Lily drove home without paying attention to how she had gotten there. She didn't stop to talk to Sarah, who was obviously trying to get a hold of her attention. She didn't stop at john, who looked confused at the blood on her clothing.

Lily was numb.

She had only planned to confront Bella. To ask what had happened. She hadn't meant to hurt her. But in the moment, she had gotten so angry. The ones she had loved and felt so protective of had been hurt.

They had their lives so greatly changed because of the whims of a stupid teenage girl who didn't even realize the damage she had caused.

Maybe Lily had been too hard on Bella. Maybe she truly could not function in her mind without Edward. But she didn't need to be so clueless in the destruction her love had brought. She wasn't sorry. She wasn't upset. She had been happy.

Lily was absolutely fuming. She had thrown her bloody torn clothing off in into the trash before bounding into the shower. She must have caused the water bill to be something ridiculously expensive with her obsessive need to be clean and warm.

It wasn't until she had been in her room for a few hours that Sarah had knocked on her door.

"Lily love can I come in?"

Lily thought about it. She still hadn't managed to calm down enough to get her fangs to recede. But she was so tired of hiding things.

"Yeah, just don't freak out."

Sarah had entered the room at that moment, carrying hot cocoa with a ridiculous amount of whip cream and marshmallows and what looked like chocolate shavings on top. Obviously, John had been wrapped into making this sugary concoction.

"Hello my little fangy love. You don't have to tell me, but I think maybe we may need to get you an appointment with an orthodontist. Our insurance covers it, so its no big deal! But we cannot have you going about as pretty as you are with your lips being cut on those pointy little buggers."

And just as easily as Sarah had played off the fact that her foster child had somehow come home covered in blood and torn clothes accompanied with fangs, Lily lost it.

She cried and laughed and gratefully accepted Sarah's arms as she wrapped her into a gentle hug.

Sarah rocked Lily back and forth for several minutes, letting her cry out whatever had been troubling her heart.

"So, is hot cocoa ok still or do I need to find some red velvet chocolate? Or, perhaps the blood bank is a better place to shop for food?"

Lily just laughed wetly, trying to dry her eyes and whip away the snot from her face.

Nobody said crying was pretty. Anyone who said otherwise is a liar or selling something.

"No, hot cocoa is fine as long as John made it."

"What? You don't think I could have made this beautiful piece of half chilled art? Look, the whip cream has half melted. That's absolutely something I could manage!"

Lily laughed again, a little stronger at that. She took one of the cups finally, sipping it gentle.

It had absolutely gone cold, but it still tasted wonderful.

"Lily my love, you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. But if I need to somehow come up with an alibi for you, tell me now. Not in too much detail, mind you. I'm an awful liar. Just enough detail to cover whatever timeframe you need me to cover."

"Sarah, I didn't kill anyone. I had an accident. Whenever I lose my temper or get hurt…. My body changes. Please don't make a puberty joke, I can't handle it right now. I'm ok, I just need to calm down. I'm fine, I promise. I heal quickly. "Lily couldn't face Sarah while she opened up to her. She felt dirty telling her everything. If she only told her about her transformations and nothing about the tribe or the Cullens, that should be ok. After all, their secrets weren't hers to spill.

"I've never heard of anxiety triggering dental changes, but I'm with you so far."

"No, I don't know. Maybe my parents were pigeons. I don't know. But once I calm down it'll all go away. I don't understand why it happens, but I've been working on it."

"Little love, you know John and I are here for you, in any capacity you'll allow us. I know you're practically an adult and we are absolutely decrepit. But we love you, and will always be here for you, fangs and all. We may not always react quickly, but we are always on your side."

"Sarah… why did you take me in? You could have had a baby. I saw the file… why did you choose me? Someone who was… "

"don't start with that. You are as perfect as you should be. Our past does not define us. We choose who we are. Our choices are what make us who we are. If you choose to let it affect you, that's ok because you chose it. But, never ever give anything power over you that you do not want.

We chose you because we fell in love with you the moment we saw your picture. I can't tell you how or why, but we knew you were special to us the minute we saw your file. You weren't even offered to us. It was an accident. Your file slipped from a cabinet, your picture flashing on top. John was the one to reach over and help pick up the paperwork. But then he paused. He showed me the picture. We didn't discuss it; we didn't have to. We have been together long enough to know just enough of what the other is thinking.

We knew you were ours. The case manager had reached out to one of her friends, who had been your case manager. She ended up having gone to school with John, so it helped ease the transition of everything.

You were always ours my little love. We just weren't able to find you in time to save both of you." With that, Sarah hugged Lily tightly as they both cried. This time, the tears were slow and warm. Tears of healing and understanding. What more could be said?

Lily had slept fitfully that night. She dreamt that she had been chased alternatingly by vampires and wolves. She had tried to fly away, but found her wings had broken.

Lily woke up with an awful headache from crying the night before, her eyes still puffy. Super powers or not, teenage crying sessions did not do anything for one's complexion.

Thankfully, Lily wasn't forced to go to school yet. Sarah had ensured Lily had enough time once they flew home from the court case to unwind and ground herself in her home again. Instead, she spent the day working with her plants, sun bathing, trying different yoga poses, and messaging Leah.

Leah hadn't responded. But considering everything that was going on, Lily hadn't been surprised. She had let her know that while she hadn't cunt punched Bella, she had given her a good slap and talking to, both her and Edward.

The message had "read" marked by it, but Lily was content with that. Leah had seen it, and had human thumbs enough to see the message. She would talk to Lily once she had some time to calm down.

What Lily couldn't help feeling like was that she was being watched. It was off putting and uncomfortable.

But when you force yourself into a home of vampires, hit one of their humans, and destroy their property by accident you were bound to have a few creepers observing. She wasn't sure who was watching her, but decided playing dumb was better than acknowledging it.

It could have been the Cullens, but it could just have easily been Victoria.

Lily hadn't been told much about her. She knew with the Cullens back that the wolf pack wouldn't be able to keep the regular citizens of Forks safe, only those on the Res.

Maybe it was a wolf watching her. She was an oddity in the community after all. She managed to grow fangs when apparently the vampires weren't able to.

The positive of Lily's crap mood was that she was able to help her plants. Her bad mood had allowed for her to tap into whatever energy helped her hands glow.

Lily still wasn't sure what exactly the key was, but she was trying to memorize the way the energy felt flowing from her heart to her hands. She had to be careful of pushing it too far. She wasn't sure if she was hurting her heart doing this. She had passed out once while healing Emily. But without a heart test to see if she could compare before and after results of her healing, she had to go based on how she felt.

She felt calm once the had finished. Apparently with everything going on, nobody thought to check on the plants. Given the funeral, the runaway shitstorm, and now a mystery vampire bent on revenge a few plants seemed miniscule in the grand scheme of things.

Shrugging away the more stressful of those thoughts, she started to get up off her knees. The vegetables she had been trying to help had looked much healthier than when she started. The feeling of being watched hadn't left. Lily wasn't sure if she should call out to them, risking letting them know she was aware of being watched, or at the very least sound insane.

She decided against giving away any extra information to whatever may or may not be there. Better to appear like a small insignificant girl than an observant watcher.

Lily had been sure to lock all the doors and windows before going to bed that night. If John and Sarah were upset with random salt lining the doorways and windows or the herb sachets that had been placed in the corners of the room, they never mentioned it. John did come home with a goodie bag stuffed full of dental supplies that he presented Lily at dinner that night. After looking up from the bag, Lily saw they both were wearing fake Halloween vampire teeth.

She loved them. She also through the bag back at john, hitting him in his shoulder.