Author's note: I wanted to do a simple EmbryXOC fic and this is what that idea has evolved into. I blame the plot bunnies!

Disclaimer: Okay, everyone's name you do NOT recognize is mine, and everyone else who you do, doesn't. Easy right?

Summary: Katelyn Bennett is a girl with terrible luck. So what happens when Embry Call imprints on said girl? Happily ever after, right? Life is never that easy for Kate. Sometimes, there are complications. Namely those known as the Volturi. Embry X OC. Set Post Breaking Dawn.

Infallible Serendipity

By TheSodaVampire

Chapter 1: Same old, Same old

"Now, you're certain you don't know what you did to it?" my mother asked for the millionth time, in her dry 'I-can't-believe-this-happened-AGAIN' sort of tone that hit just the right note of exasperation and wary disbelief that it caused an instantaneous reaction in my vocal cords, making my voice come out as more of a growl than before she had asked, along with the muscles in my face to contract into a barely restrained snarl.

"Yes, I'm certain that I don't know what I did to it, Mom." I growled down at my black trainers. Well trainer. One of my black trainers was a few feet away from me, next to my mom along with my purse and backpack . (Yes. I said 'Trainer'. No, I am not British. I simply don't like the term 'tennis-shoes', we Americans hardly use them just for tennis anymore. Anyways, I digress…)

"Don't talk to me like that, Kate." she snapped right back, her scowl matching my own in perfect stride. "I took off an entire day of work to take you here, didn't I?" she wheedled, laying on the first layer of her infamous guilt trip.

I resisted the urge to grind my teeth in annoyance. "Yeah.." I bit out just as a tall blond nurse walked into the small-ish room we were waiting in, her saccharine sweet smile plastered on thick.

"Katelyn Bennett?" she asked looking at me, then her fake smile shifted into the genuine article when her gaze landed on my mom's features. "Connie!" she cried in joyful surprise, her blue eyes flickering from my mom's olivine colored skin to my own fair and freckled. "This is your daughter..?" the woman asked in slight disbelief, as she flipped the pages of my chart. "The last names kinda threw me.." she admitted sheepishly as she regarded me with new eyes.

We were at Forks General Hospital, my mom (Connie Moretti)'s new work. A place I knew that would become so integrated into my psyche that I might as well call it my home away from home. Already, people knew my name and who I was, without even having been introduced! But this was to be expected.

I was the daughter of the new nurse of the Forks General Hospital, the one that everyone had heard about a billion times before from my mom. They all knew my life story. From my turbulent birth 17 and a half years ago to my current struggles in the present. The miracle baby. The child she had single-handedly raised after my dad had left us when I was 11, with me keeping his last name. Finally there was a face to put with the name, Kate Bennett.

Even though I looked almost nothing like my mother, with her olive toned skin, hooked nose, and dark espresso colored bob of wavy hair. She looked every bit the half Italian that she was.

Where I had fair peaches and cream skin that was lightly dusted with freckles, a wide set nose, and boyishly short golden brown hair that borderline-d on auburn in the right light, looking much more of the Irish in my father's blood.

The only things that we had in common physically and that people identified us as related to one another were our eyes, our teeth, our body type, and our voices.

Our eyes were both blue-green that tended to change colors with whatever colors we're wearing, with curious gold flecks in side.

Next were our 'fangs', as I like to call them, even if Mom hates it when I do. Our canine teeth are naturally more pointed and sharper than most other peoples', which makes the two of us very easy to identify. It had been the same way for my Nana's teeth, and I bet it had been the same for her mom.

Both my mom and I are not exactly what anyone would call skinny. We are not fat, we're fluffy. There's a difference.

Then there were our deeply feminine voices. We were both often mistaken as men over the phone or intercoms. That got annoying at times, but sometimes worked to my benefit.

I tried my best to smile through my current pain and ill temper and offered my sweaty hand to the blond as I stole a glance at her name tag. "Nice to meet you, Nicole." I said, knowing I had no need to tell this woman my name.

Nicole's eyes widened slightly as she shook my hand, "Wow, you two sure do sound alike! And those teeth!" she exclaimed, glancing from my mother back to me again.

My mom shrugged in a mock arrogant fashion, "What can I say, the kid's got great genes." she stated with a puff of her chest and a poorly thought out slap to my knee.

Pain erupted from my knee upward as I let out a high pitched yelp and slapped the offending appendage away.

Mom had the grace to look apologetic through her barely restrained giggles. "Oops!" she laughed as she covered her mouth with her hand. I glowered at her as I rubbed my knee tenderly.

