Author's Note: I have a problem with my internet connection =( Sorry for the irregular updates. But the lack of reviews seriously didn't help! A very big thank you for everyone who bothered to drop a review :) Seriously, tell me if you don't like it. I won't hurt you :D But I need to know, really.

Oh, and Allie is hard to write, period.

COLBY BLACK

From my position, upside down on our living room's off-white couch, I saw the vampire side of my family (who just came from Canada) suddenly stand up, alerted. I raised an eyebrow, along with Sarah, and listened carefully to my surroundings in hope to understand the reason behind the surprise.

In at least 2 miles distance, there were two people approaching – one definitely a vampire; I could barely hear the footsteps, and two miles were nothing compared to my hearing distance in case of humans. They were both silent for a whole two minutes until one of them spoke.

"I know it'd be much faster if I carried you, but, believe me, the last thing you would like to experience is the fall flu," Alice's musical voice broke the silence.

"Th-think I-I already c-caught it," a young, heaving voice commented, followed by a humorless laugh.

I jumped to my feet, sprinting out of the door, nobody bothering to stop me. What in the world got Alice with Alison now?

"Alice! Can you hear me?" I said softly, knowing she would.

"Yes, Colby."

"H-he's here?" Allie asked, but I didn't hear a reply from Alice.

"Where exactly are you?"

"Can't you track me? That would be some serious problem."

I growled; it definitely wasn't my fault I couldn't concentrate on tracking a very familiar scent when my priority was Alison. Believe it or not, worry twisted both brains and stomachs in a way that made my natural, and much-practiced tracking skills fade in the thin air.

"Turn 45 degrees to the west, go straight ahead and you'll find us. We'll stay still."

Without another thought, I ran towards them in my full speed – the fastest I could in my human form, only looking in Alison's height level. She stood there, her eyes puffy, trails of tears striking her pale cheeks, shivering and looking at her feet.

"I found her in the woods, about a mile away from the borders of La Push," Alice informed, stroking her hair gently once, causing her to shiver even more, and running towards the house. "I'll get her something to wear!"

I kneeled down in front of her, cupping her face in an attempt to bring back some color to her cheeks, afraid she might snap at me if I hugged her. "You're warm," she breathed.

Words failed to express me at that moment; I hated seeing her so broken – even for a reason I didn't know about. Under other circumstances, she would've glared at me, at the very least, for touching her face. "What happened? Are you okay?"

I honestly expected a 'do I look okay to you, Weirdo?' but, instead, she just shook her head. "What happened is that I've never felt so damn worthless my whole life, Colby."

I hugged her, her wet clothes not bothering me as much as the tears that I could feel fall on my shoulder. "Would you come home with me? Or do you want me to take you to your home?"

She wrapped her arms around me, squeezing briefly, before she pulled back. "No, not my home."

"Embry's?"

She shook her head.

I grimaced. "Come on, Allie – no one will know where you are – you'll get everyone worried."

"Well, the first part is true," she muttered bitterly.

"What do you mean? What happened?"

"Colby? Can you take me somewhere a little bit warmer than here?"

I stared at her tired ocean blue eyes that were practically begging and nodded obediently, but before I could move, Alice was back with a heavy blanket. "There you go! Nessie's trying to find some clothes your size at home until we go back. Shall we?"

"Alison!" I hissed, "You can't just stay silent like that! No one will be able to help you if you don't say what happened to you!"

She winced. "I don't need any help."

"Colby, I can, you know."

"No, Edward," I insisted, if she's not going to tell, then I'd rather not pull the information out of her mind.

He nodded understandingly.

By that time, she had changed into one of Sarah's old pajamas she had outgrown, still wrapped with the blanket, refusing to let me warm her. She wouldn't say what happened to her, and it was getting on every nerve I had; I knew she was suffering and I couldn't do anything about it! She reminded me of Sarah, in a very painful way, when she had refused to let us help her when she was kidnapped back in Paris. What was with those girls and being masochistic?

"Then why did you come here, huh? Why?"

"Calm down, Colby!" Dad warned from downstairs.

She played with the edge of the blanket, her lower lip quivering for a brief second. "Because you said you cared," she mumbled.

