"Whoa, wait a moment," Rosalie said from the other side of the room, "Why does Edward need Jasper's forgiveness and Alice, what eighth person?"

Jasper, Alice and I looked at each other then started trying to explain simultaneously.

Rosalie put her hand up and effectively silenced us, "One at a time!"

"Ok," I started before Alice or Jasper could say anything, "I'm sure you all remember a time, not long after you left Bella…me, that Jasper wasn't around."

Everyone nodded.

"Well that was because he changed me," I continued, "and it didn't take him long to realise that the reasons Edward had used to get everyone to leave were untrue.

"Jasper always wanted to bring me back to you all and to confront Edward but I never let him. I was afraid that what Edward had told me was true, that none of you wanted me, and that if we did join up with you all, Edward and Jasper would get into a massive fight about Edward lying to me and hurting me and Jasper stealing my soul.

"I wasn't going to let that happen, so eventually when I was sick of Jasper missing Alice, I dropped a boulder on his head to give him amnesia and we went our separate ways," I finished.

Everyone was shocked. Alice recovered first though and told her part of explanation before anyone could comment on my part or Jasper could try to 'correct' it.

"You know how I told you all I saw us all here and we were all happy again?" She asked.

Everyone nodded. It was kind of freaky how in time their nodding was. Freaky and amusing.

"Well, what I didn't tell you was that in that vision there was eight happy people in our family, not seven," Alice continued, "I didn't tell anyone, because I didn't know who that person was until now."

"Ta daa," I said meekly.

Everyone was looking at me now; well studying would be a more accurate description.

"Do I really look that different?" I asked them. I really wanted to know.

It was a moment before anyone answered me.

"No, not really," replied Rose as Jasper came over to comfort me with a hug.

"Yeah, now that I think about it, you don't look different at all," Alice added.

"How come you didn't recognise me then?" I questioned them, confused.

No one seemed to have an answer, and then Carlisle spoke up.

"I think, that none of us recognised you because we were trying extremely hard not to think about Bella around Edward," He said.

"We were all concentrating so hard on not thinking about you, so we didn't upset Edward and ruin our chance at being happy again, that we kind of forced ourselves to forget what you looked like, couple that with your new identity and we just didn't make the connection," Esme finished for him.

All the terrible reasons I had come up with for the Cullen's not remembering me vanished from my mind at that moment and if I was human, I would have cried. Trust Mum and Dad to come up with a completely logical reason.

I skipped across the room and hugged them both.

"Group hug!" Yelled Emmett, seconds before we were hit by several granite-like bodies.

I couldn't stop smiling, it felt so good to be home.

A few minutes later Rose spoke up, "Ok, now what was this about Edward lying to us?"

I sighed, this was going to be rough, on everyone.

"He told us Bella wanted us to leave, when in actual fact he broke up with Bella telling her we wanted to leave and didn't want her to come with us," Jasper answered, venom lacing his words.

"You almost killed her," Edward responded, apparently having recovered enough from his emotional assault to join the conversation.

"Seriously!" I felt like screaming, "I wasn't killed on my birthday so it's a moot point. Nothing needed to be done, I'd gotten over it about five minutes after it happened."

"You needed to be protected!" Edward argued, "I needed to protect you."

"Edward, I needed YOU!" I countered (and yes, I was screaming now), "I needed Carlisle and Esme, who were more like parents to me than my actual parents. I needed Alice and Emmett, my best friends. I even needed Rose and Jasper, because no matter what they were part of my family too. That's what you stole from me Edward, my family."

Everyone was silent.

I was watching Edward, watching so many emotions cross his face. Finally, it settled on defeat.

"I'm so sorry," He said softly, then turned towards the door.

"Don't you dare walk out that door, Edward Anthony Masen Cullen!" I warned, barely keeping my emotions in check. I wasn't ready to jump into his arms and marry him but I didn't want him out of my sight either.

Edward turned to look at me, his question clearly written all over his face.

"I only just found you again," I answered the unasked question, "Do you really think I am going to let you leave as easily as I did last time?"

For a moment I thought he was going to turn around and leave anyway. I decided that I would have to attach a collar and leash to him to stop him from getting too far away from me for the next century or three.

Alice burst out laughing, and Edward grimaced. I grinned as I realised Alice had seen my decision.

"Kinky really isn't my thing Bella…Marie…" He stumbled over my names, "What do we call you now?"

"Belle," I replied, "The wolves have always called me that."

Edward nodded, "I promise I'm not leaving you Belle, or the rest of this family, I just need a bit of time alone to process everything."

I was about to protest his need to process anything, but Edward silenced me by holding up his hand.

"I know I hurt you, really badly, but I have spent the last nine decades thinking my soul mate was dead and that it was my entire fault," He explained, "I need to process that fact that you are alive and well and a vampire. I need to get my head around how hurt you were and that Jasper saved you whereas I almost killed you."

I sighed, realizing he was right. As much pain as I had been through, Edward had been through just as much. I had spent the last nine decades coming to grips with what had happened, Edward had only had the last 9 minutes.

"Ok," I agreed, "Don't spend too much time processing what's happened, it's not always for the best."

Edward acknowledged my advice, "I'll be back soon, I promise," he swore to everyone in the room.

Then he turned around and sped out of the house and into the forest surrounding it.

"So, tell us about the wolves!" Emmett requested as soon as Edward was out of sight, "Are they really stronger than us?"

It was so unexpected that I giggled as Rose whacked Emmett over the head.

"Emmett, that's probably the last thing Belle wants to talk about right now!" Esme scolded.

I looked to Alice and her eyes went blank as she threw herself into a vision.

As she came out of the vision, Alice grinned wickedly at me.

I smiled and ended up spending the rest of the night happily swapping adventure stories with the Cullens.

Hope you are all enjoying this story! Please review, your comments are much appreciated =) KW