Chapter 6: Saving

I told Pepper ahead of time that I was doing something tonight. She wrote it down her book. Ah the book. The book of things Pepper writes down when Tony has those meeting days. She writes in the days that I have stuff so that she remembers them. Like tonight for an example.

I didn't put on a dress for this stupid date. I only let my hair down and straightened it. Didn't feel like doing anything else. At 6:15, I heard Connor honk his car horn to signal that he was here. Crap! Crapollla! I don't want to do this. I really don't want to!

"Hi Riley," Connor greeted me in a cheery voice. "So what did you do today?"

I put on a fake smile. "Not much." I lied. He bought it. "What did you do today?"

"Well I played some football with my friends, hung out with them and Nicole. I mean uh I hung out with them and Nicole Peterson. Not Nicole Denton. Psh no way would I hang out with her. She's weird. Did I tell you that you look nice tonight?" He changed the subject.

Okay clearly he was terrible at lying. My phone rang. "'Scuse me, my phone is ringing." I answered it. "Hey Jake."

"How did you know it was me?" Jake asked.

"I have a certain ring when you call. So why did you call?" I answered.

"I just wanted to tell you to be careful tonight with Connor." Jake continued. Then he hung up. So he still didn't forget the dream that I told him and Sam about. Connor started to drive to the movie theater.

"So what did nerdy Adams call for?" Connor sneered.

"Nothing you need to know." I replied coldly. We drove in silence to the movies. We parked at one of those parking decks a couple of blocks away. When we got to the concession stand, he asked me if I wanted anything. "No. I'm not hungry." I answered firmly. I wanted to hit him so bad. If I did, then he would know.

He bought himself a tub of popcorn and some candy. We gave the usher our tickets and went to our seats. We were watching some stupid football movie I didn't care about. I sat in my seat shaking. Not because I was cold, after this he would take me to an alley and attack me.

"Are you cold?" He whispered. I shook my head. We sat in silence for the rest of the movie. I didn't pay attention. I had my mind on something else. The movie ended and he threw his empty tub and boxes in the garbage. When we headed out, I was going toward the direction the parking deck was. He pulled me gently toward an alley. "Let's go this way. We can talk to each other." So we walked down the alley. The one I saw in my dream. In one of the corners, Nicole would be standing there.

Suddenly, he shoved me against a building. Two more oh his friends came out of the shadows. Pain shot up my back. He grabbed me around the throat and pinned me against the wall. Then he dropped me and they kicked me in the stomach, knocking the wind out. I struggled trying to break free. With tremendous effort, I managed to scream. "EDWARD!" My scar began to sting. "You're in deep trouble now."

"What are you talking about?" Connor demanded. But he soon found out. Connor was forced to release me. I fell to the ground. I stood up coughing hard. I got my breath back. I looked up and found Edward standing in front of Connor. I heard him growling at Connor. "What the heck?" Connor yelped. Edward then grabbed him by the cuffs of Connor's jacket and slammed him against the building.

He stared at him deep in the eyes with a glare. "You will leave her and her friends alone." He snarled. He let him go and Connor and his gang ran away in fright. He walked over to me and picked me up the same way he carried me to my bed last week. "Are you okay Riley? Did he hurt you?" He asked in his gentle voice. He checked my arms and legs and my lower back. He growled in anger. On my right arm, there was a deep wound. My head was dizzy after Connor dropped me and Edward's scent was making me dizzier. The injury didn't help either.

"He slammed me against the building." I answered him. He carried me to his Volvo and sat me in the passenger's seat. I buckled myself in. He ran to the other side of the car to get me out of here.

"I'm going to take you to Carlisle to have him help you. After that I'll take you home." Edward went through the details. I nodded an ok. He drove us to his house where Alice was waiting on the porch with worry on her face.

"She got hurt didn't she?" Alice asked as soon as Edward carried me to the door. He didn't set me down. Edward nodded a yes. Alice held the door open and we found and Esme waiting there. "They know. I drew it out on a sheet of paper."

"What happened?" Carlisle asked in a stern voice. Edward laid me on a couch.

"She got attacked by a kid from school. A kid named Connor Daniels. He nearly choked her to death. He was holding her against a building and he threw her against it which cut her arm open." Edward explained. His eyes were full of hate. I could understand. "Alice, get Jasper somewhere else." She did what she was told.

