A/N: Here we are! We have officially finished New Moon! I'll be taking some time to write Eclipse, so please be patient. Alex and Jacob's story does not end here, and I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who gave me such kind feedback on the last chapter - this early update and final chapter of Mine part 1 is for you!

"Alex? Honey, you have a visitor."

Alex opened her eyes, eyeing the familiar cracks and ridges of her ceiling with her usual apathy. A visitor? She had specifically asked her family to send away anyone even vaguely associated with the Pack, and had included Kitty in her banned list. Of course, her brother and parents hadn't understood why the people she had listed were banned, and she'd already suffered through Topher's clumsy recitation of a weird lecture-apology hybrid that Kitty had made him give her.

But her parents had been so worried about her aspiration pneumonia, raging fever and mild concussion that she'd been able to guilt them into compliance easily enough.

Alex had made her own way home after the events of Thursday. Juvenile and petty as it was, Alex had not been able to stomach the thought of seeing anyone from La Push who knew, who would tell her that the Imprint was destiny, that it was right, that she should forgive and forget, that her fucked up ability and her bond was a gift.

Her parents had driven her to the hospital after she woke them with a coughing fit, nearly fainting in her attempt to get upstairs. The doctor who had treated her had told her she was lucky to be alive, that if she had waited much longer to get medical attention, she would have been much worse.

Alex felt much worse as it was. Her fever hadn't broken yet, and she was still racked by coughing fits, and struggled to draw breath too deeply. Plus her colourful array of antibiotics and cough medicines all tasted terrible, even if her nose was so stuffy and blocked, she couldn't taste much of anything.

Despite her sorry state, Alex was lonely. Lonely enough to try and sit up, and rasp to her mother waiting outside the door. "Okay…" Quil was still mad at her, and in all the chaos and constant trips to the doctors, she hadn't been able to mend that bridge. Yet another shitty thing she could attribute to the cluster fuck of monsters and magic she was trying to ignore.

Her door opened, and her mother stuck her head in with a strange eyebrow wiggle. Alex frowned at the strange giddy smile on her face, about to ask her who it was, when her visitor stepped into the room.

It was reflex panic that made her jerk back, grabbing for solid support, and spilling her various medicines across the floor. "Oh, Alex, what-" Her mother took a step forwards, as if to help, a step too close to the thing hovering just inside her doorway.

"Get out, mom." Alex gasped, throat seizing and chest tightening. Her mother frowned, clearly about to argue, and Alex made a wordless desperate growl, effect heightened by the old-man-who-smoked-all-his-life rasp to her voice. "Out!" her voice cracked, and her mother sighed, slowly backing out, but Alex didn't miss her last admiring glance at her visitor.

Edward Cullen raised his hands slowly in surrender, bright gold eyes giving her a look of curiosity. Alex was suddenly reminded of her last encounter with the Cullen family, Alice and Jasper's almost kidnap of her in the ice-cream parlour, and as Edward smiled slightly, she was also reminded what Alice had told her. What the fuck do you want? Alex thought viciously, watching as Edward's brow quirked.

"I heard that you had taken ill." He said, voice quiet and inhumanly musical. Alex grunted, struggling to prop herself up properly, unwilling to take her eyes off him. "I'm not here to hurt you, Alexandra." He said, sounding almost amused. He could shove his condescending, crooked little smile up his ass. Alex was not going to tolerate a vampire of all creatures laughing at her. Edward's face twisted in obvious regret, "I didn't mean to offend you. I'm simply unused to humans reacting with appropriate fear."

"Appropriate is right, sucker." Alex retorted, sting made weaker by her hoarse voice.

Edward inclined his head. "May I?" he gestured to the mess she'd made of the floor. She nodded shortly, and clenched her jaw in an attempt not to react as he blurred with vampiric speed, setting her things back atop her bedside table in no time at all.

"Thanks." She said begrudgingly. Edward gave her another small nod, before he stepped back to stand as far from her as her room allowed, backlit by her open window. It was a rare sunny day, and she was suddenly longing to get outside and skate or surf or, anything, just so she could feel the sun on her face and the wind in her hair. She wasn't built to be idle. "I'll ask you one more time before I call the wolves; what do you want?" she folded her arms across her chest.

