A/N: I'm sorry for the delay in this chapter. My mom has been in the hospital for the past week and I had to work through a block on White Horse before I could move on to this one. Anyway, I hope this chapter is worth waiting for.

BELLA

I continued to kneel on the ground in Jasper's embrace with tears running uncontrollably down my face and the sun beating on my pale skin not really paying attention to what was going on around me. I knew that the Cullens were no doubt grieving with each other but I couldn't bring myself to look at them. I mean they had all just lost a brother, son, and friend all because of me. I couldn't believe how much I'd hurt them. If I had just stayed away from Jacob like Edward had asked of me, none of this would've happened.

I didn't feel worthy of their comfort and love anymore. I didn't deserve the comforting arms that were wrapped around me right now. Alice, who was probably dealing with this alone, was the one who did. Jasper was her mater, after all. I wanted to pull away from Jasper and tell him to leave me and go to Alice but I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Whether or not, I thought that I deserved it, I needed it. I needed someone to hold me and help me through this. The love of my life had just been ripped away from me by my jealous best friend. Which made the whole thing ten times worse if it had been James, Victoria, the Volturi, or some other random vampire. My whole world had just crashed around me and I needed someone to hold me. It didn't matter whether I deserved it or not, my needs won out this time.

I wasn't sure how long I kneeled there, crying, with Jasper comforting me before I heard Carlisle speak. He was talking to Jasper and they were speaking at vampiric speed so I had no idea what they were saying. I did manage to catch Carlisle saying something about going.

Hearing those words were a mahor relief to me. I didn't want to be here anymore. Jacob had tainted the beauty of mine and Edward's special place. I could never look at or think of this place ever again. It would hurt too much. I just wanted to leave and never come back.

Which is why I didn't fight Jasper when he repositioned his hands to pick me up bridal style. Instead, I wrapped my hands around his neck and buried my face in the crook of it. I didn't think that it was possible for me to cry anymore but as Jasper took off, I felt more tears coming at the thought of what I was leaving behind.

The rest of my traveling experience was a blur. One minute I was running through the woods with Jasper and the next, I was being carried upstairs. I couldn't remember any of it. That was until Jasper tried to lay me down on the bed and I realized I was faced with the possibility of being left alone. God only knew, that it was less than what I deserved but I didn't want to face what happened. Especially not alone. I couldn't I wasn't ready for it.

So as he tried to lay me down on the bed, I locked my arms around him and begged him not to leave me alone. I wasn't even sure what I said. I just wanted him to stay and I had to find a way to get him to.

"Shh." he whispered as he gently pulled my hands off of his neck. "I'll stay here for awhile, okay?"

"Thank you." I stated as a few tears continued to fall down my face.

Jasper laid me gently on the bed then curled up next to me.

"You should try to sleep." he stated.

"I don't know if I'll be able to." I replied.

"Would you like me to help?"

I nodded and snuggled close to him. I felt a couple waves of lethargy and fatigue. They were so strong that I couldn't fight them, even if I wanted to.I found myself closing my eyes. I had enough energy and strength left to whisper a thank you before I fell into what I thought was going to be the beautiful oblivion of sleep.

Edward and I were lying in out meadow basking in our love for each other not saying a word. Edward would occassionally lean over and kiss some part of my body.

"So where are you taking me for our honeymoon?" I asked with a sly smile on my face as I gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"Nice try but I'm not going to spoil the surprise, love." he smirked and kissed me back.

"Well, I figured since I didn't like surprises, you would..." I stated.

"Once again, nice try but I promise you that you will like this one." He replied then he leaned over and kissed me full on the mouth.

He had been slowly breaking his carefully coined rules for the past couple months. He thought that it would make things easier when the time came for us to try it for the first time. Taking the chance I had, because I didn't know how much longer it would last, I wrapped my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. He kissed me with more passion than he ever had before and it felt amazing. That was until I felt him stiffen in my arms. Then he let out a low and threatening growl before pulling away from me.

"I'm sorry." I said worried that I had gone too far and he was angry. "I guess I still have a lot of work..."

He put his finger to my lips before I had a chance to finish my sentence.

"It's not you." He whispered. "Jacob's here and by the sound of his thoughts, it isn't a social visit."

He jumped up and dropped into a crouch position as Jacob stepped out of the trees.

"I should've known better than to think I could sneak up on you, bloodsucker." he said.

My heart filled with happiness as I jumped up behind Edward. If I hadn't been so happy to see Jacob after so many weeks, I probably would've noticed that the tension bewtween the two was much worse than usual. I would've also noticed that he was shaking nearly uncontrollable but all I saw was my best friend coming back.

I made to run towards him to give him a welcome back hug and tell him how wonderful it was to see him. Before I had even gone two steps, Edward flung his arm out in front of me and stopped me from going any further.

