Edward's eyes widened as Alice's vision played out in his mind like a short movie. He watched Rose and Em hurry down the stairs and enter the garage, saw the looks on their faces change as they saw what the girl was doing.

When the vision ended, they turned their heads simultaneously and stared at each other.

Edward sucked in a breath as he realised how close his car had been to being destroyed. Either he or his car had a guardian angel...

"What is it, son? Are you in pain?" Carlisle asked as he heard him doing so and placed the last two suitcases that had been lying in the trunk of Edward's Aston Martin on the floor in the hallway before hurrying over to his son sitting on the couch. He looked concerned, and so Edward sat up straighter and quickly shook his head.

"No, no, I'm fine, Carlisle," he replied. But your car sure isn't.

Carlisle nodded once after giving him a scrutinising look to check if his son was indeed telling the truth or just trying to hide his pain. There wouldn't be awfully much he would be able to do for him as painkillers wouldn't work on vampires. But at least he could go catch something for him, because the blood would help get his self-healing in gear.

Luckily Esme was upstairs and called Carlisle's name at that moment, and so he stopped eyeing his son and hurried back to the hallway, grabbed the bags and made his way to the master bedroom of the house.

Edward listened to his Dad's footsteps on the stairs and when he was sure he was out of hearing range, he looked back at his little pixie sister. "Oh my God, the entire house trembled when she threw the engine."

"I know!" Alice whispered back, her eyes huge.

"Do you think we should warn them?" Edward asked, wondering if they would still be able to save the car.

"Nah... it's already happening," she replied, knowing that her vision was triggered by her siblings hearing the tumult in the garage and making the decision to head downstairs to check on the girl. So she had gotten the vision only seconds before it actually happened.

Newborns were sometimes a little tricky to see as they mostly acted out of instinct or sudden anger. Visions about more mature vampires were always a lot clearer and there often was a longer time gap between the vision and the actual happening.

"Okay... do you think we should tell him?" He nodded his head in the direction of the stairs, knowing that Alice would understand whom he meant by 'him'.

Alice thought about this for a second. "Um... no. He'll see it soon enough," she replied and scratched her nose like she wasn't entirely sure how their Dad would react and it made her a little nervous. He'd be sad that his car was gone, and he'd be shocked about the distress the girl must have felt that she would flip like that. It was better to let him hear about this when they would come home eventually and see that the girl was calmer and ready to talk to all of them.

Suddenly she started giggling. "You are so lucky, Edward!"

He snickered, even though he had really liked Carlisle's car. But his own car was his baby... and he'd be really upset with the girl and extremely sad about the destruction of this beauty.

Esme came down the stairs and walked into the living room with a smile on her lips. "Are you two having fun? What are you laughing at?" she asked curiously and looked in between them.

"Nothing," they replied at the same time.

"Eeek, gotta go, Jasper is picking the wrong room!" Alice suddenly exclaimed and hurried from the room to bolt upstairs and keep her mate from settling into the room with the view of the forest. She preferred the bedroom on the other side with the view of the beautiful snow-covered mountains. And she preferred to not talk about her vision.


"Maybe... maybe there is a different way," Maddie whispered while she still had her eyes fixed on the dead hare lying in front of her. The body was cold and hard now, and she was sure that it was already frozen due to the cold temperatures out here.

Emmett frowned. "What do you mean? A different way for what?"

"I mean... are you sure we need blood?" she asked and glanced up at him through thick, dark eyelashes. She was so much calmer now, her blood-red eyes showing no anger or distress anymore, and Rose and Emmett were more than just relieved to see that.

"Um... yeah, pretty much," he replied and really had to suppress a snort. Her question was stupid... but then again: She had no clue, because she was only about a week old.

Maddie thought about that. "But you haven't tried anything else," she stated knowingly.

Rosalie shook her head, and the newborn's eyes were on her now. "No, we haven't. It wouldn't work."

"I don't believe you."

"You know what?" Rose said and started to smirk. "I'm sure we still have some fruit juice and tea at home, if you'd like. You can have as much as you want."

Weirdly enough, Maddie suddenly noticed that she couldn't remember the taste. She knew she drank these when she had been human. Probably even a lot. But now she just didn't remember the taste anymore, even though she could see these beverages in her mind. She didn't remember the smell and didn't know if and how much she had liked it.

