A/N: Thanks for your patience, everyone. Some of these chapters may seem shorter, but that's only because I like to keep it to one POV at a time. But Bella will be the predominant POV for the remainder of the story. If I'm feeling daring then I'll throw some more Jake in there, too.

Thanks so much to MissStrawberries for allowing me to beta for the first time on her story, Facing Up. If you aren't familiar with her work, please visit her profile. She is one of the good ones!

Enjoy!

BPOV

Edward seemed so happy with my decision to erase his memories of Mike. I would also be erasing those memories from his family, with one exception. That conversation had been a difficult one for me, but went better than I expected.

Flashback:

"Carlisle, can I talk with you privately for a moment?" I asked, making sure that nobody else was in hearing distance.

"Yes, of course, Bella. Do you want to go to my office, or someplace else?"

"Your office is fine." We could keep our voices low enough to speak privately, and everyone was so preoccupied with preparations to leave they probably wouldn't notice our absence. We walked into Carlisle's office, and I couldn't help but look sad when I saw the bare walls and empty bookshelves, everything all packed and ready for our flight.

He sat down on his desk and motioned for me to sit in the only chair left. He was obviously going to let me do the talking here.

"Carlisle, I have a very big favor to ask you, and I want you to feel free to say no if you want."

"Of course, Bella. What is it?"

"For a long time Edward, Rose, and Alice have been asking me to erase their minds of Mike's memories. I haven't been able to do it for some reason, thinking that it was important for those memories to be within my reach. But now I'm thinking that we all need a fresh start and to not remember Mike. I'm planning to erase everyone's memories of him, but I was wondering if you would be willing to be a sort of, well….secret keeper?"

"I'm not sure what you mean, but I'll help in any way I can."

That was Carlisle. Always willing to help, and always the diplomat of the family.

"I'd like to leave your memories intact. I know if there was ever a time that those memories would need to be resurrected, you would be the most reliable source and the most impartially credible. I'm truly hoping that it's never necessary to bring them up again, but at least one of us will know the true history if needed. I'm ready to accept the same memories that everyone else receives as well."

Carlisle put his hands together under his chin and seemed deep in thought for a moment. Then, he looked into my eyes and asked, "Bella, is this what you really want?"

"I can feel it in my heart, Carlisle. Still as it may be, I know that I need closure. Probably even more than Edward realizes. I also know that what I'm doing later today will change a lot of lives, but for the right reasons and for the better. Would you agree with that?"

"Yes, of course I do." he answered. "I'm willing to take on that responsibility, but I'm curious what scenario you envision where these memories might be needed."

"I'm not sure myself, actually, to be honest."

"Alright, then, I'll gladly be your secret keeper, Bella. And in my opinion, nobody should ever underestimate your strength ever again."

"Thanks." If I could still blush I would have been bright red by now. Carlisle gave me a fatherly hug and we both continued with our preparations for the day.

I didn't plan to tell Edward about my conversation with Carlisle. It wouldn't matter anyway and would only make him worry more, if that were possible. Soon I wouldn't remember the conversation, anyway, so it really didn't make any sense to bring it up. Still, it felt very strange not to share something with him. I was usually able to tell him anything.

Only a few moments had passed when Edward could begin to hear the pack's thoughts.

"Bella, are you ready?" Edward asked me with an intense look on his face, a combination of worry, fear, anger, and love.

"Yes, I need you to be very quiet while I concentrate, though." Edward nodded, and as I leaned over to kiss him he whispered "I love you, Bella."

I closed my eyes and began concentrating. I had to pull every part of my mind together to be able to focus only on what I was doing. I had to block every other thought from inside my head, and that is something not easily accomplished by a vampire.

Slowly, I could feel the power building, like a darkly tinted bubble that would get bigger and bigger with each exhaled breath. I carefully placed inside the bubble those memories I wanted to erase – the existence of vampires. All of the legends, the stories, and all of the history surrounding the Quileutes' fears and anger. The discovery of vampires so long ago, the scent, the tribe's knowledge of the 'cold ones.' All that would be left were a bunch of ghost stories, the ones that the rest of the world didn't really believe, either. Everything right up to, and including, my change from human to immortal and the rage that it caused within the tribe.

Once the dark bubble was powerful enough inside my head, I concentrated on its size. I forced the bubble to spread over a five mile radius, just to make sure all of my intended victims were reached. Based on what the pack was doing today, nobody on the reservation would be leaving the safety of their homes, so I was confident that the entire reservation would be affected by my actions.

