So I honestly wasn't planning to continue this story…but your continued reviews and favorites and whatnot made me think about it and actually miss writing.

I'm sorry for the absence, guys. Almost a year has gone by and I'm back. There might be continuity errors, but honestly I can only say I'm sorry and I hope you can ignore them. If they're rather large ones, however, please let me know so I can fix them.

Here we go, though. You asked and finally, you'll receive. I hope some of you can bear with me. Sorry so late!

It went without a hitch. So smoothly, in fact, that I felt as if I was dreaming. Whether or not I was dreaming of the boy's acceptance or of the whole regaining my sight thing, I wasn't sure. But when I went to sleep, I felt utterly at peace and completely happy. I knew I would reveal to them my sight the next day, spouting something about lasers and faster healing time. And again, I knew they would have to believe me because there wasn't any option for normal people.

When I woke, I felt light and airy. I floated out of bed—tripping and completely unfazed, I felt along the wall, knowing this would be one of the last times I'd have to do so. I got ready, brushing my hair blindly, brushing my teeth clumsily, and fumbling around for clothes. Today would be glorious.

Nothing could go wrong.

Excited, I went downstairs. The boys were chattering, but grew quiet when I hobbled into the kitchen. Breakfast had been cooked—by who, I wasn't sure. It seemed that my sudden perception was gone. I didn't know if that was because I'd gotten my sight back or because I was simply too excited to truly focus.

"Any pain, Bella?" Sam asked from my right, meaning that Dean was the one clattering around at the stove. I smiled at him.

"None at all. This new laser technology is really state of the art," I said, already implanting my lie. "The doctor said I would be able to see by the end of the day."

"Wow," Sam said thoughtfully. "That's amazing. I'm so happy for you."

"Me too," Dean said gruffly, voice growing closer. China clanked onto the table in front of me. "Plate…" he muttered. Squishy something fell onto the plate. "Eggs…" and then crisp pitter-patters. "Bacon. There. Breakfast fit for a king."

"I'm not sure how you do it, Dean," Sam said.

Pride edged into his brother's voice, "Why, thank you, I—"

"My eggs are cold and yet my bacon is horribly burnt."

There was a pause of indignant silence, broken only by Sam's small, playful chuckle. Dean breathed in deeply, beginning to say something back, and pausing. It was at this, I began laughing—jittery, I tried to eat, fingers shaking and food falling off my fork before it ever had the hope of reaching my mouth.

Dean's anger grew to something almost tangible. "How about you two shut up and eat your damn food," he grumbled.

"Aye aye, captain." I laughed at Sam's joke, only to realize a moment later that Sam wasn't the one who'd said it.

"Good one, Bella," Dean mocked.

Silently, I placated Dean by eating his food—it wasn't even that horrendous, either. Part of me wished to strip the bandages off and drink it in with my eyes, as well, but that time wasn't now. I had to wait.

Knowing, however, that I would be able to openly see by the end of the day, made me incredibly happy. I was practically bouncing in my seat as I ate, drinking orange juice someone had had the good sense to get me, and listening to more of the brothers' banter.

My day was starting wonderfully, and I knew it would end even better. After dropping the "I can see" bomb, I planned to ease my way into the "take me with you" plea. I could only hope that they'd become even slightly partial to me in their short time here—enough to agree that if I helped fund our way and stayed out of their way while they hunted, I could join in the trip.

I knew that if I was rejected, I would never have the guts to do it myself. It was like the situation with Cassie, in a way—she'd had a wonderful idea, a way to get what we wanted. I wanted to travel, and so did the brothers—but like her, I couldn't do it alone. If they said yes, they'd be doing me the largest favor yet.

Truth be told, I was slightly afraid of their answer. Either way scared me. Staying in Forks would suffocate me. Leaving would rip a chunk of me out. Yet I only would have a year to deal with such pain, so I knew that the better choice was to deal with it on the road and seeing sights.

Part of me, too, had grown attached to the brothers. Already spending time without them seemed like a hard thing to do. A large reason I wanted to travel was in order to travel with them. Sappy as it was, I didn't want to let them go. I had only a year and I wanted them in it.

