All characters except for Annabelle Causley and a few others belong to Stephenie Meyer…and, of course, the writer is not receiving any profit for this story whatsoever.

This is an AU out of Stephenie Meyers' Twilight series. This story starts after Eclipse, two weeks before Edward and Bella's wedding.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Taking a deep breath, Annabelle knew it was time to tell them her talent, "I'm a lie detector."

"Oh," Emmett slapped his hand on the dining table, "That's how you knew about the racetrack."

"That's it?" Rosalie's voice sounded slightly shrill, "You can tell when someone's lying? That's your main talent?"

"There's a little more to it than that," Annabelle glanced at Edward, smiling at the look of surprise on his face. He had assumed her talent was mainly just detecting lies and now Annabelle was enjoying in letting him know how he had underestimated her, "Not only can I tell when someone is lying, but I can also see half-truths, hidden meanings, ulterior motives…I am also able to tell when people are lying to themselves, even if they are not aware of it themselves."

"Does that mean we would never be able to surprise you," Alice looked at her with a crestfallen face. Annabelle grinned at her as she took Alice's hand in hers.

"No," Annabelle shrugged, trying to figure out where to continue with her story, "As long as you make plans and try to hide them from me, I'll know."

"Damn," Alice slapped the table with her free hand, "There goes my Welcome to the Cullen Family party I had planned for you and Bella."

"I thought that's what the big fancy reception was about," Bella's face showed her disgruntlement at Alice's announcement for another party. The girl couldn't seem to get enough of social situations.

"That was to celebrate your wedding…we couldn't exactly tack on Anna joining the family to that."

Annabelle growled softly, "Either you call me Annabelle or go along with Eddie and call me Annie but don't call me Anna."

"I guess we could call you Annie just like Eddie does," Emmett and Jasper chuckled as Edward glared at them.

"Call me Eddie again and I will kill both of you."

"What," Jasper sneered at Edward, "Is Annie the only one allowed to call you Eddie?"

"Nobody can call me Eddie," Edward glowered at his brothers, then turning to glare at Annabelle.

"Then why the hell do you call me Annie," Annabelle glared right back at him, baring her teeth in obvious dislike to the childhood name Edward insisted in using.

"Enough," Carlisle shook his head at them, wondering how he ended up with five, well, now six, perpetual teenagers, "We need to get back to Annabelle's story."

Everyone turned in unison to look at Annabelle, the guys snickering at the sudden widening of her eyes. She was obviously not used to being noticed, or stared at, by more than one person.

"I…I don't know where to continue," Annabelle stammered as she looked around the table. If she could, she'd be blushing furiously by now. She had never gotten this much attention in the past hundred years and it was slightly disconcerting.

"You were telling us about your relation –about you and Aro," Bella stammered on the word "relationship" because she wasn't sure if that's the way Annabelle saw it herself.

"Relationship –" Annabelle grimaced as her eyes dropped to the oak table, "Yes, I guess that's what it was. After Aro discovered my ability to detect lies, I became more than just…you know. I became an asset to him…and to Caius and Marcus, of course. Aro used both of my gifts to his advantage…and because of his gift, he would know if I ever lied to him," Annabelle sighed as she pulled her hand out of Esme's, drawing her knees up onto the wooden chair so she could rest her chin on them, feeling very vulnerable as she continued her story.

"At some point, he began caring about me. He would bring me gifts…clothes, jewels, more books. He was trying to buy me…to have me care about him the way he was caring about me. He knew I hated him…it took about half a century before I even developed any feelings for him…mostly out of dependence on him for my survival. I still thought about Edward, though. It drove him crazy. The day he met him, he knew who he was…he knew what he meant to me. He thought it was ironic that I allowed him to do things to me to keep Edward alive...and it turned out Edward had been a vampire for almost as long as I had been. If it hadn't been for Aro's thirst for power, he would have granted Edward's wish to die…even though he cared about me he was possessive enough to not want to share me even if it were with just a memory of who Edward used to be.

"After you three," Annabelle gestured toward Alice, Bella and Edward, "were escorted out, and I returned to my room, Aro couldn't help himself. You see, when he touched me, all he saw where my memories of Edward. He retaliated by telling me that Edward had no memories of me…that he hadn't thought of me in over a hundred years. He told me how every single one of Edward's thoughts was consumed by Bella and how ridiculous it was to continue longing for someone that no longer cared for me. And I knew he wasn't lying."

