Hi everyone! So this is back to the grind - No more crazy action scenes :) I'm getting more excited about this fic as I delve deeper into it - I have probably the next 5 chapters already finished. I really hope other people are enjoying this. I'm a little afraid that its boring.

Anyway, Enjoy! :)

Edward

This past day was filled to the brim with events that took up my attention ; and yet I couldn't fight feeling that today was going by terribly slowly. My entire family was now at risk for what I have done. Esme continuously reminds me that this is not my fault, that I have done nothing wrong. However I know she's just comforting me because I'm her son; I am entirely at fault for being interested in a mortal. I couldn't call him human anymore, not after what he's done to Jasper. Jasper was utterly certain when I explained the characteristics I had experienced, but it seems as though after his encounter with Nathan… he was uncertain. Although Jasper hasn't said much of anything since that day – mostly staying locked in his room unless he went to go hunt.

What Jasper has done…Will take me a very long time to even consider forgiving him. It goes much deeper than attacking Nathan. Whatever emotions I have set aside; Jasper went to kill an innocent being in cold blood. As if this wasn't bad enough, the fight between Nathan and him had brought news-worthy attention to the town. The sound of the shotgun that Nathan fired not only once, but twice, as well as the fighting that ensued between my brother and I was loud enough to worry any neighbors – even the ones that lived as far as nearly a mile away. None of us were suspected, thankfully no one saw me go off with Nathan that very day; so there was no way that me nor my brother would be implicated in this crime.

It was clear that bringing Nathan to the hospital would not be an option. Similar to us; Nathan seems to have…irregularities would definitely be revealed in a hospital setting. We'd had no choice but to have Carlisle take care of him in the infirmary within our house. Unfortunately, the rest of the town was under the impression that Nathan was abducted. Resolving that dilemma was itching at my mind most of the day, there seemed to be no simple resolution. If I was smart I would insist that both me and my family leave Forks at once…I didn't have enough discipline to stay away – thinking of it felt absolutely unbearable.

He'd only been asleep for about a day now after sustaining several serious injuries at the hands of Jasper. It was unbelievable to the entire household that Nathan had managed to survive the, and even more surprising, that Nathan had inflicted serious damage, albeit not physical damage, but it seemed much worse. It was difficult for me to avoid the dark images that had been plaguing Jasper's mind since he confronted Nathan.

Although Nathan was now in stable condition with a plethora of injuries he still faired better than Jasper. Since the incident Jasper has sequestered himself up in his room rarely allowing even Alice to visit him. There are occasional screams that none of us truly understand. This…creature that we were harboring had done seemingly irreparable damage to my brother, and yet I could not wait for the moment for him to wake up. Not to question or punish him, but to see if he was alright. However was that was done…there were so many questions that all of us had. I was sure that Nathan would have just as many questions if not more to offer – for that very reason the group of us sat at the dining room table which was now used for make-shift family meetings such as this one. Do we disappear? Or risk the secret that we literally spent our entire existence attempting to hide?

We should just kill him and continue on with our lives – the police think he is missing anyway thought Rosalie. I growled at this option as it had already been discussed in detail the night before. Killing Nathan would not happen, I would see to that myself. "We can not let a human know about us. If we cannot kill him we need to disappear before he wakes up. No one would believe him anyway." Rosalie pressed in a sour tone. All of us knew that she did not want to relocate, we had not been here nearly long enough

"He clearly isn't human" remarked Carlisle from the head of the table. He remained motionless while in thoughts before continuing "We don't know what he is, but its apparent that Nathan is hiding just as we are. Perhaps we should look into other options…I know all of us would prefer staying in Forks for a little while longer"

Carlisle's remark was sensible, and yet the idea of having to keep my distance seemed unbearable. Now more than ever I sought to learn more about this mysterious being.

"He's going to ask what we are. What do we do then?" This time Alice asked. She described her visions of Nathan's future as 'blurry.' It bothered her to no end, but I knew that she neither wanted to leave nor abandon this boy. She was equally intrigued by him.

