Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

A/N: I do not have a Beta and I'm too lazy to read over my work, so sorry in advance for what I'm sure will be numerous grammar mistakes and probably some missing/wrong words in places.

I was very thankful I wasn't in school anymore because it would have been very difficult to go to school and pretend everything was okay. It would have been like when the Cullen's had left me. I wasn't sure which situation was worse though, them leaving me before or finding out they had been lying to me and hiding things about me from when they practically first met me. I wasn't sure how long Alice had known Edward was meant for me, but she at least knew when Edward had gone off to Alaska when I had first met him; Tanya had revealed that much.

I spent basically the whole week holed up in my room switching from crying about losing Edward to being to mad that I threw things and Charlie had to check that I was okay and not destroying my room. Charlie. I felt sorry for him. He had tried to ask what was wrong, if he needed to do something to Edward, the whole protective police chief dad routine; but I couldn't let him. Every time I tried to talk to him, I ended up cutting myself off because there were a lot of things I just couldn't tell him. He wasn't meant for the vampire world and as much as it would hurt to lose him; it wasn't something I would or even could, force him into. So, I was only able to vent a little to him and thankfully he listened to everything I had to say; no matter how little sense it made to him.

It wasn't until it neared the end of the week that I was finding myself really wanting to talk to several people and had nearly sent all the appropriate texts to have them come over. I wasn't near ready to talk to them over the phone because I was sure I would just as soon hang up than listen to whatever it was they had to say. If I talked to them face to face, at least they had a longer chance of being able to say something before I kicked them out of my room. As much as I wanted to talk to them though, I was afraid to. I was afraid to talk to everyone that topped my list to talk to.

I was surprised when I had sat down, more like laid on my bed and stared at the wall and thought this all through as tears fell onto my pillow, and made a list of the people that I really wanted to talk to. I knew that I wanted to everyone, but there were a few people that I could manage without talking to for a bit and then others that I had questions that were bugging the hell out of me and I needed the answers to the day my world fell apart.

Rosalie. Rosalie had actually made the list of people I really wanted to talk to. The blonde, even though I was still sure she hated me, had never once lied. I trusted her that she wouldn't lie, wouldn't sugar coat things for me and would give me the bluntest answers she had to whatever I asked; even if the answers could hurt me. Because of that, I wanted to talk to her and get her perspective on what had happened. I wanted her version of why Alice did what she did. Of course, that thought lead to the next person I wanted to talk to.

Alice was the one that held everyone at bay while Edward and I developed feelings for us. Everyone had said that they knew right away who their mate was. I mean, Rosalie, someone who absolutely hated her very existence as a vampire and would never want anyone to lose their humanity, carried Emmett miles while he bled out to have Carlisle turn him. She hadn't even talked to him, hadn't even been in his presence for longer than it took to smell his blood and she knew. So how was it that Edward and I took weeks to fall for each other? Edward took more time than me, but I'm sticking to that I was just fascinated by his standoffish nature that he had presented to the school. Either way, it should have been obvious to everyone that Edward and I weren't mates, yet they all listened to Alice when she said not to say anything. I really wanted to know why.

Then of course, there were the Denali sisters themselves. They hadn't had known a part of them was missing for a thousand years and when they found out who it is, they don't go after it? That doesn't make sense. Why would they allow someone else to pursue their mate? Wasn't that supposed to go against their very nature as vampires? I mean, I had thought vampires were very instinctual creatures and when they thought something, or someone, was theirs, didn't they do all they could do to protect and keep it? It almost seems like I was just part of some amusement factor for all of them to see how far Edward and I could get in our romance and then when we got to the point where everything was perfect between us, they show up and turn my world upside down. That isn't fair. They couldn't do that. I wanted to know why they did what they did and why they didn't do what they had even said they wanted to do. Why had they listened to Alice?

My want to talk to them had gotten so intense one day that I had even texted Esme, I chose to text Esme because I figured she wouldn't ask any questions and thankfully I was right, for their phone numbers. I had almost text them, asked them to come over and talk, but I backed out in the middle of typing the text. I may have been brave enough, at the time, to get their numbers, but I wasn't nearly brave enough to actually use them.

That was what I thought until the end of the week. By the end of the week, I was sure I was going to go crazy. My emotions were all over the place. At the same time, I wanted to see the Denali sisters and I wanted to be at the farthest possible point away from me. I wanted to yell at Alice and then I wanted my best friend to cuddle with me on the couch and watch a movie like we used to do. Then there was Edward. I wanted to hug him and kiss him and just never let go of him. With him though, I never really had a good grasp on him. I was never able to hug when I wanted to, I could never kiss him without his permission or him pulling away. I was always walking a thin line with him and I couldn't bring myself to even pretend I wanted that; even if for the familiarity of it. But, by the end of the week, I had to have answers. I had to vent to someone. I had to cry with someone holding me, comforting me. I couldn't be alone anymore.

