*A/N A slightly different perspective this chapter!

While Niki had been reading Alice's note, at the Cullen house an emergency meeting was being held.

In the dining room that was never used for its intended purpose, the entire family sat at the long mahogany table that they most often used as a conference table to defuse arguments. That afternoon, however, they all gathered for a far more serious debate. One that they had never really needed before because usually, when one of them accidentally exposed any part of the secret, the other party never survived to bear potential witness.

It seemed, Edward reflected as he looked around at his family grimly, that Bella Swan - and Niki Black by extension - really were causing him to break all the rules.

Carlise looked just as grim as he sat as usual at the eastern head of the room, Esme at his side. The couple had their hands entwined on top of the table but Edward, from where he sat on Carlisle's other side, knew that didn't mean Esme would necessarily agree with Carlisle. He had spent the entire afternoon planning and Edward didn't need to hear their thoughts to know Carlisle would be against any violence while Esme would be for any plan that kept them safe. The soul vs. the heart, as it were. Still, Esme would never kill an innocent herself so he didn't need to fear fighting his mother to keep Bella and Niki safe.

To no one, least of all Edward's, surprise, Rosalie sat directly across from Carlisle at the other end of the table. The lead opposition and she knew it. They all did. Rosalie's eyes never moved from where they were glaring at Edward, again to no one's surprise. Upon his return from the hospital to the school and his family, Edward had discovered Rosalie was, as to be expected, on the warpath. And the entire way home from school, she had mentally screamed only insults and vicious thoughts at him. No, Edward was not surprised by where she had chosen to draw the battle line.

Emmett was seated beside his mate; he was more wry and thoughtful than Rosalie but Edward knew Emmett, while more reluctant, would side with Rose in an argument… or a fight. Still, Emmett and Rosalie were the lesser concerns in Edward's books. After all, not even Emmett, with his superior strength, had ever managed to beat Edward in a wrestling match.

Unlike Emmett, Timothy had chosen to stand against the wall in the middle of the room. This Edward did find surprising. He had known Tim would not be as angry as Rosalie, not one to be emotionally driven as Rosalie tended to be, but Edward had fully expected Tim to be for removing the risk regardless. For Alice. To keep her safe, even if she was friends with Niki. For Tim to take a neutral place at the table was an unexpected move, and Rosalie clearly disliked what it might mean. Edward however concluded tensely that the fact that Tim chose to stand aloof more likely meant that Tim had simply already decided. Regardless of the outcome of their debate. The thought made Edward want to gnash his teeth together.

Jasper was also settled against the wall beside Tim, both males keeping their thoughts carefully hidden and further solidifying Edward's conclusion that they were the greatest threats. It didn't matter that he found Niki interesting, Jasper was a soldier at heart and Edward was sure he valued his family too much to risk their safety for a human girl. If it came to a fight, Edward had to admit Jasper and Tim were the ones he was most concerned about. Jasper was the best and definitely most experienced fighter of the family; together with Tim, they were a formidable pair. Edward's one advantage lay in that he could hear their thoughts and could predict their moves before they made them. There was no true 'instinct', especially not in a controlled fight like they would undoubtedly execute and Edward would be able to block them… although could he fight both of them and win? The thought made his stomach twist.

It was Alice's position at the table that gave Edward some small confidence. Edward had suspected she would side with whoever she saw would win the fight, although he didn't entirely relax even when she settled into the seat beside Esme. Alice had behaved out of the ordinary (even for Alice) ever since the accident. She had gone straight home after Niki and Bella were wheeled away in the ambulance, leaving instructions for Tim to stay at school to lessen the suspicion. And she continued to hide her thoughts from Edward even now although he could hear her searching into the future despite the fact that what she was looking for remained murky and dark. The few glimpses she did have however were strange: sometimes, Tim was running alone toward the Swan house, sometimes he and Jasper were there, but always Edward was there to block them, and sometimes… Jasper was running alone although the destination wasn't clear. And what disturbed Edward was that he didn't see himself in those futures.

Once the family were all seated and the silence had gone on for a solid minute, Edward started off.

"I'm sorry." He looked mostly toward the other side of the table but also aimed his words at Tim and Jasper. "I didn't mean to put any of you at risk. It was thoughtless, and I take full responsibility for my hasty action."

"What do you mean, 'take full responsibility'?" Rosalie demanded, just short of snarling as she glared at Edward hatefully. "Are you going to fix it?"

"Not the way you mean." Edward cut her off, although he didn't raise his voice at his sister. "I'm willing to leave now, if that makes things better."

