If You Only Knew….

A/N: Yeah, I know that I haven't updated in forever….work sucks. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks to everyone that reviewed!

Disclaimer: I own nothing that's related to Twilight (Stephenie Meyer does)…Just borrowing them for my own little amusement! Winter is mine.

Previously:

It was all gone.

Everything.

There was nothing here. No ugly maroon couch that our grandmother had given us right before she passed away, no framed school photos on the wall documenting my sister and I growing up year after year. There was nothing.

For a moment, it felt like I couldn't breathe. Like I had run a mile and no matter how deep a breath I tried to take, it always seemed like it wasn't enough. My head started spinning from the lack of oxygen and my knees hit the floor hard. I didn't realize that I was crying until I felt the coolness of my tears streaming from my eyes.

I didn't want to accept the fact that I was now alone. Utterly alone. My family was gone. My belongings were gone. It appeared that no one had lived in the house, but my family had lived in the house for years.

What the hell is going on?

Chapter 4

After what seemed like forever, I finally managed to stop crying, but the pain of it was all too real. I felt numb, dazed. I don't know how, or when, but somehow I made it back into Carlisle's Mercedes and Alice, Jasper, and myself were all headed back to their house I would assume.

I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I hadn't realized that when the car had come to a stop in the Cullen's driveway. I panicked. How could I possibly stay with them?

"Alice," I insisted panicking , "I can't stay here."

She huffed as she glared at me from outside of the car. She had gotten out of the car and was holding the car door open for me to get out of the car, yet I refused to move.

"Why not?" She retorted.

"I don't want to be a burden." I pleaded, still staying in my seat.

"You're not a burden." She tried to reassure me, and proceeded to pull me from the car. I knew better than to try and pull out of her grasp… she would be too strong for me to break away anyway. " Come on. Let's go."

I sighed in defeat, and a few minutes later, I was being shoved into one of the bathrooms with clean clothes and a towel… Alice nearly demanding that I take a shower. I couldn't blame her. I needed to get the dried blood out of my hair, and I'm sure that they would appreciate not having to fight against attacking me at the smell of the blood. I laid my bloody clothes right outside the door, like Alice had instructed me to do, before closing the door and stepping into the stream of hot water moments later.

The hot water softened up my stiff achy muscles as I washed up, my mind going into overdrive. Where did everything go? I had no family here. I was alone and had no idea what to do next.

Stepping out of the shower a few minutes later, feeling refreshed, relaxed and smelling like lilacs, I was actually grateful for Alice and the rest of the family for allowing me into their home…even if it was tempting for them. Even as I dried my hair with a towel and slid into the clothes Alice had given me, some thoughts just wouldn't go away. For example, what would happen tomorrow morning when I woke up? Would my scent be too much for them to stand therefore demanding that I leave their house at once? What would happen when or IF I ever met Edward…would he read my thoughts and know that I knew more about them than I was letting on? How long would I be able to keep that knowledge a secret? And if he did find out…what was I supposed to tell them? Even I had no idea as to what was going on.

And what about my family? Did they even exist? If they did, Surely I would have to hold a funeral or something, right? How was I supposed to manage that when I had absolutely no money to my name? I knew the Cullen's were rich, especially with Alice keeping an eye on the stock market, but I had no right to ask them for anything. They had already given me more than I ever expected them to.

Upon opening the door, I found that my bloody clothes had disappeared, most likely to be washed or perhaps discarded since the blood stains had been so extensive, and my eyes flickered around the room that I was now entering. There was a couch on the one side of the room with a dark folded blanket and a matching pillow resting on top that I could only assume were meant for me…since I knew that the Cullen's didn't actually sleep…and my body screamed at me, craving the soft mattress of the couch.

Ignoring the aching of my body, I began surveying the rest of the room and noticed multiple pictures adorning the furniture, most if not all pictures of Alice and Jasper unchanging after what appeared to be a very long time. Besides the pictures and various trinkets that scattered around the room I noticed along the far wall a whole shelving unit filled with books all of which appeared to be very old. After a few minutes, I finally caved, heading over to the couch, curling up under the soft covers and drifting to sleep.

When morning finally came, my eyes fluttered open at the rays of sun that had leaked through the window, blinding me until I was able to push myself up and out of the sun, and for a moment I believed that meeting the Cullen's was in fact a dream that I had concocted in my mind. It wasn't until I moved to rub the sleep out of my eyes that I felt the unfamiliar texture against my face and my gaze landed on my wrist that was still in fact wrapped in medical tape from the night before.

