A/N: This is mid-Eclipse through the end of Breaking Dawn from Edward's perspective. These characters are not mine and all belong to Stephenie Meyer. This is her story and much of her dialogue wrapped in my interpretation of Edward's narration.

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Drafted (Breaking Dawn)

Our situation was more dire, more grave than anything we'd encountered before. Carlisle's hopelessness as he barely got the words out to explain our supposed fate to Jake was evidence of that. Even Emmett, bolstered by the promise of a fight, deflated as our sentence was laid out so plainly.

When was Carlisle hopeless? Or Emmett afraid?

All night I marinated in their dread, and Esme's and Rosalie's, and Jake's nightmares where he slept curled up as a wolf in the corner.

But brighter than all of those things were my daughter's dreams. The feel of Bella's hands as she washed her hair, my voice as I sang her to sleep, the way Jacob's eyes crinkled with laughter. Rosalie, teaching her to dance. The wind on her face as she clung to my back. The swirl of color that was the forest, her home.

A frenzied vampire. A skidding van. A cliff. And a parasite.

Death sentences. Only a sampling of them that one woman had faced. And yet she was here.

If I'd been asked that January day when I first smelled her blood what was more likely - that my family would survive a death sentence granted by the Volturi or that I would fall in love with the girl, conceive a beautiful child with her... that I would bring her into this life and that she would be happy - happy because she wanted me...

I wouldn't have thought twice in giving my answer.

Not since I met Bella was anything predictable. Certainly anything was possible. Certainly it was possible that we could survive this. But how?

I had everything. Everything to lose. And I wasn't prepared to give up one ounce of it. The prospect was agonizing.

Large beautiful eyes poured their unveiled grief into mine. All through the long hours of the night Bella and I locked into one another this way.

Prisms danced between us as morning sunlight broke through the back windows, making me conscious of passing time.

My frown deepened. "Alice."

Bella's eyes widened and the others melted from their own frozen trances.

"She's been gone a long time," Rosalie said with a note of surprise. She could have at least sent Jasper back with an update.

Edward and I should have gone with them. More minds working at the problem... Carlisle mused, hating to lose any time.

"Where could she be?" Emmett asked, impatient for her answers.

Esme touched his arm as he stepped toward the door. "We don't want to disturb..."

I wanted answers, too, but something was off about this. The strange way she'd departed. Keeping me out of her head as something that was obviously disturbing occurred to her.

Plus, she should have seen this. Our sudden unease over her long absence. Under normal circumstances she would have called, or bounded across the river the second I'd uttered her name.

Under normal circumstances...

"She's never taken this long before," I said anxiously. For once I saw Alice as Bella did - small and vulnerable. At the same time I could remember that she was incredibly powerful. Obviously pivotal to our survival in any serious confrontation. "Carlisle, do you think - something preemptive? Would Alice have had time to see if they sent someone for her?"

"Shit." Emmett was out the door.

Jake jolted awake at the curse, growling and on his feet, to see us all following after Emmett. Leah and Seth's startled thoughts echoed his outside.

Bella slowed for one moment to order frantically, "Stay with Renesmee!"

What the hell's going on? Jacob demanded after me. And then his eyes fell on Nessie, stirring after the commotion, and a new worry came to him. I'm not supposed to be alone with her... Leah...?

Yeah, yeah... give me a second to change.

Their thoughts fell away as I pushed myself out further from the house. I heard Bella catch Carlisle and I, trailing just behind us.

"Would they have been able to surprise her?" Carlisle thought it unlikely, but clearly something was amiss here.

"I don't see how," I answered. "But Aro knows her better than anyone else. Better than I do." His mind was much more powerful than mine. The day he'd read her thoughts I'd caught only a small fraction of the rapid stream he'd collected.

"Is this a trap?" Emmett wondered from somewhere behind us. Not that that should stop us...

"Maybe," I said grimly. "There's no scent but Alice and Jasper. Where were they going?"

Their route was strange. A wide arc that carried us east of the house, north for a time and then west again. Had she gone east to see free of blind spots and then east due to some decision? Or threat.

I should have followed her. Insisted on staying with her.

"Did you catch that scent?" Esme yelled after we'd all leaped the river again, crossing back to the other side.

...with the scars?

Yeah.

Making me nervous, Sam. I recognized the voice as Paul's. Sam couldn't hear more than the wolf's rumble in his human form.

