A/N: Wow, what's this? An update? Darn, and here I thought I was reaching the point of no return on updates. *hides behind a wall as tomatoes are tossed at the stage*. Sorry peeps, I suck, and there are no excuses. Here's a new chappy!

Summary: Edward x Rogue. AU both worlds. Rogue moves to Forks to escape bad blood after she takes the cure in X3.

Without her powers, but still struggling with additional personalities that her powers had given her, she tries to blend in with the seemingly normal human world of small town America.

She has made friends with Edward, Alice, and Jasper, and recognizes Jasper from Logan's Civil War memories. She suspects Jasper is empathic and knows that Edward is telepathic.

Marie has just revealed to her three friends that she spent a period of her youth homeless.

[Person's thoughts]

Other character's thoughts

'Visions'

Projected thoughts from OC

[Projected or strong personal thoughts]

Previously:

"Aww, Marie! Won't you stay the night?" Alice cried.

"It's a school night, Alice. I'm sure my uncle would take issue with that, and if he didn't, your parents would. I've got homework to get to anyway."

She pouted, and I couldn't help but conceded a little, "Look, Ah have practice tomorrow night and this beach thing Saturday that apparently y'all can't attend. But we could meet up Sunday?" her eyes went out of focus a little, but after a pause, she answered, "I can see I won't be able to convince you otherwise. Sunday it is."

I started to leave the room, but stopped, turning back around, "Alice? Ah really do wish you could come tomorrow." She nodded, and I left. On the drive home, I realized that maybe them knowing wasn't a bad thing. Maybe, just maybe, I could feel a little relief in knowing that at least someone at the school understood me, just a little bit. [Maybe.]

Hope is an exercise in futility. (Erik)

[Maybe not.]

RPOV

Friday was uneventful, though several students were chit chatting about the big beach trip all day. Alice tried to talk me into hanging out Friday night, but I resisted, knowing I would see her Sunday after morning service with Angela. I felt like I was becoming a social butterfly – at the mansion, I was pretty much a shut in, only going on big trips. Really, the only other kids I talked with regularly were Bobby and John, and even then, they were guys.

Figuring that Alice would dictate Sunday night's activities a little too strictly if I didn't interfere, I went by the video rental shop and picked out one of my favorites, texting her to ask her if she'd prefer to see anything. She left it up to me. I hoped at least someone else would have my sense of humor and taste, but even if they didn't, I'd get to laugh at Edward's face throughout the movie.

I was already well awake and ready by the time the sun rose on Saturday. My behavior towards Edward seemed to have seeped in.

Such a shame. He's so cute (Jubilee)

The beach gathering wasn't exactly something I was looking forward to, but I knew that this would be my best chance to challenge Sam on his behavior and attempted lies. If nothing else, it is possible I could get a better answer out of someone else on the reservation.

The burgers and hot dogs were inhaled as fast as they came off the grill, and while Mike, and Eric, and Tyler, kept near me the entire afternoon, I still found myself having fun. Someone had brought a guitar, and after listening to poorly played power chords for 30 minutes while Eric tried to impress the girls, I decided to show him how it was really done.

"Mind if I give it a try?" I put an innocent look on my face, knowing I would blow him out of the water, but too eager to get him to stop making a racket to care about how embarrassed and hurt he would be after.

He looked at me warily, "You play?"

"A little." Yeah, and Stevie Wonder only plays a little piano. (John)

He handed over his acoustic. It wasn't top of the line, but the strings weren't covered in dirt and grime, and the neck was still stiff and didn't rattle. I quickly tuned it, and started on an older song, Time of My Life. I didn't expect anyone to recognize it – Green Day was more known for their newer album than any of their older stuff – but I liked this one. It startled me when a deep bass voice started singing the lyrics for me, but I hid it well, and didn't even miss a beat in strumming.

When I finished I turned behind me to see who had been singing backup and was surprised to see Jacob, who was smiling sheepishly.

