Broken Hearted on the Mend

Emmett's Point of View

Monday morning rolled around and the minute that Rhiannon stepped on campus she was called to the principal's office. That confused all of us and I was going to go with her, but was told to get to class. All through math Rhiannon didn't show. I copied down her homework assignments for her and then went to my next classes. By lunch time there was still no word from her. Bella and Leah both told me that she hadn't shown up for the first half of the entire school day. I was about to go look for her when she slammed a tray of food down at our table.

"Rhia what's going on," I asked.

"I just found out that I might not be able to graduate," she huffed.

"What, why not," Bella asked.

"Well, Principal Bennett told me this morning that if I miss anymore days of school then I
can't graduate," she answered.

"Didn't you explain that you were in the hospital for four weeks and then were on mandatory bed rest by your doctor for two extra weeks," Leah asked.

"Yes, I told her everything that went down in the last few weeks and she didn’t believe me. I told her that my uncle was beating me and abusing me, and she didn't believe me on that either," she cried.

"I can have Carlisle call her and explain everything," I added.

"No, that won't work. There's only ten more weeks of school. I just better not get super sick and miss the last few weeks even though I'm all caught up with my work so it shouldn't be too hard," she breathed heavily.

Everyone was silent for the rest of the lunch period. Rhiannon didn't eat, but kept picking at her food. She had missed the weekend getaway with her brother because she was afraid that she would have another black out episode like at the police station. She had called him to tell him that she had been wrongfully arrested and he was angry, but as she had said over a million times there was nothing that he could have done to change it. Esme had won the adoption case so now Rhiannon was a permanent Cullen family member, but she decided to keep her own last name.

Each day that I was around her I felt my stone cold heart grow that much fonder for her. I was happy and I could tell that she was happy as well. Graduation was coming soon and it was the highlight of all the senior gossip. Senior Prom was this weekend and I wanted to ask Rhiannon if she would go with me, but I wasn't sure if she would want to even go because of everything that has happened. Her bruises were long gone and she started showing some actual skin at school even, so I was hoping she wouldn't be too self-conscious if I asked her to attend Prom with me.

"Emmett can I talk to you after English class today," Rhiannon asked before we went separate ways to our classes.

"Sure," I replied and gave her a swift kiss before heading off to Physics class.

The rest of the day was boring as hell since I've learned everything already, but I know that if I hadn't decided to go to high school again I wouldn't have met Rhiannon and found the meaning of love again. I walked out of English class next to Rhiannon. Bella had gone ahead with Leah to wait by the Jeep so that Rhiannon could talk with me in private. She led me towards the music room, which I found odd because I'd never seen her play an instrument before. She led me towards the piano in the classroom and sat down on the bench. I sat next to her and she looked up at me. My eyes followed her hand, which brushed one of my dark curls out of my eyes.

"Emmett, would you go to Prom with me," she asked suddenly.

I was speechless because I was the one who wanted to ask her, yet here she was asking me. I felt a huge smile form on my lips.

"Of course I would," I said with a large smile.

She lunged at me and I wrapped my arms around in her in a hug. Everything was turning up for us now. The one thing that we needed to happen was Kyle Johnson in prison for life and then everything would be absolutely perfect. My phone vibrated suddenly. I pulled it and looked at the caller ID. It was Alice. She hadn't called in months so I figured nothing serious was coming up.

"Hello," I answered.

"Emmett is Rhiannon with you," she asked.

"Yes why," I asked.

"I need to tell you something, but you can't tell her," she said.

"I don't keep secrets from her anymore Alice," I said suddenly.

"Emmett this is important for her to not know," she said.

"Why," I questioned suspiciously.

"It's about her brother Justin," she replied.

I looked at Rhiannon who had a confused look on her face. I didn't want to keep a secret from her because it would break the trust bond that we created within months of knowing each other. I didn't want to suddenly break that with keeping something so serious about her brother, who she just met a week ago. I just couldn't do it, but if I had to for her safety then I would because her safety meant a lot to me.

