Disclaimer:

Obviously I neither wrote the 'Twilight' series, nor own any of the rights to the work or the characters. But, the principle of Fanfiction is to write our own stories based on the intellectual property of others. I hope that anyone who doesn't enjoy this stops reading it right away.

I was clinging to Edward, refusing to let go of him. I could hear Charlie behind us, ordering Edward to leave his house and never return. Then I heard Carlisle's voice, he said something about sedatives. There was a sudden sharp pain in my right arm and then there was only black.

. . .

When I woke up, Alice was sat in my bedroom, watching me closely.

"Do you remember what happened, Bella?" she asked me carefully, "Charlie is here with me and he wants to know how much you remember."

I tried to focus my bleary eyes on Alice's face, wondering what on earth she was thinking. If Charlie was right here, why was she asking me what I remembered? Now was not a good time for me to start talking about Italy and Vampires and cliff-diving. Shouldn't she save the reminiscing for a more private moment?

Confused, I just shook my head, "I don't know," I said, "I don't understand what you're asking."

"That's ok," Alice smiled with real pleasure, "your Dad is right here and you're safe at home. You don't need to worry about anything. Carlisle's explained it all to your Dad. Carlisle said that you might forget a few details: he had to sedate you last night. But it will probably all come back to you in time."

"Oh," that made some sort of sense. Carlisle must have given Charlie some kind of cover story and Alice wanted to make sure that I didn't blow the whole thing by waking up and saying something stupid. In anyone else that would have been impressive forethought. But for Alice, forethought was the same thing as hindsight.

"How are you feeling, Bells?" that was Charlie's voice. "Are you thirsty?"

I nodded vaguely, still looking at Alice. I was afraid to speak a word until I knew what was supposed to have happened over the past few days.

Alice smiled broadly again, "that's right," she assured me, "Carlisle said that you would be very thirsty when you woke up. You'll want a glass of water. Then you'll want a nice hot shower."

I heard Charlie leave the room and listened to his footsteps go down the stairs before I dared to whisper to Alice, "I remember everything just fine. When are you going to tell me what Carlisle told Charlie? And where's Edward?"

"When you're up and dressed and have had something to eat, you're going to come with me and visit. Carlisle wants to check you over. We'll tell you more about what happened soon, but it's not a good idea to pour too many memories on you all at once. You might go into shock." Alice was talking at a normal pitch, so I guess that she was talking about 'memories' rather than 'cover stories' for Charlie's benefit. He must still be within earshot.

I couldn't risk saying anything that might give away what I really knew. If I had to try and tell a story to Charlie he would know that I was lying right away. This whole lost-memory thing was a pretty good ploy of Alice's. It was probably the only way that I could be prevented from messing everything up.

A few questions would be safe, though. I was supposed to be confused and uncertain. Charlie couldn't get suspicious if I asked questions.

"Where's Edward?" I asked again, "and why are you back in Forks? Is the whole family back now? Are you staying?"

Charlie brought my water up and gave it to me silently. He was watching Alice intently as she replied.

"We're all back in Forks," she said, "Esme didn't like LA. We're back here for good. Everyone in the family is well and they're all at home. You can see them all when you come round."

"Are you sure that she ought to be getting up today?" Charlie asked over my head. I must have looked pretty ill if he was talking over me like that. Unless he was talking over me because he wasn't talking to me. I wondered if this cover story was the sort of story that would make Charlie mad at me.

"Are you mad at me, Dad?"

He looked surprised.

"She doesn't remember what happened," Alice reminded him.

Charlie nodded, "I'm not mad at you, Bells. It's all ok. You haven't done anything wrong. It's just that something" I noticed that he paused and swallowed, as if it was hard for him to select the next word, "happened. Dr Carlisle thinks that you might find it a bit of a shock when you remember. So we're going to take it slow. But everything is ok now. That's the important thing. You're safe now. Make sure that you remember that."

"And you didn't do anything wrong," Alice added.

They both smiled and nodded at me. I was beginning to feel like a bit of an idiot. The two of them staring at me cheerfully and assuring me that everything was fine was a bit freaky. I wondered how weird the cover story that Carlisle had constructed really was. How could he have explained a sudden disappearance without a single phone call? How could he possibly have come up with a story that prevented Charlie being mad at me?

