All things Twilight belong to the awesomely awesome Stephenie Meyer

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The Ithaca house has pictures, they are on my profile. I had to see it in my mind to write it :P

Sorry, I know I skipped a day. . . To make up for it, I'm posting two chapters today :)

Songs for thought: So Cold - Breaking Benjamin, Ruled by Secrecy - Muse, Keep Myself Awake - Black Lamb. (As always a link to the playlist is on my profile)

Chapter Four - Gone

Edward strolled into the dining room and sat down opposite Carlisle. It wasn't hard to see what was coming next. We were all ready for it. Edward's eyes look sad and forlorn, his stance showed his defeat. He had definitely made his decision and there was no turning back.

"Thanks for all showing up," Edward said monotonously, "Jasper, how are you?"

Jasper looked up sadly and nodded at Edward, I'm sure words had escaped him at this point. Edward nodded in return and clasped his hand in front of him on the table.

"I'm sure Carlisle has mentioned my plan, I know that we had a couple more years here, but I think it's better we make a clean break. It'll be easier for all of us. I can't condone putting Bella into danger anymore. I need to do this for her, while she still has a chance at a normal life."

I snorted a little too loudly and the entire room looked at me. "What?" I asked looking around them all. "You don't buy that crap do you?"

"And what 'crap' is that, Alice?" Edward asked defensively.

"A chance at a normal life, Edward? Really? Are you really so naive as to think that she will ever get over you?" I asked astounded. I wasn't sure why his words bothered me so much but I had always guessed that he had taken Bella's love for granted and looked past the fact that Bella was in further than he could have possibly imagined.

"She's human, Alice. She has a long life ahead of her, she'll find love again and move on." Edward hung his head in misery as he said this. I raised my eyebrows.

"Edward, your really an idiot. You are her world, her reason for living. Your souls and destiny's are intertwined, you have to be the biggest moron to believe that she would ever get over that."

"She's not like us, Alice. I don't think she can love in the same capacity as we do."

"I don't know why I'm even trying, Edward. Your too stubborn to talk to, but mark my words, when you realize what a mistake this is and you want her back. She'll be there for you because the two of you have a hold on one another, and there's nothing you can do about it. Even if she finds someone to help her get through this, her heart will always belong to you. She's my friend, I know her pretty damn well. If you really do this, you could ruin her, just think about that, please, this is the last I will say on the matter and I will do anything you ask of me because you're my brother. But, please, look at the repercussions and consequences before you set your mind to it."

"Don't you think I have, Alice? I have sat with her in my arms all night, thinking. Thinking how this will all but kill me, how this will devastate her. How Jasper will blame himself, how you and Emmett will be angry at me. Carlisle, Esme and Rose will also suffer my mood swings. I love her, Alice, with every fiber of my being, and I will love her for my eternal life, but I will not subject her to eternal damnation and I will not continue putting her in danger. I'm doing this because I love her, because I want what's best for her. I will live with my pain as a testament to that love, she means too much to me to hurt her anymore. This is my chance to make things right for her, to give her a chance. She'll get over me and move on, it's human nature, and it's the only way I can get through this, please, please, Alice, everyone, try to understand where I'm coming from."

I rolled my eyes and nodded. He was my brother, I would give him my loyalty eternally. I didn't have to agree with him though, and not if but when this stupid plan of his backfired I would help pick up the pieces.

"Alice, I have to ask you a huge favor." Edward said glumly.

"That is?" I asked, almost cringing at the anticipation of the answer.

"Actually, it's a request to all of you."

Every head around the table nodded in recognition of Edward's plea. "I want you to not contact her again, from now, no goodbyes. I think it would be better if it was a clean break. Bella is as attached to you as you are to her. This will be painful enough without long, drawn out goodbyes. Please, I am hoping that you will be gone in two days, three tops, I will follow a day after. I will end it then and follow you out."

"Edward, you're not letting us say goodbye?" I asked desperation lacing my voice.

"It's for the best, Alice." Edward said, a pleading in his eyes for me to understand.

I nodded agreeing to his wishes, I knew he was trying to do the best thing for Bella, and as much as I doubted him, I agreed to do it his way.

"I have to go to school, do you mind terribly Esme?" Edward turned his eyes to our mother.

"We'll take care of everything, Edward."

