A/N: Hey guys, worst author ever here! I am so sorry for the delay. I have had a lot of personal things that have unfortunately made my writing have to take a back seat but hopefully now I can spend more time writing new chapters for you guys to enjoy!

Please read and review, I love reading your comments and suggestions! It really helps me through writers block!

As always, I own none of the characters represented.

Chapter 8: Memories

(Forks, WA September 26, 2008)

Edward POV

As I made my way to Charlie's house I thought about the events from the past couple of days. Bella's brothers showing up after all this time was defiantly surprising. Sam was the same as he was when I met him after Bella's leg was broken. Maybe a little more guarded, but I knew how to keep from intruding on his thoughts. Besides, I was more interested in the eldest Winchester sibling, Dean.

From what I could see he defiantly was a warrior who had seen much in his young life. But he was also kind and caring when it came to his siblings. He would laugh at something Bella had said one minute and then his face would turn grim as he explained a hunt to my family. From the short time I had known him, he seemed to share certain qualities with Emmett, just maybe not so carefree. The Winchester brothers were just as much of an enigma than their younger sister, just another puzzle for me to unravel. I hoped I could get more answers by spending more time with them.

When I made it to the house Charlie was the only one there. I could hear him sleeping in his room. I frowned, looking at the time. Where in the world could they be this late at night? I took a seat on the porch and waited for them to return.

A few hours later I saw the lights from the Impala turning the corner and I didn't move until the car pulled into the driveway. I could see Dean's reasoning for keeping this car. The roar of the engine is undeniable as it rumbled down the street. From what I could hear, and Rosalie's teachings, it sounded like a 502 cubic-inch big-block V8 engine. I'm sure my sister would love to get her hands on it, but she was too prideful to ask Dean if she could tune it up. The glossy blank paint job made it almost disappear in the night blending into its surroundings. All in all, it was the muscle car of any teenage boy's dream.

The brother's got out first and I saw Sam bending over to let Bella out of the back seat. I looked them over quickly, noticing that other than looking exhausted seemed fine. But when Bella got out I could smell blood from open wounds and saw several small cuts and bruises on her face.

"Bella?!" I asked in alarm as I rushed over to her. Of course, if it was a one and three chance that anyone would get hurt it would be her….

"Hey." She grimaced, as if expecting this reaction from me. I caught the motion of her trying to pull her shirtsleeve down, so I couldn't see whatever it was she was trying to hide from me. They had only been gone for a day and a half at the most according to Dean's thoughts.

"Cue the freak out…." He smirked, thinking back over the events. My worry over her injuries pushed me to not bother with trying to get a full grasp on the events from Dean. I could hear his thoughts clearer than the twins but it was still murky compared to normal human's and vampire's thoughts.

"Shut up…." Bella glared at him before returning her attention to me.

"What happened?" I asked soft, touching her cheek and trying to reign in my panic. She was at least here with me now, that's all that mattered, I tried remining myself.

"The hunt went a little sideways, that's all." She closed her eyes and reached up to press my hand closer to her cheek. "That feels nice." She smiled.

I tried to keep my thoughts in check as I helped her inside with the brothers following us.

"I call shower first!" Dean called, already taking his jacket and shirt off, running up the stairs.

Bella smirked at him, nudging me a little. "Let's go to my room."

"Of course, let me get the first aid kit first." I kissed her on the nose, the only place that didn't seem to be cut or bruised. She blushed a little and nodded, heading up the stairs.

Sam shook his head and pulled out his computer. He seemed more withdrawn than usual, I wondered if something else had happened on the hunt that would have put more of a strain on their relationship. I new they were both happy that Dean was back, but the demon that Sam had been working with was something that they just couldn't compromise on. Bella couldn't push past the fact that she was a demon and Sam couldn't get his sister to accept that not all demons have to be the enemy. I sighed, wanting more than anything for them to reconcile their differences.

I grabbed the first aid kit from the kitchen and headed for her room.

She frowned when I came in, a little disgruntled pout on her face almost looking comical despite the situation. "I don't know why you're doing this… Dean already patched me up."

