Bella Pov

"I'll take you home." Esme spoke up as they sat through the end of another episode.

"Bella, if you use the pills tonight, just use half." Carlisle spoke up. "And I want you to try and not use them over the weekend. You have people you can talk to now, try that. Pills aren't a long term solution."

"Thanks." She told him, but she wasn't sure how she felt about a prescription to talk. At least the big secrets were out, she didn't have to be so careful anymore. She still felt odd about the entire day, and the fact that she'd shared more than she ever planned.

Alice raced up the stairs at full speed, but then stopped at the top and smirked at her before racing out of sight to get Bella's things. "I'm sure the speed is impressive, but wait until I show you how strong I am." Emmett muttered and Bella couldn't help but smile at his little pout.

"What I want to see is you sparkle in the sunlight like a little fairy." She teased him. "Don't act like it's all cool and manly Peter Pan, I know it isn't."

She saw a few other small smiles, and Carlisle chuckled, while Emmett just stared at her, surprised. "Your story mentioned that?" He didn't sound pleased.

"Oh, repeatedly." Bella chuckled and took the bag that suddenly Alice was in front of her holding out to her. "Thank you." Bella told Alice. She then just waved to the others, but muttered a soundless bye to Rosalie. The blonde vampire gave her a soft smile in return.

"Have a nice night Friday." Emmett called out while Esme held the front door open for Bella and Bella glanced back, confused for a moment, because the word Friday made no sense and sounded kind of like a name the way he said it, before she got it. Body Switching, and that movie.

"Everyone loves Friday." Alice teased as well and Bella blushed as she ducked out of the front door, with a smiling Esme behind her.

"We do love you." Esme spoke softly as they made their way across the yard toward the garage. Bella felt awkward and had no idea what to say to that.

"I love you guys too." She admitted quietly and then focused her eyes on the ground she was walking on. "I don't want to seem ungrateful, I mean I did get a second chance, but I wasn't happy until I got here and that has a lot to do with you and your family. I don't think I've been happy in a very long time."

…

Esme Pov

Esme thought it was heart breaking to hear Bella admit she'd been so unhappy with life, this one or the one before. She just gave Bella a small smile, and opened the garage door. She'd gotten the hint that Bella wasn't comfortable with hugs and sympathy anymore, that it had been too emotional of a day and she restrained herself, but it was hard.

They talked about the Home Show they'd see that weekend, and Esme bit back so many questions she had as they did that. She wanted to know about Bella's real life, her real family. Her dreams, her job, there was so much they hadn't covered. But to ask those things would be a bit much, when she'd also kept her past a secret. "I was changed when I was twenty six." Esme started to share as they got closer to town. "We push the limits on the age Carlisle and I pretend to be, so we can at least claim to have adopted the others, because it's the only cover that works with so many of us looking so young." She glanced at Bella to see the girl was paying a lot of attention to her, but Esme had no idea if she was telling her things she already knew. That was still strange to her, even after living years with Alice. "I've been playing at being in my early thirties for many years, but I never reached it myself. I don't know what a woman's thirties are really like. Is it different?"

Bella smiled just a little. "Mid thirties had some things going for it, but sadly I wasn't in a relationship to share it with someone." Esme pulled the car up to the front of Bella's house as she watched the girl blush a little. It was a puzzle, what Bella was thinking. "Did you want to see my room? It's far from done, but it does look better."

Esme got out of the car to follow Bella in. Charlie wasn't here yet and Esme had questions, but first, "What did you mean about your mid thirties?"

Bella stammered. "Nevermind, I shouldn't have said anything." The girl pulled the key to the house out of her bag and started to unlock it.

"No, I really want to know." Esme watched Bella blush and was completely puzzled as to why, but she did want Bella to get used to really talking with her, Bella's health even seemed to depend on her ability to finally open up.

Bella stood in the doorway for a moment, taking a deep breath. "Women reach their sexual peak in their thirties. It isn't just a myth, I'm dealing with teenage hormones now and it's still a little easier than the thirties hornies."

"Oh," Esme's eyes widened as she realized what they were suddenly talking about. "Really?"

Bella turned to close the door behind them and looked into Esme's face with a sheepish smile. "I had to switch from battery to plug in, it was too expensive to keep the batteries stocked up." Esme's eyebrows rose up in surprise. "I'm sorry, it's not really appropriate is it?"

"The thirties hornies?" Esme asked, somewhat intrigued by the idea. "I never heard that before." Esme followed Bella toward the stairs. "How bad could it be? And should I know about this?"

