AN: Y'all knew the heartfail was coming and it's here. Thanks for all the awesome reviews last chapter--it's the most I've ever gotten on a chapter of TDIG. I just can't reply to everyone individually, and I'm sorry for that. If you had a really specific question I did try to respond but I may have missed a few of you. So thanks to all reviewers!

Songs are up on my profile and thanks to my betas, CallistoLexx and Tamelaine. And also to the Twinster, Angel & jdsk for being fantastic cheerleaders.

RPOV

I sat back in the front passenger seat in shocked silence as Emmett drove out of Cannon Beach like we'd suddenly been transported to a NASCAR speedway.

The cabin of the car was way, way too small and I felt like I couldn't breathe. The suddenly-imparted knowledge that Emmett had been married was thick and hard in my chest and I felt like I was slowly, painfully being suffocated.

I opened and closed my mouth about ten times, wanting to yell and cry and scream at him, but misery and pain had my throat closed off. Never in a million years had I pictured Tanya as Emmett's wife. I almost choked even thinking the word.

While I'd spent years and years pining over Emmett, discarding every man as not living up to the high standards he'd stuck me with, he'd been married.

While walking in on him with Lauren had been definitely humiliating, this was so much worse. I closed my eyes, and clenched my fists together so hard I could feel my fingernails digging half-moons into my skin.

Gravel sprayed behind the car as we skidded onto the main highway heading back to Portland. I didn't look in the rearview mirror because I knew that we'd long lost Edward in the Mercedes. As I'd sat in shock in the passenger seat, Edward's words echoing in the air, Emmett had jammed the key in the ignition, fired the engine and had torn off like we were an extra in The Fast and the Furious: Emmett Fucks Up Big Time.

There was no way Jasper could keep up and there was probably no reason he'd want to. Like he always did, Emmett had made the important decision and had driven off before I could demand to be let out of the car so I didn't have to share the same air.

He'd decided our relationship was over when he'd made out with Lauren.

He'd decided to lead me on when we'd met up again.

He'd decided to lie about Tanya despite my pleas for the truth.

And now he'd purposefully separated me from my friends. Divide and conquer.

I clenched my teeth and railed at him in my mind. Asshole jerkface nutjob.

'Cause I certainly wasn't going to say a single damn word to him. We were going to pass this entire car ride, at least an hour and a half to Portland—wait, probably more like an hour at the rate that Emmett was going—in an utterly disdainful and angry silence.

Really, I was not happy about this, but at least it would be better than having to actually speak to him. The lesser of two evils you could say, because truth is, I wasn't going to be happy about anything. In fact, I'd never, ever, admit it to him, but I was sitting here, in stoic silence, and my heart felt like it was cracking in two. It had hurt a lot when I'd caught Emmett with Lauren but somehow, this second betrayal was so much worse. I should have been smarter, but I'd lost my head and my heart again to a charming smile and a pair of incredible dark blue eyes.

"Rosalie," Emmett began hesitantly, actually taking his foot off the gas, and shooting an incredibly wary look my direction. And he definitely should be wary, 'cause I was in the mood to castrate the hell out of him.

I crossed my arms across my chest and pointedly gazed out the window like it was the most fascinating scenery I'd ever seen. But I couldn't even focus on anything that was flying by. It was all a big painful blur. I closed my eyes and tried to focus so hard on the pain that I wouldn't be tempted to actually answer him.

"Rosie," Emmett said again, and this time his voice was stronger, more determined. "Rose. Talk to me."

I almost shook my head, but that would be responding, so I held myself rigidly straight, giving no movement that Emmett, stupid as he was, might interpret as a response.

And, of course, he took my complete silence as a sign to keep going.

"I should have told you, really. Every time you asked, I couldn't figure out why you wouldn't just drop it. But, the moment Edward told you, I knew. . .I knew it should have been me telling you."

I considered his words, albeit briefly. I decided if this was his way of apologizing, then he had a long way to go.

"Rosalie, talk to me. I love you."

This would have been the perfect moment for a derisive snort, but of course, any noise or movement was out of the question. I mourned the missed opportunity for a second before refocusing back on the pain that was swelling exponentially through my chest.

There would be no more early morning seductions, no more Emmett ripping my panties in his eagerness. No more secret smiles when our eyes met across a dinner table. No more pancake breakfasts with me in his t-shirt and boxers and him naked.

