Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of the characters, I just like playing with them.

(APOV)

We ran day and night, over ice, snow, water and land. I knew she would need blood and as soon as we were close, Carlisle separated from us so he could run by the hospital. As we neared the house I smelled Bella, she had been here, and so had Edward. We went inside first, and I knew Edward had never left Forks, his scent here was too pervasive. Jasper's nostrils flared and he saw the small bottle and letter on the floor. We both knew what was in the bottle, and as soon as I read the letter, I knew we were too late. She would have gone to the river, so I led Jasper out the back, and immediately picked up both Bella and Edward's trails. The scent of Bella's blood honed us in on the spot, right where the trees thinned at the river bank. A silver flash caught my eye, and there was the ornately carved knife Bella had chosen for this final act. The ground was darker there as her blood had already seeped into the mossy ground. I stifled a scream, and a movement caught my eye. In an instant Edward was beside us with Bella's limp body in his arms.

"She's alive, barely. Where's Carlisle?" He paused to ask before dashing off to the house, my best friend limp in his arms.

She was even paler than me, no hint of the rosy blush that often graced her cheeks. Her pulse was barely there. Jasper told him Carlisle was getting blood and we followed him to the house. Edward laid her in my bed, and sent me off to find towels. I gathered up as many as I could carry and threw half of them into the dryer. She needed to get warm, and none of us could offer her any body heat. I took the others up to help dry her and contain any messes. Edward had one arm out of her cocoon and was getting ready to stitch up the wound. I couldn't look away from the slash she had made, I could almost feel the agony she had been in, and the release from the pain that she felt. Edward was concentrating on the fresh wound, but as my eyes scanned up her arm, I saw the many smaller cuts that were too recently healed. My knees felt weak, and I was pretty sure this was as close as a vampire got to fainting. My heart was breaking for her, for the pain she had lived with, the pain he had inflicted. I didn't know if I would ever be able to forgive him.

I snapped myself out of it, and set to towel drying her hair. There was just too much of it, and she needed to be warm and dry as soon as possible, so I ran for the hair dryer. When the buzzer sounded on the dryer, Jasper went to fetch the warm towels, and we laid them next to her body before wrapping her back up in the comforter. We had done all we could, and now we needed to wait for Carlisle. He wouldn't be much longer. I had to get out of that room with him, before I threw him through the wall, so Jasper and I went downstairs. I nestled the little bottle back into the box and set it on the table. I folded up the letter and put it back in it's envelope. Then I saw the second envelope with my name on it. I stared at it for a good five minutes before I felt Jasper's arms around my waist.

"What is it darlin'?"

"A letter from Bella. A goodbye letter. But she's going to live, so I don't think I should read it...maybe later." I tucked the letter into my purse.

At that moment, Carlisle flew through the door with a cooler and more supplies. "She's upstairs?"

I nodded. I joined Jasper on the couch and we listened as Carlisle laid into Edward about his stupidity regarding Bella. He always tried to respect our choices, but this one had grated on him and worn him down to the point that he could barely contain his outrage. The rest of us shared the sentiment, and it was a small relief to know the words were finally being spoken. I knew he would not leave her again, but the question was if she would let him into her heart again.

Carlisle came down the stairs then. "She is going to be just fine Alice. We're going to do the transfusion, you know he would never let me change her if he had a choice. Now that he has her back, he's not going to leave her again. We need to clean up any trace that we have been here, and then we will return with her to Denali and figure out where to go from there."

I nodded. Making plans for Bella without her knowledge made me uneasy. This wasn't going to be an painless journey for her, but I knew it was what had to be done. "She left a letter for Charlie. That, along with the knife and amount of blood in the ground near the river will be enough to convince him she's gone. He knows how much pain she's been in, and won't investigate further. It's best for Bella if she goes with us. Any other scenario and she has no future."

He nodded, then went back upstairs with the supplies he had brought from the hospital. Jasper and I waited downstairs in silence, wrapped in each other's arms. After what seemed like an eternity, I heard Bella's heartbeat strengthen, and relief washed over me.

At least until I heard Carlisle tell Edward he needed to talk to me. That is one conversation I was not ready for. Jasper felt me tense up and a sense of calm enveloped me, he was so good to me. I was aware of my brother's descent, and I rose to meet him at the table. My eyes were hard and cold, and his were filled with sorrow and pleading. We didn't speak for a while. We had always been so close, and I felt like I didn't know him anymore. How could he have left her like that. Of all people, I knew how much my brother loved her. How his eyes lit up at the mention of her name. He had started composing again, and they were so happy. Then he ripped her heart right out of her chest. Did he not think we could keep her safe? We'd done a pretty damn good job so far, and if he'd just go ahead and turn her then it would be much easier. But no, my brother was on some kind of moral high horse about not wanting to damn her soul, and refused to give her what she wanted most... immortality and a life with him...with us. She had begged for it, and it was only my love and respect for my brother that kept me from doing it myself. I'm not entirely sure I cared enough now to respect his wishes any longer.

"Alice..." I hardened my stare.

I'm not ready to forgive you Edward.

Pain flashed in his eyes. "I know." He murmured.

