Air Waves

I do not own the characters.

"Come on; let me call the next one!"

It had taken two days to convince Alice that we would be alright calling with a fake number, fake names, and fake locations. It then took three weeks to convince Rosalie and Jasper that it would be ok. I never once had to beg or plead with Carlisle and Esme; they simply wanted me happy…now why couldn't the rest of the family be more like them?

"Emmett, you've called all of them…can't I call one?"

I held the small black cell phone in my hand and stared at Emmett, he had not let anyone but Rose call one of the millions of numbers in the phone book. He insisted that it was because he was perfecting his different accents for when we would travel.

Alice didn't care to call and Jasper was comfortable sitting with her and watching us. He definitely made the calls interesting; Emmett would be in the middle of trying to act as if he was the local law enforcement when Jasper would send him into giggle fits. It was a sweet torture for being a complete ass if you ask me. It's not like Jasper was causing him pain or anything.

"Dude, I wanted to ask the refrigerator question next!"

"What the hell is the refrigerator question?"

"Eddie, it's when you call and you ask them if there refrigerator is running, they place you on hold and go check, when they get back and say 'yes' you tell them to go catch it and hang up on them."

"That sounds stupid Emmett; we are supposed to be locating Bella, not telling horrible jokes."

"You're no fun."

"You're an idiot, but you don't see me complaining."

"You're both idiots, give me the damn phone."

I didn't have time to argue as Rose reached over and snatched the phone I had just retrieved from Emmett out of my hands. She pushed her bottom lip out in a fake pout as she moved a few strands of loose hair away from her face and flipped the phone open.

I slumped into my chair and threw my elbow up on the dining room table where we all sat; I shaped my hand into a fist and rested my chin on it waiting for Rose to get done with her childish phone calls so that I could begin the real search for Bella.

"Hello, yes…this is Alisa Manicotti; I am wondering if you know how I could reach my sister Bella."

There was a long pause as a smile of satisfaction crossed Roses face. The woman she was speaking with did know of a Bella, but was not sure how to reach her; I wondered how long Rose would be able to play off this 'Alisa Manicotti' until this woman got suspicious of her questions.

"Oh no, Mrs. Clearwater…I'm sure she doesn't even know I exist. We were separated at birth and I just found out she was still alive so I decided to grab a phone book and look her up. You wouldn't by chance be able to direct me to someone who would know how to reach her would you?"

There was another pause and mixture of sounds like moving paper or wind against the phone. I heard a front door creaking through the background and the rustle of old rusted chains. I could picture a dainty woman sitting on a front porch swing pushing her self back and forth deciding whether Rose was real or a fake. How much did this Mrs. Clearwater know about Bella and how much was she actually telling us? There was more motion on the other line and then a deep seeded questioning in her voice. She was verifying us?

"I guess I don't know what her last name is right now, it's been so long, I'm sure she's married or something…she should be 48 now, though you know us girls; we never tell our real ages."

There was a low hum on the other side of the line and then Mrs. Clearwater informed Rose that the only Bella she knows of is a young girl who runs with the Quileute kids. That had to be my Bella, but she shouldn't be a young girl…maybe Alice was right? Maybe it was a common name, or worse; what if she was a sworn enemy?

I stood up from the chair not really wanting to hear anymore at the moment or discuss this new information further. I was dancing on a thin line between self loathing and immediate depression that even Jasper wouldn't be able to pull me out of. Maybe not knowing would have been better than knowing and not being able to do anything.

I mean what really did I know? That maybe this Bella was not my Bella? Something in my gut told me that it was, but I didn't want to believe it…I had searched for her for years, would it be possible that she was like me in a way that she didn't age? And if so, why wasn't she looking for me? I mean if Alice was able to find me why would she? So then the question at hand is…did she want to know me? I felt used and sick and confused and every other strange emotion possible until a smooth blanket of peacefulness wrapped around me.

I turned my head around to see Jasper standing a few feet away with a scowl on his face. I felt my eyebrows pinch together when his thoughts changed and he took a step closer to me.

"Why is his girl so important man? You have your family."

"Why is Alice so important to you?"

