Disclaimer: This chapter contains brief dialogue quoted from New Moon. No copyright infringement is intended.

Song: Into Oblivion (Reunion)-by Funeral for a Friend


BPOV

From what little I knew about sleep, it sounded like a wonderful way to pass the time. I wished for what must have been the umpteenth time that I could get tired and just do it, if for no other reason than to make it seem like time was passing by faster. But my nerves were so high I didn't think I'd be able to, even if I could.

My new friends did their best to distract me. The women wanted to continue our fashion show, and that was fun for a while, and took up most of the time. I must have tried on every piece of clothing in their combined closets.

About an hour before Edward's family was due to arrive, I put the blue dress back on, and we all returned to the living room. Seeing the state of my nerves, Eleazar suggested that everyone go hunting but Tanya, Edward, and me. Apparently Edward had told him a little about my past, and my anxiety about being around a lot of other vampires at once.

After they had left, the three of us sat on one of the couches in the living room. We were mostly silent. Edward kept asking me if I was excited, trying to get me to talk. After about my fifteenth jittery shrug, Tanya shot him a look (and probably a thought or two,) and he stopped. A short time after that, Tanya led us into what she called "the meeting room." I supposed it would have been the room where a human family shared their meals.

Inside was a large wooden table that sat six. It was the extending kind, Tanya explained, as she quickly pulled it out to seat two more. "It extends fully to seat fourteen, for those rare occasions when the whole family needs to have a meeting," she said, pulling two more chairs from the corners of the room, arranging them at the table.

"I'll leave you two," she said with a smile, and exited the room.

I could feel my breath hitching a little as she left. I sat in one of the chairs at the head of the table. Edward watched me, making me feel even more nervous and self-conscious.

Apparently, he read my body language. "I'll, um...I think I'll meet my family outside when they pull up," he said. I nodded, and he left too.

A short time later, I heard two car engines outside the house, and the sounds of a happy family reunion shortly after that. I smiled a little as I listened to their laughter. How nice it must be for Edward, to have so many people who cared about him.

The voices moved inside, where the six new voices greeted Tanya. Their footsteps came closer and closer as she led them to the back of the house, to where I was waiting.

I rose as the doors opened and the coven of vampires entered the room. Seeing them all file in, I realized they were indeed a large group, and I suddenly felt very small and outnumbered. What if this was a trick? What if they turned out to be enemies?

Not a lot I would be able to do about it. I would just have to hope for the best.

The one I assumed to be the leader of the coven, the slightly older blond man, came forward, hand extended. "Hello," he said with a smile. "I'm Carlisle Cullen."

I felt my eyes widen against my will. So, these were the Cullens that Jake had mentioned. They didn't kill people, he'd said. They hunted animals, like me. That was good, wasn't it?

But unless I was wrong, that meant my guardian angel-the one who I knew had broken me, somehow-was among them. What had he done to me? And which one of them was it?

I tried to regain my poker face. I didn't want to show them my cards just yet.

I took Carlisle's hand and shook it. His smile broadened.

"It is so good to see you again, Bella."

He moved aside, and I realized that a girl with short, dark hair had been standing directly behind him the whole time. She was so small, she had been hidden completely by him.

Unlike Carlisle, she gave no pretense that I was meeting her for the first time. She went straight for a hug. I wasn't sure what to do, but I could feel the tension in her bones. She was hugging me so hard that it hurt. She'd missed me.

I hugged her back. Not quite as hard, but she seemed encouraged and held me even tighter.

We stood like that for a very long time. When we pulled back, I looked at her face, and thought she might be crying if she could. I looked at her questioningly.

"We thought you were dead," she said simply.

I didn't know what to say. "Oh," I said. "I'm sorry."

"Please don't apologize, Bella," she said, her voice pained. "It was my fault. Not the-incident-" She shot a glance at Edward. "But the-other misunderstanding, I guess. That was my fault. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry we weren't there for you. But we're here now. And everything's going to be all right." She smiled and moved aside.

Waiting behind her was a slightly older woman with warm brown hair. She hugged me hard too. "I'm Esme," she said, "and that was Alice." I nodded. I knew. I'd recognized Alice's voice from Edward's phone call. "It really is good to see you."

She moved aside, and behind her stood a Jake-sized individual. "Bella!" he roared.

