A/N: Hello again. I know it's been a while since the last update so just a quick review as to where we are. Alice's twin brother just paid a visit now Alice has to convince her clan she is for them not against them.

Thank you to all who are still with me on this story. I hate, hate, hate that my updates can not find a consistent pattern but just like this story, my life is so unexpected, I never know what it is going to hand me. I'm so ready for a break it is unreal. Perhaps I will run away with my laptop and hide out until I can finish this story and get caught up on all my reads. Yeah that sounds perfect. Who's with me? It's okay to take a break from family and work right? Just tell your boss's and husbands, boyfriends, kids, grandparents, whoever, that you are running away with a fic author and going to God knows where to drown in fic reads and updates. It'll be fun I promise. Lol We can look at Rob porn and talk about anything but our problems until we are delirious with happiness and totally stress free.

Okie dokie well enough of my ramblings, on with the chapter.

Disclaimer: Stephenie owns Twilight. I own a new lemon themed kitchen and two new goldfish.

Chapter 31:

"No. That is not true! You know I can't see anything until decisions are made. I do not want any human to be purposely harmed."

It didn't matter what Japer proposed or asked, Alice's answers were always the same. She was the innocent one and Alec was a monster.

"I've desperately tried to forget my past and leave it alone. You all do not understand what I have been through. All I want is to leave peaceably. I never wanted anything to happen to any of you." Her eyes glanced to Edward, with a look of regret displayed on her face, then to me in the same manner.

"My visions are unclear when they involve my brother. I swear it!"

"But you knew he was coming?" Jasper raised an eyebrow, questioning her. He was having a hard time believing Alice as well. Moments before he said he didn't know what to believe anymore. Alice was desperately whining and mewling over her words not ready to give a clear answer.

"Dammit! Alice, for god's sake and for ours just tell the fucking truth!" He yelled.

If I had one word to describe Jasper it would be quite. He is always so mannerly and even tempered. To see him this way, angry and raving was definitely a change. A change I welcomed though because I was pissed at Alice too. Jasper was not showing her any slack. He was angry as well.

"Did you or did you not see Alec's arrival? Did you know he was coming?" He continued angrily.

"YES!" She shouted. Her fiery response only added more fuel to Jasper's stormy rage.

Alice's eyes widened, immediately realizing she may have crossed the line with Jasper. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She tried to wrap her tiny body around Jasper's begging for forgiveness. Forgiveness for shouting at her mate or forgiveness of lying to all of us I wasn't sure but she was pleading for all it was worth.

Jasper's ignored her attempts all together, giving her a slight shove away from him but holding on to her shoulders as he spoke directly to her. "Why Alice? Why didn't you tell me? If you feel like you are in trouble, you can count on me. Why do you not know this by now? After all I have done for you and you can not be truthfully honest with me."

"I can. I will. I will tell you all you need to know. Just please believe me when I tell you that Alec is as evil and deceitful."

Alice had some pretty nasty things to say about her twin brother. Some of it which was hard to believe. However, she slowly chipped away every one's resolve of disbelief as she told her story.

Except mine.

She swore she couldn't see anything about Charlie which led her to believe that Alec was lying and he was indeed dead. But I refused to believe it.

Jasper raised some pretty intriguing questions as to why she led him to believe the Volturi was behind all of this instead Alec.

"You made me believe it too. It was your idea that the Volturi was blackmailing me so I would join back up with them. It was the only reasonable explanation that made sense at the time so I went along with it. I never saw it coming so I don't know who actually killed Charlie but I realized it was not the Volturi's doing after Aro was surprised to see what was going on here. He had no clue we were housing humans until Alec told him."

Jasper was deep in thought shaking his head as the rest of us listened and tried to absorb information as fast as she was explaining it.

I was shocked and mortified that she once served as a Volturi guard. Who was this girl actually? She was nothing but a lost woman full of secrets, lies and betrayals in my eyes. And mostly she had betrayed me. I had been led to believe that the Volturi was our enemy at the present moment. They disagreed strongly with the humans mingling with vampires and that put our lives at stake. But now…the way she talked Aro preferred we be changed to vampires? If we were changed we lived, but if we remained human we died as a consequence of knowing the secrets of vampires?

This is all so confusing to me. Sure I didn't want to worry about being attacked by anymore vampires but how could I be so naive as to think we could be protected by the people that stood before me.

