Hello! I just got finished watching the super bowl, and I've decided that now is the time to post! Go Steelers! Anyway, thanks to all of my reviewers this week:

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And happy reading! If you are wondering about Little Alice's origin, it will be explained in time! Also: I've been told that I said 27 instead of 17 when I was talking about the years that the Cullens had been gone! Sorry!

I am not Stephenie Meyer; I'm only borrowing her characters for a little bit!

Chapter Nine

When I arrived at SeaTac airport, child in hand, Leah was waiting for me. We kissed on both cheeks and hugged. She was a good friend, we used to hate each other, but those days were long gone. Now I was sincerely hoping that she and Jacob would get married. Then they could live forever together. How beautiful would that be? I would be happy knowing that.

But, true to cliché, Jacob is terrified of commitment. (Bella's Note: As of now, they are still not married!)

Leah and I had a stimulating conversation about various things, the least of which was Edward, and in no time at all we were at Charlie's house. I was to stay in the same room that I had when I lived there, and Alice was going to stay on a mat in my room. There was no other place for her to sleep.

When we walked up the steps to Charlie's house, I was carrying a bag, Alice was carrying a bag, and Leah was carrying a suitcase in each hand. Jacob had come to accompany Charlie in the cleaning of his house in preparation for our last minute flight up. When he opened the door he disregarded Alice and Leah and swept me into a much exaggerated kiss. But when he leaned down, we just kissed on the cheek. Leah playfully chided Jacob, and Alice made a face. To her, kissing is disgusting. Charlie came hobbling over after that, and we hugged hello as Jacob pulled Alice inside. "Uncle Jake!" she said, "What do you have for me this time?"

As a five year old, Alice already knew that Uncle Jake always had something for her when they saw each other. He doted on her and treated her like she was made of gold. She had him wrapped quite tightly around her little finger. And if Jake was on her pinky, Leah was wrapped around her ring finger. "Who says I have anything for you, Ali?"

She laughed, knowing that he was kidding, "I says!"

"I say." I corrected her.

"Oh give it a rest, Bella." Jacob advised me, rolling his eyes.

"You give it a rest, Jake! I don't want her to grow up to have grammar like you!" Everybody laughed.

"Alright, alright, I deserved that." Jake then reached behind him and came up with a small wrapped box for Alice. "Yours." He stated, giving it to her.

She ripped the paper open hastily, rushing to see what was on the inside. Jake knew better than to bother with a card. It turned out to be a teddy bear about the size of her forearm. It was the perfect size in my opinion. "Yes!" she shouted. Jake rumpled her hair…Leah smoothed it back down again.

"What do you say to Uncle Jake and Aunt Leah?"

"Thank you." She dutifully recited.

"You're welcome!" Jake and Leah chorused.

Alice ran up to my old room, now our room, to get the toys that Charlie had stashed there. She brought the entire basked of dolls down and began to set them up in the middle of the living room floor. I crossed my legs and placed my hands over my knees, the paragon of innocence. "So," I said, "Has Jake proposed yet?"

Jake rolled his eyes, "Bella, seriously! We're just dating!"

"Yeah, you've been dating for fifteen years. Give it up already! If you don't propose to Leah soon, I'll do it for you!" Charlie, Leah and I laughed, Jacob shifted slightly in his seat. I patted him gently on the shoulder. "I was just kidding."

I smiled at him, he smiled back. Charlie, conveniently, left about an hour later because my arrival was sort of sudden and he had to work that afternoon since he was not able to get it off. As soon as he was gone Jake and Leah turned to me seriously. "So, what was so urgent that you couldn't wait for the two of us to go up to Jersey?"

"Alice and I were out walking on a wildlife reservation, and Edward was hunting there. It sort of made me realize the danger, I guess. I got tickets as fast as I could."

Jake laughed darkly, "Finally, you see the danger of those homicidal bloodsuckers."

I flinched, "Jacob…"

"Sorry, Bella."

Alice was happily playing with her new teddy and the collection of dolls that was kept at this house for her. I leaned closer to the two werewolves. "I have something to tell you, about the Cullens. I was at their house last night. I was taken there by Edward's sister Alice. And I was completely drunk. That's why she rescued me to go there. And I had a dream about the day he left me in the woods." I swallowed for a moment, willing the tears away, "He ended up kissing me."

"Oh my God." Jacob's hands were shaking, but Leah was in better control, she had been working hard at her anger management classes.

