Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Stephanie Meyer does. I only own the parts of this story not taken from her works.

Author's Note: Get ready, we're about to change the rules...

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Unknown

Carlisle moved quickly. He saw a box of tissues sitting on the nightstand next to Bella's bed. The smell of the girl's blood didn't bother him, years and years of being around patients had made the fire in his throat completely bearable, but he knew that this must be torture for Edward. As he applied the slightest pressure to the wound, he looked at his son, still awestruck at the sight before him. He could see the anguish in the eyes of his son.

"It's okay, I'll get the bleeding stopped. Edward you should probably leave."

He shook his head slightly, so little a human probably wouldn't have seen it.

Carlisle was apprehensive to trust the judgment of his son given what Alice had seen. This must have been what would have caused him to lose control. An open wound on a human that smelled as good to Edward as Bella did would be a struggle for even Carlisle himself. He removed the tissue to look at the wound again and leaned in closer. It wasn't until that very moment that Carlisle realized what had caused it. He had assumed she scratched herself or Edward had scratched her accidentally, which caused the bloody wound that was making his son so on edge… until he smelled the venom.

He looked sharply at his son. "Edward, did you bite her?"

"My teeth caught her… I wasn't trying to…" He looked like he would be sick. The doctor could hear his family gasp from the lawn, obviously as stunned as he was at this revelation.

He looked at the girl again, still amazed that she was fast asleep. Carlisle tried to decide what he could do for her. The problem was that he had never heard of a situation like this. In his experience, bites were always intentional and therefore injected a large amount of venom into the wound, venom that immediately started the mutation process in the blood. The venom smell on this girl was almost nonexistent and the bite had happened less than a minute ago.

An idea came to him. He thought that it might be possible to suck out just enough blood, the blood tainted with Edward's venom, that the girl would be okay. His mind processed the possibilities of how it might be accomplished at lightning speed.

Edward was out of the question. At first he thought that he himself should do it, but Carlisle had never, in over three hundred years as a vampire, drank from a human. He was worried that, once the sensation began, he would not have the control to stop himself. He also thought it might make his job at the hospital unbearable since part of the ease of his ignoring the smell of human blood came from his never having actually indulged the urged. He thought about the rest of his family. Alice and Jasper were still new to this lifestyle and he couldn't risk having one of them try. Emmett was never known for his ability to control his instincts and Rosalie had also never tasted human blood. For the same reasons he did not think he could do it, he couldn't ask Rosalie. That left Esme, who herself has 'fallen off the wagon' from time to time. This was not a good time to test her control.

If only Edward wasn't a wreck, he would have been the most logical choice. He had the most control over his instincts of those that had fed off humans in the past. But she smelled so good to him, even he probably wouldn't be able to…

"I can do it." Of course he had heard every detail of Carlisle's thought process.

Carlisle looked hesitantly at his son, but Edward stared back with a resolved look in his eyes. A calm had overtaken him and he moved towards where Carlisle stood beside the bed with a sense of purpose. Carlisle wanted to believe him and always gave Edward a lot of credit for his control, but even this might be beyond him.

"I can do it," he said again. Carlisle was still convincing himself that this would be a good idea.

"One small swallow should do it, no more or you'll risk her going into shock." Edward nodded. Being able to hear Carlisle's thoughts he got an exact idea of how much would need to be taken.

"Emmett, can you come help me pull him off her if it comes to that," he asked while never taking his eyes off Edward. Edward did not seem offended but rather reassured at the thought that we would not let him go too far. "Don't breathe, either of you."

Edward nodded, he had stopped breathing, probably to make the burn less intense before he indulged it. Emmett appeared instantly, standing as far away from the sleeping girl as he possibly could. Carlisle knew that if she were going to stay that way, they would have to work very quickly, before the burning started.

As Carlisle removed the tissue, Edward leaned down and put his lips to the spot where, moments ago he had been planting a soft kiss on her delicate shoulder. The burn in his throat got more and more intense than he had ever experienced as his tongue reached out to touch the open wound his teeth had made. Silently reminding himself that he would never be able to live with himself if he hurt this girl anymore than he already had, he began to drink.

As her blood filled his mouth Edward lost all track of time and sense. In this night of forcefully strong emotions and feelings, this sensation topped all the others for sheer forcefulness. As delicious as the girl had smelled, it was really nothing compared to how she tasted. In all his years of drinking human blood, which was a pretty intense experience each time, he had never come across a flavor near as exquisite.

He swallowed once and instantly, somehow was able to feel that a strong hand had been placed on his shoulder reminding him that he had reached his quota. Edward would never understand where the strength came from to stop but he released his lips from her pale white skin and stepped away.

