Here we are first chapter of the sequel, this first chapter will actually be a lot of stuff you know as they go over everything. Kind of a refresher as we carry on.

"Rose. Rose!" I cried shaking her shoulder. She turned in her sleep, letting out a warcry, and then I was suddenly flying back on my ass, rubbing my aching, bleeding nose.

Alice stirred in her sleep with a groan, lucky bitch started wearing earplugs.

"What's going on?" Under the faint glow of the fairy lights Rose is sitting up looking confused.

"Oh my God Bella." She throws herself off the bed, knees digging painfully into the carpet.

"I'm so sorry, shit, hang on." She runs to the bathroom and returns with a damp washcloth.

"Bella." Rose's violet eyes are tear-rimmed, self loathing, and guilty. She hugs me tightly and I run my hand through her tangled, sweat drenched curls.

"Rose, you don't have to be sorry, I went through this too, I still go through it when conditions aren't right." Last week my ipod died while I was sleeping and I woke Alice and Rose with my screaming.

Rose's face crumples and she begins to weep softly.

"I just don't know I feel like you guys figured out how to handle it and I'm just…" She begins to sob softly into my shoulder.

"Have you tried talking to your parents? Lillian was actually the one to suggest the journal, and she's heard so much from other grieving women. Or Esme and Liz I mean, I know we all tried to get you to do what works for us, but everyone is different Rosie." She nods into my shoulder.

"Alice throws it all into clothes, she sketches for hours and just bleeds out the negativity and then she'll sit at the sewing machine and let it all dissolve." Rose chuckles into my shoulder.

"Yeah, remember my experience?" her voice is is croaky. She'd attempted to make a simple pair of shorts and somehow broken the needle and jammed the machine. Alice screamed and banned her from touching it ever again.

"And Emmett just runs off and destroys the punching bags. Which really isn't you." Rose nods, pulling away from my shoulder to sniffle and wipe at her cheeks.

"I tried the whole music thing, I'm not like Edward though, I play for events but I don't bleed my passion into it." She muses out loud.

"And Jasper talks with Daddy about it, they go over old cases with similar experiences, and legal precedents, and I guess that's interesting, like talking about the change it can bring. But it's just so raw. I just want to disassociate myself from it, like it were another random shooting I were watching in the news." Rose, my gorgeous, amazonian Goddess of a friend. In this moment she looks small, knees pulled up to her chest, tears on her cheeks, downcast eyes.

"Then do it Rosie. Disassociate yourself, read the news stories about it and replace our names with someone else's."

Rose sniffles softly and nods.

"That could work, it's just, nothing is really known to the public you know? It's all speculation and I read it and it's totally off and I know it and then I recall to perfect detail what they got wrong."

Rose is right.

The media surrounding it has called it a gang attack, a suburban war, the only thing they've gotten right is that six teenagers defended themselves in their cul-de-sac.

Then the James Hunter aspect has been alluded to but not correctly.

"Well, we'll have to talk to the others, but I guess it might be time to make sure the right details get out, if it's what will help you."

Rose launches herself into me, tackling me to the floor in a hug.

"Thank you Bella, I know how hard this is. Really."

Mama Esme's living room looks immaculate. She's organized and rearranged it a dozen times, then finally settles. The white sofa we'll be sitting on is in front of the window, a single plum chair rests opposite the coffee table laden with beautiful flowers courtesy of Liz. The parents will be watching the interviews from the sidelines, just in case the reporter gets out of line. She's promised to tread lightly, and she better. She's getting the first and only inside scoop.

Carol Rogers is a beautiful woman. Creamy skin, long straight dark hair, and almond cinnamon eyes. She approaches us with a smile that is sympathetic, sad, but genuine.

"Let me first start by saying I am so sorry for your tragedy, and I am overjoyed you are physically doing well." I appreciate that she didn't say doing well in general, because emotionally we're a wreck.

So far Carol seems like the perfect woman to share our story.

"Thank you." Jasper says softly. "Genuine care for our wellbeing is hard to comeby at the moment." Carol's face breaks to sadness.

"I'd like to think I'm better than the average reporter who'd sell their mother for a story."

I officially like Carol.

We set up on the couch. I'm in the middle with Emmett and Edward at either side. Beside Emmett is Rose and Jasper, and beside Edward is Alice. Carol is across from us with a small script on her lap. She's giving the opening to the interview.

