CHAPTER SEVEN

The room was large, but you would never have known it. Mis-matched furniture - antique and modern covered almost every part of the floor space. Almost every part of the wall space not taken up by the furniture was covered with photo's, paintings, artwork that looked expensive and artwork that had no price.

Thick velvet, dusty curtains blocked all daylight, and the room's only illumination were a hap-hazard collection of desk and wall lamps, each putting out pitiful amounts of warm amber light, fighting vainly back the oppressive inky-blackness of the room.

On any available flat space were old dolls, loose photos, crystals, knives, daggers and dried herbs. There was an old phonograph in the corner of the room, but it had so much dust on it's cover it looked like it hadn't been used in decades.

An old luggage chest, working as a make-do coffee table was just off centre in the room, with two mis-matched couches, and two arm chairs lining it's borders. It was strewn with newspaper cuttings, string, cottonwool, what looked like human hair, small glass bottles of various coloured liquids, including blood and…was that untreated leather or human skin?

All of this Alice ignored as if it was unimportant or common-place.

Slowly and delicately, not disturbing even a mote of dust, she made her way to the armchair furthest away, with her back to the window, as her host followed, quietly chuckling and sat in the other armchair opposite.

"My dear, care for a drink?" she asked politely but not without a hint of sarcasm.

"No thank you. My tastes haven't changed." Alice replied.

"Suit yourself, you don't know what you're missing." The woman replied as she raised a small glass bottle filled with dark red liquid, popping to glass stopper off with a nice pop, and poured the thick, syrupy liquid down her throat.

Alice simply stared at her impassively. The smell of the human blood not even registering to her.

The old woman swallowed the last clumpy thick glut of blood and her tongue, snaked out like a tentacle and swirled aggressively against the neck of the bottle, demanding any extra drops it could find.

When it had resigned itself that no more could be found, it slowly eased back into her throat, waiting, coiled, like a trap.

The woman laughed.

"So, I know why you're here my dear Ms Brandon." She paused "But what I don't know, is what do you want to do about it?"

Alice continued staring impassively at her host.

"I mean, do you want respite, or…" she paused as she leaned forward to put the glass bottle down and then picked up a small hand crafted doll. "Would you want a chance to feel again. To be whole."

Alice said nothing.

"Come now child!" the old woman barked. "You will not waste my time or shall I make the decision for you?"

Alice had already made the decision. She'd made it weeks ago when she planted the idea of this trip in Jaspers mind. A subtle hint here, a magazine article left open at the right page, in the right place there. He took each bait and carefully constructed just the trip she wanted, never thinking for a moment that it wasn't his idea.

Before Alice could open her mouth, the woman said loudly. "Fine! I'll decide." And with that she lifted the doll, a doll that looked very much like a tiny Alice, and pulled a needle from its head.


He screeched to a halt behind Bella's truck, snapping the siren off but leaving the red and blue lights flashing; he wasn't stopping long. When he'd taken the call from a distraught and rather confused Simon Weber, all he'd managed to ascertain was that Bella had had some kind of fight with his daughter and had run out of the house like a demon-on-wheels and had given herself, what he thought in his non-medical opinion, was a nasty panic attack. Ultimately resulting in her fainting in her truck when they went out to see if she was alright, then he mentioned the word 'blood' and Charlie all but flew out of his office, not bothering to secure the phone in it's cradle, let alone hang up the call.

As he blasted out past all the other stunned officers he'd shouted "Someone get Cullen to the E.R! Tell him Bella's hurt and I'm on my way!".

He was already out of sight before he'd finished the sentence but Cheryl heard him perfectly well and she picked up the phone in one hand, and scanned the emergency contacts list next to her desk with her other.

Charlie knew where the Weber's lived, and he knew that he could get there faster, if not the same as an ambulance, and therefore he'd get her to the hospital just as quickly. As he flung open the door to his car and sprinted to the still open front door of the house, he could hear panicked crying from inside.

"It's all my fault dad! I'm so sorry! It's all my fault..."

