Chapter 2

It was a few days before I woke up, I know because when I came to, Emily was sitting on my bed in a pair of pink plaid pajama pants and a yellow tank top. A tradition we did every Saturday we had together. On the bed next to her were my darkish blue plaid pajama pants and my black tank top. I can't believe I have been out since Tuesday afternoon. Gosh that must have been some strong morphine.

When my eyes finally blinked open, her trademark smile stretched across her face. She jumped up and ran out of the room. I attempted to sit up while she was gone to find myself wearing no shirt or a bra, but just a lot of dressings for my broken ribs wrapped around my torso, I checked to make sure it was covering everything. Who in the hell gave him permission to touch me without my clothes on? What the hell Emily? I thought you were looking out for me! Not letting some creepy guy I have never even seen before be the first guy to see me and touch my body without clothing! She was certainly going to hear an earful from me next time we were alone.

She returned moments after I painfully sat up and leaned against the headboard with a pillow resting between us. Following her was Dr. Cullen. I quickly pulled the blanket resting on my lap up to cover everything beneath my neck. He chuckled quietly to himself.

"You're aunt did a lovely job wrapping those bandages around your upper body you know." He stated with a knowing look in his gold eyes.

"So you didn't look at and or touch me in anyway right?" I asked. Something in me told me to be suspicious of this guy.

"No, even if I had contemplated doing such a thing, Emily here would have bitten my head off like a vicious wolf had I even been in the room when she did it. All I did was have my assistant talk her through it before he exited the room to wait outside the door until she was finished to check if anything was too loose or tight in the bindings." He told me.

"Where were you through all of this?" I narrowed my eyes.

"I was at the Ateara house. Old Quil doesn't have long to go and I was making it as comfortable as possible for him." He sighed.

Emily's eyes watered at the mentioning of this. "Poor Quil, he is taking this so hard. I don't think he will know what to do without the father figure his grandfather presented."

"That is why I sent him here to help, so he could get out of the house and away from Old Quil's house. Does he have anyone?" He asked with a specific emphasis and tone that told me I wouldn't understand.

"No, he hasn't seen anyone that interests him in the way it has for the others." She replied in the same careful tone.

"Well, it will only be a matter of time and I have a feeling that he will find someone sooner rather than later." This time, even Emily didn't seem to understand his odd prediction.

"Thank you Carlisle, for everything, really. It means so much." She gave him a hug.

"What are friends for? I hope to see you again Claire, and you also Emily. Good day." With a wave, he was out the door.

Emily came over and stood by where she first resided before she left to get Dr. Cullen. She picked up my usual Saturday attire and threw it at me.

"Hurry up and get dressed, we have movie's to watch and candy and snacks to pig out on while Sam and the rest of his crew raid someone else's house. So get dressed, come on. You are wasting a perfectly good Saturday." She skipped out of the room laughing, most likely going to put in the first scary movie.

I moved slowly in pulling the tank top over my head and had a bit more of a difficult time bending over to change into my Saturday pajama pants but I managed. I slowly made my way downstairs, trying not to breathe very deeply so as to minimize the pain.

When I finally arrived downstairs Emily had shoved around the living room furniture and created a bed out of blankets, and on the bed was a huge bowl of popcorn, several bags of chips, a few twelve packs of Mountain Dew, and several huge bags of candy full of sour, chewy goodness. I smiled for the first time in quite a while, and took my usual place next to Emily as she hit play to begin the movie.

We wasted a long afternoon like that, watching scary movies, screaming at things that jumped out during the movie, and just having some much needed girl-time. We didn't know what time it was until Sam snuck in the door around 2 in the morning and pounced on Emily before kissing her neck and picking her up. Emily freaked out and screamed of course because she didn't hear nor see him until it was too late.

"It is late Claire, you should be in bed." That was all Sam said before carrying off Emily to bed.

I didn't really want to go to bed, just because Sam told me to. My stubborn rebellious side seemed to kick in. But I knew that until I was fully recovered, I probably should be getting more rest. Even though I had slept for several days already I think the drugs in my system made me feel really weak still.

I slowly stood up and managed to take a few steps before stumbling. I caught myself, though barely, and tried again. I managed a few more steps before the bottom few stairs began advancing upon my face at a rapid speed. I braced myself as I would for another couple punches from my father when someone that felt like they had a fever that was enough to kill a few people because it was so high grabbed me by the waist before pulling me upright and setting me down. I looked at my feet, refusing to look at the person that caught me when I was falling.

