A/N: Hello everyone! I want to take this moment to thank everyone for their reviews. I have had many people put this in their favorite story alert, but I am sad because I haven't had that many reviews. I really would like to know what you think about this story, so please, I am begging you to leave a review. Thanks and love you all.

Eclipse movie next week, I can't wait!

Chapter 20 Reminiscence

∞Bella/Izzy∞

Mike takes my hand and leads me to the dance floor as Aro starts to mingle, but he keeps his eyes on us. I look over to Anthony and notice he is watching us too. He is wearing his poker face and I am happy he is.

We danced, in silence for a couple of songs and then he pulls me closer, so that his mouth was by my ear.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?"

I started to internally freak out. I never thought he would recognize me because I looked so different from the last time I saw him. Plus, if he recognized me, does that mean Aro recognized me and possibly Anthony too? I took a quick glance over to the piano and saw that Anthony's gaze was locked on Mike and I. My eyes widened to show him that I was in serious need of him intervening. Mike's voice spoke a little louder, making me realize that I had not answered his question.

"So, um, do we know each other?" He pulled back to look at me and I shook my head.

"Sorry, I don't think we do," I lied.

"Oh, I see. Sorry about that," he gave me a pointed look.

I smacked his shoulder playfully, "You don't need to apologize. It's all right. Matter of fact I actually get that a lot. People always say to me that I remind them of someone," I smiled, but felt awful for lying.

"Actually, you do remind me of someone I used to know."

"See, I told you so. Well, so who is it that I remind you of?" I asked trying to see if I could get some information.

His eyes scanned the room and then fell upon mine. "Actually, it was Bree's, my daughter, first grade teacher she had back in our home town." My heart and stomach flipped as I heard her name from his lips.

I smiled and prodded for more information. "What was this teacher's name?"

He seemed extremely anxious and I noticed he had beads of sweat on his forehead. "Her name was Bella Swan."

At the same moment Mike had said my name I felt someone by my side, I thought it was Anthony coming to save me, but when I turned I noticed Aro standing next to me. I felt a shiver go down my spine because it wasn't just his presence that was bothering me, it was the horrified look that he was giving Mike. I froze when he started to speak and I knew at that moment he had heard what Mike had just said.

"MIKE, HOW DARE YOU MENTION THAT NAME! YOU GET YOUR ASS UP TO MY SUITE NOW AND I WILL DEAL WITH YOU THERE!" He was yelling so loud that Anthony seized his piano playing and all of Aro's guests were watching his outburst.

Mike did not meet my face, but I noticed his and he looked absolutely terrified. He dropped my hand and quickly left the ballroom.

Aro turned his attention to me. The look on his face was the same he had been giving Mike, but a few seconds later it softened and a smile played on his lips. He broke eye contact and then looked out at the rests of his guests.

"My sincere apologies for my temper and unfortunately I will apologize again because I have some business to attend to, so I will have to end this affair as I speak. Please feel free to finish your meals and drinks and then after drive home safely." The guests seemed to relax and they all went back to what they were previously doing like it was no big deal hearing his outburst.

He looked down at me and then he was gone.

I just knew what business he had to attend to and I was terrified, but there was nothing I could do about.

Anthony crossed the room and pulled me into a tight hug. "Love, what happened?" He whispered in my ear.

"Mike had said that I reminded him of someone. I asked him who and he said Bella Swan. Aro heard him," my voice trembled as I whispered back. "Is James and Victoria still here?" I pulled away as both of us scanned the room.

"No, it doesn't look like it. Why?"

"Well, I believe that Mike was his business he had to attend to." I looked at him hoping he would get what I was saying. He did and all of a sudden I was being ushered out of the ballroom.

Tonight was a complete disaster.

"What are we going to do?" I asked.

"I don't know right now, but I need to think and couldn't do it in that room with all those people. Seriously, don't they know that Aro is a monster? Especially after hearing how he was yelling at Mike."

I didn't respond and I didn't need to because all that mattered right now was what was happening to Mike and if Bree was witnessing it.

No sooner than we gotten to our suite, the phone rang.

"Hello," I said.

"Izzy, this is Aro. Tell Anthony I need him, NOW!" He yelled, which made me pull the phone away from my ear. Anthony raised his eyebrows at me. "Oh and tell him to bring his medical bag." And that was it and he hung up.

Anthony stood, staring at me patiently. I hung up the phone and looked at him.

"Um, that was Aro he says he needs you and that he wants you to bring your medical bag."

He stood there thinking for a moment and then grabbed his bag and left the room without a single word. He was in doctor mode now.

I needed to go there even if Aro did ask for me, but I was worried for Bree, her mother and for Alice.

I awkwardly removed my dress, having not time to hang it I laid it out on the bed. I pulled on my capri yoga pants on along with my blue tank top and my white Nike's.

