A/N: I just wanna warn you guys that this is another tear jerker chapter with an out of character Emmett. You'll understand when it gets there. Also, I had someone ask about the whole wedding vision and why it changed. I promise that will be explained in this chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
ALICE
I stood there frozen for a long minute. I couldn't believe that Sam would go this far in his quest for revenge. Hadn't we all once been able to get along well enough to get passed things like this peaceful? Weren't we all mature enough to deal with this without bloodshed? We were all grown ups after all. Why did he have to resort to scaring us out of our own home.
Didn't he owe us something, anyway? It was his side that started this whole mess in the first place, after all. But did we go knocking on their door wanting to kill them right away? No, we gave them chances, and plenty of them to correct their mistakes. Just because they didn't take those chances didn't give them the right to do this us.
I guess none of that really mattered. All that mattered now was getting out of the house and Washington alive. Something that seemed quite impossible at the moment. The house was surrounded by fifteen werewolves and there was only seven of us. How on earth were we suppose to get out alive?
I looked down at my watch to check the time. 5:00. Fantastic! I only had an hour to figure out how save my family. I didn't have any idea what to do.
I closed my eyes trying to see the outcome of any decision that I had made. Unfortunately, all I got was a big blank future, which was exactly what I expected. I hated the fluke of a vision that cropped up for Rosalie and Emmett's wedding. I knew exactly what was going to happen and how because I had seen it so I could be able to save Jasper's life. Something had changed since then, I wasn't sure what, maybe Charlie's death. I couldn't be positive, though. However, the change through everything completely out of whack and I had nothing to go off of anymore. I still assumed that I was going to have to save Jasper, because that seemed very important. I was completely blind for everything else, though, and I hated being blind.
I quickly ran some plans for an escape through my mind and only one seemed plausible. I was sure it could work, but it would devastate the rest of the family. Then again, if I did what I was thinking then at least they still be alive to be devastated. It seemed like the best idea in the world. Sam may acutally buy it.
I wanted to walk out there right then and put the plan into action. I knew if I said anything to the family, they would fight me and wouldn't let me go out there alone. If I was going to be able to do this, it had to be without their knowledge or a chance at them stopping me.
I thought more about it as I began walking back upstairs. It didn't take me more than four steps to realize that doing this without telling them wasn't right or fair to them. They would be losing a member of their family. Some one the loved and cared about, someone who meant everything to all of them. It wouldn't be right or fair to just go out and get myself killed without explaining or giving them any kind of reason.
It was those thoughts the lead me up the stairs and back to Bella's room, rather than out the front door.
BELLA
I could feel the fear and tension coming off of everyone in the room. We were all silent, though. Lost in our own thoughts about what was going to happen to us.
We all knew that we'd have to leave the house sooner or later. We only had enough blood stocked up to last us only a couple months. If the werewolves even waited that long before they attacked. If they did, we'd have to leave to go get more. And I highly doubted, that Sam would give up, just because we took forever to leave the house. I was pretty sure he'd still be waiting for us if we didn't come out for fifty years.
There was no way we could win if things came down to a fight. Their was fifteen of them and only seven of us. That was two werewolves each. I'd seen them in action and knew that it was going to be hard enough for us to handle one at time. More than that and we may as well just let them burn us alive. It would be the easiest way for everyone.
I couldn't help but feel responsible for all of this. It was me who got involved with Jacob and the wolves in the first. I, once again, got myself into this mess and was dragging the family down with me.
I didn't dare express this opinion though. I knew that they would just tell me that I wasn't my fault and that they're were they want to be, doing what they want to do.
I was actually surprised that Jasper didn't say anything to be about the guilt that was coursing through me. He was usually the first to try to explain away my guilt. However, I was sure Jasper was too lost in his own feelings to notice anyone else's. He didn't even bother to try to calm the emotions in the room.
