Nick let Olivia sleep in the next morning. He figured that after all of the commotion, she might need a decent night's rest. She'd fallen asleep the moment her head hit the pillow, exhausted. Nikita loyally sat by her bed, refusing to leave, despite his thirst. It was as if he were a guard dog, sitting rigidly in a chair, watching her with narrowed eyes and listening to everything alertly. However, by the time the sun rose and leaked through the blinds in a soft, grey-green hue, he could no longer deny his need. Without further delay, Nick left Olivia a short note and fled to the dark, unfamiliar forest. Only a few hours following his departure, Liv's green eyes fluttered open. She yawned loudly, stretching her arms straight up above her head, before tumbling lazily out of her bed. She failed to notice that Nick was absent from his usual chair as she staggered off into the kitchen. She checked the cupboards, and even though they were fully stocked with all her favorite foods (courtesy of Nikita), she discovered her appetite had still not recovered. She moved to the fridge and poured herself a glass of water.

Before taking a sip, she reflected on the day before… Edward's snarl, which still made her shudder at the clarity and menace within it, the dispute between him and the werewolf boy, Jacob, and her stupid decision to interfere. But if she hadn't, a war could have broken out, right? And that surely would benefit no one. Olivia's mind continued through the series of events. Jacob threatening her, only an inch away from ripping her to a million pieces… or tear her to shreds, as he'd said, and then Nikita jumping in to save the day, of course. He literally was her own little guard dog. Then, Liv unwillingly went to the situation that followed it all, Jacob's bizarre stare. No matter what she did, she couldn't get the image of his dark eyes out of her head. The intensity within them had been so fierce, so terrifying. But she hadn't been afraid. Not one bit. In fact, she'd been somewhat comforted by his narrowed eyes. But no matter her amount of comfort, she couldn't help but feel self-conscious. Being put on the spot like that, being stared at so oddly by someone you just met, could really shove you into a corner of insecurity.

Olivia shuddered away from the details, not wanting to think too much into why he'd all of a sudden been so scared. She didn't want to wonder why he'd run away so quickly, so ungracefully, so frightened. It was one mystery she'd rather leave unsolved, which was strange. Quite often, she wanted to get to the bottom of things. She hated not being in the know. Part of her was excruciatingly curious to his behavior, while another part shied away from anything to do with him.

Liva sighed and took a long sip of the cold water, and noticed a folded piece of paper on the wooden cutting board. It seemed completely out of place in the too-tidy kitchen. Curious, Olivia set her glass down and unfolded the paper. Inside, she discovered none other than Nikita's script on the other side. She'd recognize that writing anywhere. She read:

Liv, I hope you slept well.

I've gone for a 'walk'. I'll be back later on in the afternoon, and we can sort this whole mess out together. Do not leave the house.

-Nikita

For some reason, Olivia's fury returned in a sudden rush. She crumpled up the paper into a tight ball and let it slip from her fingers to the polished wooden floor. Who was he to tell her what she could and could not do? Controlling son of a…

If she wanted to leave the house, she could. In fact, she would. Not because she really wanted to march out into the wet and the green of the tiny town, which was one thing she could definitely live without, but because she really felt like pissing Nick off. She would defy him. Olivia then paused. When was the last time she'd truly defied Nick? Sure, she'd gotten to know Bella at school, but that had sort of been a fluke. She had bought him something for his birthday against his wishes, but that was a good sort of rule breaking. It didn't hurt anyone. If she left the house against his will, he'd surely be enraged. She might get hurt, but she could deal. Recently, she'd started to think that maybe her life was too shielded because of Nick. She needed some danger, otherwise she would certainly go insane.

Olivia looked at the clock. It was still early, only eight thirty in the morning. That gave her plenty of time. She finished her water in two more big sips and went off to the bathroom, a towel draped over one arm.
The hot water of the shower soothed her unpleasant memories of the day before, and the lovely scent of her coconut body wash and mango shampoo even brought the slightest smile to her lips. For a moment, she caught herself singing. It had been a while since she'd sung… and she was surprised she remembered how. Liv then pondered the thought of whether or not she could still dance. Her lyrical dancing would need some work, since she was finding it harder and harder to point and flex her feet. Hip-hop and jazz might be easier to recover, though, so she'd start a class on those first when she got the chance.

Olivia quickly rinsed her hair out and toweled off, twisting the taps until the water quit running. She blew her corn silk strands until they were bone dry and pin straight, and then twisted them up into a high, messy bun. Several strands of hair stuck out in a halo of blond spikes. She parted her bangs to the side and held them there with a couple bobby pins. When she was satisfied with its appearance, Olivia moved onto makeup. She never got too fancy with the stuff, just your basic cover up, lip gloss, mascara and eye liner. The dark lashes framed her green eyes perfectly, making them much more vibrant than usual.

