DISClaimer: I'm not Stephenie Meyer. I make no profit from this.

Hope you enjoy this.

-x-

"I'm gonna find her." he said softly. "And I'm gonna make sure she's alive when I bring her back…" I swallowed nervously at the foreboding in his voice.

Oh, shit. What have I done?

-x-

Quil's POV

I rubbed her shoulder gently as she tried to stand up, collapsed sideways and fell into my lap. She whimpered and I put my arms around her. Something in my subconscious told me to let go, but I wasn't going to. She needed me. I had to help.

"You're so warm," She murmured, her eyes closing again as she leaned closer to me.

"You're cold and wet." I sniggered back.

"I was trying to turn it into one of those wonderful we're-going-to-die-but-let's-make-the-best-of-it moments, pillock." She said without opening her eyes, and I smiled.

"Good." I laughed and looked into the water. Something was telling me it was getting higher, climbing up the side of the rocks. "Do you think the tide's coming in?" I murmured aloud, though I realised I shouldn't have bothered her, it sucked the fun out of the place. It was nice in here, kind of - there was a miniature beach and enough light to be comfortable.

I had carried her body to the patch of sunlight in the centre of the cavern, and let her lay down, dry off, but now I was getting restless, and she still hadn't really recovered.

"We're not going to die, are we really?" She asked a few minutes later, still staring into the middle distance.

"I honestly don't know." I sighed. She scrabbled into a sitting position and groaned as she put her face into her hands.

"Can you imagine? I've been here five bloody days, and I end up dead-"

"Don't think that." I murmured. "There's always a way out of these places in the movies… surely there's one here too?"

"That's fiction and you know it." I heard her say, but I was beyond listening.

"How strong are you?" I asked as I paced around the cavern, "Can you… stand up?" Shakily, she got to her feet. That's when I remembered exactly what she was wearing… or, to be more exact, her lack of outerwear. "You must be cold."

"No, the bra and knickers combo are toasty." She retorted sarcastically.

"Come here." I opened my arms and hugged her, feeling guilty as I enjoyed the cool feel of her skin against mine. Claire wouldn't know any better, but Seth would know as soon as I phased. He would feel the… weirdness about me, when I thought of the pair of them, I guess I would feel slightly jealous - he had known her for days, and she meant everything to him… and she could reciprocate those feelings. Claire and me… well, it was awkward, to say the least.

It was sad to say, but I was nearly twenty-four, and had never been kissed. Sucked, really, but what I'd never had, I'd never miss, I guess… still… it would be nice to know-

"Max?" I looked down at her; she had limped over to a flat rock and sat down on it, crossing her legs, and then drawing them to her chest. She looked up at me and nodded silently. "I was just wondering," get in there slowly, Quil… "If we were going to die down here-"

"I thought we weren't going to die down here?" She offered me a small smile of defiance, I grinned back at her. "Well?"

"Humour me. Pretend that dark thoughts keep me going."

"Why?" She was letting me talk. I liked that - none of the wolves usually let me get a word in edgewise, so it was kind of nice to be able to speak like normal.

"Because I… I don't like being stuck in places. It makes me feel all…" I paused, "Trapped."

"And being stuck in the body of a wolf doesn't bother you?" She laughed.

"Not as much as you'd think. It feels all… natural, I guess. It's weird when you phase, but other than that-" I smiled. She'd stopped me thinking about it, really.

"Yeah?"

"Other than that, it's pretty cool. You get the odd desire to eat some pretty weird stuff… but it's cool." I smiled at her, she laughed and grinned back. "So, how're we gonna get out of here, then?" I asked softly.

"To be honest, I was thinking you'd be able to work that one out…" She stopped and looked to the floor, I grinned and smiled at her, trying to make her feel better. "You could get out the way you came, couldn't you?" She asked softly, breaking the silence just as fast as she had formed it.

"I guess so." I smiled at her, "But… you wouldn't be able to hold your breath for that long, would you?"

"I wouldn't." She said certainly, "I think… I think I hit my head when I got in there. The current must have swept me in here - I remember opening my eyes and coughing up a load of water." She pulled her feet up beneath her and sighed. "Worrying, that, isn't it?"

"What?"

"To have nearly drowned, and not known it was going to happen…" I heard her sigh and she closed her eyes. "Bloody terrifying."

"You actually want to know when you die?" I asked softly. "You're mad, you are."

"I've been told," She replied. "You know, you've got to be… a little mad, to get to where you want to be -" She smiled and looked to the floor, "I wouldn't have let this go for the world - it's incredible. I don't honestly know where I am, but I know I am here for a reason - there's a reason for everything… a meaning… I'm here because I want to be… and if that makes me mad… then so be it."

I chewed my bottom lip for a minute as I watched her. She stared back.

"Well, what would you want, if you were going to die?"

"I'd want to be warm. To be comfortable," She said morbidly, staring at me, into the middle distance. "I'd want to be with someone who loved me as much as I loved them - l-like Seth." She splutters, not looking at me. "You?" She raced through the words and looked back at the sand again.

