Hello everyone. Sorry for the late update. Recovering from my attack has been a lot harder than I anticipated. It's just been very bad lately. I'm not going to get into it because I know you guys are excited for the new update. Please enjoy!

Chapter Twelve

Alice took Bella into the infirmary for her muscular therapy and a nap. Bella was resistant at first, since her morning was thrown off, but after a bit of encourage, a lot of encouraging actually, she went.

"A spitfire that one," Jasper said, shaking his head once Alice successfully got Bella out of the control room.

"Yeah, I know." I chuckled.

"You think she'll ever be normal?"

"What do you mean?"

The doors opened and Emmett appeared. He looked agitated, nostrils flared and eyes blazing. It wasn't his normal appearance, but I did understand where is was coming from.

"Nothing." Emmett snapped. "We found nothing."

I nodded. "I understand you're frustrated—,"

"I want Rosalie awake now," He hissed, his tail moving quickly behind him. "It has been too long. I cannot continue like this."

"I understand Emmett," I said calmly. "I have a plan for that, but for now, go eat and rest. We will talk later."

Emmett shook his head, hissing and grumbling as he walked out of the room. I didn't take it personally. He was rightfully agitated. He hadn't seen his mate in a long time and it was starting to get to him, as it was getting to everybody.

"What did you mean, will Bella ever be normal?" I asked Jasper.

"Exactly what I said. She's so… different now. Very—," He struggled to find the right word. "Well, not like us."

"She's full human. We're half," I said, my eyes narrowed as I stared him down.

"Not like that." He shook his head. "I don't know. I meant with her intelligence level. She's somewhat of a, and I mean this as politely as possible, but a moron."

I hissed at him.

"Edward you even have to see it." Jasper said. "I'm not trying to be mean or poke fun, I'm being very serious. She's clearly just low, intelligently. How do you think it will ever work between the two of you?"

"Because it will," I snapped. "Alice and dad have done many brain scans on Bella, and they've found they she has a very large brain that's just waiting for someone to give her knowledge. The amount of knowledge she's gained in the past few weeks has been astonishing. And she still has the capacity for more."

"Alright, I understand," Jasper said. "I just don't want you to be disappointed if… well, you know."

I nodded. "Noted. Now, what did you find?"

Jasper walked to the control panel and took his armor off. He kneeled down and began hooking his chest plate to the control panel. I sat back patiently and waited.

"We found very interesting things," He said, "We thought everything was obliterated, but there are still buildings."

"Yes, we knew some buildings would still be there, just crumbled."

"No, the buildings are still intact. They're crumbling and not structurally safe, but they're still standing. Which is incredible, but that's not the interesting part."

His camera finally came through and he fast forwarded it the part he wanted to show me. A few blurry images passed before he paused it on a spot against a stoney wall. Resting in the corner was a strange assortment of random debris.

I frowned as I looked at the frozen image.

"Um, very good Jasper," I told him.

He rolled his eyes. "Look closer, this debris did not just occur, it was put here—,"

"Bella home," A small voice said.

We turned around to see Bella and Alice in the doorway. It was clear they had just walked in, but Bella was locked in place. Alice waited beside her with her hand on Bella's shoulder.

"Bella home," She repeated as she pointed at the screen.

"This is your home?" I asked her.

Bella walked in, putting her hand on the screen.

"Bella mother sleep," She pointed to the corner of the debris. "Hide, safe."

"What did you hide from, Bella?" Alice asked.

"James. Men." Bella said very seriously. "Family bad. Bella, mother hide. Bella and mother hide. Safe. Voice off."

"Family bad?" I asked. "Your family Bella?"

"Family, James. Men. Family bad," Bella shook her head slowly. "Family bad. Bella, mother safe here. Sleep here. Voice off. Shhh. Hush baby."

Alice smiled softly and rubbed Bella's back. "You're safe now."

"Bella safe here. Bella home here." Bella nodded.

I smiled widely and pulled Bella into my arms, purring gently for her. As I was cuddling her, Jasper was digging through his pocket. A moment later, he pulled out an extremely tattered cloth thing.

Bella's eyes widened. "Bella's. That's Bella's. Mine."

Jasper held it out to her; she immediately snatched it from his hand.

"Mine." Bella said, stroking a part of it. "Not Jasper's. Mine. You stole."

Jasper gaped. "Are you kidding me? I got it for you because it had your DNA on it. So you should be thanking me."

Bella growled at him and started to rub the cloth against her cheek. She closed her eyes and smiled softly before inhaling it deeply. "Mother."

"Does it smell like your mother?" Alice asked.

Bella nodded. "Smells like mother."

"You miss her, huh?"

"I miss her." Bella answered in a fully, coherent sentence.

"Great job Bella," Alice smiled widely. "That was full sentence with a proper pronoun. Very good."

Bella frowned, a few brownish tears falling down her cheeks. I opened my arms to cuddle her again, however, she turned away and walked to her corner, curling up and snuggling the cloth. She cried softly into it, whimpering gently.

I frowned and walked over to her, pulling her into my arms.

"I'm sad." Bella whimpered softly, crying into my chest.

"I know you are," I whispered softly to her, pressing a kiss against the top of her head. "It's okay to be sad."

