I was actually sad to think of him leaving but there was no way I was asking my Chief of Surgery to spend the night with me on our first unofficial date turned surgery session. He would really think I was crazy. I settled for smiling up at him as he palmed my forehead again. My eyes grew heavy as I laid there so I quickly took the medicine and laid back down. I thought he would go already but he still stood there, staring at me as if I were some great piece of art. I tried very hard not to be self conscious as I hugged the bulk of my comforter up around my chest. My muscles ached and my stomach was flipping so much that I knew it wasn't just butterflies. Butterflies don't make me feel ill like this.

Carlisle bent down over me and pressed his kiss to my forehead. A small wrinkle formed between his eyebrows as he pulled away. "Your fever is getting worse quickly. Perhaps I should take you across the street."

The thought of getting out of the warm, soft bed did not appeal to me in the slightest. "No. I'm good. I'll be okay. The medicine will work soon." I hoped it did, anyway.

He turned his body away while keeping his eyes on me. "I really don't feel comfortable leaving you like this, Bella. It worries me."

I was actually surprised at his amount of compassion for a person he had only just met.

"You're very important to Alice and Emmett. They'll be sad to see you so ill." He stressed as he sat down on the bed beside me.

My butterflies collided and fell to the pit of my stomach in despair. Of course he would be thinking of Alice and Emmett. They would worry too.

"Yeah, I'll be okay." I sighed softly, trying to keep the sadness from my voice. It was silly for me to think that he would be so thoughtful and compassionate for me as person he could be attracted to. Instead I was simply put in my place by him that I was only his children's friend. Nothing more.

My mind thought back to that kiss in the hire car but I pushed the images away. In the heat of the moment. That's all it was. Mutual attraction, perhaps a distraction. I closed my eyes and turned my head away from the handsome man beside me, hearing his phone make noise in his pocket. I felt the bed shift as he stood to check the notification and I pretended to fall asleep, breathing deeper through my nose and letting it out through my mouth.

I heard Carlisle put the phone back in his pocket as he sighed heavily. He traced a finger from my temple to my chin, the same way he had in the car and I forced myself not to react. I wanted to shudder, I wanted to cry. I felt something for this man that I had only recently met, barely conversed with, and kissed passionately just tonight. I was a fool to let my guard down.

I have no time for boys. Men, rather. Time to upgrade the saying now that I'm twenty three, almost twenty four. I heard his light footsteps walk away from me and succumbed to the tears that stung my eyes from behind my closed lids as I heard the heavy apartment door shut. The last thing I remember is the hot tears that wet my pillow as I drifted off.

My pager was going off. I could hear it's incessant beeping but my body was glued to this mattress. I groaned and tried to lift my hand, willing it to cooperate so I could reach my pager and answer it, to no avail. I wasn't sure what time it was or how long I had been asleep but I would get in trouble if I didn't answer this page. It had been beeping for a long time. Three quick successions of two beeps each. Over and over, making my already sore head throb.

"Bella?"

"Alice?" I croaked before smacking my lips with my tongue. My mouth was as dry as sandpaper.

"Easy, Bella, don't move."

"Emmett?" I tried to open my eyes but they were practically glued shut. By the time I was able to get them to cooperate and lift, I shut them immediately again and groaned.

"Get the curtains, Emmett." Alice directed softly. I heard the swoosh of metal on metal as my large friend pulled my curtain shut. "Okay, Bella. Try again." She said just as softly as before and I was thankful.

"Oh my God." I groaned as my eyes opened and my temples throbbed. "What the hell?"

"You're very sick, Bella. Do you want to go to the hospital?" Alice asked.

I looked around, each movement causing pain to shoot through my clavicle and temples. I felt as if I had a high fever, the shakes, the dizziness, the migraine and stomach rumbles…My medical brain put two and two together.

Oh crap.

"Ebola." I whispered.

Alice nodded and it was then that I noticed Carlisle standing in my kitchen at the island. He was stirring something and I saw steam rise up from the counter. I couldn't quite see what he was doing.

"Yes, you've got ebola, Bella. Carlisle is making you some tea and Emmett and I are here to help. Do you want to go to the hospital?"

