Chapter 22

Bella's POV

Edward's smile abruptly changed into a frown. He sighed while he and I travelled through the Tardis to find the wardrobe. He grew quiet as he squeezed my hand.

As we walked, it was like he had become distant, enthralled by his pained reverie. I realised that a lot had happened in the past few hours especially for him and he probably needed a while to come to terms with that.

We managed to only get lost once, surprisingly finding ourselves in a courtyard. When we realised it had a swimming pool we turned back. I giggled to the madness of it all. We eventually made it to the wardrobe and it was huge with a large spiral staircase in its centre, matching the Tardis' golden coloured interior. I think that if Alice was with us she would have died and gone to heaven.

Edward spent couple of minutes - still in silence - rummaging though some of the more unusual articles of clothing before finding a plain white shirt. He took my hand in his again as we headed back to the others who were waiting patiently for us, this time not getting lost on our way.

Before we joined them I began to worry about Edward and his new found silence. I knew that he was upset though he thought he was hiding it.

"Are you okay?" I asked with genuine concern.

"Humm? Yeah I'm fine," he responded too quickly.

"You sure? Do you want to talk about it?" I asked gently.

"No… I'm fine… No really, absolutely fine," he paused before taking a deep breath followed by a sigh.

"Okay… maybe later. But first we have to get this paradox mess sorted out." he said trying to change the subject.

"You know I'm always here for you," I said sincerely.

"I know," he replied. "I'm just not ready yet."

The silence returned. He raised his right hand and placed it on my left cheek, caressing it gently. He sighed again.

"Thank you, I-," he whispered but before he could continue Emmett came pounding towards us.

"Are you two lovebirds coming or what!?" Emmett yelled much to our annoyance as he interrupted Edward and ruined our intimate moment.

"Come on guys! The Doctor wants you! We don't have all day," he yelled trying to brake up mine and Edward's all consuming attention on one another.

Edward grabbed my hand and as we walked passed Emmett to the others. Edward growled at him and for once I was surprised that I didn't do the same. I knew I would have to come back to this conversation with Edward later, perhaps after everything has settled and when we have a moment to ourselves. It was important that we spoke through everything that's happened today, not only for Edward's sake but for mine as well.

We entered what I assumed to be the main room as Emmett followed behind us, stunned by mine and Edward's annoyed reaction to him. The Doctor was making or fixing some gadget, being assisted by Carlisle and the dark haired man as they stood by the main controls.

"Emmett, what are you doing here anyway? I thought the Weeping Angels got to you too," Edward asked while trying not to bite the head off our brother.

We stopped walking and turned to Emmett. "I was. They sent me to 1889 but thanks to Jack and the Doctor I'm here now. They came back and quickly got me first. Let's just say my situation wasn't as complicated as yours," he said ending with a smile.

"Jack?" Edward asked sounding confused and slightly frustrated. Which surprised me.

"Oh sorry! I didn't introduce myself!" Jack exclaimed, running over to us.

"I'm Captain Jack Harkness nice to meet you," he said with a smile as he outstretched his hand for me to shake it. He smelt funny, as if rotten but he was human. As I shook it the Doctor surprisingly yelled at him. "Jack!" he scolded. Jack grimaced at the Doctor.

Jack turned to Edward. Jack's smile becoming noticeably wider. He stretched out his hand for Edward to shake it. Edward looked frustrated, he even had a furrow in-between his eyebrows.

"Hello nice to meet you too," he greeted showing his teeth as he smiled.

"Jack! Stop it!" the Doctor scolded again.

"Can I not say hello to anyone in this family!" Jack yelled back at the Doctor.

"No, apparently not," Emmett teased through a chuckle.

Jack grunted and frowned before changing it back into a smile and stretching his hand out to Edward again. Edward didn't return the gesture. Jacks smile quickly dissolved back into a frown though now his expression was a mix of surprise, confusion and rejection.

Edward stared at Jack as if he was concentrating. Suddenly he shook his head like he was trying to dispel something.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude it just I can't… I can't read your mind," Edward said stunned.

