CHAPTER SIX.

BEAR SEASON

After leaving La at the sliding glass doors I meandered away toward the west parking lot. I was positively euphoric. Lunch with La had been a huge resounding yes. My stomach made a giant lurch as I thought back to our parting moment.

There had been a brief pause in the rain that had been hammering down on us all day. The air was sticky and wet, and smelled of fresh, green growth. La had been adjusting the strap on her messenger bag. The heavy weight of it was propped up on a knee for support as she fought with the thing. A single tendril-like curl had fallen out of her sloppy bun and swung forward over her face. It twirled before her in the damp air, unnoticed.

For a fraction of an instant I had an internal battle; do I touch her? Do I risk it?

The thick enticing tendril drew me in. I wanted to see for myself if her hair carried the texture it seemed to, or if it would be light and silky as a summer's breeze. I imagined it running through my fingers in heavy folds as I pulled the band out from the bun on top of her head to let it cascade down around her shoulders.

My curiosity finally got the better of me. In a quick movement I caught the offending tendril and twirled it back into place. The strands of her hair were thick with fascinating texture that tangled and locked together. I had to pull my hand away forcefully to keep myself from picking up another piece. She'd frozen like a deer caught in headlights, then immediately hightailed it away from me.

I immediately worried that I'd offended her. There had definitely been no contact as I had been very careful to keep from touching her skin. Maybe the gesture was just a bit too forward. We'd only had one lunch in place of a date, but what did I know of dating humans? Not a damn thing. She could be horrified I'd nearly touched her, or confused that of all things I'd touched her hair… Perhaps-

"You took her by surprise is all." Edward's clipped accent still carried cadences of the 19th century. Somehow his words weren't even remotely comforting.

Where did you come from? I frowned at him but kept walking toward the parking lot. Since my class was cancelled I could easily run home rather than wait for the family to go home together, but there was a chance I'd be able to see La one more time before we left for our hunting trip if I stayed. Even if it was just a brief glimpse as she got into her car I would hate to miss the opportunity.

Edward paced easily beside me as we rounded a corner and headed away from campus. The rain picked up again, gently sinking into my hair, and soaking my shirt where my jacket was open.

"I was looking for you." He dug into his pocket and withdrew the fob to his GTI. "Alice requested I give this to you."

"Why?" I eyed him critically.

"I assume you'll be needing it this afternoon."

"Okay?" Want to elaborate?

In lieu of an answer, he turned on his heel and walked back the way we'd come. I tossed the fob in the air and caught it as I watched him stalk silently away. Something about this situation was making him exceptionally ornery. I thought we'd all come to terms with our disagreement after our family meeting, but his behavior told a different story.

I would need to speak with him about it. Hopefully I would be able to ferret out exactly what it was that drove a wedge between us. The whole family planned to go hunting for the weekend beginning Friday, but maybe I could get him away to hunt somewhere else, somewhere closer in where we would have the chance to speak candidly and I wouldn't have to be so far from La.

Goat Rocks could work. There would almost definitely be some mountain lion up that way to entice Edward, and maybe even one or two bears that would be grumpy from recently waking out of hibernation.

The thought of an imminent fight with a bear cheered me as I made my way down a slight hill of browning grass. This late in February the shoots were only just beginning to show signs of re-sprouting toward the evergreen forest that surrounded the school.

I headed for the tree line dwelling on my lunch with La. She had proven herself to be an absolute force of nature, not that I'd expected anything else. Her immediate declaration and assurance that she would figure out my family's secret both excited and terrified me.

"Would you believe me if I told you it wasn't my secret to tell?" I had hoped this would put a stop to the line of questioning. Hoped she would see that the answers were too dangerous for her to know, but her interpretation of my warning had taken an entirely different turn.

"I can guess?" She had been so ready with this reply, it was almost as if she'd expected the warning.

"I really wish you wouldn't." For her to guess correctly would put us in far too much danger.

"I don't think that's true," was her immediate rebuttal.

"What's not true?"

"That you don't want me to know. I think you do, so don't worry. I'm going to figure this out, and you won't have to spill someone else's secret."

I could have broken and told her right then except, that would defeat the purpose of making sure each step of our courtship gave her a choice.

Her choice. I squeezed my eyes shut, and clenched my hands into fists. The rain was coming down harder now. I veered away from the trees and made my way to the parking lot where I folded myself into Edward's car. There was only about five inches of difference in our heights, but it still meant my knees were pushed up into the dashboard. It was an uncomfortable posture until I found the control at the bottom of the seat.

