AN: So here it is. The summary. I just want to thank Blue Eyed Chica who pointed out that Edward appears to be wearing both jeans and pants in the one-shot. A mistake on my part, by pants I was talking about underpants. I should've just said boxers. –Grins sheepishly- Now I have no idea why I have an AN when this whole thing is pretty much one long AN but whatever. I'm going to apologize to everyone because I should have had this out ages ago. Ah well.
Edward takes Bella to his little hideaway where they stay until they are absolutely certain that she's no longer in heat.
They meet the parents. Carlisle is fascinated by Bella, spirits her away and gets her to tell him everything she knows about Manticore and their technology. Meanwhile Esme is bursting for joy, incoherently babbling about how glad she is that her eldest son's in love.
Emmett teases Edward about his 'unconventional choices' and loudly wonders when and how he's going to lose his v-card while speculating as to the circumstances under which they met and laughingly saying that it was probably under terribly polite circumstances (e.g. the opera). He asks Edward what he did to get her. By this time Esme has left the room and Edward tells Emmett sotto voce that he met her in the middle of the woods about a week ago and hasn't left her side until now. He then turns to remedy this leaving Emmett to make what he will of this information.
Rosalie is jealous, obviously. But she when she protests about a human knowing the secret Bella yells from upstairs that she's not feeling particularly human at the moment and if Rosalie wants to call her human she'll have to help her work off the transgenic energy. Since they were having their conversation at vampire speed and in low tones on the first floor and she's having a shower all alone on the third this makes quite an impression and everybody shuts up.
Alice is ecstatic of course. She's slightly perturbed by the fact that she can't see Bella all the time and when she can she's slightly hazy, but decides that she can see them going shopping together. Bella refuses and Alice begs her, saying that she can't remember her human life and has never had really human experiences. Bella says neither has she but she's not whining about it.
***
"Bella, please." Begged Alice. "Please Bella please."
"No." I said resolutely, resisting the evil power of her vampire eyes. Manticore had trained us to resist all forms of coercion but never had they pitted me against a power of this magnitude.
"Bella, please." I felt my heart melt a little and I almost agreed before at the last second remembering that I detested shopping and people spending money on me and that all the malls that were still up and running charged an arm and a leg for whatever they sold. Rather than replying I just gave her a look.
"Bella, I can't remember my human life! I've never had a human to play with before; I've been deprived of valuable experiences!"
Her statement was delivered with a heartbreaking expression and an artful break in her wind chime voice. By all rights I should be a puddle of mush on the floor by now.
I wasn't.
"Neither have I." was my hard hearted retort. The expression on her face was comical. I almost laughed except for the fact that it was my turn to lay it on thick now. I sniffed before continuing with my sob story. "At least you can't remember your childhood. I do and I wish I didn't. You have a family. I've been living on the run for all my life that wasn't spent as a lab rat at Manticore." I sobbed loudly and hid my laughing face in my hands so it wouldn't give the game away.
Instantly her arms were around me, comforting me.
It was a nice tableau until Jasper's dry voice cut across it. "She's not actually upset Alice. She's just trying to get out of shopping." I looked up and glared at him and he grinned, unrepentant. "Hey, if you don't go she'll take me. It's every body for themselves."
"You lied to me?" Alice asked indignantly. I winced.
"I didn't lie! I'm just as deprived as you are, I'm just not whining about it!"
***
Jasper is just glad he doesn't want to eat her. Much.
He warms to her when she agrees to play chess with him and actually provides him with a challenge.
Bella and Esme have a heart to heart.
***
Esme smiled at me and stepped forwards, reaching for my hand. "It's very nice to know you." She said sincerely.
"Thank you." I said equally sincere. "I'm glad to meet you too." I was. She was such a warm person despite her frigid skin. She'd accepted me as her son's mate and been so welcoming. "You have a very beautiful home." I added conventionally. It really was a home not a house. Happy, light, open. There were no secrets here. I felt a pang of longing and I knew I looked slightly wistful. I controlled my expression.
"It's your home too you know." Her soft voice was assuring. Motherly. I felt tears fill my eyes and I blinked them away.
"Thank you." I told her fervently. Too fervently.
She blinked in surprise. "Whatever for?"
"For accepting me, for letting me into your home." She was kinder than I deserved.
She waved her hand dismissively. "You're Edward's soul mate and he is my son. You make him happy. How could I not accept you?"
This time I couldn't stop the tears. I turned my head so she wouldn't see them. "I've never had a home before." I admitted.
"Didn't your mother…?" She trailed off, unsure as to how to finish that sentence.
"I've never had a mother either." I confessed.
Instantly her arms surrounded me and hugged me to her. "I'll be your mother Bella." She murmured as I broke down and sobbed, throwing my arms around her neck.
***
Emmett challenges her to a wrestling match. She beats him which shocks the other vampires and makes Edward incredibly smug.
There are some things Bella omits to tell Carlisle but tells Edward instead. For example the fact that when her sisters are in heat it's for days rather than weeks and they tend to have more control than she does. However hers come along once every year rather than several times.
