AUTHOR'S NOTE: The official start of the sequel to Breathe. I just want to thank you guys for continuing over onto this story and again express my gratitude for reading this far. I hope you guys like the next installment and all the plans I have for it. New angst, new drama. New stories to tell! I'm still going to do songs for each chapter, but this time around I decided to add in lyrics. But I won't be doing that with this first chapter. Mainly because two albums inspired this one. I revisited my love of Linkin Park's first two albums, as well as one they did with Jay-Z. Hence the title of this story! So check those out and keep in mind that those songs are going to be influencing this story a lot. As well as Fort Minor's 'The Rising Tied' CD. So check those out and get to reading! Enjoy.

Stephenie Meyer owns it all, I'm just taking responsibility for Baylee.


Chapter One:

One of the best inventions ever created was headphones. Those big, black studio headphones that vibrate against your ears when you're listening to something really loud. They have insanely long cords that sometimes get in the way, but are generally ideal under ordinary circumstances.

It was that long cord that enabled me to lay on my bed as black studio headphones bassed the CD I was listening to into my ears. I hadn't listened to this in so long, but I knew every single word by heart. Still. A mash-up between a once beloved band and a rapper that I didn't really listen to. I liked him well enough, sure. After all, I'd somehow gotten my hands on a replacement copy of the CD.

The original had been lost in a fire that claimed the lives of my mother and step-father. I'd almost died in that same fire, but by the sheer grace of God; I'd been found in time. But I hadn't completely escaped the damage that tore my entire life apart and ultimately led me to my new home of Forks, Washington.

It still confused me at times, how I came to be here. A promise between friends landed me with a prominant doctor and his wife. Their adopted children became my siblings and one of their children was actually my childhood best friend.

I just wasn't entirely sure I could call him that anymore.

Jasper Whitlock Hale had gone off to college and had been keeping his distance. At first it was okay, he came back whenever he could and spent time with the family. I was usually scarce on those weekends, knowing he didn't want to see me or have anything to do with me. Not after how we'd left things at the end of the summer. Then life got in the way and I suddenly found myself having a social life. Thanks in large part to my only friend outside of the family, Bella Swan. The girl now dating my other adopted brother, Edward Cullen.

Watching those two together was probably the cutest thing I'd ever seen in my life. I'd spent so much time when I first came to live with the Cullen family trying to get them together. But in the end, they hadn't needed my help. They came together naturally, through a love of shared interests and physical attraction. It was strange to think about now and where their relationship was compared to how it'd been when I left for Santa Cruz for the summer.

Santa Cruz, California. Where everything started the came to a screeching, crashing halt. The summer where I thought I was going to get every single thing I'd never even known I wanted. I got everything then lost it all just as quickly. All because I couldn't let my guard down and trust the one person I'd once been able to trust as a child.

A small grimace contorted my features when the onslight of memories threatened to break through carefully cultivated barriers. I didn't want to think about that. I refused to revisit the memories that made me feel like I was being stabbed with thousands of tiny needles, all over my body. Vaulting off the bed, I pulled the studio headphones down around my neck and grabbed a different CD.

I was on a massive kick now, not entirely sure what had caused it. I just heard a sample of an old favorite and was instantly launched back into that world. Back into loving a band that had seen me through some massively difficult times. But this record, the one I switched out for the mash-up between rock and rap, this was one I could just put on and enjoy. Readjusting the volume, I unplugged the headphones and set the CD to random. The beats flooded through my room almost immediately and I relaxed into the rhythm, smiling as my hips started to sway to one of my favorite tracks on the entire disc.

I loved being able to get lost in the music, and now be free to move as I wanted. It'd been a year since the fire that had claimed my childhood and I was as healed as I was going to ever get without more surgeries on the scars that riddled the left side of my neck and shoulder before spiraling down to cover my entire back then a small portion of my stomach. It was still diffcult for my family to see the scars, but at least they'd become able to hide the grimaces whenever I walked around in a tank top.

I was just thankful that the burns stopped right where my jeans had rested on my hips that fateful night. Denim had saved my lower body from destruction, but it was only by the sheer grace of God that I was only burned on the upper part of my body.

