I'm publishing this a few days earlier than I really expected to (writer's block is a bitch) for a couple reasons - I feel the need to celebrate the release of that incredible freaking trailer (when did Taylor Lautner get that hot?!) and I'm caving to peer pressure from the girls on the thread. "What thread?" you ask? Why the Twilighted thread that now exists for I Have Seen the Rain, of course. That's right - Fer went off the deep end and made a thread last week. A few of us have been playing over there for a bit now and having a grand ol' time. Come join us. Really. We love new friends. If you need more incentive, I did give them a teaser for this chapter last night. Maybe, just maybe, I'll do it again. Link's at the end if you wanna come play!

Guess I've forgotten to mention this the past few chapters, so I'll make sure to do it now - Jacob may be able to suddenly become a wolf, but I can't suddenly become a Newbury Award-winning author. Surprise surprise, I'm still not Stephenie Meyer.

For my ladies on the thread, especially Thirteen, Big Love (my one-woman source of peer pressure), and Cut-throat Bitch. Mwa! Oh, and I can't mention the Scotches to my Gin without mentioning the New Girl - Amber! Mwa!

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I wanna be there for you
Someone you can come to
Runs deeper than my bones
I wanna be there for you
I wanna be there for you

- "There for You", Flyleaf

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BPOV

9:27pm.

It was 9:27pm and that meant I'd been listening to the obnoxious ringing tone of my phone for a full thirteen minutes and change already. Ever wonder how many times a phone rings in thirteen minutes? One-hundred-thirty times. It rings one-hundred and thirty freaking times. Ten rings per minute. One ring every six seconds. By 9:27pm I had already heard one-hundred-thirty-eight rings and I still hadn't hung up. I planned to sit and count the obnoxious rings until the tone on the other end got to be too much for anyone in that apartment to handle anymore. Pick up the damn phone, Edward. 139. I'll sit here all night if I have to. 140. I'm serious. 141. Don't doubt me. 142. You're underestimating me. 143. I can be damn stubborn when I need to be. 144. It's your migraine, buddy. 145…

Four-hundred-ninety-three irritating and insistent rings later an obviously exasperated and slightly amused Edward finally answered the phone.

"Alice says she'll cheer up just enough to kick your ass if you don't stop calling, Bella," he laughed into the receiver.

"How'd she know it was me?" What is that girl? Freaking psychic?

"She didn't. Well, she assumed, but I knew. You're the only person we know stubborn enough to wait more than an hour for someone to answer."

"Oh." It sounds a lot worse when you put it in terms of hours instead of rings… I felt my face turn red and was suddenly happy to be talking on the phone instead of in person.

"Stop blushing. I'm not there to see it." How the…

"Stop knowing me so well." Brilliant retort, Bella. You're a genius. I stuck my tongue out at the receiver like an indignant toddler. That'll teach him.

"No. And put your tongue back in your mouth; you're twenty-four, not three," he chuckled. Stop it, damn it! "I imagine you're calling to check up on Alice and not gush to me about how much you loved your birthday present?" His voice had a familiar childishly hopeful lilt to it and I couldn't deny him the so-called "gushing" he quite obviously wanted.

"I did love it, Edward." Did? Great, make him think you pawned it or something. Moron. "I still do! It's absolutely beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as the woman wearing it." I bit my bottom lip as I smiled happily at his flattering remark and couldn't bring myself to be upset as I felt my skin flush red once again. "What did I just tell you about blushing when I'm not there?"

"Not to do it," I laughed. "You know me too well."

"I'd beg to differ."

"Beg all you want, but I still say you know me too well." I could feel myself getting distracted from the original purpose for my call and knew I had to refocus my attention quickly before all hope was lost. "You're making me digress…"

"I would never make you do anything."

"Edward…" God, he's lucky he's cute.

"Sorry."

"As I was trying to say… How's Alice doing?"

"She's…" He sighed heavily. "You want the truth?"

"And nothing but."

