The look in Nathaniel's eye caught me completely off guard. I'd never seen anyone look at me that way. Not even Timothy; he had had looked at me with care and passion- this was something deeper.

Nathaniel loved me. He really loved me. (It felt good to know that someone did.) And, I'd had my doubts about Timothy. I had always wondered if he was just using me, and that he hadn't killed me on his first mission because that wasn't what it was. His mission had actually been to charm me into coming back to the Volturi. It had worked.

But, Timothy had loved me. He'd sacrificed his safety for mine more times than I could ever count… was that what love was, though? I owed him, and the guilt that I felt for not being able to repay him made me do anything he asked me to do. His powers had found a different way to work, but did Timothy know that?

I mentally slapped myself. Was his death in vain because I was making it seem that way? He'd died for me. How cruel could a wife be to criticize him for it, and then go off with another man the next second?

Nathaniel saw my conflicting emotions hurling themselves across my face. He stepped back at the final one- which was anger: at him, at myself, at Aro, at all of the Volturi, at my family…

"Sorry, if you have a mate, I'll understand." Nathaniel took another step back closer to the flames.

Timothy's death snapped back at me. The flames!

"Get away from the flames!" I screeched, jumping forward and pushing him with cautious strength to the left.

Nathaniel must have been expecting me to attack, because he barely moved an inch; he only grabbed my shoulders in a grip that I'd have thought impossible for him.

I looked at him with worry. If he didn't move, he might fall into the fire and burn!

"Move! You're going to die!" I screamed at him, my expression pleading.

He glanced at the fire. "No, I'm not. I can keep my balance on solid ground."

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. I was going crazy. Of course he wouldn't fall into the flames, and even if he had, he had enough strength to get out.

"Oh, I guess you're right." I muttered, my head drooping.

"Why would you ever think I would?" Nathaniel let go of my shoulders. I looked up at him. Maybe I should confess. It would be good to get rid of the guilt.

"I had a mate. Hence the word had. His name was Timothy, the Volturi assassin that stole me from Damien and Xavier. He risked his life for me multiple times. Remember the other werewolf mission I told about? He was there, and when I faced those two werewolves, I had no idea what to do. He killed the ones he was assigned to and helped me fight off mine. After that, he trained me in fighting werewolves. He also taught me to fight, run, jump, and escape death like him. Everything I know as an assassin was everything he knew, and we fell in love. If that's what you want to call it." My voice was a low monotone.

"Timothy's power was flirtation. He could make any girl he wanted fall in love with him- if they didn't know how to detect when he worked his magic. I knew, so he didn't dare do it to me. So in the end, I was really falling for him. But, I couldn't help but have doubts. I was right, too. Every time he saved me I was more and more into his debt. I felt pressured to love him, to care for him, and to give him everything he wanted- including the more sexual desires."

"You're not a virgin?" Nathaniel whispered.

"No, but don't think that he was some kind of sick pervert. I don't think Timothy even knew that his powers had found a way to work. I loved him, in a sense, but that love balanced very delicately- like on the tip of a knife. I'm surprised that I hadn't blown a fuse or something. If I was with him now, I might have slapped him or something…" I struggled to go on. Nathaniel noticed my hesitation.

"Go on," He prompted.

I took a deep breath. "But, who am I, to be so cruel? I'm criticizing him for saving me, and taking care of me, and, no offense, going off with another man! I'm acting like his death was nothing, and it isn't! Why can't I cry to show him that I really to care, wherever he is? Alec always said that girls are cruel and selfish. I don't want to be the stereotype he has made me seem! I don't want to be mean! All I want is for someone to see that I have been stuck up before, but that I'm truly sorry. I was reckless back then. I'm not evil or masochistic or sadistic or vindictive or plotting or… I'm just… me." It was done, finished. Hopefully, Nathaniel would see how much this meant to me, to finally be able to confess my troubles.

He nodded thoughtfully. "So, how'd Timothy die?"

