(AN) This is for all the people who say the following: "Echo would be a horrible mother, lol" and "Echo doesn't give a damn about what Liley's going through."

Chapter 36: Bridges

(Isaac)

I watched as Echo stormed out of the room with all the force of a hurricane. I could swear I saw the ugly pastel pictures on the wall shake. Everyone was quiet before Jacob reached over and slapped Brady alongside the head. Somebody, I think it was Tyler, barely choked back a laugh.

"You couldn't wait till she was gone?" Jake growled. "She's home for all of two minutes…"

"She'll be fine, Jake." Stella said softly, hovering over the baby in Claire's arms. Her voice was so sincere, so shockingly comforting, that the entire room relaxed. "She always is."

I don't know if anyone else noticed Delilah stealthily slipping past everyone. I noticed her fleeting presence automatically, readjusting myself. I bit my lip as she waltzed out the door, instantly afraid of what she was going to do. I didn't for a moment think that Echo would physically hurt Delilah, I knew that Echo adored her little sister, but I knew Echo was hurting. I was more worried that Echo would throw out words like I knew she could, words as sharp and dangerous as knives, words that Delilah would never forget.

"Go ahead." My dad said gruffly from behind me. It startled me, I looked back to see his eyes introspective. "Go after her." He said, inclining his head to the door. I suppose someone else had noticed Delilah's abrupt exit. "Eva's out there too." He explained at my confused look. "If anyone can keep the three of you in check, it's that girl."

I nodded, silently making my way out of the room. I could smell Delilah's warm scent curving through the hallway. It was easy enough to follow. She was leaning against the wall at the far end of the hallway, out of sight to anyone around the corner.

"Are you okay?" I asked. She nodded, looking up at me, her lips curving into a sweet smile.

"Eva just said…" She began.

"It's not nice to eavesdrop you two!" Eva's voice yelled from around the corner. Delilah jumped just a bit and I laughed. Blushing, Delilah peered around the corner. I followed her lead. Eva was standing in front of a large glass window, it let in the very dim daylight, which bounced off her golden hair. Echo was sitting on a low bench, her head in her slim hands. She looked up as we approached, pushing back her dark hair. She looked…slightly confused. I wondered what Eva had told her.

"Sorry." Delilah apologized, skipping right up to Echo and throwing her arms around her. "I'm happy for you, though." She beamed.

"Yeah." Echo murmurred. "I guess it's good news."

"Are you alright?" Eva asked, almost as if she was suspicious. I felt so out of the loop.

"I never thought…I mean, I guess people my age never think about that." She said softly, ducking her head.

"Hey!" Cassie called out, appearing around the corner, smiling warmly. "Do you all want to go out for ice cream? Our treat, it's a celebration, for Claire's new baby." She explained. I smirked a little bit to myself, it wasn't a celebration for Claire's baby, although that had to be a momentous occasion. The real reason that Cassie was smiling was that her oldest daughter was back. Everyone could see it plainly.

"I can't." Echo said immediately. Cassie's smile fell, even though she tried to hide it behind a flip of her hair. Echo stood from the bench.

"Are you leaving already?" Cassie asked, stepping forward so that she was right in front of Echo. Echo towered over her mother by almost a whole foot, but the way Cassie was looking at Echo made me feel like I was seven years old again, I can't imagine what it made Cassie feel like.

"I came home for Claire, didn't I?" Echo asked with a small, soft smile. "Mom, c'mon." She pleaded.

"But we've barely seen you!" Cassie exclaimed, pulling Echo into a hug. "I miss you." Cassie admitted, words that just seemed to be spilling out now. "We miss you, not just your family, everybody in La Push misses you. We worry about you, you're all alone and so far away from home. I mean, what if something happens to you, Coco? I don't even know what we'd do." She said tearfully.

"I'm not alone, mom." Echo finally said after a couple seconds of heavy silence. Everybody's brow furrowed curiously, except Eva's…and mine. Blaze had been trying very hard to keep it a secret, but it had leaked out to me, Tyler, Daniel…a few other people. None of us had the nerve to tell Jacob. "I'm living with Christian right now. He's keeping me company, I imagine the Cullens are probably bribing him to keep tabs on me."

"You're living with Christian?" Cassie repeated, her eyes narrowing. Echo sighed.

"Mom, I'm a big girl. It's not like it's inappropriate, he's a vampire, and I'm sure he's not having much fun with a whiny, emo girl to keep him company."

"Is he hunting regularly?" Cassie's questions came out like artillery gun fire, low and dangerous. "Are you two sharing a bed? What if he hurts you? Were you ever going to let us know?"

"You don't have to worry about him hurting me." Echo said calmly.

"He might not even mean to. They snap sometimes, Coco." Cassie said evenly, trying to control herself.

"That's not what I meant." Echo said, shifting guiltily from one foot to the other. Cassie's eyes narrowed even further.

"Explain yourself." She said softly. Echo reached into her back pocket, pulling out the slim pocketknife. Jacob came around the corner taking in the scene.

"What are you all doing?" He asked, looking at Cassie, Echo, and finally Eva for answers. Nobody said anything, it was just all of us looking at Echo, holding the pocketknife in her hand, with the exception of Eva, who was staring at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world. I wanted to leave, but now I was blocked in by Jake on one side, Echo on the other. Either way was a bad way to go.

