A/N: Sorry for the delay everyone, I've been trying to upload this chapter for the past couple days, and it finally worked today - there must have been a glitch in the system. Anyway, thanks so much for all the reviews! Please keep them coming. :)

(Previously):

I was only slightly aware when Emmett charged through the door to Carlisle 's office and gently laid me down on the cold examination table. He was speaking to Carlisle , saying something about a bee sting.

Suddenly Carlisle's face peered directly into mine. "Bella – are you allergic to bees?" he asked loudly, as if I were deaf.

"I don't know," I managed to get out before erupting into a tremendous fit of coughing; I felt like I couldn't catch my breath. I'd never been stung before, so how would I know if I was allergic?

He disappeared for a moment, but was back quickly with a giant sized syringe in his hands. The last thing I saw was the huge needle as he lowered it to my skin – then the room went black.

Chapter 7:

When I awoke I was lying on a couch that I didn't recognize. I started to sit up when cold fingertips gently pressed me back down.

"You're all right Bella," Carlisle said quietly. "You're still in my office – well, the living quarters of it anyway. You had an allergic reaction to your bee sting. I'm sorry about that shot – the mere sight of the needle made you pass out, but you needed the epinephrine to get into your system to counteract the poison from the sting. Haven't you ever been stung before?"

I shook my head in response. "No…hard to believe, isn't it?" I muttered. "Thanks for helping me," I added appreciatively. "Where's Emmett? I should thank him for getting me here." I glanced around, but didn't see him anywhere. As my senses became more focused I noticed a pungent stench in the air. Ugh…what was that smell?

"After he was sure you'd be all right he went to see what Jasper was up to," Carlisle said, smiling warmly at me. I continued to look around the room – something definitely smelt bad, but Carlisle didn't seem to notice it. How could he not notice it – it was almost overwhelming.

"Carlisle …what is that smell?" I asked, unable to help myself.

"Ah. Well, after I gave you the shot, I used some other treatments on your sting to help prevent irritation and itching," he began. I glanced down at my leg, twisting it slightly to get a better look at the bandage wrapped around it. Was that a slice of onion sticking out of the top of the gauze? What was that slimy mess oozing out of it?

"I thought it best to be a bit overcautious…" he continued. "I applied some apple cider vinegar to help prevent the spreading of the poison. Then I added some Aloe Vera gel to help soothe the pain, as well as some egg – that's to help with the swelling…and finally the onion slice, which is to help with extracting the toxins and help with healing."

Stunned, I just continued to stare down at my leg. "Don't worry Bella – you only need to keep it on there for a couple of hours," he said, as if sensing my apprehension. A couple of hours? I glanced at the clock on the wall – it was almost time for dinner. Great.

When I left Carlisle's office, I went directly to the mess hall – I was sure Edward would get my kids to dinner for me, and I was also wondering exactly how much he'd heard about my predicament; I'd been amazed that he hadn't tore the door of the office off it's hinges and stormed in before I'd left – maybe he was making progress in the 'trying not to overreact' category after all. Upon entering, I looked around but didn't see him or my group yet, so I headed directly for the food line - I was starving. As I was waiting my turn, a sudden eruption of cheers caught my attention.

"Emmett, Emmett, Emmett!!" the kids chanted. Emmett had just come in the door, and all of his campers were on their feet, cheering wildly for him - apparently he had some major fans. He was loving it, and paused in his steps grinning hugely.

"Worry not, young campers - the mighty arrow will not defeat me!" he roared, flexing his muscles as he spoke, showing off his absurdly overly-bandaged arm; surely that was his own doing, I couldn't imagine Carlisle going to such extremes for a nonexistent injury. This only caused even more kids to join in the cheering.

Shaking my head, I turned to focus my attention back on the food I was picking up – but not before I caught sight of the look of adoration Rosalie threw her husband from her place in line - clearly all he had to do to stay on her good side was to get along with the kids. The fact that his campers loved him was truly earning him some serious bonus points with her.

After collecting my food, I went to a table in the corner hoping to avoid any further attention due to my…situation.

