Part 4 – Denali.

"There's Jasper," Emmett nodded towards the airport doors as I leaned across and lifted our suitcase off the luggage carousel.

"Good," I muttered, as I added another suitcase to our pile. "He can help carry all this stuff…why didn't you stop me doing so much shopping?"

"Me? Stop you shopping?" Emmett looked amused as Jasper came over, smiling at us.

"Hello. Good to see you again! How was Europe?"

"European," Emmett said, basically dismissing our latest three month honeymoon in a word. I rolled my eyes as I collected the last bag and pushed the suitcases at the boys.

Alice was waiting at the car, Carlisle's Mercedes, all smiles and hugs as we packed the suitcases into the trunk and climbed in. Jasper and Emmett took the front seat and Alice slid into the back with me, bringing my makeup bag with her so she could investigate all my new cosmetics as we took the winding road from the airport to Denali.

"I have missed you so much!" she exclaimed, swiping a dark red lipstick across her lips and making kissy faces at herself in the tiny compact mirror. "I was so pleased when Carlisle suggested this visit to Denali and I saw you'd be back for it." Alice examined two nail polish jars, selected one, and began painting her nails. "He and Esme have gone on a hunting trip and will be back in a couple of days. Kate and Tanya and Irina are excited to have us all here though."

"Edward?" I asked softly.

Alice shook her head. "No. He's still in South America. He calls occasionally, to check in, but he's…" her voice trailed off. No one quite knew how to describe what Edward had become since leaving Bella Swan behind in Forks several months ago. "Did you and Emmett hear from him at all?"

"Rarely. The last time was weeks ago and even then he didn't say much."

Alice nodded. "It's terrible! Leaving was a dreadful idea- Edward is beyond miserable and I'm sure Bella is too. I've tried to tell him…"

"Leave it alone Alice," Jasper interrupted from the front seat, eyeing Alice in the rear view mirror. "Edward doesn't want us to interfere. He made his choice and you need to respect that. He's told you not to look for her."

"Just because I'm not looking doesn't mean I don't see," Alice muttered. "If you only knew…" Her voice faded and her eyes took on the familiar glassiness of her visions. Only a second, and then she lurched forward in her seat, grabbing Jasper's shoulder with desperation. "Turn around!"

"What?" Jasper slowed but didn't stop. "What's the matter?"

"She saw something," I said, staring at her. "What was it Alice?"

"Bella!" I had rarely seen Alice so agitated after a vision. "She jumped!" Her eyes were moving rapidly as she struggled with her visions. "I can't see her coming up…I need to go! Jasper, turn around!"

Halfway into the front seat now, Alice was tugging on Jasper's arm, trying to turn the wheel. The car swerved dangerously across the road and I grabbed her roughly and threw her back into the seat beside me. "Talk sense Alice!"

"It's Bella!" Alice's eyes were wide and frightened. "I saw her jumping, from a cliff out at the reservation. She didn't come up Rose…we have to go back to Forks and see what has happened!"

"Bella wouldn't do that," Emmett sounded uncertain though, and Alice just shook her head at him furiously.

"Who knows what she might do, without Edward? Jasper, turn around and go back to the airport right now."

Jasper slammed on the brakes and the car skidded to a halt on the side of the deserted road. "Alice, you know what Edward said. He wants none of us anywhere near Forks, or Bella. We've done enough. You promised him Alice."

"I know I did, but I shouldn't have!" Alice glared at all of us. "She's my friend too Jasper! I can't just ignore what I see. If you won't come with me I'll go alone, but I must go. Now, either turn this car around and take me back to the airport to get on an airplane, or I'm going to get out and walk, but one way or another I'm going back to Forks. Now."

Silently, Jasper turned the car around.

Emmett's face was creased with concern. "Are you sure Alice?"

Her lips were pressed tightly together. "I'm sure of what I saw Emmett."

I glanced from one set face to the other. "Well, that's it then, isn't it?" Beneath my own shock, I was ashamed to feel a small thread of relief running through my feelings. If Bella Swan was dead, then this conflict ridden, unhappy time in our family history would be over. "Perhaps this will make things easier for Edward, once he knows…"

Alice merely shook her head at me.

"You're not going to tell him?" I was incredulous. "You have to! Jasper? Emmett? Tell her she has to tell Edward!"

