Bella did a quick scan of the flowers she had in her store. Ten years ago she started her own flowershop which was convenient on days like this. It was Friday. Friday meant going to Charlie's grave and putting some fresh flowers there. It was tradition and had been so ever since he'd died nine months ago. What kind of flowers would she put there today?
Charlie hadn't known much about flowers and naturally he hadn't shown any real interest in Bella's shop. Well, he had cared, in his own kind of way. See, Charlie was a man who did not make much of things. He rarely put any kind of meaning into anything. Bella's flower-shop had just been another "uhu" moment for him. He had gone along with everything. Bella missed that; the easy-going nature. She tried to found comfort in the thought that Charlie probably didn't die scared. She tried thinking he had handled it the Charlie-way, although the thought rarely provided any comfort. It never changed the fact that he went too soon and that Bella missed her father terribly every day.
She finally decided on a simple blue flower. Briefly her mind wandered to the meaning of it. Blue as a color represents peace, calm. Serenity. She certainly hoped that Charlie had found that, that he felt that now wherever he was. Feeling overcome by sadness she quickly locked the store and turned to the little dog she'd already placed in the basket on her bike. Surrounded by a blanket and a toy: a very small teddy bear, he looked quite content and Bella smiled through her unshed tears. Somewhat lighter at heart she placed the blue flower next to the puppy named Edward who didn't recognize the ojbect next to him, but accepted it anyways.
"We're off to see Charlie" Bella explained to him as she got on the bike.
Bella felt tears welling up to her eyes. She rarely cried nowadays, but somehow explaining to this little dog with huge dark eyes that already looked sad on their own, made her sniff out loud and before she knew it she was crying. The dog looked confused.
"Maybe your dad is dead too" Bella said, feeling even sadder now.
The dog seemed to take offense, Bella imagined, as he looked down on his paws instead. Bella petted him gently on his head and seemed to be forgiven quickly.
"I'm going to call you Ed, just to take some of the weirdness off, okay?" She told him as she began riding her bike in the direction of the cemetery of Forks.
The real Edward would never have liked to be called Ed, or Eddy for that matter. If Bella would ever see Edward again she swore she would call him something like that. Odd how Bella desired to do such a random small thing if she ever saw her old love again, but that only shows how little she was counting on it. There were fully rational reasons why she wasn't counting on it at all.
Anyways, she didn't think of him much now, especially not since Charlie died. Her mind was occupied with missing her father and being a mom, although her son was on the verge of entering adulthood, being a mother was a fulltime job.
She arrived at the cemetery and immediately felt watched.
Not now, please, she thought to herself. Any other day, any other time, but not this time.
"I don't want to talk to you" she said quietly, knowing that if there really was someone there, the person she thought it was, would hear it anyways.
"Not you" she told Ed who looked up at her again with his big dark eyes.
Bella carried the little dog and the flower in her arms as she walked over to Charlie's grave where she sat down on the grass. There was a single flower there, a red rose from a woman she knew to be Sue Clearwater: a woman who'd been hopelessly in love with Charlie, and being Charlie, he had just never gotten the hints. It warmed her heart to see the red rose knowing that someone else was thinking about Charlie too. However, a red rose was not all. Bella froze when she noticed a black rose next to it. She wasn't sure how she knew. Maybe it was because she had a strong feeling she was being watched here, or maybe it was the color. If that rose came from who she thought it came from, it came from no one according to the majority of the world. According to what most knew there was nothing called the Volturi, but Bella knew.
"Maybe it was tasteless to leave it on the grave" a cold voice said. "But I did not know where else to put it."
Bella took a shaky breath and did not turn around at once. She heard little Ed whimper slightly, as if he could sense danger was near.
"I am sorry that I did not send my condolences right away" the voice said, now speaking in a quieter voice. "I have known for quite some time" it confessed a bit warmer now.
Then Bella looked behind her and saw the man she knew so well. His cold pale face softened slightly at the sight of her face, but soon turned hard and cold again.
"We're being watched" he said so silently Bella had to read his lips.

It could make one confusing, this game of watching and spying. The Volturi watching Bella and then in turn, the Volturi – other members of the Volturi, watching the Vulturi. Bella rose from the ground and faced Dimitri.
"How considerate" she began, her voice cold and full of sarcasm. "My father's murderers show up to pay their respects. I'm touched."
He knew now Bella was not acting one bit.
"I… " the man began, but was at once interrupted.
"Are you going to say you had nothing to do with it?" Bella asked harshly.
"If that is what you were going to say, spare me because you and I both know that that's not true."
Years ago the man would've been shocked at Bella's sudden outbursts, but these days he knew her well, having even taken a liking to the human to his own surprise. He wanted to tell her, he in fact, had not been there when her father had died but he had a feeling it didn't matter much.
"Look" he said quietly.
Bella figured they weren't being watched anymore, considering his change of demeanor. He looked fairly relaxed now, well as relaxed as someone as him could be.
"This seems to be another way to get to…" he began, but Bella looked him straight in the eye which threw him of course. Dimitri naturally backed away slightly. If Aro could see him now, he would've have laughed; someone like him, backing away from a human and a woman nevertheless who merely looked at him? But there was something in her eyes that affected him.

