Are You My King?
Pandora Clearly

CHAPTER FOUR
BREATHING

A/N My laptop committed suicide that no EMS team could fix. I JUST got computer access. You can all thank my friend, twilight fanpire me, for linking me to her Twific, which spurred me to continue mine. You rock, my friend.

Okay, I got an e-mail from a different 'friend' yelling at me for the brief nudity in the previous chapter. Seriously, I opened the e-mail and it was like an e-Howler; I could hear her fury. She said I was going evil and my standards were slipping and yadee yadda yadda. What anyone who feels the same needs to understand is it wasn't meant to be sexual or evil or whatever. Because of what she is it would've been un-natural for her to show up fully clothed much the same way a baby doesn't pop out of the womb in a onesie and booties. So relax. It was artistic and informationally correct. At least she was COVERED, my word!

And now for the thanking bit.

And I'm shutting up now. Enjoy Chapter Four!

Obviously, thanks to twilight fanpire me, cuz you pushed me to keep going. I'm proud of ya and I hope you love this!

And Satta, thank you so much! And you're half right. One of your assumptions is correct, the other... not so much. But it's not a big deal. I'm glad someone actually posted a guess. You get a pile of e-Cookies the size of Candy Mountain! Seriously, it's real. There is a real Candy Mountain in Washington and I can see it out the window by my computer. Lemme tell you, Satta, it's a REALLY BIG MOUNTAIN.

------------------------------------------------

When Garrett woke up it took him a few short moments to remember where he was. The room was small in comparison with the rest of the Cullen's guest rooms, with no glass wall and only a half-bathroom. It still managed to fit a king-size bed, a tall black dresser, and a bookshelf heavily loaded with all the classics as well as many recent Best-Sellers. It wouldn't have been hard to find a book from any decade extending centuries back. The walls were painted a brown, earthy tone and the atmosphere of the room echoed nature. It was right up Garrett's alley, and he felt at peace in the dark green sheets on the bed.

He felt at peace, that is, until he remembered Sara.

How was she real? As he rubbed his hands on his head, still laying down, he realized his skin felt a little warmer than usual. Usual meaning cold as death for the 235 years since blood stopped flowing through his veins. He sat up slowly and blinked in the dim light streaming through the one window. Had she used some power to force him to sleep? Until he met Sara, his existence had been the same for two centuries. Every day he went someplace else, never liking to stay in the same place for longer than a day or two. Since Sara, it was his life rather than location that changed with the cycle of a day. She'd mended his broken heart before he even knew what to call her. She'd given him a reason to hope and believe in something different, something happier and worthwhile. Everything about Sara, whatever everything was, equaled life. As long as her heart was beating, it seemed his soul had wings.

But her heart had stopped, even ceased to exist. How had she come, breathing, smiling, touchable, back to him?

A knock at the door stole his attention.

"Who is it?" he asked habitually. He could hear from the light footsteps and gentleness of her hand against the wood that it was Esme.

"Esme," she said with patience. "May I come in?"

"Of course," he said, running a hand through his hair. The leather band that kept it back was on the dresser with a change of clothes, so for now it fell to his shoulders with a slight wave.

Esme opened the door and smiled. She pulled the window's curtains closed a little tighter and straightened other small things in the already pristine room. When she ran out of things to do, Garrett raised his eyebrows at her and asked if there was something he was needed for.

"Most of the others are downstairs," she said. "They've been talking and would very much like you to come down now. Edward heard you thinking, so he knew you were awake."

"What've they been talking about?" Garrett asked as he slid with all the grace of a hunter from the bed. Esme turned around as he changed out of pajamas he had no recollection of putting on, and into a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved white t-shirt on the dresser. "Am I in trouble?"

"Trouble?" she repeated. "No. They'd like to get your side of things, hear about Sarah."

Esme said her name like Say-ruh. Garrett winced a little at the unfamiliarity of it as he tugged the shirt over his head.

"It's Sah-ruh," he corrected. "At least, that's what I call her. I really have no idea what her name is."

A lightbulb went off in Esme's head. "So that's why you call her that!"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, she's been saying 'sar' ever since she got here. Even in her sleep, she mutters it once in a while. I couldn't get her to say anything else. It's like she's asking for something when she says it."

Garrett grabbed the leather tie and gestured for Esme to lead the way to the others as his pulled his hair back. He chose to forgo the shoes left out, preferring to be barefoot for now. He could feel every grain of the immaculate hardwood floors as he went downstairs. In the living room, Rosalie showed Nessie a simplified Fur Elise. Nessie one-upped her with the original version, struggling only when her child-sized hands couldn't span a full octave when needed. Bella stood protectively by while Edward, Emmett, Jasper, and Carlisle sat on the couches and chairs talking intensely. Alice was perched grumpily at a window seat. Garrett hardly saw her move, she came to him so fast.

"It's been proposed," she began quietly, not daring to even look at him, "that I apologize for my behavior. So I'm sorry if my actions offended you... and I'm sorry for not giving that girl a fair chance." Alice shot a glance at Carlisle and only when he gave a little nod did she look at Garrett.

"Apology accepted, Alice. Thank you," he nodded. He would have shook her hand but the moment he finished speaking she darted back to her window.

"Have a seat, Garrett," Carlisle gestured to an empty love seat in the circle of Cullen men. "How are you feeling?"

"Honestly, a little warm. Tired, too."

Edward nodded wisely and said, "I can assume we'd all be tired after taking a two-day sleep for the first time in two centuries."

"Two days?" he asked, incredulous.

"Two days," Jasper confirmed. "Esme nearly went out of her mind with worry. Since you have no heartbeat we didn't know if you were dead. Your temperature rose ten degrees, so we were going to wait until you went back to zero before- -"

"Jasper," Carlisle silenced him.

