Edward POV

I didn't relish the thought of harming another living being, but I could make an easy exception for anyone posing a threat to my family. I just hoped it wouldn't come to that. My greatest hope for our safety hinged on Aro's intense interest in his "collection" of gifted vampires. He had been wanting Alice and me to join him for decades, and while we'd never given in, I had to hope that he wouldn't want to destroy such rare gifts completely. There was also the fact that in the long run, Bella did still plan to become a vampire, and he would have to believe that when we showed him the truth. I hoped against all odds that his curiosity would win out and buy us some time.

It was getting late, and Bella had been acting strange all afternoon since we delivered the bad news. I found her pacing in our bedroom, eyes frantic.

"Bella, sweetheart, calm down. Everything is going to be fine. You should get some rest," I told her.

She turned and looked at me, and a single unexpected sob broke free. She clapped her hands over her mouth like she hadn't known it was coming.

"Bella?" I rushed to her side and pulled her into a hug to comfort her, then felt her warm hands press forcefully against my chest.

"No," she said, the sound muffled by my shirt. I immediately let her go.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't…" She turned her back to me and covered her face with her hands. "I can't do this anymore."

"What do you mean?" I asked. I would have given everything to read her mind in that moment.

She took several deep breaths trying to calm herself. "This doesn't feel right anymore, Edward. I thought I knew what I wanted, that I wanted us. I thought that we were strong enough to handle anything, but…things have changed."

"Bella, if this is about the Volturi, we can beat them. We're going to get through this together, just like everything we've made it through before," I reassured her.

"It's not about the Volturi. I've been feeling this way for a while, and I think I couldn't admit it to myself until now. I just can't…" She hesitated. "I can't let you fight for me when my heart's not in it. When my heart belongs to someone else." It was barely louder than a whisper, but I heard every syllable with a painful clarity.

Her words hit me with a force I hadn't expected. I sat on the bed, stunned. There had been so many times when I wondered if this would happen, when I practically urged her towards Jacob for her own safety, but I never imagined the feeling of this hole that would form in my chest when it finally worked.

"The dreams?" I asked. I thought of her hesitancy to share their content with me. I had mistaken it for shyness, but no. Now I could see it had been something else. Guilt.

She looked at the floor and nodded. Her cheeks went a bright scarlet red.

"I understand." It was all I could think to say at first. "But Bella, this doesn't change anything. We still have to deal with the Volturi. We'll still ensure your safety," I promised her.

She took a step closer to me and held my hand. My fingers burned in hers.

"I'll always love you, Edward, and I'm so sorry, but this is what I want. I've made my decision." She made eye contact with me for what felt like the first time in the conversation, and the depth of sadness there was unmistakable. I hated myself for putting her in this situation in the first place, for being the cause of this pain. It wasn't her fault that she was finally seeing the truth.

"I'm going to go now, and I don't want you to come after me." She let go of my hand and walked over to the closet, then pulled the suitcase out and laid it on the bed. She started haphazardly tossing clothes in, not even bothering to take them off of the hangers.

"Of course, I'll just…give you some space." I spoke the words, but I couldn't move.

"Edward," Alice said from the doorway. "Carlisle needs you downstairs in his office." I understood the lie for what it was. Carlisle was in the living room with everyone else, mourning the words they'd just heard Bella speak to me.

"Right. I'm coming." I willed my feet to move and turned to walk out of the room.

I'll make sure she gets there safely, Alice thought towards me.

I nodded, then finally forced myself from the room.

Bella POV

Somehow, I filled the suitcase and zipped it up. I didn't have a clue what was inside, only the weight of the thing as I tried to lift it told me that I'd packed. My body shifted into autopilot. Alice wordlessly took it from my hands and carried it down the stairs, and I kept my eyes forward as I walked out the door. I couldn't look at anyone, not with what I had just done. I felt like a zombie.

Alice tried to insist on driving me, but I told her I was going to Jake's and that it wouldn't be safe for her to cross the treaty line, especially now that he wasn't part of the pack anymore and couldn't try to protect her. I managed to talk her into letting me take the Guardian if I promised to drive straight there. Then she gave me a big hug and told me she understood. I hated that word now, and I really, really hoped that she didn't.

I tried to forget the look on Edward's face as I drove to La Push. He had looked utterly defeated, like he had lost me forever. I hated myself for the lie I had to tell, and I hated how easily he believed it. It was like leaving Charlie when James was tracking me had been a practice run for this moment. For the second time in my life, I found myself digging for the harmful words that I knew would do the job, the worst fear that would be too easily believed, and I twisted them like a dagger to save us. I prayed that it would be worth it in the end.

It was dark when I pulled in to Jake's garage, which he'd cleaned in a hurry so that we could hide my car, and I could barely make out his silhouette just out of reach of the high-beams. He was already opening my door the moment I cut the engine.

