Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight, I just enjoy borrowing her characters for a while.

AN: Thank you for sticking with this story. I'm so grateful to everyone who is still reading and especially taking the time to review. Each one significantly brightens my day.

Welcome to Part Three. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I have written it in a reverse way from Part One; each chapter starts with Jasper's POV and switches to Bella's POV at the end.

As always, chapter titles are taken from the lyrics of Can't Repeat by The Offspring

Slips Away – Part Three

Tomorrow Cries

Jasper

We were all trying to keep a tight lock on our thoughts to give us time to catch up to Edward without him realising why he wouldn't find Bella alive in Forks.

Alice had seen that if he sensed us too early, he would run and we wouldn't catch him but the exact consequences were a mystery as her visions were blank after that. We'd barely had time to plan or strategize though. He'd made his decision to return to Forks suddenly and we'd had to react quickly and decisively to have any chance of intercepting him before he reached Forks and an unknown future.

I was reviewing every law text I'd ever read in my head as quietly as possible. Mundane boring thoughts. Nothing to draw Edward's attention to my mind but it was harder than ever to focus. So much could go wrong. I hated the implications of Alice's blank visions. My need to keep her safe from all harm was driving and distracting. I needed to think and strategize but thoughts could be even more dangerous if Edward heard them so I gritted my teeth, quietly going over obsolete laws in my mind and hoping the rest of the family could keep their thoughts quiet and focused as well.

"He knows," Alice suddenly said and we all started to run as fast as we could, with renewed purpose and desperation.

"We weren't going to catch him," Esme said, her voice full of anguish.

But we were gaining on him. Edward was the fastest of us all but he was also half starved and somewhat crazed.

We were all concentrating so hard on getting to Edward while still trying to be inconspicuous that we somehow didn't sense what was waiting ahead of us.

As our path took as close to the boundary of the Quileute reservation, five enormous wolves emerged from the trees and charged towards us. We all instantly knew what they were and that they were dangerous to us. Alice and I hadn't been with the family when they made a treaty with the wolves but we had heard their descriptions in great detail time and again. Even Edward instinctively skidded to a halt but the wolves broke their advance at the same time. Where they had been feeling determination, they were now almost stunned in surprise. We stood regarding each other in a standoff for a few fraught moments.

"Bella?" Edward breathed, his voice was saturated with pain, but it was only a hint at the cacophony of emotions he was feeling. Anger, despair, misery, recrimination, fury and desolation were storming through him with such power that sensing them almost brought me to my knees. Only my own need to protect Alice from the threat we were facing could keep me upright.

I dragged my eyes from the wolves and focused behind them.

Bella and Garrett stood frozen in shock and horror at the sight of us. The entire family was stunned. Alice had worked out that Bella had been with Garrett soon after she'd seen him with her. She'd drawn a portrait of the vampire travelling with Bella in her visions and Carlisle had recognised him and deemed him honourable and trustworthy and that had influenced our decision to leave them in peace until Bella felt ready to come to us. However, we'd had no idea they were in Forks. Just over seven months ago they had disappeared from Alice's vision completely. She had searched for them relentlessly and when she couldn't find even the slightest trace of them, we'd believed the most likely reason was that they'd been killed by Victoria. When we'd decided to find Edward and tell him that, Alice had seen him go to the Volturi. So we hadn't told him. We'd just grieved quietly and privately. Unnecessarily it now seemed.

"Who did that to you, Bella?" Edward demanded, his voice stronger and his tone dripping with fury, possession and promised retribution.

Garrett's response was instantaneous, he dropped into an offensive crouch. "I can't stay here and not kill him," he growled menacingly.

Edward responded instantly but Emmett and I were quicker and took him to the ground as I doused him in as much apathy as I could. He struggled hard and I hated having to concentrate on him rather that the rapidly spirally situation we were trying to salvage. "Some help, Esme?" I asked through gritted teeth.

She instantly complied and it had the effect I hoped. Edward's struggles diminished as, even in whatever indescribable state he was in now, he didn't want to hurt Esme.

