Disclaimer: It all belongs to the mighty S. Meyer--not me.

Chapter Eight - Visitation

When I woke up in the morning, my mother was sitting on the edge of my bed, stroking my hair. When she saw my eyes flutter open, she reached both arms around me, pulled me into a hug and kissed my cheeks, nose, and forehead.

"My little Nessie. What happened to the little girl I could fit easily into my arms? Now she's a young lady with boys macking on her." She popped a cool fingertip on my nose.

"Mom," I groaned groggily, before reaching up to her face. That hardly counted as "good ole macking on me." It was kind of horrible, actually.

"I know," she nuzzled her face in my hair. "Alice told me how you got away. That was good thinking. I didn't even know you could do that."

I didn't know either, and I didn't really think. I got mad and it just kind of came out.

"Anger does seem to help with expressing talents. It helped me figure out mine."

I nodded.

"Nessie, I know you probably don't want to show everyone everything, but can you show me?"

I took a long breath. Shield up?

She nodded. "I was here all night, actually. I was protecting your dreams. I thought if your father heard them…"

Good thinking, mom.

I couldn't recall any of my dreams but I was rather sure that they weren't pretty.

I refocused on her request. You ready, mom?

And then I let her have it, the entire series of events from the previous evening.

"I like your friend, Alyssa. She handled that red-head well, didn't she?"

Oh, mom, I need to see her, or at least call. I never found out how she was doing.

She pulled my phone off my bureau and handed it to me.

I picked it up, dialing Abby. She picked up on the first ring.

"Nessa?"

"Abby, Alyssa, is she okay?"

"She's fine. She's fine. She's at Lawrence-Pierre." I gave a sign of relief. Carlisle worked at Lawrence-Pierre.

"Thanks for the good news, Abby. How long will she be there?"

"I think they are keeping her there under observation until late this afternoon."

"That's good to know. Are you okay, Abby?"

"Oh, don't worry about me, Nessa. Are you okay? We never got a chance to talk last night. I still have no idea how you managed to get her up to the house."

"Eh, it took a while, but I managed. I think I'm going to see Alyssa, today. Will you be there?"

"I might, or I'll just see her later this evening."

We said our goodbyes then and hung up.

I turned toward my mother with pleading eyes. Mom, you want to go to the hospital with me?

She brushed the hair out of my face affectionately. "Between Carlisle and me, I think you should be okay to go, although I think you might want to invite your father, too."

No problem. Will do.

Mom, dad, and I arrived at the hospital by noon. Carlisle met us at the front desk, having already signed us in.

"I went ahead and checked on your friend, Nessie. She's faring well. The trauma to her head was relatively minor. I think it may have been shock that actually made her faint. She also has some bruising on her upper arms, but nothing that won't fade in a few days."

I smiled affectionately at my grandfather. I couldn't imagine a better person in the entire world to care for Alyssa. I gave his hand a squeeze. Thank you, grandpa."

"You're most welcome, Nessie." He pointed. "She's just down the hall, this way." We walked down the hallway to Alyssa's room. My parents and Carlisle took up spots in the waiting room to the side, while I gave a knock and opened the door.

Alyssa was lying in the far bed by the window. Luke was sitting by her side. They were both staring into each other's eyes, goofy smiles on both of their faces.

Why did I always seem to be the one to walk in on people?

I started to back up and close the door, but Alyssa looked up, then.

"Nessa!" She cried. "Oh, Nessa, come here. You turned out to be a saving angel, after all? Just like Kevin said!" She snickered at her own memory.

"Hi, Nessa," Luke smiled at me in greeting, before turning back to Alyssa. "I'll be back in ten, okay? I think I'm going to hunt down some Cheetos." He kissed her hand tenderly before exiting the room.

I waited for the door to close, before turning my face toward hers, my eyebrows raised.

"So?" I asked, taking the chair that had been Luke's.

"So?"

