Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I own this plot. And probably this computer. And I own some awesome cookies that I now get to eat. Be jealous!

Chapter Fourteen

"Well, you've got nothing to lose,
Except for me and you,
And I love that attitude."

~YouMeAtSix

I rub at the tiny wrinkles between my brows, trying to get my face to relax as I stare in the mirror in the foyer. Their presence had been almost constant since Wednesday night and now, Friday morning, they seemed to be permanent.

You're giving us fucking worry lines.

I know, I know. I'm sorry. I can't stop worrying. Izzy, I made a huge mistake when I told Carmen about what you could do.

Izzy sighs. Look, that's not important. I could have stopped you. I should have. I just didn't think about it. Besides, maybe it's a good thing. Knowing about this Chronesthesia is probably fucking smart.

Maybe.

I bite my lips together and drop my head, closing my eyes. The last thing I want to do is let Izzy take responsibility for my mistakes, as she is prone to do. And, I especially don't want to make her stress because I am pretty sure we're about to get sick.

Wait. Sick? Did you say sick?

I don't respond. Izzy had the oddest fear of being sick – to match her fear of menstrual cycles and getting shots. There are only a handful of things that she really didn't deal with and getting sick was at the top of the list. Unfortunately for her – and me – we usually developed a cold around Christmastime and we were two weeks away from the Eve right now.

Go take some fucking cold medicine right now! Please! We can avoid this!

Izzy, we don't have a fever, I'm not coughing and our nose isn't running. I can't take anything right now. It's just a bit of a headache. Calm down.

Calm down? Right. We're only a few days away from that stupid monthly time and now we're getting sick? How can I ever be calm again?

I sigh and turn away from the mirror. Izzy's aversion to those particular bodily functions wasn't something I wanted to think about – especially since I could consider her off duty for the next week, leaving me to deal with Mother Nature.

Edward notices something off about me on the way to school, his heavy brows furrowed as one hand fidgets with his dark beanie. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

Cold wind whips around me and I cringe into his chest, sniffling a bit. "Getting sick, I think."

"Then let's get you home. Do you have a fever?" He demands, stopping our snow-trodden stride.

I sniffle again, the cold making my nose run a bit. "I'll rest a whole bunch this weekend. I just want to get through today."

I didn't dare mention that Izzy was basically AWOL since minor cramps had kicked in as soon as I left home.

Wimp, I tell her.

You're afraid of spiders, Princess. You can't call me a wimp.

Can, too. So I did.

You're so fucking moody.

I don't dignify that with a response.

At school, Edward reluctantly leaves me at my new locker and I studiously ignore the lingering glances from my classmates. Since Wednesday, I – Izzy – had become somewhat of a minor celebrity; I think the girls appreciated the fact that Izzy stood up to a bully. It might have even meant more because the entire fiasco was so unexpected.

"Bella!"

I look up from transferring my books, thankfully without an influx of knowledge, and see Alice rushing down the hall, huge smile on her face.

"Hey, Alice."

Alice leans in, holding her hand in a fist, and grabs my hand, forcing my palm open. "I thought you might need these," she whispers, dropping two pills into my palm.

I look down at the Midol with raised brows.

How did she do that?

Do what?

Know that I needed this?

Don't know. She's not the psychic, genius.

"Thank you," I murmur slowly.

Alice winks at me and dances away.

I can't shake the feeling forming in the back of my mind – maybe Alice knows more about everything than she lets on.

Feeling a cramp, I close my locker and slip into the bathroom, downing the pills with a handful of water and fixing myself up as a precaution. Still, even as I sat in class, absently absorbing the material, I couldn't stop my mind of wandering; since I signed that contract with Denali, strange things had been happening around me and Alice somehow knowing I would need that Midol today, right before a huge cramp hit, was just the icing on a huge, weird, mysterious cake.

I observe Alice at lunch as I am tucked under Edward's arm, his hand soothingly rubbing up and down my arm as I sniffle quietly into a tissue. She doesn't seem to be behaving oddly as she interacts with Jasper flirtatiously. She doesn't hint at knowing more than she lets on.

