What if Rosalie didn't wait to make that fateful call to Edward and Alice never found out Bella was still alive? How can a few hours change, not only the lives of Bella and the Cullens, but everyone they know?

A/N: Have had this story in my head for a while and finally decided to get it started. The story picks up straight from the end of chapter 15 in New Moon, so you will see some similarities between this chapter and chapter 16 (Paris), although I have made a few changes to make the story work. I also know the New Moon break has been used a thousand times before for Jasper/Bella fanfictions but when this came to me I just couldn't get it to go away. Anways, enjoy!

Oh, and just in case you didn't know, I am not Stephenie Meyer, so I don't own Twilight, I'm just borrowing.

The Properties Of Dreams

Goodbye Edward. This is the end, was my last thought

1. Juliet

Bella

At that moment, my head broke the surface.

How disorienting. I'd been sure I was sinking.

The current wouldn't let up. It was slamming me against more rocks; they beat against the centre of my back sharply, rhythmically, pushing the water from my lungs. It gushed out in amazing volume, absolute torrents pouring from my mouth and nose. The salt burned and my lungs burned and my throat was too full of water to catch a breath and the rocks were hurting my back. Somehow I stayed in one place, though the waves still heaved around me. I couldn't see anything but water everywhere, reaching for my face.

"Breathe!" a voice, wild with anxiety, ordered, and I felt a stab at the hollow of my chest when I recognized the voice—because it wasn't Edward's.

I could not obey. The waterfall pouring from my mouth didn't stop long enough for me to catch a breath. The black, icy water filled my chest, burning.

The rock smacked into my back again, right between my shoulder blades, and another volley of water choked its way out of my lungs.

"Breathe, Bella! C'mon!" Jacob begged.

Black spots bloomed across my vision, getting wider and wider, blocking out the light.

The rock struck me again.

The rock wasn't cold like the water; it was hot on my skin. I realized it was Jacob's hand, trying to beat the water from my lungs. The iron bar that had dragged me from the sea was also… warm… My head whirled, the black spots covered everything…

Was I dying again, then? I didn't like it—this wasn't as good as the last time. It was only dark now, nothing worth looking at here. The sound of the crashing waves faded into the black and became a quiet, even the whoosh that sounded like it was coming from the inside of my ears…

"Bella?" Jacob asked, his voice still tense, but not as wild as before. "Bells, honey, can you hear me?"

The contents of my head swished and rolled sickeningly, like they'd joined the rough water…

"How long has she been unconscious?" someone else asked.

The voice that was not Jacob's shocked me, jarred me into a more focused awareness.

I realized that I was still. There was no tug of the current on me—the heaving was inside my head. The surface under me was flat and motionless. It felt grainy against my bare arms.

"I don't know," Jacob reported, still frantic. His voice was very close. Hands—so warm they had to be his—brushed wet hair from my cheeks. "A few minutes? It didn't take long to tow her to the beach."

I realised with a shock the quiet whooshing inside my ears was not the waves—it was the air moving in and out of my lungs again. Each breath burned—the passageways were as raw as if I'd scrubbed them out with steel wool.

But I was breathing.

And I was freezing. A thousand sharp, icy beads were striking my face and arms, making the cold worse.

"She's breathing. She'll come around. We should get her out of the cold, though. I don't like the colour she's turning…" I recognized Sam's voice this time.

"You think it's okay to move her?"

"She didn't hurt her back or anything when she fell?"

"I don't know."

They hesitated.

I tried to open my eyes. It took me a minute, but then I could see the dark, purple clouds, flinging the freezing rain down at me. "Jake?" I croaked.

Jacob's face blocked out the sky. "Oh!" he gasped, relief washing over his features. His eyes were wet from the rain. "Oh, Bella! Are you okay? Can you hear me? Do you hurt anywhere?"

"J-Just m-my throat," I stuttered, my lips quivering from the cold.

"Let's get you out of here, then," Jacob said. He slid his arms under me and lifted me without effort—like picking up an empty box. His chest was bare and warm; he hunched his shoulders to keep the rain off of me. My head lolled over his arm. I stared vacantly back toward the furious water, beating the sand behind him.

