A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews, guys! So this chapter has a little more info and a great big WTF!

As always, I do not own Twilight. Stephenie Meyer does.

EPOV

"Oh you have got to be shitting me!" Emmett shouted, knocking the nearest stool within his reach to the ground with a deafening clang. I picked it up from the floor and slumped down onto it, shaking my head in disbelief.

My mind was a whirlwind of questions, the main one being how the fuck did James manage to survive? Those Dreg bastards were minutes from tearing into that fucking school when we hauled ass out of there.

"Edward?" my angel looked to me, her fear evident in her wide green eyes.

"I know, sweetheart," I sighed, beckoning her to come to me. Wrapping my arms around her trembling form, I pulled her into my lap, holding her tightly.

I don't understand, Edward. How?

"I have no idea, but I promise he won't touch you or our family," I vowed, hoping like hell I would be able to keep that promise.

Emmett paced around the lab, hitting the metal table with his fist on each pass, mumbling something under his breath about a skewer and a bonfire. Rosalie stepped into his path to stop his hypnotic circles.

"Emmett, I don't understand. Please tell us, what has you so upset?" Rosalie begged, caressing Emmett's face, trying to assuage the needs of her mate.

"That 'pet' standing behind Simmons? His name is James," Emmett began, plopping into the stool next to mine with his head in his hands. "He was a survivor staying with us back at the school in Alamo. He's the fucker that nearly killed Edward."

My brain was cataloging the conversation around me, as it desperately tried to compute exactly how James was standing. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that his spine was broken when we left him in that hallway. How in the world can someone heal from that?

Bella's eyes met mine, having come to the same conclusion in that moment. He bit me. My mind conjured the last memory I had of the monster, my blood dripping down his mouth and chin as he spat obscenities at me. Fuck my life.

"Do you think that's possible?" my angle whispered.

Shaking my head, I whispered, "I just don't know."

"Don't know what, son? Why is this James person such a problem?" Marcus asked, turning his full attention to the silent conversation Bella and I had been having.

"James was coming after us, sir," I began, running my hands through my hair. "Back at camp, he wanted to kill us men so that he could…take…the women. He was a sick bastard that had a following of loyal degenerates to do his bidding. They had already mutilated one woman at camp."

Gasps sounded around the room at that revelation. I had forgotten that no one but me had heard James' little admission. Shaking my head in disgust, I continued, "I couldn't…no, I wouldn't let him get to anyone else. He and his cronies attacked us, but not before leaving us vulnerable to a horde or Dreg making their way toward the school."

Not a bit ashamed for our actions, I stated, "Bella and I took on James and his friends. As I was preparing to end him, I got distracted. James bit me in an attempt to free himself…there was quite a bit of blood. I shattered his spine when I threw him into a wall. The fact that he is alive seems impossible enough, as we left him in that hallway, unable to escape from the approaching creatures. Add to that the fact that he was standing in that video, as if miraculously healed-"

"You're thinking it was your blood, aren't you?" Carlisle pondered. "It is an interesting theory."

"But I don't get it," Jasper interjected, holding his wife and child securely in his embrace. "Edward and Alice required a major transfusion of blood before any changes began to occur."

"They were both injured…bleeding, yes?" Marcus inquired. "The process could have been hindered by the blood loss."

Tapping his pursed lips in concentration, Carlisle added, "I gave them both morphine for the pain."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Emmett asked, rising from his stool and wrapping his arm around Rosalie's waist.

"Morphine is an opiate," Marcus explained. "It depresses respiratory function and can lower blood pressure and slow heart rate. It is administered so that the body doesn't have to work as hard in repairing itself, but in your cases, it may have slowed the progression of Bella's blood through your bodies."

"We need to run tests, Marcus," Carlisle stated, turning to the medical equipment scattered across the counter top. "I want to get this figured out."

Nodding, Marcus joined Carlisle as we all organized ourselves around the two blood drawing chairs situated near the back of the lab. Bella and Rosalie both went first, giving enough blood to fill six vials each for Carlisle's tests. Jasper and Alice went next, followed by me and Emmett.

