Edward's POV

Just as Bella had requested, after she had finished her breakfast I quickly called Carlisle and requested that he and the family come back to Bella's cottage. I didn't offer any explanations, or apologies on Bella's behalf. Firstly, because they weren't mine to give, and secondly I wasn't sure they were warranted anyway. Bella's reaction to my family was what I had come to expect from her. Blunt, assertiveness that sometimes bordered on aggression, and with little regard to how others would then feel towards her. Bella didn't seem to care much for what others thought of her, or at least that's what she tried to project out to others, and it seemed to work with everyone other than myself. It had become pretty clear to me over the past week, that Bella had a bad habit of keeping everyone around her at a distance. Seemingly in preparation for an inevitable betrayal. A fact that made my dead heart ache.

I stood in the small kitchen and looked over at Bella. She had moved over to the living area and situated herself on the faded and patchwork Everette chair, a chair I had quickly come to think of as 'mine'. I was sure she was sitting there because it meant that no one could sit near her, and instead would have to sit on the sofa and love-seat. As I watched her sit there, gently stroking her cat, I couldn't help but wonder if she had chosen that place of isolation on purpose, or if it was a subconscious choice she made in order to 'protect' herself.

My extrasensory ability made me aware of my family's approaching arrival. I could just begin to hear the whispers of their thoughts, even though my ears could not yet pick up any actual sounds. "They'll be here in a few minutes." I announced as I wandered over to her.

Bella sighed deeply as she scratched Anthony behind his ears, "Could you take him to my room then? Close the door to keep him there, I don't want to spook him again." She lifted the cat off her lap and held him out to me, which Anthony complained about with an annoyed trilling sound.

I smiled affectionately at the cat who stared at me with his bright yellow eyes as his tail swished in the air impetuously, as if he were insulted by Bella's handling of him. I gently gathered Anthony in my arms, tucking him safely against my chest. "Of course," I offered Bella a warm and hopefully comforting smile as I turned towards her bedroom. I wasn't sure what to make of the cat's strange acceptance of me, but I wasn't about to question it, or do anything that may jeopardise it in anyway. It seemed that Bella's only truly meaningful relationship was with her cat, and as sad as that was, I nevertheless endeavoured to make that cat love me just as much as he loved Bella.

"Come on, Anthony." I cooed softly, "You can have a nice little nap while those scary vampires visit." I continued gently, as if I were speaking to a small child instead of a cat. I hadn't realised my family had come within hearing range until I heard the telepathic teasing of my siblings. I decided to ignore their (mostly) good natured ribbing, and instead focused on putting Anthony safely away in Bella's room.

I lowered him down onto Bella's bed, and I ran my fingers down his back a few times to settle him. Anthony made a happy little brrt sound, before he began to purr as he settled down on the comforter. I quickly made my escape, at a human speed as to not startle him, and closed the door behind me.

Bella was were I had left her, "They're almost here." I told her and she tried to smile, but it was clearly forced and came out more as a pained grimace. I frowned at her and hurried to her side, "Are you alright? You don't have to do this." I assured her as I took her hand in mine, placing a soft kiss to her knuckles.

Bella frowned, and seemed to be deep in thought for a moment before she snorted in laughter. Not for the first time since she regained her memories, I was worried for her mental health.

That was why, even after she had demanded for me to leave her alone, I had called Carlisle and begged him to check on her. I couldn't bear the thought of her alone after the episode I had witnessed. When the sunlight had crossed my skin I was instantly terrified of her reaction. To my utter surprise and joy, Bella's first reaction was not one of horror, but of awe. Unfortunately it all went to hell in a hand-basket rather quickly. As she scurried away from me, she started to slur her words together, her movements were simultaneously sluggish and jerky. Bella had groaned in an unintelligible way as she pulled at her hair, before collapsing into a fit of convulsions.

It was the single most petrifying moment of my existence. At least after James had attacked her I could help, I could do something to help her and lessen her pain. But as I watched as she convulsed on the ground, all I could do was watch helplessly and pray to a god I wasn't sure I believed in anymore that he would not take her away from me. Not again. I was more sure now than ever, that if God did exist, he was cruel and ironic. Because Bella wasn't taken from me by the seizure, but rather when she regained her composure she had flinched from my touch before screaming at me to leave her alone.

After an especially harrowing day, I felt that perhaps we could be okay. But throughout our talks, I became concerned for Bella's mental state. And this moment of inappropriate laughter was one of those moments. "Bella?" I hedged cautiously.

Bella shook her head, "Sorry," I watched as she was trying very hard to bite back a smirk, "It's just I was going to say that I am in two minds about it… but then I realised how… apt that description was." She chuckled dryly.

