Disclaimer: Stephanie's brilliance; I just have the ideas, not the characters or anything resembling Twilight.

The fire was intense, and barely tolerable. If I moved even a millimeter, my entire body shook violently and my veins felt near bursting. My body was being enveloped in a cocoon of pain and regret. Regret that I hadn't just let him kill me before. This was much worse than any form of death or pain ever conceived. I couldn't believe I'd treated this so lightly; something I barely new about. The pain was dulling every thought, every other sense, and my heart beat slowed from the aggressive fight. I felt my weight lessen, making my hips more defined; my body less soft, more muscular. I could feel my muscles contract as if I were running, doing push-ups, and crunches all at the same time. Edward never left me; not even as I saw my pain etched into his eyes. I tried not to scream, for fear of panicking Edward. Every once and a while though, a piercing scream will tear out of my throat before I can stop it. And when this happened, he would wrap his cool arms around me and start to hum my lullaby, or stroke my hair and say, "It's alright Bella darling, I'm here. I'm not leaving you." It seemed, with each passing day, my senses heightened, my heart slowed, the pain increased. And with each wave of shudders and vein pulse, a wave of nausea came along with it. And that was just day 2. On day 3, not only was there vein throbbing, shudders and nausea, but there was a concentrated pain in my heart; as if someone was killing me slowly by shoving a bobby pin in my heart.

Alice or Rose visited me on occasion, but Edward even more protective and barely let anyone enter or exit except Carlisle. I couldn't disappear into unconsciousness as I had the first time; that was not the venom's way. I was awake and alert for every second of it. Nothing Carlisle gave me would dull my mind; he gave me Morphine, he gave me Vicodin, he gave me Demerol, but nothing worked. Swell. Edward became increasingly frustrated that I still felt every ounce of pain as I had before the pain medication. As the pain suddenly hit its strongest, I almost cried out; when I suddenly felt nothing but a cooling sensation. At first I thought that finally one of the drugs was working. But then Edward flew to my side and enveloped me in a hug. He whispered into my ear, "Day 4 Bella; its over. " I sighed and went to breathe in when is scent hit me stronger than before. It was so enchanting and I couldn't help the goose bumps that rippled through me. He laughed at feeling my rising flesh. As he went to take a breath, I saw several emotions run across his face: first shock; then it toned down to a pleasant surprise; and finally that undeniable lust I'd seen a few days ago. Was it only a few days ago? It felt like centuries. Regardless, it was there.

"There are so many things I'd like to do right now, but everyone is dying to see you, so it will have to wait," he said resentfully. He was about to lead me downstairs when I remembered I was in flannel pajama's.

I stopped and gestured to my pajamas, "Umm, isn't there anything I could change into?"

"Alice and Rose went shopping for you in Paris, Italy, and Beverly Hills while you were transforming. You may not have noticed, but you've become a lot more muscular and defined, making you a few sizes smaller than you're used to." His eyes roved my body for a little longer than necessary, but it was Edward so it didn't matter. "I'll go get them," he said as he pulled me into Alice's room, which, I noted, was covered in shopping bags labeled, "Juicy Couture", "Miss Sixty", "Louis Vuitton", "Gucci", "Saks Fifth Avenue", "Jimmy Choo" and a few other French and Italian names I couldn't understand. Alice and Rosalie came bursting in, barreling into me with humongous hugs. Not even 2 seconds after they let go, did they start throwing different things at me from the bags. Then, they shoved me into the bathroom and instructed me to try things on. I grabbed the pair of "Miss Sixty" weathered looking jeans with strategically placed rips and a broken in look. As I slipped it on, I noticed it was size 0. Zero. Size ZERO! They fit perfectly, and looked amazing on me. Next, I took a teal dress-like shirt that looked to be made with silk, and had half inch sleeves and slipped it on. It clung to me, and made me look like I'd spent 3 years working out nonstop. I grabbed a pair of terry-cloth heels that said "Juicy Couture" and were the same color as my dress/shirt thing.

I came out and Alice and Rosalie's mouths dropped open.

