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I sat by the river and waited, because that's all I could do. But I could hear everything going on at the house. I could hear Bella pacing between Emmett and Rosalie (who, strangely, has become rather fond of Bella-she just won't say anything) and Carlisle and Alice whispering out front. For the death of me I couldn't figure out why they bothered to whisper! I could tell Esme was lurking around as well, unsure as to where she wanted to be. And I could hear footsteps running in the direction of the house from the forest. Damn.

Edward rushed forward, meeting Alice and Carlisle out front. "Where is she?" he asked.

"Okay, Edward. Here's the thing. I may have confused the explanation I gave you earlier." I snorted. Confused would be the understatement of the century.

"What do you mean, confused? And Alice, why are you singing Thriller in your head? What's going on? Why are you both blocking me?" And Edward was going to overreact in three…two….one…

"Son. Why don't we take a little walk." Ah, Carlisle, he's not going to fall for that!

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on." Told you so. Alice let out a frustrated sigh. I wondered if she was going to tell him verbally, or just let him see the whole thing. Neither option was going to bode well on my part. I didn't hear anything for a moment, so I guessed that Alice was letting him watch. I cringed. "You're not serious."

"I'm afraid so. I want you to keep in mind that it is his nature to do so, and that he has struggled much harder with this than any of us. I also want you to remember where he was taught." I wanted to hug Carlisle for standing up for me, even though I knew he didn't want to. I also knew that it wasn't going to work. I could feel Edward's anger and his anguish-he couldn't decide which way to turn. Run to Bella or attack me?

"Where is he." It wasn't a question. He made his choice-just like Bella said. I hope Emmett is ready to run.

"Down by the river, waiting for you. Edward, please. You need to work through this first."

"I don't want to work through this. And why is it, Alice, that you're not covered in his scent? You hate him for it, don't you?" Damn you, Edward! She has nothing to do with this. He's only bringing her into it because he needs to project his anger onto someone.

"I left him, Edward. But not because I hate him." I didn't feel the conviction in her words.

Enough.

"I'm out here, Edward! Leave Alice out of this. She's done nothing." I heard him take off, and within seconds he was there. And he was pissed. He crouched forward and lunged before I had a chance to blink. I let him. The first blow caught me right in the cheek, and I could hear the snap. It's a good thing I can't have broken bones.

"You're going to wish I could break your bones by the time I'm through with you," he growled. He struck again, this time on the other side. He was aiming to hurt, not to kill. "Yet," he growled again. I heard Emmett trailing him and grabbing him by the shoulders to pull him off.

"Enough with the hitting, bro. Bella kicked his ass pretty good when she woke up. And he's not going to fight back, because he knows he deserves it. All you're gonna accomplish is hurting Esme's feelings." Edward swung again, but stood up to face Emmett.

"I'm not through with you," he hissed.

"I don't expect you to be." I replied. What else could I say? If I was in his position, I would do the same thing.

"Let's go back to the house. Bella is waiting to talk to you." Emmett said, pulling him along. I trailed, taking another way through the front of the house. I crept up to my room and perched by the window. I know this was supposed to be a private moment, but I wanted to hear what she had to say to him. She was so headstrong-this should be good. I could hear the rustle of feet as the rest of the family found places to listen nonchalantly as well. There was a reason there were no secrets in this house.

"Bella…" Edward breathed. I could feel his adoration for her. Strangely, I didn't feel the same from her. The primary emotion I got from her was hurt.

"Hi." She replied. That was the best she could do?!

"Bella, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I wish with my entire being that I could have stopped this from happening." I heard her take a deep breath.

"That's the thing, Edward. You could have stopped it." What?

"I don't understand. What do you mean, love?" Yes, please, fill us in because I was way past confused. How could he have stopped it?

"If you wouldn't have left me, Jasper wouldn't have stayed to harm me. You got scared, and you ran away. You left me alone-it was to be expected that something like this would happen."

"Bella, you know I only left you to keep you safe. I had no idea that my brother had those thoughts in his head. I was too upset over the thought of leaving you to pay attention to him." He pleaded, moving closer to her. She stepped back.

"Do you see what's wrong with that sentence? If you were so upset over leaving me, why did you leave in the first place?! Wasn't my love good enough to keep you here. Wasn't I good enough?" Her reaction surprised me so much that I went to join Carlisle and Esme downstairs. They were listening at the back door. I didn't want to hear it alone anymore-her pain was too great, and coupled with Edward's grief it was getting hard to stand.

"My brother attacked you in your bed and you think it's my fault?" he was asking, but it was very accusatory. Bella's eyes were slits.

"Yes. You know, Jasper's always had problems with control. Now, I kind of hate the fact that he lost control with me, but it happened. It's his nature. And yes, I'm still mad at him. But you know what he didn't do? He didn't leave. He stayed here while I was changing. He let me beat him up when I woke up. He let me yell at him afterwards. Hell-he even showed me what it was like to want something so bad you could claw your eyes out. But when something bad happened to me in front of you, you ran away." I wanted to point at Edward and say "See? I told you so!" but that wouldn't be very respectful of me. I couldn't deny the fact that I was pleased with this outcome-at least knowing that I got through to Bella. How she could ever look at me again after what I'd done, I'll never know. But I'm glad she can. And now, more than anything, I wanted to know her-because evidently there was so much more to her than what she gave off.

"But I love you, Bella…" Was all Edward could say. Well, that's not going to do a lot of good, now, is it?

"Well, you sure as hell have a funny way of showing it. I'd appreciate it if you would leave me alone for now. I can't stand to look at you." I smiled. I couldn't help myself! It was so empowering to watch her stand up for herself like that-to finally put herself first just this once. Hell-I was proud of her. Edward marched in the house and snarled at me.

"Don't you dare look so smug at me. This is your fault. I'll never forgive you for this." I looked him square in the eye.

"That's fine. Because it's not your forgiveness I'm after." I walked outside, intent on going back to the river for a while, when Bella stopped in front of me.

"Don't let it go to your head. You've got a long way to go." She turned away, but she looked back and smirked. And for the first time in weeks, I wasn't at the bottom of Bella's favorite person list.

Good for Bella, huh? And I just had to throw a little tribute to MJ in there-even though I wasn't his greatest fan ever (far from it) a music icon he was.