A/N: Okay this is the fight scene. I've only gotten two votes on my poll and both were for different people. So, which one did I choose? Well, you'll just have to read and find out, won't you.

EDWARD

"What?!" I excalimed pulling Bella closer to my body. I hadn't put her back on her own feet yet. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." Alice answered. "It's as clear as my vision about Aro yesterday."

"Damn it!" Emmett's voice carried through the whole house.

"Can you nail down a better time for us?" Carlisle asked Alice.

"I'm sorry." Alice shook her head. "It all depends on traffic and that's way too many decisions to nail down a specific time."

"That's okay Alice."Carlisle replied. "We'll just have to wait for them."

Everyone nodded their agreement.

"But doesn't this mean they will no longer approach us from the back?" Roxy questioned. "I mean I know they'll know we'll hear the car pull up. There's no element of surprise in that."

"She's got a point." Rose stated.

By now I had carried Bella to the couch and sat down with her in my lap. She had her head in my chest and I could feel her shaking. I tried to calm her the best I could.

"Right." Carlisle answered. "This means that we'll probably have to invite them in."

"No." I growled. "That'll give them easier access to Bella during the fight. I want her as far away from them as possible."

"I know, Edward." he said. "But we have to adapt to their new plan. I'm sorry. We can put her in your room like we orginally planned."

"No." Bella stated. "I want to be down here when the come."

"Bella, you promised you wouldn't do it unless you didn't have a choice." I reminded her.

"And I intend to keep that promise." Bella stated. "But if they're going to get to me either way, I need to show them that I'm not afraid. I have to show them that I will never run and hide from them. It could possibly be the only way for me to survive. And yes, I may be afraid. Hell, I'm terrified but I can't let them see that. It means they've won and I won't let them win. Not this early in the game. So Edward, don't make me hide."

I sighed. Her words made a lot of sense to me. As badly as I didn't want her directly in harm's way. I knew that hiding her would only show how afraid she and the rest of us were. It may not help much in the moment but it would make them think twice before the tried anything. I nodded my head.

"But, you are to stay behind me until the fighting starts. Once that happens, then you have to cover yourself." I told her. She nodded then laid her head back on my chest.

"So, what are we going to do until they get here?" Emmett questioned.

"Try to relax and stay calm." Carlisle said. "Esme, why don't you fix Bella something to eat? This stress isn't good for her, especially on an empty stomach. Besides, who knows when her next meal will be?" he added in his thoughts.

I was pretty sure that Bella knew that was what he didn't want to say. However, she didn't even decline the offer of food.

An hour later, Bella was eating a bowl of chicken noodle soup. She didn't even put up a fuss about it either. Under normal circumstances, she would've spent at least a half hour telling Esme that it wasn't necessary for her to spend so much time and energy on the cooking.

I spent the rest of the day with my arms around Bella. I cursed myself to the deepest pits of hell every time I had to look into her sad and fearful eyes. None of the family seemed to be able to find their voices. Everyone of their thoughts were swimming with every possible outcome of today's fight. I cringed when none of them ended with everyone living and Bella being safe with us.

Why the hell did I have to bring her into this world? I should've just kept running after that first day. At least then the entire family would be safe and Aro wouldn't have any knowledge of Bella. Granted, I'd probably be still be miserable but at least the ones I loved would be safe.

It was around seven o'clock that evening when we finally heard tires on the drive. As their thoughts came into range, I had to remind myself to stay calm. We didn't want things to get out of hand too soon. I hoped that Carlisle could talk them into allowing us to escort Bella to Volterra and we could work something out from there. Somehow, I knew it wasn't going to be that easy. I felt Jasper's power spread across the room as the thoughts of each member of my family got darker. I pulled a now extremely tense Bella closer to my side.

After what seemed like forever, we distinctly heard four doors close and footsteps coming up the front steps. I tried to bite back my anger as visions of Bella, similiar to the one that Alice had yesterday were dancing through my head. I wasn't sure where they were coming from though. There were just too many thoughts screaming at me that I couldn't distinguish the voices. To be honest, I didn't really care either. I just wanted to do everything in my power to keep that from happening to my sweet and beautiful angel. She let out a small whimper when Jane knocked on the door.

Carlisle answered it with Esme right beside him.

"Jane, it's wonderful to see you." Carlisle said in an almost believable cheerful manner. "And you brought Alec, Demetri, and Felix. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Perhaps we should talk about it inside." Jane suggested in her falsely kind voice. "You may need to sit down."

I supressed a snort. Like she'd care how we would react to this. Bella's breath hitched just slightly as we heard Carlisle agree. I ran my fingers through her hair and pulled her a little closer. Her heart sped up to a nearly alarming rate when Carlisle stepped back into the living room with Jane, Demetri, Felix, and Alec.