"She's miserable, Bella. You remember how you described Rosalie to me at the Pier?"

"Yeah." Of course I did. That description was pretty damn similar to how she'd been before I made her have dinner with me. I hated even thinking about it now that she seemed to be at least somewhat more herself.

"That's exactly how she is. Every little bit of it. The only time she's not crying is when she's run out of tears. I have to beg her to eat anything and even then all I can get into her is toast. I guess I can't blame her, since I burn the damn stuff half the time, but still. She won't leave her bedroom. She won't even get up to take a bath, Bella. She's practically catatonic. She hasn't said a word to me in days. I'm lonely and I'm not even alone, and frankly, Bella, I'm scared."

I'd never wanted to hug someone more in my life. I knew exactly how he was feeling, and I knew nothing I could say would cheer him up in the least. It was heartbreaking to hear him describe his perpetually perky cousin, my invariably vivacious friend, in such downtrodden and depressing terms.

"I know, Edward," I whispered.

"How's Rosalie?" he asked suddenly.

"She's…" I paused, hesistant to actually vocalize my hopes. If I told him she was doing better and her turn around only lasted the night, I'd feel like I lied to him. If I told him she was much the same, I would be lying to him… and he'd probably worry about her on top of Alice. "You want the truth?" I chuckled.

"And nothing but," he returned, a slight smile evident in his voice.

"I think she's a little better. She kind of hit rock bottom tonight. I found her engagement ring under a pile of tissues and when I asked her about it she said 'Engagement rings are for girls who have fiancés… girls whose fiancés are still alive'."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. I kind of tore her a new one for that." A soft chuckle carried through the receiver and I smiled slightly at the sound. "I told her she just needed to have faith like Emmett told her to and made her take a shower and join me for dinner. I had to threaten to throw her in the shower fully clothed and drown her in ice water, but she got up." Another chuckle rang in my ear, but this one had a distinct hint of sadness to it.

"Think that would work on Alice?"

"There's only one way to find out, right?" The phone went quiet for a moment and I realized he was actually seriously considering it. "Edward, don't. I think I have a better idea."

"I kind of like the ice water one. It'd serve her right at this point…"

"Somehow I don't think revenge is going to endear her to you right now."

"You make a good point. What's your 'better idea'?"

"Well… uhm… I don't know if it'll work or not… but… uh… to know… I kinda…" Suddenly I didn't feel like I could ask. I felt like I'd be intruding on some private family suffering. What if it wasn't like I'd thought? What if she'd lost a brother or her father or some other family member? Then Edward would be suffering too. I didn't want to make his suffering worse if I'd been wrong…

"Spit it out, Bella."

I took a deep breath. "Ineedtoknowwhathappened," I blurted.

For a moment all I heard on the other end was Edward's uneven breathing.

"Bella… I can't. She'd kill me…" he finally said, his voice laced with a mixture of pain and regret. "I wish I could. I really do. But I can't. It's… complicated."

"I won't tell anyone. I won't even tell Alice you told me. I swear. I wouldn't even ask except that… well… I have my suspicions as to what happened. If they're right, there's a slim chance my plan might work. If they're wrong, it won't work at all and she'll probably resent the hell out of me for trying to help and you for telling me she was upset in the first place."

The phone went quiet again as he seemed to think it over. I waited for him to admit that knowing Alice was upset was already more than she'd want me to know and to agree that it wouldn't make things any worse than they already were if I knew why she was so upset. When he didn't give in after a minute, I tried plan B.

"What if I told you what I think happened and you just tell me if I'm wrong? All you'd have to say is 'no'. You wouldn't be telling me anything at all, really…"

"You're splitting hairs, Bella."

"That's not a 'no'…" Please agree to this, Edward. It's the only way I know of to help. Don't make me feel even more helpless than I already do.

He exhaled sharply and I could just see him pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger in agitation. "Fine. What do you think happened?" Yes!

