A broken heart is all that's left
I'm still fixing all the cracks
Lost a couple of pieces when
I carried it, carried it, carried it home
I'm afraid of all I am
My mind feels like a foreign land
Silence ringing inside my head
Please carry me, carry me, carry me home
I've spent all of the love I saved
We were always a losing game
— "Arcade", Duncan Laurance

.:.

"I want a cheeseburger," was the first thing out of Bella's mouth when Elena showed up in the doorway of her hospital room; it had been nearly two weeks since her admittance from the unfortunate attack and she was more than thrilled to finally be on her way out. She had grown tired of the food, not being able to wear her own clothes, and staring at the four same walls had made her start to feel a little stir-crazy.

"This is for you," Elena smiled, patting the white paper bag hooked around her wrist before flipping it swiftly to slide into her palm so she could hold it out toward Bella. The smile on her face was genuine as she accepted the bag containing her new cell phone; it was unlucky that her old one couldn't be located but she saw it as a sign that it was time to put everything behind her, completely, once she got everything set up. "And we will most definitely stop for some cheeseburgers on the way home."

"You're a Godsend," Bella teased, and Elena playfully rolled her eyes.

.:.

Bella was surprised, pulling out a rectangular box from the bag Elena had given her, with the newest iPhone model printed on the front. She had never been an iPhone user, always played it safe with the Samsung Galaxy, and when she learned that Damon was the one to pay for her phone, she'd immediately thrown a fit, using Elena's phone to dial him up and start mouthing off; ranting and raving about how she'd explicitly said to use her bank card to pay for it, she refused to give him the satisfaction of purchasing her cell phone (could there be a bit of a backstory there?) and demanded he accept money from her so she could pay him back. And what did Damon do? Laugh. He fucking laughed. Then hung up on her. Ignored any other incoming calls made from Elena's phone. As if to spite her.

"I'm going to the AT&T store," Bella grumbled, staring down at Elena's home screen on the phone. She noticed that Elena had changed it from a picture of her and Stefan at some street fair to a group photo that looked like it had been taken during Freshman year: Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena were all squished into the frame, wearing their cheerleading uniforms, and making goofy faces at the camera. It was a relief (sort of) that the phone was secure in the box, which meant Damon hadn't taken the liberty of setting up her old number—in fact she planned on using this opportunity to get a whole new number altogether. Might as well, right? New phone, new plan, new number.

.:.

An hour and a half later, the white iPhone 4 was all set up with an Apple ID, stored with a new number and zero contacts with a Washington area code, snugly fitting in a basic clear case that had a protective bumper to help prevent it from the screen cracking if she ever dropped it. She felt a little guilty, considering now she had no way to contact Alice but knowing her best friend, the precognitive vampire would find a way to get in touch with her. The only issue would be Edward picking through his sister's brain; the last thing she needed was for her ex-boyfriend to get a hold of her new number and start harassing her all over again. That's if he was even back in Forks. According to Damon, Edward had left Mystic Falls and wasn't going to be bothering her anymore, but does that necessarily mean he retreated back to Forks? Absolutely not. Edward was nothing if not persistent, and thoroughly enjoyed getting his way, wasn't really one to take no (or rejection) as an answer.

"I just don't understand why Jeremy didn't come to me," Elena was saying; her and Bella were standing at the island counter, sharing a plate of fruit—they were originally contemplating what to make for dinner, but had strayed on to the topic of her younger brother instead. Apparently, Jeremy had been fired from working at the Mystic Grill while Bella was still in the hospital, and the only reason they found out was because Alaric had been waiting there for him so he could talk to him about the mid-term paper he submitted, which had been taken directly from the internet word-for-word and hadn't even bothered to hide the fact that he plagiarized it.

"Do you think he's hiding something?" Bella asked, popping a piece of watermelon in her mouth.

"I don't know." she frowned, picking up an apple slice and nibbling the end. "I'm worried about him, Bella."

"I just think that—"

They are interrupted by the sound of the door opening, Elena leans back, her eyes wide in hopes that it's Jeremy walking inside. But it's only Alaric.

