A/N: I have used elements from both the books and the movies. I hope you don't mind the combination. Enjoy!

If you don't like the ship,

Then jump off and swim,

But don't leave it burning behind you.

How much of what happened between Bella, Edward and Jacob had to do with circumstance? Is it possible that the entire story could have been turned on its head if Bella had arrived a semester earlier, and the Cullens appeared for the first time, say, an entire year later…?

Full Moon

Chapter One

"Doubtless Catherine marked the difference between her friends, as one came in and the other went out. The contrast resembled what you see in exchanging a bleak, hilly, coal country for a beautiful fertile valley; and his voice and greeting were as opposite as his aspect."
- Emily Bronte, Wuthering Heights

I couldn't open my eyes. It felt like my entire body was made of lead, and I was sinking deeper and deeper into the soft darkness that surrounded me. Pain thudded through my veins, dull and frustrated, into the tips of my fingers and the ends of my toes, twisting around one concentrated spot at the base of my neck. My chest rose and fell once in a while, but shallowly. It was the only movement I was capable of.

But I could hear.

There were two voices drifting around in the air outside of me. One to my left, the other to my right, perhaps nearer my feet than my head.

"Who said you could come in here?" one deep, fiery voice demanded from my left, though his tones were hushed.

"A simple 'thank you' would be sufficient," the other voice, like a knife concealed by a thin sheath of velvet, replied. They were both familiar, one more than the other, but their hard tones were foreign.

"Answer my question," the first voice ordered.

"The doctor. If anyone has authority over this room, I would assume it is he."

"A lot he knows," the first voice snarled. "He wasn't out there today when you—"

"When I what?" the second cut in. "Saved her life?"

"I don't know what you were doing," the first muttered. "I don't think you did either."

The second voice was silent, then sighed minutely.

"You do know that I was trying as hard as I could to be helpful. I cannot help what I am." The velvet voice quieted. "And in this case, it seems like a good thing that I am what I am."

Silence fell, and I could hear nothing but the slow beating of my heart. Absently, I wondered if one of them had gone. Then, the first, deep voice spoke, very quietly.

"All right, then." He paused. "Thank you."

Tension released like a vise grip let loose, and I heard the bearer of the second voice take a deep, purposeful breath.

"You're welcome. I am glad I could do something."

I registered very light footsteps. The second voice spoke again.

"Please let her know that I would like to see her when she wakes up. Nothing important, I just…" I almost sensed a smile. "She has beautiful eyes, doesn't she?"

The owner of the first voice breathed too, but his breath was ragged.

"Yes, she does."

"Very well. I will see you later." A door opened and closed.

My brow furrowed, and a wave of pain swept up my throat and into my head. I grunted.

Instantly, a soft, warm hand pressed to my cold forehead, and the heat of that touch pushed the pain back. I drifted back down into unconsciousness, unsettled and confused, distantly wondering how everything in my life had finally come to this.

TBC