I darted fast out into the woods not caring to hunt for anything too specific I just wanted to be quick about it I ran for about fifteen minutes away from Bella's home. I was far enough away from civilization so that I would have very little chance of running into a stray human. I had promised Bella one hour and I'd return. I allowed myself to become a hunter then and released myself to my senses. I hunted, for what it didn't matter, I just hunted.

Ten minutes later I felt satisfied. I regained my composure. This was going to take less than an hour I thought happily. Despite how frail Bella looked I couldn't help but be happy to see her, I had missed her so much. Leaving her again, leaving her to loneliness and to throw her to the wolves (literally) would not be a good option. None of the family would think so. Emmett had been so angry and hurt when he thought she had died, I could only imagine how he would feel to know she was basically dead looking.

I didn't head straight back to Bella's house, instead I ran back to my own home. It was strange how easy and familiar everything looked. It felt very much like home. I entered the empty house. All the furniture had been moved to New York when Edward had decided to try this crazy venture except for one piece that remained. There it stood, his beautiful grand piano alone in a room and covered with a sheet. I sighed. I could hear Edward toying with the keys shaping out a beautiful tune that would fill the whole house

Edward, she's not happy. She's so, broken.

I went up stairs to my room and grabbed what clothing I had left behind in my haste. The closets had remained stocked when we left. Everything had some reminder of Bella here. I grabbed a few things and tossed them in a bag. I looked at my watch, I had thirty minutes to return to Bella. I darted back to her.

I hurried back to Bella's home. She was in the kitchen cleaning up some dishes. She smelt exactly like Bella should. I was pleased that the shower had washed away that musky wet dog smell. The shower seemed to make her look more alive. It seemed to make her look a little more like herself but she was still so worn down looking. I entered her house quickly and easily. I doubt Bella even heard me.

I sat on the bed she had made out on the sofa. She hadn't forgotten that we had to blend in. That came as a happy surprise. She came into the living room and I couldn't help but smile at her. "Thanks," I said as I patted the makeshift bed. Her eyes seemed to light up when she saw me like she looked surprised I had to laugh a little. She looked almost as if she had tried to believe I wasn't real or wasn't coming back.

"You're early," Bella said with enthusiasm.

She came over to the sofa and sat down next to me and leaned her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her. She was thin. I had to be even more careful that usual that I wouldn't break her. Whenever one of us touched Bella, Edward especially, we were careful not to crush her and touch her as any human would. However, now it seemed that if a human hugged her to tight she would shatter. How long had it been? Six? Seven months? How long had we left her too this miserable existence? And how much longer were we supposed to let her continue to live this way? Now that I had seen what I always knew I couldn't just leaver her to slowly die in misery. I couldn't and I wouldn't.

"Bella. What are we going to do with you?" I said, wishing I could see the answer. If I left she'd break again and I was pretty sure there would be no way to put her back together. She was barely back together now.

"I don't know. I really have been trying my hardest," she said. She sounded like someone had given her an impossible job to complete but that she wanted to complete so badly. In a way, Bella had been given an impossible task.

"I believe you," was all I could say.

Carlisle, Esme, myself, everyone knew that Bella would try to do what everyone wanted of her. She would do her very best to please everyone. That much I was sure of. I was sure that this was as put together as Bella could manage.

I sat there holding her in the silence wondering how she had been. If this was Bella trying to hold it together after months then how bad had she been before she got to this point?

"Does---does he…" Bella seemed to be struggling hard with her words.

"Does Edward know you're here?"

The moment she uttered his name it looked as if someone had stabbed her right in the heart and twisted the blade. She gulped right after it and she looked like she was in terrible pain. Bella was being tortured by only saying his name.

"No."

I answered her simply. Not adding that when I did finally pry myself away from her I was going to hunt him down and make him see that I was right. I planned on making him see Bella like this, how she struggled with his name and how the very thought of me leaving her was sending her into hysterics. He would soon know that I had been there, he could count on it. She was miserable. She was tortured and so was he. Edward was going to stop this now. There was no way around it. I was thinking all this when her words broke through my train of thought.

"He's not with Carlisle and Esme?"

Bella's words seemed more like a statement even though it came in the form of a question. She knew him and us so well.

I tried to smile.

"He checks in every few months," from his lovely spider filled attic.

"Oh"

That one word did something to Bella's face. I remembered he told her that he didn't want her any more. He had lied to her, lied to save her as he put it. It had nearly killed Edward to do it and tore him apart when she so easily believed it. I didn't believe him, but here was the proof.

"You said you flew here…" Bella was ready to stop torturing herself, nice change of topic.

"Where did you come from?"

"I was in Denali. Visiting Tanya's family."

Then I happened to see you jump off a cliff and raced back here as quick as I could.

"Is Jasper here? Did he come with you?"

I shook my head. I hated disappointing her. She sounded hopeful, she missed all of us. I think that that would make them happy to know she did not so easily forget her family that loved her. I needed to get a hold of Jasper soon. I couldn't forget I need to tell them that Bella was alive. Not okay, but alive. Right now though she was my main focus.

