Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight saga, I merely own my own characters and ideas. I am simply borrowing the Twilight characters.

Secrets

I stood completely still with Alice lying in my arms, speechless. She knew. She really knew. Just hearing the words from her mouth to confirm it lifted a great weight off of my shoulders, though at the same time, I had no idea what to do now. Then I suddenly caught the smell of blood and remembered what in the hell had just happened. First off, I needed to get out of the sun.

Quickly I bounded from the spot I was standing in to the shade of a nearby tree. I listened closely to Alice's heartbeat and was thankful when I found that it was still beating at a normal pace. All I had to do now was get her to the hospital. Oh, and the driver of the car…

"Bella!"

I looked up and saw my siblings, a bunch of students and a few teachers rushing towards me, my siblings being the ones to reach me first. Several teachers rushed over to the car while one called the hospital to send an ambulance over, which I was thought was a good idea, though I could've just taken Alice to the hospital myself. Oh well.

"What the hell happened?" Rosalie asked. I noticed Jane, Victoria, Jasper and Emmett were keeping away a swarm of other students with glares and Jasper's gift.

"I had to—"

"Miss Cullen!" the principal shouted as he came over to me, a few teachers behind him. "What on Earth is going on here? What happened and why is Miss Brandon bleeding? Are you…is that a crashed car? What in the hell happened?"

I heard a few gasps and blanched slightly. I hated being on the spot.

Jasper did the best he could to keep most of the people away from me with his gift, using it to have them keep the students back instead, but that wasn't enough to stop them fully. I explained as best as I could and formed a clever lie about what had happened.

"Alice got a call from her parents, so she went outside because the cafeteria was too noisy," I started, which was technically half true. "I was outside getting something from my sister's car when I saw her shouting because she couldn't get enough reception."

The principal furrowed his brow, but he motioned for me to continue. I did so hurriedly because of the scent of blood and because I wanted them gone.

"She moved a little closer to the road in order to get better reception. Once she'd finished talking, she tripped and fell, so I rushed over to see if she was okay. That was when the car came and I pulled her away. Then the car crashed and then you all came out here, end of story."

My status as a Cullen, my skill in lying and an added boost from Jasper sealed the deal and everyone around me that had heard bought it instantly. My siblings knew that wasn't the full truth and I noticed that some of them had backed away, likely when they smelled Alice's blood, which made my throat burn and my body tense.

"You should be more careful," one of the teachers said. "You both could've been hurt worse."

"I don't want either of you to do this again," the principal chided. "Am I understood?"

"Yes sir," I muttered breathlessly.

They wanted to talk more to me, I did not. I wanted to keep my wits about me and not let the fact that I could still smell blood get to me. Thankfully, it wasn't long before an ambulance appeared.

"I'd like to go with her," I said softly, though my voice was still a little strained.

The principal thought about it, then nodded. "Of course, you should get some treatment for yourself as well, Miss Cullen. We'll send for another ambulance for the driver of the car since it looks like Miss Brandon needs medical attention as soon as possible. You're excused."

"Thank you sir," I said, bowing. I then walked over to the ambulance—I made sure to walk like a human and added a slight limp to my right leg for good measure until I reached the paramedics, who took Alice from my arms and placed her into the back of the ambulance.

"Would you like a stretcher?" a female asked me.

I shook my head. "No, I'd like to come with you, if you please. She's a friend." I made sure to add in my dazzling smile and sure enough, the woman sputtered and was dazed briefly.

"Er…okay," the paramedic replied once she'd managed to snap herself out of her daze.

I turned to look over my shoulder at my siblings and gave them an apologetic look. Rosalie gave me that "we'll talk about this later" look as I climbed into the back of the ambulance. It was at that point that I looked over curiously at the car that had crashed, wondering if the person inside the vehicle was alright. They'd been speeding, so it was partially their fault, but still.