"I would like that shower now," I said, hoping that this would get rid of them. Charlie left the room straight away, but Alice stayed sitting by the bed.

"I'll get your clothes ready for you," she said with a big grin.

As I stood in the shower I wondered what on earth Alice was going to offer for me to wear. She was never this happy to chose something out of my wardrobe, she thought that my selection of clothes was pitiful. The grin that she had been wearing when I left the room was definitely her new-clothes-for-Bella grin. I had no idea when she had found time to buy me new clothes between rescuing Edward from the Volturi and spinning a web of lies for Charlie. I would just have to add it to my list of unanswered questions.

It was quite a long list. Firstly, where was Edward? Secondly, why wouldn't Alice tell me where he was? I'd asked her twice and both times she'd ignored me. Thirdly, what had Carlisle told Charlie? Fourthly, how long had I been asleep and what had everyone else been doing while I slept? Fifthly, why were they all back in Forks? Sixthly, where was Edward?

That didn't make sense. Where was Edward couldn't be question one and question six. But, even as I tried to make a list of all the strange things, so that I could ask Alice all my questions, my mind kept coming round and round to that same question. Alice was here, so where was Edward? Was he safe? Did he hate me? Was he going to be my friend now? Would he ever talk to me again?

Aside from the guilt-induced hugging on the plane and in the car, the last contact that I'd had with Edward was when he'd told me that he didn't want me anymore. I didn't know what it would be like to know Edward now. He was my first ever boyfriend, I'd never had to deal with an ex-boyfriend before. And Edward felt like so much more than just a standard ex-boyfriend. Would he even want to be friends with me now? Maybe he would be afraid that he couldn't be friends with me. He might think that I would spend all my time trying to seduce him again. Embarassingly, that is probably exactly what I would do. That would be pretty awful. I don't even know how to begin seducing Edward. But I couldn't just stop trying. I loved him.

A quick tap on the door startled me, "are you alright, Bella?" Alice called out loudly, presumably for Charlie's benefit. Then she muttered, for my ears only "stop trying to guess things. I will explain everything in the car."

That was what I wanted to hear. I turned off the water and got out of the shower. I dried myself off in record time and dressed in the brand new outfit – complete with new underwear, new shoes and even a new bag – without a word of complaint. I couldn't win an argument with Alice, and I didn't want to delay the answers any longer.

"I'm taking Bella to my house so that Carlisle can check her over," Alice said to Charlie. He nodded in reply, so I can only guess that she had already arranged this with him.

"Will, um, everyone be there?" Charlie asked her, obviously trying to check something, without letting me know what. He must mean Edward. I was just as eager to hear the answer to that question as he was.

"Yeah," Alice said vaguely, then she gave my a funny look. I know that I was grinning widely, but that shouldn't surprise her. She must know how much I loved Edward, even if he didn't love me back.

"Take care, Bells," Charlie said and I nodded at him over Alice's shoulder as she herded me towards the car.

Alice had brought the Mercedes. She settled into the driver's seat and adjusted it with a chuckle, "Jazz tries to pull the seat up for me," she explained, "but he can never remember exactly how long my legs are. Today he seems to be under the impression that I'm a midget. Alright, Bella" we were already out of my street and well away from Charlie, "I know that you have a lot of questions. But you haven't decided which one you want to hear the answer to first, so you'll have to ask me."

"Where's Edward?"

Alice laughed, "he's at the house," she said. I failed to see what was funny about that.

"Is he alright? Is he hurt?" She probably wouldn't be laughing if he was hurt, but there was something strange going on, and I needed to know what it was.

"He's . . ." Alice hesitated, "he's safe," she concluded finally, "but, he's not behaving himself, so he may be in a little bit of discomfort by the time we get there." She winced slightly, "yes, I'm guessing that would have hurt a bit."

"Someone's hurting Edward?" I couldn't understand it. We were back in Forks, where everyone was supposed to be safe. For the first time ever, I wished that a Cullen would drive faster. We had to get to him. We had to help him.

"Not just someone," Alice replied cheerfully, "Jazz." She spoke with so much fondness and pride that I was sure that I'd misheard her. I must still be woozy from the drugged sleep.

"Alice, did you just say – perfectly happily – that Jasper was hurting Edward? What's going on?"

