Thank you for your support, you guys. Just a heads up, I'm changing my tense. I'm sorry but I've just gotten used to writing in present and I think it'll be easier if I just stick to what I'm better at.

APOV – the day before Bella got attacked in her motel room.

Every day, another visions comes, if not several. Not only are they forbidden but they are a weight on my shoulders. It's almost impossible for me to ignore.

Today, I decided not to ignore them, because today, I saw Bella nearly get raped in a dirty motel room. It was the most terrified I have ever been.

"Edward, please answer your phone. It's about Bella. I had a vision of her being in danger," I hiss into the phone, leaving Edward another message. I know he's been ignoring them, because if he heard me mention her name and the word 'danger' in the same breath, he'd definitely return my call.

"That's it, Jasper. If he doesn't answer my next call, I'm going to find her, even if he cuts ties with me. I can't stand by and watch Bella go unprotected, living with a broken heart."

I turn to my mate, leaning against him for comfort. He wraps his arms around me, saying nothing. I know how he feels about this. He feels so guilty that he refuses to go against Edward's wishes.

No matter how many times I tell Jasper it wasn't his fault, he still drowns in regret. It was an accident. Of course, these things should be taken seriously but did Edward really need to command certain abandonment of the woman he loves?

I look into Edward's future, trying to seek something out. The last time I checked in on him, I got vision after vision of him curled in a ball in some filthy motel room. Isn't it fitting that he would follow the same path as Bella?

I see Edward lying somewhere dark, under a bed perhaps. His face is statue-like, completely unmoving. His cell buzzes insistently and he sighs, shutting his eyes tight. After a few moments, he resigns himself, reaching in his pocket. He holds the phone to his ear, listening to me speak through the receiver. His eyes fly open as my words sink in. He bares his teeth, rolling out from under the bed.

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

When I come to, Jasper is gazing at me patiently, waiting for me to explain my vision.

"He is going to listen to my next call, I think. He'll come," I grin, letting myself feel hopeful for the first time in months. He won't be able to resist going to her.

I pick up the phone.

BPOV

"Are you sure you're okay?" The kind woman asks as she buckles in the little boy, securing him in a tattered black car-seat. His eyes are dark and warm, reminding me of Jacob. I feel a small pang of something like home-sickness at the sight of him.

"Yes, I'm fine. I honestly can't thank you enough for what you did back there. You saved my life. That guy could've killed me."

Maybe he should have, I think to myself. Maybe I would have preferred it that way.

"I'm just glad I was there when you screamed. I was meant to be visiting a friend and I was ten minutes late...must've been fate."

"Oh, maybe you should call your friend and warn them about Patrick?"

"Nah, don't worry about Leon, he's a big guy. He can handle himself," she assures me as she climbs into the driver's seat. She raises her eyebrows at my lap and I glance down, confused.

"Seatbelt? I don't need to point a gun at a man and kill an assault victim all in one day."

"Oh! I'm sorry," I mumble, scrambling for it. I buckle in and she smiles, holding her hand out.

"I'm Kelly Bates," she says warmly, sympathetically, and I shake her perfectly manicured hand. "I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances."

"I'm Bella Swan. Nice to meet you," I smile as authentically as I can, feeling overwhelmed. Not ten minutes ago I was showering, worrying about my next job opportunity and now here I am in stranger's car, running from a more obviously dangerous stranger. I didn't even have time to put underwear on. Today is surreal.

Kelly had helped me stuff my few belongings in the trunk of her old maroon station wagon, quickly explaining that we should probably high-tail it back to her place. Patrick might have his own weapon stashed behind the counter with our names on it.

"You sure you're alright? You look a little pale, girl." She glances at me before checking her mirrors. I smile unconvincingly as her car groans to life, stalling once. At the sound of a prehistoric vehicle, I am once again reminded of home, bringing about that all too familiar pain in my torso.

"I'm always pale," I laugh dryly. It sounds all wrong, hollow. I'm glad that if Kelly can tell something's not quite right with me, then she'll just blame it on the near-rape experience.

"Okay, if you say so. What were you doing at that skanky old motel anyway? You look like you're in the wrong neighbourhood, Bella." We turn onto the main road. I rake a hand through my wet, uncombed hair. Kelly wants to know about me and I'm going to have to explain myself. I owe that much and more.

"I've been looking for work here. My mom lives in Jacksonville but I just wanted to distance myself a little," I say, glancing at her. She nods.

"I get you. Moms can be a little insane sometimes," she chuckles.

"You have no idea," I smirk as she smiles knowingly at me.

"Oh I do," she nods her head back in the direction of the toddler in the backseat, who seems to have fallen asleep. His little snores soften the sharp edges of my hollowed chest.

"Is he your son?" I smile my first genuine smile in a long time. He is undeniably adorable.