I wanted desperately to bury my head in my hands and sob for all the things I now knew about grownup Emmett that I would miss.

But I couldn't. Not in front of him. In front of him, not one tear would fall. I would rather die than let him see that he'd totally wasted my heart.

"Please forgive me, Rose. Talk to me."

Like hell I was going to, but I really wished he'd shut up because with every contrite and apologetic word he said, my heart broke a little more, and the more I wanted to scream and yell at him.

"Please."

I broke. "God damn it," I yelled at him, suddenly tearing my attention from the blurry trees flashing by the window. I stared straight at him. He looked a little stunned by the sudden response, but the damn had broken and I couldn't hold back now. It was all going to come gushing out.

"You bastard," I screamed, my voice at such a high decibel it was a miracle all the windows were intact.

"Maybe we should talk about this calmly," Emmett ventured. His eyes were a bit wild and panicked looking, but I couldn't stop or calm down. It was all bubbling up.

"You lied. To me. Again." I spat the words out in disgust. "And I was stupid enough, so stupid, to believe you. That you cared."

"I do care," he insisted, and the complete honesty in his voice caused a small fault crack to open in the middle of my heart. I wanted to double over in pain, but I also wanted to yell some more. It was a hard call, but I picked the latter.

"Do not lie to me. Do not," I screeched. And suddenly, I couldn't stand it anymore. All his protestations of innocence and apologies. I just wanted space. I wanted to stare into nothingness and not think at all.

"Let me out of the car," I said into the sudden angry silence. "Let me out now."

"No," Emmett said levelly, and I hated the smugness in his voice. He knew the doors were locked. He knew he wouldn't stop. And there was absolutely zero I could do about it.

"Let me out," I said. "This is kidnapping."

"Don't be ridiculous," he scoffed. "You got into this car on a purely voluntary basis."

"That was before I knew what you'd lied about. Who knows what else you've lied about? I should never have trusted you," I yelled.

"Yes, you should have." Emmett's voice was definitely inching up in volume, and soon we'd be in a full-fledged screaming match. Not that I minded. It was a nice distraction from the pain was spreading to my whole body. "I didn't tell you what Tanya was, but I didn't lie to you either."

"You swore I could trust you. You swore that you loved me," I flung back at him, no longer caring how my words cut or hurt him. I only wanted to inflict on him the pain I was feeling.

"I do love you," Emmett bellowed. "God damn it, Rose. Does it matter that much that I was married?"

The words echoed in the space of the Volvo. I stared straight ahead, suddenly sobered by Emmett's question.

Why, in fact, did I care so much that Emmett had been married? Was it my pride? Was I angry that he hadn't told me? It was a lie, but at least it was a lie of omission.

Through the blur of the tears in my eyes I saw we were coming up to a small town. The air in the car had become thin, almost, and I could feel myself nearly gasping for breath.

"Please," I begged, feeling the tears begin to fall. "Please let me out."

Emmett was silent for a good minute. We passed the town.

Finally he spoke up and his voice was dead and full of the pain I was feeling. I supposed I should be glad I'd managed to inflict as much on him as he had on me, but all the knowledge did was make my heart ache more. "You hate me that much? That you'd rather get out in the middle of nowhere rather than be in the same car as me?"

Put that way, it did sound rather ludicrous and desperate, but all I knew was that I was on the verge of a breakdown and I could not let him see. Anything was worth protecting my pride. Even potentially having to hitchhike.

"Yes." My answer was as final as I could make it.

Emmett sighed heavily, and there was so much regret and pain in it that my heart constricted and I almost opened my mouth to take it back but I knew I couldn't. I'd made my choice, for good or for bad, and it was time to pay the price of that choice.

As he stopped the car on the side of the road, gravel flying again, I wondered, almost prosaically, if I would ever see him again. Probably, I decided. Maybe in passing. But it would never be the same. I closed my eyes against the fresh wave of pain as the car pulled to a complete stop and Emmett hit the trunk button without saying a word, his mouth set in a grim line.

He turned to me. "There you go. Happy?"

I wanted to say no. I really, really did. I wanted to tell him that no, it had all been a big mistake and that I forgave him.

And that's when it hit me. I didn't. I didn't forgive him at all. Not for this time. And certainly not for Lauren.

I nodded briefly, opened the door and stepped out onto the side of the road, hefting my purse over my shoulder, and all the while taken up with a single thought.