"I… I guess it would be the same." She bit at her thumbnail for a second and stared into the sand, flicking her toes into it for a moment, she smiled.

"There must be more to it than that? If you could have something, before you died… anything at all, what would it be?"

Silly bitch has just asked me my own question. What do I want if I'm going to die? To be kissed, properly, passionately, desperately. By her.

"It's stupid."

"No… go on." She looked up, tearing her eyes away from the sand, "I'm genuinely interested."

"I-I've never been kissed."

Jared's POV

"She's not dead, Seth." I repeat for the fiftieth time, although I think my conviction levels were sinking rapidly, I was starting to disbelieve myself. Seth knew it. He could see it in my face.

I was seething, pretty much ready to punch a hole in the cliff face, ready to break through the solid rock, because if I didn't hit something before Embry came back, we'd have one less wolf in the pack.

"You don't believe that." Seth hissed back at me.

"Oh, shut up." I grunted, staring into the water. "You've done nothing but send out bad vibes. I bet you Quil's got her, and he's looking after her-"

"Then where the hell are they?" I've got my back to him now, looking deeper into the waves.

"They're stuck." I said softly. "Stuck."

"Where?" He made a small, strangled noise in his throat.

"How the hell should I know, Seth? Dude, to be honest, I don't have a clue where they could be on this coastline." I waved my hand around. I liked angry Seth better than I liked weak and pathetic Seth. He was far easier to cope with in the middle of his frustration.

I looked down at my nails, realising they were cracked and broken from months of working with Brady and Collin on building new shelters on the reservation. I'd become a pretty good carpenter since I had left school. I was enjoying it. Kim adored being able to live and work on the reservation, she adored being able to be alive, to be… herself. I loved that the reservation could bring people out of themselves, to turn them into who they were inside - who they wanted to be.

Seth looked at me, he had probably said something but I wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention any longer. His nose twitched in silent anger and I felt the heat rise in my face.

"What did you say?" I kept my voice as even as I possibly could, trying not to breathe, trying not to get mad.

"I said, the Cullens are coming." He was pointing down at the beach, I could see two people, one standing, perfectly still, trying to sense something, the other, crouched down, looking up at us.

"The one on the floor is Alice's mate." I said softly. "Jasper, is it?"

"Yeah." I swallowed. I had heard some stuff about him. We were friends, sort of, but it was still a bit nerve wracking to know the young man in front of me had feasted on human blood as recently as fifteen, twenty years ago. He seemed nice enough, though. And I was not one to judge by rumours.

"Jacob's coming… I think." Seth looked at me for a second and closed his eyes. "I'm gonna phase, to make sure. Alright?" He paused, trying to keep as level headed as he possibly could. I nodded and gestured to the beach.

"I'll stay here, keep my eyes on the water… when Jasper and," I looked again, "I think it's Edward, get up here… I'll see what we can do, alright?" He nodded.

"Yeah." Another pause, "Hey, if you phase, will you be able to catch Embry on his way back?"

"Maybe." I said, raising an eyebrow. He nodded hopefully. I smiled and gritted my teeth. "Alright. But I'll do it quickly. You go." He nodded again, but didn't move. "That means you'll need to move your feet, Seth."

"Right." He nodded and fought to start moving. I pulled my trunks off and shuddered into wolf form.

"Embry? You back?"

"We're two miles south of you. But we've not seen anything yet."

"Right."

"Jake's a couple of miles north of you too… alright at the cliffs?"

"Jasper and Edward have just got here." I looked down and shot him a picture of the scene in front of us. I bowed my head and pawed at the ground for a couple of seconds. "Do you think she's alright?" I said.

"I hope so." He sounded genuinely hurt. "It's all my fault, Jar'. I feel so bad." I stopped pawing and looked up. "I was irresponsible, reckless and I should have been doing something sensible… not dislocating my arm, for one."

"Oh, shut up, Embry." I muttered, for once, sick of being the father figure of our younger group. I saw a pair of pairs of feet and looked up. "Gotta go, the vampires need me."

I phased back and pulled my trunks on.

"Jared." I nodded as Edward spoke.

"Jasper." He nodded at me.

"What've you got?" He said softly, closing his eyes, trying to find some means of calming the situation. There was a long moment of silence and he looked up at me.

"Are you sure, Jasper?" Edward was staring at him, his fear pretty obvious in his eyes. "You think… you think you can track her blood?"

My mouth must have fallen open and I stared at him.

"Jasper?" Edward said softly. "You can smell her that strong?" he inclined his head very slightly and looked away.

"In the water. It's weak… but… I can smell it."

-x-

A/N: Please review and let me know how I did... :P

Yay for Jasper's part in this... I love him so...

I probably won't have an update for you tomorrow – I'm gonna be watching the Inauguration at school, so you know, lol... i'll be slightly busy... still... if there's time, i'll rock on and reply to a few hundred reviews... (I hope there are that many. That would ROCK!)

I'm really glad you all like it... so i'd appreciate more feedback...

And i'm really, really happy that you keep reading :)

REVIEW, guys, i'll want to update more!! Lol

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