"Be patient, Paul."

They won't hurt him, Jared assured his brother. They're too bonded to Jacob and Seth now.

But as the breeze picked up, carrying our scent, Jared tensed, too.

"Keep to the main trail," I finally answered Esme, my voice strained. "We're almost to the Quileute border. Stay together. See if they turned north or south."

Overlaying my panic for Alice and Jasper was my awareness of Bella not far behind. If there was some misunderstanding with the wolves, some kind of scuffle, Bella would be the least equipped to handle it.

It didn't help, either, that my vision was nearly red with bloodlust. I knew I could not kill Sam Uley. Take him to task for his past sins. But that didn't mean I didn't want to.

They're close. Jared nosed the back of Sam's head.

"Let's go." Sam stared forward, flanked by Paul and Jared, emerging from the trees about a hundred feet away.

I stopped, freezing where I was, and the others followed suit.

"Sam?" I asked, my voice flat. "What is this?"

As he slowly closed the space between us, I could see Alice and Jasper were on his mind. He'd seen them, their clothes the same as they had been yesterday.

Alice's expression had been authoritative, yet pleading at the same time. Jasper had calmed Sam and Brady, the wolf that had been with him at the time. Made them more malleable.

Ice shot through me as it all came clear.

Jared eyed my expression warily while Sam ignored me entirely, stopping a few feet in front of Carlisle. He explained what I'd already heard.

"Right after midnight, Alice and Jasper came to this place and asked permission to cross our land to the ocean. I granted them that and escorted them to the coast myself. They went immediately into the water and did not return." The pack had guarded the coast for several hours to be sure. "As we journeyed, Alice told me it was of the utmost importance that I say nothing to Jacob about seeing her until I spoke to you. I was to wait here for you to come looking for her and then give you this note. She told me to obey her as if all our lives depended on it."

Sam stepped cautiously forward to hand the note to Carlisle. He hadn't read it.

Don't look for us, Carlisle read to himself. There isn't time to waste. Remember: Tanya, Siobhan, Amun, Alistair, all the nomads you can find. We'll seek out Peter and Charlotte on our way. We're so sorry that we have to leave you this way, with no goodbyes or explanations. It's the only way for us. We love you.

Emmett watched me bow my head in grief. What? he demanded. What now?

Esme touched Carlisle's arm, wanting to know the same.

Carlisle's whisper was faint in the breeze. "Alice has decided to leave us."

"What?" Rosalie, horrified, covered her mouth.

Carlisle held up the note for their eyes.

Esme shuddered.

Fuck. Emmett shook his head.

The wolves studied our frozen postures of terror and hopelessness. Emmett's obvious disapproval.

Each of them thought of their partners, their brothers, their tribe. A new gravity settling over them.

Sam remembered the urgent message Jake had imparted last night about the coming enemy. Jake's voice had been so grave, but then Jacob was sensitive. And biased when it came to Nessie. And we, his source, were all so melodramatic.

Is it really that bad? Sam wondered to himself.

"Yes," I replied. "Things are that dangerous."

"Enough that you would abandon your family?" Sam's tone dripped with disgust as he understood now what he had aided. Cowards. Leaving their family - he thought the word with a hint of mockery - to die.

I went rigid at his criticisms. "We don't know what she saw," I said sharply. "Alice is neither unfeeling nor a coward. She just has more information than we do."

Easy, Edward, Carlisle cautioned.

Sam stared down at me condescendingly. "We would not - "

"You are bound differently than we are," I spat. "We each still have our free will."

So, he's holding a grudge, Sam thought to himself, his chin jerking up as my hostility sent a ripple through his control. And then to me he added, Yes, free will you all use so judiciously. His eyes went flat as he remembered a girl curled up in the mud, the same girl squeezing her eyes shut as a vampire prepared to pounce. Free will to come and go as you please. Leaving your messes behind you for someone else to deal with.

I swallowed back the venom pooled in my mouth and thought of Emily. Of Rachel, the woman Paul loved who had the same eyes as Jacob Black.

"But you should heed the warning," I said. "This is not something you want to involve yourselves in. You can still avoid what Alice saw."

Sam's smile was patronizing. "We don't run away."

Jacob does. Paul snorted. How fitting that he's a Cullen now.