Was it sad how attached I'd gotten so quickly? Yes, by far, I knew it was. But again, my time limit allowed me to convince myself that I simply didn't have time to care.

The brothers suddenly stopped speaking, and the blaring television broke me out of my thoughts. It always seemed to be running, on the local news no less, but now it was amplified by the sudden, complete silence between the brothers. I could tell that they were trying to catch what was being said—curious, I listened in as well.

"—drenched in blood, standing over the body. Her brother plans to post bail, but has yet to make any further comments. She has been taken into custody and is in the Forks' Sheriff's office, awaiting transfer if bail can't be posted within—"

Dean cursed loudly as the blaring phone interrupted the newswoman's report. The chair to my left, his chair, scraped the floor as he got up to answer. "Hello?"

He paused. "Bella, it's for you."

Sam grabbed my hand, leading me across the room to Dean. A weird, eerie feeling gripped me as I approached the phone, receiver falling into my hand like a weight. I struggled to put it to my ear, oddly shaken. Was it that news report, the one obviously about a brutal murder?

"Hello?" I asked quietly.

"Bella," Cassie said. I breathed a sigh of relief, happy to hear from my new friend.

"Cas!" I said happily. "What's up?"

"I need you to come see me, Bella."

I hesitated at the immense urgency in her tone. Her words were rushed—unlike last night, in excitement. Now she spoke as if on a deadline. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm at the sheriff's office, Bella. I need to talk to you. Right now."

A lump formed in my throat. I struggled to talk around it. "Why are you there?"

"I can't say now. Come meet me, please. It's important. It's about last night." Her words rung, striking me in the heart. This pertained to me, too.

Possibilities ran in my mind, rampant, making my response sluggish. "Sure, I'll get the boys to drive me."

"Thanks," and with that, she hung up. Shaking, I set the receiver on the counter, unable to muster the ability to struggle finding the holder.

"Hey, guys?" I called. "I'm done."

They both came, two sets of footfalls, from the living room. The news was louder than before. "Can we go down to the sherriff's office?"

The question was sudden, and I hadn't even thought to tack on a reason. Looks like I'd go with the truth. "Why?"

Part of me had been hoping they wouldn't ask questions. It was silly, really, to wish for, but I'd wanted it all the same. Now, however, I gulped and breathed deeply to steel myself. "My friend is there. I want to make sure she's okay. She just called."

There was a pregnant pause. They were connecting the same dots I was. However, thankfully, they both quietly agreed to it, leading me out of the house and into their car. I took the front seat, Sam in back. The ride seemed long, and I tapped the dash with my thumb to an imaginary song as I waited. I could feel the silence pressing in on me.

So today wasn't totally wonderful. In fact, something told me that it was about to get awful.

We arrived, parked, and I was led up the ramp. Opening the door, I caught a wave of a scent I didn't want to think about—Charlie. He came home smelling like the tobacco paperwork of the office every night. Something I'd never had the grace to notice until after he was gone.

I was greeted solemnly. "I need to speak to Cas," I replied. I didn't know who I was speaking to, didn't recognize the voice, and truly didn't care.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Bella…" was the worried response. I leaned forward.

"Please. It's important." He paused, and the boys stayed silent behind me. The sound of a fax machine and ringing phones was in the background. I could hear someone else talking, one of the most brutal things Forks has seen in a long time…

"Alright," was the response at last. "But for only a little bit. And you'll be accompanied by Jerry—and I'd like these boys to go with you. Just in case. She's dangerous, Bella, you know that?"

I almost wanted to laugh. If only he knew that my reaction to danger was to hold its hand and follow. "I know. But she's also my friend."

"But she's a murderer!" was the reply, even though I was already being gently led toward the holding cell.

"Hey," Dean said from next to me. His warm hand tightened on mine. "Let the girl speak to her friend. And what ever happened to innocent until proven guilty?"

