A/N: Ok, so more grammatical errors have been fixed, and a few details have been changed, nothing huge yet.

Disclaimer: The characters belong to Mrs. Meyer, I am just borrowing them for my own fun.

As the pain finally washed away from my mind, I stood up slowly. The rain that had been just a drizzle had turned into a fine steady rainfall. Now completely drenched, I walked back over to the body I had discarded with sheer disgust over her human memories, and picked it up once again. I continued with my original plan, and shoved the body through the opening, effectively ridding me of the body that had causes me such pain.

'Note to self, stay away from sugar-scented blood. Yeah, like I could ever resist,' I thought.

Turning around so that I faced the opening to the alley way, another sensation washed over me; I was being watched. Scanning the area around me I found no trace of another human or vampire. Though I knew something was watching me, I just couldn't locate it.

As I neared the mouth of the alley way I could hear the rumbling of thunder starting to roll across the western sky. Making my way onto the deserted streets, I zipped up my coat and popped the collar up to encase my now wet neck. Blinking past the rain that assualted my vision, I decided I had had my fill of blood for the evening, and wanted nothing more than to retreat to the comforts of my apartment. I couldn't think about anything else but the memories and what they meant. Edward was here in my town. But why? Why now after 80 years of separation would he choose to make his presence known?

'Why can't he just leave me alone in my misery? As if seeing him through another woman's eyes was bad enough? That just proves that he has moved on, right? .'

I forced my mind clear of any thoughts to avoid any painful aftershocks. Aftershocks happened every once in a while, and even though they were painful, they were not as painful as the physical and mental assault I had to endure after the feeding process. I only knew of a handful of vampires that had to go through this every time they fed, and even though they were hisfamily, they had become mine after he left and my own family were dead and gone. Though the paternal units of own unique coven had left us forty years ago, we gained a long lost brother that had stumbled across me not long after that. As far as we knew, we were the only ones in existence that went through this, and because of the memories blanketing our senses, it actually rendered us slightly vulnerable during the process. we would take turns watching over each other as we fed so that no one could attempt to harm us during out state of vulnerability.

'Maybe that's what I sensed before.'

Finally noticing my surroundings, and realizing I was only a block away from my apartment, I quickened my pace. The music coming from the bar that was conveniently located under my apartment was loud, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to rest until it closed. I pulled the left sleeve of my jacket back and peered down at the watched that rested on my wrist. 2 am.

'God, another hour of this shit. I just want silence, is that too much to ask?'

Groaning in annoyance I approached the bar's doorway, and noticed a rather large figure covered in the shadows of the bar's awning. The figure straighten when I approached.

"Evening Bella. Have a nice night?"

"Fuck off Emmett, I am in no mood," I snapped back.

Emmett raised his hands in front of him palms facing me, and stepped back. I just glared at him, and moved the hair that was plastered to my face out of my eyes. When he noticed me glaring he lowered his hands. He slowly approached and noticed the unshed tears that stung behind my eyes, and the color that shown in them.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice clearly showing concern.

"I don't want to talk about it."

He rested his rather large right hand on my shoulder and bent down a little so he look into my eyes.

"You can't keep doing this Bella. You know it's unhealthy to keep these things bottled up. You know what happens when you do."

I shrugged his hand off, and moved to open the door. With my hand on the door knob, I looked over my left shoulder and said, "I am fully aware of what happens, and right now I don't care. I just want to be left alone. Is that ok with you?"

Emmett's brows scrunched in annoyance and frustration as he folded his arms across his massive chest. We stared at each other for a handful of minutes, before I finallly surrendered and let out a heavy sigh. I removed my hand from the door knob and turned around to fully face Emmett. He still stood in the exact same position with his arms crossed over his chest. Sighing himself, he uncrossed his arms and opened them toward me. I slowly walked toward him and circled my arms around his waist burying my head against his chest. He folded his arms around me, and squeezed slightly, while resting his head upon mine. This was where I felt safe most days. Emmett had always been like a brother to me ever since we met over forty years ago. And ever since that fateful day, he took on the role as my protector, and non-blood related brother. Silent tears escaped my eyes, and I sniffled quickly. Emmett squeezed a little more, and move away slowly.

"You know, I always envied the fact that you can cry, " he said softly while wiping the tears away with his large hands.

I sniffled again and moved away. Running my hands over my cheeks and removing the moisture, and looked up at him a smiled slightly. His shirt was plastered to his chest from hugging me and I laughed softly to myself. Emmett noticed my laugh and looked down at himself before looking back at me.

"You think this funny?" he asked.

His voice clearly said he wasn't angry, just amused at my apparent change in mood. I nodded and whipped my hair around at him spraying him with more moisture. He wiped his face off with his hand and glared at me.

"You're asking for it Bells."

I turned around and grabbed the door knob once again. As I opened the door and stared to walk in, he grabbed me by the shoulder to halt me from going any further. I looked at the hand on my shoulder and then at his face.

"If you want to keep that hand Emmett, I suggest you remove it. You remember what happened last time?"

"Oh, I remember. I'm counting on a rematch," he said with a cocky grin on his face and removed his hand from my shoulder.

