Charlie watched Bella, and Bella watched him. It was a father-daughter stand-off in the kitchen that morning.

"I'm injured. That bacon is mine, old man," she said challengingly.

Charlie gave her a look, then cautiously eyed her sling. Bella had told him she had taken a very hard fall on campus, and that seemed to be enough of an explanation, since Charlie had surprisingly not asked for more details.

They sat at their little dining table with glasses of orange juice, mugs of coffee, and a steaming stack of pancakes. The bacon was still in the pan, directly in the middle of the table. One piece was left.

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "You said it. Old man. How many more pieces of bacon will I get to eat in my life?"

Bella's witty retort dried on her tongue. Charlie was in his early fifties, and he did pretty well for his age. As a cop, he kept in shape, though Bella knew he could be eating better. The beers were adding layers to his belly, and she had keenly noticed that when he got sick, he would be sick for longer than before.

Bella knew Charlie would die. It was more likely that he would die before her, but she didn't feel prepared for it. She was in college, but she still stayed in his house. They had a good, easygoing relationship, and she saved tons in rent money.

He was also her dad, and she couldn't imagine losing him.

"Fine," he said. "You can have it."

Bella felt terrible, and not because of anything she could control. Charlie would die. There would come a day that she'd get a phone call, or witness it for herself. She'd feel the dread in her chest, and the tears would follow. That day would come, and her world would inevitably change.

"No, it's okay. It's yours." Bella took a quick sip of her coffee and blinked away the wetness in her eyes.

"You sure?" He paused for a moment, letting her have a possible moment of redemption. But when she didn't move, he reached over and slid the last slice of bacon onto his plate.

The smile on his face as he munched away filled her with a solemn glee. She wanted to savor this moment, but it slipped away, much like how anything did.

She promised herself she would remember his smile—the one that won the bacon. The one that was simply human, pure, and sincere.

Even though she had a perfectly functional and ergonomic desk, Bella chose to sit on the furry carpet on her bedroom floor. She was crouched over her laptop and she almost knocked over her bottle of water when she saw Edward standing by her window.

Bella didn't hide her annoyance when she said, "Stop doing that. Please."

"I thought you liked to be surprised." He held out his hand to her.

She huffed and pushed her laptop off of her lap and took his hand with her good arm. Pulling her up, Edward drew her close. His smile faltered only slightly as he cupped her face.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay."

"Your arm?"

"Way better." She moved it around a little bit, though stopped when she felt some discomfort.

His hand felt rough against her skin as he put more pressure on her cheek. "Bella, I'm so sorry. I—"

She reached up and placed a finger on his lips. "No more. You promised."

Edward's eyebrows drew together, and Bella couldn't help but notice just how much she had to reassure him.

"I'm just looking through the class catalog for winter." She sat back down on her carpet and pulled her laptop close. "Do you know what you're taking?"

Do you even want to pick a class? Bella watched him closely.

"Something artsy. Also Calculus sounds great," he said casually.

"Are you sure?"

Edward shrugged. "We could take something together if you'd like."

"No, are you sure you want to keep doing this?"

He plopped down next to her and grinned. "I have more incentive now that you're in the picture."

"Edward, please." She found herself feeling strongly about this. "You're going to go to community college for the rest of your…forever life?"

He placed an arm around her, and their noses almost touched. "I can do anything and everything I want, Isabella Swan. And I choose to be here with you."

He was dazzling her, and she was sure of it. She averted her eyes, and noticed what it felt like. It was as if she was mildly buzzed, but also pretty self-aware of it. No, she decided—she would not let herself drive in this state.

She looked back at him with an easy smile. "I choose to be here with you, too."

He leaned down and kissed her, and she forgot about the details for a few seconds. The supernatural, her future at Peninsula College, her father getting old. But that was all she got. A few seconds. Because she knew the signs, and recognized them pretty quickly after a few weeks of being with a vampire. He tensed against her, and Bella knew that his lips would be the last to leave her body. His hands would fall away, and his body would pull back. Once he ended the kiss, he wouldn't be smiling. Now, he stared at her lips with a deep frown.

"It's not easy," he said roughly, as he always did.

"I know," she said gently, as she always did.

And they would move on.