I'd been thinking this over since we brought Nathan back to the house. I wanted desperately to know what he was. Perhaps if we learned more about him, there would be a possibility of coexisting. I hoped in vain but figured I would make my thoughts clear to the rest of the family "I think we should tell him the truth. We know that he is not human and so we already know that he would not be surprised by the fact that something else…supernatural exists. Once he realizes we mean him no harm he will trust us – we can potentially benefit mutually from this exchange." My reasoning sounded silly even to me. I was sure that they all knew my true incentive for keeping him around; but maybe I wasn't giving myself enough credit.

"Or we can both crash and burn" Emmett added, receiving a reprimanding look from Esme. I already knew what Esme had been considering, although she was concerned for her family the thought of me finding any sort of companion excited her. Because of this it was no surprise when she agreed with me.

"I agree with Edward. We can't make assumptions until we understand what he is." Esme said trying to seem neutral, although we both knew that her thoughts betrayed her. If it makes Edward happy any risk is worth it. She added, forgetting that I would probably be listening. Coincidentally a moment later she seemed to be focusing intently on if Jasper was alright.

I knew how everyone's vote would go except for Carlisle. I sincerely hoped he sided with Alice, Esme, and I. If he didn't…then it would be a tie because we couldn't possibly give Jasper the chance to vote after everything that had happened. At this point I doubt Jasper would even want to vote.

"Lets vote then." Carlisle initiated. "Those who want to relocate raise your hand."

Both Emmett and Rosalie raised their hands without the slightest reluctance. I knew Emmett was only raising his hand to side with Rosalie. He seemed relatively indifferent about the whole situation. A huge urge of relief rushed through me when I looked at Carlisle who was obviously not raising his hand – and seemed to have no intention of it. He looked into my eyes for a moment and thought "I'd risk the world for your happiness."

"Its settled then. We will stay here for now and consult with Nathan to find out what he truly is. Depending how that goes we can talk further about what our plans will be." Said Carlisle before getting up without another word. He didn't need to explain himself, I was already out of my seat and down stairs at the door to our make shift infirmary. I could hear Nathan at the early stages of hyperventilating once he woke up and realized his hands and feet were strapped to the table. This was a precaution that I had opposed violently, but in the end I could not argue with the damage that he had inflicted to Jasper physically – his right arm had been mangled by the shotgun.

So this is how the true Nathan appeared. Each time I had gone downstairs to check on him, it felt as though my heart sank with each sight. Calling him handsome would be an understatement. I wondered how his beauty appeared to humans; because without any illusions he was absolutely breathtaking to my vampire eyes. He didn't notice me while fought recklessly with the straps that kept him stationary. His body was littered with bruises, a torn ligament, and several broken bones. Although he seemed to have a plethora of injuries, I still considered him lucky to have even survived a vampire attack.

I opened the door to the stark white room a bit louder than I normally would have, to be sure that my presence was known. Nathan glared at me, his unnatural eyes showing an emotion that I couldn't quite place. He stopped fighting the bonds; I watched him sit there, conflicted, bedside without saying a word. Looking at him like this…pained me. If I hadn't introduced myself to him that day he would have never had to deal any of this. I don't know why I'd grown so protective over him, but knowing that this was my fault ate away at me while I looked at the series of wounds spread throughout his body. He wasn't trying to hide himself from me anymore, what did that mean?

The silence was broken with Nathan's quiet voice; my concentration along with it.

"How could you do this…?" Nathan allowed his voice to carry all of the emotions he was feeling when he asked. There was betrayal, pain, and fear thick in his voice. I was scared to look into his eyes and in fear that seeing the purity of this emotion would be too much for me. I fought for distractions, realizing how very similar this room and my family were. The stark white plainness of it all, this was supposed to be a room for healing but in reality it seemed to be more of a prison. That must be how he was feeling at this moment…his bonds probably weren't helping that assumption.

