Edward stared at Bella's bandaid.
The family was back in the living room after a good twenty minutes of the open windows helping to circulate the air. Bella hadn't been sure how long was long enough for her bloody scent to waft away, but she hoped the Cullens would at least do a sniff test before stepping foot into their home.
"Are you feeling alright?" Edward asked her.
"Yes." Bella held out her hand, rubbing at the bandaid. "Just a small puncture."
He pressed a kiss to her knuckles, but paused momentarily. Bella watched the strain in his neck. Her wound might not be bleeding, but it was still fresh. She wondered how the rest of the family felt, even with the room aired out.
And now, it was a waiting game. Apparently, Jasper had taken the mission into his own hands.
"Shouldn't someone be out there with him?" Bella asked.
Emmett plopped down onto the sectional next to her. "If he needed backup, he'd ask."
"You're safe," Edward said. "That's what matters."
Everyone mattered, and Jasper wasn't an exception, no matter that he was only kind of part of the family—whatever that really meant.
Bella ended up falling asleep, once again, on the couch. Except this time, it hadn't felt as comfortable as before with Jasper's influence. His gift was truly remarkable.
She jerked awake at the sound of the front door closing. She blinked her eyes, and then focused on the image of Alice in front of her. The digital clock on the wall read just after 2 AM.
"There were more than we anticipated," Alice told her quickly. "The family left to support the fight."
"What?" All of her fatigue left her body. "And Edward?"
"He's with them," she said calmly. "Don't worry, they're all well trained." Alice held up a glass of water, and Bella gladly took it.
Alice's words caught up to her soon. "More? There are more vampires?"
"With Victoria," Alice said. "She wasn't alone."
"I'm so sorry, Alice."
"Don't be. I'm sorry I didn't see it."
Bella's anxiety lingered in the room. She pulled up her legs and crossed them, and they waited. Time ticked by, and Bella knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. She got up, and headed to the kitchen. Alice silently followed behind her.
Refilling her glass of water, she asked, "Should you go and be with them?"
"Edward insisted that you should not be left alone. I think we all agree that's a wise decision."
Bella nodded, almost solemnly. And then a plain thought crossed her mind—something so practical and apparent that it flew out of her mouth. "This wouldn't be a problem if I weren't human."
Alice smiled at her then, but Bella noticed the tightness around her lips. It was an eerie look for Alice Cullen, and Bella felt the sudden urge to take a step back. The question that followed was an interesting one. "Would you want to change, Bella?"
Pressing the glass to the lips, she took a moment to consider, but then the front door opened. Both women shifted to get a better look.
It was Jasper. One moment he was by the door, and the next, he was closer, right before the kitchen threshold. He pulled out a lighter from his pocket and tossed it to Alice. "They need help cleaning up."
Alice didn't wait for Bella to answer her question. She left as quickly as she could.
Jasper watched her leave, and Bella examined Jasper. She squinted her eyes, and she could see some sort of cracking in his skin on the underside of his forearm.
She took one step towards him, and he must have noticed her attention.
"Minor injury," he explained automatically. "Our skin can crack given enough pressure. Edward sustained similar injuries to his chest. Rosalie to her thigh."
Bella couldn't even begin to imagine how this fight played out. "How many were there?"
"Six. Mostly newborns, which was the trouble."
"Newborns?"
Jasper nodded. "They're what we call newly turned vampires. They have a heightened sense of strength for the first year or so. Victoria clearly needed some numbers on her side. But she still didn't have enough."
"She's dead?"
"All of them are."
Bella nodded in understanding. Newborns. She would tuck that piece of information away.
"Thank you," she found herself saying. "It seemed like you… knew what to do."
"Experience," he said, like he had before.
Bella took a single step towards him. "What kind of experience?"
"Basic battle strategy. I can also count to six. It's something that the Cullens seem to struggle with."
Had Jasper just made a joke? Bella smiled anyway. "You seemed frustrated with them."
"It's more frustrating that they let it fester. Victoria shouldn't have had enough time to gather a small, pathetic army."
She thought for a moment. "You said what she was doing was unacceptable. Regarding her… meals. What did you mean by that?"
Jasper looked at her a little oddly. "The Law of Exposure. She was breaking it."
"The Law of Exposure?"
He watched her for a while, as if trying to figure out a complicated equation.
"Isn't it frustrating," he then said, "that you're in an active relationship with a vampire, yet you know nothing about our world?"
Placing her water glass on the counter, she crossed her arms loosely. Her face heated, and she responded, a little resigned, "It is."
Hadn't she been exasperated by the lack of information Edward would—or wouldn't—give her? That he would rather play human than conform to his own identity? Bella looked down at the floor and considered as Jasper stood in the kitchen with her.
