Just As Important

AN: I was looking through my writing notebook and found the bits of a few plot bunnies I'd written down right after finishing Bree Tanner. I hope you all enjoy. It has already become very important to me and I've only written the first chapter.

Part One

They were offering to teach me a new way, to teach me more than Riley had ever tried to. The sincerity in their eyes told me everything they said was true. They were nice people, and I appreciated their compassion but I just couldn't. I knew I had to get away, a force larger than me was telling me to turn around.

"I don't want to fight, but I need to go," she said taking a step back, "I have a... friend who left because he didn't want to fight either, I just... I needed to see if... to find my... mate..." I said, unable to say his name aloud, not now, not after I knew for a fact he was gone.

I looked at them both in the eyes, "please let me go."

I watched them share a quickly glance, both clearly not wanting to hurt me. The fact that they had even hesitated told me that every single thing we had been told about them was false.

"I wish you would stay," the female, Esme, said her eyes sad.

"But we understand, please, go quickly and be safe." Carlisle said, his arm wrapping around Esme in a comforting gesture. She looked at me the way a mother would look at a child who was in danger, but I shook the thought out of my head.

I didn't take another second to think after that, I quickly turned and ran faster than I ever had before, and then pushed myself to run faster than that. I knew I needed to follow the trail we had taken to get here so that no one would think anything of my scent. I was thankful we'd crossed through water in our journey, and knew I would swim north for miles before touching land again.

I wouldn't endanger Fred by being followed. I owed him more than that, and in addition to that he was all I had left.

When I finally found my way through Riley Park, I was pleased that his scent wasn't difficult for me to find, or unpleasant to my nose. I followed it for miles before I came about an abandoned house in the mountains. I hadn't allowed myself to think too much of anything but getting here safely.

So when I finally walked through the door, when I finally knew I was safe from being found now that I was with Fred, I curled up on the floor and the grief took over.

He didn't say anything, for that I was thankful, but he did move to sit beside me in his way of letting me know I was not alone.

I didn't move, not for eight whole days. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to move ever again, but the thirst became more intolerable than my heartbreak. I held onto that fact. At least something hurt more.

Fred had left to feed only once during my days curled in a ball, not wanting to leave me alone. When we returned from hunting together, I sat on the couch, and he joined me.

"Diego is dead, Riley killed him..." It was barely audible but I knew he heard me. He moved a quarter of an inch closer to me, and I saw his arm start to move, before he stopped himself. He must have been considering hugging me, but he'd changed his mind. I felt both sad and relieved that he hadn't.

I opened my mouth and spoke again, "I met some of the yellow-eyed coven, and they aren't at all what Riley said... I don't know why I even kind of believed him." I could kick myself for not having realized sooner that Diego and I should have run.

I looked at Fred and wondered if he would have been okay if Diego and I had disappeared. Would he have realized all of Riley's lies enough not to follow him? She cringed at the thought of Fred being ripped to pieces like all the others had been. The thought of Fred not sitting here, safe and protected hurt in a similar way to Diego's absence, his death.

My head cocked at that realization. Fred was just as important to me now. He hadn't been, not before, not before Riley had come back without Diego, not before my subconscious realized Diego was gone. It was after that night that I'd truly attached myself to Fred.

"What did you learn? What did you find out?" Fred asked curiously, and I felt bad that he'd had to watch me for the last week. He must have wondered what happened, been curious how I got away, worried that someone might try and find me, find us.

I looked down at my hands, feeling bad for making him worry. "They never planned on attacking us; in fact they said they were protecting themselves." I paused seeing Carlisle and Esme in my mind's eye, the only two I'd personally encountered.

"There was one named Carlisle and his mate Esme, they mentioned briefly that there was another way, that they could teach me." I looked up at Fred, and smiled at him, "But I begged them to let me go, to get back to you."

Fred seemed to be thinking over my words, and I was actually kind of glad that he wasn't speaking his thoughts out loud. It would have been too much like Diego, I closed my eyes for a second, and I decided right then that I needed to focus on Fred.

Although a part of me wondered what happened to Riley... wondered if he had gotten away safely. I would hunt him down one day; I would find him and make him pay for what he did.

"What do you think this other way is?" he asked me after a minute, and I pulled myself out of my thoughts of revenge.

"I'm not sure, I am curious to go back... to find out, but I don't want to leave you." I said my eyes on his.

"Maybe we can one day, not now, maybe in a few months after this has all died down. There is something in my gut telling me we shouldn't go near that place before the year ends." He said, and I nodded my head. He was the only who had the smarts not to go near the battle in the first place; I would trust him with my life.

And my heart, I thought in passing. Diego had quickly changed my whole world, he'd come into my life and made it whole. He'd also torn it apart with his reckless choice to trust Riley, and to give him even a little bit of information to make me believe more of Riley's lies. I looked up at Fred's handsome face, and knew he would never do anything to put himself in danger, which also meant I never had to worry that my heart would break again.

I would find a way to avenge Diego, but I would truly pay Riley back by living, and being happy with the man who sat before me now.

The more I thought about being with Fred, the more I felt a need to touch him. As I looked deeper into his eyes, the knowledge that we were together now, cemented itself in my head. I saw in his eyes how much he cared, how much he always had.

"I trust you," I said, moving closer to him. "We won't go near that place until its safe." At that thought, my mind quickly jumped to those vampires in the black robes, who had cornered her.

"There is something else I have to tell you, or rather in more detail" I said, the fear tickling the back of my neck.

His brows knit together, at the tone of my voice, and before he could ask me to continue I launched into the story. I told him first how Diego and I had chosen to follow Riley's scent, briefly going over how we'd discovered the truth about the sun. I explained and recounted everything we'd heard, and seen. Told him how scary those vampires were that had shown up, and explained that they weren't to be messed with.

We sat in silence after that, and I wished not for the first time that I could sleep. I could see it now; I would lay my head against the arm rest and drift into a place of dreams and peacefulness. Lose myself in a place where the reality of my life could be forgotten, even if only for a few hours.

That was impossible, and the tingle under my skin that was begging me to make some sort of physical contact with Fred was starting to wash away any thoughts of sleep. I peaked at him up through my lashes, and wondered if kissing him would feel the same as kissing Diego.

It wasn't as though Diego was the first guy I'd ever kissed in my life time, but it had been the most important. I was about to force myself to get up and move before I did something, when his eyes drifted to meet mine again, and I froze.

Part1/End

AN: Well there you have it. I hadn't planned on taking it quite this direction... but as I was writing... the entire story shifted in my head, and I realized I wanted her to be with Fred. The next chapter is a lemon, so I recommend skipping it if you have a young impressionable mind. I will attempt to leave out any important deals, and will make it so you could literally go from this chapter to chapter three without missing anything but the hook up.

Also lemme know about any mistakes. :]]

Please review, it means a lot!