Alice started out tentatively.
"I'm not sure how she's managed it, but Bella… sent me a message."
Edward lost all movement. Jasper's face seemed to sadden, Emmett looked annoyed – the others simply listened.
"I had a vision, right? Since you asked me to look into how Bella was doing." Alice was speaking directly to Edward. "She was sitting at her desk and writing this letter, essay- something. And it was titled For Alice and the Cullens."
Alice paused because she wasn't quite sure how Edward would take it.
"She was writing something along the lines of: I know you're watching out for me, but I need to be left alone. I don't want to worry that I'm worrying somebody. Normal people don't have a clairvoyant vampire watching out for their future, the future just happens."
Dead silence and no movement from Edward.
"Well-"
"No."
Alice frowned at the authoritative tone of her brother.
"But, Edward-"
"I said 'no'. She's too clumsy for her own good."
"What the hell! This isn't right, Edward!"
He snarled at her, his eyes feral. But Alice wasn't afraid, she was pissed off.
"Bella has a point! Normal people live their lives out. If she's meant to die in a car crash, then that's what's in her destiny. You can't keep on interfering!"
"Of course I can!" Edward continued with his logic.
It was Alice's turn to snarl. Carlisle intervened.
"Edward, I think Alice is right in this. After all, you chose to separate yourself from Bella so that she could live a normal, human life. Because it was something you couldn't offer her."
In his head, he apologized to Edward for sounding unfeeling but Edward knew it wasn't the case.
"You can't go both ways Edward." This was from Alice. "She wanted to become a vampire for you but you rejected that idea. You want her to have a human life, then you need to butt out. Unless you've changed your mind?"
If possible, Edward looked angrier but his lack of verbal answer was answer enough. Alice softened her tone, knowing this wasn't easy on him.
"Look, Bella was my friend. And I'm going to respect her last wishes."
"You speak of her as if she's dead!" Edward hissed, hands in tight fists. Alice lost it.
"Well, you've pretty much made it that way for yourself and the rest of us," her tone bitter.
"Alice!"
Edward's eyes registered shock but it was Esme who had chided her. Alice didn't apologize to him because it wasn't just Edward that missed Bella. She would never feel like he did, but Bella had had the potential of becoming a friend like Rosalie and Esme never could be. Alice missed her. This she transmitted mentally to Edward and his shoulders seemed to loosen up with sadness.
Why don't you go back to her? Alice asked him silently.
But Edward just shook his head and said: "It's better this way."
Dejected, he went upstairs to his room.
7 Years Later
She watched as the cigarette sent spirals of smoke into the air. Similar spirals of smoke were probably floating in her lungs, seeing that this was her second cigarette in half an hour.
"I love the scent of those poison-sticks on you," Leo drawled from across the room, running an appreciative eye over her. "I love that dress on you, too. It's probably the color," he said with a smirk.
Bella was wearing a bright red dress that was made from the finest silk. The material shimmered in the light. Blood-red rubies were clipped to her ears and around her wrists. The irony in Leo's comment was not lost on her. Seeing that she could easily be his second meal of the night, the red outfit made her look as if coated in fresh blood.
"I was thinking of you when I bought it," she admitted.
Leo chuckled, amused at her little joke. After three years spent together, Bella had a pretty good grasp on how her lover ticked. Or, well, didn't. His heart had stopped beating hundreds of years ago.
Bella found herself in the same situation as seven years ago. For her 25th birthday, she was spending the evening with her vampire boyfriend and his family. And in another three years, she would become one herself.
She assumed that since the Cullens hadn't stormed into Leo's Italian palazzo, Alice had listened to her plea all those years ago and had stopped looking into the future. Because she was doing exactly what Edward had wanted to keep her from doing.
Shaking the thought of her bronze-eyed vampire, she extinguished her cigarette and gracefully rose out of her seat. Leo's crimson eyes gleamed appreciatively.
"Well, shall we make a move? I'm pretty sure being fashionably late ended a couple minutes ago."
Leo rose from his seat and placed her hand in the crook of his arm.
"Then let's not keep them waiting anymore, Isabella."