"Go on everyone, get in line," Edward's musical voice immediately caught my attention. Looking up from my tray I noticed he had just entered the mess hall with both of our groups. Although his words were for the kids, his eyes were fixated on me; the intensity of his stare made me blush in embarrassment. He hurried in my direction.

"Bella, what happened? You were in Carlisle's office for a while, and I couldn't leave to check on you – I had to watch the kids. Emmett never came back, and Alice said you'd had an allergic reaction but you were all right - if not for her vision and reassurance I would have lost my mind with worry - as it was, I was incredibly close to leaving all the kids in Jessica's care so I could come check on you," his words rushed out in exasperation. Obviously he'd been sick with concern, and so much for not overreacting - if he'd been considering leaving that many kids in Jessica's care he clearly hadn't been thinking straight.

I explained what had happened, including the gross assortment of items Carlisle had strapped to my leg while I was unconscious. As he listened, he ran his hands over his face in frustration, and I did my best to reassure him I was fine. I showed him the new "allergy alert" bracelet and my emergency epinephrine shot Carlisle had given me to carry at all times, explaining that if I were stung again, the shot could be administered immediately – by someone else of course – I could barely look at the thing without getting faint again.

When Alice and Rosalie settled in at our table they were nice enough not to comment on the smell I was positive they picked up coming from me. Jasper, Esme and Carlisle were just as courteous, sliding into their seats without comment other than asking how I was feeling. Thankfully Mike, Jessica and Angela all sat together much the same as they had earlier that day; I liked Angela a lot, but I would have felt horrible if any of them would have had to fight off retching while they struggled to eat.

As Emmett approached, the huge grin on his face faltered the closer he got. Edward shot him a warning glare, and Emmett bit his lip, clearly struggling to hold his words back. He sat down, sneaking peeks at me out of the corner of his eyes every few seconds.

Finally I sighed. "What, Emmett? I know you're dying to say something, so just say it and get it over with."

Edward was glaring at Emmett, but he ignored him. "It's nothing really – I just think you're maybe getting a bit of an ego though, Bella. Isn't it enough that you're always tempting vampires to drink your blood? Now you're trying to appeal to humans as food too by walking around with some sort of weird buffet stuck on yourself?" he whispered, glancing down at his tray as he fought to keep the grin off his face.

Something made contact with him under the table and he jerked his head up, glaring at Edward. I just ignored him and finished my food, wishing the day would come to an end already.

Clearing his throat Carlisle glanced around the table, his gaze resting on Alice . "Now…what's this I hear about some new camp store? Would anyone care to explain that? The owner may buy the haphazard explanation about its origins, but I have my doubts," he said warily.

Alice blinked at him across the table. "Why are you looking at me? I think it's a lovely idea, and very considerate of –"

"Alice . I'm asking for honesty here," Carlisle interrupted. "I've been in the building, and I've seen the boxes of kids' designer clothes, accessories, and about a million other miscellaneous items. Nobody in their right mind would purchase or donate any of those things to a kids' summer camp, especially not the last owners who found simplicity to be so important."

"What exactly are you saying about my mental state? Are you saying there's something wrong with me?" Alice retorted, staring back at her father steadily.

"Are you admitting to breaking the rules and going behind my back to get your way?" Carlisle answered with his own question, folding his hands in his lap as he leaned forward. His look was becoming sterner by the second.

"What rule did I break? There's not one piece of technology for kids in that building. And I didn't pack any of that stuff – it arrived by other means," Alice huffed back.

My head was getting dizzy; watching this heated exchange was like watching a ping pong match – back and forth, back and forth. The others remained quiet, knowing by now to stay out of it.

Carlisle leaned back in his chair, frustrated. He swept his hands over his face as he sighed. "Alice, you know better – and you know what I meant by the rules. While I appreciate that you have a relentless spirit, I wish you would have appreciated that perhaps a week without everything we ever wanted would be good for us, too. Perhaps when this is over I should look into enrolling you in law school – your impeccable ability to find loopholes in things would be well put to use there."

