The walk down the stairs was the longest, most agonizing trek of Bella's life. Her head was swimming, a distant pounding building a nest behind her eyelids. It made her vision dance in a rhythm she knew would be tied to her beating heart if it were still a functioning part of her. Did it even exist anymore? Nothing had really been explained to her as of yet, and she was getting tired of being led by the hand like a sad, lost lamb. However, there was a secluded part of her that remained from who she had been mere hours before that was scared shitless. She thought back to an old parable her mom had read to her as a kid. The mighty lion with the thorn in its paw who relied upon a previously insignificant mouse to take its pain away. How was it that she could be the lion and the thorn? She felt the animal inside of her warring against her mind, trying to eat away at her like acid. Against all odds, it was a place that whatever had been injected into her system when Edward bit her had not been reached yet. She was holding onto herself by a thread, and she felt as though the Cullens were her mouse; tugging gently on that thread to remind her of what she was in danger of losing. She was afraid, though, that the longer that she stayed with them, the closer that thread would become to being pulled out of her, and who knows what she would become then.

Her head was swimming with questions. What if the Cullens decided that they didn't like her? What if Edward regretting saving her? None of them really knew her at all, and she felt as though Rosalie may be the only one not pretending that they were happy she arrived. When Alice had asked if she were ready to meet her new family, she wanted to say no. She wanted to shut herself in that bedroom with its many windows and close her eyes and pretend that she was at home with Charlie, daydreaming in her too purple room. The call of that red, murky liquid changed her mind, as she was sure that the Cullens knew it would. She wasn't naive enough to be completely clueless as to what the substance in the wine glass was. Her ravaged brain just did not, or maybe could not, comprehend what her own body was driving her to crave. Her thoughts were running together in a jumbled mess, but as she and Alice entered the first floor landing, they quieted. She could feel herself relaxing, and Alice noticed her grip loosening on her hand. Her head snapped up and located Jasper, standing behind a couch containing Emmett, Edward, and Rosalie. Her mouth twisted into a thankful smile, and she waved him over with a quick swipe of her hand.

Bella shuddered, a rush of wind tickling her face. Jasper stood in front of the pair, despite never having moved from his spot behind the couch. Alice grabbed his hand, pressing a kiss into the middle of his palm. It left a small, pink imprint of her lips. If he could have blushed, Bella was almost certain that his ivory cheeks would have shone a brilliant shade of magenta. Alice then placed that same hand into Bella's. Alice words floated up to her through a dizzy haze of calm.

"Bella, Jasper is what we in the family like to call an empath. He has the ability to influence emotions. It's quite handy in situations like these. I'm sure he felt your anxiety and wanted to try and help. You may want to talk to him at some point, when you feel more comfortable. He is the- newest of us, before you. I think you two will have a lot in common."

Bella swallowed, unsure what to do or say. Jasper put her hand in the middle of both of his and bowed to her slightly, retreating slowly to Alice's side. Bella felt her nerves coming back to life as if she had been struck by lightning. She knew instantly that Jasper must have released her from his magnetism. A thought tumbled out of her before she could think better of speaking.

"Can you all do that?"

Rosalie's tired, low speech rumbled back to her.

"No, it doesn't work that way."

Bella thought she might continue, but silence stretched out after the statement, broken by Carlisle, who was entering the room from the kitchen, glassware in hand. Esme followed, holding two generously filled wine bottles.

"After centuries, we're still not really sure of the- science of it all, I guess you would say. Not every person who is turned will manifest a power. If they do, it can show up immediately after the transformation, or it may take years to be seen. It is usually tied to a trait that is strongest within the individual. Take Jasper, for example. His empathy for others while he was alive turned itself into pathokinesis."

Bella considered this, then took in the faces around the room. She found Edward looking back at her; a strange look in his eyes. He was making almost the same face that he had when she walked into Biology class. He looked like he was in pain, and she was almost certain it was because of her. She tugged at her dress, feeling self-conscious suddenly. Edward ripped his glare from her and stood, helping Carlisle pass out glasses while Esme poured more of the suspicious red liquid into them. He added on to Carlisle's statement without looking at Bella.

"Alice can see the future. Emmett had ridiculous strength. Carlisle has the most amazing compassion and patience. Rose is beautiful in a way that could drive normal humans mad. I can read thoughts. Not yours, though. There's some sort of barrier that I can't break through. It's incredibly frustrating."

He looked her way then, as if trying again to pry into her mind. She lowered her eyes to the floor, and then felt something thrust into her hands. She glanced up, seeing Carlisle in front of her, smiling. He had given her a glass. She nodded her thanks and spotted Esme walking towards her.