"OhmygoshBella, youlookamazing!" said Alice in a rush. Rosalie nodded enthusiastically in agreement. I looked away; embarrassed by their reactions. They both pulled me back into the bathroom and set to work. Alice coiled my hair; Rosalie put various glitters, mascara, and other makeup on me. Then, Alice put a spray in my hair that made each individual ringlet sparkle. As I looked at myself in the mirror, I couldn't help but be hypnotized. That girl had designer clothing, amazing makeup, and …eyes that looked mostly red, with lavender and turquoise running through them? I blinked, and blinked again. I could barely say "wow". They laughed and brought me to the top of the stairs.

"All this for meeting everyone as a vampire?" I asked suspiciously. They exchanged a look and some giggles, which only heightened my suspicions. As we went downstairs and into the living room, I noticed Edward and three other very attractive guys were laughing. Edward was by my side in a second and was introducing me before I had time to understand what was happening.

"Bella, these are my friends from Paris. This is Lawrence." He introduced me to a tall guy with a perfect, surfer tan, and sandy blond hair that, if flipped just so, he could make every girl within a 40 mile radius go into cardiac arrest (Rosalie, Alice and myself included). Although he had the build of a football player, he had soft, cerulean eyes with sparkles of topaz throughout it. Edward moved on after Lawrence and I introduced ourselves and made a bit of small talk. "This is Daniel." He introduced me to another, surfer-like guy with dark brown hair that, when the light hits it at a certain angle, it appears to have streaks of burgundy running through it, also with flipablitiy. Daniel was of a similar build as Lawrence and had that "I go to Bermuda every winter to keep up the tan I know makes you drool" look about him. His eyes were a stunning purple with flecks of topaz. Finally, I was introduced to Aerin. He was a little shorter than Daniel and Lawrence, but still had that nearly irresistible build, that commercial for the Bahamas tan and a shock of burgundy hair. He had piercing, green eyes with bits of topaz throughout it. Each of their voices was smooth, beguiling, and sensitive. "Lawrence, Daniel, and Aerin are staying with us. They wanted to change their eating habits, but were rejected from their previous coven because of it. They wanted to be accepted somewhere, so they'll live with us from now on." They'll live with us from now on. You can imagine my shock.

They knew they were hot, and they wanted to watch me drool. This made me angry for some reason; who were they to think I would leave Edward for one of them? I mean, sure, they were good looking, but they were too cocky about it. At that thought, I turned my every ounce of attention to Edward.

"So this is the infamous Isabella Swan?" said Lawrence, forcing me to look.

"'Her scent of freesia drives me insane as I watch her sleep'", Quoted, it seemed, Daniel.

"'Her heart pounding in my ears and making me feel alive again!'" shouted Aerin, falling in mock faint into Lawrence. They were all reminding me of frat boys. I glanced at Edward and saw he was gritting his teeth, and balling his fists. He looked unreasonably embarrassed. I felt bad for the guy, truly I did.

"Oh honestly," I exclaimed, trying to sound annoyed; I was secretly pleased Edward wrote that about me.

"It's true Bella!" exclaimed Aerin, grabbing my hand lightly, "We've only been dying to meet you so we may steal you away for ourselves!" Daniel and Lawrence punched Aerin in the arm, and Edward jerked me from his grasp.

"Aw, come on Ed, you know I'm just kiddin'!" he laughed. I saw clearly, from the strange flicker in his eye, that he wasn't, but Edward didn't and he relaxed his grip on me. He sat down and set me in his lap. I wrapped my arms around him and glared at Aerin; he was getting marked down for that comment, putting him higher on my list of least favorite people. He just grinned wickedly at me, his eyes unreadable.

Later that night, Edward and I were lying in his couch.

"What are you thinking?" he asked breathily.

I sighed; I really didn't want to tell him I was trying to find a good way to kick his friends out, so I said, "We need our own house," on a whim.

"And why's that?" he asked, confusion lacing his words. "Dan, Lawrence and Aerin just moved in because I invited them. It would be a little awkward if we moved out shortly after asking them to live with us."

"I guess…" I allowed.

"But?"

"But… I just kind of figured we needed our own space…"

"We have plenty of space here." He said in a voice of authority.

"I guess…"

"What Bella?" he asked with a touch of annoyance, pulling my face to look at him.

I sighed, "Never mind…"

He growled under his breath, but I still heard him. He looked away, angry. "Hey," I said pushing him to face me, "I love you; you know that?" He looked at me, and his eyes softened. He kissed the tip of my nose gently.

"I know…" he whispered, wrapping his arms around me. "And I love you."