Renesmee quietly played with her MP3 player on her bed while her parents were in their room. She was insanely curious as to what they would do in there every night around nine p.m., but any time she would ask, they would evade the question skillfully; any human would have just forgotten about it and moved on, but Renesmee was half human, and she had resolved that she would figure it out some day.

At that moment, she was bored. For the past ten hours, she'd been bored. The only time of the day she had shown any excited emotion was when she first laid her eyes on Ophelia. Renesmee wasn't a profound judge of beauty, but she could see the small twinkle in her oceanic eyes and the small curve of her lips every time her grandpa would gently wheel her somewhere. It was painfully obvious how much of a preference Ophelia showed to Carlisle, and he the same. As young as she was, Renesmee was amazingly perceptive. A trait passed on from her mother, she would guess.

A loud thump came from down the hall, near her parents' quarters. It almost sounded as if they were…wrestling. Renesmee sighed, her way of complaining about the vast amount of nothing that there was to do.

Suddenly, an idea struck her mind. She thought about the plan for a few minutes, and nodded to herself positively, knowing that her parents were too busy in their occupations to even bother checking for her. Renesmee bounced lightly off the bed, not making a single sound as she lithely landed on the wood floor. As she opened the door and crept to the front of the small cottage she lived in, she was grateful that her family had made renovations on the place; if they hadn't, the jig would have been up for sure.

The second she was outside in the cool, drizzling rain, she dashed through the forest until she was about fifty yards from the house, and then slowed down to a cautious walk. Once she'd made it up to the back door, she was extremely confident. Confident a bit too soon, unfortunately. The back door had opened to reveal a very peeved-looking Alice standing in Renesmee's way.

Renesmee stopped dead in her tracks and hung her head shamefully. Her feet kicked at the ground as she mumbled, "Hi, Aunt Alice."

"Nessie," Alice said lowly, as if she was about to pluck her off the ground and strap her into her bed, "what are you doing out here?"

"Umm…I just wanted to see Ophelia. Really quickly! I'd have been back in my bed in five minutes, I swear!" Renesmee added.

Alice shook her head and rubbed her cheek with her hand, sighing at the same time. "Did you not take into account that I can predict your future? The minute the 'escape,'" Alice said using air quotes, "plan popped into your head, I knew about it."

Renesmee tried to think back to when she was sitting on her bed, plotting out the perfect way to get to Ophelia without any exterior knowledge. Realizing that she hadn't factored Alice into the equation, she shook her head dejectedly.

"I'm sorry, Aunt Alice," she mumbled.

"I know." Alice came over to her niece and wrapped her arms around her in a comforting hug. "But, if you want to get a chance to meet her before your parents figure out you're gone, then you'd better hurry."

Renesmee grinned up to her and planted a quick kiss on her cheek. "Thanks, Aunt Alice! You're the best!"

She ran into the house, leaving behind a dazzled Alice.

Ophelia watched Dr. Cullen carefully as he wired her up to the heart monitor. She was embarrassed when the chart would beep shrilly every time he would unintentionally touch her skin, and then chuckle at her reaction.

"It's all right, I'm quite used to it," he mentioned.

"Heh, used to what?" Ophelia asked shakily.

"The stutter of the heart when ever I happen to make contact with someone else."

"So, it happens a lot then? You frequently dazzle your patients, making their hearts stutter?"

Carlisle paused for a moment and turned to look at her with his golden eyes, seemingly melting into her own. "I dazzle you?"

Ophelia realized what she had just said, and quickly tried to cover it up with a guilty-sounding laugh, meant to sound nonchalant. "Ha, no! I'm just saying that…umm…what I meant was…err…"

"It's fine," Carlisle chuckled. Ophelia almost slapped herself and crossed her arms to prevent from doing so.

"So," Carlisle said, "I am going to let you sleep in here tonight, and then until you are feeling more recovered, I will move you into one of the guest rooms."

"That's fine."

Carlisle turned to leave and stopped when the bedridden girl called out, "Dr. Cullen?"

He looked back at Ophelia, who had an apologetic smile on her face.

"Thank you. For everything, I mean. I realize how much of an inconvenience this must be to you and your family, and I can only say that I am truly grateful to have a doctor that cares so much…"

Carlisle waved his hand to stop her from continuing. As much as he loved to hear how thankful she was, and that she was aware how much he cared for her, Carlisle didn't believe he could have contained himself if she'd gone on. He most likely would have been very tempted to wrap the girl in his arms and hold her forever, as long as he could be the only one to heal her and be near her. He suddenly thought how unfortunate it was he'd agreed to let Bella and Emmett help him. Stop it Carlisle, he berated himself mentally, that is selfish of you. As long as Ophelia recovers, that's all that matters. You can't think about yourself when it comes to her life. Carlisle solemnly nodded to himself, saddened by the correctness of his mind's discipline.

