Finally! A new chapter! Please check out my A/N at the end...=) maybe there is some help out there...=)

As usual, the small hotel was the perfect place for Laurent to prepare himself. In this type of establishment there was nothing unusual in a lone man, not overly attractive or intriguing, arriving, eventually bring back a lady, then disappearing at places such as these. The managers were always happy to turn a blind eye, pass any woman who looked less than attentive off as unfortunately drunk. If it was something a little more potent than alcohol, or if they sported perhaps a bruise or two…well, after all, surely any woman coming here was used to that sort of thing, and were well paid for there services. Besides, who was expected to remember every face that passed through these doors? Particularly a face that was important enough to warrant a large tip on the offer of a fuzzy memory?

On the less than clean and far from stylish 80's beach themed comforter Laurent had his tools of the trade spread. Vials of various fluids, syringes, two handguns, money, notepad, mobile phone, binoculars, handcuffs. He had packed assuming that this job would require a minimum amount of tools – though just enough for any eventuality. More recent jobs had required little more than a bit of charisma, and perhaps the generosity of a drink or three before the women in question had passed from his hands to the next link in the chain. After they were moved on how they behaved was no longer his problem, and never his concern. His mind wandered, remembering past jobs, particularly those that had close ties to his current one as he stroked one of the larger vials lovingly.

One of his first jobs, the pretty little strawberry blonde girl. Edwards's sister. Not the most rewarding. At that time, Laurent enjoyed seeing the fruition of his work, and of course enjoying the unshared monetary rewards. It had all been so simple. She was so young, so naïve, that telling her that her parents had sent him for her, even buying her an ice-cream because her very nasty older brother hadn't come to get her one, was almost a natural, pleasant moment. She had been very chatty, right up until they had passed the turn off to her home, and continued on towards the highway out of town. Even then, she had stayed quiet for the longest time, just looking out the window, her little hands slowly clenching in her lap as the trees flew past. Laurent had a thing for female hands – most certainly a fetish in the way some people noticed shoes – and she had nice ones. Small, still with the remaining chubbiness of childhood, pale and soft looking. It was when she clenched them so hard that the knuckles began to go even lighter that she finally asked what he had been expecting long before.

"You don't know my parents, do you?"

With a smirk he turned his head to her slightly. "Not in the way you are thinking, Tanya, but well enough from my observations."

With that she went from a quiet mouse to a screaming banshee, clawing at him, the door, the seatbelt; anything in the desperate hope of fleeing to safety. He drove on calmly, waiting to see if she would wear herself out or if more drastic measures would be needed. The men he sold too preferred their merchandise unscathed and fully comprehending on receiving them, as more often than not they wished to test their goods right away.

To his relief she veered quickly from panicked to bargaining; "My parents would pay a lot to have me back. Please, just take me home."

He continued on, saying nothing. After a time, they arrived at the hotel the client was waiting at, another seedy ruin, rather like the one Laurent was reminiscing in right now. He had dragged the stunned and crying girl up the stairs to room 219, knocked and waited. The man who answered was remarkably well presented for such filthy surroundings right down to his gold Rolex watch– but then, for Laurent to provide this service, his clients had to be extremely wealthy for the best never came cheaply. Laurent held the girl as the man's eyes widened in excitement and his hand reached out to claim his purchase.

"Money." Laurent said calmly.

The man nodded briskly, and waved his hand to someone behind him. Another man strode to the doorframe and handed the well first man a briefcase. The client opened it for Laurent's inspection – it contained the usual stacks of hundred dollar bills. Nodding in return, Laurent took the suitcase, and handed the now screaming girl over, turning his back even before the door had closed on the noise.

Up until he strode out onto the sidewalk and to his car all had gone precisely as planned. Up until an almighty crash, the sound of shattering glass, and the heavy thud of a body hitting the ground. Laurent spun around to see both men from just a moment ago leaning out of the broken window of 219, the Rolex man screaming obscenities, the bodyguard looking across the parking lot, and a spill of strawberry blonde hair slowly darkening to a far deeper red.