And it makes me feel crazy.

It must be the hormones, I reason. They're making me insane.

My vote is on the stupid fucking cold. How did we get that, anyway? You're obsessed with scarves! And tights.

I hold back a snort. Because any scarf in my collection is actually designed for warmth?

Good point. But…gloves….

We probably caught it at school, Izzy. It's cold season.

I know it's cold outside, she snarks sarcastically.

I roll my eyes.

Edward leans down, whispering lightly near my ear. "Is Izzy amusing?"

"You have no idea," I whisper dryly. Then, I sneeze as daintily as I can manage into my tissue.

Edward touches my forehead tenderly, frowning. "We should get you home, sweetheart."

I shake my head stubbornly. "I'm fine. I'll recoup this weekend."

His lips press into a thin line and he sighs. "Fine. At least drink your soup? It's tomato," he smiles slyly, pushing the warm Styrofoam bowl towards me. "Vegetarians eat tomato, right?"

I struggle to hold back my smile. "Yeah, we do. Thank you."

Edward merely fiddles with his little faux-hawk sticking out from under his beanie and wraps his arm around me again. "Anything," he murmurs, pressing a sweet kiss onto my temple.

The rest of the day progresses slowly and I begin to feel more and more ill as the hours wind down. By the time I am standing under a wind nook in the front of Albany Academy, I feel chills that have nothing to do with the fluttering snow in the air.

Who the fuck is that guy?

What?

Izzy focuses my gaze away from the sky to a boy from the Albany Boys School with spiking dirty blonde hair and muddled hazel eyes. He looks familiar in the way that most teenagers look familiar; vaguely recognizable due to styling and trends and from passing peripheral glances around school.

What stands out about him is the appreciative yet borderline vulgar way he is studying me. I feel surreally uncomfortable – almost as uncomfortable as I felt when Felix looked at me.

I shift, pressing my shoulder blades into the aging cement of the building and pulling my coat tighter around me, even though its completely buttoned up. The boy shifts, too, keeping me in his line of sight and, after a moment, starts in my direction.

I feel panic building up in me - Izzy, reluctant to alter given my state, prepares herself, tensing all of our muscles.

This isn't going to be good. Look at this cocky motherfucker.

"Hey, you're that girl, right?" He intones smoothly, stepping a few inches too close to me.

I feel a shudder run up my spine when I notice his gaze lingering on my lips and legs. "I don't know what you mean," I force out, trying to calm the shaking of my body – from both the fever and the tiny strain of terror he has invoked.

"Sure you do. The girl who's locker got all fucked up? You got Jessica suspended."

That's where I've seen him before. He's Jessica's steady toy. Sleazy fucker. He walks out of the janitors closet all the time.

You think he's mad that she got in trouble?

Probably.

"Jessica got Jessica suspended," I say flatly, stepping further into the brick wall.

The boy shrugs it off, leaning closer. "I like the fire you've got, baby. And you're so pretty, like a little sex kitten. What do you say you and I get together and-"

"Back the fuck off, fucker," Edward says harshly from behind the boy. I've never heard his voice so hard or so angry and it sends a thrill through me. "You're too close to my girlfriend and I really don't feel like getting blood on this stupid uniform."

The boy steps back quickly. "Hey, man, I was just asking an innocent question."

Innocent question my ass! Izzy mutters, silently cheering on Edward with a tint of admiration.

Edward, who is much taller and more muscularly defined, moves to stand in front of me, looking down his nose at the boy. "I heard exactly what you asked her, dipshit. And you have less than twenty seconds to get your ass out of my face."

The boy holds both hands up, smiling cockily and eyeing me over Edward's shoulder. "Calm down, bro. She didn't mind it. She liked the attention. Maybe you're not doing enough-"

Faster than the boy can stop talking, Edward is in front of him, pulling back his arm and filling the air around us with the satisfying crunch of knuckle on fragile bone. I don't even think either boy noticed how fast Edward moved.

