Author's note: I was too excited not to share! Let me know what you guys think! Pretty please? I could seriously use some cheering up. My life is not so happy at the moment.

"Well, I'm glad you feel that way, honey. You have every right to. Enough bad shit has been happening in your life. I hope for only good things from here on out," he said, stroking my arm.

"Me too," I whispered, completely at peace.

My cell phone rang.

I jumped off of the bed and rummaged through my pants until I found it. It was Charlie.

Images of what the kitchen now looked like made me wince.

"It's Charlie. Should I answer it?" I asked Jake nervously.

"Not yet. We don't have our story straight. We need to talk to the pack about this and figure out what to do."

I let it ring until it stopped and guiltily put it in my back pocket.

Jake and I made sure we were decent before heading back outside. Wolf whistles and a few high fives greeted Jacob and I realized with their magnified hearing that they'd probably heard everything. I blushed furiously and studied my shoes as though they were suddenly very interesting.

"Okay guys, shut it," Jake said. They quieted down and looked at him.

"We need to figure out what to tell Chief Swan. I phased in the kitchen and pretty much wrecked it," Jake admitted, a bit bashfully. "And Bella hasn't checked in for the last few hours."

He turned to me. "Do you think he's been home?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so – he usually gets off between six and eight. But you never know with the neighbors. They might have seen something."

"If someone saw something, they would have called him a few hours ago, right?"

I thought of how fast news circulated in the little town of Forks. "Um, definitely."

"So he's probably not calling because of the damage. But speaking of the damage – what are we going to do?"

"It could have been a wild animal," Sam said quietly. "You do live very close to the woods."

"But the only damage was in the kitchen. The front door… Jake did you close the door?"

Jake thought about it. "I'm pretty sure I did."

"Okay, well that's a problem. If we're going with the wild animal theory we need to go back and make it more realistic," Sam reasoned.

"But the Cullen's," I whispered.

Sam shook his head. "They have as much reason to cover things up as we do. They won't cause a scene. Not during the day. But that doesn't mean we do things without thinking. We take a team and stay close to the woods. We scope things out. As long as they aren't home we can get in, make it look like a wild animal got in and did all the damage. We get out, come back and regroup."

Jacob held up his hand. "That's a good plan, but what do we do about…" he looked down at me.

Sam looked deep in thought. The other wolves looked between Sam and Jacob. Sam looked up at me.

"I don't know how we're going to be able to keep you here on the res."

Jacob growled low in his chest.

Sam gave him a look. "Think about it, Jacob. She isn't 18 yet. She legally has to go to school. Her father is the Chief of Police."

"Are you telling me," Jake hissed under his breath, "that we are going to let her stay in Forks unprotected? In enemy territory? After he hurt her?"

"No. Not unprotected. We're going to need a guard near her at all times. I'm not trying to put her in danger, but there's only so much we can do."

My heart was thumping erratically. I was terrified. Edward wasn't who I thought he was. He wanted to control me. He'd put his hands on me and nearly strangled me.

I whimpered, thinking about it. What if he came in at night and just ended it? No one would know…

Jacob turned to me and captured my chin. "I won't let him NEAR YOU."

Everyone got quiet and looked at us. "But you can't be with me all the time. What about at school?"

Jacob closed his eyes, pained. He looked at Sam. "What do we do when she's at school?"

Sam looked unhappy. "The only thing I can think of is Bella staying with other people at all times. They won't likely cause a scene in front of people – as I said before. Can you do that, Bella?"

"Yes," I said quietly. "I know people in every class. Angela and I have the same schedule."

"But then there's the trip to and from school," Jacob pointed out. "What then?"

I sighed. "I can ask Charlie to take me and drop me off."

Jacob frowned. "But he knows you hate being seen with him. What reason would you have?"

I bit my lip. "If I didn't have transportation…"

Everyone looked over at my truck. I was suddenly sad. I had a feeling that bad things were going to happen to it.

"I can make it so it won't run without a huge bill, and later can put it back together," Jake offered.

