Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Twilight

Previously: "You both deserve your happiness"

"But at what expense? By killing her?" No one was able to answer because by then, we all heard Bella's footsteps and beating heart coming towards us.

"Do you want us to talk to her?" Alice looked at me in a volume so low that only vampires could hear.

"For now, let's try to avoid that topic and keep her from making any type of decision about her mortality that she may regret later." Carlisle was the one who answered and I couldn't agree more.

"Are you sure you don't want to take a nap? We still have an hour's drive before we arrive" I looked at Bella at the front seat who just smiled.

"Don't worry, I'll be okay"

She went back to staring at the window and one of the perks of being alone with Bella and not be able to read her mind, was that I was able to take a break from all the thoughts of every human being surrounding us. This allowed me to think peacefully and my mind wandered a few days back when Bella first mentioned that she wanted to become like us. It was something that I have never even thought off when I first realized that I was in love with her.

Even though she eventually let go of the topic, it was pretty clear that she wasn't letting go of the idea. She was more than willing to trade her life for eternal damnation and it's all because of me. I feel like I'm taking away all the good things in her life in the expense of my happiness.

"You're brooding again you know that?" Bella broke my train of thought.

"No… I'm just thinking about what we would expect in Seattle" I lied.

"Huh… I don't really want to expect much."

"Why is that?"

"I don't want to get my hopes up that's all." We drove in silence for a while before we spoke again.

"Bella?"

"Hmmm?"

"Have you ever thought about what you would find once we find a way to get you back to your world?"

She looked at me thoughtfully before answering.

"I do… all the time. But it's hard when I can't really remember anything. I was hoping that If my memory doesn't return before I find my way back, that being there might actually trigger it."

"Hmmm, that would be possible"

"But that would only happen, IF we do find a way to get to wherever that place is."

"You are okay with me accompanying you, right?" I wanted to make sure that she still wanted me to join her.

"Of course! But I can't risk it until we're 100% sure that we can still find our way back here. I don't want you to get stuck in my world and be away from your family."

"You know that I'll be okay with that, as long as I have you so I'm sure my family would understand"

"Huh, I'm still not taking any chances"

"Do you think your family is waiting there for you?" Bella raised her knees up to her chest and shook her head.

"I'm not really sure. I can't really remember past all that war images. Every time I would dream about that, I'd try to decipher every bits and pieces of what I could remember from those images. Maybe my family was part of that dream. I try to remember the faces of the people I saw and would try to check for any resemblance but the dreams always get foggy and I wouldn't get a clear view."

"If only I could read your mind, I would be able to help you with that."

"I know. That would really be helpful" She sighed before continuing "Maybe I should experience something traumatic and painful for the memories to trigger" She said nonchalantly and right away, an image of Bella writhing in pain filled my mind. I cleared my head immediately, trying to bury that thought. I couldn't tell her that, that was exactly what she was going to experience if she was to become one of us. I don't want her getting any ideas about using the transformation to trigger her memories.

"We're almost there" I told her as we entered the city limits to get away from the topic. Bella immediately sat up straight and focused on the city lights ahead. It was a good thing that Jasper was able to set up the meeting during dinner. At least we didn't have to worry about going out during day time.

After parking the car, we walked into a small diner that was just a few blocks away from Seattle Tech. There were only a few customers that night, so it was easier to spot the Seattle Tech employee who stood out wearing a lab coat in one corner and not to mention his mind full of questions about the Cullen family. I wonder what my brothers had told him or did to him to keep him from digging deeper into our family. He was probably more skilled than Jasper in hacking and had access to technology that could easily put two and two together if he wanted to. Whatever it was, I was glad he's not trying to do anything about it for now and reading his thoughts, he seems like a good guy.

I looked at Bella and gestured towards the table where our meeting would be and she nodded as she made her way towards him. His thoughts suddenly changed from curious to smitten at the sight of Bella moving towards him.

Wow… okay… a girl is walking directly towards me… stay calm… stay calm… is she the one I was supposed to meet today? No, that's not possible but then again… okay… be cool… be… His frantic thoughts suddenly turned into alarm the moment he saw me walking close by.

Holy sh…a Cullen! In his mind, I could see all current information available from our family including those that we're not "easily" available in the internet. So, he did do his research… but I could see his research didn't go deeper now that I see him remembering Jasper's word of "caution" if he ever tried looking into our family. It was typical of my brothers, but I was still glad.

"Mr. Barry Johnson?" Bella asked and that brought him back to the present.

"Y...yes?" He cleared his throat.

"Hi, thank you for meeting us at such short notice" Bella greeted him with outstretched hands and he nervously stood up and took it.

"Anything for Mr. Hale and the Cullens. Please, sit." He nodded towards me and his mind clearly showed that he knew exactly who I was. Bella looked at me with one brow raised but I only gave her a mischievous grin.

I knew Bella could feel the tension as soon as she sat down.

