The Trade

Bella

Bella shot out her hand, grabbing Renesmee and pulling her close behind her. She pressed into Jacob's large form. A startled gasp left her lips and Carlisle recoiled away from the sound. It was enough for Edward to bound off the ground and kneel down before Carlisle's crouched form.

"Carlisle?" he called out softly.

A part of Bella wanted to grab Edward by the back and bolt too. But there was another part of her that stopped her. Carlisle was angry, almost to the point of being deranged. But through that anger, Bella could see struggle. She could see pain. And she wanted to reach out and help him somehow. But her self-preservation instinct and maternal protectiveness stopped her.

"Carlisle, it's okay," Edward whispered. He raised his hands, just a little, and tilted his head upward, exposing his throat. Surrendering. Submitting. His eyes never left Carlisle's. "It's me. It's Edward. Let me help you."

Carlisle growled, just a soft rumble in his throat and the hair on the back of Bella's neck stood up. She had heard the sound from Jasper and Emmett when they wrestled. From Edward sometimes. But never from Carlisle. The patriarch of their house was far too acclimatized to acting like a human to give a reaction quite like this to anything. But now, not only was he crouched and growling, the sound lacked the friendly, playful tinge she had always heard it with.

It was a warning.

A promise of an attack.

Edward could hear more than just that growl though. He took a step back and nodded his head. He sprang to his feet and turned to the girls.

"Bella, Renesmee, walk with me," he said, gently coaxing them to the side. It took her a moment to unlock the muscles she did not realize had gone rigid and at a pace slower than that of a human, they shuffled to the side, walking in a loose circle till they were on the other side of the pile. Jacob moved with them, as did Carlisle, spinning on the balls of his feet till he once again faced them.

"Leah…" Edward let out a low warning when the lither, gray wolf moved to take the place where Jacob had been standing. Bella looked up at him, confused. The wolves had them surrounded and their body language said they were guarding them, forming a perimeter. With all three wolves shifted to one side, as well as Edward and Bella on the same side, Carlisle's back was completely exposed.

Perhaps she was not the only one confused.

"He doesn't want anyone at his back," Edward clarified. "If anything feels threatening to him, he is likely to attack and he doesn't want to hurt any of us."

Bella was grateful for Edward's commentary because Carlisle's actions were confusing her as much as it was alarming her. She placated herself with the knowledge that any of them could bound and be on that side within a fraction of a second. And unlike the thick walls and heavy doors of Volterra, this was open ground. They would hear anyone approaching from even miles away. And with Carlisle working on Alice now, their warning period would only increase. She looked at her father-figure, really looked at him for the first time since she woke up.

He was wearing a different shirt than earlier. A loose, white, pirate style shirt that Bella suspected was from the trunk in Carlisle's old room. His hair was in a disarray and his face and chest had a small tinge of red to it. A small whiff told her it was dried blood. Human blood. Her eyes roved over his face, carefully avoiding the two orbs of red and moved downward. She squashed a startled gasp. Starting from the middle of his throat and disappearing under the deep v neck of the shirt, angry gashes ran down Carlisle's front. They had started healing, her razor sharp vision could see them working even now. But the healing was…slow. And the gashes looked angry.

Was he clawed at?

Bella stifled any questions she might have had, saving her curiosity for when she was not in the presence of the said patriarch.

Instead, her eyes went back to Carlisle's work. It was a sick sight to watch but she did anyway.

Carlisle had repeated the processes of injecting and coating the two ends with venom and held Alice's small frame in his arms, holding her head to her neck while it reattached. He cradled her just as he had cradled Edward's much larger form. From the small amount of time that Bella had seen this grotesque process at work, she could tell the head took the longest to reattach.

"Renesmee," Edward whispered to her under his breath, quiet even for their kind. Bella heard him but barely so. She looked at Edward from the corner of her eye and saw her husband looking at his daughter, his eyes pleading.

Show me he mouthed at her. Bella turned to her daughter. She saw her shake her head, as if to clear it, and take in a deep breath. Her eyes started to tear up again and her face scrunched up.