That was when I saw the driver; James. He looked banged up, but he was conscious and hobbling a little as he crawled out from the passenger side of his vehicle, which was not the same vehicle that he'd been driving before. I hissed quietly under my breath until the back doors were shut and the ambulance drove off. I glanced down at Alice's unconscious form.

I could still smell a little blood, but the scent was weaker now. I didn't trust myself enough to breathe just yet, however, so I ceased breathing and covered my mouth with my hand while I began to focus on other things aside from the blood, namely Alice's words before she fainted.

She called me her angel.

I wasn't sure what to make of that. But then, considering the fact that I was glowing when the sunlight hit my skin, perhaps that would give off the appearance of an "angel". I felt incredibly flattered that she'd referred to me as such, regardless. In my eyes, she was the angel, though.

I felt the desire to touch her, but I pushed it away. I couldn't let myself take in too much of her scent now, so I would just have to wait. Eventually the ambulance came to a stop and the back doors opened up. The paramedics wheeled Alice away and I followed after them, refusing any attempts from the paramedics to get me into a stretcher. As if I needed one.

I allowed myself to breathe while I followed them, but my throat burned and I knew that I would need blood soon. I hoped that Carlisle would be the doctor assigned to Alice and low and behold, he was indeed. I had to admit, it was fairly amusing. It was probably because I was his daughter and they wanted to "keep him happy" since he was the best doctor in Forks.

Once Alice was situated in a bed of her own, the paramedics left and a few seconds later Carlisle glided in and smoothly wrapped an arm around me.

"Here," he whispered, handing me a decent sized vial of blood. "Drink."

I took it without question and guzzled it down, easing the burn and quenching my growing thirst while Carlisle walked over to Alice. I placed it on a nearby table with a sigh and leaned against the wall, allowing the event that had unfolded before me not too long ago to replay in the back of my mind as I clutched my face with my hands.

I remained that way for a while, allowing the silence in the room to relax me and the knowledge that Alice was still alive and that he wasn't the one responsible to further it. I could hear Carlisle moving around and didn't need to look to know that he was checking on her for injuries and whatever else it was he needed to do. The scent of blood was gone soon enough, thanks in part to the blood he'd given me and likely because he'd cleaned it up.

"What happened, Bella?" Carlisle's gentle voice reached my ears and I pulled my hands away to see him giving me a placid yet curious look.

I sighed. "Alice almost died," I replied. "I had to jump into the sun to save her again, only this time it wasn't from him. Afterwards she…said that she knew that I was "her angel", which confirmed that she knew I was the same person. I guess it's all starting to come together."

Carlisle nodded and placed his hand on my shoulder. "Are you alright?"

I nodded and relaxed into his fatherly embrace. "I am now. Thanks for the blood, by the way."

"Of course dear," he replied, hugging me for a moment before releasing me. "Your sister called and informed me that there had been an accident and that your mate was bleeding, so I snatched an extra vial of blood for you to drink and informed them of the situation."

"That explains how you were the one to end up being her doctor. Here I thought because I was your daughter and they knew that that they'd choose you to keep you "happy"."

He chuckled. "Well, that was another reason, I suppose. I appreciate their generosity, but really, I'm more than content with having this job in the first place. Saving lives is what makes me happiest along with seeing my family happy. Speaking of which…" His eyes moved to Alice.

"How is she?" I asked.

"She has a few scrapes from what looks like her falling, but otherwise she's fine," he informed me, his eyes meeting mine. "I've already cleaned her face up and opened the window up to help alleviate the scent of blood. Would you like the room to yourself so that you could speak with her when she awakens or would you rather go and return later?"

I thought about it and shook my head. "I'll stay here with her, if that's alright."

"Of course it is," he said, kissing my forehead. "In that case, I will leave you two alone. If she needs something or you'd like me to return, hit the buzzer near the door and I'll be back. If not, I will still need to speak with her myself, but I can wait until after you've both finished."

"I will, thank you," I said.

