I stared out the window of my study into the darkness of the woods that surrounded our home, lost in my thoughts of all that had happened these last two days. The house was quiet for now, peaceful, and I wondered how much of that was to do with Jasper.

We had managed to get the girl to relax and settled enough after she had got showered. Emmett, who seemed to be the only one of us not entirely shell-shocked, had the presence of mind to find her some of Rosalie's clothes to wear. It was a sign of how concerned I was about the girl that I didn't give any consideration to how Rosalie would react to finding a stranger wearing her clothes when she returned home. We tried to ask questions, but each time she became distressed when she couldn't remember anything. Her fear was palpable and I didn't need Jasper's gift to know she was terrified. I wished the girls would hurry back. For reasons I couldn't quite explain, I was sure being alone in a house with four males was only adding to her distress.

When the girls did return, her fear rose again. Seven vampires with so many questions and emotions seemed to be more than she could bear. She took off into the woods on more than one occasion. Each time, Jasper or Emmett followed after her and brought her back. She seemed to have forgiven Jasper for the role he had played in helping me fix her leg, and the beginnings of trust were starting to spring up.

While she seemed to have forgiven Jasper, she certainly hadn't forgiven me. She barely spoke to me, and seemed to go to great lengths to avoid me. As much as possible, I tried to give her space, reasoning that she would come round to me eventually. At least, I hoped she would.

She was drawn to Emmett, with his unshakable calm and easy going nature, and had spent the last day and a half with either him or Esme. Jasper was never far away, keeping a close watch on the emotional atmosphere around her.

A knock on my door drew me back to the present and I was surprised to see Jasper standing there. He looked exhausted. I motioned for him to come in.

"How is she?" I asked.

He shrugged, "Calmer. She's with Emmett and Alice. They were watching a movie when I left."

"Is she…"

He nodded before I could finish my sentence. "Definitely. But I don't think she realises it, she doesn't understand. She's young, Carlisle, barely more than a year or two." I could hear the worry in his voice.

Empaths were rare, very rare, and I wondered how I had come to have two of the rarest creatures in existence living under my roof. I sat down on the brown leather sofa and placed my head in my hands. Uncharacteristically, Jasper came and sat beside me. He didn't speak, didn't touch me or offer any comfort other than his presence. I may be the leader of this unconventional group of vampires, but Jasper knew infinitely more about vampires than I did. I knew his knowledge and experience would be invaluable when it came to helping the girl. Once again, I found myself feeling very grateful that he and Alice had found us all those years ago.

"What are we going to do with her?" It was a stupid question, I knew what we were going to do with her. Esme had claimed the girl as her sixth child from the moment she saw her.

"She's barely holding on to her sanity, Carlisle." His tone was defeated. He knew as well as I did that most empaths went mad as newborns. I had often wondered if the only reason Jasper had survived intact was due to his ability to manipulate emotions as well as feel them. We both knew what it would mean if she did go mad, or if she had already.

"Where did she come from?" I asked. Another stupid question.

"I don't know, she doesn't know. She says she doesn't remember."

That was what she had said when I managed to ask her yesterday. I had hoped that something, anything, would come back to her once she calmed down slightly.

Jasper sighed and leaned his head back, staring up at the ceiling. He was tired. He hated disclosing any weakness to anyone, but he had once intimated to me that using the manipulation aspect of his gift for long periods of time was tiring. By my estimation, he had been pushing feelings of calm towards our newcomer for over 48 hours now. He needed to rest, but he would never admit such a thing.

I got up and walked to my desk to work on some patient files I had brought home. I had anticipated being able to work through them in a few hours on Friday morning and enjoy a restful weekend. But our weekend hadn't gone exactly as planned.

