A/N: Hello again friends! I hope that everyone had a good week (as good as possible, anyway!). Here is the next installment. I hope you enjoy. Winding down!

Chapter 24: Awakening

Bella

The burning sensation was too much. It was most definitely the worst pain I've ever felt in my life – Edward had been correct in that assessment. As soon as Demetri had bit me, I knew it was coming. I would either die by his hand – or teeth, I suppose – or I would turn. I was oddly at peace with it, though, having already made the decision. I held on to hope that Edward would find me, but I had no idea what was going on where he was.

When Edward had found me, I tried to feel relieved. But all I could feel was the burn coursing through my body, making me feel like I'd thrown myself into fire. It was intense and distracting. But I found that I was able to compartmentalize just as I had when I was a child. I could focus on the noises around me and find comfort in them, rather than focusing on the internal scorching.

I listened as he spoke to me, unable to respond. His words were comforting, though, so I held on to every one of them. I had an uneasy feeling as his family showed up, but none of them seemed to be upset about my change. More like they had accepted that it was inevitable. The worst part was when Alice and Rose were cleaning me up. The warm water made the burning worse, and I wanted to scream at them to take me back to Edward.

"Shh, we know, Bella. We'll take you back to Edward soon," Alice had said, always knowing everything that I was thinking. "We will hurry, I promise."

I wanted to yell at them to hurry, but I still didn't dare to open my mouth. And I kept my eyes closed. Rose smoothed my hair back, washing the blood out of it. "I know what you are going through, Bella. We all do. Just trust us that you won't want this much blood around Charlie right now, or around yourself when you wake up."

That had actually calmed me down. Then I allowed them to get it all off me; no use in making Charlie uncomfortable, or making it harder on myself when I woke up. I laid there as calm as I could, baking in the oven that was lit under my skin, and allowed them to do whatever they needed to do to clean me up.

Once I was safely in Edward's arms, I immediately felt better. When he touched me that part of my body seemed to cool considerably, and I wanted to snuggle in closer to him. I still couldn't move for fear of losing all control. So, I held on, stayed still, and tried to keep my mouth glued shut.

Running had been horrific. I hated it just as much as I had before I was changing, though this time the cool mountain air actually seemed to fuel the fire inside even more. I knew Edward was being careful with me; I knew he was trying to be fast at the same time. It was awful, and I was beyond relieved when we made it to the cabin and out of the fresh air. The cabin still smelled like Edward and I, and it felt like home. I couldn't see myself being anywhere else at the moment, while I continued to smolder from the inside out.

My existence was filled with fire raging inside and the small, cool touches of Edward. Even Charlie's hand hadn't helped me. But then, without any warning, I began to feel things. I could sense who was in the room, rather than just hearing them. I knew it was just Charlie and Edward with me, and when I realized he could hear me that was a huge relief. But as soon as I realized that meant he could feel my pain, I was filled with guilt. I never wanted him to suffer like that. That was part of why I kept my mouth sealed shut as best as I could; I hadn't wanted to cause him more pain.

I spoke to him in my head, telling him that and expressing my sorrow. He quickly squashed it, just telling me that he loved me. My body filled with joy at hearing him say that. No matter how much I had said I wanted to become like him, there had always been a part of me that worried he wouldn't want me in the same way. His words had calmed that fear.

Then he spoke of his love, the immense joy at our new connection and fear that it wouldn't last. His feelings were exactly how I felt, too. While as a human I was sort of glad he couldn't hear my thoughts, right now was wonderful. It gave me the chance to really talk to him without anyone else overhearing. I told him over and over just how much I loved him.

But the shock of the day was when he told me that he hadn't spoken out loud. I almost pried my eyes open to look at him in shock. I heard his thoughts, as he heard everyone else's. Was that my gift? That I was a mind reader as he was? That seemed strange; I hadn't heard of any other vampires with the exact same gift before. Was it because he and I were mates? What was the full extent of my gift?