"Edward, it's fine. It's just Jake." I said struggling against him.

"No, Bella, it's not fine." Edward answered. "He isn't safe."

"What are you talking about?" I asked him.

"He didn't come here for a reunion." Edward answered. "Why don't you tell her what you did come, Jacob?"

"What's he talking about Jacob?" I asked turning my attention back to Jacob.

"Well, I've had a lot of time to think in the past couple weeks and I've decided that if I can't have you then I'll make it so he won't be able to have you either." Jacob answered with a twisted smile on his face.

I was confused by his words. I didn't understand what he meant by that. I turned back to Edward as panic and fear started to seep into my body.

"He wants to kill me." Edward clarified. My heart dropped into my chest as I turned my attention back to Jacob.

"You can't be serious Jake." I said. "What do you think that will accomplish? It's not like I'm going to want you if Edward's gone! Especially if you're the one who took him away from me."

"I thought about that one too." Jacob replied. "And I know that you won't want me anymore but I really don't care. I figure, if I have to be miserable than you can be too."

"Jake, think about this. You don't wanna let Sam or your pack down, do you?" I pleaded.

"Like I care what they think anymore." He replied with a smirk. "The only person's opinion of me that I ever cared about was yours. And now that doesn't even matter anymore."

"Bella," Edward stated. "Go back to the car, please. If I know Alice, she's already seen this and the family's on the way. Wait for them. The go back to the hosue with Esme. I'll deal with him."

"No." I stated. "I'm not going to leave you alone now. Not when he's crazy like this."

"Bella, I'll be fine. Just go. Please." he repeated.

"You should listen to him Bella. I really doubt that he'll wanna let you see him get his ass kicked." Jacob taunted.

"No, you asshole, I don't want to see her hurt and that's exactly what happens when a young mutt like you, loses control."

"Ha!" Jacob half laughed. "I seem to remember a time when you didn't mind to see her hurt."

Silence fell between the two of them. I wasn't sure what was happening until I noticed the look in Edward's face. I had only seen that tortured look in his eyes twice. The first time when Jane was torturing him in Volterra and when Jacob was thinking...

"Jacob, stop it now!" I growled at him.

"Or what Bella?" He taunted. "Are you going to try to fight me? To hurt me? The last time you tried that, you ended up hurting yourself. You have to remember that I'm a werewolf and you're nothing more than a pathetic human."

"Don't call her that!" Edward said. "She has more guts and courage that a pathetic and cowardly mutt like you!"

The next couple seconds happened very fast. Jacob lunged. One second, I was looking at my best friend flying through the air, the next there was the sound of ripping clothes filled the air and a brown russet wolf was suddenly where Jacob had been. Edward pushed me back and I fell to the ground as he crouched in front of me.

"GO NOW!" he growled out before jumping at Jacob.

I stood up and wanted nothing more than to run like Edward told me to but I found myself unable to move. No, I didn't want to watch this part. I didn't want to see how it happened. I needed to run and get away. I couldn't do this.

I tried to force my legs to move but they wouldn't. I was forced to watch my best friend and fiance fight to the death. The only problem was, I already knew which one was going to die and I didn't want to see it.

The fight was so fast and intense that I couldn't keep up with it. I couldn't tell who was getting the better of who. I just knew I had to make Jacob stop it. I couldn't move my feet so I tried yelling instead,

"No Jake, stop it! Just leave him alone, please! Stop, I'll do anything!"

I heard the words come out of my mouth so I was sure that Jacob could too. He ignored them however and continued to fight with Edward. I called and begged some more but he just refused to listen to me.

At some point, I started to feel an odd peaceful calm spread through my body and wanted nothing more than to give into. I knew I couldn't though. I had to fight it and keep trying to make Jacob stop. I couldn't let him kill Edward.

Less than five minutes after the fight started, a horrible metallic screeching sound rent the air and I knew what had just happened. I was forced to watch in horror as Jacob continued to rip Edward apart limb by limb.

Only when Jacob had finished tearing Edward apart and was setting fire to the pile of limbs, was I able to move again. I found myself full of a rage I had never known before. I wanted to do nothing but kill Jacob. So fueled by that rage, I ran at Jacob screaming at the top of my lungs. By the time I reached the burning pile of limbs, however, I found the anger had disappitated into nothing but undefinable sadness. It felt like my heart had been ripped from me.

I dropped to my knees and began sobbing. It was then that I finally let the peaceful calm take over me. And I drifted away from the meadow.

I didn't open my eyes as I felt the scene change. I found myself lying on a warm and comfortable bed. There were to strong legs, straddling my hips and preventing me from moving. Two cold hands were holding my wrists. Then voices started to fill my head and that's when I realized I was awake.