"Hi girls," Alaric greeted; Bella still wasn't sure how to feel about having her history teacher seated at the dinner table but Alaric had been there for pretty much everything that Elena has gone through in the last year, he'd been dating Jenna when she died—she couldn't even imagine what that must've been like, now that she knew the truth behind what happened to Elena's aunt. . . being forced to turn into a vampire only to have a stake shoved into her chest, all for the sake of a ritual that would free Klaus from his hybrid curse—the very same ritual Elena mentioned that she was meant to die in. And the fact that Elena had watched her aunt die, the very thought brought tears to Bella's eyes, and she had to blink them away, so she didn't start crying before dinner. "Any word from Jeremy?"

"No," Elena sighed. "I left him a voice mail, but he still hasn't called me back."

"He can't avoid you forever," Bella pointed out. "He'll have to come home eventually."

"I know, I know."

"How about we play it simple; do you just want to make chicken parmesan and pasta for dinner?" Alaric suggested, eyeing the plate of fruit the two girls had been picking at.

"That's your idea of simple?" Elena snickered; it was the first time Bella had seen her close to even smiling in hours.

"Of course not, but it is your favorite." Bella chimed in before Alaric could; she could see that Alaric wanted to do something nice for her considering the bullshit she's caught Bella up on that she has been dealing with between Klaus, Stefan, and now Jeremy. "I don't mind cooking tonight," she added as an afterthought. It was the least she could do after being cooped up in the hospital for nearly two weeks.

"I'm helping," Elena insisted.

While the girls got the chicken cutlets taken care of, breading them and frying them, they let the pot of water boil on the stove and Bella made the sauce herself instead of using it from a jar (it was her favorite thing about pasta night). She also used this time to also play around with her new phone, adding her usual apps and getting a couple phone numbers from Elena to add into her contact list, while the conversation between them was minimal. Every so often Bella would think about Edward in the capacity that she just didn't trust he left so easily, despite Damon's claims and reassurance. She wouldn't put it past the elder vampire to use threats, maybe even brute force, to get him to stay away and she wasn't quite sure how she felt about that possibility. He may be intimidating but Edward also doesn't seem like the type to be easily shaken when he is (was?) best friends with a guy like Emmett. A lonely flower bloomed in her chest at the thought of Emmett, the protective older brother she never had who looked like they could kill you but was actually a cinnamon roll, intimidatingly enormous in physique (closely resembles The Rock's muscular build) but was the human (vampire) version of a teddy bear. . . did he even know about Rosalie and Edward? What could he have possibly done to the blonde Spawn of Satan that pushed her into Edward's arms (and bed)? Had he done anything? Which begged the ultimate question: what had she done to deserve this betrayal? Could Edward blame it on her grieving period, she'd become a little emotionally distant after Charlie died. Their sex life was lacking because she started working after she lost her dad and the hours had steadily become longer when she started taking extra shifts to cover for the younger girls or the one woman who worked there that was eight months pregnant by the time she left Forks. Was Edward that desperate for some ass, that rather than talking to her he just let his eyes (and dick) wander. Being away from Forks after she caught him, and even coming face-to-face with him again for those brief moments, had really put things in perspective for her that Edward really wasn't the guy she thought he was, and disgust slid over her like an oil spill.

She was so distracted, moving on autopilot while she and Elena made dinner, that it was the sound of the front door opening, followed by a familiar male's voice, that pulled her out of her thoughts. She hadn't even noticed Alaric come into the kitchen to help set the table, let alone Jeremy walking over to pull something out of the fridge.

"—sorry just passing through," Jeremy said, answering something that Bella must have missed. She observed the interactions between Alaric and Elena, and Jeremy. His attitude was off-putting, it bothered her the way he regarded Elena. How little he cared about, well, anything other than going to hang out with Tyler Lockwood. It surprised her when Jeremy invited Tyler inside the house, for a moment she had forgotten he was a hybrid and could no longer enter the house without the owner's permission because he was half vampire now. She also realized this was the first real interaction she's had with Tyler since she arrived in Mystic Falls. It was sufficiently awkward having him sitting at the table, Jeremy getting him a glass of water, and Bella put out an extra plate for Tyler in case he was also joining them for dinner. The conversation was terse, while they all picked at their food (save for Tyler) Alaric and Elena kept questioning him about his sire bond and the loyalty he had to Klaus for freeing him from turning every full moon, as if they were testing to see how far it would go in hypotheticals. Jeremy's phone rang, he turned away to answer the call. Then suddenly, Tyler was excusing himself just as Jeremy was hanging up, as if bothered by their bombarding, and exiting the Gilbert house as quickly as he'd come in.

