Disclaimer: I own nothing from Twilight – Stephanie Meyer does.

Finder and the new characters are mine.

Prologue:

"Oh no, Bella, no!" cried Edward in horror. "Bella, please! Bella, listen to me, please, please, Bella, please! Carlisle! Bella, Bella, no, oh please, no no!"

"Edward, son…it's too late. She's gone. I'm so sorry."

And the world shifted……

Ch. 1

Edward sat, frozen in shock, as the heart of his beloved Bella ceased to beat. Carlisle, his father in all that mattered, put out a hand to touch him, but Edward didn't notice. He simply sat, covered in the blood that once drove him insane, holding the body of the girl who was his world.

Carlisle stepped back, shock and horror in his eyes. He noted, without attention, that three of his other children were fighting the vampire who had brought them all to this, the tracker James. He had no doubt of the outcome of the fight. His concern was all for Edward, his son, who had been alone for so very long and now, had lost the woman who would have been his wife, his mate, his other half. What would happen to Edward now? Would they be able to keep him from killing himself when he understood that Bella was truly gone? He doubted that even Edward's undoubted love for his family would keep him with them.

"Dr. Carlisle." A voice, a warm contralto voice, spoke from him from the darkness behind him. He whirled in surprise. How could any other being be present and unnoticed by his vampire senses?

A woman stepped forward, the shadows clinging to her like mist. "Dr. Carlisle, there is very little time. I can help you."

"Help me? Help me? There is no help here, madam. Who are you, and what do you want?" Carlisle's voice broke at last. If he could have wept, he would have drowned in tears. 'Oh, Bella, Edward, my children', he cried silently.

"Thirty seven seconds ago, Bella Swam was killed by the vampire, James. Thirty seven seconds ago, Bella Swan was in a catastrophic head-on automobile collision that took the life of her mother, Renee' and her mother's husband, Phil. If she receives proper emergency medical care in the next minute or so, she has a chance to live."

Carlisle stared at the woman, short, auburn-haired, with smoky grey eyes and startlingly thick black eyelashes. She stepped forward and laid her fingers on Carlisle's arm, not reacting to his cold skin. "I know this is a tremendous shock. I know what you have undergone here. I know what you fear most. I give you the opportunity to change this. You can choose, but you must choose very quickly."

"I don't…what do you…how is…." Carlisle stopped speaking and thought, rapidly, in the manner of vampires. Utilizing his training and his long years of almost total self-control, he extended his senses and studied the woman. She stood quietly, a small quirk in her lips, and waited. Carlisle closed his eyes and sniffed. No scent. None. He sensed some heat coming from her body, but no scent at all. No scent of blood, no scent of the oddly archaic clothing she wore, the loose trousers, tucked into soft leather boots, the wide belt, the wool of the long tunic, or of the long, hooded cape concealing her. He could not hear anything, not her breath, not her blood moving in her veins, not her heart beating. He opened his eyes and looked at her again. She met his gaze calmly, but there was a sense of urgency in her demeanor that she did not bother to hide.

"Who are you? More importantly, what are you?" he asked.

She sighed deeply. "We are wasting time. There is now less than a minute to save Bella Swan. Does anything else really matter right now?"

Carlisle looked at Edward, frozen in shock and the beginning of unendurable grief, holding the dead girl in his arms, the girl Carlisle had come to care for as a daughter. "No. Nothing else matters at this moment. How can you help? What did you mean when you said that Bella was in a car accident?"

"Do you want my help or not?"

Carlisle took a short breath and in a split-second, made the most terrifying decision of his existence. He had no idea who this woman was, whether she was real, or even if she could help, nor did he know what, if any, the price would be if she really could help his family, but he knew it didn't matter. If she could help, he would pay any price, any price at all to spare his family this terrible loss.

"Yes."

The woman smiled briefly.

She lifted some sort of charm hanging from a long silver chain around her neck. A soft light bathed the room and everyone in it, excepting Carlisle, Edward and the woman, froze in mid-motion. "Don't worry, this lasts only a very few seconds. Dr. Carlisle, no one else can know what happened here, do you understand? No one else."

"I understand," said Carlisle softly, his intellect struggling to keep shock, grief, all emotion at bay. This was not a problem to be solved with feeling. His intellect must guide here, or all would indeed be lost.

