Bella woke up groggy and stuffed up. She lay in bed, clinging to the final dregs of her dream, unwilling to let it go. It had been softer and sweeter than the other dreams she'd had of Edward. Instead of riding a steed to her rescue or luring her into his vampire castle, Edward made her vegetable soup. Bella sighed dreamily, then coughed. She reached for her water bottle on her bedside table and found it was empty.

Bottle in hand, Bella shuffled into the kitchen in her slipper and her pajamas. At her appearance, Emmett slammed against the wall, arms and legs spread like he had been nearly caught in a burglary. He slapped his massive hand over his nose and mouth. "Oh no! You gotta stay in there, sicko." He nodded his head towards her bedroom door.

"I'm getting some water!" Bella's voice sounded stuffy to her own ears.

"Fine. Just remember, every minute you spend out here kills one person at the home."

"You can't say that!" Bella whined, horrified. The outburst caused another bout of coughing.

"Just speaking truths." Emmett slid across the wall, bumping paintings and pictures on the wall, trying to keep the widest berth around Bella to get to his room.

Bella huffed while Emmett slipped through his door. She opened the fridge for the water filter and immediately dropped her water bottle. It landed right on her big toe, but she was in too much shock to feel the pain.

Sitting in the fridge was the pot of vegetable soup.

"Emmett! Did you make this?"

"Make what?" he asked, reentering the room.

Bella turned to ask about the soup but was caught off guard by Emmett's appearance. "Seriously, Emmett?" He had a second shirt wrapped around his head, covering his mouth and nose. It was unsettling to learn that the technique he used to dress up as a ninja as a child had real-life applications.

"Safety first, Smell-a Bell."

Back to the matter at hand, she pointed to the pot in the fridge. "Did you make me soup?"

Emmett shook his head. "Eddie was in here last night with you. He must have done it. Why? Does it suck?"

Bella didn't answer Emmett's questions. She would be annoyed that Edward stuck an entire pot in the fridge instead of putting the soup in a Tupperware container later, but for the time being she was simply stunned. Reaching into the fridge, she stroked the edge of the pot, adoringly.

Edward had really been there last night, taking care of her so sweetly.

And he kissed her.

It was just her luck. The sweetest, most beautiful boy in the world kissed her while she had been high off her mind on medication. She tucked her lips into her mouth, like his taste could have somehow lingered. She wondered why on Earth Edward would have done such a thing. And more importantly, how she was going to get him to do it again.

Bella gazed lovingly at the pot while Emmett rattled off his schedule for the day. "Eddie promised he'd check on you sometime this morning," stood out in his list. Coming back to herself, she shut the fridge, internally chastising herself for how much energy she wasted.

"Edward's coming?" Bella ran her fingers through her hair, gritting her teeth when they got stuck in the tangles.

"Only to make sure you're not dead. He's not going to sweep you off to some gala." Emmett's brows knit together as he watched Bella attempt to control the haystack that was her hair.

Bella understood that Edward wasn't going to expect much from her. But there was no reason why she couldn't try to seem like a functional person. Especially since she had been exceptionally embarrassing the night before. If she remembered correctly, she had clung to the poor guy like starfish, rattling off random instructions while he tried to make her soup.

As the embarrassing things she said in her loopy state came back to her, her hand flew up to her mouth.

"What?" Emmett asked after his sister's suddenly horrified state.

Bella moved her hand from her mouth and brought both to her cheeks. "I told Edward I imagine us kissing!"

Emmett burst out laughing.

"This isn't funny!" Bella cried while Emmett doubled over in laughter.

Emmett might be enjoying himself, but Bella wanted to die. She cringed, realizing how much of a fool she had been. Suddenly, she wished Edward wouldn't have promised to check up on her. She didn't know how she was going to face him in the light of day. She wondered if she should take another too-high dose of medicine to take the edge off.

"Yeah, but how do you imagine the two of you kissing?" Emmett teased when he calmed down enough to speak.

Bella threw herself onto the couch, ready to hide under a blanket for the rest of her life. The question came back to her head: why on Earth would Edward have kissed her?

Emmett interrupted Bella as she ran internally ran through several theories. "By the way, I think I'm going to ask Rosalie out."

"What? You can't ask Rosalie out before Edward asks me out!"

"Why?"

Bella didn't have an actual reason, other than it felt unfair. "Because I liked Edward, first."

Through the make-shift ninja mask, Bella still saw Emmett roll his eyes. "Then ask him out."

