Hi everybody! Once again, apologies for the hiatus in between posts. Don't be too upset. I still have every intention of finishing this story. The time frame is ever changing but the fact that it WILL be a completed story one day has not :) Anyway, just saw BD part 2. Motivated my Bellice brain and here we are :) Reviews are lovely and very much appreciated. You have all always been very kind. Thank you! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the update. I am already working on the next installment so it shouldn't be another 6+ months before you hear from me again :) ENJOY and let me know what you think!

P.S. Characters aren't mine. Blah blah blah. You know the drill :)

"Bye, Ally." Even though I couldn't see her, I knew she heard me. I brought my hand back up to my lips as scenes from earlier began dancing through my mind. I set my alarm, laid down, and closed my eyes. I knew that if I got any sleep tonight, my dreams would be filled with Alice, and I was totally fine with that. Tomorrow, Edward would come. Was I ready to talk to him? Was I ready to end it? I knew that it needed to done, but knowing is always the easy part.

- Chapter 7 - BPOV

I awoke the next morning feeling a bit squidgy around the edges. I only got a few hours of sleep and it was anxious at best. For the few precious hours that my brain DID shut down, there were visions of Alice in various states of undress to keep me on edge and tense all night. I drug myself to the bathroom and resigned myself to a long, cold shower. I let the water spray into my face and over my sore muscles, washing away my aches and pains. It was Friday. I wondered if Alice was going to be at school. I assumed she would be, but with the way things were left last night, I wasn't positive. I was fairly certain however, that I wouldn't get to speak to her today and I tried not to feel disappointed in that knowledge. She had said we needed to think and she was right. The only problem was that she was all I could think about. I heaved another sigh of annoyance. 'Why can't anything be easy these days?' I thought.

Turning the water off, I stepped out of the shower and reached for a towel. What am I going to do about Edward? I didn't want to lose him, but these newly revealed feelings toward his sister were getting harder and harder to ignore. After last night, I'm not sure that I'll be able to even be in the same room as Alice again without spontaneously combusting. I felt like a stalker. It was all I could do this morning to not text her the moment I woke up.

I was going to have to talk to Edward and soon. My stomach tightened at the thought. I was dreading that conversation with everything in me. I loved Edward. I truly did. But I think my love for him has been changing for a while now. How was I going to do this? Did I have the strength to hurt him? What about his family? This would affect them all, could I risk losing them? My stomach tightened further.

I shook the thoughts away, determined to sort them out later. I was surprised that I hadn't heard anything from Edward yet this morning. Normally he would text me to let me know when he would be here to pick me up. As if on cue, my phone vibrated.

Hey love, looking forward to seeing you today. I've missed you. I'll be there in 10 minutes if that's ok. See you soon.

XO-Edward

I sighed and snapped the phone shut. I grabbed a pair of jeans that Alice picked out for me a few weeks ago and a top that showed more cleavage then I cared for. Is it wrong that I knew that Alice would be happy to see me wearing it? That I hoped she would find me sexy in it? I felt myself blush at the thought. Something I did on the regular now that I was admitting my attraction to the pixie. I sighed and began mentally preparing myself for a bad day. How could it be anything else? Just as the thought entered my mind, I heard a horn honk once from outside.

"Right on time..." I mumbled, grabbing my book bag and locking the door on my way out.

Edward was waiting for me on the passenger side with my door open.

"Good morning, Bella." He flashed me that crooked grin I used to swoon over and pecked me on the cheek before closing the door after me.

He was in the car in seconds thanks to his vampire speed and we were heading down the road towards Forks High.

"How was your hunting trip?" I asked as he reached over and took my hand, giving it a light squeeze.

"We had a lot of fun. I missed you very much though." He brought our joined hands to his lips and gave mine a kiss.

"Yeah you too…" I felt guilt crash over me in waves and pinched my eyes shut in an attempt to calm myself down a bit. "Do we have any plans for the weekend?" I was stalling.

He looked at me for a few moments before answering, a light smirk on his face.

"Nothing in particular, although I must warn you, Alice is planning a surprise birthday party for you Saturday night." My head snapped around so fast, I could have been mistaken for a vampire.

"She…she…" I stuttered out. "She's WHAT!? Edward! That was not the agreement! I said no birthday shenanigans! You agreed!" He held his hands up in defense after parking the Volvo in his usual place at school.

