All of the usual disclaimers apply.

Once again, big love to my most outstanding beta, vjgm. Give my sister some props and check out her story Trust in Advertising. I aspire to her writing greatness.

Readers, you just rock. Thank you so much for all of your kind words and support on this twisted little fic of mine! You all keep me going.

~BPOV~

Wrapped deep inside Edward's head, I could feel the fire that raged on the outskirts of his mind starting close in, the heat radiating toward us.

Everything was moving so fast, just like with Emmett.

I shouldn't even be thinking about this right now, I needed to focus.

Edward.

That's all that mattered.

Edward started to whimper and bury his face deeper against my chest as the fire licked at the spots of his flesh that I couldn't cover.

Quickly, I smoothed my hands over his back, trying to soothe the exposed skin with my icy touch.

His body twitched against mine as his breathing picked up and his heart started to pump faster. The venom pushed through his veins at an alarming rate, eating away at the blood cells inside every artery and organ it pulsed through.

Conversely, I felt another surge of power from Edward. I took note that with every increase in heart rate, every jolt of fledgling vampire strength that course through his body, the power between us fluxed as well.

I could feel a cool aura reach beyond my fingertips with this new burst of power and his body calmed.

"Are you still with me Edward?" I asked quietly.

"Yes," his voice whispered against my skin and I felt his head nod against my chest. His arms tightened around me and he slung one foot around my legs, dragging his body closer to mine even more.

~EPOV~

I wasn't sure what was really happening and what wasn't.

I was pretty sure that Bella and I were somewhere deep inside my head and that she had somehow managed to wrap her mind around mine to keep the pain at bay as much as she could.

My skin felt like I had a massive sunburn, my insides felt like they were simmering in their own juices on low heat and even though my heartbeat raced faster than it did after a three mile run, it felt heavy in my chest, like it was pumping something other than blood, something thicker more viscous. But the pain was manageable.

At least it was in that very moment in time. The next moment was a different story.

I gasped as another wave of heat and intense pain coursed through my body, igniting me from the inside out.

I felt that weird twitch again, the same odd sensation that knocked me back when Bella and I touched while we were tending to Emmett in that nasty old cottage.

Then slowly, the heat began to leech out of my body as Bella pressed tighter, absorbing my pain.

"Does it hurt you?" I asked quietly.

If Bella was suffering in anyway, I would find a way to wrench myself free and gladly suffer to the dreaded fire.

For her.

"Shhh," she whispered to me. "I'm fine, just focus on staying with me okay?"

I could hear voices and had the odd feeling that Emmett was in the room. Something foreign suddenly touched my back, breaking my concentration.

Argh! The fire!

I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my teeth as another jolt of fire shot through me. I could feel every muscle straining as liquid heat pumped through my body.

"Focus Edward, you have to stay focused. Listen to the sound of my voice."

I coiled myself tighter against her bosom and focused on one thing.

Bella.

~EMPOV~

I sank to the floor in the kitchen, burying my face in my hands. How could I have done that? Jasper was my brother and I tried to take a bite out of him for fuck sake!

"I didn't know it was him," I said quietly. The air I took in to speak was tainted with the scent of his human blood, the very blood that I wanted to consume so badly that I wasn't thinking of him as my brother, more like a cow I was sizing up for a juicy steak.

"Emmett, you shouldn't speak," Rosalie said, crouching down next to me. "Jasper's scent is still pretty strong in here; you should just hold your breath."

"I'm fine." I lied, I felt sick to my stomach.

Could vampires even barf?

Esme's soft hand on my shoulder calmed me. "I'm so very proud of you Emmett," she said with a smile.

"Pfft, I don't know why," I muttered, another wave of shame at what I'd nearly done crashed over my head. "I almost ate my own brother."

"But you didn't," Esme said, smoothing my dark curls off of my forehead, just like mom used to do. "Don't you see? Your love for your brother was so great that it superseded the hunger."

