Soon after the pain began, I struggled to keep from screaming. Everyone assured me that the little cabin was abandoned and far away from the trail, but I didn't want to take the chance that a hunter or a lost hiker would mistake my cries of pain for a cry of help. The fire that had burned internally choked me and I wanted nothing more than to pass out from the pain. It was weird to be in so much pain, but I tried holding on to the fact that the outcome would allow my family to live. No one knew what Aro had planned for us, not even him. And since he didn't know, Alice didn't either.

I simply had to be satisfied that with imagining happy moments of my life to get through the pain. I heard it often worked for prisoners of war, and I only hoped that it would work on me. I let my memory take me back to the very first day I saw Edward; the way his hair was tinged bronze in the sunlight and his golden eyes. He was simple perfection. The way he always seemed to know what everyone was thinking, of course I later found out that was true. I skipped over the moments that were without him, the two times that he left me, and concentrated on the kisses and embraces that were icy to the touch, but stilled warmed my heart.

Time ceased to exist. I only knew that it passed over me. It was all relative when I say that soon I could hear a commotion of yelling somewhere in the other room. Edward was here and I could hear how mad he was. I knew that this was going to happen sooner or later. I'd only hoped that I was going to be awake when he had to confront his family. I put them in an awful situation, one they took on freely, but still I felt like a monster.

"Rose? I can't believe you of all people were in on this too!" Edward was screaming.

"Well see that's the beauty of it, technically we're not people." I heard Emmett snickering at his little joke, but it fell on Edward's deaf ears. I wished I could tell him that I was okay. That this was for the best, but there was no use. My brain was defective somehow and he couldn't hear anything from my mind.

He cried into the curve of my neck as I continued to lay motionless on the table. I felt his hand grab mine, and the coldness did nothing for the burning sensation that rocked me throughout. I internally sighed as I felt completely and utterly useless.

"Edward, it's only the first day. She still has -." Carlisle's angelic voice tingled in the air until Edward cut him off.

"Leave." He growled low, very frightening to me. I really wanted to communicate to him now and let him know I was not happy with the way he was treating his family.

"Leave me and Bella. NOW!" On top of burning, my heart was breaking. As far as I knew, he'd never spoken to his family like that. Well maybe his siblings but definitely never at Esme or Carlisle. "You conspired against me, against my wishes. Leave us now." His words were barely above a whisper and though I strained to hear them, it was more than what I should have heard.

I waited to hear for the retreating footsteps, but the only clue that the Cullen's indicated that they left was a door slamming. Edward's hand was still entwined with mine and I could feel his breath near my ear again.

"Bella, I'm so sorry this happened to you. Just please wake up soon, love."

2 Days Later

The fire crept along my limbs first, moving towards my already burning heart. I tested my theory that I would be able to move somewhat by starting with my toes and fingers. Sure enough, I didn't feel any lingering pain from the movement, however slight it was. But suddenly, the pain tightened around my heart and I wanted nothing more than to cry out. But I knew Edward was here and I didn't want him to worry.

I thought I was going to breakout into a spasm and then my heart fluttered to a stop. All of the pain was wiped away. I opened my eyes completely and found myself in awe of the brilliant colors that shone through in the light. There were a few hues that I'd never even seen before and the sharpness and clarity in which I now saw, was insane.

"You're awake! I was beginning to get worried." Edward's arms rushed around me and for a split second I was stunned. His touch was completely different from the cool one I remembered. But my body reacted naturally, forming itself to mold to his. I relaxed into his embrace and his lips found mine eagerly.

"Bella, you must be ready to hunt. Once we've hunted, we can leave." Edward said as he pulled away from me. But the way he mentioned leaving seemed off. My mind started replaying the conversations between him and his family while I was under.

"What do you mean leave?" I asked with a slight growl. I backed away from him, step by step until we were the room length apart.

"We're leaving Forks, just you and me. We'll run off somewhere. I don't care; as long as we're together it won't matter." Edward took a few steps closer to me, but I held up a finger indicating for him to stop. This of course only confused him.

"What about your family and the Volturi?"

"They betrayed me! They are NOT my family."

His words stung me deep and I looked away from him to the floor. I found my way a few more steps back until I was against the wall for support.

"Can't you see we should just keep it as you and me?" Edward said those words again. The only way I would have agreed with him was if his family was a packaged deal. I was sure that we would have taken some time away from them like Rose and Emmett, but to me, forever meant with the entire family, not just Edward. His words angered me and I instantly crouched into a defensive pose and lunged at him.

My hand wrapped around his neck and I pushed him up against the closet wall. The logs of the cabin splintered off at impact, but the wall held. There was no time for me to revel in my newfound strength. "I will never, EVER leave your family with the mess that we created. It wasn't your family that so called betrayed you. It was me. It was my plan, my idea, and my decision. Your family expressed their concerns for your feelings, but I disregarded them. God, Edward, not everything is about you."

