16

The newest vampire on the field crouched low and actually growled at the nomads, a shudder went through her at the sound. She wasn't frightened by it… strangely she wanted to hear it again, it gave her warm tingles throughout her body. All Bella could see from behind was that he was at least 6 feet tall and had a shock of bronze hair that looked totally windswept. Oh and he had a great looking ass. She blushed slightly at the thought.

The newcomer sent a look towards Jasper, and before she could even draw breath to scream they had jumped on the female nomad and torn her head from her body. Bella watched fascinated and horrified as the body fell to the ground, twitching. For a second she thought she was seeing things, but then realised that the woman's body really WAS getting to its knees as if it was going to go looking for her head, like some sort of cartoon character. Jasper now had a hold of the head, by its long red hair. Bella felt nauseous at the sight and was just grateful that there was no blood to make her feel faint as well.

The male nomad had sped off when the woman had been attacked, and a blur of colour headed after him, Emmett following too, hard on his heels. Soon the pair returned, Emmett dragging the man's body by one leg, and the vampire Bella guessed was Edward, carrying his head.

Rose and Esme had also been busy; while the two had chased after the fleeing vampire they had flashed to the side of the clearing and gathered some dry branches from under piles of damp wood. Carlisle quickly made a fire and they threw the woman's remains onto it. The body was already reducing to ash in the seconds it took for Edward and Emmett to toss the remains of the second nomad on top of the first. A cloying smoke swirled around, catching in her throat as she watched Emmett greet his long lost sibling at last.

"Welcome back brother!" he held his hand for a high-five. Edward grinned at him and slapped palms. Bella held back, hoping that with everyone else around him he wouldn't notice her. With him being a mind reader she didn't want him to have any reason to be thinking about her because she had to admit the main thought in her head was that he was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. As she was stood with a family that could give super models an inferiority complex, that was saying something.

He was young, she knew from Carlisle's history that he was her age, just 17 when turned and that he was actually 109, but he seemed to be several years older than the age his body had stopped at. His jaw was chiselled and totally without any hair, something she was thankful for as she always thought that men with 'designer stubble' looked like they needed a wash. His skin was pale and totally smooth, like the rest of the family… without blemish or flaw. But there was just something… more… he was, plain and simple, totally gorgeous.

"Why did we need to kill them?" Carlisle asked his voice seemingly detached, bringing her out of her musing.

"They were hunting you from the start. James has been travelling the States for over thirty years taking out anyone he sees as either stronger than him, or weaker." The boy shrugged.

"I won't ask what category they put us in, it was stupid of them to attack so many." Jasper said, Bella had to agree. What had made them think they could face six vampires and live?

"I don't know how he thought he would get away with it, but the woman was confident that they would survive, her talent was evasion, that is how they have survived and killed so many over the years, she may have caused serious problems, and they planned on taking you all out one by one if they didn't manage in one battle." Edward told them and Bella realised that he had been reading their thoughts all along. She blushed hoping that he was too busy to read her thoughts, as they were not exactly what she wanted him to know. The more she tried to stop thinking about him, the more she thought. The more she thought, the brighter her blush became as she hoped to God that he was busy digging in someone else's mind. Her eyes involuntarily went to his shirt, his chest, outlined so beautifully in white cotton. Then his legs… oh boy he filled a pair of jeans so well!

"I'm glad to see you, son." Carlisle hugged him. The rest of the family blocked her view as they gathered around him to greet him, except Alice who stood next to her and Jasper who stood at one side.

"I'm sorry." Alice's voice was low but full of pain. Bella watched as Edward looked at her, probably reading her thoughts; she hoped that he would finally forgive her friend for her mistake so long ago.

He nodded his head, it wasn't a full on acceptance, even Bella could see that, but he didn't snarl or reject Alice immediately.

"And this is Bella!" Emmett told him with a huge grin, grabbing her arm and dragging her forward. She blushed even more, wishing Emmett had forgotten she existed for the moment.

Edward backed away quickly; he actually held his hands up as if to ward her off. Bella, a girl used to rejection in her life, was cut to the quick. Suddenly Jasper fell to his knees groaning in pain, and then he stood, and at high speed ran off to the far side of the clearing and disappeared into the trees.

