Sick

Disclaimer: All things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer. I just have the really cool bracelet Bella wears in the movie and anything with the Cullen crest on it at my house.

Summary: Bella Swan gets sick and our beloved vampires try to get her better soon! Total Bella X Cullen Family fluff.

Author's Note: Oh no! We are getting towards the end of this story. Ack! Only a chapter to go.

Chapter 25

The entire family, minus Carlisle who was at work, crowded into Edward's bedroom. Even Esme pulled up a chair to sit and listen to the story. I was growing more and more curious as to what exactly reading Alice in Wonderland was all about. With Alice next to me, Jasper next to her, and the rest of the family scattered around the room with expectant eyes, I knew this was not going to be an ordinary read a storybook time.

"Now, normally, Carlisle gets to do the white rabbit's voice," Alice said, giggling. "But since he's not here, Edward will just have to do it."

I looked back at my bronze hair Greek god who looked like he was torn between killing his sister and just sitting down and reading the story. I bit my bottom lip, worried that maybe agreeing to this whole reading of Alice in Wonderland wasn't such a good thing. Edward gave me a weak smile before sitting down on a barstool that someone had brought up.

"Alice was getting very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank," Edward began normally enough. Alice, our Alice, however, immediately went from giggly to looked positively bored. I thought she liked this story.

"…the book her sister was reading , but it had no pictures or conversations in it," Edward continued and then looked over at Alice.

"And what use is a book without pictures or conversations?" our Alice said, sitting right next to me. She had pulled herself, somehow, to lie on her stomach across the black leather sofa and was lazily drawing circles in the gold carpet. For a second, she looked up at me and I saw giggly Alice again before she seemed to become interested in the carpet drawing. I realized what was going on, Alice was going to sort of play Alice. This could get fun.

"…nor did Alice think it was very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself," Edward said and then sighed before continuing on. He looked at Alice who just glared at him for a split second before Edward continued with the story. "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" Edward said doing a perfect imitation of his father. However, imagining the good doctor say that and hearing Edward say it made me laugh a bit. Luckily, it wasn't followed by coughing this time. It just made my sore throat a bit more sore. Edward rolled his eyes and I realized I wasn't the only one that laughed.

The story continued on and everyone got in on it. Jasper was the Cheshire cat which really got to be fun when he's randomly pop up above the Queen of Hearts –Rosalie- and flick a lock of her hair to annoy her. Emmett did the voices for the Caterpillar and the March Hare. I found out Edward always did the Mad Hatter, which was hilarious, and Esme was the dormouse.

"I didn't know it was your table," Alice began, now sitting up properly on the sofa. "And it's laid for a great deal more than three!" she said with a huff and crossed her arms, pretending to be angry.

Edward eyed her and came a bit closer as if he was examining her. "Your hair needs cutting," he stated simply. I could see the mischievous look in his eyes though.

"You should learn not to make personal remarks," Alice began, glaring at her brother. "It's very rude," she stated and stuck out her tongue at him. By this point, we had almost given up on actually reading the story and they were all just half acting, half listening to the story unfold in Edward's bedroom.

"The hatter opened his eyes very wide at hearing this but all he said was," Edward began in his normal tone before jumping back into sounding like the Mad Hatter. "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" he said indigently. I grinned at listening to all of this.

"C'mon you two, get back to my lines!" Emmett said impatiently. Edward sighed and was about to say something to Emmett when Esme looked up from her embroidery project.

"Patients, dear," she told her son from across the room. Emmett sighed but stayed where he was.

The story continued on, with everyone each simply saying out the lines of the characters without a book in front of them. I guess that was one of the advantages to having perfect memories, you never had to read anything twice to know what your lines are.

Around noon, just when Rosalie, as the Queen of Hearts, had demanded that Jasper's –as the Cheshire Cat- head be removed, my stomach grumbled. Of course, they all heard it and I turned beet red when all the curious gold eyes turned to me. Esme put down her crochet project –she had finished with the embroidery one- and looked at me.

"We all forgot what time it is!" Esme said. "Why don't we finish this later and Bella?" she asked me. "Why don't you come downstairs for lunch?"

I got up to follow my vampire mom, wanting to get away from the embarrassing situation anyway, only to find myself down in the kitchen. I looked up from my barstool and saw Edward smiling sheepishly back at me. "You are supposed to warn me when…" I started only to cough again.

I felt a breeze and then saw another streak of white before noticing the notebook and pen before me. "And you aren't supposed to talk until your throat gets better," Edward informed me.

I sighed and picked up the pen to write in the notebook.

You shouldn't just pick me up like that. What if I got sick again?

"What would you like for lunch, sweetheart?" Esme asked me as she looked through the fridge. It had a lot of food and I was the only one that ate.

"I'd get to keep you here for another day," Edward whispered into my ear, his cool breath brushing across my face.

"Bella?" Esme called to me again, turning around to look at me. I didn't really realize she was even there. Or where there was with Edward so close.

"Edward! Be nice to Bella and stop trying to stun the poor girl," Esme admonished her son. Edward smirked and backed up a foot but was still at my side.

"Huh?" I asked, finally realizing Esme asked me a question.

"What would you like for lunch, dear?" Esme repeat but sent a motherly glare to her son.

"Oh umm," I started and then felt my throat . Edward pushed the pen back into my hand and I sighed but wrote in the notebook like I was supposed to.

Anything is fine, Esme.

I started to turn the notebook around, so she could read it right side up but I found out that wasn't necessary. Esme raised one of her delicate eyebrows in thought and then looked back at me with a slightly smile. "What about a sandwich dear?" she asked. I nodded. A sandwich didn't sound bad at all.

"We have peanut butter, or turkey, or would you like a grilled cheese?" Esme asked. "We also have a bit more things to make a sandwich," she mused as she went back to the fridge.

I thought about what I'd like and really, there was only one thing that came to mind.

BLT?

I wrote, obediently, in my notebook. I wanted my throat to heal as quickly as possible and realized the notebook was probably the best way to communicate for now.

"Esme?" Edward said. Immediately, his mom turned around. "Bella wrote that she would like bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes for her sandwich," he continued. I wonder when the term BLT came into use. I guess it was after they were turned.

Esme smiled at me and quickly started to fry up the bacon and cut up the tomatoes. I felt horrible that she was going through all this work for just me and my loud stomach. Not that it would have mattered if I had a quiet stomach, the vampires would have all heard either way. Crossing my arms on the counter, I started to put my head down.

I noticed that both my vampire mom and my vampire fiancé had suddenly looked up and towards the front of the house. I looked up, curious, but couldn't hear anything yet. It was another minute until I heard a car come up the gravely driveway. I saw Esme shoot Edward a look and Edward nodded once. Looking down at me, he smiled my favorite crooked smile but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'll be right back, Bella," he said, kissing my cheek.

I strained my ears and tried to listen over the sounds of sizzling bacon as to who was at the door. Given that Esme was putting more bacon on, I knew it had to be someone that was staying for a bit. Was it one of the wolves? I got my answer a second later.

"Hey, Bells," Charlie said. "You ready to go home?"

Author's Note: So, yeap, next chapter will be the last one. Sorry! But it has to end somewhere… Thanks to everyone that has fav'd, alert'd and/or reviewed! I promise to get the last chapter out within a week.