"Oh, I forgot that you might misunderstand me. Sorry, Bella. Edward isn't going to be seriously hurt. Jasper's only doing what is absolutely necessary in order to restrain him. He'll be fine. They'll both be fine. But, we're going to be at the house in less than two minutes. Is this really all that you want to ask me? Trust me, it's a very minor thing and we're wasting time discussing it!" Before I opened my mouth, she sighed and said, "you're not going to want to talk about anything else now. To think that when we first got in the car you were planning on asking me that sensible question about our cover story. Now you won't listen, even if I do tell you what the cover story is, and I'll still have to tell you about it again. I don't like repeating myself, so I'll just save it and tell you later. For now I'll try and tell you what you want to know. Edward is refusing to stay put. He's trying to get out of the house and Emmett and Jasper have got their hands full restraining him. He ought to be able to hold on and be patient, we're going to be there soon. But, he's been struggling all night. He probably thinks that he can wear Jasper down. He doesn't seem to realise that the only thing that he's wearing down is Jasper's patience. He's going to regret annoying Jasper when we get there." She paused to give me an appraising look, "can you try not to over-react? No, it won't help if I warn you before we get there. But it will help if I tell you that Edward will be more upset if you react badly. If you can smile when you see him, he will calm down."

I stared at her. Why was she asking me to smile at Edward? Did he feel that guilty for dumping me? "I can't pretend that I don't care about him" I said.

"That's not what I meant. What I mean is that you shouldn't be cross with Jasper and you shouldn't feel sorry for Edward. If we arrive and you look cross or pitying, Edward will be more upset. If you can smile as though you thought that it was slightly funny and not a big deal, then he will recover more quickly. Jazz hasn't injured him so much as damaged his pride. Silly, really, I don't know why he thought that he could take Jasper. Arrogant prat." She said the insult in a fond voice, so I don't think that she was really cross.

None the less I asked, "has he hurt Jasper at all?"

Alice roared with laughter at this point. We were turning into the Cullens' drive now, so she repeated my question for the rest of the family to hear. "Bella wants to know if Edward's managed to get in any decent hits on Jazz." Even I could hear the answering laughter from the house.

"That's perfect," Alice said approvingly, "just the right light-hearted tone. I knew that you'ld be able to handle him."

I hadn't intended to make a joke. I didn't know that the idea of Edward hurting Jasper was funny. Mind you, I didn't know that the idea of Jasper hurting Edward was funny and Alice had seemed pretty amused by that too. I tried to remember to smile as I walked into the house, even though I was afraid of what I was going to find. For Edward's sake, because Alice was sure that it would help him, I would try to smile.

"Bella!" Emmett was the first to greet me. He came barrelling into the hall to give me a huge hug. "We've been waiting hours for you. What time do humans normally wake up? Alice said that you'ld come over as soon as you woke up."

I couldn't reply. I was so surprised by his appearance. I had never seen any of the Cullens looking anything other than perfectly composed and neat. Even when they'd been hunting, they all looked like cat-walk models. But today Emmett looked like he'd been dragged through a hedge backwards. His hair was a mess, his shirt was missing most of its buttons, there was a smear of what looked like soot down his left arm and across his chest, there were five parallel rips down his left trouser leg, and he was missing his left shoe.

The only thing more shocking than Emmett's uncharacteristic appearance was Alice's reaction. She usually threw a fit if anyone (well, me usually) got a splash of mud on their outfits. But here was Emmett wearing an outfit that would be untidy for a scarecrow, and Alice didn't say a word. She didn't even seem to notice the wear and tear on his clothes.

"I said that she'd be here at 12 minutes past 10," Alice corrected sternly, "I told you that she would need a lie in. Jasper should have, um, done what he did sooner."

Emmett laughed and he led the way into the dining room, racing to get to the other side of the room before I got through the door, so that he had a good view of my face when I first saw the scene that awaited me.

Emmett was stood against the opposite wall. Carlisle, Esme and Rosalie were all sat around the big dining table. Jasper was stood up, behind Edward. Jasper was in an even worse state than Emmett. He was bearly wearing a shirt at all, it was more like a collection of rags draped over his shoulders. Despite his clothes, Jasper looked every inch a victorious soldier. He was stood proudly to attention. I knew from the comments that Alice had made in the car that Jasper had been fighting Edward all night long. I knew from Jasper's stance that he had won.

