Not a lot to say here other than to anyone who's reading, I'm hoping you're liking what you're reading. We're getting really close to the big reveal here, even though Edward pretty much lays it all down right here.

Thanks to everyone for reading.

Read on!

Lions & Bears

October, 1945

Edward

I knew when Emmett decided to take down that deer on our way back from hunting over the weekend that it was a bad idea. He'd already had his fill of other animals, and Carlisle and Esme had sent us ahead while they stopped in a nearby town with Rosalie to get a few items for Keira later in the week. The last few weeks of having her in the house had been a new experience for them and Emmett, and it looked like they'd all grown accustomed to having her there even if it was only for two days a week. Esme was thinking about making a few snacks for Keira, and she planned to brew tea and squeeze some orange juice in case our guest got hungry or thirsty. It was almost like we had a pet, even though I didn't like to think of Keira that way. And she was always considerate when Esme and Carlisle engaged her in their conversations. Keira seemed to be adjusting to being around my family, and I had to admit, I was enjoying having her around. It was nice to have someone other than Emmett to talk to.

I hated leaving town to go hunting when I knew we were in the middle of gathering all our samples, but Carlisle had insisted since the weather had started clearing up Thursday night. He'd actually wanted us to stay home Friday, but I'd insisted on going to keep suspicions down so he would be able to call the school for us. And when Saturday morning had dawned cloudy and perfect, I'd still taken Emmett to pick Keira up for our day of exploring. We'd already collected a lot of samples, and I knew we had more than enough to turn in for our project, but after three weeks, I found that I liked talking to Keira while we walked. I realized she balanced out the monotony of school and gave it a healthy infusion of intrigue because every day wasn't the same anymore. And I never thought I'd find someone who did that for me, but even Carlisle could see how I was changing. I knew he was worried, but as long as she was safe, he didn't see a reason for her to stop coming to the house.

While hunting, I'd thought of several different things to tell Keira that I'd done while camping to keep her from wondering about the timing of our camping trip. I knew she would ask. She was such a curious human, and it was surprisingly refreshing even though I was constantly having to explain Rosalie's strange behavior and how Carlisle always seemed to appear in the foyer whenever we were leaving to take her home. She never actually said anything about Carlisle, but she was always thinking about it. And he was still reminding me that above anything else, our safety was most important. I didn't have the nerve to tell him it was changing for me.

Most of the way back from hunting, Emmett had tried to challenge me by trying to run faster than me or jump higher than I could. And until he'd found the deer, he hadn't succeeded, even though we'd run all the way from the park and were less than half a mile from the house when we both smelled it. Human.

I'd been feeding on animal blood most of my vampire life of nearly thirty years, and by now, I could smell human blood but not give in to its pull. In fact, after so long feeding on animals, I could detect certain scents within the blood, and I knew for sure that most if not all humans had different scents and tastes in their blood. Carlisle and Esme were the same, with Carlisle being the most controlled of us since he was the oldest. But for Rosalie and Emmett, it wasn't as easy to sense different tastes or tenors in the blood. Rosalie had never tasted human blood, and she prided herself on it, but Emmett . . . well, he'd slipped a few times.

His thoughts now told me he'd lost all interest in the deer at his feet, and since I was farther away from this smell than he was, I could see he intended to take advantage of this turn of events. I was focused completely on him, moving closer until I was less than thirty feet from him, and he suddenly shot off in the direction of the human. He was completely blinded by his thirst, and even though he knew I was behind him, he didn't stop. I knew he wouldn't feel bad about giving in this one time, but I also knew whoever he'd smelled had probably come from somewhere. I couldn't let him ruin things just because he still had trouble controlling himself at the most inopportune times.