"But that'll take time – right?" Embry asked. "We don't have a whole lot of that."

Everyone murmured an agreement.

"If you guys are risking your lives the least I can do is give you the truck," I said.

"We can just have her drive it off the highway and wreck it," Paul said. "We'll make sure it's totally trashed."

"Bella will not be getting in a wreck," Jake clarified pointedly, "one of us can drive it. We heal. She doesn't."

I looked at Jake, alarmed. "You're not going to do it, right?"

He grinned. "You're so cute. It's not a big deal. We heal really fast."

"But…"

"I'll do it – so Jake can say with you," Quil offered. "Plus, crashing a car on purpose is too awesome an opportunity to pass up."

"The real reason comes out!" laughed Embry.

"But how is Bella going to come out of that unscathed?" Jared asked. "She'd have some marks, some bruises."

Jakes' eyes darkened. "She already has bruises."

"Um, I know. But those aren't like… car crash bruises," Jared replied a bit bashfully.

"I can like throw myself down a hill or something," I offered. "With my luck…"

Jake stepped in front of me. "I don't think so. We can use makeup and stuff to make it look bad. But it won't be bad. I'm not letting you hurt yourself for an excuse. Does anyone have any costume makeup or anything? Maybe Leah does?"

Seth shook his head. "No, man. She doesn't wear anything like that."

"I can buy whatever we need at the store. I have, um, this." I pulled out the large stack of cash that Rosalie had given me.

Jake growled. "That has leech written all over it."

"Rosalie gave me this, and a credit card, and a passport. She told me to leave, to run."

"Why didn't you tell me this?" Jake asked, looking annoyed.

"I didn't exactly have a chance. I mean, you phased and then all hell broke loose and I just remembered."

He hugged me. "I'm sorry. You're right. Well… I don't like taking anything from them but it gives us a bit of an advantage. We might as well use it."

I saw all the guys looking at the stack of bills. It was an incredible amount of money. I looked around the circle, at the mostly naked boys, with tattered shorts and bare feet. I promised myself to buy them all some clothing while I was out.

"Okay, everyone. Quil – you take Bella's truck and crash it. Make it convincing. Embry – go with him and make sure the evidence is good enough. Jake, Paul, Jared, and I will be taking Bella to the store, and then making her look right. Seth – find your sister and alert Colin and Brady. You run patrol. The leeches don't know that we've declared war yet – we'll use that to our advantage. No one alert them without my order first. Now go!"

Everyone mobilized immediately. I handed my keys over to Quil, who took them with a joyful whoop. I cringed.

It was a short walk to the general store they had in town and I felt really strange walking amongst these huge Quileute boys. I walked in and located the cosmetics aisle. I bought as many things as I thought I could potentially use and then headed over to the clothing section.

"What are we doing over here?"Jake asked.

"Get everyone a couple sets of stuff to wear, all right. Might as well."

"We don't need charity," Sam said.

"It's not charity. It's the least I can do, okay. You guys are risking your lives. Please, let me just get you some clothes."

Paul held up a pair of jeans. "I haven't had jeans in forever," he whined to Sam.

Sam sighed reluctantly. "All right – we can get clothes. Let's hurry though. We've got to time things right."

I discreetly pulled some bills from the stack so that I wouldn't have to pull it out in front of the cashier. The total was close to $400. I paid happily.

We left the store, the guys caring the bags of clothing. I carried the cosmetics. When we got back to Jake's house I went straight into the bathroom and began making myself look as horrible as possible. I stared at myself, realizing I looked more like a kid on Halloween than anything else. With a sigh, I locked the bathroom door.

It hurt, but it was worth it. Real blood smears, bruises, and scratches where they should be. I used cosmetics to enhance the effect, and then messed my hair up as much as I could.

"Bella!" Jake pounded on the door, alarmed. "What the hell are you doing in there?"

I unlocked the door before he could take it off its hinges.

He looked crestfallen. "You didn't have to do this!"

