A/N: Okay, so I guess you could call this a fluff chapter, but there's a lot of important info in it. I would never post a chapter that had absolutely no relevance to the story, even if you don't see it. I'm a tricky one sometimes…

The song is Viva La Vida by Coldplay. It is a sarcastic remark, just to let you know. I really didn't have a song for this one… Oh, and it means "live the life" in Spanish, for those of you who don't know.

Enjoy!

Viva La Vida

EPOV

There was the soft sound of someone walking quickly down the hall, and then Esme's face poked around the door. She took one look at me and moved into the doorway, her hand covering her mouth as her eyes filled with tears.

"Oh, thank God," she whispered. "Carlisle!" she called without turning away. "Carlisle, he's awake." She quickly walked over to me and Bella moved away, clutching at whatever was under her shirt again and her puzzled expression making its way onto her face. Esme wrapped me in a tight hug and dry sobbed into my shirt, repeatedly thanking God. I wrapped my arms around her as much as her hold would let me.

I looked up as Carlisle walked into the room. It took him a second to realize what he was seeing, but he stopped midstride when he did. His mouth slowly fell open and his eyes grew wide.

"What-Edward, what…what's going on?" Carlisle asked, tripping over his own words. I started to explain when I felt my legs start shaking. I put my hands on Esme's shoulders and took a step back, moving one leg at a time without letting go. She saw where I was going and moved with me until the backs of my knees hit the bed. I sat down and pulled my legs towards me. They felt like jelly by this point.

"Okay, that's better," I whispered to myself, rubbing my knees. Bella walked over and sat next to me, but not so close that she was touching me.

You okay? She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said. She nodded and her gaze moved towards the window, her fist still around the thing in her shirt. She had been acting weird since she got back and I told myself I'd ask her about it later.

Jasper caught Carlisle, Esme, and Bella up on what had happened while I rubbed the sorer spots on my legs. Carlisle would ask a question every now and then, but he didn't direct any of them to me until after Jasper was done. Esme kept glancing at me the whole time, a worried and astounded look on her face, but she kept quiet. Bella just sat next to me staring at the floor, listening.

"So, Edward, you have no idea what could have caused this to happen?" Carlisle asked me. I shook my head.

"When I woke up, I couldn't move them at all. That first time I kicked Jasper was the first time I've moved them," I explained.

"Alright, I'd like to x-ray your back again, just to see if anything happened after the incident at school. It could be that the impact, even though it sounds like it was slight, may have moved your vertebrae just enough for weaker messages to pass through to your legs. You haven't tried walking yet, right?" I shook my head.

"Chances are you won't be able to without holding on to something or someone else. But, if you want, we can start a little bit of therapy to see if we can get your legs a little stronger. How long were you standing just now?" I shrugged.

"It was a little less than ten minutes, Carlisle," Emmett put in. Carlisle nodded.

"I wouldn't even have expected that much. You want to head up to my office now, or do you want to wait a little while?" he asked. I thought about it before answering.

"We might as well just do it now," I said, shrugging. He nodded and moved towards me.

I draped my arm over his shoulder and he wrapped his around my waist. He helped me stand and walked me to the stairs. He proceeded to pick me up and carry me up the stairs and into his office. He set me down in one of the chairs in front of his desk and went into his "medical room" to set up the mini x-ray machine.

He set up that room with everything he would ever need to take care of me so I wouldn't have to be brought all the way to the hospital. He liked being able to take care of me right at home instead of admitting he needed the help of the hospital.

He came back out and helped me up, letting me walk the short distance to the room. I sat down on the small stool inside the machine, which was shaped like a square tube with one of the sides being the entrance. The stool had a magnetic pad on it so the screws wouldn't mess with the x-rays. I wiggled my pants off so the metal buttons wouldn't interfere, and sat there waiting for Carlisle to hit the button.