After incredulously watching this play out, the russet wolf leading the pack suddenly morphed into a man. In almost the same movement he pulled on shorts that'd been tied around his leg. If it weren't for our enhanced senses and the fact that we'd been watching so closely, it would have seemed like he'd reformed into a human wearing them. The process was amazing. I knew even the members of our family who'd met the wolves before had never seen their transformation; the previous pack would never have allowed it.

In his human form I recognised the Alpha as Jacob Black, the boy who'd danced with Bella at the Prom. He'd been infatuated with her then and jealous of Edward but now he almost seemed exasperated, irritated and even a little amused. He half turned to Garrett and rolled his eyes at him, his hands moving in a fluent staccato of signals which looked like sign language but I was fluent in ASL so knew that it wasn't that.

Garrett relaxed marginally at whatever Jacob had communicated to him, replying in the same way with several sharp gestures of his hands. From his profile we saw Jacob rolling his eyes to the sky this time, as if praying for patience as he turned back to us.

"Fred," he said, not looking at whichever of the wolves he was addressing but instead staring over our shoulders, "Stand down." Nothing changed though. None of the wolves as much as twitched. I wondered if he was trying to get us to look behind us, to turn our attention from them so they could attack. I knew there was nothing and no one behind us. No heartbeats, no emotions and no reaction from Alice to suggest she'd seen anything but I did feel a prickle of unease as if something was tugging at the periphery of my gift. Jacob's emotions suggested he was satisfied his command had been followed despite nothing happening. I didn't like it at all.

"Carlisle Cullen," Jacob said, his focus back on us. "Your coven has a treaty with the Quileute Tribe. We are prepared to honour it if you are."

"Of course," Carlisle responded relieved, although his worry for Edward was prevalent. "We have no desire to fight with you."

"You remember the terms?" Jacob pressed.

"Yes," Carlisle bristled, although his tone and manor remained diplomatic and calm. "I was there when they were originally written."

"None of you can cross the boundary line or the treaty is broken," Jacob emphasised.

"We are well aware," Carlisle reassured him.

"Even the new members of your coven? They know the boundary lines?" Jacob looked at each of us in turn, evaluating.

"We respected the treaty even when there were no wolves to enforce it," Carlisle reminded him and Jacob nodded slowly in agreement.

"Garrett, Bella," Jacob addressed them without taking his eyes of us. "Why don't you go to my house and contact Sam's pack to let them know what's going on."

Without a word, Garrett and Bella spun in unison and ran straight across the border and deep into Quileute land.

Edward's struggles kicked up again as he howled in anguish at the sight of Bella retreating with Garrett. I poured calm into him, using my hands as a conduit to strengthen the power of my gift as Rosalie, Alice and Carlisle joined Emmett, Esme and me in trying to hold him down.

Jacob stared at him, his arms folded, radiating mistrust. "If he crosses our line, we will kill him," he said frostily.

"But you let them on your land?" Rosalie hissed. "Garrett's probably killed thousands of humans. Bella is barely out of her dangerous newborn phase but you allow them on your precious reservation unsupervised?"

"I like Bella and Garrett," Jacob replied, unconcerned. "I really don't like any of you. Let me be very, very clear. If you allow him to get onto our land, he will die along with any of you that follow him."

"You can try," Rosalie scathed, furiously. "We're pretty evenly matched. Maybe it's you that will die."

Jacob just smiled in response. "Fred," he commanded.

Out of the trees, six more wolves materialised from the gloom. I couldn't understand how they had got so close before any of us sensed them. Yes, Edward was loud and distracting but still, we should've heard them. Even Edward had stilled now, recognising the shift in the balance of power. Two unfamiliar vampires dropped from the trees on the Quileute side of the boundary line. Their amber eyes identifying them as following the same diet of us but I had never seen them before and I sensed no recognition from the rest of my family either. The wolves didn't react to the sudden appearance of these vampires behind them. The male and the girl weaved through the wolves until they were standing either side of Jacob, regarding us with open hostility. All of the wolves were completely unaffected by their proximity, except the smallest grey one who was vibrating with suppressed anxiety. Jacob seemed to sense it and without moving his hand or arm, he pointed to him with his index finger before beckoning him forward.

