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I wasn't planning on updating tonight, but I figured you guys have been pretty patient with me, so enjoy!

BPOV

I could see the guilt they were feeling at what had happened today, "Nothing that happened today, was anyone's fault, okay? Look I'm fine, we're all safe, and we'll catch Victoria eventually, but enough of this moping, please. It's not doing anyone any good."

"Bella, you could have been killed today," Edward muttered remorsefully.

"But, I wasn't, I'm sitting right here, in one piece." Edward was about to say something else before I stopped him, "Look, I'm telling everyone here that you're all absolved of whatever guilt you've decided to harbor on my behalf, let's all just appreciate that we are all here and okay, and if not for me than for Renesmee, she can definitely tell that something is up,"

"Did you just play the Renesmee card? You know I can't say no to my niece," Emmett half-joked.

"I absolutely did, now can everyone relax, please?"

Everyone murmured in agreement, I could tell there was still some tension, but it was still a vast improvement from minutes ago. I sat back down and took Edward's hand, not the one that had just been bitten. I briefly looked at it, the sting had faded, but I could see a silver scar now formed on my hand.

Night time came quickly after that, Renesmee had fallen asleep in Edward's old room, and we didn't want to disturb her peaceful slumber, so we decided to spend the night there in Forks. From what Alice could see, we weren't in any danger of being caught.

I decided since we were here, I wanted to go check up on Charlie. I had to see for myself that he was okay. Edward had tried to convince me that it wouldn't make anything easier, but I didn't care.

"Edward, I'm going. I'd like you to come with, but you don't have to if you don't want to risk it. But I need to see for myself."

He nodded and we took off through the woods.

We slowed once we approached Charlie's house.

Despite it being really late, Charlie was still up.

He was sitting in the kitchen chair in silence, he was looking outside the window, but he wasn't actually looking. It was more like he was lost in a daze, or lost in some distant recollection. Even if he was actually watching, he wouldn't have been able to see us under the cloak of the night. He looked tired, like he hadn't been sleeping or like grief had taken up all his energy. It killed me to see him like that. It took everything in me not to run to him, to tell him I was okay, that he shouldn't worry for me, but I knew I couldn't.

It was like Edward anticipated my needs before I even knew. He wrapped me in his embrace and I quietly and tearlessly sobbed for the pain I was inflicting on Charlie.

I didn't want to risk Renesmee seeing me like this, or make cause anyone to worry more than I already had, so Edward and I returned to our cottage.

I was enveloped in the feeling of returning to our first home together. While I loved the home Edward and I shared now, this cottage would always have a special place in my heart, it would always be home, along with this tiny insignificant town that had irrevocably altered the course of my life.

I wasn't sure exactly what it was, but I knew I needed Edward tonight, and despite an initial hesitation, he was happy to oblige.

I felt bad afterwards, we still didn't know how this gift worked. And while welcome, with everything else we had going on, adding another member to our family would only add to everyone's massive concerns. I hadn't even asked Edward if he wanted to continue to add to our family, I knew I did, but maybe he was content with just Renesmee. I wasn't sure that this was the right time for that conversation.

Edward had seen the look of worry on my face, "So you seduced your all-too-willing husband. That's not a capital offense."

I chuckled half-heartedly.

"You know sometimes it drives me absolutely insane that I can't just read your mind?"

"It's nothing, just we don't exactly know how this gift works, you know?" I said sheepishly.

I saw the awareness grow on Edward's face, but he didn't say anything.

"I know we haven't talked about any of this, but I just don't want to add to your worries, and I don't even know-," I started rambling when Edward interrupted me with a kiss. When we broke away, I was breathless.

"Whatever happens, we'll be alright, my love," Edward promised, leaning his forehead against mine.

We returned back to the main house just before dusk.

Everyone was waiting for us, but this time there were no crude jokes from Emmett. After checking to make sure Renesmee was still soundly sleeping, we all sat down in the dining room table.

"I've called Eleazar, and Laurent has taken off, they aren't quite sure where," Carlisle began.

Edward scoffed, "It's clear to me that he lied about his allegiance with James, he told James valuable information about Bella knowing that she was already on James' radar."

I squeezed Edward's hand to reassure him, of what I was reassuring him? I didn't even really know. I had no clue what to make of Laurent and his actions. I knew he had no reason to be loyal to us, but surely we should be loyal to the Denali's. They had trusted him, and he took advantage of their trust. Edward was right, he had claimed he had no loyalty to James, but he knew James was already targeting me and just further incentivized James' hunt. We couldn't trust Laurent or his intentions.

"And I don't think we should count Victoria out either, we killed her mate, it's unlikely that she'll just let that go," Jasper added.

"I'm going to keep an eye on her decisions, but so far she hasn't decided anything," Alice chimed in.

"So what do we do now?" I asked looking around at my family. I didn't like that everyone was in danger because of me, how I continued to disrupt everyone's lives. I wasn't worth all this trouble.

"Can you stop that?" Jasper demanded, looking right at me.

"What?" Edward asked, his eyes slightly flickering between me and Jasper.

"She doesn't think she's worth all this," Jasper explained while gesturing around the table.

"Bella," Edward began, but I raised a hand to stop him.

"It's fine, just a passing feeling," I promised even when I knew it wasn't. I couldn't help when Edward would tire of being inundated by all the worries that came along with me, when would he get tired of the all encompassing troubles that constantly threatened to overwhelm us. While I had faith in the bond that tethered me to Edward, I wondered how long it would be until he started resenting the problems I had introduced into his life.

"What happened with the wolves?" I asked again, hoping Edward wouldn't press the issue. I knew he would probably want to talk about it later, but for now we needed to focus on keeping everyone safe.

"They weren't pleased with a newborn being around the reservation. Things were getting pretty heated until Jacob Black stepped in and vouched for Bella," Jasper said, his eyes still flickered to check on me every few seconds. "Were warning them about the nomads, and things just escalated quickly from there. It took their Alpha and I to calm things back down again."

"We were doing them a favor. That grey wolf started it," Emmett grumbled.

"Okay so what are we going to do now?"

"I think we should continue as normal, you two can go back to Canada, and we'll continue here. We'll stick together more than normal, which means no going off alone. We'll keep an eye out for the two of them, and we've alerted the wolves about their presence. I don't know that there is much more that we can do," Carlisle directed.

"We can try to go after them," Edward insisted.

"No," I hissed. "Absolutely not, it could be dangerous."

While I hated the idea of Victoria being out there, I hated the idea of Edward getting hurt even more.

Edward seemed to drop the issue suspiciously fast. I didn't have a chance to question it, before I heard our daughter's heart beat quickening and her beginning to stir. She would be up soon. I took a moment to compose myself, I didn't want Renesmee to worry about the troubles that we were facing. We would protect her from the darkness of this world.