I strummed a few chords quietly, thinking of something else to play. Eric's eager stare intensified, and he finally spoke up. "Can you show me how to play that?" I eyed the new cup in his hand warily, but he was insistent, so I relented.

I spent the next 30 minutes explaining the chord progression of the relatively simple song. Getting Eric to strum correctly – the correct pattern of upstrokes and down strokes – was downright painful. [He's got to be exaggerating how bad he is. Why would he have a guitar if he can't play?]

Because he is down-playing his skills. Marie he's been staring at your tits instead of your hands each time you show him a new chord. That's why it's taking him so many times to get it down. (John)

I'm sure the jungle juice mixture that he keeps drinking off of isn't helping the coordination issues any. (Bobby joked)

Finally, Eric was able to eek out a few rhythmically challenged bars. He was trying to get me to show him more, but then several girls reappeared and he happily strummed away, attempting to show off. What he got for his exaggerated motions was a liquor-covered guitar, as his hand tipped half the contents of his red Solo cup onto the body of his guitar. He pulled off a pouty look, and the girls around him seemed to fall for it. My job here was done.

Darrel and Seth were wrestling in the sand, and a small group had formed a makeshift ring around them. Darrel quickly beat Seth, but then promptly lost to Sam. It seemed the impromptu fight club meet had been stalled. No one wanted to challenge Sam, but I saw this as the perfect opportunity for me to settle our argument.

"I'll take him.'

Sam turned to face me quickly. "No, Marie."

"Why not Sam? Afraid to fight a girl? Or afraid to lose?"

People hooted and hollered at this, taunting him to fight me, and he acquiesced. I leaned into him, "Let's make the pot a little sweeter, that way you have a motivation to actually beat me. I win – you leave me alone about whose company I choose to keep."

"And if I win, you stop spending time with the Cullens. Period."

I suck out my hand. "Deal."

We shook on it. "Alright. Since Sam and I are both adults, we can make this fight a little sweeter. Anything goes?"

He nodded.

I was glad that I had put on my black, long sleeved spandex suit underneath what I had worn today. I kicked off my shoes, as did Sam, and he took off his belt buckle.

We circled one another for a long time, each watching how the other moved carefully. He reminded me of Logan in many of the same ways Seth had in fighting. [John, Logan. I will need your help with this one. Just do for me if you see the opportunity.] I released my mental holds on their personalities, and my head was suddenly much more crowded as John and Logan both joined me in the forefront of my consciousness and blended into my personality.

And just as I was mentally stable, he lunged. I quickly dodged and grasped his head, putting him into a headlock .

I was in a cage, and my opponent was going down.

He butted his head back into my chin, and his hair brushed my chin as I moved quickly out of the collision course. He trashed wildly, but my grip was like a Chinese finger trap – the harder he pulled, the more ensnared he became.

I was fighting for food on the streets of Sydney, and I was winning.

He threw his body into the ground, spraying sand everywhere. Everyone in the circle around us stepped back. I was underneath him now, but I still had a death grip around his neck and he was struggling to breathe.

I was a god of street fighting, and I fucking knew it – everyone did.

"Giving up so easily Sammie? See I knew the Cullens weren't that bad."

With full-metal Piotr – worthy force, he ripped himself from my hold, nearly ripping my arms off at the elbows.

I sneered at him, bouncing on the balls of my feet. He lunged again, and this time, made contact. He hit my chest, knowing out my breath, and I stumbled slightly. He took advantage of my weakness and distraction and launched himself at me.

I let him hit me, and grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back. His massive frame and steroid build worked against him as I moved my lithe frame behind him, still struggling to grasp a breathe, but not wanting to give up on this opportunity. I had him in a painful hold, and he stilled beneath me.

"Give." I commanded.

"Never." His body trembled underneath me, and the whisper of a sixth sense tickled in the back of my mind. I ignored it and twisted just a touch harder. His arm would snap if he or I moved.