Today's lunch had been one single "yes," but that answer may quickly turn into a "no" once she puzzled the truth out. There was no doubt she would figure it out, even if today's theories had been a bit of a stretch.

"It just feels like all this stuff is like superheroes made real, or fairy tales come to life!" It brought me great comfort to know she thought only of the heroes from comic books, and none of the villains. It frightened me too. When she inevitably discovered I wasn't of the hero caste she could decide knowing me wasn't worth her time. That decision, after investing myself into her, would ruin me.

"You only mentioned heroes. What if I'm not the hero? What if I'm the villain?" I couldn't help asking even though I was very distinctly not supposed to be giving her any hints. It took longer for her to answer than I was comfortable with. Thoughts flickered across her face in rapid succession.

The whole time I sat under her scrutiny as she weighed her words, I thought they might be the last thing I would hear from her. How could she possibly want to spend her time with someone that was so wrong?

"I don't believe that, Emmett. How can I? You saved my life. Villains don't do that."

The world spun around my head. Joy. Perfect, genuine joy filled me to bursting and for a moment, I really did feel like a hero.

I wanted so desperately to believe her, to believe that she could only see the good in me, but really- she didn't know what I was, didn't know what I was capable of. Until she did, there was no telling what she would believe or do.

Just as quickly as the joy had filled me, the bubble burst. My hands were clenched into fists on the table. La immediately looked concerned. She lifted a hand and reached out, almost as if she wanted to comfort me.

I didn't think I would be able to handle the shock and aversion she would surely feel when she discovered the icy coldness of my skin. Instead of allowing her to touch me, I pulled my hands away, and settled them out of her reach.

"You're not the bad guy," she'd repeated, and again, I almost believed her.

The difference was that she couldn't see the mountains of the dead in my reflection every time I looked in the mirror. She didn't know that even as I sat there feeling joy in her presence, there was an equal part of me that wanted nothing more than to feel her blood gush down my throat.

I wasn't a hero. To anyone.

As I sat alone in Edward's car the frustration mounted. I dug my phone out of my pocket looking for a distraction. I needed to think about anything else for a moment. Just as I chose a music file from my library I heard an odd shuffling, grunting noise coming from the direction of campus.

Once it got closer I was able to discern footsteps amid the shambling. The small grunts of struggling breath that accompanied the beleaguered steps made it sound exactly as if one person was dragging another along. I paused with my hand on the door handle, ready to get out, and peered through the windshield to see who was causing the commotion.

La's friend, the idiotic blonde - or, as I thought of him; the gigantic fungus - was holding the girl in question up with one arm looped around her waist and the other gripping the wrist of an arm that was flung over his shoulders.

I shot out of the car, and barely succeeded in limiting myself to a quick human paced walk in their direction. On closer inspection her usually richly colored skin was turned an ashy grey color. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were pressed very thin. The girl seemed nearly insensible. She could barely lift her feet as they plodded along.

It took every ounce of self-control I contained to not dart over and snatch her from the blonde's embrace. I made do with a very quick jog, calling her name all the while.

"Just leave me here to die," I heard her mumble to the boy as he set her down on the pavement. He actually followed her advice, the moron. Once safely on the ground she immediately flopped over onto her side and pressed her face into the wet concrete. Once comfortable she stopped moving altogether.

"Delilah!" I called again. A frantic pressure was building in my chest. When she didn't react to her name I turned to Fungus.

"What the hell happened?" I snarled quietly.

He took a startled step back but managed a surly, defensive answer.

"I don't know!" he frowned petulantly. "Our TA cut his hand and started bleeding. She freaked out and fainted."

"Because of the blood?" The pressure in my chest immediately released. Hemophobia. Oh, the irony.

"I mean, yeah, I guess."

"La?" I knelt down beside her and called softly. "Can you hear me? Delilah?" I would have shaken her, but wasn't sure if she would benefit from my cold touch.

The girl moaned but didn't move.

"Delilah, honey, you're lying in a puddle," I told her. "La?"

"No," she answered. "Go away."

I chuckled. Yeah, that's not happening. "Fung- Mike, why don't you go collect La's things from the room? I'll stay here with her."

