Chapter Four

Without Me ~ Eminem

Because of their lab schedule, Molly and Emmett shared study hall after chemistry. By the final bell of the day, the two had concocted an idea to stage a crime scene. Murder, drugs, weaponry – it was supposed to be like a mystery novel, where their audience had to take their research and solve the crime themselves. The goal was to stump everyone and they were determined to do so.

"If you want, I can write up a proposal. It's going to be a lot, so I don't think verbally explaining the idea would give the idea justice," Molly offered as she packed her belongings into her bag. Emmett only shrugged.

"I'm fine with it either way. But I like the idea. Dr. Wilson is all for formalities so that might impress her more," he replied. The two walked out together, avoiding everyone hurrying to leave. At least it was enough to keep people from staring too long. "Hey, Molly?"

She stopped off to the side and gave him a curious look. "Yeah, Emmett?"

"I wanted to thank you." When she looked utterly confused, he continued with a gentle smile. "It's a small school and when something happens, people talk. I just happen to listen more than people give me credit for. I heard about what you said to Jessica."

A bright blush crept up her cheeks. "Oh. You heard about that, huh?"

He nodded. "Yep, sure did. So thank you. I'm sure you've figured it out by now but it's a small town and people love to talk. I try to ignore what they say, because I love my family and I'm thankful Carlisle and Esme took us all in, but sometimes it bothers me with the things they will say."

"I understand that more than you know," she murmured, patting his arm lightly. Molly did really understand. After the death of her parents, the rumors circulated, even as far about Molly herself in the coven.

People just don't know how to mind their own business.

"Yeah… I kind of figured you did." He looked over his shoulder, almost as if he had heard his name being called. His head seemed to tilt for a second, almost too quick for her to be sure it actually happened, before he looked back at her. "I should probably get going before the others decide to leave me here. If you have a lot to do, don't worry about the proposal; I don't have much of a life so I can always whip up one. I'll talk to you tomorrow though."

Emmett held out his fist. At first Molly was still confused but it dawned on her. A small embarrassed laugh escaped her lips and she bumped hers against his. "Later dude."

With a final peace sign, she watched Emmett Cullen walk away. A spark of anger flickered down to her core when she thought back to the others and their opinions on his family. While she still didn't have the best impression of Emmett's girlfriend, his attitude and personality spoke volumes, enough for the whole family in Molly's opinion. How bad could the rest of the family be with him there?

The hallway was nearly empty aside from a few stragglers when she realized she had gotten lost in her thoughts. The only reason she was brought back to reality was the consistent buzz in her back pocket. She didn't even bother to look at her phone; she already knew it was Willow asking where she was. Instead, she pulled herself together and pushed any thoughts of the Cullens away, and hauled ass out the door to make sure her sister didn't hotwire her car and leave her stranded.

You forget she's more like your sister than you, Nala chastised her. She wanted to argue but it was true. If anyone could figure out how to steal a car, it was her. Willow was too much of a chicken to do anything bad.

"Dude, you know it's raining right?" Willow whined when she finally spotted her mess of hair around the corner. Molly just laughed, shrugging her off with a sly smile.

"Good, you needed a bath anyway."

"That's not funny," the younger girl muttered as Molly unlocked the door. They shoved their bags into the backseats. Soon enough, once the car started and they were about to pull out of the parking lot, a small grackle flew in and landed in the middle.

"Nice of you to join us, Nala," Molly murmured. She got a hmph in return.

The car ride was slow, as she was still not entirely too comfortable driving in the rain. Neither of the girls minded though. There was time to talk about their day, about the people they met, their teachers, the outlook of the classes; and if anything was even slightly inconspicuous, like Molly nearly zapping the hell out of Lauren Mallory, they got vague stories ready for Sienna's upcoming interrogation.

"So are you even going to try and be nice to Lauren?"

Molly shook her head. "No matter how nice I can try to be to her, it won't be enough. You know what people like her are like."

"Still, it's a new start, Molly," she murmured, nudging her shoulder as the turned onto their road. "That's what you told me. And yet, you already pissed off one girl and shamed another."

She rolled her eyes and nudged her back. "Would you rather me have not said anything? What they were doing, it was wrong, Will. I'm not just going to let that happen. I didn't at in Pennsylvania, and I won't here."