He smiled warmly at me before departing from the room, leaving Alice and I to ourselves. I sighed and went to sit down in the chair near her bed, casting a brief glance at her while she lay there peacefully asleep. I wondered how long she would stay sleeping, but decided not to dwell on it since I could and would wait until she woke up to talk with her.

That took much less time than I'd thought it would.

"Hey," greeted a soft voice that actually startled me.

I blinked and was surprised to see Alice looking at me, her crystal eyes shining as a small smile touched her lips. She sat up slowly, wincing once, then re-positioned herself so that she was facing me as she laid her head on the pillow.

"Hi," I said at last, licking my lips nervously.

Neither of us spoke following that for a few minutes. The room was silent as I ran a hand through my hair, trying to figure out what to say first. I sighed mentally and knew that I needed to make the first move here, so I just went with it.

"You remembered me," I said quietly, staring into Alice's beautiful eyes.

Alice's eyes lit up. "Yes. How could I not remember the beautiful woman with eyes like gold and skin that shone as if she'd just descended from Heaven? It may have been eleven years ago, but that's not the type of thing any sane human could forget. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw you that day at school. It was like I was living in some kind of crazy dream."

Whatever tenseness I'd felt vanished when she'd said this. Her eyes were swimming with warmth, sincerity and something more. I relaxed into the chair and scooted myself as close to her bed as I could, my mind racing with things to say and ask.

"Thank you," Alice whispered. "For saving my life."

I stared into her eyes and smiled a little. "You're welcome, Alice."

She smiled rather brilliantly at me as she sat up more. I didn't say anything as I reached over and propped the pillows up so that she could be sitting upright, which made her smile even more.

"How do you feel?" I asked.

"Elated," she replied. "I've been waiting for this moment for a long time now, the moment where we would finally be able to talk to each other. I mean, we've talked before, but I'm glad that we can finally be open with each other. To be honest, I was wondering if you were ever going to bring it up, but you never did." She paused and frowned. "Why didn't you?"

I bit my lip. "I was afraid to. I wasn't sure how you would react if I did. I mean, I knew that you knew about it because of the way you acted, but I…"

"You didn't have to be nervous, silly Bella," Alice giggled. "I was trying to make it obvious that I knew so that you would open up to me. I would've mentioned it sooner, but each time I tried to I had my chance taken away from me." My eyes widened at her comments and I felt my jaw drop open as Alice giggled again, clearly amused by my reaction.

"Say what now?" I sputtered. "You were doing all of those things on purpose to get me to ask?"

Alice gave me a sheepish grin. "Pretty much, but you never took the hint."

"I never…what the hell was I supposed to think? I can't read minds!" I shouted.

"Sorry," Alice murmured, her eyes smoldering apologetically. "I'm just incredibly impatient and I was getting tired of waiting to have that chance where we could be honest with each other because I…well…I really wanted that moment to happen. So I kinda improvised—"

"Hold on!" I cut her off, holding up a hand. "You mean to tell me that you were trying to get me to talk to you about what happened while I was trying to do the same thing? Seriously?" I groaned and smacked my forehead with both of my palms, wishing Jasper were here. "And what do you mean exactly by "improvised"?"

"It's hard to explain…" Alice said, becoming nervous.

I furrowed my brow. "Seeing as how we're being honest with each other, I think that it's only fair that you give me an answer. Alice, you've clearly known a lot more than what you've let on and I've seen it. The look in your eyes, the fact that you knew what happened to that creepy punk's car, not to mention you knowing that I was in Denali when I never gave you the specific location…Alice, please, how do you know all of this?"

Alice looked away from me and instead looked down at the bed. She looked troubled as she chewed on her bottom lip and crossed her arms, almost as if she were hugging her body to try and comfort herself while she thought. I felt a little guilt for snapping at her the way I had and ran my hand through my hair again out of habit, wanting to apologize.

