A/N: Haha! I guess I've found my sure-fire cure to writer's block! Write an author's note admitting you have it and then post it for your readers! Guarantee you'll have a chapter ready to go the next night! I know that's how it's worked for me the past couple times.

So here's the next chapter of Rising Sun. This is sort of where the Cullens begin to sort through everything that's happened. Up until now, Carlisle has only really been getting pieces of the whole situation. Now it's all supposed to be laid down on the table. Well, almost. Bella still has her part next chapter.

So I hope you enjoy this one and I can guarantee there will be another chapter to come soon, if not this weekend, then by Thanksgiving (November 26 for all you international folks!).

Enjoy and Review!

-Wish

Chapter 53: Apology

Esme and I left the relative safety of the house for the fight that was about to boil over outside in the driveway. Edward was the one doing most of the shouting, rattling off words so fast even I couldn't quite understand him. But the words I did understand were foul and had no place in this family.

"EDWARD!" He stopped, turning to me.

"You know better than anyone I will not tolerate that sort of language in this family," I scolded.

Edward looked penitent. "I'm sorry, Carlisle," he apologized.

"I am not the one you should be apologizing to," I replied, nodding towards Rosalie.

Edward tensed, but he turned stiffly towards his sister. Emmett had gotten between the two of them, obviously attempting to shield Rosalie from Edward. But as Edward turned, Rosalie briefly touched him on the shoulder and he stepped partially aside.

"Rosalie," Edward started, but he stopped. His voice was hard and I could tell he was struggling to keep composure for this apology. Rosalie could obviously tell too.

"I'm sorry, Edward," Rosalie said suddenly. "What I did was a wretched, horrible thing and I feel terrible about it. No matter what my feelings are of Bella, I should not have hurt you like I did. There is no excuse for that. You are still my brother."

Edward looked taken aback by Rosalie's confession. Obviously he hadn't been expecting for her to give in so easily. Obviously he'd been expecting her to be difficult and stubborn. Quite honestly, so had I. Rosalie wasn't the most humble person; she was very proud. That Rosalie would apologize so easily shocked me. And I could see by Esme's face that she felt the same.

Edward and Rosalie stared at each other for a long time, neither speaking. I could tell by Edward's faraway look that he was listening to her thoughts. But he wasn't getting angry, so I could only assume that what Rosalie was telling him wasn't confrontational.

"How could you Rose?" Edward murmured, assumingly in response to something Rosalie had thought. She answered him back silently because all of the sudden, he sighed.

"It was a mistake. One I don't intend on making again."

"Hey, can we bring this conversation out of Edward's head?" Emmett suggested. "I'm sure the rest of us would like to hear it."

"Emmett," Esme began, but Edward cut her off.

"No, it's alright, Esme," he said. "Emmett's right. The rest of you should hear this just as much as Rosalie or I. We should go inside."

We were all still standing out in the driveway where Edward had begun yelling at Rosalie. Esme and I stood just at the base of the steps to the kitchen door; Alice and Jasper were in the doorway itself. None of us had moved at all.

"That would probably be a good idea," I admitted. "Shall we?"

Alice and Jasper turned and retreated back into the house. Rosalie and Emmett walked by us, Emmett not moving from Rosalie's side one step. Edward was just behind Emmett. He paused as he passed Esme and me.

"I am truly sorry for worrying you both so deeply," he said. "It was selfish and irresponsible of me."

Esme smiled at him and gave him a hug. "You're safe. That's all that matters. The past is forgotten."

Edward returned her smile, but I could still tell that, although Esme forgave him, he didn't forgive himself. Edward tended to hold onto his mistakes too long, rather than learning from them and letting them go.

Edward climbed the stairs and entered the house. I gave Esme's hand a light squeeze before we both headed back inside. The others had already made their way to the dining room where we typically had our family meetings. It was a good place to talk, and it didn't get used otherwise.

I took my seat at the head of the table with Esme. Edward was already seated in his usual spot at my other side and Alice was next to him. Jasper had taken the seat on her other side, while Rosalie was sitting opposite me with Emmett at her other side. The arrangement was familiar. There was another family meeting in this very room with a similar arrangement not long ago, which had changed each of our lives. It had been over a human girl. This one had a vaguely similar topic.

When I sat down, all eyes fell to Edward to explain what had happened between him and Rosalie outside. He sighed before speaking.

"I really owe all of you an apology for my behavior the last few months. I have not been fair to any of you. Jasper," he looked across the table at his brother, "None of what happened on Bella's birthday was your fault. It was an accident." He seemed to have a hard time forcing himself to say those words. But I didn't think it was because he blamed Jasper, more because he blamed himself and what he was. Edward always blamed himself. But rather than correcting him, I let him continue. I doubted he didn't hear my thoughts anyway.

