54. Working it Out

BPOV

I was pleased to see how well everything was working out according to Edward's and my plan. We had the wolves firmly on our side, except for Paul who had unexpectedly disappeared. I knew how to take care of Paul though. All we needed to do was introduce Jacob's sister, Paul's imprint, into the picture, and Paul would become peaceful and compliant, not to mention firmly tied to Jacob. So, I wasn't terribly concerned about Paul's absence.

I watched with amusement from my high perch as the two groups tried to work out the details of the final competition. The werewolves had decided on their teams: Jacob and Embry, Sam and Jared, Quil and Seth. Leah was angry that none of the guys wanted her on their team, seeing her as the weak link, simply because she was female. The vampire teams were: Carlisle and Esme, Jasper and Alice, and Emmett and Rosalie. Each vampire naturally chose their mate, believing they would have the best teamwork. After all, paddling a two person canoe was all about working together. If the two were not well matched, they would actually end up working against each other. Edward was frustrated, believing his mind reading skills would give him a distinct advantage in being able to work well with a partner. The wolves contended that it was good he wouldn't be competing as he should not be able to use his advantage to win the competition.

I suddenly had a great idea. "Listen up, everyone," I shouted to the crowd below. They all stopped and looked up at me. "I'm going to introduce one final team. If my team wins, I get to make the final verdict. Agreed?"

"Who's your team?" several of them shouted up to me.

"Edward and Leah. A vampire and a werewolf working together toward a common goal. I bet you all they will win."

They started laughing at me. "Yeah, right. Okay, sure, Bella. That's fine with us." I saw Edward and Leah exchange a glance and then look back at me. I motioned for them to come up and talk to me. They both climbed up the ladder and approached hesitantly.

"Look, both of you have something to prove, right? Leah, are you really going to let them dismiss your strength and prowess like that? To say you're not good enough because you're a girl? Edward, don't you want to show them just how useful your mind reading can be? How it can help you prevail even when your partner is someone you don't know well and is actually your natural enemy? I have faith in you, Leah, that you are just as strong and talented as the rest of the pack, and I have faith in you, Edward, that you can decipher Leah's intentions and accurately respond accordingly so that the two of you make the best team possible. Honestly, though, most of all, I want to show both groups that we are stronger together than we are separately. So, what do you say? Can you go kick their butts for me, and show them all that what we have all been working towards in terms of becoming one big family is the best possible choice for all of us? We are better together than apart. Besides, imagine how stupid they'll feel when you blast by them."

Edward and Leah both grinned at me and at each other. They nodded and bumped fists. Both of them gave me a hug and a kiss on the top of my head, before enthusiastically discussing strategy on the way back down to the river.

The race started and the wolves immediately took the lead, all being comfortable and familiar with the canoes, the paddles, and the river. Edward and Leah were on their heels. The vampire couples had to work harder at establishing a compatible rhythm. Carlisle and Esme were the first to get the hang of it. As the wolves pulled out in the lead, Alice was able to start using her visions again to anticipate Jasper's moves. Once she did that, they quickly started gaining on the wolves. Unfortunately, once they got within close proximity again, Alice's visions once more became dark. They were better than they had been now that they had at least tasted true cooperation. Emmett and Rose were having a very difficult time. They weren't working together at all and actually started going in circles. They started yelling at each other, each blaming the other for their lack of progress. Jasper sent them a wave of calm to counteract their anger, and then sent them a wave of lust, just for fun.

"Screw the canoe competition!" Rosalie griped. "Let's go find someplace private."

Emmett had a sudden epiphany. "No, Rose, that's it! It's just like sex! If we don't bump and grind at the same time, it's awkward and ineffective. Our thrusts have to be matched to the same rhythm. Think about last night. We'll go through the memory at the same time, and match our paddle strokes to our hip thrusts. That'll have us matching rhythms the way we do best!"

Rose got a big grin on her face. "Brilliant, Emmett! We are rather talented at matching our rhythms together, aren't we? Let's do it!"

They began thrusting their paddles through the water in perfect synchrony. Their eyes were glazed over, and it was clear to observers that half their minds were elsewhere. They started out slow and steady. Stroke…stroke…stroke…stroke…stroke.

After a few minutes, the pace increased. Stroke stroke stroke stroke stroke stroke.