"Where are you hurt?" I asked in a calming voice ignoring her protests. If I had learned anything I knew I had to be just as stubborn as she was sometimes to make sure she wasn't injured. This hadn't been the first time she had come home hurt but I could bet on the fact that it wouldn't be the last.

"It doesn't hurt…." She shrugged and winced at the motion. I prodded at her shoulder and she bit out a short curse. "Much…." She amended.

I tilted her chin up to look me in the eye, smirking slightly. "Swallow your pride and tell me love."

"Fine…" She sighed" I got shot, and I have a big cut on my stomach. That's the worst of it other than a few cuts and scrapes."

I couldn't keep a low growl from crossing my lips as I thought of anyone who would try to hurt Bella. I tried to keep my emotions and thoughts to the present. Bella needed my help right now and it wouldn't do her any good for me to be angry. "Let me see."

She sighed once more in what I guessed was aggravation and started to pull her shirt off wincing when it pulled at the muscles of her shoulder. I ended up helping her get out of her shirt, showing the worst of the bruising. My eyes widened in surprise, firstly due to the amount of bruising covering her pale skin and secondly realizing that this was the most of her skin that I had seen since we met. It didn't take but about a half second for me to regain composure and focus on the task at hand.

Bella snorted, apparently having seen my reaction. "Oh, come on Edward, don't be a shrinking violet now." Her voice held a teasing edge to it as she smirked up at me.

"I have no idea what you are talking about…." I frowned to keep any other emotion off my face and carefully looked over her stomach wound first.

"Okay… whatever…." She smiled slightly, wincing when I uncovered the bloody gauze.

Though the stiches were not up to Carlisle's standards they looked neat and precise. The cut didn't look too deep and scarring would be minimal. "The stitches look fine."

"I told you." She grumbled quietly.

I smirked to myself at her reaction as I recovered the wound in fresh gauze. While my hands were busy I let my eyes roam over her bare skin seeing the other faded scars scattered across it, including the one inflicted by the knife in Cold Oak. I remembered her telling me about how she got it, but I never asked to see it and she never offered to show it to me. As I looked at it now it seemed to be just an ordinary faded pink line along her ribcage, but I knew it held more pain and torture than I would ever know within it. After the gauze was fastened in place I moved to the bullet wound.

She took a deep breath and held it while biting her lower lip. "Is it deep?

"It could have been worse." I remembered Carlisle's memories of gunshot wounds and compared to them this was little more than a grazing. "Is the bullet out?"

"Dean dug it out earlier, with his knife." She grimaced as I began cleaning the wound.

Carlisle was a doctor and had seen many wilderness survival enthusiasts getting hurt while out in the wild and tried these tactics on themselves and ending up with a lost limb by the time they got to the hospital. "I'm sure that was sanitary…." I knew it was a mistake to say that as soon as the last word left my mouth, I couldn't stop myself.

"He's not stupid; he used tweezers and sterilized it." She replied quietly.

"I'm sorry Bella, I didn't mean to suggest that he didn't." I replied just as softly, feeling the slight flush of her skin, feeling as if she had a low-grade fever from the wounds. "I should go with you next time. I can keep you from getting hurt." I asked her once again to let me accompany her on hunts.

I looked to her just in time to see her grimacing. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"I can protect you." I held my ground defensively.

"I know you will." She deflected my question with a wince as I prodded further into the bullet wound. I wanted to make sure no shrapnel was left in the wound for it to get infected.

"I'll be gentle." I promised. "Don't worry." She didn't look at me but nodded as she tried not to let the pain get to her. "It doesn't look too deep." I tried to smile as I started stitching it up then cleaning the area before putting gauze over it and covering it securely.

She breathed a sigh of relief when I was done, hitting me with a dose of her scent, the burn becoming more like an old friend and a reminder that she was still alive rather than a siren call. "Thank you."

"You've been a good patient." I smirked, looking to the wounds on her face. "Now for your forehead."

"Are you almost done Dr. Cullen?" She smirked. "How much is this house call going to cost me?"

I smiled at her cheekiness, used to the familiar banter. "Now I'm done."

"Good." She smiled. "Can you hand me my pajamas? I'm getting tired."

"Of course." I handed them too her and made a note to bring her antibiotics for the fever. Hopefully Carlisle wouldn't mind if I raided the hospital.

