“How are you, cara mia?”  Marcus smiled fondly at her.

Bella giggled, talking about her time in Forks, and Charlie smiled before slipping away and leaving the two to catch up.

But when Bella mentioned the Cullens, Marcus’ face darkened slightly before returning to normal. Luckily, she hadn’t caught that.

“You have an appointment with Dr. Cullen now, yes?” Marcus questioned her.

“Oh, I do! I’d almost forgotten,” she said sheepishly, still excited from Marcus’ appearance.

“I see. I will escort you there.”

Bella grinned, grabbing his hand and leading him out, calling out to Charlie.

“I’m going to my appointment now, Dad! Marcus is going to take me. I’ll see you in a little bit.”

Marcus drove to the hospital smoothly but quickly, and Bella was still able to talk to him without making him lose concentration. Still, while listening to her, he was thinking about the Cullens and their presence here. It would be most troublesome for them to be so involved with Bella, but he couldn’t just keep her away. She, of course, would listen to him.

But it was still her choice on the final say, and if she did do as he asked it would be reluctantly. He would not have her so bitter with him.

“Marcus, am I boring you?” Bella asked hesitantly.

“No, of course not, cara mia. I am just looking forward to meeting your new doctor. I want to be…sure of him,” he assured her. It does not help when he knew what Carlisle really was, a vampire just like himself. And while he knew of Carlisle’s infamous control, he would not be sure the vegetarian would be able to resist Bella with her unique and practically irresistible scent. He didn’t have an attachment to Bella like Marcus did, and that extra incentive kept the Volturi leader from harming her.

“Carlisle’s not like Dr. Moretti,” Bella stated and he raised an eyebrow at her. “You call him by his first name.”

She blushed and didn’t answer.

“Just be careful.”

She looked sharply at him, “Is there…?”

“No, cara mia. I didn’t mean it like that. I just don’t want you to be hurt and for you to be careful.”

“I understand. Will you tell me anything when you meet him?” she asked hesitantly.

“Of course. You know I’ll take care of you,” he smiled fondly once more at her before parking.

Once there, Bella led him to where her appointment was, and they waited together in the waiting room. It wasn’t long until Carlisle came out to meet them, and Marcus knew the other vampire had actually hurried to come out when he heard Bella was here for her appointment. Ah, the benefits of super hearing…

Carlisle came out and his smile faltered at the sight of Marcus, eyes widening. Marcus simply nodded at him, whispering in Bella’s ear that he’d wait out there for her. The two of them went in for the check up and Marcus sat calmly in the waiting room, ignoring the gaping humans, some of which whispered annoyingly about his looks and clothing.

Soon enough, Bella was finished and ready to leave.

He smiled at her, but it was a different smile than the usual ones he sent her. It was strained and much like the earlier ones he’d given her when she was Italy and they’d first met.

“Bella, wait for me here. I would like to speak with Dr. Cullen alone.”

She smiled unsurely at him, but did as he asked and he walked away with Carlisle for their talk.

“Marcus, I had no idea you were here,” the blond vampire noted uncertainly.

“I’m here to visit Bella,” he answered shortly. “I see you have settled in here nicely. Your family must have as well.”

“Yes, we’re all doing fine and haven’t had trouble keeping our existence secret.”

“Good. Now I am warning you, Carlisle. If you harm Bella, or prove to be harmful to her, there will be no shred of compassion in me to help you. Try to stay away from her, will you?”

“I understand, Marcus. As I am willing, I will try to heed your words,” Carlisle reluctantly said.

Marcus nodded, but frowned inwardly, feeling out the relationships from Bella. Carlisle and his mind-reader son had a particular bond with Bella, with Carlisle’s stronger and more mutual.

Well, well…it looks like Carlisle did have an attachment to Bella that kept the monster at bay…

Marcus gave Carlisle a smile that reminded him of a shark’s.

“There’s always interesting developments going on all the time, isn’t there?” he said cryptically, confusing Carlisle.

