Stephenie Meyer owns everything Twilight; I just find her characters irresistible.

This is my entry for the Twilight Round of The Canon Tour. I had so much fun this round and loved every single other entry, they are all well worth reading and links to The Canon Tour can be found on my profile.

Thank you to TheaJ1 and to my sister for beta'ing this story, their insights are amazing and their support means so much to me.

With all the other Cullens otherwise engaged, Jasper and Emmett take it on themselves to keep an eye on Bella.
Despite Edward's paranoia about the potential disasters that could befall her, how difficult could it really be to keep Bella safe?

Paved With Bad Intentions

Only a few more hours of torture, after which I was looking forward to spending an evening alone with Emmett.

If Edward was here to read my thoughts, he might have believed I was thinking sarcastically. But I wasn't at all. I was genuinely looking forward to tonight.

It was very rare that I had the opportunity to enjoy Emmett's company without the presence of some of the other members of the family. Emmett is the only one of us who is always happy, optimistic and carefree. For me it's such a relief to be free of complex emotions for a while and just enjoy the ambiance of the purely positive feelings that Emmett emits.

I made my way across the lunch room to our usual table. Unusually, I was the first one there but I presumed Emmett wouldn't be far behind. I put my prop lunch on the table and eyed it with disdain. I began to think that without the others creating a closed group, I might have to put more of an effort into the charade of eating. I could feel a little curiosity coming from the surrounding tables. These children were unused to seeing me alone and they felt it gave them the freedom to stare. I dug my fork into…something, but I couldn't bring myself to put it in my mouth. The mixture of smells was an oxymoronic blend of divine and disgusting. The ever tempting scent of human blood, tainted and distorted by stench wafting up from the food. I closed my eyes, stopped breathing and swallowed repulsive mush.

With my breath held and my eyes closed, I might have missed the approach of Emmett. But I had yet to be snuck up on by a vampire, and even without my sight and smell, I heard and 'felt' him long before he dragged the chair opposite mine out and slumped into it.

"Taste good?" he enquired with only the trace of a smirk, but I could feel his humor. I scowled at him and cast a glance at one of the most curious humans, to indicate we were generating more attention than usual. His smirk died at this and dread crept in. It only lasted a moment, before morphing into a calculating glee.

"I'm stuffed," he announced loudly. "I ate all the leftover meatloaf for breakfast."

"Meatloaf for breakfast?" I asked in disgust, both at the thought of meatloaf and because of how indiscreet Emmett was being. Even I knew that meatloaf wasn't a breakfast food.

"Well, what did you have?" he asked, still speaking much louder than was necessary. I winced and shrugged. What was a suitable breakfast food for humans? I had no idea.

"Nothing," I told him coolly, opting for the safest answer.

"Well then, you must be starving," he commented, feigning concern, "here, you have mine, I'm still full from Mom's meatloaf, it's the best!" I glared at him as he was unsuccessfully suppressing a grin. He innocently pushed his tray towards me and his grin widened as I hissed menacingly at him. Although the humans couldn't hear the hiss, something about it must've alerted them to danger and they suddenly all had somewhere else to look. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Emmett and I passed the rest of the lunch break in silence. We had all the time in the world to speak to each other, when we were much less likely to be overheard. I missed the other members of the family though, especially Alice. Time never dragged in her company.

Edward had called the school this morning, posing as Carlisle, to claim that he, Alice and Rosalie had a highly contagious stomach flu. Emmett and I had been tempted to not come to school either, but there were already too many occasions that we were all absent and if we were going to avert suspicion, some of us had to be responsible. It was ironic that I now considered Emmett more responsible than Edward.

