Thanks to Stephenie Meyer for Twilight. My life would be very dull without it. LOL!

Extra special thanks to my amazing readers and reviewers for the 300 reviews I've received for the last two chapters and the hundreds of new alerts and favorites for Once Bitten. Wow! My inbox will probably never recover, but I'm one happy fanfic writer at the moment. To add to my amazement, my new AH story, A Forbidden Love, has received 200 reviews this week as well. :D

Thanks to Camilla10 for recommending Once Bitten on A Different Forest – that was very kind of you. Welcome to the readers from ADF.

And, as always, thanks to my lovely betas, Squeaky Zorro and Chloe Cougar, and my terrific prereaders, Content1 and hotwardfangirl, for their invaluable help.

Posted: Saturday October 29th 2011
Words: 3467

Chapter 25

Fine!

BPOV

"Bella, are you okay?"

If Edward asked me that one more time I was going to scream or…or…hit him. The old Bella would never have considered doing such a thing, but the new me was seriously tempted. I was just so angry with him. How dare he try to keep things from me, especially something as important as what was happening to my best friend?

We'd had our first real fight when I'd found out. Well, I'd fought, yelling and even throwing things. But when I'd buried my new leather-bound copy of Persuasion a good ten inches deep in the concrete wall of my room, I'd been so shocked that I'd stopped. Edward hadn't said much, other than that he was only trying to protect me and that he was sorry.

I turned to face him from where I'd been standing staring out the window of the music room, my arms wrapped tightly around my waist. His beautiful face was drawn with worry and sadness, and I sighed. My hand lifted—almost of its own accord—reaching toward him, and he flashed to my side, grasping my fingers like he was Leonardo De Caprio and I was that stupid girl off the Titanic. I mean, really, she could have made room for him on the floating plank. It might have taken a couple of tries to get it stable, but surely that would have been better than letting the so-called love of her life freeze to death right before her eyes!

"I'm fine," I lied for the umpteenth time, and Edward's eyebrows shot up to disappear behind the hair that fell haphazardly across his forehead. Unable to resist, I reached up to smooth away the frown lines that marred his perfect brow and brush my fingers through his bronzed locks. His eyes fluttered closed, his sweet breath brushing against my wrist with his sigh. Then he reached up to take my hand from his hair and bring it to his lips before softly kissing my palm. This time, my eyes closed. Actually, I think they may have rolled back in my head a little as bursts of pleasure traveled from where his warm lips touched my skin, tingled down my arm, and then radiated outward on a joyful exploration of my body.

This boy's lips should be registered as a lethal weapon, I mused. Then I giggled, picturing my dad locking Edward away in a gun closet and hiding the key…permanently.

Edward cocked his head, puzzled by my laugh, and my smile faded.

"Okay, maybe I'm not fine," I admitted, my voice resigned. I'd never been a big one for talking about my feelings, preferring to think things through by myself, or sleep on it, as my mom had always recommended. But sleep was no longer an option, and time to myself meant time away from Edward, which was problematic.

Becoming a vampire was like being turned into a hardcore addict overnight. Well, strictly speaking, over three nights. The burn in my throat, the overwhelming thirst for blood, and then the unbelievable rush when I got to satisfy the craving…let's just say, I totally got the whole 'personal brand of heroin' reference and I was only talking deer blood, not human or my singer. I didn't dare imagine what that must be like!

And then there was Edward.

I'd seen girls fall so hard for a guy that they put every other aspect of their life on hold, or disregarded it completely. They couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, dumped their friends, stopped studying, ignored their family, and all because they had a crush on some guy who might not even know they were alive! Consequently, I wasn't quite as quick as the Cullens to assume that my reaction to Edward was solely due to the whole vampire mating thing. But I had to admit that my overwhelming response to him seemed even more intense than the worst teenage crush I'd ever observed.

Time spent apart from him was something I could endure in terms of hours, if not minutes, and that was only as long as I had something else to distract me. Even now, when I was incredibly angry with him for not telling me about what had happened with Jake—I'd had to find that out from Emmett whose lack of a filter had come in handy—I still couldn't bring myself to do the normal, "I've just had a big argument with my boyfriend thing" and storm off. Earlier, he'd offered to leave, and I'd told him to stop being an idiot. He might enjoy punishing himself, but he'd be hurting us both, and I really wasn't in the mood.

