Heyo! This chapter came after I fell into a writing frenzy last night, making me write it all in one sitting. It's my longest yet! I really hope this wave of inspiration lasts, and am trying to milk it for all its worth.

Also, once again, thank you so much for the kind reviews. They turn me into a smiling, giggling mess, so thank you!

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Edward stopped breathing as Alia entered the empty chemistry classroom and sat next to him with a warm smile. She was starting to smile with her teeth more now that she had gotten her braces removed. "You've been biting your nails again."

Alia immediately moved her hands into her lap, under the desk and out of Edward's sight. "No I haven't!" she lied, obvious even if he weren't a mind reader.

"Then show me." he leaned toward her.

She bit her lip and pulled out her hands as if she hadn't been hiding them. Edward took one in his hand, which she started at. If it were just biting her nails, he wouldn't have commented, but Alia tore at them with her teeth until they were bloody stumps. "I was climbing a tree and uh held on too hard?"

He gave her a withering look at that before turning his attention to her small, delicate looking hands. He felt the urge to put those fingers to his lips and taste that rich, heady scent, but put them down with a swallow. "I think you need to see a doctor."

For what? Being stupid disease? Her eyes hardened. "I'm fine."

"You're clearly not." Edward said calmly.

"It— it's not too bad, Edward. It's kind of just the way I am." she laughed nervously. "I feel totally fine right now, I promise."

That wasn't a lie. Bringing it up had triggered some of her anxiety, but her mood wasn't as chaotic as he'd seen during her panic attacks. But other students were beginning to pile into class, so he let it go.

Three days later, when they were at Alia's house, Edward presented her with two small containers of nail polish he had Alice acquire.

"You want me to paint your nails?" Alia tilted her head upon being presented with the vials.

"It's for you."

"Thanks but no thanks." Alia wrinkled her nose. "I'm terrible at painting my nails." She thought of a memory where she was ten years old and spilled some of her sister's polish all over her hand and the carpet. She and Edward both winced internally at the shouting Alia was subject to for that.

"Then let me paint your nails." Edward smiled at her. "Please?"

Alia frowned, and considered whether it was a joke. She was convinced by the sincerity on Edward's face however, and motioned for him to come to the bathroom. She sat down on the bathroom counter and shyly presented the stubs that were left of her nails. She hadn't bitten them since class, so the blood from Friday was absent. They had grown out enough to almost be at normal length, save for the frayed edges.

She hadn't noticed, but Edward had brought a whole cache of manicure supplies. Standing in front of her, he carefully filed down what was left of her nails into clean even shapes, vigilantly watching to see if he was causing her any pain.

"That's a pretty colour." Alia remarked upon him pulling out the dark green polish and painting her thumb nail. Of course it was. He had chosen her favourite colour after all. He had to resist the urge to hold his breath when presented with the horrible stench of the polish, of alcohol and other harsh chemicals. He had no idea why Rosalie and Alice chose to paint their nails willingly.

Alia was half-surprised that he painted her nails perfectly, without a single out-of-place stroke. He had demonstrated himself as perfectly dexterous, so why would this be any different? When he was done, she held up her hands to the light and inspected them. It's nice of him, but it's not like it's gonna last. Already the image of perfection was frustrating her.

"I'm not done." Edward smiled, motioning for her to hand her hands back. Curiously, she did so and he pulled out another vial of clear polish.

A top coat? Alia was puzzled but didn't remark as he added that layer, which had a bitter scent to his nose. When he'd screwed the cap back on, he helped her off the counter with a lazy smile. "Now let that dry and you should be fine."

"Thanks and all, but what's this for?"

"You'll find out."

Though she burned with questions, Edward chose to maintain the mystery that was growing increasingly frustrating to her. It was the next day in class, when Alia stormed up to him, expression incredulous. "It tastes bad!"

"What does?" he said innocently. She held up her nails, still immaculate, and Edward smirked. "Nail polish? Well, yes, I'd assume it would taste bad."

"You're such a little shit." Alia grumbled, sitting down next to him. "Thanks." she said, more quietly this time.

"Don't mention it." He looked at her with fondness he couldn't suppress. It had taken Alice a few days to express order a clear polish designed to prevent nail biting with its bitter pungent taste. He wasn't sure if it would work, but he figured it was worth a try. And that attempt was worth it, it seemed, to help Alia's anxiety.

Really, it was his own fault he eased up after that.

He had only addressed the physical effects of that anxiety, not the mental, not wanting to upset Alia by forcing her to see a doctor.

It was a presentation day when it happened, in their history class. Edward and Alia had naturally paired up, and were up in about half an hour. Their topic was something mundane on the American Revolution, that everyone in class was already bored with from two months of fixation on the subject.

