Florence

"How are you with needles?" Will says as we approach the Cullen's home.

"Never thought about it really." I say. We let ourselves in; Edward had already informed us the front door was open.

"Yeah, me neither." I look at Will. I was half expecting a drug-related joke from him but it seems he's too focussed on the day ahead.

We go upstairs to find Emmett and Jasper sat on the sofas with the TV on, Alice was sat on the kitchen counter. Edward and Carlisle came from one of the many other rooms to greet us.

"Florence, Will." Edward said, smiling as he saw us.

"You know, my friends call me Flo, Edward." I say to him. "You can call me that, if you want." Edward smiles again.

"So how's this gonna work?" Will says as he joins Jasper and Emmett on the sofa.

Carlisle steps forward with an iPad in his hand. "So my plan is to run a blood test, hopefully with the human blood in your system it should tell us something at least. I'll also run some simple cognitive and physical tests too, just to get an idea of what you both can do mortally and immortally."

"Sounds fun." Will says as he leans back on the sofa.

"I'll go first, you seem quite at home." I smirk at Will as he grabs one of the cushions and hugs it in his arms.

"Follow me then Florence." Carlisle says.

I walk into Carlisle's office behind him, the room screamed doctor's office. He shuts the door and switches a small lamp on in the corner of the room. I sit down on one of the chairs behind his desk. I watch as he puts some medical gloves on and preps the needle.

"First I'm going to do the blood test, I'll look at those when we're finished, sound good?" I smile and nod. "This shouldn't hurt, but it might be uncomfortable." Carlisle says as he gently rolls up my sleeve. He wraps the tourniquet around my upper arm and waits a few moments before my veins pop up. I watch him as he prepped the needle and brings it over to me. As he inserts it I gasp as I feel it pierce my skin. "Sorry." He says.

"No it's okay." I reply. After a moment he takes the needle out and labels the sample. "So it doesn't bother you?" I ask.

Carlisle puts the sample down and sits opposite me. "Does what not bother me?"

"The blood, I assumed you couldn't be around blood because… well..."

Carlisle smiles and chuckles. "I'm nearly 400 years old Florence, I've learnt to curb my thirst for it."

"So what do you drink… or eat, instead?"

"We hunt animals, we drink their blood. It does the job for us." Carlisle leans forward in his seat. "Have you had any cravings for blood at all?"

I shake my head. "Nope, never."

Carlisle nods and smiles again. He picks up his iPad and starts tapping on the screen. "And your gift, can you explain it to me? When did you find out about it?"

I sigh, "Huh… well I remember there being this time when Will and I were young, it was late at night and I remember waking up in the middle of the night - I couldn't sleep - and I decided to go downstairs and get a drink. I remember getting halfway down the stairs and feeling this sudden overwhelming feeling of… sadness, but it was dark." I said, recalling the dark stairs of Charlie's house.

"Dark?" Carlisle asked.

"Yeah, I didn't like it. I heard the TV on in the living room and when I listened I could hear Charlie… he was crying and the feeling was coming from him. He used to drink quite a lot when he was feeling sad about our Mom but… I'd never felt this from him before, it was the first time I'd felt anyone's feelings before. He was depressed for most of our childhood to be honest but hid it from us."

"I'm sorry to hear that Florence." Carlisle says apologetically.

"It's fine, he doesn't know anything about my gift and never will." I say. Carlisle taps away at his iPad as I look around his office again. It was very… clean and bright. Clean, bright and tidy.

Carlisle takes a seat in front of me, he places the iPad on his knee. "I have a few questions for you and I just want you to answer in as much detail as you can, okay?" I nod. "Have you noticed any heightened senses or awareness?"

"I guess my hearing is better than it should be, I guess? I remember down at the Res I could hear the wolves coming for miles." I smile at this memory. It would often be Jacob who would come running back after patrolling to surprise us.

"Have you noticed a change in your complexion or skin tone recently?"

I shake my head. "Nope, I had spots when I was younger though." Carlisle and I both laughed.