"Now hold on Bella, I never said that we wouldn't at least get a cake and ice cream. You said we couldn't buy you anything, correct?" I huffed and folded my arms in annoyance. "Well that's still the case. Bella you have to understand that we don't have birthdays. You are the first person that we have had anything to celebrate with in decades. I think even Carlisle is secretly excited about this. It's just cake and ice cream with my family, okay?" He brought my chin up so he could meet my eyes. I instantly softened. If eating some cake would make them happy, I could do that.

"Fine…But it better be low key, Edward. You have to help me corral Alice!" I whined. He laughed at this and nodded his head in agreement.

"She's been surprisingly mellow as of late so you should be okay." I nodded and reached for my bag at my feet. Before I knew what was happening, the door to my side of the Volvo was opening and I was pulled out as if I was light as a feather. The world around me was spinning so fast, I barely registered the two massive arms wrapped tightly around me. That's when I heard the slap and my world was righted again.

"Owww, Alice!" I heard Emmitt moan as he rubbed his head and finished putting me down. "I was just saying hello! Sheesh. I haven't seen Bells in years, lay off!" Everyone started laughing, me included.

"Emmitt, it has not been years and you were making her sick. You know how squeamish she can be. Did you want her to barf on the brand new shirt Rose just got you?" Then she tapped her head as she tilted it pointedly at him.

"Oh. Eww. No, that wouldn't have been good. Thanks for the save?" He shrugged and Alice just shook her head. I heard Edward chuckling behind me at the whole spectacle as I fought to keep the blush at bay.

"Hey guys, ummm…you know I'm right here, yeah? Could you stop talking about me like I'm not? And I wasn't going to puke, Al…" I trailed off, scuffing my toe on a tiny rock I suddenly found interesting. I could feel her eyes on me but didn't have the strength to meet her own.

"Why is everybody so quick to dismiss the clairvoyant one these days?" That got a round of chuckles from the Cullen's as we started heading for the school. I felt Edward take my hand and watched as the other two Cullen couples took their places beside each other. Jasper had his arm thrown over Alice's tiny frame and was whispering something into her ear. I tore my gaze away and tried to focus on something else before the green eyed monster took hold. I don't know what I thought today was going to be like. I have been preparing myself for the talk with Edward, but I did not prepare myself for seeing Alice with Jasper. It made my stomach churn in an unpleasant way. I knew we had to keep up pretenses at least for the time being, but seeing them together did nothing for my insecurities, that's for sure.

Alice and I had study hall together first thing in the morning. It was our ritual to walk to our class with the boys and so that's what we were doing. When we arrived, Edward leaned in and placed a chaste kiss on my lips, smiled and walked off towards his next class. I watched him go, not wanting to have to witness another intimate scene between Jasper and Alice. When I felt like a safe enough time had passed, I turned towards the petite vampire next to me, expecting to find her with her husband. Jasper was already gone however and Alice had a pained expression on her face. Was my interaction with Edward the cause? Was this just as difficult for her as it was for me? I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and went to move in closer to her when the warning bell rang.

"Damnit!" I jumped, bringing my hand up to my chest to slow my racing heart back down. "Stupid bell…" Alice giggled at that and took a step closer to me. She was fidgeting from one foot to the other and wringing her hands at her sides. Could she be as nervous as I am? I'm sure that it was unusual for a vampire to fidget so it had to mean something, right?

"You look lovely today Bells…" She trailed off, eyeing me up and down approvingly. I felt the blush climbing up my cheeks at her admission and my heart rate kicked up another notch. I saw her eyes grow a shade darker and couldn't help the feeling of relief from welling up in me at the gesture. She was struggling too. "Well, we better get in there…" I reached out and stopped her before she could open the door.

"Alice…I'm talking to Edward this weekend. I can't…I can't lie to him anymore. I'm not in love with him. But I don't want to pressure you. I mean if you've decided to stay with Jasper then…well I mean…no pressure. I just wanted you to know where I'm at…" I was chewing on my lip nervously, like it was the last piece of gum on the planet. I couldn't make eye contact with her. I was trying to be strong here. It wouldn't be out of the question for her to choose her husband of more then 50 years over me. How could I really expect anything else?

"Bells?" She whispered my name and ducked her head down low enough to meet my eyes. When she saw she had my attention, she sent me a warm smile that did wonders for my insecurities. "I don't feel pressured. Thank you for letting me know."

I nodded once and then cleared my throat as I opened the door to study hall for her.

I walked with Edward from our Biology class to lunch like usual. We went through the line and sat down next to the rest of the Cullens already at their table. Rose gave me a barely there nod, which was all I could ask for at this point. Jasper waved politely and began a conversation with Edward. I chanced a glance across the table at Alice and caught her doing the same. She smiled at me reassuringly and then began talking to Rose about shopping.

