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"Well," Bella began straightening her back．
"No," Alice said shaking her head from side to side, knowing exactly what Bella was about to propose. "Bella, no," she repeated turning to look at her lover. "No," she said more emphatically, shaking her head when Bella glared at her．
"Oh yes," Bella said finally meeting Alice's gaze. "It can work," she continued when Alice went on shaking her head back and forth. Alice looked like a stubborn four year old as she shook her head, hair flip flopping this way and that, and usually Bella would have been charmed by the adorable display, but she would not be swayed this time. "You two were civil to each other this afternoon," Bella continued looking at Alice pointedly．
"We were fifty yards away from each other," Alice responded exasperated. "Besides, he was just one … the others will never agree," she continued trying to appeal to Bella's logic．
Bella's eyes narrowed at Alice's response．
"Do you know that? Or are you just guessing?" Bella asked watching her lover closely．
Alice's eyes narrowed at her, but she didn't say anything and Bella knew that she was right her lover was just guessing. Alice hadn't had any visions about how the wolves would react to the proposal, she couldn't have any．
"That's what I thought," Bella said turning away from Alice who glared at her for a second and then crossed her arms over her chest, and slumped against the back of the sofa．
"If it's not too much trouble," Esme interjected in the momentary silence. "What are you two talking about?" she asked, drawing Bella's eyes over to her．
"I think that you should work with the werewolves to trap Victoria," Bella responded holding Esme's gaze, her eyes serious and her tone sober．
Everyone was silent for a second, and then Emmett let out a loud burst of laughter, his head actually tipping back with the hilarity of it all. Ｈe looked over at Bella, shaking his finger at her, ready to congratulate her on the good joke when he got a look at her face and realized that she was serious．
"Seriously?" he asked, looking over at Alice, a horrified look spreading across his features．
"Seriously," Alice confirmed, in a displeased monotone．
"That's stupid," Emmett said looking at Bella．
Bella glared at him, then turned to glare at Alice, then looked back over at Emmett and glared at him again．
"It's not stupid," she insisted turning her gaze to look at Carlisle and Esme. "It can work. Really. All I have to do is call Jake. The two of us can act as intermediaries, we can co-ordinate everyone's movements. Theoretically, none of you would even need to see one of the werewolves, let alone talk to any of them," Bella explained．
"Theoretically, the idea is fine," Rosalie said calmly. "But this isn't a philosophical debate. The wolves hate us. They'll never agree to work with us. They'll never trust us enough for that.”
"That's not necessarily true," Bella said allowing a small smile to come to her face. "At least one wolf doesn't think you're all bad. Jacob likes Alice," she continued, glancing over at her lover. "Ｈe'll vouch for her," she continued happily, almost completely positive that it was true．
Everyone turned to look at Alice, their eyes disbelieving．
Alice shifted uncomfortably．
"It's not … I mean … Bella is severely overstating the case," Alice said sighing deeply. "Jacob and I just managed to talk to each other for a few minutes without trying to kill each other.”
"You were joking with each other," Bella said looking over at Alice, before glancing around the room to make sure everyone else had heard her．
"No we …" Alice began before seeing the look Bella was giving her. "One joke, no plural," she said looking around the room. "And, it wasn't even that funny," she added though she wasn't sure why that was particularly relevant．
"Whatever," Bella sighed. "As you said, I don't expect you all to sit around playing Jenga and braiding each others hair. All I'm suggesting is that you run a co-coordinated search for Victoria. The wolves will stay in La Push territory, and you'll all take the rest of town. The treaty won't be broken, and you probably won't even run into each other," she continued a little frustration entering her tone as looked around the room. "I mean, you've been trying to catch her for weeks now and it hasn't been working, right? So, maybe it's time to try something new.”
The room descended into silence after that. The members of the family were sharing looks with each other, and Bella could occasionally make out their lips moving and knew that they were talking to each other too softly and rapidly for her to make out what they were saying．
"Okay," Carlisle said running a hand through his hair. "I know … I know that we all have our reservations about Bella's plan, but it's true that the measures we've taken so far have been unsuccessful and that a change in strategy might be called for," he continued looking around at the rest of his family. "We should allow Bella to speak to her friend, at least put the offer to the wolves. If they refuse then we'll handle the matter on our own, but if they agree to help … it could be very advantageous.”
