Pain

Cold Ones

The next day the sun was beaming over Forks, and so by lunchtime in school, everyone was sitting outside soaking in as much as they could. Laura was making her way outside with Eliza to where they could see Jess and Bella sitting.
"How'd your History project go?" Eliza asked, flipping through the pages of her Trigonometry book for the exam she had after lunch. "Hale get a free grade because of you?"
"No, uh he was back in time to finish it off" Laura nodded, before glancing around. "Actually, have you seen any of the Cullens today? Jasper wasn't in History, and I haven't seen a single one of the others"
"Cullens never come in on sunny days. They go hiking and stuff with their parents" she answered, her finger trailing down the page of her book. "Another reason to wish Dr. Cullen adopted us"
Laura gave a half-hearted smile though her brows had furrowed when Eliza mentioned the family didn't come in on sunny days. They reached Bella and Jessica's table just as Angela jogged over and announced she was going to the prom with Eric. "Are you sure you have to go out of town?" she asked Bella.
"Oh yeah, it's a little family thing" Bella answered with a slight shrug.
"Probably a good time to mention I'm probably not going either" Laura muttered, eying her friends.
"What?!" Eliza was the first to exclaim snapping her book shut.
"I don't really think I want to" she answered honestly. "I'm not a hundred percent sure yet, but it's probably not gonna happen"
They shared an unfortunate look before Jessica spoke, "Okay well we should go shopping in Port Angeles before all the good dresses get cleaned out" The bell then rang, causing Eliza to go wide-eyed as she clutched her book and began to walk away groaning at the idea of her exam.
"Port Angeles, mind if I come?" Bella asked as she grabbed her bag from under the table.
"Uh yeah, I need your opinion" Angela said with a smile, though Laura looked at her friend slightly confused.
As Jessica and Angela walked on ahead towards the school, Laura slipped back to be by Bella's side. "You don't strike me as the dress shopping type, what's up with Port Angeles?" she asked with a smirk and quirked brow.
Bella gave an amused breath and nodded, "There's a book store I wanna go to, find stuff on the legends" she explained. "You wanna come?"
"I would, but my mom roped me into helping my aunt paint her bedroom" Laura huffed. "Let me know how it goes though. And if you've any Quileute related questions from the book, I might know a thing or two"

Later Laura drove straight from school to the reserve, she let herself into Allison's house and greeted Nate briefly who was sat in the living room eating a snack and watching tv. Heading into the kitchen she saw Allison wiping down a counter, "Hey" she greeted quietly. 
"Oh you're here already" Allision smiled as she began to fold up the cloth. "Sam and Emily are already up there getting a start, why don't you head up and I'll make some tea" 
Laura gave a hesitant nod before making her way upstairs to Allison's bedroom. She was hesitant because of the way Sam acted at La Push the other day, she both wanted and didn't want to bring up the Cullens again. Entering the room she greeted the couple and grabbed a paintbrush, she began working on the edge around the doorframe before Sam was called to help Allison with the tea. Biting her lip Laura watched as her cousin walked down the stairs before she looked to Emily. "Emily" she addressed, getting up from her crouched position to near the woman. 
"Yeah?" the scar-faced, beautiful woman asked, only briefly flicking her attention to Laura. 
"Can I talk to you about Quileute legend stuff? I'm sure Sam's already told you I know about shapeshifters..." she trailed off, recalling how she'd come to be told about it after accidentally angering her shapeshifter cousin. 
Emily held a solemn expression as she slowly looked down to the floor. "He feels really bad about what happened, but I'm sure Sam would be a lot better at answering any questions you have" she nodded. 
Exhaling lightly Laura shook her head, she didn't want to ask Sam, he was clearly hostile about the Cullens, and the others had kept stuff from her the night of the welcoming party, she thought Emily would be a good option. "I'd rather talk to you about it, please. I'm not angry at Sam about what almost happened, it was my fault for pushing him, but I'd still prefer to talk to you. Please, I need to know what you guys do, I can't settle with only knowing half of the story" Laura begged as she kept eye contact with Emily. 
Hearing the sounds of approaching footsteps Laura glanced over her shoulder before back to her cousin's imprintee, Emily glanced down for a second before looking back to Laura and nodding. Emily wasn't exactly sure why she had agreed, but there was something about the girl that made her willing. Laura gave a smile and turned to face her aunt and cousin as they entered with the tea, taking a cup from them before getting back to painting.