He could probably feel her embarrassment, and then anger—because she shouldn't feel embarrassed for something that wasn't in her control. Hadn't she poked and prodded Edward's mind? Hadn't she expressed the need to know?
"Well, I suppose this means that I can go home now," Bella said quietly.
She hadn't been looking at him, so she lifted her gaze. He was on his phone, but it only took a few more seconds for him to respond. "You should have been home this entire time."
When she walked past him to the living room, she heard him ask, "You're not considering leaving at this hour, are you?"
No. She had really just wanted to go back to sleep. The adrenaline from the knowledge that something was going wrong had her wide awake. Now, as the danger faded, she felt a fresh layer of exhaustion. "I wasn't planning to."
"Good," Jasper said. "Edward will want to see you."
Bella sat on the sectional. Jasper had taken a few steps into the living room, pocketing his phone.
Bella's gaze caught once more on his arm. "How long will it take for you to heal?"
"Not very long. I'll go feed soon."
Feed. Bella looked around awkwardly. She was curious, of course, but she didn't ignore how it unsettled her. "Okay. Do you have to go far?"
What kind of a question was that? She probably couldn't compare it to just going to a grocery store.
Then, Jasper's eyes were on her. And the interest in them completely unprepared her for his next question. "Why? Are you offering?"
"What?"
"I didn't think so."
Bella swallowed, and it was entirely instinctual. His question buzzed in her brain, and he was surely kidding. Had he suggested that she would offer up… her life? When Bella looked back at him, she felt small—like an unknowing little bug that he could squish with one careless misstep. And wasn't that true?
That same tickle in her spine returned, and her body heated with a sudden fight-or-flight response.
Jasper could feel all of this, Bella assumed, but he didn't seem to remotely care. And then, the family was home.
Emmett and Rosalie came first, followed by Carlisle and Esme. Alice and Edward walked in last, and Edward quickly appeared by her side.
Spirits were lifted, it seemed, as Emmett clapped Carlisle on his shoulder, and Esme gave Alice a hug. Bella sat, watching as the family reconvened. Edward was smiling at her, his eyes roaming her from top to bottom.
Emmett directed Rosalie to sit on the armchair so he could take a brief look at the cracks in her skin.
"Are you okay?" Bella asked Edward, her fingers twitching to touch his chest.
"I'm perfect," Edward said, with a breathtaking smile. Bella still let her fingers reach up and rest on his shirt, right around the area she thought he was injured.
He wasn't quite perfect. Bella could see smears of dirt on his jeans, though his disheveled hair did look good on him. There were wrinkles in his shirt, and if she looked down, she would probably notice how unpolished his shoes were.
This was a fight, she then reminded herself. And it certainly was to the death. Even vampires weren't immune to nature's entropy.
Among the gleeful commotion at almost 3 AM that morning, Bella thought she wouldn't notice, but she did. From the corner of her eye, Jasper simply vanished. There was a soft click from the door—the only evidence that he had left the house.
Edward stood from beside Bella and offered his hand. "You should get to sleep."
She gave him her good arm and let herself be hoisted up. "I should."
As she walked by the family, she felt the need to congratulate them, but it felt a little odd to do so. One, because she had been cooped up in their home, utterly useless. And two, they had killed… six individuals? Vampires counted as individuals. People. Her morals felt out of whack.
She walked up to the main staircase with Edward, and paused on the first step. Turning her head, she glanced once at the front door.
"What?" Edward asked.
"Nothing," she said. "I just noticed that Jasper left."
They began ascending the staircase. "He did."
To feed, Bella reminded herself with that distinct tingle at the bottom of her spine.
Jasper had left to go kill.
Bella had dreamt. When she woke the next morning, she couldn't decide if it had been a nightmare, yet she felt the chill in her bones just the same. But maybe it was because she was nestled into Edward's side.
After a quick breakfast, Edward dropped her off on campus. He got out of his car to give her a proper goodbye.
"I hate doing this," he murmured, stepping close. "But I need to hunt."
"I know," Bella said, having entirely predicted it. He was injured, and so was Rosalie.
He told her that he would be back tomorrow.
"That's fine." Bella smiled up at him. "Charlie was going to pick me up anyway."
His smile dimmed, and he was instantly serious. "Carlisle and Esme will be home. If you need anything."
Bella threw her backpack over a shoulder. "I know. Try to enjoy your hunt. Mindful eating is the new trend right now, you know."
Edward kissed her cheek. "Will do, Miss Swan."
"Hey—one more thing." She smiled up at him with intrigue. "What is this… Law of Exposure?"
Edward paused, and cocked his head. "It's one of our most basic laws. Who mentioned it?"
"Jasper. He said Victoria was breaking it."
Edward seemed to understand immediately. "Yes. She was. By recklessly killing, she was risking exposure. That is prohibited."
