APOV

Bella and I had been having such a good day together. I could not remember a time in my existence when I had so much fun with any person. I know that she really did not mind shopping with me; so long as we could have fun together, and by the way she looked I knew that she had not gone shopping or done anything with herself since before we left.

She had told me when Jacob asked her to move to the reservation, and when they started dating, and I couldn't bear the thought of anyone loving Bella the same way that Edward had. Jacob cares for Bella, he really does, but he could never love her the way Edward does, and she could never love Jacob as she loves Edward.

As much as I wanted to believe Bella when she said she was happy, the moment she mentioned Edward, I knew that she wasn't. She had mentioned feeling Edward in the room with her when Jacob went out, and that was not far from the truth, but he would never break the treaty, he only sees her when she stays at Charlie's house.

I have seen him with her, I have seen him take her in her arms when she is having a restless night, and calm her immediately with his touch. She melts in to his arms and clings tight, and then wakes up and thinks it is all a dream, when in reality Edward is much too fast for her to ever realize he is still in the room. I never told him that Bella and Jacob were engaged, just as he never told me he went to see her, but I know if he wanted to, he could read it on my mind, just as I can see him with Bella. I was about to tell her all of this, I needed her to know that she did not have to be with Jacob, that Edward was still in love with her, when I got the vision.

"Alice! Alice, what is it?" Panic covered her voice as she frantically tried to understand my vision.

"Bella, it's Edward."

"Oh no! Is he okay? What's going on?"

"Calm down, sweetie," I wished Jasper was with me, he would immediately calm her. "You need to relax before I can get this all out. Edward is going to call me in about two minutes wondering where I am. He knows that you are with me, he knows you are not at Angela's, and he's furious that I came to see you."

"But, he shouldn't care! Why does he… how does he know?" Her face contorted and she looked like she was going to be sick.

"Bella, I know things that he doesn't want me to know. Please, if you will just listen so I can tell you all I need to tell you before he calls then everything will be okay. First of all, Edward still loves you. You are not wrong about feeling him in your room. He has never broken the treaty, I don't know why you feel him there when you are at your house, but he does watch over you at Charlie's house. He never stopped loving you, you have to believe that. I know it tore you apart when we left, and that is why I could not stop talking to you, that and it is impossible for us both to be away from you. We both love you very much. Bella, don't look so scared, he is not going to hurt either of us. He has not made up his mind yet of what he is going to do but I know what he is going to say and I know how to handle it, you know I do. Until he decides what he is going to do I can't see what will happen. Bella, if it comes down to it, would you be able to see him again? He's trying to decide if he will come and see me to talk to me or wait until I get back." Bella tried to respond, looking hopeful, disappointed and hurt all at once. Right as she opened her mouth to speak I grabbed my phone and flipped it open.

She looked suddenly very sick as we pulled in to the hotel, I hadn't said anything to Edward yet and I knew he was waiting on the line for me to answer before he said anything to me. I picked up Bella and rushed her inside, setting her on the bed in our hotel room. I smiled and kissed her forehead, trying to reassure her.

"Hello, Edward. Can I help you?" I tried to remain calm but I knew what was ahead. I stepped out of the bedroom as Bella sat on the bed, curled in to a ball and looking like she was about to cry. I needed this conversation to be private, plus she had just heard enough to make her head spin and I did not want to trouble my best friend further.

"Alice, where is Bella?"

"I don't know what you mean, Edward."

"Don't play dumb, Alice! I know you've seen me watching over her. I know that you are with her, because she is not at Angela's either and I saw the whole pack leave today, so I know that she is not with Jacob. Tell me now."

"You're right, I'm with her. We're in Canada. You can't keep me away from her forever, Edward. You can't expect us to all stay in the house and not talk to her, not see her! She was destroyed. I had to be there for her, I wanted to be there for her. She is my best friend, she needs me, Edward. She needs you, too. She loves you and you know it!" I could hear my voice getting angrier with him, but I knew that the angrier he was the more likely he would be to come and get her just to keep me from seeing her, to keep all of us from her.

"She does not need monsters like us in her life, Alice."

"Edward, Jacob is a werewolf! You left her and have given her to the dogs!"

"She needs to be safe, Alice. And I know that he has kept her safe. He's killed Victoria, for goodness sakes!"

"I'm not taking her back to Forks until tomorrow night. So if you want her to go back to her 'normal' life, you come get her." He hung up the phone and I knew I had done something that would probably change all of our lives forever. I walked at human speed back to Bella, and held her in my arms. She started to shake, and then cry. All she kept saying was "Why?" I did not want to make anything hurt worse for her so I just held her. I wish Jasper was here. She fell asleep in my arms, and I laid her head on the pillows and covered her with the blanket. I knew today had been stressful for her and she needed her rest.

Bella woke up four hours later, and came looking for me. Her eyes were swollen and red, her nose was running from all of the crying. She found me sitting on the sofa and knitting, my newest hobby. I set down the needles next to the couch and held out my arms to her. She lay next to me, her frail, warm human body suddenly calmed by my touch.
"I ran you a bath, Bella. Why don't you go and relax, I'll order you some food from room service and then we can talk. We have about two hours, before…" I stopped myself. The last thing she needed before her bath and before I could get her to eat, was to hear about Edward coming to get her.

"Alice, promise me you will answer all of my questions."

"I promise, go on to the bath now." She looked up at me reluctantly. "It's okay. Sweetie, I promise." I smiled reassuringly as she walked towards the bathroom. I picked up the hotel phone and dialed in to have some breakfast delivered to her.

When Bella finally emerged from the bathroom, she looked much better. She had put on the new jeans and dark blue t-shirt I had set out for her on her bed while she was away.

"Feeling better, sweetheart?" I asked her as she approached the food.

"A little, I'm so confused, though. Can we talk now?" She took a bite of the eggs and grimaced. The food must have been hard to swallow when she was feeling so shaken, but she continued to eat despite how much pain it looked like it was causing her. "

Anything you want to know, but I have to warn you now, Edward is going to be here in an hour. I can keep him away until you have all of your questions answered and hopefully longer if you wish. Just remember, he does love you, and if he is still unhappy with me, his anger is not because of you at all."

Bella asked so many questions it made my head spin. I never knew just how broken she had been since Edward left, and now I was sure that I had made the right decision, it was clear he was the only one who could put her back together.

"One more question, Alice, please?"

"Anything you want to know, I promised you that already."

"I saw Emmett's Jeep in the garage…" Her voice broke slightly, "Why is it still there, and not with him where ever you all moved to?"

She asked the one question I had known she would, but had the hardest times answering. "Well… To be completely honest Bella, please don't be mad, but, when Edward had decided we all had to leave, we took a vote. We decided to stay away for a while, until we could be sure you were safe. In turn, we could move back once we knew you were, on the condition, Edward's condition, that none of us try to make contact with you… when we came back."

Bella did not respond to the answer, she just looked at the floor, as her eyes started to fall, her mind and body exhausted from the questioning. He was twenty minutes late as far as she knew, but I knew better than that. I heard Edward come up to the balcony right on time, but he heard in my thoughts that Bella was not ready to see him yet. As soon as she slipped in to the bedroom, Edward came in through the double doors of the balcony window. He looked pained, and I knew exactly why. "Edward…"

"I…. I hurt her, so much. I thought that she would be so much better off, but she's broken Alice. I BROKE the love of my life. I have to go, I can't do this to her again."
"Edward, don't go. She wants to see you, you're not going to do this again, I can see it, remember? Everything is going to be okay. Go see her." He looked at me, reluctantly and strode toward the bedroom, slowly opening the door.