CHAPTER THREE.

MISTAKES

"Where are you headed, son?" Carlisle was in his study with the door standing invitingly open. I paused on the threshold to peer in.

"I'm going to hunt." My words were clipped short like little staccato beats. As soon as I heard myself I wanted to take them back immediately. I grimaced. It was unfair of me to treat him that way.

Carlisle nodded with an understanding I didn't deserve. They all knew why my temper was fizzling on such a quick fuse. This hunting expedition was by no means necessary- I wasn't thirsty by a long shot, but I hoped positively filling myself to bursting would help keep the thirst under control when I was in the Davis girl's presence again. The next day at school wouldn't be so bad, fortunately, because she and I only shared the break. Worst case I could make myself scarce during that hour.

Better to be safe than a murderer.

"I'll come with you." Carlisle didn't give me a chance to demur. Within a fraction of a second he had joined me on the landing. Up close his eyes were a shade of forest green that sparkled with little flecks of yellow. He did not need to hunt any more than I did. This was a clear ploy to get me alone to have a frank discussion. I guessed after everything I'd put him through I owed him this.

"Sure," I sat on the banister and rode it down to the bottom floor. Carlisle followed me at a much more sedate pace taking the stairs one at a time.

In the living room Esme was trimming and hemming curtains by hand. A long piece of drapery was spread over a work table, tumbling over the sides and bunching onto the floor. There wasn't a sewing machine in sight. Esme said she was much more precise than any machine she'd ever used. I took her at her word- I wouldn't know the difference anyway.

It was nice to see her like this, though; perfectly content, humming softly to herself as she readjusted the large swathe of fabric and pinned down another section to be hemmed.

Alice and Jasper were playing Mario Kart on the couch, giggling and elbowing each other as they shot blue shells at each other.

Carlisle and I exited through the kitchen and immediately darted into the surrounding forest. We ran quietly for several miles, but I could feel the burning questions emanating from him like sun rays as we ran.

He couldn't be blamed for the curiosity. Our last conversation was not a pleasant memory.

"I have to go," I'd told him. The words had been forced out violently through waves of sickness that were nearly incapacitating me. "Now."

"Go? Where? What happened?"

"Nothing yet, but I can't control it. I have to go."

He'd reached for me, but I'd cringed away from him feeling dirty and unworthy of a man that had dedicated his entire existence to saving humans. Carlisle was a saint to mortal kind, how could I ever compare to a man that fought through desperate thirst as a newborn in order to save as many people as possible? The short answer was that I couldn't. Especially not after nearly killing an innocent girl.

"I don't understand," he'd plead with me. The possibility of splitting his family up was surely hurting him.

"Has any one human ever smelled…" I didn't know how to finish that thought. "Perfect?"

"Ah," His expression had gone carefully blank. There was no mistaking it- he had experienced this. He clapped a hand to my shoulder. "Do whatever you need to do to resist, son."

"What did you do?" I begged for validation.

"I ran," was his simple answer. "Take my car." He held the keys out between us, but I declined. I needed to run, to feel the air on my skin, to breathe clean oxygen. The exact same thing the two of us were doing now, running silently through the night.

"Did I do the right thing?" He asked me, breaking the surreal quiet.

"By letting me go to Alaska?" We sped through the wet forest side by side. Drops of water fell from the branches overhead, creating a soft rustling sound that emanated from all around us.

"Yes."

"Yeah," I assured him. "The only other option would have been unforgivable."

"Nothing is unforgivable," he instantly disagreed.

"I don't think I would have been able to forgive myself," I muttered, but wondered if that were true. When I'd first smelled that bewildering girl, I didn't know her at all, had no reason to distinguish her from any other human. She wouldn't have been my first encounter with human blood, only my first innocent. Had I stayed and hunted her later, like I intended, I think I would have found forgiveness quite easily given time.

Now it was different. If I hurt her now it would be the worst kind of tragedy, and I didn't understand why. Nothing had changed, really. There was only the difference of a single conversation, and yet- nothing was the same.

"Why did you come back?" Carlisle wondered.

"I had to," I admitted. "I felt like a coward. I felt weak and I didn't like it."

"Removing yourself was not an act of cowardice," Carlisle disagreed firmly. "You saved a life. You should be very proud of the strength it took to do that."

His words felt like a balm. "I guess, by the time I got to Alaska it didn't feel that way. It felt like I was hiding, and I wanted to prove to myself I was strong enough to do this. That I am strong enough to do this."

