Chapter 12

Getty's POV:

On my way to the cockpit, I had noticed that Ally seemed disgruntled, so it didn't surprise me that she had found a way to mess with the wiring in the plane. I knew she would find a way to retaliate, so it didn't surprise me when 5 minutes after taking off, I heard a country song start playing and couldn't believe what it was.

Cheater, cheater where'd you meet her?
Down at Ernie's Bar?
Did she smile your way, twirl her hair and say how cute your dimples are?
Did she use that line "Your place or mine?" while you danced with her real slow?
Tell me cheater, cheater where'd you meet that no good, white trash ho?

Liar, liar did you buy her whiskey all night long?
Did you hide your ring in the pocket of your jeans or did you just keep it on?
When the deed was done and you had your fun did you think I wouldn't know?
Tell me cheater, cheater where'd you meet that no good, white trash ho?

Now I'm not one to judge someone that I ain't never met
But to lay your hands on a married man is 'bout as low as a gal can get
Hey I wish her well as she rots in hell and you can tell her I said so
Cheater, cheater where'd you meet that no good, white trash ho?

Loser, loser hope you love her cuz your stuck with her now
Take your sorry butt, load up all your stuff, and get the hell out of my house
But I just wish you'd tell me this one thing before you go
Cheater, cheater where'd you meet that no good, white trash ho?

Now I'm not one to judge someone that I ain't never met
But to lay your hands on a married man is 'bout as low as a gal can get
Hey I wish her well as she rots in hell and you can tell her I said so
Cheater, cheater where'd you meet that no good, white trash ho?

Yeah I just wish you'd tell me this one thing before you go
Cheater, cheater where'd you meet that low down, up town, slept with every guy around, pressed on eyelash, no good, white trash ho? (Cheater, Cheater; Joey + Rory)

I decided to have a little conversation with Ally about her little stunt. "Ally," I said over the intercom, "Will you come into the cockpit for a minute"? After that, I heard her sigh, exasperated, and trudge into the cockpit.

"What," she said somewhat bitterly.

"Care to explain your little stunt?"

"Not really."

"Allyson Hunsacher," I warned, scowling at her.

"Fine. This plan is better, but I still think it's stupid. I mean, what if the Volturi check on Esme's motives as she's leaving the house to meet you at the airport? Won't they hold her hostage? And are you guys sure you're prepared to deal with a hostage situation? Did you even take any of this into consideration?"

"No, Ally," I replied, silently thanking Gulfstream for equipping this plane with a GNS-480 (A/N: A GNS-480 is a Garmin Aviation GPS/Autopilot system that will actually fly the plane for you if you set the auto-pilot to GPS-Nav), as I set the auto-pilot to GPS-Nav. Know Ally, these conversations could last hours. "I probably would have if you had brought it up before we left the house. And since I've been so busy doing things related to the current plan, particularly the transportation, I haven't had time to think about all of the 'what ifs'. Or mess with the wiring on the com system to play "Cheater, Cheater" and make Bella and Edward feel even more uncomfortable around each other. I'm sure because of that, Bella's going to think that song describes mine and Edward's relationship, which is so not the case."

"Sorry," she said. "But why didn't you ask Alice? I mean isn't she Miss I Can See the Future? She should have been able to see something like this happening. And what if Esme does get held hostage? You're really going to wish you'd listened to me then."

"No, Allyson you're not sorry. Just don't do it again. Brood silently to yourself next time; don't mess with electrical systems on planes."

"Fine," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest and we fell into an uncomfortable silence.

"So…," I began, breaking the silence. "You're a witch."

"Yeah, I was surprised too."

"So…" Ally, I assume, could see exactly what I was leading up to, and laughed.

"No, Getty. We don't dance naked under the full moon, have black cat familiars, or twitch our noses to cast spells."

I laughed too, when she said this. "The sun doesn't kill me, I can cross running water, and my skin is way too hard for a stake to pass through." I smiled at Ally. "You're looking good, especially considering all that has happened."

Ally laughed at this. "So are you, especially since you became a vampire."

"I think I know what you're implying, and you better not be implying that. I could kill you in less than 5 seconds if I felt like it, remember?"

"You wouldn't kill me," she said.

"You're probably right. So, why is it that when I try to hear what you're thinking, all I can hear is classical music and numbers and equations?"

"What do you mean," Ally asked me.

"The Riemann sum from zero to infinity of x to the two n plus one over two n plus one factorial?"

"Oh. Equations. Right. That's the value of sine at x."

"Okay. That still doesn't tell me why that's all I hear you thinking, but I think we have bigger fish to fry right now."

Not 30 seconds later, I heard the GPS ding back to pilot nav, alerting me that it was time to begin the descent.

"You can go join everyone else now. Tell them we should be on the ground within 20 minutes, through customs in less than an hour."

I then heard Ally's best flight attendant voice coming over the com system, telling everyone that we would be through customs in less than an hour and how to fasten their seatbelts. "Insert the flat end into the buckle and tighten by pulling on the loose end of the belt." I laughed at this. She talked to them like they were three. It was funny, especially when I heard Emmett say "Geesh, Ally. We aren't three. We know how to fasten seatbelts."

Then quieter, I heard him say "Wait… how does this thing work again?"

I could do nothing but shake my head and laugh quietly to myself and then land the plane.

