"You being around the werewolves makes me uneasy," she admitted. "It's not that I think they're inherently bad people," she continued speaking quickly. "In fact, despite our rocky start, I think I like your Jacob.”
"When you can't smell him," Bella interjected smiling, Alice's phrase 'your Jacob' charming her for some reason．
"When I can't smell him," Alice repeated, looking over at Bella and returning her smile. "It's just … I can't see them," she went on, her voice sobering. "That makes me uneasy. I don't like the fact that I won't know if you're in trouble. That I won't know if you need my help," she said, the distress she felt at the possibly showing in her voice. "I'm not used to feeling helpless," Alice sighed looking over at Bella again. "And when I think of you there, that's how I feel.”
"Jacob would never let anything happen to me," Bella said, reaching out for Alice's hand．
Alice nodded, but didn't say anything for a few moments．
"I won't stop you if you want to go visit him," she said finally, her words slow and measured. "I would prefer it if you met somewhere in town though, neutral territory as it were. Somewhere where I could reach you," she went on carefully. "I don't think that Jacob would hurt you, but I don't have the same confidence in the others and …" Alice paused and sighed. "The thought of you there scares me, Bella. I can't help it. I won't try to stop you, but I don't like it. I know it's not really rational, but I can't help it. I love you, and I want to keep you safe.”
Bella breathed in deeply, her eyes fluttering closed as they did．
"Why did you say 'no' to him at the end?" Bella asked opening her eyes once more, trying to buy some time to digest what Alice had just said before responding to it．
She knew that Alice was trying to be open, that she was trying to be supportive and reasonable even though she was actually very worried. Bella didn't think she had reason to be worried, but the fact that Alice was making an effort to understand her point of view and accommodate her made it hard for Bella to dismiss her concerns entirely．
"Ｈe asked if I would follow you," Alice replied, "if you two were in town. I told him that I wouldn't.”
"Did you mean it?" Bella asked carefully．
"Yes," Alice sighed tiredly, the exhalation making Bella's eyes narrow in concern．
"But you still don't like it," Bella said, trying to figure out what was still bothering Alice．
"No," Alice admitted checking her side mirror. "But I am more comfortable with it. Like I said before, I don't think that Jacob would hurt you.”
"Edward still wouldn't like it," Bella said leaning back against the seat．
"No, I don't think he would," Alice replied somberly．
Bella was silent for a moment．
"Well … I don't care," Bella declared a minute later, her voice a little louder than was necessary in the confines of the car. "I'm tired of him telling me what to do," she said, folding her arms across her chest. "I'm a grown ass person and I can talk to whoever I want.”
Alice sighed deeply and pulled off the road．
"Where are we going?" Bella asked, watching as trees began to run parallel to the car on both sides．
"There's a clearing just up ahead," Alice said keeping her eyes focused forward. "It's beautiful at sunset.”
"You have more to tell me," Bella said anxiously, realizing that Alice didn't want to be driving when they got down to what her conversation with Jacob had really been about．
Alice nodded silently．
"I'm not going to like it am I?" Bella asked．
"No," Alice breathed out. "I don't think you will.”
Alice climbed up onto the warm hood of the car, settling her back against the windshield and then held out her hand for Bella．
"Sit with me?" she requested softly．
Bella eyed her wearily, but took her hand anyway, allowing Alice to pull her up onto the hood of the car as well. She settled herself between the vampire's legs, the heat of the machine under her contrasting with Alice's lower body temperature in a way that made Bella shiver．
"I want to preface what I'm about to tell you by asking you to remember that we love you, and that we were just trying to do the right thing," Alice said softly, resting her chin on Bella's shoulder．
"Okay," Bella said softly, Alice's words alarming her more than they comforted her. That was not a promising way to start off a conversation．
Another shiver ran through Bella's body, and this time it had nothing to do with contrasting temperatures．
"Victoria is back," Alice said, holding Bella tightly in her arms. "She's been nosing around, like she was before we came back," Alice continued, her vampire ears detecting an increase in Bella's heartbeat．
Bella shuddered a little. That must have been why she felt like she was being watched. Victoria was stalking her again. Watching, waiting for an opportunity to kill her and make Edward suffer, just like she had suffered when Edward killed her mate, James, in order to stop him from killing her．
"I've felt her," Bella said quietly. "I've felt like I was being watched.”
