I own none of the characters. Stephanie Meyer does.

Chapter Ten

Taking Sides

Bella POV

"Bella! Bella, please, we need to talk!"

Edward was pleading with me as I sat still on the couch, staring into nothing. As he came around the corner, he caught sight of Emmett, Jasper, and me all there waiting for him. Edward squeezed his eyes shut as he seemed to be in pain.

"Please stop you guys. Please, I already know. Now leave so I can talk to Bella." Edward quietly pleaded with his brothers.

"No, you need to leave! Bella doesn't want to talk to you. Tanya? Really? What the hell were you thinking?!" Emmett boomly shouted at Edward, although I could barely make out the words due to Emmett's snarls and growls.

Edward's face shot up, glaring angrily up at Emmett. His hands were in fists and he was baring his teeth. "You can't stop me from talking to her!"

I don't know why, even through all the pain that I was in due to what Edward had done, I was still worried for him. I didn't want a fight to start out between him and Emmett. I looked at Jasper in hopes that he might calm the situation down, but was taken back when Jasper looked just as furious as Emmett. Suddenly I heard a whoosh of air escape Edward's mouth. I turned towards him at the sound, only to catch him on his knees, clutching at where his dead heart was.

"Oh god. What have I done?" I heard as Edward's body slumped lower to the floor. He was in excrusiating pain. What was happening? And then it occured to me. Jasper had his own ways of payback it looked like. I was really worried for Edward now, watching him brought back horrible memories from Italy that I's done best to forget.

"Jasper stop it. Stop!" I grabbed at his arm. Yanking on it for him to stop. He wasn't having it.

"No Bella, he needs to know exactly what he has done to you! Do you feel that Edward!? That's not made up pain, that's the pain that was actually crippling me even being in the same room with her! You did this! What were you thinking!?" Jasper hollard, and hissed his questions to Edward.

"I DON'T KNOW! I don't know." Edward was finally breathing normally, which meant that Jasper had finally stopped his attack on him. I still didn't want to talk to him, so I turned so I was facing away from him as he continued.

"Go away Edward. Please." I whispered, knowing he wouldn't listen.

"No Bella, please. We have to talk. I'm sorry! Please love."

Pain ripped though me, coursing through my body. If I didn't know better, I'd swear I'd turn into a wolf like Jacob with the way my body vibrated with anger. "Don't you dare call me that! You have NO RIGHT to call me that anymore! I'm not your love! You know nothing about that. You never did."

Edward seemed slightly angry and my accusation, he swiftly passed Emmett, reaching to grab at my arm. Jasper immediately leaped over me and the couch, planting himself between me and Edward. I heard Edward's breath get caught again, and I assumed Jasper was making him feel the pain again. "Bella, talk to me. Jasper stop it! She's my wife, I have a right to talk to my wife!"

Edward shoved at Emmett to get him away, lunging at Jasper to get him out of the way. But as he jumped, Emmett caught his leg, swinging Edward's body back, so that it slammed into the wall. I flinched, feeling bad for him. I couldn't help it. But I wasn't backing down. I was done. I was in too much pain, to even try. Edward shot back to his feet lunging for Emmett, but Emmett caught Edward again, planting a foot dead in the center of Edward's body, causing him to fly into the front door, breaking it down. Jasper and Emmett both left me on the couch, quickly gliding to the door. I could hear more rustling as Emmett and Jasper both fought to get Edward out of the house.

"Go home Edward! Give her some time before trying to talk to her. She's too emotional right now, and you being here is making it worse." Jasper shouted at him.

"I need to talk to her Jasper. I need her to know. Emmett get's you damn hands off of me!" Edward sounded frantic now.

"No, Jasper is right. Leave her alone for now. What you did man was wrong. Even I can't believe you did that. Edward, you fucked up. Now give her a chance to come to you on her terms. It's the least you can do right now."

