Stephenie Meyer owns the Twilight Saga. I own twitchy fingers that enjoy writing for no profit.

Chapter 25: Thoughts and Theories

Sam POV

My first task on leaving the hospital was to talk to Charlie about Paul's theory. Not only was he a sensible enough man that he'd realise immediately the extra danger having a vampire gunning for specifically would put Bella in, but also he was so observant that he'd notice the extra surveillance I was planning on putting on him in a heartbeat and start asking questions. It was easier for everyone if I was completely open with him on the issue. I drove straight over to the police station in Forks and found him sitting, well slumped really, in front of a pile of paperwork in his office. I tapped lightly on his open door.

"Charlie. You got a few minutes?" I asked him. He looked up at me. The poor guy looked completely exhausted, his face and uniform rumpled, his skin grey and huge bruise-like bags under his eyes. I figured working a shift, then sitting up all night with an injured daughter, then working another shift with only a couple of hours sleep in between would do that to a guy.

"Hey, Sam." He said. "I guess that depends; were you planning on telling me whatever it was you were withholding when I caught up with you at the hospital yesterday?" I had been right. Even as exhausted as he was, he hadn't missed a thing, and was already asking questions. I nodded.

"Yeah I was. Sorry I didn't tell you yesterday, I figured you had enough on your plate to worry about and it could wait til you knew Bella was going to be ok." He gave me a weak smile.

"I guess I should thank you then." He said, then sitting up straight and squaring his shoulders he asked. "Ok. So what is it then?" I walked in and sat down across the desk from him.

"Paul ran a theory by me the other day and the more I think on it, the more I think he might have a point." I began, not really seeing any point to beating around the bush. Charlie raised a tired eyebrow in question, so I continued. "He thinks that maybe after the first missing person, the vamp caught your scent and took a liking to it, and ever since she's been trying to get her fangs into you. He also thinks" I added quickly, before Charlie could interrupt me "that maybe that's why she's been taking so many hikers and campers, more than she could possibly need to keep herself satisfied; she's trying to lure you out so she can grab you." I finished and sat back, waiting to see how he's react. I wasn't worried that he'd panic, it just wasn't in his nature, but I had been expecting more of a reaction than I got. As it was, all he did was sit back himself, rubbing at his face with one hand. There was silence for a few minutes while he processed what I'd just said.
"Ok. I can see how that theory holds some water." He finally said calmly, "But I do have a couple of questions. First off, didn't you say that the vampire kept saying she wanted what she was owed? How could that be me? How could I be something that she's owed?" It was a good point, and not one that occurred to me. "Second." Charlie continued, "I'm pretty sure that's not everything, and you know I don't need you holding out on me, so what's the rest of it?" I smiled wryly at him, "never misses a thing, even when he's so tired he can barely see straight." I thought to myself. I took a deep breath and just said it straight out, figuring it was like ripping off a Band-Aid. "I caught the scent of the leach when I found Bella and Jake yesterday. Jared thinks she probably caught your scent on the shirt and hoodie that Bella was wearing, and that does make sense to me." Charlie froze in his seat. "Figures that the biggest reaction I get is when he knows Bella might be in danger." I gave a mental snort, although to be honest, I'd had a similar reaction to the idea of her being in harm's way myself.

"How close did the vampire get to her?" he asked.

"Close enough that her concussed mind thought the leach's red hair was flames in the trees." I answered soberly; my skin was crawling at the thought of the bloodsucker getting that close. If I hadn't decided to follow Jake and Bella, things might've turned out very differently. "Of course with a vamp right on top of him, Jake probably would've phased instantly." A small part of my mind reasoned. "He's been right on the brink for days now; it could happen at any moment." I shook off the thought for the time being. I had other issues to tackle and there was no point borrowing extra trouble.

"Shit." Charlie breathed, rubbing both hands over his face this time. "That was seriously close then. Thank you, Sam. You're probably the only reason she's still with us right now." I blushed a tiny bit, shifting my shoulders awkwardly at the praise in his voice. I couldn't ever remember having any true fatherly interaction, even when Jonah had still been in town, and as much as I liked the warm feeling that washed over me, a part of me still found it uncomfortable.

