A/N: Fred is back. I'm having fun with him, and I hope you are, too. Please take a minute to review. I really appreciate any and all feedback. Thanks!

Chapter 15

Carlisle came down the stairs looking like he had a plan. Of course, he generally looked like he had a plan for something or another. Carlisle without an experiment or a research project of some kind up his sleeve was like Alice without shopping or Charlie without fishing. It just wasn't natural.

So, when Carlisle announced he had some new ideas for helping Fred develop his gift, I wasn't surprised in the least. "We're going to try something different today. Bella, Edward, Alice, Jasper, Rose, and of course, Fred, you're with me."

"Why do I have to go?" Rosalie whined at exactly the same time as Emmett whined, "Why can't I go?"

"Rose, you're part of today's plan, and Emmett, if you remember correctly, yesterday didn't go so well," Carlisle explained.

"Of course I remember. Hello? Vampire here. But it wasn't bad enough that I have to be grounded," Emmett complained.

"Em, seriously, if you think yesterday wasn't that bad, you don't remember 'correctly,'" Carlisle chided. "You and Fred were practically ready to kill each other out there."

"Yeah, but that's before we became best buds," Emmett said as he threw his massive arm across Fred's shoulders. The two guys stood there smiling, looking like giant fourth graders trying to con the teacher into something.

Carlisle just laughed and shook his head. "Em, another time. Tomorrow, OK?"

Emmett tried to argue, but met with firm resistance. Eventually he pouted and admitted defeat, returning to his video game, which he sadly announced had to be switched over to a one-player.

"OK, is everyone ready?" Carlisle asked. "Bella, you'll need your coat. Esme packed you a lunch and some blankets in case you get cold."

Right on cue, Esme appeared from the kitchen with two backpacks and a duffle bag stuffed with food, water, blankets, extra clothes, and a small medical kit. "That's everything I could think of," she said, allowing me to peruse the contents of the bags.

"Thanks, Esme, but I think you forgot something…"

"Oh? What's that, dear?" she asked with concern.

"The kitchen sink," I teased.

"Well, I'm sure I can have it pulled out in a matter of seconds," she laughed along.

"Just a figure of speech…" I held up my hands in mock surrender. "I need to remember to be careful what I ask for around here."

I winked at Esme as Edward helped me into my coat. Jasper carried my accouterments, while Edward carried me bridal style, and suddenly we were out the door, the wind whipping through my hair. Before I had a chance to think it, Edward pulled my hood up over my head and brought my face to his shoulder, protecting me from the cold.

In what seemed like no time, we were out at the practice field again. Alice found a spot that wasn't muddy and set up a small tarp-covered shelter, laying a thick wool blanket on the ground. If there had been a little fire, the place would have been the quintessential Boy Scout campsite. Of course, vampires weren't too fond of setting fires, so we went without.

"You didn't need to go to all that trouble for me," I remarked.

Alice smirked. "What makes you think I did this for you? I just wanted to keep my laptop dry!" Sure enough, she had brought her computer, saying she was doing her own 'research…' on current runway shows in Milan.

"Alice, I'm going to need your help," Carlisle called.

She rolled her eyes and set her computer down, grumbling something about all the worst things happening to her.

Carlisle had us form a circle around Fred, all equidistant from him like spokes on a tire, about 50 ft away. Edward and I were a team, of course.

"OK, Fred. I want you to try to knock down just those of us in front of you. Focus your energy forward," Carlisle coaxed.

"Is that why you put me up front?" Jasper growled. "Thanks a lot, dad."

"Don't worry. Everyone will get their turn," Carlisle responded with a smile. "OK, Fred, whenever you're ready. Try to think of something that makes you feel angry or threatened."

Fred closed his eyes. I wasn't sure why that would make a difference, but I didn't question it too much, especially when nothing happened.

"Jasper, a little help," Carlisle suggested.

"Why do I feel like I'm signing my own death warrant?" he snarked, but complied. I could feel myself becoming irrationally angry. Suddenly, everyone was writhing on the ground except me, and strangely enough, Rosalie, who was directly behind Fred.

I could tell the pain let up quickly because, almost immediately, Edward was back at my side. "Trade gifts with you, dear. You're mental shield for my mind-reading. Deal?"

I laughed. "Nice try, 'dear.' And how heroic of you to want to protect yourself at my expense! Chivalry truly is dead." I ruffled his already ruffled hair and he gave me a chaste kiss through his lopsided grin.

"OK, that was interesting," Carlisle interjected, still focusing on the situation at hand. "Jasper, you and Rose change places."

They did as they were told and Jasper once again turned up the anger. Again, everyone went down except Rosalie and me.

Now Carlisle was on a roll. He had us switch places, move closer or further back, had Jasper try fear instead of anger, made threats directly to Fred, and each time, the results were the same.