She stifled a yawn as she made her way back to her room. It was the exact same shade of yellow as her old room. In fact, Nikita had redecorated the entire house to resemble that of their old New York home. It was almost comforting, if only they didn't have windows which revealed very plainly where they actually were. The gesture, of course, was very sweet. She reminded herself to thank Nick for painting the house when she wasn't so bitter with him.

Olivia dressed slowly, taking her time. She wore a pair of black jeans, a gray baby-tee along with her dark brown leather jacket. She glanced out the window briefly and noticed happily that it wasn't raining. Not in the mood for school, she decided not to bother arriving late for history and take the whole day off. An occasional ditching couldn't be so bad, and she knew that at the moment Bella wouldn't be too keen on speaking to her. It bothered her more than it should, since she was so accustom to solitude. Olivia supposed that it was because Bella was the only other human to know her secret, so it did matter whether they hated each other or not.

Liv emptied her black messenger bag, ridding it of unimportant school supplies and re-filling it with only her bare necessities: cell phone, camera, iPod, keys, notebook and pencil, wallet, and the newest addition to her must-haves, a small dark blue umbrella. She zipped up her bag and headed out, unsure of where she was going. She didn't bother to lock the door, since there wasn't anything all that valuable inside, excluding Nikita's stereo. But that thing was so huge; she couldn't picture anyone hauling it out to their car. Not to mention they were in Forks, which was quite literally the 'Who-Ville' of Washington. Maybe that's where Dr. Seuss had gotten his incredible idea.

Olivia jumped into her car and thought of what she could do to occupy herself. The only thing that came to mind was to drive around and get accustom to her new surroundings. So, Olivia put the car into ignition and backed out of the driveway carefully.

She drove around aimlessly for half an hour, soon able to recognize street names and houses. Sixty minutes later, she had half of the neighborhood memorized like the back of her hand. However, it only grew tiresome when she drove down the same street for the seventh time. She wasn't lost; it was hard to get lost when you didn't have a destination. But she was bored. Liv sighed and stopped the car at an intersection. She noticed the highway was stretched out in front of her, flanked on either side by dense forest. One glance at the clocked on her dashboard revealed that she still had a solid hour before Nick said he'd generally be due back. What to do with her last hour of freedom was a tough decision, although she had no options to choose from.

A walk might calm her down; help her clear her mind a bit more. Olivia parked the car on the curb and crawled out. She slung her bag across her shoulder and locked her door before she began to stroll along the sidewalk. The empty highway gave her a bit more focus, since there was less to distract her. Of course, it wasn't completely empty, since the occasional car would speed by noisily. She was able to mute the roar of their engines eventually and instead concentrate on the quiet sounds of the forest. Her thoughts wandered, drifting to the same place they were that morning.

A loud snap from the forest, someone stepping on a twig, interrupted her thinking. She whipped around to face the sound and felt the wind around her change pace, as though someone were running very quickly by her, very quickly but very silently. She then felt as though a pair of eyes were burning into her with an intense force.

Olivia caught her breath.

Nikita.

She panicked. She knew that he had to be furious with her for leaving the house. Liv wasn't in the mood to deal with that argument, not yet. Without thinking, she turned and fled into the highway which she had blocked out, hoping to cross the street. Her hope was shattered when she saw a car barreling towards her at an immense speed. She still couldn't hear the engine, since she'd spent so much energy into silencing the street noises. The driver, a teenage boy, had some sort of hardcore rock music blasting from his speakers and his attention was everywhere but the road. The music faded from Olivia's ears as the car grew closer, her fear and adrenaline pulsing wildly in her ears. At first, all she could hear was her own heart beating frantically, but a loud growl erupted from the forest and then it was completely quiet. Her legs were frozen, she couldn't move an inch. The car never slowed. From the same direction as the growl, came someone's voice,

"No!" they screamed.

Olivia longed to turn and see who it was, but her eyes remained glued to the car. When the vehicle was close enough for her to give a physical description of the boy, spiky brown hair, brown eyes and freckles covering his face, Liv was knocked out of the way. She felt herself flying for a short moment, then found herself on the wet grass on the other side of the road, unharmed. All around her suddenly felt warm, and the temperature was only rising. She realized then that someone was on top of her.

Finally, all the pieces came together. The growl, the person's voice, the heat…

A werewolf had saved her. And not just any werewolf, but Jacob. The same one who'd acted so weird the day before.

Olivia scowled and tried to push him. "Bloody hell," she cursed, "get off me, you mangy mutt."

