A/N – It's been way too long, and I apologize. Will keep it short here so you can enjoy the chapter.

As with all stuff on here, I do not own anything Twilight related, but oh how I enjoy playing in the Twilight sandbox. Read and enjoy!

Chapter 7

(No POV)

Bella's eyes flew open at the sound of that voice. A slight grin flitted across her face as the pain in her chest went away. "You came…back."

Garrett moved to take the spot Emmet had just vacated. Gently pushing a strand of hair out of her face, he growled. "I'm so sorry. I should not have left like I did, nor for as long. If I had just stayed, then none of this would have happened."

She started to shake her head but groaned as it caused the world to spin. "Don't do that. It was a lot to take in…I'm sorry."

Edward stood there, aghast at what he was witnessing. Here he was being ignored by his own family after being accosted by them in the apartment only to have some human hunter touching his Bella. "Would someone please explain to me why he is here and touching her?"

Everyone ignored him, instead focusing solely on Bella. She could barely keep her eyes open, but when they were, they were completely focused on Garrett. They all noticed how pained he looked to see his mate laying there hurt and not a one was willing to feel sorry for him at that moment.

"We need to get her to a hospital." Rose refused to just stand there and watch her sister bleed out. "One of you two needs to pick her up so we can get there before we lose her."

Jasper shook his head with a sigh. "She has already lost too much and would most likely be dead before we got her to the hospital. There are only two options now, change her or let her die."

Garrett growled as he heard the defeated tone in Jasper's voice. "There is no way I will allow her to die. I have been waiting and searching for her for too long to lose her this quickly." He paused as he thought of something. "Jasper, can you take her pain, so she can think clearly?"

Knowing what he was wanting to do, Jasper focused on Bella and slowly drew her pain into himself. With a hiss he nodded to Garrett to hurry up.

"Isabella?" Garrett called to her. "Little one, open your eyes for me."

Bella grunted, but couldn't ignore the request. Slowly after a few tries, she was able to keep her eyes open and focused on him.

"Good. Now I know you heard Jasper here laying out your options. Did you hear my response?"

She squinted at him for a moment waiting for her eyes to focus before responding. "Yes. I know why he's taking the pain and you don't even need to ask the question. You know the answer. I'm just sorry that you got stuck with such a broken mate."

"Mate!" Edward screamed from behind everyone. "She is not his mate. Bella, I forbid this to go any further. I left you so that you would stay safe and live a human life. Not so that you could just find another way back into the family and take on a new vampire and a human hunter at that. Why I…"

Emmett grabbed Edward by the throat and brought him in close, nose to nose. "If you know what's good for you, you won't even contemplate finishing that thought. Last warning. Either shut up and be helpful or get the hell away from her."

They all nodded their agreement to Emmett's warning then turned back to Bella when she coughed.

"Em, thank you, but don't waste your time on him." She coughed again and tried to lift her hand to rest it on Garrett's cheek, but lost the strength halfway there. A small smile twitched at her lips as he caught her hand and held it to his cheek. "If I die now, I cannot keep my promise. Please?"

Jasper looked at Garrett as he grimaced with her pain. "You need to do it now, she's lost so much blood I'm not sure her heart will be able to do the job, but it's either try or she dies."

Garrett looked into the brown eyes that he had come to love in the short times that he was dragged into her dreams. The warmth of the chocolate brown seemed to pull him in. He was leaning forward as if being pulled in by her eyes. He knew there was no way he could survive without her so with a sigh, he leaned in and kissed her on the forehead before placing a chaste kiss on her lips. "I promise once you wake, I will never leave you again."

"I'll keep you to it." She winked at him as her eyes started to close. "Do it, Rett."

Garrett tilted her head to gain better access then gently bit into her throat, just over the artery. He felt the warmth of her blood flow into his mouth, but the taste revolted him as he knew it was her life at risk. Quickly he pumped in as much venom as he could before sealing the wound and then biting both her wrists.