Emmett shrugged and turned away to stare out the window. Jasper gripped the wheel in his hands and kept his eyes on the road. "I promised Edward that I would not get involved. In any way."

"You're all mad!" I exclaimed. "Don't you think he should know? Bella Swan is dead! Perhaps he would go to her funeral or…I don't know. I don't know what he'll do, but he should at least have the option to choose!"

"He didn't leave a number to contact him," Alice said unconvincingly.

"As though that has ever stopped you before!" I scoffed. I sat back in my seat, folding my arms as the airport came into view. "I think you're wrong about this."

"Jasper?" Alice said pleadingly.

He touched a hand to her cheek, but shook his head. "I think you should just stay out of it Alice. We said we'd let Edward handle this his way, with no interference."

"I have to know." Alice stepped out of the car, Jasper passing her out a credit card and some id. "I love you. I'll call you."

Stunned by the turn events had taken since Emmett and I had walked through international arrivals only an hour earlier, I sank back in the seat, alone now. Jasper's face was set as he once again turned the car and headed towards our friends' home in Denali.

The arguments over whether Edward should be told of Alice's vision continued most of the drive home, Jasper steadfastly insisting we stay out it, that it was Edward's business and nothing to do with the rest of us anymore; me equally insistent that it was Edward's business, and thus anything we knew he should be told. Emmett, morose over the news in way that Jasper and I were not, refused to even talk about it. I wished fiercely that Carlisle was with us, but there was no way to reach him quickly out in the wilderness.

"At least wait and talk to Alice again!" Jasper exclaimed in exasperation.

"Why? So it's too late to do anything?" At the house I sat down with Jasper's laptop and began scrolling through screen and typing furiously. "No way Jasper- we know and Edward needs to know what has happened. He's out in South America somewhere torturing himself, and he doesn't need to. It's over. If you don't want to do anything, don't. I'll find him and tell him myself."

It didn't take long to find Edward, not when he wasn't really trying to hide. He wasn't answering his cell, but hacking into his credit card account was child's play, and told me exactly where he was. Only a few phone calls later, I had him on the end of a hotel line and I paused, suddenly not sure how to break this news or what it might do to him. For all the taunts and torments and nit picking arguments, Edward and I had become siblings and I loved him. I thought he needed to know, I thought perhaps knowing that Bella Swan was gone and there was no possibility any longer of anything else, might set him free. I didn't mean to destroy him.

"Rosalie, what a surprise to hear from you," Edward sounded anything but surprised. "You and Emmett have returned from Europe then?"

"Yes, we flew in to Alaska today. That's not why I called though."

"I didn't suppose it was," Edward said dryly. "To what do I owe the honour?" As I searched for the right words and the silence grew longer, Edward spoke again, more gently. "Rose? Is something wrong?"

"Bella Swan…Alice saw a vision of her jumping off a cliff. She's dead, Edward." I winced at the bare facts laid out like that, but Edward was over one hundred years old and there was no point in sugar coating anything, when he could see right through me.

The noise on the other end of the phone, a gut wrenching moan torn up from the deepest part of Edward's soul made me freeze, but when he spoke again his voice was flat and quiet. "Where is Alice?"

"She's gone to Forks," I told him. "Carlisle and Esme are hunting, Jasper and Emmett are here with me, but she went back to see. I'm…I'm sorry Edward, I am, but I thought you needed to know."

The phone went dead, and I slowly replaced the receiver on the charger. Something about this felt very wrong.

I was still standing beside the phone, trying to think what could be done now and why I had such a sick, anxious feeling in my stomach when the phone rang. Automatically I picked it up.

"Rose, I need to talk to Carlisle now." Alice.

"He's not here. You know he's not due back for a day or so."

"Fine, as soon as he's back. Look, have you heard anything from Edward?"

One hand twisted in my hair. "I just spoke to him. I called him…I told you he needed to know. So I found him and told him."

"Why?" Alice sounded agonised. "Why would you do that, Rosalie?"

"Because Bella Swan is dead and he should know," I said defensively. "He should know that she's gone and it's over and he can start living again."

"Well, you're wrong on both counts, though, Rosalie, so that would be a problem, don't you think?" she asked, her voice dripping with acid.

"She's alive?" I was truly stunned. "You were wrong?"

"Yes, that's right. She's absolutely fine- I was wrong."

