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

~oooOooo~

Chapter 8 Leaves & Looking

Carlisle POV

"Ready to go, Petal?"

I moved to wrap my arms around my wife's waist as she gazed out over the rail of our back deck. The sunset over the mountains was beautiful, green rain forest giving way to hazed mountain peaks in the distance, the clouds turning warm colors of fire in the sky.

"We have to help him, Carlisle, we have to find a way."

"I know sweetheart, I know. Alice and Jasper haven't been able to budge him."

"There has to be a way. He finally realized he made a mistake in leaving her. We have to help him, we have to help both of them! I want our daughter back and I WON'T loose my son!" Esme exclaimed as she turned to face me.

My wife was adamant, she had been Mom to Edward for over 80 years and she wasn't about to stop now. The trip was uneventful, only a couple of hours down the winding road to the expressway that led to the Atlanta airport and a five hour flight to Seattle. Alice was there to meet us, Emmett and Rosalie had arrived in Forks a couple of days before us.

"Mom, dad, I'm so glad you're here!" Alice exclaimed as she flew across the terminal to engulf us in hugs.

"Is there any change?" I asked.

Alice looked down and nodded her head once, "No, nothing. He just sits there. The snow has gone and he's dried out a bit, but he is just like he must have been when he was in Rio. Jasper can't get anything from him at all, as though there is no one there. If we didn't physically know he was in their meadow, I wouldn't be able to find him, there's nothing in his future, no visions, no decisions, no plans . . . just nothing. I'm so afraid for him, dad . . . it feels like we've lost him!"

Alice looked at me with eyes so forlorn and filled with anguish, age somehow showing in her pixie like face. I heard Esme gasp when she heard the words from Alice.

She looked at me, her eyes on fire, "I WILL NOT loose another SON! Let's get to him, NOW!"

We went straight to the meadow. It was surreal. Though I have walked this earth for over three hundred years, I have never seen anything as heartbreaking as my son sitting in their meadow. His back was leaned against a tree, his arms folded around his knees that were drawn to his chest. His head, bowed in defeat and grief, rested on his knees, eyes closed. He was not breathing . . . still as a statue, as only a vampire can be. The elements had not been kind to him these past weeks, a small bank of snow joined him to the tree on his right side and various pieces of debris and leaves had blown into his hair and against his other side, I suppose from the wind coming in from the east. I dropped to my knees in front of him and touched my head to his, my hand on his shoulder.

"Son, please. Your mother and I are here with you. Emmett and Rosalie have come as well. All of them are waiting at the house, won't you please come there with me and let's talk about this. Edward, Please!" I begged him.

Nothing. Absolutely no response. Alice put her hand on my shoulder to comfort me, to no avail. I could not imagine the intensity of the pain my son must have felt to put him in this state. He hadn't fed since Houston, weeks ago.

"Should we just pick him up and move him to the house?" Alice asked, her brow furrowed and her eyes pleading.

Anything, she would do anything for her brother. She and Edward had always been the closest of my children, other than their mates.

"No!" the answer to Alice never left my lips, it was Esme that spoke. "You all go to the house. Carlisle, you need to talk to Alice and Jasper and set up a meeting with the wolves. Leave me with Edward." Alice and I both stared at her, but she left no room for discussion. "Go on, I'll be there later. I want some alone time with my son," her voice was authoritative and her jaw was set.

I knew my wife well enough to know when to just do as I was told and this was one of those times.

"Come on, Alice, let's go to the house," I said as I put my arm around my youngest daughters shoulders.

~oooOooo~

Esme POV

I watched as my husband and daughter walked away. Dawn was just breaking over the horizon and with each new day we had to have hope. I sat down in front of my son and engulfed him in my arms, my cheek next to his and gently spoke to him.

"Son, I'm here with you and I am not going to leave," I said as I traced circles on his back and ran my fingers thru his hair, removing the twigs and debris that had collected there.

"Do you remember, about 80 years ago when Carlisle first brought me home to be with you? I was heartbroken, as you are now. I felt hopeless and empty, nothing but searing pain and anguish ran through me. That's why I had jumped off the cliff to die, to end the pain and emptiness, I know you remember," there was no response from him, but I continued to straighten his bronze locks and speak softly to him.

