I don't own anything Twilight. Everything belongs to Stephenie Meyers. No copyright infringement intended. I'm just playing around with her creation.

Previously: Alice and Jasper visit Charlie and get the details on Bella's disappearance. Bella wakes to hear talk about being killed and escapes. The wolf pack arrives at the boathouse and destroys Victoria, Riley and Laurent, but find no Bella.

Chapter 4: A Time for Everything

Edward's Point of View

This had better not be some concocted ploy to get me home or there would be hell to pay.

After I had left Bella, I had disappeared to South America where I would pine for a love I had thrown away. Every single second of every single day I regretted my decision to leave. No one in my family was happy, in fact they were out right vindictive, my only solace was in the thought that Bella would get over me and be safe.

But every time I would picture Bella happy with someone else, my motionless heart felt like it was being cut from my chest with a dull serrated knife. I would double over and fall to my knees at every mental smile or imagined laugh that she would bestow upon some other guy. This is what I had wanted. Her life was in danger with every minute she was around me. There was a saying 'if you love someone, let them go,' and I do love her. Now that I let her go she could be with a human and she could have a happy normal life.

Not once did I think she would still be in jeopardy. Is that what had happened, was she in danger now? Is that why Alice can't see her anymore? Maybe she was in a coma, that would explain the fog, or maybe she had made a decision to be invisible. I would just have to wait for my sister to return.

I sat on the tan couch in our Ontario home with my hands fisted in my hair. Alice and Jasper were expected home within the hour, and then I would learn about Bella's condition. I was such a fool for leaving her, it was apparent now that nothing good came out of me leaving.

I remained on the couch for the whole hour, going over and over in my head the scenarios for the fog. Car accident, swimming accident, wishing to be invisible, figuratively dead…it was an endless list.

"Edward?" a small voice was spoken softly from behind me.

I spun in my seat toward the voice. Alice was standing behind the couch with a very serious and hopeless expression. Jasper had his hands on her shoulders as if to support her or hold her upright. Before I could stand and come to her, she had flung herself at me, sending me to the floor in front of the couch.

Alice started pummeling my chest with all her might and she was sobbing profoundly.

"IT'S YOUR FAULT ENTIRELY. YOU NEVER SHOULD HAVE LEFT HER. SHE WAS IN EVEN MORE DANGER AFTER WE LEFT. SHE'S GONE, she's gone…she's gone…" her voice started out yelling but now it was a whisper. She continued to repeat 'she's gone' over and over again.

"Alice, explain what happened? Since you won't let me see." I urged her to speak. The rest of my family had gathered at hearing Alice's shouting.

"Bella went missing a week ago. Guess where she was and what she was doing at the time?" she glared at me, daring me to answer.

Missing as of a week ago? From the tone of Alice's voice and the anger in her eyes, I could only guess the circumstances weren't good. I ended up vocalizing the only answer I had for her.

"She was on a date with some boy. Did he kidnap her?" I was irate now, how dare someone kidnap my Bella. I was kicked hard in the head by Jasper who had come and sat down on the sofa next to us.

"Thank you Jazz," she looked at her husband then glared back down at me. "No, she wasn't on a date, quite the opposite actually. She was in your meadow celebrating your birthday by her self."

I cringed each time she emphasized a word. Bella had been out celebrating my birthday? She had managed to find our meadow, I thought it was well hidden and miles from the main road. I dreaded what she might have gone through to find our special place.

"What else, she didn't just walk off in the wrong direction did she?" Alice closed her eyes and shook her head violently. She looked completely destroyed and heartbroken.

"No," she whispered that one solitary word shakily.

"We smelled another vampire," stated Jasper in a forced cool manner. "And there were several wolves."

"WHAT!?" I stood up so suddenly that it knocked Alice to the floor. There were several gasps and growls at Jasper's statement. My eyes and mind were all over the place. What had I done? I tried to save Bella from a life time of hurt with me and I had practically gift wrapped her and handed her off to some overgrown fleabags. Now she was missing, at least with me we knew where she was. God, I have seriously messed things up.

"We couldn't tell what happened. By the time we got to the meadow her scent was too diluted and the smell of wolf was overpowering. We couldn't tell if Bella was taken by the vampire or the wolves. There was no blood so nothing perilous happened there." I winced at Jaspers blunt comment and the thought of her blood being anywhere aside from under her paper thin skin made me sick.