He just sat behind with his arms tightly wrapped around me and his face buried in the crook between my neck and shoulder. I was holding his hands very tightly in my own. I was sure that I was squeezing so hard that he should be in pain. However, he made no move or sound of discomfort.
I looked around the room and saw that the rest of my family were sitting, in similar positions with their mates. I was sure they were all wondering how much more time they had together. I just shook my head and looked down at the bed before I could let the scene get to me too much.
Somewhere along the way, I realized that Alice had been gone for about fifteen minutes. That was weird. Even when I was human, I could've made it to the basement and back in less than five minutes. I found myself worrying that something might be wrong, but then I decided that maybe she had just gotten distracted by something. Which was typical Alice. I didn't say anything, though, because I didn't want to worry the family over something that could be nothing at all.
Less than a minute after I thought about it, like she was reading my mind, Alice opened the door and walked in carrying two canisters of blood. She had a serious and almost hopeless look on her face. It was a look that seemed extremely out of place for Alice's almost always smiling and nearly bouncing face.
The look spread waves of fear coursing through my body. Whatever happened, it was extremely bad, if Alice, who always had hope, was now looking there wasn't any hope for anyone. Alice always knew what to do and whether things would be alright or not. She was optimistic about everything. Seeing this look on her face made me feel like we were all doomed. Doomed to die at the hands of our once allies. And there was nothing would could to do stop it.
Jasper must have felt whatever I was seeing on Alice's facem because he finally removed his head from my shoulder and looked at her.
"What's wrong, Alice?" he asked quickly.
"Things are about to get really bad." she replied handing me the canisters of blood.
I simply laid them next to me. My thrist had all but evaporated upon seeing the look on Alice's face. Jasper sighed and picked up one of the canisters. He opened and offered it to me.
"I'm not thirsty anymore." I replied too worried about what Alice had to say.
"Bella, you have to drink something. Especially with the possibility of having to get away from the wolves. You need all the strength that you can get to get through this. Please." he pleaded.
I sighed, took the canister and chugged. It was cold and almost disgusting, but I choked it down without complaint. I knew it was the only thing that was available and didn't want to make a big deal out of it.
"There, happy." I said putting the canister back in his hand.
"Estatic." he replied but there was no trace of humor in his voice.
"So what's happened Alice?" I asked as Jasper popped open the second canister and handed it to me.
Alice simply handed a folded up piece of white paper to Carlisle. Carlisle unfolded it and read it outloud. The tension in the thickened as he finished and folded up the piece of paper.
No one spoke for a very long time. We were all too busy comtamplating Sam's plot to force us out. We all knew that there was only one way for them to do it without actually getting inside the house. The would have to set it on fire.
That would go us two options, leave the house and let them kill us then. Or just stay inside and let the flames consume us. Either way, we were all pretty sure that we were going to die. It was just a matter of when and how.
"So what do we do?" I whispered after a minute knowing that no one really knew. I just couldn't stand the silence anymore.
Everyone looked at me with the same stressed, fearful, hopeless, and clueless faces. Everyone except for Alice. While her face looked just as distraught and hopeless as when she walked in, there was a small glimmer of something in her eyes.
"I have an idea." she whispered. "But I don't think that any of you are going to like it."
"You may as well tell us." Carlisle answered. "Whether or not we like, it may be our only option."
I didn't need Jasper's powers to see how upset and scared Alice was about this. I just couldn't be sure if she more upset about her idea or our possible opinion on it.
"Well," she said slowly. "We all know that for Sam, this about more than punishment, it's about revenge. He wants us to pay for killing Jacob, regardless of the fact that we were completely justified in doing it. A life for a life. He killed Edward and tried to kill Bella. We had every right to get our revenge. Even if Sam doesn't see it that way. So I was thinking that maybe we should send out the one that was directly responsible for Jacob's death. The one who injected the poison into his body, watched him die, and destroyed the evidence. Maybe that would satisfy his need for revenge. And maybe, we could even convince him the one that did was also the one the bit Bella. With any luck he'd be winning to punish that one person, the one who "broke" the treaty and leave the rest of you alone."