"You know how happy I am to have you home, son, but I am sorry you're suffering. If this is too much, if it is too difficult to stay…"

"No," I interrupted. "I don't like feeling like a coward. I don't want to feel like that again."

We slowed to a jog, beginning to peer through the darkness for our query.

"It's better than putting her in danger, son. She'll be gone in a year or two." I hadn't considered that. My leaving and staying away would ostensibly solve this entire problem. Two years would pass in the blink of an eye for me and then I could come back safely because she would be gone.

Just a year or two and she would be gone… I would never see her again.

Carlisle turned in time to catch my expression. "You're not going to go, are you?" He asked with calm realization.

We stopped running. I bowed my head in shame. Of course I wouldn't leave, I couldn't, though I had no reason to stay. A vision of the girl's dark eyes dancing with questions in the rearview, as I'd last seen her, came to mind with ferocious intensity. Was that it? Was I eager to answer her questions? That could be even more dangerous than anything else.

"Is it pride?" Carlisle asked. Normally he would be right on the money, but this time everything was all tangled and confused, and I didn't know what to tell him. "There's no shame in-"

"No," The word dropped from my mouth like a stone. "It's not pride."

"Do you feel you have nowhere to go?"

"No," This time the declaration was softer. I could hear the moroseness in my own voice. Carlisle was growing more and more concerned.

"We will go with you, if that's what you need. We've done it before. None of us will begrudge you this."

Again, he was right. Esme would be disappointed to leave her beloved house behind, but she wouldn't dream of complaining.

"I know," I whispered.

"Emmett," he squeezed my shoulder. "It's better to leave now than later, after a life has been ended."

Ugh, I shuddered. "I know," I agreed again.

"But you won't leave?"

"I should," I answered.

He watched me for a moment, musing. "Tanya called," he mentioned casually.

A pang stabbed my stomach. "And?" I asked calmly. "What did she have to say?"

"She has some theories," he said vaguely.

I sighed. "Care to share?"

"She thinks it's possible you've found your mate."

"That makes the least sense of all," I rebutted. "I've had one conversation with this girl, and the only other time I was in her proximity I nearly killed her. If that's how our kind find mates, it's a wonder any of us have one at all."

He laughed. "You're right that it would be an unusual case."

The scent from a herd of deer wafted toward us.

"Shall we?" Carlisle suggested. We crouched and let the scent drag us through the trees in silence. With the scent of La so fresh in my mind, these deer were particularly unappealing. I had absolutely no desire to force myself through this, especially since it wouldn't likely help at all in the end.

As we approached the deer, I told myself the possible alternative was even less appealing.

The temperature had dropped by the time we returned home. The mushy sleet had almost melted entirely while the sun was out, then as the sun went down the water had hardened into a thick layer of ice that shone from every surface.

Carlisle left me by the bank of the river that ran through our property. He went on to change for his shift at the hospital while I sat on a boulder discontentedly watching the water. I thought about what Tanya had said and wondered if I should be upset that she'd outed me to the family. It wasn't any of her business if I fell in love with a giraffe. She certainly shouldn't be calling my father about it.

Even thinking about it critically didn't bring any anger on. I was officially spent. My life had been so easy before La Davis fell into it. Hunt, wrestle with Jasper, rib Edward, hunt, try to play pranks on Alice, hold up swatches of fabric for Esme, hunt, wrestle some more. Now my brain was full of the gorgeous scent and delicate flush of a human.

I shifted on my boulder feeling bloated and ill at ease. The deer's blood sloshed uncomfortably in my stomach. Annoyingly, this discomfort probably wouldn't help at all when I was finally in the vicinity of this girl, but I had to try. I sank my fingers into the rock, feeling it turn to dust as easily as if I had sunk my fingers into sand and stared off into the trees.

Little icicles clung to the tips of each pine needle, and dripped from the edges of the leaves. The forest looked crystalline in the absolute stillness of pre-dawn.

"Stunning actually," she'd said. She had a point, Forks was beautiful. Would I have noticed before she said it?

It would be easy enough to spread some story, any story, about why the largest Cullen had left- transfer, vacation, boredom, beheading, whatever. No one would question it. I should leave. It was the safest option, the easiest one to explain away. In a couple of years I could come back after she had moved on.

My staying away could mean that La would have the chance to go to graduate school, meet someone, get married, have babies, all the things young humans did. The rage I missed when thinking about Tanya finally surfaced as I envisioned La with someone else. Someone like that blonde from her group of friends. The one with a stupid face, and stupider hair. I imagined him touching her, having a life with her.

Life. I couldn't offer her that.

