A/N: It's a two chapter day! Next chapter is a teeny tiny interlude so I'll be posting it straight after this one. I'd also like to give a nod to twilight778, who left a review a while back that was right in line with what I'd written for Edward:)

The Ball is Rolling

Aro called Jasper the following day to tell him they'd decided to send a small retinue of the guard to the States. Demetri would be accompanying Jeremiah so that he was on hand to more easily pinpoint Edward's location, and Chelsea and Jane had petitioned hard to be with their newest friends when Edward and the wolves arrived.

That call seemed to be the trigger Peter needed, and he finally got a date of March 15th. After talking it over with the rest of the family, it was decided that Jane and Chelsea would come directly to Montana, and Peter and Charlotte would meet Jeremiah and Demetri closer to Washington.

That timeframe pleased Jasper. It gave them roughly a month to get everyone better trained, but wasn't so far out that Bella would be anywhere close to her due date. He'd been worried that she'd be heavily pregnant when all this kicked off.

Bella and Charlotte had taken to going for long walks around the Whitlock property in the afternoons and Bella loved hearing about Charlotte's life and the way she and Peter lived. They spent a lot of their time traveling the world, but they had a few bolt holes scattered around for when they wanted to stay in one place for a while. They spent a lot of their time in the States at their house in Texas, but when Jasper had left the Cullens and gone to the house they jointly owned in Montana, Peter and Charlotte had upped sticks and come up to give him some love and support.

Bella knew what Jasper had gone through in the months after the family left Forks and then after he left for Montana, and was grateful he'd had the two people he was closest to in this life to lean on for a while as he got his feet back under him.

Bella was also grateful Jasper had trained Rosalie as well as he had because she could step in and work with the others, freeing Charlotte up a little so she and Bella could have their sisterly bonding time.

It wasn't all work and no play, though. Bella and the three wolves made a point of cooking and eating at least one meal together every day, often with some of the vamps joining them at the table. Everyone watched movies together and played board games - their Scrabble tournaments could last for hours, though Monopoly was banned after a particularly cutthroat game ended in the shattering of one of the windows - and they went into town about once a week in various groups for various reasons. Bella's favorite trips to town were probably the days she and Leah went to the bookstore just the two of them.

"Is all this training overkill?" Bella asked Jasper one night as they were cuddling in bed a few days before Chelsea and Jane were due to arrive. "There's only five wolves in Jake's pack that we know of, and Edward. None of them are known to be particularly good fighters. And with the addition of the Volturi, isn't all this gonna be a piece of cake?" she asked through a yawn.

"Could be," Jasper smiled as he ran his fingers through her hair. "You know me, though. Better to be overly prepared than under. And a lot of what we've spent the last week or so on has been how to be most effective at getting Jake's pack to phase to human when they're approaching, and how to then keep them from going wolf once they're here."

Bella nodded as her eyes closed. Once the wolves were off the reservation, their plan for the elders came into play. They were hoping to keep the Quileute boys in their human form until all the actors were just where they wanted them.

Bella yawned again - baking a new human was exhausting work - and just barely murmured an 'I love you' before sleep pulled her under.

Jasper leaned down and kissed her forehead, then gently rested his hand over the spot their little flower was growing. Once they learned the baby would be a Lilly, rather than an Emerson, she'd gone from a fruit to a flower.

"I love you too, sweetheart. Both of you."

Two days later, everyone gathered to say goodbye to Peter and Charlotte, who were heading out to meet Demetri and Jeremiah.

"Be safe," Bella said as she hugged both of them goodbye.

Peter smiled and waved his hand dismissively. "This is strictly a reconnaissance mission. We'll see y'all in a day or two."

Charlotte pulled Bella a little bit closer. "We won't be gone long but I'm gonna miss you and my little Lilly."

"We'll miss you too, but you'll be back here in no time," Bella smiled. "Just think, you're so close to finally being able to lay some pain on Jacob."

"It's gonna take a lot of self-control not to rip that motherfucker's dick off when I lay eyes on him," Charlotte growled, then let out a long breath and nodded. "But I'll manage. You deserve your shot first."

Bella laughed and put Charlotte's hand on her baby bump. "Say goodbye to your niece and then hit the road."

"Bye Lilly!" Peter and Charlotte both shouted in the direction of Bella's stomach, then with a last wave, they took off to the north.

The ball was officially rolling.

Since Edward was entering Washington from the south, Peter and Jasper decided the best way to keep him from catching their scent was to head straight up to Canada, then travel west to Vancouver Island and drop into Washington from there. They weren't entirely sure yet where the meeting would take place so they stayed well off Cullen land until Demetri had a lock on Edward.

As it happened, Edward made it easier on the four spies by going to a clearing that was close to the treaty line but still in the Cullen's territory and waiting for a wolf to follow his scent.

