When Dawn Breaks Chapter 27

"What's all that?" Emmett asked as Rosalie and Bella walked in the front door carry two boxes of stuff they brought back with them from the meeting with the shifters.

"These my friend are the beginning of a plan." Bella told him.

"What are we up against this time?" Emmett put his hands together in front of himself. "Please say we are finally going to get to use a tank. I understand why we didn't need one last time but from the little we heard from the shifters it seems like this is the perfect time to use one."

"As of yet we don't need a tank but we aren't ruling it out." Emmett cheered as Rosalie led Bella and Emmett into the living room where Jasper, Alice, and Peter were sitting around watching tv." Where is everyone?"

"We are right here." Esme said as she and Charolette made their way into the living room. "Carlisle is at work."

"Oh hello you two."Rosalie took a seat on the couch as she picked up Anne and Joe as the kittens ran to her."Mommy missed you. Have you been good?"

"They have been wonderful, an absolute joy to watch." Charolette told her.

Bella took a seat next to Rosalie smiling as she watched Rosalie cuddling the kittens.She turned to the group and spoke."Ok, so you basically know what's going on.A group is kidnapping shifter children and holding them captive in a facility hidden in a part of the Appalachian mountain region of Maine. Who they are and what they want are unclear, though I'm sure we can all agree that nothing good is happening to those kids."

"So what's the plan?" Emmett asked. "How do we take out the bad guys this time?"

"First we need some space to set up all our research and to use as an office." Rosalie looked to Esme. "Would you be willing to let us use Edward's room as an office for Bella and myself? It's the biggest room left in the house that can be converted into a work space."

"YES!" Emmett pumped his fist in the air." Let's wreck his shit, then burn it."

"Emmett language." Esme scolded uncomfortably as her eyes filled with venom tears. "I think it would be alright to use Edward's room. I just ask that you let me go through it first so I can save a few things."

"Why would you want to save any of his stuff?" Alice asked.

"Regardless of who he became he was a member of your family." Bella said receiving a thankful nod from Esme. "At one point he was considered a son and a brother and because of that it is fair to mourn the loss of the person you once knew not the person he was when he died."

"I can't believe you of all people would be telling us to mourn Edward. I mean he did form an entire army to capture you and kill your mate. I would think you wouldn't want anyone to even say his name let alone feel bad he died." Jasper said astonished at Bella being so understanding of Esme's feelings.

Bella thought of how she was going to answer for a minute. "I may have had my differences with Edward but I didn't know him. What I do know is Esme and Carlisle loved him like a son and at least some of you loved him like a brother. Each of you mentioned him slipping into the madness slowly as the years had gone by so when he died he wasn't completely himself. If he were human maybe he could have been helped but unfortunately he wasn't. I may have no reason to mourn him but I won't judge you for wanting to keep his memory alive for yourselves."

"Thank you Bella." Esme cleared her throat fighting back her emotions. "I will go look now so we can clear his stuff out as soon as possible."

"While she is busy with that, Bella are you hungry?" Charlotte asked. "I can make you something real quick."

"No, I'm fine. We ate at the reservation with the tribe." Bella said causing Rosalie to laugh.

At the confused looks of the others Rosalie explained. "I would honestly be surprised if Bella needed to eat at all for the rest of the night. She and the bear shifter had an eating contest."

"What?!" Emmett exclaimed."That is so rad. Who won? Were you guys in your human form or your animal form because I would love to see an eating contest between your tiger and a bear shifter, Bella."

"Oh she won and put that poor man to shame." Rosalie told them proudly. "It was actually kind of fun. They were all in their human form and some of the wolves joined in. The whole tribe was cheering them on.I think that Gil would've tapped out sooner if not for the crowd. He looked like he was going to be sick when it ended."

"I tried to go easy on him but he kept pushing so I went along with it. If he hadn't of stopped it when he did I would have for him." Bella said.

Rosalie laid her head on Bella's shoulder as the kittens snuggled down to sleep."He still held out for longer than any of the wolves did. I bet all of them will be telling the story of having an eating contest with The Great White Tiger for many generations. You could see the pride in the faces of tribe members as the wolves competed. I don't think any of them are ashamed of being beaten by a bear shifter or the Great White Tiger. Just being involved made them happy."