Edward quirked another annoyingly perfect brow. Seriously, even her brows were not as manicured. "I thought you weren't speaking to the Pack." Great. So, the vampire in her bedroom knew she had essentially marooned herself without protection. "Which is part of the reason why I came actually."

That surprised her. "What?" She frowned at the perfect looking man.

He smiled at her. "I've come to offer you my thanks, and my apologies."

"What." Alex said again, dumbly.

"Alice wanted to come along too – in fact, my whole family extends their gratitude." Edward continued, and Alex shook her head. Did all vampires talk in riddles? "For saving Bella. And by extension, my own, ah, life." He clarified ruefully.

"Oh." Alex blinked. "I mean- I didn't, like, save her save her. I don't know, I mean… she just- and I- uh, yeah." She trailed off lamely. She was supremely uncomfortable.

Edward chuckled lightly, the sound like a song. Alex squinted. It was very hard to stay objective when they were built to draw you in. Edward sobered at her thought, and pressed a hand briefly to his heart. "I owe you everything, Alexandra Faye."

Jesus Christ, okay. Vampires were also extremely dramatic. Noted. "Uh. It's chill, dude. Don't sweat it." Alex said awkwardly, waving a hand at him limply.

Edward sighed, almost smiling. "I'll repay you one day." He promised, a little less intensely. Alex tried to smile at him, well aware it was coming across a little grimace like. "I've also come to talk to you about Jacob. He needs you."

Alex tried to respond, but the shock of his statement made her words catch in her mouth and she choked on her own saliva, abused throat tightening and setting her off. She buried her face in the crook of her elbow, bent double with the force of her hacking coughs. A glass of water was pushed carefully into her free hand, and when she could breathe normally, she took a small sip. Edward had already returned to the other side of the room, with no indication he had moved. The distant desire for warm hands and arms to hold her, for the care she had once had, made her throat tighten again – this time with emotion. "Jacob doesn't need me." She said finally, clutching the cup in both hands and looking into the clear water like it would agree with her. "He needs your girlfriend." Damn. Even she noticed the bitter edge to her voice.

Edward graciously didn't comment upon it, instead folding his arms across his chest in an oddly human gesture. "He came to see me and Bella a little while ago. Well. He came to yell at us," There was a note of distaste in his voice this time, "He came to get Bella in trouble, and to tell her about you." Her confusion must have shown on her face, or maybe he was just able to process her raw emotion as well as her coherent thoughts. "About the kiss." He explained gently. Alex stilled. "And to threaten my life, though it's hardly a new sentiment." He said, almost sassily.

"I still don't get how any of this is my problem." Alex said stiffly, hands tightening around the glass.

"As someone who knew Jacob both before and after his transformation, I can tell you he misses you. Even if he can't articulate it. This entanglement – the Imprint, I believe you call it – doesn't lessen your connection."

"You're right. It just makes it forced. Makes it worse. Overwhelming." She said cynically, shaking her head.

Edward tilted his head, considering. "I've never experienced anything like it. You two are connected in a way I thought impossible. You shouldn't discount that."

Alex rolled her eyes. "Don't you start. I've had enough of people telling me how fucking lucky I am to be 'spell-bound' to an idiot."

Edward held up a hand in surrender. "I digress. Still. He's off-balance without you. Misguided though his actions were, I truly don't think he meant to hurt you."

Alex smiled sardonically. "I don't know what's worse. The fact he kissed me, or the fact he kissed me without even thinking about my feelings." Edward was quiet, and for the first time, Alex wasn't off put by his quiet contemplative stare. Fuck, she really was lonely. "Does Bella know? About the Imprint, I mean." She asked, desperate for a distraction.

Edward shook his head. "It is not my place to tell Tribe secrets. And I doubt Jacob would want her to know, even if it were not such a precious secret."

"Yeah, same." Alex grinned savagely. "Well."

"Well." Edward echoed her. "Think about it. Jacob needs his best friend, and so do you."

Alex shook her head. "We haven't been best friends in a while." She admitted quietly, the admission making her sadder than she thought it would.

"Jacob doesn't seem to think that." Edward said. Alex looked back down at her lap. "I'll leave you to rest. Again, I give you my thanks. I hope to see you soon." He said politely.

Alex couldn't help but grin at that, looking back up to raise her eyebrows at him. "Yeah, no offence Edwin, but I hope I don't."

Edward smiled back, "No offence taken, Alexandra."