"So you're positively beaming, Alyssa! And I think a certain someone who just walked out the door might just be at the bottom of it…"

"Oh, Nessa!" she covered her face with her hands. "I'm so happy. I don't even know how to tell you. I think you're one of the few people I can tell."

"Well, tell me, then."

"Luke stayed with me all night by my bedside. He didn't go home. When I woke up in the morning, he was here. He told me…" she took a deep breath. "He told me how horrible he felt when he saw me last night, and of course, I told him I didn't want his damned guilt, but then he told me that wasn't the reason. He told me loved me, Nessa. He loves me.

She continued, "That idiot. He said he was afraid of not being good enough for me. I had never realized how hard it was for him, Nessa. I feel like such a sheltered, bratty, rich little fool."

"Alyssa, you're nothing of the sort."

"Oh, but I am Nessa—not that you notice those things. You never seem to, at least. You don't notice money, like everyone else does. You've never even asked about how my family has multiple houses. My father is the CEO of Petrosol-Canada, Nessa. I've never wanted for anything. I've always had it served to me on a silver platter. My brother is the same way—excerpt worse—I think.

"Luke is not that way, though. Luke went to boarding school with my brother but on scholarship. He received another scholarship to go to McGill, and now works full time to make up the rest. He earned his internship at Petrosol—by his own merit, not by my father's appointment, like my brother. He's so good. And I almost ruined that for him last night. If my brother had seen… If he had flipped out…"

"But he didn't see."

"No, he didn't. I saw him, though, screwing May Li. More than I ever wanted to see. Did you see them, too, when you came to search for me?"

"I saw them."

She nodded. "That's why I can't tell May Li about this. She's so fucking head over heels for Quinn. She'd tell him everything. I didn't realize how damn serious she was about him. It's not good, though. He's bad for her. Quinn is never serious about any girl. I wonder if she knows that and knows what I'll tell her, and that's why she hasn't told me…"

"So, how are you going to make it work—with Luke, I mean?"

She blushed, "He asked if we could just take it slow. Get coffee and ice cream and stuff like that. He said he'd be happy enough to just spend time with me. He said he's liked me for forever—since I dumped orange juice all over him at my fourteenth birthday party. I was mad. He wasn't paying attention to me." She blushed again, before bursting into giggles.

I giggled, too. It was contagious.

"Ah! He loves me! I can't say it enough."

I took her hand then, smiling into her face. "I'm so happy for you."

She smiled back at me, radiant. Then, the door opened again. Luke was back.

"I found the Cheetos," he quipped, smiling.

"I think I'll take my leave, now, but I'll see you on Monday, Alyssa?"

"Monday," she confirmed.

And then I left the two of them to their happiness.

When I finally talked to Jake about the party, he was beside himself. He phased while talking to me on the phone. He lost control, and he phased. His voice suddenly cut out on the phone and all I heard for two minutes was snapping and growling until he phased back. Luckily, he was walking in the woods, but still, it was a totally ridiculous response.

"Aw, Jake, that has to be your last pair of sweats. It's a good thing you're in La Push. How would you have gotten back into the dorm?"

"I'd have waited for Seth or Leah to come and throw pants at me."

I huffed.

"I'll be there in two days. Do you think you can keep a handle on it until then? No parties? No wrestling matches with vampires?"

"I don't know. Emmett might goad me…"

"You know what I mean, Nessie."

"Don't worry, Jake."

I decided to focus on the positive. "So, I am really, really, extremely excited to see you."

He cheered slightly, then. "I'm really excited to see you, too. Your mom tells me that you've grown like half a foot since I last saw you."

"Pretty much, there's no other way I could have enrolled as a junior if I didn't look at least fifteen, sixteen-ish."

"Sixteen?" His voice suddenly sounded a bit weak.

I laughed. "Are you okay, Jake? Did I shock you?"

"No, no, I'm fine."

"Well, you'll see me in two days regardless."

"Can't wait."

"Me neither."