Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters created by Stephenie Meyer

A/N: Wonderfully Beta'd by little. blue .pen and PTB

Thank you for the reviews for the last chapter. I did try to respond, but there seems to be a problem with the messaging on this site at the moment.

Bree POV

I knew they were waiting for me to respond, but for some reason they were all looking at Alice.

I gave them the only response I could at that time. "I need to talk to Fred- alone."

"Very well, we'll step outside for a bit," Jasper agreed.

"I don't think we should leave Bree alone right now," Rosalie objected. What's up with her? Why can't I be left alone? There weren't any humans in the house.

"She won't be on her own; she'll be with me." Fred fixed his gaze on Rosalie. It wasn't the same as when he first saw her; it was more of a challenge.

"Well, both of you." Rosalie stumbled over her words. "I meant, neither of you should be alone. What if the owners came back?"

Fred tipped his head to one side and raised his eyebrows. "The owners left here three hours ago, heading for the airport with two suitcases." He leaned further into the back of the chair we shared and continued. "In the unlikely event that they do come back, I guess we could erm..." He raised his hands as he shrugged. "Leave. We could be out of the back door before they even turned the key in the lock. Was that all you were worried about?" Again with the challenge, it was in his tone of voice this time.

"No, yes, I mean " she stuttered. What was the matter with her?

"Rose, come on babe, we won't go far." Emmett got up and extended his hand towards her. She took it, rising gracefully from the couch and headed out of the room.

Jasper and Alice followed. Jasper turned as they reached the doorway. "Don't worry, we'll go far enough to give you your privacy."

I heard the back door click a few moments later, and turned to Fred. He placed his index finger to his lips, indicating that I shouldn't speak yet. He left the room beckoning me towards the kitchen window overlooking the back yard. We watched as they jumped the fence.

"I think this is far enough," Rosalie gripped.

"You know very well it isn't," came Jasper's reply. The sound of his voice diminished slightly, so I guessed he was moving away from the house.

"I want to know what's going on in there." Rosalie was sounding quite snippy now.

Fred smiled at me and mouthed, 'I knew it, the nosey witch.'

I covered my mouth with my hand to smother my giggle. Rosalie wasn't that bad, in fact she had been really nice to me; she made me feel safe. But she was being nosey.

"Rosalie, Bree asked us for some privacy, we should give her that. Besides we also need to talk and I don't want them hearing us either." Jasper's voice had faded even more; he was definitely walking away.

"Do you know what you want to do?" Fred's voice was low, just above a whisper, so I followed his lead when I replied.

"No, not really. I could go back with them I guess. What will you do?"

"I've no concrete plans; I might travel a bit, explore the world." He shrugged. "You know you're still welcome to come with me."

When we'd parted yesterday, that was what I wanted. To be honest I didn't have any alternatives then, now I did. I had the chance to be part of a family. Not that poor excuse for a family I'd grown up in. A proper family, with a mom, a dad and siblings. And that house; who wouldn't want to live there? I can't deny the house was as much of a pull as the residents.

I realized I hadn't responded to Fred's open invitation. I didn't know if he had made the suggestion be polite, so it wouldn't look like he was just abandoning me. Maybe that was why I was so anxious to get to him before the twenty-four hours were up. Maybe I just didn't want to be on my own. But I wasn't his responsibility. He didn't get me into this mess; he had just helped me to survive so far. There was no reason for him to be stuck with me.

"Do you really still want me tagging along?" As I asked the question, I was surprised that I was actually dreading him saying no. Why was I suddenly so afraid of his rejection?

"'Course I do." He put an arm around my shoulder and led me back into the living room. "I really missed you, you know. I was surprised how much. Guess I just got used to you being there."

We sat side by side on the couch previously occupied by Rosalie and Emmett. I was totally at ease with him. His arm on my shoulder was comforting, not threatening or lecherous in any way. Much the same as Emmett's had been. I hoped he wouldn't start ruffling my hair or calling me baby names.

"I still need to feed quite often. I can barely go three days before it gets really bad." I don't know why, but I still felt like I needed to give him a way out.

He just shrugged. I wondered how long it would be until I could feed less. I'd fed well, yet within one day I was ready to kill a sad old bag lady. "How long can you go?" I didn't have to elaborate; he knew what I meant.

"About ten days now. It starts to get uncomfortable after eight or nine, but by day ten, I've had it."

"So, I could gain a day a month?" I asked.

"I expect so. I don't know if it's the same for everyone, but from what I've observed, that seems to be a rough pattern. I really don't think it's an exact science."

That was so like Fred, always watching and taking things in. It's like he analyzed every word uttered, every movement and gesture.

"I won't mind you know," he said, patting my shoulder gently. Once again the contact didn't bother me, it was reassuring really.

"I could always go on my own; you wouldn't have to go with me every time." I'd mentioned the hunting as get out clause for him and yet I didn't want him to use it.

"I wasn't talking about the hunting. I'm talking about them. If you want to go with them, it's okay, I won't mind." I looked up at him and saw the same sincerity in his face that was in his words.

"Don't get me wrong; I really do want you to come with me. But if it's not what you want, it's okay."