The tracks switched and I started to bob my head in time with the music as I started to dance around. The space in my room was limited at best, since I had one of the smallest rooms in the entire house, but right then I didn't care. Dancing and the pulsing beats were providing a very welcome distraction, keeping me from thinking about the things I was still trying desperately to run from. One in particular.

It was Christmas break and Jasper was coming home from college for the entire vacation. Instead of the weekend incriments that I was used to.

There was more to him coming home, I could just feel it. I knew that the rest of my foster family was aware, but they weren't telling me. I was being kept in the dark, no longer a part of any conversation that centered around the fair-haired son of Dr. Carlisle and Mrs. Esme Cullen.

Most days, that was how I liked it. I liked being blissfully unaware of how Jasper's life had shaped up in Seattle, where he was attending art school. From the little information I overheard, he was doing pretty well. This was his first year away from home but he didn't seem as homesick as I originally thought he would be, back when I was first told this piece of news. He had decided to actually go away for school, instead of sticking close to home then transferring out later.

I just refused to let myself be concieted enough to factor myself into his decision. I didn't want to worry if I was the reason he didn't want to stay at home anymore.

"Someone's feeling better." I whirled around instantly when I heard a new voice break through Mike Shinoda's lyrics and quickly shut off the stereo.

My tiny brunette sister, and probably my best friend in the entire family, smiled as she skipped into the room and planted herself on my neatly made bed. Alice was a force to be wreckoned with, that was the easiest way to describe her. She was thrilled now that I was back to almost full mobility. She loved dressing me, seeming to know which outfits would hide the extend of bodily damage. And I had to admit, I was relieved to have her in my life and on my side. Even with all the turmoil I'd unleashed on her family. If she blamed me for the friction between myself and Jasper, she didn't admit it. I didn't think she ever would, if I was being honest with myself.

Loyal to the end, that was Alice Cullen. Our other sister, Rosalie Hale? Well, she had started out as a slightly different story.

When the summer ended and she prepared to go off to college with the love of her life, Emmett Cullen; I honestly figured that she wouldn't stake any kind of claim in the disaster known as me and Jasper. I figured she would just steer clear and let us do our own things. But I was wrong, very wrong. While she understood my situation, to an extent; I could feel a little hostility from her. Completely deserved when I finally sat down and let my brain process all the changes.

But when she came into my room one night and found me crying, holding a picture of her brother to my chest; her entire stance on everything changed. I wasn't sure what caused it. I had no idea if my tears or the agony I'd momentarily let have me changed her mind, but the next day I walked upstairs and overheard her screaming at the boy she shared a last name with. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have simply stopped fighting and let me push him away?

Those questions suddenly began to bounce through my head so violently that I forgot about Alice until she began to jerk violently on my arm. My left arm.

"What?!" I hissed and pulled away from her. That little movement only succeeded in sending me flailing onto my bed and I breathed a mental sigh of relief. I always did that when I was able to do something normal and felt no pain. The little discomforts now was nothing compared to the searing agony I was introduced to when I regained consciousness after the fire.

"I said that Esme wanted me to come see if you'd changed your mind about coming with us to the airport."

"The airport?" Apparently I was more out of it than I originally thought. Jasper's arrival home that night had completely slipped my mind for a second. The sole reason I put my headphones on to drown out the rest of the world.

But now it all came crashing back down and a brief flicker of pain flashed across Alice's eyes as she looped her arms through mine. "Okay, already knew the answer to that."

I smiled balefully at my pixie-haired sister then shrugged and struggled to my feet again. I needed my fix of music again, I needed something else to force my mind onto. "I don't think he wants me there. And I know there's something y'all aren't telling me." I shrugged then turned my head to look at her as I sent Fort Minor pulsing through my room once more. "Besides, I have the closing shift tonight."

Alice sighed and when my eyes flickered to the clock on my bedside table, I swore under my breath. I'd gotten so lost in my own little world that time had flown by. If I didn't get a move on, I was going to be late.