"You got her?" I heard Sam ask.

"Yeah, I'll take it from here. Get back to the hospital. I'll join you later. Thanks, Sam."

My head was still rolling. None of his words sunk in at first. Sam didn't answer. There was no sound, and I wondered if he were already gone.

The water licked and writhed up the sand after us as Jacob carried me away, like it was angry that I'd escaped. As I stared wearily, a spark of color caught my unfocused eyes—a small flash of fire was dancing on the black water, far out in the bay. The image made no sense, and I wondered how conscious I really was. My head swirled with the memory of the black, churning water—of being so lost that I couldn't find up or down. So lost… but somehow Jacob…

"How did you find me?" I rasped.

"I was searching for you," he told me. He was half-jogging through the rain, up the beach toward the road. "I followed the tire tracks to your truck, and then I heard you scream…" He shuddered. "Why would you jump, Bella? What did you think you were doing? Didn't you notice that it's turning into a hurricane out here?" Anger filled his tone as the relief faded.

"Sorry," I muttered. "It was stupid."

"Yeah, it was really stupid," he agreed, drops of rain shaking free of his hair as he nodded. "Look, do you mind saving the stupid stuff for when I'm around? I won't be able to concentrate if I think you're jumping off cliffs behind my back."

"Sure," I agreed. "No problem." I sounded like a chain-smoker. I tried to clear my throat—and then winced; the throat-clearing felt like stabbing a knife down there. "What happened today? Did you… find her ?" It was my turn to shudder, though I wasn't so cold here, right next to his ridiculous body heat.

Jacob shook his head. He was still more running than walking as he headed up the road to his house.

"No. She took off into the water—the bloodsuckers have the advantage there. That's why I raced home—I was afraid she was going to double back swimming. You spend so much time on the beach…"

He trailed off, a catch in his throat.

"Sam came back with you… is everyone else home, too?" I hoped they weren't still out searching for her.

"Yeah. Sort of."

I tried to read his expression, squinting into the hammering rain. His eyes were tight with worry or pain.

The words that hadn't made sense before suddenly did. "You said… hospital. Before, to Sam. Is someone hurt? Did she fight you?" My voice jumped up an octave, sounding strange with the hoarseness.

"No, no. When we got back, Em was waiting with the news. It's Harry Clearwater. Harry had a heart attack this morning."

"Harry?" I shook my head, trying to absorb what he was staying. "Oh, no! Does Charlie know?"

"Yeah. He's over there, too, with my dad."

"Is Harry going to be okay?"

Jacob's eyes tightened again. "It doesn't look so great right now."

Abruptly, I felt really sick with guilt - felt truly horrible about the brainless cliff dive.

Nobody needed to be worrying about me right now. What a stupid time to be reckless.

"What can I do?" I asked.

At that moment the rain stopped. I hadn't realized we were already back to Jacob's house until he walked through the door. The storm pounded against the roof.

"You can stay here," Jacob said as he dumped me on the short couch. "I mean it—right here, I'll get you some dry clothes."

I let my eyes adjust to the dark room while Jacob banged around in his bedroom. The cramped front room seemed so empty without Billy, almost desolate. It was strangely ominous—probably just because I knew where he was.

Jacob was back in seconds. He threw a pile of gray cotton at me. "These will be huge on you, but it's the best I've got. I'll, er, step outside so you can change."

"Don't go anywhere. I'm too tired to move yet. Just stay with me."

Jacob sat on the floor next to me, his back against the couch. I wondered when he'd slept last. He looked as exhausted as I felt.

He leaned his head on the cushion next to mine and yawned. "Guess I could rest for a minute…"

His eyes closed and, after slipping out of my sopping wet clothing, I let mine slide shut, too.

Poor Harry. Poor Sue. I knew Charlie was going to be beside himself. Harry was one of his best friends. Despite Jake's negative take on things, I hoped fervently that Harry would pull through. For Charlie's sake. For Sue's and Leah's and Seth's…

Billy's sofa was right next to the radiator, and I was warm now. My lungs ached in a way that pushed me toward unconsciousness rather than keeping me awake. I wondered vaguely if it was wrong to sleep… or was I getting drowning mixed up with concussions… ? Jacob began softly snoring, and the sound of it soothed like a lullaby. I fell asleep quickly.

