AN: I can't believe so many years have passed since I wrote this story. So much has happened in my life but I have finally found myself in a place where I can indulge in my favourite obsession again. I started reading FF again recently and was looking for a Bella/Garret story but the only ones I really enjoyed were unfinished (I would love some recommendations, if anyone has any). Then there was mine. I have hesitated to continue this story because of some of the negativity about the direction Resonating Light took. I have a habit of dividing readers and I was reluctant to head down the same path again but I can't not write this one any longer. I was inspired to be brave enough to continue by some of the lovely & supportive reviews I received in the past. If anyone is coming back to this story after a long time, thank you for not giving up on Slips Away. I love this story and hope you will enjoy where it goes.

This second part has no beta so mistakes are all mine. If they bother you, let me know & I will fix them but I'll try my very best to avoid them. I tried to write part 1 in American English because it was for a contest but Part 2 will be longer and I am from England so, for my own sanity, I will be writing in British English. Hope no one minds too much.

I makes no promises on timescales, only that I will work as hard as I can on getting updates as soon as I can. I am going to keep the chapters quite short so that I can try and keep up momentum with writing. Thank you all for your patience.

Part 2 will be mainly in Garrett's POV. The chapter titles are still from the lyrics of Can't Repeat by The Offspring.

Slips Away

Part 2

Move Ahead

The taste was indescribably revolting and I wasn't sure that I'd ever be able to get used to it. I'd had barely enough to take the edge of my thirst but I honestly couldn't drink any more. It was absolutely worth it though, because of Bella. She had sped off on the hunt again. I supposed that it didn't taste as bad to her as she had nothing to compare it to and she was still young enough that she needed a lot more blood to ease her thirst that I did. I followed her at a more leisurely pace. Not interested in more blood but always interested in watching her hunt.

Seeing the world through Bella's eyes brought a new excitement to what had been dull for decades. She would become mesmerised by the smallest thing like the way the sun danced on the surface of water and I would find myself watching in fascination too. She loved testing how far she could see in the dark. We would have competitions to identify the smallest thing we could as far away as possible. I had no idea I could find joy in such innocent games.

Bella had lost some of her sadness. It was still there, like a strong undercurrent that was always trying to drag her back to the dark place she was in when I found her. I was desperate to pull her away from it but there was something in her past that anchored her to sorrow. I wish I knew what had happened. I was sure that was the first step to healing her wounds, but whenever I asked her about it she would withdraw from me and she was pulled back into her misery for hours or even days, so I had stopped pushing her. One day I hoped she would share all of herself with me but for now I was content trying to make her happy. I treasured the moments whenever she seemed completely free of the demons that still haunted her. They were still few but I had made it my mission to make them more frequent.

I kept my distance from Bella as she hunted, whilst still keeping her in my sight. She was beautiful. Graceful and precise. I could watch her for eternity and never tire of the sight. We had not had contact with anyone from the outside world for six months and I didn't miss any of it…except maybe to taste of human blood. It was then that I smelt a tantalising mixture of multiple human scents wafting towards me on the breeze. For a moment I thought I was imagining the smell, conjuring it from my memories but unfortunately no.

Bella froze. The deer she had been stalking scampered away but Bella didn't even notice. Something else had captured her attention and it was obvious what it was. I was already running, but sure I'd be too late. They smelled exceptionally good and I didn't know if that was because I'd abstained for so long or if we were just unlucky enough that the first humans we had encountered smelled so appealing. As I sprang in the air towards her, she suddenly spun away from the humans and started to move in the opposite direction but I had no time to change my trajectory and I collided with her awkwardly with a resounding crash. This shocked Bella out of her resolve to run away and I saw the reason in her eyes replaced with bloodlust and fury. She fought me hard. I had suspected for a long time that she was holding back her strength when we trained together and here was the proof of that. She was having no trouble breaking away from me and each punch or kick she landed hurt like hell. As I hit the floor hard, crushing a rock between me and the ground, pride warred with panic inside me. She had clearly paid attention as I taught her to fight and even as fuelled by instinct as she was, she was employing less obvious tactics than one so young should. It was difficult to predict her next move so I was struggling to contain her. I knew that if she killed these humans she would be devastated but a tiny part of me wanted to join her on the hunt and share this experience with her. The overwhelming part of me wanted to protect her from herself and I used that desperation to propel myself after her once again. Somehow I caught her but I knew that she was still too strong to hold her for long. She fought hard as I held her pinned to the ground and I used the moment I had before she could throw me off again to try and reason with her.

"Bella, this isn't you. You don't want to do this. They have lives to get back to. Friends and family who will miss them," my gentle whisper was much more effective than my physical strength and Bella stilled beneath me. In the quiet of our stillness I could hear their voices now. A family. Two adults and three children. They had abandoned their things and were running back to their car, terrified by the commotion they had heard from Bella and I fighting. After a few minutes that seemed like hours, the car doors slammed, its engine roared to life and they sped away.

