I'm sorry. I know this is a day late, but I went on a last minute vacation. I forgot to update before I left, and there was no internet connection.

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of its contents.

Chapter 50- Return- Bella POV

Before Elizabeth went to bed, I told her how happy I was that she was with Edward and I. I told her how proud I was to be her mom. I kissed her goodnight and hoped I would do so many more times in the future.

The rest of the family spent the next few hours in the living room. Finally, people started to get tired. They slowly, one by one, went off to bed. At two in the morning, the only people still awake were Alice, Edward, Jake, Jasper, and I.

I knew why Jasper was still up. He wanted to make sure he spent some time with Alice before we went out tomorrow morning to meet Aiden. I was out here talking to Jake. Jake was getting tired, but he wanted to spend time with me. I was his best friend. I knew why he wanted to be here. I urged him to go to sleep. It was healthy for him to sleep. He was probably stressed, and sleep would help with that.

I turned to Jake and said, "Please, Jake, go get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow."

"I can't sleep, Bells. What if you..." Jake trailed off.

"I'm going to be fine. I promise you I'll see you after this is over."

"That's the thing. After this is over, assuming you are okay, you are going to go back to ignoring me. I hadn't talked to you in so long. Now we are here...together. Two best friends, and I'm afraid that once I go back home...you'll just forget about me again."

"I won't forget you. Jake, don't you even think I could. I can't." I replied. I gave Jake a hug to prove it.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Jake responded. He walked off to his room to go to sleep. That only left the three vampires and Jasper.

"Jasper, you should go to bed too." Alice whispered.

"I'm not going to go to sleep. I want to stay with you." Jasper responded.

"I swear that I will wake you up in the morning before we go out. Please, I want you to rest. You need to get some sleep." Alice reasoned.

"You swear you'll wake me up?"

"Yes." Alice answered.

With that Jasper went to bed as well. When the door was shut, we all moved closer to each other.

"Are you all ready?" Alice asked to Edward and I. I thought about the question that Alice

was asking.

"Yes." I replied confidently. It sounded much more confident than I actually felt.

"I hope so." Edward replied at the same time.

"Bella, can I talk to you for a few minutes?" Alice asked cautiously.

"Yes, of course. Edward, you don't mind if we go upstairs for a little...do you?" I said lightly.

"Go ahead. I'll see you when you come back down. I'm going to feed Alicia." Edward replied to me.

I nodded my head and went upstairs with Alice.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to take time away from you and Edward...I just needed to talk to you about something." Alice responded.

"It's fine Alice. What did you need to talk about?"

"I wanted to know your opinion on whether I should choose Jasper or Aiden. I know you don't want to tell me what you think, but I'm asking you to please tell me honestly."

"Alice, you know I can't tell you what to do. It's your choice. I know that you love Jasper. It all comes down to who you love more. I never got the chance to really meet Aiden. I only met him as Jonathan. I don't know who he is. I don't know what he is like. I think what ever choice you make, it will be the right one. You will know when you see Aiden again whether or not he is right for you." I responded.

"I'm so confused. I love Jasper. I love him so much, and I know that he loves me. I know that. I do. It's just, I loved Aiden so much. I always wondered what my decision would be if I had the choice back then. I don't know who I would be with if Aiden hadn't done that to me."

"Alice, I'm not going to lie to you. It's not going to be an easy decision. You will have to think about it, but in your heart eventually you will know."

"You know what my worst fear is?" Alice asked in a hushed tone.

"What?"

"My worst fear is that maybe Aiden already moved on. What if he already has a wife? What if he has someone that he loves more than me? Even if he doesn't have a lover, he may not want me anymore."

"If he does have someone else, then you know who you were meant to be with."

"Bella, if something goes wrong tomorrow..." Alice whispered. I knew what she was

about to say, and I wasn't prepared to hear it again.

"Don't tell me to save Edward and let you die. Edward already told me to do the same for you. I can't choose between the two of you. I can't do it."

"Bella, he has you and his family. I want him to continue to enjoy his life with you. I couldn't live with the guilt of knowing he gave that up for me."

"Why are you two so convinced everything will go wrong?"

"I just need you to make sure he is safe." Alice whispered.

"You are both going to be fine. I'm not going to let anything happen to either of you." I argued.

"I had a vision, Bella." Alice whispered in return.

"Edward said you didn't."

"I did. You aren't going to protect both of us. One of us will die. I've seen it both ways. I was going to be the one to die. Until I had another vision last night. I assume it was when Edward told you to let him be the one to die if it had to be done. Bella, there was six of them there. You killed them, but not in time to save us." Alice returned.

