Chapter 30 - Repercussions

Edward opened the front door and immediately stepped through it, not giving Charlie a chance to see into the cottage. He closed it behind himself and made himself a brick wall between Charlie and the door, arms crossed over his chest.

If he allowed just a flash of teeth to show, intentionally instilling just a hint of fear that Charlie would certainly feel but not be able to explain, then, well, that was his own business.

"Charlie. I'm afraid this is not a good time. Bella is resting." His tone invited no argument.

"What did you mean last night on the phone, about defending Bella's honor?" Charlie demanded, the question he had tracked them down to ask, one that had been burning a hole through his brain since Edward hung up on him. "Did something happen to her?"

Edward sighed, for a couple of reasons. One, he really didn't have time or inclination to get into all of this with Charlie when he desperately needed to not have Bella out of his sight for even a moment, nor did he know how much Bella would want him to say.

And secondly, just as he had known would happen, Bella had not stayed safely in that warm bed, patiently waiting for his return. Her heart beat clear, loud, and far too fast just on the opposite side of the door, which she no doubt had her ear pressed up against.

Edward fought the tiny, affectionate smile that threatened to show on his face. Charlie didn't need to see it. It certainly wasn't for him.

God, he loved her. For all that she was the only soul on the planet who could surprise him, she was also utterly predictable sometimes — because he also knew she would soon come bursting through that door, hence the long-sleeved shirt he'd offered her in advance to cover her injured wrists.

He only hoped she'd followed his request and put the shirt on. If Charlie noticed that his daughter had been brutally bound to the point of injury, this was going to be a very different kind of conversation, with interrogations and pointless law enforcement ramifications that Bella really didn't need to be put through when her mate had already administered justice.

No. What she needed was her vampire's highly indulgent TLC. Which was exactly what she was going to be getting for the rest of eternity.

"Perhaps that's a question you should have asked Jacob Black, prior to taking his side over your daughter's," Edward replied coolly, bringing his focus back to the conversation at hand. His tone was barely civil — and intentionally loud enough that Bella could hear through the door without straining.

"I tried," Charlie answered, momentarily surprising Edward. He hadn't seen that one coming. Charlie had been so focused on getting to Bella, he hadn't been thinking of the moment he next described. "I drove all the way out to La Push last night to get an answer to that question. Nobody will let me see him. Nobody will even talk to me. But something weird is going on around here, and I need to see my daughter. Now."

Charlie made a move to go around Edward, but there was little chance of that. Edward held his ground, holding out a preemptive hand that landed in the middle of Charlie's chest when the man surged forward — and Edward didn't really bother to hide his strength. Charlie certainly noticed it when he tried to push Edward out of the way and couldn't so much as budge him.

"I'm afraid that's not happening, Charlie," Edward said calmly as the man backed off a wary step, suspicions flooding his mind. "This is private property, and Bella doesn't wish to see you right now. But I am curious about one thing, if you'll indulge me."

There was one question that had been nagging at him ever since Bella relayed the conversation she'd overheard between Jacob and Charlie the night before, something that just didn't add up about Charlie's reaction to what Jacob had done. But Charlie wasn't currently thinking of that part. So if Edward wanted to know, the question would have to be verbal, despite his eagerness to get rid of Charlie with all haste.

Charlie put his hands on his hips, frustrated, and sighed. "Yeah? And what's that?" His tone was defensive, bordering on hostile.

A fear response, Edward recognized. He didn't let it deter him.

"What exactly did Jacob tell you about Bella's reason for putting him in his place?"

Not that Edward was exactly giving Charlie the benefit of the doubt or taking his side, and he certainly hoped Bella wouldn't see it that way, on the opposite side of the door. But Bella's best interests were his only concern. if Charlie actually hadn't betrayed her — if he had just been deceived by Jacob as well — then it could only do good for Bella to know that, so she could choose whether to reconcile with her father. While she still had time.

There would come a day she would no longer have that chance, when Edward changed her. Later still, there would come a time that Charlie would age, become frail, and die. And Edward didn't want his mate to suffer any regrets.

Eternity was a long time to harbor them.

Charlie shrugged, looking perplexed. "Not much. He said he just told her how he felt. You know, that he…loves her or whatever." Charlie was awkward and uncomfortable saying those words, wincing and fidgeting with a hand at the back of his neck. "And then he said Bella just punched him, out of the blue."

The small, outraged gasp he heard from behind the door cemented Edward's decision about how much he could tell Charlie. Bella hadn't heard Charlie and Jacob's whole conversation, apparently — only the end of it. She clearly thought Charlie had already known what happened.

That being the case, Edward didn't intend to hold back any longer.

He let his still-hot anger show on his face. "Jacob left out a few details in that version. Like the part where he tried to force himself on Bella."

He watched with satisfaction as Charlie's eyes grew wide, angry, before continuing. "Or the part where she only punched him because he overpowered her and forced another kiss on her after she pushed him off of her the first time, and that was the only way she could get him to stop. Or perhaps the part where he confiscated the new phone I had sent with her in case she needed me, and threw it into the woods so she couldn't call either one of us for help."

If Charlie had looked angry before, now he was fuming. "You're right. He sure as hell didn't mention any of that."

Maybe Edward didn't need to be able to read Bella's mind after all. Because it was certainly no surprise when he heard the click of the door being opened right then. He quickly turned toward it, offering Bella his hand as she stepped outside.

The tears in her eyes made his heart ache, but he had to suppress the audible purr that threatened to build in his chest when she stepped up right beside him, allowing him to put his arm around her shoulders and steady her, held close to his side.

He didn't like how unsteady she looked on her feet. Not at all. Combined with that obvious pain on her face when he'd touched her head earlier, that was something he intended to get to the bottom of, and soon.

But Charlie barely noticed. The relief on his face was palpable, seeing her safe and sound.

"Bella, thank God. Are you all right?"

