9. Surprise

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I took a step backwards, shame and humiliation coursing through me. I heard surprised awareness dawn in Jasper's mind, then his startled gaze flew to the girl at my side as he registered the change in her emotions.

Bella's grasp on my hand tightened and she moved forward next to me, saying in a hard voice, "That's none of your business, Alice." I saw her face through the others' eyes as she stared them all down, human to vampire. She was magnificent. "That's none of any of your business. It's between Edward and me. Don't ever throw it in his face again."

I could feel her starting to tremble so I dropped her hand and wrapped my arm around her, pulling her closely into my side, and kissed her head. Her hand slid behind me and fisted into my shirt.

There was a long moment of silence, during which none of them had the angry reaction I expected them to have. Jasper was astonished by Bella's strong protective feelings of me, especially considering what he'd just realized about last night and the fear he could feel from her; Alice anxiously checked the future to ensure that her outburst didn't cause me to leave; and Emmett eyed Bella's tiny, weak form with amusement. Finally he started laughing. "Oh, I like her! Come on, Edward, you have to bring her to the house."

Strange, seriously strange vampires.

"Why don't we call them and have them meet us here," Alice said quietly. Her face was ashamed. "Would that be all right, Edward?"

I looked at Bella and she shrugged. "I don't think they're going to hurt us."

"Okay," I said slowly. "I guess that would be all right."

Jasper pulled out a cellphone and dialed, walking to the other side of the meadow to talk.

Alice called after him, "Ask them to bring a couple of blankets and some food for Bella, will you Jazz? The temperature is going to start dropping later this afternoon as that storm front moves in, and Bella will be hungry soon."

"Sure, darlin'." He smiled at her, then turned his attention to the phone. "Carlisle. Alice found Edward. … Yes. … No, he has his mate with him and doesn't want to come to the house until he meets everyone, so can you all meet us here?" After receiving an affirmative response he told him what Alice had asked them to bring. "Because she's still human. … Yes. … No. She's Chief Swan's daughter, Bella."

Alice called my name, drawing my attention away from Jasper. I kept part of my mind on his conversation though, both out of well-practiced caution and because something about Carlisle's voice was niggling at my memory.

"Edward, Bella, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. I promise, I'm usually much better at keeping quiet about what I see."

How much had she seen of my activities over the past sixty-some years? Did she know everything I'd done? I couldn't deny that the thought of her knowing everything made me very uneasy, especially as I didn't know what she had told others in her coven about me. But more importantly…

"Alice, if you saw what I was going to do last night, why didn't you try to stop me?" It sounded like an irrational question, considering that we were vampires and killing humans was what we did, but had she not known that Bella was my mate? How exactly did her visions works?

"I wanted to," she said softly. "But everything I thought of doing ended… badly."

I saw flashes in her head of different visions, image after image of Bella dead; of me torn apart; of the outside wall of Bella's bedroom ripped open and her house partially destroyed; of her father screaming outside in the street, held back by some men as the house burned, not realizing Bella was already dead inside it…

I shuddered, and held Bella tighter. She reached up and threaded the fingers of her free hand through mine, her other hand rubbing soothing patterns on my back. Even though she didn't know why I was upset, she still immediately moved to comfort me. I didn't deserve her.

Jasper appeared next to Alice, having finished his call. Remarkable, he thought. I hadn't known that humans could feel the mating bond.

I just nodded in response. Bella was remarkable.

Alice continued silently, I could see there was a chance you wouldn't kill her, and since everything I thought of ended with her dead… I wish there was something I could have done.

"But when did you know?" Bella asked in a small voice. "I mean, when I met you at school the other day did you know then what was going to happen?"

"No!" Alice exclaimed, dismayed. Images of her being friends with my Bella flickered rapidly through her mind before she pushed them away, and to my surprise I realized that she actually wanted a friendship with her. "Bella, I promise I didn't. I didn't even have the vision of what might happen until last night, and I didn't realize it was you with him until after he was already there. That was when I tried to think of a way to stop it. I didn't even know he was here in Forks until then—he could have been anywhere. Well, anywhere with pine trees and in the English-speaking world; I could see the trees outside your window and some of the books in your room. My visions are… limited, I suppose you could say. The closer things are, the clearer my visions become, but I never see everything and sometimes it's hard to tell when something is going to happen. There are very few things that are definite: me finding Jasper, the two of us joining the Carlisle's family, and Edward coming to live with us being the notable exceptions; usually my visions are based on decisions. When someone makes a decision, or changes their mind, the vision changes."