Bella did not need to be a telepath to know Renesmee's thoughts were an unnavigable knot. Edward's eyes widened, perhaps with the flashes of memories. But he took a step forward and wrapped an arm around Renesmee.

"Later," he told her. Renesmee sighed, leaning into her father, her lips down turned.

Alice's whimper brought her attention back to her father-in-law and Bella stepped forward, taking Alice's limp form in her own arms so that Carlisle would be free to work on the next.

She watched as Carlisle paused, debating.

"Jasper," Edward said. "Alice will be able to keep him rooted long enough. The wolves and I will not be able to stop Emmett without him once he sees Rosalie."

Carlisle's face broke through the feral derangement just long enough to shoot Edward a grateful look before he reached out and pulled Jasper's head and torso. While Carlisle started working again, Bella, still cradling Alice in her arms, turned around. She allowed Alice to rest her head against her shoulder and Renesmee turned around to stand at her side, effectively creating a wall between Alice and the still decapitated Jasper.

"Alice?" Bella whispered, lightly when Alice's eyelids fluttered. Just a few seconds more.

Alice whimpered again, craning her neck, a little to this side first and then to the other. She opened her eyes, taking in the night sky above her.

"Where? How?" she groaned before lightly jumping out of Bella's arms and standing on her own two feet.

"We're outside Volterra, Alice," Bella said, holding Alice's face in her palms. A sign of affection, an onlooker might say. Internally, Bella just wished Carlisle would hurry up and reattach Jasper before Alice saw him. "We're okay. Everyone's okay."

Even as an immortal, Bella's lying skills had not improved and she sighed when Alice frowned. The smaller vampire had seen through her lies. Alice gently pushed Renesmee to the side and stepped through them. Bella turned too.

She let out a silent sigh of relief when she saw Carlisle had reattached Japser's head, even though the latter man hadn't come around yet.

"Jasper? Carlisle?" Alice made to lurch forward but she stopped, her body freezing. Her eyes blanked momentarily before they cleared and she took a slow step back. Her vision had warned her against approaching Carlisle suddenly, her gift effective despite the presence of the wolves in the vicinity.

Bella stood beside her as Alice remained frozen, her eyes locked on Jasper.

"What's going on?" she whispered and Bella too longed for an answer.

But neither Renesmee nor Edward offered any explanation. Her daughter's eyes were now fixed on Carlisle, looking at him with such intensity, Bella could tell she was dedicatedly trying to stay in the present.

Jasper groaned and Carlisle once again passed his son on to the rest of the family that was awake. Edward placed Jasper on the ground and Alice leaned beside him.

"Carlisle," she said without moving her eyes from Jasper's face. "Let Jasper come around before you start on Emmett."

Carlisle nodded, sitting back on his haunches. A break from the vile necessity.

Bella leaned against Edward's chest who was also looking at Jasper, monitoring his thoughts. Renesmee leaned into Jacob, the wolf supporting nearly her entire weight.

Alice whispered words of comfort as Jasper oriented himself to the present. It took a lot less time for him than it had for either Alice or Edward. Perhaps even herself. The moment he was on his feet, he pulled Alice in, his eyes taking in the scene in front of them.

Bella saw him eying Carlisle and the considerably smaller pile in front of him. He stepped out of Alice's embrace and cautiously took a step forward, still keeping his distance.

"Carlisle," Jasper called out. "I am going to sit down across from you. Then I am going to start picking out Rosalie and put her together."

Jasper took another tentative step forward. "Is that alright with you?"

Bella's eyebrows shot up when Carlisle, after a moment of deliberation, gave a small nod.

"Edward?" Carlisle sighed and looked up from his place on the ground at the tall vampire before him and Edward turned to Jasper to convey the thoughts that Carlisle couldn't put to words yet.

"Don't use your gift on him."

Jasper nodded and lowered himself. Carlisle and he together quickly separated Rosalie's remains from Emmett and Esme's. One by one, they put her together, reattaching all pieces except her head.

When Jasper moved to do that, Carlisle's hand shot out. "Not yet."