The second the words left his mouth I knew I didn't want to leave without him. He had given me a way out, but I didn't want it. I wanted a family, but I wanted to be with Fred too. I didn't know why, we weren't that close really; we had barely spoken before today. I just needed to know that he was okay. Again, I didn't know why, but it was important to me to know that he was safe. I didn't want to choose. Why couldn't I have both? Why couldn't Fred come with me? The house was certainly big enough. Of course there was the major drawback of him not actually liking the Cullens much, but surely he must be curious about what I'd told him.

"Or you could come with me, meet Carlisle and see the wolves for yourself." I knew he wasn't convinced about the wolves. He believed I'd seen them, but he wasn't so sure they turned into humans.

"I haven't been invited," he stated quite simply. "I don't think they are as taken with me as they are with you." I couldn't tell if that bothered him or not; neither his voice nor expression gave anything away.

He didn't say no. That gave me something to work with. "You said yourself you don't have any plans. Why don't you come back with us and meet Carlisle and Esme? I'm sure they'll be happy for you to stay a day or two 'til you decide." I was trying to sound casual, hoping to make it not sound too permanent.

"Honestly Bree, even if they had asked, I'd have to consider my safety. This Carlisle guy, is he aggressive or violent in any way?"

"Carlisle? No, he didn't seem to be. Why?" I was a little shocked by his question. Carlisle was like someone's grandpa. A very young looking grandpa granted, but he acted so formal, so polite. And the way he talked, like he just stepped out of an old black and white movie. Not very vampire like at all.

"How does he control them?"

"What do you mean?" Where was he going with this?

"You saw how Riley acted, full on alpha male. That Jasper's a piece of work and I'm sure the big fella's no pushover. If Carlisle really is the coven leader, how does he keep control?"

I shrugged. It hadn't occurred to me. That's why I needed Fred. He saw things differently, looked at things from every angle. I'd have just jumped in blindly, swayed by the promise of a family and hot showers every day.

"There's something not right about this coven," he continued. "I know Jasper said Carlisle didn't change him, but he changed the others. Don't you think they're all a bit odd? I mean we don't know what sort of doctor this Carlisle is. Maybe he's a psychiatric doctor and he's changing his patients. That could explain their reaction to my comment to Alice."

I'd never thought of that either. I'd just assumed Carlisle worked with the sick or injured, but what if he was a psychiatrist. Fred could have a point, but I wasn't about to give up that easily.

"Yeah, but we haven't met many other vampires, maybe they think we're odd."

"Oh no, they're definitely the odd ones," he asserted. "The rulers with cloaks obviously don't like them either. It can't just be about the girl. Then there's the animal blood thing, it's just not natural."

Damn, I'd forgotten about the animal blood. Would they really expect me to hunt animals if I stayed with them? Emmett had said that was Carlisle's only rule. I wondered if it was negotiable. I hadn't mentioned this rule to Fred. If I brought it up now, there was no way would he even consider staying.

He broke into my thoughts with a completely different subject. "What's the story behind Jasper's scars?"

"I don't know; they never talked about it." I had been dying to know, but I couldn't think of a way to bring it up without seeming rude. I'd found out so much during the last twenty-four hours, yet I actually knew very little about them. I didn't know anything about Fred at all, but that didn't seem to worry me as much.

"He said he'd been created to be part of an army. All of those scars indicate an awful lot of fights," Fred mused. Now that was one thing I had thought about, but only in a fleeting way. What if it's not safe with them? What if we were not the first group to attack them?

"Do you think others have attacked them before?" I asked. "They were certainly prepared for us in that clearing. Could it be a regular thing for them?" I stopped talking but my thoughts continued along that vein. Maybe they didn't want me to be part of their family. Maybe they're also building an army. Just doing it a bit slower, so that the Volturi couldn't do anything about it. If that was the case the plan wasn't working very well, 'cause the Volturi knew about them, and wanted them destroyed.

"The others don't have a mark on them," he replied, shaking his head. "I'm pretty sure he got all of those scars before he joined them."

"Do you think they all know how he got them?" I asked.

"Well, I'm sure the mind reader would have found out, so they must all know." He sighed. "That's another thing about going with them. I don't want someone rummaging around in my head all the time. I like my privacy. It's hard enough to come by with our hearing the way it is, but the idea of not even being able to keep my thoughts to myself kinda freaks me out a bit."

Another thing I'd failed to consider. Could I stand living with a mind reader?

"Can he hear everyone, all of the time?" Fred asked. So, he was curious. Was he was actually considering coming with me?

"He said he couldn't switch it off."

"Did you believe him?" It never occurred to me not to believe him. I pretty much believed everything they had told me. What if he was lying?

"I did; maybe he can turn it on and off like you, but he wanted me to think he was listening all of the time," I said.

"Mmm maybe, but Jasper says he can't stop feeling other's emotions; it's just the projecting that's within his control." Fred spoke out loud, but I got the feeling he was just working things out in his head.

"It's really not an issue, even if he could switch it off, he probably wouldn't do it with us there."

I nodded in agreement. I gave nothing away, but I was jumping up and down inside. He'd said us. He said he wouldn't do it with us there. Despite all the negative points, he was curious. I knew he would be. I was close to getting what I wanted. I wracked my brains trying to figure out what would make him say yes.

The sound of the phone made us both jump. It wasn't the house phone, it was the cell Alice had given me. I pulled it out of my bag and flipped it open.

"Hi, Bree." The trill, bubbly voice came through the receiver. "Could I have a quick word with Fred?"

Fred's eyebrows knitted together as he reached for the phone.

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