"Actually, Charlie, I was just thinking that if the leech had attacked, Jake probably would've phased on the spot. He's due any time." Charlie nodded little

"You might be right, but that doesn't mean he would've phased in time, or even that he would've been able to protect Bells; not without any training whatsoever." He was probably right there too. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Well luckily we didn't have to find out." I said. "And if we can get the two of you Swans hanging out on the Rez even more than you already were, maybe we never will have to." He looked at me, considering something, but his face wasn't giving anything away.

"I guess I can hang out with Billy and Harry a bit more often. They'll both get why, but I'll have to come up with some good excuses for Bella or she'll smell a rat." He said and I nodded.

"Yes she takes after her old man that way." I chuckled and he joined in after a moment. "She's very observant."

"She is." He agreed. "So we'll have to play it very subtly, and whoever's watching her at any given time will need to be even more careful not to be noticed; once she's got something in her head, she's like a dog with a bone – she just won't give it up. That sounded like a fairly accurate description to me.

"We'll all be as careful as we can. But we can only pull back just so far before we're in a bad position to get to her in time if need be." Charlie nodded.

I briefly considered whether or not I should ask him if it was ok for me to take Bella out on Wednesday. The manners I was raised with screamed that yes I should, but the rest of me was pretty sure she'd tell him herself and I'd only be rocking the boat unnecessarily with both Bella and Charlie if I didn't let her talk to her Dad herself. I decided I'd leave it for her to tell him, and if he had a problem with me dating his daughter I fully expected that he'd come and talk to me about it.

"Well ok then." I said, standing up and reaching out to shake his hand. "I better get going; I've got a patrol to run, a vampire to chase down, a tribe to lead, and a relatively new wolf to train." He gave me a tired grin

"So it's a slow day for you then, huh?" He joked and I chuckled. "Yeah I like to start the week off nice and slow if I can. I waved goodbye and headed back to the Rez to take my turn at patrolling.

Jared was the only one phased when I got back and phased in myself, and as soon as I was in wolf form he jumped straight into business.
"Hey, Boss. The leech swung by and poked around over where Bella came off her bike." He told me, and I was immediately on edge.

"What was she doing? How long did she stay? Did you see her or just smell her?" I asked.

"Whoa there, Boss. I only smelled her. By the strength of the scent, she only hesitated by the bike for a few seconds, the high-tailed it out if there, straight back down that corridor and away from the Rez, Charlie and Bella." He told me. "I've not caught another whiff of her since, so I'm guessing that she's done for the day and waiting for her next opportunity." I was pretty sure he was right, but I showed him the conversation I'd had with Paul about the 'Charlie's got himself a leech stalker', and then I showed him the chat I'd just had with Charlie.
"Well it'll certainly make it easier for us to guard the pair of them if they're on the Rez as often as anyone can swing it." I felt his emotions shift to concern.

"How is Bella anyway?" he asked. "I'm guessing she really did herself some damage this time?"

"Yeah she really did. I showed him a replay of her weird concussed conversation when I'd first 'found' her and Jake on the loggers laughed his furry little head off when I got the part where she was talking to what she thought was my disembodied face, but the laughter dropped right out of his head as soon as I got to the part about Taha Aki.

"Where the fuck did she hear that name?" he asked, as baffled as I had been. You think that maybe Jake's been sharing secrets with Bella? Telling her our old stories or something?" He wondered, and I had to admit to myself that I'd been thinking the same thing.

"I guess it's possible." I allowed. "But I hope we're wrong; Jake's the old chief's son and so should know much better than talking about the tribe's history with non-tribe members." I wondered to myself how Paul would react to Bella knowing stuff she had no business knowing, especially on top of the fact that I'd asked her out on a date. I clearly wasn't careful enough with my thoughts.

"Seriously?" Jared asked excitedly, "You finally asked her? How did your wolf react to that? When are you going out? What are you going to do on this date?" His questions came out so fast I had no hope of answering, even at the speed I could've done it speaking mind to mind.

"Yes I asked her, No reaction from my wolf at all, it's perfectly fine with the idea, Wednesday, and dinner and a movie" I answered with a mental smile; Jared was almost as pleased as I was that I was finally going to get a date with her.

"So are you nervous?" He teased. "What if she changes her mind? What if the date goes really badly? What if it turns out she's not interested in you like that? What if she wants more from you than you can give?" I hadn't been nervous til then, but with each 'What if', Jared had succeeded in building my nerves higher and higher and with the last one, I started to feel more than a little sick.