Bella scrunched herself into a ball against the arm of the couch, hoping to make herself as small as she suddenly felt. "I can't do that."

"Why?" Emmett dragged out the word in a way all brothers did when they became fed up with their sisters.

"I don't know if he likes me like that."

"Bella. Get your head out of your ass. The poor kid does your chores for you."

Bella frowned, that was nice and all, but not what Bella needed. He could be helping her for any number of reasons. Simply because he was nice, and it was how Edward treated all his friends. Or, more believably, Edward saw Bella as her true awkward, pathetic self and thought she needed a caretaker. Edward encountered Bella while she was lost, sick, homeless, incapacitated, robbed, wet… the list went on and on. It was humiliating. Bella couldn't ask Edward out. Not when there was a solid chance that he saw her as nothing more than a dirty kitten he found in a box on the side of the road.

"I'm waiting for a gesture or something."

"Like what? Do you need me to stage a kidnapping so he can rescue you? Dangle you from the rooftop by your ankle so he can swoop in and catch you?"

Bella had to admit that both of those things would address the questions she needed answers to. However, she knew how absurd of an ask that would be. In her books, there was always a moment where everything clicked. The best books had exciting moments like the ones Emmett described, where the characters would cling to one another, realizing how much the well-being of the other person mattered to them, and confess their love to one another in a swell of emotion or the middle of a battle. But there were soft, realistic moments, too. A spark when two characters touched hands. Prolonged eye contact made across a crowded room.

Bella wished she could remember how their kiss felt. If she missed their moment because she was drugged up, she would never forgive herself. As it was, the kiss only confirmed her worst theory. Edward humored the delirious, pathetic creature in his care babbling nonsense and confessing embarrassing secrets.

Instead of expressing any of this to Emmett, she asked him, "Since when did you want to ask out Rosalie?"

"Since she's been bang-a-langin' bootylicious."

Emmett always said ridiculous things like that when he was actually interested in a girl. "She's always been pretty, Emmett. What's the real reason?"

There was no single reason Emmett wanted to be with Rosalie. It was a melting pot of reasons. One was that she was the most gorgeous girl he'd ever seen in his life. But also, because of the kindness she showed himself and his sister. Because didn't laugh when she found out he didn't have one of the most basic skills and offered her tutelage.

If he had to choose a single reason, Emmett decided it was the way she made him feel the night before.

Emmett had always been attracted to girls like Rosalie. Girls that were like dark chocolate: a strong, bitter taste with sweet undertones. He was drawn to their ferocity and found their no-nonsense attitude charming. Lived for the moments where their sweet notes were revealed. He figured Rosalie was like the rest of the dark chocolate girls. He's experienced both the chocolate shell and the sweet undertones. But last night, he discovered that Rosalie had a vulnerable, nougat center underneath that hard, chocolate shell.

Turned out, that nougat center was everything for Emmett.

He was a nurturer, and he was man enough to admit that. He loved taking care of his little sister, then the animals back on the farm in Tennessee, and now the folks at the retirement home.

When he bled, Rosalie looked frightened and helpless. He'd never seen her like that, and it was clear that she didn't enjoy being seen that way. Despite the public park, caring for her felt intimate. Precious.

She felt precious.

She was precious.

Emmett wanted to hold her in his arms and tell her as much. He was determined that he would, someday. Rosalie deserved to know her nougat center was just as perfect as the dark chocolate shell protecting it.

And to do that, they needed to be romantically involved. Which would start with a single date.

"The same reason you want to ask out Edward," Emmett answered Bella's question. "Because I want to find out how good she is in bed."

"Emmett!" Bella clutched a blanket to her chest, scandalized.

"What? We know they get paid for it. They're probably extremely flexible."

"I hate you."

With his head still wrapped in a shirt, Emmett walked into the kitchen to continue his morning before Bella interrupted. Bella almost flew out of her seat when there was a gentle rap at the door several minutes later.

"Come in!" Emmett sang out between bites of breakfast.

Edward stepped into the room. His eyes immediately found Bella, huddled on the edge of the couch. Once again, Bella was overcome by how beautiful Edward was. Any time an author wanted to describe someone handsome, they must have used Edward as their reference. An elfin prince. A charming sailor. A mysterious bad boy.

He worked for any of them.

She had been so caught up in Edward, that she didn't even notice Rosalie came behind him until Emmett cheered and held his hand up for a high-five, which Rosalie answered by lightly tapping her fist into his palm. Embarrassingly enough, he was still wearing a makeshift T-shirt ninja mask. Rosalie didn't seem to mind. If anything, she looked amused by the big goof.

