Not much to say today, apart from my usual thanks to CoppertopJ, so I'll just let you get on with it. Enjoy!

The next evening, we said our goodbyes to Charlie and Leah, who had called down to meet Edward before we left. She had also wanted to tell us that, while Jacob was still angry, the other guys weren't going to stand in my way as long as we stayed away from the reservation and Forks, though they still weren't thrilled that I wanted to become a vampire. I was okay with that. I had worried that I might start a war between the Cullens and the wolves and I hated the thought of my family and my friends fighting each other. I wished Jake would come around, but I knew it was a big ask so I wasn't holding out too much hope.

We were almost in Seattle when my phone rang. I looked at the caller display, seeing Leah's name flashing up, and answered.

"Miss me already?" I joked, but my face fell when I heard the fear in her voice.

"Bella?" she said, "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. We're both fine," I answered, "What's wrong?" My voice was shaking and my hands were trembling so much, I was scared I'd drop the phone. Edward was still driving, but he was clearly listening to the call and watching me more than the road.

"It's Victoria," she said, "We came across her scent and a few other vampire scents we don't recognise. We haven't found any of them, but it seems like they've been hiding out in the mountains for a while. They would have been here the whole time you've been visiting."

Edward didn't say anything, but put his foot down, pushing the car even faster than before.

"It's okay, Leah," I said, "We'll be at the airport soon enough. You guys just stay safe, okay? And keep us updated if you find any of them."

We said our goodbyes and I looked over at Edward. His eyes were black with anger and he was gripping the steering wheel so tight, I was sure it was going to snap. I placed my hand gently on his, trying to calm him a little. His hands relaxed a little and he turned to look at me.

"It's okay," I said, "I'm right here. You'll keep me safe."

"We should never have come," he seethed, "We knew she could be around Forks waiting. We should have flown your dad out to visit us. I can't believe I put you in such danger."

"Nothing happened," I reminded him, "We're almost at the airport and then we'll be back in Rochester. We'll be safe there with the rest of the family."

He seemed to relax slightly when we arrived at the busy airport. Victoria wouldn't be able to get to us with so many humans around, but he still kept me stuck close to his side with his arm wrapped protectively around me. To anyone watching, he might have seemed a bit too intense, but I knew he was just scared. I was too, but not for myself. I was scared for Edward. Victoria clearly had some vampire friends. If they managed to catch us, Edward would be no match for multiple vampires alone.

As we boarded the plane, he was very quiet, concentrating on the minds around us as well as taking in all the scents, making sure there were no other vampires on the plane. Once we were seated, he relaxed further, whispering to me that we were safe for now.

"I texted Alice," he said, taking my hand and rubbing his thumb along the back, "The whole family will be at the airport to meet us. We're taking no more chances. No one goes off on their own and there's at least two of us with you at all times, while we figure out what to do."

"Do you think they will know where we are now?" I asked, voicing my biggest fear.

"I honestly don't know," he admitted, "But it's a possibility. I haven't heard any unusual minds or any vampire scents around while we were in Forks, but while we were in the town, there were a lot of minds and I wasn't really listening to them all. If any of them were around, listening, then they could have picked up where we are living now."

We sat in silence for the rest of the flight, my mind whirling with everything he'd said. He was right. We should have stayed away from Forks. Now, I may have just led a vengeful vampire and her entourage right to the Cullen's doorstep.

When we stepped off the plane the whole family was there waiting for us, just as Edward had said. Esme wrapped me up in a giant hug, telling me not to worry. We quickly piled into two cars, Carlisle, Esme, Edward and me in one and Rosalie, Emmet, Alice and Jasper in the other.

We arrived back at the house in record time, all filing into the living room for a family meeting.

"So, son, tell us what has happened?" Carlisle asked Edward.

"Leah called just as we were leaving to say they had come across Victoria's scent in the mountains," Edward began, "She's not alone, though they didn't say how many others there might be. We don't know where she is now or if they know where we are living now. I didn't smell or hear any other vampires while I was there but I wasn't always listening out for it. I should have been. Dammit!"