"Oh Bella! It's alright; you'll be safe here with us…I assume that it was a bad thing that he kissed you, right?" Her tone made it clear that it definitely was a bad thing, no matter what I thought. Fortunately, I agreed with her. Leah put one hand on Jacob's shoulder, and he slowly stilled his movements. Alice was completely oblivious to the entire hullabaloo.

I sighed, "Yeah, it's a bad thing. I mean, it isn't as if I don't still dream about him…but they're mostly nightmares now." I didn't tell them that the nightmares were about the day that he left: that was why they were nightmares. Otherwise, if I was dreaming about him, it a dream about him taking me back. But they didn't need to know that.

"Oh, sweetheart." Jacob sighed and pulled me into a hug. I willingly complied. Leah patted my shoulder. Alice finally noticed that I was upset. She burst into tears. Leah went to her and picked her up. She reached for me and I took her into my arms, whispering soothing words into her ear. It felt better to have her in my arms.

I sat like that with her for a while, eventually I moved off of Jacob's lap and onto the loveseat. I patted her back as she 'read' a picture book and I chatted with Jacob and Leah. I told them everything, from the moment that Edward walked back into my life to the moment that I stepped on the plane.

I started dinner while Jake and Leah asked me questions. Leah and Jake left around seven to have a pack meeting. Eventually, around seven-thirty, Charlie came back home and we sat down to eat. The three of us had a nice, innocuous chat about various things, my job was not discussed. That was the reason that I'd told Charlie for my visit. I told Charlie all about Colin and Alice, and he teased her about it for a while before I asked to use the bathroom to give her a bath before bed. I put her to bed in my room and went downstairs for a chat with Charlie over some tea. I made sure to lock my window first. I hadn't opened it in years, so I was pretty sure that it was stuck closed anyway, but it's always better to be safe than sorry.

"So, Bells, I didn't really get to talk to you today. How's life?"

"It's alright, work's a hassle, but somebody's got to bring in the bacon." I said jokingly, with no intention of giving up any more information.

He laughed, "Same here. I'm not quite old enough for social security yet."

I rolled my eyes. "You're fifty-three, Dad."

"Well, hey, that's only what…ten years?"

"I guess." He didn't notice my expression. For me even one year was monumental…one year more different from Edward. Lucky Charlie, he had Sue. It seemed to me that everybody was paired up except for Alice and me. Even my half-brother, John, had a steady girlfriend at the age of seventeen. I heard a commotion upstairs, so Charlie and I both headed up to see what was going on.

It was Alice, she was rolling around in her bed, and I covered the edges of the floor around her bed with pillows to make sure that if she fell, then she it would be onto something soft. She usually had trouble adjusting to new sleep areas for the first few nights. Nothing was wrong. I then bid Charlie goodnight and went to wash up. I was ready for bed within a half hour and was asleep in another half hour.

"Okay, let's talk." I said. It sounded braver than it felt.

He took a deep breath

"Bella, we're leaving."

I took a deep breath, too. This was an acceptable option. I thought I was prepared, but I still had to ask.

"Why now? Another year –"

"Bella, it's time. How much longer could we stay in Forks after all? Carlisle can barely pass for thirty and he's claiming thirty-three now. We'd have to start over again soon regardless."

His answer confused me. I thought the point of leaving was to let his family live in peace. Why did we have to leave if they were going? I stared at him, trying to understand what he meant.

He stared back coldly.

With a roll of nausea, I realized I'd misunderstood. "When you say we –," I whispered.

"I mean my family and myself." Each word separate and distinct.

I shook my head back and forth mechanically, trying to clear it. He waited without any sign of impatience. It took several minutes before I could speak.

"Okay," I said, "I'll come with you."

"You can't, Bella. Where we're going…It's not the right place for you."

"Where you are is the right place for me."

"I'm no good for you, Bella."

"Don't be ridiculous." I wanted to sound angry, but it just sounded like I was begging. "You're the very best part of my life."

"My world is not for you," he said grimly.

"What happened with Jasper – that was nothing, Edward! Nothing!"

"You're right," he agreed. "It was exactly what was to be expected."

"You promised! In Phoenix., you promised that you would stay –"

"As long as that was best for you." He interrupted to correct me.

"No! This is about my soul isn't it?" I shouted, furious, the words exploding out of me – somehow it still sounded like a plea. "Carlisle told me about that, and I don't care, Edward. I don't care! You can have my soul. I don't want it without you – it's yours already!"

