EPOV

I stared at her, my eyes wide in surprise as I took in her new appearance. She was, no doubt about it, a vampire now. Her new beauty astounded me no more than it had in the first place and, annoyingly, her head remained silent.

Oh my God. Alice thought, seeing my surprise and looking in the direction of my gaze. Her immediate thoughts were no different from mine, but then she had a thought that had not even passed through my mind.

Why didn't I see her before? It's not like I haven't scanned our future here enough… I would've seen something…

I began to consider this as I watched Bella take the seat next to Jacob, both of them clearly secluding themselves from the humans, as we did, but then Jacob caught sight of us. He froze where he was and stared. Bella noticed and looked over as well and my eyes met her new butterscotch-coloured pair. Her mouth dropped open slightly and she turned back to Jacob. What was she thinking? This was just as annoying as ever.

"A moment please, Jake." She muttered, knowing full well that I would hear, and then turned and headed out of the canteen. Intrigued, I followed her. As I suspected, she was waiting outside.

"Explain." I demanded, "Now."

Of course, she reckoned that I had more explaining than she did, yet I wasn't standing here as a completely different species than I had been when we had last been together. And she wasn't a radiant beatific teenager when she was supposed to be a wrinkly, pensioner. I told her this and she argued, of course. Her beautiful voice rang like a bell and I knew that my love for her had not changed with time.

Of course I knew that it wasn't her fault that she was a vampire- it must've been her abnormal bad luck- this just wasn't something she could've done herself, but who did do it? I asked her this, but we had to remain silent for a bit as a group of kids walked past us, staring the whole time.

"Come on." She mumbled, grabbing my arm and pulling. It took me off-guard when her gentle pull had an effect on me, and that her skin was no longer warm and soft. It was the same temperature as mine and hard the same sturdiness that mine did. This was also surprising. Bella had lost all of her fragility and clumsiness that I had seen as endearing, but it didn't mean I loved her any less. It just made her different to what she used to be. I inhaled deeply, making the most of the fact that the smell, the call of her blood had gone.

"Explain." I said again, now that we were clear of anyone hearing.

She seemed reluctant to tell me, but then she sighed, "Laurent."

"What?"

Then she said something about wolves. God, help me, why on earth had I left her? Of course her bad luck would call in something worse than just vampires. Oh, no, not only had Laurent changed her, but she had been seemingly mingling with wolves as well. Then I realised. How stupid could I be? If Jacob Black was not a werewolf, how was he still trapped in his sixteen (well, not really sixteen, but he hadn't aged in sixteen) year old body?

"What?" I said again anyway, fighting to retain the growl that was rising up inside my chest.

"What?" she asked me, a hint of cheekiness glowing in her golden eyes.

"Why don't you start at the beginning?"

"It's a long story."

"I can skip next lesson." I insisted. Skiving on the first day- well, there was a new record, but most definitely worth it.

"Right… well, I guess it started when…" she paused, hesitating, "it was just after my eighteenth birthday. When you…" she trailed off, her eyes engulfed in pain and the guilt I felt overwhelmed me. I hadn't realised how much it would hurt her, both physically and mentally. Her pain hurt me. She didn't finish the sentence, just stared at the ground. Only a millionth of a second passed in silence, but it felt like an eternity.

"BELLA!!!!!" Alice shrieked, running over and taking Bella into her arms. I immediately felt jealous. Why couldn't our reunion have been like that? Why couldn't I have hugged her close to me, pressed my lips to hers and celebrate the fact that I no longer had to refrain? Because she could never forgive me for what I did, that's why. She could never forgive me for the pain I caused her and I doubted she could ever love me again. I didn't blame her; I would hate me too. She could see that it hadn't been Alice's fault at all and would welcome her back with open arms; I could see this. But me? Our relationship would be strained, not that we even had a small relationship, let alone one that picked up right where we had left off.

"Well… I… uh…" Bella stammered, and I realised that I had missed Alice's twenty questions. She was looking over to where Emmett, Jasper and Rosalie were stood, looking dumbfounded.

"OI!" Jacob shouted. I sighed quietly at his thoughts. They were all accusing and protective of Bella. I had no problem knowing if he hated us, "Leave her alone!"

"I'm okay?" Bella sounded uncertain and looked startled.

"Maybe this wasn't such a great idea, Bells." Jake said. Stupid, fucking Cullens. He was thinking, who do they think they are? Swan in here like nothing ever happened, like they never hurt Bella like they did. How dare they even think of coming back here. Now we'll have to move on. He'll only hurt her again. Just like he did before. And she'll have to recover all over again, not that she really recovered in the first place. Damn Cullens…

"I'm okay." Bella said, firmly this time, cutting off the stream of profanities in Jacob's head. He pulled her arm harder.

"Damn it, Jake! Let go of my arm!" Bella raised her voice and tugged her arm easily free of his hold.

Emmett laughed, "Still got that temper of yours, then?" he grinned. I found myself biting back a smile. The statement seemed to confuse Bella and her eyebrows pulled together as she stuttered a bit. This time, I couldn't hold back the smile. But Jacob quickly wiped it off of my face, as he answered for her. This made me cross. Bella could fight her own battles now, couldn't she?

"Jake, I can fight my own battles." She said and the smile reappeared.

"I think we should go back to our house and Bella can tell us everything then. Carlisle and Esme can hear as well." Jasper suggested.

