We stopped under the trees lining the perimeter of our field. The air felt thicker here and was lying just above the ground in the form of mist. Clearing my throat, I took a deep breath. The air relieved my hot lungs. Sliding off of Edward's back, my head suddenly felt heavier than the rest of my body. A little disoriented, I stumbled and grabbed for the tree beside us to steady myself. Turning to look at me, Edward's worried eyes wandered my face.

"What are we doing?"

"Stay here," he said without answering. He placed a hurried kiss on my lips before flashing clear across the field at an incomprehensible speed. Leaping, he caught hold of a branch and effortlessly started up one of the trees, disappearing into the foggy green.

Walking to the middle of the field, I tried to search him out in the tree tops. At first I thought he might be hunting. But for what? He'd never mentioned a liking for birds. And had I seriously gotten him so worked up that he was fighting to not suck the life right out of me? Fat chance, I thought. I was good, but I wasn't that good.

Then, however irrational it seemed, it occurred to me that my stubbornness could have finally driven him away. I knew I'd always had too much Charlie in me. My mom had been telling me that for as long as I could remember. "You're just like your father," she'd say with a sweet admiration. I guess it hadn't been much of a problem until I met Edward, how something about him always brought out my tenacity. Like I couldn't be anything but truthful and hard and real about everything around him. Maybe he had finally gotten sick of it. So sick that he had no choice but to leave me there.

Though much less life-threatening, I found the latter was the more terrifying of the two scenarios. The thought of him leaving me immediately sent my stomach dropping in endless circles. I made up my mind, though, that I couldn't hold it against him— the leaving part. If I were anyone but me, I would've left my whining, stubborn, sneezy self in the middle of an abandoned field weeks ago. At least Edward did it with goodbye kisses and class.

Rubbing my itchy nose, I called out his name, hoping for an answer. Nothing but my own nervous voice came back. Again. Still nothing. Taking a few steps closer to where he had run off, I stood as silent as I could, straining my ears for any sound of him. After what seemed like a few minutes of noiseless woods, I came to a horrifying realization. He had really left me there.

From behind, I heard the crunching and rustling of leaves and then a muted thud. Suddenly, Edward darted out from a pack of the trees, his fists balled up and his brow furrowed. He looked angry.

"Edward?" My voice cracked with anxiety. "Are you okay?"

"Don't come any closer," he said lowly and carefully, turning his back to me. His stance wasn't normal, completely void of confidence, and his fists were still clenched. He looked up to the stormy sky, and with a sudden jerk of his head, he lurched forward with a hint of disarray I'd never seen in him.

"uhTCHOO!" The forceful sneeze echoed off the trees. I flinched, the sound sending my breath into overdrive. The birds all around us, just as surprised as me, started beating their wings into flight and scattered. I focused on the sound of them evaporating into the distance.

After catching my breath, I stood there watching Edward's motionless figure looking up at the sky again. Then, like a wall of stone, it hit me. I remembered, and my heart sank. Edward hadn't sneezed. It was simply a repeat of his earlier attempts at trying to trick me into thinking he had. It sounded halfway believable, even for a vampire, but I wasn't going to fall for it. Not again.

"Edward, that's getting old." I took a few steps closer to him. His head still cocked upwards, he unballed his fists and his tense shoulders started to relax. "Look, Edward, can we just go? I'm starting to get col--"

"ehTCHOO!" His throaty sound echoed, this time a little quieter but the force still desperate.

"I said it's not funny anymore, Edward." My voice was frantic and wavering, and I could feel myself on the edge of tears, emotion welling in my chest. He didn't move and was still refusing to acknowledge me.

Heatedly, I slipped out of my jacket, dropping it on the ground. A smoldering rage coursed through my entire body causing my head to throb and my throat to burn. Sure I was in love with a vampire whom I'd do anything for, but I wasn't about to be one of those pathetic human girls who is led to the middle of a field just to be ignored, mocked and made fun of without a single explanation, all damsel-in-distress like. My fury gathered into a ball in the pit of my stomach, and I ran as hard as I could at him, tears now streaming down my face.

He must have heard me and snapped out of whatever he'd been in. Just before I reached him, he turned, and caught the impact of my entire body with his arms, pulling me into his chest.

