A/N:

Okie dokie, peoples! You're all totally awesome for reading, and you're even more awesome if you've reviewed! Words can't express how happy I am that you guys like this!

I got the comment for the last chapter that it was fluff... and so it was. But this chapter actually has some action in it. And, of course, I leave you with a cliff hanger at the end… but there' action after the initial fluff, and that's what counts!

Anyway, on with the chapter. There's another (more important) author's note at the end.

"Bella?" The word filtered through my dream, but I ignored it.

"Bella. Wake up."

"Uggg," I groaned.

Mark seemed satisfied that I had answered in one form, even if it wasn't the way he wanted me to answer. His next vocalization was more confident.

"Bella, I'm stopping so we can get gas and eat," he said. "Do you want anything to eat?"

"No, I just wanna sleep," I grumbled and curled into a tighter ball on the seat. My stomach, however, betrayed me and started talking to Mark in groans and grumbles.

"It sounds just like you while you're trying to wake up!" Mark joked, and I waved an arm at him in an attempt to hit him. I didn't succeed.

"Be nice, Bella," he scolded me. "I'm the one driving."

"And I'm the one trying to sleep," I retorted. "Don't bother me."

"Don't make me lift you out of the car and carry you into the restaurant."

I pried open and eye and glared at him. "You wouldn't dare."

"You wanna bet?" he asked, grinning mischievously.

"No," I sighed in defeat. "I know you when you're in this mood. There's no stopping you." I opened the other eye and started stretching as Mark pulled into a gas station.

"I'm going to fill up with gas and then we'll go eat," he said. I nodded absently and pulled out my MP3 player.

I didn't get to listen to my music for very long, though, because my cell phone started ringing. It was Alice, of course.

"Hi Alice," I said.

"Where are you?" She demanded.

"Getting gas."

"It's 3:30! You're already an hour late!"

"We didn't leave until 11, Alice. Calm down."

"Bel-la!" she whined. "Don't tell me to calm down! I just can't wait to see you! We're all waiting, and just because we're immortal doesn't mean we're that patient! Carlisle's the only one who isn't antsy!"

"Everyone?" I squeeked.

"Well, everyone except Edward." Alice admitted. "We haven't heard from him since he left."

"Okay," I sighed in relief. I could almost see Alice rolling her eyes.

"So you'll be here around 7:30?" she asked.

"Alice, have you forgotten who I'm talking to?" I reminded her.

"I was just checking!" she insisted. Mark slid back in the car and gave me a questioning look.

"It's Alice," I told him. He grinned and started the car.

"Alice, we're going to go eat," I said, "And then we'll be on the road again. We'll call before we get to Forks so you can meet us at Charlie's house, okay?"

"Don't take too long!" Alice instructed me, and then hung up.

"I swear, she'll have a heart attack one of these days because something doesn't happen when it's supposed to," Mark said after my phone was closed.

"I don't think anything is ever going to give Alice a heart attack," I countered, ignoring the irony of the conversation. "I think she'll give IT a heart attack when she chews it out for being late."

We laughed, and he pulled into a parking spot at McDonalds.

"I figure if Alice is already calling, we'd better eat fast food," Mark explained.

"It'd be better to do drive up," I said, but unbuckled and we went inside.

"Do you want to drive?" Mark asked when we came out.

"Sure," I answered, "That way when Alice calls again you get to deal with her!"

"You're evil," Mark informed me as he handed over the keys.

"I can be," I agreed.

I had been driving for two hours, while Mark slept, when the trip became interesting.

I'd been listening to one of the CDs in the car, I didn't know which one since it was one of Mark's, when the deer jumped out in front of us. I slammed on the break… and hit a patch of ice. The car spun, slammed the driver's side into one of the deer, spun some more, and then rolled down the ditch. Mark woke up somewhere in there, probably when I screamed.

We ended up at the bottom of the ditch, luckily right side up. I was frozen, unable to remove my hands from the wheel.

"Bella, are you okay?" Mark asked. I blinked a few times and turned to look at him with wide eyes. "Bella… Honey, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"N…no." I stuttered. He unbuckled and opened his door before coming around and opening mine. He unbuckled me and pried my fingers from the wheel before helping me out of the car. He pulled me into a hug.

"What's wrong?" He asked softly. "Neither of us are hurt. We're both perfectly fine. The car got a little dinted, but it's old anyway. We needed to get a new one."

"I almost got us killed," I answered, but that wasn't what had scared me. It was what I had seen right after the deer jumped. They weren't just crossing the road on some whim. They had been scared… by a werewolf. And I knew from past experience, where there were werewolves, there were vampires.

A twig snapped in the woods close by, and I froze, expecting the worst.

Buwahahaha! Cliffie! Sorry about that, but I couldn't resist. Writers love 'em, readers hate 'em, and yet they're so tempting to write.

I probably won't be updating tomorrow, and if I don't update tomorrow then you'll probably have to wait until Monday for the next chapter.

Read and review, please! Tell me what you think, what I could fix, any guesses of what's in the woods… anything you want, just please hit the nice little review button. :D

Until the next chapter,

Addie