I was about to say that perhaps this could wait for another day, that she should rest and relax and that the drama with my family and wayward werewolves could wait. But before I could I was interrupted by a knock on the door. I quickly hid my scowl and turned my face into a perfect mask of reassurance. Bella smiled up at me, her smile somewhat forced but her eyes held nothing but love and trust. Neither of which I deserved.

I went over and opened the door and saw that Alice was the one at the front of the group, and no doubt had timed her knock precisely to stop me from talking Bella out of the meeting. I narrowed my eyes at her, but she simply smiled innocently at me. I silently stepped aside and opened the door wider to let my family in, and with the kind of grace only vampires were capable of they drifted into the room and over to the small living room. A space that seemed even smaller now that it was filled with a coven of vampires.

I chose to ignore all of my family's questioning thoughts, both intentional and unintentional, and instead focused all my attention on Bella. To her credit, she was doing her best to seem calm and welcoming. There was a cautious smile on her face, and she sat relaxed, leaning back into her chair. But my eyes were drawn to her hands that she held in her lap, one hand covering the other as it pressed onto marbled burn scar with considerable force. It was a habit that Bella had obviously learned as a way to calm or perhaps distract herself, and I had noticed she did it often, and without really meaning to.

My family seated themselves on the sofa and love-seat, and after I closed the door behind them I decided to stand beside Bella. I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and when she looked up at me I simply smiled and nodded encouragingly.

Bella took a deep breath before she looked over at my family, "Hi…" She paused and I could see her press her thumb against her scar with such force it made the puckered red skin briefly turn white from lack of blood. "Sorry about the whole… kicking you out thing…" Bella huffed an annoyed breath, "I mean, it was fucking nuts. Who just… breaks into somebody's house?" Jasper sent me a worried look, and silently asked me if I wanted him to calm Bella down. When I remembered how quickly Bella noticed his influence the last time, and how badly she responded to it, I subtly shook my head no. I felt Bella tense, and then she took a few long deep breaths as she struggled to calm herself. Once she had reeled back her anger she started to speak, and I was grateful that none of my family had taken Bella's silence as a cue to start speaking. In fact, it was incredibly out of character for them. There was no snide remark from Rosalie, or poorly times joke from Emmett. No attempts at parental concern from Esme or Carlisle, and no hurried excuses from Alice. "Edward explained that your complete and total lack of boundaries is just your way of… showing that you care." Bella wrinkled her nose as if the actual thought of such emotion was distasteful. "That's just not something I'm used to, I guess. But I told Edward that I want to try, and I do. Just… go easy on me, okay?" Bella smiled nervously at the collection of vampires, and Carlisle's eyes shifted from Bella's to mine as he sent me a direct thought.

Will I upset her again if I were to speak?

I couldn't stop the amused smirk from tugging on the corner of my mouth as I shook my head no.

Carlisle didn't appreciate my apparent amusement at his discomfort, but didn't let it show on his face and instead chose to smile warmly at Bella, "I'd just like to apologise again. After Alice filled me in on your situation it only seemed reasonable to hold a family meeting, and given your current handicap it seemed more appropriate to have the meeting here, rather than expect you to travel almost an hour to our home. That being said, I can see now that it was presumptuous of me. Of course, the Bella I had known would not have reacted so… aggressively, but as Alice so kindly pointed out, you are no longer the Bella I once knew and it was foolish of me to think of you as such." The way Carlisle spoke, and the incredibly quick side eye he gave Alice who was sitting next to him on the sofa doing her best impression of a perfect doting daughter, made me think that Alice had not been kind in her explanations.

Bella seemed to take in Carlisle's words with careful deliberation, but before she could respond Alice very obnoxiously cleared her throat before elbowing Carlisle in the side with so much force he rocked over and bumped into Esme who sat on his other side. Carlisle turned and gave Alice an incredulous look, which Alice returned with a steely glare.

Oh for the love of- I didn't think she was serious. Carlisle thought with more irritation and annoyance than I had ever heard from the old vampire's mind. Whatever it was that Alice had wanted Carlisle to say, he not only found it unnecessary but simply… harebrained. Carlisle turned back from Alice to once again look at Bella, who had observed the exchange with a growing level of anxiety. I gently squeezed her shoulder, hoping to convey that everything was alright.

"I would also like to apologise for… scaring your cat." Carlisle said with a perfect level of deportment and sincerity. Rosalie couldn't help but snicker at this, and a quick scan of my family's minds showed that this part of Carlisle's well rehearsed speech was one that each of them found particularly humorous. The others were doing a much better job at hiding their mirth at our father's embarrassment, and I was especially impressed by Emmett's unusual sense of decorum.

