Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or the songs I make reference to. If I did own Twilight, this story would be sold in stores everywhere with less grammar/spelling mistakes and I'd be rich… Damn :(

RPOV (Renesmee)

I tossed a sheer royal blue blouse into the pile that Aunt Alice was gathering consisting of clothes to be tried on. The pile was up to my knee already and all the garments were laid flat on the floor; heaven forbid they are ruffled before we try them on.

I finished with the clothes rack I was searching and then looked around me. Mom was gone. Aunt Rosalie was gone. I hadn't noticed that they left.

"Aunt Alice, where'd Mom and Aunt Rose go?"

She didn't even look up from the rows and rows of jeans she was sorting. "They left about fifteen minutes ago. They're fine."

Okay, that didn't really answer my question, but okay.

Realization dawned; this was my chance to get some answers. I watched as Aunt Alice walked over to the pile with, yet another, twenty five pairs of jeans, give or take, in various cuts and washes.

"Here; you take these and I'll grab those. Grab the last stall on the left; it's the largest and we can share." I followed her instructions. I didn't want to cause any more attention to my nearly five-foot aunt carrying, probably, eighty pounds worth of clothing.

Once the door shut, I figured it was now or never. Answers; just get the answers, Renesmee.

"Hey, Aunt Alice?"

"Hmm?" she mumbled as she pulled a white lace top over her head.

"I need to talk to you." She looked at me through the mirror and nodded for me to continue. "I have some questions I need to ask you, about Mom and Dad." Those last four words completely froze her. She just continued to stare. She didn't blink or even breathe. Granted I knew she didn't need to, but it would have made me feel better if she did. "Aunt Alice…"

Her head twitched. "Um, what do you want to know?"

I looked down as I pulled a pair of dark wash boot cut jeans up and fastened them. "Everything."

"You should ask your mom, Renesmee."

I should, but I couldn't. I wanted the truth and I knew she was hiding things about their relationship from me; I just knew it. "I want you to tell me."

"You should ask your dad then."

"Aunt Alice, I don't want to ruin it. I just got him back; I don't want to freak him out by asking all these questions. Besides, you won't lie to me," I pleaded with her. I was positive she wouldn't lie, maybe sugarcoat, but not lie.

She sighed deeply. "You mom is going to kill me; I'm sure of it."

"Do you know when she'll be back?" I could go with a cliff notes version if necessary.

"I have no idea. She probably hasn't made the decision of when she's coming back yet and either way, once she's with you, I won't see her." She sighed again. "We probably have an hour or so though, she won't come back willingly when there's shopping."

I nodded. "Go ahead, Renesmee. What do you want to know?"

"I want to know why he left her. She said he had to go because Grandpa got another job, but that's not true, is it?" She shook her head. "I figured that when I found your note."

"You found my note?" she asked suddenly.

"Yeah, I was snooping a while back when Mom was out. I found it then, along with everything else left in the trunk." She laughed at something I had obviously missed, but I continued. "So what really happened?"

"You can't just hear why he left without the back story, you know? What do you know about their relationship?"

Nothing. "Not much; I know they were in high school together in Forks. I know that they loved each other and that she was practically a part of the family. And they conceived me before he left. That's it."

She let out a short laugh. "All true, but my version is better." She patted the suede ottoman sitting in the middle of the larger-than-the-rest dressing room and I joined her. "Your mom came to Forks in the middle of the school year and she was the 'shiny new toy' according to one of her new classmates. Everyone was fascinated, but she was shy and didn't want the attention. She was curious about us all, of course, and we tried to see what she thought of us through Edward but-"

"He couldn't read her thoughts." I interrupted, smiling.

"Yes, he was so mad that she was immune. It was driving him insane, but he wouldn't admit it. Anyways, she ended up being in one of his classes and the moment she walked in he smelled her blood in a more concentrated form.

"You know what it feels like to smell human blood; you get thirsty just like we do, but you don't feel it as strongly I'm sure." I nodded. I was able to ignore it completely once I accepted that it was there. "Well, your mom's blood was more potent than others, especially to your dad. There are certain people in the world that just smell… better, more delectable than others. They call to us and it's nearly impossible to resist, and that's what it was like for them. I have no clue how he resisted during that hour, but he did." Because he loved her, obviously.

"After school that day, he fled to Alaska to visit some friends of ours to avoid hurting her. After a while, he realized he couldn't do that anymore and he came back to face her. He tried treating her like any other human, but he started to become fascinated with her. Honestly, he was falling in love with her, he just didn't know it."

