I own an '81 Honda Goldwing and an '85 Rebel... but not Twilight.

Chapter 5

We were lying on the floor, covered in books. Bella's head rested in the crook of my neck, her hand tracked lazy circles across my stomach and her leg was slung over mine when I felt the vibration of the cell phone through the floorboards.

"It's probably Alice," I growled. "Just ignore it."

But it buzzed again… On the third time, Bella sighed and got up, freeing me to find the phone in the mess of shredded cloth.

"I see your future disappearing in about forty-two seconds … so if you don't want to permanently scar your child, I'd suggest you get dressed." Alice barked over the phone.

"Jake and Nessie are coming," I warned Bella as I sprinted for the room. In thirty-nine seconds we were dressed, had reset the furnishings and books, and were comfortably sitting in the living room, Bella on the sofa and me in the wingback chair. In the fury of activity I'd managed to snag the copy of the magazine I'd ordered and I was casually flipping through it, looking for Bella's inspirational photograph.

The knock came two seconds later. "Hey guys," Jacob said as he came in, a bouncing Nessie at his side. He plunked himself down at the opposite end of the sofa from Bella while Nessie launched herself into Bella's arms.

"Welcome home from school, Mommy!" she hugged her enthusiastically, "Did your friend find some lunch?"

Bella laughed, "I'm sure he did. So what did you do all day?" she deftly shifted the conversation.

Renesmee pressed her hand to Bella's cheek and a flood of images passed through her thoughts – going to the library in town, taking out more books in one day then most children her age take out in a year, riding on Jacob's back as he pounded on all fours through the forest, and a brief altercation with a forest ranger...

"You crossed the path of a forest ranger?" Bella glared at Jacob.

"He came out of nowhere. I didn't hear him."

"Jacob," she said in a warning tone, "You've got to be more careful then that. What if he'd had a moment to think? What if he shot at you?"

Jacob shrugged, "It's not like he could hit me."

"It doesn't matter, Jacob." I retorted. "You should have told us right away. Now we'll have to find him and see if he's told anyone." I was pacing the floor, running a hand through my hair. What if he did? We'd have to leave right away. We needed to contact Carlisle, immediately.

Bella caught my glance and immediately understood. "Come on, Nessie. Let's see if Grampa is back from the hospital yet." She pulled her up and met me at the door. Jacob, blinking, followed us, unsure of what was going on, but knowing it was serious.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to Bella as we ran to the main house, "if we have to go, I promise we'll come back so you can finish your studies."

She shook her head, "Let's not worry about that now."

After our family meeting, with Alice and Jasper via satellite phone video-conference, we spent the next three days scouting out the location of the forest ranger and staking out his house. He wasn't hard to find. The altercation had occurred near the beginning of his shift and so we'd found him near the ranger station, returning from his daily trek through the woods.

Strangest thing… He was shaking his head at the blurry image of a horse sized russet wolf with, what appeared to be a small child on his back. And though the image was clear, he didn't mention it to anyone. They'll think you've lost your mind. He warned himself. But still, the memory nagged at him.

That night we went to work combing the forest floor for Jacob's tracks and smoothing the dirt and moss over them to hide his presence.

"Is there anywhere that dog hasn't left his trail? Doesn't he know to hide his tracks?" Rosalie grumbled as she followed one particular set for four miles, erasing each one from the forest floor as she went.

It was a well place precaution. For that night the man had dreamed about the encounter and, in the morning he had a more well formed memory of the event, now elaborated on by his imagination through the dream. He set out in search of evidence. Might not think I'm so crazy if I bring back proof. He thought as he hiked up to the point where he'd seen Jacob and Nessie cross his path. He stopped, inspecting the ground where Jacob's paw print had been prominently on display just twelve hours earlier.