Peter, Charlotte, Demetri, and Jeremiah stayed downwind from the telepath and silently climbed to the treetops so they had both eyes and ears on the meeting.

They had only been waiting for about four hours when a boy showed up in his human form.

"Black," Edward nodded.

Charlotte smiled at realizing she was seeing that dick Jacob Black for the first time.

"What the hell are you doing here, Cullen?" Jacob sneered. "You're not welcome on our land."

"This isn't your land," Edward answered with a little bit of confusion. "I am, in fact, in my territory."

"It's all our land and your kind aren't welcome here so get the fuck out of my state," Jacob growled.

"Your state?" Edward chuckled. "All of Washington state belongs to a handful of wolves? A few wolves living in a single square mile control the entire state of Washington?"

Peter and Charlotte weren't Edward Cullen fans by any stretch of the imagination, but they had to agree with him on this one. Who the fuck did this kid think he was? Jacob had just turned seventeen a matter of weeks ago and he thought he had a say in who could step foot in his state? What a delusional little fuck. Charlotte was really gonna enjoy hurting the kid.

"It doesn't matter, I have no plans to remain here. I thought I'd be the bigger person and inform you of some trouble related to a few old friends of yours but if you'd rather I leave," Edward shrugged, smiling inwardly that he'd caught the arrogant wolf's attention with that.

"What kind of trouble?" Jacob asked suspiciously.

"The wolves you ran out of 'your state' have created an alliance with some of my kind. They are attempting to convince them to get their revenge by attacking you on your land. Your actual land, by the way. Not your trumped up imaginings of what you actually control."

"Over my dead body," Jacob snarled. "Where are they? I'll just take the fight directly to them. My pack can kill a few of your kind easily."

Edward rolled his eyes. "Taking the fight to them is the right move if you want to save any of your people, but I wouldn't be so confident about taking these particular vampires down. Three of them are deadly warriors," he said, then paused a moment as he considered how well Jasper had trained Rosalie. "Perhaps four."

"How many leeches are we talking about?" Jacob asked, slightly less cocky about defeating four highly-skilled vampires. He quickly pushed that thought away. His pack could take on anyone and win.

"Six vampires in addition to your former pack members," Edward explained. "And a human."

"A human?" Jacob asked in surprise. "They've got a lone human living with six vampires and three wolves?"

"Two wolves," Edward corrected, then heard in Jacob's thoughts that they'd run off yet another Quileute wolf who they believed reunited with the other two. Well, not great odds but not insurmountable. The most recent wolf was still very new to being a protector. And because none of them knew what Edward was planning, it would be the perfect ambush.

"The human," Jacob said through gritted teeth. "Who is the human?" he asked, though he had a fairly good idea if they were connected to Leah and Paul and Edward Cullen had knowledge of them.

Edward nodded. "Bella."

At the memories that raced through Jacob's mind, seeing how he'd treated the girl, Edward seethed internally but kept his face impassive. He'd just have to eliminate Black after he used his pack as guided missiles to destroy those who'd attempted to destroy him.

"And she's pregnant," Edward added casually, then had to bite back his laughter as the wolf did some growling and stomping around.

"Whose is it?" Jacob growled. "A leech's? Is she into fucking corpses now that I turned her down? She's that fucking desperate that she'd fuck a soulless dead body?"

Jacob didn't even see the blow coming. One minute he was standing talking to the bloodsucker he hated more than just about anyone on this earth, the next he'd been punched in the stomach so hard he went flying back nearly twenty feet.

Peter, Charlotte, Jeremiah, and Demetri all clamped their hands over their mouths to keep from laughing.

"Watch your mouth, Black," Edward growled as he lightly stepped on Jacob's neck, the lack of oxygen making it impossible for him to phase to a wolf. "If you want to keep your people safe and free Bella from the influence of the vampires, you need to calm down. If you can't behave rationally, I'll walk away without a backwards glance and you'll never know where they are or when they're coming for you."

Jacob nodded as best he could in his current position.

"How soon can your wolves be ready?" Edward asked, lessening the pressure enough that Jacob could answer, not that he needed him to, but Jacob seemed unaware that Edward was a telepath and he wanted to keep it that way.

"Maybe eight hours," Jacob wheezed. "I have to convince the elders if I'm taking the whole pack with me."

"Then convince them. You'll need every wolf you have. Meet me at my family's old home and we can set off from there. If you're not there within twelve hours, I leave without you."

Before Jacob could blink, Edward Cullen was gone. He stayed where he was for a minute just gasping in air, pretending that he hadn't been scared by how easily he'd been overpowered, then he climbed to his feet and ran towards home.