I'd thought I'd forgiven him that morning so many weeks ago, after the Foo Fighters concert. But I hadn't. How could I, really? Sex and a reunion couldn't possibly erase those memories, couldn't possibly alter them. They were static—almost a part of me by now. I had told myself that I'd forgiven him because despite my better judgment, I still craved him and I'd decided to screw sensibility. But reality had caught back up with me and now I was paying, in spades, for that mistake.

As I trudged back around the car and hefted my suitcase out, I waited for Emmett to get out of the car and make one last ditch effort to stop me. I even dragged the suitcase out as slowly as possible, taking my time to extend the handle and set it on the ground. I could barely make out the outline of his head through the tinted glass of the back window, and not once did he even turn around. He stared resolutely forward, no doubt so angry with me that he would be glad never to see me again.

Fine. He hadn't really ever chased after me in the Lauren aftermath and no doubt he wouldn't do it now. Old dogs rarely learned new tricks.

I held my head high and pushed the trunk down hard. It banged closed and about ten seconds later, Emmett was gone.

I stared at the disappearing silver streak until it was totally out of sight. My tears had begun to fall in earnest, and thankfully, nobody stopped as I just stood on the side of the road and bawled my eyes out.

Finally, the tears began to subside, though the ache inside was still just as strong. I wished that I could cry so hard and long that I could somehow use up all that pain, but I knew from losing Emmett once that getting rid of the hard lump under my breastbone was difficult. And now it would probably be impossible.

I lifted my head and knew what I had to do.

BPOV

I was really surprised to see that Rosalie wasn't home when we finally pulled in the drive. Something had been bothering Edward the whole trip home and he'd been uncharacteristically silent, not even responding to my jokes about the way that Emmett was driving his car.

Finally I decided he must be tired or having an off day and I shut up. No need to pester him when he so obviously didn't want to be pestered.

I'd actually managed to almost fall into a fitful sleep, mirroring the soundly sleeping Jasper and Alice in the backseat, when we'd pulled into our townhouse parking lot.

Edward was still obviously in a bad mood—the driving hadn't helped, and I got all my stuff out of the car and into the house as unobtrusively as possible.

When we realized that Rosalie and Emmett hadn't showed, I thought I heard him swear under his breath.

When I got a call from Rosalie herself ten minutes later, I thought for a second that Edward was going to wrench the phone out of my hand before I could even answer it.

"Rose?" I asked, all the while keeping my eyes glued onto Edward's worried sick expression. Something was going on that I didn't know about, and I didn't like it.

"I need you to come pick me up." Her voice didn't even sound like Rose. It was muffled and unbearably sad.

"Where are you? Emmett's? Are you okay?"

"I'm at a café in Timber. And no. Not really."

"Where's Emmett?" I asked, growing increasingly alarmed and I saw Edward's eyes grow dark and even more troubled. He'd known that this might happen. I could tell. He'd known and that's why he'd been so upset on the trip back.

"Not here," she said shortly. "Call me when you get close, and I'll give you a better idea of where I am."

"Did Emmett just leave you?" I asked and Edward's eyes took on a horrified look.

"No. I'll tell you about it when you get here. Just get here. Fast."

I was a little gratified that she'd called me instead of Alice, but my sense of gratitude was definitely short-lived.

I snapped the phone shut and gave Edward a look that told him everything he needed to know.

"That was Rose," I said, even though he'd known exactly who it was.

"Yes," Edward said dully, definitely not surprised.

"It appears that she and Emmett have been separated somehow. She's in Timber, waiting for me to come get her. I suggest you call Emmett and ask him why the hell he left Rosalie in the middle of fucking nowhere." I could feel myself growing angry. Why hadn't he told me what was going on?

"Yes," he said again. He looked down at the floor and in that second I felt a huge gap blossom between us. I suddenly had an idea of all the things he hadn't told me. I didn't know what they all were, but I knew enough to know that his being so secretive wasn't okay.

"Edward, talk to me," I demanded. "Tell me what is going on."

He looked old and very tired. "If I told you, you'd hate me."

"So you are saying you knew Emmett was going to leave Rosalie?"

"Yes." That one word, so clipped and precise and awful, was beginning to make me crazy.

"How soon did you know?"

"Right before we left the beach." Edward sighed and I hated myself in that moment for being so stupid as to miss these big dark secretive places he hid inside of himself. How had I let myself fall in love with someone who didn't want me to know him at all?

