Author's Note: Just a heads up that I've changed the rating from T to M. There's some violence and an injury in this chapter that I'm not entirely sure requires the bump up, but I'm a desensitized old lady who grew up on a lot of gratuitous violence, so I'm erring on the side of caution.

Also, thank you so much for all your feedback and for sticking with this story so far. I really appreciate it! ?

***

A call from Leah could not mean anything good.

Bella had been enjoying a little time alone on Sue's front porch with a cup of tea and a book, nice and cozy in one of her father's sweatshirts, which she'd swiped from his house. Jacob was coming by after dropping a few of his boys' things back to their mother's house. She thought it was really lovely how he wanted to make their transitions as seamless as he could, and that included delivering their things himself rather than stuffing it all into their school bags, and forcing them to carry it all day.

Things were so crazy that she barely noticed how much she looked forward to seeing him these days. Of course, she'd grown closer to almost everyone lately—she even had a wine and movie night planned with Rachel and Emily soon, and that was very out of the ordinary for her—but if she was totally honest, it was a little bit different with Jacob. It was like there was just an extra layer, almost.

Obviously, she always knew he was handsome; she had eyes. They'd gotten along perfectly fine, too. She even knew he'd had a little crush on her after she moved to Forks when they were teenagers, and the beginnings of a friendship had been there. She saw him most holidays she and Eliza were in town, but nothing ever blossomed, even platonically. Their worlds were mostly separate—she had her life in Florida, and he had his life here.

Maybe it was just because things were so intense, but it felt different now, and she was sure it wasn't just her. Something about the way they moved felt natural, like his hand was made to fit in the small of her back when he passed her, or hers was made to swat at him when he tried to pick at the food she was preparing. For all that ease, there were more and more moments of tension popping up, too – more lingering looks, more weighty silences. Fewer winks and jokes to lighten the atmosphere.

But giving into that wouldn't be very wise, would it? She lived almost as far away as you could get while staying in the lower 48, and his divorce had only been finalized a few months earlier. If he'd been able to tell his ex-wife about his past as a protector and his fears for his sons' futures should vampire activity ramp back up, well, he'd still be a married man. She'd only met Meghan a few times over the years, but she was friendly and funny, and they hadn't ever struck her as anything but happy.

If Bella hadn't already known about vampires and wolves, he would have had to hide it from her, too, and they surely wouldn't have become as close as they did so quickly. Of course, this wasn't what they talked about most of the time, even as the weight of danger hung over them. They talked about movies, books, and kids; they shared stories and memories and just laughed with each other about stupid things. All of that had nothing to do with this creepy parallel world they'd been hurled back into.

Of course, the fact that she had a home a continent away from him also meant there wouldn't be any pressure if she wanted to see – Nope. Not the time, she scolded herself. What is wrong with you?

She set her unread book down beside her and slammed her head against the back of the chair. Closing her eyes, she tried to breathe and release the tension in her body, but she could feel that every muscle in her face was still screwed up and tight.

"Ugh, this is stupid!" she hissed to herself and opened her eyes as she heard footsteps approach. Jacob stood in front of her with a big, dumb, shit-eating grin on his face, like he just knew she'd been thinking about him. Against her will, her stomach did a little flip.

"Gonna make it, Swan?" he asked, sliding himself into the chair beside her. She was about to answer when her phone buzzed.

It was Leah. Leah never called anyone. She felt her eyes widen and her hands go weak as she fumbled to answer.

"Leah?" she breathed.

"We have a situation. Are you sitting down?" Through the crackling connection, she swore she could hear her effort not to show any fear.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah." Bella's throat caught. "Um, Jake's here. I'm putting you on speaker."

She pulled the phone away from her face and tapped to turn Bluetooth on for some reason, and then it wasn't turning off, and she couldn't make her fingers do what she wanted. Jacob gently took the phone from her, put it in speaker mode, and set it down between them. She let herself take a breath.

"What's going on, Lee?" he asked, serious and calm.

"Eliza is gone. I'm at the college. Her backpack was in the cafeteria; Cullen's scent is everywhere. There's a passed-out kid, and another leech showed up. She's trying to get some info from him, but he didn't see anything." There was an audible commotion from the other line. Leah huffed, and her next words sounded far away. "I don't know – just get him out of here! Tell him you're an alien or something, and send him on a mission. Use your head, fuck!"

