Chapter Eleven
An American Pastime
Grace Cullen

Thankfully, the school week was very uneventful. I taught my classes, gave the seniors one of their major exams for my course, and got everything graded and submitted on time Friday. No active shooters, no van crashes, and no dangerous situations involving Bella Swan. I had noticed that she and Edward seemed to have formed a strange sort of friendship, but I decided not to question Edward on it as I assumed he was probably just trying to figure her out.

When Alice cheerfully announced a thunderstorm was headed through town Sunday evening, the entire house excitedly buzzed about a game of baseball. I was excited to not be busy grading papers, but I was even more thrilled that Carlisle wasn't on call. I couldn't wait to destroy his team. The anticipation of it all was so exhilarating that I had spent the better part of the morning and afternoon in Carlisle's office talking smack with him as he went through several patient files. When it was finally time to get everything together and head out to the field, I followed Carlisle down the stairs and into the living room. We were bantering and shoving at each other like we were young again.

"Oh, you're really going down after that." I laughed at him as we turned the corner into the living room, but I froze instantly at who I saw standing next to Edward.

"Bella, we're glad you could join us." Carlisle greeted her. "I assume Edward has already introduced you to the rest of the family?" He smiled easily at her while I still stared in awe at her.

"Yes, Doctor Cullen." Bella nodded shyly.

"Carlisle, please." He laughed at his title. "And you already know my sister Grace." He offered me a small smile.

"Yes, hello Bella." I greeted her, remembering myself enough to shake out of my shock. "What do we owe the pleasure of such a visit?" I asked.

"Grace, Bella and Edward are dating." Carlisle told me softly and I felt my eyes go wide.

"What? Since when?" I asked, feeling beyond blind sided.

"Port Angelos, kind of." Edward shrugged. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but you freak out sometimes and I just had to make sure everyone else was going to be civil about this."

"When did you tell everyone else?" I asked, now more mad that I had been left out than anything.

"The other night when you stayed out hunting all evening." He replied.

I had not been hunting. I had been in Charlie Swans bed all night.

"Oh, well, how...wonderful." I nodded, not sure how to feel. "I'm happy for you two. Bella, how does your dad feel about this?" I asked her, trying not to sound like I knew him personally.

"Well, he met Edward when he came to pick me up this morning. He seemed a little surprised...but he was okay I think." Bella replied easily, I suppose because she was so used to answering me in class all of the time. "He actually asked Edward how you felt about it too." She laughed and I smiled as honestly as I could.

"Parents intuition." I shrugged it off. "Who's ready for a game of baseball?" I cheered and everyone echoed me.

I raced out of the backdoor and headed towards the field, surrounded by my other family members with Edward and Bella trailing behind in the Jeep. I was panicking internally, and wanted more than anything to call Charlie, but I was surrounded by powerful ears and he was leading an investigation in a remote mountain range today. I wouldn't be able to talk to him for hours.

"Hope you don't mind umpiring for me today, Bella." Esme teased her as she walked her to the home plate.

"Not at all." Bella shook her head. "Do you always umpire?"

"Yes, I like to keep them honest." Esme smiled innocently.

"She means she likes to see her husbands team win." I laughed loudly as I jumped on to Carlisle's back. "Finally, a fair umpire."

"You're still going to lose!" Carlisle laughed, flipping me forwards on to my feet.

"Not with Edward on my team." I smirked evilly up at him. "I get first pick! Edward!" I called out for him across the field.

"Yes!" He cheered.

"Oh no fair." Carlisle bickered and all three of us girls laughed at his expression. "Esme, Rosalie, and Emmett" Carlisle picked.

"Edward, Jasper, and Alice you're with me." I told them.

"Let's play ball!" Emmett cheered. "Sorry mom, you know I love yah, but you're going down!"

"Smack talk? Really?" I teased him as I went to the plate to hit. "You're gonna talk like that when I've got the fastest runner on my team? Also, I've got Alice, the hardest hitter in this family."

"Oh that's just insulting." He pouted and the entire family laughed.

The game swung into full motion then. I got a good hit and advanced several bases, Edward gained us a base, Jasper got us another one, and then Alice sent us all home with a ball hit so deep into the forest that Esme couldn't keep track of it.

"Looks like my team is off to a great start." I teased Carlisle as I handed him my bat when he stepped up to hit.

"Wait for my secret weapon." He warned me playfully.

"Oh okay sure." I laughed. "Alice, sweetheart, do you mind pitching?" I asked her and Carlisle's eyes went wide in fear.

"I'll do it!" Alice cheered and rushed to the pitchers mound.

Poor Carlisle didn't stand a chance against Alice's pitch. He only got to first base, Rosalie had an impressive hit but Edward intercepted her, and then Esme gained them another base. Emmett was just stepping up the home plate when Alice's eyes went blank.