"Edward, I've seen the emptiness in your eyes, the pain, and I recognize it as I probably looked the same to you back then. I had no choice, Edward. My baby died and I had no choice. I know this is hard for you to hear, son, but you did this. You walked away from Bella. She begged you to stay and you walked away, enduring that agony for months now, but son, you have realized your mistake! You can fix this! Find her son, FIGHT! You have the choice I didn't have. You have a chance to end your pain and probably hers as well by finding her. Make it right son! Use the fact that you still have the choice and the option open to you. She is not dead like my baby was. FIND HER! Take this pain away from you both! Do you want her to continue in the agony you feel, Edward? Is that how you love her? You know she's feeling it, you know deep down inside that she loved you with everything that she was. I don't believe a love like that fades, human emotions or not. I believe she is out there in pain and if you love her, YOU need to find her and help her. Fix this, Edward . . . fix it before it's too late and she dies. There is no chance if you wait so long that something happens to her! Please son, please! We will all help you, but we need you! Help us get back the daughter we have all lost and the mate that you are not going to survive without."

If I were capable of crying tears, they would have accompanied my sobbing. I just held him as tightly as I could, loving my son. I felt him take a breath. His head slowly lifted, his eyes staring into mine. He unlocked an arm from around his knees and hugged me, our faces touching. I don't know how long we were there, hours or minutes. The midday sun was shining brightly, an unusual happening in Forks in March, but there it was none the less. He rose, wordlessly and stretched out his hand to help me up, teetering himself in his attempt to stand. With his arm around my shoulder, we started walking together towards home.

Edward was quite weak, I wasn't certain of how stable he was on his feet, if he had his arm around me for comfort or out of need. Well, need either way really. I had him sit on a small rock outcropping on the trail as I disappeared for only a few moments. I had smelled a herd of deer just over the ridge and I quickly snapped the neck of one of the larger ones and brought it to him.

"Dinner, son! Don't be rude and refuse what your mother fixed for you," I said with a smile.

He smirked at me, but he fed none the less, accepting another from me before we started for home.

~oooOooo~

APOV

"I called J. Jenks again Darlin', this time I was more insistent with him. I think he'll redouble his efforts to find them. I sent a photo of Jacob as well. Two will be easier to find than one, if she is with him as Charlie said."

Jasper was trying to comfort me. We were all worried. Emmett . . . well Emmett was Emmett. It wasn't that he didn't care, he was just very in the moment. We had not seen Emmett and Rosalie in a month, since Jasper and I had come to Forks to be with Edward, and he and Jasper had just finished a morning filled with video games. It was just kind of their way of bonding, something they loved to do together.

Rosalie sat on the recliner, her legs folded under her flipping through a magazine. "Why the hell don't we just go drag his ass back here, at least we would know where he was and one of us wouldn't have to always be out in the meadow with him! Damned fool!" she exclaimed.

"Enough Rose!" Carlisle admonished her, "We are going to find a way to help him, but we can't force him."

"Wow, check this out!" Emmett roared. He had changed from video games to television and the noon news feature was on. There was a clip of a girl on a motorcycle. "Check her out! That tiny little thing just won the All Harley Drags in Louisiana! That's just wrong, dude. What the hell is a girl doing drag racing motorcycles?"

The magazine Rose had been reading flew at Emmett's head at a velocity only a vampire was capable of achieving. He ducked just in time and we watched as the lamp shattered against the wall, having taken the impact for him!

"You're such an ass!" Rose yelled at her husband as she came to sit and watch the news report. "Women can ride just as damned well as a man! It's just a bike for goodness sake, it's not as if there is anything to do but just sit on it and balance!"

"That bike weighs at least 4 or 5 times what she does and it runs right at two hundred miles an hour, Rosie, a human woman just doesn't have the power or stamina to ride that thing."

"Apparently she does. She won, didn't she?" Rosalie said in typical Rose fashion, hand on cocked hip.

They all listened intently as the reporter described what appeared to be an upset in the racing world. It seemed as though this little girl came out of nowhere to race for the first time, and won! She had her helmet on and you couldn't get a good look at her face. The reporter was scrambling for any details about her at all, other than the fact that she raced for DALE RACING out of Calgary, Alberta.

"She did it! She did it, she did it, she did it," I screamed, jumping up and down and clasping my hands! "Esme!"