A growl was all the warning he got. Suddenly, Edward had Garrett by the throat and tried to pull him away from Bella, rather unsuccessfully. "You leave her alone. I say she doesn't belong in our world."

"I know what you have done to her, Cullen, and the only thing saving you right now is my friendship with Carlisle." Garrett snarled as he ripped Edward's hand from his throat. He shoved him towards Emmett before turning back to Bella. "Keep him the hell away from her or he dies."

Grabbing Edward by the arms, Emmett shoved him to his knees. "With pleasure."

"Why are you all just standing around as that vile monster kills my Bella?" Edward screamed as he tried to pull away from Emmett. "He has no right to touch her and you just let him kill her."

Emmett yanked Edward away from the others having had enough. Leveling his face with Edward's he snarled. "One more word and you lose your legs and arms. Next I'll remove your head."

"You don't understand." Edward begged. "She's mine. I had her first and I decide her fate."

Jasper launched from his place next to Bella and yanked Edward from Emmett's hold. "She's not something to claim or control. She was never yours."

Edward let out a scream as Jasper punctuated each sentence with a yank on an arm, separating it from his body. "She is mine, I saw her first. I'm the one her blood calls to."

"I'll take care of this." Emmett said as he pulled the sleeve off one of Edward's arms and shoved it in his mouth. "That should keep him quiet for now."

"Little one?" Garrett asked, drawing everyone's attention back to Bella who was leaning quietly against the tree still. "Jasper, what's wrong with her?"

Worry clear on his face, Jasper hurried back to check on Bella. He could hear a faint heartbeat and she was taking shallow breaths but was otherwise still and quiet. Lifting up her shirt just enough, he inspected the stab wound and saw that the blood flow had stopped to almost nothing. "It looks like your venom is working, but she appears to be sleeping and not burning thru the change. We need to get her out of here before this peace changes."

Garrett leaned over and picked Bella up in his arms. Trying to calm his worry, he nuzzled her neck, right where he had bit her, then he whispered to her. "You promised, little one. Don't leave me."

"Emmett, hand Edward to Rose and go get the truck. We can't be seen carrying her like this on the off chance she starts reacting to the venom." Jasper ordered as he tried to think of where they could go.

"Jazz?"

"What Alice?"

"I can't see her anymore." Alice's shoulders slumped with her admission.

Rose gasped. "Are you sure, Alice? Maybe it just has to do with her being out and not making decisions. Right?"

"But I don't see Garrett anymore either. Before all this they were together and happy, now I get nothing when I search for their futures." Stomping a foot, she added, "Not even when I search for our futures connected to them."

"What does that mean?" Garrett asked as he pulled Bella's body closer to his own, gaining a little comfort knowing she was in his arms.

"I don't know." Alice whispered as she leaned into Jasper's arms for comfort.

"There's a place just outside of the city that we can go until we figure out what's happening." Jasper said as he glanced at his sister laying peacefully in her mate's arms. It wasn't fair for her to finally get to a happy place to have it ripped out from under her. He truly hoped that Garrett had been in time.

(BPOV)

As the pain started to ebb and flow thru my body, my mind seemed to get stuck on a loop of what happened. There is no way that anyone can argue that I'm not a danger magnet, only this time it was a human that was intent on harming me. Slowly, I got dragged back into the memory.

I knew I was in trouble as soon as I saw the shadow cross over me while I was sitting outside the library. With dread, I looked up expecting to find Edward staring down at me only to see Troy. I groaned. "Following me again, Troy?"

"How else am I to get my turn?" He sneered at me. "And this time there's no one to get in my way. All of your bodyguards are elsewhere."

"They aren't my bodyguards, Troy. Some of us are able to get friends thru normal means, not stalking. You should try it some time." I snarked as I wondered how in the hell, I was going to get out of this one. The guys were all back at the apartment most likely dealing with Edward by now and my knight in shining armor had been run off by yours truly. "Better yet, why don't you go find some friends or someone else to bother."

Troy leaned back and placed a hand over his heart. "I'm hurt, Bella. I thought we were friends."

