Natty! Love ya! And I'm not the only one!

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.

Chapter 3

If Bella thought that the exterior of the house was impressive, it didn't begin to compare to the inside. She took tentative steps across the threshold as Alice barreled right past her, oblivious to Bella's awe, and dropped a single box off at the bottom of a large staircase. Jasper followed moments later with one of the plastic tubs full of clothes, while Bella continued to take in her surroundings. She hadn't even left the entryway yet and was already overwhelmed.

"You can just put that over there for now. We'll get the rest later," Alice instructed, directing Bella to leave the small box she was carrying with the others.

With her hands now free, she rested them at her hips as her body turned in a slow circle examining the clean lines and modern feel of her surroundings. The walls were white, while all of the accents she could see were black. Even the photographs framed on the walls were black and white. An impressive staircase, accented with a black wrought iron railing, curved to the second floor. The back of the house was all glass; a series of windows that began at the first floor and continued all the way up to the second floor provided a breathtaking view of the professionally landscaped back yard. Even the dreary Pacific Northwest weather couldn't detract from the view of the lush green expanse of lawn that ended at a solid wall of trees.

"You like?" Alice's voice interrupted Bella's admiring assessment of her surroundings.

Bella took one last look around, noting that instead of the contrast of black and white feeling sterile and cold, the place somehow still felt warm and friendly. "It's beautiful. I can't believe you live here."

Alice giggled at the awe that laced Bella's voice, and gently bumped her right shoulder with Bella's left. "We live here."

Bella looked at Alice and smiled warmly at the girl's attempt to include her, to make her forget that she was barely more than a stranger. After all, to the other three inhabitants, she was still a stranger.

"Come on, let me show you around," Alice said with a grin as she grabbed Bella's hand and began pulling her through the house.

Bella followed blindly, her eyes scanning every inch of every room on the first floor as they buzzed through the house at a lightning pace, noting that everything was just as impressive and with a similar design as the foyer, though decorated with muted, neutral paint colors as opposed to white.

Alice led her through the living room, den, office, and a massive, top of the line kitchen; each room was entirely too nice for a bunch of college students. It would take a while before she felt like anything other than a guest, but she couldn't wait until she was comfortable enough to really explore without feeling like she was snooping in someone else's personal space. It seemed unreal to her that she would be calling this place home, even if only temporarily.

When they stepped into the garage, Bella stopped suddenly causing Alice to jerk backwards before losing her grip on Bella's hand. The garage was immaculate and nicer than many homes. It was so large that every sound echoed. She didn't know much about cars, but Bella could tell that she wouldn't find a Ford or Chevy among those parked inside. Each one looked as if it had just come off the showroom floor.

Alice chuckled at Bella's reaction. "Sometimes we like to spoil ourselves."

It was on the tip of her tongue to say, "Sometimes?" but Bella refrained. Alice had been nothing but nice and generous, so who was she to question how much money they had and how they decided to spend it? Instead, Bella asked, "What's that?"

Alice followed Bella's gaze with her own and noted the double doors on the opposite side of the garage. "That's the workshop," she answered as she began walking, while Bella followed behind her.

When they reached the other side of the garage, Alice pulled one of the doors open and stepped inside to flip on the light switch. She moved aside to allow Bella room to enter, and silently watched as Bella took in everything she was seeing.

Bella took tentative steps inside the room, noting that it was about half the size of the garage and completely full to bursting with power tools, hand tools, and every kind of building material one could ever possibly need made the place look like a mini-Home Depot.

"What is all this?" she asked quietly.

"The guys like to play around in here, experiment with things. I'm not really sure, I tend to avoid this room," Alice said as she started to walk around and inspect the unidentifiable projects cluttering up all of the available flat surfaces. She sat down on a stool at one of the work tables and swung her feet while Bella continued to explore.

Bella looked over at her after a moment and laughed. "I have no idea what any of this is."

Alice shrugged. "Me either. I figure I'm a girl and no one expects me to know, so it's okay."

The two girls laughed over their embodiment of the stereotype for a bit before Alice hopped off of the seat and glided across the room where a number of sheets of various metals and wood were propped against a wall. "This is for you," she said as she ran her hand over a large piece of dull silver steel.

Alice's words caught Bella off guard. She had somehow managed to forget what had led her here, and it wasn't until that moment that Bella realized she had no idea what Alice and her friends had planned for her. "For me? What do you mean? What am I supposed to—"

Alice held a hand up to stop Bella before she drove herself to a full blown panic attack. "The guys just want to test your ability on different materials. They want to see what your limits are."

