As Time Goes On

5

"Oh come on Piper! You can do better than that!"

I shot Emmett a glare as I pushed myself up off the ground. It had been his bright idea for all of us to train in case something happened and we needed to defend ourselves better than we already could.

"Shut it, Emmett. It's been a bad month."

Emmett shot me a glare and stood up straight.

"I can still go down to New Orleans and kick the shit out of Klaus for you."

I felt a smile come over my face and shook my head.

"Thank you but no. Nik is free to do whatever he wants, and if that means moving on and having a family of his own, then I'm not going to let my feelings get in the way of that."

I hated lying to Emmett, but I was capable of taking care of myself. I didn't need anybody to fight my battles for me.

"You know, I can very well call Katherine and Caroline. They'll kick his ass into next year for you."

Kol walked out of the house with a beer in his hand and a smirk on his face. He had let his stubble grow out in the few months we had been back in Forks and I had to admit, he looked hot.

"I don't think that'd be the best idea."

I looked away from the Original vampire and picked the nail polish off of my nails.

"What she needs is a bonfire with us."

I snapped my head over to see the face of one of the boys I had missed so much.

"SETH!"

I ran into his arms as he spun me around and laughed. He gently set me down on my feet and tucked loose strands of my blonde hair behind my ear.

"I missed you."

Seth smiled and hugged me once more. I closed my eyes as thoughts of the past flooded my mind. I felt tears well up in my eyes as Seth let me go.

"It's good to see your face again Piper."

I smiled and brushed my tears away, turning to look at the blonde girl next to him.

Jane looked very different from the last time I had seen her. Her once blood red eyes were now a golden caramel color, very similar to those of the Cullens, but they also held a touch of blue in them. She had abandoned her dark makeup, going for more brown than black which brought out the very faint tint of pink in her cheeks. She was sporting a very pretty dark mauve lipstick which suited her well, and her hair was in a very elegant messy braid.

"Hello, Jane."

The blonde girl sent me a tight smile, one that told a story of pain and loss.

"Hi, Piper."

Seth smiled as he wrapped his arm around her waist, Jane closing her eyes and leaning into his side with a smile on her face.

"Anyways, the Pack has been itching to see you since you've been back, and we're having a bonfire tonight. Why don't you, Kol and Ness come and listen to the stories and see the guys."

I looked over at Kol who had finished his beer and was leaning against a tree watching my conversation with Seth and Jane. I raised my eyebrow in a questioning way and he shrugged his shoulders in a 'why not' kind of way.

"We'll be there."

Seth smiled as Jane looked over at the Cullens with fearful eyes. I felt bad for the girl, she had been doing what the Volturi asked of her for centuries, and she had spent five years trying to undo a thousand years of bad and hatred.

"Hey, why don't you guys stick around for a while and then we can all ride over together?"

Jane's eyes widened at my suggestion and Seth could sense her uneasiness. He placed his hand on her lower back, running it up and down. Jane immediately relaxed and didn't look like a frightened bear cub.

"I don't know if that's a good idea. Jane and the Cullens don't exactly have a good history."

I sent the couple a reassuring smile.

"Rosalie went around and killed all of her ex-fiancé's friends for what they did to her, made them all think they were crazy, but Carlisle and Esme still accepted her after all of that, Jasper was created to be a killer, he killed countless men and even children, he was manipulated into doing it as well, but he found Alice and changed his ways, he's still trying to get his hunger under control, as I'm sure Jane is, Edward left and killed hundreds of people many times, he would always go off the rails after a few years, but Carlisle and Esme always welcomed him back with open arms, as for Kol. Well, Kol may not be apart of our coven, but he sure as hell has been accepted as one of us, and he's the worst. Kol has killed more people than he can keep track of. He slaughtered a village in Spain a hundred years ago, and he's done countless other terrible things. He beat Damon with a baseball bat and tried to kill Elena many times. He's the worst of the worst and we love Kol more than his family ever has.

"I know that Jane has done countless horrible things. She used to kill little children who were made into Vampires, she tried to kill my sister and she tried to kill you. Seth, we all have our demons, some are just more visible than others. Jane deserves a second chance, just like Rose, Jasper, Edward, and Kol did."

With those words, Jane flung herself into my arms, her eyes closed and dry sobbing on my shoulder.