Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
Everyone sat at the proverbial edge of their seats, though really they all just sat and intently stared at Alice, waiting for her to continue. Even Edward seemed anxious for her to continue, Alice must be hiding her thoughts so that Edward can't look ahead and read her thoughts about what she's going to say.
The Cullen's all looked just as anxious, they seem to really want to know how this all came about; except Rosalie, she looked a little bored but I bet she is really paying close attention. Kate looked really excited about hearing Alice's 'story' as she called it; she almost reminds me of a kid waiting for story time. Carmen and Eleazar look very interested and have given Alice their full attention. Irina looks interested, but she looks more like this is something to pass the time; I'm sure she doesn't care about how I got here, just the fact that I did.
Tanya though, she's still just as tense. I can see her eyes moving from Alice and Edward. She seems to be waiting for Edward to lose his cool or even attack at any moment. To try and ease her nerves, I wrapped my arm around her waist, rested my head on her shoulder and my free hand grabbed her free hand, since she still had one wrapped around me, and held it in my lap. This seemed to work wonders on Tanya; she instantly relaxed into me and rested her head on top of mine. Edward took a side-way's glance at us but when Tanya weakly growled at him, he turned back around.
Personally, I'm nervous and excited to hear what Alice has to say. She was my best friend and she left me alone to suffer, I want to hear her reasoning for that. I'm also afraid to hear what she has to say because with her visions not being guaranteed, that means she may have gambled my happiness with Tanya for something else with whatever decision she made to let what actually happened happen.
"When we first met Bella and Edward took an interest in her," Tanya growled at this but I started to rub my thumb on her hand and she instantly stopped. "I saw Edward and Tanya together, both as vampires." Tanya growled again and this time I tightened my grip on her waist. Luckily no one is saying anything about her growling, though from what it looks like Edward wants to. "When they got closer, Edward started thinking about marrying Bella, that's when I started seeing visions of Tanya and Bella together. I knew from the very first vision that they were real mates, not Edward and Bella as we had believed." Alice said, but paused when Edward interrupted her.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Edward demanded.
"I was going to, but I had visions of you ignoring me and not listening to me; so I decided that since you were both happy to let it go and see what more I could find out." Alice answered calmly.
"What a surprise, Edward not listening; I never would have imagined it." Rosalie said; her voice thick with sarcasm.
"Rosalie, be nice. Please continue with the story." Esme said.
Edward looked like he was going to say something, but with a look from Esme, he quickly closed his mouth. Emmett though, did open his mouth.
"How did Jasper not know that their feelings weren't the same as an actual mated pair?" Emmett asked.
I'll have to admit, that is a good question. Shouldn't Jasper felt from the beginning that what we felt wasn't as strong as a mates bond? I can even tell right now, that the love I feel for Tanya is so much more than what I had ever felt for Edward.
"I'll let Jazz answer that one." Alice said with a smile.
"Thank you darling." Jasper said with his normal Southern drawl. "I do know what a proper mated pairs feelings are like, even for the early stages because naturally I went through them myself. What I did not know however, was how those feelings represented themselves in a human. I have never come across a human and vampire mates, so I had nothing to compare to." Jasper said.
"Couldn't you tell with Edward though?" Carmen asked.
"I'm afraid not. You see, Bella is Edwards' singer. So his love for her blood is extremely similar to that of a mates love. I did not think to look closer since they both feel in love." Jasper explained.
Once again Tanya growled at the mentioning of me being in a relationship with someone besides her, so this time I moved my head slightly and gave her small kiss. Of course she felt my head move and felt that I shouldn't kiss her cheek, so she moved her head as well so that I got the pleasure to kiss her lips.
"That's hot." Emmett said, followed by the sound of Rosalie smacking him upside the head.
Edward smartly didn't say anything, but the look he had on his face was one of disgust. Tanya noticed his look and didn't say anything, but her smug look let me know that she plans on kissing me a lot more in front of Edward just to annoy him. Not that I mind of course, I don't I could ever turn down a kiss from Tanya.
