Chapter Info

Title: Nice Try

Number: 14/36

Warnings: Angst

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I would love to hear your reviews, comments, thoughts, and questions on this story!

Goldielover: Well, you're not wrong. :D About Brett I mean. I just won't say much. Thanks so much for reading and commenting!

animexchick: Definitely, drama is my middle name. ;) Thanks so much for reading and commenting!

AHealingRenaissance: You and me both! But everyone don't worry, Brett will get his. Just wait. :D Thanks so much for reading and commenting!

-Abigail-

Abigail spent the rest of her morning and afternoon with the Cullens, finding herself more and more at ease as the day went on. She laughed and smiled freely, something she hadn't done in a long time, and then it was only with Jacob or Beth. But, startlingly enough, she found she was even more herself than she was with the other two. For some reason, it's like she belonged with them rather than anyplace else. It made her think of her dreams, of her suspicions about the "other her," as she had said to Edward. It felt like the other her knew them better than she did and it was rather frustrating and alarming, but she knew that she wouldn't be getting answers anytime soon. Because they were keeping a secret, and she didn't know what that secret might be, but she knew they would never tell her. At least not anytime soon.

When the afternoon turned into evening, she decided that it was time she stopped bothering them and go home. "It's getting late and I don't want to take up anymore of your time," she explained to Alice who looked incredibly sad that she was leaving, so sad that Abigail almost stayed put. As much as she would like, she knew she had things to think about, stuff to go over in her mind before she were to come back, and it was hard to do that when she was right there with them primarily because it would be them she thought about.

"You can come over after work tomorrow then?" Alice said, and Abigail hesitated as she tried to think of something she could say that would sound true and wouldn't hurt her feelings too bad. Truthfully, that was the last thing she wanted to do.

"I think Beth wanted me to meet her new boyfriend, but if that doesn't work out then I'll swing by." She smiled easily as she picked up her purse and shoved her clothes inside. "Plus, I have some clothes to return to you."

Alice waved a hand with a small huff. "Please, they're yours, keep them."

Abigail's eyes widened in surprise. "Alice... I can't do that. They're worth more than my house."

Alice's eyes narrowed on her, hands falling to her hips. "Keep them." There was no room for negotiation so Abigail sighed, blushed, and nodded.

"Thank you," she murmured. She finished shoving her stuff in her bag—ignoring the horror on Alice's face as the dress she had been wearing was put in there as well, but Abigail was confident she could steam out any wrinkles—and grabbed her car keys. "I'll call you if plans change. If not, the next day would be fine, yeah?"

Alice slowly nodded, her eyes glazing for a moment as if unfocused, but then she looked at Abigail with a bright smile. "That would be perfect!" she gushed. Abigail smiled and Alice led her down the stairs then to the great room where everyone had gathered once more.

The pixie was the first to hug her followed by Emmett and then Edward. She wasn't close enough to the others to earn a hug, but she did say a soft goodbye to them. Her eyes flashed for a moment towards Carlisle who actually looked a bit torn for a moment, as if debating with himself about something—about giving me a hug? she couldn't help but wonder, but quickly ignored—before smiling kindly and nodding.

"Goodbye, Abigail. I'll see you at work tomorrow?"

Abigail nodded in confirmation. "Of course," she said softly. She gave him a smile that felt different than the one she gave the others, so her cheeks heated and she quickly turned away to head outside before she embarrassed herself anymore.

The trip back into Forks was short and frankly, she couldn't help but sigh a little on relief as she got back to her own house. Except for finding Beth and Rick in coitus on the couch—which made her scream and cover her eyes and run upstairs—the rest of the night was uneventful and she found herself falling asleep early.

.x.x.x.x.

The next morning, she showered and carefully steamed her dress from the other night to get any wrinkles out while she got around. All her thoughts were consumed by the single family, wondering what they were hiding and why they were hiding it, but also what she could possibly mean to them more than a new friend. Part of her couldn't help but wonder if it was a secret sort of like Jacob's had been, but if they were wolves, too, they would've shown her since Jacob already had. Besides, it seemed to be just the Quileutes that had the wolf thing.

Shaking that away, she finished up and went to work. To her surprise, it was sunny out again and she found herself smiling as she drove in. She parked quickly and ran in, hoping to catch Carlisle in the lounge, but she didn't see him there. Shoving her stuff in her locker, she went for his office quickly, and was surprised to see that also empty. Frowning she went for the front desk where Mackenzie sat.

"Morning, Abi!" Mackenzie exclaimed.

Abigail smiled. "Hey, Mackenzie. Have you seen Dr. Cullen by any chance?"

Mackenzie lost her smile and shook her head. "Sorry, Abi, he's out sick again." Abigail felt disappointed and worried all at once and she nodded, thanking Mackenzie before heading about her day.

Maybe I can take him soup? she thought as she clocked out for the day, but then remembered Beth wanted her to meet Rick. It hadn't been a total lie the night before, Beth had talked about it, but never gave a specific date, so it was Abigail that suggested it and Beth was happy to oblige.

Abigail changed into some nice slacks with a red blouse and a black cardigan over it. She kept her hair in a braid; something comfortable, yet not leaning on lazy. The doorbell rang and she heard Beth answer it, followed by the murmur of voices.

"Abi, they're here!" Beth called up the stairs. Abigail moved to walk out, but then paused in her doorway and frowned.