When Edward suggested Eleazer come in, I was all for it. I knew we would get answers about my gift, and I really needed a distraction. I was still trying to focus on anything other than the burning, and I desperately wanted something to talk about or discuss.

While we waited, Edward kept his head to mine telling me over and over how much he loved me. I tried to counter each one, telling him that he couldn't possibly be more in love than I was. He never responded to the jokes though, and at first that made me worried. Maybe we were losing the connection already? Was I getting muted? I asked him, but he didn't answer directly.

"Don't be worried, love. Eleazer is great. His gift is to identify gifts in others. I know he will be able to help us."

I tried to shake my head. That's not what I was worried about. But, still, he didn't answer my fear directly. "It's ok, Bella, please. Don't worry, Eleazer will be here soon."

I was starting to feel desperate by the time Eleazer came in. I hadn't officially met him, though I had been introduced from a distance when the Denali clan first arrived. I was focused on Charlie, and hadn't really paid anyone else too much attention. I sensed him before he entered the room, and I listened in fascination as the three of them spoke, still unwilling to open my mouth and join the conversation.

"It's an interesting gift your mate has, Edward. One I've never seen before in my life," Eleazer was saying. "You can hear her? Her thoughts?"

"Sort of. I can feel her emotions when we are touching. I can't hear words the way I can with everyone else, but I can get the gist of what she is thinking based on the emotion behind it."

That explained a lot. I immediately relaxed – well, as much as I could, anyway.

"Whatever I just said calmed her down; she was agitated over something earlier, but she's fine now." Edward was quiet for a moment. "I didn't think about that, actually. Hey, Jasper, do you mind giving us some space here? Just for a few minutes?"

I hadn't known that Jasper was close; I knew he wasn't in the room with us, so he must have been just outside the wall to the cabin. As he got farther away, I felt different. I knew he was gone soon, because I felt his presence leave. Now I could only sense three vampires close to me. Unconsciously, I sought Edward out again, trying to find his mind the way we had before.

I told him I loved him, and I wanted him to ask Eleazer what my actual gift was. Edward was silent for a moment. "I heard her voice. It was actual words this time," he said in a quiet voice. "Bella, I love you too! Eleazer, Bella wants to know what her actual gift is."

"Amazing. I've never seen a newborn, or someone in transition even, be this in control of their gift. Edward, she is going to be strong as a vampire. I can tell." He shuffled his feet, walking close to the bed. "Bella, you have a similar gift to your father, but you shield works differently. Instead of being able to reflect someone's power back upon themselves, you are absorbing the power close to you and using it. You can still block those around you, but being able to use their gift...well, I've never seen anything like it."

I was still having trouble using full sentences, the burning was getting more intense. But I wanted to discuss this at length. I wanted Edward to ask why he could only now hear my thoughts, rather than just the emotions. But he didn't need to ask.

"Jasper was trying to use his gift to calm her down. When he did that, I could feel her emotions. We were connected when I put my head on hers, and I was sensing what she was feeling because of Jasper." His voice was excitement and awe in one. "Eleazer, is it possible she took Jasper's empathic power and transferred it to me?"

"I don't think that's exactly how it works, no. You felt her emotions because her body was subconsciously absorbing Jasper's gift first, and yours second. I'm guessing it's all instinct. She felt his strongly and focused on that, and yours was secondary. Now that Jasper is out of the area, she focused on yours."

"I wonder," Charlie said, as he sat back down next to me on the bed. "Would she be able to use my gift?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe in a few months when she's calmed down, we can test that out. Although, her father had super control and never really acted like a newborn. She may be the same way." Eleazer laughed for a moment. "Your daughter has an incredible gift, Charlie. I'm looking forward to testing it out to see how it all works."

Eleazer left shortly after that, but I continued to burn. I wanted to focus on Edward, tell him I was ok – or at least that I would be ok – but eventually the fire won. I held myself rigidly expecting to actually go up in flames as it fully consumed me. I could sort of hear Edward in the background of all the pain I was in. He was trying to calm me down; trying to tell me he loved me. I couldn't reply though. The pain had won.