"Rhiannon, I know you don't like secrets kept from you, but if you trust me would it matter to you if I kept a small secret from you," I asked her.

"I trust you with my life Emmett, if it involves my safety, then I don't want to know unless it's truly necessary for me to know," she replied simply.

"Are you sure because I don't want our relationship to go awry by some little secret," I asked her.

"Emmett it's okay. One secret isn't going to kill me," she answered with a small smile.

I nodded and stood up to finish the phone call with Alice.

"Alice what is it," I asked heavily.

"Justin is going to die, and not by human nature, but by vampire means. I saw him getting killed by Jane and Alec as if they branched off from the Volturi," she said.

"And you think this is wise to keep from her," I asked incredulous.

"That's not all I saw. I saw Rhiannon killing herself after finding out that Justin died. You were too late to save her," she replied.

"What do you mean I was too late to save her," I asked growing worried.

"I mean that you find her in a puddle of her own blood because she committed suicide through slicing open the veins in her wrists," she answered.

"Things change Alice, it may not come to that," I said.

"Oh, and you want to know what else I found out," she asked.

"Is it about the odd blackouts that I told Carlisle about," I asked.

"Yes. Jasper and I have been doing some research about that. We found out that there is only one lone vampire in the history of vampires to have every single gift possible," she said.

"I'm confused here," I said.

"I'm trying to explain to you that Rhiannon's vampire powers that I see her getting when she's turned are starting to show now and if she isn't turned within the next three to five years she's going to die because all that power within one body can kill her," Alice said.

"I'm not going to let that happen," I growled softly into the phone.

"I'm just forewarning you Emmett," she said simply.

"I need to go now so if you find out any new information about Justin then please let me know as soon as you get it," I said in a quick whisper.

"Fine, we'll talk later," Alice replied and then hung up.

I wanted to tell Rhia so bad that something was going to happen to Justin, but Alice wasn't positive and I promised to keep it a secret so I would. Rhia and I headed out towards the Jeep so that we could head home for the day. I had a date for the Senior Prom and I was happy. Bella and Leah were not going to go to Prom because they thought that it was rather pointless. I wanted to go because Rhia and I hadn't had an actual date without something horrible happening.

I was hoping that Prom night would be one of the nights that I would be able to actually have a date and not have something go horribly wrong. There had to be a way for me or someone to keep a constant eye on Justin so that he didn't get into too much danger, but from what I gathered from him from his last visit that he could take care of himself, if the danger consisted of humans, but the danger that Alice warned me of was of vampires and humans didn't fare so well against vampires. They either ended up a vampire or dead, but most of the time they ended up dead because of the bloodlust frenzy that took over each vampire when human blood touched our lips. The drive home from school was naturally short because I was a speed demon just like Edward.

It was rather funny though because when Bella was human Edward's speed frightened her, but he being a vampire didn't. Rhiannon didn't say a word about my speed, so I was actually curious on how she drove. Her Volvo S60R had been parked at the house for awhile. She never drove it much anymore, so maybe I would ask her to drive us to Prom just to see how she drove because I was really curious since she never said a word about my driving. I pulled into the driveway and we all filed out of the Jeep and into the house. When we walked in Edward immediately pulled Rhia aside to talk about the case. I went up to my room to think about what might happen in the near future. Rhia's life was in danger from her powers showing so soon and Justin might lose his, unless I changed Justin before whoever decided to kill him.

My guess was that the Volturi found that Rhia had a brother and in order to punish me they would punish her by taking her brother that she barely knew. I wouldn't put it past them to try that either because that's just how they worked. I went into my closet and found the tuxedo that I would be wearing to Prom. I didn't have a vest yet because Rhia hadn't chosen her color dress that she wanted. I heard Leah and Bella planning on taking her to buy her the dress that she wanted. I couldn't wait until Prom because it was going to be such a wonderful night.

Rhiannon's Point of View

When I stepped through the door after we had gotten home from school and Edward pulled me towards the study so that we could discuss the case. He sat down behind the desk and I sat down in front of it. I was ready to leave this part of me behind and the sooner that Kyle Johnson went to prison the better off I would be and the more time I could spend with Justin and the Cullens. I was excited when Esme won my adoption case because that's what frightened me the most because I was afraid that Lorelei would show up and decide to take me.