She continued, "They came out of no where. It was an unexpected attack. You weren't ready for it. They grabbed me before you even had a chance to try and save me. The second vision was different though. In the second vision, it was Edward. This time we knew where the attack was coming from. Edward wasn't close enough to you for you to save him in time."

She finally finished, "It has to be him that lives."

"Alice, I can't let you die." I replied. I was sobbing now. I hadn't believed this could happen.

"Someone is going to die. I want it to be me." Alice replied.

"No." I responded harshly.

"Then Edward will die. I know you don't want that." Alice whispered.

"I'll let them get me. They can take me." I answered.

"If they get you...we will all die." Alice said in return.

I looked away at a wall. I stood up and left the room. Alice remained seated at a chair upstairs. I grabbed a bottle of blood from the refrigerator and climbed into bed. I had walked

straight passed Edward who was feeding Alicia in the living room.

I heard Alice come back downstairs. She whispered something to Edward, and a moment later he was next to me.

"Don't say anything." I whispered.

Edward did as I asked. He laid down beside me and just held me. At first I was reluctant to let him do so, but I gave up because it felt so comforting.

After about an hour of just laying there, I looked up at his pale face above mine.

"You lied to me." I accused.

"I didn't want you to try something stupid. I figured if you didn't know about the vision you would just act on instinct when we were out there." Edward answered.

"I'm going out alone." I replied.

"No." Edward harshly replied.

"You aren't having a say in this matter. I'm not going to risk your lives when I can just go alone."

"It's out of the question, Bella. It's not happening. I won't let you go alone." Edward responded.

"Yes, you will. I'm asking you to please let me do this. Edward, I can't promise you that I will be okay. I can promise you that you will be safe and so will Alice. I'm not going to choose between you two. I refuse to choose."

"I can't let you go out alone. It was so painful to wait and watch last time. I can't do that again. I can't let you go out alone." Edward answered.

"I'm going out alone." I retaliated. It was my final word on the subject, and Edward knew it.

I got out of bed and walked out to get Alicia who I assumed Alice was feeding now. I sat down beside Alice and asked her for my baby.

She handed her to me, and I knew what was coming next from Alice.

"He's not going to let you go alone." Alice whispered.

"Alice if I go alone what will it change?" I asked.

Alice looked at me for a second before answering. "You would make it back alive. Edward would still not though."

"I said alone. Edward wouldn't be there."

"I don't know how that would play out. Edward's not even considering it. I can't have a vision about something that won't happen." Alice explained.

I knew I had to think of a plan soon or else Edward would die. He was so selfish sometimes. He wanted to be there with me, but I couldn't let him.

I blocked out Edward's power for a moment to allow myself to plan and have Alice see how it would change things.

Suddenly a plan came to mind. I imagined it for a moment. I thought of how it could play out. Alice froze over as I did. I knew it had changed something because she turned to me and smiled..

"That would work." Alice replied.

I nodded my head and tried to figure how to make it work. If Edward caught on to the plan too quickly...he would fight back.

I blocked out Edward for the rest of the night. I was afraid he may see the plan in my mind or Alice's.

I tried to act like nothing was up, but Edward knew me too well.

"What are you planning on doing tomorrow to eliminate my presence out there?" Edward questioned.

I moved up closer to him and kissed him passionately. It was very heated on my part, but Edward barely made a notion that he realized I was kissing him. He pulled away and looked me in the eyes sternly.

"Tell me, Bella."

I nodded my head no in response.

"Bella, don't do this. I can't let you go out alone." Edward begged.

"You can. You just don't want to. You are too stubborn for your own good." I replied.

"I'm not going to fall for any plan of yours. I am going out there with you tomorrow. I am going to stand by your side and help you with whatever needs to be done. You will not be alone."

"I will be alone. Please, this would all be so much easier if you didn't fight me on everything."

I continued, "Edward, I love you. If I go out alone, I will live. Alice said I will. If you come you won't. I'm not going to let you come with me just to let you prove something to yourself. I'm not going to let you die for no reason."

"Bella, it's going to be so hard to let you go alone. I can't let you take that risk on your own."

"There's no risk if I go alone. Alice told me that I won't be able to protect you quick enough. Don't you want to be able to spend your life with your family? Don't you want to live forever with me?"

"Bella, don't be stupid. You know I do. I just don't know that you will definitely come back if you leave."