Jasper watched me, following my every move. I didn't speak, instead just sat at my desk and pulled the first file towards me. I studied it, feeling the immediate sense of peace I felt when I was engaged in my work. I concentrated on that peaceful, content feeling and pushed it towards Jasper. His body slowly started to relax and his eyes closed. Despite appearances, he wasn't sleeping, he couldn't sleep, but I hoped that a few hours of calm would go some way to restore him. On any other occasion when he was feeling so exhausted and overwhelmed, he would run to the woods to be alone. But I knew he would not leave tonight.

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I left him alone after an hour or so, insisting that he stay to rest. I went downstairs where I found the girl still watching a movie with Emmett, Rosalie and Alice. She was sitting on the sofa beside Rosalie, Emmett sitting on the floor at their feet and Alice was stretched out in front of the fire. I noticed Rosalie was holding the girl's hand and smiled to myself. Despite all appearances to the contrary, Rosalie was incredibly caring, and I had watched over the last two days as she tried to bring some comfort to the girl, reassuring her without words that we were not a threat.

She was as relaxed as I had ever seen her and I hated that I was about to disturb that. I motioned to the others to give us a few minutes and, muting the television, I came and sat beside her. She shifted awkwardly on the sofa, increasing the distance between us. I wanted to reach for her, comfort her and make her believe that I wasn't a threat, that I wouldn't hurt her. I didn't, instead I watched her as she studied the carpet.

Alice and Rosalie had gone shopping the previous evening and bought her some clothes. Now that she was dressed in clothes that fit her, I could see that she was slim, as slim as Alice, with none of the womanly curves of Rosalie. There was a leanness to her body, suggesting she had been more muscular as an human than any of the girls. She was short too, maybe an inch or two taller than Alice, but certainly dwarfed by the other members of our family. Her blonde hair, a little darker than Rosalie's but just as long, was curly. It reminded me of the wildness of Jasper's hair.

Her eyes, which had been so black just two days ago were lighter, the beginnings of golden brown appearing. There was no sign of redness in her eyes, suggesting that her recent meal was not the first time she had drank animal blood. Either that or it had been an incomprehensibly long time since her last meal.

She glanced up at me, a questioning look in her eyes.

I smiled encouragingly. "Do you want to stay?"

"I don't know where else to go," she said quietly.

When she spoke, her accent brought me back to another life. My human life. Scottish? Irish? At this point, I knew better than to ask. But how had she got here? Half a world away?

"Then stay with us. At least until you can remember where you came from."

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Over the coming weeks, we tried to help her remember things about her life. I googled frantically. If Jasper was right, and she had only been turned a year or two ago, there was bound to be something in the news. I turned up a blank; it was hard when she didn't even know her own name or where she had come from. But my googling told me she wasn't local; or if she was local, no-one was looking for her. There had been no missing persons reports that met her description filed in the state, or in Oregon, Idaho or Montana.

Jasper spent a great deal of time with her, trying to help her understand her gift and teaching her ways of coping with feeling what the people around her felt. With his help, she began to change very quickly and once again, I felt sorry for Jasper, who had been forced to learn the subtleties of his gift alone, and in such an inhospitable environment.

Alice found a book of names and spent evenings reading the names aloud, telling her to stop if one sounded familiar. None did. And in the end, Alice started calling her Anna, after the galaxy Andromeda, which Anna had been able to point out one night while they were out hunting.

She remained close to Emmett, drawn to his fun-loving and friendly nature. Emmett was delighted to have found a new friend, and the pair could often be found racing through the woods or playing a rather forceful game of catch that had resulted in more than a few balls crashing through the windows of our house. She smiled often during their games and I could see that, beneath her nervousness, she shared Emmett's playful nature.

Unfortunately, Anna and I had made little progress. The fear on her face and the visible tension in her body each time I entered a room broke my heart. I hated that she feared me, but when she would barely stay in the same room as me for longer than a few seconds, there was little I could do to reassure her that I wouldn't harm her.

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I was vaguely aware of someone purring as I worked in my study. I presumed it was Jasper or Alice, sitting on the porch below my window. When I came out into the hallway, I was surprised to find Anna curled up on the window seat at the top of the stairs. She jumped up immediately.