We ran at an equal distance between each other toward this smell, and it wasn't until he was almost on top of it that I recognized this scent. Gardenia with a hint of rose. My eyes shifted from Emmett to the human, and I was more shocked than I'd ever been in my life to see her there running away from us. Her blond hair was flowing in the breeze with a few leaves stuck in it, and there were scrapes on her cheeks from running through the foliage. Her pants were dirty, and the red scarf around her neck was trailing behind her as she ran. I knew why she was running. I could see it in her thoughts. She'd seen Emmett. She'd seen what he was doing, and running had only prompted him to follow her even more than her standing still would have. And she wasn't that far away from him.

"Emmett!"

He either didn't hear me or chose to ignore me as he continued to chase after her, and I followed him as the trees and light flew passed us until they were blurs of green and yellow. I was sure I could catch him before he caught up to her, but the moment he grabbed her scarf and pulled on it only to come up empty handed as she stumbled to the ground, I knew I'd let this go on long enough.

I sped up intentionally, blowing passed him and knocking him back as I now stood between him and his prey. Dirt flew in every direction as he landed, and I stayed in position, crouching to the ground while still standing in front of her and then glancing over my shoulder at her. I heard Emmett coming closer, and I looked at him, seeing fury in his eyes and smelling venom in his mouth as he made his way toward me. He grinned, like he could beat me even if he was a little stronger than I was. He snarled, poising himself to charge again, and I growled back, grinding my teeth together a split second before he lunged for me.

I slammed into him at full speed, shoving him back and feeling him push me away before we separated and faced each other again.

"Move out of my way, brother," he warned, grinning still and clenching his fists as he prepared himself for the fight I was about to give him.

"Not happening," I swore, planting my feet over the ground and flattening my palms against his chest as he slammed into me with his shoulder.

I didn't want to hurt him, but I couldn't let him do this. Not now. Not her. Not ever again. My feet slid along the forest floor, taking grass and leaves along with them as I dug my heels into the ground to stop him and then began shoving him back until he was far enough away for me to throw into the nearest tree. Had the tree been a little thicker, he would've bounced off and fallen to the ground still ready to fight. But instead he hit the tree and knocked it down as he landed about twenty feet away as I still stood between him and her.

He came up from his fall to come at me a second time, and this time I was ready for him, grabbing him by the shoulders and shoving him back again until I was on top of him.

"Not her!" I growled at him, watching the realization spark in his eyes and then pulling him to his feet. "Get to the house," I ordered. "Now."

He didn't hesitate, glancing over my shoulder at her as she remained on the ground and then shooting off in the direction of the house before he could lose control again. I stood still for several seconds with my back to her as she watched me with a dozen different thoughts running through her head simultaneously. I knew she'd watched us fight, watched the way I'd tossed Emmett around like he was a rag doll and then him come up from knocking a tree down more than twenty feet away. I knew I couldn't hide this from her, no matter what I said or did.

Slowly, I turned to face her, seeing how scared she was and watching her fear increase more as I made my way to her. I picked her scarf up off the ground, easing toward her slowly in hopes that I could keep her from running away. I was probably two or three feet in front of her as she pulled in and pushed out air in such a way that made me think she was going to pass out. With her scarf in hand, I knelt in front of her, wanting to explain but not knowing exactly how to begin. I reached for her to give her scarf back, and she backed away from me instinctively.

"I won't hurt you," I promised her. "I'm sorry you saw that. I wasn't — "

"What was that?" she demanded.

No other single question anyone had asked me had ever been so difficult for me to answer, and it wasn't one I'd ever had to answer before in all my life. No one, no human had ever seen any of us like this, not even the humans I'd killed while I'd been away from Carlisle before we'd found Rosalie. Even then I'd been careful and left nothing to be found behind, and I'd never had to explain to a human what I was or how I could do the things I did. What was I supposed to say?

I stared into her frightened eyes wondering whether she would understand. It was too far beyond human comprehension to know about our existence. Most humans avoided getting to know us, and it was an aspect of our lives we'd come to appreciate. We never had to come up with reasons for our odd behavior, and Carlisle had never given us an opportunity to think of what to say if anyone ever saw us or found out what we were. We'd always simply lied or played on the way humans were poor observers of the space around them. But I couldn't do that now that she'd seen me and Emmett fighting over her. I couldn't lie to her.