Before I knew it I was standing at Aro's doors to his suite. I almost turned back around, but I heard yelling coming from the other side of the door. So I knocked. It felt like forever, but finally the door opened and saw Victoria standing there. She forced a smile and let me in.

As I approached the main room I saw Aro yelling at Lauren. Then I turned my attention to Anthony's form kneeling on the floor next to the couch. I froze when I gazed at Mike's bloody body lying on the floor.

∞Edward/Anthony∞

I wasn't quite sure what I was going to be walking into when I stepped into Aro's suite, but I knew that it wasn't going to be good. One thing was for sure I did not expect the amount of blood that I saw splattered across the room and to see Mike's unconscious body lying on the floor. To my surprise it appeared that he was still breathing.

"Aro, what in the world happened in here?" I asked while watching him as he stood hovered over Mike. James and Victoria were there as well and they were both covered in blood. Their injuries looked minor, which made me feel a little better, knowing that Mike must have fought back.

"That's none of your concern. Your only concern should be to get him fixed up and fixed up well enough so that I do not have to take him to the hospital and have the damn authorities breathing down our necks."

"So is my only concern to check on him or do I need to check on these two as well?" I asked as I gestured to James and Victoria. I was so irritated and done with his smug attitude.

"Get him fixed up and then you can see to them." I nodded.

"I need some help. First, get some clean sheets and cover the couch. Then I need help moving him after I make sure that moving him won't cause further damage. It would help me to know if there was any sort of blow to his head, neck, legs or back."

James snorted. "Hmmm, well I would have to say yes to all four then." He said with a cocky smile.

I glared at him. "Well, then forget about moving him to the couch. I still need the sheets and some warm water so I can clean this blood off of him." Victoria left them room, I assumed to get the sheets.

I turned my attention to Mike and then started pulling things out of my medical bag. I took my scissors and started by cutting off his shirt; he was still wearing his suit from the ballroom minus the jacket. His upper torso was covered in red, blue and purple bruises. I shook my head and looked him over again; there was hardly any part of his torso that wasn't bruised. What did they do to him?

While I was feeling around his body, checking to see if any of his ribs were broken, I heard one of the bedrooms doors open and then someone coming into the room.

It was Lauren. She let out the most awful, terrified scream I had ever heard.

I looked over to her. She had tears streaming down her face and then she started to scream.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" She couldn't take her eyes off of Mike as she screamed at Aro.

"WOMAN, YOU SHOULD KNOW YOUR PLACE BY NOW. YOUR SORRY EXCUSE FOR A HUSBAND MESSED UP AGAIN WORSE THAN HE HAS EVER DONE BEFORE AND HE DESERVED EVERY BLOW HE TOOK TONIGHT. GET BACK IN THAT ROOM AND TEND TO YOUR DAUGHTER OR YOU BOTH WILL PAY FOR YOU STEPPING OUT OF LINE."

He took a few long strides to Lauren and then back handed her. She stayed upright, but brought her hand to her hurt cheek and hastily made it back to the room, slamming the door.

Before I could respond to another one of Aro's outburst he started yelling again and for a second I had no idea who he was yelling at.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? I DID NOT TELL YOU THAT YOU COULD COME UP HERE!"

I turned and looked behind me and saw Izzy looking at Aro. What was she doing here? She was completely white and looked absolutely terrified. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Aro started to approach her. Even though I was not happy with how he treated Lauren I knew I couldn't over step my bounds by interfering, but when it came to what was mine I had every right to step in. I practically jumped in front of Izzy as I glared at Aro.

"Don't you dare touch her or so help me I will go to the authorities for what I have seen here tonight," I threatened, trying to keep my voice firm and confident. Aro stared at me for a moment and then just nodded as he backed off, putting his hands in the air in a silent surrender.

"Fine, but she can wait in the room with the other women. I can only handle drama from one woman tonight," he said gesturing over to Victoria who was now holding a pile of clean white sheets and large bowl of steaming water.

I turned around and pulled Izzy into a hug and then kissed her. "I will come get you when I am done and then we can go back to our room." She nodded and walked down the hall and went into the room that we had seen Lauren retrieve to. In a way I was happy because she would probably be able to see Bree, but I was a little worried about what she would see and if Bree would recognize her. I shook myself out of my deep thoughts and got back to working on Mike.

He had sufficient cuts scattered across his face and I was relieved that he was still unconscious as I was cleaning and bandaging him up. The cuts weren't too bad and just required some antiseptic and butterfly bandages, but his nose was obviously broken. I have dealt with a lot of broken noses in my medical career especially after spending a lot of late nights in the ER. We would have men come in after getting into bar fights and for some reason broken noses were common upon drunken men.

