"Alice, stop worrying. We'll figure something out." We were sprawled on various surfaces around Bella's room Sunday night. I was laying across the end of Bella's bed, Alice was in the rocking chair with her feet propped up on the bed and Bella was sitting against the headboard eating popcorn.

"Everything we've thought of ends badly. Why would a talent scout be coming to the Forks High School Talent Show?" Alice was grumbling, but I just chuckled softly. Bella looked at me and I could imagine the glower on her face. She was not happy with what Coach Crump qualified as 'make up' for the PE midterm. Bella, Edward and I all had to enter the end of year talent show.

Bella had missed all but two of her midterms during our trip to Italy. And since Edward and I had been official runaways for the past few months, we couldn't get away with forged midterm grades. Alice should be happy she wasn't required to 'make up' PE too, but she was actually disappointed she couldn't take part.

"Everything you've thought of ends badly, Alice. You just can't make yourself come up with an idea that makes us look bad. You said yourself my idea would work fine."

"Just because we can't showcase our true talent doesn't mean Bella can't..."

"No, Alice. I don't want to be discovered for my ability to sing like Cyndi Lauper or play the water glasses or twirl a flaming baton. I don't have a musical bone in my human body, nor am I coordinated enough to twirl anything. I like Leia's idea." Bella's gaze had turned on Alice and I saw my sister affect a pout.

"But you can't act!"

"Exactly! There's no chance of me impressing anyone, much less a talent scout. All Leia and Edward have to do is pretend they can't act too. Quick, easy and relatively painless unless you take into account that I'm making a fool of myself. But since I'll never see any of these people again after graduation, and Leia and Edward get to make fools of themselves too, I don't care so much." Bella shrugged and I giggled.

"Except for Emmett. I'm sure he'll get an eternity's worth of amusement out of it." I couldn't resist pointing that out. Alice sighed and rolled her eyes just before Bella yelped.

"He is NOT allowed to come! It's bad enough Charlie insists on coming."

"I don't think we'll be able to keep him away. If we do, he'll sabotage your costumes. Oh! You'll let me make your costumes! Thank you!" Alice's face lit up as she finally foresaw something about the whole talent show fiasco that she was happy about. I relaxed. I really hated when Alice was sad. It usually ended with her dragging Jasper off for days at a time. I just got my family back together and I didn't want to spend all of my Spring Break playing video games with Emmett.

"So, what are we doing? Something from Shakespeare?" I asked as I picked up another kernel of popcorn and tossed it at Alice. She, of course, caught it and tossed it into Bella's mouth, which was opened to answer me. Luckily we'd been doing this all night, so Bella didn't act surprised and more importantly she didn't choke. Instead she rolled her eyes and chewed before speaking.

"Well, it needs to be something that has a part for all of us and something I know. I can't act but at least I won't have to worry about forgetting my lines. But it will be the perfect excuse to get Charlie to lighten up on Edward's visitation hours." I reached out and touched my sister's ankle so I could see Bella's face. She was smiling, but there was a haunted look in her eyes that had been there since Edward had dropped us off at Bella's yesterday morning.

"He'll be back early." Alice's soft comment made that haunted looked go away and I gave my sister's ankle an affectionate squeeze. She had obviously noticed Bella's preoccupation with Edward's absence as well.

"Really? How early?" Bella's voice was breathless with anticipation and I couldn't help a sad smile. I wondered how long it would take for Bella to truly trust Edward to always come back to her. She had never had a huge amount of self-esteem and Edward's leaving had destroyed the little she had. It was one reason I was surprised she had agreed to my idea about the talent show. Of course the fact that both Edward and I were both helping had something to do with it. She'd muttered something about strength in numbers the first time I'd mentioned it.

"Nuh uh. I'll ruin the surprise." Alice said with a giggle. Bella scowled and I attempted to distract her with suggestions about what play we should do a scene from. It didn't really work because Bella's scowl stayed in place, but she did manage to reject Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Hairspray and Phantom of the Opera. The first hit too close to home, the second Bella was unfamiliar with and the last two were musicals.

"How about Taming of the Shrew? Leia'd make a pretty good Kate." The amused voice from the window stated. Edward dropped to the floor inside the window and grinned. I had heard him coming, but I had agreed with Alice that it would ruin the surprise if we'd let on. The immediate look of relief and joy on Bella's face was worth the subterfuge.

"I'll let that go for now, Eddie, but only because Bella's so happy to see you." I told him in a vampire only tone. He flashed me an innocent look and moved across the room to give Bella a tender kiss in the middle of her forehead.

"I missed you." Edward's soft confession made Bella blush, of course. She reached up and touched his face, brushing her thumb across his cheek. I let go of my sister's ankle about the time Alice started studying the picture of Renee and Phil that sat beside the Bella's computer.

"Hey Alice, want to see something?" I asked as I ignored Bella and Edward's reunion. Alice made an affirmative noise and the two of us jumped out the window. I took Alice's hand and we ran down the street to the toolshed where Bella's bike was hidden. It wasn't nearly out of range for me to not hear Edward and Bella's soft conversation and the quiet sounds of kisses being exchanged, but I tuned it out the best I could and showed Alice Bella's bright red motorcycle.