It would be a nice twist of fate, and it would solve Bella’s problem permanently. Marcus would love Bella entering into their world, but for now…he was quite sure he preferred Bella to be human.

Things will evolve and he’ll watch. His main interest was Bella after all, nothing more and nothing less.

~*~*~

Carlisle looked back to the documents, searching for a particular detail –an important location. And when he found it, he cursed quite unlike himself.

“Carlisle?” Alice questioned, hovering at the door to his study. Jasper hesitantly stood behind her.

“Alice, did you see anything about the Volturi coming here to Forks?”

Alice shook her head. “No. Why?”

“Was the Volturi in Bella’s life before she came to Forks?”

“…No…Carlisle, what’s going on?”

“You knew about Bella’s first doctor trying to kill her. You saw it.”

“Yes, but I didn’t get to see everything. The vision stopped at him choking her.”

Carlisle sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Volterra, Italy. That was where Bella had gone to and where her first doctor had tried to kill her. And the same place where Marcus met Bella in the first place.”

“Marcus of the Volturi?” Jasper asked sharply, mouth frowning.

“One and the same. He came with Bella today for her appointment. He warned me against harming her and to try to stay away. It doesn’t seem like she knows what he is though.”

“But what would the Volturi want with Bella? How do Marcus and Bella know each other? And is he in Forks because of Bella?” Alice muttered, becoming worried.

Jasper shook his head, “What does matter is that we keep a close eye on Bella and watch over her from Marcus.”

“Right. Alice, Jasper, you two keep an eye on her and try to get some answers. I think there’s a lot more going on than we are aware of,” Carlisle was just as worried as the others.

And they had the perfect opportunity, when the next morning at school, Bella drove up to school in a sleek scarlet F430 Spider Ferrari, Marcus at the wheel.

They watched as she said goodbye to him and they almost gaped when they saw the Volturi leader smile at her before driving away. Catching sight of them, Bella happily, though only slightly tired, walked towards them.

“Hey you two! How are you guys doing? Thanks for the visit and everything.”

“Hey there yourself,” Jasper smiled, starting first and amazing his wife. Jasper always tried to talk with Bella, but it was mostly she who talked and he most of the time just added a quip or two. “Who was that in the car? I thought Jacob drove you to school,” Jasper jumped right in, moving smoothly into the questioning they’d wanted.

“Oh, Jacob has to be tutored in the mornings so he can’t drop me off anymore. That was Marcus. He’s a friend of mine I met in a hospital in Volterra, Italy. He’s helped a lot in me learning to move around.”

Okay, two things they suspected confirmed and a little more detail about Marcus in her life.

“I see. That’s nice. Is he here to visit?” Jasper continued, taking control of the subtle interrogation. Alice let him, knowing Jasper would be more subtle in prying out answers without looking like they were questioning Bella, and be more successful than her anyway.

“Um, I’m not really sure. I didn’t get to ask him. I was just so excited to see him that it must’ve slipped my mind,” Bella said thoughtfully.

So Marcus had just for sure arrived recently.

“Well, it’s understandable that you were so excited you’d forget about something like that –especially if you were close, right?” Jasper kept smiling, not slipping a moment.

Alice was very in awe of her husband at that moment.

“Yeah, Marcus and I are very close. He’s done so much for me; I don’t think I could ever repay him.”

Jasper nodded. “Sounds like you’re very close. Are you two…friends…or something more?” he teased with a grin, looking and sounding very natural and not at all suspicious or like he was grilling her.

“Jasper!” Bella lightly pushed his shoulder, only pausing a moment at the strange hardness of his body. “No, Marcus is very sweet and handsome but he’s like another…father, you could say. A third one at that. And I’m his cara mia. It’s not romantic at all…it’s just that…we have a very odd closeness. A bond, you could say.”

A more exact facet of Marcus and Bella’s relationship, making it very clear the two were close. Worrying, but it didn’t reveal the why’s that they wanted. Not yet at least.

