A/N: Finally! I can post!

Thanks goes to my prereader, Softragoo, for being as lovely as ever.

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all things Twilight

Song Rec: "No Light, No Light" by Florence and The Machine

Chapter Nineteen

"That doesn't look anything like a pumpkin," Emily commented as she watched Rose pile orange frosting onto a chocolate cupcake. "Those bake sale people aren't going to be happy."

Rose raised her eyebrows at her daughter. "Do you want to do it?"

Emily frowned and shook her head.

I topped a cupcake off with a green piece of candy and a few black ones to make eyes and a mouth. As much as I hated to admit failure to a ten year old, she was right: Our cupcakes for the bake sale sucked.

"I'm sure they taste good," I offered.

Rose narrowed an eye at me. "Don't you start in on me, too. I never claimed to be Martha-fricken-Stewart. You asked for Halloween cupcakes and this is what you're getting."

"Don't be so touchy, Rose." I ended my comment by throwing a green candy at her. It got stuck in her hair.

She sucked in a breath. "Oh, no, you didn't just throw candy in my hair."

Emily giggled and tossed her own piece of candy at her mom.

Rose stuck a finger in the orange icing and narrowed her eyes at me. I was good at running and evading so that's what I did. She chased me around the kitchen until she had me cornered where I got a good smearing of icing on my nose and cheek. Rose turned her eyes to her giggling daughter and Emily took off down the hallway. If she were a cartoon, there would a streak of fire on the floor behind her.

"What's going on in here? It looks kind of kinky." Edward grinned from his place in the doorway to the kitchen. Emmett had proclaimed today "Man Day" since it was Sunday and The Bears were playing The Packers. Our two guys were sitting on the couch in the living room, celebrating the weekly tradition of eating sausage and cheese while watching the game. I hadn't looked but I imagined them emitting loud, obnoxious noises from their guts and grabbing their crotches every chance they got.

I wiped my hand across my face and looked at the icing on my palm. Rose watched me with pride. I smiled at the green candy still stuck in her hair.

"Bella insulted my cupcakes," Rose told him.

Edward's gaze ran over said cupcakes and his expression was puzzled. "Are they supposed to be something?"

I barked out a laugh and Rose wiggled her icing covered fingers at me in warning.

"Hey, I thought we could pack up some of your stuff later and move it over to my place," Edward said as he grabbed some Coke out of the fridge. "Sound good?"

"Yeah, we can do that."

He walked over to me and swiped his finger across my nose. With a grin, he licked the icing off his finger and then kissed my forehead in a lingering soft kiss.

"God, I've never seen him like this," Rose said after he rejoined Emmett in the living room.

I rolled my eyes. "You're just not used to seeing him with a girlfriend."

"That's not what I'm talking about." I shot her a confused look. "Around you, he's just so…so…so normal. Before you, Bella, Edward wasn't a happy man."

"I'm sure that's not true. He seemed happy to me."

She shook her head. "No, he wasn't. He was miserable and full of useless guilt from an accident that happened years ago. I'm sure that lovely guilt is still buried inside of him but, man, it's so nice to seem him so alive for once."

"He's a good person, Rose."

With a narrowed eye, she said, "That's beside the point. You are making him happy and that is not an easy feat. Trust me on that."

"But I'm not really doing anything," I told her. Well, besides taking his virginity.

"You're being you—isn't that enough?"

I didn't answer because I wasn't sure exactly what she meant. There was a minuscule part of me that felt in control but most of me wasn't. I wasn't even sure who I was anymore; how could I make someone else happy by just being me?

We finished the cupcakes for the bake sale and packed them away so that Emily could take them to school with her. I'd asked Rose how Emily was coping with Emmett's presence and she told me that she's taking it one step at a time. She said that they needed a day to bond together but Emily put up a fight every time she mentioned it. Sammy was happy, as long as he got attention.

"Did Sammy start speech therapy?"