"You rebuilt this all by yourself?" Alice asked. I nodded.

"With few suggestions from Jacob and a bit of help from Bella. Edward might be able to talk Bella into selling it, though. Honestly, if Charlie ever finds out she's been riding this, she'll be on house arrest until she's thirty. Which might make Edward happy, but..."

"Leia, that's just ridiculous." Edward's irritated comment carried easily to me and I grinned. I then listened as he had to explain himself to Bella. I heard her gasp and demand that Edward tell me not to even joke about that. Bella had always had issues with her age. She was mortified of being 'too old' for Edward.

"All that aside, I'd really like to take it out myself. Just once." I stroked the soft leather seat with a wistful sigh and then perched on it facing Alice. My sister was quiet for a moment and I let myself think about the Quileutes for a moment. We hadn't heard back from Sarah since Friday, so I hoped Jacob hadn't locked her up after her trip to our home. I was really anxious to hear from Adam but not at the expense of Sarah's freedom.

"Okay." That one word from Alice brought me out of my thoughts and I tilted my head at her.

"Okay, what?" I asked cautiously.

"Okay, let's go for a ride." I could tell by the tone of Alice's voice that she was grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"Really? And you'll let me do all the work?" I slid off the seat of the bike, bouncing lightly on my toes.

"Really. I checked and I don't think you'll wreck the bike. But you have to swear to stop if I say stop." Alice's grinning voice turned into her stern frown voice, but I didn't care. I threw myself into her arms and rained kisses on her face.

"Thank you, Alice! Oh, this will be so much fun!" I heard my brother snort loudly and announce to Bella that we were taking out her bike. I heard Bella giggle softly.

"Have fun. But don't you dare bring that by the house. Charlie will freak out and probably throw both of you in a cell overnight for disturbing the peace."

"Let's ride to Port Angeles!" I suggested excitedly as I walked the bike out of the shed and into the street with Alice trailing along behind me. I straddled the bike and nudged up the kickstand with my foot as Alice settled behind me with her arms around my waist and her chin on my shoulder. She hmmed softly and I felt it vibrate to my toes.

"We'd be gone too long. Charlie's gonna get up to check on us in an hour. Maybe just to the house and back. We'll both need a new pair of pajamas to change into after this, anyway." I grinned. Alice was wearing a blue silk negligee and I was in white silk pants and a lime green tank top. Probably not the best attire for a late night bike ride, but at the moment I didn't care. I squeezed the clutch and pushed down carefully with my foot to kickstart the engine. It roared to life almost immediately.

"How fast will it go?" Alice asked. I shrugged lightly.

"Don't know. I doubt Bella ever took it over forty, but I think with the modifications I made we can probably top one hundred."

"Let's see how fast it'll go."

I grinned in total agreement and shifted into first gear before I let off the clutch. Alice didn't take her eyes off the road except to glance briefly at the speedometer. It took me a few miles to get the hang of shifting gears and handling the bike. Once I felt confident, I pushed the bike a little faster. I whooped loudly as the wind whipped past me at sixty miles per hour, watching the world go by through Alice's eyes. It felt like flying. I heard Alice giggle and I smiled. She was having as much fun as I was. After the last few months, it felt good to let go.

"Faster, Leia." Alice urged me on and I coaxed more speed out of the bike, until Alice's glance at the speedometer read 105. The throttle was open all the way, so I knew we'd hit top speed. Alice and I were both leaning forward, more to streamline than to get out of the damp wind. We leaned together as we turned a deep curve and then Alice yelled at me to stop. Startled, I kicked the foot brake too hard and the bike stalled, sending both of us and the bike flying across the asphalt and into the greenery beside the road.

I ended up curled around a nice sized spruce with Bella's bike wrapped around my legs. Alice had somehow ended up in a tree several feet to the left of me. I knew because I could hear her giggling. Which meant she'd seen this.

"Alice?"

"Yea, Lei?"

"What was so not funny," I said in a wry tone, but I couldn't keep the smile off my face. I heard Alice jump down from the tree and move over to help me untangle myself from both the tree and the bike.

"Actually, yes it was." Alice giggled again as she pried the twisted handlebars from around my knee. I snorted softly.

"That settles it. You've been hanging out with Emmett too long."

"Leia, come on..." Alice said in a slightly exasperated tone. I bent down to peel the front wheel from around the tree above my head.

"Okay, so it might be funny if you hadn't just crashed Bella's bike and completely ruined my favorite pants," I said grudgingly. Alice patted my head.

"I wasn't just playing a prank, sister dear. I had a plan. First, none of us will have to worry about Bella riding this thing for a while and second, now you have something to do with Rose. She'll be estatic. She's been racking her brain for some new project and I know she's been dying to spend time with you."

Alice's explanation made me relax and I saw the bright sides of this little crash. But I still wasn't letting her off the hook completely.