All Charlie knew was it was a young woman's voice and, without doubt, blame would be apportioned and responsibility assigned, you can be sure of that, but that was later. Right now, Bella needed him and they needed Carlisle.

"Where is she?" he shouted running through the front door, head spinning to get his bearings. Formality and politeness was something else that would come later. Much later.

"Chief! In here!" he heard Mr Weber call from the room on the left, the doorway to it just down a small foyer that ran parallel to the main staircase.

Charlie entered the room and took in the scene instantly, with all the years of experience a small town Chief of Police accumulated. The girl, the one he'd heard crying, was sobbing against her father's chest, whose arms wrapped protectively around her. Together they were standing at the far left end of a typical middle class living room. He could see that even though the young woman was very distressed, her father was also stopping her from going to the figure laying obscured on the Weber's couch on the other side of the room. Two young boys, aged no more than ten and very similar looking - maybe twins - stood at the other side of the couch from the father and daughter; both wide-eyed and fearful at the angry bear of a man with a gun that had just burst into the safety of their home. A slightly wiry and up-tight looking middle-aged woman - Mrs Weber he assumed - was blocking the person, still lying motionless on the couch from his view, and she hadn't even taken notice or looked up from whatever she was doing to what he knew was his daughter.

"Give her to me!" he demanded.

Mrs Weber, realising she was blocking Bella's father, took the cold wet cloth she'd been brushing Bella's brow with, cleaning up the still weeping cut from her left temple, and stood back allowing the uniformed officer to swoop down and collect his precious dead-weight package, before he turned, without word and ran back out of the room. They all heard his footsteps running away from the house, through the still wide open front door, and it was a long time after they'd heard the siren's fade away before any of them stopped staring at each other in bewilderment.


Carlisle sat in Esme's studio, watching her sketch. Usually this was a favourite but rare treat; a relaxing way to spend some time. No words exchanged, just the simple pleasure of watching her doing something she loved and the peace that always comes from being close to your mate.

Tonight however, peace and comfort were not on their cards.

She'd been so agitated after their talk with Rosalie and Edward that once they'd dismissed their children, she stood up and retreated to her own private space. Normally he would be able to read that as a clear indication that she wanted to be alone, but naturally, after almost a hundred years of happy marriage, he was smart enough to learn the signs of when she wanted to be left alone, and when she wanted to talk, even if she didn't know how to say what was on her mind yet.

So, after giving her a few minutes to settle down and collect herself, he calmly walked to the other end of their home where Esme's studio/office was situated. She had build this space specifically overlooking her garden and from where she could sit at breaking dawn and watch the sun fill her room and garden with it's warmth.

This early evening though, just as the sun was setting on the other side of the house, he found her sitting at her easel tearing through sketch after sketch, ripping off sheets of thick architectural design paper and throwing them, wholly uncharacteristically, around the room. With the sound of each rip, each tear, Carlisle heard the small feminine huff that accompanied it, shortly before the crumple and eventual thud as another very tightly wad rock of paper hit one of the walls or windows.

Carlisle winced, a few more like that and they'd be calling the glazer in the morning. Again.

He sat patiently, waiting until whatever storm of thoughts and feelings that the matriarch of the family was sailing through were settled and ordered enough, and she would let him in.

The sky darkened outside, and despite his worry, no windows broke, even when Esme ran out of sheet of paper on her expensive drawing board. At that point she simply put down her well worn pencil and sat staring at the blank board.

She'd been working on this project for months now, trying to design the perfect cottage as a graduation present for Bella, knowing the girl intended to be turned as soon as possible, she thought that somewhere close by their next temporary home, but deeper on their land that it would be private enough for the newborn Vampire to begin to learn how to manage her thirst. With the news from Saturday evening, it had morphed into a wedding gift for her youngest son and his fiancé, so she was back at the drawing board adding rooms, changing the layout from one that suited purely Bella's tastes to a more tempered one that would appeal to both.

Doubt's however, from this afternoons talks, were on her mind.

