Disclaimer: I so do not own Twilight. If by some strange twist of fate I did own it, I would be completing Midnight Sun right now and not holding out on you all. ;o)

A/N: Sorry for this chapter being short. It has been a rough week. Too many scares… enough to last me a lifetime. I swear, my friends are going to kill me at a young age.

Not to mention all of the celebrities dying. Tragic. Someone out there is acting on elaborate contingency plans… I know it. But, then I ask them, why the fuck Billy Mayes? He rocked something awesome! "Mighty Putty." Shit works. No lie.

Thanks to my Beta.

Indulge your curiosity, loves with CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE!!

I've always been told, you will never grow old
You live your life too fast, but I don't want to rest
I'm not old and tired, but I've been trough fire
And I've seen enough, and I might never be the same again,
But have you seen my friends, they're just the same."

--"Dance With Me" by The Sounds

Chapter Thirty-Three

BPOV

It didn't take too terribly long for us to unpack our clothes and belongings into the various drawers and closets that were located in our area of the Manor. We had a few…delays.

I chuckled to myself as I thought back to the times where Edward would come out of nowhere and pull me to him for a deep, passionate kiss.

I had always secretly envied other couples for their ease in their physical relationships. When Edward and I had been together back in Forks, I remember looking around and seeing people like Jessica, Angela, Mike and my various other friends hooking up with people or their significant others without a worry as to whether or not their partner would accidentally kill them.

They took for granted what I coveted.

Every kiss, every caress… anything that I could get from Edward, back then, I took gratefully, happy for him even giving us a chance when he could have so easily ran away and made a new life in a new town.

However it bothered me that while he could give and I could take, I couldn't easily reciprocate. Edward had always been worried that I would possibly take it too far; push him a little too hard. He knew his limits, so I let him dictate them.

Now that I was his equal in most aspects of the word, I could take what he willingly gave me and then turn around and reciprocate the action without the fear of him loosing control.

It was the best feeling I have ever had beside the first time Edward voiced his love for me.

I felt, warm—despite my cool, stony skin—and, more importantly, for the first time in over five years I felt desired.

"Bella," Edward called as he came up the stairs with a suitcase that was clearly not his nor mine.

"What is with that?" I pointed towards the animal print duffel that he had thrown haphazardly towards me, the bag landing about a foot from me.

"A few days ago Alice had a vision of a few books that you wanted to read and put in the library so she ordered them off of the Internet and they just arrived. It was a good thing you were up here and distracted. I don't think you are quite ready for that close of contact with humans." Edward informed me as he strolled over to the empty suitcases he had piled on top of the bed.

I nodded and mumbled my thanks to him, asking him to relay it to Alice if he saw her before I happened to.

"You are welcome, Bella." Alice said as she walked into the room and grabbed the bag with the books off of the ground. "I got you some books that you had decided to get for yourself, I just beat you to it, and then I got a few for Jasper and I, too. You will like those, too."

"Thanks Alice, I really appreciate it." I gave her a hug and a peck on the cheek.

She just nodded at me as she sat onto the floor and started pulling out books and putting them into piles. I wasn't sure what her organization method was, but I trusted Alice to make the right decisions.

"Hello!" Emmett came in next with Jasper in tow. They both were a little dirty with what looked like leaves and twigs matted into their hair and clothes.

"Who won?" Edward mumbled as he emerged from his big closet to get more suitcases.

"I did and Emmett is being a sore loser about it. The oaf claims that I cheated. How I would do that, I have yet to figure out." Jasper chuckled as he plopped down onto the floor next to Alice, planting a kiss in her hair before picking up a book and skimming the back of it.

"He thinks you screwed up his emotions." Edward informed Jasper with a roll of his eyes.

"Like I said, he is being a sore loser." Jasper shook his head a little at Emmett.

"So, you two," Emmett began, eyeing Edward and I. "Did you finally get it on? You were alone in the basement for quite a while…"

If I was human I would have been so red right now.

"No, Emmett." I said as calmly as I could. Edward was standing in the corner glaring daggers at his burly bear of a brother. "We didn't get it on."

"Good, Bella. That is definitely The Relationship Hole. So until you two kids are married and such, do not allow him to convince you to take a ride on his disco stick." Emmett schooled me in a matter of fact tone.