Hold the phone! Did I want to offer her that? Is that what this rage meant? Could Tanya be right? I rebelled at the idea. Even if she could potentially be my mate, that would be wholly selfish and incredibly wrong to take her life away. I couldn't make that decision for her. Better to remove myself and give her all the chances she deserved.

Carlisle always knew best. I should have listened to him immediately instead of sitting out here pulverizing a boulder, waffling about possible feelings. Since when was I a waffler, anyway?

The sun peeked out from behind some clouds, skittered across my skin, and glistened off the frozen landscape.

One more, I decided. I would see her one more time, then take myself out of the country. Maybe putting oceans between us would lessen this awful longing I felt. This time it would be exponentially more difficult than the first time I left. I would want to talk to her again, but I couldn't allow myself to do that. I pushed myself into motion, leaping off the boulder and jogging toward the house.

In my room I quickly changed for school, then headed back downstairs. Alice was sitting on the steps leading to the second floor. She was hunched up around her knees, looking forlorn.

"You're leaving," she said sadly.

"Yep," I plopped down next to her, and threw an arm around her shoulders.

"I can't see where you're going," she mumbled.

"I don't know where I'm going yet, kid."

"I don't want you to go," she pouted. I didn't answer. I didn't want to go either. "Maybe Jazz and I can go with you?" she asked, devoid of hope.

"No," I gave her a little squeeze. "They'll need you here. Think of what Esme would say to have half her family leave in one go?"

"She'll be so sad without you," she countered.

"That's my point," I said. "That's why you have to stay. I've gotta do the right thing, munchkin." She hated that nickname, so it was a testament to how sad she was that she let me get away with it without comment.

"How do you know what's right?" she asked and rubbed her face. "Your future is shifting around so quickly I can't see any one thing for longer than a second. It's all hazy, and imprecise…. Then there's this picture of a meadow?"

"A meadow?" I leaned away to see her face more clearly.

"It's a smallish, perfectly circular meadow filled with wildflowers. The sun is shining, and you're out in the sunlight… there's someone with you, but I can't see who…" she rubbed her face again. "This is hurting my head. Do you know that place?"

"Yeah, I think I do." I frowned. Why would she be seeing that? "I go there when the sun's out a lot. It's quiet, and pretty."

"Why haven't you taken me there?"

"'Cause that would defeat the purpose of being alone and quiet," I grinned.

She stuck her tongue out at me. "Something is changing, and I don't know what. You're at a… crossroads, but I get the feeling that all of this will play out very soon. It feels imminent."

"Wow," I goggled at her. "You sound like you should be wearing bright colors, and multiple rings on each finger." I looked around quickly. "Where's your tent? I didn't realize the carnival was in town!"

She laughed. "This is serious."

"I know," I said. "How is today? Does it look alright?"

"It's fuzzy, but I don't see you killing anyone today."

"Oh good," I flung myself backward on the stairs, arm covering my face. "Not killing anyone is a huge relief."

"Hey," she said softly. I lifted my arm to peer at her. "I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you, too, kid."

The ride to school was quiet and sullen. Jasper was looking between us in confusion. I wondered what sorts of things he was picking up off of me when I couldn't decipher what I was feeling myself. Belatedly it occurred to me that he was likely the only one that didn't know I was leaving. I wondered why Alice didn't tell him.

As soon as Edward pulled into the west parking lot I started to look for her. I told myself I was just preparing to withstand the force of her scent, but that was silly. I couldn't smell her from inside the Volkswagen.

It was ridiculous how she had become the center of my universe in the matter of a few days. It felt as though I revolved around her, carefully tip toeing around to avoid disturbing our fragile balance. This type of behavior did not suit my temperament. I wanted to barrel through this. Demand answers, and create spectacle. I wanted to break things.

We each got out of the car. La hadn't arrived yet, but I could hear the rumble of her Abarth as she came down the road. Jasper went straight to class, bored or overwhelmed by the tense emotions that swarmed us. Edward started to leave, but when Alice stayed resolutely by my side, paused to watch. He probably wanted to make sure I didn't do anything stupid. If I did, Alice wouldn't be able to stop me on her own.

La pulled into the parking lot carefully, watching the road with added apprehension from the ice that was still thick in places despite the liberal salting. I filed this away in the back of my brain with all the other little things I had noticed about her, like the way she set her shoulders when she was uncomfortable and the inherent kindness in her treatment of other people; she was also very practical.

Once she pulled into her spot, I settled in to wait. She hadn't seen me yet, and I wondered idly what would happen when she did. Considering she tended to face me head on when most would have avoided me in fear, I wondered how long it would take for her to march up to me and demand answers herself. It was a shame I would be leaving before she ever got the chance to do that.

