This chapter is going to be told from EPOV, because Jasper and Bella will be present during the upcoming events. I don't want any of you to get the wrong idea; Edward and Bella will not be ending up together in this story. Some of you have questioned that, and while I'm not one hundred percent sure on some things that will/will not be happening, I do know that the only person Bella will be with is Jasper.

The next chapter will switch back to BPOV, and it will be lemony. I'm warning you all now.

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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 and general plot ideas that I did borrow from Stephenie Meyer have been revamped to fit my story.

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Learning to Live Again

Chapter Forty-One: Another Favor from the Wolves

I walked into the living room to rejoin my family with Jasper close at my heels. "I'm going on a hunt. Does anyone want to join me?" I asked before I let any of my family's thoughts seep into my head. They all wanted to know how my conversation with Jasper went. They would find out eventually, so I might as well take advantage of going hunting to explain it to them.

No one responded right away, so I looked at Alice with a pleading gaze. I knew that she would understand quicker than anyone else. Her lips turned up into a small smile as she locked my gaze. Alice stood from the couch with enthusiasm before turning to everyone.

"We'll join you, Edward. Cameron's getting used to being around Bella, so I'm sure it would be good for him to have a snack. And we can all have some family bonding time," she stated. Cameron stood by her side, already willing to follow Alice anywhere. His thoughts were focused on spending more time with her and getting to know her.

Rosalie and Esme both stood up as well, pulling their mates with them. The women had come to the conclusion in their mind that we were trying to give Jasper and Bella some time alone, and they would drag their partners with them as well.

"I'll stay behind with Bella," Jasper offered as he picked her up and sat back down in the chair he was seated in before our conversation. He pulled her back into his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist to hold her closer to him.

"Honey, you should go if you want to," Bella said, looking at him. "I know that you were hungry earlier," she whispered. I still didn't understand why she bothered trying to be discreet. I would pick up her words either through my hearing or through my brother's thoughts.

"Bella, that was a different kind of hunger, darling," Jasper teased. "I went earlier today, so I'll be fine."

"We'll see you later," I announced as I started out the door. "Rose, would you please explain to Emmett," I said as we were outside and started to run toward the woods.

"We're giving them some time alone," she said to her husband. His thoughts had been grumbling, wanting to stay in for the night because he had hunted earlier with Jasper.

Nice, Eddie. Being the bigger man and letting your brother get a piece.

I growled at his thoughts. "You know better than that, Emmett," I warned him. Bella was his sister, too, and although I knew that he was teasing I still didn't like to hear her being referred to as a simple sex object.

Sorry, Edward, I was only teasing. It was nice of you, though, especially considering everything.

"I just want her to be happy," I whispered, knowing everyone was hearing me and not caring. I started to run faster, putting some distance between my family and myself. I came to a clearing in the forest and crouched behind a rock, having spotted a small family of deer feeding in the dark.

Alice came up behind me next and crouched by my side. I saw a change in the future, Edward. I'll go to La Push with you to speak with Bella's friend Jacob. I'm glad that you and Jasper are both working together on this. She won't be as mad this way. If I help along with Esme, it will hurt her less.

I nodded my head but didn't say anything. I wasn't ready for the others to know. Rosalie would be upset about us making decisions for Bella again, Carlisle would disapprove of not letting Bella know our concerns, and I didn't know how much trust I could in Cameron yet. I knew that I couldn't trust Emmett with a secret though. My brother had a big mouth.

The others joined us, oblivious to our silent conversation and helped descend on the family of deer in the clearing. I could tell through Cameron's thoughts that he wasn't as satisfied with the taste of animal blood s he was with human blood, but he would get used to it. It took all of us some time and patience, but it was well worth it to all be able to be with each other.

We were just finishing up when Alice looked over at me and nodded her head. Rising from her crouched position over a doe, she turned to our family.

"I need to go to La Push with Edward and speak with the wolves. I am a little curious about something I saw in a vision and wanted to clear it up. We shouldn't be gone too long, though. You guys stay awhile longer; maybe a couple hours," she finished with a smirk on her face. She wiggled her eyebrows at Rosalie and Emmett who only chuckled in response.

