Chapter Ten: The Doctor is In

Bella POV:

After Edward left the cottage, I felt terrible for what I did. It was pretty cruel of me to torture him like that, but I had a point to prove didn't I? I needed him to say sorry for doubting me, and then this could all end.

I went over to the box that Edward hadn't finished packing and started putting things in it. It wasn't too long before I'd finished most of the cottage. I could smell Edward coming back, so I picked up about seven boxes and left.

I made sure to take a path that was away from his scent. I wasn't ready to talk to him quite yet. Once I couldn't smell him anymore, I started walking towards the Cullen home.

I opened the door to find Emmett sitting on the couch. I peeked my head in.

"Hi, Emmett."

He rose from the couch with a startled expression.

"Oh, hi, Bella. Come on in, I had been meaning to talk to you."

"Alright."

I walked inside and watched Emmett's expression slowly change. He had turned from relieved to all out frightened.

"B-B-B-B-B-Bella?!"

"What is it?"

"Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-You're not-"

With that, he fainted, falling to the floor with a loud 'thud'.

I was about to run over to help him, when I saw Jasper running down the stairs wearing a doctor's uniform and a stethoscope.

"What the hell is going on? We were right in the middle of-something, when you decide to ruin it by-"

Jasper's eyes rested on me.

"Woah. Uh, Bella?"

"Yeah?"

"You're…uh….."

Alice came prancing down the stairs behind her husband in a hospital gown.

"Jasper, sweetie, are we going to continue my breast cancer evaluation or what?"

She looked at his expression and her eyebrows furrowed.

"Is something-"

Her eyes rested on me.

"Oh, Bella…."

"What's going on, what's wrong?!"

"Look at your…erm…skin."

I looked myself over and quickly saw what they were talking about.

I was still naked.

I covered myself with my arms, though at that point they'd already seen everything there was to see.

"Jasper, avert your eyes. I'm going to go get her some clothes."

"Will do."

Jasper covered up his eyes as Alice led me up to her room by the arm. She nudged me towards her bed, and I sat down. I closed my eyes, trying to pretend it was a bad dream. It was a little hard to ignore the typhoon of clothes being thrown on me, but I managed. I was doing alright in Bella World, until Alice decided to ruin my tranquility.

"Was that supposed to be a stunt or something?"

"No."

"Are you trying to get attention?"

"N-"

"Are we not giving you enough attention, Bella?"

"What am I, a rabbit?"

I dug my way out of the pile of clothes so that I could look at her. She looked genuinely concerned. I sighed and turned away. Her concern was unnecessary.

"I'd rather not talk about it."

"C'mon, just tell me."

"It's not important."

"Tell. Me."

"No."

"Pleeeeeeee-"

"I just, forgot to put on clothes, that's all."

"'Forgot' meaning you had a distraction which kept you from doing so?"

"No."

"Hmmm, forgot to put on clothes. Now why would that happen…."

I gave up on having a mature conversation with the hormone-filled Alice, and got up from under the heap of clothes.

"You're such a horndog."

I hopped off of the bed and started sorting through the pile. I heard her tinkling laugh behind me as I worked.

"I'm not the one who decided to walk around nude today."

If I was a human, my face would've been crimson.

"Do you not see me trying to pick out an outfit?"

"Trying being the key word."

She pranced over to where I was stationed and picked out an outfit in seconds.

"Why couldn't you have done that to begin with?"

She smirked and shoved the clothes into my arms. I modestly wandered into a corner of the room to get dressed. I know you're expecting me to go into detail about what type of clothes they were and how they looked, but to me they were just clothes. They covered me up and that's all that mattered to me.

"Ooooh, Bella, you look fabulous!"

"Thanks."

I started walking towards the door.

"Woah, where are you going?"

"I need to practice."

She was before me in milliseconds.

"Practice for what?"

"Work."

As soon as I said it, I wished I could take it back. My cover was already halfway blown.