Rose grinned and nodded. "Thank God for Carlisle because I wouldn't have a clue where to go at this point. He turns three in two weeks so we have an appointment with the school district to get him evaluated for preschool." She took a sip of coffee and sighed. "Damn, I can't believe my baby is starting preschool."

"It'll be good for him," I assured her.

"I know but I'll miss him. I'm so used to having a little one running around the house, trying to stick his fingers in light sockets or pulling heavy things onto his head." She sighed again. "I'm going to miss that."

"Well, you could always have another one."

She choked on her coffee. "Yeah, with all that money we have. It's hard enough for us to feed four mouths. We don't need to add another one to the mix."

"Has Emmett had any luck finding another job?"

She screwed up her face and shook her head. "No one will give him a chance since he has a record. The world sucks sometimes, you know it?"

"Lord, do I."

We gathered up our coffee and wandered into the living room to invade the "Man Day" celebration. Emmett did have his hand in his pants, as I'd guessed and if Edward hadn't been leaning forward in anticipation of the next play, I was pretty sure he would have mirrored his friend. They didn't seem to notice our presence as we sat down on the couch.

"What the hell is he doing, running the ball? They have fifty three seconds on the clock and no time outs! Why in the hell would they running the freaking ball?" Emmett's voice cracked as if he were on the verge of tears. Sammy looked up at him and giggled, thinking that Emmett's overreaction was for his benefit since typically, it was.

Edward was serious; his eyes on the TV like the next fifty three seconds determined the fate of the world. His fiery eyes were staring down the screen; his elbows pinned on his knees. His jaw was tight, his chin resting on his knuckles. I still couldn't believe that I had had the guts to go through with the previous night. The feel of his hands on my body was still fresh in my mind and I flushed. As good as it felt to be that close to him, the best part had been his reaction to me. When he first entered me, pleasure coursed through his body making his muscles shake and his face tighten. The groans and whimpers that projected from his mouth made my insides sing with pride. My body had done that to him; given that to him. I wanted to be able to make him happy like that every day. I didn't have a lot to offer but I could give him that.

As I stared at Edward, something big happened with the game. Emmett let out a roar of joy and Edward showed off a manly fist pump. The man in spandex on the TV screen did a funny little dance and sprinted off to the sidelines to join his team in celebration.

"I wish I could do that at my job," I announced.

Edward was still pumped about the win but managed to say, "What?"

"Do a little dance every time I did my job correctly."

He quirked an eyebrow and frowned. "They won the game because he caught the winning touchdown. The dance is almost mandatory."

"Isn't it his job to catch the football and score a touchdown?"

"Technically, I guess so but—"

"Well, I think it would be nice to do a little dance every time I did my job. Alphabetize the books…do a little dance. Balance the drawer…do a little dance. In fact, I think the world would be a happier place if we all did a little dance after we did our jobs correctly. Probably, we'd all be happier employees."

Emmett and Edward stared at me as if I'd just committed blasphemy.

"I think I'd like to see your 'little dance' you speak so fondly of, Bella." Rose had such a big mouth sometimes.

I cut my eyes to Rose and pressed my molars together. "You're just trying to get me back for the cupcake comment."

She shrugged. "I think it would help your point if you had a 'little dance' to show off when you make little speeches like this."

Emmett and Edward were no longer scowling at me; instead, they wore sneaky little smirks.

"Fine," I said, "I will."

I stood up and cleared my throat. Edward leaned back on the couch and crossed his arms over his chest as if he were waiting for me to prove something to him.

"Come on, Bella, show us what you got," Emmett said.

Even Sammy was watching me.

"Well, first I'd probably spread my feet apart and wobble my knees a little." Rose sputtered out a giggle that I ignored. "While knee-wobbling, I'd flap my elbows a little like this." I showed them the knee-wobbling-elbow-flapping dance.

"You look like a chicken," Emmett said with a grin. "That's not very creative."

I narrowed an eye at him. "Well, that's because I'm not done."

"Oh, boy," Edward chimed in. "By all means, show us the rest."

