Chapter 11: Complication

We talked strategically about what to do about our 'visitors'. Jasper thought that he, Alice, and Matia should leave as soon as possible. The Volturi were probably on their way, already, and he didn't want there to be any chance that they would catch their scent and follow them out. This made the most sense, but Matia still hated having to leave me. I tried to conceal just how much I would be hurting as well, since this would make her even more distressed. Of course, she saw through my charade. It was decided that Matia, Alice, and Jasper would leave this following morning. Alice predicted snow, which would mask their scents.

Just then, a startling thought occurred to Carlisle. "It doesn't matter. Aro will shake my hand and find out everything." He stared down at his hands.

"No!" I roared. I made everyone in the room except Carlisle and Matia jumped. She had seen it in me before I erupted. They looked at me with startled expressions. I explained with venom coating every word.

"He'll find out about them. It won't make any difference if they are here or not," Carlisle murmured.

"Let's think about this," Esme began, "Aro doesn't suspect anything. There would be no reason for him to want any information from us. The only way he would insist on touching us would be pure curiosity."

"We should stay," Matia hopefully offered.

"Not a chance," I forcefully retorted.

"If Aro found out about us and decided to try and find us," Alice started, " I would know right away and we would come back here and figure something out. Unless it was a snap decision"

"There's no reason for you to be that close to him when he might not even use his gift," I said calmly to Matia.

"Okay then, what if he does use his little gift. What do we do now?" she snapped.

"We stand up and firmly tell him we will not join him." I soothingly responded.

"Which won't stop him. Aro would go to extremes to gain members of his guard." Alice said sadly.

"If Aro doesn't find out about Alice, Jasper and you, he wouldn't have any reason to threaten us." There was nothing else we could do. If they stayed, he would know. If they left, but he used his gift, he would know. If by some miracle he did not use his gift, he wouldn't know. Might as well shoot for the miracle.

Alice, Matia, and Jasper would leave in the morning. They didn't know where they would be going. If they had a location in mind, Aro would touch my hand and know. He could very well send a tracker to go get them. If Aro did decide to use his power, Alice would have a vision and come straight back. It would be ideal that we were all together if this happened just in case Aro sent someone after them.

That night, we sat on the black leather couch in my room, absorbing our last hours together. I looked into her eyes and saw worry; but not for herself, for me.

"Everything will be fine," I promised.

She continued to stare at me; obviously my words didn't help.

Without saying a word, she leaned forward and began tracing my face with her fingers. A physical remembrance in her brain of what my face, my skin was like. Her warm fingers ran along my forehead, down my nose and across my cheekbones to trace the outline of my lips. I closed my eyes in contentment and let her hand trace the hollow of my eye and eyelids. I let out a slow exhale. "You have no idea how this feels." I opened my eyes to see her smiling. It wasn't her joyous smile, but it wasn't fake. Without warning, I closed the distance between us until my lips found hers. Her hand, which had still been tracing my jaw, fell down my neck and down my arm until her hand found mine. Our kiss was still so sweet and gentle, but hidden on the inside was sadness. Even though we would only be apart for a couple days, not knowing what was happening to the other while danger was near was painful. It was amazing how we both had the urge to not waste a minute. To be with the other as much as possible. Too soon, she reluctantly pulled away slightly. "Please don't," I pled.

"There's one more thing I need to get me through the next two days," she explained.

Slowly, she sank down from her kneeling position to sit beside me. She laid her head against my chest and wound her arms around me. I pulled her onto my lap and cradled her against me, and kissed the top of her head. "I need to remember this," Matia murmured.

So did I. I knew that during the next two days, the only thing that would be able to comfort me was this feeling.

We sat there on my couch, holding each other, until the sun began to rise.