"Really? How do you figure?" I laughed, probably not the smartest thing to do at the moment but I couldn't help myself. "Staring at me thru your peephole and me telling you to get a life does not friends make."

"Don't get smart with me." He scowled. "I know that you have only been putting me off due to those friends of yours. If they weren't around, I wouldn't be able to get away from you. I've known you wanted me since the day you moved in."

Oh my, we have crossed into the scary delusional part of this conversation. This is definitely one of those times I wished I had the taser on me that dad insisted I kept in my purse. Stupid vampires make me feel so safe I forgot to keep it in my pocket. "I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion, but I don't want you. Not now or before. I have had one controlling stalker boyfriend and I do not fancy signing up for that kind of crazy again."

"I'm not crazy." Troy yelled as he reached down and pulled me up by a fist full of my hair. "I know what I've seen, and you can't tell me otherwise. It really doesn't matter anyways. I want you and now I got you. I think it's time that we get better acquainted."

With a yelp I stood up to keep him from yanking my hair out of my head. Fighting tears as he pulled hard to get me to follow him, I wished again that the guys were here. "Just what do you plan on doing to me?"

"I'm going to take you into these woods here and we are going to have some fun." Troy leered down at me as he dragged me with him.

As we neared the trees panic started to set in and I began to struggle. Hair would eventually grow back so I didn't care if he pulled some out. I was getting ready to make him let go when I heard him pull something out of his pocket then felt something sharp on my stomach.

"Now I'm tired of this struggle. I know you want it and you are going to enjoy it like a good little girl, aren't you?" He punctuated his question with a jab at my stomach.

Chancing a glance down, I winced as my hair pulled then groaned as I saw that he had pulled a knife out of his pocket and had it pressed against my stomach. Seeing that I knew there was no way out of this. It was either give in or die trying to get away. Sending out my love to my family I swung at Troy as I pulled away from him. I know I caught him by surprise as my hand connected with the side of his face.

"You bitch!" Troy screamed as he let go of my hair to grab my shoulder as his other hand shoved forward. "You're not worth it anymore so you can just sit here and hope someone finds you."

I watched as he pushed the knife into my stomach and had a moment to wonder why I didn't feel anything before the pain hit. Pulling my hands up, I was going to cover the spot where he had stabbed me when I saw his arm start to move forward as if to stab me again. In fear I closed my eyes and in the next instant I was thrown backwards. Landing next to a tree, I stared up at the leaves shifting in the breeze while I tried to catch my breath.

Not knowing what had happened, I used what energy I had left to pull myself up to lean against the tree, hoping to see Troy coming before he saw me. I listened but heard nothing. There was no telling how long I sat there hoping that I wasn't going to die now that I had my family and Garrett had finally found me. It would make it hard to keep my promise, but as he left me first, I guess I didn't need to. A sound caught my attention just as I was giving in to the need to close my eyes and I listened as it got closer. I tensed, hoping it wasn't going to be Troy coming to finish me off and couldn't help the wince and low groan at the pain the movement caused.

Suddenly I felt cold hands on me and I knew they had found me. I wouldn't die alone.

"Oh, Bella. What am I going to do with you?" Jasper whispered, feeling all the obvious places trying to see where I was hurt.

"Jasper." I gasped. "Troy…he came out of nowhere. I tried…but I wasn't strong enough. I tried…I fought."

"Shh. I've got you and I don't think he will be hurting you for a long time. I'm not sure what you did to him, but he's out cold." Jasper reached down and tried to find where my arm was injured. Made sense as I was using it to cover the hole in my stomach.

"Where is he?"

Jasper looked up at me and frowned. "He hasn't come back yet. I won't try to make excuses for him, but that was a lot to learn about his mate in a short time. I'll look for him though and kick his ass for you."

A ghost of a smile flickered across my face. I knew that he was trying to find the source of the smell of blood. I could feel it running down to my sides and soaking the back of my shirt. "You smell it don't you?"

"Yes, we all do. Can you tell me where you are hurt?"

