Edward pulled me on his lap, "I'm sorry about her," he sighed.

"She'll warm up to you eventually," Jasper said, "She'll have to."

"I'll talk to her," Emmett added, "If I can't get her to like you yet, I'll try to at least make her play nice." He offered me one more smile, and headed upstairs to comfort his wife.

"Thanks guys," I said, eyeing Emmett, and smiling, "I think of you guys as family too. And I'm glad you want me to come, and I want to, but what about Charlie?"

The truth was, Alaska was, and never would be, my first choice. But that's where Edward was going to be, and I don't think I could handle him leaving me, especially not to a far away region like Alaska. What would I tell Charlie though?

"Tell him that you need to get away for a while," Carlisle explained, "Tell him that since Edward is gone, you're going to spend some extra time with the Cullens, and we all need to get out of this town for a while."

Edward shook his head, "There's no way Charlie would go for that."

I nodded, "No way in hell," I chuckled.

"You could just, run away." Alice suggested, "And once we get settled, you can call him, and tell him you're safe with me. Or better yet, send him a letter without a return address, that way he can't come find us, but he'll know you're safe."

Jasper frowned, he was obviously feeling the anxiety that I was feeling. I felt a wave of calm wash over me, and I have to say it made me feel a lot better. I looked up and smiled at him, and he just nodded.

I took in a deep breath, "When do we leave?"

Carlisle pondered this for a moment. "We'll wait about a week," he replied, "The kids will go to school, so the students and faculty can see the repercussions of Edward's death. Then we can leave. The students can assume that Bella couldn't handle things at school, and she dropped out. We'll enroll at a school in Denali, and Bella will graduate there."

We all nodded, that made sense. They'd probably also assume that I moved in with the Cullens, but I really didn't mind about that.

"Will we be staying with the vegetarian coven there?" I asked, my voice hopeful. I wanted to meet more of Edward's kind.

"No!" Alice snapped. We all eyed her curiously. She stood in the center of the living room now, with her index, and middle fingers pressing against her temples. "Bad idea, very bad idea."

Esme made a face, "Why dear?" She moved from behind the couch, concernedly stepping closer towards her daughter.

Jasper immediately jolted to her side, holding her from behind, his chin resting softly on the top of her head. "What did you see?"

"A young teenage boy," she explained, "He was dying, and Tanya changed him. He's not ready for a human to be living anywhere near him. If we stayed with them, Bella would… well, it'd just be awful."

Jasper soothingly moved his hands up and down Alice's arms, "We'll have to get our own place then, we can't have a repeat of last year."

I shuddered involuntarily, images of James, Victoria, and Laurent flying into my mind. Edward sensed this and squeezed me tighter, kissing my hair. The images floated away at his touch. "I can't lose Bella like that Carlisle; you'll just have to explain that to the coven. They will understand."

He nodded. "I'll go give them a call," he smiled softly at us, and left the room, towards his office upstairs.

"I should take Bella home," Alice said, looking up to softly kiss Jasper goodbye. "Charlie is probably wondering where she is."

"He knows where I am." I sighed, "But you're right, I should probably get home, to explain that Edward… well, lie to him about Edward."

I felt Edward nod, as he dropped his arms from me, and I stood up. He was right behind me, and he pulled me into a hug. "I'll see you tomorrow. Alice will bring you here after school."

I nodded distantly. "It's not going to be easy," I whispered.

"Just remember that I'm fine Bella," he ran his hands up and down my back soothingly. "It will get easier, I promise."

"Come on Bella," Alice cooed sweetly, and I pulled away from Edward, and followed her out the door. Before walking out the door, I turned my head to see a frowning Edward.

------------

We pulled into the driveway of Charlie's house, to see that the Blacks, thankfully, had left. Alice and I hopped out of my truck, and headed towards the door.

Before we left, Alice had applied too much blush to her pale face, to create the illusion that she had been crying. The natural dark circles under her eyes also added to the false impression. After all, she couldn't very well look like her normal beautiful self, as if nothing was wrong.

I pulled the door open, and entered the living room. Charlie was sitting on the couch. Although the news was on softly in the background he didn't seem like he was really paying attention. He saw Alice and I, and frowned.

"I'm so sorry," he said. I felt terrible lying to him about something this huge, but it had to be done. "I saw the news." His eyebrows furrowed, his forehead wrinkling in the process.

"Thank you Mr. Swan," Alice replied, offering a weak smile. Wow, she really looked sad. At least one of us was a good actress. "I just wanted to bring Bella home, and apologize for being late."

"Thank you Alice," he said stepping closer to us, and offering a small smile as well. "And please, call me Charlie."

"Alright Charlie," she smiled, "I'm going to get back now." She hugged me softly, and frowned at me. "Bella, I know how much you loved my brother. Just know that if you ever need to talk, I loved him too."

"Thanks Alice." She really needed to take up acting. I wondered if she had ever taken drama.

With that, she was gone. It was only Charlie and I now.

"Bella…I" he began, but I cut him off.

"I know Dad," I frowned. "I just want to go to bed, alright? I really can't talk about it yet."

He nodded sadly, "Okay Bella, I'll talk to you in the morning."

"Goodnight Dad," I said, turning and walking upstairs. I was sure that tonight was the worst night of my entire life. This next week will probably be even worse. I sighed heavily, and opened my door. Thankfully, Edward's open arms were waiting for me.


Eep. I really don't like that chapter all that much.

Something about it bothers me a little. Ah well, review?