"You really have time to volunteer today?" he asked Rosalie, which Bella assumed was what made him cheer.

"I do. But only for a bit."

"A bit as in nine-to-three a bit?" he asked, reciting the hours of his shift that day.

"That sounds about right."

Emmett hurried to gather his belongings for work and held the door open for Rosalie. As they left, Bella wondered if Emmett was going to be able to wait until after this shift to ask her out. He never had the gift of patience, or subtly, or good timing.

Meanwhile, Edward knelt beside where Bella was curled up on the couch. "How are you?"

She swallowed. It was only a cold, but Edward looked at her with a gentle concern that made her heart flutter.

"I'm alright," she croaked. She tried to clear her throat, but only managed a coughing fit, punctuated with a sneeze.

"Water," he said to himself, glancing around the room.

Bella spotted her forgotten water bottle on the floor when Edward did. He refilled and retrieved it for her. His eyes lingered on the water bottle as Bella unscrewed it and brought it up to her lips. She wondered if he was thinking of how her lips tasted during their kiss. Then, flushed, remembering that she most likely tasted like cold medicine.

True to his word, Edward took care of Bella. At her request, he squeezed her fresh orange juice. He took two slices of her homemade sourdough out of the freezer, toasted them, and spread them with a thick layer of her homemade strawberry jam. He stuck the bread in the oven to toast it, which Bella found strange. She didn't comment on it, figuring Edward didn't grow up with a toaster.

When Edward wasn't preparing food or measuring out appropriate doses of medication, he joined Bella on the couch, where they spent the day watching old movies. Edward had a surprising amount of knowledge about the historic periods portrayed. Bella never struck him as a history person, but his insight and the fun facts on the subject matter only made him more attractive.

He was endlessly fascinating.

And though Bella thought she was endlessly boring, Edward continued to offer excuses to stay with her on that couch, to start another movie.

"What else do you need?" Edward asked again when the credits of Roman Holiday rolled.

"I was hoping we could go for a walk," Bella answered, honestly. Bella always had terrible luck, but missing the first sunny day in Seattle because she was sick was ridiculous.

Edward frowned at the window. "I don't think that's a good idea. We don't want to spread infection, now do we?"

"That makes sense." Bella nodded. She thought of Emmett and the folks at the nursing home. She couldn't believe she was so thoughtless. "What about you? I could get you sick."

"Don't worry about me." He scooted closer on the couch, but only so he could reach the blanket and pull it back over Bella's shoulder. His hand lingered there, near her hair, a moment longer, as if he were thinking of touching her. "I never get sick."

He put his hand back on his lap without his touch, but Bella could not deny the magnetic pull of longing. It was in his gaze whenever he looked at her. In his voice whenever he spoke to her. In his movement whenever he was around her. Even if she was the dirty kitten he found on the side of the road, people came to love the cats they rescued.

The thought gave her the courage to ask, "How about after I'm all better, we go outside somewhere. Maybe to the beach? I've never seen the ocean before."

"You still wouldn't," he said, his tone matter-of-fact. "You would see Elliot Bay or Lake Washington at a Seattle beach."

That sounded like the start of a rejection, so Bella backtracked. She thought of the furthest thing from a date to recover. "You know, to pick up garbage and things like that. I don't have a job, so I might as well be helpful some other way."

The longing returned to his gaze. "I'm fairly certain the work you put in for your lifestyle does more than most desk jobs."

Bella laughed quietly. Edward quirked his head as if to ask what was funny, and Bella answered, "I often have that exact thought. I know it's terrible, but it's why I haven't been looking that hard for a job. Honestly, I don't even know what happens in an office job."

Edward chuckled, "Neither do I."

"Sending emails, I guess."

"I assume you would receive some, as well."

Bella laughed lightly. She plucked a coaster off the coffee table in front of her. She had made this set out of a broken vase her mother wanted to throw away and some concrete Emmett found for her. "Emmett seems happy and satisfied with his choices, but this," she toyed with the coaster in her hands, "this is what brings me satisfaction. Sustainability. Low-waste. But it's not a maintainable lifestyle. Not without money. Not without a job."

Edward shifted. "If there were a life you could live where you never had to work and could dedicate all the years you had to do good. Would you take it?"

Bella smiled wistfully at the concept. "Wouldn't everyone?"

