Bella woke up hyperventilating. With shaky hands she managed to find the lightswitch on the wall next to her bed and shielded her eyes against the sudden light. Throwing a quick glance at her nightstand watch, she saw that it was 6 am. The rain was hitting the window hard and she focused on the familiar sound as her breathing gradually slowed. It had all been a dream.

A horrible dream – yes, but still just a dream.

She had dreamt about Edward again.

This time they hadn't been laughing about the fact that he'd never left. No, this time, they had been out in the woods. It had been in the middle of the night and at first it had been a romantic dream. He had kissed her softly and held her close. Bella had cherished the old familiar feeling of being in his arms once again, but then out of nowhere James had appeared and the two of them had begun fighting. At first it had looked as though Edward was winning, but the tables were quickly turned as James suddenly got a hold of Edward's neck and ripped his head off. Bella had just stood there, screaming while James lunged at her too.

That's when she'd woken up.

She reminded herself of the facts – something Dr. Ross had told her to do whenever she'd had a nightmare like this one, to set her mind straight again and calm down.

James was dead. He had been dead for years. Fact.

James could not've broken Edward's neck, since James was dead. Fact.

But what about someone else? Maybe someone else had broken Edward's neck? How on Earth could Bella reality-check that one? She knew nothing about his whereabouts. She didn't know if he was still alive. But then again, surely she would've heard about it from the Volturi. They knew such information would hurt her and to see her in such pain? They would never let a chance like that slip.

Still slightly shaky Bella got up knowing she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep again. She went straight to the shower, her mind a mess. She thought about Alice. Why had she gone missing? What were the Cullens up to? Her mind wandered to Edward and she wondered how he was spending his time. Hoping he wasn't anywhere close to getting his head ripped off. Then she wondered about Jacob, whom she hadn't seen or heard from in weeks now. What was he up to? With a heavy sigh, Bella finished her shower and got dressed. Then she brought little Ed downstairs to the kitchen where she served his breakfast and made some tea for herself.

With tired eyes Bella looked out the window. It looked cloudy and the rain hit the window hard. She noticed that the appletrees were in full bloom, which meant that applepie-season would be here any day now. How on Earth the trees had ever managed to bloom in a place as rainy and cloudy as Forks was beyond her understanding. She sighed again.

The appletrees.

They had been a birthday gift from Jacob. Along with several types of flowers she had now planted in the garden: rare types and rather expensive. It was the same year they had broken up and the same year Jacob had met Lea. Bella knew the apple-trees and flowers were gifts meant to ease his guilt, that he had moved on so quickly. When in fact Bella often felt guilt when watching the trees and flowers. Guilt that Jacob had wasted seven years on her. Jacob had wanted a child, but Bella hadn't shared his wish as had no doctors: her earlier pregnancy had nearly killed her.

It was for the best that they had parted ways. That way Jacob met Lea. While Bella wasn't too fond of her, Jacob was and that was enough for her.

Lea and Jacob had two children now: Billy and Lucy, five and four years old. And now a third one on the way. Lea hated Bella, especially more now that she was pregnant with crazy hormones raging. Somehow she had gotten into her brain that Jacob and Bella weren't completely through despite the fact that Bella had happily helped with the flower arrangement for their wedding and often babysat whenever they needed a night out on their own. Now Lea's supicion was stronger than ever and the few times Jacob had called her this month, or if Bella had called Jacob, he would always sneak off and pretend like he was doing something else because it would drive Lea mad if she found it was Bella on the other end.

That's why Bella was surprised to see Jacob parking his car out on the driveway hours later in broad daylight. If a phone call could drive Lea crazy, surely would a visit. If she found out about it that is.

"Hey stranger!" She said happily as she opened the door.

Jacob quickly snuk in and then hugged her, lifting her off the ground as he always did just to stress how petite she was.

"You need to eat more, Bella" he said.

Before she could protest, his attention was elsewhere.

"I heard you hit a puppy and brought it home" he said letting her go to go straight to the kitchen.