"Well, when I first met Alice, she specifically mentioned being a 'one-man kinda woman'… I think… Well, I think that was more than just a feeble attempt to convince me Rose hadn't dragged me to a love-in. I think… I think her 'one man' is, or was, in the war…" I trailed off, expecting to be cut off by a sharp "no" at any moment. When the denial didn't come, I continued. "I think she hasn't heard from him---"

"No." Ah. There it is. Okay… so she does have a man overseas… and she has heard from him recently… He's not dead like I thought. Thank God.

"She has heard from him then…"

Silence.

"But she didn't like what she heard…"

More silence. That can't mean a whole lot of things…

"He's hurt." I didn't need to trail off this time; I was absolutely positive my conclusion was right. Despite being so certain, I waited for the "no" to come. It never did. "How bad is it?"

"Pretty bad. Real bad, actually. Ugh. She'd kill me if she heard me telling you this."

"Is he gonna make it?"

"Yeah."

"Good." Silence descended upon the conversation yet again, but this time I couldn't bring myself to break it. All I could think was "Poor Alice" over and over again, and the last thing Edward needed now was emphasis on his cousin's pain.

He cleared his throat sharply just as I wiped newly formed tears from my eyes and I thought I heard a muffled sniffle through the phone. "So… what's this plan you have?"

"Oh. Uhm, I thought maybe you'd like to come over for dinner tomorrow night. I'm thinking of making this fondue recipe Rose always enjoys, or maybe something nicer. Have you ever had coq au vin?"

"Uhm, Bella… I love the idea of having dinner with you, but how exactly is that supposed to help Al?" He laughed sadly and I was torn between wanting to hold him until all the pain over Alice's behavior went away and wanting to slap him silly for thinking I meant just him. Maybe he really doesn't know me as well as I thought.

"I meant you plural. You and Alice. I thought that would get her out of the house and get some real food in her at the very least. And, if we work things just right, maybe we could get her and Rose to talk. I think they need someone more understanding than either of us can be right now."

"And Rosalie would understand Al right now seeing as how Emmett's MIA. I foll---"

"Take that back!" I shouted. He's not MIA, damn it! He's just… out of touch.

"What?" He sounded absolutely stunned. I supposed it made a certain amount of sense for him to be surprised – I'd never yelled at him before, and while he'd seen me cry over Emmett and Rose before, he'd never truly seen, or even heard, me go to pieces.

"Take. It. Back. He is not MIA. She just hasn't heard from him." I could feel the tears start to well up in my eyes as images of what MIA meant played in my mind. Emmett wounded in a ditch somewhere, bleeding to death… Emmett wandering alone in the jungle, completely lost and hopeless and without his unit to help him… Emmett captured by the enemy, suffering all sorts of foreign tortures…

"I'm sorry, Bella. Really. I didn't mean it." Emmett hiding from Charlie in a tree – a tree about to be doused in Agent Orange… "Bella! Shhhh. Baby, breathe." My mind barely registered the fact that I was hyperventillating. I could feel a panic attack coming on; I felt absolutely helpless to stop it, absolutely helpless in general. "Bella, if you don't calm down, Rosalie is going to come and ask what's wrong. Do you really want to have to explain to her what we've been talking about?" I felt my breathing slowly start to even out as his words sank in. He was right – a panicked Rosalie was the last thing I needed.

"Sorry… I didn't… I just… I could see it, Edward. I could see him. It was…" I trailed off as terrified tears poured down my face and I found I couldn't make myself care enough to wipe them away.

"I know." He sat silently on the other end and let me cry for a moment uninterrupted. As the tears tapered off, I felt myself wondering how he seemed to always know exactly what I needed. "It'll be okay, Bella. Everything will be okay. And for the record, I love coq au vin."

I laughed lightly and wiped the tears from my eyes. "Then I'll go to the store after work tomorrow and make sure I have everything I need for it. Will I be serving three or four?"

"Four. Definitely four. What time should I drag Alice out for?"

"How's seven?"

"Heavenly, if that's when I'll see you again."