Bolting upright, now clearly awake, my eyes scanned my surroundings realizing that this was in fact NOT a dream and I was still sitting in Alice and Jasper's bedroom. Images of the last twelve hours flooded my mind as I remembered the events leading up to this moment, and the anxiety that I had managed to forget about came back with a vengence.

What was I supposed to do now?

I didn't have much time to think because moments after I had woken up, I heard a soft knock on the door.

"Who is it?" I called, perhaps louder than necessary, as my eyes flew to the door.

"It's Esme, dear. Are you hungry? I made you some breakfast."

My mind wondered over the possibility of what she would have made me to eat, and it occurred to me that I was starving. I listened, embarrassed, as my stomach growled from lack of food. I stumbled off of the couch, and made my way to the door, opening it to see Esme smiling brightly.

"Thanks, Esme. I will be down in a second," I paused, kicking myself for sounding rude. If she thought it was rude, she didn't say anything, just accepted my answer and drifted down the stairs towards the kitchen. Closing the door again, I sprinted across the room to have a few 'human moments' to myself (as Bella so appropriately named them), and tried to make myself look somewhat decent. Not that it did any good. My hair was tangled, and I didn't even have a change of clothes making me extremely uncomfortable.

After a few minutes of attempting to make myself look decent, I sighed, giving up and made my way downstairs for breakfast.

Upon entering the kitchen, I saw a plate of pancakes, a bottle of syrup, and a glass of orange juice waiting for me. I silently wondered where everyone was as I saw the sunlight brighten up the kitchen. Taking a seat and digging into the delicious pancakes, I was startled when I heard a voice behind me.

"How are the pancakes?"

I turned towards the voice, only to see Emmett leaning casually up against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest.

"They are delicious." I replied placing another chunk into my mouth. "I'll have to thank Esme, when I see her next."

Emmett chuckled, as he strode across the room, taking a seat across from me. "She's a good cook."

"You know…" I started. I wanted to mess with Emmett, just to see his reaction at my next phrase. "…I'm glad Esme made me pancakes. I was so hungry… I could've eaten a bear."

I gazed at him as I said the last part, a tiny smirk fighting it's way to my lips, although I tried to keep a straight poker face.

It appeared that he stopped breathing, holding my gaze with a poker face of his own. I watched as he appeared to be battling within himself, an action that I wouldn't have been able to detect if I hadn't known what to look for.

Finally, I could not hold my poker face anymore and my mask broke into a grin, laughter echoing around the room.

"Just kidding." I laughed. His booming voice echoed through the air as his nervous laughter mingled with mine. Perhaps he knew the double meaning behind my words as we laughed. Once we calmed down, I asked a question that I needed to.

"Where did everyone else go?" I questioned motioning with my fork as I took another bite of my pancakes. Emmett's eyes watching my every move.

"Carlisle went to work, Esme went shopping, and Rose and Jasper are tuning up cars in the garage." I heard a voice from behind me. Inclining my head, my eyes followed Alice as she joined us in the kitchen, standing next to Emmett.

"Well, hello to you too, Alice." I greeted.

"Morning." She answered back, her golden orbs meeting my blue ones.

"What about Bella and Edward?" I questioned. 'And Nessie?' I thought.

"They'll be here later. They're spending some time with Bella's father." Alice mentioned, "Why?"

"Just curious."

"Did you know Winter is quite the jokester, Alice?" Emmett commented, motioning to me as he glanced in her direction.

"Oh really?" She replied shocked, although I could only assume she heard our conversation.

"Yeah." He replied, his gaze fixed on me as I finished the last bite of pancake, and reached for the orange juice. "She said earlier that she was so hungry she could eat a bear." He chuckled as he said the last part, and Alice joined in softly, although the look she gave him clearly meant that she understood the meaning behind my words.

'I'll have to be more careful about saying things like that from now on.' I thought. I didn't want them to know what I knew, just yet.

I went to take my plate to the sink, but Alice flitted over to me and took it away before I had the chance. "Thanks." I mumbled as I watched her carefully avoid the rays of sunlight that were peeking in through the window.

"Mom's home." Emmett mentioned, his eyes staring past me towards the living room. For a moment I was confused, because I didn't hear anything, but after a couple of seconds I heard a car pull up. Of course Em and Alice would be able to hear her, they had excellent hearing.

"Perhaps you should go help her with the bags." Alice suggested to Emmett.

"But why? She can handle them." Emmett said, clearly not thinking. I watched as Alice slapped him on the back of the head, and then all but shoved him out of the kitchen.

"Sorry about that." Alice apologized to me.

"It's alright." I answered, my eyes glancing out the window as the suns rays disappeared behind the cover of clouds where they would no doubt remain for the rest of the day. "I understand."