It was quiet for the longest time, before I heard Edward exhale loudly. "Fine. I'll go." He paused for a moment before talking to me. "Bella, I know you can hear this, so I'll just say this. I'll be at our home, waiting for you. I wait there until you show up. I don't care how long that is. I'm sorry." His next words were almost inaudible, but I still heard them. "I love you."

Later that evening...

I sat in Edward's room, laying in bed for hours now. His bed, this whole room, now felt unfamilar to me. I knew Edward was serious when he said that he would be home. That he wouldn't leave until I showed up to talk to him. However, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. I can't believe I was so stupid that I thought I would be so lucky as to have mere danger coming. I would take on the Volturi over this any day. At least then I would just simply die and be over with it all. I had to live through this. And this sucked. No pun intended. Edward would say that. That pissed me off. I looked to the left of me, and sitting on a night table was a picture of us. It was taken a little while after I had met Edward. I was on his back, and we both wore big, goofy smiles on our faces. I remember when Esme had taken the picture, it was the first time I had taken Edward by surprise, jumping onto his back. It was a happy time, and that pissed me off more. I yanked up the picture, throwing it at the huge glass double doors, causing all the glass in the from to shatter in a million, tiny, noisy pieces. There was an immediate knock at the bedroom door.

The door opened slightly, and Esme poked her head through looking to survey the damage. "Bella? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Esme. I'm sorry about the glass."

"Don't be dear. We'll have it fixed tomorrow with no one the wiser." she assured me quietly and motherly.

All I could do was look down at my lap. I was sorry about doing that. I couldn't help it. I was still angry though, and even with Esme there, I was overwhelmed with the need to throw things. I shot up from the bed, crossing the tiny room to the shelves that held hundreds of cds and records. It was extremely childish, but I didn't care. I started grabbing handfuls of music, throwing them out into the darkening night. Over and over, loud crashes rang up to the room as more and more of his things hit the grassy floor below. I yanked at his stereo, causing it to rip from the wall it was plugged in, throwing it with more force outside. "Dammit!" I turned, grabbing as much more as I could throw. Books, journals, pictures, clothes. Anything I could get my hands on. It felt good to take my anger out like this.

"Bella honey, you have to stop. I know your hurting, but this isn't the way to deal with things. I'm sorry my son did this terrible thing to you. I truely am. But destroying things isn't going to erase the pain." Esme had now entered the room, and had started walking warily towards me.

"That's right Esme. Your son! Why don't you go and comfort him! You don't seem very shocked that he did this. Did you know about this? Did you?!" I shouted angrily at her. It was extremely disrespectful. Especially after everything she had done for me.

Esme looked down at her feet, seemingly ashamed. "Yes Bella. I did know. Edward had come to Carlisle and me earlier today and confided in us what he had done."

"Then why didn't you tell me?! Didn't you care? Who all knew about this?" I pleaded.

"I'm sorry Bella. I really am. We didn't tell you because both me and Carlisle thought it fitting that Edward tell you himself. It was the only decent thing he could do for you in something like this. It really wasn't our place to tell you this. We wouldn't have gone hunting if we had thought that you would have found out like this. We had no idea that Edward was meeting with her today. Honestly, dear. It was clear to us when we came back home, that we should have been here. At least to mediate. It seems that his brothers are just as angry as you are with him. But this is none of anyone's business except you and Edward."

"His brother's were the only one's that were there for me! If it weren't for Jasper and Emmett, I would still be on the floor in horrible pain, unable to even move!" I screamed.

"I know Bella. But you can't hide behind Jasper and Emmett. It's not fair to the family or to Edward to pin his brother's against. him." She countered calmly.

I thought I hadn't heard her right. Did I slip into some fucked up universe or something? "Excuse me!? I'm not pinning anyone against him! I can't believe you would say that to me. Oh wait, nevermind, I can. Because you see, even though you believe what Edward did was wrong, he is still your Edward. And of course, I'm just some human girl that married him and only became one of you a few years ago. Why on Earth would I ever believe that you would be on my side!"