Jasper led an exhausted Alice back to their room to lie down for a bit while Bella and Rosalie joined Marcus to analyze some of the data he had come up with. It was easy to forget sometimes that my girl was a fucking genius. Emmett shared the same smug smile as he plopped down on a stool next to mine at a vacant lab table in the corner.

"It's incredible, right?" Emmett chortled, holding a large cotton ball to the crook of his elbow. "I mean, Rosie can kick my ass six ways to Sunday while solving complex physics equations in her head." Shaking his head, he mumbled, "I don't know whether to be scared or turned on." We both looked to the girls bending over their respective microscopes, completely oblivious to our lascivious stares. "Turned on," we both agreed at the same time.

Sporting a mischievous smirk, Didyme arrived to our table with orange juice in hand. "Drink up, boys. That was a large blood draw."

I slowly sipped the juice from my glass while, contemplating all of the events that had occurred in the last few days. I still had so many questions.

"Didyme, as we can't really contribute to the Mensa meeting over there, would you be willing to sit and chat with us? I just…I have so many questions," I finished hopefully.

"Of course, dear boy, it would be my pleasure." Didyme took a seat on the stool directly across from us. "Where would you like to begin?"

"Well, as we are family now, I would really like to know how you came to this planet. The reasons behind your journey," I asked, thirsty for knowledge that only she could provide.

"That is quite a request, son," she sighed. "First you must understand that the universe is not teeming with life as your scientists would have you believe. Well, at least not with intelligent life."

"God…the things you must have seen!" Emmett interjected enthusiastically. "I'll be honest, I never bought into the life on other planets hoopla, but…seeing you, I have been completely converted," he admitted, laughing at the ridiculousness of his statement.

"I should hope so," she retorted, chuckling lightly. "Although, you humans can be rather…obtuse."

"Is that a fat joke?" he countered, looking down to his muscled stomach in all seriousness.

"Emmett," I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose "Obtuse…not obese…you know what? Nevermind."

"As I was saying," Didyme continued, "there are very few planets within our reach that host intelligent life, so we tend to keep a close eye on the evolution of intelligent species. I will admit, we have…interfered…from time to time."

"Wait, wait…so how old are you exactly?" Emmett asked.

Rosalie scoffed from behind her microscope, "Great tact there, babe."

"Sorry," he muttered remorsefully. "I was just curious."

"Pay her no attention, Emmett," Didyme soothed, grasping his hand across the table. "It is my daughter that lacks tact," she reprimanded, cutting a heated glance in Rosalie's direction. Turning her attention back to Emmett, she hummed, contemplating her answer. "Well, I guess by Earth standards I am over eight hundred years old."

A microscope slide shattered on the tile floor as Carlisle whipped around in disbelief, having heard her admission. "Really, that's…that's…I have no words," he stuttered. Marcus clasped a hand on his shoulder, chuckling lightly.

"Marcus, you old dawg! Banging an older woman! Hot damn!" Emmett exclaimed playfully. Didyme laughed as I rolled my eyes at Emmett's silliness.

"Regardless, I have only been on this planet since 1947-"

"1947? Wasn't that the year of that Roswell incident?" I interrupted, curious if my theory was correct.

Sighing, she confirmed, "Yes that was me."

Marcus laughed heartily from behind his microscope. "Weather balloon, my ass," he mumbled.

"He's correct, that was no weather balloon," she chuckled. "I was sent here on a mission…of sorts. One we will have to discuss in depth later. But my ship malfunctioned, and I crashed. I was pulled from my wreckage by a very open minded young ranch hand."

Lost in her memory of the event, she sighed as a lone tear slipped down her face. "Your military showed up within minutes. Apparently, they had been tracking my ship. They…they shot that young man, just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Marcus walked over and wrapped his small mate in his arms. "Sweetheart, I've told you, there was nothing you could have done to prevent that. They would have killed him regardless of if he had seen you or not."