A wave of embarrassment flooded through me but it was quickly replaced with something else. Sure, I was doing a fair impression of a chicken but I was also putting another piece of the Bella-puzzle together. A few months ago, I would have had a panic attack if I was doing a 'little dance' in front of a few people. Now, I didn't even have to think about it. This is something I would have done in college or even in high school, just for the sake of laughs.

"Well, then I do some circles so that no one, no matter what angle they are watching me from, misses the full effect of my 'little dance'." I displayed the full dance with a big smile on my face.

"So, you'd do that every time you put a book on the shelf in the correct order?" Edward asked.

I stopped my ridiculous dance and put my hands on my hips. "No, it would have to be, like, a whole crate full of books. If I did this for every book, the dance would become meaningless."

"Plus, you'd be doing more dancing than working," Emmett pointed out.

"You should start a petition," Rose added. "I'd sign it. We could start lobbying in DC. You could do your little dance and stuff to promote it. You could be famous, Bella."

I rolled my eyes. "I don't think any of you can beat my dance."

Emmett snorted. "My dance beats your dance's butt!"

"Well, let's see it!"

Happy to be out of the spotlight, I plopped down next to Edward on the couch. He grabbed my hand and threaded his fingers through mine as he grinned at me.

"What?" I asked.

His smile grew. "Nothing."

For the next hour, Emmett perfected his hip shaking dance while Rose did a whole routine that looks similar to The Achy Breaky Heart line dance that she pretended she'd never learned. Emily wandered in and did a nice little number that consisted of some high cheerleader style kicks mixed in with some karate moves. Sammy even added his own little twirl-in-a-circle-until-you-lose-your-balance-and-run-into-the-wall celebratory dance.

"Edward, it's your turn," Rose said smugly.

"I don't have one," he replied simply. "If I did, I would have to save it for special occasions."

Rose scoffed. "Are you saying that today isn't 'special'?" She used air quotes. "Today, is…is…very special, Edward. You know why? Do you know why today is worthy of your celebration dance?"

Edward seemed uninterested in Rose's theory on the specialness of the day's date so he shrugged.

She cocked her head. "I'll tell you why—in exactly two weeks from today, our little man Sammy will be three years old." All eyes turned to an oblivious Sammy who was attempting to pull the carpet off the wood floor below. "If that's not cause for a special little dance, then…"—she snorted—"I don't know what is!"

"Really?" Edward asked. "You're pulling the Sammy card? You want to see me dance so bad that you're using your only son to get me to do it?"

Rose narrowed her eyes before grabbing Sammy off the floor. "Sammy, do you want to see Uncle Edward dance?"

"Ewart dinse!" The smile on his pudgy cheeks could not be ignored.

Edward slumped beside me and he puffed out his cheeks with a sigh.

"Come on," I encouraged, giving his knee a fist bump, "you know you've had one planned since you were little."

"Thanks for the support," he mumbled as he got up and stood, front and center. Rose rubbed her palms together in anticipation. "Okay, so here it goes…"

Edward's dance was an odd mixture of body movements: A cowboy with a lasso, a few kicks of his feet, followed by a couple hip thrusts. His face was flushed with embarrassment the entire time but the silly smile on his face was genuine. When he was done, we applauded and he responded with a gracious bow.

"That was…interesting," I told him.

"So much better than the weird chicken dance that you did."

"Oh, really, Mr. Cowboy-meets-Chippendales…stripper…dance? At least my dance was rated PG."

He quirked an eyebrow. "Actually, I think a 'G' rating would suffice."

"Did you see the winking? Because I winked when I was circling and I don't think the winking was very 'G' rated. It's an insinuation that—"

"Guys! For the love of all that is holy!" Emmett yelled, cutting me off. Both of us turned to blink at him. "I don't think that there is any competition here. It was just a friendly and fun game of self expression. Besides,"—he let out a loud belch that seemed to echo off the plaster walls—"my dance was by far more superior."

