Italics sections are from the original story from the mind of SM.

IPOV

Flashes that made no sense flew across my eyes, ripping my skull apart in the process. I watched memories that I still had no connection to play out in painful detail and colors; like I was there again. Many of them were too short or moved too fast for me to even have a chance at understanding what I was seeing, but I knew what they were... kinda. Others were so slow I missed nothing, everything getting laid bare before me.

It was odd, it wasn't like I was seeing things through my old eyes. I was more of a spectator, watching from the window pane above the action as the scene unfolded, but I could FEEL, I could REMEMBER the time I watched from a distance. Christ, I looked like shit.

"Carlisle! Her hand!"

"He bit her." Carlisle's voice was no longer calm, it was appalled.

I heard Edward catch his breath in horror.

"Edward, you have to do it." It was Alice's voice, close by my head. Cool fingers brushed at the wetness in my eyes.

"No!" he bellowed.

"It's your decision, Edward," Carlisle said. "Either way, I can't help you."

I writhed in the grip of the fiery torture, the movement making the pain in my leg flare sickeningly.

"Edward!" I screamed. I realized my eyes were closed again. I opened them, desperate to find his face. And I found him. Finally, I could see his perfect face, staring at me, twisted into a mask of indecision and pain.

"Alice, get me something to brace her leg!" Carlisle was bent over me, working on my head. "Edward, you must do it now, or it will be too late."

Edward's face was drawn. I watched his eyes as the doubt was suddenly replaced with a blazing determination. His jaw tightened. I felt his cool, strong fingers on my burning hand, locking it in place. Then his head bent over it, and his cold lips pressed against my skin.

At first the pain was worse. I screamed and thrashed against the cool hands that held me back. I heard Alice's voice, trying to calm me. Something heavy held my leg to the floor, and Carlisle had my head locked in the vise of his stone arms. Then, slowly, my writhing calmed as my hand grew more and more numb. The fire was dulling, focusing into an ever-smaller point. I felt my consciousness slipping as the pain subsided. I was afraid to fall into the black waters again, afraid I would lose him in the darkness.

"Edward," I tried to say, but I couldn't hear my voice. They could hear me.

"He's right here, Bella."

"Stay, Edward, stay with me…"

"I will." His voice was somehow triumphant.

There was a nauseating blur of colors and next I knew I was in a hospital bed. I watched from the sidelines as my mousy human self began to come too, remembered the pain of the injuries. I rubbed my leg as a phantom burn ignited from my mind.

My hands were all twisted up with clear tubes, and something was taped across my face, under my nose. I lifted my hand to rip it off.

"No, you don't." And cool fingers caught my hand.

"Edward?" I turned my head slightly, and his exquisite face was just inches from mine, his chin resting on the edge of my pillow. I realized again that I was alive, this time with gratitude and elation. "Oh, Edward, I'm so sorry!"

"Shhhh," he shushed me. "Everything's all right now."

"What happened?" I couldn't remember clearly, and my mind rebelled against me as I tried to recall.

"I was almost too late. I could have been too late," he whispered, his voice tormented.

"I was so stupid, Edward. I thought he had my mom."

"He tricked us all." It didn't escape me THIS time that he didn't discount my statement.

"I need to call Charlie and my mom," I realized through the haze.

"Alice called them. Renée is here — well, here in the hospital. She's getting something to eat right now."

"She's here?" I tried to sit up, but the spinning in my head accelerated, and his hand pushed me gently down onto the pillows.

"She'll be back soon," he promised. "And you need to stay still."

"But what did you tell her?" I panicked. I had no interest in being soothed. My mom was here and I was recovering from a vampire attack. "Why did you tell her I'm here?"

"You fell down two flights of stairs and through a window." He paused. "You have to admit, it could happen." I hissed at that. That hawty mother fucker. Like he's so fucking perfect that he never had an accident. At least as a human I was smart enough to stay away from sick people, you son a bitch.

I crossed my arms and glared at the copper coated dick. Not paying attention to what was going on until Edward moved away and sat down, pretending to sleep. Lifting my eyes, I felt myself freeze, a soft and quiet whine coming out before I could stop it. I knew that face, I knew that scent, I knew HER.

I whimpered, "Mommy." I just stood there, taking in the concern and love on her face as she talked to my human memory, the words escaping me in my grieving. I missed her, I knew I did but I couldn't tell you how I lost her; I just knew I had. It wouldn't be long after this that I would lose her. I cried out when she stood and left, trying to call her back for just a little longer knowing without knowing that this was the last memory I had of her alive.

