Chapter 13 - Spring Dance Offers

Disclaimer: I don't own 'Twilight' or 'The Scarlet Pimpernel'.

Thanks to Gotta Dance 88 for being my beta. Thanks also to Mackenzie L. for her wonderful comments about my stories.

Johnna lay in her sleeping bag on the floor in Bella's room with her eyes closed; one would have thought she was sleeping. Instead she was thinking of her Jacque. She spent many nights like this, tucked under the covers. It was the closest thing she had to dreaming. Her blissful reminiscing was interrupted by her intuition flaring. She flittered over to Bella's drawers and pulled out the long sleeved gray cable neck top, and placed it on top of everything else. Johnna slid back into her sleeping bag, as she heard Bella and Charlie waking up.

"Good morning Johnna." Bella said as she got out of bed. Johnna smiled at her. "Bonjour, Bella." Bella turned around the gray top in her hand. "Doesn't that mean hello?"

"Oui, il le fait. Eet does, but eet also means good morning."

Bella nodded and headed to the bathroom with her clean clothes. Johnna rolled up her sleeping bag and packed up her belongings. She smiled when she saw the outfit Alice had picked out for her.

Bella was slightly shocked as she entered the kitchen after her shower. Johnna was sitting opposite Charlie at the table with a breakfast sandwich in front of her. It was easy to see as she chatted, that she had the police chief wrapped around her tiny finger. Her outfit was similar to the one she had worn the other day; flouncy cream skirt, long sleeved plum shirt, white leggings and pink leather ballet flats. A tan jacket hung over the back her chair. Also like yesterday, her hair has hanging loosely about her tiny body. Part of it was tucked behind her left ear, revealing a rosy pink pearl stud earring. She pushed a similar sandwich in front of Bella as she sat down. "I made you and your papa breakfast en return for letting me spend ze night."

Charlie asked her about how she was adjusting to life in the States and living with the Cullens and soon it was time to leave. Charlie stood in the doorway as Bella and Johnna put her things in Bella's truck. "Don't be a stranger, Johnna." He said as Johnna tightened the bronze bow on her jacket.

"I really like your papa. 'E's very nice." Johnna said as they arrived at Forks High. Bella immediately noticed that the Cullens were standing in front of the car and were staring in her and Johnna's direction. Johnna handed Bella her sleeping bag and inclined her head towards the Cullens. "Come on, I want to introduce you to someone."

When they reached the huge red jeep, Jasper took Johnna's belongings and put them in the trunk, while Johnna was swept into a huge bear hug by a huge burly guy with short curly brown hair. Bella remembered that his name was Emmett.

"You can put me down now, you big oaf." Johnna said playfully. Emmett immediately let go of her, but instead of falling on her butt, as Emmett was much taller than her, Johnna landed lightly on her feet. "Bella, zees es my big bear of a cousin, Emmett Cullen. Emmett, Bella Swan. That's Jasper, over by Alice. He was with me yesterday. Behind Emmett is Rosalie." Bella smiled shyly over at Jasper, who merely nodded in her direction. Johnna bounced back over to Bella's side. "Now you've officially met everyone, well except for Aunt Esme, but you'll meet 'er soon enough."

"Hey Johanna." Emmett boomed as he walked up to Bella and Johnna in the lunch line. Johnna glared at him. Emmett handed her, her tote, completely unfazed by Johnna's glare. "You dropped this in the parking lot, Johanna."

"Purposefully mispronounce my name again, and I will 'et you over ze 'ead with my tote."

Bella was surprised when Emmett looked at Johnna's serious expression, and then grimaced while glancing at her tote. "Bye Johnna" He said as he dashed back to the Cullen table. The cafeteria erupted into hushed conversations, as Bella and Johnna took their usual seats. Johnna took out her thermos and took a sip.

"Why was Emmett scared of you hitting him? It probably wouldn't hurt him right?" Bella asked. Johnna smirked and took another sip before answering. "With enough force, be'ind eet and everyzeeng zat's en my tote, eet'll 'urt a lot. After all I 'ave zees," She shook her thermos. "A couple of text books, The Scarlet Pimpernel, and assorted girl zeengs."

They, mostly Bella, ate in silence for a while, before Bella spoke again. "I like the way your hair hangs about your body, when it's down. It's really pretty and…." Bella stopped talking and so did all other noise in the cafeteria. Mike Newton was heading for the 'new girls' table'. Johnna tilted her head, causing her hair to sprawl out on the table. Looking at Johnna, Bella knew why Mike was approaching them. The only other person who ever came near their table was Alice.

"Hey Johnna. Your hair looks really pretty. You should leave it down more often." Mike said confidently. "I should, should I?" Johnna said in soft yet sensual way. Mike looked stunned for a moment, before shaking himself out of it. He grinned in a way that was supposed to be sexy, but was anything but. "So I was wondering if you wanted to come to the spring dance with me this Saturday." Mike's face showed that he expected Johnna to accept. He could not have been more shocked at Johnna's reply.