We both turned to the sound of the water cutting off and the door to the bathroom opening. "Bella!" I turned to see Dean coming out in a cloud of steam with a towel wrapped around his waist. "I had to use some of your girly shampoo… hope you don't mind." He ran his hand through his wet hair and shook it out.

"Okay, no problem." Bella replied.

Dean reached the door and saw the two of us in her room with Bella pulling her shirt over her head, pajama bottoms already on. "Come on…. What the hell man…?"

"Oh, calm down. I'm not 13 anymore Dean…. He just wanted to check the gashes over. It's not creepy." Bella pushed past me and stood between us, rolling her eyes. "And the door was open… perv."

"I would never do anything inappropriate Dean." I assured her brother, rearranging my features into a serious look.

He looked me over with narrowed eyes before turning back to Bella. "Okay, okay. I trust you Bella." He walked back out and down the stairs.

Bella turned back to me with a sly smirk on her face and leaned in to whisper. "Good thing he does, I owe him some payback."

I chuckled as I pulled her close, giving her a chaste kiss on the lips. "Do you need Tylenol?"

Bella shook her head as she wrapped her fingers around mine. "Nah, I'm good. Just stay with me okay?"

"Of course, I will." I squeezed her hands gently and helped her get into bed. I went back to cut the lights off before returning to cuddle against her.

"I really missed you." I heard her whisper into the darkness.

"I missed you too." I whispered back, pulling her back to expose her neck. I would have never thought that I could have had a relationship like this with another human even as late as a year ago. Scents and sounds that used to drive me wild with thirst now confirmed my belief that Bella had returned to me safe and sound. Nothing else in the world mattered to me just as long as she was safe and by my side. I would take whatever pain and heartache that the world had in store for me just as long as I got to keep her by my side.

She closed her eyes and snuggled into me with a small smile. I held her as close as I dared, savoring each moment we got to spend together. In the middle of the calm and peacefulness of the night Victoria's words came back to me. I tried to shake them away, not wanting to ruin the bliss of the moment. I decided that I would act as if the conversation had never happened. I felt confident in Bella's ability to protect herself and if it came down to it, I would be there to back her up no matter what the consequences. A nagging voice in the back of my head begged me to think of the consequences of staying with a human mate, I winced at the possibilities my mind conjured. Human life spans were short compared to ours anyway, and human hunters were even shorter, with Dean being the exception.

There was something bothering me about the eldest Winchester sibling. From what I could see in his thoughts he did remember his time down in hell. I couldn't sort out much but from what I could see he was in excruciating agony. So why lie and tell them he remembers nothing? I knew it wasn't my place to tell his private thoughts, but he couldn't cope with what had happened by himself. I frowned to myself, maybe I should talk to him. At least then I could understand his reasoning for not wanting to tell them.

Bella's heartrate slowed, and I knew she was in a deep sleep and I could move freely. Sitting in one position for too long seemed to stiffen up my body, I needed to keep myself moving. I pulled my arm from underneath her pillow and kissed her forehead gently. I wandered downstairs to try and satisfy my curiosity about the Winchester brothers.

The brothers were cramped in Charlie's living room, Sam was taking up the reclining chair and Dean was sprawled across the couch, face twisted in pain. I listened to his accelerating heart beat and realized the signs of a nightmare, having seen Bella go through them many nights. Just like before, I could only get glimpses and make inferences about the true meaning of his nightmares, but I could tell there was a lot of pain and darkness.

As I got closer I could see more of Bella's features reflected in her brother's face. The shape of their noses, the little quirk of their mouth when the were asleep, hair colors, all of it was the same. Even their eye color was the same, as I got closer I saw Bella's green eyes reflected back at me with emotions ranging from fear to surprise to finally anger.

Dean snapped out of his shock and without hesitation pulled out his gun and trained it on my chest. "What in the hell?!" He growled.

So, it would seem they all have the same reaction to being woken up like this… I held my hands up defensively and backed away slowly.

"What were you doing?" He sighed angrily, pulse still racing from the adrenaline.

"I saw you were having a nightmare." I explained quietly, not wanting to disturb Sam. "Are you Alright?"

