On Saturday, Alice and Emmett dragged me to the park. Alice insisted it was to help me start getting used to being around humans. That nearly sent me into a panic. I didn't want to be anywhere near humans, especially since it had been several days since the last time we had hunted, and abstaining from human blood only made the desire for it that much more potent. But it was what Alice wanted, so I didn't argue.

"There aren't very many humans there," she said of the park, "it won't be too overwhelming at all. And Emmett will be there just in case." She reassured me.

"I really just wanted to escape from Rosie." Emmett joked in a whisper. Alice could easily hear him anyway, and rolled her eyes at him.

"As if you'd ever want to escape Rosalie." She scoffed. Emmett shoved her playfully. It was a mark of how things had changed that I recognized instantly that he was just messing around.

"Hey, now," I growled, "pick on someone your own size."

"Like you?" Emmett asked tauntingly, lunging at me. I stepped out of his way and tackled him easily, taking him down to the ground.

We spent the next couple of minutes playfully trying to break each other's necks while Alice watched, laughing almost uncontrollably. It was fun, I had to admit, and it was nice to be able to relax.

I was faster, but Emmett was stronger. When he finally managed to get a grip on me, and only because Alice had been distracting me, I was stuck. I wasn't going anywhere, I realized.

Surprisingly, I didn't really feel cornered, or threatened, or trapped. Just annoyed that he had managed to get me in this position. "Let me up." I grumbled, struggling futilely against him. He smirked and straightened, shifting his grip to throw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I growled at him behind his back. "Very funny." I said sarcastically. "Come on, Emmett." My shirt was slipping up, or down, since gravity was in effect.

"You do have a lot of scars." I heard Alice remark softly.

"Thank you, Emmett." I growled. He just chuckled as he hauled me somewhere; I couldn't actually see where.

Alice began giggling again. "Hush!" Emmett warned her. I could feel her amusement, and his smugness; he was pleased with himself.

Suddenly I could smell them. Humans. Every muscle in my body tense, ready. I was instantly trying to identify their locations in relation to mine. They weren't far. I could sense that much.

I was suddenly distracted by the sensation of falling, and the shock of suddenly being wet. I glared up at Emmett, the humans forgotten save for the leftover burning in my throat, from my seat in the small pond in which he had dumped me. I was soaking wet. He and Alice were both going into hysterics. It made it hard to hold on to enough annoyance to growl at both of them.

"Here." Alice said cheerfully, her good mood completely displacing mine. She held out a hand to help me up, unnecessary as it was, and smiled at me.

I took her hand and, in a split-second decision, pulled her in after me. She was taken completely by surprise, and shrieked as she fell. Emmett chortled as she scowled at me and splashed more water my way. I laughed, and splashed back at her before we both climbed out of the pond, and Alice gave me a mischievous wink.

She danced up to Emmett, and before he realized what she was up to, had wrapped him in a hug, still dripping wet.

Emmett yelled and tried to pry her off, but she let go willingly, and came back to stand by me, beaming.

We were mostly dry by the time we returned home that evening. Esme greeted us as we entered. She usually welcomed the family home in this way.

"Enjoy yourselves?" She asked brightly. Emmett chuckled and launched into a description of the incident with the pond, and Alice and I slipped upstairs to change.

"Thank you." I said as she slipped into my room, now in a clean, dry outfit. I was pulling a shirt over my head, otherwise clothed. She smiled as we sat on my bed.

"You're welcome." She replied as I put my arm around her. "I'm glad you had fun."

It became a weekly occurance. On Saturdays Alice would take me out, somewhere with some humans, but not enough to be overwhelming, to help me get used to them. We went to parks, playgrounds, libraries, small stores, and so on. Sometimes Emmett would go with us, occasionally it was Edward, once Rosalie went along. It gradually became something that just the two of us did.

Alice was very good distracting me, and I was slowly growing capable of functioning around a very small number of humans without losing control of myself.

Disclaimer: Twilight doth not belong to me.