"What are they planning to do with all of this?" Bella asked warily. She had no idea what they could possibly expect her do with the wood and metal in front of her.

With an arm around Bella's shoulder, Alice slowly turned her and led her out of the room. "Don't worry, it's nothing dangerous. They're going to work with you on how to defend yourself so they need to know how much force you can project, which materials you can destroy, and which ones will hold up against you. Should be fun."

Alice danced ahead of Bella, effectively ending the conversation. Though Bella still had questions about what she had seen in the workshop, her biggest question at the moment was whether or not she'd get to the point where a conversation like that would seem as normal to her as is obviously seemed to Alice. And she wasn't sure yet whether it would be a good or bad thing if it did become her new normal.

They backtracked through the house at a much slower pace than before, giving Bella a little more time to take in her surroundings. Alice led them to a living room on the opposite side of the house that had been unoccupied the first time they had been there.

Bella stopped in her tracks the moment she spotted the two people who hadn't yet noticed her.

"What'd you find out?" Alice asked casually, drawing their attention to her and shattering Bella's opportunity to observe them before she had to introduce herself.

If she had been a turtle, this would've been the moment that Bella disappeared into her shell, because all their attention shot straight to her rather than Alice. Ignoring the question, a tall, muscled guy bounded directly over to Bella. His size was daunting, but the affable smile dominated by matching dimples on each cheek significantly toned down any threat he might've otherwise posed.

"You must be Bella!" he greeted, his voice excited and animated. Before she could react, the stranger had his arms wrapped tightly around her in a hug. Her own arms were tucked between their bodies which prevented her from reciprocating, but he didn't seem to notice or care. "About time you got here."

Bella got the feeling that he wasn't just talking about today; if the workshop was any indication, he had been waiting a while.

"Umm, yeah. I'm Bella," she responded before mentally chastising herself for sounding like such an idiot.

The girl that was standing by Alice walked over, hips swaying, all blonde hair and curves. She stopped a few feet away and stared at Bella. "Jesus, Em. Turn it down about five notches."

Alice joined the circle at that moment to lead the introductions. "Bella, this is Rosalie and Emmett."

Emmett grinned and winked, instantly putting Bella at ease. Rosalie, however, just continued to stare. Bella stuck her hand out in greeting, but was snubbed by Rosalie crossing one arm over her torso while her free hand rested at her chin, successfully closing herself off and sending the message that she wasn't quite ready to let Bella in. Her eyes scanned Bella's face, studying her, assessing her, and making Bella feel completely exposed.

"Alice said you rolled a pen across your desk," Rosalie said, unimpressed.

Bella immediately began blushing in embarrassment at Rosalie's disapproval, and at how lame the accidental demonstration sounded.

"Can you do more than that?" Rosalie continued her interrogation.

Bella's irritation spiked. Emmett put a hand on Rosalie's shoulder in warning. "Rosie… "

Rosalie shot a glare at Emmett, giving Bella the moment she needed to steel her resolve. "Actually, yes. I can do much more than that. I just wasn't in the mood to try to explain to the professor why I started moving desks around the room with a flick of my wrist."

Before Rosalie could respond, a loud scraping sound echoed through the room and she fell backwards, her arms and legs flying in all directions before she landed in a chair in an ungraceful heap. Emmett and Alice burst into laughter seconds later once they realized that Bella had moved the chair so that it would hit the back of Rosalie's calves and knock her off of her feet, forcing her to sit.

Rosalie quietly fumed at the turn of events, while Bella tried not to smile too much as Emmett clapped her on the back and congratulated her, earning himself a huff from Rosalie.

"Sorry," Bella said softly, offering a hand in compromise to help her stand up. Rosalie ignored the gesture and pushed herself out of the chair. Bella immediately directed it back to its original position while the other three watched.

"So, you don't have to… " Emmett trailed off while waving his hand around, gesturing to mime the rest of the thought.

"No," Bella answered while shaking her head for emphasis. "I can do it all in my head if I want. I tend to use my hands out of habit more than anything."

"Nice," Emmett responded, grinning and nodding in approval, impressed by his first glimpse at Bella's ability.

Jasper walked into the room, curious about the odd mix of tension and humor coming from the various occupants. "What'd I miss?"

"A pretty damn good show," Emmett boomed, still laughing and earning himself yet another glare from Rosalie. "What?" he asked with a shrug. "It was."

"Okay, back to the real reason we're here," Alice interrupted and looked over at Emmett with a quirked brow, daring him to keep laughing. "You guys have any new info?"