Alice's POV:

We had been up in the air for about 40 minutes when I'd noticed that Brie had been staring out the window for almost the entire flight, looking up at the sky. "What's wrong," I asked her.

"Nothing," Brie sighed dejectedly.

"Brie," I told her. "Remember who you're talking to. I can tell when you're lying. Wait a minute… You're here alone. Where's Arawn?"

Brie sighed again. "I left him someplace where it is never dark. I don't have to seriously worry about him there, which makes it easier for me to help you guys, since I'm better able to focus on the task at hand, rather than worry about Arawn. Have you seen anything else about how this plan is going to work out?"

"No, nothing clear. The Volturi don't know what our plan is, so they don't have any suspicions about Esme's motives when she leaves the house, but I can't say that it will stay that way. I'm sure that Aro will check for deceit when Esme leaves to meet Getty at the Friday Harbor airport, but he doesn't yet know that Esme is planning on leaving, so…"

Esme's POV:

My family had just left for the airport to go to Canada, leaving me at home alone. I missed Carlisle terribly, but I knew I couldn't follow them, since someone had to make sure that the Volturi didn't immediately know that we, well my family, had run and I was planning on running. Bored, with nothing to do, I decided to clean. I began to do so absentmindedly, but all too soon, though it was probably 45 minutes later, there was a knock at the door. When I answered it, I was not at all surprised to see Aro, Caius, and Marcus standing there. "Hello, gentlemen," I said. "Care to come in?"

"Thank you, Esme," Aro said. "It's so nice to see your lovely home again."

"Thank you. Are your wives still in Volterra?"

"No," Marcus said. "They all had to take care of errands stateside. I believe they went off to New York. While we're on the topic of families, where's yours?"

"Carlisle is off at the hospital and the kids are still in school. Alice said something about taking everyone to go shopping in Port Angeles afterwards, so I have no idea what time they're planning on being home. May I get you anything to drink? I apologize not having any human blood, but perhaps gorilla or orangutan would be close enough?"

"No, thank you," Aro said. "Though we appreciate the offer. You said you don't know what time your children will be home, but what about Carlisle? We have some important business to discuss with him."

"I believe he was planning on going with the kids. Would you be able to tell me what the business is concerning?"

"I'm afraid we can't do that," Caius said. "It's a private matter between us and Carlisle."

"I could call him to see if he could get away from the hospital," I offered.

"Would you please," Aro requested.

"I'll be right back." I left the room and then took out my phone and called the hospital's cardiologist, whom I knew would not be able to leave, since he had to perform a surgery in an hour. "Hey, can you get away? I need to talk to you."

"I'm sorry, Esme," he said. "I have to perform a quadruple bypass in an hour. You know I can't get away."

"All right. Thank you. Goodbye." I hung up the phone and went back into the other room. "I'm sorry. He can't get away. He's got to perform a surgery in about an hour and God knows how long that'll take."

"Thank you for checking for us though," Caius said.

"Not a problem."

"So we have a question for you Esme".

"Yes," I asked.

"Has Bella been changed yet?"

"No. The agreement was that she would be changed after graduation. That doesn't happen for another three weeks."

"Do you know if she is going to be changed immediately after graduation or if Edward was planning on waiting for something?"

"I don't know. Also, it seems to me that when Edward is planning on changing Bella is his business and no one else's."

"Fair enough. I was just curious if you knew anything about it. While we're on the topic of Edward, do you know if he has given any more consideration to our offer to have him join the guard? He could be a very valuable addition, you know."

"I don't believe he has thought any more about it, no. I doubt he could bring himself to separate from Bella, even for 10 minutes." Though it seems more likely now that Getty has joined us, I added silently.

"What about Alice? Has she given further consideration to our offer?"

"No, she hasn't. She couldn't stand to be away from Jasper, and he, even if given the opportunity, wouldn't join your guard."

"I heard it through the grapevine," Aro began, "that you have a new member in your coven."

"Yes, we do. Her name is Getty. Carlisle was at her father's woodshop commissioning a bookcase when the bandsaw that she was working on had a kickback and cut her carotid artery. She would have died if Carlisle hadn't been there."

"Yes, I'd heard about that. She's been a valuable asset to your family, hasn't she?"

"Very, but things have been tense between Edward and Bella since she came. I can't for the life of me figure out why."

"Do you know if Edward has experienced a change of feeling, for example, falling in love with Getty and out of love with Bella?"

"I haven't a clue. Even if I did, it's not my place to say. Who Edward does or does not love is his business and no one else's. With the exception of Bella, of course, since she is, in fact, still his girlfriend."

"Of course, Esme".

"Forgive me, but I just realized that I have to go get more coffee for Bella and run a few more errands. I probably won't be back for 4 or 5 hours, but feel free to make yourselves at home."

"Thank you, Esme," Aro said, taking my hand and pulling it to his lips, as if to kiss it, but smiling menacingly instead. "That is a very kind offer."

I pulled my hand away. "Okay, I'm leaving now, but will be back in a few hours." As I said this, Aro growled and Caius and Marcus sprang, so that, between the three of them, all possible exits from the room were blocked.

"As I was saying, Esme," Aro said from his post at the front door. "That is a very kind offer, but completely unnecessary. You aren't going anywhere."