Chapter 2 Family

ALICE

Alice darted to the door. When she opened she threw her arms around her best friend.

"You have no idea how much I missed you!" she all but screamed. "The whole family has actually."

"Alice, as much as I missed you too, I can't breathe." Bella gasped.

"Sorry." Alice said and pulled away. "Come in."

"Hi Bella, dear." Esme who was just walking out of the kitchen. "It's wonderful to see you again." She then went up the stairs.

Bella stood looking awkward for a moment.

"She's not mad. The others just didn't know if this was a me and you thing or an everyone thing." Alice replied trying to explain Esme's abrupt departure.

"There's no secrets in this family." Bella shrugged. "But I would like to just talk to you, right now."

"Have a seat." Alice said.

Bella sat down on the couch and Alice, just getting over the excitement of seeing her again, really looked at her. Her face was tearstained and she had a bruise blossoming on her left cheek.

"What happened?" she asked slightly alarmed.

"I was at Jacob's." Bella said.

"If that mutt hurt her. I swear, I'll kill him!" Alice thought angrily but kept watching Bella.

"We got into a fight." Bella continued liike she was afraid to go on.

"About what?" Alice pressed though she already had a pretty good idea.

"You guys." Bella answered.

Alice wasn't far off the mark.

"He doesn't think that I should still be attached to the family because Edward and I aren't together. He also thinks that you guys only tolerated me because of Edward." Bella continued.

"That's not true!" Alice yelled astonished. "Yes, it all started because of Edward but once you become part of this family, you will always be! Edward would never forgive us if we cut you off. No matter how he feels about being around you."

"I know." Bella replied smiling. "I'm sorry for cutting you guys off, though."

"Don't be." Alice replied. "We know that you're trying to respect Edward's space and don't want him hurting anymore than he is. We figured that you needed some space too. Which is what kept me from calling all month. Okay, so the mu-Jacob, sorry, doesn't think you should spend time with us anymore?"

"Yes, in fact, he told me that he forbid it."

Alice burst out laughing. "Who does he think he is? Her father. Please!" She thought but said, "I'm sorry. That's a little ridiculous, don't you think?"

"Yes." Bella replied grinning slightly. "And that's what I told him. I also told him that I was gonna see you if I wanted."

"And what did he say to that?" Alice asked but once again she knew the answer.

Bella didn't seem to have it in her to say it so she just pointed to the bruise. Alice felt rage, to rival Edward's when he finds out, boiling up inside her.

"He did what!" she almost screamed.

"Calm down, Alice." Bella begged. "It's the first time it happened. He just has a hard time controling himself when we talk about you and the family. Please, don't do anything!"

"I won't but he sure as hell better learn to control himself!" she was fighting the urge to scream again.

Bella opened her mouth to speak again but her cell rang. She pulled it out and looked at the screen.

"It's Jake." she said flipping open the phone.

BELLA

"Hello." she said.

"Bella, sweetie, I'm so sorry. I just lost control." Jake voice sounded worried and remorseful.

"It's okay." Bella said. "I knew you were losing it. That's why I left. I'm sorry too."

"Where are you?" he asked.

"I came to see Alice." she replied cringing slightly.

Something like a growl came from the other line.

"Did you tell her?"

"Yes."

"Great, now I'm going to have them watching my every move."

"I'm sorry, Jake." she pleaded.

"Just get back here. We have to be to Sam's in an hour."

"I'll be there in a bit."

She flipped the phone shut and turned back to Alice. Alcie was staring at her with a dumbfounded expression on her face. She, no doubt heard the entire conversation.

"You're going back." Alice said astounded.

"Yes. Look, it only happened once. If it does again, I won't go back." she said and headed for the door.

"Wait." Alice said jumping up. "If you're going to be around the pack, you probably don't want them to see the bruise."

"I would rather not have to explain it."

"Get back on the couch and I'll be back in a minute." Alice ran up the stairs.

Bella stared around the room. It was true, you never really knew how much you'd miss something until it was gone. She had missed everything about the house and everyone in it. Alice came bounding back down the stairs with a make up before she had more time to think on it anymore.

