A/N: Quick thank you for all the love you guys are showing this story. I'm seriously, seriously thankful. Now, I KNOW you're all on pins and needles for this one, so I'll let you get to it. See me at the bottom!


Chapter Ten

Jessica reached over to turn off the radio. "Where should we start?"

Bella was quiet in the back seat as her friends talked about which store to hit first. She, Angela, and Jessica were in Port Angeles to shop for school clothes. They were only five days from the start of their senior year, and all of them wanted new clothes—although Bella and Angela were more about comfort and function than style, like Jess.

What a difference two years makes, Bella thought, remembering the summer two years before when she'd last gone back-to-school shopping with her mom. She'd had one of the worst panic attacks she'd had since right after the terrorist attacks. Getting out of New York had been the right decision. She hadn't had a panic attack since being in Washington, although she still had the occasional nightmare.

"What are you planning to look for?" Angela asked, looking in the rearview mirror at Bella, who smiled wryly.

"Jeans, some T-shirts, a few long skirts and some shirts to go with them. Couplea sweaters. Nothing too exciting."

"I need some new bras and stuff. Mike's already seen all mine." Jessica giggled, making Bella and Angela roll their eyes playfully.

"I need some, too," Bella admitted. She didn't have anyone to wear them for, but it had been a while since she bought new undergarments, so she needed them regardless.

Angela agreed, and moments later, they were pulling up in front of the first store, a little boutique named Teen Chic.

Jessica knew immediately where she was headed when they got into the store. Bella watched her pick up a black and white striped dress and hold it up, and then she turned to Angela.

"Know what you're looking at first?"

Angela nodded. "Tops, I think."

Bella turned, and the two of them moved to the other side of the store from Jess.

Twenty minutes later, the three of them headed into the dressing rooms. Bella gaped at Jessica's five dresses, four tops, three skirts, two jeans, and one T-shirt.

"Only one T-shirt, Jess?" Angela asked, echoing Bella's thoughts.

Jessica shrugged. "If I like it, I'll just pick out three or four more colors. They're the same, so I don't need to try them all on."

Bella nodded. It made sense...if Jessica didn't already have fourteen other items to try on. She held up her own two tops, two jeans, two skirts, and a T-shirt. "I'm good here."

Angela grinned, her own stack similar to Bella's. "Me, too."

Bella realized they'd each picked out a handful of new undergarments, as well—although, again, Jessica had double what she and Angela did.

After trying on everything and deciding everything she'd picked out worked well, she settled next to Angela on the little padded benches inside the main changing area to wait. She pulled out her phone and checked to see if she had any Facebook messages. Ali hadn't messaged her in a couple of days, but she'd said she would be busy with family stuff, getting ready for the new school year, so Bella wasn't worried. She did have an e-mail from her mom, so she opened it and smiled at the picture that popped up.

Bella,

I wish you'd decided to go with us to the beach. Phil and I had an amazing time (see the picture someone took of me burying him in the sand up to his head!), but I missed having you with me. I know I just saw you on spring break and you worked a lot this summer, but I wish we'd been able to see each other this summer.

I can't believe my baby's getting ready to be a senior. The years have flown by, haven't they?

I need to run. I signed up for a pottery class, and it starts in an hour.

Love you!

Mom

Bella swiped at her eyes so Angela wouldn't see the tears. She'd made the excuse to her mom about having to work over the summer. In reality, she simply hadn't been in the mood for the beach—or much of anything, for that matter. She'd hung out with Angela, Jessica, and the other people in their group, as well as Jake and his friends from the reservation, but she had a hard time always getting into whatever they were doing. Luckily, she'd always been pretty quiet, so no one had noticed that she wasn't participating as much anymore.

She typed out a quick reply to her mom.

It was good to see your e-mail. Looks like you & Phil (you, at least!) had fun! How long was he cleaning sand off?

What did you make in pottery class? You'll have to take a picture and show me.

I'm in Port Angeles with Jessica and Angela right now, shopping for some new clothes for school. I think Jess is trying to buy out the store. I got a lot for myself, but nothing like her!