Carlisle whispered something to Rose, Jasper, and Alice. On an unseen signal, Rosalie tackled Alice to the ground. Nothing happened. Trying again, Jasper went to tackle Alice, and again, nothing, although Jasper took the opportunity to passionately kiss his wife, since he already had her pinned to the ground and everything.

Next, Carlisle ran at Rosalie, but just before he got to her, he appeared to hit an invisible wall, bouncing off it and landing several feet away. The action looked hilarious, but I tried not to laugh because Carlisle was groaning, grasping his stomach, and overall looking like he'd been hit by a truck. Jasper, Alice, and Edward weren't so kind, practically throwing themselves to the ground in fits of laughter. Rose just looked stunned.

"So, Fred…" Carlisle started as he pulled himself back together and picked himself up from the muddy ground, "you've been holding out on me. You CAN control your gift."

"I didn't mean to!" Fred hollered.

"I'm not accusing you of anything. Quite the contrary! This is a very good development. How did you do that?"

"I don't know! That's never happened before. It's just… you were trying to tackle Rosalie and I didn't want you to."

"But you don't mind Rose and Jasper tackling ME," Alice griped.

"No, Alice, it's not like that. I didn't do it on purpose for her and not you. I don't even know what happened. Did I do something different?"

"I think it's pretty clear that you've developed a particular, shall we say, affinity for Rosalie, so you seem to be subconsciously protecting her," Carlisle hypothesized. "Edward, didn't Bree tell you Fred protected her from the rest of the newborn army?"

"She did, but she didn't tell me how. Just that Fred had the ability to make people sick and she stayed near him for safety," he answered.

"Yeah, she got sick around me at first, but later it wasn't so bad," Fred explained. "I figured she just got used to it because it was better than the alternative, but I don't know… maybe I was protecting her without even knowing it."

Carlisle started putting two and two together. "So, Bree could get close to you, but she was the only one, right? The other newborns felt sicker when they got closer to you?"

"Well, yeah, I guess so. I never really thought about it, but I didn't make anyone sick as long as they kept their distance and didn't bother Bree and me."

"But you don't have that same effect on us. We can be right next to you and not feel anything, as long as we're not threatening," Edward joined in.

"When we were in the park, the people closest to you were the ones who got it the worst," Jasper added.

"As soon as Fred knew we weren't going to hurt him, his defenses went down," Edward continued.

"Fred, tell me more about living with the other newborns and how you protected Bree," Carlisle encouraged.

"O…K…" Fred started. "Well, we were all shut inside during the day because Riley told us the sun would kill us. A lot of the kids formed gangs… which wasn't exactly a stretch because most of them were gang members as humans, too. Turning them into vampires didn't suddenly make them model citizens or anything. So anyway, they fought all the time. Riley threatened them, but as soon as he left, they would start up again. There were detached arms and legs everywhere. It was pretty gruesome. Plus, there was almost always a fire going in the middle of the room where one gang or the other burned the remains of their enemies. I wanted no part in any of that."

"I've worked with a lot of newborns and I can't believe anybody would be so stupid as to coop them up together all day like that. Amateurs! That's just pathetic," Jasper interrupted, getting progressively more irritated. "I would have had those kids working together like a well-oiled machine. It's all about proper discipline."

"Ummm… Jasper? All things considered, don't you think it's a good thing they weren't better at building a newborn army?" I asked.

"Oh… Oh, yeah. Good point…" He smiled at his own misplaced exuberance for military command.

"He's right though…" Fred continued, "We had about 20 when it came time to fight, but they probably lost 40 more in the process. I didn't really care if they tore each other up. Less of them for me to worry about. But Bree… she was different. She avoided the fights and kept to herself most of the time. When we moved from house to house, I'd push a couch or big chair into a corner and Bree would take up residence behind me. We didn't really talk much, but we both liked to read, and she would give me her books when she was done with them. I wish I'd had a chance to talk to her more…" he trailed off.

"I'm sorry, Fred. We tried to save her," Carlisle said, sympathetically patting Fred's shoulder.

"I know… it's not your fault. It was those cloaked bastards. Bree didn't even want to fight in Riley's stupid, fake war, you know. She was just trying to save Diego."

"Yes, we know. She told me as much as she could before…" Edward abruptly cut off his sentence, but we all knew where he was going.

"I should have been there. I should have gone with her," Fred bitterly declared.

"Then you'd be dead, too. Even if you'd escaped with Bree, the Volturi would have tracked you down eventually," Carlisle said.

"I could have kept them away! You said so yourself. If I wanted to protect her, I would, whether I tried to or not."

"Fred, listen to me," Carlisle got right in front of him and made him look directly into his eyes. "I know your gift is powerful, and I know you would have saved her if you could, but I also know the Volturi. I lived with them for a very long time and I can tell you with absolute certainty that they would have found you and destroyed you both, probably before you even knew they were there. Demetri would track you, Alec would disable you from a safe distance, and Felix and his henchmen would shred and burn. You wouldn't even know what hit you before it was over."