She didn't though she did send me a postcard saying that if I was happy then good riddance. She didn't have the time to take care of me so the only other choice for me was to let Esme adopt me and so the courts did. Living with Emmett and his family made me so happy because I felt safe with them.

"Rhiannon could you tell me why the cops think that you assisted your uncle in killing your aunt," Edward asked bluntly.

"They most likely thought that because I had taken the knife from the scene of the crime, which is something an accomplice would do," I answered.

"Why did you take the knife," he asked.

"I honestly don't know. I was scared, I was hurt, but most of all I just wanted to get away from him," I said looking down.

"Rhiannon there's something else I need to ask you," he said.

"I still think it's my fault that she died," I whispered not hearing Edward.

"What why," he asked startled.

"Because if I hadn't left her lying on the ground bleeding out then she might have survived," I replied.

"Rhiannon don't beat yourself up about this," he consoled.

"I can't help it Edward, I can't. I could have stopped the bleeding somehow, but I was scared and I didn't know what to do so I ran," I admitted.

Through my eyelashes I saw Edward kneeling in front of me his hands grasped the arms of my chair.

"Rhia we will win this case. You have provided us with strong hard evidence. Those pictures you took of the injuries that he inflicted on you will help, but most of all the video footage of the actual murder will definitely put him away for good," he said quietly.

"When is the trial," I asked.

"The judge is aware that you graduate in ten weeks and respects the fact that you will not attend for the first week of trial because of finals and graduation, but after that he expects you to be there until the verdict is read and he is either sentenced or set free," he answered.

"So it starts in nine weeks," I asked.

"Yes. I have all the evidence for the trial in order of how I'm presenting it to the judge and the jury. Jury selection is in process right now. So far we have selected five jurors. The other seven will be selected within the next couple of weeks as will the alternates," he explained.

"Alright, now are we going to talk about my testimony, or am I not a witness," I asked.

"No, you will be the key witness of the trial. I'm not going to be harsh or brutal while questioning you, but I can't say the same for the defense attorney; however, if you get too uncomfortable on the witness stand you need to let me know and I will make sure that you will be taken off the stand immediately," he explained.

"How many witnesses do we have on our side," I asked timidly.

"We have you, Detectives Brendan and Torres, and believe it or not the next door neighbor of your uncle's," he said.

"You mean Ms. Bartlett is a witness," I asked confused.

"Yes, she told me that for years even before you came to live with them she could hear screaming coming from the house next door. She said that a few times she asked Maria if everything was alright, but Maria just ignored her or told her everything was fine. The night that Maria was killed she had called the police when she heard agonized screams of pain coming from the house," he said.

"So that's what the operator had meant when they said an ambulance was already on its way," I whispered.

Edward told me that in a few weeks we would be going over how I would answer his questions. He told me that the way I answered had to be believable as if I was the one being put away in prison. I had told him that I had smacked my uncle upside the head with a rolling pin to make him stop stabbing my aunt, but I hadn't told the police that bit of information. Before I had handed over the tape as well it had been edited to block out me smacking my uncle. If they had seen that then I definitely would be on trial for assault to an adult. I left the study and headed up to Emmett's room. Ever since Esme had made me an official member of the Cullen family she had wanted to give me my own room in the house, but I had told her that I was alright sharing with Emmett.

It wasn't as if he would be sleeping anyway, plus I had felt much safer with him in the room with me anyway. Emmett and Edward both helped me with my schoolwork sometimes when I was really stumped on a certain problem and I was thankful. I had actually asked one time how they knew so much stuff, but the only answer they gave me was that they were vampires. I still hadn't figured it out yet, but I knew one day I would. Halfway up the stairs though, I got dizzy and lightheaded. It was so sudden that I didn't have time to grab the banister before I tumbled backwards down the stairs and into a small heap at the foot. It was one of those same blackouts that I had, had at the police station. That happened about four days ago.