"Well, shit." He murmured. The damn girl had been more determined than he'd expected and thrown herself out of the window. Within moments both men spotted Laurent. The wealthy man pointed at him, still screaming, and the bodyguard disappeared from sight. Laurent sprinted to his car and sped from the parking lot. It took weeks before he dared travel by day. His clients expected results – without them, they demanded their pound of flesh. That he wasn't prepared to have taken from himself. Never again did he sell directly – although it cut into his profits to move the girls he got down various channels, it kept him safe, and allowed him more leeway whilst hunting. Just the way he liked it.

He figured Bella for a fighter. He liked fighters. Plus she had beautiful hands. The good thing about women as opposed to girls – clients didn't expect virgins. Not to mention that this would hit Edward again - this job would be the most fun he'd had in a long time.

Jasper nodded at the waiting driver. He knew if he was smart he would be playing it safe and taking a cab – or even better just driving himself – but the one thing he couldn't stand to lose was all the perks his side job had gained him. He liked money. He eased into the soft leather seats, pressed the button to raise the barrier between himself and the driver and stared out the window. Forks. It had been such a long time, so many things had changed. Things had been so simple then. Just him, Alice, their friends…he couldn't pinpoint the precise moment that he had lost the simple, hometown part of himself. He smiled grimly as Forks High passed by, the ghosts of all of them laughing happily in his head. Happiness – that was another thing that he seemed to have lost.

Alice. Alice would fix things, surely. He could rely on Alice. He patted the case at his side, reaffirming his goals. Yes, remove the problem Laurent had become, and come home to Alice. Maybe they could buy a nice place, out in the woods, something pretty, with room for children…he rested his head against the seat. It wasn't that much further until he reached Alice – both her family home and her arms.

"Bella." Edwards's voice was like feathers under her skin, she shivered as each sound touched her. "I can't believe you're here again. What have you done this time?"

Alice smirked. "She got out of her car."

Bella flushed and pouted, "Oh, C'mon Alice – there was a branch in my way."

Alice snickered. "Sure there was – once you had tripped over your own feet and stumbled into the garden…"

Edward smiled. "Well, a branch is a branch after all – but seriously, this much damage for one little fall?" He fingers moved quickly and expertly over the cuts on her head and arms.

"Well, you know our Bella…" Alice's laughter tinkled across the room. "She can't blink without doing herself some sort of injury."

"That is true…" Edwards hand stopped on Bella's arm, but his fingers moved gently back and forward in a movement not at all like a doctor to a patient. "Look, Alice, I can take her home after I make sure nothing is broken."

"I don't need an x-ray." Bella spluttered in protest.

Alice just smiled serenely over her friends head. "That would be great. I am expecting a visitor, I really can't hang around."

"Alice…!" Bella cried, but Alice just gave her friend a quick, very gentle hug and fairly flew out the door.

"If only I had that kind of grace," Bella murmured crabbily. "Then I wouldn't have the emergency room as my contact number."

Edward laughed, and let his hand fall away. "True, but then again, I wouldn't get to see you so much if you were that agile. That would be greatly disappointing."

Bella snorted. "Yeah. Disappointing."

"It's true…" Edward leaned in, much closer to Isabella than necessary for the very light damage she had done to herself, his lips almost brushing her ear as he spoke, "I wouldn't be able to beg you to join me tonight."

Bella shivered, the vibration from his words tickling her ear and sending a thrill to the tips of her toes. "Sure," she whispered back, willing to agree to absolutely anything, as long as he didn't move.

He pulled away slowly, his eyes liquid green, like the woods of Forks after a cleansing rain. "Perfect. I'll drop you off on my lunch break, and I'll be back to get you around six."

Alice's shoulders slumped slightly at the sight of the car turning into her drive. A sleek, black modern thing that meant very little to Alice. Although she did enjoy fashion, she was not showy in the way Rosalie was, had never felt the need to 'keep up with the Jones'. Neither had Jasper, once upon a time, but then many things about her beloved fiancé had changed a great deal since they had first grown so close. She watched as he slid his tall frame from the car, the door being held respectably open by the seemingly ever present chauffeur. His blond hair caught the fading glimmer of sun, and for a moment she felt that same rush of excitement and desire from him that had drawn her to him to begin with. As though he felt her gaze, his head snapped up, his eyes shifting straight to the window that Alice was framed in. He lifted a hand in a mimic of a military salute, and her heart leapt. She waved like a schoolgirl and rushed for the door, yanking it open with force, and then stopped dead. He was holding a black, surprisingly non-descript, although clearly excellent quality suitcase that to Alice almost radiated darkness. With a clearly noticeable shudder she turned away, the hand that had been holding the door fluttering to her side, her eyes focused on some distant point.

