AN: I am soooo sorry for not updating sooner. It has been a very hectic week with family visiting for Thanksgiving. I hope you all aren't too mad at me. :) I just want to thank everyone for reading and reviewing my story. It means sooo much to me, you have no idea. I also want to thank my beta - Jadiona for being patient with me since I've been a slack ass here lately with writing.

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all things Twilight. I own a fridge full of leftovers.

Chapter 38 – Planning to Deceive

BPOV

What an arrogant asshole!! How can he tell me that I don't fucking care what he thinks, when he obviously doesn't care what I think!!? Bullshit! I am so angry with him! He always makes it out that I'm the bad person. I'm the one that was wrong for arguing with Tonya about talking to Edward. I just don't want her to hurt him again. I can see it happening now. She will try to get him back just to get at me; because he is back to the unobtainable status again. But no! I'm the bitch because I confronted her before she started weaving her fucking web. If he wants her to fuck with us, then fine. Let her. I won't be so nice next time. I've let her get away with so much shit that I just can't let it happen again. I will have my payback if she even TRIES to fuck with us.

I had been running in the woods around the house to find something to fight with, even though nothing could put up much of a fight with me. I had just found a big grizzly bear that looked mad. I walked up behind it and tapped it on the shoulder. It whipped around and roared right in my face. If I was a lesser person, I probably would have pissed my pants, but I just laughed at it and pushed it over. That just made it madder. The grizzly bear jumped up from the ground and took a swipe at me. It hit my arm and shredded my shirt, but obviously it didn't hurt me. It was like swiping its claw against a rock. I grabbed its arm and pulled. I heard the bone separate from its joint. The bear whined, and screamed out in pain. I decided to just go ahead and put it out of its misery, so I bit into its furry neck and bled it dry.

When I finished I heard clapping. I hadn't even heard anyone walk up on me. I swirled around and saw Jasper leaning up against a tree, with one foot crossed in front of the other. Jasper always looked so relaxed. I walked up to him and he just smiled down at me. He picked at my shredded sleeve and tsked at me. "Bella, I really liked that shirt. It brought out your eyes."

I couldn't help it, even if I was still mad, I laughed. I should have known to go and find Jasper when I was upset. Even when he didn't use his ability he always made me calm. "Yeah, I know, Jazz, but the bear had it coming." I smirked at him. He put his arm around me and walked me over to a log.

"We heard what happened between you and Edward," he said softly.

"Yeah, I figured as much. I just needed to get away. Jasper, I've never known anyone who can make me so mad, but love them so much at the same time," I said exasperated.

"Honey, that's what you call true love," he chuckled.

"God, if that's true love, you can keep it. Son of a bitch, Jazz, am I really being stupid about this, or am I in the right? I can't see the line anymore… it's so blurry."

"Bella, I understand why you want to go to Italy by yourself, but it's not smart. Like Carlisle said, you could get taken in by them, or worse… killed."

"I know! But, does no one realize that I don't want them to go because I'm scared for them? I would gladly sacrifice myself to keep my family safe… to keep my love safe. But no! You all have to put yourselves in danger because of me. I won't let it happen, Jasper. I can't let it happen."

"I know, Bella, but you can't just put yourself in that position to keep us safe. You want to keep us safe, just like we want to keep you safe. It's a two-way street, hun. You can't have it both ways. It doesn't work like that."

"So have you changed your vote then? You don't want me to go by myself now? Cause, earlier you voted against Carlisle. Earlier, you didn't care that I wanted to go by myself."

"It's not that I didn't care if you went by yourself, it's just that I don't want to put Alice in danger. But, if one of us goes, then all of us go. We are a unit. There is safety in numbers, remember that."

"But Jasper, if you all go, I may not be able to keep everyone protected by my shield. That's what I'm afraid of… of not being able to protect the people that I love."

"Well, if we do end up going, which we may well not have to, don't forget that Carlisle is going to call Aro. But, if we do end up going, then we will have time to prepare. We can come up with an attack plan and a defensive plan. I can help train you in fighting and perfecting your shield. I should have never taken you with me to find James. You have no experience in fighting. You will have no experience in defending yourself against the Volturi. They are trained fighters; we will just have to come up with a plan before we go, if we go."

That made sense to me. I knew if I had to have someone train me, then I would want it to be Jasper. He knew more about fighting than all of us put together. Jasper could make it work. "Jasper, even if we don't have to go to Italy, do you think you could still train me? I want to be ready just in case something ever happens again, like what happened with James. I won't be taken off guard again."

"Okay, that sounds good. I think we all should do a little training to at least brush up on some stuff. It will be good for Emmett and Alice since they're new to all of this. Sounds like we are gonna be having some fun around here then," Jasper said. I could tell that he was excited to put his knowledge to use after such a long time.

"Jazz, what am I going to do about Edward? Do I change him now and risk him hating me for the rest of his existence when he realizes that's not what he wants? Do I take the chance that nothing bad is going to happen to him? I can't be around him constantly, what if something bad happens and none of us are around to protect him, or keep him from dying? What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to know?"