Cameron stood up from his position on the ground as well, and Alice walked over to him. He placed his hands on her hips, already comfortable with her proximity. "I'll see you later tonight," she said to him with a soft smile.

It was decided that Cameron was going to be staying with us in Alice's room. Our home was becoming crowded to say the least. I was thinking of asking Esme to build me a cottage on our property, but I would wait until things settled down for awhile.

I started walking away from everyone and heard my sister approaching me a moment later. You won't need to have Esme build you a cottage, Edward. Jasper and Bella are going to be moving out in a year or so. It's not clear yet if they're going to be staying in Forks or moving on to another location. They've toyed around with the idea of going off on their own for awhile until Bella's got more of a control of herself.

I nodded, not knowing how to feel about this. It would be good to not have to hear her making love to Jasper every night and to not have to hear his thoughts of love toward her. I would miss them both, though. Jasper was my brother, and Bella was my best friend even though I still loved her with all that I was. It truly would take time for our family to become completely comfortable with each other again.

We approached La Push, and I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I instinctively moved closer to Alice, ready to fight if necessary.

Can you smell who it is?

No, but I can tell that it's more than one of them.

Do you think it's that Victoria that we're supposed to be looking out for?

It could be; she wouldn't know about the border. You sneak up on the east, and I'll take the west.

"It's Edward and Alice Cullen. We just came to talk, not start any trouble," I yelled out to the two wolves that I could hear communicating in the forest. I couldn't make out which ones they were, but I knew that neither was Jacob Black. I saw them emerge from the shadows, having phased back into their human forms. I recognized them as Jacob's friends Quil and Embry.

"Hello, Edward, Alice," Quil said, slowly approaching us. Embry hung back behind him, more hesitant with our newly formed alliance.

"We were hoping to speak with Jake," Alice said to the boys. She stayed by my side, curbing her impulse to normally approach the person she was speaking with. Even Alice knew that we had to be careful in our dealings with the Quileute tribe.

"I'll phase and call him over here for you," Embry offered before running back into the woods. The three of us stood there in awkward silence. I was trying not to laugh as Alice was singing a horrible Britney Spears song in her head, intending to offer me some comic relief. Before she could get to the second chorus, Embry and Jake both emerged from the trees in their human forms.

"Edward, Alice, what can I help you with?" Jake asked. He was becoming more pleasant with our family, but I could tell that he was dreading what we were about to ask him. We had already asked permission from him for so much these past couple of weeks.

"We got attacked by Victoria and some of her friends this afternoon," I started to explain. I noticed Jacob beginning to shake, upset by this. "Bella's fine; we all are. We got to speaking, and Bella wants to be a part of the fight with Victoria's vampire gang. She's convinced her newly found power can be used to our advantage."

"She's crazy," Jacob answered simply. "There is no way we can let her near this fight! It's bad enough that she spends 24 hours a day at your house with seven of you!" Jake was more than upset now, yelling as loud as he could, growling in between sentences.

"We don't want her to either, Jacob. The others agreed to let her, though. They're concerned for her safety, but they don't want to push her away by letting her think that she cannot run her own life. She doesn't like others making decisions for her or speaking for her," Alice explained to the angry, young werewolf.

His shaking calmed slightly as he smirked. Jacob's thoughts started drifting toward a memory of Bella sitting beneath him, upset over something. I saw Jacob lean in to kiss her before being thrown away from her.

"You tried to kiss her?!" I yelled at the boy. His smile fell from his lips and turned into a scowl. I approached Jacob only to be pulled back by Alice.

"It shouldn't have happened, and she threw me into her kitchen for trying," Jake shrugged it off. She was already too wrapped up in another bloodsucker to see me.

I growled, letting Jacob know that I heard his thoughts. Not surprisingly, he didn't care.

"What do you want me to do about it?" he asked us.

"We need your help in keeping her away from the fight," Alice explained. "We need to find a type of distraction so that she won't want to be involved."

Jacob thought for a moment before grinning again. "I know what we can do."