Oh god, what has happened? I heard Emmett's footsteps thunder up the driveway and through the front door. Literally, through the front door. I was halfway down the stairs by the time he reached the bottom step. His eyes were wide.

"Carlisle," he breathed, "We need you."

He immediately turned around and ran back the way he came. I followed behind him, not asking any questions. Later, I would feel shame that my first thought was that Jasper had killed a human.

Emmett led me to the river, about twelve miles north of our home. I could see Jasper, crouched down on the rocks. His lips were moving, but he was speaking so softly I couldn't hear what he was saying. Or see who, or what, he was speaking to.

"Jasper found her first." Emmett began explaining.

"Her?" I asked.

He shrugged as I started climbing over the rocks towards Jasper. I approached from behind him, allowing me to get a good look at this girl, and more importantly, allowing her to get a good look at me as I moved towards her.

"We don't know who she is, can't get much sense out of her." Emmett said, following behind me.

A small, fair haired vampire was crouched down with her back against a large rock. Her clothes were torn and dirty and she was barefoot. I could see she was trembling, clearly frightened, despite the calm I could feel radiating from Jasper. Her eyes were black with thirst. I had never seen a vampire so thirsty; it was bound to be driving her mad. I sent Emmett to find her something to eat.

Jasper was still crouched down a few feet in front of her. I followed his lead, trying to make myself as small and unthreatening as possible. I slowly crept towards her and was surprised that she let me. I reached out and placed my hand on her shoulder. She leapt back as though I had burned her. I tried again, and again. Each time I got the same reaction. She let me approach but jumped as though in severe physical pain when I reached for her.

"Don't touch her," Jasper called softly, "you're hurting her."

How on earth could I be hurting her? I was barely touching her, certainly not squeezing her shoulder or using any sort of force. Oh god, the sudden realisation hit me. She's an empath. I looked at Jasper, my eyes wide. He only nodded. She could sense our emotions, my shock and concern, and now my rising worry at this new revelation; Emmett's curiosity and nervous excitement, and, I hoped, Jasper's calm. Every time I touched her, she felt my emotions a thousand fold. It was like I was burning her, a searing pain of shock and worry, all concentrated on her shoulder. Then I felt soothing waves of calm and felt the knot in my stomach lessen. I shot Jasper an appreciative smile. I was thankful for his gift and grateful that he was always so willing to use it for the benefit of others, despite it costing him dearly at times.

Emmett returned with a deer, I motioned to him to set it down in front of her and then the three of us moved back, giving her space and hopefully reassuring her that we weren't a threat and we wouldn't take her meal.

I wondered how we could convince her to come home with us. If she would come home with us. We couldn't leave her here, frightened and alone, but I wondered how she would react to being thrust into a house with seven other vampires. As he usually was, Jasper was one step ahead of me. The girl finished her meal and Jasper stood up. He took a few steady, confident steps towards her, his gaze never leaving her face.

"Come home with us." he said, holding out his hand to her. After a few moments hesitation, she stood up, reaching for his hand.

It was then that I noticed her leg. Her jeans were badly torn and her leg bent at an awkward angle. She winced each time she put weight on it as Jasper led her across the rocks. It is a myth that vampires can't be injured. We can be. It just takes far greater force to injure us than it takes to injure a human. I shuddered when I thought of what effort it would have taken to hurt her like this.

We began the long walk home. At this pace, it would take us a few hours, but the girl was clearly in pain and it would be cruel to expect her to walk any faster. I walked ahead with Emmett; Jasper and the girl followed behind. As we walked, Emmett told me that he and Jasper had found her about half an hour before he had gone to get me. Jasper had sensed her first, picking up on the girl's emotions. Then they had both caught her scent and followed it. She had panicked when she saw them and tried to run off. Emmett, unthinking, had chased after her, causing her sense of panic to increase. She hadn't been able to run far, and had curled into a ball by the rocks on the river bank. She had hissed and snarled when they tried to approach her.

We had been walking for around twenty minutes when Jasper called out, causing us to stop. I turned around and was surprised to see the pair were quite a distance behind us. The girl was clearly struggling to walk. Jasper came towards me and Emmett quickly moved back towards the girl, lightly touching his brother's shoulder as he passed him. Sometimes, it seemed like they could read each other's minds. I had watched them in awe for years, especially as they hunted. They seemed to intuitively know what the other was thinking and acted accordingly. Jasper needed to talk to me but didn't want the girl to be alone. Emmett had sensed this and moved to stand beside our newcomer.

"You might need to have a look at her leg." Jasper said as he approached me. "She's in a lot of pain."

That much was clear; the girl had been grimacing from the moment she stood up, pain clearly etched on her face. I nodded, feeling the dread fill my stomach. I could fix the girl's leg, as I had fixed numerous broken bones belonging to Emmett and Jasper over the years, but repairing the injury was going to hurt her. Not to mention the pain she would no doubt feel when I touch her.