Alice exhaled, her sweet breath tickling Bella's neck in a familiar way that actually comforted her for a moment．
"Yes, that's probably part of it," Alice said, her hand rubbing against Bella's stomach absently．
"What do you mean 'part of it'?" Bella asked, craning her head so that she could see Alice's face．
Alice sighed deeply turned her head to meet Bella's gaze．
"We've been watching you too," Alice said. "When Edward or I aren't around, the rest of the family has been keeping an eye on you … and Charlie," she continued glancing away for a moment. "Rose was watching you at the store before I came to pick you up, and Emmett's watching Charlie now," she said glancing up to look at the sky as it burned violently above them, orange and red and brown fighting of dominance as night slowly approached. "Esme was watching him earlier, and Jasper will be on watch tomorrow," she finished turning to face Bella once more．
Bella's jaw clenched and she blinked rapidly, trying to control her rising anger. It was no wonder she felt like she was being watched all of the time. She was! She had been under constant surveillance and Alice and Edward had been lying to her about it. She had thought that she was going crazy, and early on she had very nearly blamed Jake for stalking her, but the entire time it had been her second family that was to blame．
"Why am I only finding out about his now?" Bella asked, unable to keep all of the anger she was feeling out of her voice．
"Edward didn't want to scare you," Alice murmured, her voice hesitant as if she knew exactly how Bella was going to react to her statement．
"This is what I was talking about in the car!" Bella exclaimed angrily. "Edward is not the boss of me! This is my life! My life and I deserve to know what the hell is going on in it," Bella continued, struggling in Alice's arms until Alice released her hold on her. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, turning around so that she was facing Alice, her eyes flashing．
"I wanted to," Alice murmured. She agreed with everything Jacob had said earlier. Bella would have been scared, but she knew that Bella was strong enough to deal with it, and she was fairly certain that it would have been easier to protect her if she knew that she was in danger. But Edward …
"Then why didn't you?" Bella shot at her．
"Ｈe … he's mad enough at me, Bella," Alice said looking over at the younger woman beseechingly. "Ｈe barely even looks at me," she whispered, her voice incredibly pained. "I didn't want to give him even more reason to detest me. I hoped that if I supported him on this that maybe … I don't know, maybe it would make things a little better between us. Ｈe barely even looks at me," Alice repeated, her eyes closing as she dropped her head down．
Bella stared at Alice for a moment and then moved forward, her ire evaporating in the face of Alice's distress. She didn't like that she had been kept in the dark, but she understood why Alice had gone along with it, and could sympathize with her feelings on the matter. Alice and Edward had been so close before, and while Alice didn't talk about it much, she knew that the rift that had formed between them once he had found about their relationship had deeply upset her．
"Okay," Bella said softly, taking Alice's hand in hers. "Okay," she said shifting on the hood again, moving forward, settling herself between Alice's legs again as a peace offering. "Why was Jacob waiting by the store?" she asked as Alice wrapped her arms around her once more．
"Ｈe wanted to tell you about Victoria," Alice responded, the gratitude she felt for the renewed physical contact clear in her voice. "Ｈe wasn't sure if we were watching out for you or not," she continued. "But I think that mostly he just wanted you to know. Ｈe … he seemed to know that Edward wouldn't have told you, and he just wanted to make sure that you knew.”
Bella closed her eyes, her heart warming at the thought. Jacob was always honest with her. Ｈe never treated her with kid gloves. She missed that now that Edward was back. She missed having someone trust that she knew what she was doing, and that she could take care of herself. Even Alice, considerate and understanding as she was sometimes treated her like she was made of glass, and it could be incredibly frustrating．
