Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Tanya's POV:

"I don't see why she's ignoring me though." I said to my sisters as I collapsed onto our couch in the living room.

Carmen is currently out hunting and Eleazar is at the store working. So it's just me, Kate and Irina at home right now. For the past week I've been driving them all mad with my worrying over a particular brunette. Ever since we came back from what I thought was a wonderful weekend together, she's been trying (and succeeding) in ignoring me.

I've done everything I can think of to try and get her to talk to me; but nothing seems to work. At school she stays locked away in her class rooms and avoids walking in the halls when at all possible. Even in my own class she avoids looking up front where I teach. I even tried going to her desk to 'help her with the work', but she declined any and all help.

"You're sure you didn't go over-board with staying with her at the hotel? Some humans find problems sleeping with their teachers that they've only known a few days." Irina asked.

My family has been doing their best to help me with my problem. We've all gone over everything at least twice in thinking what Bella might be thinking. I know there's something she's not telling me that she has a problem with. I did something; I had to have, to have caused this kind of reaction from her. I just have to figure out what I did and fix it.

"She was fine. She was nervous, but fine. If she had given any kind of objection the whole night I would have stopped what I was planning and taken her home." I answered.

She only made some small objections out of nervousness, not legit objection. If Bella didn't want to do anything, I wouldn't have pushed her. I don't want her to be uncomfortable with me or to even feel I push her in any direction besides the one she tells me she wants.

"Was it maybe something the dog said?" Irina asked.

I told them all about the dog and what he's said to me and Bella. My whole family would be more than happy to neuter the dog because of all the disrespect he's shown. I would have let them to, if it wasn't for Bella. Bella says he's a friend, therefore he's a friend (or at least tolerable) to me; so he's safe from my family.

"I don't think so. He didn't really say anything about me in particular. Just about how he doesn't like vampires in general and how he wants my Bella." I practically growled out the last part.

Even though I haven't told Bella anything about my intentions with her and we haven't truly acted on anything (or I haven't acted on anything), I can't help but feel possessive of her; it's the vampire in me. Humans are very different when it comes to courting and relationships than vampires. I've learned most of their rituals and traditions throughout my life. I intend to court Bella how humans would now and days. That means taking things slow, at her level. Just because every time I see I want to jump her, doesn't mean she feels the same.

I know that to her, for now, I'm only her vampire teacher that is friends with the Cullen's. She obviously doesn't see any potential relationship with me because of that. So now I have to give her a reason, I have to show her we really do belong together; that we are mates. No, more than mates, we're soul mates. We are meant to live forever at each other's sides.

"Do I hear a hint of jealousy?" Kate teased.

Kate was over the moon when we first found out about Bella. Not only was she thrilled about having another sister, but also about getting another way to annoy me. Kate has taken it upon herself to point out every time I show any signs of jealousy or nervousness. As my family's leader, nervousness is not something I often show. So when I do, she feels it's very important to point it out.

"Of course not, there's nothing to be jealous of. Bella made it very clear she has no interest in him." I defended myself quickly.

I will admit when he first showed up, I was a bit jealous; but only because he knows her better than I do. I could easily tell she had no interest in him. If anything I felt a little annoyed by him trying to get my girls attention. I was a little concerned about how far he would be willing to go; especially with him staying at Bella's house.

I was almost tempted to keep watch over the house to make sure the dog kept his hands to himself. But I trust Bella, so if she believes he wouldn't do anything to cross the line, then I would have to trust him to. Luckily her trust wasn't misplaced and he backed off after the talk on Sunday.

"Why don't you just talk to her at the store or even just simply outside of school? Ask her why she's avoiding you." Irina said.

"I've tried talking to her at the store, but she will only give the simplest of answers. She never says anything that could lead to actual conversation; so I stop trying. Outside of the store and school, she's always with the dog. Whenever I get close, he steers them away from me. I know he's doing it on purpose, I also think he's doing that for both himself and because Bella asked." I said.

I felt my dead heart ache painfully at the thought. Bella, my soul mate, is purposefully ignoring me and she's recruiting the dogs help to do so. It hurts just thinking that she doesn't want anything to do with me, almost unbearable. If wasn't for the fact that I have lived long enough to know that soul mates will always find a way to be together, I would have thought I would never get her affections. It's only a matter of time before I worm my way inside her heart. I know that with time, I will.

"Why not keep her after class like you did the first couple days?" Kate asked.

"I need a reason to. If I do and she decides to question it and take the matter up with the principal I could get in trouble I don't want any more unnecessary attention to us. I also don't want to risk losing my position at the school and cutting more time away from her." I answered.

If I were to abuse my power as a teacher and make Bella stay with me when at all possible and she take it the school authorities, I could get in trouble. I doubt I would lose my job when the school is almost over, but it's a risk I don't want to take. It's not like I plan on returning next year anyways, I have no reason to because Bella won't be there anymore.

"Why not have Kate talk with her?" Irina asked.

I had thought about it, but I don't want to get closer to Bella through a third party, but at this point it might be my only option. From what Kate has said, she has gotten close to Bella; at least closer than I am at this point. As much as Kate being closer to my soul mate than me annoys me, it has already happened and not from lack of me trying for that not to let that happen.

"I can talk to her if you want Tanya." Kate offered with a smirk on her face.

