I passed out again.

When I awoke, I was warm and dry, extremely comfortable, my head clear. The pain in my body was nearly gone.

I opened my eyes to see the ceiling of the majestic room I'd stayed in during my last visit to the Blacks' home.

"Paige." It was Matthew. My heart burned.

"Matthew?" I asked. I began to sit up.

"Don't," he commanded, suddenly beside me, gently nudging me back down. I felt myself smiling.

"I'm so glad to see you," I gushed.

His expression became pained.

"I'm so sorry, Paige."

"Sorry for what?" I asked.

"Everything. This is all my fault."

I realized that my right arm was in a brace, my fingers and entire arm immobile. My right leg was in a similar state, but with a cast. I lifted my left arm. Angry red marks encircled my wrist and an IV stuck out of the top of my hand.

"You're drugging me now?" I guessed, "When did you get an IV?"

"It's Carlisle's. My - great-grandfather of sorts. Seriously Paige, I know I can't even begin to apologize enough -"

"It's fine. It could have been worse."

"No, I don't think so, and it isn't fine. Please don't downplay this. I -"

"Actually," I pressed, "It could have been worse. I'm not dead am I?"

"No, thank God - "

"Well, then it could have been worse. And I'm only alive because you found me."

"You wouldn't have been in this situation, had it not been for me!"

"Who knows."

"I do!"

"Matthew - "

"Paige, the least of your worries is the cold you've contracted. You have rope burns on your neck, wrist, and ankle. You had a high fever, a dislocated shoulder and a hyper-extended elbow. Two of your ribs are broken, along with your fibula, five fingers, and five toes. It's my fault; I did it all to you." His voice was hard, his eyes tormented.

I was silent for a moment.

"I knew you could turn into a wolf, but I had no idea you could turn into a bitchy blonde too," I joked half-heartedly.

"Paige," he groaned, "This is serious."

"Well, what's blaming yourself going to do? I would have appreciated a warning about the crazy ex. That's all you could have done. And even if you had warned me, you didn't know that she'd come after me. She's the one that did this. Not you."

I wouldn't have gotten in the car if I'd known that there was a vengeful vampire ex-girlfriend out there.

"I should have seen it coming, Paige." He sighed, "She warned me after I - ended things - that she'd make my life miserable, especially if I ever found someone else. I guess since I hadn't seen her since, I'd let my guard down."

I opened my mouth to protest, but he interrupted, "I should have seen it coming. She knows me, knows my family, and how they work. She knew how to play the holes in Alice's visions so that we'd have never seen her coming. She knew that Alice couldn't see me, Lorraine, or my parents. As long as your future was closely entwined with mine - and Alice hadn't ever met you anyway - she'd never be able to see your future. But when you were - in the woods with her - your future wasn't entwined with mine anymore."

"What?" I asked, frozen.

"You -" His voice caught, "You would have died out in the woods, and I would have never seen you again. And that's what Alice foresaw while you were there; you, dead in the woods, tied to a tree, found by animals..."

He cleared his throat and looked away.

"So how did you find me?" I whispered after a moment of silence, taking it all in.

"Alice had the vision. She drew it for us. It was vague; we didn't know where in the woods the image had been. As soon as we saw it, we decided to come after you, so your future disappeared again... and we had no idea if we'd find you dead or alive. I - it was the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced. I don't know if I'll ever be able to leave you alone again."

"Hmm."

His eyebrows furrowed in concern, "I'm sorry. I don't mean... I understand if you never want to see me again, believe me. I can leave you alone - but not completely. I'll always have to make sure you're protected. But you won't ever have to see me again. I just want you to know - "

"Who said I never wanted to see you again?" I interrupted softly.

"Paige, come on. I'm the reason you were just on death's doorstep. It's sick if you want to stay around me now - I won't let you be a victim of abuse."

"That's not your call; you weren't the one abusing me," I cut in sharply.

"I'm refusing to keep you in harm's way. Suddenly that's not my decision?"

"No, it's not. It's mine; I know the danger and it's my life to risk or do with what I please."

"Don't be -"

"How is she?"

I glanced towards the door. A beautiful man stood in the doorway. Pale and blonde, he had the features of an angel. Even his eyes were a peculiar shade of gold. It was remarkable.

"This is Carlisle," Matthew said begrudgingly.

"You're the one that patched me up?" I asked.

He smiled, "I am indeed. You were in pretty rough shape." He walked over to me.

Matthew let out a short breath.

"You're good; I hardly feel anything."