"I'm so sorry…this is all my fault." I admitted – finally meeting his fiery eyes. When our eyes connected I stopped thinking, consumed by his presence. There was something much greater than me or him at this very moment, this was an other-worldly connection, something that I would not be able to fight even if I wanted to. I was done fighting, I just wanted to accept my fate. I wanted Nathan in my life. I took his hand with both of mine causing us both to jump for similar reasons. His hand felt like electricity crawling across my skin while the coldness of my hands must have startled him. Nathan's face went soft when this happened as he took my hand with his as best he could. He hadn't recoiled at the touch of my icey skin. Then he said something that made me want to run away.

"You're going to kill me, aren't you?"

How could he be so stupid? This person who I was willing to protect with every fiber of my being? I wanted to yell and tell him how mistaken he was. Although, perhaps he wasn't wrong in making this assumption. He was tied up in a mysteriously sterile basement after my brother had just attempted to kill him. Nathan's eyes turned to fear. Since my obsession with this boy slowly manifested itself, I'd wished that he would be afraid of me. That fear would keep him away – the caliber emotions that developed startled me. I must have lost control of my face in my anger, I quickly smoothed out my features to comfort him.

"No…I'm going to make sure no one ever hurts you again." My heart ached with passion as I said it, a sensation that I thought would be impossible to ever experience. Everything burned with pleasure and a joy that could not be described in words, this was more potent than any human drug. I wanted to live the rest of my unnatural life with this feeling. I took my mouth to his hand and brought a small kiss to the hand with a smile on my face, being incredibly careful not to breathe in so close to the vein. I took my hands from his to begin to untie the straps, but he grabbed my hand and looked at me with desperate eyes, "No! Don't leave" Nathan whispered weakly.

I smiled reassuringly "Don't worry…I'm not leaving any time soon. Lets get these straps off." He nodded frantically. The shock still hadn't left his system. One by one I undid the leather straps from his wrists and feet, while doing so I was careful to keep my hands from touching his bare flesh. The boy had just recovered from a vampire attack, now was not the time to test my self control. After each limb was untied he rubbed it instinctively but remained careful not to move too much. It was obvious he still felt incredibly uncomfortable in this climate. His eyes followed me curious as I took my seat next to him again. Once assured that I wouldn't leave, Nathan propped himself up higher against the bed with a yelp, falling back into his previous position. His body went rigid with pain as his pulse quickened to pump more endorphins into his bloodstream.

Without any sound Carlisle was standing in the room – it would be sure to startle Nathan while he sat there; his eyes clenched tight in agony.

How is he?

"In shock; he's going to be hurting in a couple of minutes." I said in such a hushed whisper a human wouldn't be able to understand. Would Nathan be able to? I'd have to ask him… at a different time.

I didn't mean physically.

Well that was a much more complicated question, and to make it worse, I didn't know.

After the aching from his overly bold movement had passed, Nathan opened his eyes only to meet Carlisle's figure. Most of the citizens of Forks would have felt perfectly safe at the sight of my make-shift father, afterall, he was the best doctor the town had to offer. However, unlike most citizens of Forks, Nathan had yet to meet Carlisle. So it was not much of a surprise when he began to panic, his pulse speeding up in huge increments. It didn't take long for Carlisle to slowly approach Nathan before saying

"I'm Edward's father, Carlisle... I'm sorry for all of this" Carlisle gestured toward the monitors and IV currently placed in Nathan's arm. "We just wanted to be sure that you made a quick recovery."

Nathan seemed to ignore Carlisle kindness in his confusion "Where am I? Is this a hospital?"

I knew the calm that I had incited in him would be temporary. I desperately wanted to make him feel better but felt a rush of shame at the thought of doing so in front of Calisle.

"No, we didn't think the hospital would be the best choice…After all, you were glowing." When Carlisle mentioned the fact he had been glowing Nathan's already pale complexion seemed to grow even whiter than my own. What was he thinking right now?