I could feel the infernal heat flood my cheeks again and didn't bother waiting for him to comment on it. "I know! No blushing when you're not around to see it. It's not like I can do anything about it, y'know." He laughed heartily on the other end and I couldn't help but join in. "I'll see you both tomorrow night. Goodnight, Edward."

"Goodnight, Bella carina."

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The buzzer doorbell downstairs rang out loudly throughout the apartment at 7:00pm on the dot. I hurried to the control panel on the wall and pressed the small, rusting metal intercom button. "I see punctuality is a familial trait," I said into the speaker and was quickly rewarding with Edward's echoing laughter.

"Yeah. It's a Masen thing, what can I say?" he chuckled out. "We both got it from our mothers, right, Al?"

"Oh, good! You did make it, Alice!" I said cheerfully, without giving her a chance to respond to Edward's question.

"Yeah… I'm here," she replied. She sounded so unlike herself that I wondered briefly if Edward had paid Seth to tag along and pretend to be Alice.

"Great! Come on up!" I buzzed them in, holding the button down a bit longer than necessary in my excitement. The whole evening had me hyper – I was excited to cook for someone other than Rose, excited to finally see Edward again, and, most of all, excited to see my plan put into action. I had high hopes that it would work. So high, in fact, I couldn't imagine it not working.

I tore the door open the moment Edward knocked on it and we exchanged a look so full of meaning I was surprised neither of us was crushed by it. It said everything we needed to say but couldn't bring ourselves to vocalize. More than a look, it was a visual conversation. His eyes said "I missed you"; mine responded with "Don't ever make me go that long without seeing you again." His said "I want to kiss you"; mine said "I know, but we can't." His said "Don't worry, I understand why you're not wearing your ring"; mine said "I love it, but I can't make Rose and Alice watch us be couple-y." His eyes said something I couldn't discern that made my pulse quicken and my breath hitch on instinct; I had to shut mine to keep them from responding with "I love you".

Dinner went off without a hitch, Edward and Rosalie alternating compliments about my cooking with every other bite. I had to work to keep from watching Alice, but whenever I gave in and peeked at her she seemed content. It seemed like she was at least enjoying finally getting some real food and maybe, if I was being hopeful, even enjoying having company other than her toast-charring cousin. Conversation flowed freely… between Edward and I. We worked hard in surreptitious tag-team fashion to pull Rose and Alice out of their respective funks, but it proved trickier than I'd anticipated. When half the meal had gone by with Alice only ever looking at her dinner, I reached my wits end and said the only – admittedly dimwitted – thing I could think of to provoke seemingly nonchalant conversation.

"So… Alice… Are you seeing anyone?" Edward shot me an incredulous look and I did my best to tell him without words that I knew what I was doing – sort of. "I'm just wondering. I mean, I know I talk about Edward far too much at work… and Rose used to talk about Emmett all the time… but I've never heard you say anything about anyone special. You can't seriously tell me someone as sweet, charming, beautiful, and all other things apparently Masen as you hasn't found someone."

"Yeah," Alice mumbled shyly to her raised fork. Shyly? Alice is never shy. This guy must really be something to have her so broken.

"Yeah you are seeing someone, or yeah you can tell me that?"

"I'm seeing someone," she informed her dinner plate. "Well, kind of."

"Exactly how do you 'kind of' see someone?" Rosalie asked, clearly bewildered and slightly intrigued. Edward and I exchanged victorious glances at this clear step in the right direction.

"He's… I don't want to talk about it."

"C'mon, Alice, you can tell me anything. You know that," Rosalie encouraged. "Tell me all about him."

"I can't."

"You… can't?" It was my turn to be bewildered and intrigued.

"I told him I wouldn't. He's kind of… my secret."

"Like a secret admirer?" Rose pried. "Isn't that romantic!"