"So I see we're here to look at you're knee today." Nicole tittered. I had to seriously fight the immense urge to roll my eyes, but I settled for a weak smile.

This Cute Little Kate charade was getting kind of old after 17 years of it. There were certain perks to being on a first-name-basis with the entire medical staff of the local hospital, but there were also drawbacks, like the cooing and the knowing smiles.

It had been this way my entire life, whenever I came in for anything health related (which, unfortunately was far too often), chances are that my mom would know someone in the general vicinity.

Knowing that once I had been 'introduced', I wouldn't be required to speak until Nicole asked me the standard 'What brings you into the clinic today?' rubbish, I allowed my self to tune out of the conversation.

Just as I did so, Nicole and my mom began catching up, despite the fact that they probably only saw each other just yesterday. My mom worked pediatric urgent care, the same clinic we were in now.

I glanced downward at my at my appearance: a hunter the green thermal shirt under a black light weight tee and black workout pants, with the right leg rolled up towards my thigh. Silently, I was thankful for the fact that I had had the common sense to shave the night before, despite the trouble I'd had doing so with an injured knee.

I flinched suddenly just as another twinge of pain zinged through my right knee. I bit back a small noise of pain, but couldn't stop the wince on my face.

My mom must've caught my expression as she laid a warm hand on my shoulder. "Did you take any Motrin?" she asked concernedly, her brow creasing.

"Yeah, a while ago." I mumbled as I began rubbing the joint again, gingerly.

My mom made an un-lady like noise, "I love that, she can touch it but anyone else and…" she trailed off with a wave of her hand and Nicole nodded knowingly.

"Well, I wasn't going around smacking it." I groused with an accusing scowl.

"So how long has this been going on?" Nicole interjected, suddenly remembering her purpose in the room as she went to roll up my left sleeve to check my blood pressure.

I opened my mouth to answer, but, as usual, my mom answered for me. "About a week or so. She says it hurts to get up, sit, as well as go up and down steps."

"It hurts to walk in general." I simplified quietly as the pressure on my arm grew and grew nearly past the point of being simply uncomfortable, until the tips of my fingers began to hurt. Then with a 'Beep', the machine at my side began to lessen the pressure gradually.

"Now, you said she was taking Motrin, how much?" Nicole asked, this time bypassing me entirely and going straight to my mom for answers.

I tuned the two of them out once more, sensing that I would be ignored again while mom supplied Nicole with all the information she required.

My thoughts drifted back to what had happened these last few months, the events that had brought us to this point.

First off, it's common knowledge that the current world economy is shit. The recession had hit my mom's retirement stocks especially hard though, apparently.

I really didn't know much about it, other than my mom kept on saying she'd be eating cat food when she retired if things stayed the way they were. So, mom sold the house and shipped the two of us from Vancouver to Middle-of-No-Where-Washington, also known as Forks, so that she could at least pay for a house there outright and not owe anything on it.

Which meant uprooting me from my home of 17 years and from everything I ever knew or loved and transplanting me into an insanely small town. I mean, my high school had almost the same amount in it than the entire population of this town!

School was, to say the least, an adventure for me. I had never been 'the new girl' before. I had grown up in pretty much the same group since pre-school. Then suddenly-WHAM! I'm the new 'City-Girl'. I had eventually found my niche though, with the drama kids. I had even made a few good friends in the group in the last month and a half.

There was the outlandishly gay Daisuke Sato, the self appointed Sewing Wiz of the group. The boy was a fiend with a needle. He had been the first person to approach me, instantly wooing me with his frenetic eccentric point of view. He was the gay best friend that every girl dreamed of, with enough of piss n vinegar and sass to beat the band. He was, in short, lovely, with his blond and black spiked hair, honey-brown eyes, and sparkly red nail polish. Stylishly chipped, of course. He was another transplant, like me, but he'd been living in Forks for at least a year longer than me.

Then there was Brooke Mathers, the hot tempered temptress. Every boy in school wanted her (excluding Daisuke, naturally), and every girl wanted to be her, with her dirty blond locks, sparkling green eyes, bountiful bust size, and surplus of feminine curves. She was a natural beauty with a laid back attitude, save to those who dare cross her. I'd seen first hand what happened to boys who tried to get too fresh with Brooke and I did not envy those bruises.

Where there was Brooke, there was Dave near by. David Simon was a very sweet guy who unfortunately had fallen ass over tea kettle for blind Brooke. He was a tall skinny kid with shaggy red hair and soft blue eyes. This guy would give anyone the shirt off his back if he thought it would help. He permeated niceness. I was often Dave's confidant, lending a sympathetic ear when he wanted to talk, or gush about how lovely Brooke was. I didn't have the heart to tell him that she would only break his heart.