Rosalie's mood shifted to one of all business. "I checked all the normal hideouts and didn't see signs of anyone having been there in a while. They must have set up home base somewhere new."

The playful prankster disappeared and a professional, methodical Emmett emerged. "I was checking property records when you guys came in, but so far nothing has jumped out at me. I didn't have time to get very far, but I'm sure I'll figure out which building is theirs by the end of the day."

"I think we're all right for a while," Jasper said while Bella tried to piece together what they were talking about. "We have at least a few days before they figure out she's with us, and even once they know, they won't act immediately."

Bella was almost afraid to speak up, feeling completely ignorant of what was happening, but she couldn't stand remaining in the dark any longer. "Can someone please start explaining things to me?"

All four sets of eyes turned to her, three of them having the decency to show embarrassment over the fact that they had continued to leave Bella uninformed.

It was Rosalie, however, who spoke up first. "I just projected myself to all of the buildings that we know they own and no one was there."

"Projected?" Bella asked, realizing she had no idea what Rosalie's talent was.

Rosalie didn't answer; instead, she looked at Bella and smirked. Seconds later, Bella saw a movement out of the corner of her eye but before she could react, she heard someone whisper in her ear.

"Boo," the voice said, and Bella jerked her head to find the source, only to stumble backwards in surprise. She couldn't make sense of what she was seeing. Rosalie, or at least something that looked like Rosalie, was standing there. If she believed in ghosts, this is what Bella imagined they would look like. The doppelganger was translucent, and yet every aspect of Rosalie's actual appearance was discernable. It cast an ethereal glow all around it, and seemed to be able to move and react independent of the real Rosalie.

Bella looked back and forth between the two Rosalies, unable to find proper words to form the questions she needed to ask.

"Astral projection," Alice stated.

"What's that?" Bella asked, having never heard of it.

She looked to Rosalie for the answer, the smug look still firmly glued to Rosalie's face. "It means I can go anywhere without actually going anywhere."

Bella furrowed her brow, still not understanding, and blurted out the only thing her brain could come up with. "Is it like… a ghost?"

"No," Rosalie answered shortly. Bella noticed that the other version was now gone. "That wasn't really me. It was just a physical manifestation of my consciousness that I can send anywhere I want."

Bella was fascinated, and even with Rosalie's standoffish demeanor she felt compelled to ask more. "So you can go anywhere in the world at any time?"

"Pretty much," Rosalie responded in a bored tone, paying more attention to her nails than Bella. "As long as I'm careful about where I appear, I can go wherever I want. I just have to make sure that I find a spot where there aren't likely to be a bunch of people."

Emmett burst into laughter, and slung an arm around Bella's shoulder to lead her to the couch in an attempt to neutralize some of the stiff formality of the situation. "Yeah, she's managed to scare the shit out of quite a few people. She's single-handedly responsible for dozens of claims of hauntings. She likes to find out where different ghost hunting groups are going to be and screw with them. It's pretty funny stuff."

Rosalie finally cracked a smile, but smoothed her expression the moment she noticed Bella looking at her. Realizing that the blonde wouldn't warm up to her any time soon, Bella resolved herself to at least stay as amiable as possible with the hopes that one day she'd accept her.

She looked over at Emmett who was still laughing, and tried to figure out what his ability was. She replayed the small amount of interaction they'd had in her head trying to find something out of the ordinary, but couldn't identify anything. To be fair, she only had a few minutes worth of contact to draw from. Having no prior experience dealing with people like herself, she didn't know what was considered appropriate social behavior and wasn't sure if she could simply ask. After a few more moments of watching him speak and taking in his easy demeanor, she realized that if she was about to make a major faux pas he wouldn't hold it against her.

"So you, umm… " her words trailed off, unable to find words to ask the question. Everything sounded either too stupid or too invasive to verbalize.

"You want to know what I can do." It wasn't a question; he could tell by the way she was looking at him that she was studying him, trying to figure him out.

She blushed, embarrassed at her inexperience at discussing such topics. "Yeah, sorry. I was a little curious."

He waved a hand, brushing off her apology. "You see, me? I'm a fucking genius."

He sat back with a cocky smirk on his face while Bella's brow furrowed in confusion. She looked around the room to see Rosalie chuckle and roll her eyes. To her left, she could see Alice settled on Jasper's lap, shaking her head in disapproval. Jasper winked at her to let know that they weren't laughing at her. "Don't mind him. He's just a conceited prick."