"They"? she wondered quickly.

Blinking in confusion, she quickly padded downstairs and saw two men standing in the doorway. One was just under six feet with a mop of curly dark brown hair, bright blue eyes, and a beard. The other was closer to six and a half feet with short cropped red hair, a mustache, and blue eyes. Both looked to be in their mid-thirties and both were smiling at her politely. The brunet had his arm around Beth's waist while the redhead looked sort of out of place as he took up most of the door.

"Abi!" Beth squealed, breaking away from the brunet and reaching to tug her down the rest of the stairs. "This is Rick," she put her hand on the brunet's chest, "and his friend, Abraham. We figured maybe you two wouldn't mind joining us for a double?"

Abigail's eyes nearly bugging out of her head, and she stared at Beth like she grew a second head. The man seemed nice enough, but Abigail was awkward enough in dates she picked out herself let alone blind dates with her friend's new boyfriend's friend. Plus the biggest issue: she was still hopelessly in love with Carlisle Cullen. Of course she knew there was no future, there was no chance of that happening, but it felt almost like going out with Abraham would be cheating on him. He would never want her, and all she wanted was him, but here was this nice man—he had to be if Beth agreed to this—who decided to give a blind date a shot and who was she really to decline? Maybe this is my chance to finally let him go, she thought sullenly. Maybe I can fall in love with Abraham—or at least feel for him enough to let go of Carlisle. Maybe this is just what I need.

Slowly she realized she was standing there far too long and mentally shook herself, seeing a look of unease pass through them, and finally she smiled and nodded.

"Sure. I would love to. Let me go grab my coat." She had figured they would stay in, but they all seemed ready to hit the town so she went to grab her jacket and shove some flats on her feet. Before she exited the room, her phone rang. She almost forgot it so she grabbed it and glanced at the caller ID. Frowning as Alice Cullen flashed over the screen, she paused in the doorway.

"Alice?" she wondered as she answered.

"Abigail!" she sounded relieved and Abigail raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'm here. What's up?"

"I just wanted to double check if you would be over tonight." Her voice sounded...strange. Like she knew something Abigail didn't, like she was pleading with her to say yes.

But Abigail frowned and shook her head. "Sorry, Alice, I'm going out with Beth and Rick." She paused. "And...they invited Rick's friend Abraham along. They want me to double, and I agreed." There was silence on the other end and for a moment she thought she lost connection so she pulled back to check, but it was still adding seconds to the call. "Alice?" she wondered.

"A date." Alice's voice was flat and there was a sound behind her—was that a growl?—but it cut off as soon as it started.

"Yeah." Abigail sighed. "I didn't even know about it, but it would be rude to say no. And...he seemed nice enough, so what's the harm?" Carlisle. She thought the word before she could stop herself and she winced, leaning against the wall. No, you will not think about Carlisle this whole night. You're trying to let him go, so do it and stop thinking about him.

"Right." Her voice was a whisper. "Well... I hope you have fun, Abigail."

"Thanks, Alice." She heard Beth call her name and she sighed. "I'm sorry, I really have to go. I'll call you about tomorrow night in the morning." She paused. "If you still want me to come over?"

"Of course we do." Abigail had to smile at the sincerity in her voice.

"Great. I'll talk to you later then. Night, Alice." She clicked off before she got an answer. She paused only long enough to hear her name again before she shook her head, dropped her phone on her bed in a quick decision to leave it behind, and headed downstairs to join the others.

.x.x.x.x.

-Carlisle-

While he was fully expecting that Abigail wouldn't be single her whole life—after all, she was the most beautiful woman in all of creation—he realized rather quickly that he wasn't prepared for her to be taken by someone else. Frankly he thought he had more time to get used to the idea that Abigail was alive and well and human again and would never come back to him, but it turned out he was sorely mistaken. He had been surprised as anyone when Alice suddenly had a vision and ran to call Abigail. Only Edward knew what was going on and his face twisted into horror as Alice punched in the numbers.

However, not even Edward was expecting the words out of Alice's mouth.

"A date."

A date.

Abigail—the love of his existence, his mate, the most beautiful and perfect creature he ever met, the one he would give up every ounce of venom and his own life to be with—was going on a date.

With another man.

A growl left his throat before he could stop it and it was Emmett who clapped a hand over his mouth before it go any further. His body was trembling, seething with rage and envy and possessiveness, the beast very nearly taking over as he fought with it back inside its cage. He wanted to run to her, yank her away to a safe place, and rip the guts out of the man who dared to think he had a shot with a woman like her, who dared to think he could put his hands on her and continue to live.

But even though every instinct told him to, even as his eyes blazed black and dark with fury, he knew he couldn't. He gave up the right to do that in 1955 when he failed in his duty as husband and mate and let her die. He wouldn't mess this up, he wouldn't take her life away this time.

When Alice hung up, Emmett slowly let him go and he growled again as if he was picking up where he left off. He hadn't realized until then that Emmett had also been using a hand to hold his arms as well.

"I need to hunt," Carlisle snarled and turned, stalking from the room and falling into a run once he hit the trees. He didn't see that Alice had nodded to Jasper who quickly darted after him, not until he heard the blond vampire fall into a run behind him. He didn't say anything, didn't stop for the herd of deer that wandered by. He just kept running. And running.

And running.