I don't own anything Twilight. Everything belongs to Stephenie Meyers. No copyright infringement intended. I'm just playing around with her creation.

Previously: Bella goes shopping with Alice and Tanya. Bella thinks over Edward's connection to her. Edward surprises Bella and vice versa. Jake finds the Cullen's in Alaska. Jake inadvertently lets Bella know about her change.

Chapter 10: Can't Handle the Truth

Bella's Point of View

They were lying…they had to be. I was changed from a rape? No, that's not possible – I was changed by...by...

An image of a senile redhead popped in to my head. She laughed menacingly and she looked over at a blond man and told him to do what he wanted. The blond man stared at me evilly then stalked in my direction.

Another image of a night sky and strings of lights flashed before me. There was music in the background and I was held gently to Edward's marble form. I had been trying to convince him to turn me into a vampire and he had vehemently told me it would never happen.

He didn't want me to become a vampire. He didn't want to share eternity with me. He didn't want me, period. I felt Edward's hand tighten around mine as we walked into the yard and saw Rosalie yelling with a Goliath like Indian-boy.

Their eyes grew wide to match my own and the atmosphere became so overrun with tension a chainsaw wouldn't cut it. Had what I heard really happened? Was I really the victim of a heinous criminal act?

"Bell...?" the boy across the yard spoke my name softly and pictures of him shot to my head. Us in his garage – us working on cars and motorbikes – me smiling – me screaming in bed. This boy had been my friend when the one I loved had cast me aside.

"It's not true... It can't be true..." they were lying or talking about someone else, they had to be. The next word fell from my lips before I knew what was going on.

"Jake...?" I said the name so quietly no one other than vampires could hear but he responded and took a step towards me. This was not happening. Images filled my head at an alarming rate, happy pictures, sad pictures, and heart breaking pictures. So many faces, many I knew and some I could only vaguely remember.

I released Edward's hand and shoved him away from me, sending him backwards several feet away into the snow. He looked hurt and confused by my actions, and then it was as if he had an epiphany and straightened himself and slowly walked toward me with his palms out.

"Bella, it'll be alright, we can get through this," he walked with confidence and calm then his words sank in.

"So it's true, I was... I was...and you knew about it!" he cringed at my accusation and his pace toward me slowed. His head tilted at Jake briefly and he growled, Jake had obviously thought of something Edward didn't like, I shook my head in disbelief at how things had turned out. "How could you, how could you not tell me something so important?"

"Bella, we wanted to tell you at the right time. We didn't want you to go into hysterics, we were thinking about your well-being," his eyes were begging me for understanding and right now I was finding it rather difficult to accommodate him.

I stalked toward Edward and pushed on his chest. "My well-being! You have no right to think about my well-being. Look where it got you. Everything you were hoping to avoid has happened. I've become what you never wanted me to be, I was beaten and violated because of your concern for my well-being. Well guess what, human or vampire, I can think for myself I-"

I was interrupted by a sharp stab to my temple and my hands flew to my head in an instant. I cried out as more images shot around my head.

I was lying on a hospital bed with Edward sitting next to me. He had told me he would never leave. The image then warped to a small party scene with a large cake with the name 'Bella' on it then there was blood, a lot of it. The image sifted again to a green forest and Edward was telling me he was leaving and that he didn't want me anymore. Yet again, the image changed. I was standing in a meadow of dry grass, eating a piece of cake, all alone.

"Bella?"

My head snapped up at hearing Edward's worried voice. He had failed me in everything, in staying with me, in protecting me and most importantly, in loving me. My eyes widened as I looked at him and I shook my head in an unknown panic then I turned and fled for the house and my room.

I slammed the door behind me then curled up on my bed in despair and my dry sobbing started. My memories had fully returned to me now, I remembered everything from my childhood to the moment I passed out in the boathouse.

Victoria had wanted to know Edward's weakness and since I wouldn't tell her, she had tortured me. When she felt that she could learn what she could from me, she let her underling have me. I squeezed my eyes closed tightly when an image of Riley appeared in my head.

A soft rapping on my door startled me. "Bella, can I come in please, there's something I need to talk to you about?"

I was shocked to hear Rosalie's voice and somehow managed to get out a soft and broken "yes."

She entered the room and quietly closed the door behind her then came and sat down on the bed beside me. Her eyes weren't filled with pity like what I had expected but with remorse and sympathy. I sat up slightly to look at her better and she pulled me into her arms. I was stunned completely, not once had Rosalie shown me the least bit of kindness.

