Hey readers! Since I forgot last time, I do own the Twilight Saga, just not the rights to it, I just borrowed things here and there to put into my own little story. Enjoy!

Chapter 9.

(Ava's POV)

Tap tap tap. I let my fingers fall on the window pane. Collin pulled back the curtains. "Oh my God!" he exclaimed, jumping back.

I couldn't help chuckling at him.

"What do you want?" he hissed, "and why can't you use the door like a normal person!"

"Just open the freaking window!"

"I'm insane, now watch her come in and kill me like some mass murderer, or worse..." he muttered in what he thought was out of my hearing. He opened up the window and I hopped in.

"What?!?" he asked, clearly irritated. I felt bad about kissing him and just wanted to apologize. He wouldn't come when we invited him over, so I knew he wouldn't answer if I came to the front door and asked for him.

"Look, I'm sorry about kissing you. It was inappropriate. It'll never happen again. I hope we can still be friends."

He looked surprised. "Oh. Well, um I guess I can try to forget about it. If we're going on the premise of you regret it and will never do it again you're a pretty good kisser. Can I ask why you kissed me? I'm pretty sure it's not because I'm the best guy you could find."

I shook my head. "It's long and complicated and I'm sure you wouldn't want to hear it, but I guess I can say that it's been a while since I've seen anyone, and I find you attractive. Not only physically but your personality too. It's like I've known you for years."

"There's something familiar about you too, and it's been a while since I've seen anyone either, but I'm not kissing you," he argued.

"I know, like I said, it was a mistake."

He softened back up. "Do you still find me attractive?" he asked.

If I could have blushed I would have. "Yes, yes, I do."

He stared at me intensely. "You know, I find you attractive too. I shouldn't though. It scares me."

"I don't mind," I said, trying to keep my composure, I wanted to scream. Tell him why I looked so familiar, why I sounded so familiar, why he was attracted to me, why hearing me giggle turned him on.

He reached over and touched my face. "Is it wrong? I have daughters older than you."

"In some ways it may be, but there's a reason for everything. There's a reason for this," I said. I had already blown just seeing him again and letting him go live a normal life. Now that he had confessed he liked me, the only way to get him to forget about me and return to a normal human existence was to make him go however far I needed to go to cause him shame for doing that with someone so much younger than him.

He surprised me while I was thinking by kissing me gently, even for a human. The warmth of his lips surprised me. I couldn't imagine being like Megan, having a Shapeshifter kissing you. That would be unbearably hot.

"I thought you said you didn't want it to happen again," I said, acting like this didn't rank among the happiest moments in my vampire existence.

"No, I said it was wrong for me to want you like that, I said you were crazy for wanting me, and I said I was willing to forget it if you wanted. But as ashamed as I am to say this, I never said I didn't like it."

"I see," I giggled as he kissed me, more strongly this time.

Suddenly he got up and went to the door. He stared at me, his blue eyes wild. "It has been so long since I have wanted anyone like this," he said slowly, putting emphasis on each word. "If you want to, you can leave. I don't want to do this if you don't want me to, but if you stay, know that I will take you."

I couldn't believe he was moving this fast. It obviously had been a while. "Can we be romantic?" I asked.

"Of course love," he smiled, shutting the door and coming back to the pullout couch. It wasn't extremely comfortable, but it was his bed, I could tell by the scent.

We went back to kissing. It felt so good. Knowing he wanted me, even if it was just me in my vampire form. I let myself melt into his arms, although since my body was much harder than a human's it took some effort.

After several minutes of just kissing Collin was panting from lack of breath, but of course, I was fine, I didn't need to breathe, so I kissed him up and down his neck, a slight challenge whenever I got close to his jugular vein, but I had just eaten and would need to be able to control myself to proceed. He finally started to run his hands up and down my waist. I cautiously pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the side.

I had to feign heavy breathing, seeing that no human could breathe normally under these conditions, as he finally reached under my shirt, pulling it off. Next he went for my bra and I started unbuttoning his pants. Finally we were both naked and it was almost time. I was delirious with glee. This was just like the old times. He whispered sweet nothings in my ear and kissed me anywhere his lips happened to be. I moaned for him to get on with it already, I was going to explode if he didn't. So he did.

