Chapter 3

-Ava-

I woke up the next morning-on my own-to see the trees outside my window were blanketed in snow and icicles, the rain from yesterday having frozen across the forest. I jumped out of bed and ran to the window, smiling like a kid on Christmas. Did I mention I loved snow?

I dressed in the clothes Alice had laid across my desk chair, happy that they were warm yet unrestricting. I was planning many snowball ambushes on some of my siblings today, and I wanted a full range of motion in case I had to run away.

"Gooooood morning," I greeted as I skipped into the kitchen. Alice was talking to Esme and shot me an amused look as I came in. I was in a good mood due to the snow, and Alice no doubt saw my future ambushing plans.

I chatted with Esme and Alice while shoveling food into my mouth before Edward came in to leave for school. I threw on a light coat, as I got cold but it took quite extreme temperatures for me to get cold enough to need a heavy coat. I swung my bag over my shoulder and grabbed a bag of Chex Mix from the pantry on my way out.

While I waited for my siblings, I stood and stared at the woods that surrounded our house. As a fae, I instinctively loved nature, and there was nothing prettier to me than the snow covered trees and white-topped mountains in the distance.

Edward seemed to have no problem driving in the newly fallen snow, most likely because he wasn't scared of dying if he got in a car crash. Instead, he drifted around corners and skidded smoothly across patches of ice, grinning all the way.

I was laughing as I stepped out of the car at school, eager to breath in the crisp winter air. Bella had just gotten out of her truck as well, and I moved to wave at her but she was facing the other way to look at something on her back tire.

My gaze and all my siblings except Edward's gazes jerked to the left as we heard a screeching noise that was becoming louder every second. There was a van skidding across the parking lot.

I whipped my gaze right and saw Bella standing there, shocked, as it flew towards her. Edward moved quicker than even I could process and I heard Bella's head crack against the pavement. The van shuddered to a near halt and then tilted as it settled loudly, a foot away from where Bella has been.

I raced over, unsurprised to find Edward had been the one to stop the van. People around us were screaming and shouting, but I tuned them all out as I raced to the other side of the van. Bella was lying half on the ground and half against Edward, protected from the van.

"Bella? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she answered. She tried to sit up and realized Edward was holding her against him tightly.

"Be careful," he warned. "I think you hit your head pretty hard." I walked the last few feet and knelt by Bella.

"Ow," she said, surprised.

"That's what I thought," Edward answered, sounding amused.

"Bella, do you mind if I look at your head?" I asked, alerting her to the fact that I was now here with them. "I've gotten hit loads of times and can tell if it's bad or not."

She nodded slightly, grimacing, and turned back to Edward.

"How in the…" she trailed off, obviously disoriented. I prodded the back of her head with my fingers, discreetly taking away pain and any severe injury. It would look like a small bump when the paramedics arrived. "How did you get over here so fast?"

I looked up at Edward, but he was just staring at Bella.

"I was standing right next to you, Bella," he said, his tone serious again.

She turned to sit up and I drew my hands away, helping her as Edward released her and slid farther away. I resumed my probing after Bella was in a sitting position, staring at Edward. He had plastered a concerned, innocent expression on his face.

And then people finally showed up, crowding around and yelling at each other. I pulled my hands away from her head and instead acted like I was helping her sit up.

"Don't move," someone instructed. I rolled my eyes.

"Get Tyler out of the van!" someone else shouted. I remembered then that someone else had been injured and I moved to stand and help but was halted by Edward's sharp glance. It was too risky now that everyone was watching.

Bella tried to stand but Edward pushed her back down.

"Just stay put for now."

"But it's cold," she complained. My brother chuckled, surprising both of us, but there was an edge to it.

"You were over there," Bella accused, causing Edward to fall silent. "You were by your car."

His expression turned hard and I bit the inside of my cheek. "No, I wasn't."

"I saw you." All around us was chaos. Adults had shown up now and were telling people to move. "Ava, you saw him. He was standing right by you." Bella had twisted to look at me.

I hesitated, briefly looking at Edward. "No, he'd started walking over towards you the moment he got out of the car." Lie.

"No," she insisted.