"I owe all of you so much, for agreeing to move, even though it was uprooting all of your lives again. I had no right to insist that we all move because of me. I made a huge mistake, in doing so. Leaving Bella was the worst mistake I have ever made. I can't even begin to say how guilty I feel for abandoning her. I know now, I can't live without her. I know we now live in Ithaca, but I have to stay here. I can't live without Bella."

Nobody really spoke after Edward's speech. They just sat where they were, probably digesting everything that had happened so far. One by one, each set of eyes turned on me. They were all a different shade of gold, since our feeding habits had been sporadic of late. Edward's were by far the darkest. I doubted he'd fed in the past week, possibly even two. Esme, on the other hand, had the brightest gold eyes and I imagine mine were probably a similar shade. We'd hunted the most recently, just two days ago.

I couldn't believe it'd only been two days. So much had happened in the two days, making the time feel like a lifetime in itself. And I knew what a lifetime felt like. I'd lived four or five already. All eyes were turned on me, waiting for the final verdict. Edward hadn't wasted time, suggesting that we return to Ithaca to try everything all over again, thankfully. I wasn't putting my family through that.

"Our lives are here," I said finally. "This is where we're going to stay for as long as we can. And when the time comes that we are forced to move on, we'll talk again."

The others around the table accepted my decision, nodding. Rosalie looked almost relieved that we were staying here. I knew she liked Forks better than Ithaca, but I didn't know she liked it that much.

"Edward," Alice said. Her voice was almost warning. We all looked to her, but she was staring at Edward, a look of fierce determination on her face.

"Alice," Edward sighed. "It's fine. It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does, Edward," Alice retorted. "It does matter. It involves all of us, not just you and Bella. You have to tell them. Now."

I looked over at Edward, raising an eyebrow in question. "Edward? Was there something more you wished to share?" I asked.

Edward glared at Alice, but sighed. "There are some things you need to know, about what happened in Volterra," he replied. "When I originally went to Aro, asking him to kill me, he refused out of respect for you. He actually offered me a place in his guard, but I refused, of course.

"After his rejection, I decided to force his hand by revealing what I was in the city, so that he'd have to kill me. I eventually decided to step out into the sunlight at noon, in the Palazzo dei Priori. It was St. Marcus Day, so there were huge crowds in the streets. I waited until midday, when the sun would be directly overhead and there would be the most people. I was about to reveal myself when Bella and Alice arrived. Bella actually tried to tackle me, when she saw what I was going to do. At first, I didn't believe that it was really her. It thought…well let's just say I didn't think she was really there in Volterra with me. But I figured it out eventually and stepped back further into the shadows.

"Unfortunately Felix, Demetri, and Jane showed up with orders to take me to Aro. Things would've gotten out of hand, had Alice not showed up too. We went with them to see Aro. He says he is surprised that you have been able to be successful in 'this unorthodox path you've chosen' and 'happy to be wrong'. He talked to Bella a bit. He was curious about how I can't hear her mind and tested himself and Jane."

I cringed at the thought of Jane turning her power on Bella. It was a horrible gift and one I dare say, Jane is not entirely responsible about using. From what I'd heard of her, she was often times downright sadistic about it.

"What happened?" I asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Nothing," Edward replied. I could hear a bit of relief and even smug happiness in his voice. "Aro didn't hear a thing and Jane could only stare at her angrily. Neither of them could touch her, figuratively speaking."

This was an interesting development. Bella's ability to thwart Edward's mind reading had always been a subject of my curiosity since the first time I found out Edward couldn't hear her thoughts. And to hear that it extended to Aro and Jane only increased that curiosity.

But if I was this intrigued by Bella, Aro would be ten times worse. What was more interesting to him than someone whose thoughts he couldn'thear?

"What happened after that," I asked, though I thought I knew already.

"Aro offered Alice a place in the guard."

I heard Jasper growl from his seat and the room took on a tense feeling.

"Jazz," Alice whispered, rubbing her hand over his shoulder and arm. "It's fine. I said 'no'."

Jasper still seemed tense, but the emotional atmosphere calmed a bit. He was still angry, but Jasper was in control again. Edward's words puzzled me though. I was so sure Aro would be looking to expand his "collection" with Bella. It seemed just what Aro would do.

Edward continued after a moment. "After that, Alice, Bella, and I left. It was feeding time," he explained with open revulsion. "We weren't allowed to fully leave until nightfall, but we made sure Bella was as far from that chamber as possible. After it was dark, they let us go," he finished.

Alice sighed, annoyed. "Edward," she groaned.

"It doesn't matter Alice, it won't come to anything," Edward hissed back. The only reason I could hear it was because he was sitting right next to me.

"It does matter, Edward, and you know that. Look." She got a far-away look for a moment before coming back to the present.

Edward growled deep in his throat, apparently in response to whatever Alice had shown him. Obviously he didn't like it one bit. "It's not going to be like that, Alice," he said through gritted teeth.

"Edward," Alice said, her voice not raised, but urgent. She stared back at him, her face set in a hard expression. They must've been communicating silently through Edward's mind-reading. Alice was always the best at picking up on Edward's signals.