We bickered for another half hour before we decided that Emily and Sam's dances tied for first while the rest of ours lagged behind in no particular order. I hugged Rose goodbye and gave Sam and Emily a kiss on the cheek before we ventured over to my apartment.

"You hungry?" Edward asked, as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me against him. "I could go get the pizza now and then we can start packing after we eat."

"I'm starving," I groaned.

"Thin crust, easy on the sauce?"

"Ooh, and garlic bread with cheese on top. Do you think you could stop for ice cream? Because strawberry ice cream sounds really good right now."

He chuckled and kissed me softly on the lips. "Pizza and ice cream coming right up; you need anything else while I'm out?"

"Not that I can think of."

He squeezed me to him for a moment in a hug and with a sigh, released me. "I'll see you in a bit."

"Be careful," I told him as I plugged my key into the door.

I flipped on the light and made sure to lock the door behind me. It had been a few days since I'd even set foot in my apartment and as I scanned it with my eyes, it just didn't feel as safe as it used to. Not when compared to Edward's place. The grin that slowly pushed at my mouth was unstoppable as I thought about actually living there with him. Not only the thought of going to sleep at night feeling safe but just being near him all the time was injecting giddiness into my veins; my chest felt light and my stomach fluttered.

After flipping on every light in my apartment, I kicked off my shoes and sat on my bed as I made a mental plan of what I wanted to pack first. Jake was blaring some Kings of Leon through my wall but the song was unfamiliar—it was slow and haunting. The flicker of light caught my eyes from where I was sitting on my bed. My stomach clenched as I realized that my living room light had went off. I swallowed hard and rose from the bed, craning my neck to see down the hallway. Nothing. The living room light was indeed off but there were no noises or movement coming from the darkness. I straightened up, closed my eyes and took some deep breaths. There were a few reasons why the light may have gone out on its own: A burned out light bulb, a blown fuse, an intruder. My heart jumped in my chest at the last thought.

"No, Bella, calm down…" I told myself. "This is ridiculous."

I took a few more deep breaths, convinced that the cheap light bulbs that I'd bought when I'd moved in were clearly at fault for the sudden lack of safe light. A relieved smile crossed over my face as I opened my eyes.

Then my heart nearly stopped. The hallway light was off. One burned out light bulb was more than possible but two in a matter of a few minutes was…

Something fell in the living room and crashed to the floor. A sob froze in my chest and my breath came in quick pants. Before I could find out the reason behind my lights going out or the cause of the crash I'd heard, I would need to take action. With shaky hands and wobbly knees, I swiftly jumped toward the door and slammed it closed. Noise was good. Any strange noise would alert Jacob. I slid to the floor with my back pressed firmly against the wood.

Edward would be back soon. All I had to do was wait for him and it would all be fine. Nothing could hurt me if Edward was…

"Bellllaaaa…" The voice was like a knife against my skin. I put my hand over my mouth and breathed shakily into my palm. "Oh, Bella, Bella, Bella…"

He was close, possibly right on the other side of the door. The door had no fucking lock. I pushed my weight against it, finding traction on the carpet with my feet.

"Do you have any idea how worried I've been about you?"

The song on the other side of the wall switched to something more upbeat. Pistol of Fire. Jake was my way out of this and I had to get his attention.

"Jake!" The doorknob above my head squeaked with movement and I screamed for Jake again. The music continued to blast. I wanted to cry and sob and scream. The door pressed against my back as the horrible excuse of a man on the other side tried to push it open. "Jake! Help me!"

The music didn't stop. A mixture of a strangled sob and a violent curse left my mouth. The door pushed my body a few inches but I pushed back.

"Bella, the more you fight me, the more it's going to hurt—you know that," he said matter-of-factly. "I just want to take you home, that's all. Your dad is…well, he's pretty worried about you."

"Fuck you!" I hated how weak my voice sounded and I took a breath before continuing with "Just leave me the fuck alone!"

