A/N: Characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. Drama belongs to me.

This has been edited a little bit. Nothing major – just a little tweaking.

[Chapter 1: And It Starts]

"Oh my God!" I cried out. "Oh my God!" A million thoughts ran through my head as I stared, dumbfounded, at the frozen images displayed on the screen. The laptop almost slipped out of my hands off of the bed. It was very late in the evening when my screams pierced the silence. I didn't know what to do. Though my roommate/best friend/partner in crime was out on a date, I immediately called her as I walked out of my room to the living room. She answered on the second ring.

"You need to come home. You need to come home now," I told her in a deadly calm voice.

"Ten minutes," she hurriedly replied.

After we both hung up, I glanced around the living room – beautifully decorated in burgundy and beige hues which complemented the 'L' shaped sofa, the rectangular wooden coffee table and adjoining dining room. The smiling faces of Alice, Jasper, Jake and I taunted me from where they hung in their frames.

I walked up and ripped them off of the walls. Frames and glass shattered in every direction as they crashed into the hardwood floor. My shocked state transformed into destructive behavior as I made my way around the living room – no picture was safe. Among the carnage of broken frames and crumpled photos, I sat on the sofa and began to hyperventilate. My thoughts were jumbled and unfocused. I barely registered Alice's presence until I heard her.

"What's wrong? What's going on?" she cried. She carefully made her way and kneeled in front of me. Her round wide blue-gray eyes were filled with concern. I just stared blankly at her.

"Um, go look at my computer," I said quietly. She got up and headed straight to my bedroom. There was a brief moment of silence and I waited for it. Alice gasped loudly. There it was.

"Bella, what the fuck is this?" She called out. I slowly walked back to my room.

I knew exactly what images greeted her. Everything I found tonight seemed to be etched into my memory. Pictures of my fiancé in the arms of another woman were posted for the world to see on a stupid, online networking site. What really got me was the date range of this woman's photos – the oldest from three years ago.

"I don't know." I stood in the doorway and my heart raced with nervousness. "Look at the date of this one." I pointed to a prominent belly photo. Her face was cropped out, but her hands lovingly held her swollen bump.

"Holy shit," Alice whispered. "It's from a month ago."

"Exactly," I answered just as quietly.

I wanted to erase the entire evening. Snippets of her profile continued to assault my brain – her obnoxious status, the photo albums, and the worst news a girlfriend never wants to discover – her cheating boyfriend impregnating another woman. Not only was Jake supposedly fooling around, he may have gotten this woman pregnant.

I felt suffocated and the words wouldn't come out – the whys and whats. Alice got up and just stood there in a hug. I suddenly remembered the broken frames, the shattered glass and the mess in the hallway and living room. I pulled myself out of Alice's comforting arms and went to the kitchen to retrieve the broom.

"Bella, what are you doing?" Alice asked quietly. She followed me like a lost puppy. "We'll clean this up later. Come sit with me for a second."

"No, I got it," I answered her quickly as I meticulously cleaned up the mess. Once finished, I got a box out of the hall closet and went back into my bedroom. I glanced at the decorated walls, painted in creams and browns, and almost every inch of them were covered in something Jake-Bella related. I sighed and packed up my love letters, gifts, the torn pictures, cards and anything associated with the last five years of my life with Jake Black. As I emptied out the closets, dressers and cleared out my bookshelf, my room became a mess. Alice helped me divide my stuff and Jake's.

As I reached out to grab another item, a sparkle caught my eye. I stared down at my left hand. The light had reflected off the beautiful engagement ring that I had worn for over three years. I ran my fingers around it, twisting it, like I always did when I was nervous and slowly slipped it off my ring finger. It was the last item I placed in the box. I glanced around my room which now felt cold and unfamiliar. I didn't even want to go near my very comfortable queen sized bed. I loved that bed and tonight it offered no comfort.