"Don't get your family slaughtered for pride," Carlisle pleaded quietly.

Sam wiped the sneer from his face as he turned to Carlisle. "As Edward pointed out, we don't have the same kind of freedom that you have. Renesmee is as much a part of our family now as she is yours. Jacob cannot abandon her, and we cannot abandon him." He thought of Alice again. Disloyal leech.

"You don't know her," I said through my teeth.

He raised his eyebrows. "Do you?"

My eyes narrowed into slits.

Emmett, too, glared at Sam, though he seemed to agree with him more every second. Rosalie wasn't far behind him.

Edward. Enough. Carlisle's restraining hand was on my shoulder. "We have much to do, son. Whatever Alice's decision, we would be foolish not to follow her advice now. Let's go home and get to work."

Carlisle waited until I met his eyes and nodded before he released me.

Soft sobs escaped Esme.

"Thank you, Sam," Carlisle said earnestly.

"I'm sorry. We shouldn't have let her through."

Carlisle shook his head. "You did the right thing. Alice is free to do what she will. I wouldn't deny her that liberty."

Paul and Jared watched Carlisle sourly, not seeing his comment any differently than my earlier boast of our free will, but Sam was not affected by it.

"I'm not going down without a fight," Emmett growled under his breath. "Alice told us what to do. Let's get it done."

We nodded in agreement. Except for Bella, whose face was impassive.

Our return to the house was not the frantic sprint from earlier, but numb. I felt their pings of doubt. Alice, Alice, Alice.

Emmett and Rosalie were clearly burned. They trusted Alice's advice was the best shot we had, but that was all. Rosalie was wrapped up in some nonsense about the tie of venom - Carlisle created each of us, and I created Bella, but Alice and Jasper had no such biological connection. Ridiculous. Emmett was more focused on Jasper's protectiveness of Alice, convinced he had found a way to persuade her to flea. Nonsense.

If she saw she would perish, it makes sense, Carlisle reasoned. It is our nature to put self-preservation above all else. Maybe she did it for some greater cause...

I had to believe the latter because the fragile confidence I'd discovered this morning - confidence that we could somehow survive this - was based on the assumption that Alice would be there by my side. Maybe that needed to be more figurative than literal.

I didn't know if I had that much faith.

Esme was too wasted by grief to much contemplate the why of Alice and Jasper's departure, but something distracted her.

"There was that other trail. It was fresh." She nodded towards it.

"It has to be from earlier in the day," I said before her hopes could swell any further. "It was just Alice, without Jasper."

Esme sunk deeper at my lifeless voice, her face pinched again, and nodded.

There was a change in one set of footfalls. Rosalie watched Bella slow, falling back and drifting to the right.

"Bella?" I turned to look back at her, slowing to a stop as she did.

"I want to follow the trail," she decided.

Of course Bella would be hoping, too. "It probably just leads back to the house," I said.

"Then I'll meet you there." The corner of her lip turned up in what was probably an attempt at reassurance.

Bella spun and leapt lightly through the ferns, bounding away with as much grace as Alice had when she'd gone her own way with no goodbyes or explanations...

"I'll come with you," I murmured before Bella could disappear into the murky green. She paused, cocking her head a little. "We'll meet you at home, Carlisle."

He nodded and they left.

Bella stared up at me with probing eyes.

"I couldn't let you walk away from me," I said, my voice strained with the emotion I'd been trying to suppress. "It hurt just to imagine it."

Thank God, it didn't have to be that way for Bella and I. That of our free will, we'd molded into one. Like Jasper would always follow Alice, I would always follow Bella.

Bella's eyes were soft with understanding. She held her hand out to me.

"Let's hurry," I said, taking it. "Renesmee will be awake."

I mourned as I ran. For Alice. But also for Nessie. I mourned the world she'd had as she fell asleep last night. A world where our anxieties were hidden, kept at bay and the warm bubble of her childhood was untouched by shadows.

I frowned, realizing Alice's trail was taking us to the cottage. "She left Jasper to wait for her and came here?"

Bella said nothing. If our trajectory surprised her, she did not indicate as much.

Smoke was coming from the chimney. We hadn't left a fire going...

Bella only hesitated when we got to the door. There was something threatening her smooth expression. Her eyes were almost... shifty.

"Give me just a minute," she said, pulling her hand from mine.

I inclined my head, trying to hold her gaze. "Bella?"

