Chapter Twelve

"What are you running from?" I heard Ness ask. Ever since I had told Hanna what we were, what I was, she was avoiding all of us like the plague. I felt horrible, Hanna was Ness's friend first.

"You. I am running away from you, and Emmett and the rest of you." Her voice was cold, and her words were like knives. I peered around the corner of the empty hallway, school was over now and the three of us were the only ones left aside from the teachers. "I am terrified, Ren. You and the rest of your family could kill me at any moment."

"You're right. We could, but we haven't. And we aren't going to. Just let me explain everything to you, please." Ness's voice was pleading, she took a small step toward Hanna who took one step back.

"No." Then she fled from the hall and outside toward her vehicle. Ness turned around to face me, and I could see tears welling up in her eyes. I really fucked this up.

"Fix it." She begged, making her way outside to our waiting family.

~~~FH~~~

It had been two weeks since then. Two weeks since Ness has spoken a single word to me, and almost a month since Hanna found out and since I had seen a glimpse of Rosalie. When did everything get so royally fucked up? Everything was fine, we were fine until I saw her, and Alice's vision just confirmed it.

She had seen Rose show up at the house, in a few weeks she would be here. Alice also said she had seen Hanna and Rose meeting, I wanted to avoid that, but it seems as though I can't.

I missed her. I missed Hanna more than anything, more than I missed Rose. I missed Rose every day, but not in the same way that I missed Hanna. Where Rose was hard, Hanna was soft. They were similar but so different at the same time, if Hanna were a vampire the two might have been able to be friends. But Hanna wasn't a vampire, and she never would be if I had anything to say or do about it. I wasn't going to take that option away from her. It has once been taken from Bella, even if Bella did want it, I don't see Hanna wanting to become one of us.

No.

Hanna wouldn't want that. She would miss her parents; she would never be able to lie to them. She couldn't hurt them like that, she was their only child.

"It's not fair, mom!" I heard Ness cry from across the hall. I whipped my head towards my door and focused my hearing on the conversation.

"I know, babe, I know. But you need to understand why Emmett had to tell her this way." Bella soothed.

Oh. So, Ness was angrier than I had originally thought. My brows furrowed in concern. I wish I could comfort her, make her laugh, and take away the pain of what I had caused.

"She was my friend first. I should have been the one to tell her, I wouldn't have scared her away."

"Renesme, that is enough. Her response was normal. She would have been scared regardless of who told her or not. Emmett told her as gently as he could, it wasn't his fault, and you need to stop blaming him for a human having a human reaction." Bella's voice was stern like any mother's tone was expected to be, but it was also gentle and kind. Ness was only a teenager in looks, but she was an adult in years.

I didn't hear what else was said. I looked at the morning sun rising over the trees outside my window and leaped.

~~~FH~~~

What I was doing was risky and idiotic. But I had to see her, I had to talk to her. I had to explain things, I had to fix this for Ness. She shouldn't be suffering, and she shouldn't have to lose her first actual friend because of me. It wasn't fair, it wasn't my decision.

It was early Saturday morning, and I knew Hanna went on a light jog every Saturday, she said it helped her feel like she wasn't still broken from her injury. She did it every Saturday to prove she could still do things like that if she desired.

I watched her from across the street as she walked up the long driveway, looking down at her watch on her wrist. She was wearing those bright pink leggings she adored, and she had on an old T-shirt with her black Nike hat. She hadn't seen me yet. Good. She made it to the top of the driveway and when she looked up our eyes locked.

Her mouth fell open in a soft gasp, and her scent was suddenly overpowered by fear and anxiety. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, pushing myself off the door of my jeep and cautiously made me way over to her.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, her voice unsteady. She swallowed and looked as if she was going to bolt back to the house but made herself stay to see what I had to say.

I opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn't find the words to say. I hadn't thought any of this out, I had no idea what to say to her without causing her to turn around and run away from me. Her eyes never left mine, and she cocked her head thoughtfully. Her fear and anxiety were ebbing away, that was a good sign.

"I'm sorry," I finally gasped out. She blinked.

Once.

Twice.

A third time.

"Why?"

I took another deep breath and looked away from her, her gaze too intense. "I'm sorry for scaring you, for getting involved with you. I'm sorry I took Ness away from you." I gently kicked a rock at my foot and shoved my heads in my pockets. "She really misses you, so do I. All of us actually." She was nodding along to my words, standing so still she almost looked like a statue.

"Okay," she breathed, closing her eyes. "Okay."

"Okay." I mimicked.

"I don't," she started and then coughed lightly. "I don't know what to say, Emmett. This is terrifying, you're a vampire. I only ever read about them and watched them on TV. I never expected any of it to be real. Are werewolves real, too?" She asked.

"Why don't we just take it one supernatural being at a time?" I suggested, smiling lightly at her. She groaned into her hands and crouched to the ground.

"This is so overwhelming. I don't even know what you're really asking of me." She confessed. "I don't even know where to begin to ask any questions without freaking myself out even more. I'm so fucking scared."

I took a deep breath and ran my hands through my hair, ignoring the crystals that were bouncing off my skin from the morning sun. "I guess I'm just asking you to trust me." She was watching me closely, her eyes scanning from the top of my head to my feet, taking me in.

"You look so much like a human right now, aside from your skin. You look like you just got done taking a bath with one of those glitter bath bombs. You look more human right now then I think you ever had. Which is weird, but if you're asking me to trust you, all I can do is try."

~~~FH~~~

"Sunlight?"

"You saw me this morning, I didn't burn up."

"Stake through the heart?"

"Who wouldn't die from that?"

"Garlic?"

"We don't eat."

"Mirrors?"

"Alice would have killed herself by now if she didn't have a reflection."

"Hey!"

There was one question I was dreading her to ask. But I knew it was the most important one. I saw her take a shaky breath from where she was sitting.

"What do you eat?"

"We drink animal blood, Hanna. It keeps us close to our humanity." Carlisle answered from the head of the table. "We don't feed from humans, that's why our eyes are gold."

"I can accept that." She said, making direct eye contact with me. If my heart could beat, it would be pounding in my chest at that moment.

She was accepting this; she was accepting me. Now I knew how Edward had felt when Bella didn't turn away and run from him. It was incredible, this feeling. I slowly smiled at her as she hesitantly returned it. We would be okay. We could do this; she could do this.

Alice saw it too late. The door opening and closing made all of us rise to our feet, Ness moved closer to Hanna. The soft clanks of heels on the hardwood floor sounded deafening in the silence. I held my breath.

"Well, well, well. What's this?" Rosalie asked, quirking a delicate, blonde brow at the blonde opposite of her. "Another human? You are going soft, Carlisle."

~~~FH~~~

R&R. Sorry if this chapter sucked, I just wanted to get something out since it had been a while. It will get better, I promise. Now we are really getting into all the vampire and angsty stuff