Alia excused herself to go to the bathroom, which Mrs. Clark allowed with the warning that the presentations would be starting soon. Alia's mind was calm enough, where Edward didn't suspect a thing because of its placidity.

It was when she failed to return within 20 minutes that he realised what was happening. By then, the presentations had begun and there was no way for him to leave until class was over. Edward knew both their parts, so he confidently did the presentation on his own, rattling off about Benjamin Franklin's inconsequential life.

"Alia must be sick." He covered for his partner swiftly, and gave his teacher a charming smile. "May I go check on her, Mrs. Clark?"

"Wait until class is over, Mr. Cullen." Mrs. Clark said curtly, indicating to the next terrified pair to get up and present.

Edward sighed and relented, knowing this one wouldn't be swayed. He waited tensely for the bell to ring, and as soon as it did, he shot up and left the classroom for the girls bathrooms in the building.

He swallowed painfully as he heard the familiar sniffling coming from within. He couldn't read her mind from where he stood, but could make an educated guess as to what was going through it.

Edward caught the eye of a senior girl, who froze upon receiving his gaze. "May I ask a favor of you?"

"Yeah, of course!" she blurted out, then cleared her throat. "Anything."

"My friend is in the bathroom. Only one in there I think. Could you tell her I'm waiting for her here?"

The girl visibly deflated, but Edward smiled at her imploringly. "Your friend?"

"Yes." he nodded. "Please?"

"Oh, okay." Then he's not taken! The girl left him and entered the girls bathroom, where he heard her knock on each of the stalls, until Alia gasped when hers was knocked. "Hey, uh, your friend is waiting for you outside?"

"My friend?"

"You know, Cullen. The super hot one."

"Aw fuck." Alia muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. Thanks. I— um— I'll be out in a few minutes."

The girl came out of the bathroom and repeated Alia's message with a shrug. She looked at Edward contemplatively, but reluctantly left when the next bell rang.

Edward was alone in the halls now, leaning against the lockers across the bathroom. He sent a quick text to Emmett, and waited for Alia. It took more than a few minutes for her to emerge. More like ten minutes. She walked towards him with her head bowed and her thoughts filled with shame.

"I'm sorry for making you present alone." her voice was small, and hoarse from crying.

Edward did something he'd never done before. He drew Alia into his arms and held her close. She froze at the gesture but relaxed in his embrace, letting out a soft sigh. Her scent was nearly unbearable in its proximity, warm and honey sweet, but he had more pressing things to concentrate on, namely her.

He drew back and she finally let him see the face she had been hiding. Her eyes and nose were red from crying and her cheeks flushed. "I'm sorry."

"I couldn't tell." Edward said dryly. He put a hand on the small of her back and began to lead her. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Alia protested. I don't want to go to class.

"We're not going to class." Edward gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

Alia's mind raced, but she didn't say anything. It was only when Edward led her to the parking lot that she broke her silence. "Isn't that Emmett's car?"

"Good observation." Edward grinned, opening the unlocked door for her on the passenger's side. The key was in the ignition like he had asked. "Get in."

Alia only stared at him, dumbstruck. "Edward, you can't drive!"

He couldn't help but laugh at that. "Yes, I can. I'm a great driver. Trust me."

"But— but, it's not legal. You're only 15!"

"It'll be fine." Edward insisted. "Trust me?"

Of course I trust you. His breath caught in his throat as Alia sighed and got in at that slight question. How she could so easily do that, he would never understand. The pain of deceiving her hit him again, abruptly, and he closed the door on her and got in the driver's side to try and get some time to school his features.

Alia didn't notice. As usual. Instead, she was inspecting the inside of Emmett's impeccable Jeep. "It suits him." she laughed.

"It does." Edward smiled faintly. Emmett liked the bigger, bulkier vehicles. Showy, intimidating trucks and bikes.

He started the Jeep, which roared awake, and they were off, away from Forks High School. Alia relaxed five minutes into their drive, seeing how Edward operated the vehicle with confident ease. He drove the speed limit and everything. "Wait…" she asked, panic suddenly materialising in her mind. "How's Emmett going to get home?!"

"Rose will drive him, Alia. Don't worry."

She was doing the mental math in her head. Rosalie, Jasper, Emmett, and Alice couldn't all fit in Rosalie's two seat convertible. "Are you sure it's okay? I don't want to be an inconvenience."

"That's the last thing you are." Edward said sternly. "I took you out to help you relax, not worry more."

"I can't help it." She said sadly, the tears beginning to return, along with her self-deprecating thoughts.

"It's okay." He said, gentler this time. "Tell me about that book you're reading. The fantasy one about the Chinese girl?"