"No, you almost gave me a heart attack man…." He got up and went into the kitchen. "I really don't wanna die again." He stretched, apparently stiff from sleep. I could hear his muddled inner monologue, still reeling from the latest nightmare.

I followed him to see him reaching into a cabinet for a glass, pouring himself a glass of water from the sink. "Would you like to talk about it?" I offered, thinking maybe he needed to tell someone what had happened.

He deflected my offer with a snort and an eye roll. "No thanks. I don't need the 'Dr. Phil of the vamp world' digging around in my head.

"Then why did you lie to them? You never told them you remember."

"And that's how it's going to stay." He pointed at me with a grimace, thoughts turning towards memories of Hell with a shudder.

"They deserve to know." I remained determined to figure out how his mind worked.

Dean set the glass down with an exasperated sigh. "Why, so Bella can have worse nightmares? I'm not putting that on her. She's been through enough, so has Sam." He pushed past me with a frown. "Just drop it okay?

"If you think that's best." I sighed in defeat, knowing when to push for more information and when to hold off.

"I know it is." Dean held onto his point definitively. "I've been protecting them my whole life. That was always my job and I intend on keeping it, so don't you dare tell them."

I thought of the many conversations about my gift with my family and how much it irritated them that I could hear their every thought. I figured I could extend the same courtesy to Dean. "Your secrets are your own. It isn't my place to tell them."

"Good." He huffed as he sat back down on the couch. "Now about you and my sister…. You hurt her, you answer to me and my machete." He smirked with a wicked glint. Showing me the many times he had taken out vampires with the long blade.

"I see you've got some skill." I smiled, matching his calm demeanor. "It won't work on my skin though."

He grimaced, seeing that I was one step ahead of him. "Shut up. I'll use fire then." He grinned as he flopped back down on the couch, grabbing the blanket off of it. "I'll light up your sparky ass."

I smirked at his words. "Understood."

"Good." His reply was slightly satisfied. "Now that we've got that settled, let me go back to sleep."

"Of course." I nodded more to myself than anything. I headed back for the stairs and turned at the sound of his voice again.

"Where are you going?" I saw suspicion in his eyes at being caught.

"Just to say goodnight." I lied smoothly, knowing that he would be passed out again before I could even get to Bella's door.

He frowned at me, crossing his arms in disapproval. "At 2am?"

I smiled, sighing in defeat for his benefit. "Maybe I should just get going…." I headed for the door. "Goodnight Dean."

I had every intention of waiting for him to go back to sleep and then climbing up the tree to Bella's second story window when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I looked down at the message and it was from Alice. "Can you meet me at home?" I sent her a quick reply back and rushed back to my home.

Alice had been gone for almost two weeks, the longest she had ever been away from us. She also went by herself, much to Jasper's irritation and anger. But she had assured him that there was no reason for him to be concerned for her. At least that's what I thought from reading the note she left for him. Ever since she had been rescued from James' lair we had worried that she had been traumatized by the whole incident. For the most part she had gotten back into a normal routine but almost seemed disconnected from the world happening around her. It was only after Bella came back that a little bit more of the old Alice came back out and I think they both helped each other get over what had happened to them because of James.

In her letter she had told us that she had to check something connected to her past. Alice was unique in that her earliest memories is of her waking up as one of us. She has no recollection of her human memories. After Bella telling us that James had known Alice back when she was human, as well as the memories Bella helped her to recover she had been curious as to what kind of life she lived prior to her transformation. Jasper was against the idea from the beginning, but he couldn't dissuade her from it.

When the house came into view I saw my sister standing underneath the last tree shading the driveway, waiting for me. I looked her over, finding no changes to her physical being. She was dressed in a long dark trench coat, jeans that were frayed at the bottoms, and dark chucks poking out from the bottom. She was just pulling off some elbow-length black gloves when I got close enough to her, having just gotten to the house herself.

"Welcome back." My smile faltered when I heard her reciting the Lord's prayer repeatedly in Latin. Tipping off that she wanted to keep me out of her thoughts. "We've missed you."

"I missed you to." Her normally exuberant voice seemed off as she wrapped her small delicate arms around my torso.

"So, you went back to the place you were born?" I saw through the translation that she had visited a very stately looking home.

