GENERAL DISCLAIMERS:

I do not own the Twilight universe nor anything related to the Twilight universe. If we did, I do not think that I would be struggling through college now. Any resemblance to ideas, names, thoughts, theories or situations in another story written on FFN is purely coincidental.

I am sorry that it has taken so long to get this chapter up. I have been prepping for the end of the school year. My students are bouncing off the walls. I have hand written the next 5 chapters. As soon as I get them typed they will be up.

Jacob and Embry grinned to themselves as they watched the Cullens turn to head home. When they reached the house they pulled their bikes up to the garage doors. The front door flew open and Serena pulled them into the house.

"They all went home right? All seven of them?" She stuttered, worriedly looking over their shoulders.

"As far as I know. I'll have the pack keep an eye out for them to leave the house."

"Thank you Embry. Jacob, she needs you. She is going to break at any moment." Jacob ran up the stairs to see Bella flopped on her bed, her hair splayed around her, face buried in a pillow grumbling.

"Bella, talk to me love."

"I'm so mad at myself." Jacob pulled her into a sitting position and then into his lap.

"Don't be mad at yourself."

"Jacob!" She yelled, bringing her hands to her face again. "Seeing him was like ripping open all of the old wounds." Bella felt a twinge on the edge of her mind where she kept emergency hooks for specific peoples' minds. Following the twinge she saw that Jasper would cave under the pressure of a family discussion about her and Edward. Not wanting that to happen she wrapped his mind in a section of her shield that was far from everyone else before turning back to Jacob.

"Its okay Bells, he was the love of your mortal life."

"I know." She muttered. Her face broke and her chest heaved. "I'm afraid to forgive him, to fall in love with him again. Jacob, every time he speaks, my throat tightens, my mind gets cloudy, and I get this horrible need for him. Jacob what's wrong with me?"

"Bells, you are in love with that leech again."Jacob's eyes darkened. "I was hoping that you would settle down with a nice, respectable vampire that wouldn't drive the coven-pack up the bloody walls." He sighed, smiling at her. "But Bells, if you are in love with him. You can't stop it. Your heart knows your perfect match."

"Why him though? I'm going to a vampire ball in October, why can't I find one there?" Bella pouted.

"You are lucky to have found your imprint… mate… whatever you call it at all."

"I know. Loving him hurts though."

"Love hurts and heals, destroys and creates. If it didn't it would be too easy." She nodded.

"You know that I love you Jacob."

"As deeply as I love you." She kissed him on the lips, pulling him to her. He wrapped his arms around her as they kissed. "Are we going to go further or should I be satisfied with these being our last kisses?"

"I'm not sure it would be a good idea. Even as horny as we are."

"You really think so?" Jacob kissed down her neck to the pale outline of her bite mark, Bella moaned, her hands sliding under his shirt. "How about one last time?"

"Do you think we could not get attached again?"

"Just no biting Babe. It drives me up the wall."

"Yes Love." She pulled his shirt off and ran her fingers down his chest, earning a muffled gasp against her neck. He carefully pulled her sweater off and flicked the clasp on her bra with one hand, while the other hand wound its way into her hair. "Jacob, you are wearing too much clothing." Bella pulled on his belt. With a laugh he stood and dropped his pants and boxers into a pile on top of his shoes. Her boots and leggings joined the pile. Jacob rained kisses down her skin, the cool of her skin feeling oddly good to his warm lips. His lips drove her crazy, reminding her of the last time they had been together. Bella had to concentrate to keep her venom and her teeth to herself while they rolled around the bed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Anti Lemon Break

Lemons will be posted separately later on

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

An hour later, an exhausted Jacob stumbled down the stairs behind a bouncing Bella. She flounced into the kitchen. Jacob slumped into a chair while Bella fixed him a sandwich. After inhaling the sandwich they wandered into the living room. He slid onto the sofa next to Embry, whose grin matched his own.

"I think you broke the wolves Bella, you and Daphne both." Michael laughed.

"This has been a long two days." Serena said stretching her arms over her head. Jacob answered by letting out a small snore, causing Bella to giggle. Shooing everyone to their own rooms Daphne and Bella dragged the two wolves back up stairs and put them to bed.