Kate was known for a lot of things but being tactful was not one of those things. I fear that if Kate talks to Bella, then she might say too many things that I don't want Bella to know. Not that I'll keep any secrets from Bella, but there are some things that I would prefer to hold off on telling her until later when we are a couple.

As if reading my thoughts, like our dear 'cousin' can, she quickly defended herself.

"I wouldn't do anything to risk you possibly not getting the girl Tanya, I swear. I would just try to figure out she's ignoring you. You know, get to know her better. I'll try to get the answer in a round-about way, I promise." Kate said.

"Fine, but I swear if you better not tell her anything I don't want her to know." I warned.

Before Bella moved here, I made sure everyone knew what I didn't want to reveal to her right away. Most of it was my…promiscuous past. I'm not ashamed of it, but I just hope Bella isn't. I don't want her to use something from my past to get in the way of knowing who I am today, who I am for her. Kate has a way of saying too much, she better not this time.

"I promise Tanya. I'll just be someone she can talk to. Whatever I can relay to you without betraying her trust, I will." Kate said.

Of course there would be conditions. I wouldn't want Bella to think she can't trust us, so naturally if she tells Kate not to tell me something, Kate won't. I would rather Kate keep her word and have Bella trust her than not trusting someone in my family. Though having important information withheld from me is not favorable. Hopefully Bella won't think to tell Kate to keep information hidden.

"Of course Kate." I answered.

"Have fun at the store Eleazar?" Irina asked.

Even though he was still a ways out, we could just now hear his footsteps getting closer to the house. His steps are heavier than all of ours, so it's easy to tell when it's him compared to the others of this house.

"It was interesting. Bella and I mostly talked about you Tanya." Eleazar said as he continued to run in our direction.

His statement quickly gained my interest. When Eleazar volunteered to work at the store without either Kate or myself there, I was honestly surprised. He has not had any contact with Bella thus far, so I wasn't sure if she liked him or not and vise-versa.

I want Bella to like my whole family, so naturally I had no real problems with allowing him to go work with Bella. I was only worried about what she would think of him and what he would think of her.

"Oh? What about?" I asked curious to know how that conversation went.

Eleazar waited the few seconds until he actually came into the house and into the living room with us to answer my question.

"We talked about why you became a teacher." Eleazar answered bluntly.

If it was possible, my face would have gone pale. That was something I didn't want to share with Bella just yet. I wanted to wait a little longer until I told her.

"I didn't tell her that." Eleazar quickly said once he saw my reaction, knowing what I was thinking he might have told her. "I told her simply that you wanted to get to know this generation better. The best way you saw fit to do so was to teach this generation." Eleazar said, though I think he's leaving something out, I just won't call him out on it…yet.

Okay, so what he claims to have told her isn't a complete lie. I do want to know this generation better, if only to know Bella that much better since she belongs to this time. I still feel a little upset that he lied to Bella, even though not only was it not a complete lie, but also something I would have wanted him to do.

"What did she say?" Kate asked at my silence.

"Not much, she mostly thought it was interesting that Tanya would pick being a teacher to learn about this generation." Eleazar said. "She also confided in me that she is somewhat nervous to be around you Tanya." Eleazar said.

If I thought my dead heart could ache anymore from her just ignoring her, I was wrong. I'm making her not want to be around me at all. Is she afraid of me? Did I do something that I shouldn't have to scare her?

"Did she say why?" Irina asked.

My mouth seems to not be working as I think about all that I could have said or done to scare away my soul mate. Luckily my sisters have been with me for so long that they know what questions I would ask if I could.

"No she did not." Eleazar answered.

"Then I shall have to find out. It seems that you have gotten a step closer than all of us to figuring Bella out Eleazar. I will just have to try harder so get closer to her." Kate said, sounding slightly amused.

I can already tell that since Bella confided in Eleazar, Kate's going to make it a personal challenge of hers to get to be closest to Bella out of the whole family. It's a weird goal to have, but Kate is always competitive that way. Fortunately this goal I happen to (barely) agree with. If she gets closer to Bella, while I can't, it will only work for my benefit in the long run.

"Naturally Kate, though I feel as if I'm easily already one step ahead of you." Eleazar said.

He may not seem like the type, but he is also competitive when he wants to be. Usually he only is when it benefits the family. In this case it does. I'm sure he thinks that since Bella is a future member of this family, he should naturally only want to get close to her. Seeing that and the fact that Kate loves a good challenge, he seemingly wants to try and beat Kate at her own challenge.

I'm happy to see my family trying so hard to get close to my soul mate. I'm glad that Bella seems to have little problems getting closer to them. Now I just have to get her to get closer to me.

"Challenge accepted Eleazar. I'll be back after the store is closed." Kate said as she raced out of the house.

"Please don't do anything too stupid." Irina and I yelled out before Kate was out of hearing distance.

Now to find out what Eleazar is keeping from me.

A/N: I wasn't originally going to do anything in Tanya's POV, but I thought you guys might want to know a little bit about what's going on in her head.

There's also a new poll up on my profile. I've gotten requests for a story with a rarer couple and I'm not sure if I should or if I should just stick with the more common ones, so let me know what you guys want please.

Sorry for the double post, I wanted to add something.