"It's trending on twitter, it's splashing the page of every newspaper across the country. The story of six brave teenagers who, when faced with an impossible situation, rallied together to survive. I'm here with them now to get their side of the story, Jasper and Rosalie Hale, Emmett and Bella Swan, Edward Masen, and Alice Brandon, thank you for having me, I understand it is incredibly difficult to talk about, what made you finally break your silence?"

Rose is the one to speak.

"It's actually mostly for me. My friends were kind enough to humor me, we've all kind of found our own ways of expressing it and dealing with it. Bella here thought it might help if I were able to see the story, and separate myself from it, like I were watching the news about someone else's tragedy." Emmett rubs Rose's back soothingly. Carol nods sadly.

"It's very brave of you to face this Rosalie, I hope this does work for you so you can begin to heal." Rose nods sadly with teary eyes.

"Bella I'm going to have to pick on you, could you tell me about where this story began. I understand that the events in your neighborhood were not the beginning." Edward and Emmett both give the hand their holding a squeeze and I take a deep breath.

"October thirteenth of last year." I begin. "In Phoenix, that's where it begins. I'd gotten up to go to the bathroom, and I heard someone enter the house. We had this really awful screen door, it would always screech loudly when it was opened. I'd heard that and I'd hoped it was someone in my family." Carol nods sadly.

"It was them Victoria and James. They came into my house and Victoria noticed that I was awake. I remember standing there, listening, and all of the sudden I hear her whisper 'someone's awake'." I shake my head and let out a shaky breath.

"You can't imagine how terrifying it is to hear that from a stranger in the middle of the night." I say taking another deep breath. Carol's eyes are tightened with emotion as the thought runs through her head. Imagining herself in my position.

"I turned on the sink and went about it like I didn't know they were there. Then I called the police, I'd taken my phone with me for a light in the hallway, because I'm really clumsy." Emmett snorts beside me and I elbow him.

"So I call and they say they're sending help, and at that point James says he knows that I know they're there. I try to spook him you know, I let him know I called the police but-" A slightly hysterical laugh leaves me.

"But he's thought of that Carol. He'd broken into my neighbor's house and timed the police response time. He told me he had thirty three minutes before anyone would come."

I pause for a moment and digest on the next part.

"I'm standing there shaking, clutching the lock. It's the kind that you can open from the outside with like a screwdriver and he keeps trying to turn it so I pinch and hold the lock in place, and I'm so scared I don't know what to do but stand there." I let go of Emmett's hand long enough to mime pinching the lock

"He told Victoria to get Ben and Bree my little siblings, I can hear them crying, they're just as afraid as I am." The tears begin to fall and Edward reaches for a tissue. Esme has loaded the room with tissues.

"He slits Ben's throat and the blood just pools into the bathroom, it's- it's all over my feet," I dab at my eyes as a sob build in my chest.

"Bree starts screaming, and that wakes Phil, my step Dad. I remember thinking 'Thank God an adult, I'm safe'." Edward rubs my back tenderly.

"They had a gun, and they directed Phil to get my Mom and tie her up. Then James starts stabbing my sister, over and over. I can hear it through the door, I'm begging them, screaming at them. I offer to do anything. I ask what they want. They taunt me, and laugh and then I can hear Phil directly on the other side of the door. He disobeys their orders and tells me to stay inside, and then James slits his throat too." I begin to sob and Emmett pulls me into his side, we both know what comes next.

"He says if I come out he'll end it quick for Mom, but she tells me to stay, and I'm so afraid that I do. So he…" I sob and choke on the words and Emmett says them solemnly.

"He rapes my Mom while Bella listens, then he shoots her." My breath comes out in gasping pants and I struggled to control myself, slowly I being again, pulling away from Emmett who's crying silently.

"There's seven minutes left, I just listened to him torture and kill my family. So I unlock the door and I open it, and Emmett's voice rings in my head."

"What did you say that resonated with Bella Emmett?" Carol asks,

Emmett laughs a little.

"I told her that my Dad and I wouldn't always be there to protect her, especially because she lived with Mom. So I told her she was going to learn to throw a damn right hook." Carol smiles in response to this.

"And did you Bella? Did you learn to throw that right hook?" The reply comes out through a smile.

"I'm told I broke his jaw." I say. Emmett laughs and pats me heartily on the back.

"Then I threw myself at him and knocked him down, and when I ran into Victoria I kicked her down the stairs. I was total fight mode, doing all the stuff Dad used to show me- he's a cop and he wanted to make sure I could defend myself. Then James gets me from behind and she tells him to throw me down, so he does." I pause and remember the dazed feeling at the bottom of the stairs.