"It was our last mission. We were going to destroy an exiled assassin- Gerald. I knew him, in fact, we'd been friends. But Aro found out he was actually a spy for a coven of malicious vampires who killed more than they should and who were plotting to overthrow the Volturi in our messed up system of hierarchy. When we found him he was the garage of a factory that had been built for the semis that transported their goods. He tried messing up our fighting tactics. He messed with our heads. That was his power. He'll change your state of mind. That's why the Volturi excepted him in the first place. Well, he'd caught Timothy off guard and snapped off his head. I'd fell to ground, grieving for him, but soon realized I had to avenge his death. I picked up a semi and threw it at him. That was useless. Then, he started messing with my head again, and stalled me while he burned Timothy's body- finishing him off. An idea popped into my head then…" I reached up to grasp the necklace Timothy had given me, but remembered that it wasn't there. "I threw a necklace that I'd had into the fire and ran away. I'd been dreaming of the day forever- the day when I'd finally escape the Volturi. In a way, Timothy had set me free as well as save me. If heaven is forever barred to us, then it shouldn't be for him. Timothy really does have a good heart."

"And then you ran to Oregon- where we found you." Nathaniel finished. "Hm, you've never confessed like that before. I wish you could remember your time at the orphanage."

I cocked my head to one side. "I can remember a little, but they tend to come in visions. There were a few when Damien and I went to Flor-,"

Nathaniel put to cold fingers on my lips. "That's enough for one day. You can tell me more tomorrow. I don't think I could handle anymore."

What did he mean: he couldn't handle anymore? Did this hurt him, to hear me talk about another man so lovingly? Yes, it must.

"Sorry." I murmured under his fingers.

"No, its fine, you can confide in me." Nathaniel's sincerity assured me. "Anyway, I think this fire is controlled. Let's get back."

I'd almost forgotten about everyone else.

"Yes, I guess we should go." I agreed and took off towards the house. Nathaniel quickly followed.

When we got to the house, everyone was inside the entryway. Xavier glared at us.

"Where have you been? Everyone has been searching for you!" He scolded.

"By god, Nathaniel! Have you become suicidal? Everybody knows not to mess with the werewolves when you're alone!" Danielle shrieked, staring in horror at Nathaniel. I glanced at him, and finally noticed.

Apparently, the werewolves had given him quite a time. His shirt had three large claw marks that had shredded his shirt. Underneath them, partly healed, but still gruesome, gouges had sliced into his stomach. They were about three inches wide, and went all the way across him to his sides. His foot half dangled from nearly being torn off. He was missing part of his finger and was marred with scratches. I gasped and clasped my hand over my mouth.

"Its nothing, doesn't even hurt." Nathaniel assured us pitifully.

"Convincing." I muttered, and grabbed his hand. I looked at where his index finger should be.

"You'll have four fingers!" Dominic snickered.

"Loser!" David joined in.

"What, a tiny werewolf too much for you?" Damien teased.

"We'll never let you forget this!" Dominic promised as Nathaniel stared quietly at them, but a silent fury burned in them.

"Yes, you will!" I snapped, and then wrapped both of my hands around his.

During my time with the Volturi, I'd discovered more things about my power. Apparently, I had my mother's exact same ones. I could move anything, but in fear of becoming like her, I didn't do it often. I only did it when it was necessary. I'd also found out that I really could heal anything- heal it fully; heal it like it never happened.

When I removed my hands, he had a new finger. I smiled at him, and pressed both hands against his ruined stomach. The wounds made stomach churning sounds as they healed.

After that, I kneeled to heal his ankle. A bone snapped back in place when it was done. Then, I closed my eyes, and concentrated hard. Healing a whole body took a lot of energy to do correctly. If I made a small miscalculation on how much energy to use, I could make a wound worse. Using almost all I had left, I healed every single scratch or tear.

"Feel better?" I said as I finished and stood up.

"Very." Nathaniel lifted his shirt to show that his stomach had healed. I looked a little bit longer than I should have, but it was hard not to. Nathaniel was gorgeous. I was glad I healed him faster than the average vampire could heal themselves. It would be such a waste for him to lose his good looks for so long.

"Thanks Amelia, for healing him," Damien remarked sarcastically. "Now we can't laugh at him for having four fingers. You've been a big help."

I turned on him with narrowed eyes that blazed with hatred. "Would we have laughed at you if you lost your finger? I think not! Everyone would have felt sorry for you! As far as I've seen, everyone treats Nathaniel horribly! You always ignore his opinions, not just when they're sarcastic! Damien, you're lucky I don't slap you! From now on, there will be no more hatred towards each other! I've lived with it forever, and I thought that everyone here was better than the Volturi- just go down to their pathetic level, why don't you?" I roared.