And following along that line of thought, there was Miyuki Sato. She was Daisuke's younger sister. Apart from their eyes and common nationality, one could hardly tell the two were related. Where Daisuke was all flair and attitude, his sister was the typical Asian beauty, with straight midnight colored hair, fair skin and grey-black eyes. She was also far more introverted than her larger-than-life brother. Which made it hard for her to speak her feelings towards Dave, except to me, it seemed. She loved him dearly, but didn't want to get in his way in his affections towards Brooke, even though I'm sure it killed her a little inside to do so, despite whatever she might say.

The dynamics of our group were a little complicated, to say the least.

And speaking of complicated, there was Darren Pike. He wasn't exactly a part of our group, so to say, but he was a prominent feature in my school life. I just did not get this guy. Sure, he was gorgeous, with surprisingly tanned skin (even though Forks is notorious for having the most rainfall anywhere in the state), and dark features, long ebony curls of hair, and amazing muscle-tone from years of basketball, but that didn't mean every girl was bound and determined to fall for him!

(Never mind that most of the female student body has at one point or another, but that's besides the point.)

But, then again, I could never really understand how arrogant people worked in general, being a person with severe self image issues my self.

Either way, for some strange unfathomable reason, Darren Pike kept bugging me. He would suddenly pop up around me and act all weird. Sometimes, he would be nice and ask me about stuff, the next, he would try and pick a fight with me by acting all superior and shit! Personally, I just wish he would take his split personalities and leave me the hell alone. Dai and Brooke think he's frustrated because I won't kiss the ground he walks on. But Brooke never has, and he doesn't bother her… Like I said, I just don't get him.

But that didn't stop him from uncharacteristically joining the school play as a member of the chorus, the Phantom of the Opera. So now I had to deal with him outside of PE three times a week as well!

Idly, I reached over to pull my backpack towards me and fished out my script. Because of the major deficiency of boys in the drama club, and my tenor-esque voice, I had been casted as a male in the play. The lead male, the Phantom, but a male none the less. It was a bitter sweet victory, since he was my favorite character, but I think every girl dreams of being casted as Juliet, or Christine, in this case, as opposed to Romeo or The Phantom. Or would it technically be Tibolt? Or whatever Juliet's potential fiancée's name was?

Nicole's trilling voice caught me off guard as I went off on a mental tangent. "Oh, that's right, you guys are doing 'The Phantom of the Opera' this year, huh?" she asked with a nod at the script in my hand.

I smiled and nodded weakly. News spread like wildfire in these parts.

"Well, we'll just have to see you guys when opening night rolls around." the blond nurse decided with a cheery grin.

Not really knowing what I should say, I nodded again. "You should." I agreed finally with as much oomph to my shaky smile as I could muster.

Nicole must not have noticed the forcedness of my expression, because she simply grinned wider as she got up and headed to the door. "Doctor Cullen should be with you soon, he's usually very punctual with his patients." she gushed with her eyes glazing over slightly. In a moment, she was gone.

I ignored her near swoon and whipped my gaze over towards my mom's own glossy eyed expression. "He?" I positively hissed, my own eyes as wide as platters. "You know I don't like male doctors!"

My mom giggled and waved my complaint away as if it were an annoying gnat buzzing near her. "Trust me, Kate, you'll love him." she assured me, all the while her out of character school-girl-crush attitude had me more than slightly worried. "He's such a baby, though! I shouldn't be so…" she trailed off again with another giggle and a wave of her hand.

My mom was in her late 40's, so, anyone around 30 or so was a 'baby' to her.

I stared at her warily from the corner of my eye, in case she started to speak in tongues or something else to that effect. My mom only acted this way about her 'Kenny', aka country sensation, Kenny Chesney, so I was a tad weirded out to say the very least. Who was this Doctor Cullen, to have such an effect on my mom?

I found out the second he walked through the door.

He was too gorgeous. Like, his opalescent beauty almost hurt my eyes. Platinum blond hair, dark butterscotch eyes, angular features that were all set off by his blindingly brilliant pale skin and statuesque figure.

I had to blink a couple of times for my eyes to adjust to the luminosity that this man projected. His dark eyes swept over to me and it was all that I could do not to sit there, mouth agape at this guy's presence. "Ms. Bennett, I presume?" he asked in a musical voice that I bet would melt glaciers.

