Vampire superpowers occasionally have their draw backs.

The vampire family was indeed having a hard time with the concept of one of them hurt, vulnerable and not bouncing back immediately. They had all of them been fairly invulnerable as long as they'd been vampires.

Carlisle wouldn't leave to hunt or eat the stupid cows because the cows were for Edward. He was the first vampire in history to overcome the instinct to eat people because he needed to be a carer. Edward and Carlisle had a bond forged by lonely years when it had just been them. Carlisle was having his own little I have to make this better breakdown.

It was frustrating to him how little his extensive medical background with humans was able to help when his vampire son needed medical help. He'd calculated Edward's current blood intake needs. The normal telltale of eye colour was not helpful and with his son's digestive system damaged he could only manage exceedingly small, very frequent meals. Carlisle was watching that data with obsessive focus but there really wasn't much else he could do at this point.

It probably didn't help that Edward was inclined toward fierce independence and seemed to think he was a burden even at the best of times. It certainly hadn't helped when Edward decided that going for a good long walk at half past midnight while he could barely see and still needed to eat every three to four hours was a good idea. No one had been too impressed with him when he wandered back home at seven thirty in the morning.

"Where have you been? We've been worried sick!" exclaimed Esme.

"When the moon set I couldn't see so I just waited till morning," explained Edward. "I'm fine."

"And you didn't even take your phone with you?" Carlisle protested.

"So I could phone and say, hey I'm in a tree somewhere, I dunno where, doing nothing?"

"Why were you climbing trees?" asked Esme nearly in tears she was so frustrated and worried.

"Well, because I couldn't see anything and I thought maybe I'd see lights from one of the towns or something but that didn't work anyway and well I was getting kind of peckish so I thought maybe staying in the tree would be a good idea in case someone happened along so I wouldn't be tempted and well I was thinking of how to climb down but it seemed sort of tricky and I didn't think jumping would be a good idea because I didn't know where the bluff was."

Alice was the only reason they hadn't gone searching the forest for him. Even she was glaring at him not that he noticed.

"Jasper dear," called Esme.

Edward of course knew his family was around him but it wasn't like he could see them as more than vague blobs. Disciplining a boy child who was over a hundred years old but still aggravatingly adolescent and likely acting out due to being genuinely traumatized was a tricky business.

"Yes Ma'am," answered Jasper.

"Do you think you could share with Edward just for a moment how much he worried us?" spoke Esme softly.

Jasper did as asked but it turned out channelling six vampires of really very worried intensity not the best idea. It might have slightly overwhelmed Edward's synapses and sent Edward into a panic attack. Esme and Carlisle spent the next hour on a ladder coaxing Edward down off of the ceiling. He'd jumped and clawed in like a terrified kitten. Esme was going to have to respackle the plaster.

Jasper was once again banging his head against the table. Alice was apologizing to him. Apparently he'd acted too fast for her to even process the resulting vision. "Alice my love, it's fine. I really aught to have known better."

"Dude, what were you even? What the heck Edward?" asked Emmett when they finally got him down.

"I dunno, but it was really very worrying," admitted Edward looking in what he thought was Jasper blob's general direction with a little awe. He was still shaking while clutching a mug of warmed cow's blood. He had no literally no idea what was so worrying or why he'd freaked out other than that it had been channeled through Jasper but part of the problem was his family didn't really have a concrete sensible idea as too what they were worried about either.

Emmett though he wasn't really feeling helpfully verbose then turned to Jasper, "Really man? Really?" He gestured to Edward then looked back to Jasper demanding satisfaction.

Jasper looking resigned, contrite and thoroughly embarrassed tried to explain. "Usually I'm only pushing my own emotions. After the fact of course I realized six vampire's worth of intense emotions was likely to overload anyone."

"Damn but you're freaking scary powerful sometimes Jasper," observed Emmett with a bit of a shiver.

Esme pulled Edward into a hug. This had not been at all what she'd had in mind.

Carlisle looked overwhelmed.

Jasper trudged upstairs coming back down with the largest blanket he could find wrapping it around Edward. Which confused the family a little but did seem to kind of help. Jasper spread his hands trying to explain. "It's a remnant of our humanity. Blankets help with ..." Jasper search for the words before settling on, "...comfort?" Jasper kind of shrugged a bit. His gift was currently locked down tight.

"I'm not sure why you couldn't just un-worry him," stuttered Rose confused.

'No way in hell was I messing with his emotions more after that,' thought Jasper locking his gift down a little tighter. Edward gave him a weak smile.