"Well thanks a fucking bunch, Jared." I snapped angrily. "I was just fine – not nervous at all, but now….." I could immediately feel his upset at causing me problems, but it was too late. The damage had been done.

"Shit man, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get to you." He apologised. "Just ignore me. You know I talk a lot of shit sometimes."

"Sure." I answered, not trusting myself to think of anything in case I let too much slip in my distress. "You can phase back now; I've got the patrol now." Before he did so, he sent me another regretful burst in apology, and then he was gone.

I spent the whole time I was patrolling freaking out about what he'd said. After Paul took over from me, I went home and lay awake, doing a bit more freaking out. I freaked out all of the following day, through my next patrol, and then I went to bed again to do another spot of freaking out. The only things going through my mind the entire time were the 'what ifs' that Jared had managed to lodge in there, I was sloppy at work, and distracted on patrol. Of course the other pack members noticed it, and their reactions were as diverse as their personalities. Jared was sympathetic, with a touch of wry amusement, and edged with his regret for driving me to being in the sorry state to begin with. Embry was supportive and sympathetic, but mixed in with his sympathy was confusion at seeing the guy he'd become used to regarding as his strong leader as messed up as I was. Paul couldn't have been less sympathetic if he tried. He threw a total shit fit, losing control and phasing when he found out that I'd asked Bella out, and once he'd managed to calm down and phase back to human form, he spent a couple of hours trying to talk me out of going through with it. Once he'd accepted that wasn't going to work, he took to making snide jokes at my expense at every opportunity. By the time I woke up for work on Wednesday morning I was a nervous wreck.

It was Jared that eventually managed to calm me back down again, which I guess was only fair as it was him that had started my panic fest in the first place. He showed up at my house ready for me to drive him to our job for the day, just like he always did, and we set out to continue work on the bathroom re-fit we'd been doing for the last few days. The woman we were doing the work for was in her mid-forties, attractive I guessed, in a desperate, lonely divorcee kind of way, and completely determined to get into either my pants or Jared's – she didn't seem to care which. Jared had christened her 'Cougar McGrabby-Hands' and we both spent almost as much time avoiding her unwanted advances as we did actually working on her bathroom.

"Dude, I was thinking about this whole date with Bella thing, and how I fucked up your head over it." Jared said as we drove along. "I've decided you're thinking about it completely wrong." I glance across at him and raised a brow.

"Oh really?" I said sarcastically, "And just how should I be thinking about it?"

"Well the way I see it is this; There's something about her that drives your wolf crazy, but in kind of a good way, and there are plenty of things about her that have you, Sam the human male, fascinated too. So from your side, she's an ideal partner for you, even if it's only for a short while." I was just opening my mouth to tell him that it wasn't the situation from my side that had me all fucked up, but he raised a hand to stop me from speaking. "I know what you're thinking – that it's the situation from her side that's bothering you. Well then I've got to tell you that you're being a complete idiot. You know she's interested in you; she pretty much spelled it out to you and hung up a banner when she got her head all fucked up on Monday. We should all be so lucky as to have that much insight into the feelings of a girl we're interested in. But instead of looking back on that and remembering what you heard her say, you're intent on going over and over a few ridiculous questions that an over-excited idiot asked you without engaging his mind-to-mouth filter. "He gave a wry smile. "So now you need to ask yourself, 'Do I call off the whole thing before it gets even to the first date, show up for the date looking exhausted, run down and freaked out, or get the fuck over myself, finish up a little early today and go home to freshen up, get a bit of sleep, and get dressed in some decent date clothes, ready to make the best of the chance you've got here with her?" He sat back in his seat, staring out the window while I drove and considered his points. They were very good points actually, and the longer I thought about it, the more the panic began to fade and a small edge of excitement started to grow in to replace it. For the first time in over twenty four hours, I felt myself beginning to relax, my shoulders dropped from their position around my ears, and the tension in my whole body began to melt slowly but surely away. By the time we'd spent three hours working in the bathroom and avoiding McGrabby-Hands, the excitement was pulling into the lead, and I checked with Jared that he was happy to do the last finishing touches by himself if I was to go home and sort myself out like he'd suggested. Of course, Jared was happy to finish up alone, despite the fact that he'd have to grow eyes in the back of his head, so I went home, showered and shaved, then grabbed three hours or so of uninterrupted sleep. I felt so much better when I woke up again, that I was dressed and heading out the door way too early to meet Bella, so I drove as slowly as I could, without getting pulled over for kerb crawling, and still had to park a little way up the road from Bella's place, where I sat, tapping my fingers against the wheel in a state of nervous excitement, for twenty minutes before finally driving my truck down the road a little and stopping outside the Swan's house.