I'll e-mail again when I know my class schedule.

Love,

Bella

When she looked up, Jessica and Angela were waiting. "Oh, sorry. Was e-mailing my mom back."

Jessica kept up a running commentary as the three of them went to the counter to pay and then out to the car, ending with, "I need shoes."

Angela nodded and steered the car to Heel and Toe, which was priced somewhere above Payless, but still affordable and, Bella had to admit, cute.

They spent half an hour shopping for shoes, and Bella ended up leaving with some new sneakers, a dressy casual wedge, and a cute sandal. She was set for the new school year, no matter how much Jessica whined that she hadn't bought enough.

Checking her watch, Angela said, "Time to go. I have to get back. Ben's taking me to the movies tonight."

Bella nodded. "I told my dad I'd cook tonight since he picked up food at the diner last night, and I still need to get groceries."

The trip home took about forty-five minutes, and Bella waved as Angela dropped her off and then pulled out of the driveway.

Her dad still wasn't home from work, so she ran upstairs and tossed her bags on the bed, then left him a note on the kitchen counter to tell him she was back in town and at the store in case he came home while she was gone. Then she grabbed her keys and left the house.

The grocery store was busy. Saturdays always were—at least as busy as a small town like Forks could get. Bella wound through the aisles, grabbing everything she needed to make chicken, broccoli, and rice casserole. Like Bella, Charlie had simple tastes, and while he wasn't fond of green stuff—his words, not hers—he actually liked the broccoli in that one.

Realizing she'd walked past the rice she wanted, she took a few steps back, only to run into another person—or solid wall, from the feel of it. "Oh, shoot. I'm sorry! I didn't see y..." Her voice trailed off when she turned around and saw that the woman she'd run into had also turned.

The woman was beautiful—reddish-brown hair that fell down her back in waves, a sweet smile on her face, and perfect white teeth—but Bella still felt a chill run down her spine. The woman's face was pale, and her eyes... Bella had only seen eyes that same golden honey color twice in her life: on Dr. Cullen and Edward.

"Are you all right?" the woman asked, looking at her with concern. "You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"

"I'm..." Bella shook her head. "I'm fine. I have to go."

Leaving her cart where it was, she nearly ran out of the store before panic could take over.

~oooOOOooo~

They'd been in Forks for twenty-four hours, and for the most part, they were already settled in. It didn't take long when everyone moved at vampire speeds. Carlisle was at the hospital to meet with the people in charge, Esme was at the grocery store to stock up the kitchen for appearance's sake, and the others were out exploring and hunting, so Edward was taking the time to enjoy the silence. He was at the piano, and the melody that had come to him in the wreckage of the Twin Towers as he watched over Bella was filling the room. Bella's Lullaby, he called it in his head. He'd yet to play it for anyone but himself, as it was too personal to share.

Esme returned home first. Edward heard her mind before the car, and his senses went on alert at her thoughts.

The poor girl looked shocked, like she'd seen a ghost. I've seen fear before, and caution, but never shock, like she knew me from somewhere.

An image of brown hair and deep brown eyes flashed through her mind, and before the span of a human heartbeat, Edward was out of the house and waiting in the driveway, waiting for Esme to pull up to the garage.

He barely registered her, "Edward?" as he stepped up to her when she climbed out of the car. His mind was screaming at him that it couldn't be, but the scent of her was all over Esme's back and in her hair. It burned his throat like the sweetest of fire, and he swallowed back venom.

Bella.

"Where?" he growled softly. "Where was she? Why do you smell like her?"

"Who, Edward?" Esme's voice was gentle, and the sound calmed him a little. "Where was who?"

He fisted his hands in his hair and tugged. "Bella. Y-You smell like Bella, and you... You saw her."

"Oh!" Esme gasped, her hand moving to cover her mouth as her mind exploded.

Edward saw it all: someone bumping into Esme's back in the grocery store; a tired voice apologizing; a beautiful young woman, her mouth open in surprise; the groceries left behind as the young woman walked, fast, out of the store.