"That's because you're drugged," Matthew said tightly.

"Thank you, Paige. I've been a doctor - awhile."

It suddenly occurred to me that Carlisle was probably a vampire too. An involuntary shiver made its way down my spine as he checked my IV. How had a vampire been my doctor? Was it possible? Clarissa had had such red, evil-looking eyes - they befitted an evil creature. Carlisle's were gold. Did that mean he was different in some way?

"What?" Matthew asked, noting the expression on my face.

"N - nothing," I said quietly.

"Something," he pressed, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. He glanced nervously at Carlisle.

Suddenly and simultaneously a look a panicked concern passed over both of their faces.

"Be right back, Paige. I'm sorry," Matthew told me, slowly backing away from me. He and Carlisle left the room.

I stared at the ceiling, intrigued. What could possibly have had them so concerned?

I tried to listen, to see if I could hear anything going on, but all my ears met with was silence.

Despite my instinctive aversion to the topic, I found my mind wandering back to what had happened in the forest. Clarissa had known about Alice's visions and how they worked. She'd also told me that she hadn't intended to kill me at all, that she wanted me to break up with Matthew and break his heart.

She'd known that when she'd tied me up, Alice would have a vision of me dead, and that they'd come after me, that they'd find me.

She'd planned it all, better even than Matthew had guessed. She could have just killed me - Matthew would have been devastated that he'd brought about my death. But that wouldn't have been enough. She wanted to traumatize me enough to reject Matthew forever - and she wanted Matthew to feel pain over what she'd done to me, to blame himself. And she'd wanted me to inflict even more pain on him myself when I'd tell him I never wanted to see him again.

A double-whammy. Very cruel.

It had all been to get to Matthew, to make sure he couldn't be happy in love. I was just a means to an end.

But I refused to let her win.

My love for Matthew wouldn't be diminished just because she'd managed to scare me and hurt me. The seed of doubt she'd planted in my head had been completely erased when I had been on the verge of death.

So he was a vampire. So his family were vampires. Looking at the big picture - did I care?

So Bella - his grandmother - had been human, and had chosen to become a vampire. Intriguing. If she'd gotten pregnant and maintained a relationship with a full-blown vampire - and had wanted to become one herself - than they couldn't all be that evil, that cruel, could they? Carlisle was a doctor-vampire for crying-out-loud. It seemed a bit ironic and impossible, but my home medical care at his hands was proof that he was an excellent physician.

There was a soft rap on my door.

"Yes?" I asked softly.

"It's me, Lorraine. Can I come in?"

"Of course." It was her house, after all.

She came in, then.

Her hair was up and her cheeks were flushed, something I'd never thought I'd see. She was all the more beautiful for it, and I felt a spark of instinctive jealousy.

She seemed oddly hesitant.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Uh - " I started, "Yeah, I mean - "

"I don't mean physically," she cut in sharply, "I know you're not physically okay. And you're probably really freaked out about what happened, which is understandable. I mean about us. Now that you know what we are."

"Wha -" Oh. Yeah. Lorraine could hear thoughts. I guess Matthew had stopped blocking them.

"He wanted to know what you knew," she explained.

"Invasion of privacy much?" I muttered.

"He's sorry."

"No he's not."

The corner of her mouth turned up, "Alright, he's not. He just wanted me to say that."

"Where is he?"

"He's afraid - they all are - that you'll be to frightened to face them. Knowing what they are. I'm the most human, so I was sent in."

"I'm not - I mean, I want answers, but I'm not - I'm not afraid."

That wasn't a total lie.

I had reason to be afraid of vampires, and I was. But still, the reasons I had to not be afraid of these creatures seemed more important, so I wasn't sure what to feel.

"I can hear you, remember," Lorraine said matter-of-factly.

She looked towards the door, rolling her eyes at some unheard-by-me comment.

A soft rap sounded on the door.

"Paige?" A beautiful voice asked.

"Yes?"

A beautiful woman to match the voice appeared inside the door. She looked about my age. Pale as the rest, she had rich brown hair and strikingly golden eyes. She smiled shyly.

"I'm Bella," she said softly.

"Hi," I answered politely.

Bella. Renesme's mother. How odd - she was Matthew's grandmother, yet she was forever frozen at twenty years old.

She was the one who had fallen in love with a vampire, and become one herself.

"I wanted to talk to you," Bella continued. Her eyes flickered, and Lorraine sighed.

"See ya," she said dramatically, and left.

Bella came a little closer, taking care not to come too close.

"So," she said after a minute, "I've been in your shoes."