I did a quick personality check on everyone. We have Alice who is a liar and betrayer, Jasper who acts like he is in charge but really isn't. I rolled my eyes at that thought. Carlisle he is just going with the flow not really knowledgeable enough to know how to handle the Volturi. Esme is nice; I really like her but I think all this is over her head as well. Then there is Emmett. He is…he's…well… Yeahdon'teventrytofigurehimoutBella.

To remain human until all this was over and return to a normal life still human used to sound reasonable. The reason we kept moving around was so the Volturi wouldn't find us, right? If they couldn't prove we were with the Cullen's and Whitlock's then they couldn't sentence such judgment.

By the sounds of it, our fate was already dealt a long time ago. It didn't matter. And Alice had known all along. She knew my Father was still alive and she knew our fate and never said a word or even so much drop a hint. She is the deceitful one not her brother. He came here to out her. Everything he said made perfect since too.

The longer she rambled the more I wanted to punch her in the throat. She sounded so convincing with all of her Ohpoorpitifulme bullshit.

Even Edward was falling hook, line and sinker and showing her sympathy.

He nudged me with his elbow and whispered, "Do you not believe her, Bella?", after about the tenth sigh and eye roll I gave her.

"No! Not a word of it!" I grouched back in response only to him but I forgot everyone could hear me anyway. There is no conversation left unheard in a house full of vampires.

"I am telling the truth. I can't see Alec's decisions clearly. If your dad isstill alive and has contact with Alec then Alec is hiding it very well, Bella." She addressed me, aware that I was the only one left to convince.

Yeah. Who cares. I am so not going to believe a word of what this girl says anymore.

She earned another quick huff of annoyance from me. That is all she is getting. No sympathy, no nothing. I do not care how her brother has treated her, she lied about my dad.

"I mean it. " She continued. "I can not see your Dad. If he really is alive, vampire or not, I would be able to see him. Even if I can't see him through Alec, I would still be able to see somethingabout your Dad when I thought of him."

After a moment of silence between the two of us she turned and began to explain further to Jasper, "Alec is up to something. He is purposely hiding himself from me. Aro trust him and he should not! He hasn't even read Alec's thoughts in quite some time. He has no reason to suspect that what Alec has told him is nothing but the truth."

"And what has Alec told him?"

"That we are housing humans by choice just because the Cullen's have a connection to their human son and want to be with him. He thinks that is why we are running and hiding. If we stay on the move it is harder for us to be tracked or found out about our uncommon relationship with humans."

"But that isn't true."Esme protested. "We are protecting them from whoever tried to kill them in the meadow? If it were possible for us to see our son as weare and get by with it, we would have done that a long time ago instead of making him live alone for the past two years."

"Exactly." Alice agreed.

"If your brother is lying about this to Aro can't you pay Aro a visit and inform him of our intentions. Let him know what has been going on. If he can readour thoughts like you say he can, then he would understand and see if he touched all of us. We could show him the truth." Carlisle suggested.

"That's just it. It isn't ourjob to protect humans from anything but our secret. Aro is being very lenient with his options to us. If it were any other humans knowing the secret, they die instantly. He does not spare lives. And he is careful about who is allowed to live after they are changed." Her expression looked helpless and regretful.

Emmett had been quite up till this point, which was odd for him, but he seemed delighted as he butted in the conversation with a devious smile. "Well, we could make this work to our advantage. When we tell this Afro that his own trusted guard member has been hiding stuff from him, want he loose his shit?"

"It's Aro." Alice corrected as I stifled a giggle at Emmett. "And yes, he will probably be angry with Alec but we will still have to deal with his decision of Bella and Edward being changed. He will not waver on that."

"Then, change us." I almost choked on my own damn tongue when Edward spoke up. Is he insane?

"Oh no…I am not. No. No way."

All eyes were on me as if they could not believe that I would not want to become a vampire just for the sake of living.

"Bella-"

"No. Don't Bella me, Edward. I am not being changed. This is all absurd." My voice grew louder as I spoke. "I do not know who I can trust. You all can believe what you want but until Arohimself shows up here giving me the option to live or die, I will not consider it."

"But…Alec…he said it too."

"And from what Alice is trying to make you all believe, he is nothing but a liar." I stared silently at Edward. He blinked a few times before opening his mouth to speak, but I didn't give him a chance to say anything before I blurted, "And so is she." Just as quickly as I said what was on my mind, stood and quickly made my way out of the room before Edward or anyone else could respond.

I needed to be alone with my thoughts. I needed to just. "Go.Leave." I thought to myself as I headed towards the door.

