"Alice, oh, Alice!" she cried as she ran right into me.

Bella was here right next to me. Bella was alive. My mind reeled with a thousand different thoughts and emotions.

"Bella?" I was afraid that she would disappear and this would be a warped reality. I was so relieved and happy I was also so confused. Why hadn't I seen her alive? She had just disappeared from my view.

Bella's arms were locked around me and it felt like she was breathing me and trying to hang on for dear life. She started to sob, with depression or happiness I wasn't sure. I pulled her to the living room and on the couch. I let her sob. She felt so light and fragile. She looked worse than my vision had shown her. I just let her sob as she began to control herself.

Then her scent hit me, and I had forgotten how thirsty I was. She smelt so good. She smelt so appetizing. My throat burned.

"I'm …sorry," she finally managed to get out, "I'm just… so happy… to see you!" I was so happy to see her but her proximity to me right now was trying to overshadow how happy I was. At least her strong scent meant she was a live. I strained to control myself.

"It's okay, Bella. Everything's okay." I said as I held my breath. I had to keep control of myself. I wasn't about to discover my best friend was alive just to kill her myself. That would go over great with Edward. He was already going to want to kill me for coming to Forks to begin with.

"Yes." she gasped out. She seemed to mean it to.

I sighed which was a big mistake, her scent hit me again.

"I'd forgotten how exuberant you are."

She looked at me then, and it seemed to click in her face. I was stiff and straining against her trying to fight any urges I had to taste her. "Oh, sorry."

She hurriedly released herself from me, staying close, but making it easier to control my urges by not having he cling to me. I didn't want her blaming herself.

"It's my own fault. It's been too long since I hunted. I shouldn't let myself get so thirsty. But I was in a hurry today," which reminded me why I was here in the first place. Why I had not gone hunting with Jasper like I had planned. I glared over at her, "Speaking of which, would you like to explain to me how you're alive?"

She abruptly stopped sobbing. Her eyes wide, they looked more alive than they had in my vision. She looked like I had just caught her doing something she shouldn't have been doing. Something she had promised not to.

"You saw me fall," she said too loudly. Fall? I stared at her. Fall off a cliff.

"No," I corrected her, and stared at her more intently. "I saw you jump" she never had been a good liar, but lying to a person who can see what you do when you decide it was just silly.

She didn't answer me. She just bit her lip and looked like she was mulling over her words in her head. She wasn't denying that she had jumped off a cliff into oblivion. I shook my head, I couldn't believe what Edward had done. He left her and drove her to this.

"I told him this would happen, but he didn't believe me. 'Bella promised'" imitating my brother perfectly. I noticed Bella freeze and her arms suddenly gripped her sides tightly as I did this, she looked like she was in pain but I kept going, "'Don't be looking for her future either, we've done enough damage.'" I continued. Thinking of all the times he swore to me that Bella had promised to not hurt herself or do anything reckless.

"But just because I'm not looking, doesn't mean I don't see. I wasn't keeping tabs on you, I swear Bella. It's just that I'm already attuned to you… when I saw you jumping I didn't think, I just got on a plane. I knew I would be too late, but I couldn't do nothing. And then I get here thinking maybe I could help Charlie somehow, and drive you up." But she's here.. Bella is alive. Why didn't I see that she was alive? She jumped. I saw her jump and she never came out. "I saw you go into the water and I waited for you to come up, but you didn't. What happened? And how could you do that to Charlie? Did you stop to think what this would do to him?" It would kill Charlie to lose Bella. He loved her so much almost as much as Edward. Edward.

"And my brother? Do you have any idea what Edward--" She cut me off then. Still gripping her sides, when I said his name it looked like I had just punched her hard.

"Alice, I wasn't committing suicide."

"Are you saying you didn't jump off a cliff?" I said doubtfully. I had seen her jump. I just hadn't seen her live.

"No but-- it was for recreational purposes only."

Because sane people jump off high cliffs all the time into hurricanes. I stared at her and waited for the rest of this explanation.

"I'd seen some of Jacob's friends cliff diving, it looked like--" insanity? Was the word I was waiting for it.--"fun and I was bored"

Bella bored so she decides to jump off a cliff. I wasn't buying it and she could tell.