Carlisle was right there and leaned in to smell the wound again. The smell of the venom seemed to be gone but it was so faint to start with that he wished there was a way to be certain. He also knew they couldn't risk taking any more of her blood so this was the most they could do for her. He looked up at his son to see how he was holding up.

"I'm fine. Will she be?"

"It's hard to say, Edward, I've never heard of this happening or being tried. I think we got it but there are still so many things we don't understand about the mechanics of the transformation process…"

"Um, shouldn't we get out of here, you know, in case she wakes up or something?" Emmett was very uncomfortable standing in the room a second longer than her had to, the bite mark had started to clot, but was still fairly fresh. He decided not to wait for them to respond as he jumped out the window.

Edward was anguished at the thought of leaving her side. Unless they were certain she would be completely unharmed by his foolish action, he couldn't imagine leaving her there by herself. He could hear the thoughts of his family urging them to get out of the house so they could go home and explain everything but he was trying desperately to ignore them. Carlisle didn't have to be a mind reader to know what Edward was feeling. He came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Even if she wakes up, there isn't much we would be able to do. Alice can keep an eye on her while we go home and try to figure out how we're going to handle this." Edward knew he was right and, after one last look at his angel sleeping restfully, utterly unaware that she had just nearly been killed by a bloodthirsty vampire, he moved towards the window and jumped out.

The Cullens didn't wait around to chat in the police chief's yard. They ran back to the safety and seclusion of their house with as much speed and intensity as they had left it with less than ten minutes earlier. Edward was trying to block out the hostility of the thoughts shooting at him from other members of his family and was instead trying to focus exclusively on Alice's mind. He wanted her to search the future to see what would happen to Bella. He could hear her trying, but to no result. It made him nervous that Alice wasn't coming up with anything, especially since that was his justification for leaving Bella's house, but he understood that she was probably shocked by what she had seen and needed to be home and calmed down before she could look properly.

Once they reached the safety of their home everyone went straight to the dining room. They used the room for their family meetings, all of which lately had been about Edward and Bella. Everyone took their usual seats and hardly waited for everyone else to sit down before the screaming started. The contrast was deafening compared to all the nearly silent whispering they had been doing at the Swan residence.

"What happened?"

"What the hell was that, Edward?"

"Is she going to be okay?"

"You stupid, idiotic ass…"

Carlisle held up his hand to stop them. Edward sat next to him with his eyes closed and his arms crossed. He did not move to speak. The doctor decided to begin with an explanation.

"When Edward's teeth grazed her shoulder," he glanced sideways at his son, who winced visibly, "some of his venom entered her bloodstream. Edward, remarkably, was able to take her contaminated blood thereby, hopefully, removing the venom from her system."

"Hopefully?" The question came from his wife, she was genuinely concerned about the health of the girl.

Edward winced again, probably because he already knew what his father was about to say. "It's complicated. A bite is usually intentional; the teeth sink further into the skin, into the bloodstream, planting a much larger amount of venom into the system. This is what begins the transformation process. The venom begins the mutation near the site of the bite and spreads to the rest of the body through the bloodstream. The problem is that while I think we got it, it is possible that some was carried further into her bloodstream than we were able to retrieve. If that happened, and we weren't able to get it all out…"

"What would happen, she'll transform anyway? Can it be done with so little venom?" Jasper asked this time.

"I don't know." Carlisle wished he had a more definitive answer for his family, especially since so much of their future depended on it. They looked very distraught. Alice had her head in her hands, staring at the table. "I've never heard of this happening before. It could be that the transformation would just take longer. It could be that, if there is venom in her system, her body will reject it because there is so little of it. The venom could be trying to take but who is to say that it will? Actually, who is to say that there is any at all left? Edward may have gotten it all. We just don't know."

He looked to his clairvoyant daughter, who usually would have taken that opportunity to chime in with details of her vision but she still had her head in her hands and was shaking her head. Soon everyone was looking her direction.

Alice could not figure out what was wrong. Bella's future was completely blank. There was nothing, not hint, no shadow of a possibility or two. Nothing. She kept trying, over and over and over again, to find some indication of what would happen, but everywhere she turned she hit a blank wall. She tried to give up Bella's future and focus on Edward's, assuming his would be tied to hers in some way now, but when she looked for the two of them together, they both disappeared. She looked at her own future, trying to see the two on one of those shopping trips she had seen earlier that night, only to have her own future disappear as well. She couldn't help but wonder if this was in some way prophetic, if tying their futures to Bella meant they would cease to exist somehow, but her visions had never worked like that before. They had always clearly shown her what bad thing would happen, they did not just vanish.

