Paul watched Schyleur spin in her mirror. He was.. relieved. Yeah, that was what the feeling was. He was relieved that he'd sat Sky down and told her everything. He felt like it had gotten the two of them closer. She seemed to understand his hatred for Edward and she wasn't shoving Isabella down his throat either. They hadn't spent any time together since his long winded story, but they talked through text. If Sky hadn't mentioned that she was going with Bella to the Cullen's he probably wouldn't have made it over at all, but he'd been willing to give Jared whatever he wanted for him to take this shift. He absolutely had to see Schyleur before she went… there.

She had thrown on a long red sweater and a pair of light blue skinny jeans that fit perfectly in to her tan ankle length boots. Her hair was all thrown up in one big messy ball of her curly hair and she hadn't put on any makeup. Paul took a breath. She hadn't put on perfume either he noted. She was bare of jewelry and Paul appreciated how she was attempting to cover as much of her skin as possible.

He doubted it would help.

She spun around and looked at him.

"What?" she crossed her arms over her chest.

"What?" he repeated, looking back down at the magazine in his lap.

"Why are you starring at me?"

Paul shrugged and raised the magazine in front of his face. He heard Sky huff.

"Any last minute advice?" she pushed his feet off of her bed and collapsed on the space they'd occupied.

He threw his magazine on to her end table and he looked at her. He really looked at her. Her freckles seemed to shimmer and he wanted to tell her so much that she was beautiful and that she looked like sunlight and that he didn't care about the treaty. He would stake the first vampire that even looked at her too long. But, he didn't say that. No, not at all.

X

Sky leaned back and she looked at Paul. He was leaned back on her pillows, his arms crossed over his bare chest. He looked her up and down and he scrunched up his nose instantly making her self conscious about the way she smelled. And she lifted an eyebrow.

"Here's some advice," he said dryly, "Don't go."

"That's not even an option," Sky rolled her eyes.

"So you know that they're blood thirsty parasites and you're willingly going to go to their home?"

"They can probably tell me horror stories about you too, wolf boy," she smirked, "but, Bella is seemingly fine and she won't let up about me meeting them and giving everyone an equal chance."

She watched Paul close his eyes and take a deep breath. She was proud of the way he was holding on to his anger. He opened his eyes and he sighed.

"Right."

"Right?" Sky fell backwards on to her bed, "That's all you have to say?"

"That's all I have to say," he smirked back at her and then his face got serious and he tilted his head slightly to the side, "If you need me- If you feel uncomfortable or if they even look at you wrong, just call me okay?."

"Okay," Sky sat up as Paul hopped to his feet. He stiffened and tilted his head to the side again.

"I have to go," he reached in to the back pocket of his cut offs and produced a woven bracelet, "Sam is bitching and I need to take care of my other responsibilities. Besides, Bella is on her way up," he bit his bottom lip in an attempt to not roll his eyes, "but, I'll… see you around?"

"Yeah," Sky stood back up, "I'll let you know how it goes."

Paul turned towards her and he paused.

"Can you- you know… wear this?" he held out the bracelet and looked out of her window, refusing to make eye contact with her.

"Sure," Sky took it out of his hand, "It's very nice. Thank you."

"Yeah," Paul scoffed, "right… Stay out of trouble," he grunted.

And then he yanked Sky in to him and he hugged her tightly before turning around, walking over to her window and jumping out without giving her a chance to respond.

Sky's heart fell and she had to remind herself that he was Paul and he did things like that sometimes without thinking about how crazy that made her. She walked over to the window to watch him run in to the trees anyway- just for her own sanity. She sighed and then she closed her window, without locking it. She knew that Paul hated when she didn't lock her window, but she also knew that a simple lock wouldn't save her life if a vampire ever did want her dead and she also knew that if Paul needed to jump through her window, he most definitely would not want to break it.

She slid the bracelet on to her wrist and then took a deep breath to center herself.

Bella knocked on her room door and Sky walked quickly over to yank it open.

She took in her cousin. Isabella was wearing pair of jeans and a plain black shirt peaked out of the top of her half zipped jacket. She was wearing her favorite black converse and Sky smiled a small, smile at her. She cast another look around her room and then she let Bella lead her down the stairs and out of the front door so that she and Bella could take a nice, long, silent drive to Edward's home.

