I slowly sit up and hold my hands out in front of my face. A ray of sun hits my hand and my skin sparkles. I slightly smile then slightly look around before it hits me. I lift my shirt and examine my side- nothing. I drop my shirt and stand before actually looking around and paying attention. Emmett holds a hand out toward me and I take it. His hand slides up my arm slowly. I slightly smile before wrapping my arms around him. He grunts at the sudden impact then returns the favor.

"You're a lot stronger than what I thought, princess." He says strained. I ease up but don't break my hold.

"I bet that I'm stronger than you now." I state.

"That's unlikely." He retorts. I slightly pull back and smile at him. He smiles and cups one side of my face with his hand. "Happy Birthday." I roll my eyes.

"I was hoping I'd still be asleep today." I say.

"If you keep rolling your eyes they're going to get stuck in your head." He says.

"Shut up." I lightly swat his shoulder. He lightly chuckles.

"Come on, you need to hunt, otherwise next time Bella shows up you'll go crazy." He states.

"Like Jasper does?" I ask for a clarification.

"Times about five hundred." I shrug in agreement.

†††††

"Try walking over to the chair." Esme says. I attempt, but my legs seem to want to move ridiculously fast and I land in the chair, but it moves backwards.

"Try just a tad bit slower." Carlisle says holding his fingers mimicking small. I exhale sharply through my nose and cross my arms.

"It takes a little bit of time, but you'll get used to it." Esme encourages. I glare at her slightly.

"We've been doing this for almost an hour." I say flatly.

"We were also trying to do other things on top of that." Carlisle points out.

"This is ridiculous." I state standing up and walking to the other room. I stop about halfway and furrow my eyebrows before turning on my heels. Esme smiles at me.

"I told you so." She says in a motherly tone. I roll my eyes before spinning back around and continuing on to the other room. I cross my arms and look out the window. Everything is so much clearer, my vision and hearing are enhanced, which is both a pro and a con of this whole thing.

"Still adjusting to everything?" Rosalie asks walking in and standing beside me.

"Kind of." I reply.

"How'd you do it?" I know exactly what she means.

"Someone once told me that if you get stuck into a situation you can't get out of, react without emotion. So I did. That same person told me something else that seemed to stick, when someone can't fully process something, they distract themselves with other habits. I cleaned every last drop of blood, every finger print, then I went on like nothing happened. I stuck to my routines and kept myself busy. It hurt like a bitch but I knew as long as I stayed moving around doing something, I wouldn't feel as much. I knew what was going to happen. Either I would've bled out, or they would've gotten to me before I died from it, but not fast enough to keep me human." I focus on the outside world. "Hopefully, Bella will realize that she's lucky enough to have a choice. I don't mind this, at least I know that I won't have to say goodbye to Emmett, but then again, I'm going to outlive almost everyone else that I've ever known."

"It gets easier, in about fifty years you'll remember everything, but it won't bother you as much." She states. "Just as long as you try not to think about it too much." I nod but continue to stare blankly out the window. "As much as I dislike to say it, you're family, you have been ever since we found you in the woods and Emmett got attached to someone he barely knew. And I've never hated you, I don't particularly like you, but I envy you. I know that I'll find it eventually, but you have someone who loves you and you love them just as much. I thought I had that, once upon a time, but that was ages ago. I got my revenge though, one by one, but I saved him for last. That was the closest to love I've been, that was almost ninety years ago."

"It'll come around, when you least expect it to, it'll come around." I smile at her softly.