A/N: How long has it been? A hundred days or more? For this I am eternally sorry. There has been a few developments in my life. I, er, got engaged and am now in the epic-ly long organisation of the wedding of, well, 2013.

I also got nominated for the Indie Twific Awards. I would like to thank those who nominated me - you are all clearly mad :)

I know I have said it before and I have meant it every time, the next chapter will be here sooner than the last one… Probably.

Oh, there is a poll on my profile and you can get me on Twitter (outofmytree) or any of the other ways I list there, to shout at me…

Love to you all!

Chapter 26 - Older Chests

APOV

It all happens so quickly. There is no warning. Carlisle looks so downfallen as he stands next to Bella's dead body. Emmett and Rosalie standing behind him holding Esme up as she collapses with grief.

No one sees it coming. No one has time to react as the robed guards of the Volturi enter and head straight for Carlisle. They spin him round to see his family one last time... The crack of his neck is so loud it almost overpowers the scream of rage from Edward as he rushes forwards in a fruitless attempt to save his father as the Volturi rip his head from his shoulders.

"Now, we can fight what is coming."

"No..."

I can hear myself telling the family that they must listen and follow what I say with precision. I can see the look of horror destoying the temporary peace on Esme's face. I can see Emmett wanting to run out and safe the world, Edward despondent and unsure of his future, Jasper wanting nothing more than to run from the whole nightmare and Rosalie unsure of how to react to the news that more pain will come to her. I see the moment of almost joy that the family is feeling crumbling and I change my mind.

"Not now…"

"Oh, come on Alice… Let's go get Carlisle and then kick some ass. I am sick of waiting!"

I turn to Emmett and wish for a moment I had Jasper's power. I laughed at the fun I would have and pointed out of the window.

"If you want to become a walking diamond my dear brother then please do."

He walked over to the window and looked up at the clear sky, sighing. "Well, what do you suggest then Alice?"

I sat down and decided to sit and wait for Carlisle to come back. They would release him shortly before dusk and he would have no problems as he walked back through town. A few of the townsfolk would whisper as he went by but everything would be fine. Then we could head out as a family… and let the fates decide. Edward snorted and I thanked him silently for not reacting to everything he was seeing. Jasper put his hand on my shoulder and I felt myself relax. I took the other decision to run and follow Emmett head first into the fight. The sunlight hitting our faces and Miss Mandel from the school office seeing us shining, her confusion turning to horror as she ran into the hardware store screaming.

Edward kneeled in front of me.

"I agree, Alice. Wait here until Carlisle returns and then move."

Emmett huffed and then slumped in the only chair in the room, grabbing the remote. "There had better be something good on the TV then!"

LPOV

Irina had been complaining since the moment we had excused ourselves from Esme and Kate and shut the door on them both to sit in this dismal motel room.

I had been drifting in my head, listening to the conversation going on in the other room and Irina. I agreed with Emmett - I wanted to get out of here and finish all this so I could get on with the rest of… What? Being with Irina and playing the dutiful puppy? Being hunted down by whoever comes out the other side of this thing?

"… And then Kate running off like that and leaving me here alone. I need family around me at a time like this and I love the Cullens, I do, but… I shouldn't say anything more…"

Shut up shut up shut up… How I would love to take you out into the forest and…

"I agree, Alice. Wait here until Carlisle returns and then move."

Edward's voice jarred me out of my murderous reverie and brought me back to the reality I was in. The Cullen's who could see into my head and soul were back and should any of them take the decision to concentrate on me, how long would my deceptions stay hidden?

What to do?

"Irina, maybe we should leave too. You have been through enough and I don't want to see you get hurt."

"But the Cullen's need help."

"Yes, but, love, I want you to look after yourself. You are so unselfish."

"Well, what would we do?" Irina stood up and looked out of the window and I stood behind resting my hands on her hips.

"We could follow Kate. Help her and Carmen with the turning problem. Take some time to mourn the loss of Eleazar and Tanya…" I squeezed her a little to show that I felt the anguish too. She leant against me and sighed.

"You are right, we should go."

