Virtual chocolate-coated Edwards to stavanger1 for basically figuring what Alice was up to quite a few chapters ago.

Edward:

I tore out of the house and down the road, completely out of control, hoping to pick up Alice's scent where she'd gotten out of the car. I was so blinded by rage that I missed it at first, only picking it up when I doubled back. Once I had caught it however, I was on her. She could run, but she couldn't hide. Though I was faster than she was, she had the advantage of a head start, and I was a mediocre tracker at best. If I could only get within range, I could gain some ground by reading her mind. Unfortunately, right now I couldn't hear her, so I had to rely on her scent to track her. With an angry snarl, I took off in pursuit of her.

My thoughts were in turmoil over her betrayal. How could she have lied like that? How could she? I wasn't just angry, I realized as I ran, I was hurt as well. The pain she had caused me, leading me to believe that I might lose Bella, that she might die…I snarled in rage, and redoubled my efforts to catch up with her.

She led me all over the mountains, usually by the most difficult path. Occasionally, I would catch snatches of her thoughts, as she darted in and out of my range, but it didn't help me much, as she was reciting something in her head to keep me confused. I began to think I would find her only when she wanted me to; maybe I should stop and see if she would come to me. I slowed down slightly, and just at that moment, I caught a flicker of movement to the left of me.

Alice.

More determined than ever, I veered off after her, and we bounded uphill, over boulders and trees, my sister leaping gracefully over obstacles and me barreling through them like a bull in a china shop. She continued to maintain her lead, letting me get close occasionally, but never letting me get within range.

"Alice!" I bellowed angrily. "I am not going to stop until I catch you, so you might as well save us both a lot of time. Now stop running from me!"

Not surprisingly, she ignored me completely. She continued to evade me for a while longer, and at some point, I noticed I was slowly starting to gain on her. She was becoming careless with her thoughts, and I began to anticipate a few of her moves, watching for an opening.

As soon as I saw it, I moved in.

With a final burst of speed, I threw myself at her, tackling her. We crashed to the ground, churning up dirt, leaves and rock, and sliced a gash down a steep incline before glancing off a boulder and pinwheeling into a ravine. We landed with a resounding crack, nose to nose, me on top of Alice. Before she could move, I was straddling her, and had her arms pinned to the ground on either side of her head.

"Would you mind telling me what the hell that was all about, Alice?" I raged, looking down at her. "Were you just planning on running forever? Why the wild goose chase?"

She observed me quite calmly, not even attempting to get away. "Let's just say I saw that it might be a good idea for you to run off some of that anger before you caught up with me."

"Well, your vision was flawed," I hissed, leaning closer to her. "It didn't work."

"Yes, it did," she said without flinching. "Now let me up and we'll talk."

I released her wrists, and leaped off her, reaching down to give her a hand up. "You had better have a really good explanation for what you did. And by really good, I mean exceptional, because I'm not sure I can ever forgive you for this." My voice was embarrassingly thick with emotion.

"You'll forgive me," she said with a touch of sadness, "but it could take a while. Edward, I thought it was the right thing to do…I had to make a choice. I didn't want to risk the alternative." Her voice cracked.

"What alternative, Alice?" I almost shouted, "You're making no sense. Get to the point!"

"I had a vision. Well, several, actually."

"Of course you did," I said sarcastically.

"Edward, this might go a lot quicker if you could shut up for five minutes."

"Alice…"

"In the vision I based my false vision on, Bella did have an accident, only there was more to it than just her fall," she started. "She fell, you found her, and thought she was dead. I left out the part in which you found her, and added in the part…" she swallowed, unable to continue. She was just as sickened as I was by that "vision" of Bella with her head bashed in.

"But why?" I whispered, deeply hurt. "Why did you do it?"

"Oh Edward, I'm so sorry. If there had been any other way…" she cried softly, reaching for me hesitantly and then pulling back. "There was a good reason. You see, there was another vision." She stopped speaking, simply looking me in the eyes and showing me.

I recoiled in horror. It was without a doubt a vision of a future without Bella, my future without Bella. There was no detail as to what had happened or why…but there could be no mistaking my level of grief. I knew I had lost her permanently in that vision, and evidently Alice had known too.

She started speaking again. "That was a vision I could not ignore. It shook me, and it started the train of thoughts that led to my deceiving you. The vision about Bella's accident, and how believing she had died changed your outlook, gave me an idea, and I just ran with it, indulging in thoughts of somehow making you think Bella had died, to make you see her joining us in a different light. I was just wondering if knowing what it felt like to have lost Bella for real this time would be enough to shake you out of your certainty that we were wrong in wanting her to join us. They were idle imaginings, Edward, not serious thoughts," she rushed on before I could speak. "I wasn't actually planning on doing anything like that. It would be too cruel."

I raised an eyebrow at this, but she ignored me.

"The thing is, when I had that idea, the bleak vision of your future changed. It became a far brighter future, and in it, Bella was a vampire. Don't you see? I had to do it." She looked at me, her eyes begging me to understand.

"Couldn't you have told me instead?" I said, my voice shaking. "Did you have to make me go through all that?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Believe me, I tried to think of another way, but nothing worked. I believe you had to experience losing Bella on a visceral level, and that this could only happen if you truly believed that she was dead. I believe you had to see her dead for it to truly sink in. Maybe this was the only way for you to surrender to the idea of her joining us. Maybe not having this epiphany you had would have somehow led to that terrible future. It's the only theory I have, but we will never know, and I am glad we will never have to find out. I am just grateful things turned out the way they did."