"But what was she doing? Who jumps off cliffs if they're not trying to die?" I said blankly.

"It's a long story," Alice snapped.

"So nothing has really changed then," I said slowly. "But now Edward thinks she's dead, and might start living again himself…"

"You're wrong about that part, too, that's why I'm calling," Alice said, and across a million miles of telephone wires I heard the accusation in her voice and my soul shrank away from what I had done.

"Volterra," I whispered. "Edward wants to die now too, and you saw him going to the Volturi."

"Yes. That's exactly what I saw." Alice's voice was like flint, and she cut off my mumbled words. "It's a bit late for that, Rose. Save your remorse for someone who believes it." And with that my sister cut off the phone, and I turned with a horrified face to Emmett and Jasper.

"Rosalie!" Jasper was across the room in one bound, shaking my shoulders. "What have you done?"

Emmett, ever my defender, tore Jasper's grip off me but the look on his face was nothing I'd ever seen before and I quailed before it.

"I didn't mean it," I whispered. "I didn't know…Bella is fine, Alice was wrong, but Edward believed me and now he's going to the Volturi."

Emmett raked his hands through his hair. "He's going to Volterra? Why?"

"He'll go to the Volturi and have them kill him," Jasper said shortly. "I wish Carlisle was here!" He paced the room. "Damn it Rosalie, of all the times for you to be so pig headed and stubborn and sure you know best! Why will you never listen to anyone else, or never even just think before you act?"

I had no defence. My mind was whirling, trying desperately to see a way clear of this mess. Edward on his way to suicide, my family furious…there was nothing, and I turned away from Jasper and stood by the window hopelessly.

"Well, we can't just sit here doing nothing!" Emmett said. "We have to stop him." He crossed to the laptop and flicked it on. "Rose, come here and get me on a flight to Italy." Numbly I did as he asked, and a moment later he grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked my head around until I was looking up at him bleakly. He stared at me, golden eyes serious, and then shook his head and kissed me hard. "Get us on a plane to Italy," he said fiercely. "You come with me baby doll. So you fucked up…you're not the first of us, and it won't be the last time either. We'll fix it."

I couldn't smile, but I nodded and went back to the computer, scrolling through airline flight lists. Emmett released his grip on my hair and went and stood next to Jasper. "Talk to her like that again and I'll rip your fucking head off," he said, sounding almost amiable despite the words. "You're not one to throw stones Jasper. Not even when someone might deserve them."

Jasper looked sideways at Emmett and his lip twitched, with a brief flash of amusement. "Understood, my friend," he replied, his Southern accent surprisingly broad in the short phrase.

Emmett nodded, and turned back to me. "Any luck?"

I shook my head. "Not really. We've got a couple of hours wait at best. Either that or take the most indirect route imaginable, which isn't really going to get us there any faster."

"Okay then," Emmett stood behind me, one hand on my shoulder and the other one twisting my hair around his fist. I leaned my head back into him and closed my eyes. "We'll wait then…maybe we'll get lucky and hear from Carlisle. You never know. I've never been to Volterra and I don't have any bloody clue where to go once we get there, which might be a problem. Maybe download a map for us, baby doll?"

"I've been to Volterra," I said dully, my eyes still closed. "I know how to find the Volturi once we get there."

I felt Emmett's tiny start of surprise. I had never told him of that brief time in Volterra, so long ago. Never even thought of it; forced it from my mind and sworn I would never go back to those menacing underground vaults and those beautiful, hard, red eyed vampires who were my kind, only not my kind at all.

But now I would go back. For Edward, to make amends for what my arrogant insistence that I knew best had made happen.

I didn't speak as Emmett and I climbed back into the Mercedes and headed back towards the airport. We would be hours early for our booked flight, but standby was always a possibility. I sat motionless while Emmett drove, every inch of me tensed as I fought my instincts to fly away from the danger of Volterra that loomed ever closer.

We were less than halfway to the airport when the cell phone rang. I snatched it up and read the display. Jasper.

"I've spoken to Alice," he told me quickly. "She wants me to stop you."

I put the phone on speaker. "Why? Has she seen something? What does she want us to do?"

"She and Bella are on a plane to Italy. They're going to try and stop him."

"So we'll help them," Emmett said determinedly.