I held it in, though. I'd apologize after.

"This…this is weird for me to admit," Alice said at last, not looking at me. "I can see the future."

I blinked several times. "I…I'm sorry, say that again?"

She looked at me, a glint in her eyes. "I can see the future, Bella."

I stared at her in silence. She can see the future. Whoa. "Really?" I croaked out. That was all I could manage to say as the idea that she could see the future was absorbed into my mind. A part of my brain was telling me that there was no way that was possible, but the fact that I was a vampire disproved that fact in a millisecond and I was left with the reality of it.

She could see the fucking future.

Alice smiled softly. "Yes, really. It's probably not the way you would think. I can…dream of the future, I suppose you could say. I see things that happen when I sleep and sometimes when I'm awake and daydreaming. In truth, most of the time those things happen. Like one night, I had a dream of you being in the woods, so I snuck out there, hoping to catch a glimpse of you…"

"So that's why you were there," I breathed.

Alice's eyes grew. "You were there? Holy shit, I thought I was going crazy when I didn't see you there that night, but then I saw you at school, so I was incredibly confused." She shook her head and sighed. "How did you know I was there? I never saw you."

I knew that that was going to come up eventually. There was no way in hiding it anymore since I'd exposed myself twice to her already.

I sighed. "I'm guessing you've realized now that I'm…not human."

"Yes," she replied, nodding. "I knew that because there was no way in hell a normal human could move as fast as you, look as beautiful as you and shine in the sun like you did. I thought that you were an angel from God when I was younger. I still do."

I couldn't suppress a dry chuckle. "As flattering as that is Alice, I'm a lot of things, but an angel sadly isn't one of them."

"I think you are regardless," Alice stated firmly. "I don't care what you really are, you've saved my life twice now and that says a lot about you, Bella. I would still like to know, though, what you really are, but that's only if you're willing to tell me."

"Have you not seen it?" I inquired, lifting an eyebrow.

Alice's lips twitched into a smirk. "I haven't, no."

I pursed my lips for a moment. She deserves to know, I told myself. She's my mate and she'll find out one way or the other in the end. It's only right.

"Tell me something, Alice," I began. "You've noticed some other things about me, haven't you? Like how my skin is colder than a normal human being's, how my family and I are never around whenever the sun is out, how the other day when you cut yourself, your blood bothered me?"

Alice furrowed her brow in thought. "Well, yes, actually, I…" Her jaw dropped open as the realization hit her. "No way." She looked at me. "You're a…?"

"Vampire," I replied.

"No way," she repeated, astonished.

I smiled wryly at her reaction. "I'm afraid so. I would think that this would seem a bit more believable since you can see the future, no?"

Alice stared at me and shook her head in disbelief. "There's no way you're a vampire, Bella. I know that being a psychic is weird, but it's not unnatural for certain people. But…but being a vampire? That's just crazy! I'm sorry, I can't believe that. There's just no way…"

I pursed my lips again as I watched her eyes shine with uncertainty. This wasn't the reaction I was hoping for, but I guess it was better than the reaction that I'd initially feared either. It was clear that she didn't believe me. Hell, if I was a human and someone told me they were a vampire, if I didn't know, I wouldn't believe them either.

"Alice, I have no reason to lie to you," I stated softly.

"I know that, but I…" She placed her face in her palms and sighed. "Prove it."

I frowned. "You want me to prove what I am to you?" I asked. "Do you not trust me?"

Pain flashed in her eyes. "Bella, that's not it at all. I'd just like some proof, so that I know for certain that you really are a vampire. You have to understand, this isn't exactly a normal thing to say to someone, like talking about the weather. No matter how much I like you, I need to know one hundred percent that I'm not going crazy and that you really are what you say you are."

I leaned into the chair and pondered it. She wanted me to prove it to her, eh? I could do that.

"Alright," I replied. "I'll prove it to you."