Going back downstairs to her office and fished the vials from earlier out of her purse and placed them in the holder on her desk. Bella stared at the walls thinking about where everything had changed in her life. Her computer dinged that she had new emails. Clicking through the screens she saw another email from Victor and Donovan.

Isabella, we cracked it! The V64 experiment. We compared the human samples to your human sample and they have a common genetic marker. They are like when you were human, unafraid, willing, tasty, and waiting for something else. Bells, they don't have the H74 gene. It's mutated like all creatures. They are born to be changed. Donovan is going to run more tests. I need you here ASAP. Your, Victor.

Bella grinned; she would ask Serena in the morning if she had any clues. Ignoring the last few emails she logged into the work server. Flipping her smart board on she began to move parts of the human genome around. She was playing with the newly dubbed E74 strain, when she felt warmth behind her.

"What's up Seth?" Seth walked into the room and sat in her desk chair.

"How did you know that it was me?"

"You smell different, earthy with a hint of cinnamon and sugar." Bells laughed at the face he made. "So what's up?"

"You're my sister right? I can tell you anything? You won't go all pack leader on me?"

"Yep Seth, Charlie and Sue were married before he died."

"Promise me that you won't laugh." Bella pressed save on her computer.

"Seth, I will never laugh at you, you are my little brother. What's wrong? Couldn't Leah help you?" Seth took a deep breath as he steeled his nerves to answer.

"I want to go to College and study biology or chemistry."

"Why those two fields?"

"I want to join Blending and work in the family business." Bella pulled him to her in a tight hug.

"Oh Seth." Bella paused for a moment, thinking of what to say. "You stopped aging at 18 right? You know that this will take four years to get a bachelors and another two to get a masters. Then another four or eight year stint to get your PhD."

"I know Bells, but the whole family, except mom, is eternal teens."

"I won't make you grow up and die Seth."

"I know. I was just asking." Bella's mind wandered back to Victor and Donovan's discovery.

"Seth, I stand beside you. In whatever you choose to accomplish with your life. But if you don't grow up you will have to keep repeating school with the rest of us occasionally.

"I know." He looked at the screen where chains of DNA were rotating.

"This is the standard human strand of DNA. We are trying to plot vampire, werewolves, fae, edgers, hybrids, secret abilities, gifts and other differences. We want to see if it's a ripple effect or a complete erasure and rebuild of the strands during changes." Bella moved the H74 section and replaced it with one labeled W74 causing a second strand of DNA to appear below the first one, differences highlighted in yellow. "If we can figure out if it's a ripple change or an all at once one we might be able to create new antivenoms to help with pain, duration, temperament, and so on. How is Leah doing?" Bella jumped off of the topic for a second.

"She is doing okay. The Elders like to keep her close by, an oddity in their minds."

"Sometimes, I wonder how much in common the Elders have with the Volturi. They both like to collect oddities and keep them near by. They also both maintain a guard of some sort. "They laughed picturing the look on Billy's face if they ever brought this up.

"Bells are you going to forgive the Cullens? I mean really forgive."

"There is a difference between forgiving and forgetting."

"Bells, do you want to be friends with them or are you still angry."

"I'm hurt, I feel abandoned, unwanted and betrayed. I haven't felt like this in years. It's all back now. I don't know if I am strong enough for this."

"B, you are the strongest woman that I know. You are a leader in the coven-pack. Alpha in your own right." Bella relaxed a little when Seth wrapped her in his arms. "We love you like the family we got to be. He is just a boy. If you want him back we will stand behind you. If you don't then we will stand in front of you."

"Thanks Little One. Tell Mum we will come for dinner tonight, if she won't mind." Seth nodded and left the house. He left a bag on the kitchen table with clothes for both Jacob and Embry.

"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, what did you tell Isabella when we left?" Alice jumped on him as they entered the confines of the house. "What did you tell my best friend?"

"Alice we already know what was said that day." Carlisle said gently, trying to pull her from Edward. She dug her nails into his shirt and turned to face Carlisle.

"No Carlisle, I think that he lied to us." Alice's face showed more conviction than any of her visions ever did.

"Edward did you lie to this family?" Carlisle asked, starting to wonder if Alice was right.

"Yes." The shock was evident on the face of everyone in the room. Jasper felt a warm presence envelope his mind blocking out a good chunk of the emotions that were flying around the room.

"But why?" Esme asked.