"Bella, would you like to watch videos of mother?" Alice asked as she got to her knees. "I saved these from the memory tap. Would you like to see mother?"

"Not the—," I started but Alice cut me off.

"Don't worry, I won't show her that," Alice said as she sat down in front of Bella with her tablet outstretched. "Bella, do you want to see mother?"

"Mother dead." Bella whimpered softly.

"I know, but I have videos of her." Alice brought up the video. Bella took the tablet out of Alice's hands and watched with teary eyes. She continued to replay the same video of her mother speaking to her when she was a newborn. I placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head before standing.

"Alright, I need to speak to my men." I said. "Alice, are you good to take care of Bella until I get back?"

"I'll take care of her," Alice said as she gently dabbed Bella's cheeks. Alice pulled Bella against her and wrapped and arm around her to comfort her. Bella seemed very content, leaning against Alice and watching videos of her mother.

I nodded and walked out of the room, Jasper following behind me.

"When are you and Alice going to procreate?" I asked.

"I'm not sure."

"She'd make a great mother," I said. "Look how she is with Bella. And you'd make a pretty decent father."

Jasper chuckled. "Thanks. But Alice doesn't want any kids now. She's too focused on Bella. And I don't even know if Alice really wants kids."

"She'll come around. You two are still young enough." I said as we entered the mess hall.

The mess hall was unusually quiet, but I wasn't surprised. Everyone was on edge; they were missing their mates. Hopefully, I could rectify this today.

"Good afternoon," I said loudly. "I understand everyone is on edge. You all have been waiting very patiently, which I appreciate greatly. Now, I know everyone has been missing their mates, so despite the fact that we are running on small generators and ratioing food, I have decided to wake all of your mates."

There was an uproar of excited cheers, their spirits lifting tremendously. It did make me happy that they were happy. Of course, most of my job as their commander was to keep them safe, however, making them happy was also a plus.

"Now," I said loudly to get their attention. "You must understand, your mates are going to be uncomfortable for a while. They're going to be cold, tired, and hungry. But they must not get in the way."

"Does this mean we're not putting the generators in the ground?" One of the men asked.

"Yes. We will not be putting the generators into the ground. We have not been able to locate the tribe of humans, however, we have found more evidence of their existence, so in a week, more search teams will be sent out. Finding the humans is our number one goal." I said with a pause to prepare myself for the next bit, "Things are going to be very rough, especially for our mates. Do you best to comfort them, but if you don't abide by the rules I've set, if you try to disrupt the way things are to please your mates, you will answer directly to me, and I will show no mercy."

"When will you be waking our mates?" A man said as he jumped to his feet.

"My father is in the process of waking your mates now." I said. "They should be fully awake within the next two hours. I understand you are all eager, so as of now, you're all dismissed to go to your mates."

Without any questions, all of the men stood and quickly evacuated the mess hall. Jasper chuckled.

"You've certainly made them happy." Jasper said.

"Good." I said with a nod. "Will you go into the hibernation chamber and just control things?

"Of course."

I walked back into the control where and was shocked to see Alice talking with a council while Bella was hissing and growling from the corner. I quickly ran to the control panel where Alice was standing.

"Edward, so nice to see you," Aro said with a warm smile.

"Yes, we were just having the loveliest of conversations with your sister," Caius sneered.

"I am just defending myself and the human I've been working with," Alice sneered back. "You don't know anything."

"Alright Alice," I told her gently, "Take Bella to my pod. Just calm her down I'll be in there soon."

Alice snorted and turned. It took her several minutes to coax Bella out of the corner. She continued to hiss at the holograms as she left the room. I sighed internally in relief.

"I apologize for that," I said. "How can I help you three today?"

"Was that your little… human?" Caius said with a snort. "It looks like a little animal. Hardly tamable."

I repressed a snarl. "Well, she has made nothing but progress. She's speaking clearly and—"

"We do not care," Marcus said calmly. "What we do care about is your search of the clan of humans you believe are still inhabiting the planet."

"The first search was a failure, I'm sad to say, but we've found clues to their whereabouts, and I believe we—,"

"Edward," Aro said softly. "If it is too much for you—,"

"It's not to much for me," I tried to keep my composure as I said this. "This was just an unforeseen bump in the course. We will get on track soon enough."

"We've heard you're waking all of the females," Caius said. "Do you think that is a good idea?"

"Yes I do," I argued. "I believe it will help the men get on board with the idea of searching every inch of this planet for the tribe of existing humans."

"Edward," Aro said in the same soft tone. "What exactly is the plan when you find these humans?"

I paused. What was the plan? It was to help them but help them how.

"I'm not sure," I answer honestly.

Caius scoffed, "Then why are we following these ridiculous plans of surveying the entire planet!" He roared. "You have delayed construction of our mother planet for… I don't even know what to call this sort of buffoonery!"

"We're doing that right thing!" I snapped back. "We cannot kill the creatures that are on this planet for our own selfish gain!"

"You are being childish! We have to think about our own people!"

Before I could snap back, my watch vibrated with a message from Alice that read, "Help!" I sighed heavily.

"I cannot entertain this conversation any longer. I will call you three back tomorrow once everyone has calmed down." I cut the call off and headed to my pod.