Disclaimer: All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer & each other. TotalEclipse & IsabellaMCullen own nothing, except an unhealthy obsession with the Cullen men! ;) (and IMC REALLY wants Carlisle's Mercedes after seeing one yesterday!) :)

Chapter 9 – Storm Front

BPOV

The DVD cases lay in a neat pile on the living room table, across from the rather large plasma TV that was mounted on the wall in front of me. I couldn't believe how many DVD's Alice had picked up earlier, though considering all the time we had to watch them, I guess it made sense. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to her choices; I wondered if she just grabbed random titles and threw them into the cart. Season 3 of "The Pretender"? Good show, but not quite what I'm in the mood for. "Saw II"? Umm – no. I never could stomach those gross-out horror movies; though something tells me Emmett would be all up for watching that one. I'll have to remember not to watch if he chooses the movie. "The Little Mermaid"? Why she picked that one up, I'll never know. I continued to flip through them and settled on a movie called "Zathura". I vaguely remembering this being in the theatres a few months ago, but wasn't really all that interested in seeing it. But the DVD synopsis looked interesting. And I did like "Jumanji," which was written by the same author.

I still wasn't wholly used to not sleeping. Being awake and aware 24 hours a day was unnerving. I had spent years being programmed to 'go to bed' at night, to rest when my body needed to. But now, my body didn't have that requirement. I could read all night, if I had some books. I'd have to remember to ask Alice to get some for me the next time she went to town. Maybe she'd let me order a few from the internet. And I'd watched a few DVD's over the past few days, but even that was losing its appeal. I felt like I was skipping school to do whatever I wanted, but couldn't figure out what it was that I wanted to do. I was getting a little frustrated.

After the movie ended an hour and a half later, I debated whether to pop in another DVD or get up and see what everyone else was up to. I could vaguely hear the boys across the house, obviously still engrossed in whatever game Alice had picked up for their Playstation. Rosalie I believed was still upstairs. Alice would more than likely be wherever Jasper was. Esme was the only one I couldn't predict. I wondered what she would do to occupy her time here. She couldn't do too much here in Denali for the house she'd been restoring in Ithaca. I did see her knitting earlier. Maybe she could teach me how one day. Renée wasn't exactly good with the 'household' type skills – cooking, sewing, and laundry definitely weren't her forte.

I leaned back on the sofa, closed my eyes and allowed my mind a brief trip into my memories. Renée, and Charlie, and Jacob, and Phil, and my friends at school all paraded through my head. I wondered how they were reacting to my 'death'.

Renée would be devastated, that I knew. I remembered her collapsing in the kitchen, dropping the phone out of her hands in shock the day that she learned that her mother had passed away. Grandma Marie had been very old, living in a nursing home near us in Phoenix. She seemed to be in fair health, relatively speaking for her age, but I knew better. She'd been slowly fading ever since she lost Pop two years earlier, and I think she finally died of a broken heart. Renée didn't see it coming. That day, she totally fell apart, and I was there for her, twelve years old, sitting on the kitchen floor, my arms around her as best I could, rocking back and forth trying to comfort her with trite little sayings, "shh, it'll be okay; she's with Pop now and they're happy; she loved us; shh, don't cry, mom." Phil would be there for her now, and I was grateful that she wouldn't be alone.

Charlie, though, would be alone, and that thought pained me deeply. I knew he had good friends who would try to help him. Billy and Harry would be front and center, but Charlie was a proud man, and I didn't think he'd accept anyone's help, no matter how much he needed it. He would suffer alone. And his suffering would be long and drawn out, for not only had he lost his only daughter, 'Chief Swan' hadn't been able to keep me safe by capturing the animal near the trail that everyone believes attacked me.

And then there was Jacob. My friend. We'd been spending so much time together. He'd been distant lately, sure, but he was still my best friend. Spending time with him had been the only bright point in my life over the last few very dark months. He had gone along with my reckless schemes – fixing up and then teaching me how to ride my motorcycle, mapping out the grid lines on the map that had led me to the meadow, and he had even promised to take me cliff diving at some point. All without questioning my motivations, all while waiting, patiently, to see if someday I would feel for him as deeply as he cared for me.

