Hey y'all! Thanks for making it this far!

Paul

The last thing I remembered before falling asleep was curling around Valerie and holding her sleeping form close. She had felt so small in my arms. It made me melt inside watching her sleep. Eventually I had dozed off with the feeling of her beating heart against mine.

I awake with her still in my arms. She's shifted and facing me, breathing still shallow and eyes closed in sleep. I spend a few seconds taking her in; her smooth skin, delicate nose, her rosy lips, the smallness of her… it's all incredible. Beautiful.

Then I make the mistake of moving. My arm had gotten cramped and I tried to carefully extricate it from underneath her head. Bad idea. I sigh in self-annoyance as her eyes flutter open, revealing deep, brown eyes with hints of hazel toward the pupils. She blinks slowly and finally smiles at me. Dark circles under her eyes show she's not entirely back to normal though.

"Sorry," I murmur, brushing away the hair that had fallen in her face.

"S'kay," she mumbles back, closing her eyes again. She sighs deeply and sits up.

"So what happened last night?" I finally can't stand waiting and have to know what scared her. She shakes her head. "What? Valerie, you can tell me. What happened?" She shakes her head again and turns away from me. I sit up, annoyance rising. I take her shoulders, reminding myself to be careful, and turn her back to me. "Please," I say.

"Can't tell you," she looks mournfully at me, eyes glistening with the beginning of tears.

"Valerie! Why the hell not?" I explode, but fight to calm myself back down. I look at her startled face and grit my teeth. "Valerie," I try again, "Please. I was so scared." This makes her look at me in shock. "No, I was terrified. I- I thought you might've been hurt, I… I thought you were gone… when you fainted," I gulp, pushing back the ache in my throat and chest. When I'm able to control my voice, I look back up at her. Tears have made their way down her cheeks, and she strokes the side of my face tenderly. I gulp again.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," her voice cracks and more tears spill onto her cheeks. I brush them away and bring our foreheads together. "I shouldn't have…" she trails off, shuddering at a thought unknown to me. I wait patiently, something I've grown better at. "I," she finally starts again, sniffling, "A vampire came to me last night… and, and he t-told me that I'd regret warning everybody about the rebel group," she finishes and looks down at our hands. "I'm sorry."

"No, you did the right thing. Really, now we can fight back," I try comforting her, ignoring the mix of fury and horror that the news brings. She grimaces and sniffs again. I cup her chin and kiss her forehead. She finally smiles a small smile and reaches up to meet my lips. It's soft and sweet, but it makes every nerve tingle and my hair stand on end.

"Now, how about some food huh?" I grin at her, wiping the last of her tears away and lifting her off the bed. We head downstairs to my tiny kitchen and I rummage in the refrigerator.

"Damn, guess I don't really eat at home much. Emily always feeds us and takes care of us," I shrug apologetically. I find some bread and pop some in the toaster. A flash to my left makes me turn in surprise. There, in a ray of sunlight is the necklace I'd planned on giving Valerie. Its silver crescent moon glints brightly in the light.

I pluck the necklace off the table and hide it behind my back. I walk up to Valerie, who's digging jam and butter out of the fridge.

"Hey, close your eyes," she straightens up, but doesn't turn around.

"Why?" There's a lightness to her voice that makes me sigh inwardly in relief.

"Just do it, trust me," I laugh. "Okay, are they closed?" I step close to her back.

"Yes, trust me," she throws back. I pull the necklace from behind me and bring it around to lay gently across her collar bone. I fasten the clasp.

"Okay, open," I whisper, face pressed into her hair. She gasps as her head tilts down. She brings her hand up to the charm and whips around to face me, our faces inches apart. She smiles up at me and pulls me into a hug.

"Thank you, it's beautiful," she grins and touches the moon again.

"You're welcome," I reply with a smile, "Just a little something to remind you of me and all my wolfish coolness." I shrug jokingly. She rolls her eyes.

"And," I add, "Its beauty reminded me of you."

"Cheesy," she smiles, "But keep it up, I like you as a sappy romantic." And pulls me into a kiss. I smile against her lips and grab her waist. A shrill ring pierces the quiet room. Valerie pulls away. "You should get that," she nods at the cellphone on the kitchen counter. I pull her back to me.

"It can wait," I lean down to kiss her but she pulls away again.

"It could be important," she says responsibly. I pout but grab the phone.

"Hello?" I say impatiently.

"Paul? Hey man, we need to meet again, some big news came," Jared's voice rumbles over the phone.

"Dude, I'm a bit busy," I growl, glancing at Valerie.

"It's important. Sam says he wants to discuss it with everyone," Jared insists.

"Well why? What's so important?" I demand. I hear him snarl quietly and finally sigh.

"Remember that whole situation with the vampires?"

"Which one? There are so many to choose from," I sigh exasperatedly.

"The one with the big, powerful group," he snaps.

"Yeah? Why?" I repeat, begging him to get to the point.

"Well, they're coming," his voice turns hard.

"Really?" I ask in disbelief.

"Yeah, the Volturi are coming."

So... I just finished the ending of the story (I've got this weird thing where I like to write ahead) ... and I hope you all like it! So this means I'll be updating a lot and getting pretty quickly to the end! But, fear not! The story continues for a bit more before it's over... so enjoy! :)