I didn't know what was wrong with me, but I did know that I couldn't be pregnant because I had never done anything of that sort before. No matter how many times my ex-best friends had tried to persuade me that it was fun and really exciting to have sex I had always declined. Sometimes though, I felt as if I was stupid and dumb for not taking the opportunity to do that sort of thing, but most of the time I realized that I was smart because a good portion of my old high school had been pregnant from at least once from having sex at an early age and I didn't want to jump on the bandwagon at all.

"Rhia are you okay," I heard a faint voice ask.

"Rhia, RHIA," someone nearly shouted in my ear.

I stirred and lifted my head. It hurt, but not too bad. I moved my ankles and my wrists checking for breaks, but they just ached really badly. When I sat up I twisted my back to both sides and heard my spine crack all the way up and down. It felt good. I looked up and into the faces of Edward, Esme, Emmett, Bella, and Leah.

"What happened," I asked groggily.

"I heard loud banging, so I headed towards the stairs to check on you, but you were out cold at the bottom of the stairs," Edward said.

"Damn blackouts," I muttered.

"What blackouts," Emmett asked concerned.

"I've only had one and it was at the police station which was why I was leaning on Bella when we came home that day," I answered.

"Having blackouts isn't a good thing," Edward said.

"I know, but I don't understand why I'm getting them. The last time that I got one I saw quick flashes of either the future or the past, but I wasn't sure," I said.

"What did you see this time," Esme asked politely.

"Nothing, I just got super dizzy and lightheaded and didn't have time to grab the banister to keep myself from falling," I replied.

"Come on upstairs and to bed with you missy," Emmett said scooping me up into his strong cold arms.

"Emmett I can walk," I smiled at him.

"Nope I don't care if you can or not, I'm still caring you," he said firmly.

I didn't struggle or protest because there really was no chance in me winning at all so I just wrapped my arms around his burly neck and tucked my head into the crook between his neck and shoulder. The coolness of his skin felt good against my overheated skin so I was able to sleep while he walked me up to the room I shared with him. I don't remember being tucked into bed, but I snuggled into some covers and continued to sleep. Unfortunately, I had a huge nightmare.

I was running. I didn't know where or from what, but all I knew was that I was running. Tree branches ripped at my skin leaving my arms all scratched and bleeding as well as my legs. I tripped a couple of times, but just got up and started running again. Breathing hard I made my way to a clearing and collapsed to the ground. I felt tears streaming down my face, but I didn't understand why I was crying. I looked down at my torn clothes to find myself wearing a skirt, a short sleeve shirt, and a pair of white sneakers; a simple outfit for a simple girl like myself. In my head I had a picture fisted in my hand.

Looking at it I noticed that it was a picture of Justin, but he wasn't smiling and his eyes weren't even open. They were closed and his mouth was in a straight line. His face had been peppered with cuts and scrapes. I crumpled the picture and brought my arms in front of my face and just cried my heart away. My head snapped up when I heard branches snapping behind me so I looked and I saw my uncle standing there with a look of pure hatred on his face. My eyes travelled to his right hand, which held a gun. I was frozen in shock and didn't even register that he had shot me, but I heard the loud bang of the gun go off.

I was thrashing against the covers and couldn't seem to wake up.

"Rhia, Rhia it's alright baby, come on wake up," Emmett whispered in my ear.

I continued to wrestle with the covers until I finally sat up straight breathing really hard and fast. Sweat was covering my skin from head to toe and I felt dirty and sticky.

"Rhia are you okay," Emmett asked me concern filling every word he spoke.

"Nightmare," I breathed heavily.

"It's going to be alright. I'm not going to let anything happen to you," Emmett soothed me while tucking me next to his cool body. I curled up next to him and went back to sleep where I slept peacefully with no more nightmares to interrupt or even good dreams to interrupt for
that matter. I slept peacefully in Emmett's arms and I felt completely safe and secure with his arms wrapped around me tight, but not too tightly since I was so fragile in his eyes. I had a faint smile on my face while I slept.