Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I claim any rights to Twilight and the universe contained therein.

A/N: College is catching up to me, big time. All the procrastination... Good news, though: weekends will no longer be barren when November starts. Until then, splotchy (but fairly frequent) updates must suffice.

--Michelle Amethyst brought up a valid point during the last chapter. I never really defined Jasper & Alice's relationship. Risen Anew is intended to be a re-imagining of Bella's first day at Forks. As such, all Cullen history is cannon, including relationships.

Thanks for keeping me on my toes!

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Chapter 12: Limits

Bella:

Oh. My. God.

That was horrifying. Rose had done her best to calm me down, and then she had explained how she had come to be a vampire. She had been beaten and raped by her fiancé and was on the verge of death when Carlisle found her and turned her.

I was immediately and utterly ashamed. So what if I would be an eternal virgin? Though the thought still made me physically cringe and tears spring to my eyes, at least I hadn't been through something like Rosalie. How selfish was I being?

Rose had seen my chagrin and had done her best to put me at ease.

"Bella." She sighed, "You know I wasn't saying that to get you upset. I just—" She sighed, "I wanted you to know where I was coming from, I suppose. Everyone has issues, even vampires, but never having sex shouldn't really be one of them."

I knew that.

"I know. You're so right. I'm being selfish." I looked up at Rose and she looked like she wanted to strangle me.

"No, turning it around and trying to make me feel bad for you is selfish." She snarled.

I was stunned. She was right.

"I'm—" I said, but Rose cut me off.

"If you were about to say sorry a-fricking-gain…" She cracked her knuckles menacingly. It was odd to see the slender blond perform such a threatening gesture, and it snapped me out of my pity-party daze.

"You are right. No more mopey Bella. But Rose?" She looked at me warily. "I really do feel for you. You know, with what happened? You are so brave to have been able to love and trust after that." Rose smiled a sad smile.

"Thank you, Bella." She rubbed her hands together. "Now let's get your…this," she waved her hands in my general direction, "figured out. Be really quiet." She whipped out her cell phone and held down the number 3. I could hear the echo of the receiving phone click off as someone answered.

"What's up, Rose?" It was Carlisle. My eyes grew wide and I slashed my hand back and forth across my throat. No. No. No. Not Carlisle. I could feel the flush rising in my face—I was so embarrassed.

Rose put up a finger and glared at me.

"Watching TV, saw something that made me wonder: If a girl was a virgin when she became a vampire, would she be a virgin forever? Cause the girl on the show—her watchamacaller—"

"Hymen." Carlisle supplied.

I was going to die of embarrassment. I had become immortal only to die of embarrassment. Rose was waving her hand at me and I realized I was making little groaning noises. This was too much.

"Yeah, that thing. Her 'that thing' kept healing every time her boyfriend slept with her and so I was just wondering how that worked for real."

Carlisle had his detached medical voice on. The fact that he was handling Rose's question as a doctor and that he didn't know I was the one who wanted to know made me feel a lot better.

"From what I have seen, I am of the thought that a female loses her hymen when she undergoes transformation. Just like our attractiveness and our strength, sex is a potential weapon to snare our prey and the vampire body adapts to encompass this potential tool."

"So a virgin vampire would be able to have sex, no problem?"

"Completely. Why, who does Bella want to have sex with?"

I smacked my face into my hands, hard, and a loud crash emanated through the house. I was breathing too quickly and my words rushed out in a constant stream of, "Ohmygod,ohmygod,ohmygod,ohmygod…"

Rose was unfazed. Her shit-eating grin almost split her face in two. "I'm pretty sure we're just dealing with hypotheticals," she said, "at least for the moment. I don't think she actually has anyone in mind."

"Oh, alright then. Glad to be of assistance." Carlisle got off the phone, oblivious to my plight. Rose slipped the cell back into her pocket and sat next to me on the bed.

