Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, any of the characters in Twilight, or anything related to the books and/or movies. If I did, I would be way too busy- doing dirty things with the Cullen boys- to sit down at my laptop and write this story. The scenes that I did borrow from Stephenie Meyer have been revamped to fit my story.

A/N: Sorry it's taken me ages to update, everyone. I have been super busy. And I did want to let everyone know that I updated the last chapter, because I had a lot of people complaining because I said Edward was bleeding. It was a simple oversight, and everyone makes mistakes, people.

A/N 2: I did want to mention that I saw Cake Eaters during my hiatus, and it is an amazing film. Kristen Stewart does such a great job of acting in it. Everyone should go check it out!

Learning to Live Again

Chapter Thirty-Two: Game Plan

I jumped off the couch and ran toward the boys who were now walking toward the back of the house to Carlisle's study.

"Edward! Oh my God, Jasper, what happened?" I asked, tears springing to my eyes. I had never seen Edward so vulnerable. He was weak, unable to walk on his own two feet. His eyes weren't as alert as normal, and I could see that there were some wounds healing themselves on his arms and chest where his shirt had been ripped.

Emmett and Jasper lay Edward on the sofa in the corner of the dark room and took a step back, giving him space. I didn't believe in space when someone I loved was hurting, so I ran to the sofa and dropped to my knees in front of him.

"We were in the woods, ready to come home," Jasper began explaining from behind me. I pushed the hair out of Edward's face and ran my hand gently over some gashes on his arms that were already starting to close. "We were getting ready to jump the creak on the edge of our land when we caught the scent of another vampire nearby. He wasn't on our land but fast approaching."

Emmett decided to interrupt Jasper's story-telling. "Edward here decided to be the hero as usual and took off in the direction of the scent before Jasper and I could follow him."

"We were lucky that we got there as quickly as we did, because Edward was losing the fight," Jasper stated, glaring at his younger brother who was starting to lean up against the arm of the couch. I moved to sit next to him, leaving my arm wrapped around his. I looked up at Edward's face and noticed the bite marks on his neck. They were almost transparent against his skin, but I was familiar enough with this kind of scarring to see them.

"Why did you run after him alone, Edward?!" Alice scolded from her place in the doorway next to Rosalie. I didn't even notice that they had followed us.

"I could smell Bella on the vampire," Edward said, looking in my eyes.

"What? I haven't been near any other vampires," I argued, turning to look up at Jasper with a questioning look on my face. He shrugged back at me.

"I realize that, Bella," Edward clarified. "He had something from your house, a blanket or an article of clothing. I'm not sure what exactly, but he was carrying it with him."

"Why would he want my clothes? I doubt I'm his size," I said, looking between the faces of everyone else in the room. My eyes stopped scanning once they reached Alice. Her eyes were looking far off and she was more still than normal. She was having a vision.

"Alice?!" Emmett's voice cut through our silence. "What is it, Alice? What are you seeing?!" he demanded.

Alice was silent for another moment before turning to Jasper. "He was a newborn, wasn't he?" When Jasper nodded, she continued. "Victoria's plan has changed. She's not only coming after Bella now. She wants to take down all of us, and she's recruiting help."

"She's making newborn vampires?" Rosalie questioned.

"I thought that was outlawed and that only a small portion of the south still believed in that," I offered. I stood and walked to Jasper, wrapping my arms around his waist and sighing with content when his arms found their way around my shoulders.

"She has traveled a lot, so she may have made some friends in the south and gotten the idea from them," he suggested. "No matter how she found out, we're going to have to step up our game now. This is much more serious that I had originally thought."

"If she has a big enough group, there's no way we can turn Bella this weekend," Edward said from his spot on the couch. Here we go again with his protesting my immortality. "We'll have to be on our game and not worrying about whether or not she'll get hurt or go after a human. It's too much of a liability."

"But if there's a large group, won't you need my help more than before?!" I looked at Emmett who only offered a small shrug. I could see by the gleam in his eyes that he was itching for a battle.

"It's true, sweetheart. We would all be much too distracted with worry about you to keep an eye on our own backs. We should wait until this is all settled. And I don't mind taking more than my fair share," he reasoned. "Alice, did you see how many there were?"

"I count about ten, but I don't think they were all there. Everything is fuzzy; I've never had a vision like this before. It's almost like something is blocking me." Alice looked uncomfortable and twitchy. It was the first time she had not been her normal, bubbly self around me. I have to admit that it was very nerve-wracking. If Alice was nervous, we were pretty much screwed.

"What do we need to do?" Rosalie asked, getting into business mode. She moved without effort to stand beside Emmett and clasped his hand in her own.

"There are seven of us, so the odds are almost matched. Hopefully some of the newborns will pick each other off before it comes down to a fight. I'll have to teach you all how to go in for the kill with them," Jasper stated. His arms had fallen from around me and he was standing tall. He was in a military stance, understanding the urgency of this situation.

"Edward's right, Bella. We aren't going to be able to turn you yet. There's not enough time to teach everyone how to kill the newborns and to train you in fighting as well. With the newborns factored into the equation, it's too dangerous for you. All of us would be too occupied with trying to protect you that it could lead to a fatal mistake."

Jasper's voice was soft and stern. I could tell that he was regretful, not wanting to hurt my feelings. He wanted to keep us all safe, and he was going to hold himself personally responsible. I reached my hand over to his and clutched onto it.

"Are we sure we want to go up against them alone if it's going to be uneven?" Rosalie asked.

"We could ask the Denali clan, but I don't think they're going to be too happy with us since we killed Laurent. Even if he was going to hurt Bella," Jasper said. "I'll tell Carlisle to call them and check. Alice, I don't want to put any extra pressure on you, but I need you to try and look past the fuzziness or at least figure out why it's happening right now," he commanded.

Alice nodded her head and walked out of the room. Rosalie and Emmett looked at Jasper expectantly, understanding that he was issuing orders right now.

"You two need to go find Carlisle and Esme to fill them in on what's going on. Make sure Carlisle speaks with the Denali clan, Tanya preferably. She would do anything if she thought her precious Edward was in trouble," Jasper teased. We all chuckled, grateful that he had added some humor into this conversation.

Rosalie and Emmett left the room, and I heard the front door slamming a second later. Edward and Jasper were looking at each other, and I knew that Jasper was speaking to Edward through his thoughts. Edward would nod or raise his eyebrows every few seconds to show he was understanding him. I was getting more frustrated by the second, and I knew that Jasper could tell when he squeezed my hand in his own.

"It's not important, darling," he whispered to me. "We were just discussing safety matters."

"I know you're talking about who's going to be babysitting me, Jazz," I insisted. "And I know that you are worried enough as it is, so I want you to know that I will do as I'm told." I almost laughed when I saw their faces turn to those of shock. I was never known to easily comply.

"Why?" Edward asked, speculatively.

"Because it's more important that everyone is safe right now. I know that you would all be too worried about me to concentrate if you thought I was in harm's way." I turned to look only at Jasper and I grabbed both of his hands in my own. "I don't know what I would do with myself if anything happened to you, Jazzy."

He pulled me into his arms and rested his head in the crook of my neck, taking a long inhale. "Nothing's going to happen to any of us. I'm going to make sure of that."

I looked up into his eyes and leaned up for a kiss, but we were interrupted by Edward groaning from his spot on the couch. We both turned to look at him with a frustrated expression.

"We need to get to work," he stated, covering up his annoyance with us.

"So why don't you go to work while we stay here alone?" I responded with a smirk on my face. He deserved it. I chuckled as he growled under his breath and rushed out the door.