❝ 1931 ❞

Phoebe sits on the couch in her apartment, mindlessly flicking through a fashion magazine. Her shift at Boston's local hospital had ended only an hour ago, but she doesn't bother to change into a more comfortable outfit. Instead, she traded her dirty nurse's uniform for a clean one, considering the fact that her next shift starts in less than four hours.

In the past couple of years, due to stock market crashes and a nationwide panic many are dubbing the beginning of a great depression, her shifts have gotten considerably longer and closer together. It leaves her hardly any time to hunt, and more often than not, she's found herself considering giving up her vegetarian lifestyle to steal some of the blood bags that hardly ever get used.

Unlike every vampire she's met - which isn't very many - Phoebe has never felt attracted to the smell of human blood. If anything, after years of being a nurse, the workings of the human body repulsed her. This had surprised Garrett, the vampire that changed her, but luckily he had once encountered a vampire that survived off of a different diet and took it upon himself to teach her about it.

Something is slammed against the opposite side of the wall to her left, and the beginning of a scream is quickly silenced. Tossing her reading material aside, Phoebe pushes herself to her feet and moves to the hallway to investigate.

As she sticks her head out the front door, a boy that's not her neighbor is leaving the apartment next to her's. Wiping the blood from his chin, he freezes when his red eyes lock with her golden ones.

"He was going to hurt the women next door," he defends himself before abruptly turning on his heel.

"Not so fast," Phoebe retorts, her hand latching onto his elbow. Not allowing any room for protest, she yanks the stranger into her home and shuts the door. "You expect me to believe that Nick, the man that knits sweaters for his dog, was capable of hurting someone?"

"Yes," comes his curt reply. Agitated, she opens her mouth to ask more questions, but he beats her to it. "Did Carlisle ask you to check on me?"

Who the hell is Carlisle?

"I-"

"Don't know Carlisle," he finishes for her, moving to walk back outside.

Phoebe once again stops him by grabbing his arm, glaring up at the stranger. Though he only physically appears three years younger than her, he has the maturity of a vampire freshly out of their newborn years, making her slightly stronger by default. He huffs in annoyance, as though reading all of the questions behind her eyes.

"Sit," she commands, directing him over to the gray couch. When he complies, she claims the cushion next to him and crosses her legs underneath her as she prepares to question him. "What's your-"

"Name?" He finishes for her. "Edward."

"How did you-"

"Know about Nate? I read his mind."

"How can-"

"I do that? I'm not sure, it's happened as easily as breathing since I was changed."

"Stop doing that!" Phoebe snaps, resisting the urge to punch the smug teen as he continues to finish her sentences.

This elicits a chuckle from Edward, most likely the first one in years judging from the way he's only been scowling for the past thirty minutes.

"I'm sorry," he apologizes, holding his hands up in defense. "Ask your questions."

Phoebe continues to grill him with every question she can think of, but as he grows more comfortable around her, his answers become longer and more detailed.

She learns that Dr. Cullen saved Edward from dying of the Spanish Influenza that killed his parents, and took him into his home to care for him as his own. Carlisle taught him to survive on animal blood, which is what led him to mistaking Phoebe for one of his friends, for the golden eyes are not a common sight among vampires. Not too long after Esme, Carlisle's mate, joined their little coven, Edward decided that he no longer wished to be a part of Carlisle's lifestyle and left, thus leading him to Phoebe's neighbor as he lives out his newfound vigilante justice life.

"So, what you're telling me," Phoebe begins slowly, her eyebrows raised incredulously. "Is that you left behind not one, but two loving parental figures because you want to play some sort of twisted superhero?"

Edward hangs his head, not making eye contact as he nods shamefully. When she worded it like that, his unbeating heart twisted at the thought of the pain his departure must have caused his family.

Phoebe couldn't personally relate to his moral dilemma and told him of how she came to be changed, and that she wouldn't trade this life for anything in the world. This shocks Edward, who had never thought of his existence as anything but cursed, and he listens intently to what she has to say.

"I was a nurse during the Civil War. I grew up in the south, so I didn't have much of a choice but to work for the Confederacy," she explains, subconsciously twisting the silver ring on her finger as she grows lost in the past. "About a year after I started working, my camp was raided."

The day grows more muddled in her mind as the years pass, but the important memories remain crystal clear. A handsome soldier she couldn't help but to fall in love with had given her a ring and, less than ten minutes later, he was leaving camp to take care of something. She thought it was weird for him to go alone, but paid little mind to it as she continued to care for her patients.

Edward smiles ruefully as he catches a glimpse of the man in her memories, wishing to have someone to care so deeply for as well.

"What was his name?"

"I don't remember," Phoebe admits, her smile growing sad. "A lot of my past is blurry and gets harder to recall every year, but my love for him hasn't dulled in the slightest."

Later, long after her patients had fallen asleep and the sun had fallen behind the trees, a soldier in a blue uniform approached her, his red eyes holding nothing but kindness. He introduced himself as Garrett, and explained he had made a promise to a Union spy that he would ensure her safety before the opposing soldiers raided the camp.

He gave Phoebe a choice, though one option was far less appealing than the other. Either risk dying or being captured by the Union, or trust him and give up the life she's always known.

Garrett supported her through her decision, and went so far as to resign from being a Union soldier - though he complained about it constantly and will always hold this over her head - to help her through her newborn years. When she could be trusted to survive on her own, the two went their separate ways with no animosity about the other leaving; Garrett wanted to find battles to fight and Phoebe wanted to travel.

They keep in contact well enough, meeting up often to update each other on their lives.

Edward hums thoughtfully, processing everything he's been told. "And you're truly happy with this life?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Phoebe asks in return. "I have forever to travel the world, to learn new things, to make new friends, to do anything! The only thing I can think of being sad about would be leaving behind a family that's taken me in and cared for me as their own."

"Alright, alright. I'll go back," he concedes, not enjoying being called out in the slightest. She grins triumphantly, but he's quick to distract her from the win. "You should come with me."

Her jaw drops, and Edward can't help but to laugh at her incredulous expression. "Let's face one problem at a time."

"Come on," he protests. "Esme would love you, and Carlisle can't say no to anyone that lives off of the same diet he does."

Phoebe smiles softly, toying with the idea of joining a coven, a family. She currently only has Garrett, and not being alone constantly would be a pleasant change.

"Maybe one day," she decides. "I'm not quite ready to give up my independent life just yet."