"What are you?" she pleaded, shaking and grasping onto the front of her coat like it was the only thing anchoring her to what she understood and knew.

If I could've come up with a decent excuse, I would've delved so far into my mind for it that it would've come out more plausible than any other excuse could've possibly been. She was delusional and didn't know what she'd seen. Emmett hadn't tried to kill her. He'd been trying to protect her from an animal about to attack her. She hadn't seen me fighting him to keep him from attacking her the way I knew he'd wanted to. But the more I played it over in my head, the more ridiculous it sounded. And the more I listened to myself try to explain it away, the more I knew I didn't want to lie to her.

"Everything's going to be all right," I swore to her. "I wasn't going to let him hurt you."

"And why would he want to?" she cried.

"Because . . ." I stopped, thinking of Carlisle and Esme and knowing they wouldn't approve of me exposing our secret to a human, even if it was this human whom they'd both grown to care about. I was putting her in danger just by even thinking about doing what I was thinking of doing.

"Edward, please tell me what's going on," she begged. What was I thinking? Coming out here alone!

I wanted to tell her. I wanted her to know the truth, but I knew what would happen if I even attempted to explain it to her. Humans weren't supposed to know about our kind, and we were supposed to stay away from them as much as possible even if Carlisle chose to live among them like we could be semi-normal. We'd never even accidently exposed our secret to any of the humans we lived near, and we'd always lived far enough away from town to keep them from seeing us in the one place where we didn't have to hide what we were. How was I supposed to anticipate something like this to happening?

I eased closer to her a little every second, still holding her scarf and then reaching for her hands as she still clutched her coat. She pulled away again, but I didn't stop, laying my hands over her arms and then gently pulling her to her feet. She stumbled away from me into a tree nearby, and I held her up on her feet.

"It's all right," I assured her.

"This is not all right," she grit out through her teeth. "What are you? Tell me the truth."

"I want to tell you," I said softly. "I didn't mean for you to see this. I was supposed to be back before I saw you again. Why are you out here? It's dangerous out here for you."

"I asked you first," she pressed.

I bowed my head, trying to think of something to say that would put her at ease. I held her arms as gently as I could without hurting her, but for the longest few seconds, I could think of nothing that would make this easier. For her or me. And I knew in that moment that it was useless to lie to her about what she'd seen.

"Emmett and I were coming back when he smelled you," I conceded reluctantly. "I couldn't let him hurt you, so I had to fight him to keep him away from you."

"And why was that necessary?" she asked, whispering as she lifted her eyes to mine.

I inhaled, smelling her blood on the air and remembering the scrapes on her face. "It's getting late," I told her. "And it'll be dark soon. I will tell you. Now that you've seen this, I can't lie to you. But it isn't really mine to tell you."

"Then whose is it?"

I exhaled, looking around and knowing the house was less than half a mile away and that Carlisle and Esme were back with Rosalie. "I can only tell you my part. But the rest . . . well, Carlisle will have to tell you."

"Carlisle?" she repeated. How is any of this possible? They were moving so fast. And Emmett knocked down a tree. They're all so cold and pale, and their eyes change colors. They never eat or drink.

"Carlisle will answer all your questions," I promised. "He'll tell you everything. I promise you'll be safe."

I pulled her from the tree she'd settled against, taking her hand for the first time and then leading the way back to my house. I didn't want to startle her by running or even walking faster than I normally would with her. I realized how fragile her sanity was at this point, and I wanted to preserve that for as long as possible until I could sit her down with Carlisle to have him tell her everything she would need to know, to know that she was safe with me even when it seemed impossible. I'd never meant for this to happen, but I couldn't change it, and now all that mattered to me was her safety.

She was working through everything in her mind as we walked, and at this rate, I knew it would be half an hour before we made it back to the house. She was allowing me to hold onto her only to keep her from getting lost again, and I knew the moment we left the trees she would push me away again. But her heart was still racing, and her legs were barely moving as I carried her along the forest floor.

