Author's Note- Thank you to everybody who's reviewed or added this story to their favourites or anything- I really appreciate it and am glad that you like it. I do it all to you, especially to Leon Mcfrenchington for both the first review and the beta-ing. Thank you!

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EPOV

When she broke down, I didn't move; I couldn't. If I went over to her, she'd surely push me away; it would make her feel even worse than she already did. I didn't want her to feel like that. So I stood rooted to the spot, careful not to let any emotions show on my face. I saw her glance quickly at me and her eyes caught mine. For a moment, I saw all of the emotions in her: there was worry, guilt, fear, sadness, shame; nearly every emotion that existed was there in her butterscotch eyes, but only for a split second, then the mask that covered all of this slipped back over them and her beautiful eyes were soulless again. Then she started to talk.

I watched and listened to Bella's story in silence, the sadness, guilt and huge sense of wrong washing over me. Jasper let it come, without trying to calm me down; he was too involved in Bella's story. My emotions came crashing down on me, getting worse and worse as the story went on until I could bear it no more. Victoria trying to kill her was nothing; the strong emotions I felt when she said this were overruled when she said that she had killed the feline-like vampire. I could stand it no more, so I left silently, running into the forest that lay just outside our home. I needed to think.

Bella had killed Victoria. Her innocence had been corrupted by that… there wasn't a bad enough word. She had murdered her. Bella hadn't liked this any more than I had, but I doubted her guilt was anything compared to what I felt. If I had been there for her, if I hadn't left, Bella could've lived and she would still be human; she would still be innocent.

And she was one of us. Her life had been ruined. What she had once asked me for, so desperately, she now had. The irony was that I could see that she hated it. Bella shouldn't have to endure something she hated. Esme was right; my angel should not have been made to go through everything that she had done.

I knew that when Bella had told us everything that had happened in our absence, she had not been entirely truthful. Not that she was lying; just that she hadn't told us the whole story. She was keeping bits from us; they may have been tiny things, but she was keeping them from us all the same. Even if it was just how much she had been hurting, she still should've told us.

I was still mulling this over when a sudden sight made me stop in my tracks. It was a house. A big beautiful house with one wall made entirely of glass. Who had a house in the middle of the forest? Apart from us, obviously. I crept forward and peered through the windows, not breathing. Whoever it was, they were out, so I snuck through the window into a bedroom. There was one bed and the covers were slung aside, sliding onto the floor, as though whoever had got out of it had been in a hurry. The bed was surrounded by boxes; the sort of boxes you used when you moved house. There was nothing else in the room so I opened the door, it creaked slightly, and went into the corridor. More boxes littered the space and, interested, I opened it and peered inside.

There were photos; lots and lots of photos. I took a double take when I realised that I recognised the faces. The one on the top was of Charlie Swan, Renee and a little girl with dark hair and wide chocolate brown eyes. Of course. It was Bella's new house. I sighed, and the smell of wolves hit me. Ugh, how did Bella stand this stench? That was yet another mystery of her mind. It pained me that, this time, I couldn't just ask her. It was hardly my business anymore. I sighed again and continued to pull photos from the box.

BPOV

"Where's Edward?" Emmett had picked up that he was missing as well, and suddenly everybody was looking around, everybody but Alice.

"He's fine," She said softly, "He just had to think… without our thoughts intruding in his mind…" she trailed off, "He'll be fine."

"Speaking of powers…" Emmett grinned at me, and I knew what he was implying.

"Do you have any talents, Bella?" Esme was more direct in her approach.

"Well…" I hesitated. I wanted to know what they had been up to, but I wanted to know that when Edward was here. I went with the latter and decided to tell them, "I can kind of… shield."

"Seriously?" Emmett cried, his grin almost reaching his ears.

"Yeah," I nodded, "I can shield my mind from other vampires' talents, like mind-reading and… stuff."

"That's why Edward couldn't read your mind?" Alice gaped at me, "Even when you were human?"

"I guess," I shrugged, "I can also make my shield extend over others as well, if I try really hard. And if I try even harder I can quash it. I've got all of this pretty under control; I've had a lot of time on my hands. But I have to have a motivation to do it. I have to be angry or something."

"Hmm…" Carlisle was deep in thought, probably speculating.

"That's probably why I couldn't see you!" Alice realised.

"But you could see me when I was human." I puzzled, "You mean that you didn't see me here?"

"No. But, obviously, your power has intensified with your transformation, making you immune to other talents as well. I guess if you pulled it back, quashed it like you said you can, then I'd probably be able to see you."

"Maybe…" I trailed off, thinking.

"Is there anything else that you can do?" Emmett wondered out loud.

"Well, I'm stronger than a lot of vampires… like Victoria and there have been others… Jake and I think it has something to do with what I've been through--" I immediately cut myself off; I'd said too much.

"Oh, honey…" Esme whispered, picking up on what I'd hoped that they wouldn't, "I'm so, so sorry."