"My heart hurts." she whispered, and if Carlisle hadn't been listening out carefully for just such a tentative opening even he would have missed it.

"I know, my love."

"It's just..." she paused, still trying to find the right words. "Why can't things be simple?" Esme still hadn't moved her focus from the empty expanse of smooth glossy wood in front of her.

"When are things ever, really?"

"I feel...torn in two Carlisle. On one hand, my poor, lonely, sad son... he's waited so long Carlisle. So very long for someone to love and for them to love him back. I'm loathed to admit it, but I feared for him. I feared he'd never find his way to love. He's so...withdrawn. He takes almost no pleasure in this life. The first time I saw it was when he would take Bella into the treetops up on the mountain, carrying her around on his back with such a...with such an expression of joy on his face - I'd never seen that...had you?"

"No..." Carlisle reluctantly admitted. Bella truly brought out the best he'd ever seen of his son, but also some of his more...temperamental traits. He didn't contribute that; this was Esme's time to vent, to think, to worry and to feel. He was there to support her. Later, they'd talk about everything else.

"I know we don't talk about when we left… I know that subject is off topic, but it made me wonder. I know I cou..." she stopped.

Carlisle waited some more.

Something was off, he could sense it, like the faintest scent on the evening breeze. A thought; a memory of a movie tagline popped into his head.

'Something Wicked this way comes.'

Why did he think that? What was his centuries old experience and senses telling him?

Finally, his wife continued.

"I couldn't have done it." Esme finally turned her eyes to her husbands, her head stock still as a statue. Her eye's pieced his own. "I could never have left you. If you walked into the fiery pits of Hell, I'd be at your side, holding your hand, head held high..."

He knew Vampires weren't the re-animated dead, and when he felt his stomach clench with affection and love and gratitude that he had found his true mate, it was all the proof he'd ever need. He smiled, deep, un-ending love and tenderness shone in his eyes like diamond tears.

Esme, turned her head but only a small smile, a hint of her usual dazzling visage graced her lovely lips.

"I know it's true for Rose and Emmett. You can see it; you can feel it when they're in the room together. And Jasper's face... When he thinks no one is looking, you can feel his love for Alice like a force of nature…but..." Dare she say it? She knew they were alone, her children out rampaging around the mountains... but to say it out loud. Was she being cruel? Unfair to her child? To Bella? Everyone is different, and yet...

"Say it." Carlisle breathed.

It needed to be said.

It was something that he'd dismissed time and time again for reasons of his own, but never able to give voice to that tiny weed of doubt. How could he? The guilt he felt for his son's life and misery was his and his alone. How could he betray his son even for a moment. But this woman, this wonderful, strong, passionate, kind, generous, thoughtful, wilful and determined woman who had claimed him as her mate...if she believed it - even for a moment - then the burden wasn't his alone to bare.

And it wouldn't be him betraying his son.

And maybe, within that weed, a kernel of truth lay. Yet to say it out loud, to have it confirmed, independently and from such an inscrutable source as his partner, meant that kernel had taken root and eventually would need to be pulled. And by God...if that day came, he wasn't sure if he'd be strong enough to do it.

"How could he leave her?"

She'd said it.

The truth in the lie, exposed like a raw nerve, pain flooded his body. She continued. "How could he leave Bella if she truly is his mate? It wasn't him - it wasn't the pain of separation that brought him - and us - back. He hated it...but...but he endured it."

"I know." His voice choked with emotion.

The pain of confirmation and realisation flooded him like another Vampire's venom.

"It was only little Alice that couldn't take it - couldn't stay away. If she hadn't disobeyed his wishes..."

"Don't! I lost her once Carlisle. I'm never losing Bella again." she said with unrestrained passion. "I know she's not my daughter, she's Charlie's and Renee's, but I love her just as if I'd borne her myself. She's...she's special Carlisle, and she didn't deserve...that." She paused. "Edward won't talk about it, and Alice is just as resolutely silent, but I know... I feel something very bad happened whilst we were away Carlisle. That's what worries me; that Rosalie, however misguided, might have picked up on something... left over from that event… she might know what actually happened…" She trailed off.