"Go!" She waved me off, which sent me into a flurry of movement. The only good thing about my job was the uniform.

Carlisle and Esme had been a little hesitant at first when I went to them and declared that I wanted a part-time job. Carlisle argued, naturally, that it was too soon for me to go back to work. I should've been focusing on school, not trying to figure out a way to earn extra money. But I couldn't just sit around and not contribute something. Even though Carlisle was a pretty successful doctor that came from old money, his family based out of Chicago; none of his children had to work for a single thing they had. But I wanted to work, I needed that sense of fulfillment that getting a check every two weeks could provide. Plus it kept me out of the house and busy, so I was willing to take the work burden head-on.

So I set up a compromise with the doc and his wife, who was also strongly opposed to my finding work. When I officially turned eighteen back in October, I agreed to stay with the Cullens if I was allowed to obtain a job. The Lodge was the only formal dining setup we had in Forks, and it was there that I was hired on as a waitress. Carlisle had been forced to go with me to my interview so that he could explain my limitations and I had the conviction of a doctor that had briefly helped on my case. As the months wore on, I started to get stronger and more proficent. I was able to pretty much do everything on my own now, and none of the people I worked with knew about the crippling scars I'd had to battle back from. They had no idea about the extent of muscle and nerve damage that had only finally healed into what I now was. And with the uniform I had to wear; plain white button up and black slacks, no one could see the horrors of my past.

My hair had also grown out enough that I was finally starting to feel more normal. The wigs I'd been gifted months after moving in with this family were no longer needed. Dark blonde locks hung to my ear now and was cut stylishly in a cute bob. While I wasn't entirely thrilled with having short hair, I'd never really had traditional haircuts as a child, I was just glad that I no longer had to worry about people only seeing me as a surviving burn victim. Yet another thing I sacrificed to the fire, my waist-length hair.

Pulling on my uniform, I pulled my favorite pair of black boots out and sat down to start lacing them up. Alice kept me company, even somehow talking me into letting her do my makeup. Hair was off-limits. It was still too short to really do anything with and since Alice kept hers in an adorably cute pixie cut, she couldn't offer her expertise anymore. A silent thrill went through me as I thought about someday needing Rosalie's help when my hair got long enough.

"Okay," I sighed once I was finally presentable enough to be released from Alice's torturous grip. As soon as I was on my feet, she pulled me into a tight hug then held me back at arm's length. "Give Jasper a nod for me, okay?"

She smiled knowingly at me then nodded and waved as I grabbed my stuff and headed out. Another surprise on my eighteenth birthday was a car. My very own set of wheels that I had access to whenever I wanted to get out of the house. The sight of my beautiful 2009 Camaro sat in between Edward's pristine Volvo and Carlisle's prized Mercedes. I still couldn't believe that the sleek piece of midnight blue machinery was mine.

I slid in behind the wheel effortlessly and smiled when the scent of new leather filled my nostrils. Pulling the CD I'd been listening to in the house out of my bag, I loaded it into the car's stereo, cranked the volume then directed my car toward the Lodge. As I drove, I tried to lose myself in the music again, to give myself the mental breather I would need to get through the rest of the night.

But in the back of my mind, I couldn't entirely silence the little voice in the back of my head. This night wasn't going to end the way I wanted it to, not by a long-shot.

When I finally walked out of the Lodge, hours later and sixty bucks richer, I checked my phone and nearly fell over in surprise. I had eleven missed calls, but only one voicemail. Any other time, I wouldn't have thought anything of it. Alice had a tendency of blowing up my phone to see where I was, or when I'd be coming home. And usually, if she got riled up enough, she would convince Esme to help her track me down.

But my entire family knew where I was, and they knew that I wouldn't answer my phone while I was waiting tables. Even though the night was slow by normal standards, I couldn't shake a certain level of professionalism that kept my phone in my back pocket.

I sighed and shook my head slightly, waiting until I was safely locked in my car before I called into my voicemail to see who the message had come from and what cuold possibly have caused eleven missed conversations.

