For a long moment, no one spoke. And then Carlisle's cell phone rang. His eyes narrowed as he read the caller ID. "Aro."

He held the phone to his ear and simply listened. I was still too weak to hear Aro's voice through the phone, but it was obvious that this conversation wasn't going well. Carlisle's normally calm expression became more and more angry by the second as Aro spoke. Finally, he had enough.

"And I will not forget this either, Aro!" Carlisle roared into the phone. "This is my warning to you; the Cullen family no longer recognizes the legal or moral authority of the Volturi, who have imprisoned and tortured one of our members without cause. Any member of the Volturi or its Guard found in our territory will be considered hostile, and attacked on sight. In addition, we will be informing our friends and allies of the treatment Edward received at your hands. I'm sure they will all be quite interested to hear this particular story."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "Out of respect for our former friendship, I offer you this advice. If you intend to send any of your puppets against us, make sure to supply them with a properly labeled urn, so that their remains may be returned to you as expeditiously as possible. This conversation is over."

He snapped the phone shut and stared at it for a moment, as if he wished he could grind it into dust.

A chorus of low growls rumbled through the cabin in response to Carlisle's outburst. Rosalie and Esme had been with Bella and joined us at the airport. My whole family, together again. I wanted to succumb to the joy and contentment that the thought brought to me. But I couldn't. It couldn't be real. It could only be another mirage. Soon the torture would begin again. Hope, love, and all the other positive emotions seemed to fuel the nightmares. If I let myself give in, the plane would vanish, and I would be back in the cell in Volterra, being mocked by my torturers yet again. A snarl escaped my clenched teeth at the thought.

"Well, we have some time, but we're going to have to start making some calls," Alice said from the cockpit. "We're going to need our friends again."

"Alice…" Bella began, before she faltered into silence.

"Go talk to him, but don't touch him," Alice answered. "You need to take this very slow. Talk to him about what happened while he was gone."

I tensed as Bella rose from her seat and walked slowly towards the rear of the plane where I lay on a couch. Struggling to focus, my eyes tracked her form as she approached. A weak growl whistled from my lips, warning the apparition to stay away.

The look on her face...such sadness. The monster was never sad; there was no room in his feral outlook for sadness. What was this?

"Don't worry; I won't touch you. I just wanted to come see you. I've missed you so much," she said as she sat on the floor, facing me. Her hands were to her sides, palms down on the floor.

For a long moment, we simply stared at each other, I with wary suspicion, she as though she would be weeping if she could.

"You've been gone so long. I was frantic when you disappeared, then when Alice told us the Volturi had you…she wouldn't give us any details, but she's spent the last year walking around looking sick to her stomach. I was so worried; I was so afraid that the next bit of news we heard would be that you had been executed, and then I don't know what I would've done."

"That bastard Aro wouldn't even respond to questions about you. Of course, he invited all of us to come visit whenever we wished, but we weren't going to fall for that one."

Was this some new trick? Even in the cell, before the monster had cast off his mask, he had never volunteered new information. All of the reassurances were vague, telling me that I needed to survive and that my family would come for me, but never giving me anything that I didn't already know. Had my hallucinations become so acute that my imagination was inventing fiction?

"All we could do was wait for an opportunity, anything that might help get you back to us. Then, two weeks ago, Alice had a vision. Aro and Caius' mates, Sulpicia and Athenodora, never leave the tower, but they do have a secluded outdoor garden on the castle grounds. There was a narrow window of opportunity for us to sneak in and kidnap them."

"We took them, then split up into two groups; Esme, Rose and I took the wives to a hideout; I wanted to be there when we rescued you, but they needed my shield to hide our hostages from Demetri. The others stayed on the move so they couldn't be pinned down. After a while, they called Aro and told him that we would make a trade. He's a selfish, conniving bastard, but he wouldn't risk any harm coming to his mate."

"Carlisle told him we didn't trust him to bring you to us, and that he wanted the tower cleared so that they could come in and get you themselves. You were there for the rest."

"You should have heard those two stuck-up cows, Edward; mouthing off about how this was intolerable, that Aro and Caius would make us suffer, how you deserved what happened to you. I swear I would've killed them if I thought I could still get you safe out of the deal."

Could it possibly be real? I couldn't dare to hope. Hope was painful. Hope was the tipping point of the slippery slope that led back to the nightmares and the horror. But still...

"Nessie's so excited about seeing you again. She's safe at La Push, with Jake and the pack. She wanted to come, but Alice needed to be able to see her visions, and Nessie still blocks them. You should see her; she's grown up so much." At that, her voice broke and she was silent again for a long while.