"Love…" My ears perked the moment I heard those words coming from her mouth. I never heard her use any term of endearment before and it was music to my ears. Barry's mind however was filled with more questions. Now, he was scrolling through all the information from his mind to find out who Bella was but couldn't find anything.

"Would you be so kind and order me a drink? Chocolate drink would do" She looked at me with those endearing eyes.

I nodded and turned towards him. "Any recommendations?" He gulped the moment I spoke directly to him.

"Ahmmm, you should try the triple chocolate combo"

I looked at Bella for confirmation and she nodded. "I'll have that then. And Edward?" Bella called when I turned to leave. "Do take your time" She smiled knowingly.

I understood. She wanted Barry to feel comfortable talking to us and my presence wasn't clearly doing any of that. I could hear the relief in his mind and choosing the drink wasn't just for recommendation purposes. He knew it was one of the longest drink to prepare.

"So…." He was finally able to say the moment I left.

"I believe we haven't been properly introduced" The bar was too far away from his table for a normal human to hear any of their conversation but that was a problem I didn't have to worry.

"Ah yes. I'm sorry about that Mr. Johnson"

"You can call me Barry"

"Barry… my name is Bella Swan and you can call me Bella and I'm guessing you know my boyfriend over there?"

Boyfriend. Oh.

"I know of him, yes but I've only ever met his big brother"

Bella made a show of whispering.

"You mean Emmett?" He nodded.

"I can understand your reaction. They can be quite scary especially when they're all together but they're really lovable once you get to know them" There was a sudden warmth with her voice when she said those and I couldn't help but smile at her kind words knowing what we are and what we're capable. His mind was incredulous though but he kept quiet. Smart choice.

"Did the Cullens tell you why we're here?" Bella inquired and Barry immediately went all professional.

"Mr. Hale only mentioned something about a technology that he wanted me to look into."

"Yes, we could really use your expertise." Bella turned to look towards me and I waved and indicated to the bartender who was already working on my order. She waved back and went back to their conversation with the watch already in the table.

"May I?" Barry's curiosity peaked and so did mine when I heard his thoughts. He instantly knew that it was no ordinary watch. Bella urged him and he took the watch and turned it over and over in inspection.

"Where did you get this?" He asked in awe.

"I already had it with me when they…. met me" He was now looking at her curiously.

"I kind'a have a little bit of memory loss… long story" she cut her off when he was about to say something. I could already hear him speculating in his mind. "Anyway, we were hoping that thing would be the key for me to getting my memory back but we couldn't seem to make it work" She sighed.

What do you know! She could be the perfect subject for the prototype we're creating! But nah… it's still in its trial phase and we don't have the budget yet to get that thing moving to the next stage… if anything happens… His train of thought intrigued me even more. If they built something that can help Bella with her memories, it was worth a try. We just needed to make sure that it's safe. Looks like a donation is in order then.

"Have you tried wearing this?" Barry went back to their conversation just as Bella's order was done. I slowly made my way back to their table where Barry was too distracted with the gadget to worry about my presence which was a good thing.

"Thanks" Bella smiled after I handed her the drink then looked at Barry.

"Yeah, a few times but it doesn't really do anything. Why?"

"Hmmm, it has bio-metric signature capability all over it. The technology used here is clearly too advanced but I can detect a few traces of available tech. This should only work with whoever bio-metric signature its loaded with so it's just two things. Either the insides are somehow fried and needs to be fixed or… this thing maybe… owned by a different person that's why you can't use it." He was looking at her tentatively and so was I but there was something that I remembered when Bella was sharing her memory.

"Bella, you remember using the watch before the accident happened, right?" She nodded.

"That's right! I remember being able to use it before the blast!"

"Blast?! You mean an explosion?!" Bella gave me a sideways glance and I gave her a nod. Barry's mind was curious but there was no hint of suspicion. He was genuinely trying to decipher how the device can be fixed.

"Ahmmm, yes. In a way…" Bella told him tentatively.

"Close range?"

"Ahhh yeah…"

"Hmmm, that could be it. If you want, I can work on this for you during my free time. I'm hoping some of the parts inside are available or at least not alien then that's gonna be a problem for us" He laughed and Bella smiled in response.

"You believe in aliens?"

"For a guy like me? That would probably be the coolest thing I would ever get to see. Aliens, parallel universe, humans with super powers… a guy can dream" he sighed in the end but Bella was only silent. I'm skeptic about the alien part but the rest of the things he said already seems true in Bella's case.

"What do you think?" I asked Bella while driving back to Forks.

"Hmmm… I know I said earlier that I didn't want to get my hopes up but after meeting Barry, I feel like there's something I can finally hold on to" I could hear a relief in her voice. Even though I know that she chose to stay in this world with me, I can still sense her desire to go back and I understood her. If it was me, I would do the same.

"All we have to do is wait for news then". She looked at me and nodded.