"Since when do you need practice to work a cash register?"

I still had a chance to fix the situation.

"I don't work the cash register. I wait the tables. Remember? I got promoted."

There was a long silence in which Alice just stared at me.

"Okay. Go practice."

"I will."

"Go ahead. I'm not stopping you."

I looked at the door and I looked back at her. Then I crossed the room over to where she sat.

"Yes you are. You're trying to trick me."

"Is it working?"

"The normal Alice wouldn't give up that easily."

"The normal Bella wouldn't argue this much."

She had a point.

"Okay. I'm leaving then."

"Bye."

I walked over to the door and left the room, slamming the door behind me (being careful to not break it in the process). I walked down the stairs and to the front door. I was poised to open it, but I couldn't get Alice off my mind. It had sounded like she was keeping something from me.

Was she keeping something from me?

In two seconds I was back in Alice's room.

"Welcome back."

"Tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"What you're hiding. I know you're keeping something from me. I want to know what it is."

She rose from the bed and put her arm around me.

"It's you who's keeping something from me."

"What?"

"Stripping? Really, Bella, I thought you had more class than that."

I kept quiet. I should've known she'd figure it out eventually. It was really only a matter of time with her having powers to see the future.

"Are you sure about this? 'Cause I really just want you to be happy. If you enjoy taking clothes off for strange men who probably have herpes and all they can do for entertainment is watch you longingly, then I'm okay with it. No problem."

I fought to not reply to her, but I stood my ground. Silence was better than conflict.

"I'm sure Edward would be pleased with your decision."

The words dripped from her mouth like poison.

"S-stop, Alice."

"I'm sorry, if I'm making you upset, Bella, but I won't stand for you doing this."

"Now you just sound like Edward."

"Edward knows what he's talking about sometimes. "

I didn't know what to say to that. After a while I just couldn't take it. Alice saying she was disappointed in me as well as her saying Edward would be too was too much. I started sobbing. Tears didn't come out, but I did a lot of quiet whimpering and moaning.

It worked.

"Bella…."

Alice turned around and gave me the most sympathetic expression she could muster.

"Now, don't get upset, I was just trying to get you to stop. I thought if I could push you enough, you'd do what I wanted."

I just turned away and kept sobbing.

"No, no don't do that! I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I-It's just…I don't know what to do anymore, Alice."

"What do you mean?"

"Edward…."

"Did he hurt you or something?"

"N-No…"

"Then why would you start stripping, it doesn't seem like you at a-"

"Exactly."

I had stopped crying and turned back to look at Alice with a determined look.

"To prove my point, I need to do this."

"What point?"

"That I'm not just some damsel for Edward to save. God, I love him to death, but I need to be something more. I want to be capable; I don't want Edward to think he has to save me from everything."

"But how does stripping fit into this?"

"I'm not really sure, it was sort of an impulse. Stripping makes me feel…independent and…more different from myself than I've ever felt before."

"Is different good?"

"Different is…different. I feel more powerful and less helpless."

Alice took this information in slowly, pondering my words.

"I see."

"Is it going to work?"

Alice sat still for a moment, her eyes glassy and glazed over. When she came out of the trance, her expression was blank, not giving me any hints as to what she saw.

"Well?"

"I'd rather not tell you."

"What?!"

"I think it'd be better if I didn't."

"No, you have to tell me!"

"All I can tell you is that I think I should probably go with you to the club tonight."

"Oh, what, now you're trying to protect me too? You're going to watch me from backstage?"

"No, I'm going to strip with you."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Wow, I'm already to Chapter 10! I honestly never expected to get this far…. Thank you all for reading and I apologize again for taking a while. As I've said many times before, your reviews can help me move along, whether you're saying how much you love my writing or how much you loathe it. I'm on vacation and I'm having trouble getting on the internet here. I PROMISE that the next chapter will be up in a few days at the latest.

I love you guys more than my grandma's turkey day dinner!

Enjoy!