"It's okay, really. I can take a little pain. It's not a big deal – all superficial."

Jake sighed deeply. "Well, the next time, just discuss stuff with me okay? We'll find a better way. I don't want you getting hurt! I've seen you bleed enough fucking times."

"I'm sorry," I apologized. I truly did feel badly about making him upset.

"Don't. It's done. Let's just get out of here, all right?"

I nodded, and followed him through the house. We met the guys outside.

They seemed surprised but pleased with the result. The boys phased in the woods and I once again rode Jacob to the crash site.

I gasped when I saw it. My truck was absolutely destroyed. The majority of the damage was on the passenger's side. That would make it seem more plausible that I'd walked away with so little injury.

Quil and Embry were covered in dirt but seemed very pleased with themselves.

"Okay, Bella. You stay here and call 911. Jake will stay near but out of sight. We're going to go to your house and mess it up a little more to make it look like a bear got inside. When you get home – we'll be waiting in the woods. Someone will always be on lookout when you're home. I'd appreciate it if when you're not at school you spend as much time on the res as possible. Jake will get the Rabbit fixed up and he can drive you there and back. It makes things easier," Sam said.

I nodded in agreement. "Of course."

"Okay. Guys – let's go. Jacob, stay out of trouble."

Jake gave him a captain's salute. "Will do."

The guys phased and took off. I took my phone out and dialed 911. I pretended to be shaken up and disoriented. I gave them my location and had to stay on the line. When we heard Sirens, Jacob backed away into the undergrowth and although I couldn't see him, I could still sense him.

Everything that happened after was a whirlwind. I was escorted to the hospital and while I was being looked over, Charlie burst in, with tears in his eyes.

"You can't keep doing this to me, kiddo."

"Dad, I'm okay. I just had a little accident. I'm fine," I explained.

He ran his hand through his hair. I noticed it was beginning to grey at the temples. I felt awful. I was probably the cause of each of those hairs.

"What happened, exactly?"

I gave him the falsified story that would fit with the evidence.

He looked grim, and sat down in a chair next to my bed. He sighed.

"Are you okay, Dad?"

He gave me a small smile. "About as well as I can be considering my only daughter was in yet another accident and our house is swarming with people."

I nearly jumped out of bed. "Our house? What's going on?"

"We won some kind of home makeover or something. I guess the Cullen's entered us into some kind of contest and we actually won. They're totally remodeling the kitchen and bathrooms, and updating a lot of stuff. We're even getting a large flat screen for the living room."

"The Cullen's," I gasped. "When did you find out?"

"A few hours ago. I tried calling you to tell you but you didn't answer," he said with a glower.

"Sorry, I must have had it on silent. Um, would you mind getting me a soda? I'm really thirsty."

He stood up. "No problem. Sprite?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."

He left the room in search of the soda while I frantically punched numbers into my phone.

Billy answered on the first ring. "Hello?"

"Billy! Have you heard anything about my house?"

"Yeah. They got back a few minutes ago. I'll let you talk to Jake."

I waited impatiently.

"Bells?"

"Yeah. It's me. I'm at the hospital with Charlie. He told me that the Cullens' supposedly put us in a contest to redo the house. He actually believed them and let them in."

"I know. They're playing dirty. They have a whole damn construction team there. We let them know that we are there and we are watching. If they put one toe out of line we won't hesitate to engage them," Jake sighed, "I'd love to tear his throat out."

I ignored his comment. "Did you talk to Edward?"

"Only in my head. I knew he was listening. He didn't much like the images I gave him."

My stomach bottomed out. "Does he know? What we did?"

"Well, I couldn't exactly hide it. I mean, it's kind of been at the front of my mind."

"Oh my God," I whispered.

"Listen honey, he isn't going to hurt you. I told him if he tries coming to your room at night we will kill him. During the day stay close to your friends and don't go anywhere alone. After school we'll make sure you get a ride down here to La Push."

