The first thing Bella did after she left the pawn shop was find a gas station. She put fifteen dollars worth in the tank, hoping that it would get her through the week at least. Once she was back on the road, she thought over the strange proposition and the even stranger man it had come from. Emmett was still a question mark. Bella didn’t think he was a ‘good guy’ or a ‘bad guy;’ he seemed to walk the line in between. However, even though she had been prepared to alter her morals slightly, she found it difficult once she was actually faced with it.

Alice. I’m doing this for Alice, she kept repeating.

She could do anything if it meant keeping what was left of their family together. Besides, she couldn’t really see anything illegal in what Emmett was proposing, but she was a cop’s daughter so she knew that when something seemed to be too good to be true, it usually was. There was no sense worrying about it now; she’d already agreed to meet Emmett’s “associate.” Imagine her shock when she learned it was Carlisle Cullen. She had never actually met the man, but everyone in Forks knew who he was.

BELLA

To buy toilet paper or milk: that was Bella’s choice. She recounted her money, five dollars and thirty four cents in change. It would be all there was until another check arrived tomorrow. If it arrives.

She weighed the pros and cons of the two simple items, both necessary. The milk—well, Alice drank the milk like a starved vampire drinks blood: 'til every drop is gone. Bella liked to keep at least a half gallon in the fridge, because at fourteen years old, the calcium was good for her sister. Or at least, that's what they say. Who ever they were, anyway.

The need for toilet paper was obvious, or course. But it was harder to steal milk than it was to lift an extra roll from a public john. So, milk it was. She tried not to be embarrassed as she counted out the quarters and dimes until it totaled the requisite $2.56. With a long line behind her, she felt their eyes and assumptions slamming into her back, making her face pink up, her hands shake, and the simple math complex.