Chapter 9: Trust

Edward's POV

"Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do."

She can manipulate my thoughts! It is all I can think. How will I know that my thoughts are mine? Or what she wants me to think? What if the Voltaire find out? I am panicking. For her. For my family. But I don't show it. I keep my arm firmly around her shoulders as I lead her home. She has stopped crying, but has not said a word since we left the alley way. I don't say anything to her. Nothing I can say will be reassuring and I can't bring myself to lie to her.

When we reach the front door of home, I turn to her, "We have to tell Carlisle. Work this out..."

Blair's eyes meet mine, but she says nothing. She pulls away from under my arm and walks ahead of me inside. I wait for a minute, regain my composure and follow her in.

"To be trusted is a greater compliment than being love."

"She can control our thoughts?" Rosalie repeats, still in disbelief, "How do I know if what I have been thinking is real or what she wanted me to think?"

"It's all real," Carlisle interjects, "Blair's powers are still weak, it could be years before she can manipulate a person so their entire memory is changed, and until she can manipulate it so the change is permanent. Furthermore, I don't think Blair would be strong enough anytime soon to manipulate more than one or two memories at a time. Holes in our memory and each other will be able to help us out until Blair can learn to control her powers."

"And when she does learn to control them?" Rosalie asked acidly, "She could turn us into her puppets. Not to mention the danger we are in should the Voltaire find out."

As usual Rosalie's thoughts are on herself, her wellbeing. She doesn't even think twice about Blair who is standing at the doorway, still not having said a word. Emmett tries to place a reassuring hand on Rosalie's shoulder but she slaps it away.

"We were better off staying in Forks," she mutters.

The room falls silent. Blair shifts uncomfortably in the doorway, I watch as her eyes flicker to the outside. I don't need to read her mind to know she's considering if it would be better for her to leave us. I take a step to I break her stance and her eyes meet mine.

"She's family," I say, "Any we look after each other."

Blair raises her eyebrows, surprised.

"We could work with her; help her learn to control it. It could become a valuable commodity to us. The Voltaire never has to know," Esme whispers.

"When you think about it, it's no worse than Edward reading out personal thoughts. It's about trust. I trust that Blair won't use this power against me," Alice says smiling at me.

"Then it's settled. Maybe tomorrow, when we've all had sometime, Blair you and I can sit down and we'll work out where we go from here," Carlisle says warmly.

Rosalie rolls her eyes, but says nothing. Blair gives a half smile to the rest of the family and then heads up the stairs to her room without a word. I watch her go, worried about her as she still hasn't spoken. I turn back to Carlisle.

"Will she be ok?" I ask, my eyes pleading.

Carlisle's brow furrows, "I think you'd know better than I would," he suggests.

"Trust instinct till the end, though you can render no reason."

"Blair? Can I come in?" I knock on the door, but get no answer. I know she's in there, I can smell her scent.

"Blair? Please?" I ask again, "I just need to know you're alright."

Still no answer.

"Blair, I have all eternity to wait out here," I say.

Finally I here Blair hop off her bed and come over to the door. She opens to the door for me and then goes straight back to her bed. Blair insisted on having a bed in her room. If she could no longer dream then she would still day dream she stated. She sat on the bed cross-legged, like a small child. Leaning against her pillows and hugging a cushion to her chest, she looks sad and lost. I close the door behind me and sit on the end of the bed. I wait for her to talk, to say something but she doesn't. She won't even look at me.

"I owe you an apology," I begin, "What I said about you being a monster, when you were...-before we met you. It was out of line. I didn't know you then Blair, so I have no right to make judgements. If we were going to make judgements on each other based on our lives before we met, well let's just say that you'd have a far stronger case against me."

Blair doesn't react. She keeps staring at the bedspread, so I continue.

"Blair, all we have to go on is what we know of each other now. The girl I see before me is fascinating and beautiful, and I'd like to continue to get to know her. To be there for her, if she'd let me."

Blair's eyes meet mine, finally.

"Talk!" I urge, "Please."

"You were right," she says in the tiniest of voices, "I was a monster long before this. And now I have this fantastic power of manipulation," she shakes her head, "I'm never going to change."

"You're not a monster," I say.

Blair shakes her head, but I read forward and grab her shoulders, she weakly tries to push me away but I keep a firm grip and try to gain eye contact, but she refuses to look up.

"Blair," I plead.

She sobs, and shakes her head again.

"Blair," something is my voice reaches her and she looks up. We hold our gaze for a second and something passes through us. A connection. The feeling of loneliness is drained from me and I can see it drained from her eyes. My hands move from her shoulders to her face, cupping it in my palms. Her eyes move from mine to my mouth and I find myself leaning forward. My hands move down her body so pulling her legs out from under her so she is now lying as I lower myself onto her. And then we kiss. It was not like kissing Bella. There is no need to be careful or delicate. I pull her body closer towards me and she reaches hungrily for me as well. My hands travel the length of her.

And then just as quickly as it began I pull away.

"Blair, I'm sorry. I can't do this," I stand and quickly walk out the room, glancing at Blair as I shut the door. She is back sitting cross-legged, the same way as she was when I entered the room, making me wonder if the kiss really happened.