octaves an' dripping sex.

"I doubt it, soldier boy, but you might be able to help me with another little problem I'm havin'."

"An' what would that be darlin'?" Now his voice is all the way down to husky.

"Can you buy me a Toyota Prius?"