Alice shrugged. "It was Bella's idea," she murmured, playing with the food in front of her.

What!? "Alice!" I hissed, my face turning crimson. She blinked innocently at me while Carlisle quietly reassured me that he knew better and not to worry – I'd been through enough that day.

After dinner was over we all rounded our kids up and headed back to camp, where the kids were free to do what they wanted. Most of them gathered together with the friends they'd made and went about either playing games or talking, either inside the cabins or in the surrounding grassy areas. After checking to see if any of my kids needed anything, I went to the bathhouse and removed my bandages and cleaned my leg off. When I was done I made my way over to the large campfire pit that was in the middle of all the cabins where the other counselors were, and discarded my wrappings with onion and all into the pit where they would burn when the fire was lit. Mike and Jessica were sitting somewhat off to the side looking a bit uncomfortable, while the Cullens were all lounging comfortably on the large benches that were carved out of logs. Even Jasper had followed us back after dinner.

"So what's the plan for tonight?" Emmett asked.

"Well, according to schedule, we're supposed to have story time and s'mores at dusk, then we put the kids to bed," Rosalie answered automatically. Clearly she had the entire scheduled memorized.

As Emmett's eyes began to gleam in anticipation, Edward began to speak before Emmett could say a word.

"Emmett, you do realize this will be...nothing like when we were camping, right? There are children involved...which means no scary stories. Also, we'll all be more than meticulous in cleaning up after snack time - we wouldn't want to attract any unwelcome visitors, would we now?" he finished, glancing discreetly over in Mike, Jessica and Angela's direction. He was watching his words, but the point was clear - no mass-murderer stories, no bears at the campsite...

I had to turn my head to keep from laughing.

"What's so different when you all go camping?" Mike asked suspiciously while rolling his eyes at Jessica, who snickered back.

"Why don't you stay up after the kiddies are in bed and find out, huh Newton?" Emmett sneered back, grinning devilishlyat him, causing Mike to lean a bit further back in his seat.

"Anyway, we should probably get started on building the fire," Alice interrupted, hopping up from her seat. "The guys can handle that, and the girls will set the ingredients up on the picnic table. Esme sent everything we'll need with Jasper," she added, motioning towards the bag Jasper had set out.

After the fire was built and the snack ingredients set out for later, everyone settled in for story time. Earlier that day, I'd talked to Edward about an idea I had for the kids' first nightly campfire. It was a mild ghost story with props – I'd gone to a birthday party as a little kid and they'd done it there and everyone had loved it. Basically, you get items from the kitchen and put them in containers and pass them around to the kids to feel while telling – they can't see because of the dark - and they write down their guesses to as what is really in them. It was usually told on Halloween, but I didn't see why that should matter.

I'd compiled the list of items needed for the story and asked Angela to gather them from the kitchen. Emmett had insisted on being the narrator, so she had delivered everything to him, and once it was dark enough he stood up to begin the story. The kids sat on one side of the giant fire pit in rows and the counselors sat on the other side, ready for him to begin.

"Once in this town there lived a man named Ol' Hal. T'was years ago, on this very night that he was murdered out of spite. They say these are his remains," Emmett began, reaching behind him for the table where he'd organized the containers of food Angela had brought him. He passed the first one to the kids.

"Here is his brain, which now feels no pain," he said, waiting for the kids to write their guesses down. There were a few, "Eewww, gross!" comments made among the campers as they felt the contents. When the final kid passed the cup over to the counselors' side, we all played along and felt the contents of the cup – which I knew to be stewed tomatoes.

The second cup began its journey among the crowd. "Here are his eyes, still swollen with surprise," Emmett declared, his voice haunting. I remembered this one well – two peeled grapes. It had grossed me out when I was younger.

"Here is his heart. Be careful lest it start!" Emmett continued. The uncooked piece of liver got an especially negative response from the kids.

"Now we have his hair, which once was so fair!" This was definitely the corn silks.