I couldn't believe that Edward would abandon his family because they disagreed with him. I realized I took away his vote in the matter, but he had done that to me far more times than I cared to count. He should just deal with it and move on.

I released my grasp from his neck and ran out of the cabin into the woods. I ran in a straight line for who knows how long and far. Maybe a few miles passed by before I smelled a familiar scent of berries and vanilla and I ran towards it, or really her. Alice.

"You look like you could use a friend, or at least an animal or two." Alice said with her oh so sweet smile. She was jumping up and down, and knowing her it was probably because she was the first one to see me after the change, well except for Edward. "Is your throat burning like fire?" She asked me, her head cocked to one side as if she was curious.

"My throat is more like a tickle. But it's growing I guess because it's the first time I noticed it." Alice's eyes practically burrowed into her nose with curiosity. But she didn't say another word, except for me to follow her. We ran for miles and yet I was nowhere near as tired as I should have been, nor was I falling all over myself.

She led me to an area that was near water. I could hear the water gurgling which reminded me of some type of river or stream.

"Okay can you smell anything?" Alice asked me, still bouncing up and down.

I wrinkled my nose like Samantha from Bewitched, as if I'd needed to turn my nose on. I took a deep breath and allowed the air around me to fill my dead lungs. "I smell the earth, the water from last night's rain, and something very… uh, meaty?" I guessed that was a good enough answer because Alice's smile grew even bigger.

"Okay so follow that nose of yours and get something to eat!" She practically shooed me away and disappeared on her own. I almost followed her, but that tickle in my throat was now a bit more persistent. I closed my eyes for an eighth of a second and ran towards the water. Once there, I was rewarded with a black bear that was picking at some fish in the stream. I was sure he was going to see me, or at least hear me, but he never looked up from the stream.

I pounced on him, effectively jumping over the stream, and bounced off of a large tree to change my direction so that I could land on the bear with my teeth by its neck. The stunned bear immediately tried to shake me off, but I sunk my teeth into his fur, and warm sticky fluid began to seep into my mouth. I thought I would be disgusted by the act of feeding for my first time, but this felt completely natural.

The poor bear didn't even have the heart to fight against me anymore and began to slip to the forest floor. My mouth continued to latch onto the wound I created until there was nothing left to flow through. I stood up and licked my lips. It was absolutely delicious! Granted it wasn't the grizzly bear that Emmett enjoyed, but I think black bears might be my favorite for the simple fact is was my first.

"Well, I'll definitely have to teach you proper technique so you don't get blood all over yourself." Alice laughed as she jumped from the very tree I used to rebound myself against. I looked down at my clothes and cringed at my blood stains. "Do you need more or are you good?"

"I'm good. I want to see every one first. Can we go back to the manor?" I asked. My thoughts went back to Edward and I could feel myself getting upset again.

"Sure. But umm, can we talk first?" Alice asked and I nodded yes. "I saw you went ballistic on Edward because of his idiotic plan, that's why I was here in the first place. But I don't want you to worry. Edward will come to his senses soon enough."

"But Alice, you're not hurt by his words, or actions, or thoughts? I mean he wanted to leave y'all high and dry. You guys have been there for him more than most families are for each other. And he didn't care. It hurt me." I felt my eyes tingling and I waited for tears, even though I knew they would never come.

"Well of course it hurts. But eternity is too short to hold a grudge against family. You know what I mean?" I honestly didn't but I figured she meant eventually everyone would move on and we'd be normal again. I hoped she was right.

We ran back to the manor, and it only took us an hour to get back. I couldn't help but take a deep breath as I walked through the door for the first time as a vampire.

A chorus of "Bella's," and "Oh my gods" rang out as I walked into the living room. I couldn't even begin to explain how uncomfortable I was with all of the attention on me. Emmett jumped over the couch to give me one of his famous bear hugs, only I could tell he was giving it more strength that he normally used on me.

"No holding back now, eh?" He waggled his eyebrows at me and I couldn't help but laugh.

"What are you Canadian, eh?" I asked.

"Well you know, sometimes."

"Bella I know you're anxious to know about what's been going on with your disappearance, but I think we need to focus on the Italy trip first. I can fill you in on everything else later." I nodded to Carlisle who I also silently thanked for shifting the attention a little from me. I looked around the room and saw my family, minus Edward. I really hoped Alice was right.

Carlisle said the timing was still on track. Alice went to her graduation the day before; Edward of course missed it because he was keeping guard over me. The Cullen's had been spreading the rumor around that they still intended on going on their trip to try to clear the minds of everyone about the details of my disappearance. Hopefully I'd be found before they returned.

"Does our plane still leave in the morning?" I turned around with a smile on my face that was bigger than my head at the sound of his voice. Alice had been right. Edward had come around after all.