I waited for a smart retort or a scolding but there was nothing but silence. The pushing on the door ceased and the song changed through the wall too quickly for my brain to register out a scream. Four Kicks. My eyes found one of my shoes that was lying by the foot of my bed. If I stretched, I could reach it and if I tossed it hard enough, it would resemble a knock on the wall. Jake would stop the music and I could scream my ass off.

The problem was the stretching without losing my place at the door. I tried using my foot to get the shoe but I was too far away. The only thing I could do was lean away from the door and leave myself open while I grabbed for the shoe. I held my breath and listened for a moment. The silence was deafening and frightening. He wouldn't have left but it was possible that he was looking for something in my apartment to help him jimmy his way inside my bedroom door. I had to do this and get it over with before Edward came back. I couldn't and wouldn't let him hurt Edward. Not for me.

Quietly, I leaned forward and grabbed for the shoe but he'd been waiting. The door flew open and before I could get my hand on the sneaker, I put my weight into the barrier.

"Let me the fuck in, Bella!" he growled.

The door bounced against my back and I whimpered and screamed for Jake again. The music didn't stop. The music didn't fucking stop…

With one last heave, he'd knocked me off my balance and I was thrown forward onto my knees. Not wasting any time on recovery, I crawled as far away from the door, toward the wall so that I could get a few hard bangs in before he grabbed me. I wasn't fast enough.

His arms went around my torso and I got the sudden urge to vomit. I didn't try not to. He flinched and threw me down as I heaved, the result going all over his forearm which was wrapped around me.

"God dammit! You fucking bitch!"

The back of his hand hit me hard across the cheek and momentarily I saw stars. The stars were followed by more retching. Blood filled my mouth as I looked up at him. His bearded face was blurry and his hair had grown out but there he was: The man that nightmares were made of. His clothes clung tightly to him; the pockets of his cargo pants bulged with weapons that would be used on me, and probably in me, on the journey from Chicago to Oklahoma. The wickedness was written all over his face, in the tension of his body and the way that he looked at me. This was going to hurt.

"Why do you fight me? You know that you're not going to win," he hissed. I sobbed into my hands. "It took me so long to find you. Do you know what you put me through? I had to call off the wedding!" He was trying to keep his voice down but his anger betrayed his vigilance. "Do you know how humiliating that was for me to have to tell people that you just ran off and disappeared? Plus, I had to stay with that blubbering father of yours for fucking months, pretending that my poor heart was breaking. But you know what?" He grabbed for me and I flinched away from him but his grip on my elbow was strong. His breath was hot against my face and his eyes glared at me, insane and furious. "I was fucking pissed and now…now, you're going to pay."

Now that my escape plan was non-existent, the next thing on the agenda was Edward. I had to lure James away before he came back so that he wouldn't get involved. James had other plans apparently because he dragged me out to the living room and flung me down on the couch.

"Where are you taking me? Why can't you just leave me alone?" I'd wanted to yell but I couldn't get my lungs to conjure it up.

He grabbed my hair and pulled it until my face tilted up to meet his. "Shut up! You don't speak unless I say otherwise. Apparently, you've forgotten all my rules." His hand released me and I sunk into the couch, away from him. "Now, where's your duct tape?"

I almost laughed. "I don't have any duct tape."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Maybe, I should venture down the hall to those little friends of yours. It's a nice little family. I bet that sweet little girl knows where I can find some duct tape. She's precious and in a few years—"

I wouldn't let him involve them, even if Emmett did stand a fair chance at kicking his ass. James would have knives, guns and his fists. I couldn't let him hurt my friends. "There's rope in the hall closet."

A smirk crossed over his face. "Rope? That's my girl." The smile vanished off his face as he spat, "Let's go get it, shall we?"

I yelped as he jerked me off the couch by my arm and dragged me into the hallway toward the closet. Silently, I prayed that Edward would get held up; perhaps, every store he went to would be clean out of strawberry ice cream so he'd have to travel all over the city to find it. And he would have, too. For me. For ice cream. A sob got stuck in my throat and I made a strangled noise as I tried to swallow it up.

