So um...yeah. It's been a long time. A reeeeaaaalllly long time. I don't have any great excuses. All I can say is life happened. It happened A LOT.

To catch up any readers that I may have left, in the last chapter Elisa returned to school after her latest near death experience, this time at Bella's newly immortal hands, only to find danger has never really left her side at all, just taken a new face.

I would recommend re-reading the last chapter, as well as the Sebastian heavy chapters 16 Lessons and 17 Repercussions. For extra credit you can also re-read chapter 1, Elisa's 2nd POV only.

This chapter is dedicated to siDEADde, for the inspiration.

Chapter 23: Pieces

Walk away now

And you're gonna start a war…

I never did step foot inside a classroom that day. After receiving Sebastian's stalkermail, I lost a few minutes to hyperventilating and near pants wetting panic. Then I made my way up to the front office of the school, jumping at shadows the whole way, and told Mrs. Hughes that I had a horrible headache and needed to go home. One look at my gray, sweat streaked face and she didn't even bother to send me to the nurse first for verification.

Luckily, there was no need for me to go into detailed explanation when I called home. As it turned out, Alice had seen me open Sebastian's card and Emmett and Rosalie was already halfway to the school.

We hadn't talked much on the car ride home, or at least I hadn't talked much. There had been a rapid fire interrogation when I first climbed into the car, and the rest of the ride was the two of them passing Sebastian's card back and forth. Their muttered conversation was barely audible to my ears.

Any hope I had that this might not be the terrifying death omen it appeared to be was lost as I watched their tight, hard expressions. Rosalie's hands were clenched around the steering wheel and her foot continually pressed down on the gas, urging her Mustang to go faster.

Alice and Jasper had been waiting for us on the porch, their faces as grim as Emmett's and Rosalie's. The pit in my stomach seemed to deepen another ten feet at the sight of them. Apparently Carlisle and Esme had been informed as well; Rosalie told me they were catching the first flight back from Seattle.

Now the five of us were congregated in the dining room. I leaned against the wall, watching Rosalie pace back and forth. Across from me, on the other side of the table, Alice and Jasper leaned into each other. I couldn't tell if they were speaking or not. Emmett stood next to me, watching Rosalie. My legs felt shaky. I wanted to sit down at the table, but no one else seemed to have any inclination to.

"This is unbelievable," Rosalie said, for the fourteenth time if I was counting correctly. I watched her pace back and forth, Sebastian's card in her talon like grip. Abruptly, she whipped around to face the rest of us. "Sebastian can't stand humans; why would he target Elisa, of all people? And how was he able to track her down like this?"

Her words hadn't been accusing, but Alice seemed to take them as a personal affront anyway. "I don't know. I didn't see," she slumped into a chair. "I'm sorry."

"Nobody's blaming you, Alice," Jasper murmured softly.

"What does this mean?" Emmett broke in impatiently. He gestured to the card. "Your secret is safe with me? What is he talking about?" He looked at me.

"I don't know," I muttered, alarmed by the way he was looking at me. There was only one secret I could think of that had anything to do with me…but how could Sebastian know that, the incident in the library, the visions, the drawing...?

But then again, he'd said during our brief encounter that I was 'perfectly clear to him'…what did that mean? Did he know something about me that I didn't even know about myself?

"He means he's not going to reveal Elisa to the Volturi," Alice's voice broke into my frantic thoughts. There was no uncertainty in her tone.

The others stared at her. "Are you certain?" Jasper demanded.

"I'm certain that's what he meant," Alice indicated the card with a flick of her chin. "Whether he will actually keep his word or not, that's an entirely different story."

"Why would he offer to keep our secret?" Emmett demanded, his voice even louder. He snatched the card back from Rosalie, reading it again as if he expected to find hidden messages in it.

"Self preservation, perhaps," Rosalie mused. "He knows we'd kill him if we thought there was even a chance that he was going to sell her out."

I was jolted by this, her flat declaration of the extremes in which the Cullens were willing to go to protect me, but before I could muse on it long the others were chiming in.

"I say we can't take that chance," Emmett's face was grim. "As long as we've known Sebastian, he's wanted to join the Volturi Guard. It doesn't make any sense that he would sit on info that could be his ticket in. We have to track him down. Now."

Jasper straightened up. "He's right. We can't trust him, not after he helped Irina."

"Sebastian won't tell," I hadn't meant to speak, but my sudden whisper had their heads whipping around in unison.

"Why would you think that, Elisa? Especially after what he helped do to Bella right in front of you!" Rosalie demanded. "You don't know him the way we did. He can't be trusted."

"I know," my voice was still a nervous whisper. "But he won't tell."

"Why - " Rosalie started again but I wasn't paying attention now. My mind was back where I never wanted it to go, back in the garden on that horrible day when Bella almost died. The day that was always soaked in blood in my memories, the few times I even came close to letting myself remember it.

I could feel his cold fingers on my face once more, could hear his voice in my head again so clearly, the last thing he'd said to me. "Save yourself, Elisa. I am very much counting on seeing you again."

And even more terrifying was what he'd said before that, to Dax, when he'd stopped his feral companion from killing me: 'This one intoxicates me…her scent…the things she makes me see… Who knows? I might even keep her."

I had never told any of them what Sebastian had said to me that day, or how I'd bargained with him; my life for Bella's. I didn't know for sure if I hadn't because I didn't want them to worry, or because I knew if I forced myself to face what it all could mean I might run screaming and never stop.

But the time for secrets was over now. Whatever expression was on my face as the memories slithered through my mind made their questions irrelevant.

"He won't tell them because he wants you for himself," Alice looked sickened.

"My God," Rosalie muttered under her breath.

"We have to leave. We have to hide her," Emmett's hands were balled into fists. He looked at me. "Pack some stuff. I want to be out of here in the next hour."

He turned to his wife. "Rosalie, can you make some calls?"

Everyone immediately began speaking at once but amazingly, no voice was louder than mine.

"NO!"

Emmett stared at me, his expression shocked. I rushed forward before he could interrupt me. "We can't run away! We have a life here! Carlisle has the free clinic, and it means everything to him. You all have been happy, and I have school, I have friends! I was finally starting to feel normal again. How can we give all that up?"

"Elisa," Emmett kneeled down in front of me, forcing me to look at his deadly serious expression. Gently, he took my hands in his. "Listen to me. Sebastian will kill you if he gets the chance."

"I know," I whispered back. I could feel the tremors begin. "But I trust you guys to protect me. Besides, if he's that determined, he'll find me wherever I go, won't he?" I directed the last question at Alice now.

After a long moment, Alice nodded. "Yes. Every single one of us knows that if he is really determined to have her, he won't give up just because it's not as easy to find us. Let's face it; that would probably only make it more fun for him."