I was like that for almost two days. I could hear the clock in the living room ticking and I tried to focus on that to get any idea of how much time was passing. It felt like an eternity. But eventually I felt small portions of my body starting to cool. The sensation started in my toes, then my feet and ankles. Eventually, I felt the cold lapse of fire spreading into my chest. I listened as my heart stuttered, and finally, beat just once more and stopped. The chilling affect finished spreading through my chest and finally doused the fire in my head and arms.

For a moment I was overwhelmed with sensation. The smell in the air, the feel of the bedding underneath me, the sounds of...well, everything! I could hear everything! I heard people talking outside, the wind in the trees and against the cabin, the quiet drip of the sink in the bathroom...it was intense.

Slowly, I opened my eyes.

Edward

Two days of pure torture, that's what it was. Watching the love of my life be in that much pain – and being able to feel it through her – was worse than anything I had ever been through before. I'd watched, pained, while most of my family had turned. But when it was my mate in pain, that was a whole other level of uncomfortable.

When I heard the tell-tale sign that her heart was starting to stutter, I motioned for Charlie to back up. I knew she would be leery of us, and I didn't want to scare her. Though, with her gift and how it had worked, I also knew that she was more of sound mind than expected. Through the whole ordeal we talked to each other silently. We expressed our love to each other, discussed the fight with the Volturi, and with Demetri...everything. I felt almost confident that she would be fine, but I still felt it wise to be cautious.

Charlie and I were leaning against the far wall when she opened her eyes. I felt immediate sadness at the loss of her beautiful chocolate brown eyes, as the bright red ones stared directly into mine. She smirked, jumped off the bed, and landed directly in front of me.

Edward. She thought, as she threw her arms around me. I felt like I was being crushed, her being so much stronger than me. She backed off and apologized to me without saying a word. She glanced at Charlie, moving to put her arms around him next. She was more careful now that she remembered she was strong than both of us at that moment.

"You look good, Bells," Charlie said, putting his arms around her too. "Though the eyes will be something to get used to."

She backed off and looked at him, a smile on her face. "Yours, too, Dad." Her voice sounded like a magical bell, making me hard immediately. She glanced at me, knowing exactly what was going on. "Where are the others? I want to see everyone!"

"Soon, Bella. First, let's get your thirst under control." I hadn't heard her even mention being thirsty, but I remembered all too well the first burn in the throat after being turned. As soon as I mentioned it, though, her hand flew to her throat and I saw her visibly swallow.

"Um, yeah, ow."

I laughed, tugging on her hand toward the doorway. "Come, love, let's go."

We ran out the cabin, Charlie watching us go. I led her through the woods in the opposite direction of the meadow. I knew that many of our friends were still here; only the ones who had decided to try the vegetarian lifestyle. I didn't want her to become distracted from the hunt. She needed to feed before seeing everyone.

As we ran through the forest, I marveled at her strength again. She didn't seem like a newborn. She wasn't scared or on heightened alert as most of us were. In fact, as we ran, I could tell she was smiling.

"It's exhilarating, isn't it?" I asked, keeping an easy pace next to her.

She laughed, glancing at me. "I can see why you like running so much."

We hunted fairly close to the cabin, not wanting to get too far away. Watching her take down two deer gave me mixed emotions. They weren't predators, but the buck could have posed a danger to the human Bella. The vampire Bella, however, took him down easily, draining him. I watched in fascination as she took the second one down. She was incredible. The agility and strength she had, the natural instinct to hunt...she was amazing.

When she had drained a third deer, she wiped her mouth and started wandering back toward me. I was leaning against a tree in the small clearing where I led her; her eyes were intently on mine. She walked up to me, pushed me against the tree and latched her mouth to mine. The push had been more forceful than I was used to, but it still caused me to get hard again.

