Lark sat outside on the front step of her house well before sunrise, with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and her knees brought up to her chest, waiting for the van to arrive and anticipating the day ahead of them. Now that the news had officially decreed Seattle as being "safe" again, Lark, Leonora, Alicia, Paul, Embry, Quil, Jared and Jacob decided to pack up one of Jared's family's vans and drive in for the day so they could show Lark around the city before her brother flew in from Boston later that evening.
Though, with a three and a half hour drive, and Leonora's insistence that one of the small, local diners in town was the best place to get breakfast, it required the group to be out of Forks by six o'clock that morning.
Lark watched with a smile as the van finally pulled into her driveway, flashing its lights at her in the darkness. The girl shook her head with a grin, crossing to the vehicle as Quil slid open the side door, revealing the three rows of seats inside.
While Jared drove and Leo sat in the passenger seat to keep him company, Quil and Jacob took up the first row of seats and Alicia and Embry sat cuddled up in the very back, with the former snoozing on her boyfriend's shoulder. Paul was left sitting in the middle row, greeting Lark with a sleepy smile as she climbed in next to him, and Quil slid the door shut again, signaling to Jared that they were good to go.
"And, we're off!" Leo cheered as soon as they made it onto the highway.
"Nora, it is way too early to be this excited." Jacob groaned, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning his head against the window in an attempt to slip back into unconsciousness for the duration of the ride.
As soon as the van was out of Forks and heading for Seattle, most of the passengers had managed to fall asleep, all except for Jared, of course, Leo, Quil and Lark. Embry had drifted off before they made it out of Lark's driveway, his head resting peacefully on top of Alicia's, Jacob managing to pass back out a couple minutes later, and a soft snoring sound to her left alerting Lark that even Paul had fallen back asleep.
"And then there were four," Quil murmured, shaking his head as he surveyed the rest of the passengers.
"Let's play a road game!" Leo suggested, bouncing up and down in her seat.
"How about the alphabet game?" Lark suggested. "Where you go from a through z, finding the letters on road signs and license plates."
Jared took a sharp turn onto the next road, causing Paul to shift a bit in his sleep. The boy leaned to the right, his head landing on Lark's shoulder, where he lay still, continuing to snore softly. Lark couldn't help the smile that grew on her face and the soft chuckle that threatened to escape, though she remained still, not wanting to wake them up. Instead, she used her free hand to grab the blanket on the seat next to her, and she quickly draped it over both of them so he wouldn't get cold.
"Pssst!" she whispered, in an attempt to get Leo's attention. "Leo!"
Leo turned around to look at Lark, her jaw dropping as she took in Paul's sleeping figure. A chuckle escaped her lips, and she quickly turned back to her bag sitting on the floor, rifling through it until she pulled out a Polaroid camera.
"Smile!" Leo whispered back, and Lark gave a thumbs up with her free hand that wasn't currently held down by the sleeping Paul, shooting the camera a cheesy smile.
"He actually looks kind of..." Quil trailed off, searching for the right word. "...cuddly." He shook his head. "I don't believe it."
One by one, the group members trained their attention back onto the road, searching for the letters in the road signs. Quil was the first one to finish the alphabet, and after he won Leo suggested a game of I Spy, even going so far as a riveting round of Punch Buggy, and one by one a few other members of the group began to wake from their slumber, Embry being first, shortly followed by Alicia. By the time Jared had pulled into a parking garage in the city, Quil nudged Jacob a few times to wake him up, and Lark began to do the same with Paul.
"Paul..." Lark said softly, trying to coax the boy awake as he slept with his head still on her shoulder. "Paul, wake up."
"Hmm?" he asked groggily, slowly opening his eyes before lifting his head from Lark's shoulder.
"Wake up Sleeping Beauty, we've arrived!" Jared exclaimed, causing Paul to shoot a drowsy death glare in his direction, and Quil slid the door open once more, allowing for everyone to climb out of the vehicle.
"Okay, so we're not far from the diner for breakfast." Leo explained to the group as they walked, the ones who had managed to fall asleep seeming to be in a zombie-like trance as they tried to break from the grogginess that overtook their features. "Then after that, we'll head down to the markets?"
"Aye, aye, Chief." Jacob said, mock saluting in Leo's direction.
