Author's Note:

Thanks so much for reviews, and adding this story to your favorites and alerts. It's much appreciated. Small Warning: this chapter contains some ADULT situations.

Edward's P.O.V.

I carried her up to bed, still unconscious. As I walked, I tried to read her thoughts, but they were a jumble of fragments. I could hear only bits and pieces. Scared. Mistake. Alone. Save me.

These thoughts in her head tore at my soul, if indeed I had one. Bella was in pain, in agony. I should have known she would have a gift like this. She was so sensitive to me when she was still human. She knew things about me. She sensed things no one else had ever come close to guessing. I was a fool not to realize this would happen.

I gently laid her on our bed. She immediately rolled to her side and curled herself around a pillow, eyes still shut. I smiled at her familiar human habits. I hadn't slept in almost 100 years, but for Bella, it was a muscle memory that she clung to, and for that, I was grateful. Whatever could give her comfort, peace, I would do. I shut the door and headed outside to clear my head. I only got a few hundred yards when I sensed Jasper near.

"Edward."

I felt the almost immediate calming around me.

"You don't need to do that." I snapped.

"Sometimes I don't realize I'm doing it. It's a reflex." He shrugged his shoulders, but I felt the calm recede slightly.

"Where's Alice?" I looked down at the thick greenery at my feet, unable to meet his eyes.

"Rosalie and Emmet took her to Vancouver with them."

"Oh." I hadn't even known they had gone.

"She can't be near Bella."

"I realize that."

"What are you going to do?" he asked. My God, what a mess. He said in his thoughts.

"I was hoping to ask Alice."

"She can't see it clearly Edward."

"I know, I just…" I looked at him expecting anger, but saw only compassion.

"She sees a lot of different things. She wants to give you the answer, but she doesn't see it all…" he simply shrugged.

Later that night, I walked the nearly empty house and periodically checked on Bella. I sat down with her worn copy of Wuthering Heights and stared out at the dark mountains. I felt my cell phone buzz in my pocket.

"Hello?"

"Edward."

"Alice. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine now. Don't worry. I just had to call you quickly. I needed to tell you…"

"What Alice?" I asked, now alarmed by her hesitancy.

"You know my visions aren't clear."

"Yes, yes I know all that. I don't want..." she abruptly cut me off.

"Listen to me Edward. I don't know if I can explain this or not, but I'm going to try." I heard her take a deep breath. "It's your mind and hers together. They're mixed together." I said nothing and waited for her to make some sense of this.

"It's like an open channel. She's flowing in and out of you. It's you, Edward. Your unique abilities mixed with hers."

"What do you see Alice? Just tell me." I said, defeated; not knowing if I really wanted to know.

"Oh Edward." I could clearly hear the pain. "She's in a dark place now. I can barely see anything. I'll try again and perhaps I'll be able to see things more clearly without it all tangled." She ended the call. I sat there, stupefied, still holding the open cell phone.

I turned and saw Carlisle standing beside my chair, staring out into the darkness. He grabbed one of the chairs and slid it next to me.

"I don't think we can help her here."

I continued to stare out at the black night, but I felt my hands ball into fists.

"I haven't been in contact with the Volturri yet Edward." He raised his hand to stop my immediate protest. "But I don't know if we have any other options."

"Once the Volturri are involved, there will be no turning back, you know that."

"I believe they can help her. I know there was a vampire there, long ago, that exhibited a type of mind control the likes of which I had never seen. If this man will see her, he may be interested enough to teach her. It's a gamble, I know. Once they have her in their grasp they will not want to return her to us." I came out of my chair and paced the room, furious.

"What kind of choice is that?"

Carlisle rose out of his chair and put his hand on my shoulder, holding me still. "The gamble is that I believe Bella is stronger than this man. I think that once she learns from him, she'll be strong enough to leave."

"Christ Carlisle! That's not going to happen! Are you crazy! This is Bella's life we are talking about!" I fell back heavily into the leather chair. Suddenly I felt a cold hand stroking the back of my neck. I turned and saw Bella standing there, wrapped in the old quilt we had taken from her bedroom at Charlie's house. Except for her eyes, she looked practically unchanged at this moment. Her skin seemed no paler than it had been. Her hair was tossed wildly from bed.

I rose and pulled her around until she stood in front of me. She looked up and pushed her mind into mine. I tried to still my thoughts and feelings. She shook her head and turned to Carlisle.