"That said, we understand the need for some level of…secrecy. This is an infirmary in our house that we use when one of us requires medical care which admittedly, is very slim." Carlisle made a joke. I was too distraught to smile and Nathan was clearly lost.

"So no one knows?"

"No one outside of this house. I'm going to check on your injuries, it might be a little uncomfortable."

A surge of relief showed through his face but quickly found itself replaced by a hesitation. He nodded at Carlisle while looking intently at everything he did. His eyes seemed bewildered as if he was seeing all of these wounds for the very first time.

"Whose clothes are these?" He asked, wincing between the sentence as Carlisle touched a particularly tender spot. I guess Nathan wasn't looking at his wounds at all – but was instead confused at the clothes he was wearing. Esme insisted I give him some of my clothes to wear. It didn't really bother me, Alice rarely let us wear the same outfit twice anyway. Nathan and I were similar physically except that I was slightly taller, but the difference was slight enough that no one would notice but Alice

I couldn't help but smile. Would the surprises never end? "They're mine." I paused while I watched his face begin to change its shade and suddenly I knew exactly what he was thinking without hearing his thoughts and added quickly "Esme…helped you get dressed. You were mostly unconscious." Small lie, he was entirely unconscious, but I hoped this small fib would make his embarrassment settle. He rubbed his face absently mindedly relinquishing a small laugh at nothing in particular "There are so many questions, I don't even know where to start.

I grinned taking his hand a second time as the heat shot through my skin "That makes two of us."

Nathan

Two more check-ups, a delicious strawberry parfait, and dozens of unanswered questions later I was ready to get up from my bed. My impatience was getting the better of me. even though it was incredibly painful to make even the slightest move, I was determined to get off this bed.

Carlisle went through the list of all the injuries I had sustained from my little tiff with Jasper. Honestly, I'd lost count. Edward left the room for the past couple of hours, why I don't know. He simply left with an encouraging smile – and not a minute later Carlisle had prepped a needle to draw blood for some tests. Everything that had happened in the past 24 hours seemed completely unreal. One fact that was obvious was that Edward and his family were not human. I didn't like the fact that they seemed to know more about me than I knew about them. It was comforting knowing that it was only a matter of time before I had answers to my epic list of questions.

During the tests Edward's mother seemed insistent to dote on my every desire. Her hovering made me uncomfortable. It made me feel like the guest over-staying their welcome. I knew it was stupid to feel this way, after all, Jasper had nearly killed me. Regardless the feeling remained the unchanged as she brought me a book and the amazing strawberry parfait on a cute little basket. Esme sat looking at me with a concerned expression that I didn't fully understand. Why was she looking at me like this? When I looked at her she smiled and said "Ready to take a shower? It must be miserable sitting in a bed that long…"

"Its only been a couple of hours – you're right though, its killing me. I'm so impatient" I joked lightly at my own expense. She didn't laugh or really smile at my joke which made me feel embarrassed, causing me to look down and avoid her gaze.

"Honey…You've been here for about a day and a half now. You were asleep for awhile." She said apprehensively.

Wow. That changed things…What would my aunt be thinking? "Wow…" was all that I mustered. Once again dismissing the thought from my mind - I tried to focus on something else that wouldn't upset me. Yea. Shower, I liked the idea of that. "Yea…a shower sounds great. Sorry for being so much trouble…" My tone sounded melancholic even to me. I'd have to work on sounding more appreciative for everything that the Cullens were doing for me.

"Don't you be sorry for anything!" She reprimanded in a motherly tone.

During this small dialogue Carlisle removed the IV from my arm without me even noticing. I'd gone back to resuming the illusion that made me more seem more human. It just seemed so wrong to not have it in the presence of people. At this point it was clear that they weren't human, but it was one of those things that were so engrained into your mind. No one mentioned the sudden difference in my features, which I wasn't sure was a good thing.

"Of course. Come on…I'll help you up" Esme chimed as she rushed to me.

