I am sooo sorry for taking so long to update. It's been pretty crazy with the Holidays. Here is a quick recap on what happened last chapter. I hope you all like it! As always, reviews are nice :)

Fifteen minutes later, I could hear the Mercedes pull up to the front of the house while Jacob bolted from the drivers seat. His thoughts were so jumbled, I had a hard time deciphering what he was trying to figure out. As he flew through the front door, I finally caught it, and gasped.

"It's the teacher," he panted out. "Ms. Alvarez is a hybrid, just like Nessie."

Chapter 9

Bella had just emerged from the basement dragging our embarrassed daughter up the stairs.

"Wait, what?" she asked. "Please tell me I didn't hear you correctly."

All eyes turned to Jacob where he fiddled with his hands nervously, wanting nothing more than to console my confused daughter.

"Bella love, please come sit down. Let's not overreact over this." In reality, this pep talk was more for myself. Another hybrid was teaching at our high school, in Nessie's art class no less. Ness was the only one of us that had a talent for art as much as Esme did. The rest of us used our extracurriculars for other things, so the ironic thing being that this strange woman was teaching a class to my special daughter was nerve racking…and I wanted nothing more than to stomp to her doorstep and demand what she wanted with my family.

Bella gracefully ran to the seat next to me and nearly pummeled me and the sofa over backwards. My arms enveloped her slowly but tightly, assuring her with all my strength that no harm would come to her again. I bent my head to hers and kissed her lightly on her crown. She immediately exhaled and I could tell that my ability to comfort her was indeed working.

Jacob ran to Nessie and picked her up in a huge bear hug. "Ness are you okay?"

"Jeez Jake, spill! What is going on?"

He set her back to the ground and escorted her into the family room where the rest of my siblings and parents waited for his explanation. I was beginning to dislike this room for the number of serious meetings we were already seeming to have in it.

"Well there really isn't all that much to tell. After I saw you guys during lunch, I went into the teacher's lounge to eat. I was just about done when she came in. She looked pretty flustered and upset about something, so I didn't really bother to talk to her. After she walked right past me without an introduction, I was able to feel her skin for a brief second. There wasn't a difference between hers and Nessie's at all."

I was trying to slowly gather in this information without skipping ahead into his thoughts. I held Bella more tightly to me, and she lifted her knees to her chin while laying her head on my shoulder.

"So they have the same temperature? Jacob I hardly think that qualifies her as a hybrid," Carlisle chimed in. I could tell he was moments away from jumping into his interrogative routine when he heard about anything supernatural. "What did she smell like? Renesmee has a unique scent and I think the others would have picked hers up by now, especially if it were so similar."

"See that's what I thought too! But I was in the room with her, and I definitely took extreme measures to try and figure out what she was without being too obvious. She grabbed her lunch from the fridge and sat down at a nearby table. She really didn't even take a second glance to me. There were only two other teachers in the lounge, and they were both engrossed in their own conversation to notice either of us. Don't get me wrong Carlisle, I hardly think her temperature puts her in the hybrid category, but that's when I noticed how off her scent was. It wasn't anything like Nessie's. Or Nahuel's when we met him. If I remember correctly, both of them smelled pretty similar. I looked at Ms. Alvarez again and tuned into her heartbeat. Like birds wings it fluttered fast, and I knew she wasn't human."

"Alright Jacob, so she has a quick heart beat and a high temperature. You said she looked flustered? Sounds like she might be coming down with the flu, nothing else."

Alice then decided to voice her opinion on the matter, and I had to agree it made perfect sense. "He's right Carlisle. Think of the vision holes I've been having. My visions involving the wolves completely disappear. My visions involving Nessie however, just black out her and nothing else. I can see her classroom, but not her in it. Like someone took a black marker and placed a giant dot over wherever she is. I have the same problem when she's in the class with Ms. Alvarez. Unless she's some other type of supernatural creature, I don't see any other options."