Carlisle was working all weekend and so Esme had decided to go and source some materials for a house she was renovating in Canada. Eventually, it would be one of the houses the Cullen family would call home, so Esme was more meticulous than usual with this project. Rosalie had decided to go with her at the last minute. She was finding it more and more difficult to be tolerant of the impact Bella was having on our family. I could feel her jealously, and self-loathing because of it. Despite Rosalie's beauty and apparent arrogance, underneath it all, the scars left by her past meant that she felt unworthy and insecure. She had found a way to cope, but that had been unbalanced by Bella bursting into our lives. A weekend away with Esme would do her a lot of good I thought, and I knew that Esme hoped the same.

Alice and Edward had gone shopping for the day. Alice had threatened not to come back until they had found something for Bella's birthday that she was sure that Bella would actually love. It had been almost comical to watch the drama unfold. Edward had chosen to buy countless presents for Bella, but Alice had dismissed every single one, because in her visions Bella had hated them all. It would've been even funnier if Alice's frustration didn't affect me so. It was unheard of for those two to be so confounded and, by a human's birthday at that. Bella's birthday was still months away! Alice was determined to find suitable gift for her from Edward, even if that meant them going in every shop in every city in every State of America. I supposed that could take months. I would rather be anywhere else than with them right now…including the school cafeteria!

I was distracted from my thoughts of Alice and Edward by Bella herself. She had chosen to sit with her human friends today, still not entirely comfortable with me and Emmett. She was sitting shyly at their table, picking at her food. She actually fit in better with us, I thought. The boys around her were delighted by her presence, the girls not so much. Because they had my attention, I felt the resentment radiating from the girl called Lauren as she spoke to Bella.

"We're going to see a movie tonight," she told Bella, "Why don't you come with us?" Her polite invitation in no way reflected her negativity towards Bella. Bella only considered for a moment before agreeing and I groaned. Emmett looked at me questioningly.

"Bella just agreed to go to the movies with those girls," I told him in a hushed voice.

"So?" he asked.

"I don't trust them," I informed him. "Their emotions are off."

"I thought you said all teenage girls emotions were 'off'," he reminded me of my regular complaints. "Besides, how much trouble can Bella get in at the movies?"

"This is Bella!" I was exasperated with his nonchalance. "Remember the last time she went to Port Angeles with her friends? Or what happened when she was standing in a field in the middle of nowhere surrounded by protective friendly vampires? Or even in the school parking lot?"

"Now you sound like Edward!"

"Just imagine his reaction if we let anything happen to her…"

Now we were both looking at Bella. She had changed everything for our family. Life was undoubtedly better with her in it. Her emotions were so unique for a human or a vampire. She was selfless. And she loved Edward as strongly as he loved her. So clearly she was a little crazy as well! But it would be devastating to Esme, Edward and Alice if anything happened to her. And if I was honest, to me as well.

"So what do you propose? Talking her out of it?" Emmett asked.

"Or we could go…" I suggested.

"No way, I had hunting and fighting in mind." Emmett interrupted me.

"It'll only take a few hours, we'd still have the rest of the night," I reasoned.

"Only if you consent to a proper fight, no holds barred," Emmett rubbed his hands in anticipation of my affirmative answer.

"Deal," I was looking forward to fighting too, without having to worry about upsetting the ladies, especially Esme, who was always distressed when we got overly aggressive. But I knew my aggression needed an outlet, that Emmett wouldn't take it the wrong way and that I would defeat him easily, but not before I had a little fun.

oOo

Emmett and I were lurking outside the entrance to the movie theater, keeping to the shadows, when Bella arrived with Lauren and Jessica. Bella went to go straight in but the other two hesitated, so she did too.

"What…" she started to ask, but broke off as three boys approached them.

Lauren and Jessica simpered at them…it was disturbing. The boys were several years older by my estimate.

"Hi guys," Lauren beamed, "you know Jessica, of course, and this is Bella. Bella, this is my cousin Luke and his friends Will and Dean." Jessica sidled up to Luke and Lauren took Dean's hand.

"What is going on?" Bella whispered to Lauren.

"We're going to see a movie," Lauren said back with faux innocence.