"See?" I turned back to Emmett. "It's not even just him. I'm not invincible like the rest of you. There's always going to be danger around me, from sickness or car accidents or even other human beings that are just as twisted as Sebastian in their own ways. I can't hide out the second anything gets scary. It's just the way things are when you're mortal, and you can't protect me from life, not if I'm ever going to have a chance to live it. Please, Emmett..." my voice caught now and Emmett sighed heavily, his face still grim and uncertain.

"We need to know where he is. Can you see him now?" Rosalie's voice was barely controlled as she turned to Alice. It made my heart race all over again to see how clearly upset she was.

Alice's face was frustrated. "I can try, but my sight hasn't been working right lately. I don't - ' she sighed heavily, 'Just don't expect to rely on me. Sebastian knows how my vision works as well as anyone."

With that, her face went blank. We all waited as her eyes glazed over. I fidgeted nervously.

Almost instantly her eyes came back to life. A look of utter surprise colored her features.

"Alice, look, it's alright," Emmett began. "We can track him - "

Alice was shaking her head. "No, I can see him," her voice was as surprised as her face. "I can see where he is perfectly. Ireland. He's near the coast, but the weather has been too good for him to feel comfortable. He's had to stay under the radar a lot and it's making him consider going further north."

She shook her head, looking slightly stunned. "It's so clear…like – Sebastian's not even trying to hide. He wants me to know what he's doing – " Understanding darkened her features. "It's a challenge. He's daring us to come to him."

"And we will," Emmett's voice was decisive. "Jasper and I will leave immediately."

"No!" Rosalie whirled on him, her eyes blazing. "Do you think that you two can run off and play heroes while Alice and I stay home and keep house like good little girls? Not again! When you both went after Irina, we didn't know if you would come back at all." Her voice wavered slightly. "I'm not going through that again. I'm going with you."

Alice stood up. "Don't be ridiculous, Rosalie. I am the one who can see him. You and Emmett need to stay here with Elisa. Jasper and I will go.

Their dark eyes clashed for a moment and then abruptly Rosalie laughed, a harsh, bitter sound. "Oh, I get it," Her lips twisted into a sneer. "Well, that's just perfect. When you get to Alaska, be sure to say hello to Edward and Bella for us, would you?"

Alice looked stunned. "What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Going after Sebastian is the perfect excuse you need to run out on us, like you've been dying to do since your precious Edward left the building. For all we know, you did see Sebastian mail the card to Elisa. But why would you say anything, when you knew it would all play out like this, just the way you wanted?"

Jasper stiffened, glaring daggers at Rosalie. Alice looked like she'd been hit in the face as she jumped to her feet. "How dare you even suggest that? I would never hold out on the rest of the family!"

"Wouldn't you?" Rosalie's expression was merciless. "Because isn't that what you've been doing for the past few months? Pulling away from all of us and taking Jasper with you? You don't talk to Carlisle and Esme any more. You certainly don't talk to the rest of us. So why don't you just run to the only people you really care about?"

"Rose, come on," Emmett touched her arm. "That's enough."

Rosalie shook him off angrily, turning her glare on him. "It is not enough, Emmett! We've all watched them both get more and more distant – when are we going to say something? After they're gone?"

They locked eyes for several seconds before Emmett turned away. His gaze settled on Alice, who was standing frozen in the doorway. As his eyes locked onto hers, she shook her head the tiniest fraction. Her face was pleading, as if she knew what he was going to say and was asking him to reconsider.

Emmett clearly wasn't going to give in. "She's right, Alice. We've been losing you, little by little, for a long time now. This has gone on long enough."

"You don't have to listen to this," Jasper's voice was low, but still had enough volume for even me to hear. He moved in front of her as if shielding her from the rest of us.

"Yes, she does! Both of you do!" Rosalie was shouting now. "We've had enough of the two of you shutting everyone else out!"

She stepped closer to Alice. "Edward isn't here for you to run to anymore. But what about me? Emmett? Carlisle and Esme? We're the ones who need you now! Elisa needs you! Don't you even care? Why are we all together if we're going to live separate lives? But if that's the way you want it, the two of you can just go ahead and walk out the door."

"You are not in any position to be handing out ultimatums," Jasper closed the distance between them and nearly snarled the words in her face. I shrank back against the wall at the look on his face, but Rosalie didn't back down a bit, returning his glare just as fiercely.

"If you're going to stay, I'm absolutely in the position to hand out ultimatums. Carlisle and Esme did leave me in charge," There was a strong touch of smugness in her tone now, masking the anger. "And I say that no one is going after Sebastian. At least, not yet. As long as we know where he is, we have some time. We're going to wait for Esme and Carlisle and then we will figure this out together." She leveled a glance at Alice and Jasper. "I hope that's clear to everyone."

Alice had been standing silently during Rosalie's tirade but now she crossed her arms and straightened up, her expression cold. "Sebastian could change his mind at any moment and be halfway to here, or even to Italy before we make it out of St. John's. You're willing to risk an awful lot on faith and no matter what you think, it's not solely your decision. You were left in charge of Elisa, Rosalie. Don't let it go to your head. The rest of us don't need you playing Mommy Dearest."

The brief calm was immediately erased from Rosalie's features and her next words were a malevolent hiss. "I suggest, Alice, that you leave the mother comparison remarks to someone who can actually remember having one."

Alice and I gasped at the same time but there was no time to see how Rosalie's words had affected her. Jasper flashed forward and the next thing I knew, he had Rosalie up against the wall. "Apologize!"

There was a roar and another flash and Emmett was there, his large hands closing around Jasper's restraining arms. "Get the hell off of my wife!"

Another blur of movement so quick I couldn't make it out and an enormous crash nearly shook me out of my skin. I ducked instinctively as pieces of the dining room table Emmett and Jasper had slammed into erupted all over the room. The two of them stood toe to toe in the midst of the wreckage, shouting at each other. Alice and Rosalie's higher tones outshrieked them, and the resulting cacophony was so loud I couldn't make out what anyone was saying.

"STOP IT!" I hadn't intended to scream, but the words were out before I could stop them. Belatedly I realized my hands were clasped to my ears.

There was instant silence. The four of them had frozen so quickly it was almost comical, as if they'd been playing a game of Simon Says. They were staring at me as if they'd all forgotten I was there and had to remember who I was. Under normal circumstances, their dumbstruck expressions might have made me laugh, but I was suddenly so furious that I was shaking all over again. "What is wrong with you? How can you all be so mean to each other? I thought you were supposed to be a family! Is that what you meant, Rosalie? Are we all just props? Has it all been pretend?"