"Dr. Cullen? Are you all right?"

Carlisle's head snapped up to see Ophelia, wide-eyed and worried, staring at him with those beautiful, shining eyes. He noticed that they had gained sea-green inflections in the past few hours; how wonderfully they made her eyes sparkle…

Ophelia was starting to panic at her caretaker's sudden state. He looked like a fallen angel, deeply depressed with his earthly surroundings, but making the scene brighter with his presence. Carlisle nodded to himself again, prompting Ophelia to ask once more, "Dr. Cullen?"

Carlisle snapped out of his somber mood and smiled enthusiastically. A little too enthusiastic, Ophelia noticed. Something was clearly wrong with her guardian angel, but she knew he wouldn't just burden her with his problems. Not that Ophelia would mind…

"All set then, yes?" Carlisle asked gaily. "Then, good night, and I will see you in the morning!" He quickly turned on his heel and almost sprinted out of the room that was becoming too intoxicating for him; Ophelia's scent had begun to permeate the air, and God knows how long it would have been before he'd lost control.

"Oh, okay then. Good night," Ophelia said to Carlisle as he left.

She sat there for a few minutes, hurt and confused. Ophelia knew better than most people that Carlisle cared deeply for everyone, and would never do something to intentionally bring pain to someone. However, his quick escape from her could be compared to a stab in the heart. Ophelia wondered what she had done. Her eyes started to brim with tears of frustration, because she only knew too well that something was wrong with her doctor, and she couldn't help but feel like she was the cause of it. As much as he denied that anything was the matter, Ophelia wasn't stupid.

The door knob slowly began to turn, but Ophelia had closed her eyes to shut away the oncoming tears for future use. She wasn't aware of another person in the room until a melodic soprano voice asked, "Ophelia?"

Ophelia's eyes shot open and came to behold the little child from earlier, the one her mother wouldn't let her hold. She thought hard to remember the name; Renesmee, she thought with satisfaction. It was a name so uncommon, yet so stunning, she was disgusted with herself for forgetting it in the first place.

Renesmee smiled widely, with her array of perfect, small teeth, and said, "I'm Renesmee. I would have talked to you earlier, but Momma wouldn't let me."

"Hello. You already know my name, it seems. What are you doing up here? Shouldn't you be in bed?" Ophelia was deeply impressed with the girl's formal, mature speech. She pondered how a girl that looked about two years old could be gifted with such early development. Little Einsteins, maybe?

"I guess so, but I escaped from my house. My parents were doing something, so they didn't notice I left," Renesmee said with a devilish smile, like she just pulled off the ultimate prank. "But, I wanted to see you."

"Oh? And why?"

"Because I want you to be one of my best friends. I only have one friend, and that's my wol…boy-who-happens-to-be-a-friend Jacob. It's lonely not having anyone to play with," she said with a devastating frown. Every emotion that appeared on the girl's glorious little face, it was so severe, that it touched Ophelia's heart every time.

"I'm sorry. I'd like to be your friend, I would. But I don't think your family wants me to be around you," Ophelia said sadly.

"I know. But we could keep it a secret." She had tiptoed over to the side of Ophelia's bed and was now within whispering distance of the immobile woman. "No one would know about it."

Ophelia didn't want to disappoint Renesmee and see a hurt expression cross her features by rejecting her offer of 'secret friendship', so Ophelia just nodded and whispered back, "I'd like that. We're secret friends starting…now?"

"Yes!" Renesmee suddenly felt so overjoyed, so ecstatic, that she jumped onto Ophelia's bed and almost squeezed the life out of her. Ophelia was shocked at first, but then wound her gauzed arms around Renesmee and returned the hug that officially sealed their friendship.

A few minutes passed as they just lay there together. Ophelia had shifted in the rather miniature bed to give Renesmee room, but the girl wouldn't unlatch herself, and just kept clinging on to her new friend. Ophelia had prodded the child with her chin and repeatedly said her name to wake her up so she could return to her own bed. Ophelia soon found out that this girl could sleep through the explosion of an atomic bomb. So, Dr. Cullen's patient let her sleep there, next to her, and soon found her own eyes drooping. The warm little body next to her smelled so good, and the warmth of their combined body heat was enough to lull Ophelia straight to sleep.