Supermassive Black Hole

I catch the ball at the last second. My hand instinctively shoots up to stop it from slamming into my face. I sigh and set my arm aside.

"A little warning would be nice, Emmett," I complain as I walk to home plate. He shrugged it off with a smile. "That's why we're vampires, Bella. No warning needed. It's all reflexive!"

He flicks his hand so many different ways it'd be difficult to observe as a human. I roll my eyes and chuck the ball back to him. My brother catches it with ease.

Edward smirks as he hands me a bat to prepare. I thank him and practice a couple swings. Renesmee sits on the ground some yards away, focusing on me intently with her big brown eyes.


Esme comes up behind me and squeezes my shoulders. "Feeling okay, Bella?"

I nod curtly. "Fine." I resume swinging but not before I notice Edward shoot me a worried glance.


"Alright, spots!" Alice calls out. The bases are far apart, as they've always been; appropriate for our speed.

My team is assembled of Edward, Esme, and Carlisle. Currently in the outfield is Alice, Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie. Renesmee has decided to watch for now.

I embrace Edward for a moment, enjoying his perfect body against mine, his "warmth." I then take my appropriate position, bat set, and await Alice's pitch.

I jerk my head at Emmett and after he smirks once more at Bella, he fires the ball at me. I catch it in my bare hand and turn towards the plate, watching Edward and Bella have a moment before the newest vampire of the Olympic coven turns towards me with her game face on.

I toss the ball back and forth in my own hands and I have a brief vision of thunder happening by the time Bella hits. It will take the second pitch of mine before she hits it.

I blink a few times, wink at Jasper before saying, "It's time."

I go into my stance and begin my routine -- lift my leg straight up, bring my arm back and pitch it towards home plate.

Bella swings and I almost think she will hit it and prove my vision wrong but I know that can't be. My visions are never wrong.

She is just a tad bit late and Esme catches the ball in her hands and calls, "Strike one."

"Nice one, Ali," Emm comments and I just watch Bella frown, snapping her fingers in frustration.

Esme throws the ball back to me, I wait for Bella to take her stance again, and then I pitch it.

My vision is right. As soon as Bella's bat connects with the ball, thunder sounds.

Boom.

"It's time," my wife says calmly from the pitching mound as she winks at me.

I smile and shake my head. Her famous line. She starts up her classic pitch, leg up, and chucks the ball at my sister.

Bella looks dead-serious. She misses, a tad too late. She snaps her fingers in frustration.

I stay crouched at first base, prepared. Alice pitches her second ball. It connects with Bella's bat and thunder booms in the sky simultaneously.

A smile forms on my face, adrenaline pumping through me as Rosalie darts into the woods. Bella runs fiercely toward me, all the while keeping an eye on the forest.

Rosalie appears a second later. I open my hands at level with my waist, still crouched. My sister pitches hard; the ball slams into my hands with a smack.

Bella's foot has hit the base at the same exact moment, succeeding a slide.

"Safe!" Esme shouts. "Out!" Emmett calls at the same time. Bella vamps up swiftly, dusting her leather jacket and leggings off.

"Nice job, Bella!" I praise her, smiling. She returns the smile and nods a thank you.

I meet Alice's eyes and throw the baseball continuously in the air with one hand, an eyebrow raised. She tilts her head at me and laughs.

"Alice?" Esme asks. "Your call." I chuckle mischievously as I throw the ball back to my wife, using her pitching stance: leg up.

She throws her head back in laughter and still catches the ball without looking. I stare at her with what must be a goofy grin.

I shook my head and laughed at my family. For being as old as they are, they sure didn't act their age sometimes. Looking over at Emmett, I watched as he did the Running Man 80's dance move in spot while taunting whoever was up at bat.

I smothered another giggle with my hand, although they were acting silly, I was glad they were enjoying themselves. In fact, despite all the trash talking and laughing, the game was still intense and incredible to watch. Their lightning-like reflexes were sometimes hard for even my eyes to catch.

Raising my hands to my mouth, I cheered for mama as she slid into home plate. For someone who always told me she was bad at sports, I really couldn't imagine her being bad at anything.

"She was out!" Emmett pouted in the outfield, whining even though we all knew he was just teasing.

Feeling in a funny mood, I turned to look at my large uncle and cried out in my soft voice, "Don't be such a baby, Uncle Emm."