He just used apportation.

Are you sure, Bella? Izzy asks skeptically. Edward is really fucking fast. Lean. Wiry.

I'm sure. It was such a short distance that nobody else noticed.

Edward isn't phased; he lands another punch on the boys' gut and he cries out, clutching his nose where blood is now gushing.

"Fucker," he screams at Edward.

Around us, the remaining students stop their afterschool gossip, turning to look at the scene in silence.

Edward smiles slowly, advancing on the boy.

The boy steps back.

"What were you saying, again?"

The boy looks at Edward with wide, frightened eyes and says nothing.

Edward's finely chiseled face is tense, his bright green and blue eyes hard, his body language subtly menacing. I'd never seen him so fierce; it was almost scary and the only comfort I could take from it was that he was protecting me. Seeing this side of him was enlightening – this was how he behaved before he met me.

The thought sends a sad shiver through me.

Edward tilts his head, nodding at the boy.

"You really should learn how to shut your mouth. Most people wouldn't give as many chances as I would. But I don't want to scare my girl. Just remember she's my girl."

He claimed us again.

I know. But in mind it. Not one fucking bit.

Edward levels the boy with one last withering glare, then turns to me – his brows furrow slightly as he takes in my red nose and pale cheeks. "You need to go home, sweetheart. Let's go," he says, tucking me under his arm and helping me down the snowy stairs.

Before we leave the courtyard, I feel eyes on my back; not harsh eyes, but concerned ones. I glance over my shoulder, connecting with Alice's steady gaze as she nods slowly and smiles at me.

Why do I get the feeling she knows something?

Maybe she does. I don't give a fuck. Can you make some of that peppermint tea for us when we get home? Izzy asks tiredly, imagining us sipping the tea in bed with a huge bottle of cold medicine resting on the pillow beside us – the bottle is easily bigger than we are so I know the fever must be getting to her.

And me.

I stumble a bit through the snow, prompting Edward to move his hold from my shoulders to my waist. "I should carry her," he mutters to himself.

"No," I protest, falling into a fit of sneezes. "Besides, we have to stop my Denali for a second-"

"The hell we do!" Edward argues. "You're sick, sweetheart. You need to rest."

"But I get paid to be there and today is Friday and that's group day-"

"You're going home," he says firmly, making me cross the street so we wouldn't even pass by Denali. "I'll tell Carmen that you couldn't make it. She'll have to deal with it."

I'm too tired to fight him and, really, it seems like the smartest thing to do.

Tea and lots of cold medicine and tomorrow, we can jump his bones for being such a fucking sweetheart.

I sigh at Izzy. You don't really think he'd let us fool around when we're sick, do you? Besides, I don't want him to catch this cold. It's horrible, I shiver again, tucking my face into Edward's side so that the cold wind can't find my face.

Why do you have to be so fucking logical?

Why do you have to hide away when we get our period?

Don't even say that word! Izzy yells, causing me to wince as her loud mind-voice echoes in my head, tossing itself around like a rock in a cavern.

Edward stays with me as I make a large mug of tea for myself, then carries the cup upstairs for me, setting the steaming liquid down on the bedside table.

When he helps me undress from my school uniform and into a pair of ultra warm flannel sleep pants and a long sleeved white thermal shirt, there is nothing remotely sexual about it. He is soothing and gentle, carefully folding up my button down shirt and skirt over a fluffy reading chair in the corner of my room. He even goes so far as to turn down my bed for me, tucking the warm down comforter around me.

Pressing a single searing kiss into my temple, he smoothes my hair away from my face. "I'll be back later tonight," he promises.

As his hand pulls away, I see the slight swelling of his knuckles and I frown. "You don't have to come over," I yawn, sipping my tea.

Edward shakes his head. "Of course I'll come over. I'll even get some vegan soup on the way."

My eyes feeling heavy, I simply nod at him.

I'm so tired.

There's not even cough medicine.

That's because we don't have a cough, Izzy.

No, but we are fucking sick and- Wait. Where did Edward go?