I would miss them all so much and I wondered if the dull ache in my heart when I thought of them would ever subside.

And for probably the fiftieth time since I had woken up in the Cullen home a few days ago, I wished I still had the ability to cry.

I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm the anxiety that had been building within. I didn't want to think about them anymore, about what been taken away from me in the cruelest manner; it was too painful. So with that as my motivator, I stood up and went in search of something to distract me from my ever-present thoughts.

I had barely made it half way across the house when I heard a loud exclamation that seemed to shake the windows.

"Ha! I beat you again!" Emmett shouted.

"Emmett, you always win this game, that's why you chose it. You know I can't stand it. So really, is it a victory when you beat an apathetic opponent?" Jasper looked at him, clearly amused by Emmett's enthusiasm.

"Of course it's a victory! And every victory is worth celebrating!"

I had crossed the hall and stood in the doorway, the scene playing out before me, a small smile growing as I watched. Emmett had stood up in the middle of the room, tossed the game controller at Jasper, who caught it deftly, and started to chant to no one in particular while attempting something that resembled the Cabbage Patch dance move.

"I beat you, I beat you, I beat you," he sang out loudly and quite off key.

Jasper remained seated on the floor, the two controllers in his hands, and watched his brother act like a fool. He leaned back against the couch, clearly amused, shaking his head slowly, his shoulders vibrating with his quiet chuckling. Alice was reclined on the couch behind Jasper, flipping through a magazine when Emmett had jumped to his feet and started his performance. She looked momentarily shocked by his actions, started to chuckle quietly, and was then engulfed by hysterical laughter. Emmett clearly enjoyed having an audience, the reaction from his siblings only encouraging him more. His face seemed so much more boyish to me; his smile was the largest I had ever seen, full of pure, unadulterated joy, and his eyes were absolutely glowing. He was over 91 years old, but in this moment, he seemed even younger than the 20 years old his body resembled.

Alice caught my eye across the room, clutching her ribs, and nodded her head towards Emmett. She rolled her eyes theatrically. "Can you believe this? He's in rare form tonight, let me tell you!" She choked the words out as she continued to laugh heartily.

I felt it hit me hard - a feeling of enjoyment, fun, and caring, and I began to laugh as well. A lighthearted and cheerful aura seemed to settle over the living room. I blithely wondered if this was a residual effect of Jasper's own feelings of pleasure, and I realized that I didn't care. Whether this was his doing, or just the contagious way that laughter has of spreading once it's been released, it didn't matter. I hadn't laughed this hard in a long time, maybe in forever. I turned slightly so that my back was now against the doorway instead of my shoulder in a more stable pose, and continued to watch Emmett, clutching my sides, but for a vastly different reason than I had become accustomed to lately.

"Bella!" Emmett had noticed me in the doorway. He instantly bounded over, grabbed my hands in his and had yanked me to the center of the room. He let go of my hands and resumed his performance.

"Come on – join in!" He looked down at me with such a twinkle in his eyes, it was hard to resist. Hard, but not impossible.

"I don't think so, but thanks for the invite." I stepped away and sat on the couch next to Alice.

"Oh, come on, its fun! Jasper, Alice, everyone! Let's dance!" He was in a zone and I wondered when he would get too tired to continue. He was using so much energy, putting everything he had into his frenetic movements. Oh, yeah, I remembered, vampires don't get tired. This could go on all night!

"Bella, are you okay? You look a bit … nervous?" Alice had been watching me.

"Oh, I'm fine," I said, the mirth still affecting my speech. "I was just wondering how long he'll keep doing that. I hope its not all night, I don't think I can take that much laughter!"

Emmett stopped dancing and fell with a thud on the floor next to Jasper. "I think I'm done – for now," he said with a sly grin on his face. "Rematch?"

"I don't think so," Jasper replied, shaking his head. I thought I heard him mutter something under his breath, but I wasn't entirely sure. Though most of the laughter had died away, residual chuckles and giggles were still escaping from all of us.