"I can get you to the house quicker if you'll allow me . . ." I stopped, and she looked at me. I wasn't sure if it was my voice or my face, but she bowed her head then, allowing me to lift her in my arms so I could move faster to get to the house sooner. She wrapped her arms around my neck, enveloping me in her scent and trusting me completely as I started off. She never looked up, and I was glad for that, as I began running once she was settled inside my arms.

I thought the whole way how bad this was, not just for her, but for me as well. I'd never been this close to a human in more than ten years, and even then, I'd been hunting and killing every bad person I could find in an effort to rid myself of the overwhelmingly horrible feeling I'd had at the point in my life. And none of those people had ever seen me coming. I had never wanted a human to trust me before now, but holding her in my arms as I ran was putting me in a state of mind where I was definitely wanting her to trust me.

In the few minutes it took me to get from there to the edge of the wood, I started thinking of what I would say to Carlisle to convince him that this could prove to be better than it appeared. I thought of how I could blame all of it on Emmett and his inability to control his urges when he hunted. And I thought about what I would say to Rosalie about her mate making things difficult for us wherever we went. But what it really came down to was the fact that I didn't know what I was going to say at all. It was very frustrating.

I made it to the house less than five minutes after our starting point, and as soon as I was at the porch steps, I set her down and then sat down in front of her. She opened her eyes to look at me again, and I eased closer to her with her hands in mine. She shivered as our skin touched, and her heart sped up slightly until she was blushing gently. I really wished she wouldn't do that, because it was going to make this so much harder than it should've been.

"I need you to listen to me," I said to her, lifting my finger to her cheek where she was bleeding slightly. "I never really wanted to lie to you. I mean, I had to, for your safety. I wasn't expecting you to appear in my life like this, and I didn't want to hurt you. I still don't. That's why I had to stop Emmett from following through with his thoughts. It wasn't just for me or my family. I stopped him for you as well. There are many different reasons why this has changed everything. I wish there were an easy way to make you understand this without scaring you. But I'm at a loss as to how I can accomplish that."

"You're . . . not human," she said, going over all the things she seen and felt since meeting me. Fast. Strong. Cold. Pale. Color-changing eyes. Never eat or drink. Appear, disappear.

I bowed my head, listening to Carlisle approach the doors to the porch. "No," I said to her. "I'm not. None of us are," I explained as the doors opened to reveal Carlisle there alone. I sighed softly, taking her hands again and pulling her to her feet as he stepped in front of us.

"Edward," he said, and I could hear what he was thinking now that Emmett had told him what had happened in the woods.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," I told him as earnestly as I could. "But Emmett . . ."

"I understand," he nodded. "And Emmett has apologized for his behavior. Next time, I'll be taking him while you go with Esme and Rosalie. But this changes things," he informed me, lowering his eyes to hers as she tried to hide behind me. I held her hand in mine protectively.

"We only have a short time before the sun sets," I pressed. "If she's here now then it means she's been out here long enough for her parents to start worrying. I want to tell her so she'll be safe, but she should get home so her father won't send out people to look for her."

"How much does she know?" he asked, still looking in her eyes in a way that said he only wanted her safety as much as I did.

"She's seen me and Emmett fight," I reminded him. "But there have been other things. I told you she was curious."

"I shouldn't have come out here," she said, and we both looked at her. "I was worried, and I had to make sure you were all okay."

"What do you mean?" I asked her. "Why were you worried?"

"My father got a call last night from one of the rangers at the station that a group of campers had been attacked about five miles outside of town," she explained, looking at me and then Carlisle. "A group of five campers. He said the ranger told him it looked like they'd been mauled by a bear, but when he got back this morning, he said that even though they'd looked pretty bad, there hadn't been any blood on the site at all. Edward said you were all going camping, and I had to make sure it wasn't you."

"When did this happen?" I asked her, curious as to how I'd missed the thoughts of other vampires in the area.

"He said they were attacked Monday morning. They were found last night."