I lifted myself off Bella. She looked shattered. "I almost killed them," she whispered hollowly.

"No, Bella," I said firmly. "It was my fault. You were turning away from them before I crashed into you. It was that that set off your instincts. Before my inference, your self-control was amazing."

She rested her head back on the rocks, staring up at the sky. "It was too close. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself."

I stroked her hair and kissed her gently. I wanted to tell her how much I loved her but I knew she still wasn't ready to hear that. I wanted to tell her that accidents happen and we would cope with any fallout together but I knew that would not be well received at all so I let the silence yawn, physically reassuring her where I knew my words would fail.

"It hurts," she told me absently, with her hand on her throat.

"I know," I told her, remembering just how much the thirst burnt my throat when I was young. I would never have been able to resist it as she had.

"When I turned, I woke and the first thing I heard was children playing…that smell, it reminded me of then," she said in a voice so quiet it was almost inaudible.

I was dismayed for her. I wondered if that horror was the trigger that had given her the strength to resist human blood. When we first met she had said she had never tasted it. Had she been in denial then? Was this the source of her sadness? "I'm so sorry, Bella," I told her sincerely.

She looked up at me in surprise and then comprehension. "No, I didn't hurt them."

"What do you mean?" I asked, feeling bewildered. It was surely impossible for a brand new vampire to resist that sort of temptation.

"I ran into the sea to get away from them," she said and I knew that no matter how impossible it was, she was telling the truth. I stared at her, dumbfounded. How was that possible? She had such unprecedented control, even in her first moments as a Newborn.

"Bella, I'm not sure you understand how incredible that is. You are amazing." I cupped her face in my hands, guiding her gaze to meet mine. "You are amazing," I repeated.

"I don't feel amazing," she told me sadly. "I feel like I am always going to be on the verge of becoming a monster."

"This thirst will not be so strong forever, Bella. You are only seven months turned, and even though your thirst is still fierce, you are stronger than it. You always have been." I took her hands in mine and gently pulled her to her feet and into my arms. She accepted my reassurance but the tension in her didn't immediately ease. Eventually, once she seemed calmer, I drew away. "Come on, let's go and find you something less palatable to drink."

X

In the following days and weeks Bella seemed lost. She had slipped further away from me, back to the melancholy state she was in when we first met. I could tell she was trying to be okay, trying to fall into the rhythm of our life together, but I could feel the emptiness in her and I could tell that she was trying to seem happier for me and not for herself. I wanted to scream my frustration away. All the progress she had made had been stolen from her with one near miss. Somehow, I had to help her to move on from this.

We were lying side by side, close but not quite touching, staring up into the night sky watching the stars. I didn't need to be touching her to be aware of her proximity on every level of my senses. She made me feel alive somehow in a way that was impossible to describe.

"I have something I want to talk to you about, Bella," We turned our heads to face each other and she waited while I decided how I was going to put this to her so she wouldn't completely dismiss it. "I'd like to go to into a town," Bella's eyes widened and she looked anxious, but resigned.

"How long will you be gone?" She asked quietly.

"No Bella," I said carefully, "I want to go together."

"What?" Bella sat up sharply. "No, Garrett, I'm not ready for that…"

"Please listen to me Bella," I implored. "At least hear me out," I insisted when she opened her mouth to object again. "I will be beside you the entire time. We won't go into town at first, just watch from a distance. If at any point you become overwhelmed, we'll leave together. I think it is time we start to desensitise you to the scent of humans, that way if we come across anyone else accidently, you'll know that you can resist them."

"I'm not sure, Garrett. I don't think I can." I took some encouragement that she said not sure rather than an absolute refusal. There was at least a chance I could persuade her and I had been thinking about this for a long time. It was early but I was certain she had the self-control required.

"I need you to trust me, Bella. I will never let you hurt anyone. I promised you I would guide you through your transition and you have excelled at everything I've thrown at you. You are strong and special. You have already mastered everything I can teach you in the wilderness, it's time to move ahead to the next phase. To villages and towns and cities. There is so much I want to show you. I promise you I would not suggest it if I wasn't sure you were ready."

"I do trust you, Garrett," she told me, "but how can I trust myself?" There was hesitation there but hope as well. It would take me a little time and we would have to plan carefully. She would need to know every precaution I was planning and every risk I could perceive but I was sure that together we would find a way to make this happen and I was hopeful that it might help her to learn to believe in herself and maybe even start to move forward again.

AN: I was so excited to be writing this story again but when it finally came time to add this chapter to the story, I found myself a little terrified of clicking upload. I hope you like it and I'd love to hear what you think. Thanks for reading.