Jasper looked at him quizzically but it was Edward who explained, their patriarch still not coherent enough. "Rosalie is going to freak out if she sees Emmett like this. And Emmett will be uncontrollable if he wakes up first. You have to make sure the two of them come around at the same time."

Carlisle placed Rosalie in Jasper's arms and pulled Emmett into his own. With a nod, the two reattached Emmett and Rosalie's head at the same time. After a few tense moments, Rosalie was the first to wake up. Alice and Edward quickly took her, with Alice sitting right beside her face shielding her view of Emmett.

Bella kneeled down beside Jasper and helped Emmett orient himself to the present while Alice and Edward calmed down an extremely angry Rosalie.

"What happened?" Emmett boomed the moment his eyes opened. "Where's Rose?"

He jumped to his feet, pushing Jasper aside and rushed to Rose's side who was also sitting up.

"I am going to kill those bastards," Emmett swore, pulling Rose into a bone crushing hug. "Every single one of them."

Jasper stayed quiet but when Bella looked at his face, she could tell he was in agreement. She felt a sudden burst of anger that had nothing to do with the murderous look on Jasper's face, It was all her fault and she knew it. She had fallen so quickly, she did not give her family a fair fighting chance. They were outnumbered, sure. But if they had taken out even a few of the key members…Jane and Alec perhaps…the Volturi would have been weakened considerably.

"No one's going to kill anyone."

Carlisle's voice was quiet, almost a whisper. As one all eyes turned to him. He had reattached Esme, and now cradled her to his chest, his eyes squeezed shut. "You are all getting back on the plane and going home."

"Carlisle you can't let this go unanswered," Emmett thundered. "They nearly killed all of us."

"I. Know." Carlisle snarled out each syllable, his angry red eyes glaring at his family. Bella saw Alice, Emmett and Rosalie all notice their father's eyes for the first time. While Jasper remained unfazed, Alice took a step back, Rosalie's eyes widened and Emmett was stunned into silence.

"Carlisle, I…" Edward sucked in a shocked breath, his eyes widening at whatever was in Carlisle's head.

Before Edward could say anything, Emmett had recovered.

"You are not going to do anything?" Emmett yelled out, incredulous. For as much as Emmett loved wrestling and fighting and was indeed deadly in a battle, he was essentially a gentle giant who seldom lost his cool. This was not one of those moments though. He gestured at Esme's still lax form in Carlisle's form. "Aro did this! He hurt Esme and you are not going to do anything."

"Em," Edward whispered out a warning.

"He didn't," Carlisle shot back, pulling Esme closer to his chest. And then, all the anger, the ferity left his body. His shoulders slumped and he stroked Esme's chin, brushing the hair out of her face. "I did…I did this to her."

Bella frowned. What was he even talking about?

Carlisle placed a soft kiss on Esme's forehead, his fingers running gentle strokes on her face as she woke up. Her eyes opened, and the first thing she saw was Carlisle's face. Carlisle's eyes.

Before she could react to anything, Carlisle was on his feet. He placed Esme in Edward's arms. "I need to leave," he whispered. In less than a tenth of a second, Carlisle had run off the large field and disappeared beyond the horizon.

Bella made to follow him. She could see Edward wanted to as well, held in place only because Esme was still in his arms.

"What the hell happened?" Rosalie snapped out, at no one in particular. Bella followed her blazing gaze towards Edward who shrugged.

"I can't make out everything. Just flashes-"

"Uncle Jasper?" Renesmee interrupted him in a small voice. She was still leaning heavily against Jacob and wasn't looking anyone in the eye. "Will you make me less scared? I was there. I'll show you all."

It took Jasper about two seconds to calm himself down before he nodded at his niece.

Renesmee sighed and held out her hand, grabbing a finger each of Rosalie, Emmett and Alice in one hand. She offered the other to Bella, Jasper and Esme. The first two held her hand but Esme shook her head.

She lightly jumped out of Edward's arms and looked up at him.

"I don't care what happened," she said, taking a few steps back from the group. "I am going to go find Carlisle."

"Esme, it might not be safe," Bella whispered. The thought of Esme running into any of the lingering Volturi while alone…it terrified her.

But Esme only gave her a small smile. "Carlisle needs someone right now. Come find us once you all know what happened."