"No way, Alice." Jasper stated. "It isn't happening. You aren't going to take the fall for the rest of us."
I was surprised that Jasper knew she was talking about herself. I wasn't even sure myself who she was referring to. Granted, I was only partially concious when everything was happening and didn't who played what hand in Jacob's death. By the look of utter shock on everyone elses' faces, they hadn't made the connection either. I guess you didn't spend decades loving someone without really getting to know them. I was sure Jasper now that Jasper had seen this coming.
"Why not?" she asked with a shrug. "It's better than having everyone go out there to be slaughtered."
"You think we want to see you die?" Jasper asked. "Because we don't. We love you Alice and can't let you do something like this."
"If you loved me then you'd let me do it." she argued.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jasper challenged.
"It means that there's nothing left for me here. My reason for being is gone, Jasper. It's over for me and I need to get out. Sam's offerring me a way to do just that and possibly save all of you in the process." Alice explained.
Her words caused anger to flare up in me. I knew I shouldn't have been this angry about the statement, yet my irrational newborn emotions weren't going to listen to reason. I couldn't believe she had said those things. I never would've imagined a situation were she would try to guilt us into letting her give up her own life.
"Don't you dare do that to us, Alice." I growled. "You know how hard we tried to keep this from happening! I nearly killed myself over the guilt, Alice. The feelings ripped my apart, and you know that. You know how horrible we feel about what we did to you. And you know how sorry we are. So don't you dare play on those feelings to get us to give in to you!"
"I'm not trying to play on anything, Bella. Really, I'm not. I'm just telling the truth. These feelings have done the same thing to me that they've done to you. They've ripped my heart and soul to pieces and I hate myself for the pain I put you in trying to hold on to him. But the fact is the same. Jasper yours now and there's nothing left but for me to go down protecting the ones I love." she answered trying to stay calm and in control of herself.
"It doesn't matter anyway." I said working hard on trying to calm myself. "Because we won't let you do it. You shouldn't have to die for something that wasn't your fault. If anyone should go out there, it should be me. I started this whole thing by getting involved with Jacob and the wolves. I should be the one to end it without allowing the family to get hurt."
"No!" Jasper growled in my ear. "You're not going out there alone, Bella. I'm not going to let you die. Not after everything we did to protect you from them. Besides, we all promised Edward that we'd protect if anything happened to him and he's not the only reason why I won't break that promise. We aren't going to lose you too. You're too important to this family for that."
"Well, I'm not going to let any of the rest of you go. So you can all just forget that." I stated crossing my arms over my chest.
"I think that I should be the one to go." Jasper continued as if I hadn't said anything. "I was the one who bit Bella and broke the treaty. And I was the one who was prepared to torture Jacob to death. I deserve to be punish for that. Nobody deserves to feel the things that I was making him feel. Nobody deserves to be in that kind of pain, regardless of what they had done. I deserve to die after that."
"NO!" Alice practically yelled. "I've gone through way too much to see that you guys were able to be happy. I spent too much time and emotions on making sure that you two guys the future that you deserved to allow either of you to mess it. You guys need each other and I won't let either get in the way of your own futures. So you can just forget it. I'm going and that's that. This is the last thing that I can do to ensure your happy future. And I'm determined to do it."
Anger was once again pulsing through my vains. I couldn't believe that she was willing to go this far to make sure we were and stayed happy. She was willing to give up any chance she had left of happiness for our own. The rational side of my head, knew that she was just trying to protect the one she loved, but my irrational side would do anything to convince her no to do it.
"So what?" I asked between bared teeth, rising from the bed and Jasper embrace. "You think that will be happy you you go out there and get yourself killed so we could be happy. How stupid are you, Alice? You can't seriously think that we'd ever agree to allow you to do something like that. It wouldn't do any of us any good. Besides, there's a good chance that killing only you isn't going to satisfy them. And what are we supposed to do then? Just say 'Oh well, Alice sacrificed herself for us, but we're going to die anyway.'? I don't think so. You are not going out there to let yourself be murdered by pshycotic werewolves."