"And you didn't tell me?" My voice rose a bit hysterically and he winced.

"Bella, you need to calm down."

"You're telling me that you knew something awful was going to happen between Emmett and Rose—my best friend—before we even left the beach, and you didn't say anything to me or even try stop him? And you want me to calm down?" I was definitely yelling now, but everything was so surreal that I almost didn't feel like it was really happening. This couldn't be real. Edward would never have done those things. He was kind and generous and loyal to a fault. Even to his girlfriend's best friend.

"Bella," Edward said, and this time his voice had a decidedly patronizing edge to it. "You really do need to calm down. This is none of your concern." His face had shuttered, and it was a complete blank to me. The man in front of me was a sudden stranger.

"No. Rosalie called me. She asked me to get her. And I'm going." I turned around and walked toward the front to get my purse. All my bags were standing unpacked in the living room but I didn't care. I had to go find Rosalie and figure out how everything had suddenly gone to hell.

I was beginning to think that all the happiness that we'd ate and lived and breathed the last month or so had just been a temporary insanity. This was real life and this was the real Edward that I was finally seeing.

"You're not going anywhere. I'll go get Rosalie," he ordered, as he followed me into the foyer.

I spun around and poked a finger into his broad chest. "You, mister, are not my boss. I can do whatever I want, and right now, I am going to go get Rosalie."

"Please be reasonable, Bella. Obviously you're not involved. You don't know anything. I think it's better if I go and contain. . .the damage. The fallout, so to speak."

He was referring to my best friend as nuclear waste.

I blinked hard, hoping that somehow all of this would disappear. But no, I'd already woken up from the dream and instead of my warm bed, I'd been dumped right into the middle of a nightmare.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I exclaimed. "You are being totally insane. Tell me what is going on. Right now."

"I just can't," Edward said and he didn't even sound the tiniest bit sorry.

"So your whole act of caring about Rosalie as a friend—that didn't extend to you protecting her from whatever kind of mad wild rage Emmett went off on."

Edward chuckled humorlessly and I hated it. I wanted my old Edward back—even if he hadn't really existed.

I crossed my arms over my chest and waited out his silence. I wanted an answer and I knew I deserved one.

"Not an act necessarily. But I guarantee it wasn't like that." He seemed to think this was all nonchalant and yet I couldn't stem the panic that was rising inside of me.

I also couldn't stop the words that came out of mouth. I didn't even think—I just spoke. "And what about me? Was that just an act too?"

The silence stretched between us. I'd been so sure, as I spoke, that he'd immediately deny my accusation. That he'd grab me up in his arms like he always did and we'd laugh all the anger and the pain and the frustration away.

But he didn't. He just stood there, silent like a statue. And then finally, after what seemed like a million seconds, during which my stomach sank to the floor in despair, he gave a little half shrug.

And that was my answer. He hadn't really cared. It had an all been a stupid act, put on by someone who was good at acting. His normally bright, charming green eyes looked dull and dead and I couldn't look at them. Deep down, I'd known this was all too good to be true. Edward, his good looks, his charming personality and successful business. His interest in me.

I felt my knees sag and it was all I could do to wrench the front door open, duck outside, and then slam it shut right in Edward's face.

Tears blinded me as I ran to the car and I dug hopelessly for a good five minutes in my purse for the keys. Edward did not follow me and that fact, though I kept telling myself that I didn't care if he followed me, only made me cry harder. By the time I actually got in the car, I had to sit there and let the tears leak out of me for a long time before I felt like my hysteria had finally subsided.

I was just about to pull out of the parking space, still wiping tears from my eyes, when I saw Edward open the door and walk down the stairs. He got in the car and drove away and I felt a terrible finality. I'd probably never see him again.

This thought only made me break down yet again, until I felt like I'd cried every tear I could. My throat was dry and sore, and I decided I might as well venture back into the house and grab a water bottle before I left. Driving dehydrated didn't sound like the best idea. I'd probably have to dodge Alice, but the benefit seemed worth the risk.

Naturally, Alice was sitting in the living room, staring worriedly at her cell phone when I came inside, and she pounced on me.

"Oh my god, Bella, you've been crying. What's wrong?"

I shook my head numbly. I didn't want to vocalize what had just happened. That would only make it more real and I'd burst into tears again.

"Did something happen with Edward?" She definitely sounded concerned, and I supposed she should be. I probably looked like hell.