Bella tried to keep calm, but her head was spinning. There was no way she was hearing this right: Eliza was missing. After all they'd been doing, he still got to her. Her breaths came heavy and ragged, and everything felt shaky and weak.

Then she felt a warm hand rubbing circles across her back, firmly but gently. She leaned toward the source, and Jacob pulled her chair closer to his as he continued.

"Leah!" Jacob barked, his tone in stark contrast to the soft touch of his hands. "Do you have a direction? Anything else?"

"Not yet, we just got in."

"Who's we?"

"The other Cullen – short, weird. She showed up just as I did and said she – excuse me!"

Another voice came on the line, and Bella immediately recognized it. It hadn't changed in twenty years.

"Bella!" Alice called out. She tried to respond, but the words weren't forming. Those tinkling bell tones comforted her, but at the same time, they felt so wrong.

"She's here," Jacob answered for her.

"Bella, I've missed you so much!" she said so quickly it was almost too much. "I saw him take her, but the decision was split-second. I didn't get here in time; I am so sorry! But listen: I saw a cabin. It's near a river and–"

"So anywhere between California and Alaska. Real helpful," Leah interrupted.

"Well, if you would let me finish! Anyway, there's a dirt road or maybe a long driveway off the one-twelve, and you can see the water along one side. I've seen the outside and part of the inside – it's green clapboard with white trim and a porch along the front. There's a loft and I saw Eliza sitting upstairs on a bed, and– Oh!"

There was silence for a moment, and Bella spoke up.

"A – Alice?"

"I don't know what's wrong with her," Leah said slowly. Confused.

Bella looked at Jacob, and she noticed that his brows were furrowed. He was looking down—he was on his phone, typing away with his free hand while it buzzed with other messages.

"Paul and Embry are running north now," he said. "You might need to phase in to update them, Leah – you OK with that?"

"Yeah, that's fine," she answered. "What do I do with this one? She's just staring off."

"A vision! She's seeing something!" Bella almost shouted. "Don't interrupt her; just let it happen."

She felt every breath drag in and out, waiting for Alice to speak. It felt like hours.

"Are you still there?" Oh, thank God!

"Yes, we're here!"

"Bella, you need to get there as soon as you can! He wants you to come get her, and he'll let you go. It's not a trap. If you go alone, I see Eliza safe upstairs and you and Edward outside talking, but then it goes dark." She huffed. "Well, everything is dark right now. I can't see any of these werewolves at all, but even when they're just around me, everything gets all fuzzy and changeable. You don't know how impossible it is to work like this!" Bella could almost see Alice stomping her foot in frustration.

She tried to process everything she'd just heard. Edward had clearly just decided this, so what had he been planning before? No, there was no use dwelling on what didn't happen.

"Alice, you said 'it's not a trap.' Edward knows how your visions work, so is that part of what he decided, or is that your own opinion?" she asked, and she saw Jacob give an approving nod from the corner of her eye. He rubbed her shoulder just as she tensed up, and she was able to let a little of it go again.

"That's my opinion. Edward did something stupid and impulsive, but he doesn't hurt people. You know that, Bella. You can't have forgotten everything." She couldn't really blame Alice for sticking up for him; they were a loyal, close-knit family, no matter what.

"It's Bella's call, but I don't feel comfortable sending her in alone and just hoping that you're right about that," Jacob said, his voice betraying a hint of frustration. "She said your visions work around decisions; is that right?"

Alice made a strange noise, and when she answered, her tone was somewhat clipped. "Well, if you already have that information, then yes. That is how it works."

Undeterred, he continued, "So if we plan to have everyone be around but hang back far enough that he can't hear our thoughts, does that change? Are they still safe?"

"I don't see anything different; it still fades out. That's risky, though; he's not himself right now. He'd never hurt Bella, ever, but I don't know what he'd do to anyone else who came running in trying to be a hero. He's been troubled for years over the separation, and when I had the vision of Charlie's heart attack, we thought he would die. Getting to Bella was his only goal. I tried to warn him that I did not see it turning out the way he hoped, but he had already made up his mind. Every decision he's made has been focused on reconnecting, no matter what. I can't see what he'll do, but I can't even guess right now, either."

