A/N: I'm about 10 minutes from going to bed (yes, I realize it's not quite 2pm Central time, but I work 3rd shift), and I was so caught up writing for CampNano that I almost forgot to post this. But, I remembered. So here you go. As always, thanks so much for reading!

EPOV

My alarm went off at four in the morning, and I let out a curse as I slammed my hand down on the offensive clock, effectively silencing it. Today was the day that I would be going fishing with not only my girlfriend's father, but her brothers and uncle. I only hoped that I came back, and that it wasn't in a body bag.

I stumbled into the shower before getting dressed and quietly making my way downstairs. A little after four-thirty, I got a text from Emmett letting me know that they would be there in a few minutes. I decided to wait outside for them, so that they wouldn't honk and wake Esme and Carlisle up.

A few minutes later, an old Suburban with a fancy fishing boat hooked to the trailer pulled into the drive, and I opened the back door and climbed in beside Emmett.

Chief Swan bid me good morning, handing me a cup of coffee which I gratefully took. I wasn't normally a coffee drinker, but I'd need it today.

"Thanks, Chief Swan."

"You can call me Charlie, son."

Well, all right then. I was introduced to Harry right after that, and I told him it was nice to meet him.

Settling back into my seat I sipped my coffee as Jasper snored in the seat in front of me. About an hour later, we pulled onto a gravel road and drove for miles before coming to a small parking lot. Charlie had us all get out while he put the boat into the river with the help of Harry.

Gathering up the gear and the coolers, Jasper, Emmett, and I made our way down to the rickety dock where we handed Charlie and Harry the coolers and gear.

"Alright, Edward. Step aboard," Harry said with a grin.

Gingerly, I stepped onto the boat, trying not to freak when the whole thing wobbled. I'd never been on a boat before, and I just hoped I didn't get sick. Once I was on, Harry pointed me toward a seat to the left of the steering wheel, and I gladly sat down. Next came Emmett who took a seat at the back, and then Jasper who took the seat next to me. We were each handed life jackets which I eagerly put on.

Charlie untied the boat from the dock, took a seat behind the wheel, leaving Harry to perch in a chair at the front of the boat. It didn't look safe to me at all, and I hoped like hell he didn't fall out.

Charlie started the engine, and I clutched the side of my seat as he took off. We drove out for a while until we reached a spot on the edge of the river. Fishing poles were handed out, and then I was handed a cup of worms. I wasn't a squeamish kind of guy, but I wasn't a big fan of worms.

Taking a worm, knowing that all eyes were on me, I slowly slid it onto the hook and looked to Charlie for approval. He shot me a thumbs up then stood up and came over to me.

The next fifteen minutes were spent with Charlie teaching me how to use a fishing pole. I'd never realized how complicated it was. I figured you baited it and tossed it in the water.

Finally, Charlie deemed me ready to begin. Carefully, I tossed my line out, smiling at Charlie's approval and sat down to wait. And wait. And wait. Fishing was a patient sport, and Emmett wasn't a patient dude.

Twenty minutes into fishing, Emmett was beginning to whine and complain. One look from Charlie pretty much shut him up. Jasper on the other hand, had pulled out a book and was reading while waiting for a tug on his line. I wished I'd thought to bring a book with. Instead, I sat listening to Charlie and Harry talk and it was hilarious. They talked about the one that got away and accused each other of lying about the biggest fish they'd caught.

I was so caught up listening to them talk, that I failed to notice the tugging on my line at first. As soon as I noticed, I grabbed my pole and hollered for Charlie.

"Reel it in nice and slow. That's it. Now tug the line back a bit. Not too much! There you go."

I felt like I was reeling it in forever until finally the line popped out of the water with an ugly ass fish on the end.

"Not bad, kid. Not bad," Charlie said with a slap to my shoulder. "You got yourself a flathead catfish."

Pictures were taking with me holding that damn thing, then it was weighed on a scale that was on the boat. It was determined small enough to keep, so Charlie helped me unhook it, and he threw it in one of the coolers.

