Bree POV

The last few weeks of the school year passed quickly, and before I knew it, my siblings had all graduated from high school. Suddenly the house felt full again, which took some getting used to after a couple of months of having an almost empty house to myself. Sometimes the business of a household of 8 was overwhelming, so I had taken to going for walks in the forest on an almost daily basis. Sometimes I'd go alone, other times Esme, Rosalie or Alice would accompany me. Today was a nice day – overcast, so no risk of sparkle-time, but not raining, for once.

I flicked through my wardrobe and pulled out a pair of blue high waisted jeans, a cropped long sleeve striped top, and my favourite item of clothing – an oversized pink denim jacket. I dressed quickly, then ran down the stairs, jacket in hand, and found my black boots by the door.

"I'm going for a walk!" I called to the quiet house, as I slipped my boots on and opened the front door. I wasn't sure where I was headed, but I set off at a run to get deep into the Olympic park. I stopped running when I was part way up a mountain, and turned around to admire the view. It was peaceful, to be out among the treetops. I walked a little further, then sat down on a large rock at the base of a tree, enjoying the peace and quiet.

I loved my family, but man was it chaos with everybody home all the time. It was nice to escape and have a bit of alone time, away from all the couples. I couldn't help but think of the day sat in the cave with Diego, and wondered what he'd think of this now. The view was amazing, and the freedom of being able to go outside in the daytime was still exhilarating to me. If Diego was alive, would he have become a vegetarian vampire too? I like to think he would have; he had never revelled in the senseless murder like the others did.

Thinking about Diego still tugged at the hole in my chest, but the pain was worth the memory. I didn't want to forget about Diego, and the pain helped me remember it was real. Did that make me a masochist, intentionally causing myself pain? No. I don't think choosing to remember the love of my life, despite the pain it caused, counted as masochism. I sat there, imagining Diego with me, for what felt like hours.

I was interrupted from my pleasant, yet painful thoughts by the sound of footsteps. They were probably 100m away, but getting closer. A breath in timed with a gentle gust of wind confirmed my fears. These were humans. Humans, coming towards me. I panicked, and shot up the tree I was sat under until I was so high in the branches that nobody could possibly see me. I waited, breathless, as the offending humans came into my view. It was two young men, probably in their early 20's, who seemed to be going for a camping trip by the amount of stuff they were carrying. I cursed my luck. Why did these humans feel the need to stray so far off the beaten track that they'd come here to their death?! I didn't want to kill them, but surely that was inevitable now.

I stayed in my treetop spot, locked into position. I could feel the burn in my throat, and I cursed my luck again. I really didn't want to kill them. There was nothing I wanted less that to kill them right now. The men stopped walking and put down their packs. They weren't seriously going to stop here, of all places, at the foot of a tree which housed a dangerous predator? Surely fate would not tempt me in this way?! I watched in dismay as the men sat on the rock I had been perched on mere moments before, and inwardly groaned. Would they just go away already so I could be left in peace?!

Eventually, after what seemed like the longest 10 minutes of my entire life, they picked up their packs and moved on. I breathed a sigh of relief, and scurried back down the tree to my spot. It smelt of humans now. I breathed the scent in, and felt the pain in my throat. I could smell their trail. It would not be hard to follow them, but I really didn't want to, so I sat tight, breathing in the scent that had so rudely disrupted my peaceful spot. Eventually, I decided the offending scent had ruined the peace of the spot, and I turned to run home again. It only took a few minutes, and when I arrived home, I found my entire family sat in the living room, looking at me oddly.

"We were so worried, I'm so proud of you!" Alice beamed as she ran across the room and hugged me. I was confused. My face must have shown it all, and Edward explained.

"Alice had a vision – she saw you in the forest with the humans, but the ending was constantly shifting. Eventually she saw you decide to leave them alone." That made sense, of course Alice, and subsequently Edward, would have seen everything that just happened.

"How did you do that?" Jasper asked, curiously.

"Do what?" I asked, confused.

"You're only 5 months old. That was the first time you've been anywhere near a human in months, and you haven't hunted all week. How did you just decide to leave them alone?" Jasper asked, incredulous.

"Oh. Well, I didn't want to kill them. I was annoyed they'd gone so far off the track to put themselves in danger from me, and it did burn my throat, so I held my breath. And waited. And eventually they left. But I was worried I was going to kill them the whole time, even though I really didn't want to." I tried to explain what had just been going on in my mind.

"I wonder…" Carlisle started, and all eyes turned to him. He sighed, then continued. "My theory with vampire gifts is that all of us bring with us certain traits from our human lives, which are amplified, like our senses. In your human life, from a very young age, you were undoubtedly good at concealing and ignoring your own pain and needs for the sake of hiding the truth and protecting others." He paused, and looked at me sadly. "I wonder if that form of self-control has translated into an ability to ignore your thirst to avoid killing. And your lack of desire for violence and murder hardly needs explanation either."

"She's also adapted to the veggie life well – look at how golden her eyes are already." Emmett pointed out.

"Perhaps it's time we began some controlled re-integration into the human world…?" Carlisle proposed, and Esme looked simply ecstatic. I was nervous.

"Are you sure? I really don't want to kill anyone…" I asked, my voice hitching up an octave.

"But you see, that's exactly why I think you'll be ok. Your desire to not kill anyone somehow trumps your thirst, and as long as that is the case, I really think you won't endanger anyone." Edward said, looking to Alice, who was probably viewing a hundred futures in her mind.

"I can see you interacting with humans in lots of different situations – there's lots of outcomes, but none where you kill anybody." Alice summarised, grinning. "And that means, it's time for a shopping trip!" her grin somehow got wider, and I couldn't help but laugh.

Hey, sorry for the big delays in uploads - I'm nearing the end of what I had pre-planned so am struggling to decide where it goes next (if at all...) so please do leave your reviews! I can't promise to incorporate your ideas straight away, as I have the next 3 or so chapters mapped out already, but beyond that, I don't really know where this is going, and without reviews of people at least wanting some more story in some form or other, it will probably fizzle out :(