As she got ready for school on Monday morning, Bella found herself facing an unfamiliar dilemma: what to wear. Her new wardrobe included plenty of items that probably (hopefully) wouldn't land her in detention, but even the tamest of them were guaranteed to turn heads at Forks High – though that wasn't saying much, since any change in the status quo was a big deal in Forks, and the high school was a perfect microcosm of the community at large, as if someone had taken all the most quintessential qualities of Forks and distilled them into their purest form.

Imagining the stares and whispers that would follow her through the halls like she was reliving her first day as a new student was enough to make her reach for her oldest, plainest pair of jeans, but before she could pull them on, her phone rang.

"Hi, Alice."

"Bella Swan, put those ratty old things down right now," Alice ordered, not bothering with pleasantries. "Better yet, toss them in the rag bin. Deep down, you know that's where they belong anyway."

She was right – in fact, Bella had been seriously considering getting rid of a few of the most worn-out things in her closet for several weeks, but had been procrastinating because she wasn't looking forward to replacing them – but she wasn't about to admit it. "What, are you using your visions to play fashion police now?"

"I'm just trying to save you some time," Alice said sweetly. "If you put on what you're thinking of wearing, Bo and Kenzi will just make you change when they get there."

"Bo's coming over for a clothing inspection? With Kenzi?" Bella squeaked, nearly dropping the phone.

"They'll be there in about fifteen minutes."

"Yikes! I'd better get a move on."

"Yes, you should."

Hurriedly hanging up, Bella scurried back to her closet, shoved the old jeans she'd been about to put on into its deepest, darkest corner, and got out a pair of new black jeans that hadn't yet been faded and battered into soft shapelessness by years of wear and washing. She paired it with a stretchy black top with a deep V-neck (with white lace filling in the V so that her cleavage was only suggested rather than actually exposed) and black ankle boots, hastily applied a touch of eyeliner and mascara, and raced downstairs just as Bo and Kenzi let themselves in.

"Okay, Bobo, let's see if your hard work paid off." Kenzi slowly circled Bella, eyeing her critically from every angle in a way that made the younger girl feel the way she imagined a mouse did when it looked up and saw a hawk circling overhead, before coming to a stop in front of her, squinting at her while tapping her fingers on her chin in a show of exaggerated thoughtfulness.

"I guess she passes succu-muster," she declared at last, to sighs of relief from Bo and Bella. "I mean, she kind of looks like a succubus on her way to star in a High School Musical reboot, but that's excusable since she actually is in high school. I heard you leveled up in another department too. So you're working cases with Bo now, huh?"

"Just one case," Bella corrected her, "and it wasn't exactly planned. I almost literally stumbled into it."

"But when you saw a human in trouble, you jumped in to save the day, just like our Bobo…and you did it for free. Does this aversion to monetizing your mojo run in the family or something?" Kenzi demanded, flailing her arms in exasperation.

"If you'd seen where these girls were living, you'd know they didn't really have money to spare."

"Bella's right," Bo agreed. "We've had this conversation before; if somebody wants to bring their case to us and hire us then I'm happy to let them pay, but I won't shake down someone who really needs help, especially if I've already gotten involved before the issue of money even comes up."

"I know you won't – because you, Bobo, are a genuine article, one hundred percent authentic do-gooder, which I love about you, except that your pro bono heroics don't do much to boost our financial solvency. And now there's two of you! Gah! You bleeding hearts are gonna put me in the poorhouse! …Do they even have poorhouses anymore?"

"I don't think so," Bo said while struggling to hide her amusement.

"Oh, great! Now what am I supposed to do?"

"Good luck figuring that out," Bella told her. "I'd love to stay and help, but I have to get going or I'll be late." Grabbing her bookbag, she scooted out the door before Kenzi could continue her diatribe about how Bo's and Bella's altruism was ruining her retirement plans, only to find when she slid behind the wheel of her truck that her escape plan had hit a snag. No matter how forcefully she twisted her key in the ignition, the engine only coughed and sputtered, refusing to turn over. "No, no, no! Don't do this to me!"

"Car trouble?" Bo asked, leaning in the open window. She and Kenzi had followed Bella outside, and had surmised from the noises the engine was making (plus the fact that the truck wasn't going anywhere) that there was a problem even before Bella started shouting at it.

