A/N: Hmm, yeah... I might have said I was going to update this again last night and made you wait until today. Sorry 'bout that. I've been sick on-and-off for the past few days and last night was one of those "on" nights. Boo. So yeah, here's the second half of chapter 5. Thanks to Megsly, my beta, who I do believe said this was the best chapter so far. It's kinda short, but I do think it does its job quite well. Let me know what you think! :)

Oh yeah, don't own anything.


Chapter 5 pt. B – What the Future Holds

EPOV

I knew that she was there, watching Alice and me. I registered the look of fear on her face, saw Jasper grab her so she couldn't come to me. But none of this mattered, the vision was too much.

And then, just as soon as it began, it had ended.

"Let her go," I growled at Jasper, who still had a death grip on Bella. How I made it to her before she hit the ground I'll never know, my mind was still trying to process what I'd just seen.

I felt Bella's hand touch my cheek and saw her lips form my name, but there was no sound; my mind was racing with ideas, ways to prevent this. I had to find a way to make this work for her, for Renesmee, for our entire family.

I leaned in to her palm, hoping she could see my love for her in my eyes. Before I could even form a thought, I was assuaged with Jasper's thoughts. He was going to go after Alice, who evidently had fled. I couldn't let him get to her, I had to talk to her about this. I had to know if she'd seen anything else.

So, I did the only thing I could think of, I used his own thoughts against him. I knew he had been having an internal battle over Alice lately. Truthfully, so had I; I knew she was hiding something. Something I now had to hide from Bella. Because of this I convinced him, albeit narrowly, that I needed to go after her. I didn't even look back as I ran out of the field.

~*~

Jasper will take care of her. She's in good hands. She needs someone who knows first hand what it's like to see their spouse go through that.

No matter how much I tried to justify leaving Bella in the field and chasing after Alice, I knew I was horribly wrong in doing so.

While she had seen Alice have a vision before, Alice had never experienced anything like this one. And to top it all off, Bella had to sit there watching me experience it alongside Alice. It didn't take a mind-reader to see the pain and fear clearly visible on her face.

I followed Alice's scent back the house. I found her in her and Jasper's bedroom where she was shoving clothing haphazardly into a suitcase.

I sat on one of the armchairs in the room and buried my face in my hands. "Alice. What are you doing?"

"WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M DOING!?" she screamed as she tried in vain to shut the bag which was overflowing with clothing and accessories.

"Only you would attempt to run from this..."

She looked up at me from atop the suitcase where she was now sitting trying to get it closed.

"With a bag full of designer clothing," I added, hoping some humor might get her calmed down enough to talk about what we'd just seen.

For a brief moment, I thought it worked. She hopped lithely off the suitcase, but before I could blink was out the door heading down the stairs.

Her mind told me she planned to get Jasper and leave as soon as possible. Not knowing what the possible outcome of this would be I chased after her, catching her arm as she came to the bottom of the stairs.

"Alice... I'm begging you... stop. Let's talk about this. Try and figure out a way to make things better."

I had just loosened my grip on her arm when she yanked it away from my grasp. "Why are you not trying to get away? What aren't you taking Bella and leaving!?"

I understood her point of view, it did seem the logical thing to do. But past experience had taught me one cannot simply outrun problems. We had no idea if running would make things better or worse; though I couldn't figure out how anything could possibly get worse than what I had just seen.

"Alice, trust me – there is nothing I want to do more than to make sure my family is safe, but we have no idea what will happen. It could be worse. Please, let's just take a moment and try to figure out a game plan."

I saw her shoulder sink in defeat before she looked up at me through her dark lashes. Her sobs echoed throughout the empty house. I knew that if she could have cried, her face would be streaked with a river of tears. "I'm scared Edward. I have no idea how to make this better."

I wrapped one arm around her waist and took the suitcase with the other. I placed it beside the couch and walked towards the back door with her.

"Are we going back to them?" she asked with a hint of hope in her voice.

"No, Alice. We are going to talk and try to figure this out, but we can't do it here. We can't risk anyone knowing about this yet. Not until we've figured things out."

She nodded her consent as we ran far away from Forks, and from Jasper and Bella.