I could feel the hot tears spilling down my face, but I couldn't stop. "Maybe you should remember that you're all like a hundred years old. At some point, you might want to grow up." With that, I turned on my heel and ran into the hallway and up the stairs to my room, pounding every single one of the steps as I went. When I got inside, I slammed my newly replaced door so hard that I risked breaking it all over again and twisted the lock on my doorknob.

Pressing my ear to the door, I listened carefully, waiting for the screaming to restart. There was nothing but silence. Of course, they didn't need to raise their voices to argue. Or maybe Alice and Jasper were already gone.

After all, Rosalie was right. What was keeping Alice and Jasper here? Both of them were barely present anymore. There was nothing to hold them. Not Carlisle and Esme, nor Rosalie and Emmett.

And especially not me. I was't Bella. I could never mean to them what she had. Would they have ever fought like this if she'd been the one in danger again? Would Alice and Jasper have even ever considered for a single second leaving her behind?

Of course not. I was just a pale imitation, a shade of the human girl they'd risked everything for. I would never get out from underneath Bella's shadow, even when she wasn't here. Especially now that she was a vampire and she was even better at being better than me.

Underneath the self pity and jealousy that was so strong it was nearly choking me, even underneath the guilt I felt about the directions my thoughts were taking me, was a deep, painful longing. I missed her. I missed her even more than I missed Edward at this moment. Who else could have understood how I was feeling right now? How scared I was? How certain I wasn't worth what they were willing to risk for me? Not the unwanted wanderer. Not the girl who didn't fit.

But she'd left me behind too, hadn't she? And I didn't mean when she'd ran from the campsite with Edward, and I knew she wasn't coming back. She'd left me behind the minute Edward's venom began to flow in her veins. Now she was one of them, cold, beautiful, invincible, unreachable. Bella had taken away the only person in this entire universe who knew what it felt like to be in the midst of a beautiful, perfect family and be anything but. The only one who could understand how strange and wonderful and terrifying it was to be part of their world and how irresistible the draw was, no matter what the cost. The difference was, she'd fallen in love with one person. I'd fallen in love with an entire family. I thought I might even love Jasper, in an I-really-wanted-to-kick-him kind of way.

And now the dream, all the security I had in this crazy world, was falling to pieces. It hadn't been right since Bella had gone and I hated her for it, almost as much as I loved her. I hadn't realized it until this moment. No wonder I'd been so willing to rip her reputation to shreds when I'd needed to come up with a cover story for Tandy and Jimmy. I was punishing her without even realizing it.

What a petty, mean-spirited person I was. No wonder everyone liked her better. But it didn't stop that knowledge from hurting. Everyone I loved here, loved her more. It would always be that way. I would always be second best.

My gaze fell then to the golden bracelet on my wrist and fresh anger and hurt welled up in me. Screw Edward for giving me this, for actually making me believe he cared about me. I remembered his face back at the cabin after Bella had nearly killed me. He hadn't cared in the least. I was nothing more to him then some obstacle he'd kick to the curb in a heartbeat if I got between him and his precious Bella.

And as for Jacob – I was sobbing now as I fumbled with his flower charm. After several seconds I managed to pry if off. With trembling fingers, I flung it into the vintage metal trash can next to my dresser. It hit the bottom with a pained clang that was matched by the skipped beat of my heart. He was just another person whose expectations I could never fill. If I had stayed in La Push when he'd asked me to, it wouldn't have made a difference. I would have just been a distraction for him, a way to get over his true love.

Weariness tugged me down the door and to the ground. I sat with my back pressed to it, my arms folded across my chest. A few more hot tears trickled down my face and I sniffled loudly.

From the other side of the door came a quiet tap.

I froze. The tap came again. It had to be Rosalie or Emmett. My heart twinged a little. I couldn't help but feel bad for including Emmett in all my ranting and raving when he'd always been such a staunch shoulder for me to rely on, but I was still too upset to want to talk to anyone.

"Excuse me but did you not hear the door slamming? In case you've forgotten how to speak teenager, that happens to be code for LEAVE ME ALONE!"

I heard a quiet chuckle. "I guess after all these years of roleplaying, we shouldn't need a translator."

Surprise made my next indignant sentence run back down my throat. "Alice?" I stood up, my hand already reaching for the knob before I snatched it back. If she'd come up here to say goodbye, she could say it to my door. I wasn't interested.

"Go away," I hissed again through gritted teeth.

I heard a whisper quiet sigh in the hall, and without warning, my doorknob twisted. I heard the loud snap as the lock broke and then the door was swinging open.

Alice stepped over the threshold, eyes fixed on me. "I think we're overdue for a chat, don't you, Elisa?"

At her words, the coals of my banked resentment flared even more brightly. Really? She wanted to talk now, after ignoring me and avoiding me for months? Was I just supposed to fall over myself in gratitude that she had finally deigned to acknowledge my existence?

My glower was a full on frontal assault sent her way. "Don't you have some leaving to do?" I snapped, staring pointedly at the door.

The expression on Alice's face at that said quite clearly that she was already teetering at the precipice of her patience. "Sit down, Elisa."

Her eyes crackled at me as she spoke and before I knew it my body had revolted to do her will despite the contrary thoughts in my head and I was sitting on the end of my bed. Huh. I hadn't realized before that she could be every bit as intimidating as Rosalie when she chose to be.

Alice stood silently for several minutes, surveying me with her ebony eyes as I scowled back at her, trying to prove I wasn't completely cowed. A quick distortion in the air, and she was by my side on the bed, curling up with legs tucked under her and back against the wall.

It was another long few seconds before she spoke again. "Elisa...I am so sorry for what went on downstairs. It was inexcusable for us to act that way, especially in light of what's happening right now. I just want you to understand that no matter what issues we may have with each other, every single one of us is committed to you, to being there for you and protecting you. It is our absolute priority."

My gaze locked onto hers. "Is it?" My voice was flat.

Alice stared back at me, and I spoke again before I could chicken out. "Are you leaving, Alice?"

She hesitated just a fraction of a second too long. "No, Elisa, of course not!"

I didn't trust her tone, nor the way her eyes danced away from mine. "Don't lie to me. If you're going to leave me, the least you can do is tell me why first." I pressed my lips together so they wouldn't tremble.

For once, Alice looked completely off kilter. Her eyes flitted all over the room before the finally landed on me again. I could have almost sworn I saw her bite her lip.

Finally she exhaled a long, pained sigh. "Elisa, it's complicated."

"Is that so?" I crossed my arms over my chest. "I don't think it's that complicated, actually. Not when you say it straight out."

"Say what straight out?" Whatever. She knew exactly what I was talking about. The proof was in the lower lip that she was now chewing like a leg of raw venison.

"That you don't want to be around me."

Alice immediately started to protest but I threw up a hand to stop her. I'd been stuffing this for months and my quota was full. I couldn't stand to not throw it out there for one more minute.

