----*----

I stood on Titus' porch, soaking wet. I shivered as I reached up to knock on the door. Mrs. Lyons, Titus stepmom opened the door. She was a plump Hispanic woman, motherly and an excellent cook. "Liza, niña, come in. You're like another child to us, you don't have to knock."

"Okay, Mrs. L." I came in and smiled. "Where's Titus?"

"I don't know. Do you?"

"I don't know," I replied, pondering the question. "I thought he would have told you." I knew it was a warning sign, but I figured it slipped his mind.

"I've never known Titus to be forgetful, Liza."

I shrugged and headed up to Titus' room. I sat on his bed in silence. I should have at least turned on his stereo because the extreme quiet drove me to the brink. I was overcome with tears. I'm not going to do this, I thought. Breathe, May-May.

After several silent seconds, I heard footsteps. Titus knocked on his bedroom door. "Ducky? Baby?" He peeked around the door. "What's wrong?"

I ran to him, and threw my arms around his neck. "Titus!" I could not explain what was wrong. How do you tell your hopelessly human, mortal and normal boyfriend that you have vampire venom in your veins? He'd just think I was crazy.

Titus pulled away and put his hands on my flat stomach. "You're not…" He didn't sound angry, amused or confused. He sounded amazed.

I didn't know what he meant. "What are to talking about, Ty?" I pushed myself away from him and sat back on his bed, cross-legged.

He came over to me and put his hands back on my stomach. Instead of answering, he started to unzip my jacket. "Explanations can wait," he whispered to himself.

A faint giggle left my lips. "Titus, your stepmom's downstairs," I said, trying to keep my tone serious. "Can we get back to the subject at hand?" I playfully slapped him away.

He stopped, and stepped away, his face red. "Yeah, of course baby. Sorry. When was your last cycle?"

My first response should have been 'Two weeks ago' but instead I found myself questioning it. Slowly, it dawned on me. "Oh," I whispered, my voice almost lost. "Shoot." I went to slap myself on the forehead.

He grabbed my wrist quickly. "No, baby. This isn't bad. It's great." He put my hand back on my thigh.

I shook my head. This was the opposite of great. "Who's one of the police chief's daughters?" I reminded him, pointing to myself.

It was his turn to slap himself.

I hadn't purposely used my inhuman abilities, even when he was in the area, but I couldn't stop myself from trying to pry into my boyfriend's brain.

I can't believe I did this, Titus was thinking in his whispery inner voice. I got the police chief's daughter knocked up. YES!

What? I nearly gasped at his lack of regret, but since he didn't realize I was a telepath, I didn't. I continued to listen.

Now I just need to keep her from doing what she did to that Francisco kid. Maybe this will convince her that putting MisFire back together is for the best.

It took every once of courage not to punch his lights out. I clenched my fists then relaxed them. How did he control himself?

"Ducky, baby," he said aloud, taking my hand. "We can do this."

I started to cry in anger. I shoved him away, and started to run again. It was only a few blocks to Charlie's house, but I went past it, my face covered with tears. I didn't know where I was going, I just kept going. It was like I was leaving my human self behind.

That's when I found the meadow.

----*----

I hadn't realized how far I'd gone. It was a little brake in the tree cover. The sun was just coming up. I gasped.

"You should go home, kid," a deep voice from behind me whispered.

I jumped. I recognized the tall Native American right away. That night felt like it was ages ago, but it would be etched in my memory forever. I turned, my face still stained with tears. "What home?" I whispered. "Jacksonville?"

Two other young men came out behind him. One sort of wrinkled his nose. "Leech's girl?" he asked the other.

"Not sure," he replied, studying me. "They are twins."

I gasped at the use of the 'L' word. It shouldn't have surprised me, since I knew they knew and I hated them as much as they seemed to. I growled, not at the trio, but at the idea of him.

"It's Eliza-May, Paul," the first man, that I just remembered was named Sam, replied. "It's okay. Get back to Charlie, both of you. Tell him she's okay."

The younger two left, regretfully. The one who pointed out that Bella and I were twins nodded to me, and a wave of pity almost knocked me over.

"Jared!" Sam barked. "Now!" Once Jared was gone, Sam got a little closer to me. "May, are you all right? Have you been hurt?"

I almost said 'Yes,' but shook my head and sat down. How can I ever be okay? My boyfriend was using me. Then I nodded. Sinking to the ground, I whispered, "Estoy metido en un lío (I'm in a bit of a mess)." It was more than a bit, but what else was I suppose to say? "What am I going to do?"

Sam sat down beside me. "I need to take you home," he said, not touching me. "I think Chief Swan is worried."

"I shouldn't be doing this to him," I muttered. "Not with Bells acting so…well, not like Bells."

"May," Sam whispered, "what do you want us to do about it?"

I caught the word 'us'. It meant something. "Who?" He was the only one sitting with me. "What do you mean by 'us'?" I questioned.

"Eliza, we know more than you think we know."

"I know you know," I said. "At least, your legends make it seem like you know. Do you know that the Cullens—I mean Paul said 'leech'—Dang, how to say this?" I didn't want to say the 'V-word'. "How do you know?"

Sam gently put a hand on my shoulder. He ignored my question and my flinch. "May, I want you to take a deep breath."

My breath was shaky but I tried to calm myself down. "O-tay," I whispered. After several silent seconds, I stood. I stumbled slightly. Sam put an arm around my waist. I pulled away. He had some sort of high fever.

"Have you been hurt?" he repeated.

I tried to shake my head but it was spinning. "I think so. I mean I don't think so. I think—" I rubbed my forehead and gulped. "I think I need to go home."

"That's a good thought," Sam said, trying not to laugh. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah," we started walking up the hill. "This is going to take a while."

"That's okay," Sam said, "we don't mind."

Paul and Jared were standing on the path in front of us. "Hey," Jared said. "You okay?"

I nodded slowly. "I'm okay," I lied. "I just need to get home."

"That's why we're here, May," he replied.

Paul grumbled, "Oh, that's why we are the way we are. To protect insane pale faces from themselves."

"That's derogatory, chico. 'Pale' is a relative term as is 'insane'."

"You little…" Paul started to shake.

Sam put a hand on Paul's chest. "Relax, brother."

Paul growled but obeyed. It was like he had to control his anger. "Fine, let Jacob's girlfriend control everything!"

I wanted to retort but couldn't. Instead, I felt the heat rise to my face. Giggling nervously, I continued to walk.

----*----

Morning came as a surprise and a relief. I went to school, feeling tired but happy. As I walked up to Titus, I whispered in his ear, "Just a scare."

He turned around and hugged me. "Are you sure?" he whispered back. He sounded relieved, but I could feel that he was disappointed.

"Yeah," I replied, "but I'm not sure about us." I had to do this now. Didn't want to, but it was seriously confusing me. What did he want? Me or MisFire?

"Us?"

"We're over."