"I find it weird that people would feel honored to have an eating contest with me." Bella yawned. "If only humans were that easy to please."

"Are you tired sweetheart?" Rosalie asked.

Bella nodded. "Yeah it's been a long day and it's getting late."

"Why don't you take the kittens and go to bed." Rosalie suggested. "I can help clean out Edward's room and get a list of things we need to get for tomorrow."

Bella gave Rosalie a kiss as she took the kittens and stood. "I think I will. Goodnight everyone."

"Night Bella."Alice called out as Bella made her way up the stairs. "Why is she spending the night here? Shouldn't she be at her dad's? I thought he accepted your bond."

"He did. We are staying here tonight so that we could plan with you guys." Rosalie explained. "Charlie is coming over tomorrow after work to get a full view of the situation and what our plan is."

"So he is ok with you guys fighting this threat?"Jasper asked.

"Oh no, he is very much against not only Bella but myself getting involved. However Billy talked to him and we came to an agreement that he would come over tomorrow and we would lay out all the information for him and he would base his opinion on the facts.I doubt he will like us going but he really doesn't have a say. Bella is just being polite letting him know so he doesn't get mad later when he finds out what went on." Rosalie explained.

"So what is the plan?" Peter asked. "You haven't told us yet."

Rosalie sighed. "We don't have a specific plan yet. We have all the information that the shifters were able to give us but it honestly wasn't much. Bella and I are going to go out tomorrow to get some things we need to help but we won't be able to make a concrete plan until we get to Maine."

"When do we leave?" Alice asked.

"That's the thing Alice not all of you are coming with us." Rosalie told her.

"What." Emmett yelled." Why wouldn't we be coming with you?As a part of team paws and fists we stick together. That means we all go."

"I appreciate you wanting to come but none of you are trained or have any experience with what we are dealing with." Before Alice could protest Rosalie reminded her." And when we fought the newborns you lost an arm and almost died Alice. It's just not safe for everyone to come."

"You and Bella don't have any training either. Why are you guys going?" Alice asked not at all pleased with the fact she lost an arm being brought up.

Rosalie sighed, feeling the weight of the situation resting on her shoulders. "Because Bella is the Great White Tiger and right now there are people who need her. The only reason I'm going is because I'm almost as indestructible as she is. We are the only two who are capable enough to carry out the rescue because we don't know who or what we are dealing with."

Jasper cut Alice off before she could argue more. He didn't like the idea of being involved in this himself so having Alice rush in head first was making him panic. "I think that is reasonable. As Rosalie said they don't have enough information right now so they can't make a plan. We all should wait until they tell us exactly what they need."

"Fine. We will wait to see if we are needed." Alice may have agreed but she was already trying to think of a way she could be useful to Bella and Rosalie on this mission.

"I'm done with Edward's room if you want to help me clear out the rest of his stuff." Esme called down the stairs.

"Hell yeah! Now we get to wreck his stuff." Emmett exclaimed happily as he, Rosalie and Alice made their way to Edward's room.

Rosalie covered her nose as she walked in. "Ugh it smells like him in here. Open the window Emmett."

"Maybe we could burn a candle. I have a bunch in my room.I'll go get some." Alice offered as she rushed out of the room.

"Hey Rosalie I didn't know you fantasized about marrying Katherine Hepburn." Emmett said as he looked up from the book he was reading.

"Give me that you idiot." Rosalie ripped the book out of Emmett's hand looking through what was a handwritten diary of sorts that Edward had written filled with the thoughts he heard from other people as well as his opinion on the information. Rosalie looked around the room and noticed there were at least a hundred different diaries stacked in various places. She picked up a couple of the others and found they were all like the first one. "It looks like Edward kept a record of everyone's secrets."

Emmett went wide eyed."Could you image what the Volturi would do to get their hands on these books?"

"Which is why we are going to burn them." Rosalie told him.

"Are you sure we should?"Esme asked. "I think Carlisle would want to look through them first."