As expected, Esme was against that idea; Emmett was too as he disagreed, "You can't go anywhere now. That would be the opposite of helpful. We have to know what people are thinking, now more than ever."

"Alice will catch anything major." Edward countered but Carlise was the one who showed disagreement this time.

"I think Emmett is right, Edward. The girls will be more likely to talk if you disappear. It's all of us leave or none of us."

"They won't say anything." Edward insisted.

But Carlisle reminded him, "You don't know the mind of the Swan girl. And you mentioned before that Niki Black was already suspicious of you."

"And if they talk to the younger sister-" Rosalie chimed in sharply.

"She won't. They won't." Edward snapped back. "Alice, back me up."

Alice shook her head as she answered, "I can't see what will happen if we just ignore this."

Her eyes flitted meaningfully to Rosalie and briefly to Tim, who Edward noted looked particularly unhappy. Again, it was odd because if he was as decided to attack as Alice hinted he was, then why did he look so unhappy? Jasper was also frowning although he was doing so at Rosalie - again, odd. But Edward couldn't pick his brothers' minds as Rosalie demanded his attention again by smacking her palm down on the table with a loud bang and a dangerous shaking of the solid wooden top.

"We can't allow the humans a chance to say anything. Carlisle, you must see that. Even if we decided to all disappear, it's not safe to leave stories behind us. We live so differently from the rest of our kind. You know there are those who would love an excuse to point fingers. We have to be more careful than anyone else!"

"We've left rumors behind us before." Edward shot back but Rosalie slammed her hand on the table again. There was an ominous creak when she did.

"Just rumours and suspicions, Edward. Not eyewitnesses and evidence!"

Tim's gaze was flickering back and forth between them, and Edward was surprised at the indecision he saw in his brother's eyes. It seemed then that he was wrong - Timothy wasn't as decided as it seemed. But why? And why, Edward wondered as his gaze briefly landed on Jasper, who was avoiding his gaze, did it seem Jasper's mind was made up?

"Rose-" Carlisle was starting to say with a weary tone but Rosalie cut him off impatiently.

"Let me finish, Carlisle. It doesn't have to be any big production. The girls both hit their heads today. So maybe that injury turns out to be more serious than it looked."

Edward frowned when Jasper's expression hardened but Rosalie didn't notice as she continued.

"Every mortal goes to sleep with the chance of never waking up. The others would expect us to clean up after ourselves. Technically, that would make it Edward's job, but this is obviously beyond him. You know I'm capable of control. I would leave no evidence behind me."

The last few sentences had drawn Edward's attention back to Rosalie as anger gripped him and he snarled, "Yes, Rosalie, we all know how proficient an assassin you are."

Rosalie hissed, furious, and her expression as she turned on Edward as dangerous. He didn't care.

"Besides, there's the treaty with the Quileutes." Edward insisted. "We can't touch Niki and she won't stay quiet if anything happens to Bella-"

"So we just never come back here. There are no more wolves left to protect her, they died out." Rosalie snapped.

"Didn't realize you took promises so lightly, Rosalie. Emmett, maybe you need to watch out."

Rosalie leapt to her feet, ready to snap Edward's neck.

"Edward, please." It was Carlisle who called them back to order as usual. "Rosalie, I looked the other way in Rochester because I felt that you were owed your justice. The men you killed had wronged you monstrously. This is not the same situation. These girls are innocent."

"It's not personal, Carlisle." Rosalie refuted although she was speaking through her teeth as she fought to keep her temper down. "It's to protect us all."

Carlisle appeared to deliberate but when he finally spoke, Rosalie was disappointed.

"I know you mean well, Rosalie, but...I'd like very much for our family to be worth protecting. The occasional...accident or lapse in control is a regrettable part of who we are. To murder a blameless child, and worse children, in cold blood is another thing entirely. I believe the risk they present, whether they speak their suspicions or not, is nothing to the greater risk. If we make exceptions to protect ourselves, we risk something much more important. We risk losing the essence of who we are."

Rosalie scowled.

"It's just being responsible." She muttered.

But Carlisle corrected quite gently, "It's being callous. Every life is precious."

Rosalie sighed, pouting but it was clear she was won - she would never betray Carlisle, not like that. Emmett patted his wife's shoulder, looking relieved as well as he soothed, "It'll be fine, Rose."

"The question," Carlisle continued as he surveyed the room, "is whether we should move on?"

"No." Rosalie groaned, shoulders slumping. "We just got settled. I don't want to start my sophomore year in high school again!"