"I didn't get to finish. After I noticed her heartbeat, I noticed her diet. A big bag of veggies. I watched her take in each bite, and I could have sworn she was wincing with every chew; definitely not enjoying any of it. Think about it, Ness doesn't eat vegetables. She despises them! Ness mostly only drinks animal blood, and a few other human foods. That's what makes her smell so vampire. Just think, if Ms. Alvarez were abstaining from not only blood, but human meats altogether like a human vegetarian, her digestive system would make her smell completely different."

"It's an interesting theory and highly plausible." Carlisle added. "But I can't be sure. It doesn't really seem like we have enough evidence except that she is a sick woman in need of medical attention. The rest could be a complete coincidence."

"Since when is anything in this family just a coincidence!" Bella yelled at my father. I had never seen her raise her voice against him. "Something is wrong, and we can't just sit here and wait for something to happen!"

"No of course not Bella, we will make sure we take extra precautions to ensure Nessie's safety." Carlsisle seemed just as surprised at Bella's outburst as I was. His eyes welled up and I could tell he was a little hurt. Bella noticed too because she rose out of my arms and headed in his direction to give him a hug.

"I'm so sorry Carlisle. I'm just being overprotective. I know you'd do anything for this family."

"You are all my life. Esme and I wouldn't know what to do if we lost any of you. We love you all so very much." Carlisle was compassionate, yes, but for him to lay out his feelings in front of the whole family was a rare occasion. This tender moment was not unseen by everyone else, and Esme stepped in to console my Bella too. Their silent sobs rose together as my mother and my wife let out any frustrations they had built up inside.

I wanted so badly to interrupt them. I wanted to whisk my lovely wife into my arms and run far from this house so no one could hear us. I wanted to protect my little family. I wanted to control the emotions of my daughter towards Jacob. Suddenly everything in my head became overwhelming and I found that I was holding my breath.

"Edward? Edward are you alright?" I snapped out of my built up hysteria and let out a huge sigh. Bella was still frantically trying to gain my attention as she kept tugging at my arm with one hand, and her other caressing my cheek.

"Yes, I'm fine," I lied. I became suddenly acutely aware of the fact that everyone was staring at me with wide eyes, waiting for me to fall on the floor or do something completely…human? "Why what's wrong?" I asked.

"You just sort of froze in this weird position and your head started, I don't know, convulsing? Like you couldn't decide where to look and you went into this sort of frenzy." Bella was still cupping my cheek as I tried to fish for an explanation to her statement. Did I really do that?

The overwhelming sensation that had taken over me moments before was not gone, but smoldering deep into my mind. Could I ever keep my family safe? Would we ever reach the point in our lives where the Volturi weren't looming in the future and other creatures were preying on my loved ones? I suppose the whole Jacob matter was something I would eventually have to come to terms with. That day didn't need to be today.

"I don't know what happened. I just got overwhelmed I suppose. Too many things to think about." I knew this answer wouldn't be sufficient enough for Bella, but I really didn't want to spill out my worries to the rest of my siblings. This family matter was substantially more private.

Edward sweetheart I'm not buying it. Let's go downstairs for some more privacy.

I had a better idea. "Would the rest of you mind if Bella and I went out for a private hunt? We could really use some alone time." Bella raised her eyebrows at my comment, but I could tell she had no opposition to spending some alone time with me in the woods. If only I could contain myself until we got there…

"Ugh Dad, you promised Jake and I could go hunting after school. I'm seriously starving here! All I've had to eat this whole week was a nasty grease slice of pizza and some nasty chicken fried steak crap. I neeeeed to hunt!"

That's right I did promise her. I looked hesitantly over to Jake as he remembered the over-processed meat in the lunch room earlier, noting his grumbling stomach. Drat, I forgot to tell Esme he was hungry. That didn't mean there was plenty of forest for all of us.

"Oh that's right sweetheart I did promise. Well if you two are okay with it, you could take off down the southeast side of the house, and we'll take the northwest. The forest is quite large."

"Sounds good to me. I'm famished Ness, do you want to go now?" Jake peeled off his blazer and started towards the door.