I sighed. "I do, Allie," I reassured, "But you're not helping me."

She closed her eyes, pulling my pillow so she could rest her head on it. "If I tell you, you'll be scared," she quoted me, one corner of her lips hinting towards a smile.

My heart clenched at the words.

"What do you mean?"

She sighed. "Colby, please. I don't want to talk about it."

"You do know you have to be home by 5 a.m., right?" I said as her heartbeat slowed down; Alice said that was 30 minutes before her father would return (why was she home alone anyway?). She grimaced but nodded. "And you'll have to tell me later, okay? Because I care."

"Guess maybe I can 'spend the day with Mary' tomorrow," she said, her eyes still closed, "you'll have to show me the cliffs, by the way; a lot of people talk about how beautiful it is there."

"Only if-"

"Can't promise you I'll tell you, but I'll do my best," -she yawned- "okay?"

I gritted my teeth. "You're impossible," I said, but she was already asleep.

ALISON ANDERSON

I slept like I hadn't slept in ages.

The next morning, I woke up to find myself at home, a note stuck in the cuffs of the pajama I was wearing. "Good morning =) Hope you slept well. You were home by 4:30 (sudden change in plans) – I tried waking you up but the world could've been crashing and you wouldn't flutter an eye.

Call me if you need anything – number on back of the page. Won't stalk – promise.

Colby."

I smiled at the note. I wasn't sure what exactly I was thinking last night by going out to the woods all alone, but I was glad to find out Colby wasn't nearly half as bad as I thought he was. Sure, he was shaking like crazy when I wouldn't tell him what was wrong with me, and, sure, he could've been forced to build a friendship with me, but, honestly, all I cared about at the moment was that there was someone whom I could turn to whenever something upset me (without having to deal with the gossip at school, or the ignorance at home). It felt new – refreshing.

It wasn't until about five minutes later that I realized it wasn't 7 a.m., but noon. Frankly, especially after Colby-picking-me-up yesterday, I didn't want to deal with the rumors I knew were bound to be spread, but I also didn't like skipping my second day of school. I jumped out of the bed, changing into another pajama (wouldn't want to explain the new, silky, over-sized pajama) and hopping my way downstairs.

"'Morning, Allie," Dad greeted from the kitchen, "Any better now?"

"Huh?"

He smiled kindly. "You went into a coughing fit last night. That's why I didn't wake you up for school," he explained, opening the fridge, "Hungry?"

I ignored his question, pulling a chair to sit on. "Where's Mom?"

"I don't know," he replied, "We, er, had a…disagreement last night; I didn't find her when I came back, but she's probably at your granny's."

"Oh, really?" I pulled the innocent card, "What happened?"

"Nothing that you should worry about, sweetie. Now, I gotta head to work – I should be back by seven."

He grabbed his keys and headed towards the door, throwing me a quick 'bye' as he did. It was hard; I wanted to sound rude, I wanted to express my annoyance, but every time I attempted, my love for them prevented me. I hit the counter with my fist.

I was such a girl.

COLBY BLACK

Emmett grinned victoriously, pinning me to the ground. I snarled, pushing him off me as I jumped to my feet. "C'mon, kiddo," he said, "You can do a bit better than that."

"He can't think straight when he's mad," Edward pointed out, and I threw a growl towards him, only to earn an all-too-knowing smile.

"Colby you have to stop this right now!"

"Way to kill the fun, Jacob," Emmett muttered, flexing his biceps, before he turned to me. "Later."

Dad stood in front of me, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm beginning to re-think allowing you to become the Alpha," he said and I narrowed my eyes at him, "You used to have better control. Gain that back or you're off the pack for good - you choose."

"Jake," Mom said, flashing by his side, "Leave us alone for a bit; I need to talk to him."