"What were you playing?" I hadn't been able to see the television screen from where I had been standing.

Alice snickered. "Dig Dug."

"Dig Dug? You mean like the old arcade game? You have to dig tunnels or something?" Really? That's what they'd been playing?

"Yup, and I am the Master!" Emmett chortled from the floor. Jasper just rolled his eyes.

"I would have thought you'd be playing something … more recent." I couldn't understand why, with the hundreds of games that were available for their system, they would choose something so … outdated.

"Oh, we have a ton of games, but we just wanted something light and quick. Sometimes our games can take quite a while to end." Jasper was still eyeing Emmett as he replied to me, calmly waiting for his brother to regain his composure.

"Bella, now that you've joined us, maybe we can find something we can all play!" Alice had sat up on the couch and folded her feet underneath her, so that she was almost leaning into me.

"I don't know, Alice. I've never played with a Playstation before. I'm not sure I'd know how to do it," I replied quietly. I could tell that she was excited to find something we could do together, and I didn't want to disappoint her, but I had never been good at video games. They just didn't interest me much.

Alice was quiet for a moment, deep in thought. She quickly snapped her fingers and smiled wide. "I've got it! The best game! And we can all play! All six of us!"

"What are you thinking?" Jasper obviously couldn't guess what she had up her sleeve.

"SCENE-IT!" Alice was bouncing on the corner of the sofa now, clearly under the impression that everyone would love her idea just as much as she did. Looking at the two sitting on the floor, I could see that she was right. Both Emmett and Jasper had huge grins on their faces.

"I'll go get Esme," Jasper said, as he jumped up to find her.

"I'll go get Rose." Emmett leapt from his sitting position. I hadn't noticed that despite his size, he could be very graceful and agile at times.

Alice turned to me and clasped my hands within hers. "Oh, Bella, this is going to be so much fun! Have you ever played Scene-It?"

I told her I hadn't, but that I had seen the game box in the stores and got the general idea of how it was played. It did seem like fun, combining a board game with DVD clips and questions on movies and television shows.

"Well, we actually have a few versions. Would you like to choose?" Esme had entered the room and took a seat on the couch next to me. I had always felt comforted by her soft, smooth voice, and now was no exception. Her quiet nature was oddly juxtaposed against Alice's exuberance.

"I wouldn't know which the best to play was. One of you should pick," I replied.

"Should we wait for Emmett and Rosalie to come down? Or just pick one ourselves?" Jasper looked at the three of us on the couch.

Esme hesitated, closed her eyes for a moment, and then said, "Why don't you choose one, Jasper? We can get it set up in the mean time." I had a strong feeling that Rosalie would not be joining us. Stronger than a strong feeling, I knew she wasn't coming down. Emmett wasn't so easy to figure out. I wasn't sure if he would chose to stay with his wife or come down and join us.

Jasper had gone to the cabinet under the television to pull out the game boxes. He held one in his hands, and then turned to us, pausing where he stood. "Do we want to play the whole board game, or just the Party Play?" I had no idea what that meant. Alice, though, obviously did.

"Oh, the party play! That's always so much fun and this way, we wont have to worry about anyone cough Jasper cough moving their pieces ahead more than they are allowed." Alice looked at her husband with an innocent, wide-eyed look on her face, as if daring him to counter what she had not-so-subtly accused him of. Jasper opened his mouth, closed it, looked away, then looked back and opened his mouth, then turned away, clearly deciding not to attempt to redeem himself. I couldn't help but laugh at the look on Jasper's face.

"Does he always cheat?" I asked.

"I.Do.Not.Cheat," Jasper stated with sharp inflection on each syllable. "I merely forgot that I had already moved my game piece ahead the awarded number of spaces." He had taken a DVD out of the game box and was now returning the same box to the cabinet.

Alice leaned over, conspiratorially and whispered. "Uh huh, he 'forgot' he moved his token on the board at least three times that game." I wondered if the grin on her face could possibly grow any bigger or if her face would crack from the exertion.