"Isabella that is your decision to make; I can't make that decision for you, and neither can Carlisle. That is between you and Edward. I know he wants to be changed, but I can see your side of it too. It is a tough situation and there is no 'real' right answer. You just have to follow your heart."

"My heart says to make him mine for eternity," I said without hesitation, "but my heart also doesn't want to take his soul, his livelihood. I am just so damn torn!" I said, while punching a rock. The rock shattered under my fist.

"Well, it's nothing you have to make a decision about right now, so just think on it. Your heart will tell you when, you just have to listen."

I knew Jasper would give me some cryptic bullshit… even though it made sense. I did have a lot of thinking to do, but for now, I had to get back to the house and make amends with Edward.

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

EPOV

After Bella jumped out of the window, I went back downstairs to sit with the family. It was strange that I now thought of the Cullen's as family even if we hadn't been officially merged by marriage or anything. But with everything we had been through, there was no way that we couldn't be family. I got to the bottom of the stairs and saw Jasper getting up to leave. He nodded in my direction and walked out the door. I sat on the couch with Alice, and she put her arms around my shoulders and hugged me. I guess they all had heard everything that Bella and I had just argued about.

"Edward, you know you're an ass, right?" Alice asked me.

I only huffed out a small laugh and nodded while putting my head in my hands. "Yeah, I know. When did that happen?"

Alice giggled at me, and Rose glared at me, apparently she didn't get the joke.

"What?" I asked Rose.

"Oh, nothing, ass, just that you are making shit so hard on Bella. Can't you tell that she's scared? She really doesn't want to go by herself anymore than we want her to go, but she's only doing it to protect us, all of us. And you are up there making her feel bad."

I hadn't realized that she was scared. I couldn't picture Bella being scared. She always seemed like such a rock, so strong.

"Another thing, assward," she snarled, "You have no fucking right to tell her what to do."

I cut her off, "I know Rose… Jesus, don't I know it. She made that perfectly fucking clear to me. I can't tell her what to do, and she can't tell me what to do. We aren't in this relationship to dictate what each other can and can't do. I get that now, thanks!" I said sarcastically.

Alice spoke up, "Edward, I realize that you don't want her to go because she'd be alone and in danger, but can't you see that was why she didn't want Tonya bothering you? She didn't want you to hurt anymore because of her. We all know that Tonya can be nice, but when it comes to you, no… there's no niceness there. I've seen her trying to fuck up your relationship with Bella. I just hope you don't fall for it. You HAVE been warned." And with that she hit me on the backside of my head, lightly, but it still hurt.

"Okay, okay. I get it… again. Like Rose pointed out, I'm now assward. Thanks for that by the way," I said to Rose and she smirked at me.

I sat and listened while they talked about ways to try and get more time out of the Volturi. Bella and Jasper walked in just as Carlisle was about to place the call, even though we still had come up with nothing to give us more time.

Bella looked at me out of the corner of her eye and turned to Carlisle. "Carlisle, I get it. I won't go to Volterra by myself. Jasper said that he would take time to train all of us to protect ourselves in Italy. I know I don't want to be caught off guard again when we go there, like I was with James. I can't take that chance if all of you go with me. I have to be on top of my game," she said.

I was thrilled that she wasn't planning on going to Italy by herself anymore, whether it was in a couple of weeks, or in a couple of months. She would have her family there with her, and hopefully by that time, me. I wanted them to change me so bad I could taste it. Watching Emmett and Alice become a complete part of their family while I was still the 'human' was really fucking annoying. They could all go hunting together, go running together. I couldn't keep up with them. I still had to get my sleep, even though it was coming in shorter bursts of time now. It was really wreaking havoc on my body though. Sometimes in school I could barely function, I may as well not be there. The teachers are giving me a curve, because of Emmett, and I'm sure once they all find out that Alice and Esme have 'left', then they will probably give me an even bigger curve. If not, then I would fail. I could really care less about school right now, with everything else going on.

I wanted to go to Bella and wrap my arms tightly around her, but I was afraid she was still pissed at me. I couldn't tell, because she had only glanced at me; not even fully.

Carlisle asked Bella what she thought we could use as an excuse to keep from going to Volterra for the time being and Bella started pacing around the room looking at the floor. If any of us could come up with an idea, it would be Bella. She always seemed so sure of herself; always in control.

"How about we tell them about Emmett? We could use him as an excuse not to come yet. We can't very well put him on a plane with hundreds of other humans. They would understand… because if we arrived in Italy with a plane full of human corpses, that would definitely be a threat to the Volturi. We could play it off that I had attacked him, but you stopped me before I killed him; and that's why he changed instead of being dead. We could leave Alice and Esme out of it, so they don't have to go. It could work, right?"

"Bella that would work until we got there, but if Aro touches any of us, and you can be sure that he will, then he will know the truth. He will know about Alice and Esme. I've told you before Bella, Aro can see every thought you have ever had in your mind just by a touch of the hand. We can't openly deceive them, that would just be… well… it would possibly turn into a war between us and them."