"Be calm," Jasper said, as we walked back towards Emmett and the girl. "It'll help her feel better."

I nodded. Over the years, I had learned how to channel feelings of calm towards Jasper when he needed it. I had become quite proficient at it, but this was different. I wasn't often worried, but this girl had caused me to worry and I was finding it difficult to ignore my apprehension. Who was she? Where had she come from? Could we help her? Would she even let us try to help her?

"Carlisle can fix your leg." Jasper said simply. "Will you let him?"

She looked from Jasper to me and then back to Jasper again. I knelt down beside her and prayed she would see that I meant her no harm. She held my gaze for a moment and then her eyes flickered to Jasper one last time, who smiled slightly and nodded. She looked back at me and gave the tiniest nod.

I breathed a sigh of relief and moved closer towards her. I explained what I was going to do and told her it was going to hurt. I knew that no matter how much I emphasised that point, she would never be able to comprehend just how much it would hurt, so I didn't dwell on that fact for too long. I put my hands on her leg, one above and one below the broken bone. She grimaced as I touched her and I tried to channel every ounce of calm I could muster into my finger tips and into the girl's body. I felt her body tense and she braced herself for what was to come. It was then that I noticed there were two breaks in her leg. Shit. I was going to have to do this twice. Would she even let me a second time?

"Okay," I said softly to her "Let's go." She inhaled a sharp breathe as I pushed the two pieces of bone together and I felt them start to bind beneath my hands. The girl cried out in pain, such an anguished sound that Emmett winced and looked away. She struggled to pull away from me and I fought to keep her where she was. Jasper moved behind her, placing his hands firmly on her shoulders in an effort to keep her still.

"Thanks." I murmured to him, still concentrating on pushing the two bones together. Letting go midway through the healing process and starting again would only cause her more pain. And there was the possibility that the bones would only half-heal and need broken again to heal properly. I didn't think could break anyone's bones; never mind someone as delicate as this girl. So I ignored her screams and her struggles to break free. Eventually, I felt the bones knit together.

Although she was crying in pain, and was breathless and sweating, I didn't stop. I moved my hands down her leg to the second break and began pushing them together too, feeling them slowly start to bind. This break wasn't as clean as the first one, and fixing it took longer and caused the girl even more pain. She increased her efforts to break free; twisting her body in an attempt to get away from me, thrashing her arms in Jasper's direction and looking pleadingly at Emmett. Of course, she would be no match for any single one of us, and didn't stand a chance against the three of us. She fought impressively though.

As soon as I finished, I let go of her leg and Jasper released his grip on her. She jumped up, eyes wet with tears and her face contorted in pain and fear. She was trembling again, as violently as she had been when I first approached her by the river.

"I'm sorry it hurt so much," I said.

Her eyes flashed from me, to Jasper and to Emmett, then back to me again. Then, she turned and ran. Emmett took off after her in an instant.

"Emmett!" called Jasper. "You'll frighten her!"

"Well, we can't leave her out here!" He called back.

He was right, of course, and Jasper and I followed him through the woods. Fortunately, she was running in the general direction of our house. Emmett caught up with her about three miles from our house. He wrestled her to the ground, refusing to release his grip on her until she calmed down. It didn't take long, and when Jasper and I caught up to them, Emmett was sitting on the ground against a tree, the girl sitting beside him. She looked nervous and was fidgeting. Her body tensed as Jasper and I approached. She jumped up and stood facing us, breathing heavily, her eyes betraying just how much she didn't trust us. What had happened to her?

I stayed quiet as Emmett gently coaxed her into coming home with us, where she could get showered and we could find her some clean clothes. He held out his hand to her, as Jasper had done earlier. She moved towards him and took his hand. She clung closely to him as we made our way back to the house, this time Jasper and I led the way, while Emmett followed behind with the girl.

Jasper didn't speak; I could tell his was concentrating on sending as much calm towards the girl as he possibly could. Behind us, I heard Emmett ask what her name was. It hadn't occurred to me to ask her, and I had wrongly assumed Jasper and Emmett already knew. After a pause, she told Emmett that she didn't remember her name; her voice distressed. Jasper, sensing the girl was upset, turned around and gave Emmett a dirty look. I looked back in time to see Emmett mouth 'sorry' to Jasper and then turn his attention back to the girl.

"Don't worry," Emmett said "Alice doesn't remember much of her life before she became a vampire."

Oh god, she did know she was a vampire, didn't she?

"Alice?" she asked, confused.

Of course, Emmett was talking to her about people she hadn't even met yet. It suddenly occurred to me that she probably didn't know our names either. As we walked, Emmett told her our names and explained the dynamics of our strange family.

We approached the house and Edward came out to meet us, curious about our newcomer and probably concerned about the frenzied thoughts he was hearing from the three of us. The girl growled at him and attempted to flee. Thankfully, Emmett was prepared this time and grabbed her before she got too far away.

"It's okay, it's just Edward." he said, calmly.