She still seemed a little defensive, not quite ready to let Charlie off the hook. "Yeah, I'm fine." She crossed her arms over her chest — thankfully, arms that were fully covered by the overly long sleeves of Edward's shirt she now wore — and pressed herself deeper into Edward's side. He obliged her, tightening his hold supportively. Protectively. "I'm okay. Edward took care of it."

The flash of pride Edward felt at those words from his mate was in no way overshadowed by the quick, alarmed glance Charlie threw in his direction.

"Took care of it how?"

That same surge of pride hit Edward again when Bella looked up at him trustingly, questioningly, clearly deferring to his lead on how to handle the situation. She didn't know how he'd handled it either, he remembered abruptly. And she didn't really seem to care either way what had become of Jacob Black.

That made his heart swell. But he was done with hiding.

'There's a reason no one allowed you to see Jacob last night," he answered tightly, forcing his focus onto Charlie. "I would assume he wasn't feeling vey well."

Charlie blinked, utterly speechless for a moment. "Well, damn."

"You could try to arrest me, of course," Edward continued. "But I have absolutely no intention of leaving your daughter's side, so I can assure you, it would be a waste of both our time."

Bella's arms wound around Edward's waist — just as protectively as his around her. "He didn't do anything wrong, Dad. Jacob did. If you want to arrest somebody, start with him."

That got Charlie's full attention on her, Edward forgotten. He didn't really want to arrest Edward anyway, Edward could see.

Charlie hadn't just been talking about some of the weird things he'd seen in La Push the previous night when he said "something weird was going on around here." The carelessness of some of the younger Quileutes the previous night, still amped up from battle as they congregated outside their injured packmate's house after it was all over, had sparked Charlie's suspicions about everything — Edward and his family included, given how often Charlie had overheard the whispered word Cullen in La Push the night before.

And after coming up against the equivalent of a brick wall when he'd tried to push his way past an 18-year-old boy into the cottage, he certainly didn't doubt Edward's promise that attempting to arrest him would be futile. So no, he didn't want to try.

If anything, he kind of wanted to shake Edward's hand for kicking Jacob's ass — something Charlie himself wouldn't have been able to do because of his position. No matter how much he might have wanted to, if he had known what really happened when the boy was standing in front of him.

All of which gave Edward an idea…one that might give Bella the best of both worlds.

"I didn't know, Bella," Charlie was telling his daughter, fully focused on her now. "If I had, I would have arrested Jacob on the spot. And that's if he was lucky."

Edward could smell the fresh tears that sprang to Bella's eyes as she continued. "You didn't ask, either. You just believed whatever he told you because you like him better than Edward. You asked him if he wanted to press charges. You said I overreacted. You laughed about it."

And the man felt so guilty about that he was sick to his stomach, Edward could see in his mind.

"Bella, I didn't know. The way he told it, you were the one guilty of assault. I was just trying to smooth things over with Jacob, make him laugh about it. I didn't want you to get in trouble." Charlie's voice was starting to tremble, more emotional than the man usually got. "You've got to believe me, kiddo. I was trying to protect you. I may have done a piss-poor job of it, but I'm on your side."

Again, Edward's heart swelled with pride when he felt Bella look up at him, looking to him for guidance on whether or not she should believe her father — because her mate was the only one she fully trusted.

"He's telling you the truth," he confirmed for her quietly, intimately, looking right into her eyes and ignoring Charlie's narrowed, suspicious eyes.

Edward reluctantly loosened his hold on Bella, knowing exactly what was about to happen as Bella's face started to crumple. She was simply too kind and forgiving for anything else.

Tears spilled out of her eyes just as she let him go, surging forward and throwing her arms around Charlie. Charlie caught her and hugged her gently, his mind a maelstrom of emotion — with relief taking the forefront.

"I'm so sorry, Bella," Charlie told her, fighting back his own tears when he heard Bella choke back a sob. "I'm so sorry."

Bella squeezed her father tightly. Edward couldn't hear her thoughts, but he didn't have to. He knew that Bella was only all too aware that she would have to give her father up permanently to become a Cullen. And it had very nearly ended on terms she would have regretted.

At least, that had been the original plan. Which brought Edward back to the idea he'd just formed — an early wedding present for his bride-to-be.

The first of many gifts, if he had his way. Which he intended to.

When Bella let her father go, Edward intentionally took her left hand in his and brought it to his lips for a kiss, making sure that Charlie saw the dazzling, sparkling ring on her fourth finger. He then pulled Bella into his left side and wrapped that arm around her, because he needed his right free for what he was planning next.

"Is that…" Charlie began, already knowing the answer to his own question. He trailed off, eyes still stuck on Bella's extravagantly large engagement ring.

Edward gave his mate a gentle squeeze — trust me.

"It is," Edward confirmed. "I've asked Bella to marry me, and she has accepted."

Poor Charlie. His mind was reeling. And it was only about to get worse.

"I won't ask for your permission," Edward continued. "That decision is Bella's, and she's already made it. But your blessing would mean a great deal to us both."

With that, he took a step forward and extended his right hand toward Charlie for a handshake — his bare, freezing-cold, harder than granite hand. He heard Bella's slight intake of breath; felt her fingers bunch up in the back of his shirt, like she was trying to hold him back, wondering what he was doing.

Charlie knew when he was beat. He certainly didn't love the idea, especially at Bella's age. But he was more convinced than ever that Edward Cullen would take care of his daughter — that he truly loved her, and most importantly, was more than capable of unfailingly protecting her.

And after the most shocking thing Charlie had seen in La Push late the previous night, when he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep and arrived unannounced to interrogate Jacob — the odd way Billy Black had behaved, not letting him see into the house; the general chaos and multiple shirtless teen boys running around outside in a state of high agitation; culminating with the largest dog he had ever seen in his life running out of the woods outside Billy's house and instantly turning into a naked Quileute boy he at least vaguely recognized — Charlie was definitely on board with Bella having all the protection she could get.