I just shrugged and nodded, fighting the urge to laugh at Emmett's impromptu sex-ed. I glanced down to see Jasper doing the same.

Alice's eyes were glazed over, in the midst of a vision.

"Let's go!" Alice squealed before she stood up quickly, knocking over a few stacks of her carefully organized books in the process.

She dashed over to me and latched onto my hand dragging me out of the room and into the hall as soon as Carlisle was making his way up to the top of the stairs. He simply rolled his eyes when Alice came to an abrupt stop in front of him.

"We are ready." Alice cheered.

"Ready for what?" I asked, slightly confused by what was going on here. Alice's previous vision must have shown her something to do with Carlisle and me being… ready?... what?

"We are going to--" Alice and Carlisle began at the same time before they stopped and shot each other looks.

"All right, all right, you say it." Alice conceded after a moment, waving one tiny hand in the air and slouching off towards the first floor. "I will be waiting for you guys outside."

Carlisle and I watched as Alice disappeared down the stairs. She really was strange, there was no denying that. But I loved her, despite her short fallings.

"Care to finish that statement?" I asked after a second, turning my attention beck to Carlisle.

"Yes, well, what I was going to say is that we are going to test and see if you have a power. Some times these things develop over time, so if one doesn't pop up today, it does not mean that you don't have one." Carlisle explained as he placed a hand on my back and steered me down the stairs.

"That is fine, I am not expecting anything." I admitted with a small shrug. "I figure I was lucky enough to have them as a human so why so I get the best of both worlds and have them after my change, too. Doesn't seem fair to everyone else."

"Don't think like that. You, more than anyone else, deserved what you were given." He smiled at me.

"However, I also want you to know that the tests that we are going to do today are nothing major or anything like that. We aren't going to push you so soon after your change. So, that may also be a factor in whether or not we find a power today or not." Carlisle opened the front door for me and led me out into the slightly windy air of the night.

It struck me funny that I wasn't feeling the slightest bit strange about the fact that I didn't have to eat normally or sleep, or even go to the toilet! I guess those feelings would come in time. But, as of right now, it felt completely natural to be out here at a little past two in the morning.

"I understand. I don't think I will be too terribly disappointed if I end up powerless." I told Carlisle as we passed through the garden, the light of the moon illuminating the flowers in the most beautiful of ways.

"You might be surprised." Carlisle stated simply.

"I have spent too long, in my opinion, being labeled as 'special' or 'unique' by everyone. It made me feel like sort of an abomination and a novelty at the same time… I didn't like either of those feelings, really." I told him honestly, thinking back to all the times people and vampires, alike, had treated me differently or such simply because I was different.

"While I sympathize with you, what you had was a blessing, Bella. Without it, I doubt that you would be here today. You abilities saved you so many times. I don't think you even realize it." Carlisle looked down at me, the sympathy shining through his eyes.

"I suppose…" I trailed off, think about how much Carlisle was like those parents who are always right, and know that they are always right.

"Plus, if you do have an extraordinary gift like I think you will, then it could be such a benefit to this family in the future. Who knows what you could help us prevent or protect us from. You are not the only factor in this complex equation that is our existence." He patted me on the shoulder, coming to a stop in the middle of the huge area of grass in the backyard.

"You are right again. That was selfish of me to only think of myself, wasn't it?" I shot him a sheepish little half grin.

"No, no, that isn't what I meant at all!" Carlisle exclaimed.

"Even if you didn't intend for it to come out that way, that is exactly how I was acting." I corrected him, not wanting him to feel bad for something he didn't do.

"Not at all. It is perfectly natural to put yourself first. It is our instinct, human and vampire alike, to protect ourselves about all else, is it not? Survival of the fittest, right? If you are the fittest then why should you have to suffer through something that you could easily beat?" Carlisle laughed at his own little explanation, his eyes shining in the moonlight.

"True, true." I laughed with him.

"Here is what we are going to do, Bella." Carlisle began as he gestured out to the land around us. "We are going to test simple skills of yours to begin with to see if you excel, beyond the normal newborn parameters, in any of those areas."

"Sounds good to me." I agreed as Carlisle stepped away from me and walked out a good few hundred yards away from me before he turned around.