"Well I want to spend my eternity with you. I know for a fact that if you go out there I will not be able to." I whispered.

Edward nodded his head lightly. "Fine, I'll let you go alone. Bella, you better come back to me in one piece."

"I promise you that I will."

Edward pulled me close to him for a few more moments before he went to grab Alicia from her crib. When he came back he laid Alicia in between us like I had done the night before. I smiled down at my baby. I would come back to my family.

When the morning came I immediately began to do some last minute preparations. I drank a few bottles of blood and was ready for what was coming.

I looked at Alice questioningly. I wasn't sure if I could trust Edward to stay inside or not. Alice wasn't sure either so we would have to enact our original plan.

Alice, Edward, and I went into the kitchen to make sure everything in the house was in order. That's what Edward believed at least.

"I think I should have another bottle of blood. Just for precautionary measures." I said aloud.

"I'll get you one." Edward responded.

I felt bad suddenly for doing this to him. When he opened the door to the refrigerator in the kitchen and walked in, Alice closed the door behind him. She locked it from the outside. The lock on the outside had been designed to keep us in if the family needed to. There was no way Edward was going to break out of there.

"Bellaཀ I told you I was going to let you go aloneཀ" Edward screamed at me through the door.

"Alice had visions of you coming out anyway. Edward, please, don't be mad. Don't fight. Just please, stay inside. I can't worry about you right now. I need to be focused. Don't get me upset, please." I answered through the door.

"Be careful, my love." Edward responded.

"I will be." I replied truthfully.

I smiled gently. He wasn't going to fight it. He understood why I had to lock him in there. He knew that he would have tried to come with me.

"Alice," Edward called, "Be ready in case she needs help."

"I'll be by the door waiting." Alice replied wholeheartedly.

"Thank you."

I waited in the living room with Alice for the right time. She suddenly jolted up in her seat.

"They will be here in 5 minutes. You should be waiting for them." Alice told me.

"Okay. I'll go out now." I replied.

Before I left though I ran back to the kitchen. Edward had read Alice's mind and knew I was leaving.

"I love you Edward." I told him.

"I love you too." He responded.

At that I ran off up the stairs. Alice was right behind me. She paused at the door when I opened it.

"Bella, don't be too confident. They are going to try to attack before you see them coming." Alice whispered.

"I understand. Alice, don't come out after me." I told her.

"I will. If you need help. I won't promise you otherwise." Alice responded. I took that as

a promise for her to stay here though.

"Only if I really need help." I offered.

She agreed and gave me a hug. I hugged her back for a moment before pulling away and walking out the door. I heard her close the door behind me. I knew she was still standing there waiting though.

I waited outside for a few minutes before I heard a noise from behind me. I turned and saw a teenage girl behind me. She was most definitely a vampire.

I turned away from her after making sure she would not move. I did the same to the other four vampires I sensed.

I was waiting for one vampire in particular. I saw him walk out from the same direction as the last vampire I had seen.

"I see that the Volturi did not adhere to my wishes. I remember asking that they only send you back. I meant alone." I spoke clearly.

"Well, you see. I told my masters about that. They refused to listen. They said something about how they didn't care. I tried to explain, but they just wouldn't understand." He replied lightly.

"It's nice to see you again, Jonathan." I stated clearly.

"You too, lovely Bella. Oh my, and is that a wedding band on your hand. How sweet."

"Yes, it is. Isn't it? I was married on Friday. It was quite an exciting day for my husband and I. He wanted to be married before we met again." I explained.

I backed away from the vampires and allowed them to have some space. They immediately began to fight between themselves.

"Bringing back memories, Jonathan?" I asked.

"Why, of course."

I took a seat on the front steps. Jonathan sat down beside me. He was a few inches away from me.

"Now, what I don't understand about all of this is why the Volturi would send more of their famous army to be destroyed?"

"Well, they believed that you might be more reasonable. Perhaps you will be when I tell you of our offer. Of course, if you'd rather you can continue to have my friends rip each other limb from limb."

"You see. I'm not one to be very reasonable to people who are trying to hurt my family."

"Very well then." Jonathan stated.

He watched as his fellow vampires ripped each other apart.

"My offer is still valid however. I do have options for you to consider." I said to him.

"What would those options be?" Jonathan asked.

"Well, you can go home with your vampires now before they are all completely finished off. You can stay here with my family. Or I can kill you myself."

"I don't think that Aro, my leader, would appreciate me leaving without completing my mission."

"What is that mission?" I asked carefully.

It was kind of short. I'll post another chapter on Monday.

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