For the first time in a long time, Rosalie found herself with nothing to do. Usually when the heat was on, she was at her absolute best. She performed well under pressure, rising to the challenge and doing whatever was asked of her…or even what wasn't, if it was best. Only this time, there was nothing she could do. There was no one to talk to; everyone was too occupied with their own fear. There was nowhere to go; she didn't want to leave the house in case…in case something happened. There weren't even any cars to work on; they had been cleaned, detailed, and waxed that morning. And so Rosalie packed her satchel and drove to campus, walking into the Introduction to Chemistry Lab class she was taking at the University of Saskatchewan.

It was the first time she had attempted an Engineering degree, but not the first time she had taken Intro to Chem. Her partner, a skinny redheaded sophomore named Ted, was fairly shocked at how easily she breezed through the labs. Rosalie herself was just tired of the mortal's come-ons, which had only gotten worse since she had let him drive her home to make Emmett jealous. Sure, it had worked, but having to deal with constant dinner invitations and remarks on how smart she was just annoyed her now. It was a blessing that Ted was absent that day and Rosalie could finish her lab on solvents and solutes alone.

Her mind wandered as she handled the beakers and flasks, her eyes behind their unnecessary goggles barely focused on what she was doing. She was much too worried about what was going on at home. She prayed – literally kneeled down and prayed – that they wouldn't lose Esme. The mother of their family was too dear a person to even think of living without. And Alice too…how could she go on without her sister? The first sister she had ever really had? Even though they had lived apart the last week, it was still comforting to know she was around. Now, she might be…but Carlisle was hoping that both of them were still there somehow. Jasper was due to arrive just around when she'd return home – though she might beat him there if she finished quickly – and he said that he could still feel something coming from his wife. If Esme was suffering the same as Alice, perhaps she was still waiting within that comatose body somehow.

The professor came around to check her work halfway through the lab, smiling when he found she was done. Rosalie grinned back at him, knowing the older man had a thing for pretty blondes and would excuse her faster if she humored him. The smile was hastily wiped from her face when he let her go – she couldn't even handle faking happiness when things were like this. She had parked the BMW close to the science buildings and it took only a half hour for her to race back home.

Emmett was waiting on the porch when she got there, a comforting sight – for the millisecond until she remembered their divorce. Funny how petty things like divorces seemed when the family was in such a crisis, one even worse than she had stupidly thought theirs to be.

"Is Jasper here yet?" she asked nervously. If he had arrived and seen Esme…

Emmett shook his head. "No, not yet."

She nodded, reassured for a little while longer that perhaps her mother wasn't really gone. Once Jasper came, they could figure out what to do. Maybe Alice could see…

No, she couldn't. Wordlessly, Rosalie moved to sit down next to her ex-husband, her toe tapping nervously to fill the waiting silence.

She looked to the side. Emmett was chewing on his lower lip, his own nervous habit. "Esme?"

Again, he shook his head. "No change."

"And Carlisle?"

"He refuses to leave her."

She sighed, staring at her Manolos as she tapped her toe up and down. Jasper had to come, and quickly, before she went insane with waiting. Before they all did. Carlisle was going insane with worry, and she and Emmett had just gone through the longest conversation they had had in months, and the topic made her want to slit her wrists.

It was a few minutes later that the bright yellow Porsche she had so missed seeing in the garage came flying into the drive, tires squealing as it came to a screeching halt. Both Rosalie and Emmett jumped to their feet, watching as the driver's door flew open and Jasper, his shape blurred as he flipped the seat forward and removed a tiny shape wrapped in a long khaki overcoat from the back bench.

"Oh, God," Emmett whispered as Jasper flew past them, Alice clutched in his arms. He stopped just long enough to wrench the front door open before racing up the stairs, Rosalie and Emmett hot on his heels as he burst into Carlisle and Esme's bedroom. Edward and Bella were there as well, and all heads turned to see the weary-eyed blonde come closer to the bed, placing his comatose wife, their sister and daughter, next to her likewise frozen mother.

The two looked like princesses in a fairy tale, one tiny and fairy-like, the other slender and smooth, both graceful even in sleep, their skin like porcelain and their features angel-perfect, each of them as silent and still and lovely as the Sleeping Beauty in the tales. Carlisle, watching with worried eyes, said nothing as Jasper stood looking over the two of them, the entire room terribly still as he listened, waiting for something, anything, that would show if they still remained or not.

Jasper took a deep breath and turned to his father. Everyone froze, fearing the worst.

"She's there," he murmured. "Still and calm but not gone. They're both…frozen, somehow. I don't understand it."

Carlisle came to stand at the side of the bed near Esme while Jasper stood next to Alice, both of them at their respective wives' head, Carlisle stroking her brow, Jasper's hands shoved in his pockets as he stared at the woman still wrapped in his too-big overcoat.