"What are you getting at?" he asked. He sensed the same things, but on this matter he was in the dark. Instead, he'd ignored that nagging doubt and put his faith in Edward and Bella, in their happiness together, and in the family to get it right this time; to do better by Bella, and to do better for themselves.

That feeling came back.

Did he even want to know what she was getting at? Isn't ignorance bliss? His scientific mind scoffed at him, but at the moment he wasn't a scientist, a doctor, a scholar or even an educated man. He was a father, an adoptive father, who knew deep down, he'd done his son wrong so very long ago, and he didn't want to have to face that. Couldn't face that, even from his wife.

"I..." she finally moved, getting up and paced at the floor to ceiling window, mindlessly kicking the wadded up balls of paper as the moved back and forth. "I wonder, if Bella's agreeing to this... wedding... isn't because of fear."

Carlisle gasped. She couldn't mean...

"You don't mean she's frightened of Edward, surely?!" his voice rising with his body as he lifted up out of his chair.

"No!" she whirled around to face him. "Never! She's never been frightened of any of us, even if we gave her good cause."

Carlisle softened.

"I'm saying that I wonder if she's not frightened we'll leave her again. That at any time, if she doesn't capitulate to Edward's every whim - and don't look at me like that, you know she does and you know I don't like that." she gave him her warning look.

He knew where she stood on women's rights and that a woman should never feel anything less than perfectly equal to her partner. He knew, regardless of the era in which she was born, just where that spirit and rationale came from. She spoke the truth, he completely agreed, but he knew his son too.

"I wonder if she's just... petrified... the poor thing. If she thinks that if she doesn't agree to this, then Edward will leave, and we'll follow."

"We've discussed this. We've told her that no matter what, we will not leave her unless she wishes it." Carlisle reminded.

"I know that there is a difference, between what one hears and what one feels Carlisle, and I'm beginning to think that dear Bella believes we'd leave her again."

She stopped pacing and turned to face him, and he saw her back straightened and her hands form into claws. What was it Emmett called that look? Oh yes, the 'Momma Bear' pose.

He would have smiled if she wasn't pushing that intimidating look at him.

"I'm telling you now, no matter what comes of Edward and Bella's engagement, I. Am. Not. Leaving. Her." Esme's voice became rougher and more animalistic with each syllable of each word. He didn't want to face the truth, that there was a tiny possibility that he'd have to choose between the son he'd selfishly ruined and the woman who gave his life meaning.

Because he couldn't face acknowledging that ultimately, there was no choice.

As if the fickle hands of fate finally decided to finally give him a break, a shrill electronic chirping sound echoed through the all but empty house. 'Saved by the bell' he thought and with a tiny nod, he flew from the room and picked up the phone.

"Hello, Cullen residence, Doctor Carlisle Cullen speaking."

"Doctor Cullen, it's the Fork's Police Department, I'm sorry to disturb you sir, but I have an urgent request from Chief Swan. His daughter Bella has been in some sort of accident and is en-route to the emergency room, and he..." Carlisle cut the woman off.

"Tell him I'm on my way and I'll be there in five minutes." and with that he put the phone down and blurred up to his study to get his medical bag. Esme met him at the bottom of the stairs, joining him as he rushed to his car.

"Save her Carlisle! I won't lose her again! Turn her if you have to!"

"Count on it my love." his voice muffled by the slamming door and roar of his car's engine, but Esme heard it all none-the-less.


"Why?"

No answer, instead just a dangerous looking smile.

"Why would you do this?" Alice demanded. "I pay you well enough don't I?" her voice rising.

No answer.

"I do not pay you for your abuse!" Shouting now.

"Do not back-talk me child, you wouldn't want to forget something else would you? Hmm? Like your diet? Or your beloved Husband?" she sneered.

"You wouldn't…" Alice knew that she would.

"Look, sweetie." How she said the word 'sweetie' made Alice feel sick. This woman's attempts at nice were worse than her anger. "It was time anyway. You don't think these spells are meant to be permanent do you?"