The Cullen house was a large, graceful house, rectangular and well-proportioned, painted a faded white with a deep porch that wrapped around the front of the house.

Sky stood beside her cousin as Bella knocked on the door and she looked up at the house. It was three stories and it towered over her. It looked old but renovated. The house was an overall nice one and when a rather large man yanked the door open he made Sky's eyes widen to the side of disks. He was tall and definitely burly with short, curly, brown hair. He had to be at least 6'5 and I was slightly panicked that this guy was taller than Paul who stood at 6'4. I took a deep breath as he towered over me, his dimples evident as he smiled with his childlike grin.

"Bella!" he sang her name and picked her up, hugging her to him and lifting her off of her feet, "And this is?" he sat her down and looked Sky up and down.

"My cousin, Sky," Bella walked inside past the giant and Sky trailed in behind her, "This is Emmett," she said as an afterthought.

Sky followed Bella through the house taking in everything possible even when Emmett fell in to stride beside her. She took him in again. He was huge. The way Paul was tall yet well built, Emmett was larger spread out. He wasn't overweight. His height actually helped spread out his weight. He looked like he would be a wrestler, in high school not professional and he was pale like Edward. She noted that immediately.

The southern wall of the Cullen house was almost entirely made of glass, with a view of the Calawah river. The inside was open and bright, with few internal walls, with a wide central staircase to the left and a raised area with a grand piano in the center to the right as well as a dining room. She took all of that in as Bella led her to their living room. There was a wide variety of the newest technology all in an extremely large entertainment center and Sky thought of vicious, blood sucking vampires playing Mario Cart, blood on the floor beneath their television and on their shirts as they laid back on their couch, controllers in their hand.

"I'm going to run up to Edward's room," Bella nudged her, "Do you want to..?"

"I'll be fine," Sky waved her off and made her way to the entertainment center.

They took family photos. The thought was enough to make her laugh… almost. She picked up a picture and simply gazed at it. There were 7 of them. She let her gaze wash over the picture a few times. Beside the fact that they were pale… very pale, they looked normal.

Sky nearly jumped out of her skin when a finger pointed to the top row.

"That's Carlisle and Esme," Emmett said simply and Sky looked at him and the back at the picture, "They saved all of us. That's Alice," he pointed, "and Jasper. You already know Edward and me… sort of," he scoffed.

"And who is she?" Sky pointed to the girl seated on the floor beside Jasper and Emmett took the picture frame from her hand.

"Rosalie," he said simply, "She left to stay with family friends in the mountains," he set the picture back from where she'd gotten it.

"Why?" she started to walk along the wall.

"Why what?" he followed.

"Why did she leave?"

"We've spent many years together," he shrugged, "We decided to branch off."

Sky paused and she spun around and looked up at Emmett.

"Why are you following me?" she checked.

"What kind of host would I be if I let you walk around aimlessly?"

She shrugged and then started to walk along the wall again. She didn't like Edward, but Emmett didn't give her the same creepy vibes. It was weird. Maybe it was because he looked like a little innocent child in the face.

"You look really young," Sky blurted as she paused in front of the floor to ceiling glass.

"I'm 20."

"Your body is 20," Sky said simply, "Your soul is… older."

"You sure just blurt out accusations for a 5'2 girl standing in front of 6'5 vampire," Emmett raised an eyebrow when Sky looked at him and she shrugged.

"You guys never hurt Bella," she put her hand on the handle of their back door, "May I?"

"Yeah, sure."

Schyleur opened the door and filed down the steps with Emmett on her heels.

"Where is everyone else?"

"Bella and Edward," Emmett paused, "They're upstairs talking to Carlisle and Alice is," he paused, "hiding out in her room. Jasper and Esme aren't in right now," he crossed his arms over his chest and they stood facing the trees and the forest.

"Why is Alice hiding in her room?"

"Why do you ask so many questions?" he shot back.

"It's the only way to find out useful information."

Emmett chuckled.

"She wants me to get to know you," he said as if that was perfectly normal.

Sky crossed her arms over her chest and she shot Emmett a look that he took without batting an eyelash.

"Why?"

"Because Edward and Bella are in love," he shrugged, "Your family will be joining our family."

"That's bullshit," Sky laughed at the look Emmett gave her, "but okay."

He looked down at Sky and he smiled, his deep dimples taking over his face and Sky couldn't help but to laugh on her own.