After a few more minutes, their paddles were blurs.

They were both breathing hard by that point, seemingly unaware of anyone else around them as they pursued their goal with single-minded focus. As they neared the finish line, their paddles were moving at maximum vampire speed, faster than the human eye could process. As they crossed the finish line, they both screamed out "Yeessss! Oohh, yeessss! Yes, yes, yes!" With a few final strokes, they let the canoe glide gently over to the bank. Both of them seemed a bit spent, as Emmett jumped to the bank, pulled the canoe out of the water, gently picked up Rose into his arms, cradled her close to his chest, and reverently kissed her lips. Both of them moaned a contented sigh. Only then did they become aware of their audience, all of whom were caught between disgust and amusement.

Emmett shrugged and grinned. "Hey, it worked, didn't it?" We all started laughing. To my immense satisfaction and everyone else's surprise, Edward and Leah easily took first place. The combination of skill, talent, speed, strength, and knowledge won the day. Jacob and Sam and Emmett and Rose tied for second place. Jacob and Sam could have won if they hadn't gotten distracted by watching Emmett and Rose at the end, but then again, Emmett and Rose could have won if they had used their technique from the start of the race. I was happy it had turned out the way it had.

"Okay," I announced. "I hope this shows you all that werewolves and vampires are fairly evenly matched. Each side has strengths and weaknesses. Each individual brings different skills, gifts, and talents to the table. We are better together than we are apart. We may not need each other, but we are better off with each other than without." I could hear the murmuring of the crowd as they commented on my observations. I could only hope they were agreeing with me. "So, we need to accept each other as equals, as friends, and as family, and stop trying to one up each other all the time. Mix it up. I've been thinking about it, how we can identify one another as needed. All of us together are the Forks family. The vampires, plus me, are the Cullen family. Sam, Jared, Emily, Kim, and Paul are the Push Pack. Jacob, Embry, Quil, Leah, and Seth are the Black Pack. Additionally, Emily, Kim, Angela, Ben, and I are part of the People Pack. What do you think?"

Thankfully, everyone seemed to agree with me, and we went our separate ways in peace and harmony. I was happy to be alone with Edward for a while. We had been spending so much time and energy into forging this alliance and making sure it worked that we hadn't had as much couple time as I would have liked. Edward was on the same wavelength.

"Alone together at last," he whispered into my ear. "Whatever shall we do?"

I grinned up at him and gave him a gentle kiss on his smiling lips. "It's getting late. I need to get back to my house, fix dinner, and make sure I have everything ready for school tomorrow."

He groaned as he rubbed up against me. "How about we go pick something up for dinner, my treat? Then we'll have a little extra time to concentrate on each other."

My first thought was to protest, but a little voice in my head reminded me that I was supposed to be learning to accept gifts. Plus, I really, really wanted to have that extra time with him as much as he did, so I gave in gracefully. We picked up some Chinese food in town and had everything laid out and ready when Charlie got home. Charlie was thrilled, as I never usually picked Chinese. It wasn't one of my favorites, and I never realized my father had a taste for it. I felt a bit guilty. After all, I personally disliked rice, which made many dishes unappetizing to me right off the top. Charlie didn't share my aversion however, and had missed it a bit, for in truth, I rarely used it in my recipes. I preferred using shredded tortillas instead.

After dinner, I quickly got caught up on my homework and prepared everything for school the next day. As I finished my nightly routine, Edward appeared through the window. He shut the window behind him and joined me in my bed. I had turned on the electric blanket when I first got upstairs, so the bed was already nice and toasty warm. We snuggled close together and talked about how we felt the day had gone and what we felt the Forks family should do next.

"Our next major issue is the baseball game and the nomads," Edward mentioned worriedly. "I had planned to take you out of state at the time, but after the van accident, I'm not sure it's a good idea to try to completely avoid the situation. I hate the idea of you in danger though."

"I think we should invite the wolves to join us in our game of baseball. Then, when we know the nomads are close, we'll have the wolves hide in the woods downwind. As soon as the three nomads get close, the wolves will move into place to surround them. You and I will stay back behind the other Cullens. Once the nomads are surrounded, both groups will attack, kill James and Victoria, and let Laurent go find Irina. I think it is possible that without Victoria to draw him a way, he would have eventually gotten comfortable with the Denali's lifestyle, and I would hate to deprive Irina of the chance to have a mate," I suggested.