As three a.m. rolled around, I ran out of things to distract me. My best friend never complained and kept herself by my side. Eventually fatigue reared its ugly head and we decided to set up an impromptu sleepover on our living room sofa. As we brought out our pillows and blankets, I wished it was under better circumstances. Normally, we would be up this late laughing, gossiping, and just happily entertaining ourselves. Tonight, however, there was little talking. I had nothing else to say and Alice could not say anything that would ease my heart, but her close proximity to me was comfort enough. Alice's breathing eventually evened out to soft snores and left me pleading for sleep in the darkness. The late night TV ads continued – knives, cleaning products, blenders and grills – until the very faint light from dawn illuminated the room through the front windows.

Something startled me awake and when I glanced at the time, I had slept for two hours. Groaning to myself, I lethargically walked back to my room to the en suite bathroom and flipped on the light. Blinded by the sudden brightness, I squinted in disgust as I caught my reflection in the mirror. I was unusually pale with faint shadows underneath my bloodshot eyes and my long, layered, dark brown hair resembled a bird's nest. After washing my face, I brushed through the tangled mess and pulled my hair into a ponytail. I grabbed the nearest pair of jeans, t-shirt, hoodie and flip flops. I knew my life was shot to shit when I didn't bother with any makeup.

Alice was still asleep as I rushed out the door and headed for the university. Though it was fall, the sun shone bright in the chilly morning – typical, beautiful Southern California weather. I glanced up at the cloudless sky and silently prayed for rain or clouds or something gloomy. For the first time in my life, I wished Los Angeles was just as rainy as back home, in Forks, Washington.

It was Friday, so thankfully the early morning traffic was light. Though on a map, the university was close to our apartment, the normal commute time made it the opposite, but I still took my time driving there. It was the start of my last year in college and I carried a full load of classes. I already had deadlines for major assignments from my history classes. In addition to my school life, I worked a part time at the local Western heritage museum.

My thoughts ran rampant and I drove on auto-pilot on the freeway and side streets. I didn't even realize I had parked until I switched off the engine to my beautifully restored vintage truck. I slammed the door with a bang as one particular thought hit me – what the hell just happened?

I was a zombie through my morning classes. My participation and note taking was a joke. Luckily, the professor didn't call on me to debate or answer a question. By the time my second class was complete, I had tuned the world out completely. I had a pretty long break before my afternoon classes, so I made my way over to the center of school, where most of the students hung out. There was the college bookstore, quick food places, benches and a huge patch of grass in the middle. Thankfully, the spot of grass I picked was dry, so I was able to lie on my back.

I had so many questions and they had begun to pile up. Only a couple of days had passed when I last spoke to Jake.

"Honeeey," I said happily when my cell rang.

"Hey Babe, what's going on?" He asked.

"Not much. When are you coming to visit? You haven't been down to L.A. in almost a year." I was hoping we could take a vacation. I missed him so much.

"I'm not sure. It's really busy here at the Rez, Babe," he replied. "I've been working a ton of overtime at the shop. There's this project I'm working on…"

I tuned him out after that. We used to make time to visit each other every couple of months or so, until this last year. He was always so busy working. Even his calls had lessened but I patiently understood his stress. We had so many discussions during senior year about our futures. When I got the partial scholarship to attend school in Los Angeles, Jake encouraged and supported my education goals. It helped that Alice and Jasper had similar plans to move as well. At least I wouldn't be alone. Since he was fifteen, Jake had worked part time at the local body shop and had gotten into a local program would certify him. Despite the distance, we made it work. Now, it made me wonder what happened to our relationship?

"…so I was thinking maybe you could come home in early November," he interrupted my conflicting thoughts.

"What? I don't know Jake, um, I have midterms right before Thanksgiving. I don't think I can get up there before that."

"Okay, that's fine. I might not be around for Thanksgiving this time, though," he continued. "My dad wants to break tradition this year and take a trip. We're going north to Canada, so I don't know how great the phone reception's going to be there."

Since we'd started dating, our holidays were spent together. His dad, Billy, rarely took vacations with his son. Since my mom kept me during Thanksgiving, my dad usually spent it with the Blacks or vice versa. Billy and my dad had long standing friendship from the time they were thirteen. I didn't understand where this 'vacation' idea stemmed from, but I didn't want to argue. I closed my eyes and hurriedly said, 'yeah okay, whatever.'

