The fight between Hermione and Leah was evenly matched; both managed to get in hits, and both managed to manoeuvre themselves out of a tight spot. Neither of them had spilt blood until a lucky kick from Hermione connected with Leah's jaw.

The pair paused as Leah spat out a combination of blood and saliva, before grinning at her opponent.

"This means war," she warned.

"Oh, does that mean you're finally going to try?" Hermione asked, blinking her eyelids at her innocently. She laughed at Leah's growl before moving to the left to avoid an angry lunge.

"Man," Quil groaned, "this is really hot."

"Finish this, Hermione," Embry demanded. "Before Quil starts to wank."

"Hey!"

Hermione laughed rolling with the kick to her ribs so she could minimise her pain and shot Leah a smirk. "You heard the boy. I've got to finish this."

Leah scoffed, and that was her downfall.

Hermione performed an intricate series of lunges and feints, punches and kicks that ended with Leah on her back, dazed. This is where Quil would've taken the opportunity to make a sex joke, and with the expression on her face, it was almost a given. Hermione, Jared and Seth even looked at the boy and waited for one, but he was way too shocked to be coherent.

"That's my girl," Paul hollered, whooping loudly and clapping hands with Embry. "That is my girl!"

Hermione laughed at his volume and excitement as she reached down to pull Leah to her feet.

"That was a good match," Hermione observed, "You aren't too bad of a fighter."

"I could do with some teaching," she admitted. "That was incredible."

"I've got you," the witch reassured.

"But not now," Paul interjected. "Because we're about to have sex."

"Seriously?" Quil complained. "That's not even fair. Can I at least watch?" The two started arguing, loudly and comically, which is probably the reason that they didn't smell a Cullen get closer to their group. Or, it could be because they were so used to these particular scents since they were living with it all day and night.

"Esme has prepared a feast if any of you are hungry," Carlisle said. Quil was the first to move, carrying on his argument - which had travelled to the better peanut butter - as he jogged to the house. Paul paused for a second, shot Hermione puppy dog eyes before following after his Pack mate. After that, the whole group seemed to leave until it was just Hermione and Carlisle.

She wordlessly accepted his swab as she bent to swipe it through the glob that Leah had spat out earlier. He silently accepted and pocketed it, before walking to the house with her.

Hermione groaned and rubbed a hand down her face.

"Hermione, if you just told them, it wouldn't hurt. They were your friends first, now they're your Pack. From what we've seen and from what I know from reading your books, that makes them your family."

"Carlisle, I just don't want to ask. I can't explain why without it seeming like a ridiculous answer, but this is like a quest. A quest to find myself."

"Even King Arthur had Merlin by his side when he went on quests," Carlisle pointed out. "You don't have to do this alone."

"I'm not," she argued. "You're doing it with me." He didn't glare, but the unamused look that he threw at her, gave her chills. "So, I'm not an Ataera, or a Clearwater. I think we can wipe out being a Lahote and I'm not a Cameron."

"That leaves you with the Blacks, Uleys, Calls and Littleseas."

"The Littlesea family didn't bring the twins down to La Push until seven years ago from the Makah tribe. My mum never went up that far so I'm seventy percent sure we can wipe them out. Calls, well, Embry never knew his Father and he's been in this position for all his life so I can't determine my Father from him."

"So, Jacob or Sam," Carlisle finished.

"Hey Doc," Jacob greeted awkwardly, standing in the doorway of Carlisle's office. "I have a note for you."

"A note?"

"Yeah. Ears can't listen to what is on paper." Carlisle quirked an eyebrow in curiosity and accepted the paper, unfolding it with a flick of a finger and reading the words.

"I think we can do that," the vampire admitted.

"Hermione," Rosalie greeted, the normally confident vampire looking extremely uncomfortable. That paired with her black eyes meant that she was asking Hermione for a trip to the feeding grounds.

"Rosalie," Hermione replied, smiling gently. "Are you hungry enough to go now?"

"I'm famished," she admitted, chuckling awkwardly.

"I could've taken you sooner," she said, moving to grab her phone and wand, before sitting down on a seat to pull on her trainers.

"Yeah, I know, but I wanted to make sure Bella was going to be looked after; that nobody was going to try and get rid of the baby without her consent."

"Bella has made it clear that she wants this baby. I couldn't kill it even though I mentioned it. It would hurt my cousin."

"Yes, I know, but with Edward just as enamoured with the baby, I can finally feed."

"Really? When did that happen?"

"Just now. He can read some of the baby's thoughts. At first he thought it was Bella but it's their child."

"That's incredible!" Hermione breathed, shocked. "If Edward is on board with the baby now, that means that…" She trailed off as Jacob entered the room, his face locked in one of pure anger, before storming out of the room and slamming the door. "Oh, Jake."

"Yeah," Rosalie agreed. "The mutt doesn't have anyone in his corner now." Hermione cleared her throat, and the blonde rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Can I eat now?"

"Hermione isn't in England," Charlie huffed, leaning back in the armchair and gulping at more beer. "I called her home phone a dozen times and she hasn't picked up."

"So, maybe you've always called when she's been out," Billy reasoned.

"Possibly, but I also left messages."

"Maybe she's staying with a friend."

"Nope. She told me that because she was taking Paul, she was going to stay at her family home so he was more comfortable."

"So, maybe she's ignoring you," Peter theorised.

"I'd believe that if it wasn't for Bella falling ill." He took another gulp of beer, acted as if he didn't notice the look that his friends exchanged before carrying on. "I also called a buddy of mine, from England."

"Charlie, you had her checked up on?"

"Yeah, of course I did!" he said. "Nobody has been in that house for months," he finished. "She didn't go to the place she was needed for. She had trials to go to. Which leaves me with only one conclusion."

"Yeah?"

"She eloped," Charlie declared. Billy and Peter exchanged looks of disbelief. "She knows how I feel about marriage, especially with Bella's not long ago. So she eloped." He hid his smirk behind his beer bottle before cooling his expression. "It's that or vampires."

He mentally laughed at Billy's shock.

I always thought it was stupid how Charlie couldn't tell that there wasn't anything more to Forks, especially since he grew up with Billy and must've heard the stories in passing. Plus, he's Chief of Police and if you're telling me he never noticed the bite on her wrist? You've got to be kidding!