"I will go and bring the car round… and then we can go and tell the Cullens…"

"Can we…?" Irina shook her head and then looked out again… "Can we go to where Eleazar and Tanya died. I know it sounds stupid…"

I shook my head, "No explanations required. We will go now and then return to say goodbye."

IrinaPOV

Why is it that I feel so at peace when my world is falling apart? My sister and brother gone, my cousins under attack and I am left all alone to help them, why can I still stand up?

Laurent… He really is the most honourable… the most loving… He must feel so terrible about all the things that are happening. He could not have known that those who he used to call his family would turn into such horrible creatures, that they would not have the good graces to attack outright but rather come at us all in fits and starts, slowly destroying us one by one so that the pain is too much to bare.

Laurent opens the door carefully and then nods to me as I step out into a moment of cloud cover. He takes my hand and leads me quickly past the room where all the Cullens are standing together as a family.

Canned laughter comes from the television they have switched on in an effort to appear human, an effort I used to admire and now think kind of redundant. Have they not yet realised that this town will never accept them again after all of the noise and destruction. They will join us in Alaska again before they find a new life for themselves. Maybe Europe will be the saving of us all. Rosalie and Alice will enjoy the shopping there, and the rest will soon find their feet again. They will grieve with Carmen and Kate and I…

The curtain moves a little in the breeze and I glimpse in as we pass. Alice and Jasper are in each others arms on a chair, holding each other quietly, Rosalie and Edward seem to be glaring at each other, in the midst of an argument. Emmett is watching the television and Esme is laughing at him and I… I feel rage. How can she smile when the air is full of Tanya's dust?

Jasper gets up and puts his hand on Edward's shoulder - a movement that points out that which I have lost.

The curtain moves back but the damage in my head is already done. I can't be around those who thought so little of my sister that they can just fall back into easiness of their existences after so short a time. Did none of the horror we have seen together today mean anything to them now?

Laurent squeezes my hand and it brings me back to the things that matter. We will be respectful and say our goodbyes and then continue on doing that which we have always done.

I feel almost sorry for the Cullens - but really, did they not bring this all on themselves?

EPOV

Could Rosalie be any more annoying? She had been leaning on the far wall glaring at me sending images of what she thought her time would be better spent doing. I had been subjected to images of London, and shopping, and even one of her watching a wall of white paint dry. If she could have seen the theatre in my head she would have spotted the fact that I had gagged her and tied her to a chair in front of that wet wall, leaving her there for a hundred years. I almost smiled at how good it felt to be petty, and the slight movement on my face seemed to irritate her further. I wanted to laugh out loud until I felt the irritation coming from Alice and Jasper who were picking up on our moods and throwing them back at us.

Jasper, my brother. I wanted to let him know that he wouldn't have to cope with my stupid moods for much longer. I hoped that he would look after Bella for me, or at least stay away from her. I had been shocked at his behaviour in the last few days… but of course none of us had been acting normally. And this was all my fault.

Esme's laughter surprised me and I found myself watching the peace in her head with a quiet satisfaction. She was fine with her family around her. She would be fine without me. Emmett was flicking through channels too quickly for the machine and he was getting annoyed at the channels chosing the worst of the programming to stick on.

I became almost entranced at the images of the celebrity chef chopping up vegetables, and allowed myself a little nostlgia at watching Bella do the same thing. I felt myself slip easily into the memory and closed my eyes as her hair fell across her eyes and she pushed it away with the back of her perfect hand. If I had still been human I would have cried at the beauty I had not allowed myself to see.

Jasper's hand on my shoulder stopped me falling to the ground and I remembered how much I owed him. I would repay him in some way before… before...

Did none of the horror we have seen together today mean anything to them now?

Irina's mind broke through and I looked at Jasper hoping he would pick up on the remorse I felt for bringing this on everyone. It was my stupid pursuit of a love I did not deserve that had brought death and nightmares unended on us.

I had to fix this. Somehow… I had to make sure that the family was safe once more. As soon as the sun sets I will go out and find out what the townsfolk know, or what they suspect.

Alice nods, almost to herself, and then to me. I nod back and I know that we will be okay.

CPOV

All this was stupid. There was nothing they could charge me with, or anything they could do to me to make my life any more awkward than it was now. The room they had me in had no windows thankfully, although there had been a terrifying moment with the mirrored glass reflecting the truly magnificent sunset onto my hand.