"So, when Edward decided to come back and…" Bella's voice trailed off.

"Yes," Alice agreed. She flicked her eyes over our faces, Bella's subdued and mine remorseful, and continued, "Edward, I saw you occasionally since we missed meeting you in '92, but I only started seeing you regularly again when we decided to move here. I hoped it meant we were close to finally meeting you." But then the past month or so I didn't see you with us anymore. Instead, I saw you wandering, visiting an unmarked grave over and over. That future went away last night, when you decided not to kill her. I saw myself in her head, curled up in a slight depression in the ground, my face a rictus of grief. Alice's eyes were wide and pained in her small face. Killing her would have destroyed you. I'm so glad you didn't do it.

"What?" Bella asked.

"Nothing that's important anymore," Alice said, smiling.

I pressed my face to Bella's hair, breathing her in.

"Oh, no, that mind meld thing you guys have going on won't be annoying at all," she muttered sarcastically.

Alice laughed merrily, Jasper smiled at his mate's return to cheerfulness, and Emmett groaned as he thought about what it would be like.

"You won't be the only one to think so!" Alice leaned closer and tapped her temple, her eyes dancing. "I know."

I watched through Alice's mind as Bella rolled her eyes, and grinned against her head.

"I feel you smiling, Edward Anthony Masen," she informed me, amusement breaking through her attempt at sternness. "Don't think you can get away with everything."

Emmett started laughing. "You're in trouble now, dude. You've got to watch out when they full-name you." Bella giggled and he turned his attention to her, asking persuasively, "So, what happened last night?"

I opened my mouth to fend him off, but she beat me to it. "None of your business, remember?"

"Aw, come on, Bella! Alice never tells me anything."

Well, that was a relief. I hoped she kept to that policy with everyone.

Alice protested, "I tell you everything you need to know."

"Yeah, but never any of the interesting stuff!" He looked at Bella again, his eyes hopeful beneath the dark curls tumbled on his forehead, looking for all the world like no more than a child pleading for extra dessert as opposed to the huge vampire he was.

"Nope," Bella replied cheerfully. Her shoulders had relaxed beneath my arm as we talked to him. He clearly had the same disarming effect on her as he did on me.

I tensed as I heard three minds rapidly approaching, my eyes turning to the same part of the forest Jasper and Emmett had emerged from half an hour ago.

A tall blonde appeared first, presumably the one Bella had said was almost as beautiful as me, and came to a halt at Emmett's side. He grinned at her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Rose, this is Edward and Bella. You remember Bella from school?"

"Rosalie," she said coolly. "Nice to meet you." Her eyes flicked over Bella a little disdainfully. Foolish girl. Does she even know what she's getting into?

"A pleasure," I lied, then continued smoothly, "And yes, she does."

She looked startled, and I stared at her, my face expressionless except for a faint smile on my lips.

Emmett told her, "Edward can read minds, babe, just like Alice thought. Pretty cool, huh?"

She made a noncommittal noise. No, not really. Her eyes flew again to mine and she thought in frustration, Damn it, this is going to be really irritating.

With great effort, I refrained from smirking at her.

The second female stood before me, her eyes glowing with happiness. "Oh, Edward, I'm so pleased to finally meet you! It's been so long since Alice told us… And you have a mate! Bella, I'm happy to meet you, as well." She gestured to the bag she was carrying. "I brought you some food—it's just some fruit and cheese, and crackers. Oh, and water, too. I hope that's all right."

"It's great, thank you," Bella said, sounding a little overwhelmed.

I could see in the woman's mind that she wanted to hug us and I smiled genuinely at her, liking her immediately. "It's very nice to meet you," I told her earnestly, and reached to take the bag from her.

"And you." She clasped her hands in front of herself, smiling widely. "Oh, I should have said! I'm Esme, Carlisle's wife." She turned her head as though surprised he wasn't next to her.

The last vampire, a fair-haired man who looked like he was about my height, stood unmoving at the edge of the clearing, with two blankets held under his arm and his eyes fixed on my face.

"It is you," he whispered, when he saw me looking at him. I had hoped, but I didn't truly think…

I stared back at him, wide-eyed. I could see myself in his head. As a human.

A/N: If you want to know what kind of life Edward would have had after killing Bella, you can find out in my one-shot Betrayal Sweetens the Blood-needless to say, it doesn't have a HEA. Thanks for the reviews, favs, follows, etc! Next chapter will be up on Monday, and we'll see what Carlisle has to say. :)