"Look, children." Carlisle said still maintaining the falsely polite voice. "We have company."

There were several murmurs of hello from around the room. No one other than Carlisle seemed up to pretending to be polite. After all, we all knew what they really wanted.

"Please sit." Esme stated attempting the same tone but failing miserably.

I didn't realize the space beside Bella was empty until Jane started thinking about sitting next to her. Alice must have seen what she wanted because she stood quickly and said,

"Jane, why don't you sit here. It's the most comfortable chair in the house."

She, too, had tried to adpot the same polite tone as Carlisle but couldn't make it sound believeable. Jane looked at her for a long time. I thought for one wild moment that she was going to use her power on Alice. She, however, ended up simply taking the seat that Alice offered. Alice slid onto the couch beside Bella. I shot her a grateful look.

"We're going to keep her safe for as long as possible." she thought. I nodded.

In the time of Alice's and Jane's exchange, Jasper had moved out of the other armchair to let Demetri sit. Jasper then placed himself on the floor in front of Bella. I smiled to myself. Emmett and Rosalie had moved from the loveseat to allow Felix and Alec some room to sit. My brother and sister now stood behind the couch. Emmett had his arms around Rosalie. Carlisle had taken the seat next to me and Esme sat on the arm next to him. Roxy was sitting on the back of the couch just above Bella's head.

I smiled. They were purposefully surrounding Bella to keep her defenses up for as long as possible. We hadn't even talked about doing it this way. They all just seemed to know that it was the best thing to do.

"We've come to discuss the future of your human." Jane stated without preamble.

"Her name is Bella." I growled. Jane smiled.

"Of course." she said. "Aro would like us to take Bella back to Volterra with us."

"Can I ask why?" Carlisle questioned.

"Well, as you know, the rules have been broken and she knows our secret." Jane stated. "She's an exposure risk."

"As I have explained to Aro, I don't believe she is that much of a risk." Carlise replied.

"Aro feels different and it's Aro's opinion that matters, not yours, Carlisle."

"I understand that, Jane. However, I will not hand one of my daughters over to you until I know exactly why she is being taken."

"Aro did not give us deatails, he simply requested that we bring her to him so that she may be dealt with."

"Then we request that we be allowed to come with you and present a case to Aro. Maybe we could come up with something that would be in the best intetrest of all concerned."

"Aro is a busy man, Carlisle." Alec stepped in. "He doesn't have time to listen to a petty case about one worthless human."

I let out a growl and nearly lunged for him. The only thing that kept me from doing it was Bella, who had wrapped her small arms around my waist. I looked to her and reminded myself that I had to keep it under control. There would be no point in starting the fight before it needed to be started. Besides, I was hoping it wouldn't come to a fight anyway.

"I would appreciate it if you would not refer to my daughter in such a manner, Alec." Carlisle said. "I'm not really sure how long she'll be able to hold my son back if you keep it up."

"My apologies." Alec said. I surpressed another growl as he mentally laughed at how far we'd go for the human.

"Look," Demetri stated. "We don't have much time and Aro doesn't like to be kept waiting. So you have two choices. Just hand her over or we'll take her by force."

"I don't want this to come to a fight." Carlisle stated calmly. "But we absolutely refuse to simply hand her over. So you have to do what you have to do."

"Are you sure that's wise, Carlisle?" Felix questioned. "You'd all be willing to die for one expendable human."

"That human as you put is our family." Roxy growled. "And we'll do whatever we have to do to keep her safe."

"Well, the way Aro sees it she's nothing more than the family whore." Jane stated. "Is it true you share her with wolves too?"

She then laughed and I snapped. I lunged toward her. No one was going to degrade my angel like that in front of me. Jane smiled in my direction. Before I knew it, I was on the floor pain shooting through every part of my body. I didn't make a sound, I wouldn't give her that satisfaction. I heard Bella screaming my name. She sounded so scared. She probably didn't know what was happening. It stopped after the longest minute of my life.

"Do you still wanna fight?" she asked.

"No!" Bella yelled. "They don't!"

"Bella, no, you promised!" I yelled looking at her.

She was struggling to get out of Alice's embrace and to me.

"I know but I can't let you guys get hurt!" she yelled.

I got up off the floor as Alice released her. She ran into my arms and started sobbing. I stroked her hair as I held her in my arms.

"You don't have to do this." I whispered. "I wish you wouldn't."

"I know but I can't let you guys get hurt." she cried. "I'm sorry."

"I love you so much." I told her wishing with all my heart that I could cry.

"I love you too." she replied.

"Okay enough with the sappy shit." Alec stated. "Is she coming or what?"

"Back off, Alec." Alice growled. "They'll finish when they're damn good and ready."

"Alice, please try to remember who you are talking to." Alec smirked.