"Later," I mouthed and walked into the bar.

The music hit my body like a slap and I staggered for a moment before I straightened back up. I made my way to the bar at the rear of the room and settled myself on a stool.

'Shit,' I thought.

I placed my arms on the bar and rested my cheek upon them facing the stage where the bar's house band played..

"Bad night?" a masculine voice asked.

I lifted my head from my arms and looked at the face the voice belonged to.

"You could say that," I replied. I looked around the bar noticing how packed it actually was, then turned back to man.

"How's business Jasper?"

"Same old, same old. Though you would know that if you helped out every once in a while, instead of hiding within yourself," he replied picking up a dish rag and throwing over his left shoulder. He bent to the right and removed something from under the bar. When he stood back up, he hand a handful from clothes.

"Here, Alice left these for you. Said you would them, and by the looks of it you do," he said placing the pile of clothing on the bar top and looking me over.

"What happened?" he asked bringing his hand up to cup my cheek, noticing my now bloodshot eyes.

I flinched away from the contact as a flashback from the painful memory made its way into my mind. Jasper's hand froze mid-air as I flinched, and slowly moved it back to his side straightening up in the process.

"N-nothing," I stammered.

"Doesn't look like nothing, " he said.

I glared at him and said, "I don't want to talk about it. Emmett already tried, so what makes you think you can do any better?" I always hated being snippy with Jasper, but tonight I was in no mood for bonding time.

Jasper crossed his arms across his chest much like Emmett did and gave me the exact same look. One of annoyance and frustration. I cocked an eyebrow and stared at him. He sighed and relaxed his posture, clearly giving up.

"You know I love you, right?" he asked. I just nodded my head but stared at him blankly.

He rested his forearms on the bar and leaned down on them, hanging his head a defeat. When he looked back up at me, I noticed his naturally topaz eyes had bled to a soft cornflower blue. The color his eyes used to be when he used to be human. His eyes would change color when he was experiencing human emotions, as would the entire coven. They would change color with our emotions due to the human ones that we were forced to deal with after our feeding. Blue generally meant sadness and his just happened to match his human eye color. I hated seeing Jasper sadden by me, and it tore at my heart for a second before I quickly regained my composure. He leaned forward with a tiny smile and rested his right cheek against my left one.

"Please don't do this to yourself Bella," he whispered in my ear. "I know what you are going through, and I know you can't keep this up for long," he continued. "I couldn't bare the thought of what might happened to you if you keep this up."

I nodded slightly rubbing my cheek against his, and inhaled his scent. He always smelled like pine trees and fresh laundry.

'Home,' I thought.

"I know," he whispered and moved back.

Though Jasper couldn't actually hear my thoughts, he was an empath and could sense them. I looked at him again and watched as his eyes bled back to topaz.

"Promise me you will talk to one of us tonight? I know you like to keep this rough exterior, but I know the real you, and if you won't come to me, would you at least go to Alice?" He asked grabbing the dish rag off his shoulder and stared to wipe down the top of the bar. I grabbed the pile of clothes and moved off the stool. I looked back at him and said in a whisper, "I promise."

While making my way towards the bathroom on the other end of the bar, clothes hanging by my side but not touching so as to not get them soaked, an aftershock rocked through my system driving me to my knees, fresh dry clothes utterly forgotten. Several bodies moved away from me as I fell and I distantly heard Emmett's loud voice coming from the bar's entrance. I couldn't make out his words as another aftershock rushed over me again forcing me to brace myself on my hands against the hardwood floor. I tried to gain my undead stillness, but the rush of memories were suddenly too strong and I started to lean to my right. When the right side of my body crashed onto the floor I continued to hear Emmett's booming voice over the band's music calling out for Jasper. I was starting to lose consciousness and my eyelids started to droop.

'Stupid stubborn self,' I thought.

Flashes of that intoxicating scent washed over me again and all I could see in my vision was those haunting green eyes again. Closing my eyes, I tried to force myself up on my hands, but my body had other plans and decided I needed to stay where I was. Groaning through the pain of the aftershocks, I could hear that the band had stopped and the shuffling of feet as bodies were being moved away from me.

"Alright people! Bar's closed, everyone clear out!" Emmett shouted.

'I love my big brother,' I thought. I really didn't want anyone to see me like this. It was rather embarrassing. One minute I am walking through the crowded bar, relieved to get out of my wet clothing, the next minute, I am curled into the fetal position on the floor.

When the shuffling of feet stopped all together, my eyes opened slowly to see two pairs of feet standing in front me. I rolled onto my back, and looked up. There stood Emmett and Jasper, both with concerned looks on their faces and matching blue eyes.

"I told her this would happen," Emmett said turning to Jasper.

"I know, bro. I told her too. Since when has Bella ever listened to us? She is just as stubborn now as she was when she was human," Jasper replied looking down at me.