"I can hear you," Jasper stated quietly. He looked seriously at Alice, who burst into another fit of giggles. He acted as though he was upset at her teasing, till I saw him turn slightly in my direction. He had a small smile on his face and when he caught me watching, he winked at me.

He returned to his seat on the floor, setting up the DVD in the Playstation console to start the game.

"Emmett, Rose, come on! Let's play!" Jasper's voice boomed loudly. I jumped a bit in my seat, not expecting the volume. I don't think I'd ever heard Jasper speak louder than a normal conversation would require. It was a bit disconcerting. I must have been looking at him oddly, because he grinned at me. "Sorry Bella, I should have warned you. I definitely have an 'outside voice' when I'm excited."

"Oh, its fine, I was just surprised, that's all," I smiled at him. "Can't they hear you fine without you yelling like that?"

"Sure they can, but this way they can't pretend they didn't hear me." The smug look on his face obviously meant something, though I couldn't imagine what.

Alice leaned towards me and whispered so quietly that even with the enhanced hearing, I had to struggle to hear her. "Em and Rose tend to lose track of time when they're together sometimes." She pulled back and gave me a wink. I nodded to her, no further explanation necessary, and then turned away from her. If I were still able to, I'm sure the blush that would have crept up on my cheeks would have burned crimson.

"Very true, Alice, however, that is not the case at the moment." Esme gave a very pointed look to both Alice and Jasper, who looked a bit chagrined. At that moment, Emmett descended the stairs and re-entered the room. His earlier exuberance and lightheartedness had all but disappeared. He was crestfallen, but was visibly trying to keep his feelings under control, not wanting to put a damper on the fun evening.

"Rose is still busy, so we can get started without her." Emmett was looking at the ground, not meeting anyone's eyes. There was more to it than that, I was sure, but he didn't seem to want to talk about it. I knew Rosalie was still upset at the recent move, and attributed his reaction to that. I hoped that she wouldn't be angry for long.

Emmett returned to his spot in the middle of the room, turned to face us, clapped his hands loudly and grinned widely. If I hadn't seen him come down the stairs myself, I would have been hard pressed to believe that he had been upset not 30 seconds ago.

"Now, we have to decide on teams. Girls versus the boys? Or Alice and Jasper versus Bella and me? Esme can join which ever team she wants." He winked at Esme, and nodded his head sideways twice, indicating that he wanted Esme on his own team.

"Thank you, Emmett, but I believe that 3 against 2, no matter the team structure, is an unfair advantage. It would be better for me to sit out this round. Besides, if you're not using the game board, you will need someone to keep a fair and accurate score. I will be the impartial referee." The indignant shouts from both Jasper and Emmett had us all giggling again. It seems that 'creative scorekeeping' was not just a Jasper trait. "Personally, I would like to see a 'girls versus the boys' match-up." Esme looked at Alice & me and mouthed the words 'crush them'. I stared at her for a second, my mouth open wide, and then laughed. So much for being impartial!

The game turned out to be a great idea. We'd been playing for hours and were having so much fun! I wasn't nearly as informed on movie trivia as my three co-players, but I was able to contribute some correct answers. The score stayed very close, neither team pulling ahead by more than two points at a time. The best part of the game was the times when the players had to watch a scene from a movie and then answer a question based on that scene. Jasper and Emmett had taken to standing up and performing their favorite scenes, sometimes seriously and sometimes so completely ridiculously that we had to pause the game until the hysterics subsided. My favorite undeniably was watching them re-enact the scenes from "The Princess Bride". Probably because they didn't portray the characters I thought they would. Emmett was Westley and Jasper was Fezzik the giant! Watching Emmett-Westley jump on Jasper-Fezzik's back, trying to beat him in battle was the funniest thing I had ever seen. Of course, Alice's face when Emmett repeated the line about "dreaming of large women" had me completely done in. We were all in such a state; none of us even saw the question come up on the TV screen.

Emmett's booming guffaw was the bass beneath our melodious laughter, so when it cut out all of a sudden, the change was drastic and noticeable.

"Rose, honey, are you okay?" No one had noticed Rosalie enter the room, so none of us was sure how long she had been standing there, watching us.