The grey wolf padded forward but did not reach Jacob. He stopped beside the male vampire who lifted his hand to stroke his head without breaking his attention on us. The grey wolf relaxed at his touch, the anxiety draining from him.

"This is my pack," Jacob told us. "Sam's pack is bigger." He didn't need to say anything else. The implication was clear and we understood how vastly outnumbered we were. If Edward crossed the line, he would be killed. If any of us tried to help him, we would die too. Jacob watched as we silently accepted it.

"As it happens," he said conversationally, "we would be interested in making some amendments to the treaty." We all gaped at him. "It might not be the best time to discuss it now, I need to talk to Sam first and you need to deal with that," he indicated to Edward.

"We'll negotiate with you if I can talk to Bella," Edward spat, suddenly coherent.

"This may come as a surprise to you, but I'm not the boss of Bella. She does what she wants. The best I can do is ask her nicely."

"Please do that," Carlisle replied pacifyingly. "But we will negotiate with you either way. We will be at our house when you are ready to talk."

Jacob nodded his assent but none of them moved. They just watched as we wrangled Edward away, kicking and screaming, as we dragged him back to our abandoned home.

Bella

We hadn't gone to Jake's house. He knew we wouldn't go that far. We were out of sight and hearing of whatever was going on at the border but still within range of my shield. I had to concentrate harder to keep it up around my friends and family at this distance but it wasn't too much of a challenge. I could feel each different spark of the people I loved and recognise them individually. Despite not being able to see or hear them, I knew exactly where they were and I kept my shield wrapped tightly around each one. Garrett's spark shone the brightest, always. Not because he was the one physically closest to me but because he was the most important to me. The more I cared, the brighter the sparks shone and the easier they were to shield. I loved Garrett beyond all comprehension and reason. My shield instinctively and permanently protected him now and it required effort to drop it from him. We had yet to be far enough apart that I couldn't sense exactly where he was and keep him protected.

We stood silently together, my hand tracing circles on his lower back. He was trying to be calm for me but it was costing him a lot of effort. I could only imagine how difficult it was. When Olly had mentioned Garrett's past relationships, I had been incandescent with jealously. I seriously doubted I could have tolerated being in their presence if they were being possessive of him, without reacting extremely adversely. Garrett was older and better controlled than me. He knew if he had attacked Edward as he desperately wanted to, it would have been war. No doubt we'd have won it but at what cost? The Cullens were powerful and gifted. Jasper's battle scars were terrifying with my now enhanced vision. Some of us would likely have been badly hurt or even killed. Fred's gift would have mitigated some of the danger, but he still struggled to keep it up when people were moving quickly, especially in the unpredictable chaos of battles.

I contemplated my shield. It hadn't worked against Jasper or Alice's gifts when I was human. However today I had sensed Jasper's gift as it penetrated my shield and I'd been able to deflect some of his influence but not all. I was fairly sure I'd significantly reduced its impact. I wondered if with practice, I'd be able to fully shield against it. I hadn't felt Alice's gift at all so I guessed I had no hope of ever deflecting that. I wondered what she saw.

I thought about the Cullens. What were they doing here? It was far too soon for them to return if they wanted to maintain any sort of human charade. We had worked so hard to set the trap for Victoria. Had they ruined all our careful planning or would her gift ignore them if they weren't interested in hurting her?

Edward had looked feral. I wondered what had happened to him. He was nothing like I remembered in my hazy human memories.

Fred, Bree, Jake and Leah were coming I sensed. They had left the rest of the pack prowling the border.

"What a shit show," Jake said as he approached. "You okay Garrett?"

Garrett clenched and unclenched his teeth and nodded stiffly.

"Sure, sure," Jake smiled, managing to effortlessly meld sympathy and sarcasm. "You're absolutely fine."

"What do they want?" I asked.

"To talk to you, Bella," Jake replied and Garrett snarled in the direction of the boundary line.

AN: I would so love to know what you think. I would be so happy if you could take a moment to review.