Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does. No copyright infringement is intended, and I am making no financial gain from this, either.

Chapter 3

"Bella?" Carlisle demanded. "Are you quite alright?"

Forced back out of her memories and into reality, Bella nodded. "I guess."

"Good," he replied. "Now, listen to me, my daughter. Aro is not a man to be kept waiting. Especially now that he has presented you with such priceless items for seemingly no reason, you would do wise to depart within the hour. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she said. "I understand." Bella took an unnessecary, deep breath. "I'll just go and get my passport and some cash."

In silence, she made her way to exit the study, and synchronically, the Cullens cleared a way for her. She could quite literally see the respect in their eyes, and she almost felt guilty to lie to them in such a big, majorly significant way.

Almost.

Bella was just about to walk into the hallway when a strong, demanding arm held her back.

"No," Edward croaked out, and his voice sounded pained. "You cannot go into the lion's den like that, unprotected. You'll be completely at their mercy there."

"Edward," Jasper interrupted. "If she does not go, they will come for us. They will find Renesmee. Do you prefer that?"

"They could kill her," he whispered. "What if they already know about Renesmee? What if the box's sole purpose was to lure her in, so that they could send us their declaration of war along with my mate's ashes?"

Bella had to use her entire willpower not to burst out laughing.

"Edward," Esme chimed in, "There is no other way."

The vampire in question vehemently shook his head. "I cannot and will not accept that," he stated. "There is always a choice. There must be. Carlisle, why don't you call Aro? Why don't you inquire about what he wants before we blindly send Bella to him?"

"Even if I did," Carlisle answered, "What do you expect him to answer? Even if the brothers did mean harm towards her, son — which, by the way, would be utterly foolish — do you expect him to tell me? He would say something of 'making sure that no law was broken', and he would hang up."

"Please," I whispered, just loud enough to be heard, trying to sound desperate. "Stop fighting. You keep debating the matter as if there was truly another way than me leaving. It's senseless, and we are wasting precious time. Edward, this is my choice. I will go. You cannot control me."

And as she made her way into the hallway once more, nobody stopped her.

It had been Monday, the 18th of September 2006, when Bella Swan had found herself unable to drift off into a carefree trance of sleep.

There had been a storm going on outside of her bedroom window, and the loud sound of raindrops hitting glass taunted her. It had already been early in the morning, several hours after midnight, and she was restless. There were now two letters hidden underneath her mattress, and the mere thought of them made her feel wide awake.

Why did he not answer my questions? she asked herself. And why did he focus so much on Edward?

For a few more minutes, she fought a hopeless battle with herself. Eventually though, just as her old alarm clock had struck 4:00, she dragged herself out of bed and sat down infront of her table. There were still several sheets of paper there from the last time she had been spontaneously overwhelmed by the desire to turn her worries into written words; now all she had to do was grab a pen and get the letter, her reply, over with. Out of her worries, out of her system.

Dear friend, she wrote.

I must apologize for upsetting you with my last letter — believe me when I say, it was not my intention. To be quite honest, when I first read your letter, I had no idea what you were suddenly so upset about. And to be even more honest, as of now, twelve hours later, I still have not figured it out. But either way, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

Yes, it is true. I felt that way about Edward when we were in Volterra, and to some extent, I feel it now. Honestly, I am not with him out of love. Aro, if I may address you so directly, I am with him because I have suffered under the agony of possessing a broken heart, and I did not want him to feel it so soon himself.

Call it pity, if you want. Call it foolishness. But it is not love. And it will only be a matter of time until I confess my true feelings to him.

No, I most definetely do not wish to distance myself from you. As I believe to have stated very obviously in the very same letter you chose to obsess over due to only one line, I feel as fascinated by this strange connection as you do. And, now that I am slowly yet inevitably losing control over my life, I would be grateful for a friend.

Yours,

Bella.

Twenty-seven minutes had passed when Bella finally finished her letter and put it into an envelope, quickly scribbling his address on it. She did not think. As quietly as humanely possible, she walked down the stairs, putting on her ballerinas and a cardigan. She only realized she had walked right out into the storm unprotectedly as she stood in the middle of the street.

Drops of water viciously fell from the heavens, racing towards her. Within seconds, she was soaked. But she did not think of protecting herself from the rain, or running back into the house entirely; instead, she hastily hid the letter under her nightgown, praying that it was not too wet to be readable.

After that was taken care of, with one hand under her own nightgown, she kept walking on into the morning.

"I must be mad," she laughed, growing more hysterical by the second. She did not even hear herself over the sharp cries of the wind and rain, but that did not stop her. "What happened to me?"

Bella reached the post office after several more minutes, chilled to the bones. By some miracle, the letter had remained almost untouched by the water. She smiled to herself as she seeked refuge under the roof, shivering as a wave of cold hit her. But that did not obliterate her smile.

She quickly checked her surroundings for curious eyes, then threw the letter into the postbox.

"Why am I doing this?" she asked herself. "Is there even a rational reason?"

Taking a deep breath, she once again stepped out into the rain, crying out as another wave of liquid hit her.

Call it foolishness, she thought. But it is not love.

The consequence of Bella's Tuesday morning activities arrived on her front door mat during the early hours of Thursday.

She woke up early that day, having left her curtains open by mistake. The sun kissed her angelic face good morning at few minutes after five, and, remembering the letter she was so desperately awaiting, she hastily ran down the stairs towards the front door still in her nightgown, another one this time, and threw open the door.

Sure enough, there was a letter lying on her door mat — in the exact center.

She did not care if she woke her father as she ran back up the stars, much louder this time. All that mattered to her in that moment was his letter.

My dearest, he wrote.

Do not apologize; it is me that was at fault. Overwhelmed by my emotions, I allowed myself to be carried away. Please forgive me. You cannot imagine my happiness when you informed me what your real reasons behind your relationship with the Cullen boy were. Although I must say, pity alone has never been enough to hold anything together.

Hmm, now to the tricky part. I do not know what it was that made me do it, to be honest. All I know is that all of a sudden, I felt a terrible urge to rip this Edward's head off.

I do hope I did not scare you with that; however, I am trying to be as honest as I can.

It is good that you do not want distance between us. Everything would have soon turned even more complicated in that case. I am troubled to hear that you think your life is falling out of your control. Believe me when I say though, it gets better.

I would say something of dancing in the rain, but it seems you already have all the experience needed in that subject.

A.V.

Bella froze. How... how could he possibly have known about her little trip days ago?

The truth hit her like a train at full speed, and when it did, she felt suddenly dizzy, falling down onto her bed as she felt her legs give out.

There was no way that she could send a letter from Washington to Italy and receive a reply within two days.

And there was no way that he could have known of Edward guarding her every move.

Unless...

He was here.

"Goodbye, my little daisy," Bella told her daughter goodbye, hugging her tightly.

Ten minutes had passed since she had left her father-in-law's study, and she was carrying her cellphone, the passport, two thousand dollars in cash, and, unknown to her family, a second mobile phone in her purse. Around her neck, advised by Carlisle, hung the golden necklace Aro had presented her with.

"Don't go," her daughter pleaded. "I'm scared, Mommy."

Bella smiled in reply. "Don't be," she said. "I have to do this..."

"Why?" Renesmee asked. Her words were nothing but a whisper.

"Because when life gives you second chances, you'd be a fool not to take them."

Author's Note: Yay! Another 24-hour update! Thank you all for your incredible support! *hands out cupcakes*

Minor cliffy, I know. Once more, it is entirely up to you when you find out what happens next. So please, please, leave a review. Thank y'all in advance.

Bye. :)