Hey, sorry for the long wait, but there's been a lot of stuff going on with my family, not to mention I've had writer's block for about two months :(. But thanks for waiting so patiently, and here's Chapter 9! Don't forget, I love the reviews, and thanks so much for taking the time to read this!

Ophelia couldn't pinpoint the exact reason why, but for some reason her thoughts had strayed away to the image of a certain fifteen year-old boy named Seth. She knew him pretty well; her sisters had made a daily ritual of chasing him around Forks, following his every movement with their incessant giggling and gossip. It would've driven any person to insanity, but not Seth. He good-naturedly endured it, always smiling when talking to them, and laughing off Ophelia's apologies for their rudeness. That was one of the things Ophelia had always admired in Seth: his compassion and personality that always drew people to him. She couldn't help but laugh at how being so likeable could attract anybody, including those least desirable…

The past few days had gone smoothly. The swelling in her legs had gradually decreased, and she could fully smile without grimacing in pain. Carlisle had been an absolute angel to her and took care of her every need. Ophelia couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt every time she complained about something, and how Carlisle would just rush out of the room and bring her the one thing he thought would make her feel better. His mind was so attuned to hers now that it was almost as if he could read it, even though Edward was the expert in that department. Ophelia, Carlisle frequently thanked the gods for this, couldn't make out certain expressions that had a habit of creeping into her savior's pale features.

Earlier that night, before Carlisle had injected more medication into her systems, he had come to tell her good news. He'd thought that at the rate of recovery Ophelia was going through, she would be able to walk on her casts within the next day or so; maybe even without the casts in a week. Ophelia was so thrilled that she began to jump in her bed, startling the assortment of tubes connecting to her arms and causing a brief sear of pain.

"Oops, a little too excited there," she'd laughed.

"You should be excited! I am amazed by how quickly you've healed," Dr. Cullen joined in the celebration.

An idea had flashed into Ophelia's head, causing for a wide smile to break out on her lips. "You know what I really want to do?"

"What is that?"

"I want to do something special for Nessie, to make up for my lack of seeing her the past few days. But, it'll require full, and I mean full, cooperation from you!"

Carlisle had been wary, but something inside him had assured that it was only a simple request, nothing that would eternally harm her. "Fine. You have my full cooperation."

"Excellent!" she had smiled. "Now, listen closely…"

In all fairness, it wouldn't put Ophelia in sever danger, but it could stunt the recovery of her legs, and he'd told her so. She seemed to ignore it, and continued to plan out her surprise in her head; Carlisle gave up trying to get her to go on about her plan, but saw he'd lost her. He'd sighed, and carefully injected Ophelia's sleep medicine, leaving her to dream about her secret surprise.

Oddly enough, the drowsiness had yet to swift Ophelia off her feet, so she lay in her bed, thinking. Somehow her thoughts directed to Seth, and no matter how many times she tried to divert them, it wouldn't do a thing. It was like her mind was trying to convey something to her, something obvious, that she just wasn't getting.

Then again, he always did have such a nice smile, and a warm laugh, and soft brown eyes, and a great body nonetheless… she thought. Only after she repeated the thought several times in her head did she realize that she was fantasizing about a fifteen year-old boy, and she was three years older than him! Not to mention, she was downright ugly and he was…well…beautiful. As she thought how "beautiful" described Seth, Ophelia could sketch out a caricature of himself in her head. The tall, muscular figure that wasn't overly bulky, but form-fitting, the sculpted muscles in his arms and legs, the chin-length black hair that always seemed swept to the side just so, the chocolate brown eyes with laugh lines underneath, the shapely lips that formed a gorgeous smile full of sweetness and confidence; and that was only his appearance. Ophelia thought of how many hours she could think about Seth's good heart and personality alone, and decided that it would take a long time.

Ophelia liked thinking about Seth. It diverted her thoughts to an area where none of the Cullens knew about, and couldn't inquire about. It was her world, and hers alone, except for when Seth was with her. For the time being, she forgot about age difference and appearance, and slowly fell asleep with the picturesque face of Seth grinning under her eyelids.

A knock at the front door disrupted Edward's composition, the last note played hanging in the air, unwilling to disappear. He growled; just when he'd found inspiration, the first in months, he had to be stopped by some trivial person knocking in the wee hours of the night. Edward would never admit it, but he was also secretly glad that a distraction had presented itself. His inspiration, being Bella of course, had caused for a deeper need, a deeper feeling within him to stir, and he knew that he wouldn't be able to control himself. And Renesmee had begun to ask questions about why Mommy and Daddy shut and locked the door at night…

"Seth? What are you doing here?"

Seth didn't wait for an invitation to come inside, and quickly went to the base of the stairs. "Is Ophelia here? I need to talk to her."

"Yes, but she might be sleeping. I'm not entirely sure."

"Okay, can I just go up then? It's really important!"