She realized that everyone was staring at her, looking to her for an answer as to what would happen to the girl. She looked at Edward, who met her gaze with suffering in his eyes. He had seen her struggle to search with no luck. He knew she was frustrated and he also just as frustrated himself.

"I'm sorry, Edward."

"This isn't your fault, Alice. I'm the one who stole her future." In his relatively long lifetime, Edward had plenty of occasions to hate himself, but he had never done so more intently than that night. He was practically shaking at the thought that he had ruined the once promising future of the first woman he had ever loved.

"What is going on?" Jasper leaned over to put a comforting hand on his wife's back.

"I can't see."

"Then what are her options?"

"Nothing. I can't see anything. Her future has completely disappeared. I have no idea…" she couldn't even finish the thought.

Edward moved to stand up from the table. "I need to go back there if we can't see how she'll do the rest of the night. If something happens, someone needs to be there."

Alice stood up, too. "I should go; I'm supposed to be the one watching her, remember? And I think you should stay here with Carlisle and try to figure out what's going on."

Carlisle spoke next. "I think Alice is right, though I would caution you to stay out of the girl's bedroom this time unless it becomes necessary. We need to be very careful moving forward."

Jasper also stood up. "I'll go with her." He obviously didn't feel comfortable letting a very upset Alice go off on her own. "We'll let you know what's going on when we get there."

Edward knew it was for the best, he himself had already done enough damage to the girl that he didn't want to risk hurting her again. But, he hated being away from her every second that he thought she could be in pain or distress. It was his fault and he wanted to be there to make it right, if there was a way. Begrudgingly, he agreed to the plan. It was not ideal, but he knew Jasper was always very careful, especially when it came to protecting Alice, and the thought comforted him. Slightly.

They were gone instantly. Rosalie decided to take the opportunity to bring up the concern that had been swimming around in her head since Edward had joined the family in the yard.

"We're going to have to move now, aren't we?" She was angry. She had fought hard to stay in Forks the last time Edward did something rash and thoughtless to Bella, saving her from that stupid van, and she didn't intend to lose the battle this time around. "I am not moving."

"I don't really see a way around it, dear." Esme didn't like the idea of leaving either, but she was worried about her family. Any plan that possibly put them in danger was one that she would not support and she felt certain that their staying in Forks would only lead to more trouble.

Carlisle put up his hand again to silence his daughter before she could continue her verbal assault. Rose stopped mid curse word as he continued. "I will not tell you that ultimately we won't have to leave, but for the time being it is out of the question."

Everyone at the table, even Edward, looked at him curiously.

"We don't know what effect this will have on Bella. Until we do, there is no way we can leave her. She may be fine, and after we're certain of that, we'll revisit the topic of moving. But she may not be fine." It was Edward's turn to bury his head in his hands this time. "What if we didn't get it all and she begins the transformation process? How could we possibly leave her here to go through that by herself? She would have no idea what was happening to her; she doesn't know what we are. We will not be going anywhere until we see what happens and that is the end of discussion on that topic, is that understood?" He was looking back and forth between Rose and Edward, suspicious that the conversation was only just beginning on the topic but confident, from the looks on their faces, that it would at least be a conversation that he would not have to hear. Edward smiled slightly at his reasoning.

"So what do we do in the meantime?" Emmett was rarely the one to get everyone back on topic, but Carlisle suspected that he wanted to take the negative attention off of his wife.

"I've been thinking about that." He looked to Edward. "Do you agree?"

Edward nodded his agreement to the plan forming in Carlisle's head.

Carlisle pulled out his buzzing cell phone and answered it. Jasper was reassuring him that Bella was fast asleep, though it was hard to give any other information from where they stood in the edge of the woods. That would be a problem. He said she was talking in her sleep, something Edward hadn't shared with the rest of the group yet.

"She keeps saying his name. Do you think she knows he was there?"

They all looked to Edward for the answer. For a moment he let himself remember the flood of emotion that he felt she unconsciously said his name. "She was doing that before it happened. I was so curious to hear what she dreamed about and so… I couldn't believe she was dreaming about me. It wasn't even a nightmare." He buried his head in his hands again.

Rosalie snorted and rolled her eyes. Emmett was nodding his head in approval until his wife punched him in the arm. Esme took a sharp breath and placed her hand on her chest, over her heart. Despite the severity of their situation, she had a smile that lit up her entire face.

"My point is," said Edward, trying to ignore the reactions of his family to this news, "that the sleep talking is not a symptom brought on by… it's not important to this discussion."