"Baylee! Why can't you break rules just this once and answer your phone?!" Alice's perfect little voice greeted me instantly, without any preamble. A peculiar feeling settled in the pit of my stomach as I deciphered her voice. It lacked it's usual perkiness. She had news for me, I was well aware of that. But whatever this was?

Well, this was something I wasn't going to like. At all.

The message played on from there, my tiny sister demanding I call her the first chance I got. She didn't give me any hints as to why she was actually calling, and that worried me even more. Tossing the phone into the passenger seat, I started my car and headed home. I couldn't even concentrate on the music flowing from my stereo as I drove, I was too nervous and worried. The little voice in the back of my head reared back to life, trying to offer up some senarios about the feeling I'd been battling through my entire shift. What had I missed in going to greet Jasper at the airport?

All too soon, I was home and parking my car in the garage for the night. I noticed the sleek outline of Jasper's motorcycle. I couldn't help wondering if he'd been given that gift yet, or if Carlisle and Esme were planning to wait until Christmas to unveil that lavish expense. I couldn't imagine him getting it back to Seattle. Not with the distance and the fact that a ferry was needed to complete some of the journey. Unless you went way out of the way and bypassed that all together. But still.

Forks wasn't exactly known for it's bright and shiny weather. It rained here more than just about any other place in the continental US. The Olympic Peninsula had lived up to it's name of being the wettest place on earth. Not exactly ideal weather for a bike owner.

I grabbed my stuff and locked my car, trying to push thoughts of Jasper and the hidden gift from my mind. I tried to be quiet as I snuck in through the back door. My room was located on the first floor, near the rear of the house. On nights like this, when I got in so late that all I wanted was my pillow, I was grateful for room placements. I had the only bedroom on the first floor and had even gotten over the paranoia about sharing a bathroom with whichever guests we had in the house.

Dumping my stuff in my room, I sighed heavily and flipped the light on. I was so concentrated on changing clothes that I didn't even notice the figure looming in the corner, curled up in the plush chair I'd brought into my room when I started feeling better. I'd just started to unbutton my shirt so I could exchange it for my tank top and pajama pants combo when I was alerted to the fact that I wasn't as along as I'd originally figured.

"Please turn around before you start unbuttoning that!"

I yelped in surprise and whirled around quickly, my hand slapped over my chest. Recognizing Rosalie's voice first, I relaxed a little by the time I turned to face her.

"You scared the hell out of me." I rushed out in a quiet whisper and threw my sleep clothes onto my bed, instead concentrating on freeing my aching feet from my shoes and second-skin like socks. "What gives, Rose?"

She huffed out a incoherent noise and settled back into the chair she'd climbed out of to catch my attention before I completely disrobed. "Just wanted to warn you before you ventured out into the rest of the house."

"Warn me about what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as I tossed my used socks aside then dug through a dresser drawer for a fresh set. Straightening back up, understanding dawned slowly in my head and I slowly pivoted back around to face her before continuing on to my bed. "If it's about Jasper, I really don't want to hear it, okay?"

She opened her mouth to say something but closed it slowly. Her shoulders bounced in a nonchalant shrug and she crossed her arms over her chest. "Is that what you really want? To not talk about Jasper?"

"Yes." I replied and stressed the word heavily as I plopped down on my bed. "All I really want to do right now is change my clothes, get something to eat then crash. In that exact order, no room for compromise or change of planning."

"All right." She sighed and hefted herself up. I expected her to leave the room then, to give me the privacy I needed so I could change without my back being gaped at. But she surprised me for the second time tonight. Instead of going straight for the door, she came up my side of the bed then leaned down and tentatively put her arms around my shoulders.

I knew that the hesitance in her arms wasn't for my healed injuries. This was the embrace from a woman that wasn't entirely sure the gesture would be warmly recieved. I hugged her back with one arm, my other hand groping blindly for my pajamas.

"I'm sorry." She sighed the words out once she was upright again and stared at me with a weird mixture of sorrow in her vibrant eyes. But before I could question her, to see why she was sorry, she turned and left the room.

Okay, that was probably going to be the weirdest night of my life. Then again, my luck had a tendency of not being that forgiving.