CHAPTER 14

"What the hell do you mean they're looking for me?"

My mom spoke up, "I don't know if you remember…but a little while after you were born, the Volturi paid us a visit."

Abigail leaned over and whispered to me, "Who are the Volturi?"

I leaned into her, "They're just a clan of vampires, sort of like vampire royalty. In a way."

"Oh, okay."

"What do they want now?" I looked to my parents for answers.

My mom looked at my dad and he looked back at her, "Edward…why are the Volturi looking for my son?"

He walked over to her, "It's going to be okay."

"What's wrong?" My mom was getting upset now, I could tell.

Then Alice said, "When you were young we thought the Volturi would be upset about you being a half vampire. They didn't give us much trouble about it then, but they said they would check up on us. And, well you see, they kind of want you to join them."

"Why me?"

"They think that your power would help them."

"Can't we just tell them that we're not interested?"

"It's not that simple…we're going to have to go through a lot of negotiating."

I looked back at Abigail, she was looking at me with worried eyes. I wrapped my arms around her, trying to somehow protect her from all of this, but I knew that my arms weren't a strong enough shield.

I looked at my dad, What are we going to do?

"We have our options. But they're not going to be coming for a while now. At least a few months. But I do think that we need to talk to Jacob and everyone…"

My mom spoke up, "We're going back to Forks?"

My dad nodded his head, "Yes, Anthony's 18 now. Charlie hasn't seen him in a while. I'm sure that we can find out some way to make us look older. We'll only be there for a few days, but we need them to know that if we need they're help, they they'll be there for us."

My mom nodded her head then looked back at me and Abigail, "You two need your rest. We'll see you two in the morning."

My parents and Alice left the closet and I heard them close my door behind them. I was worried. More worried for Abigail then for myself. I was in shock. Pure shock. I couldn't move. I felt movement beside me but I didn't find the energy to look. What would happen to my Abigail if the Volturi took me?

I felt a warm hand on my back, "Anthony?"

My eyes shot to hers, and oddly enough, I found that there was no worry or fear in them. "Anthony, everything is going to be okay." Woah, when did this happen? Wasn't I supposed to be the one reassuring her?

"I- I know it's just that…I can't leave."

She smiled, "I know, I know. But your family seems to have everything under control. And you worrying won't be good for anyone." She leaned over and kissed my temple. She got up and then motioned for me to follow her. I did so mindlessly.

I saw Abigail crawl into bed under the covers. She gently tugged on my hand and I got in after her. She leaned over to turn off the lights then lay down. She opened her arms and I nuzzled my face into her shoulder. I felt her two warm arms wrap around my torso. And before I knew it, we both drifted off into a non-restful sleep.

BELLA'S POINT OF VIEW

Alice had gone to call Charlie. I wanted to talk to Edward for a bit. We were in the middle of the forest sitting on a thick tree branch.

"Edward, why didn't you tell me?"

"I told you right after Alice had the vision."

I shook my head, "I mean why didn't you tell me before Anthony?"

"He needed to know."

"You should have told me first."

He sighed then wrapped his arm around me and kissed me gently, "I know, I'm sorry. It's just been a really stressful time."

"I know. But I'm not letting them take away our son."

"I know Bella. We'll figure something out."

I took a deep breath. I had been thinking about this for a while. But I knew that Edward wouldn't be happy about this. I knew that he wouldn't be happy about this at all. But they weren't going to have my son.

"Edward, I've been thinking about something. If all else fails then why don't I just join them?"

I felt my husband freeze next to me, "It won't be for a really long time. Just a few years. By then they'll be okay with me leaving and forget all about Anthony. I can't let them have our son Edward. I just can't, he's happy now. He's truly happy. And if they take him, he won't be able to handle that. I know that he won't be able to handle that."

"Bella look at me." he cradled my head in his hands and turned my head so I was looking directly into his beautiful eyes, "Nobody in this family is going to be joining the Volturi okay? We will figure things out. It will not come down to that okay? If it does I will join them, okay? Neither you nor Anthony will be leaving this family any time soon. You understand?"

I nodded my head and leaned into Edward's chest. "Besides, I'm sure that Jacob would do anything for Anthony. He did help raise him."

"Yeah, I know. He was around for the first three years of Anthony's life. But he moved back to La Push. He hasn't seen Anthony in five years. And he's getting married in a few months."

"We were going to the wedding anyways."

"But he's going to worry about protecting her. I mean I know that he didn't imprint or anything…but that doesn't mean that he doesn't care about her."

