We left the others to their strategizing and went back to our cottage that night for some 'alone time'. I wasn't sure this was going to be the kind of alone time that I would have liked to have, but we had to work this out between ourselves. I could never do what I was planning to do without his support. When we got to the cottage, I pulled Edward into the bedroom and pushed him toward the bed.

He resisted, grabbing my shoulders and holding me at arm's length. "Bella, I just want to talk to you right now. I'd rather you didn't try to put off having this discussion."

I looked at him with wide eyes. "I wasn't trying to seduce you," I replied in my most innocent voice. I really wasn't, I just wanted to put him in a more agreeable frame of mind. I moved toward the bed and motioned for him to sit with me. When he sat down about two feet away from me, I quickly scooted over and snuggled into his chest.

He sighed, exasperated. "What are you trying to do then?"

"Nothing, just getting comfortable." And trying to buy time to think about what I was going to say.

He seemed to accept that and contented himself with quietly stroking my hair for a minute or so. Then, out of the blue, he asked in a pained voice, "Why are you so set on going over there, Bella? Right from the beginning, I could see in your eyes that you were determined to go. I just don't understand why."

"Because he has our daughter, Edward. I would do anything to get her back." It seemed so simple to me. "Why are you so set against it? That's what doesn't make sense to me."

He kissed the top of my head, then lifted my face to look into my eyes. "What good does it do to send you to take her place, love? When he has you instead of her, all we've done is trade one kind of pain for another."

"Alice and I will be able to get out of there though. I'm sure of it."

"And if it doesn't work out for one reason or another? Would you be willing to take the risk if it was me who was going? Would you be able to send me off not knowing for certain if I'd ever come back?" He thought he had me with that one, and if it were anyone else stuck in that tower, I would have agreed with him. But this was our daughter. If it had been Edward that Aro wanted, I would have wanted him to take this chance. Doing this would guarantee her safety, and the odds were good that Alice and I would get out of there, too. I thought it was well worth the risk.

"I need you to see things from my perspective," I answered him. "This is how I feel about losing Renesmee:" and I let him into the small, locked-up portion of my mind where I was keeping all my pain. He gasped, and I guessed it was more intense than he expected. I closed it up again quickly; I hadn't allowed myself to spend one moment with that pain since the flight home, and revisiting it was more intense than I expected, too. I moved on. "And this is what I've been thinking ever since we found out she was missing." I showed him my thoughts as they had gradually built on each other to form the plan that I had voiced today. I could easily told him, reciting word for word each thought that had come into my head, but I needed him to see it from my point of view so that he would feel the same way I felt about it.

After a few moments, Edward groaned, "You know I'll never be able to argue with you after you subject me to this. You make me feel as if these are my own thoughts and emotions, and how can I attempt to dissuade you when I want to try your idea now, too?"

I smiled and playfully touched the tip of his nose. "That's kind of the point, honey. Just hear me out." I continued the re-play right up until the present moment, and he reflected on it for a long time before he spoke again.

"I think we can make this work," he said thoughtfully, when he had finished.

"I'm so glad you understand," I said with a sigh of relief. That was much easier than I had imagined it would be.

"Shouldn't you and Alice start practicing right away?"

"We will, in a little while. There was something else I wanted to talk about while we're alone." I was setting him up, doing something that might fall under the category of 'seducing' in his book, but I didn't think he would mind now.

"Yes?" He was completely oblivious.

"I love you so much, Edward," I whispered in his ear, as I planted a row of kisses down his neck.

He caught his breath, taken off guard, but he recovered his wits and asked suavely, "Would you care to show me just how much?"

Ahh, he was catching on now. "Of course. Would you prefer me to do it with my mind or my body?"

"Both please, if you don't mind."

Not at all. Alice would just have to wait.