DISCLAIMER: Twilight = Mine? Nope, still not D:

Wow, sooo sorry guys. Exams. More on that later though. If you've forgiven me you might want to read on. -crosses fingers-

BPOV

Edward

Edward, Edward, Edward.

That's all that'd been going through my mind the past week. Edward. All the time.

I sighed quietly, flopping down on my highly uncomfortable and unfamiliar bed. I lay there on my back, arms were spread wide, legs apart, as I attempted to clear my mind.

"Okay," I muttered to myself, "Time for bed said Zebedee"

I had no idea who this 'Zebedee' person was, but mum always said that to me before ushering me upstairs to sleep. It was a comfort I guess. A piece of home that I could bring here. Not that this place was anything like my home.

For one, this house was massive. Whilst attempting to occupy my mind and fill it with Edward-free thoughts, I had counted up all the rooms in this mansion. Getting lost only twice, I found four reception rooms, three bathrooms, a study, a kitchen, a pantry, and five bedrooms. That's fifteen rooms. Unfortunately, this task didn't leave me with an Edward-free mind, as I had entered his bedroom last.

His room, like all the others in this house, was huge. The walls were painted a warm creamy colour, that made the room seem to glow slightly. Whites, creams, or light coloured woods were used in the furniture, including the Queen sized double bed that was the first thing you saw as you walked in. It was up against the far wall, and had a golden blanket spread across the top of the black and white bed sheets. The duvet was strikingly white, with a bold black design adorning the bottom edge with angular spirals.

Although, how did I know it was his?

Easy, he was there.

He was sitting in the middle of his room on a fluffy cream rug, a black acoustic guitar in his lap. His left hand formed a chord that was unknown to me - Heck, scratch that. Anything to do with music was unknown to me - whilst his right rested atop the body of the guitar. He wasn't wearing shoes, but he had plain jeans and a green t-shirt on. It was a dark green, not a grass colour. More of a seaweed? No, emerald. An emerald green t-shirt, it matched his eyes perfectly.

Dammit! That thought had brought me to look at his face. And the hair.

Yes.

The hair.

At that moment he looked up from the guitar, straight into my eyes, a horribly pained look corrupting his beautiful features, and I did the most idiotic thing I could possibly have done.

I ran.

It was a mirror of that night a few days previously. He played Clair de Lune for me. My favourite classical song.

It was also one of my mother's favourites. Or had been.

It had been playing that night, the one I tried to forget, the one that led me to be here in the first place. It wasn't Edward's fault, how could he have known the memories it stirred within me? The fact was, he couldn't have. And I was being horrible by ignoring him.

I guess I was trying to protect myself, but it was no use. Edward didn't deserve this treatment because I was trying to repress my past.

That didn't stop me from acting this way.

Which brings me back to the here and now, laying on my bed and trying to sleep.

And I really was trying.

Sleep was about to envelop me, I could tell. My eyes felt heavier, even closed, and I was so cosy and warm. That was, until a high pitched shriek pierced the air around the house.

My eyes snapped open, and my first thought was that someone was hurt. That brought me to the thought of blood - making me feel faint - and death. That of course, brought out the memories again, and they flew out of the little corner of my mind I had been trying so hard to trap them in, dancing in front of my eyes vividly.

A silent sob shook my body, and I sat up, curling into the fetal position and rocking myself gently. Just half a minute later, another scream broke the silence, and I flinched.

"Remember this honey, because I certainly will." He smiled at me.

BANG

I jumped, and a tear escaped my eyes even though the sound was in my head.

Glass shattering. Muffled chokes and gurgles. A low chuckle.

My crying was no longer silent as the memory taunted me, scenes flashing in my vision and burning into my eyes. It was almost painful.

A masked face. Blood spattered on the cracked window.

"No..." I choked out between sobs. I squeezed my eyes shut, but the memories persisted.

"I really should kill you too," He said blackly, reaching down and stroking my cheek with the gun.

A blood curdling scream left my mouth, just as a gleeful squeal erupted from another room. Tears poured from my eyes like water from a tap, dripping from my chin and onto my arms, soaking through my long-sleeved t-shirt.

