The rest of the night and into the following morning, the Cullens huddled together in the spacious living room of their home, planning and re-planning, making plans and discarding them as quickly as they had been made. No one had any real ideas how to go about avoiding the Volturi and staying under their "radar" for an extended period of time. It was a frustrating time for them all.

Their discussion had gone the way most extended conversations between the Cullens, quickly turning in the shorthand of their normal conversations, with some mind communications at times.

"That sounds good in theory, Emmett, but I'm afraid storming the city of Volterra and trying to annihilate the Volturi in their home wouldn't work." Edward's frustration caused more sarcasm to come across in his voice than he intended. "We'd be out-numbered, as you well know."

"Stay outta my head, Edward. God, I'm getting a headache trying to think here." Emmett stood and stalked away from where his family sat.

"Yes, Edward, stay out of his head." Rosalie said, coldly, tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder. "At least we did stay to help out. Personally, I'd much rather be in South America." She and Emmett looked longingly at each other.

"Ok, Rose, I know, I know. You're making the great sacrifice by helping family out here. It's not something you do on a regular basis, so we know what a sacrifice it is." Bella was exhausted and half-snarled at her sister-in-law, making her own sarcasm more than obvious. Rose could be a real pain at times, and they were all tired at this point.

"Bella, I'm sorry, but this bickering isn't getting us anywhere and it needs to stop," Carlisle sighed. "And Rose, we know exactly what you're giving up by doing this for the family, and I'm sorry that –" He stopped in the middle of the thought. "Wait a minute."

"Carlisle?" Esme turned a worried face to him. "Carlisle, are you ok? What's going on?"

"I think I've got an idea that might work!" Carlisle turned a radiant smile to his wife as he spoke to the room.

"Well, tell us!" She stared at him, waiting.

"Yeah, Carlisle, talk, man! We need a plan!" Emmett jumped up from his seat in anticipation.

Bella and Edward exchanged a relieved look. If Carlisle had come up with a plan to save Nessie, then it was a plan that would actually work. Carlisle knew the Volturi intimately and if anyone could come up with a plan to outwit them, it would be Carlisle. One only needed to know one's enemy intimately, and this case, Carlisle knew what they were facing. Having lived so closely with them for years, no one knew them better than he, or understood the workings of their minds.

Alice smiled a brilliant smile that spread to everyone in the in the room, bright with the assurance that the plan would indeed work.

"Ok, everyone, give me a minute to work this through in my mind!" Even Carlisle, who was never ruffled or flustered by anything, had to regroup before he could explain the seed of an idea that had just occurred to him.

"Good morning, everyone." Nessie smiled sweetly as she came down the stairs, still in her pajamas. Her family all smiled at the sweet face that was still half-sleepy. Nessie was the only Cullen who could sleep, and no one begrudged her that.

"Of course, it would be Grandpa Carlisle's idea." She giggled as she went to Carlisle and snuggled into his side. "You're so smart, Grandpa."

"Ok, now……. Let's see if I can explain this all right." Carlisle spoke hesitantly, still thinking. "First off, Nessie, when was the last time you saw or spoke to Nahuel?"

"Well, I spoke to him just a couple of days ago. As a matter of fact, I was on the phone with him when Momma and Daddy showed up on their stopover to pick me up."

"Ok, that's good. Now…… did anyone other than family know that you talked to him on a regular basis, or who he was or whatever?"

"No, there was no one that I discussed my relationships with, not there at the school, and absolutely no one other than family." Nessie said, solemnly. In that moment, her family realized just how lonely her time away from the family was for Nessie, not being able to talk about her family with anyone, or have any really close friends, for fear that people would know too much. Edward and Bella exchanged worried and painfully understanding looks. Neither now begrudged the girl whatever relationship she did have with the Latin boy.

"Oh, good, then." Carlisle hugged his granddaughter closer to his side. "I think I might have come up with a way to get Nessie out of sight for a while and maybe give her chance to spend some time with Nahuel as well."

Nessie didn't speak, but her excitement was obvious. She was beginning to see where her grandfather was going with this.

"Carlisle, what are you thinking?" Edward stood and walked toward the large windows at the back of the house, stopping to stare out at the new day. The sun would not be out today. Typical for the Olympic Peninsula. He raked his fingers through hair that was already in disarray.

"Well, what if we sent Bella, Edward and Nessie to visit with Nahuel and his aunt, particularly his aunt in their old village?"

"You mean, just go there and spend some time until the Volturi maybe forgets or until Aro gets distracted and moves on to another pet project?" Bella said quietly. "If he gets distracted."

"Yes, Bella, that's it." Carlisle smiled. "The village is far enough off the beaten path, and there's very little in the way of communication or even modern conveniences. You'd have to rough it for a while."

"And the rest of us? Where do we figure into this plan?" Jasper had been quiet up to this point and watched Carlisle closely.

'The rest of us will scatter to the four winds, Jasper." Carlisle watched the faces of his family to gage their reactions.

"Ok, so we'll all go different places?" Alice asked, then added, "Do you have a plan for where we go or are we just splitting up and traveling?"

"Oh, that's beauty of it, Alice. You pick where to go, and don't any of you tell the others where you will be." Carlisle explained. "We will each have a special untraceable cell phone that we only use in communication with each other, and we will have special signals and codes that only we will know. That way, if someone gets a hold of one of the cells, the others will know not to respond if a caller deviates from the plan in the slightest."

"It sounds wonderful, Carlisle." Esme smiled kindly at her husband.

"Yup, good plan." Emmett laughed. "I think it will work just fine."

" I know it will." Alice's smile beamed and relief showed on her face. Jasper reached for her hand and patted it. Seeing her less worried improved his mood, as always.

"Ok, let's go out to the garage and start gathering up what we will need in the way of equipment." Carlisle spoke to the men. "Edward, Jasper and Emmett, come with me. Ladies, you will do whatever packing you must do, as far as clothing and supplies go. Remember to pack in anticipation of an extended stay. After all, we don't know how long it will be before Aro loses interest or whatever. If Caius and Marcus get all hyped up about it, then it will be anyone's guess as to how long it will take to pull this off."

"And our not knowing where the others are insures that we cannot be forced or coerced into giving anyone one up if Aro decides to force the issue." Edward spoke thoughtfully, saying what every other mind in the room was thinking at the moment.

"Yes, that's it, Edward." Carlisle smiled at his youngest son, who was beginning to show an inkling of hope that the plan might actually work. He turned to Esme. "Now, Esme, you call the pilot and arrange for the plane to be fueled up and ready to go. There's no need to give him any further information right now. Just tell him it's urgent and that I will fill him as soon as I can.

"Thank you, Carlisle, for taking us through the fire again." Bella smiled in relief as she and Edward joined hands and kissed before he started to the garage. Then her face paled even more than normal.

"Bella? What's wrong?" Edward put his arm around her waist to keep her from collapsing if she was going to.

Bella turned to stare at Edward.

"Oh, my God, Edward. Charlie. And Jacob."

"What of them?" His face showed his confusion and then understanding as Bella went on.

"Oh, Edward, what am I going to tell Charlie? And Jacob? How will I explain this without endangering them, as well as all of us?"

The Cullen family stood staring at each other. No one knew what to say.