A/N I want to thank everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter of this story..I would also like to thank katmom for being my wonderful beta...

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. I also don't own any recognizable places used in this story.

2.

Keeping a Close Eye on the Targets

I stood there a moment, my eyes wide with shock. In all my years of tracking people, no one had ever seen me. I was usually so adept at finding a spot where I could see my target without being seen in return. Humans are usually too distracted by work or personal matters to observe their surroundings. I recovered my senses a second later, taking the opportunity to hide behind the nearest corner when Bella blinked. Once I was out of sight, I heard Emmett speak.

"Bella?" he asked in a worried tone.

"What's wrong?" Angela added.

Bella turned back to her friends and gave them a small smile. "I'm okay, nothing's wrong. I just thought I saw something."

"What?" Angela asked, looking towards where I had stood.

"A woman with the most unusual eyes and palest skin I've ever seen."

Emmett smirked. "Paler than you?"

"Yes," Bella answered.

"Is there such a thing?" he teased.

A small smile tugged at Bella's lips. "Apparently."

I chuckled at Emmett's teasing.

"What made her eyes unusual?" Angela asked Bella.

"They were like ocher," she told her friend.

Angela seemed skeptical as she asked, "Are you sure they weren't hazel?"

Bella looked back to where I had stood and frowned at both Angela's skepticism and not seeing me there anymore. "I'm sure. The woman's eyes were nothing like Emmett's' and he has hazel eyes."

Emmett appeared pleased that Bella had noticed. "Are you saying you like my eyes?"

Angela laughed. "No, she's just making a comparison and she can't use my eyes since they are blue."

"Well, my eyes are purdy," Emmett told them, fluttering his lashes. Bella giggled as Angela laughed harder.

All throughout the rest of the day I continued watching them as they went to their classes. Bella would glance at the corners of all the buildings she passed trying to see me again. Her eyes glistened with anticipation each time, but fell the moment she found nothing.

"Maybe you're just tired and you thought you saw someone," Angela told her kindly after the fifth time.

"You mean if we don't get any sleep we can see ghosts?" Emmett asked.

"Emmett," Bella admonished good naturedly.

He slung his arm around her shoulder. "What? You saw a strange woman and she disappeared. It could have been a ghost."

I knew that my siblings might disagree but I was far from strange. Sure, I wasn't a normal eighteen year old girl. I was technically ninety-five years old. I was never going to age nor have children. Yet, I loved my family and enjoyed my work; something many humans could relate to.

I rolled my eyes at Emmett. Humans had the strangest reactions for things they thought were out of the ordinary. Most of the time they were afraid of what they don't know, others tried to explain it in a way that made sense to them. Angela seemed to want a logical explanation, but Emmett had to think of the most preposterous rationalization for what Bella saw.

Bella just shook her head at him as she stubbornly said, "Em, ghosts don't exist, but I did see a woman."

I was hoping she'd let what happened go, but, if this day was any indication, it seemed as if she was going to pursue me until she could prove what had happened. I had to be extra careful. I already allowed myself to make one mistake, another would be worse.

That evening I followed Bella and Emmett to a medium sized auditorium. There were twenty-five people, students most likely, there when they arrived. A man and a woman stood onstage near a wooden podium with the University's seal on the front of it. They both appeared to be in their thirties. The man wore a brown suit with a white shirt and green tie while the woman was dressed in a black skirt and bluish gray blouse.

The blonde haired guy who had whistled at me earlier today stopped them and handed Emmett an Olympus zoom-lens camera. Tonight, the guy was wearing a red shirt and jeans. Emmett took the camera and carefully placed its strap around his neck.

"Hey, thanks again for doing this Emmett. I need to get to the hospital."

Emmett placed his hand on the guys shoulder. "No problem, Mike. I hope your mom feels better."

Bella hugged him. "Tell her we are thinking of her."

Mike's arms lingered around Bella a few extra moments before he pulled away. "Thanks, I will."

With one last wave he left.

I sat in the back as Bella settled into a seat a couple rows back from the stage and took out a tape recorder. Emmett stood near a pillar a few feet from where she sat, facing the stage at an angle. Emmett turned and took a few shots of the audience. I ducked down as fast as I could but I didn't know if I was quick enough to avoid being photographed.

Bella turned on her tape recorder and Emmett snapped another picture as the man in the suit went to the podium.

"Good evening everyone. My name is Professor Watson and I am the Associate Dean of the School of Law. Welcome to tonight's lecture on lawsuits in today's society. It's my pleasure to introduce Attorney Barbara Mitchell."

I clapped along with everyone else as Attorney Mitchell walked up to the podium and shook Professor Watson hand. He then walked to a chair set off to the side of the stage.

"Welcome all," she said as she adjusted the microphone. "It's nice to see so many familiar faces from the last time I was here."

Several people nodded their heads and smiled at her.

"As Mr. Watson stated I am here to discuss lawsuits. A lawsuit is a civil action where a plaintiff seeks monetary damages from the defendant. The damages are meant to be punitive in nature as to prevent what happened from occurring again. There is no jail time like in a criminal proceeding."

"Is it true that you can sue anyone?" a young man with reddish hair asked, interrupting her speech.