I was livid and I played dirty, picturing all the times I'd watched them together happy and in love. The way the love poured out of her whenever she looked at him. He winced. Then I showed him the images of the visions I'd seen, her in his arms after he pulled her out of the river, the bloodstained ground. There was a tortured look in his eyes, and I was tempted to go further, but I felt Jasper's arms around me.

"Alice, you have to stop, you can't imagine the pain and guilt pouring off of him right now, I can barely stand it." He warned.

"I want him to burn with the pain she's lived with for the past few months." I spit out.

Now he was shaking with rage. "You think I haven't been in pain? Every day without her has been torture for me. It was all I could do not to run back to her, beg her to take me back." He was seething inches from my face now. "I did it for her, it was all for her. You know nothing about what I've gone through." He turned away from me and stalked to the living room.

I felt the anguish in his words and almost reached out to him. Instead, I followed him and stood behind the couch where he was sitting. "You're right Edward, I don't know what you've gone through. I can see you are in more pain than I've ever seen you in before. I know you thought it was best to remove us from her life, but I wish you had trusted me on this." His shoulders slumped forward. "You hurt me too Edward. You didn't trust me, as if I have ever led you wrong before. You were the one to first say 'no one bets against Alice', and yet, you were the one who did. She was my best friend, and you took her away from me too." You didn't even let me say goodbye.

He took a deep breath. "All I can say is that I'm sorry, and I know that's not enough. I know you're not ready to forgive me. I don't even know if Bella will. We're all going to have a lot of healing to do, but at least we're together now."

Carlisle joined us in the living room and we all looked up at him expectantly. "She's going to be fine, at least physically. I have no way of knowing what her emotional state is going to be. I went ahead and gave her a sedative." He held his hand up before we could voice our objections. "I know you all just want her to wake up, but she is extremely weak and just went through the most traumatic experience in her life. When she wakes up in our house, seeing us, seeing him, it's going to be more than she can handle. We need to get her to Denali safely before we can allow her to wake up. It's better for her to rest and heal before we expose her to any more emotional turmoil. Let's get this place cleaned up, and the jeep loaded."

Edward, Jasper, and I went upstairs and checked in on Bella. I sat on the edge of the bed and held her hand. She had some color to her now, and seemed to be resting peacefully. Edward leaned over her and kissed her on the forehead. Despite my anger towards him, my still heart lurched for my brother. He was a fool to try to give her up, they were made for each other.

"Edward, why don't you go pack. Jazz, there's a box of garbage bags downstairs, we'll need to take any evidence with us and burn it later. I'll get her dressed and pack a bag of clothes for her. We'll go shopping later for whatever else she needs."

The boys departed, and I pulled out some comfortable yoga pants and a t-shirt from my dresser. I unwrapped her from the comforter, and tossed the towels on the floor. She had always been thin, but I could tell this past month had taken a toll on her. She hadn't been eating. The cuts I had seen earlier weren't limited to her arms, there were more on her torso and thighs, all places that could be hidden. They sent a chill down my spine, knowing she had been trying to relieve the pain my brother had caused. I wondered how she could do that, knowing her reaction to blood in the past. A small pinprick in Biology class made her pass out, I have no idea how she managed to stay conscious with the amount of blood those cuts had spilled. Now that she would be with us, we'd be able to keep a better eye on her, we'd be able to smell it instantly if she decided to continue. Hopefully my brother's return to her life would put an end to it though. I dressed her, but my pants were definitely too short. Esme's clothes might fit better, they are closer in size. Carlisle was in his study, and I went to make sure it was ok with him, if I went through her clothes. He didn't see a problem with it, so I grabbed whatever I could find that was comfortable and warm and took them back to my room to pack. Jasper was standing over her bed, gently stroking her arm, and my heart ached with the tenderness of the scene. If he hadn't snapped at her birthday party, we would still be here and Edward and Bella would never have been apart. I knew he cared for her more than he liked to admit, and the guilt he felt had made him commit to gaining better control. I let him have his moment, while I pulled out a bag to put the clothes in.

Edward came back into the room then and I heard a low growl as he took in the scene. Jasper was too close to her for his comfort, and considering she had fresh wounds, he was on edge. Hearing Edward, Jasper backed off immediately. He wasn't going to hurt her. Quit being a jerk. He just glared at me. We worked together in tense silence putting the towels and used medical supplies into garbage bags. A few minutes later Carlisle joined us, a couple bags in tow as well.

"Ok, let's load up the jeep." He said.

We loaded up the trash bags as well as our luggage. On the way back up we made sure nothing else was out of place. Both Edward and Carlisle moved in to pick up Bella, but Carlisle yielded, seeing the pleading look in Edward's eyes. He scooped her up along with the blanket she was wrapped in, and I grabbed the pillows.

"We should probably burn the sheets too, don't you think?"

Jasper nodded thoughtfully as he pulled them from the mattress and brought them with us. With that, we were ready to leave. We would have to start over somewhere else, with new identities, but our family would be together. We would eventually be happy again.

Edward laid Bella on the back seat and slid in beside her, cradling her head and shoulders in his lap. I sat on the other side and held her feet. Carlisle pulled out of the garage, and we were on our way, without another glance behind us.