"What if it meant sacrificing a part of yourself?"

"If it would help more people than it hurt me, still yes."

Edward's dark eyes regarded her as if Bella had said something earth-shattering. "If everyone had a mind like yours, the world would be a much better place."

Bella was stunned for a long moment. Long enough that a tickle in her nose became a long string of sneezes.

Edward moved off the sofa and knelt down on one knee in front of Bella, offering her a tissue box like a knight would offer a maiden a handkerchief. "I would love to take you out to see the ocean, and even pick up trash with you. The moment you're all better."

Bella's heart filled her chest. "That sounds like the perfect day."

Edward's answering smile was the kind that changed an entire face. It made Bella regret backtracking. Had she not been so jumpy and given Edward a chance, he might have agreed to an actual date. As she considered a tactful way to turn the outing back into a date, the doorknob jiggled, signaling Emmett's return.

"Will you be here tomorrow?" Bella asked, ignoring Emmett's rush to the restroom for a few more private moments with Edward.

"I need to go away for work for a bit," Edward admitted. The only thing keeping Bella from panicking was how unhappy Edward seemed about that fact. "I'll let you know as soon as I'm back."

"I'll see you then, I guess."

"You will," he said, his tone absolute. "Goodbye, Bella."

Edward hurried out of the apartment. He had no patience for the elevator and took the stairs instead, not bothering to check if they were in use. He ran up with vampire speed, then down the empty hall at the same pace.

He shoved open the front door, nearly breaking it. Rosalie stood in the middle of the room. Her hands were intertwined, twisting and untwisting. The sign that she needed to talk to Edward about something important.

"We need to find Alice Cullen," the vampires announced to one another in unison.

oOo

"You need to stop."

"Stop what?"

"Thinking."

"I'll stop thinking the day you learn to butt out of my head."

Rosalie and Edward were stuck in traffic on their drive to a cloudy, snowy town in the mountains of Colorado. Their quick trip grew longer with every hour, and the vampire's agitation grew with it. The growing separation from their humans didn't help, either.

It wasn't difficult to find the Cullen's location. They were never very careful. They switched between the same houses around the world every few decades, claiming to be estranged members of the family that owned whatever old mansion they moved into. Edward and Rosalie knew where each of these houses were because they were careful to avoid them. All Edward and Rosalie needed to do was look up the hospital records closest to where these houses were located and find Carlisle Cullen. They found him in Colorado under the name Carl Miles.

"At least he was smart enough to go by a different name," Rosalie noted when they saw his picture on the hospital's staff list on their website. Usually, the Cullens kept their ostentatious names.

On their way to Carl Mile's equally ostentatious home, Rosalie tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, nervously. She glanced at the clock on the dashboard and thought of Emmett. He had a later shift at the home that day, he would be leaving his apartment any minute now. She exhaled an unsteady breath hoping he wouldn't attempt to take his bike to work. Not while she wasn't there to ensure his safety, even from the shadows.

"Please, Rose. I'm begging you."

Beside her, Edward was hunched over in the passenger seat, his hands fisted in his hair. Always such a drama queen.

"What?" she snapped back.

"Worrying. It's making me worry…"

"Emmett's going to be fine," she assured them both. "There are bike lanes the entire way, and there's not that many left turns. As long as he doesn't try any tricks, he should make it there and home unscathed."

Though she said the words, they didn't calm her one bit. She should have stolen the bike seat or a wheel before she left. She hated the idea of him riding around in the traffic-filled streets.

Edward made a sound of impatience. "No. Worried for Bella."

Rosalie snorted. "Why? Worried she'll have to bake bread all on her own?"

"She was sick when he left her, Rosalie."

"Oh, please. It was a common cold."

"We don't know that for sure, Rosalie. She didn't see a doctor."

Now, Edward was nervous. He should have taken Bella to a doctor the day she was in his care. He couldn't, though, because of the sun. He should have worked harder for a way around that, to ensure Bella's wellbeing.

"You sound insane, you know," Rosalie criticized.

"More insane than the woman worried about a grown man riding his bike into work?"

"Emmett is riding a flimsy, metal contraption through bustling city streets with no protection but a piece of plastic on his head. Bella is sitting on a couch in her apartment where the worst thing she will experience is breathing through one nostril rather than two."

"Way more people die to sickness than bicycle accidents."

"Do they, Edward? Show me, then. Show me that statistic."

Edward, of course, didn't have any way to validate his claim, but he stood by it as if he did. "Common sense doesn't need proof, Rose."