I was vaguely aware of my rising anger as I continued my speech. Some part of me knew that I should calm down, however, the irrational part had taken over. I needed to get Alice to understand that he commiting suicide was not the answer. And if anger was the only way to do it, then so be it.
I was silent for a moment after my speech. All I could hear was my own labored breathing and feel the anger that was coursing through me. Then I felt a gentle hand squeeze my shoulder.
"Bella, honey, you need to calm down okay. If you don't, Alice isn't going to have to worry about the wolves killing her." Jasper voice sounded in my ear and I felt calm wash through my whole body.
I knew he was right and closed my eyes fighting to regain control of myself. I was shocked to discover that I had ended up several feet closer to Alice. I took deep unecessary breaths and counted to ten. Telling myself over and over again that I just needed to relax. When I finally felt the anger disappear completely, I opened my eyes and looked at Alice.
"I'm really sorry Alice." I whispered. "I didn't mean to get so mad. I know that you just wanna help protect the people you love, but going out on this suicide mission just isn't the answer. It's not the right way to go about it. There has to be something else that we can do. Some other way out."
Alice opened her mouth to reply as I folded myself back into Jasper's comforting embrace. Before she could get anything out, though, Carlisle raised his hand to silence her.
"You're not going, Alice." he stated. "And that's that. None of you are going out there alone. The wolves have already taken one of my children and I refuse to allow them to take anymore. Besides, you're all too special and have too much left to learn and do before your forever ends. However, after three hundred years, I found there's not much left for me to do and learn." We all knew what he was getting at and opened our mouths to protest, but he held up his hand to stop the flow of words. "As the head of this coven and family, it is my job to protect all of you, especially from something like this. Aside from that, it was I who gave the order for Jacob to be killed and it was I who told Jasper to bite her. I gave the orders that broke the treaty and gave the wolves a reason to come here right now, so I'll be the one to accept those consquences. Not anyone else."
Esme stared at him in horror once he finished his little speech. I knew exactly what she was thinking and feeling right then. It was the same thing that I felt when I discovered that Edward intended to fight Jacob. The feeling of knowing that you're going to lose the one person you care most about and know there's nothing that you can do about it. The thoughts of how your life could possibly go on without the man that was standing next to you. Itb felt like someone had already ripped a chunk of your heart out and was now stomping on it. Esme let out a small dry sob and wrapped her arms around him.
"Please, don't do this." she sobbed.
"I have to dear." Carlisle replied. "I can't let one of the children do it. It would be very wrong to ask. Besides, no one here needs me anymore. I've taught them and given them all I can."
"But what about me?" she sobbed.
"You will be fine." he said. "You will move on with your exitence and be happy. Who knows, you may even find someone else to love."
"NO!" she yelled. "I don't want anyone else! If you're going to insist on doing this then I'm not letting do it alone. I'm going out there with you."
"No, Esme," he replied stroking her cheeks. "You're children need there mother. The need the guidance and unconditional love that only you can provide them with right now. You can't let them down."
"But I can't let you die alone either." she whispered.
"Why does anyone have to do it alone?!" Emmett burst out causing me to jump.
It was the first time he had spoken since Alice entered the room. I had all but forgotten the he and Rose were in the room. We all turned to look at him as if he'd just asked the most stupid question in the world.
"I mean are we a family or aren't we?" he questioned.
"Of course we are son." Carlisle said soothingly.
"So then why are we arguing over who's going to go out there alone?" Emmett pressed. "We went into this together as a family, so we need to leave it the same way. We've all had a hand in what lead to this moment. And we've all done things to piss Sam off, so we all need to deal with the consquences together, as the family we are."
