Outtake Embry

My legs pumped against the ground, my paws thumping against the cool, packed soil. The rhythmic swish of fur and beat of my rushing heart keeping my company as I ran through the woods.

I shouldn't have left her. I should never have left. Even after that, if I had found her sooner, this never would have happened. She wouldn't be in the hospital, she wouldn't have been hurt... or raped. I think.

Get over yourself. Leah's voice says.

I'm not sure if I'll ever really get used to people's voices popping into your head while you're phased.

Where are you?

Right behind you. She thinks.

A snarl sounds from behind me and I glance backward. Leah.

What are you doing?

Following you. She responds.

Well stop.

Not until you shut up.

I didn't SAY anything.

Well, stop beating yourself up about Parker, you're not her personal body guard or anything. Unless...

Stop it Leah! I think.

What?

I didn't-

Oh, I think you did.

Can we talk about this some other time.

Sure, now's a great time. We're at her house. She thinks before her thoughts leave my mind.

I swing my head around to see where she went, deciding she's either dead or she phased back.

A foot flails out behind a tree and a second later she stepped out in her denim shorts and cropped off top, carrying a tan, leather satchel.

"Talk,"

I roll my eyes and side step around to the side of the shed to phase back.

"About what?" I ask.

"You know what," She says, narrowing her eyes into slits and stepping up to the porch.

"No, I don't," I follow after her.

"You imprinted on her,"

"N-N-No I didn't,"

"Dude. I've heard your thoughts. I've got to admit it, though, you're really good at hiding it."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I've hidden just about every thought I've ever had about Sam, and I can tell when someone else is doing the same thing. You imprinted on Parker. And you've known it since the day she moved here."

"I-I-I," I stutter.

"Dude, chill, I'm not going to tell anyone."

But the thing I was concerned about wasn't her knowing about the imprint, not yet, what I was concerned about was the person standing in the door frame.

"What does that mean? What happened to my daughter? What did you do?" She questions.

"Uh... Embry. I'm going to let you take this one." Leah says, pushing past the woman in the door and walking into her house.

"Excuse me, miss, who are you?" Parker's mother calls, following her into the house.

"I'm a friend of Parker's, Em and I are picking up some books for her," She says, "What books did she want again Embry?" She shouts.

"God, Leah, she doesn't even know you, one of these days you're going to do that to the wrong person and they're gonna' call Charlie."

"Please, Charlie wouldn't arrest me. He loves us."

"No, he loves Jake. He loves Billy. He tolerates me and he hates you."

"What? No he doesn't."

"Yeah, he does,"

"Since when?"

"Always, there were a lot of things. Most recently being when you offered to take Bella cliff diving, and the earliest being in second grade when you broke Jacob's arm."

"He deserved it," She mumbles, turning down the hallway.

"Embry, who is she?" Parker's mother grabs me by the shoulder and stop me dead in my tracks.

"Leah, she's from school. Old friend of mine. She can be incredibly rude but she means well."

"Embry, what books?" She shouts down the hall irritably.

"I don't know, she didn't say, just make sure you grab The Fault in Our Stars and A Wrinkle in Time, they're her favorites,"

"'Kay," Leah shouts back, coming out with an armful of books.

Parker's mom stands there, mouthing words that won't come out, then decides to ignore us and goes back into what I assume is her bedroom. After giving me an 'I'll talk to you later' look.

"Come on Leah, you're pissing her off," I hiss, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her from the house.

"Do you think she hear you talking about the whole mind reading thing? Or the imprint?" She asks.

"That was you who was talking about that stuff," I respond.

"Yeah, whatever, we, you, same thing. Do you think she heard?"

"Well, yeah, she was asking about Parker."

"It could have been something else though."

"No way, did you see that look on her face? She's suspicious."

Leah rolls her eyes and shoves the books into her satchel, setting it on the ground at stepping behind a tree, dropping her clothes in a pile next to herself. I go back around the corner of the house and tie my shorts onto the band at my ankle. When I step out, Leah is already phased and holding the bag in her teeth.

So, dude, seriously, tell me what's up with Parker. She thinks.

No, it's nothing.

If you don't tell me, I'll tell her.

Leah. I think exasperatedly.

Dude, I've seen how you look at her, I've heard how you think about her and I've seen how you hide it. Just tell me.

Yeah, okay, there's something, but we're leaving it at that. I think, zoning out of reality for the rest of the run.

-0-

"Parker, we have the books." I say, swinging shut the door behind me.

"Embry," Seth says from the side of the bed, "She's been signing something since she woke up, I don't know what it is though,"

"Didn't she type it into her phone?" I ask.

"Yeah, I gave it to her but she just keeps on staring off into the distance signing the same thing over and over again."

I walk over to her and look at the sign, she is holding her hands around the same level as her head, fingers outstretched, hands moving back and forth.

"What does that mean?" Leah asks.

"I don't know. I'm still learning." I grumble, grabbing her wrists and lowering her hands to her lap, "Parker, can you spell it?"

She freezes for a moment, her eyes focusing on me, then she nods, raises a hand and spells out M-O-N-S-T-E-R.

"Monster?"

She nods and closes her eyes, "The guy who attacked me, he wasn't human." She signs.

I really only understand every other word, but the others are pretty easy to pick up, words like 'me' and 'the'.

"Was it a vampire?"

"I don't know. It was just a dream... but it couldn't have been human. He was really, really fast. No way was he human. Vampire, werewolf, shape-shifter, it could have been a faerie for all I know."

"No, faeries don't exist. And an actual werewolf would have killed you. I doubt any of the guys would have done that to you, so we're down to vampires. Get Cullen in here. Now." I demand.

"I'm right here." Carlisle said from the door way.