"No, no one is going to look through them." Rosalie said appalled at the idea. "Not only is it disrespectful to those who were written about, it is morally wrong to pry into people's thoughts,especially when they were heard without permission. So no I'm letting anyone especially Carlisle, who doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut, read them. We burn them so they are completely destroyed and no one will ever be able to look at them again."

Esme gave her an embarrassed smile."Of course. It wouldn't be right of him to read them. I just know he is going to be disappointed when he finds out about them and he doesn't get a chance to see what they are like. You know how he is about knowing as much as he can about our kind."

"I don't care if he is disappointed. Let him go cry in his office about it." Rosalie told her. "Because I know for a fact he wouldn't want anybody else reading about his thoughts."

"Great."Emmett clapped his hands together breaking the uncomfortable tension in the room."So should we just make a burn pile. I mean it's not like this couch is even that comfortable."

Rosalie took inventory of what was in left in the room. Edward didn't have a bed. He had a bookcase filled with mostly older religious texts, an ugly couch, a closet filled with clothes that none of them would wear even if they did fit them, a sound system, an entire wall covered by shelves full of vinyl records and his bathroom which had various grooming products. "I think we should donate his clothes."

"Why can't we just burn them?" Emmett asked.

Alice raced into the room with her arms full of candles. "We aren't burning any clothes Emmett. I picked them all out. We should do as Rosalie said and donate them."

"This going to be a lame burn pile." Emmett grumbled.

Esme held up a book."How about the books?Some of these are rare and quite valuable. I don't think Carlisle will want them."

Rosalie thought through the easiest options. "We could donate them to a church but there is no way of knowing if they would actually keep them or destroy them if it went against the belief of their religion."

"How about we give them to Bella?She could add them to her collection of stuff. That way we would know they were taken care of and would be preserved. It would be a shame to throw some of this stuff away just because it was Edward's." Alice said as she pulled out a few records from the shelf. "We could do the same with these records. None of us want them but some of them are valuable so it would be a shame to just burn them."

"Yeah we could do that. We would just have to pack them up and have them shipped to the estate. Bella was just talking to me about having the books in the office cataloged and properly stored so they would be taken care of. What does everyone else think?" Rosalie asked not feeling comfortable being the authority of what happened to Edward's possessions.

"I think that is a reasonable solution." Esme said with a soft smile. "I like the idea of Bella having them. I know she will appreciate them and take care of them even if they once belonged to Edward."

Emmett threw his hands up in the air. "Great my burn pile only consists of a bunch of books and a couch. This is the lamest bon fire of revenge ever!"

"What is a bon fire of revenge?" Esme asked.

"It's when you defeat the villain and burn all their stuff inside their secret hideout but this one is going to suck." Emmett told her disappointed with the lack of burn materials.

"You could always burn all his underwear. It's not like they could be donated." Alice said.

"Yeah because a few pairs of tightie whities are going to make a huge difference. Edward was such a pussy. Everyone knows a real man wears boxers." Emmett patted Rosalie on the back."Right Rosalie?"

Rosalie grabbed Emmett's hand and roughly pushed him into the couch breaking it in half. "My underwear choices are none of your business Emmett."

"Geeze, you don't have to be violent. I wasn't asking to see them." Emmett groaned as he stood up.

Rosalie growled making him take a step back causing him to fall into the pile of rumble that was now the couch."Be glad Bella is in bed sleeping because her reaction to you questioning my so called manhood would have been a lot worse than throwing you into a couch."

Esme took a step in-between the two of them hoping to stop Rosalie from murdering Emmett. "Anyway, how about Alice and I move everything we are keeping into one of the guest rooms for now and I will get them ready for shipping when I get the proper materials to do so. Rosalie can use some boxes to pack up all the diaries to burn and Emmett why don't you go start a small fire in the yard away from the woods and start with burning the couch. I was going to dispose of it properly but it looks like it will be easier to just burn it."

"Sweet." Emmett called out as he raced from the room.

Esme put her hand on Rosalie's arm to get her attention. "Rosalie sweetheart, I know it's hard but please reframe from further hurting Emmett and promise me you won't throw him or any piece of him in the fire."

"I wouldn't burn the big oaf." Rosalie scoffed. "He may be needed for cannon fodder at a later time."

Esme cringed. "Well at least he will be in one piece in the morning."