"Where there is love, there is life." - Gandhi

~Chapter Two~

Isabella Marie Swan

Bella runs out of the back entrance of the club called Trinity; it's neon red sign highlighting the way towards the alley. She ever dares to look behind her as she stumbled up the concrete steps. She knew there was no point in running; that they would catch her eventually but she couldn't stand the pain from the punishment inflicted on her this time. Never stopping or looking back to see if James was close - Bella couldn't believe she's made it this far from that nightmarish place. Were it not for the knife lodged in her left leg she would have gone farther but as the adrenaline faded away, the pain became unbearable. She sees a dark path that leads to many trees, a park she thought to herself. If she were to be completely honest, the girl just wished of this to be over. Bella was tired; she'd lost everything and suffered so much just to survive yet another hellish day.

Finding a tree just off of the path, Bella decides to use it for support before moving on with her escape. However, as the adrenaline began leaving her beaten body, the slower she got, and the more pain she felt. Feeling her knees buckle as she makes it to the tree, she can't help but slide down the rough trunk of the tree and onto the cold ground.

'Just rest a little.' She thinks to herself but knows it'll be over soon. Bella wasn't sad that she was going to die; she didn't feel pain anymore. She welcomed the darkness that shrouded her mind and body - she would finally be with the ones she missed the most in her ruined world - her mother and father. Suddenly a warm light shines brightly from between the trees ahead of her. Bella covers her face with the hand that wasn't broken to shield herself from whatever was approaching.

'Bella...' the voice that spoke was familiar. She slowly lifted her head to look at the blinding light before her. Bella can barely make out what is releasing such a strong light but the voice was enough for her to distinguish who was speaking to her.

'M-mom? Is that you?' She couldn't believe that after so many years she finally hears her mother's voice! That must mean she's finally passed on. Bella wasn't sad that she'd died - it didn't matter anymore now that she was home where she belonged.

'Mom!' Somehow Bella felt light as she ran into her mother's arms and cried.

'Oh Bella,' Renee's voice echoed the most heartbreaking tone as she places her hands on Bella's shoulder. 'You've been so strong my sweet girl. I wish we could be together again...but it's time you went back. It's time to wake up.'

Bella looked up quickly with pure panic in her big brown eyes as Renee started fading away and Bella could feel the warmth that surrounded her body disappear quickly.

'Wait! Mom! Don't leave me again! I want to go with you!' Bella begged at the sight of her mother once again leaving the girl behind. She tried to reach out for Renee but for some reason her right hand felt heavy and was unresponsive. Bella's whole body felt the same way as her hand and she couldn't move at all to chase after her mother. When the light finally disperses she knew she was alone yet again in the blinding darkness. Before she get the chance to cry out her frustrations a cold burst of air crawls up her spine, chills running throughout her body as she hears a sadistic voice she swore she would never forget.

'Did you really think you could escape right when we were in the middle of our game, Isabella?'

'She was never here...' Bella says in a defeated voice; trying to the devastation in her voice. How stupid she felt for actually believing that her suffering was over! Nothing has ever been that easy for her. Now Bella could only hope that he'll end it quickly as she closes her eyes tightly.

The last thing she feels is a cold hand take her left hand gently and in a way that was strangely comforting. Then the darkness that shrouded her mind was consumed by that warm light once again and that sadistic haunting voice disappeared along with her pain.

Esme and Carlisle were now sitting in the living room cuddled into each other's arms on the love seat and enjoyed the silence in their big secluded home. The others had just left for school unfortunately for them. Alice wanted to stay close to Bella but she knew the right move would be to let Carlisle and Esme meet Bella first. The tiny vampire could only hope either Carlisle or Esme would be able to connect with Bella when she would awake from her slumber. Emmett didn't want to leave at all so that he could finally meet his new little sister but he was dragged out by Rosalie with Jasper following after Alice.

Edward however, barely returned home after they saved Bella. Carlisle noticed how eager his son was to get out of the house. He had planned on asking what was the problem since it was odd that Edward would suddenly become affected by Bella. Apart from Carlisle he was the strongest when it came to restraint against his thirst for human blood.

