June 4, 2012:

Hello, readers! I write to you today to inform you that I will no longer be updating my current WIPs, "Second Chance" and "Bear and Bella In The Morning," here on FFN. They clearly ARE NOT in agreement with the TOS here, which I was confused if MA was allowed here or not. It's clearly not.

Yes, "Bear and Bella" is no longer a O/S. I've been writing a second (and final) chapter to it. Yay!

"Second Chance" is at a critical point in the story, so I do sincerely apologize to those who are mad at me for making the decision to delete the story before FFN pulls it for me.

As of now, I'm leaving "A Tale of Two Feet" up, as it is in no violation.

Please know how much your reviews and alerts have meant to me. I work hard on my stories, so I really appreciate you all. I hope you understand how difficult of a decision this was to pull my stories. If you're not on Twilighted, Coffee Shop, or Archive of Our Own, I'm afraid that you won't be able to read my work. Links to my work on those sites as well as my blog can be found on my profile. That being said, I hope this isn't our last goodbye.

Now then, so I don't get in trouble for this A/N not being an actual chapter, I offer you a tease of chapter twenty of "Second Chance," unbeta'd, so please forgive any errors…

*** Disclaimer ***

All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Second Chance

Chapter Twenty

"Emmett! I'm so glad you answered. Are you okay, is everyone alright?" Alice asked, panic in her tone.

"Yeah, of course. Why?" I was almost afraid to ask.

"I just had a vision that the Volturi were after you. Where's Carlisle?" she asked frantically.

"He was with me this morning for the groundbreaking and then he was leaving with Marcus. He should be over the Atlantic by now."

"Oh no. I've got a bad feeling about this, Bear."

"Why don't you start by telling me what's going on, or call Edward? I'm in the middle of a date. Are we in danger, Pixie?" There was no way we were getting out of the limo while I was on the phone.

Klarissa reached out and held my hand. "Do you we need to head home?" she whispered.

I shook my head. Even though Alice sounded like she was really nervous about something, I wasn't going to act on it until I knew more.

"Have you taken her to eat yet?" Alice was very direct, so I knew she was getting serious.

"Yeah. We're in the limo, we were just about to get out and go to the mall," I answered and watched for Klarissa's reaction.

"He saw you at the restaurant. I'm not sure how, but he saw you and he's coming after you. He's very, very upset. I'm so scared for you, Bear," Alice explained.

My smile from looking at my girlfriend turned upside down very quickly. "Who, Alice? Who?" Klarissa squeezed my hand in an effort to comfort me.

"Caius."

"Oh hell! Damn it! Do you think he saw me this morning, too? It felt like somebody was watching me, but I thought maybe it was because of the tv crew."

"I'm not sure, Bear. All I know is that he's after you. Keep Klarissa beside you at all times."

"Not a problem, Pixie. What about Esme and the rest of the family?"

"I haven't seen anything regarding them, so maybe they're safe. I'm going to call Edward now. Hopefully everything's fine."

"Thanks for the heads up, Alice. I'll keep my eyes open."

We said our goodbyes, and I closed my eyes. I didn't want to disappoint Klarissa by having to end our date so abruptly, but if her life was in danger, then we needed to postpone the rest of it.

"Emmy? Is everything okay?" she whispered beside me.

"Honestly?" I opened my eyes and looked at my girl. She looked concerned and maybe a little scared, but bravely nodded.

"You're so brave, my sweet girl. Okay. The short version is that we have to continue our date some other time. I may have put your life in danger, just by association. I'm so sorry, sweetheart."

Her bottom lip trembled for a brief moment before shaking her head and looking determined about something. "I don't care. I told you I'm in this for the long haul."

I couldn't help but be relieved. With a wink, I said, "Okay then. Just checking."

She smiled and kissed me on the cheek while I reached for the intercom button.

"Yes, sir?"

"Change of plans, Todd. Something's happened at home, so we need to return immediately."

"Right away, sir."

"The quickest way possible as the situation is very urgent."

"No problem, sir. Please make sure your seatbelts are fastened. There's only one quick, direct route."

"As long as we make that ferry, Todd."

True to his word, as soon as we were out of downtown Bellevue and on the I-90, he seemed to push the limo to its top speed for a few miles. I kept an arm around my quiet girlfriend and whispered assurances to her every few minutes as Todd quickly maneuvered the long car around the tight turns to get to the Bainbridge Island ferry.

Light rain turned into a deluge about a block away from the dock. Without warning, we were T-boned. The other car had hit us so hard that it went halfway through the limo. Since I didn't have my seatbelt on, I went flying. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, from the impact to the aftermath. Debris of shredded metal, fiberglass, and auto safety glass was everywhere. I turned to look at Klarissa. She was buckled in, so she should've been okay, but to my surprise, she wasn't.

"Oh my God! Klarissa!"

**Nov 5, 2012: Thank you to those who donated to StandUp4Katalina! What a compilation you've received! I hope you enjoyed Klarissa's outtake, and maybe that's why you're here? As you can see, I am no longer active on FFN, but I hope you visit my blog or the other fanfiction sites I support. All links are on my profile. Thank you.