Disclaimer: All the Twilight stuff belongs to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just playing in her sandbox.

Author's note: Yes! Here is a new chapter, finally! I wanted more of a conclusion and less of a cliffie, so I tried to lessen the suspense of the ending . . . somewhat! lol

Hope you enjoy it, and I love all of you that have been worried about little Masen!

~oooOooo~

Chapter 125 Frantic

"Brother! You'll be back in 12 hours or less cause that's how long it takes the train

to go around the mountains while we go through and over them!"

Alice reassured Edward as we headed out the door.

~oooOooo~

EPOV

Surely this wasn't happening. The vision in Alice's mind didn't make sense . . . Why would Bella be in a room other than on the train where I had left her, and why the hell would Rose be running along tracks in the snow? Masen was agile that much I knew, and far more able than he let on . . . but he was still just one small baby! How hard could it be for a vampire with the cunning and abilities that my sister Rose possessed to keep up with one small baby?

I flew like the wind over the snow crusted terrain, the slopes barely slowing me down. I continued to dial Bella, though the phone registered no service. The moment it connected I stopped on a dime . . . waiting. In the instant while I waited for the call to go through to my wife, I noticed that my phone showed three dozen missed calls from Bella, Rose and . . . Charlie. Charlie?

She answered on the first ring.

"Edward!" I heard the word, but the tone that was there I had heard before and I knew. In an instant I knew that the vision Alice had shown me was true, the underlying tone in just that one word stopped me cold.

"Baby, what is it, what's wrong?" I asked, trying to sound calm.

"Edward, Masen is missing . . . he's gone, just gone . . . out of his crib."

"Sweetheart, calm down and slowly tell me what you're talking about, please," I asked her quietly. She was frantic, her words were starting to run together, and I needed her to explain exactly what had happened, though had I been human I'm sure those words would have frozen my heart. My sister and brothers caught up to me and stood stock still, encircling me as she began.

"Edward, Rose put Masen down for a nap in his bed, but she said he really didn't want to go down but that she looked in on him a little later and he was sleeping. We were just sitting and talking in her cabin, listening for the baby, but he was supposed to be asleep, but we didn't hear anything Edward!" she spewed the words out becoming more and more upset as she continued to talk to me.

"What happened then, baby?" I tried to get her to give me the facts.

"When I went in to check on him, like I always do, he was gone. The crib was empty . . . well, not empty. The blanket he was covered with was still there but Masen and his bear were gone, just . . . gone, and Rose and I looked all over and in the closets and the other rooms but Rose says that she can't smell him anywhere but in our car and she can't hear his heartbeat!"

"Calm down, sweetheart. Calm down," I said soothingly.

"But Edward, He was just wearing his footie pajamas and it's freezing outside and he could fall and hurt himself or run into animals or . . . "

"Bella, stop. Stop right there. Masen isn't really affected by the cold, remember? Remember what I told you about having him outside to clean the car with me in Verona . . . remember when we took him to the top peaks near the house in Bolzano?"

". . . I remember," she sniffled.

"Well, then let's not worry so much about the temperature or the snow. As for falling and hurting himself, you know he's very nearly as indestructible as I am. He's fine, Bella. He's fine. We just have to find him, that's all," I tried to tell her, fighting to keep my voice calm and reassuring.

"Alice, Edward has Alice . . ."

"No. Alice can't see Masen. She saw Rose running along railroad tracks and she saw through Rose, a vision of you in a strange hotel . . . but she can't see just Masen when he's alone," I explained.

"It's alright, Alice," I said, squeezing my sister's hand to reassure her. She looked so guilty, as though she should have seen this coming or known somehow, "Alice, your visions are sporatic and they change, it isn't as though any of us thought there was a need to keep an eye on Masen, not for him wandering off the train anyway."

"We're going to split up and backtrack, Bella. We'll go back to where we got off the train and pick up his scent. We'll find him. Hold the phone, baby, I need to talk to Emmett and Jasper for a minute. Just hold on and if I lose you, I'll call back, okay?"

Bella begrudgingly agreed. Jasper and Emmett agreed to flank our trail, a mile or so on either side of the path we had actually traveled to get here. Alice and I would run a half mile or so to each side of the trail. I wasn't sure just how good my son's tracking abilities were, but he could probably follow our scent at least somewhat, and at a distance of a half mile or so from each other we could easily hear his heartbeat and detect his scent if he were anywhere near.

