It was all very quiet as Edward held Bella.

Suddenly, some footsteps were heard climbing up the stairs. Bella and Edward turned to look at whoever it was.

"Hey," Jacob said.

"Hi," Bella and Edward answered.

"So," Jacob said, after an awkward moment, "I hear you saved someone from the Volturi."

"Yeah," Bella said, nodding toward Edward's old bedroom, "she's in there."

"She?" Jacob asked as he looked in. "Shit!" he exclaimed in surprise, "she's just a kid!"

"We know."

"How can a kid that size be of any use to the Volturi?"

"We don't know," Edward answered, "Carlisle's talked to Eleazar, but he doesn't know what kind of power Sadie could have. He will come over later, and maybe he could tell us after he's had a look at her."

"Sadie?"

"Yes, that's the girl's name."

"How old is she?"

"She's got to be around fifteen, she doesn't look much older than that," Bella said sadly.

Jacob quieted, hearing the sadness in Bella's voice. "That's very young," he whispered.

"Yes, we know," Edward said.

"Why is she asleep?"

"We gave her a dose of a substance Carlisle always has prepared for people he might find in need of help."

"You drugged her?!"

"We had to," Bella said, "can you imagine what she would have thought if she woke up and saw a person climbing in through her window even though it's on the second floor? If she woke up in a car going at a speed that no car should be able to reach? If she woke up in the arms of a vampire? She'd freak."

"Do you have any guarantee she won't freak anyway, once you tell her? Are you even going to?"

"Yes," Edward said, somewhat defensively, "we will tell her, as soon as Esme gets back."

"Where did she go?"

"Shopping with Alice."

"Why am I not surprised?" Jacob asked himself quietly. "What are you going to do with her? I mean, it's not like the Volturi are going to give up looking for her, are they?"

"Probably not. But we're still trying to figure this out. It's most probable Sadie will have to stay here a very long time. And we still probably won't manage to save her from the Volturi."

"She must pack a hell of a supernatural punch."

"Yes, that's the only reason why they would be so interested in her. We can only hope her power isn't too destructive."

"Why don't you simply turn her yourselves? Then she'd be on your side."

"If we turned her, which we won't, what are the probabilities that she would agree to stay on our side? If we turn her, there's nothing stopping her from tearing us all apart, then going onto Forks and feeding on everyone who lives there. With what her power could be, we can't risk it."

"Whoa, sorry for suggesting that."

"It's all right," Bella broke in, "you didn't know."

There was a short moment of silence, and then a door at the other end of the hall creaked open. A small face, the eyes still half-closed from sleep, peaked out. "Jake?" asked a small voice.

"Hey Nessie," Jacob said, turning around. A smile appeared on his face as he saw the girl he had imprinted on. He picked her up, and tossed her in the air. Renesmee giggled and shrieked playfully.

A quiet moan was heard from Edward's old bedroom. Bella peeked in and saw Sadie beginning to stir.

"She's waking up," she whispered.

Jacob stopped tossing Renesmee and quickly trotted downstairs, Nessie on his back. Edward and Bella ran downstairs after them.

--------------

Alice had just parked the car when Esme heard her name being called. She ran to meet Carlisle and Edward, who were standing at the foot of the stairs.

"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"I think you and Carlisle should talk to Sadie," Edward said.

"Edward, you should come too, so you can help us understand her better," Carlisle argued.

Edward just shook his head, "I want to give her as much privacy as she can possibly have. It's going to be hard enough to tell her that she's going to have to live in a house full of vampires without telling her about the little mental privacy she will have."

"All right, Edward," Carlisle sighed. "I just wanted to know what to say to her, I don't want her to be afraid."

"She's going to be afraid anyway," Esme interrupted, putting her small hand on Carlisle's arm comfortingly. "I just don't understand why you need me to talk to her."

Edward smiled at Esme, "You've got a gift, Esme. You can make anyone feel at home, feel loved. I think she'll react best to you than anyone else."

"All right," Esme said, "let's go."

Carlisle and Esme turned to go upstairs as Renesmee appeared in the doorway heading into the living room.

"Can I meet her too?" she asked innocently.

Edward walked over to her and picked her up. "Sweetie," he said, "the girl is going to be very afraid-"

"Of us?" Nessie interrupted.

"Yes, Nessie. She will be afraid of us. She doesn't know what is going on. That's why Carlisle and Esme are going to help her understand everything."

"Ok," Renesmee said, and Edward lowered her to the ground. As soon as she was standing, she ran off. Jacob chuckled a little while later.

"You're going to have to run a lot faster than that if we're playing tag!" his voice was heard yelling. Laughter was heard, and cut off as the pair went outside.

--------------

"What will we tell her?" Esme asked her husband as they slowly climbed the stairs.

"I was thinking we'd tell her that we had to bring her here for her own protection, but not much more than that. I don't think we should tell her about us being vampires, not just yet."

"She will have to know eventually, Carlisle."

"I can only hope that by the time she has to know, we can send her home."

"Her parents must be worried sick."

"They are. The boys helped me set up a TV so we could watch the Mexican News."

"And?"

"Her parents have gone to about every police station possible. They have people searching everywhere."

"Have they found anything?"

"The police think Sadie ran away, it's the only possible explanation to how she disappeared. Only she could know the code to stop the alarm system. And it wouldn't make sense if someone broke into the house just to take a girl when they could have taken everything. Almost everyone thinks she's a runaway now."

"Almost everyone?"

"Her parents can't believe it, and neither can her sister. Apparently, Sadie and her little sister were very close. They interviewed the little girl, Sarah, her name was."

"What did she say?"

"That she couldn't believe Sadie would run away, not without taking her glasses anyway. Then, Sarah started to cry, and the interview was stopped."

"Poor Sarah, poor Sadie. Carlisle, what have we done?"

"The only thing we could under the circumstances, Esme."