"Please, Bella." His voice was low.

"Why?" she demanded. I grimaced.

"Trust me," he pleaded, voice softer now. Sirens that had sounded in the distance were getting closer now.

"Will you promise to explain everything to me later?"

"Fine," Edward snapped, abruptly exasperated. I sighed quietly.

"Fine," Bella repeated, tone equally as angry.

I moved out of the immediate way as teachers and EMTs worked to move the van enough to bring stretchers in. Edward vehemently refused his, but told the paramedics that Bella had hit her head and most likely had a concussion when she tried to refuse hers. She was blushing deeply when they put the neck brace on her. When they'd turned to me, I had simply said I arrived after the incident.

Bella looked humiliated as she was wheeled past what looked like the entire school, who were all watching soberly. She was loaded in the back of the ambulance, and I hesitated. I wanted to go, but Emmett was shaking his head. In the end, it was Edward's hand on my elbow to push me towards the ambulance that made my decision.

Edward rode in front and I sat in the back, quietly, as the paramedic asked Bella different questions. Right before we pulled away, Chief Swan arrived, yelling Bella's name in panic when he recognized her. I ducked my head so as not to intrude on the family moment and looked eyes with Rosalie, who looked furious.

Our entire family looked on from a distance, expressions ranging from disapproval-Jasper-to fury-Rosalie, but anybody could tell they weren't worried for Edward's safety. Why should they be?

I hopped out of the ambulance as they started unloading Bella, moving to Edward's side as he glided through the hospital doors. They put Bella in an emergency room and I waited in the hallway as my brother went to find Carlisle. Another person-Tyler, the one driving the van-was wheeled in shortly after. He looked a lot worse for wear than Bella did, and I felt bad that I hadn't been able to help. It was a natural instinct for me to want to help hurt people.

Finally, after waiting for over an hour, I got bored and slumped down in chair and reached for my bag...only to realize it was waiting on the floor of the Volvo for me to take to class.

I pouted...it had my food in it. I sighed and stood up, walking over to the vending machines. They had Chex mix, but only the small, single serving bags that weren't as good as Esme's homemade. I pulled out my coins anyway and bought 3 bags, moving back to my seat in the hallway. Theoretically, I could go find Carlisle and be less bored, but I wanted to stay near Bella for some reason.

Sometime within an hour after that, Carlisle and Edward came walking down the hall. I stood up, brushing crumbs off my pants, and moved over to them. Edward only shot me a small smile and continued into the ER while Carlisle stopped to talk to me.

"You know, when Edward said she hit her head pretty hard, I knew it must have been serious for him to think something was "pretty hard". Yet, she's showing no signs of even a concussion...do you have any idea why that might be?" His eyes twinkled with mischief and I gave him a sheepish smile.

"So I might have healed her a little bit…" I trailed off. Carlisle chuckled.

"We'll talk more about it at home, but nobody saw you, right?"

I shook my head. "I doubt Bella even noticed. I asked if I could check her head since I'd been in similar situations before. She let me."

My father figure nodded and tilted his head toward the ER. I lead the way and walked in, seeing Edward was standing next to Bella, catching him in the last half of a sentence.

"...But don't worry, I came to spring you."

Bella's eyes looked over at us, stopping at me but flicking to Carlisle when he appeared. She had the surprised, somewhat awestruck look that everyone had upon first seeing Carlisle. She glanced between Edward and Carlisle and I knew she was wondering if this was the famous Dr. Cullen. Spoiler: it was.

"So, Miss Swan," Carlisle said, moving to stand next to her bed, "how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," she said, again.

Carlisle walked over to the lightboard on the wall over her head and flipped it on as I walked closer to stand next to Edward.

"Your X-rays look good," he said, briefly glancing at me. "Does your head hurt? Edward said you hit it pretty hard."

Bella shot a scowl at Edward. "It's fine."

Carlisle's fingers probed the back of her head and we all took notice when she winced.

"Tender?" he asked.

"Not really," Bella responded. Edward chuckled next to me and Bella turned to him, eyes narrowing.