"It could get pretty bad. It felt like I was in heat at times." Bella admitted as she turned back to look at her. They ended up stopping midway up the stairs. She was blushing pretty hard and the scent was strong, but Esme just swallowed the venom in her mouth and waited for whatever was about to be admitted. "Not every woman gets this, at least I don't think so. You could not know and be fine." Bella continued upstairs and Esme followed her, lost in thought for a moment.

"But what was it like?" Esme asked, it was an awkward conversation, but as she thought about it she remembered women mentioning the sexual peak before, but never really knew what they were talking about. She normally assumed it just meant the climax. It was always something she overheard other groups of women talking about, so she couldn't really ask.

"It would come on like a wave, it didn't always make sense why." Bella spoke quietly. "I think it was related to my period, because it was always at its worst right before I had it." Esme frowned a little at that, because she had forgotten what it was like to even have that anymore. "It was a pretty desperate need. It wasn't possible to just ignore it. At times it seemed impossible to even wait until I got home, but I always managed somehow."

Esme's eyes were wide and she just stared at Bella in shock. It made little sense to her for a human woman to deal with that, and it sounded just a little like bloodlust actually. Bella went a little redder and gave a chuckle. "Other than that, the thirties aren't any different for a woman."

"That seems like more than enough change." Esme spoke quietly, still a little stunned.

"Is this weird for you, my looking so young and talking about this?" Bella asked softly.

"A little" Esme smiled. "But I do have some experience talking with people who don't look their age. It's the heartbeat that makes it strange." Bella's words really showed she wasn't the child Esme was seeing in front of her and it was jarring, but Esme wasn't going to let that show. Bella was sharing, sure it wasn't what Esme expected, but she was sharing. Esme might need to research the sexual peak a bit more, in case she needed to be aware of it for her human cover. It wouldn't do for her to be completely unaware of this odd biological phenomenon.

Bella lead her into Bella's room and Esme looked around at the small changes, grateful for the chance to change the subject. The color of the walls was nice, and went well with the floor. The shelves nearly matched the dresser, to a human eye it probably looked perfect. Esme also noticed one new piece of art on the wall and she shook her head. "Emmett's contribution?" She'd heard Bella was given a lot of art for her walls, but apparently one didn't come down.

"Oh, I'm sure Jacob will be back at some point. I couldn't take it all down." Bella blushed a little, and Esme smiled, because she suspected Bella just liked that piece. It was bordering on artistic.

Esme noticed something else new and she moved toward the window to look at it. The lock was a bit more than the typical. She glanced up at Bella with a question on her face and noticed the human was a little apprehensive looking.

"I didn't want anyone sneaking into my room; I know it's probably possible to get around that lock, but not without waking me up." Bella told her and Esme frowned, before looking back down at it. She had a suspicion that this lock wasn't meant for humans, they were on the second floor after all.

"What made you think you need this?" Esme asked flatly, not liking the implications.

"In the story, well, that Bella had way too many vampires sneaking into her room. I have enough trouble sleeping, I need to know if I go to bed alone, I'll wake up alone." Bella admitted and Esme hissed quietly.

"Just this one window isn't enough for that. It wouldn't be hard to use a different window and come in your bedroom door, even with Charlie there." Esme looked closer at the window and thought it wasn't going to keep anyone out, but if all Bella needed was a sound to warn her it would do that. Seeing Bella sleep the other night though, and how even Alice couldn't wake her on purpose, this seemed like a doomed plan. "There really isn't a way to keep you safe with locks Bella. If this is about James, this will not help."

"No, he's not coming until next spring." Bella admitted and Esme didn't like hearing that the human knew a threat was coming. One thing was sure, Esme and the others would be patrolling this town carefully next spring.

"Who is this keeping out Bella?" Esme watched Bella flinch, but Esme had to know who Bella didn't trust. It had to be a member of her family. Something made her think it wasn't Emmett and his jokes Bella was concerned about.

"Edward doesn't always respect boundaries in the story, and I'm not comfortable with him sneaking in here to test his ability not to kill me. It doesn't seem safe and it's kind of creepy." Bella told her and Esme's eyes widened in anger.

"Did you wake up to see him?" Esme asked, a hint of a growl in her voice. "We're watching him, he shouldn't be able to get that close."

"No, but I had trouble sleeping thinking I might." Bella admitted and Esme didn't resist the urge to hug her.

"Oh, you lose far too much sleep, don't you?" Esme muttered into Bella's neck. "He normally has very good control, and he's working to be able to deal with your scent." She pulled back and looked into Bella's eyes. They did look better than the day before, so sleep helped. "But we are keeping an eye on both of you. Alice watches over you carefully. I don't believe a vampire could get into your bedroom without her knowing, and if any of my children start stalking you I will deal with it."

"Oh, well, thanks." Bella seemed unsure what to say and so Esme just smiled at her and looked around the room again, to comment on the progress. It was slow going, and she would have liked to have seen it done, but Esme was just going to have to learn some patience.