I glance around the room, my eyes half-lidded. He must have gone to Denali.

The think he'll be okay?

I think he can handle him self. He proved that today.

I fall into a restless sleep, only waking with the start when the doorbell chimes in quick succession. I groan, rolling between the sheets and struggling to rise from the bed.

Walking downstairs, a wave of dizziness flashes in my head. I press the heel of my hand against my temple, squeezing my eyes shut

I lean heavily against the door for a moment before sighing and opening the door.

Tanya stands outside in the cold winter night, holding a brown bag and smiling eagerly at me. "I heard you are sick," she says brightly. After a moment she nods towards the foyer in such a way that I know she is asking for permission to come into my home.

Immediately, I step back, pressing my body into the cold wall so she has room to come inside. "Sorry," I apologize closing my eyes for a moment before turning to look at her.

She shrugs casually. "Kitchen?"

It takes me a moment to understand what she means, as the fever has made me slow on uptake. "Of course. Follow me."

I had never paid attention to my kitchen before as I didn't typically spend too much time in the room itself. I suppose it was nice – maybe even a dream kitchen – with dark wood cabinets, a granite topped island and sleek stainless steel appliances. Tanya whistles appreciatively, setting the bag clutched in her manicured fingers down on the counter. "Nice digs. I brought you some soup."

I sniffle, digging a clean tissue out of my pocket as Tanya opens up the bag.

"You're a vegan, right? I found some celery soup at this little restaurant I know. There's also a sweet potato soup that I just love, though it's kind of sweet. Here," she says, pushing two Styrofoam containers towards me. "Where are your spoons? I usually keep mine beside the dishwasher but I know not all people organize their kitchens that way," she rambles.

What's wrong with her? Izzy asks quietly, weakly, hiding away somewhere in the recesses of my mind.

I shrug. Is there something wrong with her? Maybe she's just nervous.

About coming to someone's house?

Maybe it's a work rule or something?

Izzy fades, having lost interest as I fumble with the drawer to my right, pulling out a soup spoon and digging into the creamy celery soup.

I might moan.

The heat and smooth texture of the soup is perfect, a nice balm that calms the scratchiness in my throat. I knew that this would be as bad as my cold got and that Monday's session at Denali would go as planned and I relay that to Tanya.

She waves me off. "I'm not here because you're missing today," she assures me. "You are one of our strongest, though, and I wanted to make sure you get even stronger. Hence, the soup," she smiles, eyeing the sweet potato soup that I had yet to open.

I swallow, halfway done with my first cup, and gesture towards the second soup. "Do you want it? It's the least I can do," I say, slurping down another spoon.

Tanya immediately shakes her head and something about the movement makes Izzy's hackles rise.

Why is she refusing? She says she loves this shit.

I don't know, I answer, wondering the same thing myself.

As if reading my mind, Tanya waves her hands. "I already had a bowl at the restaurant," she explains.

I nod.

Makes perfect sense.

I polish off the celery soup and start on the bowl of bright orange sweet potato. There is a certain sweetness to this tea and another flavor I can't identify. "What's that taste?" I ask, stirring the soup around as if the food itself will present me with the answer.

"Cinnamon, probably. I told you it's a sweet soup."

Then, the oddest thing happens; the more I eat the soup, the stronger I get, though I am still fighting off the urge to sleep from the drowsiness from the cold.

My heart begins humming quickly and I no longer wish I could just stay in bed for the duration of my sickness.

Tanya smiles at me, coolly, and I finish off the soup. "I'm glad you enjoyed it," she tells me, throwing the empty soup cups into the plain brown bag.

"I did. Thank you for bringing it. What's the name of the restaurant again?"

"Oh, it's uh Purple Rose," she stutters nervously.

Alarms go off in my mind and I stare at the paper bag again.

No logo.

The Styrofoam cups didn't have a design on them either.

And wouldn't the restaurant throw in plastic spoons? What the fuck just happened, here? Bella?

