Chapter 5: Stepping Out

My keys were in my coat pocket, jingling away as I locked the house door. I had thought about maybe leaving a note for Charlie but I wasn't sure if it was appropriate to write a note saying I was searching for my vampire boyfriend. I jabbed the key into the ignition and put the gear in reverse. I drove the way to Edward's, it wasn't long but it was a worried drive. The car seemed to glide itself down the wooded path to the house and I pulled the break hard. I pulled in behind the exposed jeep, Emmett, I laughed. I opened the door and jumped out, not even bothering to get the keys. It wasn't like any of them would want a beat up, old pick-up truck. I heard a rustling noise from inside as I walked up to the door, of course Carlisle was already there. His face, confused. Or maybe frustrated?

"Hello Bella, come on it," He invited.

"Thanks. I was just wondering," I said as I stepped through the pristine doorway, "Do you know where Edward might be? He just was over and then I woke up and he was gone. It isn't like him to leave without leaving a note or saying something?" It wasn't until his face made an expression that I realized how weird it sounded, saying 'He was over and I just woke up and he wasn't there'.

"Oh, please sit down, Bella."

"Ok?" I said kind of questioning my motive for coming here.

"You see Bella, Edward said he needed some time alone, that's all he said. We are all very nervous about him, not knowing where he is, is a real danger to us as well. It's probably best, that if you hear anything from him, you tell us immediately, can you do that, Bella?"

"Where's Alice and Jasper then?" I asked, stuttering. I just couldn't believe it. I could see everyone slowly coming in, staring with Rosalie, then Emmett, followed by Eseme,

"She went away. She didn't tell us exactly where, only that she would be safe without us and that she would let no harm come to you or Edward. We don't quite fully understand what is happening but we have people looking for them, throughout the world-"

I cut him off, "No! Edward! Alice!" I was shocked I could spit it out.

"We are not sure, Bella. It seems he has runaway to escape having to face the rest of us. He looked depressed and scared. He will come back eventually, he will…"

And that is when I re-encountered what I had realized while emailing Renee; it had seemed so awkward in the room, like some secret had torn us apart. I had thought he was avoiding talking about Alice and why they had run away, but he was protecting his secret. I knew this could never last, and it wouldn't. I knew right then-and-there I needed to realize this could happen, but I never thought this soon it would come to be. I needed to keep in mind that people always leave, they have to. Especially, if their vampires.

"Is there anyway- anyway to find him?" I quivered.

"No, there isn't. Im very sorry…," He said with a sullen look on his face, "We must not tell Charlie where you have been tonight, ok?"

"Yes, of course, I guess I should be going," I said as I tried to stand, and the fumbled back to the couch.

"Emmett," Carlisle asked, "Will you take Bella home… safely?"

"Yes!" He said. Almost instantaneously, Rosalie smacked him over the head.

I tried to stand again but fell back into Emmett's strong arms. Everything was so strange, the room was spinning in circles and I had a throbbing headache on the left side of my brain. Man, this was life without Edward. This was hell. Emmett carried me into the truck and started driving away, no seat belt.

"So what do you and Edward, do at night?" He said as he grinned.

"Talk, study, and interrogate each other. Talk about how utterly hysterical you can be with your, umm, thoughts." I laughed. He was a lot like Edward.

"Well. I was thinking differently."

"I know"

We pulled into my drive way and he handed me the keys. I started to get up and stumbled. Right then, he was there to pick me up. He climber the tree and opened the window, and stepped in.

"Psssshhh, small room," He muttered.

"Just put me down!" I said, slap-happy.

He set me down on my bed and asked, "Mind if I take a breather?"

"Nah, go ahead."

He sat down next to me and took a big, un-necessary breath. Three long seconds passed when he started mumbling low words that even another vampire couldn't have heard. He shifted his weight, such a human thing to do, I thought. I looked at him, his face solid like marble, leaned in and kissed me on the lips. It lasted all of three second and then my instincts took over as I slapped him, square across his face. I muttered lowly, "That's gonna leave a mark," More meaning my hand, not his face.

"Damn it," He sighed, "Edward was right, you are seductive."

"I did nothing of the sorts. Get out! Get out! Get out!" I screamed in a low voice not to wake Charlie, "Edward will find out, I don't know how but he will. I promise you that. And you're going down."

With that he was out of the window. I cried myself to sleep that night, my heart ached with the fact that Edward might never come home and that Alice, where ever she was, wasn't here to tell me if I'd ever see him again. I glanced at the clock, 5:45, Charlie would be up soon so I better pretend to be asleep. I had just gotten all covered up when there was four short wraps on the window, that's what Edward always did! But no such luck, it was Emmett.

"You think you can show your face here again mister?" I asked in a sassy tone.

"Just dropping of the phone. If we anything, we'll call you if anything comes up."

"Not you I hope," I muttered as I reached for the phone.

"I'm sorry," He offered up.

"No your not, and you never will be!"

"Wow, can you read minds like Edward?" He asked sarcastically.

"Leave!"

"Going," he said as he leaped to the tree then to the drive way. He smiled back up at me and I frowned and shoved my middle finger up into the air.