"I know," Didyme sniffled, "I just detest the fact that people have been killed for simply acknowledging my existence. Such brutality in a species."

Kissing the top of her head, Marcus returned to his work so that Didyme could continue her story.

"I apologize for my emotional outburst-"

"No need," I soothed, covering her hand with my own. "I would be devastated as well."

Her eyes finally clearing, she continued, "So I was retrieved by your military and escorted to this very base sixty seven years ago."

"But Marcus is barely forty-"

"Forty eight actually," Marcus interjected.

"Really?" I questioned, cataloging that information for later. "Alright, so you were held here for a full forty three years before Marcus arrived. What did you do all that time?"

"Well the base was really small back then. It really was just an airfield at the time with a few buildings and hangars, but your government thought it the most…secure…location to house me. Small enough to guard and isolated enough for me not to escape. Military leaders came and went over the years, all contributing their own additions to the facility, until it resulted in what you see today."

"So what else is down here?" Emmett asked, leaning forward to the very edge of his seat. "I know you guys had to have been working on some cool shit, right? Space ships? Worm holes? Time travel?"

"Emmett, there are a multitude of experiments conducted in this facility. We have touched on all of your topics…and then some," she smirked. "You will find out all of it in time. There is no government regulation anymore. The world as we knew it is gone."

Satisfied with her answer, Emmett sat bouncing on his stool like a child on Christmas morning. "Awesome!" he exclaimed. "I so want to fly a space ship! Hmm, Captain McCarty…has a nice ring to it, right babe?" he asked Rosalie.

"Idiot," she mumbled, "still cute though."

"So you crashed back in 1947, but what was your mission here to begin with?" I asked Didyme, my curiosity growing with each riddle unraveled.

Didyme looked down at the table nervously, wringing her delicate fingers.

"They will need to know eventually, sweetheart. Might as well be now," Marcus sighed.

Defeated, Didyme looked at us both, silently beseeching us to be patient with her. "As I said, we have intervened in the past when a species is facing extinction. Life in the universe is too precious to let it flicker out like a candle when it can be prevented."

"Extinction? You mean us?" Emmett shouted. "Was it war? Our weapons of mass destruction? You know…our propensity to nuke each other?"

"Be careful, Emmett," I scoffed, "'propensity' is a big word for you. Don't hurt yourself. Now, shut up and let her finish."

"Not war or weapons of mass destruction, Emmett," Didyme continued, "something much more unavoidable. Your sun."

Everyone but Marcus, stopped their examinations and came to sit at the table with us, intrigued at the conundrum Didyme had presented. Even the girls seemed puzzled by this new development.

"Approximately five years from now, your sun will enter a phase that could kill every living creature on this planet," she stated calmly, as if she hadn't just told us the world was going to end. And here I thought we had it pretty bad already. Apparently shit could be worse.

"It's what we, on my planet, call a Blue Shift. Essentially it means a change in the ultraviolet light signature of your sun. These newly developed rays will infiltrate every molecule on this planet, down to its very genetic code."

I slapped my hand to the table in frustration as all of the puzzle pieces finally clicked into place. "That's what this was all about!" I shouted, causing Didyme to flinch. "The girls weren't being experimented on because of their abilities. It was because they are immune to the effects of this blue shift, isn't it!"

"Yes," Didyme whispered. "My planet experienced a blue shift several millennium ago. Through genetic manipulation, my people were able to survive the effects. We thought we could accomplish the same feat here. Save you all from extinction."

"You should have told us mother!" Rosalie shouted, rising from her seat and storming from the room, Emmett following after her.

I took my seat and pulled Bella into my lap, nuzzling her neck, while I contemplated the absolute finality of what was to come.

Didyme took Bella's hand in hers as tears streamed from her face. "I'm sorry, my daughter. I didn't want to deceive you."

"Please tell us all of it, mother," Bella asked as she pulled her hand away, her voice void of emotion.