Bella tried to process what she'd just heard: Alice had seen her father's heart attack. She saw him die, and she didn't warn them. Edward saw this vision, too, and he didn't come to convince him to seek medical help or keep him near the hospital but to reconnect with her, presumably when she was vulnerable and grieving. On top of that, she had been watching Edward this entire time but had done nothing to stop him from stalking them or confronting her daughter, nothing to mitigate the danger he could pose in his unwell state. Obviously, the Cullens couldn't exactly Baker Act him, but from the sound of it, she hadn't tried very hard to stop him.

But her visions were helpful, even with their limitations, and if seeing him again was what had to happen to get Eliza back safely, her decision was made. She heard Alice's sigh of relief before she answered.

"I'll go. I'll speak to him, but I want backup; I want Jacob and whoever is willing to be nearby. What do you see if I bring someone with me?" She glanced at Jacob, who nodded. "What if I bring Jake?"

"Who?" Alice asked.

"Jacob Black, he's–"

"Right, one of them." She paused. "I don't see anything at all. I told you; I think they're messing with my visions."

Bella decided to ignore the slight aimed at her protectors and friends and focus on a solution. For now.

"And if I go alone, or they hang back, you don't see any difference in outcome at all?"

"No, it still ends there, with both of you outside talking. He's a little closer to you, but that's it."

Alice shared more details of the location, now that she could see them, including the turn-off and the entrance to the private road. While Jacob, Leah, and Alice discussed distances and times, formations and signals, and other things that were making her head spin, Bella tried to relax and mentally connect with Eliza. She didn't believe in much, but if there were some chance that she could reassure her even from afar, she would try; if anything, thinking of her daughter was helping her resolve. She would go there, speak with Edward, get Eliza, and come home – no, come back to La Push, where he could never get to them again.

Bella fidgeted in the seat as Jacob drove toward the right location, trying not to panic. She reviewed the message from Alice with the driving directions from where she'd be taking over, even though she knew she wouldn't remember without looking again.

"You're going to do great," Jacob said, taking one hand off the wheel and setting it on her shaking arm. The warmth seeped through the thick fabric of Charlie's sweatshirt. "And we'll be behind you; we'll come in fast the moment you need us."

Almost instinctively, she set her free hand on top of his and rubbed her thumb across his knuckles. She couldn't begin to think of what she would have done if he hadn't been there that first day, protecting her daughter—and if he hadn't stuck around. He had every right to stay far away from their problems, especially ones that she had invited through her teenage stupidity, but he hadn't. He even insisted it wasn't a burden, which blew her mind.

Instead, he'd been this solid, constant support. She could only hope she'd given some support back – not that picking up his kids when he was running late a couple of times or listening when he talked about problems would come close to making up for all he'd done for everyone so far. He stuck around whenever he could, making sure she and Sue were safe, and was always offering to run her into town if she needed anything or wanted to see her dad. When he wasn't around, he would check in just to see how she and Eliza were holding up. She was disappointed they hadn't developed a friendship earlier, considering just how easy it was being with him, even when everything around them was a bubbling pit of chaos.

She took another deep, calming breath. The worry was coming back, and all the horrifying possibilities of what she might be walking into were too much to handle. Was Edward really planning to let them go without a fight? The only insight she had was from Alice, and she just didn't know how much she trusted her anymore. Bella had a lot of questions, but they could wait until Eliza was safe.

The hardest part of the plan wasn't going alone, though. The hardest part wouldn't even be staying calm; it would be pretending to care about anything Edward had to say for himself. She would have to act like he was being perfectly reasonable and avoid doing or saying anything that could make him change his mind. She swore she could actually feel how terrified her baby was, and there was no excuse in the world he could make that would justify any of this.

She felt Jacob's hand shift. Suddenly, his fingers were intertwined with hers, and he was pulling the car to the side of the road.

"This is it," he stated when they'd come to a full stop. "If you want, we can still change plans and just get everyone there immediately. We're fast; we can get there before he can do anything."

Bella shook her head.

"No, I can do it. Alice said she saw her safe upstairs and Edward and me outside before everything went black. I'm the one he wants to come, and the only one whose thoughts he can't hear. This is the best shot at everyone coming out of this alive," she hesitated. "Alive and human."