"Please?" she begged. "Thirty seconds."

Before I could make sense of her request, or demand she do so herself, the door was closed in my face.

Thirty seconds? She wanted thirty seconds of... privacy? Here? And her declaration that she would follow Alice's trail. So different than Esme's simple curiosity about it.

Why wasn't I following after her now?

Because I trusted her... right?

I heard only quiet inside as I considered the last time Bella kept something from me. The time she ran into Rosalie's arms at the airport... something that, in retrospect, I was glad she'd done... something that, at the time, horrified and infuriated me...

It had only been thirteen seconds when there was a sound of fluttering and crackling. There was more than wood burning.

She seemed unconcerned with my disregard for her instructions when I was suddenly behind her.

She was fine - perfect and whole - but her arms were crossed tight over her chest, her eyes boring a hole into the fireplace. I followed her gaze to see a burning book. I could still make out the cover - The Merchant of Venice. It had had very little time to burn. No more than a couple seconds.

Bella was burning a book...

It had been several months since I thought of it, but I remembered now that she was insane... even if that insanity had a strange way of making everything right.

"What's going on, Bella?" I asked, a sharp edge of fear shaping my tone.

"She was here," Bella answered in an emotionless voice, never tearing her eyes from the flames. "She ripped a page out of my book to write her note on."

I hadn't realized... I'd been too focused on the wolves to pay attention to the actual note. I hadn't needed to, hearing it in Carlisle's head.

"Why?" I demanded.

"I don't know why," she answered simply.

"Why are you burning it?" I asked as patiently as I could.

"I - I - " Her features were suddenly severe, frustration and pain replacing the blankness. When she spoke again, her tone was even. "It seemed appropriate."

There was something in her eyes. Something strange. Something off.

Knowledge.

"We don't know what she's doing," I said quietly, waiting for her to deny it. Willingly or through a tell.

She did neither.

"When we were on the plane to Italy," she whispered, "on our way to rescue you... she lied to Jasper so that he wouldn't come after us. She knew that if he faced the Volturi, he would die. She was willing to die herself rather than put him in danger. Willing for me to die, too. Willing for you to die." It was quiet as I waited for her to draw her conclusion. "She has her priorities."

Bella's doubt did not inspire in me the same fury Sam's had. Or Emmett's or Rosalie's. It had the opposite effect - I was so startled that Bella had come to the same conclusion that it forced me to pause and consciously consider it.

"I don't believe it," I murmured.

I knew Alice had tried to protect Jasper. But I also knew that she had an idea, if she did perish, he would have likely died trying to avenge her. Still she had come to my aid. Given the circumstances, I'd been quite undeserving of her compassion and bravery.

Bella's anecdote - it was an uncharacteristically cynical take. Enough so that it made me suspicious even as her words rang with authenticity.

Or was that it? She had been hopeful. Hopeful Alice had left some answer in the book only to find it empty. A crushing of her expectations that left her bitter towards her friend. Bitter enough that she would throw the unhelpful book in the fire.

I stared longingly at the curling black pages.

"Maybe it was just Jasper in danger," I suggested. "Her plan would work for the rest of us, but he'd be lost if he stayed. Maybe..."

"She could have told us that," Bella said, her voice cold. "Sent him away."

"But would Jasper have gone?" I very much doubted that he would separate from her with the situation as it was. "Maybe she's lying to him again."

"Maybe," Bella agreed unconvincingly. "We should go home. There's no time."


"Carlisle said they were just a few minutes behind. Don't worry. They'll be here soon."

Nessie was not comforted by Jake's reassurances. She pressed her palm to his cheek.

"No, we can't go looking for them. We have to stay here. They'll be here soon, I promise." If you're listening, hurry the hell up...

Nessie and Jake sighed in unison when they finally heard our approach.

They watched my family's rapid preparations with wide eyes. Jake seemed somehow childlike, too. This was so much bigger an operation than anything he'd ever dealt with and he had to trust that his new family was enough to handle it.

Rosalie and Esme quickly assembled packs on the table while Carlisle and Emmett flitted to retrieve the final items they needed. They were all dressed in clothes sufficiently hardy for forays into any terrain.

Perhaps Amun last. He'll be better convinced if there are many who can vouch for us. Non-vegetarians, particularly. Yes, we won't want to send him to Edward and Bella too soon -

"We're to stay here?" I asked, disgruntled.