The kid opened his mouth as if to snap back with a snarky response, but I silenced him with a look. He kicked a rock on his way back into the building, clearly throwing a tantrum, the little shit.

Once he was gone I turned back to the girl on the ground at my feet, who was progressively getting wetter the longer she lay there. "Can you sit up?" I asked gently.

La didn't move. Didn't even bother trying. I would have to touch her. A thrill tingled through my veins. She was wearing a light blouse today. There would be no way to disguise how cold my skin was, but hopefully she was wet and cold enough already that she wouldn't notice.

I fit a hand under the shoulder that was pressed into the concrete, and made a sort of scooping motion to sit her up. She dragged her knees up and rested her head on them.

"Try putting your head between your knees," I suggested.

She immediately let her head sink down between her kneecaps and interlaced her fingers over the back of her neck. Her breathing slowly became steadier.

"You faint at the sight of blood?" I chuckled again. It was just too good.

"S'not funny…" she forced through stiff lips. Her voice was very quiet. It wavered weakly.

"No, no," I agreed, but kept chuckling. "Of course not."

Fungus McGee's footsteps stomped toward us. "Is she okay?" He barked as soon as he was within human hearing range. I imagined flicking a nearby pebble at his kneecap just hard enough to hurt him without causing lasting damage.

"She's fine," I said shortly. "I'm going to take her home."

"I can do that…" Fungus sniveled. I gave him the same look I'd given him earlier, but added a cold smile that promised violence.

"Are you going to be okay La?" he switched tactics. If La didn't give consent, it would give him reason to protest. Momentarily, I was impressed. It was rather clever of him. In the end, though, it wouldn't have mattered, he was not strong willed enough to stand up to me.

La disentangled her fingers as though she meant to wave him off, but her arm only flopped onto the pavement beside her.

This was clearly what Alice foresaw and the reason Edward had given me his key.

In one motion I hooked an arm under her bent knees and the other behind her shoulders, then scooped her into my chest and stood up. She felt so soft and breakable in my grip. One wrong move and I could crush her.

Thirst raged in my throat. Having her so close made the monster inside me believe it was about to win. That I would finally be able to end my suffering. Logically, I knew ending one suffering would only create a more distinct suffering in every other way. This thought made me feel extremely protective of her, and it was easier to fight back the thirst. I cradled her more closely into my chest and took a deep breath through my mouth and nose, almost in defiance of my inner nature.

I would not hurt this girl.

La's scent seemed to be stuck in the very fabric of the seats. It lingered in the air circulating through the heating vents. Even though it would alert everyone to her recent presence, I kept the windows up, hoping the consistent onslaught of her scent would eventually immunize me to this desperate thirst.

There was another fifteen minutes of class left when I arrived back at campus. I tried to use the time to think about what I would say to my siblings when they joined me. Instead I felt swamped with emotion and desires- some of them completely unrelated to my insatiable thirst.

There was another burning need, another self conscious desire.

Attraction.

It had been more years than I cared to admit since I bothered to wonder if my feelings for another might be mutual. I simply didn't care whether my feelings were returned or not until now. La had agreed to a lunch date, on the drive to her cottage she had even agreed to let me take her to Seattle in two weeks time. All of these were signs that pointed to reciprocation, but I couldn't help the doubt. Perhaps I should just ask her.

A sudden, distinct anxiety swept me at the idea of speaking about my feelings with her. I immediately squashed it in frustration and forced it to the back of was no point in wasting all this agony. I would ask her the next time I saw her.

Anyway, so what if La was attracted to me in that way. It wasn't as though I could do anything physical with her.

I imagined it anyway; how it would feel to wrap my arms around her soft waist, the warmth of her arms circling my neck. I imagined running my hands through her hair, imagined that it would feel like heavy raw silk as it slipped through my fingers. Further, I saw myself putting a finger beneath her chin to tilt her mouth towards mine, and imagined what it would feel like to breathe in the smell of her from so close and so willing; coffee and coconut, wood and spice.

I licked my lips and covered my face as I imagined what would happen next. Being so close to her. Even if only in my imagination it was clear how long I would last in a situation like that.

It was too dangerous. We would never be able to be intimate, or be close in that way. Not until she wasn't so breakable.

It was all the more confusing because I couldn't ever remember feeling more human. With these new emotions, doubts, and desires I might as well be a teenager again. My memory of those years was foggy at best, but I knew I'd never felt this way as a human.