And now I knew who to blame for that.

It was a while later that I was able to once again hear the words in the room, bringing my attention back to my human self and the soon to be dead son of a bitch.

"I'll be the first to admit that I have no experience with relationships," I said. "But it just seems logical… a man and woman have to be somewhat equal… as in, one of them can't always be swooping in and saving the other one. They have to save each other equally."

He folded his arms on the side of my bed and rested his chin on his arms. His expression was smooth, the anger reined in. Evidently he'd decided he wasn't angry with me. I hoped I'd get a chance to warn Alice before he caught up with her.

"You have saved me," he said quietly.

"I can't always be Lois Lane," I insisted. "I want to be Superman, too."

"You don't know what you're asking." His voice was soft; he stared intently at the edge of the pillowcase.

"I think I do."

"Bella, you don't know. I've had almost ninety years to think about this, and I'm still not sure."

"Do you wish that Carlisle hadn't saved you?"

"No, I don't wish that." He paused before continuing. "But my life was over. I wasn't giving anything up."

"You are my life. You're the only thing it would hurt me to lose." I was getting better at this. It was easy to admit how much I needed him. He was very calm, though. Decided.

"I won't do it, Bella."

Sliding up behind him, I lowered my voice, a dark whisper full of promise and pain, "I'll remind you that the road to hell is paved with good intentions right before I send you to the Devil himself."

I glared again at the distorted image as the colors around me began to fuzz over before I found myself in tree looking down at my human self and Edward once again, the second memory that I recalled with Peter the day I woke up. Funny, as I watched it play out in detail before me, I remember being a little more on the crushed, devastated side of upset. Seeing it now, I was ready to put my new found hunting ability to work.

Edward leaned against a tree and stared at me, his expression unreadable.

"Okay, let's talk," I said. It sounded braver than it felt.

He took a deep breath. "Bella, we're leaving."

I took a deep breath, too. This was an acceptable option. I thought I was prepared. But I still had to ask.

"Why now? Another year—"

"Bella, it's time. How much longer could we stay in Forks, after all? Carlisle can barely pass for thirty, and he's claiming thirty-three now. We'd have to start over soon regardless."

His answer confused me. I thought the point of leaving was to let his family live in peace. Why did we have to leave if they were going? I stared at him, trying to understand what he meant.

He stared back coldly.

With a roll of nausea, I realized I'd misunderstood. "When you say we—," I whispered.

"I mean my family and myself." Each word separate and distinct.

I shook my head back and forth mechanically, trying to clear it. He waited without any sign of impatience. It took a few minutes before I could speak. "Okay," I said. "I'll come with you."

"You can't, Bella. Where we're going… It's not the right place for you."

"Where you are is the right place for me."

"I'm no good for you, Bella."

"Don't be ridiculous." I wanted to sound angry, but it just sounded like I was begging. "You're the very best part of my life."

"My world is not for you," he said grimly.

"What happened with Jasper—that was nothing, Edward! Nothing!"

"You're right," he agreed. "It was exactly what was to be expected."

"You promised! In Phoenix, you promised that you would stay—"

"As long as that was best for you," he interrupted to correct me.

"No! This is about my soul, isn't it?" I shouted, furious, the words exploding out of me—somehow it still sounded like a plea. "Carlisle told me about that, and I don't care, Edward. I don't care! You can have my soul. I don't want it without you—it's yours already!"

He took a deep breath and stared, unseeingly, at the ground for a long moment. His mouth twisted the tiniest bit. When he finally looked up, his eyes were different, harder—like the liquid gold had frozen solid. "Bella, I don't want you to come with me." He spoke the words slowly and precisely, his cold eyes on my face, watching as I absorbed what he was really saying.

There was a pause as I repeated the words in my head a few times, sifting through them for their real intent.

"You… don't… want me?" I tried out the words, confused by the way they sounded, placed in that order.

"No."

I stared, uncomprehending, into his eyes. He stared back without apology. His eyes were like topaz—hard and clear and very deep. I felt like I could see into them for miles and miles, yet nowhere in their bottomless depths could I see a contradiction to the word he'd spoken.

"Well, that changes things." I was surprised by how calm and reasonable my voice sounded. It must be because I was so numb. I couldn't realize what he was telling me. It still didn't make any sense.

