A/N: Sorry it's been a long wait.

Chapter 4-

I turned slowly, staying within his grip. I stared into eyes that I knew.

They were almost like the golden eyes that had haunted me in my nightmares and for a moment the waves of pain crashed harder against my barrier. I looked into my rescuers face.

I saw his amazingly straight nose, his light blonde hair, and his high cheekbones. He had nicely muscled arms, an amazingly carved chest and was about a head and a bit taller than I was. He was beautiful. He reminded me of someone I once knew long ago, but had conveniently forgotten about. He reminded me of Carlisle, Alice, Rosalie, Esme, Emmett, and Jasper. The only difference was that he was indefinitely more beautiful than any of them.

'Hi,' I breathed. 'Thanks. For helping me, you know.' I shut my mouth before I started babbling.

'Are you okay? You seemed to take a pretty hard fall there.' The way his mouth moved when he spoke was sensuous. I couldn't avert my eyes from his lips. I wanted to cover them with my own, I wanted to run my hands through his gorgeous blond locks, I wanted to... Stop Bella! I told myself. You don't even know his name and you're fantasising about being his lover. It's pathetic! Chastised enough, I looked up at him.

'I'm fine, thanks. Are you a doctor or something?' I asked.

He laughed and it was music to my lonely ears.

'Amongst other things, I suppose.'

'Of course, bloody every diploma available, you creatures...' I mumbled, forgetting he would be able to hear. 'Sorry! I didn't mean anything by it.' I let go of him in an attempt to hold my hands up in innocence, but I stumbled backwards and almost fell again. Luckily he was there, ready to catch me.

'I guess you already know me better than most,' he said, as though commenting on the weather. 'Perhaps... Maybe I should get to know you better, Isabella Swan.'

'How, how...' My mouth wouldn't stop opening and closing. I had to learn some self control. 'How do you know my name? Can you read my mind? You're not supposed to be able to, but I suppose it's possible...'

'It's written on the badge on your chest, Isabella.' He was laughing at me now.

'Look, I was in a mental hospital for the past god-knows-how-long. I have no social skills left, so don't you laugh at me!'

He shushed, and rubbed my shoulder. To tell the truth, he could calm me down well.

'What are you doing to her?' someone shouted over my shoulder. 'Bella, let him go, he's dangerous!' It was Carlisle. Crap.

'I'm a good runner, we could still make it out of here, if you want,' my mystery saviour said quietly, but so I could still hear him.

'And risk being seen? That poor soul will be in a mental hospital, then,' I stated. 'I'll deal with him, just stay close?'

'Of course.' He slung an arm casually around my shoulder, and stood almost too still. Carlisle was still storming up the street, making a beeline for me. Us.

'Isabella Marie Swan! What do you think you are doing with him?' Carlisle demanded, still a couple of metres away. When he was standing in front of me he whispered furiously about how I should be able to tell one of his kind from one of my own by now.

'Carlisle.' I was waiting patiently for him to stop talking, but got bored. 'I know what he is. It's obvious. What's wrong with talking to him? He just pulled me from the sidewalk; surely I can stop to talk for a few minutes.'

'He... He did what? What were you doing on the sidewalk?'

'You haven't been away that long to forget have you? That's disappointing.' I looked down, seeming ashamed while hiding a grin.

'Yes, sorry Bella. Of course, I should know. What are you doing with him though? You don't have to talk to him, not if you don't want.'

'Of course she doesn't. I gave her the chance to walk away from me. It seems she knew who I was straight away, and I wanted to find more out about her. Do you have a problem with that, Cullen?'

Carlisle stuttered, flabbergasted at being addressed in such a rude way. I saw his mouth open and close a couple of times out of the corner of my eye. I was still staring at my mysterious new acquaintance when Carlisle turned to me at vampire speed.

'Bella, I've talked to your new friend,' he said, sneering over the last word. 'He's not the good sort, Bella. I've warned you, now. You'd do well to walk away now, remember what happened last time, Bella. The last time you got involved with vampires you seemed to be in more danger than we could protect you from. Think about how we would feel if you died, Bella. Think about how Edward would feel.'

'What Edward feels is no longer any of my business, Carlisle. He made that perfectly clear that he had no feelings for me what-so-ever and then you all left. Why the hell should I care anymore?' I demanded.

He spun round and left with vampire speed, obviously no longer caring who saw him. I turned back to me friend and found him looking at me with an amused smile on his lips.

'Did you know they could get into a lot of trouble for telling a human about us? You might be able to have them killed, if you wanted to,' he said, with the same smile on his face. His smile was perfect and lit his features up as though he was smiling from the bottom of his soul. His golden eyes showed no hints of darkness, letting me know quickly that he had fed recently, and letting me know I was in no danger. 'Why don't I buy you a drink? And maybe some new clothes?'

I frowned, 'What's wrong with my clothes?'

'You look like you have just escaped from a mental hospital, and that look is so last year.' I smiled.

'I suppose so, but I'll have to pay you back later as I have no money and I don't have a bank card on me,' I said reluctantly. We went into a store and he bought me two outfits, a few pairs of underwear, a hairbrush and a toothbrush and paste. We sat outside a small Starbuck's cafe, me sipping a frappachino. I learnt that as a human he was called James (this had sent chills down my spine as James was the first vampire who had tried to kill me). These days he would tend to use different names for each city he stayed in. He generally stayed for three or four years at a time, and had never travelled with anyone else. He had several diplomas including one in medicine, law, and a doctorate in physics. All of these had been acquired at different universities.

Talk then turned to my life and how I had lived before PIW. I told him about my childhood, Renee, Charlie, meeting Carlisle and his family, almost being killed by another vampire, and then later on by his mate.

'Do I know this vampire who tried to kill you? Or maybe I know his mate?' he asked when I had finished talking.

'His name was James. And his mate was called Victoria,' I said as calmly as I could manage. Surprisingly, just talking about them could agitate me. I used to get skittish and paranoid, but since learning of their demise, I have learnt to control those feelings and my behaviour. He noticed the subtle difference in my posture, and maybe facial expression. He shot me a knowing look, but said no more about it.

'So, Bella,' he said a short while later, 'what are you going to do now you're out of the institute?'

'I wanted to visit my dad, Charlie, but I don't think that would be such a good idea, being "mentally unstable" and all. I honestly haven't thought this far ahead. I could ask Carlisle for a favour, but I'd much rather not.' I frowned into my frozen coffee.

'Look, I know we've only just met, but why don't you come back to mine tonight? It's not as though I need the bed anyway,' he said, winking. 'And don't worry about the whole blood issue. I'm four hundred years old, one hundred of those working as a doctor and another hundred as a surgeon. I think I can handle the smell, if something were to happen.'

'You've just fed, in any case,' I contributed. 'I wasn't worried about that, although it is pretty frightening when someone you thought was a friend lunges at your throat.' I smiled at him timidly.

'It wasn't Cullen, was it? I'll let him know who to lunge at,' he growled.

'Not Carlisle, no. Jasper. But he didn't mean it; I had a huge gash on my arm after being pushed onto a glass bowl, after cutting my finger on wrapping paper at a small party once. It was nothing, but he was fairly recent to that way of life, and not as controlled. I forgave him.'

He sniffed, frowning as he did so. I swore I heard him mutter 'damn it', but it could have been the wind in my ears. He stood suddenly.