"So Bells, do you have any idea what's wrong with Alice?" I almost spit out the mouth full of cafeteria pizza I had just consumed. Emmitt of course over compensated, thinking I was choking and began smacking me on the back.

"EMMITT!" The whole table yelled at the same time. He stopped long enough to look sheepish and I took the opportunity to try and get my breathing back under control.

"She was choking! You were choking, right Bella-bear?" I was still trying to catch my breath after the vampire successfully knocked the wind out of me. This day was going from bad to worse and fast.

I put my finger up signaling that I needed another minute. When I felt like I had my breath back, I patted Edwards leg letting him know he could stop rubbing small circles into my back. I know he was trying to help, but it just made the situation more awkward with Alice watching. On top of that was the guilt for wishing it was her rubbing my back instead of Edward.

"It's okay Emmitt. I must have swallowed something down the wrong pipe." I chanced a glance at Alice as I said this.

"See!? She was choking." Emmitt huffed and crossed his arms like a child. I stifled a giggle at this, watching as the other Cullen's fought off smirks of their own.

"Ok Emmitt, she was choking. That doesn't mean you're supposed to beat the breath of life back into her!" Edward scolded. Emmitt just through his arms up as if he had never been so exasperated in his entire life.

"Well excuse me for trying to rescue your woman from the clutches of death." I couldn't help it. I had been so stressed the last few days, that Emmitt's pouting and nonsense pushed me over the edge.

I was laughing so hard, even some kids at the other tables turned to see what the commotion was about. At first, the Cullen's all stopped to look at me like I had officially lost my mind, but shortly after, we were all cracking up. Even Emmitt gave us all a begrudging smile.

"I appreciate you trying to help Emmitt." He smiled at that and leaned back in his chair.

"So Bells, before I rescued you, you were about to tell me why Alice has been so mopey?" My face went instantly white as all eyes turned to me.

"Emmitt! I'm not mopey. Leave her alone. She has no idea what you're talking about. I don't either for that matter." Alice shouted.

"Whoa! Ok. That's it. I've been smacked enough for one day. Rosie, can I walk you to class early?" Alice dropped her head, looking ashamed for berating her brother. The two seniors excused themselves leaving just Edward and I and Alice and Jasper. Jasper was giving Alice a strange look and I felt instant panic flood through me. I was so afraid that he had read one of us during the lunch hour and put two and two together. I know Alice has been working on blocking out the others gifts but it was harder for her with Jazz because they knew each other so well. Maybe he read something in my emotions. God knows they've been all over the place today. I swallowed hard and cleared my throat.

"I should probably get going too. I can't be late. I've got 2 tardy's in History already." Edward nodded and stood with me. We waved goodbye to the two remaining vampires, Alice and I careful to avoid eye contact, and exited the cafeteria.

It was just after lunch on Saturday. Charlie had gone out to the reservation earlier that morning to fish and watch football with Billy while they ate their spoils. He gave me a new laptop for my birthday before he left. It was very sweet of him and way more than I expected. I thanked him several times, still in shock at his thoughtfulness. He made sure I didn't want him to hang around for my special day and blushed heavily as I hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek before pushing him out the door.

Edward was picking me up in a few hours. I was to pretend that he was picking me up for a birthday date and then act surprised when we ended up at his house with his family. I can't imagine that Alice didn't see him telling me, but maybe she's not the only vampire in the family that has learned to block another's gift. I decided to take a long shower and paint my nails. I curled my hair and left it down around my shoulders. I put on a dress Alice picked for me a few months ago. It was a black cocktail dress with white trim at the bottom. It hung at mid thigh and was cut low enough to show off some cleavage but not so much that I couldn't wear it around my father, which is the ultimate test. I looked in the mirror and nodded my head once. Alice would approve. I grabbed a pair of flats I had refused to let the pixie throw out with a smile.

As I made my way down stairs, I heard a light knock on the door and knew it was Edward.

"Hello, Bella. You look beautiful." I blushed and thanked him shyly. I never was good at taking compliments. He stuck his arm out and waited for me to loop my own through his. He walked me to my side of the car as usual and opened and closed my door for me as I got settled.

"Happy Birthday." He said as he leaned over the center console and pecked my cheek softly. I smiled and thanked him again. He was so sweet and so kind. I wasn't sure how I was going to break up with him. I felt myself clamming up and had to push those thoughts out of my mind. I wasn't going to break any hearts tonight. I had decided that already. Whatever happened with me and the Cullen family could wait one more day. They were all looking forward to this little celebration and I wasn't about to begrudge them what might be their last night together as a happy family. I could talk to Edward tomorrow.

