A/N: Sorry it's been a few days... Fifteen was done, and I've just been too lazy to post it. I hope sixteen won't take as long, but to be honest, I haven't even started writing it lol. This is a bridge chapter, it will lead into Thomas's funeral, which I suppose will be the next chapter. As always, I love you guys for the favorite adds and alerts, thank you so much for having good news in my email every time I check it! It means the world to me. Okay, blah, here we go...

My third and longest shower of the day, I stood in the steaming water for at least an hour, not shutting it off until it began to run ice cold. Even then I stood there letting the water drip from my body, staring at the tub floor, thinking this was among the last times I would ever stand in this shower, the one I had grown up using. I thought about the funeral; I hoped they didn't expect me to speak his eulogy. There was no way I could keep my composure, and merely the thought of standing over my father's coffin made me shake. And not to mention I had nothing to wear... I would have to go shopping tomorrow, and the thought made me shudder. I'd been shopping with Alice before, and whereas I didn't mind shopping, she treated it like an Olympic sport. I groaned as I finally opened the shower curtain and grabbed my towel.

I heard the television downstairs when I opened the bathroom door a few mintues later to cross the hall into my bedroom, but I had no intentions of joining Rosalie down there, I'd much rather wait on Alice in my room. As soon as I was dressed in flannel pajamas I grabbed my iPod and my ear buds, kicking out on my bed to listen to some nice, loud metal to drown out my thoughts. Daddy hated my music. I would come home from school and slap in a Nirvana CD in my mellow moods, or if I were angry it would be Kittie, loud and proud. It was Kittie I chose to listen to now. I closed my eyes and sighed as the vicious riffs bled into my ears, and I felt myself sinking into the spring mattress on my bed. I would have to sell this house, this property. Or maybe not, as I was to live for a very long time... I could keep this piece of my humanity, surely. The animals were another story. I would have to sell the horses, find homes for the dogs. I sighed again. The music wasn't exactly drowning out my thoughts as I wanted, but it was nice to hear something familiar and comforting.

I opened my eyes as the atmosphere of my bedroom changed, to see a livid Rosalie glaring down at me, her hand on the doorknob of my open door. I sat straight up in bed, snatching my ear buds out and swallowing hard. "Did you call me?" I squeaked.

"I did. You have a visitor downstairs, adamant to see you. I told him you weren't to be disturbed at the moment, but he won't leave," she said tersely, but I heard underlying tones that were almost... compassionate? And her golden eyes were somewhat softer than I'd yet to see them.

"Thank you," I said gratefully, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed to follow her downstairs. She nodded, then turned to go. "Hey- Rosalie?"

She looked over her shoulder with a perfect eyebrow raised.

"I mean that for everything. Thank you." I meant the entire afternoon, and she knew that.

She opened her mouth, hesitated, then nodded again. "You're welcome. Just don't be stupid," she murmured, leaving the room with the ghost of a smile on her face. It made me just a little less afraid of her.

She let me go down the stairs first, and she floated down them soundlessly behind me as I came down like a stampeding herd of cattle. I couldn't even say hello before Drew whipped around and shot a glare at Rosalie as she took a seat on the couch and picked up the remote in her slender hand. "I had to give her a damn fingerprint and a blood sample before she'd even let me see you!" he complained, and I couldn't help but lock eyes with Rosalie and chuckle at that with her, shaking my head at her smirk.

"I'm not really in the mood for company, Drew," I told him, turning back to look at him. "Rosalie was just looking out for me, and she doesn't know you."

"Hell, I grew up with you! I told her that," he grated, still shooting daggers at the beautiful blonde, who ignored him supremely by turning up the volume on the television, still smirking.

His mouth fell open at her superior stance, and I shook my head at him, taking him by the elbow and leading him to the kitchen to exit onto the back porch. "Come on, Drew. Let's go have a beer on the back porch, like old times." I left my future sister-in-law in the living room flipping channels lazily, but I saw her eyes cut to us as we exited.

"So, that's your girlfriend's sister?" he asked me as I opened the old refrigerator outside and grabbed two bottles, handing one to him.

