I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephanie Meyers. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

Chapter 7: Haven in a Heartless World

"The family is a haven in a heartless world." ~Attributed to Christopher Lasch

~Legacy~

The drive to Seattle was mostly silent. Sometimes Cassie would turn on the radio and hum along with the music. Her taste was eclectic and confusing; I couldn't predict what she would choose next. Then she would abruptly turn off the radio and stare out the window with a familiar line between her brows and her generous lips pressed together as if she was contemplating something displeasing to her.

"Are you nervous?" I asked when we left her car and put her things in mine. She looked at me, obviously surprised.

"Why would I be nervous?" she asked, her mouth pulling up in a smile. She seemed genuinely surprised at the question.

"Well," I said. "You're about to put yourself at the mercy of a coven of vampires." Surely that was reason enough for discomfort, or even fear? But apparently not to Cassie McBride.

"If you were on your way to meet…I don't know, maybe let's say Snow White or Luke Skywalker or somebody like that, wouldn't you be the teeniest bit excited?"

"Rather like you're meeting Darth Vader…times six," I commented.

Cassie scoffed. "There's another mythic figure who couldn't see past what he wasn't allowed to have." She sighed. "Poor thing, such a waste."

"Don't tell me you're sympathetic to such an iconic villain?" I asked in disbelief.

"He got a raw deal," Cassie insisted. "They took him away from his mother and then everyone was shocked when he had anger issues." She laughed. "And the Jedi were supposed to be so smart."

"I wouldn't have thought of it that way in the first place," I admitted.

"You poor deprived vampire," she sympathized. "I can see I'm going to have to kick your ass and teach you to enjoy life – or existence or whatever you want to call it – a little bit more. I told you vampire boy, this is it – your only shot. Might as well make it a doozy."

Vampire boy. That was a new one. I had a feeling that Cassie could be quite inventive in coming up with nicknames for me.

I remained silent because really, what was there to say. Once again, I could only imagine what the others would make of her. "I wonder why Alice never saw you coming?" I asked, my question directed more at myself than at her.

Cassie shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe she just wasn't looking for me." That seemed a logical enough explanation. But then I remembered that Alice had only caught glimpses of Bella after –

After I left.

After she married Jacob.

After she bore him a son.

After she lived the human life I had wanted for her.

Not until they end of Bella's life had she revealed what she knew. Only after…

After, after, after.

My anguish must have flickered across my face because Cassie took one look at me and heaved a long sigh.

"So tell me, vampire boy, are you always this brooding?" Cassie asked, settling into the passenger seat with every appearance of making herself at home. "I just want to know so I can prepare myself for the emotional overload." She shook her head. "Nana told me, of course, but it's like the whole not aging thing, and not really appreciated until one sees it up close and in person."

"I suppose I am rather…introspective," I admitted.

"Introspective, huh? I think that's just a nice word for brooding," Cassie observed. She shrugged. "Whatever, I guess that's your thing so I really shouldn't tease you too much." There was a sidelong glance from dark, dark eyes. "Still, when you think about it, your deal isn't really all that bad."

"What?" Was she kidding me? The undeniable desire for blood? The perpetual loneliness that had been my lot since I walked away from Bella? The constant feeling of being the odd man out? And the inescapable knowledge that I had an eternity of it all waiting for me?

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Think about it, vampire boy. You're gorgeous. You're pretty much indestructible, and you have a family that loves you." She leaned against the window, breathing on it and then making idle patterns with her fingers in the condensation left behind. "It's really not a bad deal when you think about it."

"I'm glad you think so." I couldn't help the bite to my words.

"So you just like feeling sorry for yourself. Is that it?" One dark brow was arched, her expression skeptical.

"You can't understand, Cassie," I said quietly. "This existence…it's outside the realm of your comprehension."

"Outside the realm of my comprehension, huh?" I heard a delicate snort of derision. "Sounds like a fancy way to say 'fuck off little girl, you don't have a clue' if you ask me."

There was silence for a long moment between us. "You know, there are lots of humans out there that manage to somehow face each day with a lot less going for them than you have, you know." She looked out the window again and her expression was pained. "Not the whole blood lust thing, but good old fashioned lust can screw you up easy enough. There are lots of people who have destroyed their lives or someone else's because of a need to get into someone's pants. And that's everywhere. I get that you're lonely, but guess what? A lot of people are lonely. Including yours truly. But I think loneliness is just part of existing, inescapable really, when you get down to it."

More silence. Her eyes followed the trees as we drove.

"I think maybe you should focus on what's good in your life – what you have rather than what you don't." Cassie's voice was soft and gentle.

"Like you do?" I was amused at her reasoning. But I had the perspective of almost two centuries of existence. This girl, with her fleeting human life span, could never relate.

Cassie nodded. "Well, yes. I deal with stuff every day that you can't comprehend either. It's outside your realm, vampire boy. But I don't sit around and mope and let myself stay sad about things that cannot be. This is it; this is my time, my place. And really there's nothing to do but deal with it." She snorted. "I pulled up my big girl panties a long time ago. Maybe you should too. Your big boy pants, that is. Unless you're into that sort of thing." She grinned at me. "I don't know your underwear habits so I wouldn't want to presume."