The other men that worked for the gangster that employed me would go off into town, meet at brothels, or otherwise spend their earned coin on women. I'd never been interested in that. Instead, I chose to spend my coin on drink and weapons since the bulk of my time was spent guarding the boss while he played cards or made deals.

I'd been reliable, because I wasn't smart enough to do anything else.

When I woke in Carlisle's study, we all quickly found vampirism suited me. I was exceptionally strong, even for a newborn, and eager to learn due to never having a mind capable of retaining information before.

I soaked in this new existence like a sponge, taking joy in my sight, my strength, my senses, and my sudden brilliance. Vampirism, was the greatest thing that could have happened to me.

My life would have been a waste without it.

It didn't occur to me that something might be missing. Even living with two perfect mated pairs, I knew that most never found their partner. Carlisle had a theory that our particular lifestyle better enabled us to connect with others of our kind, but even if that was true, I figured we had en eternity to find out. With time, I ceased to care, if I ever cared at all.

There were several lovers in my vampiric past. All of them were remembered fondly, but none of them created this maelstrom inside brought me directly back to square one. Somehow it felt wrong to doom her to an existence caught in twilight, even if she chose it. So many of us would never choose this for themselves.

This was most especially poignant for someone like La, that had a family she loved. People would miss her if she suddenly disappeared. Our conversation during the drive to her house had made that very clear.

My curiosity about all the little inconsistencies in her story burst out of me as we'd pulled away from the west parking lot. I asked her as many questions as I could think of in rapid succession hoping it would shed some light into the girl's past. Her answers only brought on more questions.

My first question came abruptly after a brief stall in conversation that seemed to leave La melancholy.

"What's your mom like?" I asked.

La made her beautiful tinkling laughter and described a woman that sounded a whole lot like La herself. The description was brief, but full of emotion and transparent adoration. As soon as she finished speaking the shuttered expression she made when she didn't want to reveal anything too personal started to overtake her demeanor. I asked another question before it could shut her down entirely.

"Why did you leave her?"

"I didn't." She cocked her head and frowned quizzically. Her own curiosity pulled her out of the shuttered, reticent place she tended to retreat into. "She got remarried and moved to California about two years ago, right when I started college."

This timeline didn't make sense against the things I had been able to dig up about her. For instance, her medical history only began with her move to Forks. Something must have happened between her mother's move to California, and La's move to here.

Suddenly it all clicked into place. Who was I really falling in love with? Delilah, or someone else entirely? Someone born on the other side of a cataclysmic event, like the meteor that took out the dinosaurs. Who was she before her world burned down? And what happened to that girl?

Further pushing on my part was rewarded with disinterested, uncomfortable answers. It was clear there was an abundant history she didn't want to talk about and I didn't want to risk pushing her away by prying.

Jasper would be able to get the whole story easily through some of his contacts, but it seemed like a betrayal of trust. I would prefer to earn the story from La, rather than discover any skeletons in her closet without her permission. How bad could it be, really?

When I pulled up to her cottage I decided to try one last time before settling in for the long haul and finding out in time, naturally.

"What aren't you telling me?"

Her sad smile spoke more clearly than the rest of our conversation combined. She wasn't lying, she wasn't hiding anything from me, she just wasn't interested in talking about it. That smile effectively closed the door on any further interrogation, and she quickly changed the subject.

The back passenger door opened causing me to jump against the seatbelt that I'd buckled over my chest in an effort to appear more human to La. I quickly released it and fought it back over my shoulder. It clung to me like a jellyfish, but I managed to get my arm untangled without breaking anything.

Jasper gave me an arch look and slid into the back seat on the passenger's side.

"Skip class?" he asked as Alice slid into the seat beside him.

"Sort of," I answered shortly. Embarrassment over my fight with the seatbelt kept me from divulging what actually happened.

"Any particular reason?"

"Oh, just… being a good Samaritan," I said and chuckled at myself. "Caring for the sick, you know, being the gentleman that I am."

Jasper tilted his head at me, as he cradled Alice into his side.

"Ooh!" Alice exclaimed. "La was in here?"

"This is getting weird," Jasper looked between his wife and the back of my head.

"You have no idea, man."

He inhaled again. "Mmm, she does have a rather singular scent, doesn't she?"

I nearly broke the steering wheel off the column.

"Calm down!" He lifted his hands in defense. "I'm only noticing."