"That's not what you said! You told me you could take this away! For good!" Alice barked.

"I did, didn't I?" she laughed. "But that isn't what you really want now is it my child? Hmm?"

Alice glared hard, black eyes at the evil witch.

"I don't want…this…" Alice said through gritted teeth while pointing at her head. "It's too much. It's not fair. The pain…the damage this will cause. And for what? No good can come from this. You told me that!"

"I did child, I did, but that was before. Just as you know all-too-well, the future changes dear. It's a swirling sea, one minute the sea is calm, a beautiful blue and green, the next it's white with froth and foam everywhere. But! Take a breath, for in a few heartbeats, the sea is blue again! Is it not?"

"My heart doesn't beat, just as yours doesn't." Alice spat.

"Ah, but I remember, and when I see someone like you, all the pain, the agony, the fear and the memories… ah, I feel young again and my heart beats so."

Alice took a deep breath. She looked around this place. She knew she'd been here at least three times before, but she never remembered it. That was also part of the deal. So why was the deal off now? What was this bitch trying to pull?

"Don't you feel better dear? Hmm? Now everything is exposed and your thoughts are your own?"

"Wipe that smug smile off your face, you mean old hag." The woman's eyes grew hard but the rancid smile remained on her face. "What good does this do either of us?"

"Oh you'd be surprised dear, it certainly does me a world of good!" she said, picking up another doll; this one, looked a lot like herself and her doll had a needle through it's own heart. On the end of that needle was a line of thick red silken thread. Alice followed the thread down onto the tabletop where it ended attached to another shiny needle.

Without any warning or preamble, the old woman picked up the loose needle and thrust it right into the chest of the Alice doll.

Alice gasped and felt her heart clench in pain and then she felt…

A connection.

All her love, all her thoughts and memories, her pain, her loss, her happiness, her hope, all of it flowing through this connection to the old woman in front of her.

"Yes!" the old woman cried. "Yes! Share everything, let me know how you feel child! Feel it! Give it all to me!"


Carlisle slammed his foot hard on the brakes, and felt the metal rod connected to the pedal bend slightly under his strength as he skidded his BMW perfectly into his bay just outside the entrance to Forks Emergency Medical Centre. His own impeccable sense of timing told him he'd made it in less than four minutes, albeit with every red light and speed limit broken. Nevertheless, he was still surprised to find the Chief's car strewn diagonally outside the glass sliding double doors, rear passenger door still ajar, and engine running. Carlisle, forcing himself to run at 'human' pace rushed into the reception area of the E.R. and looked to the nurse manning the desk.

"Doctor Cullen, exam room three, the Chief and his daughter just arrived." but he was gone before she even finished. With perfect reflexives he blew past fellow doctors, nurses, patients and their families and headed down the corridor and through the double doors at it's end, and into the examination rooms. The first two weren't his concern, regardless of being able to hear the humans talking and crying in them, instead he focused all his senses on the room at the end of the corridor, anticipating the worst.

Nurse Williams, was talking to Chief Swan, trying to get him to calm down, so that Nurse Steward could administer smelling salts, and from the sound of it Chief Swan wasn't having any of it.

"Why is she unconscious? What about all this blood? Her head's still pouring and her hands are in ribbons! Do something!" he shouted, his voice echoing down the hallway.

"Chief Swan, I don't have to tell you again, her wounds are superficial and we'll start getting her cleaned up as soon as you let us." the nurse tried to reason with him, but Carlisle could hear the superior tone in her voice and knew she was getting impatient.

Carlisle burst through the door and took immediate charge of the room.

"Nurse Williams, kindly get me a suture kit and a sterile kit, Nurse Steward, please step away, I don't want Bella coming around in this state until I've had chance to check her out personally. Is that clear?" he asked firmly but calmly.

Two 'Yes Doctor''s were mumbled as the two women got down to following his orders.