And Edward . . . Edward was sat at the foot of the dining table, on the chair directly in front of the door. But Edward was tied to his chair by his wrists, his arms, his ankles, his feet, every inch of him was wrapped round in steel ropes. He was staring at the table in front of him. He was the only person in the room who wasn't staring at me.

"Oh," I said, "this is what Alice wouldn't tell me in the car." I looked at Jasper, who had an unusually severe expression on his face. "You tied him up?" I asked.

Jasper nodded once. "You're not frightened," he said, as if he had expected to feel fear from me.

"No," I remembered what Alice had said in the car, for Edward's sake I had to smile. So I smiled. I don't think that I fooled anyone into believing that it was a real smile. I certainly didn't fool Jasper. He looked even more confused now.

But Emmett laughed delightedly and Rosalie smiled and even Carlisle and Esme seemed relieved.

"Nothing phases her," Rosalie muttered. She didn't look angry. That was good.

"Bella's amazing" Alice lied cheerfully, dancing over to Jasper and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "You can take your seat now," she told him, "Edward will be good now that Bella's here to keep an eye on him."

Jasper smiled at Alice and pulled out a chair for her before sitting down himself.

"Allow me," Emmett appeared to help me into the chair to Edward's left.

Edward was still staring at the table.

"Now that we're all here," Carlisle began, and everyone turned to look at him, apart from Edward, "I would like to thank Bella for joining us. This is her first Cullen Family Meeting. Welcome Bella."

There was a quick chorus of 'welcome Bella's from the rest of the Cullens. They all sounded very cheerful.

"It's the first of many, and it's right on time," Alice chirped, earning a hiss from Edward. He was obviously still angry about my presence.

"If you would rather, I can go and sit somewhere else, away from you."

"If I would rather," finally he looked at me; he looked utterly miserable. I didn't know that vampires could get tired, but Edward looked completely worn out. His eyes were a dull yellow, not the beautiful amber colour that I was used to seeing. He couldn't be hungry, there wasn't a hint of black, but the spark and the life was gone from his eyes. He was slumped in his chair, held up more by the binding than by his own effort, and he managed to look up at me, though I wasn't seated any higher than he was. "You can't even tell me to go away and leave you alone. Jasper, won't you please untie me? I promise you that I'm not going to try and leave anymore. I will not disobey you or Carlisle again. I just don't want to force Bella to be in such close proximity to me."

Jasper looked at Alice, who shook her head. So he shrugged back at Edward.

Edward sighed, and turned his gaze back to the table, "can't you stand to be near me?" he spoke so quietly, I wondered if he expected me to hear him.

"I thought that you didn't want me here."

"I don't want you here."

"Edward, that's not polite," Esme reprimanded him softly.

He just sighed again and hung his head, drooping down over the table like a puppet whose strings had just been cut.

There was a short pause, as if the family were waiting to hear if Edward and I were going to talk to each other anymore. But Edward didn't seem to want to talk to me, and I didn't want to force him, so we relapsed into silence.

"So, Bella," Carlisle began again, "has Alice filled you in on our cover story?"

I shook my head.

"She wasn't going to listen," Alice said.

"We had to say something to Charlie to explain your absence, your inability to talk to him whilst you were in Italy and the state that you were in when you returned" Carlisle explained. "I wanted to remain as close to the truth as possible. So I told him that, whilst we'd been in LA, Edward had fallen in with a bad crowd, and had got mixed up in a bit of trouble. He didn't realise that his new friends were involved in anything really illegal; Edward manages to look quite naïve, so I think that Charlie believes that."

"Poor innocent Edward," Rosalie muttered. She must have intended the comment for me to hear, because all of the Cullens could talk without my hearing them perfectly easily. I looked up to see her grin. Esme gave her a look, but Edward didn't react at all. He seemed to have given up on trying to be a part of this conversation.

