Disclaimer: I don't own it because if it was mine Bella would have said to hell with Edward and stole Jasper from Alice, Jacob wouldn't have been included, and Peter would have been more of a prominent character.

Yeah I know. I'm horrible and I'm really, really sorry. Because I've missed my update date twice now I've decided to do away with every Tuesday. I'll be alternating between this one and Senior Year so as soon as I get the next chapter up for the other one then this one will come out. It could be just a few days to a week, so I think it will be better that way.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's short again and really a filler before the action happens.

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Bella

The two weeks of training seemed to fly by. Between the four of us who had learned our fighting skills from Jasper and the three from the Volturi we were quite prepared to teach the others.

We made sure that the girls had ample fighting time with the boys too since there was bound to be more males in Maria's ranks than females, according to Peter and Charlotte.

It would have been a funny sight to see Alice go up against Demetri or Esme against Felix at any other time, but the reason why it was necessary made it impossible to laugh at the moment.

Things were looking really good though thanks in large part to training day and night. We only stopped three times for everyone to hunt before getting right back to work. The first week we didn't bother with our powers since we knew they would be blocked by the vampire on Maria's side. That was until Alice had her vision going into the second week showing that she would no longer be a problem.

It was then that a plan started to form in my head and when it was done I thought it was a pretty damn good one if I do say so myself.

With it in mind I was starting to think my family was going to be able to come out of this relatively unscathed. Myself I wasn't so sure about. Things were still up in the air with Bree and I would do what I had to get Jasper back. Even if it meant I wouldn't be here afterwards. I needed to figure out how to make my family promise me something if that happened too.

"HEY BELLS…" Peter yelled jerking me out of my thoughts on that part.

"What?" I asked glancing over at him with a scowl.

"We just wanted to let you know that Esme had taken Bree hunting. If you want to talk about stuff now is the time. Once they get back it's time to pack and get to the airport." He said.

We purposely kept some things from Bree. She was too young to have the pressure of possibly being the only one that would keep me alive in the end.

I nodded and said, "Yeah. I think I might have come up with something."

"What have you got, Bella?" Carlisle said leaning forward from his position on the couch.

"Well, we know thanks to Alice that they're down two from the 29 originally. We also know that we have to take Jasper and Maria out of the equation first because Jasper can kill any of us. Maria is just strong as well. Most of us can take on two at a time and it's not a problem so it's a pretty even match-up when they go down to 25."

"So what are you suggesting?" Peter asked.

"Daniel can't use his shield on us because that just defeats the whole purpose, but if he puts it only around Maria and Jasper that takes care of them until we've dealt with the rest. I can give the rest of the group a dose of lethargy and then it should be pretty simple to just pick them off with the 17 of us."

"17?" Edward questioned.

I want two of us with Bree. We all know she has to be near wherever we are, but I don't want her unprotected. Not only because she's going to be imperative to the end result, but because if things go wrong before then someone can get her away."

"Irina and I will do it," Laurent said.

"Okay. Thank you." I said giving him a small nod.

"So once everyone else is burning what happens then?" Peter asked looking at me with concern.

"Then Daniel pulls his shield to just cover Jasper and I fuck Maria up."

"You think you can handle her all by yourself?"

"I know I can. Jasper taught me well you know that."

"I do, but…"

"No buts Peter. I above anyone but Jasper deserves the right to take her out and I will. If things start to go bad there will be enough of you to pull her off me, so no arguments."

"Fine, but if it looks at anytime like she's going to win I'm stepping in."

"I can handle that."

"Okay, once Maria's done what next?"

"I don't know. I have a feeling I'm going to have to go against Jasper for just a little while for whatever Bree has to be able to kick in."

"Bella that's not a good thing." Emmett said.

"You don't think I know that Emmett, but what other choice do we have."

"I don't…"

"She doesn't have one." Peter said cutting him off. "He's going to have to hurt her."

"How do you know? I can't see that." Alice asked.

"I just know and I don't like it, but it's going to happen so we need to be prepared. I just hope like hell he doesn't decide to burn a piece immediately if he rips it off."

I cringed at the thought, but I would gladly sacrifice an arm or a leg for him.

"Yes let's all hope for that." Carlisle said. "But we need to also be prepared for the worse case scenario. Bella how do you want us to handle him if you don't survive?"

"No one hurts him. No one gives him what he'll want. I'll need you all to promise that you'll take care of him and that he knows nothing was his fault."

"How? He's not going to listen to anything we have to say." Charlotte said worry written all over her face.

"No but he will listen to me. I'm going to write him a letter. You have to promise that you will make sure he reads it. Please?"

One by one the members of my family nodded and I knew it pained them to think about having to keep it.

I let out a breath and said a quiet, "Thank you," before standing up. "I'm going to write the letter now and pack."

"Wait just a minute Bella." Edward said a small smile playing on his face.

I cocked my head to the side and then felt an immense amount of giddiness hit me. The next second I heard Bree and Esme running toward the house. I looked to the back door as Bree bounded up the back steps and through the door.

She flew across the room and came to a stop in front of me, bouncing on the balls of her feet and a huge smile plastered on her face.

I looked over her ripped clothes and said, "What in the hell happened to you?"