"I know, but he still cares about Anthony. And maybe the rest of the pack will help out. We should pay them a visit anyways. I know that you wanted to meet his fiancé."

I laughed, "Yeah." I paused, "Do you think that she's okay with him not imprinting on her and everything?"

"I don't know, but they're happy, and that's all that matters, right?"

"Right, now lets head back home, we have some people to call."

I jumped out of the tree and Edward followed behind me. We both sprinted back to the house.

ANTHONY'S POINT OF VIEW

We called the school and told them that we would be out of school for a few more weeks because Abigail had a lot of family issues to take care of. Because she was over 18, they didn't care about her, which I hated, but it made it easier to go away for a long amount of time.

I remembered Jacob very well, we got along well, really well. It was almost like having an older brother, who I had a lot of fun with. He taught me how to ride a motorcycle, and he tried to teach me how to pick up girls, but that didn't really work.

I hadn't seen him in a while though. I heard all about how he met this girl, who he didn't imprint upon, and they're engaged. The wedding is in a few months. We were going to Forks for the wedding, but I guess we'll see him sooner. I hoped that him and Abigail got along well, who am I kidding of course they would get along well! They have similar, outgoing personalities.

I wanted to meet his fiancé, I know that he was in love with my mom and all, but he got over her, he truly did. He never imprinted but I think that over time he found a way to live without being in love with her. He started viewing her more like a sister than a significant other. And from what I heard, he was happy with his fiancé.

We were all currently in different cars driving to Forks. I thought that we should just take a plane, but we needed the cars in Forks anyways and it wasn't that far of a drive. My parents were in the front, my dad was driving, and Abigail and I were sitting in the back.

She was resting her head on my shoulder and we were both listening on the same earphones, one bud in each of our ears. Abigail was looking out the window and I was looking at her. She was doing really well, it had been about two weeks since her aunt's death. She missed her and you could tell, but she was doing a good job of being strong.

Then Abigail said out of nowhere, "So…where exactly are we staying?"

My dad answered, "We're staying at the same house that we lived in 18 years ago. We kept it in case we ever decided to move back."

"Oh, okay."

I kissed her temple and she looked up at me and smiled. She took my hand that was laying lazily on her knee and brought it to her cheek.

This is going to become a habit isn't it?

She nodded her head.

I'm excited that I get to show you the place that I grew up while I was young. I still need to take you running you know.

She smiled and whispered, "I'm looking quite forward to that."

I saw my mom turn her head towards us, trying to get more of the conversation. Then I saw my dad look at her and whisper, "They're just talking don't worry. Besides, you should stay out of their personal conversations."

She glared at him then said, "I could say the same for you."

He frowned and then said, "You didn't need to turn my power off."

"Give them their privacy Edward." She said in a mocking tone.

"But I liked hearing your mind." He frowned and then my mom leaned over to give him a full on kiss on his lips.

It was weird, seeing my parents flirt with each other. I mean sure they were young and everything. And I was happy that they were happy, they were happiest with each other. But sometimes they did get too…comfortable around the rest of us. I know that they often went away by themselves, and I'm no idiot, I know what they're doing, which is great for them and all, but I mean come on, they're still my parents.

Abigail started laughing quietly, Oh right, she could still hear my thoughts.

She nodded her head and then pecked me on the cheek. We spent the rest of the car ride in silence for the most part, I always tried removing my hand from Abigail's cheek, but she wouldn't budge. I still don't see how she found my thoughts entertaining.

A few hours later we pulled up to my old house. It still looked the same. Nobody ever went near this place, so I wasn't really all that surprised. I turned to look at Abigail and she was looking at the house in shock.

"You weren't kidding when you said this house was big."

I smiled, "I know."

We got out of the car and I went over to help my dad with the bags. I took mine and Abigail's bags out of the car. I walked over back to Abigail and smiled. It was already late and we were both exhausted. I put one arm around her shoulders and kissed her on the cheek.

"Let's go upstairs and get some sleep. I'll give you a tour of the house tomorrow."

She nodded her head and we headed up the stairs, I still remembered where everything was even after all of the years away from the house. We made our way over to my room and I opened the door.

It was a very simple room, dark blue walls with a huge, king bed in the corner, a walk in closet, a connected bathroom, a television, and a window with the view of the forest.

"I love your room."

I smiled down at her, "I'm glad. Now let's get some sleep. I want to show you the rest of my world tomorrow."

We were in more comfortable clothes and in bed within the next ten minutes. We fell asleep within 11 minutes. I didn't have any dreams that night because I had all the dreams I could ever wish for in my arms.