"These next few might feel a bit uncomfortable." He began. I felt a slight bit of unease from him which surprised me with him being a doctor. "Do you have a menstrual cycle, if so is it regular?" I could see why he felt uncomfortable, asking his Granddaughter that cannot have been fun.

"Yeah but they're not regular."

"Are you sexually active?"

Oh Jesus. "Uh…" I look at him and he chuckles. I look down as I feel my cheeks burn red. "Sorry…"

"Don't apologise, I'm just asking the general questions a regular doctor would ask a patient so I can get a basic idea of how your body works and your general health. You don't have to answer if you don't want to though, please don't feel pressured."

"No uh… it's fine, the more you know I guess… Well I have a boyfriend, we've been together since the start of College so… around 4 months. We've… we have… yeah."

We both chuckle. "That's fine, that's all I need. Are you on birth control?"

"No, we use condoms. I figured because I'm half vampire and don't have regular periods then I couldn't have children."

Carlisle quickly typed on the screen, his fingers moving fast. "Is that something you'd like in the future?"

I shrugged. "I think so. I love Kai, it's not been long but I can see us having a future together but…" I look down.

"What's on your mind?" Carlisle asks, putting the iPad to the side. I looked at him, he wasn't in doctor mode anymore, he was in Grandfather mode.

"I know I'm not technically lying to him because I don't even know anything about myself but I wish I could tell him… and now we're having these tests done to figure out who we are, I'm now thinking about how I can tell him." I look at Carlisle as he nods. "I can tell him, right?"

"My advice would be to hold off on that for now, you remember we mentioned the Volturi? Alice is watching their decisions as we speak, currently they're not aware of you or Will which is good but if they are to catch wind of you both it could put your boyfriend at risk."

I look down, my stomach started to ache. I'd never thought about Kai being in any danger before, my only concerns were that he'd think I was a freak, didn't believe me or if he did believe me, we couldn't do the things we wanted to do because my body won't allow it. I never imagined he'd be in any danger.

"Hey," Carlisle put his hand on my arm. I looked up, I felt a sense of comfort from him. Considering he only looked about 30, he actually felt Grandfatherly. "The likelihood of anything happening is very low. The Volturi were never aware of your mother so chances are you're both safe." His smile causes me to smile too.

"Thanks Carlisle."

After Carlisle runs a few more medical tests, he sends me out and asks for Will. As Will walks into the office I spot Edward stood on their balcony outside, the others seem distracted in their usual day to day activities so I decide to join him outside.

"Mind if I join you?" I ask as I lean against the balcony.

Edward looks at me and smiles. "Be my guest."

The view from their home was beautiful. It made me wonder what their home back in Forks was like and what Mom thought of it. I often wondered what her reaction to Edward being a vampire was and how she found out, but I knew finding that out would come in time.

"Carlisle went easy on you, then?" Edward asked. I looked up and saw him looking at me.

"You could say that, yeah." I smile.

"What are you hoping to find out?" He asks.

"I don't know." I sigh. "I just hope whatever it is doesn't affect my future."

"With your boyfriend?" I look at him in confusion. "I could hear you talking with Carlisle."

"Ah right… yeah."

"What's he like?" He asks.

I smile, "Amazing. We've only been together for 4 months but…"

"You love him." I look at Edward - it wasn't a question, he was stating a fact and it was true. I nod gently. "I can't wait to meet him."

"You gonna give him the talk?" I joke.

"As long as he doesn't hurt my little girl."

My heart skipped. I looked at him and he looked down. "Sorry, that was… sorry." He frowns and starts to make his way inside.

"No it's… don't worry." I say. He turns around and smiles. He makes his way back to the ledge and leans in the same position. We stand in silence for a few moments, the sound of birds in the forest opposite the house filling the silence. I look up at him momentarily as Mom came to mind again. "How did she react to you telling her you were a vampire?"

Edward chuckled, "I didn't; she guessed."

"Wow… how did she guess?" I ask.

He smiles, looking down. "I guess I acted… strange towards her when she first started at school. I couldn't stay away from her and things just kept happening that became harder and harder to explain away, she was sharp your Mom." I smile as he says this. Charlie had always said that Mom was clumsy yet smart, it was nice to hear this coming from Edward too. "I think the thing that made her realise something was different was when I saved her from being crushed by a car."