James ignored my broken sobs. "What the fuck do you have rope for, anyway?" he asked, and then smirked at me. "You and that sweet little boyfriend of yours get a little kinky?"

Anger washed through me at the mention of Edward but I breathed it away. If he knew how much Edward meant to me, he'd use it to torture me. "I made a clothesline out of it."

I found the rope easily and he grabbed it up as I pulled it out of the closet. Then, back to the couch where he sat down beside me as if he were waiting on something. Oh, no…

"Why don't you just take me and get it over with?"

His jaw ticked with anger but he didn't smack me. "We're waiting on someone."

My hands formed shaky fists. "Who?"

This time the smack came and my nose throbbed as a result. "I think you know who so shut the fuck up."

Think, Bella, think…

"I'll go with you…I'll walk out of here with you. I promise you, if you just don't hurt him."

He sneered. "You're a whore."

His words didn't bother me. It wasn't the first time that he'd called me that.

"I'll do anything. You have my word on it."

"Your word!" he spat. "You put that fucking ring on your finger! That was supposed to be your word! Then, first chance you get, you run off and hide from me. Why should I trust anything that you say? You're a fucking lying whore. I saw you last night, through the window, stripping for him and getting ready to fuck him." It felt like I'd swallowed my heart as he described to me what he'd seen through the window of Edward's apartment. I wanted to vomit again but the retching wouldn't come; instead, my stomach sat heavy in my abdomen like a vile rock. "You think that I'm not going to enjoy killing him? His final lesson will be taught by me, no matter how much you beg, Bella."

I did something brave. The first brave thing that I'd done since he'd made his presence known in my apartment. I dropped to my knees in front of him and put my hands together in pure begging fashion. "Please! I'm begging you, James! I'll call my dad! Tell him that…that I got cold feet and that I came back because…"—I swallowed and internally grimaced at my next words—"Because I love you. I'll marry you and I will be yours for the rest of my life. You can do whatever you want to me; I won't fight it."

My insides jumped as he actually looked to be considering my plea.

"But they know, don't they? They know where you are and they'll make up lies…they'll call the police."

They. The word made my lungs seize with breath. He wasn't just talking about Edward. He was talking about everyone: Rose, Emily, Sam, Emmett, possibly even Jake. Weakness took over me and I sobbed.

His hand went through my hair, an odd gentle stroke. I struggled to not pull away from him. "I don't want to see you cry, Bella. If they are all left alive, they'll ruin us. It's for the best."

I pictured Rose's face, the color in her cheeks gone and her body stiff from death. I envisioned Emily covered in blood and Sammy in a tiny little casket. Edward…oh, God…Edward…

James sighed. "But, I guess we can relocate; maybe, out of the country somewhere. It would save me a lot of trouble."

My eyes widened. "I will do anything if you don't touch them…any of them."

He stared at me for a few moments and I didn't look away even though I ached to squirm under his scrutiny. It was then that I really took in his face for the first time - his eyes were wild and his blonde hair had grown from the usual flat buzz cut to a more messy unkempt style. His skin was always so tan but now he was pallid and sickly looking. "I really wanted to teach that fucker a lesson about touching other men's women."

I dug my nails into my thighs in anger but I kept my face calm. "Whatever you want, I'll do it. Please…"

We were interrupted by a soft knock on the door. Panic flooded through me as a vision of Edward's smile flashed through my mind.

"Fucking fine. Make up some excuse. What's he here for, anyway? To stick his cock in you?"

"He went to pick up dinner," I mumbled as he yanked me up to my feet.

"If you do anything to clue him in on my presence, he's a dead man."

I wiped my face with my shirt and took a few deep breaths. I could do this…I had to do this. Edward knocked again, this time a little louder. Jakes music was still blaring from his apartment. Queen's I want to break free seemed pretty appropriate for my situation but I failed to find the humor in it.