Carlisle paused his stride. "Alice said that we would have to show people Renesmee, and we would have to be careful about it. We'll send whomever we can find back here to you - Edward, you'll be the best at fielding that particular minefield." And, of course, we'll need Nessie in a central location where those we send can observe her growth. This is the safest place for that.

I gave a quick nod of concession, hating that he was right. I wanted to be out there. "There's a lot of ground to cover."

"We're splitting up," Emmett assured me. "Rose and I are hunting for nomads."

His task energized him and I found myself envious.

Carlisle didn't miss my expression - the one someone might wear when they realize they've been benched again.

"You'll have your hands full here. Tanya's family will be here in the morning, and they have no idea why." He remembered Tanya's complete willingness to come, despite the strangeness of his request - eager to make up for there lapse earlier in the year. "First, you have to persuade them not to react the way Irina did. Second, you've got to find out what Alice meant about Eleazar. Then, after all that, will they stay to witness for us? It will start again as the others come - if we can persuade anyone to come in the first place." He exhaled in a gust. "Your job may well be the hardest. We'll be back to help as soon as we can."

Carlisle put his hand on my shoulder, taking me in - my son - before kissing Bella's forehead. Esme pulled each of us into a tight embrace and Emmett punched our shoulders.

Rosalie forced a smile for us - quite a feat in the current climate - and blew a kiss to Nessie. She scowled at Jake, jealous of the precious time he would have with her. Keep an eye on him, Edward.

"Good luck," I told them all.

Carlisle took a deep breath. "And to you. We'll all need it."

A moment later they were gone.

Will it work? Nessie asked Jake, touching his cheek again. She imagined faceless strangers coming to visit.

"I don't know if Carlisle's friends will come," Jake answered. "I hope so. Sounds like we're a little outnumbered right now."

When I inhaled again, I found some of the tension had loosened from my chest. There was something reassuring in Jake's presence. In the same way he had stood guard with me for Bella, we would now stand together to protect Nessie. Our two minds were so very different, yet complimentary when a need arose - no side of the problem uncovered, no solution overlooked.

And I was grateful he'd shared the truth with Nessie - most of it anyway. My tension, Bella's, would have only frightened her. But she wasn't frightened now.

I almost smiled as she, too, resented being grounded.

"No, we can't help," Jake responded. "We've got to stay here. People are coming to see you, not the scenery."

Unfamiliar lines of concern puckered her forehead as she imagined him disappearing through the door, too.

"No, I don't have to go anywhere." And then he remembered that our species weren't exactly friends. His eyes shot up to mine where I stood watching them. "Do I?"

No, Nessie thought forcefully, looking up at me with round eyes.

I pursed my lips, hesitating.

"Spit it out," Jake snapped, tension breaking through the calm he'd maintained for Nessie's sake.

"The vampires who are coming to help us are not the same as we are," I said slowly. "Tanya's family is the only one besides ours with a reverence for human life, and even they don't think much of werewolves. I think it might be safer - "

"I can take care of myself," Jake objected.

"Safer for Renesmee," I emphasized, "if the choice to believe our story about her is not tainted by an association with werewolves."

"Some friends," he muttered. "They'd turn on you just because of who you hang out with now?"

Hadn't he ignored his best friend when she started hanging out with vampires again? But I decided it was probably not helpful to point out his hypocrisy.

"I think they would mostly be tolerant under normal circumstances," I said, trying to pacify him. "But you need to understand - accepting Nessie will not be a simple thing for any of them. Why make it even the slightest bit harder?"

"The immortal children were really that bad?" He looked down at Nessie, unable to imagine how anyone could see her as threatening.

"You can't imagine the depth of the scars they've left in the collective vampire psyche."

"Edward..." I need to be here right now. The world's crashing down on us here and I can't just hang out on my dad's sofa, hoping for the best -

"I know, Jake," I said calmly as his panic crescendoed. "I know how hard it is to be away from her. We'll play it by ear - see how they react to her. In any case, Nessie is going to have to be incognito off and on in the next few weeks. She'll need to stay at the cottage until the right moment for us to introduce her. As long as you keep a safe distance from the main house..."

"I can do that," he said eagerly as Nessie relaxed in his arms. With forced casualness, he added, "Company in the morning, huh?"

