Author's Note: Sorry, I meant to post this yesterday, but I forgot to (blame new addictions to Sex in the City and Scrubs). Anyway, I'm back in school now, but I've got some chapters written, so what will happen is that I'll post them on a regular schedule until I get time to write new ones. It's difficult writing at school, anyway, but I've got the books here if I ever am able to. Also, thanks to the reviewers from last chapter!

So this chapter isn't really a chapter, but an interlude. There will be interludes spread out amongst the chapters, and they will be in the first person.

Disclaimer: Twilight and its characters still do not belong to me. Otherwise, I would not be in college right now.

Interlude: Edward

A year after my supposed death, my eyes had finally become a topaz color after months of scarlet. I had spent the months in seclusion with Carlisle in Ashland, Wisconsin, where he slowly trained me to reject human blood. I also developed my power, which at first was uncontrollable and nearly drove me insane. It was a good thing I had Carlisle; if I had not, my power and my newborn status would have resulted in many bloody murders.

Carlisle pronounced me ready to mingle with the occasional human, but he balked when I requested to see my brother. "I won't talk to him," I assured him. "I just want to see… to see how he's doing."

"Edward," he replied gently. "You can't see him. What if he sees you? And he's in a city… that's a risk you don't want to take right now. If he lived in a rural area, possibly, but he's with your aunt and uncle in New York City now. Not only do you not know the area – which means you would have to ask for directions – it's filled with humans."

"But you said—"

"I said you were ready for perhaps one or two humans at a time. Not thousands."

"Carlisle, he has no one left."

Carlisle sighed. "Edward, I'm sure your aunt and uncle are kind to him."

I shook my head vehemently. "They would be. But not my rat of a cousin, Henry. He's always made it his job to torment Will, and now that I'm not there to protect him…"

"There is nothing you can do anyway." His words were blunt, but there was compassion in his eyes.

"What if," I said, frustrated, "what if you came with me? You've been to New York countless times. You could guide me to him and make sure I don't bite anyone." I could hear his thoughts relenting.

Carlisle sighed again. Finally, he replied, "All right. I will do this, but only this one time."

We traveled to New York City, much too slowly, in my opinion. Carlisle and I posed as brothers visiting a sick aunt.

Eager to get going, I dressed carefully for the occasion the day we arrived, making sure I was inconspicuous and unrecognizable. Like any lower middle class boy in the city, I wore a white shirt, brown trousers, and suspenders. Over that, I placed a gray wool cap, bringing it low over my eyes so that my face was hidden. To be safe, I tucked a newspaper under my arm in case I needed to hide behind it.

Carlisle inspected my disguise and grudgingly agreed that it would be safe enough to go out in. He wore a similar outfit, although he did not really need a disguise; it was unlikely that anyone would recognize him. You are certain you want to do this? he thought.

"I'm sure," I replied firmly, giving my cap one last tug. Carlisle nodded grimly and stepped outside.

"Your aunt and uncle live northeast of here," he said, glancing at the slip of paper on which I had written their address. "It's a little bit of a walk, but any hotels closer would make us suspicious. Much too expensive for the likes of our disguises."

Eighty-sixth Street between Park and Madison Avenues. I hadn't been there many times, but I remembered the address well because Will was there. I wouldn't be able to forget the address even if I wanted to.

The last time we had visited Aunt Lillian and Uncle Percy – and Henry – had been four years before my parents' deaths. Father had never liked them much; he often said that they spent much more than they earned, and that was taboo in his mind, as he regarded frugality as a virtue. As a result, Mother could only get us to visit every few years.

Will and I never minded that. In fact, we would have preferred never going at all. Aunt Lillian was the type of aunt that pinched our cheeks, and Uncle Percy often made jokes that never made sense. And Henry was the worst. He tormented Will, who was younger than he was, and would only stop if I threatened to break all the bones in his body.

I recognized the house at once. It was thin and made of bricks, with a flight of stairs leading up to the door. Aunt Lillian had paid someone to plant a few shrubs in front of the house, and it was next to these shrubs that Henry and two other boys stood, leaning lazily against the fence, casting sticks and stones into the street. I tensed. Henry was snapping twigs off his mother's shrubs, and I wanted nothing more than to tear out his throat. I had despised him before, but now I was consumed by an almost ridiculously fiery hatred for him.

Like your other traits, your dislike for your cousin has been amplified, murmured Carlisle in his thoughts as we passed them to go up the stairs. They stared unabashedly at us, and I studiously ignored them, tugging my cap down again to be safe. Carlisle raised a hand to ring the doorbell, but a voice behind us interrupted him.