"Don't scare her," Esme said before he could reach me. He stopped himself short, looking sad.

"It's okay," I said. Like Jake, I instantly trusted him.

He grinned. And I thought Alice and Esme could hug hard. He scooped me into a big bear hug, picking me up and spinning me around several times before putting me down. He never stopped grinning. "I'm Emmett," he said. "We missed you," he added, unnecessarily. I couldn't help laughing.

"Apparently so," I remarked. Alice laughed with me.

Behind Emmett was the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. She was blonde and voluptuous. And for some reason, she was looking a little scared. Maybe not scared. Intimidated, maybe? Apprehensive? Of who? Me? It couldn't be me.

She stepped closer to me, looking unsure of whether to go for a hug or not. After a moment, she extended her hand like Carlisle. "Hi, Bella," she said, with a timid smile. "I'm Rosalie."

I shook her hand. She seemed relieved. What had she expected me to do? Bite her head off?

Rosalie moved aside to reveal the first truly terrifying individual of the Cullen coven. He was covered in scars from head to toe. I knew where those scars had come from. I couldn't help shying away from him. He must be dangerous.

He looked sad when he saw my reaction to him, and I instantly felt guilty. I was on my own in a house with eight vampires who were all friends with each other. If something went south, I didn't stand a chance. What was the point in even putting up a fight? Of even showing apprehension? In fact, my show of fear might even cause a fight.

The man with the scars stayed where he was, not coming closer to me. As my emotions continued to swing between fear and outright panic, I felt a wave of calm come over me from out of nowhere. I wanted to be alarmed, I wanted to be scared, but something wasn't allowing me.

"It's all right," the young man said slowly. "I believe Eleazar gave you a talk about gifts before our arrival. You're a mental shield, right?" I nodded slowly. "My name is Jasper. I have a gift, too," he said. "I can sense and control moods. I'm the one making you calm right now. I wouldn't do this without your explicit permission normally, but you're close to hysteria right now." He looked down at himself. "I apologize for my appearance. I have a past I'm not proud of." He looked back up at me. "But I assure you, I am no threat to you. Not anymore." I felt my face twist in confusion. Had he been the one who had hurt me when I was human?

There was an awkward silence that Carlisle ventured to break. "Why don't we all sit?" he said. "We have a lot to discuss."

We all took places around the rectangular dining room table. Carlisle took the head of the table nearest the door. Esme took the other end. The others moved to what I could only assume were their usual positions. To Esme's right sat Emmett. Across from Emmett was Rosalie. To Rosalie's left was Edward, to Edward's left was Jasper, and across from Jasper was Alice. I moved to sit in the middle of the table, to the empty space between Alice and Emmett. Edward was across from me. He smiled hesitantly at me. I gave a nervous smile in response.

Carlisle leaned forward and folded his hands on the table. "Let's begin at the beginning," he said. "What, exactly, do you remember, Bella?"

I frowned. "I remember waking up like this," I said, gesturing to myself. I saw Edward wince out of the corner of my eye. Jasper put his hand on Edward's shoulder. "I thought you knew what I did and didn't remember...somehow?"

"I don't know if you know, but Alice can see the future," Carlisle said. He kept talking past my baffled expression. "She saw Edward running into you just before it happened, and she saw the encounter between you two. She saw what you said to him, but she doesn't know much beyond that. Is that right, Alice?"

Alice nodded. "I haven't really seen anything since. I mean, I saw us coming here, and you taking it well, Bella. But that's about it. I can't know what you know, or your motivations. And Edward can't read your mind, so..." She shrugged. "We'll just have to piece together what happened ourselves."

"Wait a minute," I said. "I'm a mental shield. Edward can't read my thoughts. So how can you see my future, and Jasper control my mood?"

All of the Cullens looked puzzled. "Well, it's very possible that Jasper's gift works on the glandular system," Carlisle said finally. "His gift resulted in calming you physically, for example. We could all see how calm you got when Jasper's effect started working on you." He turned to Alice. "And Alice can see the future based on people's decisions. While she can't get inside anyone's head and see the actual decision being made, she does see how the decision will affect them physically." Carlisle shrugged. "But this is all idle speculation on my part, of course. Perhaps we can discuss it more with Eleazar later."

I nodded. What he'd said made sense. Carlisle had answered the questions I had well enough, for now. We all had bigger questions we needed answered.