Edward released my hand and opened his arms, and like the infatuated fool that I was, I totally caved. Melting into his embrace, I soaked up the comfort of his touch like he was some other sort of drug, but one even more highly addictive than blood. I could last twenty-four hours without hunting—just—but the thought of a day without Edward was too painful to imagine.

"So…" he murmured against my hair, gently swaying me in his arms. "You going to elaborate on the, 'Okay, maybe I'm not fine' comment, or was that it?"

I couldn't help smiling and pulled back to look up at his bemused expression.

"It really kills you, doesn't it? The fact that you can't read my mind…"

He pulled a face and then shrugged. "A little," he admitted, and I snorted. "Okay, a lot. But only because you won't tell me what you're thinking, and I don't know how to fix things if I don't know what's wrong. I'm sorry about before, I just…please, tell me what to do to make you feel better."

Sighing, I rested my head back against the warm, solid wall of his chest. "I don't think there's anything you can do," I murmured in a small voice.

"Tell me anyway?" he pleaded.

"All right," I agreed, taking a moment to put my feelings into words. Then I pulled back a little, thinking it might help if I could see his eyes while I tried to explain. "I was doing pretty well keeping the sadness at bay…taking a break from it, I suppose. But my best friend just had a meltdown because he finally accepted that I'm dead, your mom is off taking my dad a sympathy casserole that he can't ever know I baked, and for all I know, my mom left town this morning without seeing me, without ever being able to see me again. How do you fix any of that?"

"Time," Edward whispered sadly. "Time is about the only thing I know that can heal grief. That and remembering…talking about the people you love and miss so that you make happy memories rather than just trying to block out the pain."

"Well, I guess that's one thing I've got lots of now that I'm kind of immortal…time…and a great memory," I joked, but my voice sounded hollow.

"Hey, it's not all bad, being a vampire," Edward offered, causing a reaction from his family, who were, of course, listening in to every word we said. Things were dropped, curses uttered, and words of amazement and disbelief filtered through from various parts of the house to where we stood alone in the music room. It took me aback.

"Okay…" I murmured, eyeing him curiously. "Want to tell me what that was about?"

He dropped his eyes, and I ducked down to capture his gaze. "Edward?" I asked when he didn't respond, and he groaned, lifting a hand to run it through his hair, crazily messing the strands I'd only just straightened.

"I guess you could say that I haven't always been overly gracious or accepting of my, er…condition," he offered cryptically, and I frowned, confused.

"Admit it, Edward…You've been stuck in a hundred-year sulk!" Emmett called from where he was playing Xbox in the games room, his words triggering raucous laughter from throughout the house. To my surprise, Carlisle's laughter was the loudest, coming from his office. In fact, he laughed so hard that Esme excused herself from where she'd been sitting, chatting with Rosalie while doing some embroidery, and went upstairs to make sure he was all right.

The look on Edward's face told me he was rapidly approaching breaking point, so I was glad I'd managed to keep my own laughter at bay. It would seem that Edward hadn't always been thrilled with his super-species status, though I imagined he must have done some serious complaining over the years to provoke that much of a reaction.

"Want to go down to my room so we can talk in private?" I whispered, offering him a reprieve. He nodded jerkily, his relief quite comical.

"Spoilsports!" Emmett called, and I tugged Edward with me toward the basement rather than let him go after his brother. Waiting until we were safely behind the closed door to my rather conveniently soundproofed room, I turned to him, my expression concerned.

"So, you and Emmett…has it always been like this?"

"Like what?" Edward grumbled, still bristling from being the butt of his family's humor.

"The joking, the teasing, the wanting to rip each other's heads off."

My words brought a smile to Edward's face, which I felt quite good about.

"No…not the decapitating, anyway. We've always joked around a lot, and normally I don't mind. But it's different with you here." He shrugged.

Worried by his words, I chewed on my lower lip, something that always seemed to draw Edward's eyes and cause them to darken, though I wasn't sure why.

"Do you think maybe Emmett doesn't like me; that he doesn't want me here? Could that be why he keeps teasing you…us?" I asked, the insecurity that had plagued me all my life rushing to the fore.

Edward's eyes widened as he met my gaze. "No!" he practically shouted. "Emmett loves you, Bella; all my family does. They think you're wonderful, smart, beautiful, amazing….I could go on and on. They're incredibly happy to have you here. It's just they realize the circumstances of you being with us are tragic, and they're trying not to be insensitive to your losses. But please, don't ever think you're not welcome in our family, because you are…by everyone, Emmett included. He thinks you're incredibly cute and way out of my league…which I can't dispute. Carlisle and Esme already think of you as another daughter, and the girls are so excited to have you as a sister they can hardly contain themselves. Jasper just wants you to be happy, and he'd do anything to keep you safe, Bella…we all would. You're one of us now…for always."