"Okay, Einstein. Care to elaborate?" Bella said with a quirked eyebrow, earning a big round of laughs from everyone, even Rosalie.

"I'm cryptesthesic." Emmett's gaze trained on Bella's to see if his confession meant anything to her. Her mind raced, tearing the word apart to try and determine its meaning. The word 'crypt' was the only thing that stuck out and she immediately had a mental image of him reanimating corpses, or perhaps it was a fancy word for a medium. She wasn't sure how comfortable she would feel living with someone who regularly spoke to the dead.

"What is that?" she asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Not a lot of people have heard of it because it isn't something that's often glamorized in Hollywood or comic books. Essentially, it means I'm a fucking genius."

Bella rolled her eyes at him. He clearly loved making that declaration. "Yes, we've established that."

Emmett leaned forward, elbows on his knees, as he prepared to define his talent. "It means I know things. Information just pops into my head, things I didn't know before and I have no logical reason for knowing."

"What kind of things?" Bella was intrigued.

"Mostly fact-based information… or how to do or make things. I won't just suddenly know your personal history, so don't worry. Actually, a lot of it is technology, electronics, computers… If I need to know how something works or how to build it, I'll get this flash of information and it's like I knew it all along. That security system out front? I didn't know a damn thing about that stuff, but when we needed to install something, it was all there"—he tapped his temple twice—"and I set it up in one day."

"Wow." Bella was in awe and couldn't elaborate further.

"Pretty cool, huh?" He sat back again, lacing his hands behind his head.

"So just like that," Bella said, snapping her fingers, "the information is just there. Things you've never known before."

"Yep," he said, nodding for emphasis. "It's actually a lot like Alice's gift if you think about it. She'll see events that she hasn't or won't experience, or she'll see people she's never met. There's no rational reason for her to see these things and yet she does, usually with the clarity of actually being involved. It's the same with me. I do read a lot to help things along so that I can draw from that information later, but it's not always necessary. I can recall everything I've read almost instantly, but if I do need the information and I haven't learned it on my own, eventually it'll work its way into my head regardless."

"That's just… I don't even know what to say," Bella stammered before regaining her composure. With a wink she added, "I guess you really are a fucking genius."

Everyone laughed again, the mood of the room lightening significantly. Emmett clapped Bella's shoulder in appreciation of her sense of humor.

"So would this be where the whole 'most people only use ten percent of their brains' thing comes into play?" Bella asked him and he chuckled.

"Actually, that's a myth. We use one hundred percent of our brains. There are a lot of theories as to where that originated, but the most likely is that it has been found that ten percent of the neurons in our brain are firing at any one time. People just took that information, twisted it, and thought it meant we only use ten percent of our brains, period."

Bella didn't respond, just stared at him in stunned silence at the proof at how quickly he could recall random information. His eyes widened to match hers and he laughed. "I know, right?"

"Since you mentioned the security system, Emmett, why don't we go ahead and get Bella set up?" Jasper proposed once the laughter had died down.

"Yeah, let's get that out of the way," Emmett agreed. "Get the boring shit done so we can focus on the fun stuff later. I want to see what all you can do."

Bella smiled uncomfortably as she followed the two guys out of the room. She was nervous about showing others what she was capable of, and judging by the projects they had going in the workshop, they had pretty high expectations for her—expectations she wasn't sure that she could meet.

Emmett led her to a door that she hadn't noticed during Alice's high-speed tour of the first floor of the house. Another keypad like the one outside was mounted next to the door. Emmett tapped a few numbers, and a small click sounded when the lock let go. He opened the door and motioned Bella inside. He followed her in with Jasper trailing just a few feet behind.

Bella stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, unsure as to what she should do. She was surrounded by computers that were attached to peripherals she was unable to identify. Jasper rolled a chair toward one of the desks and motioned for Bella to take it. Emmett was already sitting there, logging into the computer system while Jasper directed a third chair over so that he could join them.

Bella continued to look around, noticing that half of the computers were in pieces with parts and wires scattered all over the place. It was extremely reminiscent of the workshop with dozens of projects littering the flat surfaces of the room.

"Like I said… lots of technology and computers." Emmett tapped his temple as he had earlier, and Bella immediately flushed with shame at being caught visually exploring what was clearly his personal space.

"What are we starting with first?" Jasper asked. "Codes or scan?"

Emmett reached over to grab a stack of Post-Its and a pen. "We'll start with the codes."

Bella stayed silent, watching the guys and waiting for them to start explaining things to her. It took a minute, but once Emmett opened a few programs and entered his passwords, he began scribbling numbers down. He double checked what he had written against what was on the screen before he turned to Bella.

