A/n: As of chapter nine, there are now three authors working on the story. We work in rotation, so that's why you might notice the style of writing is inconsistent.

Eleanor

I was not in a particularly happy mood. May was constantly floating around the house with that stupid expression on her face every time the name Kieran was mentioned, and Lillian spent half the day at the Cullen house with Emmett. On most occasions, I would tag along with Lillian and talk to Jasper, who I found was very nice and interesting to talk to, chat with Alice (I'd also gone on numerous shopping expeditions with her), share stories with Carlisle since I'd figured out that our ages were very close or sit around with Bella, Esme and Nessie. Talking to Edward was very irritating and embarrassing, since that stupid power of his was able to see into my mind, it's very annoying having to control your thoughts. Rosalie was interesting; she still hadn't warmed up to us and insisted we were some sort of dangerous threat. I was probably the only one she was civil to, only because I made constant attempts to talk to her, and that was only because I was insanely bored.

It was usually me and Ramona in the house now, going through a growing stack of DVD's that we had rented from the video store. Kieran and May had gone shopping at sometime around noon and Lillian hadn't even come home for the night. Ramona took a final slurp of her drink while the ending credits to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone started to roll. 'What's next?' asked Ramona, digging her hands into the sides of the sofa in search of the remote.

'Uhh...' I reached over and picked up the next DVD on the pile, 'The Hangover, have you watched that one?'

'Nah put it on. I'm gonna go make some popcorn, you want popcorn?'

'No thanks. I think I'll go call May, does it really take five hours to go shopping?'

'Knowing those two, I'd say they were only at the shops for a maximum of one hour,' she called from the kitchen as I heard the sounds of her wrestling with the packet of microwave popcorn. The smell seemed to be wafting from the kitchen to here, and it did not smell pleasant at all. I wrinkled my nose as I reached for my phone, human food, honestly. I quickly typed in May's number into my iPhone and waited for her to answer, she answered after two rings.

'Hey, Elle. What's up?' the background noise was very disconcerting.

'Nothing much, Ramona and I are chilling on the sofa,' I replied, giving the aforementioned person a grin as she settled herself back onto the couch, 'where are you? It sounds windy.'

'Kieran and I are at the beach.'

'The beach? Are you insane?' I hissed.

'Relax, it's cloudy.'

'I'm not going to relax unless you're wearing a trench coat and carrying an umbrella.'

I could almost hear May rolling her eyes, 'I'll be home soon - twenty minutes tops.'

'Alright, see you soon,' and I hung up, placing the phone back onto the coffee table. I leaned back into the couch while I took the disc out of its case, placed it in the DVD player and pressed play. Ramona was rushing back into the kitchen as the microwave started beeping, while the opening credits of the movie started to show up on the screen. I contemplated calling Lillian, but decided against it. Things were changing, with Kieran and Emmett in our lives now it probably would never be the same, and I didn't know whether I wanted to accept this change at all. It had always been the three of us for the past few decades, we had even lived together, and now I couldn't help but get the feeling that we were slowly drifting apart, especially since Emmett came in, I had hardly seen Lillian at all in the past week. I wanted to be happy for May and Lillian, that they had both found someone to love, but I couldn't help feeling selfish, wanting them all for myself.

How are you supposed to feel when you're surrounded by happy and very exuberant couples? I had lived alone for the majority of my life, and I never really minded it. I had met plenty of vampires in my travels that were nice enough, plenty that I liked but never in that way. Of course I didn't have much romantic experience in my human life either, especially after I was forced into an arranged marriage.

"You embarrass us, Éléonore!" Mother had yelled. "Why do you decline these handsome suitors when they ask for your hand in marriage? Twenty years old and unmarried, oh the shame you bring to us!"

"You don't understand, Mother. I'm waiting for – "

"For what, daughter? Are you going to bring up love again? This isn't about love; it's about money and our status. By tomorrow I will have arranged a husband for you."

"Mother, please – "

"Not another word, Éléonore! You have brought shame to us for far too long. Now away with you!"

'Eleanor, are you even watching the movie?' demanded Ramona.

'Sort of.'

'You missed the funny part, don't worry I'll rewind it.' Ramona re-winded it back a few seconds and we laughed together, we watched the rest of the movie, and then I packed the pile away because we had been watching DVD's since late morning, a quick snack in the forest sounded like a good idea at the moment.

'What colour scheme do you think I should go with?' Ramona asked suddenly.

'A colour scheme for what?'

'My wedding, obviously! Heath told me he doesn't like gold for anything. I think we should go with silver and a light blue, what do you think?'

'Sounds great,' I replied, thinking of a way I could politely exit this conversation as Ramona prattled on about the seating arrangement for her estranged aunt and uncle.

'For my cousin Juliet's wedding, we put Uncle Ralph next to my Aunt Jemima – cucumbers everywhere!'