I blink and Tanya and school my expression, forcing myself to appear more tired than I felt.

Tanya frowns. "You need for sleep, girl. Go back to bed. I'll let myself out."

I tack on a faint smile. "Thank you, again," I whisper.

Inside, my body is thrumming with life and my sniffles have ceased to exist.

I walk Tanya out, trudging up the stairs and throwing myself onto my bed.

"Oh, God. What did I just do?"

Ate some soup.

"No. No there was something off about that soup, Izzy."

Can't prove it. But at least we feel better.

"This is serious," I exclaim, digging my fingers into my sheets. "Do you think she poisoned us?"

I think that we feel really good. Do you feel poisoned? We're not even sick anymore. Maybe she fed us meat or something. I don't think Tanya would try to hurt us.

Not hurt us, maybe. But she said she wanted us stronger.

And you think…?

That she just…made us stronger.

Edward

"Where's the girlfriend?"

I look up at Jasper and away from the electrodes pressed into my skin. We're doing another test – a stress test – to see if stress affects the way psychic telepathy works. So far, stress seems to make it better.

I've never had clearer images in my head than when my feet are submerged in this huge bucket of ice water.

I'm glad my Bella isn't here today.

I wouldn't want her to ever go through this.

Still, it doesn't calm to slight unease I feel the longer I am away from her. I'd left her sleeping not one hour ago, her beautiful perfect face pressed into her plush pillows.

I'd been happy to finally be able to take care of her.

Proud that I could provide her some comfort while her body healed itself.

But now, I felt off; like something would happen if she wasn't in my sight.

It was ridiculous.

It made my stress levels shoot through the roof.

So, I guess, it made my telepathy better, too.

"Next," Eleazar calls out, loud enough that Irina the projector can switch images in her mind from the next room.

"Sick," I mutter to Jasper.

We're sitting beside each other with Emmett and Rosalie across from us. Each of us have rolled up the hems of our jeans to accommodate the icy shallow water.

"I saw her in school today," Rosalie tells me, already wincing from the cold. "How sick is she?"

"It's not the flu or anything," I answer, carefully writing down the next image in as much detail as possible – a snow covered kitten. "Just a cold. She insisted on going to school. She even wanted to come here, but I wouldn't let her."

Rosalie nods in approval, glancing behind her when the front door to the Denali house shuts loudly. In this room, each of us as the perfect view of the foyer of the large house, so we all see Tanya as she walks in.

Where had she gone?

Tanya leans into Carmen, murmuring something and I want to scream in frustration because a large part of me is insisting she's saying something about my girls.

Carmen smiles brightly, patting Tanya on the shoulder.

I sigh harshly and Emmett looks over at me. "Dude, what? Got a hard on for that Tanya chick or something?"

I shoot him a dirty look.

Tanya?

When I had literally the most perfect girl not six blocks away?

I don't fucking think so.

Emmett shrugs, wincing when Rosalie slaps the back of his head. "Oaf. He's in love with Bella," she says matter-of-factly. "He doesn't need another girl."

"Thank you!"

Jasper snorts.

Eleazar calls out, "Next!" again.

Emmett pouts while he writes. From here, I can tell his handwriting is hardly legible and I wonder if he's writing like that on purpose.

I shake off the thought.

There's no way he's intentionally making himself look inept.

After writing, I look up at Tanya and Carmen again, frowning when I see Eleazar has joined them.

"What are they talking about?" I mutter to myself.

I don't expect Emmett to grin.

And I certainly don't expect him to ask, "You want to find out?"

Beside me, Jasper rolls his eyes. "And how are you going to figure out what they're saying?"

Instead of answering, Emmett smiles and closes his eyes.

Nobody is looking.

Maybe that's why he does it.

I'll never know for sure.

But, as his eyes close, the oddest thing happens.

His entire body seems to shimmer for a moment, almost blurring along the outline of his hulking form.

And then, it looks like he's stepping out of his own body – a faint shadow of Emmett is moving away from his body while the real live Emmett opens his eyes, his heavy brows furrowed.