"I want you to know that you can come over here or call me anytime you need me." Alice told her as she began putting concealer on the bruise.

"I know." Bella replied.

"Do you want me to keep it from Edward?" she asked.

"No, there's no secrets in this family. Besides, it would be too hard for you to block your thoughts all the time."

"Okay, well, you're all finished."

She handed Bella a small hand mirror. Bella looked at herself and she didn't see any hint of the bruise.

"You're the best, Alice. Thank you for everything."

She threw her arms around Alice.

"Just remember, you always have family here." Alice replied as Bella walked out the door.

ALICE

"Just remember, you always have family here." Alice said as Bella walked out the door. She heard the stairs creak and turned to see Esme, Carlisle, and Rosalie coming down.

"It's not going to stop, is it?" she asked Carlisle.

"I don't know. In a normal case, it just gets worse but there is nothing normal about Jacob." Carlisle responded. "We just have to wait and watch."

"Is there anything we can do?" she asked.

"I'm afraid not." Carlisle replied. "We can't even report this or anything else he may do later to the police."

"Why not?" Alice asked outraged.

"Because it risks exposing the pack, as well as, inadvertantly, exposing ourselves." Carlisle replied.

"So if he does it again, we just have to keep watching it happen?!" Alice questioned. It wasn't known to anyone else but her and Jasper, maybe Edward, that she hated seeing Bella hurt or in pain almost as much as Edward did.

"No." Carlisle responded. "We keep doing what you just did. We take care of her and let her know we always will. That's the best we can do, right now. Hopefully, if it does continue, she will end up leaving him."

By now, Rosalie was sitting in the armchair looking as indifferent as ever, flipping through channels. Alice knew that Rosalie did care but didn't like to show it. Something Alice would never understand. Carlisle had sat next to Alice on the couch and Esme curled up in Carlisle's lap.

"What about Edward?" Esme asked. "Should we tell him? I mean he's already sad and angry he lost her to Jacob but what if he finds out he's hurting her."

"He hurt her, once!" Alice stated defiantly. "We don't know for sure if he's going to do it again!"

The other three gave her looks of pure astonishment. They thought she was defending the dog.

"I mean I don't want to belive he is going to continue hurting her. Positive thinking is the best thing right now." she explained.

"Still, it doesn't change the question." Esme stated. "What about Edward?"

"It's like Bella said," Rosalie interjected. "There are no secrets in this family and it would be too hard for all of us to block our thoughts all the time."

"She's right." Carlisle stated. "We'll just have to keep him under control. We have to make sure he knows that it could be just a one time thing."

"Should I call them or wait for them to come back?" Alice asked.

"Go ahead and call them." Esme said.

Alice opened her phone and dialed Jasper's number. It rang four times and went to voicemail.

"Hey Jazz, it's Al. We need you guys to come home soon. It's not an emergency or anything so don't worry. We just need to have a family meeting and the sooner the better. It's about Bella. I can't tell you exactly what because we don't wanna risk Edward hearing your thoughts. Just get home soon. I love you." She flipped the phone shut. They waited in silence for an hour. All of them rolling over their thoughts on the situation.

Alice just prayed that it wouldn't happen again. Bella didn't deserve that. Then again, the mutt didn't deserve Bella and Edward did but nobody ever got what they deserved did they. She was pulled out of her thoughts by the ringing cell phone. She looked at the screen and it was Jasper.

"Wow, this is putting my off the ball. Usually, I don't have to look." She thought as she flipped the phone open and said, "Hey Jazz."

"Hey Al. We'll be home in a couple minutes. Is everything okay with her?" he asked.

"I can't say. For Edward's sake." she answered. "I love you."

"I love you, too. We'll be there in less than five minutes." The line clicked and Alice closed her phone.

"They'll be hear in five minutes." she told the others.

Everyone got up and walked to the dining room.

EDWARD

When my the boys entered the house, Edward could immediately tell whatever it was about Bella was bad. Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and Alice were blocking him. Esme was thinking about redecorating the dining room but with little conviction. Carlisle was going through the steps of a triple bypass but missing key points. Rosalie was, of course, thinking about herself but there was a hint of sadness to them and Alice was...

