A/N: Even though the last chapter ended with Bella describing the events leading up to her being changed, she is still sitting on a bench in the park having gone there to find four-circle car guy. Thanks to my cheering squad.

***Mature content inferred in this chapter.

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight, not me. I own playdoh.

CHAPTER 6: Law & Order

An older woman with a cane sat down next to me on the park bench. She smiled sweetly. I looked at the wrinkles on her face and smiled back for the first time realizing how she reminded me of Gran and then thinking how I was not ever going to wear the signs of aging on my face. Another big ole internal giggle. I thought about my unsupervised close proximity to the woman. We were outside so her scent was muted. She held little appeal in terms of my thirst, perhaps the slower pulsing of the blood through the veins of an elderly woman was the cause for that—there was less vitality and nourishment emanating. Still, I decided I should get up and walk away. I nodded and smiled to her silently wishing her a nice day.

A meeting in the park. I was back to this conversation wasn't I?

Was I even in the right park? Who knew? I had to just give up and forget about the heartbeat…..

Or... I could concentrate really harder on it. I can't decide.

Could I work with my new super hearing to listen far range? I'd have to ask Emmett to help in training my new ears to get them to work for me as well as I would need. That guy could hear grizzly bears miles away or smell them - or a combination of both. I closed my eyes and began to wonder what my four-circle car guy smelled liked.

Mmmmmmm…Drakkar, I thought.

Where did that come from? Do guys even wear that anymore? Well it used to be my favorite scent on a guy. I had even given Eric Yorkie a bottle of it to wear, which probably was not fair if he only knew why I liked it.

I was off the bench and walking back down the trail headed toward the forest. It was still early enough in the day that I thought I would head back to Charlie's and cook some dinner to leave on the stove for him.

As I ran I crossed out of Port Angeles and by the treaty line reaching the boundary of the reservation and Forks. My mind raced back to the night we had a meeting with the wolves, right in this very spot. It was like a supernatural episode of Law & Order complete with an interrogation of a crime and pending verdict. The only thing missing was that annoying sound the show makes.

It was the first time I met the wolves and even learned of their existence—they were accompanied by Sue Clearwater and Billy Black, the Quileute super couple-two people who were friends with my dad, and I therefore had known them since moving back to Forks. They had married only shortly before I returned to Forks, a second marriage for each. Charlie had gone to their wedding.

Sue and Billy glared at me as I approached that night, looking like they were both horrified and amazed. But the sight of them had me just as horrified and amazed that they were part of this world. Despite their proximity, their scents were both very unappealing to me. Thankfully.

Carlisle nodded to them in acknowledgment.

Billy started, "Does she know?" Carlisle shook his head no very calmly. Billy hung his head down, almost in shame.

Sue questioned, "Her wounds?"

Carlisle explained, "Our venom works in such a way that all traces of the attack have been repaired, essentially erased. But I've brought the pictures with me."

Carlisle reached into his inside coat pocket and showed the pictures to Sue. Sue gasped in horror covering her mouth and looking back and forth between me and the pictures.

There were pictures? Oh, I remembered now. Click, click.

"Has Charlie seen her?" Billy asked.

"Not yet, but she's very well under control and will be schooled in our peaceful ways, of course, so it should be soon."

Billy took a step toward me with his hands out. Emmett took a step closer to me in a fraction of a second. I suddenly heard growls as two wolves approached from the cloak of the forest. Billy spewed back at them, "Easy!"

Emmett was staunch, inflating his chest. "The treaty is broken—call off the dogs!"

The treaty was broken because of me, because Carlisle made the decision to change me. What was going to happen now? How could I fix this?

Billy continued, "Bella, I've known you since you were a baby. I would have never ever wanted this for you…or Charlie."

"Thank you Billy. Obviously I wouldn't have chosen this either, but I'm told it was necessary, but I still don't know why."

Emmett stood with his arms crossed and demanded from them, "Tell her!"

Sue asked, "What does she remember?"

Carlisle answered, "Nothing so far. Shall I explain it to her?"

Billy interjected, "No…I'll do it. I'll tell her."

I stood there that day knowing I didn't remember exactly what had happened leading up to Charlie bringing me to the Cullens that day other than that we had been fishing.