A minute later, Esme entered the kitchen holding a couple bags. Emmett followed behind her depositing the bags he had been carrying on the counter. I was shocked at the amount of groceries that Esme had bought…there was no way that I would be able to eat all of it before it went bad. But then I realized that she had to buy so many groceries to keep up appearances.

"How are you feeling today, Winter?" Esme's gentle voice floated around me as she approached.

"Better, thanks." I responded, eyeing the groceries. "Do you need any help putting all of this away?"

"It's alright, dear. Emmett and I can put it away." She assured me. "Why don't you head to the living room and relax."

I nodded, and stood up, the three vampires in the room watching me as I exited the kitchen and headed towards the living room. However, when I got there, I didn't feel like staying in the house, I just wanted to be someplace where I could try and gather my thoughts, and thought the best place for that was the small chair on the porch. The wind was cool as I stepped out onto the porch,pulling my sweatshirt tighter around me, and I sat down on the chair, staring out into the forest.

I was brought out of my thoughts a while later, when I heard a car pull up, and as it got closer, I realized with shock that it was not just any car. It was a Volvo. A shiny silver Volvo. And I could only assume who the inhabitants might be. Confirming my suspicions, Edward and Bella exited the car, approaching the house slowly. My brows scrunched in confusion as I imagined a third occupant exiting the car as well, but there wasn't…it was only Edward and Bella.

"Hello, Edward. Bella." I greeted from my position on the chair, brushing my hair behind my shoulder.

"And you are…" Edward trailed off.

"I'm Winter. It's nice to meet you." I replied, not at all surprised or hurt by his rudeness. I watched as Edward's head snapped up, looking into the house for a moment before he turned his attention back to me. I didn't hear any noise, but I imagined that someone inside told him not to give me a hard time. I smiled, wrapping my sweatshirt closer around me as a gust of wind blew past us.

"It's nice to meet you Winter." A different voice called.

"It's nice to meet you too, Bella." I responded, my eyes flitted to her, and I gasped as I took in her features. Her skin was flawless and pale like the rest of them, and her eyes were the Cullen golden instead of the chocolate brown that I had been expecting, suggesting that she was a vampire. According to the books, Bella turned into a vampire after she gave birth to Nessie, which would suggest that everything that I knew about them all happened prior to me getting here.

"Where is Nessie?" I asked Edward.

"Nessie?" Edward repeated, lifting an eyebrow, confused.

"I'm sorry, Renesmee. Where is she?" I questioned. " Is she spending time with Jake?"

"What are you talking about?" Edward shot back, "We don't know anyone named Renesmee."

My breath caught in my throat at the simple statement. 'What the heck was going on?' Surely he was joking. How could you not know your daughter?

"You're kidding, right?" I questioned.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Edward responded, " Sorry."

Edward turned and strode into the house with Bella following behind him. As soon as they were out of sight, I sat back down on the chair, trying ,once again, to sort through my muddled thoughts.

If Bella was a vampire, then she must have had Nessie, just like the books. But according to Edward, Nessie didn't exist…yet Bella was still a vampire. Which would make sense if Victoria had gotten her revenge before the beginning of breaking dawn. However, they were married, so that would suggest that Bella had possibly convinced Edward to turn her after they got married at the beginning of Breaking Dawn. Or had she been a vampire longer than I thought. Perhaps Laurent had bitten her in the meadow after Edward left her. Or maybe they hadn't been able to stop Jasper from biting her at her birthday party. Or could Edward not save her from James's venom in the ballet studio?

There were so many questions that needed answering, that I had no idea what to do first. I had to find out just exactly where I was in the books, to know how to go about revealing myself to them. My thoughts were pushed from my mind when I saw a figure standing at the edge of the forest with flame red hair and bright red eyes.

Victoria.

I watched as she slinked back into the trees, smirking. 'She must still want her revenge for Edward killing James. And if she's still alive, that means that Edward hasn't killed her yet. And if she's alive, then that could only mean one thing…' I thought.

A Vampire ARMY.

Damn.

Standing up I slowly backed into the house, my eyes taking in the scene around me. I saw Edward and Carlisle talking in the living room, a half opened newspaper in their hands.

"It's getting worse, Carlisle." Edward responded motioning a long finger at the paper. "We're going to have to do something soon."

"I know." Carlisle's smooth voice responded. "We don't want another visit from them."

"This can't go on much longer." Edward stressed. "We need to do something before it gets too out of hand and THEY come."

It was silent for a moment, I stood perfectly still as I watched this conversation. They had yet to acknowledge me, but they probably knew that I was standing there.

"It's a newborn, more than one." Jasper spoke suddenly appearing next to the two of them. "Untrained and out of control by the looks of things."