'Could it be that Bella's scent really is that strong? Jasper doesn't seem to be as affected by Bella so Edward shouldn't have a problem. Unless she is...no she couldn't be?'

Carlisle considered that the only possibility could be that - that young woman upstairs is Edward's singer. If that were the case they would have to discuss it and see if having Bella in the house would be a problem for him. There was no way he would even consider sending Bella away but at the same time he can't have his son suffering because of his urges to kill her. Carlisle feels it's his responsibility to ensure that everyone in his family is happy as well as accepting of these sudden changes they will all have to undergo in order to help Bella recover. While considering all the trials and tribulations Carlisle ran his hand through his hair and looked out the window to look at the evergreen forest that surrounded their home.

"What's on your mind, love?" Esme's beautiful voice interrupted Carlisle's train of thought. She always knew when he was restless or trying to formulate a plan, her husband was a very passionate man when it came to helping people in need which was exactly one of the things that made her fall in love with him in the first place. He looks down at her from where she rested her head on his shoulder and smiled.

"Just thinking about how much our family has been changing since Bella arrived." He said as he kisses her forehead. It wasn't a lie, Jasper tried his best to provide some calming waves whenever Bella would seem to be in pain or restless in the middle of the night ever since her arrival. Jasper had started sympathizing for her just like Carlisle did after witnessing and dealing the horrors this girl had experienced in Trinity. Carlisle even heard Rosalie pass by Bella's room every now and then but always tried to look uninterested in knowing how the girl was doing; she still didn't fully accept that fact that a human would be living with them from now on. They hadn't even met this fragile human girl personally and yet they were all being affected by her presence.

It had been two days since they saved her from Seattle but since she lost so much blood she had been sleeping all this time. He wondered when Bella would awaken and if she would accept them like they've accepted her already.

It wasn't long before the couple noticed Bella's heart rate suddenly spike up and heard her mumbling incoherent words. They both shot up from their seat and headed for the stairs and within a matter of seconds they were at Bella's door. Before entering, Esme takes her husbands hand in her and shares a moment of uncertainty through her eyes. Carlisle managed to give her a reassuring smile and reached for the door knob. Esme could hear Bella ask for her mother to not leave her again and it truly was heart breaking. The girl's eyebrows were furrowed and she appeared to be in a lot of pain. As gently as she could; the woman sat on the edge of the bed and took the Bella's small hand in hers. Esme wanted to provide as much comfort for her new daughter as she could. Now all that was left to do was to wait and see how Bella would react once she opened her eyes.

It was strange how real that hand felt from her dream. Only it wasn't a dream; she knew that much and still felt a cold hand holding onto hers. A person? No, this wasn't a person holding her hand - this was a vampire's, she had no doubt about it. Of course luck wasn't on her side. It never was. She was too scared to see who was there but even more concerned when she realized that no one was slapping or shaking her awake by now.

Open your eyes! Whoever it is already knows youre away so don't make them wait. Make things easy on yourself.

Bella was trying to convince herself and gather up the courage to face who ever was there. Slowly she starts opening her eyes and they felt heavy and stung from the faint sunlight that was in the room. Sunlight? When was the last time the sun had reached her pale cold skin; the girl couldn't remember.

She tried not to panic, not to keep her hopes up, and fall for another trick she was sure James had come up with just to torture her even more. Once her vision adjusted she noticed she wasn't in that dull dreary room in Trinity. There was no loud blaring club music, no chanting coming from the other rooms, no Victoria yelling and dragging her out of the so called bed she had to sleep in. No Laurent hitting her and making her get ready to entertain the others. And she thanked god that there was no James around to make her play his so called 'games' with him. She could feel her heart beating sporadically out of pain and sheer relief that for once she could wake up on her own.

But where was she? She started looking towards the window that reached all the way to the ceiling and cover the whole wall in front of the bed she was in. Just a sliver of warm orange sunlight slipped through the thick curtains, as if it was calling to her. Were it not for the hand that was holding her she would have sprinted across the room to tear off the curtain and let the sun finally reach her. Then the panic started again when she could feel someone watching her. She was so scared to look up and see who was waiting for her to finally look their way. Why hadn't they started scolding or hitting her for ignoring them?