I looked at Carlisle, and he was thinking the same thing I was. He was able to keep a calm expression on his face as he reached for her and took her hands from mine.

"Keira, please come with me," he requested, her name hitting my ears and causing me to react by remembering the look on her face when she'd seen us. "You have some scrapes on your face. We should put some antibiotics on those. We'll have you home before dark, I promise."

She looked at me as Carlisle pulled her inside, and I tried to look reassuring, but she still looked scared. I didn't know how to keep her from becoming more frightened as we all entered the house quietly.

Esme was waiting with antiseptic and ointment for Keira's scrapes, and Carlisle sat her down on the couch to look at her face. I stood away from the couch to give her space, but when she looked at me, I automatically moved forward to sit over the table in front of the couch to be close to her.

"These shouldn't take too long to heal," Carlisle said, easing gauze over her cheeks and forehead and then rubbing ointment over them to keep them from hurting. "I'm much more interested in helping you. You must have been more frightened than I can imagine. Are you certain you're all right?"

She looked at me again, bowing her head. "I'm a little shaken," she admitted. "I keep thinking I'll wake up, and this will all have been a dream."

Esme sat at her side and began removing the leaves and twigs from her hair. "That's a very strange dream," she smiled, smoothing Keira's hair gently.

At that moment, another thought flashed through her head, of me standing over a dead deer on the forest floor, and she looked at me with a nervous grin on her face. "Yeah. Strange. But I'm not dreaming, am I?"

"Unfortunately, no," Carlisle said gravely, thinking about how far back he would have to go to tell her everything she would need to know to be safe. "And more than that, you're not safe. Not here, not anymore. And there's much we need to discuss, but I'll grant Edward this one request to wait until tomorrow since it is getting late. Until then, I must plead with you to keep everything you've seen to yourself. The survival of my family depends on it."

"Absolutely," she said immediately. "You've been so kind. I would never want any of you to be hurt. Not even Emmett, especially if he couldn't help it."

Carlisle bowed his head graciously, lifting his eyes to mine. You'll need to watch her tonight to be safe. If there are others in the area, they'll sense her now that she's been exposed to us.

I acknowledged him silently, rising slowly and reaching for Keira's hands as she sat between Carlisle and Esme. "I'll take you home," I told her, seeing the curious look in her eyes again and glancing at Carlisle to see him tense even though he said nothing.

Rosalie and Emmett were waiting outside the room when I stepped into the foyer with Keira, and they both looked at me before Emmett spoke up.

"I'm sorry, man," he offered with his head hung. "I guess I — I wasn't thinking. You know I wouldn't hurt her if I'd known."

I glanced at Keira, and she looked at me before stepping closer to him slowly to put her arms around him. Both Rosalie and I stiffened the moment Emmett returned her gesture, but then he let go, and it was over. Keira forgave easier than she forgot apparently, but she was no longer afraid. I hoped it meant she would be able to accept the situation as easily as she'd said to Carlisle.

She returned to my side, and I pulled her through the front door as the afternoon sun had already begun its descent toward the western horizon. Without any clouds to cover it up, the deep orange and red hues of the setting sun hit my face and caused Keira to stop in her tracks as we stood on the porch. She stepped closer to me, lifting her hand to my cheek and then looking back at the sun before returning her eyes to me.

"Does it scare you?" I asked softly.

She tilted her head to the side, not grinning but not frowning. "No," she said certainly. "I've just been wondering what you would look like in the sun, and . . . I guess now I know."

I took her hands in mine, bowing my head until my forehead was close to hers. "You should be afraid of me," I told her. "Because I'm much worse than any criminal your father has ever seen. But I think I would put myself in harm's way before I allowed myself to hurt you. So you're safe with me. All right?"

She nodded instantly, grasping onto my hands with hers and then glancing back at the sun before again looking at my face.

I lifted her in my arms again then, holding her against me and starting down the path from my house to the road.

"What about my bicycle?" she asked.

"I'll come back for it," I promised. "Do you trust me?"

She barely hesitated. "Yes."