Ms. Mitchell gave an annoyed smile in his direction. "Well, you have to have some legal basis for the suit. For example, you can't sue your neighbor just because you bought a truck from them and it doesn't run. You have to prove that the truck was in working condition before you bought it."

"Well, that's a bummer," the same young man who had interrupted her muttered loudly.

The others in the room, including Bella and Emmett laughed. I couldn't help but shake my head at his lack of manners. Sure I wasn't always a proper lady, but my mother did teach me to be courteous to others.

Attorney Mitchell cleared her throat before continuing. "Anyway, before I was interrupted I was talking about lawsuits in general. Lawsuits or civil litigation, as it can be referred to, is separate from criminal proceedings. In a single case there can be charges brought in both, though they can sometimes have different outcomes. The OJ Simpson trial is a well known example. In that case he was found innocent in the criminal court but he had to pay damages at the close of the civil trial."

"OJ was guilty as sin," a raven haired boy declared.

"But the evidence pointed to his innocence," the red haired boy from before said.

Professor Watson took this moment to tell them, "Please calm down. Let's not let this turn into a debate."

Attorney Mitchell turned and gave him a grateful smile. "Now in lawsuits there are statutes of limitations. They differ depending of each state. In Washington, many such as negligence, wrongful death and medical malpractice have a three year statute of limitation, meaning that you have to file a claim within three years of the incident." After a slight pause she asked, "Are there any questions?"

"Attorney Mitchell," a dark blonde haired girl said, raising her hand.

Attorney Mitchell turned and grinned at her. "Yes?"

The girl glanced down at her lap at what I presumed to be a notebook before asking, "Is it true that you've worked on a recent wrongful death lawsuit where the person could have been saved?"

"Yes, but that's all I can say. I'm afraid since it's still in litigation."

The girl frowned but said, "Thank you."

Bella stood with her tape recorder in hand. "Why are the names in that case being so closely guarded?"

"We are keeping their names out of the papers out of respect to the plaintiff, defendant, and their families."

"Thank you," Bella told her before asking, "Is it true that there have been other similar complaints involving the same defendant?"

The woman on stage stood still and stared at her. "How can you know that? That information hasn't been released."

"So it's true," Bella prompted.

Attorney Mitchell took a moment to regain her composure. "As I said before, the case at hand is still in litigation and I'm afraid that I can say no more about that or anything else involving the people involved."

The lecture ended soon after. I was already outside when Bella and Emmett appeared.

"I'll type the article up quickly and email it to Garrett before I go to bed," Bella told him once they were at the building.

Emmett nodded. "And I'll upload the pictures into my computer and send them."

"All right. Night, Em."

"Night, Bella." Emmett looked like he wanted to say more but he just watched her walk off toward her dorm. When she was out of his sight he turned and walked in the opposite direction.

I followed Emmett knowing that Bella would be in her room working on her article. Though I had only been following her for a day, I knew that Bella would hold to her word. She seemed to genuinely care for her friends and I didn't detect any falsehood in her voice as she spoke.

I also had to find out if he had captured my image with the camera. I had to come up with a plan just in case he did. My mind went through several scenarios but the one that seemed the most plausible was to just delete the photo from both the camera and the computer.

A group of guys were standing by the front door when Emmett reached his dorm ten minutes later. As I stood across the way, I shook my head at the smell of alcohol. Even if I didn't have a heightened sense of smell, I think I could have still smelled them from my vantage point.

"Hey, Emmett, you missed a great frat party," a black haired, pimply faced guy slurred.

He pointed to the camera which was still around his neck. "I filled in for Mike."

Another man with dark skin told him "You can take pictures any day but frat parties are …"

"All the same," Emmett finished. "Guys, there's more to life than getting sloshed every chance you get."

"You're no fun since you stopped coming to parties with us," the black haired guy said.

Placing a hand on both their shoulders Emmett told them, "Get some sleep."

"Come on Eric, let's go," the dark skinned guy stated.

The one named Eric nodded. "Sure, Tyler. Emmett can go about his business while we have more fun."

The one named Tyler looked at Emmett and back at Eric, smiling. "I like the sound of that."

After Eric and Tyler left, I took a deep, cleansing breath. Emmett handled the situation much more maturely then I had originally thought. From what I had seen of him, I'd thought he'd make some joke and laugh it off. He entered the building and, unfortunately, there were no trees that I could use to scale it so I had to come up with another plan.

Fifteen minutes later, I had run several ideas through my head but none of them worked. Eric and Tyler returned with a group of friends, many of whom were female. At seeing the group an idea sprang to mind and holding my breath, I joined them as they went inside. Nobody seemed to notice me as I tagged along. I slipped away as soon as they passed the stairwell. It only took moments to get up the three flights of stairs to Emmett's floor. I listened at the door, hearing some of his neighbors milling around. When it fell silent, I opened the door and peered out into the hallway; it was empty.

As I approached Emmett's door it opened. I backed up against the closest wall. Luckily, Emmett headed in the opposite direction, leaving his door ajar. I easily slipped inside once he was far enough away. A twin sized bed with an orange comforter sat up against a wall to my left. An undersized desk that barely held the laptop computer, camera and books it had on it sat next to the bed, facing the far wall. I stepped up to the desk and taking the camera, began flipping through the pictures.