I dug my paws in the ground, vibrating my tail irritably; they were talking about me as if I was some kind of a misbehaving 5-year-old while I had very good reasons to be off the mood today. Ever since we dropped Allie home, I could barely contain my anger, and I knew I had to phase to let all the negative energy out. We, both, were lucky I could control it while around her - I couldn't get over how she wouldn't tell me. She sneaked out of her house and was, according to Alice, looking for me in the woods. Alone. With no one there to protect her. But when she saw me, she didn't tell me, she didn't cry her eyes out and whine about how her life sucked - nothing; she just fell asleep, and soundly, may I add. Given another imprint, I wouldn't have worried so much; some were plain nuts and would leave their houses at the middle of the night just because they felt like it (ask Aunt Rachel, or Paul) but she wasn't willing to trust me just twenty-four hours ago, and I knew I'd have to work hard to gain that, but she just came to me when she was upset? Something huge - something horrible- must've happened.

And she still wouldn't tell me.

Dad's eyes flew between Mom and I, his mouth set in a hard line. "Nessie, please go back into the house; I'll talk to him."

"Jake, stop being ridiculous."

"Nessie," he started, "Please."

In a minute, he was in his wolf form, and I knew I was in deep shit.

I knocked her door lightly, finally calming down a bit, the plastic bag in my hand being squeezed repeatedly. After rapid footsteps, a groan and the shuffling of the door knob, she opened the door with an expressionless face, her hair wet and raised in a high pony tail, her ocean blue eyes dull, but a lopsided smile threatened to spread on her face.

"Colby," she acknowledged.

"Hey, Allie," I said, smiling, "How are you now?"

She shrugged.

I flexed my fist, trying to be in a better control of my temper, raising the plastic bag in my hand. "Heard you're sick."

She took the bag gently, peeking inside it. "How did you know what I take? Did - oh, Alice."

I nodded.

"Well, I don't feel like spending the whole day here, eating soup and drinking tea or whatever," she said, "Can you take me somewhere?"

"Are you sure?" I asked, laughing, "I'm the stalker, remember?"

"And a good one at that, Weirdo," she winked, "Can you, or can't you? Oh, and I need to pass by the school, too."

"Well, well," I teased, "Taking advantage of me, eh?"

She rolled her eyes. "Mary said I can ask you for whatever I want," she reasoned, "I can, right? Because, otherwise, that would be some serious bummer."

I laughed. "Sure, sure. Go get ready, I'll wait in the car."

ALISON ANDERSON

"Aw, come on!" I said, bouncing in my seat, "I didn't go out just to go to another house - I want to see the cliffs!"

"It's really cold today, Allie, and you're sick - you come on!"

I should've felt guilty for leaving home without telling anyone, or taking any permissions; I'd never done that before, but being with him didn't make me feel in any way guilty; he was comfortable to be around (now that I tried not to think about him without the stalker profile). And, I had to admit, he was better than cable.

Only that cable wasn't stupidly stubborn and unreasonable.

"Fine," I snapped, "Take me to school then back home."

"Listen, Allie," he said sternly, turning to look at me, making my stomach flip - he was driving really fast, and he wasn't even looking at the road, "Are you always like that?"

My eyes kept jumping between the road and him. "Like what?"

"Like that," he said, "Like whatever I say makes you mad - I'm sorry, Allie, but I have my reasons!"- I shrunk in my seat - "Like whenever I want to make you feel better, you won't let me help you! I want to."

I sighed. "What do you want me to do, then?"

He blinked, taking his time before answering me. "Tell me what happened last night."

"I don't want to talk about it, Colby - please understand that."

"You know," he said, his eyes finally back on the road, "Alice and Edward know, but I wouldn't let them tell me."

"Why not? You want to know, don't you?"

He patted my head gently. "That's not the point; I don't want to know it for the sake of knowing it, I just want to be there for you, Allie, when I know no one else is."

I closed my eyes, trying to savor this dream. "Fine," I surrendered, "I'll tell you."

And I told him.

Everything.

Author's Note:

Okay, so here's the deal - when you guys don't review (positively or negatively), it feels like no one reads the story (well, except the great people who actually waste two minutes of their time to review), and let me tell you, that feeling totally sucks. So, please, if you want this to continue (or not) say it for Heaven's sake!

*smiles sweetly*

Fine, guys. When you review, I'll send you a virtual chocolate - any size you want, and it won't make you fat :) I might sound pathetic, but, really, if you're an author here you'd feel the same :)

TooToo