"Yes," I confirmed. "The closest of our friends. In this particular case, it's probably better if we get things out in the open as soon as possible. You can stay here. Tanya knows about you. She's even met Seth."

"Right." Tanya... that's the one that wouldn't dance with him.

"You should tell Sam what's going on. There might be strangers in the woods soon."

The idea stressed him, made him wonder where his packmates ought to be. Don't know if Leah or Quil would handle running into some red-eyes very well...

"Good point," he finally muttered, thinking of Sam again. "Though I owe him some silence after last night."

Jacob, like Emmett, held Jasper just as responsible for the defection. Coward. Should have used his voodoo to change her mind...

"Listening to Alice is usually the right thing."

There were two notable exceptions to that rule in the not so distant past. One bit of advice resulted in a fatal pregnancy and the other was to abandon my desperate attempts to save Bella from said pregnancy. But otherwise...

I had to trust Alice, didn't I?

Jake bit back several ungenerous retorts. He distracted himself by asking more questions about Tanya's family.

As he spoke, I noted the whirring of one of the computers coming to life. Taps across the the keyboard.

While curious what Bella might need the computer for, I didn't make much of it. Not until she beat out the same pattern of sounds across the wooden desk and then on the keyboard again.

Though Jake continued to speak, his attention was caught as well. Vamps don't fidget... He looked over my head to see Bella sneaking glimpses of the screen from the corner of her eye.

She's up to something. He could see from my expression, wary and a little exasperated, that I'd realized this, too. More batshit crazy...

I shrugged my shoulders ever so slightly and sighed.

I'll keep my eyes open, he promised.

A fresh wave of horror dawned on me. Bella was strong now. Fast. Her intelligence sharpened to a point. If she put her mind to something, there was a very good chance I'd have no way to stop her. And how would I see it coming without Alice?

Alice. Alice who wrote her note to us on a page from Bella's book knowing Bella would go looking for it. Alice who lit a fire in our cottage knowing Bella would use it.

She wouldn't have built a fire to give Bella an outlet for her frustration. She would have built the fire knowing that it was the only way to keep me from getting to her message later.

I wasn't supposed to know something. Why? Why couldn't I know?

And if I wasn't supposed to know, why hadn't she just left a post-it in Bella's sock drawer? She knew Bella was not gifted in deception...

Unless that was it. She wanted me to know that there were things I didn't know. Things I should not know.

Why?

So I would stay out of Bella's way when she started acting strange? Because Alice had tasked Bella with some perilous task I would never approve of?

Is that what Alice had seen in the images she blocked from me as she departed?

But why wouldn't she just give the task to me or to Emmett or anyone? I would have done it - whatever she asked.

So why Bella?

"It was Irina's creator that...?" Jake looked down at Nessie. That died. "Because of the immortal child?"

"Yes."

"But didn't she create Tanya and the other one, too? Won't the react the same way?"

"It's hard to say. They're very different people and Irina was already upset with us. But... yes, I don't anticipate it will be an easy conversation."

"So, they didn't fight for the child?" He thought of Alice and Jasper again. "That's how they survived?"

"Not exactly. Do you remember what we told you about Aro, how we were allowed to leave Italy because he could see the truth in Alice's thoughts that Bella would become one of us?"

"Yeah, he can hear every thought you've ever had." He shuddered at the idea of such an intrusion.

"Right. He could see Tanya, Kate, and Irina's innocence. They'd never known about the child. Their mother had protected them in this way."

"Ignorance saved them."

"Yes..."

Ignorance saved them.

I stole a quick glance at Bella. She clicked the mouse once and then stared out the window, brushing the wood of the desk with her finger tips.

Nessie followed my gaze. Concerned by her mother's somber expression, she pulled free of Jake's arms and padded over to Bella.

A soon as Bella caught her up in her arms, Nessie put her fingertips to Bella's cheek. Bella, me, Jake. Rosalie, Esme, Carlisle. Alice, Jasper, Emmett. Seth and Leah. Charlie, Sue, Billy. All of the people who made up her little world. How would we keep them safe?

Her thoughts settled on Alice. Where was she?

"I don't know. But she's Alice," Bella whispered. "She's doing the right thing, like always."

Was that a slip? Did she mean that? Or did she say it only to avoid putting more fear into the wide brown eyes that stared up at her?