Carlisle knelt next to me examining my back. "Well you don't have anything on your back. Now I need you to sit up so we can see what's on your arms." I did what I was told. He examined my arms. "You're going to need some stitches on the right arm." He went to his office and grabbed some supplies. While I sat on the couch, Carlisle stitched my arm with no problem. Edward sat next to me and I leaned my head against him.

"This really sucks." I mumbled. He rubbed my good arm gently while Carlisle continued his work.

When he finished, he looked at Edward. "You can take at her home. If you want to stay with her for a little while longer to make sure she's safe, you have my permission to do so."

Edward bent over and gently pulled me into his arms. "I think I will have to carry you. You 're too tired to move." Edward chuckled. Alice held the door open for us. She smiled and waved good bye.

"Hope you get better." She wished me. I smiled back at her. Carlisle opened the car door for Edward and he sat me in the seat again. He closed the door, but didn't get in yet. Carlisle started to talk to Edward. He listened to Carlisle. It looked like he was getting scolded. They were talking so low I couldn't hear them.

After they finished talking for a few more moments, Edward climbed in and drove me home.

When we got to my house, he carried me to the door. As he carried me, I made a thought. "Pepper's going to think that you did something to me." I chuckled.

He grinned. "I would never hurt you." I rang the doorbell. Moments later, Pepper opened the door. Her eyes were wide. She stared at Edward. Then she stared at me.

"Honestly Pepper, he's not my boyfriend, he's a very good friend of mine from school. He saved my life. Connor jumped me." I confessed. Pepper held the door open for us.

"Come in." She said. She closed the door behind us. Edward sat me on the couch and sat next to me. Pepper walked over to me. "So what happened exactly?"

I took a deep breath and told the story. I told her how I was played. She sat on my other side and put an arm around me. She looked at Edward with grateful eyes.

"Thank you Edward." Pepper said. She got up and asked us, "Are you two hungry?" We shook our heads. "Riley let me know if you need anything." I nodded.

Edward looked around. "Nice living room." I couldn't help chuckling. "What?" He looked at me.

"It's nothing." I lied. He didn't seem convinced, but he didn't ask about it. I reached for the remote and turned on the Discovery Channel. Mythbusters was on. Tonight's episode was the Super See Saw Saga. "It's a new episode tonight."

"You like watching Mythbusters?" Edward asked. I leaned my head on his should feeling drowsy.

"Yeah you'll see why." I mumbled. I managed to stay awake for the whole episode. I watched them launch the crash test dummy up high in the air. Pepper joined us right before they launched it. We all laughed when we watched it being thrown up in the air.

"I can see why now." He murmured in my ear. I was falling asleep, but I could hear everything still.

"Aw she fell asleep on you." I heard Pepper. Edward chuckled softly in my ear. "She looks like an angel when she sleeps." Pepper added.

"She does look beautiful." Edward commented. "I'll carry her to her room."

"Her bedroom is the second door on the right upstairs." Pepper directed. He didn't need directions where my room was at. He's been there before. I felt us going up the stairs and heard him turn the door knob. I felt him laying me down on my bed and pulling the covers on me. Then he did something that took me by surprise. He sat next to me and stayed with me.

"Sweet dreams." He softly said. Then I really fell asleep.

My stitched arm was aching when I got up the next morning. I remembered everything and what happened. I noticed something on my desk. I got up and walked to it. A glass of water and a couple of painkillers were sitting out for me. I took them with the glass of water and within a few minutes, my back didn't hurt so much. I looked in a mirror and flattened out my hair and brushed it. When I sat on my bed, I noticed something. I heard music. I heard piano music. I grinned as I head out the door. I walked downstairs and found Edward at the piano.

I sat down next to him as he played. I recognized the tune. When he finished playing, he greeted me with his crooked smile. "You were playing Bella's lullaby." I noticed. He put an arm around me.

"Good morning to you too," Edward said. "I see you recognize it." I looked at him deep in the eyes. They were a liquid topaz today. He'll have to hunt soon.

"Yeah I remembered it when I dreamed about it. That was when you gave me the scar by accident." I replied.

"You're never going to let me forget that are you?" He asked.

"Nope I won't." I answered. "How long have you been here?"

"Awhile," Edward said. "I've been here since you fell asleep. First, after you fell asleep, I drove home. Then I ran back and stayed with you in your room while you were sleeping. Very fascinating dreams by the way, they're very interesting. Anyway I left around 4:00 in the morning to change my clothes and came back again. I went back to your room. Pepper left around 7:00, I went downstairs to the piano and played for a bit until you came down." I looked at the clock on the wall; 8:15.