"That was illuminating." Alaric said as the door closed behind Tyler. Bella was about to ask Jeremy a question, there was something that bothered her about the whole thing . . . something she couldn't quite put her finger on . . . but she noticed he'd already stepped out of the room. Probably to head upstairs, get away from the pestering and talk about hybrids and sire bonds. Not that she blamed him when this was a little hard for her to deal with, and keep up with, too. She'd save it for another time. She returned her attention back to her plate, cutting her chicken into smaller and smaller pieces, dragging the melted cheese around on her fork before poking it into her mouth.

"So, Tyler Lockwood is a lunatic who has access to our house." Elena bemoaned.

"I mean this whole sire bond thing is...wild. I don't even think Tyler is fully aware of what little reason lies behind what he's saying. It's this weird cult logic." Alaric said around a mouthful of pasta.

Elena more or less forgot about her food, "Well, great, that's a wonderful influence for you Jer..." she turned around, only realizing now that Jeremy was no longer in the kitchen. "Jeremy?"

Alaric was the one to notice what sat on the plate Bella had grabbed for Tyler. "That's his ring."

"Where did he go?" Elena sounded panicked. Both Elena and Alaric rush outside, and it isn't until Bella hears her shout, "Oh my god! Jeremy!" that Bella is out of her seat, running out the house after them, just in time for her to see a black SUV heading down the street. Speeding, actually. Straight for Jeremy, who doesn't seem to care that he's standing in the middle of the road about to be plowed down for the unsuspecting vehicle.

"Jeremy!" Alaric yells, sprinting toward the younger Gilbert, and is pushing Jeremy out of the way an eighth of a second before the car was about to hit him. Bella screams out as Alaric's body goes flying up the windshield, the sickening crunch of his bones filling the air as his body hits the asphalt. Both girls run toward him, Elena turns him over to assess the injuries, and the SUV surprisingly whips back around, pulling up next to them. The driver lowers the window, Bella expects them to be frantic, but the man behind the wheel is calm and collected.

"There I go again, bumping into people..." And with that, he drives away.

Elena checks Alaric's hand, Bella notices he's wearing a ring similar to the one that's inside. Elena lets out a sound of relief. Jeremy gets up from where he'd fallen when Alaric pushed him out of the way, running over to them. "He's gonna be alright. Are you alright?" She looks up at her brother.

"I don't understand," Jeremy sounds genuinely confused. And concerned.

"Who was that on the phone earlier?"

Jeremy looks as if cold water was dumped on his head as he splutters out, "It was Klaus."

Bella and Elena are struggling now to get Alaric off the ground, "you were compelled, Jeremy," Elena realizes with a start, then focuses on the task at hand. "We gotta get him inside, help me!"

.:.

The ring was designed to resurrect humans killed by the supernatural, my ancestor Jonathan Gilbert created it in 1864. That's what Elena had told her when she finally asked what was so special about the rings Alaric and Jeremy wore—why it was a big deal Jeremy hadn't been wearing it and how she knew Alaric was going to be okay after being hit by one of Klaus's hybrids. It was yet another addition to her list of things she was extremely confused about. She opted to babysit Alaric's corpse in the off chance he woke up when Elena and Damon were hunting down Stefan's whereabouts so they could try to retrieve the coffins he carted his family around in in exchange for keeping everyone Elena cares about alive. When she asked if they were dead, Elena had said no. Original vampires can be neutralized with a dagger dipped in white oak ash if they are stabbed by a human, or Klaus since the daggers don't work on him. This just kept getting more and more complicated, confused, and downright annoying. She really didn't want to be a part of this, but why did she keep letting herself get dragged into it? The answer was quite simple: because she cared about everyone involved.

She was sitting on the chair in the living room, purposely angling her body so that she wasn't looking at Alaric's dead body sprawled on the couch and tried to pay attention to the movie she put on. She didn't know the name of it, had no idea what the hell was going on, and she was pretty sure it was a low budget film, but she could care less. This was as close to normal as she could get, there were no complaints.