The family immediately started laughing before echoing my teasing, "Ya, baby Emmett!" It was a nickname we pulled out on him just to bug him because he wasn't anything like a baby. However, it was funny to tease him and he always took it well.

"Don't make me come over there, Ness!"Uncle Emm threatened back, shaking his fist before darting away to attempt to catch another hit.

Laughing, I leaned back in place of rest and plucked at the soft, sweet smelling under me. It was an relaxing, cool out but not cold and and a nice breeze. I closed my eyes and took in the moment.

CRACK

Opening my eyes, I watched as the baseball soared off the bat with a thunderous noise.

'Well, as relaxing as vampire baseball can be.'

I high five Edward as he helps me up from skidding to home plate. Carlisle is now on second; Emmett has grown more competitive.

"Great job, love," Edward mumbles low for me. I smile and kiss him on the cheek as a thank you, then swing my hand to his bottom with force, causing him to jump. I laugh. "You're up!"

Edward shakes his head and smiles, then quickly retreats to catch a last minute kiss from me. I go to stand beside Esme, a goofy grin plastered on my face.

Emmett groans audibly, rolling his eyes in an exaggerated manner. I roll my eyes back, as does Esme. "He's such a baby," Esme says with a motherly humor.

I hear Renesmee chuckle at the comment and look over to her. She's watching Edward prepare to bat, her big brown eyes glowing. I admire my baby girl a few seconds longer, her long bronze hair blowing in the wind, before returning my gaze to my husband.

His cheeks are already slightly flushed, excitement obvious in his features. He looks like a professional in his old baseball shirt- the one he wore the very first time I observed the Cullens play vampire baseball.

Alice gives him a smirk, as I'm sure they're exchanging visions and thoughts. I focus intently on Edward and smile as Alice's pitch comes blazing toward him.

I grin at Bella, winking at her before focusing on Alice. My sister pitches the ball straight down the middle and my bat connects with it, creating another loud sound. I take off towards first and reach it just as Jasper reaches it, waiting for the ball. I love being the quickest one in the bunch.

I round first base and round second and head towards third...which I hit right away and round to home.

I hear Rosalie's thoughts about how she threw it to Emmett from the woods and now he is throwing straight for home plate. Shit. If it's one thing Emmett's good at, it's at throwing things...hard.

Setting my sights on the home plate I do a clean slide to the home plate right as Jasper catches the ball, throwing it done against my foot, stopping it before it can touch. Dammit.

"Quick, but not quick enough," Jasper says to me in his southern accent, a grin on his face, "He's out!"

I bang my fist into the dirt, shaking my head as I vamp up, hearing Emmett's booming laughter from across the field. In another moment I'm by Bella, smiling and still shaking my head, "Well, I tried. I'm sorry, my love."

She playfully shakes a finger at me, "I thought you were fast."

"Not fast enough."

I laughed at my family's silly behavior before rolling forward onto my knees and crawling over to the basket we brought along with us to the field. Opening the lid, I peeked inside, feeling a bit hungry and wanting a snack.

Esme had packed up enough food for me as well as an army. It really wasn't necessary for her to pack so much but if Esme was one thing, it was careful and the best grandma ever. I don't think I would ever go hungry.

Pulling out a green apple, I shined it with the sleeve of my hoodie before cradling it in both hands. I opened my mouth and took a large bite before chewing the juicy piece. Glancing over, I rolled my eyes at the disgusted look Emmett was giving me. Sticking out my tongue at him, I heard him chuckle and turn his attention back to the game.

I looked up at the dark sky, it was lit up by the lightning and thunder every few minutes but we were lucky so far not to have any rain.

I took another bite of my apple, happy to be spending time with my family. But I couldn't help but wonder what Jake was up to tonight.

I trot through the woods and hear a loud Crack!

I know I'm in the right place.

Right, left, right, left. Finally I reach the edge of the forest. Esme is swinging a bat, Bella just patted Edward on the ass and is walking towards Esme...Probably to be the empire?

Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper stand somewhere in the outfield. Shortie is on the pitcher's mound. Hmm. Doc is swinging a bat absent-mindedly, watching Esme.

My eyes find the figure I've been searching for. Renesmee sits on a blanket in the grass with a purple hoodie on, a large picnic basket next to her. She shines a green apple and takes a bite. Her and Emmett exchange expressions.