For the first time in a very long time, my dream was just a normal dream, just a blurred wandering through old memories—blinding bright visions of the Phoenix sun, my mother's face, a ramshackle tree house, a faded quilt, a wall of mirrors, running through an airport, a flame on the black water… I forgot each of them as soon as the picture changed.

The last picture was the only one that stuck in my head. It was meaningless—just a set on a stage. A balcony at night, a painted moon hanging in the sky. I watched the girl in her nightdress lean on the railing and talk to herself.

Meaningless… but when I slowly struggled back to consciousness, Juliet was on my mind.

Jacob was still asleep; he'd slumped down to the floor and his breathing was deep and even. The house was darker now than before, it was black outside the window. I was stiff, but warm and almost dry. The inside of my throat burned with every breath I took.

I was going to have to get up—at least to get a drink. But my body just wanted to lie here limp, to never move again.

Instead of moving I thought about Juliet some more.

Edward had always been so disparaging of Romeo and Juliet, despite him knowing how much I loved it but I was slowly beginning to agree with him. Juliet had killed herself when Romeo had died and, although Edward was not dead I had very nearly done the same thing after Edward and left, through pure apathy, and was still doing it now.

I had so admired Juliet, unwilling to live without her love, but then what was Juliet without Romeo? The characters defined one another, her written purely to fulfil his fantasy. She had nothing but him by the end of it, as I had felt when Edward had left, but it was not the case anymore.

What if Juliet had had other interests? What if she had a best friend who put up with her no matter what? What if she had had another family to take her in when Romeo had disappeared? And if she did, what had her death done to them?

I suddenly felt very selfish.

Jacob's slow, deep breathing was the only sound in the room – like a lullaby hummed to a child, like the whisper of a rocking chair, like the ticking of an old clock when you had nowhere you needed to go... It was the sound of comfort.

So, what if Romeo was really gone, never coming back, would Juliet be able to live without him? Would she be able to accept that, while she might never feel that way ever again, there were other things to live for? And yet she had just given up, died rather than live without the one she loved.

I closed my eyes and drifted again, letting my mind wander away from the stupid play I didn't want to think about anymore. I thought about reality instead – about jumping off the cliff and what a brainless mistake that had been. And not just the cliff, but the motorcycles and the whole irresponsible Evel Knievel bit. What if something bad happened to me? What would that do to Charlie? Harry's heart attack had pushed everything suddenly into perspective for me. Perspective that I didn't want to see, because—if I admitted to the truth of it—it would mean that I would have to change my ways. Could I live like that?

Maybe. It wouldn't be easy; in fact, it would be downright miserable to give up my hallucinations and try to be a grown-up but, I had just established that Romeo wasn't coming back and I couldn't live my life holding on to him.

I was suddenly downright pissed off at Juliet, had the girl no sense? Was she so selfish as to destroy the people around her because she was unwilling to move on with her life? And more than anything else I hated the Juliet within myself, the child inside me that so wanted to just stop, to leave this world behind. I was disgusted at myself, how could I have allowed myself to get to this point and not realised? How could I have put those I love through this?

I couldn't think about that right now, my mind searched desperately for something else.

Images from my ill-considered afternoon stunt rolled through my head while I tried to come up with something pleasant to think about… the feel of the air as I fell, the blackness of the water, the thrashing of the current… I had not seen his face… I lingered there for a long time. Jacob's warm hands, trying to beat life back into me… the stinging rain flung down by the purple clouds… the strange fire on the waves…

There was something familiar about that flash of colour on top of the water. Of course it couldn't really be fire—

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a car squelching through the mud on the road outside. I heard it stop in front of the house, and doors started opening and closing. I thought about sitting up, and then decided against that idea.

Billy's voice was easily identifiable, but he kept it uncharacteristically low, so that it was only a gravelly grumble.

The door opened, and the light flicked on. I blinked, momentarily blind. Jake startled awake, gasping and jumping to his feet.