A little stunned by Edward's passionate outburst, I had to sit down for a moment.

"Wow…" I murmured from where I'd taken a seat on the end of the bed. "That's…great. I like your family, too."

"Your family, now as well," he insisted before sitting down beside me. I wasn't quite ready to acknowledge them as such, but I didn't argue. After a while, we lay back on the bed together with his arm around me, my head resting on his shoulder.

"So, with Emmett…it's kind of a hazing thing, all the teasing?" I asked, still not entirely understanding Edward's brother's motivation. I'd never had a brother of my own, but I'd certainly seen plenty of roughhouse behavior amongst Jacob's friends on the Res.

"Mostly, it's just his way of welcoming you to the family and a great opportunity to get back at me for all the pranks I've pulled on him over the years," Edward explained, and I smiled, imagining the havoc they must have wreaked. I'd always wanted to be a part of a large family, which was why I'd enjoyed my summers visiting Jacob and his friends so much.

Edward was right, and I could imagine that talking about Jacob and all the fun we'd had growing up together was probably a good idea…but I didn't feel like traveling down that road just now. Rather than happy memories, I kept picturing Jacob crying and being led away by Sam and Jared, before turning into a big, red-brown wolf and taking off howling into the trees…not that I'd seen that for myself, of course. Emmett had done a good job of describing what had happened, and in a surprisingly sensitive way. He'd seen how angry and upset I had been and, despite the fact that he could have had a whole heap of fun at Jake's expense, he hadn't, and I appreciated his restraint.

Steering my thoughts away from painful territory, I brought it back to a topic that I hoped would help to lift off the sadness that had settled on my shoulders like a dark cloud.

"If being a vampire isn't all bad, what sort of things do you like about it?" I asked, thinking that now might be a good time to hear about some of the positive aspects of this life I was stuck living, whether I wanted to or not. "Other than the blood," I amended, "as I don't want to think about that just now…my throat's burning enough as it is." I'd been told that keeping to a once-daily feeding schedule at roughly the same time each day was the best way for me to gradually gain control over my rampant thirst. Jasper was adamant that if I gave in to the craving and drank as often as I wanted, it would take much longer for me to develop the control required to spend time around humans...as well as wipe out the local fauna in the process.

"Fair enough, other than blood," Edward murmured, and then proceeded to answer my question. "Well…I like the speed. I'm the fastest runner in the family; faster than anyone I've ever met," he stated, matter-of-factly. "And I can climb…anything."

"Hmmm…that sounds like fun," I agreed. "All my life, I've always been so uncoordinated that doing anything athletic's never really been an option. I can't wait to be able to go for a proper run and find out what I can do."

Edward rose up on his elbows, a huge grin on his face. "Oh, just wait until we go running together, Bella. You're going to love it! I might even let you beat me…sometimes."

"Beat you?" I growled, turning on my side toward him so as to show my full displeasure. "I think someone's forgetting just which member of this partnership is the strongest!"

Edward froze, and for a second I wondered if I'd offended him. But then he reached toward me to stroke his forefinger slowly down the side of my face and along the line of my jaw, his touch gentle and yet resonating right throughout my body.

"Partnership?" he whispered, his voice sounding hoarse, and I ducked my head to hide my smile. Edward might be a vampire, a killer—of animals, not people…mostly—but he was such a softie. Not that I minded.

"That's what I said," I replied, looking up at him through my lashes and watching his eyes darken. It was an incredible feeling to realize I had so much power over this beautiful boy…and a little daunting at times.

"Okay…running and climbing," I said, attempting to get us both back on track. The privacy was nice, but awfully tempting. "What about flying…can any of you guys do that?" I teased, though a small part of me wouldn't have been overly surprised if he'd said yes. Vampires were supposed to be able to turn into bats, after all.

"Kind of," Edward replied, a smirk curling his lip when my mouth dropped open. "We can't fly but we can leap fairly large distances from treetop to treetop. It's almost like flying."

Frowning, I tried to to picture what he'd described, and then my eyes widened. "What? Like a flying squirrel?" I giggled.