"Yes," she grins, flashing pearly white teeth. She is so pristine, starkly contrasting with her clothes and car. If Kelly has much money, she must spend it on beauty and baby clothes, because her little boy seems well dressed. "His name is Reilly."

"He's very cute."

"Yeah, you wouldn't say that at three am when he's screaming the house down." She turns out onto a narrower road, seeming to take a more scenic route to wherever we're going. I glance at her, noticing her face turn a little more serious.

"So...I get that you wanted to get away from home and everything but that still doesn't really answer my question. I don't mean to pry or anything but..."

"I've been looking for a job, just enough to rent a little apartment and get me by," I explain, cutting in. "I used my savings to pay for the cheapest motel I could find. I've been staying there for about two weeks but had no luck on the whole job front."

"Jeez, girl. You must have really wanted to get out of dodge. I mean my relationship with my parents was shitty, so I get where you're coming from."

"Yeah. I stayed with my dad for a couple of years but he lived in a small town and it just wasn't for me," I lie, aware of how weak my excuses are. I can't exactly tell Kelly I am, banishing myself to a land where nobody knows me, can I?

"I know what you mean. I'm a city girl at heart, too," she grins.

We drive in silence for a while, following a never ending road, going deeper and deeper into the outskirts. We roll the windows down because it's a hot, muggy night. Reilly sleeps through the whole thirty minute journey.

The car slows as we approach a small house, appearing out of nowhere in the Floridian overgrowth. She pulls into the yard, parking in a dugout spot by the little yellow house, which is slated with painted wood. The little upstairs windows are hidden by pastel blue shutters with sunflowers painted on the front. Everything about this house is faded and aged, rustic looking. It is beautiful.

"Well, here we are," Kelly says, throwing me a friendly smile before jumping out of the car. I have to give the passenger door a fair shove to get out, causing her to wince apologetically.

"This is your place?" I ask, staring at the tiny building in wonder. It looks like an antique doll house.

"Yeah, sure is. It was my grandma's, but she left it to me in her will."

"That was really generous of her," I say, waving Kelly away when she offers to help me with my bags.

"We were really close. It felt like she was my real mom, to tell you the truth. She pretty much raised me. Not only that but she took me in when I was eighteen, unemployed and pregnant. She left me this place for me and Reilly, without a stitch of debt to pay on her behalf."

I feel myself smiling genuinely for the second time today, stunning myself. Kelly doesn't see it as she moves lithely to the other side of the car, gently grasping the handle to Reilly's car-seat, lifting him with ease. Her grace is almost inhuman, something I'm all too familiar with.

"It must've been nice to have such a close bond with her. You must miss her." The words sounds silly coming from my mouth, like they should ooze emotion, when really I don't have a lot of feeling left in me to verbalise. I worry that Kelly might think I'm being anything but genuine.

"I do. She passed about six months ago and to tell you the truth, every day is a struggle without her. It's all a grieving process, though," she says matter-of-factly as she fishes out her keys to unlock the faded blue front door.

Kelly's words make more sense to me than she probably realises. Of course, the one I love isn't dead, not really. It still feels like he is, though, because no matter how hard I wish for him to return to me, he never will. The most important person I ever met is out of my life for good and there's nothing I can do about it.

And just like Kelly said, every day is a struggle. I just don't know if I can process this grief the way normal people do.

"Have you eaten, Bella?" she murmurs quietly as we walk in, trying not to wake the baby. She kicks off her pumps and I follow suit, stepping out of my flip-flops.

"I'm good, don't worry about it."

"Oh don't be silly. I'll rustle us up some of my finest frozen fish-sticks," she winks, setting Reilly down in his car-seat.

"Are you sure? I'm already imposing enough," I say, suddenly feeling like I've dropped back down to earth. I'm in a complete stranger's home, about to be eating her food and possibly crash on her couch. She has to be the kindest person I've met.

"Of course. If I didn't want you here, honey, I wouldn't have brought you. You've obviously had a tough time. You go ahead and sit on the sofa. Relax."

I do as she says, feeling exhausted from all the adrenaline that had stampeded through my system less than an hour ago. Before I know it, I feel myself succumbing to another dreamless sleep, like the hundreds I'd had since he left me.

EPOV

My journey to my family's home in the Alps is a short one, namely because I hadn't ventured far from them after my last 'visit', but also because I was determined to get there in double time. The very centre of my universe is set to be in danger, according to Alice. I can only hope that she'd been lying to me about that to lure me back home.

Somehow, I can't imagine her going that low, unfortunately.

I'd gone from an incomprehensible state of pain to unmanageable fear in the second Alice had told me Bella would be in danger. I was on my feet and barrelling toward my clairvoyant sister before I'd made the conscious decision to do so.

I pelt full speed toward my destination, the snow thick under my feet, which are now bare after my running obliterated my shoes. I can see the new house in the distance, still under Esme's construction.