Taking a deep steadying breath, I walked up to the door and raised my hand to knock, and was pleasantly surprised when she opened the door before my knuckle made contact. "Looks like I'm not the only one who's slightly over eager for this date." I thought with a mental smirk. She looked surprised to see me, though. I guessed she'd just not expected me to come up to the door to walk her to my truck. But my mom had raised me right; she'd always insisted that just sitting outside and honking the horn was bad manners.

"Bella, hi." I said with a grin. "You look great. All ready to go?" She really did look fantastic. The red sweater she was wearing set her skin off to a tee, her shoulders and neck exposed, showing off her flawless, milky white complexion. Her legs, encased in tight black skinny jeans looked endless, and even her quirky purple D.M.s with the little flower painted on one toe somehow worked, a stamp of her character on the outfit. She was stammering for a reply, which I hoped that meant she thought I looked ok too, so I gently took her elbow in one hand and led her over to my truck.

"Umm. The thing is, Sam, I umm." It seemed Bella was even more nervous about this date than I was which actually served to settle my nerves a bit. I guessed it was only to be expected; dating again after what she'd been through was a big step and I promised myself that I'd try my hardest to make it a pleasant, relaxed experience for her. She stopped by the truck, staring blankly at the trees for a few moments, and I grew a little concerned. "Shit. Is she changing her mind already? Has she decided this is too soon for her? Oh fuck, maybe she's decided she's not really interested in me after all." My panic fest started up anew, though I tried to keep the signs of it off my face. I leaned down to look into her eyes, hoping to read there just how nervous she was so I could tell if I'd be able to calm her down or if the whole date was just a no-go.

"Bella? You ok?" Being that close to her, I was suddenly engulfed in her scent. My wolf nearly went completely berserk. Before now, every time I'd caught her scent it had been watered down a little by someone else's. When I found her in the forest after the Cullen leach left her there, his reeking, sweet bleachy smell has been all over her, and every time I'd been close enough to catch a whiff since then, she'd been wearing some of Charlie's clothes, hiding some of her own natural aroma. Even then my wolf had been obsessed over her wonderful smell, wanting to rub himself in it. Now, with no other scent to muddle the waters, not even perfume or deodorant, it was all I could do to keep myself in check. It wasn't just my wolf; I wanted to grab hold of her and rub my body against her, wanted to pull handfuls of her glorious mahogany hair - which was tumbling in loose curls down her back - up to my face and breath her in, wanted to strip us both naked right there in the street in front of her house and bury myself inside her. "Yes, yes, and yes!" my wolf egged me on, approving wholeheartedly of my wildly spinning thoughts. I quickly grabbed hold of my slipping control, noticing that she was still staring blankly. Suddenly her expression shifted straight from completely blank to horrified realisation.

"Bella?" I was growing concerned about what was wrong.

"Sorry. I spaced out there for a moment." She apologised. "I just realised I didn't leave my Dad a note to tell him I'd be out with you. Give me just a moment?" She said with a small smile and I straightened up with a relieved smile of my own. "Ok. A bit of an over-reaction to not leaving a note, but at least she's not backing out of the date." I thought.

"Sure." I told her, and she quickly went back into the house. While I was waiting for her, I settled myself against my truck; folding my arms and leaning back to hook one heel on a front tyre. I took another calming breath. It had been a bit of a mixed start to the date, but hopefully things would pick up a little. When she came back out of the house, she hesitated for a split second in her doorway.

"Damn" She whispered under her breath, unaware that I could hear her clearly. I couldn't help the little smirk that crept across my face. "Definitely still interested." I congratulated myself smugly.