Groaning, I grabbed her, lifted her up, turned and pushed her back into the tree. It made a small creaking sound as I hit it, but Bella didn't seem to notice. Her mouth was still fused to mine, hands tugging on my hair. As she bit down on my lip, I realized that I didn't need to hold myself back anymore. I bucked into her, showing her how aroused I was, and she moaned in my mouth. Before I could think about how to get her clothes off, I realized that she was ripping my shirt, bringing her hands down to my pants to do the same thing.

"Hold on, love, let me get them off without ripping them. I don't want to walk back to the cabin naked, do you?" I smirked at her, setting her down carefully. She brought her hands up to her own shirt, successfully ripping off the first part of the shirt and the hemline. "Let me, Bella. My hands are more practiced."

She smirked at me. "Or you just like taking my clothes off."

I pulled her shirt off, remembering that I had taken her bra off earlier. I dipped my head down to her neck, kissing softly. "And why would you think that?" I continued to kiss up her neck and behind her ear, causing the most sensual moan to come out of her mouth. The sound went straight to my dick, making it strain against my jeans. I made quick work of the rest of my clothes, knowing that my shirt was a total lost cause.

I picked Bella up again, and she wound her legs around me. I pushed her against the tree, straining to stay upright as I pushed myself into her hard. We both gasped at the feel, and I continued to move inside her. Everything was coming out as I moved swiftly inside her: my fear at losing her, the terror at not knowing if I would get to her fast enough, the joy at seeing her still alive, the feeling of overwhelming love when our minds connected.

I pushed into her again and again, eager to feel the connection. I pressed my forehead to hers and was met with an onslaught of emotion pouring through our connection. My eyes met hers as I listened to her thoughts. She was consumed with love for me, and was telling me over and over how much she loved me.

This is damn convenient, love. We can have conversations without anyone overhearing now. I thought at her, smirking, continuing to move inside her.

This is the best gift ever, Edward. I love you so much.

As I love you.

She fell apart in my arms, and I followed shortly after. I didn't want to disconnect from her – both in body and in my mind. But I knew that others wanted to greet her as well. Slowly, I let her down and we looked at the almost standing tree behind us. We both chuckled as we set about getting our clothes back on.

I took her hand to start leading her back to the cabin, once we had our clothes back on. My shirt was forgotten on the ground as we wound around the trees, walking back at a slower pace. I basked in the glow of being able to be with her the way I had desperately wanted to in the beginning. Knowing that I couldn't hurt her now was intoxicating.

"You really were holding back before," she said quietly, squeezing my hand.

"Necessity, love. I didn't want to hurt you."

"I know." She bit her lip, and I started to get hard again immediately. "It sucks that I can't hear your thoughts unless our heads are pressed together. Can't really walk around like that all day."

"All gifts require work. When I woke, I couldn't keep any thoughts out of my head. I heard everything around me. After working with it, I can lower the voices down to a low hum. This helps me to focus on one person when needed." I thought for a moment. "Plus, you were channeling Jasper when we were in the cabin, and he wasn't close enough to touch you."

She whirled to face me. "You are right! I bet we can do this!" She closed her eyes in concentration. I watched her in fascination, and there was suddenly an onslaught with her thoughts.

Edward, can you hear me?

Yes, love, I can. I leaned in and kissed her softly. I love you so much, Bella. You are truly amazing. She leaned in this time and kissed me, hard. Love, we need to get to the meadow. There are a lot of people waiting to see you.

She nodded and I lost her thoughts. It would probably take some time for her to perfect that, but it was wonderful. More than I had ever hoped for. When she was a human, and I had thought about the possibility of her becoming a vampire, I had often thought that maybe I would be able to hear her once she turned. But this was so much better than that.

I led her past the cabin and into the meadow. I could see my siblings, Mother, Carlisle, the Denali's and Benjamin and Tia all standing in the middle looking at us. Alice was practically jumping up and down in anticipation.