At long last, she pulled herself out of the little car and made her way around to the hatch at the back. She pulled it open, slung her bag over her shoulder, then slammed it shut.

As the latch clicked home, next to me, Alice gasped. I turned to see Alice cover her mouth in horror, and Edward behind her begin to dart forward to catch me. Behind him a van was sliding back and forth on the ice, out of control. Tired squealed as it came barreling down towards La.

"No," Alice groaned. At that moment, La looked up, locked eyes with me, then stared past me at the van spinning toward her.

I launched myself across the lot toward her, entirely unconcerned with who saw me. I didn't care anymore. Not this girl, not this center of my universe. Anyone but her. My arms circled her waist and tucked her into my chest as we continued to fly out of the way of the oncoming vehicle. I landed on my back with La on top of me. Her head hit my chin with a resounded whack. The sound turned my body to ice. Had the force of that collision injured her head?

There was no time to check on her. The van continued its arc around the truck we'd taken shelter behind, coming straight for La.

"Fuck," I sputtered, and dropped her to catch the van just before it crushed her, pushing it back and away. The momentum continued, forcing the van to swing back the other direction, again coming straight for where La lay prone on the frozen ground.

Was she a fucking magnet?

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," I muttered. I was doing too much. She could see all of this. I was risking not just my life, but the lives of our entire family.

This could mean exposure.

If any group of people found out about what the family was, it would rain hell down on this entire region, and there would be no saving La, then. There would be no saving any of us.

I caught the van anyway, holding it up and finally stopping its momentum. I looked down to see that if I released the car it would drop directly onto La's legs. She hadn't moved. It was like some cosmic force had decided that La would definitely be crushed by this van and there was simply nothing I could do about it.

"Son of a bitch," I gripped her with one hand and pulled her into my side, holding her tightly to me. Her body moved limply, as though she was unconscious. Had the impact of her head against my chin knocked her out?

Once her legs were safely out of the way I released the van to drop back onto the concrete. We were stuck in the middle of a triangle that was formed between three cars with no way for me to get us out without further exposing the family.

This was bad. This was very, very bad. If she had seen even a fraction of what I'd just done it would be bad enough, if any of the witnesses had seen anything we were whole-heartedly screwed. The worst part was that these questions, which should have been the first of my concerns, were smothered in the panic I felt for the girl in my arms. She still hadn't moved.

After all of the indecision over the last few days, all of the drama with deciding to leave, the girl in question was now so close to me I could feel the heat of her body through our clothes. I could taste the scent of her even though I hadn't taken a breath.

After all of the indecision, there was still the biggest risk yet of my thirst winning out.

The screaming of witnesses erupted from all directions. I shifted the girl in my arms so I could see into her face. She was wide-eyed and alert.

Oh shit.

"La?" I asked. Did she have a concussion? Was this just shock? "Delilah! Are you okay? Talk to me, please." Her limpness combined with slack look on her face was terribly worrying. I looked into each of her eyes, her pupils were dilated, but she was breathing evenly.

"I'm…" it was almost a whisper. She cleared her throat a little and tried again. "I'm okay… I think…"

Her breath ghosted across my face. She smelled of coconuts and coffee. I realized I'd taken a tiny breath to speak, but it took a second for the fire to lance through my throat. I dropped her immediately and scuttled backward into a corner. She frowned at the ground, staring at it incomprehensibly and moved to stand.

My hand shot out and grabbed her firmly. She felt delicate and light as bird in my grip. How easy it would be to break her.

"Don't, you could be injured," I said gravely.

"It's cold!" She whined. She actually whined, voice wheedling out a little higher than normal, and struggled to stand again. I couldn't help it, I laughed. This girl very nearly got crushed by a runaway van and she was worried about the cold?

"I think you hit your head pretty hard when we fell, you really should stay still," I told her and smirked at the returning glare.

"Ow," she said and touched her head where it had been knocked around. I cringed inwardly. It was my fault she was hurt, but her reaction to her own injury was pretty funny.

Her expression switched in a flashing second, as though she'd only just remembered something. "How did you get to me so fast?"

She noticed. Damn. "What are you talking about?" I asked innocently. "I was standing right next to you." The power of her gaze bored into me. It felt like she could read into the very bottom of my soul, but I held her gaze steadily, silently willing her to believe the lie.

It didn't work.

