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(Bella)

I sat next to Emily on her porch swing, watching the stars glimmer in earnest as we waited for Paul to return. Sam had retreated into the house when Billy Black had shown up, having been driven by Jake and helped into the house before Jake also took off with barely an acknowledgment to the back of the house, leaving me to wonder what had happened. Emily never stopped nervously wringing a homemade handkerchief beside me. For a while she and I gently swung in companionable silence, the cool night breeze caressing our skin. I huddled deeper into Paul's white leather jacket, breathing in his scent. Sandalwood and Myrrh.

I blushed crimson as my thoughts drifted back to him. The entire reason I had agreed to tonight was to put to rest the strange pull I felt towards him, to stop the strange dreams. But, the monster, it was reckless.

Instead, I found myself even more drawn to him. I couldn't explain it, it made no damn sense, but….

I thought back to when he had told me he would have to drop me off at Emily's, the disappointment I'd felt… I didn't want our time to end.

But… why?

I'm nothing to him.

He's nothing to me.

A stranger.

I continued to gaze at the stars.

No, he's not a stranger anymore.

He's….

I cleared my mind, picked out the bright glowing orb that helped make up the sword of Orion's constellation and focused on it. 'M42', sometimes called the 'Orion Nebula', a stellar nursery. It's only about fifteen hundred light years away, it's the closest large stellar nursery to Earth. As I continued to admire the nebula, I remembered more of the things I'd read about it as a kid. That bright center is home to four massive young stars, their cosmic light is so strong it's disrupting the development of hundreds of other smaller stars.

Vaguely I remembered a nightmare I'd had an eternity ago.

Maybe we're not so different.

I was startled out of my reverie by the creaking of the screen door. I tried to still my beating heart as Sam walked through and gently knelt by Emily.

Gingerly, he took her hand.

"I've… been talking with Billy, about your uncle Harry… he's in the hospital."

Emily took a sharp inhale.

"What happened?"

"He… had a massive heart attack. It's not looking very good, Emily."

"But- but-" tears filled her eyes. "Leah, how are we going to tell Leah? We need to find her, Sam. I have to take her to her fath-"

Sam clutched Emily's hand tighter.

"I know, I know. But… with what she's going through right now… I don't think it's a good idea, Em…"

"I don't care that she hates me, Sam. I- we're family. We need to go see him!" Tears fell down Emily's cheeks.

"It's not just you I'm trying to protect right now, Em, it's the whole damn hospital. You have no idea how violent a new wolf can be! Especially…."

"She has a right to see her dad, Sam. It could be-" Emily choked back tears. "I won't take this from her, Sam. I've taken enough from her as it is."

Billy wheeled himself through the door frame, maneuvering around the screen door.

"Sam's right, Emily. A new wolf is already dangerous, but… this… is unprecedented. No one knows what to expect, and we can't take any unnecessary risks." He wheeled himself to the side of the porch where he wouldn't be in the way as he continued. "She will get to see her father, we just need to make sure she can handle it first."

As I listened I felt my own heart drop. Harry Clearwater had been lifelong best friends with Charlie and Billy Black, he'd practically been an uncle to me growing up. My own eyes filled with tears, I want to see him, too.

"Then, I'll go-"

"Em, I don't think that's a good call yet either, when Leah does find out, it's going to be devastating as it is. If she knows you were there to see him first…. I think you should wait." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she trembled. "Just until morning, 'kay?"

Quietly, she nodded through her tears.

"Sue's been keeping me up to date. I'll tell her to call you when I get to the hospital." Billy spoke up from his chair, then turned his gaze to me. "Bella, I think you should be the one to call your father and tell him the news, he'll want to be here, too."

I nodded as I wiped the fallen tears away, and Emily did the same.

"Come on, Bella. I'll take you to the phone and start a kettle of tea." She offered me a watery smile. "It'll be okay."

I had numbly followed her into the house as she excused herself upstairs for a brief moment, returning with a bundle of clothes that she handed to Sam through the door way before we resumed our trek into her kitchen. She gestured to the corded phone on her kitchen wall before continuing to the stove. I thanked her, not having the heart to tell her I had a cell phone and didn't need it, and began to dial our home number, vaguely aware of the sounds of Emily preparing a stove top tea kettle.

I wracked my brain, not knowing how to tell Charlie that his lifelong friend was fighting for his life, and that I didn't know much more than that.

He answered after the first ring. Must have been waiting by the phone.

"Bella- where are you? Are you okay? It's almost midnight-"

"Yeah, d-dad, I'm okay. Promise. I just, I-I need to tell you s-something."

"You couldn't come home first? What's wrong? Why are you nervous? Did he hurt you? Do I need to kill him?"

"D-dad! N-no! It's Uncle Harry, h-he's had a heart attack." I choked back tears having to tell him. I heard a sob break from Emily as she overheard me say words out loud.