"What about Esme, Alice?" Carlisle asked, a look of concern crossing his face. It took Alice a moment to answer, her eyes glassed over staring blankly out into the room.

Jasper came to stand next to me, concern in his face and his arm around me, "What is it, darlin', what do you see?"

"Esme got him to come home with her, she caught dinner for him and he fed!"

"I see him, dad, he's going to try . . . he's going to try and find her, mom convinced him! Even Rose and Emmett high fived each other as we all stared, astonished, as Esme and Edward came inside the house.

"Thank you, son," Carlisle said as he hugged Edward tightly, then taking Esme in to his arms. "Leave it to Mama Bear to not take no for an answer! I love you, Petal!"

"Bloody hell, Edward, you look like shit," Rosalie exclaimed in true to Rose form.

"Hush Rose," Emmett quickly exclaimed in one of his rare moments of admonishing his wife. He walked over and shoulder bumped his brother, hugging him and welcoming him back. Everyone joined in the hug.

"Guess I could use a shower. I haven't had one since I left Rio," he said sheepishly.

"Go," I demanded, pointing at the stairs, "There are new clothes in your closet."

Edward saw the effort we were all putting in to help all he read in our minds was the resolve to find her. He put enormous effort in as well, trying to act as normal as possible, carrying on like he always had but with a driven purpose we all shared - find Bella. Carlisle had been pleased with the turn of events, the part where Edward was at least trying. He was as distressed as Edward that she was not there.

~oooOooo~

EPOV

"Are you sure we shouldn't have brought the others, Carlisle?" I asked yet again. "Alice can't see and it makes me nervous."

"Alice saw us later today, after the meeting, Edward. It will be alright. We just have to be calm, it's a friendly meeting remember."

We stood in the field where we used to play baseball. My mind started to drift, to remember. She had looked so amazing with my hat on, wide eyed watching our game! My phone rang. "Edward, concentrate!", the pixie on the other end scolded.

Sam and Paul walked into the clearing from the other end, they were in human form but only came within about five yards of us.

"Sam, it's nice to see you again," Carlisle spoke first. "We were sorry to hear about Billy."

"It's actually Billy we want to talk about," said Sam, his thoughts all over the place. "We don't think his death was an accident. It was a vampire," he stated coldly, accusingly.

He stared at me, almost as if he willed me to hear his mind. He replayed for me the day of Billy's death and the scent he had gotten at his house. I stiffened immediately.

"Victoria!" I said.

Sam stared, "Victoria? Who is Victoria?"

"Remember last year, about this time - Bella ran off to Phoenix and I went and talked her into coming back?"

Sam nodded his head.

"It wasn't a fall that broke her leg in Phoenix, it was a vampire named James. He and his mate, Victoria, made a game out of tracking and trying to kill Bella to get at me. There was a third with them, Laurent, but he refused to play their sadistic game."

"Was Laurent black with shoulder length dreadlocks?" Sam asked.

"Yes."

"That explains a lot. We killed Laurent about a week before Bella and Jacob left. She must have hurt Billy to avenge him," said Sam.

"Yes, that would make sense. It was Victoria's scent you picked up at his house. I tracked her when I left here last fall, but I lost her scent somewhere in South America near Rio."

Both Sam and Carlisle stared at me. Apparently the idea of me attempting to track someone to kill them hadn't entered their minds before. The answers that I had for Sam eased the tension between us considerably. The wolves had been on high alert since they lost Billy. Since we had left town, no more of their tribe had phased, until Billy was killed that is. Since then, in the last month, apparently they had several new additions to the pack.

"Since you have cleared up the ownership of the new scent, tell us why you are back. We have seen the state you were in, Edward. We patrol the meadow where you were sitting," Sam said as he glared at my son.

"Edward has returned to look for Bella," Carlisle told him.

The atmosphere instantly changed. If looks could kill, the glare Sam gave me would surely have done it. I saw in his mind what Bella looked like when he found her and carried her home. I felt the murderous rage he felt toward me, that I would dare to even mention her or dare to look for her after what I had done to her. Visions filled his head . . . her broken, catatonic, Charlie and Billy worried, Jacob trying to coax her out to do something, anything but sit in her room filled his head!

"Bella left with Jacob after the funeral. We don't know where they are, not that it could ever be any of your business!" Paul spat. I stiffened.