"Anthony," I chimed in helpfully, and I couldn't do anything to stop the cheeky grin from colouring my face, "His name is Anthony."

"Yes, thank you son." Carlisle sniped quickly, but there was no true animosity there, Carlisle could see the humour in the situation. Even if it were at his expense.

I glanced down at Bella, and not even the nervous human was immune to the comedic effect of a 300 year old vampire apologising for startling a cat. She was doing a better job than I was at stifling her growing smirk and she cleared her throat before she said, "Thank you, Carlisle. That means a lot." It was painfully obvious that she was doing her best to remain serious, but a certain level of humorous delight was still present in her tone.

And with that, all the tension in the room was gone. Bella seemed more relaxed and at ease than I thought at all possible and I turned my eye to looked pointedly at my sister.

Alice smiled innocently. You're welcome. She thought purposefully. Alice then decided she needed to speak, "And Bella? For the record, I did not tell them to come here. I called Carlisle to fill him in on the situation and then he made the decision to bring the rest of the family here." She then paused to give Carlisle a particularly venomous glare, "Against all my warnings to the contrary, might I add."

Bella chuckled lightly, "It's alright, Alice. It was a miscommunication, and I will admit that I probably over-reacted, just a little bit." She relented. Bella paused and seemed to take a moment to collect her thoughts, she bit her lip for a moment before she spoke up again, "So, Carlisle… before I kicked you all out earlier you were saying something about a treaty?"

Carlisle seemed happy to have moved past the apologies and onto the reason for the meeting, "Indeed, when the family met the La Push werewolves we made a treaty with them. We would not step foot on their lands, nor would we ever bite a human, and in turn they would not attempt to destroy us."

Bella startled at Carlisle's banal explanation, "Destroy you?" Bella squeaked out, "The werewolves could hurt you?" Bella turned and looked up at me, her face creased with worry.

I acted quickly to reassure Bella that everything was okay, "It's okay, love. Nothing bad is going to happen." I said softly but confidently as I raised my hand to gently caress Bella's cheek with my knuckles.

Bella frantically grabbed at my hand, holding it against her face and I had to make a considerable effort to block out Esme's suddenly very loud and extremely jubilant thoughts at the innocent display of affection. "Are you sure? I don't want any of you to get hurt."

"Don't worry, Bells!" Emmett spoke up for the first time and Bella jumped at his loud interruption. She turned to look at Emmett, who was sitting opposite Bella on the love-seat with Rosalie, "We can take a couple of pups." Emmett grinned impishly. Rosalie didn't offer any platitudes and simply rolled her eyes at her husband's oafishness.

Carlisle's mouth was a stern line as he looked at his youngest son, "I would like to avoid any sort of confrontation." He turned back to Bella, "As such, I was going to suggest I get in contact with Chief Black. I have his contact details from when we were in Forks last, I could call and we could arrange a way for you to meet with your friend Jacob in a way that is safe and acceptable to everyone."

Carlisle seemed rather proud of his diplomatic efforts, but all his hopes of a quick and efficient resolution were immediately dashed.

"No!" Bella objected loudly.

I was startled by Bella's sudden and violent rejection of Carlisle's suggestion. I thought that it was a pretty good compromise. I frowned as I moved to stand in front of Bella, blocking her view of my family before I crouched down in front of her. "Bella, love, please… see reason. Carlisle just wants to help."

Bella frowned and she looked at me as if I had grown a second head, or like she thought I had lost all sense. I briefly wondered if that was how I looked at her when I was questioning her mental state. "Edward, that's not…" Bella barked out a laugh and shook her head, "Jesus Christ." She chuckled, before laughing loudly for a moment, she eventually calmed down enough to speak. "Honestly, for someone as smart as you are Edward, sometimes you're really… dense." Rosalie (who wasn't expecting Bella to say something like that) laughed loudly in agreement. Bella didn't acknowledge her outburst before she clarified what she meant. "I'm fine with the phone call thing, I think that's a really good idea. I also like the 'meet on common ground' thing too, what I have an objection with is Carlisle making that phone call on my behalf."

I thought over Bella's words for a moment, "Bella, it would be better left to Carlisle to act as an ambassador of sorts. He has much more experience with this sort of thing."

Bella rolled her eyes, "No doubt." She scoffed, "But in all fairness, it's not really about Carlisle. Is it?" Bella looked over my head to the rest of the family, "To be honest, it's not really about any of you. I mean, I appreciate that you care about me and want to protect me from a potentially dangerous situation, but this is about me." Bella stressed, her eyes narrowing as she looked at each of the family before turning her gaze back to me. "This is about my memories, about getting answers to questions that I've had for years. I don't need… I don't want anyone to speak for me. I am perfectly capable of being my own advocate." I very quickly understood the double meaning in her words, and I did my best to not let them wound me. Bella was more than capable of being her own advocate, she would have had to be in order to traverse the medical system and get the help she needed over the past few years.

