Alice was running full speed when her phone rang. Emmett, Jasper, and Carlisle were still circling the forest, so Alice gave a shout. They were all by her side by the time the phone rang a second time.

Alice put it on loud-speaker before she answered. "Hello?" she said.

"Alice, have you found her? Is she okay?" Edward said, keeping his voice low and even, trying to keep it from cracking with emotion.

"No, we've been looking for her since I called you. Where are you?"

"I docked in Port Hadlock; I just got out of Carlsborg and am about to enter Port Angeles. So, you haven't found her?"

"No, I'm so sorry Edward."

"Oh, God…" Edward sounded like he was crying, if it was possible for their kind to shed tears.

Carlisle motioned that he wanted the phone; Alice passed it over and stood by Jasper and Emmett, all exchanging glum looks.

"Edward, I need you to stay focused. I need you to get to the hospital; one of us will be waiting for you. It hasn't rained yet but we can't follow her sent anymore, we need you to be alert, son. We're going to find her." Carlisle's tone was soft and kind, comforting his "oldest". It was hard to hear his son in pain like this.

"But Dad, I'm scared…I don't know what to do." Edward barely choked out.

Carlisle's face looked pained, he recovered quickly though. "Edward, I know, I'm scared too. We're going to find her. I'll do all it takes to get her back, I love you, son."

"I love you too, Dad." Edward sobbed before he hung up.

They all stood still and silent for a long while. Many thoughts running through their heads: hopes, doubts, the well being of their brother. Everybody, except for Rosalie, had already accepted Bella into their family unit, their coven. They worried for their sister's safety, their daughter's safety.

Emmett and Jasper both had kind of spilled the beans to Rosalie, Alice, Esme, and Carlisle, that Edward had been thinking about asking Bella to marry him. The idea had issued a screaming match between Alice and Rosalie; both were on opposing sides of the idea. While the fight was going on, Jasper and Emmett had to restrain their mates. Both men were very tempted to let go and watch the fight, Emmett had already put money down on Rosalie to win, but the boys thought better of it.

Carlisle was the first to break the silence. "Who's going to wait for Edward at the hospital? We need to start to think about a new strategy first. I swear if I have to circle this little section of the forest one more time…"

"Well, I've been thinking, what if Victoria had this all planned out? She thought and rethought ideas and formed a strategic plan. Poison Bella the first time, no heavy dosage or anything, just enough to get her sick, to see how much it will take and to see what we would do. She stayed around, watched us, watched Bella and waited for a time when she was alone. Poison her and wait at the hospital for us. She basically came in, did a snatch and go from Bella's window and left. What If she has a place set up to take Bella to." Emmett explained, he had obviously given this much thought. Alice realized that he did love Bella, like he loved her, like a little sister.

"That would make sense. I was kneeling by Bella when she came through the window, she probably didn't see me there. That would explain why she looked surprised for a second, she didn't expect to find anyone else in the room. She thought that coming in when no one was around, would make it harder for us to track her, and give her time to get to the location she picked."

"If she felt that she needed time to get there, then it must be farther in the forest. We're searching in the wrong place. We need to expand our perimeter. Now, who's going to wait for Edward?" Jasper added.

Carlisle took a step back and looked at his children, he was proud, to say the least. "I'll stay and wait for him. He probably needs to be calmed down first. Shall we split? Expand the perimeter about 20 miles wider. Ill yell when I come back with Edward, you guys better hurry too, he'll be eager to start and he's faster that all of us." With that they all went their separate ways into the wood.

I could feel my face swell where Victoria had hit me. The taste of blood was still in my mouth, making me gag. I ran my tongue around my teeth feeling if any where missing or loose. Nope, not one, that was comforting to a certain degree.

Victoria was in the far part of the wood, rocking back and forth singing. At first it didn't sound familiar but, thinking back to my childhood, I remembered instantly.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know how much I love you; please don't take my sunshine away." She laughed hysterically. She really was deranged.

I couldn't help but pity her though. She was worse now that James was gone. We shared something in common, we were in love. The only difference was that her lover was dead. Victoria quit laughing and went on singing, this time a song that was in French.

"Quand tu me prands dans tes bras

Quand je regarde dans tes yeux

Je vois qu'un Dieu existe

Ce n'est pas dur d'y croire"

"You sing very well." It wasn't a lie, her voice was beautiful, and she was beautiful. Sometimes it amazed me, she was like Rosalie, how could someone so pretty be so ugly. "What does it mean?" I was talking her up, making her stall so she wouldn't hit me again. But even if she did, I was prepared to die, it was okay with me.