Edward's scowled at me in mock anger, and then he flipped me onto my back. "I'll 'flying squirrel' you," he growled, wrestling my flailing arms out of the way so he could tickle my sides. I squealed with laughter, not really attempting to escape even though I could have...easily, because it was fun, and because I preferred the illusion that Edward was stronger than me.

We tussled for a while, with Edward continuing to tickle my ribs, and I laughed so hard I was really glad I could no longer pee. I couldn't remember ever being tickled successfully before, and it was fantastic in a stop/don't stop kind of way. Charlie and I'd never had that sort of relationship, and Renee was more the cuddle-and-chat type. Jake had tried it once, long before his wolf-gene had kicked in and he'd gone all Incredible Hulk on me, but it hadn't ended very well. Even then, he'd been stronger than me, and with my luck, I'd come out of it with a sprained wrist and a bruised face. Explaining how I'd been injured to Charlie had not been fun.

This time I didn't have to worry about getting hurt; quite the opposite—I was the one who might accidentally hurt Edward if I wasn't careful, so I was being very careful. But despite my attempts at restraint, I somehow ended up on top with him pinned beneath me. Not actually breathless, but breathing fast from the sheer fun of it, I held his hands above his head, my hair fanning out like a curtain around us. As we grinned at each other, I was captured by the almost mystical beauty of his face…the sheer perfection…and the smile that was all for me. The laughter died as our breaths mingled together, our mouths hovering barely inches apart.

"Bella?" Edward murmured, love shining from his dark, burgundy rimmed eyes, and a question in his voice. I wasn't sure what he was asking of me: a kiss which I would gladly give, or the words that we were both waiting for me to be ready to speak.

I lowered my head a fraction at the same time as Edward rose up toward me, and our lips met…brushing softly, enticingly against one another.

"Oh, Bella…" Edward breathed and then slowly pulled my lower lip into his mouth. Hovering above him, I savored the feel of him suckling my lip, grazing it with his teeth and then soothing the graze with slow, sensual swipes of his tongue. After long, lovely moments, we traded places, and I drew his plump lower lip into my mouth to return the favor in the hope that I made him feel even a fraction of the pleasure that he gave me. Then we kissed, over and over, and the feel of his soft, warm lips brushing against mine in sweet caresses swept away every care, every sadness, every thought but one…Edward.

Releasing his hands, I tangled my fingers in his hair as he wrapped his arms around me, drawing my body down onto his. We both moaned at the exquisite contact, and I felt what little resolve I had to take our time and go slow while we got to know one another…dissolve. From the way Edward was holding me close and running his hands up and down my back and over my hips and thighs, I didn't think that his resolve was faring any better. Besides, I didn't need to be a psychic or an empath to know that he was every bit as aroused as I was.

So, it was probably a good thing that Jasper and Alice chose that particular moment to knock on the door and announce their arrival.

Edward and I froze, mid-kiss, and then slowly, reluctantly drew our lips apart.

"Just a second," Edward called hoarsely, and I heard Jasper's distinctive chuckle through a crack he'd made in our soundproof world by opening the door.

Lifting myself off the delicious cushion of Edward's body, I flopped backward onto the bed, one arm across my face to cover my grimace of embarrassment…and frustration. Edward moved to sit with his back to the wall, his knees bent in front of him to hide how our brief but wonderful interlude had affected him.

Groaning, I remembered that there was no hiding from Jasper's freaky talent…or Alice's for that matter. She'd probably seen us not stopping and had come to the rescue, but at that moment I didn't feel very grateful. Where were the wolves when I needed them? I thought grumpily. Then, I chuckled at the ridiculousness of wishing that shape-shifting wolves would come by to block the weird psychic talents of the goodhearted vampires who were intent on stopping me from accidentally going too far before I was ready with my gorgeous but highly-addictive vampire boyfriend.

But then my embarrassment was brushed aside, replaced by curiosity and no little excitement at Alice's words.

"Come on you two love-birds," she piped as she bounced into the room, Jasper in tow. "Time to get ready for your big date!"

~OB~

Personally, I wouldn't mind a tickle fight with Edward. How about you?

Sorry about the continuing UST. Hope I'm not giving too much away, but I think you'll be pleased to know that I'm currently writing some resolution…but date night and a little more family/falling in love time first!

Thanks for all the lovely reviews. I think Once Bitten is going to make it to 1000 with this chapter. Woohoo! :D

xxx TLSue

PPS: For readers of AFL who heard about my car accident, thanks for all the well wishes. I'm on the mend, just a little concussed, achy and shaky. Hope my writing makes sense!