Chapter 3

Painful Truth

Charlie realized how late it was and left. He was going to have a long day at work tomorrow finding a temporary replacement. Truth is, we did not know how long Charlie would have to wait to go back to work, or in matter of fact, we didn't know if he would ever be able to go back. For the time being, I wasn't too concerned with the reason he was giving for taking time off work. I am sure he would come up with something; after all, Charlie had become great in making up stories. Renee, as instance, thought Edward and I were living overseas for years now.

Right after Charlie left, Alice and Jasper joined Edward, Carlisle and I in the living room. I called Carlisle's attention by mentioning that I had something important to discuss.

"Carlisle, I never thought I would have to reveal this, but…" there was no easy way to say this "…well, the morphine that I was given during my transformation did not work as well as I led you to believe."

"What exactly do you mean Bella? What did you feel?" He asked in a surprised and curious tone.

I could already see the shock in Edward's eyes, so I carefully chose my words, trying to say the least I could and still give Carlisle the information he would need to keep Charlie from the burning pain.

I slowly looked down, in an attempt to avoid Edward's gaze, but suddenly I could feel that my emotions were being controlled by Jasper. I suddenly felt relaxed and confident. Edward must have been reading Jasper's mind, as he got even closer to me, placing his arm around my waist. I glanced at Edward, and even though he was trying to comfort me, I could see the agony in his eyes. Why wasn't Jasper trying to control Edward's emotions instead of mine?!

I suddenly noticed Carlisle looked eager for my answer so I decided to take advantage of Jasper's influence and started explaining.

"Well, the morphine helped, I guess. I had full knowledge of what was going on, and I had enough control of the pain to keep me from moving or screaming, but I still felt everything; the burning in my veins."

Edward shivered; he was now holding me tighter. Carlisle looked as if he was deep in thought, when I heard Alice's cheerful voice.

"That will work! There will still be pain, but it will be manageable."

"Alice?! What will work?" I asked in a pleading tone.

Carlisle faced me to explain what he had decided to try; Alice had seen that the decision he made would work.

"We can still use the morphine, maybe more of it will help; after all, you were able to keep us from knowing that you were in pain, which indicates it helped the process. I remember Esme, Edward, and Rosalie, and even Emmet; they were screaming for days, until it was all over. But this time, we will use Jasper to control Charlie's emotions. You know how sometimes humans use placebos in medical treatments? That would be somewhat like it. That will not eliminate the pain completely, but it should help; well, according to Alice, it will help."

I felt relieved. Edward still seemed to be struggling with the fact that I had been in so much pain. He never understood the need I felt to protect him; the same need he felt towards me…

Edward tried to hide his emotions, he kissed my forehead and stood up, now facing Carlisle, he asked: "So all we need now is to talk to Jacob about protecting the treaty, right?"

Carlisle nodded.

We decided to wait until the morning to talk to Jacob. Everyone except for Alice and I decided to go hunting tonight. Renesmee was sleeping and Jacob was probably outside keeping guard. That was completely unnecessary, but Jacob could not stand the Volturi. As soon as he heard they were coming he felt the need to guard the house.

I was now on my laptop doing some research of my own on pain medications; Alice was bored, and decided to rearrange some of the pictures in the living room. My concentration was broken with the loud noise coming from Alice's direction.

She had dropped one of the picture frames, and just stood there. Right away I knew that she "saw" something.

I was terrified; I had never seen her face so pale, he eyes so widened.

Alice! … ALICE!

Alice slowly, gracefully moved her face towards me. She looked as terrified as I was.

"Bella, it is about Charlie, he is in danger! You need to get Jacob, now!"

"Is it the Volturi? Are they early?" I asked in a broken voice.

Alice seemed, scared?! "No, Bella, it is job related…. But we are almost out of time… Get Jacob! I will explain it on the way there."

Without wasting any more time, I went to look for Jacob.