"Give Sam, or I will break your arm."

He shook his head, and his body trembled harder. I sighed, "You asked for it." I jerked his hand and a loud crunch made the people watching flinch. The trembling underneath me was so violent I was nearly shaken off. "Yield Sam."

He shook his head. I twisted again. His elbow was seconds away from dislocation now, he had to know that. "Sam. I've already broken your arm. You can't win at this point. Do you want me to dislocate your elbow?"

I had to grip his shoulders tightly as his shaking became almost seizure like. His body trembled, shifting from violent heavy shakes to a shimmer, he skin beneath my gloved hands feeling as though it were in a constant state of flux. "YIELD!" he screamed, and I twisted his arm out of the hold, jumping off him to free him. He bolted through the crowd into the woods, and everyone, myself included, stared in shock. Several of the Quilete boys followed – I noticed they were the same ones that Jake and Seth had mentioned were in Sam's little gang.

"Wow, Marie. You kicked his ass." Jake broke up the tension, laughing.

Several others joined in, but I noticed with no small bit of glee that the three boys that had been so faithfully stalking me seemed uneasy after watching me take down the biggest of them all. Well, two of the three anyway; Tyler was bent over his knees next to a tree, vomiting. [Geez, was I really that gruesome?]

Or they just drank that much. Is anyone here sober? (Logan)

I checked around, and surely enough, the only two people that were still around that didn't have glasses in their hands were obviously Quiletes. [Hmm, I suppose I could be the responsible one and offer to drive everyone home.]

And be the nanny? Why not just make sure they don't drive themselves the easy way? (Erik)

I saw in Erik's thoughts pulling the spark plugs out of everyone's cars, and decided that was the best way to go. Sneaking off from the group, I quickly disabled all the vehicles that were still lingering; I figured if someone was sober enough to fix the problem, they could probably make it home okay. Otherwise, they'd need to find their own ride. Then, with a quick goodbye to Jacob and Seth, I headed home on my own, not looking forward to early morning service.

Service with Angela in the morning was different from what I had expected. Of course, at the institute, we had the opportunity to visit the local chapel, which was relatively open-minded towards mutant kind, every Sunday. Today's service didn't address any hot topics, but was instead focused on forgiveness and the power of salvation. I was a little surprised that the preacher didn't choose to wander into the topic of genetics and mutation.

"How'd you like the service, Marie?" Angela pulled me aside before I could take off.

"It was interesting. Ah was a little surprised your dad put so much emphasis on us all being sinners and all 'falling short' so-to-speak of perfection. Ah guess I'm more used to tha 'fire-and-brimstone' kinda sermon. Ah mean, aren't there different degrees of sin?"

"We are all born with sin and to sin. It's part of being human. We were created to be imperfect, Marie. No one, not even God, expects us to be pure all the time. Sure, we have different burdens to bare, but in the end, I believe it will come down to what you did, what you chose to overcome and the efforts each of us made to be the best person we could and spread God's love the best we can. There is nothing unforgivable, but all sins need to be forgiven. Does that help?"

Angela was so sure footed in her faith, I was slightly envious. My personal faith was so twisted because of the different religions I was exposed to through my mutation that I rarely could pin down one belief to succinctly call my own. SO, I gave on the question, leaving with a maybe on whether or not I'd be back.

I had taken my purse with the movie with me to the church, so I headed straight to the Cullen's house. Once I arrived, Alice was practically bouncing off the walls with her happiness.

"So, Ah've got a movie to watch. Ah know y'all've probably seen it already, well at least some of y'all anyway, but Alice said it was my choice, so..."

Esme and Carlisle walked in just then, and I could swear my heart stuttered to a stop as I realized that they may have intended to join us. Actually, given the R rating, I should probably have asked them if it was okay to even watch the film in their house. I steeled myself, and went for the question. "Hello Esme, Carlisle."

"Hi Marie dear. What is on the movie list for tonight?"

