Crossing into Denali, my senses were so acutely alert, I was going insane. Every sound made me whip around to see what had caused it. My eyes scanned the mountainous region wildly. I wasn't exactly sure where these vampires lived, so I was more or less wandering aimlessly.

I could smell them, wherever they were. The valley was thick with the sweet scent of the vampire clan that lived here. Other vampires may have taken that as a warning; it was a marking of their territory. To me, it was anything but. To me, it was the sign that I may be on the next step to finding home.

The lake was flat, glassy and perfect motionless. If I hadn't been so desperately eager searching for Alice, I may have had time to take in just how beautiful Denali was. The lake mirrored the horizon perfectly – you couldn't even tell where the land started and the sky began. The mountainous valley was filled with lush green fir trees. Miles away I heard the heavy stampings of elk, and a little beyond the quick light steps of wolves. The wind was light and blew my hair in swirls around my face. For being only 20 degrees, it was surprisingly warm on my frozen skin.

I ran quickly and lunged over the lake. I landed neatly and gracefully on the other side and stopped where I landed. There, 300 feet in front of me stood a tall blonde vampire.

He was tensed, his muscular arms at his sides. From my weak human memory, I tried to connect it to the face I saw before me, but I only saw light resemblances. This face was scarred. I still saw the impeccably beautiful features under the vicious scars, but they were not his dominant trait. The same apprehension I had felt encountering Julian and Gavril took over my emotions. I tensed distinctively, and immediately regretted it. What was I doing?! I knew who this was, and I was acting just like a wild vampire.

"Jasper," I breathed. He stood staring at me; eyes wide open, mirroring the shock I felt.

I could tell he was tasting the emotions rolling off me. From the little I had been told about Jasper, he had the most experience when it came to dealing with young vampires. While not a newborn, my immediate alarm had alerted him that I was somewhat unstable. I did my best to relax, and put him at ease. His faced started to relax as he could tell I was attempting to pull myself together.

His shoulders relaxed a little and the worry dropped from his face.

'Bella,' he replied. He seemed unsure of what to do, and so was I. 'Are you…are you hurt?" His eyes immediately fell to my covered arms and then back to my face.

Alice had seen it all. I flinched instinctively at the memory. I rolled one sleeve up to show my scarred arm and Jaspers face contorted with anger.

"They're nothing. Nothing but scars," I whispered. Focusing on Jaspers face I let the happy disbelief fill me up. They were here, really truly there. They were there for me.

The anger from Jaspers face fell and incredulity blossomed. He could tell what I was feeling and why I was feeling it.

"Bella," he said, almost a little harshly. "We would always come for you."

The first real smile I had smiled since before Anne had died broke across my face.

Jasper seemed to be trying to trying to decipher the mix of emotions rolling off me when the sound of running feet erupted from different sides of the mountain. To the left and right, five figures were running towards where Jasper and I stood.

"We've been waiting for you to arrive for two days," Jasper said quietly. "We weren't sure where you would be coming from, we've been patrolling the edges day in and day out."

Alice was the closest. Her black hair flying wildly, her beautiful pixie face beaming and laughing. As she reached me, she jumped and threw her arms around me.

"Bella, oh my god, it's really you!" If she could she would have been crying. Her arms were around my neck; her feet several inches form the ground. My arms were tight around her in an instant.

Arms circled from behind me.

"Bella!" Esme cried, clear sobs racking her chest. Her arms circled both of us. All of a sudden, all three of us were lifted off the ground.

"BELLA!" Emmett bellowed, squeezing the three of us tightly in his arms.

I laughed as he set us back down on the ground and I unwillingly let go of them. Carlisle was standing beside us, watching with joy and relief etched across his face. He put his hand on my shoulder, smiling down at me. I smiled back even broader. He laughed and then pulled me into a tight hug.

"Thank God," He whispered. He released me a little shakily. He laughed again, looking around at his family.

On the very edge of the tight circle, Rosalie stood silently watching. Emmett moved aside and smiled briefly at her.