With that Esme took off in the same direction that Carlisle took.

Bella took a deep breath and gave her daughter an encouraging smile. Renesmee gripped her and Jasper's hand in her other palm, and as one, the family was back in the white marbled hall of Volterra.

Bella had a strong inclination that it was the Jasper-induced detachment and calm that made it possible for her family and the wolves to watch the entire thing without someone or the other snapping and running off towards Volterra.

So many points, so many moments that made their breath hitch. Jasper's growl when Alice fell. Emmett tightening his fist when he saw Rosalie being harmed. Edward stiffening when Bella's head was ripped off.

All that in just the first few seconds since the visions started.

And then, Aro turned to Carlisle.

Bella was glad Esme chose not to watch all of this. She had no idea how she would have reacted to all that Carlisle went through. The wolves were growling, Edward had his fists in his hair. Emmett's angry noise sent Renesmee's heart racing for a minute before Jasper calmed her down again.

When Renesmee's memory showed Carlisle thrashing on the ground, clawing at himself to get the pain to stop, Jasper's anger shot out through the rest of the party like a domino and they had to stop watching the events for a few minutes as Alice calmed him down enough for them to resume.

Renesmee and Edward's guilt was reflected through all of them when her daughter showed what she had unintentionally begged her grandfather to do. What Carlisle had done to protect Edward.

His face, full of grief and guilt when he had kissed Esme, when he had placed her head on the floor with her body…

Bella's heart went out to Carlisle. And she understood what he meant when he said it wasn't Aro who did it. But his blame was misdirected. Aro had done this.

Still, they held their tongues and watched the entire scene.

Renesmee stopped her vision after Carlisle left the underground tunnels of Volterra and rushed out into the evening Italian countryside, running till he was far away enough. The last glimpse they saw was of the wolves reaching Carlisle in the field they currently stood in before the vision cut and Renesmee dropped her hands to the side.

Emmett was ready to bolt out towards Volterra and from Rosalie and Edward's face, Bella could tell they would be more than happy to join. Tempers were running high and even the wolves had their hackles raised.

Bella was eager to join their endeavor. If she could stay alive longer, just long enough for Emmett or Jasper or Edward to get rid of a few key members, perhaps they could stand a chance.

A wave of surprise shot through her when Jasper, of all people, negated their plan. "We have to go find Carlisle. We can't pick up a fight with the Volturi today."

"Jas, you are going to let them be?" Emmett was incredulous, Rosalie furious. "After everything they did to Carlisle? Everything they put him through."

Jasper squared his shoulder. "We will lose," he stated, certain.

"I'll try to stick around longer this time," Bella spoke up. "That should give you an edge."

"Bella, there are over thirty of them inside and just six of us," Jasper sighed, speaking to all of them. He had smartly removed the pack, Renesmee, Esme and Carlisle from the head count. "You'll be dead the moment you step foot inside the castle. Even if you do shield us, the Volturi will have us overwhelmed in no time by their sheer physical strength."

There was a moment of silence as the Cullens all mulled over what he had said. When it came to a fight, Jasper was more experienced than all of the others combined. And the odds were indeed stacked against them.

"Also," he said after a small pause, pulling Alice into his side. Bella staggered, an almost physical pain searing through her chest and her eyes burnt with unshed tears. The grief, the guilt, the fear, they almost knocked her off her feet. She looked around, the rest of her family not faring much better under the assault of the unnatural emotions. Jasper's face remained stoic when he continued. "Carlisle needs us. This is only a fraction of what he was feeling. We need to find him. Everything else can be worked out later."

—

Bella had to accept, she breathed a lot more easily when Renesmee was safely on her way back to the airport. Jake, Leah and Seth left with her. Seth was enraged, as was Jacob but Leah was the voice of reason. It was not their fight. If they attacked, they would put a death sentence over every wolf in La Push.

Once the four of them were on the rental Bella had arranged from the nearest town, the family stepped back to start their search for Carlisle. Alice still could not find a place where he would stop. He was running without any particular direction or destination in mind. Esme was following his scent but had not caught up with Carlisle yet.