Edward pulled the passenger door open then and dropped into the seat while I was still fuming over Jasper's response to La's scent. Jasper had poor control, it wasn't safe for him to be noticing anything.

Alice leaned forward and put her hand out. "I didn't see what happened, only that you were in Edward's car, and I was in La's."

I dropped the Fiat key in her hand and turned to look at her squarely. "This doesn't mean you can-"

"I know!" She chirped. " I can wait. It won't be long now."

She slipped out of the car and all but danced over to La's. As soon as the engine was turned I pulled out of the lot and led the way to the little cottage.

The rain must have disguised our arrival because she didn't look out at the sound of our approach. If she was there, Edward didn't offer any insight.

His discretion was something we took for granted. Being privy to all of our thoughts as he was it would be tantamount to betrayal if he were to repeat them without permission. So many years had passed in his company that this was now a matter of course. It didn't occur to me that I might want him to behave differently until suddenly I wanted very much for him to tell me exactly what was going on in one girl's head.

Alice quickly threw the Fiat into park and rejoined us in the Volkswagen. As soon as she was inside I flew away from La's house down the quiet, wet, wood lined roads.

The drive back to the Cullen household was a silent one. On our arrival we each went directly to separate pastimes.

Alice immediately booted a series of 42 inch monitors underneath the stairwell. I could hear them each sing as they came to life. She was working on a massive design project for Esme's wardrobe, but Esme remained out of sight on our arrival. She was humming quietly to herself upstairs- probably working on a new design project herself in the study.

Edward went directly to his piano, the centerpiece of our living room. He shuffled through several sheaves of paper before landing on one, and experimentally tapping out a tune, testing the pitch.

Jasper elbowed me in the ribs and nodded toward a set of eight chess boards laid out across the back bank of windows. He and I had been developing our own game of strategy for months, utilizing all eight boards, and three sets each of the chessmen, except the king and queen. Instead, we added a secondary set of nobles we called the consorts. These were nearly as powerful as the queen, but could only travel half the space.

These and other rules had been finalized only the previous week. This was our very first test game. We'd started on Monday, and weren't even half way through it.

We took up our positions on the floor, taking long pauses in between each move. Jasper was a careful player, taking the time to visualize every possibility before choosing his course. I took more risks, tackling several of his pawns in succession and dwindling his forces.

During all of this, my mind lingered on La. She'd looked so sick collapsed on the ground. I thought of the way she'd felt in my arms as I carried her to the car- so light and easily broken. I also thought about the force of her gaze, her ability to see directly through me, and decipher immediately all of my attempts at subterfuge.

Our conversation had been one of small revelations that didn't answer a single one of my questions. The best I could say, was that I'd gotten a resounding yes, and I'd discovered that whatever it was that happened in her past was distinctly none of my business.

Edward's tune changed. The melody lilted and swirled around itself. A strong bass was paired with a fresh central tenor. It reminded me of La's sad smile.

"Shit," I muttered as Jasper took down one of my consorts in my distraction.

I refocused on the board, trying to consider my next move against Jasper, but concentration was pointless. Edward's melody sank into my bones in a riot of unwanted imagery that sent my mind reeling.

I saw a life with La. She was back in that white dress, standing at the end of a rose petal strewn aisle. In her fists she clutched a broad bouquet that screamed with loud colors. This time she was beaming at me at the other end of the aisle instead of some silly human. I waited patiently under an arbor laced with white roses. She was still human, but somehow I knew this would be her final yes.

We were surrounded by our family and friends, both vampiric and human- all cheering us on as we read our vows.

The idealism of the vision shot a rage through me. It could never be real. How could it when I knew beyond any doubt she would die if we tried it. I imagined the beauty of the sleeping girl being lost to stillness. In this vision she no longer breathed, there were no more snores, and her fights with sheets would never come again. The idea made me indescribably sad.

In a huff, I left Jasper crouched over our amalgam chess board and made my way outside. Three large bounds later I was over the river and sprinting toward the Olympic Mountains in the distance.

"Wait, brother!" Jasper crashed through the underbrush in uncharacteristic haste. I screamed, ducked, and turned on a dime at the same time. Jasper halted a few steps behind me, face slack with surprise. His hesitation was all I needed to land one solid right hook directly to his jaw.

Jasper flew backwards twenty feet, landed on his sit bones, and skidded until a tree stopped his progression. As soon as his motion halted he was on his feet. We met in midair, the cacophonous crash nearly drowned by the sound of our snarling.