"Edward came up to Seattle with some of his friends. After spending a few days with them, even Edward could tell that they were involved in drugs. He gave the police an anonymous tip and so made himself a large crowd of enemies. Some of Edward's ex-friends followed Alice down here to Forks, where she met up with you, Bella. They sent Alice a text message from Edward's phone, claiming that he was in serious trouble and he needed her and you to bring him some money in Seattle right away. Slightly foolishly," he smiled, "sorry, Bella, but I did have to make you do something a little bit impetuous, you set off straight away to help out Edward. His ex-friends thought that it would be a fine joke to pretend to 'kidnap' the two of you. Luckily, when I called Charlie to ask if he'd heard anything from either of you, he read me your note and I guessed that you must have gone to Seattle to find Edward. We contacted the local police, who tracked you down and brought you home. There had been a lot of threatening behaviour towards you and Alice and Edward, but it hadn't reached the stage of actual violence before the police arrived. You were, understandably, rather shaken by the whole incident and I had to give you a mild sedative last night to help you sleep. The sedative had the possible side effect of temporary amnesia, hence your confusion this morning."

"We're sorry that the story doesn't really do you justice, Bella." Esme spoke now, leaning forward and smiling at me. "You were very brave and gracious in going to Italy and bringing Edward back to us. But, we needed a story that was believable and easy to fake."

I was surprised, "that was easy to fake?"

Rosalie laughed, "we had to do something while we were waiting for you three to get back from Italy," she said. "I played you."

"I'm flattered," I said, perfectly honestly. I was gratified to see that Rosalie grinned.

"I'll remind you of all the details of our ordeal on the way back to your house," Alice promised, "I've tried to make everything sound as similar as possible to what really happened, so that you won't forget and Charlie will believe you."

"I'm impressed."

"Don't be," said Jasper, "you should get used to this sort of thing. The Cullens always cover their tracks. Soon you'll find it second nature, just like everyone else."

I hoped that I wouldn't disappoint Jasper. It was nice to hear that he had so much faith in me, it gave me a warm glow inside.

"Does it all make sense so far, Bella?" Carlisle asked me. When I nodded, he carried on, "in that case, let's get to business. We are all agreed that the best thing for the family is that we move back to Forks?"

"The best thing for the family is that we're all together," said Esme. Carlisle nodded.

"Being away wasn't working" Rosalie said.

"We missed our Bella," Emmett agreed.

"We should never have left" said Alice.

"Very good," Carlisle continued. I was sorry that Edward hadn't spoken. I'd wanted to hear what he had to say. Even if Edward said that he wished his family had stayed away, I wanted to hear it. "I'll be returning to the hospital in Forks. Emmett, Rosalie and Jasper are supposed to be old enough to go away to college now."

"Emmett and I will go to Seattle," said Rosalie, "we don't want to live away from the rest of you at the moment."

"Jasper isn't going away," said Alice, "he's going to take a year out before he starts college."

"Then he'll have to get a job," Carlisle announced, "we can't risk you attracting gossip, Jasper."

Jasper nodded sternly, "I was thinking that I'd try my hand at journalism," he said.

Alice smiled up at him, "I love your writing, Jazz, won't you start your own paper?"

"How would that prevent gossip? I'll get a column on the local paper. That would be a suitable opportunity for a high-school graduate."

"You'll write the best stuff they've ever seen," Alice protested.

"I'll be careful. I'll make the odd spelling mistake and miss some searching questions in my interviews. I think that I can reign myself in."

"Of course you'll be fine, Jasper," Esme said, "I'm so glad that you're all going to stay at home. It will be so nice to have you all together."

"Alice will go back to Forks High School with Bella."

"It's our final year, Bella, we'll graduate together!" Alice was more excited than I was. That was nonsensical. I ought to be the excited one, I was the one who was graduating for the first time. For Alice and Edward, this would just be the latest of many graduations. Alice and Edward. Suddenly I realised what was wrong with Carlisle's last statement. He said that Alice was going back to school. He didn't mention Edward.

"That brings us to the real business of this meeting," Carlisle said "what are we going to do with Edward?"

Everyone's eyes turned to look at his bowed figure, still tied to his chair at the end of the table. He hadn't moved a muscle since he'd told me that he wished I wasn't there. He hadn't looked up, he hadn't spoken. He hadn't sighed or muttered. Even now, with all the attention on him, he didn't react.

"Taking the family away from Forks was a bad decision, but we all agreed with it." Carlisle continued, "going to Italy was a very bad decision and belonged entirely to Edward. We must not have a repeat of that incident."

"He endangered Alice and Bella," said Jasper, "and potentially the entire family. I won't tolerate that kind of risk taking."