He grinned at me, his teeth sparkling dimly in the fading light. "But no, you're much too pretty for that." The gun trailed down my neck. "Nice to meet you Isabella." My eyes widened impossibly further at the mention of my name as he turned and left.

"No..." My hands flew up and clasped my hair firmly, threatening to pull it from its roots. "NO!"

My bedroom door flew open.

And that's when everything went black.

EPOV

Bella.

Bella, Bella, Bella.

That's all that'd been going through my mind the past week. Bella. All the time.

I could be picking my cereal for breakfast, and find myself wondering, "Hey, I wonder which one she'd eat?"

What was wrong with me?

More importantly though, what was wrong with her?

There had been a couple of incidents in the last seven days, where we'd be in the same room, and she'd ignore me. Or in worse cases, she'd leave the room in a run. The latter occurred after she entered my bedroom just two days after the piano scene. I'd been casually playing my guitar, my mind still humming 'Bella, Bella, Bella, Bella...' constantly - despite my efforts to cease it - when she walked in. I stopped immediately, resting my hand on the top of the instrument, as she scanned the room idly. Her eyes settled on my guitar, moved down to my feet, and back up to my chest. She studied my t-shirt with a strange sort of concentration for a while, before looking upwards to my face suddenly.

I hadn't been used to her being in the same room with me, it was nice for her to be there though. I was more relaxed, and the humming stopped. That was probably because the subject they focused on was actually there, I didn't need reminded of that. I thought maybe she'd come to chat with me again, so at that point I locked my eyes with hers, wide and chocolate brown.

But she bolted from the room.

Why wouldn't she talk to me?

"Ugh…" I groaned, yet again, and Alice stared at me. Or rather, continued to. Her expression was hard to read. Lips pressed to a hard line, there was definitely annoyance, but some sympathy could be found in her eyes too if you looked hard enough.

And that would be very hard.

"Edward, stop it, you're gonna' go bald if you keep that up."

"What?" I froze in my pacing, and eyed her, bewildered. She raised her eyebrow slightly, as if to say, "Seriously?". "Oh. Right." My right hand fell out of my bronze hair silently, and only now did I realize my scalp was screaming in protest to the tugging I had inflicted upon it.

"I just…"

I just what?

Wished Bella would talk to me?

Hoped I hadn't hurt her?

Wanted to see her smile, no, even recognise my presence after the past week?

"Ugh!"

My furious pacing began, again, and my hand buried itself in my hair, again.

"Edward."

Her tone was deadly. Ever heard of the phrase "if looks could kill"? Well if voices could kill, it was this one right now.

I turned slowly, unwilling to face her. She might have been tiny, but my word, she was scary as hell when she wanted to be. I pushed that thought away hastily. "Can't think about that now. Get on with it." I scolded myself mentally.

"Alice." I tried to replicate her tone, but I don't think it worked. Her eyes were narrowed to fine slits, brows furrowed, lips in an impossibly tight line. I gulped.

"You," She accused, pointing at me and rising from my bed - the place she'd been sitting for the last two hours or so, just watching me. She kept coming towards me, like a hunter to its prey, but finally stood inches from me, and poked her tiny little stabbing fingers into my chest. "You, are overreacting."

"Hm." My response was quiet. I don't know if it was directed to the pixie in front of me, or to myself. Either way her expression softened somewhat as she regarded me, head cocked to one side. The murderous tiger, a kitten once more. She reached up on her tiptoes - even then still needing to stretch - to get to her destination. Her tiny hand closed around mine, which I had forgotten was still buried in my hair. She pulled feebly, and I complied, letting her smooth my fingers out along the way as she brought my hand to her eye level.

"You care about her..."

She lifted her gaze from where she'd been tracing patterns on my palm, and the concern on her features was glaringly obvious. She was like such a sister to me, a full, blood sister, as opposed to a foster sister.

"Don't you?" She pressed gently.

"I..."

I cared about Alice, same way I cared about her parents. Well, maybe more than that, she was very special to me. But I hardly knew Bella. It wasn't the same. Bella was different. The way she blushed. The way she smiled at me. Her laugh...

