Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, if I did the series would have ended with an alien invasion.

AN:As you can see I am in fact still alive. Research is a killer so I'm taking a few weeks off at Christmas to polish up a few chapters for posting. Edward is a tricky character for me to write because he is such a mixture of old and experienced with teenage hormones. I hope he comes off in a way similar to Cannon.

Edward's POV

I didn't bother taking the time to rent a car when I arrived at the Anchorage airport. It would just waste precious minutes. I had made this run before and knew that I could get to my family's home faster on foot.

During the flight I was so anxious that I crushed my armrest into a mangled mass of plastic and metal. I had expected Alice's call to be another plea for me to return home, it was lucky that I had even bothered answering. What she said shook me to my very core. I had left to keep Bella safe from this life, not so she could be turned into a monster!

How many times had I found my feet carrying me back towards Forks? Some days I would make it all the way to an airport gate before I could summon the will to run. Scenario after scenario played itself over in my head. Had she been attacked? Had she come to Denali in desperation, seeking help with her new life?

How much of her suffering could I have eased if I had been there for her? I wanted to use one of the plane's phones to call Alice for details. However I couldn't risk this all being a hallucination. Over the years I had seen Bella many times. She was everywhere, a market in Belize, taking a boat in Paris. Then I would look again and it was just some girl with a passing resemblance.

It was very possible that my mind had made up the phone call from Alice. I couldn't call her to check for fear that Bella wasn't there. It was a dream and a nightmare. Bella was one of us, but Bella was one of us. I was running as fast as I could through tundra and forest to verify her existence, but I couldn't pick up a phone to check. I was a living contradiction.

What would I do if this was all just another hallucination? Would I go back to the abandoned factory in Brazil I had called home for the past four weeks? No, I bowed my head in resignation. It was no use, for years I had felt my resolve to stay away from Bella being eroded. The phone call was the last straw. Perhaps Alice had seen that.

I would find my way back to my beloved and find some way of making her forgive me. As much as I wanted to want her to be happily married with a family, I could not imagine a man capable of treating her as well as she deserved.

My thoughts turned back to Alice's message. How could she be a vampire? Yes she was a danger magnet, but who would have had the self control to turn her? I clenched my teeth at the thought that one of my family had returned to Forks and changed her. That would have been the ultimate betrayal of my trust, but who else could have done it? I doubted Victoria could have returned for her, Alice promised to keep an eye on that monster. The second Victoria made a decision to return to Forks, Alice would have called me.

It was nearly 9:00 PM when my parents' house came into view. In the back of my mind I noticed a familiar musky scent, I heard the beat of large hearts, but I paid them no attention. I may as well have been in a hunt for all I cared about such extraneous details. The only scent that mattered was hers. It was both achingly familiar and subtly different. It drew me as strongly as the scent of her blood once had, but with none of the thirst.

I pulled the front door open with enough force to warp the metal frame. It would need to be replaced, I was beyond caring. For a moment I was confused when I heard the thoughts of Jasper, Alice, and Esme coming from the far end of the house. Then the scent of blood reached me, it was fresh and it was human.

I could hear Carlisle's thoughts in the library but that was it. Had Bella killed someone on the way here? God how terrible she must feel. As I burst through the library doors I was stopped by the scene in front of me. Carlisle was collecting blood from the arm of a barely clothed Quileute woman seated in his reclining chair, while another Quileute was monitoring a transfusion to a man lying on a cot on the floor. It took me a moment to identify the man as Jacob Black. He had certainly grown since I met him in Forks half a decade ago.

Still these details were superfluous because she was there. She was working at a table with a centrifuge and syringe, both were made of a glass that was almost resistant to the corrosive effects of the our venom. Carlisle used them for his research into the fluid.

Several things happened at once. The male abandoned his post at the transfusion and put himself between Jacob and I. The female tore the needle from her arm and sprung from her chair to do the same. Carlisle stood to face me his thoughts curiously controlled. I didn't care because Bella was there, her eyes wide with surprise. The warm chocolate colour I remembered so clearly replaced with red tinted black.