"Alice? Alice." Jasper reached the door and carefully lowered his only baggage to the ground. Straightening, he reached out a hand to gently stroke the fine hairs at the back of Alice's neck.

"Don't touch me." Her voice was as cold as ice, dripping with pain. "Just…" she shook her head miserably, her gaze finding the floorboards beneath her feet. "Just don't, Jasper. Let's not pretend, please."

His heart leapt into his throat. He had forgotten this, it had been so long since they had been together, and worse been home, he had forgotten how well she new him, how the mists and rains of Forks seemed to increase her awareness of all of him.

"Alice, please, let's talk."

He watched the back of her dark head with relief as she slowly nodded. "Yes, we do need to do that."

For the first time ever – in her life, Luned did nothing. Absolutely, completely and utterly – nothing. Unless laying on Bella's bed staring morosely out of the bedroom window into the greenery was considered something. Even her mind was moving along slowly, no schemes or plans were creeping through, no plots for revenge, or questions about this time. After throwing all she could get her hands on around the small room she had quickly and efficiently rearranged what she hadn't broken, then fallen on the bed in a stupor. She felt as broken as the strange thing that 'rang' was, lying across the room on Bella's desk, shattered after an unfortunate collision with the equally ruined wardrobe door. She had been so sure of what she was, a Welsh woman, maybe of no real standing, but the simple fact that she was Welsh, well, that on it's own put her well above the ranks of lowly English…and whatever her lady's friends were. They spoke that devil cursed English tongue, however…no, certainly not English. And friends. She barely dared to consider the idea. Servants had no friends. Masters, whoremongers, rivals…never friends. Thoughts like these had driven her to her raging fury, her sureness that the truth would come out, that they would all prove to be false, that the true reason Jacob had left her there was that he was like so many other men who saw women as nothing more than slaves in a very physical sense. She had screamed and cried, and cursed God repeatedly for what she saw as a gilded continuation of her previous existence – but without the spark that her past Jacob had been. It was when her mind hit upon the word 'past' that she had frozen, horrified. She had relegated her life, her entire existence to the past, as Bella did. Past. Gone. No more. Like a zombie she had straightened the physical proof of her emotion, and collapsed, 'past' echoing through her head like a mantra. The turn of the key in the front door downstairs brought some little awareness, but not enough to do more for her than focus some vaguely aware part of her brain to the noise of someone moving around. There was no thought on who it could be, or why they might be here, until she heard a shriek, a thud and a surprised exclamation from her lady.

"Jake! You scared the living daylights out of me!"

That fuzzy few cells worked a bit harder to encourage Luneds attention to be fully caught by the conversation just below.

"Sorry, Bells." Luned strained her hearing, considering the vaguely lost tone in Jacobs's voice.

"Gee, Jake, you're lucky I'm not a little less clumsy, I might have actually managed to hit you with my purse instead of the wall! What's up? I figured you would be showing Luned somewhere better for bathing than the local mall…"

Jacobs's response was a muffled laugh, and then a heavy sigh. "Actually no, although I did want to talk to you about Luned…"

Bella watched her dear friend and past lover carefully, noting the tension around his eyes, and the way his hands were making jerky movements each time he spoke. She frowned as he tore one of those hands through his short hair and sighed heavily again before taking the liberty of storming into her lounge and flopping onto the couch. She followed slowly behind, sighing herself. Obviously angry Luned had stuck again, for surely there could be no better reason for this surprise visit?

"Where is Luned from, Bella?"

Bella frowned – this wasn't quite what she had expected. "I'm sure I told you…"

"Honestly, please, Bella."