"Really, Bella. The blushing is kind of cute, but you are going to have to get over your embarrassment. Vampires so don't do shame."

I was fanning my face and trying not to focus on the fact that Rose had just discussed my virginity with her father. It was pretty difficult.

Two hours later and I was still absolutely mortified. We had quickly gone hunting (Rose had mocked my inability to drink from anything I deemed cute, a baby, or wounded) . We got back to the house and she had forced me into a chair and told me to 'stay'. I'd sat stock-still; all the while she had buzzed around me applying various products that I didn't have names for. The whole time I was dwelling on how mortifying the whole experience had been. Every male in the Cullen household was now aware of my particular…dilemma.

"I'm no Alice," Rose muttered, "but I know my make-up." She pulled a tube that I recognized as mascara from a black and white striped bag with red tissue paper. "Waterproof!" she declared, "I've never had the need to use it before. But you, my dear, get waterproof!"

My humiliation kicked up a notch.

"Rose, it's not like I'm gonna burst into tears at any moment." I pouted my lips which caused Rosalie to obsessively check my lip gloss.

"I'm just saying, and don't take this the wrong way, your history proves differently." She pulled out her phone again, and her fingers nearly disappeared over the keys as they rushed out a text message. After it sent, she dialed a number from memory and held the phone to her ear. I heard a distinguished voice on the other end say simply, "Harrods."

"This is Rosalie Hale," she said, "I will be placing an order online momentarily and I would like it delivered within the hour in the usual manner."

I heard quick keys tapping on the other end as the man drew up her account. As soon as the details appeared on his screen, I could almost hear him sit up straighter in his seat.

"Why, yes. Yes, of course. Within the hour, perfect. Let us know if there is anything else we can assist you with; anything at all."

"No, that will be all. And tell your manager that I said you provided excellent service today. Thank you."

I heard, as did Rose, the start of a loud "Whoop!" before the call was disconnected. We looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"I'm normally such a bitch," Rose said, "But I am so excited that I wanted to spread the joy. That clerk is definitely getting a raise—I never compliment anything less than perfection, and nothing on this earth is perfect, so I never make compliments. But I'm breaking my rule today and its so worth it."

She jumped on the bed, kicked her feet back and forth in the air and pumped her fists, chanting, "So. Stoked. So. Stoked. So. Stoked."

I couldn't help but laugh; she was acting like a 13-year-old girl who had been asked out for the first time. "What are we doing, Rose?" I had to know.

"No, no." She stopped bouncing around and shook her finger at me. "You do not get to know that easily."

She dragged me into her room and over to the large touch screen computer monitor. She quickly accessed the internet and pulled up the department store's webpage. She flicked to women's clothing, dresses, cocktail dresses. I caught a glimpse of the price range of the items she was casually browsing through and almost choked.

"Are you—you're not—we're not buying any of these, right?" I stuttered. Rose laughed condescendingly.

"Bella, Bella, Bella." She shook her head, "Of course we are. We need something special to wear tonight. And if you think the cost of these dresses is ridiculous, you don't even want to know what it's taking to have them hand-delivered to the house in an hour."

She flipped through several pages before finding herself the perfect dress. I knew she would look absolutely stunning in it, like she did in everything. I bit my lip. Did that sound jealous? I conceded the point. Maybe a little. It was difficult not to envy her flawless beauty, but she had been so kind and understanding to me that I couldn't find it in myself to resent her.

"Your turn." She scooted her chair over so I could pull mine in front of the screen, "But I have veto power over anything too conservative and anything red. Red is my signature color." I could never pull of red, especially in comparison to Rosalie. As I stared at the screen, I caught my reflection in the shiny glass for the first time since Rose had done my makeup.

"My eyes!"

I ran over to the mirror. They were no longer a fluorescent red, nor were they that specific brand of Cullen gold. They had muddled into a deep golden brown, like someone had stirred amber honey into my chocolate brown eyes. I looked at myself as a whole.

