Sorry it has taken so long to get this chapter out, been working on my second story non stop and its taken most of my free time, so I do apologize, but on with the story

Chapter 16

Recap

We were speeding towards the house so fast that humans wouldn't have been able to see us if we passed them, which luckily we didn't. I pulled up right in front of the house and passed waiting to get into the garage, Edward and I were both rushing into the house when felt something was wrong. Valentino and Joel were huddle closely behind Aro with Ryan at his side, what was going on, what did we miss?

Then I saw it, Ryan was holding onto the bracelet, he hadn't put it on, but by the look on Edward's face, there wasn't much time till he did…

"Aro, sorry about that, family business," I lied trying to diffuse the tense thickness.

"Well, I think you are back just in time dear Bella," Aro was now sounding more and more like the deviant he really was, the tone is his voice told me our absence wasn't good.

"Really, what's going on, what did we miss then?" I was afraid of his answer yet I already knew.

Aro had his minions guarding him and Ryan was by his side holding onto the only link that would keep Edward and I together, this wasn't going to be good.

"No!" Edward hissed as we all heard a car pull into the drive.

I heard the faint heartbeat along with quick whispers, and I hoped my ears were deceiving me, please don't tell me it was who I dreaded it to be. The faint smells of wolf started to linger in before we even saw them and it was confirmed, Alice, Jasper, Jacob, and the person I wanted to be involved least in this, Renesmee.

They walked in casually as if they had no clue to the situation unfolding in front of us, Nessie was in Jacob's arms, giggling away while he cooed her much to her liking. Alice wasn't her usual giddy self but she was trying her hardest to put on an act, which would be believable, Aro knew she was avoiding him and that she wouldn't be completely thrilled to see him, clever sister, and Jasper, well he was Jasper, calm cool and collective.

"Hi guys," Jacob bellowed as he walking in coming to stand behind us.

"I didn't think you guys were going to be home for a few weeks yet," Aro reverted to his fake self again, trying to sound joyous and friendly.

"Well, little Nessie here got homesick so we thought we would cut our trip a bit short," Alice lied convincingly.

"You don't have to stay here, you can always stay at our house, its less crowded there," Edward nervously stated, he hated the fact that his precious daughter was anywhere near Aro.

"That's ok Edward, we will work something out," Alice chimed in, and Edward nodded as if he were listening to her thoughts rather than the words that seemed to escape her mouth.

Aro was always intrigued by Renesmee and he couldn't keep his eyes off of her, in a strange way it was like he adored her, she was precious, and I wouldn't put it past him to want to add her to his so called "collection" he had back in Italy.

"May I?" he asked holding out his hands as if to want to hold Nessie.

Even though I wanted to, it wouldn't be a good idea to say no, he would know something wasn't right, besides no one says no to him without repercussions, "Of course," I tried not to sigh.

He took our daughter into his grimy hands and I felt nervous, had she heard what Alice had told us on the phone, would she accidentally relay that back to Aro and blow everything out of the water, would something slip, she wouldn't know to hold things back. Alice and Edward seemed to be having an mental argument unknown to Aro due to his distraction of my baby girl, which I think might have been the reason they were here, maybe Alice hadn't told us everything, but right now anything was possible, I never pictured myself here in this moment, I never thought I would be a queen, or have Aro in my living room holding my daughter, or having my daughter in love with my best friend, the life of a vampire I guess.

"Aren't you precious," Aro said cutting my attention from Alice and Edward and focusing on Nessie as she pulled his white beard, while she let out little random giggles of contentment. "She is truly a gift Bella," he said emphasizing on the word gift making me anxious of why.

"That she is Aro," I said trying to smile proudly as not to let him aware of my uneasiness.

They were engaged for a few minutes, she was touching his face and by the looks of it, she hadn't leaked any information to him that was vital to keep secret, which was sort of a relief. Meanwhile, the whole time I had to block my thoughts from Ryan, if he had been able to get into my mind he would have alerted Aro right away and that was a risk I wasn't willing to take. I didn't completely block everything, I made sure he heard me thinking about Renesmee, which I hoped he would think was my only worries for the moment, I also etched in some memories of Edward and I on our honeymoon which let to Nessie, but nothing more than that, I had to be careful not to let my guard down, I was sure he was trying to get into my head with his blatant stares in my direction. Edward must have read his mind because he grabbed my hand and just smiled to me as if acknowledged what I was truly doing.

Nessie had taken notice of Ryan and leaned to touch his face and after her hand had touched his face, her giggles faded and she quickly removed her hand shying away from him, "Bad man."

Needless to say we were all in shock of what came out of her mouth, we knew he wasn't good but we didn't expect her to pick up on it and vocalize it, Emmett could help but let out a slight chuckle which Ryan didn't seem to appreciate. He let a low growl echo in his chest and Edward immediately grabbed Renesmee from Aro's arms while Jacob took position in front of them growling like I had never heard before.

"ENOUGH!" Aro yelled as he placed his frail hand on Ryan's chest to prevent him from making anymore of an issue, or a threat really, if I thought things were tense before, they were worse now.