But today, Bella wanted more. She looked down at her laptop with the course catalog open. "Edward, am I finishing my associates degree?"

He gave her an odd look. "Of course you are. Your grades are phenomenal."

That was not what she meant. She tried again. "What are we right now? And where are we going?"

"What are we?" Edward questioned the question.

She gestured to her laptop. "I need to know what I need to plan for my future. It's not something you're too concerned about for obvious reasons. But if you're serious about me, you need to tell me."

Edward seemed baffled by her words. "Serious? Bella, of course I'm serious about you. About us. How could I not be?"

She got up to her feet and did her best to cross her arms, but it probably looked strange. She started to pace in her tiny room because the following thoughts and questions seemed so unreal. "Are you going to change me?"

"What?"

"I'm trying to plan out my future. If you're in there, that's an entirely different path that I had been dreaming of since middle school."

Edward looked down, and it frustrated Bella to no end how unknowing he seemed to act. But he also seemed uncertain, which told her that perhaps he wasn't as serious as he led on.

"Edward, I just need some answers. I need a direction."

He looked at her then. "Why, Bella? Plan your life the way you have. Why does it matter?"

"It matters," she insisted. "It matters because if I'm going to pursue a career, I need to set myself up for it. And if I'm going to… die, that's going to change things."

Edward shook his head and gently pulled her down to the carpet so she sat beside him again. "Bella, you're beautiful the way you are. You don't need to change."

He was kidding. No, he wasn't kidding, because he wasn't serious. Bella slapped her hand on her forehead. There was this weird disconnect between them that she didn't feel that she could explain to him. Didn't it make sense? Wasn't it fair to know if your vampire boyfriend would make you a vampire so you could clearly know that your life as a human was insignificant? That your decisions didn't matter?

She sighed. What was she thinking? She had barely known this man for two months. If Edward changed her, wasn't she committing to him for eternity? She couldn't even process eternity, let alone a lifetime.

"What are you—"

She stopped him right there, because she anticipated the question. "I'm not thinking about anything, Edward," she said, a little exasperated.

Really, she was more frustrated with herself. At twenty, she already felt like she was thirty. Time was ticking for her. She needed to move out, buy a car, find an internship, get her degree, find a job, find a husband, have children…

The endless checklist made her head spin. And the moments she was with Edward, with his vampirism and immortality, she occasionally forgot about the realities of her human life. Because she thought there was just a slight possibility that she could join his world. Half of her mental checklist wouldn't exist. But with that came a lot of other decisions. Would she be marrying Edward? What about Charlie? Did she want kids? Were kids even possible—

"You're upset with me," Edward noted, and Bella wanted to get up and give him a standing ovation. Yes, she supposed, she was upset. But not just at him, because it wasn't entirely his fault. There too many question marks that surrounded her life.

"Maybe you dazzled me too much," she said, a little resigned.

"Dazzled?"

"That's what I call it," Bella explained. "When you do that… thing."

Edward's grin practically glowed. "What thing?"

Bella couldn't help but smile, because he was doing it again, damn it. "This! This right here!"

Bella wanted to reach over and kiss him. It was so strange how quickly her mood shifted. Vampirism was magic. She wanted to drag him into her bed and reach the next level of their relationship. She wanted to feel his skin against hers, and—what would sex feel like with a vampire?

When she blinked, she didn't realize she was staring at Edward's deep golden eyes. Her hand was plastered on his chest, and she really wanted the stupid sling off of her arm.

"Don't stop looking at me like that," Edward whispered as he dragged his fingers over her forearm. Instantly, she felt chills. And the darkening of his eye color should have thrown her off, but there was an unusual part of her that was attracted to it. The possibility of him losing control was thrilling.

She decided that she was twisted, and that snapped her out of her reverie. She knew this vampire well enough that he would never forgive himself for losing control. He still hadn't forgiven himself for hurting her arm.

"Will you kiss me again?" She asked, and instantly knew he'd turn her down.

"I'm going hunting tomorrow. I promise, it will be better."

She nodded and gave him a smile. Though later, she would admit to herself that it was forced. She appeased him like this, and she knew it was something that she did a lot.

A/N: No matter how mature, there are things that Bella sweeps under the rug, which can be frustrating.