"Stop!" She cried out, and we all quickly met at home plate. "A group of nomads were passing through the area and heard us. They're coming to investigate." She explained her vision.

"How long?" Carlisle asked quickly.

"Thirty seconds at the most." She relayed.

"Not enough time to get Bella out of here without starting a frenzy." I sighed.

"We'll form a pack around her then. Don't bring attention to her." Carlisle told the family.

"Oh like that will help." Rosalie laughed as Edward directed Bella to put her hair under her hat and jacket. "I could smell her across the field."

"It will have to be enough." Carlisle hushed her as the nomads approached quickly.

"Greetings." A dark skinned vampire smiled easily as he, a blonde male, and a fiery redheaded woman stepped out from the tree line. "My name is Laurent, and this is James and Victoria."

"Hello." Carlisle greeted in turn. "I'm Carlisle and this is my sister and co-coven leader Grace." He introduced me and I gave as polite of a nod as I could. "This is my wife Esme and our kids Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, Jasper, Edward, and Bella." He directed, careful not to point anyone out directly.

"We heard your game and thought you might could use a few more players." Laurent smiled, seeming very friendly, but there was an underlying tone of danger in his dark red eyes.

"A few of us were just leaving anyway." I told them, stepping back to put a hand on Bella to start walking her towards the Jeep. "They can have our spots, brother." I smiled at Carlisle right before a gust of wind disturbed Bella's hair.

The three nomads all responded immediately and sunk down into hunting positions.

"The girl is with us." Carlisle told them sharply. "Please, let's be respectful of territorial claim." He reminded them. It was his nice way of telling them to back off or be prepared to be exterminated.

"Carlisle, he's a tracker." Edward stated as he glared at James from across the field. "You won't touch her." He growled at whatever thought was going through James mind.

"You're lucky we just hunted, or your little pet would already be gone." James growled at Edward. "A pathetic group of officers and their chief looking for the 'wild animals' killing puny humans off up north."

"Didn't think they'd find us instead." Victoria laughed sinisterly and my breath caught in my lungs.

"Edward, get Bella out of here." Carlisle directed him and the others flanked the nomads from following after them.

"Charlie." I gasped, turning to my brother. "Charlie was leading the investigation into the deaths of those hikers up north." I panicked.

"You should go." Carlisle nodded, looking as concerned as I felt, and I tore off through the trees towards the house.

I felt breathless, which was odd considering I didn't need the air, as I rushed through the house to grab the keys to my car and out to the garage. I flew down the highway, even passing Edward and Bella in the Jeep, as I rushed to get to the police station. I pulled haphazardly into a parking spot before running up the steps and to the receptionist desk.

"I need to speak to Chief Swan, right now." I demanded, sounding much harsher than I meant to.

"He's in his office under a strict do not disturb order." She barked back at me. "If you have an emergency than you can talk to-"

"No, he's expecting me." I shook my head and marched down the short walkway to his office door, causing a scene in front of his officers at their desks as I knocked loudly on his glass window.

He pulled the blinds up angrily, brown eyes flashing dangerously as he looked out at me. Something about the panic he saw on my face made his expression soften immediately. He unlocked his door and quickly pulled me inside of his office.

"Grace, what's-" he started to speak, but I stopped him.

In my relief to see him alive, I threw myself at him and locked my lips to his tightly. I held on for only a moment before letting him go again, throwing myself into his arms instead.

"So much for keeping us a secret." He chuckled, motioning behind me to the roomful of officers that had just witnessed our kiss before closing the blinds again. "What's gotten in to you? Is everything alright?" He asked me, hugging me tightly before moving to go sit behind his desk.

I realized he looked exhausted from handling the attacks. He worked all night, only stopped to go home for a shower and breakfast, and came back right after meeting Edward officially.

"No, I was so scared." I shook my head, pushing aside my concern to face the current issue. "Bella came to play baseball with us and-"

"Oh, so this is about her and Edward dating? Yeah, I wasn't really sure about that one myself but I couldn't really tell her no or anything. She doesn't know that I know and I'm guessing I'm not supposed to know that she knows and so the whole thing just got even more complicated and-"

"Charlie, I love you, but shut up." I told him and he quickly gave me his full attention, knowing I would never talk to him like that normally. "That's not what I'm freaking out about right now. Bella came to our baseball game and a group of nomadic vampires showed up. One of the vampires is a tracker and has decided that he wants to play a game of cat and mouse with Bella's life." I explained quickly. "Edward protecting her just made it so much more exciting for him and he started boasting about killing off a group of police officers and their chief up north and I got terrified he had been talking about you." I ranted.

"Oh." Charlie sighed and reached out to me.

I quickly ran and sat in his lap, burying my head in his neck as I tried to keep myself calm.