"Yeah," Bella sighed. "I guess I'll call Jake; he was so glad Charlie bought the truck from Billy that he made a standing offer to fix it if anything went wrong…but in the meantime, how am I going to get to school? Charlie's already left, so I can't catch a ride with him…"

"I'll take you."

"You will? Great! Thanks, Bo!"

"Don't worry, this old tub runs like it's ready for the Indy since Em and Rose worked their magic on it. We'll get you there before your perfect attendance record gets smeared with a tardy slip," Kenzi assured Bella as she quickly transferred her bag to Bo's Camaro and dove into the backseat, "which I'm sure would be a fate worse than death for a nerd like you, but try not to have a brain hemorrhage back there. Just breathe…if you can. Bo went a little overboard with the cleaning when she got her wheels back."

"Hey, my succubus senses go nuts every time those two head out to the garage together," Bo said defensively. "Apparently working on engines really revs their engines, so you can't blame me for taking extra precautions after they got busy with – and probably in every seat of – my car. I bet they even did it on the hood."

Bella just nodded, silently hoping they would reach Forks High before she choked to death on Lysol fumes.

###

At last, Bo pulled up in front of the high school's front entrance, and Bella jumped out, filling her lungs with blessedly fresh air before thanking her sister for the ride.

"No problem. Do you need me to pick you up later?"

"Nah, I'll figure something out. If worst comes to worst, it's not that long a walk." She gave Bo one last wave, then hurried inside.

With only moments to spare before the final bell, the halls were mercifully empty, so she didn't have to deal with as many stares and whispers as she had feared. When she sidled into her first period classroom, every eye immediately fastened on her, and she could practically feel her fellow students' curiosity flowing through the room like an electrical current, but there was no time for them to say anything to her before the bell rang and the teacher called them to order.

Of course, her good luck couldn't last forever; Jessica cornered her the minute class was dismissed and grilled her extensively on her fashion choices, what had prompted such a dramatic shift in her style, and where she had gotten her awesome coat.

"I don't know – I've just been taking a hard look at my life lately, reevaluating some stuff, and I decided it was time to make a few changes. And Bo gave me this coat, so you'll have to ask her where she got it. It is pretty awesome, isn't it?"

Luckily, her answers seemed to satisfy Jessica, and as she moved on to other topics, Bella noted with immense relief that the interrogation hadn't been as bad as she'd anticipated. Not that Jess hadn't been as inquisitive as ever, but somehow her prying hadn't made Bella feel as uncomfortable as it normally did. Then again, she supposed it shouldn't – after all, she had just spent her weekend helping to apprehend fae criminals and rescuing humans from becoming the victims of some crazy cult's sacrificial rituals. What was a nosy high school gossip queen compared to that?

###

Bella's new look received a lot more attention throughout the first half of the school day, most of it positive, although she was disappointed not to see the person whose opinion she was most interested in: Edward. She was sure he'd already seen her outfit in their classmates' thoughts, which irritated her, because she would have liked to witness his reaction when he saw her for the first time. Still, she was gratified to feel his gaze locking on her the instant she entered the cafeteria, though he didn't move from his place between Alice and Emmett. Once she was seated with her friends, she turned her head toward the Cullens' table and flashed an encouraging smile to let him know she didn't mind him looking. He smiled back, and his eyes never left her for the rest of the lunch hour.

When it came to an end, she purposefully dawdled over throwing out her trash, hoping he would once again take the opportunity to approach her as he disposed of his and his siblings' uneaten food, and sure enough, it wasn't long before she sensed his presence close behind her.

"I see you've taken another step in reinventing yourself. You look lovely…though I will admit I'm curious as to why you felt the need to disinfect your new clothes prior to wearing them."

"You mean I still smell like Lysol?" Bella whirled around, her face already turning red. "It's not me, I swear – my truck wouldn't start this morning, so I had to ride to school in the backseat of Bo's car-"

"Say no more," Edward interrupted with a grin. "If it makes you feel better, I can tell you that the measures your sister took in cleaning her car after Emmett and Rosalie returned it to her, extreme though they might have been, were not unwarranted."

"So they really did… Well then, I'm glad Bo cleaned the seat thoroughly before I sat on it. Now I just have to figure out how I'll get home today; Bo offered to pick me up, but seeing as I almost suffocated on the way here, I'd rather not take her up on it."