"All the air gets knocked out of me and I'm lying dazed when Victoria stomps on my leg and breaks it, then he joins me, and he's telling me about all of the things he's going to do to me. He's trying to make me scared and I'm fighting for time so I spit in his face to piss him off. He's choking me, telling me that I've made him work the hardest, and then the lights are flashing. Beautiful blue and red, and I'm safe."

I cry softly at the end and Carol gives me a moment before asking.

"Emmett you were notified immediately and you and your Father flew down right away, how what that possible?"

Emmett rubs my back as he answers.

"There was this amazing EMT Char, who was there for Bella. She was telling Bella to be strong and remember the good things, to get through it. She was a former victim and she recognized it in Bella I guess. Anyway, she called right there in the ambulance, she wanted to make sure we could get down as soon as possible." I smile as I remember Char.

"She sounds amazing." Carol says fondly and I nod. "Now not long after you arrived, the rest of you flew down right? Can you tell me why?"

Alice answers like there's no question.

"Because we're family, and Bella needed us."

The rest nod in agreement.

"How does it feel to have so many who love you Bella?" I look at my friends with watery eyes.

"Amazing, I don't know what I did to earn them, but I'm so glad I did it because I can't imagine my life without them."

Carol smiles and then her smile falls to professional sadness.

"But this isn't the end of the story, why is that?"

Emmett basically growls the answer.
"They managed to escape police custody."

Carol lets us take a break to get some water and stretch, for the next story we're doing a walk through the neighborhood.

With a portable camera crew Carol starts at the entrance to the cul-de-sac.

"Now this used to have a gate right?" Jasper nods and Rose answers.

"Our Dads tore it down after everything that happened." Carol nods.

"Take me through your movements where did you start?" Jasper points to his house.

"We were over at our house. We'd just gotten back from our Prom, we heard a commotion. We look outside and there's a group of guys, about a dozen plus the guy who's out here banging on the generator. A few years back the power went out and the gate was locked because it ran on electricity so after ramming through it, our parents installed a generator. James had heard this and planned for it." Rose picks up from there.

"Our cell phones were jammed and the phone lines were cut, we had no power and he has a group of armed thugs. At this point we're all scared, I remember thinking to myself. 'Get it together and get out of here', I remembered that a few years ago we rammed the gate so we all jump in my Dad's hummer and floor it."

"But James was prepared for this." Edward says. "He blocked it with an SUV, we all get out quickly and run over here to the Swan's and lock all the doors and windows. It's actually really lucky we ran there."

"Why is that?" Carol asks. Edward kind of shrugs.

"It's the War house." He says simply. "Chief Swan installed this paintball course in the backyard and he had a collection of guns." Emmett and I direct Carol and the cameras into the house showing them Dad's office, and then the laundry room.

"We ended up in here with the washer and dryer on each door, but James likes his games so he taunts us and says he'll give us the same amount of time to hide as he gave Bella in Phoenix, the twenty six minutes before she came out." Alice says.

"We're all cramped in here wearing Prom dresses and heels, thank God this is the war house." Alice shows our shash of shoes and the vests and night vision goggles.

"There was even laundry for us to change into." Alice jokes.

I point to the hole in the drywall.

"Jasper found an old marker and sketched out the neighborhood and he made this plan to get out, then he destroyed it so they wouldn't know what we were doing." We continue outside.

"There was a guy this way, so we jumped off the deck here and went through the fence to the Cullen yard." Edward says leading us through the fence.

"Most of the neighborhood is pretty open, but Esme has all those lilac bushes, so at this point we had to cut through the house." We head inside and up the stairs to Alice's room.

"Who's room is this?" Carol asks.

"It's mine." Alice responds. "We're all basically Esme's kids so she keeps a room here for all of us. We went out the window here and climbed that tree across to Rose's room." Carol gapes.

"You guys climbed out and onto the tree?" We all nod.

"Rose went first because out of us all she's one of the best shots, she went over and provided cover and then we all moved across." Emmett says. "Alice here is really bad at climbing trees though so she slipped and gave our way our position and Rose provided cover for us, there were a dozen guys trying to kill us and a rapist gunning for our girls, we did what was needed." Emmett says firmly. There's been a few idiotic critics saying what we did was extreme, and that we're perpetuating a cycle of violence, obviously they have no idea what it was like.

We walk over to the Hale house and start in Rose's room.

"Jasper leads us, ducking around corners, using hand gestures to command our movements without giving us away, he's amazing, we go through his room where he has a rope ladder for when he sneaks out, and we climb down quickly while under fire." Rose says. Carol shakes her head when she looks out the window at the flimsy ladder.