I heard a small beep come from each side of me, moving clockwise from my left side around to my back, before Carlisle told me we were done. I managed to get my pants back on and push the machine door open while Carlisle was developing the pictures. The machine was set up against the wall, so I was able to use it to get over to him. I watched as he put all four pictures up on the light boards and turned them on. I couldn't make heads or tails of what I was looking at, but Carlisle looked at them like he was reading a children's book. He rubbed his chin with one hand and wrapped his other arm around himself with the other.

"Hmm...Well, something definitely happened, but I can't even begin to think what would have caused it. That bump into the lockers couldn't have caused this," he said, sounding like he was talking to himself. He pointed to one of the bright white spots in the picture of my left side.

"This is the vertebrae that moved during the accident. If you look really close, you can see that it is still somewhat out of alignment, but not even close to how badly it was in your first x-rays at the hospital. It's almost completely back in place, which is why you are able to move as much as you can, but not so much to let you move like you should be able to. What shocks me the most is how long you were able to stand after being wheelchair-bound for so long. I know you lost a lot of muscle mass in your legs, and that should make it extremely difficult for you to stand straight up." He paused for a second, is gaze seeing something farther away than the x-rays in front of us. I leaned against the wall and looked at him, waiting to see what he was thinking about. He suddenly shook his head and took down the pictures, turning off the boards in the process.

"It couldn't be…" he mumbled. "None of us should be able to do something like that. It would be completely against our very nature," he continued. I raised an eyebrow, not following his train of thought in the slightest.

"Carlisle? What are you talking about? What shouldn't you be able to do?" I asked when he turned to look at me. He shook his head again.

"I don't know what to think, Edward. Let's go back down to the family and let them know what we found," he said, not answering my question. I didn't ask again, assuming he would bring it up when we got back to my room.

We made our way downstairs slowly, since he was letting me walk most of the way. He brought me down the stairs, but let me walk into my room. I held onto him the whole time and went straight to my bed when we entered my room. Bella had been sitting on the side and moved as I walked over. Carlisle helped me sit myself up against the headboard and Bella climbed up next to me, but still didn't touch me. I looked at her to see that stubborn confusion, but she didn't look at me. I turned my attention to Carlisle when he began talking.

"So, as I thought, the vertebrae in Edward's spine that was pinching his spinal cord moved, and it moved a lot. It's still not perfectly aligned, but it's enough for the extent of lower limb function that we have seen today. This is also too much movement for the bump into the lockers the other day to have done. I just can't think of what else it could have been," he reiterated. Everyone seemed to go into their own little world, thinking about what could have happened.

A sudden wave of exhaustion washed over me and my eyes got heavy. Someone started talking, but I couldn't get myself to listen to them. I felt my chin hit my chest as sleep began to take me. Someone moved me around until my head was resting on something and I was on my side with their arm around me. Their hand caressed the side of my face, making it harder to stay awake. They moved their fingers through my hair and I opened my eyes as much as I could to see that it was Bella. I felt a small smile creep its way onto my face before I fell into a deep sleep.

BPOV

I couldn't help it anymore. I knew it had to have been me that caused him to change like he did, but I couldn't admit it to them, not unless they outright asked me. But I couldn't keep myself away from him either. I had tried since I got back from my hunting trip, but I just couldn't do it anymore. I saw his head fall down to his chest and knew he was fighting sleep. Everyone else must have noticed it, as well.

"Look at him! We're trying to figure out what's going on with him and he decides to fall asleep!" Emmett said. I heard someone sigh, but Edward didn't move.

"Just let him sleep, Emmett. He's been through a lot these past few days," Carlisle said. I turned him towards me and shifted him down onto the bed. I wrapped my arm around him and laid his head on my chest. I alternated between caressing his face and running my fingers through his hair, and he quickly fell into a deep sleep.

