A/N:

I just want to say thank you to everyone who reviewed and let me know that there's still a lot of interest in this – I really, really appreciate it, and you guys are all awesome.

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This chapter's a little shorter than the rest, but as always, let me know what you think!

"Rosalie?" I was too shocked to do anything but stand and stare, unable to comprehend why the Cullen who hated me the most was stood on my doorstep, a shiny convertible parked behind her, at the edge of my drive. "What… What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see you. I thought that would be rather obvious." She peered over my shoulder, into the dark hallway beyond. "Could you let me in?"

"But… Why are you here? You don't like me." She laughed, musically, and a soft smile crept over her face.

"I never didn't like you, Bella. I was just jealous of you. You were human, and I could never be. You had the world, you had your life, you could do anything, be anything – you had everything that I ever wanted, without even trying." This was the longest conversation I'd ever had with Rosalie, and her words made me frown, for surely, how could someone as beautiful and perfect as her be jealous of me?

I didn't hate myself or anything, but come on.

There was no conceivable way.

I was about to reply, still baffled by her being here, and what she'd said, when a deep howl came from the woods, and she whipped around, a slight tremor running through her body.

"Please, Bella," she murmured, turning back to face me with slight panic in her golden eyes that was quickly concealed as her she turned back to face me. "Let me inside." I stepped aside hastily, because, uneasy as she made me, I doubted I'd feel better if she got attacked by a pack of werewolves on my front lawn.

Shutting the door behind me, I ushered her upstairs, though I doubted a floor would make much difference if Jake came knocking at the door. I'd never really been around the pack when there'd been a vampire around, save for Victoria, and I wasn't eager for them to come here.

Especially seeing as I had no idea what I was going to do.

Sure enough, a quick glance out of the window showed four large wolves in front of the house, all with their teeth drawn back. I scanned them all quickly, looking for Jake's chocolate coat, but didn't spot him – I realised why when, a few seconds later, my doorbell rang once more.

"Let me inside, Bella," he growled when I opened the door, face drawn into a scowl as he tried to push past me. I stood my ground, refusing to move, even if being so close to an angry, unstable (and unfortunately half-naked), wolf-man scared me a little.

"Why should I?"

"Because I know he's here!" Jake roared, and I flinched back as he shook, clutching the doorframe with one huge hand as he tried to get ahold of himself. I was rooted to the spot, terrified to move in-case he changed – I didn't know what he'd do to me if he did when he was so angry, and I was in no shape to find out. It had been a long time since I'd seen the wolves in their true form, and the sight of the other four behind Jake, watching me, was almost too much for me to handle.

"He's not here," I whispered when his shaking had gotten under control. He raised his head to meet my eyes, his own raging with a fury so intense that it took my breath away, and I wondered when the boy that I had used to know had turned into a man capable of such negative, uncontrollable emotion. I dreaded to think that I was the cause of that – but surely, I couldn't be the only reason.

"I can smell him, Bella. Like I could before. So, let me in." I still refused to move, even as he stepped forward, over the threshold, towering easily over me by several feet. "I can move you myself if you're not going to."

"No. I'm not moving. I'll talk to you outside, but you're not coming in." I titled my chin up, looking him in dead in the eye, so I saw the flash of rage in their brown depths, and then I couldn't see anything else because he seized my arm and flung me, away from the house. I hit gravel, hard, and the force rolled me sideways until I ended up on the grass, spitting out stones and wincing at the pain that shot through my ribs and arm when I did so.

Jake had gone, presumably into the house, and he returned not long after, dragging Rosalie by the arm. I went to call an apology but taking the breath caused me such intense pain that I doubled over, my head resting on the ground as I waited for it to pass.

"What the fuck did you do to her?" I heard Rosalie's voice, outraged, though I couldn't imagine why, when it was only over me, before cold hands were gently drawing my head back. "Are you ok?" She looked genuinely concerned, and I wondered whether I looked worse than I felt.

"I'm fine," I managed to mutter, though it was through gritted teeth. I didn't know what I'd done, but I was pretty sure that something was broken. At least, I'd be surprised if I wasn't.

I managed to look up to see that the pack had disappeared, save for Jake and Sam. I imagined that the others were in the trees, watching, but that there I couldn't see them was all that mattered to me at that moment.

"You're not supposed to be here," hissed Jake to Rosalie, but Sam held up a hand, silencing anything else that he was going to say.