"Last night Carlisle told him that he couldn't go and see Bella, and it still took the combined efforts of Emmett and Jasper to restrain him." Rosalie sighed, "we have to consider the possibility that Edward will lose control in public. What if Bella doesn't want a relationship with him anymore? He can't use emotional blackmail to make Bella date him."

That didn't make any sense. Why would Edward try and blackmail me into dating him? He must know that would be unnecessary Everyone in this room must know that I would do anything for the chance to date Edward again. Maybe Rosalie made a mistake. Maybe she meant to say that Edward would lose control if I kept throwing myself at him. Maybe I had misheard her. My ears had betrayed me before: giving me samples of Edward's voice when he was nowhere near me. I had created auditory illusions that made me almost believe that he could still care about me when he was away. No wonder I was creating pleasant illusions now that he was next to me. I decided to try and conceal my confusion and hope. I didn't want to have to admit to my pathetic weakness, especially not in front of Edward.

"Edward," Carlisle said, as gently as if he was speaking to a child, "will you talk to us? Why couldn't you restrain yourself last night?"

Edward didn't look up, he stayed hunched over, but he did speak in a cracked voice, as if he was thirsty, "I don't know" he said, "I'm sorry. My apologies, Bella, I was just so desperate to see you. I'm sorry, Jasper, Emmett."

"Do you think that you are in control of yourself now?" Carlisle asked, "can you stay here voluntarily and join in the discussion?"

Edward continued to speak in that dry and broken voice, without moving. "What's the point? I've ruined everything. I don't care what happens anymore."

"What did you expect, Carlisle? He was like this all night." Rosalie snorted in derision.

"The least conspicuous thing would be for Edward to go back to school," Esme said.

"He can't be trusted in a place where he can be so easily seen," said Rosalie, sounding angry now, "he can't be trusted around Bella."

"I'll be at school," Alice protested, "I'll be able to see if he plans on doing anything stupid."

"You can't handle him alone, darlin'" Jasper was smooth as silk, but absolutely firm. It was strange to see him like that. I had always thought that he did whatever Alice wanted. I'd never known that Jasper had a strong will of his own. Alice, however, seemed quite accustomed to Jasper's firmness. She looked a little disappointed, but she nodded without any surprise.

"Do we pull him out of school, then? Edward, surely you have an opinion." Carlisle looked hopefully at his first and youngest son. But Edward made no reply at all. "Bella?" Carlisle asked, "what do you think?"

"I don't understand. Why do you all suddenly think that Edward is untrustworthy? He hasn't done anything wrong."

That wasn't what they expected me to say. I was hugely embarrassed to see the entire Cullen family staring at me in disbelief. But, though I would usually be squirming under all those intense gazes and unable to think straight, they didn't matter at all any more when I realised that Edward was staring at me. I'd made him look up.

"You don't see what I've done wrong, Bella?" his face was still drawn and unhappy, his eyes were dull and empty, but there was a shadow of his old crooked smile on his lips. "Even now, you think that my family should trust me. Why? Why would you think such a foolish, wonderful, gentle thing?"

"You're so good, Edward. You were going to kill yourself out of guilt. You were going to kill yourself because you felt guilty about me. I don't think that should be treated as some sort of a crime. I don't want you to be sad anymore."

"Ah, my lovely Bella. Well, not my lovely Bella, not anymore. But, still lovely."

"Edward, you're not allowed to hurt her anymore," Rosalie interrupted As soon as Rosalie spoke, Edward seemed to remember himself. Even that shadow of a smile vanished, and he dropped his head again. This time though, he didn't turn himself to stare at the table in front of him. He hung his head in front of me, as if he was expecting me to scold him.

My Edward, my lovely Edward, who had always been so confident, hung his head and gave up speaking. The god-like man that I had known was gone. He was just the little boy now. He was defeated and unable even to speak for himself. He who had defended me from certain death, couldn't even defend himself from Rosalie's attack.

I couldn't understand how the venom that she used to aim at me was now all aimed at her brother. She sounded as though she thought that I needed to be protected from him. It didn't make any sense at all. "We know what it did to her when you left. We know what you were going to do to yourself and to your family. That's why you can't be trusted anymore. Bella, you're in love with him, you can't see his faults."

