STRUGGLES

Disclaimer: The Cullen's, the Swans, and most of the characters mentioned in the story that are known from Stephanie Meyer's beloved Twilight Saga, are all hers and hers alone. I neither have nor wish to pass them off as mine. I do appreciate the fact that she did bring them to life and allows us to play with them in our imaginations. The only thing I will claim is the current storyline.

The awesome and talented dowlingnana searched out my errors and corrected them. She also makes the banners for each of my stories.

She introduced herself as Bella's mother and spoke quietly to him while never questioning why he was there. But, the last statement she made about dealing with her daughter's case and heart gave him quite a start. The fact that a woman he didn't know and had never met could give off such information was frightening to say the less. It gave him more food for thought, like Alice's prediction, and gave rise to more questions that he had no idea at this period of where to find the answers.

CHAPTER 12: THE PLAN IS FORMULATED

Like Edward, Alice didn't get much sleep after meeting Jasper Whitlock, the man she knew was destined to by her 'forever'. He was exactly as she had seen him in her dreams. And she was determined to find out everything she could about him, or, at least, more than what little she had been told when they had been introduced to each other at the hospital.

She also knew what her brother was feeling and knew that he was going to try to find the rhythm and reason of why he was reacting the way he did and still was where it concerned Bella Harrison. He would try fighting the pull in spite of the fact that he knew his sister was right about what she had told him about their trip this time to Seattle. They were meeting their mates and there was no two ways about it.

She had seen Edward quietly leave the penthouse when he thought everyone else was asleep. And, she had a pretty good idea of where he was heading; she was wanting to do the same thing to be with Jasper. The only reason why she didn't follow in the same direction as her brother was she knew that she would be seeing him again soon. They would be working together to get his cousin cleared and she would try helping him to still maintaining his and Bella's restaurant, ISABELLA.

Bless her sweet, loving heart, Alice didn't have a clue as to how she would be helping Jasper and Bella when it came to helping to take care of ISABELLA. She'd never been involved with anything to do with the behind the scenes in association of the workings of running a restaurant. All she had ever done was pick up a menu and order what she wanted to eat and never gave a thought about all the work that might go into producing the dishes she ordered. But, as far as she was concerned, if you have the will then you could find a way, and she definitely felt that she had the will. Nothing was going to stop her from helping and proving herself to her future mate.

Reaching this point in her thoughts, Alice heard the door opening as someone entered the penthouse. She had a pretty good idea who it was, but, all the same she felt that she needed to check just to make sure. And sure enough it was her brother returning. But, as she was about to close her door and return to her own thoughts Edward looked over where Alice's room was and realized that she had peeked out. That told him that she was just as much awake as he was and he needed someone to talk to about how he was feeling. In this case, he felt his sister was the right person since she seemed to be feeling the same emotions that he was.

So, with that thought he raised his hand and motioned for her to join him in the main room of the penthouse. Without hesitation Alice opened her door further and accepted his invitation without uttering a single word. Taking a seat nearest to where he was standing, then pacing and once more standing, she waited for him to begin speaking about what was on his mind.

"Alice, are you feeling torn up inside about this premonition thing you told me about? The reason I'm asking is that I'm not quite sure what I'm feeling, or, how to cope with the emotions.

"I did notice your reaction to Jasper Whitlock, Mrs. Harrison's cousin, and can only assume that he is the person you feel is meant to be your forever just as you say that Bella Harrison is mine."

"Brother, people have been trying to explain the emotions of love along with the ins and outs of those emotions for hundreds of years, but, have yet to come up with sufficient words or scientific prove to be able to classify them exactly. So, what makes you think that I can be the one person that would be able to do what others have failed to do?" She answered him in all seriousness and then as she asked her question she had a bit of a humor sounding in her words and a gentle smile upon her lips.

"Funny, har har, thanks for that information since I wasn't aware of it." Edward snarked back to his sister. "Now, be honest with me about how you felt when we arrived and you saw Jasper Whitlock for the very first time."

"Really, to be honest with you, Edward, it's hard to describe. It was as if the world seemed to right itself immediately even though I felt like I was in a free fall and a tail spin all at the same time, but, that still doesn't give an accurate description of it. As the world seemed to suddenly be right it was also like I had been slammed into a brick wall and all of the air left my lungs; my body, no not my body, per se, it was more like an out of body experience I guess would be a better way to putting things, but, that still doesn't completely tell you anything.

"See what I was trying to tell you a moment ago? It's hard to describe and no one has been able to fully come up with the exact description or the right words to be accurate about it." Alice tried desperately to explain to her brother, but, still had a hard time answering with the information that he seemed to be seeking. "I wish that I could answer you better, Edward. Why don't you try telling me how you felt when you saw Bella for the first time?" She asked.

