AN: Hello All - sorry for the delay. Illness and all that. Eddie's back! Enjoy. More soon : )

Chapter 25

Edward pulled up to the front of the I-house in the sleek black Mercedes. The sound of Liebstod filled the interior of the car as he turned to Bella, his look pensive. She placed a small, delicate hand on his knee,

"Everything's going to be fine...Renesmee will have calmed down by now," she reassured him.

"What if she hasn't?"

"She will have. Come on."

He faced forward, switched off the engine and opened the driver door. In an instant, he was at the passenger side of the car. He opened the door graciously for Bella and helped her out. As she stepped out onto the driveway, she looked into her husband's eyes and was immediately transported back to the early days of their relationship, it never failed to amaze her that after all the time that had elapsed, Edward could still dazzle her, would seemingly always dazzle her. As they walked to the steps of the I-house, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, hugging her close to his body.

"Renesmee isn't back yet," he said softly, "I can't hear her."

"She's probably at a friend's - "

She cut off as Edward stopped abruptly. His arm left her shoulders and snapped back to his side. She stood stunned as he darted up the steps to the I-house and through the front door. Shaken, Bella followed behind him. Mumbled barely-there whispers could be heard in the living room, then the sound of a loud hiss: Edward. Bella flew to his side; she expected to encounter danger, to have to defend herself and her family. But, the only people in the room were Alice, Emmett and Jasper.

"What's happening?" she asked.

Edward did not turn towards her. He remained locked in a rigidly tense stance. It was Alice that looked up and met her eyes, a contrite expression on her face.

"Bella..." she breathed.

"What? What's going on?" Bella pleaded.

"Tell her," Edward ground out.

Bella felt Jasper edge towards her, the atmosphere changed, it mellowed the hard edge, dissipating it slightly.

"Edward, you need to calm down..."

"Tell her," he repeated.

Alice looked into Bella's eyes,

"It's Renesmee..."

At the sound of her child's name, Bella felt her thighs loosen; Edward was beside her in seconds, supporting her against his granite hard shoulder.

"Renesmee..." she exhaled.

"She's ok...nothing's happened to her..."Alice said quickly.

"As far as you know..." Edward added coldly.

"Where is she?!" Bella demanded.

"She ran away…she ran away to La Push."

"She ran away and none of you went after her?!" Edward accused.

"We didn't know where she was at first, we searched…but she just disappeared," Alice said quietly.

"She couldn't have just disappeared...people don't just disappear. Someone in here had better start telling me something useful! You didn't even call us! And Jazz...cut it out!" Edward snapped.

Jasper stepped back a little, but kept a careful track of the heightened emotions that flew around the room. Alice turned to look at Bella,

"Renesmee went to school, she came back from school, she said she was going to a friend's house...then she didn't come back," she went on, "We did try to call you…endlessly. But we couldn't get through…no reception we guessed."

"We called her - all of us," Emmett cut in.

"She didn't answer, then she switched the phone off..."

"That was over two days ago!" Edward growled.

Alice continued,

"Then she called Jazz and told him where she was – she told him that she didn't want us to come after her. She told him to trust her."

"Trust her!?" Edward bellowed.

Bella felt the world fall apart around her. Loss bottomed out in her stomach, then knotted itself, filling her to bursting until she thought she would scream,

"She's left us…" she breathed.

"I'll get her...I swear it to you," she heard Edward whisper.

Bella wished that she was still able to cry. The depth of her despair increased never-endingly, but it had nowhere to go. It simply built and built and built until she thought that she would combust,

"Get her back, Edward...please...Renesmee...please, Edward..."

He scooped her up in his arms and turned away from their family. He headed purposefully towards the stairs, to the room that they shared. He carried her to the large day bed that sat at the centre of the back picture window and lay her down on it, then knelt beside her. She turned her face to the right to look at him,

"We have to get her back...we have to...she's my little girl."

"I will bring her back," he promised, "But you need to get some rest..."

"Not human anymore, Edward, I can't just go to sleep and pretend this isn't happening."

He smiled the crooked smile she loved and stroked her cheek,

"I know, love...but you can stay here and try to relax..."

"But Renesmee -"

"Will be alright; I promised you I would bring her back and I will."

As he said the words, he believed them; but, as soon as he had left their room, closing the heavy wooden door behind him, fear cast a shadow over his face. He should have seen this coming, he knew. Renemsee had been increasingly distancing herself for weeks. Then, Jacob had come and made things worse; now, this. He made his way back down the stairs to the living room; the group of three had been joined by Carlisle and Esme. Both of them flew towards him as soon as he entered the room,

"Edward...we're so sorry..." Carlisle said, taking hold of his arms.

"It's not your fault Carlisle...or yours Esme. It's none of your faults."

"But we should have been more vigilant...we all know the problems that she's been having," Esme said regretfully.

"No – I caused this..." Edward said softly.

"Don't beat yourself up, man," Emmett said.

Edward smiled wryly at his brother, then, something occurred to him.

"Where's Rose?" he asked.

"By the lake...she's been distraught since Renesmee..." Esme could not bring herself to finish the sentence.

Edward nodded; he glided towards the picture window at the back of the living area to look down to the lake. He spotted Rosalie easily. She stood by the lake, hugging her arms around herself as if she were cold. She seemed to be concentrating intently on the black water of the lake. Edward's brow furrowed,

"How long had she been out by the lake?" he asked.

"Since you and Bella arrived home," Alice answered, "Why?"

"No reason," Edward said shortly, but his eyes remained trained to Rosalie.