Carlisle had already given Bella a quick assessment as he approached the bed; torn nails, bleeding fingers, lacerations on the hands and knees, a small puncture to her lip that had already started to clot, and a thin graze running from the lip up her cheek towards her ear. The cut on her left temple, whilst not life threatening would need to be glued together, it didn't look big enough to worry about stitching, despite how nasty even the smallest head wound appeared.

What concerned him the most was the low blood pressure he could see from the way her veins and arteries pulsed, and the ashen moist pallor to her skin. She smelt okay thought and he detected no internal bleeding, or heart problems.

"What happened to her Chief?" he asked calmly, and with a reassuring smile whilst he rested a comforting hand on Charlie's shoulder.

"I... I don't know Doc." Charlie replied. "I just got the call a few minutes ago. She was round at a friends house... Angela I think; the Weber's daughter... nice girl. I thought they were friends? I just got this call from the father saying they'd had a fight and Bells had run screaming from the house. When they caught up to her she fainted dead in their arms but not before hitting her head on the steering wheel; must've been that damn stupid metal logo on the horn, that she cut her head on..." his deductive skills rationalised.

"But why? It's not like Bella, she's a strong girl Carlisle. I've seen stuff that would spook a horse and Bells takes it in her stride." Carlisle smiled to himself. The Chief continued. "She's never fainted before as far as I know...maybe I should call her mother? She'd know if she's done this before…right"? He turned from his daughter lying motionless and grey on the bed before him and looked at Carlisle.

Fear and panic clear in his expression.

"What if it's something... you know... serious.. .what if she..."

"That's enough Chief, I'm sure it's nothing. Bella is a strong young woman, just like you say, and if she had been showing any symptoms of anything worrying, I'd have seen them myself. Let's get her cleaned up, and when she comes round, we'll have a little chat okay? I promise you, if there is a test she needs, she'll get it. I know you know about our... children's decision, and I know we need to talk about it, but I love her as if she's my own Chief, as does my wife. I'd never let anything happen to her any more than I'd let it happen to one of my own children."

Charlie visibly sighed with relief and gratitude. "Thanks Doc. I'll..." he looked once more at Bella. "I'll be outside, talking to her mother. Let me know when she wakes up okay?"

"Of course, now let us take care of her and we'll have her safe and home before you know it." Carlisle said with a wide smile.

"Not soon enough..." muttered Charlie as he walked out of the room.


The world came back to her quickly. As her eye's fluttered open, she was temporarily blinded by the un-holy bright fluorescent lights overhead; the bleeps, clicking and muffled voices rose from blissful silence to almost deafening levels, as if someone were turning the volume up on the world around her.

No matter how many times this had happened to her before it always took a few confused seconds for her to recognise her surroundings.

'Oh... fuck.' she thought miserably.

It truly was her word of the day.

"Bella? How are you feeling sweetheart?" A smooth rich male voice called to her from the other side of her bed, slowly, without too much pain, she turned her head and looked into the calming, sympathetic, beautiful eyes of Carlisle Cullen.

"I feel..." she trailed off, looking at him reminded her of Edward, which in turn reminded her of her conversation with her now ex-best human friend Angela. The blood pressure and heart rate monitors started to go crazy. Carlisle raised one eyebrow as he saw panic, fear and several other emotions fly through Bella's eyes before she started to struggle to get up and out of the bed.

He laid a firm hand on her right shoulder and eased her back down to the bed, making sure not to hurt her.

"Easy there Bella, you seem to have a slight concussion, as well as multiple lacerations and contusions. You've really been in the wars there Missy." he smiled. "Care to tell me what's got you so...upset?"

"Who brought me here? Where's Angela? I want to be alone. Don't let anyone come in!" her voice rising in panic.

Carlisle was even more puzzled, he recalled the name from Alice's talks about school, but he never heard anything but nice things about Angela, in fact Edward mentioned her a few times as the only person in the whole school whose thoughts were calming and kind. Edward had also played Cupid and orchestrated a whole thing with Emmett so that Angela would get asked to prom by the boy she had a crush on. At the time he was so surprised that Edward would do such a thing, but as time went on and he began to know Bella, he could see that it was this lovely human girl that brought out Edwards more… Social side. None of that, however, even began to explain what on earth could be spooking Bella so badly?