"I can give you a ride," he suggested, his eyes lighting up with cautious hope. "I'm not sure whether the rules of our break allow you to get into a car with me, but I hope you'll consider it as an alternative to asphyxiation."

"I'd like that," Bella said at once, smiling hesitantly back at him. "A lot happened over the weekend – more than I can cover before the bell rings – and I really want to tell you about it. You don't even have to take me straight home; we could hang out in the diner awhile, if you've got time."

"I always have time for you, Bella. It's a… Would it be too presumptuous to use the word 'date'?"

"I don't know." She ducked her head, then peered up awkwardly through her lashes. "We could call it a…a friend date. Like a study date, but without the studying – just two friends hanging out, being friendly. We can do that, can't we?"

"Of course."

His agreement seemed to please her, transforming her discomfort into tentative anticipation, so he did his best to mirror her eagerness, to tell himself that any time spent with her was a step in the right direction…and to ignore the faint twinge of disappointment that it was taking so long to mend their fractured romance.

###

"So," Edward said later that afternoon, as he and Bella sat facing each other across a table in the diner, "did you enjoy your weekend with Bo?"

"I'm not sure 'enjoy' is the right word," Bella temporized, fiddling with the salt shaker as she searched for a word that did feel right. "It was…pretty insane, honestly." The whole story came spilling out then, beginning with their visit to the club and ending with the arrest of Hunter and his cohorts. "As far as my record for the craziest, scariest, most dangerous things I've ever done goes, I think this might tie with running off by myself to meet James, but…it was also kind of amazing."

Edward said nothing – in fact, he hadn't said a single word throughout her recounting, except to thank the waitress who brought her chicken salad while she caught her breath – but the look in his eyes hinted that he was having serious concerns about her sanity.

"Not the part where I got knocked out and tied to a chair," she quickly clarified, realizing how it must have sounded. "That part sucked. But saving those girls, reuniting Marlena with her sister…that felt good – no, better than good. Incredible. But I don't have to tell you that, do I? I mean, when you went through that rebellious phase where you decided to feed on human criminals, you rescued plenty of people who were about to become their victims."

"You're ascribing far nobler motivations to me than I deserve, Bella," he demurred, his eyes darting away from hers for a second before he resolutely faced her again. "The would-be victims were barely an afterthought; all my focus was on satiating my appetite, and the fact that I saved some people along the way was just a convenient excuse, a smokescreen I used to hide the monstrousness of my actions from myself…until I couldn't anymore."

"Is that why you stopped? Not drinking human blood – I'm glad you quit doing that – but you could've kept on using your telepathy to spot people with bad intentions and stopping them from hurting anyone, just without killing them."

"I never thought of that; as I said, I only pursued the perpetrators as prey, so I saw no reason to continue after I decided to rejoin Carlisle. Besides, we generally try to keep a low profile, and taking up vigilantism as a hobby isn't really conducive to that goal. Why do you ask? Is this something you want me to do?"

"I don't know." It was Bella who broke eye contact this time, now tapping the salt shaker on the table in such a frenetic rhythm that Edward had to beat down the urge to cover her hand with his and force it to be still. "I was kind of thinking maybe it might be something we could do together…someday."

"Really? Are you saying that you want to make a full-time occupation out of assisting humans who've run afoul of the supernatural, like Bo does?" Edward wasn't sure how he felt about that. Putting aside the inherent dangers of going down such a path – which of course he wasn't crazy about, though he had to admit he was impressed with how Bella had handled the perilous situation she found herself in when she was captured – there was still the issue of how it would affect their lives to consider. If Bella followed in Bo's footsteps and Edward joined her in her escapades, it would mean more contact with the wider fae world than he'd had in a long time – more than any of the Cullens wanted, frankly. How would his family react?