Three hours later, we'd caught five fish between the five of us. Two of those catches had been mine, one Jasper's, and two Charlie's. Emmett and Harry hadn't caught anything, and Charlie told me it was because they were too impatient.

A little after eleven, we washed our hands off with sanitizer, ate the sandwiches that Harry's wife had made, then it was back to fishing. Emmett fell asleep soon after lunch and while it was tempting to bask in the sun, I had found that I actually enjoyed fishing.

We stayed out on the river until a little after five before calling it a day. As Charlie docked the boat, we all got out and Harry handed me the cooler of fish. In the end, we'd caught a total of eight fish.

The drive back was as quiet as the ride up had been. I was exhausted, and I wasn't sure if it was from being out on a boat in the sun all day or from fishing.

"Edward?" Charlie asked.

"Yes, sir?"

"Would it be okay with your dad if we stopped and fried these fish up in La Push. We'd have you back before too late."

"I'm sure it's fine. I'll send him a text."

A few minutes later, Carlisle got back to me saying it was fine.

"I guess I should have asked if you were okay with going to La Push," Charlie said with a laugh.

"It's cool with me."

"Good. The girls and Renee will meet us there."

An hour and a half later, we pulled up to a small house near the woods. A Native American woman came out and greeted all of us, introducing herself as Sue to me. I shook hands with her before I was introduced to her son, Seth, and her daughter, Leah. I didn't like the way Leah was looking at me. Thankfully, Bella pulled up with her mom a few minutes later and a sense of relief washed over me as she came to my side and gave me a hug.

"I see you've met Leah," she said in a whisper.

"Yeah. She doesn't look too friendly."

Bella let out a snort. "She's not. Stay away from her if you can."

Charlie called for me to help him, so I headed toward him, taking the cooler that he handed me and followed him to the backyard where a gutting station was set up.

Within minutes, I was up to my wrist in fish guts and scales. It was a gross, smelly task, but I didn't mind. Well, I didn't mind until the scaling knife slipped and nearly took off my thumb.

"Shit!"

Immediately, Charlie was there wrapping my hand in a towel. He led me into the kitchen where my thumb was scrubbed with soap and hot water, then doused in peroxide. Fuck, that shit burned! A bandage was applied, then I headed back out. Charlie wouldn't let me gut the fish anymore, but he did allow me to start the grill for him.

An hour later, we were all seated at two picnic tables pushed together that were straining under the weight of all the food placed on them.

I was sitting next to Bella and leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek when Leah let her bitchy side out.

"You know, some of us are trying to eat. We don't want to watch you two slobber all over each other!"

"Leah!" a chorus of voices shouted.

"What? It's true."

"I apologize for my daughter's rudeness," Sue told me as I shook my head. She shouldn't be apologizing for Leah's behavior.

Bella must have been of the same mind because she said, "Don't. Leah's eighteen. She can take responsibility for her words and actions."

Sue looked at Bella. "You're right. I shouldn't have to apologize for my daughter, but I don't want Edward to think that we raised her to be rude."

"I don't think that at all," I told her, and it was true. Their son was a well-mannered kid.

By the time dinner was over, and I'd been dropped off at home, I was exhausted. It had to have been one of the longest days of my life. I literally collapsed on my bed, clothes and shoes on, and passed out.

I slept for a solid twelve hours before waking up at nine the next morning.

After showering and dressing, I headed downstairs and found Esme and Carlisle in a heated embrace. So not something that I wanted to see first thing in the morning, although I had a feeling that it was going to become a regular occurrence.

"How was your fishing trip?" Carlisle asked once he'd removed his lips from Esme's.

"Good. I actually caught a few. I had a better time than I'd thought I would," I told them as Esme slid a plate of pancakes in front of me.

"I'm glad you had a good time. Did Charlie interrogate you much?" he asked with a smirk.

"Surprisingly, no. I was worried at first, but Charlie's pretty cool."

"So, what are your plans today?" Esme asked once I'd finished eating.