"Thank you." Edward's eyes were now on the ground, he was finding it difficult to look us in the eyes. I had to put myself in his shoes, I had to show some sympathy to him, he was my brother, he was making the biggest mistake of his very long life, and he was in pain. I stood up from the table and walked towards him. I opened my arms and he stepped into them, returning the embrace. "Don't hurt her too badly, please Edward." I begged, I was hoping that he would show some compassion in his attempt to distance himself. He nodded into my hair and stepped away from me.

I took my seat next to Jasper again and rubbed his arm gently. "Things will work out, Jasper. Please lets get things taken care of and start again."

Jasper nodded and lifted his head, we all looked to where Edward had been stood, he'd backed out of the room quietly.

I sighed deeply and felt Jasper's arms wrap around me. I closed my eyes and climbed onto his lap.

"Okay," Carlisle said thoughtfully. "We need a plan and quick, I've had an offer to teach at Cornell, is anyone against the idea of Ithaca?"

"New York?" Esme asked.

Carlisle nodded and waited for some feedback from us. I shrugged my shoulders, there would be shopping to do once they found a house and most of it would need to be overnighted. Of course they would have to find a house first so I would know what style to look for. I nodded and looked at Jasper. "You could study philosophy, like you wanted to." I whispered. Trying to make some good out of the bad.

Jasper nodded. Esme, Emmett and Rosalie agreed.

Ithaca it was.

"I'll go see if I can find us a house." Esme said standing and heading out of the room. I nodded and followed her out. I knew she would let me get some things arranged. Two to Three days would mean a huge rush on the house buying, we normally had three months to find a house and close the sale, but this was going to take all of our joined resources. It would be so hectic, it had the potential to take our minds off of what was going on, and we needed that right now.

The search for the house was easy and as Emse and Carlisle tried to close on it, I picked out the decor. It was the busiest couple of days we'd had in a while and didn't really let us dwell on what we were about to do, the pain we were about to feel. Edward didn't go over to Bella's much anymore and he had started distancing himself from her. It was hard to watch. He would come home and sit in his room, no music, no lights, and no sound. It sometimes felt like he was mourning a death, but metaphorically it was a death, a death to the last scrap of humanity that held his heart together. I tried to stay away because I feared I would make it worse, and I knew that was the last thing he needed. He knew where I was if he needed to talk. I knew Edward well enough to know that if wanted to be alone, nothing would make him open up. I just hoped that I would see him smile again one day.

We left two days after the fateful 'incident' We covered everything in the house with dust sheets and left Edward's bedroom for him to clean. We generally left the houses we moved from with the furnishings. This gave us the opportunity to come back after a century, not to mention we usually shopped for decor according to the house we were in.

The particular house we had picked out was a seventeenth century manor house, which was now a historical monument, north of the city. Esme would restore it and I would help with the furnishing. The house was beautiful, it had six bedrooms, a grand entrance that lead to a dramatic library with built-in bookcases. The outside was stone with ornamental eves. There wasn't a huge amount of land but there was plenty forest surrounding it which made the hunt easier when necessary. Although I knew we would travel more often than not, to hunt.

It took us twenty-four hours to drive to Ithaca, it wasn't a pleasant drive either. No one was really talking to anyone else, we had nothing to say except to our significant others. Carlisle and Esme, were in the Mercedes. Jasper and I were in the BMW and Rosalie and Emmett were in the Jeep. I had persuaded Jasper to drive me past Bella's house so I could say goodbye to her, even if she never saw or spoke to me. I knew this was the only way that I could get on with my life. It had, however, been harder than I could have possibly imagined. Jasper practically had to pin me down in the car to stop me from going to her. We had ridden in the car for twenty-two hours in silence, both of us feeling the strain. I was the first to break the silence.

"Sorry, I know how hard this has been on you." I whispered quietly. Twenty-two hours had given me plenty of time to realize my selfishness.

"Alice, she was the first human friend you've ever had, that you can remember. It was always going to be hard. It's affecting everyone." he sighed as he watched the road.

I ran my hand down his arm. "You have to be the most understanding husband to have ever existed, Jasper. With that said, I believe I'm the worst wife."

"Why do you say that?" he asked as he cupped my cheek with his right hand.

"I've been so selfish. I know how hard this has been on you."

"Alice, I'm always alright as long as I'm with you." he smiled. "I may have a hard time getting past things like this, but I always do because you're there. Nothing would be worth it without you."

I smiled at him warmly and leaned forward to him, kissing him gently on the lips. The BMW never swerved once. I smiled to myself.

"What?" he asked as I sat back into my chair on the other side of the car.

