Hey y'all!!! Hope everyone had a great holiday…we did! We are going to stick with our Sunday updates until we get ahead and have a few chapters waiting to be posted! Since this is our first fanfic, please let us know how you like it or if you hate it! Any comments or suggestions are welcome! Thanks!

Lindsay and Britney

So, here's Chapter 3!

APOV

As I sit miserably on my husband's lap, I glance around to see the faces of my family. Esme's eyes are filled with venomous tears that she can't shed. Carlisle has his arms around his wife trying to comfort her in the best way that he can while being heartbroken himself. Emmett is mourning the loss of his favorite brother and video game companion. Even the hard-ass Rosalie grieves for what might have happened.

And Jasper… my poor husband is receiving all of these emotions ten-fold plus his own. He loves Edward in his own way, but it was always hard for him to be around Edward because of the lure of his blood. Jasper is fiercely protective of him though.

While looking at my family I start to feel guilty. I should have seen something sooner and not allowed Edward to go to Port Angeles alone. He should have waited until it was a cloudy day and we all could have gone shopping together. He is so damn stubborn. This is why he wanted to go on that day anyways. He knew Rosalie and I couldn't drag him from store to store because of the sun. If only I had seen something…

I feel a wave of calm settle over me and Jasper leans in to kiss the top of my shoulder. I know he can sense how guilty I feel and it is eating him up not being able to comfort me. I feel his arms tighten around my stomach and he takes a deep breath and begins.

"We have gone over every possible route where the van could have driven off. We need to start considering that maybe they ditched the van at some point and took a path into the woods surrounding the port."

"It doesn't explain why Alice can't see him or why she has gotten only brief glimpses. Have you been able to see anything else Alice?" Carlisle asks me. His compassion is showing in his eyes and I know he can't bear the thought of losing his son.

I shake my head slowly as I drop my gaze to the floor. The last vision left a feeling of despair over me. I don't want to tell them that I believe Edward is dead. I can't crush them like that. However, I also can't ignore what I saw and the fact that Edward's future is gone. It's like he doesn't exist anymore. That brief glimpse of him brought me to my knees this morning……..

Edward chained to a wall by his hands. His face contorted into a look of hopelessness as he begins to have a panic attack. He is having trouble breathing and I can see him pull on his chains. Then it seems to flash forward to him talking to himself. He seems calmer now, almost at peace. I wonder what made him relax. Then he whips his head into the direction of a door and is thrown into blinding whiteness. His future disappears.

I shake my head as I try to rid myself of the feeling of death that has overcome me. Jasper grabs my shoulders and turns me so I am forced to look at him.

"Ali, baby, what did you see?"

"Nothing, I was just replaying the vision from earlier." I plead with my eyes for him to drop it in front of my family. I can't do this. I can't be the one to tell them he is gone, that I failed them all by not being able to protect my brother.

For 20 hours after the first vision I had of him being startled by a van's squealing tires and his future disappearing, we scoured the entire city of Port Angles and its surrounding cities. Jasper and Emmett tracked the faint scent of Edward. It was strongest outside the record store and then only a slight taste of him headed north. After a mile the scent is gone all together. No one saw any van or any commotion. We could tell by the tire tracks that the van skidded to a stop right by Edward's Volvo.

Rosalie was able to tell us the make and model of the van as well as the brand of tires but that was of no use considering it was a regular delivery van and could have belonged to anyone. There are thousands between here and Seattle.

Esme had bent down to pick up Edward's dropped purchases from the store. Inside the bag was a new part for a vintage record player that he received from the Christmas before. He also purchased a few new CDs and by their rap genre, I am guessing they were for Emmett.

"Well we can't fucking sit here all day! We have to do something. Carlisle can't you call Aro and see if he has anything to do with this, or has any suggestions?" Rosalie screeches into the heavy silence that has fallen over my family.

Carlisle takes a deep breath and tries to calm Rosalie using his serene doctor voice, "Rosalie we are trying to come up with a way to find him. We will find him. Please calm down. You know as well as everybody that I cannot simply call Aro and ask him if he is behind this. He will be offended and that will cause greater problems for our family. He isn't the biggest fan of Edward as it is. Also, I do not want to have any attention drawn to us until we know exactly what we are looking for. If they believe we let Edward out of our sight and that he might have told someone about our existence, they will not be kind to any of us."

"We should go back to tracking in the woods behind the record store. I caught a faint taste of him there," Emmett suggests. Jasper nods his heads. Both boys are anxious to do something.

"Why don't we start there and the girls can wait here. They can call the Denali clan and see if they would be willing to help," Carlisle suggests as Esme clings to him even tighter.