"Fine," she said at last. She turned away from Edward to face me. "Edward didn't tell you everything that happened in Volterra."

"Alice," Edward said, warningly.

But she ignored him. "Aro offered Bella a place in the guard."

I thought so, I thought. But Edward, why would you keep this from us? Edward tensed in his seat, not meeting my eyes.

Alice continued, "Caius objected though. He was insistent that the law be upheld and that Bella should die. Edward tried to object, but Caius knew that he didn't want to change Bella. I had to show Aro one of my visions of Bella as a vampire in order to convince him that they should leave Bella alive."

"But I thought those visions were still uncertain?" I asked.

Alice finally looked down, her eyes falling to her hands in her lap. "On the plane, Bella and I were talking and the subject of changing her came up. Bella asked me to do it and for a while I entertained the idea. At one point, it was quite clear and that was the vision I showed him. Or at least tried to show him. I don't know if he saw more, but that was what I focused on, like when I'm trying to make Edward see something.

"Anyways, Aro let us go, with the requirement that we change Bella. Soon. And he said the Volturi would be checking in, which they will, though I can't pin down a time."

I looked sideways at Edward, Is all this true, Edward?

He nodded.

"Why did you keep it from us?"

Edward sighed tiredly. "You know how the Volturi are. Time isn't the same to them, or even us, as it is to Bella. It would be years before they came to check on her. And by then, I figured I would have a plan to keep her safe. She wouldn't have to be changed."

I sighed. Edward cared so much for Bella and could be so stubborn in his views.

"Perhaps we should talk about this another time," Esme suggested. "A lot has happened today, why don't we wait until we have all had time to digest everything?"

I looked over my family and then nodded in agreement. Although vampires couldn't get physically tired, I could see the mental wear on each of their faces. A lot has happened that has to be sorted through. And it would take a good amount of time to do so, even for a vampire's brain.

"That's a good idea," I agreed. I turned to Alice. "We'll have time to talk about this later?"

Alice nodded. "Yes. But we shouldn't put this off too long."

I nodded too. "Okay then." I stood, signaling the end of the family meeting. The others shuffled from their chairs and headed in different directions. Rosalie and Emmett settled on the couch while I saw Alice and Jasper head for the stairs. Esme had stood and was hugging Edward. As I walked over to them she looked up and cradled Edward's chin in her hand lovingly.

"You look so thirsty," she said. "Did you feed at all?"

"I did," Edward replied, "Though not as often as I should have, I'll admit."

"You should go hunt," I told him. "Before you head over to Bella's house." I could see it on his face all through the meeting. He was anxious to get back to Bella and I didn't blame him. After spending so much time away from her, and the disastrous consequences of that break, I had expected him to refuse to leave Bella's side no matter what.

"Charlie banned me from the house," he murmured.

I couldn't help but chuckle. "That never seemed to stop you before," I reminded him. I knew he often slipped into Bella's room at night. Edward had hardly spent a single night at home during the time he and Bella had been together, before we'd made the huge mistake to leave.

Edward grinned sheepishly.

"Go hunt," I urged him. "Bella will be sleeping for a while after what happened. Her mind is probably trying to work through everything and I doubt the lack of sleep helped at all."

"I tried to get her to sleep," Edward insisted.

"I wasn't blaming you son," I replied. "I know Bella is stubborn. It's fine. Now go."

He hesitated for a second more before nodding and leaving the dining room. I heard the kitchen door half a second later.

I looked down to Esme, who was smiling up at me almost knowingly.

"What?" I asked her.

She just shook her head though and leaned in to rest it on my chest. "Nothing. Everything is perfect."

A/N2: So just one last note. This is a sort of repeat of my note that I posted separate from a chapter. There will probably be one more chapter after this one (the vote from New Moon) and then we'll jump right on into Eclipse with gusto! So if you know anyone who stopped reading this story because they didn't really like Eclipse, tell them that were almost out of it and they are safe!

Just want to thank all you guys because Rising Sun is almost a year's work in progress! This Christmas will be Rising Sun's 1st anniversary! I can't believe I've been working on it for so long! It's only because of you guys. You da you da best!

So the results from the last poll on whether I should revise the first couple chapters of this story is officially closed. The results were 14% Change 'em and 86% No, I like 'em how they are. Thanks guys for voting! I won't be changing the chapters in the story, however, this has really been rubbing me for a while now so I'm going to compromise. I will be rewriting the first two (possibly three) chapters and putting them in an "Outtakes" story. I just feel like the first couple chapters really captured such a pivotal time in Carlisle's life (his changing and his decision to abstain from human blood) properly. So I hope you guys go and check that out and review like you do for this story!

And speaking of polls, there's a new one. Vote on which of my stories are your favorite. You can pick up to two! I hope you guys will give me your opinions again!

Thanks a bunch!

-Wish

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