"Bella?" She flinched as she heard her name being called out by a gentle voice.

Bella slowly turned her head to the left to see a pale hand in hers; it was a woman's hand she realized. Her eyes made their way up towards the woman's shoulder hesitantly, she was wearing a dark evergreen silk blouse and could see she had long wavy caramel colored hair that went just passed her chest. Finally she was met with the most beautiful golden eyes and they were looking right into her brown ones with an expression she couldn't distinguish. The woman was stunning. Her skin was flawless and alabaster, she seemed young maybe in her late twenties when she had been turned into a vampire, and when she smiled at Bella, she looked incredibly warm and kind. When was the last time someone smiled at her with that kind of warmth?

For one strange moment Bella felt loved and for the first time in a long time...safe.

Carlisle leaned against the wall next to the door while observing how scared Bella was as she awoke, he could hear how quickly her little heart was beating in her chest as she took in her surroundings. At a painfully slow pace she looked up at Esme who sat beside her patiently waiting. When they finally made eye contact it looked as if both women were hypnotized, neither looked away and neither Esme nor Bella seemed to be aware of his presence in the room. It was a look he recognized all too well. Carlisle understood that Bella was already accepting Esme, even if she didn't know it yet just like Esme had finally found the child she lost all those years ago. This woman was meant to be Bella's mother and Bella was meant to be her daughter. If he ever wished to physically be able to shed tears of joy - it would have been in that moment and he was grateful to witness such a bond being formed between the two women.

After gathering the courage to approach them he stepped away from the wall and walked over to Bella's bed; unprepared for how Bella would react to his sudden appearance.

"Hello, Bella. How are you feeling?" He asked and saw the girl's face transform from lethargic to completely petrified at hearing his voice. Before he or Esme could say anything else - Bella she slipped out from under the covers and fell to the floor on the other side of the bed. Bella must have forgotten her leg was injured and her legs gave out as soon as her feet made contact with the floor. Alarmed by the pained whimper that Bella let escape form her throat, Carlisle ran to her side while trying to see if her wound had opened from the fall.

"Bella, it's okay! We aren't going to hurt you sweetheart. We want to help you" said an equally worried Esme as she made her way slowly around the bed, she wanted to avoid scaring the girl more than she already was so she made sure to move at a human pace.

Bella wanted to listen and avoid any punishment from the two vampires but she was overwhelmed by the fear. How could she allow herself to feel safe with that woman and fail to notice the man that was behind her, watching them. It was no use trying to look calm when her body was trembling the way it was and the pain in her leg was too present to ignore. While trying to stop the tears that threatened to pool around her eyes she didn't realize the man had already left and returned with a black medical bag and set it down next to her. Bella couldn't help flinching expecting to be hit for being rude to the vampire as she hung her head down low. Esme and Carlisle obviously noticed and as much as it pained them to see the young girl like that, Carlisle wanted to treat her wound first.

"Bella, do you remember who I am?" Carlisle was relieved to see that she hesitantly nodded in response to his question. She remembered a man had come to her aid that night and said his name was Carlisle and that he would help her.

"I promise you I have no intention of harming you what so ever. All I want to do is treat your wounds and get you back to bed so you can be more comfortable. Is that alright with you?" Carlisle asked, sincerely hoping that she will allow him to help her. The wound on her leg had opened again, he noticed at the sight of the bright red spots that began to appear on the surface of the white gauze.

Bella avoids eye contact with Carlisle as she tries to calm down and knew there was no way out of this. If she did deny his help she didn't want to be punished; so she gave in by slightly nodding her consent while keeping her head down.

"Thank you," she hears him breath out before he proceeded to get a new set of bandages and a cloth to clean the blood from his black bag. Esme also sighed in relief as she made her way to stand where her husband was kneeling next to Bella.

As Carlisle began cutting the used bandages on the girl's leg; Bella finally decides to look up and see the man's face as he looked too preoccupied to notice her glances. The man looked perfect and like an angel that fell from the heavens. He had flawless blonde hair that was brushed back and his eyes and skin color were just like the woman's. Although her presence reminded Bella of that of a mother - Carlisle reminded her of the home she never had and it made her feel protected and cared for.