My mouth dropped in surprise. Besides myself Edward had never met anyone whose mind he couldn't read. I thought Jack was human, even though he smelt a little strange.

"What? Really?" Carlisle asked, intrigued as he walked over to us.

"It's just like with Bella. I see and smell you but nothing… I hear absolutely nothing," Edward said his voice oozing with shock.

"Surprisingly you're not the first person to say that to me," he said lightly.

"But you're human? Aren't you? How?" Edward asked confused.

"Well kind of. Unlike you: the walking undead, I'm the walking actual dead," Jack tried to explain. "I'm immortal and though technically I'm dead I still seem to function properly, oddly enough. So I'm guessing that that might just be the reason."

Edward nodded his head to show he understood but he still looked frustrated. Abruptly his expression changed to a smug half smile.

"Speaking of mind reading, Bella's power made a very interesting development today," Edward sated proudly.

"Interesting? How so?" Carlisle inquired as everyone's eyes were now on me. It made me slightly uncomfortable but I would gladly explain my shield's evolution to them.

"Well Edward and I were having a fight, so my emotions were running high. I couldn't control it. At first I didn't know what was happening. My shield contracted slowly around him and then I could clearly hear his thoughts. It was astonishing. I can kind of control it now but when I tried it on Edward's human family it didn't work at all. Then I tried it on Edward again and it worked perfectly fine," I explained.

"Fascinating!" Carlisle exclaimed, enthralled. "I'm proud of you Bella."

"Thank you Carlisle," I said and if it were possible I would have been blushing profusely.

"It must work on me because I'm a vampire," Edward suggested.

"Yeah, that's what I thought as well," I replied thinking of possible solutions.

"So cool! You can read minds, why don't you try it on me now?" Emmett asked. I looked to Emmett my face full of concentration. I placed my fingers to my temples like I used to have to do when I first started practicing with my shield. I wanted to give it everything I got so it wouldn't be a wasted experiment.

My shield surrounded Emmett's body from the torso up. It contracted slow as it did with Edward though with each time I do this it seems to get easier and quicker. However much to my surprised disappointment it didn't work on Emmett. I groaned and faced Carlisle. I could see it on everyone's surprised faces as they realised what I was doing and the fact my new power didn't work on Emmett.

I repeated the process with Carlisle. Still nothing. As a last resort I even tried it on Jack and the Doctor and still nothing.

"It's not working at all!" I groaned with frustration.

"Really?" Edward asked surprised. "How come it only works with me? Maybe its because I changed you or could it be that we are closely attuned to each other."

"Perhaps," I replied simply as I tried to come up with an explanation and figure out what my shield is actually doing.

"Interesting!" the Doctor exclaimed, intrigued, giving him an incentive as he dropped down whatever gadget he had in his hands and jumped over to us.

"You call yourself a shield right? You block out mental powers?" the Doctor asked as I nodded in response. "I've met people with similar powers to you before. Its just a theory but what if you don't block out other vampires powers at all, what if you… manipulate them."

"Manipulate them?!" Edward and I said simultaneously in a surprised tone.

"Like I said: it's just a theory but isn't Edward the only vampire you tried it on who actually has a mental power? Maybe your power only worked as a shield because it was just following one of your natural instincts: to protect oneself." the Doctor continued.

"So in theory, she's able to manipulate someone's power and use it for herself," Carlisle stated trying to get this new revelation confirmed.

"Well that's what I think. Bella maybe you should give it another try," the Doctor suggested.

I looked to Edward and bit my bottom lip. My nerves were getting the better of me but Edward nodded to me encouragingly. He half smiled which roughly meant he was telling me to go for it.

I pushed my shield on Edward and he was giving me thoughts of encouragement. Then it dawned on me if I could read Edwards mind and if I'm really manipulating his power then do I have enough control to use his power to read other people's minds as well?

I began to push my shield towards Emmett all the while still concentrating on Edward. I froze as I heard Emmett think about Rosalie. Emmett's mind was the first I read beside Edward's. Edward's mind was astonishing but Emmett's was different though amazing in its own right. As I went to engulf Carlisle with my shield, Edward suddenly gasped.