Maybe that's why they hadn't tried it, because they also couldn't remember what it had been like.

So human blood was tempting, according to them, but what if she could just get used to different things again and kinda unlearn liking blood? Then she would be normal again – except for her eyes and the fact that she didn't sleep, of course.

Or maybe human food and drinks would make her human again! Was that possible? Maybe it was, but they just hadn't tried it.

A snort escaped her.

Idiots.

Then she suddenly turned serious and nodded her head. "Yes."

Rose stood up from the ground and motioned for the girl to do the same. "Perfect, then let's go."

They headed home and Emmett seemed to be in a great mood. Maddie didn't really understand why, but maybe he had realised why she wanted to try something different than blood.

And then he would see that it worked and she could laugh in their faces for having been so stupid all those years.

Geez, they even had that stuff at home, but had never once tried it? She snorted again and shook her head while picking up her pace as Emmett wanted to race her home.

They entered the house through the front door, and Maddie sniffed the air before she stepped over the threshold – just to make sure she wouldn't run into them in case they were back.

Luckily they weren't. Nobody was home, it was just them again.

"Follow me," Rose said and went to the kitchen, and as Maddie walked after her she heard Emmett close the door before he hurried after them.

Then she looked thoughtful for a moment, trying to guess where the water boiler was. Esme had put everything back into the cabinets while the girl was going through the transformation, as now the girl wouldn't drink tea anymore just like the rest of them. Only the black and completely unused coffee machine still stood on the sideboard by the window, even though they didn't have any coffee and surely wouldn't have made some for Maddie.

Too young, Carlisle had said.

With a sigh she opened one of the kitchen cupboards and grabbed a tumbler, before shutting it again and placing the drinking glass down with a soft clink on the marble kitchen counter.

Then she turned around and took a few steps until she reached the fridge. She pulled the door open and grabbed a bottle of orange juice.

She held it up and raised her eyebrows questioningly at Maddie, who just nodded her head.

Twisting the cap off, Rose then poured the yellow liquid into the tall glass. Immediately a very gross smell filled the air, and Maddie stopped breathing and held the back of her hand before her nose so she wouldn't have to smell this stink.

That was absolutely disgusting.

While Rose screwed the cap back on the bottle, she looked up at the girl with a little smile.

Maddie quickly moved her hand as though she just wanted to casually rub her nose, then she dropped her hand to her side again and looked nervously at the glass full of yellow horror.

Emmett crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall, watching the girl with an amused expression on his face.

Naturally Rose turned around again to put the juice back into the fridge, even though they would throw it out soon as no one in the house would ever finish it, and she moved extra slowly to give her time to realise that she really didn't want to follow through with her plan of drinking something that was not meant for vampires to drink.

At that moment she remembered how gross she had found the smells of human drinks and especially the food when she had been that young... she had always dreaded walking pasts kitchens and restaurants in which food was fried and boiled.

But alas, the girl wanted to try a beverage that was made for humans, and so they wouldn't stand in her way and just let her have that chance. Actually, it would even be beneficial for her, as then she would see that nothing else would work for her. Blood was their diet, and nothing else, period.

Condensation collected on the outside of the glass standing on the counter in front of her, and Maddie just stared at it.

Drinking something cold seemed ludicrous to her... no, she was sure beverages were supposed to be warm. Warm, and red and practically flowing into her mouth without her having to do anything but swallow it down and feel it warm her belly from the inside.

She shook these thoughts from her head as they were clearly coming from the vampire inside of her... humans wouldn't think like that. Humans were okay with cold drinks. And they didn't need to be red.

As Rosalie turned back around, Maddie could feel her eyes on her.

She, as well as Emmett, was watching her but when they noticed that she noticed, they looked at the drinking glass full of a substance they definitely wouldn't want to drink.

"Looks great, huh?" Em asked.

Maddie still held her breath, but slowly nodded her head in agreement - even though she did not really agree.

"Cool and fresh," he added.

"You can have some more, there's enough left," Rose remarked.

Staring at the glass of juice, Maddie felt their eyes on her again... they expected her to really pour this stinking crap down her throat. She had been so determined, wanted to try it so she would see what it would do to her body... soothe the lingering burn in her throat and make it go away completely, for example...

