Rating/Warning(s)/Note(s): T, Shadows
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Prompt: Traffic

"What?" I all but shrieked, calling the attention of the other passengers. Tears immediately sprang to my eyes as my throat closed. My dad was perfectly healthy, wasn't he? Why would he be gone in a couple years?

"Shh," Edward said, his hands framing my face as he tried to calm me. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have sprung it on you like that, but I want you to spend time with your father while you still can."

"Isn't there anything we can do? I can do? Doctors? Carlisle?" My voice was pleading as the tears broke free from my eyes, drifting slowly down my face to wet Edward's hands. I could see the sadness and resolve in his eyes and knew there was no hope.

"Carlisle asked Alice to look and see what happens, but she hasn't found anything. A decision hasn't been made." He pulled me over so my head was resting on his shoulder, the hand not around my shoulders was gently stroking my face. "All she can see is that you aren't much older when you're changed and that Charlie is no longer around. It could be two years, it could be three or four, she doesn't know. Just don't waste the time you have."

"I shouldn't be in school," I whispered. "I should go home and be with him."

"That won't make him happy, and you know it." Edward lifted me up, turning me so that I sat crosswise on his lap and faced him. "Your acceptance and scholarship to Dartmouth has made him very happy. He's so proud of you. Make his last years happy ones, Bella. Call him, go home over the summer and holidays, and he'll be content." I nodded, knowing he was right. Charlie would be livid if I gave up this opportunity to attend such a great school.

The one good thing about taking a red-eye flight, something I teased Edward about, was that the traffic was light when we drove from the airport back to the school. I had slept on the plane, comfortable in Edward's arms after he'd wrapped a couple blankets around me that he'd coerced from the flight attendant.

The bad thing was that Jane was waiting for us, with Demetri, just outside my dormitory.

"Jane," Edward said, pulling me slightly behind him to block me from them.

"I don't know why you bother," Jane said, giving me a curious look, her head tilted slightly and frustration evident in her eyes. "I don't seem to be able to affect her."

"It's the thought," Edward said, his voice radiating the tension that he barely kept under wrap.

Jane laughed, the sound lacking any warmth and only serving to increase my fear and Edward's anxiety. If he were stretched any tighter I'd be afraid he'd snap. "You can read any thought as soon as I have it, yet still you protect her. Odd."

"Is there a point?" Edward asked.

"Yes." She hesitated. It seemed as if she were taunting him, trying to break Edward's stillness. Eventually she sighed and continued. "Aro is curious as well as to your experiment and is willing to give you some time. He understands her father could be a complication…"

When she mentioned Charlie I gasped, drawing her attention. "Don't fret, little human. We've been told not to do anything to him. Yet." She said the last with a cold smile. Turning back to Edward she continued. "He wonders why you chose this particular human, though, and the purpose of the lengths you went to in order to bring her here. He was most intrigued that neither your gift nor mine seemed to have any effect and asks that you present her to Volterra after the change." Somehow I knew this Aro wasn't making a request.

"Of course. Tell Aro we thank him for the time and his understanding that we wish to remain inconspicuous." Edward took a breath and looked at me. "As to what we did to bring her here, again, it was to remain hidden." He looked back to Jane. "It worked. Her father is convinced the scholarship is real. The administration here is none the wiser as well, since we have agreed to fund a student in full each year for five more years."

Jane nodded. Looking over to the extremely large vampire beside her she said, "Come, Demetri, I want to go home."

Demetri turned to us and gave a nod of farewell. "Edward, Bella, I look forward to seeing you in Italy."

As soon as we were dismissed Edward pulled me into the dormitory and rushed me to my room. Letting out a long breath he leaned against the door and regarded me. With a shrug of my shoulders I set about unpacking. I knew we were going to talk, but I had a busy day ahead of me and knew I'd never be able to take a nap before classes started if this wasn't done.

"You're not upset," Edward finally said, reaching for my jeans to carry to my dresser.

"No, I actually suspected you might be behind the scholarship. I'm surprised you agreed to five more years, though." I moved to unpack my underclothes, Edward didn't take those from me, but reached around for my shirts to start to hang them up.

"Alice knew what we needed before we ever talked to the administration. Guaranteeing that long allowed us to be able to pick a student for admission rather than choose one that had been admitted." As he spoke he would glance away from what he was doing and look to see my reaction.

"So I couldn't have gotten in on my own," I said, a feeling of dejection washing over me. With socks in hand I sat down hard on my bed and looked out the window. I was right, I didn't belong here.

Edward sighed. "You more than met the minimum requirements for admission. The school insisted on that."

"But I wouldn't have been accepted otherwise."

Hanging my last shirt he came to sit next to me. The socks were gently pried from my hands and set aside before he laced his fingers with mine. "Probably not," he admitted. "But, and this is a very important point, they have been happy with you as a student and are giving Carlisle free rein on who to choose for next year. We actually didn't have to argue with them that much to take you. The student you replaced only had a few points higher grade point average and test scores."

"I'm taking someone else's place?" My voice rose at that. Not only was I not Dartmouth material I was taking the place of someone who was.

Edward was shaking his head. "No, you aren't," he insisted. "We made sure that student went where they really wanted to go, Princeton."

My jaw dropped open as I thought about the costs involved. "How much money have you spent?"

"Only a very small percentage of what we have." He slid further onto the bed, lightly knocking the suitcase onto the floor, and gathered me into his arms to lay down. "Bella, please don't worry about this. Think about going to class, attending dances, studying hard, making Charlie proud…"

"Becoming a vampire," I added with a smile and a yawn.

"Eventually," he said, breathing lightly into my face, calming me. "Relax, Bella. Think happy thoughts, and dream happy dreams, knowing how much we want you in our lives."

Sorry about the delay, I honestly thought I'd be able to write on Friday. However, I was given 48 samples to prep and run (I can usually get only 12 of those done in one day), along with two additional analysts and HPLCs (high pressure liquid chromatographs), which is three times as many people doing four times as much work. I kept the three of us busy, working overtime, yesterday. Two chromatographs will be running until Tuesday afternoon, but the third should finish late tomorrow night, analyzing all the samples we prepped. So, yeah, I was swamped. When I finally made it home, I crashed, where my dear husband ordered in dinner, rubbed my feet, and handed me a book (ever wonder where my sweet Edwards come from?).

Oh, and results never come as fast as it shows on CSI. NEVER! I owe two coworkers doughnuts...