I had to laugh. There was no other choice. "God I can't wait for you to meet Emmett. I have a feeling you two will get along famously."

"Oh yeah, I'm looking forward to meeting him," Cassie said with enthusiasm. "Nana Bells really liked him." She paused. "She missed him. She missed all of them, not just you."

Yet another illustration of my selfishness.

"Still, I guess that was the way it was supposed to be," Cassie mused.

"Perhaps," I allowed.

Another silence fell over us. Finally, I broke it. "I'm assuming you're okay with flying?"

"Wouldn't be here if I wasn't," she answered enigmatically. She looked at me, her lips quirked. "Are you flying me somewhere, vampire boy?"

"To Maine," I explained. "We have a house out there."

"I'm betting you have a house in a lot of places," Cassie noted. "Must be nice, still…a lot of decorating decisions to make."

"I suppose, though Esme takes care of most of that." I shrugged. I had been mostly indifferent to my surroundings for a long time.

"Ah yes, the vampire mommy," Cassie teased. "Do you suppose she ever gets tired of keeping you all in line?"

"She never seems to," I replied.

Cassie shrugged. "I think I'd be tempted to tell you all to go to the devil every now and then."

"Maybe she is," I allowed. "Still, it's not like she's really our mother, she's just sort of…well, a role model I guess you'd say, someone we can look to for an example of how we should conduct ourselves." I paused. "She is our leader's mate, I suppose. And that gives her a position of respect."

"You're really cute with all the formal talk, vampire boy," Cassie said. "It's all really 1918."

"Well, that's when I was turned."

"I know," Cassie said dryly. "Nana Bells told me."

I didn't know what to say and by that time we were at the airport. I grabbed her bag and parked the car. Twenty minutes later I had purchased tickets for us. I was kind of expecting Cassie to protest me buying her ticket, but she seemed to accept it as a matter of course. I found it a strange relief not to argue with her over the issue.

In some ways, Cassie was very easy to be around; her presence was soothing in unexpected ways and yet unsettling in others. Like almost everything about her, it was a contradiction.

She fell asleep on the plane almost as soon we lifted off and I was given the luxury of studying her without her dark gaze penetrating into what might be my soul. So much of what she said resonated with Bella's thoughts, and yet she was entirely her own person. In the day since I'd met her, I'd been angry and sad and confused and hopeful – feeling more than I had in the seventy years that had come before. Even my ever-present despair lightened in her presence.

She had been expecting me. I sensed behind her carefree façade that there lurked a burden, something which she would not yet share. I had all the time in the universe, but I wondered…

Did she?

Of course not. She was limited by her human frailties. I was limited by my vampiric needs. Were our limits somehow compatible?

What would finding Cassie mean to my existence? My future?

The plane landed and Cassie woke without prompting. We were soon in another car, one I had waiting at the airport, and making our way toward the latest Cullen residence.

She was mostly silent, not even turning the radio on, seemingly content to simply watch the passing scenery. It did not take long and we were there.

My family was standing on the porch, waiting for us.

Alice's expression betrayed her longing and I could read her thoughts. I think we're going to be friends, good friends. But it's all a little hazy.

I wondered if Cassie's unique heritage had anything to do with that. Probably not, but it was certainly a theory worth putting forth to Carlisle. Rosalie was sizing Cassie up and coming to the conclusion that the "little human" was not going to be easily intimidated. She had no idea. Emmett was just up for some fun, having missed the way Bella had livened up things for our family. Jasper was quiet, as was his way. Esme was searching Cassie's face for sign of Bella and finding them. Her thoughts were warm and welcoming.

Carlisle was smiling slightly, his thoughts reflecting his excitement that new knowledge was coming his way. Alice had given him a heads up about Cassie's wolf blood line and he was looking forward to exploring whatever information that Cassie might bring his way. Cassie might find hers attention monopolized by Carlisle's insatiable curiosity, but I didn't think she'd mind.

I had expected Cassie to be hesitant getting out the car, perhaps approaching my family with caution. I should have known better.

As soon as I pulled to a stop, she was climbing out the car and striding toward the porch, seemingly at ease with approaching six vampires. She looked at each of them for a long moment, murmuring their names as she studied them.

"Carlisle…" Deep respect in her voice as she spoke his name.

"Esme…" She smiled at Esme.

"Rosalie," Cassie murmured with a nod of her head.

"Alice." There was immense joy in her voice at saying that name.

"Jasper." A soft note there, one that surprised Jasper.

"And Emmett," Cassie ended with a grin. To everyone's shock, she walked up to Emmett and gave him a fierce hug.

"I don't know you, but I've missed you," Cassie said, tilting her head. She looked back at me. "See? I don't know how you can be so miserable when you've got all of them."

Emmett snorted with laughter and hauled Cassie up against his side. "I like you, little human, I really do."

She gave him a disgruntled look and shoved ineffectually against his side. "And I like you, big vampire, I really do." Then she frowned. "Though I don't know why."

Rose laughed and I heard her relief.

Oh, Edward, she might be just what you needed…Rose thought.