She looks so beautiful, Edward! I heard Alice say. I glared at her – she's always been beautiful.

Mother rushed up to Bella first, grasping onto her and holding tight. I saw Bella smile before her eyes went blank, staring into nothing.

"Oh my gosh..." she said, eyes wide. "There are so many choices. So many paths to take that end in happiness. There's one that's sad, though, I can't quite see what the choice is..."

Mother pulled back, looking at Bella with a strange look. I stepped forward grabbing Mother and pulling her away from Bella. "Bella's gift is quite powerful. We need to give her a little space right now until we can help her control it better."

Carlisle walked forward standing next to Mother. "What is her gift?"

I glanced at Eleazer; I saw that he hadn't said anything yet, waiting for us to explain. So, I told them everything: how I could feel her emotions when Jasper was close, how I can talk to her, and she with me, when we were close; how she had seen Mother's gift.

Alice was just about hopping up at down at that point, though she didn't come any closer. "Bella is powerful, just as I thought she would be."

Eleazer smiled and nodded. "And to be able to accomplish this while changing? That's just amazing. I can't wait to do some testing on this to see what she is truly capable of."

Bella grinned. "Well, I had to be different, right? I wondered if I could have a gift similar to Dad's, but I guess I sort of ended up with everyone's gift, huh?"

We all chuckled, and I started to introduce her to the vampires she hadn't met yet. Those with powers stayed farther away, just to be safe, but those without came up to hug her and welcome her to the family. Bella's smile never faltered; she greeted everyone. Rose and Emmett took the longest in hugging her, and she was smiling huge at being able to hug them back without any concerns of them smelling her blood. The thought made me smile, also.

"How do you feel, Bella?" Eleazer asked, taking a step forward. "Do you need to hunt? Or do you want to investigate your gift a little more?"

"No, I'm good. I feel full, I think. Though the burn in my throat hasn't gone away yet."

"That's normal. You are a newborn, so your thirst is heightened." Eleazer walked a little closer to Bella. "But the burn won't ever go away. Because we stick to animals it's never quite as satisfying as a human's blood would be. We will help you as you work through that."

Mother smiled at Bella. "You get used to it, and over the years you will gain control over that part of you. Eleazer's right. We will all help you."

"Now, to your gift," Eleazer said, motioning to Charlie. "It is similar to your fathers, but it works differently. Bella is a shield, but a shield that has the power to absorb another's gift into herself. We saw that when she was channeling Jasper's gift. But," he said, taking another step closer to Bella. "I think the key difference is what she can do with that channeling."

"What do you mean?" Bella asked, looking up at him. "What is it that you think I can do?"

Eleazer's eyes twinkled. "I think you can channel a gift to someone else. You can use others when they are close to you, but I have a feeling that you can take someone else's gift and transfer it to someone else."

Bella's eyes were wide. I had heard his thoughts earlier as he was thinking through this, so I wasn't surprised. I knew that Eleazer's gift was to sense the powers in others, and initially I was surprised that's what he saw in Bella, but I trusted his judgement. I was desperate to see if his thoughts were true, but I wasn't sure how to truly test it.

Eleazer, apparently, had a thought. As soon as I saw it, I grinned. "Esme, Jasper, come here please. I want to test my theory."

They both walked up to Bella, but didn't stand too close yet. They looked to Eleazer for instruction.

"Bella, take both of their hands please." She did as he asked her to do. I could sense through Jasper that he was surprised, feeling from Bella that she could sense emotions around her. "Now, Bella, I want you to picture Jaspers gift as it enters your mind. Take the bubble around you and expand it so that Jasper and Esme are both within it."

Bella closed her eyes in concentration. I listened to Esme's thoughts as they went from doubtful to shock. Emotions began to flood into her and she lost it for a moment, breaking contact with Bella by collapsing to the ground. Though the loss of contact didn't diminish what she was feeling.

"Jasper," Esme gasped, staring up at him in wonder. "How do you handle this every day?"

