AN ~ 2nd chapter for today. If I remember correctly, quite a while has passed. Oh well, it's a landmark phone call! dun dun DUN!

Disclaimer: Eclipse is not mine (I just have poor little Carlisle working away at trying to solve everything before it falls in on his head)

Chapter Thirty: Stranger

Esme:

"Hey bro," Emmett flipped open his cell.

"Emmett – I don't know how it happened but someone's slipped us. There was a stranger in Bella's room. Vampire. It might be one of the Volturi, I'm not sure. You and Jasper sweep the woods – they can't be far away. I'm bringing Bella over." Edward's urgent voice came through the speaker. I jammed a bookmark into my well-used copy of Pride and Prejudice and leapt to my feet,and in an instant the rest of the family was in the room beside me. Edward had already hung up.

"Jazz, you up for it?" Emmett asked.

"Yeah – especially since the wolves stole Victoria," he grumbled. Emmett and Jasper took off out the door, but I couldn't move. Carlisle paced. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath, my fingers clawing at the book covers.

"I didn't see anything," Alice whispered, shocked and appalled at herself. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her chest. She blinked her absent eyes and came out of her trance, shaking her head. "I can't believe I missed it."

"It's not your fault dear," I told her, though my voice was bleak. My book started tearing, but my hands were so firmly locked around it I couldn't let it go. I was practically powdering the pages.

"What happened?" Edward demanded, bursting through the door. He was glaring at Alice, his hands clenched into fists by his sides. Carlisle froze, and Bella looked like a startled rabbit.

"I have no idea. I didn't see anything," Alice replied, looking away from her furious brother. She was being hard enough on herself without Edward on her case.

"How is that possible?" Edward hissed.

"Edward," Bella muttered reprovingly.

"It's not an exact science, Edward," Carlisle interrupted calmly.

"He was in her room, Alice. He could have been there, waiting for her."

"I would have seen that," Alice insisted. Edward threw his arms in the air.

"Really? You're sure?"

"You've already got me watching the Volturi's decisions, watching for Victoria's return, watching Bella's every step," Alice retorted coldly. "Do you want to add another? Do I just have to watch Charlie, or Bella's room, or the house, or the whole street, too? Edward, if I try to do too much, things are going to start slipping through the cracks."

"It looks like they already are," he snapped back. I wish they wouldn't fight like this. It was bad enough with Victoria and the Volturi and now this new potential threat on our hands: we didn't need our family falling apart at the seams. Carlisle and I had managed to keep our disputes about my safety private, precisely for this reason.

"She was never in any danger; there was nothing to see," Alice defended herself.

"If you're watching Italy, why didn't you see them send-"

"I don't think it's them. I would have seen that."

"Who else would leave Charlie alive?" Bella shuddered, and flakes of what once was Pride and Prejudice floated onto the floor around me.

"I don't know," Alice replied.

"Helpful."

"Stop it, Edward," Bella reproved again, louder this time. He turned on her and glared for a long moment, then suddenly exhaled and seemed to relax.

"You're right, Bella. I'm sorry," he said, turning to Alice. "Forgive me, Alice. I shouldn't be taking this out on you. That was inexcusable."

"I understand," she replied, apparently having calmed down too. "I'm not happy about it either." Edward took a deep breath.

"Okay, let's look at this logically. What are the possibilities?"

Bella and Edward joined me on the lounge. I wrapped my arms around Bella and Edward held her hand reassuringly. She did not relax.

"Victoria?" Carlisle suggested.

"No, I didn't know the scent," Edward replied, shaking his head. "He might have been from the Volturi, someone I haven't met…" Alice shook her head now.

"Aro hasn't asked anyone to look for her yet. I will see that. I'm waiting for it."

"You're watching for an official command."

"You think someone's acting on their own? Why?"

"Caius' idea," Edward suggested.

"…or Jane's," Alice added. "They both have the resources to send an unfamiliar face."

"And the motivation." Edward scowled.

"It doesn't make sense, though," I interrupted, the thought only just coming to me. "If whoever it was meant to wait for Bella, Alice would have seen that. He – or she – had no intention of hurting Bella. Or Charlie, for that matter."

