Heyyy y'all. So, I realize I haven't updated in a long, long time (it surprised even me when I saw how long it had been)… Thanks for sticking with me (and Ellie and Noah, for that matter) :) I will finish this beast (if it's the last thing I do)! Ellie's story is turning out to be a little more complex than I had anticipated (especially since the majority of the people involved aren't even my characters!), but I think you will enjoy it if you stick it out. Sigh. Please review to let me know what you're thinking as you read this!! Gracias, amigos :)



9. It's You

This world is always trying to take a piece of me

But you are always there to make me feel complete

If I can keep my eyes on what you have for me

I will face the truth and never look away

You show me the real me

By Fireflight

The jazz club was packed, and Ellie was having a fantastic time. If all birthdays were like this, she didn't see why she didn't celebrate hers more often. She felt like a princess living out some fairy tale when she was out with Noah, like she was leading some kind of charmed life.

The handsome pair turned heads as soon as they walked in the door, and she was proud to have Noah as her date for the night. True to form, he wasn't kidding when he said the band was good or that he was a good dancer, and the two spent most of the night on the dance floor. There were quite a few moments, mostly during slower songs, where Ellie and Noah exchanged the same intense gaze they held during that first afternoon they spent together. She knew the satisfaction she drew from this exchange was wrong, but couldn't help smiling to herself whenever he would finally look away.

The club was starting to empty when Noah reluctantly suggested they should be heading back and Ellie reluctantly agreed. It was colder outside than she remembered, and Noah wrapped his suit jacket tightly around her when she shivered. It was incredibly warm inside his jacket, which carried his comforting, outdoorsy scent that always reminded her of the ocean.

Silence fell between the two as they climbed into his truck. Noah's hand was on the key in the ignition, about to turn it when Ellie interrupted.

"Noah, I had an amazing time tonight. This was easily the best birthday I've ever had. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Lenny. I had a great time, too," Noah responded softly and somewhat distantly, as if he had a million thoughts running through his head as well.

She curled her body against his as he started the ignition, and leaned her head into his warm chest. Noah smiled to himself as she sighed contentedly.

The pair rode home in amicable silence until they pulled into Ellie's long driveway. Ellie was memorizing the rhythm of Noah's heart beat, thinking of how strong and powerful his was. It seemed to be the most significant sound in the world to her at that very moment in time. She placed a small hand against her own heart, wondering if it would be possible to synchronize their hearts like you would a clock. She was pleasantly surprised when she realized their hearts already werein unison. Like they were meant to be.

She saw a big grin spread against Noah's face out of the corner of her eye, and the truck slowed down as they approached the big, lit-up house.

"What are you smiling so big about, Noah Black?"

The car was barely crawling now, and she pulled away from him just enough to see his face. Her hand didn't move off her heart. Noah didn't respond, and instead kept smiling at her. It would be slightly alarming, if he wasn't so cute. Especially because he was no longer paying attention to the narrow path that twisted its way up to her house. She pulled herself out of her reverie.

"Have you lost your mind? What is going on?"

Noah stopped the car once they had finally made it to the front of the house, and threw the truck into park. "Marry me."

"What?" Ellie's breathing caught, and she looked at him as her ears rang with his words. She must have been hearing things to have imagined he just that.

"Marry me! Dammit, Lenny, you need me so badly in your life. I'm good for you, and you know it. Marry me."

Ellie's jaw dropped, and the stubborn part of her dug its heels into the ground. Was he asking her, or telling her?

"I'm sorry. Is this supposed to be your idea of a proposal?"

"Yes. It is," he said proudly, still smiling.

Something woke up in the pit of her stomach, and Ellie wasn't sure what it was. It made her heart and her thoughts race in two different directions. One path made her want to throw her arms around Noah. The other wanted to throw her hands around his neck.

"Noah, darling," she said calmly, unable to not use a patronizing tone. "I think you misunderstand the purpose of a proposal. You see, the purpose is to actually propose the idea of spending the rest of your life with someone, and to ask a woman whether or not she wants to marry you. And to maybe offer it in an appealing way. As in, offering her, say, a ring that summarizes your feelings for her. You don't just tell a woman she has no other options."

Noah actually snorted at her, like that was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. "Please, Len, you and I both know you have no choice but to marry me."

"Excuse me?"

"C'mon. It's not like there's any other guy out there."

Noah seemed surprised by the insulted look she gave him, and she rolled her eyes as she reached for the passenger door handle. "I'm leaving now," she informed him.