"All right, I have various members of the family, Marcus included, spread out." Carlisle explained. "I want you to close your eyes and tell me if you hear any of them."

I did as he said, closing my eyes and sucking in a deep breath before focusing my attention and energy on my sense of hearing.

I must have sat there for ten minutes listening for something, anything that was out of the ordinary. I came up empty handed.

"Bella… you can stop now." Carlisle laughed as I opened my eyes with what I was sure was a confused expression on my face. "Obviously you have no special abilities with your hearing… if anything, your hearing is worse than to be expected."

"How do you figure that?" I asked, slightly miffed that I was sub-par in some area.

"Turn around and you will understand." Carlisle let out another little chuckle as I turned around warily, not sure what to expect.

Standing behind me, embarrassingly enough, were all of the Cullens plus Marcus. Somehow I hadn't even heard them come up on me.

"So I guess I would be an incredibly easy target, huh?" I joked a little, staring at all of their amused faces…

…Well, Jasper wasn't amused, he seemed almost worried.

"Bella, the fact that you didn't even show signs of knowing that we were there is sort of alarming." Jasper stated. "Was your hearing damaged as a human?"

"No…" I was pretty sure that I could hear just fine, thank you very much.

"Well then, I am sorry, Bella, but your hearing really sucks." Jasper's lips twitched up a smile.

"It's okay. I never really bothered to listen to people as a human anyways. I tended to tune them out… they thought I was listening but, no, I wasn't." A little giggle bubbled to my lips.

"All right, let's try something else shall we?" Carlisle came over, placing his hands over my eyes tightly before instructing everyone to go back to where they were. "Now we are going to test you vision…"

That statement set the tone for the next few hours.

I spent the time being submitted to Carlisle's various tests. The results were… less than stellar.

Eyesight: average.

Smell: average.

Strength: negative. (I don't really want to talk about it…)

Tactile: slightly above average but nothing amazing.

Hearing: really, really negative.

Like I said, it was not good.

"Bella, remember what I said about these tests being easy?" Carlisle asked as he came and sat down next to me. We weren't exactly sure where everyone else was. They had run off for a test and they just hadn't come back.

"Yeah, what about it?" I picked my head up out of my hands and looked at Carlisle.

"I wasn't lying to you. This really is the basic stuff. And, to be honest, I have no idea what I am doing." Carlisle admitted with a small laugh as he stared out at the sky. It was still dark but I could see the faint glimmer of light rising on the horizon.

"What do you mean by that? Surely you have done this before with your other family members." I quirked an eyebrow up at Carlisle.

"Actually, I have not done this with everyone else. Either we knew their powers right off the bat or we just didn't bother looking for one. You are the only person that I have ever met that had powers as a human so I am trying little things to see if your powers manifested as a vampire." Carlisle explained. It made sense, I guess, but I still felt weird about it.

"Well," Emmett began as he appeared from the trees, returning from wherever he was. "I think that we should stop testing for random things like we have been and we should have just checked to see if Bella still has her original powers. That would make more sense than running around like a headless chicken in the dark seeing if we can find the needle in the haystack."

"…What?" I sat up straight and looked at Emmett. "You are aware that you stuck three different metaphors or whatever they are together?"

"Eh, it is okay. You get the picture." Emmett shrugged as he sat down next to Carlisle and I. He wrapped on burly arm around my shoulders and pulling me to him. My head hit his hard chest a little roughly, but I didn't mind.

"You know, Emmett, you are right. Maybe we should see if Bella still has her original abilities. Maybe they have been magnified." Carlisle moved to get up and he walked around a little, probably think of how we were going to test it.

"I will do the test, Carlisle." Marcus announced as he and the rest of our missing family decided to show up. "After all, the Volturi did quite a few when she first arrived so I know what to look for and what buttons to press."

Carlisle nodded his head in agreement.

"Where were you all?" I asked, curious about what they were doing.

"We ran into Maggie…" Rosalie began with a slight roll of her eyes.

"She wanted to talk to us about a questionable noise she might have heard in the Master Bedroom's chimney a few years ago." Esme explained. "She gave us a big long explanation about it and how she investigated the sound. Turns out it was just Siobhan messing around with her."