"But…" Fred started.

"Listen to Carlisle," Edward urged. "You wouldn't have had a chance. At least now you can meet them face-to-face, knowing what you're up against. A few days ago, you didn't even know the Volturi existed."

"Let me tell you what I've learned today, Fred," said Carlisle. "You DO control your gift. You just don't know how to control it on purpose yet. But I believe you can. If you'll allow me… all of us, to help you with that, I think you can learn to use your gift with intent, when and how you want to."

"I don't know," Fred shook his head, "It seems like a big step to go from accidentally protecting someone to doing it on purpose."

"That's why we practice. Every gifted vampire I know has had to work at it. Our friend, Kate, can give you an electric jolt that'll knock you flat on your ass," Jasper laughed. "She can turn the effect up and down now at will, but at first, she only had two settings… off and full blast.

"When I first got changed, I could sense what people were feeling and other people would pick up on my feelings. Now I can also manipulate emotions. That only came through time and a lot of effort. Same with Alice and Edward. I'd like to be able to direct an emotion at one person without affecting everyone around me, but I'm still working on that."

"OK, I suppose that makes sense. I mean, I guess as I used my gift more and more, I did get better at it, but I didn't really think of it as practice," Fred admitted. "My question now is, do we really have time for me to get better at this? That vulture guy wants to see me in Italy pretty soon…"

"That 'vulture guy'? Are you referring to Aro?" Carlisle snickered.

Fred grinned. "Yeah, it just sort of seemed to fit."

"Better than you can imagine," Alice added.

"Yes, he'll want to see you soon, but that's a relative amount of time for 'That Vulture Guy'," Carlisle chuckled again. "I might not ever get over that one!"

"I'm sure Aro will love to hear that," Edward added dryly.

"It's not like I'm going to say it in front of him," Fred laughed.

Edward looked to Alice, who gave him the tiniest shrug. "Well… about that…" he started apprehensively.

"OK, why does this not sound like it's going to be a good thing…" Fred said warily.

"See, there's something about Aro we haven't told you yet, and it's a rather significant thing, but Alice saw that giving you this particular information wouldn't have been a good idea until we could all talk about it together," Edward said, taking a breath before blurting out, " Aro can also read minds."

"What? Like you?" Fred exclaimed.

"Not quite like me. It's the same gift in opposite ways. Aro has to be in physical contact with you, skin-to-skin, to read your mind, but he can see every thought and every experience you've ever had. I can only pick up what people are thinking at the moment, but I can do it from a distance."

"And you didn't think I needed to know this before agreeing to go to Italy? He's going to know I was part of the newborn army. He's going to kill me, just like they killed Bree." Fred began pacing. "He'll know ALL my thoughts? From like, my whole life?"

"None of that will matter to him if he thinks you can be useful," Carlisle answered, trying to assuage his fears.

"Useful!" Fred all but yelled. "Useful? How will I be useful, unless he thinks I'm going to join him?"

"Calm down, Fred," Jasper said as he sent out a wave to do just that.

It was too little, too late because all the vampires around me started to double over, including Rosalie this time.

"Fred, what are you doing?" she gasped.

"You people set me up! You're working for him, too, aren't you? I should have known this whole 'nice' vampire thing was a sham. And I ate deer blood for you!" he pointed finger at Rose.

"We're not working for Aro," I shouted in a panic. "Stop this, Fred! Just think about it for a second. Edward didn't have to tell you about Aro's ability. He's trying to help you! If we were working for the Volturi, don't you think he would have kept you in the dark?"

"Maybe, or maybe it's all part of your plan to get me to trust you so you can take me to Italy and make me join you! I've spent most of my vampire life shut in a dark basement taking orders and being lied to. I don't want to be anyone's minion anymore. I just won't!"

"If the Volturi wanted you in Italy, you'd be there right now. Nobody here wants to make you into their minion, Fred, trust me." I didn't mean to sound so irritated, but I couldn't keep it out of my voice.

"Trust you, huh? You know, that's exactly what you'd say if you were working for them," Fred accused.

I rolled my eyes. "I think you've seen too many spy movies… I know you don't know us very well yet, but have we given you any indication whatsoever that we're not on your side?"

"Well, no, but maybe you're just really good at hiding your true intentions."

"Are you listening to yourself? You sound totally paranoid."

"You're only paranoid if they're NOT actually out to get you," he argued, narrowing his eyes.

"And we're NOT actually out to get you! Now you're just being stupid."

"Says the unprotected human who should think twice right now before calling me stupid."

"Fred!" I gasped. "Was that a threat? You're the one who needs to think twice right now." I know sounded much more in control than I really was, but I couldn't let him see my fear. I hadn't noticed until he pointed it out that I was essentially alone, facing a nervous, scared, and very deadly predator.