Disclaimer: Thank you Stephenie Meyer for your world and to Guy Andrews for giving me the ideas to play with it. This all stems from your creativity mixed with mine.

A/N: I know, it's been a long time. I've been doing my yearly exams for year 12 and finishing up my English major work which has taken months. Every time I even thought about writing fan fiction I feel guilty. So anyway, here's a short chap to whet your appetite. Don't worry, more to come very soon.

Return to Meyer

21. Acceptance

Seven pairs of eyes focused entirely on me. You'd think I would have gotten use to it by now? Not so much. Once again we were all sitting at the dining room table. I felt Edward reach out and touch my leg under the table, making me realise I'd been shaking it up and down – a bad habit of mine. Obviously I'd been shaking the table. With an apologetic smile I stopped.

"We'll put you out of your misery," Carlisle began, slightly easing my nerves. He looked to Rosalie and Emmett.

Rose smiled with warmth I had never seen from her before. It was shocking and made her appear more beautiful than ever. "Ashley, thank you for your offer. I can't tell you how much this means to me…to us," she glanced at Emmett. "As much as I love living with my family, with Emmett, there are some things that I've always wanted that I cannot have here." Her explanation was heartfelt and I could only begin to understand just how much this meant to her. To be able to have a family, to grow old with Emmett, it was what she'd always wanted. "Emmett and I will be coming back with you."

I nodded, slightly relieved that at least two of the family had accepted. If there was one thing I'd always feared, it was rejection. I've never done well with rejection.

Carlisle and Esme. "I too am very grateful for the gift we have been given in being able to spend so many years together as a family," Esme started, "But like Rosalie, there are several human experiences that I wish I had not had to sacrifice. I would like to be able to experience change, remain together as a family and live in one location for as long as we wish without fear of being noticed for the wrong reasons." She smiled weakly, her eyes kind. Carlisle reached out and took her hand, the palm down on the tabletop. "We will be making the change also."

Now I grinned. Perhaps Edward wouldn't have to face his family being separated at all. Only two more choices would make all the difference.

Edward sat neither relaxed nor rigid, giving me no hints as to what Alice or Jasper were thinking. To me, Alice was the wildcard. Jasper would go anywhere she would but as far as I was aware, Alice had never made any comments toward feeling any resentment towards her lack of humanity nor any relating to things she wished she could have. Ergo, I was coming up clueless as to her choice.

Alice watched me with wide eyes while Jasper gazed silently at her, taking note of the emotions of everyone in the room. I wondered how he was liking the rapidly changing ones I was giving off. Paranoia. Fear. Guilt. Happiness. Yet, he showed no signs that it was bothering or amusing him. Then again, Jasper was a closed book most of the time.

"I hate to rush you but you're killing me over here," I said, breaking the quiet as my leg began shaking up and down again. Alice pushed her chair backwards and walked towards me, her loping step as graceful as ever.

Oh god, she's coming to comfort me when she declines, I thought to myself rapidly.

Once she was less than a metre away from me, it was as if time froze. I watched her face was the slightest change and was faced with nothing. God this is torture. What the hell did I do? Say something!

Suddenly, after what felt like years, her face broke into a joyous smile. Before I could register the emotion she leaned forward and pulled me into a tight hug. "Of course we're coming!" she cried as though anything else was ridiculous. She drew back. "I'm not letting everyone else go, leaving me stuck here. Besides," she added as an afterthought, "Somebody needs to keep you and Edward out of trouble. Even in a vampire free world, you're bound to get into something."

Slowly as her words took hold, I found my lips return her smile. Relief hit me like a stack of bricks. I breathed out in a huge gust of air as I eyed the family again. "You couldn't have just said 'Guess what? We're all coming'?" I complained. "No….that would have been too easy and undramatic." Edward chuckled.

"Alice does like the theatrical," he reminded me with a smirk.

"You're all cruel," I snapped, half meaning it. The others simply laughed.

I leant back in the seat, thinking things through. The Cullens were coming back with me. They were going to live in Australia with billboards and film premiers and stacks upon stacks of novels all relating to them.

"You're going to have to change your last names." I gushed. "And get new passports and birth certificates, and what about money?" I rambled without waiting for an answer. "You're going to have to feed before you come and where are you going to live?" I was about to continue rushing through the overwhelming details that needed to be worked out when a firm hand covered my mouth. I looked up at an amused Edward.

"Relax. We have time for all that," He reassured me. I nodded as words would have come out muffled from behind his fingers. "But how about a run?"

Even his hand could not hide the broad smile the suggestion spread across my features.

xx xxxx xx

I held my hands together firmly around Edward's neck as we raced through the trees. Laughter filled the air but was soon lost in the noise of surrounding forests. Despite the fact that we were moving too quickly for me to see anything but blurred greenery, I took comfort in the fact that I knew Alice was only a few feet behind us.

I could feel the freedom Edward always felt when he ran but I could tell that every moment he was remaining highly aware of our surroundings. Victoria. Clearly he was worried she was going to jump out of the bushes and yell "I vant to suck your blooood!" Okay, not exactly. She's no Bela Lugosi. I didn't bother to share this particular joke with Edward. He would definitely not have found it funny but hey, humour was always better than being bloody terrified of getting my throat ripped out. I doubt Edward would have appreciated that imagery much either.

Still, I was almost positive that there was no way Victoria would turn up so close to the Cullen house after her last little "attempt" to seek revenge. She was only one vamp up against seven highly protective others. She couldn't be that stupid. Could she? I mean, then again, her previous plans weren't exactly high up on the intelligence scale. She really needed to read some Shakespeare. Seriously, Iago from Othello, now there's a guy who knows how to plot revenge.

"This is great," I said happily into Edward's ear. "I've missed this," He might have said something in reply but without super vampire hearing it was completely lost to me. One minute we were running – or in my case piggybacking – through the trees, the next Edward had come to a sudden stop. I grabbed his shoulders as my grip around his neck loosened, attempting to prevent falling on my butt. I failed.

"Ouch," I cried as I got to my feet, brushing the dirt off the back of my clothes. Alice had caught up and stopped right beside Edward. She looked confused.

"What is it?" Alice asked, worried. Edward remained frozen.

"She's here," he said finally, his voice icy. "She was waiting for us to leave the house."

"But I can't see anything." Alice claimed as she searched through the future for a possible outcome, coming up blank. Like the flick of a switch, the look in her eyes changed. "I see it,"

I wasn't an idiot. I didn't need clarification for who 'she' was. There was only one answer. Guess I'd been wrong about the smart thing. Victoria was stupid. So very, very stupid. One against two. They would tear her to pieces. Literally.

It took only three words from Edward for my optimistic outlook on the situation to change.

"She's not alone."

Several seconds later the number of people in the clearing rose from three to six.

Five vampires. One human.

I am so screwed.

A/N: Let me just say, thank you, thank you, thank you! to my wonderful readers. You have been do dedicated over my long absences and at times TRAGIC grammar. Thanks for giving me a reason to continue the story, an excitement when I open my e-mail to read through reviews and the whole existence of this sequel. I will be finishing the fic very soon so stay tuned.

Next time on Return to Meyer: With Alice and Edward outnumbered and faced with a vengeful vampire, the odds are looking bad. As Return to Meyer reaches its climax, and Ashley and Edward face their final battle will everyone come out alive?

Next Time.