"I've got …" was all I said before I went to kick my legs to the edge of the bed. I bit my lip to hold back the scream that was itching in my throat. Esme helped me out of the bed; me grunting the entire way. My body fought me each step of the way. The pain was particularly potent in my chest and arm. My memory flashed back to that night and how Jasper had attacked me…yea it made sense that those places hurt. Although the pain was intense it was nice to finally see my surroundings from a different perspective. Being bed-ridden really limits that.

We had just gotten out of the infirmary – I was greeted with the image of Edward in front of me. Concern covered his face as he looked at my terribly slow movements and erratic breathing. Concentrating on my image was too much combined with the pain so instead of letting it falter and slowly fade I simply rid myself of the chore. Both Esme and Edward changed their body language unknowingly – they noticed.

Edward eyes looked at me as if they shared my pain. "Here, I'll carry you." He gestured up stairs "There are a lot of stairs." He began to walk toward me as if I would just say yes to this very embarrassing request.

"No, I've got it." I said through gritted teeth. The pain was better than the alternative of Edward carrying me, I would have said that he wouldn't be able to carry me, afterall we were about the same size. However after seeing the damage Jasper could deliver with little difficulty if Edward had even half the strength of his brother, it wouldn't be a problem. The thought of Edward carrying me up the stairs crossed my mind. There was no way that was happening.

"I'll carry you." Edward said, this time it was more of a command than a request. Did everyone just say yes to this guy? His seemingly unbreakable confidence bothered me. Maybe it was passive aggressive, but I used this as just another excuse to avoid his request

"No." I said flatly. Humans don't argue when they see my eyes, however rare the occasion may be. They are either fascinated or terrified, usually fascinated. Sometimes I wished I could be scary instead of pretty. I shrugged but managed to take a couple of steps with Esme's assistance. Both Esme and Edward exchanged some sort of dialogue that I didn't fully understand. Maybe it was just paranoia but it seemed much more than that since Esme walked ahead smiled at me saying "If you need anything just call for me" she said before turning the corner.

"Are you ready?" he asked while looking at me.

"Are you going to be a jerk?" I said irritably.

He sighed calmly "Sorry. Just seeing you hurting makes me upset."

I nodded suddenly feeling like I was being the jerk "Sorry, just a lot has happened. I'm tired and hurting, and really want to shower."

"It would be so much easier if you let me carry you." Edward sighed.

"Not happening."

"You're incredibly stubborn." He mused.

"Looks like we have that in common"

Edward took his arm around my waste and guided me very slowly up the stairs. The initial sensation of our skin touching made me jump. His skin was so cold, but that wasn't why I jumped. Funny that the night before all of this had happened I was imagining a moment just like this happening. Maybe sometimes dreams did come true, I thought while we both walked up the stairs in silence. I was too focused on the feeling of his arm around my waste to even think of holding a conversation.

However painful walking through the house was, the combination of Edward's touch and just taking in the marvels that existed in this…mansion were enough to distract me. The architecture was something modern and very clean. Whoever chose to design the house had an impeccable taste, most of the rooms being mixtures of whites, blacks, and crèmes accented by the occasional bright color.

There was so much art in here it could have been a small museum. The works were not cheap imitations either, there were several that would be easily recognizable if you had even the most basic knowledge of art. We walked past a Dadaist collage that I'd seen in a gallery in Hong Kong. I wanted to stop in my tracks to double check its validity, but with the size of this house, money was not something that would ever hold the Cullens back.

We walked through another stark white hallway before reaching the bathroom. Edward let me go reluctantly, his hand lingered near me for a moment before withdrawing it back to his side. The bathroom left me speechless. The room was a mixture of coral and off-white. The combination seems kind of tacky in my head, but in practice the bathroom seemed something more out of a hotel or design catalogue. The marble floor was accented by a fuzzy rug that I knew would be fun to walk on. The counter had atleast a dozen products from facial rubs to pore cleansers, pretty much anything I could ever imagine using. Luckily for me, being roughly 1/4th sidhe had left me with a perfect complexion. I'd never have to deal with the awkward acne phase of adolescence.