"Chinese inspired." she clarified, shoulders immediately losing some tension. "I finished the first one and I've been waiting for the library to get the sequel for a week. Ugh." I'll just pirate it at this rate. He smiled to himself. Alia was resorting to becoming more tech savvy to combat the limited shelves of the Forks library. She thought he would judge her, which couldn't be further from the bemused admiration he felt.

They talked, and she relaxed, not even realising that they had drove up to a hiking trail, which he parked by. "What are we doing?"

He opened the door for her and grinned. "Hiking, obviously. I know you like the woods."

She beamed at that. "Yeah! That sounds awesome! I've never actually been on a trail before."

One would think that that would be the first logical course of action when it came to exploring the forests surrounding Forks. Edward refrained himself from making that comment or delving into a lecture about the recklessness of her escapades. This was to ease her worry, not make it worse. "After you."

They began the trek up the trail, Edward keeping a close eye on Alia's very human stamina. Though she was active, there was no way for her to keep up with him, so he asked to slow down whenever she began to get tired. The more they walked along the trail, the brighter Alia's spirits seemed to get. At one point, she tried to scare him by picking up a slug and placing it on his shoulder. He only grinned and chased her with a spider that had her shrieking with laughter.

She even managed to convince him to abandon the trail entirely after a while, wanting to chase a trail of wildflowers. He wasn't confident in her ability to find her way back, but was certainly confident in his.

Eventually, they were higher up the mountain. Alia only realised this when they found themselves suddenly at an outcrop had a view of the mountaintops just overtop of the tall treeline. "Whoa." She moved past an equally amazed Edward, her eyes searching around the forest floor. "Aha! Help me out here!"

Edward moved to do so, seeing that she had her hands on tree that had fallen over. He did the brunt of the pushing, but she didn't seem to realise that as she exerted her full pressure. "Damn, we're pretty strong, huh?" she beamed with pride, once they had pushed the log to look over the natural outcrop.

"That we are." Edward hid his smirk as well as he could.

Alia plopped herself down on the makeshift bench and smiled contently at the magnificent view in front of her. Edward sat down beside her and focussed on her instead of the view. It was the case again, where he never would have guessed that she had just broken down mere hours ago.

"Alia…" The tone in Edward's voice made her smile fall as she looked at him. "I think you should see a therapist."

A brief flash of panic crossed her face before she looked down. "No, I— I can't."

"Hear me out, please?" Edward asked gently. She looked to him quickly, then nodded. She was starting to chew her lip with worry. "You can't keep going on like this. It's not healthy."

"There are no therapists in Forks." she said quickly, as if that would be enough for him.

"I know." Edward said. "Port Angeles, though has a few. Seattle has even more, if we want to go a bit further. Carlisle or your parents can recommend the best one."

"No!" she exclaimed, then looked away, blushing. "I don't want anyone else to know."

Edward stared at her for a long, lingering moment. His family knew everything about his life, but he hadn't told them about this, no matter how badly he wanted Carlisle's medical opinion. It had been a good decision, he decided as he saw the terror on her face. "Okay. No one else will know. Will you consider it now?"

He knew what her problem was. She felt embarrassed, pathetic, weak. She saw herself as a burden to everyone around her. Edward put a hand on her shoulder and she stilled. "You're not stupid for being like this. You're not weak either. Would you tell me to get help if I was in your shoes?"

"You wouldn't be."

"If I was." Edward said more insistently. "If I needed help, would you look down on me?"

"Of course not." Alia said quietly. After a minute of frantically swirling thoughts that finally stilled into quiet acceptance, she looked at him. "Okay. Fine. I guess it's worth a shot if you think it'll help."

Edward beamed at her and she punched him in the arm as a result. "Ow. I guess I'm not that strong, actually." she said, wringing out her hand with a giggle.

"I disagree. I think you're very strong."

Alia blushed at that and was quiet. He was too. It was nice to enjoy the rest of their afternoon before the overcast sky began to threaten rain. They easily found their way back to the parking lot, and were off by the time the first drops began to fall. Edward dropped her home, and watched her wave at him in the rearview mirror, sighing to himself happily with the thought that he'd finally managed to convince her to take that step she'd been avoiding.

In a week's time, he was driving her to Port Angeles to see the therapist she'd called nervously on the phone after their hike. When she came out of the office after the hour long session, it was with puffy eyes and a quiet mind.

Before he could worry and try to find out what had happened, she was hugging him tightly. "Thank you."

He didn't need to ask what she was thanking him for. Her thoughts made that clear and gave him more credit than he deserved. Instead, he hugged her back, resting his head on top of hers for a brief second before he remembered himself. "You're welcome."