"She's finally giving into it." Jasper voice stated with relief.

"Good." Carlisle's voice joined in with the same amount of relief.

It took me a minute to get the courage to open my eyes, when I finally did, my gaze was met with a golden brown one. For one glorious moment, I thought that the whole thing was just a dream and Edward was the one who was trying to keep me from hurting myself.

The moment was broken, however, when I started taking inventory of the person on top of me. Blonde, not bronze, hair fell into the golden brown eyes and the face was completely the wrong shape. More tears fell from my eyes when I realized that it was Jasper and not Edward sitting on top of me.

"Bella, are you alright?" Jasper asked with a concerned look on his face.

"No, it wasn't a dream." I said shaking my head. "He's gone. He's really gone."

I completely broke down at that point. Jasper rolled off of me and wrapped his arms around me. He stroked my hair.

"I know, honey, I know." he whispered as he rocked me back and forth stroking my hair. "I'm so sorry."

We sat like that for a minute before Alice came over and started rubbing my back. I heard Carlisle whisper to the rest of the family with vampiric speed then everyone walked out of the room. Esme was the last to go and I heard the door swing shut behind her.

I cried for a long time after that. Jasper was sending continuous waves of calm and peace at me but they just weren't working. And it was the most frustrating thing in the world. I wanted nothing more than to be able to feel the peaceful calm and forget aboput all of this for awhile. However, the feeling of grief and loss was just too great at the moment.

Jasper gave up after about a half hour. After that, he and Alice resorted to the human method of comforting words and gestures. I had to admit that they were pretty good at it. Especially for two vampires who don't remember much about being human. They actually had me calmed within a half hour.

A few stray tears continued to flow, however, I was coherent and not a blubbering mess. Once my sobs had subsided, the two had a quick vampiric conversation that I didn't catch a word of, then Jasper pulled me away from him so Alice could pull me close to her.

"There's something that we need to talk about." she stated. "And you're not going to like it much but it has to be done."

"Okay?" I said slightly confused by her tone.

"Okay so, normally when one of our kind dies, it's not that big of a deal. Most nomads move around so much that nobody will notice if one disappears." Alice began. "However, in a case like with Edward, we leave in a small town where people talk. Which wouldn't be too bad except for his relationship with you. You see, our family has always been known as the family that keeps to themselves and we don't invite people to be our friends. Edward broke that tradition with you. Which started people talking about the chief's daughter and the doctor's son. And now that everyone knows about you guys, it'll look pretty strange if Edward just disappeared out of the blue."

"So what are you saying?" I asked.

"What she's saying," Jasper stated. "Is that we need a cover story for Edward just suddenly just disappeared."

I nodded. That was understandable. They had a secret to protect. It killed me to know that we would have to lie about Edward but I knew that it was for the best. Edward did everything in his power to protect me when he was alive. The least I could do for him was protect his family after his death.

"Now," Alice continued. "We've gone over our options and there's really only one plausible story."

"And what's that?"

"Edward decided that he didn't want to marry you and moved to Alaska." Alice said and I could tell by the look on her face that she was waiting for an outburst.

"But Alice," I countered. "Everyone in town knows that Edward wanted to marry more than anything else in the world. All of them know how much he loved me. They know he'd never leave me."

"Not true." Alice stated. "He's done it once before. Granted it was for a good reason but it devastated you. I remember Charlie's description. It was like he died for you. Which means that it's perfect for this situation. He left you just like the first time."

She had a good point. I knew it would be the most believable story and that it was all necessary for us to do it for the protection of his family. We needed people to believe that there wasn't anything strange going on and what not but it was going to be so hard to tell my friends and family that Edward didn't love me anymore when he died because he loved me.

I looked at Alice and Jasper with more tears pooling in my eyes. I knew that I had to do it but I didn't want to. I wanted to just tell the people of Forks to go fuck themselves and mind their own business. However, I knew that wasn't possible.

"I know it's going to be hard Bella." Jasper said. "But it needs to be done to protect the secret and the family."

"I know." I said. "And you know I would never do anything to endanger the secret or the family. I love you guys so much. And if this has to be done to protect you guys, then I'll do it, no matter how much it hurts."

I was in tears again as I finished my little speech. Alice held me tighter against her chest as more sobs racked my body.

"Why don't you stay here tonight, Bella?" Alice asked as she pulled me away from her chest. "You're not ready to deal with Charlie just yet. I'll call him and tell him that something happened and you're really upset. And that you'll explain when you're ready."

"Thanks, Alice." I said into her chest. "You're the greatest. I honestly don't know what I'd do without you."

"Oh, sweetie." she replied. "You're my best friend and sister. I do anything for you. Anything."

The tone of her voice, on the second anything, told me she knew something that I didn't. I just wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

A/N:Please Review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!