On the edge of the counter I saw a pair of neatly folded clothes. My clothes. My favorite pair of grey skinny jeans, a plain v neck tshirt, and an orange cashmere sweater. The combination was nice and somewhat fashion forward. How on earth did they get a pair of clothes from my room? The thought of someone going through my things creeped me out a little bit. The Cullens were not your standard family. "…How did you…?" I couldn't finish my sentence, Edward put an index finger to my lips and looked me closely in the eye. This incited something much worse than a slight blush…

I began to glow.

It was still a luminescent light emitting through my skin – but any human would be able to notice the change. In that moment, my entire world was in those ocher eyes of his. I had no power over myself, I just nodded slowly still in this state of shock. "Come to the living room when you're done and we'll all talk about everything."

That was a comfort. I just nodded, still unable to speak.

" Say my name if you need any anything." Edward said, still looking into my eyes until he took a quick turn to leave, closing the door behind him. As he turned I could have sword he had a smug expression placed on his lips.

I took a seat on the toilet and just stared at everything in the bathroom in awe. The Cullens seemed like the perfect family, except that everything was so perfect it was completely unnatural. And not in a 'Brady Bunch' way, something more cold and artificial. My eyes kept on drifting to my clothes that were folded neatly on the counter. The cold marble on my bare feet was uncomfortable so I chose to stay seated for a couple of minutes enjoying the comfort of the fuzzy rug. My thoughts raced through the events that had happened in the past day or two now that I was finally alone.

I got up from the toilet and felt a shot of pain that caused me to close my eyes in hopes of blocking out the sensation. After adjusting myself I went to the shower and removed the fogged glass that kept the contents hidden. A small gasp escaped my lips when the shower came into vision. Not only was it massive, but the shower was more like a spa. There was not only one shower head, but several that shot out from every direction. Shaking my head at the glamour of it all, I disrobed and kicked my clothes sloppily to the corner of the room before walking into the shower chamber and closed the fogged glass.

There was a small key pad once I'd entered that I assumed controlled the plethora of options that were no doubt available to the shower. It took me several tries before ice water began to pelt me from all directions. Panicking I pressed the up button over and over praying for the temperature to increase. My body began become less rigid as I watched the digital thermometer reach 92 degrees. After letting out a large sigh I began to rub the water all over my body in a desperate attempt to warm up.

The water dancing along my back seemed to warm and almost heal my injuries. It was as like an artificial therapeutic massage. My mind began to wander onto my future and what it held. Throughout my entire life my future always seemed so apparent, whether it was graduating to the next class to being in the…captivity that I had been placed in.

The process shifted to that man, the one whom I as the most excited to avoid. One of the real purposes of my moving to Forks. Regardless of how far Man Yi's reach went, this corrupted Hong Kong entrepreneur was Forks, Washington would not be a place he considered.

After a prolonged shower I fiddled with the keypad until the water finally turned off. I quickly walked out of the shower and took what felt like a trip to get my towel from across the room. I was naked in Edward Cullen's house. The thought excited me and seemed completely bizarre at the same time, just thinking about it made me blush

. Before I began to put my clothes something grabbed my attention. The large mirror infront of me forced me to look at what stood near it. You see your image multiple times a day every day of your life. And yet today it seemed so different. Everything was intensified as opposed to the illusion that I put on every day. The shine of my skin seemed to grow, the color of my eyes as bright and powerful, and the shades of my hair changed with every different ray of light. I would never pass for human like this.

Why were my features more pronounced at this precise moment, when I was about to walk into a room filled of strangers without any illusions or secrets. My breathing began to grow more pronounced from nerves. "Relax, Nate. Relax." I reassured myself out loud while I began to put my clothes on one by one. They felt like home – and I was instantly more comfortable when I saw my clothes on as opposed to the exaggerated image in the mirror that disturbed even myself.

I braced myself before opening the door.

I guess now would be the time to face the truth. Lets hope I could handle it.

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