"Well, your father is in the waiting room-you can go home with him now. But come back if you feel dizzy or have trouble with your eyesight at all.," Carlisle instructed. I had mostly healed her head, but there were two factors into stopping when I did. One, everyone had shown up and I couldn't keep it up with people watching. Two, there needed to be at least some injury after the event or else people would get suspicious.

Bella looked over at Edward and I. "Do they get to go to school?"

"Someone has to spread the good news that we survived," Edward said smugly. I elbowed him in the ribs, but he barely budged.

"Actually," Carlisle corrected, "most of the school seems to be in the waiting room." I grimaced, sympathetic towards Bella. It was obvious from her reaction and they talks I'd had with her in classes that she did not like being in the center of attention.

"Oh no," she moaned, covering her face with her hands.

Carlisle raised his eyebrows. "Do you want to stay?"

"No, no!" she insisted, throwing her legs over the edge of the bed and hopping down quickly-quicker than I would expect for someone who'd been lying in a bed for three hours. She staggered slightly and Carlisle caught her, concern etched on his face.

"I'm fine," Bella assured him, again.

"Take some Tylenol for the pain," he suggested as he steadied her.

"It doesn't hurt that bad," she insisted and I rolled my eyes when she wasn't looking. Bullshark.

"It sounds like you were extremely lucky," Carlisle said, smiling at Bella's chart as he signed it, casting a quick glance at me and Edward.

"Lucky Edward happened to be standing next to me," she amended with a hard glance at Edward. I was glad I wasn't on the receiving end of that look.

"Oh, well, yes," Carlisle agreed, shuffling the papers in front of him in order to look preoccupied. He looked at Tyler and walked over, while I watched Bella's reaction. Her eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly and I knew she suspected that Carlisle knew something.

"I'm afraid that you'll have to stay with us just a little longer," he said to Tyler, checking his cuts.

Before I could even move to go over there, Edward placed a hand on my arm to keep me from moving, knowing what I was planning on doing. I looked at him and he imperceptibly shook his head and I stopped, biting the inside of my cheek.

As soon as Carlisle's back was turned, Bella was walking to our side.

"Can I talk to you two for a minute?" she hissed under her breath. My heart deflated slightly as I realized she was mad at me, too, while Edward took a step back, jaw clenching.

"Your father is waiting for you," he told her through his teeth. She glanced over at Carlisle and Tyler and I looked anywhere but her.

"I'd like to speak with you guys alone, if you don't mind," she pressed.

Edward glared, and then turned his back and strode down the long room. Bella had to walk fast-almost run-to keep up with him and I trailed behind slowly. As soon as we reached the corner into a short hallway, Edward spun to face Bella and I pulled up short, hanging back a couple feet.

"What do you want?" he asked, sounding annoyed. His eyes were cold and my heart sank even more. He was driving her away again...both from himself and from me. From a chance at a friendship.

"You owe me an explanation," Bella reminded him.

"I saved your life-I don't owe you anything," he retorted harshly. I glared at him, letting my thoughts on how he was acting fill my head for him to read. There were many curse words.

Bella flinched back and swallowed. "You promised."

"Bella, you hit your head, you don't know what you're talking about." Even I was hurt by his tone.

I could see the change in temper that his statement provoked and Bella glared at him, defiant. "There's nothing wrong with my head."

Edward glared back at her. "What do you want from me, Bella? From us?" Great...now he had to remind her that I was here. I was just in the process of starting to inch backwards.

"I want to know the truth," she said. "I want to know why I'm lying for you." Damn, she knew we were lying? I thought I'd hit it pretty well, even if Edward fumbled the ball.

"What do you think happened?" Edward snapped. I glared at him.

"All I know is that you weren't anywhere near me-Tyler didn't see you, either, so don't tell me I hit my head too hard. That van was going to crush us both-and it didn't, and your hands left dents in the side of it-and you left a dent in the other car, and you're not hurt at all-and the van should have smashed my legs, but you were holding it up…" Tears started forming in Bella's eyes but she was forcing them back and I looked at the floor.

Edward was staring at her incredulously. His face was tense, defensive.

"You think I lifted a van off you?" His tone questioned her sanity and I ground my teeth.