"I'm not sure about letting Laurent go, love. In Meyer's book he tried to kill you."

"I know, but he wouldn't have left Irina if Victoria hadn't guilted him into it."

"We all have choices to make. His choice in that universe demonstrates a weakness of character I cannot like."

"The same could be said of you, dear Edward, on multiple occasions in that universe. Laurent had nothing against me personally and would never have come after me without Victoria's interference.

Besides, this time around you're not going to leave me alone and defenseless, right?"

Edward looked rather embarrassed by my arguments. He couldn't deny them.

"Laurent deserves a chance to change his ways. Maybe this time around, with witnessing the deaths of James and Victoria and our alliance with the wolves, he'll be more determined to join us, through the Denali coven, rather than defy us. If he sees you in a position of power fighting and winning, rather than running and hiding, he will have more respect for you and a stronger desire to imitate your lifestyle."

Once again, he agreed with my arguments. I was thankful I was so much less intimidated by him, knowing he wasn't perfect and was just as in love with me as I was with him. It allowed me to come into my own, to express my thoughts and ideas without fear of being rejected or belittled. One of the best results was the respect I was garnering. I knew that without the confidence I now had that my relationship with both Edward and the Cullens would last forever, I would be much too shy and intimidated to express my thoughts so freely. Knowing the kind of person Stephenie Meyer had predicted I would become, someone strong enough to take on the entire Volturi family and guard without flinching, helped me to grow into that person so much faster. I expected myself to be strong and confident, due to the account I had read of my standoff with the royal vampires over my daughter's health and safety. Having those expectations of myself helped create a self-fulfilling prophecy, as I became the person I expected myself to be. Why did I always go off on these deep meaningful tangents at bedtime anyway?

To lighten things up, I decided to joke around with Edward a bit. "So, Edward, as the youngest baseball player in your family, does that make you the 'bat' boy?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You seriously thought that was amusing?"

I glared at him. "Well, yeah. I don't think a little vampire humor is amiss."

He sighed, resting on his back and throwing his arms over his eyes. "Fine, give me your best shot."

"Is this going to be like Rosalie is with blonde jokes? Are you going to be a spoilsport?"

He peeked at me out from under his arm, before covering his eyes again. He nodded his head. "Probably. I think Emmett has already told about every vampire joke in existence."

"A challenge! You've issued me a challenge!"

He groaned and shook his head. "Heaven help me."

I laughed. "Suffer, batboy. You didn't laugh when you should have. Hey, wait a minute. Does that have anything to do with Emmett's obsession with Batman—you know, the whole vampire/bat thing?"

Edward pursed his lips but refused to say anything.

"Okay, so since we're dating now, does that make me your ghoul friend?"

He groaned. I smiled. This was fun.

"Or are you happy with your 'bat'chelor status."

He groaned louder, but his lips twitched a bit.

"I'm not a supermodel or anything. I'm just the girl necks door."

He actually chuckled a little at that one, before quickly suppressing his amusement.

"I'm glad you've got such good self-control. If you'd lost control when we first met, we could easily have suffered love at first bite."

He frowned at that one. Hmm, okay, take that one out of the comedy routine. If Emmett, Rosalie, and Jacob were competing, I figured I wanted a chance too.

"What's your favorite holiday, Halloween or Fangsgiving?"

He simply shook his head. Gotta toss that one too, I guess… rats.

"So tell me how does sheep blood taste? Is it baaaaad?"

He grinned at that one. Ah, a keeper!

"I'm kind of surprised you prefer mountain lions. I would have thought your favorite animal would be the giraffe. Badumpum."

He shook his head, but he was smiling, so I knew it was still a good one. Okay, so one more.

"So, now that the wolves are friends with the vampires, do you think we should call them blood hounds?"

Edward started laughing. Yes! I did it! I got him! He removed his arm, placing it around me instead, so he could look me in the eye.

"Not to their faces!" he replied with a grin. I laughed too. We enjoyed a few kisses before I finally had to give up the fight and let sleep take me. As I started to drift off, I thought about Mike and wondered what the repercussions would be at school tomorrow. I listened to Edward humming my lullaby and figured he'd see me through it no matter what. So with a happy smile and a peaceful heart, I drifted off in the arms of the one I love.

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