Her frown deepened. "Jake…"

He cut her off abruptly, waving his hands again. "I have spent forever wandering around aimlessly, picking over something she told me – to trust you that she wasn't who you told me she was. Now, here was me thinking the girl was crazy, I mean certifiable, but it just doesn't gel. She seems…angry, hurt, betrayed even, but not truly crazy. So tell me the truth. I need to hear it from you."

Bella leaned back slowly into her father's favorite chair. The truth. So easy to ask for, so hard to truly hear – she of all people knew that, her time in the past and her certain belief that it had all been a figment of her imagination – oh, yeah, she knew a LOT about denial.

"I'm not sure you'd even believe me," she finally said, slowly.

Jacob turned to her, his face open, desperate in his desire to hear her answer. "Bells – you know out of everyone, it's YOU I trust. I know you'd never lie to me, no matter how hard it is for me to listen to the truth…"

Bella closed her eyes tightly, wishing, somehow, that this had never come to pass. But for that to happen, all that she had experienced in Luned's time would not have passed, she wouldn't have been opened to such love that she would never again take anything at face value.

"Sure Jake. I'll tell you."

Luned strained her ears against the floor where she now lay, for the conversation had gone almost to quiet for anything to reach her. She caught flickers of words 'maid', 'anther time' and 'I know it sounds like something from the Twilight Zone' – not that the last made any sense at all. She waited for what felt like an eternity, the whole time amazed that he had actually listened, that maybe he could actually believe her truth. She was not holding her breath, as Rosalie was wont to say, but she hoped, desperately, that she may truly hold her Jacob again…her now Jacob, who was free from servitude, who was everything she had loved about her past Jacob but with the strength to curb her wild ways. She prayed desperately to the God she had thought she had abandoned that he might see her as she was and accept her none the less. The hum of the voices downstairs died away finally, and Luned scrambled back onto the bed as she heard the light tread of footsteps. Now, now she would see. She clutched Bella's blankets to her chest and closed her eyes tightly, listening carefully for any telltale signs as to who it was that was approaching.

Okay - so I have been SO lax - at this anyway! I promise I have been crazy busy in my life =) - that I have lost my much adored beta, mhgood =( I shall miss her greatly, she was awesome, but understandably, she has decided to focus on enjoying fanfiction and no longer beta's...so I am (firstly) on the hunt for a new beta! My main focus is on proper spelling, grammar, punctuation...I seem to lose out on them often! Also if someone who is very adept at these would be willing to help me tidy up 'A Faire To Remember' to continue loading it up onto Twilighted, that would be awesome...

Alright, next request of my wonderful readers...(if you're still hanging around - yipes!) - I need some info. So, to be clear - this was to me always intended to be a bridging story as modern times just a) so don't it for me b) don't roll out as well as I would like. I had hoped I could break this personal mould, but...well...nope. I'll probably tear this story apart and try repair it later, as it feels quite all over the place - althougb I'm certain the time spent between chaps doesn't help! Mostly I think you have to LOVE what you write, and I love time travel into the past...anywho, back to the point...for this and another completely independant story I am writing I desperately need some background info that I cannot get clearly enough from my (usually sunburnt but unfortunately recently very wet) country. If anyone reading this happens to know a lot about the Isle of Wight, or the state of Georgia, any and all info would be joyfully appreciated - environment, history - everything and anything! Pics would also be awesome...I want to feel it, so I can believe it and write it...blah blah blah =)

Alrighty then, so now I have babbled endlessly, hopefully it will please anyone patient enough to get this far to know that I have been voraciously poring over fanfictions in order to get back into the mood after far too long cooing endlessly over my very beautiful but difficult baby girl. Much as I love her I have felt my brain turning to mush as I forget even how to speak in small sentences that do not involve 'poopies' and 'ta'...and after spending hours every night attempting to teach her how to sleep rather than laugh at my exhausted self stumbling in and out of her room...(yes, she actually does laugh). The coming chapters are heading for the big finale (I hope I can do it the justice it deserves!) with yes, lemons between Bella and Edward at long last. And then...yay! Another time travel...ooo, I am getting excited...starting next chap in order to close in on my newest adventure...