Another longish update. And you guys get an answer in this one. It may not be one you are expecting or wanting, but it is something.
As always thank you darcysmom for beating, and the helpful comments from livieliv79.
I also want to thank you guys for reading this and enjoying it. If I stick with my outline we have 16 more chapters left, give or take, and an epilogue.
Enjoy!
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When I first made the decision to leave Bella, I never expected my family would take it the way they did. I didn't think it would impact them. I expected them to move on and forget her. I should have known better. She wormed her way into all of their hearts, even Rose's.
I should have listened when they begged me to stay. I should have held Alice's vision of her as one of us closer to my dead heart, knowing that she would be one of us, knowing that it was fate – meant to be.
I had yet to hear from one last family member. I was sure she'd let me know how mad she was, how she hated all of this.
Rose stood by the window, arms crossed as she looked at me with one eyebrow raised, as if waiting for me to say something first.
"Just give it to me, Rose, I know you want to." I said, as I watched her walk up to me as she shouted at me in my head for making Emmett mad. We stood toe to toe, her voice filling my head so completely that I didn't see her hand coming up to slap me until my head jerked to the side, her hand causing a slight crack on the side of my face.
"As much as I hate Bella, as much as I never wanted her to be here, or a part of our family, as much as I don't want her to ever be changed, I can't help but feel sorry for her right now. You handled this all wrong." If only you really knew the whole story. I thought as I looked into Rose's eyes, anger flashed brightly. "I know you wanted to protect her, but this was such a douche move on your part! A weak, ass move, Edward! Even I know she deserved better!" Rose huffed at me, before sitting down, waiting for Emmett to return.
I knew that I deserved all of this and more. I deserved to be punished, hated, yelled at. I thought that my family taking it out on me, letting me know how mad they are with me would make me feel better, but it didn't. It made me feel worse and was another reminder of how badly I had fucked up everything.
Once my family returned to the room, I made the choice to tell them all what exactly happened that day. As I told them what I said, what she said, and how I watched Bella walk further into the forest in the hopes of catching up to me, and stopping me. My head hung low as I prepared myself for my family to get mad at me once again. But instead of yells, I only heard dry sobs.
"You asshole!" Esme and Alice both whispered under their breath.
"Son," Carlisle sighed, "How could you? I know you are a better man than that."
It was Carlisle's words that pierced through me, halting my breath. I knew it then when those words escaped me that it wasn't me, that I was going against everything I believed in, but my belief of it being for her safety overrode everything else.
Jasper, being the calm one, stood up, placing papers all along coffee table. "Well, let's get started, time to move on and find her."
We outlined our plans and settled on going back to Bella's house first.
"I am not helping you find her. I don't see why I should have to. I am not the one that made the choice to leave, this isn't my fault. You can count me out." Rose said, all the while looking at her nails as if they were the most interesting thing ever.
Carlisle looked over at her furiously. "You will help. She's family. Now, go get the cars started so we can go. I don't want to hear another complaint out of you.
It took two cars, Carlisle's Mercedes pulled up to Bella's house first. Carlisle, Esme and Emmett, and Rose got out of the Mercedes as Alice, Jasper, and I stepped out of my Volvo.
Carlisle, Esme and Alice and I all walked into the house as the rest searched around the house and the surrounding forest. Carlisle and Esme took the downstairs area as Alice and I headed upstairs to continue our search.
Alice veered off towards Charlie's room, while I made my way back into Bella's room. The last time I was in this room, I only searched her room, only looked for what I could see that was in plain sight. I noticed her closet door was open just a little, so I decided to start there first.
A large trash bag over took a majority of the space in the closet, and looked like it hadn't been moved in months. I quickly opened it, finding the radio that Emmett and Rose had given to her for her birthday, her CD's and a majority of her books. I slumped down to the floor. Oh, just what have I done to you, sweet girl. I completely ruined you, didn't I?
Fuck! Edward, you need to come outside right now! Emmett shouted in my head. I ran down the stairs, and out into the back yard. Jasper and Emmett stood just outside of the shed.
I was tugging frantically at my hair, hoping that it wasn't Bella that they had found.
Jasper grabbed my shoulders, shaking me a little. "Relax, Edward, it's not her. It's not her, okay?"
I nodded, showing I understood. Emmett swung the door open and I was hit with the scent that could only be that of the wolves from the reservation in La Push. I saw pieces of Russet colored fur leading into the shed, and then a huge wolf taking up the remaining space, not breathing or moving.
Emmett flung a hand full of greyish colored fur. "We found this along the property line, leading into the forest.
As much as I was worried about Bella, and now with what we found with the wolves, I couldn't help but be a little bit glad that we had a piece of the puzzle in place and now knew why Alice hadn't been able to see anything.
That gave me a little bit of comfort, not much, but for now it was enough to help.
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Well, I am very anxious for your thoughts! I hope you liked, and are happy with one of the answers you now have in this little puzzle of ours.
Thank you for reading!