She saw Edward peeking at them from behind the living room curtain, which reminded her that he owed her an explanation. She paused for just a second, giving Noah a chance to redeem himself before she went inside.

"No, that's not what I meant! I meant that there is no other guy out there who is as perfectly made for you like I am! And you know that. Deep down in your gut, you know I'm the only guy for you. C'mon, Len. I would treat you like a princess for the rest of your life. We would have a good time, you and I."

Ellie tried to push away the image of the two of them living happily ever after that she had first come up with the night before. She had to admit, he was right. They probably would have a good time. If they weren't so busy jumping down each other's throats, that is.

"Noah, a marriage is more than just having a good time," she said just as much to herself as to him.

"I know that, Len."

"And did you even bother to think this through?" She continued, ignoring him. "You'd have to ask Carlisle for his permission, first of all. And then there's the matter of where we'd live—we can't live with your mother for the rest of our lives, for instance. You said your family doesn't even like me. This… This marriage doesn't even make sense."

She hissed the word "marriage" like it was a curse word.

"Those are just details. We'd figure them out together. What doesn't make sense is being without you. I can't imagine how I would ever exist without you telling me how much of a moron I'm being half the time. I need you, just as much as you need me. I love you, Lenny. You're my moon and my earth and my stars. You're my everything."

Her heart melted at his words. She considered Noah for a moment and tried to form an unbiased opinion of him. He was handsome, even if she was trying to view him objectively. He was optimistic just as much as he was a sarcastic pain, and he was kind. He loved her unconditionally, that much she knew. True to his word, he would treat her like a princess. Noah Black was everything she could envision wanting in a husband, and more.

This is wrong, a little voice reminded her then.

At first she thought Edward was intruding, but realized it was just her. And the voice was right. She was lying to him—he didn't love her, he loved some humanized side of her. He would be able to see something wasn't quite right with her if he was honest with himself. He knew she wasn't normal. But he didn't know the half of it—of her eternally thirsty family, of how she could snap a small tree in two with her bare hands or hear the rustling feathers of the owl sixty feet above their heads. And then there was her ability to blast vampires to ashes…

"Noah, you don't want to marry me," she said softly.

"And why is that?" He asked it like he was waiting for the punchline of a joke she had just told.

"Because I'm not right for you, Noah Black. I'm all wrong. You deserve someone a lot better than me."

"Who could be better for me than you?"

Someone human, she offered in her head. A nice girl from the reservation. But the thought of him courting someone else made her guts blaze in jealous anger, and the look she gave him she supposed could have been mistaken as smoldering. Noah carefully brushed the hair off her shoulders, resting his hands on either side of her neck reassuringly. His hands cupped either side of her face as she gnawed her lip in anxiety.

"I love you, Eleanor Cullen," he said roughly, his thumbs rubbing comforting circles on her jaw. "But you worry too much for your own good."

She could feel his hot breath against her lips. In an automatic reaction, she tilted her head towards Noah. He closed the space between them, pressing his surprisingly soft lips gently against hers. The electric current that passed between them shocked her, although whether it was real or imagined, she wasn't entirely sure.

She didn't anticipate her response. As her heart burst through her ear drums, she crushed her body against his, her hands weaving into his silky hair, pulling him closer to her as she kissed him with everything she had in her. She forgot to restrain her strength, and for a second she thought she had injured him, based on the noise he made. Instead, Noah responded with just as much strength if not more, and pressed her body against the passenger door, making the metal groan slightly from the force of it. Although no part of her wanted him to extricate himself, she wondered vaguely how he had done it. Surely this strength was not natural. Then again, she didn't bother questioning it.

One strong, burning hand was traveling up her thigh, following the elastic bands that kept her stockings up. The other held steadfast onto her neck, one thumb still rubbing slow, rhythmic circles into her cheek. Her hands were everywhere, and they seemed to work independently from her brain. Somehow they had found their way underneath his shirt, and enjoyed resting momentarily on the small of his hot back. Once they started unbuttoning his shirt, though, he hesitated slightly.

"Len," he said breathlessly, seeming unable to keep his lips off hers. His tone was clear, though—she had crossed the line. Still, he didn't stop what he was doing.

"Okay," she said, just as breathlessly, and made a conscious effort to restrain herself.