"I'm so sorry this happened. I promise you, with time you'll heal. You're lucky to have the help and love of a man and two families. I didn't." I pulled myself from her tight embrace and stared at her confused.

"What do you mean, you didn't?"

She sighed and her eyes filled with sorrow. "In 1933 I was engaged to be married to a wealthy banker's son. I was returning from a friend's house one night and came across my intended who had been out drinking with friends," she paused and I could tell she was trying to control herself. "My fiancé and his friends took liberties with me that left me broken and dying. I was left in an alley to die and that's when Carlisle found me, he took me to his place where he changed me."

I stared at her in disbelief and she continued her story. "At the time it was only the four of us, Carlisle, Esme, Edward and myself, Carlisle being a doctor helped with my mental and physical damage but I had no one to help with the emotional damage. In 1935, I found Emmett about to be killed by a grizzly and Carlisle changed him. He helped to repair the emotional scars my fiancé created in me, but I had to wait two excruciatingly long years to feel normal and whole again."

"But how did you manage? I mean I'm now a ruined woman. The one and only gift I could have given Edward has been stolen from me," she giggled softly and I was a bit surprised considering the mood.

"Ruined woman? I think you should have been born in the 1900s as well. Bella, unless it was consensual don't think about it being your first time. Your first should be gentle and romantic with the one you love," she gave me a small almost shy smile. She paused again to think over her next words.

"When I was first changed I hated this life, I'm still not sure if I would have willing accepted it like you so wanted to. However, I can look back now and be glad for the outcome. I have Emmett and for that, I'm eternally grateful. Don't push Edward away; let him help you, let us all help you. We all love you and want you better. With our help you will get through this, I promise."

She pulled me in for another tight hug and whispered into my ear. "And don't punish Edward too much for being an idiot and leaving you. He did enough punishment to himself since he left." She smiled at me warmly then left the room.

I had a hard time imagining Rosalie being violated like that. Despite her calm and beautiful frame, she emitted a confident aura of a woman you didn't want to mess with. Maybe she had become a stronger person because of it. If she could work out her issue with her rape from several assailants than I could definitely work out my issues from only one. I think I was going to have a long discussion with Edward once I finally managed to compose myself.

Edward's Point of View

I stood statue still as I watched Bella escape into the house. This was not going to go well, that I was certain. I could only hope that Bella would talk to me after this, but as of right now I had bigger fish to fry, or wolf more like it.

My hand clenched into tight fists and I slowly tilted my head toward the intrusive mutt. I heard him gulp and a smirk curled my lip. Before he could take another breath, I had him slammed into a tree, my hand clutched around his throat and the dog fought for air. An image of a crying Bella invaded my mind and I lightened my hold around the pup's neck.

"What are you doing so far away from home mongrel?" I literally snarled my question; you could hear the anger oozing from tone of my voice.

He growled then chocked out his words. "I was looking for Bella," he then thought over all the miles and states he had traveled trying to find her.

"And why would they send a dog to do a man's job?" I cocked my head to the side as if I was examining him to make my point.

He struggled against my grasp and managed to gain a little more room around his neck. "They didn't send me, I searched on my own. The rest of the pack stayed behind to make sure there were no stragglers from that red-head." Flashes of Victoria, Laurent and another male being destroyed by the wolves played in his mind.

I was in so much shock that I released my hold and stumbled backwards. "You killed Victoria and Laurent."

He rubbed his neck and a smirk formed on his face. "We lost Bella's scent there, I've been searching for her ever since. Charlie said she was in the meadow celebrating your birthday." his voice became deeper and filled with rage. "After all the pain you caused her at throwing her away and all the time I spent trying to put her back together, she still choose you. Damn it, what's so special about being undead anyway."

I glared at his comment. "Think over your words mutt. The same girl you spent the last six months looking for is now one of those undead. The reason you lost her scent is because she turned into a vampire there and because you didn't recognize her new scent you probably thought it was the nomads."

His eyes narrowed as he focused on me. "No thanks to you. I'm assuming it was one of the males we killed that cause Bella to change than, if what the blond bimbo was saying is true."

All I could do was nod as a bombardment of memories of Bella after I left assaulted me. She had become virtually catatonic for the first several months. Then she had slowly started to interact with the world around her but she wasn't the same. You could see in her mannerisms and speech that she had become withdrawn, hollow and untrusting. I had destroyed everything that was Bella. When I saw her mount the motorcycle then crash it I winced and growled, she then apologized for bleeding.