"Where was your family last night?" Leah asks in the most pleasant manner she can manage, covering my mouth with her hand.

"Edward was in his room, practicing piano most of the night, Alice and Jasper were in their room talking, Esme was trying to learn how to cook, and Emmett and Rosalie were... out of the house. They were at their vacation house."

"That's nice. Thank you, I'm sorry, Embry was just being a dick."

At this, I reach up and slap her hand away.

"Oh, and, as far as you know, have there been any other vampires through town lately?" She says, completely ignoring me.

"No, not that we know of. Why?"

"Nothing, just Embry jumping to conclusions. Who knows, maybe faeries do exist, but I wouldn't know why the hell he would say that because he won't tell us the other half of the conversation. Thanks a lot Embry, you're an i-"

"If you're going to say idiot, no need to stress your vocal cords any more, I get it."

"No, actually, I was going to say immature imbecile, and I would say that your version of it is okay too, but it really isn't. I much prefer my word choice. It doesn't sound like it was said by a mentally challenged five year old. Hence the 'immature imbecile' comment."

I glare at her, but decide not to say anything, I've heard her thoughts too, and I have to admit, her life is pretty screwed up too, especially right now.

Carlisle clenches his jaw, nods, and steps out of the door, but the sickening smell didn't follow him, because his daughter came in after him. Alice, I believe, followed by her brother/boy friend/husband or whatever he was, Jasper.

"Hey, I overheard Carlisle and Esme say something about one of you being in the hospital. Something about a girl. I thought if was Leah and I figured that if it was bad enough for you to come to him for it must be pretty bad, so I thought I should come by. And I know it's kinda rude to show up to a hospital without anything so we were going to get some flowers or something, but I know you guys aren't all that big into stuff that smells sweet and all, so I was thinking a teddy bear but Emmett... well... you know how Emmett is with bears. Kinda' a pointless concern though since he ditched us before we even got here. He never was very good with hospitals, all the blood I guess. I don't have much of an issue with it, and Jasper and I just went hunting, so he's good as long as we don't go into surgery or something," she rambles, "But, you're human, so now I look like an idiot. I should have just brought the flowers."

I glance down at Parker as she stares at the small girl with a quizzical look.

"Parker, this is Alice and Jasper, they're Carlisle's kids... kind of."

"Yeah, you explained that earlier. Mostly." She signs.

"Oh, sorry, that was inconsiderate. I didn't know you were deaf. Or is it just mute?" Alice signs.

"Mute. You can sign?" She responds, propping herself up the rest of the way.

"Oh, yeah, so can Jasper."

He tilts his head down and kisses her on top of the head, "I'm going to go down stairs, head to the cafeteria," he says, glancing nervously at the blood bag hanging from the IV tap next to Parker's bed.

"It's fine Jazz, you won't hurt her." She says with utter confidence.

He forces a grin and shakes his head slightly and starts to walk out.

"I'll be right down Jazz. Just give me a minute." She says.

Leah rocked back on her heels and bit her lip, probably because Alice basically just said that she thought she was dying.

"So, Seth, wanna get something to eat with me? There's a burger place down the street from here." She offers.

"Oh, no, it's fine, you don't have to leave, I'll only be a minute," Alice assures her.

"No, really, we haven't had lunch yet, we need to eat," Leah excuses herself, leading Seth out of the room.

Alice nods and sits down on the other side of the bed, avoiding where Leah had been sitting.

"Look, if you want me to-" I start.

"Don't you dare leave. I'm not going to clear a room again." She demands.

I smile and sit on the couch next to the pile of books that Leah must have set down there at some point.

"Technically, you would still have Parker."

"Yeah, the girl in a hospital bed who probably can't walk. Doesn't count," She rolls her eyes at me and pulls the hair tie out of Parker's hair, brushing through it with her fingers.

"So, do I know you?" Parker signs.

"No, I go to Forks High School. I think I've seen you around town before though. I heard Carlisle talking to Esme earlier about a possible Vampire attack, but it doesn't look like you were bitten. Plus, it's really hard to drink from someone, not kill them, and not get any venom in their veins. Actually it's borderline impossible. You only do that if you're trying, and even then, the odds are so not in your favor. Anyways, did you want to take a shower? I could give you hand if you want."

Parker quirks an eyebrow at her and glances at the door of the bathroom.

"If you don't want to, it's totally fine, I get it if I'm overstepping my bounds or something, but I thought I should offer."

Parker sits, thinking for a moment, then nods.

Alice's face lights up and she helps her up and into the bathroom. I know I probably shouldn't be listening, but it's hard not to. Despite the closed door and the running water, I can hear every word they say. Well, every word that Alice said.

"Yeah, Jasper and I are in the middle. Obviously Carlisle and Esme have aged the most, next would be Emmett, the Jasper and I, then Rosalie, then Edward. Ironically, Edward was born before Jasper, Emmett, Rosalie and I. So, as far as siblings go, he's the oldest and the youngest. It's kinda awkward sometimes, but we live with it."

There was a pause and a thump as Parker got into the shower, then Alice giggled.

"No, none of us are actually related, and yes, Jasper and I are together. So are Carlisle and Esme and Emmett and Rosalie. We pretend to be an adoptive family so that we can get away with living under the same roof with fewer people staring. I know, a family where all the kids are going out with each other is pretty weird, but it would be weirder if everyone just thought that for some reason Jasper and Rosalie just lived with us for no apparent reason. I mean, we attract enough attention as it is. Here, want me to get your back."

The rest of the conversation continued on that way, drable about their unconventional family, until a few minutes later it seemed like Alice's responses were shortened.

"Oh, so you don't live with your father?" She asks.

"Oh my god. He... oh my god. I'm so sorry."