"I know," I said, "You fell in love - with a vampire. How did that happen?"

"Probably similarly to the way you fell in love with a werewolf-vampire-human mix of a young man."

We fell silent, gauging each other's reactions to each other.

"Actually, I was even more in your shoes than you know. There was even a man who was determined to play a game with Edward and torture me to get to him. While I was human."

I took that in.

"Well, it seems as though history is trying to repeat it self."

"So it would seem."

"Do you regret it?" I asked after another moment of silence.

"What?" she asked.

"Becoming... you know. A vampire. Being stuck like that forever."

"No," she answered confidently, "I get to be with the man I love forever. I got to raise a child, same as many humans, and got to experience the shift in relationships between children and their parents as they age. And I get to keep my daughter forever, get to see her happy, married, and get to watch my grandchildren grow up. Get to see them fall in love. I wouldn't trade that. I don't regret my decision at all."

I took a deep breath. It was food for thought. I loved Matthew - but I wasn't sure I wanted to spend all eternity with him if to id I needed to kill people and drink blood, to never be able to age or have children, or experience anything different. I wasn't sure if I would ever have been able to make the decision that Bella had made. But if I was in love with a vampire, what choices would I really have, in the future? Something would have to happen, eventually.

"I admire that. Your certainty," I told her.

She smiled softly, "I guess I'm different like that. I make a decision; I pursue it with more gusto than probably healthy."

"So..." I started.

"Yes?"

"Matthew left - what, because he thought I'd be scared of him or something? Please, can you get him for me?"

She smiled, "Yes."

Without another word, she turned and left.

She hadn't shut the door completely when Matthew opened it, but didn't come much further towards me.

I hated being so helpless so much.

"Matthew," I said, annoyed, "Please come here."

He came closer- but only about halfway to my bedside.

"Closer," I continued, slightly more irritated.

He closed the rest of the distance, and his hand twitched, like he wanted to touch me, but was hesitant.

"Matthew, I'm not scared of you," I told him defiantly.

"You should be," he said, his voice hard and his eyes dark, "I want to kill you. I want to drain your body of blood. How can that not scare you, honestly?"

I swallowed. It did scare me. But this dangerous element was just one more thing inexplicably compelling me to him.

"Fine," I admitted, "I admit that that part scares me."

His eyes flashed in dark satisfaction.

"But," I continued, starting at him until he met my own intense stare, "My trust in you outweighs any fear a thousand times over."

His voice turned angry, "It shouldn't. I don't think you realize just how hard it is not to kill you - even right now. Right now, every muscle in my body, every instinct, is compelling me to you. My werewolf instincts tell me I need you. My vampire instincts tell me I need you - and I need you now, your blood. The smell - no other human's blood smells to me like yours does. No other human's blood has a tenth of the same draw to it. It makes my throat burn with thirst for your blood. Both instincts tell me to get as close to you as possible, and it wouldn't take much for them to blend together and result in my killing you. Can I make this any clearer?"

I was silent for a moment, my heart and breathing picking up.

I knew his feelings and desires had been strong and tempting, but I had no idea that they were this strong, that my presence and his resistance was causing him actual physical pain.

"What's keeping you from doing it, then?" I whispered, not breaking our gaze.

"My human instincts, I suppose."

"And what do they say?"

He was silent for a moment, and his expression changed back to pain.

"That I love you," he whispered.

I closed my eyes, savoring the words.

"Good," I answered, "Because I love you too." I opened my eyes and stared back into his sad ones, "Right now, I don't know what's going to happen in the future. And I don't care that I'm hurt. I don't care about Clarissa. I don't really care about the future at all right now. All I care about is you and me, right here, right now. And the fact that we love each other. Please, don't spoil it."

His hand cupped the side of my head.

"I couldn't live with myself," he whispered, his voice catching, "If anything ever happened to you. And if I couldn't protect you - or, worse, if I - if I did it myself - I just -"

"Shh," I ordered, "What's the use in speculating what could happen? Let's just live in the moment. Please."

He kissed the top of my forehead softly, tenderly, and rested his forehead against my own.

"I'm sorry," he whispered again, "For what happened."

"I forgive you," I answered, knowing that this was what he needed to hear. I placed my left hand over his and felt my eyes drift shut again, relishing the moment.

My heart burned with love for him.

Maybe I really wouldn't be able to live at all without him.

Maybe we really were soul mates.

Maybe we were destined for forever.

At that moment, laying there, his overly-warm hand under my own, his head pressed close to mine - it felt like it.