"No one is home," said one of Henry's friends. My breath hitched. He wasn't home.

"What do you want?" added Henry. They look poor, he thought scathingly.

I clenched my fists at the sound of his voice. Next to me, Carlisle turned. "We're looking for William Masen," he said smoothly.

There was an astonished pause. "What do you want him for?" Henry asked, confused. No one's ever asked for him. He's not important enough.

I opened my mouth to retort that Will was important, much more important than him, but Carlisle barreled forward. "We're brothers of one of his good friends in Chicago. Our brother died last year, but we were in the area to visit our sick aunt, so we decided to visit Will. To see how he is faring." Surprisingly, he gave the three boys a menacing glare, as if to say that they would not be faring well if Will wasn't.

This scared Henry enough to cooperate. "H-He had a box with him when he went out ten minutes ago. I saw him fill the box with rocks. He went towards the subway platform over there—" he pointed in one direction "—and that train goes south."

"Right. Thank you." Carlisle pulled me away. I was shaking from the encounter, and as we walked quickly in the direction Henry had pointed to, he asked, "Are you sure you can handle this, Edward?"

"I'm certain." I knew I could. Will was on the line. That fact kept me from succumbing to my instincts and mauling Henry, and it kept me from attacking the others on the crowded train. "Will's gone south with a weighted box. What does that mean?"

"He's going to throw it into the river," said Carlisle. I blinked. Of course – the answer was obvious now. What I want to know is what he's throwing, he added

I mulled this over as the train moved through underground passageways. Perhaps he was throwing away something he did not want Aunt Lillian to see. But I couldn't see my brother – my mostly sensible brother – doing something so pointless. It wasn't necessary to go all the way to the river. But what if he was trying to separate himself from something? I was concerned. What could hurt him so much?"

We arrived at Battery Park and immediately scoured the surrounding area for Will. After a few minutes of searching, Carlisle finally spotted him sitting on a bench, the box in his hands. He touched my arm reassuringly, and then left me alone for a little while. I moved closer, as close as I dared. There was a bench behind the one he stood in front of; I sat on that one and unfolded my newspaper to further hide my face as I drank in the sight of him.

He had grown taller, and his hair, the same color as mine, was slightly longer. He had become a little paler, no doubt a result of staying inside more than he had in Chicago. His eyes were fixated on the Statue of Liberty, but after a while, he glanced around, his eyes falling on a couple walking and a man playing his guitar before they turned curiously in my direction.

Quickly, I pretended to be engrossed in my newspaper. After a few moments, I felt his gaze turn away from me. I moved the newspaper slightly and watched him stand and move to the fence. I tuned into his thoughts for the first time. You have to do this, Will, he told himself. Don't be ridiculous.He opened the box, and I craned my neck to see what was inside. It seemed to be a photograph. I squinted to see it better, and gasped. It was a family portrait, torn into two pieces. He touched it sadly, and then removed a necklace from around his neck. My necklace, I realized. A wave of sadness hit me. Did he hate me? I stood, unable to take it, and began to walk away.

I heard a splash as the box hit the water. A moment later, someone slammed into me. It was Will, his face scrunched up in pain. "Sorry," he said as I steadied him, instantly regretting it, since as soon as I touched him, I wanted nothing more than to stay there forever. But I came to my senses and let go of him, as if burned, and began to walk away briskly.

But I realized then that I could not let that box remain at the bottom of the river. Will had to go on that journey we had planned to take one day, and that necklace was the only thing I could use to remind him. I ignored Carlisle, who was approaching me again, and began to run, looking for a place to dive.

Author's Note: This interlude was actually difficult to write, because 1.) I needed to make sure everything fit with the previous chapter and 2.) I completely forgot that Edward can hear other people's thoughts, which meant I wrote this entire interlude and part of the next Edward interlude before I realized that I had completely forgotten to add in thoughts. So I had to go in and change some stuff, which was annoying. Hopefully it isn't too jarring... luckily, there's no set tone to writing Edward (writing as Bella later on was worse in that respect).

I explained the bit about the house last chapter, although there's an actual location this time, heh. As for Edward's outfit, think Jack from Titanic.

Please review... I'll put the excerpt here, because I don't know if I'll have time to reply to reviews or not.

William studied the parcel. There was no return address, although a stamp told him it had been posted from Wyoming, of all places. He ripped off the paper, revealing a simple box, which he opened. He tipped it over, and a charm on a string fell out.

He nearly fell over. Will and Edward, 1926.