"Prohibited? By who?"
"We have a system, Bella. Naturally, we're not ungoverned."
Did he expect her to just know this? "I wasn't aware."
"It's not very important," he dismissed. "Anyway, I'll see you soon."
Bella watched as he got into his car and drove away. She stood there until his car disappeared from her field of vision. Naturally, we're not ungoverned. Bella scoffed. Naturally, she wouldn't know.
In her literature class, she sat beside a girl. Pulling out her notebook, she turned to her. "Good morning. I'm Bella."
"Morning," the girl said a little strangely, and Bella realized pretty quickly why. She knew her. "I'm Emma. But we've met."
Oh, Bella thought, just a little mortified. Thanks for letting me sleep over.
Charlie had arrived right on time to pick her up later that day, and Bella gave him an awkward side hug in the car.
"Did you have a good time?" He asked her.
"Yeah, dad." She then gave him a pointed look. "I hope you ate something other than ready mac-n-cheese."
"You shouldn't hope away the inevitable," he teased her, and began driving. Once home, they spent some time in the kitchen, and Bella readied some vegetables for tonight's dinner. While Charlie worked the grill, Bella settled back in her room and started a load of laundry. Just because she had been staying at the Cullens' residence—more like hotel—it didn't mean that her real life responsibilities had magically disappeared.
Booting up her laptop, she looked over her assignments. But before she could plan her studying schedule for the night, her phone buzzed with a phone call.
The contact flashed on the screen: Mom.
Leaning against her bed, she placed the phone up to her ear. "Hey."
"Hi, sweetie," Renee Dwyer cooed over the phone. "How have you been?"
It had probably been two months since she had last talked to her mother, which was kind of a depressing thought. "I've been good. How are you?"
There were voices in the background, and her mom took a moment to address someone before speaking back into the phone, "It's been crazy. We've been up and down the East coast, as you know."
Did she know? Bella barely had a notion of what her mother was doing, or where she was at any given time. "How's that been?"
"Unpredictable," her mother replied, but she seemed ecstatic. "Phil's been all over the place."
Phil, her stepdad. He wasn't a stereotypical stepdad in the sense that she despised his very being. Actually, he was entirely pleasant, and she occasionally got various texts from him regarding his baseball games—scores, trending wins, booing losses. His career within minor league baseball seemed to encompass most of his personality, and now, most of her mother's.
"Sounds exciting," Bella said, trying her best to sound cheerful.
"Yeah, I'm sorry," her mother said lightly. "I know school's not too exciting."
No, school was actually pretty great. She wasn't sure if she would actually enjoy her mother's never-ending-travel lifestyle. Plus, Renee Dwyer hadn't finished college—how could she know?
"It's been alright, mom. I'm enjoying my classes." And it was her second year at Peninsula College. Come to think of it, she couldn't recall the last time Renee had asked her about school.
"Yeah? You don't want to stab your eyeballs with number two pencils yet?"
Did anyone use number two pencils anymore? Mechanical ones, maybe.
As Bella grew up, she would see the little shortcomings of both of her parents. The process was strange, sobering, but mostly sad. It was never easy to realize that your parents were anything but perfect.
A few big ones were Renee's significant attention issues and hyperactivity. Bella definitely couldn't imagine watching her sit through a lecture. She couldn't even picture her sitting down for Thursday night football with Charlie. And the more Bella got to know these quirks of her mother, the more she found that she understood the reason for her parents' separation.
Charlie was calm. He appreciated life the way it was. He didn't chase after anything that was too out of his way. Comparatively, her mother couldn't accept anything by default. Her coffee couldn't be black. Her husband couldn't be boring. She could never own a home—because it was too solid, and permanent.
"Is Phil doing okay? He texted me that his shoulder wasn't doing well."
"Oh, he's fine," she replied. "He's just been batting a little too hard. The doctors say he just needs a little rest."
"Good to hear," Bella said. "Will the season bring you guys to this side of the world?"
"I think we'll do L.A, but further North…?" she paused, and then Bella heard her ask, away from the phone. Phil was there, of course. She came back to the phone. "Maybe, sweetie. We may be up in San Francisco."
"So maybe I can visit," Bella said. "Let me know his schedule. If it lines up with one of my breaks, or even a weekend…"
"Of course, honey," she said. "Hey, I gotta go. But I love you, okay?"
Bella switched the phone to her other ear. "I love you too, mom."
She felt a void in her chest. She knew that she should feel closer to her mother—to seek her out more often, or even text her most days.
But relationships should be two-sided, shouldn't they?
A/N: Yes, relationships should be two-sided. All relationships.
This chapter: Jasper taking control of the situation. Alice's curiosity on Bella's desire to change. Renee's poor motherly instincts.