Tears started in her eyes as she noticed the new man look towards Carlisle, who suddenly ran to his side and grabbed him by the arms, holding him back. "Edward?" his father asked, but as soon as he felt his father's arms holding him he started to struggle, throaty growls echoed across the clearing and his once dark gold eyes had turned black as he looked at her with what she believed was a mix between fear and loathing.

"Bella!" Alice grabbed her and lifted her from her feet and sped to the far side of the clearing before she could form a protest, or even get her breath to try. As soon as they were far enough away, Alice stopped and it seemed Edward regained control.

"What happened?" she asked her friend.

"I don't know, something isn't right." Alice told her, her gaze unfocussed as she searched for a future that would tell her what was happening in the present.

She watched as the men of the family argued with the newcomer. Bella knew something wasn't right… well it was obvious! However the quicker she was away from the family, the sooner they could find out what it was and Edward could recover and join them.

"Let me go Alice!" she struggled but her friend had a solid grip on her arms, her eyes were still unfocussed and she wasn't really 'there'.

"No, Bella I'm sorry something has gone wrong." Alice said, her voice distant.

"If Edward cannot stay because of me, let me leave. I don't mind, it's more important that your family is back together. I'll be fine, just point me at the closest road." She remembered they said she was 40 miles by road from Forks; she could probably hitch a lift easily enough for that distance if she found a main road. Though she wasn't sure how far away the road was from where she stood… she hoped it wasn't too far, her and nature trails did not mix any more than her and ice and snow.

"Don't be silly Bella," Rose suddenly appeared at her side. "Everything will be fine. Edward is just overreacting as usual." She sounded confident in her opinion but Bella wasn't too sure. She had noticed that Edward's eyes were gold, if he was a human eater they would be red, so what had suddenly made this 'vegetarian' thirst for her blood? She remembered Jasper's reaction to her. He had successfully been around humans for decades and yet had problems being close to her… was there really something about her that smelled THAT MUCH better than usual? Something that made even dedicated vegetarians thirst for her blood? No matter, that wasn't the point anyway.

"I thought I was supposed to help bring Edward back, not drive him away." She really didn't want to be responsible for Edward leaving again. The family had worked so hard for so long to get him back. It wasn't as if she was important to them, she was just a friend, and a human at that. Edward was family!

Alice and Rose tried to assure her that she had, but she could see him glaring at her from right across the field.

"If it hadn't been for you being here, we wouldn't have been, if we hadn't been here at this time, the nomads would have hunted us down later, somewhere else and Edward wouldn't have been around to read their intentions. You saved us all Bella." Alice shook her slightly, the grip on her arms not slackening in the slightest, she looked across at the young man again, he was stood rigid, it seemed like every muscle in his body was tensed.

Alice locked gazes with him as Bella tried in vain to free herself from her friends grip.

"I'm ok," Edward suddenly said. He relaxed slightly but the Cullens all looked at Alice and waited for her to nod before they relaxed their own stances.

Edward looked towards his father and nodded, then he shrugged, whatever they were saying silently over there seemed to have been decided because Bella suddenly found herself on Rose's back and the green of the forest was once more flashing past them.

Emmett and Esme kept close to the side of them and Alice seemed to be less than half a stride in front as they travelled. To start with she caught occasional glimpses of Carlisle, Jasper and Edward as they travelled, but they got further and further ahead.

Suddenly they broke into the clearing surrounding the Cullen house. Bella stiffly got down from Rose's back and stretched her legs; the bitter cold seemed to have penetrated right to her bones. She moved towards her truck, happy to realise that for once in her life she had done something right. The Cullen family was whole again, and she had helped. Now she just wanted to get warm.

"Where do you think you are going?" Rose asked catching her arm.

"Home. Edward is back, you don't need me anymore. It's been nice to meet you Edward, I know you will be very happy now you are back with your family, they have missed you loads." She smiled at him, happy to see him stood next to his father and mother at last, after all the years that they had missed him. She dug her keys from her jeans pocket.

"You are just going to leave?" he asked, she looked at him puzzled. Of course she was going to leave. They had a lot of catching up to do and could do without a stranger hanging around to complicate matters, especially one like her, who it seemed smelled really good to vampires.

"Well, yes. You all have some catching up to do, and Charlie will be wondering where I am," she looked at her watch; it said it was only 11:45! What a lot had happened in such a short time!

