Chapter Sixteen: Reunion

B Pov

I couldn't be anymore nervous. School had past at an alarming speed and before I had time to really worry about what was going to happen after school, it was already the end of last period. The bell rang so loudly I jumped a foot in the air in surprise. A few people looked at me for a moment before scurrying out the door, glad that the day was finally over and unwilling to spend another moment at school.

But I could take all the time I wanted, I needed time to collect myself. I walked slowly toward my locker and even slower toward my truck. Alice was waiting, leaning against the passenger side with a carefully guarded expression. It wasn't cold or friendly; it was more calculating than anything. However, she didn't need to say a thing for me to be able to understand what her expression meant.

I hope I'm not making a huge mistake.

I smiled weakly at her before climbing into the driver's seat and putting the truck into gear. The passenger door shut quietly and we were already making our way down the highway toward the Cullen house. The silence in the truck was suffocating- the only noise was the overly loud engine.

I don't think I'd been as nervous as I was now. It was like waiting to hear if you'd be found innocent or guilty, though I didn't know what the Cullens wanted to say to me. They had every reason to be angry at me and tell me that they never wanted to see me again; I think it would hurt most if I heard him say it though.

It hurt to think about him. Like the last time I had seen him and the last words I'd heard him say. There was no doubt in my mind what they were going to say to me now; it was only a matter of how I'd be able to handle it. I would just have to prepare myself for this, start building the walls I'd spent most of my life learning how to make. Now I was only wondering about who was still on my side, if anyone. Even Alice seemed to be carefully guarded toward me, not that it surprised me. But the dead silence and the expression that said she was alert and watchful but also deep in her own thought- it was so unlike Alice at all.

It was like seeing the sun become a dim glowing light, like a tall ancient tree had suddenly been cut down. It was unsettling to see how different she was, it was like seeing someone completely different.

Not long after we pulled out of the Forks High's parking lot, I was making my way down the winding driveway that led toward the Cullen house. And even sooner after that I saw the white Victorian styled house.

When I stepped out of the truck I heard Alice's door shut just as quietly as when she had entered. The woods around the house were unnaturally still, the clouds above gray and puffy- no doubt it would rain very soon. I walked toward the front door like a prisoner on death row, and it made it no better that the house seemed to stare down at me accusingly. I wondered numbly if that was because I was nervous or someone else inside was staring at me like that.

Like a dream, I floated through the open door and followed Alice into the dining room. It was just the two of us at first, and to that I was grateful. Alice motioned me to sit down, as I pulled out a chair and took a seat.

"The others will be back soon, they just went out hunting," Alice said in an uncharacteristically quiet and calm voice. I nodded and fixed my gaze toward the middle of the table, looking anywhere but the chairs where they would sit or where Alice was standing. "I'll be back soon; I've just got to go make a call."

A moment later she was gone, like she'd suddenly disappeared into a wisp of smoke. I hadn't ever seen them move that fast, which meant they weren't bothering with keeping appearances around me anymore.

I don't know why that bothered me but it did.

I took the time alone in the dinning room to compose myself and wait patiently- even though on the inside I was screaming in anxiousness. And then I remembered the lullaby my mother used to sing to me when I was young, the tune and the words themselves came smoothly- falling into my mind as I hummed the tune.

Angels circle far above

Showering flowers down on her

On a girl who thinks she's in love

A veil of golden light, a halo they say

A muse that sits silently upon your shoulder

On a bed of roses is she lay

While others spread lies in spite

She speaks words of truth

And spreads her golden light

I ran through the lullaby three times in my mind before I found I was fully composed. It made me feel a little happy to think of the days before anything changed- back when I was just Bella. My parents were happy and we lived like nothing could ever go wrong- but that's how every story is, something always goes wrong. But, I was so sick of focusing on the bad things. I wanted to remember everything good, because isn't that what everyone works for? The good times, to make themselves happy?