"But I'm with Edward," Bella hissed, more insistently.

"We're not asking you to sleep with Will," Lauren sniffed condescendingly, "just to keep him company while we're busy with Dean and Luke."

"But I don't want to…"Bella started to object, however Lauren cut her off.

"Bella, you're supposed to be our friend. Don't ruin this for us. What else are you going to do anyway? You need us to get home."

Bella gave up on Lauren and turned to Jessica. "Jess! What about Mike?" she whispered urgently.

"Mike who?" Jessica giggled under her breath. "Luke is gorgeous and he's in college! Please Bella, don't be a prude about this!"

Bella started to argue again, but stuttered to a halt as Will approached her. "Hey gorgeous, don't worry about a thing. I'm a perfect gentleman. We're just a group of friends on a night out, that's all." Bella flushed bright red and even with no ounce of mystic empathy, I would've known how uncomfortable and embarrassed she was.

I looked at Emmett and he was glowering. "Let's grab her and run," he suggested. I agreed in principle but in practice it wasn't that easy. There were quite a few people around and Bella's friends were already ushering her inside, albeit under duress.

"We'll keep a close eye," I promised him as we made our way inside.

The lady in the kiosk gave us a very odd look as we bought our tickets.

By the time we got inside, the theater was more than half full. We settled ourselves inconspicuously several rows behind Bella.

Things were difficult for me immediately. We hardly ever went to the movies, and if there was one we simply had to see, we booked out an entire movie theatre for a private screening. This experience was nothing like that.

In the enclosed dark room, the drumming of human hearts combined with the irresistible scent of their blood was intoxicating. This had been a very bad idea and I cursed myself for not realizing it earlier.

oOo

We were only a few scenes into the movie and it was clear that this was the type of film that gave 'Chick Flicks' such a bad reputation amongst men. It was the worst drivel I had ever seen and in no way did I consider the self-serving actions of the characters romantic, although from the emotions emitting from the girls watching, I was clearly in the minority. No wonder the woman who had sold us the tickets was so incredulous that Emmett and I would want to watch a film like this together.

I could feel Emmett's boredom. He thought the film was as ridiculous as I did. A bored Emmett trapped in a confined space…not the best combination, I groaned inwardly to myself.

"Awww…look at those two," a girl in the row behind us whispered to her friend. Had it not been for our enhanced hearing, she would've been discrete and I could sense the genuineness of her sentiment. "It's so nice that they feel confident enough in their relationship to come to see a movie like this together."

My heart sank as I felt Emmett's spike of interest and mischief. He reached his arm behind me, leaned in really close and whispered in my ear, "What's she talking about, Jazzy?" with feigned innocence. Of course, no one could hear what he said, but no one behind us missed the gesture. We had a fair bit of curious attention now.

Count to ten, I told myself, not missing the irony of an empath needing to use that technique to control homicidal urges towards his brother.

I felt a blast of longing and desire from directly behind me and instinctively turned to look. A man behind us to the left was sitting with his girlfriend, but he only had eyes for us. As he saw my profile looking at him his lust increased and I shifted uncomfortable in my chair. Emmett didn't miss this either and looked around to see what had distracted me. When he caught the man's eyes he offered him a happy smile and the man's lust exploded. I was unprepared for the onslaught and some of it flowed out though me to the people around us. Suddenly everyone in the immediate vicinity was busy making out intently with their respective partners. I squashed my hands over my bowed head in a futile attempt to shield from the intensifying atmosphere around me.

"Not cool, dude," Emmett hissed at me, "I'm not going to see Rose for days!"

It did make me feel slightly better that I had finally managed to annoy Emmett. Small payback, but I'd take it!

Unfortunately, Emmett and I had been sufficiently distracted to almost forget why we were they in the first place. The reminder came in the form of a commotion from Bella's section of seating. She was gesturing angrily at the boy, Will, sitting next to her and he was smirking back at her. Suddenly she tipped the entire contents of her, still very full of liquid and ice, drink over his head. Her escape was hindered by her residual injuries from her encounter with James and she was not especially graceful in her swift departure. Will stormed after her angrily.