Bella wasn't ready to think that far ahead, however. "I don't know yet," she said again, and finally, mercifully pushed the salt shaker away as she met his gaze with an earnest look. "The truth is, I didn't have a clue what I was doing; I basically fumbled my way through the case by asking myself what Bo would do, and I had a serious case of impostor syndrome the whole time, like I was pretending to be something I'm not, so I don't know if I ever want to do anything like that again, or that I'd want to do it all the time if I did. I mean, I should probably still have a day job, right? Before I knew there were fae out there, I did have other ideas about careers I was interested in… But being a literary scholar or professor or librarian or museum curator doesn't have quite the same impact as saving people from amoral fae, does it? What Bo and I did for Marlena and Sarah…that was the first time I've ever felt like I made a difference, like I did something that really mattered. I wouldn't mind feeling that way again."

"I want you to feel that way. There's something different about you today, Bella – no, I don't mean your clothes, although they suit you very well. It's this look in your eyes that I've never seen before…as if you've found a new sense of purpose and meaning in your life. That suits you very well too."

"Thank you, Edward." She smiled at him the way she had in the cafeteria, uncertain yet hopeful at the same time, and her hand twitched like it wanted to reach out for his. She quashed the impulse – after all, this was the first truly meaningful conversation they'd had since commencing their break, and she didn't want to take things too fast until she was positive that the accepting, supportive reaction he'd given her today really was indicative of a permanent change in his attitude – but she couldn't completely crush the tiny flame of optimism that had kindled in her chest, the feeling that they had just taken an important step in the journey toward rebuilding their relationship.

For his part, Edward noticed the aborted movement, and experienced another flare of disappointment at her reticence, though he quickly tamped it down. He understood why she didn't want to rush into a reunion that might prove to be ill-advised, though like her, he hoped they could begin moving forward now. He also chose to take it as a good sign that, when she spoke of the new direction she was contemplating, her ideas for the future still included him.

###

When Edward took Bella home a short time later, they were surprised to find Jacob in her driveway, conducting a thorough examination of everything under the hood of her truck. "I called him on my way to school and asked him to take a look at it," she told Edward, "but I didn't expect him to make it over here today."

Edward suspected that Jacob had been only too happy to clear his schedule in order to help Bella, but he refrained from voicing this suspicion, not wanting to ruin whatever progress they might have made today by acting jealous and possessive. Instead, he simply said, "Well, it's very considerate of him to make time for you so quickly." Still, he couldn't resist questioning whether it was really necessary for Jacob to remove his shirt when he was merely making a preliminary inspection.

"He probably just doesn't want to get it dirty poking around under there. Anyway, I'd better go," Bella said as Jacob straightened up and waved at her, though his smile dimmed slightly when he saw her getting out of Edward's car. "See you tomorrow."

Jacob's dimmed smile turned into stunned appreciation as she sauntered up the driveway, and he let out an admiring whistle. "Wow. You look great, Bella."

"Thanks, Jake. So do you; I noticed the last couple times I've seen you that you've hit a growth spurt, but I didn't realize how much you'd bulked up. You do know anabolic steroids are really bad for you, don't you?" Even as she teased him, she felt a not-so-strange-anymore urge to run her hand over his bicep, to find out if all that new muscle really was as tantalizingly firm as it looked, but she brushed it off. Having fed a lot over the weekend – more than she'd intended to, actually, since she hadn't counted on being forced to drain chi as a combat maneuver – she wasn't hungry at the moment. Definitely not hungry enough to justify perving on one of her best friends.

Jacob, of course, had no idea he was being evaluated as a potential meal; he was just delighted by the attention, his smile returning in full force. "Hey, this is all me."

"So, aside from turning into the Incredible Hulk, what else have you been up to lately?"

Jacob briefed her on his activities since their last encounter, then asked, "How about you? Dad mentioned that Charlie told him you and Cullen are taking a break, but you looked pretty friendly when you rolled up in his car a few minutes ago. Are you back together?"

"Not yet," Bella answered shortly, suddenly uncomfortable. "We were just talking…really talking, for the first time in more than a week. It was nice, but I can't expect one conversation to fix everything."

"No, I guess not," Jacob agreed, hiding his elation at this news. "Anyway, I think I've found the problem here," he continued, patting the truck. "I'll have to order a new part that'll probably take a few days to come in, but I'll come back and finish the job as soon as I get it."

"Okay, great. Thanks, Jake; I really appreciate it. Well, I've got lots of homework to do, so…"

Bella took a backward step toward her house, indicating that she should go inside and get to work, but before she could properly make her exit, Jacob called after her. "Hey, Bella, listen, I… I don't want this to sound like some kind of shakedown – I was actually planning to call you before you asked me to look at the truck – but I've been meaning to ask if you'd like to hang out sometime. Friday, maybe?"