"Did they believe it?" he asked, taking my hand to help me up. I nodded.

"This next part is going to be…complicated," he admitted. "I tried to find a way to tell him before you came, but I couldn't do it. He's going to see right through any lie we try to tell."

"Billy doesn't know?" I asked, incredulous. Part of the plan had been Jake filling his dad in before I got here. I wasn't sure what exactly he was planning to say, but he had to tell him something.

"I'm pretty sure he thinks you're a vampire. That the reason nobody has seen you in months is that you're a bloodthirsty newborn and they're keeping you close until you can control yourself."

I stared at him. This was going to be a nightmare. Not only was Billy about to find out that I was alive when he thought I was dead, but he was going to find out that I was technically carrying his grandchild at the same time. This felt like way too much to spring on him at once. I cringed, thinking about Harry Clearwater's heart attack after Leah phased unexpectedly.

I suddenly felt the heat of Jake's massive hand covering mine in the dark, and a small hint of relief flooded my body. "We can do this," he reassured me. "It's going to be awkward, and he's not going to like it, but he'll understand."

"Are you sure? What are you going to say?" I asked.

"I think we have to tell him the truth. All of it."

It almost felt easier just letting him believe that I'd had an affair with Jake and finally left Edward for him, but that would be a more painful lie for all of us. I didn't want to have to put on a performance with him, not for his dad.

"If you're sure."

He squeezed my hand. "Let's get this over with. I'll do the talking."

He pulled me towards the front door, and my heart pounded fast in my chest. I suddenly wished I was walking into Charlie's house instead of Billy's, but that just wasn't possible. I missed him like crazy.

Jake opened the door, and I could hear a TV. It was a straight shot from the kitchen door where we stood into the living room, and I pictured Billy in his favorite recliner where I knew he would be sitting. Jake still held my hand in his and held the door open with the other. I was standing just out of view.

"Dad, there's something I need to tell you," he started.

"Oh yeah? From all the way out there?" The TV went silent. I imagined Billy's head turning away from the TV to face the door, the remote control in his hand. This was it.

Jake inched forward and gently pulled me alongside him, allowing me to squeeze in the doorframe past him first. There was no way we were both fitting through that door, not in my current condition.

Billy was sitting in his recliner, just as I'd imagined. He locked eyes with me and gasped. There was a momentary look of shock and anger, but then I saw his eyes travel to my stomach. The anger changed to confusion, and then something like reluctant understanding, like he suddenly understood something about what he was seeing but wished that he didn't. I couldn't begin to guess what he was feeling.

"Bella? What in God's name…Jacob! What is going on?"

"It's a long story. And it's going to sound a little…crazy."

"Humor me," he said, but there was no joking tone behind the words. Billy's eyes were cold and angry now, there was no mistaking it. I couldn't blame him, not with the secret we'd been keeping and the one we were about to drag him into.

I squeezed Jake's hand and held it while he told him everything.

Jacob POV

I had to give my dad credit. He handled himself pretty well in front of Bella while I told him the whole story, all things considered. I might have glossed over the part where we actually had sex, but apart from that, he got the full truth. My offer to be a sperm donor (which he already knew, thanks to Sam). Bella's decision to be turned when it didn't work. How she ran here when she couldn't go through with it and that we'd tried again, successfully. And now, the Volturi and our crazy scheme to save the Cullens by deceiving them.

He waited until I'd gotten Bella settled into my bed to really say what was on his mind. The disappointed look on his face was worse than being yelled at as I sank into my usual spot on our old couch.

"I thought you knew better than this, Jake," he said. "This isn't how I raised you."

"You raised me to do what's right." I muttered. It sounded pathetic.

"You think this is right, son? Right now, in this very moment, there is another man's—no, not man, a vampire's wife in your bed. And she's pregnant with your child. I can think of a lot of words for this situation, and 'right' isn't one of them." He sighed, then continued. "I know that all of these changes you've gone through have forced you to grow up faster than I would've liked, and I've tried hard not to treat you like a child because of it. You've always been so level-headed and responsible. But maybe I was wrong. You're just a seventeen-year-old kid, and I've been letting you run around making all these big decisions behind my back like you're grown when you're not."

Great, now he was blaming himself for the mess I'd gotten myself into.

"You couldn't have stopped me if you tried," I told him. I meant it reassuringly, not out of defiance.

I didn't know how to make him understand. Hell, how could I make him understand something I didn't understand myself? I'd been chasing this gut feeling for months and purposely ignoring all the signs pointing to disaster. The worst part was I knew exactly how crazy it all was, and I still couldn't make myself feel any different.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I know this is so screwed up. I just…I don't know how to explain it. I'm not blind, I can see how crazy it all is, I swear. But something deep down just tells me that this is right. It's like my brain says one thing and my gut says another. Does that make any sense? I couldn't just let her…I couldn't."