While the group made the trek from the parking garage to the diner, and the first buildings of the city came into view, Lark couldn't help but look around and envision that tragedies that had taken place in the area within the past year. Many Seattle natives were mourning the loss of their own, though the entire town of Forks was mourning the loss of Anastasia Swan, Alicia's older sister. Though Lark had never met her, it was hard to believe that the girl had just up and vanished, never to be seen again.
As soon as their breakfast was done, which, Lark had to admit, Leo was right about it being the best breakfast in Seattle, with the world's greatest waffles, the group walked down towards the harbor, where the local markets were beginning to open for the day. Lark looked out on the water with a smile, reminiscing about the years she spent taking day trips to Boston, her very own city on the water.
"Hey, Thinky," Paul said, nudging her and pulling her from her thoughts. "what's on your mind?"
"Just thinking about how much I miss Boston sometimes." she said, her eyes still on the surrounding body of water. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I really do love it out here, but..."
"But that's your home." he finished for her as they reached the markets, and proceeded to walk down the rows of vendors opening their shops for the day. "It's okay, I get it."
"My brother's flying out here today." she told him. "Now that his school's done for the summer. He hasn't been out here in years, not since the last time I had been."
"So does this mean we get to meet him?" Paul asked, and she nodded.
"Of course," she assured him, "why wouldn't you?"
Paul shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe you're embarrassed of us. Maybe your brother wouldn't approve of you hanging around someone like me."
Lark furrowed her eyebrows. "I like hanging around someone like you. Besides, I want him to meet everyone, show him my new family I've made out here."
Paul smiled, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer to him as they walked. As with the few times he'd held her hand, whenever he touched her she couldn't get over how warm his skin was. The first time they'd come in contact, when he stole her book she had been reading on the beach, she was worried he'd been running a fever, though the boy seemed completely fine and that had been weeks ago. Though, as they walked, the slight breeze that had begun to make her a little chilly faded away, and she began to warm up again.
Nearly the complete opposite issue of what she had with the Cullen family.
Following the markets, Alicia suggested they check out the Museum of Pop Culture, which nearly drove the Swan girl mad with excitement as they wandered through its various exhibits. Even though it didn't have much to do with history and legends, Lark still enjoyed herself, spending a great deal of time in an exhibit showcasing rock and roll through the ages, which included a number of the bands she grew up listening to with her parents. Quil and Embry ran through the exhibit, playing air guitar and trying to imitate the pictures hanging on the walls of famous rock legends, such as Aerosmith and Bon Jovi.
Their ride home was filled with much more exciting road trip games than the ride into the city had been, as the group was now all awake and much more alert than they had been at six in the morning. On the ride back, Lark was the first one to win the alphabet game, and Jacob won the most rounds of I Spy before they turned up the radio and had a jam session to Seattle's Top 40 hits.
"Alright, Lark," Jared said, pulling the van into her driveway. "this is as far as I can take you."
"Thanks for inviting me today, guys." Lark said.
"Thanks for coming along," Leo said, "we had a great time!"
"Say hi to your brother for us." Paul said as she unbuckled her seatbelt, grabbing her things and hopping out of the van.
"I will," she said, waving in farewell. "bye guys."
"Bye Lark!" they chorused as Quil pulled the van door shut, and Lark ran up to the front door, eagerly awaiting her reunion with Tristan.
"I'm home!" Lark called as she opened the door, entering the house to see a large suitcase still positioned by the front door with a duffle bag placed next to it.
Lark could hear the sound of the television on in the living room, and crossed the short distance out of the entryway and peeked her head into the room to see her family all curled up on the couch, watching Star Wars. Her eyes instantly locked with Tristan's, who threw off the blanket that had been draped over him and jumped off the couch, closing the distance between them and pulling his sister into a bone-crushing hug.
"Tris..." Lark sputtered as she hugged him back. "can't... breathe..."
Tristan released her with a big grin, taking a step back and shaking his head.
"Sorry, sorry," he said.
"Come join us!" Diane exclaimed, gesturing for the kids to come back to the couch. "Family movie night!"
"Sorry we started without you." Tristan said as Lark took a seat between him and Marcus. "We weren't sure what time you'd be back."
"Yeah, yeah," she said, rolling her eyes with a playful smirk and stealing the popcorn bowl from her father. "excuses, excuses."