"She hadn't been hunting in ages…do you think that was it?" Jasper asked, not taking his eyes away from her. Across the room, Bella slid into Edward's arms.

Carlisle pursed his lips. "I'm not sure…Esme wasn't eating either but…I think perhaps that was an effect, not a cause. She had been acting strangely ever since you left, speeding around the house, cleaning like a madwoman."

Jasper looked up then. "Alice was, too. She's been working day and night and…Emmett, go get the leather bag from the car?"

Emmett nodded and was gone in a flash, returning with the bag in hand. Jasper took it and opened the side pocket, pulling out a sheath of papers and holding them out for the doctor to look at.

"See?" he said as Carlisle began flipping through them. "They start as normal drawings but get worse and worse, like she was losing control. Some of them aren't even dresses."

Rosalie watched over her father's shoulder as he went through the papers, showing tidy, elegant garments…then shoddy sketches of half-finished dresses…followed by splotches of color on a page that didn't even look like anything cohesive.

"And this has been going on since you left too, hasn't it?" Carlisle asked, handing the papers to Rosalie.

Jasper nodded. "We even fought about it, just before she…she, um, said she didn't know how to control it. Said she didn't know what was happening to her. Then she had the vision of Esme, and…" He swallowed, his face pained.

"Look," Rosalie said suddenly, holding up a paper. "This one isn't even a drawing. What does it say?"

Alice's handwriting on the page was crooked, nearly illegible, something completely out of character for the girl with the normally elegant calligraphy. Emmett leaned over her shoulder, squinting at the page as Edward and Bella came to look.

"Ursus…something," he said and shook his head. They all stared at the paper, trying to make sense of the scribbled black letters crunched together tightly.

"Americanus?" Edward guessed after a moment.

"What does that even mean?" asked Bella.

"Ursus…ursus is Latin for 'bear,'" Jasper said as if from rote memory.

Rosalie had already flown to the bookshelf, bringing down the encyclopedia and flipping through it rapidly. "Ursus americanus…the American Black Bear."

Jasper's face changed into something strange and frightening. "The bears," he murmured. "From the news. The ones that escaped from the testing facility."

Carlisle nodded wordlessly, his eyes flickering to the door. In a moment's time, Edward was gone and back again, holding a newspaper in his hand.

"Reports of a fourth escaped animal arrived just last week from AMC Laboratories in Nipawin, Saskatchewan," Edward read aloud. "AMC, owned by a European-based corporation, denies that the three bear carcasses found in the surrounding area were connected to them, citing the suspicious wounds and lack of bodily fluids. The labs claim such procedures are not connected with their current forms of testing and have invited the media to examine their files should they have any questions that desire answering."

"Hell yes, we have questions that desire answering," Emmett cried, his fists audibly cracking.

"Emmett," Carlisle said warningly, "we can't rush into this. With…with what we are, we have to be careful."

"Well, what the hell is going on at this lab, that their animals are doing this to them?" Emmett went on, gesturing to the two women lying so still on the bed. "We can't get sick, and here they are, almost dead?"

"Emmett," Bella hissed, seeing that pale, frightful look in Jasper and Carlisle's eyes.

The man held up his hands in apology. "Sorry, I just mean…this isn't something that happens. We're like…indestructible. Something huge has to be going on."

"Then we need to start researching," Edward said, his voice calm. "We need to find out more about this AMC Laboratories, see if we can find exactly what they're doing and if we can solve it ourselves." He turned to his conscious sister. "Rosalie, you have access to the university library. See if you can find something there."

"The library's closed until seven," she retorted.

He raised an auburn eyebrow. "When has that ever stopped you?"

She smirked then, prideful and agreeing.

Edward went on. "Carlisle, use every contact you have."

The man tore his eyes away from his wife to give him a pleading look.

Edward nodded. "Bella and I can bring your things in here. And Jasper, we'll bring your computer as well. See if you can hack into their system. Bella and Emmett, you can research with me. Books, the internet, anything you can get your hands on."

Like a well oiled machine, the family split, only Jasper and Carlisle remaining in the room, reluctant to move from their respective wives. They stood like mirror images of each other, on opposite sides of the bed but in the same position, shoulders squared, feet apart, their eyes focused solely down at the woman on their side of the bed.

"Carlisle, you don't think…." Jasper trailed off and swallowed. "You don't think she will…they will…"

"No. No," Carlisle said, a little too forcefully for it to be fully reassuring. "It's just…it's a drug or something. All drugs have side affects. And all have cures. We'll find it. You'll see."

Jasper eased down to his knees beside the bed, clasping Alice's still, white hand in his own, his eyes uncertain. "If you say so, Carlisle. But…if it doesn't…if the last thing we did was fight…"

Carlisle shook his head adamantly. "We'll find the cure. We have to. We…we have to."