"Just shut up and admit you sound like an idiot."

"I can't do both," Edward retorted, childishly.

After several more hours of silent fretting and fuming, the two vampires arrived at another Cullen mansion, this one more absurd than the one outside of Seattle. They parked their car off the side of the road so they could travel up to the house on foot. Edward scanned the household for thoughts and was unsurprised to only find Alice's. He figured she would see them coming when they made the decision, but the concept of being seen by her still made his skin crawl.

She sat on their front porch, sipping from a thermos. Edward could smell the blood from the plastic container, but it was off. Not as potent as the blood he was used to. Animal blood must have been truly revolting.

Before Alice could speak, Rosalie held up her hand, "We know. You saw this coming. You know what we're going to say. You've been waiting for this day. We get it. You're psychic."

Alice smiled ruefully. "Actually, I wasn't going to say any of that."

Rosalie growled deep in her throat. Edward stepped in front of her and spoke for the pair. "You told us there was only one route we can take to keep the humans in our lives. What is it?"

On the drive over, Rosalie and Edward had discussed multiple scenarios: changing the humans on a very specific date and time, waiting for the humans to figure it out on their own and ask to be changed themselves, leaving them human indefinitely.

Alice narrowed her eyes. "I believe you already know what you need to do."

Edward clenched his jaw. It was true. He and Rosalie danced around the subject, but neither of them wanted to say it out loud. They were going to have to join the Cullen family.

"That's really the only way?" Edward scanned Alice's mind for any sort of loophole. However, she kept her inner thoughts closed off to him. Her mind was more guarded than a safe at a bank.

Alice set her elbows on her knees. From her perch, she was able to look down on Edward and Rosalie as she talked down to them. "Do you really think either of their bleeding hearts would be content to kill people in order to live?"

Neither Edward nor Rosalie wanted to answer because neither enjoyed the answer.

"When your eyes are as golden as mine, you will introduce Emmett and Bella to the rest of us, presenting yourselves as part of our family. Together, we will reveal to them what we really are."

Edward and Rosalie exchanged a look of uncertainty. "We can't turn them and be vegetarians ourselves?"

"Nope," Alice answered, not giving the question any thought. "Emmett and Bella will only follow you into eternity with the promise of family."

Under Alice's hungry gaze, Edward felt like a wild animal cornered in a cage. He wanted Bella for all of eternity, to give her a life where she could change the world. However, Edward and Rosalie would no longer be able to hunt criminals, for the Cullens would not condone such behavior. Murders and rapists would run rampant, and Edward and Rosalie would have to let them, adopting the Cullen's ignorant, lazy mindset.

The thought made Edward sick. For years, ridding the world from harm was the only thing that gave him hope that his unnatural life wasn't worthless.

All of that would go away the second he joined the Cullen Family.

Beside him, Rosalie had similar thoughts about Emmett.

"You knew this was going to happen." Rosalie seethed, mostly to herself. "You want those idiots to join your stupid coven."

Alice waved to the home behind her, "Why do you think we have enough rooms for eight people? I always saw this outcome, right on the horizon. Our family would gain a lot if you were to join us. Carlisle and Esme are pacifists, so we could always use another good fighter. Of course, a telepath would do wonders. Not to mention, the potential your humans hold in their silent minds."

Alice's mouth practically watered as she flipped through the possibilities she'd seen of Emmett and Bella. Powerful shields that would protect against other powers. Invisibility that made their appearance as hidden as their minds. There were a few futures where they didn't develop any abilities, but Alice skipped through those quickly.

The Cullens would greatly benefit by doubling their numbers. Their combined powers would take them from the joke of the vampire community to a fearsome threat. Edward couldn't shake the nagging suspicion that Alice was hiding something. No matter how uneasy Alice's all-knowing aura made him, Edward could not risk Bella. Unfortunately, he needed to stay on the careful path Alice laid out before him, just in case.

Edward may not be free with the Cullens, but Bella would still be able to do good. She could do good from anywhere.

Edward grabbed Rosalie's hand. She squeezed his hand, back. A silent confirmation that she was as resolved as he was. Without another word to Alice, the two turned around, each taking a long, lingering look at the house looming over them. A house that would soon feel like a prison.

"See you guys in a few months!" Alice waved. "Once you've adjusted, we can all enroll in high school together!"

Rosalie and Edward's unnaturally pale skin paled at the thought. Nothing sounded more torturous.