I closed my eyes again so I couldn't see their concern laced faces and tried to concentrate on my breathing. But, that wasn't the best idea, cause all I could smell was Edward's scent. Suddenly, another memory flashed behind my closed eyes, but this memory was my own, and not that of the victim that I had claimed earlier. This memory was of the only memory of Edward I allowed to myself to keep. A painful memory that served its purpose time and time again to let me know that I was still lost in this world without him. It was the day he left me, effectively shattering my existence and my heart.

'"I love you Bella, always and forever, but we can't be together. It's too dangerous," his words echoed in my head.

Grasping my head in my hands to try to quiet his velvety voice, but it returned again.

"I know this doesn't make sense now, but in time you'll see I was right," his voice echoed again as I watched him move away from me in the memory.

"Oh God," I groaned. "Make it stop, make him stop. Make his voice go away," I said to myself.

I felt arms under my shoulders and knees as I was lifted off the floor. By the scent I knew it was Emmett. Like I said, he was my protector, so he took care of me whenever this happened. When we kept the memories bottled up, we kept the pain that came with them bottled up as well. When we talked to each other about them, the pain always went way and never returned. But when we kept them to ourselves like I had been doing for the past month, it begins to take a toll on your body, and your body eventually gives up. Think about a human suffering from extreme exhaustion. That's basically what it amounts to, and I had reached my breaking point. The other memories that I had kept were actually pleasant ones, though still painful, and with the added memories of Edward, it finally pushed my mind and my body over the edge and into exhaustion and slight hallucination. Because even though it was Emmett carrying me, I could still smell Edward everywhere around me.

I slowly raised my arms to encircle Emmett's neck as he stared to carry me up the stairs that were located behind the bar in the rear of the room.

"I told you so," Jasper whispered.

I just grunted as I looked over Emmett's massive shoulder to see Jasper following us up the stairs to my apartment. The look on his face of still of concern, but a flash of anger mixed with it. As I rested my head against Emmett's shoulder, I let my eyes slip close and let exhaustion have me.

Somewhere in the distant I could heard voices, but couldn't make out every word. Shifting under the blankets that covered me, I slowly start to wake. The exhaustion pulled back slowly and I started to hear more clearly. I knew who the voices belonged to, Emmett and Jasper, who else would be standing watch over me?

"Do you understand what she said?" Emmett asked in hushed tones.

"Yeah, she said, 'make his voice go away',' Jasper replied in the same hushed tones as Emmett..

"Do you know what this means?" Emmett asked again.

"Yes, better than you do," Jasper said in a slightly annoyed voice.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means Emmett, that I was there for her after he left, after he crushed her heart. I was the one to pick up the pieces, with the help of Alice of course. But it was me who showed her that she could still love and be loved in return. It look almost a decade, but I still managed it."

"But I thought that you and Alice?"

"Yes, me and Alice are together, and always have been. We took a step back from each other until Bella finally healed. It was a mutual agreement. Alice understood every step of the way, and supported it. I don't love Bella the same way anymore, she knows it and accepts it. She's like my best friend and little sister all wrapped up into one, and she feels the same way towards me. It is a bond that can never be broken."

I felt the tears start to fall from my eyes at Jasper's words. Jasper was my best friend, and had been after move that eight decades. Wherever he and Alice went, I went. They never left me behind, and I would be forever grateful to them for helping me through a decade of darkness.

At this, I removed the covers off my body, and sat up looking at the two people who stood in the doorway of my room. They both turned in my direction and saw the tears that rolled down my cheeks. I opened my arms to them and moved towards me in a flash, falling onto the bed, both hugging my sides. I closed my arms around their bodies and crushed them to me. They return with the same crushing force that would have crushed a human to death. 'Family Bear Hugging' it what we called it after Emmett enter our lives, and it was always the best.

They both pulled back at the same time, and each took a cheek and wiped away the tears.

"Guess I'm off the hook, huh?" I asked laughing.

"For now," Jasper replied as he sat up against the headboard pulling me into his side wrapping his arms around me softly. I snuggled into his embrace and encircled his waist with my arms, as Emmett moved the rest of the way off the bed. He stood up and made his way to the door, stopping just inside the door frame and turned around.

"You know you still owe me a rematch?" he asked.

I nodded and sat up pulling myself out of Jasper's arms. As I got off the bed, Emmett's cell phone went off.

"Shit," he cursed. He pulled his phone out of his left jean pocket and flipped it open.

"Hello?" he asked.

I started to make my way towards him, when he put up a finger and halted me in my spot.

"Are you sure?" he asked again.

I cocked my head to the side and strained my ears to pick up the voice on the other end, but because of the exhaustion I could only get every other word. I heard, 'coming here', and 'get her out', but that was about it.

"When?" he asked as he looked at Jasper, who had gotten off the bed and moved to my side.

"How? Mmhmm...well where are we going to go?" he asked again.

I felt Jasper stiffen next to me. He could no doubt hear the other part of the conversation and obviously it wasn't what he wanted to hear. He protectively put an arm across my shoulders and pulled me into his left side.

"Alright. I'll tell them. Yes, I love you too. Bye," he said as he closed the phone and shoved it back into his pocket. He looked at Jasper for a moment and flicked his gaze to me for a second before moving back to Jasper.

"We got a problem."