~*~

A knock on the door caused Collin to scream.

"Is everything okay in there?" we heard Abby's voice from the other side.

"Yeah…everything's fine!" Collin called, but he was out of breath and even human ears could tell it.

The door opened slowly. Abby peeked in and the first thing she saw was us, naked on the bed, panting for breath. She shrieked and slammed the door shut. I heard footsteps running up the hall.

"What's wrong?" I heard Seth ask, his voice filled with worry.

"Oh…um…well..." Abby stuttered, unsure on what to say. "It was nothing. My dad just wasn't dressed when I opened the door, it startled me," she finally said. I thanked her silently.

"Oh God," Collin sighed, rolling off me, throwing on some pants, and getting up to lock the door. "What are we going to do?" he asked. "After all these years of trying so hard to be a good role model and I blow it in less than three seconds. What if she doesn't want anything to do with me again?"

"I'm sure she won't be that hard on you, and I'm pretty sure it's too late for something like this to ruin her. I mean, I can see the whole I'm younger than her thing being a concern, but really it's your life. It's not like this is hurting anyone," I replied. Frankly, I was just glad it was over. It wasn't his fault; it always good before, but being a vampire I had to constantly be careful not to crush him, and being a human he was far too weak to satisfy me the way I had hoped he would. Oh well, at least he liked it.

I rolled over on my stomach to make myself unavailable for another go-round.

"Hey, is that a birthmark shaped like an apple?" he asked.

"Um…no…" I started. I rolled back over to cover it up. I had to have such a specific shaped birthmark, didn't I? When I was a teenager my mother used to tease that if everything but my back was marred beyond recognition after my friends and I did something stupid then she would still be able to identify me to the police.

When I met his eyes he was staring in disbelief. He shook his head. "It…it's not possible," he stammered.

"You're right, it's not. Well, I'm going to go home now," I said quickly, getting off the bed and starting to gather my clothes off the floor.

"There it is again!" he cried, sitting straight up. "How?"

"Just forget I was even here." I kept my eyes to the floor as I hurriedly threw my clothes on, but not too quickly to set him off, as if he already wasn't.

"No, come back!" he said, getting off the bed. I could hear his breathing, his heartbeat, right behind me. His hands rested on my shoulders. He got closer, until his lips brushed my ear. The following words were less than a whisper, more like a breath he'd been breathing for thirty years. "Don't leave me again, Rosalie."

I froze. I didn't know what to do. "What makes you think I'm her?" I finally asked, pulling myself out from his grip and continuing to dress.

"You look just like her, you say the same things she would say, you find me attractive, you have an apple shaped birthmark on the bottom right side of your back, and I can't get you out of my head and my heart just knows. Two hearts that close never forget each other."

"So? If she's dead she can't be here. How do you explain that?"

"I think I have an explanation."

My mind was racing. Could he have found out? Did Kelsey finally break down and tell him? "What's that?" I finally managed.

"You're faster and stronger than you look. Your skin is as white, smooth, and hard as marble, and your body is freezing cold. Even from the little I've talked to you, you're wise beyond your years and when you look closely, there's sadness, longing, to everything you do. The answer is simple. You're a ghost."

I had to hold back a laugh. "Sure, we'll go with that," I said, with an appropriate amount of disbelief, even allowing a bemused chuckle, to show how preposterous the idea was.

"Okay, so you're not a ghost. What about a zombie?"

I actually did laugh at that one.

"Alien?" he tried, making more of a joke out of it now; I continued to laugh. "Vampire?"

I had been so busy laughing at the zombie and alien suggestions that I didn't catch myself in time to keep my reaction from him. I gasped and threw on my jacket. "No, okay, I'm not a mythical creature. I'm going home now; just leave me alone." I spun around to avoid seeing the hurt in his face.

"Please! I didn't mean to offend you! Really! I don't care, even if you are a vampire! Just don't leave me again! I missed you too much."

My still heart shattered. I felt myself fold at my main weakness. I couldn't bear to see the people I love hurt, even if it was for their own good. I stood still. Vampire still. I might have been too weak emotionally to keep him away, but I was going to let him make all the moves.