"I don't know if I trust her," Jacob said.

"I don't know if I do, either," she admitted. "But her visions are the only thing we've got right now. She didn't like that she couldn't see the final outcome, and that honestly gives me more confidence that it might work, for some reason."

Bella lifted her hand and rested her cheek on their joined fingers. She could feel the tears forming as she braced herself for the last request she would make before he left, but she didn't look away from his eyes.

"If he does something terrible," she began, her voice breaking a little, "I don't want that. I don't want to be one of them. Do you understand?"

His jaw hardened, and he squeezed her hand tighter. "It won't come to that."

"If it does–"

"It won't," he interrupted. "It can't."

"If it does, will you guys look out for her?"

Their eyes met again, and he pulled her in close and squeezed tight. She felt him breathe in as his face pressed into the top of her head, warm and comforting.

"Of course." His voice was thick and muffled. He breathed deeply and loosened his grip somewhat. "You ready?"

She nodded against his chest, and he hesitantly let go of her. They both exited the car, and when she was about to get into the driver's seat, Jacob grabbed her again, pulling her into one last hug. She found herself breathing in his scent and letting it calm her, lending her some of his strength to pull off this next part alone. Somehow, she had a feeling he was doing the same.

Jacob let go first.

"I'll see you again soon." There was a noticeable rasp in his voice.

Bella nodded and got into the car, watching him jog toward the trees as she buckled in and turned the engine over. She prayed they'd got the location right and that she wouldn't screw it all up in her anger.

Alice's directions were good and when she rounded the last bend in the road, she saw it: green clapboard, white trim, front porch. This was the place. And that was Edward Cullen standing outside, watching her approach. He looked – well, he looked young. He's not, she reminded herself. He's not a kid; he's not naïve; he's not harmless. She pulled up behind a sleek, black sedan and took a moment to collect herself before getting out. However, the instant she removed her seatbelt, the door opened, and he was standing with his hand extended to help her out. She hadn't even seen him move. Oh, she was in way over her head if she couldn't even get used to his speed again.

Not wanting to cause any unnecessary problems, she accepted his hand, and he pulled her in tight, rubbing his face in her hair and breathing heavily. Despite the similarity, this was nothing like the embrace she'd shared with Jacob on the highway—it was hard, cold, and invasive. She shuddered involuntarily, but Edward only squeezed harder—too hard.

"Please," she gasped. "It's too tight!"

He released her with too much force, and she flew back against the car, hitting her shoulder hard against the door frame. She stumbled, the impact jarring her to the core, and pain radiated from where the bone had hit the metal. She hissed as she righted herself, instinctively pulling her hand to her shoulder. If he had lost this much awareness of her fragility, what might he have done to Eliza without realizing it?

When she looked up, Edward had retreated about thirty feet back, guilt and worry etched all over his face. At least he realized now. She wanted to allow him to suffer and let the guilt and self-loathing he must still bear eat at him, but ensuring Eliza's safety was paramount. Recalling Alice's vision, she reminded herself that keeping him outside and calm was key.

"Edward," she said, her voice soft but firm, "I know it was an accident. I'm OK." She took another steadying breath and forced herself to remain calm, even though the pain in her shoulder screamed for attention and her anger bubbled uncomfortably. If I stay calm, he'll be calm. It was a tactic that had worked when Eliza was a toddler whose world was ending when her favorite cup broke and even during her first heartbreak a few short years ago. 'Co-regulation,' the books had called it. Hopefully it would work with Edward, too.

He rushed back to her side, the speed of his movement making her stomach turn. He laid an icy hand on her injured shoulder, his touch still a shocking contrast to the warmth she'd grown used to. She hated to admit that it was actually quite soothing on the tender flesh, nodded her thanks, and then allowed him to guide her to the porch steps, where she sat down. The smell of impending rain, sawdust, and a hint of new deck stain filled her lungs; it reminded her of Sue's, where she'd been so relaxed less than two hours earlier.

He still hadn't spoken but just watched her intently, his gaze penetrating, conducting a futile search for anything he could pluck from her mind. She wasn't sure how to describe the feeling of being under his gaze again, but it certainly was no longer reassuring. It was unnerving, uncanny, dangerous. He may feel like the vulnerable one, but he truly had all the power here. She swallowed hard, breaking eye contact first, pushing the worry down for later.

