Hi everyone! I'm sorry, I missed a couple of days, but I really didn't have time. My thesis is taking up all of my time and energy, and I had finished my reserve of already translated chapters and didn't have the time to re-stock. I can't promise you to update every day, but I'll try.

Book Lover: and here comes Alex again, at the end of the chapter. We'll hear his voice again in next chapter ;)

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but Laguna, Alex and Claude.

36

Claude

The day had come. The first visit for Laguna.

I went to the airport, together with Charles, Pierre and Vincent, so we had four cars and were more comfortable with baggage.

After having parked the cars, I left the Moons tending the ladies' baggage while I led the way to the steps leading to the portico that wrapped around the mansion. The heavy wooden door, dark and gleaming, opened from the inside, a shutter at a time. Against the left one, partly open, Laguna waited. Leaning sideways on the wood, and partly hidden by it, like a child both anxious and afraid, she peeked in our direction. I could hear her deafening heartbeat from the lowest step. In the last few days, she had decided to play human. I didn't mind. The only important thing was that she didn't go back to that couch, refusing blood. If something had happened to her, I would have personally made sure Alex paid for it. Sure, I had been the one that started talking about Adrianne, but he could have told her. Laguna could be very comprehensive, when she wanted.

Now, she was looking at us like a shy child, but anxious.

I smiled at her, offering her my hand, inviting her to come out. There would be no monster coming from the light to hurt my little creature of the dark. Not as long as I would be with her.

She stepped from behind the door and smiled back to me, pressing her warm hand on mine. I moved to her side, a little surprised by what she was wearing. A dark turtleneck sweater, tight jeans and boots. I had bought those clothes for her, but she had always refused to wear them. She had braided her hair, and a fat lock hid half her face, just as it did when she still had her scar. Her eyes, ice crystal in a face that looked like a Canova sculpture, were decorated with eyeliner. Her lips were crimson, as her nails.

"Took you long enough…" her voice was so low that it was barely a whisper. That had been one of the first coherent sentences that I had heard her utter since Edward's letter came. While we were waiting for our guests to arrive, she had spent most of the time holed up in her study, working on the portrait, like it was her only anchor. And maybe so it had been. I had spent long hours, leaning against her door, looking at her working with an energy that I didn't know she had.

"Pardonne-moi… traffic, Magdalene. And you know that I'm a slower driver than you", I shrugged and she smiled. She made another step, freeing her hand from mine.

The others were right behind me. Bella was the only one that was still on the first step, looking at the house with her mouth open. It was a standard reaction to my enormous house. I smiled, wondering what her expression would be, when she'll get to see the house on the inside.

"So? What are you going to do?" I turned around to them, inviting them to come closer. Automatically, Laguna moved behind me, hiding. I lowered my voice in a whisper. "Magdalene, it's your family. No one is going to hurt you", I reassured her meeting her terrified eyes. She nodded and moved forward.

Laguna

I was nervous. Claude had left for the airport with Charles, Pierre and Vincent. They went to pick up my family.

How long had I been on that couch? Claude had said three years. I couldn't believe it had been that long. I had him tell me what had happened in the meantime.

Bella had finally convinced Edward to turn her and she was doing good, no accidental murders so far. I was proud of her.

The rest was everyday life, even Rosalie's umpteenth wedding, just to have another dress. I felt sorry for not being there, but I was sure it wouldn't be their last wedding.

Claude had left and I roamed through the mansion, waiting for the engines of the car, the squeaking of the gates opening, the gravel under the tires. Waiting for Claude and my family.

I was nervous. I didn't generally care about what I was wearing. I could wear the same shapeless clothes for days. But I had been staring at my clothes and changing them like I never did before. Eventually, I chose some of my 'new' clothes. Claude had bought them I didn't even remember when but I had never used them. I tore away the tags and put the clothes on. Then, I braided my hair and tried to look like something worthy of being looked at. Well, the mirror encouraged me.

I went downstairs, and decided to wait in the huge sitting room, sitting on one of the pillows on the windowsill, my eyes fixed on the gates. I could hear four cars, and I knew it was them.

The gates squeaked, the cars moved along the path and stopped. I reached the door and opened it, hiding behind it. I was nervous and scared. What would happen?

Claude smiled, reassuringly. He held out his hand, inviting me to come out from my hiding place. I smiled back and went to him.

"Took you long enough…" he looked at me like he had never seen me before. Well, my appearance surprised me, too.