However there are some things she doesn't tell anyone.
***
I watched in disgust as Edward's little human raised a shaking hand to her mouth. Inside her cupped fist were a bunch of white pills. I turned away in disdain. Junkie.
I should stop her. I should tell Edward.
I did neither.
Was it so selfish to hope she would take too many? To hope for the removal of a nuisance in my life?
It wasn't like I was giving her the drugs.
***
No. It's not what it seems.
***
I ran into the bathroom, listening to Bella's laboured breathing and erratic heart beat. I broke down the door without a second thought. Before abruptly stilling at the sight before me.
Bella lay shaking on the bathroom floor, an empty bottle beside her. Her eyes were open but her eyes had rolled into the back of her head. I was by her side in an instant and held her gently in my arms.
"Bella." I whispered distraught. I couldn't understand what I was seeing. Bella, my Bella couldn't possibly be a drug addict. I would have noticed…wouldn't I?
A whimper escaped her lips and I moaned in agony. A faint thought touched the back of my mind, tinge with unease. Rosalie was remembering a hand, shaking, lifting pills to trembling lips. I snarled furiously and clutched her closer to me.
"Edward." she whimpered piteously.
"Bella." I said quietly as I stroked her hair before laying my hand on her burning forehead.
"Milk." The word was barely more than a ragged whisper. I didn't even bother questioning her. Within seconds we were in the kitchen and I had a glass of milk lifted to her lips. She drank it down quickly and I gave her more. Her trembling decreased but didn't stop.
"What's going on baby?" I asked her softly, stroking her hair back from her sweat soaked forehead.
"I'll…explain…later." She said forcing the words out through gritted teeth as another violent tremor wracked her tiny frame. She looked so small, so fragile-how had I never noticed before? She took a deep breath and it seemed to stabilise her. "Tryptophan." She murmured. "I need it." She managed to add before collapsing into unconsciousness.
I dialled Carlisle.
Less than five minutes later Carlisle strolled into the kitchen and handed me a bottle identical to the one lying on the bathroom floor. I took a handful of the pills and gently held her mouth open while I put some of them on her tongue and then tilted the glass of milk so that the liquid could run into her mouth. I tilted her head back and stroked her throat in order to coax the pills down her throat. Once she'd swallowed I let her fall back against my shoulder and started to absent mindedly caress her hair, her face, anything I could reach. It was a futile attempt to reassure myself that she was safe, that she'd be all right, that she wouldn't leave me.
***
Oh boy, poor Edward really was in a snit that day. Bella has a lot of explaining to do…
***
"What do you want me to tell you Edward?" There were tears streaming down my face but I couldn't care enough to wipe them away. "My brain's broken! It doesn't produce serotonin so I have seizures and if I don't take tryptophan I'll fall into a coma and die! Happy?" I could barely contain the sobbing that was trying to break free. I was still weak and shaky from my fit earlier. I was so afraid…
I leaned back against a tree and crossed my arms defiantly. I wasn't going to let him see how terrified I was if he was going to reject me, to finally see me for the freak I was.
His hard, angry face softened inexplicably at my folded arms. I looked down, preparing myself for the inevitable blow of rejection. I refused to meet his eyes because I knew if I did that all the sobs I'd suppressed would shake me to pieces and my eyes would overflow.
I didn't see him come towards me and when his arm circled my waist and pulled me to him I flinched in shock. He grabbed my chin and forced me to meet his eyes. The smouldering black, the worry, the anguish and the pain of those eyes overset me. My tears started to flow as I had known they would and he calmed me as he wiped them away, humming and singing softly. It was the sort of thing you'd do to pacify a baby or young child but rather than be indignant I felt...soothed.
Finally when my tears stopped he murmured into my hair "I will never be happy over something that hurts you Bella." He sighed. "I just wish you had told me. I was so terrified; I truly thought I was going to lose you. You were dying and I could do nothing, nothing." He shuddered.
I looked at him in shock. "You're not leaving? You don't think I'm a freak?" The words slipped out without thought and I clapped a hand over my mouth, cursing myself to the deepest pits of hell.
The look in Edward's eyes was deeply unhappy. "You think you're a freak? Bella I'm a vampire!"
Once again I couldn't stop the words from leaving my mouth and even though my hand muffled them somewhat I could tell from his expression that he'd heard them. "At least you're natural. Something intended you to be a part of the world. I was made in a lab."
He growled furiously. "You are not-urgh-a freak. Don't you ever say that again Isabella!" He breathed in deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose. He continued in a carefully controlled voice "Is there any other health risks you've neglected to inform me of?"
"Um… I may start aging rapidly out of the blue and end up dead within about two to three days? Manticore might end up killing me in an attempt to capture me? I have a penchant for jumping out of windows in high buildings?" I tried to use a flippant tone in order to down play the risk but the look on Edward's face told me I'd failed spectacularly.
