Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, only Abigail and her storyline.

Chapter Three

"When she was just a girl, she expected the world.
But it flew away from her reach, so she ran away in her sleep.
Dreamed of para- para- paradise every time she closed her eyes."

- Paradise : Coldplay.

She was as beautiful as I remembered her to be - only now three scars now sat on her right cheek, stretching to her collar, and disappearing under her shirt. I stood in silence for a few seconds, before I felt a tear slowly escape from my eyes. I brushed it away quickly, embarrassed to have been seen crying by a group of strangers.

"Abi? I don't understand..." She murmured, holding her hand to her mouth.

"I'm so sorry Em. I wasn't going to come, but I had to." I whispered, feeling more tears taint my cheeks.

She suddenly sobbed and threw herself across the room towards me. I met her in a shaky hug. I cried into her shoulder, and for the first time in a long time, I felt truly at home.

I'm not sure how long we stood holding each other for, but after a while I felt her pull away from me slightly.

"Wh...what are you doing here?" She cried, wiping tears from her eyes.

I took a deep breath and smiled weakly. "I just needed to get away. I couldn't stay there any longer, it's killing me. I'm sorry, I just panicked. I saw my passport sitting on the table and-" I whispered.

"Abi, you have nothing to be sorry about. You're family, and family are always welcome here." She wiped another tear from my cheek, and patted my shoulder gently. "I am always here for you Abi, don't forget that."

"I won't." My voice shook as I pulled away from her, wiping my eyes.

"Promise?" She said, holding my hands.

"I promise." I laughed quietly.

I watched as Sam stood up from the table, and walked across the room towards us. "Hey Abs."

I lent forwards and wrapped my arms around his waist. "Hey Sam."

"Jesus Christ Abi, you've grown."

"Yeah, well that does tend to happen." I say with a smile.

He laughs and pulls me back in for a hug. "I've missed you." He said.

Emily went to his side, and he wrapped an arm around her protectively. She took a deep breath and looked me in the eye.

"I know you've only been here for a few minutes, but I have news." she trails off, and tugs at her baggy t-shirt to reveal a small, yet perfectly formed bump.

Pregnant. She's pregnant.

I try to say something but my throat becomes suddenly dry, and I stutter a few incoherent syllables before forming an actual sentence.

"How far along are you?" I ask, reaching out my hands to hold her tiny bump.

"Four months. I took the test a week after we. - well you know. I went to the doctors at the twelve week mark, and they told me the baby was healthy and ok, so I came home and told Sam that he was going to be a daddy."

"The best day of my life." Sam smiles lovingly at her, and kisses her cheek softly.

The way they looked at each other, it made my heart pang. I smiled, happy for them.

"So he gets to find out before me?" I ask with a small pout.

"Well he was the one that-"

I hold my hand up to her. "Spare me the details, please." I say, cutting her off. They both chuckle.

Someone at the table cleared their throat, in an attempt to make themselves noticed.

"Abi," Emily said, and put her arm protectively around me, leading us both towards the table. "These are our friends, they work with Sam. This is Jared, Collin, Seth, Brady, Embry, Jacob and Paul." Pointing to each of the boys as she said their names.

I met each set of eyes for a brief moment, and smiled, yet the last eyes were the clearest. My heart stopped. It started again, but it beat a lot harder when I meet his eyes. They were light amber brown like my dad's. They tilted at the ends, by his temples, slanting up, just the tiniest of bits. They softened a little as I stared into them. I could actually smell the musk of him - a deep woodsy smell that made me slightly light headed.

Emily's hand slipped from my waist, and from the corner of my eye, I saw that she turned to face me. I felt my cheeks taint a slight pink, and I hastily looked away from the strangers gaze, and met Emily's knowing smile.

"I'm Abigail."

"Emily's friend." Sam grinned at me.

I smiled as my eyes met Paul's again.

A chorus of hey's! and sup's? echoed around the kitchen, and I smiled back.

"You're British!" Says one of the voices - Collin?

I nodded and ran my hands through my hair nervously.

Sam pulled an extra chair to the table. He gestured for me to sit, and I did.

I'm not sure how we managed it - those boys are freakishly huge - but somehow the six of us sat round Emily's kitchen table.

"So where abouts in England are you from?" Jared asked.

"London. Kensington to be exact."

"Live in a big city like London all by yourself?"

"No, I actually board at the Royal Ballet School."

"You're a ballerina? That's hot." Embry smirked.

Paul hit him on the arm and turned back to me. "Sorry about him, his mum dropped him on his head when he was baby."

I laughed - a real, genuine laugh.

Paul laughed too.

"So are you any good?" I arched my eyebrow at him. "At ballet, I mean." He added with a stammer.

I chuckled, "I'm OK I guess."

"Abi, you're trying to become Prima Assoluta, that's more than just 'OK'." Emily said with a smile.

"Em!" I muttered, and blushed.