Willow hesitated. The tension rolled off of her in waves, hitting her sister like shards of glass. If it weren't for Nala's inference, she would have had to pull over. Though emotions were little annoyances she managed to block out, her family managed to bypass those barriers like a soft breeze.

It sucked, honestly.

"You really don't see it as home anymore, do you?"

She closed her eyes, only for the slightest second at the red light. Her knuckles were white around the steering wheel, and part of Molly wondered how much more it would take to break it.

"Will… Pennsylvania will always be 'home'… we grew up there, so it's the most familiar place I'll ever know. But I can't forget everything we went through. I don't want that place to be home, not with the accident, not with that damn coven…" Molly trailed off with a sigh as they turned onto their street. She focused on the thickening line of trees, hoping all the life that surrounded them would help her find peace before Sienna picked up on anything. "At the moment, home isn't a place, kiddo. It's you. It's you and Sienna, no matter where we end up and how. That's all that matters."

The rest of the short drive was quiet, either because her answer seemed to satisfy the younger witch or because she was too far into her thoughts. Either way, Molly was grateful for some silence.

And of course, it didn't last long.

"We've been here a week and there's already a cop at the house." Willow chuckled, nudging her sister's arm once the car was parked behind Sienna's. "What did you do now, Molly?"

She only rolled her eyes and hopped out of the car. So much for her serenity; her heart was racing as she made her way toward the house, steps twice as long as usual. She couldn't help but assume the worst once she got the door open.

"Sienna?" Panic seeped through her voice as she scanned the living room for her sister or any badges, but it was dark. The only light came from the back.

"In the kitchen!"

The oldest Danvers sister sounded her natural cheery self, which eased the main bit of anxiety, but Molly couldn't help but still be prepared for anything. Her body was poised and ready, energy vibrating through her fists as she tried to keep herself under control.

That isn't really necessary, Nala chided, scuffling through one of the windows upstairs. Molly had forgotten to bring her with. He's not here about anything bad.

When she got into the kitchen, she was greeted by a middle aged man, dressed down in worn jeans and a heavy flannel jacket. Typical woodsman type of attire, she noticed; it seemed common around town from what Molly had seen. His face appeared tired, despite youngish looks and a side smile that was probably so natural to him that he didn't realize he had it. Add that to thick dark locks and eyes with some crinkles on the side, Molly found herself facing man that her father would probably had befriended right away.

"Girls, this is Chief Swan," Sienna explained. She seemed completely content around this man, an odd sign for the ever-worrying witch. It threw Molly off a bit. "He stopped by to introduce himself and welcome us to Forks."

Chief Swan blushed a little, obviously uncomfortable with being the center of attention. "Charlie," he corrected her, glancing at her quickly. Molly didn't miss the redness in Sienna's cheeks either.

Well, I'll be damned, she thought, biting her lip to stop herself from laughing.

"Just thought I'd stop by and see if you guys needed anything," he continued, leaning back against the counter like it was his own house. Molly was actually pretty impressed by how well he seemed to fit in among them. Humans normally felt highly uneasy around them in their homes, because nothing ever seemed normal in a house full of magic. "I was actually just telling your sister about how my own daughter will be moving up here from Phoenix in the next week or so. She's actually your age, Molly, so I'm sure having a new person will make it better for the both of you."

Molly allowed herself to laugh this time. "Yeah, I won't lie, it'll be nice to have someone else. People talk here like a group of ladies in an old folks' home."

"Molly!"

Charlie just laughed and brushed Sienna's concern off. "No, she's right. Gossip around here might as well be the town's declared sport. Most times it's harmless but new people moving in when most move out is a big deal to folks around here."

"Still," she responded, sending Molly a supposedly scary glance. "She was raised better than that. Anyway, Charlie, I was about to start dinner for the girls. Would you like to join us?"

And there came the blush again. It was kind of adorable how a grown man got so flustered but she wondered if it was a general thing or if he found Sienna particularly attractive.

It would be a lot better than the previous men she's gotten mixed in, Nala agreed. Both of them decided they would be rooting for the Chief, even if it probably would never happen.

"I would love to, especially since I can't cook to save my life, but I'm due in to check on the station. We have a rookie in his first week, so for all I know he might have blown up the damn place," Charlie responded as he pulled on a police issued blazer over his shirt. He gave the girls a grin before looking back at Sienna, a kind smile playing on his lips. "If you're offering a rain check though, I'd gladly take you up on it some other time."