"You weren't. I saw you by your car with your siblings. You weren't anywhere near me," she cocked her head and continued to watch me like she was reading every line and flinch in my face. There was no way I could lie to her further, she would catch me out immediately anyway, and if I was honest, I didn't really want to lie to her at all.

"Like I said, you hit your head really hard. You probably have a concussion." Stop asking, please stop asking, PLEASE stop asking.

"I don't have a concussion, Emmett," she argued. "Tell me what's going on."

"Give this up, will you?" Please give this up for Christ's sake. If there weren't so many people around I would beg. Actually, if there weren't any people around I would probably just tell her. I would give her anything she asked, which was exactly the type of thought I wasn't supposed to be having.

"No." Her jaw was set stubbornly, her eyes narrowed as she continued to glare at me. I returned the stare silently as she settled back down onto the pavement. She crossed her legs underneath her, and her arms over her chest. Neither of us broke eye contact as if we were in an epic battle of the wills. Normally I wouldn't have had any doubt who would win, but La might actually have a run at taking my title of most stubborn individual in the universe.

Emergency evac arrived and started to work on excavating us from between the cars. They were currently pulling the driver of the van out, who had smashed his face into the steering wheel and passed out. He was bleeding profusely, I could smell it, but the scent was so overwhelmed by La's that I barely noticed.

Within minutes the van started to shift, emergency nearly had us free. It was now or never.

"Please," I begged. For whatever reason, I suddenly felt the driving need for her to trust me, to know that I wasn't trying to be a dick, that I was trying to save her. "Just trust me."

"You'll tell me later?" Her expression was still distrustful and skeptical. As well it should be, I wouldn't be able to tell her anything, no matter what I promised right now.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I could hear my own petulance in the answer, but she seemed to accept it, at least for now.

The swarms of people surrounding the accident were all surprised to see me there, but seemed to accept that they simply hadn't seen me. Even if La mentioned her version of events, it was likely to be dismissed as the story of a traumatized person, someone that had hit their head, and only luckily survived to tell any stories at all. It would be easy to discredit her.

The thought made me feel sick.

La deserved better, but if that was the type of response we needed to avoid exposure, I would take what we could get.

The first EMT to squeeze through the gap they had made in between the wrecked cars was the first real stroke of luck we'd had all morning. He was a close colleague of Carlisle's, it would be easy to push his attention onto La.

"Hey, Emmett!" Brett Warner peered into my face, checking my eyes, and nodded in a professional manner. "You okay, bud?"

"Yep," I lifted my hands to show nothing was broken. "Nothing touched me, but I'm a little worried La might have a concussion. She whacked her head pretty hard when we fell."

Cold fury shone across her face. I shrugged. She needed to get checked out, she really had hit her head very hard. They checked her eyes, noticed the dilation, moved to check her pulse, then started in on the normal questions. Eventually they talked her into getting on a stretcher and took her away toward the ambulance.

Not once did she offer any information about the accident. Instead she let me take the lead in telling the story, watching me with cold eyes. When asked, she agreed with my version and went back to staring at me in anger. I couldn't tell if she was angry about the lying or the stretcher, either way, I would hopefully make this up to her in the end.

After some calm reassurance to the other EMT's that I was perfectly fine, I was able to climb into the passenger seat next to Brett and ride to the hospital. On the way, Brett assured me that they were only bringing her in to be absolutely sure she didn't have a concussion. Her response times were good, and she was able to answer all of their questions, so they weren't especially worried. This calmed a wordless anxiety that had been building in me since I'd felt her head hit my chin.

La was probably okay.

When we got to the hospital I jumped out and headed straight for Carlisle's office. Luck was with me for the second time, as not only was he in there, he was alone.

"Carlisle," I said hesitantly from the doorway. He looked up at me, alarmed as soon as he saw my stricken face. I came in and closed the door. By the time I'd turned back around he had circled the desk to stand before me, and gripped my arm.

"Emmett, you didn't-"

"No, no," I assured him.

"Of course not." The look of relief on his features would have been comical if it wasn't so sad. I'd come really close, and he hadn't been sure staying was a good idea. "I'm so sorry I entertained the thought. I should have known from your eyes…."

"But I did fuck up," I added. He snapped his head around at me. "She's hurt… probably not seriously, but-"

"What happened?" His hand squeezed my arm tightly.

"A car accident," I explained what happened in detail, every second of it so he would be prepared when he went in to see her. "She saw everything, Carlisle! I'm so sorry I put us all in danger."

He released me and leaned back on the desk. "No, son. You did the right thing. I know that couldn't have been easy."

"She's too smart for me, pops," I said. "She knows there's something not right about me, and will probably connect it with the rest of the family. This could be really bad."