My cheeks and lips were berry pink, complimenting my newly flawless skin, creamy and pale. Rose had put some light navy eyeshadow on me, and the waterproof mascara made my eyes look huge and doe-y. With Rose's make-up, I fully appreciated how beautiful I had become under my transformation.

"Let's do this." I was suddenly pumped to shop. I normally didn't like ostentatious clothing, but I wanted to see what my new body could pull off.

"How about that?" I pointed after flipping through some selections. Rose looked at what I had chosen.

"Scandalous." She said. "I like it."

She placed the order and fiddled with my hair for a while as I tried to guess, unsuccessfully, what the dresses could be for. Turns out Rose had taken cosmetology classes sometime in the early eighties (which made me nervous: The eighties were not a good time for hair) so I allowed her to turn my impromptu hack-job into a sleeker, more polished look. She stood back to admire her handy work.

"You know, the short hair suits you." She cocked her head to the side, "You have such a lovely heart-shaped face that it really works."

Too soon, my hair was finished and there was nothing to distract us from our recent purchase. We were both really excited, something Rose assured me that vampires rarely were. We wound up talking about the dresses as the minutes left in the hour before their arrival ticked down.

"I love your dress, Rose. It's like it was made for you. You are going to look flawless."

"I never would have guessed in a million years that you would have picked out something like that," Rose gushed, "My brother is absolutely going to flip when he sees you in it."

For a moment, I allowed myself the luxury of pretending Jasper found me attractive. It was a lovely day-dream, and I felt another of my perpetual blushes rising as I imagined giving myself a slow-motion entrance and putting a stunned and awed expression on his face.

"I don't know…" I shook my head as I concentrated on the reality. Jasper wasn't attracted to me. He was married for God's sake.

"Trust me," Rose continued, "Edward is definitely into you."

I blanched.

"Wait, what?" I blurted.

"Edward. You know, Edward? Wait, what were you talking about?"

Oh. Holy foot in mouth. I was about to babble some semblance of an excuse when the doorbell rang and my sense of smell picked up something…something familiar, delicious, and painful…something…

"Rose?" I said slowly, trying to control myself. "Is that a human?"

Rose looked absolutely stunned. "I—I totally forgot. You've been doing so well and I—I'm so sorry…"

I realized I hadn't moved. I was standing precisely and immensely still like if I moved an inch I would sprint to the door, fling it open and devour the human whole.

If I hadn't done it yet, though…

The doorbell rang again.

Rose was looking at me warily, her knees slightly bent like she was ready to pounce and tackle me to the floor.

"Answer the door, Rose."

She seemed startled by my request.

The delivery boy knocked against the ancient wood.

"Rose. I'm fine. Answer the door."

She didn't wait for me to tell her again. She flew from the room and seconds later I heard the door open. I felt in control. I wanted to see him, to see if it strengthened or weakened my control, but I was still scared stiff. I heard a rustle as money and garments exchanged hands and then, too quickly and yet too slowly, the human retreated to his car and drove away. Rose was by my side in a flash and she threw down the dresses and squashed me in a huge hug.

"You were phenomenal! I am so, so impressed! Wait until I tell everyone! This means soon we can go out to clubs, bars, movies, shops—" Rose squealed. "You were fantastic."

I blushed from the praise. "You wouldn't say that if you weren't breaking your rule today."

Rose looked confused for a moment, and then realization dawned.

"Bella." She placed her hands on either side of my face and made me look at her. "You are phenomenal. Even on a not-rule breaking day." She lightly kissed the tip of my nose and then ruffled my hair before smoothing it back down. " And even though you can be a total dummy."

"But, since I am feeling generous, I will tell you what is in store for this evening." She pulled her gown from the bag, held it up to her body and twirled dramatically.

"You," she stopped spinning and struck a pose, "are formally invited to Bella Swan's first annual rebirthday."

I could feel my jaw drop.

Oh, crap.

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