"Sorry, I've already got plans for Friday; I'm going to the movies with some friends from school." Jacob's face fell, and Bella felt a sharp stab of guilt; she was telling the truth about her weekend plans, which had been made well in advance, but it still felt rude to blow him off when he was doing her a huge favor without even asking for any kind of payment in return. "Why don't you come along?" she offered impulsively, hoping to assuage her guilt. "I know you don't know my classmates very well, but Bo and Kenzi will be there."

"Sure," he said after half a second's hesitation. "I'm in." A group outing wasn't quite what he'd had in mind, but any opportunity to spend time with her was welcome…and the fact that Kenzi would be there too made it even more appealing. Even though he knew he shouldn't get too close to her, what with her belonging to another fae and all, he couldn't help thinking it would be nice to see the quirky human again.

"All right then. I'll pick you up around four-thirty Friday afternoon, and we'll meet the rest of the gang at Mike's house."

Jacob said that sounded fine, and with their plans finalized, he put his shirt on and set out for La Push while Bella went inside to begin her homework, trying to ignore the faint sense of unease niggling at the back of her mind. The whole time they were talking, it had been impossible for her not to notice that his aura was a lot brighter than she was comfortable with, but he hadn't tried to do anything about it; asking if she wanted to hang out sometime didn't really qualify as hitting on her, even if he had only brought it up after hearing that she wasn't officially back with Edward.

She just hoped she wasn't leading him on somehow by inviting him along for movie night, but she figured going out with a large group should be safe enough. Besides, she really did like Jacob and wanted to keep him as a friend, regardless of where things stood with her and Edward…to say nothing of how unfair it would be for her to cut him out of her life just because of an inconvenient crush, especially when she might have been unwittingly responsible for engendering that crush in the first place. After all, I had no idea trying to flirt with someone for information could be dangerous – heck, I didn't even think I could flirt! But I did, so now I just have to deal with the consequences. I'll keep things strictly platonic with Jake from now on, and hopefully he'll get the hint and move on.

Surely she could do that; after all, weren't Bo and Kenzi living proof that succubi were perfectly capable of maintaining very close friendships with no romantic or sexual elements? If they could do it, so could she…even if there had been something different about Jacob today, something that had made her fae side sit up and take notice.

###

Edward spent the rest of the day mulling over his time with Bella, then ventured down to the kitchen shortly after midnight. His telepathic senses had just informed him that Dyson was there, making a late-night snack (no doubt he needed to refuel himself after satisfying Bo's appetite), and he wanted to catch the wolf alone so he could speak with him privately.

He found Dyson digging through the fridge (wearing nothing but a pair of sweatpants, which made him wonder if all wolf-shifters shared an aversion to shirts, though at least Dyson had the excuse of having just gotten out of bed), though he quickly turned around when Edward entered the room. He might be more willing to tolerate made vampires than most of his kind were, and had even grown somewhat comfortable with the Cullens, but that didn't mean he was okay with one of them creeping up behind him.

"Hey, Edward. What's on your mind?" He obviously hadn't come into the kitchen in search of food, which meant he was probably there to talk to Dyson – most likely about Bella, if the wolf had to hazard a guess. He couldn't think of much else the two of them might talk about.

Grateful that he didn't have to bother with small talk, Edward cut straight to the chase. "I'd like to know more about Bella's and Bo's exploits of last weekend. All the perpetrators were apprehended?"

"Yes, the local gang that actually kidnapped the girls were all arrested at the scene, and my friends' contact in the force confirmed that they caught the guy who paid them later that night. They said he was a real nutcase, raving about how the world was going to end in fire and darkness, and how when it came everyone would be sorry they didn't listen to him."

"Well, if it's any comfort, Alice hasn't mentioned seeing an inferno of apocalyptic proportions arising to swallow the entire world. And Bella… She acquitted herself well in her encounter with the kidnappers?"

"That's what Bo says. I wasn't there, but Bo couldn't stop talking about her 'epic badassery'," he quoted with a slight grin.

Edward returned his grin with a worried frown. "Apart from getting captured."