I slowly stood up and went back to my previous position of standing next to Bella, "Carlisle?"

My father figure smiled warmly at me, "I don't see that being an issue." Carlisle then reached into the inner pocket of his jacket and produced his cell phone. He quickly found the home phone number for the Black residence before handing the phone over to Bella.

I was worried. I wasn't sure that this was a good idea and I much preferred the thought of Carlisle acting as a buffer between Bella and anything that could upset her. She had been upset enough over the past few hours, and I wanted to protect her from anything that could be distressing.

Bella took the cellphone from Carlisle and stared at the screen for a moment, it was like she was contemplating whether or not to go through with it. Despite my misgivings, when Bella looked up at me with nervous trepidation I forced my face into an encouraging smile.

Bella smiled back and then pressed the green call button before putting the phone to her ear. I was grateful for my vampiric hearing as it allowed me to listen into both sides of the conversation.

The phone rang for a worryingly long time, before it was answered by a rough male's voice. "Black."

Bella seemed startled for a moment before I watched as she schooled her features. It was like a carefully constructed mask fell into place, and I quickly recognised it as the one she wore while she worked. "Hello, I was wondering if I could please speak to Jacob Black." Bella spoke clearly and politely, as if this were any other professional phone call.

"Speaking." The male voice replied with a small amount of suspicion. "Who is this?" Jacob Black demanded.

"It's Izzie." Bella quickly replied. I was momentarily stunned by Bella's choice of name, and even Bella seemed shocked and for a moment her mask fell as she grimaced, "uh, Isabella," She quickly corrected, "… Isabella Swan."

As the silence on the other side of the phone grew I could hear Bella's heartbeat get louder and faster as her anxiety sky rocketed. "Bella?" Jacob replied in a stunned voice.

I then witnessed how Bella's anxiety rapidly morphed into anger. Her jaw clenched and her eyes became hard and cold, her entire body tensed as she replied. "Izzie. But it's nice to know that you remember me." She sneered cruelly down the line. Jacob began to stutter out an apology mixed with excuses, but it was like Bella didn't even hear him. "Yes. I'm sure you are very sorry." Her tone was wholly unsympathetic and clearly conveyed her disbelief at the werewolf's remorse. Jacob Black stopped his blubbering and Bella continued, "I have recently regained some memories… and I have questions about the accident. Questions I think you are… uniquely qualified to answer."

There was a beat of silence, "Bell-Izzie, I don't know what you're talking about." Jacob replied anxiously.

I winced on behalf of the werewolf on the phone, that was most definitely the wrong thing to say.

"Don't. Don't even try to lie to me Jacob Black!" Bella snapped, her hand that wasn't holding the phone clenched into a tight fist. "I know you were there! And I know all about the wolves."

"Look, I can explain-" Jacob started but Bella once again cut him off.

"Good. But I don't want to have this conversation over the phone. I want to look at you while you explain to me exactly what happened, and then I want you to explain to me why you abandoned me immediately after!" Bella paused and her anger faded slightly into sadness, "I thought you were my friend, Jake."

Jacob didn't seem to know how to answer that, "When can you come to the res?" I could tell he was barely controlling his emotions.

"I can't. Well more accurately, my boyfriend and his family can't." Bella snapped,

"For fuck's sake! The Cullen's? Are you fucking kidding me Bells!?" The werewolf raged.

"You have no right!" Bella raged right back, yelling into the phone. "You have no right to judge me after what you've done! And you owe me this, Jacob Black." Bella was quickly losing her composure and she sniffled as tears started to streak down her face, "After everything I have been through, after everything you forced me to endure alone, you owe me this."

"Fine." Jacob snapped angrily. "Wednesday at 11. At the Cullen's old place."

Before Bella could respond the line went dead. She pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it blankly. I would see Bella's emotional resolve quickly crumbling and I got on my knees in front of her and gently took the cell phone from her hand before I passed it wordlessly to Carlisle behind me. I wasn't sure if she was about to throw it across the room in anger, or dissolve into tearful sobs.

Silent tears were running down her face as she looked at me with a watery smile on her lips. She released a laugh that was more a sob before she said, "Well, that could have gone a lot worse."

A/N: Thanks for reading! Also, there was a comment about the timeline, the Cullen's left after Bella's 18th birthday, four years later would make her 22. I hope that clears things up a bit. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.