Esme lost track of how long they were talking and was surprised to hear the car pull up outside. She glanced out the window to see Chief Swan was back and a truck pulled up behind him. She couldn't prevent the small frown that came to her when she recognized Billy Black in the passenger side of that truck. When her family came back they went through the effort to contact the elders of that tribe and let them know. It was the proper thing to do with that treaty, but the Quileute's had not be polite at all, not even distantly polite. They had glared and threatened as if her family were just moments from slaughtering the entire town. They were definitely not like their ancestors, who had followed the spirit and the word of that treaty.

"It is getting late. I should probably head back." Esme spoke up as she faced Bella. She noticed Bella glance out the window and grimace.

"No warning at all, lovely Charlie." Bella's voice was flat and clearly unhappy. Esme found herself being studied. "This is your land, why is he even able to wander over here?"

"The treaty?" Esme asked, once again surprised by what Bella knew. "It's selective on who is restricted to these lands."

"Next time, renegotiate, that doesn't sound fair at all." Bella told her and then sighed heavily. "Want to help me put up pin up girl posters before you leave?"

"Can't say I've done that in my career." Esme smirked and watched Bella pull out the things Emmett got her. Once Esme saw them she decided to have a little talk with Emmett about his poor tastes. If Bella felt she had to do this, he should have tried for artistic. The only good piece was the one that had stayed on the wall. Maybe she'd ask him where he got that and see if there were more.

…..

Bella Pov

"Hey Bells!" Charlie yelled out when he finally got to the door. Bella glanced around the room and decided it was ready and gave Esme a tense smile of thanks.

"We're upstairs." She called back. Her voice was much quieter when she spoke to Esme. "If Billy is rude to you, let me know. I've already warned him I don't want to hear it, so if he breaches my little 'treaty' I'll have to call him on it."

"You don't really need to get involved Bella." Esme told her even as they could hear Billy's voice downstairs. That man clearly didn't know Bella had company.

Bella stared into Esme's eyes. This vampire, more than any of them, was not going to be insulted in Bella's home. It just wasn't going to happen, and if it did, she wasn't going to let anyone get away with being rude to Esme. It seemed sacrilegious to be rude to Esme. "I will not let Charlie's friends make mine feel unwelcome Esme, aside from how rude that is, I don't want the Elders thinking they have any say in my life."

Esme didn't look pleased, but they made their way out of Bella's room. Charlie looked a little surprised when Bella and Esme started down the stairs. "Oh, Hi," He stammered a little and Bella smiled at his surprise. "I thought Emmett was up there with Bells."

"No, I thought it would be best to make sure she got home myself." Esme told him with a smile and Bella focused her eyes on the man in the wheelchair watching this with narrowing eyes. "Bella was showing me her new shelves."

"Oh yeah, we went shopping." Charlie scratched the back of his neck, clearly a little embarrassed and Bella wondered once again what Esme told Charlie that day.

"Mr. Black," Esme greeted him and Bella glared at the man, because he was too hostile looking, and she continued until he noticed her and looked at her strangely.

"Mrs. Cullen." His voice was cold, but he nodded and then studied Bella's face again. She knew he probably never saw a teenager glare at him like this, but she was just waiting for him to be overtly rude, and if he was she was going to rake him through the coals so badly he'd never do it again.

"Well, I best be going." Esme told them, but when she moved toward the door it opened and Jacob stood there, looking a little confused.

"I found it." He turned to his dad, but his eyes were curious and wide as they took in Esme.

"Jacob, this is Esme Cullen, Dr. Cullen's wife." Bella introduced her and watched how the young teenager's eyes were still wide. Billy actually growled, and he wasn't even a wolf.

"Nice to meet you Jacob, but as I was saying I do need to get going." Esme smiled at him and slipped out of the house. Bella wasn't sure if she should follow Esme or stay behind.

"I'll get us a beer." Charlie said to Billy and Billy just nodded, but his eyes were burning holes in the door. Bella ignored him completely for now, other than the challenging look she gave him when his eyes moved to her.

"Wow." Jacob muttered as closed the door. His eyes widened to emphasis his point and Bella was positive he'd never seen such a beautiful woman before.

"I know." She smiled just a little and moved out of the entryway, ignoring Billy's stare. "And she's really nice too. She's teaching me about interior design." Bella ignored how unhappy Billy looked as she focused on Jacob.

After they managed to go upstairs and leave the men to order dinner and talk, Bella found herself blushing hard as Jacob started to sing "Mrs. Robinson" to her and ask why she had a married woman in her bedroom. He was having a great time with her embarrassment and she wasn't sure it was better than when he used to follow her around like a puppy, drooling.