But this smelled worse than moose. A lot worse than moose, even though she had been sure that that wouldn't be possible. Heck, she would hunt down a moose right now and even finish it if she just wouldn't have to take a sip of this horrible stuff standing in front of her.

But she didn't want to back down and give them the satisfaction of being right. One 'I told you so' and she would flip, for sure.

No, she had to try it.

Slowly she took a step closer to the counter... and then another one. Now she would only need to reach out and grab the glass.

Oh God, she really, really didn't want to do that.

Emmett had half a mind to tell her to stop – she shouldn't torture herself and she had nothing to prove to them. This was nasty, and it was even more so for a newborn whose sense of smell was even sharper than theirs.

Just before he could open his mouth and tell her not to do it, he saw Rose shootng him one of her piercing looks. Oh, so she wanted Maddie to drink it, or at least come to realise that she didn't want to drink it because she wouldn't be able to drink anything but blood anymore without feeling completely grossed out.

She needed to let go of her childish fantasies of living among people again without wanting to drain them, Rose thought. It would take years to control that urge, and even then it was difficult. It would always be difficult. But right now it was impossible. A newborn that young... pfft, ridiculous.

No, let her see for herself that she wouldn't be able to do it.

"Go ahead, it's all yours," Rose told her.

Maddie gulped but then took the glass in her right hand, feeling how the condensed water was dabbling her fingertips.

She grabbed it off the counter top and ever so slowly lifted it up to her face. She looked straight into the glass from above, seeing the cloudy liquid slosh slightly.

It was one of the grossest things she had ever seen in her life. This yellow stuff smelled so bad and there were little particles swimming around in it like little fish... no, just no.

She couldn't... but she had to.

Before she raised the glass to her lips however, she did something she instantly regretted.

She took a hesitant breath and almost gagged.

This stuff was absolutely disgusting, and nobody on this planet should ever have to drink it! It looked nasty and unhealthy, lethal even.

Her face distorted as the stench crept into her nostrils, and she quickly put the glass back on the counter. She really had to restrain herself or she would have just thrown it against the wall or something, just to get it far, far away from her.

"What? Don't you wanna try it? Just take a sip."

Um... "I don't like pulp," she told Emmett and rubbed the back of her hand over her face again in an attempt to get the smell out of her nose without them noticing.

"Oh," Rose uttered. "I see. Well, we could drive to the store and get some without pulp for you, if you'd like."

The thought horrified her, but still she tried to sound really casual as she replied, "Yup. But there's no hurry."

"Maybe a tea?"

Maddie thought she was going green in the face from that offer. Tea... that sounded just as nasty. And maybe it would smell even worse as they would pour boiling water over some dried pieces of fruit or leaves. Nah, she couldn't risk it.

"I'm not really in the mood for tea right now."

"Hm..." Rose tapped her chin with her right index finger while she pretended to think about what else they could offer her to drink. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "I think we still have a few cans of lemonade somewhere..."

"You do?" she asked, pretending she was interested in the nasty stuff, just so that she could leave this smelly kitchen. Please let it be somewhere far away from this room...

"In the basement, I think. We have a little storage room down there, it's the first door on the right. Would you like to go look for it?"

"Sounds great, I'll be right back."

"Take your time."

Maddie ran from the room like a scalded cat, and as soon as she had descended the stairs, she took a deep breath, enjoying the stink free air. This was so much better... no weird food smells, just air that smelled of stacks of paper, ink and wooden furniture. Wait... why did she know what paper smelled like? Oh... she remembered that paper and books did have a certain smell, but she found it weird that she would get such an intense smell from something like that down here.

Instead of going into the room Rose had told her to, she walked down the hall and wanted to enter a room on the left, but the door wouldn't open when she pushed down on the door handle. Of course it would be easy to break the door down and just walk inside, but she suddenly wasn't interested in that anymore. An office in the basement... woah, fascinating.

She shook her head, then turned around and leaned with her back against the closed door, taking another deep breath while she thought about what she would be doing now.

But with that deep breath she took, she picked up a familiar scent that made her frown. Something down here had the same dead blood scent that she had smelled on the clothes she had found in the garage... how could that be?