Huh… I could have sworn… he picked at the ground, looking to either side of the trail. Unfortunately, the broken branches six feet up and trampled moss didn't escape his notice. Something big came through here… but where are the tracks? He paused for a moment, following the path a short way into the forest before returning to the spot and calling back to the station on his walky-talkie.

"Hey Rog… got a minute?" he released the button, momentarily hearing nothing more the static filled silence.

"I'm off in twenty, Pete." The voice returned.

"This'll take ten. Just meet me down the main trail, half a mile from the station."

"Sure, whatever."

The two men stood there for twelve minutes looking back and forth across the path, scratching their heads.

"I'da know." Rog said taking a closer look at the broken branches. "Maybe a hoax?"

"But something's been through here…" Pete was insisting even as doubt crept into his mind.

Rog raised an eyebrow. Maybe the guys gone off the bend… all those hours on the trail. He's finally gone buggie. "You know what? It was probably some kids just came through, broke some branches, took a plank and jumped on it, making it look like a crop circle or something. Ida know, Pete… but I gotta get home. Meg will kill me if I'm late again."

Pete waved him off and looked over the path a bit longer before shaking his head and continuing on.

On the third day, he returned with a dog.

"Oh crap!" Emmett moaned, taking off up the tree.

"Wait…" I held up my hand… "It's… it's the family pet. Not trained."

Still he tried for a good half an hour to convince the dog to find a scent to follow into the woods. Fortunately the dog was much more interested in the deer scat just off the trail. He finally gave up and returned to the Ranger station.

That night it rained.

"There's nothing more for him to find," Carlisle determined. "We'll lay low for a bit. Edward, make a few trips to town, see if you hear anything. Otherwise I think we should be safe."

We breathed a collective sigh of relief and Jacob, abashedly, agreed to be much more careful in the future.

"You know," Bella said that night, a full week since our first motorcycle hunting trip. "If we had off-road bikes, we could have just made a bunch of bike trails."

"Sure," I replied. I wasn't opposed to dirt bikes, so long as they were high performance dirt bikes. "Would you like to do that? Go dirt biking?"

"I don't know." She replied, pensive. "I like the idea of going on a trip with you. But for that we'd need highway bikes. But spinning out through the dirt and mud…" she grinned, "Could be fun."

"Really?" she surprised me. I would never have imagined she'd be interested in that kind of biking. I tried to picture Alice or Rosalie or Esme decked out in motorcross gear. I laughed, shaking my head. No, I just couldn't see it.

"Do you think I'm being funny?" she said annoyed.

"No, not at all. I'm just surprised is all." I replied back. "Maybe we should try it sometime."

"Yeah, before we dish out several thousand dollars on a bike." She agreed.

"Bella," I took her face in my hands, "If you want to do both, there's nothing stopping us from buying both highway bikes and off-road bikes…"

She rolled her eyes. "I can't get used to that."

"To what?"

"Just buy both." She spit out, waving her hand like she had a wand. "Really, Edward. This is a purchase that people save up for, think about, weigh all the options carefully before making…"

"Like your's and Jacob's bikes?"

"That was different." She grinned, "It was a purchase of opportunity. They were free, and the labour was cheap."

I frowned thinking of the cost of that labour – all those hours she and Jacob spent together, the connection that had formed, the love I had almost lost. "Money is no object Bella. You'll just have to get used to it."

She snorted and turned back to the book she was reading. In a few minutes, Rosalie would have Nessie all bathed and primped and ready for bed and tonight Bella would read her bedtime stories before she drifted off to sleep.

"I was thinking about that article," Bella broached the subject as we returned to our cottage.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, and I was thinking, for comparative purposes, maybe we should try out a few European models. But I couldn't find any dealers around here. Maybe on reading week we could go check some out."

"Bella, that would be great," I started to reply tentatively, "but if you want to check them out, I'm sure a dealer would be willing to ship a couple models on spec."

"Really? They'd do that?"

If your willing to spend a small fortune... "Yes, often foreign dealers have relationships with locals to increase their market, without the expense of setting up a full, year-round shop," I lied smoothly.