"We've missed you so much! For the last year, I dreamed about getting you back and having you in my arms. And now that you're here, I can't touch you. I hate it, Edward. I hate what they've done to you! And we will have each other back some day. But for now, it's enough to know that you're here, and you're safe."

Oh, how I wanted to believe. None of the nightmares had ever been this real. The sense of déjà vu was missing in its entirety, and this felt so deliciously new. Oh, how I hoped this was real, that the nightmare had finally come to an end.

Hope.

I crushed the feeling ruthlessly. I had almost given in once more. I tensed, waiting for the nightmare to descend upon me once more.

"Edward, Alice says I can't touch you. I realize that it may be too much for you, but…I was wondering…if it would be okay for me to come closer. I just want to be as near to you as I can. We've been apart for so long."

The monster grew bold with my silence and inched closer to me. The scent of strawberries and freesias flooded my senses. Memories, or dreams, because I still wasn't sure what was real and what was fantasy, washed over me. A heated night on a beach, my dream Bella's skin against mine. A child born of our passion, and the fantasy creatures that sat in the plane with us, surrounding us in pleasure at the miracle of the child. The word "Daddy" echoed in my head. Curly, copper hair.

Matted in red. Brown sightless eyes…

And I withdrew into myself once again. I was a child killer. Killer…monster…fiend…and all caused by the demon in front of me. I began snarling again, and was immediately pinned to the couch. Emmett and Jasper's scents were suddenly strong in my nostrils.

"Bella, honey, I'm sorry that it has to be this way, but he can't handle being that close to you for whatever reason. I almost can't feel Edward in there during those times. He's withdrawing from you."

"I'm not leaving, Jasper," I heard Bella say frantically. "I'm afraid that he thinks I abandoned him before because we had to wait so long to get him back. How would you feel, being stuck in that hell for so long, believing you had been forsaken? Look at him, clearly they tortured and starved him. I don't know anything because Alice won't tell me, but I will not be separated from him again. Don't ask it of me…please."

Jasper looked down at her tortured face, and capitulated. "Just back up a little bit, then. Give him a little more room."

Emmett's face was level with mine and it fueled my belief that I was still in the nightmare. But the Emmett of my dreams was rarely serious, much less morose. The visage in front of me was both. Clearly this guard had not been filled in on the appropriate reactions for my 'family' members. He was going to blow each one of their covers.

"You believe we're part of the nightmare, don't you?" Jasper asked. "You believe that you're still there. Edward, you're safe. We're taking you home. Emmett and I are going to hold you now. We'll keep holding you until we get home, and then we are going to continue holding you until you believe that we won't let go."

I spent the rest of the trip squeezed between the bodies of my 'brothers.' Bella watched me from her seat across the aisle. Her golden eyes stayed fixed on my face as if she was looking for something…anything.

I heard Carlisle make several calls, the last being to Jacob. "Yes, we'll be at the airport in the hour. Keep Nessie at La Push." He then paused. "No, she doesn't need to come home right now, Jacob. Not for…a while. I can't explain, but perhaps some of your brothers could keep Nessie, and you could meet us at the house."

Carlisle turned around and saw me staring at him. The concern in his eyes unnerved me. I closed my eyes and existed silently in the beautiful dream, wishing that it would never end.

When the plane rolled to a stop and the door opened, a barrage of scents hit me all at once. We were not in Volterra; even mixed with the mechanical and chemical scents of the airport, nothing but the wet, green habitat of Washington State could smell like this. I had no strength left to even turn my head and see what waited outside. Could I really be home?

I was lifted from the couch and transferred to a waiting car. My monster stayed close, I could feel it. I knew we were probably about to enter the castle again, ending my tour. Time for the torture to begin anew. I wondered what the purpose of having them drag me on this trip was. They could have forced me to drink the blood at the castle to prolong the torture, and I knew it was the hope they were planning to torture me with. Any ounce of it they could find within me. I crushed what little there was quickly, knowing it would be better to destroy it myself.

"Emmett, carry him to the bathroom and send those blankets to me," Esme instructed as they carried me into the Forks house. "I'm going to burn them. He needs a shower. Alice and I will go hunting for him. Feral or not, he needs to eat. He's gone far too long without as it is."

I felt them unwrap the blankets that had covered my gaunt body as Emmett held me, and then I heard my father hiss and uncharacteristically curse. "Damn it, I'm going to destroy Aro when I have the chance. In all my years of existence, I've never seen a vampire reduced to such a state."