"Sorry."

"What Jasper means is," Carlisle covered, "that we're just glad you're alright."

"Esme tells me you needed to see me."

"Right to the point, then? Very well. We've had a lot of time to discuss this and to try to communicate with Sara. She says next to nothing but I am convinced that will be temporary. What knowledge we have gained has exponentially increased our questions and concerns. Do you find yourself stable enough to discuss all that has happened regarding this situation?"

Garrett closed his eyes. He felt reminded of a point during the war when the enemy had captured him, asked him question after question about every minute thing he could conceivably know. At least this line of questioning didn't involve manacles and knife point.

"I'm fine," he replied. "What do you need to know?"

"Tell us who she is," Emmett demanded. Carlisle glanced at him with a look that basically said, 'Chill out'.

"I don't know."

"Then why is she so important to you?" Edward asked.

"I don't know."

"How did you meet her?"

"Technically speaking, we haven't truly met. One or the other of us has been unconscious while together."

"You found her then?" Carlisle prompted.

"Yes. A half hour off the ferry from Victoria. I felt the need to pull off road. When I did, I hiked about a mile. She was dead when I found her. At least, I thought so."

"And then?"

"Then I was going to bury her. Just a little. I planned to call the police, anonymously. I didn't want to leave someone exposed like that in the poring rain. I didn't want the animals to ruin her."

"Why didn't you bury her?"

"The instant she took a breath, I knew it. It was like she breathed a little of me in each time. I don't know how she started breathing again, but she did. When that happened, it wasn't long before she started bleeding. I couldn't make it stop, no matter what I did. Her blood almost burned me. I couldn't take her to the hospital - they'd want my name and they'd never release her to me. You were my only choice. I had to tie her to me to keep her on my motorcycle. I drove fast and hard. She said 'sar' a lot, as he came in and out of consciousness. As I got close I called out to Edward and... Well, you know the rest."

Carlisle and Edward nodded, filling in some of the puzzle in their minds. Emmett remained tense and stone-faced.

"Alice says you slept before Sara came back," Jasper ventured. "Is that true?"

"I guess," Garrett said. "I don't think it was really sleep. It was like... like I'd stepped outside of myself and that time. I watched myself go to the kitchen and eat. I listened to the doorbell and saw myself answer it. Then I woke up and everything I'd seen happened."

Carlisle almost fell out of his seat. "You were in a precognitive state?"

"Impossible," declared Jasper.

"Eleazar would have said something, surely. If he'd sensed that ability in you, we'd know. You'd know!"

"It's never happened before," Garrett sighed. A lot of new things had been happening since he left Alaska. Would things ever go back to normal?

After some time of silence, aside from Nessie showing Rosalie a more complicated twist on the left hand of Fur Elise, Emmett spoke.

"None of this tells us anything except that she's a freak."

"Ahem," Esme said from the doorway. She had disappeared upstairs for sometime and just came down as Emmett called Sara a freak. "Garrett, you said you'd never officially met her?"

Garrett nodded sadly and fingered a necklace he wore made of various teeth.

"Alice?" she asked Jasper. When he nodded and gave a thumbs up, signaling that she was calm, Esme continued. "In that case, Garrett, I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Sara."

Her friend, Garrett though as Esme stepped away from the door frame. At least one of the Cullens had the patience and forgiving to accept Sara to that degree. It didn't surprise him that that one should be Esme. He'd have to thank Esme later. Definitely later. As Sara peeked around the corner all other thoughts disappeared from his mind.

Her big bright eyes saw Carlisle and Edward first as they were in front. They darted from face to face, smiling sheepishly and nervously as they sat still. Garrett froze for a moment and then melted under the warmth of her smile has those eyes found him. She looked even more beautiful than last time. She wore a simple t-shirt and sweatpants, the only things in the house that fit her since she wasn't a size six or smaller, and yet she was lovelier to him than any woman with any amount of finery or jewels or expensive clothes. She, too, wore no shoes, and her hair was pulled into a braid at the base of her skull. Jasper's nose wrinkled at the smell of her. Garrett's found her scent intoxicating. She smelled like the cinnamon rolls his mother used to make or the Big Red chewing gum he'd loved in the nineties. Her blood had that same hot, spicy aroma. He practically salivated, she smelled so wonderful.

His first instinct as he stood was not to taste her.

Sara watched him intently and twisted her fingers together.

He stepped again and again until she was close enough to wrap his arms around.

She looked down and swallowed nervously.

Garrett carefully lifted his hand to her face, afraid that touching her might once more send him to sleep. When his fingertips brushed her face and he didn't pass out, he proceeded to tilt her gaze up to meet his.

"Do you know me?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

She only nodded for a moment before breathing, "Sar."

"No. No, my name is Garrett."

"Sar Garrett," she amended.

"Close enough," he smiled.

As she smiled back, she suddenly threw her arms around him and pulled him close. Sara had to stand on her tiptoes, even though she was nearly six feet tall herself. She clung to him, willing herself to keep him right there with her. He circled one arm around her waist and braided his other fingers around a loose strand of hair. Garrett breathed her in, enchanted by both her smell and the purity and simplicity of her. Another thing he noticed was that she didn't feel so small that she would fall through his embrace. She was there, and he knew she wasn't going anywhere. He would be content to spend the rest of his life just that way.

As anyone who has survived puberty can attest to, life doesn't plan her agenda to match up with anyone else's.

A/N Okay. I spent two hours typing that and I am EXHAUSTED!! Sleepytime! I hope y'all enjoyed it and stay tuned. It just gets better and better. R&R, chickadies! Pandora out!