"Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth." ~Buddha

~*~ Chapter Eight ~*~

It was a late September afternoon, and five months had passed since Bella stumbled out of Mike Newton's Suburban with the weight of supernatural knowledge on her shoulders. A revelation like that might alter one's worldview, but it hadn't. The skies didn't darken to hail the coming of an apocalypse. The nighttime air didn't teem with danger or gothic sexuality. Neither Blake, Blade nor Buffy made an appearance to rid the town of monsters. Everything in Forks remained just about the same as Bella finished off her junior year and swung into summer, and as inevitable as the sun giving way to the moon each evening, time had passed.

Bella did not become any more acquainted with Jasper and Alice during the final weeks of the school year. Though it couldn't be said that she hadn't watched them, how they moved, ate, interacted. It was almost a study of grace in movement. Their actions were all typical of a high school teenager, not exactly eyebrow-raising. Yet even the simple motion of Alice rising from the cafeteria table, or Jasper sliding his hand along her arm held the innate beauty of ballet. Once, Alice had turned and looked straight at her, as if she had known all along that Bella's eyes were on them. She smiled and Bella couldn't help but smile back.

True to her original avowal, Bella did not attend the prom that year. She smoothed over Charlie's concerned disapproval by reminding him that there would be another prom her senior year. Careful wording allowed her to dodge out of promising to attend, but both Bella and Charlie felt that the topic could wait until the following year. Charlie didn't have to worry about Bella not having a social life, for she hung out a lot with Jacob at the reservation, and took both Angela and Jessica with her to Jacksonville for the two weeks that summer that she spent with Renee.

Time spent with Jacob over the summer had been both business and pleasure. While they'd laughed, played games and poked fun at each other, Bella would slip in a little joke or remark to inquire more about the legend of the cold ones. Jacob rarely volunteered information, but he would almost always answer her. Bella thought that Jacob looked on it almost like a game. For Bella, it had never been a game, and through this she learned as much as it was possible to learn about the Quileute legend, and the encounter Ephraim Black had in the late 1930s.

The fruit of her labor was an accumulation of knowledge that sat untouched. Bella didn't fret over it, didn't fantasize or speculate. She simply kept the information to herself, not knowing entirely how she felt about it.

That changed one September afternoon, when Bella found herself standing in her kitchen and looking at a tomato. It simply sat in her hand, perfectly normal, everything a tomato should be. It was round. It was red. It was ripe. It reminded Bella of salads and Italian cooking, and eating cold sandwiches at a picnic table. The tomato was completely ordinary. Except for the fact that it had been grown and harvested by a vampire.

That morning, at the persistent urging of the overly painted woman she'd gotten into a fender-bender with, Bella found herself yet again at the ER, seeing Dr. Cullen for the fourth time since she'd known his secret. Dr. Cullen had actually seemed more standoffish with her in the two times their paths had crossed over the summer. Though he was still polite and exuding his bedside charm, their casual conversations had ceased. Bella was saddened by it, and after some reflection, she'd realized that she'd been comfortable sharing her thoughts with him.

It made her feel lonesome that he wasn't as open with her as before. Bella gently squeezed the tomato in her hand, feeling its plush ripeness.

That morning had been a little different. Dr. Cullen had entered the ER carrying a large basket of tomatoes, which he'd set to the side to look over both Bella and Jennifer Paulsen on their separate beds. He'd declared them both to be perfectly fine, and then lifted the basket, holding it out to the two of them. "Esme and Maggie's tomato garden is outgrowing our needs this season. I'm offering up some of the excess to the staff and patients today."

Miss Paulsen had eagerly grabbed hold of a few. "Why, thank you, doctor. I didn't realize that you and your family ate out of your own backyard. How charming! Now I know why I've never run into you at the grocery store."

Carefully selecting a couple of tomatoes from the basket, Bella had wondered how often the woman had hoped for just such a thing. It clicked in her mind then why she'd been dragged into the ER with her. The woman probably had believed it would be less obvious that she was being opportunistic to see the doctor if she brought the other driver in, too. How had the nurse not seen through this and passed them on to Dr. Cullen? Subtlty was not this woman's strong point, Bella had thought as she watched Jennifer Paulsen try to turn the food discussion into an invitation for dinner. Good luck with that. Hope you enjoy sucking on deer carcass.

"My family and I are vegetarians."

At Dr. Cullen's words, Bella had nearly dropped her tomatoes. As it was, she choked on the laugh that had started to bubble out, an awkward snort coming through. Miss Paulsen had given her a condescending look while Dr. Cullen had sent her a confused smile.