"No," Jasper's tone was authoritative. "You can't. At the moment all we have on our side is time. Edward is planning to ask the Volturi to help him die. That will take time, they'll think about it, that will take more time…we need enough time for Bella to get to him, so he can see that it was all wrong and she is still alive. If he sees any of us coming he will move up his plans. Do something so that the Volturi will be provoked enough to take him down immediately. And you know he'll hear us coming Emmett…especially you. He always says he can't shut your thoughts up."

Emmett growled in frustration and pulled the car to the side of the road. "So…we do nothing."

"Nothing," Jasper affirmed. "Just wait, and hope that Alice and Bella get there in time." From the tone of his voice, knowing what I knew of the Volturi, I knew that there was little enough reason for hope. Edward would die, and Alice would die and Bella would die and it would all be my fault.

I put my head down on my knees, my eyes shut tight and my hands clamped over my ears. I didn't realise that I was making noise, a kind of harsh, tearless sobbing, until Emmett lifted me bodily out of my seat and onto his lap, holding me tight against him. Big hands stroked my hair and back and arms as he rocked me and kissed me and murmured gently in my ears. "Hush baby doll, hush. Beautiful girl, don't do this, you're okay…I love you. Come on baby, shhh."

I pushed my face into his chest, trying desperately to control myself. What a joke, decades of perfect, iron control over my senses and abilities and behaviour, always better than everyone else, and yet here I was falling apart on a deserted Alaskan road.

There was Emmett though, with his bold and generous heart, and the love that had buoyed me up for almost my whole vampire life. He held me together and kissed me, and waited until I could breathe and talk and look at him.

"I've screwed everything up so badly," I whispered. "I didn't mean it Emmett, not at all…but they're all going to hate me for it."

"They'll get over it," Emmett continued running his hands through my hair, his voice low and comforting. "Everyone screws up sometimes. Once Alice and Bella get Edward back home, it'll be fine."

I stared at him. "And when they don't get Edward back home? When Edward breaks the rules and the Volturi massacre them all?" My voice broke. "You don't understand what it's like over there Emmett! This is not a game where we can all just say sorry, my bad, and start all over again tomorrow! There will be no mercy and they will all die and it will be all my fault."

Emmett pressed his forehead against mine. "Baby doll, I don't understand. The Volturi…I never knew you were there. When was that? What happened?"

"It was before you," I said softly. "I was still pretty much a baby, and we weren't there for long. Wait a minute." I slipped off his lap and went to our luggage that we'd never taken out of the trunk, digging through my suitcase until I found the small chest I used to keep my jewels in. I took it back to Emmett and dug through it, spilling trinkets and baubles and beautiful things across the seat, until I could prise up the false bottom and extract what I was looking for.

An antique necklace. Elaborate gold filigree set with deep, blood red rubies and sparkling diamonds. Emmett had bought me enough jewels over the years to be aware of their value and his eyes widened as he took in the weight, sheen and feel of the necklace he took in his hands. His fingers traced the symbols worked into the gold. "Bloody hell babe, this is some serious bling you've had hiding away."

I didn't raise a smile. "Aro gave it to me. That's the sign of the Volturi there, worked into the gold."

Emmett ran a finger over the large centre ruby. "It's pretty damn impressive."

He handed it back to me, and the weight of it in my hands felt like the guilt weighing down my heart. "Let's go back," I said quietly. "Jasper is right; there's nothing we can do now. If we try we will just make things worse, and I've done enough damage already. We just have to hope that Alice and Bella reach Edward in time to stop him, and then get safely out." I ran my fingers over the gold and leaned my head against Emmett's shoulder. "Drive us back Emmett, and I'll tell you about Volterra."

A/N – Short section this time, just covering a pretty brief space of time in New Moon.

It was surprisingly easy to justify Rosalie calling Edward and telling him about Bella- to be honest if she HAD been dead I really do think he may have wanted to know, maybe go to her funeral or something…I don't know. When I read the book I thought she was the biggest bitch ever for doing that, but meh. I've come to love the character and I'll forgive her most anything.

The hardest part of writing this section was filling in Rosalie's half of the conversation with Alice on the phone! I had Alice's words to work with from my New Moon book but had to make up what Rosalie was saying and it took a while for it to make sense!

Standard disclaimer here of the characters and New Moon and Twilight et al not belonging to me… Next section will go back into Rosalie's past and take her to Volterra- it shall be glorious. I mean, I hope it will…I like it anyway, lol.