She stopped rocking and looked up at me, wondering why I was talking to her.

"You've got something I can't resist

Things are what they will be

When I look into your eyes, they say to me

That God still exists

You make me believe."

I couldn't hide the shock that covered my face, it was a love song. Maybe this was the key to keeping her from killing me for a while. I searched my memory for love songs that meant something to me.

"I have love songs like that too, with me and Edward. Do you want to hear some? We could trade back and forth, I'm sure you've got lots." At first her expression scared me. 'Shit, Isabella Marie Swan, you've just signed your fucking death certificate.Dumb, dumb girl.' But then she changed.

"Okay." She said simply, turning to face me, still sitting where she was, criss-crossing her legs. She actually seemed interested.

"I'm not as good of a singer as you are, so you're in for some pretty butchered songs. But they still mean the same, right? I was going to have Edward listen to this one before…well you know. It's from me to him. Here it is." I cleared my throat and began.

"Don't know where you are

Wish I could just be near you

I would sail oceans

To get a glimpse of how you feel

You're all the things I'm looking for

Everything and so much more

What I think, you are just perfect

Could it be, that I am worth it

Is this thing an open door?

Walk right through to something more

You and me

My life would change in a second

In a second

Don't know how you feel

Seem to keep it to yourself

Would you climb mountains

To show me this is something real

You're all the things I'm looking for

Everything and so much more

You and me

My life would change in a second

In a second"

My voice had been shaky at first, but I just went with the song and ended it with confidence. I looked at Victoria to see her reaction. Her mouth hung open a little bit, was that a good thing?

"That's how I felt about James, exactly how I felt. He was my mate you know." Victoria said her head down.

"I had an idea. I didn't know for sure."

"When did you know that…Edward," she hissed his name. "Was the one for you? Or did you just want to be the plaything of a coven of vampires?" She seemed truly interested.

I scanned all of my memories and thoughts, trying to find that moment. I had never really thought about it, not extensively. It had almost been obvious that I felt love toward Edward. But then I actually took a look around me. This was our perfectly symmetrical meadow. I hadn't even recognized it, it looked so different in the moonlight. I was so shocked my mouth was open and I gasped, a smile spreading across my face.

When I looked back to Victoria, she seemed puzzled by my reaction. I starred at her, the smile still in place. "It was a sunny day. It had been a few weeks, or days, I can't remember, that I had found out that Edward and his family were vampires. I had planned earlier that Edward was going to drive me to Seattle to look at books, but he said that instead, we were going to go for a walk. He drove my truck to this opening of a trail, I remember feeling terrified, I'm not the most graceful person alive even for a human. I panicked even more when he started to lead me away from the trail and onto a path that wasn't marked. He walked, I tripped, then there was a small break in the trees, I stepped through into the light. He was still in the shadows, looking at me kind of funny." I chuckled as I saw his face with that very expression, flash through my mind. "But then he stepped into the sun too." I whispered now, my face serious in the awe of the memory. "It was so beautiful. The light refracting off of him, making everything more, I don't know, beautiful. We lay down and talked, kissed, didn't say a thing for hours on end." I looked around myself again, seeing clearly, how that day had been. "It was right here, that I knew that I loved him. This very spot, the wild flowers were blooming, animals running this way and that, It was right here that I knew I wanted to be with him forever." I sighed, then ducked my head to blush, why was I spilling my guts to Victoria, the person who wanted to kill me, about such personal things?

"Weren't you afraid? In the middle of a forest, no one around to hear you scream," She stood now, and in he blink of an eye, was face to face with me. She pulled a piece of my hair behind my ear. I was beginning to get uncomfortable. "No one would have known where you went. And the trip to Seattle that you had planed before, there are mountains and ravines everywhere on the way, no one would have found you. Why didn't you stay away?"

"I don't know." Because I was stupid, "I just never thought about him hurting me. I never had a doubt that he could, but my heart told me he wouldn't." It barely made sense to me, but hearing it made me understand. Edward was always saying 'I could do this…I could do that…' could. He said that he could, not that he would. That's why I wasn't afraid of him, he never would kill me, hurt me, never. He was capable, but he never would.

Victoria took a step back. "That does make sense." Then her eyebrows furrowed. "Do you think, that if I was human, and we were in a different situation, do you think we would have been friends?"

"Yes, Victoria, we would be friends." I spoke the truth. She was a nice person, in a bad position.

"Yeah, I think so too. That's why I want you to know…It's going to be hard to kill you."

My breath caught in my chest as she stepped towards me…