"I love you," Jake said suddenly. "I gotta run. I'll call you later."

"Love you, too. Bye."

"Fuck," I said almost to myself and interrupted the memory. Why was this happening to me?

Without a second thought, I sat up and fished my cell phone out of my bag. I hit Jake's name in my contacts and waited. It rang four times before the voicemail kicked in and I hung up before the greeting finished. The questions threatened to spill out – what do I do? Is this real? Are we over? I desperately needed to talk to him and make some sense out of this whole thing. I sighed and moved back to my original position on my back. My mind drifted to a memory from six years ago, when I first moved to Forks and me him.

On my first day at Forks High School, junior year, I met Alice. Even though the bell had rung, the teacher hadn't arrived yet. I happened to glance towards the back door and saw a little round shaped face peek through the window. No one moved to open it, so I did and let her in. She gave me that grateful look, which I took as this wasn't the first time she was late.

"I'm Alice Brandon and you're new," she stated. Alice was petite. She was a little over five feet, four inches shorter than I. Her hair then was still just as dark but shorter and sort of stuck out all over the place. It wasn't messy, but very chic for a small town girl. Alice's passion for fashion and design was evident with her beautiful outfits and creativity.

I just nodded my head, "Bella Swan."

"Cool. Come sit with me, Bella." That was it and we'd been best friends ever since. We learned almost everything about each other that week – her family, which included her big brother, Emmett, lived in Forks. They were from the area and she had a cousin who was her brother's age. I also shared the circumstances that prompted my return to Forks for the remainder of my high school career. My 'free-spirited' mother decided that we should move to Los Angeles. I just didn't want to start my life over again. At least going to Forks, felt like home, so it was an easy decision to live with my dad.

I'd been home less than three weeks when Jasper Whitlock threw his annual St. Patrick's Day party. According to Alice, this was THE party of the year and everybody was going to be there. Alice and Jasper had been best friends since they were twelve years old. His father relocated the family from Texas. Even years later, Jasper retained his soft, southern accent. Alice once told me that his accent was part of the reason she fell for him –the softness of his voice and the barely there drawl. The summer before ninth grade, Alice and Jasper made the leap from best friends to boyfriend/girlfriend.

I clearly remember the night of the party. Alice practically dragged me there. Since l still didn't know that many people, I had no desire to go. I also got the feeling that this was an occasion for her to exhibit the new kid. I fought so hard against Alice when she insisted on helping me dress for it. She of course was going to be dressed to the hilt, in a peacock green cocktail dress that stopped at the right spot on her thigh. I opted for a less conspicuous outfit, jeans and a patterned strapless flowy baby doll top that I borrowed from her. I made sure to bring a light sweater, since it was still chilly and could very well rain. I did let her style my long hair and do my makeup. I was so nervous that I didn't mind sitting still for something that made her happy.

When we finally showed up at Jasper's huge house, it was almost nine o'clock – fashionably late, of course. The music was loud and laughter filled the air. There were pockets of people standing or sitting all over the place. Alice got us some drinks and excitedly bounced over to him. I was left to fend for myself, which was completely awkward since I still didn't know everyone. I sat on the couch by the door with the drink in my hand and people watched.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I was taken by surprise when HE walked in the door. This boy had to be six feet, bronze colored skin, long dark hair pulled into a pony tail and slightly muscular. He was dressed in jeans and a button down shirt. As he walked in with an air of confidence and his eyes lit up in recognition as they met mine. He made a beeline straight towards me and I almost dropped my cup in surprise. He looked vaguely familiar.

"Bella!" He greeted me with such familiarity. His voice was deep and had a very slight rasp to it.

I just looked up at him with a half smile and said, "Hi."

"You don't remember me, do you?" He asked, as he sat next to me. I shook my head, slightly embarrassed. Should I know him? "It's me, Jake Black. I'm Billy's son. When you would visit your dad, he would bring you over to our house," he smiled brightly. It really was a great smile. "It was years ago, though."