"Wait, Prima-what?" Jacob asked with a confused look. I laughed, and looked around at everyone else - they've all has the same confused look, even Sam.

"Prima Assoluta." I said with a laugh. "It's a title given to the most renowned ballerina, ie. the best of the best."

"And that's what you want? To be the best?" Paul said.

"Yeah," I said with a smile."It's everything I've worked towards for the last eight years."

We fell into a comfortable conversation, and I felt myself start to relax.

"So what's the plan then? Tour the world as a dancer? Buy as many tutu's as humanly possible?"

"Well I've already got too many tutu's as it is, so I think that plan's out the window. But I passed my National Diploma in Dance last year, and now I'm qualifying to become a ballet teacher at the school."

"And what do your parents think about that?"

My parents.

What would they think?

"I have no idea," I hesitated. "They died when I was only a few months old."

Paul's face instantly crumpled, he exhaled and looked at me desperately.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"It's OK. I mean, you can't really miss what you never really had, right?"

There was an uncomfortable silence.

Seth cleared his throat, and turned to me.

"I'm still confused, how do you know Emily?"

"Like Sam said, we're friends. After my parents died, my Aunt became my legal guardian and a few months later, we moved from London to America, not too far from my mothers friends - Aya and Navid Young; Emily's parents. Emily and I became best friends. We would copy each others styles, tell each other secrets, you get the picture.

When I turned eleven, my Aunt and I moved back to London. When we got back my Aunt made me audition for the Royal Ballet School. I passed the auditions, and I've boarded at the school ever since, only returning to my Aunts for the holidays."

Emily patted my shoulder gently, before clearing plates from the table.

"I'm sorry I had to make you talk about it." Paul murmured softly.

I shrugged, "I don't mind, I'm a lot stronger than you think."

Hours passed, and I'd been quizzed on everything from my favourite film - An Officer And A Gentleman - to favourite pizza topping - pepperoni. I wasn't even sure if I liked pepperoni, it had been a while since I'd last eaten either meat or carbs.

Around six, I felt my eyes start to droop and my contribution to the conversation was slowly getting less and less animated.

"Abs?" Emily said, rubbing my shoulder and waking me.

My eyes fluttered open, and I realized my head was resting on the table.

"Sorry, I'm exhausted. It's something crazy like a seven hour time difference from here to London. Back there it would be," I checked my watch. "Two AM.." I trailed off yawning, feeling my eyes start to droop again.

"Do you want me to show you to the guest room?" She asked, helping me up from the chair.

"No Em, it's fine honestly. I passed a motel on the way through from the airport, I'll ring and see if they've got a spare room."

"Abigail Porter, there is no chance that I'm letting you stay at a cheap motel on the side of some highway. Grab your bags, and get your butt upstairs into that guest room, or I swear to God-"

"Woah, Em! OK, I'm sorry I suggested it." I laughed.

"Good choice. You wouldn't like the motel anyway - rats, bugs and who knows what else." She shuddered and picked up one of my suitcases from the doorway. I grabbed the other, called out goodnight to everyone and followed Emily up the stairs and into the second doorway on the landing.

A double bed sits at the far end of the room, a wardrobe and dressing table are pushed up against opposing walls, and a small bookshelf stands to the right of the doorway.

"I know it's not much, but we weren't exactly expecting company." Emily said with a chuckle.

"Again, I'm really sorry about that."

She just laughed and set down my suitcase next to the wardrobe.

"I know sweetie, but you're here now and that's all that matters. Get some sleep and I'll see you in the morning."

She left, shutting the door behind her. I turned to my cases, groaned at the thought of having to unpack, and decided to leave it until morning. Not bothering to change out of my clothes and into pajamas, I pulled back the covers and slid into bed. I curled myself into a ball, and for the first time in months, I didn't cry myself to sleep.

(A/N): it's been two months & I apologize for that. you would not believe how stressed college work is at the moment. But the Christmas holidays have let me just sit and write, so yay for holidays. I know it's only one chapter, but hey, that's one more chapter than you guys had this morning! I really hated writing in Paul's POV last chapter, so don't think I'll be writing in his POV that frequently.

I hope Abigail's past isn't too much? I didn't want her to have the parental influences in her life, forcing her to become more independent. Oh, and her Aunt is a bitch. Just saying.

In the first chapter, I wrote that Abigail hadn't seem Emily for three years, and you'll find out why in the next (if not one after next) chapter.

So I've decided that each chapter I'm going to put song lyrics that sum up the chapter as a whole. This chapters song is Paradise by Coldplay (personally, my favourite band). It sums up Abigail's life as she grows up - she dreamed of paradise - leaving her Aunts etc. So yeah, I think that's something that I'm going to be doing for each chapter I upload.

Anyways, enjoy the chapter, and I hope you all had a lovely Christmas & you have an amazing New Years - as for me, I'm going to be getting 'adequately' drunk, and partying the night away.

Review?

Hugs & kisses ~ katiee.