It was love at first sight, almost, whether he knew it or not. That's sweet.

"Everything changed one morning though. Bella was standing at her truck before school and the roads were icy. One of the students lost control of his van and it slid. There was no way it would miss her and I saw that she wouldn't survive mere seconds before it happened.

"Edward just ran, at full speed, and stopped the van with his body. He moved her about three times because the van seemed to be destined for some purchase. The family panicked because of the risk of exposure and Edward decided to just convince her that she hadn't seen anything, but she wasn't having that. She never told anyone and Edward just ignored her."

Poor Mom, she probably thought she was going crazy.

"That went on for a long time. She went with her friends one evening to Port Angeles and she ended up wandering off by herself. Your dad decided to follow her, just to keep her safe, but he lost her for a bit. She ended up in a bad part of the town and some guys started following her. Your mom is a magnet for danger; it's a wonder she wasn't drawing in all kinds of monsters with her luck.

"Anyways, your dad rescued her and that was it. They started spending more time together, getting to know each other, and when she finally confronted him about what he is; she didn't care."

He rescued her from a car crash and possible-rapists; how could she not love him?

"So what changed?" Something had to go bad for it all to end up like this…

"It wasn't just one thing, Nes. It was a lot of things, honestly. First of all, there was the whole James thing." I looked at her, clearly conveying my confusion. "You don't know about that either, figures. Okay, shortly after Edward brought Bella to meet us all, we all went out to play baseball."

I laughed; I couldn't help it. She just said it like it was nothing and I knew that it was anything but. Mom had told me about the 'Cullen Baseball League.' I knew the antics that ensued and the crazy regulations that they had adopted. "Sorry, continue."

She nodded, surely understanding that I was familiar with that part of the story. "Okay, so we were playing baseball and three nomads happened to hear us. We couldn't run, so we tried to hide Bella among us. At the time, it seemed like a good idea, we were a large enough coven and she was always kind of pale. But one of them, James, noticed the scent when a damn wind came along and he was instantly intent on killing her; and purely for sport since we were determined to protect her."

I was speechless; danger magnet is an understatement.

"Jasper and I took her to Arizona to hide out while the others protected her dad and stayed to fight, but James ended up following us. The female that was with him stayed in Forks to confuse them and the third, another man, left all together.

"James ended up coercing Bella to him by telling her that he had her mom-"

I gasped; he took Grandma Renee? I knew she was fine, but oh my god.

"He didn't have her really; just a video tape that came in quite handy for him." She rubbed my back and continued. "Bella was trying to protect everyone though; her mom, Jasper and me, Edward; all of us.

"James bit her" What?! "Calm down," she whispered as my heartbeat picked up. "We got there in time, obviously. Edward was able to suck out the venom; like a snake bite and we killed James. Bella was messed up pretty badly, but she was fine." I nodded.

"How was he able to do it? You said her blood was so strong for him; how could he just suck out the venom and not continue to drain her?" I was glad he did it, but it was mindboggling.

"I don't know how exactly; there isn't a real reason except that he loved her too much to lose her."

"But?" Here it comes; come on, bring it on.

She smiled. "There isn't a 'but,' Renesmee, there's just more. You need to know that Edward's greatest fear was something happening to Bella because of what we are. He was so afraid that one of us would hurt her or cause her to be hurt, or worse. And that's exactly what happened with James, but it wasn't the last time.

"On Bella's birthday, we had a party at our house for her. It was awesome; the decorations were perfect and I got a beautiful cake." Yuck. "Everything was perfect, but" Here it comes… "Something happened that wasn't… expected." She stopped, deciding what to say and how to word it.

"I don't want you to think badly of him, because it wasn't his fault. Any one of us could have done it given the circumstances, but he was more susceptible." I waited for the explanation. What did Dad do? "Your mom was opening her presents and she got a paper cut and everything happened very quickly, even by vampire standards."

"Dad attacked her?" It would make sense; why he left, why she wasn't that happy to see him, and why she never told me.

"No, your Dad didn't… but Jasper did. His bloodlust has always been manageable, but compared to the others, it's slightly uncontrolled. He hadn't been practicing the diet for as long. His thirst took over and he regretted it the second it happened.

"Edward pushed Bella out of the way and pushed Jasper away so Emmett and Rose could get him out, but the damage was done. Edward had pushed her into a ton of glass plates and things and she was cut up pretty badly on her arms." I didn't know what to say, so I just let her continue. "We all had to leave the room, except for Carlisle who sewed her up.

