September 13, 2005

Forks, Washington

Alice sighed as she watched the silver Volvo drive away. Bella's birthday was a complete and utter disaster. She didn't understand how she didn't see it. One second, her human friend was accepting expensive gifts from her and her family members (despite her insistence that she didn't want them to spend money on her). The next, her husband was being restrained by her adoptive brother and father as Bella's blood suffocated everyone's senses. Thankfully, they all got out before things turned for the worse, but even that couldn't remove the tension in the air.

As she walked through the front door and into the living room, the first thing she noticed was her family's expressions. Rosalie stood by the wall infuriated, her thoughts boasting of Edward's mistake of bringing Bella into their world. Emmett and Esme sat in loveseats sharing guilty looks over their reactions to the accident. Carlisle was planted next to Jasper on the couch, trying to figure out the best solution to Jasper's brief relapse. Alice flashed over to pull him into an embrace.

"I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault, Jasper. You couldn't have known," Alice reassured him.

"Alice is right, Jasper," Esme agreed. "We know you would never want to hurt anyone."

"It doesn't change the fact that I still need to control myself. Edward would've hated me had you not stopped me," the empath argued. Just imagining the unbridled dislike on his brother's face made his unbeating heart break.

"C'mon dude, we both know that Edward would've understood. After all, he was just like you before," Emmett reminded, patting his brother's back. He decided to leave his past with his blood singers to himself, even if the entire family already knew.

"Even if that is true, Edward never should've brought that human into our lives in the first place," Rosalie stated.

"Rose-"

"No, Carlisle! I understand that you guys may care about her, but I never accepted her as my brother's mate. She's his blood singer, for crying out loud! Edward should have just left it alone!" The blonde ranted. Emmett rushed over and held her hand, her anger starting to settle a bit.

"Rosalie, we understand that you're worried about the family, but Bella is the only one to build a connection like this with Edward. We haven't found or met anyone else who could be his true mate. Besides, Bella's a nice girl. She'll be a good addition," Carlisle tried to explain.

"Well, we haven't been physically searching for Edward's true mate. How are we supposed to know she is the one if we haven't tried?" Rosalie retorted.

Part of her wanted to slap herself as the words left her mouth. She knew Alice had been trying for years to find Edward's mate, but it was always met with blurred images and complete darkness. Like whoever the pixie tried to see kept disappearing. None of them made sense of it. Then Alice got that first vision of Bella herself, and all of a sudden she was adamant the brunette was his destined love. Everyone was either curious or hesitant, especially in Jasper's case, but Rosalie refused to believe she was the key to the mind-reader's forever.

Alice looked at her sister in shock. "Rosalie-"

"I'm sorry, Alice. But I don't think Bella is Edward's true mate." Rosalie stood from her seat, knew she may upset her sister by saying this, but she had to get her thoughts out there before it was too late. "Something doesn't feel right about their relationship, and I think I know the reason."

"You know Alice has been looking, Rosalie," Jasper glowered, standing in front of his adoptive twin. His issues were pushed aside as the desire to defend his wife surfaced. "Why are you questioning it now when you know her visions are never wrong?!"

Alice silently listened as her husband and sister went at each other, struggling to understand what Rosalie meant. Was there something wrong with Bella and Edward's relationship? She knew Bella was his singer, but there had to be a chance that they were soulmates, right? The dark-haired girl started to panic. Did she give up on her search too easily? Alice closed her eyes and began to focus as hard as she could, praying for some kind of answer.

Edward will probably hate me for this, but I need to be sure-

Alice let out a gasp as her eyes popped open, catching everyone's attention. Jasper raced to the pixie's side, keeping her steady as the impact of the vision left her unbalanced.

Alice saw herself inside her house, only she wasn't surrounded by her family. It was afternoon, the clouds in the sky covering much of the sun's warming rays. She was confused. What's going on? This isn't like any vision she's ever had before. Her heightened senses picked up the sound of bell-like laughter. As if by a magnetic pull, Alice found herself walking through the front door and into a scene all of its own. Carlisle and Esme were on the porch, smiling enthusiastically at the driveway. As she evaded their silhouettes and made her way down the stairs, she noticed herself at the bottom, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Jasper was standing with her in a blink, smirking.

"Easy, ma'am," he snickered, accent heavy in his endearment. "You'll scare our little darling off."

Her vision-self giggled in excitement. "I can't help it! We haven't seen her since she went back to Australia. I missed her so much!"

Her husband gave her a sad smile. "I know you did, sweetheart. We all did. She'll be in our arms again soon."

Alice welcomed her husband's embrace as Rosalie walked over to them. "If Emmett or Edward don't suffocate her first," she smirked, a slight sadness in her eyes as she remembered the time spent apart.

Alice - the real Alice - was curious. Who were they talking about? She noticed Emmett standing by the driveway, possibly the most eager she's ever seen him. He had his hands in his pockets, one foot impatiently tapping against the glassy lawn. It seemed whoever everyone was talking about was a big deal, even more so than Bella. But they seemed so familiar with her...

