A/N: First off let me apologize about the late posting. I had a migraine that started last Sunday afternoon and didn't ease up until yesterday. I couldn't even look at a computer screen without my head feeling like it was splitting in two! Work was a nightmare!

As always thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed, and/or fav'ed Surviving! Much love to you all!

Surviving is mine, Twilight is not.

BPOV

The cramps in my stomach are all too familiar. I'd almost forgotten what it's like to be hungry all the time. I look down at Edward's sleeping form and sigh. It hurts me to know that he's hungry. He's never had to wonder when his next meal was coming…until now. I can't stand that it's my fault he's in this mess. That his stomach is empty and his body broken because of me.

"Bella." He mumbles and rolls over, facing me. "Can't sleep love?"

My eyes water at the endearment. How can he possibly still love me? I look at his bruised face, his lips cracked and dry, and my tears flow. He sits up, wincing at the pain, and pulls me into his arms.

"Shhh…it's alright. I'm okay." He gently rocks us. "I love you Bella. Nothing they do to me will ever change how I feel about you. You are my world. My everything."

I pull back and stare into his eyes. I don't know what I ever did to deserve him, but I thank whatever higher power that sent him to me. I will spend every day for the rest of my life trying to show him just how much he means to me.

My lips crash against his and my hands find their way into his hair; pulling his face closer to mine. His tongue slides across my bottom lip and I immediately deepen the kiss.

"As entertaining as this is Felix is ready to send another message." Caius calls out from the top of the stairs and we break apart. He walks down the stairs carrying two chairs with handcuffs attached to them.

The last time they sent a message I couldn't wake Edward up for three days and I was sure I'd lost him forever. Just the thought of never seeing his gorgeous green eyes staring back into mine or hearing his warm laughter makes my tears fall again. I can't lose him! Not now, not ever!

"Please don't hurt him again!" I plead.

"Begging is not very becoming on you Bella." Caius laughs and puts the chairs down in the middle of the room. "Now if you're good and do as I say you might get a reward after…how about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?"

The sound of substantial food makes my mouth water. I know this is all a part of their manipulation. They know if they dangle food in front of us now we'd be willing to do just about anything for it.

"Chris, bring the video camera!" Caius yells up the stairs never taking his eyes off us. "Into the chair Cullen."

Edward grabs my hand and squeezes; letting me know it will be okay, before slowly getting to his feet. He hobbles over and sinks into the chair.

"Remember if you don't play nicely you get no food." Caius says as the handcuffs click onto Edward's wrists. "Bella." He nods towards the second seat.

I cross the room quickly and sit down. I hate myself for knowing the game and still playing along, but I will for Edward's sake. He needs to eat. I just have to figure out how to give Edward my portion without him noticing. He'll never take it willingly, but he needs it so much more than I do.

Felix has taken out most of his aggression on Edward so far. He knows it hurts me more to see Edward suffer than if he just did it all to me. It's a two for one special.

"Alright kiddos, I have to run but Chris here is going to make a nice video for mommy and daddy." He heads up the stairs. "Remember to behave. I'll be back in an hour." He closes the door and I hear the lock click.

Chris clears his throat and I look at the camera as a red light comes on. "Do you have a message for your family Edward?"

Esme'sPOV

"Esme, darling. Come lay back down." Carlisle calls to me. I shake my head and lean against the window. Somewhere out there my son is in pain and scared. How am I supposed to sleep knowing this?

I hear the bed creek and moments later Carlisle wraps his arms around me. "Please love. You need your rest."

I shrug his arms off and turn around. "Rest?" I ask, my voice coming out borderline hysterical. "Tell me Carlisle, how am I supposed to rest when I don't know where my son is?" I start pacing the room.

"Can you tell me that? How in the hell am I supposed to climb into my warm, soft bed and 'rest' when I don't even know if my son is still aliv…" A sob rips through my chest, cutting off my sentence.

Carlisle crosses the room and pulls me to him. I hug him as tight as I can. "He has to be alive! He's my baby! I…I can't bury my baby!" I weep into Carlisle's shirt. I feel so helpless…like I'm falling apart and no amount of glue will keep me together.