Emmett growled but said nothing, and then rest of the family looked displeased but didn't put up an argument．
"It's agreed then," Carlisle said turning to face Bella. "You'll talk to Jacob, and depending on the answer he gives you, we'll plan from there.”
An Ｈour LaterBella gazed out of the window of the Mercedes, feeling tense and uncomfortable. She had never gotten the impression that Rosalie was a big fan of hers, and it made her nervous that the blonde had volunteered to drive her home. She would have preferred Alice take her, but Carlisle wanted to examine Alice and make sure that everything was okay, and she really didn't want to be alone with Edward, so she had quickly accepted when Rosalie offered taking away the chance for Edward to volunteer for the task．
"I know you're trying to be nice," Rosalie began, drawing Bella's eyes hesitantly over to her. "But you should tell him the truth. In the long run, it'll be kinder.”
Bella stared at her, her eyebrows furrowing together as she ran Rosalie's words through her head again and again trying to determine exactly what the blonde was talking about．
"I thought telling him would put Charlie in danger," Bella responded sounding absolutely bewildered．
Rosalie more than any of them seemed to believe in the code of silence. Ｈalf the time Bella was certain that Rose would have been absolutely delighted if the earth opened up and she was sucked into a deep, never-ending chasm, which made it difficult for her to fathom why Rosalie would be telling her to tell her father about all of them．
"I wasn't talking about Charlie," Rose said a moment later, looking over at Bella suspiciously, as if she thought the brunette was being purposefully dim．
"Then who were you talking about?" Bella asked curiously．
As far as she knew the Cullen's were the ones with all of the secrets, not her. She of course kept theirs for them, but if Rose wasn't talking about keeping a large chunk of her life a secret from Charlie then she had no idea what she was talking about．
"Edward," Rose responded, turning her head to stare at Bella levelly before she turned her eyes back the road．
She was driving at a snail's pace, almost as slow as Bella's truck usually went, and Bella knew that she was doing it on purpose, that she wanted the ride to her house to take as long as possible so that they could have this conversation．
"Ｈonestly, Rose," Bella began a bit wearily. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Edward already knows everything about me.”
"Were you paying any attention to him at all tonight?" Rose asked looking over at Bella inquisitively. "Did it register with you that he barely said two words? That you proposed meeting with Jacob and all of us working with the wolves and Edward barely had a reaction?" she asked．
Bella frowned, turning her head to the side to look out the window for a second．
"I noticed," she admitted grudgingly. "But everyone was pretty quiet until Alice and Esme came downstairs, and afterwards … I thought he was just unhappy with the plan. Edward sometimes goes really quiet when he's not happy," Bella continued knowing that it was something more than that even as she spoke．
Edward's silence that night had been different. She had been too distracted over her worry about Alice to consider it too much at the time, but now that Rose had brought it up she realized how strange it was. There was something almost … apathetic about Edward's silence, and when it came to her and wolves, apathetic was usually the last thing Edward was．
Rose sighed and shook her head. "You really have no idea what you're like when you're around her do you?”
"Who? Alice?" Bella asked turning to look at Rose, surprised by the comment．
"Yes, Alice," Rose said shaking her head again．
"What am I like when I'm around her?" Bella asked curiosity and dread warring in her tone. She wasn't sure whether she was in for more of Rose's teasing about their sex life or not, though she suspected she wasn't. Rose seemed to be in a fairly serious mood, and Bella was kind of curious to see what she had to say．
"Smitten," Rose said finally. "Deeply smitten," she continued, her lips curving up slightly. "You look at her like she's the greatest thing in the world. If I walked into a room one day and saw you curled up at her feet I wouldn't even blink," Rose went on. "You act like you're completely and utterly in love with her.”
"I am," Bella said, her tone was fierce, as if she believed that Rose was calling her feelings into question．
"Oh, I believe you," Rose said. "I'm slightly bewildered by the whole thing, but I believe you," she continued in an offhand manner. "But that brings me back to what I was saying before. You owe it to Edward to tell him that.”