"You could keep your present age, of course." Carlisle offered but Rosalie snapped back, "And have to move again that much sooner? I like it here! There's so little sun, we get to be almost normal."

Edward was about to point out how quickly Rosalie had been willing to never come back in exchange for killing Niki Black, but Carlisle was already speaking.

"Well, we certainly don't have to decide now." Carlisle suggested. "We can wait and see if it becomes necessary. Edward seems certain of the girls' silence. And he is right, we have a promise with the Quileutes - that means Niki Black is protected but she is also bound by her own great-grandfather's oath to keep our secret."

Rosalie scoffed but Edward's attention was no longer on Rosalie. She was going to remain furious with him for years, maybe decades, but she wasn't going to break her word. His concern now was with Tim and Jasper. Their thoughts remained closed, and Edward was almost certain it was because they didn't want him to know what they were planning. He was also sure he knew why they would act as he feared they would. Before finding Alice and coming to the Cullens, the pair had lived in a constant war. They had been reborn into a cruel world where they, especially Jasper, had seen the consequences of flouting the rules with their very own eyes. They were not going to be easily swayed from overlooking the fact that there had been 'witnesses'.

And so, as Carlisle and Rosalie moved onto unimportant details (at least, from Edward's perspective), he moved in on his brothers. Or rather, he had intended to.

"Tim-" Edward started, sensing that Tim would be the harder one to convince with Alice's safety on the line to boot, but it was Alice who interrupted.

"You don't have to worry about Tim or Jazz, Edward."

"What?" Edward asked, looking at Alice in surprise.

The rest of the family did too, but Edward was further confused when Tim seemed to sigh heavily but in resignation.

"Alice, you're sure?" He asked and Alice nodded.

It was then that Edward finally saw what had been on Alice's mind and he froze. His mouth dropped open with a gasp.

"What's going on?" Emmett asked.

Edward didn't respond while Alice smiled.

"Nico and Bella aren't going to say anything to anyone except Mia, who as we know has her own secret to protect."

None of the Cullens could argue; it was still somewhat shocking to think about what Edward had uncovered in Mia's head, of the memory of her physical power. It was rare for humans to display potential for supernatural powers, and for a power as physical as telekinesis to manifest so potently in a human was almost unheard of.

Alice continued, "None of them will go any further with the information. There's nothing to worry about."

Alice smiled, her vision having cleared once Rosalie moved on from the argument and Tim also gave up any thoughts of moving on his own. Edward also watched the image he could see in her mind: her arms wrapped around Niki while Bella hugged the both of them, all of them grinning widely.

"And one day, we're going to be best friends. And I'll love them both as I love all of you - as I already love Nico."

The rest of the family exchanged glances; all, except Edward, who sensed something else. Something that Alice was hiding; that she had been hiding for a while now.

"What, Alice? What are you hiding?" Edward demanded, ignoring Emmett's grumbles about how annoying it was when Alice and Edward had their future-reading telepathic conversations.

But Alice was fighting Edward this time, refusing to let him in as she suddenly focused hard on Tim's future, but only his immediate ones: what he was going to wear tomorrow, what he would do tonight, how his homework was going to go-

"Is it about the girls?" Edward demanded irately. "Is it about Bella?"

At the elder Swan sister's name, Alice faltered. It was only for a split second but it was enough for Edward to see her thoughts and he was on his feet and shouting before any of them realized it.

"NO!"

"Edward!"

Carlisle was on his feet next, his arm around Edward as he watched his son in alarm. Not that Edward noticed, still locked in Alice's mind as she finally stopped trying to keep him out.

"It's solidifying." Alice whispered as she let him see what she had been hiding ever since he had returned from Denali. Since he had spoken to Bella for the first time. "Every minute you're more decided. There are really only two ways left for her. It's one or the other, Edward."

Edward shook his head with a mixture of horror and determination even as the picture solidified in his mind as Alice let down her mental walls. He refused to accept the image of Bella with marble white skin and glowing gold eyes that Alice showed him. He would never let that future become a reality, anymore than the picture Alice still saw sometimes of him standing over Bella's dead, drained body while his eyes glowed bright red with her blood.

"You can try to stop it." Alice told him mentally, her tone filled with skepticism.

Emmett meanwhile chimed in aloud, "Will somebody please let the rest of us in on the mystery?"

But Edward and Alice were still lost in their silent conversation and made no response. However, it was - to most of the family's shock - Jasper who responded.

"He is falling for the human girl."

That got everyone's attention. Fast.

"What?!"

Rosalie looked stunned, albeit in a furious way, while Tim, Emmett, Carlisle and Esme were struck dumb for a moment in shock. Then, Emmett began to laugh.