***
Needless to say the worrywart would go prematurely grey were he not immortal(ly young and beautiful). The irony being his girlfriend might up and die of old age over the course of days.
Thankfully that was one worry he could cross off the list after Bella got captured and taken back to Manticore. Joy…
***
"You're Zack?" I asked the boy curtly.
He looked at me warily "Who are you?" He asked. At any other time I would have answered him, unfortunately I was currently in no mood for niceties. I read his mind. He was indeed Zack. I turned to the girl.
"Are you Max?"
The girl just looked at me. Just as wary as Zack. Just as wary as Bella.
My heart throbbed painfully at her name. I looked at the last person in the room and scanned his mind. "Eyes Only. A pleasure." I nodded in acknowledgement of his presence.
"Who the fuck are you?" Zack demanded. Rather rudely too. I cocked an eyebrow at him.
My answer was a succinct "Edward." I left it at that.
Zack jumped at me and tried to pin me but I grabbed him and threw him ten feet in the air. Max came at me next but I knocked her out quickly and as painlessly as possible. I didn't like fighting girls. I turned with a sigh to…Logan was it? "When they come to please tell them I'm here because of their sister Bella. I'll be behind the crates. Lurking."
***
Once the initial introductions were concluded, the inevitable demands as to his nature deflected and reinforcements summoned the vampire and his transgenic cohorts got their asses in gear and went off to save Bella.
Of course the only reason Edward went to get them was because he needed someone to guide him to and through Manticore. However once inside he took out all security single handedly while the contingent of X5's followed like cowed puppies. After all he'd beaten Bella, Zack and Max who were all the best of the best not to mention the fact that he was very annoyed that his mate had been taken away from him.
However that was nothing to his fury when he found out that his mate had been assigned a breeding partner…
***
"Damn it!" I spat furiously at the bastard in my cell. "Don't fucking touch me!"
He glowered darkly at me, "Hey, this isn't debateable! Just strip and we can get this over with."
I laughed disbelievingly. "If my boyfriend were here he'd castrate you." I informed him snidely.
He lost all pretence of civility. "Well he's not." He snapped before advancing on me. I tensed. I'd fight to the death before I let anyone other than Edward take me.
"Actually." Came the cool voice of my beloved. "He is."
***
Ouch. Needless to say he killed him. Ah well. They all got out. Bella no longer has to worry about seizures or growing old suddenly.
Edward vanishes with Bella leaving (many very) curious people behind.
They go home. One day while strolling through the woods after an argument with Edward (of no real significance so I shan't bother recounting it here) she comes across a young man with russet coloured skin. He is none other than Jacob Black. Wowzers. He is joined by the rest of the pack (lead by Sam) all of whom start when she is abruptly joined by an irate Edward who's aggravation at the argument has been exacerbated by the fact that his lover is currently keeping company with wolves.
Jacob, idealistic goodhearted boy that he is yells that Edward isn't normal, isn't human. To which Bella replies that neither is she. When one of the wolves morph dangerously close to her she illustrates her point by jumping into a tree. She yells down that she's sorry. It's all the fault of the cat DNA. She then jumps on Edward back and tells him he has been chosen to be her taxi for the evening, a great honour to be sure.
They go home.
When next her heat is upon her Bella once more transforms into a nymphomaniac. However because she now has a mate all other males become redundant and she proves to be a nest bound nymphomaniac. (Now that little phrase I got from Roald Dahl. Anyone who knows which particular story I'm referring to gets a gazillion bragging points.)
They still move away. It's hard to have loud uninhibited sex with your (partner's) parents/siblings around.
They come back. Bella goes for a walk in the woods while Edward's off hunting. Alone (really the girl should have learned by now that walking alone is catastrophic for her) she is attacked by a vampire/werewolf/shapeshifter/demonic hell spawn/evil forces/Paris Hilton/giant pink bunnies/whatever. Take your pick of villain. Whatever it is it almost kills her and Edward who returns early smells her blood, kills the monstrosity and bites her in desperation when her heart stops before commencing CPR. Now the reason he hasn't done this before is because 1. Vamp venom is poison to werewolves and animals 2. Bella has animal DNA 3. He's Edward.
However it doesn't kill her. Her heart doesn't stop per se but she doesn't need it to beat. She's stuck on repeat if you will. She can stop and start her heart but she doesn't get any older. She can still bear children (but they don't realise this 'til years later when she actually gets pregnant) however it's a painful and difficult process and it's a rare occurrence (don't worry she won't over populate the Earth with her immortal progeny) her eyes are typical veggie vamp eyes. She isn't super strong, just normal vamp strength. But she does run faster than most vampires. After all, she could blur when she was human. Her senses are phenomenal. When she keeps her heart beating she stays warm (friction, that's my story and I'm sticking to it) but reverts to vampire temperature when it stops. So she can pass as a vampire (which helps when the Volturi are about) or human as desired. She has her shielding abilities of course.
So basically everyone lives ever after. Mostly happily.
But what's life without strife huh?