I drop my black shorts and navy blue tee shirt to the forest floor, careful no large amounts of saliva drop onto them.

I transform with ease and throw on my clothes, then jog out to the field quietly and calmly.

I try my best to keep my mind clear so that the bloodsucker- one in particular- won't get upset. A few feet away from Nessie now, I tip toe.

Carefully, I approach her right side, and snatch the apple out of her hands. She whips her head up to see the source of her disappearing apple.

I take a huge bite and smirk, then hand it back to her and sit cross legged next to her before she can say a word.

"Jake!" I scolded softly, as I leaned over to attempt to steal my apple back. My perfectly good apple that the wolf was now scarfing down greedily.

Giggling softly, I brought my hand up and lightly swatted the back of his head, hard enough so he knew to give me back my apple.

"Get your own!" I plucked the fruit from his hands, knowing that he was letting me take it back, and taking a big bite out of it again. After a moment of chewing, I peeked back at the game, distracted by the cheering but spoke to Jake anyways, "Grandma packed me a basket of food," pointing at it, "I can't eat it all myself."

He didn't need any more of a hint and was immediately digging through all the options Grandma had packed me.

Clapping my hands, I watched as my family changed so that the other team was up to bat now. Uncle Emm looked like he was ready for war, I giggled at the picture he mad.

Snapping my head back to look at Jake, I pointed a finger at him in warning, "Don't eat all the donuts though! I want one."

All I got in return was a large smile as he slathered together a very large looking sandwich made of I don't know what and I couldn't help but laugh.

Once Esme gets a home-run, we switch sides.

Bella tosses me the bat from fifteen feet away with a smirk. I tip my baseball hat to her as we pass. "Thank you, ma'am!" She laughs and curtsies before heading out between first and second base.

I swing the bat with my advanced speed, showing off a bit- mainly for Alice. She looks me up and down with a small, mischievous smile.

I nod with my eyebrows raised, grinning. "Huh? Huuh??" I swing the bat this way and that, even under my legs.

Suddenly Alice snatches it away. I didn't even see it coming. "Hey!" She turns around and I grab her by her waist before she can go anywhere.

Her laughs ring through the field as I swing her in the air effortlessly. Strong hands take my waist and before I can process what's happened, I'm in the air with Alice.

We're both back on the ground in a second. "Alright, you two, let's play!" Emmett roars. I laugh and kiss Alice's neck, allowing her to go first since she's stolen the bat.

She looks back at me once more with a grin before preparing to bat. I cross my arms and smile when a gust of wind blows, and a strong...odor hits me.

Wolf stench.

I immediately whip my head over to where Renesmee sits, and there he is. Jacob chows down a sandwich, talking to my niece.

Edward must hear my thoughts, because his mood shifts to protective, and he looks over with wide eyes at his daughter.

Shit....

"So, the family's playing baseball, eh?" I ask Renesmee with a mouth full of sandwich.

She glimpses at me, sort of a short glare. "Don't talk with your mouth full, Jacob," she scolds me gently with her index finger.

I suppress a laugh and swallow the food before letting my laughter go. "Time out," I hear a restrained voice say.

I look up to see the bloodsucker stalking towards me. I groan audibly and roll my eyes, leaning back on my arms casually.

Edward stops in front of me, fists clenched by his side. "What are you doing here?" he asks. I give him a look as if to say, 'what does it look like?'

I missed your daughter, I think. He takes a deep breath which isn't even necessary for him. Bella runs to us and is by his side in less than a second.

"Edward, don't grow so stressed," she soothes, squeezing his bicep.

"Yeah, Edward," I look at him with a faint smile and humor in my eyes, tilting my head mockingly. "Don't get so stressed. We're just watching the game."

Bella whips her head to me, glaring. She looks like Nessie and I can't help but admire it.

"Shut it, Jake. I hear the mocking in your voice." Bells turns back to her bloodsucker. I let out a huff.

"Edward, they are fine. This is normal to us by now. Let's go play." After a few seconds of making some agreement with their eyes, the bloodsucker nods.

The couple intertwine hands and simultaneously lean down to kiss Nes on the head, then sprint back, Ed shooting an extra glare at me.

I nod in approval, picking my sandwich back up. "Your mom sure knows how to get your dad off my a-"

"Jacob!" Bella shouts. Yikes, right. She's still young. But she's so mature for her age, I forget her real age.