He came to stand before me so that he could look in my face. "Edward, open your eyes if you can."

I cracked my lids slightly, responding automatically to the voice that had always been my authority and salvation.

"I'm going to touch you. I won't do anything without telling you first." He then placed his hand under my chin, turning my face to him. "I know now that there is hope. I know very few individuals who could withstand what you have endured, and I know that it's because you held out hoping for us to come. We did, maybe not as quickly as hoped, but as quickly as possible. You're home now, and we will do everything to help you. First things first, you're filthy and your brothers are going to clean you up."

The feeling of hot water over my skin was delicious, and I moaned in response. I vaguely registered the alien feeling of my brothers washing my body and scrubbing my hair harshly, cleaning off the grime. I heard Bella arguing with Carlisle in the background, and her sobs. Then I heard her footsteps as she begin to walk away. Without thought or provocation, my body attempted to turn in that direction, as if to stop her. Jasper caught on to my emotion and did what I couldn't.

"Bella," he half shouted, "Don't leave, it's making him nervous."

He and Emmett had gone into the shower with me, clothes and all, but Jasper ripped the door open so that I could see her still in the crowded room. Her face held the slightest trace of optimism as she saw me attempting to look at her. Her tense mouth softened into a tentative smile.

What was this? Why had I reacted like that? This creature that tortured me without respite for months on end, and I was nervous when it went away? Was this some bizarre vampire variation on Stockholm syndrome?

"His clothes aren't going to fit, so just bring a robe, Rose," Carlisle said through the doorway.

I was dried and wrapped into something soft and placed back onto a couch back downstairs. Within a few moments, Esme returned with something my body definitely recognized and desired. The smell of blood traveled in front of her. I saw a cup in her hand and remembered words ran through my head:

Not clear, Rosalie.

Esme handed the cup to Carlisle and stood back, holding a trembling Bella in her arms. Rose and Alice stood beside each other, holding hands and staring down at me.

"You have to eat, Edward. I don't want to force you, but you need to drink this."

I caught a glimpse of Esme turning Bella away as Carlisle loomed in front of me. Then my mouth was open and blood was being poured down my throat. Some slipped past my flaccid lips and trickled down my chin, but most went down my throat. Instinct took over finally and my throat began swallowing. The air stirred with a sudden breeze; Alice had run to the kitchen for more. In a moment, she was back, handing Carlisle another glass before I even finished the thought. My eyes closed in weary defeat.

Then the door opened and a horrible smell wafted through the room. It sent my every nerve on edge with the sensation of threat and danger. My body was decimated, and my defensive reactions were limited to a weak snarl, but everyone tensed when they heard what came out of my chest. As the blood began to permeate my parched tissues, the dull roar in my head began to fade and separate out, reforming mumbles and strange pitches into thoughts and images once again.

"Jacob, stop!" Bella screamed, and she tore out of Esme's arms, heading toward the stunned man standing across the room staring at me.

Oh God. No. What happened? What have they done to you, Edward? I'll tear them limb from limb. I'll enjoy every moment, treaties be damned. The shocked thoughts and shaking body of the man in front of me mirrored his horrified thoughts in reaction to my appearance. As Bella drew closer to him, my body again reacted unexpectedly. I was furious! Rage swept through me, and the snarling redoubled. Jacob grabbed Bella and forced her behind him. I saw red and struggled to rise. She realized what was happening as I strained against my brothers.

"He thinks you're taking me away from him, Jacob. Get out of my way. Having a wolf around him might not be the best thing right now."

As she tore around him, headed for me, Jacob started crying and smashed the table in front of him in fury. "Damn bloodsucking leeches! Filthy parasites! I'll kill them all!"

I couldn't focus too much on him, because Bella had violated everything that Alice had said and laid her hand on top of mine when she reached me. She was staring right into my eyes. "I love you, Edward Cullen, and nothing…nothing is ever, ever going to separate us again."

And at last, I let myself feel a tiny pinprick of hope.

Sorry about the long wait. Apparently I have serious issues with writer's block. All you fans out there should thank content1 for helping shove me over the hump to get this chapter out to you. How can I thank her, you ask? Well, reading and reviewing her story "Harvest Moon", along with its satellite stories "Family Tradition", "A Cullen Carol", and "Harvest Moons", is a good start.

Also, a great last minute thank you to Diana Oates, flibertigidget and Say Goodbye Again of the esteemed Project Team Beta, who have all managed to teach me things about grammar this evening that I've somehow forgotten along the way.