Bella rolled her eyes as she followed him. Some things never changed. Jacob would always feel right at home at Charlie's house and would always go straight to the kitchen. Out of old habit she cooked him breakfast, pancakes by request.

"Where have you been?" she asked him, though coming to think of Lea now she didn't find it so strange anymore that Jacob hadn't visited like he used to.

Jacob smiled widely looking like a kid who was up to no good, his dark eyes glittering mischievously.

"Around" he murmured as he instead turned his attention to little Ed who was looking up at him with big eyes.

"Around?" Bella repeated not knowing what it meant, but Jacob didn't seem to hear her.

"You hit this cute little thing?" Jacob asked cuddling the puppy in his arms. "You're a horrible person, Bella" he told her.

She scowled at him, but as always she could never stayed annoyed with him for very long.

"What's this little guy's name?" Jacob asked completely charmed by the little puppy.

"Ed..." Bella began, but stopped herself immediately.

Jacob would surely take offence. There may have been secrets between Bella and Jacob during their seven year long union, but he knew perfectly well who Edward was and he had never been Jacob's favorite person. If he found out that she had named a dog after him...

Well, maybe he would see it fitting? As the word dog could be used as an insult... But then again little Ed was very endearing and the whole concept of naming a dog after an ex was crazy! Bella had no idea what she had been thinking. It had been meant as a little joke to herself, but among who except Anthony would she be able to call him by his name? Everyone knew that Edward was the one that got away. Everyone would think she was crazy and God forbid if Jessica Stanley – still Fork's gossip girl number one after all these years, found out... Oh the horror!

"I actually haven't named him yet" Bella told him instead.

"Oh" Jacob said and put little Ed down as he himself had a sit by the table.

"So how's James?" he asked.

Bella nearly choked on her pancake.

"We broke up weeks ago" she said looking at him funnily.

Where had he been? Surely she had told him about the break-up?

"What? You guys were great together!" Jacob insisted.

Again Bella nearly choked on her pancake a second time.

"Are we talking about the same James?" she asked.

Jacob nodded eagerly.

And then Bella remembered. James had a thing for motorbikes, and of course had invited Jacob over, who was crazy over all kinds of engines to take a look at his bike, his pride. Some kind of rarity though Bella couldn't recall the brand as she herself wasn't that interested.

"Great guy" Jacob mused aloud.

"Great bike" Bella corrected.

Jacob looked guilty.

Looking back on it Bella realized what a bad idea it had been to start something with James. At first she had thought it was a good thing meeting a James who was a good person instead of the awful one she had encountered in her past, but he'd taken the relationship a little too seriously for Bella's liking. Also it turned out they had nothing in common – but that didn't seem to bother James at all as much as it had bothered Bella. Then again she had been the one who had to listen to all that talk about motorcycles. She had already heard enough from Jacob through the years and could do without the repeats.

"Hey Jake" Anthony greeted entering the kitchen.

He looked newly awake as he had a seat by the kitchen table.

"Hey my man" Jacob greeted as he reached over to mess up his hair. A token of affection coming from Jacob.

Anthony grimaced. He hated when he did that. Afterall he wasn't five anymore.

"He had a date last night" Bella blurted out not being able to keep such a thing to herself.

She earned a scowl from Anthony.

"Seriously?" Jacob said smiling widely at the kid he knew so well.

"Yeah" he confessed.

"Tell me all about..." Jacob trailed off, picking up his phone suddenly.

"Crap, it's Lea. I have to run" he announced.

"Sorry buddy, you're gonna have to tell me another time" he said to Anthony once again messing up his hair, but this time Anthony merely shook his head. Jacob was never going to change, might as well get used to it he thought. Bella followed Jacob to the door.

"She's crazier than ever. Jealous about everything! If I've had a midday snack without her getting reports about it she says I'm being dishonest!" Jacob said exhasperated as he put his shoes on again.

"Good luck" Bella said feeling bad for her best friend.

"Thanks" he answered.