As I reached down with both of my hands one on each side of his nose I snapped it back in place and at the same time I heard 'ooohs' coming from Aro, James and Victoria. They apparently heard it and knew that it didn't sound good and probably didn't feel good either. I wished it was them that were in pain.

Nothing else seemed to be broken, so I just took my time getting him cleaned up.

∞Bella/Izzy∞

Still in complete shock of having Aro practically in me face yelling, I happily made my way into the room that Lauren entered into.

I stared at Alice, Lauren and Bree after I clicked the door shut. All of them were on the floor playing Candyland, but had stopped and stared at me when I had entered.

Bree looked completely different. Her long blonde curls were now dark brown and shoulder length. She looked much thinner and more grown up. I assumed they changed her hair color so that no one would recognize her. All of them had solemn looks on their faces and appeared to have been crying. One side of Lauren's face was red from where Aro had smacked her.

I realized that I had been staring at them for a while; I started to feel extremely uncomfortable.

I cleared my throat and broke the silence. "Hi, um, I'm Izzy. Uh, Aro sent me in here." Alice raised her eyebrows and I knew it was because she knew who I was.

"Hi, Ms. Izzy, come and play with us. We just finished a game, but I wanted to play Chutes and Ladders next. It would be a lot more fun with four people," Bree pleaded with sadness in her tone. I was suddenly so sad because I knew that she would have rather had the fourth person be her dad.

I nodded and took a seat on the floor between Alice and Lauren.

It was so silent in the room that the only thing we heard was the spinning of the Chutes and Ladders game. I had a feeling they all were, including me, trying to hear for any sounds coming from outside the bedroom door. I couldn't hear anything, of course.

Bree broke the silence, which made the rest of us jump.

"Mommy, is daddy going to be all right?" She looked up staring at Lauren which she in turn looked at me. If she recognized me she didn't let on.

"Um, I don't know sweetheart. What do you think, Izzy?"

I hesitated for a moment trying to come up with the best answer that I could give her without alarming her. "Bree, I am not sure either, but I will tell you that my boyfriend is out there right now trying to fix him up. And you know what?" She nodded. "He's a doctor and he is the best at making people better and helping the owies go away."

"That's good. I am happy there is a doctor here now because normally after we get in trouble we have to clean ourselves up. Don't we mommy?" My heart clenched and I knew what they were going through because that's exactly what happened when they had us locked up in the basement of Outfitter's.

Lauren reached over and stroked her daughter's cheek. "Yes sweetheart we do, but that's all right because we love each other and we like to help each other feel better. That's what families do." I was fighting so hard to hold back my tears.

How could Lauren be so strong after all this time and they were still alive?

I glanced at Alice and noticed she was watching me. She had tears streaming down her face and her hand was gripping Bree's.

I wanted to ask them questions to get some information without trying to sound like I was undercover. Plus, I wanted to figure out why Alice was here.

"So, um, are you all related?" They all shook their heads at the same time. It was kind of funny.

Alice was the first to voice an answer. "Actually, the three of them are related I am not."

"Why are all of you here?"

"Well, my husband and I owe Aro money. So we are here trying to pay off that debt," Lauren replied and I knew that there was more to it than that, but she seemed like she didn't wanted to get into it right now.

"I am here because Aro wanted to home school Bree. I am a licensed teacher," she stated. She was giving me the information that I needed to know. I felt somewhat relieved, but I was still not happy that I was the one who had gotten her into this mess.

"It's not fair though. I have to stay in this stupid hotel room. I can't go to the park or play with other kid's. I hate it here. I want to go home." Bree was practically yelling and I jumped to my feet in fear that I thought Aro heard her and that he would be busting through the door any moment; then I would be forced to defend them.

Lauren jumped into action and pulled Bree to her, stroking her hair. "Shhh, sweetheart. I know, I know, but right now you are so tired you need to get to sleep. It is way passed your bedtime and you know this is how you get when you need rest."

Bree jumped to her feet and stomped off to the bathroom, assumingly getting ready for bed. Lauren followed after her.

"Sorry, she has been in here way to long. She is so beyond cabin fever right now," Alice said.

I took this opportunity to try and comfort her. I reached out and grabbed both of her hands.

"Alice, how are you and the baby doing?" She was shocked at my question.

"You've talked to Jasper. Oh my gosh, how is he? I miss him so much. I bet he was so upset to find me gone after I told him about the baby." She was crying so hard that she started hiccupping.

"No, I am sorry. I haven't spoken to him, but Anthony has." Her eyebrows furrowed.

"You mean, Edward, right?" She asked in a whisper. I nodded. "I am so happy that you are still alive. It never really felt like you were gone." She pulled me into a warm hug. I missed her so much. "Can you tell Jasper that the baby and I are doing just fine, but I miss him and I want to come home?" I nodded again.

"Alice, we are going to get you out of here."