But her hands had a mind of their own once Noah started kissing her again. In what was unmistakably a growl, Noah released his hold on her neck. Grabbing both of her hands in one of his large ones, he held them tight above her head. With that move, though, their bodies had shifted slightly, and Ellie found that she was able to wrap one leg around his torso. She liked how perfectly their bodies seemed to fit against one another's. Once his hand let go of hers, they found their way right back to his shirt buttons. With a louder, angrier growl, Noah brought his hand to one of hers again, although this time he didn't seem to paying as close of attention as before. With a loud cracking sound, he crashed her hand against the window.

Ellie gasped, momentarily in pain before it was completely forgotten about. It wasn't nearly noticeable enough to make her stop what she was doing, though her gasp was apparently all Noah needed.

"Lenny! Are you okay?"

Suddenly Noah was completely alert as though he hadn't been kissing the living daylights out of her, and pulled himself far away to the other side of the truck's cab. It took Ellie a moment to realize what he was so upset about. Looking drunkenly up at her hand, she saw that it had been thrown against the window with quite some force, cracking the glass as if a stone had been thrown at it from the inside. Wrenching her hand out of the window with a bit of effort, she saw some shards had pierced her skin. Her hand was a wreck, but it was nothing she hadn't experienced before. The bones in her hand seemed to be crushed, and it hung there limply.

Carefully, she extricated the glass, and ignoring the new waves of pain, forced her hand to stretch out. If the bones set funny, Carlisle would just have to re-break them, not to mention the fact that Emmett wouldn't hesitate to make fun of her temporary claw. Once she felt the bones solidify, she tested them, making a fist and then stretching her fingers back out. It was slightly stiff, but seemed to be fine otherwise. The stiffness would go away shortly.

She heard a gasp as she shook out her hand, and remembered she wasn't alone.

"What…" Noah started, looking completely alarmed.

Ellie found herself surprisingly pleased that he had just witnessed her heal. She could easily spin a story out from here about why she didn't age, and then maybe they really could live happily ever after. Edward had once said that people would fall for anything if you just said it confidently enough.

"Shh, Noah, it's okay," she said with a big smile. She was elated about this new prospect, not to mention that her body was still humming contentedly from his touch. "It's okay. I… do that sometimes."

"I. Hurt. You," he said mechanically, as if she hadn't just interrupted him.

Ellie couldn't help herself, but she laughed at his bewildered expression.

"Don't worry about it. I've had plenty worse, believe me. But I always fix myself up, good as new. It's just some weird thing I was born with."

"You've had worse," he repeated, sounding altogether displeased with that information.

Then a look of dawning realization spread out across his face, followed by a wild look that transformed his features, making him almost unrecognizable. Ellie watched the emotions play out across his face in awe, her eyebrows slightly furrowed as she tried to commit each new look of his to memory.

"Th-that's… That's how you can live with them. That's… They… You…" Noah trailed off, and he seemed to shake slightly.

No, the whole cab was shaking now. They must be having an earthquake, Ellie noted in the back of her mind as she tried to decipher Noah's cryptic statement.

"Noah, calm down." Ellie was still confused as she reached up to soothe him. Noah recoiled from her touch, jumping away from her like she was something undesirable. That's when she realized she had offered him the hand that had just healed. She pulled it away from him, hiding it behind her.

"Y-y-y-y-y-y-y…" He stuttered.

She stared at him, not willing herself to believe this sudden transformation of his was all because of her healing. Surely he wouldn't take back everything he had just said because of her stupid hand?

"Ellie, get out of the truck."

Ellie jumped as she realized that Carlisle was suddenly standing just on the other side of her door.

"Carlisle? What are you doing? I'm fine, go back inside."

Ellie threw him a quick, exasperated look, and turned back around to face Noah in concern. Noah was positively vibrating now as he glared over Ellie's shoulder at Carlisle with a look of utmost hatred and revulsion. Ellie recoiled at the look she had only ever seen Noah use with those outrageously large wolves at the beach.

"Noah-"

"GET OUT! GET OUT, NOW!"

He exploded at her. Ellie sat frozen in shock like he had just slapped her, not entirely sure what was going on or what was happening to her Noah. Suddenly she was back on the porch, her arms wrapped around her cold father as the truck peeled away from her, tires squealing against the dirt. Carlisle had pulled her out of the truck at lightning-fast speed just as Noah had hit the gas pedal. She stood beside Carlisle, leaning against him for support as she stared after Noah's long-gone truck, trying to figure what in the world had just happened.