I grinned, speeding up slightly. "You shouldn't," I warned her. "But since you do, shut your eyes."

She obeyed immediately, laying her face in the bend of my neck less than a second before I took off, running down the path to the road and then turning south to get into town before the sun could even touch the top of the trees in the distance. She likened the feeling to flying, holding me tighter and even laughing a little as we flew passed a freight truck on its way to the town's grocery store. I'd never done anything like this before, so it was a little strange at first, but as we neared the block her house was located on, I'd become accustomed to it quickly. She fit easily into my arms, and it felt like I'd always been meant to have her in my life now. I liked how that felt.

I made sure to stop between houses so we wouldn't appear to come out of nowhere, and I set her down gently as the street lights began coming on.

"I'll wait until after dinner," I told her, "and then I'll come to your window. Carlisle thinks I should keep you safe tonight."

"Why? What's happening?"

"It's probably nothing serious," I assured her. "Just go inside before your mother really starts to worry. Your father will be home in half an hour."

She bowed her head then, stepping away from me and walking into her house without looking back at me. I moved back into the shadows, listening to her mother call for her.

"How was your walk, honey?"

"It was fine," Keira replied from the stairs as she walked up them slowly.

"Do you feel any better?"

"I do. Thank you."

"Come down when you get cleaned up, and we'll start dinner."

Keira hesitated, thinking about me and how difficult it was going to be to keep lying to her mother. "Okay," she said after half a minute.

I stood outside watching her father arrive home and then listening as they all sat down to dinner. Fisher was concerned about his sister, as I expected him to be, and he asked several times if there was anything he could do to help her. Keira graciously refused, stating only that she'd simply needed a little time away from school and that she was more than fine now. I was curious about that, but I forced myself to stay where I was until I knew it would be safe for me to go inside. Kyle was insufferable, teasing her and commenting about how he should probably get distracted by a girl at school so maybe he could remain home the way she had. His attitude really was becoming a problem, more than that, he seemed to be convinced I was the one distracting her. He wasn't that fond of me, which didn't surprise me since the last three weeks had been filled with nothing but his showing of complete contempt for me.

The front porch light went off at nine o'clock, and I moved along the edge of the yard to the back where Keira's room appeared to be. I listened to her mother say goodnight to her, and when I saw her step in front of her window to unlock it, I moved forward, climbing the trellis and then crawling through the window to be across the room from her desk and her bed. I made very little noise, closing the window and then watching as she sat in her bed nervously. Her hair was wet and she was wearing a white cotton night gown that looked older than she was.

"My grandmother's," she explained, apparently noticing my expression. "I wear it sometimes. She said she wore it when she was having an especially rough day, and I think today qualifies."

I nodded then, and she sank into the bed slowly, watching me as I knelt at her bedside with the lamp still on. "I'm so sorry this is happening," I told her. "I should've been more careful with you. I sensed how curious you were, and I could've stopped this a long time ago. But I won't put you in danger by leaving you unprotected. So I'll be here until Carlisle says it's safe again."

"What's happening?" she asked me calmly.

"Just something we'll have to keep an eye on until we're certain there's no longer a threat. I promise you're safe with me, Keira."

"How did you sense how curious I was?" she asked, holding onto her pillow as she gazed up at me.

I bowed my head, trying to form the words in my head, but when I looked at her, I was at a loss as to where to begin. "I can sense a lot of things about humans," I said to start. "You in particular."

"When are you going to tell me what you are?" she pressed gently.

I scooted closer, lowering my voice in an attempt to soften my words. "I want to tell you everything," I promised her. "But I'm not sure you're ready to hear it. You have had an exciting day," I reminded her with a grin.

She sighed softly, reaching out slowly and touching my forehead. The heat of her skin sent a million tendrils of electricity through me, and as she laid her palm over my cheek, I helplessly leaned into her touch. And then she spoke. "Well, you're not a ghost," she said, prompting me to open my eyes and lift them to hers. "And you're not an animal or meant to turn into one. It's passed the full moon."