"See, Bella, right there. I'm not on anyone's side. And I really don't appreciate how you are talking to me. Like I said, I understand why you are upset. But you need to deal with this with Edward. I will not have this family in ruins just because of something that is going on between the two of you." And with that, Esme abruptly turned on her heels and swiftly left the room, shutting the door behind her.

I felt horrible. Not that I was supposedly pinning anyone against anyone, which I still believed she was wrong about, but for speaking to her the way that I did. The whole scene just now was bad. I should have never raised my voice to her, she was right. She also knew I was right though. It was obvious that her and Carlisle would think that their precious Edward had done nothing terribly wrong. They were acting like what he did was trivial. Something that we all could just look past and get over like that. I had to leave this house. I could be somewhere where I felt like I was in the wrong. It wasn't right. I could go home though. Home was pain. Pain I couldn't take anymore.

"Jasper. Emmett." I called out lightly.

In no time, the door had crept open, and both Emmet and Jasper both came in, closing the door behind them. Jasper was the first to speak, his words came out quietly.

"Bella, we heard you and Esme. Believe me, your not pinning us against anyone. We're here for you because we love you and we feel strongly about what Edward has done. It wouldn't be any different if it were Emmett or if it were me. What he did was wrong and there's no changing that. I'm only sorry that Esme feels the way she does." Jasper was already at the foot of the bed, rubbing small circles on my back.

"Yeah, you have to understand Bella. I don't think Esme is against you really, it's just that Edward is like her son son. Forget that he was the first of us around when Esme was changed, or that she's known him longer. We all see it, Esme feels deep down in her bones that Edward is like her blood son. Almost as if she gave birth to him herself. Not that she treats any of us differently, but the bond between Edward and Esme is as strong as any other Mother and Son relationship. And I think Carlisle really does want to stay out of it completely. He loves you both equally, and he doens't like seeing either one of you in pain. I literally haven't seen him since he and Esme got home. He's secluded himself in his office and hasn't come out since. No one wants to go in there because we all think maybe he's ashamed that his son has done something like this." He gestured towards Jasper. "Jasper thinks it's because he thought that he had instilled better values in Edward and might be thinking that this is his fault somehow. I don't know."

I looked at both of them, listening to their theories. They were right. I had overreacted. I knew it. I still had to get away though. "Yeah, I understand. I know I overreacted. It's clear to me now. And I hope that once I'm gone, you guys will tell Esme how sorry I am that I acted like that. I really didn't mean to talk to her like that."

"What do you mean when you're gone? Where are you going?" Jasper asked.

"I can't stay here anymore guys. I know that I should talk this out with Edward, but I don't want to. It still hurts too much. I'm still in shock that he would actually do something like this. I need to be alone for a little while. And yes, I don't have anywhere to do, but I need to figure some things out. No, I don't know where I'm going to go, and no I don't know what I'm going to do."

That much was true. I had no clue what to do. It just felt right that I needed to do this.

"Is there anything we can do?" Emmett plopped down on the bed, sitting on the other side of me. He seemed seriously upset by this new developement.

"Yeah. I need to get some things to take with me. Money, clothes, passport. But I don't want to have to deal with Edward while I'm there. Can you guys help me just get my things so I can go?"

Both of them were quiet for a short moment. I took this as that they were debating whether or not they should.

"The only reason I want you there is so that Edward and me don't fight. Just be there to mediate. I'm still angry and I don't want to do anything to him. Once I'm gone, you guys can get together and figure stuff out. I know you guys love Edward, and he's your brother, and it would be easier for you all to work through this together without me around."

They briefly glanced warily at each other, and Jasper took in a deep breath.

"As long as you promise to just get your things, and not start anything with him, then yes, we can come with you so that you don't have to talk to him."

"Thank you."

And with that, it was decided. Tomorrow morning I would get up, and go get my things, and never look back.

AN: And never go back?!? WHAT!?!? She's so crazy... Read and Review!