"Okay," I agreed. But I couldn't stop the horrible images in my head. I was terribly afraid that we weren't doing the wisest thing.

"I love you, honey," Jake said quietly, "You have to promise that you'll do your best to stay away from them, all right?"

"I'll try," I said, hoping that I could.

Charlie entered the room.

"Gotta go, talk soon."

I hung up and accepted the freezing soda can.

Charlie sat back down, and then, Dr. Carlisle Cullen entered the room.

I set the can down on the bed without opening it.

My heart rate skyrocketed. The machine that was monitoring me went nuts, beeping urgently.

Carlisle came closer, and unplugged the machine. "It's nothing," he assured Charlie, "This machine is due for maintenance. I'll just take your pulse manually, Bella."

Carlisle came closer and his sweet smell filled my nostrils. It was like a drug and forced me to relax.

", I'm going to give her a thorough exam, if you could wait outside, I'd appreciate it."

"No problem, I'll be down the hall."

Charlie left the room and shut the door behind him.

Carlisle sighed, draping the stethoscope around his neck. "You weren't in an accident," he said quietly.

"No," I admitted.

"But something caused your injuries," he prompted.

"I had to make it realistic," I choked out.

"I know. We all have to play our parts. My son," he said, his finger ghosting along my throat, "caused this?"

I nodded.

Carlisle grimaced and then reached down and took my hand. His hand was freezing cold – colder than the soda I'd held.

"I'm very sorry that things got out of hand. Edward really should hunt more often. But his behavior was inexcusable nevertheless. I've spoken to him about what happened. He needs to limit any physical encounters with you until he can gain a bit more control."

"But, I don't want any encounters, with him, anymore," I admitted.

He sighed, sadly. "I was afraid this would happen. Bella – I need to tell you a few things about my son. He's not the most stable of us – he's more fragile by far. He loves you so much, but he's never had a relationship before. He doesn't know how to deal with complications. For example, instead of working through things, he convinced us to leave Forks altogether so that you would have a vampire free life. I'm sure as you know that didn't work out so well. It was only a matter of time before he caved and came back. Bella, you are his everything. He loves you more than anything or anyone."

"If he loves me so much," I said, gaining my courage, "then why would he try to strangle me?"

"He didn't mean to do what he did. Bella, you know how strong we are physically, and how delicate you are in comparison. He didn't mean to exert the amount of force that he did. I promise you that."

"But he said such awful things," I whispered.

"He needed very badly to hunt. He wasn't in his right mind. And Bella, I don't think you truly can appreciate La Tua Cantante. It is nearly impossible for him to resist. And not to be hurtful, but you did know about these potential problems before you became involved. You told us all you understood the potential ramifications."

I bit my lip. "Well, I made a really bad decision."

He shook his head. "I don't think you did. I just think that things would be much easier if you were to join our family permanently. The human issue would be resolved. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"I thought I did," I said, anguished, "but I don't want that anymore."

"Alice sees you becoming one of us, even now. There must be some part of you that still wishes to be like us."

I closed my eyes. "The only reason I wanted to become a vampire, was to be with Edward forever."

"That's still a possibility," Carlisle said smoothly.

"Not when I don't want to be with him," I countered.

"You're so young, Bella. I think in time, you will forgive him. And that you will become a member of the family. I'd love to have you as a daughter. You would be so loved, so cherished."

He stroked my cheek with his pale hand. "Just don't do anything rash. Let some time go by. Remember all of the good things you had with my son, and all of the benefits that you would have as a member of our family. And we musn't forget our friends in Italy."

The calm spell broke at the mention of the Volturi. "Oh my God. They're going to kill me."

"We would never let that happen, Bella. You have options. Just don't forget that. I'm going to release you from the hospital unless you'd like to stay?"

"No, I don't want to stay."

He nodded. "I'll get the paperwork together and inform your father. Remember, we'll always be here for you."

I watched him leave the room. I was shaking.

I was beginning to doubt my resolve, my decision. What if Edward really didn't mean to hurt me?

I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling lost.