The woman stepped to Edward and crouched down beside him, a bit of distance between them. Wise, thought Carlisle. This woman must know something of what we are. "Young Edward," she called. Edward stirred and turned dead eyes to her.

"Leave me alone." The agony he felt leeched his voice of any inflection, any humanity at all, and yet, thought Carlisle, Edward had never been more human that in this moment of his deepest suffering.

"I can give you your Bella, alive. Hurt, and in serious need of medical help, but alive. Do you want her?"

Edward looked at her blankly for a heat beat, then bared his teeth in a ferocious snarl. "Get away from me! Don't speak again!" He pulled Bella's body closer into his arms, hiding his face in her hair.

Carlisle stepped forward and crouched near the woman. "Edward…son…listen. There may be a hope here."

"Hope?!? Hope?!? Are you insane, Carlisle? She is dead, dead, and nothing in all your experience can bring her back! She is dead, and this is all my fault! She didn't deserve this, but I….just get away from me, just leave me alone!!!"

"Young Edward!" The woman spoke and there was both a compelling power and pity in her voice. Edward reluctantly met her eyes. "I can give you back your Bella, intact, loving you, remembering everything you shared. With your help, I can do this. But you must decide now. We have less that one minute to accomplish this."

"Damn you! Damn you to hell! How dare you speak to me like this, now of all times?"

"Bella can be saved, young Edward. Do you want this? Do you want to save her? Is there anything you would not do to save her?"

Edward started to speak, and she raised her finger, signaling silence.

"Do you or do you not want Bella, alive and well?"

Edward took a deep shuddering breath. "Yes."

"Then you, and you, Dr. Carlisle, will do precisely as I say." Father and son gazed across the body of the dead girl they both loved, and Carlisle rose lithely to his feet. He raised Edward, still holding Bella in his arms. "What to we need to do?" He asked quietly. "Both of you, come. And bring Bella."

The strange woman stepped between them. "I must touch you for this to work. My apologies." She pulled the strange charm out again, and touched it as if she were turning some unseen mechanism, then, laying her fingers lightly on each vampire's arm, dropped the charm to the end of the chain. An oval of blue light appeared in front of them.

"Step through, carefully. The surface on the other side is different," she instructed, pushing lightly with her fingertips.

Edward and Carlisle stepped through at the same moment, shock enveloping them. The woman stood between them as they realized that they were standing in the lee of a busy highway overpass, hidden from the view of passing vehicles by the overgrowth and the concrete pillars. Before them was a terrible scene. Two vehicles, a mini-van and a small pick-up truck, had crashed head-on. Both were burning and the smell of scorched plastic and burning rubber hung heavily in the air. The woman stepped quickly between them to the rear of the mini-van, which was not yet afire.

"Dr. Carlisle, the door, please."

Carlisle stepped forward and tugged the door. It was jammed from the power of the impact. "Sir, if I know your names and your situation, I certainly know what you are. Exert some strength, please."

Carlisle didn't hesitate – he jerked the door, flinging it aside as it came free. His throat contracted at the smell of human blood, a great deal of it, but he shrugged off the reaction, well used to controlling his thirst. He heard two heartbeats, both weak and faltering, and as he stepped up into the interior of the van, one of those hearts stopped. He sniffed again, and smelled….But this was impossible! He smelled….Bella's blood! And that was her heart he heard beating weakly. He stretched out his hand to his son.

"Edward…." But by now, the scent that had so captivated him had reached Edward. He jerked his head up, and, impossibly, heard the heartbeat. He looked at the dead girl in his arms, and then his panicked eyes turned to Carlisle. Carlisle raised his brows, querying. Could Edward read the mind of this strange woman, could he detect anything that might help them through this impossibly strange situation? Edward jerked his head imperceptibly, and in turn, lifted his brows to his father. Carlisle gave him a nod, and a tiny shrug, telling Edward that yes, Bella was in the van, and no, he had no clue how this, any of it, was possible.

"Dr. Carlisle, please remove Bella from the vehicle. She is badly injured." The strange woman's quiet voice carried the weight of command and Carlisle moved almost without volition. He reached across the seat, unbuckling the seat belt and carefully lifted the breathing Bella into his arms. Turning, he faced Edward, who had stepped up to the edge of the van, holding the dead Bella close.

"You must place her in the vehicle, young Edward. Quickly, please," the woman instructed. Moving like automatons, Edward and Carlisle passed each other, one carrying a living girl, the other carrying a dead one. Edward leaned into the van and placed his Bella on the seat, re-buckling the seat belt uselessly around her. He bent forward and kissed her soft cheek, then choked and collapsed across the seat, unable to let go.