"Awwh!" Her eyes lit up and she dropped my hand as I refocused my gaze on her. I never noticed I had been staring into space, hm. I was acting really weird. "You really do! I'm right!"

My hands clamped over my ears firmly as I rightly predicted the ear-piercing scream of glee that erupted from Alice's lips. All the while, my head was shaking from side to side. "No."

She was jumping up and down now in the middle of my bedroom, eyes wide and hands clasped together in front of her face.

"Alice-"

"Don't you 'Alice' me! I'm right, and you know it!" Her hands flew into the air, as mine went back up to my ears after wrongly assuming the screaming was over with. "EEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeee-!"

"Alice." I stated blackly, cutting her off mid-scream, my eyes squeezed shut.

Immediately she quieted, and stared at the floor. I would have laughed if I wasn't so angry.

"No. No way."

Her golden eyes flew up to lock with my emerald ones. Determination. "But-"

"No, Alice."

"Not even-"

"Nope"

"Can't I just-"

"Alice..."

I lifted a finger and pressed it to her tiny lips. The desperation on her face was making it clear that she really wanted to intervene somehow. I chuckled, "No."

And then she put on the infamous pout.

It's a strange thing when she pouts like that. She drops her head and hunches her shoulders. Her eyes droop infinitesimally, glistening at the corners, whilst her eyebrows fall and furrow ever so slightly. Her nostrils flare, and she seems paler. She looks like a little puppy that's done something wrong, and it makes you want to laugh and cry all at once. Cute, but heartbreaking.

That's how she looked at me now, but more so.

And then she really broke out the big guns.

Alice lifted her head by just an inch, and gazed at me through her eyelashes. A single, glistening tear fell from the corner of her eye, leaving a shimmering trail down the side of her face.

I never thought her pout could be this powerful. Honestly, I was shocked. She'd never used it so dramatically before.

I frowned, lifting my finger from her still pouting lips and brushing the tear away gently.

The side of her lips twitched slightly, and I knew why. She realised she was breaking me.

I knew she knew, but that didn't stop me giving in to her. It's impossible to try, I'd like to see you do it.

"W-what were you planning Al?"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

"Shut UP Alice! Do you know how loud you are?"

But she wasn't the loudest thing in that moment. A horrifying scream, worse than Alice's (which were pretty terrifying sometimes) resounded through the house.

Both of our heads snapped to look in the direction of the noise, outside my bedroom door and across the hall somewhere. I know I was shocked, and Alice shivered involuntarily.

"NO!"

We turned back to eachother, our emotions in that moment completely in sync by the look on Al's face. Shock, horror, fright, worry, confusion. They were as plain as if they were written in permanent marker across her brow.

Before it had even registered that I was moving, I stormed into Bella's room, throwing the door open and straight into a bookcase behind it. A small thought from somewhere deep inside my head noted that the door would probably be dented, but I didn't care. There she was on the bed, hands tangled wildly in her hair, staring at me as if I was a murderer.

And then she began to fall.

I ran across the room and caught her in my arms firmly as she collapsed off the bed. Her eyes were closed and she felt limp as I held her.

"Bella?" I smoothed some hair away from her sweaty forehead, attempting to rouse her.

Nothing.

"Bella." More urgent now. No response.

I looked at her for a moment longer, willing something to happen, but nothing ever did. I was scared to death. I shook her lightly, then more forcefully, and just stared as her head lolled from side to side. And that's when it hit me that something was really wrong.

"Shit." I cursed, as Alice flew out of the room and down the stairs to find her parents.

A/N: Weeee! Cliff hanger as a nice wee end to my first chapter back, which is quite a bit longer than usual as you guys requested. What's it been, a month? 0.o

As I said way up there, exams. They suck. I was revising too much to be able to write, and so I'm super sorry. I just got some muse and ran with it, so I'm hoping it's interesting. You got a lot more insight into the reason Bella's been fostered, and that was super fun to write. Evil people = awesomeness.

So feel free to review.

Actually, no.

Review or Bella dies, mmkay? =D (Joke! She lives, she lives!)