"Sorry," Billy grunted. "Did we wake you?"

My eyes slowly focused on his face, and then, as I could read his expression, they filled with tears.

"Oh, no, Billy!" I moaned.

He nodded slowly, his expression hard with grief. Jake hurried to his father and took one of his hands.

The pain made his face suddenly childlike—it looked odd on top of the man's body.

Sam was right behind Billy, pushing his chair through the door. His normal composure was absent from his agonized face.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered.

Billy nodded. "It's gonna be hard all around."

"Where's Charlie?"

"Your dad is still at the hospital with Sue. There are a lot of… arrangements to be made."

I swallowed hard.

"I'd better get back there," Sam mumbled, and he ducked hastily out the door.

Billy pulled his hand away from Jacob, and then he rolled himself through the kitchen toward his room.

Jake stared after him for a minute, then came to sit on the floor beside me again. He put his face in his hands. I rubbed his shoulder, wishing I could think of anything to say.

After a long moment Jake pulled away and turned his body to face me.

"How are you feeling? Are you okay? I probably should have taken you to a doctor or something", he sighed.

"Don't worry about me", I croaked.

His eyes caught mine, they were brimmed with red but he looked seriously at me. "You don't look so good."

"I don't feel so good, either, I guess."

"I'll go get your truck and then take you home – you probably ought to be there when Charlie gets back."

"Right."

I lay listlessly on the sofa while I waited for him. Billy was silent in the other room. I felt like peeping tom, peering through the cracks at a private sorrow that wasn't mine.

It didn't take Jake long. The roar of my truck's engine broke the silence before I expected it. He helped me up from the couch without speaking, handing me a large jacket when the cold air outside made me shiver. He took the driver's seat without asking, and then pulled me across next to him so the heat from his body would warm me.

"How will you get home?" I asked.

"I'm not going home. We still haven't caught the bloodsucker, remember?"

My next shiver had nothing to do with the cold.

It was a quiet ride after that. The cold air had woken me up. My mind was alert, and it was working very hard and very fast.

My thoughts about Juliet earlier had stirred something within myself and for the first time in months I wanted to live. I did not want a relationship, I was entirely uninterested in the idea of anyone like that, and I realised with a jolt that I was going to have to explain that to Jake very soon, but I did want to live. I wanted to spend time with my friends, with my father, maybe I would even go down and visit Renee...

Jacob stopped the truck in front of my dark house, cutting the engine so it was suddenly silent.

He threw one arm around me, crushing me to his chest, binding me to him. Neither one of us spoke for several seconds.

"Never do that to me again, Bells", his voice was serious and I grimaced.

"I won't", I looked into his eyes, begging for him to believe me.

"Did you even think about what you were doing?" his eyes were thick with tears, "what would have happened if you had died? Do you know what that would have done to Charlie? To me?"

"I know, Jake, I didn't think."

"Obviously", his tone was sarcastic but he kept his arms around me. "Bella... I have to ask... you weren't trying to...?"

"No", I shook my head vehemently, "at least I don't think so. I didn't really think about it, I just jumped."

This wasn't what he wanted to hear because he pulled me back and looked at me deep in the eyes.

"Do you want to die, Bella?" his eyes were set on mine. I shook my head.

"No, not right now anyway", he scowled at me. "Honestly, Jake, I don't want to die. If anything I feel more alive than ever", I laughed but he did not join in, merely looked at me harder. "Seriously Jake, I'm fine. Let's just leave it."

"If you say so Bells, but if you ever do anything like that to me again you won't have to worry about it working. I'll kill you myself", his deep eyes looked into mine before eventually pulling away and he jumped out the car.

After wrapping the over-large coat I had borrowed around me once more I jumped out behind him. He walked up the drive beside me, watching the edge of the forest carefully and I shivered, imaging Victoria walking out at this moment.

I realised my keys were still in my wet jeans so instead of wading through my bag of soaking clothes I reached up to get the set from the eves. Jake frowned as I unlocked the door and slipped them back into place.

I closed the door behind me and motioned for Jake to go wait in the kitchen.