"Well," he braced his hands on the desk on either side of his hips and crossed his legs out long. "If we have to leave, we leave. We were already considering it anyway, right? What has she said?"

"Nothing, yet."

"Yet?"

"Right, well I had to get her to agree to go along with my version of events in the moment, so I sort of promised an explanation."

"Ah," he frowned in thought.

"When I tackled her, she hit her head pretty hard on my face. She seems fine, Brett wasn't too worried, but if we need an excuse, or way to discredit her…." Ew. Even the thought of using that to undermine the girl felt disgusting. I didn't want to do anything else that might cause her pain unduly.

"Hopefully it won't come to that," he said gravely. My disgust must have been visible. "We'll just have to see what happens. For now, it seems I have a patient to check on."

"Yes, please. I'm really worried I hurt her."

"Are you now?" He laughed. "Today has been interesting, hasn't it?"

I harrumphed at his good humor. Somewhere along the way, I went from being this girl's greatest danger to saving her life. The irony was not lost on me, I just didn't find it as funny as Carlisle… yet.

He left me alone in his office. I circled it, pacing back and forth around the chairs, weaving between them and Carlisle's desk, while I listened hard for his footsteps to return. When they didn't, my pacing became more erratic, until I was all but bouncing in place and looking for things to keep my attention.

A manila folder on Carlisle's desk caught my eye. It had "Davis, Delilah" written into the name window in a neat hand that didn't belong to Carlisle. Apparently he had been doing a little research of his own, and hadn't been worried who knew about it.

Inside was a basic medical profile chart. The girl's name and address were listed at the top, which I quickly memorized. I told myself I might need to know the address if the girl needed a ride home later. Absolute bullshit.

The rest of the medical chart was completely empty. No pre-existing conditions, no surgeries or accidents, not even a doctor's appointment. According to this file, Delilah Davis didn't medically exist.

Curiosity finally drove me out of his office and down the hall, back toward ER. As I approached the room La was meant to be in, a nurse entered ahead of me and wheeled her out on a hospital bed. I stepped back around the corner as she came into view but still caught a glimpse of her looking frustrated and grumpy as they rolled down the hall. She was sitting straight up on the bed, legs crossed beneath her, arms crossed over her chest, frowning at everyone they passed. When the nurse spoke to her she responded kindly enough, but she certainly was not happy about the attention.

Once they were far enough ahead I followed discreetly. They entered a room several turns later, where I found Carlisle set up to read her x ray pictures. We waited quietly during the process until at long last Carlisle had the shots, and was able to put them up on the backlit screen.

One glance told me what I needed to know immediately. She was fine. No apparent damage from our collision, nothing to indicate problems later. A second look told a completely different story. I stared at the x ray images, trying to puzzle out what could have happened. When nothing came immediately to mind I looked at Carlisle for confirmation.

"What the hell?" I whispered.

"Yes, she seems to have several contusions, doesn't she?" his eyes continued to flick over the image seeing, and assessing far more than my limited understanding allowed.

"What does that mean?" I asked him.

"Well," he murmured. "I don't know. The placement of each injury is a little scattered, but doesn't seem regular enough to have been another car accident. This looks a little too random. They're more likely singular directed collisions with the cranium."

"You mean someone hit her," I clarified. My skin tingled with a very cold chill.

He lifted his hands. "We can't assume that. It could have been a great number of things. What I can say is that not a single one of them is newer than the last year at the very least. Whatever happened hasn't recurred in quite some time."

This didn't align with the medical file I'd just seen. If she had been hospitalized for an accident, or anything else that might have caused that number of contusions on her brain, it would have been in that file on Carlisle's desk. It should have been in that file.

The girl in question had been rolled away while Carlisle and I spoke. I waited as she was pushed around the corner to her room and out of sight before I followed warily.

At the door I could hear the girl's voice murmuring quietly with the driver of the van, Tyler. He sounded morose and apologetic, while La sounded flippant, and bored.

I peeked around the corner to get a glance at the two of them. Clearly, the hospital had decided Tyler was the larger priority. He was busted up pretty badly. A gash ran along his brow, dripping blood down his temple, which he dapped at discontedly with a balled up tissue. His face, where visible, was covered in minor cuts and bruises. One of his arms was in a sling, and there was a large bandage on one of his thighs. This must have been why they'd taken so long to get La xrayed. Their attention had been focused on Tyler.

La was trying not to look directly at Tyler as they spoke. Was this her way of resisting telling him what happened? I couldn't be sure, so I backed out of the door, and stood down the hall where I could still hear their conversation.