"Yep, that's Rosalie," I answered him, twisting the cap off my bottle and turning it up.

He snorted, behind his own bottle. "Funny, she told me her name was 'None of your fucking business'," he said, and I shook my head with a chuckle.

"Don't feel bad, Drew. She doesn't like me, either."

"Then what's she doing here?" He looked over at me as I shrugged and took another swallow, smaller this time. "Good looking girls, both of them," he went on, and I nodded in agreement, but didn't reply. I knew they were inhumanly perfect. Drew sighed and turned his back to me, looking out over the back yard. "I still think you're prettier than they are," he said softly, so I almost didn't hear him. H eturned back around, and I saw he was looking down at the bottle in his hands, fingering the label shyly.

I sighed as heavily as he had a moment before, reaching up to pat his shoulder. I knew he had nursed a soft spot for me all our lives, but I also knew that no matter how much I cared about him, it would never work. I really am gay, I really like females, and Drew was all male, I knew first hand; he had taken my virginity when we were seventeen, right before I left for college. I was born to like females, because Alice is female... and I was born for her. "What did the funeral home say?" I tried to change the subject, and it worked effectively.

"You have to drop off a suit tomorrow before two. Does Thomas even have any suits? I haven't seen him in one since your mama's funeral when we were kids."

"No, he burned that one, one night he and the whiskey got into a long conversation," I said dryly, remembering clearly. "I have to go shopping tomorrow, anyway, to get something for me to wear. I'll buy his suit first. Daddy needs to go out in style." My voice broke a little and I felt Drew slide an arm around my waist. "So, is the wake tomorrow night, then?"

"Starts at six, goes until nine. The funeral is the next day, eleven a.m. sharp. Are you going to ride with me and Pop?" Drew said this hopefully, and I didn't look at him when I shook my head, not wanting to see his face fall.

"Drew, I know you don't understand this, but I need to be with Alice as much as possible right now. I did something stupid today... Rosalie saved me. And I am bringing them both to the funeral with me, I need them."

"Are you going to host a dinner?"

I shook my head again. "I have no desire to be around all his drunk redneck friends. No offense to you or Uncle Freddy. I love you both like family. You are welcome here, both of you. But I don't want the whole gang here. It's bad enough I'll be passed around from hug to hug, hearing the same slurred apologies over and over at the funeral home, I don't want them here after."

Drew nodded, understanding my position completely, as we had grown up with the same close knit group people. "Agnes has already started cooking a dish to bring by," he hinted, "but I think I'll call her tonight and tell her to bring it to Pop's place. If we host there, would you come by?"

I shrugged noncommitally. I didn't want to make promises I knew I probably wouldn't keep, it wasn't fair to Drew or to his father.

"Well, have you figured out what you're going to do about the bank?"

I gave him a blank stare. "Bank? What bank?"

"They're foreclosing on the property..." he prompted, as if I had an idea what he was talking about. This was new to me.

"What? Why? I thought this was all paid off?" I asked, my heart beat picking up. I couldn't lose this place, I needed it to stay here because I couldn't. I needed this place to return to when I wanted a taste of my history once I became immortal.

Drew stared at me for a long minute before he placed his beer on the railing and cleared his throat. "Andie," he said slowly, "Thomas took out a loan on the property to send you to school. When he couldn't work after the diagnosis-"

"Diagnosis? What the fuck are you talking about, Drew?"

"He had cirrhosis of the liver, Andie. He never told you?"

I fell back against the rail in shock, my mouth falling open. No, he had never told me. I knew why he didn't, of course, we were so alike. I would have came home to take care of him, and dropped everything I had to do so. I wouldn't have told him, either, if the situation was reversed. He had put up everything for me. He wasn't going to let me throw it away. I was vaguely aware of Drew holding me from behind, his breath in my hair, but I couldn't muster the mind to push him away. Daddy knew he was going to die, and he didn't tell me. That's all I could think about. I heard someone clear their throat sharply, and I turned my face to see Alice standing at the back door, her hand on her hip, a death stare aimed at Drew, who automatically dropped his arms and stepped away from me. Seeing her standing there triggered a memory from earlier that day.