"...how to get your dad off my back." Nessie laughs, taking another bite of her apple. "They are very protective, especially daddy."

I look at her and nod. "That's right. And it's only because he loves you." I take a bite of Esme's deliciously made sub.

Nessie rolls her eyes. "I know, Jakey. You don't have to give me that talk." I laugh with my mouth full of food, getting another scowl from Nes but also a giggle.

Still watching the adults play baseball, I reached over with one hand and poked Jacob sharply in the side before rolling to get away from him.

As much as I loved my family, baseball was not my favorite sport and I was getting a little tired and stiff of sitting in the same position for so long. Plus, they seemed so caught up in trash-talking each other anyways.

Glancing over at Jacob, I giggled and stuck my tongue out at him, laughing at his stuffed face and the way he was holding his side, as if I had actually hurt him.

Smiling wide at him, I placed my hands on my hips, a safe distance away from him and spoke, "Tag. you're it, Jake!" Before darting off out of the clearing into the woods that surrounds it. I knew Jake would follow and that I wouldn't run into any troubles since we were so far away from any humans just in case they stumbled upon vampires playing baseball.

Bringing a hand up to cover my mouth, scared my breathing would give me away. I hid behind a tree and waited for the predator to show up.

I backed further out field as Emmett stepped up to the plate, he would hit it hard, and it would go far. I was in optimum position, he usually hit it right to his left, and I would be ready to catch it.

Esme gave me an adoring smile, and I was distracted. CRACK. My brawniest son hit his target with a smash, and it zoomed straight past me. Darn it! I began to chase after the ball, it took me a full five seconds before I got to it. There wasn't enough time to run back with the ball, so I threw the ball as fast as I could to where I knew the last base was. I heard Bella yell "OUT!" loudly, my face split into a grin as I ran back.

"Ha!" I said to Emmett, who rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah old man. Its not as if you got a home run either." he groaned jokingly. I just winked back as I ran to join my wife, who was waving at Renesmee and Jacob.

"Well done, love" Esme said softly as I approached her, I smiled at her enthusiastically, she was so beautiful...

"Hey, Doc, you better get back in position before its Jasper's turn!" Jacob grinned, and added under his breath "before you get too big headed with your wife's praise..." I chuckled at him, and kissed Esme on the cheek and vamped back into position, ready for Jasper to step up to the plate.

I tease Carlisle and Esme quickly before chasing Nessie into the woods. Adrenaline and happiness rushes through me and I carefully and swiftly transform as I break into the lining of trees.

I listen closely as I stand still. She must have hidden. I follow her perfectly not-too-sweet scent. I pick it up immediately and follow. In a minute or so I hear scarce breathing.

I growl a chuckle, wishing it wouldn't so sound devious. I know what tree she's near without even looking. I stalk slowly in front of it, letting- if she's watching- her eyes follow me.

I'll let her have some satisfaction first. I begin trotting farther away when out of the corner of my eye I see a baseball.

I howl with joy and sharply turn my body, allowing the near-base of my tail to hit it. Bella suddenly skids to a stop in front of me, her eyes wide. Dirt floats up and tickles my nose. I sneeze.

In that same second she realizes what I did and laughs. "Thanks, Jake. Keep an eye on her." I roll my eyes in response. She doesn't need to tell me twice.

"And bless you." Bells winks and starts running back. That must've been Jasper's hit. The corners of my mouth upturn.

I turn around and begin trotting west, slowly making a circle to Nes. Soon I see her back and long curls. She peers sneakily behind her tree, waiting for me.

I lay completely down and skillfully crawl towards her, silent, and then nudge her back with my nose.

Tag, I think.

Squeaking in surprise at Jacob, I immediately fall into giggles once more, bending down to pet him behind his ears, knowing he liked it.

My giggles flow into a hearty laugh when Jacob's leg starts twitching in pleasure and I'm not sure if he's doing it on purpose to nurse my humour or if he actually is behaving like a dog would.

Gazing up at his large form, I pat his softly, furry head softly before turning around and looking around the area. I was hungry and wanted to eat something. Plus, we were up North so we might as well use it to our advantage. Its been a while since I had fresh blood and I only drank from mountain lions, I didn't like killing deer.

Looking back at Jake, I tilted my head to the side in a bird-like gesture and sent an message through to him by where my hand was still petting his ears, 'I'm hungry. Race you?'