"Bella." I looked up into the deep brown eyes of my mother. To a seven year old me, there was no one more beautiful than Renee. She had soft brown hair that she always pulled into a crazy looking pony tail and a kind expression that always melted any kind of pain from a scraped knee. She was just good like that.

Charlie was the best dad there ever was. He didn't spoil me or anything but he also wasn't too strict. Things with the two of them were very balanced. Every afternoon during kindergarten, I'd come home and Renee would already be making me a grilled cheese sandwich. When Charlie came home on Fridays, it was with the promise of something fun to do on Saturday.

"Bella."

Renee was smiling down at me again, her expression stern but her eyes dancing with mock scolding.

I opened my eyes and found I was still in the dining room of the Cullen house. Renee. That wasn't a memory but it was more like a dream. It was almost as if Renee was telling me not to give up. I found myself with a smile on my face that mingled with a few tears that ran down my face. How strange I must have looked to anyone else.

"Bella." I turned around slowly as I heard my name. The voice wasn't surprised or angry sounding, not even laced with disappointment. Edward was standing in the doorway between the dinning room and the living room. His eyes were focused on my face, two depthless pools that seemed to be reading me. A slight frown tugged at his lips and he was at my side instantly and wiping away the stray tears.

I held my breath, waiting for me to wake up and realize I'd fallen asleep in biology again. But I didn't wake up. There was only Edward and I, the two of us like a reunited couple. But he hated me, he had practically said it that last time I had seen him. Nothing could have changed since then; he would have hated me more once he had time to remember everything that had happened.

And then, as if reading my thoughts, he pulled me into his arms- leaving me completely bewildered. All the composure I'd worked so hard to build snapped and I was sobbing into his shirt. It was so strange, to be crying. I hadn't cried since the three days after Charlie and Renee died. But that was so long ago.

It didn't matter that I had prepared myself for the burning hate in his eyes or the coldness of the others, because I had been completely blind sighted by the fact that he may still love me. Even if it was only a little bit, even if it shocked me to think about him still loving me- if ever.

I was shaking in his arms and he didn't even seem the least bit angry or anything, all I heard was the gentle soothing reassurances he was whispering to me. I didn't care that Alice and everyone else was filing into the room as well, quietly observing the two of us locked in this embrace. I felt like I was holding onto my only lifeline, clinging on for dear life. Because Edward was what kept me holding on, and he was the reason I'd chosen to make the deal with the hunter side of myself. Things had to change if I wanted to be with Edward.

And I would have to be the one to change them.

E Pov

It shocked me to see how vulnerable she was. Alice's vision didn't mean anything to me, I knew this was the same girl I'd fallen in love with. She may have changed her name and twisted some simple facts around but she was the same. Elizabeth Marigold of Isabella Swan, I loved her and I was positive she loved me to.

I was just as surprised as she was when I pulled her into my arms but I wasn't complaining, it felt like she belonged there.

The others followed me through the doorway and took the remaining seats around the dinning room table- the perfect prop for our human façade. Carlisle cleared his throat quietly but I was the only one to look up.

I'm sorry to interrupt but we have something to discuss –Carlisle.

I nodded and pulled back. Bella looked up at me with watery eyes. "We've got to talk." She sniffed but nodded and stood up slowly before seating herself in the chair she had been sitting in before. She sat stiffly, as if waiting for hateful words to be exchanged. She kept her gaze focused on the table, refusing to look at anyone.

I had to prove to her, I had to tell her or she'd get the wrong idea about this. I bent toward her ear and whispered the words I'd been dying to say since Alice had snapped some sense back into me.

"I still love you, Bella." I heard a slight intake of breath, her eyes widened but still focused on the table, as if not daring to believe it. I smiled to myself and sat back down at the nearest available chair.

