(A/N: THANKS PANDA4488, and EMILEE, PRINCESSANGELBABE,LIGHTBABE, AUTOBOT-MechanicalOperations, YOUR REVIEWS REALLY MADE MY DAY! I HOPE YOU ALL LIKE THIS!

Story isn't over but the secrets are. Or are they? Bwhahahah.

Oh and Charlie, in my version, is aware of what's going on.. Because it never sat well with me that he'd be such a good father to bella, and stick his own head so far up his ass that he had no clue about things for nearly the entire series. So yeah.. He knows about vamps and wolves.. He's not entirely comfortable with the existance of either, but he's less okay with the bad vampires. Because I wanted to fix this one thing that made no sense to me. No flames, please?

CHAPTER 10:

TALL DARK & HANDSOME WINS EVERY TIME

( another close call with Aro)

"Someone better be dead. Or dying." she muttered as she heard banging at her bedroom door. She sat up, sheet only partially covering her body, it'd been a little warm the night before, so she'd fallen asleep with her window cracked and in a t shirt and her underwear. Her brown eyes fixed on the clock on her nightstand and she glared at the door as the knocking continued.

Since Aro started 'reaching out' to her, for whatever reason he'd been doing this, Sam tried to make sure that Courtney had someone with her at all times, even suggesting to her father that if things got too bad, too dangerous, she could stay with someone at the reservation. Naturally, her father, being the old fashioned guy he was, had his own reservations about that arrangement, but he had pointed out that if she could just come when he got called in for a late or an early case, Charlie would be more than happy and he'd have a calm peace of mind knowing Courtney wasn't in any danger.

"Up and dressed, Coco. Not leaving you alone here.. Embry's on his way over, I just called him." Charlie said as he knocked again, waited on some sound of movement from within the room.

The door flew open and Courtney stood there, her hand on her hips as she asked, "Seriously, Dad.. can't the bastards in this town commit crimes DURING THE DAY?"

Charlie chuckled, ruffled her hair as he shrugged and said quietly, "I ask myself the same thing. Get dressed.. You and Embry can go back to his mom's.. I just have a weird feeling and I don't think it'd be a good idea to leave you here or stay here with me gone."

"Dad, damn it, I'll tell you like I've told Sam countless times. Unlike my sister, I do know how to shoot a gun, if I have to." Courtney pointed out, really wanting nothing more than to crawl back into her nice warm bed and go back to sleep for a few more hours. This whole thing with Aro was really starting to wear her down, between the constant worries about Embry's safety, and the slight worries about her own, the major worries about the safety of her family, even though she was still mad as all hell at Bella for getting them all in this, well..

She grabbed some jeans and a t shirt, her converses and raced down the hallway to the bathroom, in a hurry. She had the feeling that her father needed to be gone about 5 minutes ago, most likely, but true to form, he wasn't leaving until she'd made it safely into Embry's truck and was headed away from Forks. She'd just gotten her t shirt over her head, when she saw him appear behind her.

She growled as she smirked to herself and raised her hot straightening iron in a threatening manner. "Ahh, Aro.. No matter how many times you sneak in here you fucking mosquito.. It never fails to amaze me.."

Aro smirked as he leaned in and whispered, "You won't use it."

"Maybe not.. But I will scream.. And my dad will bring up his shotgun from the fireplace. Haven't you figured it out yet, Aro? Tall dark and handsome will ALWAYS triumph over short, red eyed, and disgustingly dead in my eyes."

"You stink of dog. It's almost enough to make me not want to taste your blood."

She turned, a slight purple 'bite mark' visible on her neck as she said with a smirk, " There could be a good reason I 'stink of dog' Aro. And I prefer this bite over any you'll die trying to give me."

He pinned her in and she panicked, a scream ripping from her throat as she heard her father running up the stairs. "Dad, bring the gun. If you hurry.."

But when she opened her eyes and looked, Aro was gone and there wasn't any sign that he'd been there, save for the faint stench of cold and musty death on the air. Charlie growled and lightly punched the door just as Embry, Jared and Paul walked in, all three sniffing the air.

"Fucking hell... When I get my damn hands on that little red eyed son of a.." Embry swore as Courtney walked down behind her father, letting her dad explain the situation, because she was still too damn panicked to talk currently. Paul looked at her and then asked, "So.. How many insults did you throw at the guy before you screamed this time?"

"Well, I was about to burn the bastard with my straightening rod..." Courtney admitted earning her a dirty look from both her father AND Embry who shook his head and pointed out calmly, "Babe.. Your temper is going to get you into serious trouble." in concern. She pouted a moment and then said "Yeah? Well I'm not going to let him get in my head either.. And that's all he's doing, is trying to get in my head.. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's doing it because he thinks the fear might make my blood tastier. Just too bad he's not gonna get to find out, huh?"

They all left the house after that, Paul and Jared, Embry picking on her as she replayed her 'conversation' with Aro in the truck. Embry pulled her against him as he muttered quietly, "Seriously though, babe.. Do not keep egging that guy on, please?"

"Ughh, fine, damn it. But I hate feeling helpless and powerless."

"You're not. You've got me, bambi." Embry pointed out as Courtney nodded and said quietly, "Yeah, I do, Big guy.. But.. I'm one of those independent females you hear so much about, also.. So this entire thing doesn't sit well with me, to be perfectly honest. Please tell me you guys are on the verge of figuring something out?"

Paul spoke up and nodding said calmly, "Yeah, a few of the other leeches think they might know why the Volturi are here and for how long.. And how they're getting over the treaty line."

"Good. And you two.. When this all does finally boil over.. You watch my man's back, got it? Or I swear to God, you will not like me." Courtney pointed out, Jared and Paul snickering a little amongst themselves, but ultimately happy for their friend. If the imprint hadn't taken..

Embry chuckled and then jokingly teased, "I think she means it."

"And I can be a very, very lethal little ninja chick."

The second they reached Embry's house, the two of them curled back up into his bed, going back to sleep. Which if Courtney had to admit, she rather liked falling asleep in his arms. She was in fact, getting quite used to it.