Edward shrugged, wanting to get back to his music as soon as possible. "Suit yourself."

Seth tore up the stairs on his tiptoes, careful not to disturb any of the other Cullens. On his way up to the third floor, where Ophelia's room was, he could hear the slight bang of something against the wall. He paused, wondering if he should investigate. When he heard the "Oh, Emmett!" he knew it was nothing to be worried about.

Edward had been right; Ophelia was sleeping soundly in her bed when he opened the door. Seth marveled at how the moonlight through the window hit her face, lighting up her bone structure and making her skin appear to be milky and gleaming. Her innocence leaped off her face. Seth smiled and stepped inside quietly.

He slowly moved a chair in the corner next to where Ophelia slept, wincing at the sickly sweet smell it gave off. So Carlisle had been sitting here… He shrugged it off and sat down to watch her sleep.

Ophelia didn't make any movement during the night, only shifting her body once to face the ceiling. Seth thought how mythical Ophelia looked now, like a creation of Zeus himself. Her hands were folded over her abdomen. Seth eyed them, and was surprised at how hard he had to fight himself to keep from holding one of her hands.

C'mon man! Control yourself! She'll wake up if you touch her, and God knows how long it would be before the Cullens tore yourself to pieces for sneaking beside their new best friend!

Seth finally sat on his hands, so hard that the chair grunted. Ophelia's eyes shot open as her face turned quickly to look at Seth. He could only sit there, and hold his breath while waiting for her to scream.

Strangely, she began to giggle; her lips formed a wide smile as she began to laugh harder.

"Seth? Is that you?" she choked out.

"Sshh, Ophelia, you need to calm down," he whispered frantically. "The Cullens might throw me out if they find me in here with you!"

That seemed to shut her up, for the most part.

"Why are you in here, Seth? How did you get in here?" she asked, seriousness etched into her face.

"Edward let me up. He warned me that you might be asleep, but I came up to be sure."

Ophelia grinned deviously. "I know you avoided my first question. Nice try."

"Eh, thought it was worth a shot," Seth said.

"But seriously Seth, why are you here?"

Seth ran a hand through his hair, and Ophelia almost gasped out loud. The moonlight created silver streaks in his hair, making him shine with an ethereal glow. She couldn't stop from staring wide-eyed at him.

"What? What're you staring at me like that for?"

She shook her head quickly. "Nothing, never mind."

Neither one of them said anything for a few minutes; both were curiously appraising the other with cautious eyes. Finally Seth asked, "So, what was so funny earlier?"

Ophelia blushed in the darkness, thankful it was nighttime. "Nothing."

"Oh come on, you can't not tell me! That would be very mean, and un-friend-like!"

"Wait, we're friends?" Ophelia's heart was pounding, hoping he really meant it. She had always considered him one of her friends, but was now hopelessly wishing he noticed her enough to be a friend of his. Ophelia's mind was working against her, trying to figure out her sudden interest in Seth.

Seth laughed quietly. "Of course! How could we not be after the past year?"

"True. We saw a lot of each other. But, that was mostly because of Beatrice and Bianca, not because we necessarily wanted to see each other."

"I wanted to see you," Seth mumbled, trying to make it so she wouldn't hear. But Ophelia's ears had become sharp the past few weeks, and her heart was sent into a frenzy. Right back at you, she thought.

Ophelia suddenly noticed how late it was getting. If she stayed up late any longer, then she would be too tired to surprise Renesmee!

"Umm, Seth? Not that I don't love spending the dark hours of night talking with you, but I think I need to get back to bed. I have something very important going on tomorrow, and I won't be able to make it if I'm sleep deprived!"

"Say no more," Seth said as he stood up from the chair and went to the door. "I'll drop by some other time, maybe even during the day!"

Can't wait, she thought with a smile. "Okay. Good night Seth."

"Night, Lia."

Once he'd shut the door, Ophelia's mind was in a whirl. Not only because of her newly-discovered feelings for Seth, but because of how she'd noticed his body language during their meeting. He had seemed to gravitate towards her, or she gravitated towards him, but either way, they'd been close. Closer than being "friends" would allow. And, not to mention that he'd admitted that he'd wanted to see her every time Bea and Bianca would shadow him into her home, even if he hadn't meant for her to know. Her heart stuttered in her chest.

And, he'd called her Lia. Something only her brother called her. It was how she felt connected to Mac, how they had that special bond that most brothers and sisters didn't share. But now, she wasn't so opposed to having Seth call her Lia. She had enough of "Lia" to go for both Mac and Seth.

She decided that tomorrow was too important to go on thinking about Seth, so she laid back and let the sleep take over again.

Seth was overfilled with joy. He'd never imagined that talking to Ophelia, for real, for the first time, would go so well. He almost jumped and clicked his heels on his way out the front door.

Edward caught his friend in his happy spirits and said as he left, "That must have been some joke you told her!" But Seth was too happy to even hear it.