I took a shallow breath and the scent of woods and ocean and man filled my lungs. It was a very intoxicating smell. I grabbed onto the railing for support before stepping onto the first step, then the second, etc. The whole way up the stairs the mystery man, be it a robber or a friend of Sam's that apparently thinks they live in the house, was right behind me the whole way. When we reached the top, I stopped for a second to catch my breath and gather he strength to walk the length of the hallway.

Just as I thought that I felt his large and hot hands on my waist and lifting much of the weight off my legs. I wouldn't show it but I was thankful for the momentary break. But I slapped his hands away and he got the memo that I wanted to do it myself. I gathered my strength and walked to the room, where I said nothing, nor acknowledged my helpers existence, only shut the door behind me and collapsed into bed.

The next day, I woke up in the afternoon again, but this time I felt fully healed. I could breathe deeper and I just felt constricted by the bandage wrapped around me. I felt around, searching for the tie that kept it around me, and began to undo the bandage. When I got it all the way undone I got out of bed and got dressed. I heard the mob of people fighting about food like usual as I slipped on my skinny jeans and a tank top under a band shirt pulled out of the unpacked box. I grabbed the iPod and cell phone resting on the night stand and stepped out into the hallway.

I took a deep breath before descending the stairs. When I turned the corner to enter the kitchen, my eyes widened at the amount of huge men that were packed in there. And what was even more surprising was the amount of food that they were consuming. No wonder they seemed to wake me up every time they bombarded the house. This was crazy. I began searching the crowded kitchen for Emily. Just as I looked past two shirtless guys standing by the counter and throwing muffins and other breakfast items that weren't shoved in their faces, Emily appeared between them. She squealed and pulled me into a hug. She grabbed two plates from the counter behind her and beckoned me to follow her out onto the back patio where we could eat in quiet. She knew I hated big crowds.

"Sorry I didn't warn you about the large gatherings of large shirtless men, I figured you could tell what was going on for yourself when you saw, I wasn't sure you would believe me if you didn't see it." She said before stuffing her mouth full of scrambled eggs.

"It's ok, I was just surprised, and I am sure most wouldn't complain to see the sight of several fit shirtless men every morning. It's something nice to wake up to." We both laughed.

We continued on with our girl chatter when Sam and another freakishly tall guy joined our presence.

"Claire, this is Jacob. Jacob, Claire." I offered him a wave, but didn't look in his eyes and quickly focused back on my food like I have never seen eggs and jelly toast before.

"Hey." He responded in that super deep voice of his.

"Quil and Seth have been patrolling since last night so Jake and I are going to go relieve them while Paul relieves Jared." Sam told Emily.

"Ok, be careful, I love you." She told him.

"I love you more than anything." He said back before giving her a kiss that seemed to leave them both breathless.

When they went back inside I turned to her. "How did you do it?" I had to ask.

"Do what?" She blushed.

"How did you find someone like that, particularly someone who looks like that, and have him be totally faithful and completely wrapped around your finger?" I mean come on, fairytales aren't real.

She smiled one of her room brightening smiles. "I don't know how I could be so lucky. I came down to visit family and when I looked into his eyes, it's like the world was righted, and I had never been alive before that moment. I can't even describe the feeling. You will understand when it happens to you."

"I don't know. It sounds too much like fiction to me." I said, leaning back in my chair.

When we finished we both took our plates back to the kitchen. The men were gone but you could hear them still. I looked out the kitchen window to see a few of them wrestling around outside.

"Do they ever leave?" I laughed.

"Rarely, if ever it seems doesn't it."

"So who all are they? I assume they know about me? I mean I am sure that they had to notice a strange girl walking into the kitchen, yet none of them looked at me like 'who the fuck broke in last night?' you know?"

Emily laughed before responding. "Yeah they know who you are, Sam told them everything that's been going on and they are cool with it. He also said that if they treat you wrong or if anything happens to you he is cutting off all their sensitive areas. He got very protective of you. They can't even look at you wrong."

"He…He told them everything?!" I raised my voice from its usual quietness. My knees buckled and my legs gave out. I hit the floor with a thud.

Emily screamed, "oh my God! Claire!"

All at once four shirtless men that were crowding the kitchen earlier burst into the kitchen.