"Oh my God, Jake. I'm so sorry. I didn't recognize you." Stupid, stupid, stupid. For the rest of the night, he didn't leave my side. He didn't even talk to anyone else. I had no idea how he got invited. I saw Alice once when she winked at me with a smile. Jake ended up dropping me off after the party and we exchanged numbers. He gave me a hug and I felt this weird connection of never wanting him to let go. I'd never experienced that before. I inhaled his scent, a cross between Eternity cologne and something else – man-ness, I guess.

That night, I went to sleep, not only completely at ease, but with a sense of excitement for the future. The feeling stayed with me when I awoke the next morning.I was just happy – happy to finally feel at home, that I made new friends and re-met an old one. I was hopeful for once about my move back to Washington. My cell suddenly vibrated, which startled me, and I almost fell out of bed.

"Hello?" I said in my hoarse and scratchy morning-sleep voice, not bothering to look at the caller ID.

"Morning, Bella," a man's voice replied. It took me a second to realize who was calling me and I immediately perked up. "What are you doing today? Do you want to grab lunch in a bit?"

"Jake! Hi! Yes!" I stuttered. He laughed and I could almost hear him smiling.

We had lunch and hung out the rest of the day. My dad, Charlie, was pleasantly surprised that his daughter was hanging out with his best friend's son. From that day on, we were inseparable. It seemed almost magical. A week after the party, Jake and I went on an official date. It was late when he dropped me off at home and he walked me to the door. After giving him a quick hug, I was about to turn and leave, when he grabbed my hand to stop me.

"Bella?" he asked. I turned and looked up at him. He pulled me closer and bent his head towards mine. Our faces were inches from each other. He found a strand of my long hair and twirled it. I shivered. I just stared into his dark eyes and he searched mine, as well. He leaned in. Our lips met. And slowly, he found my bottom lip. I sighed. This kiss took my breath away. His hands stayed in my hair and continued twisting it. I cupped his face and finally pulled away.

"That was amazing," I said barely above a whisper. I wanted more, but knew not to push. He nodded in agreement. This was the best first kiss I had ever experienced in my life.

"You are beautiful in the moonlight," his husky voice murmured. I was left speechless.

The sobs that I had tried so hard to contain escaped when the images of that woman and Jake together flooded my mind and ruined this cherished memory. In an instant my sadness turned to anger. I ended up missing my afternoon classes and stayed out on the lawn. I even tried Jake's cell again. I didn't bother to leave a voicemail.

I pulled my laptop out from my backpack and started to snoop, thanks to the free Wi-Fi our school provided. I logged back in under Jake's profile and typed in his username, 'k'wati'. I briefly wondered what that translated to in English. He'd had very little activity on his page. I eventually found her page again and just studied everything that was posted.

My mind screamed, 'WHAT?', when I re-read her stats – engaged, one child, thirty-five years old and her name was Leah. I clicked back to the picture page and studied her profile pictures. Her almost wavy black hair hung loose past her shoulders with blunt cut 'mom-bangs' straight across her forehead. Her nose was narrow and she had round brown, almost black eyes. She looked a lot older than my twenty-two years. Judging by her picture and the date, she also seemed to be about five months pregnant. I couldn't believe I was playing detective.

She also posted a countdown to the wedding. It was supposed to take place in six months. I thought further and my heart fluttered. I minimized that tab and typed in the address to a popular wedding site that I knew about, hoping or not hoping to find something Jake-related. I typed in his name and their actual wedding website appeared on the screen. A password prompt window immediately opened.

I had to take a breath; I hadn't realized I was holding it. "What the hell?" I said, mostly to myself.

"Bella!" I heard my name called. I turned my head and saw Alice running towards me.

"Bella, why didn't you wake me up? You just left this morning. What's going on? Jasper called me when he noticed that you've been in the same spot for hours." She had the most panicked look on her face, but it soon morphed into a more questioning expression. "What are you looking at?" Even in her pretty outfit of black leggings paired, a long pale gray tunic shirt cinched at the waist by a wide black belt and ballet flats, she plopped down next to me on the grass. Her hair was perfectly bobbed with a headband.