"Language Bella." She said quickly, causing me to roll my eyes. She'd been hanging around Esme to much.

"Sorry. What happened?"

"I killed a bear and it was awesome. It was huge and mad, but I beat it into submission." She said with a pump of her fist.

I had to laugh as did everyone else. She was so happy and carefree and I would have given anything at that moment to be the same way.

She was smiling expectantly at me and I said, "That's great honey. How did you like it?"

"It was much better than fox or deer. I think it's my new favorite."

I smiled as Emmett scooped her up, making her squeal. "Me too, little one. We'll have to go try and find some polar bears after every…."

He trailed off a little too late and my smile slide off my face as his did. "Sorry Bella."

"It's okay Emmett." I said trying to muster another smile.

Bree wiggled in his arms and he set her down. She walked over and wrapped her arms around my waist. "We'll get him back Bella and then we'll all go on a bear hunt."

A sob caught in my throat as I hugged her back and said, "Jasper would like that."

After a few minutes of standing there I pulled back and looked at her clothes again. "You need to change and get packed okay? We'll be leaving for Texas in a few hours."

She nodded and moved toward the stairs. Looking around at the others I said, "I'll be in my room getting things together too if you need me."

They didn't say anything and I made my way upstairs and into my room, grabbing a pad of paper, a pen, and an envelope off my desk. Perching myself in the middle of my bed I thought for only a moment before I started to write.

Thirty minutes later I signed my name to the paper and folded it up, sliding it into the envelope. Before I sealed it I reached behind my neck and unclasped the necklace I wore. Slipping my wedding ring off my finger I put it on the necklace along side Jasper's ring and put it in with the letter, sealing it tightly and wrote his name on the outside when I was done.

Standing up I moved to the closet and grabbed a bag from the floor, sitting it on the bed. I quickly packed clothes for me and Jasper both before putting the envelope on top of everything. As I zipped it up a knock came at the door.

"Come in Alice." I said turning to the door.

She pushed the door opened and gave me a small smile. She walked over and perched on the end of the bed. Since the night I threw her through the front window she'd kept her distance like I'd asked. Only recently she'd started to say things directly to me, but still for the most part maintained that space between us that would never fully be gone.

I waited for her to speak and after a few silent minutes of her wringing her hands she said, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for everything I've said and done. I'm sorry for keeping you and Jasper apart for so long and for implying what I did with Felix. I know you'd never do anything like that to Jasper and it was wrong of me to even think you would. I'm sorry I couldn't see what was going to happen sooner."

I stopped her there by holding up my hand. "The last part you have no reason to apologize for. That was not your fault or any one else's in this family. That blames lays squarely on Maria and I will deal with her. As for the keeping Jasper and I apart stuff even though you may not think so I have forgiven you. I won't ever forget it or the reasons behind it and it is the reason I get angry with you when things happen. With Felix you know where I stand. I accept your apology though, but don't ever question me again on anything like that because my heart before it quit beating and now will always belong to Jasper."

"I won't. I shouldn't have in the first place."

"It's done and over with now so we can let it go."

"Alright," She said before slipping into a vision. She snapped out of it quickly and said, "Carlisle will call for us in four minutes. I guess we can head downstairs."

I nodded and picked my bag up.

She glanced at it. "I'll make sure he gets the letter if things don't go the right way."

'Thank you." I whispered. We moved toward the door and before Alice could pull it open I grabbed her arm, turning her around. "Promise me you'll take care of Jasper if I can't. Watch out for him and make sure he doesn't do anything that would piss me off."

"I promise." She said. I pulled her to me for a quick hug that she just as quickly returned.

We pulled apart when Carlisle called for everyone and made our way down to the living room.

Once everyone was gathered we loaded into the cars and headed to the airport. Carlisle had once again arranged a private jet. We would be flying into San Antonio and then running from there. Bree had already told us where the training was done and that's where we would be going to. We didn't want to run the risk of humans crossing our path.

While we were in the air we talked about how we were going to go about catching them off guard, finally coming up with a game plan.

Daniel and I both would shield all of us when we were close to our destination. Alice would then look for Jasper and hopefully be able to see when attention would be diverted somewhat. When that was done we'd move in. Daniel would pull his shield from us and my plan would then take affect. It was the best we had and it really needed to work.

A little over an hour after we made our plan we touched down in San Antonio. We made our way to the hotel and got settled.

We waited until the next night to hunt everyone branching out with their significant other. Felix and the other two went one town over for their hunt while Bree and I hunted up our meal together. She was worried, but I made sure to reassure her that everything was going to turn out fine, even if I wasn't entirely convinced myself. She didn't need to know that though.

We were the first to return to the hotel that night and one by one the others came back. We all sat in one room, talking, telling stories, and trying to forget what we were going to be doing in just over 24 hours.

I spent the last few hours before nightfall the next day alone. I thought about Jasper and our life together over and over again, holding onto those memories and using them as the means to believe that everyone of us would return.

At 11 I met up with the others in Carlisle and Esme's room. We went over the plan again and then we started out. As I ran I once again let my mind return to what I'd thought about earlier. When we crossed the Mexico border I sent up a silent prayer for help, asking God to please just let me have back the man I loved.

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Thanks for reading.

Next up the fight.