I didn't look for Edward to come after me just yet. He knows I can do better being alone with my thoughts than trying to reason with all their bullshit. I would be back. But for now, I just needed to be left alone.

As I stepped off the porch and into the cold morning air, my skin pebbled from the coolness. I didn't care if I got cold, I still needed to go. I didn't bother going back inside to find a jacket. I had a sweater on and that would keep me warm enough for now.

I paced the length of the yard only to realize I was surrounded by wilderness. It had always been a perfect place for me to retreat before. Now was no different.

I wandered through the trees, ducking under branches and crossing over fallen trees, careful to keep the house in view. I didn't want to wander too far for fear I would get lost. I had done that before and look what it had cost me. Not that I regretted meeting Edward, because I didn't. I just wish all this fucked- upness didn't follow along with knowing him.

I found a tiny stream which was barely flowing from it's frozen water but found it calming non the less. Seeing that I could barley make out the top of the house, I decided not to walk any deeper into the forest. I took a spot on a nearby stump and breathed a huge sigh frustration.

How could this…why did I?

Edward.

Charlie.

Rosalie.

I do not want to be…

"Ugh!" I groaned when each thought became more and more complex.

My worrying was all over the place so I decided to just stop thinking for a moment and listen to the drip of the stream.

Tiny pellets of water dripped over and over as if they had no care in the world. They only had one goal and that was to flow on down the stream. I realized even though most of the water was frozen, once thawed, it would still continue to flow in the right direction.

I envied this tiny half frozen stream. Why couldn't I have a for sure answer as to where I was going. Where I was headed or what my future would be once this obstacle was out of the way. Why did life have to be so uncertain? Why couldn't I be like water, always flowing in the right direction. No matter what tries to dam it up, it flows right over it displaying its strength and wonder as it cascades over obstacles and makes beautiful waterfalls, always showing it is stronger that what is placed in front of it.

"I want to be a force of nature." I mumbled under my breath as thoughts of Charlie filtered through my mind. I wanted to know for certain what has happened to him. If it were Edward's family he would feel the same way. Then I remembered. He as in fact felt the same way. He didn't give up on his family. No matter who told him they were dead, he wouldn't allow himself to believe it. He fought until he found out the truth. It took him a couple of years, but if paid off.

I thought over this revelation that if Edward could persevere until he knew the truth then so could I. I stood, ready to make my way back to the house with a decision being made that I would find out the truth about Charlie no matter how long it takes and who I have to get it from. When I turned, I literally felt the color drain from me as I realized I was not alone.

How long had he been here lurking in the shadows, watching me?

"Alec." By breathe caught in my throat and my heart sped up at a violent rate.

He snorted at my human reaction. "I would tell you to not be afraid but that would defeat the purpose of my existence." He smiled deviously.

I gasped not knowing whether to run or scream. My eyes darted passed him trying to find a clear path for escape.

"No need to run. It will benefit you if you listen to what I have to say."

What? He wanted to talk? But…he just told me to be afraid of him.

He stepped closer. I held my breath and closed my eyes. "Your dad really misses you." He soothed.

My eyes flew open o their own accord. It was ironic that after just declaring I would find out about my dad, up steps Alec, the only person that couldgive more answers.

"He wants to see you."

He does?

"He will not come around your new family though." He winced. "He knows they wouldn't allow it. Not right now at least."

Then I could go to him. I want to see him. I want to know he is alive.

A slow smile spread across his face. "There are coming. Alice knows I'm here talking to you." He glanced over his shoulder. "I will tell your Dad you are well." He turned quickly to leave.

"Wait!"

What am I doing? What do I mean wait? How could I possibly even think to ask Alec for help?

He peered at me questioningly only for a moment. Then…then I was suddenly numb. Numb to all thoughts. I think I have completely lost my mind at this point. I feel nothing. No remorse. No fear. No doubt. Nothing.

All I want is to find my Dad and see for myself that he is ok.

A/N: Bella…Bella…Bella…what are you doing? Siding with the so called enemy? Really? Didn't you hear a word of what Alice had to say about him?

If I hadn't written it, even I wouldn't believe it myself. So naive. Such a silly lamb, that girl.

I know it is hard to believe and this may come as a huge shock but we are nearing the end folks. *sniffs* I know.

I promised a HEA. I am not a liar jsyk…:D

I don't know how many more chapters exactly but I am guessing less than five.

Please review!

~SAVRAV