"What is happening?" she stuttered looking bewildered at her trembling hands. Barton did not know, but trying to stay objective he asked:"Do you take any substances we should know about, like steroids, LSD, Heroin?" But he was interrupted by a heavily objecting Bella:
"No. Of course not! I don't take any kind of drugs but coffee does not count and I do not drink alcohol, because I'm not 21 years yet. I know what the substances can do to my body and especially my mind. I stayed clear of all these things because I've seen in Phoenix what it could do!"
Looking at Barton's questioning face she elaborated: "I saw a girl from school on a party once who had been so drunk that she did not care what the boys were doing to her. It was so disgusting! The whole party was! She has managed to get herself pregnant and had no idea who the father had been. She even had caught genital warts and Hepatitis."
Barton had watched her facial expression very closely and even her micro-expressions had been consistent with what she had told him. She was telling the truth. But how had she found out about the illnesses of the other girl.
"How did you find out about the genital warts of the other girl? Did she tell you?" he enquired but Bella suddenly found the laptop very interesting.
"Bella?" he asked carefully. But she only sighed once and murmured:"The girl was one of the most popular girls at school, often bullied me and she actually tried to convince other girls to get pregnant too, because then they could raise their children together. Me, being one of the most unpopular girls tried to reason with the others. They had plans to get pregnant on another big party. Can you believe that! So I did the only possible thing I could do to stop it!"
"You reported them to the headmaster?" Barton asked hopefully, but was expecting something more. Fury had shown interest in her after all. There had to be more about her. Trying to calm her shaking hands she shook her head and blushed:"Well, I sort of hacked her medical record and transferred the information about her genital warts and hepatitis to all the screens in school simultaneously so that everyone could see it and also wrote comments under it to warn the other girls. She fell from all graces and became the most hated girl in school this day. Luckily, no one found out it was me."
Barton mouth was agape and he fought unsuccessfully not to start laughing. It seemed that the girl could fight well intellectually. She had been right. The Headmaster and the parents would not have been able to stop these kids. They would only have gotten the kids more determined. God! Please don't let me get on her bad side!
Outside of the office Natasha informed Coulson about Bella's obvious signs of withdrawal.
"Natasha. She would never take any substances like that. She is too reasonable for that." he defended her. "She knows everything about them."
Maybe she suffers from withdrawal from the vampire boy Edward. "Sir, I'm not suggesting that she is using them willingly, but I have phoned Agent Gareth in Seattle to get her all her files which are not yet in the computer system to find out if she had been suffering from similar symptoms. In the meantime I suggest that she is examined and a blood sample is taken from her." Come on Coulson. Normally you are not so dim witted!
To Coulson's obvious confused look she elaborated. "Earlier, she said that she went to Voltera to safe her 'dear' Edward, because he had believed her to be dead. They must have been separated for him to believe that. If my theory is correct then he is the one she is addicted to."
Why did I not see that! I'm not in my right mind with Bella. "You mean pheromones?" he asked.
Now you are getting it. "Yes, she was always surrounded by the vamps! So there had to have been a constant level of airborne pheromones. And she was exposed to it over a long time."
"Alright, bring the water to her. I'll call Dr. Morris in the examination ward. Don't tell Bella yet, because she hates hospitals or everything connected to it." With a final nod Natasha went back to the office.
Coulson thought that pheromones could be the reason for Bella's state. He was sure that she would never touch any kind of drugs: After all his mother had been very diligent to inform her about them. He remembered when he had once come to visit his mother after a particular hard case only to find Bella with her. Renee had visited New York and left Bella with his elderly mother. But what has shocked him even more was Bella's disgusted face: His mother Peggy Coulson had actually informed Bella of everything drug related and had even shown her pictures of junkies and taken her to the hospital to show her. Bella had only been ten years old. She had repeated a similar procedure when Bella was thirteen. But at that age she had shown her pictures of different sexually transmitted diseases so that she would be able to check for them should she ever decide to engage in physical activities like that. She had even suggested that she should not sleep with any man before he had not given her a full blood check. Asking his mother why she had such a shocking approach for Bella she had told him that she had only wanted the best for her and she needed to know, because the educational system was terribly lacking and many young men still did not care about women. When he had argued that she was still too young for that talk she had coldly scolded him: "Better much too early than way too late, Phillip and I don't trust Renee with this topic!"
Entering with a big mug of fresh water Natasha saw an amused Barton tipping everything Bella dictated him in the laptop. Her tremors had intensified. Somehow Bella must have managed to get his respect in the meantime, because his demeanour had changed and he seemed more relaxed now than he had earlier. Giving Bella the mug she received a thankful smile and Bella managed to hastily drink the water in one gulp. She must be parched. The file was getting more detailed by the second with their joint effort but it was also obvious that Bella fought hard not only to control the tremors of her hands and arms but also to keep her eyes open. Technically her parents had been murdered the day before and apart from her involuntary nap in the hospital late at night she had not slept at all.
Unknown to the others Bella really wished to be in Edwards embrace once again and to smell him again. His scent had always been so intoxicating and she really missed it. Somehow she knew that she needed him to stop her tremors, but on the other hand she also felt slowly growing anger swelling in her heart against him. Do I really love him? Do I really love Jake? Has Edward done something to her? Why do I love them? Answering Barton's questions on the different vampires she realised that perhaps she did not know everything about her favourite coven. Perhaps they have kept secrets and special gifts from her. Rosalie never seemed to have a gift and Emmet had apparently always been very strong. What if they just haven't told her? What about the gifts from the Denali coven. They had never told her about their gifts. Did she really want to become a vampire? When she had been with the Cullens she had been so sure and determined to become one, but as soon as she had visited the pack she had had doubts. Was this the reason why Edward had tried to keep her away from the reservation? Did she really know everything about him? After all, he had always effectively evaded questions about his past. What if he had killed people? Why could she not stop her trembling?
„Thank you for coming." Carlisle greeted the newly arrived members of the Denali family. Hearing that an army of newborns was coming to Forks he had called them immediately for help. Half an hour later they arrived in the Cullen house.
Sam had reluctantly agreed to meet them there because they needed all the help they could get to protect the area. But it would also mean that more people carrying the werewolf gene were forced to transform. Strangely enough: Billy had also started to show signs of nearing transformation. A few hours after Bella's departure he had accidently hit his foot on the hospital door and realised that he could feel it. His body temperature had also started to rise. Maybe his best friend's death had worked as a catalyst for activating the gene. He was feeling sad about Charlie's death, but also incredibly angry against Victoria, the Cullens and any kind of leeches.
"Qué mal olor!" (What a stench!) Carmen exclaimed, crinkling her nose while entering the house. She had never smelt anything as terrible as that. It smelled like a long haired wet dog after playing in a dung heap.
"You don't have to breathe." her husband reminded her. "But according to Carlisle we need to form an alliance."
But looking at the pack members the blond vampire which looked like an almost twin to Rosalie had to be held back by her sisters as she wanted to avenge her Laurent. "I cannot do this." she hissed. "They have killed him!"