A few minutes later, Ramona had ran upstairs and got a notepad and insisted I help her with compiling a shortlist of flowers that she would need to order, she furiously scribbled down my favourites (lilies, yellow roses, daffodils and tulips), we were discussing cakes when her phone rang, the caller ID showed that it was Mr Carter. There was a short conversation which I mainly eavesdropped on, until she reached for the now abandoned notepad and started writing down a list of co-ordinates that he was dictating to her. 'No further east than that?'

'That's right,' he clarified, 'take Hart with you and tell the girls they're free for the rest of the day,' he finished.

'I will - bye.'

'He says you're free for the rest of the day,' she said while she ended the call and began scrolling through the contact list on her phone for Kieran's number.

'Awesome.'

'Kieran hurry up and get home, Carter wants us in the forest by four. We're patrolling, yet again,' she said exasperatedly.

'Alright, I'm about a minute away, see you.'

Ramona hung up the phone and started running up the stairs to pack her bag, I could hear her muttering to herself as she searched for something.

'Have you got anything planned for tonight?' she called from her bedroom.

I scoffed, 'yeah, I was just thinking about going up to that new nightclub down the road and partying until the morning. Why do you ask?' I called back sarcastically.

I heard her give a small laugh, 'we're running out of groceries, do you think you and May could go pick some up and make dinner? Kieran and I won't be back until around eight.'

'Err – shit, yeah, I'll see what I can do,' I replied. This wasn't going to turn out very well. Neither May or I was educated on the topic of human food, having not cooked for so long.

'Great, thanks,' she called; I heard her zipping up her bag and a car pulling into the driveway. 'No celery, you know how much I hate that stuff, I wrote you a post-it, it's on the fridge.'

Kieran and May entered through the door casually, Ramona came back down the stairs and threw a backpack in his face while he was saying hello to me, Ramona practically pushed him out the door and the two seated themselves in the car while Ramona gave him a brief on her conversation with Mr Carter. 'Where are they going?' asked a confused looking May. She really did appear to have just come from the beach, her hair was a little wet in places and very windswept and the cuff of her jeans was soaked with water.

'Carter wants them to do another patrol, no idea why though, and Ramona told us to go grocery shopping and make dinner.'

'Dinner, are you serious?'

'Yep.'

'Do we have some sort of recipe book or something? I haven't cooked in over a century!'

'Yes, well, I've never cooked a meal in my life; we'll just make soup or something,' I said to her while I climbed the stairs to get dressed, I came back down the stairs wearing a dark grey cashmere sweater dress, black stockings and stilettos. 'Wow, where are you going?' asked May sceptically as she eyed my outfit.

I rolled my eyes, 'I haven't been out of the house yet, leave me alone.'

May laughed and passed me on the stairs on her way to change out of her wet jeans, the doorbell rang, I looked towards the door and saw Lillian's outline through the frosted glass. I swung open the door to reveal a broadly grinning Lillian in yesterday's clothes. 'Oh! What's this? Look who's decided to make an appearance May!' I exclaimed to the stairs, May came down wearing jeans and converse. I think that you should re-evaluate your friendship with a person when you realise they'll do anything in order for you to embarrass yourself.

'Well, hello Lillian. Haven't seen you in a while,' commented May.

'Where are we going?' Lillian asked while I came back into the hallway with Ramona's yellow post-it.

'Grocery shopping, apparently we're dressing fancy,' said May.

'I see you're not taking that initiative,' replied Lillian, 'I'll just be a second,' she joined us again at the foot of the stairs in a pretty white blouse and jeans. 'I'm driving, by the way,' she added lightly, we followed her in single file out the door, May stuffing a few bills in her back pocket as we walked. 'We turn right here, yeah?' asked Lillian when we got to the intersection.

'No, the Thriftway's left. Ballinger Way, remember, we passed it on our way in. You and Eleanor were laughing at the woman wearing socks and flip-flops,' said a slightly exasperated May. Lillian and I both chuckled.

'Right,' she said, turning left as the light turned green. We pulled into the Thriftway car park in a very convenient spot near the entrance of the store, when we walked into the store I wrinkled my nose as it was instantly assaulted by the smell of fruit, fresh and rotting. 'What's on the list?'

I checked the note which I hadn't spared a glance for yet, 'Okay, we have; eggs, milk, two loaves of bread, potatoes...' We went to the most obvious section first for the milk and eggs in the freezer, then spread out to gather the rest of the items on the list. The store was pretty empty, there was only us three, a woman with her young son and an old man doing their shopping. The store was decorated with long strands of Christmas tinsel and posters with Santa Clause and his sleigh, advertising their special prices, a bored looking cashier was leaning against his counter and staring in the direction of the car park. Christmas decorations meant December, the last time I had checked the date it was November 30th so it was the first today, which meant it was sixteen days until my three hundred and fifty-eighth birthday. How enthralling.