"Stop." She abruptly stopped thinking of anything at all to shut me out. "I want to tell everyone in person by myself. It's not the best of stories…."

I nodded, sensing my sister's need for privacy, or at least as much as I could provide for her. We headed for the stairs and went into the house. I heard my family in the house going about their own private activities. Carlisle was studying in his office, Esme was in her library painting, Jasper was in his room watching a game with Emmett and Rosalie was taking apart some piece off Jasper's motorcycle to clean. They all stopped when they smelled Alice's scent.

"Hey everyone." Alice sat own her pink suitcase that was almost bigger than her and pulled the wide brimmed hat from her head. I was helping her take her coat off when Jasper seemed to materialize out of no where and wrap his arms around her protectively, not saying a word.

Esme was the second to come down and greet us. "Hello sweetheart. How was your trip?"

"Very… enlightening." Alice commented back while her bottom lip was trapped in between her teeth. "Can we all meet in the dining room?"

We all went into the dining room to let Alice and Jasper have a more private reunion. In the foyer.

"You scared the hell outta me darlin'." Jasper finally spoke quietly, I could feel the relief coming off him in waves.

"I know. I'm sorry. But I had to do this on my own." She kissed his cheek.

I could feel the secondary effects of Jasper's gift and could tell that my sister was very deeply affected by whatever it was she found out. Sadness was rolling off her in waves, hitting Jasper at full force.

They joined us moments later and Alice took the head position while Jasper and I flanked her on either side, I tried not to remember the last time we were all gathered in this place together, but it was hard considering that Rosalie was sitting on the opposite side of the large oak table, as far from me as she could get. I tried to keep my focus on my sister, she didn't need for me to start another argument right now.

"Tell us what happened." Jasper asked in a quiet voice as if he was talking to a small child.

She sighed, pulling a crossbody bag from around her neck and sat it on the table with a quiet thump. "I wanted to do some research on my human life. After hearing what James had to say about me I was curious." She frowned, recalling the time during which she had been kidnaped to force Bella into making a move. I winced at both Alice's memories and my own. "I used to live in Biloxi, Mississippi. Turns out my first name isn't Alice. I was born Mary Alice Brandon. I… I guess I had forgotten my own name."

Esme's compassion compelled her to reach over me and take Alice by the hand, her heart breaking for her child. Alice smiled a little at the action and squeezed her hand before letting it go to continue.

"I got along better with my mother than I did with my father I imagine. I found my admission file from the asylum. And I found my grave, the death date and the date of my admission are the same." She pulled out the stacks of yellowed documents from the bag she had been carrying.

Rosalie gasped in shock. "They faked your own death?"

Alice nodded quietly. "Humans who were considered different or abnormal were hidden away at the time, not helped…."

Jasper growled under his breath angrily, thinking about how cruel humans were while wrapping an arm around her shoulders protectively.

"It's okay Jazz. It's not the worst of it… I looked through the papers on microfiche and found this story." She pulled out another set of documents and it was from an old newspaper with a photo of a man being arrested with the headline: 'Brandon charged with more than a dozen counts of homicide'. "I was turned in 1920 and this article is from 1924…. My father had been arrested for murder." We were all stunned into silence by Alice's words. "He had a history of abusing women but had enough money to pay them off and to keep everything quiet. But he eventually confessed to everything. I had my gift as a human. When I was young it started out as little things like the weather. But when I was older I started seeing things…. Apparently, I predicted my cousin's death and when it happened my aunt and uncle said I had cursed their son." She looked down, hearing Jasper's growl build in his throat. "M-my father paid someone to kill my mother… I saw her die and tried to warn her. Unlike everyone else, my mother believed me and was careful for a while until the one night she forgot. She was ran off the road in a car accident…." Her voice broke off in a sob, unable to continue for a minute while Jasper held her protectively and muttering quietly to her. "It was all my fault… I couldn't save her."

We all passed the news clipping around as well as the admission records from the asylum. Carlisle's thoughts were still trying to understand why a father would do that to their child. Esme's heart broke for Alice and finally gave up on trying to read more of the story. Rosalie sat in stunned silence as she life to what Alice had been through, feeling guilty for how she had behaved in the past towards Alice. Not that they had ever gotten into arguments or anything, but she always envied Alice that she didn't have any memories to tie her down in the afterlife and was somewhat spiteful about it. But now she couldn't look her sister in the eye and never moved her gaze from the table. Emmett was contemplating how the events would have been changed if he had been there to kill her father for even considering taking Alice's mother away from her.