"Worth risking an extra day for." She whispered to herself. "Huh?" I wondered. "What was that?" It didn't make any sense. "Unless I miss-heard her and she said 'worth risking an extra date for." I mused. "Does that mean she's dating someone else too?" I didn't like that idea at all. Sure, we were only just going out on our first date and I was planning on keeping the whole thing very light and casual, so I didn't really have any right to dislike it, but I did nonetheless. "So who else could she be dating? And why is she so nervous in that case? If she's dating someone else too, then this isn't such a big step for her. Or am I just imagining things?" I'd truly tangled up my mind by this point, unsure about whether or not I thought she was dating someone else or not. She started walking over to me at the truck so I opened the passenger door for her, then went round to the driver's side as she climbed in. I slid into the driver's seat, still trying to puzzle out what she could've meant by her odd whisper, and took a deep breath to settle my mind down a little. As soon as I did I was hit with a concentrated dose of her scent as it filled the cab of the truck. My body reacted instantly, my dick hardening once again in my jean, which really didn't have the space needed to accommodate it. In quite considerable discomfort, I shifted in my seat, trying to create a bit of space in my pants. Luckily she didn't seem to notice my squirming. I passed her a pile of CDs and asked her to pick the music for the journey. I wasn't concerned over what she'd pick out; all the CDs were mine, so I knew I liked them all, but there were some I like more than others and I was also curious to learn her personal taste in music and what it would say about her. I drove away from her place, still wondering a little over the (either weird or upsetting) comment, she whispered a few moments before

The drive to Port Angeles went by quickly, each of us talking about out day. I told her all about putting up tiles in the bathroom Jared and I were working on for Cougar McGrabby-hands, and she told me all about an evil little spoilt bitch she was at school with and how this nasty piece of work was trying to ruin her life all of a sudden. It sounded like a classic case of jealousy to me, and I was amazed at how calmly Bella was taking the on-going abuse.

"So I told her that it was impossible for me to be even if I wanted to as I have no gag reflex." It was an innocent enough comment, I guess, but suddenly all my mind could focus on was the use I could put that particular trait of hers to. I no longer saw the road in front of me; instead was a crystal clear image of Bella on her knees in front of me, my rock hard cock all the way in her mouth as she swallowed around it. The image was so clear I could have sworn I could actually feel her throat massaging me. I gripped the steering wheel too tight, completely immersed in my dirty fantasy and I felt the car swerve as I chocked back the moan that threatened to escape.

"Shit. Are you ok, Sam?" I heard her voice dimly through my blow-job fantasy, and I felt her grab the wheel. "Do you need to pull over?" I fought my way back to reality, horrified that I'd let my mind wander so badly while driving. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and I shook my head at her, clearing my throat which had gone completely dry.

"No, no. I'm fine." He told her reassuringly. "Sorry about that. I just sorta choked on thin air there." She gave me a sympathetic smile.

"It's ok. It happens." She said, and as I relaxed into my seat again, shifting as carefully as I could so she wouldn't notice the huge hard on which was now cramped painfully in my pants, she relaxed again herself and went back to her story. I was just pulling into the parking lot at the movie theatre as she came to the end of her story which was just as well because the nasty little spoilt bitch who'd been picking on her had ended up flat on the floor covered in putrid deer, maggots and teacher vomit and I was absolutely howling with laughter at her story, while Bella giggled along with me. I wiped tears from my eyes as I put the truck into park and turned to face her in the cab.

"You know I haven't laughed that hard in years." I told her honestly. "Thanks, Bella. However the rest of this date goes, that's the most fun I've had in a really, really long time." She smiled shyly, and blushed. I couldn't understand why I was reacting to her so strongly but hadn't imprinted; I'd thought it was just my wolf that was obsessed with her scent, but now I'd smelled the completely pure version, it turned out that the man in me loved it too. She only had to briefly mention a lack of gag reflex and I was so far gone in a fantasy that I nearly crashed the truck, and just listening to her talking about her day really was the most fun I'd had in years. She was exactly the sort of woman I would choose to spend the rest of my life with if I could. She was perfect for me, so why hadn't I imprinted on her? "Maybe it's a question of maintaining eye contact for long enough and concentrating hard." I thought to myself. I leaned in closer to her so I could make eye contact without anything else distracting me in the slightest, determined to give imprinting the perfect opportunity to occur if it was going to.