"Do you have a power, Esme?"

Esme laughed, stopping beside Carlisle. He pushed her hair from her face and stroked her cheek.

"Esme has the biggest heart of anyone, vampire or human, that I've ever met. If her capacity for love isn't a power, I don't know what is."

Esme shied away from him, shaking her head. She reached Bella, eyes glittering with mirth.

"They always say that. I assume they're trying to make me feel better because I can't lift a house or freeze time or something. Aren't they sweet?"

Esme gave her a small wink as she took the glass from Bella and placed a whole bottle into her hands. Bella found herself smiling back, remembering a luau party her mom had thrown. Her mom had slipped her a pina colada with some rum mixed in under Phil's nose. It was the same sort of conspiring look she had given her then. It shot a pang of sadness through her, and she wondered suddenly if Charlie had spoken to her mom yet, and if so, what he told her. Her thoughts froze suddenly as the smell wafted out of the bottle towards her nostrils. Emmett's voice rang into her ears.

"That's bear."

Bella's gaze lifted slowly and painfully away from the drink, taking in the broad, muscular man. He grinned at her proudly, cracking his knuckles in front of his chest. She sank into a nearby chair.

"What?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes and gestured towards the bottle.

"Bear blood. Since we don't drink human blood, we have to find a close substitute. You know, to keep the cravings at bay. Any animals that eat flesh are easier to stomach. Herbivores like this though-"

She grimaced and gestured to the other bottle, which sat in front of her on a coffee table. She nudged it over towards Bella.

"Take a sip of both. This one is goat."

There were seven pairs of golden brown eyes watching her, and had she not been overcome by her thirst, it would have made her incredibly uncomfortable. She paid them no mind as she tipped the bottle Esme had given her to her lips and drank heartily, feeling the warm, sticky nectar soothing her throat and coating her mouth and tongue. She reached out for the second bottle, and tilted it hesitantly towards her open lips. She got a taste, something that reminded her of freshly mowed grass and the smell you get on your skin after playing outside. It wasn't appetizing, but she drank it gratefully, knowing Emmett and Jasper went out of their way to procure it for her. Emmett grinned at her again.

"It's better fresh, of course."

Bella nodded, trying not to imagine the creatures that this blood was stolen from. The more she let herself mull it over though, the more she realized it was them, or someone like her father. She caught Edward looking at her again. His eyes quickly averted from her and he stood up. His head tilted towards the sky and he inhaled. She watched his chest rise, and the motion was jarring and surreal after seeing nothing but stillness for hours. She was about to ask what he was breathing in until the scent hit her nose. It was a smell of mud, of meat, of-

"Wolves."

The word slipped from Edward's lips like a swear. He looked at Bella, as if for the first time. He considered her, his actions, and their consequences. He hadn't had time to think in the heat of the moment. His animalistic instincts had cut in, screaming at him to save her. He didn't fully understand her siren song. He had thought that it was the call of her blood, but even now as that blood had been stilled in her veins and replaced with something undrinkable; he felt the need to protect her. That is why he rushed at her, grabbed both of her wrists in one hand, and led her towards a nearby and unused bathroom. Her face was full of panic, still so uncertain and confused. He knew he couldn't be helping that fact, so he forced himself to relax the muscles in his face. He noticed his hand was still gripping hers, and their eyes met. An unmistakable and impossible heat grew between their palms, and they jerked their hands away in tandem. Bella whispered to him in a low voice.

"What's happening?"

Edward clutched the doorknob, ready to swing it close at a moment's notice. He matched her pitch in reply.

""Just stay here. Please."

That last word was meant as a command, but came out as a desperate plea. Her eye brows knit together, trying to read his face. Edward knew the look well, because he felt like he had been staring at her this way since he met her. Bella stepped forward, and he braced himself to fight her; to push her, to restrain her, whatever he needed to do to keep her hidden. When she reached the doorway, however, she put her arms around him. The gesture was so unexpected that Edward immediately stiffened, and would have pushed her back defensively had she not rendered his shoulders immobile with her newborn strength. He felt her lips brush against his ear as she whispered to him.

"Thank you. For everything."

As quickly as she had grabbed him, she released him and backed away, gaze lowered. He suddenly felt foolish. Why did I freeze? Did I make her uncomfortable? He wished he could pull her back into his arms and hug her back, but he didn't have time. He wanted to tell her that she shouldn't be thanking him at all; tell her that if anything, it should be him thanking her. Living for as long as he had gets unbelievably boring. Even creatures that are not bound by the same strictures as his family get pulled into a routine. Hunting, feeding, travelling, existing. Bella was a splendid complication that was making him feel more and more alive every second. A piercing howl pulled his attention towards the living room.

