Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight nor the song Daybreak. I am only borrowing the characters from SM and the title from Marie Digby. If you have the chance, listen to the song, it fit so well with the story.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who are still reading this. It's amazing that I still get Favorite Story alerts and such. Thank you so much. It means a lot; especially since I've been delinquent with the updates.

Thank you to my betas: CoreenM and Savannah-Vee. They've definitely helped improve my writing skills.

Again, thanks so much for sticking with this story.

Chapter 20

Travel Plans

Jasper and Carlisle arrived back at the house to find the family in shambles. They travelled as fast as they could to Alaska, to bring Laurent to the Denali's. Carlisle was still convinced that despite being with James' coven, he should have his chance to meet his mate. If it truly was Irina, he also wanted one of the sisters to find the happiness that he and his family had. However, upon coming home, he wasn't sure if the latter was still true.

The minute they walked through the door, Jasper had to brace himself from all the different emotions that were bombarding him: Esme was deeply saddened, Emmett and Rosalie were beyond pissed, Alice was panicking, and Edward was utterly brokenhearted.

"What's going on?" Carlisle asked. He saw Esme and Edward huddled together, seated on the couch. Edward was resting his elbows on his knees, his hands in his hair. He didn't even raise his head to acknowledge their return. Esme seemed to be pleading with him about something. Alice was pacing the living room back and forth.

Emmett and Rosalie weren't in the house, but Carlisle could hear that Rosalie was in the garage, metallic sounds banging against something. He could see Emmett through one of the windows, splintering trees as he delivered blow after destructive blow.

"Carlisle." Esme rushed to his side, hugging him for comfort.

The Cullen patriarch returned the gesture. He saw Alice running to Jasper, doing the same as Esme.

"What happened? Is it Bella? Is she all right?" Jasper couldn't help but ask.

Alice nodded, turning back to Edward with a hiss. "He wants to leave Forks."

"No. Edward, you can't," Carlisle said vehemently, his eyes wide.

"We have to. Rosalie risked Bella's life tonight. We're only endangering her if we stay."

The door closed at the exact moment Edward said the last statement.

"How many times should I apologize for that?" Rosalie asked angrily.

"Have you apologized to Bella?" Edward yelled.

Rosalie glared, but stayed silent. She knew full well that Edward was right in that regard. However, it was only because she hadn't had the opportunity to go to Bella yet.

"Edward," Carlisle called, making Edward turn to him. "If we leave, Bella will suffer immensely. She will become catatonic for a few months, and then she will risk her life over and over… just to hear you."

Jasper looked at Carlisle in alarm. Was he saying that Bella would become crazy? He looked at Alice to get a confirmation.

Alice gazed back at her husband and shook her head. She had already seen something else. But just like all her visions, it could still change in an instant.

"I know all this, Carlisle," Edward admitted.

Carlisle moved toward him. "Then why do you still want to leave?"

Edward frowned. "I already told you why."

"You can't do this to her, Edward," Alice said loudly.

"I'm trying to protect her, Alice!" Edward answered back.

"This isn't protecting. It's just plain leaving, period."

"Well what do you want me to do? We dealt with one thing, but then Rose used her as bait for another!"

"That's not what I did, Edward!" Rosalie screamed.

"Intentional or not, it had the same effect," Edward replied. "Why couldn't you just have waited? I would have dealt with it. I was only making sure we got rid of the greater threat."

"And how would you have dealt with those men? We still would have needed Bella—"

"NO!" Edward advanced toward Rosalie. "We could have planned it better. We could've asked Alice to look into it. We could've had Bella make the decision to go to Port Angeles so Alice would've seen their faces. Then we wouldn't have had to risk Bella the way you did!

"I didn't want anyone else to suffer. Why is that so hard for you to understand?" Rosalie yelled in frustration.

"And you think that justifies risking Bella's life?" Edward asked, astonished.

"She was completely safe," Rosalie said with gritted teeth.

"Where were you when we saw her running, scared out of her mind, and that… that repulsive boy was chasing after her?" Edward asked.

Esme inhaled sharply. She had heard of the state Bella was in when Edward and the others had caught up with them, but the worry never abated every time someone mentioned it.

Just then, everyone's heads turned as they all heard the unmistakable rumbling of Bella's truck, turning towards the unpaved road.

Edward had a confused look on his face as he swiftly walked out of the house. The rest quickly followed, with Emmett going around to the front of the house.

Bella was surprised to see all of the Cullens outside their home. They were obviously waiting for her, maybe even heard her coming from a mile away. Even a mere human could hear her truck coming from afar.

She locked eyes with Edward, and took a deep breath as he moved to stand by her door.

She opened it, Edward holding the door for her as she stepped out.

"We need to talk."

Edward looked at his family, a sign that he was asking for privacy, but Bella beat him to it.

"What's the point? They'll hear what I say anyway."

Edward relented, knowing it would be fruitless.

The other vampires looked at one another, trying to decide what to do. This didn't escape Bella's notice.

"Don't. You all have a right to be here. I take it he already asked you to leave?" Bella's gaze moved from one to the next, starting with Alice.

"Yes," the petite vampire answered.