"How did I get this?" I knew it was a stupid question as soon as I asked it. I work in a hospital and I hadn't been vaccinated against it. I thought there was no point. I obviously didn't take enough precautions when I was exposed to it though.

"Bella, this is the first time you've been awake in days. You need to answer me now. It's the first time you've been coherent." Alice sounded stressed as she asked me over and over if I wanted to go to the hospital.

"Shouldn't she know everything before she makes that decision?" Emmett asked, coming up beside his sister and sitting on the bed beside her. The movement caused my stomach to roll and I heaved before I vomited. I only had a second to be embarrassed about puking all over myself when I noticed there was a bin on my thighs and Emmett was holding my hair away from my face. "Easy, shorty. I gottcha." His cool hand rested on the back of my neck and I moaned at the feeling.

"I don't know how you all are so damn chilly all the time but that feels amazing." I sighed.

"Bella." Alice said urgently, bringing my attention back to her.

I opened my eyes, which had slipped closed as another heave went through me. "What." I ground out, trying to keep from puking again.

Carlisle brought over the tea and sat down on the other side of the bed, his cool hand finding mine. When I met his eyes, they were dark and he looked nervous. In fact, I glanced around at my friends. All of their eyes were darker than the normal butterscotch they were.

"What's going on?" I asked, trying to get my brain on straight. Perhaps I was delusional. Maybe the ebola had messed with my eyesight.

"You know there's something different-" Alice started before Carlisle cleared his throat.

I looked at him and saw the genuine fear on his face. He looked terrified and I gripped his hand with all my meager strength. I felt so drained that I could have been gripping air for all the tighter I squeezed. The look on his face made me pay attention.

"What's wrong?" I whispered as another wave of dizziness overtook me.

"Bella, there's something I need to tell you." Carlisle said slowly, as if the words were being pulled from his mouth unintentionally.

I squinted my eyes at him and frowned. "You can tell me anything."

It was odd to me that I felt that statement in my bones. I had barely known this man for a few months and have only been on one improper date with him and yet I felt as if we shared some fantastic bond. It's not real. It couldn't be.

And yet it was.

"Just say it." I breathed.

He took a fortifying breath and flicked his gaze over to Alice and Emmett. I didn't bother wasting my energy copying him because I wanted all of my strength on him. Each breath I took burned in my lungs and my chest felt as if something heavy were sitting on it. My eyes watered but not from tears. My nose tickled and I covered my mouth as a sneeze snuck out of me.

When I pulled my hand away, there was blood on it. I heard a loud, angry hiss before there was a commotion, almost like an explosion. My pots and pans fell from the basket rack above the island and I gasped when I saw Alice on the floor under the mess. Emmett was in front of her, hunched protectively between her and me. Saving me from...Alice?

She didn't look like Alice then as she bared her teeth, tiny gleaming white fangs, slightly longer than my own eye teeth. Her eyes are coal black and she's almost glaring at me until suddenly she straightens up and her eyes go wide and round. Her tiny hand covers her mouth and a sound like a sob releases, her shoulders shake. In the blink of an eye, she's gone. She's nowhere to be found and Emmett straightens his posture as he walks over to me slowly, his head down and shoulders hunched.

"Breathe, Bella." Carlisle directs me. I take a loud, long breath; heaving the air into my starved lungs. I hadn't realized I wasn't breathing.

"Wha-" A coughing fit interrupts me and more blood is spewed from my lips. "Ugh."

"Do you want to go to the hospital?" Emmett asks me. His question is slow, deliberate, and definitely spoken through clenched teeth.

"Please answer him, Bella. We must know."

I looked at Carlisle. "Must know what?" My throat, cracked and dry, undulated on itself as it tried to create saliva and I sipped the tea that was presented in front of me. My fingers brushed against Carlisle's.

I could barely think past the pain but his touch against mine ignited something. The cold skin. The odd eyes and tiny fangs. Never eating. The other odd things I'd noticed with my best friends. Never out in the sunlight. Always available no matter what time of day...or night I called them.

My head felt as if it disconnected from my body as the room twirled around. "What are you?" I asked, my voice so low I wasn't sure they heard me, but Emmett answered from across the room.

"Vampires."