"It was Edward's greatest fear come to life, yet again. But this time, the family was the only ones to blame; he couldn't deal with that and decided we weren't safe for Bella to be around anymore. He thought we were keeping her from her human life and that she needed a clean break from us; so we left and a few days later, he did too."

Oh my god. How could he just leave her?

I looked down; I was moments away from crying.

"There's more, and I really don't see why you shouldn't know it at this point. Your dad lied to her when we left. He was hoping to give her closure and help her move on faster, but he did it harshly. He told her he didn't want her anymore and she assumed he didn't love her either."

Oh. My, God. Now I was crying.

"Your letter? That's why you called him a 'dumbass.'"

She let out a quick laugh. "Yeah, I've spent the last twenty years making his life harder for your mom, because of what he did. But you got to know, he searched for her too; for fourteen years. He just realized the mistake too late."

Alice pulled me to her side as I cried. I couldn't believe it. They were meant for each other; they loved each other so deeply and they screwed it up. They let outside circumstances come in between them. He gave up on her and she let him go. Their story makes Romero and Juliet look like a calm, soothing comedy.

"Renesmee." That's all she could say. She had laid everything else on the table.

I had to ask. "Do you think they still love each other?"

"Yes." Her answer was immediate; no hesitation once so ever. "Your dad waited nearly eighty years to find someone like Bella. He never loved anyone before her and he will never love anyone else. As for your mom, she still loves him; more than she knows. She's just having a hard time. She hasn't thought of him as anything but your dad in so long that she has no idea what to do. She's spent twenty years thinking he didn't love her back and she found a way to cope with that; so now she's confused. But Renesmee, they are soul mates; each other's true love, they're meant to be together."

I nodded into her shoulder. I wanted them together. Mom deserved to be happy and loved; and so did he. They just need to get over their issues.

But I'm impatient. "Aunt Alice, we need to get them together."

She looked at me; shock written on her face. "Excuse me?"

I stood up and looked her in her eyes. "We are going to get my Mom and Dad back together. Mom doesn't call me 'mini-Alice' just because I love to shop. I also meddle. A lot. And mostly in her life."

She looked at me with huge eyes; shock written on her face. "She usually knows what's best for me, but she has no idea what's best for her. And what's best for her is being with Dad. She'll thank us for it."

It took a moment for Alice to respond. "Um, I agree. She needs to be with Edward; they both need each other more than they realize, but I can do it on my own Nes. You don't need to get involved."

Does she really think she can make me sit out? Ha! "Aunt Alice; you need my help. I can manipulate her, trust me." She quirked an eyebrow. I laughed. "I can't believe you haven't figured it out yet…" I laughed again.

"Figured what out, Renesmee?" She pulled me back to the ottoman so we were eye level.

Really, she didn't see it. "The credit card." I answered simply.

She squinted at me; like she was trying to decipher the meaning of my statement. "Bella never used the credit card. No one did; ever."

"Nope, no one ever did." I laughed, but Aunt Alice didn't seem to find the humor so I quickly continued. "Aunt Alice, you put the card in Bella's name." She nodded. "All of her personal information was linked to that card." She nodded again. "It wasn't hard to call the company and pretend to be her. I got the billing address." I stated proudly.

"Okay, but that account is linked to a neutral address in New York…" She shook her head trying to figure out where I was going with this.

"Yep, but you have all of your mail sorted there and then sent to wherever you're living at the time. I called and explained that you owed twenty two thousand dollars to a collection agency and that you had given us a bogus number and address. They told me the four most recent forwarding addresses." I laughed. The guy that I had called totally freaked out and made me promise not to call again.

"I'm guessing you had already seen you were going to go to Ohio and made the forwarding change. I made Mom move here on really short notice. I knew we'd find you eventually, although I thought it might take a few tries. I got nervous when you didn't show up for the first few weeks. It was easy actually." I smiled at Aunt Alice, who looked like she was having an aneurysm.

"You tracked us… using human methods. I never thought we'd have to worry about that…" She stated quietly, and mostly to herself.

"You cannot tell Mom; she has no clue. But I wanted to meet and be with you all. Now, come on, are you going to help me or not?"

Aunt Alice looked at me again, closing her gaping mouth. "I'm in. What do you have in mind?"

I smiled before I jumped up and down into her arms. "I have a few ideas, but they won't get the job done. I'm still searching for inspiration."

"Well, we can get pretty much the entire family to help us. They all want Bella and Edward to get back together."

I pulled off the pair of jeans I had been wearing for the entire conversation and continued to try more clothes on. Alice continued as well.