The last clear vision that Alice had was of Carlisle changing his direction from west to north and crossing the border into Poland. He had taken a more roundabout way so instead of following his scent, they decided to run the shortest route North and then divide up near the Italy-Poland border to pick up his scent.

The time it took between Carlisle bolting and the family watching everything, debating over the next course of action, and arranging the safest way out for Renesmee, gave their patriarch several hours of head start. With his considerably enhanced speed, Carlisle was covering distance faster than most of them could keep up with.

If Edward used his full speed, he might have succeeded. But none of them were comfortable separating from the rest of the coven until they had put a significant distance between Volterra and themselves. Instead, the family ran through Italy, as fast as they could. Their journey slowed a little when the sun came up and they had to start navigating around any possible human witnesses.

If Carlisle had a destination in mind, Bella knew they could have all just taken a flight to that place. But his run was instinctual.

As they ran, Bella thought back to the few seconds of emotions Jasper had projected out onto them all. A fraction of what he is feeling. Jasper's words rang in her ears as the Italian landscape flew by them.

She did not wish to think about it. She did not wish to experience any of it. But it gave her an added sense of insight towards Carlisle she never realized. Renesmee's account of the events was as accurate as any they were ever going to get.

Bella had known Carlisle for almost ten years now. A pitifully small amount of time compared to the rest of her family. And she had grown to see him as a father figure. With the weathering of time, she knew he and Esme would be the only parents she would have left and if she wanted someone to fill in that role for her, she could not have asked for two better people.

In nearly the decade she had spent with the family, she had understood Carlisle's position as the father, as the leader. He was quiet but present, giving his children all the space they wanted but by their side the moment they needed him. While Esme was more openly the matriarch, her motherly nature ever present in the house with her love and gentle admonishment, Carlisle was more reserved.

His affection was conveyed not through embraces and words, rather action. Small things. He rarely, if ever closed his office door, everyone was welcome to enter whenever they wanted. He was the one people would go to when they wanted someone to talk to without judgment, worry or over complication. When the entire house would be raging over something, worrying or arguing, Carlisle with his endless patience, would calm everyone down and start a civil dialog to resolve whatever the issue might be. He was their provider, their public image, his trustworthiness abating suspicions and slip ups that would otherwise have festered in the townsfolk.

Bella had always seen him as such, a gentle leader, a provider.

One thing she had never seen Carlisle as, however, was a fighter.

Carlisle was no demure man by any length, yet the role of the guardian, fighters were taken on by Emmett and Jasper in the family. They would be with the most vulnerable members of the family in case of any danger. They would be the protectors.

But today, as she ran with her family, towards Carlisle, she saw him as something else, something different.

Nobody believed in the afterlife as vehemently as Carlisle did. And nobody, not even the holiest and the purest of all humans, had ever worked so hard, and so long to avoid damnation. To build a place in the Lord's kingdom. Bella understood the extent of Carlisle's belief even if she did not share them.

Carlisle believed in heaven and hell. Carlisle believed in an afterlife for their kind. The man who was so steadfast in his humanity and his devotion, he had lugged around the large cross from one home to another. Even someone as cynical as Edward knew that God would not be so cruel as to deny Carlisle a place in heaven. It would be the Eternal Kingdom's loss if they did not see the goodness in the man.

Carlisle had worked for four centuries to be good in God's eyes. Not only had he gone against his nature and abstained from harming humans, he had taken the extra step and tended to the sick and the wounded, the neediest of His creations.

Aro had offered Carlisle a barter. The humans' lives for his family's lives. And Carlisle had accepted the offer, giving up his life's work, his life's goal in one evening for them.

That day, Carlisle had not bartered life for life. No, their father had traded his faith for his family.

She came to an abrupt halt.

"I know where we'll find Carlisle," she called out, prompting her family to stop and stare at her. She gave a tight smile. She knew where Carlisle was going even if he didn't know it yet himself.

A/N:

Annnnd we're back to Bella!

The family wants to fight, but let's be realistic, they can't just barge back inside. Guess its time for a family meeting!

Let me know your thoughts. Next chapter will be up soon.