Mr Jenks, Jasper's trusted lawyer, had already called from the road, advising the handicapped police force that no further questions could be asked of me without my attorney present. A coffee had been placed in front of me with a sigh and I had been left alone with my thoughts.

The room had clearly been the one that poor child from the reservation had been questioned in earlier. Did he know what was going on? Did he know about the treaty now? However this ended there would need to be a new treaty drawn up with the Quileutes, and maybe some kind of payment made. I hoped that we would save Bella, and that would be enough to show the wolves that we had not changed from those the treaty had been made with all those years ago.

I heard my name mentioned at the front desk but paid less than no attention. There had been, so far, seventeen people who had asked if it was true that I had been arrested for the murder of several people, for being a terrorist, for being part of some kind of gang warfare, maybe a drug dealer? There had also been those who had come to my defense, telling the police that there was no way I was a criminal - no matter how odd I was. Nurse Mallory had come from the hospital to say she would offer me an alibi for any time I needed one. Luckily for me they threw her out, after she told them she would do some fairly immoral things to get me out.

"...I don't think you understand what you are doing. I'm not sure how long we can keep her alive!"

The distorted voice of Dr Snow came out of the phone as the officer on the desk tried to calm him down. She put her hand over the receiver and confered with the person next to her before putting Snow on hold.

As she walked over to me I could see how tired she was and could tell that until recently she had been engaged in some fairly physical activity. I glanced at the badge on her shirt as she leaned in.

"Dr Cullen?"

"Yes, Officer Rathbone?"

"I have a Dr Snow on the phone, he says he needs to speak to you about a patient… A young girl."

Had my heart beat it would have stopped. Had Bella been found? Was this the beginning of the end?

"Can I speak to him?"

"We're not really supposed to…"

"We can put it on speakerphone? Then you could hear the call…"

She nodded her tired assent and waved for the call to be transfered into the room.

I picked up the phone and tried to control the shaking of my hand.

"Carlisle? Is that you? Horrendous things that are going on."

"How can I help you?" My voice sounded ridiculously tight.

"A young girl was found outside the hospital in a catatonic state. We are helping her to breathe and we are unsure what to do. She is completely unresponsive. We have got to help her, especially considering who's daughter she is…"

"Oh?" Don't jump the gun, remain calm… "Who is it?"

"Reverend Weber's daughter - Angela."

I visualised her - a girl I had seen a couple of times from a distance, a girl that had been described by Alice as the only human girl worthy of attention. Even Edward had said that her thoughts weren't toxic - high praise indeed.

I hoped beyond hope that her current situation had nothing to do with us.

"Carlisle, I'm going to try and get you out of there as quickly as possible - it is obvious now that you had nothing to do with the explosions."

"How?"

"Angela admitted she triggered the bombs before she went catatonic."

EsmePOV

Telephone calls bring both the good and then…

The frantic voice of Dr Snow calling to find Carlisle and jumping to him defense made me smile, The news about Angela Weber made everyone who knew her furious. There was nothing we could do to stop this insanity but it made everyone think about new ways of trying. I begged the doctor to call back when he had news of Carlisle and sat down wondering what was coming next.

Then the shrill tone broke through and I put the phone rather needlessly on speaker so everyone could hear.

"We have just landed in Seattle, my dear Esme, and will be at your side ready to offer assistance in a mere matter of hours."

"Thank you Felix, I am sorry that Carlisle is not here to speak to you at the moment."

"Ah, we will speak to him at length when we arrive. We would be there sooner but we need to eat first and then change vehicles."

I look at Alice who speaks clearly so they can hear.

"I have a very nice Porsche ready…"

"Forgive me, dear Alice, if we do not take your kind offer. But aftr hearing what has happened to every other car you have requested today surely you could forgive us for not trusting your supplier?"

"I understand completely." Alice goes and sits by the window concentrating on the future as only she can.

"I am surprised, Alice," Felix continued, "That you didn't see that coming."

Jasper let a low snarl loose before he could control it and Edward took the stance in front of his brother, protecting him from the seductively cruel laughter coming from the phone.

"I wonder what else you won't see before it is too late?"