There would be time for that and many other questions later, right now he had to get her calmed down.

Taking another glance at the electronic displays he said. "Bella. It's alright. No-one's here except your father, he's the one that brought you here. You're safe now and I'm not going to let anything hurt you… It's okay." He began considering a mild sedative, if Bella was going to become a threat to herself.

Her father? Charlie was here? What was he doing here? She didn't understand anything… wait, concussion? Had she crashed the truck on the way home?

'Oh god... No…'

"I..." terror flooded her eyes, her voice low and thick, her thick, dry tongue barely able to shape the words. "I didn't… hurt anyone… did I?"

"Sorry?" Carlisle asked, more confused by the minute.

"When I... when I crashed my truck. I didn't... hurt... anyone?" Adrenaline flooded her viens, panic and sickness rising in her throat. "Tell me?!" She screamed. "Oh God! Is that why my dad's here?!" she started to struggle against him and he worried that his vastly superior strength would end up hurting her further.

"Bella! Bella! BELLA! Calm down!" She stopped struggling against his immovable hand. "As far as I know you weren't even driving sweetheart. No-one else is hurt. Okay?" Relief flooded her system and tears sprang to her eyes.

"You seem to have fainted before you left your friend's house, and hit your head on your steering wheel. Your father thinks it was some metal logo on your steering wheel that clipped your temple and gave you a nasty little head wound. You must have really been trying because, as I said, I think you have a slight concussion, so we're going to be keeping you here overnight - just for observation. Tell me, do you feel nauseous at all? Tired?"

Bella had calmed down for the most part. She still felt sick, but now she wasn't sure it was just from her fear. The strange thing was though, that she couldn't even remember fainting. It wasn't something she'd ever done before.

She tried not to think too much about her friend's house and what... went on...in there... she distantly remembered wanting desperately to leave and something about the cold weather and the ice, and losing her keys, but then it was more fuzzy and only the feeling of being pursued, hunted and of being found sprang to mind. Then waking here. As Carlisle started to ask her how she was feeling, she realised, yes, she really did feel nauseous and very tired.

"Yeah."

"Yes to what Bella?" he asked.

"Yes to both." she said, the adrenaline now had left her system, leaving her exhausted and she collapsed back onto the small bed.

"Okay, well, I'll give you something for the sickness, so you won't have to worry about that, but I'm afraid I can't let you fall asleep for the moment."

He turned and picked up a needle from a tray next to him. "This is unpleasant, I know, but I'm going to need to inject you in the stomach; it won't really hurt unless you tense your stomach muscles. I know it's hard but do try to relax. The sickness will go away very quickly."

Bella was used to needles but she'd never had an injection in the stomach before, she thought those were just for rabies shots? And telling someone to relax and not tense up before they shoved a sharp metal spike into your belly was a little more unrealistic than she felt reasonable.

Still, Bella tried to relax, but couldn't help jumping as the Doctor wiped a cold, sterile cleaning strip over the soon to be puncture site.

She took a deep breath; she'd been bitten by a murderous vampire, slapped a werewolf, almost drowned, and slit her own wrist with a rock, to save Edward's life… so some silly needle wasn't going to...

"Motherfu..." she snapped off before managing to catch herself.

Carlisle's eyes twinkled with mirth as he pulled the needle from her stomach. "I think under the circumstances, we'll let that one go, yes Bella?"

Typically, Bella blushed, and looked down at her clammy white and pink belly. "Thanks Carlisle. Sorry..."

"That's perfectly fine dear. Just don't let Esme hear that kind of language, she may not be so... accommodating." he smiled, and she glanced up and caught the laughter in his eyes.

She smiled a small smile too. "Thanks." she mumbled.

"Right then young lady, I need to go run some tests on the blood we drew whilst you were asleep, but I don't want you nodding off, so I'm going to send your father in. Just was well really, he's been outside pacing the halls like a trapped grizzly." Carlisle said holding her hand gently.

