The Edge

Together We Stand

Summary: Now that Victoria has made a move against them, the Cullen's must decide what they are going to do about her; Rose and Bella have a serious chat.

Bella's head turned from side to side, her gaze jumping from Cullen to Cullen or Hale to Cullen or Hale to Hale as they talked over each other and responded to each other, and occasionally even yelled at each other.

It was chaos, utter chaos.

Bella could just barely make out the interweaving threads of the multiple conversations happening.

Her head began to throb.

"You can't do it alone," Bella said leaning forward.

Her comment was swallowed up by the other voices in the room, drowned out before it had even registered with any of them. Around her the Cullen's continued on as they had been before.

"You can't do it alone," Bella said again, her voice a little louder though it still didn't make a dent in their consciousness.

Bella sighed.

Even Alice who was sitting beside didn't seem to register what she was saying. Alice's eyes were on Emmett and she was glaring at him, yelling something at him in Spanish – which Bella only knew because she knew a few swear words in Spanish and swear words seemed to be all that Alice was using.

"YOU CAN'T DO IT ALONE!" Bella bellowed at the top of her lungs, her eyes squeezing shut as she concentrated on focusing every ounce of her energy into her vocal cords.

The voices around the room immediately died down, and when Bella opened her eyes she saw that everyone in the room was staring at her.

Bella tugged at her shirt, straightening it, trying to buy herself a few seconds to gather her thoughts as the Cullen's turned to stare at her curiously.

"What exactly do you mean, 'we can't do it alone'?" Carlisle asked finally.

"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.