"Bella," Billy choked, "the wolves are protectors of the reservation - of our people - but they are no more than young boys who have been called upon by the great spirit of our ancestors to transform into something for the greater good of our culture."

I was stunned trying to understand what he was telling me. "What? Really? Like real boys?"

Sue cleared her throat loudly.

"Yes, and one girl," said Billy, "most you probably even know." He motioned toward the emerging wolves, "Sam Uley, Quil, Emery, Seth and Leah." The five wolves in the front nodded lightly acknowledging their names.

I stood there in a deeper shock as my recognition of the names grew. And my realization as to why Sue Clearwater stood here—both of her children were wolves and she was entwined in the legacy. And Billy, Charlie had always told me, was one of the tribe's elders.

Billy continued, "Most of the transformations go seamlessly but something went wrong with one of the wolves—too much testosterone got caught up in the mutation. He got out of control, and we're very sorry he attacked you." Then he started to sob into his hands.

I started to have flashbacks to the day. I was clutching a red flower in my hand. "I remember…I remember… that I was crying so hard I was shaking uncontrollably."

Alice stepped up, "No Bella that wasn't you." She turned to Billy. "Was it Billy?"

"No, that was him phasing while he was on top of you. The wolves all saw it - they can read each other's minds in the wolf form-they saw what Jacob was doing to you and were trying to stop him. They were on their way to help control Jacob," Billy sobbed.

"JACOB?" I shrieked back in horror.

Alice continued, "Yes Jacob Black attacked you, assaulted you, and then phased over you, mauling you so violently that it should have caused your death."

I dropped to my knees. "Why? Why would he do that to me?"

Billy continued to sob. Sue stepped in, "Bella, Jacob shouldn't have done it—we aren't about that—he was consumed by the chemical reactions going on within his body. We thought things were under better control with a medication he was taking, but we believe he stopped taking it at some point."

I quickly thought back to that summer after Eric and I had broken up and how smug Jacob had been and how I tried to avoid him since then because I just wanted to avoid confrontation and any more of his advances. I was weak then, meager and fragile. But now my physical strength fortified me. Fury built up within me. How dare he! How could he? To me? How could he treat me like that after years of knowing me and Charlie? How could he so blatantly attack and disrespect me?

Then it hit me…Jacob Black was the reason it was necessary for Charlie to bring me to the Cullens to be changed into a life of immortality, ruining my path in life. God damn him!

I lashed out, "Where is he? I'm gonna pay him back! I don't care if he is a wolf or Jacob I swear I'm going to…"

Sue looked to Carlisle to intervene. "Whoa, the treaty…"

Emmett snapped. "Exactly what part of your wolf attacking and leaving a human to die upholds ANY treaty? And you're worried about us hurting humans? He may not have sought to drink her blood, but he sure shed enough of it."

So I wasn't the reason the treaty was broken?

"Where is he?" I demanded this time. I looked at all the wolves. "Coward! Come out! Which one is he? I want you to face me and tell me why you did this to me! I want you to tell me right now!" I meant to snap off a few branches and hurl them toward the wolves but ended up uprooting a tree and spearing it across the way.

The wolves snarled and sneered, bearing their teeth. Billy held up his hand to the wolves again to wave them down. "Bella, Jacob is not here. He's gone. He's…dead." Again he dropped his face back into his hands.

I was still furious but then felt a wave of calmness ease over me. Jasper was right behind me now, placing his hand on my left shoulder. I remembered what he said about having to handle this situation.

"What? How did he…"

"It was Charlie. He shot him twice in his wolf form," Sue spoke quietly.

Bang. Bang. I remembered the sound now.

I heard myself gasp again. I froze and let Jasper crutch my emotions. "Does he know?" I whispered. No one answered. I repeated myself, louder. "I said, Does...He…Know?"

Sue and Billy shook their heads no.

"You can't tell him. He didn't mean it. He was just trying to protect me. It will crush him. Do you understand? Charlie can never know!" I begged and demanded their cooperation at the same time.

It was quiet. Jasper stepped back, and Carlisle came up and put his arm around me in comfort.

Sue broke the silence. "We are sorry Bella. We were trying to facilitate things better for him. He was getting out of control but the pack had been monitoring him. We think he was specifically attracted to you, and he took advantage of his strength. The role of the wolf is protector of our people, our land, our legacy. Violating women is not condoned. Please know that."

