All Twilight characters and references belong to SM.

*Thank you Lillie Cullen. Without you, who knows what this would be like. Probably non-existent. Lol. Love ya girl! Your Beta'ing skills amaze me, my friend.

CHAPTER TWELVE

EPOV

Twenty four. That was how many rolls of Charmin I used. Twenty four. If you believe Procter & Gamble, it was more like forty eight. To be completely honest, I probably did twenty three out of the twenty four by myself. She laughed at my behavior and when I forced one roll into her hands, she took it but was not eager to take the initiative.

For three and a half minutes I had more fun than I would have ever felt possible. I was laughing and running laps around his yard, too fast for the human eye to see. The only evidence was the long white trails that followed.

I was surprised, Bella had actually done her share as well, properly TP'ing his Dogwood in the front yard. She grasped the roll in her hands and smirked at me, lightly tossing the roll up and down. I must have been temporarily distracted because it seemed she was just standing there with the roll one minute, giving me the evil eye, and the next minute the tree was covered in white, fluffy clouds.

Normally a vampire's memory of events is crystal clear. It could be compared to having an internal camcorder running 24/7, documenting every minute detail of every second of every day. I must need to change my batteries or something because were moments that seem to run together lately. As Alice would say, maybe I needed to just 'lay off the sauce.'

Under normal circumstances I would never partake in the juvenile act of wasting finite resources such as Charmin, let alone initiate the deed, but I must say I am glad that I did. Bella and I laughed for hours over that. Newton totally deserved it too. I could only take so many sexual fantasies involving the love of my life and his disgusting self. I would not share them with Bella, but I knew. Pervert.

I felt dreadful about Bella's leg. That could have gone terribly wrong. I could have drained her life if I did not stop. On the other hand, she would have bled out if I had not sealed the wound. Stupid vampire teeth. I was so determined to stop our little bloody trysts. I was doing so well, too. I had been pushing boundaries and trying things I never dreamed possible before. I did not want that addiction. I wanted to need her love to sustain, not her blood.

The pleasure. Oh…the pleasure. It was immeasurable compared to anything else in existence. Not only were the naughty deeds we were performing amazing and fulfilling, the blood, the feeling was bliss. I had been mixing the two together and had my own Edward Cocktail. Euphoric.

Geeze, Edward! For wanting to stop you sure have been using lots and lots of happy words lately.

No! I must stop! I wondered who I could talk to this about. Alice seemed to be all about it. She was still mentally sharpening up on her foreign language skills. She must have thought I was an idiot, but I was not pressing her. We have been close for so long, I knew that I could only get so much from her. She would have saw me coming and put up a mental road block.

So not Alice. Carlisle then? I was not sure about him either. While he verbally did not berate me for my lack of will power, mentally he was disappointed in me. I could have sworn that they all forgot my capabilities sometimes. I knew he could not help his thoughts. He loved Bella as a daughter already. His concern was that if I could not stop, I could kill her and he would lose two children. For he knew me well enough to know if I lost Bella, I would surely follow.

Still, the more I sobered up, the more I realized that I really needed to talk to someone, and between the two, I decided that Carlisle was the most likely to give me honest advice. The fact that I'm starting to have memory loss was really bothering me. How was it possible that I have no recollection of Bella actually TP'ing the tree? It was like part of the tape was missing. Maybe I'm having blackouts now. Great.

I waited until Bella went to sleep and then I went to seek out Carlisle. He was surprisingly supportive, well, except for the part about our little prank.

"Edward," he said. "It is possible, theoretically, that you are having blackouts, although it seems unlikely. Another possibility that we may have to consider is that you didn't miss anything at all. That the reason you didn't see Bella in action was because she moved too fast."

That possibility was more disturbing than the blackouts. Was it possible that Bella had done it...at vampire speed? Carlisle saw the look of horror on my face and rushed to calm me down.

"Now, Edward, let's not jump to conclusions. I'm only looking at all possible hypotheses right now. I need Bella to come see me tomorrow. I need to draw some blood and run some tests. We can't postpone this any longer. We need to have a firm grip of the situation so that we can react appropriately."

The next day I practically had to drag Bella kicking and screaming to Carlisle's study so he could get the samples he needed. She even offered up her jugular to me in an attempt to distract me. Silly Bella. Finally, after much begging, she was sitting in one of the leather highback chairs in Carlisle's study, shaking like a leaf.

"Bella, really, you're being irrational," Carlisle said in his soothing, bedside manner voice he had perfected over the years. "You have endured vampire bites, broken bones, multiple concussions, all of which are much more painful and longer lasting than a tiny needle. I'll even use a butterfly needle, the kind we use on children. Do you trust me?"

"Y-yes," Bella stammered.

"Alright then, let's get this over with. Quick and painless, okay?" Carlisle wrapped the elastic strap around her upper arm, tapped his fingers against the crook of her elbow. Odd, he thought.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing, I'm just not seeing her vein pop up the way it should. Nothing to worry about, it's prominent enough as it is." Carlisle took the needle by the i wings of the butterfly and attempted to break the skin. It didn't work. He repositioned and tried again, a little harder. The needle bent into an L shape. Bella gasped in shock and looked at it wide eyed. Carlisle then tried a larger gauge needle. Same result.