"I know that you care about me,' I continued. "But there's something...wrong when you're around me, isn't there?" I refused to look away from her for even a second. "That's why you've been avoiding me. That's why Jasper hates me too, isn't it? Because I'm hurting you."

"Jasper does not hate - "

Alice didn't even get to finish the sentence before I breathed a deeply skeptical "Suuuuure," into the air.

She gave up with a sigh. "You're right." Finally, she looked at me again. "I have been avoiding you, and Jasper's been blaming you, not for anything you did but because he needs a target." She closed her eyes for a long moment. "I have botched everything so badly."

"Alice..." I nudged her with my leg when she didn't finish. "Please, talk to me! If you don't tell me what I'm doing to you, how am I ever going to be able to stop?"

"It's not you, Elisa! It's in my head, too much of it. Too many visions, too much chaos, and I can't control any of it. And when I'm around you, it's so much worse."

"I don't understand," I stared at her. "Aren't they always there, the visions? Aren't you always, like, able to tap into them?"

"Not like this," she shook her head. "I can barely even see what I want to see now, actually. It's so full of shadows, glimpses of people I don't know and places I've never been and it's more and more every day. I can't make it stop. It's relentless. I've tried so hard to be strong, but I can't bear it anymore." She stared across the room, away from me.

"People you don't know? Places you haven't seen? What are you talking about? What could that have to do with me?"

Alice was staring across the room, her eyes hollow. "Before he left, Edward told me it's because I relate to you too much. A young girl, ripped out of her old life, losing her memories..." she shook her head. "I told him he was wrong, but all along I knew I was just lying to myself."

"Memories..." I repeated, turning over everything she'd said in my mind and suddenly, it clicked into place. "I get it."

"Get what?" Alice demanded sharply, turning to gaze at me once more.

Didn't she understand herself what she'd been telling me? I blinked, confused. "Alice, it's not people and places you've never seen that are filling up your head. It's the ones you don't remember."

She gasped at that, and my bewilderment deepened at the stunned expression on her face. "I mean, seriously, that never occurred to you at all? That it's all starting to come back?"

The distraught gaze she returned had my mouth snapping closed and the conscience that had taken a brief siesta during my tantrum returned abruptly, bringing with it friends named guilt and shame.

"Alice, I'm so sorry," I muttered. "You know better than to listen to me. I never know what I'm talking about."

Her voice was wearier than I'd ever heard it before. "We both know that you do."

"No,' I shook my head, willing her to believe me so we could all trot right back to the happyland of denial. "You lost your memories because of the shock treatments. I understand that."

"The venom heals everything," her voice was still as fatigued as before. She touched her head. "Everything,' she repeated for emphasis. "Jasper and Edward, they've tried to tell me before, but they've always been afraid to push me too far. And I've never really let myself hear what they were trying to say. So we've all been pretending for years. Then you come along, and you don't know how to play my game."

"I'm sorry - " I tried to say again but it was her that threw up her hand this time to stop me.

"No, Elisa, I'm sorry. You're fighting so hard to keep your memories and I just threw mine away. I must make you sick."

"Alice!" I spluttered. "Don't you think you're being awfully hard on yourself? How is it so strange that you weren't ready to remember before? I mean, you had a really hard time when you were still human. Something incredibly bizarre was happening to you and you couldn't even talk to anyone about it. I'll bet sometimes you thought maybe you were going crazy or there was something so wrong with you – " I stopped for a second, wincing a little to myself as I realized just how much I was over-relating at the moment. "And then to have your family betray you like that – and I can't even imagine what the hospital must have been like…seriously, who wouldn't want to block that out?"

I was horrified to realize she was shaking. "Oh God. I'm going to stop now, I promise."

To my weak knee'd relief, she actually managed a smile at last. "Honestly, this is rather cathartic."

"Oh," I tried to plaster an expression on my face that said I understood what she meant by that. "OK."

Alice actually chuckled at this point, though I could still see the additional pallor in her already ghost white face. She looked like she was going to say something else but suddenly, something seemed to catch her eye. She seemed to blur in place for a moment and then she held something between her fingers, studying it carefully.

I swallowed hard when I realized what it was. She held Jacob's forget me not carving, the one I'd thrown in the trash earlier.

"Isn't this the charm that Jacob sent you?" she looked at me, puzzled. I was surprised by her question. I had no idea that she'd ever even noticed it, much less that she knew the circumstances behind it.

"I…um…" I couldn't quite meet her eyes. "Yeah. I threw it away."

"I see," Alice's face was understanding, and I was instantly certain that she did indeed see. We were quiet for a moment before she spoke again, sitting up a bit straighter.

"Elisa, is this about what Rosalie said to you the other day? That he would only want to be around you to try and re-create what he had with Bella?"

I didn't have it in me to deny it, so I just nodded.

She took a deep breath. "Look, I know you and Rose are close and I'm not trying to get in the way of that, or say anything to make you respect her less. But she's not always right."

I sighed. "I know. What she said to you downstairs, about your mother...she never should have said that."

"That's not what I was talking about it and you know it."

I couldn't help the rueful smile. "I know. But I'm deflecting. Also, it was really was an awful thing to say."

Alice's own small smile matched. "Rosalie always knows what will cut the deepest."

She waited patiently for me to speak next. After several moments, I finally did. "I know she's not always right. But this time, I think she is. About Jacob, I mean. He wasn't over Bella and I don't know that he ever will be. So right now, all that flower is is just a reminder of something else I can't have."

Alice considered this. "Very wise.' she murmured after a moment. "Still, I'm sorry it didn't work out for you."

She handed the charm to me. My fingers closed over it protectively, happy to have it back. I wasn't ready to put it on again, at least not now, but I knew I couldn't throw it away any more than I could throw away the brief moments Jacob and I shared together.

I shrugged. "I'm a little sad about it,' I admitted. 'but it's not like we were sharing the romance of the century. Besides –' I couldn't help my sudden smile. "There's kinda someone else. This boy at school – " I broke off abruptly. "You don't really want to hear about this."

"Actually, I really do,' To my surprise, Alice was smiling. "I feel like I've missed out on a lot with you these past few months. I want to hear everything."

I wasn't sure whether to believe her at first, but with a few choice questions and encouraging smiles Alice had me spilling my guts in a matter of seconds. I told her everything about Jimmy, from our stand off on the first day of school until our intimate moment on the stairs earlier today, and she listened raptly, eyes sparkling, and breaking into frequent bouts of laughter. I couldn't seem to stop talking, but she seemed to want to hear it all just as much as I wanted to tell it. I hadn't realized how badly I needed this, a moment, away from all the guilt over Bella and fear of Sebastian, a brief respite where I could just be myself again. And maybe she needed the break as much as I did.

