Author's Note: Nothing do I own. Not now, not ever.

This chapter contains some fluff, and one major-important thing about the relationship between Edward and the Volturi that will play a role later on. Please review!

Freesia Juliet

Part Two: The Queen

Chapter Fifteen: Angel

(Bella's Point of View)

He looked… like my angel. I felt like I was going to explode inside. How could I have ever left him? When he saw me, he let out a barely audible gasp, then moved, warily, towards me.

His hand touched my face, gently tugging on the streak of silver in my hair. "I was considering dyeing it," I joked weakly.

"How did this happen?" he whispered in my ear. The smell of his breath made my lungs constrict.

"Stress, I've been told." He winced. Then we were silent for a moment, each deeply absorbed in each other's scent. My honey-and-musk Romeo. Curious, I had to ask, "Do I still smell the same?"

He chose his words carefully as he tightened his grip on my waist. "It's… different. Stronger, even. But without the whole 'I want to rip you apart' side effect."

I grinned, kissing the side of his face. "Good."

"Exactly," he murmured back, kissing me on the lips in a way that might have killed me had I still been alive.

His hand strayed to the edge of my gold silk bathrobe. "Edward," I warned, breaking off the kiss. He gave me that wonderful crooked smile I so loved, and I melted.

There was nothing to hold us back now…

I lay on his chest, clinging to him with relief and overwhelming love. "I think I need to explain to you what happened," I whispered reluctantly.

"I think I need to hear it," Edward agreed, sitting up a little and helping me lay in the crook of his arm.

"It all started last Sunday, when I went to visit a doctor at Seattle General Hospital," I began.

"You went to Seattle? Why didn't you just come to Carlisle?"

"I didn't want you to know that I thought something was wrong, just in case it was nothing. Carlisle would have certainly told you."

He tensed a little. "And something was wrong?"

"My heart was dying."

"Oh God," he groaned lightning fast, and turned away from me. "You thought I wouldn't turn you."

"You did say you never would."

He turned his head back towards me and kissed me hard. "If I had only known, Bella, you know I would have done everything in my power to keep you with me. I love you!"

"I know you do, Edward, I love you too. That's why I couldn't put you in a position that would force you to do what you didn't want to do."

He nodded, pressing my head to his chest with his strong hands. "Where did you go?" That was the one question I did not want to answer. I remained silent. "Bella," growled Edward, "tell me."

I swallowed. "I went to the Volturi."

He flew out of bed so fast that I was practically left spinning. "Bella!" he shouted, "How could you?! No wait, don't answer that, I don't want to know!"

I pulled up the sheet with me as I stood up. I think I might have blushed had I still been able to. "Edward!" I shouted, mortified as he turned away. Suddenly I was on the other side of him, standing between him and the door.

He was taken aback. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?" I said, confused.

"One second you were on the bed, and the next second you were by the door, and then-" He stopped, surprised. I was sitting on the bed now. "How did you do that?!" he hissed.

I shrugged. "I think it's a Volturi thing. I've never noticed it before." I popped next to him. "You need this," I laughed as I wrapped a sheet around him without touching him.

It was strange that I was absolutely at ease with the discovery of my gift. I had always expected it to be something important, like not needing to drink blood or being able to transform or something. This was…odd. I wasn't even quite sure what to call it.

I was able to move myself and objects with only my mind.

"Is it a telepathy thing?" I asked, unsure.

"Maybe," he shrugged. "Does it take a lot of effort?" he asked. "I remember it took me a hell of a long time to control the voices in my head."

"I don't know," I said, 'summoning' my robe back to me, "I've never been able to do anything before. I was beginning to think that Aro was wrong, and that queens only had one power."

"Aro? Queens?" said Edward. "Bella, what do you mean?" Oops, I had said way too much. "Carlisle," Edward moaned as he heard his father's thoughts enter his radius of perceptiveness.

"Dress," I ordered, 'throwing' his clothes back at him while I made the bed. He was fixing his shirt collar when we both heard the elevator "ding" at the sixth floor.

"Damn," I growled, vanishing into the bathroom with a sporty little white dress that Alice had bought for me. It fit rather tightly, and I had just wiggled it on when someone knocked at the door. I flew for the lipstick and hairbrush as Edward opened the door.

"Jasper, Alice," he acknowledge for my benefit as I finished throwing my suddenly unruly hair into a ponytail. I took one quick look in the mirror. My ruby eyes were already beginning to speckle with brown. Colette had brought up 'dinner' for me a few hours back- it was a bottle of sheep's blood disguised as chardonnay. Only in France.

"Hello," I smiled, popping out of the bathroom. Both recovered from their shock admirably. "How are you both?" Alice body-slammed me with a hug, literally pinning me to the wall. I gently pushed her off of me.

"Oh, Bella, we were so worried for you! Are you okay?"

I nodded, surprised by how glad I was to see them both. I had been so nervous. "I'm good now that you and Edward are with me," I promised.

Emmett, Esme, Rosalie, and finally Carlisle joined us in the room. The once overly-large suite room was beginning to feel a little crowded to me. Everyone, even Jasper, offered me hugs and congratulations. Except for Rosalie. Rose was her usual cool and distant self. I knew that she blamed me for however Edward might have been for the past week, so I forgave her silently.

I gave Carlisle a meaningful look. I finally understood why he had spent so much time with the Volturi- their promises of power and greatness were seductive to any being. I was proud that he had been able to leave them. I was proud that I had been able to leave them.

His next words startled to the core, and I was not ready for them. "So they close you to be the next queen, didn't they, Bella?"

I nodded, extending my arm to offer all of the Cullens seats either on the bed or at the table. Edward sat close to me, his gold eyes full of confusion. "How could you tell, Carlisle?" I asked, curious in spite of the situation he had placed me in.

"There is a certain mannerism, a certain scent… it's a Volturi thing, I think," he responded, mimicking my own reply to Edward earlier.

"Carlisle, what is a 'queen,' and what does it have to do with Bella?" asked Alice.

"A queen, Alice, or more specifically a Volturi Queen, is a rare kind of vampire," began Carlisle, "that can only be produced when a Volturi, both blood or adopted, bites a certain kind of woman." I was surprised by this explanation. Carlisle was implying that I would have become a Volturi Queen whether it had been Aro or Edward who had turned me. Carlisle was an 'adopted' Volturi and Edward had been turned by him, which made Edward a Volturi, too.

"What makes them different?" asked Edward warily, his arm tight around my shoulders.

"They have the ability to produce children." There was a din of confusion and surprise among all of the Cullens as they tried to sort out the implications of such an ability. I was sure that they were picturing the same family fantasy I had had when I had first found out, almost two days ago.

But the other shoe had to drop. I had to explain the reason why this would never happen with me. "A queen can only produce as many children as the number of humans she bites in the first year she is a vampire," I whispered.

At that moment, someone else knocked at the door. "It's Helene," said Edward, "let her in."

Helene, a tall, beautiful red-head who wore her hair up in a braid, flew into the room. "Bella," she said, her voice heavily accented, "trouble is coming!"