He did so accordingly, jumping to his bare feet. His dark eyes were narrowed onto her. They were less intense than yesterday, but still carried something that made Olivia flinch and smile all at once. She noticed he wasn't wearing a shirt, his lovely copper skinned chest revealed. Olivia could never get used to how huge he really was. His black sweats were faded and torn in some places. He wasn't wearing anything other than that, and Olivia found it odd. She quickly remembered the heat factor and the fact that he needed to phase in and out, and then his lack of clothing made perfect sense.

"Fine choice of words for someone who just saved your life." He muttered, offering her a hand to help her up.

Olivia ignored his large hand and crawled to her feet on her own. She rolled her eyes and laughed without humor. "You almost took my life, yesterday, in case you forgot, dog." She spat back, crossing her arms over her chest.

Jacob frowned, since he knew he wouldn't ever forget. He was displeased she'd found it necessary to bring it up; he'd beaten himself over it enough that night. He rubbed the back of his neck, his dark eyes, for once, downcast and away from her. "Well, I see you've already inherited a bloodsucker's speech…" he mumbled, then spoke up. "About yesterday… I… I wanted to apologize about that."

Olivia let her arms drop, and her whole tone changed. "Why?" she asked, confused. She'd only been bugging him… she honestly wasn't really angry with him. Well, not so much angry as she was intimidated.

Jacob raised one eyebrow, looking up and staring at her as if she were clinically insane. "What do you mean 'why'?"

Olivia shrugged. His eyes were on her, so she looked at his forehead instead. It was an old trick she'd figured out in elementary school. "I mean, why? It was only instinct. Besides, no harm, no foul. I said you almost took my life." She was surprised to find she was trying to reassure him, and even more so when her lips moved on their own accord into a comforting smiled. Clearly the smile was a wasted effort as he shook his head, seeming even more disturbed.

"Are you seriously that forgiving?" he asked.

"My best friend is a vampire." She reminded him simply. The word 'vampire' was never hard for her to say. It was just fact, even if it did sound a bit strange.

He accepted that as a yes, raising his eyebrows and nodding. "Good point."

A long silence passed as they both stood there, Olivia avoiding his eyes and Jacob trying desperately to communicate something vital to her. He finally heaved a loud sigh and sat on the curb. He seemed troubled by something, and Olivia was shocked to discover her concern. She took a few moments to gather her thoughts before sitting next to him.

"Hmmm…" she took a long look at him, since at the moment he had his head in his hands. "You really love that Bella girl, don't you? That's why you were so upset yesterday." She said, her voice quiet.

Jacob's head shot up and he looked at her, shaken by her question. Olivia stared at the pavement, refusing to let his eyes disconcert her. He nodded slowly.

"Yeah… well, I mean… I think I do…" to be perfectly honest, he wasn't sure of anything anymore.

Liv shook her head, disapproving. "Love never thinks, it knows."

Jacob bit his lip, looking away. "Yeah…" he said absentmindedly. "But…I'm confused, though…" His eyes averted back to her.

Olivia's brow puckered curiously. "About what?"

"Just…her…" he answered, with much difficulty. He never specified who the 'her' was.

Olivia, assuming he was talking about Bella, actually laughed. "That makes sense; girls are never very clear." She told him, her voice much brighter than she could have imagined. What happened to her strange fear of him?

Jake laughed along with her, but his mood didn't lighten. He turned abruptly to face her directly. Olivia didn't move, still frightened by the intensity of his stare and unsure of what it meant. She continued to stare at nothing in particular in front of her.

"But…" he began, struggling for words once again, "recently… very recently, actually, I've started to think that I don't… love her, I mean." He pursed his lips and looked down at his hands.

Olivia didn't turn to face him, still afraid. "Why's that?" she asked, her eyes remaining forwards.

Jacob took a deep breath.  "Uhhh…. Has your leech--"

"Nikita." She interrupted sharply.

Jacob nodded. "Has he explained imprinting to you?" he asked, wary.

"Yes… oh, wait, you imprinted?" she asked, risking a glance at him. He seemed almost pained, and Olivia was stunned to find she wanted to wrap her arms around him and soothe him.

He nodded again. "I think so, yeah…"

She knew it really wasn't any of her business and she shouldn't even ask, but curiosity usually got the best of her. "On who…?" she said quickly, still never looking at him.

Jacob was silent, again, for a long while, his eyes never leaving her. "Uhm, well--"  he stopped short, his body going rigid before he leaped to his feet.

Olivia didn't need to look up to figure out what was happening. She knew all too well why Jacob would suddenly tense up, and she'd been expecting it. Instead, she braced herself for the yelling.

As if on cue…

"Olivia, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Nikita screamed at the top of his lungs.