"You'll contact them for me?" she spoke solemnly and the determination in her voice alarmed me.

"Of course."

"Bella…" I began.

She turned back to face me and I saw her eyes begin to dart back and forth between my eyes. I felt her thoughts start to run forward and backward. I shook her gently. "Bella!"

Her eyes flicked back hard to mine. "I'm okay." Her shaky voice betrayed her words.

I put my palms against each side of her head and kissed her gently. "I will bring you back." I whispered fiercely.

I watched as she closed her eyes and smiled slightly. "My guardian." She whispered as she sagged against me. I looked over her head at Carlisle, suddenly realizing there was more going on than I knew.

"Jasper didn't go to Canada with Alice."

"No, he's needed here."

"He's keeping her calm." I shook my head, furious that Jasper could offer her what I couldn't.

"He can take her to the Volturri."

"No! I'm not putting her on a plane and shipping her off to Italy like some recalcitrant child!" I whispered harshly, looking down at Bella. Thankfully her eyes were closed and she appeared to not have heard me.

"Edward…" Carlisle began. I scooped Bella up and stormed out of the room heading back for the stairs to our bedroom. I put her back down on the bed and stepped back from her, watching her. She swayed slowly from side to side, eyes still closed, but clearly moving wildly beneath the lids.

"Bella?" I whispered as I touched her hand. Her eyes flew open and met mine. She smiled.

"I won't allow…" I couldn't finish my statement. What the hell couldn't I allow? Her to leave? Her to lose her mind? I was powerless.

I have to go. We both know it, so let's stop dancing around the truth and let it be done. Her voice rang inside my head like a crystal bell.

She stood up slowly and reached out and encircled my neck with her arms. I felt her hand running up the back of my neck into my hair. Her strong fingers gripped my hair and pulled my head toward hers. She met my lips with a fierce urgency. I returned her kiss and pulled her in tighter. I felt like a drowning man and salvation somehow could be found in the kiss of this woman.

I could hear humming inside my head. I realized with a start that it was her lullaby; the one I had composed for her while I watched her sleep. It seemed like a million years ago that things had been so simple. Her voice hummed it with a perfect pitch that stunned me. It played in both our minds as I gently pushed her back down onto the bed. She lay beneath me, the quilt now discarded, revealing a black silk nightgown. I moved to lay my side, head leaning on my elbow. I touched her shoulder and let my fingers trail along her collarbone. I ran my hand up her delicate throat and into in hair. I lowered my head and kissed her hungrily. I felt her smile against my lips. We haven't done this yet as vampires. I laughed out loud at her thought and rolled her over until she was above me. It was such a typical quirky thought for Bella, my Bella. My laugh died on my lips as I realized she may never make it back. She may never be whole again.

My thoughts were quite literally interrupted by her thoughts. Have faith. Believe in me. I swallowed hard and focused on the task at hand. At least her body was strong now. The last time we made love, I had been so afraid of hurting her. A second of lost control and she would be crushed to death. Now, her body answered mine with a rhythm all our own. She climbed onto her knees and straddled my legs. She looked down and quirked a perfectly arched eyebrow at my clothes. Then she took hold of my belt and gently unbuckled it. The pants were not so fortunate and were removed by us both with a haste that sent them ripped to the floor. Finally, she bent above me and let her lips trail along my jaw. The black silk strap of the nightgown has fallen off her should to reveal the top curve of her breast. I encircled it until I felt the hitch in her breathing.

She placed a row of kisses from my mouth down to my navel and by the time she met my eyes again, I thought I'd go mad with desire for her. Finally, when I could not bare another moment, she lowered herself onto me and enveloped me. I fisted my hands in the sheets and raised my hips off the bed. She stilled for a moment and I felt the tight clenching from within her. She moved her hips every so slightly in a circular motion that undid me and I could not wait a second more. I felt the moment come and wash over us, taking us both to a place where there were no thoughts, no feelings, except for love. Deep, love. Forever love.

She slid from above me down to my side and I held her tight. I squeezed her tighter than I had ever dared to before and kissed her full on the lips. I tasted her. I drank her in. I looked into her eyes and saw them blazing. I heard her answer a question in my mind I didn't even know I had asked.

Always. She said in my mind. Then I realized the question didn't matter because I had my answer.