Disclaimer – I do not own Twilight. All recognizable plot and characters belong to the talented Stephanie Meyer.

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The next couple of weeks passed blissfully. I found a true friend in Char, we were a lot more alike than I would have expected and we spent a lot of time together. I was comfortable and happy so of course something had to fuck it up.

The something?

Edward.

I came home from a drive with Char and went up to my room.

The door was ajar and I pushed it gently open. The first thing I saw was Edward, just as beautiful as I remembered. The second thing was the mantle of the fireplace he was standing next to, I looked to the ground and dropped to my knees in anguish.

"Oh don't be so melodramatic." He snapped at me.

I crawled across the floor towards the mess of wood, silver and glass crying as my door flung violently against the wall. In that same instant Jasper was crouched over me snarling. I took up the nearest ripped photo and brushed off the glass.

Char wrapped her arms around me, "Don't sugar, you'll cut yourself."

"I'll get them, Bella, I'll get them." Alice was next to us sifting through the rubble to pull all of the pieces out while I sobbed into Char clutching the torn fragment of my wedding photo. Rosalie handed me something and I looked down to see the torn bootie. I clutched it to my heart and cried harder.

I felt someone lift me in their arms and turned into him as he carried me from the room and down to the living room. When I was able to stop the tears, I found myself in Peter's lap, Char next to us, her hand rubbing soothing circles on my lower back. Esme was sobbing into Carlisle, when had they gotten back? Rosalie was on my other side, she looked furious as Emmett held onto her, both of them growling at Edward who stood defiant across the room. Alice looked stricken and sat in a chair her hands in her lap holding the fragments of my photos, not looking at any of us. Jasper, he stood crouched a little near us, his eyes black, he looked calm and furious at the same time. It was the scariest thing I had ever seen, the look on his face, the rage and loathing pouring off him in waves.

"Explain." He demanded.

Edward snorted, "I don't answer to you."

I trembled as the tension and anger rose in the room and Jasper growled low and more menacing than any sound imaginable. Edward lost his petulant look.

"She fucked a goddamn dog!" He growled. "She doesn't belong here. I told you to leave her. She chose her fucking path." He emphasized the word fucking. I had never heard him so crude or angry but it didn't register on the scary meter next to Jasper. "She's not pure or good, just another stupid human whore. She doesn't belong here, she's not one of us, not part of our family."

I pulled out of Peter's arms, trembling with pain and anger, "No." I looked at him; tears still streaming down my face as I clutched my unborn daughters ripped bootie.

"No?" He turned to me, his black eyes burning furiously. Jasper growled, crouching low, his eyes never leaving Edward.

"No." I repeated breathing heavy, surprising myself with how calm my voice sounded. "You don't get to be angry or hurt." Fresh tears welled in my eyes. "You left me. You promised never to leave me and then you did. You left me broken in the woods. You wanted me to be safe. Well Paul kept me safe," my voice cracked even as it rose, "he died protecting me from Victoria." I took another deep breath, "You wanted me to live a normal human life, Luc was normal, he loved me, we loved each other and there was nothing selfish or possessive about that love. We had a normal life, we got married and we were going to have a daughter. You said it would be like you never existed but it wasn't. You left me broken, Sam saved me in those woods, Jacob put the pieces of my soul back together, Paul taught me to be strong and he died to keep me safe so that I could have my normal human life with Luc." I swiped at the tears, "So no, you don't get to be angry or hurt because you got exactly what you wanted." I lifted my chin defiantly as I continued, "I get to be angry, I get to be hurt; you broke my heart. You left me with a psychotic bitch hunting me. One of her fucking blood crazed friends killed my father, drained him right in our house. He's dead because of you. Paul and Collin are dead because of you, because they fought her; they protected me when you ran away. The pack protected me, they killed Laurent when he was two seconds from biting me, they killed Victoria and her crazed mini army and two of them died for it. Paul died painful and slow from the venom for it and Collin, he was only fourteen, just a child, he was a child and he died fighting her after you ran away." I dissolved into tears again but pushed away the comforting arms that would hold me. "You are selfish, petulant, childish, and cruel and I cannot fathom how it is you can be so callous when you have had Carlisle, Esme and Jasper's influence for so many decades." I walked over to Alice and took the fragments from her, holding them close to me with the bootie.

The whole room was silent as I walked over to Carlisle and Esme. "My daughter would have born your names with the same pride, grace and respect I have for you. I'm so grateful that you came to Maine and I love you without ending but I can't stay here." I sniffled.

"Paris." Alice's quiet voice broke into the silence, "We can go back to Paris together. You'll love it, its not just shopping but tons of cafes and bookstores and history."

"Or the castle in Scotland" Rose spoke up, her voice just as quiet and tentative. "I bought it for Emmett, he thought it was so cool that we could live in a real honest to goodness medieval castle."

"Please no." Esme finally spoke, her voice broken, "You're my daughter. Please stay with us. We can go anywhere in the world that you want. Together."

"I'm sorry." I breathed, "I wont break your family anymore."

"You are our family Bella." Carlisle, still holding Esme with one hand reached out as though to touch me but let his hand fall back to wrap around his mate again.

I shook my head and clutched my memories closer to my body as though to shield them. "I'm sorry." I had to get away from there.

I turned to the couch, "Char, can you drive me to Toronto please."

"Sure sugar." She stood up and I carefully placed my broken memories in my purse that I had dropped on the bench by the door when I'd come in.

We walked out to Jasper's truck, the silence of the house, stretching out behind us. She took the keys from the glove box while I curled against the door and cried, clutching my purse to me like a child would its security blanket.

"We were going to Montana, when we left here." Charlotte broke the silence an hour later. "The lake will freeze over soon. It's so beautiful and peaceful. The whole world disappears. We have huge fireplaces where you can curl up and read while it's blustering out."

"Char?"

"It's not like any place you will ever have been before."

"Sounds perfect" my voice cracked with tears.

She looked over at me with a small smile, "We'll just disappear for the winter then."

I nodded and we drove in comfortable though heartbroken silence.

I jostled awake to see it was bitch black; I glanced to the clock and saw I had been sleeping for six hours.

"Um, Char, I think we should have reached Toronto by now." I yawned sitting up.

"I bypassed the city, it would have been doubling back to get to Montana. We'll be passing through Chicago soon though and they'll have anything you might need."

"How'd we get across the border?"

"Luckily you keep your passport in your purse and I keep an extra in the glove box." She smiled. I looked down to see I was still holding my bag tightly to me. "I was careful not to let anything else come out." She told me softly.

"Thanks Char," I smiled a watery smile at her, "For everything."

"I've never had a real girl friend before." She smiled at me, "Not since I was human and spent all my days with my sister. We knew all each other's secrets. Since I was turned it has just been Peter, and far to infrequently Jasper, that I've really had as friends. Alice, she was nice to me but we just, didn't click right. You didn't have to befriend me. I'm a vampire and a human drinker. I didn't expect you to acknowledge me much at all, the others usually didn't much when we visited, all polite of course but that's not the same is it."

"No it isn't."

"I like having a friend." She said softly looking back at the road, "I think if I were sad you'd try to make it better but you're the one who's sad and I can help but partly it's also that I'm selfish and I don't want to lose my only friend yet."

"I like having a friend to." I told her, "It's good not to be alone."

She smiled at me again, "It is."