"BELLA." He roared my name with such a rigid intensity, like I'd done something wrong, that it frightened me and caused any vigor I'd mustered up to melt right off me.

Pushing away from him as hard as I could, I started sobbing in a mix of fear and anger. I felt his entire body soften and surround me as I fought to escape his grip. Finally giving up, I collapsed onto the ground where he cradled me, holding me between his legs. He pressed my head into his chest and brushed the dark, stringy hair that was sticking to my tear trails out of my face.

"Bella, you could have hurt yourself." His voice was softer, but continued on in intensity under his breath. "In many ways."

I didn't speak and refused to look at him. Tears still rolling down my face, everything around me was a green, blurred mess.

"I'm not safe for you," he whispered. "Not right now."

"Wh--why did you just l-leave me like that and not answer?" I tried choking out through my tears and heaving chest. I coughed, having choked on my own spit. "Why do yo--you just keep doing that."

"Doing what?"

His ignorance, fake or not, washed over me in bucket loads. No matter how useless I was at this point, I wasn't going to play his game. Not today. Struggling to free myself from his arms, I tried with all my remaining might to pull away from him, but he wouldn't let me move. He had the power of at least five grown men, and it felt like he was using every last ounce of it to keep me from budging. I cried even harder, my breaths accelerating and refusing to match up with the rest of my body.

"Shh, Bella, it's alright." He gently rocked me, smoothing his hand over my hair, again and again. "Calm down, you're alright," he whispered, pulling me closer. "Take deep breaths. You're just tired."

As I listened to Edward trying to soothe my breathing to a lull, I wiped my tears and runny nose with the sleeve of my sweater. After catching my breath, I defended myself.

"I'm not tired." My voice was scratchy and barely intact. I felt like it was threatening to disappear for a few days. "I'm just pissed," I said trying to sound hard, but still not looking at him.

"What's upsetting you?"

Biting my bottom lip, I tried suppressing another wave of tears that I could feel stinging my eyes. He should have known why I was so upset. I took a deep breath in and my words rushed out, faltering.

"You keep making fun of me. For—for being human and sneezing, and I hate it more than anything that y—"

"Whoa, hey. Bells, I'm not— you, I don't want you to think—" Frustrated, he paused to gather his words and exhaled unhurriedly. His sugary scent flooded my face with cold. I breathed it in, a tickle threatening to overtake my nose. "You said earlier that I— that vampires— that we don't sneeze. That we can't."

Edward further relaxed his body. Shrugging out of his arms, I sat up and rearranged myself in his lap to face him, but kept my head down. He started drawing aimless circles on my thigh while he continued speaking. I could feel his cool fingertip through my jeans.

"Well, we can sneeze. And we do. Occasionally."

Looking up, I met his gaze for the first time since he'd left for the treetops.

"No—" I shook my head, and he chuckled.

"We can, Bella." Brushing a finger over one of my cheeks, he smirked. "We usually don't, but it does happen."

I was at a complete loss for words, my mouth hanging half open. Edward tapped my chin and laughed again.

"It's not that unbelievable, is it?"

"You don't— I've never seen you . . . I haven't seen you sneeze before. You don't."

Sheepishly, he looked down at the circles he continued to draw on my leg. "Yes. You've seen me."

"Just—"

He nodded. "Just now, yes."

"But why? I mean," I took a deep breath and rubbed my irritated eyes. "How?"

He didn't look at me while he answered. "Why? Because vampires have physical bodies. Yes, most of our senses are heightened, but they can still be aggravated, just like yours. And well," he paused, looking past me, his eyebrows strangely raised. "How . . ." his voice softly trailed off. He sat up straighter, allowing room between us, and took his hand completely off of my back, draping it over his own knee. Taking a weighty breath in, he turned from me and brought his fist up to his mouth. "uhtCHOO!" Afterwards, he let out a yielding sigh of relief. "Excuse me."

As he turned back, he grinned at my reaction.

"Um," I stammered. "Bless— you."

He resumed his closeness with me, replacing his hand on the small of my back, and smiled. "Thank you."

Eyes still wide, I questioned him. "So uh . . . you can uh, do that on command then."