Bella merely nodded once, jaw tight.

"Nobody will believe that, you know." His voice held an edge of derision now. I wanted to slap him...she wasn't going to tell anybody, I wanted to yell. She just wanted the truth.

"I'm not going to tell anybody," she said, each word slow, and carefully kept a reign on her anger.

Surprise flitted across Edward's face. "Then why does it matter?"

You dumbass, I thought. It matters because she almost died and saw something that shouldn't have been able to happen. She saw something impossible. And you're refusing to tell her that it actually happened.

"It matters to me," she insisted. "I don't like to lie-so there'd better be a good reason why I'm doing it." She finally looked over at me, expression guarded. My heart hurt slightly.

"Can't you just thank me and get over it?" I clenched my jaw as she turned back to face him.

"Thank you," she waited, fuming and expectant still.

"You're not going to let it go, are you?"

"No."

"In that case...I hope you enjoy disappointment."

The two scowled at each other in silence. "Why did you even bother?" she finally asked, frigid.

He paused, and for a brief moment his stunning face was unexpectedly vulnerable.

"I don't know," he whispered. And then he turned his back on Bella and walked away. I swear, I was going to set all of his CDs on fire when we got home.

Bella whirled on me.

"You know the truth, don't you?" she demanded. I hesitated, but that gave away enough. "Tell me what really happened. Please." Her tone was pleading and I almost spoke when I saw Edward turn around from the end of the hallway and narrow his eyes at me, shaking his head.

"I...I'm sorry," I whispered. Bella clenched her jaw and spun, walking off towards the waiting room. I shook my head and bit my lip, moving down the hallway to the exit.

Rosalie's car was waiting in the parking lot and Edward was already sitting in the passenger seat, staring ahead as our sister ranted. I slid in the backseat and stared out the window, any jovial feelings gone. My siblings were arguing in low tones, but I ignored them. I could tell that the night was not going to be a fun one.

We got back to the house and Rosalie was still ranting at Edward about how he was endangering the family and threatening our secrecy.

"Should I have let her get crushed, then?" Edward demanded as he got out of the car, roughly slamming the door shut. "Should I have let her blood spill across the parking lot. You think you have control of your thirst, but if Bella smells this good right now, how good do you think her blood smells when it's pouring out of her?"

I grimaced and stepped out of the car, moving towards the house.

"And you!" Rosalie turned on me, pointing a finger accusingly at me. "What the hell was that? You may not be a vampire, but you still have a pretty big secret to protect."

I ground my teeth and turned to face my adoptive sister. "Look, I'm not going to apologize for what I did. I wanted to do it, and I don't regret it. Bella's a nice person and if she needed help, and I could provide that, I was going to. Don't get pissy at me for my natural instincts that want to help people."

"And when people come asking how Bella was completely fine when she should have had a severe concussion? What about when she tells everyone what Edward and you did? What happens then?" Rosalie yelled.

"She won't tell anyone," I insisted, trying to convince myself as much as I was trying to convince Rosalie.

"You don't know that!" she threw back.

"Yes, I do. She's a good person. She won't tell anyone," I pushed, trying to calm my emotions. Edward was hanging back, not planning on interrupting unless we went at each other. Our other siblings were staying inside to let us argue, no doubt also angry at what Edward and I had done.

"She's human! She'll tell someone eventually," Rosalie retorted.

"She won't," I answered, growing quieter. "And if she does and we do have to leave, you can say 'I told you so' as many times as you want. Hell, you can even kick my ass into the next century if it would make you feel better."

I spun around and stormed inside before Rosalie could respond. I heard her and Edward start to argue again and I rolled my eyes. None of my siblings nor Esme were in the way. A quick sweep with my senses showed me that Esme actually wasn't at the house and neither were Jasper or Alice. Emmett was somewhere downstairs, but I didn't try to find him as I got to my room and slammed the door.

It took a while to calm down, and I was grateful that nobody bothered me. When I finally was back to a calm persona, I went to pull out my homework only to realize that I hadn't gone back to school today. Wow, what a great attendance streak, I thought.

I pulled a book of my shelf-Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, one of my favorites-and I quickly immersed myself in the old Scottish highlands. I got maybe two chapters read before there was a knock at my door.