"You can't blame yourself, son," Esme said, moving over to sit on his other side, "The wolves hadn't come across her since that first time ages ago. I suppose we all hoped that maybe she had moved on."

"Maybe we can track her," Emmett said, "You, me and Jazz can go hunt her down and end this."

"I can't leave Bella," Edward said, pulling me closer to his side, "And we can't leave the rest of the family either. We don't know how many allies she has. We need to stick together for now. No one goes anywhere alone. We hunt in groups and there's always a few of us with Bella."

Everyone nodded and I looked down at my hands. This was all my fault and now their lives were being put on hold to babysit me.

"Hey, this isn't your fault," Jasper said, sending a wave of happiness my way, "This is on Victoria and James for starting it all. And we are all happy to help. You are part of this family."

"Speaking of which," Alice said, looking pointedly down at my left hand, "Haven't you guys got some news?"

"Oh, yeah, I suppose we do," I said quietly, holding up my ring, "We're engaged."

Within seconds, Edward and I were surrounded. The girls were desperate to see my ring up close and the boys were patting Edward on the back, congratulating him.

I listened as everyone was talking all at once, congratulating us, talking about dates, dresses and flowers but as much as I wanted to be excited and join in, it just seemed wrong with everything going on. Edward noticed I was quiet and pulled me onto his lap.

"We'll work it out," he whispered in my ear, "We won't let her ruin this for us." I smiled up at him. I couldn't wait to marry him.

~~~TTOGILB~~~

The next few weeks passed without incident. Leah kept in close contact with us, keeping us all up to date on their findings, which unfortunately wasn't much. They said there were at least two other scents in the area Victoria had been staying and they had found old traces of their scents throughout the forest, though mainly high up in the trees. They had obviously been jumping from tree to tree to keep out of the wolves' way. There were no scents around Charlie's house, but they were keeping a close eye on him for me. I was beginning to think they had moved on, which worried me more in case they were in Rochester.

I spent a lot of time with Alice and Esme planning the wedding. We had decided on a date early in the new year, though I had been against setting any date at all with everything hanging over us. Edward, however, was determined that Victoria was not going to stop us from getting married when we wanted to.

As much as I wanted my mom to fly in to help with the preparations and go dress shopping, I wasn't prepared to risk her coming here in case Victoria showed up. My mom and Phil, my dad, Leah and the Denalis, the Cullens extended family, would be flying in for the actual wedding. We thought with the extra vampires and the wolves, we should be able to keep everyone safe. But until then, we were keeping my mom in the loop through emails and video calls and I was pleased that she was still able to be part of the wedding planning.

She had taken the news of our engagement pretty well, considering my whole life she had told me not to marry young. She said she expected it after seeing us together on our visit, though she thought she had a bit more time.

I sat around the Cullens dining table, that was rarely ever used for its intended purpose, but was very handy at the minute as Alice had it completely covered with bridal magazines, cloth swatches, sample flowers and ribbons. If it had anything to do with weddings, Alice had it laid out on the table and she, Esme, Rosalie and I were looking over it all with my mom on a video call on the computer in the corner.

"What about red?" my mom's voice said from the computer, "It's nice and vibrant."

"Ugh, no," I said, "I don't want vibrant. Besides, red's too much like blood." There were a few titters from the girls around me and I stuck my tongue out at them, facing away from the camera so my mom couldn't see.

"I want something more mellow," I said, looking at the swatches of colour, "I'm not a vibrant kinda girl, Mom." She laughed, agreeing, and asked for some other to be held up to the computer. Alice obliged and they began a discussion about pastel colours vs blushes, though I didn't really think there was much difference between the two.

"Pink?" Rosalie suggested.

"Too girly," I responded instantly.

"You're so hard to please," Rose retorted.

"Sorry, guys," I said, "I know I'm being picky but I just want it to be perfect. What about this colour?" I held up a swatch of light blue, almost baby blue, material.

"I love it," Esme said, "It would look amazing against the white/ivory of your dress and the boys could wear navy suits with this colour of tie."

"It's settled then," I announced, handing the swatch to Alice so she could give my mom and closer view at the computer.

"Finally," Rose said under her breath, but I heard her and ignored it, "It'll make the other decisions easier now."

Rosalie was right, the other decisions came much easier when we had a colour scheme. I picked out flowers, a cake, suits for the boys, table centrepieces and invitations. All we had left now was my dress and bridesmaid dresses for Alice, Rosalie and Leah. We planned a day for dress shopping and then I walked into the living room and collapsed on the couch beside Edward who was reading.

"How come you didn't have to be a part of that torture?" I said, cuddling into his side.

"I was kicked out by the pixie wedding planner for daring to suggest carnations as wedding flowers," he chuckled, "Sounds like you've got everything planned."

"Almost," I said, "Just dresses to sort, but we need to go to the boutiques for that."