"Edward..."

It took a moment for Edward to realize that Alice was speaking to him. He'd been so wrapped in Bella's scent and Esme's memory of her that he hadn't heard her arrival back at the house. Slowly, he turned his attention to his sister, who was blocking her thoughts so well that he couldn't get anything aside from the catalog of celebrities who'd been on the cover of her favorite fashion magazines...since the seventies.

"What. Did. You. Do?" he hissed, taking a step toward her.

Jasper was suddenly between them, glaring at Edward. "Back off, Ed. I don't want to have to protect Alice from you, but I will..."

Emmett took hold of his arm, but Edward shook him off. "I'm not gonna hurt her, dammit," he growled. Looking over at Alice, he asked again, "What did you do, Alice?"

"I... I didn't want you to find out this way," she said, her voice pained.

Before he could beg her to tell him what she knew, she opened her thoughts, and the fight went out of Edward as he watched months of memories fly by.

"You knew," he breathed out, feeling his anger return. "You knew she'd moved here. You sought her out and brought her into this life. What gave you that right, Alice? She's innocent. Human. She doesn't deserve—"

"She's your mate!" Alice cried, struggling against Jasper's hold.

"Yes, my mate," Edward seethed. "Not yours. It wasn't your decision to make."

Her mind was still a whirlwind of thoughts of the conversations she'd had with Bella. "You were fading away, Edward, right before our eyes. I had to do something. She knew you and Carlisle were different. She figured out what you were before I contacted her. I saw that she started searching for you both."

"How could you move us here, especially without discussing it with me first? We could've gone anywhere else. I understood that we had to move, but here? Why would you..." Edward's voice trailed off as he caught a flash of something in her mind before she hid her thoughts again. The guilt that crossed her features made him freeze. "Oh, Alice," he sighed. "Tell me you didn't make up the vision about the girl in Portland."

Alice started to shake her head, but then she tore herself out of Jasper's grip and marched over to him. Emmett tightened his hold on Edward, but Alice said, "Let him go. He's not going to hurt me."

Edward ripped his arm from Emmett's hand and stepped up to Alice, his hands curled into fists at his sides to keep from grabbing his sister and shaking her. "Tell me, dammit. Tell me you didn't..."

She shook her head, her eyes filled with pain. "I had to," she whispered. "She was...falling apart, Edward. I had a vision—a real one." She opened her mind again, and the vision nearly brought him to his knees.

Bella looked...different than the image from Esme's memory. She was too thin—like she'd missed more than an occasional meal—with dark circles under her eyes. He watched as Bella answered the phone, shaking her head before she told the person on the other end that she didn't feel like going out, that she was going to bed early.

"What the hell happened?" he growled.

"That," Alice answered, pointing to where he was rubbing the ache that had taken up residence in his chest. "She was losing hope, Edward. I've been hearing it in our conversations for the last few months, after she couldn't find any information on Carlisle after he left the hospital in Rochester. If she continued going the way she was, she would've faded away. She was lost, hiding from the world, from happiness...from living."

"She would've been okay," he tried to argue, but the image in Alice's head mocked him. His Little Bird looked wrecked.

Alice nodded slowly. "You see it, don't you? She looked just like you did before—"

"Before my talk with Esme," he whispered, closing his eyes against the pain in his chest.

Alice's voice was just as soft. "Yes. Would you rather have that kind of life for Bella—one of pain and emptiness—than one of happiness, of fulfillment...of love?"

"Our lives," he started to argue, but Esme stepped up and put her hand on his arm, and he let his voice trail off as he looked up to her.

"Fate, Edward," she murmured, reminding him in her head of their conversation.

With a groan, Edward scrubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands. "I have to go," he sighed.

He turned and ran before anyone could stop him.

~oOo~

Edward ran through the forest, taking down a large bear and two deer in the process, until he reached the edge of town. He slowed to a stop just inside the tree line. He hadn't realized he'd been heading into town until the first thought from a passing motorist reached his mind.

