Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to any of the 'Twilight' series.

After a morning with Jake, Alice and Emmett collected me at the border and took me back to the Cullen's house.

When we arrived, Edward ran out to open my truck door and carried me into the house. I think that he couldn't wait long enough for me to walk myself inside. Sometimes my human speed must drive him crazy.

His arms were tight around me. I could feel his muscles tensed up and ready for a fight. I probably should have cancelled the trip to La Push and come straight over to see Edward. He was obviously upset about my strange visitor.

"Are you going to just hold on to me forever?" I asked him, snuggling my head into his shoulder to show that I wasn't entirely adverse to the idea.

He relaxed his hold minutely, as if he'd only just noticed how protective he was being, "is that an option?"

I pretended to think it over. "It would draw attention to us at school" I said.

"Not a lot more attention than is focused on us currently. A guarantee of your safety is worth a little bit of attention."

"Until that little bit of attention brings the Volturi to visit and ask why I'm still breathing. Alice said that nobody found a new vampire for miles. I'm safe now. You can relax."

But, I'm not sure that was true. In a way, it was harder for Edward to relax when nothing had actually happened. It would have been easier if he'd had some new enemy to chase and fight. As it was, all his tension and anger was still there, he was like a cheetah in the zoo. They get all the food they need, and they're perfectly healthy, but without being able to hunt in the way they were created to hunt, a part of them dies inside. Edward was worried about me and angry that anyone would threaten me; he needed to hunt someone down and he needed to fight for me. But, Victoria kept giving everyone the slip and this new vampire, who had come so close that they'd actually been in my room, they hadn't even been seen by any of the Cullens. Edward had all the resources to fight for me, and the willpower, and the boiling fury inside, but he had no enemy.

Instead, he continued to hold me, tightening his grip when Emmett grinned at us.

"No," Edward said, answering some question before Emmett asked it.

"Bella," Emmett asked, turning to me and pretending that his brother hadn't spoken, "would you like to see my demonstration now?"

Edward ducked and Emmett's punch missed him and hit the doorframe, leaving a huge hole.

"Boys," Esme called down the stairs, "please go and play outside."

Edward groaned, "I don't want to play," he said, "I want to talk to Bella."

He jumped about a metre into the air (which made me feel a bit sick, to be honest) and let Emmett's side-swiping kick swing under his legs and hit a corner table.

"Edward and Emmett, outside now!" Esme shouted down this time, "I liked that table."

Edward groaned, but, still carrying me in his arms, he ran out the backdoor. Emmett followed us, laughing delightedly.

"That wasn't fair," Edward complained, "you knew that you would miss me and break stuff and you knew that Esme would make us both come outside."

Emmett shrugged, "ready, little brother?" he asked, springing at Edward.

Edward growled, he was still holding me. He darted out of Emmett's way. Reluctantly, Edward put me down on the patio. "I don't think that I have a choice" he said.

He ran off a little further away into the lawn, so that the fighting wouldn't come so close to me any more. Emmett was delighted with the success of his strategy.

The boys began circling one another. Despite his protestations, Edward slid quickly into vampire-mode. Emmett was giving him the fight that he so clearly needed.

"Alright," Emmett said, "let's clarify the rules: there will be no fire involved at all. The aim is to remove a limb so that Bella can see how they reattach."

"Fine," Edward said irritably, "but no fighting too near Bella. She doesn't go back together again."

"I'll keep my hands off Bella, so long as you keep your hands off Rose," Emmett warned, with a low growl.

Edward, being Edward, was immediately overcome by guilt. He stopped circling and said "seriously, Emmett, I'm really sorry about that."

Emmett, however, jumped straight onto Edward's back, crowing with delight, and grabbed hold of Edward's left arm.

I gasped, but Edward threw himself onto his back, smashing Emmett into the ground. The unexpected move forced Emmett to let go of Edward's arm and Edward sprang away again.

"That won't work again," Edward said.

Emmett grinned at him, he ran at Edward, with his head down like a charging bull, but Edward neatly stepped out of the way. While Emmett was straightening up for a second run, Edward kicked him hard in the chest and knocked him over. He pounced on Emmett, getting a good grip of Emmett's right arm. Emmett pulled tucked his right arm towards him, pulling Edward closer, and punched Edward in the face.

Edward shook his head, slightly dazed, but he didn't let go of his brother's arm. He braced his legs against the floor and pulled. I screamed at the image of Emmett's arm being wrenched off, but my premptive scream distracted Edward. He glanced over to check that I was alright and Emmett used the opportunity to headbutt him in the stomach.

Since Edward still clung to his arm, when he toppled over, he pulled Emmett over on top of him. Emmett leaned over and put his teeth to Edward's neck. I screamed again.