"Have I been out here that long?" I glanced at the clock on the computer and four hours had passed since my last class. "I found this," I continued. "It's the wedding website of Jacob Black and Leah Clearwater." Alice's eyes widened in shock and I continued. "Yup, that's her name and she's thirty-five years old."

"Wait a minute. What?" Alice peered closer to the screen in confusion. "She's thirty-five?"

I laughed at Alice's exclamation. "I can't even get a hold of him. So I went back into his profile and to see if I can learn more. I've been googling their names and the only tangible thing I could find was this, but I can't get into it their actual site. It's password protected."

"Bella, let's go home. I'll help you figure something out. You should have –" she started to say.

"ALICE! You don't understand," I interrupted with a shaky voice. "I don't even understand. All I see are these horrific pictures, profiles and just lies being thrown in my face. There may even be a baby! I just can't sit at home and wallow yet. I just want to know what's going on."

"Oh, sweetie," she said quietly. I nodded and just reached out to hug her.

"You're my best friend in the entire world and I appreciate you looking out for me, but I just don't know what to do," I sighed.

"Well, since we're here, let's brainstorm possible password combos." She made a thinking face and took the laptop from me. "It has to be something easy, that guests could easily remember…love? Romance? Forever?"

Alice typed all of those in, but they didn't work and I starting speculating myself. Where did she live? I had Alice go back to her profile – Tacoma.

"Hmmm," I suddenly said out loud. "Try 'Washington' in lowercase."

It had worked! We got in and I was met with probably the most damning evidence of all, a picture of Jake and Leah kissing, and a short paragraph that welcomed guests to their site.

4 Years ago, I met the man of my dreams. He has been my rock, my support and the love of my life. After meeting through a mutual friend, we realized how much we love each other and want to make a life together. Last April, Jacob proposed to me in the most romantic way possible, and now we are expecting our own little bundle of joy!

We are very excited to bring our family and friends together for this joyous occasion! We love you all!

P.S. Jake, I love you more than all the stars in the sky!

-Leah and Jake

I almost gagged. Alice's face was priceless. "I love you more than all the stars in the sky? Really?" We poked around the site for awhile and found the wedding registry. We went through their gift list, which had the typical wedding gifts – kitchen appliances, bedding, towels, camping equipment and…

"Roadside Emergency Kit?" We said at the exact same time and burst into giggles. In that moment, all I could do was laugh at the ridiculousness of these two people.

"Bel, come on, let's go," Alice closed the laptop and started to get up. "We need to go out tonight."

"Alright. Why not?" I packed up the laptop and we walked over to the student parking lot. We didn't say much, but it was a comfortable silence. I followed Alice's little yellow Porsche back to our place.

Thankfully, we took some shortcuts so the drive seemed shorter and I blasted one of my CDs, in attempts to drown out my thoughts. When we both arrived home, we started getting ready. Luckily, we each had our own bathrooms, so we never had to fight for the shower.

I walked into my bathroom, set up my iPod to play loud rock music. Afterwards, Alice combed out my long hair and styled it, curling the ends. When she was done I looked in the mirror and I looked so put together, normal even, but on the inside, I felt all twisted and frantic. Alice left me to finish getting ready and I went back to my bedroom. I closed the door, sat on the bed and stared my cell phone. I tried calling Jake one more time – nothing. On impulse, I called his dad. I could feel my heartbeat speed up in anticipation.

"Hello?" Billy answered.

"Hi Billy, it's Bella," I said, trying to sound cheerful.

"Bella! How are ya, kid?" he said happily. He loved when I called him just to chat.

"I'm alright. I just…I don't know how to ask you this…well…um…I have a question," I stammered. "I need to ask you something about Jake."

"Go on, Bella, I'm listening."

"Has he been acting unusual lately? Distant? You're the one person who knows him best and you guys have such a close and relationship. I was just wondering if he has mentioned anything."

"I know he's been pretty stressed out working at the shop, trying to move from apprentice stage to actual employee. He's been keeping mostly to himself the last couple of months though, working long hours and staying at Quil's a lot. But I do know he cares about you, Bella. His friends haven't been hanging around the house much, but then, he's been at their places. We haven't had a real talk in awhile."