"Okay, I'll give you that. But you still ruined my favorite pajama pants. You owe me a shopping trip."

"Not a problem," Alice said cheerfully. Then she gasped in delighted surprise. "To Paris? Oh, really, Leia?"

"Sure why not. We'll need something to do while Edward and Bella are on their honeymoon," I said as Alice grabbed me up into a bone popping hug. She danced around a bit and then grabbed my hand so we could run towards our house. I was pleased when I was able to keep up with her easily. I was finally completely back to normal physically. I asked Alice another question as we ran.

"Speaking of honeymoons, do you know when Edward's going to pop the question?" Alice didn't slow, but she sighed dejectedly.

"I don't know. Everytime Edward decides to do it, I see Bella reacting horribly. He's been trying to come up with a scenario that doesn't end up with Bella freaking out or with him tossing out some ultimatum to get her to say yes. Frankly its driving us both crazy."

"Why would she react horribly? That doesn't make sense. It's not like either of them will ever want someone else. Why not make it official? Anyway, she's been so worried about him leaving again, I'd think a proposal would put some of her fears to rest." I was completely baffled by Bella's foretold behavior.

"As best I can tell from the different outcomes, it has something to do with Renee." Alice sounded as baffled as I was. We'd reached the house by now and we both jumped through her bedroom window. As we changed and spent a few minutes chatting with the family, my mind was still preoccupied with Bella's reluctance to be Edward's bride. I decided that the best thing to do was talk to Bella about it.

"That won't work," Alice announced as we made our way down to the garage. Jasper was going to drive us back to Bella's house. I gave my brother a hug and then slid into the back seat, still thinking. Maybe if I managed to bring up the subject of marriage in general I could get some answers out of my human sister.

"That...has potential." Alice's comment made Jasper's brow furrow. As Alice explained what I was thinking about, I formulated a plan of attack. I adjusted my idea until Alice crowed in delight and I grinned happily. When we got back to the house, Edward met me at the window and twirled me around, kissing my nose.

"Thank you," he whispered his gratitude, obviously picking up the newest outcome for his plan to propose to Bella from Alice's thoughts. I watched through his eyes as he looked towards the bed. Bella was sleeping, one hand stretched out towards the pillow where Edward's head had no doubt been resting a moment before.

"Charlie's coming. Edward, get in the closet." Alice shooed Edward towards Bella's small closet and we flashed to the air mattress wedged between the wall and Bella's bed. Two seconds later, Charlie eased the door open. I looked through his eyes as he looked at Bella and then my sister and I. I was surprised when he stepped into the room, tiptoeing towards the bed. He gently tucked the soft blanket Bella was wrapped in around her shoulders. Then he pulled the folded quilt off the foot of her bed and leaned down to drape it over me and Alice. I was extremely touched by the gesture.

"Thank you, Charlie." I used my best sleepy voice and then I yawned. Charlie patted my shoulder, somewhat awkwardly, and nodded.

"You're welcome, Leia. Go back to sleep."

As Charlie left the room and shut the door softly behind him, I was struck with a wave of grief. Not my own, but the grief I knew Charlie would feel when Bella disappeared from his life completely. I knew Bella's change was for the best, that it was inevitable in the long run. But I prayed she wouldn't jump into it so fast she forgot about those she would be leaving behind. Like Charlie and Renee.

I sensed Edward as he climbed back into bed beside Bella, heard Bella's gentle sigh and the soft sounds she made as she burrowed back into Edward's cool, hard body. Edward reached down, however, and touched my face with his fingertips.

"She won't forget them, Leia. We will try to make it as easy as we can for them. At least they can keep in touch." I knew Edward was right. Bella could email her family and friends from anywhere in the world. It would have to be enough and I knew for Bella, it would be. Edward was her everything, her world, as she was his. Neither wanted to exist without the other and so, they would make it work.

"We will. I promised her." Edward's quiet words made me sigh. He had promised her once before.

"I swear, Leia. I know I'm being selfish, but she's stuck with me for eternity, whether she wants me or not." Edward's fierce oath made me relax and I reached up to wrap my hand around his wrist.

"She needs you as much as you need her, so there is nothing selfish about you being there for her."

"Perhaps." It was the last thing he said for a long while. Even Alice stayed quiet. Well, quiet for Alice. She was humming softly to herself, probably planning for the shopping trip in Paris I had promised her. I laid back against the pillow and smiled. For the first time in a very long time, I was content. Not completely happy since there were still so many unknowns in our future, but I could see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. All we had to do was kill Victoria, renegotiate the treaty with the Quileutes so we could change Bella without starting a war with the werewolves and thwart the Volturi's evil plans. Sounds easy, right?

"Leia, go to sleep," Edward growled softly. I giggled and Edward groaned. I decided to let him have a little peace so I settled down and let my thoughts drift. There would be time enough to worry about the fate of the world tomorrow.

Chapter End Notes:

The end...

Okay, not really, but that's the end of this story. Stay tuned for the next installment of the series, called Turning Point.