"Alice?" She turned her eyes from Drew to me, the expression softening immediately. "What did Daddy mean? When he told you to tell me everything?"

Her eyes flickered to Drew and back significantly. "We'll talk about that later," she replied, but I shook my head. His presence didn't matter to me.

"Was it about the house and his health?" I blurted out, and she sighed with a slow nod.

"Among other things that should be kept between us," she told me gently, and I nodded, accepting it. Silence fell on the porch, and all I could hear was the rain falling out in the dark.

I looked out into the wet night, and the hands I felt slide around me then were not Drew's, the touch was unmistakable as I felt the cold permeate the flannel top I was wearing, and the cool breath I felt tickle my ear as she rested her chin on my shoulder. I placed my hands on her wrists and held her arms there, my eyes closing. The intimacy between Alice and I became too much for Drew, who finished his beer in one chug, and released a belch that I'm sure made Rosalie gag inside. "Well," he said loudly, "I guess I'll be going then. I'll see you tomorrow night, Andie."

"Be careful, Drew. I'll see you tomorrow," I answered without looking away from the back yard or pulling away from my mate. I heard the back door open and close and I sighed, picking up my beer from the railing and taking a sip. "What would you like to discuss first?" I asked Alice, who released me and then guided me to sit on an old recliner out there moldering away.

She perched on the railing facing me,swinging her feet a little, but she didn't answer right away, letting me know she was nervous. "Please don't be mad that I hadn't told you, yet," she said in a rush. "He told me everything this morning, before you were awake." Oh, so that's where she had been. "He questioned me about the mate thing, and asked about some concerns he harbored."

"Like what?" I asked, turning my beer up again.

She hesitated a nanosecond before answering. "Well... he wanted to know how long it had been since I fed from a human, and if I had ever changed anyone. You know the answer to both of those questions, and I was just as honest with him. He told me about Kate... I know her."

My eyes shot up to her face. "You know Kate?"

She nodded slowly. "I hold her dear, and I call her 'cousin'." She paused, watching for a reaction from me, but I gave her nothing to defend. If Alice knew Kate, I would eventually meet her. Then I could handle my business with that one. "Kate as I know her is a good hearted person, and I'm sure she had her own reasons for leaving. She found her mate three years ago, in a spirited vampire named Garrett. I plan to speak to her about Thomas... she would want to come to say goodbye, Andie. I was wondering if you would object?"

I didn't say anything at first. Daddy had loved her. She had hurt him. But I'm sure he would be honored if she came. "No, I wouldn't. He loved her."

Alice nodded. "I'll call her later. You two should meet, anyway. She inadvertly raised you, and would be proud of the work Thomas put into your future. You will like her, Andie. She's wonderful."

"She would have to be," I muttered darkly, thinking it would be a cold day in hell before I could like the woman that shattered my father's heart, and carried on an affair with him when she knew he was married and had a family. But Daddy had made a good point: I did know the allure... Mine was sitting across the porch from me.

Alice tapped the side of her head. "You will like her, baby. I've seen it. You two will be like sisters."

Damn premonitions. "What else did he say?" I asked, ready to move on in the conversation. I would deal with Kate when I saw her.

"The house has been taken care of, love. I handled that with a few texts and a phonecall earlier, before I came out here to pull that boy off of you. The house and the land are yours, in your name. Merry Christmas." She gave me a tiny smile, and I gave her a grin. Of course she handled that for me, she knew how I felt about my childhood home. "He admitted to me that he knew he was dying, and asked me not to repeat it to you, because he didn't want you to do what we both know you would have done, had you known."

"I know that."

"He also asked me to make him some promises," she said, still swinging her feet.

Promises? He knew he didn't have long left, if he were asking promises of her. My father was never one to ask anything of anyone. "Such as?" I held my breath as she answered.

"That I keep you happy, and that I will never leave you. He had no reason to fear that. I won't ever even toy with the idea. He also asked me to make sure you never forget him."

I fought the tears that began to sting at my eyes, finishing off my beer instead of breaking down. "How could I?" I asked her, my voice cracking a little. "Will I lose my memories when I become a vampire?"

