Hi All! Just and FYI, this story is basically about how Lexie handles her new life... As for Mark's fate... Well you'll just have to find out in a few more chapters. (insert evil laugh ;)

Chapter 8: Clouding up my Mind

Later that evening, Lexie Grey stood leaning against the picture window of her bedroom looking out into the darkened forest. Her photographic memory replaying the day's events from the moment she awoke to meeting the rest of the Cullen family, which surprisingly hadn't been too bad. They were all very nice, which was a really weird thing to imagine now that she knew they were all vampires. 'Like me.' She thought as the reality set in.

It was late afternoon, when the trio walked into the family room. Jasper had made his way over to kiss the lips of a cute pixie like girl with black spikey hair and a friendly smile. She looked up to him in adoration, and then moved away from him until she was standing in front of her.

"Welcome to the family, Alexandra!" She announced happily while pulling her into a hug. "My name is Alice." Lexie gave her an awkward hug back.

"Umm… thanks? Please call me Lexie."

"Oh okay, that's cute… Lexie it is." She giggled and practically danced back into Jasper's waiting arms. Lexie looked over to Carlisle nervously; he chuckled and began to introduce the rest of his family.

"Okay, so you've met Jasper and Alice. Next to them from left to right are Emmett, Rosalie, Edward and his wife, Bella."

Lexie squeaked in surprise, when Emmett came rushing toward her and lifted her off her feet to give her a crushing hug. "What's up, Doc!" he said giving her a goofy smile.

"Emmett, put her down, your scaring her!" huffed Rosalie at the tall, muscular man.

"Oops, sorry." He said sheepishly putting her back on the ground, then moved back to stand next to Rosalie. Moving away from Emmett; Rosalie, who looked like a beauty queen, with her long blond hair walked gracefully up to Lexie to shake her hand.

"Welcome to our odd little family." She offered an understanding smile, knowing from personal experience that next few months or even years were going to be hard on the newborn as she learned to adapt to her new life. "If you ever need to talk or whatever, just... You know come find me."

"Umm… sure, thanks." Lexie replied as she released Rosalie's hand and watched her return back to Emmett.

The last couple to come forward looked too young to be husband and wife, but as she was quickly discovering, ages were really deceiving in this family. Both were beautiful, with brown hair and soft smiles.

Bella moved away from Edward and gave her a friendly hug. "Hi Lexie, It's nice to finally meet you."

Edward on the other hand had been 'listening' to his new sister's thoughts and could tell that she was becoming very uncomfortable with all of the attention, so when he moved up next to Bella, he offered her a polite hand shake.

"It's very nice to meet you, Lexie and I hope in time you'll get more comfortable calling us family." She returned his handshake and whispered "Thank you." Out of all of the Cullen clan, Edward seemed to be the only one to understand that she felt like an outsider and wasn't ready to be accepted into this new family.

Walking over, Carlisle put his arm around her waist and guided her to a couch. "Now that the introductions are over, let's sit down to discuss what's going to happen over the next few months as you begin to adapt to this new life and the rules you will have to follow until you can control your bloodlust around humans."

Several hours later, Lexie's brain felt overloaded, just like a few weeks ago, when Alex and the rest of the Residents had wanted her to memorize all of the old case files, so that she could test them before their boards. But instead of surgical information, she now had knowledge of a hidden supernatural subculture that had been in existence for centuries.

Carlisle had first began by telling her about the other members of the Cullen family she had yet to meet; Reneesme, Edward and Bella's half-human, half-vampire daughter and Jacob Black, one of the leaders of the Quileute Tribe that had the ability to turn into vampire killing wolves. He explained that they were staying in Jacob's village for a few days until she had accepted her new life and the rules necessary to protect themselves and others; per their treaty with the Quileute Tribe.

Then Carlisle went into the history their people, including the rules created by the Immortal leaders known as the Volturi and the punishments handed out to transgressors, if they are not followed. It was during this part that she found out about the Voluri's recent visit to eradicate the Cullen family, due to them believing Reneesmee to be a vampire child. Edward had cut in and angrily said that was just an excuse for Aro to use in order to acquire vampires with gifts. Carlisle had given Edward a stern look, then interrupted and said that they would explain about the gifts later once Lexie was comfortable being an immortal. He continued by saying that with the help of the Quileute Wolves and several friends they proved to the Volturi that no laws had been broken and that Reneesmee was not a danger to the Immortal race. They left, but Carlisle went on to say that they would not be announcing Lexie's change to the Volturi, since they didn't want them to feel threatened by the Cullen's increasing numbers.

The last bit of information was the hardest to handle, especially when they showed the news broadcasts announcing her death.

"Doctor Alexandra Caroline Grey is dead." Carlisle began bluntly. "She was killed in that plane crash and you cannot go back to being her. To do so would not only put your human family at risk, but us as well. Humans cannot find out that we truly exist and as technology has spread, it has gotten harder to hide in plain sight, which is why we move to different cities or countries every 5 to 6 years." Carlisle stopped and took her hands in his, "We don't age, Lexie. You will always look the same whether it's 10, 50 or even 100 years from now; but the rest of your family and friends will eventually grow old and die. It's better for everyone, if the ties to your past are broken now."

She had sat in stunned silence until Alice, Bella and Rosalie pulled her off the couch and led her to a bedroom. Once there, Alice proceeded to show her the clothes they had bought in her size and began to talk about going shopping, once she could handle being around humans again. A few minutes later, the trio left and Lexie closed her eyes at the silence, happy to finally be alone. Opening them, she looked around her new room and noticed a laptop sitting on a shelf. Pulling it down she sat down on the bed and began searching the web for any information about the plane crash and the condition of the survivors. Not finding much, she shut it down, and then considered trying to find a phone to call the hospital. But she knew that getting any information from the hospital staff would be impossible, unless she came forward as a family member.

'This sucks!' she thought and got up to walk over to the window to look out, then pushed away and started pacing. She understood the reasons why the Cullen's wanted her to stay away from the people who knew her, but she needed to know that everyone was okay.

Downstairs Edward looked over to his parents and said, "We'll need to watch her, she's thinking about leaving." Carlisle nodded, and then looked toward the ceiling as he heard her start to pace. Feeling a hand on his arm he looked toward his wife.

"Carlisle, she's just worried about the others from the crash. She might become more settled if she finds out they're alright."

Putting a hand over hers, "Your right, sweetheart, she's not a prisoner. I'll use my contacts at the hospital to get some information about her companions and hopefully it will keep her calm enough to stay put."