A/N: I don't own anything, Stephenie does.
Thank you all again so much for everything, it means the world to me.
I'm really stuck now, I'm not at all happy about the way this story ends right now, and I want to add some more chapters. But they're going to take me some time to write and therefore I will not be updating every day anymore. I'm also working on a way to get the wolves involved, because you're all right, they should be. I hope you'll still read the story, even when I don't update every day.
Here's the next chapter, enjoy!

Chapter 10: Shopping in wonderland

Two weeks later

I hadn't seen Edward in two weeks and I felt so much better. Most of the bruises were fading and my lips were less swollen too. The Cullens all took really good care of me and they were more than friendly. Alice was the perfect friend to me, and much more than that. But still, the nightmares I had of Edward hadn't left me yet and the thought of him haunted me everywhere I went. The fear of him coming back to get me was always inside my mind. I could never let myself go, and just forget about everything, because deep down he was present, in my mind. Alice knew but she didn't mind, she gave me as much time as I needed and hadn't made any kind of unexpected move. I truly loved her, so very much and I knew that it was her I wanted to spend the rest of eternity with. I went to see Charlie every day now, he too knew what Edward had done to me and hated him for it. He'd do anything to protect me, but he was just an ignorant human, he had no idea how unarmed he'd be against Edward.

"Bella, do you want to go out today?" It was Alice, she tried to cheer me up as often as she could and nowadays even shopping cheered me up. I nodded enthusiastically and caught her as she ran towards me.

"Cool, shall we go to Port Angeles, maybe we could go see a movie or something?" She tried to avoid the whole shopping thing as often as she could, because she knew I never liked it and she didn't want to make me do things I didn't like.

"Maybe we could go shopping?" I offered, I knew she'd never turn such an offer down and the feeling that went through me when I saw that beautiful, huge smile of hers was really indescribable. She quickly went downstairs to make me breakfast and as soon as I had finished that she dragged me into her beautiful, yellow Porsche and got us to Port Angeles. Her hand rested on my thigh all the way there and I enjoyed every second of her touch. She stiffened and when I looked at her I saw her eyes were blank, this could only mean one thing, a vision. As soon as she moved again I asked her about it.

"It would ruin the day if I told you, so I won't" she grinned at me. I knew it had something to do with Edward, but she didn't seem too alarmed and so I decided to ignore it. I kissed her cheek and laid my head to rest against her shoulder. Her shoulder which would seem so hard and cold to anyone else, anyone but me, to me her shoulder was the best pillow I could imagine. Her way of driving granted us to reach the mall within half an hour. She kissed me briefly before we both got out of the car. She locked the doors and grabbed my hand as we got inside. I still hated shopping, but I loved to spend time with her and if it would be like this, I would embrace all the clothes she wanted me to wear.

We wandered through the mall all afternoon, Alice had found me multiple outfits to try on and had insisted on buying all of them for me. The only store I had refused entering was Victoria's Secret. I was very self-conscious about my body and I didn't like to see it. Although most bruises were gone there were still a lot of scars that I didn't want to show, neither did I want for Alice to see them. She soon after my refusal had promised me she wouldn't make me try anything on and her puppy-eyes did what they do best… they convinced me to believe her. She tried on some lingerie and made me look at her, she was so beautiful, it was indescribable. Her pale-white skin looked beautiful when wrapped in black with purple laced underwear, she was just drop-dead gorgeous.

"So, you like it?" she'd asked me in a seductive tone that made me feel weak in the knees. I knew it was all very cheesy but she was just so gorgeous.

"Y-yes" I stuttered, this obviously amused her, a small smile danced on her lips. She briefly touched my hand and gave me one of her very seductive smiles. I gave in, I couldn't resist her any longer and softly kissed her lips. She returned the kiss and a few seconds later I felt her slender arms snaking around my waist.