Don't get ahead of yourself. They don't care about you, Laurent probably had enough of you and gave you to them.

Once again she tried to bring her head back from the clouds after all, she was sure nothing good lasted this long fo her. Bella just wanted to know what they expected of her so she could stop being a burden to them.

"Okay, Bella, I've finished dressing your wound and I put a numbing cream on it so the pain with be a little more tolerable. I'm going to place you back on the bed, alright?" He says after throwing the used bandages away and waited patiently for her to respond.

"Okay." She whispers as she closed her eyes tight once more. The vampire gently goes to pick her up but when she feels the pressure on her leg she couldn't help but wince from the pain. Immediately after she looks up at him and flinches - waiting for him to punish her. When the expected blow didn't come even after she was placed on the bed she opened her eyes and saw the two vampires had pained expressions at seeing her reaction.

"I'm sorry." Bella apologized to them as she looked back down at her hands that were on her lap, looking at the heavy white cast that ran from her knuckles to her elbow.

"What are you sorry for sweetheart?" Esme asked as she came to stand next to Bella's side of the bed all while trying to maintain a comfortable distance for the girl.

"I-I showed weakness." Bella explained obviously expecting them to get angry with her after pointing out one of the rules James had made sure she never forgot.

"Oh, sweetie, you shouldn't apologize for something like that. It's completely understandable to be in pain." She says as she hesitantly places a hand on the girl's shoulder. Surprisingly Bella didn't flinch or shy away from her touch and it encouraged her to look up at them. Why were they being so understanding of her? Had Laurent not told them how to treat her or what the rules were?

Carlisle couldn't believe that Bella would apologize for being in pain. He wished Jasper were here to help him control his anger; why did this innocent girl have to be so afraid of showing her emotions or her pain, he wondered but he knew why.

Thinking about how to help Bella he remembered what Alice told him before she left for school.

"Bella if it's alright with you, I'd like to ask you some questions so that we can get better acquainted."

Questions, he wanted to know things about her. Why would they want to know anything about her? None of the others ever asked her questions. Not wanting to make him wait any longer she nodded and looked down to her hands again.

"Alright then. Can you tell me your full name?"

"Isabella Marie Swan."

"How old are you?"

How old was she again? It had been so long since she had seen a calendar let alone celebrated her birthday, what could she tell them? Would they angry with her for not knowing?

"Um...I'm not sure. I was born on September thirteenth. What year is it?" Bella asks solely for the purpose of being able to answer the man's question but lowers her head between her shoulders expecting a blow. Esme wanted nothing more than to praise the girl for having the courage for answering any of these questions even though she knew she did it to avoid being in trouble.

"Its okay Bella you can ask us anything. No one will get upset with you over something like that. Feel free to ask as many questions as you want and we'll answer all of them." Esme says as she places her hand on Bella's hoping to calm her. She looks to Carlisle hoping he can encourage her as well.

"Today is the fifth of February and the year is two thousand and six. Take your time and if anything becomes too difficult to answer we can take a break." He adds trying to bring some peace of mind to the girl sitting in front of him.

"I'm sixteen years old..." She answers in what could only be called disbelief as she turned her head away from the two to look out the window; making an effort to stop the tears that resurfaced once again in her eyes. She was sixteen and somehow she made it to be a teenager after everything she went through back in Trinity. A surreal feeling arose from within her. Of course it had not gone unnoticed by the two vampires in the room but they let her feel what she needed to feel without interrupting the girl.

"Can you tell us how long you've been held captive?" He asked after she managed to calm down once again while still avoiding to look into Carlisle's eyes.

"Five years," Bella adds simply while looking at the many green trees that covered the entirety of the window like a canvas.

Esme couldn't help but gasp at the revelation. It was incomprehensible to her how someone could withstand such abuse for so long. Not just anyone; an eleven year old girl! Without even thinking about it Esme reaches out to take the girls hand in hers and tries to hide her heartbreaking expression with a compassionate smile. Carlisle was just as perplexed by what Bella said and felt nothing but anger towards her captors.