With a longsuffering sigh, Charlie stepped forward and stuck out his own hand. "I'd say take care of her. But it seems like you've got a pretty good jump on that already."

Edward clasped Charlie's hand in a firm handshake, careful not to overdo it. And as he did, he listened intently to Charlie's startled thoughts:

"Shit…I knew there was something weird about him too. The kid's as cold as ice. Oh, God, does he turn into a giant dog too? Does Bella know about him?"

When Charlie made a move to let go, Edward held on, looking him right in the eye. "To address your concerns, in order: First, not quite as cold as ice. Secondly, I most certainly do not, for which I'm forever grateful. And thirdly, yes, of course she does. I have hid nothing about myself from your daughter." He listened for another moment, then grinned, not even trying to hide his teeth. "And finally, yes. That's exactly what I just did."

Charlie's hand disappeared from his own with amusing swiftness. Edward hid a smile at Charlie's immediate assumption that Edward could only read his mind if he was physically touching him.

That could prove entertaining.

His voice serious, he jumped in again before Charlie could say anything. "I can't satisfy all of your curiosity or answer your questions. To do so would endanger Bella's life, as well as your own. I can tell you that there will come a day that we have to leave Forks. But as long as you're content to simply accept that Bella is safe and happy with me, without asking questions or telling anyone about anything you see, you can remain part of Bella's life. You will always be welcome to visit her in our home, wherever that may be."

He was giving Charlie his full attention, so he smelled the salt of Bella's fresh tears before he saw them. He felt her arms constrict around his waist, and he looked down into complete adoration. "Edward, how…" She couldn't even finish.

He smiled and kissed her forehead, wrapping both of his arms back around his mate where they belonged. "A little engagement present."

Charlie scowled, not exactly loving the way they were looking at each other and holding on to one another — but some part of him was also secretly pleased to see his daughter so happy. And loved.

Basically, Charlie had a lot to think about. Later. He cleared his throat loudly.

When they both looked over at his not-so-subtle interruption, with Edward hiding another smile, Charlie turned his focus on Bella. "Bells? I have to ask. Is this what you really want? You want to marry this guy and be part of…whatever all this is?"

"I do," she responded, glancing up at Edward a little shyly, and damned if Edward's heart didn't actually flip over in his chest like a preadolescent school girl at those two words. She'd be saying those same words to him one day, with her hand in his as he slipped a wedding band on it and promised to love her for all eternity. And he couldn't wait.

"And you feel safe with him?" Charlie persisted, watching his daughter intently. "Happy?"

Bella glanced up at Edward again, and this time her gaze stayed there. He pulled her closer, looking at her like they were the only two there. "Yes," she answered her father, but she was looking right into Edward's eyes. "Completely."

Edward couldn't tear his eyes away from her either, though his words were for her father. "I'll never hurt her, Charlie. I'll rip apart anything that tries."

It was Charlie who thought it: it was like he had just watched them exchange their own unique vows, right then, right there in front of him. But Edward had to agree with him. Seeing it through Charlie's eyes, the way they'd made those promises directly to each other, he was mesmerized at the imagery. He got a little caught up in it.

"I'm going to love you every single day of forever," he vowed to his mate, still staring into her eyes.

And Charlie cleared his throat again. Louder this time. Breaking the spell.

"Well….I guess that's my cue," he said awkwardly, fidgeting and looking for all the world like he had no idea what to do with his hands. "I should, uh…." He gave an uncomfortable laugh. "Yeah. Okay. See ya later. Love you, Bells."

Charlie's smile was a little more sincere when Bella let go of Edward to throw her arms around him again. "I love you, Dad."

Edward couldn't resist. Fighting twitching lips, he stepped forward when Charlie let her go and extended his hand toward the man again.

"Charlie. Thanks for stopping by."

Charlie looked at his extended hand like it was a rattlesnake coiled up and ready to strike him. He held his hands up, palms outward, and actually took a step back.

"Nope. I think I'm good."

Edward didn't even try to suppress his amused chuckle. He felt Bella's questioning eyes on him and threw her a tiny wink, an unspoken I'll have to tell you later — one that satisfyingly made her heart speed up.

"So, uh…yeah," Charlie was still backing away. "See ya."

With an awkward little wave — Charlie's new form of saying goodbye, apparently, and probably for a long damn time to come — Bella's father turned and went to his car.

"What was that last part about?" Bella asked curiously, as Edward took her hand and led her back inside the cottage, closing the door behind him.

He let his amusement show on his face as he turned her to face him, wrapping his arms low around her waist. "Charlie thinks I can only read his mind when I'm touching him."

He waited patiently as Bella processed that for a second, a smile starting to pull at the corner of her lips as she realized Edward had offered that second handshake intentionally, just for the exact reaction he got.

"You're terrible," she scolded him, in probably the least convincing tone of voice he'd ever heard. She was trying really hard to fight that smile and failing.

He was entirely unashamed. For one thing, Charlie deserved it.

For another, it had been far too long since he made Bella laugh. Edward wanted that desperately, all of a sudden. So he listened in on Charlie's thoughts as the man drove away, and then he continued.

"He's wondering if my whole family can read his mind when they touch him." He cocked a lopsided grin at her, raised an eyebrow. "I can't wait to tell Emmett. The wedding is going to be even more fun than I thought."

The spontaneous, happy laugh that bubbled up out of her throat was music to Edward's ears. She dropped her forehead forward, against his chest, as she laughed. But that wasn't good enough, despite how it made his heart melt. So he took a finger and tipped her chin up because he wanted to see.

He watched mesmerized as she shook her head at him, still smiling. And then threw him another curveball.

"So where are we going to go?" she asked him curiously — expectantly.