I shrugged. "Homework most likely. I've got a history test on Tuesday that I needed to study for."

"Okay, well don't spend all day studying. We'll be moving a lot of my stuff in today."

"Do you need me to help? I can put off my homework for a few hours."

Esme shook her head. "No. Focus on your schooling first. If it gets too noisy just let us know."

I nodded before trudging back upstairs and tossing my bag onto my bed. I opened it up and got the books out that I needed.

Soon, I was immersed in history and math and English literature. Normally, I didn't mind English class as we were doing an independent study but the book I'd chosen to read was so freaking boring. McTeague by Frank Norris. I swear, it had to be the most boring book ever written. It was great if you wanted to know everything about dentistry, which I didn't. At all. Hopefully, the second half of the book would be better than the first.

I was just about to start the second half of the book when my phone beeped alerting me to a text. I smiled when I saw it was Bella.

Whatcha doin? She asked.

Homework and studying for that stupid history test.

We texted back and forth for twenty minutes or so before we said goodbye. I really needed to focus on my studying, and I spent hours memorizing facts that I probably wouldn't ever use.

A little after one, I took a break and headed downstairs to eat some lunch.

I'd had my music up so loud in my room, that I hadn't even heard Esme and Carlisle moving stuff in, but obviously they had. There were feminine touches throughout the kitchen along with some fancy looking cooking instruments that I wasn't about to touch.

I opened the fridge up and stared at the contents inside of it. Nothing appealed to me, and I decided to get some food from the diner to go.

I found Carlisle and Esme in his study, putting books away on a bookshelf.

"Hey, I'm gonna grab a burger from the diner. Do you all want anything?"

Twenty minutes later, I was bogged down with three burgers, three orders of fries and three chocolate milkshakes. I was terrified that I was going to spill one of them in my car.

I had two shakes stacked under my chin and placed the other one on the roof of my car, as I attempted to open the door.

"Need a hand?" Lauren's nasally voice asked from behind me.

"Nope, I'm good. Thanks though," I told her as I got the door opened.

I bent down and placed two of the shakes in the cup holders and heard a low moan behind me. Quickly, I tossed the bag of food into the passenger seat and reached out to grab the shake on the roof.

"Do you have plans tonight?" Lauren asked as I began to climb into the car.

"Yes," I told her, not bothering to elaborate. It was none of her business what I was doing or who I was with, and the fact that she was acting like she'd done nothing wrong really irritated me.

"Too bad," she said. "We could've had some fun."

I scoffed as I looked at. "What is wrong with you?" I asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Why do you think that I would do anything with you? We've been through this before. I'm not nor ever will be interested in you. I'm with Bella, and I don't plan on being with anyone else. Ever."

Lauren appeared taken back. "I figure you would've gotten bored with Bella by now."

"Well you thought wrong. Please don't bother me ever again. I mean it. I want nothing to do with you, Jessica, James, or any of your friends," I told her as I slammed my door shut and roared out of the parking lot.

I was still seething as I pulled into the drive. I just couldn't believe her gall! Did she really think that I'd be over Bella and that I'd go out with her? She was delusional.

"There you are. Did you get lost?" Carlisle asked as I brought the food into the kitchen.

"No. I just had a run-in with Lauren Mallory," I explained.

Esme scowled and wanted to know what Lauren had wanted. Over our lunch I told them what Lauren had said, and Esme couldn't believe it.

"She's an idiot. Just like her mother," she spat out.

After lunch, I headed back up to my room and finished the remainder of my homework. By the time, I was done with it all it was a little after four, and my head hurt.

"Edward! Bella's here!" Carlisle called up the stairs.

I took off down the stairs, almost falling down them in my haste to get to her. We hadn't made any plans for her to come over, but I was more than happy to see her. Especially after the whole Lauren experience.

Bella let out a laugh as I threw myself at her and buried my face in her hair.

"What in the world?" she asked, laughing even more when I refused to untangle myself from her.

"I had to deal with Lauren today," I mumbled against the side of her head.