~~~TTOGILB~~~

A week later, all of the girls were piling into Rosalie's car and heading out for a day of dress shopping. Alice had her laptop with her so we could video call my mom. It wouldn't be quite the same as having her with me, but it was the next best thing.

We walked into the wedding dress shop and I looked around. Everything looked so expensive, but I tried to put that all out of my head and enjoy the day without worrying about spending money. We were greeted by a tall, thin lady whose badge said 'Cathy' who brought us to a large dressing room at the back of the shop, with a large velvet sofa sitting outside.

"Okay, ladies, who's the bride?" Cathy asked, taking me by the hand when the girls all pointed at me, "Right, tell me what you're thinking and I'll bring over some dresses for you to try on."

I tried on what felt like a million dresses and was starting to get fed up when I glanced up at the dress I had just put on. It was perfect. Not too over the top, like some of them, but not too plain either. I walked out of the changing room and all the girls gasped when they saw me. My mom was in tears on the computer screen and the other girls looked like they would be too, if it were possible.

"This is the one," I said, all the girls nodding at me.

"It's perfect," Esme gushed, "Edward will love it."

Bridesmaid dresses were easier to decide, everything looking amazing on Alice and Rosalie. They chose different styles of dresses but in the same pale blue we had chosen as our colour scheme. I had sent Leah a swatch of the colour and she was going to choose her own dress in a different style.

Alice paid for everything with her credit card, while I avoided looking at the price, deciding that ignorance was the best idea in the situation and we headed back to Rosalie's car. We were just about to get in the car when Edward appeared from across the street.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, running up to give him a hug. I'd missed him. He gently put his arms around me, then stood to the side taking my hand.

"I thought I could take you out for dinner," he said, glancing at the other girls.

"You sure?" Alice asked, "I thought we were supposed to stay together."

"We'll be fine. There are loads of people around and we'll only be an hour or so," Edward said, waving her concerns off, "I'll call you if there are any problems." He then led me down the street before Alice could say anything else. I looked back to see Alice looking bewildered at Edward's attitude, but they got in the car and drove away.

"I picked out a dress today," I told him as we walked, "I hope the girls didn't give anything away just now."

"What?" he said, pausing before continuing, "Oh, right, no, they didn't."

We reached an unfamiliar car parked along the street and Edward unlocked it and held the passenger door open for me to get in.

"Where are we going?" I asked, "I thought we'd just go somewhere close for dinner. And where's the Volvo?"

"Oh, it broke down. I hired a car," he said, gesturing for me to get in, "And I actually had something else in mind, rather than dinner. I hope you don't mind."

"Okay, I suppose," I said, wondering why he hadn't borrowed one of the other many cars the Cullens owned, "Where are we going then?"

"It's a surprise," he said, still holding the door open for me. "You trust me, right?" he added when I hesitated.

"Of course," I answered, getting into the car. He was quickly in the driver's seat beside me and we were speeding off out of the city.