Then she turned to Carlisle. "But know you broke the treaty, and there will be consequences."

Emmett wasn't backing down about the treaty. "You can go howl at the fucking moon lady!"

Carlisle stepped in and retorted more calmly. "Emmett, I'll handle this. Yes, we broke the treaty based on the actions of your wolf in an attempt to save Bella's life. What if you had had that option with Jacob? If it had been Billy who brought Jacob to us barely alive pleading for a way to save his life?"

Billy gasped. Would his love as a parent have overcome his dislike for us if he had the opportunity to allow Jacob to become one of us, saving him? Sue and Billy whispered aside for a moment.

"Based on the circumstance of our shortcomings and this being Bella, we are willing to come to some arrangement and renegotiate," Sue announced.

Thanks to Jasper, I was a bit calmer now and looked to Billy with sympathy. "Billy, I'm very sorry for your loss."

But the sympathy was fleeting, and the rage began to rise again. "I still don't want Charlie to know about what Jacob did to me or that he killed him. Let that be the basis of the new treaty," I spat, throwing my hands up in the air and then turning to run away disgusted. Jasper and Alice caught up to me in the clearing.

"Bella are you okay?" Alice asked.

"NO!" the fury, full blown, resurfaced. I yelled, "I can't believe he did that to me! Jacob Black of all people! I feel so…I don't know what I feel. I had known him for so long—trusted him, shared stuff with him. We were friends. More than friends, like family. There was nothing worse he could have done to me."

Jasper answered, "Bella it doesn't excuse what he did, but you heard them. There was something that went wrong within Jacob as a result of him transforming into a wolf…something that he could not learn to control apparently."

"Jasper, you have got to be kidding me! Are you defending him because he is a guy or something?" I screamed.

Jasper kept a calm demeanor. "No, that isn't it Bella. Think of it more from your perspective or in terms of what I've had to go through. Neither of us want to be a vampire so out of control that we attack people and cause pain, but we aren't exempt from something going wrong that might lead to that. It seems Jacob fell victim to something unexpected."

"Jacob Black fell victim to nothing other than his own cockiness and arrogance! What a stupid, stupid asshole! I just don't want Charlie to know. He'd be devastated by all of it."

"Well I don't think Carlisle will mind keeping it a secret but Billy might," Alice said.

"Have they already eulogized him?" I asked realizing I have been out of touch.

"Yes, he was buried last week," Jasper said. "It only made Charlie feel less regret about him bringing you to us that day knowing that he saved you, though he still doesn't fully understand to what degree that means."

"How does Charlie think Jacob died?" I asked.

"Hunting accident in the woods—wrong place, wrong time," Alice said.

Carlisle and Esme had caught up to us and despite my anger I shifted my emotions concerning the treaty and my new family. "I'm sorry to both of you if changing me meant breaking the treaty." I apologized out of respect.

Esme sought to comfort me. "Bella, breaking the treaty to change you was less of a risk to us than you waking up and being completely horrified by what we had done to you, hating us for what we had done."

"I'm grateful to you guys for what you did."

Seeing how sad Billy was and imagining that being Charlie if I was the one to be buried recently made me very grateful…but aren't I still being robbed from my life? And all because of Jacob Black?

Carlisle added, "The treaty has been renegotiated now—we have a new understanding, one only strengthened tonight by the fact that you were able to stand there and not attack them or express any interest in their blood."

"Uggg….blood thirst was not really a big distraction with that conversation and amongst that company. Ick!" I made a face but smiled when I smelled Emmett approaching.

Emmett joined us. "What you don't like puppy chow?" Emmett wrapped his arm around me, and I was instantly at ease.

"Hale no!" I scrunched up my nose at the thought of how the wolves smelled to me.

"Bella, we have a lot to talk about now that you know everything," Esme said. "You're much more of a survivor than you realized."

I knew what Esme was referring to, but I wasn't ready to try to remember all of it. "I understand, Esme."

Emmett squeezed me a bit, comforting me more because his arm felt like a physical extension of the love my family had for me.

"We'll have plenty of time for that Esme. Come on, follow me. Bella needs a release. We'll go scare us up some mountain lions."

A/N: Bella is still heading over to Charlie's house at this point. Now that we got past the ugly truth maybe Bella can figure out the heartbeat mystery.

Thank you for reading!