His gasp did break my concentration somewhat but I still managed to keep my shield around Emmett.

"I can't… I can't hear anyone's thoughts anymore," he stammered, astonished.

I gasped and made my shield spring back as quickly as possible. Edward sighed with relief and squeezed my hand.

"Well that was… disorientating," he said as if trying to find the right word to describe it with.

"I'm sorry I-" I tried to apologise before Edward interrupted me.

"Don't apologise love, you did nothing wrong. It's just when you've been reading minds for over 90 years it gets a bit unnerving when something you completely depended upon suddenly stops," he said finishing with a concerned half smile.

"It was different this time. Not only was I reading your mind but I pushed my shield to Emmett and I heard his thoughts too and I'm sure if I try I'll be able to read Carlisle's thoughts as well," I said surprised at myself.

"Astonishing!" Carlisle said, amazed.

"Not only can you manipulate a power, it seems you can completely control it, as if it was becoming your very own," the Doctor said fascinated.

"Do you think it will work on every vampire with a mental power?" I asked still amazed at myself.

"If my theory is correct then yes," the Doctor said through a smile.

"You should try it on Kate when we get home," Carlisle suggested.

"Kate? What is she doing at the mansion?" I asked surprised.

"Well… umm… she's… there because she-," Carlisle stammered as if trying to come up with a valid reason as to why she would be there. Then Edward interrupted him.

"It's okay Carlisle. She already knows," Edward admitted.

"Oh! Well in that case she and her family are obviously there for you two renewing your vows," Carlisle responded surprised. "I thought we were keeping it a secret until the actual ceremony?"

"We were, but we decided since after all that's happened today that we should postpone it," Edward elaborated.

I had almost forgotten about Edward's planned surprise renewal of vows. I uncharacteristically liked the idea but I think that was only because I couldn't exactly remember our wedding perfectly due to the fact that I was human at the time. To be completely honest it wasn't the most unpleasant experience either.

"I wouldn't go cancelling your plans just yet," the Doctor said as he ran up to the controls and flicked a number of stitches. "I might just get us home quicker than I thought." He suddenly ran back over to, everyone giving him our undivided attention. He quickly held something up in the centre of us.

"See this, it might look like an ordinary Yale key but its anything but. It's the key to the Tardis and while you have been standing around here chatting like old woman I had a electrical charge run constantly through it. You wouldn't think I would let us stand around doing nothing with those Reapers on the loose, Oh no. Anyway, the key is able to repair temporal anomalies and paradoxes and it has been slowly stitching the wound up as it were. All we need to do now is go back in time and stop the moment that caused the paradox to happen. At what time did you and Bella decide to go to your family?" the Doctor asked Edward.

"We were outside Carlisle's hospital about two hours earlier," Edward answered quickly.

"Okay, brilliant! We'll go back and since it was the point of decision resulting in a paradox it will cause a temporal shift and you and Bella will become fixed points in time replacing the versions of you that were already there. Then you must take the letter you wrote earlier and give it to the Carlisle in 1917. Got all that? Understand?" the Doctor said really fast.

Edward nodded to show he understood. I stood there stunned as the Doctor ran over to his controls again to place the key in the circuit and began to press and pull numerous buttons. This plan seemed very complicated. Edward noticed my bewildered expression and chuckled lightly.

"Just stay with me and you'll be fine," he whispered into my ear. He half smiled as he pulled away.

"Okay Carlisle, you stay here and make sure Jack and Emmett don't touch anything. Bella and Edward come with me and don't forget that letter," the Doctor ordered.

"Allons-y!" the Doctor exclaimed, excited, as he made for the door. Edward's grip on my hand tightened as we followed behind him.

The Doctor flung the doors open and we were no longer in the basement we were once trapped in. Now it was time to fix the mess of a paradox we caused and by the looks of things - no matter how complicated they may be - we were going to stop at nothing to get things back to normal.