"I'm going to stick these in the hamper and put some other clothes on, help yourself to anything you want."

I ran upstairs and into my room, closing the door quickly and tossing my borrowed clothes into the hamper followed by everything in the plastic bag. I looked over what was in my room and tried to decide what was an appropriate outfit choice.

Downstairs I heard the phone ring and Jake pick it up but I couldn't go find out who it was, I quickly grabbed the first pair of jogging bottoms and t-shirt that came to my hands and ran downstairs just in time to see Jake replace the receiver.

"Who was that?" I asked as I pulled a yoghurt from the fridge and offered him one. It wasn't till I handed him the spoon as well that I noticed his face, he looked almost afraid to catch my eye.

"Jake, who was that?" he lifted his eyes towards me and I saw a little fear in them.

"It was one of them... Dr Carlisle Cullen", his voice was nervous but he spat the name out quickly, almost as though it tasted bad.

My mind went blank, I was vaguely aware of the fact the yoghurt had slipped out from my hands and was now all over the floor but I couldn't think of what to do with it.

Jake was standing in front of me, his warm hands holding my arms.

"Bella? Bella? Are you ok?"

I looked up at him, trying desperately to remember how to form words.

"Wha... What did he want?"

"He just asked for Charlie... I said he wasn't here, that he was at the hospital making arrangements. I was going to tell him you were upstairs, I promise Bells, but he hung up before I had the chance."

"It's ok, Jake. I... I just wasn't expecting it to be Carlisle", my mind threw me back to the last time I had seen him, carefully picking broken glass out my wounded arm, the fatherly way he reassured me it would all be ok. He had tended my wounds, and then he had left me, they had all left me as surely as Edward had.

For some reason that still hurt, it wrenched at my heart, but I couldn't think of it now. Jake was still looking down at me, concern filling his face and I realised with a start I was now standing in my fallen yoghurt.

"I'm fine, really Jake. Just a bit lost in thought", I slipped out of his arms and grabbed a cloth to clear up the mess on the floor.

"If you're sure Bells... " he grabbed some kitchen roll and knelt down next to me, clearing up the last residual yoghurt and then taking the dirty paper.

I looked at the clock as I stood up, it was close to nine now and after my tiny bit of food my body was yearning for sleep once again. My lungs and throat still felt raw with the sea water I had swallowed earlier and I could large bruises forming over my torso and legs from where they had hit the rocks.

Jake must have noticed me sag because, after chucking the yoghurt cartons in the bin and the spoons in the sink, he put his arm around my waist and began leading me back upstairs.

"I can manage the stairs by myself you know."

"I highly doubt that at the moment Bella, in fact I'm seriously thinking of taking you to a hospital..."

"Don't be silly", my foot caught the stair and I leant into him for further support. "I just need to sleep it off."

"Sure..." he didn't sound convinced. "I'm coming to check on you tomorrow morning, and if you aren't better I am taking you to the doctors, ok?"

His voice left no room for negotiation so I nodded mutely as he placed me in bed. I quickly rolled over and pulled the sheets around me. I felt the bed sag as Jake sat down next to me.

"Night Bells", his voice was gruff with emotion and I looked up towards him. I pulled one hand out of the covers and placed it over his, he looked down at it for a while before pulling away.

"I better go, the guys might need me", he stood up quickly.

"Oh, ok. Take care Jake, if you see her... I don't know, run in the other direction."

"I can't do that Bells."

"You could Jake, you could for me. You're my best friend, I need you."

"Best friend?" he repeated my words quietly.

"Yes, best friend", I reassured him.

"Bye, Bells."

He slipped from the room and I heard the front door close quietly moments later. I turned myself over so I was looking towards the closed window and the dark trees outside, imagining Jake running through them.

As I waited for sleep to take me I thought over the events of the day once more, eventually settling on Carlisle's call to ponder.

I wished I could have known what had been said between him and Jake, I wished it could have been me who had answered the phone instead... but then, what would I have said?

I would not have asked about him, I decided quickly. I would have asked if he was enjoying work, what project Esme had keeping her busy, what new computer game Emmett was playing, why they had left without saying goodbye...