Rosalie's immaculately beautiful face was drawn into an unreadable expression. She was breathing in and out very fast, but her face was tense, trying to contain whatever she was ready to scream at me. I had hardly been her favorite person, and she never had let me forget that.

She took two very careful and measured steps towards me. She reached up shortly, then stopped, then reached out and pulled me into a hug. It was still tense and a little uneasy, but it was tight and I didn't protest.

"I am so sorry. Bella," she said pulling away and looking into my face. "I am so sorry."

I knew that as she said that, it encompassed everything. Sorry for treating me as she had, sorry for being so distant. Most of all, she was sorry for what had happened to me. Rosalie had never wanted this life, and to see it taken away from me as well made her connect to me. A connection I knew wouldn't be able to break.

Alice couldn't stand it any longer. She pulled me away from Rosalie and started to speak very, very fast.

"Bella, I'm sorry. I've never felt so blind, so helpless. In my defense, you never plan where you're going and what you're doing. I tried to get clues. For the past two years I've been trying to figure out where you were. I knew you were somewhere near mountains and trees. And elk. You like elk a lot. But other than that, you never looked forward, never tried to tell me where you were staying. The next thing I knew you were in a city, a big city. We looked all over the north trying to figure out which one it could possibly be. At this point, you were so unsure of what you were doing, I could only get flashed. I saw a vampire, a tunnel, and then I would get these flashes of a dog licking your face. We stuck mainly to Canada, searching all the big cities, but it wasn't until three days ago that I finally realized that you were in New York! We were in the completely wrong country! We were halfway to New York when I saw what those fuc-" Before Alice could continue with her tirade, Emmett had picked her up off the ground and held her under his arm like a football.

"Jeez, pixie, give her chance to breath." But he looked quickly at Jasper who was staring at me cautiously. Picking up on my uneasiness, Jasper could tell that the last thing I could talk about right now was what had happened in New York.

"I just…I just can't believe that you're here," I said quietly. "I thought when you didn't come to get me, you had abandoned me."

Esme's arms were around me again, holding me tight in a warm, motherly hug.

"Bella, don't you ever say that. You have no idea how badly we were trying to find you. When Alice got the vision of you being bitten by Laurent, we got on the first plane to Washington, but by the time we had gotten there, you were gone."

"We tracked you for a few hundred miles up into Canada," Carlisle added. He put his hand reassuringly on my shoulder again.

"But damn girl, you are fast!" Emmett said, shaking his head in awe. "By the third day, your scent was gone – we couldn't' find it anywhere."

"We thought at first you'd head here to Denali, to try and find us – or at least a way to locate us," Jasper added. I looked down guiltily. I felt horribly, thinking about what I had thought about them. Jasper sensed this too. He repeated what he had said to me, "Bella, we will always – always come for you."

"What matters now is that she's here, and she's not leaving again," Carlisle answered. "You're apart of us Bella, we won't lose you again."

My heart was full to bursting. After two long years of searching for a reason to keep my feet moving, a reason for me to even keep existing, I had had it all along. I couldn't keep the smile from my face. I hugged everyone again and again, feeling them in my arms made it real. They would never betray or hurt me. They would never leave me. They were my family.

Alice grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the south side of the mountain and the others followed suit. We walked at a slow, human pace. I wanted the moment to go on forever. The sun erupted from behind the slight cloud covering and engulfed the valley in its brilliant rays. Alice laughed as the rainbows reflected off my skin and Esme touched my cheek lightly, smiling.

The question I had wanted to ask had been locked stillborn in my throat. I didn't want to lose this moment by talking about him…because I knew I already might know the answer. Still, the need to know pushed out all the other feelings and it bubbled out of my lips.

"I have to know…where is Edward?"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A/N

I was so nervous writing this chapter! I didn't want to let anyone down.

But then it just spilled out. Hug after hug after hug.

Except for Jasper. Jasper doesn't hug.