The part that Alice laughed the hardest at, much to my shock, was my shame faced admission that I'd painted Bella as a violent heroin addict as a cover story for my injuries when Jimmy and Tandy had confronted me. She laughed so long, in fact, that I began to wonder if I'd broken her somehow.

"Alice, come on, it's not funny! If she ever comes back, how am I going to tell her that my friends think she's a fiending smackhead who tries to kill anyone who stops her from getting her fix?"

Alice went off into gales of laughter again at this, and it was a couple of minutes before she calmed down enough to speak again. "Elisa, look. This wasn't just your fault. The car accident story was flimsy at best. We should have known that someone would see through it, but we've all been so distracted." Her amusement faded for a moment. "Rosalie is right about something else, as pained as I am to admit it. Divided, we're weak. We let things slip through the cracks."

She smiled again. "Don't worry so much. What you said wasn't the most awful thing ever. I mean, it's realistic. Drug addiction occurs in the best of families as well as the worst. And besides, Bella has other priorities now. When she does come back, I have a feeling that she's not going to care nearly as much as you think she is."

"Yeah, well..." I traced a line on the floor with my shoe.

"On the other hand, maybe we just won't tell Edward," Alice smirked at me and I had to giggle too at that, imagining his infuriated expression.

"This boy, Jimmy...tell me more about him," Alice's expression turned contemplative as she changed the subject back to lighter topics. "It sounds like you really like him."

"I don't know,' I couldn't help my wistful tone. "I mean, I think I do, but today was so weird. I mean, at first he's all ready to be my knight in shining armor, but the second he finally makes his move, he freaks and bails for no reason! How am I supposed to keep up with his multiple personalities?"

Alice chuckled again, and I jumped slightly as she leaned forward to smooth my hair back from my face. I couldn't remember the last time she'd touched me. "Elisa, the males of our species are grossly emotionally stunted even at quite an advanced age, and you know I'm talking about Edward." She grinned at my giggles. "And Jimmy is a fifteen year old boy, which means that emotionally, he's about five. He probably has no idea what he's doing half the time. One thing I do think is obvious though: he cares pretty strongly for you as well. Enough to fight for you. Enough to stand up for you against his best friend. I think this one is a keeper."

I suddenly felt better than I had in ages. "Thank you, Alice, for listening. It really helps."

Alice was still playing with my hair lightly. "It was my pleasure," Her smile faded slowly as she dropped her hand and she sat up. Before she looked away from me, I saw the fresh pain in her eyes.

"Alice..." I tugged on her sleeve, refusing to let her slip away, not when I'd just gotten her back. "What is it?"

Alice turned back to me, trying to force herself to smile again. "It's just...I can't help wondering if this is what it was like."

"What do you mean?" I asked, unable to follow her abrupt change of thought.

"To have a little sister, " Alice explained, her eyes far away. "I can't help but wonder if I was good to mine when I was alive. Did I cheer her up when she was sad? Did she talk to me about boys? Did I give her advice? I don't know if I'll ever remember. I don't even know if her face is one of the ones filling my head. If I could choose, if I could only ever get back one piece of my mortal life, it would be her. Cynthia." Alice said her name full of a bittersweet longing that made me ache for her.

Alice stood up then, appearing to shake off her melancholy like a wet dog shakes off water. "Come on, Elisa, let's go downstairs. Jasper's been making Rosalie feel horribly guilty for the last hour and she's about to crack and try to apologize. It'll be fun to listen to her stammer."

She reached for my hand and I took it, but I didn't stand up. She turned back to me curiously. "What's wrong?"

I could barely breathe. The pit that had just settled into my stomach felt like it weighed a million pounds and was anchoring me permanently in place. All I could think about now was the day on Bella and Edward's patio, the vision I'd fallen into, the girl with the piercing blue eyes so much like her older sister's.

I suddenly felt like the lowest human being on the planet, almost physically sick as I realized the magnitude of my crime. Alice would have given anything to see her sister Cynthia's face just one more time. Well, I had seen it. I had even drawn it. I held at least some of the missing pieces of the puzzle she so desperately wanted to put back together.

And I had kept them from her.

"Elisa?" Alice asked again, the alarm on her face deepening as she stared at me.

I swallowed convulsively hard, willing the words to flow. I couldn't be a coward now. She deserved better than that.

"Alice, I have something to tell you."

As my indecision settled into certainty, words were no longer necessary. Alice's face went blank for a minute, and when awareness sprang back into her features so did the deepest look of shock I could ever recall seeing on another person's face.

The second Cullen family summit of the day took place in my bedroom, mostly because Alice and I were both so frozen in place that we couldn't move. She sat beside me on the bed, her face as rigid and as pale as a porcelain doll. Jasper knelt on the other side of her but apparently a sense of calm was as foreign to him as it was to me, because he didn't seem to be able to get any of us to relax, especially after the story I'd been babbling out for the last thirty minutes.

There was an excruciatingly long silence after I was done speaking. At least Rosalie and Emmett were staring at each other instead of me. In fact, now that I thought about it, neither one of them had looked me in the eye after my insane story about shared visions and stolen memories had begun.

"Please say something, somebody, please," I begged. I watched Alice out of the corner of my eye, but she was as stiff and as unresponsive as ever.

"I can't believe you kept this from me!" Rosalie burst out and I immediately missed the silence as she glared at me. "After everything I've done for you, Elisa, how could you not trust me with what was going on?"

A bitter laugh had us spinning, startled, in Alice's direction. Her eyes were glacial as they landed on Rosalie. "Kept it from you?"

"Alice..." I croaked, barely able to get the words at as nervousness closed around my throat and threatened to throttle me. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you. I was just...at first I wasn't even sure that I didn't imagine everything. And then - "

"I know, Elisa. I understand," The strain in Alice's voice was clear. She was trying so hard that it was if she might break apart with the effort.

"How do you know you didn't imagine everything?" Rosalie demanded now of me, putting her hands on her hips. "I mean, flights of fancy are not exactly rare for you, are they, Elisa? The day that you think you had that vision, you said yourself that you'd fainted while you were in the kitchen with Bella. Besides, when you dreamed of Alice and her family...well, that's exactly my point. You were asleep!"

Alice had flinched convulsively at Rosalie's words. Jasper was beside her now. hands on her trembling shoulders as if to keep her in one place. I could see how much the thought of my story not being true hurt her, even more so than the fact that I'd kept it from her in the first place.

"It was real!" My words were for Alice just as much as Rosalie. "I played the song for you, Rosalie, remember? Gymnopedie?""

"So? Lots of people play the piano!" Rosalie shook back her golden mane impatiently.

"Well, I don't," I said flatly. Everyone was looking at me now, and I could see the hope struggling with confusion on Alice's face. "I don't know how to play the piano. I can't even read music."