"Hell no. I am going with you guys." Rosalie stands up and grabs Emmett by the arm. "Let's go," she says as she marches him outside.

"I will stay here with Esme and call Tanya. I can see that they will be here early tomorrow to help us. They haven't heard of any of our kind targeting our family or Edward, but five extra sets of eyes can't hurt," I tell them, giving Jasper a squeeze before I get off his lap.

Esme and I watch as the rest of our family leaves to try to find Edward. I look at her and I know I cannot be responsible for telling her Edward is dead. She will be devastated. She is so compassionate and nurturing towards him, towards us all really, but Edward needed it more than we did. He was actually dependent upon her to help him survive. She could provide for his human needs, as well as his emotional.

I decide to call the Denali clan up in Alaska even though I know what the outcome will be. I need to let them know that we need their help. Getting up, I walk towards the massive window that Esme had put in last spring that overlooks the back yard. This is one of my favorite spots in the house. I can look out and see for miles. The brook runs through the walkway Emmett built for Esme. It runs around the gazebo and into the woods between two trees.

I can see several birds playing on the bank of the brook. They are young, not more than a couple months old. They are free. They have not experienced what it is to hurt in life. They have not lost their parents or been thrown into an asylum and left for dead. The one thing that we all have in common in my family is the fact that we all died. We were all given a second chance at life, to be reborn into vampires. Even though none of us asked for it, we have all accepted it. Well almost all of us, Rosalie isn't quite sold yet.

Sighing I decided it is time to quit stalling and call Tanya. She answers on the first ring.

"Alice! How are you?"

"Hey Tanya. I need a favor. I need you and your family to come down here as soon as you can. We need your help."

We have never asked them for something like this and I can hear the anxiousness in her voice. "Of course we will come down. What happened? Is everyone okay?"

I can't answer right away. I am afraid of breaking down and telling her everything. I know I need to hold it together in front of Esme. I take a few unneeded deep breaths. "Edward is missing. Someone took him and we haven't been able to find him yet. The guys are out right now trying to track him, but there haven't been any leads yet."

"Oh Alice, we will be there as soon as we can!"

"Thanks, Tanya. See you tomorrow." I hang up. I knew that they would come regardless of which one of us was in trouble, and I knew Tanya would do whatever it took to help Edward.

In the past few years, Edward has matured into a very handsome young man from the gangly teenager he was prior. On the last vacation we took with Tanya and her coven, she seemed completely smitten with him. Even though she is a couple hundred years older than him, she can't wait for his change. She believes he will make for a very nice vampire and she wants to pursue him as soon as his change is complete. She even offered her house in the remote part of Alaska to handle Edward's transformation into our way of life.

Turing around I see Esme is staring at the unlit fireplace. Upon the mantel there are several family pictures. There is also a baby picture of Edward. It was taken the day after we found him. He is laughing hysterically in the picture because behind the camera, Emmett is doing some goofy dance trying to get Edward to eat his baby food.

I remember the day we found Edward….

It was a nice autumn day, sometime in September I believe. I remember that my head was lying on my husband's solid bare chest. It was gently rising and falling with the habitual unnecessary breaths we take. One of his arms was propped under his head, while the other was wrapped tightly around me. We were still coming down off our amazing post-coital high when a vision suddenly struck me………

Rose, Esme, and I were running through the woods. We came upon a small clearing, there was a cottage situated in the middle of it. We were going to continue running by it, but then cries sliced through the placid silence of nature as we heard the sounds of a baby wailing. We stopped. Then the vision flashed to Rose holding a baby in her arms, looking down at it adoringly as Esme and I surrounded them both, our protective instincts on alert.

"Ali, baby, are you OK? What did you see?" Jasper's voice brought me out of my momentary stupor, he was obviously concerned by the perplexed look that must have replaced my relaxed one just seconds before. I'm sure he could probably also feel my confusion.

"I saw us running… Rose, Esme, and me... There was a small house, it was really quiet, but then we heard a baby crying. The next thing I saw was Rose cradling a human baby in her arms."

I felt a sense of calm wash over me, and I glanced appreciatively at my husband. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry over, babe," he said as he grinned at me, taking me in his arms and kissing the top of my head. "But wow, think how excited Rose would be to hear this."

I pulled away from him, "We can't tell her, Jazz. We both know the vision may not even really happen, and what's the point in letting her get her hopes up. Esme too for that matter. You know they both would be super excited to hear about this." Jasper nodded. "We'll keep this one between us, babe."

Luckily Rosalie and Emmett were out hunting, which means there was no possibility they overheard the conversation with their uber-sensitive vampire hearing. Carlisle was at the hospital working and Esme was meeting a potential client whom she may be doing some remodeling and decorating for if all went well.