Carlisle had stepped out of the van, holding the living Bella in his arms. His training took over and he automatically assessed her condition. She was breathing, her heart beating, but she was loosing blood rapidly. There were broken bones and most likely, internal injuries as well. He felt her blood pulsing through her skin, and diagnosed very high blood pressure, which would make her bleeding wounds even worse. She had very little time indeed, if they were to save her life.

The strange woman stepped past him and into the van. She reached around Edward to touch Bella, and he snarled. She smiled at Edward. "This will not hurt her, and it is necessary." Moving slowly, never flinching from Edward's glare, she placed a small, silvery disc against the dead girl's temple, then pulled it back and placed it in a pouch at her belt. She never released Edward's eyes.

"Come," she said gently.

"I…can't," said Edward. "I can't just leave her here like this!"

"You must. Look. There is your father, Carlisle, and he is holding Bella, the living, breathing Bella. The Bella who needs you."

Edward jerked his eyes to Carlisle, who looked up and silently confirmed the woman's words. 'I don't understand any of this, but this is Bella, and she is alive!' thought Carlisle fiercely to his son. For the first time, Edward looked, really looked, at the girl in Carlisle's arms. She was breathing. And he could smell the unique, singular scent of Bella's blood. He could hear that blood, moving in her veins, hear her heart struggling to beat despite the trauma Bella had endured. The woman reached out and gently tugged at Edward's hands. "Come. You must help me if we are to save Bella."

Edward felt as if he were losing his mind. Bella was dead. Bella was alive. This strange woman walked into his greatest nightmare, his own personal hell, and offered him a way out. But it was no exit she offered, it was simply another hell. He shook his head, struggling with the incomprehensible agony, and the indescribable hope surging through him.

"Carlisle…?" he whispered.

"Edward, I don't know. I have no explanation at all. But Bella, here and now, is alive. Badly hurt, but alive. If we help her, she will live. Take the chance, son. Take it," Carlisle urged, praying that the God Edward believed had condemned him would listen, would prod Edward to accept this, the only chance Carlisle had of keeping both son and daughter alive.

Sobbing tearlessly, Edward stumbled, falling out of the van to his father's feet. Carlisle bent and desperately transferred the living Bella into Edward's arms. Edward froze. The girl moaned, a breathless whisper, and the word was a name: "…Edward…"

And suddenly it was real. His Bella was alive, in his arms. Hurt, but alive.

He raised his head, dazed and disoriented. "How…?"

"I will explain, later, what I can. It is enough to say that Bella is alive, and that is all that matters. Come, we must return."

The woman leapt from the van and the oval of blue light appeared once again. They stepped through, back in the ballet studio where James had tortured Bella.

Carlisle shook his head, supporting Edward as he collapsed to the floor. He quickly glanced toward his children, and saw frozen time resume, the fight ended, the dismembering of James, the fire lit.

"There is one more thing: Bella must be bitten, and you, young Edward, must suck the venom from the wound."

"No! Not Bella! Not after all this!" Edward practically shrieked at the woman but she paid him no mind.

"Dr. Carlisle, this must happen, or all of this has been for naught. If I have been right thus far, then take it on faith that I am still right, and this must happen. You must bite Bella's wrist, and Edward must suck out the venom. Now!"

Carlisle stared at this strange woman with the incomprehensible ability to change their world. 'What??? Bite Bella? Why?' he wondered. How did she know who, what they were? Why was it important for Bella to be bitten? What was going on here?

"This must happen, sir. She must be exposed to vampire venom or she will not be able to play her role in this world's salvation. Come, sir. The two of you can save her. Please."

Carlisle considered all the impossible things that had happened in the last minute. Instinctively, he knew that this woman had some power, some ability to know what was necessary to save Edward and Bella. Something about her, or her obvious power, told him to accept her instruction. He knew, he simply knew, that this would work out. "Edward…son, I am so sorry," breathed Carlisle, and he bent and bit Bella's wrist.

"NOooooo!!!!" screamed Edward. "Oh, Carlisle, no, no, no!!!" He snatched Bella's wrist from Carlisle and began sucking at the wound.