"Poor baby," she said, pulling away to plant a light kiss on my lips.

"It was traumatizing," I told her.

"I'm sure it was."

We headed up to my room after being told to keep the door open. Even if the door was closed, it wasn't like I'd try to get it on with Bella while my dad and his fiance were in the house.

Once in my room, Bella flopped down on my bed, and I had to admit that she looked good there. Not that we were anywhere near ready to take that next step.

"McTeague? Any good?" she asked as she picked the book up.

I sat down next to her, before stretching up and propping myself up on my elbow. "No. It's boring as hell."

Her lips twitched as she tried not to laugh. "I told you it was boring."

"Yeah, yeah," I said because she had indeed warned me about it.

"You need to learn to listen to your girlfriend," she said, poking me in the stomach.

"Just agree with whatever she has to say," Carlisle suggested as he walked by my room. "It'll save you a lot of trouble in the end."

"Thanks, Dad."

Bella was nodding. "He's a smart man, your dad."

I rolled my eyes before I pounced on her, digging my fingers into her sides and tickling her.

"No! St—stop!" she hollered out between bouts of laughter.

It wasn't until she told me she was going to wet her pants that I finally stopped.

Seeing as how I was leaning over her, I couldn't resist placing a kiss on her lips. I had meant it to be a chaste, quick kiss, but it soon escalated into something more. I didn't want to stop but knew we had to. Footsteps on the stairs had me scooting toward the edge of the bed.

"Bella? Did you want to stay for dinner?" Esme asked, peaking her head in the room.

"That would be great! Mom was going on about some new asparagus, peach, and tuna casserole recipe that she found online," she said with a shudder.

Esme and I grimaced at the mere thought of being fed something like that.

"Well, anytime you need to come over here for a non-experimental dinner, you can," Esme said with a smile.

"I just might take you up on that if wasn't for the fact that it would hurt Mom's feelings. She tries her best to cook, but she tends to lean toward the unusual."

After a quick phone call to her parents, Bella was cleared to eat dinner with us.

Dinner consisted of the most delicious beef stew that I'd ever eaten. Having Esme around was going to be fantastic. No more take out or Carlisle's attempts at dinner. He wasn't as bad as Renee, but he tended to burn things.

Monday morning was off to a crappy start. I'd woken up late, gotten a flat tire and had to change it myself (which took far longer than I thought it would and left me covered in grease), and crashed into some lockers when I slipped on the wet floor.

I thought for sure that things would get better as my day went, but I was wrong. It only got worse.

James was back, and he'd let it be known that he was out for blood. Specifically, my blood. To be honest, I was a bit worried and more than a little on edge. I spent as little time as possible in the hallways and when I was in them, I was on constant alert. It didn't hurt that Emmett and Jasper were by my side when they could be.

By lunch, I had been heckled a few times by some of James' cronies and warned to watch my back.

"Rough day?" Rose asked as I sat down at our table.

"You could say that. It's been a Monday for sure," I responded.

"Well, hopefully it gets better," Bella said, placing a kiss on my cheek.

I hoped that she was right, but she hadn't been. At one point, I'd had to go to the bathroom and while in there, I'd been shoved into the sink and threatened with bodily harm by Alec. I didn't react which had pissed him off.

"Want to come over and hang out?" Jasper asked as we all walked out to the parking lot once school was over.

"I can't. I told Carlisle and Esme I'd help them get the rest of Esme's stuff moved in."

Because I'd been late getting to school, I'd had to park in the back of the lot, away from anyone else. I waved goodbye to the Swan/Hale clan and made my way to the Volvo.

If I'd been smart, I would've been paying attention to my surroundings and noticed James lurking nearby, but I didn't.

I got into my car and started for home, not noticing the car that was tailing me until it was too late.

I was busy rocking out with Papa Roach when someone hit the back of my car, causing me to jerk forward. I gripped the steering wheel and applied my brakes, but the person behind me kept coming and once again my car was shoved forward, tires squealing.

Letting go of the steering wheel with one hand, I fumbled for my phone and managed to dial 911.