"Thanks, Sam. I'm having fun too." She told me and I gently squeezed her hand. She looked up into my face and I gave it all my concentration. "Come on, come on, Imprint for fuck's sake" I willed both myself and my wolf. The atmosphere in the truck cab seemed to almost crackle with static electricity, and she swallowed with what I guessed was nerves. Realising I was probably making her uncomfortable, I sat back; it hadn't happened. I'd given it the best opportunity I could and nothing had happened. I couldn't deny to myself that I was disappointed, but as I wouldn't be able to explain my disappointment to her, I kept it hidden. Slapping my hands on my thighs lightly, I announced.

"Well we'd best get moving or we'll miss the movie." We stepped out of the truck and I led her to the theatre with my hand in the small of her back.

"Like I said on Monday, they're showing classics today, so I thought I'd let you pick between the two that are on tonight." I said, throwing her a grin. "Your choice is either '2001: A Space Odyssey', or 'Monty Python's The Life of Brian'" She didn't seem to know what to make of the weird mixed bag of movies, and she shook her head.

"We'll I've never really been much of a sci-fi girl, so it's gonna have to be 'The Life of Brian' I guess" She said with a little laugh. "I've never seen it. Is it as funny as 'The Holy Grail'?" My grin grew wider. "Better and better! She's a Python fan too?" I remembered Leah had always hated Monty Python, she'd been completely baffled by their surreal comedy.

"Funnier" I said. "We'd better hurry or we'll miss the start." I lengthened my strides a little and grabbed her tiny hand in mine, partly to help her keep up and partly because I just wanted an excuse to hold her hand.

After buying our tickets - she made a reach for her money in her pocket, which I appreciated as a gesture but wasn't going to allow; a gentleman pays for his date. - We stopped at the concession stand and I bought us some popcorn and a large coke to share while we watched. The screen was packed and the only pair of seats left was nowhere near an aisle, which was what I'd been hoping for, to give me somewhere to stretch my legs out as we sat, so I had to bite the bullet and sit right in the middle of a row. "Shit. This is going to be cramped unless I can maybe use some of her leg room, she's only small herself so she might not mind." I thought to myself. As we sat down, I moved my body in the only way it was going to fit into the cramped space with any degree of comfort, turned almost sideways in my seat, and with my legs pushed so they were under one of hers and over the other one.

"Sorry." I said with a rueful grin. "My legs are too long to fit unless I sit like this." Her nervous stammer returned as she answered.

"N no. I it's fine." I could hear her swallow nervously. As wonderful as her usual scent was, I suddenly got a waft of something even more amazing; pure arousal was drifting off her, hitting my nose like a heavyweight boxer's right hook, and giving me yet another instant hard on. My poor cock, restrained as it was both by my position and my now far too tight jeans, was certainly getting some punishment during this date. I fought back another groan at the delicious smell and my own answering arousal. I was, of course, pleased that she was turned on just at the feel of my legs rubbing against hers, but I knew it was going to be a fucking long couple of hours sitting through the movie trying to fight back erections if she kept up her feelings of arousal. About ten minutes into the movie, having just about managed to talk my dick back to at least semi-limpness, I caught another delicious waft of arousal from her, which of course set my dick off again. I shifted, trying to create a bit of growing space in my jeans as I realised I obviously wasn't going to be able to keep my reactions to her scent from occurring. As I shifted though, her arousal grew stronger, causing me to shift and squirm some more, which set her off again. We like an executive stress toy – the kind with the swinging metal balls. I'd react to her arousal, shifting and squirming in my seat, which would make my legs rub against hers, which would set her off, which would once again set me off. By the time it finished, I'd never been more relieved to see the end of a Python movie. I now had a new problem; how to get up from my seat and walk with Bella out to the foyer without her, or someone else noticing the large tent I had put up in my pants. I was still trying to work out a solution when to my relief she turned to me and mumbled

"I'm just gonna head to the bathroom. Meet you out front?" I quickly removed the relief from my face and arranged it instead into a polite smile.

