I have a feeling i'll be wrapping this up in three to four chapters. I've been going through a brilliant writing breakthrough and pleased of how the story is going so far. Hope you enjoy! R&R!

Chapter 25

Rosalie regained her composure and façade of a sane mind when it was trying not to reel about her guilt as she sensed Emmett, Jasper, and Edward running through the vast forest laughing having a blast and rough housing around with each other wrestling. She rolled her eyes thinking that boys will always boys and laughed carefree feeling slightly a bit relaxed not so tense. Alice strolled through the door broke out into a loving smile towards Rosalie as she caught her brief, genuine laugh and her heart melted in joy to see her mood dramatically change into her typical self. At that moment, Esme pulled up into the garage parking her red Mercedes-Benz and exiting the vehicle with three large bags full of supplies for the renovation project. The door swung open effortlessly and Esme appeared instantly grinning widely at both of them.

"Esme welcome back!" Alice exclaimed cheerfully.

"Ditto I missed you so much mom," Rosalie said compassionately smiling back and took the bags from her hands whisking them to her den. Returning speedily to the foyer, Rosalie gave Esme an embracing hug her eyes closing taking in the moment for it would be the last time she'd hug her.

"How have both of you been?" Esme asked curiously both her hands resting on a shoulder of Rosalie and Alice.

"Well bored with the majority of you gone for awhile, but Rose and I found random stuff to pass the endlessly slow time along. We went hunting a few days ago was good. Today I headed to Phoenix for some shopping!" Alice spoke evenly not bringing up Rosalie's oddly glum mood past two days.

"I just did random crap nothing really exciting! Alice and I watched TV for god knows how long, and now I wonder how that thing and never get sick and tired of it after several hours," Rosalie stated candidly.

"Well I'm glad to hear you guys did something. Next time this won't happen again since I know its unusual for the house to be as empty as a ghost town like it was. Have any of you heard from the others," Esme wondered.

"I actually called Carlisle on my way to Phoenix. He wanted me to give his regards to the rest of you. The conference is going great and wants to come home tomorrow afternoon earliest if he is able to."

"I can't wait till everyone—"

Rosalie spoke but was interrupted when Jasper followed by Emmett moments later who released his joking headlock of Edward. Before he could notice Esme and Rosalie, Jasper heading towards Alice like a magnet the corners of his mouth curling into a beam and his topaz eyes twinkled with love and gladness to see his beautiful wife. Taking her into his arms, he effortlessly spun Alice around in a circle placing her back on her feet and pulled her into a brief, avid kiss.

"I missed you too, honey," Alice said her gaze fixated on Jasper as if they were the only people in the room with them longingly gazing at each other.

"That was not cool!" Edward said slightly annoyed fixing his hair that had been ruined when Emmett had him in that headlock.

Laughing huskily, Emmett responded sarcastically, "Well, I'm sorry!"

Edward momentarily glared at him then the annoyance faded when he saw Esme, Alice and Rosalie.

"Esme! Alice! Rosalie! It is great to see you all!" Edward stated overjoyed soaking in this family reunion.

"It has been awful boring and lonely without you guys!" Rosalie admitted.

"I must agree with that, babe. That was an awesome hunting trip up in the Canadian Rockies. Though I'm kind of fed up with Edward's pain in the ass stubbornness," Emmett noted about his trip and adding a laugh at the end.

Rosalie ran to Emmett wrapping her arms around his neck in an eager embrace her head rested on his shoulders. She pulled away and shared a prolonged glance with him before she said, "You can't imagine how strange it was for Alice and I having the house to ourselves!"

"You could have thrown a party to pass the time," Edward suggested to her.

Alice's eyes glittered at the mention of the party and she commented, "Damnit! We could have had a party, Rose! How did I ever not think of that? Well it wouldn't have been as great if it was only the two of us, but would have been a hell of lot better than whatever we did. We could have invited Bella and our Denali friends. Oh well that isn't relevant now since you guys have returned!"

"I don't know. But I wouldn't have minded a party," Rosalie said pretending to not make a face at the mention of the name Bella.

"I truly missed all the fun, perkiness of you, Alice," Emmett spoke affectionately.

"Let's take this family reunion to the family room," Esme proposed striding away from the foyer next door to the family room taking a seat on the couch as the others followed closely behind. Jasper sat next to Esme pulling Alice to sit on his lap and Edward took the seat next to Jasper. Emmett sad down on the smaller matching sofa nearby the large sofa with Rosalie taking a seat next to him closely her head resting gently on his shoulder with his hand around her waist.

"I see you got plenty of supplies for that renovation project you vaguely mentioned to us about before you left. Tell us about this project," Edward mentioned inquisitively.

"I have officially done with renovating this house which has made a drastic change from the condition it was in when we moved into it. I found an adorable, small cottage deep in the woods of Forks when I was talking a leisure walk one day. It looked like it had been abandoned for years with its dilapidated state. I though I would modernize it for a country house which could be a pleasing break from reality when it gets chaotic. I had the layouts and sketches for the refurbishments shouldn't take too long with its relative small size compared to the log cabin I restored. Once the building is done I'm going with warm, soothing natural tones to compliment its peaceful surroundings."

"That sounds like a wonderful project! I could help with the colors to help even out the project. You seem to have a full plate I'm sure you could use some help. I don't have much planned, so this could help me break my boredom," Alice advised.

"That sounds like a perfect plan! Of course I would not mind if you wanted to help, Alice. I never stop any of you from wanting to help on my projects. You're always free to give a helping hand."

"Good to hear," added Rosalie. "I have absolutely nothing to do since I tinkered with all the cars in the garage repairing any damages to the body and interior and engine of the cars. All of them are in the spotless condition, so I might join Alice helping with this restoration."