His eyes looked sad. "That feeling's not your gut, Jake. It's your heart, and despite what movies will tell you, you can't just follow it blindly. It's leading you off a cliff, son. I suppose it's too late for this conversation anyhow." He looked away, and I knew he didn't mean the time, even though it was past 11 now. He meant that I'd already screwed this up in every way possible, and there was nothing he could say that would go back and undo any of it.

"Go get some rest. We're not going to solve any of this tonight." He paused, and I waited for him to say something else. Something predictable and wise and dad-like. Something that was somehow both condescending and supportive at the same time, like I don't have to like this, but you're still my son. We'll get through it.

Instead, he wheeled himself into his room without another word.

Two days later, Alice called Bella to ask if the two of us could meet with them to talk about revised plans regarding the Volturi's visit. Apparently she'd had another vision, and she assured Bella that it would just be her, Carlisle, and Esme present and that the others would be off hunting. I was reluctant to face them, but it would be safe enough without Edward around to read my mind. Bella and I agreed that we needed to do it, no matter how awkward it might be. Besides, it couldn't be much worse than sitting around the house with my dad, who was clearly uncomfortable with the whole situation despite saying it was fine for Bella to stay.

The tension felt almost unbearable as the five of us sat in the Cullens' living room, but maybe that was just me. I glanced at Bella and could see that her hand was shaking the slightest bit on her knee. I started to grab it to comfort her, then thought better of it. No, definitely not just me, then. Hopefully the Cullens would just assume she was feeling the normal amount of nervous and guilty over leaving Edward. I was suddenly grateful that Alice's mate with the freaky sense for feelings was off hunting, too.

Esme had already been very polite in welcoming us inside, and I was perfectly okay just ignoring the giant elephant in the room if they were. But then I noticed the look on Bella's face, and I could practically see the word vomit before it started.

"I'm so sorry, I never meant for this to happen. I love you guys, and I feel absolutely terrible—"

Alice cut her off. "Bella, don't. You can't help how you feel, and we all care a lot about you. Let's just figure this out, okay? We've got more important things to worry about right now."

The way she mentioned "more important things" had me feeling like a giant douche. I realized how incredibly selfish we must have looked to them in that moment, unable to wait one more second to tear their world apart in the middle of a life or death crisis. But maybe that made it all the more believable. Funny how impending doom can make a person do crazy things they've been too scared to do. Like, I don't know, have sex with their best friend. It wasn't hard to believe that being faced with the Volturi might make Bella finally realize that she didn't want to become one of them. Or maybe they just thought that she was an indecisive mess that didn't really know what she wanted. Any of that would work, as long as they didn't see the truth of our plan underneath it all.

"So you said you saw something new?" I tried to steer Alice to the reason we were here and stop Bella from saying too much.

"Yes. They're coming next Thursday. Aro has decided to bring Felix and Demetri instead. Jane and Alec aren't coming."

"That's good news, right? Now it's just three of them instead of four?"

"It's not exactly good news." Alice continued to explain her vision. "They find it odd that we haven't made an effort to prove Bella's vampire status to them, especially after they're sure I've seen that they're coming. They can't be sure, of course, but they suspect that she may still be human and that we might try to hide her. Bella, I'm so sorry, but they've decided that if Demetri has to track you, they won't stop to ask any questions. It will be considered treason for all of us."

Carlisle picked up where Alice left off. "Jacob, Demetri is what we call a tracker. His particular gift, if you will, is his ability to hunt and find any person or thing he desires. He's the best I've seen in my entire existence, unfortunately. Attempting to hide from him would be…unwise. It would be impossible."

I tried to let their words sink in, but I couldn't accept what I thought they were implying. Did they really think we should expose Bella to these monsters? Shouldn't we be doing everything we could to keep her as far away as possible?

"Alice, can you see…if I don't run and I try to explain to them that I'm with Jacob now, that I need to know about vampires as a…as a mate to a werewolf…would that change anything? If that's my decision, can you see what would happen?" Bella asked.

"No, I'm sorry, Bella. I wish I could."

Esme looked as worried as I felt, but Carlisle looked intrigued.

"I have to admit, I hadn't considered that loophole myself," he said. "But it's a long shot."

"And what are our odds if I run?" Bella asked.

Carlisle frowned. "I don't want to scare you, Bella, but Demetri is extremely dangerous. It wouldn't be a matter of if he would find you, but when, and probably much more quickly than you might expect. He doesn't just do it as a job for Aro; it's his life's pleasure and a game to him. Whenever he would come across another tracker, he would pick a target and challenge them to a race to see who could find the unfortunate person first. As far as I know, he never lost a hunt. Or a target."