He took a deep breath and stared, unseeingly, at the ground for a long moment. His mouth twisted the tiniest bit. When he finally looked up, his eyes were different, harder – like the liquid gold had frozen solid.

"Bella, I don't want you to come with me." He spoke the words slowly and precisely, his cold eyes on my face, watching as I absorbed what he was really saying.

There was a pause as I repeated the words in my head a few times, sifting through them through their real intent.

"You…don't…want me?" I tried out the words, confused by the way they sounded, placed in that order.

I started awake, gasping for air, staring around in the dark room, looking for the forest that I had just been in.

When I finally realized that it was, once again, a dream, I got out of bed to get a drink of water. The floor creaked on my way to the bathroom. I didn't think anything of it, it was an old house…this floor was certainly feeling the disuse of years and years. I could imagine how I would feel as a floor if I hadn't been used in years, and suddenly 120lbs were stepping all over me.

Okay, I told myself, irrational thoughts mean that you need to go back to bed, Bella. And so I did.

When I woke again, it was to an alarm clock. I rose and went downstairs to cook breakfast. Charlie had already gone, but left grocery money on the counter. I made eggs for Alice and myself while I walked around the kitchen to make a shopping list.

I dropped Alice into my old truck. I had left it here when I moved to Jersey. I had thought to bring her car seat thankfully… and we went to the small store in Forks. This was bringing back old memories. But I rather liked it. I enjoyed the purr…okay; the growl of the truck's engine and it was helping me relax.

At the store I bought some bread and fixing for sandwiches. I also bought a recipe book for fish. Apparently there were a lot of people doing the same thing in Forks, because there was an entire shelf full of books. And then, seventeen years older, I ran into somebody that Jacob had introduced me to and whom I had loved. She was the one who recognized me, though, "Bella?"

"Oh my goodness! Emily!" I embraced her quickly.

"Hey Bella, how are you these days? I heard, from the pack, that you were having a bit of a problem about…vampires." She said very quietly.

"Yeah, their next repeat of high school led them to my town…and to the high school where I teach. And yes, it is the Cullens."

"Wow." She said quietly. "I am so sorry."

"Yeah, but that's alright, I'll be fine. That's why I came down here, you know, they were in my space and the bronze haired one almost attacked my daughter." The names of the various vampires meant nothing to them except for Carlisle.

"But, Bella, that's the one who you…" Oh, so she did remember.

"Yeah, but that was seventeen years ago, Emily, and he's actually been quite a nuisance in class. Not to mention that he snuck into my house a couple of times." I didn't know why I was telling her this. Maybe I needed somebody to talk to who would understand and yet not try to burst into gigantic-wolf-shape when she heard.

She gasped, "Why?"

"I have no idea. He's a sick bastard?"

"Bella!" She made significant eye movements toward Alice, but she wasn't paying attention, but instead reading a cookbook as if it were a story book.

"And then the pepper was in a different plate…he made good friends with the fishes on every plate…" Alice wasn't paying attention to me in the slightest.

"Well, I'm pretty darn serious. He's just, God, he kissed me, Emily. It's been seventeen years since I've seen him, and now he just decides to come along and insert himself into my life! I mean, I don't have a boyfriend…how could I…but he has no right! And I'm eighteen years older than him! This is totally ridiculous!"

"Is that why you came here?"

"Yeah, that and because he almost drank my blood."

"Hey, why don't you and Alice come on over for dinner tonight? Sam will be home tonight and we are going to have a whole pack-gathering." She said gently. But obviously to remind me that I had been adopted into the pack after the Cullens had gone. I was not allowed to be involved with Edward.

"Sure, that sounds great. What should we wear?"

"Whatever, all of my boys usually run around half-naked, so as long as you've got something on both your top and your bottom it should be fine." She laughed.

"Thanks!" And then we reverted to the usual conversations that thirty-something old women usually had if they happened to meet at the grocery store after eighteen years.

It turned out that she and Sam were married, now, and she had just found that she was expecting. She swore me to secrecy, though, because the other purpose for the dinner was the announcement that the first pack-child was to be born. Unfortunately, this guaranteed that the poor kid would be a werewolf when he got older if the vampires showed up. However, this also guaranteed that it would be the Alpha. Sam was the Alpha and his child would be too…unless he didn't want it and Leah's child would be Alpha. Jake still had the Alpha blood in him, he was just willing to let it slide though, and he didn't want to be Alpha.