I stood up and decided that the easiest way to show her was speed. So I ran to the door, then to the opposite side of her bed, then back to where my seat was at vampire speed. Alice whipped her head around, her jaw slacking as she seemed utterly astonished by what she'd just seen.

"Whoa," she breathed.

I smirked. I wasn't done yet.

I quickly looked around the room to make sure that there were no cameras watching—I should've done that beforehand, but with my speed, I figured that if there were, they'd simply think it was a bug of some kind. Seeing that there were no cameras, I knelt down next to the bed and placed both of my hands under it. Without giving Alice a chance to steady herself, I lifted the bed up over my head, eliciting a high pitched yelp from her.

"Holy shit!" she squeaked.

My smile grew as I gently set the bed back down. I still wasn't done quite yet as my eyes looked around for something sharp…ah! I spotted a scalpel lying a few feet away and walked over to grab it before walking back to the bed. Alice's eyes bulged.

"Watch," I said, taking the scalpel into my left hand. I opened the palm of my right hand and, after making sure Alice was watching, I jabbed the scalpel into my palm. Alice actually screamed out a brief "no" before cupping her mouth shut when the scalpel broke into tiny pieces from the impact with my super strong skin.

I speedily picked the pieces up and crushed them with my left hand, then threw them away.

"Are you satisfied now?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.

Alice blinked several times, her face blank as she absorbed what she'd just seen. I felt rather proud that I'd reduced her to such a state when she suddenly broke out the widest grin I'd ever seen on her face, one that made my smile drop and my brows knit together questioningly. Her eyes, beautiful as they were, had a glint in them as she grinned.

"I am satisfied, thank you," she said, eyes alight. "I have to admit, I didn't think I'd get you to do that for me, but I'm rather pleased with the turnout."

"Say what now?" I asked.

Her smile fell a tiny bit. "I, uh, I did know that you were a vampire. I had a dream about it when you went to Denali to visit your family. I think I've known since before that, even. I wanted to see for myself, though, to have you tell me and show me. I wanted to see how you'd go about proving to me that you were a vampire. It's pretty damn cool, if I do say so myself."

My jaw was the one dropping now. "Wait, you lied to me just to get me to show you?"

Alice's face softened. "I didn't mean it as a hurtful lie. It was a little fib to get you to fess up to me about being a vampire. I'm impatient and I was getting tired of waiting for you to say it, so I did what I could to help speed you along. Sorry, but it worked out in the end."

"You…you…" I threw my hands into the air. "You little demon! You played me!"

She shrugged. "You stink at taking initiative, I can't help it. I guess it's partially my fault since I really do have poor patience, but still! I hate waiting for things that I already know, so…"

I let out a low rumbling snarl that cut her off and made her jump a little. I leaned in close to her, close enough to where my lips were next to her ear. I let out an icy breath and watched as she shivered as it caressed her face. I let out another growl and listened as her heartbeat picked up in pace and she looked at me, quivering nervously. This was not acting, either.

"You think it's funny to, do you?" I asked in a low voice. "You think that tricking me and making me feel bad is fun? That I never once didn't think about opening up to you when our eyes met that day in the cafeteria, that it didn't bother me to know all of this but not know how to go about talking to you about it? You think manipulating me is fun?"

I hissed into her ear, making her shudder again. "It. Is. Not. Funny." I allowed my lips to brush against her ear, making sure that my eyes bored into hers with an emotionless glare. "I don't appreciate it one bit, Mary Alice Brandon. You do not do that, especially to a vampire. Do I make myself clear, little human?"

Alice nodded. "Y-y-yes," she stammered. "I'm s-sorry, Bella. I swear."

I pulled my head away and licked my lips. "I don't believe you." I then lunged forward, stopping directly at Alice's throat. She cringed and shut her eyes and I smiled before lightly kissing the base of her throat. I then pulled away and sat back in my chair, smiling smugly at the terrified human as she slowly realized what had just happened.

"Gotcha," I said.