"What brought this on?" He ducked under another swing, gripped my arm, and swung me in a wide arc. "I thought you were coming to terms with your little tragedy."

I landed on my feet and dashed back without attempting to answer.

Jasper knelt and leaned into my attack. His shoulder jammed into my stomach as he lifted me off my feet, arms wrapped around one of my thighs.

"I don't want her to die," I grunted, and wrapped my arms around his waist. I used my greater weight to flip him backward. We landed on the ground an entangled mass of arms and legs.

"Then have Carlisle do it!" his voice was muffled. I loosened the stranglehold I had on him. His head was locked in between my thighs, mouth pressed into my jeans.

"What?"

"Have Carlisle turn her and be done with it!"

I pushed him away from me and sat up. I'd been so caught up with the possibility of La's death I hadn't really stopped to consider how a transition would be possible.

"You think he would do that?"

"Yeah, man." He brushed pine needles and dirt from his shirt. There was a little tear by the shoulder at the seam. "Alice bought me this," he frowned but continued. "At this point any of us would do it just to put an end to your truculence."

"But what if she doesn't want this life?"

"What do you think Alice's vision meant?" he countered.

For the second time I tried to envision what Alice would have seen. La's eyes gone red with transition, scent all but eliminated, body hard and resilient. It would be such a relief to not worry about breaking her or feasting on her.

"That vision implies she doesn't have a choice," I said hesitantly.

"No, that vision implies the choice has already been made." Jasper shook his head and got to his feet. He offered me a hand and pulled me up beside him. "Or will be, anyway. As far as we're concerned La Davis is not the hang up- you are."

"I've got to hear it from her," I disagreed. "I've got to hear from her mouth that this is what she wants."

"Then ask her." He clapped me on the back and led me back under the shadowy pines toward the house.

Esme was waiting on the front porch when we arrived, seated primly on the top step. Jasper walked passed her to join the family inside, but she looked past him at me and patted the space next to her. As I sat she pulled me into a mother's embrace, gently rocking back and forth with my cheek resting against the top of her head.

"It's going to be fine, Emmett," she whispered. "This will work out for the best. I know it will."

"Thanks," I mumbled back, but I didn't really believe it.

"Love doesn't always come in convenient packages," she added. I laughed humorlessly.

"I didn't think it was supposed to come in impossible ones, either."

"Nothing is impossible," Esme disagreed. "You may be the best equipped, out of all of us, to deal with this difficulty. If it takes time, patience, and self control- no one is your equal."

All mothers believed the best of their sons. I appreciated the faith she had in me, but realized she was simply overjoyed that I'd found someone after all this time. She'd worried Edward and I would be alone forever, and now that I'd found someone, one day Edward might too.

"She'll love you back." Her rocking had stopped. I looked down at her to find a confident smile. "If she's smart she'll know what a catch you are."

"Thanks, Mom."

To Esme, there was no morality question. If her son wanted a person, he would have her, and that person would be grateful for the opportunity.

Inside Edward was playing Chopsticks to Alice's delighted giggles. Jasper was watching fondly as his wife danced around the piano and made faces to distract Edward from his playing. As we entered, Edward switched to Esme's favorite song; one he'd written for her many years ago. She went to stand behind him and rested her hands on his shoulders as he played.

I headed for the stairs to get away from the noise and forge some homework in my room.

"Oh!" Alice stopped her dance abruptly and flitted to Jasper's side. "Guess what, Jasper?"

"What?" He took her hand and returned her excited smile.

"Peter and Charlotte will be in the neighborhood next week so they're going to stop in for a visit!" Alice trilled. "Isn't that nice?"

My hand on the banister made a faint crunching noise as it sank into the wood. Everyone in the room stopped moving and turned to face me.

"What's wrong, Emmett?" Esme looked at her banister with concern. She would likely replace the whole thing.

"Peter and Charlotte are coming to Forks?" I shot at Alice.

She sighed dramatically. "Calm down! It isn't their first visit."

I forced a breath out through my nose. This was their first visit since La had moved here. If Jasper noticed her scent as special, it was possible those two would as well, and they didn't share our hunting habits.

Alice took a step toward me. "They never hunt here, Emmett. You know that."