"Goodb..." Bella began, but Jacob was already out on the driveway.

Poor thing, she thought as she watched him drive away in a hurry. When Bella went back to the kitchen Anthony was nowhere to be seen. Only little Ed and Bella was again confronted with the fact that she would have to rename him.

"I bet you think it's weird that I named you Edward. Considering he broke my heart and all, but he was…" Bella struggled to find the right word. "Unique" she finally settled on. "Some would even call him strange."

"Who?" Anthony asked, entering the kitchen again.

"Your dad" Bella answered.

Anthony smiled a little and looked at Ed.

"You're in for a story now" he told the dog.

If dogs could scowl, that is what Ed did. He still hadn't taken a liking to Anthony and probably never would. He sensed there could be danger there. Anthony had no plans to hunt Ed, but how does a, well, a predator explain to a dog that you're not going to drink his blood? Anthony had yet to find a way. Shifting his thoughts to something else he told Bella what he had discovered during Jacob's short visit.

"Jacob's happy, happier than he's been in a long time" Anthony said frowning at this.

Bella didn't find this as strange as Anthony seemed to.

"Of course, he has a third baby on the way. He loves Lea and he loves kids" Bella said shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, Lea is crazy but they love each other." She began doing the dishes.

"I don't think it's about that..." Anthony said, wanting to reveal what he suspected.

But Bella turned around and looked at him raising one eyebrow. Anthony smiled innocently knowing what she was getting at.

"It doesn't work like that though. Not everyone can choose when they want to turn their mind off and when they want to turn it on" he pointed out.

Bella rolled her eyes. While she wasn't in control all the time, it did appear that she was immune to most talents. Anthony had developed a theory however that she had far more control than she let on. A common example was the cupcake. A few years ago Bella had been really in the mood for a specific cupcake but never got around to stopping by the bakery in Forks to actually get one. Then one day Anthony ordered his mother to get in the car and to Bella's surprise he had asked her to please, please, please drive to the bakery so that his mind could finally get some rest.

Anthony remained convinced that she'd obsessed about the cupcake for a week on purpose all the while letting him know it, simply because she had a childish sense of humour. Bella claimed she had no idea she was doing it and truly, sometimes she really was unaware. For example it was more common she'd let her thoughts slip when she was stressed or tired and then it rarely happened on purpose.

And that's probably how Anthony would've found out about Alice Cullen eventually, if Bella hadn't told him herself.

"Alice has disappeared" she told him suddenly, coming to think of it.

He looked thoughtful. Growing up he had heard a lot about the Cullens, especially about Alice since Bella had still remained fond of her after all these years. Anthony knew about Alice's ability. To see the future. The fact that he had disappeared had him feeling slightly worried.

"Do you think it means anything?" he asked.

Bella shrugged her shoulders.

"The Volturi's been asking. According to them it means something, otherwise they wouldn't be so set on finding her."

"I'll see what I can find out" he decided.

Bella shook her head disapprovingly at the idea of Anthony getting more involved in the Volturi's business than he needed to be.

"Why? Maybe it has nothing to do with us" she said.

Anthony didn't find that very plausible. The Volturi wasn't his favorite-thing in the world, but they were not stupid and if they had asked Bella about Alice it meant that it had something to do with them. He was determined to find out what was going on. Bella looked at her son knowing what he was thinking because she was thinking the same thing. That this probably had something to do with them although she wished it hadn't.

Suddenly she thought of the nightmare and shuddered as the image of how Edward had been killed flashed before her eyes once more. She wondered if Edward could be in any sort of danger, if the dream meant anything at all, but then she looked at her son realizing she had someone else to worry about. Feeling more decisive and strong than scared she managed to push her weaknesses aside and pull herself together as she had done so many times before.

There was nothing Bella would not do to protect her son.

Hello :)

So I recently discovered there's another fanfic with nearly the same title as this one. I just wanted to tell you guys that it wasn't intentional, and thank you for reading of course!

/bluebluerose