And there he was, right back to wishing he could read her mind again. But they had just been talking about the wedding, so…

"Do you mean the honeymoon?" he guessed cautiously, and immediately regretted his hasty, ill-considered response when her cheeks turned pink and her eyes diverted from his. "Anywhere you want, of course," he assured her, ducking his head into her line of vision and worriedly trying to catch her eye again.

"No!" she amended, just a little too quickly, but at least she was looking at him again. "I mean, you said last night that we were going away. I just thought maybe…I thought we still were."

He'd all but forgotten about that — his impetuous, fear-fueled plea as he carried her out of the hospital the night before, when he'd asked her to let him take her away somewhere alone, somewhere they could work through their fight from the previous night, somewhere nobody would ever find them.

He would have surely come to his senses before he took her away from his family, away from their extra protection when Albert was still out there. He wouldn't even have believed Bella would want to go away with him alone, at that point. It had been more wishful thinking on his part, a desire to run from all their many problems and have her all to himself, somewhere where he could hold on to her for dear life, just keep her close until he could rid himself of that gutwrenching feeling that his mate was slipping right through his fingers.

But now, with Albert gone, looking down into her hopeful eyes with just a hint of desperation in them, it suddenly didn't seem like such a bad idea after all…

Especially since he already knew, from the infuriating thoughts he had heard from the main house overnight as Bella slept in his arms, that Carlisle was inexplicably determined to go forward with his insane plan to recruit both Thomas and Bree to the Cullen way of life — and potentially, to the Cullen family.

There was not a warm welcome waiting for them from Carlisle's firstborn son. That much was for certain. Edward would never accept Thomas, simply for his part in what had been done to Bella, regardless of his reasons. And Bree was just one more potential threat to Bella as well, as far as he was concerned.

Maybe taking Bella away from everything was exactly what she needed. What they both needed to heal and reconnect — and also what he himself most desperately desired, a way to keep her far, far away from even the mildest form of danger until she gave him the green light to finally change her.

But he wanted that a little too much to trust his own objectivity. So he was going to make sure first.

Carefully, he cupped her cheek in his hand, keeping her eyes on him. "Is that what you want? To go away with me?"

Her face had gone from a little pink to flaming red. "Not if…I mean, not if you don't still want to. And I have school anyway, and graduation's coming soon and…and..."

He stayed calm, taking Bella's reticence to ask him for anything that would cost money or effort to just be more of her wildly absurd worries about being a burden to him.

"That wasn't what I asked," he gently cut her off while she was still fumbling for yet another excuse to let him off the hook. "I asked what you want."

She bit her lip, looking up at him. And then she just trusted him, told him what she needed. "I think maybe I just need to get out of Forks for a while. With you. Where I feel…safe."

He ignored the way his heart melted and just nodded, careful eyes on her face. "Graduation isn't for a few more weeks, and all you really have left to do is pass your finals. I can tutor you while we're gone, and we can come back in time for finals and graduation. Carlisle can give you a doctor's excuse for the missed days. If this is what you want, Bella, just tell me and I'll make it happen. Today, if you want."

Her eyes started to look teary, and he could see her fighting it. So when she just nodded, bobbing one shoulder, he didn't press her for more.

"Esme has a place," he told her, gently taking her hands in his and rubbing his thumbs softly along the backs of them. "It's on the beach. A completely private island, in fact. No one would bother us. There's swimming and hiking. A waterfall. How does that sound?"

He'd actually originally planned that as a surprise honeymoon destination, could he ever convince her to marry him. But Isle Esme was beautiful and peaceful, not to mention warm and sunny. And he knew his Bella loved the sun — and hated surprises.

Isle Esme would be the perfect refuge now, especially if he set the tone and let her know exactly what to expect...or not expect, as the case might be.

She squeezed his hands. "It sounds perfect. It really does. But…"

"It doesn't have to be Isle Esme," he hasted to assure her when she hesitated. "I can take you literally anywhere you want to go. Name it." And he meant that. If it was somewhere sunny but less private, well, it wasn't like there weren't ways to work around that.

But Bella was nervous again for some reason. "I do want to go there. But I was hoping we could…I mean, maybe on the way…well, I don't know if it's even on the way, but…"

She trailed off and bit her lip, and he shook his head, wrinkling up his eyebrows, bemused by her hesitation.

"If you only knew how little chance there is of my denying you anything, ever again." He let go of her hands, wrapped his arms carefully around her back again, lacing his fingers together behind her and tugging her just that tiny bit closer. "Why don't you try me?"

She seemed to be gathering her courage. And then she just blurted it out.

"Can we go to Brazil first?"

Understanding hit him, even before she started needlessly clarifying. Painful understanding.

"The place where you stayed, I mean. When you were…you know…gone."

Perhaps he still had some healing of his own to do. The thought of taking her into the kind of neighborhood where he had stayed during his seven-month absence, having her out in public in any kind of uncontrolled situation — it was an instant return of that icy fist of fear wrapped around his heart, squeezing the good sense out of him.

Not to mention that he had just learned vampires could apparently experience PTSD, because just the thought of that hellhole where he'd spent seven months without his mate, falling apart with fear he'd never be able to return to her, had the walls closing in around him.

He'd listened from that room, helplessly clutching a phone to his ear from 15 hours away, as Albert kidnapped Bella, knowing exactly what Alice's vision of the future had said was about to happen to her. Some part of him had died in that room.

He never wanted to see that accursed place again.

"It's a slum, Bella," he reasoned, hearing the tremor in his own voice. "Just a cheap apartment in a dangerous neighborhood. There's really nothing to see."

She bobbed a shoulder, not yet picking up on his reluctance. "That's okay. I'm not afraid. It's just humans, right? I know you can protect me."

She had him there. And right by the heartstrings, too. Bella's trust in him never failed to melt him completely.

But still he hesitated, trying to push down the anxiety building in him before Bella could see it, before it could scare her.