"Use your nose, Jazz." I groaned as the pain intensified out of nowhere. "I want him, Jazz."

"I know, sweetie, I know." As I closed my eyes against the pain, I felt him pull my arm away and heard him growl.

"Jesus, Bells. What happened?"

"I said no." I said softly without opening my eyes. "He didn't like that. He stabbed me. I want him here, Jazz. Why isn't he here?"

"I'm right here, Bella."

My eyes flew open and I gasped in shock. Wasn't it enough that I just suffered thru Troy, now I had to deal with this while I was dying? "What the hell is he doing here?"

"After being reamed by your siblings for an hour or more, Emmett gave him his options, only two. He decided to go with option one and beg your forgiveness." Jasper growled. "I personally think he just wants to make our lives miserable."

"Edward, go away." I closed my eyes again, not wanting to acknowledge that he was truly here. With a grimace I clutched my chest. "It hurts, Jazz. I want him back. I'm sorry I ran him off. You tell him for me?"

"Oh no you don't, you will be fine if I have to drag your ass back to life. I promised you that I would protect you and not letting you die is part of that promise." Jasper snarled, and he pulled back my shirt and saw the actual damage that Troy had done. "I need to get you to the hospital."

"No, don't worry, Jazz. You did all you could." Opening my eyes, I smiled at my brother. "Without him, it just hurts too much."

"Oh, stop being such a martyr, Bella." Alice cooed from her spot behind Jasper. "That's Edward's job."

"You have Jazz, Alice, so no pain. I want the pain to end. Never good enough." All I wanted was for someone to hold me until I passed out, preferably Garrett, but I knew it wouldn't happen.

"We'll find him, Bells, we promise." Emmett begged as he knelt beside Jasper. "There isn't a rock big enough for that ass to hide under. I'll drag him back here to you, just please be ok."

I turned my head to look at my big brother. Rose was sure lucky to have him as her mate. Although I doubt, he was as much the teddy bear with her that he was with me. "Need him, Em. Please?"

"Just who is she talking about? Who does she need and who are you all going to find?" Edward growled out in frustration.

He always hated being left out of a conversation. Nice to see he hadn't changed in the years since he broke me.

"That would be me and I'll deal with you later."

The ache in my chest was gone and I stared at him in surprise. He came back. He is really here, standing in front of me. With that realization, I relaxed and maybe that wasn't the best thing as I started to lose consciousness. I would come in and out of the conversation and I knew what they were talking about. I couldn't be saved as a human, but would he want me enough to change me?

"Isabella?" Garrett called to me. "Little one, open your eyes for me."

I grunted as I felt the pain leave me but couldn't ignore the request. Even now I would do whatever I could to make him happy. It took a few tries, but I was finally able to open my eyes and focus on him.

"Good. Now I know you heard Jasper here laying out your options. Did you hear my response?"

I needed to be able to see him for my answer, but my eyes weren't working. I blinked a few times and they finally focused on his handsome face. He looked so worried and I hated that I'd caused that. "Yes. I know why he's taking the pain and you don't even need to ask the question. You know the answer. I'm just sorry that you got stuck with such a broken mate."

I felt his happiness at my response at the same time Edward started screaming his gibberish. Or at least to me it was as I was fading again. It seemed he was pissed I was someone else's mate and back in the land of the supernatural. I know he didn't want me here and if they took too much longer Edward would get his wish. I heard Emmett start to yell at Edward, but this wasn't how it was supposed to go.

"Em, thank you, but don't waste your time on him." There was only one that was worth my time right now and I could feel his sadness as if it was my own. I coughed and tried to lift my hand to rest it on Garrett's cheek, but lost the strength halfway there. A small smile twitched at my lips as he caught my hand and held it to his cheek. "If I die now, I cannot keep my promise. Please?"

Jasper looked at Garrett as he grimaced thru my pain. "You need to do it now, she's lost so much blood I'm not sure her heart will be able to do the job, but it's either try or she dies."

Garrett leaned and with a sigh, he kissed me on the forehead before placing a chaste kiss on my lips. "I promise once you wake, I will never leave you again."