"So what do you want to do today?" I asked not sure about today.

He shrugged. "Well cloudy weather today, I'm guessing that there will be a thunderstorm later today, so maybe we could play baseball with my family."

"Really, I'm finally going to see how baseball works for you. I know you need the thunder, but I mean I'm really going to witness this." I responded. He nodded.

"That reminds me," He began, "if we are, then I need to call Carlisle." He got up and pulled out his cell phone and dialed Carlisle's number. While he did this, I thought of a song to play. Oh wait. I know. Halo 3's "Never Forget". A very beautiful piano piece I like. I consider this as my lullaby, so I learned how to play it by ear.

So I began. Edward was in the middle of talking, so I played quietly. He was watching me play while he talked. My fingers floated over the ivory keys forming the song. I didn't hear him get off. I was lost in the music. Just as I joined him when he played, he did the same thing. He never took his eyes off of the keys. When I finished, I looked up at him.

"That was beautiful. What is it called?" He complimented. He was curious. Like a little boy discovering something new.

"Um I'm not sure if you would recognize what it's from." I shrugged. "It's from this game from Halo 3. The song is called "Never Forget". At times like these like when my brother's missing, you can find me play it very often these days. Pepper's heard me play it a whole bunch, but she likes to hear it though."

"I've think I've heard of the game. I'm not so sure. We usually don't have video games because as you can see, we really don't need them. But after you played this song, I think I might check it out." Edward said.

"The song's on the main menu if you want to hear it. Whenever I listen to it, I always feel like I'm seeing something from someone's point of view about something. But the reason why I play it is because, before Tony went missing, he would always ask me to play it. Every day he would ask me. 'Riley can you play the song for me?' He would always grin whenever he hears it." I explained.

"So you play it to never forget him." Edward stated. It wasn't a question.

"Yes." I said shortly. I felt like crying my eyes out, but I didn't. No more tears left. "There's other songs that you might like that I know about that are just piano music that has some other instruments in it. One that I know that I have stuck in my head all the time is this song that's heard in this show called Doctor Who. It's supposed to be a slow waltz, but you don't think of it as a slow waltz."

"Well what's it called then? I want to know. Maybe I could play it for you whenever I see you." Edward asked looking curious again.

"It's called Madame de Pompadour. Some other ones are The Face of Boe, another one is called Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home has this great middle part that you would like. There's a whole bunch of music from the series that you would like." I listed off. He smiled as I named them off.

"Well it seems that I have a lot of work to do then." Edward said.

"Oh you don't have to do that. Really you don't. Besides, it's not fair for Bella." I insisted. He cut me off.

"I want to though. Who knows, maybe you'll get me into watching the show."

"If you are, then you have a lot of catching up to do. So what did Carlisle say about the game?" I said.

"He says it's on." He replied with a smirk. "Whenever we play, I'm always going against him. He can hit hard though. The funny thing that Esme says is that Jasper hits the hardest, but I run the fastest." I started laughing. "So let's go ahead to my house and we'll wait there. It's going to rain soon." I grabbed my jacket and called Pepper to let her know where I'll be.

"Hang on I got to call Jake and Sam. They were worried about me last night." I explained. He waited for me then. I called Jake, but he didn't pick up. "Hey Jake it's me Riley. I'm just calling to let you know that I'm okay. So no need to freak out about last night I'm safe." Then I dialed Sam. She picked up on the first ring.

"Hello?" Sam's voice greeted me.

"Sam it's me. I'm fine. I called Jake about last night and I'm perfectly safe. I guess I have someone watching out for me." I eyed Edward. Sam sighed with relief.

"That's good. So what are you going to do today?" She asked.

"Um I'm actually going to be hanging out with Edward today." I explained. She went into details that I predicted she would do. "No…Sam….wait…he's here. He can hear what you're saying." That shut her up. "I'm sorry. I got to go. I'll tell him that you said hi okay?"

"Okay. Thanks for calling me so I'm not freaking out." She hung up after that. Well that went well-ish.

"Well hello to Sam." Edward snuck up behind me grinning.

"Gah don't do that! You practically scared the crap out of me." I whacked him on the arm. He would feel no pain at all. He smirked. We headed out the door. "You didn't bring your car back." I noticed when we got outside. The dark gray clouds hung menacingly over, threatening to shower us with cold rain.