In order to project the bubble out of my head, I had to literally push with all of my physical might. When I had first practiced my ability, Edward once commented that it resembled a human lifting an extremely heavy object. I more likened it to childbirth, having had the experience firsthand.

As I pushed the bubble out, I could feel it traveling away from me. It floated, but was still attached to me somehow. Then I could sense them. My closest targets were only about 100 yards from us now. Without opening my eyes or moving a muscle, I could sense seven of them, and they were very much aware of our presence.

Then I let it snap from my mind like a rubber band being shot through a classroom.

Almost immediately I heard several yelps and whimpers, then nothing. Complete silence.

I slumped into Edward's arms, having exhausted myself for a moment. About ten seconds later, having fully recovered, I sat up and looked into Edward's eyes. He was staring at me with concern, but when I smiled at him he seemed to relax and even managed a smile himself.

I quickly looked around me. Nothing looked different, but I could hear movement in the forest not far from the rock we sat on.

"Bella, you need to hide." Edward whispered low enough that nobody else would be able to hear. I felt confident that nothing had gone wrong, but I quickly jumped behind the rock and crouched low, behind where Edward sat. Just in case, I was not leaving him alone.

I could hear someone approaching from the front. They suddenly stopped, apparently noticing Edward sitting there.

"Oh, hi." I recognized the voice at once - Jacob. The tone and surprise I heard in his voice told me what I needed to know. It had worked.

"Hi there." Edward replied.

"Um, sorry to bother you – are you lost?" Jacob asked Edward.

"No, actually, I was just enjoying the scenery before heading back to the trails just west of here."

"Oh, okay. Me and some friends were just hiking, too, but we live nearby on the Quileute reservation. So, you're not from around here?"

"No, I'm from Chicago. But I have some cousins in the Port Angeles area, and they recommended this area as a good place to explore."

"Yeah, it's really nice out here, just watch out for the bears and the mosquitoes."

"Mosquitoes?" I could hear the smile on Edward's face as he asked this.

"Yeah, well, with all the rain, you know, they're pretty nasty around here. And the bears can be pretty territorial, so you want to steer clear of them, too. We don't get too many mountain lions, though. They haven't been much of a problem lately." Jacob was explaining local wildlife problems as if he were trying to frighten a four year old with the boogey man.

"Sure. I'll definitely keep my eyes open."

"Okay, then, well I guess I'll see you around."

"Thanks, take care." Edward gave Jacob a wave, and I could hear him leaving to go find the rest of the pack.

"Coast is clear, love." Edward turned to reach for me after Jake was out of sight, and I happily crawled back onto his lap, covering his face with kisses and holding him as close as I could.

"I didn't expect that." I admitted to Edward. "I didn't think we would see any of them, after…"

"Bella, that was amazing. Do you realize that we just had as much proof as we could ever hope for that this plan will work?"

"Yes, I know. It was strange, though, knowing that I was responsible for Jake not knowing who you were."

At that Edward raised an eyebrow at me. "You're not having doubts, are you? Because if he had recognized me, you know what would be happening right now."

A shiver ran down my spine as I thought of that possibility. "No. No doubts. Just a strange sense of playing God."

"I see. I think that if you want to involve a higher power in what's happening here, then you have to accept that you were given the ability to spare lives today. You are using your powers only for good, not evil." He gave me his crooked smile, then, and I had to think about what he said. It made me feel a little better.

"I wonder what's going to happen to him now." I thought aloud.

"Well, I'm not a fortune teller, but I am willing to bet that Jacob Black will go on to lead a much more normal life as a teenage boy than he would have a few hours ago.

"I never had a chance to tell you Carlisle's theory on the wolves before, but I have a feeling that Jacob won't ever phase again."

"Why not, Edward?" Now I was worried. Had I done something to Jake's genetic makeup?

"Because what Jacob told you is true – they are descended from wolves, or shape-shifters. However, what triggered their phasing was the need to protect their tribe from the presence of a great threat – vampires. So long ago when we first came to Forks, back when Ephraim Black was the leader of the tribe, that's when the first sign of the genetic mutation became obvious.

"Carlisle's theory is that the mutation will lie dormant as long as there is no threat. He became even more convinced of this when it did remain dormant, when our family stayed away from Forks. Once we came back, and they became aware of the perceived threat, the current tribe began reliving the transformations that they had only heard of in legends. More and more of them started to take on the shape-shifting abilities once we came back in growing numbers."

"Oh." was all I could say. I felt like I still had so much to learn about the intricacies of immortality.

"Are you ready to head back and begin phase two?" he asked.

"Definitely. You should probably call and let everyone know it went smoothly."

Edward had his cell phone out and was dialing as I finished the sentence.