"You had quite a natural reaction, for your first encounter with a human," Carlisle said, placing his bag on the kitchen table. "Quite frankly I'm surprised that were able to come around and recognize Jasper as your brother. You must have a very strong bond."

"Yeah," I nodded.

My brothers and I had an extremely tight bond, we basically raised each other. I was thirteen when mom died, and as the oldest, it was my responsibility to help dad.

Dad did his best with us, taking us camping when he could manage a day or two off. But it was hard and he worked a lot of overtime to make ends meet, which left us to fend for ourselves a lot of the time.

None of us were bitter about it. It's just how it was.

"Speaking of brothers, how's nature boy doing in there?" I nodded up the stairs.

"Would you like to find out?" Esme asked with a twinkle in her amber eyes.

"Serious?"

"Always," she smiled, extending her hand to me.

We were standing beside Bella's bed in the time it took to blink and Esme was explaining the theories that she and Carlisle had come up with so far.

"First, we aren't sure if any of this is going to work because none of this has ever been done before. What appears to be happening, is that Bella has wrapped herself around your brother's mind in order to keep him from experiencing the pain of the transformation, but according to Alice, she is going to need help with that." She clasped both her hands around mine. "You don't know how much it pleases me to hear that you have such a strong bond with your brothers, if you didn't I wouldn't have even considered what we are about to do."

I listened intently as her eyes danced with excitement.

"I need you to push your shield back and open up your mind."

I did as she asked, and nodded when I'd successfully suppressed my shield.

"This is just a test run, an experiment, if you will," she smiled reassuringly at me and placed my hand on Edward's bare skin.

My entire body jolted backward and the connection with Edward was broken.

"What the fuck was that?" I blinked.

~JPOV~

Alice whisked me out of the house so fast my head was still reeling when she set me back on my feet in the middle of some dilapidated old cottage that smelled of vomit. My stomach flipped and I could feel the bile rise up in my throat already.

Her little hands ran all over my chest, my face and up and down my arms

"Are you alright?" she asked as her fingers searched through my hair and across my throat.

"I'm fine."

She scooped up one of my hands in hers and held my palm to her cool cheek. "I'm so sorry my love, he was going to leave and then he caught your scent and I couldn't get you out of the house in time." She turned her head and gently kissed my palm.

My father's face flashed inside my head and a sudden realization washed over me.

"My dad," I said quietly. "I'm never going to see him again, am I? None of us are."

Alice took a deep breath. "Don't worry about that right now. It's…well…" she gnawed the corner of her lip as her eyes darted around the room. "It's…complicated."

Complicated? What in the hell was so complicated about it? Judging by Emmett's reaction to me, there would be no way we could every see our father again.

I opened my mouth to ask just that when her little hand covered my lips, stopping the question before I could even ask it.

"Just trust me, please?" Her amber eyes begged me and I felt a little woozy. The ability to form coherent words escaped me at the moment so all I could do was nod my head.

Alice got that just-about-to-have-a-vision look, a sort of far away expression. She squeezed her eyes shut, her pert mouth twisted, her tiny shoulders hunched and she cringed at the vision that ripped through her mind.

"I won't take you back there right now, Jasper, I can't see if it's safe or not," she said quietly, shaking her head.

"You just asked me to trust you, and I do. Now I'm asking you to trust me." I cupped her marble cheek in my hand and tried to tilt her face to mine, but she refused to budge. "Alice, look at me."

"No."

"Sweetie, I know my brother. Emmett might look like a badass cop and that's what he likes people to think, but he's really just the most gentle person I know. You have to trust me."

With a heavy sigh she finally looked up at me. "Okay," she relented. "But if he tries to bite you again I'm taking his head clean off."

Climbing on Alice's back for the run to the house was possibly the most bizarre experience of my life. Even though she assured me I wasn't hurting her at all, the image my mind conjured up of my long body draped over her tiny frame looked so ridiculously hysterical that I couldn't help but chuckle to myself.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Just thinking about how we must look right now."