I rolled my eyes, thinking 'you live in the same freakin' house'. I took a deep breath. "Do you think he is he dating someone else? Is he home? I haven't been able to get a hold of him today."

"I haven't seen Jake in a couple of days, I was out fishing and came home today, but there was a note from him saying his phone was broken. Typical Jake, if it's not his phone, it's his iPod or his car. But, Bella, Jake wouldn't cheat on you! He's a good man. He's working so hard to get his life together for you and himself. If he was dating someone else, word would get out and everyone here would know about it," he said matter of factly.

"Billy, I have something to show you," I said very calmly. I gave him Jake's username and password, told him to look at Leah's profile and call me back. We hung up not long after that.

I heard a knock at the door. "You ready?" Alice bounced in looking amazing as usual and in a different outfit – her signature ballet flats, tights and a black and white polka dot dress with half capped sleeves and a scarf in her hair. She stopped short and looked at my face. "What's wrong?"

"I just called Billy and told him to look at Leah's profile. He said he hasn't really talked to Jake. But I'm so sick of that work excuse. He's working at a body shop. It's not the U.S. Presidency for God's sake!" Alice snorted in a very unladylike fashion. "I mean, I'm supportive to whatever Jake wants to do with his career. His passion has always been cars, motorcycles, anything with a motor. When he wanted to pursue that, I was behind him a hundred percent. This is fuckin' ridiculous. How could his dad not know what his son has been doing? How could I not know this was happening?"

I slowly got up and went to the closet to distract myself and looked for an outfit. I couldn't believe how much my wardrobe had expanded since I became friends with Alice. Once I figured out a style I liked, my love for clothes greatly increased. I finally settled on a dark red v-neck sweater that was just tight enough, and tucked my jeans into some knee-high black heeled boots. Alice rummaged through my jewelry, found my gold hoop earrings and a delicate gold necklace. As I dressed, I was not distracted enough to take my eyes off my cell phone, though I held a pretty coherent conversation with Alice, talking about the goings on back home in Forks.

"So, my mom called and wants to get the family together for a weekend down here. She's going to call Emmett, who will probably bring Rosalie, and she wanted me to invite my cousin." I could hear the hope in her voice, which piqued my interest.

"You know, Edward. That could be fun. I haven't spent any quality time with him since high school. Come to think of it, I don't even think you've met him. He's my Aunt Esme and Uncle Carlisle's son. Edward's three years older than us and was in Emmett's class. He was the first one in our family to move to California. I should get Emmett to call him. They've always been super close." I could hear the excitement in Alice's voice.

I was almost distracted enough to forget the phone call I made earlier. We were walking to the door and I was humming and nodding at the right moments, when I heard that familiar ring tone. It was Billy.

"Hello?" I didn't realize how shaky my voice had become.

"Bella," Billy said quietly. "I don't know what to say. I'm going to have a talk with my son and get to the bottom of this. I will talk to you later." And he hung up.

I was just about to say something and I couldn't believe he just hung up on me! I just sat down on the sofa with Alice by my side. The room was eerily quiet and I suddenly felt very calm. Too calm. We sat together like that for a few minutes without speaking. It was Alice who broke the silence.

"Come on, let's go. We need to get out of here." I just nodded at her and we left the apartment.

During dinner I picked at my food. "What am I going to tell my dad?" I finally said. "I mean, this is it, isn't it? I have no answers, but a million questions that only one person can answer and I can't get a hold of him. Should I fly home?" I could seriously go on and on with scenarios.

"Bella, listen to me," Alice began after taking a sip of wine. "I don't think there's any way around this situation. We can analyze it to the point of saying it's all photoshopped or she's stalking him or what have you. But, you need to realize he fucked up big time. He lied to everyone."

I just nodded and let her speak. She was so rational. So calm. So cut and dry with it and all I could think of was Jake and me – in love, his touch, his smell, his kisses, our future, everything – our life. It felt like it was all I'd known. I didn't know how to be any other way.