Me and Emmett were instantly on our feet and we easily managed to intercept him in the hallway.

"What do you want?" he demanded, frustrated that we were blocking his way.

"Bella is our sister," Emmett told him in a growl.

"What? So you follow her everywhere?" he asked condescendingly, still not looking at us, but around us for Bella.

"We're very protective of her," I informed him in a low voice that finally commanded his attention. He looked at us for the first time and his anger immediately gave way to fear as he took in Emmett's size and my expression and as his subconscious informed him that he was in serious trouble.

"I didn't mean anything by it," he told us, backing up and holding up his hands in surrender.

"A little late for that," Emmett told him menacingly, giving him a light shove that sent him careening against the wall. I caught his arm roughly as he tried to flee, surprising him with my swiftness.

"Can't let you leave until I know you'll treat women with more respect in future," I informed him earnestly. He gaped stupidly at me. "Well," I prompted in a hiss and that sent him over the edge. As the acrid smell of urine tinged the air, I stepped away in disgust.

"Whatever you say, man," he stammered out, before scurrying away in humiliation.

oOo

Emmett and I were confused when we didn't find Bella at the concession counter or outside. We even checked the ladies' bathroom before resorting to going back to where we had last seen her and following her scent.

It led to a service door and we could hear voices on the other side. Bella and Lauren. Lauren must've come to check on her. I felt relief that I'd underestimated their friendship, hopeful that Lauren would see her home okay, without Bella being any the wiser that we'd followed her tonight. I listened for a moment, just to make sure.

"You must've done something to lead him on," Lauren sniped and my heart sank that my original assessment of Lauren's character had been right. She was bitter, petty and jealous.

"I did no such thing," Bella defended herself indignantly. "Why would I be even remotely interested in him, when I have Edward?"

The spike of fury and resentment from Lauren pierced thought me, followed by a whoosh, clatter and crash and then silence. Lauren burst back through the 'staff only' door and stalked away, back into the screen where that awful romance film was showing.

Emmett and I looked at each other. We hesitated for a moment, neither of us wanting to be accused of stalking by Bella, anticipating her fury when she found out we'd followed her, but when she still didn't emerge we had to go and check on her. Apprehensively we cracked open the door and peered through but there was no sign of Bella. Confused, we entered uneasily.

We were on a large concrete landing, the mixture of battleship grey paint and flickering fluorescent lighting was ominous. There was nothing to see except two flights of narrow concrete steps, one leading up and one leading down. Metal pipe-like railings lined the stairs in both directions. With one swift step forwards the sight that greeted Emmett and I froze us in our tracks and our breath caught in our throats. At the bottom of the stone steps lay Bella's crumpled form, unmoving.

We looked at each other in panic. I could tell that Emmett wanted to rush to check on her as much as I did, but we were both very much aware that that could be the worst thing we could ever do. Out of our entire family, we were the least able cope with being confronted with a potentially bleeding Bella. Our self-control track records were the most dubious of everyone's and we were both thirsty tonight, having planned on going hunting later. I nudged Emmett and he looked at me in dread; he knew what I was asking. We both knew which one of us was the safest to check for blood. I sent him a wave of self-assurance and hoped I was doing the right thing. He sucked in a short sharp breath, followed by a deeper sigh of relief. He immediately catapulted himself over the railing with one hand, landing lightly beside Bella. I was right behind him.

Bella was motionless except for the reassuring rise and fall of her chest. I gave her a gentle shake, but she didn't respond. "Bella, can your hear me?" I asked her urgently, but still nothing. I called Alice. I needed the guidance of her visions. Take Bella to Carlisle or call 911? Unfortunately, I only got her out of service message.

I didn't waste any time. I instinctively made the decision and took control of the situation, which made me feel a little calmer.