The four vamps in the tree stayed where they were until neither Edward or Jacob were within hearing distance. Even then, they didn't speak, they just silently jumped from tree to tree until they reached a cliff overlooking the ocean. After quietly saying goodbye to Demetri, who would be staying behind for a little job before joining the others in Montana, Peter, Charlotte, and Jeremiah dove in the water and swam south a good ways before climbing out of the water again near Cape Disappointment at the border of Washington and Oregon. While it was almost entirely certain that Edward and the wolves would head directly east to get to Montana, they didn't know exactly what route they would take. Going that far south was their best chance that they wouldn't cross any scent trail that might tip them off.

The three of them ran east through Oregon and Idaho and then cut up north into the southwest corner of Montana.

By the time they crossed onto the Whitlock property, the entire family, along with Chelsea and Jane, were waiting on the front porch for them.

"Well?" Jasper asked.

"For starters…" Peter trailed off and looked at the group in front of him. "Actually, Paul, could I borrow you for a sec?"

Paul was confused but nodded and walked down to where Peter was standing in the yard. Before he even knew what was happening, Peter had him on the ground with his hand around his throat.

"Go wolf," Peter said calmly as everyone on the porch started shouting.

Charlotte and Jeremiah knew what Peter's intention was so they stood in between the porch and where he was holding Paul down.

Jasper, feeling Peter's emotions, held up a hand to quiet the outraged onlookers. "Would y'all please shut the fuck up and pay attention?" he shouted. "Every single one of you knows Peter would never hurt Paul. So perhaps there's a point to this little exercise? If y'all would shut your damn mouths maybe we could find out what it is."

Fortunately everyone quieted down at that. Once they were calmed down they realized that Paul wasn't struggling against Peter's hold. He seemed to know there was a reason for what was happening.

"Thanks," Peter smiled at Jasper, then looked back to the wolf on the ground. "It's true, I'd never hurt you, you're way too much fun to have around. Can you go wolf?"

Paul closed his eyes and tried as hard as he could, but after thirty seconds he gave up and opened his eyes, smiling at Peter as he shook his head.

"Wonderful," Peter smiled and helped the wolf to his feet, then turned to the others. "They need oxygen to phase."

"How does that help us?" Emmett asked. "We'll kill them before getting to teach them a lesson."

Paul shook his head. "He wasn't completely cutting off my airway. I could still breathe a little."

"Oh man," Bella started laughing. "I'm picturing dog collars on all of them that are just a little too tight."

"That could work," Charlotte laughed. "As long as their hands are broken so they can't remove them."

"I don't mind breaking some hands," Bella shrugged.

"You'll get your chance," Charlotte nodded with a smile, then looked at Paul. "Do you think that'd actually work?" she asked.

"If they're tight enough? Yeah," he nodded. "But we'll have to get them back to their human forms to put 'em on."

"Alright, you guys start gettin' their accommodations ready while Bella and I go pick us out some dog collars," Charlotte smiled.

Bella laughed and kissed her mate, then followed her sister to Peter's truck, and the two took off for the pet store they passed on their way to town.

Jasper shook his head with a laugh and then turned to the others. "Alright, how much time do we have?" he asked Peter.

"Jacob asked for eight hours, Edward gave them twelve max before he left without them," Peter shrugged. "Demetri's in place and ready to move once the wolves are gone."

"Jasper?" Chelsea said as she and Jane walked over. "Do you think a zap of Jane's gift would be enough to force the wolves to shift human?"

"I don't know," Jasper shrugged. "And I'm not real keen to test it on our wolves. Anger seems to be a huge trigger, especially from what Paul and Leah have told us about the others. They all seem to have a bit of a rage problem, so we've been working on me throwing out enough lethargy to basically knock the Quileute wolves out. It's worked pretty alright so far."

"But it's not instantaneous, and those first minutes are the ones that count the most," Leah said. "What if you immediately drop them with that cocktail from the south, then Jane zaps them one by one while they're incapacitated. Then it's easy enough to go down the line and put the collars on to keep them human."

"You can test it on me," Paul offered. "I know it'll hurt but if it works the way we think it will, it'll be worth it."

Seeing the rest of his family nodding their reluctant agreement, Jasper nodded. "Fine. But Jane, you give him three seconds tops. If he doesn't phase back, you release him or you'll be the one I'm dropping."

Jane nodded her agreement. She'd been surprised to find she actually liked the wolves once she got over her initial distaste, so she didn't particularly want to hurt any of them.

Jasper, Paul, Jane, and Chelsea walked towards the pasture to give themselves a bit of room. At a nod from Jasper, Paul ran a little ways in front of them and then shifted to his wolf form. As Jasper started sending him the crippling cocktail, he felt his legs go out from under him and he collapsed on the ground. A second later he felt the most agonizing pain he'd ever endured and he phased back to his human form without even making a conscious decision to do so. When the physical pain stopped, he was still beat down under the effects of Jasper's gift and Chelsea was able to walk right over and bend down to touch his neck. He was completely powerless to stop her.