"Why are you here?" Sam asked, his voice as deep and gravelly as I remembered. He looked the same, too – and he was looking at me with some regret, though I doubted it was because I was hurt.

"I came to speak to Bella. There's something… important that I need to tell her."

"Which is what?"

"It's private. Family business, you understand. That's the only reason I'm here. It was a necessity – I couldn't allow her to return home at the moment."

"Why?"

"There's someone there who she probably doesn't want to see." I gasped, for the only person that could be would be Edward, and the gasp sent a spiral of pain to my chest, causing me to groan and double over once more. Rosalie flitted to my side once more, pushing me gently backwards so that I was sat up. "Try not to move, alright? If I take you back injured, she's not going to be happy…"

"You're taking me to her?" I managed, grasping her arm as she turned away from me.

"Yeah. She couldn't come herself. She'll explain it when she sees you." I nodded, satisfied enough with the answer, and she turned back to face the two wolves. "I know that I'm not supposed to be here, alright? I'll be gone within the hour, and I won't be coming back."

"You tell the rest of your family that they're not welcome here, either. But you can go, if it's just this once. Next time, we won't be so lenient." Jacob sputtered in disbelief, and started to shake once more – Sam seized his arm and growled something that sounded terrifying, even though I couldn't make out individual words.

Rosalie helped me up, then, gingerly, trying not to hurt me anymore than I already was. It hurt, but I managed it without too much trouble.

"I'll be gone just as soon as I've taken Bella to the hospital," she said, giving Jake a nasty look. He glanced towards me a though noticing me for the first time, and a regret flashed across his face.

"Bella, I - "

"Save it. You knew what you were doing. Have a good wedding, by the way – you and Leah deserve each other." It was probably mean of me to say, especially with the amount of acid that was in my tone, but I didn't care – I was pissed off, and I was hurting, and I took satisfaction in the wounded look that crossed his face.

Rosalie steered me towards the house, and when I told her I'd already packed my stuff in preparation for leaving, she grabbed my suitcase and then hauled it the car before coming back for me – I suspected she just wanted to check if the wolves had left yet.

She drove me to the hospital in silence, but it wasn't the awkward kind – I was content to just stare out of the window, and whenever I glanced at her she was frowning out at the road.

It didn't take long once I were inside – I asked the doctor if he could keep my visit on the down-low, not wanting my dad to find out considering his condition, so he agreed to get me out of there quickly, and after a quick x-ray he determined that my ribs were just sore, but that my wrist was broken. I was sent away with a removable cast and a months' worth of painkillers, and that was that.

"Where are we going?" I asked my companion when I'd gotten back into her car (she'd stayed outside whilst I'd gone in, deciding that there would be less questions that way), and we were speeding away. I'd forgotten how fast vampires drove and had to refrain from closing my eyes as the tress blurred past us.

"I told you, I'm taking you to Alice."

"But where is she? And why are you helping her? And why couldn't she come herself?" And - "

"Whoa, Bella, slow down."

"I'm sorry. I just have a lot of questions. I haven't heard from her all week." I tried not to sound too upset, but I had been – even though my worry for my dad had been at the forefront of my mind, Alice had always been there, too. I'd been worried about her, as well, especially considering the abrupt end of our last conversation.

I missed her, and the amount that I missed her scared me. She hadn't been back long, regardless of what had happened between us, of the things that she'd told me. I wished that she'd call me again, especially at night when I was alone in the house, but she never had. I'd repressed everything because it made it easier, it let me concentrate on what was most important at the time, but now it all came flooding back.

"I know, and there's a reason for that. I'll let her explain it all to you, ok? But as for why I'm helping. I don't know whether she told you that I was the only one of the family who supported her, after Jasper left. Like I said before, I was jealous of you, but I didn't like to see my sister hurting.

"And she was. It was unbearable, to look at her, to see so plainly in her eyes what she'd lost. She told me the whole story – I hadn't known, you see, what she felt. None of us did, apart from Edward. He wanted to make sure that none of us interfered, because he wanted you for himself – my brother's a selfish creature.

"So she told me, and I knew then that the only reason she could be feeling so much loss would be if you were her true mate. So, I'm helping her. I'm jealous of your humanity, but I've always believed in true love. When I was human, that was all I wanted. To love someone so much that nothing else in the world mattered. That all that there was to your life was them, and when you were apart it was so unbearable that you could hardly stand it, but when you were together it was more beautiful than you could have ever imagined.