"Eh, Jake!" Alice nearly shrieked. "That is a brand new, one of a kind, fitted just for you Gucci tailored suit. Definitely not for hunting. Now go downstairs and change into some jeans before I strip you naked in front of the whole family!"

The next moments included Emmett erupting with laughter, Rose mimicking a gag reflex, and to my disappointment, my daughter smiling, while picturing none other than Jacob Black naked.

"Renesmee!" I shouted. She looked at me terribly embarrassed and if it weren't for the others standing in the room with us, I'm sure she would have taken off to the deepest crevasse of the basement, never to face me again.

"Alright, alright…I'll go change." Jacob nearly skipped down the stairs, trying to hide the fact from Renesmee, and mostly me that he was positively elated that the comment Alice had made had had that effect on my daughter.

I did my best trying to excuse both of their behavior, so without wanting to address the situation any more tonight with either of them, I grabbed Bella's hand and headed to the back porch.

"What happened in there?" she asked.

"Trust me, you don't want to know." Before she asked any more questions, I let her hand slip from mine and raised my eyebrows at her, giving her my most dazzling look. "Race you," I whispered into her ear. I took off chuckling as I heard her swoon behind me.

"Hey no fair! That's cheating!" But I didn't stop. I let her trail slightly behind me, just enough to keep her wanting more.

The electric vibe her cheek left to my lips was utterly impossible to ignore. It took every ounce of my strength to keep running, and not turn to pounce her into the ground. I loved this part of our relationship. The playful side. It was something we weren't able to wholly appreciate until after she had changed. I always had to be so careful, and she had to be reserved. Any small movements were always noted, and the force to take her to bed was nearly overwhelming every time I saw her. Now half of our relationship consisted of playful banter. We didn't have to be careful, so we didn't try to be.

The sun was just about to head down over the horizon leaving us in twilight. I caught sight of a small meadow up ahead and ran towards it. I quickly slid behind a large trunk knowing it was completely useless to try and hide from her. I peeked my head around my left shoulder and as I did so was nearly pummeled into the ground from my right side.

"Mr. Cullen, you weren't trying to hide from me were you?" Bella lay above me with her dark curls hanging down around her face, tickling my nose.

"Moi? Why would I ever want to hide from you?" I pulled the nape of her neck closer to my chest, breathing in her scent.

"That was very rude of you Edward Cullen, to tease me back there and then take off, leaving behind a very broken hearted girl." She lifted her chin up slightly so I could gaze into her dark, golden eyes. Her lip pouted out ever so slightly, fully knowing of its power to push me into a complete guilt trip. God, how I loved her.

"I am" kiss "so sorry" kiss "if ever made you feel bad," kiss. "It will never happen again. I promise. Forgive me?" It was my turn to use the pouty lip, and I tried my very hardest to give her my puss in boots look the way I remembered from the movie Nessie watched as a small child.

"Oh jeez that's not fair!" she cried. "How could anyone be upset with you with that face." I was still lying on the ground, but she now sat up and straddled me. It was not an uncomfortable position. I pulled the collar of her shirt towards me as I searched intently for her lips. When they finally found refuge, I let out a small moan and she finally surrendered.

Her hands traveled over the plains of my skin seeking eagerly to find someplace they hadn't already discovered. I knew it was a lost cause as we knew each other's bodies as our own, but I still gave her credit for trying. I attempted to slowly unbutton the front of her blouse knowing we wouldn't have any clothes to return in if we ravished the ones we were wearing. She seemed to think the same thing, fumbling over my own, but eventually got impatient and ripped the light fabric off with two fingers.

"You know love, Emmett is going to rip on us if we show up back at the house stark naked," I chuckled. She was now kissing my collarbone, heading towards my abdomen where I could almost hear the smile in her voice.

"I don't care," she whispered. I hadn't had goose bumps in over a hundred hears, and I swear she just made my hair raise with that comment. Suddenly I didn't either. In another swift motion, I rid us of the rest of our clothing, and for the rest of the night, the only sounds we made were the kisses leaving each other's bodies, leaving our worries until tomorrow.