Jasper smiled at her. "Practice. I have to mute certain people or I'd go mad." He glanced at me and winked. I rolled my eyes back at him, causing him to laugh. "It gets easier as you learn to use it."

Emmett was looking around at all of them. "Did it work then? Esme can sense emotions like Jasper can?"

Charlie walked up to Esme, helping her up off the ground. I watched in amazement as Esme still hadn't lost the emotion sensing from Jasper, and she stared into Charlie's eyes. I watched her feel his love for her, the overpowering emotion of looking into the eyes of your mate. My heart swelled in happiness for my favorite sister, and I knew just how happy she was in this moment.

"Yes," Esme said in a hushed voice. "I can feel everything."

Bella faltered then, opening her eyes and losing connection with Esme. Jasper was still grasping her hand, and I watched him in fascination. I couldn't hear Bella's thoughts, but I desperately wanted to in that moment. I took a step closer to her, grabbing her hand that Esme had dropped. I listened as Bella was processing the emotions in the meadow, assessing each person; her eyes landed on Tia.

"You don't really want to be here," she said, her voice calm and quiet, staring right at Tia. Tia's eyes grew wide and she hovered behind Benjamin a little more. "But you will stay with Benjamin no matter what."

Benjamin's eyes shot to Tia, turning slightly. "Do you not want to try this lifestyle?" he asked his mate, as her eyes turned up toward him.

"It's not that I don't want to, I just don't know how to do it. We've never feasted on anything other than human."

"She's nervous that she won't be able to do this without faltering," Bella said in a confident voice. I searched her thoughts again. She was using both my and Jasper's powers at the same time. She was hearing Tia's thoughts and sensing her emotions at the same time. Bella let go of both of our hands, taking a step away. "I'm sorry, but that is really overwhelming. I can't handle two at once."

"But you did, love," I said, winding my arms around her. "You were able to use both of our gifts!"

"Amazing," Carlisle said, not moving from his spot beside my Mother. "I've never heard of anything like this before."

Bella smiled at him, hugging me tighter. I love being with the family, but you are right. Hearing everyone's thoughts is really too much. I need some quiet for a while.

"Bella and I are going to hunt for a little while. She needs a break from the thoughts. We will be back, though, ok? I just need to get her away from everyone's thoughts right now."

"Bella, can you hear everyone right now?" Rose asked, her eyes full of concern.

Bella nodded, her eyes down. "I'm sorry, Rose. I don't want to cause you any problems."

I'd heard Rose think earlier that she was a little jealous of Bella and her power, thinking that she was gipped in that she hadn't gotten any powers herself. I was used to tuning people out around me, but Bella wasn't. Rose looked sadly at Bella. However, as soon as the words were out of Bella's mouth, Rose smiled and changed her thoughts. She loved Bella like a sister, and was happy for her. And she apologized for her rash thoughts immediately.

The rest of the family took a few steps back from Bella, who was definitely feeling overwhelmed. I tugged on her hand to get her out of the meadow, and to get space from the rest of the family. We went on another hunt then, just speaking to each other quietly in our minds.

A/N: A lot more info on her gift. Thoughts?

So, I wanted to explain. In the book, when Bella was human, she used to have dreams that were sort of predictions of events. She had a better than normal grasp on situations. My thought was it was Alice's gift sort of aiding her in these dreams. That's why I wanted to add in that her actual gift was to absorb those around her, rather than just a shield as she was in the book. The thought was that she was more open with Alice about things than Edward, so she would feel less likely to block Alice as she had Edward. At least, that's how it felt in my mind.

Curious at your thoughts on this turn. Let me know!

Also, only one more chapter and the epilogue left. I think that this story has been just so much fun, I'm sad to see it end. I'm glad that you all have enjoyed it, though!

Don't forget about Consuming Love; it's winding down also. I hope you enjoy that story as well.

Thanks again to my sister and beta zombified419 for all of your help!