I didn't know that this Aro guy could read people's thoughts. There really was a whole world that I didn't know about. Alice's ability to see the future has always been around, from real fortune tellers to fake clairvoyants. I wondered if any of the other vampires in Italy had any other abilities. It would be interesting to find out exactly who had what ability, for future reference.

Bella answered Carlisle's argument by saying, "Well, fine. We can just tell him the truth about Emmett. It shouldn't be that hard for them to understand, right? Because if no vampires were allowed to turn anyone, then I wouldn't have been created, you wouldn't have been created; hell… none of the Volturi would have been created. They have to overlook that I changed Emmett. And then when we go see them, even if we don't tell them about Alice and Esme, it won't matter. They won't be there, so they won't be in danger. Come on, Carlisle… Do you really want them to know we created three vampires in less than a month? That would definitely raise a red flag to them, but just one? No problem… right?"

Alice was sitting next to me and she huffed, "Bella, why can't we go? If Jasper is going to train us, then we will be safe. You can't just leave us here." She whined.

Carlisle had his thumb under his chin thinking, looking almost like Auguste Rodin's sculpture The Thinker. He didn't even look at Alice or Esme. I could see Esme was torn, you could tell that she wanted to go, but didn't want Alice or Emmett to go, and until I was changed, I couldn't go. She was biting on the corner of her mouth, thinking too.

Carlisle finally broke the silence, "I think you're right Bella. We should only tell them about Emmett, for the time being. If we keep putting it off, then we can use Alice and Esme as more time. I think it just might work. I'll go ahead and call Aro now," and he got up to leave the room with Esme in his wake.

CPOV

My daughter had always had a good head on her shoulders. As time went by, she was showing herself to become a true leader. I knew that if anything happened to me, she could easily fill my shoes as the "leader" of our family. She may be the youngest, compared to Rosalie and Jasper, but she was more mature than either of them. Jasper obviously let his emotions run him. He couldn't help it… it was a part of him. Rosalie, well, she was too vain to take care of anyone other than herself. It wasn't that she was a bad person, it was just the way she was raised when she was human, and even after all of this time, it still hadn't diminished.

I felt bad for making Alice and Esme stay here, but I wanted to keep Esme safe, and I couldn't just leave her here while I took her kids across the world. It would just be easier in the long run, and I knew she would be protected by distance, plus she could still look after Edward here.

She followed me into my room and ran her hands up and down my tensed shoulders. "Carlisle, are we doing the right thing? Will this cause animosity between you and this Aro, if you deny coming to see him?"

"Darling, I'm not denying him, I'm just postponing. I seriously doubt that this would cause a rift to happen. He and I have always been… close. Well as close as you can get to the Volturi. They are the elite of the vampires. I was honored to be included with them, while I was there. I just couldn't live with their expectations of me. They wanted me to hunt humans. I just couldn't do it. I had already started my training as a doctor to try and save humans. I couldn't treat them as food. It just didn't feel right. I think we will be fine." I said smiling down on her and kissing her forehead.

I pulled out the cell phone and dialed Aro's number.

Aro: Ahhh… Carlisle. So good to hear from you.

Carlisle: Aro, how are things?

Aro: Good, good. What do I owe this pleasure?

Carlisle: Well, Aro, we have a problem. We won't be able to make it as soon as we had hoped.

Aro: Oh? I hope nothing is wrong?

Carlisle: No, nothing is wrong, per se. Well, we've had another addition to our family recently and he won't do well on a plane so soon. You had said that you wanted to meet all of my family.

Aro: Another addition? How did this happen?

Carlisle: There was this boy that the others go to school with, and well, he had a run in with a bear. One of the girls had fallen in love with him, so we decided to save his life by changing him.

Aro: Oh, well, I see. It would be hard to put a newborn on a plane with humans. When do you expect you will make it for a visit?

Carlisle: Well, I'm not exactly sure. We are keeping a low profile here and trying to teach him how to hunt animals rather than humans. If he learns quickly enough, then we should be able to come within the next year or so.

Aro: Right, I had forgotten about your aversion to drinking from humans. I still don't see how you do it, Carlisle. Anyway, I understand your predicament. I guess we will see you in a year then. I do hope you stay in touch between now and then.

Carlisle: I will Aro. I really appreciate your invitation to come and stay with you. I am just sorry we have to wait a little while longer.

Aro: It's alright Carlisle, don't worry about it. We will see you soon enough.

*Click*

Aro had hung up the phone. I felt that the conversation went as well as could be expected. He didn't sound upset that we wouldn't make it within the next couple of weeks. I turned to Esme and she had a small smile gracing her lips.

"Well, that sounded excellent. We don't have to worry about them for a year, right?" she asked me.

"Yes, a year, if not longer, we shall see."

EN: Well, what do you think? Do you think Carlisle's right about Aro being understanding? Let me know. :) Please click the little green button below. It's been lonely this past week. Thanks so much for reading. Til next time!