Bella was still sobbing into my arms. Neither of us was ready to let go. We knew, though, if we didn't do it soon, the four would get rough. I didn't want her to be hurt anymore than she had to be.

"We'll come for you. I promise." I whispered to Bella.

"Aro's counting on that." Jane thought with a mental laugh.

"Time's up." Alec stated.

I was facing him when he started walking forward. I didn't need my powers to know that he was going to grab Bella from behind. My instincts took over, and I shoved Bella behind me, preparing to face off with Alec. In the split second I took to shove Bella behind me, I realized I wasn't paying enough attention to the thoughts swimming in my head.

Alec was just a distraction and Roxy had it under control. Unfortunately, I fugred it out a split second too late. The room was suddenly filled with Bella's scream of pain which was shortly followed by the horrible sound of a vampire being ripped apart. And both of them was followed by Jane's scream of rage.

Once I finished my turn back to Alec, there was no Alec left. He was in pieces on the floor but none of the family had moved. I spun to see Roxy standing behind the couch with a satisfied smile on her face. It soon turned to a grimace of pain and she dropped to the floor screaming in agony. I looked a little in Jane's direction dropping into an attack crouch. She was holding a crying Bella by her hair. I gulped as Felix began tying rope around her wrists and ankles. Roxy's screams stopped after a minute. Then Jane turned her glare on me.

Looking around the room, I noticed that the entire family was on their feet ready to attack. They were waiting for me to signal an attack. I looked it to Bella's sad and scared eyes as Felix finished his tight knots. She had tears cascading down her face. I was about to give the signal when Carlisle's thoughts hit me hard.

"Edward, don't do anything right now. I know this is going to be hard but you have to let them take her." he thought sadly. "It won't do her any good if we all die now. Our best bet is to go to Volterra and find out exactly what Aro wants. ."

I didn't know what Carlisle was playing at but I trusted him with everything I had. I knew if he thought it was the best idea then he was probably right. I took one last look at my angel, taking in everything part of her body, and pulled out of the crouch. Confused and angry thoughts hit me as my family did the same thing.

"Tell Aro to expect company in the next few days." Carlisle stated.

"He'll be looking forward to it." Jane replied with a smile. "And Edward, she will pay for what just happened to my brother. I can garuntee that."

With that, Jane dragged her out the door by her hair. I growled in her direction wanting nothing more than to chase after them and rip my angel from their hands. It took everything I had to keep my feet planted where they were.

"What's the deal?" Emmett questioned. "We need to go after them!"

'No we don't." Carlisle stated. "We need to get the earliest possible flight to Volterra. We need to talk to Aro and find out his true motives. Only then can we even begin to come up with a plan to save her."

"Okay but what the hell are we supposed to do until then?" Emmett yelled. "Just let her suffer?"

"No one hates the idea more than me, Emmett." I said. "But it's what's best for Bella in the long run."

"I want you guys to get this cleaned up." Carlisle stated pointing to the mess of Alec's limbs on the ground. "While I call the travel agency and get us the earliest possible flight to Italy. Once your finished, pack as much as you can. We aren't going to leave until Bella is back in our hands. I hope Aro and I can work something out. If not, we'll find another way to get her out. I promise we won't lose her."

With that, Carlisle pulled out his phone and walked to the kitchen. I couldn't seem to find the strength to do anything so I just flopped down on the couch as the others collected Alec's limbs. No one seemed to mind that I wasn't helping. For that I was grateful.

I was so angry with myself. How could I have let them just walk out with Bella? I was a vampire for God's sake but I was too weak to save the love of my life. I knew everything that Carlisle said was right. But I swore to her that I would protect her and I failed miserably. What good was my superhuman strength, speed, and powers if I couldn't use them to save someone I loved?

I hated myself even more than I ever had in my existence. She's just a defenseless human and I was her strong and powerful protector. Yet, I couldn't protect her from those bastards.

I was in a daze and barely noticed when Carlisle sat on the couch next to me.

"We'll get her back, Edward." he said. "I swear we will."

A/N: I hope that wasn't a bad ending to this chapter. I just couldn't figure out how to end. Also, I'm sorry, I know I promised you a fight but I thought this was slightly more emotional. Besides, I'm not all the great with fight scenes anyway. I hope you liked the way I did it though. Also, I know it seems like the Cullens are really stupid, not figuring out Aro's motives for wanting Bella. I suppose it could be described as one of those thing where it's so obvious that nobody sees it. I don't know. But I do hope you like this chapter. I worked hard on it for five hours, still I'm not completely staisfied and might change it. Let me know what you guys think. Please review.

P.S. I know Edward wouldn't really let them take Bella without a fight. But he knows that Carlisle knows what he's doing. Which is why he didn't attack.