I took her hand in mine, setting my arm over the bed. "Shall we go down the list again?" I teased. "I, um, know you were thinking about it earlier. I have a gift for things like that."

"You have a gift for what?" she asked, seeming to make the connection and gasping softly as she sat up away from me. "Oh, my God!" she breathed. "You can hear what I'm thinking?"

I followed her quickly, sitting on her bed uneasily and then laying my finger over her lips. "Shh. It's all right. I never did it intentionally. But I was so curious about you. After you began speaking to me, I didn't have to do it as much. Mostly, it's only things you're thinking in the moment. I promise it's all right."

"This is so embarrassing," she whispered, blushing and then covering her face with both her hands.

I laughed, amused by her behavior even as I lifted her chin to look at her. "Keira, please. It's all right. Now. Your list."

The short succession of words filled her mind again, and she thought about it for several seconds before looking at me. "How old are you?" she asked me softly.

"Physically, I'm seventeen," I told her still sitting in front of her and lowering my hands to her waist unconsciously.

"And by year? How old are you?" she pressed, now grasping onto my arms.

I inhaled, the action more compulsory than it ever had been. "Well, as of June of this year, I'm forty-four years old. I was born in 1901, in Chicago."

"Edward," she urged. "Tell me. I want to know."

I gazed into her eyes, seeing the same curious look I always had and thinking back to the beginning. "First," I said, "and most importantly, Esme isn't my sister. And Carlisle isn't my brother-in-law. I actually think of them more like my mother and father."

"How long have you known them?" she inquired quietly. "And what about Rosalie and Emmett?"

"I met Carlisle in 1918," I revealed, watching her carefully but sensing no change in her thoughts. "My parents and I were dying from Spanish Influenza, and my mother begged him to help me as a dying wish. We both think she knew he was different. But he saved me, in his own way. He found Esme a few years later in 1921. They fell in love and were married. That's when we started using this charade of me being her brother. Because we look alike. But I'm not related to either of them. In certain ways, I'm an orphan, and they're my adoptive family."

"And Rosalie and Emmett?" Her voice was gentle as she began listing her things again.

I paused, still attempting to guard my words. "Carlisle found her in 1933. When we were in Rochester. She'd been attacked, and he saved her life much like he'd saved mine, though she wasn't quite as grateful at first. Two years later, it was only by chance that she found Emmett in a similar situation as she'd been, and she carried him to Carlisle to save him as well. They fell in love then, and that left me, well, alone."

"She carried Emmett?"

I nodded.

"How — Edward, when you say Carlisle saved your life — How did he do that?"

I paused again. "He changed me from what I was to what I am now," I explained. "It was the only way I could've survived."

"And what are you now?" she asked me, already starting to drift off.

It was a logical question, and she deserved an answer after everything she'd seen and heard. Over the last few minutes, I'd tried to work up the courage to tell her, but I was still worried about her sanity. I scooted off the bed, again kneeling to the floor and allowing her to lay back down.

"It's better if Carlisle tells you the rest," I assured her. "I don't want to frighten you, and despite your determination, I can promise it isn't something you're expecting. Just sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."

Her eyes drooped slightly then, and within seconds, she was asleep, her breathing evening out and her thoughts simplifying as she relaxed. I stared at her intently, having never seen a human sleep before. I hadn't slept in thirty years, and I had to admit, it was a curious activity — necessary for humans, redundant for vampires.

I turned off her lamp softly, remaining by her bedside as she slept and listening outside her room for any moment when her parents or her brothers might check in on her. The scrapes on her cheeks had softened with the ointment Carlisle had rubbed on them, but I could still see red, irritated tissue surrounding them. I was surprised her mother hadn't noticed, but I guessed she'd done something to keep them from being noticed. For the time being anyway.

Thanks to everyone who's read. I hope you liked this part with Edward.

Again, not a lot to say, other than that. I tried to keep Edward's explanation as simple as possible. Carlisle will be the one to use the word that will explain everything to Keira.

See you all next time!