To Rosalie and Esme, there was nothing more precious than motherhood. Rosalie had never gotten the opportunity to experience it, and Esme's opportunity was cut way too short. I knew they both hated that aspect of being a vampire: never being able to have children. They both handled it very differently, however, within their vampire lives. Esme easily fell into the role of the "nurturing mother" for the whole family, and we all embraced that. Rose, on the other hand, was a different story. She embodied the bitchy "ice queen" role, keeping herself emotionally distant from anyone but Emmett. We all knew she was very loyal and caring; she just kept those emotions to herself.

Knowing these details about my so-called mother and sister made me realize how ecstatic they would be at the opportunity of raising a baby, even if it was human. We had all been in the "vegetarian" lifestyle for a long time now, well except for Jazz, so control and bloodlust wouldn't really be an issue. The Volturi… now they could present some problems should this vision actually manifest itself into reality. I decided I would just see how things played out before worrying over the logistics.

Several days later, the memory of the vision had erased itself from my mind. I assumed it wasn't going to happen, which happens from time to time. The future is never 100% certain after all. So, I thought nothing of the fact that here I was, running through the woods with Rose and Esme, as we went on an all-girl hunting trip. We'd already been running for miles now, but it was a nice cloudy day, so we weren't in any rush. Plus, we hadn't picked up on any good scents yet.

Suddenly, the trees thinned and opened into a small clearing. I recognized this clearing. I remembered the cute little cottage in the middle of it that I now saw before me. I stopped running… my vision. Rose and Esme noticed I had stopped and were now at my side. "Alice, what's going on? Why have you stopped?" Esme questioned in a concerned tone. "Can we at least chit chat in the woods or something? What if the people who live in this dump come out and wonder why we're on their property?" Rose huffed out.

Before I had a chance to answer, the silence was filled with the wailing cries of a baby. I gasped. Rose and Esme first turned toward the cries, obviously wanting to go comfort the distressed baby, but then they looked back at me. "ALICE! What's going on?" Rose asked as she grabbed me by the shoulders, snapping me out of my shock.

"I…. I…. I've seen this. I saw it days ago. This clearing. This house. Us running, stopping. The baby crying. I didn't think it was going to happen, so…. I didn't tell anyone. But, but… this was my vision!"

"Why would you chose NOT to tell us about this particular vision, Alice?" Rose knew there was something more to this, something else I wasn't saying. She was right.

"Ummm, well…. Before the vision ended, I saw… I saw…"

"Oh Jesus, Alice! Just spit it out already!" Rose was getting frustrated. Esme reached out to pat Rose's shoulder gently, trying to calm her. "Alice, please go on," she urged me.

"I saw you holding the baby, Rose." Just as I finished speaking, the baby's cries cut through the air again. Rose didn't even hesitate. She turned and ran towards the house, Esme and I close behind her.

Once we were all in front of the house, Rose peaked into one of the windows, not wanting to startle any unsuspecting parents before barging in to check on the baby. She gasped as she peered in. Then it looked like she was steadying or preparing herself for something, but before I could figure it out, she'd busted into the house. The faint smell of human blood wafted through the air with the opening of the door. Then as quick as she entered, she stood before Esme and me with the crying baby in her arms.

"His parents must have been the snack for some cruel nomads. They drained them, but left the baby. I don't think he's been alone too long though. The bodies of his parents still are somewhat warm," Rose explained as she looked to Esme and me, then back to the baby, who must have been about three months old. That explains the faint smell of blood; if it had been stronger I may have sensed it in my vision. I never expected this though.

"You said 'his'… it's a boy?" Esme asked as she reached out to touch the baby's head. His cries had quieted now. "Yes, his blanket has his name embroidered on it," Rose answered. "See?"

"Edward." We all three said in unison.

Rose was peering down at Edward adoringly, just like I'd seen in my vision. She was smiling at him, and his little hand was gripping her index finger. He let out a small giggle, and we all let out a chorus of "Awwwwws".

We then heard some rustling and commotion at the edge of the clearing. Esme and I crouched in defensive, protective positions in front of Rose and Edward. Maybe the nomads had returned for him. "We need to get out of here. Edward is coming with us," Esme stated.

"Let's go!" Rose said. At that, we all turned and began running back towards town and towards our home. I was afraid if it was the nomads that had returned, that they might follow us, but I didn't sense them.

Edward was quiet for the entire run back. Rose was cradling him gently in her arms as she gracefully ran through the forest. I wouldn't be surprised if he was asleep.