"What the fuck?" Jasper and I whisper at the same time.

Rosalie raises both hands and presses them to her mouth and all three of us watch as the shadow moves along the wall stealthily.

The shadow is moving by itself.

And it's Emmett – the shadow is Emmett and Emmett is the shadow or I don't know but either way, both the shadow and Emmett are clearly visible and it's creeping the fuck out of me.

Just what I need today.

Some asswipe sniffing around what's mine.

And now Emmett, somehow able to be himself and a shadow at the same time.

Silently, we all watch the shadow move to the ground, slinking into Tanya's shadow.

Nobody but Jasper, Rosalie and myself are paying attention to the shadow.

Maybe that's why when, after a moment, the shadow snaps back into Emmett's body, we all jump.

Emmett shakes his arms, his machine that connects him to the electrodes frizzing out. The faint smell of smoke fills the room and Carmen rushes over to his machine, disconnecting it.

When she glances down at the results the machine recorded, she gasps and looks at Emmett questioningly.

And when he answers, my respect for the well built giant jumps tenfold. He shrugs nonchalantly, "I think that must be an old machine. It shocked me. Wanna see?"

Carmen looks back at the papers the machine spit out and sighs, crumpling them up and moving away, shutting off all the machines.

It isn't until Eleazar has released us for the day that Emmett reveals what had happened during the telepathy test.

He corrals us all at the end of the block and explains exactly what bilocation is – literally being able to be in two places at once. "It just happened one day. I was playing a prank on my brother's rocket and I wanted to see why it wouldn't light but I couldn't move from my place in the bushes and then I was suddenly…in both places."

He lets us absorb that for a moment and all I can think about is how much of a slick back ass he really is.

Emmett turns to me. "Edward, man, I don't have good news for you, though."

I tense. "What is it?"

"It seems like Tanya went over to little Bella's house and fed her some enhanced soup."

My stomach drops. "Enhanced how?"

Emmett only shakes his head. "Don't know. But whatever it is, it's not good."

A/N: Oh, snap. Let me tell you, it's not good! And Emmett! Yay! I know, a day late. But it's here and I hope you all enjoyed it. I have some delicious oatmeal cookies calling my name!

solidae26 – I try to make my actual work sound as mature as possible because that's the only way to get a good story! Love that you're a reader!

Valentine Rain – Better late than never! How were your exams? And no worries about the alter jealousy thing – I don't do love triangles!

Sprite007 – I'm trying to plot your socks off :p

SrslyGiGi – Happy early 18th! What fanfiction doesn't know wont hurt them!

Anonymous- Fanfiction logged you as an Anon so thank you for your review! Check your crystal ball again!

Cici G – and…I give you….Emmetts gift!

Dreamzuvedward – he is soooo swoonworthy! I've always wanted to stand up to my bullies, so Izzy did it for me lol

PanteraFenix Negra – Hope you enjoyed your fix, you addict! Lol

angelari7 – Hmmm….What's Alice up to?

Maysnrs – Still undecided about Bella's real parents showing up lol Sorry!

Welcome2MyWorldxoxo – Keep tipping!

Twilight Rocker 12 – Ham? Yay! Pineapple? Yay! Together? Nay! Lol Kiwi boys sound so silly!

Vikilover – you're right! Carmen does know more than she lets on. But is Tanya really with them?

Dinotopian – No, thank you!

Pumpkinmykitty – Thank you! I really love these characters!

vampyregirl86 – Yep lol They all deserve a pat on the back!

james3142 – Circle of Silence? So brilliant! Lol

debslmac - :D

twivampchick – Edward may or may not have something to do with it lol

YesMyRealNameIsBella – Take a deep breath!...Start another prediction!

And super special shout out to the first review of the last chapter…Kaygou – Darn phone! Unfortunately, Carlisle and Esme have yet to appear in this story! But Edward's parents will find out soon!

Phew. I think that's the most reviews I've ever gotten for a single chapter!

As always, be brutally honest. I can take it!
~cupcakeriot