"Is that what's been going on?" He chortled before slapping a hand on Edward's shoulder. "Tough break, Edward."

"That is so classically, Edward." Rosalie muttered, sounding torn between viciously amused and highly irritated.

Edward apparently didn't even notice as he slowly turned to face Jasper.

"How did you know what Alice saw?" He demanded in a low voice. "Not even Tim knew, so how could you?"

Jasper met his gaze evenly, looking highly unimpressed with his brother. "Not everything revolves around you, Edward. Alice didn't tell me anything."

'I can see it, I can feel it in you, and I know what it is.' Jasper added mentally, shocking Edward with his full revelation. With the truth he had hidden from Edward so far. Edward gaped like a fish while Emmett groaned.

"I thought we were done with this." He grumbled, put out at being left out of the conversation again, but Edward ignored him.

"I'm not… I can't..." Edward struggled to put his feelings and his thoughts into words; a first for him. "I am not interested in her in that way. I will not go down that path that will only end in disaster."

"You can try." Jasper sounded skeptical. "But answer me this, Edward. If you are not in love with the girl, then why did you run to save her, knowing everything you risked?"

Edward was silenced; however, Jasper's words made Rosalie frown.

"But… you lunged for the other girl, didn't you?" Rosalie said slowly, looking at Jasper. "At the time, when Alice gasped and you started to move, we assumed you were about to lose control; but that wasn't it, was it?"

"No, it wasn't."

Jasper admitted it so freely in so bland a tone that it didn't sink in immediately for most of the family. Edward was already reeling from the two futures Alice had shown him would be Bella's fate, and then from the revelation Jasper's thoughts had already sprung on him so he remained dazed while the others looked a little blankly at Jasper. But soon, Rosalie and Emmett were there with Edward as they stared at Jasper with wide eyes. Tim - who had already gathered the truth from Alice and Jasper himself - was less surprised while Carlisle was merely thoughtful. And Esme… Esme was starting to burst with joy.

"How… when…?" Emmett gaped.

"Maybe the day I talked to her. I don't know." Jasper shrugged. "I didn't realize the depth of my feelings for her until I thought she was about to die. And I knew I couldn't let that happen, even if the secret was exposed. Not her."

Esme's expression turned emotional and if she wasn't incapable of crying, she probably would have been crying a little bit as she stared proudly at her adoptive son. Emmet meanwhile started to laugh although he still sounded a little stunned.

"To think you, Jasper, would fall for a girl descended from the wolves."

Rosalie looked far less pleased; in fact, she looked almost even angrier than she had been with Edward. But Edward knew now, without a doubt, that Niki Black at least was forever safe from Rosalie. For whatever reason, Rosalie had always been close to Jasper and she cared about Jasper the most after Emmett (tied at least with Carlise). Jasper was one of the few rare people in the world who Rosalie showed her softer side to on a regular basis, and Edward knew she would never do anything that would hurt Jasper no matter how spiteful she was feeling. And now that she knew Jasper's feelings for Niki, she would not harm the Quileute girl no matter how much she feared their secret being exposed.

Jasper meanwhile was looking at Emmett and he clarified slowly, "I don't… love her. Not yet. But I know better than anyone what the beginnings of a mate bond feel like. And I know I'm not mistaken."

The latter part, he directed at Edward, whose face looked ashen. It was Carlisle who spoke up next.

"Well, this...complicates things." He began slowly, only to be interrupted by Emmett.

"I'll say." Emmett was full-on laughing now.

Rosalie glared at her husband, causing Emmett to raise his hands in surrender while Carlisle continued thoughtfully, "I suppose the plans remain the same, though. We'll stay, and watch. Obviously, no one will hurt the girls."

Jasper frowned again and Edward finally understood the odd expressions Jasper had been making the entire night, just as he now understood the reason for Jasper's out of character behaviour. The blond had been resolved to protect Niki, no matter the cost, and he had known Tim would side with him if it involved his future mate. It explained the pair's disinterest in the family debate. But just because Jasper was already resolved didn't mean he had been immune to the talk of harming Niki.

Edward stood still while Carlisle continued to plan, feeling overwhelmed by all the revelations of the night. Alice's vision of Bella's future was the most alarming for him. And yet the most shocking revelation in many ways was Jasper's announcement. To think that the soldier, who had once demolished anything that could even potentially become an enemy without much thought, would fall for a descendant of Ephraim Black… Edward shook his head yet again.

Fate surely worked in mysterious ways. But he would prove Jasper wrong. He had to.