Carlisle stepped in and put a hand in front of me, moving slightly in front of me to speak. "You wanted to meet, we have answered your questions. We are here for a visit only. Victoria is our enemy as well as yours, she is not now nor has she ever been a part of my family. Our treaty is intact. If there is nothing else, I think this meeting is over."

Sam nodded in agreement, "The treaty is intact. We have no evidence otherwise. I have assumed Billy's role as chief in Jacob's absence. I will tell you though, we will protect Bella from you. She was almost like a daughter to Billy," Sam turned and looked directly at me, "and we will not see her with you, Edward."

They turned to leave.

Carlisle's arm was secure in front of me and his thoughts screamed for my silence. My father pleaded with me mentally to just stand still and we would discuss it after the wolves left. I could do nothing else. My rage was such that if I had opened my mouth, I would have exploded. The very idea of them thinking Bella need protecting from me. From ME. I fucking loved her! Nothing was said as we walked toward the house to tell the others what had happened. I was glad at lest that Laurent was out of the picture and if Victoria was near by, I would end her this time. She would not get away from me again!

I went with Alice to talk to Angela. Alice had hoped I could pick something out of her mind that would help us to find Bella. The only thing in her mind were images of Bella broken, sad, crying.

"I'm so sorry, Edward. I told Alice when I ran into her in the grocery store, I wish I did know where Bella was but I just have no clue. You will be the first call I make if I hear from her, though, even if it's just an e-mail from her." She dropped her eyes to the ground and spoke very quietly, "I'm glad you're looking for her, Edward. She really loves you, you know!"

"I know, Angela, I am really beginning to understand just how much."

There was no malice in her mind, she was genuinely hopeful that we would find her and glad that I appeared to really still care for her. We thanked her and promised to try and keep in better touch with her from now on.

It was the same story when we went into Newton's Outfitters to speak with Mike, though I had to wade thru his overflowing hatred for me to read anything else in his mind. The thoughts of all of her friends and people that had known her well were the same. No one had any idea at all where she had gone, other than the fleeting thought that she had gone back to Phoenix. I was overwhelmed and brought to my knees by the images that flooded their heads. Images of Bella, more dead than alive. Tear stained face, dull lifeless hair, clothes hanging on her frail thin form, hollow cheeks with deep circles under her blank eyes . . .

"Hold it together, Edward," Jasper entreated me. He was doing all he could to help my mood, almost constantly at my side. I was sure that his efforts to keep my emotions in check were draining him. I suggested we hunt, which surprised him. The entire family knew of my months without feeding, but I felt bad for Jasper putting so much effort in. The lest I could do was see that he fed . . . and I with him.

I tried to ignore the pain it caused me to be with this family I loved. I encouraged them to act as normal as possible around me, no walking on egg shells to not show affection to each other for fear of hurting me as they had done at out home in Highlands. I hid my pain, and Jasper helped me with it. They had rallied around me to help find her and the least I could do was to try and be the son and brother to them that they deserved. In spite of my being an ass, I loved my family dearly.

I had been drug down from my room this afternoon to watch drag races on television. Apparently the girl Emmett and Rosalie had argued over a few weeks ago was racing again, and they wanted to watch the live telecast of the race. I humored them.

"Come on, Edward," Emmett called from the sofa, "You gotta see this chick race!"

You had to love Emmett, he was so full of life and enthusiasm. He was right, the girl was small framed and as we all watched in disbelief, she won race after race at speeds that would excite even vampires! That must be the attraction, I thought. We all loved to go fast and here was a frail little human not afraid to be on a motorcycle fueled by nitrous oxide, closing in on two hundred miles per hour. At least if one of us were doing it we would walk away from a crash, I doubted the same would be true if she should wreck.

"Yes!" screamed Rose, "She won again!"

The announcer still seemed to have only a few details of the girl, apparently this race was in her home town of Phoenix, Arizona. Oh God. Phoenix! Jasper got to me just as I sank to my knees, my head in my hands. Memories of the Ballet studio, James, Bella bleeding flooded my head.

"Edward, dude, calm down!" Jasper flooded the room with calm, but it seemed to have little effect. I rocked back and forth and tore at my hair, wild with worry over her.

"God, please, we have to find her!"

~oooOooo~