“It would be nice to meet him.”

Alice gaped at her husband, before trying to look normal again.

“Sure, come on over after my appointment. Marcus is probably going to pick me up as well.”

Well, score for them.

~*~*~

Bella fidgeted, feeling Edward staring intensely at her from beside her.

“Um, hello,” she muttered.

“Hello,” he said and then kept quiet, still staring.

“I’m Bella,” she continued to mutter.

“Edward.”

Bella glanced at him strangely and then went back to her notebook, deciding that she didn’t know what else to say so she wouldn’t say anything else.

“I apologize for my behavior when we met. I wasn’t…in the best of moods. Can we start over?”

Bella slowly smiled, “Okay. I’d like that.”

Edward gave her a crooked grin in return.

The whole period of biology, they talked and got to know each other. It was actually really nice, and it didn’t help Bella when Edward would give one of his crooked smiles to her. It was a rather cute smile…

His smile made her turn red for some reason.

She was disappointed when class was over and she had to go to gym, but she was glad she was now on good terms with Edward. She had felt horrible before when he had acted the way he did. While she was still confused why he was like that then, she was just content that they were getting along.

But she was back to being happy when school was over, and Marcus was promptly waiting for her by his car, leaning casually against his door and dark shades covering his eyes. He smiled at her when he saw her, and she grinned happily back.

She saw him glance behind her, a frown briefly flitting across his face before becoming neutral again, and she looked back to see Alice and Jasper frowning in their direction, with Edward looking shock and confused, and the last two of the Cullen family looked worried.

Bella frowned inwardly to herself, but hurried to Marcus’ side. She shrugged it off, but she couldn’t help wondering if there was more to Jasper’s questions earlier than curiosity and teasing.

“So, you’re going to drop me off to my appointment?”

Marcus smiled and opened her door for her, “Yes. But I’ll wait in the waiting room for you again.”

“You don’t have to,” she looked at him fondly.

“But I want to.”

“Well, if you insist…Um, Alice and Jasper are going to come over later. They’re close friends of mine. Do you want to meet them?”

Marcus’ face was stony. “Sure, why not?” he said guardedly.

Bella frowned at him, “Is something wrong?”

“No, why would you say that?”

“Because. I don’t need your ability to read relationships to read that you and Alice and Jasper, or any of the Cullens for that matter, seem to not like each other. The way you guys were looking at each other earlier…”

“It’s nothing, cara mia. And how can you be so sure? It’s not like I’ve shown anything like dislike towards them. I haven’t even met them.”

Bella’s frown deepened, “Have you really? Not met them?”

“…No…”

“It’s just that…I know you, Marcus,” she said surprisingly. “I mean, I don’t have any reading powers or anything. But I know you, right? I can read you.”

“That you can, cara mia,” he realized. “It’s because we have a close and special bond, and as closed off as I am with others, you are so close to me that you will always know how I feel. Just exactly how, I wonder,” he smiled teasingly.

She gave him a familiar shark smile, and he also realized just how much she was like him or how much she’d picked up from him.

“That’s my little secret, caro mio.”

“Grazie per tutto, il mio amore. Vi prometto sarà più prossima più tardi. Se lo fiderete di?”

“Ammenda. Ma lei promessa?”

“Sì.”

“We’re here,” Bella said softly, just as Marcus parked smoothly.

She started to get out, when Marcus’ hand shot out and gently held onto her arm.

“Marcus?”

“Cara mia, I knew Carlisle. I don’t know his kids, so I was telling the truth earlier about having not met them. But I knew Carlisle. He’d visited Volterra, Italy once and met my brothers and I.”

Bella was quiet before nodding. “I see. Thank you for telling me, and being honest.”

“Always, mia bella.”

Though slightly upset and thoughts wandering everywhere, when she met Carlisle, the sight of his smile made her forget everything –her worries, her agitation, her racing thoughts…

His smile made her feel warm and inexplicably happy.