"Good idea." I muttered. I desperately wanted to know what had happened to the love of my existence, and the sooner we stopped arguing and got on with talking civilly, the better.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

BPOV

"Carlisle!" Alice called as we stepped through the door.

"What is it? Alice, honey, what's wrong? Why are you back already?" Esme was the first to rush down the stairs, looking worriedly at each of her adopted children before her panicked eyes met mine for a moment. Then I looked at the floor.

I heard the rush of air as Carlisle joined us and then there was a brief silence.

"Bella?" Esme spoke softly, "Is that you?"

"Yeah." I didn't look up, though I could feel all seven of them, as well as Jake, staring at me.

Esme broke the silence, "Honey…" she reached out to me and put her hand on my shoulder, "What happened to you?"

I didn't reply; I couldn't. I just didn't know what to say. For the first time since becoming a vampire, I broke down into quiet, tearless sobs. Immediately everybody began to fuss over me: Esme shushing me, like Renee used to; Jake saying my name over and over, worrying; Alice's arms round me; Emmett patting my head, like I was a puppy (the idiot); Jasper trying, and, for the best part, failing, to send waves of calm at my hysterical form; Carlisle telling them all to give me some space; Rose was simply glaring at me, of course. The only person that didn't move was typically the only one I wanted to comfort me. The only one that could comfort me. He stood, as though frozen to the spot and watched with careful composure.

"Bella, Bella, Bella…" Esme murmured comfortingly as Alice pulled me gently to the leather sofa and sat me down. She must've forgotten that I didn't have to sit anymore to feel comfortable.

"Bella, tell us what happened." Alice demanded, an edge of impatience tinting her bell-like voice.

"Laurent came." I choked out, "And Victoria."

"What?" Carlisle sat down next to me, "But I thought Laurent went to Denali?"

"So did I." I said, calming myself down and preparing to launch into my long story. The Cullens saw that I was about to start my explanation and they came over, standing or sitting in various places where they'd be able to hear. Jake sat next to me on the sofa, listening, although he already knew the story.

"Victoria was… annoyed… with Edward…" I whispered his name, not looking at him, where he still stood rooted to the ground. I knew he was staring at me, but, then again, so was everyone else; it was my time to talk, "For killing James. She thought it would be… fairer… to go after me instead of Edward himself. She didn't know that you weren't… well, weren't here any more… so she thought that a mate for a mate…" I trailed off. We all knew that the situation was different now.

"So where is she now? And Laurent?" Carlisle asked, his brow furrowing.

"Yeah! I'd like to…" Emmett started enthusiastically, but was quickly silenced with a glance from Rosalie.

"They're…" I took a deep breath, "They're dead."

"Dead?" Esme gasped, "Why? What happened?"

"Damn." Emmett said, disappointed that his fight had been taken away.

My heightened senses took in their reactions, including my peripheral vision noting Edward lean very slightly forward, "Well…" I hesitated, "The wolves" –I indicated Jake- "got rid of Laurent… although they were a tiny bit late. If it weren't for them, I'd be dead." I purposefully left out where and when I met him because I didn't want to seem desperate… or crazy.

"He bit you?" Carlisle raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." I nodded, "At first I was disappointed… real mad, you know? And then, I came around to the idea. I hunted animals, like you," though I left out how much it hurt and how much I had despised myself for what I was, "and I lived with Jake in the country, just ten minutes from La Push. Charlie died just twenty years after I went "missing" and Billy died not too long after that.

"I desperately wanted to do something. To go to school or something. I had perfect self-control so that wasn't a problem. We couldn't go to another school too far from here, because Jake has duties in La Push, but we couldn't go to the La Push school because there were still people in the res. that would recognise him and we couldn't come here because there were still people here that would recognise me. Although the majority wouldn't, there was still the possibility that a pensioner would see us and all hell would break loose. So we did nothing for sixty years. Well, not literally, but hardly anything.

"Jake had his duties at La Push and I… well, I took care of Victoria." I finished.

"You… killed… Victoria?" Carlisle wasn't the only one gaping at me, but he was the only one who spoke.

"Well… she was trying to kill me. It was the only way…" I suddenly felt a bit guilty, but then the calm washed back over me.

"Carlisle wasn't accusing you of anything Bella; he's amazed, we all are." Jasper assured me as he calmed me.

"And then you decided to come back to Forks High?" Esme asked, encouraging what little more story there was.

"Yeah." I replied, "We only started back yesterday."

"Oh, so you're the new kids!" Emmett nodded, like it made sense.

"Er… yeah."

"I'm so sorry Bella." Esme sighed.

"For what?" my eyebrows pulled together.

"For everything that has happened to you. You didn't deserve that." She whispered.

"I'm fine." I sighed, "I mean, it's not the best, but it's okay." There was a pause, and then I spoke again, "Now… it's your turn. What have you guys been up to?"

For the first time, I glanced over to where Edward was stood… or had been stood. He was gone. I looked round, but he was nowhere to be seen. He had vanished completely.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sorry about the cliff hanger!

Quote from the next chapter: "Immediately I knew that something was wrong. Someone had been here. I inhaled deeply and almost breathed a sigh of relief when I recognised the scent. Almost, but then I remembered that Edward was the last person I wanted coming into my home. I stopped breathing as I wondered if he was still here and silently slipped through the open door…"

Please review!

Steph