"Edward, there is something else you really must know." Alice spoke sensitively again from my side. "Bella may not be physically dead, but in all other aspects she is. She died when we left. Charlie told us that she never truly smiled, never went out, barely ate, and never listened to music anymore. He feared she would take her own life; he was debating a shrink or facility. He holds you solely responsible for destroying his daughter. The day she left for the meadow was the first time he saw a genuine smile from her." She let the images of her talk with Charlie visible to me as she spoke.

I sank to the floor as I saw Charlie retelling how lost his daughter was. How badly I had torn her up. She would scream my name at night and no one was allowed to say my name for fear that she would freak out again. She would hold her self tightly like she was falling apart. He said he no longer had a daughter; he had a doll look alike. When I had extracted myself from her life I had taken her very reason for living. I had killed Bella!

Charlie was right. I didn't know her very well if I thought she would forget me so quickly and easily. I knew she loved me desperately, to the point that she would give up her mortal life to be with me for eternity.

She had offered me a once in a lifetime gift and I threw it away. If only I had accepted her wishes, she would be with us right now, and we would be more in love than ever. I truly am a monster! I had destroyed a pure and innocent girl deeply in love all because I refused to make her into a monster and I was scared for her safety.

I leaned forward and pulled on my hair savagely.

"We'll find Bella," Alice stated with certainty and conviction.

Her words did little to comfort me. Alice couldn't see Bella anymore so how could we find her. We had no definite clues as to her whereabouts or her kidnapper. Hopefully Alice had a plan because I didn't.

All I could think about was that now no one was happy and Bella was missing.

???'s Point of View

Where am I? Why was I naked? Where am I going?

I had these questions and more, but for now, finding clothes was my first priority. After I had escaped my unknown murders and ridden down the river I found myself floating in a large bay. I hid from all pairs of lurking eyes.

The sky was just turning dark, nightfall was upon me and I hid in the darker shadows as I made my way to shore. I stayed behind trees and walls till I found what I was looking for.

Not far from the shore was a woman standing in the porch light in her backyard pulling clothes off the line. I licked my lips in concentration as I watched her moving around and scooting the basket with her foot. I was startled when I heard a young voice hollering from inside the house and the woman quickly went inside. Now was my chance. In a blink I was over the short fence and snagged the basket then hopped back over the fence. I ran down the bank and leaned against a taller fence as I rummaged through the basket.

I was incredibly delighted to find clothing that looked my size. I grabbed a pair of panties and a light blue tie dye sundress*. I quickly put on the clothes then ran the basket back down the bank. The woman was still in the house so I snuck the basket back over the fence then quickly took my leave.

I escaped into the nearby forest. I had no idea why I was hiding - it was in inherent urge to not be seen, to stay invisible. As I was walking through the forest I noticed an itchy, burning feeling in my throat. I followed the scent of water and found a small stream of mountain run-off. I kneeled down by the waters edge and scooped up a handful of water and let the icy liquid trickle down my throat.

I immediately choked on the water and spit it out. My stomach started to turn in circles. Was this water bad? It didn't smell like it. I stood up and darted further into the forest in search of clean water. I came across several streams and lakes and every time I had the same reaction. After about a hundred miles and fifty attempts at a drink, I gave up; I would look for a house and ask for a cup of water. I still had that annoying itchy and burning feeling along the length of my throat.

I had no sense of direction of where to go, or where I wanted to go. I had no explanation for why I was in that boathouse, how I got there, or who was planning on killing me. I had no idea what I was doing or when all this confusion started or when it would end.

I had spent the last few days running around in the forest, faster than I normally would and I never tired, and I haven't been sleeping like I should be, nor did I have to relieve myself, from what I remembered, I had to do these things before.

I sat down by the base of a tree and laid my head back against the trunk. I looked up into the night sky and marveled over the amount of brilliant stars dotting the blackened outer space. The lack of lights must be making the stars more visible.

I was brought to attention by a quiet rustling sound to my right. I instinctively crouched low on the ground, my eyes never leaving the spot the noise had come from.

Tanya's Point of View

I couldn't believe Kate had dragged me all the way to Whitehorse, all for her morbid hunger for a Kodiak. We had several bears up in Denali, but no, she wanted a Kodiak. Sometimes I swear her and Emmett Cullen were cut from the same cloth.

Suddenly a smell wafted in our direction and I was immediately alert. That was a scent that shouldn't be out here in Canada, as far as I knew.

"Kate, stop…" I ordered Kate quickly and she froze mid-step.

Kate turned her head to look at me as she whispered. "What is it Tanya?"

"Shhhhh," I held a finger up to my mouth to silence Kate, then I slowly stalked in the direction the scent was coming from. It was definitely getting stronger.