Edward chuckled and shook his head. "That was actually more a coincidence."

"Um . . ."

My face must have been overly perplexed, because Edward's amused expression dropped. "What's wrong, love?"

"You— I've never seen or even heard you do that. Sneeze." I coughed, my throat still threatening to give out on me. "Not once, and now you're sneezing incessantly. And I just— I don't understand it at all."

He exhaled sweeping his fingers back and forth on the nape of my neck underneath my hair. This sent a slight chill through me. "You said you wouldn't feel so horrible about sneezing if I, too, sneezed. That you wouldn't be as ashamed. And, well, here I am. Which means you have to keep up your end of the agreement, yes?"

"But how? What'd you do that you're suddenly sneezing up a storm?"

Edward looked up to the tree tops while he explained. "Before Carlisle . . . changed me, before I actually even knew him. I had a few allergies back then. I suppose I just thought I'd try them out," he said, placing both of my hands in his lap. "Though I have to say, I feel quite out of practice. It's been a while."

We sat in silence for a minute, Edward playing with my hands, tracing his long, thin fingers over mine. I watched his face as he was looking down at our hands. He paused, withdrawing his arms from mine.

I studied his marble features. How his slender, sculpted nose slightly twitched and his jaw set, wanting to gain control of the arising force. He tightened his chest. Blinking unsurely twice, he brought his fist up to his mouth and turned to the side again. "TCHOO!" The sneeze was only half the size of the previous ones.

"Bless you, please stop," I said in a worried, awkward-pitched tone. My stuffy nose didn't help how pathetic I sounded.

A deep guilt started climbing through my chest. I was to blame for this. He was sneezing because of me, and I hated that more than anything.

"Look, I'm— I'm really sorry. It's so stupid that I had to make you do this just because I hate doing it myself and—"

"Bella, you didn't make me. And please don't worry yourself about me."

Out of nowhere, I stood as quick as I could and started heading for the forest the way we'd come. The guilt of making Edward suffer through something that he had no business taking part in sent my blood sweltering. A vampire that sneezes? That was ridiculous and hardly possible. Even if it was possible, somehow, someway. Leave it to me to discover a way to have it be done. My stupid, stupid human tendencies had mortified me once again.

I didn't look back, but knew Edward would be trailing me to make sure I was okay. There was no reason in the world that he shouldn't have been furious with me, with everything I'd been putting him through the past few days. I wanted to crawl underneath the nearest rock and forget that I'd ever even gotten myself involved with someone other than a faulty human.

Veering off the path, I slipped to the opposite side of a tree trunk and rammed my entire body against it in anger. I felt the rough bark scratching at my forehead and cheeks, but I didn't care. As far as I was concerned, I deserved it. I punched the tree as hard as I could manage without being in an unbearable pain. Turning around, I slid down the trunk, skin against bark, and slumped against the base of it. I could feel the scratches on my back from the previous night starting to sting with freshness. But I didn't care. I just didn't care.

I pulled my knees to my chest and tucked my head under my arms. Over and over again, I replayed the sound of Edward sneezing, the sight of him standing there unguarded and vulnerable. The sound and sight of something which I never should have been able to witness.

As if he knew I was thinking about him, I heard his footsteps on the leaves. He stopped and squatted in front of me.

"Bella, are you okay? It looks like you—"

"—I'm fine," I called out from my little shelter of arms and legs. A tickle situated deep in my nose and set me on edge. My breathing picked up and I could feel my hot breath forming warm splotches on my jeans.

"But you're—"

"Please," I pleaded in a tryingly peaceful but insistent tone. "I said I'm fine, I promise." Pulling my legs and arms tighter around me, I tried to stop my breathing from hitching, but the pressure in my nose was too much. My breath peaked. "hehCHOO, hiitChOO!" My second sneeze led into a deep coughing fit, and I heard Edward bless me. More pressure built, then "hitSHOO! Huh . . . hh," I inhaled, "hitchew! "

"Bless you. Bella," Edward's voice was urgent. "You're bleeding."