We arrived back at the house and luckily, all the guys were there. I wondered how they would react to what we were about to spring on them. It hadn't been said outright, but it didn't need to be. Edward's parents were dead. Someone needed to take care of him. And all Rose and Esme ever wanted was to be a mother, this was their chance. It looked like the Cullens were about to add a seventh addition.

The three of us stopped on the front porch. We all looked at each other, then we all nodded. We understood what was happening without words. We were in agreement. Esme opened the door and we followed in behind her.

The guys were all in the living room watching some football game, and something good must have happened because all at once they were whooping and hollering and high-fiving each other. The loud noise must have scared Edward because he let out a loud cry before Rose hugged him to her chest tightly, comforting and quieting him.

Silence filled the room as the guys looked dumbfounded and confused at the small bundle in Rose's arms. Esme quickly explained what happened, but before she was even finished they had made a small circle around Rose and were all gazing affectionately at the little human baby. Even my Jasper didn't seem to be much affected by his being a human. He was too caught up in the moment to care. I caught his eye and he smiled knowingly at me.

"Sweet! A baby brother! Can we keep him?!" Emmett boomed. We all chuckled at his excitement, even Edward let out a small giggle.

Esme went to Carlisle's side. "Well honey, what do you think?" she asked him. He pulled his gaze from Edward to look at his wife. "Well," he hesitated, "obviously there will be some issues to work out. I'll need to make a call to Aro, inform him of the situation firsthand. We, as a family, will need to decide this together. And if we do decide to welcome Edward into our family, that means we will all have to be more careful."

"Yeah yeah, don't crush him and don't eat him… Jasper! We got it, Carlisle. We can handle it." Emmett said as Jasper gave him a playful punch in the arm. We all laughed a bit, but we were all smiling and nodding hopefully.

"Well then," Carlisle said, "guess the only issue is the Volturi. Let me make a call. Aro has known and trusted me for many, many years. Surely we can work something out that will appease them."

"Yay! You know what this means… shopping!!!" I said excitedly. "Jazz, why don't you and Emmett go to the store and get baby food, diapers, wipes, stuff like that. Rose, Esme, let's go get this little man a wardrobe and stuff for his new room!"

Jasper and Emmett smiled hugely and agreed, happy to be included in the caretaking of Edward. "Shopping spree!" chimed Rose and Esme in unison. Soon, we were all out the door and on our way to go get everything we'd need to get Edward all set up. The newest Cullen would be staying home with Carlisle while he made the call to Aro. Rose hated to let him go, but she knew he was probably really sleepy.

Hours later when we'd all returned, Carlisle was sitting in the living room holding Edward, who was out cold and snoring softly. "Well, how did it go with Aro?" Esme asked as she took Edward into her arms.

"He wasn't too happy about the situation, which was to be expected. He suggested at first that we should just find some human parents for Edward, but I assured him that this was not an option, that we were all already attached to him." Rose growled from across the room. Yes, definitely attached… and protective. "But then he said that because he'd known me for so long and knew I wouldn't endanger the secrecy of our race, he would allow me this once in a lifetime opportunity. If I was anyone else, he wouldn't have allowed it. However, he did give us one condition: that Edward be changed before his 21st birthday."

"What?! That's bullshit!" Rose screamed. "Edward should be allowed to choose whether he wants this life, not be forced into it!"

"Rosalie, dear," Esme said soothingly, "if we want Edward to be a part of this family, we need to do what the Volturi say. We wouldn't want them making trouble for us, or worse, hurting Edward because we don't necessarily like or agree with their stipulations."

I felt a heavy blanket of serenity wash over the room. I glanced at my wonderful husband and smiled. "Thanks, Jasper," Rose mumbled. "I'm sorry I overreacted. I still think Edward should have a choice since it's his life, but I don't really want to blatantly defy the Volturi. They can be really vicious."

"I understand Rose," Carlisle began, "and I'm trying to think of what's best for Edward. He will grow up learning and knowing everything there is to know about the vampire lifestyle firsthand. We won't keep any secrets from him. If he, for whatever reason, does not want to become like us, well we handle that if we have to. However, I don't think this will be a problem."

Rose seemed appeased, for now. Emmett wrapped his arms around her lovingly trying to soothe her further. She smiled into his embrace. It was obvious just how happy she was; she was getting the chance to be a mother. So was Esme. Just then Edward awoke crying. "Aww, he's probably hungry. Can I feed him?" Jasper asked Esme, who was still holding Edward. "Sure, Jasper. If it gets too difficult being around him, just let one of us know."

"I'll help you, Jazzy!" I said happily as I skipped into the kitchen, Edward cradled in Jasper's arms.

That was about 18 years ago. Since then, Edward has been the center of this family. We all love him dearly. I really and truly hope that I'm wrong and that he's still alive.

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