"Of course," Didyme acquiesced. "I explained the situation to your government decades ago. Their scientists didn't believe me because their technology had not advanced to a point where my information could be verified. It wasn't until about ten years ago that they began to take me seriously. Your sun had been exhibiting some inexplicable behavior as well as releasing many more X class solar flares than what NASA was letting on to the public."

Looking at Bella, she said, "Once the government accepted what was to come, it became utmost priority to find a genetic solution. We recreated a mini version of the blue shift down here and were testing different various genetic manipulations…in hamsters-"

My angel gasped in surprise. "We walked right into that experiment, didn't we?" she asked her mother.

"Yes, we had been radiating that mutated hamster for over an hour with no adverse effects," Didyme giggled. "Excited that we may have a viable serum, we broke for lunch, content to let the experiment carry on in our absence. Imagine our surprise when we returned to find my two daughters inside that radiated room rescuing that hamster."

"Rosalie busted the encrypted lock when we saw everyone leave the observation deck. We didn't know we were seen! Rosalie released it that very afternoon when we went topside," Bella whispered. "It was already so pitiful, deformed from what they had already injected it with. We felt sorry for it, so we released it."

"Yes, well, we had to go up and retrieve it," Didyme retorted. "All of the test subjects were chipped so we could track them if they escaped."

"Rosalie will be so disappointed," my little mate giggled.

"I take no pleasure in having to inform her that the little rodent was already dead from the radiation by the time we found it," Didyme said sadly. "But what was astounding was that you girls never exhibited any of the adverse effects from being radiated in that room. We knew then that you two were the key to the survival of this race."

"I don't understand," Carlisle mumbled, sighing heavily. "What were you using to inoculate the rodents?"

"My blood," Didyme answered. "My species may be genetically compatible with yours, but on a cellular level, my blood works like a toxin. It caused drastic mutation and sometimes death before we could even begin the radiation process. No matter how many serums we concocted, the results were always the same. But the girls…the girls were half human. Their DNA formed a cellular bridge, if you will, between my species and yours."

"Why did you let us believe the testing was because of our abilities?" Bella asked.

"Fear, stupidity, take your pick," she sighed. "I didn't want to scare you girls with the bleak finality of the future we faced if we didn't find the answer in time. You were just children."

"Well, the outcome would have been the same regardless," Carlisle stated. "The serum was tested and failed. Well, at least partially." Running a hand through his blond hair, he asked, "Wait, does this mean Edward and Alice would now possess the same immunity to the blue shift? What about the Dreg?"

"Those are questions I cannot answer with one hundred percent certainty, Carlisle," Didyme responded. "We honestly thought the situation hopeless as we had managed to kill off the human race before the sun did. Although, I do have my own theories on the subject."

"Is that why Simmons is still so desperate to get his hands on us?" Rosalie asked from the doorway, seemingly much calmer. "He wants to continue the experimentation?"

"Yes," Marcus confirmed, "he doesn't care if the rest of the human race has been decimated. He wants to survive the blue shift and rule over what's left of the world. The man has gone insane and he will have to be dealt with. I do believe that we should continue testing given the new developments we've discovered."

Looking around the table, my angel said, "Well now that we know more about what we're dealing with, let's get back to work."

"Hold on Bella," Carlisle said, grasping her shoulder to keep her in place. Turning to the rest of the team, he continued, "My preliminary blood tests were to see if Bella's blood would have the same transforming effect on all survivors, or if it was an anomaly given that Edward is Bella's mate and Alice is linked genetically to Edward."

"And?" Rosalie huffed in annoyance.

"It would appear that her blood would alter anyone, regardless of genetic compatibility," he answered, hesitating before continuing, "but I need to test it. I need to inject someone not genetically linked to Edward or Alice." Carlisle's eyes met Emmett's as Rosalie flew into a rage.

"Absolutely not!" she screamed, lurching toward Carlisle. Emmett grabbed her around the waist to keep her from pummeling Carlisle. "You will not test your theories on my mate!"