"S-sorry" she stammered, "I wasn't, I didn't mean to…"

I gently shushed her, this was her home too, and she had every right to be wherever she liked, the same as anyone else. She looked down, studying the floor. "You were very calm and content. It was nice."

That was probably the longest sentence Anna had spoken to me since she had arrived in our home, and despite having plans to go hunting with Edward and Emmett, I wasn't about to pass up this opportunity for a conversation with her. I sat down on the window seat, and after a few minutes, she came to sit beside me, taking great care not to touch me.

The purring confirmed to me one important thing about Anna's past. Purring was a learned behaviour; vampires learned it from each other. I hadn't purred for years, and neither Esme, Edward, Emmett or Rosalie purred, since no-one had ever taught them. Jasper and Alice both purred occasionally, Jasper having learned the behaviour from other vampires, and Alice, having learned from him. The fact that Anna could purr told me that she had spent at least some time with other vampires. But who? And where?

"Is there anything we can do for you? You know you just have to ask."

She nodded, but didn't say anything. I knew she would never ask.

"You're safe here." I continued gently, "No-one will hurt you, and you can stay here until you remember where you came from."

I hadn't meant it to sound that I was saying she had to remember, and that when she did, she had to leave. The truth was, even though it had only been five weeks, and even thought she was so quiet it was like living with a cat in the house, I couldn't imagine our family without her.

"What if I never remember?" she asked softly "Alice says she doesn't remember." She looked up at me, her golden eyes sad. That was another thing I had noticed about her, she was so expressive of what she was feeling. Not verbally, but if you watched her face, and particularly her eyes, you could see exactly what she was feeling.

"Then you stay here, of course. You can stay here as long as you like. This is your home for as long as you want it."

This was all of their home for as long as they wanted it. Edward, Emmett and Rosalie, had all left and come back at various points over the years. I had always been convinced that Jasper would leave one day, but, so far, he had proved me wrong.

At that moment, Edward came up the stairs. Beside me, I saw Anna's entire body tense. Edward saw it too, and paused before reaching the top step.k

"Emmett and I are…" he stopped, and then answering my unspoken words added, "Another time." He smiled at Anna and turned back down the stairs.

She was intimidated by Edward, as most people are when they first learn about his gift.

"He tries not to pry." I said, "For the most part, he tries to ignore what he 'hears' and gives us as much privacy as he can."

"Jasper said…" she stopped.

Jasper said what? I wondered. I was very aware of the tensions and dislikes between Edward and Jasper, but I hated thinking that either of them would taint someone else's opinion of the other.

"He said reading helps." She said in a rush.

I nodded. Yes, that was true. If you were reading, and focused on what you were reading, it was harder for Edward to get a read on your thoughts.

"Can you read?" I asked gently.

She nodded. "Jasper lent me a book."

I got up and beckoned her to follow me. I showed her into my study, one wall was entirely shelved and filled from floor to ceiling with books.

"There are a lot of medical texts," I said, pointing to the books closest to my desk "But there is also lots of fiction, some history, some biographies. You're welcome to read whatever you like."

She nodded and tentatively walked towards the shelves. I watched as she lifted down a thin book and began leafing through it. I was surprised to find it was music, probably belonging to Edward at one point.

"Do you play?" I asked

She shrugged. "I don't know. But it looks familiar. I can read it, I know what it says." She started to hum softly.

"Edward plays piano," I offered. "Rosalie can too, and they have been teaching Esme recently. If you like music, you could talk to Edward. He has a vast collection, I'm sure you could find something you like."

The shelves in Edward's room similar to the shelves in my study, only his were floor to ceiling of CDs. Most of his music was now in mp3 format, and stored on a few hard drives, but he still liked to keep the CDs.

"We could ask him to put some music on an ipod for you."

She nodded, "That would be nice."

I knew she would never ask herself, and I made a mental note to speak to Edward when he got home.