"Guess I'll do the same. See you out front then." We both rose and I quickly shoved my hands into my pockets in the age old tradition of High school freshmen around the world trying to hide their perpetual hard ons. We headed out towards the bathrooms and as soon as Bella had gone through the ladies' door, I quickly doubled back to the concession stand where I talked the cashier into giving me a small cup of ice. I quickly headed into the men's room, entered a stall and, pulling down my pants, poured the ice onto my throbbing dick. The effect was instantaneous. No more tent pole, just a good length of rope. I smirked a little to myself at the metaphor, pulled up my pants and headed out to find Bella. Sadly, it seemed I'd taken just a little too long. I got into the foyer just in time to hear the Newton Douchebag's shrill little girly voice;

"Oh look, it's Bella. Where's her foetus going to gestate?" Mike said loudly with a snigger. "Holy shit, he's such a dick." I thought, "Apart from anything the fact that he's talking to Bella like that, starting in on the rumours again; out of all the possible, brilliant quotes from the movie, he goes with that one?"

"She's got it shoved up her box!" One of his friends yelled at the top of his voice, obviously another complete asshole. I took a firm hold of my temper, knowing this would be just the sort of thing that would test my control. I walked slowly over towards them behind Bella, not wanting to step in if she preferred to handle it herself, and knowing, after the Forks supermarket incident that she was very capable of doing so, but ready in case she needed me

"Well as long as she doesn't try to pin it on me. I know how condoms work, you know. It'll turn out to be the spawn of one of her little native fuck buddies." Suddenly the grin dropped off his face as he caught sight of me towering behind Bella. I knew that the expression on my face must've been very grim indeed. Whatever my intentions had been before that last comment, he had just taken it a step too far for me to stay out of it. He was insulting both Bella and I and my entire tribe all in one stupid, ignorant comment. My wolf was very close to the surface right at that moment and it was all I could do to keep it at bay. I stepped around Bella and towards Mike, each step forcing the smaller boy to crick his neck further and further back to keep my livid face in view. "Cowardly little short-ass" I thought disgustedly. Keeping my voice very quiet and even, but perfectly audible to Mike's friends I spoke.

"Listen very carefully, little boy." I began, widening my shoulders a bit, exaggerating the size difference between us. "I'd be willing to bet that Bella's already told you, but apparently you're too mentally challenged to understand simple instructions, so I'm going to make it crystal clear for you." I jabbed a single finger into his chest hard enough that it'd probably bruise. "Stop. Spreading. Rumours." I punctuated each word with a hard jab of my finger, making the little pussy wince. "You will not speak to her, or about her, or about any of her friends of family. Lauren Mallory is already facing criminal and civil charges for her behaviour. I'm sure your mommy would be mad and spank you if you ended up doing the same. And whether she does spank you or not, if I ever" another finger jab "hear that you have said anything" jab "more about Bella, I will be making a personal" jab "painful" jab "visit to you myself. Understood?" Mike nodded his head at a furious speed, rubbing his chest where I'd poked him. I bent down to whisper in his ear, my hands clenched and trembling in anger at the spoilt little shit, and he flinched.

"I can see right through you, you know, you nasty little fucker." I whispered. "You could never get anywhere with her yourself, so you reacted like every spoilt child does when he can't get what he wants; you threw a tantrum. Now I don't know who, or how many people she's slept with, and I'm damn sure you don't either. But that's her business, no-one else's. You're a real big man, picking on a girl standing all alone at a movie theatre while you're surrounded by all your friends, but you need to think about this; your friends won't be around you all the time, and if I get even the tiniest hint the so much as your shadow touched Bella's from now on, I'll find you when you're all alone, and I'll take steps to make sure that you won't be saying anything to anyone ever again. Now run away, little boy. The grownups are sick of the sight of you." He paled dramatically and stumbled backwards a few paces before retreating with his friends at a very fast walk. My wolf was torn between being ecstatic at verbally beating the little shit, and wanting to chase after him and tear him in two physically too. I however, was suddenly aware that I'd probably just pissed Bella off, wading in there without letting her handle it herself. She was a strong woman and probably wouldn't appreciate me sticking my nose into her business. I turned round to her, a hangdog expression on my face.

"Sorry, Bella. I know you could've handled it yourself, but if I hadn't have said something to him, I might've had to hit him instead, and I know you wouldn't have wanted me to do that." She looked amazed for a moment or two, and then she gave me a little smile and held out her hand to me, for the first time initiating physical contact between us.

"It's ok. Just try not to make a habit of it." She told me, trying to appear stern. I smiled back at her. "Or at least not on occasions when I can probably handle it myself." She amended and I broke out in a wide grin.