He looked away into the trees as he spoke again. "Of course, I'll always love you… in a way. But what happened the other night made me realize that it's time for a change. Because I'm… tired of pretending to be something I'm not, Bella. I am not human." He looked back, and the icy planes of his perfect face were not human. "I've let this go on much too long, and I'm sorry for that."

"Don't." My voice was just a whisper now; awareness was beginning to seep through me, trickling like acid through my veins. "Don't do this."

He just stared at me, and I could see from his eyes that my words were far too late. He already had.

"You're not good for me, Bella." He turned his earlier words around, and so I had no argument. How well I knew that I wasn't good enough for him.

I opened my mouth to say something, and then closed it again. He waited patiently, his face wiped clean of all emotion. I tried again. "If… that's what you want."

He nodded once.

My whole body went numb. I couldn't feel anything below the neck.

"I would like to ask one favor, though, if that's not too much," he said.

I wonder what he saw on my face, because something flickered across his own face in response. But, before I could identify it, he'd composed his features into the same serene mask.

"Anything," I vowed, my voice faintly stronger. As I watched, his frozen eyes melted. The gold became liquid again, molten, burning down into mine with an intensity that was overwhelming.

"Don't do anything reckless or stupid," he ordered, no longer detached. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

I nodded helplessly.

His eyes cooled, the distance returned. "I'm thinking of Charlie, of course. He needs you. Take care of yourself—for him."

I nodded again. "I will," I whispered.

He seemed to relax just a little. "And I'll make you a promise in return," he said. "I promise that this will be the last time you'll see me. I won't come back. I won't put you through anything like this again. You can go on with your life without any more interference from me. It will be as if I'd never existed."

My knees must have started to shake, because the trees were suddenly wobbling. I could hear the blood pounding faster than normal behind my ears. His voice sounded farther away.

He smiled gently. "Don't worry. You're human—your memory is no more than a sieve. Time heals all wounds for your kind."

"And your memories?" I asked. It sounded like there was something stuck in my throat, like I was choking.

"Well"—he hesitated for a short second—"I won't forget. But my kind… we're very easily distracted." He smiled; the smile was tranquil and it did not touch his eyes. He took a step away from me. "That's everything, I suppose. We won't bother you again."

Lips pulling back from my teeth, I didn't care that this was a memory, that it wasn't actually real and I was in my past. I dove from the branch I had been sitting on, missing him by inches as he vanished from my human eyes. With a snarl, I tore off after him, completely hell bent on ripping him to shreds, only for that to also be taken from me as I hit a clear glass wall, the edge of my human sight. I was bound by only what she could see, by what my mind could see; held back once again by my humanity in getting even, getting my vindication.

I pounded a fist on the edge of my subconscious, whether to break it or to release my anger, I didn't know, but I knew I was never doing that shit again. It fucking hurt.

Dropping to my knees, fingers in my hair, I screamed out, "You fucking coward! I will end you; if it's the last fucking thing I do, I will DESTROY you, you ass ramming passive aggressive little fucktard!"

Opening my eyes again, I was out of the woods, out of my memories, my coal black eyes staring into the worried red ones of Peter. I said nothing as I stared at them, watching the different tones swirling a dance of concern and confusion in the glossy depths. I didn't move a muscle, not a millimeter as I watched a cool understanding ignite as the liquid blood of his last meal congealed and solidified.

He knew... he knew I remembered. For once, things were on my side... I knew just where to find him. Whatever punishment I face, however much time I was giving in servitude to Aro for it, I would take and live it with a smile on my face as long I got to wipe the crooked one off his.

PPOV

I am over a hundred and fifty years old, if you include my human years, but I couldn't remember a time that four minutes and thirty-seven seconds lasted that kind of eternity. It might have well as taken years for my mate to open her eyes again. As much as I wanted to feel relief to the fact that she did, the pure, raw, undiluted hatred, anger and sheer level of malice that was in the demonic black orbs looking at me held that off, beat it back with a bat of iron as I stared at her.

I couldn't blink, couldn't move as I realized what that was... her memories came back. I didn't know exactly which ones, but I could level a guess. That was the only thing that kept me from pulling her into my arms and never letting her go. I might not have been a part of the past she just saw, but she never really took her anger out on the one that deserved it. With the shit going on behind her eyes, I wasn't positive she wouldn't take a chunk out of my ass just because I was the closest person to her.

When she finally did speak, her voice was so dark, so deep, so shrouded in a growl that only a seasoned vet that had a LOT of newborn experience would understand her.

"He's dead."