"Yeah I thought we might travel there the fun way." He said. My heart jumped. We were going to run there! He helped me onto his back. "Hang on real tight. And I mean real tight." I chucked. "You're not going to freak out like Bella are you?"

"No I'm really psyched for this. I've always wanted to travel like this." I proved him wrong.

"Okay." He didn't sound sure. We then took off. It was really interesting. Instead of screaming, I was laughing. "Why are you laughing? Aren't you scared?"

"No!" I had to shout over the noise, "This is really cool! It makes you want to laugh if you're this fast!" For some reason, he started laughing. "Why are you laughing?"

"Because," He called over his shoulder, "you're absolutely right about it!" I grinned. Everything was a blur; a blur of dark colors. "Hang on!" We then jumped over a gorge and landed. He didn't stop running until we got to his house. Alice was waiting there for us on the porch.

I jumped down from his back. "You saw me coming didn't you?" I asked. She ran and greeted me with a hug. She started laughing. "What is it with you guys laughing?" I said as I let go.

"I love your personality. It's just like Bella's, but different. You say different things from her, but you think like her." She continued laughing. Edward she is an amazing human. I gasped. She looked at me with alarm. "What? What is it?"

"I heard your thoughts. That's the second time I've heard a vampire's thoughts." I exclaimed. She looked at me curiously.

"What did I say then?" She asked.

"Edward she is an amazing human." I quoted. She and Edward chuckled.

"Who else have you heard? She asked another question.

"Edward's and Pepper's thoughts. That's all I heard of."

"Hmm," Alice said thinking.

"What Alice?" Edward asked. She kept looking at him. Then she looked at me.

"I've always been wondering what goes on in his head. What did you hear him say when you heard him?" She asked anxiously.

"You're right; I do get that a lot." I said. Edward looked at me with a stern look. "What? You admit it too." Remembering why he said that to me.

"What was the reason why?" Alice asked another one.

"I think that reason would be a personal answer." I explained. Edward looked at me with a strange look on his face.

Why don't you tell her?

I have reasons Edward.

And the reasons would be?

You don't want to tell her about it. She'll think it's really weird. Trust me.

No it won't.

Yeah it will.

No it won't.

Yes it will.

Nope.

Yes.

Nope.

Yes.

Nope.

Yes.

Nope.

Yes.

Yes.

Nope.

Aha! I got you!

Dang it Edward! Tony does that to me all the time! You're just like him.

Is that bad? I don't want to hurt you.

No you're not hurting me. In fact, it's funny actually.

How so?

Because.

Because why?

Just, because.

Riley, 'just because' is not a good answer.

I know.

Then why are you saying it?

It's funny hearing what you think about stupid answers.

I do not think about stupid answers.

Are you sure?

Yes……….no. Gah! Stop getting into my head.

Hey you're in mine too you know if you're forgetting that.

Fine then, let's just talk about something without mind reading.

Fine, but I like driving other people crazy because they try to figure out what we're talking about.

I know. Alice stared at us. I stared back at her only with wide eyes. She then burst into laughter.

Is it always this easy to make her laugh?

Sad to say; yes it's that easy to make her laugh. He held the door open and we walked in.

Edward

Huh?

Guess what?

What?

Just because!

DANG IT RILEY! I snorted into laughing. Alice was still laughing.

"What are you laughing about? I want to know what's funny." Emmett called from the T.V.

"Emmett you wouldn't understand. I'm even sure Rosalie wouldn't get it because all she does is glare. This time Edward started laughing and Emmett joined too. Alice stopped laughing abruptly. The rest of us stopped too. "She's right behind me isn't she?" I said. They nodded. I turned around slowly looking at Rosalie.

She glared at me with black eyes. Oh crap not a good time to say something like that. "Just because I glare doesn't give me one reason why I should kill you." She threatened darkly with a growl. She stormed away.

I turned around back at them staring at them with an open mouth. "You could have told me that she was right behind me!" They didn't look at me; only at each other. They started sniggering and it turned to laughter.

I looked at Emmett. Man she's hilarious. If I was alive, I think I might die from laughter. His thoughts were.

"Oh that was so funny I forgot to laugh." I said sarcastically. Emmett padded me on the shoulder.

"Relax Riley. She'll get over it." He said. Esme and Carlisle came bustling in.

"It's time." Esme smiled.