I blinked again and nodded dumbly. Thankfully, the impossibly beautiful man's intense gaze shifted to my side, where my mother, the woman I'd know all my life, was preening. She was hurriedly smoothing out imaginary wrinkles in her black cashmere sweater and blue jeans, and tucking her hair behind her ears.

"Connie, wonderful to see you outside of work." the luminous man greeted graciously with a dazzling white smile. "I take it this is the infamous Kate I've been hearing so much about?" he asked as he stepped in side and extended his milk colored hand to me with a smile that made my heart just about beat out of my chest. "My name is Carlisle Cullen." he introduced himself.

I took his hand with my own, quite painfully aware of how sweaty my palms were. "Kate Bennett…Sorry.." I muttered sheepishly as he let go and I wiped my palm on my bunched up pant leg.

"It's quite alright." Dr. Cullen said gently as he sat down on the customary rolling stool. "So lets see that knee of yours." he said suddenly, rolling towards me and my swollen joint.

I inwardly cringed. As beautiful as Dr. Cullen was, I was still pretty apprehensive at a strange man touching me. I'd always preferred women doctors, personally.

Dr. Cullen must've seen the hesitation on my face, because he smiled encouragingly at me.

"Don't worry, Kate. I won't bite you, I promise."

I smiled hesitantly at him, but still jumped slightly at his cool touch.

A small chuckle escaped from the good doctor, "Sorry. Poor circulation." he laughed apologetically as he pressed slightly on my knee. "Does this hurt?" he asked gently. I sucked in a breath of air as a shallow hiss. He moved his hand a bit and pressed again. "Here?" I winced again. "And here." he moved his hand to the bottom of my thigh, where it joined my knee. This time when he pressed I couldn't help but yelping again as my hands clenched the sides of my seat.

Doctor Cullen pulled back, frowning. "Hmm. Well, I think we should get a couple of X-Rays to see what exactly is going on in there, then I'll be able to say for certain what's wrong and how best to treat it." he announced as he began typing on the near by computer, most likely sending in the order for the x-rays.

So we hobbled my unsteady butt down to X-ray and they placed my knee in the most awkward of positions to take the damn pictures, then we hobbled the way back, all the while my mom gushing over how handsome Doctor Cullen was to any female in the area. Gushing, which was received by more ladies, young and old, with more gushing and tittering. Maybe it was because of prolonged exposure to his good looks, because as soon as I got out eyeshot, I felt much less gooey and gushy.

After we got the X-rays, mom held them against the opaque lighting from the windows, but couldn't see anything overtly wrong in them. So we trudged the ways back towards the waiting room.

After a few moments, Dr. Cullen returned, X-rays in hand. "Well, I can't see anything obviously wrong going on here, but your knee is inflamed a bit. Why don't we get you a brace and some crutches for now-" he started, but the chorus of nervous chuckles from both my mom and I cut him off. His perfect blond eyebrows quirked in confusion.

I smiled without much humor. "I can't do the crutches." I said dryly.

"She's an old premie(1), with minor CP(2). She has major balance issues." my mom supplied quietly, with a similar smile. "She'd be better off with a cane, if we have one."

At the mention of a cane, I couldn't help but giggle sardonically. "A cane? Oh beautiful." I laughed kinda sarcastically. "Nothing like a cane to get you in with the in crowd at school." I chuckled. "The kids in PE will have a field day with this,you realize." I told mom flatly. I was already the outcast because I was a major klutz and fluffy, but a cane! That would just open a whole new case of ammunition for the volleyball girls to toss at me.

Both my mom and Doctor Cullen eyed me sympathetically. "It'll just be for a week or so. We'll have you come back and see how things are looking." Dr. Cullen reasoned with me, pity evident enough in his eyes.

I could barely manage to look at him for more than a moment. I knew I already stuck out in school because I was A): New. B): Fluffy. C): Smarter than your average bear. And now finally D): I'd be the only kid in the entire 300-something student body with a freaking cane.

Things were turning out just peachy.

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Notes:

1: Premie is docter-speak for a premature baby.

2: CP is the medical abbreviation for Cerebral Palsy. (Taken from .com/cerebral+palsy):

"Cerebral palsy (CP) is the term used for a group of nonprogressive disorders of movement and posture caused by abnormal development of, or damage to, motor control centers of the brain. CP is caused by events before, during, or after birth. The abnormalities of muscle control that define CP are often accompanied by other neurological and physical abnormalities."

Which means lack of balance and coordination for Kate. The CP is very mild, yet evident. Simple, every day things are a challenge, like gripping a pencil or a knife, or riding a bike, or driving a car. PE is a hellish ordeal in and of it's self.