"It's just…you were there for seven months," she pled her case. "I've tried to picture you there, so many times, but I…I just wanted…" Her shoulder bobbed as she looked for the words…and then abruptly gave up.

His hesitation had lasted just one second too long.

He watched the defeat fill her eyes, literally saw the moment that she chose to give in to keep the peace and keep him happy.

And he hated it. He hated even more that it was his own volatile and controlling behavior since his return that had caused her reticence to rock the boat, regardless of his instinct-driven safety reasons for that behavior.

He hated it, even more than he hated the idea of returning to that godforsaken apartment.

She shook her head, looking down at his chest, away from his eyes. "Never mind. You're right. We should just go straight to the island."

Over his ashes.

His finger gently but firmly curled under her chin, pulling her face back up to look at him.

"Never, ever hesitate to tell me what you want or need. Forgive me, Bella. You caught me off guard is all. Give me two hours to make the arrangements. We'll be on a plane to Brazil by lunchtime if that's what you want. We'll stay as long as you want and then make our way to Isle Esme."

Her expression brightened but didn't lose its wariness, which squeezed his heart in a vise all over again.

"Are you sure?" she double-checked.

He wasn't. Not in the slightest.

Isle Esme was one thing. But taking Bella out into a crowd…taking her into a potentially dangerous crowd…

She was still human. A stray bullet could hit her. The plane could explode on the way, for that matter. That meteor he'd once worried about when they first met might just head straight for her after all. Probably would, if the last year of his life was any indication.

Goddamnit, they'd come so far. Losing her now was not an option.

Not to mention his feelings on seeing that damned apartment in Brazil again…

Could vampires have panic attacks? Flashbacks? He was beginning to think they most certainly might.

Vampires could, however, hide it more efficiently than humans. And smile softly and keep their voices steady while doing so.

"Of course I'm sure. Do you want to go up to the main house while I get everything set up? I'm sure Esme is making you breakfast. You must be starving."

That reminder of the practical made her eyes go wide. "Oh. Yeah. But, um…" Her eyes started looking around the room just a tiny bit frantically, like she was looking for something she knew wouldn't be there. "I don't have…I mean, I don't think I can leave in two hours."

He had no idea what was happening, but her sudden backpedaling concerned him deeply. "Bella? What's wrong?"

Her entirely mundane answer brought him back down to earth. Snapped him out of it and soothed that too-familiar flash of panic that had surged up in him, completely unbidden.

"I don't have a suitcase. And…I don't think I have anything to put in one anyway. I don't have many clothes here. Definitely nothing for the beach."

That crisis was easily enough solved. He let a smile play at his relieved lips. "Have you ever met my sister? Alice Cullen? I should really introduce the two of you sometime."

She saw where he was going with that but remained skeptical. "Okay, yeah. But still… two hours?"

His already upturned lip grew into a full, crooked smile. "Shhhh….if you listen closely, you'll hear it too."

"Hear what?" she whispered, with her brow wrinkled up adorably. And God help him, she was actually listening. Listening so hard she tilted her head.

"Alice's tires squealing on the way to the mall," he whispered back and kissed her on the tip of her nose.

It was fascinating watching the slow, begrudging smile spread across her face. She fought the laugh, but it still got a chuckle out of her. "That was bad. I mean it, Edward. That was really awful."

Accurate. But if it put that relaxed smile on her face? He was kinda proud of it.

His only eyes and ears were for Bella, so he really wasn't paying any attention to either his family or his surroundings that morning — at least, not since he tuned everybody out halfway through the night in disgust, when he just couldn't listen to Carlisle's plans for Thomas and Bree for even one more second without losing his temper.

He had never tuned back in, either. With the danger past, it had felt amazingly good to be able to to let his guard down for a change and just be. He'd been able to give his entire focus to the feel of Bella's warm weight in his arms, completely safe and in his care. He'd only caught the fact that Charlie was on the way because he did a cursory scan of the area every few minutes, just taking that extra bit of caution to ensure Bella was safe.

So now, when the front door gently but unexpectedly opened in the middle of their lighthearted conversation, he didn't know it was about to happen or who was there. And a full-fledged snarl ripped out of his chest as he grabbed Bella and whirled to put her behind him, his grip on her waist apparently far too tight — because her startled yelp was as much pain as surprise.

He immediately released her at that sound, regret filling him even as he dropped into a crouch in front of her, ready to defend his mate with savage, deadly force.

But it was only Alice. Lugging an undoubtedly overstuffed pair of suitcases like they were nothing — and completely ignoring his outburst as she daintily set them on the floor and primly put her hands on her hips, rolling her eyes at him.

"Really, Edward. You don't give me enough credit. You think I need two whole hours and a trip to the mall? Please. Bella's going to be my sister, and I knew that before you did. I'm fully prepared for any fashion emergency she may have, at the drop of my designer hat."

He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, still in a crouch as Alice intentionally prattled on to give him a moment to get himself under control. His muscles slowly uncoiled as he fought the waves of residual aggression that had him low-key ready to rip his sister's head off anyway, despite the clear lack of threat.

When he opened his eyes, he spared Alice only a dark glare as he turned to face Bella, gently reaching for her with apology written all over his face.

"Are you all right?" His voice was deep, gravelly. "Bella, I'm so sorry."

But Bella looked just as worried for him as he felt for her. Her hand came up to touch his face, and he instinctively closed his eyes, leaning into her soothing touch. His tension and anger began to swiftly drain out of him at the feel of her soft, warm hand against his cold, hard skin — the comforting sound and scent of her blood rushing through her veins, safe and sound.

"I'm fine," Bella assured him, her voice a little breathless. He quickly opened his eyes to investigate the source of her breathlessness, his heart sinking with fear that he might have even knocked the wind out of her — only to be met with un-pained but worried brown eyes. "Edward, are you okay?"