"No, not like that," Alice argued quietly. "I mean, yeah, he's romantic. He's real sweet and charming and… he's great." For the first time all night I saw a smile start to spread across her face. A quick peek at a pleasantly surprised Edward confirmed my suspicion that it wasn't just the first time that night, but the first time in days if not a week. "But he's my secret, not a secret from me. I've met him. I know who he is. I just… I don't tell people about him."

"Why not?" I asked.

"It's stupid."

"No, it's not. Tell us," Rose prompted. She had a knack for convincing people to talk to her; she seemed warm and inviting even when she herself was depressed. I'll have to thank her for that later.

"I feel like… if I tell people, I have to share him. And I don't want to share him. I just… I want him all to myself." She sniffled and I watched a tear glisten down her cheek. "And I want him to come home and not be hurt," she all but sobbed.

"Oh, honey, that's not stupid at all." Rose was out of her chair and had her arms wrapped around Alice in a flash. "He's a soldier?" she asked sadly, hugging Alice close to her and patting her hair down with one hand like I'd done to her so many times.

"Yeah," Alice sobbed into Rose's shoulder.

"C'mon, honey. Let's go sit in the other room and you can tell me all about what happened. You don't have to tell me about him, just tell me what happened to him. It helps to let it out." She grinned slightly over Alice's head and the look in her eyes was all the thanks I never wanted or needed for being there for her.

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Nearly two hours later, Alice was all cried out and had fallen asleep with her head on Rosalie's lap. Despite the change in characters, the scene was terribly familiar to both Rose and I, and I could see understanding and sympathy shine in her eyes as she brushed Alice's hair soothingly. Edward stayed in the kitchen and cleaned up to give me the chance to talk to Rose.

"How'd it go?" I asked quietly as I sat in the chair nearest the couch the other two occupied.

"Okay. She's got it rough, Bells. She wouldn't tell me anything about the guy, but you can tell she loves him. It's obvious. She's as head-over-heels for him as… as I am for Emmett." She smiled sadly down at Alice's sleeping figure.

"Did she say what happened to him?"

"She tried. She tried real hard. But she couldn't," Rosalie responded quietly, her voice drifting off slightly as her mind obviously wandered. "It's hard, Bella. You have no idea. It's just so damn hard to talk about. Once you talk about it, you see it. It's worse for her than it is for me. I just imagine things; she knows what happened, knows it in gruesome detail, and she sees it every damn time she thinks about it." She sighed the frustrated, understanding sigh of someone who's willingly shouldered the all-too-familiar burdens of those around her. For a moment I imagined Rose as Alice's psychiatrist – it wasn't a huge leap to make. "I'm sorry, Bella. I'm really sorry."

"For what?" I asked incredulously. "You have nothing to apologize to me for, Rose."

"Yeah, I actually do. I've… I've just dumped all my problems on you for so long. Ever since… Emmett… left… God, that's hard to actually say…" She shook her head and I wanted to tell her she had no reason to be talking like that, but she raised her hand from the side of Alice's head and effectively silenced me before I could even start talking. "When Emmett left, I fell apart. I just went to pieces. I felt like I didn't have anything to live for anymore. But you picked me up off the ground, Bella. Literally and figuratively. You saved me. You put Rosie Dumpty back together again. And sure, there were little pieces still missing, but you did more than I could ever have asked you to. More than I deserved to have you do for me. And then… when… when the letters stopped… I just… You know, you were there. You've always been there. I just assumed the worst and I just… gave up. But you didn't. You kept pushing me and telling me you believed in me and giving me hope when I didn't think there was any anywhere anymore." She sighed deeply and shut her eyes, and I wondered momentarily if she was finished with her speech so I could tell her to stop being silly. But before I could take a breath to speak, she continued. "I was stupid, Bella. I thought I had nothing left to live for, but… but that was stupid. Really stupid. Even if… even if Emmett's… you know… even if he… doesn't… come back… I still have something to live for. I have you. You're my best friend. You're like the sister I never had, and I love you like family. And I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me."