"You've kept her safe?" she asked, knowing his answer before he spoke it.

"Yes, of course. I may have given her a mild fright, but she's unharmed. You've raised an interesting girl, Bella; you should be very proud of yourself. She is quite—" he paused, "strong-minded."

"It must have been a shock for you, finding her at Charlie's."

She heard him chuckle, and it sounded almost like the boy she remembered.

"To say the least." He took her hand – gently and carefully this time – and she suppressed another shiver. It was so very cold, colder than she recalled. "I came for you. I wanted to be with you in a time of need. You must understand that I thought your father had passed away. I wanted to comfort you."

Bella patted his hand. "I understand."

She tried to calculate how long it had been and how much time was left to leave with Eliza before the others would come, but she had never been very good at that. Not like her daughter or her father. It seemed that was one of many skills that had skipped a generation. It felt like she'd been on this step forever, but realistically, it couldn't have been more than a few minutes, and she hadn't been paying enough attention on the drive, either.

"Is he recovering well, your father?"

"You're asking me how my family is doing?" She shook her head at the absurdity of making small talk with the vampire who had destroyed her life by abandoning her, only to invade it again and cause even more destruction somehow. He seemed to think this was a bonding moment and chuckled again beside her.

"Yes, Bella. I want to know everything there is to know about you. I want to know what's important, what makes you laugh now, and what makes you cry, what makes your soul sing—I've waited so long just to see your face and hear your voice. My world finally has an axis around which to spin once more, now that you're here beside me."

"Oh, Edward," she sighed, "There's just so much you don't understand. Humans, we – we change. We grow. We become entirely new people over time. Do you see?" She gave him a sympathetic look because, well, she did sympathize in some way.

He'd told her he was forever seventeen, and for a long time, she thought that meant only his body, but now it was clear how frozen his mind and heart were, too. Of course they'd loved recklessly, defensively, and immediately, like Romeo and Juliet, because that's exactly how teenagers do everything. She knew: she had raised one.

And now she was here with Edward again, with his strange mixture of youthful mind and decades of knowledge and experience. She could see now how it made him underestimate both his own immaturity and the enormity of his power over others. He wanted to be good, ethical, and responsible, but if he couldn't react like the adult he would never be, it would truly be an eternal struggle.

Finally, she met his gaze, and he was himself again: vulnerable and utterly confused by her. Bella could only hope that this was the boy her daughter had been in the cabin with, but she knew that was unlikely.

"Why did you take her, Edward? You could have contacted me any time you wanted to."

"But I couldn't! You were always with them!" Bella was familiar with the defiant, almost whining tone of his voice, and she winced as his grip on her hand began to tighten. He loosened it immediately before placing his other hand under her chin and turning her face toward him. His voice grew soft. "They've got you both so confused about everything. You know how safe I can keep you, and they—they're volatile and unpredictable. Animalistic. It's not their fault, but it's no place for someone so precious and so breakable."

How could he not see the irony of such a statement after all he'd done and all that Jacob and the other protectors had sacrificed? No, her indignation needed to wait its turn. She'd lost track of the exact time, but the pack and the other Cullens—Alice had told her they had all arrived to help handle Edward—were likely already moving in closer and getting ready, and she needed to keep him focused on her so she could ease into asking for Eliza.

"It never felt like we were in any danger, but I understand why you were worried." She forced herself to smile. "I think it's time Eliza comes down, Edward."

He let go of her chin and stroked her hair, pushing a strand behind her ears, and took her hand in both of his, now.

"Oh, dear Bella. You say you've changed, but you're still so kind and trusting. It's the anger and rage that causes their transformations; surely, you must have seen how easily they give over to such emotion. Though, knowing you and your sweet soul, you've given them the benefit of the doubt time and time again."

She fluttered her lashes and turned the corners of her mouth down, trying to look confused and conflicted. Imagining someone joyful like Seth or gentle and mischievous like Jacob flying into a rage certainly helped with the authenticity.

"I'm sorry, it just doesn't make sense. I suppose they're strong enough to be dangerous, but James – he was much more dangerous, right?" It felt awful to play her intelligence this way, but he was looking at her with so much adoration and warmth that she figured it was working.