"Emmett, bring the Jeep round," I ordered him, and he followed my directions without question. We were the quickest way of getting her to any hospital and we needed to make sure she got the best medical care; that was Carlisle. I scooped Bella up in my arms and carried her as gently as I could, trying to minimize any jostling. I exited through the emergency door, another flight of stairs down. Emmett had kindly smashed through both the lock and the alarm that should have signaled that the door was open. His handiwork would undoubtedly be mistaken for vandalism. As I was moving so carefully, by the time I reached the street, Emmett's jeep was already screeching to a stop beside me. He leapt out and flung open the door, helping me to position Bella inside. I kept her cradled in my arms. I was slightly worried about how my temperature would affect her but more worried about Emmett's driving throwing her around.

Emmett sped off, expertly weaving through traffic. I tried to call Alice again, but still couldn't get a connection. So I called ahead to Carlisle, warning him we were coming in with Bella and giving him full explanation what had happened. I had hoped to feel some sense of relief when we handed Bella over to Carlisle's care but I found myself not only worrying about Bella, but also anxious about why I had been unable to contact Alice.

Emmett and I stationed ourselves in the wooded area outside the hospital entrance and stood in vigil, not really knowing what to do next.

"I thought he was just being a whiny little girl," Emmett announced suddenly, confusing me with his random outburst.

"Who?" I asked.

"Edward," Emmett stated as if it should have been obvious. "He is always worrying about what tragic accident will befall Bella next and agonizing that he won't be able to protect her. And I always think, how difficult can it be? He's indestructible! What on earth could he not protect her from?" he explained, "but we're keeping an eye on her for a few hours, two of the most formidable vampires you'll ever meet, and here we are at the hospital with Bella unconscious inside. I'll never underestimate his concern again." We lapsed into silence, contemplating the truth in that.

Suddenly a streak of white panic blew past us so quickly that even we struggled to process its passing.

"Edward," we agreed in unison. If the situation weren't so grave, it would've been funny.

"Do we need to take out the security cameras do you think, or will he just be an indistinguishable blur?" Emmett asked me.

"Carlisle did it before we arrived," I told him. I hadn't wanted us to be the ones seen bringing her in. It would throw suspicion on our family seeing as Edward, Alice and Carlisle had delivered her to another hospital the last time she had been seriously injured as well.

Then my tension began to seep away and a sense of peace washed over me. The gnawing sensation I had had for well over a day that something was missing finally began to dissipate. I let her approach my unprotected back without turning, the only vampire I would ever leave myself that vulnerable to. Her arms coiled round my waist as she kissed my back, sending a shower of shivers down my spine. I closed my eyes and relaxed into her, immediately knowing that Bella would be fine because of the calmness she was emitting. If there was any danger to Bella at all, Alice would have been in a very different emotional state.

"You never call, you never write…" Emmett said sarcastically. I felt remorse and defiance battle in Alice and growled at Emmett to back off. Making Alice feel bad was top of my unacceptable list, even if I knew exactly where Emmett was coming from.

"I am really sorry," Alice said, genuinely repentant. "I didn't see Bella get hurt until it was actually happening. It must have been a split second decision from Lauren. And, of course, Edward saw it at exactly the same time as I did. We had a few exposure and damage limitations to worry about. Edward was so livid and extremely difficult to manage. He just took the fastest, most direct route and started running. I had no cell coverage for a while and by the time I did, you had already made the best decisions and were on the phone to Carlisle."

"But Bella will be alright?" Emmett pressed.

"Absolutely," Alice reassured us both.

oOo

It was Monday morning and school was slightly more tolerable because Alice was by my side. However, it was substantially worsened by Lauren. She was gloating about how Bella had been hurt. Of course she never mentioned her role, instead emphasizing how clumsy and uncoordinated Bella was. It made me want to end her. She was very lucky that Edward wasn't here to listen to her poisonous gossiping.

