I replayed that smile in my head, seeing her full lips pull up at the corners, the hint of a dimple that touched her pointed chin, the way her eyes warmed and melted...

Bella was blushing from this description.

Her fingers had felt so warm and soft on my hand tonight. I imagined how it would feel to touch the delicate skin that stretched over her cheekbones - silky, warm...so fragile.

Silk over glass...frighteningly breakable.

I didn't see where my thoughts were leading until it was too late. As I dwelt on that devastating vulnerability, new images of her face intruded on my fantasies.

Lost in the shadows, pale with fear - yet her jaw tight and determined, her eyes fierce, full of concentration, her slim body braced to strike at the hulking forms that gathered around her, nightmares in the gloom...

Jacob hissed at this description and Bella shuddered.

"Ah," I groaned as the simmering hate that I'd all but forgotten in the joy of loving her burst again into an inferno of rage.

I was alone. Bella was, I trusted, safe inside her home; for a moment I was fiercely glad that Charlie Swan - head of the local law enforcement, trained and armed -  was her father. That ought to mean something, provide some shelter for her.

Jacob chuckled. "Ah, so that point eases his mind a little."

She was safe. It would not take me so very long to avenge the insult...

No. She deserved better. I could not allow her to care for a murderer.

But...what about the others?

Bella was safe, yes. Angela and Jessica were also, surely, safe in their beds.

"He has a point," Jacob hissed. "That man can't be allowed to just walk free... you're not the only one in danger."

"True," Bella said, but she was hoping for imprisonment.

Yet a monster was loose in the streets of Port Angeles. A human monster - did that make him the humans' problem? To commit the murder I ached to commit was wrong. I knew that. But leaving him free to attack again could not be the right thing either.

The blond hostess from the restaurant. The waitress I'd never really looked at.

"You can't like the idea of him hurting them or someone like them," Bella said, though the girls were annoying, they didn't deserve that.

Both had irritated me in a trivial way, but that did not mean they deserved to be in danger.

Either one of them might be somebody's Bella.

That realization decided me.

I turned the car north, accelerating now that I had a purpose. Whenever I had a problem that was beyond me - something tangible like this - I knew where I could go for help.

Alice was sitting on the porch, waiting for me. I pulled to a stop in front of the house rather than going around to the garage.

"Carlisle's in his study," Alice told me before I could ask.

"Ah, he goes to his dad," Bella smiled.

"Thank you," I said, tousling her hair as I passed.

Thank you for returning my call, she thought sarcastically.

"Oh." I paused by the door, pulling out my phone and flipping it open. "Sorry. I didn't even check to see who it was. I was...busy."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry, too. By the time I saw what was going to happen, you were on your way."

Bella shivered as she wondered just how much Alice had seen.

"It was close," I murmured.

Sorry, she repeated, ashamed of herself.

It was easy to be generous, knowing that Bella was fine. "Don't be. I know you can't catch everything. No one expects you to be omniscient, Alice."

"Thanks."

"I almost asked you out to dinner tonight - did you catch that before I changed my mind?"

She grinned. "No, I missed that one, too. Wish I'd known. I would have come."

Though Bella did want to meet Alice, she was quite happy that she'd had that dinner with Edward alone.

"What were you concentrating on, that you missed so much?"

Jasper's thinking about our anniversary. She laughed. He's trying not to make a decision on my gift, but I think I have a pretty good idea...

Jacob laughed at that. "She would use her gift on something like that."

"You're shameless."

"Yep."

She pursed her lips, and stared up at me, a hint of accusation in her expression. I paid better attention later. Are you going to tell them that she knows?

"Oh," Bella said a little tensely. Now wondering what the rest of the family would think about her knowing their secret. She couldn't help but be a little reminded about their conversation after the van accident and it made her shiver. But surely they wouldn't be so hostile about her this time, right?

I sighed. "Yes. Later."

I won't say anything. Do me a favor and tell Rosalie when I'm not around, okay?

Jacob chuckled at that. "I'd like to see that one."

Bella just flinched.

I flinched. "Sure."

Bella took it pretty well.

"Too well."

Alice grinned at me. Don't underestimate Bella.

"I knew I liked her," Bella smiled.

I tried to block the image I didn't want to see -  Bella and Alice, best of friends.

"There is nothing wrong with that," Bella said firmly.

"Of course there is," Jacob said just as firmly. "I'm your best friend."

"Sure you are," Bella rolled her eyes, and laughed when Jacob pouted.

Impatient now, I sighed heavily. I wanted to be through with the next part of the evening; I wanted it over with. But I was a little worried to leave Forks...

"Alice..." I began. She saw what I was planning to ask.

She'll be fine tonight. I'm keeping a better watch now. She sort of needs twenty-four hour supervision, doesn't she?

"Argh," Bella groaned, now Alice was going to be watching her, too.

"At least."

"Anyway, you'll be with her soon enough."

I took a deep breath. The words were beautiful to me.

"Go on - get this done so you can be where you want to be," she told me.

I nodded, and hurried up to Carlisle's room.

He was waiting for me, his eyes on the door rather than the thick book on his desk.

"I heard Alice tell you where to find me," he said, and smiled.

It was a relief to be with him, to see the empathy and deep intelligence in his eyes.

Carlisle would know what to do.