"Do you know if you're parents or family might be looking for you?"

Suddenly Bella looks up to meet Carlisles golden eyes with her brown ones and answers without even trying to hide the grief in her voice, "No. They were killed by him," when she realized the tears were rolling down her cheeks she closed her eyes tightly and looked back down. The next thing she felt were two arms embracing her and one hand gently place on her right knee. She looked up to see Esme was hugging her and Carlisle was looking at her while patting her leg in an effort to comfort her without scaring her.

"I'm so sorry for what's happened to you over the years, love. We can only imagine the pain you've experience and if any of your captors were still alive I would make sure to kill them for you personally." He said whole heartedly and with a conviction Esme hadn't expected from her husband. He truly did care for the human girl just as she did and for him to declare such a thing was just a fragment of how strongly he felt fo their daughter. Esme looked up at her husband and placed her hand on top of his while they shared a loving moment of comprehension for one another.

Bella looked as if she needed to process what Carlisle just said and manages to capture their interest when she spoke again.

"Why do you care so much? Why would you help someone like me?" She was scared that her curiousity would get her into trouble but she needed to know one way or another.

The couple looks towards her at hearing the question of their motives for wanting to comfort her.

"Because sweetheart, we want you to feel accepted and loved by us no matter what. You're a part of our family now and whatever hurts you affects us just as much. As to why we are helping you, it's because we just want you to get back to being a healthy young woman again and all we want is for you to be comfortable so you can recover." Esme says as she positions herself in front of Bella to stroke her hair.

It was hard for Bella to understand why this beautiful woman would want someone like her in their family. If she or Carlisle knew what she had to do to survive - would they still want her? This thought didn't dwell too long in her mind when she felt the sudden need to use the bathroom and as embarrassing as it was to ask, Bella couldn't avoid it.

"Um sir?" She says hesitantly while trying to get the man's attention who was still patting her leg gently. Carlisle couldn't help but shudder at how scared she sounded as she tried to initiate a conversation with him - and did she just call him sir? That will be something he'll have to put a stop to right away, without sounding too demanding.

"Please call me Carlisle, sir makes me feel a little too old." He tried to make a joke but he was sure his sons would make fun of him for how lame it was to consider attempting it. Coming from one of the eldest vampires made it seem like a joke to him however.

"Ok...Carlisle. Can I use the...bathroom?" Bella corrected herself sincerely hoping neither he or Esme will be upset when she asked her question. The girl instinctively hunched over and looked down not wanting to see the disgust in their faces. Esme and Carlisle were saddened by the tiny girls question and by how fast her heart was beating again solely for asking permission to do something. Esme quickly answere before Carlisle could

"Of course you can! You should not even have to ask to do something like that, sweetie. I can help you get to the bathroom and maybe you would like to take a nice warm bath to relax a little if you want that is."

Bella wanted to say no to avoid relying on Esme's kindness but seeing as how her leg was numb from the pain and her arm was in a cast, she had to accept. Before she can answer, she hears the light running of water coming from the bathroom. She looks over to see that Carlisle walked out of the bathroom and smiled before he said, "I'll let you girl's get to it then. I'll be downstairs if you need me."

"I'm going to carry you to the bathroom and let you do what you need to do and then I'll return to help you get into the tub." Cautiously Esme goes to lift the covers off of her daughter and carries her to the bathroom then leaves her to tend to her human needs.

"Thank you." Bella whispers knowing the woman can still hear her easily and Esme turns around to give her a kind smile.

"You're most welcome."

After Carlisle stepped into the hallway and waited for his wife to join him, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Unsurprisingly its none other than Alice,

You both did good in asking her questions. After Esme helps her out of the tub and she settles into bed make sure you let her know about your children, otherwise it'll be a shock to her when Emmett decides to make an appearance. After that she'll go back to sleep for the rest of the day.'

Reading his daughter's message brings a smile to Carlisle's face, making sure to give her an appreciative reply before he and Esme both breathed a sigh of relief. Settling into each other's arms and equally feel a wave of determination wash over them - now more than ever to help Bella through this horrible time in her life as a family.