"Well when he freaked out it only made everyone more worried didn't it!" protested Jasper exasperated. "Heck I was worried! I'm going for a walk!" (Poor Jasper. He seems to need a lot of walks.)

Esme could see that her family was struggling; she'd only managed to get Carlisle to eat a few rabbits. The boys hadn't been wrestling or rough housing. The girls stuck close to the house neither shopping nor going for long drives, no spa days. They were both entirely too helpful around the house.

Alice was being insufferably bossy whenever any vision showed any kind of risk to the family. She'd run roughshod over everyone without considering anyone's feelings. Esme had talked to her about it and Alice was apologetic but the truth was when things went wrong Alice tended to feel responsible.

Jasper was exhausting himself daily trying to help with pain management. He was used to the concept that vampires could be killed but pain was usually a fleeting thing, there and gone. In any case Edward wasn't a soldier, or statistic in a conflict with regrettable or unavoidable losses. Edward was his younger brother and he was in pain all the time. Edward was in pain and trying desperately to hide it from him so that he would be the only one in pain; as if that would ever work.

Emmett was confused and scared. Vampires were supposed to be invulnerable. Back when he was in his newborn phase; he, and Edward had been play-wrestling, Rosalie had been cheering him on and Emmett had accidentally ripped Edward's head off. Emmett had been horrified in that momentary loss of control, he'd killed his new friend and self proclaimed brother? Rosalie had shrieked then laughed a little hysterically and Edward's disembodied head smirked while exclaiming. "Ow! Emmett bro! Put me back together please." Both in a bit of a panic, (Emmett more so than Rose) they'd stuffed Edward's head back on hiding in the woods for hours until it was reattached well enough that a turtleneck would hide the damage.

The three of them had sworn a pact to never, ever speak of it to Esme or Carlisle. Carlisle and Esme had eyed them suspiciously for a week. The newborn year had been difficult with newborn strength pulse, a vampire gift for supernatural strength. Emmett had broken a lot of things. Emmett never after wrestled using the same strength or abandon. Emmett hadn't known that heads could go back on. He hadn't meant to rip it off. He'd been wrestling with friends and family his whole life before and he'd never seriously hurt anyone. Edward had always gone out of his way to make sure Emmett knew it was no big deal. Edward had only said Ow back then. He'd admitted that yeah it hurt but…

Rosalie was waspishly looking for someone to blame. Edward seemed to think the entire accident was only his own fault and Rosalie was entirely done with him apologizing to her. Edward was not to blame. That much was clear to her. Maybe it was the designer of those stupid lab stools. Maybe it was the girl who'd been carrying the acid, except that she'd been crying nearly non-stop since this happened and had gone into counseling and Rosalie wasn't that cruel. Maybe it was the teacher. Except that he'd been apologetic and had been frantically revising safety rules and it looked like he hadn't had a good night's sleep since the accident and Edward had already given him a broken arm. Maybe it was that Isabella girl. Edward had been a wreck since he'd met her.

Edward heard every thought, insecurity and worry. It was all his fault.

Things slowly got back to normal but then there was another accident at school. Edward stopped the girl, Bella from being crushed by Tyler's truck. He'd used his vampiric speed and strength which he really shouldn't have done because it put the family at risk but maybe just maybe the thought of another accident had been too much for him.

Edward smirked down at Bella. Yes, she'd hit her head a little. To be honest he was pretty sure she was fine but suddenly he wasn't the victim anymore. It was someone else's turn.

"Don't move. You really should go to the hospital and get checked out."

"I don't, I'm fine."

"You hit your head. You could have a concussion."

"Really I'm…"

"Don't worry 911 has been called. Everything will be fine. Help is on its way."

"It only hurts a little."

"You can't be too careful with head injuries."

"I appreciate the concern but you needn't be bothered."

"It's the least I could do."

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"Jasper, why are you snickering?" asked Alice.

"Tell me you don't see it Alice," Jasper grinned.

Alice grinned just a little.

In the background Rosalie and Emmett were fussing about Edward doing dangerous things but Alice and Jasper were grinning at each other.

"It's cute," Alice whispered to Jasper.

"If he had a frog. He'd have dumped it down her top by now," whispered Jasper snickering. "That kid is so clueless. Let's follow after to the hospital and scold him. He's expecting it."

"He's not a kid. He's a hundred and four," protested Alice in a whisper.

Jasper amused shrugged then forced the grin off his face because it really wasn't appropriate when it looked like his brother had almost been squashed by a car.