"Good," Chelsea nodded in satisfaction and Jasper pulled back his gift.

Paul laid there for a few seconds to catch his breath, then smiled as he hauled himself to his feet. "Perfect," he nodded. "Even knowing what to expect, I couldn't brace against any of it. The others have no chance."

The whole process had taken no more than three or four seconds, so even without their numbers, they'd have the upper hand from the moment the Quileute pack came into view. Smiling in satisfaction, they headed back to the main cabin to tell the others of their success.

Charlotte and Bella returned home with a whole bag of dog collars so that Paul, Leah, and Seth could choose which ones to put on their former tribe members. Leah honestly didn't care who got what, but then she grinned in satisfaction when she saw a pink one with the word 'Bitch' on it in sparkly silver letters.

"That'll do nicely for Sam," she laughed as she plucked it from the pile.

"I thought that's what you'd choose so I grabbed two," Bella said as she tossed her the second one. "She may not be a wolf, but I figured Emily could wear the other one to match her precious Sam."

Leah laughed as she pulled her human sister in for a hug. "Thank you."

"You deserve some payback," Bella shrugged.

"Okay, the kennels and the shed are wired for video and sound," Emmett said as he walked into the living room and grabbed the remote to turn on the TV. After doing some shit no one understood, a split screen appeared - one side was a view of the huge metal dog crates they'd grouped together to hold the wolves, the other a view of the storage shed they'd gotten to keep the elders and Emily in. All of them were human, so a simple padlock on the door was enough to keep them contained.

"Thanks, Em," Jasper nodded.

"What about Edward?" Chelsea asked as she sat next to her human friend. She enjoyed touching her baby bump nearly as much as Jasper did.

"To start, we'll have Jeremiah shield all of us, but that's only until we have them all incapacitated," Jasper answered. "After that, no shielding. I want Edward to hear every single thought in our minds about how easy this was and how he never had us convinced with that fake ass apology in Volterra. I want him to know that entire fuckin' castle was laughing at him behind his back."

Bella laughed at how indignant she knew her ex-boyfriend would be to learn that not only did they all know he was full of shit, but that they all thought he was an idiot. For a boy who thought he was the smartest one out there, it would be an especially sharp blow to his too-big ego.

"How are we keeping him contained?" Jeremiah asked. "A dog cage and a woodshed won't hold him."

"He's probably the easiest," Charlotte laughed. "He'll drop just as fast as the wolves do - probably quicker, the pussy - then it's a simple job of dismembering him. We'll stash his body someplace on the property and bring his ugly little ginger head in here. He'll have the privilege of seeing that all this shit was child's play for us and the honor of watchin' us go about our daily lives happier than he's ever dreamed of being."

"It'll be especially painful because he and Alice are the ones who got this whole ball rolling in the first place," Esme smiled. "If they hadn't conspired in the way they did, none of us would be sitting here right now."

"I'd really prefer to not live with Edward's head in my living room for the foreseeable future," Bella laughed. "We're still only talking a week max, right? Then I can burn him?"

"Yes, sweetheart, then you can burn him," Jasper smiled. They'd arranged a nice little fire pit away from the house so Bella could be one of the ones to drop a match on the boy who tried to keep them apart. The two of them had agreed on the condition that once she did that, he'd flash Bella the hell outta there. He didn't want her breathing in any of that smoke.

A few hours after Bella had fallen into a sound sleep, Jasper got the call he'd been waiting for.

"Hey Demetri."

"Edward and the wolves are on their way. They're on an almost direct course due east."

"Alright, and the other task?" Jasper asked with a smile.

"Just completed. It was a stroke of luck her house is in a secluded bit of their land. No one heard a thing. Even she didn't wake up from all the noise."

"It sounds like you enjoyed yourself," Jasper laughed. "Was the paint where Esme said it would be?"

"It was," Demetri answered. "Good choice of color, too."

"There's about to be an awful lot of blood on their hands so it seemed the right choice," Jasper smiled. "Are you on your way here?"

"Yes, I'm about two hours behind them."

"Alright, we'll see you soon. Thanks, Demetri."

Jasper ended the call and went downstairs, where the rest of the vamps in his family were waiting for him, along with Leah and the vampires from Italy.

"You're absolutely sure about this, Leah?" Jasper asked her for the thirty-seventh time.

Leah just laughed and rolled her eyes. "Yes. Now here, this is the number."

Jasper gave her a quick hug, then took the piece of paper she was holding and dialed the number. As it rang, he couldn't help smiling at the anticipation in his family members.

Time to get this fuckin' ball rolling a little bit faster.