"We had to leave if we would have stayed longer one of us would have ended up killing her." Edward growled.

"Did you tell her that we didn't want her, that none of us cared about her?" Alice asked, puzzle pieces that had eluded her for a decade slammed into place and suddenly she saw that day clearly in her mind. Edward nodded his head. Even Rosalie looked disappointed in him.

"I left her in the woods, removing everything of us from her room and went to meet you."

"You left her in the woods, in the rain, crying?" Rosalie surprised everyone by passing the baby to Emmett before smacking Edward across the face. "How could you? And you said that you loved her." Rosalie stood there shocked at herself. She had smacked Edward for how he treated his 'pet human'. She stumbled backwards grabbing the baby from Emmett before being pushed behind him.

"You told my baby sister that we didn't love her!" Emmett growled angrily.

"That is what the pain and confusion were about?" Jasper muttered, glad he was insulated from this fight.

"What do you mean?" Edward roared.

"Earlier this evening Bella brought down her shields while we were at her house. She kept having these fleeting moments of hope before they were crushed by despair, pain and confusion. When I called her sis, she said she wasn't sure if she could ever answer to that again." Edward leaned back in his chair and put a hand over his eyes.

"That's why you've been this way… your mate didn't tell you to leave… you left her. Left her begging you not to leave. She may have taken you back when she was human but she's one of us now. She knows the laws concerning mates, she's lived with the Volturi, become a new woman." Carlisle said, nodding sadly to himself. The rest of the family had left the room when Carlisle had started talking.

"She's not my Bella anymore." Edward said glumly.

"Where does that come from?"

"She's been with the wolves. She's been with Jacob."

"Edward I think that you need to talk to Jacob and maybe Seth. They saved her life. She and Jacob are just friends now. The Council told them to both find their mates."

"You mean that they aren't?"

"Jacob said that earlier today! You were too busy growling at him."

"Don't you dare Edward Cullen!!" Alice stormed back into the room. "Don't you dare go over there tonight, or at all, until she calls for you? You won't like the consequences if you do?"

"Consequences? What are you hiding from me Alice?"

"Edward, just stay away from Bella for a few days." Alice's eyes glazed over and she gripped the table to keep her balance. "Such a good idea Dad." She threw her arms around Carlisle and skipped from the room.

"You heard your sister Edward. Stay away from Bella. And don't pry into your sister's visions." Carlisle left Edward sitting in the kitchen to ponder his revelations.

'I never wanted any of this for her. I loved her enough to not want to risk her soul for my selfishness. Bella, my Bella should have moved on, gotten away from dangerous people and places, grown up, gotten married, had a few children and forgotten about me. She was beautiful, smart, loving, clumsy and all around adorable. This Isabella is so different. She was such control for being a decade old, she's a free spirit. She never avoided dangers like I asked her too. She dated a werewolf, rides motorcycles, and hangs out in Volterra, what is wrong with this girl? But this Isabella wasn't weak or fragile. She could stand her own. She is still dedicated to her friends and family. This Bella earned a PhD in less than ten years. There is so much more that I need to know about her. So much about her I don't understand. Will I ever be able to get her back? Will she even want me still?' Edward sat there lost in his thoughts for hours, his family giving him the space that they knew he needed.

Jacob awoke in the morning to find Bella tucked in on the far side of her bed, reading a book, on the bed beside her was a notepad on which she occasionally scribbled notes.

"Good Morning Bells,"

"Morning Jake." She didn't look up from her book for a second marking the page with a blue sticky note.

"Are any of my old clothes here or do I need to walk of shame it back to the reservation?" Bella giggled at the mental picture of Jake walking back into his father's house in the same clothes he wore yesterday smelling of sex and vampire.

"Seth came over already with new clothes for you and Embry. They are downstairs in the kitchen. Unless you want to walk of shame it."

"Not like they don't all know that I was here last night."

"Ahh, but most don't know that the Chief told us we need to stop and find our true mates. Though it would be highly entertaining to see his face when you got back to the house."

"What are you reading?" Jacob asked trying not to think of his dad's reaction if he walked back in smelling of sex.

"A report on the human genome project. I'm thinking about writing a new paper on gene mutations that lead to certain characteristics."

"Bells, that's a book, not a report." He laughed at the three hundred pages; paper bound book that was in her hand.

"Silly Jacob. It's an academic report, with scientific research included."