He stilled then, it was clear that the others no longer existed for him; all of his attention was fixed on Rosalie. They drifted away, discussing between themselves what could be done about Renesmee. Edward remained where he was. As he watched, his expressions changed, they phased from mild curiosity to intrigue to disbelief and then, finally, extreme ire. A fierce snarl tore from his lips. He darted from the living room, a blur of rapid movement; he had steamed past the others, congregated in the kitchen, and was beyond the kitchen doors before they had even looked up from their discussion. Emmett's eyes followed him. He moved like a missile, determined, swift, and unstoppable. Emmett followed the trajectory of his movement and his eyes widened in shock as he spotted the intended target: Rosalie. He started towards the door, knowing that it was already too late to stop him. The others followed, alerted to the likely catastrophe that was about to unfold by the lake. Time slowed as they made their way towards Edward and Rosalie. They watched, horrified, as Edward bore down upon her like an avenging angel, his body as tense as a coiled spring. She turned seconds before he struck, not in enough time to stop him, but in enough time to recognise his intent, for her beautiful face to twist into a mask of unadulterated terror as he launched himself forwards, lunging for her throat with an inhuman roar. She fell backwards onto the lawn, Edward's body covered her own, his hands gripped her vice-like around her neck, teeth bared he stared down at her murderously, a malevolent hiss filled the air.

"Edward – no!" cried Alice.

"I will kill you. You hateful...spiteful – I will end your existence...I swear it!" they heard Edward growl down at the terrified Rosalie.

Hands descended heavily onto Edward's back, they gripped the back of his grey coat and suddenly he was being lifted from Rosalie, though his hands still clenched her neck, attempting to crush it altogether, Esme dropped to her knees beside them and tried to prise his fingers from their death grip. He snarled and snapped, violently resisting the hands that hauled him back. Combined, they were stronger than he was, his grip loosened and he fell back onto the granite hard bodies of Emmett and Jasper. He righted himself almost immediately and moved to lunge at Rosalie again,

"I will end you..."

Carlisle stepped in front of him. He placed his hands on Edward's shoulders, bracing himself, attempting to stop his attempts to attack Rosalie again.

"Edward, son, you have to calm down. You're about to do something that you will regret..."

Edward's eyes snapped to his father's, but the fire did not leave them,

"Move aside, Carlisle...she's had this coming forever..."

"No, Edward," Carlisle said, more firmly, motioning at Jasper and Emmett who immediately appeared at either side of Edward, each one took hold of one of his arms, rooting him to the spot, stopping him from moving.

On the damp grass, Rosalie stared up into the cold malevolent eyes of her brother and shrank back into Esme's arms, her hand clutching her throat.

"Let go of me..." Edward warned.

"No," Carlisle said.

"Edward...Edward, what happened?" Bella's voice rang from the door of the kitchen. She approached fleet of foot, her eyes widened as she reached the scene by the lake. Her voice tempered him, slightly; the tension that had been rolling off of him in waves dissipated a little.

"Rose?" Bella exclaimed, going to her sister in law.

She looked up at Edward, his face, still trained on Rosalie was fixed in an ire filled grimace, then she looked at Rosalie, her face terrified and stricken, Carlisle, Jasper and Emmett holding Edward back, Alice, stood slightly apart, shock written across her face and Esme, distraught and the puzzle pieces clicked together.

"Edward...you attacked Rosalie...but why..."

"Ask her," he snarled, his eyes burnt holes in Rosalie.

Bella turned to Rosalie,

"Rose?"

"I don't...don't know..."

"You did this!" Edward spat at her, "You're the reason that Renesmee is gone. You and your poisonous tongue!"

The others trained their eyes on Rosalie then. All of them intent on finding out what she had done.

"No!" Rosalie exclaimed.

"Yes! You wanted to get back at Jacob, because he doesn't defer to you, because he doesn't worship you, because he mocks you – so you told her. You told Renesmee about Jacob and Bella and it never even occurred to you that telling her might cost her much more than it cost Jacob!"

Six pairs of topaz eyes stared, dismayed by the disclosure. Rosalie cringed.

"You did what?!" Emmett bit out.

"She deserved to know," Rosalie said desperately, "She deserved to know that he's been putting on an act...trying to make out he's -"

"You just cannot stop can you, Rosalie?" Edward charged.

"How could you Rose?" Bella said.

"Because she's selfish and self centred," Edward glowered.

Rosalie turned to Bella,

"I didn't...I wasn't trying to hurt you."

"But you have Rose – can't you see that?!" Emmett accused, "I told you...I told you that you had no right to interfere with Jacob and Renesmee...I warned you! You had no right to tell her that! Damn it, Rose!"

He let go of Edward and turned on his heel, punching the air with his large fist.

"She must hate me..." Bella breathed.

"Don't, Bella..." Esme pleaded.

Jasper watched the scene unfold before him. He remained perfectly calm, despite the regret and the pain that he felt on Renesmee's behalf. He thought of his niece, how bewildered she must have been, how distraught and broken. He felt the growing tension around him and moved to stem it. The atmosphere altered slightly, a mellow calm pervaded the ire filled scene, its players visibly softened.

"No wonder she ran to Jake," Jasper said quietly, looking at Edward.

Bella nodded, "He's her everything, no matter how hurt she is."

"I'm going to get her," Edward said.

"Is that the best course of action? I'm sure that Jacob can deal with this, Edward," Carlisle said evenly.

"I'm going to get my daughter. She needs us now."

Carlisle nodded. He let go of Edward and stepped back.

"Come on Bella..." Edward said, holding his hand out to his wife, his eyes averted from Rosalie's form. Bella took his hand, allowed him to pull her softly to her feet. He wrapped an arm around her and turned them back towards the house. Nothing more was said. The others watched them go.