"I should have paid more attention to her thoughts." Edward sighed. "We could have avoided that entire thing. I was too scared to look in there though."

We all sat around and talked for a few more minutes before Marcus declared that he knew the perfect way to test me out.

"Attack me." Marcus stated simply. He stood in the middle of the backyard with his arms spread wide.

"What?!" I couldn't believe what he was asking me. Attack him? I think not.

"Attack. Me." He repeated slowly, a serious expression on his face.

"You know how dangerous that is! If I do still have my previous powers, you have seen how easily I loose control and rip people to shreds and I was human then!" I exclaimed, wildly gesturing with my hands as I tried to get him to see my point.

"Yes, I know. However we have seven other strong, quick and experienced vampires here to stop you from going too far. Plus, if you pull my arm off I can re-attach it easily, it is one of the perks of being a vampire." Marcus seemed almost excited about the prospect of me ripping him to shreds.

"You, my friend, are insane." I chuckled at him. I didn't think there was any way out of this and the Cullen's didn't seem to be trying to stop me either, so I might as well give it a go. No guarantees that anything was even going to happen.

"Okay, just do what you normally do and attack when ready!" Marcus smiled at me.

I looked around quickly to make sure that all of the Cullens were close enough to get to me if needed before I shut my eyes and tried to picture things that I hated.

I focused my mind on Caius' face when he had told me that I would have to "die" so that Charlie and Renee and everyone else thought I was dead and wouldn't come looking for me when I didn't call.

That moment had pissed me off so much.

I focused on that one fuzzy memory, drawing the anger that I felt and directing it towards Marcus.

I felt the familiar build up of power that I always had before I drew energy from another the only difference was that before I had to be in contact with the person. Now I was a ways away from Marcus but I knew that if I tried that I could drain every bit of his energy.

By George, I still had it.

Instead of celebrating that I could still do everything I could before, I decided to mess around with my powers for a second. You know, see if anything new had popped up.

I focused on Marcus' energy, drawing from it. I didn't take enough to leave him defenseless, but enough that I when I opened my eyes, I saw him stumble slightly from the weakness. I shot Marcus a sly smile when he met my eyes. He nodded and shot an equally wicked smile back at me when he realized that I still could do everything I used to be able to do just better.

I decided to throw them all a curve ball. I suspected that Marcus knew what was coming a second before it happened because he straightened up and placed his hands behind his head at the exact moment I let it all out, slamming every single Cullen and Marcus to the trees and walls of the Manor, trapping them there.

"I still got it!" I cheered, as I skipped around in little circles, congratulating myself.

"Yeah, Bella!" Alice yelled back at me as she tried to raise her arm to pump her fist in the air, but I still had her arms pinned down.

"Can you let us down now?" Rosalie asked slowly.

"Why?"

"I am sort of wearing a skirt and you have me about twenty feet off of the ground. It isn't a good combination." Rose explained as she looked down at her small denim mini.

"Nope." I smiled cheekily at her. "I want to see how quickly I am drained from holding you all here. Before, taking the amount of energy I did from Marcus, it wouldn't take me very long to run out of steam. Two minutes tops."

"I think it makes sense." Jasper said, agreeing with me.

We sat there for ten minutes and I didn't even begin to feel drained. This was… this was… great!

"Oh, my God!" I smiled as I skipped in another quick circle.

"What is it Bella? Are you feeling exhausted?" Edward asked from his spot on a tree.

"On the contrary." I smiled. "I feel perfectly fine. And you were there the last time that I tried to hold out for this long. You saw what happened. I passed out and almost died! But, right now, I feel perfectly fine!"

"This is great Bella, I am happy for you." Marcus voiced and everyone agreed with him.

"Now… do you think you can let us down?"

A/N: Quote Hunt is from Lady Gaga. (I do her a lot, but I like her!)

If I suggest you guys do something at some point in time, don't go all Obama on me. George Bush the thing and just do it. Thinking is for later. So, right now I am going to suggest you all doing something here. Can you handle that? All right! I suggest you guys review so that I can post that One-Shot at 2,000!

I really want to post it. ;o)

I also want you all to tell me something that you would like to see the Cullen's, Bella and Marcus doing while in Ireland. It can't be around humans because of Bella. I want to see what you guys think our favorite people should do!