"I didn't think about how the storm would affect the currents. Actually I didn't think about the water much at all."

I remembered Bella's twisted dark smile. What had she been thinking about then?

"So if you saw me go in, why didn't you see Jacob?" she asked, trying to change the subject slightly.

I looked at her strangely. Seen Jacob?

She looked back at me, seeming confused, "It's true that I probably would have drowned if Jacob hadn't jumped in after me. Well, okay there's not probably about it. But he did, and he pulled me out, and I guess towed me back to shore, though I was kind of out for that part. It couldn't have been more than a minute that I was under before he grabbed me. How come you didn't see that?"

A minute? I should have seen that. I should have seen her come out. Someone pulled her out.

"Someone pulled you out?" I was so confused. I hadn't realized I said it out loud.

"Yes. Jacob saved me."

I smelt it then. It had been mixed with Bella's scent when I first saw her. I hadn't noticed it then, I was too focused on Bella being alive. It was a warm musky scent. Like a dog on a hot summer day smell. Someone had pulled her out and she didn't smell fully like Bella, I leaned in and smelt her shoulder.

No. She definitely did not smell fully like Bella. Could she know what she smelt like? She smelt like a werewolf.

"Don't be ridiculous" I muttered. I had to be sure.

"What are you doing?" I didn't want to alarm her. She looked so frail. I instead avoided the question. I'd seen Edward do it loads of times.

"Who was with you out there just now? It sounded like you were arguing."

She looked at me and a change of emotion flickered on her face. Hope, sadness, defiance, betrayal, and pain. "Jacob Black. He's… sort of my best friend. I guess. At least… he was."

Jacob Black. Ephraim Black. Quileute's. This cannot be a coincidence. Bella's smell. I nodded at her. So much to think, what had we left her to deal with?

"What?"

"I don't know, I'm not sure what it means."

Even if it was all related. Why couldn't I see him?

"Well I'm not dead, at least" she said in her Bella look on the Brightside voice.

She's not dead, but what had we left her to deal with? She still looked awful. And she had jumped. She was being reckless. Why she was I wasn't sure, but she was. Promise or no promise, Edward, she wasn't keeping it.

"He was a fool to think you could survive alone. I've never seen anyone so prone to life threatening idiocy." Vampires, cliffs, and now possibly werewolves.

"I survived," she pointed out, stating more than just this latest episode.

She had because Jacob Black had pulled her out, he had the strength to pull her out.

"So, if the currents were too much for you, how did this Jacob manage?" I eyed her wondering if she knew what she could be dealing with. Was she so prone to danger?

"Jacob is… strong." She was thinking of something. I eyed her carefully. She was hiding something. She sighed and I waited, she was going to tell me.

"See, well, he's… sort of a werewolf. The Quileute's turn into wolves when there are vampires around. They know Carlisle from a long time ago. Were you with Carlisle back then?"

She knew. Bella knew what she was running around with. I hadn't been with Carlisle then, but I knew all about it. The treaty. All of it. She knew.

"Well I guess that explains he smell," I muttered, "but does it explain what I didn't see?" Could I not see the werewolves.

"The smell?" Bella of course couldn't smell it.

"You smell awful" I absently answered her. She was running around with werewolves. "A werewolf? Are you sure about that?" I'm going to kill Edward. Safer with out us. Ha, I'd love to see him defend this.

"Very sure," and she wasn't lying. "I guess you weren't with Carlisle the last time there were werewolves in Forks?:

"No I hadn't found him yet."

Bella and werewolves. Bella was best friends with a werewolf. Oh my, Bella was--

"Your best friend is a werewolf?" I was shocked, how long had she known about all of this.

She just nodded.

"How long has this been going on?" I asked, I needed to know everything.

"Not long, he's only been a werewolf a few weeks." She was a little defensive about this Jacob Black. A few weeks? He was young? His temper? Bella? Edward you idiot! I thought again for the millionth time today.

"A young werewolf? Even worse! Edward was right--you are a magnet for danger. Weren't you supposed to be staying out of trouble?" Promising to not do anything dangerous or reckless. His number one argument for keeping all of us away from you.