"I could go back to Forks High," Jasper said suddenly, "I could find a job there, then I could keep an eye on Edward."

"You'll make a very sexy librarian," Alice told him.

Jasper laughed, "is that a vision or a request? Am I going to work in the school library?"

"Yep," Alice grinned, "it's going to be fun, Jaz."

"What does everyone think?" asked Carlisle "you never told us your opinion, Bella."

"I'd like Edward to come back to school. I think that he'd like it too."

"With Alice and Jasper on site, I don't see how much trouble he could get into" Emmett offered.

"If he so much as rows with Bella, I want to have another meeting," Rosalie said.

Carlisle looked over at Edward again, I guessed that he was asking him if he would speak. I don't know what Carlisle was thinking towards Edward, though, because he didn't respond in anyway. "Alright," Carlisle sighed, "then we're all agreed. Edward goes back to school. That's something. But, we've told Charlie that Edward went off the rails in LA. He's going to expect us to impose some sort of a punishment. What are we going to do? We need something that looks like the normal thing a family would do."

Emmett laughed, "we need something that the normal twenty-first century family would do. I don't think that what any of our human families used to do will be considered normal anymore. I think that Charlie would call child services if you told him that you'd taken a switch to Edward!"

"Isn't this your sphere of expertise, Bella?" Jasper asked me.

"Why would punishing teenagers be my sphere of expertise? I'm not an out-of-control teenager."

Jasper laughed "I meant that you were a normal twenty-first century teenager. We want to look like a normal twenty-first century family."

"First of all, a normal family wouldn't have tied their son to a chair."

"Really?" Jasper actually seemed surprised, "I would have thought that humans would be more likely to tie people up than vampires are. It's much easier for you, any rope would hold a human in place. It was quite hard for me to find something that wouldn't break if he moved his arms."

"Of course a human would have got tired after fighting with you and Emmett all night long," Rosalie said, "a human Edward would be fast asleep by now."

They all looked over at him, as if they were half-expecting him to have fallen asleep. I followed their gaze, imagining a sleeping Edward. He would look like an angel with his peaceful face surrounded by tumbling bronze curls.

"Should we untie him?" Esme asked.

"I don't see what difference it makes. The only human who can see him right now is Bella, and she doesn't think that we're human anyway." Alice answered, "besides, he's still thinking about his options. We don't want to risk anything with Bella right here."

I wondered what options Edward was considering. If Alice was concerned that he might be a danger to me, then he must be considering ways of getting rid of me. Maybe he was so desperate to get away from me that he was thinking about throwing me out of a window. I was glad that Alice kept her comments vague. I didn't want to hear that Edward was so furious at my continued presence that he was on the verge of violence. "Oh, well, I think that parents take away privileges and ground teenagers. You could tell Charlie that you'd set him extra chores and stopped his allowance. Oh, and threatened military school."

"Couldn't we just send him to military school?" Emmett offered. He dodged Rosalie's slap, but he couldn't escape Esme's quiet reproof.

"Grounding sounds like a good idea, we shouldn't let him go out unaccompanied until he's back in control of himself" Jasper said.

"Take his cars," said Rosalie, "Charlie will notice that, and it will make it a lot harder for him to disappear off to Italy again."

Alice nodded approvingly, "that will work," she said, "people will talk a little bit. But they'll accept that Carlisle and Esme have got things under control. Charlie will approve. Though you'll have to be very good and very polite for a long time if you want to stop him hating you." She addressed the last sentence to Edward, not seeming fazed by his continued failure to make eye contact with her.

"Edward? Are you really not going to make any comment?" Carlisle asked again, "Bella, you ask him."

"Edward? Are you alright?"

He nodded.

That was something. He was responding to me. I tried again, "did you hear what Rosalie and Carlisle said?"

He nodded again.

"It's going to take him ages to start talking," Alice said, "and he's going to complain at losing the Volvo and then pout when Carlisle takes the Vanquish. But nothing he says is going to make any difference to anyone's opinion. Once Bella and Edward have had a chat, he'll be talking again and then we can have a real Cullen-style conversation about how long Edward's grounded for. That will be fun! But, this bit is pretty dull. Bella and Edward just talk things through very, very slowly and come to a lot of conclusions that the rest of us reached before this meeting even started. Let's leave Bella and Edward alone before we all get bored out of our minds."