"Fuck."

Edward stared hard at Bella, who had found the courage to stare right back. He sighed, a dramatic gesture from a vampire who has no breath to expel. When he spoke to her, his voice was deep and raspy.

"We'll talk okay? Later."

He watched as Bella nodded, and sat down on the cold tile floor. He closed the door slowly, and retreated back to his family. They were all on their feet now, alert and ready to strike. Edward glanced at Alice.

"What's happening?"

Alice shook her head.

"You know I can't see anything past those mangy dogs. If there was a vision to be had, they've chased it away."

Edward groaned. He cocked an ear towards the sky and heard the distant pounding of paws, the trembling of ground underneath animals too big to be believed. Were they coming for Bella? Did Charlie say something? No, he couldn't have, Edward thought to himself. Then again- he couldn't have known if he did, it would mean certain death for her, and for us. The house grew as still as the trees surrounding it. The occupants awaited a confrontation; one that never came. As the footfalls and cries of the shape-shifters disappeared into the night, the Cullens relaxed. One by one they lost their battle stances, and Edward moved to relieve Bella from her makeshift shelter. He was stopped by Carlisle.

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

Edward's eyes cut nervously in Bella's direction, and Alice smiled.

"Don't worry! I'll let our pet out and take her upstairs to play!"

She skipped out of sight, and Edward did not feel comforted in the slightest. Carlisle pulled him out into the night, just out of earshot of the rest of the family.

"That was a close call tonight."

Edward knew what he meant. He stayed silent, watching Carlisle's face as his father tried to discern how to say what Edward knew had been on the tip of Carlisle's tongue ever since he had shown up at the hospital with Bella half-dead in his arms. Edward braced himself, biting the inside of his cheek. Carlisle continued.

"I know today has not been easy for you. You had a choice to make, and I cannot within good conscience say whether you chose well. To be fair, I don't know if there was a right or a wrong choice. If there is anything I have learned in my lifetime, it would be that things really do happen for a reason. You and I, our family, we were blessed with immortality to help people. That's why I turned you. That's why I turned Esme. I know in my heart that's why you turned Bella. But-"

Edward sank to the ground, picking up a firefly. He encased it in his cupped hands and watched the light flicker inside. He released it, and faced Carlisle.

"But the Treaty."

Carlisle nodded, and Edward tugged at tufts of grass, feeling like a small child being chided for breaking a neighbor's window with a stone. He spoke again, more confidently.

"That was a long time ago, Carlisle. And besides, don't you think they would understand? I know that to them, the transformation is just as damning as if the person was killed under natural means, but Bella was going to die anyway. She would have ripped from her father and from this world before she was even able to make her place in it. Charlie Swan has a connection to the tribe, doesn't he? If he told them-"

Carlisle stooped to Edward's level.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of. With her- outburst at the hospital, I'm concerned Charlie may want to extinguish the monster that consumed his daughter."

Edward opened his mouth to retaliate, but he swallowed his anger and allowed Carlisle to continue.

"I don't know why the wolves were so close to our territory tonight. Maybe it was a warning. Perhaps it was a few new pups who were newly shifted due to Bella's arrival. What I do know is, if they start sniffing around, or if Charlie loses his composure, we could be in a lot of danger."

Edward flashed back to the night that they had concocted the Treaty's terms with the Alpha of the time and his pack. He remembered a roaring fire, hushed voices, and wary looks. The threat of war and of carnage hung in the air. Had one of the wolves moved a muscle towards Carlisle, Edward knew he would have latched onto the beast like the predator they both were. They had sworn not to feed on or turn any humans, and up until this point, they had kept their word. They had not even expected their ranks to grow after that, but Alice and Jasper found them. Edward wondered to himself if they would even be bound under the Treaty, as they were not there when it was made, and they were not sired by Carlisle in any way. His thoughts ran amok until he felt dizzy and overwhelmed. He closed his eyes, seeing Bella's face in the bathroom as she walked forward to hug him. He focused on the soft swell of her cheekbones, the slope of her nose, the maroon of her newborn eyes.

"I would die for her, Carlisle. I can't ask any of you to do the same. If the shape-shifters are want to go to war with anyone, it should be me."

Carlisle stood, taking Edward's hand in his and pulling him upright.

"We're going to do everything in our power to make sure it doesn't come to that."