Alice's POV:

"Ness," I whispered softly from the bushes. She looked up and froze, perking her ears almost visibly. I emerged slowly, catiously, as though dealing with a wild animal. In her worried frenzy and mad dash for Jacob, she essentially was like a wild animal..

"Nessie, Renesmee, it's only me. We'll help you find Jacob."

The sound of his name alone seemed to break her.

"Jacob," she whimpered, slowly sinking to the forest floor, drawing her knees tightly to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them, and rested her chin on her knees.

"Oh, Ness," I whispered, my own heart breaking in sync with hers. Even as I moved to comfort her, as I wrapped my arms around her, felt her tuck her head into my shoulder and let the tears flow, I felt a connection. A connection to an earlier event, many years ago. But vampire memories don't diminish with time, and although I never saw the result in person, I remembered my visions. My conversations with Edward to persuade him not to leave Bella, ("You can't do this, Edward! Don't you see? It'll break her!") and his stubborn self-sacrifice.

The way Nessie was sitting here, sobbing, nearly in shock, reminded me of Bella after Edward's masochistic move away. Bella and Edward's love was undeniable - Edward had felt it from day one, and all of those around us had known, too. I had my visions - I knew there was no getting around it; they were destined to be together.

Renesmee and Jacob had always been close, closer even to Jacob than her parents. That's not to say that Edward and Bella had a strained relationship with their daughter; on the contrary, theirs was one of the most loving I'd ever seen. That being said, it was sufficient to say that Jake and Nessie had a very special bond. One that Jacob had felt from the start - the whole "imprinting" thing of his kind.

I was sure that Bella, and Edward especially, would no longer be able to deny it - Jacob and Renesmee were meant to be.

Bella's POV:

"We've got to convince Jacob to come back." Alice said, pacing around the room, lightning fast.

"What?" roared Edward, stepping away from my side. I could practically feel the fury radiating off of him.

Alice stopped, and stood her ground as he paced threateningly closer to her.

"You heard me, Edward."

"Edward," I murmured to him. Although I felt the same way, Alice must have had some basis for her argument, besides simply being a fan of Jacob.

For once, however, Edward ignored me.

"Damnit, Alice, you've been on Jacob's side throughout everything." he snarled. "Through Bella's pregnancy, you were sitting by the side of that dog instead of helping me or Bella. Are you trying to set them up? Do you have no care for the safety of our daughter?"

"Edward, the baby was giving me a migraine!" she shot right back. "You don't understand, you or anyone else, what it's like to have visions. You don't know what it's like to have visions of your family, mauled or dying. You don't understand, Edward, the expectations of everyone else to tell them what they want to hear, and still be right! Damn it, Edward, I'm sick of it!"

Everyone was silent. Alice rarely exploded like that - it was so easy for us to simply forget how she felt. She never complained, unless to Jasper, in the privacy of their room. Jasper was quiet, and Alice was always bubbly and cheerful around everyone.

"Alice - " Edward began, but Alice raised her hand, raising her other to squeeze her forehead.

"No, just stop. Do what you want, I'm going for a run, I can't take this." With that, Alice turned, and sprinted out the door.

"Well," I muttered after the shock had worn off. "She'll be fine on her own - right? She's done this before..."

Edward simply nodded.

"I guess... I guess we have to take her... her advice now," he grumbled. I squeezed his hand. I understood what was between the lines - if we didn't listen to Alice, he would feel guilty about driving her away. On the other hand, it was clear that he thought of Alice's words as a command, not as advice, and was not very pleased about being bossed around.

"Well, what do we do?" I whispered to him. He sighed.

"Nessie, I think, is pretty much doing it."

"Edward," I said sternly. "He made the decision to leave, clearly he's going to continue running from her, unless we change his mind. He's not going to give her a chance to talk. We need to convince him that he's making the wrong choice."

"How, Bella?" His tone was exasperated, and I calmed my own to avoid an argument.

"Edward, it has to be you. You have to find him, and tell him that we're willing to take him back." I could feel him bristle. Then he sighed, and he was suddenly vulnerable, suddenly the Edward in the meadow from my fuzzy human memories, the tender, delicate Edward that I had fallen in love with.

"Do you think it was me who drove him away?" His tone was subdued. Despite Edward's own protestations, I knew that it was his soul speaking, that his soul was pure, was good.

I wrapped my arms around him.

"Love, it doesn't matter how or why he left," I whispered. "In time, it's only going to break both of them. You know the power an imprint has. And I know the feeling of love. It's not going to die out just because he's gone."

For a moment we were both silent, as though mourning the time together that we had lost. Unconsciously, his arms tightened around me.

"Edward, please," I whispered. "I know you don't like Jacob, but do it for me. Go find Jacob, and convince him that Nessie needs him. That's what'll work best, the thought that he'll be harming her simply by not listening."

Edward sighed loudly.

"Fine," he breathed out, unwillingly. "I'll do it."

Hey all. Sorry for the horribly long gap between updates, and the lower quality of chapters - I guess that's what I get for late-night writing. I'm going to try to be picking this up, since it's nearly done. (: Hope you liked it!