"If you say so Bella." Jacob groaned and got out of bed. "I'm gonna shower." With that he left the room. Bella climbed out of bed and stripped out of her pajamas. She pulled a pair of black seven jeans from her closet and slid them on followed by a dark green camisole. As accessories she grabbed the heavy platinum chain that supported her coven medallion, and high heels in a vibrant green. Jacob was dressed when he came back into the room.

"Jake, I'm not going to be able to hang out today. I've got a lot of work to do."

"Sure Bells, need me to get you anything?"

"Nope. I'll see you later."

"Yep. I'm on patrol this afternoon but I'll call you when I go for a run tonight." She nodded to him. Jake hugged her before leaving her room. Bella sat on her bed and watched the sun flicker through the trees. It was one of the random days in Forks where it was really sunny out.

'There was four weeks till they needed to fly to Italy. Four weeks to put together a presentation with Victor and Donovan. Four weeks to decide if I really wanted the Cullens to know before hand what I really did for a living. Four weeks was not a lot of time.'

Bella stepped into her office and flicked the lock closed, her coven wouldn't bother her but there was a guest in the house. She worked for three hours before she was interrupted by her desk phone ringing.

"Good morning. Blending incorporated, offices of Serebellum Michne, Serebellum speaking." Bella answered.

"Good morning Ms. Michne, my name is Jackson Creed. I wanted to know if I could set up a meeting with you."

"What would the meeting entail?"

"I am employed by the Food and Drug Administration. It is time for the annual inspection of your operating plant in Nevada."

"Of course Mister Creed. Are you new to the department?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Did something happen to Mister Crabtree?"

"He was promoted Miss Michne. He personally selected me for your files."

"Well isn't that nice. I look forward to meeting with you. I can be down to the Nevada plant either of the next two weekends."

"This Friday and Saturday would be the best for me."

"Do you need someone to meet you at the airport?"

"No Miss Michne. I have it taken care of already."

"Then I shall see you at seven pm on Friday."

"See you then Miss Michne." Bella hung up the phone and dialed John Crabtree's private cell phone. John was a werewolf who chose to investigate all companies owned by Immortals for the FDA and the USDA. The cell phone rang twice before a man picked up.

"Hello this is john."

"Hello John its Serebellum Michne."

"Ah, good afternoon Miss Michne. To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"

"Were you really promoted John?"

"Yes Miss Michne."

"Did you appoint Jackson Creed as your replacement?"

"Yes and he is safe. You can tell him anything that you have told me."

"Thank you John you are a life saver."

"You're welcome Serebellum. Talk to you later." Bella hung up, a weight lifted off of her chest. She called Victor and told him not to worry about driving to Forks she would be down on Friday. Since it was Tuesday there was no pint. There was a knock on her office door. Black screening her smart board and computer she opened the door.

"Good afternoon Mister and Missus Cullen. Please come into my humble work room." She turned and ushered them into her office. "How are both of you this sunny afternoon?"

"Isabella we are not well."

"What's wrong?"

"Esme would you like me to do the talking?" She only nodded at her husband, her eyes never leaving the floor. "Isabella, we, I speak for most of our family but especially for myself and Esme. We would like to apologize for leaving you. It broke our hearts not to take you with us. No one was the same. You had touched our hearts, become a member of the family. Esme looked at you as her own, real daughter." Bella bit her lip, one of the habits that she had retained from her human life.

"Then why did you leave me? Why did he say that you didn't love me?"

"Isabella, we think, no we know he lied to both of us. We could never stop loving you. You were the human Cullen."

"Then why?"

"Edward said that after the incident on your birthday you didn't want to be around us anymore. That it was all too much for you." Esme's shoulder shook, venom tears dripped down her face. "I prayed so many nights that one of you would come back for me. That you still cared. I went out East to college and then Med School. I have a PhD in bio-engineering and Genetics. I've tasted human blood only when necessary. If I was going to be a vampire I was going to be like you."

"We would be proud of you anyways Isabella."

"Carlisle, Esme, please know that it I was never you that I was angry with. It was always him."

"We do. We would like to mend the bridge between you and our family."

"I would like that very much Carlisle." Bella gave them each a hug and made a snap decision. "Carlisle would you like to see my lab?"

"Your genetics lab?"