Disbelief left Rosalie's face at last and she closed her eyes for a long moment before she opened them and gave me a hard look. "Well, I'll say this for you, Elisa. You sure know how to keep bringing the drama."

I winced, stung by her words. Emmett touched Rosalie's arm. "Hey, back off. It's not like we weren't expecting something like this to happen eventually."

"What?" I demanded.

Before Emmett could answer Alice stood up, moving in front of me. "Elisa, your drawing...I need to see it. Please."

"I, um... " Apprehension settled into every pore of me as I registered her request. Of course she wanted to see the drawing of Cynthia. If I'd thought any of this through, I would have been prepared. Truth be told, I had no idea where it was. The last time I'd seen it was when Jasper had showed it to me in Esme's drawing room, and so far, I'd managed to avoid mentioning his part in this at all. I'd just have to stall until he could get it to me.

"I think I um…misplaced it but I'll find it, I swear. Just give me a few - "

"I have it." The words were so quietly spoken that I almost missed them, except for the look on Alice's face. Whip fast, she turned to face Jasper, their eyes locking together. The rest of his confession did not need to be spoken out loud. It was written in every line on his face.

Alice's eyes went from bewilderment to comprehension within seconds, and then darkened with a hurt so deep that it was agonizing to watch.

"Not you."

It took the space of one heartbeat to comprehend what had changed, that I was still standing there, Jasper was still frozen in place two feet away, and that there was suddenly an ocean size chasm between us.

As soon as I realized she was gone, I was running.

Distantly I registered that Emmett had reached out to try and stop me. I pushed past him, screaming her name, racing through the hallway and down the steps to the front of the house and outside into the gray, misty rain.

"Alice, come back!" I knew it was useless, knew she had already gone far enough that she couldn't hear me, and yet I couldn't stop crying her name. "Alice, please, don't leave! Come back!"

"Elisa, stop!" Rosalie grabbed my arm and I came to a complete, unwilling halt. "She's gone!"

"No!" I yanked my arm back from her and turned towards the forest. "ALICE!" I screamed the last towards the trees.

"Elisa, stop, please. Let her go." Emmett's voice was quieter, and it held a note of pain that broke through my own haze of anger and denial. I swallowed back the shout that was halfway out of my throat.

I saw him at that moment. Jasper was mere inches away from me, staring at the treeline with a desperation miles beyond mine.

Instant rage sparked again at the sight of him. "How could you do this?" I was shouting again, beyond control, even as Rosalie's grip tightened on me in warning. "I was trying to cover for you! Why did you tell her?"

Jasper looked at me then and the naked agony on his face should have stopped me in my tracks, but it was too close to what I was feeling and the resulting guilt just made me angrier. "Why are you just standing here? Go after her! Bring her back!"

"She doesn't want me to."

I opened my mouth to protest, but there was nothing left to say. I turned then, burying myself into Rosalie open arms as I began to sob.

"Come on, Elisa," her voice was far gentler than I deserved. "We need to go back inside."

I turned back as she and Emmett put me between them and led me away, long enough to see Jasper sink to the ground and put his head in his hands. My anger extinguished in less than a second. I wanted more than anything in that instant to tell him how sorry I was, but I knew anything I said would mean less than nothing to him.

So I let Emmett and Rosalie take me inside the house, Emmett accidentally banging the front door closed too hard behind us. There was an ear splitting crash as the patterned glass around the frame shattered into a million pieces.

Just like the rest of the world.

Saturday dawned finally after a long night of no sleep, looking even more gray and dismal then the day before. The house still felt excruciatingly empty and silent. Carlisle and Esme were still trying to get a flight home, but they'd been grounded in Seattle all night because of storm warnings, so who knew when they'd be back. And what would I say to them when they got home, anyway?

As for Jasper, I hadn't seen him at all since my last glimpse of him outside. For all I knew, he was gone too. I could have asked, but I didn't. I didn't want to know.

I'd been laying on my bed all morning still wearing the same clothes I'd worn yesterday, staring at the ceiling just like I'd been doing for hours, trying not to think. Yeah, as if there was any chance of that.

I blinked back another stream of never-ending tears and flipped over onto my stomach, trying to lose myself in my favorite book, A Little Princess, but even its familiar tale was unable to distract me from thinking about everyone I'd lost lately. My family. Edward and Bella. Alice.

The smell wafted at me from my night table, and I looked idly at the source, an untouched plate of delicious looking donuts that Emmett had brought me for breakfast hours earlier. I didn't want his offerings of food, or comfort. I didn't want anything at all except for the universe to fall in on my head. I was pretty sure that even the sight of Sebastian climbing through my window, armed with knife, fork and a plastic bib that read 'Welcome to the All You Can Eat Elisa Cullen Buffet!' wouldn't be enough to rouse me from my apathy.

Just as my pity party of one was gearing into full swing, my cell phone went off.

I jumped a mile, staring at it as it buzzed impatiently on my nightstand, and then grabbed it, frantically pushing the Answer button. "Alice?"

"Uh...no," I was startled all over again by the hesitant voice. "Elisa, this is Jimmy."

"Jimmy?" I gasped. OK, so apparently there was something that could distract me, and of course it was a boy. I was shallower than a Paris Hilton biography. "Um, hey!"

"Hey," he sounded a little more like himself now. "I just wanted to check on you. You kinda bailed early yesterday and I didn't know if was because of..." he broke off, clearly nervous.

"OH!" My heart thudded as it all came rushing back. It had seemed like a million years ago, our lip on lip action on the stone steps of the school. I could barely believe it had only been yesterday. "No, Jimmy, it wasn't anything that you did." Or didn't do, I silently amended to myself. "I just had a huge migraine."

"OK, good." I could hear the relief in his voice and I impatiently waited for more. He'd called to explain, hadn't he, why he had bolted in the middle of our climactic romance scene?

"What's going on, Elisa, really? You sound upset. Did something else happen?"

I took a deep breath, surprised once again at his insight, and then prepared to delve into the best cover story ever to make up for my subterfuge fail of the day before.

My self resolve and stiff upper lip lasted for all of about 30 seconds. Before I knew it I was sobbing out a highly sanitized version, skipping of course all the vampirey and secret visions bits, of what had happened with Alice.

He was unbelievably patient, especially for a fifteen year boy. When my verbal onslaught finally slowed down enough for him to get in a word in edgewise, his voice was shockingly gentle.

"Hey, Elisa, look, take a breath. It's going to be OK. I mean, you guys had a lot going on, between what went down with Bella and you, and everything. Alice is probably just as freaked as everyone else, and then add the fight with...sorry, I can't remember his name. Has anybody ever told you you have too many cousins? Anyway, it was probably just...too much, you know? She needs to be elsewhere for a while, get some space to think. She'll be back."