"They mean well where he did not. I understand why you've placed your trust in them, and they've led you to believe they're your only safe harbor in this world. Perhaps they've convinced even themselves. Have you seen their true forms, Bella? Have you seen the teeth and claws, designed so perfectly to rend flesh from bone?" She flinched at the description he offered, the way he saw these people who had taken her and Eliza into their fold without question or hesitation. Thankfully, Edward took it as fear and revulsion, and he closed more of the distance between them on the step. He gave her a look of pity that made her skin crawl. "I promise that I will do anything I can to keep you safe – you and your daughter. I will commit every moment to it if you'll just let me."

He smiled down at her, his relief obvious, along with just a touch of triumph. She opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't think of anything at all. Then, his head snapped up, eyes narrowing, and his mouth hardening into a thin line. He must have heard the others! She only hoped they could get there fast enough to intervene if he had.

"Edward, what is it?" she asked, the genuine waver in her voice working in her favor. He met her eyes again and she saw fear, determination, and no small amount of anger.

"Those mutts and my family. They've conspired against us," he growled.

No! she screamed at herself; she had taken too long.

"No, they were just nearby in case I needed help! I asked them!" she cried. Edward stood, pulling her up with him. Her shoulder protested at the sudden movement, and her breath hitched as the pain shot down her arm and back again. He didn't offer any apologies or assistance this time, though. "Edward, look at me!"

When he looked back down at her, his eyes blazed with a blackened fury she'd never seen before, not even on her first day in that high school biology class all those years ago.

"You brought them?" His voice didn't match his eyes; it was confused, broken. "You thought you needed saving? From me?"

"Look, if you can hear them, they can hear us. Eliza and I will leave, and they'll leave you alone. They can hear that you kept your promise."

"How could you believe them, Bella? How could you think I would ever hurt you?" he pleaded. "All I've ever done was love you and give you everything."

This was never going to end so long as he thought they were still in love, she realized. Playing along had only fed his delusion of their eternal, indomitable love, and nothing was going according to plan anymore. The others would be here soon, but right now, Eliza was still inside, safely away from him. Outside with Edward, Bella had to face the harsh truth: there was no gentle or subtle way to make him understand and let her go; she had to rip off the band-aid.

"You did hurt me," she began, shocked at the steadiness of her own voice despite the danger in front of her. "You hurt me when I was a girl, and you're hurting me again by threatening my child. I did love you, but that was twenty years ago. Everything between us ended then. I'm not the same person you left, and I'm not coming back to you. You have to let this go."

He stood completely still, his face unmoving and inscrutable. Bella felt her fingers becoming numb in his cold hands. Looking toward the tree line, she thought she could almost make out the shape of a girl running toward them at an unimaginable speed—Alice! She felt a surge of hope before she realized it: if Alice was coming early, she'd seen something new, something bad. But what?

Suddenly, Edward's face contorted with betrayal and disbelief, and his grip tightened. The pain in her shoulder was forgotten as her hand was crushed, bones snapping like twigs, skin searing as it split. The scream ripped out of her like it was an entity of its own, and her legs gave out as she dropped, slipping down the steps as she fell. Her head struck something hard, but she wasn't sure what.

The first wolf exploded from the tree line, followed by more from other directions and human figures, but she couldn't focus on anyone in particular. Cold, hard arms caught her, and she forced herself to look up, though the screams still rang through the air, entirely outside her control. It took a moment to recognize the kind, concerned face above hers, a shock of blonde hair sticking up at an odd angle. Carlisle, she thought as she recognized him.

She couldn't speak because her mouth was still possessed, though its shrieks had faded into moans. The sky was getting dark, like someone turned down the dimmer switch, but there's no dimmer switch for outside, right? She thought Carlisle might be talking, but it was all mumbles. Turning her head, she saw Edward being held up between Emmett and Jasper, his face twisted with guilt and shame. A giant gray wolf facing them, head down and ready to pounce. It looked like it was growling, but it sounded more like it was gargling mouthwash. She blinked and saw Eliza swimming in front of her. Get inside, sweetheart! she tried to scream.

Who keeps turning the lights down?

Everything went black.