So, I text them.

-This is Bella. Would you be willing to talk? –B

I sent them all the same text. Originally, I only wanted to talk to Tanya. She was the coven leader and I had at least already spent some time with her; but that didn't feel right. When I had thought of just texting her, it felt like I was ignoring the other two. Which wasn't the case… sort of. It would have been easier for me to only talk to one of them; but I couldn't make the choice of which one to talk to. I didn't want them to think I liked one of them more than the other. I wasn't sure why that mattered so much to me, but it did. I completely ignored the fact that they were supposedly my mates and that picking one mate over the other wasn't right; I wasn't willing to delve into that type of thinking just yet.

The response was immediate. It was Tanya that answered me and I was sure it was because she was the coven leader.

-Just tell us when and where and we would be happy to talk. –T

That took some time to figure out. I knew that I wanted to talk on 'home ground'; I wanted to be comfortable wherever I decided to talk to them about all of this. The best place to talk, would be in my home. But, Charlie was here and I just didn't want him around when I talked to them, but I couldn't very well kick him out of his own house. I would talk with them in my room, when Charlie was asleep. I figured that would give me a couple of advantages.

The first advantage was I could kick them out whenever I wanted to. If I were to talk to them in the middle of the forest, in the meadow I used to love or even just at a restaurant, if the talk went bad, I wouldn't be able to escape. I would have to still get home and then breakdown. I didn't want to have to do that. I wanted to be able to kick them out if talking became too much and then deal with my emotions by myself. The possibility of them not leaving when I asked never once occurred to me. I was more than sure they would leave if I wanted them to.

The second advantage was since I would be talking to them so late, if I needed a breather or sometime to think, even if my emotions were still pretty well controlled, I could claim I was tired and have them leave. It was easier to claim to be tired than it was to say I was emotionally drained and didn't want to be around them. It was nicer. They would probably see through it, but that wasn't the point.

I was about to answer them, to tell them to come over later that night, I figured the sooner I committed to a time the less chance there would be of me to back out, but another thought came to me that made me think that perhaps talking to the Denali's first wasn't the best option. I wanted answers from them, that's true, but with them, there would be a heavy topic looming between us that I wasn't entirely ready to face. I didn't want the whole 'we're mates' aspect to become a topic of discussion just yet. If I were to talk with them, I knew it would be brought up by one of us and I would have to talk about it then and I just didn't want to.

So, instead, I decided to talk with someone else. I decided to talk with Rosalie. If she would talk to me at least. I was really hoping she would, given the situation she had helped place me in. She may have been honest with everything she said, but she still didn't tell the truth. She still omitted several important facts that would have been really good to know throughout the time I had known her and the Cullen's. I wanted to talk to her and get some basic answers from her first, before talking to anyone else that was a bit biased on the situation. The most biased Rosalie would be, would be about me not being a vampire and not putting her family in danger; things I already knew.

-Can we talk? –B

The only reason I had her number was because at one point, when I had first became involved with Edward, Alice had opted to put everyone's phone numbers in my phone. The numbers were later deleted by Edward when he and his family left and then re-added by Alice when they came back.

-Why –R

I wasn't expecting an immediate response from her, but was thankful none the less. It was still light out, but Charlie was at work. It was Thursday and he would be home a little later than normal so that he could his work day tomorrow a little short and not feel too bad about it. It would be a good to have Rosalie over to talk real quick and then I could build up the courage to invite the Denali's over tomorrow, once I've thought over everything Rosalie will hopefully tell me, to talk.

-I want to talk about what happened. –B

I didn't need to go into more detail. She would know exactly what I was talking about. I hated to think of myself as someone that loved to be the center of attention because I really didn't, but since I met the Cullen's, it seemed to happen a lot. So, I was sure everyone was talking about was revealed and how I had taken it.

-When –R

-Whenever you can –B

I would have just asked if she could come over now, but I didn't want her to think I was bossing her around. Rosalie didn't seem like the type of person to appreciate being bossed around; especially by a weak human. I trusted her to not hold anything back. She would tell me everything I wanted to know and probably everything I really didn't want to know.

I had been waiting for nearly ten minutes, all but thinking Rosalie wasn't going to respond and probably not come over, but just as those thoughts started to take over my mind, there was a tapping at my window.

The tapping first signaled a hope in me that it was Edward and we could talk, but the hope was quickly replaced by anger and despair at having to talk to him. I wasn't nearly ready for that. I didn't want to face everything he had done to me. I had never felt as relieved in my life as I did when I turned towards the window to open it and saw it was Rosalie crouching on the tree branch and not my ex-boyfriend.