I sniffled loudly. "You really think so?"

"Aw, come on, Elisa, who could stay away from you?" His tone was playful now, but I couldn't help the fact that my heart stuttered and then began to pound loudly at his words.

"Thanks," I twirled a few strands of hair around my finger, shifting on the bed to get more comfortable. "I'm sorry I'm such a basket case today."

"No problem. You've had a shit week. Believe me, I understand. Hey, you know what you need? You should get out of there for a while. I have to go to the mall today to get a present for my sister's birthday. Why don't you come with me?"

"Really?" I sat up, sunshine bursting through the clouds of my day, only to immediately be drenched by Hurricane Rosalie, who'd just appeared in my doorway, her face stern. My heart sank. Clearly, she'd been listening. And with Sebastian possibly coming back to St. John's to try to snack on me like I was tasty Elisa McNuggets, there was no way in hell she was going to let me leave the house. Possibly never ever again.

"Um...I have to ask. Hang on." I already knew the answer but I put my hand over the speaker anyway and stared at her pleadingly.

Rosalie folded her arms and clenched her jaw, looking completely unmoved for an endless second until unexpectedly, her expression softened. "Tell him only if Emmett and I can drive you two."

"Are you kidding me?" I burst out and then winced, realizing I had just smacked my gift horse on the ass and sent it running away. "Really? I mean...really?"

Rosalie's mouth quirked. "Yes, really, Elisa."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I babbled and then immediately prayed that Jimmy hadn't overheard me. I sounded way too over-eager.

I couldn't help but add, "Um...but you and Emmett are going to stay with us?" It was impossible to disguise my disappointed tone. Ths was my first not-a-date-but-close-enough since I'd been reborn into this universe and I was going to have overprotective and unfortunately lethal chaperones. How totally embarrassing.

Rosalie put her hands on her hips, but she couldn't seem to force a stern expression. "I can't believe I'm letting you do this, but no. You two are on your own. We'll be around though. I'll give you as much privacy as we can, but we have to keep you safe."

Ignoring the last bit as much as possible, I told Jimmy my good news and we set up a time. After we hung up, glee had me bouncing off the bed. "Rosalie, you are the best!" I dashed over to my closet, but after five seconds of searching through overstuffed hangers without any idea of what I was looking for I gave up. "I gotta run down to the laundry and get that white sweater dress I wore last week."

Rosalie gave me a strange look. "Don't bother. We put it in the charity box."

"What?" I turned back to her, startled. "But I only wore it once!"

Rosalie shrugged. "That's about as often as Alice lets us wear any of our clothes before she replaces them." She realized what she said too late and quickly changed the subject. "Do you want me to help you pick something?"

"Yes," I answered immediately, relieved to leave that painful subject behind as well, and with that, we fell into a intense scrutiny of my wardrobe.

The Avalon shopping center was the local mall in St. John's, the holy grail of consumerism that I'd only dared to hope that existed after living months in decidedly un-shopper friendly Forks. Rosalie and Emmett pulled up at the circular front entrance after an awkward fifteen minute car ride, where Emmett had boomed question after question at Jimmy, practically forcing him to give a detailed biography of his entire life. I was SO glad Rosalie had taken pity on me and wasn't going to chaperone us. An hour or two with my overprotective adopted brother and Jimmy would be so traumatized he'd have to join the Witness Protection Program.

Rosalie, on the other hand, was actually going out of her way to make Jimmy more comfortable. I was going to owe her so big. She smiled at us as we started to get out of the car. "We've got some errands to run, so we'll be back in a couple of hours. Call if you need us sooner," she informed us.

I quickly deciphered her doublespeak. In other words, they'd be patrolling within screaming distance, but hopefully not within overhearing distance. Or visual distance, if I was really lucky and he decided to repeat the scene on the stairs, without interruptions this time. Hastily, I felt my purse to make sure I still had my cinnamon Trident.

I was hoping to get Jimmy away from Emmett before the inevitable threats of bodily harm ensued, but no such luck.

"Hey!" Emmett barked after us as we tried to make a hasty retreat. We turned back, and he was out of the car, standing next to us, eyes on Jimmy. He grinned the way a lion grins at a lame zebra.

"It was nice meeting you, James," His use of Jimmy's full first name was deliberate, I was sure, and my suspicions were confirmed when he gave Jimmy a manly slap on the back that sent him stumbling forward several feet. "I'm sure you'll take good care of Elisa. Cause if you don't, I'll make sure no one ever find your body. Have fun, kids!" With that, he jumped back in the car and they sped out of the parking lot, burning rubber the whole way.

"Oh my God," I covered my blooming face in my hand. "I'm so sorry about that."

"It's OK," Jimmy grinned, though he was still wheezing slightly from the force of Emmett's blow. "He's got that protective thing going on. It's cool."

I giggled in response, partly because I was relieved that he didn't take it personally, and partly because he had NO idea.

"I didn't know you had a sister," I said as we walked inside, winding our way through the throng of fellow shoppers. I wasn't sure where we were stopping first, so I let him lead the way.

"Oh, yeah," Jimmy ruffled his hair slightly. "That's because she doesn't live at home. Her name's Julie. She goes to the university in Toronto. Next week she'll be twenty-one."

"Are you guys close?" I asked curiously as we continued to walk.

Jimmy shrugged. "Sure. I mean, we didn't used to be. Kind of a big age difference. She was always bossing me around, and I was always messing with her and making her crazy. Last year though, she really came through for me when things were bad with my mom and dad. I didn't expect her to...you know, understand so much, I guess."

"That's cool," I wished I understood a little bit more. I knew there was a lot more going on in Jimmy's family life then he was saying. But I didn't know how to broach the subject and he was already changing it anyway.

"So I think I'm going to get her...I don't know, like a necklace or something." He pointed at a jewelry store several yards ahead. "But I suck at picking out stuff for girls, so I'm hoping you can help me out."

"Well, I am an expert," I smiled at him, though I felt a pang in my heart. I had always been quite the mall troller, but the mention of shopping experts immediately brought back thoughts of Alice once again, whose marathon buying sessions put my little sprees to shame.

Jimmy gave me a quizzical look and I smiled as brightly as I could. "Don't we have some gift buying to do?"

After buying his sister's present, the two of us spent the next half hour dashing out of different stores, with no real goal in particular. Jimmy even waited for me after I forced him into one of Alice's favorite boutiques and went to try a glorious ensemble that had been on display in the store window. Of course, that lasted only as long as boy patience did, which was about four minutes. Then he snuck around to the back of the stall where I was changing and starting kicking it to get my attention until the saleslady threw us both out.

We were still laughing over her infuriated expression when a thin wift of smoke drifted past us. I wrinkled my nose, about to sneeze, when the smell hit me.