I tied up a plastic bag with six apples in it and crossed to May who was beckoning me over, standing next to the potatoes. 'How many potatoes do we need?'

'The list doesn't saying anything about how many.'

'Well, how much do you need for an average bowl of mashed potato?'

'How am I supposed to know how much you need, just grab two and let's move on.'

I turned to leave, 'No, Eleanor I'm serious! You need more than two.'

'Then get three.'

'Eleanor!'

'I don't know, get six or something.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yes, its how many potatoes I bought last time,' I said sarcastically, 'which was never.'

'Can you two stop arguing about potatoes please? That kid is looking at you weirdly,' said Lillian, pointing at the boy who was about seven years old and watching us, I stuck my tongue out at him, and he returned the gesture. 'Are we done then?' asked May.

'Yep,' answered Lillian and I in unison, we walked up to the bored looking cashier who started ringing up our items, determinedly not looking at us. May slapped the money on the counter before he was done with a concerned expression on her face. 'Your five dollars short,' the teenaged cashier said brusquely, Lillian swore quietly and May was probably contemplating what to take off our purchases to make it cheaper, luckily for them, I had a way around this problem.

I leaned on the counter, letting my hair fall gracefully over my face and gave him a slow smile, 'I don't think five dollars should be a problem. Do you?'

I realised my idea had worked the moment his breath hitched in his throat, the very many advantages of immortal beauty. 'N-no, it's fine. Your receipt,' he said, handing me the paper while keeping his eyes fixed on the floor.

'Thank you very much –'I checked his badge, 'Greg.'

'Wonderful, Eleanor,' commented Lillian, 'you've only learnt from the best.'

***

'So,' I said, 'what are we making for our little human friends?'

'I was thinking steak and potatoes,' replied Lillian, 'and some salad.'

'Okay, well, I don't know how to cook,' I said, I really didn't have a clue about the foul smelling and looking ingredients. I had never cooked in my life or seen anyone do it, when I was human we had had servants to do it for us and I'd never watched a cooking show on TV before, they just didn't hold my interest.

'Neither do I,' said May uncertainly, the two of us watched Lillian unpack the ingredients like an old pro.

'Okay, I'll do the steak, I don't trust either of you,' she said, 'Elle can you peel the potatoes?'

'Um – '

'Excellent, and May you make the salad,' she said, 'good, Ramona's left the meat to defrost.' Lillian started opening and closing cupboard doors in search of something. 'What are you waiting for? The potato peelers' in that draw over there and the bowls are in that cupboard.'

'Why does this bowl have holes in it?' demanded May.

'It's supposed to have holes in it, genius, it's used to strain the water from pasta and stuff,' she said exasperatedly. I managed to peel the potatoes in the end, though I was pretty sure I had peeled off at least half of the potato with its skin. Lillian kept hurrying us, saying that they would be home any minute while we cooked. Finally, the steak was taken off the stove, the potatoes baked and the salad freshly drizzled with some vinegar. Lillian was just commenting about how we finished just on time when we heard the sound of tyres on the driveway, only one set of footsteps exited and one car door closed before the harried figure of Ramona entered the kitchen.

'We've made dinner, where's Kieran?' Lillian said happily, setting down knives and forks.

Ramona ran a hand through her short hair, 'He's been injured- he's at the hospital.'

***

'We're here to see Kieran Hart,' May told the secretary at the hospital firmly, the clerk shuffled through some papers and gave us his room number and we took off down the hallway. Last night May had wanted to rush to the hospital right away and was devastated when we discovered the visiting hours were over. 'To hell with visiting hours,' she had exclaimed, but they wouldn't let us in. We waited in the emergency room until a doctor came and gave us the news that he was in a stable condition, several broken bones and some internal bleeding, but he was going to be fine. According to Ramona, Kieran had fallen off a small cliff face and onto some rocks that were below. Ramona managed to get herself safely down onto the rocks where Kieran was and called for help.

The characteristic smell of cleaning chemicals filled the hallways while we walked to the direction of Kieran's ward. When we entered, thankfully it was to the scene of Kieran propped up against his pillows and reading a newspaper with mild interest. He gave us a tight smile when he saw us and we chatted for a bit with him, trying to skirt over the accident. Kieran's phone buzzed throughout most of the visit, calls from mainly his family back home in New York. Lillian and I left May with Kieran after about half an hour, visiting people in hospitals I found was a very awkward experience and Lillian was finding it hard to cope with the smell of blood wafting around the hospital.

When we arrived back home it was to a much more sombre environment than it had been the previous night, teasing each other about our inability to cook, now with Ramona alternating from her bedroom to the couch every so often. Lillian and I cooked for Ramona since she'd hardly slept that night and cleaned up afterwards. I was never really good with the whole comforting thing, so I tried to distract her with talks of wedding plans, which thankfully cheered her up a little bit, though I knew when May came home, she would be much harder to distract.