"What's the matter bloodsucker, don't like hearing the truth?" his eyes bored into me as he smirked at my discomfort, his face then became confused. "Wait, why were you holding her hand, why are you even around her if you don't want her anymore?"

I sighed heavily as the weight of his words started to bare down on me. Bella had confided in this boy about what had happened. It was becoming more and more apparent that everyone believed my lie as the truth. Did they think so little of me that I would simply stop loving her because my brother took a snap at her – that was ridiculous!

I shook my head slowly at first then it picked up momentum. "It was a lie. I lied about not wanting her so she would let me go. I never wanted this life for her and being around us so much, it was a guaranteed fate, so I left so she could have a normal human life. But there is no way I would ever stop loving or wanting her."

Jake crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me. "So how did that work out for you - for her?" He sighed heavily and his head filled with thoughts of Charlie. Charlie would want to know about his daughter and there was no way he could know about this outcome. "I guess the problem now is what to tell Charlie. You have to know he's worried sick about Bella."

I nodded in agreement. I knew thanks to Alice visiting him and learning what she could about Bella's disappearance. For once, I couldn't think of a happy solution for Charlie or Renee for that matter. What do we tell them about their only child, that she was lounging on a beach in the south pacific? No, they would eventually go looking for her and what about the scene in the meadow.

I downcast my eyes to the snow-covered ground to my left as scenarios played out in my head. "I don't know what to tell her parents. All I can tell you is to everyone but us - she is dead. There is no way, she can see them or have them come searching for her, or someone might get hurt. Now if you'll excuse me I have to check on an amnesic newborn who has apparently regained her memories."

Jacob winced at my reminder of what his carelessness had done to the sweet girl. I turned on the spot, trudged through the snow toward the house and passed a contained and furious Tanya and Irina. My brothers and father were restraining her and trying to calm them down at what Jacob had just unknowingly done to Tanya's so-called daughter and Irina's mate.

Tanya's Point of View

"Let me go! I'm going to kill that bastard!" I was fighting tooth and nail to get free from my captives but four sets of arms were making it impossible.

"Tanya that boy has been Bella's friend for years. Think about how hurt she would be if you followed through with your threat?" I barely heard Carlisle trying to reason with me as I snarled and growled as I continued to fight futilely.

"You saw Bella's reaction, she freaked out cause of his carelessness," I could feel my eyes starting to sting as my venomous tears tried in vain to fall. This was all happening so fast and tragically and I could do absolutely nothing to rectify the situation.

"You know that's not true. Only those in this house knew what had truly happened, it was an accident." Carlisle stated firmly.

"Technically it was Rosalie's fault, she's the one that-" Kate stopped talking when Carlisle shot her a stern glare.

Every time I tried to lunge out of the house the hands on my arms and shoulders tightened, rendering me immobile. I fell to my knees in dry sobbing.

I turned my attention to Kate who was watching nearby in disbelief. "Go get rid of the trespasser for me will you?"

Kate quickly fled from the house, obviously in a hurry to get away from her psychotic sister. At the moment, I could care less what she thought. I looked at Bella as if she was the daughter I never had and that insensitive boy had just hurt her. I wanted desperately to destroy him, kill him or at the least maim him.

I continued to growl and snarl at my captives, to finally free myself and exact my revenge but arms and hands only tightened on me. After about ten minutes of futile fighting, I finally gave up and let the sobbing consume me.

A gentle hand gripping me on the shoulder startling me and I looked up to see Esme's sad yet loving face. "Let's go up and check on Bella. I'm sure she needs to talk to someone about what she learned."

I glanced out the window toward the source of the commotion and all I could see was a black head over the top of Kate, Alice and Jasper. After some hushed words and angry arm movements from Kate, I saw the black haired head return to the forest behind him.

The firm hold on me slowly released and I shot to my feet. I gave Esme a quick glance then darted for the stairs, eager to check on Bella and see how she was doing.

Without a second thought I fled to Bella's side, leaving my sister Irina in shambles at the loss of Laurent – he never sat right with me anyways – and my household was in chaos but all my concerns were focused in on a chocolate haired girl who probably felt she just lost everything.

Chapter End Notes:

Sorry if Rosalie's talk with Bella wasn't more, I'm not totally sure you would counsel someone on what she just learned. I think having Rosalie talk to her and explain things a bit helped, don't you.

I know, it was cruel to force all the death planning entirely on to Jake but he does come up with an excellent plan later.

What do you think of Tanya's protectiveness? Too much, just right, not enough?