I lifted my head when I felt his cold fingers lock around my wrist. He was dabbing at the blood on my knuckles with the handkerchief he'd grabbed from my jacket that I'd left in the field. His face was stiff, jaw set, eyes cold and hard. I could tell he was holding his breath. The scent of my blood tempted to send him into a frenzy. He always had to detach himself during situations like these. He knew his boundaries—what he could and couldn't handle— and my blood was one of the things that he couldn't.

I took the handkerchief from him and tried to stand. He clenched his fists, trying to fight the scent of my blood, and turned away in frustration. "We need to get you home to Carlisle."

Edward held the door for me as we walked into Carlisle's upstairs office at the house.

"Oh dear," he said, at first seeing my face. I caught him glancing over at Edward who was now hunched near the door, his hand tight on the door knob. "Have a seat, Bella. Let's take a look."

I sat on the granite table. He grabbed a bottle of peroxide and a few rolls of gauze from the shelf and started cleaning the scratches on my hand and face. The subtle scent of acid made my nose tingle, but I suppressed my breathing as much as I could until Dr. Cullen returned to his shelf for a box of band-aids. My eyes watering, I brought my hands up to cover my nose and mouth before I couldn't hold it in any longer. "hihCHEW! hhiSHOO!"

"Ah," Dr. Cullen furrowed his brow. "Bless you." He scooted his chair closer to me, and splashed peroxide onto a piece of gauze. "So what happened?" he asked, applying pressure to my sliced knuckles. I flinched at the cold and stinging sensation. I could tell that he, too, was holding his breath, though he had a way of hiding it better than Edward.

"I just fell," I said, sniffling and breaking eye contact with him. I could almost taste the peroxide and blood in the air. I don't know how Edward was standing it, because I felt like I might pass out when it was my own blood. I tried inhaling through my nose, but it was too stuffy. "We were out for a walk and I tripped is all."

Carlisle nodded, wrapping my hand, and started dabbing peroxide over the scrapes on my forehead and cheeks. "You sound sick. Are you feeling alright?" His blue eyes searched mine.

"I feel fine," I shrugged, cringing again at the liquid burning my cuts.

"And how long have you been sneezing? They sound pretty strong." I could feel my face turning bright red.

"Um. Just since last night."

"Have you taken anything? It feels like you might have a temperature." He pressed the back of his hand against my forehead. It was ice cold and felt so good against my face that I didn't want him to take it off.

I shook my head, glancing over at the clock. It was after four in the afternoon. I had made a deal with Edward earlier that I'd take medicine by two o'clock if I still wasn't feeling well. I looked back to the door and saw Edward standing with his head down. He was still clutching the doorknob but was rubbing his eyes with his other hand. I figured he would be giving me his I-told-you-so stare about having to take medicine, but he seemed oblivious to Carlisle's question.

A second later, Dr. Cullen produced a thermometer and a bottle of liquid medicine that looked similar to the one Edward had tried to make me ingest. I stuck the thin end of the stick under my tongue without complaint and waited. Carlisle sat at his desk and started rummaging through one of his drawers.

Through the uncomfortable air, Edward suddenly inhaled sharply but silently stifled his sneeze. Carlisle's head shot up, his eyes questioning. They hardened in trepidation as he stood and approached him.

"Edward, are yo—"

"—I'm not sick," he growled, his voice final and separated. I'd never heard him use that tone with Carlisle, so it took me by surprise. With the thermometer still jutting out of my mouth, I turned to look at their confrontation and found Edward rubbing his nose. "Forget me. We need to take care of Bella."

The sick stick beeped. Carlisle turned his focus back to me, and read the gauge. I watched his face lift in shock. "Bella, you should go lie down. It's uh— well, it's a little worse than I thought."

Edward cleared his throat. "What's it say?"

"Dr. Cullen, I'm fine. Really," I said, trying to brush off any illness. I slid off of the table and suddenly became light-headed. I felt more tired than I'd known. My legs felt numb and wobbly, and all I could smell was peroxide and rust.

"Bella, I'm not suggesting you lie down. You're temperature is running at 102. You really need to lie down." He turned to Edward, his remedial instincts taking over. "I'll run to the store to get juice, she needs to keep hydrated. Just make sure she lies down immediately. I'm surprised she still has the energy to stand. I'll be back soon."