This was one of the conditions on their visits by decree of the head of our family. They could visit whenever they liked, but they were not to hunt within 100 miles of our homestead in any direction. Still, if there was even the slightest chance they might find La's scent as appealing as I did they couldn't be trusted anywhere near her.

"When?" I barked.

Alice answered severely, clearly not happy about the situation. "Monday morning, but no one is going to hurt La. You know I would never let that happen."

"I know," I admitted. It didn't change anything. "You ready, Edward?"

"Goat Rocks?" he asked, and pushed back from the piano.

"Bear season."

"Hasn't anyone ever told you not to play with your food?" Edward called to me. He was sitting up on a short cliff face above me as I battled with an angry black bear.

"Oh, hey!" I shouted back and waved. The bear tried to take advantage of my distraction to rake one massive paw against my chest. It destroyed my shirt but left the skin underneath completely unharmed. The bear bellowed in frustration, spittle spraying across my face in it's rage.

I bellowed back, arms spread to make myself appear even bigger. I let the bear take another swing at me and laughed as the animal stumbled backward from the blow. The beast stood more than two feet taller than me, and would have outweighed me by several hundred pounds if I were human. No matter how long those raking claws were, it couldn't hurt me, so I let it tackle me to the ground.

Even through my cackling laughter I could hear Edward's long suffering sigh. He must be ready to delve into the reason I brought him out here.

One minute!

The bear roared again, but the mighty sound was cut off in a gurgle as we rolled over each other, taking down an enormous spruce tree in our struggle.

My shirt was in tatters, jeans torn in multiple places. Blood streaked down my face and exposed chest, while sap stuck into my hair. I looked a mess, but I was happy with the hunting trip so far. Edward was watching me from the top of the short cliff, shirt in perfect order, not a drop of blood in sight.

Were you able to track down that mountain lion? I thought as I climbed the cliff face and settled onto a boulder next to him.

"Of course I was. I just don't eat like a savage." His nostrils turned up at the state of my clothes. What a priss.

"That was a strong one! I could almost feel it when it clawed me!" I plucked at some of the sap sticking in my hair but soon discovered it wouldn't come out quite so easily. "I wish they were stronger…."

"No one said you had to fight your food," he sniffed.

I laughed at his disgust. "Who else am I going to fight? You and Alice cheat, Carlisle refuses to really spar, and Esme gets mad when Jasper and I go too hard."

"Life must be incredibly hard for you, Emmett."

He watched me warily as I shifted into a crouch. "Come on, Edward. Turn it off for one second and fight fair."

"It doesn't work like that," he brushed away my eager anticipation with a flip of his hand.

"Still in a bad mood?"

"Certainly not," he countered. "You're just acting like a child."

"Is that what it is?" I shifted back down to sit next to him and gazed out over the landscape before us. We were seated on a steep side of a mountain that gave us a clear view into a wide valley below. It was green for miles and miles in every direction.

"Is that what what is?" he huffed.

"Your attitude with me lately," I continued. "You think I'm acting like a child with whatever is going on with La."

"I can see that you can't help it, but what you're doing puts us all at risk. You are playing with something far more dangerous than fire."

"I'm sorry. I know this has put everyone in a tough spot."

"Then why won't you make a decision? Either have us bring her into the family, or we all need to move on."

"Is that what you would do?" It was a serious question, and Edward treated it that way. He paused to consider his answer before speaking.

"I don't know," he finally muttered.

"Then you can see why I can't choose for her." Our conversation lapsed into a comfortable silence.

Have you ever thought about how unimaginably breakable they are? The millions of ways a mortal can die? The thousands of catastrophic things that can happen to them?

"I can't say I have, no."

My thoughts strayed back to my first encounter with a bear. I'd barely been conscious, but the terror was visceral, the pain of her jaw cracking my bones was nearly as memorable as the memory of my transition. I wasn't much of a match for her, huh?

"No, I suppose not."

"And that's even an unlikely thing to happen! What about all the other things that could happen at any moment?" I burst out. "She could get hit by a car, or struck by lightning, or fall down stairs… there could be an earthquake, or a tornado, or a fire!"

Edward turned to me in confusion. "We're talking specifically about La now, right?"

"When was the last time you watched the news?" I pointed out. "Humans are despicable. They do truly awful things to each other- burglaries, homicides, assault…" I was becoming ever more uncomfortable being so far away from her. Anything could happen. Peter and Charlotte could come early and La could find herself in their path before we could warn them away….