The rest of the family was strangely sympathetic toward her. Carlisle looked at her with fatherly compassion, Esme patted her hand lovingly and Emmet looked like a big brother who was oddly serious- like he wanted to make her feel better. Jasper looked at her knowingly- like only Jasper could, while Alice watched Bella with sad, sisterly eyes. Rosalie was Rosalie; her expression was an odd cross between sympathy and frustration.

"Bella." She looked up at Carlisle as he said her name, her cheeks now faintly tinged pink. He smiled warmly at her but at the sight of his smile she flinched slightly, as if not finding his smile comforting.

"You're still family to us," Alice said quickly. Astonished, everyone looked at her. Alice had seemed strangely quiet today but now she seemed to be vibrating in urgency- as if what she had to say just couldn't get out of her mouth fast enough. She seemed a bit desperate for Bella to know this, and Bella herself seemed amazed at the startling rush of words. In essence, Alice had said what everyone else had wanted to say but had somehow not found the words for.

If vampires could cry, Alice would be sobbing. She looked at Bella with pleading eyes, like she was asking for Bella's forgiveness. Any human could have blinked in the time it took Alice to spring from her seat and be at Bella's side, grasping her hands and looking at her with the same sad eyes.

"I'm so sorry Bella! I never should have believed- I should have given you a change. This doesn't change anything, I'm so s-sor-

Bella placed a hand on Alice's and smiled at her softly.

"Why are you sorry? I should be asking for your forgiveness; I lied to you and I put you in danger- I made you worry. You all wasted your kindness on me…," she looked away from Alice for a moment and toward the floor, still blinking back tears.

"We didn't waste a thing," Esme said with a warm smile. "Alice's right, you're family to us and nothing's changed."

I watched the family as each spoke reassurances to Bella who seemed to take in each word carefully, slowly it was beginning to make the broken girl in front of me seem more whole. It bothered me that I'd blind to how hurt she really was.

"You're always my little sister!" Emmet laughed and hugged Bella with a force that normally would have crushed a human.

"Well I have to tell my side of the story before everyone rushes off with the idea that the vision was wrong," Bella said slowly after she'd once again settled onto the chair. The smiles dimmed, but just a bit.

"What do you mean?" Carlisle's thoughts matched his words, and he wasn't the only one confused.

What's she talking about? Of course it didn't happen! –Alice

I'm getting a bad feeling about this… -Jasper

So does that mean…it couldn't, could it? –Emmet

Oh my! This really can't be easy can it? –Esme

Of course not. A hunter's life is always more complicated. Still, I hoped.

–Carlisle

Bella sighed sadly before continuing. "I had to, it was the only logical choice." She closed her eyes for a moment, as if remembering something. "I don't exactly know what this means…but I had to do it to be with Edward."

"What do you mean? You didn't have to do anything to be with me." She shook her head.

"It was the only way to change the way things are, otherwise…they'd come after you."

Just when I thought nothing else could surprise me. But some small part of me was whispering to me that I always knew that, since I found out who she was. She was a hunter, I was a vampire- the two just didn't mix. We were even less compatible than a human and a vampire. It was an unwritten law, it was against nature- of course they'd come after me. They'd probably go after her as well. It wouldn't have surprised me to find if there were already hunters after me.

But that determined expression on Bella's face, that burning hatred in her eyes. She stood angrily and looked close to storming out the door. At first I thought she was mad at me or something I'd said but not once she began speaking again.

"So that was why I had to do it. I had to protect everyone from them and I may be good at what I do but I'm not that good!"

And then I repeated the words that didn't quite make sense in this situation but had been echoing in my mind since the night Bella was taken away. It took almost losing her for me to realize how desperately I loved her and how much I needed her- it made me see how much she needed me too.

"I understand."

________________________________________________

And so chapter 16 ends! Somewhat fluff but it was pretty important. I was so into it that I had to skip over the first author's note and get right into the chapter! I haven't decided yet on what to do next exactly or how the project rose would affect Bella but there's definitely going to be more hunters involved soon, and more devious plots! MWHAHAHAH! PLEASE REVIEW!

-V