The clairvoyant was cut off by the sight of Edward's famous silver Volvo, moving a bit faster than what she used to see. It seemed this was an urgent arrival. The first to exit the vehicle was the mind-reader himself, flashing Emmett a quick glare as he made his way to the passenger side of the car. She moved hoping to get a closer look but was shocked as the visions of herself and her family zoomed past her. She got a brief peek of auburn locks as Emmett, towering over the rest, pulled a female into his arms and twirled her around. She didn't get a good look at her face since it was pressed into the side of her brother's neck. As she noticed the intense amount of love and saw the hugs exchanged between each family member, she heard a new voice.

"Guys, guys! I missed you too! But there are bags in the car that I still need to get out, so give me a little breathing room, okay?"

Alice thought her frozen heart melt at the voice. It was so confident and warm, so full of life and love. Completely different from Bella's. Just as Alice started to wonder more about the girl, the crowd near the Volvo separated. Now she could get a good look. And when she did, Alice felt her heart soar.

The girl was beautiful. So beautiful that Alice almost believed she wasn't human had it not been for a heartbeat and warmth radiating from her. Her long hair was a rich auburn that reflected the sunlight around her face. Her porcelain skin had the faintest hint of pink in her cheeks and cupid's bow lips, so smooth and luminous Alice ached to touch it. She was taller than Alice, of course, outmatching her four-foot-ten physique at five-foot-three. Her body was not very skinny, more full and curvy with good muscle and very nice proportions. A silver pendant hung from around her neck. Edward stood at her side with an arm around her waist, gazing upon her with more love and joy than Bella ever received. This was it. As the redhead looked straight into her eyes, Alice felt like she would give anything just to make her happy.

Beneath two rounded brows were unique eyes of a rich, warm brown hue - the color of milk chocolate.

"Alice."

The pixie vampire came back to reality despite a significant part of her heart asking her not to. She felt her husband's grip tighten, bringing her gaze back to his. His eyes were questioning, making her realize how jumbled her emotions were.

"Alice, what did you see?"

Everyone in the family was looking at her now, unsettled by the tension in her and the worry in Jasper's eyes. It must have been something serious to have affected her so deeply. Alice slowly turned her gaze to her coven, struggling to find the right way to summarize what she saw.

"I... I found her..."

Alice felt a weight lift when she finally said it. She felt elated, but she was also worried. The girl was human. How would she handle their world?

"Care to explain?" Rosalie asked, confused by her sister's statement.

Alice took a second to settle her emotions and gather her thoughts together before going into detail about her vision. Everyone seemed confused as the pixie described the way their vision-selves acted. Well, everyone except for Carlisle. Carlisle looked extremely serious like he was analyzing every word she said about the girl and her influence on his family. When she started to mention Edward's mannerisms, he sighed. Alice paid that no mind though. She was more upset with herself. How could she have been so stupid to think Bella was her brother's mate when this beautiful, perfect girl was coming into their lives soon?

"It seems Rosalie was right. We shouldn't have settled and stopped searching. Now, we know exactly who Edward's true mate is," Carlisle said.

Surprisingly, everyone seemed somewhat relieved by this, especially in Rosalie's case. Still, Esme couldn't help but notice something in Carlisle's eyes that put off her happiness.

"What's wrong, Carlisle?" Her question set everyone on edge as they paid attention to the doctor.

Carlisle himself didn't know how to explain his knowledge of what Alice's vision meant. Edward would be so upset with them, but it wasn't like they could change the truth.

"There's something about Alice's vision that stood out to me," Carlisle started. "The words, the way we crowded around her, the emotions Alice felt. I don't think this girl will belong solely to Edward."

"What does that mean?" Rosalie asked. She was struggling to accept that her brother would end up with another human, even if she was his true mate, but her father's words were worrying her more than anything else.

"Back when I was on my own after leaving the Volturi, I encountered another coven in India," he started to explain. "The coven consisted of five vampires, two females and three males, as well as another female who was human. The human was the true mate of one of the males, but she was also bonded to the others."

Everyone froze. A female human bonded to an entire coven? How was that possible?

"It's called a shared mate," Carlisle claimed. "It's when a female, human or vampire, is the true mate of one vampire and also shares a soulmate bond with the other vampires in their coven. It's an extremely rare occurrence, a one-in-a-billion chance of happening. Not many know why it happens, but Aro and Marcus believed a shared mate brought harmony and a strong connection in the coven. Seeing that girl with her mates, I saw unconditional love and loyalty. If what Alice says is true, then this girl is Edward's true mate and our shared mate."

Rosalie pushed for more. "Do you see anything else, Alice? When is she coming here?"

Alice massaged her temples as she focused again. Finally, she snapped her fingers in success. "She'll be here in a few days. We need to give her time to settle in though, so no surprise visits anyone."

At this, Carlisle, Esme, and the kids were still a bit stunned as they all processed this new information. This girl belonged to them but was Edward's true mate. How would they explain this to him? He has been waiting to meet his mate for over a century and now that they knew her, he would have to share her with the rest of his family. That would not settle well.

As the silver Volvo pulled back up into the driveway, everyone couldn't help but be elated. Their family would be complete. Edward would be complete. There was still one problem though.

What were they going to do about Bella?