"I don't need your help" Bella said, her voice shaky and upset. "I've done some research of my own. Not that it needed much thinking. It's obvious how you work" Bella said quietly shaking her head, looking down on the ground. The Volturi killing Charlie was meant to scare her and Anthony. Scare them into finally giving in and give the Volturi what they want.
"Who else would they get now? There is no one left in my life that you find worth killing. Unless, of course, it's me this time." She looked at him. He noticed then she looked tired. He'd never seen Bella look this tired before. "Sometimes I feel like I wouldn't mind it" Bella added, not sure if she meant it or not.
"I am sorry" Dimitri said as honestly as he could, for this was nothing he was used to. Displaying or even feeling sympathy was not something he usually did.
Bella nodded, knowing that this was a lot coming from him.
"What are you here for, Dimitri" she asked.

He looked at her for some seconds and then he quietly delivered the news.
"It seems that Alice Cullen has disappeared."
Bella automatically twitched when she heard the name. She was never prepared for when somebody, besides herself and Anthony, was going to mention the Cullens next. Whenever it happened it always felt like shock, like something she'd imagined and was surprised to know that someone else knew about them too. She was not used to it and she didn't like to talk about them with Dimitri, knowing that everything she said counted as the utmost importance. She could tell them what Alice's favorite color was and they would take mental notes of something so random.
"That's hardly my concern, but I'm curious. What do you mean disappeared?" Bella asked.
Dimitri did something that resembled a shrug of the shoulders. It looked unnatural. His burgundy colored eyes met hers.
"We think she's hiding" he said.
Bella smiled suddenly, thinking that if Aice had decided to hide, they would never find her. It was for the best. Bella did not want Alice to be found. After all these years she still cared deeply for the person she'd once called her sister. Alice, who was the adopted sister of Edward. Despite everything that had happened in the past, Bella would never let her down the way Alice had let her down.
"I know" Dimitri said, as if he could read her mind. "Even if you knew, you would never turn her in."

Bella wasn't smiling anymore.
"No, I wouldn't" she admitted. "Besides" she added. "Alice would never come to me. Despite what you think me and the Cullens are not friendly and haven't been for years, not since they left."
Bella swiftly looked down on Ed, who was sleeping to her big surprise, just hanging there under her arm. Dimitri didn't notice it as his mind seemed to be elsewhere.
"I have to leave" he said all of a sudden.
Bella felt relieved. While she tolerated Dimitri and was not scared of him as she was of the others, it was never a joy to see him. He was the enemy, even though he had unexpectedly helped her some times before, he was still one of them. Also Bella didn't know. Maybe the Volturi had given him orders to feign concern for her and to get her to confide in him hoping that one day it would provide some real information about Alice for example. Information, Bella however, did not have.

Dimitri began walking away, but seemed to change his mind and turned to look at Bella again.
"Aro wants to know…" he began, but Bella cut him off midsentence.
"No" she answered to the unspoken question. It was always the same. Always they were checking, acting as though they were being polite when in fact they were constantly threating and never letting Bella forget that they were planning to somehow whisk Anthony away from her, to have him leave with them at some point and join the Volturi.
Dimitri nodded.

"It will always be no" Bella clarified.
Dimitri's harsh face warmed slightly looking at the human. He'd asked what he always asked, what he always had to ask and he'd delivered the news of Alice Cullen's disapperance knowing that Bella would never willingly help the Volturi in the search for her whereabouts. Dimitri respected that Bella was loyal. Yet, Dimitri thought, she had been betrayed by the Cullens. They had left her on her own. Dimitri would have wanted revenge, but Bella still wanted to protect them knowing that it meant being in danger herself. No, he did not understand it, but he admired her for it.

He was walking away, when this time Bella stopped him by calling his name.

"Why can't you find Alice yourself? You are the best tracker" she pointed out.

Dimitri wanted to grit his teeth. He was the best tracker and that he seemed unable to locate Alice Cullen frustrated him to no end.

"Perhaps she has hidden very well" he suggested coldly, irritated that Bella had pointed out a fault in his skill. Upon this he came to thinking.

"Why did you stay in Forks?" he asked curiously. Bella was remarkable in that she seemed to go unaffected by all of their skills. As if she had an invisible shield that made it impossible. This was Aro's theory and it seemed accurate. The reason why Dimitri often found Bella anyways was because of the spies sent out by the Volutri that regularly kept a track of her whereabouts.

"You know this" Bella merely answered to his question.

The times she'd tried, the times she and Anthony had been on their way the Volturi had always found a way to stop them. They were trapped.

"I meant before Aro knew you were expecting" Dimitri clarified.

It pained Bella to think about it. Because the answer was pathetic. Because in hindsight, she would have left the instant she found out she was pregnant to avoid all of this. Bella had stayed because she'd hoped Edward would come back, that he would miraculously change his mind about leaving her. But Edward never came back and when they tried to leave it had been too late.

"I don't know" Bella answered netrually, now really wanting Dimitri to leave.

Dimitri nodded. Then all of a sudden he heard growling.
"Shh" Bella hushed looking down on the little bundle she had in her arms.
Dimitri finally looked at the little puppy. The dog was showing his tiny teeth and his big black eyes looked scared but he seemed determined to scare Dimitri off anyway. Not finding this very endearing, he scoffed at the animal.
"Cute" Dimitri said.
And then he was off.