"I suppose that makes sense. Who should I contact?"

"Listen, you did all the work to get us to the Harley dealership. Would you let me get this set up?"

"Um."

"We're still doing this together. Besides it'll give me something to do while you're at school."

"Okay," she agreed cheerfully, leaning over for an innocent peck. But there was nothing innocent about my response and soon we were back in our bed, making our own dreams until the sun peeked over the horizon.

Bella hadn't been out the door more then four seconds when I hit the speed dial on my cell. In fluent Italian, I ordered the Superbike, Multistrada and Streetfighter. Then, switching to German, I ordered the G650 GS, R 1200 GS Adventure and a Husqvarna TE630. With a few extra dollars they would be here in 24 hours.

I flipped open the cell again just as it vibrated. Alice.

The chaps will be there later day. You're welcome.

It is obscene how much that pixie knows. I shutter to think what she has seen. The cell vibrated again.

Believe me, I don't want to know. If I could block it, I would.

BTW we're heading home. We've gathered what we can here, and the Volturi are planning a visit in a couple weeks.

Well, that complicates things. I threw on my clothes and headed to the main house. Carlisle was in his study.

"Alice texted. She and Jasper have gathered up what information they can and are heading home."

"Did she get the DNA samples?"

"She didn't say. But, we have bigger troubles then that. The Volturi are planning a visit, so they're heading back."

Carlisle leaned back in his chair. "Ah, well that doesn't really surprise me." They'll be keeping an eye on things here.

My cell vibrated as he was speaking.

Yes we got the DNA. Just the guard coming. Back in two days.

"Did she say who was coming?"

I smiled. They wouldn't risk a show down with just the guard. Not after Forks. "Just the guard. And she says they got the DNA."

"Excellent. That will provide me with some analysis. I'd like to see if they are truly immortal or simply have delayed aging like the wolves." I'd like to map out both chomizonal structures... isolate the pairs that give rise to the aging, versus the other genetic dispositions... "When will they be back?"

"In two days," I replied.

"Well then, there's much to get ready. I can borrow much of the equipment from the university. I'd rather not conduct the analysis there." Too many wandering eyes, he chuckled.

I cocked my head to one side, wondering what he meant by that.

"It's a very competitive department. It seems everyone is looking to make the next medical breakthrough." It makes for quite a stimulating environment. There is a lot of experimental research going on, even if some of it is under the radar. His mind flickered through some of the more questionable procedures some of the residents had attempted.

As I left and started flickering through the minds in the house to locate Renesmee. It was unusual that I hadn't sensed her as soon as I arrived. But she had been practicing keeping her mind still in order to play hide and seek. Remarkably, she could manage it for about 20 seconds before she slipped. None of the others had that kind of control. The closest was Alice and she could only think of something else.

However, the house was almost completely silent. Aside from Carlisle, the only other voice was Esme. I located her in the kitchen.

"Hi dear," she greeted me as she worked on something for Jacob and Renesmee for later. Rosalie, Emmett and Jacob took Renesmee out for a bit.

I sighed heavily. "I wish they'd at least consult one of us."

"I know dear," she said glancing at me from the corner of her eye. It's heard, isn't it – getting everything you hoped for and more, and then having to let it go. Her mind flickered to Bella.

"Is it so wrong of me to want them here, with me?"

"Not at all. But Renesmee is a miracle to all of us." And look how she's changed Rosalie. Would you want to give that up?

"No, but we have so little time with her. I don't want to miss anything."

"Every parent feels like that. Just be grateful for what you have."

"I am, more than anyone knows."

Esme just smiled. "Do you want to help me? I'm making muffins, cookies, a cake, banana loaf, a couple pies and then I'm going to do a lasagna, shepherd's pie and a meatloaf."

I laughed at her ambitious plan. "Sure, show me where to begin," I said as I rolled up my sleeves.