"Do I look okay, Emmett?" As a matter of fact, she seemed livid. This wasn't going to be good.

"Rosalie, is there something you'd like to talk about?" Esme's soothing tone was soft and inviting, but it seemed to be having no affect on her at all. "Come, sit down, we'd love for you to join us."

"Really? Seems like you're all having a fine time without me, as a matter of fact." She stood with her arms crossed over her chest, a clear sign of defiance and anger, her voice dripping with sarcasm and hostility.

We all took turns looking at each other in confusion. Hadn't Emmett invited her to join us? Alice's jaw seemed to be clenched tightly, her lips pressed together in a thin line. It was clear she had something she wished to say.

"Rose, I tried to get you to come down, but you told me to go away, to leave you alone. You know we'd never exclude you on purpose. We wanted you to come play." Emmett's voice resonated with his feelings of regret and sadness. Even if Rosalie had asked him to go away, he still felt badly that she was upset. I could see the small spark of pain in his eyes and the set of his face.

"You didn't miss me much, I see." She looked at each member of the family in turn, anger on her face, until her eyes searched out mine. The look of anger turned to outright fury. "Now that Bella's here, what do you need me for?" The way she sneered my name was unnerving. I knew she didn't like me much; I really had no idea that she completely loathed me.

If she had issues with me, I was not about to sit back and let anyone else take the brunt of her frustrations. I stood from my place on the couch, and took a few steps forward, stepping over Jasper's legs, until I stood in front of Rosalie, about five feet away. Old habits die hard and I didn't want to be within arms length of her. She watched my approach with the intensity of a lioness preparing to pounce on its prey.

"Rosalie, is there something you would like to say to me?" I struggled not to sound antagonistic towards her, and it surprised me how difficult that was right now. When I was human, I had tried to be as polite to her as I could be, and I realized now that back then, I wasn't being polite, I was scared. My human self was very afraid of Rosalie Hale. My vampire self was another matter entirely. I waited a moment to gauge her reaction to my forward approach. A flicker of surprise crossed her features before she set them back in their previous state of hatred.

"There are many things I'd like to say to you right now." She pursed her lips together, her eyes narrowed to slits. She didn't look like she was going to elaborate on her comment.

"Well? I'm right here, so say what you have to say." We were going to have this out once and for all.

"Girls, please, let's all take a moment and calm down a bit. Rose, Bella, come sit down and we'll talk."

"I'm sorry, Esme, but I'm not going to sit with her." I could not believe that Rosalie was being so obstinate.

"What is your problem? Ever since you arrived, you've been like this, and we both know this has nothing to do with the game. What the Hell did I ever do to you?" The volume in my voice increased slightly and I made a mental note to control it better. I didn't want to fight with Rosalie at all, and I certainly wasn't going to turn this into a screaming match in Esme's house. I had too much respect for her to do something like that.

"You are my problem, Bella. You've been the problem for the last year and a half!" Rosalie began to fidget, her arms dropping by her side for a moment, only to re-cross them over her chest. I knew she wasn't done yet. She seemed to be debating on what exactly to say next.

"I've been your problem? How do you figure?" I wasn't wholly surprised by her comment, but I was stung by how much it hurt to hear it verbalized.

Rosalie seemed energized by my retort.

"Everything in our lives has revolved around you since the day you darkened our doorstep. We were existing just fine. No one at school bothered us, we kept to ourselves and then we could go home and be us. No pretense, no pretending. Then YOU show up. Why Edward had to go and fall in love with a human is totally beyond me! And then you're at the house, and you're there when we play baseball and Jasper is beside himself having to deal with his reaction to your blood AND Edwards' reactions. Then of course, there's the whole James incident, and the WHOLE family is jumping through hoops to keep you safe! And what do you do? You trick Alice and Jasper and go to James anyway! Sometimes I wish he had just finished you off …"

"Rosalie!" Esme shouted, appalled.

"Rose, that's way out of line!" Emmett said to her sternly.