Alice once again found her voice after a lot of encouragement from all of us and continued. "My father remarried four months after that and she was just as vile as he was. A short while after I had apparently had a vision of my father paying some man to kill me." Her voice broke again, barely holding it together. Esme's eyes went wide with horror and a furious growl tore through Jasper's throat. "I tried to run away but my stepmother locked me in my room. I confronted my father about it and he had them bring me to the asylum…. They shaved my head during a typhoid outbreak and I had electroshock therapy. The doctors didn't care if you were crazy or not." She frowned, and I could see scattered remains of memories that had begun to resurface in her mind, the scene was tilted so that it looked like the person was strapped down and I could feel the weak echoes of pain radiating through the memories. "The only person who was kind to me was the custodian. He was the one who ended up turning me…. I found his journal." She pulled out a weather worn leather bound book and flipped through the pages. "His name was Joseph, it was written in Latin. He wrote about bringing me things hidden in his hands to test my gift. I always got it right." She smiled a little at the thought but couldn't bring up a memory of the event happening. The only thing that she could remember was the one memory Bella was able to recover for her of the exact moment she was turned which was a few moments before Joseph's death. "You all know the rest."

She left the room in a flash, leaving us all shocked and we heard the door slam to her and Jasper's room. Rosalie leaned into Emmett, a quiet sadness hung over her as she stared at the papers scattered across the desk. Carlisle looked at the admission records in a quiet fury and wished he could have been there to spare her from the fate of these horrible doctors.

Jasper and I walked up the stairs at a human's pace due to the weight of Alice's words. I knocked on her door quietly but heard no response from the other side. Jasper touched the door, feeling an overwhelming desire to help his hurting mate but had no idea how to fix something that happened nearly 90 years ago. He knew that she was in pain right now but there was no way to stop it.

As well as my own grief I shared Jasper's pain of feeling utterly powerless to do anything for his mate. We were more alike now than we had ever been. I sighed as I tried knocking one more time. "May we come in Alice?"

I heard no verbal reply, but her thoughts reached me. I guess I nodded to Jasper and we headed into the dark room. Alice was sitting on the bed curled up into a tight ball, she was shaking from the sobs she was trying to keep quiet. I kept my distance as Jasper rushed over to her side, knowing that I wasn't the person she needed to see right now.

"Hey…." He whispered quietly. "It's alright now darlin' I'm here now." He picked her up and she cuddled into his chest, seeking comfort.

"I didn't want it to be real Jazz… how could they do that? I was their child…." She looked down at her hands that were still shaking. "I didn't mean anything to them." Her voice took on a hollow, emotionless tone as if she was having another vision.

Jasper shook his head bitterly, his words coming out biting. "If I had known I would have rescued you."

"I know. You shouldn't feel guilty." She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You shouldn't feel guilty either Alice." I didn't need Jasper's ability to feel the guilt that she had been carrying since Biloxi. "Neither your mother's nor Joseph's deaths were your fault."

"I was better off not knowing. I wish I had listened to you and Carlisle." She sighed, thoughts full of remorse.

"You were missing part of yourself." Jasper reminded her quietly. It was hard for Jasper to accept but he battled against his will to comfort his mate using his gift. Knowing that she had to process her own pain in her own way.

Alice had gone still, mulling over everything she had uncovered.

"I wish Bella had left you alone…." Jasper knew that his words would start something with me, but it was the only thing he could do in his current situation.

"It isn't Bella's fault… I wanted to help her. She didn't force me to do anything." "I decided to find out on my own."

Jasper nodded, still not convinced that my mate still didn't aid in my sister's misfortune.

"It still doesn't feel real… its like a story." Alice's eyes are still wide, body still in panic mode.

I sighed, "Maybe we should treat it as such… just a story." I put my hand on her shoulder. "You are still the same Alice we all know and love. We've all had our horrors. Just don't let it define you."

Alice nodded and smiled. "Thank you…."