I smiled again. "I was just thinking how lucky I am, to have you. I love you Jasper Hale."

"I love you, Alice Cullen."

Jasper shook his head, smiled and picked up my hand. The rest of the journey was made in silence, but it was comfortable. We'd said what we needed to say.

We pulled into the house around dusk. The fading light was dancing beautifully on the warm hues of the stones. This was our new home. It wasn't the white house by the river, that I seemed to long for, but it was home.

My thoughts returned to Forks once again, and the beautifully clumsy Bella, my best friend. I had always had the vision of her becoming one of us, and the thought of a move like this hadn't affected me in the least, because I'd always thought she would be there. I blocked any vision I had of her now at Edward's request. He wanted us to leave her alone, and as I had promised everyone in the family, I would honor any of their wishes, no matter how hard it was to do.

I took a large unnecessary breath and stepped into the chaos that was unpacking. Fortunately, being surrounded by trees let us work at our speed. It didn't take us long to unpack, that I was grateful for.

Rosalie and Emmett appeared out of their bedroom and headed towards where the rest of us were still arranging the things we had brought with us. Some of the furniture that we had ordered would be arriving shortly and we still had plenty of shopping to do. Esme had insisted on restoring some of the rooms before we furnished them. Carlisle was arranging his books in the large library and Jasper had been setting up his office in the spare room next to our bedroom.

"Can we talk to everyone please?" Rose asked as she approached Esme and I.

Carlisle and Jasper appeared and we all took a seat in the living room. Family meetings were no longer something to smile about considering the last couple that we'd had.

"This is just a quick announcement." Emmett added seeing the hesitation in most of our faces. He grinned sheepishly and I groaned. I saw what I hadn't been looking for. Carlisle, Esme and Jasper all looked at me and I smiled awkwardly, shrugging my shoulders.

"Thanks, Alice." Rose snapped, but smiled sweetly at the rest of the family.

"Sorry," I mumbled in return. I knew I should be happier but that wasn't the most dominant of feelings these days.

"Anyway," Rose continued. "Emmett and I have decided we don't want to go through high school or college again, so we've decided we're going to get married, again. Nothing big, we don't want to rub it in Edward's face. We just want a quick ceremony and then we'll disappear on our honeymoon. We're going to Europe."

The room fell silent and no one knew what to say. It wasn't because Rosalie and Emmett were marrying, again. It was because it was their excuse to avoid the problem. Rosalie hated seeing anyone suffering, it made her nervous and Emmett's normally jovial mood wood turn to something darker in Edward's presence, because they were so close. I could understand Rosalie's decision. She wasn't doing this for herself, this time. She was trying to save Emmett the agony, she was looking after her husband, I could appreciate that.

"I think it'll be good for you." I said shocking the rest of my family members, they had taken my groan as a negative connotation on the idea. I half smiled and looked at Jasper.

"I agree with Alice, a couple of weeks or month will really be relaxing to you." I knew he could feel what I had speculated by pure intuition.

"Of course you should, we'll miss you of course." Esme said instinctually, I knew her main objective was to get us to come together again as a family. She had been so worried about us all since the party. She was letting us all make our own decisions, but she constantly worried, especially about Edward.

Carlisle did nothing but smile and nod, this was unusual for him. He always had a kind word to say to any of us making our decisions based on the years we would spend in any certain locale. This was different, he hadn't had time to come up with a plan for us so we were scattering, and he was worried.

"Thanks, we'll get things arranged as soon as possible, we're hoping to leave maybe tonight. . . we don't want Edward. . . We don't want to upset anybody." Rose quickly corrected herself. Like most of the family she had started to group Edward in with the family collective, rather than as an individual. This was becoming a bad habit but it was easier than considering him alone again, it also helped us deter from the accusatory tone that also accompanied referring to him singularly. It was never intentional, but referring to him as an individual made it sound as though we all moved because of him not for him, and none of us liked the way that sounded.

"Edward, will be arriving tomorrow morning. He called, he's finished what he stayed to do, so he left. While I have you all here I should mention that I think all of us should try and act as normally around him as we can. He doesn't need any extra tension about this. Agreed?" Carlisle asked standing up.

Each of us nodded and stood from our seats. I couldn't believe it had only taken him four days to end such a soulful relationship. It was beyond me, but I was his sister, I would give him all the support he needed.

It was time to start over.

A/N: Okay so I promise it will start getting happier now. . .