"There's nothing wrong with werewolves," she had that defensive tone she used to have when she defended us to people. She loved them now too. She had no idea what she was dealing with.

"Until they lose their tempers. Leave it to you Bella. Anyone else would be better off when vampires left town. But you have to stat hanging out with the first monsters you can find." I swear, when I get a hold of Edward. I swear. Vampires leave her so she'll be safer and she meets werewolves? Safe from someone killing her but not safe from being mangled to death. How is this better. Plus, she protective of them.

"No, Alice, the vampires didn't really leave--not all of them anyways" her words broke through my thoughts. The family had left. Edward was sure of it. We all had left her to keep her safe. What did she mean?

"That's the whole trouble. If it weren't for the werewolves, Victoria would have gotten me by now."

Victoria. James's mate. After Bella.

"Well if it weren't for Jake and his friends, Laurent would have gotten me before she could, I guess, so--"

Victoria and Laurent. Laurent almost gotten Bella.

I hissed their names, "Victoria? Laurent?"

Dammit Edward. I knew he had lost track of Victoria months ago. But Laurent, he, he had left Denali. Irina was waiting for him to return. He was helping an old friend. We all had thought nothing of it. He went to help Victoria. She was going after Bella. She was going after Bella because we killed James. How could so much happen to one girl?

She nodded and pointed at herself "Danger magnet, remember?"

I just shook my head. Edward was trying to protect her from the wrong things.

"Tell me everything, and start from the beginning."

I listened to Bella tell me everything. She sped up and glossed over some parts. I didn't like the sound of "boredom and cliffs" at all. I was wondering what other dangerous things she had been up to in the past months. What I didn't like even more how close Laurent and Victoria had gotten to killing her. Laurent leaving her in the meadow wanting to kill her. Cheating. I would have to tell Irina. I didn't like the sound of her life since we had left her. She got me up to speed quickly, her thoughts drifting after she told me about Harry Clearwater. She was worried about Charlie.

We had left her because Edward thought it would give her a chance at a normal life. Vampires hell bent on killing her and temperamental werewolves could not be what he had in mind.

"Our leaving didn't do you any good at all, did it?"

I hoped she could tell me one thing. Just one good thing about her life. I hoped.

The sound she made next startled me. It was on the edge of hysterical. She was on the edge of losing her carefully put together image.

"That was never the point though, was it? It's not like you left for my benefit."

I scowled. Edward had told us that she believe him. That he didn't want her anymore. I couldn't believe him when he said those things. Bella had to know that he loved her more than anything, that everything he did was because he thought it best for her. Her words hit me though. She honestly didn't think he loved her. And now, I had come back to bring out the flood gates of hurt. Now, I would have to tell Edward what had happened, he would know I had interfered.

"Well… I guess I acted impulsively today. I probably shouldn't have intruded."

Jasper didn't want me to go. He thought I should stay. I should have.

Suddenly I looked at Bella, and she looked horrible. There was no color in her face, she looked like she was again on the edge of hysterics. She was trembling and her hands were locking around my shirt collar. She was terrified.

"Don't go Alice," she started to hyperventilate, "Please don't leave me" she was breathing so hard just at the thought of me leaving. I couldn't believe how fragile she was. One thing could break her.

"All right," I said slowly, making sure she knew I wasn't going to just vanish. I wasn't going to leave her all alone… again. "I'm not going anywhere tonight. Take a deep breath." How could he expect me to leave her again? How could he of done it the first time? Me leaving couldn't be as bad as it was when he left her. How did he manage to just pull himself away from her? She looked so scared.I watched her try to regain her composure. She struggled hard with it. I noticed just how ragged she looked. All this pain was sealed up in her eyes. Her skin was almost translucent and she was so thin. Had she been eating? Sleeping? How bad had she been? I had to find out. I could go back home with news that Bella was breathing, but she was far from alive. I had already intruded. I might as well go all the way.

She finally seemed to calm.

"You look like hell, Bella." which was an understatement. She looked horrible.

"I drowned today," she reminded me making light of my statement.