Tyler was positively consumed with guilt over the accident. He kept apologizing, and begging forgiveness over nearly killing her. Every time, the girl would deflect, and assure him the apology was unnecessary. She was becoming pretty annoyed with the repetition.

During one tense moment, Tyler asked how she'd been able to get out of the way so quickly. I held my breath waiting for her to respond. After a very short pause, she mentioned casually that I had pulled her out of the way. Her tone was even, not even a hitch in her breath. Aside from the brief pause at the beginning, her lie had been seamless.

I found myself giving her an impressed nod she would never see. The realization I would never be able to share anything with her drove a feeling of intense longing and loss through me. I needed to see her. My hand was on the door to their room before another word could be said out loud.

Tyler was still watching her earnestly as I entered the room. La's eyes found mine immediately. Her posture somehow spoke of aggravation and boredom at once, while her expression, strangely, was one of relief.

"And why exactly do you not need medical attention?" Her eyes narrowed to slits as I approached. Her dramatic skepticism nearly made me laugh out loud, but I had a part to play, so I settled for a smirk. Her heart did a short series of alarming irregular beats that made my stomach do a weird sort of flop. I turned to Tyler for a distraction.

It was incredible how easy it was to ignore the blood seeping from his various wounds. I supposed, for the second time that day, it was his proximity to someone that smelled so much better than he did.

"How are you doing?" I asked him. "You alright?"

Tyler vomited up the apologies he had been directing at his emergency roommate followed by a long intense description of what exactly had happened inside the car. The kid was an absolute mess, totally eaten through with guilt. If I didn't intervene he might actually cry.

"Hey," I interrupted his speech before the tears could begin to overcome him. I patted his knee in support, and could feel the condescension in the action. "It's alright, man. No blood, no foul, right?"

Heh heh heh!

Amid my laughter I caught La's eye. She was not impressed, in fact, as I watched, her expression rapidly melted from frustration to outright anger.

"I'm so mad you put me in here," she fumed. "I don't have a concussion, I'm fine, and I want to check on my car! Poor thing probably got demolished."

Carlisle's foot steps were approaching in the hall. I could understand her impatience; I wouldn't have fared any better were I in her position.

"Your car is fine," I assured her. "I saw it as we were leaving."

Carlisle was right outside the door now. I was out of time. This would be the last time I ever saw her, and I would never be able to satiate my curiosity about her.

Why did she come to Forks? Why doesn't she have any medical history? What happened to her head? Where did she come from?

"You can't be mad," I added. "I came to spring you!"

Carlisle heard his cue and walked into the room. La's eyes widened dramatically as he approached. No surprises there. She'd noticed the "familial" resemblance. I wondered how long it would have taken her to put all the pieces together had I chosen to stay. Probably not long, considering how much she'd already seen.

"Delilah Davis?" Carlisle asked calmly.

"Uh… yes?" She swallowed hard and stared up at him. I could almost see the gears shifting in her head.

Carlisle introduced himself and put her xrays up on a screen that had been placed in the room for this purpose. As I watched, La's face tightened into curiosity as my father spoke. I couldn't be sure, but I would bet she wasn't hearing a word he said, too busy fitting things together to listen properly.

"Sorry, what?" she confirmed my suspicion. I chuckled quietly behind her. Edward's talent might be nice in a situation like this, but if I was honest I was enjoying puzzling her out without the cheat Edward had.

Carlisle re-checked her dilation and her pulse, probably worried they had missed something judging by her reaction time.

"Emmett said you hit your head pretty hard…" he was saying.

"I did but I've had worse," this comment caught my attention. I jerked around to catch Carlisle's eyes. Ask her! Ask her what happened! Either my father didn't notice, or was pretending not to notice my eyes boring into him, because he didn't ask. He seemed to accept her decision and helped her off the hospital bed.

He didn't even give her more than a concerned look when she stumbled. I frowned at him. He gave me a minute shrug as if to say, "it's none of our business," and moved over to Tyler.

When I turned back to La she was glaring at me. I took a step back from the glower, then remember that I was supposed to be playing innocent.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?"

This time Carlisle caught the look I threw at him, but again he was no help.

"Thanks so much," I whispered under my breath so low the humans wouldn't be able to hear it. The corners of Carlisle's mouth barely turned upward at my sarcasm before he directed his attention on Tyler.