"No, you won't. I told him that you wouldn't need me to remind you of him. He is a part of you, I see him in you more now than ever, given the chance he gave me this morning. Your mannerisms, the way you think. You are your father made over, in the flesh. The only part of him that you'll lose is your eyes... they will turn red, then as you dilute the human blood in you, fade into the ocher that mine are."

I sat there in silence, letting her words sink in, thinking hard. "He began to love you," I said sadly, my heart breaking that he never got to know her as I do. He had honestly approved of Alice, had given her my hand, had trusted her literally with my life. I felt the urge to hug him, and then the sorrow that I couldn't anymore.

"As I began to love him. He loved you, and that was enough for me. How could I even be angry with a man that held you in such a high regard as he?" She hopped down from the railing and walked over to me, and I sat back in the recliner, allowing her to take her place in my lap. She pushed my hair out of my face, tucking it behind my ears, and pressed her lips to my forehead. "You were his world, and a blind man can see how much you mean to me. Your father was no fool, Andie. He knew I that I belong to you, and only to you."

I buried my face in her chest, succumbing to the tears I had previously struggled against. She held my head there, running her fingers through my hair, humming a soft tune in her beautiful voice to comfort me, and I shook with sobs. She had sworn to my father. And his last words were telling me he wished he could walk me down the aisle to her. "I'm sorry," I sobbed and she paused in her stroking.

"For what?" she asked blankly, making me sob even harder that she didn't take my assault that day to heart. What had I done to deserve her? I needed to make it a daily ritual, whatever it had been.

"Everything. For basically raping you. For being stupid with my gun. For hurting you with both actions."

Alice pulled my face from her shirt so she could see my eyes. "Andie, you didn't rape me. I felt bad for enjoying it. If you don't recall, I came for you. As for your gun, I knew you wouldn't do it, I saw you pull it free and yell for me. And yes, it was hard to have the vision of you with it in your mouth, but you haven't hurt me once today. It's okay, I'm still here, and I'm not going anywhere."

I nodded, wiping my face on my sleeve, sniffing hard. "I think I need to lay down. I'm exhausted, Alice. I think this has been the longest day of my life."

"It is probably best," she agreed, standing up and pulling me to my feet. "We have to get up early and go shopping, after all." She tried very hard to diguise the excitement in her voice, but I still giggled at it. She was so cute. I loved her so much.

We entered the house, and I drug my feet through the kitchen, barely sparing a glance that it had somehow cleaned itself, and the dishes from breakfast had been cleaned up and put away. I realized I had not eaten anything after that. Rosalie was still on the couch, watching America's Next Top Model reruns on Oxygen, and she looked at us as we came in. "Are you okay?" she asked me, making me stop walking in pure shock.

"Y-yeah. Thank you. Good night, Rosalie."

"Call me Rose. Good night, Andie. Sweet dreams." And she turned her attention back to the television.

I looked at my mate, who had a huge grin on her face, and my mouth moved up and down wordlessly. What had I done to change the way Rosalie had felt about me? Alice put a finger to her lips, and led me up the stairs. Once we were in my bedroom, and Alice had tucked me in and crawled in next to me, I gave her a questioning look. "Aren't you going to keep Rose company?" The nickname felt odd on my lips, but Alice took it in stride, only pecking my lips as she pulled me onto her chest.

"No, I'm not leaving you tonight. She understands."

I was almost asleep some minutes later when Alice whispered my name, her fingers once again combing through my hair.

"Mmm?" I said, comfortable and nearly out like a light.

"Promise me you'll never leave me," she whispered, sounding scared.

I tilted my face up without opening my eyes, planting a soft kiss on her jaw. "I swear on everything, Alice, I'm here for eternity, just as soon as I handle my affairs and my head is on straight... One bite, you say?"

"One bite," she affirmed, "and then a few days of burning... then an eternity of bloodlust... with me."

"Worth it," I yawned, not worried about the bloodlust at all anymore. I knew I couldn't leave her, now. I knew she was worth whatever hardships existence handed me. I knew now that I wanted to live forever, if it meant her by my side. I stretched up, still not opening my eyes, and captured her lips with mine. "Who needs heaven when I have you?"