Sorry about the lack of update. I am on a birthday holiday in New Zealand and my 3G phone isn't getting the greatest reception. Thank you all so much for the absolutely stunning reviews and i appreciate them so much.

Chapter 8: Black Holes and Revelations

Time it's self had stopped, at least that's what it felt like. He still loved her. Her mind flew around and around in circles. She had been expecting excuses or stuttering or even a sorry or two but not declarations of love.

"I'm sorry, i just can't do this now." She turned on her heel and was gone in a faint breeze.

She ran like land was indefinite. Running was her thing; it had been her thing since she had become a vampire. She wasn't as fast as Sophia but she could cover distance. Victoria had joked that when she ran, she was running from a past that she tried to forget. Bella, however, knew that she used running to run from anything. The forest had given way to farmed land. Most of it was now owned by the government to insure that the collapse of the food market never happened again but it was still a comforting sight to her. The moonlight bounced off the different crops creating a silver and grey textured blanket. Bella could feel the corn and oat ears run through her fingers as she bound through the fields. Even if the marshals seen her there was no way they would ever catch her.

Her mind started to settle the further she ran from Burton. The feelings of anger towards Edward she could understand in fact they made her feel normal. These new confusing feelings however were just too alien. He Loved Her. Not past tense but present, right here, right now. The human feeling that had come back to her were starting to feel second nature now. There was love there but there was also so much anger and she didn't know if that love would be enough to counteract the anger.

It wasn't so much that he had left nor that he had broken his promise to stay. It was that when they had stood in that wood, as he told her that she wasn't good for him, that he didn't want her to go with them, the words had come so easily. They had flowed from his mouth with such honesty that she had believed him. Even though she knew now that they were lies, her mind still believed them true. If he could lie to her once, he would do it again.

Bella stopped running, she had to. Firstly she was nearing what used to be the Canadian border and no one, not even vampires crossed into Canada these days. Secondly, she would have to go back and face what was in Burton eventually and lastly, there was someone following her, footfall about 2 miles behind her. She stopped and waited.

"Phew, thank goodness. I thought you were never gonna stop, i couldn't see if you were going to." Alice had stopped a few feet from Bella looking like she had always been beside her.

"Sorry, i run, it's my thing. How did you know to follow me?"

"I had a vision of Edward and came looking for you."

"Is he OK? Did something happen?" Fear chilled her already cold body.

"No, i saw him dejected and sitting on your sofa. I take it his apology didn't go well."

"I left. It's all too much. I mean i can take a fair amount on but the last two days have been too much. First i find another coven then my human past comes back. Now my only long lost human love is back in my life, as i am just remembering him, sprouting declarations of love. Too much Alice."

She clapped her hands together. "He told you he loved you. That's great." She saw Bellas face. "Or not great. Come on Bella, lets walk back and I'll tell you a story."

The two friends walked back at a speed that even an old average car would struggle with but for the vampires it was simply a doddle in the park.

"Before we left we sat down as a family and took a vote on whether to leave. Rosalie voted to go, Emmett supported Rose. Jasper refused to vote as he thought it was his fault we were even leaving. Esme and i voted to stay with you. Edward of course voted to go and Carlisle supported his son as he would do with any of us. We all fought with each other but we move as a family. It was awful Bella, none of us were speaking and Esme spent most of the time trying to get Edward to come out of his room or to talk to us. He was so distraught with what had happened and leaving would be the only way of guaranteeing you would be safe. We all knew that you would try and follow us or track us down so Edward made the ultimate sacrifice to make sure you didn't. From what he knew of the human psychic he thought a clean break would be best for you and the anger from hunting you would stop you coming after us. He did it all for you Bella, all he's been doing for the last 150 years is for you.

He was never the same though. He went back to the lonely Edward of before you came in to our lives. The amount of times we would all go running after him when he tried to kill himself. We would all rotate in making sure tabs were kept on him and making sure he hunted well. Not to mention the time we went to Isle Esme and he went off to the Volturi. He got an earful from Esme and i about that. You would not believe how relieved we were when he came home in one piece, that he came home at all."

"I think that may be my doing. Aro knew of my past when i let him my mind once but i made him promise to never tell. He knew i was once involved with Edward when i was a human which is probably why he spared him. Aro wouldn't risk upsetting me plus he wouldn't destroy any vampire with a gift such as Edwards, or yours for that matter."

"See Bella, you are a part of this family too. We are your brothers and sisters and much as your our sister. Well all except Edward because that would be just plain weird. I don't think i will ever get used to your involvement with the Volturi. Do you see now why he did what he did and why he said what he did? When he says he loves you, he means it. You would have felt him make the decision at the same time i got a vision that he was going to see you. The question is do you love him?"

Bella paused to let Alice's words sink in. "I've always thought a part of me was missing, that i wasn't always meant to be alone. I thought that i had filled that hole when i found Sophia but seeing Edward again makes me reconsider."

"Bella, do you love him? Can you get past this?"

"Yes, i love him."

Alice clapped her hands together. "Well then let's go home. I have a wedding to plan."

"Woah Alice. Let's close the barn door, that pony hasn't bolted yet and won't be bolting...ever."

"Lets see." Alice tapped her head.

"Yes lets." Bella tapped her own head and Alice's smile fell.

"You cheat!"

The rest of the way was spent playing catch up and talking like over a century hadn't passed. Alice, ever the fashionarta had switched to designing, as fashion was as redundant as a past dependency on crude oil. She was ready for when the catwalk made a comeback.

There you have it, she loved him but is it all too late? Will the thought that Bella doesn't love him finally push Edward to the edge of that knife? Will Alice and Bella make it back from their 'run ' in time..tune in next time on TLITL