Ping, ping.

The tinny sound of an incoming text message startled her, she fumbled for the phone in her lap, and typed in her passcode to pull it up. Her throat tightened when she read it.

(360) 829-0307: call me

An unknown number attached to a Washington area code with an extremely cryptic and vague instruction to call them. Was it Edward? Did he know Damon wasn't around to make any threats? Was he nearby? She tried to rack her brain for the familiarity of his phone number but couldn't remember it clearly. Unsure, Bella left the message alone, and put her phone on silent before setting it down on the coffee table, dragging the Afghan blanket off the back of the chair to draping it across her lap, as she settled back into trying to focus on the movie.

However, she only made it another twenty minutes into the movie before she was interrupted again by the doorbell. Bella groaned quietly, sliding the blanket onto the seat as she stood up, and swallowed hard. She averted her gaze from the couch, going over the many scenarios in her head as to who could possibly be showing up at the Gilbert's. Bonnie and Caroline would've called first, Tyler was probably off doing the bidding of his hybrid master and endangering more people he was supposedly friends with, and as far as she knew Matt was working at the Grill. Damon was with Elena, Stefan was unaccounted for (that seemed to be the norm, now) but Bella highly doubted he would show up here since he's probably too busy keeping four sleeping original vampires' hostage. Could it be someone random looking for Elena or Jeremy? Probably. That also didn't seem likely, though. Her money was on Edward, especially after that text message, and she stumbled over her own two feet (catching herself before she could fall) as she came to that realization. Shit. Thankfully the curtains were drawn so nobody was able to see inside the house, and if it was Edward, he couldn't use his gifts to find out that somebody was home, not when she was immune, and Alaric was dead. Oh God, how was she going to explain Alaric if it was just a random passerby? She felt nauseous, her stomach twisting up in knots, the anxiety spiking through her fast.

Slowly Bella crept towards the front door and lifted onto her tiptoes to peak through the tiny hole. Except . . . there was nobody there. The amped up energy she'd accumulated from the unknown drained out of her, and now she just felt exhausted. Relief swept through her as she unlocked the door. Elena probably ordered something online, and it was just getting dropped off by the mailman. Phew.

"Bella!" A familiar, chirpy and melodic voice exclaimed when the brunette opened the door. And then, she was pulled into a fierce hug by the tiny girl standing on the front porch. For a moment Bella was paralyzed at the unexpected sight but the shock quickly melted away and she was returning the embrace just as tightly.

"I can't believe you're here," Bella mumbled into her shoulder after a pregnant pause, sounding like she was choking on tears. She'd lost the ability to speak and now she understood why; the urge to start crying in the safe net that was Alice's arms loomed over her.

"I was worried." Alice whispered back, and then slowly the two girls parted. Now that she had a better look, Bella had quite honestly forgotten how small her friend was compared to those roaming around in Mystic Falls, but it still brought a smile to her face. Only, Alice wasn't smiling back. In fact . . . she looked a little irritated.

"Are you okay?" Bella wondered, taking Alice gently by the elbow and guiding her to the porch swing so they could both sit down. It let out a low, grating squeak as it rocked slowly beneath their weight. Luckily, Alice didn't question why she hadn't brought her inside. Truthfully, she didn't even know if it worked like that. The whole invitation thing. Did she have to be the owner of the home, or did she qualify to invite any vampire inside since she legally lived on the property?

Alice opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. Her brown eyes flickered with an emotion Bella couldn't place, and it worried her because she used to know her friend so well.

"Alice... what's wrong?" Bella swallowed hard, "What are you worried about?"

Her expression turned grave, "Have you heard from Edward lately?"

"No... not since Homecoming." Bella's skin prickled with uncertainty. "Why?"

The corners of her lips turned down, and then were almost an angry slash of pink. "You don't remember?" This seemed to irritate her even more.

"Remember what?" There was a look of uncertainty now on Alice's face as if she were rethinking her next choice of words. "Remember what, Alice?" She repeated through grit teeth, annoyed.

Alice's eyes flickered over Bella's face, then averted her gaze as she shifted her body to getting more comfortable on the porch swing. She positioned herself with one leg tucked under the other, the dangling foot poised in case she needed to quickly leap up. "How well do you know these people?"