As soon as the operator answered, I explained that someone was trying to run me off the road. I described the car behind me, but I really couldn't give her much information. All I knew was that it was a black car, and it wanted me out of it's way.

Another slam of the other car into mine had me dropping the phone on the floor and swearing up a storm. That time, however, the car didn't back off like before. Instead, it stayed on my bumper and pushed my car off the road and into a ditch.

I could hear the operator asking if I was okay, and I shouted no. Of course, I wasn't okay. Someone was trying to kill me!

Once I was off the road, the car drove by, and I swore I saw James behind the wheel.

With shaking hands, I put the car in park and grabbed the phone off the floor. I explained to the operator that I was in a ditch and physically unharmed.

It wasn't more than ten minutes later that Charlie showed up in his police cruiser. Within seconds of pulling up, he was out of his car and at my door.

"Edward? Are you okay, son?" he asked after he opened up my door.

I nodded although my heart was racing, and I felt a bit faint. Now that the ordeal was over, my body was starting to process what had happened. I got out off the car on shaky legs and had to lean against it for a moment.

Understanding that I needed a moment, Charlie got out a camera and began taking pictures of the back of my car.

Feeling a bit more steady, I walked toward the back of the car and gasped at what I saw. My bumper had several dents and scratches along with black paint transfer.

"Who the hell would do this?" I heard Charlie mutter.

"James," I blurted out. "I swear I saw James driving the car."

Charlie nodded. "I'll look into it. Let's get you home. Can you drive?"

I nodded, feeling relieved when he said he'd escort me home. As soon as I pulled into my drive, Charlie parked and had me give him a statement.

"Call Bells and let her know what happened. If she hears it from me and not you, it won't be pretty," he warned me.

I nodded.

"But first, call your dad. He needs to be aware of what happened. Talk to your insurance as well and let them know that it's an ongoing investigation."

I walked inside the house and collapsed on the couch, letting the tears that I'd been holding back come out. I hated to cry, and I angrily wiped the tears away.

"Edward! What's wrong?" Esme asked, appearing in the room.

I hadn't realized that she was home, and I quickly wiped my face.

I explained everything that had happened that day, and she wrapped me up in a motherly hug. I leaned into and realized how much I'd missed being hugged by a mom. It sounded girly, but I didn't care.

I finally pulled away from Esme, and she called Carlisle. She told him that I'd been run off the road, and I could hear the worry in his voice as he demanded to know if I was hurt. She assured him that I was fine physically.

After I talked to Carlisle, I headed up to my room and called Bella. Needless to say, she was beyond furious that I'd been run off the road, and I felt awful when she started to cry.

"Please, don't cry, Bella."

"You could've been killed! Or seriously hurt! I'll cry if I want to!"

We talked for hours until exhaustion set in, and I could barely keep my eyes open.

I hung up the phone and changed into my pjs. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed and forget that today had ever happened. I had just gotten under the covers when Carlisle knocked on the door and poked his head in.

"Hey, son," he said coming into my room.

"Hey."

"How are you?"

"Tired. Pissed. Scared. Take your pick."

He ran a hand through his hair, and I noticed that he looked exhausted as well.

"I swear I aged 50 years when Esme called and said you'd been run off the road. Jesus, Edward! You could've been seriously hurt!"

"Believe me, I know," I told him.

"I talked to Charlie, and he promised to keep us informed. I'll let you get to bed, but I wanted to tell you how glad I am that you're okay and that I love you."

"Love you, too, Dad."

I was a bit surprised when he gave me a hug and kissed the top of my head. I don't think he'd done that since I was five or six. I hugged him back, feeling a bit awkward.

I slept horribly that night, my sleep plagued with dreams of James laughing as he killed me over and over.

At around four, I gave up sleeping, and turned on my TV to watch mindless shows. At some point, I must have drifted off because I was awoken the next morning by Esme. She told me that Carlisle had called the school and told them I was sick.

As soon as she left my room, I rolled over and fell into a deep, well needed sleep.