I had told Bella that we would probably lose reception and not to worry, but I knew it was useless to expect that . . . hell, I was worried and at least I was out here, able to look for him. What must it be like to be so frail, so fragile that combing the snow capped peaks and valleys out here would be all but impossible without a massively equipped rescue squad. Though I had tried to comfort my wife and tell her that Masen would be fine, I couldn't help but worry. We had never exactly tested just how tough Masen's skin was, though I had to bite through the umbilical cord when he was born, the sharpest scalpel only denting it.

We headed back down the mountain. It would only take a few hours to get all the way back to where we had jumped from the train and, assuming Rose and Bella were right and Masen had attempted to follow us on our hunt, we should pick up his scent. Rose was heading our way from the other end and I hoped she had already found him by the time we met up with her. It hadn't been that many hours, apparently Rose and Bella acted quickly to get off the train, well . . . quickly by human standards. What else could they do, really. I could just imagine the hell Bella gave Rose about leaving her, or not jumping off the train right away to follow our son, or seeing her to a hotel, or all of the above! I knew my wife. I could only imagine what it took Rose to convince her not to be carried piggy back by Rose and come with her on the search.

We regrouped at the site where we had fed. The ibex we had drained were still covered but there was a new scent here, one I would know anywhere.

Masen.

My mind flew over the memory of the animals that lived here in the high peaks of the alps. Predators. I wasn't too worried about the ibex or the chamois, even though they had horns. No, it was . . .

A loud, shrill cry rang out through the frozen mountains . . . a sound I was familiar with but hadn't heard in years. As a family, the Cullens tried to avoid endangered species, preferring to hunt species that have populations large enough to ensure their continued survival. The sound I heard made me shudder. I loved large cats, preferred them to any other thing on the menu . . . and the cry of the lynx was unmistakable.

Masen's trail was easy to follow. Other than his scent, the footies in the pajamas he was apparently wearing made large, distinct patterns in the snow. He didn't yet possess the ability to run lightly and leave little or no footprints. Periodically there was the imprint of something else, something light being drug beside him in the fresh snow. I ran with all the speed I could manage, flying along the path my son had taken. I was moving over the snow with speed I hadn't known I was capable of towards Masen, and the cries of the cat.

~oooOooo~

Charlie POV

"No, I haven't heard anything about it. What the hell do you mean, missing?" Jacob asked.

"He's missing. All I know is that I called Bella to come up with a plan to go and see her and my grandson and she was upset. I finally got it out of her that the baby was missing, wasn't on the train with them," I told him, pressing the phone to my shoulder long enough to tie my shoes.

"Now just a damned minute. What train?" Jacob asked.

"Some train that runs from that floating city in Italy back to London, hell I don't know the name of it . . . some fancy, expensive thing," I gruffly replied, exasperated.

"The Orient Express. Bells called to tell me how excited she was to get to ride on that train. How the hell is the baby missing. Edward barely lets either of them out of his sight, Charlie," Jacob asked, trying to understand how something like this could have happened.

"Edward went hunting with his brothers, Jacob . . . left Rose on the train with Bella. They think Masen faked being asleep and snuck out of his bed to go hunting with his dad."

"What?" Jacob nearly yelled.

"Seems the kid wanted to go and his dad wouldn't let him," I couldn't help but smile. My grandson was gonna be a handful. Headstrong, just like his mother.

"That little shit!"

"Jacob!"

"Well, you know what I mean. I knew he was advanced for his age, strong that is, but I guess he has a mind of his own as well. When are we leaving?" the boy asked, just like that was the obvious thing to do.

"Sue is driving me to the airport soon as I get off this phone. You coming?"

I didn't even have to say anything else. Jacob took down the flight number and told me he'd find me at the airport in London, be sure to take my phone.

"Take the phone? Will it work in England?" I asked him, surprised.

"Charlie. The phone Edward and Bella gave you is satellite. It will work anywhere in the world. Take it and the charger with you, and Charlie - be sure to bring all the little plugs that came in the case. Things are different when you're not in this country."

"You have a passport, Jacob?" I foolishly asked.

"You have to have one to come and go from Canada these days. Bella and I lived in Calgary for a while and I still have it to go there and visit Dale and the race team," he explained. I should have known that. I did know that, I just wasn't thinking.

"Does Izzy know you're coming?"

"You mean Bella?" I said, frowning even though I knew Jacob couldn't see my face.

"Yea."

"She knows. She told me to call Carlisle and if I insisted, just to fly to London because she was sure Edward would have found the baby hours before I could even get there."

"Where the hell are they, Charlie . . . exactly I mean?"

"Litensten, Lichentan," I fumbled.

"Lichtenstein? Is that what you mean, Charlie?" he corrected - though I had no idea how Jacob even knew that country existed. Guess the kid paid more attention than I thought.