"So I've heard, but she kept her cool and got herself out of it, and saved the other girls at the same time. I know you worry about her – sometimes I worry about Bo too – but we probably shouldn't. Bo's been in some pretty tight jams before, but somehow she always comes out on top, and I think Bella's more like her than even she realizes. She'll be all right."

Edward nodded, feeling somewhat reassured in spite of himself; worrying about Bella was a hard habit to break, but Dyson had been around long enough and seen enough of the uglier side of their world that he had almost certainly developed decent instincts for sorting out those who had what it took to survive from those who didn't. "Do you ever wish Bo had chosen a simpler path in life, though? Not just because it would be safer for her, but because it would make things less complicated for you if she wasn't constantly at odds with the leadership of both fae factions?"

This question earned a look from Dyson that was a little too understanding for Edward's liking, though at least he sounded sympathetic as he asked, "Are you afraid Bella might end up being like Bo in that way as well?"

"She did say that rescuing those humans gave her a feeling of having done something meaningful that she's never had before." Edward hesitated before saying any more; he could hardly believe he was considering confiding in anyone outside his family about such a personal matter, let alone a wolf of all people…yet even though he had initially scoffed at Kenzi's suggestion of seeking relationship advice from Dyson, he had to admit that the shifter had been much more open with him than he'd expected, not to mention the obvious fact that he was the only other person Edward knew who had experience with dating a renegade succubus. At last, he went on. "I don't know if she's ready to make defending humans her life's work, and I can't imagine that she'll be quite as rebellious as Bo when it's time for her to choose a side, but if this new conviction of hers sticks…she may not be a model law-abiding fae citizen either."

"Going out of your way to protect humans does involve bending a few rules," Dyson agreed with a thoughtful frown. "You know, there was a time it never would've crossed my mind to do that; when I was assigned to work as a cop, I always did my best to solve the crimes with no fae involvement instead of pushing them off onto human detectives or closing the files as fast as possible without looking at all the angles, but I never really questioned whether it was right for fae to prey on humans, at least not enough to do anything about it. Meeting Bo was the most eye-opening thing that's happened to me in twelve hundred years, even before I realized she's my mate. Since then…sure, it's been difficult at times. Before I came here, I actually spent a couple of weeks in a cell because the elders wanted me to testify that Bo was in league with Aife… Still, she's worth it. No matter how crazy life with her can be, I'd never want to go back to the way it was before I knew her, and I wouldn't want her to change who she is either. I love her, and if being with her means accepting a certain amount of craziness and learning to look at the world in a way that isn't all black and white, Light and Dark, fae and human, so be it. The question is whether you love Bella enough to do the same, but you'll have to answer that for yourself."

Edward nodded, his expression troubled, before moving on; after all, a question like that required deeper contemplation than he could give it at the moment. "There is one other thing I wanted to ask you, which I hope you will be able to answer."

"Shoot."

Before Edward could speak, however, Bo's voice floated in from the kitchen doorway. "There you are." This statement was followed by her entering the room, her bare feet padding soundlessly over the tiled floor as she sidled up to Dyson. It appeared she had just gotten out of bed, judging by her makeup-free, slightly tousled state and the fact that she wore only her red kimono-style bathrobe (Edward hoped fervently that she had at least put on underwear underneath it, but knowing her, he wasn't optimistic), though she still looked as enticing as ever, albeit in a different way than when she was perfectly made up and decked out in sexy leather.

"I woke up and you were gone," she continued with a slight pout as she pressed herself against her wolf, before her gaze dropped to the countertop. "Mmm, that looks good."

"There's more in the fridge if you want some," Dyson told her while sliding his sandwich out of her reach. She'd already had her fill of his chi that evening, so it really wasn't fair for her to take his food too. "What did you want to ask me, Edward?"

"This sounds serious." Bo propped both elbows on the counter and rested her chin on her hands in an appropriately somber pose. "What's going on?"

"As you can imagine, my ability to hear others' thoughts often leads to my learning things that people prefer to keep hidden, and I've recently come across a piece of information that may be of particular interest to Bella. The trouble is that revealing it to her would involve breaking someone else's trust, in a sense."

Bo and Dyson glanced at each other, both remembering how his decision to keep another person's secret had nearly torn them apart, though neither of them wanted to revisit that painfully rough patch in their relationship if they could help it. Then Dyson asked, "Does this information you have directly affect Bella?"