~*~

Hours later Alice and I walked back towards the house we had run from earlier. The first rays of the sun were beginning to show on the horizon, a hint at the unusually sunny day Forks was being blessed with.

How ironic, of all the days for nature to decide to bless Forks with good weather, it had to be today.

Alice and I stood on the back porch and watched the sun rise for a few minutes before she spoke.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

I nodded, not being able to find words to adequately describe how I felt at the current moment. I'm not going anywhere Edward. I'm staying here with you, with Bella, "with Jasper." She spoke the last part of her thoughts aloud, a whisper so soft I could barely hear it.

"I'm going to my wife now. I'll send Jasper back to you."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw her shoulders lurch forward in a silent sob. She turned and walked back in the house to wait for him.

I took my time getting back to the field; trying to come up with every possible thing I could tell Bella to justify my earlier actions. Who am I kidding? There is no justification. I left my wife. Just as I left her years ago in the woods. At least then I had words for her, told her why I was leaving, even if I spoke the ultimate lie. This time, there were no words. Nothing for her to think on, no reason given. I simply left.

I knew Jasper could feel me coming, so it was no surprise when his thoughts reached out to me. Nice of you to return. I've been here comforting YOUR wife while you were out doing God knows what with MINE. I suppose I deserved that, so I didn't fight it.

"Go to her," I said, choking on my own words. What had it come to that I was allowing him to return to his wife? What had changed in the past hours that made me feel the need to let him know Alice was ready for him? The answer was as clear as the day was – everything.

Jasper blew past me without another thought. I couldn't bring myself to step one foot into the field before I knew what I was going to say to her. So I stood there, watching her from afar. At least hidden in the shadow of the trees I couldn't hurt her with lies that the blackest parts of my soul would be ashamed I told.

For hours I stood, watching her. Wishing more than ever that I could get a glimpse at what she was thinking. I was also terrified of what I would find. Would she forgive me or would she hate me for leaving her at such a pivotal moment?

I was brought out of my musings by the sound of her voice, the voice of an angel who had cried for a thousand years.

"Edward... we have to talk."

It was like her voice was a beacon for me. I found myself moving with having consciously decided to do so. I stopped briefly to gather my thoughts, only to realize that is what I had been doing for the past six hours. Six hours. I had made her wait six hours. I felt every inch the monster I once thought I was at that moment.

I made myself cross the rest of the distance. Not wanted to face her quite yet, I stopped mere feet behind her.

"That must've been some vision." Leave it to my girl to whip out the sarcasm. Then she was apologizing for it. Why, I have no idea. I was glad that she obviously didn't realize things were quite as bad as they were. It would make things easier later on...

I knew I had to steel myself against anything she may try and do to learn about the vision, so I remained silent. Willing myself not to look at her.

I was so wrapped up in trying to stay collected that I didn't realize her hand was reaching for mine until it was there, touching me. Shocked, I pulled back. I chanced a look down and saw the defeat in her eyes, the pain. I couldn't bring myself to cause her more pain by speaking, so I stayed silent.

She sighed, standing in front of me. I almost laughed when I realized that she took great care to rid herself of the dirt that she had been sitting in. Then she was reaching for me again, but before I could pull away, she had her hand wrapped around my shoulder. I couldn't will myself to pull from her touch, I needed it so much.

Then she said the words which broke my resolve, "When you're ready to talk, I'll be waiting." Bella. My selfless Bella. Despite the obvious turmoil she was in, she was giving me time.

Right as I was about to turn to her, my mind was assaulted with her memories. She ran through every moment of the past twelve hours, not withholding anything. And at the end of it all, when my knees were so weak that I couldn't stand, when my dead heart threatened to tear in two because of the pain I'd caused, she gave me the one thing that I had no idea how I'd ever live without. Love.

"I love you Edward, so much. I'll be at home, the cabin, waiting for you. I just want to understand. Please don't make me wait too long."

With that, she walked away. Home. I turned and watched her leave knowing at that moment exactly what I needed to do. I had to protect her at all costs. She could not know, and even if it meant breaking every vow I made to her, I would make sure that she never felt any of the pain I felt in knowing that soon our time would end.

A/N #2: Short, like I said. But, the more and more I read it, the more and more I like it. Prologue is still my fave though. Thoughts? Theories? Reviews? :)