"Hang on," she giggled, shaking her head before she took off like a shot through the woods.

We stopped in the woods about a hundred yards from the house.

"We'll take it slow from here," Alice said. "It will be easier for Emmett if your scent builds from a short distance, give him a chance to get a handle on himself."

"That makes sense," I said, lacing my fingers in hers as we started to walk slowly toward the house.

We reached the back porch and she closed her eyes, I assumed she was listening to a vision.

"So far as I can see, it's safe, but I'm not one hundred percent on that." Suddenly she turned to me and grasped my shoulders. "Just say the word and we are back at the cottage before you know it."

"Hmmmm, face my brother, who is a new born vampire that might attack me or go back to that disgustingly filthy cottage that smells of vomit." I tapped my finger against my chin and feigned thinking. I couldn't stand the smell of vomit and was about to toss my cookies when we were in that shack earlier. "Yeah, I'll take my chances with Em."

I heard Emmett's rich laughter from the other side of the door. It was more melodic than it was before, but there was no discerning who it belonged to. No one laughed as loud or as hard as Emmett. Then, it sounded like someone was talking, but it was much too fast for me to understand any of it.

"You have to speak slower Emmett, he can't understand a word you're saying," Alice said, rolling her eyes and pushing the door open.

Alice walked in before me, training her eyes on Emmett who looked a little worried for a moment before his face broke out in a huge grin.

I'll be the first to admit that Emmett was a good looking guy to begin with, but now? He looked incredible, like a giant mannequin brought to life. His eyes were a softened red, not the brilliant red that stared down at me an hour ago, they were warmer, more Emmett like. His skin, it was almost opalescent, just like Alice's skin and he seemed bigger than he was before. Not taller just more muscular without being overtly bulky like someone that size might be. It suited him.

"Did you get bigger, man?" I asked, trying to look around Alice who was planting herself between me and Emmett.

"I know, right," Emmett said, striking the classic muscle man pose. "I mean I was hot before, but now, I'm just smokin'." He flexed his back and let out a growl.

Alice snarled and crouched in front of me.

Emmett threw his hands up and took a few steps back. "Easy there ankle biter, I'm just kidding around. I'm fine okay, damn."

Alice backed off some so my brother continued.

"Look, man, I just wanted to apologize for the way I behaved earlier," he started.

"Em, you don't have to…" I said

He put up his hand and shook his head. "Yeah I do," he said, taking a deep breath. "The way I saw you before, I didn't even see you. It was like those old cartoons where the starving dude looks at his buddy and all he sees is a giant hot dog with legs," Emmett explained. "But afterwards, just the thought of drinking your blood…" he visibly shuddered and made a face. "I don't know man; it'd be almost like giving you a blow job or something and that shit is just wrong."

Only Emmett would think that way and I was thankful. Part of me was a little afraid that he'd be different, that becoming a vampire would change him somehow. But this was the same old Em, just in a slightly prettier wrapping.

"I love you man," I chuckled and started to walk toward him, my arms outstretched for a bro hug.

He took a step back and shook his head. "Sorry man, I'm good, but I'm not that good just yet."

Emmett turned his head to the stairs and cocked an eyebrow before he looked to Alice. His lips looked like they might be moving but I couldn't hear anything.

"I know," Alice said.

"What's happening?" I asked.

Esme descended the stairs with such grace and fluidity that she appeared to be floating a fraction of an inch above the surface of the floor.

"Your brother is changing quite rapidly," she said. She had that same melodic tone to her voice, but it was warmer than the others. The kind of voice you wanted to hear lull you to sleep while you curled up under the covers in bed.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that we have to go," Alice answered.

"Where?" I asked.

"Vomit shack, bro," Emmett frowned at me. "Sorry."

I could feel my stomach churn at the thought.

Great, more time at the barf barn.

Chapter End Notes:

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