When the painting was over Sam left to go meet Paul and Jared. I was itching to talk to Emily but she told me she'd offered to help Allison make dinner so I would have to wait. Mom had already picked up Nate and taken him home, so Allison urged me to stay for dinner as thanks for helping with the painting and that she was making food for Paul and Jared anyway. Since I wanted answers and Emily was my potential ticket to them I agreed, I ended up helping with the food prep and the three of us chatted casually, though in the back of my mind the entire time was getting answers. The trio of boys jogged into the house, shirtless, just in time for food. I ate the food as quickly as I could and thankfully Emily suggested the boys do the cleanup, allowing Allison to relax while she and I went for a walk. Since the boys had great hearing we waited until we were a good enough distance from the house before we started talking, it was unlikely they'd think to try and listen to our conversation, but it was a precaution. 

"What do you wanna ask?" Emily questioned, folding her arms across her chest. She was still having reservations about telling Laura stuff but nevertheless seemed to be going along with it. 
"So the Cullens..." Laura started, looking at Emily to see her reaction at the mention of the family, and like she expected the slightly older girl tensed. "They're apparently descended from an enemy clan?" she continued, going with what she knew so far, which was what Jacob had revealed on the beach. 
"Who told you that?" Emily asked suspiciously, from what she'd been told all Laura was supposed to know about was the shapeshifters and a brief mention of the 'Cold Ones' being the cause for the shifts. 
"Doesn't matter" Laura quickly shut down her question, she wasn't about to put Jacob in any trouble. "Anyway, that's why they can't come to LaPush right? Because of a treaty?"
Emily looked at Laura from the corner of her eye and nodded. 
"So the tribe still don't like the Cullens, because of an old clan they come from?" Laura questioned, finding it rather silly. Though Emily stayed quiet, her gaze on the road in front of them. Laura bit her lip and began pushing on her knuckles. "What're the Cold Ones?"

As I said the word I thought back to Jasper, how cold his finger had been when I touched it. I furrowed my brows heavily as I stood in front of Emily to stop her movement. "The Cold Ones are the enemy clan the Cullens come from?!"

"The Cullens are the Cold Ones" a voice rang out from behind them. It was Sam. The brooding man approached them and gave Emily a reassuring smile letting her know that he wasn't angry. He knew his cousin, she always had a way of getting people to open up to her, to tell her things she wanted to know and really he knew it was only a matter of time. Sam told the pair they could come back inside, and assured Laura he'd finally explain everything. When it was announced that Susan and her kids were moving to the reserve after the death of her husband, the tribe thought it would be nice to have the family around, little did the shapeshifters and those that knew the truth of everything, know just how difficult Laura would make things. 

Sam sat me in the living room and explained everything; the full extent of the treaty, that the Cullens were the original cold ones who recently had returned to Forks, and that the more commonly understood term for 'cold ones' was vampires. I sat in disbelief for a second but as he explained more about vampires things began to add up, it explained Edward's speed and strength, why the family was never seen on sunny days, why they opted to keep to themselves. I thanked Sam for being honest, though as he had been telling me everything I could see the look of distaste on his face for what they were. Finally, my questions had been answered, but my day was nowhere near over. I told everyone I was leaving, prompting Jared and Paul to ask for a ride. I dropped them off as quickly as I could and then headed in the direction of the hospital.

Alice was talking with Esme when suddenly a vision came. She could see Laura leaving the reserve and driving to the hospital,  and that she knew what the Cullen's were. Alice's eyes were wide, why had the vision come on so suddenly, why hadn't she seen the lead up to it? Without a second thought, she left Esme's side and grabbed her phone to call Carlisle. 
"Carlisle, it's Laura, she knows about us. I don't know how, I just saw it, she's on her way to you now" Alice's guess was Laura intended to go to the hospital in hopes of finding Carlisle there since she had no way to reach any of the others until tomorrow at school. As the words left her lips Jasper and Rosalie appeared in front of Alice. 
"She knows?" Rose almost spat.
"You should meet her there" Alice told Jasper. 
"Why?" the blonde asked with furrowed brows. 
"It's you she wants to talk to"