"She's gonna need a damn good lawyer to be proven innocent," the man replied. His keys jingled, a door opened, and a wave of cool air hit me. "There ya go. Five minutes tops, got it, Bella? I'm watching through that window there, just in case."

I wanted to point out the bandages, but opted against any more snarky remarks. "Okay, thank you," I said softly.

"Bella," Cassie sighed. "Thank god you're here."

I stood in place, wary of moving. The boys stayed silent. "Why did you call me down, Cas?"

"I have to talk about what happened—I killed my dad, Bella." I winced as she said it. "But I don't know what came over me! I got screwed—I'm looking at ten years, Bella, can you believe that?" I knew what she was implying, though I couldn't say out loud. The deal. All of her time, gone.

"It's the deal, Bella—it turns sour."

"Deal?" Sam said from beside me. There was something foreign in his voice.

Cassie paused. "Who…who else is there?"

I winced. "Um, Sam and Dean. They're my friends. They had to come in here because you're…you know, dangerous."

"I'm not! It was that bitch! She did this to take my ten years away!" I heard a chair clang against the floor. "I didn't mean to Bella—I really didn't! It was just so bad and I couldn't…I couldn't…"

"What did you ask for?" Dean asked. I was too overwhelmed to question how he seemed to know she'd asked for something. His tone, however, unnerved me—strangely clinical for being in the room with an admitted killer.

"I wanted my dad dead—I really did. But I thought heart attack, not this."

"It'll be okay," I tried to reassure, "I promise, Cassie, we'll—"

The door flew open behind us. "Alright, that's enough," the man who had taken us here said. "She's getting violent. Charlie's daughter or not, you need to leave, Bella."

"It's okay," Sam said. That same foreign thing in his voice—something I knew was somehow directed at me. As he said his next words, I felt like I was small—an inch in height and shrinking. "We were just leaving."

"Good. Do it faster," was the gruff reply. "Take her outta here, Jerry."

"Bella please!" Cassie started screaming. There was grunting, and I could hear things clattering in a physical struggle. "You have to get out of the deal! She'll screw you out of your ten too!"

A door shut. And then another. Just me and the boys, I couldn't get over the fact that it wouldn't take much for her to take my time away—considering I didn't have ten years. I only had one.

We got to the car—but that was when they snapped. Instead of opening the door, I was shoved against it. A warm body held me there, and strong—tense, but still gentle—hands unwrapped my eyes.

Despite the fiery look in his eyes, I couldn't help but choke at Dean's face. Strong jaw, arched brows, plumped lips—he was right there, close to me, and breathing heavily. In his eyes was anger. "There was no surgery, was there?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied hesitantly. My voice shook worse than my hands, crushed to my sides by his body. Sam was behind him, similar, if not calmer, look in his eye. "Of course there was. I can see, right?"

"Not with surgery, you can't. I knew something was up," Dean growled at me. "You made a deal, didn't you?"

"Cassie is just…kinda crazy. She doesn't know what she's talking about," my lies flowed freely, as if someone else was speaking for me. My heart was thumping in my chest, battering my ribcage—I felt overwhelmingly warm, like I was going to faint, and Dean's heavy weight pressing down on me wasn't helping.

"Don't lie to me Bella!" he said. "You made a deal! You went to the crossroads and made a deal for your sight!"

"I—I—" I stuttered. I didn't know what to say. He was right, of course, but he couldn't possibly know—how could he know? I didn't know. He couldn't know, right? Hazy, confused, I continued to stutter and mumble. He was so close—my stomach twisted uncomfortably. My world swayed.

"Dean," I heard Sam's voice say. It sounded distant. "Dean she's going to faint."

"She made a deal, Sam!"

"It's too late now, she already made it. Let her go—people are watching. Let's take this back to the house."

The world was spinning around me. I was going to die in a year. A year she would take away from me—just like Cassie. I could see, but what was it worth if all I got to see was a jail cell? And the boys knew—they knew at least a little bit, if not more. How much did they know? Did they know about the Cullens, perhaps?

I couldn't tell if I was going to puke or pass out. And as Dean finally stepped back and let go of me, I hunched over the curb and did both.