"He didn't approve of my interfering. We promised…" I was about to say his name but I didn't want to see that agonized expression on her face again. Once was enough.

I then heard the sound of the police cruiser. Charlie was home and he was about to find out that I have come to visit. I hope he was as warm to me as Bella was.

"And you think Charlie won't mind my being here?" I asked, I was worried that he would throw me out. Demand that myself and my family leave Bella alone. It wouldn't be so far off, it would be less that we deserved.

"Charlie thinks you're wonderful, Alice."

She sounded sincere. However, that was before we left Bella to become this frail and tortured girl.

"We, we're about to find out."

She seemed to catch on pretty quickly and jumped up to open the door. I braced myself for the worse. I had always like Charlie.

Charlie looked so sad. He and his daughter seemed lost in grief. I sensed his was a bit fresher and did not run as deep as Bella's. It still made me sad to see him so broken.

Bella walked up to him and gave him a hug. He hugged her back like he was holding on to her for dear life.

"I'm so sorry about Harry, Dad."

"I'm really going to miss him," Charlie mumbled.

"How's Sue doing?"

"She seems dazed, like she hasn't grasped it yet. Sam's staying with her.. Those poor kids. Leah is just a year older than you and Seth is only fourteen."

Charlie looked so sad, it was then he started to come to the door. I wondered whether I should just pop out or give Bella a chance to explain first.

"Um, Dad? You'll never guess who is here." I got my answer.

Charlie looked at Bella and then looked around. He saw the car. I decided then to let him see it was me. I didn't think he'd be so friendly otherwise.

"Hi Charlie," I said as I stepped in the doorway. I wasn't as perky or upbeat as he was used to. It wasn't appropriate. "I'm sorry I came at such a bad time."

I was truly sorry I'd even come. I was pretty sure Bella would be worst because of it.

"Alice Cullen? Alice is that you?"

He stared at me as if I was an illusion. The same way Bella had.

"It's me. I was in the neighborhood."

Or something like that.

"Is Carlisle…?"

"No, I'm alone."

Charlie was just as protective of Bella as ever. He was almost as protective as Edward. I thought of the irony that Charlie and Edward were now trying to protect Bella from the same thing. Edward. I knew that is what Charlie was really asking when he asked about Carlisle. He was asking about Edward. Charlie's grip got tighter around Bella.

"She can stay here, can't she? I already asked her."

"Of course. We'd love to have you Alice."

It was good to know that I was still in Charlie's good graces after all this mess. He seemed to look at me with genuine warmth. If anyone would know how bad Bella had been when we left, he would. I would find out another thing to tell Edward when I hunted him down. Enough was enough, I wanted my Bella back.

"Thank you Charlie, I know it's horrid timing." Charlie smiled a bit at me.

"No, it's fine, really. I'm going to be really busy doing what I can for Harry's family; it will be nice for Bella to have some company."

That was reassuring. However, Charlie did seem weary of Bella and me spending some time together. I had a suspicion he was worried for the same reason I was.

"There's dinner for you on the table, Dad." Bella told him and directed him to some left over meal on the table.

"Thanks, Bell." He gave her a quick squeeze and I headed back over to the sofa.

Bella followed be back and I pulled her close to me. She looked so exhausted. She needed to sleep.

"You look tired," I stated the obvious.

"Yeah, near-death experiences do that to me…So, what does Carlisle think of you being here?"

"He doesn't know He and Esme were on a hunting trip. I'll tell him in a few days when I get back." I hated lying to Bella, but I had to find some way to fix this. I had really messed up. I had left Carlisle and Esme grieving a daughter. Now I had to tell them just kidding, however she's dying slowly on the inside. It didn't seem helpful. Bella would find some way to blame herself for that. She didn't need to know that. I was also starting to think that finding Edward and letting him know how bad it was may just do more harm to her. Plus, it wouldn't be a pleasant experience for me either.

"You won't tell him, though when he checks in again?"

Edward.

Bella didn't want him to think she wasn't doing the one thing he asked her. To take care of herself, don't do anything reckless, and basically go back to being a happy human. It was the one thing she thought Edward wanted from her and she was failing. She didn't want him to know. How could I go and show him she was, in her opinion, failing at what he wanted from her? This was so tangled and messed up.

"No. He'd bite my head off."

I had very grimly come to the decision of hiding this for as long as possible.

She laughed once and sighed. She needed to sleep. She was fighting it. Finally as she rested on my shoulder she drifted to sleep. Charlie had disappeared upstairs and I slid from Bella and laid her down on the makeshift bed. I wrapped the blankets around her.

I spent the night staring out into the dark of Forks, wishing I could see a solution. I couldn't see one. Instead I could see Edward. He was still staying motionless in that attic. He looked horrible. He hadn't hunted in what seemed like forever. He just laid there with his eyes closed fighting with himself. Every once in awhile him returning to Bella would pop up as a possible future. He was wavering.

Maybe I wouldn't have to tell him.

Maybe he'd break before then.

I thought this all over and I looked at Bella. She looked so small.

"Edward, you idiot. Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

The hours passed and Charlie woke up early.

Time to find out how badly we broke her.