"Edward, if I crushed this hard on every one night stand I ever had before joining this family I would drive myself nuts."

"She wasn't a one night stand Jasper."

"How long did you know her?"

"I'm not defending my feelings to you."

Jasper growled and walked out of the room leaving me to my own selfish pity party. I knew what his point was and under normal circumstances I would probably agree with him, but this didn't feel like a normal circumstance to me. I needed to find out more, my curious nature wasn't going to rest until I spoke to her.

I walked into the dining room where everyone but Jasper was still sitting. I gave Alice an apologetic look as she shook her head in my direction. Her thoughts told me not to worry that Jasper would be fine, his concern was over my well being. I took the cell phone from Rose's hand as another number began ringing a deep masculine voice on the other end answered and I paused for words.

"This is Billy."

"Yes, my name is Leonardo Capulet and I was wondering if you by chance knew who Bella was."

"Who is this again?"

"Leonardo Capulet. I'm looking for Bella."

"Bella doesn't live here. How did you get this number?"

"The phone book. So do you know her?"

"I don't know who you are but Bella doesn't know a Leonardo Capulet. Don't call here again."

The line disconnected quickly and flipped the phone shut. I knew instantly that Billy as well as Mrs. Clearwater knew more about Bella than they were letting on; I wondered how many people were on to our phone calls. But knew that it didn't matter, Alice had the phone set up somewhere out of Texas with a strange name and an entirely different bank account for bills to draft from, it was as she said untraceable.

I set the phone down and let out a heavy sigh, tomorrow was the weekend which meant no school and nothing else to do. Emmett picked up the phone and began prank calling more people as Rose listened in carefully. I had studied this family enough to know that they didn't care near as much as I did on whether I found Bella or not, but it was still nice in a weird way that they were helping me.

"I know it's her. I can feel it, I need to go over there."

"And how do you propose that without breaking the treaty?"

"There has to be a way we can contact them, maybe to set up another meeting, can't we pretend to have some sort of dire need?"

Rose was thinking that I was crazy, I knew from her snide comment about how I wanted to do that she would be against it, but she was teetering on how much she hated this school and was ready to try college instead. The people here were too mundane for her.

"Edward, it would never work, just give up and find someone else."

"Rose, I can't. I want to, I've tried, I can't."

"Whatever."

I rolled my eyes as her attention moved back to Emmett and the cheesy refrigerator joke he was telling. He closed the phone with a loud howl of laughter that put a smile on Alice's face. I knew she wasn't concerned so much with finding Bella as she was with the fact that she couldn't see anything across the borders, the tribe was so thick over there that everything blacked out for her. She wanted to know why but there was no way to get her answer much less my own about Bella.

"Why don't we create our own treaty for them to sign? We could stand on the border to get there attention and deliver it that way, surely they'll want to talk to us then."

"Edward you are just going to start drama for this family, give it up already."

"Rose, I can't. Stop fucking asking me to do what I can not do."

"Well stop putting this family in danger."

"I'm trying to find a way that it won't be dangerous."

"There isn't a way Edward. Get that through your thick skull."

I could feel the argument brewing inside me, the force of pure anger from her simple yet complex request. How was I supposed to give up? Stop being who I am? It was impossible…and she knew it.

"Edward, why don't you wait until she comes for you…we'll drop a reminder that you exist, if she comes looking for you then fine."

"Alice, what do you mean a reminder?"

"Emmett, may I see the phone?"

Emmett slid the phone across the table to Alice as Rose and I continued to stare at each other with simple disgust. She was so self centered and completely blind to anyone else's feelings.

Alice closed her eyes as her fingers began pushing buttons on the phone. She then held the phone to her ear and waited a few seconds as it rang…a few seconds more and there was still no answer. I was becoming frustrated with the entire family before she spoke.

"Tell Bella, that he does exist."

With that she hung up the phone and slid it back over to Rose. I waited for a minute before asking what the hell she was up to. I knew not to question Alice because she was alright right when she did something, but it would be nice for her to clue the rest of us in on her little plan.

"Who did you call Alice?"

"I don't know, but something told me that whoever answered will deliver the message to Bella…if she's smart she'll ask the right questions and come to you."