The sound of my family's collective thoughts begin to become louder in my head. I ignore the babble of their inner narrative, unwilling to hear whatever my arrival inspires in their minds. I'm here to see Alice.

I pick out her thoughts, hearing the tenor of her mind clearly against the others' as I approach the house.

Edward, you're here! Don't panic, I've been looking in on her and she's fine. Just stay there, I think it's better if we talk one to one.

Relief sinks into my bones as I reluctantly plant my feet in the snow, waiting impatiently as Alice appears in front of the house. As she runs toward me, I notice that she is attempting to keep her thoughts clear. Still, she can't conceal her reaction to me as her brow pinches is misplaced concern for me.

You look weak. Have you not eaten since your last visit?

I shake my head once, keeping my face blank. I don't need anyone caring for me, not now.

"Shall we hunt?" She suggests quietly, nearing me now.

"I need to know how she is. I will worry about feeding, later," I reply. Alice shrugs, slowing to a stop at least ten feet away from me. I can see myself reflected in her mind's eye, how she perceives me as 'edgy'. She thinks I look hungry, which makes me throat burn in desperation. I will see to my needs once I know that my love is safe.

"This is the vision I saw the other day, before I called you," Alice says, looking me in the eye sternly, as if determined to hold me to reality. "You have to keep calm, brother. I foresaw another outcome shortly after."

"Just show me," I whisper.

In the next second, I'm seeing a motel room that looks familiar to the one I'd just been staying in, with a few different choices in bad decorating. Someone is knocking at the door, pounding it insistently. I can hear that the shower is on in the en suite.

"Just a second!"

I feel my stone heart contract at the sound of her voice, calling frailly to whomever is banging so aggressively on the door. Suddenly, a heavy-set, middle-aged balding man barges in, using his own key to unlock the door. His eyes shift around the room as he moves to stand by the bed, placing his hands on his hips.

I feel a growl rumbling in my chest as she opens the bathroom door, wearing only a towel, her hair soaking wet. She jumps when she sees this strange man in her room. He definitely isn't supposed to be there.

I watch on in horror as Alice patiently plays out her perfectly recalled vision, wincing with me as my love screams out for help. I see the disgusting, putrid excuse for a human being attack her, wrestling her down onto the bed. I watch her give up, falling with him like she's nothing more than a feather.

I feel sick.

"Stay with me, Edward," Alice whispers, watching me lose my bearings. I'm not sure I'm able to deal with this. My vision turns red and all I can see is her attacker's neck snapping under my fingers.

I rein myself in, tuning back into my sister's vision. I hear my love weakly whisper a simple admission of 'I can't' as the brute forces himself against her and my heart breaks for the hundredth time. I am so in love with this woman I can't bear it and she has potentially been violated.

No. I wouldn't believe that. Alice wouldn't have wasted time waiting for my approval if Bella would be in any real danger. I had to keep my head clear.

'I love you, Edward," she whispers, a single tear streaking from her eye into her mahogany waves. I feel pressure on my knees and realise I'd fallen at the sound of her declaring her love for me. My whole body shutters as pain wracks through me. I love you too, Bella. With everything I am and everything I can't be for you.

I choke out a dry, tearless sob as my mate goes slack, giving herself up to the violation. The evil man smiles in cruel pleasure as he breaks the last piece of spirit I left her with.

"I think you've seen enough," Alice murmurs softly, placing her hand on my shoulder. "I just needed you to understand, to see the danger Bella is in without one of us there to protect her. She is only human and any old pathetic piece of fucking scum that comes along can hurt her with ease. Danger will find her, wherever she goes, whoever she's with. As long as you're with her, she can be safer, and you can both be happy."

"Show me the next vision, Alice," I whisper, barely recovering. My stomach twists and turns in knots. I never want to think of Bella in that vulnerable state again.

I watch as Alice goes through the motions of the same vision and when I gaze at her questioningly, she tells me to bear with her. She continues to show me the same vision until the moment Bella declares her love for me again. This is where the vision changes.

The door to the room bursts open, revealing an ebony skinned woman, not much older than Bella. She pulls out a small pistol from her purse, yelling out as she aims it at Bella's attacker.

Hope blossoms in my chest, sweeter than any blood I've ever tasted.

The woman threatens the man with enough aggression to startle even Bella, who is obviously being rescued by her. When the attacker flees, they both frantically get her stuff packed away. I wonder, absently, if Bella knows this girl. Are they friends?

The vision fades off as they both run to an old, worse for wear Chrysler neon with an infant in tow. Alice and I share a small smile, revelling in relief.

It pains me to see how my sister shares my love for Bella. Two dead hearts, broken.

So what do you guys think? What's Edward going to do! Let me know your thoughts in the comments, I really appreciate a review! All my love, Kate.