Bella. He'd been heading to Bella, even though he didn't know where to find her.

He turned, but before he take off running again, his phone beeped. He curled his hands into fists for a moment and then reached in and pulled the phone out to check his messages.

It'll be fine, Edward. Trust yourself.

Below it, Alice had included an address and directions.

Without conscious thought, he began running, keeping to the trees until he finally found the right house. Even if he hadn't had the address, he'd have known it was the correct one. The yard, the old red truck in the driveway...both were saturated in Bella's unique scent. It had been three years, minus the small taste he'd gotten from Esme, but the combination of strawberries and freesia hit him in the gut like a wrecking ball. He dug his fingers into the nearest tree, leaving impressions from each of his fingers before he relaxed and loosened his grip.

It was dark out, so he dashed from the tree line to the back of the house, out of view of any neighbors. Following her scent, Edward tracked Bella to the second story, a window at the side of the house. A large tree was growing right next to the house, and it was that tree that Edward climbed up into, perching within the leaves to peer inside the house.

Bella's bedroom.

It was empty, but just as he settled in to wait, the bedroom door opened and Bella stepped in. Edward groaned and nearly launched himself through the window as her scent got stronger. She was wrapped in a towel, her skin rosy and damp from the shower she'd apparently been in moments before. It took everything he had for Edward to remain where he was.

As if she'd heard the sound he'd made, Bella froze and looked out the window, as if she could see him. Edward moved back farther into the branches, even though he knew she couldn't see him, and watched as she shook her head and moved over to the dresser beside the door.

Bella was stunning. She'd grown...everywhere. Three years before, she'd still had a boyish figure with hints of a young woman in certain places. She'd matured since then, and her figure showed it, even through the towel. And when she dropped the towel to pull on the cotton underwear she'd grabbed from the dresser, Edward couldn't help but groan again.

She had curves where women were supposed to have curves. Her breasts were full, but not too big—just right for his hands. Her hips were rounded, her waist slender, giving her an hourglass figure.

Edward was moving before he'd noticed and stopped himself just before he got close enough to reach out and touch the window. He'd never felt the kind of emotion in himself before. There was lust, sure—she'd turned into a beautiful woman, and seeing her in Esme's memory had done nothing for the real thing—but more than that, the protectiveness he'd felt that day three years before was still there, and the love that he'd tried to deny he'd felt...the devotion and tenderness... Everything became so much more clear.

He could no more leave her now than he could cut off his own hand. He was hers, without reservation. If she turned him away, he would go, but he would always watch over her. If she didn't...if he was lucky enough to be accepted...he would be hers until the end of days.

When Bella pulled an old, well-worn Forks PD shirt over her head and then hurried over to the window, Edward shrank back in the branches of the large tree. He worried that she'd seen him as she held her breath. Not being able to hear her mind was as torturous now as it had been when he first met her.

Bella looked into the tree and then down below and around, and when she shook her head and stepped back, Edward frowned. She looked...disappointed. When she spoke, he jolted.

"Did you really expect Edward to be out in the tree, Bella?"

She sounded almost...mocking, but her voice had his fingers curling into the trunk of the tree, and hearing his name was like the sweetest of angels. But her next words nearly shattered him.

"Grow up, dammit. He's just on your mind because of that woman at the grocery store. You're never going to see him again, and the sooner you get over that, the better."

When she sank to the bed and began to cry, it took everything Edward had to jump to the ground instead of climb through the window.

As soon as he hit the edge of the forest, he pulled out his phone and turned back to watch Bella's window as he hit speed dial three. When the voice on the other end answered, he sighed and said, "Okay, Alice. I'm in. I'll... I'll be back in the morning, and we can talk then."


A/N: *hides* Please don't hate me for the cliffie! You'll see more on Wednesday! :)

Leave me some love and let me know what you think about Bella running into Esme (literally!) and Edward learning about Alice's trickery and his seeing Bella for the first time since that day in New York.

I'll see you Wednesday! Mwah! – Jen