Now here she was, staring transfixed at this tomato. Bella set it down on the cutting board. The motion was as simple as the acceptance in her mind. Knowing who had grown it didn't change what it was. It didn't matter. Lifting the small paring knife, Bella began to make her sandwich.

(~*~)

Summer eased into cooler weather, a lot earlier than Bella would have expected. While excited to see the leaves start to change color, she had been alarmed when it started happening the third week of August, before the new school year had even begun. Everyone else seeming to think that this was perfectly normal only worried her more about the cold weather before her. It would be her first full winter in Forks in years, and she had already started stocking her wardrobe with long sleeves.

Yet not even the more glorious foliage and thoughts of the upcoming winter could distract Bella enough from the self-appointed task at hand as she entered into the administrative wing of the hospital. It was a wide comfortable lobby, with three different hallways she could choose to go down. Bella knew that the path down to the right would lead to Women's Care, and that was not where she would find Dr. Cullen's office.

That left the two paths to her left. The immediate one obviously led to a stairway that went down behind the wall. Bella chose the last hallway. Turning the corner she found a set of elevators. Reading the guide sign posted between them, Bella pushed the up button.

A tall man with a hospital badge passed her, and she looked over her shoulder nervously, half expecting him to stop and demand to know where she was heading. The man kept walking and turned right. He was likely heading home for the day. A small ding brought Bella's attention back to the arriving elevator. She stepped in, alone. The doors slowly shut and Bella pressed the button for the third floor.

As she felt the four walls surrounding her move downward, her stomach moved down as well, settling heavily. There was no denying that she was nervous, yet she was determined to get this done. She looked down at her bandaged hand. Underneath there was a nasty cut held together by eight stitches. She had tripped over a loose lace on her shoe when returning to her seat in science class and had succeeded in knocking into her classmate's set-up as she grabbed at the table across from her.

Cut by broken beaker and test tubes, her hand had bled far more than she was comfortable with. She had nearly fainted at the sight. As it was, she'd gotten woozy and Mike Newton had escorted her to the nurse's office. The nurse had quickly pressed cloth against the cut to stop the bleeding and arranged Bella to be brought to the hospital for stitches. Bella hadn't been surprised to see Dr. Cullen, but when he removed the bandage and revealed how much blood there had been she was shocked at how calm he was.

Her previous visits to the ER hadn't involved much blood, and not at all since she'd known what he was. As she watched him clear away the bandage and wash her hand, she'd been dumbstruck to see him not even react. She wasn't sure how many broken pieces of test tube glass Dr. Cullen had taken out of her hand that morning, because she'd gotten entirely too focused on watching him.

I don't know what I thought I'd see, Bella thought to herself. A flicker in his eyes, a tenseness, something. There had been nothing. Just a regular doctor sewing stitches into her hand. From what Jake had told her, Bella thought that most vampires would have lost control, or given into the desire to feed at the proximity to fresh blood. She'd known that, as a doctor, Carlisle Cullen would have some resistance, but watching him at that moment she had been struck at how calm, cool and collected he was. He must have been working on his control for years to be a doctor. Who knows how long, decades?

"You're amazing." The words had come whispering out of her mouth.

Dr. Cullen had looked up at her and down at her hand again. "Just two more, Miss Swan, and we'll be done." Bella noticed him move slightly further away from her.

A deep red blush had crept up Bella's neck and cheeks. She'd been staring at him. With her words, the doctor had come to an obvious conclusion. Dr. Cullen looked up at her again and she had quickly looked away. Then damned herself, because she was actually acting the role.

A nurse had thankfully entered the room at that moment, informing the doctor that a fax from another hospital that he'd been waiting for had just come in. After hearing their brief conversation, Bella learned that Dr. Cullen would be in his office that afternoon to go over his paperwork.

The elevator dinged again as the doors opened, releasing Bella onto the third floor. Bella tentatively stepped out, and looked down the hall. She turned left.

Bella had debated within herself for a couple of months whether she should let the Cullens know that she was aware of their true nature. She saw Jasper and Alice in school every overcast day. Though she did not share any classes with them, a part of her was tempted to approach the lovely pair. Yet, it was what had happened that morning, the embarrassment of knowing what Dr. Cullen had assumed about her behavior that finally made her decide to speak.

After all, she hadn't been love-struck. She had been . . . awestruck.

Almost immediately, Bella found the door that she had been looking for. A placard next to it read "Dr. Carlisle Cullen." No letters indicating degrees followed his name, but then, he hardly needed them, did he? Maybe he had too many to list. Bella suppressed the chuckle borne out of nervousness that tried to escape her. She knocked briskly on the door.