It was now cutting close to twelve in the afternoon and every student in Forks High School was preoccupied with passing their exams; passing their classes in general. Everyone except for the five young vampires that is.

Emmett distracted himself by intimidating the boys in his gym class, Rosalie could pass her English exams with her eyes closed, Jasper knew everything there was to know about the civil war - he was there after all. While Alice spoke Spanish fluently she often out shone her own teacher. And Edward - well he couldn't care less wether if chromosomes were x-shaped or line shaped, he had already done this project in biology class time and time again.

What truly interested Edward however, was the newest member of the Cullen family named Bella. Ever since she first arrived to their home he hasn't been able to control his thirst and it truly frustrated him but not as much as how he cannot hear her thoughts. He thought that maybe it was because she was in shock and decided to shut down her mind as a defense mechanism; that could be the only explanation.

Edward looked up from his desk as Mr. Mason gave out assignments to work on over the weekend. He could hear every mind in this classroom and even further away; every worry, every daydream, and every idea the students in Forks had. Some thoughts; he would like to be able to shut out such as Jessica Stanley's - the girl had the mind of a horny teenage boy. That girl thought about all kinds of ways to get Edward to like her and whoever he would turn her down or avoid her in the halls, she would think that he was just playing hard to get or trying to be cool. Jessica Stanley thought about seducing him and what it would be like to touch him in all kinds of ways, it truly disturbed him in more ways than one. This time she was thinking about how she can catch his attention.

Okay, Edward is going to head for the exit. I gotta make sure to trip right in front of him so that he'll catch me. You got this Jessica! Your dreams are about to become reality!

Edward couldn't help but scoff at this delusional human girl who was clearly obsessed with getting any sort of attention from the boy, even willing to risk injury to achieve it. If she knew in reality what he was - what he was capable of doing to her, she wouldn't want anything to do with him. Once the thought crosses his mind, he thought about Bella, how will she react when she sees him? Would she be terrified or hostile towards him and his family for what they were? The boy could barely fathom what Bella had gone through in captivity but there was nothing he or anyone in his family could do for her except be there for her and let her recover. If she ever accepted them, it would be out of her own free will and no one could persuade her otherwise.

Why are you thinking about her so much? What does it matter to you if she accepts you or not? You don't even know her!

He thought to himself for thinking about the girl once again. She was so fragile, so distraught after what she went through in Seattle - how could she even consider accepting him and his family of vampires after being held captive by the same species they were. He sighed when he knew it was true and he was truly perplexed in why he thought about the human girl who was now living across the hallway from his bedroom. Just as he made his way towards the exit of his class Jessica positioned herself to be in front of him to get the perfect angle, she imagined herself being caught by him and he would carry her bridal style.

Wow, Okay.

And just like she imagined it, he made sure to do the exact opposite. Before Jessica even had the chance to act out her plan Edward walked even faster than he should have and she stumbled behind him causing him to smile when he heard her curse under her breath. When he arrived to the cafeteria all his siblings were already situated in their usual table, away from the rest of the humans. Each one had their own tray with their lunch and pretended to take a bite of pizza or a sip of water occasionally to maintain their appearance of normalcy. Edward couldn't help but grin when he heard Rosalie's disgust when she was the way Mike Newton was digging into his cheeseburger with gusto.

"Rose calm yourself or you might just end up throwing up all over Emmett." He made fun as he sat across from his sister. She glared at him and decided to distract herself by draping Emmett's arm around her and thought of things to do with him when they would be alone. Now it was Edward's turn to be disgusted. This didn't' go unnoticed by Jasper and he tried to contain his amusement. Alice was deep in thought since he arrived to the table but was blocking him from her thoughts, again. Another thing that managed to frustrate him even more.

Why was she guarding her mind so much lately? He thought as he looked at her with his brows furrowed and ran his hand through his wild hair.

"So now that we have a special circumstance in the house why don't we all go for a hunt tonight?" Asked Jasper trying not to make it evident that he just wanted an excuse to be away from their home - from Bella. Jazz didn't have anything against the girl but as long as she was recovering from that laceration he didn't want to risk attacking her and terrifying her more than she already was. Jasper only wanted to help her in any was possible - not worsen her condition.