"Since when do we follow your orders? Oh, wait- we're supposed to feel bad for you. I'm sorry, I forgot!" Damien raked back at me.

"No you're not, in fact, treat me horribly because deserve it! So, throw me another shit-load of crap, Damien!" I demanded, but that shut him up for some reason.

So, instead, I was breathing fast with the heat of the argument and he was looking taken aback.

"Amelia is right." Xavier was the first one to speak. "Nathaniel, we owe you an apology."

"Yeah, sorry Nathaniel; if I ever hurt your feelings." Dominic mocked and vanished up the stairs.

"Sorry, Nate- I'm truly sorry." Danielle apologized. She looked sympathetic.

I looked over at Nathaniel because I was getting an odd vibe off him… embarrassment?

Yep. It was embarrassment. I could just imagine his cheeks turning red. The look on his face said it all, but, instead of showing it too prominently, he only nodded at their apologies. I guessed he'd have something to say later. But, at least he'd feel more comfortable, right?

After everyone had said sorry, everyone except Damien and Rachelle, Danielle came striding gracefully towards Nathaniel.

"Seriously, I am sorry. Although, I don't think I was ever that mean to you."

"You weren't." Nathaniel nodded, still embarrassed.

Then, Danielle left, and we were alone. Nathaniel's head snapped towards me. His eyes narrowed.

"I can take care of myself! You know what's going to happen now? They're going to be even more retarded. I put up with them for 97 years; do you think I could have handled that?" His voice showed how he struggled to be calm.

"No one should go through that- vampire or human. We all have a soul or a demon, and soul or demon, what ever you have I don't care, it doesn't deserve to be tortured so. I would be suicidal if I were you. Don't you care that they hate you?" I had empathy for him, but he had to see that I hadn't meant for this to backfire and make him feel even more excluded.

"No."

"Then why do you stay with them?"

Nathaniel snorted and looked away.

I put my hand lightly on his cheek and pushed his face back towards mine. I begged him to tell me what was on his mind with my eyes.

"Well, I thought that some day… maybe… that you'd get fed up with the Volturi and come looking for Xavier. So, if I was with him when you came back, I'd get to see you again." He murmured.

"You're sweet, but you didn't have to do that. They would have told me about you and I would have looked for you." I promised, knowing what I said was true.

"No, you wouldn't have. Why would you go looking for someone that you didn't even know? No one in their right mind would do that." He disagreed.

"Then I guess I'm not in my right mind. I don't know why, but I have this… instinct… of motherhood, or protection, or maybe I'm OCD or something… I don't know, but I can't stand to see someone suffer or be alone. I can't stand to have anyone mad at me anymore- just only the people I don't hate, and Nathaniel, I don't hate. It takes a lot for someone to make me hate them." I tried, pathetically, to explain.

"I should have guessed. You give Damien more slack than he deserves, and you haven't yelled at Xavier once- even though he's the worst one of the bunch." Nathaniel walked toward the kitchen, stopping near the entrance, motioning for me to follow.

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, but obeyed.

"Don't be so quick to forgive." He said under his breath, and pointed into the kitchen.

I peered around the side of the archway and looked into the kitchen. What I saw was a shock, not because I never thought it would happen, but more because a surprising surge of jealousy went through me.

Damien and Rachelle were having a very intimate moment. Their lips were locked, they were half-naked, and- I couldn't watch anymore. I was going to gag. They were doing it in the kitchen!

I glared at Nathaniel. "I didn't need to see that." I murmured furiously.

"But, now do you see that he doesn't need your comfort?" Nathaniel asked in a disgusted tone. "That pervert... if Rachelle wasn't my sister, I would kill him."

Nathaniel was right. Damien didn't have self esteem issues now.

"Well, it was disgusting, I'll have you know. Don't ever show me something like that ever again." I warned.

"Or you'll have my head." He finished mockingly.

"Yes, and don't you ever think otherwise." I chuckled.

"DAMIEN, DOMINIC!" Xavier roared from outside.

"I'm guessing he saw what they did to his car?" I assumed.

"Yes, would you like to see it?" Nathaniel suggested.

"Maybe, but I don't want to be around when Xavier starts throwing things." I laughed and strode out to the damaged car. Nathaniel followed.

"Do you see what they did? Do you? Can you believe it? This is not funny! I worked on improving this car to be fit for vampires for years! The tires had the best grip, but now there aren't any!" Xavier fumed as he paced around his car.