"Okay, let's talk surveillance then." Carlisle could tell his son was hoping for a change or subject. "First, we need to make sure that someone is with her nearly constantly. I hate the idea of sneaking around her house but we need to be watching her as much as possible to see how she is, or isn't, reacting. It doesn't sound like listening from the forest is going to be very effective. I don't have any evening shifts for another week so I will volunteer myself for overnight duty, but I also intend to spend as much time as I can spare doing research to trying and figure out if this has happened before so we can get a better idea what to expect. Edward…"

Of course, Edward already knew what was coming and was quiet in his seat, arms again crossed in front of him. By the look on his face, Carlisle gathered that he agreed with the decision. "Edward, you will not be keeping watch at the house, but I will definitely need your help with the research here. That doesn't mean, however, that you'll be hands off, which leads me to my next point. Everyone will be in school as much as possible. Alice, can you see the weather for the next few days?"

There was a brief pause. "There won't be any problems." She sounded bitter, obviously upset that it wasn't a general problem with her vision. Carlisle thought that would have been an encouraging development but apparently Alice did not see it that way.

"Alright, everyone in school. Monitoring her progress while she is awake will be a completely different kind of task. Edward can keep an eye on her as much as possible through other students…"

"That shouldn't be a problem; it's what he does all day anyway." One stern glance from Carlisle stopped Rosalie from saying anything more on the subject.

"As I was saying, Edward can keep an eye on her in class, but we will need to keep extra watch in situations where her senses might be over-stimulated."

"What do you mean?" Alice was asking through the phone, but everyone at the table could hear her.

"Outside where the light might be a little bright, in between classes when the noise in the hallway will be louder, at lunch where there will be strong smells… we are going to need to see how she is reacting in those situations."

Emmett was nodding his head but it was Jasper who spoke first. "We can make sure someone is following her in between classes and lunch will be easy, since the whole school eats together. But why are we worried about her senses being over-stimulated?"

Edward suddenly paled and looked sick again because he just pieced together the random thoughts that Carlisle was collecting to form his theory. He looked at his son with compassion as he explained it to the rest of the group.

"If there is venom still in her system, it may be possible for her to begin to take on some of our… characteristics. She is already very pale skinned, so there won't be much noticeable difference there but if she begins to take on our heightened sensibilities, there is a chance that we might get to see evidence of it in those situations which might over-stimulate her. If she is wincing because of the noise in the hallway that never bothered her before, it may be because her mind is not adjusting to a keener sense of hearing."

"That makes sense."

"And we're going to need to know how her shoulder is doing. We might be able to see if she is physically uncomfortable, but that isn't going to tell us much. Edward…" He didn't have to finish before receiving the answer he was looking for.

"I'll talk to her." Secretly, Edward's frozen heart leapt at the opportunity to have a legitimate excuse to keep talking to Bella. He knew why Carlisle wanted this. In addition to hearing from Bella's own mouth how her shoulder was healing, he was also going to need to start building her trust again. Carlisle liked to prepare for every consequence. If the venom did somehow trigger the beginnings of a transformation, they would be forced to explain things to her eventually. Carlisle thought the news would come easier if Bella became more comfortable with Edward and the rest of the family. On the one hand, Edward was excited by this assignment. On the other, he was disgusted by reminders of why it was assigned to him and horrified at the thought of it being necessary. He was supposed to make her trust him just in case he has to tell her that he has essentially killed her.

"Good." Carlisle had worried about this point.

Esme cleared her throat and started to speak. Her eyes were full of loving concern as she looked at her son. "From the sound of it dear, you're behavior to her to date has been very," she searched for the right word, not wanting to offend, "unsteady. You are going to need to be more careful, more gentlemanlike to her. No more suddenly deciding to ignore her or telling her that you shouldn't be her friend. She is going to, no she may, very much need you to be her friend from this point on, so be a stable one for her. It is probably very frustrating for her to have you constantly changing your mind about whether or not you are going to talk to her."

Edward hated it when his mother lectured him about his manners, especially his manners regarding Bella. This certainly wasn't their first conversation on the topic. But she was right, he knew that he was being very rude to her by ignoring as he had been and, before he had to tell her something that would make her hate him for the rest of eternity, he cherished the chance to redeem himself in her eyes for awhile.

"Alright, are we all on the same page now?"

The murmured yeses he received in response to his questioned told Carlisle that the rest of his family was just as troubled by this as he and Edward were. There was nothing more to talk about so everyone split up to be consumed by their own thoughts. He and Edward walked together, silently, to his office to begin their research, both silently hoping that to find something that disproved their theory.