Not waiting for his response since I already knew he would agree, I darted off towards the mountains that I knew were little ways North from here, sending Papa a mental message of where we were headed.. just in case he got worried.

I take a minute to howl happily up at the sky before following Nessie.

Headed north. I got her, I thought in case her bloodsucking father was keeping tabs on us. I catch up with Nes easily and run alongside her.

Then I remember it's a race just as she begins pushing farther ahead. I pound my paws deeper into the dirt and get my snout between her legs, lifting her up and over onto my back mid-run.

She squeals and laughs as her hands tangle into my russet brown fur. I bark out a laugh as I continue the run up north, where- according to Nessie as she sends me a mental image of a mountain lion- mountain lions are.

I heard the faint sound of a ball connecting with a bat and briefly wondered who it was that hit it. Jasper was there previously, so it must have been Alice or Emmett or someone now.

I turn my head to glance at Renesmee, who is glowing with the exhilaration of our run. Her smile is bright and curls flowing freely behind her.

My heart feels as if it's doubled in size at the satisfactory site.

I hear Jasper's thoughts -- Wolf stench and then I catch it, too.

I see Jacob practically flirting with my daughter and the protectiveness in me arose once again.

I manage a "time-out" between my cleaned teeth and in another second, I'm standing in front of Jacob asking him what he's doing.

Bella is by my side in another moment, telling me to let it go.

I breathe out, slowly and I clutch Bella's hand tightly and turn my back on the two -- probably the hardest thing I've done in a century -- and walk away from my daughter, showing the mutt that I will trust him as much as I can. However, I will still read his thoughts. Always.

Carlisle gets Emmett out once the game is resumed. Bella and I take our places back out in the outfield and Rosalie is soon up to bat again.

I'm distracted, though, as I need to hear the mutt's thoughts, especially when him and my daughter take off into the woods. He tells me they are heading North and that he has her. Damn straight he does.

I glance over to Edward across from me in the outfield. He looks tense and ready to rip someone's head off, his nostrils flaring enough for me to notice.

I stare him down until he finally meets my eyes, and mouth, Are you okay?

He nods stiffly and he obviously isn't. I was sure it was about Renesmee and Jacob. But all they were about to do was hunt. Why didn't Edward trust Jacob?

I had also just seen him in the woods as he hit the baseball back for me. They seemed to be playing hide and go seek before hunting up north.

Before I know it the baseball whips past my head and I turn, running as fast as possible to catch it. My thoughts catch up with my actions and I realize how lost in thought I was.

Rosalie's shoes pound into the dirt, I hear as I finally get ahead of the ball and catch it in a jump. I land carefully and throw it back to Carlisle, the pitcher for my team.

I laugh as I sprint back to my spot, exhilarated. The speed, the strength, the sounds, the wind...Being a vampire was so much damn fun.

"Safe!" Carlisle calls out. I snap my finger as I swing my arm. "Darn!" But I'm giggling.

I bow goofily as Esme applauds me, even though I didn't succeed. I look back to Edward and see he's softened a bit.

"Time out," I say. Of course, my big brother objects.

"No time outs in this game!" Emmett calls out. "Says who?" I demand, already vamping over to my husband.

Carlisle and Esme laugh and vamp over with me, making it a team meeting. I'm happy for it.

Jasper chuckles and puts his arm around Alice, pulling his team into a group meeting as well. I meet Edward's eyes as I reach him.

"Please tell your son to relax," I say to Carlisle and Esme, not disconnecting my eyes from Edward's.

Carlisle furrows his brow, growing serious.

"This is about Jacob, isn't it?" he asks quietly.

"This is about Jacob, isn't it?" I asked Bella. She nodded slowly.

"They are just hunting, Edward." Esme said, trying to convince our son to relax.

"He acts like he has more of a right than he does." Edward growled. "She was happily watching our game, and on he saunters, and decides to take her for a hunt."

Bella groaned. "Edward, give him a break. Give yourself a break from worrying."

Edward looked at his wife, and his expression softened a little.

"Son, Jacob is good for her, and she did need to hunt at some point today. I know its hard- she is getting older and we know it, but I am sure Jacob will go at Nessie's pace. She is his world, Edward, let them have fun." I was worried. Not only for my son, but for the young man who had become a member of our family, and in doing so had proved that peace is always possible- except Edward had a difficult time accepting it.