It wasn't lost on Bella that she was referring to certain Mystic Falls residents as 'these people'.

"I know there's vampires in Mystic Falls." She replied quietly, almost timidly—not really liking how this was starting off. And before this conversation could veer into a direction she probably wouldn't like, she jumped in, though not unkindly, with, "I met Jasper's friend, the one you tried setting me up with a place to stay when I left Forks. You failed to mention he lived here."

"I didn't know he was in Mystic Falls." Alice answered immediately. Bella chose to believe her. "I don't know much about him, really. But he's also the exact person I want to talk to you about—he's not good company to keep, Bella."

Bella rolled her eyes—that was the exact same thing both Edward and Alice had told her when Jacob first triggered his werewolf curse. "I'm aware he has... issues."

"It's more than that, sweetie." Alice simpered, running a hand through her short inky black hair, and the brunette bristled. She didn't like the way Alice called her sweetie. She'd never referred to her as that before; it made Bella feel like she was being talked down to like a child. "Damon is dangerous. As soon as he crossed your path, I started keeping an eye on him, and I saw that—"

"Alice, please," she cut in sharply. "I love you, but I—"

"IthinhedisomethtEdward!" Alice blurted out in a single breath.

"Huh?"

"I think he did something to Edward." She repeated slower, then swallowed hard. "I haven't heard from Edward since he came to Mystic Falls. He promised me that he'd check in, just so that I knew he was okay because he didn't want me taking away from things going on in Forks to watch him—okay, hey, don't give me that look, I tried talking him out of coming here but nothing was going to change his mind."

"Damon said he left, but I didn't expect Edward to go all the way back to Forks," Bella mused absently, recalling her earlier thoughts.

Alice's nose scrunched up. "Because he didn't come back to Forks. That's why I'm here. I tried searching for him through any decisions he made but I came up... blank. I can't find him. Almost like there's a blind spot." Bella heard the undertone in her friend's voice, she knew assuming that was better than the alternative, and it made her feel sympathetic towards Alice. Because despite her own feelings, he was still her brother, she cared about him. Bella couldn't relate, per se, since she was an only child, but she saw how Elena was towards Jeremy. Even Damon still cared about his asshole of a brother.

But something didn't add up.

The glint in Alice's eye, it was unmistakable: it didn't belong to somebody who was scared or worried about their brother—it was for the likes of Damon Salvatore, she saw it earlier when they'd been talking about Stefan. Somebody with a bone to pick. Because this gut instinct told Bella that Alice knew exactly where Edward was, and what might've happened to him. There was absolutely no way she couldn't have seen anything pertaining to it, she was too in tune with her visions regarding people closest to her (Edward's cheating habits aside since he put effort into dancing around the edges of her gift). And the only ones who knew about her talents in Mystic Falls aside from him, was Bella.

"Alice, don't lie to me. We don't do that to each other." The words came out sharper than she'd intended, but she didn't apologize for it.

Alice opened her mouth, the expression on her face clear that she'd been caught, but the sound of a rumbling engine interrupted them as a light blue car rolled to a stop in front of the Gilbert's house. She turned her head, and both of them watched as Elena got out. The headlights were on, the engine left running, which meant Damon didn't plan on staying. Bella hadn't even realized how dark it had gotten, so wrapped up in Alice. Elena looked startled when she noticed Bella sitting on the porch with Alice, an unknown vampire (to her), but didn't say anything. Alice didn't even acknowledge Elena before she went into the house, which was weird, instead she was staring intently at the Camaro as it pulled away from the curb and sped off. Just before the door closed, Bella heard Elena talking to Alaric, who'd started saying that he'd just woken up a few minutes ago. Some babysitter I am, Bella thought, before turning her attention back to Alice.

But to her surprise, Alice was already out of her seat and walking off the porch. She called over her shoulder, "I have to go, I'll call you later."

And then she was gone. But Bella didn't have time to dwell on it, because when she went back inside, Alaric was on the floor, coughing up blood and saying something about his ring. Bella was on his other side, calling the paramedics and rattling off Elena's address—she didn't know much else regarding that resurrection ring of his, but she was pretty sure it was supposed to prevent things like this from happening.

(And of course, shit could only get worse from there, right?)