"Yea, the one between Switzerland and Austria with all the mountains," I added, now impatient to get off the phone and get going.

"That's all mountains, Alps, isn't it?' The kids voice kind of cracking. Guess he was coming to the realization that my new little grandson was lost out in the snow in the winter in the Alps. Damn it, I had to get there!

"Jacob. Call Carlisle, I have to go, son. I'll see you at the airport," I said as I hung up the phone. Guess I had better go grab the case that came with the phone they had given me, I thought as I ran up the stairs to my bedroom. Good thing it was in the first drawer I opened, doubt I would have taken the time to look for it.

Sue was already out warming up the car and ready to go. She looked kind of impatient as I walked out, opened the door, tossed my bag in back and sat down.

"Jacob called. He's meeting me in London," I told her.

"Good. Can't hurt to have him there to help find Masen if need be," she said. She was quiet for a long time, till we pulled out on the highway.

"Charlie," . . . silence. I wanted for her to go on and tell me whatever it was she had been going to say.

"Charlie, won't Edward and the family have found Masen by the time you get there?"

"I'm, counting on it, Sue. After I saw the lengths that boy would go to when Bella was kidnapped, I'm sure he and his family will have gotten Masen back long before I get there. If by some chance they haven't found him, it won't hurt to have me around helping and Jacob, well, you never know when a werewolf will come in handy," I laughed. "Really, Sue, I don't want you to worry. I wanted to go see Bella in person to tell her about us, you wanted me to go, remember? They will have found Masen long before I get here and they won't need any help I could have offered."

She looked over at me, not paying attention to the road till I pointed in front of her and nodded.

"Then, I don't understand. Why are you in such a hurry to get there if you're sure they will have already found him?" she stared at me like she just had no idea what the hell I was thinking.

I had given it a lot of thought since talking to Bella. I was upset and worried, anyone would be, but Edward and his family were vampires and the boy was at least half like his father. They would find him and he would be safe.

I looked over at Sue and answered her as straight faced as I possibly could, "I have to get there and protect my grandson . . . and my daughter."

She looked at me like I had lost my mind.

"Sue, when Bella gets a hold of that boy, she's going to hurt herself spanking his little backside for this!"

~oooOooo~

Emmett POV

"Rose!" I yelled as I grabbed her and hugged her to me. She looked around frantically, as though she were counting and recounting the people in front of her.

"Did Edward find him?" she frantically asked.

I smelled Masen in the clearing where we stood, I guess we all did. Our dinner from earlier in the day had been partially uncovered and the little guys tracks were everywhere.

"He ran ahead of us, Rose. His tracks and Masen's head off that way," I pointed, "Damned fleet foot always manages to outrun us."

"What the hell happened, anyway, and where's my little sister?" I demanded.

"What the hell do you think happened?" Rosie said as she smacked me on the shoulder. "This is all your fault anyway you big oaf."

"My fault?" I exclaimed, but she continued before I could get another word in, "If you hadn't told Masen that he could go hunting with you when he got big he would never have climbed out of his crib and followed you."

"You think that's why he did it, he wanted to go hunt with us?"

"Yes. That's what Bella and I both think and if you're going to be so irresponsible as to give him ideas like that before he is actually big enough to act on them you can't play with him!" she fussed. I remembered what I had said to him before we left the train,

"Dude, I'm proud of you, too! I had no idea you could do that.

Keep it up and soon you can go hunting with your dad, me and your uncle Jasper!"

but I didn't think the little guy was even capable of such a thing. It was just something you said to kids, telling them they could do things with you when they got big . . . guess I was going to have to watch what iuI said to the little squirt from now on.

"If you two could stop," Jasper broke in, "at least long enough for us to find my nephew, I would appreciate it."

He was right. We all took off down the path Edward had taken, listening for the baby and hoping we found him soon - though I knew Edward would have already caught up with him. I was right, but it was not the reunion scene with Masen firmly in my brother's arms that we came upon. We saw Edward crouched behind a ledge just before a clearing, hidden. It wasn't so much a clearing, well it was a large crevice in the mountain really . . . high walls of rock on three sides. In the middle of the clearing was the evidence of a struggle, the opponents both laying still, covered in blood. My nephew's bear was tucked under his arm and I could hear his heart beating thank God, his head resting on the carcass of a large dead cat.

"Edward, what the hell?" I asked as I crouched beside my brother.

"You'll never believe what I just saw, Emmett. Never," he said flatly, ever so slowly turning his head from side to side as we stood downwind from the scene before us.

~oooOooo~