She looked down. "That is why I was avoiding you, of course, and also why I wouldn't speak to you on the phone even after you were too far out of range to read my thoughts. I couldn't bear to face you or Bella. I hated myself for even thinking of her that way, let alone inflicting such an image on you. Please believe, me, Edward," she pleaded, meeting my eyes again. "I will forever regret what I made you endure, but I could not see that I had any other choice."

I looked at her for a moment, digesting everything she had told me, unwilling to let go of my anger. She had made a pretty compelling argument, however, and I found myself yielding. 'Never bet against Alice' were words we lived by; maybe her actions really had saved us from disaster.

I sighed. "Come here," I said, reaching for her and pulling her into an embrace. She stepped gladly into my arms, wrapping hers around my waist. "I think I might forgive you sooner than you think," I murmured, kissing the top of her head.

"Thank you," she whispered into my chest. After a moment, I pulled back, hands on her shoulders, looking down at her.

"What a pair we are," I said with a wry smile, "me kidnapping Bella and carrying her off in the dead of night, and you lying to me and manipulating me."

"We both did what we thought was right - though I can't imagine what made kidnapping look like a good idea to you," she added tartly. "How long did you imagine you would be able to hide?"

"Alice, please…don't remind me," I said, pained. "I already got an earful from Carlisle. I'm still reeling."

"That bad?"

"You know Carlisle." I shrugged.

"Don't I ever." She looked up at the starry sky. "We need to get going. I'm dying to see Bella again, I have missed her so. I hope you took good care of her for me."

I winced, thinking of the things Bella had endured at my hands, but Alice was already nimbly scaling the rock face and didn't notice. I followed her out of the ravine, and we ran home through the darkness in companionable silence.

Bella had stubbornly refused to go to bed, and was dozing by the fire when we got back, an open book lying in her lap. She sat up at the sound of the door closing, and looked toward us, blinking sleepily.

"Alice!" she cried happily, holding out her arms. Alice danced over to her, lifting her into an enthusiastic embrace, and spinning her around.

"Bella! I have missed you so much!" she sang.

"I've been trying to reach you! Where have you been?" Bella reproached her.

Alice lowered her carefully into the armchair again. "It's a long story," she said hesitantly. "I'll tell you about it sometime."

"Well, there is no time like the present." Bella indicated the other chair.

"Not tonight, Alice, Bella." We all turned toward the voice. Carlisle had just appeared in the doorway to the den.

"It is late, you need to go to bed, Bella," he continued. "And as for you, Alice, I would be very interested in hearing why you lied to us all." He stood aside, indicating that Alice was to precede him into the den.

"I'd like to know too," Bella chimed in.

"I'll give you an overview, Bella," I said before Carlisle could refuse her. "Once you are in bed." With that, I scooped her up in my arms and carried her upstairs.

In the end, I gave her more than just an overview. She deserved to know everything. It was difficult; wanting to protect her from everything bad or unpleasant was so ingrained in me, I realized it would be a hard habit to break. So, curled up in bed in the dark with her, I told her everything Alice told me.

"Poor Alice," Bella murmured compassionately, snuggling up to me, her head on my chest. "To have to bear the burden of that terrible knowledge alone…"

"What do you mean, poor Alice? What about poor me? I thought you were dead." My voice broke. "I thought I had lost you forever."

Bella raised her head and lifted herself up on her elbow. "I'm sorry, Edward," she said softly, pressing her lips to mine. "I am sorry about what you had to endure. But I'm also not sorry. I mean, look at where it led us. I have never been happier in my entire life. You finally accept that changing me is the only solution for us all, and soon we will be able to really be together, without you having to worry about hurting me. I'm looking forward to meeting the real you." Her face flamed suddenly, and she dropped her head back to my chest, tucking it under my chin. Her blush scorched me even though my shirt and her floral scent hit me in a warm wave. I felt the sharp, familiar stab of lust; both kinds of lust.

For the first time ever, I was actually glad that I couldn't see into Bella's mind. I suspect that what I might have seen and felt would have sent me over the edge. Which reminded me, I needed to talk to Carlisle about that new little quirk in my mind reading abilities.

"When are you flying out to see Renee?" I asked, trying not to think about sinking my teeth into Bella's supple throat.

"The day after tomorrow," she replied. "You're driving me to Albuquerque. I'll be gone a week."

"That doesn't seem like much time," I said, ignoring the thought of the pain of being separated from her for even one day.

"It's enough. Phil won't be around most of the time, so it will be mostly me and Renee. I don't want to be away from you for much longer than that." She stopped, but somehow I knew there was more.

I sat us both up, and cupped her face with both hands, making her look at me. "What's wrong, Bella? You are afraid of something."

She hesitated, chewing on her lower lip.

"Please tell me," I insisted, rubbing my thumb across her lips.

"I don't know…I'm not sure. I just want to get my conversion over with. What with Victoria still on the loose, I'm so afraid that my happiness will be snatched away from me before I can truly enjoy it. I'm afraid something bad will happen. If I stay away longer than one week, I'll just get edgy, and Renee will notice. No, it's better if I go for only a week."

"I understand how you feel, Bella," I said, taking her hands. "I don't want to be separated from you for even a day. But I promise you, we will not let anything happen to you. We'll keep you safe, all of us. Just enjoy your time with your mother, and I'll be there to pick you up when you return, ok? Please don't worry."

"Easier said than done," she murmured, allowing me to draw her back down, "but I'll try."

She cuddled up close to me, and I started softly singing, gently lulling her to sleep.

To be continued…