"So Jasper's gift couldn't see anything different from what everyone, but Alice, thought. So Alice, how did you go from seeing a possibility of Bella and Tanya together to it becoming a reality?" Carlisle asked.
"Well, like I said I didn't want to say anything because as I've learned plenty of times because of my gift, whatever is meant to be will be. I felt at the time that I didn't need to say anything because everything would fall into place as it's supposed to be. The birthday party though, that I didn't see. I'm so sorry Bella, if I had known I wouldn't have done it; but I didn't know." Alice said.
I drew in a deep breath. I get this feeling that before Alice continues with this story, there will be a little discussion about that party first. I'm okay with that since I want to get at least one thing off my chest about it.
"I don't blame you Alice, or you Jasper, for what happened at the party. I do however; blame you all for what happened after it. I can easily forgive you for slipping up; especially since I wasn't actually hurt, but I can't forgive you all so easily for leaving me." I said as confidently as I could.
I want to forgive them, I really do. They were my family and I loved them; but when they left they took that bond with them. I think one day I can probably have the relationship I once had with them back; but I don't know when and they will have to work at it.
"We can understand that Bella. What we did clearly hurt you, that was not what we wanted. We are all truly sorry and hopefully with time, we can prove to you that we want you in our family; even as a cousin." Carlisle said with a smile and Esme and Emmett nodded their agreement.
I honestly expected Rosalie to scoff at what Carlisle said, since he included her when he said 'we want you in our family', but she didn't say or do anything. She didn't even roll her eyes. Emmett, he gave me a huge smile and a thumbs up.
"I appreciate your forgiveness and in time I hope that I can earn your trust back. Thank you Bella." Jasper said.
"Don't worry Bella; I'm sure you'll forgive us." Alice said with a knowing smile.
"Did you know what was going to happen to my mate Alice?" Tanya asked, trying to not sound so harsh but failing miserably.
"I did what was the choice to get Bella to you." Alice said, not really giving Tanya an answer. She probably said that first to make sure Tanya listened to all of what Alice has to say and not jump to conclusions and get mad. "I did see what was going to happen to her. Naturally Edward made the decision to leave quickly and we had little time to fight him on his choice. You must understand Bella that not a single one of us wanted to leave. Well, actually Rosalie didn't care one way or the other, but she didn't pick sides." Alice said.
"Then why did you all leave me?" I asked, sounding very hurt.
None of them but Edward, what I thought was the love of my life, my soul mate, wanted to leave, but they all did. I don't understand. How did one get all of them to leave, without even saying goodbye?
"He said as your mate he got to decide what was best for you. When a vampire is doing something for their mate, for their mates' health, we let them decide. Just like if Esme asked us to do something for Carlisle no matter what it is we would do it. Granted we might question, or try to persuade them, but a vampire's mate has the ultimate decision when it comes to ones mate." Alice said.
Okay, so if a mate is incapacitated somehow, the other half gets to decide what to do? I guess it's kind of like a human wife or husband deciding if they want to pull the plug on their spouse for whatever the circumstances. I can understand that, especially with vampires being a lot more animalistic. I wouldn't want to get in the way of a vampire doing something for their mate.
"Okay, but that doesn't explain why you wouldn't come back as soon as you saw Bella in distress. Why didn't you go to her?" Irina asked.
"I wanted to, I really did. I knew that if anyone of stayed behind Edward would do something stupid, like threaten to reveal himself and I didn't want to risk that. Then I got a vision shortly after leaving that Edward was leaving us, so I thought that then I could go back to Bella, but that didn't work either. You see, at this time, I was getting more and more visions of Bella being with Tanya and not Edward; I just had to figure out how. I'm guessing that because Bella was so in love with Edward that it took us leaving her to break the bond she had with us and the time it took for her to move her, for her to not necessarily get over Edward, but to allow her heart a chance to let another in." Alice explained.