"I'm not sure. It might."

"Is it about her?" Bo pressed, leaning closer so that her entire body stretched across the granite-topped kitchen island as she stared intently into his face. "Or something that she has a right to know, like if it's a secret you know she's been trying to find out for a long time or…or something to do with her past? Did you learn something new about where we came from?"

"No, it's nothing like that," Edward hastened to assure her. "It only concerns her tangentially, and frankly, there's someone else who should be the one to tell her, if he wants her to know. I'm not sure why he hasn't done so yet, but I'm concerned that if I tell her myself, it might appear…meddlesome. As if I'm trying to interfere in her affairs rather than trusting her to make her own choices, which is the last thing I want to do."

"Huh." Bo rocked backward slightly as she pondered this, then: "So it's not something that'll hurt her if she finds out later that you've been sitting on it?"

"I don't believe so."

"Then you should probably keep it to yourself," Bo decided after giving the matter another moment's thought. "No one likes a busybody."

"That's true," Dyson agreed. "I think the world would be a better place if everyone minded their own business."

"You're absolutely right," Edward said with an emphatic nod. "And thank you." As much as he appreciated their advice, however, he still felt conflicted about what he'd discovered when he dropped Bella off at her house that afternoon.

He didn't know why Jacob Black hadn't told her he was a wolf-shifter when he already seemed to be aware that she was fae too, though Edward supposed Jacob must have his reasons. Perhaps he was waiting until he'd gone through his first change, so he could reveal his true nature to her in a more dramatic fashion. When that possibility occurred to him, Edward's first instinct had been to disregard the stipulation in the Cullens' treaty with the Quileutes that neither side was to expose the other (although it hadn't been explicitly spelled out in the original negotiations since there were no other fae in the area at the time, he was fairly certain that clause was only meant to apply to humans anyway) and tell Bella to be on her guard, because a young, inexperienced shifter could easily lose control, turning what was intended to be a simple demonstration of his abilities into a deadly confrontation.

What stopped him was the memory of her words on the night she'd asked for a break, which still echoed crystal clear in his head: It's not your job to protect me, Edward. Ironically, it was his interference in her dealings with another wolf-shifter that had prompted her to say those words, that had brought them to the place they were in now, and he didn't want to backslide just when it felt like things were getting better by making her think he was still being overprotective and controlling if he tried to warn her away from Jacob Black.

Granted, the current circumstances were very different; there had been no actual risk in her sparring with Dyson, whereas Jacob could present a very real danger…but hadn't Bella just proven herself capable of handling real danger? If she had been able to free herself after being captured by four fae who genuinely wanted to hurt her, did Edward really need to worry about a single adolescent shifter with no malicious intentions, or was it possible that he had an ulterior motive for wanting to come between them?

Jacob's thoughts may not have revealed exactly when or how he planned to tell Bella what he was or why he hadn't already done so, but one thing Edward had picked up loud and clear all the way down the Swans' driveway was that, when his wolf finally manifested, Jacob expected (or at least hoped) that Bella would be his imprint. There was no way to know for certain, of course – there were enough examples within Jacob's own pack to prove that imprints could be quite unpredictable – but if he was right…

Regardless of how unexpected some of the pairings created by the shifters' imprinting instinct might have been, every imprinted couple Edward knew of had eventually ended up together, even if there was some friction between them in the beginning – so if Jacob did imprint on Bella, history seemed to indicate that the same would happen with them sooner or later.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule… In any case, if he is destined to imprint on her – which isn't certain; as Alice likes to remind us, nothing is irrevocably set in stone until it's actually happened – I suppose there's nothing I can do about it, short of trying to keep them apart until Bella graduates and leaves for college.

However, Edward recognized that his chances of actually being able to do that were very slim unless he took more drastic measures to control her movements than he ever had before, but if he did, he would most likely only succeed in driving her away for good. I suppose there's only one viable alternative left, then: I'll just have to wait and see what happens…and trust her to make the best decision for herself when it does.

Well, it looks like Bella and Edward are finally on the right track…unless Jacob manages to throw a wrench into things.

FYI, the diner they went to is the same one Bella and Charlie visited in the movie, where Stephenie Meyer herself made a brief appearance.