Charlie was silent for a moment.

"How bad?" He finally asked.

"I-I don't know. Sam said it was serious."

Another moment of silence. I could feel my father's heart breaking over the phone.

"B-Billy, is he there already?"

"I-I think he's leaving n-now."

"I'm on my way. I'll pick you up first."

Emily quietly looked up and tearfully shook her head 'no', confused, I responded.

"No, go ahead, D-dad, I'll catch a ride with Emily in the morning." She gently nodded her head 'yes'.

"Okay, Bells, I- I'm going to go now, okay? I'll see you there." I could hear his voice finally break towards the end, I didn't want to keep him any longer so I told him I would and to drive safely, then hung up the phone.

Hurt and now more confused than I was, I quietly walked over and took a seat at Emily's counter as she finished preparing mugs with green tea bags, then retrieved a bear shaped bottle of honey right as the kettle's whistle blew.

I had a million questions and no polite way to ask any of them.

Finally as Emily finished pouring the hot water in our mugs and offering me a spoon, she began to answer some of my unasked questions.

"I know… this is a lot, for someone who's just… joined our pack-"

My interests were piqued, I never joined the pack, what does she mean? Again, I wanted to ask, but I didn't want to interrupt her.

She continued as she stirred in a spoonful of honey and I followed suit.

"But, I'm happy to answer any questions you have, to the best of my ability. I know you must have a lot."

"Okay, uhm, let's start with why you wanted me to wait to see Harry?"

"There's… a lot going on, that… you haven't been told. Sam gave alpha orders for us to be under guard for a while."

"U-us? Who is… 'us'?"

She sighed. "I wish I could answer that one, Bella. But I'm not allowed to… yet." I noticed a small gleam in her eye.

Okay, strange.

"So, then what are we being protected from?"

"A very unwelcome visitor, one who seems to be… quite aggressive."

Panic clenched my stomach. Alice?!

I swallowed, hard. My time may be running out.

Emily must have noticed my expression.

"Don't worry, we're very well protected, Paul won't let anyone hurt you."

Confused, I assessed her.

"Paul? Why would he care?" I had no doubt he was a good man, but I couldn't see why he would bother going out of his way for me. Again, it hurt to say out loud, it hurt even more to think. Why?

She sighed in frustration.

"That's… one of those questions I'm not allowed to answer…." She turned her head for a moment and muttered, "If he don't shit or get off the pot…."

"W-what d-do you know about t-the 'threat'?"

She eyed me for a moment, seemingly debating whether she could answer me or not, then chose to do so anyway.

"They're someone who's watching, we don't know why, but we're very confident that they're alone, that there's only one." I could hear what she left unsaid, for now.

Had I run out of time?

Emily immediately reached out and grabbed my hand.

"You don't have to be afraid, they've dealt with bigger threats than this. It's going to be okay."

"Bigger threats?"

"This won't be the first cold one they've killed, and I doubt it'll be the last." She hesitated for a moment. "The pack killed a female recently." She gazed at me almost… knowingly.

Is she talking about Alice? Did they actually kill her?

How?

I felt relief for the first time in over a month, then, it dawned on me, she said 'cold one', she knows about...?

If it's not Alice… then who…? It can't be the monster… he would have simply come directly for me….

Aren't I 'in the know' now? Why is everyone still being secretive?

Emily broke me from my reverie.

"Bella… I've been meaning to ask, for a while now… about the night… we met." She fidgeted lightly with her spoon, trying to be as delicate as possible.

I blushed crimson. I really don't want to relive that, I'm still humiliated.

"It's just…." She put the spoon back down. "I get the feeling… that you and I have a lot more in common than… either of us expected."

"I-I- uh, w-what do you m-mean?"

"That we both have lived through things… that would normally break a person into a thousand tiny shards." She glanced up to meet my eyes. I felt my heart drop.

"I know we haven't had the chance to spend a lot of time together, but… if… you're ever ready to talk about it, I'd like to listen."

I swallowed hard and fought back tears. I took a deep drink of hot tea to settle my nerves.

"I- It's- I ap-preciate that, E-Emily."

She reached out and took my hand.

"I mean it, Bella. You may not believe it… but it wasn't that long ago that I was… just as broken as you feel now."

I stared at her, incredulous.

"I… thought I would never heal from it. Never… overcome it, I was a mess. Until my father told me something that I absolutely didn't want to hear; 'You have to name your demons if you're ever going to overcome them.'" She took a deep breath. "I just want you to know… that when you're ready to name your demon, I'll be here for you."

I couldn't hold them back anymore, tiny teardrops fell onto my cheeks.

"T-thank y-you, Emily. I- I'll consider it."

I retreated further into Paul's jacket, his scent surrounded me. I couldn't explain it, but somehow…it made me feel safe.