"No, he's not." A much more solemn Alice was the one who replied. "But now he knows that too. I'm sorry, Bella, if I scared you. But he wouldn't have listened to me. I had to make him see it for himself, before you guys leave town and go out in public. Before he kills somebody just for looking at you the wrong way."

Which is more or less what you might have possibly done, she continued in his mind, for Edward alone to hear — and then she showed him one of her many possible versions of the future.

Himself, stepping out of a cab outside the apartment in Brazil and offering his hand to Bella to help her from the car. His own attention being diverted for two seconds, keeping a watchful eye on a disturbance across the street as he retrieved their bags from the trunk, focusing on making sure nobody was about to pull a gun and also on keeping his body angled between Bella and danger, just in case.

The street vendor who came up from her other side, out of nowhere, and grabbed Bella's arm, intent on selling her jewelry.

And himself, turning around to find an unknown man's hands on his Bella — and just reacting. Poorly.

Very poorly. Without restraint. And not in any way that could be considered subtle or discreet in front of humans.

Alice concluded her presentation with a blurry flash of the Volturi becoming involved in his blatant violation of the rules, with a still-human Bella right in the middle of it and her fate terrifyingly uncertain.

There was no need to continue. He had already got the point: Whether he was worried about his own welfare or not, he needed to start taking his hypervigilance and his own healing as seriously as he took Bella's. Because Bella might be the one to pay for it if he didn't.

Alice certainly knew how to get his attention.

Edward's jaw clenched, though his eyes stayed on Bella, still monitoring her expression closely for any sign of pain. "Fine, Alice. Point taken. But I could have hurt Bella just now. I could have hurt her or even killed her."

"No, you couldn't."

His sister's dismissive attitude about having pulled such a dangerous stunt just pissed him off, more than anything.

"You don't know that." There was a growl in his tone as he finally turned to face Alice again, keeping one arm very gently around Bella's shoulders. "You know the future you see is subjective."

It was himself he was angry with. Not really Alice. He knew he was lucky he had only hurt Bella by grabbing her. When her cry of pain had forced him to release his protective grip on her, he'd only barely stopped himself from shoving her back and out of harm's way, in the alternative — which would have been disastrous in that brief, startled moment when he hadn't been in full control. She'd have gone flying straight into the wall. Or through the wall.

He'd checked that deeply ingrained instinct in time, but it had been close. He thought he had been careful enough not to hurt her when he grabbed her too, but apparently he hadn't been as in control as he thought.

And that had him a little shaken up.

But Alice held her ground. "I'm not basing it on the future. I'm basing it on her being your mate. She's the one person you can't hurt. Not anymore."

His bitter scoff had layers upon layers of meaning, starting and ending with the fact that it sometimes seemed Bella was the only one he ever did hurt, despite his best efforts to the contrary.

"You won't hurt her, Edward," Alice reemphasized. "And that's something else I needed to tell you before you leave. Your bond is fully matured now, even without being consummated yet. Even if you lose control, your drive to protect her won't let you hurt her. Trust me. I saw it this morning. And saw it and saw it and saw it. I wish I could stop seeing it, really."

Edward's temper flared, especially when the light fragrance of Bella's blush told him she knew exactly what Alice was not so subtly hinting at. But his arm around Bella stayed unfailingly gentle despite his temper — backing up Alice's point.

"How can that possibly be true when I hurt her just now?" He wasn't just being sullen, despite the peeved tone of his voice. It was an honest question.

"Edward, I'm fine," Bella finally got in a word edgewise in the rapid-fire argument that moved almost too fast for her to keep up. "I told you, I'm okay." Her interjection got Edward's attention on her, at least briefly, but not Alice's.

"It only hurt because she's bruised from being tied to that tree, Edward," Alice fired back bluntly, regaining Edward's focus instantly with that mention of a previously undocumented injury to his mate. "Rosalie saw her sides yesterday, when she helped her change. It was bad then, and it's probably even worse today. You didn't hurt her. You just didn't know she was already hurt, and that's not the same thing. And you let her go just as soon as you realized she was in pain. Would that have been your first instinct otherwise?"

They both knew it wouldn't. He'd have protectively held onto his mate as long as he could. Firmly. And then pushed her out of the way at the last second, if it came to that.

But he was done arguing. At the moment, he had a new singular focus.

He'd seen Bella's wrists early on, within moments of their reunion in the cottage, when she first reached her hand out toward him and whispered his name. He had fervently wished he could revive Albert and torture him to death all over again. Repeatedly.

Her ankles he'd checked for himself as she slept, gently pulling up the bottoms of her sweatpants just enough to see if there was any damage on her ankles that needed treatment — like the wrists he'd carefully applied ointment to as she soundly slept, unable to bear putting her through any type of pain when she was awake, even for her own good.

So in short, he'd already known what marks were on her arms and legs before Bella saw them for herself that morning, right after he woke her up to tell her Charlie was coming.

He had not, of course, lifted her shirt as she slept to examine anything not so easily visible. Nor would he have presumed to ask when she was awake, either, given everything she'd been through. Not without a damn good reason.

But now he had one. And as he turned to fully face her — with Alice fully forgotten — his hands came to rest lightly at the hem of his mate's shirt, taking the material between his fingers.

"May I see?" he asked quietly, his hands still and his voice low as his eyes burned into hers. Bella's eyes were wide and her heart-rate stuttered in a way he couldn't objectively interpret at the moment, but she nodded her assent.

Bending down on one knee, he gently lifted the hem of her shirt just high enough to see her waistline, very carefully ensuring that he didn't go any higher than necessary.

And his heart bottomed out into his stomach. Her pale, creamy midsection was marred by deep, dark ligature bruising all around her waist, from where she had sagged unconsciously against the tight ropes. While not rubbed raw like her wrists, the bruising was far worse. His fingers lightly skimmed across the undamaged skin just beneath the worst of it, feeling her muscles twitch beneath his gentle, cold touch in reaction.