I quickly opened the window because she didn't look too happy to be here and would probably just get more upset about having to wait for the slow human to open the window for her to get in. Once the window was opened, I quickly moved away to sit on my desk chair and waited for her to crawl in; thankfully I didn't have to wait long because she didn't bother hiding her vampire speed to move around.

"What do you want?" Rosalie asked with her arms crossed over her chest in and intimidating way; her eyebrow arched in a way that show cased her annoyance even more.

"I just had a few questions that I thought you would be the best to answer them." I answered proud of myself for not stuttering in fear from her intimidation. After a few moments of her not saying anything, I figured she was waiting for me to ask my questions. She probably wanted to answer the questions and then leave. "Did Alice always know that Edward and I weren't mates?" I finally asked.

I saw her shoulders slump slightly in defeat; almost like she had known this conversation was going to happen but had hoped it wouldn't

"You would have to ask her how long she knew; but I know that when she at least knew when you two first met." Rosalie answered as she moved to sit on my bed. She sat at the very edge, like she didn't want to sit down and was only doing it for appearances sake since humans wouldn't usually stand during difficult discussions. She crossed her legs and waited for me to continue asking questions. I guess she was going to just answer my questions as blandly as possible; not bothering to put in too much extra information… unless to avoid future questions.

"So, Edward knew I wasn't his mate when he came back?" I asked, not needing to explain that I meant when he had come back from his week long absence from when he had fled to Alaska.

"We all knew. A newly mated doesn't leave their mate like he did." Rosalie said. "He left out of fear." She spat out, clearly not happy about his choices.

"That was when Alice had you all agree not to say anything?"

"It's a bit more complicated than what you're willing to admit or even think about." Rosalie said and I could have sworn I saw a brief look of sympathy in her eyes. "But yes, while he was gone, Alice had us all agree to stay silent and during the weekend, she did the same for the Denali's." She said and then held her hand up to keep my quiet. "You'll have to ask them about anything having to do with them. It's not my place to say."

"Why did you all agree to not say anything?" I asked, not bothering to hide the hurt in my voice.

"Because it wasn't our place to say anything; especially if you were happy." Rosalie said and I knew that her reasoning was just an excuse; no matter how valid the excuse was it, it wasn't the real reason and she knew I knew. "Alice isn't always as manipulative as she has been recently painted. She really did want what was best and apparently, easier for everyone involved. All I will say is that she listed off some very good reason for us not to say anything. Remember Bella, her visions are subjective, it isn't like she saw everything, she just saw some big obstacles that she apparently decided to try and have you avoid."

I could tell she was trying to answer my questions without stepping on anyone's toes. She didn't want to taint my opinion of anyone any more than it already had. She was trying to stay impartial, but that was impossible since it was her family, her siblings, that were involved. People she did everything she could do to protect them were in the middle of this and she was trying to do right by them but still be honest and not hide anything. She must have realized that I had already had enough things hidden from me for long enough and she probably didn't want to contribute to that anymore.

"With James." I said, nearly choking on my words; those weren't fond memories and I hated thinking about that stupidly scary time in my life. "Why not reveal everything then? Or when you all left?" I asked. I hadn't meant to ask two questions; I wanted to ask one at a time to make sure Rosalie answered the question as much to my liking as I could get her to; but I couldn't stop it from coming out. It was the biggest question I had. When the Cullen's had left, wouldn't that have been the perfect time for the Denali's to show?

"James was an unforeseen event until everything was set in motion and, from what I understand, all of us, even Alice, were all too focused on keeping you and Charlie safe to do or even think of anything else." I didn't believe that. Vampires were able to think of many things at once because of their heightened speed of everything they can do and their perfect memories. They could have spared some time to call. "Plus, think of how you would have reacted if three strange vampires showed up when, at the time, all you wanted was to be with Edward?"

It was trued. At that time, I was incredibly worried about Edward and it was all I could do to not call him all the time. I would have if I had thought it wouldn't have put him at risk as he looked for Victoria and James. At the same time though, I also became incredibly worried about my mom when James had gotten a hold of that information. If the Denali sisters had come to me then, I'm not sure how I would have taken the news, but I definitely wouldn't have been as receptive to it as I am now. Even with all the hurt and betrayal I feel, there is still a part of me that just longs to be in their presence just for the sake of having them close by.

"What about when you all left?" All she did was raise her eyebrow in silent question.