I peered through some bushes and saw a teenage girl curled up next to a tree. I slowly walked toward her, not wanting to scare her. I cursed myself when a branch snapped under my foot and the girl sprang into action. She crouched low to the ground and looked unswervingly in my direction. I could now see the girl better due to her defensive position. She wore a blue tie dye dress that reached to her thigh and no shoes. She was amazingly dirty. She had dark brown hair that reached mid-back and her eyes had a sliver of bright crimson around them, which meant she was a newborn or she lived off humans.

I held my hands up in surrender and stepped out of the bushes. "I won't hurt you. You have nothing to fear from us, we're not dangerous."

She relaxed by only a fraction. "Us?" she growled out.

"My sister and I are out hunting bears. Kate, come here please, slowly." She obeyed and was standing by my side looking as surprised as I was at the girl. "You look thirsty. Haven't you had anything to drink in the last week or so?"

She looked stunned for a second, like my question was a mystery to her. "Every time I get a drink, the water tastes rancid and I choke on it."

Water? Why was she drinking water? Of course she would choke on it. I looked at Kate and she was as confused as I was.

"Why were you drinking water?" I was so mystified by this girl and at the same time I was intrigued.

"I was thirsty, duh,"

"If you were thirsty you should have been drinking blood. Did your maker not tell you that?" with each question I asked, this girl bewildered me even more.

"Why would I drink blood? Maker…do you mean my parents?" the girl asked calmly.

She seemed relaxed now, no crouch, no growl, no threatening manner.

Does she not know what she is? Was she made then abandoned? I'll kill the person that did this. This girl looks so young and innocent it's such a shame that she was brought into this world. I was unknowingly drawn to this innocent creature; there was something about her that made me want to protect her.

"Before we get away with ourselves, I'm Tanya and this is my sister Kate. And your name is?" I asked with an honest smile.

She looked at us with a blank expression for a surprisingly long amount of time. "B…Be…B…Be…" she stuttered as she shook her head violently. "That's all I remember, why can't I remember." She fell to her knees and looked at the ground in shock.

I rushed to her side, the instinct to protect this girl overruling every precaution I may have had. I held her shoulders till she calmed down. "Do you remember anything? Where you're from, who made you, why you're in Canada?"

She shook her head no, "all I can remember is being lonely and a lush forest of green."

I held her like a mother would hold her child till the sky started to lighten and dawn arrived. I brushed some of her brown tresses out of her face and looked down at her ruby red eyes.

"Does your throat still burn?" she nodded her head while it rested on my shoulder. "I can help you get something to drink if you follow me. Can we call you Bee?" she nodded again and we rose to our feet.

"Coming Kate, you might find your Kodiak." I winked at her playfully as I took Bee by the hand and pulled her into the surrounding forest. We only ran about a mile when I picked up the scent of a nearby herd.

I stopped suddenly and Bee stopped next to me, a curious look in her eyes. I turned and stepped in front of her, smiling. "Close your eyes…" hesitant at first, Bee closed her eyes. "Listen to your instincts. What do you hear?"

I watched as she took a deep breath then let it out. "I hear you and Kate breathing. There is a slight wind blowing through the trees. I think a squirrel is running around on a tree branch…it sounds like someone is playing a drum nearby."

I smirked when she tilted her head to the side in uncertainty. "Good, now, what do you smell?"

Her eyebrows scrunched together in concentration. "Pine trees, dirt, dead leaves, rain…I think it's going to rain tonight." I chuckled at her random thought. I smiled widely as she took a deep sniff. "What is that?" her eyes shot open and focused on me then they darted to the left of her.

"Does it smell good, is your mouth watering?" I said quietly, urging her and she nodded. "Then go get -" she was gone before I could finish my sentence. Kate and I took off after her.

We found Bee hunched over a large elk with her mouth latched onto its neck. She pulled back and looked down at the dead animal, her eyes went large.

"What have I done…why…?" she fell over backwards and scurried away from the animal.

"Bee, that's what vampires eat, it's natural." Kate told her straightforwardly.

"WHAT?! That's not possible - he would never let me change into a vampire." Bee had pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

"He who?" now I was getting really worried.

Bee's eyes became unhinged and she looked at the ground in front of her but she wasn't seeing. "I…don't…know…"

Kate leaned in and spoke softly over my shoulder as we both watched the poor frightened girl. "Is it possible for a vampire to have amnesia?"

I shrugged, "it would appear so. Her human life might have been very dramatic or she had an unusually traumatic change. Either way, we need to get her home. And I need to make a rather important phone call. I think we need to call in an expert."

Chapter End Notes:

So, what do you all think?

Can a vampire have amnesia? Who is the expert that Tanya is calling in?