I seethed through my morning lessons.

"Killing her will not work out well for any of us," Alice warned, as we stole a few moments between classes. Alice was right, unfortunately. Lauren had to live. But I desperately wanted her to suffer. I spent the remaining morning lessons scheming and strategizing.

Alice met me outside the door of my classroom with the widest grin on her face.

"Even though I've seen it, I still can't believe it!" she smirked. "You've always been so opposed to even the slightest risk of exposure."

"Will it expose us?" I needed to know.

"Not that I can see," Alice reassured me happily.

oOo

I managed to corner Lauren at the end of the day, when she was held up at the end of her final class. When she saw me in the doorway, she pulled he face into a sickening, twisted smile. I could feel her adoration, both of me and of herself. She was repulsive.

"Can I help you with something?" she purred.

"Absolutely," I told her, "you can stay away from Bella."

She gawped at me, like she couldn't believe what I'd just said.

"Why would I do that?" she half stammered, half sneered. I took a step closer to her and she reflexively backed away.

"Because I'm asking you nicely," I stated, unequivocally.

"Who do you think you are, ordering me around?" I could tell she was trying to sound sure of herself, but she was failing.

"Wrong question," I told her. "You should be asking what I think I am."

This sent her into a spin of confusion. People talked about what we were in whispers born out of jealously. No one really believed any of it. At least they told themselves they didn't. Obviously no one besides Bella had guessed vampire, or we wouldn't still be here. But there were rumors of supernatural, wherever we went. I wondered what Lauren believed.

"Witches," she muttered silently. I should not have been able to hear her and she knew this.

"Not quite but close. Warlocks." I corrected her, at the same time manipulating her emotions so that she believed me unquestionably. It actually wasn't that difficult, because she was predisposed to believe it, already sure that there was something unnatural about us.

"Money…power….beauty," she started to list to herself. I moved so quickly to her eyes it must've seemed as if I vanished, reappearing beside her.

"Magic," I whispered in her ear.

"Why are you telling me?" she breathed.

"Bella is with us now. I know what you did to her."

"How?" she demanded, "Bella doesn't remember anything!" Then she clamped her hand over her mouth as she realized she had inadvertently admitted her guilt.

"If you ever even think a negative thing about her again, I will know," I informed her, "and there will be repercussions."

"You won't be able to do anything to hurt me once I warn people what you are!" she exclaimed.

"I know you won't tell anyone, who would ever believe you? They'd think you were insane," I smiled mockingly. "Besides, I've taken measures to ensure your life depends on your silence and discretion."

"An Unbreakable Vow?" It took a lot of effort not to laugh out loud at her. Even in the context of fictional magic, it hardly fit, but if that's what she chose to believe then it worked for my purpose.

oOo

For the next few days, I reinforced my warning to Lauren. Whenever she looked at any of us and whenever she was feeling any malicious emotions at all, I would pulse fear and paranoia at her. By Thursday, when Bella came back to school, Lauren was absolutely convinced.

That day, in the cafeteria, Lauren was eyeing our family with trepidation and not looking where she was going, when she crashed into Bella who was headed for our table. The force of the impact upended Lauren's tray, showering her in her own lunch.

"I'm so sorry, Lauren," Bella gasped rushing to help her up, but Lauren scurried back from her.

"I'm sorry I pushed you down the stairs," Lauren blurted out in terror, before scrambling up and fleeing the cafeteria in tears.

The silence that had fallen over the room because of the crash of the collision erupted into frenzied whispers. All were questioning Lauren's morals, loyalty or sanity. Without doubt, she had been toppled from the top of the social pyramid.

I looked at Alice, for reassurance that I had not started a chain of events I would come to regret and her smile lit my heart ablaze. And I knew that the foreseeable consequences were all good.

Thank you so much for reading. Reviews make me very happy and put a huge smile on my face; if you have time, I'd be so grateful if you let me know what you thought.