"That was all I ever wanted. And that was what I got, eventually, when I found Emmet. But before that? I know what it's like to be with someone that you don't love, and who doesn't love you. I had that before I was turned, and when I realised that was what had happened to Jasper and Alice, I couldn't just stand by and do nothing."

"So here you are," I murmured, looking out the window, still slightly alarmed by how fast we were going.

"Here I am." She glanced over at me briefly, as if she was sizing me up. "It's going to be a few hours' drive, so you might want to try and sleep."

"Okay," I murmured, doubting that I'd be able to sleep while in a car moving so unnaturally fast, but, to my surprise, I was being awoken what felt like just a few moments later by a gentle shaking.

"Bella, you need to wake up." Through blurry eyes, I could see that we were parked outside a motel, and it was pitch black outside, the only light coming from the nearly full moon. There were only a handful of other cars around, and not a person in sight.

"Where are we?" Rosalie laughed and opened her door, and I did the same, staring slightly aghast at the run-down building.

"It had to be somewhere like this. She'll explain. Come on." She led me to one of the ground floor doors and knocked, slightly gingerly, I noted, probably afraid she'd catch something from the mottled paint (something that even vampires weren't immune to).

After a few moments, to door was flung open, and my eyes met golden orbs, set in a face that I'd missed in the short time I'd spent away. Her eyes raked up and down my body once, before she noticed the cast on my wrist and frowned, raising a questioning eyebrow in my direction.

"It's a long story," I replied, relief flooding my voice now that I was finally re-united with her. I drank her in, re-absorbing her, noticing the rumpled look of her hair, as though she'd run her hands through it several times, and the slight downturn of her mouth, even as our eyes met, that told me that there was something troubling her.

"Well then, come and tell me about it."

As soon as Rosalie had said her quick goodbye and left, I was yanked inside the hotel room and slammed against the door, a pair of (refreshingly) chilling lips covering mine, drawing a soft moan from my mouth as the fingers of my good hand wound through Alice's short hair, drawing her closer.

"I missed you," she breathed against my lips when we broke apart so that I could gasp in a breath, the air stolen from my lungs by her hungry kiss. My ribs protested, but I didn't care as I ran my hand gently over the side of her, caressing the impossibly soft skin that I knew was as hard as stone.

"I missed you, too."

"Is your dad okay?" I knew that she would already know, would have already checked ahead, but was just asking because it was the courteous thing to do and that was the type of person that she was.

"He's going to be fine. They're letting him out of the hospital today." She grabbed my hand and pulled me forward, away from the door and towards the bed. I collapsed onto it and she sat opposite me, dropping my hand only to gently pick up the injured one.

"What happened to you?"

"Jacob."

"Black?"

"Uh-huh." She growled, quietly, and then muttered a string of curses under her breath that brought a smile to my face.

"I could go and kill him, if you wanted."

"As much as I'd like that, I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"You think I couldn't take him? Because I could. I could kick the shit out of that mutt if I wanted to."

"And what about the other wolves?"

"…Technicalities." I laughed, wincing as pain shot through my chest. "What is it?"

"My ribs got hurt, too. I'm fine, though, I promise." She eyed me critically, a frown on her delicate features.

"Let me see."

"What? No, it's fine."

"Bella. Let me see. I want to check that you are actually alright."

"I told you, I'm fine. And if you want to get my top off you're going to have to work harder than that." Her eyes glinted with the hint of a challenge, and my breath caught when her eyes met mine, smouldering. "That's cheating."

Her eyebrows quirked up, a quizzical look coming over her face. "The eyes. The smouldering. It's cheating. Vampire charm is cheating. You have an unfair advantage."

"It's not cheating," she murmured as she lent closer, her fingers toying gently with the hem of my shirt. "I just want to check." Her eyes never left mine as she inched the material up, and I closed the space between us, pressing my lips against hers.

"Stop trying to distract me," she mumbled against my lips, pulling back and tracing the bruised skin of my ribs gently, barely even touching the skin but making me shiver all the same. Our eyes locked, and there was something so intense in her eyes that I almost forgot to breathe.

"What did he do to you?"

"I wouldn't get out of the way when he wanted to get to Rosalie. But I'll be fine, really. The doctor said the pain will fade within the next week or so." She still didn't look convinced, but I pulled her hand gently away, cupping it with both my own instead. "Now, are you ever going to tell me what you've been up to all this time?"