'Oh Great, he probably heard that too.' She sighed.

Bella inhaled deeply, realising the nausea was almost gone already. 'Wow, that's some drug.' she wondered. 'Might need some more of that for when Charlie cooks.'

"Ok, thanks. Wait... blood? Am I okay?" Fear and worry re-entering her voice.

"Easy now, it's just a precaution. We just want to see if everything is okay, or if there was some reason for your loss of consciousness." he soothed.

'Oh shit. That. Er...' she thought.

"Oh, okay. When will you know? But er... you know it's probably nothing. I'm fine really. It was just... er... I think I was hungry, and er... tired, and er... a little... stressed - you know, from this weekend? And I've not been sleeping. And with Alice gone I didn't really have anyone to talk to and I er... think it all just, you know, kinda got to me... so really... there's no need to bother you or take up any more of your time, really, I'm fine."

"Whoah there! Slow down! Take it easy Bella. Regardless, you're still confined to this bed for the evening, so you don't have to worry about anything okay? I'm just being overly-cautious, I'm sure you're perfectly healthy; I'd have seen or smelt something before now if you weren't." he said, calming her down and resting his hand back on her shoulder to prevent any further agitation.

What really was upsetting her, he wondered. Could it be related to Esme's introspection or was something else bothering her? He hated not having the answers, but knew better than to push the young woman right at that moment.

"Bella, you're not wasting anyone's time. I'm just going to run some tests while your father sits with you, then I'll be back and hopefully we can clear this whole thing up. Okay?"

She sighed and sank back into the bed. She knew it was futile, both trying to get out of this damn hospital, and trying to stop Carlisle running any tests. They wouldn't show anything anyway. "Fine." she said resigned to her fate.

Carlisle smiled once more and stroked her hair. It was such a fatherly type gesture that despite everything, Bella's heart fluttered with love for this man, for coming into her life, and the damn computer next to her betrayed her inner feelings. 'Am I hooked up to a fucking lie detector or something?' she angrily wondered.

Carlisle smiled her a knowing smile and with that he walked out of the room, and after a faintly overheard discussion in the corridor with Charlie, her dad walked through the door. Fear, relief and bewilderment colouring his every movement.

Guilt washed over her once again. 'How many more times will Charlie have to come through some damn hospital door to check up on me?' she wondered bitterly.

"Dad...I'm so sor" she started, Charlie cutting her off.

"Bella! Stop it now girl!" He moved over and sitting on a stool took hold of her long, thin and bandaged hand gently in his.

"How are you feeling sweetheart?" he said, echoing Carlisle's words from before.

"Dad... I'm fine. Really... can't you - you know - spring me from here?" she asked hopefully, clutching to her last remaining straw.

"Not a chance Bells. Not a chance. The Doc and I both want to get to the bottom of why you collapsed and you're not leaving this bed until we do... or he does... you know…." he mumbled.

"But Dad?!" she exclaimed.

"No 'But Dad'ing me Missy! I spoke to your mother." The final nail to her confinement coffin. He carried on, ignoring her horrified gasp and flush of embarrassment. "And she's never known you to faint before, so whatever it is, is new and we're gonna nip it in the bud. Okay?"

'Just great!' she thought.

'Just fucking great. Now everybody is going to know about it; I'll never hear the damn end of this... and they're going to spend forever chasing their tails because they're not gonna find...' Her inner monologue paused. What if...what if there was something wrong with her, that could be treated? That would explain her alleged 'fainting'! Maybe anaemia?

Lots of women her age got that, and she hadn't exactly taken the best care of herself lately. Too busy running around trying not to get eaten or ripped apart does wonders for your cardio but not so much for three squares a day and plenty of rest.

Maybe it was just a little of everything hitting her at once? Certainly nothing to do with... that stuff that Angela was talking about.' Her heart started to pound again, the machine betraying her yet again.

Charlie's eyes fearfully flicked to the machine.

Bella fell back onto the pillow and sighed.

'Fuck. My. Life.'