"I like your freckles," he said turning his gaze back to the forest.

"What is it with Forks men and freckles?" Sky rolled her eyes but focused her eyes back on the forest as well.

She loved being outside. Despite how open the Cullen floorplan was she swore that she couldn't breathe inside. She needed air.

"Other people comment on them often?" his voice cut through the silence and made the hair on Sky's arm stand up.

"Just Paul," she reached for the small bracelet on her wrist almost instinctively.

"Lahote?"

"Yeah. Do you know him?"

"You know that I don't personally know him," he chuckled, "but I know of him. So, do you spend a lot of time in La Push?"

"Now who's asking a lot of questions?" Sky smirked, but didn't let her question sit in the vibrations around them, "Not really, but I'm Paul's imprint."

"His super secret match made in heaven?"

They both turned to face each other at the same time and they starred at each other in silence.

"Basically," Sky dug her shoe in to the ground.

"Is that why he's trying to brand you?" he gestured to the bracelet on her wrist.

"Excuse me?" she looked down at it and then at Emmett, "He just asked me to wear it," she blustered.

"He asked you to wear that thing that smells like him and his pack here," he looked around, "to a house full of vampires with extremely sensitive noses?" he raised an eyebrow and then chuckled when Sky looked put out, "It isn't a big deal," he added, "I was just messing with you. It does smell horrible, but it isn't a really big object and standing out here in the wind is kind of helping," he sighed, "So do you believe in that stuff?"

"Believe in what?"

"The imprint thing," he clarified.

"There's vampire and werewolves and you're asking me if I believe in something like fate?"

"I'm asking you if you believe in soulmates… but sure, fate too?"

"Don't you?"

"I believe in multiple soulmates. I used to believe in one true love, but now I believe in loving different people in different ways, you know?" Emmett stared at Sky and the intensity of his stare caused her to just stare back, "I feel like it's possible to be in love with more than one person. Everyone loves differently. No relationship is like the next. Different people come in to your life for different reasons. They make you feel different things. They make you stronger in different parts of yourself. I know that you can love someone so completely and totally and still not be able to stop the connection you have with someone else," the wind blew making the trees seemingly dance before them and Sky blinked her eyes as if waking up and turned her head to the trees again as Emmett continued, "You can ignore it, but it's still there: the want, the attraction, the connection," he sighed, "What I'm learning right now though is that it's not selfish to fall in love with certain qualities that only certain people have. No two people can give you the same experience," he paused and then cleared his throat and scratched his head, "Sorry," he shook his head, "Sorry," he repeated, "about the long-winded anecdote."

"It was educational," Sky nodded and Emmett nudged her softly.

"You don't have to lie to make me feel better."

"I wasn't lying," Sky nudged him back and tried to ignore how hard his skin was, "You loved Rosalie and fell in love with someone else," she guessed.

"Not yet," Emmett took a deep breath, "but Alice says it's inevitable."

"And you believe her?"

"You asked me if I believe in fate. The answer is yes."

The back door opened and Sky and Emmett collectively looked back at a short girl in the doorway. Sky recognized her from her photo. Alice. She was beautiful, petite, with large eyes and long, delicate eyebrows. Her hair was short and spikey and she looked at the pair of them with a smile on her face and then floated towards them and hugged Sky who stiffened at the contact. Emmett rolled his eyes dramatically and Alice held Sky at arm's length and gazed over her.

"You're even prettier in person," she said happily and then looked at Emmett, "It's almost time for dinner. The two of you should come inside. It's getting a little nippy don't you think?"

"Nippy?" Sky repeated and Alice laughed and grabbed her hand to begin to lead her back towards the door.

Sky looked over her shoulder to see Emmett filing behind them and she wasn't sure why she'd done that as if he was some protector, as if he made her feel more comfortable.

Alice led her to the dining room and gestured around the room.

"You can sit wherever you'd like, Sky. I don't think Esme and Jasper are going to be joining us tonight," she cleared her throat, "but I'll go help Carlisle get the dishes."

Emmett pulled out a chair and gestured to it.

"You can sit here," he told Sky and she walked over and collapsed in to it obediently.

Emmett pushed her chair in and then excused himself and headed to the kitchen. Sky took the opportunity to text Bella and ask her where the hell she was, just for her to slide down in to the space across from her two minutes later with a small smile on her face.

