Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

-Chapter 4-

My fingers dug into the edges of the seat as we flew down the road. The cars around us were just smudges on the windows and I was pretty sure that every time the road dipped a little, we actually went airborne. Very inconspicuous Alice. I rolled my eyes, the shiny yellow sports car we were driving in was not the kind of car I would have chosen, the speed was nice I had to admit, but being pulled over would really throw a wrench in our rescue mission.

By the calculations Alice had done she figured it should take about half an hour to get to the biggest square in Volterra, which was also the only square that bordered the castle of the Volturi. Just a half an hour of this torture and then a whole new kind of hell would be unleashed upon me. I went thorough what I would say in my mind one more time, "I'm still here see? Not even a scratch. You can stop acting crazy now..." Well, it didn't really matter what I planed out, I knew that as soon as I saw him all rehearsed words would disappear, and it would take all my will power just to keep from flinging my self into his arms. And if I did that, I don't know that the strongest force in the world could tear me away. Even with Jake thousands of miles away in Forks I still felt like it would be a betrayal to him. He would never know what I did or said to Edward during this excursion, but I didn't think I could bear the guilt I would bring back if I even let myself slip for a moment.

I glanced at the clock again, still at least 10 more minutes until we reach the square, just enough time to ask one more favor of my most faithful friend...

"Hey Alice?" I ventured, "Could you do me a favor?"

"What is it Bella?"

I hesitated, how could I put this? "You know the last thing in the world I want to do is hurt Edward, right?"

She spoke slower this time, a suspicious note in her voice. "Yeah..."

"But you also know I can't hurt Jake either..." I continued, "Could you just promise me that if my future even flicks over to something that will hurt anyone more than my decisions now already will, you'll do everything you can to stop me." The last bit came out more like a command than a request, making me sound so sure of myself...

Alice thought for a moment, as the read the implications of my request. Don't let me forget myself, don't let me give Edward everything he wants because I don't know if I can help myself. Pursing her lips Alice stared hard at me. "I promise, as long as you are sure this is what you want."

A wry smile crept its way onto my lips and I arched one of my eyebrows, "There's not really time to be unsure."

I noticed the car slowing and glanced out the widow, the streets were becoming more and more crowded and it seemed like there was a festival going on. There were banners with pictures of saints and there was tons of red and gold streamers flying around, every person I saw was carrying a little flag. After a few more minutes of creeping along the cobblestone street Alice grew impatient, she honked the horn and revved the engine, then laughed as people scattered in all directions, screaming in some foreign language.

Then we were speeding along once again and soon arrived at the edge of a big square. This was it. I threw open the door and ran into the throng of people; Alice had told me to head towards the large clock tower, it was the last thing she had seen Edward was thinking of, so I cut my way straight through the middle and tried not to be swallowed by the crowd.

People were ramming into me, pushing me around and yelling at me but I didn't care, all I could think of was the horrible feeling in my stomach that told me no matter how fast and hard I ran I would still be to late. These thoughts only made me push myself harder.

I had reached the center fountain now and, seeing that it was too crowded to walk around, didn't hesitate to march right through it. I stepped out of the freezing water on the other side, ignoring the indignant exclamations of the people around me, and continued to push my way through the crowd. As I got closer to the shadows of the clock tower the crowd began to thin out. Again I got the strange feeling I had in the food court at the airport. As if there was something moving in the shadows I was racing toward.

When I broke through the outer edge of the crowd I stopped dead because there, in the shade of the clock tower, was Edward.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was a little longer than the others so I'm more satisfied with it. Please leave a review for me, I would love to know what you guys think so far!