"Yes ma'am." I said with a cheeky wink. "So, after that little interlude, shall we get this show back on the road and go eat?" I asked. She nodded. "What do you feel like eating?"

"Anything but Italian please." She replied. I briefly wondered if it was just because she wasn't in the mood for Italian, or if there was another reason. Having eaten her amazing lasagne I knew it wasn't because she didn't like Italian food. "What's it matter right now?" I asked myself. "Even after that little scene she's still willing to go eat with you, so get with the program!"

"Ok then." I said, walking off still holding her hand. "Anything but Italian it is then." She giggled and tried to go faster to keep up with me. I guess I should've expected her to trip at that pace, but I still managed to catch her by the elbow just as I had that time in the supermarket, stopping her mid-fall.

"Sorry. I forgot how little your legs are. "I apologised, feeling a little guilty. She gave a mock snarl.

"Hey!" She was faking being mad at me. "My legs are just perfect thank you very much!" I couldn't disagree with that – her legs were just amazing.

"You're not wrong there" I murmured; quiet enough for her to miss it. I slowed my pace quite a bit though, not wanting to make her trip again and we wandered along at a relaxed pace til we found a promising looking Chinese restaurant. Once we'd both agreed, we headed inside and the hostess sat us at a quiet, private spot near one corner.

We talked and talked during dinner, about everything and nothing. Apart for covering our favourite parts of the movie and our friends, we also talked about our families. She told me about her mom and step dad and I talked about my mom and Joshua, who I never talked about with anyone. There was something about Bella though that made me want to open up and share stuff about my life that no-one else knew about. I told her stuff that I'd even managed to keep buried right at the back of my mind, where the rest of the pack couldn't see it. With all our talk, we took forever eating but we still hadn't discussed what I really felt we needed to. As much as I might've been wishing by that point that it wasn't the case, I couldn't allow either of us to get too deep into a relationship that had every chance of ending abruptly and painfully should I ever imprint. If I'd wanted to hurt myself and a woman in that way, I would've just stayed with Leah after I first phased. We were waiting for our deserts by the time I finally managed to carefully steer the conversation towards dating and what we were both looking to get out of it. I started off by hedging a little around my own reasons for not looking for something long-term, as I could hardly tell her the whole truth, but didn't want to outright lie to her.

"See the thing is, Bella. With all the responsibilities I have in my life right now, I'm just not in a position to be starting a committed relationship. I'm guessing that or you it's probably not on the cards right now either as you'll probably be heading off to college soon?" She nodded in agreement and I continued. "So would you be maybe interested in going out with me again, and we'll just see where it goes?" I asked. "As long as we're both aware that it's not going to end up with us growing old together." I added light heartedly though I felt anything but light hearted. As soon as I'd said it I realised that had everything been different, she was exactly the sort of woman that I would like to grow old with. Not noticing my internal gloom, she grinned at me.

"Yes. I've had fun tonight and I'd like to do it again sometime." She replied and at that I was able to grin back. "You know, of course that I had a really bad break-up last time though, so can I just ask one thing?" She asked me seriously.

"Sure." I replied, and figuring I should definitely give whatever she was going to ask my full attention I put down my drink and leaned forward a little, focusing entirely on her. "I just hope that whatever it is she asks for is something I can give her – she looks like she's very serious about it, whatever it is."

"When either one of us wants to call it a day, we just say it straight out. No lies, no drama, and hopefully we can stay friends afterwards." I blew out a breath of relief and gave her a broad grin. That was definitely something I could give her. I hated lying at the best of times and just plain couldn't bring myself to lie to her at all anyway, so that was covered. As for drama, I'd always hated it. It was one of the very few things I was relieved to miss out on after I broke up with Leah; she'd always been one for drama and I'd found it difficult and uncomfortable to deal with. In fact, after we broke up, I'd seen her around a couple of times and she'd created a massive dramatic scene both times and so I'd avoided her completely ever since. Something that was amazingly easy to do when you have super hearing and a super sense of smell. Any time I'd heard her or smelled her coming, I got out of there as fast as I could.

"That's pretty much exactly as I'd want it too. I'll drink to that." I raised my glass, making our agreement a toast which she echoed with a smile. "No lies and no drama."

"No lies and no drama." We touched glasses and drank. "So that's it then. We just see how it goes."