"Like you I can't find the words that truly describes all of the feelings, the emotions or thoughts that did or didn't happen to me. It was like heaven and hell all at the same time, but, nothing that I wanted to end. It's a pull of unknown reasoning that keeps pulling you back again and again with you having no control or choice, and if you don't return you're in misery.

"Then you find yourself wanting to do anything thing, no matter what, to bring happiness to that person as that seems to be the only way that you will ever find happiness and completion. You will say or do foolish things not really being sure that you can keep the promise you made, but, you will damn well die trying if it becomes necessary to achieve you goal and keep your promise.

"It's all of that and so much more—so much more that you only feel whole if you're with that one person."

"Exactly." Was all that Alice commented. Then she asked, "Were you coming back from the hospital from being with her again?"

Edward only nodded his head without saying anything for a few moments then he added, "Yeah, I was with her and planning to stay for a while, but, her mother showed up and I left to give her time to spend with her daughter." He told his sister, but, with a slight shake of his head he continued on to tell Alice what Bella's mother had to say to him.

When he finished speaking all Alice did was smile and then said, "She seems to be a very perceptive woman." And with that said she tried to hide a big yawn, but, Edward saw it, smiled at her and told her to go on to bed as he still had a lot on his mind and would be remaining up for a bit longer. She stood on tiptoes and gave him a kiss on his cheek after he had bent down a little bit to give her a hug, then she turned and left him alone with his thoughts.

XXXXXX

The Cullen's were all gathered around the breakfast table when a knock sounded at the door. Esme got up to answer, then stepped back out of the way when she saw who was there. But, as she moved aside she did comment, "I thought all of you were going to be coming here last night for some rest."

"Sorry, Esme, but, had to wait for Renee and Phil to arrive, and, didn't want to leave Bella alone, too afraid that something worse was going to happen during the night in spite of what Carlisle said." Charlie explained as he, Renee and Phil filed in to the penthouse and made their way towards the dining room and the breakfast that was laid out at the side counter that Esme had indicated and had told them to help themselves and then to have seated.

And as she started to turn away after closing the door she heard another knock upon the door and she quickly swung the door open to reveal Jasper and Bella's four friends. So, she told them the same as she had Charlie and the others.

Once everyone was settled and comfortable Charlie said, "Sue Clearwater along with Jacob Black will be meeting us later this morning and offered to be of any assistance that we might need to help with clearing Bella."

"When do you want to get down to business and let us all know how you're going to be handling this case and how we all can be of help to prove Bella innocent?" Emmett asked as soon as he had sat down at the table with everyone else and was looking straight at Edward.

"The first thing that needs to be done is to see what the police have put together. After that we need to check out the Harrison house. Then next we will need to start putting all of the pieces together." Edward laid out the plan of what needed to be done so he could get all of the information together that he would need to be able to defend the lady that had him wrapped around her finger without her even being aware of the fact, or, even who he was.

"Okay, all of that makes sense for a beginning, but, you left out what Norma told the police as to the situation that existed in the marriage between her brother and Bella." Rosalie reminded him before anyone else had a chance to comment about that fact.

"No, I didn't leave that out. All of that information would be in the police file and once I have copies of that then I'll be able to decide what questions she didn't answer and will be able to decide how to approach Norma Harrison to get the truth."

"But, surely, someone should go question—" Rosalie began to comment only to be interrupted by Edward.

"No one needs to approach this woman, Ms. Hale, until we know how she needs to be handled and we have more information about her.

"I don't mean to be an ass here, but, I'm the one representing Mrs. Harrison and things need to be done my way and any ideas that anyone has need to be cleared through me first before any action is to be taken.

"Sorry, but, this is something that I must insist upon." Edward concluded as he looked directly at each person seated at the table in turn trying to make sure that his point was made.

Charlie looked at Edward with what could be clarified as respect, but, Renee wasn't happy with what she was hearing. It seemed like it wouldn't be enough somehow and she had questions. So, she asked, "Why do you need to go to their home, if as you say, all of the information will be in the police files? Why aren't you going ahead and questioning this sister, yourself, instead of waiting? Why are you all even treating this as if Bella is going to be charged with a crime when we all know that she's innocent?" Renee finished asking on a note that indicated her effort to hold back the tears and the fear that she was feeling.

"Mrs. Dwyer, the police files will only give us a starting point. They will show us what the police have seen, heard or gathered to begin to build a case for the D. A.'s office, but, by using their information along with the information we find or gather a better defense can be built that will help to prove your daughter innocent of any murder charges; it will give us information that the police might have overlooked, or, deemed unimportant.

"Make no mistake, things are going to get a hell of a lot worse before we can make them better. Your daughter will be charged with murder and we all are going to have to prove that she was defending herself.

"I'm just surprised that she hasn't already been charged." Edward finished explaining and speaking to Renee as well as the others gathered.

A/N: Okay, a plan is being formed, but, who is going to be doing what? What will be discovered, if anything, that the police didn't see? After copies of the police files are looked over what other information is Edward going to need?

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