"So what could it have been, Carlisle? Do you think we need to worry about it reversing?" Esme asked, her voice rising in her worry. Carlisle shook his head and I closed my eyes, reveling in the feeling of Edward sleeping next to me and knowing I wouldn't have to keep checking that he was alive this time.

"I don't see this reversing itself any time soon. It's too much of a change for it to suddenly start moving back to where it was. But then again, it's also a big change to happen so suddenly, so it's hard to say for sure." Esme didn't sound exactly thrilled with his answer.

"Let's wait until he wakes up and then I can see what other tests I can do. I have a feeling none of them will tell me what's happening, but it's the only thing I can really do," Carlisle said. They must have agreed, because everyone left the room and shut the door.

I laid there with Edward for a long time. I didn't even know how long, but the sunlight slowly faded from the room, and I drifted off as well.

CPOV

All of us filed out of Edward's room, leaving Bella in there with him. By now I knew we could trust her to be alone with him, so I wasn't worried about leaving them. I walked into the kitchen and leaned against the counter. Esme walked up to me and wrapped her arms around my waist. She looked up into my face, worried.

"You have an idea, don't you? You just didn't want to agitate Bella with him in there," she said, practically reading my mind. I sighed and nodded.

Emmett, Jasper, Rose, and Alice gathered around the island in the middle of the kitchen, the girls sitting on it with their other standing next to them. I had to smile, seeing the people I cared about most having someone to care about themselves. And now I had a strong feeling that Edward would as well, even if she was a vampire. A very strange vampire, but a vampire.

"So let's recap this week. What happened that is new or different?" I asked, and Emmett spoke up first.

"School," he said grudgingly. I smiled tightly.

"How about things that could have affected Edward and not just your day to day routine," I said, pointedly looking at Emmett. He crossed his arms over his chest and Rosalie put an arm over his broad shoulders.

"Oh! What about how much he's got to move around the school now? It's a lot more than he had to last year," Alice said.

And she was right. Edward had started attending Forks High half way through the year, and all of his classes had been scheduled so that he didn't have to travel all over the school throughout the day. That was mainly to help him deal with being the new kid, besides the fact that he was in a wheelchair. This year he had more electives, so it was somewhat difficult to do that. Edward hadn't cared while we were talking to his counselor, so she just kept it the way they had been able to get it.

"That is true, but I don't think that would do it. He was still only using his arms to get around in the chair, so it shouldn't have affected his legs at all. What else?"

"Lucas is new," Jasper said, letting a mild hatred roll off of himself. "He started school here at the beginning of last year, only a few months before Edward did. He seemed to have a morbid interest in Edward as soon as Edward started school. He still does." I thought about it, but couldn't see much of a link, besides the child's cruelty.

"Would you explain a little more, Jasper? I don't know if you are on to something, but I am curious as to the mindset of this child." He nodded.

"When Edward started school after midterms, Lucas couldn't seem to keep his eyes off of him, like he was waiting for Edward to do something. Curiosity rolled off the kid, but so did pride, like he was happy with something he did. He always seemed to have cruel intentions towards Edward, but he never acted on any of them until Bella came. Edward sticking up for her seems to have given him a reason to go after him," he explained. I nodded.

"So, you think he knew Edward before either of them started school," I said, and he nodded.

"Lucas started at Forks right after the accident. He seemed overly proud then, as well." I nodded again.

"Well, I guess the kid could have something to do with it, but let's keep going. What else?"

"Bella," Rose said. I smiled sadly.

"Yes, that was my train of thought, as well. She seems to be the biggest of the changes in your brother," I said. They glanced at one another, and then back at me. "You have already talked about her, haven't you?" All of them nodded at once. I waved a hand at them, prompting them to explain.

"Well, at first we were just talking about the difference in Edward's attitude since she came along. I mean, sure it's only been a few days, but I've never seen him click with someone as fast as he has with her," Alice said.

"Yeah, and then how when we first walked up to her truck, he wasn't as shy and gloomy as he usually is. He pointed out that she was blind, and then translated for us when she tried to explain. He wasn't the same Edward he's been for the past few months," Emmett added in.

