Hello, again! I hope you all had a very happy start to the New Year! I hope 2014 brings nothing but positive things for you guys!

I have been spending a lot of time writing, and should have this completely wrapped up in ten more chapters give or take and an epilogue. It's almost completely written, too.

As always, thank you to Darcysmom for betaing, and Nikki for her comments.

I hope you guys enjoy.

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It was awhile later that I eventually made my way into the house and joined the rest of my family. Carlisle had rejoined them awhile earlier. They were scattered about the living room, looking at papers, and based on their conversations with one another, trying to form a plan.

I was not sure how long I stood there, before I finally announced my presence. "Why don't you guys care?"

"What, son? Care about what? We care about you and finding Bella, that is all that we need to focus on right now." Carlisle said, looking at me with an odd look on his face.

"The wolves. Why don't you care more about them? You guys haven't exactly been enthusiastic about finding out anything more about them. Shouldn't we be calling La Push to see if they know something?"

"Edward, I doubt they know anything. I highly doubt that anyone there will be forthcoming with much needed information. The way we left, what we left behind, will not hold favor for us in their eyes. They won't help out their number one enemy. And right now we really need to focus on finding our Bella, okay?"

Carlisle's reasoning didn't sit well with me.

In what seemed like a haze, I slowly sat down on the couch facing the table that most of the family was standing around. I looked on at my family, watching them with their rapid gestures and fast talk, my mind infiltrated with every thought, and yet, I sat silent. I couldn't bring myself to offer suggestions. With so much going through my mind, I couldn't even think.

Maybe I should head to the police station to see when Charlie was last in.

Someone should check out the High School and Bella's locker.

I still think we should canvas more of the town. A whole town can't just disappear, they have to be somewhere.

The hospital seems like a good place to start. Look into Charlie's and Bella's medical records, see if anything new is on there, or recent visits.

This house seems so oddly empty without the human.

I let out a sigh, my elbows touched my knees as I leaned forward and stared at the floor, zoning in and out on my family members' thoughts. I felt very isolated. Like I was here, but not really, kind of half in this world and in another.

"Charlotte! I hope I am not catching you at a bad time, but I hope that maybe you can help." Jasper's voice pierced my thoughts as I looked up and noticed the phone he was on. I went back to staring at the floor as I let his voice drown out as he told the person on the phone what was going on. "If you could, maybe keep an eye out for another vampire. Victoria, she is nomad. It would be very much appreciated." I didn't listen to the goodbyes or the dial tone.

"Well, at least we have some contacts looking for her. I wouldn't put it past her to try and get to Bella after all that happened down in Phoenix." Carlisle said, his voice sounded muddled.

I felt the couch dip down in weight as I smelled Esme close to me, my eyes closed as she ran her fingers gently through my hair, soothing me as only a mother could.

"You know, my dear, all I ever wanted for you was for you to find your happiness, your place in this world. That is all a parent really wants for their child. And you are mine, just as the rest of your siblings are. I very much think of Bella as my daughter as well. I want her home just as much as you do. You know, you radiated so much happiness whenever you brought her home to us. It shined in your eyes, melted in your smile. She brought out a part of you that none of us could. I want to see that brightness back in you again."

"Thank you, Mom." I sat there, laid my head on her shoulder as I allowed her to comfort me. I finally looked up and around the room, noticing that my siblings were all gone, only Carlisle remained behind. He held his cell phone in his hand as he waited. Our eyes met when he noticed I was looking at him. It's going to be all right, son.

A short time later his phone rang, Alice's voice came through clearly. "It's the same date, Carlisle. October 17th. That is the last day Charlie clocked in to work. Everything looks normal here, too. Not at all like how we found the house. Nothing is strewn about, or looks like people left in a hurry, it is just empty. I am going to leave the station, and head on through the town. I will call again if I find anything else."

Carlisle closed his phone, his eyes sad as he allowed a moment of worry to flash through them. Now is not the time to worry. Must be strong. Usually, Carlisle was quick to stop thoughts like this from hitting me, but this time it did. Only I didn't worry, I hung on to hope.

I had to hope that we would find her, that she was out there, and somewhere close. That she was thinking of me, just as I was her.