Obviously, the car had no tires, but shredded pieces of them were everywhere. An abandoned air pump laid near the Mustang, along with… jumper cables?

"They overcharged the battery." Nathaniel explained.

"How can you overcharge a battery?" I asked.

"Well, it is 2101… cars have changed. See, Xavier got this Mustang a long time ago, but when the car got outdated, he decided to fix the engine himself. Most cars are electric now, but he hates them. His car runs on hydrogen. His engine is the only one of its kind. He only kept the Mustang's look, everything else on the car has changed… except the seats. But his battery has stayed the same. I think there's this element involved.

"Anyway, Dominic probably used some old jumper cables- very old ones- and the engine's battery overcharged… I guess. I'm not a very good mechanic, but do you see my point?"

I nodded and went to calm my dad. "Don't worry. If you made this engine, you can fix it, right? And the tires- you must have designed them. Where are the blueprints?"

"Yes, the tires can be fixed, but they over charged my battery! It was a lead-acid battery! Look around you, Amelia! My car is finished. When they overcharged it, the battery created more hydrogen gas- look over there. What do you suppose those matches were used for? A little bit of my car is still on fire. Don't you see it?" Xavier ranted as he explained what had happened to his car better than Nathaniel had.

First, Dominic had aired up Xavier's tires to the bursting point. Then, he'd used old jumper cables, and an old car, to severely overcharge the batteries. The chemical reaction was highly flammable hydrogen. Then he'd used the matched to ignite it.

The explosion had even melted some of the snow around it. The fir trees that were close to it were bent away from the car and some of their branches were burned off.

Xavier's car was blackened and the windows were busted along with the tires. One of the car doors and the hood had come off, and now I found myself wondering: why hadn't I heard the explosion?

I was silent for a few more moments. "What are you going to do to them?" I whispered curiously.

"You'll see." His eyes were focused on something far away… probably imagining the worst possible punishment for them. I smiled. They deserved it. What they did to Xavier's car was not funny- it was just mean and cold hearted.

"Tell me when you've thought of it. I want to be there when they're punished." I grinned. Seeing them in pain might lighten the mood, and give me license to mock them.

"Sure."

I walked a few steps away from Xavier, to show I was done talking. Then, I looked toward Nathaniel. Danielle was whispering urgently in his ear. He smirked and replied, but he showed no sign of knowing that he'd noticed my conversation was over, so I took an opportunity that was, I'll admit, a little childish.

I leaned down and smashed some of the snow into a large ball. I put it behind my back took a few large strides closer to Nathaniel and Danielle and hurled the snow balled at them with all my strength.

The snow broke into multiple pieces and glittered in the moonlight as it hit Nathaniel's head. Soon, Nathaniel's face appeared. He had a blank expression. His head turned slowly toward me, his unkept hair and jacket littered with snow. He glared at me.

I couldn't help but giggle. "Sorry, it was an accident."

"Was it?" He asked dryly, but he suddenly laughed in a way I'd never heard him before. Then, reached down and threw an enormous ball of snow at me. It was so unexpected that I had no time to dodge it.

The evil ball of white powder slammed into my face, making me fall backwards. I landed on my back with an "Oof!"

"The mighty assassin is taken out by flying snow!" Dominic called from the porch and Nathaniel immediately stopped laughing.

I narrowed my eyes at him. I grabbed some more snow and summoned up my assassin power and the snow soared through the air hitting him in the stomach. Dominic grunted as he flew into the house, making a large dent in the bricks.

"Hey! You're making as much damage as they did!" Xavier scolded me.

I shrugged, not really sorry for what I'd done.

"I'll get you back!" Dominic swore as he recovered.

Nathaniel was already at my side. "He will, you know."

"I know, but I don't care."

"What happened to you?" Dominic was striding reluctantly towards Xavier, but he was looking at me. "You used to be more fun."

"Times have changed." I started as Damien was coming out, his hair more ruffled than usual, and he was buttoning his pants. I cleared my throat and cocked my head in his direction "And apparently, so has your brother's decency."

"What?" Dominic glanced at Damien. "Oh, yeah… that."

Damien and Dominic had made their way to Xavier. "What were you two thinking? This is low, even for you! I have a right good mind to…" Xavier's voice faded away as I began to ignore it. Instead I was focusing on the rising sun.

It was a new day, and it was time to start a new life.