"Then I'll stay," she said.

My hands involuntarily balled into fists at the thought of Bella in a room with these dangerous freaks.

"Bella is our priority, no matter what," Esme spoke up. "Whether she's here with us, or far away. It's a matter of where will she be safest?"

I hated the options because they all sucked and none of them were safe.

"Jacob, if she's here with us, there will be more of us to protect her. Like you said, it's three of them instead of four, so that's something if it comes to a fight." Alice tried to reason with me. "Trust me, I hate the idea as much as you do, but do you really want to risk being alone with Bella when Demetri finds you? And what if he brings backup? There's still time for them to change their minds and throw something at us that we're not prepared for. At least here, we outnumber them."

"How can you be sure we'll outnumber them? You just said yourself that your visions can change. What if they decide to bring an army and Bella's here waiting?"

"You can play devil's advocate all day long, Jacob, and you'll always find a hole in the plan. We just have to do what makes the most sense with the information we have. And right now, I have to agree with Bella. We should stick together where there will be more of us to protect her and so we don't set off Demetri." Alice paused for a moment. "Do you know what happened with James?" She asked me.

"I know enough. I get it, trackers are dangerous."

"No, I mean, do you know what Bella did?"

I looked at Bella, confused. "Alice, that's not necessary…" she started.

"I'm sorry Bella, but he needs to know all of the reasons why splitting up can be dangerous." She turned back to face me again. "James lured her away from us. He called her and made her believe that he had Renee, and she snuck away and went straight to him. Alone. You must have noticed that scar on her arm."

I looked at Bella again. "Is that true?" I knew that James had stalked her and that's why she left Charlie, but we had never talked about the details of that night in depth, and I had filled in the blanks with my own assumptions about Bella being kidnapped. I didn't realize she had gone willingly.

"It wasn't like that…this isn't the same," Bella argued. She glared at Alice.

Of course she would risk her life like that in some misguided attempt to save someone she loved. It sounded just like her, stubborn as hell and unwilling to see her own weakness. But I also believed her when she said it wasn't the same. She had more than her own life to worry about this time.

I didn't want to admit it, but I knew Alice was right about the risk that something might change if we went off on our own. As much as I wanted to believe that I could protect her, the truth was if it was more than one of them after us, I'd be too focused on fighting to help Bella. I would never forgive myself if I led her into a situation like that.

"So IF we stay, and I'm not saying that's the answer, how to do do this?" I asked.

"Plan A would be trying to reason with them," Carlisle explained. "I have a history with the Volturi. I wouldn't call us friends, exactly, but we've always been on good enough terms. They may not understand or share in our choice of lifestyle, but they're not complete savages. They value loyalty. I have to believe that Aro would find it wasteful at the very least to end us and the potential that he sees in several of my children."

"Potential?" I asked.

"He's a collector of talents. He is most intrigued by Alice's gifts, and he is eager to find out what traits would show in Bella after the change."

So this Aro prick was a greedy bastard. Got it.

"And if that doesn't work, Plan B is we fight," I said.

Carlisle nodded. "Right. I hope we can come to an understanding of some sort, but if it comes to that, when the moment comes, I think you should leave and take Bella to safety and let us deal with them. As long as we outnumber them and Demetri is occupied with us, there will be a chance for you to escape without him going after you."

For a moment, I wondered if Carlisle's kindness was too much of a weakness. If he had a past with these assholes, would he really be able to end them without hesitating if it came down to it? "Not exactly friends" was a very different thing than being enemies. I thought of Sam and Paul and how infuriating it was sometimes that everything always seemed so black and white to them. Right about now, I really missed that quality. They wouldn't think twice before tearing Aro's throat out. Unfortunately, they probably wouldn't think too much of tearing out Carlisle's either, or hell, even mine at the moment, so it was a moot point.

I turned to the person whose opinion mattered the most.

"Bella, are you sure you want to do it this way?"

"We have to try," she said.

"The minute it seems like things are going south, we're out of here," I told her. She nodded.

"So we're in agreement, then," Carlisle said.

I sighed. "I wish there was another way, but yes. Alice, please let us know if you see anything else."

"Of course. We'll share this plan with the others once they get back. We'll be in touch."

I nodded. That was our cue to leave. I stood from the couch, and Alice and I each grabbed one of Bella's hands to help her up. It surprised me a little when she made her way over to Esme and gave her a tight hug. The look on Esme's face over Bella's shoulder as they embraced told me all that I needed to know about their relationship. This woman really had accepted Bella as a daughter. She would be so relieved when all of this was over and she realized that Bella was coming back to them. I looked away and tried not to think about what that would mean for me.

"It's all going to be okay," she whispered to Bella. "And we love you, no matter what."