Annabelle gnawed on her bottom lip as she kept her eyes on the oak table, watching her finger trace the same grain streak over and over again. She didn't want to continue with this particular topic of conversation. Without looking at him, she silently begged Edward to move on to a safer topic, to spare her the pain and humiliation of continuing with her memories of Aro.

"Tells us how you escaped Voltura," Edward couldn't help but feel an aching pain in response to Annabelle's. Despite what Aro had told her, Edward still cared about her. After all, she had been his closest friend, his first love, the first girl he had ever kissed and touched and longed for.

"Jane was always trying to win Aro's approval…she's as obsessed with Aro as Aro is obsessed with me. For me, watching from the sidelines, it became slightly humorous, especially knowing that if she knew of my existence and Aro's fixation with me, she would have done everything possible to get rid of me. In the end, without her realizing it, that's exactly what happened.

"One night, she managed to break into the room, having observed Aro going into it throughout the past few months or so. You see, Aro had a separate room for himself, so to Jane, having him go into my room several times a week, it became a bit of a mystery. Especially because he kept the room locked all the time. Anyway, it was late at night when she picked the lock, having seen Aro go into his own room several hours earlier.

"I was sitting in a corner near the door, my journal in hand when I heard her working on the lock. I made myself disappear as I watched her enter the room. She could smell me but she couldn't see me so she went deeper into the room and started searching for me. This gave me ample opportunity to grab the pouch I had my jewels in and run out of the room, my journal in the other hand. That's all I took with me.

"I reached the coast before dawn and just swam west. I got to the coast of Georgia as the sun was setting. After that, I traveled at night and kept to the Southern states…until I remembered something Aro told me…"

By this point, Annabelle was shaking with fatigue. She had emotionally bared herself to this family, a family she barely knew but that had shown more care for her in the past two weeks than Aro ever had.

"Annabelle," Esme reached up to brush away the blue-black hair that fell over Annabelle's face, "Would you like to continue this tomorrow? Take some time to pull yourself together?"

Looking into her golden eyes, Annabelle felt an indescribable warmth grow within her as she saw Esme's sincere compassion. She knew she should get it all out while she could but she also knew she was very near her breaking point.

"Yes, please," she whispered softly, keeping her eyes on Esme's beautiful face, grateful for her offer.

One by one, they left the dining room.

Esme leaned in and kissed Annabelle's cheek before leaving hand in hand with Carlisle. Alice threw her arms around Annabelle, kissing her other cheek. Jasper and Emmett walked by and squeezed her shoulder before walking out. Rosalie stopped behind Annabelle's chair, briefly touching her shoulder before walking out behind the boys.

Bella and Edward stayed in their chairs across the table from Annabelle, both staring at the top of her head. Annabelle kept her eyes on the table, her arms wrapped around her drawn up knees.

Edward whispered something into Bella's ear. Bella gave him a small smile before kissing his lips and leaving the dining room, but not before she took Annabelle's hand in hers and leaned in to kiss her cheek. Bella wasn't much for giving affection but this was her husband's best friend and her new sister-in-law, someone she knew she could come to love as much as she loved Alice.

Annabelle held her breath, working hard on keeping her body relaxed. After Bella left the dining room, she stayed in the same position, unable to look at Edward. She didn't know what he was thinking or feeling about what she had revealed and she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Moving silently around the dining table, Edward approached her slowly, knowingly full well that Annabelle was reaching her melting point. Dropping to his knees, he touched her arm, bracing himself as she threw herself into his arms. Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, he softly brushed her hair over her shoulders and down her back, absorbing the tremors of her body.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered against her hair, taking in the familiar scent of vanilla, "I wish I had been there for you."

"Sometimes I wish I could cry," Annabelle mumbled against his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his chest, his familiar scent giving her a molecule of comfort, "Just let everything go. But even that was taken away from me."

"I'll help you let go, Annie," Edward moved his head back to look into her golden eyes, "I'll always be here for you."

Annabelle stared deep into his eyes, seeing the boy she had fallen in love with. With a sigh, she gently pressed her lips against his.

Feeling himself transported to the past, he tightened his arms around her as he opened his mouth over hers, deepening the kiss, relishing the familiar taste of her mouth. They both felt it –that familiar tug between their hearts until that century old link between them snapped, finally freeing them both from each other.

They both pulled back in unison, looking into each other's eyes. Identical smiles spread across their faces as they stood up and took a step away from each other.

They were no longer Edward and Annabelle, the couple that would have been.