Alice was muttering under her breath, a fierce look on her face. Jasper looked stunned. I wasn't sure exactly how I felt at the moment. I knew that Rosalie truly believed all that she was saying; I had underestimated exactly how affected she felt by my presence.

"Because if he did," she continued without acknowledging her families disapproval, "then we wouldn't have had to have a birthday party for you, and we wouldn't have had to leave Forks and everything could have gone back to normal, the way it used to be. But no, we had to 'keep you safe' … always about you. And I didn't complain. I went along with it, because it was what Edward wanted. And contrary to popular belief, I would do just about anything for Edward. So we left, and rather than stick around Ithaca, Emmett and I went to Europe, and you want to know something? Europe was EXACTLY what I needed. The sites, the sounds, the shopping – and for the first time in years, I was enjoying myself! And then, guess what happened? We had to RUSH back here. Drop everything and rush back home. Why? Because of Bella! Again! I'm SO tired of having to drop everything because of you! I'm tired of having to change my entire life every few months because of you! How hard is it for one little girl to stay out of trouble? Why do you always need to be rescued and why does it always have to involve us?"

"That is ENOUGH." Esme's voice remained at a low volume, but the stern tone she used ended the tirade instantaneously. Her jaw was set tight. I had never seen her like this before. She was furious. "You owe Bella an apology."

"No Esme, I don't feel sorry for anything I said." She stood her ground against her mother, unyielding.

"Rosalie …" Esme's voice was close to a growl.

"Esme, its okay," I said quietly. "Rose is entitled to her opinion."

"No, Bella, what she said …."

"Is her opinion. She obviously has thought long and hard about all of this." I glanced around, taking in the expressions on their faces. Emmett looked down at the ground, Jasper's features were steady, and Alice still looked like she wanted to attack Rose. Esme looked at me perplexed.

"Humph," Rosalie shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"Rosalie," I turned to look straight at her now. I wasn't going to back down. "I'm sorry that my being around has been difficult for you. I'm not going to say that I wasn't nervous to see you again, since we've never really gotten along, but this... your reaction ..." I stopped for a moment to collect my thoughts. "Look, I realize that you have been affected negatively by my presence, but do you honestly think I wanted any of those things to happen? I never asked for James to track me! I never wanted anyone to get hurt! I remember saying quite clearly that I didn't want your family to risk themselves against James, Laurent and Victoria. The birthday party was a mistake from the beginning, but it was born of good intentions. The family having to leave Forks wasn't my decision any more than your forced return was." I closed my eyes for a second, debating on whether or not to speak aloud the thoughts in my head, wondering if it would make a difference to her. I opened my eyes and took a deep breath. I wanted to speak calmly and try to diffuse the tension that has been growing amongst all of us.

"I can't change what happened to me any more than you can change what happened to you. Yes, there was a time when I wanted to join this family more than I've ever wanted anything in my entire life, but I never wanted it to be like this. You know, I thought that maybe you would understand. I thought that maybe you could sympathize with all I've been through this past week. Being alone … attacked … not knowing if anyone would find me or how long I'd lie there … wondering if I was going to live or die. But maybe I overestimated you."

The calm, steady quality of my voice slipped into a pleading tone, fervently hoping that somehow she could see my side of the situation.

"All I know for sure is that we're both here, and we're all here because of the compassion and love of the people in this room and this family. Edward and Esme were dying, but Carlisle saw something in them, something good, and wanted to give them a second chance. YOU brought Emmett to the family, for the same reason, to give a good person a second chance. Alice and Jasper could have spent their lives together without ever finding this family, but even when they did, they were welcomed and accepted. And you … Carlisle saw something good in you, too. He felt you deserved a second chance. The only thing we can do now is either agree to work hard towards finding some common ground or agree to keep as far away from each other as possible. But I am not going to sit here quietly anymore and let you constantly berate me or make me feel guilty because you have issues with me. Either learn to deal with them, or learn to stay away from me. Because I don't intend to spend the rest of eternity fighting with you. Besides, this could all be temporary anyway. This time next year, I may be long gone, and all of this drama and tension will have been for nothing. Either way, pick one of the two options I gave you and let's end this, once and for all."