"That's good" she moaned in between the kisses. I was now officially turned on. How was it possible for her to have such an effect on me? Then she stopped the kiss and I felt disappointed. My pouting face caused her to giggle and that sound – just like all her sounds- made me smile. She gently pushed me out of the fitting-room and got dressed. Mere seconds later we were leaving the store.

"What do you feel like eating?" she asked me.

"Don't know, anything will do after that make out session, and after seeing that sexy body of yours." I winked at her and couldn't believe I had just said that. This made her chuckle again and I figured she was thinking the same thing.

"Italiano it will be then, is that alright?"

"You really don't want to watch me struggle with spaghetti!" I already was ashamed of my blunt way of eating and spaghetti wouldn't make that easier.

"Italiano isn't just spaghetti, my Bella." The words 'my Bella' made me all warm on the inside. It was just so romantic when she said them, unlike Edward's possessive tone. We entered the Italian restaurant and Alice ordered me a pizza, this definitely was embarrassing but Alice didn't seem to mind so neither should I have, or so I thought. I shot a glare at her every time she giggled at me failing to eat the pizza without staining anything, but my glares only made her amount of perfect chuckles increase and so I stopped glaring. Instead I focused on the pizza. I was too focused to enjoy its taste and this was definitely the worst meal I had ever had. After I finished and forced Alice not to pay the check we went to the cinema to see a movie. We picked a cliché romantic one and neither of us really liked it. We were both too focused on each other and being with her made the movie slightly enjoyable. The ride back home was a little silent and I noticed some changes in Alice's behavior.

"Al, what's going on?"

"Must you notice everything, my Bella?"

"I guess. I hate to be left in the dark, Alice. Tell me, what's going on!" I demanded to know what was on her mind.

"Edward, he just arrived at home, he's waiting for you" she said. I was suddenly terrified, what did he want? It had been a few weeks since they'd saved me from Edward and Alice had still never told me what it was that Edward had done when they got into that fight. But I still wanted to know, and she knew it. But she kept avoiding the subject. Knowing Edward was back at the house made me realize that maybe, if she didn't tell me now, she'd never get the chance to tell me.

"Alice… That day, when Edward found out… What did he do to you?" She stiffened, this sure was a difficult subject for her. "Please, Alice. Maybe, after today, you won't ever get the chance to tell me, and I have to know! I need to know what-"

"Okay, Bella. I just feel so weak when I think about it. I feel weak because I couldn't handle him, he was stronger than me, Bella. I didn't know that, I always thought I'd be stronger than him. I think that if we'd fight now, I would win, though. But, he got on top of me and bit me, my neck. It hurt, the venom stung a little, but that didn't bother me as much. Just knowing that my brother was on top of me, doing this. I knew that from that moment he wasn't my brother anymore, because a brother would never do that to his sister. I tried to fight him, and believe me, I bit him too, multiple times. He was just… stronger. He dragged me outside and…" She didn't continue. She just stared out of the windshield and I could see the tears in her eyes. It really hurt her to talk about it. I touched her arm which caused her to look at me, her golden eyes had darkened a little. But I wasn't scared, she couldn't scare me.

"Bella, he dragged me outside and slammed my head into a tree. He threatened to kill me, and you, and Jasper, and the rest of the family. I don't even know why I was scared, because he could never pull that off. There was absolutely no chance he'd kill Emmett. But mostly it was you I was scared for. I didn't want him to kill you, but back then he was stronger than me, and he could easily have killed us both. I tried to fight him, Bella… I really did-"

"Shh! I know, Alice. I know," I cooed her. She shook her head and her eyes begged me to let her continue.

"I should never have left, I should have kept on fighting. But I couldn't, and I'm so sorry for that. The threat of him killing you if I wouldn't leave was just too much. But I really didn't want to leave. I'm not even worth your love, Bella."

"Alice, you're worth every ounce of my love. You fought, and even if you wouldn't have, I would still love you. I'm sorry, I just had to know what happened, it was torturing me." She nodded and we both decided not to fight over this. I kissed her lips and she kissed me back. After a few minutes she got me ready to face Edward, who was waiting for us to show up.