"Wait," James hissed. He took his fingers and licked them, wiping them over my chin which was pink from blood. His saliva was warm and sticky on my skin. He ran his hands through my hair, flattening it and then straightened my shirt. "Remember what I said…he's a dead man."

My breath shook as I caught a glimpse of the knife James had slid out of his pants. I took another deep breath before I opened the door a crack. Edward's smile was just as I imagined it. It fell a little when he saw my face.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just…I found a picture of me and my dad and I started thinking about how much I missed him."

He stepped forward a little, trying to get closer with the pizza in his arms and the plastic bag hanging from his arm. I held the door steady.

"Listen, I'm really exhausted all of a sudden. My head is…"—I put my palm to my head, using the universal headache gesture—"It's killing me. I think I'm just going to go to bed so I can sleep this off. Maybe I'm coming down with something…I don't know."

He eyed me carefully for a moment. "Okay, well if you change your mind, just come on over."

I nodded. "Save some chocolate ice cream for me. I'll want some tomorrow."

If he caught my warning, he didn't show it which made me ecstatic and sad at the same time. James would kill him without hesitation but the thought of going with him was torturing me. If he got me where he wanted me, the only other solution would be suicide. I couldn't go through that again. I wouldn't.

"Okay, well, feel better sweetheart."

"Thanks, Edward," I said softly and then closed the door on him.

My chest ached at the thought of never seeing him again.

James dropped me back on the sofa and sneered at me. "Well, wasn't that just fucking sweet." He was still thinking about killing Edward; the desire was written all over his face.

"You promised…"

He smacked me again. It wasn't hard enough to cause my nose to bleed but it still stung.

"I didn't promise shit."

Then it happened. My worst nightmare and my 'Hallelujah' moment all wrapped up into one. Edward came busting in the door with such ferocity that I feared him myself for a moment. He didn't seem to have the same effect on James because James went toward him. This hadn't been what I wanted when I'd tipped off Edward in the form of ice cream flavors. I'd wanted him to call the police. Get help. Not come bursting through the door like a one man SWAT team.

"This is going to be fun," James growled as they circled each other.

"Bella," Edward said without taking his eyes off James, "if you get a chance, run like hell."

The moment was an odd one. It was the angel meeting the devil. Pure evil versus everything that was good. I wanted to laugh and cry and scream at the same time but all I could muster up was a good, long stare.

Edward launched himself at James and they struggled. I couldn't keep up with them. I should have run while they were going at it but I couldn't bring myself to leave him. If he was hurt, I'd never survive it.

They were matched. Edward got a few good blows in but then James took him down, his knife clattering to the floor. They rolled on the floor in a jumble of elbows and fists. Then in one horrible moment, James had Edward pinned. When I saw him grab the knife, my heart clenched and my lungs found their scream. Edward managed to grab hold of James' wrist as the point of the knife inched closer to Edward's throat.

My eyes searched the room for a weapon and they landed on a glass coaster that I'd never used. I grabbed it and stood up. Edward glanced at me and within that moment, I read his eyes perfectly. They told me to run. To get the hell out of there before James killed him.

I ran at James, letting out a battle cry as I hit him on the side and brought the coaster down as hard as I could on his head. It worked. He fell off Edward and we toppled down together on the floor beside him. I scrambled to my feet at the same time as James but I wasn't quick enough. James grabbed my hair and rammed me, face first, into the wall.

Then it all went black…

A/N: Since this is a horrible cliffie and I HATE cliffies as a reader, I'm going to post the next chapter on Saturday BUT... since I'm posting three chapters this week, you will most likely only get one next week. Sorry, but the updates are catching up to my writing and I'm panicking! :-P Plus, I don't have a day off work until next Thursday so not much writing time, my lovelies!

So, where do you think Bella will wake up? Where do you think Edward will be when she opens her eyes? What do you hope happens to James? Who's celebration dance was your favorite? Personally, I like some hip thrusting so I had to go with Edward's...of course. C'mon...review...you know you wanna! :)