"Our son is not dead! We will find him." He pulls my chin up so our eyes meet. "I promise you. We will find our son."

A few hours later I find myself standing outside of Edward's room. I haven't been able to step foot in here since we discovered they were gone. I can still see the blood when I close my eyes. I take a few deep breaths and open the door.

"Alice?" I call out as I step in the room. The day after we received the photos she moved into Edward's room. She refuses to leave until Edward comes home and "kicks her out himself".

She still hasn't forgiven us for making her leave that night. She was back at the house the next morning demanding to see what was sent. She didn't handle it well.

The last time I saw Alice so out of control was back when Edward was in the hospital and the doctor thought he wouldn't make it through the night. He told us to prepare ourselves and think about saying goodbye. Alice went into such a rage before becoming so eerily quiet that my sister and her husband were consulting with the child therapist on duty.

"Yes?" Her voice is small. I walk around the bed and find her lying on the floor staring out the window. I sit down next to her, pull her head into my lap, and run my hands through her hair.

"How are you holding up sweetheart?" I wipe stray tears from her cheek.

"They've been gone for two weeks Esme." She sighs and turns to face me. "What…Why… How can someone do something so horrible?"

I resume running my hands through her hair, at a loss for words. How do you explain the evils of the world to someone when you don't even understand them yourself?

"Esme!" Carlisle bursts through the door. "There's another package!"

Alice and I jump to our feet and follow Carlisle downstairs; my heart pounding rapidly in my chest. I stop short when I see Detective Marcus in front of the TV holding a disk.

"Do you want me to watch this first?" He asks and I shake my head.

"No…I need to see it. Now." I sit on the couch and Alice sits next to me. I turn to tell her she should go but she stops me before I can even utter a word.

"I'm staying this time." She grabs my hand and leans into me.

"Okay Alice." I give her hand a small squeeze and reach out to Carlisle. "Please…I need you next to me."

He takes my hand and sits. "Detective." He says and Marcus pops the disk into the DVD player.

The screen lights up and a few seconds later Edward and Bella appear on screen. My grip on Alice and Carlisle's hands tighten as I take them in. Edward's face is bruised and swollen. Bella's has a black eye and her wrist is still bent at an odd angle. Their clothes are hanging off of them. It's obvious they haven't been given much, if anything, to eat. My poor babies!

"Do you have a message for your family Edward?" a low voice asks off camera. Edward looks into the camera and hesitates a moment before he begins to speak.

"Mom. Dad. I love you. We are coping as well as we can. I hope that everyone is coping better than we are. Please know that we miss you all very much. Alice…my sister from another mister. Please help the gang cope with the situation. You're the only one who can."

"I know that you are probably going crazy with worry, but don't forget to get out and walk around town. Fresh air is something we take for granted. Maybe sit on the bench in front of the motel like we used to do all the time. We used to talk about everything while sitting there."

"Or maybe get out of town for awhile. Don't drive at night though. I know how much you like to speed in your flashy black SUV. If you do go out will you please buy the Sunday comics for me until I get home? I miss reading the one with the cat…what's his name? Not Garfield but um… " He trails off and looks over at Bella.

"I'll be honest, Bella is better at coping with all this. I don't think I could cope without her by my side." He looks back and I feel like he's looking right at me. "Please find us soon. We want to come home. We love you." He says before the screen goes black.

"I'm confused." Alice says. "I don't have a SUV and he hardly ever reads the comics!"

"Your son is a very smart young man." Marcus smiles and pulls out his cell phone. "Aro, its Marcus. Look we got a break in the Cullen case. Yeah. The son was able to get a message to us. Yeah. See you in five."

He puts his phone away and heads towards the DVD player. "Aro, my boss, will be here soon. Lucky he was already on his way so we don't have to wait too long."

"Detective, maybe it's due to my lack of sleep, but I'm not following any of this." I say confused. My sleep deprived mind can't seem to comprehend anything at the moment besides the fact that they're still alive. "What do you mean a break in the case?"

Before Marcus can answer Emmett's voice calls from the foyer. "Esme… Carlisle…This man said he's here about a video."