"Sorry," she mouthed as Edward sat beside her.

"Hello Schyleur," Edward nodded once with a soft smile.

Sky's eyebrows fiddled together without her consent and she cleared her throat.

"Hi Edward."

"How are you?"

"Fine, thank you."

"Enjoying your visit?"

Sky shrugged as the kitchen door opened and Alice filed out with Carlisle and Emmett behind her.

She sat up politely while they laid out dishes and food and glasses and pitchers and then everyone sat, Alice and Emmett putting Sky between the two of them. And then everyone sat. They sat and it was Carlisle who reached for the first bowl and began to spoon food on to his plate.

Sky was not amused. She was sure that they didn't eat. She thought that it was weird that she would eat. She thought about them having the ability to hear her chewing louder than her Three Days Grace CD blaring in to her ears as she ran. She thought about the majority of the table being able to hear her swallow and maybe even her food travel throughout her body. She couldn't eat here with these people. She just couldn't. She spooned an extremely small amount of food on to her plate out of pure need to be respectful and then she sat quietly while they shoved food in to their mouth. She wondered where the hell it went and she nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized everyone was looking at her.

"What?" Sky blinked her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Alice asked quietly.

"Yeah," she nodded, "I'm just not really hungry."

Emmett chuckled and Edward and Carlisle both seemed to shoot him looks. Sky hid behind her glass of water and tried to be invisible.

Bella ate.

Sky participated in polite conversation with Carlisle who asked her about her wants and her dreams. He asked her about school and volleyball. He complimented her diction and asked her about her parents and brother. He was polite and Sky would have maybe thought him handsome if her eyes and mind could focus on anything except for the dishes before him, the completely clean plate and the glass that he had never once touched, his hands placed on the table. Sky didn't know if she was thankful that he wasn't faking it the way Alice, Edward and Emmett were or if she was slightly afraid of the way he couldn't even be bothered with basic human needs like eating. But, she continued to talk anyway. She blurted out information he hadn't asked for and her voice trailed through the air, a train of sentences with no spaces between them to fit the thoughts of anyone else. She allowed words to spill out of her mouth like her nervousness out of her body. She talked until her throat went dry because as long as words were going out, food did not have to go in.

And when they deemed dinner was over and Bella had cleared her throat, no one commented on her untouched food or the way she had cleared her throat several times but hadn't taken one drink. She stood up with everyone else and Alice hugged her and Carlisle shook her hand and Emmett walked her to the door as Edward and Bella stood in the dining room talking about something. Sky hadn't noticed that they were speaking until she had already started towards the front door and she was not going to turn around and head back to the dining room so she stood by the door, her hands in her pockets, Emmett Cullen standing in front of her.

"We should hang out," he blurted.

"Excuse me?"

Emmett chuckled and Sky watched.

"I can go on more long tandems about things that you never really wanted to hear about," he offered.

"I," Sky took a deep breath, "You make me uncomfortable," she admitted.

"Things that make you uncomfortable help you grow."

"That works for cliff diving, running through the streets naked and getting tattoos. It doesn't stand for putting yourself in danger."

"You think that I would hurt you?" Emmett exaggerated the question and put his hands to his chest, right over his unbeating heart and feigned passing out.

"I think that I don't know you that well," Sky shot back.

"How are you going to get to know me if you don't want to hang out?"

"Are you always this pushy?"

"Yes," he said instantly.

"I have a," Sky thought about the rest of her sentence, "I have an-"

"Imprint," Emmett finished, "but not a boyfriend. Besides, I hang out with Bella all the time. I'm not trying to get with you, Schyleur."

"Could have fooled me," she retorted.

He smirked and then slid to the side as if on cue when Bella and Edward turned the corner. He pulled the door open and Bella slid her hand in to Sky's. She started out of the door and Edward and Emmett followed after them. They opened their car doors respectively and bid them goodnight.

"I'll see you around so that you can get to know me," Emmett smirked, and winked and slammed the door shut.

He sauntered away before Sky could even say anything. She opened her mouth and then closed it. She turned to look at Bella and Edward who were both looking at her and she opened and closed her mouth again. Edward cleared his throat, placed a kiss to Bella's cheek and then wished Sky a goodnight and Schyleur awkwardly waved at him as Bella began to back out.

Sky looked down at the bracelet on her wrist and she took a deep breath.