Carlisle had heard the footfalls coming down the hallway and the hesitation outside his door. The nuances of the scent of the girl behind it reached him just as the knock sounded. Though he'd always found her scent pleasant, Carlisle's reaction was not anticipatory. He certainly hadn't expected Isabella Swan to be so daring as to seek him out, but she had, and it had to be dealt with. Carlisle often had to turn away the advances of the unattached women he came across, mothers and nurses, even the occasional orderly. Yet dealing with a teenage girl and her crush was somewhat new to him. Women were far more forward than they had been in the past, and this would be the first time a schoolgirl had hit on him. Granted, she was now eighteen and legally an adult; however that didn't change things. Carlisle prepared himself.

"Come in," he called out in a friendly voice, and Isabella Swan slowly opened his door.

She wore the same outfit that he'd seen her in that morning: jeans and a long-sleeved tee. Her right hand still bore the bandage that he had set on it that morning. Her long brown hair fell into her face as she looked at him, darting her eyes. He could tell that her heartbeat quickened as she walked into the office and shut the door behind her.

"Miss Swan." Courtesy made him want to rise, but he knew that body language could be read many ways. Carlisle remained in his seat. "How is your hand feeling?"

"It's fine, thank you," the girl answered. Her eyes glanced at one of the chairs in front of his desk and she hesitated.

The gesture made Carlisle change his behavior. He couldn't remain as distant as he was trying to be. She was obviously nervous yet determined, and he could imagine how uncomfortable she might feel. Still remaining behind his desk, he extended his hand towards the chair to his left. "Please, sit down and be more comfortable, Miss Swan." Not too comfortable, he thought as the teenaged girl quickly took the seat and crossed then uncrossed her legs. "Tell me what's on your mind."

Bella Swan smiled weakly at him and took a deep breath before speaking. "I accidentally said something this morning that I think you took the wrong way."

Carlisle waited. She was about to bring up her feelings, which was inevitable, but he didn't want to encourage her by nodding.

"Um," Bella looked down, obviously uncomfortable, but Carlisle couldn't help her through this one. If she needed to unburden herself, she had to find her own way. "When I said that you were amazing, I didn't mean, " she looked back up at him, "you you. That is, it's amazing that you're a doctor." Her eyes dropped back down to her lap again, where her fingers twisted themselves. "I'm not doing this right."

"Isabella, are you sure you know what you want to say?" Though he kept it formal, Carlisle used her given name this time, because to do otherwise would seem cruel.

"No," The girl laughed and then sighed. She seemed to pull herself together and looked up, staring straight into his eyes. He noticed a sudden confidence in their chocolate texture and braced for her words. "That was a lot of blood on my hand. Enough to make me nearly faint. You didn't even react to it. Not a flicker. And I was impressed because…" Bella took one more deep breath and pushed the words out. "I know that you're a vampire."

Carlisle froze, his entire body going still as he stared at her in complete shock. Her heart-shaped face revealed that she was perfectly in earnest. The knowledge of the truth came out of her eyes unhidden. As he looked into them, he realized that was what had been hidden in them these past months. It was that look that had been watching him in the emergency room. She may have been nervous, but there was no squeamishness about her now.

Bella tilted her head, and tried not to smile. Her hand came up partway out of her lap, finger extended towards him. "You're, um, proving it right now, you know."

Carlisle realized just how still he had been. As a vampire, he didn't need to fidget and breathe as a human normally did. It was an affectation he was accustomed to presenting when around regular people. Automatically, he relaxed his muscles and reassumed the posture he normally used at work.

"How?" he asked, the question falling out of him just as readily as Isabella Swan's whispered words had fallen out of her mouth that morning.

Bella gave a small involuntary smile. She'd finally spoken, and Dr. Cullen hadn't denied it. Relief expanded her chest and allowed her to let out a long exhale. "I'd heard a story when I was a little girl, from Jacob Black actually."

Recognition flashed for a quick second in the doctor's eyes, which were very steadily focused on Bella. "Tell me."

Bella and Carlisle began to talk, and for the first time since they'd met, neither one of them had to hide the truth.

A/N: Reviews always brighten my day, and today I can use it. :)

Big thanks go out to A, K and J.

Also, I have a deleted scene from Bella's summer that I don't think is likely to make it back into the story at a later point. Let me know if you're interested.

Next chapter. . . Alice is ecstatic. Carlisle ponders consequences - and he learns that Bella was the girl in Port Angeles.