It felt good to get all of that off my chest. It felt really good, but it was also draining. Now that I was done, the room was quiet and the silence was unnerving. I glanced around slowly, wondering what they were all thinking, for I couldn't quite understand the looks on their faces. Alice had moved closer to Jasper and was grasping him around the waist, her eyes still locked on me, fear mixing with confusion. What was she afraid of? Jasper and Emmett both looked a bit dazed and confused, and glanced at one another, as if trying to work together in silence to figure out the answer to a puzzle. And Esme – I think that if it were possible for our kind to cry, she would be. I didn't understand, I thought that they would be on my side, that they would have supported some, if not most of what I had said. But they all looked sad, for some reason I couldn't fathom.

Was I wrong? Maybe I shouldn't have spoken to Rosalie like that. I was a guest in the house, and no matter how frustrated I was, maybe I had been a little out of line? I wasn't sure, and I needed time to think.

"I'm sorry, Esme. I'm sorry, everyone, for everything." After a last glance, I left, out the back door, up the hill and through the densely wooded terrain. Running across the ground, over the tree roots and under the low hanging branches, with the soft, fluffy snowflakes dusting my hair and brushing across my cheeks, my body felt so free, finally released from its clumsy human traits. My mind was already on overdrive.

I wasn't sure where I was going, but I needed to get as far away as possible. I needed time to think, to try to figure out what I might have said that would have upset them all. I needed time to think about everything. I hadn't had a moment alone, truly alone, since Alice had found me in the meadow, and while a part of me was afraid of what could happen out here, the other part needed the privacy to sort a few things out. Rosalie's outburst put a lot of things into perspective for me. I knew that my being around the Cullen's when I was human brought with it some challenges, but I had never truly realized just how difficult it had been on them. I wondered if perhaps Rosalie was right. Maybe it would have been better if James, or even Edward, had just killed me outright. At least then, I wouldn't have to feel the pain that was settling into the deepest part of me as I saw my frailties through their eyes. Once again, I was faced with the fact that it had never made sense for Edward, or any of them, to love me.

Esme POV

"I'm sorry, Esme. I'm sorry, everyone, for everything." Before she had barely finished speaking, Bella was out the door and off into the forest behind the house. I couldn't understand what in the world she was apologizing for. But I knew one person who needed to apologize, and she had better do it fast.

My family remained still, statues of themselves in tranquility, with the exception of their eyes, wild with expression. Alice's were the exception. Hers were shut tight, her head turned into Jasper's side, her hands clutching onto him for dear life, as a shipwreck victim would desperately grasp onto a piece of driftwood. Jasper looked at me, steady as always, as he used his gift to calm the tension that still hung in the air, permeating everything around it. I could feel the tension drain away, gradually, and I nodded my thanks to him. Emmett, looking a bit shell-shocked, proceeded slowly to Rosalie's side, hesitant to approach her after the face off with Bella, unsure of her current state of mind. I watched as he slowly reached one hand out to hers, taking it tentatively into his own, waiting to see if his gesture would be received favorably or if she would once again push him away. She looked up at him then, no longer staring at the patch of floor in front of her feet, and mimicked Alice's grasp on Jasper. Rosalie clung to Emmett's chest and buried her head into his shoulder. I couldn't see her face to try and ascertain how she was feeling.

We were a family, and Bella was a part of this family, though the look on her face as she left displayed conflict and hurt. She didn't believe it. That would be the first misconception I would rectify. I turned to the two couples in front of me. They would go and find her and bring her back and one way or another, I would make her see how important she was to me, and to all of us. We lost her once and I would be damned if we were going to lose her again. She hadn't left more than a minute or two ago, she could still be close by.

Just as I opened my mouth to set the search party in motion, a voice from the front foyer rang out loud and clear.

"Rose, what did you do?" We all turned to see Carlisle standing next to Edward, who looked absolutely crushed.

AN: Well, at least now we know that Edward & Carlisle made it safely to Denali! Wonder what his reaction to all the turmoil will be?

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