"Was there anyone with you when you woke up, Bella?" Carlisle asked.

I nodded. "Jacob," I said. I whipped my head around to Edward as, to my surprise, he began to growl ferociously.

"What happened, Bella? Did you fight him off? Stop it, Jasper," he snapped at his brother, who was surely trying to calm him. Jasper backed off.

"I don't understand," I said.

"Calm down, son," Carlisle said in his usual serene demeanor. "Let Bella explain."

Edward made an effort to calm himself. He let Jasper try again, and this time, it had some effect. He let me continue.

"He told me he was sorry," I said. I swallowed. This was hard. I'd tried not to think about Jake too much since our goodbye. It hurt too much. It reminded me of how alone I always felt.

I shook my head. I wouldn't be alone anymore. Alice said the Cullens would be here for me now.

They all waited patiently for me to continue. "He told me...they killed that redheaded vampire before she tortured me too much."

I jumped as most of the surrounding vampires started hissing. Some hisses were more ferocious than others. Carlisle alone maintained his eternally calm demeanor. "Alice, your vision," he said, turning to his left.

Alice turned to me. "I saw a vision of you jumping off a cliff, Bella. I-"

"Wait," I interrupted her. "Why would I do something like that?"

As one, the Cullens turned to Edward, who was looking at his lap. He winced and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, everyone, I'm aware," he said tiredly.

"Aware of what?" I asked.

"I'm aware of the fact that I have to be the one to explain this to you, Bella." He sighed deeply. "Bella, when you were human, you and I were-we became...close. You-"

"Close? Close how? We...were we dating?" I asked. He nodded. He waited as I processed this information. This was surprising to me, and yet somehow it wasn't. I couldn't deny the attraction I'd felt to him since we'd met. Or, reunited, I guessed. But he had been so...well, mostly-restrained. He had been stunned to see me, and overjoyed, that much had been obvious. But why hadn't he mentioned this sooner? Maybe he just didn't want to overwhelm me. I don't know how well I would have taken it if this perfect stranger had knocked into me and claimed we had a romantic history together.

Then, with a jolt, I realized something.

"You said, 'When I was human...' Does that mean...you...weren't?"

He looked pained. "I've been frozen in time since 1918, Bella." I stifled a gasp. He sighed. "Yes, Bella, when we knew each other, you were a human and I was a vampire."

"And we were...were we...intimate?" I was mortified we were discussing this in a room of vampires who were as good as strangers to me and relatives to him. But I was confused, and I felt I had to know if I was going to make any progress.

He seemed appropriately embarrassed too, but he powered through it. "No, we weren't...not what you're thinking...I mean, we kissed, but..."

This time, I did gasp. "We what?" I cried. I had managed to never kill a human, but then, I wasn't jamming my tongue down one's throat on a regular basis. "How on earth did you manage not to kill me?"

He looked at me mournfully, and didn't say a word.

"He loved you, Bella," Alice finally said simply. "He still does."

I couldn't speak. There was a lump in my throat. I looked up at him and nodded, signaling him to continue. He seemed relieved that I hadn't freaked out at the news. But his expression switched back to a sorrowful one as he continued.

"But you were still in danger around me, Bella. From me, yes, but from others like us who didn't follow our diet. And those who struggled to keep our diet." He didn't give anything else away, but I didn't miss Jasper's look of shame. I tensed.

"So, I thought it would be best...if I...Bella, I'm so sorry. You'll never know how sorry I am that I made the decision I did. It will haunt me for the rest of my existence...Bella...I left you. I left you unprotected, and I'm sorry."

I gasped. He buried his head in his hands.

"Bella, I don't want you to come with me."

"You...don't...want me?"

"No."

I didn't know where the voices came from, and they were over as soon as they arrived. But I heard them. And they hurt. They hurt more than I thought it was possible for words to hurt.

Edward had loved me, and then he'd changed his mind.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't breathe. I didn't need to breathe.

"You're not good for me...You don't belong in my world, Bella."

It happened again.

Before anyone-least of all me-knew what was happening, I heard a ferocious snarl rip from my throat. "It was you!" I yelled. "Edward...why?"

I didn't wait for a response. Again, before anyone could react, I had launched myself completely over the table and had my hands around Edward's neck.