"Okay, these are your codes to get through the front gate. We each have our own so that the system will recognize and record who is coming and going." He pointed to the five numbers at the top. "This one is the one you'll use most of the time. If it's just you, or if you're with any of us, use this one."

Bella nodded to let him know she understood and waited for him to continue. He pointed to the second set of numbers and looked at her, holding eye contact to emphasize how important the next bit of information would be. "Now, this one you'll use if you bring anybody with you. It doesn't matter if it's a stranger, friend, parent, or the Tooth Fairy. If the person doesn't live in this house, use this code. This is so we have record that somebody visited that didn't live here."

"Now the third," he started before he trailed off and sighed. He rubbed one hand over his face before speaking again. "This one, use it if someone's trying to force their way in. It'll open the gate and everything will seem normal outside, but it'll set off alarms inside the house so we can go on the defensive before your car makes it up from the gate."

The fear that had been nearly ever present in Bella for the past couple weeks was building again just as Jasper spoke up. "Don't put yourself in danger by refusing to let them on the property. You have to keep yourself safe and we can defend ourselves here. We have an advantage in this house, so don't ever feel guilty if you have to open those gates for somebody."

He stared intently at Bella until she nodded her head in understanding. She was almost afraid to ask the question, but needed to know. "How many times have you had to use the third code?"

Emmett and Jasper shared a solemn look before Jasper answered. "Never. This is a relatively new addition."

Both of the guys focused their attention on the computer once again, and Bella took the hint to refrain from asking them to go into more detail.

When Emmett turned back around to her, he was smiling. "Okay, lay your hand flat on that."

Bella looked warily between the nondescript gray, plastic pad similar to the one out front, and Emmett. Taking a deep breath, she gently placed her right hand against the cool gray surface.

"Okay, just hold it there for a few seconds," Emmett said distractedly as he watched the progress on the screen in front of him.

A small beep sounded from the computer's speakers and Emmett gave her the all clear to remove her hand.

"What… what is that?" Bella asked, realizing instantly that she should have asked that question before she allowed the scan.

"It's a biometric scanner," Emmett answered as he entered and manipulated data.

"We have that one out there as a back up," Jasper explained so that Emmett could focus on his work. "Just in case someone found out your code, they couldn't get in without you. You have to have the code and the scan to open the gate."

"Is it, like… a fingerprint scanner?" she asked, feeling completely out of her element with all of this information.

Jasper's face scrunched up in thought. "It is, but it isn't. It doesn't actually store your prints. It scans the prints, takes some measurements, gives it a numerical value, and stores that data."

It still didn't make much sense to Bella, so she simply shrugged and said, "Oh."

Once Emmett had saved Bella's information and logged out of the programs, the three headed back into the living room where Alice and Rosalie were still sitting, talking to each other.

"All set?" Alice asked with a grin.

Bella shifted from foot to foot and slid her hands into her back pockets. "I guess."

"Great! You're official now. You aren't getting rid of us anytime soon."

Bella smiled and slowly walked over to the couch, sitting down at the edge of the cushion and listened as everybody talked. She watched with interest as Emmett picked up the laptop he had abandoned when she and Alice first walked into the room. He tapped steadily at a single key as he scanned through documents, able to simultaneously take part in the conversation around him.

Bella heard the front door open and close but everyone else seemed to be too wrapped up in their discussion to notice. She looked up just as a figure entered the room and stopped at the entryway to watch her.

Her breath immediately caught in her throat. She was rendered completely immobile by the strikingly handsome man in front of her. She assumed he must be Alice's brother since he was the only one of the group she hadn't met, but there were no discernable similarities between the two siblings. Where Alice was tiny and petite, with dark hair and overflowing with vivacity, the person before her was tall, lean yet muscular, with wild bronze hair, and his expression serious and brooding.

After a moment, she was distracted by a sensation she had only felt once before. She looked over at Jasper and was perplexed to see only a look of interest and amusement, a vast change from his prior response. She was sure that whatever had happened the first time they had met was repeating itself. Frustrated at being unable to determine the source of that annoying pressure, she felt her body start to go on the defensive just as it had the first time. When she looked back at the figure in the doorway, she was shocked to see him gripping at both sides of head, his face contorted in pain.

A/N: Sooo, did Rosalie and Emmett live up to your expectations?

Thank you all so much for reading. I'd greatly appreciate any reviews you feel like leaving! Just picture me with my virtual tin can, panhandling for reviews instead of spare change.