"Yes, my lab at Blending in Vegas."

"Jasper told me you worked for Blending." Bella squirmed internally for a second.

"Anyways, we had a break through in my lab and I need to go down for the weekend to check on it and give it my approval. Anyone is welcome to tag along." Bella's phone beeped. A text from Alice that read 'everyone wants to go.' "Well I guess that settles it. How about we leave early, say 5 on Friday morning. I can have the corporate plane pick us up in Port Angeles."

"Sounds good. What about the weather? Isn't it always sunny in Vegas?"

"We'll come on over on Thursday and explain everything about the trip then."

"Isabella, I know the others will make their apologies separately. We told him to leave you alone until you came to him. I hope one day we can all be family again."

"We'll see about it. I come with a few others though. They are my children. Thank you for apologizing and telling him to wait." Carlisle and Esme nodded and turned to leave.

"I... I looked for you after I changed. To see if you wanted me back."

"Oh honey. We would have come for you if we had known." Esme wrapped her arms around Bella's stomach.

"I had hoped so. I will be waiting for the others." They smiled at her again and left Bella sitting in her office thinking.

'Could I do this? Let them back into my life. Would it hurt again? Would he run again? What about my Family? Daphne would be staying here, on the reservation, for as long as Embry remained an eternal teen. Lab techs would be needed to see if they could mate and if he could be changed. Would Edward and Carlisle help? Or would they leave when our research went public in a month. I am strong but am I strong enough to be in touch with the Cullens very often?' Bella shook her head and left her office to go to work at the book store.

Thursday morning dawned the cool gray of a normal day in Forks. Serena was in Bella's lab mixing different shades of their sunless makeup. She needed one for each member of the Cullen family that would look good with their hair colors. Once she was satisfied with each of the colors she put half into a mister bottle and the rest in a clear container to be applied with a makeup sponge. Labeling each one she placed them in separate bags and then tossed the bags into a box to take to the Cullen's later. Serena was nervous. She knew what was coming. What would happen but she wasn't sure of the steps to get there. This trip was important. Alice and Rosalie would get very close to discovering Daphne's real profession. The new store in Vegas was opening and they would stumble across both the main store for mortals and the side store for immortals. Serena grabbed the ox and lugged it towards the kitchen so they would remember it.

Daphne was in her workroom going over sales reports from her new line. Scrawled across the bottom were the dates for the London, Paris, and New York fashion weeks. She knew that she would have to 'age' at these parties sooner or later. Thankfully, she could easily pass for twenty five still. Bella and Serena had already agreed to walk in the Paris show, the one she would be showing a formal wear line inspired by Bollywood New York would be more modern fall and spring clothes while Paris would be summer clothes and bathing suits. New York was in two week and Daphne knew that she would be having to make the decision to invite Rosalie and Alice to model in the show. They would be leaving on Thursday and returning on the following Thursday. Curriers would be arriving on Monday to take the cases of new clothes to the New York studio. Readying herself for a video conference with a fashion editor she checked her makeup and arranged her sketches. As the computer beeped incoming call she put on a smile and got to work.

Michael sat in his office at the law firm watching a mother of three bawl her eyes out. Her husband had just left them, she had never had a job but there was very little money coming in. The rich business executive needed to pay child support based on today's income. He calmed her down and promised her that she would get right on it. She sniffled and led her three children from the room. All three of them were old enough to know what was going on, old enough to not forget it later. Michael had seen plenty of heartache in his life. After they were out of the building Michael told his paralegal they would take the case, she would wait a few hours before calling the mother and setting up a time to gather more information. Another eight years and he would start over, get a new degree and try something else. Michael thought about his plans for the weekend. The the firm didn't mind when he went out of town with Bella or Daphne; they both contracted him, regardless of law firm, as their legal counsel. So, technically he was paid to go away on 'vaycay' with his family. He would be gone this Friday and next Friday through Thursday. Michael looked at his calendar and blocked off the four days before and the two days after Halloween for the Volturi Ball. 'Now to come up with a viable excuse.' His secretary beeped the intercom to tell him that his next appointment was here. 'Back to work,'


AN: I hope that was somewhat worth the wait.

Coming up in the next chapter… Will be the arrival in Vegas. Previews for those that guess what might happen… I mean it is Vegas isn't it? So either write it your guess in a review or send me a PM.