Before I even knew what I was doing, I was up from my chair and sitting on the arm of the couch with my arms around Rose, crying into her hair. "You don't have to thank me, Rose. You don't ever have to thank me for anything. I mean, c'mon… What's family for, right?" I chucked softly through my tears.

"Right," she laughed back through her own.

"Everything okay in here?" Edward asked, cautiously walking toward the couch. "I'm starting to think I should be crying too. I feel kind of left out," he chuckled, eliciting another teary laugh from both Rose and myself. "Y'know, after tonight, I'm pretty sure I could tell the difference between the three of you just by how you sniffle." He gently ruffled my hair with his hand and smiled down at us before wiping a tear from my cheek with his thumb and hugging me tightly to him. "You okay, babe?"

I wrapped my arms around his waist and hugged him back as tightly as my exhausted limbs would allow. "Yeah, I'm fine. For once you witnessed happy tears." He kissed the top of my head and rocked me side to side playfully.

"I should probably get Sleeping Beauty there back home, huh?" he suggested.

"What're you gonna do, carry her all the way home?" Rose asked, clearly joking, though the look on Edward's face said that was exactly what he'd planned to do. "No! No. Just let her sleep here."

"Yeah. She's already sound asleep. Why wake her up?" I agreed. "Just stay here."

He mulled it over for a moment before finally conceding. "Okay. On one condition."

"What's that?" Rose and I asked in stereo.

"Can I at least have a thick blanket to put beneath me? Hardwood's probably not terribly comfortable…"

"What makes you think you're sleeping on the floor?" I asked, looking up at him, my arms still wrapped around his waist.

"Where else would I sleep? You got another couch somewhere I don't see?"

"No. But I do have a big, comfy bed…"

Rose nudged me in the back with her shoulder and carefully got up from the couch, trying not to disturb Alice. "'Night, you two," she said with a wink before disappearing back to her bedroom.

"That's really very 'hostess with the mostest' of you, Bella, but you're not giving up your bed for me." Wow. Really? Am I really going to have to spell it out for you?

"I didn't intend to." He raised a confused eyebrow at me. "Y'know, you're remarkably cute when you're being dense. What part of 'big, comfy bed' did you miss, Edward?" The confused look slowly faded from his face and his eyes went wide as light finally dawned on his pretty, marble head.

"Ohhh." He looked around sheepishly for a second before looking back at me, a familiar, dangerous sparkle in his eye.

"Now you're gettin' it," I replied, standing up from the couch and dragging him toward my bedroom by his shirt.

Wow, deja FTB. Thanks, Bella, now the readers are gonna hate me some more! You really are the gift that keeps on giving. *cough*bitch*cough* Hehehe.

Anywho! The aforementioned FTB-causing beyotch would like me to inform people that, yet again, nothing happened.

Bella: Okay, well, maybe not nothing. ;)
Kim: Oh, what, you're gonna write my A/Ns for me now too? It's not enough to be the star of the story, you gotta steal the author's notes as well?
Bella: Well if you would tell it right, we wouldn't have this problem, now would we?
Kim: Oh, don't you start with me woman…
Bella: My story. I'll start with whoever I like.
Kim: Well clearly you won't start with Edward! OH! BURN!
Bella: I've known the man for less than a month! You think it's appropriate for me to just crawl into bed with him???
Kim: Dude… you just did!
Bella: I meant euphemistically!
Kim: Yeah, yeah…
Bella: Do you???
Kim: No. I don't.
Bella: Thank you.
Kim: Congratulations, you're a role model to all women. Wahoo. Can I get back to my damn note now, please?
Bella: You're the one that keeps writing this dialogue…
Kim: WOMAN!

Eh, she said it all anyway. Damn her.

Reviews are better than spending an apparently mostly innocent night in bed with your own personal Greek god.
Bella: Trust me, they're not.
Kim: GO. AWAY.

Don't forget!...

Twilighted thread: http://www(dot)twilighted(dot)net/forum/viewtopic(dot)php?f=44&t=4205
Music and such: http://kimfics(dot)webs(dot)com