How could I have stayed away from this angel for so long? I was about to cross the room and take her into my arms when I noticed the scars. They stopped me cold. I felt nauseous, then I took in the smell. The reek of wet dog, only a hundred times worse. That smell that could only come from one thing. My eyes shifted to the Quileute. "Werewolves." My breath came out as a hiss. One of them had hurt Bella, my Bella. Crouching, I readied myself to spring at the male. I listened for their thoughts only to hear none. The wolves mirrored my actions. Carlisle was shouting at me to stop with both his words and thoughts, but I ignored him. One of them had hurt Bella and I would tear out their throats for it. The confrontation was not to be. As I began my attack, a vampire hurled itself into my chest. The momentum carried the two of us through the open library doors and twenty feet down the hallway. We were only stopped by the wall at the opposite end.

I realized two things very quickly. The first was that it had been Bella who had attacked me. The second was that she had managed to put me in an arm lock before we had stopped moving. She was perched on my chest, right knee digging into my sternum. My right arm was secured by her left and her free hand was wrapped around the back of my neck at the base of my skull. Unlike the wrestling holds that my brothers and I used to use, her attack was meant to remove my head as quickly as possible. Where would she even learn such a thing?

She only held the position for an instant before releasing me and springing backwards. The attack was over so quickly that I was left wondering if I had imagined the hold. By this time the hallway was filled with my family and the female wolf. The male had not left Jacob Black's side. The female's form was vibrating and I wondered why she had not transformed. Bella looked both embarrassed and determined as she stood between me and the wolf. By the time I got to my feet, Jasper was at my side sending calming waves over everyone.

Surprisingly it was not Alice, but Esme who went to Bella's side and asked, "Are you alright?"

Bella began to look mortified, "I'm so sorry about the wall."

Esme looked past me at the shattered drywall we had crashed into moments ago. Her thoughts asked, "What did you say to her?" Out loud she said, "Don't worry about the wall, it's easily fixed."

Bella shook her head, "Please let me repair it. Destroying your house is an awful way of thanking you for your help."

"It's alright Bella, you have more important things to worry about." An image of Jacob flashed through my mother's mind and I was thoroughly confused. I sought clarification in my family's minds, however everyone was studiously thinking of other things. Bella looked like she wanted to argue but remained silent. I felt a surge of fondness. It was endearing how uncomfortable she was with the smallest act of charity.

The momentary reprieve from anger did not last as I again saw the scars. How could my family be so blase about them? One of those wolves had attacked her! Why were they even welcome in the house?

Alice looked from me to Bella and asked, "What happened?"

Carlisle answered for us, "Leah and Seth startled Edward. Bella was able to diffuse the situation."

Despite Jasper's influence I felt my rage getting the best of me. "How could you let those things into our house after what they did to her?" I yelled at Carlisle.

I stepped towards Bella and gently brought my hand up to her injured cheek. I could hear my family yelling at me with their thoughts, but I didn't listen. I needed to make Bella understand the danger she was in. I focused on her so intently I was surprised my thoughts were not pushed into her head telepathically. I needed to get her away from them. "Bella when I left Forks, you promised me you wouldn't do anything reckless. Don't you remember? I told you that there were worst things in the world than our kind. It's them Bella." I gestured at the female wolf with my free hand.

"Watch it leech." The female spat. Rather than look offended at my comment, the female was watching Bella with nearly sadistic anticipation. It unnerved me that I could not penetrate her thoughts. Bella remained frozen in place.

I ran my thumb down the scarred side of Bella's face. "I left to protect you from this world Bella. I should have known it would do little good. Of course you would find the one monster in this world worse than us. The one creature more vile and violent."

I felt the blow before seeing it. The slap didn't hurt, thought it took me completely by surprise. I stepped back from Bella stunned that she would actually hit me. When I looked at her I cringed. She was the very image of an angered goddess. Her scars were twisted and contorted by her facial muscles. "How dare you call them monsters!" she hissed, then added incredulously, "and you didn't leave to protect me, you left because you were bored!"

"That was a lie..." She cut me off before I could explain.

"I don't care! I don't care about why you left and I don't care about what you did to me. You don't get to call them monsters. I know exactly what they are. They are children who've had their humanity stripped away to protect people. To protect people From Us."

"They are the ones who sleep two hours a night to keep their people safe, then work full time to make ends meet because 'werewolf' isn't a paying job. They are the ones whose loved ones never know if they will be coming back from a patrol." She shook her head violently, "You don't get to judge the man I married because he slipped while pulling Laurent off me. And you will never have the right to call them monsters."

Bella then stormed back into the library. The female followed without turning her back on us. I understood her sadistic smile now. She had know Bella would react this way. I wondered if she knew the effect Bella's words would have on me, it felt like a hole had just been torn out of my chest. When my mind caught up with Bella's words I whispered, "Married?"