"Thank you." He nodded and turned his attention to the road as we sped towards his house.

We pulled up in front of the Cullen mansion in no time at all, thanks to Edwards speeding tendencies. I still marveled at the fact that none of the Cullens had ever been pulled over. How is that even possible? Emmitt once told me that it was because the cops always assume their speed guns are off. How could somebody take turns in this town the way they do at speeds well over 100 miles an hour? So broken gun it is.

Edward was out of the car and opening my door before I had finished un-buckling my seatbelt. He bowed like a gentlemen and stretched his hand out for me to take, gently pulling me from the car. He brought my hand he had used to pull me up with to his lips and gave me another gentle kiss.

"You ready?" He had looped my arm through his and turned towards the house with me in tow.

"You swear this is low key?" I asked one last time, dreading attention as usual. He chuckled and nodded his head. "Alright then, let's get this over with."

We walked up to the house at a leisurely pace, Edward giving me time to prepare myself. He opened the front door after we had climbed the stairs and stepped aside to let me enter first.

It was dim in the house, candles and soft music playing in the background. I squinted to see where everyone was at and turned to Edward quizzically? He smiled and nodded for me to enter. I stepped in to the house, Edward closing the door behind me as I fully took in the scenery. The house looked lovely. There was a pleasant glow about it and subtle birthday decorations placed here and there.

"Edward? What's going on?" Just as I asked, the entire room erupted in a chorus of surprises and happy birthdays as the Cullens all magically appeared out of thin air. Once again, they had successfully scared the holy heaven and hell out of me. I screamed a little and then brought my hands up to my chest to keep my heart from exploding.

"Oh dear, I tried to tell them that you wouldn't enjoy being startled half to death." Esme said with an apologetic look on her face. The rest of the room was doing there best not to flat out laugh at the poor, jumpy little human.

"It's fine. I should be used to it by now. It seems to be everyone's favorite past time." This earned another round of chuckles as I continued pretending to be miffed.

"Happy birthday, Bella." Esme said sweetly as she drew me into a hug and lead me further into the house. "Thank you for letting us celebrate with you. We don't usually have such a wonderful occasion."

I smiled warmly back at my second mother, my chest tightening as I realized that might not be the case for much longer. I pushed those thoughts away and turned to face the rest of the Cullens.

"Thank you for the party everyone. It's very sweet and thoughtful." Emmett beamed at this.

"Of course Bella bear! You should have seen Tink though. She's been stressing about this for weeks!" I glanced in Alice's direction to see her glaring daggers her bear of a brother.

"Well excuse me for wanting to do something nice." She huffed, her eyes were down cast and I imagined that she was probably the closest a vampire has ever been to blushing.

"It's so beautiful Alice. Thank you." I said gently, hoping she would at least make eye contact with me. "All of you. You didn't have to do this. It's lovely." I trailed off when I realized Alice and I were going to play the awkward avoiding game tonight.

"As are you, Bella." Esme cooed, making me blush slightly. "I know Edward said you were insistent about us not buying you anything, but we just couldn't help ourselves I'm afraid." She handed me a small envelope with my name elegantly written on the front. I opened it up and found two plane tickets to Florida in it. "Carlisle and I thought you might enjoy a trip out to see your mother, I hope you don't mind?" It was sweet and thoughtful and too much, but I accepted it gratefully and pulled Esme into a hug.

"It's so thoughtful. Thank you both very much." Carlisle smiled kindly from across the room and nodded his head.

Next, Emmitt came bounding up and handed me a package about the size of a shoe box.

"This is from Rosie, Jazz and I." He was practically jumping in excitement. Rose came up behind him and put her hand on his shoulder to keep him still.

"Em, take it down a notch, you're making her nervous." Rose said with a slight grin. I gave her an appreciative head nod and she returned it, something she did more and more these days to my delight.

I opened the box and found what seemed to be my old stereo that barely worked from my truck.

"Is this…" I trailed off, still not sure what I had in my hands.

"It's your crappy stereo. We replaced it with a badass new CD/MP3 player. You can just plug your iPhone into the USB port and play Pandora through the truck!" His excitement was contagious. Again, it was too much but extremely kind and thoughtful of the vampires.

"You guys didn't have to do this. Thank you, I really appreciate it." Rose drug a beaming Emmitt back towards the edge of the room to give us space. I saw Jasper leaning against the wall and mouthed a 'thank you' to him as well. He smiled and nodded in return.