The woman placed a soft hand on Carlisle's bowed head as she stretched out and placed another silvery disc on Edward's temple. Intent on Bella, he did not notice as she held it there for a second, then removed it and placed it in her belt pouch.

"He will not remember this, Dr. Carlisle. Only you will be cursed with this memory. He will remember only that James had bitten Bella. He will remember that you all arrived in time to save her. He will not remember me, nor our trip across dimensions to save Bella. Only you will remember."

"Why, why have you done this? Who are you and what has happened here?" Carlisle whispered confused, shaken to his core. He could understand nothing except that this strange woman had known who they were, had known that Bella was both dead and alive, had know that they were vampires, had known, somehow known, everything that had happened tonight, and had saved Bella, perhaps saved them all.

"I owe you some answers, sir. What I can share, I will tell you. I will meet you at the hospital, after Bella is cared for," said the woman, and then she stepped away and the shadows rose up like living things and concealed her. Carlisle stared after her, puzzling, realizing that the strange woman had simply disappeared into darkness. Then Bella moaned again, and he turned, a physician heeding his calling, a father heeding his love for his children.

Carlisle stepped wearily out of the operating room at Phoenix General Hospital, wiping his hands against his scrubs. They had needed surgery and pins to set Bella's leg properly, and to repair some of the internal injuries. Though he did not have privileges at this hospital, they were good enough to let him scrub in as an observer. Things had gone very well, and Bella would be fine. He had, though, been unable to get the strange events of the evening out of his mind. Had there really been two Bellas, one alive, one dead? How could this be? And how was it that Edward remembered nothing of their encounter with the strange woman who had appeared in the ballet studio. None of his other children had seen or sensed anything either, not even Alice, and that scared him more than a little. He sighed, and turned to walk to the waiting area to tell his family how the surgery had gone.

"Dr. Carlisle."

"You!"

It was the woman from the ballet studio, the strange woman who had precipitated the strangest events Carlisle had ever experienced. He hissed slightly, then forced himself to relax. Had she meant them harm, she had had plenty of other opportunities. So far, they were safe, and Bella had been restored to them. Answers were important, but not critical.

"My apologies, Dr. Carlisle, but speed was of the essence, and there was no time for questions or explanations."

"Who are you? No, better, what are you?"

She smiled slightly. "Our paths have been close before, Dr. Carlisle. In Paris. 1796. I am called the Finder."

Carlisle thought furiously. He remembered being in Paris during the tumultuous Revolution and the following bloodbath, hearing vague stories of a person who could find things, people, objects, solutions, but his orders from the Volturi had not given him time for investigating a strange story.

"You are not a vampire, nor a shape-shifter. How is this possible?" He would have liked to point out that she certainly didn't look nearly three hundred years old, but he refrained. What had happened during the evening had shaken his confidence in his understanding of the world, and he had yet to recover his balance.

Finder smiled again. "No, I am neither of those, nor am I witch, or daemon. I am not an angel, a savior, or a saint. I am a person with some odd gifts, a great deal of learning and a responsibility." She paused. "I regret that you must bear this knowledge, Dr. Carlisle. It is necessary." She reached out and handed him a small, silvery disc. "You must place this disc on Bella's temple before she awakens from the anesthetic. Hold it there for a second or two, and then destroy it totally."

"Why? What is it?" It was identical to the silvery disc she had held to Edward's temple, back in the dance studio, and that had certainly done Edward no harm that he, or Edward, knew of. Surely the woman had not gone to the trouble of the inexplicable exchange of Bellas, only to hurt Bella.

"It will alter her brain engrams slightly, no more."

"That isn't possible", whispered Carlisle, shocked and more confounded than he thought possible.

Finder actually chuckled. "After tonight, you question what is possible?"

Carlisle bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement and Finder continued. "Are you familiar with the theory of parallel worlds, Dr. Carlisle?" He started at the seeming non-sequitur.

"I have read something about it. It is a theory that there are other worlds, mirrors to our own, where most things are the same, with a few crucial differences."

"It is no theory, Dr. Carlisle. Parallel worlds exist, congruent to this one."

Carlisle thought for a moment. Parallel worlds would certainly explain why there were two Bella's, but it would not explain everything.

"Alright. Supposing that this theory is indeed fact. Why have you stepped into our lives? What does Bella have to do with this? Or any of us?"