My words that I had meant to be reassurance seemed to have had the opposite effect, Edward frowned.

"Carlisle, she is my daughter, I worry. Besides, no man wants their child to fall in love with a dog, do they?" I sighed at the name he used for Jacob. Were we ever going to get past this?

"Safe!" Carlisle called out. Wooh! My baby held her chin up high, smiling as she strutted her way back to me. She winked at me as she nears me and I let out a whistle, making her laugh.

"Time-out." Bella said out of the blue, probably because she notice her husband is out of place.
"No time outs in this game!" I called back. "Says who?" She said as she vamped over to Edward.

"Hey loosen up." Jasper said, laughing and placing an arm around Alice as we sort of huddle as Carlisle's team does the same. "That was a nice shot, babe." I said placing an arm around Rosalie's hips. "Of course." We laughed and I playfully and softly hit her ass. She looked at me and rolls her eyes at me. We chuckled afterwards.

"Please tell your son to relax." We hear Bella speaking to Carlisle and Esme. We looked at them.

"This is about Jacob, isn't it?" Carlisle asked quietly but enough for us to hear.

"Ugh. It's the mutt, again." Rosalie spoke and I tugged her close. "For Nessie." I whispered, leaning down on her ear then kisses her temple before straightening my back once again. She smiles at me and nods. "Sorry." She whispers at me and I kissed her hair. "It's okay."

We didn't realize Carlisle was having a speech directed to Edward. And we hear Edward reply, "Carlisle, she is my daughter, I worry. Besides, no man wants their child to fall in love with a dog, do they?" Carlisle sighs and we looked at each other-Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, and I. We understood what that meant, it was like a sigh of what are we going to do with this .

Renesmee was out with Jacob, hunting. I assume that not too bad since he is a werewolf afterall and she is his life, he won't let anything slip by his paws. Bella is trying her best to make Edward understand this with the aid of Esme and Carlisle as of the moment. And Edward's not being so understanding about this thing.

"Jasper." Alice whispered to his ear and Jasper nodded. We knew what it was--he sent out calming waves at my brother and my sister and to my parents as well. Alice gave Jasper a quick kiss on the neck. Bella glanced at our direction and mouthed the words, thank you . Jasper smiled and nodded.

At least we're not getting a bit too tensed and ruin this fun day.

I look over slyly to the group of my parents and siblings, across the field, and direct calm emotions towards them.

They all straighten up from their huddle a bit, less tense, taking in what they're suddenly feeling. Bella looks over to me and smiles, mouthing a thank you.

I smile and nod, putting up my fingers in an "OKAY" fashion. Edward catches her glance but must have already known it was me before he looked to her. His eyes land on me and he shakes his index finger accusingly.

"That isn't going to calm my thoughts, Jasper." He laughs humorlessly. "I'll still be thinking about it! My daughter out there, with that mutt." He almost spit the last word.

Bella's smile is gone and disappointment takes over her features and emotions, radiating off of her.

"Son, what has gotten into you?" Carlisle asks seriously. I was curious, too. We were all so used to having Jacob with us now, and Edward should have been the most accustomed due to his past with the kid.

Prominent anger rippled off of my brother. It was bothering him particularly today.

I notice my wife tilt her head some as she tries to figure out Edward with the rest of us. I look down to her.

"That shooting did just occur on the east coast," she says quietly. "Maybe he's just overprotective because of that."

I pull Alice close against my side, looking at Edward with her. "And taking it out on Jacob."

"You're probably right," I hear Emmett say as he comes up on my opposite side with Rosalie.

Esme turns, hearing our conversation. "Is that what this is about?" She asks.

New emotions hit me- relief of understanding, sorrow, protectiveness. Each one coming from my brother.

That must have been the reason, then. And we had a good eye on her, too, with her sitting right in the field watching us. And then she was whisked away by Jake. No wonder.

"She is in safe hands, Edward." My wife said, moving closer to Edward and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Edward sighed.

"Esme is right. Jacob wouldn't let anything happen to her." Bella added. Edward's stressed body language didn't soften, Bella sighed and continued. "Come on, Edward. Relax. They aren't going to go very far."she wrapped her arms around him and leaned up to kiss his lips softly. Finally, my son seemed to defrost slightly.

"Okay, can we get back to the game now?" An impatient Emmett whined. I smiled at the never ending optimism of my brawniest son. "Well?"