"I believe I understand. If Edward hadn't abandoned Bella and took all of you with her, she would have still harbored deep feelings for Edward and would have made being with Tanya more difficult." Carlisle said.
"Right; if we had stayed or even come back, we would have eventually had a ceremony where the Denali's would have naturally been invited to and Tanya would meet Bella and therefore would know instantly that she didn't belong to Edward but to her." Alice said.
"Imagine how much more difficult it would have been for you Tanya if that had happened; it took you long enough with how things worked out now." Kate joked.
"So, you left because of a vampire thing, kind of out of respect. You didn't come back because you saw that it was the best way for me to get to Tanya faster and easier?" I asked Alice to confirm I understood what she was saying.
"Exactly, it was the best option, all things considered, to get you to your mate the fastest and easiest." Alice said.
"That's can't be true. She is my mate as I am hers. We are meant to be together." Edward said.
"Don't be so dense Edward. Look how Tanya acts with Bella for the two seconds we have been here, they act more like a couple than you two ever did. Just get over the fact that you lost to a girl." Rosalie said.
"If you lay claim to her again I will be forced to take action. Remember Edward, you are nothing but a child; even with your gift, I'm much too old to lose a fight against someone like you. Especially with my mate on the line; so please, but all means, open your mouth and say something stupid again so that I can kick your ass." Tanya said.
To say this, and to seem more threatening I suppose, she lifted her head off of mine and sat up straighter. From the corner of my eye, I could see her eyes darken a little and I heard a feint growl in her voice. I'm sure if I wasn't holding on as tightly as I could, Tanya would have already flown at Edward.
"I'm sure that won't be necessary." Carlisle said, trying to avoid a fight.
"Edward, why don't you go out for a hunt and calm down a little?" Esme suggested.
"I don't need to." Edward growled out while glaring at Tanya.
"I think you should Eddie. Why don't you, me, Jazz and Eleazar go hunting and we can let them all catch up. What do you say Eleazar? Jazz?" Emmett asked.
"I believe that would be a good idea. After you Edward." Eleazar said as he stood up.
Eleazar made sure to follow Edward out the door and Emmett and Jasper were right behind him. As they left I couldn't help but allow a long yawn to escape. I can't help it, its kind of late and with the excitement of the move and them getting here, I'm really tired.
"I'm sorry we have kept you up for so long Bella. If you want we can continue this discussion in the morning; if that's alright with you and Tanya of course." Carlisle said.
"Sure, I don't mind." I answered; I just want to go to sleep.
"For now you are all still welcomed in my house as long as Edward doesn't do anything stupid." Tanya said.
We both got up at the same, mostly because Tanya practically just lifted me up herself with the arm she still has around me and we made our way to the stairs to go to my room. As I went into my room, Tanya followed right behind me and closed the door.
"You know, you didn't have to follow me in here." I said with a smile.
"But how else would have gotten such a good view?" Tanya asked with an innocent smile.
I blushed a little at what she said before grabbing my pajamas. When she made no move to leave, I changed as quickly as I could in front of her. As nervous as I was to do so, I know for a fact that eventually Tanya will see it all, so I might as well try to get used it. The look on Tanya's face let me know that she did in fact appreciate that I changed in front of her.
"Are you going to stay here or go back downstairs?" I asked.
"If you don't mind, I would like to stay here and hold you." Tanya asked.
I'm not how, but I know Tanya wants to stay with me because she feels threatened by Edward; not that she would ever admit it of course. Something about my ex-love being here must have set off her instincts. I personally don't it at all because I love to sleep next to Tanya; it makes me feel safe.
"I don't mind." I said as I crawled into bed with Tanya right behind me.
"Goodnight my love." Tanya said with a kiss to the back of my head as she spooned me from behind.
"'Night Tanya." I said as I closed my eyes to fall asleep.
A/N: I hope the explanation i used made sense. i tried wording it differently and this seemed the best. It it confused a lot of people, then I'll just add a little more explainationness in the next chapter.