Bella pursed her lips as she went through yet another online article, reading with the natural blazing speed that came with her still slightly newfound vampire abilities. There were some days she missed the average pace she once read at, the one that gave her the time to think over phrases and ponder meanings and come up with different theories about what she was reading. Sure, she could still do that now, but the lazy, lackadaisical way it had once been was sort of missed.

Not now, of course. Not when they were looking for some piece of information that would hopefully lead to a cure for Esme and Alice. It had been nearly a week since Jasper and Alice had come back home, and they had found nothing. Absolutely nothing. Jasper had had no luck hacking into the laboratory systems. Carlisle had only half-heartedly tried to reach his contacts, and all of them knew nothing about AMC Laboratories. Rosalie hadn't found much about the corporation at the library, only that it was run by a triumvirate of sorts based in southern Europe. And the research Bella had done had only pulled up a few articles, most detailing the recently escaped animals but a few more about the laboratory's establishment in Nipawin and one interesting one about a strange connection with biohazardous waste. Now, with her resources exhausted and Esme and Alice nowhere closer to being cured, she was taking a break with some good, old-fashioned computer Solitaire.

"Winning?"

Bella turned in her seat to find Emmett standing behind her, a giant stack of books in one of his hands.

She tried to smile and nearly did it before giving up. "No, not quite. How's the reading?"

Emmett sat down in an empty chair with a grunt, the books thumping down on Carlisle's desk between them. "Shitty. Edward's making me help Rosalie out, and since we're not really talking…well, you can figure out how easy that's making the process."

Bella pursed her lips. "Emmett…"

"Don't 'Emmett' me, Bells, I know what you're gonna say." He leaned back in the chair, balancing on two legs; she was surprised it didn't break under his bulk. "Just because the family's in distress doesn't mean Rose and I are going to cling to each other in our time of need."

"The least you could do is be civil to her."

"I am civil. I even say 'thank you' when she hands me another fucking book to pointlessly read."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Emmett, we need to keep working. You think sitting here whining about how much reading you've done is going to help Esme and Alice?"

He looked slightly kowtowed and sighed. "No, I know. I'm just pissed is all."

She looked him over for a silent minute, wondering what he was really pissed about. Esme and Alice? That their research was going nowhere? Or that his work-focused relationship with Rosalie was facing the same roadblock? Feeling her eyes on him, Emmett stood, going over to the wall where Carlisle's degrees were hung in heavy frames.

"Bella?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think something's going to work?"

The truth hurt, but she shrugged. "I don't know."

He reached out to touch the most recent of Carlisle's medical degrees, an ornate affair from Brown. "He's a doctor," he said, almost to himself. "He should be able to fix it."

"You know he's trying," Bella said gently, though even she sounded doubtful. "We all are."

Emmett's eyes drifted along. More medical degrees bordered that one, as well as the awards and articles Esme had carefully framed and insisted on hanging and Carlisle had embarrassedly agreed to. Above that was the large painting Carlisle had received from the Volturi, a beautiful work detailing the three leaders, Aro, Marcus, and Caius, looking youthful and powerful all at once. Next to the painting, there was a framed photo of the family, a candid snapshot taken at Edward and Bella's wedding and showing everyone in pairs. He and Rosalie looked so in love that it almost hurt to see that frozen image of him kissing her cheek. Edward and Bella were in the center, sharing the happiest of looks, while Jasper and Alice were both caught in mid-laugh, Alice's eyes crinkled shut. Carlisle and Esme stood to the side, his arm around her waist as they gazed happily on their children. Everyone looked so happy, so carefree…so different than the way they were now, fretful and comatose and broken.

"Here," Bella said gently, feeling Emmett's upset just as easily as if she had Jasper's gift. "Why don't you take these up to Carlisle? He asked for them." She held out a few articles printed off the internet.

"Sure." Emmett took the papers and left, eager for a chance to get out of more research. It felt so useless. They hadn't found anything in nearly a week's time. How could they hope to figure something out now?

Carlisle was still praying for a cure; he had yet to leave Esme's side, not even to hunt. Currently, he was sitting in a chair next to the bed, an open book on his lap and one of Esme's limp hands in his as he read aloud.

"…The engagement ring is an emerald, and the dim light from the window is refracted green and white in it. The rings are silver, and they need cleaning. They need wearing, and…" Carlisle's voice broke slightly before he went on. "They need wearing, and I know just the girl to wear them."

Emmett cleared his throat slightly to announce his presence, but still Carlisle didn't move. He merely closed the book and nodded. "Come in, Emmett."