"Yes, he will, Rosie," Emmett cooed into her ear, trying desperately to calm her. "It needs to be tested, baby, for all our sake."

Turning to face Emmett, her eyes spoke volumes of the hurt and fear she held inside. Her faced morphed to one of stone as she spat, "Fine," before stomping from the room.

Emmett watched her go, his ache to soothe his mate a physical presence in the room. I for one knew all too well exactly how he felt.

"Come on, brother, she'll be fine," I comforted, leading him back over to the blood draw chair.

Carlisle approached with a syringe filled with Bella's blood. "Emmett, we're going to try this without morphine to test Edward's theory about James." Sighing wearily, he continued, "I have no idea how this may go, Emmett."

"I understand," Emmett responded. Looking to Bella, he pleaded, "Will you tell Rosie I love her? You know…in case something unexpected happens?"

"Of course," Bella whispered, "But you'll be fine Emmett, you can tell her yourself in just a little while."

Closing his eyes and extending his right arm, he looked to Carlisle. "Let's do this."

Carlisle found a prominent vein and inserted the needle, depressing the plunger a moment later and pulling away to observe the effects.

Emmett began to breathe deeply through his nose, shaking his head back and forth. A feverish blush bloomed across his face and down his neck as he broke out into a sweat. His eyes snapped open and he let out a mighty roar while still remaining seated.

"Get out!" he commanded. "This feels…wrong, leave now before it's too late!"

Stepping closer, I could feel the immense heat pouring off of him. I turned back to Bella. "Get everyone out of here. I'm staying with him. Go…now!"

Bella quickly ushered everyone from the room, pressing a pad next to the door to initiate the carbide door. Nothing was getting out of this room.

Emmett grunted through the pain, baring his teeth and growling at me. "I don't want to hurt you, Edward. Please go," he begged as his muscles began to twitch.

"I'm not going anywhere, Emmett. You've always been there for me and I will see you through this. Fight for Rosie, brother."

Emmett's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he began to convulse violently. I pulled him from the chair down onto the floor, unsure of how else to help him other than to make sure he didn't choke. God, his skin was on fire! I needed help in here.

I jumped off the floor and headed for the door, but before I could reach it, Emmett wrapped his massive arms around me from behind, squeezing tightly. He lifted me clear off my feet and flung me into the nearest wall as if I weighed nothing.

Dazed from the impact, I held my hands out in front of me, trying to reason with him. "Emmett, it's me…Edward. Please think brother. Come back to us…to Rosie."

His eyes seemed to clear at the mention of his mate's name. "Rosie?" he asked, his face clouded with confusion. He stopped his advance on me and slowly slid back to the floor, sitting Indian style. His breathing evened out as he seemed to take on a meditative state.

I sat across from him, waiting to see what his next move would be. After fifteen minutes, I noticed his skin seemed to lose its feverish flush and his breathing wasn't near as labored.

A few moments later, Emmett opened his eyes and looked at me. "Fuck, that was intense," he mumbled, rubbing his face.

"Oh, thank God!" I shouted, bowling him over in a brotherly hug. The carbide door retracted and Rosalie sprinted into the room, stopping just short of where we were entwined on the floor.

"Please tell me that Bella's blood didn't turn you into a switch hitter," Rosalie chortled, joy written across her face at the sight of her mate.

"I definitely don't bat for the other team, gorgeous," he laughed, leaping from the floor and scooping her up in his arms. Kissing her all over her face, he carried her from the lab and down the hallway toward their room.

Everyone else entered the lab immediately following the lovebird's swift departure, all jubilant that Emmett made it through the transformation. Bella leapt into my arms, kissing me soundly. "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you, too, sweet girl," I hummed into her neck.

"While I am ecstatic that the experiment worked, I have a more pressing task now at hand," Carlisle sighed.

"What is it, Carlisle?" concerned for what could possibly be more pressing at this moment.

"I need you to find me a Dreg and bring it back here…alive."