"Alice, if you're going to block me, please stop singing NSYNC songs." Edward said slightly annoyed.

"Sorry." she said.

"Edward, could you have a seat?" Esme asked. Edward wanting to know what was going on sat down next to Esme at the dining room table. "Jasper, Emmett, could you please sit on either side of him please?" Esme rose and moved to the other side of Carlisle.

"Why do I need a guard?" Edward asked.

"Because you aren't gonna like what we have to say." Carlisle replied.

"We don't want you to do anything you'd regret." Esme stated. "Alice, why don't you get us started?"

"Edward, there was a reason Bella didn't want you to see her today." Alice stated. "She had a fight with Jacob today. A fight about the family. You know how angry the topic makes him, especially since he still feels threatened by you."

She was building up to something that she didn't want to say. It was something that she knew would set him off. He tried to look into her head but she had moved on from NSYNC to The Backstreet Boys.

"He ended up telling her that she couldn't spend time with us anymore." Alice kept talking.

Edward burst out laughing as did Emmett and Jasper.

"Who does he think he is? Does he honestly expect her to listen? 'Cuz if Isabella Swan wants to do it, she'll do it. Even if it's dangerous!"

"She told him something to that level." Alice stated.

"Good." Edward said. "At least she's keeping him in line."

'That's not all. He lost control." Alice said. "It wasn't bad!" She added seeing the anger on Edward's face.

"What's not bad?"

"He hit her but she left before he could do anything else."

"I'm gonna kill that filthy mongrel!" Edward growled attempting to stand. Emmett placed a hand on his shoulder and shived him back into the chair. He felt Jasper sending him waves of calm.

"We can't doing anything about it right now." Carlisle stated.

"To hell we can't." Edward growled again.

"We can't because if we go to the police they'll want proof but right now, Bella doesn't think it'll happen again, so she'll change her story. And even if she doesn't we still risk exposing the pack who we don't have a problem with." Carlisle explained.

"Then let's go down there and do something." Edward said.

"I won't risk starting a war." Carlisle stated. "Besides, Edward, Bella still loves him and do you really think she'll appreciate you hurting him."

Edward knew that it would only make Bella hate him if he hurt Jacob. It still hurt though to just sit there and do nothing. What if he did it again? What if he really hurt her? Alice couldn't see her future when Bella was with him. What if they couldn't see and stop her from being terribly hurt?

"So what do we do?" he sighed.

"We just have to be there for her if it happens again." Carlisle said. "And we can't judge or try to force her to leave him. It will just push her away from us."

"Fine but I can't be here when she's hurt. I don't think I'd be able to control myself." Edward said through clenched teeth.

"We understand." Esme said in her loving way. "But we have to remember that we don't know if it's going to happen again. So let's try not to condemn her."

"I really hope it doesn't." Edward said solemnly.

"So do we." Esme thought placing her hands on his in a motherly way.

BELLA

Bella arrived back at La Push with about fifteen minutes before they had to be at Sam's. She drove to Jacob's house. He was waiting on the porch for her, he looked angry. She took a deep breath and got out of the car.

"I can't believe you went over there, after I told you to stay away from them!" he yelled walking toward her.

"And I told you that you don't own me!" she yelled back. "Alice is my best friend, the person that you go to when you're upset!"

"It would be different if your best friend wasn't one of my mortal enemies! Not too mention your ex's sister!" he responded.

"Oh my god, Jacob! I chose you! If I still wanted him, I wouldn't be here now!"

"Just shutup!"

"Once again, you don't own me! Quit treating me like you do!"

He had backed her against her truck by now and she was a little afraid of his expression.

"Look," She said trying to calm herself and him. "Let's just let it go for now. Let's go to Sam's and have a good time with the pack."

"Fine." he breathed, "But we will finish this later." He was making a visible effort to calm down. "Let's go."

He offered her his arm and she took it shaky slightly. They walked to Sam's in silence, Bella comtemplating her decision all the way.

A/N: This chapter didn't turn out as good as I thought. I do, however, have an excuse, I'm sick. So I'm a little off my mark but I got such good feedback that I didn't want to make you guys wait too long. Let me know what you think.