Emmett steps into the living room followed by Jasper, Rosalie, and a shockingly pale man with medium length black hair. "Is everything okay?" Emmett's voice comes out as a whisper.

"Yes. Please kids sit." Carlisle stands and ushers the kids to the couch. "You might be able to help with this."

"Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, my name is Aro Volturi." He shakes Carlisle's hand and turns to Marcus; pulling out a notebook as he does. "Alright what do we have?"

"Their son is a fucking genius! Will you transcribe?" He asks Aro and pushes play. "Okay we are going to take this sentence by sentence."

APOV

"Tell me again." Aro and Marcus pace the dining room and I pull the notebook closer to me.

"'Fresh air is something we take for granted' which means they are being kept inside with a distinct possibility that there are no windows." I take a drink of water and move on to the next statement.

"'Get out of town for awhile, don't drive at night, flashy black SUV' They haven't been in town for awhile, possibly the whole time, and they were taken at night in a black SUV."

"Good, good. Keep going." Aro pulls out a chair and sits down next to me.

"'Cat comic, not Garfield' Felix the cat. Felix Black is behind all of this." I rub my hands over my face and look over at Jasper. He gives me an encouraging nod.

We have been dissecting every word that came out of Edward's mouth for the better part of the past hour. Edward has always been brilliant but today he was simply awe-inspiring. The way he kept his cool and threw in random facts to help us find him… I don't know if I could have done it.

"Alice, tell us again about the bench in front of the motel." Aro says leaning over to re-read Edward's words.

"I don't know." I sigh and put my head down on the table. I know this has to be a big clue but I can't fucking see it. "I told you. We hardly sat there and when we did we would just talk about anything and everything."

I'm getting frustrated with myself and Edward. Why can't I see it? Why can't I piece it together? Why couldn't he give me a better hint? I slam my fist onto the table and I hear everyone jump.

"Sorry." I mumble and look up, finding all eyes on me. "I think I need to take a walk. Clear my head." I stand up and grab the notebook.

Jasper stands and walks over to me. "Come on darlin'. I'll walk with you." I smile and take his hand.

He grabs our coats as we make our way towards the door. "We won't be gone long. I just need some fresh air." Esme nods and gives me a small smile before taking over my chair and speaking low with Aro.

Jasper and I walk out the back door and head towards the wooded area just beyond the pool. We walk a little ways in until we come across our old clubhouse. Carlisle and my dad built it for all of us one year for Christmas. It's too small for more than two of us to get in at the same time but we refuse to take it down. It holds too many memories.

I push the door open and walk in. Jasper follows, crouching to fit through the doorway. I giggle and sit down, pulling Jazz down next to me. "I knew being vertically challenged would pay off one day."

"Yeah, yeah, but at least I can reach a cup off the top shelf without the use of a ladder." He laughs and nudges my foot with his.

"It's why we're a perfect match. You get the high stuff; to save me from carrying around a step stool everywhere I go, and I get the low stuff. Your back will thank me when we're old and gray."

He laughs loudly and puts his arm around me. "I love you Alice."

"I love you too." We sit in silence for a little while before I pull the notebook out. I flip it open and stare at the words. Think Alice. Think! He specifically said these things to you.

"Jazz?" I hand him the book. "Will you read this to me?"

He looks puzzled for a moment but starts reading anyways. I close my eyes and listen to him read it over and over.

"Again?" He asks after the eleventh time.

"Please." He starts again and suddenly something clicks. My eyes pop open and my heart races.

"WAIT!" I yell and look over at Jazz.

"What is it Alice?" His face gives nothing away but I can hear the panic in his words.

"Say this line again but stress this word." I point out the sentence and Jasper clears his throat.

"'Please help the gang cope with the situation.'" I grab the book from his hands and scan the words.

"Oh shit!" I jump up and take off running towards the house, Jasper hot on my heels. When I reach the back door I push it open with such force that it slams against the wall with a resounding bang.

"Alice what is it?" Esme and Carlisle are by my side in a flash. Detective Marcus and Aro right behind them.

"Coping…Cope…motel bench…" I try to catch my breath. "The Copes'. They're involved."