"Well, I guess you don't have to worry about needles after all, Bella," Carlisle joked, but his thoughts were far from funny. Is this permanent or is it temporary? Will the effects wear off if she doesn't receive any more venom? Seems unlikely. On the other hand, will the transformation continue at a snail's pace until she is a full fledged vampire? If so, if and when will the burning begin? God, I hope she doesn't have to endure that for an extended period of time. What about the bloodlust? If she is slowly changing, then her urges could set in at any time. I need to do more research, and fast. Edward, until we figure this out, I think you need to keep Bella by your side at all times, just to be safe.

I nodded my head and took Bella by the hand to lead her into my bedroom. She seemed thrilled at the new development. I, decidedly, was not.

BPOV

Wow! I could not believe that just happened. I was so petrified of getting my blood work done that I was quivering like Edward needing a fix. And then once I decided that I was being completely silly and finally agreed, I could not even feel the needle. It bent and I just thought it was a faulty one, or something. After Carlisle tried the larger, and way more scary one, I was shocked!

What was going on?

"Well, I guess you don't have to worry about needles after all, Bella," Carlisle said to me. I just nodded my head trying to absorb all of this. I could tell that he was saying way more to Edward because Edward got serious eyes and was nodding thinking that I would not notice. I was much more aware of things than he believed.

How was this happening to me? Well, I knew the how, I guess. The more accurate question was what was happening to me? Was I becoming a vampire? I still craved pizza and pasta, not blood. Hell, I did not even eat much red meat, let alone desire the blood.

I knew something was happening though. I had been noticing small things. I was more aware of the times Edward, or another Cullen, tried to do something without my knowledge. I was picking up on more quick conversations, usually Emmett busting Edward's balls or something like that. The under the breath comments I had not thought much about. I had just assumed that they were trying to keep less from me. Then last night at Mike's house when I gave in to Edwards quirky idea of a good time, something happened with me. It was like as soon as I decided to do it, it was done.

Walking towards Edward's bedroom, I could tell that he was internally reprimanding himself for whatever this was that was happening to me. I knew that I should have been more concerned but I was just excited. I was thinking off all the possibilities that could occur.

Edward was adamant that I would forever remain human. I knew his only concern was my well being, but he never seemed to think through the ramifications of that decision. Yes, we could be together throughout my human life. That was the plan, anyhow. I was not so sure how realistic that would be in twenty years, let alone fifty. If he would still be attracted to a senior, what would we have told people? That I was his grandma? I think not! I could not even fathom him wanting to push boundaries with Granny Gable. His muff diving days would surely be over by then…ewww. I was grossing myself out.

No, whatever was happening had to be a good thing. I was obviously developing more durable skin. After last night, I was either losing track of time or I was moving faster. Was I hearing better? I could only hope that my aging would be affected as well. The thought of craving blood and wanting to drain my family and friends was disturbing, but I would even deal with that to have Edward and I become equals.

I sat on Edward's bed and looked up at him. He was so deep in thought, his brow was furrowed and he was biting his lip.

"What are you thinking, Edward? I am okay. Better than okay, actually. See, no needle marks," I tried to make light of it.

I stood, pulling both of his hands in mine and drew them to my lips. I placed the faintest kisses across his white knuckles trying to convey my love for him still. I wrapped my arms around his waist and attempted to draw him into a warm embrace.

"That is not even remotely funny, Isabella. Do you have any idea what this could mean? I could have been slowly stealing your humanity, your very soul, with each and every one of my demented, selfish actions." If he could cry, I guarantee he would have been. He looked to be in physical pain.

He placed both hands onto my shoulders and pushed me back from him until I was seated back upon the bed. He threw his hands into his pants pockets and began pacing a hole into the floor, looking like he was considering running out the door.

"EDWARD ANTHONY CULLEN,' I shouted and jumped from the bed to stand before him. "Don't you DARE try to push me away. I realize our relationship is unconventional, and we have our share of hurdles to cross, but I love you and I am not going to allow you to beat yourself up over this and wallow in self pity. Guess what Edward? Shit happens! But this is our shit! We deal with whatever is handed to us and we move past it, together! I don't know what is going on with me. I, obviously, am not as concerned about it as you are, but it will be okay. WE will be okay. Everything we have gone though together to get to here has only made us stronger. Made me love you more," I grabbed his hands once more and drew him to sit in the bed beside me.

"Think about it, Edward. You had to overcome my scent to even be in the same room as me. You did it, and we are here. When I found out about your being a vampire, you were certain I would run screaming. I did not, I am here. James tracked me and I ran to him in an attempt to save you, and to save my mother. He almost killed me, Edward. But he did not, I am here. You saved me. Look what that has done to you. You developed such a strange habit, no other vampire has ever heard of before. That could have separated us, but it did not. Together, we are here."

I didn't mean to cry, but the silent tears streamed down my cheeks. One lone tear fell onto the back of his hand and he looked up at me with devastated eyes.

"Don't you see? Through all of that we have overcome and obliterated any obstacle that stood in our way, only to come out stronger than the one before it. This too, we will surpass together. We will be fine. We will be together. I promise you that Edward. I love you," I practically whispered.

He sobbed, "Bella, how are we to conquer this? What are we going to do?"

I closed the distance and place a loving kiss on his perfect lips, "We are going to see Alice."

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Well guys? This story is my baby and like all children, you take and love the good and the bad. This chapter was necessary. Lillie Cullen told me so…..lol..

What do you think is happening here? How far do you think it will go? I love reading all of your opinions and reviews. I cherish each and every one of them. SOOOO………click below and lemme know.