The look on Alice's face was utterly priceless.

"You…" She couldn't even form a sentence as she stared at me.

I smirked. "It stinks being on the receiving end, doesn't it, Alice?"

Alice gnawed on her bottom lip. "I don't believe you. Threatening me is supposed to be considered a good form of payback?"

I shrugged. "If you can't take it, then don't bother dishing it out. I think we're even now."

Alice glared at me, her crystal blue eyes piercing through me. I glared right back at her and elicited the same effect. We held our glares for several minutes, neither of us speaking or backing down. I'd learned from Rosalie how to keep a glare going long enough to make most humans shrink into themselves, but Alice wasn't giving up. That was a good sign.

Eventually Alice faltered and her glare dropped, her face becoming placid as she sighed and stared sadly at her bed.

"I'm sorry," Alice murmured. "You had a right to do that. I deserved it for being an ass and doing that to you and I apologize sincerely for it. It was wrong of me. I let my own selfishness get the better of me and I see now that this was as hard for you as it was for me."

Her eyes bored into mine with sincerity and my face softened. "I apologize for frightening you like that too."

"Truce?" she asked, extending her hand.

I smiled and shook it. "Deal," I replied. "No more lying though, okay? There's a lot about you that I want to know and I really want you to be honest with me, Alice. I'll be honest with you, I swear that I will, but I'd like the same."

"I will be honest," Alice said as she pulled her hand away. "I promise you."

"Good. Thank you," I sighed. "I swear, you are quite the pain in the ass."

Alice smiled at that. "It's one of the more endearing qualities that I have alongside the impatience and the fact that I can see the future in my sleep. It's quite a nice package deal, I think, because it matches well with my natural cockiness and ability, but it's all balanced out by my sweet, caring and affectionate persona."

I giggled a little and her smile grew. "You're a weird little human, you know that?"

"Hey, I got you to laugh," she pointed out. "And for the record, I am not "little". I am 5'2 and a half inches tall, thank you, which is fairly normal for a young lady. Just because you and your sisters are taller than I am doesn't mean jack squat, so don't get all high and mighty on me about my being "little", ya hear me?" She huffed to further her point and I burst into laughter.

"Holy crap," I laughed. "You are definitely something else, Alice."

"I'll take that as a compliment," she giggled. "I like this. I like having the chance to talk with you without there being any restraints. Before this we had school and that horrid awkwardness between us because we each knew things that we were both too scared to bring up. Now that everything is out in the open, it's much easier to talk with you."

"I agree," I nodded. "I've been aching for a chance to talk with my mate and I'm glad to finally have that chance, though I do wish the circumstances were better than what they are. Still, you're alive and unharmed, so I'm more than happy, especially now that my secret's out."

Alice looked at me with a curious expression on her face. For once, she didn't seem to know what to say and I wondered why that was. That was when I caught my mistake and mentally smacked myself several times over for saying that out loud.

"Bella…you called me your mate."

I blanched. "Uh..." Shit.

"What does that mean?"

A/N: To be honest, I actually enjoyed writing this chapter. Having Alice get Bella and Bella get her back. Very amusing to think up and write out. And hey, at least the story is getting somewhere now that everything is out in the open. Neither girl has gone in depth about their respective secrets quite yet, mind you. There's more to share, especially on Alice's side, but you will all have to wait for that to come out.

Oh, and to those of you thinking Bella's gift (she had a gift and she didn't even know it!) is time manipulation, I'm afraid not. More on that in the future.

Last note, I'm actually going to take a break for a little bit. School is important and I'd like to focus on trying to write my book (which, if all else fails, would be an original version of Blood Solstice). Don't worry, I won't be on break for too long and I will still work on Broken Aurora, I simply won't update for a bit. I may post that prologue, but I'm not one hundred percent certain at this point in time. We'll see.

So I apologize, but hopefully you can understand. I may surprise you, you never know. :P