It grew darker in the house as we continued to wait for my other siblings to check in with us. I paced and tugged at my hair as the guilt consumed me. I should have been out there doing what my siblings were doing instead of staying behind as I waited.

"Keep going back and forth, Edward, and you are going to wear a hole in my floor," Esme scolded me.

I mumbled a 'sorry', and sat down again. My knee began to bounce as I grew more anxious as time passed.

Carlisle's phone went off, he quickly answered, " Yes, Emmett?"

Emmett let out a long sigh. "Everything seems normal at the school. Well, besides no students. It's clean but empty. Again, October 17th is the last date I am seeing on pretty much everything around here. Attendance, homework, the teachers white boards. I am done at the school, on my way back home."

"Thank you, son"

Why was October 17th such an important date? I pondered. There was something about that date, besides its reappearance that kept nagging at me. It held some sort of major significance to me, but I couldn't place it, couldn't remember why it was important to me. The date left me unsettled as I continued to pace frantically around the room as I kept trying to remember what was so special about that date. It was like I had to know. Deep down, I had to know.

I hadn't come up with anything about that 17th when Rosalie walked in through the door, flashes of the town played through her mind as she came and sat down in the chair next to the sofa.

Her eyes glued to Carlisle, "I found nothing throughout the town, and pretty much covered every inch of it and still found nothing. I carefully entered a few empty houses and checked for anyone residing there. Came up empty there as well. I did glance at the mail, calendars, anything that could give me any clues. The month of October seems to be the stopping point throughout the town.

Carlisle nodded, his hands deep in his pockets as he stared out the front window as he pondered just what I had about the significance of October 17th, and he, too, came up empty.

"Well, I am afraid to say that all that is left that we can search is the hospital records, and seeing as how I have no authority there since we moved, I will need Jasper to hack into the database, which he should be doing right about now."

Alice was the next through the door with nothing new to report. She had done another sweep of the town after she left the police station. She had hoped to maybe find something Rosalie possibly would've missed when she did her sweep, but had come up with nothing, just as Rosalie had.

As my shoulders slumped under the weight of the past few hours, Jasper handed off his laptop to Carlisle. He had successfully hacked into the hospitals medical records. We were lucky in the fact that Forks General had updated to electronic records recently, which made it a lot easier for Jasper to gain access to what we needed.

"Well, I got into Bella's first, Carlisle." Jasper said as he looked at the computer screen over Carlisle's shoulder. He tapped a few keys to bring up the pages holding Bella's information first. I watched as Carlisle moved the cursor over as he read, nothing of importance coming up from what I could see through Carlisle.

"As you can see Carlisle, Bella hasn't had a visit after we left. The last time she was here was the accident with Tyler's van." Jasper then clicked a the mouse in order to bring up Charlie's records, and it was the same for him. No recent visits either, and nothing glaringly out of sorts in his records that could give us any clue as to where to go from here.

I let out a long sigh, my fingers moving through my hair as they tugged it in frustration. We were getting nowhere, and that brought on a whole new feeling helplessness.

"Son, why don't you get out of the house for a bit and go hunting. Take a run and clear your mind. There isn't much we can do right now. But maybe if you hunt, you will get some new thoughts and feel stronger." Carlisle looked at me, his eyes soft and full of love.

I nodded and stood up. I was too keyed up to stay inside, and maybe some time by myself away from the family, not that I had spent so much time with them lately, would do me some good.

I needed quiet, and maybe something would come to me.

The front door slammed shut after me as I ran at a full sprint towards the forest. The greens and browns became nothing but a blur as I ran with no clear destination in mind.

A small, quick heartbeat infiltrated my ears as I took off into a run, going east instead of North I had headed in when I first left the house. I came upon a deer in a small clearing and launched, quickly wrapped my arms around her as I snapped her neck and placed my lips at her neck and drank until she had no more to give.

I wiped my mouth and closed my eyes as I breathed in deeply. My mind slowly emptied of the clutter and all my thoughts, and just focused on Bella and everything leading up to now.

And then I smelled it. It was faint, but it was there.

Strawberries.

Freesia.

Bella.

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I look forward to your thoughts!

Thank you to each and everyone of you that reads, favorites, follows and reviews. It truly means a lot to me.