"Feel these drops of his blood. All the rest turned to mud," Emmett added somberly. He really enjoyed this stuff. I was wondering if the thinned ketchup had been a good idea as I watched quite a few kids wiping their hands off on their shirts.

"One hand all alone, just rotting flesh and bone." This was the latex glove filled with red Jell-O – the one item that didn't fit into a cup.

"Here is his ear, nevermore will he hear!" Emmett chanted as we all touched the dried apricot.

"This is his nose, now never to smell a rose." This was another gross one – a piece of soft chicken bone with gristle. I had to give Angela credit for going all out with it by making sure it had the bit of gristle still attached.

"These worms are all that's left to feel. For them Ol' Hal was a lovely meal!" Emmett concluded, his eyes gleaming in the night. I chuckled at the wild response from the kids as they passed the bowl over to me; this one had seemingly freaked them out the most, which I couldn't understand – the liver was way grosser than cold, cooked spaghetti noodles. Shaking my head I plunged my hand into the bowl and played my part, widening my eyes for extra effect. That was about when I realized something was really weird about the spaghetti. They must have overcooked it or something – it was mushier than it should have been.

Suddenly Edward grabbed the bowl from my hands and shoved it at Rosalie, completely skipping his turn. Rosalie wasn't paying attention; she was watching her campers eagerly to see their reaction when she put her hand in the bowl. A second later she quickly pulled her hand back out of the bowl and threw it at Emmett, without bothering to pass it to the other counselors. Emmett caught it easily and set it behind him, ignoring the death glare his wife was sending him. The kids looked confused, as did the other counselors.

"That's all the time we have, so pass you're papers in and we'll see who had the most right," Edward said before anyone could question what had just happened. "While a couple of us count the results, the rest of the counselors will help you with your snack."

I followed Edward to the table where Rosalie was hissing at Emmett. "What the hell was that about, Emmett? Why would you put those in there – given that all the other items in those containers were human food items, I can't help but assume you had something to do with it."

Confused, I glanced down at the half empty bowl she'd thrown at him seconds ago. Why was everyone so upset about cooked noodles? As I squinted in the darkness, I noticed the contents were moving slightly… Suddenly I understood Rosalie's anger. The bowl had been filled with real worms – Emmett had replaced the pasta with the worms, which meant minutes ago I'd had my hand in there, squishing around them – ugh! Completely freaked out, I began running for the bathhouse to scrub my worm-juiced hand.

As I was finishing up, I turned and practically ran into Alice, who had followed me. "Are you all right Bella?" she asked.

"Fine – just grossed out. Emmett can be such an idiot," I muttered quietly. At least none of the kids had caught on – sure the boys may not have cared, but I could picture a whole crowd of crying little girls easily enough. "Why didn't you see anything about the worms and stop him?" I couldn't help but ask this – I realized her visions were enigmatic, but still – a little help would have been nice.

"Well, I realized they were worms, but I didn't think it was something to worry about, Bella. I hadn't seen the list, and well – when I saw the other items in my vision I thought all of it was equally strange to be honest. I mean, why would you want to put your hand in a bowl of liver or chicken skin? Worms seemed equally gross, so I just assumed it was part of your bizarre story," Alice explained easily, as if it was all perfectly clear to her.

I sighed at her odd explanation and huffed back outside, still feeling as if I should turn around and wash my hands again. Edward was waiting outside the little building for me.

"I'm sorry I didn't stop the whole mess sooner, Bella. Emmett was concentrating so hard on remembering the story that his thoughts consisted only of the lines he would be reciting. It wasn't until you had your hands in that bowl that I noticed something was off – I could smell the...well, anyway, I could smell that you didn't have your hands in pasta, let's put it that way," he finished, looking apologetic. In other words, let's not discuss the worm guts he could smell as I squished them in my hands.

I couldn't wait for the night to be over, and thankfully back at the fire Mike had taken the liberty of counting the children's guesses and picked out the winners. Emmett was nowhere to be seen now, and I couldn't help but hope he was hiding in fear of Rosalie.

A/N: Please take a moment to leave a review - thanks! :)