"Are you sure?" Carlisle questioned, a hint of fear lacing his words.

"I think you're right, Jasper." Edward confirmed his eyes scanning over the paper again. "All the signs are there…all the disappearances, the poorly disposed of bodies…"

"But who would do something like that?" Carlisle interrupted. "There are no other covens in the area…"

I couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer.

"It's Victoria." I answered. "She's doing this."

All three vampires turned their gaze on me, finally realizing that I was there.

"How-" Jasper started before I interrupted them.

"Psychic, Remember?" I explained tapping my temple.

"So why is she doing this?" Carlisle asked, clearly expecting an answer. I tore my eyes away from them and instead looked at the floor, my mind racing through the possibilities.

"I don't know, honestly. I thought I had a theory, but it seems irrelevant now." I answered sighing.

"What was it?" Jasper asked, taking a step closer to me. "Your theory, I mean." Of course he would want to know. With his backround he would be thinking tactically.

I hesitated, How much should I tell them?

"Well, I thought that she wanted to get to Bella…" I paused, " But she doesn't have a reason to go after her." 'Not anymore.' I added mentally.

I made my way slowly over to the couch as I began to feel lightheaded again, closing my eyes and taking a few deep breaths, trying to clear the lightheadedness. Taking another couple of breaths, the feeling vanished and I opened my eyes to see Carlisle assessing me cautiously while listening in on Edward and Jasper's conversation.

I nodded to Carlisle meaning I was fine, but my head whipped around as I heard a voice calling to me. It was just barely a whisper, but it still set me on edge.

"….Winter…."

Upon hearing the voice, I strained my ears, searching for the source of the voice, but just as quickly as I had heard it, it vanished.

'What was that?'

"Are you alright?" Jasper's voice broke through my thoughts. It took me a second to realize that I was now standing with my back to the vampires.

"Did you just hear that?" I questioned, hesitantly, slowly turning around to face them.

"Hear what?"

"That voice." I explained, my eyes searching around still. "It said my name…You really didn't hear anything?"

"Nope." Jasper responded. "Sorry."

I was slightly aware of Jasper's eyes still on me as I settled into the couch, relaxing, as everyone else went back to planning. After a couple hours of brainstorming, I began to get hungry and headed to the kitchen to get something to eat. Upon entering the kitchen, I saw Alice sitting on one of the counters, her legs swinging slightly.

"Hi Alice."

"Hello Winter." She responded back, her eyes following me.

"What are you doing?" I asked her opening the fridge.

"You tell me." She responded evilly.

"Alice," I whined. "It doesn't work like that." I grabbed an apple from the fridge, closed the door and turned to face Alice. Her face contorted to a pout. "But you said that you were like me?"

"Yes, Alice, Similar to your….gift." I explained leaning up against the cool marble countertop, taking a bite of the apple. My blue eyes studied Alice's now amused face. Had she seen something?

"Please tell me about your gift?" She begged, her golden eyes excited and she reminded me of a hyper puppy begging for table scraps.

Studying her face, I debated whether or not to tell her anything, changing my mind half a dozen times before realizing my mistake. I had fallen right into her trap, and once I realized it, my heart sank, my breath caught in my throat. My eyes narrowed as they flashed to her golden orbs, confusion dancing within them.

"You tricked me." I spoke softly, stating the obvious. "What did you see?"

"Nothing of importance." she responded, smiling. For a moment it was completely silent except for the hushed whispers coming from the other room. It was then that I heard the whispering again.

"…Winter…"

My head snapped towards where I thought the voice was coming from and listened intently. "Do you hear that?" I asked Alice quietly.

"Hear what?"

"That voice. You don't hear it?" I questioned straining my ears again trying to pinpoint the sound.

"I don't hear anything. Are you sure you're alright? You did hit your head pretty hard." She replied jumping of the counter soundlessly, crossing the room to me.

"I'm alright." I assured.

"I can go get Carlisle if you don't feel right." She offered, hesitantly placing a hand on my shoulder.

I was about to insist that I was alright, when a fresh stronger wave of dizzyness washed over me, causing me to sway and nearly collapse had it not been for Alice keeping me upright. I felt my hands close around Alice's arms tightly trying to fight off unconciousness.

"Carlisle!" I could vaguely hear Alice's yell, as my vision was overtaken by spots of darkness, and I knew I was just moments away from passing out. I barely heard Carlisle asking me what was wrong when the darkness overtook me, and I collapsed into a set of stone cold arms.

A/N: Alright…Who hates me now? I'm sorry, but I love cliffies! The next chapter will be up soon. Review PLEASE! Let me know what you think! Add my story to Favorites or Alerts and you'll be the first to know when I update.. Thanks!