"Hey-" Edward gripped my arm. "Calm down. She lives in Forks, not San Francisco. There will not be any major earthquakes happening here. Peter and Charlotte know not to hunt near Forks, and they always go straight to the house. They won't see anyone before they see Jasper, alright?"

I nodded aggressively, but didn't really feel pacified.

"How does one human have such terrible luck? She's like a magnet." I tried again to pluck out the sap in my hair.

"How so?" Edward took pity on me and pulled a packet of wet wipes out of his pocket. He handed them to me with a smirk.

I immediately applied one to a particularly large chunk behind ear. "Think about it; of all the places in the world she could have ended up, she landed in a vampire nest."

"Yes, but a vampire nest full of individuals that subsist off of animals. I would call that lucky."

"Except I nearly killed her on day one." The chunk came free without tearing out any of my hair and I moved to one at my temple. It wouldn't budge.

"...And apparently you have more self control than any other vampire in the world, except perhaps Carlisle." His tone suggested he was as surprised as I was about that.

"Alright," I tucked the wipe into my pocket and got to my feet. "How about the van?"

"You're going to blame the van on some kind of cosmic force?"

When you put it like that… We made our way into the valley, jogging at a slow pace.

"You sound like a crazy person, but I see what you mean about humans being fragile. I will mention that, currently, the biggest danger to La is you, and you're here."

"I think you've missed the point, Edward."

"Oh, I see the irony, I really do. A vampire in love with a human is pretty bad luck," he allowed.

We approached a wide stream at the bottom of the valley. I kicked off my shoes and dove in to rinse the blood from my body. When I resurfaced Edward was waiting by the bank ready to resume our conversation.

"I maintain that there is an easy solution to this problem."

An image of her face popped into my head, skin like flawless brown alabaster. "No."

"It would solve your issues with mortality, and her lack of edible scent would negate the issue of your desire to kill her. Wouldn't you agree that it's the best way?"

"For me or for her?"

"For you," he said easily. This was an obvious answer for him only because he had never felt the need to protect someone before. Jasper had said something very like to me when La had first fallen into my life. "You've never felt about anyone the way I feel about Alice…" I better understood what he meant now.

"And what about her, then?"

"You didn't mind so much," he reminded me. This was an understatement. I'd found a life in vampirism I never would have had the chance at as a human. It wasn't the same for La.

"You did."

Edward's transition had been more traumatic. The loss of his family to the spanish flu had been abrupt and at a time in his life when he should have had a lot of bright years ahead. He had a plan for his future, a military career to look forward to. Instead he woke up to an entirely new existence with a stranger that effectively shut out any possibilities for a smart young mortal.

"I suppose I did," he allowed. We walked through the woods slowly, meandering vaguely south.

"I can't force this on her, Edward."

"You're right. I'm sorry for pushing." He gripped my shoulder and gave me a light shake. There was forgiveness in his understanding. I was glad to have my brother back.

"What I don't understand is," he went on. "What your plan is?"

"Plan?"

"You won't change her without permission, and you refuse to leave her alone."

Where are you going with this?

"If you can't court her safely, what are you going to do?" He had a very good point, but he wasn't quite correct. Leaving her alone right now wasn't an option with Peter and Charlotte on the way. At least for now, she was safer with me close by.

As far as courting her...

"I can chase her, I just probably shouldn't, you know, touch her until she's a little harder to accidentally kill."

Edward was too much the gentleman to plainly speak about where I was going with that statement. As long as we'd been living together, I'd never seen him show any interest in anyone. There had never been anything more than a cordial friendship in more than 80 years. Esme worried that he'd been too young when he'd been changed, but now I wondered if it had more to do with finding the perfect partner.

"And if she says no?" The scent of a mountain lion on the wind caught his attention. We dropped into hunting crouches.

If she says no I will force myself to leave. As much as I tried to push conviction into the thought, it felt flimsy.

I was anxious being away from her now, even though I was fully aware that I would be back in two days. I dug my phone out of my pocket to check for new messages. Alice would have called if something had happened, and of course, like Edward had pointed out, until Peter and Charlotte arrived, she was safer with me gone.

There was nothing to worry about.

Edward leapt forward in a graceful arc. The mountain lion was crouched behind a fallen tree, hunting its own query. Edward snatched it from the ground and broke its neck in one clean motion. He fed quickly and quietly without spilling a drop.

But where was the fun in that?