"First of all, eets a Sadie 'awkins dance, meaning zat ze girls ask ze guys and not vice versa. Second," She leaned closer to Mike as if she was going to tell him a secret. "You see zose guys over zere?" She asked indicating Jasper and Emmett who were glaring daggers at Mike. Mike gulped nervously and nodded. "Well ef you want me to go with you, you'll 'ave to ask zem first and zen wait for me to ask you."

Mike nodded nervously and hurried out of the cafeteria. Johnna put her thermos in her tote and turned to face Bella. " 'Ave fun en Biology. 'opefully, Edward won't annoy or ignore you. You can always tell me, ef 'e does."

"Are all your male cousins scared of you?"

"Only zose, 'o need to be." Johnna smirked. "After all, the deadliest things come in small packages, no?" Johnna then left the cafeteria with a sly smile on her face.

Mike perched himself on Bella and Edward's lab table, like he had done every day since the car accident. "Jessica asked me to go to the Spring Dance with her." He said whilst looking at his shoes.

"That's great, Mike. You'll have fun together."

Mike looked up at her. "I told her, I'd think about it."

"Why?" Bella asked disappointedly.

"I thought you were going to ask me."

"I think you should tell her, yes Mike."

"Why, did you already ask someone?" Mike glared at Edward, who was listening to their conversation. Bella shook her head. "I'm not going to the dance. In fact I'm going to Seattle that day."

"Can't you go another day?" Mike practically whined.

"Sorry, but no. It would be rude to make Jess wait any longer."

"Right." Mike mumbled as he returned to his own lab table. Bella closed her eyes, pushing away the guilt. When she opened them again, she saw Edward looking at her curiously, there was also that familiar hint of frustration, made more prominent by his black eyes.

"What es eet? Eet's Edward esn't eet?" Johnna asked as she met Bella by her locker. Bella nodded, still frustrated. " Do you want to talk about eet?" Johnna asked.

"Well Jess asked Mike to the dance, but Mike thought I was going to ask him to the dance, which I'm not going to anyway. So I told to him to go with Jess. Then Edward was really cryptic about it being better if we weren't friends. I got mad and said that he could have saved his regret, by letting the stupid van crush me." Bella took a huge breath as they walked outside and then continued. "He stared at me in disbelief and asked if I thought he regretted saving me. I said I knew he did and then he says that I don't know anything." She ended her rant, with a little huff. Johnna was about to reply, when they crossed paths with Eric Yorkie.

"Hey Bella."

"Hey Eric."

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to dance with me."

"You do know, its girls choice right?" Bella asked. Eric looked down at his shoes and admitted sheepishly. "Yeah, right."

"Sorry to disappoint you but I'm going to Seattle that day."

"Maybe next time." Eric said as he walked away. They continued out into the parking lot. Edward chuckled as he passed and Johnna merely rolled her eyes. "Going back to your rant. Of course 'e got mad. 'E maybe an idiot sometimes, but 'e still 'as manners and resents ze fact zat you zeenk 'e regrets saving you. I'd be upset and a bit mad, ef someone did zat to me. Eet was wrong 'owever to say zat you don't know anything, as you're a really smart girl."

Bella straightened from leaning against her truck as Emmett waved at Johnna from his window. "I 'ave to go."

Bella dropped her keys while getting out of her car in the parking lot the next day. As she bent down to pick them up, a white hand flashed out and grabbed then. Bella straightened to see Edward Cullen casually leaning against her truck. "How did you do that?" Bella asked irritably.

He dropped Bella's keys into her hand. "Do what?"

"Appear out of thin air."

Edward smirked. "It's not my fault, you're exceptionally unobservant."

Bella noticed that his eyes were a deep golden honey color again. "I thought you were supposed to be pretending that I don't exist, not irritating me to death."

"I'm not pretending you don't exist."

"So you are trying to irritate me to death?"

All hints of humor left Edward's face, and were replaced by anger. "You are absolutely absurd, Bella." He said coldly.

"I'd 'et 'em ef I were you. 'E deserves to be slapped for making such a rude comment." Johnna said as she walked up behind Edward. "Can I 'et 'em for you?" She looked positively gleeful at the thought.

Edward rolled his eyes at her. "Go away Johnna."

"Fine, I know when I'm not wanted and just for zat, you can drive 'ome all by your lonely self." Johnna said and headed towards the building. Bella followed her, and Edward kept pace with her. "I wanted to ask you something, but you distracted me." He chuckled, obviously regaining his humor. "I heard you were going to Seattle on Saturday, you know the day of the spring dance and…"

"Are you trying to be funny?" Bella interrupted him, wheeling around to face him. Edward's eyes were wickedly amused. "May I continue?"