"Oh. Actually, Ah should ask before we put it on. Ah'm sorry Ah didn't think to ask before... It's called Fight Club – it's sort of a, coming of age story. But it has some pretty explicit violence... Ah'm sorry if you don't think that's appropriate, it didn't cross mah mind..."

She interrupted me quickly, "Oh no, that's fine. But I think I'll skip out on the drama then and we'll go out like we'd planned to anyway."

[God I love Esme. She really has a great way of diffusing situations.] "Okay. Thanks. You're sure it's okay if Edward and Alice watch it, right ma'am? I mean, it's only R, but they are your kids and all."

She and Carlisle exchanged a strange look and I swore I heard Emmett laugh in the living room, though he couldn't have heard me. "No, I'm quite sure it's fine. Have a wonderful evening, and do call if there is any trouble."

"Thanks."

I watched the movie, on the edge of my seat. I'd seen it a dozen or more times, so several of my favorite lines rolled off the tip of my tongue before I'd realize it. I didn't dare look at Edward's face after I quoted Marla Singer's greatest, "I haven't been fucked like that since grade school." Emmett's laughter said enough.

After the movie, Edward, Jasper, and Alice seemed like they were in a bit of a mood and were all quiet. Emmett, though, boisterous as ever, was joking with me about some of the lines. He grabbed my hand roughly, and I barely avoided ripping it out of his grasp.

"This is the greatest moment of your life, Marie, and you're off somewhere-."

I laughed loudly, "Sorry Em, but Ah've beat ya to it."

He looked confused, and without thinking about it, I pulled back my left hand glove, revealing a crescent shaped scar that would perfectly match St. John's teeth impressions. The skin was puckered and heavily scarred over; it had been so painful, but I loved every minute of it.

I remember when he had tossed the idea around after we watched it the first time. Bobby had wimped out, but Piotr, St. John, Jubilee and I all did it. Mine was the hardest, because obviously no one wanted to lick their lips and press them to my skin. When Johnny came up with a way to get around the skin-to-skin contact, I nearly leaped for joy, which was bizarre now that I think about it. [What kind of a girl gets excited about being able to scar herself with her friends?]

Hey hey. We all enjoyed that. And it was a damn good idea too. (John)

"I want one!" Emmett cried.

Do I need to add that after that, the professor took care to hide the household cleaning supplies, like lye, far away from student access?

Rosalie was scowling, and I knew I had a way out of giving Emmett a scar. God, what would Carlisle and Esme think of me if I gave their kids scars too? "Ah'd do ya Em, but Ah'ma take a wild guess that Rosalie wants you scar-free, and you're gonna stay that way."

Alice invited me to eat lunch with her siblings, again, on Monday, and I agreed. The lunchroom was loud, and crowded, even more so than the first day I'd been in. Rumors were flying around, and stories about how I had defeated the strongest Quilete boy. I smugly smiled – I had done a damn good job of tearing into Sam's ass.

Sitting with Alice's siblings was a strange experience. I didn't even both getting any of the cafeteria food, knowing it would be disgusting as usual. I grabbed a Lemonade and bag of MnM's instead.

I was happy that I was finally being left alone - even Mike's looks of longing and lust had turned so quickly into ones of wariness and fear. The gossip around school was mostly focused on the upcoming dance that was now 2 weeks away.

Edward asked me about the sudden change in attention at lunch, and I laughed.

"Ah know, it's great huh? Eric and Tyler have also decided it seems that Ah am no longer on their wish list this year." I mused, but that didn't explain why.

"Why exactly have their feelings changed? What happened?" he sounded a little suspicious. Good.

"Remember Sam from the city last week?"

Edward nodded his head weakly.

"We fought." I stated boldly, mischief I'm sure in my eyes.

His eyes snapped wide open and his pupils darkened. "Wh...what?" He sputtered in disbelief. [Well, now that's only mildly insulting.]

