a/n I'd like to dedicate this chapter to several individuals. To TheUnderStudy, for sending a million reviews at once. To ScutioLover for not only reading it, but also adding another thirteen reviews. Glad I could keep you awake at night. And finally, to my dog, Ringo, who just doesn't understand that his mommy won't play with him because she has to write. I understand what the trash all over the hall is about.

Enjoy.

CHAPTER 14—FIRE

Mike's screams of pain filled the room, and Tanya felt like she could throw up. Carlisle was checking him over, nodding, wincing from time to time when the screams turned into sobs. It was hard to listen to.

She felt Edward's hands still on her arms, and wondered why they were there. Then she felt her knees, and they were weak. She realized she had more or less collapsed and he was holding her up. He was watching Carlisle move around the bed.

The bedroom door opened and Bella stood there, frowning at her husband and Carlisle. "Is he okay?"

"Oh, he's just fine," Carlisle said. "I was trying to assertain how much blood he'd lost, but it wasn't too much." He glanced at Tanya and smiled slightly. "Nicely done."

"Out," Bella ordered. When no one moved, Bella's frown deepened. "Go to the hall. You can come back in a minute."

Edward half carried her to the edge of the bed, both of them wincing when another scream filled the air. It subsided into sobs of agony.

The door clicked. They must have left. Bella's face filled her vision and she was smiling slightly. She held up a pair of sweatpants, and Tanya realized that she was naked.

"Oh, my God," she moaned. "This is embarrassing."

Bella smiled slightly. "I don't think so," she said, helping Tanya step into the pants and pull them up. She handed her a shirt, no bra, and Tanya pulled it over her head. With Tanya dressed, Bella turned her attention to Mike.

Carlisle had covered him up to his waist with a sheet, but with the way he was twitching, that wouldn't last long. It would only get worse today and he would certainly kick them off. Mike shrieked in pain again when Bella lifted him slightly so Tanya could pull up a pair of boxers and gym shorts in one. When he was back on the bed, they stepped away.

The screams increased in volume and frequency, now, and Bella helped Tanya back to the bed so she could lay next to him.

She held his hand while he screamed, cried, begged for somebody, anybody, to kill him. Make it stop.

"I'm so sorry, baby," she whispered, over and over. "I'm so sorry. I love you."

He moaned, the sound drawn out and filled with ache.

"Please kill me," he begged. His voice was harsh.

Tanya squeezed her eyes shut. She had done this to him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered again.

"Please." His voice was the whimper of a torture victim, begging for forgiveness. "Please just make it stop. Make it stop." A choked sob escaped his lips.

"I can't," she whispered. "I love you. I'm staying with you."

"Don't go," he begged. "Please don't go. Make it stop. Please."

"I'll be right here next to you," she whispered, feeling her throat close up.

He screamed again, a shriek louder than any of the others. A sob escaped from her lips as she whispered her love for him.

And she didn't move from his side for three days.

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Fire can be a funny thing. Not a liquid or a solid, but made of gasses and formed by combustion. A very chemical thing, and more complex that it seemed.

None of that mattered, though, when the fire touched your body. None of it mattered when you were burning.

It started at his neck. He had the feeling he'd been in a haze of blissful pleasure right before, and this had started in the middle of that. It was a rude awakening.

He'd wondered if he was dying, until the fire had started.

Then he stopped wondering about anything…

So much pain. His throat was raw and aching. He wanted water. Pools and lakes and oceans of cool water. Wanted to jump into them and cool his body.

He had a vision of a cold mountain lake, temperature nearly freezing, clear as day. He imagined swimming in it, feeling the cold on his arms and legs. Anything to alleviate the fire.

The fire that never got better.

In his mind, the cold lake turned into a lake of lava, and the lake consumed him.

Lakes…

He was lying by a lake somewhere. There were trees. Next to him, sparkling in the afternoon sun, Tanya lay with her head resting on her outstretched arm. She wore a lazy smile, and her free hand toyed with the hairs on his chest…

Tanya.

It was like going through some kind of memory overload vortex.

He was on the front porch with Bella. She was saying something about screaming, and how she had managed not to scream for the three days she'd burned. But it wasn't a choice. She couldn't move for a day and a half because of the morphine…

Blood on a wall, and a faceless body falling to the floor.

Tanya's eyes were wide as she moved on top of him, her mouth open, and she was screaming with pleasure…

Screams echoed in his ears.

Scream, scream, scream. Burn, burn, burn.

Burn, baby, burn! We don't need to water let the motherfucker burn!

Fire licked his body, ate away at his skin and his organs. It was unbearable, but he didn't pass out. Couldn't. Had to feel ever lick, every cell in his being consumed.

Surely, hell had to be preferable to this.

Pain devoured him again. How long had he been on fire? He should be ash by now.