She sniffed the air to locate the source of it, and then headed down the hall and into a room that - much to her surprise - wasn't locked.

It took her a moment to understand what she saw there, as it didn't make any sense to her.

The room was completely empty, except for a white couch that stood by the wall and was missing seat cushions.

It looked completely spotless, so why did this couch smell of her blood when there wasn't any blood?

She walked over to the piece of furniture and sat down on it, even though it didn't have its comfortable cushions any more. But she wasn't ready to go upstairs again and she wasn't ready to forget about what happened on this day and the ones before that.


"Rose," Emmett said as he watched his wife pour the juice into the sink, then open the tap to wash it away and with it the funny smell. The glass she threw into the bin standing underneath the sink, as she wouldn't run the dishwasher for just one glass and she didn't feel like washing it. Not like they needed drinking glasses anyways...

"Hm?"

"Why do you keep this up? She won't drink anything - you could see it in her face that she was about to gag from the smell alone."

She smiled. "I know, but I want her to see for herself that these things aren't an option for our kind. Let's give her time to realise this, and then she'll be one step closer to understanding what she is now. Soon she'll realise why she cannot go back to her old life - just telling her isn't doing the trick, obviously. Now she can find out for herself."

"She's not coming back up," he remarked.

"Would you? Go open a window, I'm sure the smell is burning her nose... poor thing."

Emmett walked over to the window and opened it to let some of the cool and fresh air in that would soon thin out the smell of the nasty orange juice.

"... I think I'll go check on her," Rose said as she was now also wondering why it was taking so long for the girl to come back upstairs. Well, she did have an idea why she wouldn't - nobody likes the stuff humans eat or drink - but she also wanted to make sure that Maddie wasn't feeling pressured into having to drink anything.

Downstairs in the basement she could easily follow the girl's trail of scent and found it leading her in a complete different room than where she had expected to find her.

She walked down the hall, then peeked into the room, detecting Maddie sitting on their old couch that had been standing in the living room until it got... ruined.

"You didn't find the cans, did you?"

"Did you lock me down here?" Maddie asked softly.

Rose blinked at her in confusion for a moment, until she realised what she was talking about. She stepped up to her and sat down on one of the armrests of the white couch. "No. You know you were in a room on the upper floor, and we never locked the door."

Maddie sighed, then lifted her head to look at her like she was waiting for her to go on.

"You are wondering why the couch smells of you."

Maddie nodded, but then clarified, "I am wondering why it smells of my blood, but doesn't have any blood on it."

"Okay...," Rose said and looked down on her folded hands for a moment, before clearing her throat and then shifting a bit so she would be able to look the girl in the face. "This is the couch we used to have in the living room. The couch cushions had been soaked with your blood - you've seen the clothes you had been wearing when you fell."

She bit her lip before continuing. "I don't know why it's still here, maybe Esme thought she could get new cushions for it... anyways, Alice and Jasper brought their couch down so we would have a cosy living room again."

Maddie bit her lip. "What did it look like?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"The couch...," Maddie said, "what did it look like?"

Oh. "You don't want to know."

Well, that was all she needed to know...

Rose noticed how silent and sad the girl became, and it made her sad as well. Maybe both of them could use some cheering up... and that would be Emmett's job. "Come, we'll watch a movie."

Nodding, Maddie got up from the couch and headed for the stairs. She disappeared in their room for a movie, and Rose figured it was because of the fact that the new couch downstairs was Alice and Jasper's. She really didn't like them.

But as long as she would stay and not try to run away again, they were completely okay with that for now.


I wrote this entire chapter today, because I realised that there was something missing in the little collection of chapters I have for this story. I just couldn't find that part again, and so I had to write it anew, urgh. And then I realised that I needed a little more because we will skip a few weeks in this story, and so I wrote yet another chapter today to make the time gap less... weird, I dunno. I swear sometimes it's a little difficult to predict the length of a story, because suddenly you get an idea or see that something would somehow disturb the flow or something is missing and then you need to add a little more and... *sigh* Oh, whatever, hope you like it, and thanks for reading and leaving a review!

Oh, and that means that this story is going to have 36 chapters now ;-) And yep, you'll get two chapters today!