It was heavy, perfumed, and too, too familiar.

Jimmy was cut off in mid-sentence as I spiralled around, looking for the source and found it almost immediately. Lazy puffs of incense smoke were wafting out of the shop just to the left and across the crowded corridor from where we stood. I stared, open-mouthed, at the displays I could see glimpses of between the shoppers that stood between us.

"Nancy..." I whispered, and then I was running, pushing people out of my way, desperate to get inside the shop before it could disappear like some out of reach mirage.

Within seconds, I was in front of the counter. A bored looking man with long graying hair in a pony tail looked up from his magazine. "Can I help you with something?"

Disappointment hurtled itself into me. "No," I shook my head and stumbled backwards, nearly tripping over a stack of books titled Your Spirit Guide to Love. Next to them, a rack full of oils jangled, threatening to fall. "Watch it!" he barked.

I knew now why this store seemed so familiar, and who I'd been so stupidly hopeful I'd find. It was some kind of alternative, new age store, just like the one I'd met Nancy in, back in my old life. Even some of the inventory was the same, though this store was far brighter than Nancy's had been. Or maybe it was just my memories that were so dimly lit.

But of course, this wasn't Nancy's store. This wasn't even her world.

"Hey, Elisa, what's going on?"

I jumped a mile as Jimmy's voice sounded in my ear. "Nothing; I just thought - " As I tried to explain, I made the mistake of looking around at the too familiar sights and suddenly they were back, screaming in my head, the memories I'd thought were nearly lost to me, far too vivid, too real, and they took me away with them.

To the last time I'd been in Nancy's store.

The night that I died.

I could see her again again, huddled on the floor in front of the counter, blood from her broken nose dripping on to her shirt, staring at me in horror. "ELISA, NO!"

And I saw him, the disheveled man that stood over her as he spun towards me. I saw the flash of the gun as it went off, I felt myself fly back and when I landed on the ground it wasn't the carpet of the store I felt beneath my back, but the cold, hard pavement of the rain-washed street in Forks.

I couldn't scream; there wasn't breath enough in me for that. Frantically, I pushed Jimmy out of the way, ten times as desperate to get out of there as I'd been to get in. But this time I did trip, my feet catching on another stack of books. They scattered everywhere as I fell into a nearby shelf full of candles. My weight knocked the whole thing over and I dropped hard on top of it, the wood shelves digging into my chest.

"Elisa!"

Jimmy was trying to pull me to my feet, but the shopkeeper was bearing down on us at full speed, bellowing like an enraged bull. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"Back off! Can't you see she's upset?" Jimmy shouted back as he tried to help me push myself off the shelf without doing any further damage.

"Ask me if I give a shit! Look at what she's done! Get your crazy girlfriend out of my store NOW!"

I was more than happy to get out of Dodge as quickly as possible, but just as I stumbled back to my feet, a tag on one of the fallen candles caught my tear-filled eyes. I snatched it up. turning to the purple faced store owner.

"Wait, I want to buy this! I have money, please - "

"Are you deaf? Get the hell out of my store before I call security!"

"And tell them what? That we over-paid for your crappy merchandise?" Jimmy snapped back. He reached into his pocket and threw a couple of bills onto the counter, then grabbed my hand and dragged me away while the man sputtered furiously behind us.

We didn't speak as Jimmy tugged me through the crowd and over to the food court. We made our way to a vacant table and he pushed me gently into a seat. I was still hyperventilating as he sat himself onto the plastic tabletop, then turned and put his feet on the seat next to me.

When I'd calmed down enough that he apparently considered me ready for rational conversation once more he leaned down towards me. "What was that all about?"

"I'm sorry,' I whispered. "I know I'm acting insane. I just...that store, it reminded me of..." I swallowed hard, trying to put the right words together. "It was the last place that..." I struggled to find something as close to the truth as I could get. "The last place I saw my father, I mean before he - before my family - "

"Oh, God," Jimmy blanched as he realized what I was trying to say. "I'm so sorry."

I wanted to put up a brave front and say I was alright, but there was no way I could even begin to keep up that facade. So I just wiped my wet eyes with my free hand and we sat there in silence for another ten minutes, his warm fingers occasionally squeezing my cold ones.

"Oh," I finally managed, looking for my purse. "Let me pay you back for that candle."

Jimmy snorted. "No way. Consider it a gift." He gave me a curious look. "Why did you want it so bad, anyway?"

"It's...hard to explain," I looked down at the candle and its accompanying silver plate as I spoke.

"It's ok. You don't have to tell me." Jimmy jumped down from the table. "Come on, I'll buy you a pita."

I actually managed to smile at that. "No, I'll buy YOU a pita. After all, you did overpay for my crappy merchandise."

Jimmy snorted. "Stop trying to bogart my chivalry here, OK?"

I couldn't help but laugh at that as he led me over to the long line in front of Extreme Pita.

All the way there, his hand stayed firmly clasped around mine.

That evening, I sat on the hard wood window seat at the end of the hallway leading to my window, staring out the rain spotted window until the last of the light faded into black night. When every bit of glum daylight had been swallowed up by darkness, I picked up the candle sitting next to me and the long silver lighter I had borrowed from the downstairs fireplace mantle.

My fingers trembled slightly as I lit the wick and set the candle carefully on top of its silver holder, directly in front of the window.

"Hey, kid. What are you up to?"

The flame of my candle flickered lightly as Emmett appeared next to me and I quickly cupped a protective hand around it until it stilled. Emmett looked at me curiously. "What's this all about?"

Silently, I handed him the tag that had come with it.

" 'The Wanderer's Candle' ", Emmett read out loud. "One of the candles earliest uses was as a beacon of light, set in a window to guide travelers that had lost their way. Honor this tradition by setting The Wanderer's Candle in your own windowsill and keep it lit to guide a loved one back home once more.' "

"She'll see it, won't she, Emmett?"

Emmett's hand dropped to my shoulder and he squeezed it lightly. "Absolutely."

Rosalie appeared at the end of the hallway, gesturing to me. "Time for bed, Elisa."

I was so exhausted that I could barely keep my eyes open but still, I was reluctant to leave my candle to burn on its own. Rosalie followed my gaze. "It won't go out. We'll watch over it for you, I promise." She sighed then. "It's the least I can do."

I gave its bright flame one last glance, and with that, I turned and walked away.

To be continued...(yes, really! OK, probably.)

Thank you for reading!

AND THANK YOU so much to the readers that kept reviewing, favoriting, and nagging all through my year of epic fail. I'm not going to make any promises about what's going to happen in the future with this story, but I really want to finish Evening Falls, even if I never write another Twi-Fic. However, writing does take quite a bit of both time and concentration, two things I'm generally in short supply of. I'll do my best.