In reaction to his touch or his icy temperature, he couldn't say.

"My God," he breathed, and had to beat down his overwhelming drive to go find Thomas and remove a few more appendanges. If it wouldn't necessitate leaving Bella's side, he might have anyway.

The newborn had not controlled his strength nearly so well as he had believed when showing Edward his memories of what he had done, how he had tied her to the tree in what he believed to be careful fashion.

And perhaps that hadn't been the shield's only slip in strength — a chilling thought.

Edward released Bella's shirt, letting it fall back into place as he quickly stood, his hands coming to frame her face. His eyes were utterly serious now. "Does anything else hurt? Please tell me the truth."

She bit her lip, but she didn't drop eye contact. She did, however, hedge.

"If I tell you, are you still going to let me get on a plane to Brazil?"

He didn't really put any thought into the action. But one of those short, dominant warning growls that his mate had responded to so favorably in the past when she resisted answering his questions made its way past his lips. The kind that was hers and hers alone. And he could literally feel her responding to it, going supple in his hands, acquiescing.

She stalled anyway. Just because she was Bella.

"You know, your bark is way worse than your bite," she pointed out. Accurately, at least for the moment.

She challenged and sassed him like this once she was changed, and he was going to have fun asserting his dominance and proving otherwise. His bite could be a lot of fun — for both of them. There were many, many places his inner vampire would love to run its teeth across once it wouldn't hurt her, starting with that lovely neck and moving progressively lower.

And he wasn't naive enough to believe that wasn't exactly what Bella was instinctively hoping for, whether she was consciously aware of it or not. She reacted to him more like a vampire every damn day.

"Bella?" he questioned again, with a little more of a growl this time, his expression making it clear that he personally believed his near-saintly patience was at an end. Because if his mate was hurt, he needed to know yesterday.

"Just my head," she gave in immediately, melting into him with her hands against his chest, and damned if he wasn't near certain she'd almost purred like a vampire herself. "It's really sore."

The pieces clicked into place for him in a millisecond. Her unsteady gait when she came outside with Charlie. The way she had continuously leaned into him for support...

The way she had winced in pain, shoving him away when he'd attempted to shield her ears from Charlie's incessant pounding on the cottage door — a reaction that had scared the hell out of him for just a second there, until he caught on that it wasn't his arms around her that she was objecting to.

He had a fairly good idea now what had happened. But he had no idea when she might have hit her head.

He'd watched her abduction on video. Thomas had shown him the route he'd driven to Albert's meadow, then skipped forward to everything that happened after he took an unconscious Bella out of the trunk, including the way he'd tied her up.

Edward hadn't questioned it previously. But he still didn't know why Bella had been unconscious when she came out of the trunk. His tormented, guilty subconscious had just assumed she passed out from sheer terror, all while screaming his name for help and wondering why he wasn't there to save her.

But now, self-flagellatory imaginings weren't good enough. He needed answers.

"I think you may have a concussion," he murmured, his voice soft as he gently pried her off of him and steadied her with his hands on her shoulders, before carefully moving his fingers up into her hair. "Here. Let me see."

She held still, holding her breath as his fingers tenderly explored her scalp, so very careful not to hurt her.

She still winced when he found the sore spot on top of her head — and he sucked in a sharp breath, pulling his hand back immediately.

"How did that happen?" he demanded, but his visible anger clearly wasn't for her. His hands settled softly on her shoulders, holding her steady. His eyes burned like fire, staring right into her soul.

"I don't exactly remember," Bella told him honestly, a little breathless again under the intensity of his gaze. "But I think Albert must have knocked me out. I remember him driving me around in the trunk for a long time and then it opening. My head hurt really bad for just a second, and the next thing I remember is waking up tied to the tree. I think maybe he left for a little while and came back, so I guess he knocked me out first? I don't...really know."

Edward's eyes closed, his jaw muscle jumping. He wanted to focus on his fury that Thomas had risked something so potentially lethal as striking Bella in the head, when even the slightest slip in control could have ended her life right there.

Instead, he had to turn his attention to the even more painful realization that Bella hadn't even known who initially abducted her — and that he had to be the one to tell her.

"That wasn't Albert in the car. It was the shield," he told her, opening his eyes and fixing them on hers, holding her gaze so he could monitor her reactions as she processed what he was telling her. "Thomas. He's the one who grabbed you and took you to the meadow. He's the one who tied you up, too, and left you there."

Edward tried to stop there. He really did. But his unfiltered next thought found its way out of his mouth. "He must have hit you in the head. And if I could stomach the thought of leaving you for even one second, I'd hunt him down and kill him for it."

"Thomas didn't show you that part?" Alice asked him quietly from behind, too low for Bella to hear. He shook his head no, imperceptibly to Bella's eyes.

Self-preservation, Alice's thoughts inferred. He knew better than to show you that. He had a pretty good idea how you'd react.

How he might still react if Carlisle invited that self-preserving bastard anywhere within a hundred miles of Bella again — or the newborn mate whose life Thomas had prioritized over Bella's either, for that matter. Edward had no use for either of them.

You're eventually going to have to tell her, you know, Alice annoyingly saw that decision and decided to harangue him. If they're going to be part of the family, you don't want to blindside her.

He knew that. And this wasn't about keeping the truth from Bella. Not anymore. He would tell her. He'd tell her everything. Fully equal partners.

But there was no need to blindside her with that kind of frightening information the day after her attack, either. Not when she hadn't even had time to process what had happened to her. That was hardly the time to ask her to cope with the prospect of having to see one of her abductors again someday.

What pissed him off most was that she would even have to.

If it came down to it, he'd leave the Cullen family without blinking before he'd put Bella through that, if she found it untenable. His mate came first. If Carlisle wanted to choose a pair of newborn newcomers over his firstborn son's mate, then Edward and she would be just fine on their own. Perhaps he would go back to his human surname, Masen.