Bella bit her lip and Edward continued. "I was wondering if you wanted a ride."

"With who?"

"Myself of course."

"Why?" Bella was stunned at this turn of events.

"I was going to Seattle in the next few weeks to pick up something for Johnna and to be honest I don't think your truck can make it."

"My truck works just fine, thank you for your concern." Bella started to walk away again. 'Stupid shiny Volvo owner.' She thought. Edward again matched her pace. "But can your truck make it there on one tank of gas?"

"I don't know why that is any business of yours."

"The wasting of finite resources is everyone's business." He said smartly. "So will you go to Seattle with me?"

Bella just nodded and headed off to her class.

Bella walked to the cafeteria with Jessica, as Johnna hadn't been in their shared English class. She sat down between Jessica and Angela after only getting a lemonade bottle. She started worrying about where Johnna was, when Jessica interrupted her musing. "Edward Cullen is staring at you. He's also sitting alone with Johnna. That's new."

Bella turned around and sure enough on the opposite side of the room from they both usually sat, were Edward and Johnna sitting right next to each other. Johnna was sipping from her water bottle and had her nose stuck in a book. Edward though was staring at her. He grinned crookedly at her when she returned his stare and beckoned her to sit with them.

She stared at him in disbelief. "Does he mean you?" Jessica asked with insulting astonishment.

Bella nodded and walked over. Secretly she was glad that Johnna was still at school and that she didn't have to sit with Jessica and Lauren. Maybe she'd invite Angela to sit with her and Johnna tomorrow. She sat next to Johnna and facing Edward. "This is different."

Edward grinned. "I decided that as long as I'm going to hell anyway, I might as well do it thoroughly."

Johnna let out an unladylike snort as she looked up for her book and rolled her eyes at Edward. "You're an idiot, Edward. Ef you're going to talk to 'er, eet would be en you best enterest to say somezeeng she'll understand." She turned to Bella. "What 'e means es zat, 'es done ignoring you and you can try being friends."

Johnna shook her head as she returned to her book. Bella heard her muttering about someone; probably Edward, making things more complex then they needed to be.

Edward looked at her curiously and asked. "What are you thinking about?"

"Trying to figure out what you are."

Johnna's eyes peeked out over the top of her book, alight with curiosity. She cocked her head in an inquisitive way. " 'Aving any luck?" she asked.

"No." Bella replied.

"What are your theories?" Edward asked.

Thud.

Johnna's book fell out of her hands and onto the floor. Johnna sat there staring at her tiny and now empty hands. Edward swiftly picked up the book and put it in her tote.

"Are you alright, Johnna?" he asked gently. Bella looked concernedly at her when she didn't answer. Edward put his hand on her own and was surprised to feel them shaking. Johnna looked up at him then.

"Oui, je vais bien. J'ai besoin de voir mon oncle." (Yes, I'm fine. I need to see my uncle.) Johnna said rather briskly slipping into her native tongue. " 'Ave fun with Emmett." She told Edward as she practically ran out of the cafeteria. She signed herself out at the office and walked until she was out of view before running at vampire speed to Forks General Hospital.

"Excusez-moi."

The nurse at the information desk looked up from her paperwork to see Johnna. She remembered that Dr. Cullen had a French niece that he had recently adopted. She smiled patronizingly at Johnna. "How… can… I …help …you…dear?"

"You can talk like a normal human being and just because I'm French, doesn't mean I can't understand English." Johnna snapped. She absolutely hated when people did this to her, because of her accent. She hated it even more when people patronized her because she looked young. She was old enough to be their many great grandmothers.

The nurse was shocked at Johnna's rebuke. She quickly corrected herself in her attitude towards Johnna, hoping Dr. Cullen wouldn't hear of her offending his niece. That would undoubtedly ruin her chances with the man. "How can I help you?"

"Where's my uncle's office?"

"Third floor, first hallway on your left."

"Merci beaucoup, Madame."

Carlisle was very wary when Johnna entered his office. He heard the conversation downstairs, and knew how much Johnna despised people who patronized her. He watched as she calmly set down her tote, sat down on a clear spot on his desk and extended her hand. He was only slightly surprised to feel Johnna's hand shaking. He gently placed her hand on her lap, shaking his golden head. "It's that time again, I see." Carlisle grimaced as he pulled a small journal that was old and worn out of his bag. Johnna smiled softly upon seeing the familiar journal. He flipped through a handful of pages, before marking the date and looking back up at Johnna. "Did this start recently?"

"Eet started a couple minutes after lunch started."

They went through the same procedure as they had done the last time this had happened. After a while Carlisle got paged and had to leave. Johnna stayed in his office, till he was done with his cases. They then left the hospital together.