"Yes," I managed to croak out. "Have you heard from Rosalie?"

"Yeah, she just called. She wanted to know why you aren't answering your phone."

I tried to muster up a molecule of guilt that I hadn't left Portland yet to pick up Rosalie, but in my current state it was honestly pretty difficult to think of anything but the way Edward's eyes had looked as I'd slammed the door in his face.

"I'll call her," I offered, but there was no conviction in my voice. I didn't want to drive to Timber, wherever the hell that was, and pick up a seething Rosalie. I wanted to crawl in my bed and try to forget the last month or so because right now, it hurt too much to remember.

Alice didn't seem to pick up that I was reluctant and so I dialed my phone. Rose picked up on the second ring.

"Have you left yet?" she demanded.

I sighed. "No. I'm just about to."

"Well, don't bother. I'm just going to take a cab," Rose snapped back, clearly annoyed, and I felt the tears beginning to threaten to fall all over again.

She hung up and I palmed my phone nervously, wanting nothing more to throw it against the hardwood floor in anger and frustration.

"Why do you have to go pick up Rose? Where is she?" Alice's voice didn't have her usual chirping quality and was instead rather contemplative.

"God, I don't know," I nearly yelled back at her, angry that Edward hadn't told me and not caring anymore that I took it out on Alice.

She looked rather shocked, but seemed to take my sudden attitude in stride.

I turned around and stomped towards my room, no longer caring if I was acting like a petulant child. All I wanted to do was bury my head in my pillow and cry.

"Bella?" Alice asked questioningly, and I could hear her following me.

I whirled around. "Why don't you just leave me alone. Go ask Jasper what the hell his brothers are thinking," I sniped venomously, and shut a door in someone's face for the second time this afternoon.

I saw a sliver of Alice's face before the door closed and it was pure white, and I knew I'd done something but I didn't care enough to open it again and ask her what was wrong.

I moved over to my bed and curled into my pillow. The sheets still smelled like Edward and I felt a single tear drip into the cotton, followed by many, many more.

APOV

I stared at Bella's door for a good minute, not knowing what to do or what to say even. She looked like hell and Rose had sounded like hell, and I had a terrible feeling about what was going to happen when I went to speak to Jasper.

We were like dominoes and we were all falling, one by one. My turn was next, and Bella's words had only confirmed what I'd already sensed.

Finally, I turned and walked down the hall, knowing Jasper would be on the couch, on his laptop, or watching TV.

I was right. He had ESPN on, but it was muted and he was simply staring into space.

The feeling that I knew what was coming grew stronger. I felt helpless in the face of it—like somehow it was a wave comprised of something much more powerful than my feelings for Jasper. Or Bella's feelings for Edward. Or Rosalie's for Emmett.

"Jasper," I said, quietly, and he turned around, smiling at me like he always did, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. They were cold. Dark.

"I have to go," he said. "Emmett called me."

I nodded. "Rose called too."

"And she's okay?"

"Taking a cab back," I said contemplatively, as I shifted a coffee table book nervously, trying to get it perfectly parallel to the lines of the table. Anything but focus on the hideously familiar way that Jasper was looking at me. I should have known it was coming again. In retrospect, I'd been so incredibly stupid. This was inevitable.

"Good." Jasper seemed distracted and it struck me that he was probably trying to figure out what exactly to say.

I didn't even think about it before I said it. "I love you."

Every muscle in his body froze, and I knew I'd done the right thing, albeit the most painful thing. I'd had to know, and here was the proof. He didn't love me. He didn't want to. He wanted to leave me.

"Alice," he began and I cut him off. "Don't. Just don't. Don't give me some pity-party sympathy crap. Just go."

He opened his mouth to say something and I headed him off. "No. Just go," I spit out.

He picked up his laptop case and walked out the front door. I told myself that I was glad I'd made the choice this time, but in reality, it didn't hurt any less. At least though, I was finally in charge of my own destiny, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with that power.

I couldn't stay here and listen to Bella crying in her room, or Rosalie ranting.

I had to go too.

AN: I'm not saying where Alice is going b/c it's kind of a big secret--but there is kind of a hint in the last chapter.

I want to give a big congrats and round of applause to Alaskangirl who bid and won my services in the Support Stacie auction. She paid an amazing $225 and I will be writing her a 10,000 word short novella, that will eventually be shared with you guys as well. YAY!!!!!