"And this is from Alice and I." Edward had a small thin present in his hand, shaped like a CD. I gave him a look of warning as he approached. They had promised me they weren't going to spend money. "Before you say anything, this is a homemade, collaborative effort." He finished, handing the gift to me.

I eyed them both suspiciously but was very curious now to see what they had done. I stole a quick glance at Alice who had finally allowed herself to look at me. She smiled softly and nodded her head for me to continue. I focused on the little gift in my hands, stuck my finger in one end and drug it across, tearing the paper away.

"Ouch. Paper cut…" I trailed off.

"Nooooooooooooo!" I heard Edward shout, and then I was thrown down, landing in a piece of furniture in the living room.

There was broken glass all around me as I looked up in horror to see Edward and Jasper trying to tear each other to pieces. I reached my arm out waving at them to stop when I noticed the blood running down and dripping off my elbow. Suddenly, all eyes were on me, even Edward's and Jasper's who were still ripping and clawing at each other.

"Alice! Get her out of here!" Edward growled, venom dripping from his mouth as he continued to wrestle with Jasper. Suddenly, my world was a blur. I began to panic until I realized the arms carrying me were small and dainty. It had to be Alice, so I buried my face in her shoulder as the horrific scene I had just witnessed replayed in my mind.

I felt us come to a stop and waited for Alice's next instruction. When none came, I realized how tense she was. She hadn't said a word to me and she definitely wasn't breathing. OH! I'm bleeding!

"Alice!" I shouted, jumping out of her arms and putting some space between us. "Alice, are you ok? What happened?" I began to ramble. I was pacing and inspecting my damaged arm when I felt her hand on my shoulder. She spun me around and grabbed my wrist, her pitch black eyes staring hungrily into my own. I knew I should be scared and probably start screaming for help. Alice was way past gone, even I knew that. But the look in her eyes was so reminiscent of the other night; I couldn't stop myself from reacting.

Her eyebrows rose up a notch as she took a deep breath, taking in my scent. When she smelled the arousal in the air, a deep rumbling growl poured out of her. It was like nothing I had ever heard. It was the scariest and the sexiest sound imaginable.

I wanted her. I wanted to let her have her way with me, consequences be damned. But before I could close the remaining distance between us, she screamed, shattering the trance I had been in. She fell backwards and began scrambling away from me. It was like she was wrestling with herself for space. It went against everything I knew up to that point about vampires. I have never seen any of them so much as stumble, let alone fall down. Her high pitched wailing continued and I took another automatic step towards her, my mind and body wanting nothing more than to comfort the tiny creature that was clearly in pain.

"BELLA STOP!" She growled this at me, her fingers digging into the earth and her body coiling, as if she was about to pounce. The terrified look on her face as she finally met my gaze was enough to stop me in my tracks. She was beautiful and feral and absolutely frightening. "Don't come any closer Bella. I can't…I can't…"

Before she could say anything else, the family came rushing up to us, surrounding us in the front yard where I hadn't realized Alice had taken me until now. Esme was at her side, gently pulling her further away from me. Alice struggled the first few steps away from me she took, her body at war with her mind before she finally let her head fall to her chin and allowed Esme to whisk her into the woods. I stared at the spot, fighting the urge to call out to her, needing to know that she was going to be ok.

"Bella?" Carlisle reached out and touched my shoulder, finally bringing me back to reality. "You need medical attention. I would like to take you to my office inside if that's alright?" I took in the rest of the family that had followed us out here. They were all standing 20 or 30 feet away with their heads turned in the opposite direction of me, still as statues. I noticed Jasper was nowhere to be seen and mentally added one more thing to my list of things to feel guilty about.

"Bella?" Carlisle quietly asked again. I nodded and let him lead me back inside on auto-pilot, not wanting to cause any more damage then I already had. It wasn't until we were at the door that I realized Edward was trailing behind us.

"Edward, it would be better if you waited outside with the others. She's going to be ok. There is no reason for you to push yourself right now." It was then that I finally saw the struggle in Edwards face and the pitch black color of his eyes. I could tell he wanted to stay, but the smell of my blood was too much.

"Go. I'm ok. I promise." I reassured him. He nodded quickly then dropped his head in defeat, reminding me of Alice earlier. He whispered that he would be back soon and took off into the woods, the others trailing close behind.

This is why I hate me birthday.

So not a much Bellice but don't you worry. I have very big plans for them in the next few chapters. Thank you again for reading and let me know what you think!