"Come in," I announced, half-paying attention. Edward slipped in and took a seat on my bed next to me. I closed my book and shifted to look at him.

"I know that everyone else may be mad, but I wanted to thank you for what you did," he started. "Bella...there's something about her. I'm drawn to her in a way I've never been before."

"She is pretty different," I agreed.

Edward let out a quick laugh. "That's for sure." It was quiet for a moment. "Thank you, for coming over and healing her, and for being supportive of my choice instead of angry."

I shrugged. "You're welcome...I want to be Bella's friend, too. I just hope she'll forgive me for not spilling our secrets."

"I'm sure she will. She seems like an understanding person," he answered. I nodded and my door opened.

Carlisle stuck his head in, jerking it towards the door. "Let's talk."

I rolled off the bed and followed him out the door, hearing Edward get up a moment later and leave to go back to his room. I settled down in one of the chairs in front of Carlisle's desk, tucking my feet underneath me.

"I'm not mad," he told me, smiling. "I heard Rosalie and you got into a yelling match over Bella?"

"Yes, Rosalie doesn't...approve of what Edward and I did," I answered, choosing my words carefully.

"But you don't regret it." It wasn't a question, but I shook my head anyway. Carlisle smiled.

"I think we should talk more about your abilities," he said. "When you first told me about your healing abilities, you told me you rarely do it because you could potentially form a bond with the healee, but you didn't go further into detail. Can you elaborate now?"

I nodded and took a breath. "When a fae heals someone who is non-fae, they could start to develop a bond with them. It's a weird thing-bonding. It's not forming an emotional connection or spurring any physical desire to be with someone. It's just simply...there." Carlisle nodded.

"I've never formed a bond with someone I've healed before, and I don't know why that is. I've healed plenty of humans, some that I'd been friends with, but nothing formed. I'm not 100% sure how it works-who bonds and who doesn't-and that's part of the reason why I never talked about it until now."

"But do you think you're forming a bond?" Carlisle was transcribing everything I said and putting it in his file. Eventually he wanted to be able to have a complete file on how faes worked and their different abilities.

"Yes," I answered.

"How do you know? If there's no emotional connection or physical draw, how can you tell a bond is formed?"

I chewed on my lip as I tried to figure out a way to explain what i was feeling. "Somehow..I just know. There's a draw, but not to become romantic or even friendly. It's physical, but in a neutral way. It's more of an urge to make sure that she's safe and uninjured. Like now that I've healed her, I feel responsible for her safety. And when you were checking her head, I could feel it."

"You could feel her pain?" Carlisle seemed surprised.

"No," I shook my head. "I couldn't feel her pain because I don't think I was healing her long enough to form that deep of a bond. But I had an uncomfortable prickly sensation when you were touching her head and she winced." The sensation wasn't painful, but it wasn't comfortable either. It was like an itch I couldn't seem to scratch.

Carlisle nodded as if he understood, but even I didn't quite understand what I'd just explained. I was young when my mother explained bonding to me, and I didn't remember the complete conversation as I was preoccupied with getting it over with so that I could go play with my twin.

"If I'm bonded to her...then she might find out about us," I realized, breath hitching.

Carlisle smiled slightly. "Edward seems to be infatuated with her; I doubt it will be long before she discovers our secret. In fact, I think Alice has seen it already."

I let out a lose breath. I was glad that she was going to find out, but I was worried how Rosalie would react. I didn't want her to get pissy at me or Edward again, just because she was angry at having to be a vampire.

I just wanted a friend. A normal, flesh and blood friend who could actually sleep if we had sleepovers. Just a friend...

-.-.-.-.-

Wow, I'm pretty amazing. Two chapters in two days? I'm feeling very motivated and I'm in a huge Twilight fangirl phase right now (again). If you liked this installment, don't forget to favorite, follow, and REVIEW!

Reviews are how I get ideas for different things that happen in a story. They also help me improve my writing and the quality of these stories, as well as find discrepancies and plot holes. So pretty please review (it helps motivate me to write faster). Review review review!

xoxo, Lauren