"It goes deeper than that. You're a mess." She looked like she had had no peace in months. She looked as if she had just spent months being tortured and this brief reprieve only lessened the anguish. Bella looked like she was just slowly dying.

She flinched at my words, "Look, I'm doing my best." Her eyes were glossy with tears. Doing her best at what?

"What do you mean?" I wanted all the details of her anguish. Edward wasn't getting off that easy. I was going to hunt him down and make him look at her through my eyes.

"It hasn't been easy. I'm working on it." That's it, she couldn't do this. I knew it. She didn't know how to go back to being the Bella before Edward. She had changed too much. I told him.

"I told him" we all had.

"Alice, what did you think you were going to find? I mean, besides me dead." If I had come back just to check on her, not thinking she was dead, what would I of found. "Did you expect to find me skipping around and whistling show tunes? You know me better than that?"

I did know her better than that. I had told Edward that too. I told him he knew her better than that. I told him that he was just putting both of them through unnecessary pain. However, I had hoped that somehow she may have been ok. I did want Bella to be ok.

"I do. But I hoped." We all had. Carlisle had said it after Edward left on his attempt to catch Victoria.

Maybe she'll be ok. She's always surprised us.

"Then I guess I don't have the corner on the idiocy market." she laughed without humor and the phone rang.

"That has to be Charlie," she slowly got to her feet. She grabbed me and pulled me along with her. She was scared I'd vanish as he had. Scared I was just a dream. I hoped that me being her wouldn't hurt her more in the end.

She answered the phone, "Charlie?"

I heard the other voice, a deep man's voice, husky, "No, it's me"

"Jake!"

Ah, the young werewolf. She was happy to hear from him.

"Just making sure you were still alive," Jacob said bitterly. He was afraid I'd hurt her?

"I'm fine. I told you it wasn't--"

"Yea. I got it. Bye" click silence on the other end.

Bella sighed, "that's going to be a problem."

I squeezed her hand. "They aren't excited I'm here." It had nothing to do with Bella.

"Not especially, but it's none of their business anyways."

She was excited I was here. Oh what to do. I put my arm around Bella. I had made such a mess of everything.

"So what do we do now?" I said to no one in particular. I was including my whole family in that, even Bella. "Things to do. Loose ends to tie." I would need to tell the family she was fine. They would be happy and unhappy when they heard how bad she was. I'm not sure I would be able to stop Emmett and Esme from coming back.

"What things to do?" Her words broke my thoughts. She was unaware of the mess.

"I don't know.. I need to see Carlisle." She got that panic look in her eyes again.

"Could you stay?" she was begging, she was panicked again. "Please? Just for al ittle while. I've missed you so much." She was near sobs again.

"If you think that's a good idea," oh Edward was going to be so unhappy. This may push her over the edge when I leave. She cannot possibly handle much more. Could she?

"I do. You can stay here--Charlie would love that."

I wasn't so sure. He may not be so welcoming towards the people that had left Bella. Us leaving had done the exact opposite of good.

"I have a house Bella," I said lightly. She nodded but she looked disappointed. She wouldn't' fight me. I couldn't hurt her more than she was.

"Well I need to go get a suitcase of clothes at the very least," I was unable to break her. I had to give her a little joy.

Her arms were around me then. "Alice, you're the best!"

This little joy before I left her there was that appetizing scent again, she smelt so good. I held my breath.

"And I think I'll need to hunt. Immediately."

"Oops" she released me then.

"Can you stay out of trouble for one hour?" she was about to answer when I stopped her, I closed my eyes and looked at her near future. She was going to take a shower, and make some dinner for herself and Charlie. She'd be fine. For tonight, Bella would be fine.

"Yes, you'll be fine. For tonight, anyway" I wondered how I was supposed to leave her now that I knew she was suffering. It was one thing to think it, but I had witnessed it.

"You'll be back?" Her voice was small, panicked.

"I promise--one hour" I would hunt close by. Find something quick, quench my thirst and come back. I had to find out more answers over how bad she had been. She looked at the clock, I laughed, Bella would be counting down the minutes. I had missed her. I quickly kissed her on the cheek and took off to the woods, wondering, how deep her wounds ran.

How do I leave her again?