"Thanks Alice and Rose," Esme gushed merrily. "This will be a blast. You guys will love it and get to see why I enjoy doing these kinds of projects."

The guys sat silently listening to the ladies chat while wondering about their own concerns and musings. Jasper thought deeply grinning to himself about Alice and how much he missed her the past two days also his life as a vampire changed when she found him. Edward could hear Jasper's thoughts about Alice and how much she has changed his life for the better. It was lovely when the thoughts he heard were positive and loving since he had no idea how to not listen in on people's thoughts despite all his practice to create a shield to block the consistent thought running through his head like a radio with no chance to be filtered out. Emmett was slyly smiling off into the distance thinking about having amazing night of passion with Rosalie upon his return. Edward's face contorted into an I-did-not-need-to-know face trying to shake out the dirty thoughts and images Emmett had. Esme was longing for Carlisle to return home and surprised that a conference could take so long when it didn't seem that interesting to her personally. Rosalie sat still clutching to Emmett, but something about her behavior struck odd to Edward like she was attempting to get her mind off something with her death-grip on Emmett as if it were comforting. Raising an eyebrow in wonderment, Edward went back and forth between asking Alice straight forth what was wrong with Rosalie and if she had been acting odd while they were gone or just read Rosalie's thoughts.

Eventually, people will question about Bella's whereabouts, so this won't be peaceful and loving for long. Why did I have to give into my temptation for that succulent human blood? I'm just going to enjoy this moment as long as it last. I don't want this moment to ever end and just hold Emmett, Rosalie bickered with herself but kept it from surfacing to the main thoughts of hers.

Why the hell is Edward staring at us like that? Emmett inquired mentally taking note that Edward wasn't staring off into space minding his own damn as he usually attempted to pretend to be.

I wonder where Bella is. How she is from the last time visited her at Charlie's house? I hope she's alright, but knowing her she probably got injured from a slight trip on the sidewalk or something like that. If anything happens to her, Edward will be utterly devastated and shall wallow forever never getting over her suffering by him. I would hate to witness that could barely stand him watch the rest of us longing for a mate of his own. Now that he has found Bella I've never seen him happier in over a century! Alice mused without letting Edward catch that or he'd be suspicious.

"Alice, how has Bella been? Last time I checked she claimed she said she was going over to La Push to visit Jake whom I don't mind because I know she is safe there with the wolf pack protecting her and especially Jake"

Amused, Rosalie added intriguingly, "You don't mind her hanging around the reeking dog? Funny Edward since last time I recalled you were blazing insanely jealous of Jake. You hated how much of a connection he had with Bella also how he was trying to steal her away from you."

"Well I don't mind him because he keeps her safer than I have, since I took her to that baseball game where James became obsessed with her hunting her down rabidly. She nearly died at the ballet studio! I've put her in more danger than I ever intended to. She would be better off with him, but I love her too much to let her go because I'm selfish and possessive when it comes to Bella Swan," Edward clarified.

"Don't you ever think that ever since she met you that her life has been much more dangerous than it used to. I'm glad you finally found someone for you after these long years of being alone suffering watching the rest of us with out mates. Bella loves you too much to ever go to that mutt, but she loves him only as a close friend that's it nothing more! You can visit her tonight if it eases your mind to know of her location," Alice corrected his flawed statement.

"Yes I do love her so much I never imagined that you could love someone this much. It's just the more she associates with us she increases the risks of being danger more than a typical human. I don't to be the reason she gets hurt badly for my own damn selfish wishes and wants!" Edward exclaimed gesticulating with his hands then buried his face in his hands sulking.

Placing a comforting, firm hand on his shoulder and spoke reassuring Edward, "I know you tend to blame yourself for anything that happens to those you care for, but it isn't always you fault its usually just a horrible coincidence. Let's go visit her now so you can be assured that she is fine and you're letting your own paranoia get to you and twist your logic."

Raising from Jasper's lap, Alice got up smoothing out he creased outfit then headed toward the door sending an apologetic look at Jasper then glanced at Edward, who was still deciding whether to check up on Bella or not giving her space not always hovering around her treating her like an incapable infant. Edward sighed under his breath and rose walking to Alice barely making eye contact with her. They walked outside as Alice gently shut the door behind them going to the garage to Edward's silver Volvo. Edward started to the passenger side, when he hesitated while holding the car door handle wondering to back down on his decision. Alice didn't have to get a premonition to figure that Edward was having conflicted emotions making him waver in his decision to head to Forks.

Interrupting his self-conflicting thoughts, Alice said, "This is odd I know going between your logic and your own desire but if you don't see her you'll be bothered if she's out of harm's way which can make you even more paranoid making you thoughts twisted and slowly going insane."

Sighing, Edward said weakly, "You're right, Alice. Let's go it would be nice to see her after being in the wilderness for two days persistently thinking about her.

Alice and Edward got into the Silver Volvo and Alice speed out of the long driveway heading to Forks taking the back roads avoiding traffic on main routes. The entire ride was utterly silent as they exchanged occasional brief glances. Despite the darkness outside, Edward gazed outside the window at the surroundings admiring the beauty of the land for he could see the slightest detail that most human eyes weren't able to see at night. Vampires' vision was dramatically sharp along with their other natural senses. Focusing on the road, Alice gazed at the road barely while she concentrated on her own thoughts and her concern for Edward as he constantly beats himself up whenever Bella get hurts. The dull pain in his eyes flickered inanimately and face contorted into a indignant appearance that Alice had to force herself to keep her hands on the steering wheel because she longed to give Edward a caring, reassuring hug at that moment.