"Are you guys sure you're only seventeen?" Alice smirks.

"Actually I'm eighteen so are Rose and Jasper."

We head outside again.

"From here we had to make a run for the Brandon pool house. We were out in the open and they're onto us at this point. Rose gets hit in the side, the vests protects her but she breaks a rib or two, and Bella takes a bullet to the thigh." Alice says.

"Emmett just picked up Rose and she's over his shoulder shooting behind us, and Edward is carrying Bella as she provides cover, and then we come in here to catch our breath and evaluate their numbers and our damages."

We step into the pool house.

"From here it's the final stretch toward escape," Jasper says leading us toward the Masen house.

"Edward gets clipped and Bella gets up and just runs with a bullet in her leg. Alice gets shot in her shoulder but we keep going." At the hole Jasper slides through to show our escape.

"Jasper, Rose and I got through here." Alice says.

"Victoria snuck up on Edward, Emmett and I then." I say. "She had us toss away our guns and then James walked showed up." Tears rush to my eyes.

"He stabbed my brother when he didn't listen and threatened to kill him if I didn't listen either."

Edward puts his arms around me.

"He made her strip off her shirt and he kept taunting her, threatening her. But our Bella she was clever. She pretended to stumble and grabbed the gun she tossed and got Victoria, and then Emmett and I rushed James."

We opt to leave out the bit about them trying to kill him.

"Then we came out here and the police showed up."

We return to the house where Carol wraps everything up.

"How did you know what to do? You were outnumbered by fully grown men."

"Chief Swan. You've seen his backyard and house. He taught is how to properly use a gun, and how to aim while running, we wouldn't be alive today if not for him" Edward says.

"I can see you're incredibly close. Has this experience brought you closer?"

We all look at each other, eyes searching, conveying exactly what we're feeling.

"You always tell a person you love that you'd risk your life and die for them, but it's so much different when you watch as they do it, and then look them in the eyes afterward and know they'd do it again. We'd all face that horror all over again if it meant saving each other." Jasper says speaking exactly what we felt in our hearts.

Carol thanks us and leaves and we make our way back to the house in the woods. The parents congratulating us on our bravery the whole way.

"You guys did incredible, and really, thank you for doing this for her." Lillian says hugging us each tenderly.

Anything for one of our own.

Keeping with the idea of separating herself until she can process the trauma, Rose checks in on Twitter reading us the highlights.

Icantstop67 Gonna go take my first self-defense class today. #culdesac6 #ChiefSwan

LouiseSays They're legit Charlie's Angels. Bella, Rose, and Alice are the real deal. #culdesac6 #OMGchiefsnameisCHARLIE

HeyYouGuys224 Damn their boyfriends are fine. #culdesac6 #sexy

likeit4531 Rosalie looks like she'd freak out if she smudged her lipstick, but like, she could for real merc you. #paradox #culdesac6

Rose managed to get the name CulDeSac6 and she sends out official tweets from all of us every now and again.

CulDeSac6 We'll call our funk band culdesac6 and take the world by storm. #torturedartists

CulDeSac6 Hey guys, check this out for information on how to spread the word and help women like Bella. IsabellaMarieViolenceAgaisntWomenCharity

CulDeSac6 Our official stance is this: EDUCATION on guns, safety, and excellent morality lessons like we received. #ProGun #Educate #BanGunsDebate

CulDeSac6 POTUS Can we please have a discussion on increasing awareness of basic self defense? Thanks #Bellasrighthooksavedherlife #IsabellaMarieViolenceAgainstWomenCharity

CulDeSac6 POTUS Also, a national call to action to every police department about efficiency would be nice. #ThirtyThreeMinutes

POTUS CulDeSac6 Your place or mine? #LetsTalk

"Oh my fucking God! POTUS?" Alice shrieks, Rose laughs and shrugs.

"I just did it as a joke, raise awareness kind of thing you know? But look at this!"

We all run downstairs where Dale and Lillian are watching TV. Rose shows them her phone while vibrating with excitement like Alice does.

"Oh my God this is so awesome can you imagine? Real fucking change." Dale kisses her forehead.

"You ought to join the political circuit kid. You'd run a hell of a campaign." Rose's face gets thoughtful, contemplating the proposal.

I can see Rose distancing herself from the trauma and taking all of that grief, anger, anxiety, and just turning it into this big change for the better. Also we're probably about May right now, so it's been a few weeks since everything happened. Coming up: James' arraignment.

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