Bella looked at Edward, anger building within her. "Why don't we just spare all the drama that we both know this will bring?"

"Bella."

"Don't 'Bella' me. I told you. You asked me to tell you what happened. And you still want to go." Bella wiped the tears harshly from her cheeks. She didn't want to cry, she didn't want the entire Cullen clan to see her in tears, but she couldn't stop herself.

"Because I don't want to risk your life," Edward reiterated.

"And somehow, danger will find me, and you'll think I'm dead. So you'll go to the Volturi to ask them to end your life. Then Alice and I will have to go to save your sorry ass. But since I'm already there, the Volturi will find out all about me, my ability to block Aro and Jane, and how I know the big secret that vampires do exist. Then we'll be given an ultimatum, change me or they kill me," Bella said callously. "So why don't we just skip all that?"

Anger was now brewing within Bella. Jasper felt her temper rising, but he made no move to calm her down.

"Come on, you want to leave? Let's go. We'll go to Italy now, and save us all that time we would have to waste," Bella said furiously.

"Bella, stop." Edward grasped her arms.

"What? You think you're the only one who can make the decision for the rest of us?"

"No, I'm just trying to protect you," Edward said, his brows furrowing.

"No, you're leaving. And you want to take them with you." Bella motioned to the rest of the Cullens with a nod of her head. She stared intently back at Edward. "You won't be here to protect me, so don't use that as an excuse, because that's all it is, an excuse. You're not protecting me; you're running away! You tell me you love me, but you'd rather leave than be with me." The tears started once more. "I don't know which is worse. The Edward in my dream who lied and told me he didn't want me so I could move on, or you."

"Bella." Edward moved his hands, cupping her face and using the pads of his thumbs to wipe away her tears.

As Edward wavered in his decision, Bella suddenly pulled away.

He became confused as the next few words left Bella's lips. "Fine, if you still want to go, then go. I won't stop you. Maybe it's supposed to happen this way." She took one step back, then another. She then faced the rest of them. "You can go with him if you want to. I'm not going to ask you to stay."

Alice was beside Bella in a flash. "No, I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here, and so is Jasper. Right Jas?" She looked toward her husband, who nodded in return.

"We're staying too, Bella," Rosalie affirmed.

Edward, upon hearing his family's thoughts, knew that they had no desire to leave Forks. He sighed. It would be pointless for him to leave if they were all staying.

Bella nodded, but wouldn't look at anyone. "Thank you." She got back in her truck and drove home.

The Cullens were still outside the house, watching the red truck disappear from view.

Carlisle was holding Esme close. He couldn't promise Bella that he would stay. If his son chose to leave, he would go with him, if only to make sure that Edward didn't fly off the handle. He knew that since the others were staying, Bella would be all right.

Esme wanted to rush toBella and try to find a way to comfort the girl. She ached that both Bella and Edward were going through so much hurt. She had tried to reason with Edward, that leaving would only make things worse. She knew it was the fear that was making the decision for him.

Emmett, too, remained silent throughout the whole debacle. He knew Edward was making a big mistake if he wanted to leave. He knew if there was anyone who could make his brother change his mind, it would be Bella. But with what he had witnessed, he wasn't so sure if even she got through to him. Like Rosalie, he would stay. This was the first he had heard of what happened in the dream when that other Edward left. He would make sure that there would be no reason for this Edward to think that Bella was dead.

Alice whirled around to face her brother as soon as Bella was out of sight. "Why did you just stand there? What's wrong with you?"

Edward didn't speak, but continued to stare at the point where he last saw Bella.

Alice walked closer to him. "Fix this, Edward," she said menacingly.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Woo her, beg for forgiveness, crawl on your hands and knees if you must, just do something!" Alice yelled, then ran back in the house.

Rosalie looked at Emmett, tugging his hand, as they went back into the house together.

Carlisle and Esme followed. They knew that Edward wanted to be alone. If he wanted to talk, he would go to them when he was ready.

"What did I do wrong?" Edward said, almost in a whisper, all the anger gone from his voice.

"Choosing to leave her," Jasper answered.

Edward only looked at his brother. He knew he didn't have to tell Jasper what he was feeling, so he remained quiet. It was clear to him that Jasper had a lot on his mind.

"I totally understand why you did it though," Jasper started. "But it doesn't mean it was right. We're the same when it comes to the women we love. We want to protect them in every way we can. I know I can get overboard with Alice, and by human standards, she's indestructible. Bella isn't. She's human, so she's fragile."

Edward was surprised by Jasper's admission. He was sure everyone was against him. Jasper was clearly hiding his thoughts.

"But Bella's right. Running away would only mean leaving her unprotected. Edward, things are still happening according to Bella's dream. It may not be the same way as they did in that vision, but they're still occurring. In that dream, we left after I almost attacked her. Now it was Rosalie who endangered her. The means were different, but the end result was the same. You wanted us all to leave."

Edward froze at the realization. Jasper was right.

"We've already eliminated James and Victoria, but there's still the Volturi. And there is no way we can go after them. If you leave, the outcome might lead Bella to Volterra."

Edward gave Jasper a small nod. "You're right. I'll stay."

Jasper patted Edward's shoulder. "A wise choice. All you need to do now is apologize to Bella."