When they had left, if the Denali's had shown up then, I probably would have been in denial about everything. I would have thought the pull I felt towards them was some sort of trick to make me forget about Edward when all I wanted was Edward. I was sure it probably would have eventually worked itself out since we were mates; but once again, it wouldn't have been nearly as… seamless, I guess could be a word to use, as it is now. I guess, because I had met Edward first and had instantly felt attached to him, it would have been very difficult no matter when I would have first met the Denali's.

I had to think that because they were my mates, something that even though I wasn't entirely comfortable with, I just couldn't argue it, I would somehow end up with them. No matter the circumstances mates meet, they belong together, so they always end up together.

"That was difficult for Alice to persuade them. I wasn't there for that though. I hadn't bothered to stay. Emmett and I left on another honeymoon to try and lift his spirits." Rosalie said and I knew it was her way of saying that Emmett still regretted what he did. I was already over them leaving, there was still a lingering hurt and it would probably always be in the back of my mind, but I had forgiven them. I didn't want to hold that against them because I was just too happy to have them back. "Is that all?" Rosalie asked when I hadn't asked her something right away.

I couldn't think of anything else to ask, or at least anything to ask her that she would give me an answer. I knew that the answers she would and could give, would be limited; but her answers still helped me and I was grateful for them.

"Thank you Rosalie." I said, deciding that there really was nothing else that I could ask her and that she could answer.

She moved too quickly for me to see to leave, but paused at the window. She had it almost all the way open again, having closed it after she had originally crawled through it, and turned her head in my direction.

"I really am sorry things turned out the way they did. Once you know the full story though, feel free to decide if Alice had truly orchestrated this whole thing in your best interest as best friend should have." Rosalie left it at.

She didn't close the window behind her, so I opted to do that myself. The big player in all the pain, confusion, hurt and betrayal I was feeling was stemmed from Alices' decision to change the future to one she saw fit. With just that information, I couldn't forgive her. It wasn't her job to interfere in other people's lives; especially at this magnitude. But, she was my best friend and I desperately wanted to believe that our friendship really meant something to her. I wanted to believe that she had some sort of big reason that made her actions make a lot more sense. There had to be a reason. She definitely used her visions to her advantage when playing games or trying to go shopping, but she never used her gift of foresight to change someone's life so dramatically; I just couldn't believe she didn't have a very good reason.

Well, at least that got one person off my list to talk to. There was still Edward, Alice and the Denali sisters. A part of me wanted to talk to Edward first. He was my ex-boyfriend and he had left so quickly. He didn't even give me a chance to even pretend to come to grips with what he was saying before he left. I deserved the opportunity to hear his side of the story. If he knew I wasn't his mate, why let me believe I was? But, I wasn't quite ready to talk to him yet, but I wanted to talk to someone to get more answers. That left only Alice and the Denali sisters left that could some of those answers.

Alice was out of the question as well. I was still feeling violated by her taking so much control over my life without me even knowing. I wasn't ready to face her yet. I wasn't willing to face that hurt just yet. There was actually a small part of me that wanted the Denali sisters present when I talk to Alice. I wasn't sure why I wanted them there; it would more adult like to talk to Alice on my own, but I just needed that comfort of having someone there that was on my side. Granted, they had done everything behind my back as well but now that I knew them, I felt like they would sooner die than betray me like that again. The Denali sisters were really the only ones that seemed logical for me to talk to next.

I was embarrassed to see them because they were my mates and I wasn't fully on board with that yet. Yet being the key word. I couldn't deny that there was a sort of pull towards them. I had been craving their presence this past week, if only to have their silent support while I maneuvered through my tumultuous emotions.

I hadn't want to see them until at least Friday, the earliest, but I wasn't sure I could last that long. I didn't want to talk to them, but I couldn't stand them not being here. It just felt wrong. I was still mad at them, but I knew without a doubt that their presence would help calm me down and I would be able to sort through my emotions a lot more easily if they were around me.

-Would you be able to come over now? –B

I sent the text to all three of them so that they would definitely know that I wanted to see the three of them; not just one or two of them. I wasn't sure how I knew, but I was sure they were all together. I was sure that since I had texted them earlier, they were all waiting for me to answer for when I wanted to see them. I felt a bit rude at making them wait like that, but I had to. I just wasn't ready to face them. I was barely ready to meet them, but my need for answers outweighed my need to avoid the hurt and confusion I was sure their presence would bring.

-Of course. –I

This time it was Irina that responded and just like Tanya's response had been, her response was immediate. All I had to do was wait for them to get here; but I felt nerves suddenly take over and for some reason I couldn't be in the room when they got here. So I sent one final text and went downstairs to grab a glass of water before facing them again upstairs. I wasn't downstairs but from the text I had sent them, and the fact I hadn't received one in return, I knew what to expect when I would walk back into my room.

-The window is unlocked for you. –B