"Bella…" Jake spoke for the first time since we had got to the Cullens', "I think we should go now…"

"But I want to know what they've been doing!" I protested.

"I… I think that we should tell you that when… when Edward gets back, Bella," Alice said.

"Come back sometime. You'll always be welcome here," Esme added.

"Umm… okay," I sighed. I knew why Jake wanted to go. He wanted to eat; he was hungry.

"Come on, Bells…" Jake said, grabbing my arm and attempting to pull me to my feet. I desperately wanted to stay, but I let him pull me up because he had endured a lot from me today. Suddenly, as I thought about this, I felt bad. I'd cook him something good to make up for it.

"Uh…" I looked at all of them, "I'll be back soon."

"Okay," Esme nodded and smiled kindly, motherly.

"Bye, Bella!" Alice smiled at me and hugged me again, "Come back." She was suddenly so serious that I wondered if she was joking, "Promise me you'll come back. No matter what happens, promise me."

"I promise, Alice. I'll be back. I want to know what you guys have been up to. There's a lot of time to cover," I grinned at her, trying to lighten the suddenly serious mood that made me feel edgy.

The rest of the Cullens said goodbye to us, each hugging me in turn and then we left.

"I'm so sorry, Jake," I said, once we had gone on our way and we were walking through the forest; we had no need to run.

"S'okay," He muttered.

"I really am." I stopped, pulling him to a halt as well, "And thanks."

"Seriously, Bells, forget mind reading, I think they have means of mind control," Jake snapped, "They hurt you so, so bad and you go straight back to their house, as though with open arms!"

"What else could I do Jacob?"

"You could tell them to piss off!" Jake growled. His whole form quaked now that he had let his anger get away with him, "You could get them to leave you alone. We could move. We could leave. Whatever, anything! Anything but that."

"Jake, I am sorry, but… I dunno. I just went. It just… seemed like the right thing to do." I sighed. It hurt that he wanted to do anything but speak to the Cullens again; he didn't want me to forgive them. But they were like family; even after all of this time, I couldn't just leave them, "Look, I'm sorry I dragged you along, okay? But it's my life… or existence and I can do what I want with it! If I want to forgive the Cullens, then I can, okay?"

"You still love him, don't you?" Jake glowered at me.

I didn't reply.

"I can't believe this, Bella!" he cried, "After everything that he did to you, you still love him. He'll only hurt you again, Bells, you know that."

"He won't," I shot back, "How can he hurt me when he clearly doesn't feel the same way that he did? How can he hurt me when I'm already hurt? How can he leave me when he's already left? How can he break me when I'm already broken, Jake? How can he do that? He can't, and you know he can't."

"He can," Jake mumbled, but I could tell that I had won the argument.

"Besides, it's not like he knows I still… you know. He can't use it to his advantage and he doesn't know that I'd get hurt. I'll be fine, Jake. I'm sure of it."

"You can't be sure of someone as unreliable as he is," Jacob said, but then he turned to face me, "Bells, I'm going to go eat at The Lodge." He told me, "I need some time to think."

"Oh, Jake… don't do that…" I moaned, "This shouldn't split us up."

"Sorry, Bells… I will come back this evening. Go hunting or something," He said gently, realising that he had hurt my feelings, "I'll see you later," He said, and then ran off in the direction of The Lodge.

I would've gone after him and stopped him, but I needed some time to think as well. Let it sink in. The Cullens had come back. After sixty years, they were back.

I shook my head, deciding to think about this as I unpacked some of the stuff. I had wanted to do this before, but I just didn't know what to do with all of our stuff.

I sighed and ran back through the forest to our home. I gave the door a miss and skipped through Jake's window instead. 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. The box containing my old photos was open and a few were scattered on the floor. I continued through the house and down to the kitchen where I found him, sat with his back to me on the same chair I had been sat in that morning while Jake slept, as I did now every morning.

"What…" I started, but my throat was dry. My voice made him jump very slightly and he turned round quickly, getting off of the chair and crouching in defence until he saw that it was me stood there, looking at him, and he straightened up.

"Bella," Was all he said, seeming as speechless as me.

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Beta-read (again) by Leon Mcfrenchington- thanks so much!

I know that in the books, Alice can't see Bella when she hangs round with Jake but I made Alice not be able to see Bella because of her shield, because I can do tiny things like that. This is because I decided that I shouldn't spend ages making Bella and the Cullens figure out that Alice can't see her because of the wolves, purely because we all know this, so I changed it a little bit. Sorry, but it's easier this way.

Quote: Suddenly I realised that it didn't matter if he knew how I felt; the worst he could do was leave again. And this time, I could follow them, if I wanted to. I always had loved him and always would and I didn't care if he knew that.

As you may be able to tell by the quote, Edward and Bella PROPER reunion in the next chapter!

Please review!

Steph