"I get it now." He chuckled sadly. "Yeah, I sent a group up to the mountain range to investigate and I was supposed to go with them. I got caught up in another attack closer to town and had to stay behind this morning. When we got the call about the officers being attacked, I had to go into crisis mode. That's why I was under a do not disturb order." He explained softly, running his hand up and down my back soothingly.

A knock at the door startled us both and I stood and crossed to the door.

"Dad? Can I come in?" Bella called out from behind the locked door. "It's important."

"Hide." Charlie whispered to me, and I quickly used my gift to be invisible. "Wow." He stuttered before opening the door.

Bella came stomping into the room and closed the door behind her. She was scared and worked up, but she was forcing herself to look angry.

"I'm sick and tired of Forks." She told him. "I'm leaving. Now."

"Leaving?" He questioned her, looking heartbroken. "Can we talk about it before you-"

"No." She shook her head madly. "I thought I could handle it and I thought I could adjust but I'm sick of the rain and the cold. I just can't do this anymore."

"Bells, calm down and let's talk about this." He begged her desperately, rushing to put his hands on her shoulders.

"No!" She screamed, tears running down her face. "I'm not going to let you get me stuck here like mom!" She spit at him before tearing herself away from his embrace to run out of the room.

The door slammed loudly behind her and Charlie stood transfixed in his spot, a look of devastation and loss on his face.

"Charlie." I cooed, dropping the illusion and rushing to bring him into my arms.

He clutched onto me tightly and buried his face into my hair as he cried. My heart wrenched to see him in such pain. My phone rang and I growled as I had to pull away from Charlie and answer it.

"Grace, we've made a plan. Bella left to tell her dad that she is going back to Arizona. Alice and Jasper are going to drive her to Phoenix to hide out from James while we all track the coven down here. You should stay and watch after Charlie." Carlisle explained to me and I sighed in relief.

"Alright." I agreed. "Let me know if any plans change." I told him before saying my goodbyes.

"Bella didn't mean what she said to you." I told Charlie, wiping the tears from his face gently.

"It's the same thing her mother said." He shook his head.

"She was saying what she knew would make you let her leave. Alice and Jasper are getting her out of town to hide from James while the Cullens track the coven down and handle the threat. She'll be back the moment it's safe again." I promised him.

"Okay." He nodded, sniffing away his tears. "Wow that stung." He shook his head.

"I know." I frowned. "I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, I understand." He nodded. "I'll forgive her. I just want her to be safe."

"Right." I nodded.

"Aren't you going to go help your family find the nomads?" He asked me.

"No, Carlisle told me I should stay and watch out for you. The nomads would likely use you to get to her." I explained. "They could track her to the house and find you there."

"That makes sense." He nodded.

"Do you have to stay here much longer? I need to go set out a substitute folder for tomorrow. Maybe the next few days if this doesn't get solved quickly." I told him.

"No, I'm already in overtime." He shook his head. "I've got to sign some papers at the front and then I'll clock out. I'll meet you outside." He told me, opening the door of his office for me.

Everyone stared with wide disbelieving eyes as I quickly left the office, made my way through the cubicles, and out the main door. I got in my car and waited patiently while Charlie finished up for the day. I was watching for any sign of danger as my eyes roamed the parking lot. That's when I realized several people were gawking at us as Charlie got in my passenger seat.

"You brought your brothers car?" He questioned me, buckling his seat belt.

"We drive the exact same car." I shook my head as I pulled out of my spot and on to the main road. "I don't drive mine when he's in town because that causes too much suspicion. Four high end cars? Too much for this town."

"I'll say." He laughed at me. "Do you and Carlisle really have to do everything exactly the same way?" He teased me.

"Hey, I picked a vanquish first." I laughed. "But yeah, we tend to like the same things."

"Watch your speed." He warned me as I drifted around a street corner. "I would hate for you to get pulled over and the officer see me in your passenger seat."

"I would tell them I kidnapped you." I teased him as I pulled into the staff lot at the high school. "With the way everyone stared at us, I think they would be inclined to believe me." I laughed loudly as I climbed out of the car.

"They were shocked." He laughed with me, wrapping an arm around my waist as we walked to my classroom. "Although I have to admit I am a little excited to be known as Grace Cullens boyfriend now:" He smiled down at me as I unlocked the school's front door.

"Grace Cullens boyfriend? You like the sound of that over Chief of Police?" I smiled at him.

"Becoming Chief was easy, anyone can do it if they work hard enough, but being your soulmate is an exclusive deal. I see the way other men look at you, and I get it, but I'm proud to be with such an amazing woman. And I'm glad to stake a public claim on you." He teased me, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me to him tightly.

"I love you." I shook my head at him, smiling like an idiot as I craned my neck to kiss him. "Let's get this folder handled and get out of here."