"Echo's living with a…a… a you know what." Cassie said. Jake's eyes also narrowed as he turned to Echo. He'd apparently gotten the message.

"Which one?" Jacob asked.

"Listen, it's not that big of a deal…" Echo started. Jacob turned to Eva.

"Evie, which one?" He asked slowly. Eva turned beet red and mumbled out the answer under her breath. I instantly felt bad for the poor girl. When he heard Christian's name, I noticed Jake's hands shaking just minutely. He tightened them into fists.

"So, show us Echo." Cassie said, folding her arms over her chest. Echo glared at her mom, taking the knife and flipping it open. The cold steel glittered in the florescent hospital lights.

"Fine." She retorted, dragging the blade hard down her skin. I smelt the blood before I saw it. Whatever Jake and Cassie had been expecting, it wasn't that. Jake crossed the distance between him and Echo is two heartbeats, grabbing the knife out of her hand. Blood dripped over her skin.

"Echo Isabella Black." Jacob started, but Echo shook her head, wiping the blood from her skin with her finger. I waited for more blood to come out, it had to have been a deep cut, but nothing did. I could see, clearly, on her skin a thin pink line. It had been seconds.

Cassie and Jake were both frozen. Blaze's head popped around the corner, then instantly retreated. I couldn't blame him. Cassie reached out, gently running her fingers over the place her cut should have been.

"When did you find this out?" She asked. "How did you find this out?"

"I accidentally stabbed myself. Christian wasn't around, don't worry." She said, yanking the sleeve down on her jacket and picking her purse up off the bench.

"When did you start not telling us stuff?" Jacob asked, sadly almost. "Echo, this isn't like you. You tell us everything."

"Why bother now when all it's going to get me is yelled at?" She asked, tossing her dark hair over her shoulder. "I'm not your little girl anymore, Dad. I'm eighteen. Not only am I eighteen, I'm eighteen and my boyfriend," She gestured to me. I wished I could dissapear into the wall. "Is with my little sister, my little brother, my best friends, everybody has somebody and I have nobody. Some…monster." She lowered her voice now, although it was just as fierce. "That killed children, her own child among them, and probably millions of other people, is after me and my family, and you two are freaking out because I'm sharing a hotel room with Christian? Because I didn't tell you dad's genes just kicked in? Oh, I should probably tell you that I met Pandora, and she tossed me into a freakin' wall…"

Cassie's face had changed from angry to horrified. Her hand lifted to her mouth, fear flitted momentarily though her eyes. "Echo…wait…what?"

"Yeah, she said she couldn't kill me yet, she's waiting for me to 'come around', like I even know what that means." She threw up her hands, turning from her parents. They stared after her, dumbfounded.

"Echo!" Cassie finally called, running forward. "I'm sorry baby." She said, grabbing Echo's wrist. "Coco, I'm sorry. I…I'd do anything to have made this never happen." She apologized tearfully. Coco carefully pried her wrist out of her mom's fingers.

"It's okay." She said, soothingly. "I'll deal, I always do, right?"

"Just stay here, please." Jacob finally said. "We can keep you safe here, Echo. She won't touch you here. Nobody will."

Echo looked away from her dad then, her eyes bouncing from Eva, to me, staring directly into what seemed to be my soul. Then she broke that eye contact, looking at Delilah. She seemed almost to be shaking. Echo bit her lip, shaking her head.

"No." She said so quietly, I could barely hear her. Her mouth worked silently for a few seconds, before she continued on, reaching out to take Delilah's face in her hands and tilt her head upward. I noticed tears streaming down her face, and I saw red. Echo was lucky I didn't rip her into piece.

"Liley…" Echo said softly. "I left for lots of reasons…but the most important one…at least to me, was that I wanted you to be happy. And you can be, sweetheart, you can be."

"I want you to come home, I want you to come home and stay home." Delilah stated, sniffling. Echo sighed softly, her eyes as sad as I'd ever seen them.

"Liley, listen to me." She said sternly. "It couldn't have been easy, could it? I guess growing up with me as a big sister could never be easy." She smiled bitterly. "But…more than anything…I want to see you grow and change. I'm not here to hold you back anymore, I'm not here to cast a shadow. Don't think too hard about all this Liley, you're just a kid. Do what…do what you've always wanted to, no matter what that is. The whole world is at your fingertips. You're young and alive, and loved…and I will always love you too. I'm just sick of being the one overshadowing everyone else."

And Echo gently kissed Delilah's forehead. "I'll visit again soon, I'll call." Echo whispered. "Be good, alright? I love you." And Echo softly wiped Delilah's face with her hand, straightening and turning on her heel.

"Echo." Eva called. Echo stopped for just a second, turning her head a fraction of an inch so she could look into Eva's eyes. Whatever exchange that happened there was silent, because Echo started walking again almost immediately, never looking back over her shoulder. Jake and Cassie just watched her.

"So much of life is saying goodbye." Cassie murmurred, drawing Delilah into her arms.

"I'm scared." Cassie admitted honestly.

"So am I." Jacob agreed.

"Eva, what did she say?" I asked, as I heard the roar of the motorcycle outside. Eva was looking out the window, her eyes unfocused.

"She said…" She began, taking a deep breath. "Some bridges, you cross, before you even realized you crossed them. And then you can never go back."