Emmett and Edward were gone, but everyone else was home. "You should probably lie down ma petit chérie." Carlisle whispered as he kissed Johnna's forehead. Johnna smiled her usual soft smile and slowly ascended the stairs with him. He stopped at the door to his study, while she continued on towards her room. She turned around as she reached the bottom of the second flight of stairs, "Same as last time, mon cher ami. Same decision."

"What's going on with Johnna?" Jasper asked Carlisle upon entering Carlisle's office. Carlisle was seated behind his desk with an old and worn journal. He nodded towards the leather arm chair in front of the desk. After Jasper had seated himself, Carlisle handed him the old journal. Jasper took it carefully and read the date at the top: September of 1746

"Is this the first time this happened?" He asked looking at Carlisle, who shook his head sadly. "This is takes place after it happened." Jasper looked back down at the journal.

Faeries, it appears, are not meant to be vampires. They die if any venom enters their bodies. Faeries live in communities, and this helps protect them from vampire attacks. Just one community of faeries is bigger than the Volturi coven itself, guards and all. Johnna was at a disadvantage because her mother had left her faery community to marry her human father. The only good thing was that Johnna had been human at the time. If she had been bitten after reaching her immortal age, she would have died. This is what Johnna says and she would know more about them then I would.

"But that doesn't explain why she's still part fairy." Jasper asked. Carlisle nodded understandingly and turned a few pages back.

December of 1736

Johnna's faery nature seems to be intact. Her faery gene is no longer dormant. It twould seem that the combination of her heightened faery senses and her heightened vampire senses have made her senses stronger than that of any vampire or faery. She most certainly is one of a kind. Her faery gift has made itself known as well as the ability to shift into what Johnna calls her 'faery form'. All that can be seen whilst she is in this 'faery form' is an extremely small, but brightly lit orb and when she's talking, all that is heard is the sound of tinkling bells. Her faery gift is the ability to change her appearance in an instant.

Between our two minds, we believe that Johnna's dormant faery gene made itself known, because it was trying to protect itself and Johnna by fighting the venom. According to Johnna's knowledge of faeries that twas passed down from her mother once the faery gene has made itself known, it is there to stay.

"That makes sense. Johnna's a scientist, like you." Jasper said as he turned back to the 1746 entry. Carlisle smiled. "She's an evil genius and mad scientist wrapped into one. That entry tells what happened the last time this happened."

September of 1746

This has been most interesting week. It twould seem that faeries are not meant to be vampires. The last five days have been most trying. Earlier this week, Johnna remarked on her body shaking, starting with her hands and continuing on through her body. She went to lie down and slept for two and a half days. For the rest of the third and all of the fourth she slipped in and out of consciousness. During the early hours on the morning of the fifth day, she regained consciousness and told me. "Should it seem that I am going to die, I give you permission to do all in your power to keep me alive."

There was something to her statement for a few hours later, her body began to weaken and it got harder and harder for her to remain conscious. Not wanting to lose my only friend and companion, I bit her on her neck, that being a better place for a bite, then just below the right earlobe. Furthermore, I had given my word of honor to her brother, Mathieu that I would keep his little sister safe and happy.

I pray that this shan't happen again. She is such a dear little thing.

Jasper looked up slightly shocked from reading Carlisle's notes. Carlisle had moved to the window and seemed to be listening intently to something. That's when Jasper noticed it; Johnna's soft, easy breathing from her room on the floor above them. They heard Johnna let out a contented sigh, before giggling softly.

"Is she dreaming?" Jasper asked shocked. Carlisle nodded, smiling at the ceiling.

"You're going to bite her again" Jasper said, looking down at the journal entry again. Carlisle nodded somberly and opened the door. "If I need to, I will."

Carlisle was pushed back into the room, as Rosalie rushed in followed closely by Esme, who had been trying to keep Rosalie from doing just that. "You're going to bite her? Why not let her die, so she can have her happy ending and be with Jacque."

Carlisle shocked his family once again, with his attitude towards Johnna. His voice was cold as he spoke, "I may have done wrong by you, Rosalie, and for that I am sorry, but I have given my word of honor to Johnna's long dead brother, Mathieu, to keep Johnna safe and happy. If Johnna wants to continue to live out this existence, then I will do all in power to make it so she can do so." Carlisle walked to the door, but turned around to face Rosalie. "Johnna, herself, has given me permission to bite and do whatever I can to save her." Carlisle left then and headed to Johnna's room. He seated himself by her head and starting talking to her in French.

The main emotion in Carlisle's study was pure and absolute shock. Jasper believed that he begun to understand Carlisle and Johnna's bond, but it was obviously deeper than he imagined. One thing that he knew for sure was that Carlisle deeply loved, and cared for that tiny, but exceptionally special little girl.