Edward growled, a new vicious growl that I hadn't heard before, he let go of Emmett's arm and rolled out from under him. Then, still growling, he sprang at his brother. They began moving much faster now, too fast for me to see what they were doing. I think that the 'demonstration' had stopped, they had moved into a real fight.

I heard growling and occasional hisses, perhaps when one of them had momentarily gained the upper hand. They leapt apart and sprang back on one another repeatedly. I saw them rolling over and over and jumping on top of one another. I couldn't really make out who was who anymore, there was just a constant blur of vampire movement.

Eventually, Rosalie stuck her head out the back door to see what was going on. She scowled at the struggling vampires and asked me "do you want me to end it?"

I nodded eagerly.

"Do you care who wins?" Rose asked.

Emmett was her husband and Edward was my boyfriend. I could hardly ask Rose to let Edward win. I shook my head.

Rose grinned at me. Then she shouted, in a perfect imitation of my voice: "Edward, help!"

A clear picture of Edward appeared in the blur, he'd frozen in place for just a couple of seconds, before looked at Rosalie and realised what had happened. But, those seconds were long enough for Emmett to chuckle delightedly and tear off Edward's right arm, that he had tightly gripped in his hands. One moment, Emmett was a blurry image next to Edward's frozen form, the next moment, Emmett was back in focus grinning and holding Edward's right arm.

Edward yowled in pain, then he grabbed the nearest part of Emmett and wrenched off his left leg at the knee. Emmett hollered.

There was no blood, of course, and that made the scene look slightly unreal, like a badly made horror movie. On the other hand, their yells sounded like very real pain. I wondered if they were going to go into shock. Was this a traumatic incident?

Rosalie didn't seem to think so, she glared at them both, "idiots," she said, "are you happy now?"

"What did you do that for?" Emmett asked his brother irritably, "the game was over when I took off your arm."

"It hurt," Edward said, "and it wasn't fair. Rose distracted me."

Emmett shrugged, "you're just jealous because Bella doesn't love you enough to help you win. Here, Bella," he seemed to realise that he still held Edward's arm. He tossed it towards me. It would have hit my chest, but I leapt back, screaming.

Rose put her arms around me comfortingly, and whispered in my ear "it's alright, Bella, they'll both be fine."

Emmett laughed, "that's funny," he said, "Bella doesn't like your arm."

Edward glared in response "she doesn't like it when it's not attached to the rest of me" he clarified. Then, with a grin, he slung Emmett's leg as far as he could into the wood. Emmett scowled at him, "that's going to ruin the demonstration," he said, "go and get it."

"It's your leg" Edward said, walking over to me.

"Yeah, and I'm the one who's limping," Emmett replied, "fetch, Jake."

Edward growled at him. Then he seemed to remember me and he looked up nervously, "I'm sorry, Bella, was that very awful?"

"Of course it was awful" Rose said scornfully, "Bella's a human. You've probably given her nightmares for months. Honestly, I don't know what's wrong with the pair of you. Go and get Emmett's leg back."

Edward sighed, but he dashed off into the woods.

Emmett limped over and sat down next to me.

"Well, Bella," he said, "since all this is for your benefit, surely you have a few questions to ask."

Maybe Emmett's mind was ripped off at the same time as his leg. He couldn't really think that I'd wanted him to remove Edward's arm. Emmett picked Edward's arm up off the floor and grinned. He pulled a bottle of nailpolish from his pocket and began to paint Edward's nails bright red. Edward's fingers wriggled about, but it was easy for Emmett to catch them.

"Did it hurt?" I asked.

Emmett grinned at me, "of course it hurt," he said, "Edward tore my leg in half."

"Does it still hurt now?"

He nodded with a bright grin.

"Can you feel your missing leg?"

"No," Emmett looked at me as though I was crazy, "exactly how would I be able to do that, Bella?"

I scowled, "you're the mythical creature," I told him "you shouldn't be able to feel your leg when it is attached."

Emmett looked at Rosalie questioningly, she shrugged.

Edward laughed, he was running back to us now, with Emmett's leg tucked under his remaining arm. "You should ask Carlisle" he suggested, "I'm sure he has a theory on how our nervous system functions. I brought your leg back, Emmett, do you want to swap?"

Emmett was suspicious, "you're too eager to return it, Eddie," he said, "what have you done to it?"

Edward narrowed his eyes, "what did you do to my arm?" he asked. "I can't believe that I left you with my arm and you damaged it. Rosalie, what did you let him do to my arm?"

Rose sighed, "it's fine, Edward," she said, "give me Emmett's leg, I'm going to wash it before it reattaches. I think that it would be best if there wasn't any dirt in the join."

"That sounds fair," Emmett said, "give Rose my leg and I'll give Bella your arm."

Edward looked at me, "I don't think that Bella wants a disembodied vampire arm," he said.