"What was the point, then?" Carlisle wondered.

"Checking to see if I'm still human?" Bella suggested.

"Possible…" he replied, thinking about it. Rosalie's sigh interrupted us. She turned to face the kitchen, and the rest of us turned too. Emmett and Jasper burst through the door a moment later.

"Long gone, hours ago," Emmett announced, disappointed. "The trail went east, then south, and disappeared on a side road. Had a car waiting."

"That's bad luck," Edward muttered. "If he'd gone west…well, it would be nice for those dogs to make themselves useful." Bella winced, and I rubbed her shoulder. Poor girl, I thought. No human should have this much weight to bear. I especially wished the others were a little more considerate about her feelings for the werewolves: our ruthless hatred for each other was trying for me at times, and it was no doubt making life – and the impending final decision – much more difficult for Bella.

"Neither of us recognised him, but here…maybe you know the scent." Jasper held out a broken fern frond to Carlisle. Carlisle took it and raised it to his nose for a moment.

"No," he concluded. "Not familiar. No one I've ever met."

"Perhaps we're looking at this the wrong way," I interrupted again. "Maybe it's just a coincidence…" Everyone turned to stare incredulously at me, so I decided to rephrase. "I don't mean a coincidence that a stranger happened to pick Bella's house at random. I meant that maybe someone was just curious: our scent is all around her. Was he wondering what draws us there?" It was reasonable enough: many vampires had been curious about us and our lifestyle before. We were just seeing danger everywhere.

"Why wouldn't he just come here then, if he were curious?" Emmett demanded.

"You would," I replied. I had to smile. "The rest of us aren't always so direct. Our family is very large – he or she might have been frightened. But Charlie wasn't harmed. This doesn't have to be an enemy." I recalled Laurent, Victoria and James…not that James or Victoria had settled with 'curious,' but Laurent was certainly fascinated by our proximity to humans – particularly Bella. Maybe it was just another Laurent. Just maybe… Edward frowned. Carlisle looked thoughtful. Rosalie looked at me as if I was insane.

"I don't think so," Alice politely disagreed. "The timing of it was too perfect…this visitor was so careful to make no contact. Almost like he or she knew that I would see…"

"He could have other reasons for not making contact," I reminded her. Like the wolves that also hang around her, and the fact that at least one of us is with her all the time. It would frighten me, if I were wandering the world alone. I flinched at the thought.

"Does it really matter who it was?" It was Bella's turn to interrupt. "Just the chance that someone was looking for me…isn't that reason enough? We shouldn't wait for graduation."

"No, Bella," Edward objected quickly, before Carlisle got a chance to open his mouth. "It's not that bad. If you're really in danger, we'll know."

"Think of Charlie," Carlisle added. "Think of how it would hurt him if you disappeared."

I remembered with a pang watching Charlie from the tree outside his house, all alone, while Bella was hiding out in the south with Alice and Jasper. And then again, when Bella took off after Edward…and we'd have to take her away from him again, but this time it didn't have to be so sudden. I knew what it felt like to have a child walk out on you, leaving nothing but a note behind. Edward had done it, many years ago, and it wasn't any easier the second time around. I wouldn't let that happen to Charlie: we owed him at least that much.

"I am thinking of Charlie!" Bella cried. "He's the one I'm worried about! What if my little guest had happened to be thirsty last night? As long as I'm around Charlie, he's a target too. If anything happened to him, it would be all my fault!" That was a point: what if he had been thirsty. I had to force myself to take another breath as I remembered the poor boy who had been dared to go into the creepy Cullen house – which was supposed to be empty.

"Hardly, Bella," I replied, patting her hair down again and trying to ignore the sickening feeling that twisted my gut as the boy opened the door: unfortunately for him, I had been very thirsty at that particular moment. Carlisle's worried eyes locked on my face, and I shoved the memory away before I got to the bloody part. "And nothing will happen to Charlie," I added. "We're just going to have to be more careful."

"More careful?" Bella repeated in disbelief.

"It's all going to be fine, Bella," Alice promised.

Bella looked around at our faces and sighed. There was nothing she could say that would make us change our minds.