Finder rubbed her hand across the back of her neck wearily. She sighed. "I am a guardian, Dr. Carlisle. My job is simple. I am responsible for watching over the maturation of sentient species. I used to say 'the human race', but vampires, shape-shifters, and the like are not human, or not only human. Yet they are all sentient, and it is my job to help them achieve maturity. I watch over the closest congruent worlds, and intervene when something threatens to end that world entirely."

"I don't understand. How could Bella, or my family, have anything to do with the end of our world?" Carlisle was truly astounded at her words. He sensed intuitively that she spoke a truth he had only glimpsed, but it simply made no sense to him.

"Dr. Carlisle, there are…analogs between the worlds, dopplers, who are in every way exactly like each other. In Bella's first world, however, vampires do not exist. There are no analogs for you Cullens, nor most of the other 'supernatural' beings that exist in this world. For her, you Cullens are fictional characters from a series of books and films written largely for teenaged girls."

Carlisle snorted. This preposterous statement couldn't be taken seriously, and yet….yet this evening had occurred.

"I know, I know. But there are no analogs for Cullens. For Bella, yes. For you, no." She paused. "I have been watching this world closely, for many reasons. Another…situation had piqued my interest. Further investigation made it clear to me that for this world to survive, Bella and Edward are necessary. And you as well, sir."

"I? How is this….no, this makes no sense. We don't play hero, we keep our existence secret. And I know of nothing that could threaten every human-based species in our world."

"Dr. Carlisle, you will simply have to take my word for this now. There are things I cannot explain at this time. Though I find you Cullens fascinating, particularly young Edward and your daughter Alice, I would have not intervened for your sake alone. I may tell you that without you, and without Edward and Bella, every human, every vampire, every human-based species in this world, will die. It is my job to prevent such catastrophes if I can. And even so, I do not yet know if I have succeeded this time."

"You cannot make such a sweeping statement without some sort of evidentiary support. This is a wild, insane story, and explains nothing!" Carlisle could not, would not simply take this story on faith alone. He was a physician with a sweeping interest in theoretical science and the time to indulge his interest, and yet he simply could not credence the woman's story. Regardless of all the mysterious things that had happened, he simply could not take any more insanity.

"Dr. Carlisle, the proof of my story lies in the recovery room, breathing."

Carlisle stopped short.

"I can't…I just can't…"

Finder took pity on him. "I know, sir, I know. It is impossible, utterly impossible, and yet….it happened. And you know it. You are not insane, you are not dreaming, this is real."

"How…what…what can you tell me to make this all make sense?" Carlisle asked desperately.

"Very little more at this time. There are a few things you must know. That disc will reinforce Bella's memories of Edward without damaging her at all. She must forget that she ever read books or saw films about fictional vampires. Other than that, she will recall every detail of her life perfectly. And before you object, in her own world her life ended tonight. Young Edward will not remember this either. I regret the necessity of interfering with their liberty, but things must unfold as they are being set up to do." She reached out her hand and pulled off a silver band from her index finger. "You will need this ring, Dr. Carlisle. Young Edward can read your mind, and no unguarded memory of this incident must come to his awareness. And there will come a time when the Volturi will ask to read your thoughts and you may not refuse." Carlisle thought he was beyond shock, but the woman's mention of the rulers of the vampire world shook him more than anything he had yet experienced during this terrible, shattering evening. The woman continued as though he had not reacted. "This charm will protect this incident and anything relating to it from anyone able to perceive your thoughts. It will do nothing else. It will resist vampire venom, vampire powers and will work indefinitely. The rest of the secrecy will depend on your strength of will, sir, which is formidable. This is a secret you must keep from everyone, even your mate. No one can know of this." She took his hand, ignoring the cold of his skin, and slid the ring onto his smallest finger, where it fit perfectly. He glanced at it curiously and then at her, and she grinned. "I was prepared, sir. I do have a plan."

In that moment she looked years younger, and truly human. Carlisle found himself smiling back. She took another item from her pouch and Carlisle was surprised to find a flash drive in his palm. "This is a compilation of several months of research, not all of which was legally acquired, I must confess, on a virus outbreak in southeast Asia. Study it, sir. Study it most carefully. This is the answer to your question of why. It is your excuse for preoccupation, should you need it. You, sir, are the only person in this world who has a chance of solving this riddle. You have eighteen to twenty-four months, sir. And I will be in contact." Carlisle looked at the flash-drive in his hand, started to speak, and Finder was gone. He was alone with his memories, his questions, and his fears.