Super thanks to May & Meg.

"Bella! Talk to me."

I hear Rose's voice, but it sounds like I'm in a tunnel and she's far away. Images flash through my mind on a reel, and they keep me confused. A tornado of doubt and fear swirls around me until I can barely catch my breath. I'm on the verge of a breakdown, and I can't keep hold of a singular thought long enough to realize why.

"Please, Bella." She's on the ground, wiping tears from my cheeks. "Talk to me. Tell me what's happening. Is it the babies?"

Babies?

My children.

Our children.

Edward!

"Oh, no, Rose," I cry, a deep sob erupting from the pit of my stomach. "Something happened to him. I can feel it." I jump up, lost and defeated, before spinning to her. "I mean, I can't feel him."

"Okay, sweetie, calm down." She grasps my shoulders, looking me in the eye. "Remember that time you told me he cut you off? Maybe it's just something like that?"

"No." I shake my head furiously. "Even then, I felt his essence, his life, he was there just refusing to project his emotions. This isn't that. He's vanished completely. We need to go—" I get up, headed for the door.

"No," she says, grabbing my arm. "We can't go anywhere, but we should find Emmett. He'll know what to do."

For the first time in minutes, I pause my scattered mind and take a deep breath. And in that quiet second, I feel them.

Our babies.

It isn't strong.

Or even coherent.

But it's them.

They're communicating with me.

The thin green thread wraps around my heart, sending love and calmness, and tears drip down my cheeks as I cradle my small bump. "Thank you," I whisper, sucking in my emotion so I don't cause them any undue stress. "I promise to figure this out."

"Bella?" Rose pauses in the doorway, her eyes falling to my stomach when she realizes what's holding me up. "I swear, we're going to get to the bottom of this."

"And we need Emmett." I decide at that moment to put my emotions on hold. Edward and my babies need me to be strong, and they're all that matters right now.

It doesn't take us long to find him hovering on the ground floor near the elevator. It's his way of watching after us without being intrusive, and I appreciate it, but it's time to put his guard skills to use.

"Princess," he says, bowing. "Do you need something?"

"Edward is gone." The words come out rushed and panicky.

"Yes." He huffs a laugh. "But you knew that already."

"Can it, doofus, and listen to her," Rose snaps, and it's part of their thing so I ignore it.

"I was speaking to the princess, Rosalie…" I tune out their bickering, my patience on a knife's edge.

Closing my eyes, I press my fingers into my temples as their voices get louder, and my frayed nerves fizzle out of control.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

And when I exhale the next time, all my anguish comes with it. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" I scream, each one louder than the next. "I said that Edward is gone. I don't mean gone to the summit. I mean he has disappeared completely. I can't feel him anywhere, so put away your poor attempts at flirting and listen to what I'm saying!"

Rose looks to the ground in shame, and I don't want her to feel that way, but I don't have time to assuage her. I need to find my mate.

"Princess," Emmett starts carefully. "It's probably just the distance."

"It is not," I state calmly but firmly. "And I won't be convinced by anything other than his appearance in front of me."

"That's not a reasonable request." He holds up his hands like he's trying to reason with a crazy person.

It enrages me.

"You don't get to tell me what's reasonable, Emmett," I say, stepping closer to him. "I'm the princess and you're simply a guard."

"I'm tasked with guarding you, Isabella." The use of my given name in this situation sends me reeling.

"How dare you," Rose says, jabbing a finger at him. "Whether you like it or not, with the king, queen, and prince all absent, the princesses are the highest authority in this kingdom. So I suggest you listen to Bella's concerns before she cuts you out of the loop and takes command of the Cullen guard to see her wishes are followed."

At first, it seems like he's going to fall into the old pattern of arguing with Rose, but he thinks better of it. Her words hit home because he turns to me, dropping to one knee. "I apologize, Princess. Please, tell me why you think something has happened to Edward."

"I know something has happened," I say softly, surely. "One minute he was there, and then there was this euphoric blast of light…" I pause, sucking in a sob. "And then nothing."

"Okay." Emmett paces a circle in front of me as he works through what we should do. "I should send a messenger to Kingdom Black."

"How long would it take to receive a reply?" A messenger sounds slow.

He rubs his chin, working it out in his mind. "With a fresh messenger on the return trip and only an hour in Kingdom Black, I'd suspect it'll be around nineteen hours. We'd request an immediate reply. Of course, at that point, it'd probably be Prince Edward who returns because the best reassurance is the man himself."

"Edward isn't there." The words are hollow. "And I refuse to wait nineteen hours just to confirm that to you. Ready a transport. We must go to the place where he disappeared."

"I cannot." His shoulders stiffen and he lifts his chin. "Edward would kill me with his bare hands if something were to happen to you or his cubs."

"I understand your concerns, but if you do not follow my command, I'll have the guard apprehend you and appoint someone less qualified to lead the expedition," I say softly.

It breaks my heart to utter these words, but I know without a doubt that Edward needs this. I must prove that something horrible has happened before it's too late.

"Princess," he pleads.

But I stand firm.

My other half is in danger.

And I will disobey his every wish if it means I can alert the kingdom to that horror even a minute faster.

Sorry, I totally forgot yesterday was Thursday!

See ya Monday :)