"And she's been spending just about all of her time with him since she came here. She's the only one who could have had this big of an impact on him in such a short amount of time," Rosalie continued.

"She has very strong protective feelings for him. Any time we went in his room over the past few days, she looked like she was ready to attack us if we made a move to hurt him. She also…" Jasper trailed off, looking like he either wasn't sure if he should finish, or wasn't sure about the information he was going to spill. I nodded once to him, and he continued.

"I went in once, right before we decided to go hunting. She was lying next to him on top of the blankets, and had tucked him tightly into them. She was lying on her back with her eyes closed, and she didn't move when I opened the door. She didn't look like she was breathing either, but I saw her take a small breath. It was her only one for about the next five minutes. I walked closer to see if everything was okay, and I saw wet lines on her face going down her cheeks. I looked at Edward, but he was still knocked out. Carlisle, I think she was crying," he finished. I looked at him skeptically.

"So you think she is a vampire that can both cry and sleep? Two things the rest of us had to give up with the change?" I asked, trying to sound open minded. He nodded hesitantly. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, something I started after Edward came around.

"So you think she's the cause for what's happening?" Esme asked me, looking up at me. I nodded.

"Her being a vampire means that she could have powers we don't know about, and won't until she tells us what they are. If she tells us. It could very possibly be that she has the power to heal others, even humans. She might not even know she has this power."

"That's true," Alice agreed. "I didn't understand what my visions were for a while, until I explained them to you and you told me what they were. Maybe she doesn't understand that she can do that. Did you see how she reacted when she saw Edward standing by himself?"

"Yeah, she was disbelieving, slightly worried, and then there was an amazing amount of guilt. I didn't know what it was about, and her eyes don't really tell me anything," Jasper added, laying his arm on the counter around Alice.

"I know. Using someone's eyes usually helps determine something about their intentions. Not only do her eyes cut her off from the world she tries to keep herself a part of, but they cut us off from learning anything about her," I said, frustrated.

"Well," Esme started, speaking up for the first time. "We can make all of the assumptions about this girl that we want, but the only one who truly knows is Bella herself. I don't think we should pressure her into telling us anything that she is not ready for us to know. We don't want to scare her off after everything she's done for Edward."

"I agree. From what I can tell, she has a lot more emotional baggage than Edward does, and it might make her more of a danger if we let her know that we suspect her of having something to do with what's going on with him. She might see it as more of a threat than anything else, and we don't need that with Edward around," Jasper said. I nodded.

"Then it is decided. We will leave the matter alone until either Bella decides to tell us about her powers, or a situation arises where we need to ask her. Otherwise, don't pressure her. She is a good kid, but we've only known her for a few days. We still don't know what she's capable of," I said, finalizing it. I looked to each member of my vampire family and they nodded in turn. I looked down at Esme, but spoke to all of them.

"Life was a lot easier when it was just vampires in this house."

"We are living the life, Carlisle. The life of the constantly confused and never bored," Emmett said before walking upstairs.

A/N: A lot of information was given in this chapter, but it doesn't mean that all of it was true. This was just the vamp Cullens brainstorming about Edward's situation and Bella overall. We already know Bella has a sleep-like state she goes in that helps her control her powers, but Jasper thought she was actually sleeping. This chapter was just a let's-get-some-ideas-floating-around chapter, okay?

I have a poll on my profile concerning my other story, Infectious. I need to know if you would rather have it as just its own story, rather than have it be a sequel. Please let me, know, and I'll be putting up the next chapter of that story with the poll info very soon. It's about half way done.

Please review and tell me what you think! I know it was a lot shorter than usual, but I still like hearing what you have to say. And if you have any ideas, please let me know and I'll see if I could fit it in. But before you say anything, YES, the Volturi will be making an appearance. I just don't know when…