I led La out of the room and down the hall to the nook I'd been using to hide in earlier. Steeling myself I turned to her severely, hoping if I appeared impatient she would give up before I had to lie to her. I watched as the fire went out of her eyes, and almost felt disappointed, even though it was what I wanted. She took a step back and regarded me quietly. Her eyes roamed my face, taking in every detail, until slowly the fire in them rekindled.

This girl was incredible. She was standing uncomfortably close. The heat of her body radiated all over me. It drew me in, venom flooding my mouth. The monster inside me was thrilled by the obvious result of our proximity.

"What," I forced out and swallowed the venom.

"You said you would tell me what happened," she said, and put her hands on her hips. Clearly, she would not be deterred. I was in way over my head. This woman would win any sparring of words, see through any lie. I had no chance.

"Nothing happened. You hit your head." Right, yeah, she would fall for that. I wanted to smack myself in the forehead.

"No, I saw you standing with your siblings. You were too far off to be able to get me out of the way. What is going on?" Her breath ghosted over my face for the second time in a single day. Coffee and coconuts. If I wasn't careful the venom would dribble out of my mouth.

"Let it go," I shook my head, and crossed my arms, feeling like I needed an added barrier between us. She didn't back down. "Why do you care, anyway?" I inquired.

"I don't know?" Her voice rose with anger. "Because I don't like mysteries? Because I don't like lying without a good reason? Because when something incredible happens I need to find a way to make it credible? Take your fucking pick, it comes down to the same thing."

I wanted to crow with laughter, but I forced my face to stay angry. It was going to be really hard to get her to back off, especially since I didn't really want her to. I wanted to tell her everything, and let her decide if she even cared to know me. I wanted the chance to prove to her I was worth knowing. I wanted to scoop her into a hug and praise her perseverance and strength.

Of course that was impossible. She could, and probably would, end up dead for the pleasure of knowing me, and she deserved better than that.

"Incredible? What do you think you saw?" This was the most important question. I needed to know exactly what she saw so we could formulate the best plan to head this off if things grew dicey down the road.

She proceeded to describe in great detail exactly what had happened. She didn't miss a single thing. Jesus fucking Christ, we were screwed.

"You think I lifted a van?" I tried to keep from sounding as impressed as I was. Another piece of her character clinked into place; she was indomitable. Pragmatic, discerning, and courageous to the point of madness.

"Yes," she offered, then more gently, "I saw you. You saved my life today…."

It was time for me to breathe. With my arms still crossed in front of my chest, I dug my fingers into my elbows to brace myself and sucked a small mouthful in, keeping my nostrils locked shut like a swimmer underwater. A wave of her scent nearly knocked me over anyway. I took a step back before I was able to control myself. The involuntary motion made me irrationally angry. The force of her scent was ridiculous, why did it affect me so? Frustration made my rebuttal surlier than I intended.

"If you're so certain I saved your life can you just thank me and move on?" It wasn't what I wanted to say at all, but I couldn't admit the things I wanted to. The Cullen family's safety had to be paramount. It had to come before everything; my thirst, my curiosity, La's unhappiness.

"Thank you," she said. A crease formed between her brows, right above her nose. She was being honest. She was genuinely thankful for my intervention. "Really."

I didn't know what to say to that. I stared at her as she stared at me, neither of us wanting to be the one to break the silence, yet both wanting the other to continue. There was a tension rocketing between us. Her silent pleas for further explanation were nearly audible in their intensity. The words she wanted to hear were building up in my mouth, gaining momentum. If I stayed here with her, in this little nook, in the hospital of this backwoods, boring little town, I would give in and tell her everything.

"You really aren't going to give this up are you?" I heard myself asking.

This was not supposed to happen. In fact, this was supposed to be easy. Humans didn't, as a rule, ask questions, demand answers, or allow themselves to get involved with vampires in any way at all. Clearly, as the last few interactions with this particular human had suggested, La didn't operate that way. At least one part of Jasper's theory made sense. If she was this powerful as a measly human, what would she be as a vamp?

"No," she crossed her arms and mirrored my stance, leaning a shoulder against the wall. One foot kicked out and crossed the other ankle. La was settling in to fight this out.

"Well, no one will believe you, anyway." Ugh. Gaslighting. This was so ugly. I immediately hated myself for doing it.

"I wasn't going to tell anyone."

Wait, what? I peered into her face, searching for signs of dissembling and dishonesty, but there was nothing. Again, she was being one hundred percent honest with me, and here I was repaying the offer of her trust with gaslighting.

Instead of allowing my shame to continue in her presence, I turned on my heel and stomped off like a petulant child. It was probably my imagination, but I would swear I could feel her eyes on me until I turned the corner and fled toward Carlisle's office.