"Charlie will not be wondering where you are for a good 6 hours Bella!" Alice said, latching her arm through Bella's.

"You are a part of this family now Bella, it wouldn't be the same without you my dear." Esme said as Rose latched onto her other arm, they lifted her slightly so she couldn't put her foot flat to the floor (not easy for them to do as Alice, though strong, was so much shorter than she was).

"But…" she gestured to Edward as best she could with both arms being held. She didn't want to upset the young man so she lowered her voice. "I don't want to make him uncomfortable." She blushed as she realised he heard her anyway; whispering did no good when around vampires.

"Please, don't leave." He said, he looked like he was in pain. Bella debated silently what she should do, but really as she had a vampire holding onto each arm, she didn't have a lot of choice.

"Are you hungry?" Esme asked, "we never considered that you may need to eat, and it is lunch time."

"I… I could eat," she stuttered. Esme ran into the house. The rest of the family followed, leaving just Alice, Rose and Bella outside. Rose and Alice looked at her until she shrugged in defeat and then sent her a beaming smile.

"Great!" Alice partially dragged Bella up the two steps to the front door. They walked into the house and to the dining room. The Cullens were already seated around a huge dining table, and a plate of PB&J sandwiches sat by one of the empty seats. She would rather have had something warm, but she would never tell anyone that. The Cullen's, of course, never turned the heating on, so the house wasn't that much warmer inside than outside.

She sat, rather self consciously, knowing that she didn't belong. She hated anyone watching her and couldn't face eating in front of everyone. She picked up the first sandwich and picked at the edge of the bread, keeping her eyes down on the food to prevent herself looking at Edward. He sat directly across from her, his chair pulled right up to the table as if trying to trap him against the heavy wood. His fingers gripped the edge so hard she thought she could see dents forming. She shifted uncomfortably under his glare… well she believed he was glaring at her, her face blushed brightly and Jasper pushed away from the table, he moved to stand by the window and cracked it so he could get fresh air.

"Sorry Jasper." She whispered.

"Not your fault darlin'" he told her.

"Edward?" Carlisle drew everyone's eyes to him as he started the long delayed conversation, "I have to apologise, son. We should not have allowed Alice to move you from your room."

"I over-reacted." Edward's voice rasped, he breathed out heavily and joined Jasper by the window before inhaling again.

"Look, I better leave." Bella got to her feet against the protests of most of the people in the room. "I make you uncomfortable."

"Please, stay." Edward's voice softened when he looked at her, "I think you deserve to hear what I have to say, I can read from my family that it was actually you that really understood first why I left. I would like you to stay… please?"

She was mesmerised by the way he looked at her, her knees weakened and before she knew what she was doing she had sat at the table again.

"Ok," she folded her hands into her lap, and broke eye contact with him, she tried her hardest not to think of the beautiful man looking at her, she was sure she would die if he was reading her mind at that moment, her blush grew, both Jasper and Edward took a step back, almost bumping into each other in their quest for Bella-free air.

"Where should I start?" he asked.

"How about from what happened that day?" Rose asked.

Edward took a breath. "Right." He said.

He couldn't understand why he wanted her to stay. His throat was burning and it was taking all of his willpower to stop himself from attacking her, but he definitely didn't want her to leave. He looked at the girl sat so demurely at the table. Demure was not a word used much in this day and age, but that was the word that fit her. At first glance she didn't seem to be anything special, just another human… not overly pretty but in no way could she be termed not pretty either… but as he looked longer she seemed to change, until he came to the conclusion that she was actually quite stunning in her fragile beauty and he tried again to penetrate her mind. What he wouldn't give to find out why she blushed so brightly? Her skin was so translucent it was hard to believe it offered her much defence from the outside world; her whole make-up was a study in autumnal colours, brown eyes with tiny flecks of gold, hair that was about 50 shades of brown with copper highlights.

She sat in such a way that he could almost sense her shyness, much as Jasper would. She kept her head down, hiding behind the curtain of hair that fell almost to the table in front of her. From the way she held her frail-looking shoulders, slightly hunched, as if she was expecting a rebuff at any moment, he realised that she was uncomfortable, was it because of him? Any normal human would be uncomfortable sitting at the same table as a group of vampires, but she had known the family some time so he doubted it was that. She squirmed and Alice shouted in her mind for him to stop staring at her.