Slowly he made his way around me until we stood face to face again. He cupped my face in his hands. "I. Love. You."

"I wish that were all it took."

"Well then tell me what it takes! Tell me what to do! I've been alone for too long! All I need to know is what and how!"

I shook my head. There was nothing he could do.

He was beginning to get desperate. Like I was running away. I could hear his heart pound against his chest.

"Shhh…" I whispered, putting my hand over his heart. "I'm not going anywhere."

He wrapped his arms around me and was silent for a while. Then he spoke again. "Can you make me like you?"

"No. I don't have enough self control, and I could never put you through that."

"Why? From what I've heard it's relatively simple."

"The majority of myths about us are untrue. We don't sleep in coffins, or at all for that matter, we avoid the sunlight, but not because it will kill us. We have no aversion to wooden stakes, crosses, or silver bullets, and we really couldn't care less if you shoved garlic our faces except that that would be very annoying."

"Then what's the truth?"

I took a deep breath out of habit. Kelsey was going to kill me for this. "There are two ways to become a vampire. One, another vampire tries to drink your blood and for some reason is interrupted and must leave you, which doesn't happen that often, or a vampire chooses to change you."

From there I explained about Carlisle and the rest of our family and how we drank animal blood instead of human blood. I told him about Nessie and the Volturi and how they routinely checked up on us because our coven was getting big. I told him about blood singers and the struggle to not drink human blood to turn him away, especially about the newborn stage, but in the process of giving the downsides I couldn't help but talk about the speed, strength, and powers vampires sometimes had. I even pulled open the curtains and showed him how my skin sparkled in the sun; that was his favorite.

"So…if you won't turn me, will this Carlisle guy?" he asked as soon as I finished.

"Is it not enough for you to live a long and happy life with the rest of your family?" I asked in frustration.

"On our wedding day, I promised that I would take you to have and to hold under every condition, as long as we both shall live, and I think I've missed out on a lot of that promise. I won't miss out on anymore. Rosalie Belle Hatton Jacobs, if what Edward says is true and you are going to Hell in a hand basket then I am going to Hell in a hand basket with you."

"Think outside this room Collin! Think about what it would do to Kelsey and Abby! They've already lost their mother; don't let them lose you any sooner than necessary." That shut him up for a while.

"Can't we tell them?" he asked.

"Well, Kelsey already knows, but Abby, oh Abby, I only hope she never has need to find out."

"Kelsey knows?!?" Collin exclaimed, his jaw dropping.

"Oh, yeah, I guess I didn't mention the wolves yet did I?"

"Wolves…" he repeated slowly.

"Yeah, the wolves, shape shifters, whatever you want to call them, they're the direct result of our existence in this area. You probably know more about them than you think. Those Quileute legends Caleb loves so much are true."

"That doesn't explain how Kelsey knows," he interjected.

"Kelsey, Seth, Caleb, Leah, Jacob, Koda, Britta, Channing, Kenley, all shape shifters. That's not even the beginning of the list."

He still looked bewildered.

"What is your favorite thing to guilt trip Kelsey about?"

"That one time she took Abby and left for five days. Can you believe that? Just left! For five days! And she was only fifteen, it wasn't even like she could drive…"

"I know, I know, I was there…think deeper. Why do you think she left?"

"I don't…ohhhhh…vampires. What happened? Kelsey won't tell me."

"That's because you're not supposed to know, but there was some vampire thing with Abby that made Kelsey turn for the first time. It was fine though. There's some revenge stuff about that now too, but everything should be fine. The pack is perfectly capable of protecting them."

"So they'll be okay?" he asked, his eyes full of concern.

A howl pierced the air. It sounded far off, but apparently Collin heard it as it made him jump.

"Well, we'll find out now. I'll be back, promise!" I pecked him on the lips. I realized how warm the Blacks kept their house as I opened up the window. "I love you."

"I love you too," I heard him say softly as I hopped out the window and ran into the forest.

Hello again! I definitely have the next chapter almost done, so I'll just wait an appropriate amount of time to post it *coughreviewsmayspeedupthisprocesscough*. I will continually be thanking Megan and Shelby for their help on this story as well as my readers for reading and reviewing.

Hufflepuffbrunette :)