Emmett rolled his eyes, but Rose nodded and reached out to take both of the unattached limbs.

"It's your arm," I told Edward, not liking the idea of rejecting any part of him. "It's kind of weird, but it doesn't scare me."

"Except when it's thrown at her," Rose said warningly.

Emmett smirked and passed Edward's arm over to me. Gingerly, I took it. Edward watched me carefully. I don't know whether he was worried about what I might do to his arm, or whether he was just worried that I might be upset.

Suddenly he growled at Emmett, "you painted my nails!" he said, "why are you such an idiot?"

"Oh, relax, Edward," Rose said, "it's nailpolish, it'll come off easily."

Edward scowled at Emmett again. "It's pink," he said.

Both Emmett and Rosalie laughed at that. "What colour would you prefer?" Emmett asked.

Edward shook his head in annoyance. But, I noticed that his anger was less intense now. Some part of that fight had helped him to release that pent up aggression. It was like the way that keepers put toys and puzzles into animals cages to replace the thinking and work that they have to do in the wild. Fighting with Emmett wasn't the same as destroying the vampire who had crept into my bedroom (and, I didn't need to hear him say it to know that was the top of Edward's To-Do-List right now); but fighting with Emmett had partially satisfied the side of Edward that really needed to fight.

I looked down at the arm that I was holding in my hands. It was heavy, not like a marble arm, but like a strong, muscular arm. I could easily hold it in both of my hands, but it would have been heavy for one hand. It was cold, as Edward's skin always is. It was moving.

When Emmett had been holding it, Edward's arm had been trying to get away from him. The fingers had wiggled away from Emmett's touch, as though they were nervous. When I gently stroked them, Edward's fingers stilled under my touch.

"Aw," Emmett said, "look at that, Jake. Your arm likes Bella."

Edward tried to look annoyed, but he couldn't quite stop himself from smiling, "of course my arm likes Bella" he said, "every single bit of me adores Bella."

I turned his arm over and stroked my finger along his palm, tracing his endless life-line.

He sighed, "can you do that again when it's attached?"

"Edward, you may be the first person in history to be jealous of their own arm," I teased him, leaning down and planting a soft kiss on each of his finger-tips.

Slowly, I kissed his thumb, then his index finger, his middle finger, his ring-finger, finally his little finger. My lips lingered on his last finger for a second or two, before I looked up to meet his eyes again.

I thought that I was teasing him, but he was smirking at me, as though he was the winner. I looked back down at the hand that I'd been kissing and gasped. The hand that I was holding was attached to Edward. Now I was holding a perfectly healthy hand and his right arm was tucked under his left arm-pit. I hadn't felt the slightest movement.

"You switched hands. When did you do that?"

He shrugged, "when I realised that you planned on kissing my fingers; I wanted to feel it."

It hit me then that I didn't really know how fast Edward could move. He must conceal most of his abilities from me most of the time. How strange that must feel. How slow and plodding he must find me. I wondered why Edward hardly ever used his speed to his advantage. He could literally run rings around me.

I didn't have long to wonder, Rosalie was bored of watching me kissing either of Edward's hands.

"Come on," she said, "Bella seems to be taking all this in her stride. She's not going into shock any time soon. We'll get the limbs cleaned up. You boys can go and get changed and wash up, we'll see you in the lounge and put you back together."

We went into the kitchen and Rosalie ran warm water into the sink. We stripped the last bits of clothing off Edward's arm and Emmett's leg. I let the raw edge of Edward's arm rest on the kitchen table while I carefully took off Edward's watch. His fingers reached out to me. They stroked along my jawline gently.

I was surprised, it felt just like the whole of Edward. I looked over at Rosalie. She was staring at the arm.

"Well, that's weird," she said.

I nodded.

Then we put the limbs into the warm, soapy water. Suddenly, they both began thrashing around, as if they were trying to continue the fight that their complete bodies had abandoned.

Rose scowled and hauled them out of the water. She took one in each hand and slammed them down hard on the table. "Idiots," she said, just as if she was scolding Emmett and Edward.

She passed me Edward's arm again, this time I was more wary. After seeing it attack Emmett's leg, I was less sure that it was a safe thing to hold. The fingers reached for me, and I tried to twist out of the way. But, even disconnected from the rest of him, Edward's arm was vampire-fast. My writhing made no difference, his arm reached for me, and his fingers caressed any part of my skin that they could reach. It was strange, Edward was usually very controlled. He touched me rarely, and always gently. His arm, disconnected from the rest of him, never stopped reaching for me, and, when it was within reach, it never stopped stroking me and tickling me. I liked the intense physicality of his arm, it wanted to touch me, to hold me, and it wasn't held back by morals or by a fear of hurting me. I wished that circumstances allowed Edward to be a bit less controlled with me from time to time. If only he could be reconciled to the idea of my change, then his whole body could reach for mine with this kind of urgency.