"Don't look so shocked. Some of the boys from the reservation that are in the UFC here started a contest. It came down to Sam and I. Don't worry, I whooped his ass." I gleefully smiled.

You kicked butt, girlie. This dude doesn't seem to like it that much. (Jubilee)

His mouth dropped open in shock, and my smile quickly turned to a frown. "Shut your trap; you'll catch flies." I whispered in an annoyed tone.

"I'm sorry. I just... you fought Sam, and won?" he squeaked slightly on the last word.

Bad choice of words my man, bad choice of words. (Bobby)

My murderous gaze caught his eyes. It seems for once we were all in agreement. [Oh you of little faith.] "Yes, is that really so hard to believe? Ah broke his forearm and dislocated his elbow." I turned back to the front, pointedly ignoring Edward.

"Bella, what's this I heard about you kickin' some ass this weekend?" Emmett's voice startled me through the deep and angry fog/thoughts I'd sunken into.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" I replied snarling more than I had intended.

Emmett's hands shot up in an apologetic manner, "Sorry, jeeze, didn't mean to offend." He gave me a sorrowful look, that was so misfit to his usually joyful and mischievous face that I had to give in.

"It's okay Em; it's not you." I decided abruptly not to mention Edward's role in my poor behavior, "So you heard about the fight huh?"

"We did. How did it happen exactly?" Rosalie came in out of nowhere.

"Um, hi?"

"Hello Marie. So... how did the fight get started?"

I looked from her to Emmett, trying to figure out exactly how she had walked up without me seeing her, and how she knew what we were talking about. I gave up.

"We went to la Push for the cookout. Some of the boys were talking rash about whether or not our fighters could beat last year's fighters. It started a contest, and Ah beat the last guy at the top."

"This guy, was Sam Uley, from the Reservation, right?"

"Yes."

"How barbaric, Marie."

"Why thank you Rosalie. From you, Ah consider that a compliment." [Is Rosalie PMSing today or something?]

Edward snorted, apparently I caught him off guard, and he gave me a piercing glare. I smiled happily, [Is it a bad sign that I take some enjoyment out of making other people uncomfortable?]

No it's human. (John)

Rosalie's scornful look turned to Edward. [Oh man, she must really be deep on the rag then.]

If there were ever a moment that I thought Edward would blush, now would be it. His sheepish expression almost demanded it as he held in his embarrassed laughter, though from a quick glance at Jasper's gleeful face, I imagine he was fighting more than just his own reaction to my humor.

Rosalie stood up forcefully from the table, shoving it slightly, "I guess I'll just leave then, seeing as some people want to have a more private conversation."

"All the easier to gossip about you my dear!" I called after her as she stormed off. [God she's fun to piss off.] I turned back to the table and grinned at my companions, my friends, widely.

Then an itch caught my throat. My throat had been feeling a little sore all morning and I couldn't seem to clear it, but I knew it was nothing.

This itch quickly morphed into a heavy whooping cough, and it wouldn't stop throughout the rest of lunch with the crew of Cullens and Hales. [And Whitlocks] I added secretly to myself.

I rubbed my throat and gripped my trachea with my fingers, trying to rid myself of the ever persistent was nothing, just a little something in the air. Maybe Lori was trying a new perfume.

Edward didn't take the same attitude.

"You're sick; you should come over and let Carlisle take a look at you."

"I'm fine, Edward. It's a cough. Jeez."

"But you're starting to run a fever, and you haven't stopped coughing all morning."

The other couples at the table didn't look up at our exchange, but Alice had an almost worried look in her eyes as she kept them carefully trained at Jasper. I didn't miss the glares Edward had sent her when he thought I wasn't looking.

[Have you been spying on me with your telepathy? That's very rude. And unnecessary.] Edward looked appropriately abashed, minus the actual blushing, and I continued out loud, "Ah'm fine. Ah just must have caught a little bug from the kids at the reservation."

But I wasn't.