Rosalie scoffed right away, "Jasper we all know why you want to leave the house and I for one will not coddle the girl just because she's injured. If she has a problem with that then she can leave." When it came to Rosalie she never sugar coated anything.

Alice glared at her right away and had something very unkind to say to the blonde sitting across the table from her as Edward noted. Jasper felt his wife's sudden anger and was quick to calm her down, all that's left is for the two vampire women to fling each other in the cafeteria filled with humans. Jasper took Alice's small hand in his and stared into her eyes, that seemed to be enough for her. Alice calmed down and smiled at Jasper in thanks but that didn't stop her from coming to Bella's defense.

"We all know you don't like Bella since before we brought her from Seattle and I know it's just because she's human. So if you have nothing nice to say about her then just don't say anything at all Rosalie or you'll set back her recovery and ruin everything." She says with her high pitched annoyed tone of voice. Rosalie didn't like being talked back to and they all heard her low growl that came from her chest. She rose from her seat with one swift move and retorted as she walked away.

"Whatever it's your funeral when the girl runs away and tells someone about us and it'll be your fault, Alice."

Emmett gave Alice an apologetic smile and sighed as he stood up to follow after his fuming wife through the cafeteria. Edward didn't miss Emmett's thoughts about Bella during Alice and Rosalie's arguement however.

Even when she was sound asleep in her room he could hear Emmett's plans on teaching the girl about football, video games, and all sorts of pranks to play on Carlisle and Jasper. This time he was planning on sneaking off to Port Angeles and buying her a 'welcome home' present whatever that meant to the child in a man's body. It made Edward curious on how his brother would surprise everyone.

Alice sighed and leaned against Jasper's shoulder and looked at Edward with determined eyes. He sighed knowing full well what his sister would start demanding something of him.

"What is it Alice?" He asked since she was still blocking him out.

"You're not going to run off to Alaska or anything right? I know you've been thinking about it Edward so don't try denying it." She says too quickly for anyone other than he or Jasper to understand. Edward ran his hand through his hand one more time; of course the little pixie knew exactly what he wanted to do without him even knowing it.

"I haven't decided yet, Alice. It's just too hard to be in that house right now." He admitted in a defeated voice as he looked away hoping to escape this conversation with his sister. She was right however, he couldn't deny that Bella affected him in such a way that it was capable of driving him insane and back to his old ways after Carlisle turned him. The girl's blood was too tempting and her scent was too intoxicating to ignore, he needed to leave as soon as possible if he wanted to keep her away from harm.

"No, if you leave now it'll only get worse. You have to stay and endure it or you'll never be able to be in the same room with her, you can't run away because you're scared of hurting her."

"Alice you don't understand how much she affects me - her scent, her blood, everything about her is driving me crazy and I haven't even met the kid yet."

"We could all hurt her in more ways that one but we have to control ourselves because we've done it before. It's not impossible, Edward. Jasper is having a hard enough time as well but he's trying to endure it, for Bella's sake."

Alice had a point, he wasn't leaving because out of fear of hurting Bella, he was running away from her. It scared him how easily he could just sink his teeth into the fragile girl and drink her dry and she wouldn't be able to do anything to stop him. This wasn't the first time he has thought about the girl's demise under his hand. Jasper or even alice could be very likely to do the same to Bella if she cut herself while in the same room as them, the only difference was they weren't afraid to try to be with her. They wanted nothing more than to help their new little sister heal. She deserved to be loved by her new family and not even he could take that away from her, or his family who have been changing ever since her arrival, especially Edward.

So he decided he wouldn't run away, he would make himself get used to being around the human girl who tempted him so much from across the hall. He would not be like the vampires who took joy in torturing her in Seattle, he would protect her and encourage her to be a part of the Cullen family, just as Carlisle had done for him long ago.

Author's Note:

Chapter two is here! Hope you guys enjoy it and feel free to leave a review to let me know how I'm doing! I'm so happy to see that many of you are liking this story and I am always more motivated when I see that people are actually taking an interest in Lionhearted!