Emmett's bare foot was ticklish, wiggling away from Rose's hand. His foot danced about and nuzzled into her wrist, like a very strangely shaped puppy. It made Rose laugh. Rose washed the leg and dried it carefully. I did the same with the arm. We had to keep hold of them because when we laid them on the table, they tumbled themselves onto the floor and tried to make their way towards their owners.

Eventually, with the limbs clean and dry, we walked back into the lounge, where we found Edward and Emmett waiting for us. Esme and Carlisle were there too. They watched curiously, as we came into the room.

Edward frowned, "you didn't wash off the nailpolish?"

I felt guilty for playing with his arm, when he'd assumed that I was cleaning it up.

Rose, on the other hand, shrugged, "nailpolish remover stinks" she said, "and it's not going to do you any harm."

"You threw my leg away," Emmett reminded him, "be glad that all I did was paint your nails. Anyway, you might decide that you like it. I'll paint your other arm as well, if you like. Then you'll match."

"Shall we just concentrate on putting you both back together?" Carlisle asked. "Rose, would you mind passing me Emmett's leg?"

Rose handed it over. Carlisle examined it carefully, comparing the tear on the limb to that on what Emmett had left of his leg. Satisfied, he carefully held it in place.

As we watched, Emmett's leg began to knit back together. It was incredible. I could actually see the tears matching together and fusing back in place. Emmett grimaced a bit, "it feels exactly the same as having it torn off," he said, "just a bit slower."

Carlisle nodded. "Can I have Edward's arm now please, Bella?" I handed (tee hee!) it to him. As I turned, to go and sit next to Edward, his arm reached out and his right hand grabbed my butt and pinched.

I screeched, I was pretty sure that I'd have a bruise there tomorrow morning. Carlisle pulled Edward's arm away.

"Edward, that's not like you" Esme said, "your arm appears to have a mind of it's own."

Her comment made Emmett and Rosalie laugh, but I'm not sure that Esme intended to be funny. She sounded bemused that Edward's arm should be behaving so uncharacteristically, as if she was wondering whether it might not really be his. As if we might have somehow mixed it up in the kitchen with some other vampire's unattached arm.

Edward wasn't amused by his wayward limb, he pinched the bridge of his nose with his left hand, "um . . . sorry, Bella," he said, "that wasn't polite."

I giggled, it had only been momentarily painful. "Does that mean that your body wants to do that to me all the time and usually your head holds it back?"

He frowned, "yes, I guess it does. Does that offend you?"

I gave him a kiss on the cheek, "definitely not," I said. It was kind of nice to think that Edward had an animal lust side.

"Perhaps you had better stay on his other side, until his arm is safely attached," Carlisle suggested.

I did so, and Edward put his obedient and attached arm around my shoulders.

Carlisle held his arm against his shoulder and we all watched it reattach. Edward winced a bit with the pain. Once it was finally attached, Edward flexed it and moved it about to check that everything was in order. Then he slapped his own hand, obviously irritated with his body for betraying his principles. I laughed at him and kissed the slapped part of his hand. "Be nice," I said, "this is currently my favourite bit of you. I think it's sweet."

Edward rolled his eyes at me.

"I'd like to check you both over in a few hours," Carlisle said, "just to make sure that everything is as it should be. But I am pretty sure that you're going to be fine. That doesn't mean, however," he said sternly, "that I want to see you playing this sort of game again. Wrestling is one thing, but tearing each other apart is likely to wake up your baser instincts. It's certainly not a safe thing to do with Bella around."

Edward and Emmett sighed in concert and hung their heads.

"I'm not going to give you a lecture," Carlisle said, "just suggest you to be a bit more careful when you play-fight."

Emmett looked up with a grin, "sure," he said.

"We won't do it again," Edward said. Then he looked back at me, "are you scared, Bella?" he asked.

I shook my head, "I think it's about time I got a bit more vampire experience," I told him, "perhaps you'll let me see you hunt one day."

Edward growled, "definitely not," he said, "not while you're still human."

"Why don't we just film it?" Emmett asked, "wouldn't you like to be a film star, Eddie?"

Edward thought about that, probably wondering what the ramifications would be. "Alright," he said, "but, you'd better watch it here. I'm not sure that Charlie would understand."

A film of Edward hunting, that was the next best thing to watching him. I wanted to show how pleased I was with this new concession, so I knelt up next to Edward and kissed him. I felt him slip his hands behind me and rest them on my butt again. They were both there this time, but it was a much more gentle hold. It felt firm, but I didn't think that he was going to leave any more bruises. Obviously, it was Edward's head that knew how tightly he could hold me, not his hands.

Emmett whistled, "get a room, you two," he said.

"Good idea," Edward said, and he carried me up to his room at a run.