"I'll keep you to it." I winked at him as my eyes started to close. "Do it, Rett"

I felt him bite into my neck and the beginning of the burn and then nothing. It felt like I was floating on a lake, completely cut off from everything. I couldn't hear or smell anything nor was I feeling the pain of the burn. I guessed that this meant that it didn't work, they were too late to save me. Well change me, I guess.

I wanted to move and see where I was, but I had no control over my body. Try as I might, I could not get my arms or legs to move nor could I open my eyes. Not only was I heartbroken over the idea of leaving my family and my mate, now I was panicking at being unable to move. Realizing that panicking wouldn't do me any good, I forced myself to relax and work on figuring out what was going on.

I worked on hearing what was going on around me. I knew seeing wasn't going to work as it felt like my eyes were glued shut. Slowly sounds started coming to me as if from far away. It took a bit to hear more than sounds, but what I did hear really didn't shock me.

"She is mine, I saw her first. I'm the one her blood calls to."

I rolled my eyes. Would Edward never give up? He dumped me, yet no one could have me? Sheesh. I wished I could do something to shut him up, but as I didn't know what was going on with me, I'd just have to settle for imagining it.

"I'll take care of this." Emmett said, and a ripping noise followed. "That should keep him quiet for now."

What did Emmett do? It had to be something to shut Edward up, but he didn't say so I was left with hearing a few mumbles from Edward as it seemed he couldn't talk. Darn.

"Little one?" Garrett asked, drawing my attention back to him and I realized I could feel him next to me. "Jasper, what's wrong with her?"

I could sense someone getting closer to me and I assumed it would be Jasper checking on me. With his experience he would be the only one to tell us what was going on with me.

"It looks like your venom is working, but she appears to be sleeping and not burning thru the change. We need to get her out of here before this peace changes."

Sleeping? Is that what I was doing? I guess that was better than being dead, but I know Garrett had bit me so why wasn't I changing? Did it not work? Now that he was back, I didn't want to leave him and the only way to keep that from happening was to be immortal like he is. It had to work.

I was lifted into someone's arms and I just knew it was Garrett. I felt him nuzzle my neck as he whispered, "You promised, little one. Don't leave me."

The pain in his voice broke my heart. I was right here, and I couldn't reach him to let him know that I was ok, well, not dead at least. If only I could get my arms to work or even just to be able to turn my head into his shoulder. Anything would work to let him know I am here with him.

"Emmett, hand Edward to Rose and go get the truck. We can't be seen carrying her like this on the off chance she starts reacting to the venom." Jasper ordered, worry evident in his voice.

"Jazz?"

"What Alice?"

"I can't see her anymore." Alice's voice came from far away, but I was able to hear her clearly and that started me worrying again.

I know I had been able to block her from seeing my decisions before, but I had to actually work at that. There was no way that I was blocking her now, as I couldn't really control anything right now other than my thoughts. If she couldn't see me, did that mean that I was just taking longer to die? The bite didn't work it seemed and the venom just slowed down the inevitable.

The pain of knowing I would never see my family again or Garrett was too much to handle so I let the floating motion take me with it. No longer thinking or worrying, I just let myself go to get away from the pain.

This is a Bella story so we should have known that the drama would not end just yet. Edward is still a git and seems to be pissing everyone off, as usual. Garrett finally made an appearance and fixed the problem. Or did he? If you have read my other stories, you will know I'm not Team Eddieboy so don't expect things to go well for him. I am sure some of you are ready to throw things at me for how I left this chapter, but I felt that this was where it needed to end. And I do apologize as it was kinda the same scene written twice. Again, it just felt like it was supposed to flow this way. I hope you'll stick with me on this one, I promise I won't take as long to update this time. I already have the next chapter underway and it's about halfway complete.

I need your thoughts and reviews please. If you have a favorite line from this chapter, please share. This time my fav goes to our boy Jasper, just like last time, gotta love him standing up to Edward…

"She's not something to claim or control. She was never yours."