He couldn't help himself; he studied what he could of her face. She wasn't beautiful in a classical sense, it was true, not like Rose had been when she was human, but her face was interesting, which was even more fascinating. It wasn't quite symmetrical-her narrow chin out of balance with her wide cheekbones; extreme in the colouring-the light and dark contrast of her skin and her hair; and then there were the eyes, brimming over with silent secrets, her lower lip was fuller than the top one and she bit into it in a nervous reaction. His mind was stuck on her, like a scratched record. Again he counted the colours of her hair, he breathed in her scent… only partially masked by the chemical strawberry smell of her shampoo… brown, pale, copper, pale, gold, strawberries, woman.

He felt a hand land on his shoulder and he realised he had taken a step towards her. Jasper flooded him with calm and he stepped back again to the fresher air. How were the others managing not to kill her? He read his family (including Alice and Jasper fully in that group for the first time in his thoughts). Only Jasper had a problem. The others all thought she smelled delicious, but nothing they could not manage to ignore, so why did she smell so good to him?

Emmett got to his feet and stood in front of him, breaking his line of sight to Bella and reminding him again that the family were waiting for him to speak.

"Sorry, yes," he shook his head to clear it of her scent. "1950. I couldn't tell you why I was so very angry when I came home and found my things in the garage, I suppose it was as Bella suggested, that I was angry that you had all just allowed a stranger to walk in and displace me as if I meant nothing," he held his hands up to stop the protests he could read in the minds of his family. "I could see that both Alice and Jasper meant no harm, but I was tired of being the odd man out, and another mated couple made it just that much worse. I drove straight to Denali and asked Eleazar if I could stay. He agreed, and promised to tell you he had not seen me if you asked. I actually sat in a snow drift for almost 2 months, trying to figure out why I just could not let it all go and come back to you. In the end though, it was Tanya that made me leave. She just would not leave me alone, forever suggesting… well, you all know Tanya." He didn't want to say out loud what Tanya had been suggesting while Bella was there. He didn't think she was too naïve or anything, he just didn't want her to think badly of him and he had been brought up in a time when you just did not discuss such things in the presence of a lady.

"I left and went to England; I knew I had family over there, human family I mean. My father was only second generation American and my mother third. I spent several years wandering around the UK, looking up relatives that I could never introduce myself to, it was all very depressing. In the end I gave up and enrolled at St Andrews medical school and qualified as a doctor… again." He grinned at Carlisle's face as he shared that information. "Unfortunately as you know, we can only look just so old, I couldn't find anywhere to practice, not even in the newly formed NHS, and so I crossed into Europe, I made sure I stayed well clear of Italy, in fact I never went further south than Luxemburg," he nodded at Carlisle when his father speculated that he was avoiding the Volturi brothers. "yes, I didn't want to be recruited, and I have a feeling that Aro would find my ability just too tempting," his father agreed, so did Jasper. "I played the stock markets for a while, but it got boring, so went looking for something else I could learn. I enrolled at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, in Trondheim, as a chemist student, and at the end of the course was asked if I would like to join up with an expedition that was looking for oil in northern Russia. We journeyed north to the Arctic Circle and then after the rest of the expedition left I stayed behind. There is now a small town up there where the expedition actually struck gas rather than oil, it is dark for almost 6 solid months of the year and quite overcast during the daylight months. They didn't care about how young I looked, and I managed to set up a small clinic and stay there for almost 5 years. You have no idea how grumpy polar bears get," he grinned at Emmett. "but let me tell you, reindeer are disgusting." He grimaced and everyone laughed.

"After some more wandering I eventually came back to the states in 1989 and set myself up in Ithaca, not far from our old house actually. That was the first time I realised you were actively looking for me. I still wasn't in the mood for a reconciliation so as soon as I caught Carlisle's thoughts, I packed up and left. Well you all know about that." He looked guiltily at the family. He hadn't really given much thought to how they had all felt back then; he just knew he wasn't ready to rejoin them. "I joined up with a couple of nomads that I came across, we travelled for a while, but they kept trying to convert me back to their way of hunting, and I had no interest in doing that again, so we parted company. In 2005 I got wind of someone hunting vampires, several of the covens that I had met over my years wandering had mysteriously disappeared, no one seemed to know what had happened to them. One of them was Maria."