A deep pain echoed in my chest and I brought my hand to cover it. It was not the same pain as before though, the pain for Edward had gone to be replaced by something far more poignant.

The romantic love that I had always thought I was missing was no longer the issue, it was the familial love that I missed.

I could not blame them for leaving the way they did; no doubt Edward had been as abrupt with them as he was with me. I remembered he had said they had already left when he said goodbye to me. I would have at least have expected Alice to call, maybe a quick letter saying that she would miss me. I wondered idly what her and Jasper were up to... I hoped he had forgiven himself for what had happened, just as I had.

Perhaps the two of them were travelling, or maybe Alice was at fashion school again, I knew she already had a degree from back in 1993.

At some point in my thinking about Alice I fell asleep, I was imagining her and Jasper travelling through Europe when a scene materialised in front of me.

Alice was running through cobbled streets, her large skirt bustling around her thin legs as she sped through the darkness. She was looking for something, but I did not know what. Her face spun towards me and I could see fear in her eyes, her mouth repeating the same word over and over again silently... 'Edward'

Her eyes went blank and I knew she was having a vision. I tried desperately to ask her what she had seen but she couldn't hear me, instead she started running again, with added purpose. I followed her, finding it easy to keep up with her fast pace.

A couple of minutes later she ran across a large square and I could see the pin pricks of light on the horizon marking the start of a new day. She must have noticed too because she sped up and then slipped into a dark alley off the side of what looked like a church.

I couldn't see anything in the dark but she moved forward with purpose and I followed her. After a moment she stopped and I looked into the darkness, trying to follow her line of vision.

My eyes began to adjust and I could see a figure sitting in the filth ahead of us, his back leaning against the dirty wall. He was filthy, dust and mud covering his clothes and skin but I recognized his body immediately, before he lifted his head to speak.

Edward.

"You won't change my mind", his voice was low, filled with remorse. "There's nothing you can say... it's all my fault."

Alice moved passed me and leant down next to him.

"This isn't the only option, Edward."

"Isn't the only option", his voice was angry. "What other option is there, Alice?"

"Change your mind and I can show you, I can show you what could be."

"It isn't that easy", his head dropped and touched his knees.

"Yes it is, change your mind, just for a moment, and I can show you. Please?" her voice was soothing and she lifted her hand to his face, touching him lightly. He sighed with resignation.

The two of them were silent for a few minutes, his eyes shut as he watched whatever it was Alice could see. I wondered if I was part of it. I wondered why either of them were here in the first place, wherever here was.

Eventually he opened his eyes and looked straight into Alice's. I moved closer to them, eager to know what had happened. His face was shocked and he looked at Alice, his eyes filled with wonder.

"Do you see what I mean?" her voice was nervous, almost hopeful.

"Yes, but we need to run, they're coming for us," he looked desperately towards the back of the alley, it was still shrouded in darkness to me.

"We might just make it," Alice's small voice, despite it's tension, sounded hugely relieved.

"If any one can," he said as he straightened himself. "It's us."

The banging of the front door woke me and I stayed completely still until I heard Charlie's distinctive shuffle in the kitchen below me.

My mind went over the dream once more but I tried to put it to the back of my mind. I did not want to think of Edward right now, and I could not think why my mind had come up with that scenario, probably my thoughts about Alice earlier. Moments later I was asleep again and when I woke in the morning I could not remember dreaming at all.

I was up early after getting to bed at nine the night before but I felt wonderful for it. The pain in my lungs had gone and my throat was only slightly scratchy. Unfortunately the bruises covering me had started to develop and were a horrible green-ish colour, I jumped into the shower and carefully padded myself, trying not to agitate any of them. I wondered if Jake was ok, I would have to call him as soon as it was decent. I was also going to have to let Charlie know that Carlisle had called for him, I didn't think he would be too happy about that.

After quickly washing my hair I jumped out of the shower and began towelling myself down. What with all the drama in my life right now I could be a television show... maybe something on the scyfy channel...

A/N: So... good? Bad? Indifferent? Please let me know what you think, cookies for reviews! I have already started on the next chapter so it should be out in a couple of days, thanks for reading!