***

BPOV (Setting: All the girls are leaving the mall)

I held twenty three bags in my arms. We were thankfully some of the last remaining customers left in the parking lot. I didn't want to draw any more attention to us.

Even the two associates that helped us in the last store had vacated the premises. Only the overnight staff was left in our area.

"Alice, do you think all of this will fit in the trunk?" I pushed the bags in as far as they would go and they still stuck out by about a foot.

"Of course! Come on Bella, use the vamp strength." I shook my head and both Rose and I crammed the bags in as Alice lowered the trunk hood.

We all climbed into the car. I laughed as Renesmee rested her head on my shoulder. "I warned you." I whispered.

She giggled. "It was fun," she sighed.

Alice put the key into the ignition. I expected the car to purr to life, but instead we heard a click. "What the hell? My car…" Alice whined. She repeated her actions three times before she gave up.

"Let me see if I can fix it, Alice." Rosalie opened her door but Alice just pulled her back in.

"No." We all looked at her; silently questioning her sanity. "I mean… its dark. I don't want to risk it getting worse or something. We'll just call the guys to pick us up."

"You want to leave your precious car; overnight; all alone in the mall parking lot?" Rosalie was waiting for the punch line. I hadn't realized she was so attached to the car. Renesmee yawned again.

"It'll be fine and we can come tomorrow before they open so nothing happens to it. Besides, Nes is tired. Let's just get her home." Alice smiled sweetly at Rose, but she looked like she was up to something. And what is with the nick name for my daughter? What's wrong with 'Renesmee?'

"Fine." Rose stated as Alice texted Jasper.

"They'll be here in ten minutes. That's when they disappear…" She sighed and we all waited. Renesmee nestled her way onto my lap and closed her eyes.

After about fifteen minutes, we saw two cars. Rosalie's new model of her old BMW, I'm guessing she wasn't ready to let it go, and a Mercedes. As they pulled up, I saw Jasper and Edward riding in the Mercedes and Emmett sitting in the BMW. I also noticed that the BMW only had two seats. This is suspicious…

I glared at Alice, waiting for her plan to unfold. "Rose, you ride with Emmett and the rest of us can pile into the Mercedes. Oh, and I'm driving!" Before I could even lift Renesmee's sleeping form out of the car both Rose and Em were gone and Alice and Jasper had claimed the two front seats. How convenient…

I woke Renesmee enough so she could squeeze into the seat next to Edward, and me next to her. She yawned and tucked herself right into Edward. It was kind of cute. Damn.

As the ride went on, Renesmee stretched. It wasn't long before she was being supported by Edward so she was lying up against his chest with her legs hung over my lap. I looked at her face, she was completely out.

As the ride went on, I started to waiver over the conclusion that it was all a set up. Nobody talked and seemed to just be eager to get home. My defenses must have been down.

"Thank you," I mouthed the words to Edward.

"For what?" He smiled brushing some hair out of Renesmee's face.

"For being a fantastic father to her. I always knew you would be; I'm just sorry it took so long for me to actually witness it." I smiled at the sight of them.

"You're a pretty incredible mother yourself."

I laughed and mouthed, "sure."

"Don't. Bella, you have made our daughter into the most amazing person. She's caring and loving, and strong. She's fearless and wonderful. She knows exactly who she is; she's comfortable in her skin and knows people intuitively. She's… she's so much like you."

I would have blushed if I could at that moment. I turned my head and caught Jasper's eyes in the rearview mirror. "Are you doing this?" I hissed.

He held both hands up in front of him in surrender. "No, this is all you two." He looked back out the windshield pretending he hadn't heard a thing.

I took a breath. "Thank you, Edward." I tried to convey all of the emotions I felt towards him in that moment; appreciation, gratitude, and forgiveness. It didn't fix us, but we could at least be friends.

A/N: Aww, some Edward and Bella fluff to hold you over…

Okay, I am nowhere near packed and I move Saturday, but I needed to write this chapter because it was just floating around in my head. I hadn't even realized Renesmee set this all up, hehe. Crazy girl!

Anyways, thanks to all of those who review both stories. You should check out DementedEvilPixie's stories. They're crazy awesome and add the comic relief that comes too rarely from my story.

I have some good news. I changed my plot… a 'happy ending' is coming sooner than I originally planned. It probably still won't happen as quickly as you want it, but it will happen. Please stop asking when; I don't have a definite answer. Once all is 'happy', I'll post an extra in the outtakes of what I planned originally. I still love that story line, but it didn't fit quite at well into my timeline.

As always, Read, Review, Comment!

~ kmwhyte