He stepped into the room, brandishing the papers, half-wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. Seeing Esme lying so frozen, so deathly ill, made him feel awful for thinking their work was going nowhere…and for feeling that they would never find the cure.

"Bella wanted to give these to you," he offered.

"Thank you." Carlisle took them, flicking through them so fast Emmett wasn't sure if he actually read them. If Carlisle was giving up…no, he couldn't possibly. If Carlisle lost hope, they all would.

"She's going to get better," Emmett said, trying to put his all into his words, even if it was fake feeling. "We're going to find the cure. I mean, we're going to break through to it any day now."

Carlisle sighed and looked down at his wife lying on the bed. He was silent for a moment, staring at her, his eyes almost willing her to wake. He reached out to smooth a lock of caramel hair out of her closed eyes then leaned back in his chair.

"Have you spoken to Jasper? Has he made any progress?"

Emmett chewed on the inside of his cheek. "I, uh…I'm not sure." He was absolutely sure. Jasper had found nothing. Everything was locked up tighter than a drum. "I could go ask him?"

Carlisle nodded. "Yes. Thank you. I'll look these over while you're gone."

Emmett gave him – them, he mentally corrected himself; it was getting harder to think of Esme being sentient – a last look before stepping out, wincing at the sight of Carlisle clinging so desperately to his wife's hand that his white knuckles stood out even whiter. He was frozen in time, just as much as she, unable to do much of anything besides worry and fret and hold her hand.

On the opposite end of the hall, there was a situation very much like that; a comatose woman in bed, a mournful man in a chair beside her, and a desire for a cure lingering in the air. Only this time, Jasper was frantically working, his fingers flying across the keyboard of his laptop in search of something, anything, that would cure the small jet-haired woman sleeping in the bed beside him.

"How's it going?" Emmett asked. Jasper's eyes were a darkening color, and they flicked up at him only momentarily.

"I can't do it," he muttered, his voice tired and angry and distressed.

Emmett didn't know what to say. What was there to?

"The system won't give," Jasper went on. "It doesn't make any sense. It's like they're being run by some crazy Nazi system I can't crack. And she…" He trailed off then, his eyes locking on Alice and holding that same crazed desperation Carlisle's did.

"There hasn't been any change…has there?" Emmett asked, hoping for the best and knowing there was nothing.

He shook his head. "No. Emmett, I…she can't go like this. I won't let her go like this. This isn't her, and you know it."

It was true. Alice, the lively, the pixie-like, would never in a million years have confined herself to bed (besides that one time in the fifties, and that was a long story). This wasn't the way she would have wanted it to be. He wondered for a moment if, somewhere inside, his sister was screaming to be let out, crying out in the hopes they could hear her. But no, Edward heard nothing, and Jasper felt only still calm to prove that they weren't yet gone entirely.

"I have to fight for her. Somehow, I have to make her well. Whatever it takes." The force behind Jasper's voice scared Emmett a little.

Made him wonder if he'd ever feel that way about someone. Or…if that someone might feel that way about him again.

"We will," he said in that half-assuring, half-cheerfully-lying way he had fed to Carlisle.

Jasper looked down at his laptop then back up, shaking his head. "Whoever these AMC folks are…they've got better techs than I. Tell everyone to keep working. I'll try harder." He went back to typing furiously, and Emmett backed out of the room, returning to Carlisle's doorway –

And stopping short, unwilling to interrupt the scene he had found there. Carlisle had given up his post in the chair next to the bed. He had instead lain down beside his wife, his hand forever clasped in hers, his eyes shut as if he too were in sleep…or in death…in whatever twilight state she was that he longed to join her in and could not. It was a heartwrenching sight to Emmett, that his mother's illness could unscrew his confident, intelligent father so, and he backed away from the room silently and sadly, returning to the downstairs study with a hung head.

"Any luck?" Bella asked.

Emmett realized he hadn't asked Carlisle if the articles had helped, but he had no desire to go back up there now to question him. "No," he said simply. "Jasper either."

She groaned and slumped over the computer, her forehead pressing against the screen. "I can't take much more of this. Everyone's going insane."

He nodded; the proof was right upstairs in the two men who refused to leave their respective rooms for fear that something would happen to the women who remained.

"And you're sure Jasper can't crack it?" she asked again.

He shook his head. "He's going to try, but he said the AMC guys have to have better people than him, to keep him out so much."

It was then that his words sunk in and his eyes focused on a spot on the wall just across the room. In a daze, ignoring whatever Bella was saying to him, Emmett walked to the wall of framed pictures and diplomas, his hand reaching out to touch the oil painting of ancients hanging there. The Volturi, forever captured in time, frozen on canvas just as they were frozen in their bodies. The leaders sitting on monogrammed thrones, Aro in the middle, flanked by Marcus and Caius.

Aro, Marcus, and Caius. AMC.