He heard screaming again. This time, he registered a pain in his throat with the scream. He was screaming. Those horrible sounds were coming out of his mouth.

Rosalie had given Bella advice about screaming. "She said it never does any good to scream."

Same room, same conversation. "Your body will feel like it's on fire."

Oh, yeah. Fire in the hole.

He felt another scream coming, but this time, he managed to stop it. And in stopping it, he could hear other things.

His brain still focused on the burning, he listened to what he could hear. Voices.

"He's in a lot of pain," someone said softly. Very softly. Should he even be able to hear that? "But he's starting to come out of it. Just slowly."

"Did I mess up?" The whisper came from next to him, and he realized he could somehow feel that Tanya was lying next to him. Had she been here the whole time? How long had he been lying here?

"No," the first voice said softly. It was gentle and encouraging. "You did everything exactly right. It just feels like a long time waiting." While the man spoke, Mike registered that his voice was vaguely familiar, like he'd heard it a long time ago. It gave the indication that the speaker might be English—a hint of an accent pulled at the man's words. "Do you see how much quieter he's becoming?"

"Do you think he can hear me?"

Mike wanted to tell her that yes, he could hear her, and could she please talk to him and distract him, but when he opened his mouth, the only thing that came out was a whimper of pain.

"Baby?" A hand rested on his arm. It was cool, but it didn't seem cool enough to be Tanya. "Can you hear me?" Her fingers wrapped around his and squeezed.

He fought back another scream and lightly squeezed back, shuddering in pain.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, and her lips brushed his ear. "I'm so sorry, my love. It will be over soon."

He whimpered again, still trying to hold back a scream.

She lay next to him, telling him about her life, her family, and it seemed anything she could think of. He listened to her sometimes, able to distract himself. Other times, he writhed in pain, unable to contain the spasms and cries of pain. He heard himself begging for death, and felt guilty when he heard her soft sobs.

The fire got worse. Wasn't he done, yet? How much more of him was left to burn?

Sometimes, other people would come and go. He heard Bella's soft voice, speaking to Tanya about him.

How much longer? All he wanted to know was how much longer. The other man had said soon. How soon?

Now? Please? The heat was getting worse. It wasn't stopping or even going away. Was this supposed to happen?

He imagined that it had to shock them, the sounds that came from his lips. It sounded, to him, like metal being ripped. Maybe that was the sound your throat made when it was on fire. Everything. Worse, now, harder to focus on anything else.

He felt he must look like a body-shaped pile of ash by now. The fire licked hotter and hotter.

He heard nothing but his own screams and the fire rushing in his ears for what felt like forever. Then he heard something strange.

His heart.

Were you supposed to hear your own heart beat?

Was is supposed to go that fast?

It was running like a helicopter now, beating faster and faster and faster. It felt like he might lift off.

The faster it went, the hotter it got. It finally became unbearable.

He felt his back arch, his face contort.

Then he collapsed onto the soft bed.

There was no sound. No heartbeat. No breathing, not even his. Because he wasn't breathing.

He was afraid to breathe. If he took a breath, would he scream again?

Then he noticed that the fire had abated. The only burning left behind was in his throat.

Burning in his throat…

"Mike?" It was the calm Englishman again. "Mike, can you hear me?"

"It's over," someone whispered. Another male. This voice much more recognizable. But from where?

Faces flashed in his mind. He finally put one with the voice. Red hair, and caramel eyes, just like Tanya's. Tanya's face flashed again before he could put the name with the face.

It was Edward. Edward read minds. He would know when it was over. And he said…

"Mike?" Tanya's voice was clearer than it had ever been before. He could feel her breath on his cheek, and it was warm. "Darling?" He felt her shift on the bed, and he could somehow feel through the way the bed moved that she was kneeling. "Open your eyes."

He flexed his fingers, and felt them slide into the mattress like warm knives into butter.

He took a breath, and scents took over. He could tell that, besides Tanya, there were four other vampires in the room. None of them were moving, but each had a distinct scent. Honeydew, sunshine, baked bread, leather, freesia, the ocean, firewood smoke…

Winter?

Tanya.

He opened his eyes to see her for the first time.

And behind Tanya, Bella took hold of her husband's hand, watching from behind Emmett and Carlisle. Alice had told her yesterday of a vision of Mike, a long time from now, laughing about something with her and Edward. It was simple, not really of any consequence, but it made her feel better that her friend would stay. One less person she had to lose.

And so she sat by and waited for this moment. The moment when his bright red eyes finally opened and saw the world like the rest of them.

a/n I know this is short, and you're going to hate me, but it's the last "full" chapter. And by that, I mean it will gradually be followed by an epilogue and some future shots whenever I so feel the urge. So you'll still find love here. Just when I have time to make the love. Hmm… Make the love… Sounds like fun.

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