"Here, Here!" Rosalie stated.
We were silent as we contemplated Emmett's worse. He was right. We were family. A good strong and loving family. One that would always live and die together, no matter what.
"Emmett's right." Carlisle said after a long moment. "So this is what's going to happen. We going to go out there and face this together. We'll fight, but only to get away from them. And kill, only if we have to. Once were away, we can't ever come back. Jasper, I want you to focus on getting Bella safely away. She's too vulnerable right now for a full on fight."
"Right." Jasper stated.
"No." I stated indignanty and angry. "I will not run away while the rest of my family fights for their life. Besides, what just happened to Emmett's whole fight as a family speech. I'm part of this family and I want to do my part. I want to help you guys fight."
"I know, Bella, but you won't be able to handle fighting these werewolves. You don't know anything about them. I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you during this fight." Jasper stated.
I found my anger flaring again. I couldn't believe he was doing this to me. I was a newborn vampire and stronger than any of them. I ripped myself from his embrace and turned my angry eyes on him.
"God, you sound like Edward now. First of all, I'm a newborn and I'm strong. The strongest vampire in this house, in fact. That has to count for something. Not to mention that fact that I spent months in La Push getting to know them. I probably know a hell of a lot more than any of you about them."
"Yes, Bella, you are a newborn and you are the strongest vampire present. But you all you have to go on is your instincts and I'm afraid that might not be enough. And yes, you probably do know more about the wolves than we do. However, you know nothing about how to fight and destroy just one, let alone the two or three that will be all over you. And it doesn't help much that they've been trained, by me no less, to destroy you. Do you know how scary that is for me, Bella? You have no idea. They could kill you faster than I could get to you and I taught them how. I can't risk it. I'm sorry."
"I know it's hard Jazz and I'm scared too." I said knowing exactly what he meant. "But I already lost Edward because I had to run away from the fight and couldn't help. And look how badly that almost killed. I don't think I could live through losing you or any other member of this family if I had to run away again. I have to do what I can to help you guys. I owe it to all of you and I owe it to Edward. Please, Jasper, let me do this." I whispered and met his eyes. I widened mine pleadingly.
He was silent for a long time as he looked into my eyes. I saw many emotions pass across his face in that time. Anger, fear, concern, hate, sadness, and love were all present and passed very quickly. The beautiful topaz orbs finally rested on acceptance and he nodded at me. I smiled and wrapped myself in his embrace.
"We're all going to fight this battle and do our best to win and get out. If one of us falls, the others will keep going, doing everything in there power to get out alive. And no matter how many of us are left standing when it's over, we will move one with our existence in honor of the ones who died. The survivors will move on with their lives and try to be the best people they can be. And they will pass on Carlisle's wisdom, knowledge, and lifestyle to anyone willing to learn. Are we understood?"
Everyone nodded or verbalized their agreement.
"Alice, what time is it?" Carlisle asked.
"5:25." Alice stated barely glancing at her watch.
"Well, let's do this, then." Carlisle sighed and he and Esme led the way to the stairs.
When we got into the living room, Esme pressed the button on the keypad and the steel walls rose no longer covering the windows, no longer protecting us.
Esme and Carlisle were the first ones out the door. Esme had her arms tight around Carlisle's waist while Carlisle had his arms tightly around Esme's shoulders. The stance was both comforting and protective. Rosalie and Emmett went next in much the same position. Alice, Jasper, and I brought up the rear. I had one arms tightly around Jasper's waist while his arm was draped over my shoulder. Alice was on his otherside and they were holding heads.
As we crossed over the threshold, I felt an sort of calm sweep over me and knew that Jasper had nothing to do with it. I knew what did, though. I was walking out the door to a handful of uncertainties, I knew I could very well lose my life out there. However, that didn't really matter at the moment because I didn't have to face it alone. I had my family with me, and that was all that mattered.
A/N; What do you think? I hope the ending wasn't too week. Anyway, please review.