All I could focus on was my daughter and husband who were now by my side, Nessie worming her way from Edward's arms to mine, nestling her sweet face into my long freesia scented curls. I didn't like where things were going and decided I would back away towards the couch to the refuge of my awaiting family on the couch. No one appreciated Ryan's growl and my whole family was on edge, Emmett and Jasper were almost in a pouncing position, Jasper emitting waves of calmness throughout the room.

"We have other issues to deal with right now and I don't think a fight wouldn't be appropriate," he said before facing Ryan and personally attacking him. "If I ever hear or see you make a move towards that little girl, I will make it my personal goal to make sure you never see the light of day for the rest of your eternity and the torture that would ensue would make you wish for death."

I had noticed that while Ryan decided to catch an attitude he placed the bracelet on the table next to where he was standing, I left my shield up as not to alert him to the new sight that I was now liking. "Why don't we all sit down and figure out what we need to do about the prophecy issues, I just want this over with," I said with a plan forming in my head.

"I think that will be a great idea," Aro sighed, he seemed almost as anxious to get this over with as we all did, but I knew it wasn't going to be that easy.

Rose, Esme, Jasper, decided to go upstairs to make room for everyone on the couch and loveseat, while I took Jacob and Nessie into the kitchen, "Where are you going?" Aro asked apprehensively.

"Just going to make her a bottle, I will be right back, excuse us," I said with a pretend smile plastered on my face as I motioned for Jacob to take Nessie.

I heard Carlisle and Aro talking in the living room away from the dining room, I could see the bracelet still on the table where Ryan had left it, I needed to get to the table before anyone else noticed it, but how without someone noticing me? To test my theory and test the others, I walked out of the kitchen, past the dining room table and to the Nessie's backpack that Alice set down near the door, no one seemed to take notice as I reached it, this was promising. I pretended to search through the bag quickly as if I were looking for something specific and when I found Renesmee's favorite bag of cookies I grabbed those so it would seem like I was acting suspicious.

Attached to the bag of cookies was a note from Alice, "Grab the bracelet from the table on your way back to the kitchen," thank God for Alice that's for sure. I took the cookies and slowly turned to make my way back, Aro and Ryan were still focused on talking with Carlisle on the couches and Valentino and Joel were still close to him as well, here was my chance. I was heading towards the table and went around it on the side where the bracelet was and inconspicuously grabbed it without anyone but Alice noticing, but her expression never changed to alert anyone, she just blinked twice and I made a hasty retreat back to the kitchen. A sigh of relief hit me as I came to stand next to Jacob and Nessie, letting out an unnecessary breath.

I composed myself, "Edward, where is Renesmee's new bottles?" I called from the kitchen.

"In the cupboard above the sink," he replied back, sometimes he could be so dense.

"I can't find them," I yelled back with a little bit of agitation in my voice, I knew he would have to come in the kitchen then.

He almost stormed into the kitchen and reached for the cabinet above the sink, when he saw what I was holding in my hands. "They are in the dishwasher," he said casually as not to reveal his slight surprise.

He walked over to me and was about to say something when I clasped the bracelet around his wrist without him realizing it. I started to feel the necklace around my neck heat up like it had been activated or something, Edwards eyes were glowing a light caramel and he seemed to have a more human complexion, I put my hand to caress his cheek and it felt warmer to the touch, it was amazing to feel that for the first time. He didn't have the same type of symptoms as me, he didn't have a heartbeat and blood was only slowing flowing through his veins, he would have to somehow conjure a way to do the "Switch of the Pure", then I realized we only had twelve hours till Edward was poisoned to death, and only an hour and a half now to perform the ritual according to the conversation I had with Alice earlier. Now we only had to figure out what the ritual was and how to perform it, but Aro would notice the difference in Edward and the bracelet on his wrist, I had to divert attention from Edward till I figured this out, so I sent Jacob, Edward, and Renesmee "hunting" but really they were in our old cabin waiting for my call for them to return.

I returned to the living room alone, and Aro's eyes wandered to me and then to the kitchen and then back to me again, "Where is Edward?" he almost demanded.

"Renesmee was being fussy and wanted to hunt, but she wanted her daddy to go with her, its their sort of bonding thing I guess, its cute to watch them hunt together," I chuckled casually hoping he would believe me. I was also hoping he wouldn't notice the bracelet was gone till it was too late for him to do anything.

"Ah, we will just have to update him on anything new when he returns I suppose," he just shrugged it off probable because Renesmee was part of it, I hated bringing her into this but Alice must have had a vision and brought her here.

"I am going to check on Rose, I am sure she is upset with Ryan's actions earlier and I want to let her know everything is diffused now," I said walking in the living room heading towards the stairs.

"I want to check on Jasper too, he is probable having a hell of a time trying to calm her," Alice giggled as she followed close behind me.

We made our way up the stairs to Carlisle's office where Rose, Esme and Jasper were chatting quietly to themselves, I am sure Jasper has filled them in on Alice's visions by now. As we closed the door to the office I immediately turned to Alice and noticed she was having another vision, I waited in silence until it had passed.

"Bella, I how to do the "Switch of the Pure" ritual!" she barely squealed in excitement. This was the news I wanted to hear more than anything, and the clock had already started ticking, the countdown begins……