Nessie sighed, dissatisfied with trusting her aunt's fate to the unknown.

"I miss her, too." Bella bit her lip fighting to hold on to her thin composure, but her breath caught in a quiet sob.

Before I could move to Bella's side, I could hear the same pain snarl Nessie's thoughts, the same compulsion to soothe. Truly my flesh, my daughter, Nessie stroked Bella's cheek wanting to make everything okay again.

I put my face in my hands, overwhelmed.

Jake's eyes overflowed as he watched Nessie hold up her own glistening tear.

"Don't cry," Bella whispered to our daughter. "It's going to be okay. You're going to be fine. I will find you a way through this."

My shoulders slumped lower knowing that was true. Knowing that my wife had been drafted into a battle that I did not understand. That I was not meant to understand.

Because maybe it was ignorance that would save us.


The longer I thought about it, the more agitated I became.

Going to Italy, there had been no apprehension. I wanted Aro to hear everything. With no effort my thoughts made the strongest possible case for an immediate execution. Fortunately, he had not been so compassionate.

But now... I thought I might go mad. By the time I thought of something I ought not think of, it was too late. It was already there, etched into the record he would read.

Maybe it was already too late. Maybe Alice had overvalued Bella's acting skills and I wasn't supposed to know that I was being kept in the dark.

And now he would know, Alice was engineering some sort of salvation for us and Bella was her vessel. Would he target Bella then? Kill her on the spot?

I shuddered, fighting against the thoughts as they crested. My mind couldn't have been more terribly designed for this burden, what with my tendency to dream up every imaginable thing that could possibly go wrong. Who knew which pessimistic tentacle of my mind would be the one that doomed us all?

Or maybe my madness was in believing Aro would even stop to read my thoughts. In believing that Alice hadn't truly abandoned us.

Fanning my mania was my anxiety over Bella, my anger at Alice.

I stared into the little fire as Bella tucked Nessie into bed, regret simmering inside of me. It didn't matter that, rationally, I knew I wasn't supposed to have seen inside that book - the longing to know, to understand was stronger. I was gripped with frustration that I hadn't immediately recognized the clue, that I hadn't sprinted ahead of Bella to solve it.

Tag, you're it.

If I was right, and I had the very strong conviction that I was, that was the message Alice had left Bella in her sweeping, dramatic exit. And somehow I was just supposed to live with that.

I found myself longing for the days when Bella was human. When I could hug her to my chest and she couldn't leave me. I could only hope now that she would choose to stay. That she would not be foolish or reckless or self-sacrificing.

Don't underestimate Bella, Alice's voice, not for the first time, chided me.

Fine.

But how could I possibly find the strength to let go?

"Edward, I - "

Absorbed in my anguish, I'd missed Bella's silent approach, but I went to her now. Not a decision, but a compulsion.

My lips crushed down on hers, cutting off her words abruptly. My arms pinned her forcefully to my body, seeking to fulfill the hopeless fantasy that we could somehow never be pulled apart.

Maybe the fantasy was hers as well.

Her thighs compressed my hips as her hands mussed my hair. I had only enough patience to rip her pantyhose and my zipper out of the way. We melded together, her back against the stone wall, my mouth devouring her arched neck.

"Bedroom," she gasped. "Edward, we should - "

I grabbed her chin and pulled her lips down to mine.

We never made it to the bedroom. And that was probably for the best. Our night was not tender. It was not sweet. Our usual agile, graceful way was abandoned in a fit of passion and desperation that was quite nearly violent.

Though we'd long since mastered savoring our fervor in silence, it was difficult tonight. More than once I had to press my palm over her open lips. More than once she pulled my face against her breast, panting much too loud shushes into my ear.

The night sky was only just beginning to pale when I felt the storm leave Bella, but I hadn't had enough. My lips worked hungrily at the skin behind her ear, trying to lure her back.

"Edward," she whispered.

"Hmm?"

"We don't know what time..." Her breath caught, as my tongue caressed the folds of her ear. "We don't know what time they'll get here..."

"It's still dark. They won't call before sunrise."

"Edward..."

"Give me five more minutes," I begged.

She gave me twenty. And then she pried my arms off of her and walked away.


A/N: Up next... Tanya's family meets Nessie. Thanks for reading!

Likely delay in updating this and Vol. 1. Another potentially busy stretch at work.