Alex coughed awkwardly. "You can call me Alex, I guess."

Edward paused at her door, looking back with a pleased look. "Goodbye, Alex."

"Later, Edwin."

Alex didn't hear the vampire on the stairs, the only indication he'd left the gentle click of her front door closing. She sighed, letting herself relax against her bedhead. She should probably be more angry with the invading vamp, who'd left her with more troubles to overthink than she'd started with. But she found she didn't have the energy to, and though he was her mortal enemy, he was also the first friendly-ish face she'd seen in days.

And maybe, just maybe, he was right.

Maybe she should talk to Jacob. At least as his friend. She couldn't – she wouldn't – address those other feelings she had. Jacob had been – was – her best friend. She should be there for him, as a friend. Just because he had hurt her, didn't mean he was hurting any less himself. Cutting herself off from the others had also been a shitty choice, because she missed them too, even if she hadn't been admitting it.

First, though, she wanted Quil to know she was sorry. Alex couldn't keep doing this to him, and part of her honestly wouldn't have blamed him if he dropped her for good this time.

It was an effort to get out of her bed, and she had to pause twice as her head swam worryingly, holding on to the wall for support as she made her way slowly towards her phone charging in the corner of her room. There were a few missed calls, some texts she ignored. She sank down the wall, and dialled Quil's number.

The ringing went on and on and one, and Alex realised with a sinking feeling, that Quil wasn't going to pick up. As the call rang out, Alex let her head thump back lightly against her wall, and humiliatingly, tears began to prickle at the corner of her eyes. She'd really fucked it up. She should have seen this coming. She was a terrible friend, she couldn't be surprised she kept losing them. if she just-

Her phone began to ring.

Hurriedly, she picked up her phone, so eagerly that she fumbled it. Catching it with a faint curse, she answered. "Quil?" she rasped.

"Jesus, you sound like shit, Alex." It was Quil, vibrant and cheery, and Alex pulled the phone away from her ear for a moment to rub at her teary cheeks, and sniffle. "Are you crying?"

"W-what? No." Alex said reflexively. "Quil, I just- I thought you weren't speaking to me."

Quil laughed, and Alex started at the low throaty sound. In fact, now she thought about it, it did sound as though his voice had dropped again. "I am. I mean I wasn't. I was mad. But I get it." Alex shook her head, pressing her free fingers into her temple as she tried to make sense of Quil's words. There was noise in the background, what sounded like the splash of water and laughter, voices overlapping. A low voice sounded just out of earshot. "Nah, I don't know." Quil responded to whatever the question had been.

"What?" Alex managed, head throbbing slightly, "Get what? You're not mad?" The same voice spoke again, except this time, Alex could make it out.

"…How is she?"

"Is that Embry?" Alex croaked loudly, far louder than she intended, and she winced at the volume, and the way her throat tightened reflexively, making her start to cough again. "Quil, where-" she tried, inbetween wheezes, "Where-?"

"Whoa, take it easy, Alex. Um. I was gonna tell you in person, but apparently you're not seeing anyone, and also it only happened like, three days ago-" Quil began hurriedly, but Alex put two and two together on her own, and let out a strangled kind of scream. "Are you okay?!" he asked.

Alex took a breath, trying to reassure him. "You know. You've Phased." It wasn't a question.

"Hell yeah, I did." Quil sounded… proud. Happy. It threw her for a loop, and she sat quietly for a long moment, processing the news. "Hello? Alex? Did you die?" There was a faint scuffle, and a low chorus of voices. "No, I'm kidding I can hear her breathing. Alex?"

"Are you okay?" Alex asked finally, voice faint.

"Oh, I'm better than okay. I'm finally taller than you." Quil said joyfully. Alex closed her eyes, biting her lip. "Hey, I'm really okay. And I'm not mad at you. I'm just impressed you managed to keep your massive mouth shut for so long." Alex wasn't sure what to say. Wasn't sure what she would say if she spoke. "Dude?"

"I'll call you later." She spat out, hurriedly ending the call before he could respond, and launching her phone across the room. It hit the wall with a clatter, and she buried her face in her hands with a distinct feeling of distress.

Why was everything to be tainted with the strange magic that governed this pocket of the world? Why was she cursed with it? Why couldn't she save just one person from a life controlled by the uncontrollable?

She wished then, with a sudden and violent ferocity, that she had never come to La Push.