"Pardonne-moi… traffic, Magdalene. And you I'm a slower driver than you", he replied, shrugging. I smiled. I relaxed, but only a little. I knew that seeing them would bring back to my memory the reason why I had spent three years without leaving my room. The only person that was not with them. I tried to suppress the urge to even think his name. I couldn't do it. It wasn't right for my family, it wasn't right for Claude that had taken care of me without asking for anything in return. That had loved me knowing that he could have nothing more than a crumb of what he was giving me. He loved me knowing that, in spite of everything, for me he was 'love'.

"So? What are you going to do?" Claude turned towards the others. Bella was looking at the mansion with her mouth open. She was surprised, and maybe she wondered if all vampires that had lived more than a thousand years lived in such places. The answer was simple: only that old eccentric vampire named Claude De la Croix. When the others moved toward us, I almost hid behind him. With them, the weight of memory was moving forward. A name, a face, a voice, a smell, knocked heavily at the doors of my mind, begging to be let out, to escape fog and spiderwebs, to be remembered. To hurt me. "Magdalene, it's your family. No one's going to hurt you". Claude's whisper reassured me. I nodded and moved forward.

Before I could even notice, Emmett's hug crushed me.

"Ouff… can't… breathe!" I laughed, and it sounded like someone was strangling me. Emmett let me go, and, after him, came all the others.

Bella was last.

"I insisted so much with Edward, he had to say yes", she hugged me, a little shy.

"For what? The change or the trip?" I laughed again.

"Let's say both", Bella laughed too, and, finally, I felt good.

Alex

Everyone had left. I had obtained the information directly from Carlisle, disgusted at being forced to talk to me. He and Edward would have loved to kick me out. I couldn't blame them. No one loved me very much, but they were the more… open, in their disdain.

Bella was the only one that seemed to still be my friend. Obviously, when Edward wasn't looking.

I usually spent my time in what had been Laguna's room, thinking about my stupidity. I had really been an idiot. After six hundred years looking for her, losing her like this…

Laying on the floor with my eyes closed, I let images run before my eyes, streams of memories that, slowly, dug and tore my soul, leaving emptiness in their wake.

"Sooner or later, I will throw you in the river…" I say. She still provokes me, insolent little girl, a friend different from the others.

"Oh, yes? I think you will never do it. You lack the courage to do it", she replies. I don't hesitate. I don't give her time to run. Before she can protest, I pick her up and move closer to the edge of the dock.

"So… I let you fall", I tell her. She still has a defiant expression, even when I drop her in the river.

I kneel, holding out my hand to help her, but she pulls me down. I fall into the river.

xxx

There's no one in the tavern but us.

"I don't understand", I shake my head. I had listened to her speak, trying to explain to me something that she barely understands. She gets closer. A kiss, so soft that I doubt it had really happened.

"Do you understand this?"

xxx

"I have left Adrianne".

"I'm sorry".

"I have to leave. I'll be back soon. Can you wait? You'll have your answer as soon as I get back".

She sighs. "I'll try. I will miss you."

"As I will miss you".

She leans on my shoulders, lifting herself on her toes to kiss me. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't have…"

xxx

Sitting on a bench with Sophia, I sigh again.

"You have been back two days. How are you, Alex?"

"As before. But it is two days more that I haven't seen her…" the sound of Laguna's old boots makes me aware of her coming. I stand up, turning towards her. Sophia leaves us alone.

"Lagu… you don't have to wait anymore", this time, I'm the one that kisses her.

xxx

"Look who's back…"

"You're happy to see me, too", the sun is setting, the woods are getting darker.

"We can't do this anymore". She sounds harsh, but I know something is breaking inside her.

"I can't agree more. Let's end this".

xxx

"What are you doing here?" her eyes are like ice. There's another man beside her. He looks at me, like I was some rare animal.

"I wanted to give this back to you". I take the ring out of my pocket. It's a simple circle of metal with my name engraved on the inside.

"Keep it."

xxx

The sun is rising. Sitting on a chair, I look at her, sleeping. A blanket covers her, while her hair are spread on the pillow. It's the most perfect thing in the world.

And she's mine.

She had disappeared. Stolen by that French.

The door opens, and she enters. She's still the same, but she's different.

I should be terrified, but I love her…

I love her.

A/N: I don't know if any of you is familiar with Canova's sculptures, but he used to smear pink wax on them to simulate the skin color. I thought it fitted.