He quite liked the sound of that, actually. Bella Masen. Just as it would have been if he had found her when he was human. Because there was no question in his mind he would have courted and wed her with all possible haste, war be damned. Assuming that early-1900s Bella had been slightly less stubborn about the institution of marriage than modern-day Bella, that is.

That's not going to be necessary, Alice said in his head. You won't need to leave. Although the name thing's not a bad idea, actually. Hmmm…I think Bella's going to like that almost as much as you do.…

But his attention was on Bella, who had grown increasingly pale during the couple of seconds his hasty "conversation" with Alice occurred, as she took in what he'd just told her. Her expression was terrified.

"The shield is still out there?" she asked, clutching at him — and her balance wobbled again.

Edward didn't waste time with steadying her. He just swiftly bent down, swept his arm behind her knees and picked her up in his arms where she couldn't possibly fall.

"He's not a threat," he grudgingly admitted, for her sake alone, as he moved to sit down on the couch with her in his lap. He let the purr in his chest do the soothing for him as he nestled her close, since his words would be of little comfort. "At least, not anymore. He's the one who told me where to find you. Albert had used his mate against him to coerce his service in the army. And the rest of the army, aside from the shield's mate, are dead. It's all over, Bella. I swear to you."

She nodded slowly, but her eyes were still fearful. "So you trust him now, then? Thomas, I mean?"

God, no. Not even a little bit. But he also wanted to allay Bella's fears.

He forced a small smile for her sake. "Not fully. But I also have no reason to suspect him of any ill intentions. Regardless, it's a moot issue. I can keep him far, far away from you. And I will."

She swallowed. Hard. "But you can't hear him coming if he doesn't want you to. Right?"

Fortunately — because Edward felt like he'd just been kicked in the gut — it was Alice who chimed in.

"Bella? Thomas is not a bad guy. All he cares about is his mate, the same way Edward cares for you. They won't bother you again. In fact…"

Even Bella startled at the snarl that erupted in Edward's chest. It was not the gentle growl he used with her.

This sound was furious. Actual anger, rather than his protective dominance that would always be the only impetus behind his growls for Bella.

And Alice backed down, wisely choosing not to go through with telling Bella that Thomas and Bree might one day join the family, as she had nearly done over Edward's strenuous objection.

"That's enough, Alice," Edward grit out. "Not one more word. And I'll also not have you defending him in my house, to my mate, after what he did to her less than 24 hours ago."

"Edward?" Bella's small, injured hands winding tightly around his neck — one braced and one still finger-splinted, both of which he could feel against his shoulder blades — was enough to restore his full focus to her, especially when her body shuddered in his careful grasp.

"I'm right here." Through the entire exchange, despite his hot anger, his hands never once lost their tenderness with her. Now he softly pulled her closer, rested his forehead against hers, his tone gentle. "I'm sorry, love. I didn't mean to frighten you."

"No, it's not that." She was shaking like a leaf in his arms. He could smell her fear, and his temper flared with Alice again. But he suppressed it. "My head doesn't really hurt that bad. Can we still go to Brazil? Please?" Her arms around his neck tightened. "Right now? And then Isle Esme? I'm not really worried about graduation. I'll graduate plenty of times. Couldn't we just…stay there indefinitely? Or until I'm changed?"

Her reason for wanting to vacate Forks with sudden haste was all too painfully clear to her mate:

She was afraid of Thomas coming after her again…

And of Edward not being able to protect her without the use of his gift.

That blow hit him right in the manhood. Or vampire-hood, as it were. But right then wasn't the time to belabor it. His mate had asked something of him, and he was going to grant that request if it was safely possible.

"I need to take a better look at that knot on your head and check you out medically," he cautioned her. "But as long as you don't have a severe concussion, which I don't think you do, then if you'll agree to a few extra safety precautions for the flight, I see no reason to change our plans."

She licked her lips nervously, still a little gun-shy of him and his safety rules. "Like what?"

Nonetheless, he didn't mince words. "Let me charter a private plane and keep the cabin dark and quiet for you. Hydrate often and whenever I ask you to. Rest for most of the flight. No TVs or screens. And be honest with me when I ask you if anything hurts."

An exhalation of pure relief shot out, her body slumping in his arms. "I can do that. I promise. I'll sleep. I'll take whatever you tell me to. I'll let you take care of me."

She wanted him to take care of her, he realized, just as desperately as he needed to do so.

They were finally on the same page at the same time. At least for the most part.

His vampire-hood mollified somewhat, his eyes turned toward Alice.

"You packed clothes that Bella will like and feel comfortable wearing?"

Alice wrinkled her nose in disgust, then bobbed a shoulder and concerningly blocked him out. "Mostly. With one or two tiny additions that may or may not be necessary. It's a little blurry right now. But both of your passports are in the side pocket of your suitcase. All she needs is breakfast, and all you need is a plane."

He stood with Bella in his arms — before she could ask questions about exactly what Alice might or might not have stashed in her suitcase, which was a question he wasn't sure he really needed an answer to, if he valued his sanity — and smiled down at his mate, just relishing the way she looked up at him and nestled as close as she could get.

"Close your eyes so you don't get dizzy," he instructed, and his voice was only a little husky. "I'll take you up to the main house for breakfast while I make the arrangements."

TO BE CONTINUED...

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

First off, I want to say how much you guys blew me away last chapter. I think that was the most fun I've had since starting this story, reading all of your lovely reviews as they came in. THANK YOU! You've no idea what that does for me and how much it helps me stay motivated. I think that was the most I've got on any chapter. It was like Christmas. :)

Secondly, check my profile for posting updates, moving forward. This chapter took a week longer than I really intended, as I would like to post an update every two weeks. But certain things in my home situation are out of my control, so when biweekly updates are not possible, I will try to get timeframe updates posted on my profile.

See you in Chapter 31, for UST-filled fun with Dr. Edward. ;)