Sienna nodded. "Anytime."

Charlie pulled a small piece of paper and handed it to Molly with a quirky glance. When she saw it was a business card – his in particular – she looked up at him with confusion. "What's this for?"

"Your sister explained how you have an uncanny ability to find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Figured we'd start this out right before someone else gets a call to haul you in and you don't have a reasonable explanation to get yourself out of it. I want you to call me if you find yourself in trouble; I'll come get you. No questions asked."

An eyebrow rose as she looked up at him. Part of her wondered why Sienna would have told him that to begin with but seeing that her sister was a bit starstruck and how easy-going Charlie Swan seemed to be, it didn't surprise her that much. And, for once in her short life, it might help to have a cop on her side.

"Really…?"

Charlie nodded slowly. "Doesn't matter what time or where, I'll be there. All I ask is you keep an eye on my Bella when she transfers here. A delicate thing, she is. I swear bad luck follows her around."

She thanked him, knowing another new friend would be nice, especially if she was anything like Charlie. Immediately she began running through options on how to help his daughter not be so unlucky.

As they bid their farewells to him, Willow offered to show him the way out. Once Sienna and Molly were alone, she couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Really, Sienna? The chief?"

Her face was almost as red as Molly's hair. "What are you even talking about?" she sputtered, struggling to get the words out.

"I think you should go for it. He liked you too."

Sienna continued to stutter out something unintelligible while she went back to washing the few dishes in the sink. It was her cool down period, a small bit of time to come up with some coherent sentences.

"He's a bit older than me, Molly. Don't be absurd," she finally muttered, tossing the towel to her. Molly caught it with a laugh and joined her side to start drying.

"Please. You know you aren't as young as you look. He's probably in his forties; ten years, give or take a few, is not a bad thing."

Sienna sighed and paused, staring at the dish in her hands intently. She started to smile and then looked over at her younger sister. "You really think he liked me too?"

"Did you not see how he was looking at you and blushing? You two looked like a couple of middle schoolers trying to hide their crushes on each other."

Neither of them planned on making dinner late but a water fight was more than necessary.

"Whatcha' working on?"

Molly didn't look away from her laptop as her fingers moved furiously over the keys. "Homework. I have a proposal to write up for Chem."

"I thought you were going to work on setting up the wards, tonight."

The only reason she stopped then was because of the worry in Willow's voice. "Why are you scared, Will?"

The younger girl sort of shrank into herself on the bed, her chin tucked to her knees as she pulled her legs in. "I just don't want them to find us."

Molly sighed and spun around in her chair to look at her directly. "You know I wouldn't let them hurt us, muñeca. I wouldn't let them close enough to hurt you."

"But what about you…?"

She should have known. Willow had their father's selflessness, her great and terrible burden of empathy. It wasn't a gift; it was just who she was and they all knew that she still thought it should have been her in the accident.

The chair slid across the floor with a gentle push, and once she hit the bed, Molly pulled her sister off the bed and into a tight hug. "I can handle it, Wills," she murmured against her hair, all while she rubbed her back to soothe her. "Even if they did try, they wouldn't be expecting me to fight back."

Willow nodded but Molly knew it did little to console her. "The ward I want to set up requires a little bit more energy than what I got stored up in our crystals, so I'm hoping we'll have a storm or sometime soon. And the protection spell I cast the day we moved in should be strong enough to hold until then," she explained, nudging her back to wipe any tears. "I found a spell in one of dad's old journals if you would like to do that. It's meant to keep us off the radar. Would you like to do that?"

Willow sniffled and nodded, making Molly smile a little bit. "Yes please."

"Alright, we can do that. I need something from you and Sienna, so go tell her what we are doing. I'll set up everything outback."

Once she was out of the room, Molly sat back in her chair and rubbed her temple. It was hard pretending to not be scared about the coven with her but it was the only thing that kept Willow leveled. She needed that rock now.

You shouldn't be the only one shouldering that burden, Molly. You should bring this up to Sienna. She is technically her guardian now.

Molly sighed. "She's got everything else to worry about, Nala. I can handle Willow."

The cat growled as she jumped into Molly's lap, and then onto her shoulder. While I know you have more responsibilities than young people your age, you are still a child, Molly Danvers. Willow may be your sister but you do not need this extra stress.

She couldn't help but laugh. "Stress… didn't you know that's my life?"