I gasp and look at him in disbelief, he looks at me and laughs. "Seriously? What happened?"

"She had her music on, it was icy, one of her friends turned into the school parking lot too quickly. I knew that if she was crushed I wouldn't be able to resist her blood and… well, I realised I quite liked her at this point so I just jumped in front of her and stopped the van."

My eyes widen at the image that's formed in my mind. "Jesus."

"And then about a week or so later I saw her in school… she had this look on her face, I'll never forget the look… and I knew she'd worked it out." I watched as his expression turned warm, a smile creeping onto his face as he was clearly reliving their intimate moment. I could feel the happiness. "We ended up wandering away from school for hours, I explained everything and answered all her questions."

"She wasn't scared?"

He shook his head. "Not at all, far from it, I tried to dissuade her from wanting to get to know me but she was adament."

"But you said you liked her?" I ask.

"I did, but like I said to you before, I was a danger to her. When I left her after her birthday… it was always in the back of mind to do it, but I couldn't… and then Jasper nearly killed her and I realised I had to."

I watched as he looked down, his expression pained. That's when I felt it again, the guilt and pain. He really loved her and he was doomed to live with that pain forever.

"It's not your fault she died." I say. "You didn't know."

He glances at me, "I appreciate it Florence."

The next few days drag immensely. Carlisle had informed Will and I that he would take the next few days to look at our blood work and would contact us when he had information for us. It was all I could think about, I couldn't take my mind off it even in my lectures. I had so many thoughts running through my head about what Carlisle could potentially tell us in the following few days and all were the worst case scenario.

What if he learns that Will and I could be at risk of turning someone by accident? I guess I could still tell Kai and he could decide what he wanted to do. He might decide he wants to be a vampire too… which wouldn't be a bad thing, at least we could be together forever. But then he has a family too, he would have to leave them, he would never be able to see them again.

Regardless of the outcome, I knew I had to tell Kai something. He was going to find out eventually and if he was at any sort of risk from the Volturi I'd at least want him to know.

That evening, after lectures had finished, was when Will and I received the text from Edward to say Carlisle was ready to see us.

We approached the home in silence, I could feel nerves radiating from Will which I was surprised at. Edward greeted us at the front door like he did the first time we visited. I couldn't feel anything from him, which probably meant Carlisle hadn't told him anything. We reached the living room again to find just Carlisle and Alice.

"Where are the others?" I ask. Will and I sit down on the sofa opposite Alice and Carlisle, Edward joining us also.

"Hunting," Edward says. "Plus Carlisle thought some privacy would be nice."

"That sounds ominous." Will mutters.

"I've taken a look at your blood work, along with the other examinations and tests we did and along with the answers you both gave me, it gave me a good idea about your genetics." Carlisle stated, his iPad in his hands. "It seems that your genetics from both your mother and father have, in no better terms, been split evenly."

"What does that mean?" Will asks, leaning forward.

"Currently, neither one of you is more human or more immortal than the other, it's like your DNA has an even split of both of your parent's traits." Carlisle scrolls down on his iPad. "For example, although Florence has her gift, Will, you have the strength of an immortal."

"So… that's good, right?" Will asks.

"What about aging?" I ask. Carlisle looks at Edward for a moment, who looks down and looks at Will.

"Despite your genes being equally split, Will, it seems that your CBC showed lesser numbers of all the major components than an average human, as well as indications of venom in your system."

"What does that mean?" Will asked. Carlisle looked at Edward again for a moment, Edward's face looked concerned. "Jesus stop with the mind games!"

"It could mean that your ageing will eventually halt and… the venom in your system could continue to increase which could lead to you becoming a full vampire."

"Could?" Will asks.

"It's hard to say at this point, but the tests indicated that this is the likely scenario."

Will and I look at each other. "But… what about Flo? We're twins… surely we're basically the same?"

"Not necessarily, there's medical cases all over the world where one twin will develop a chronic condition and their sibling will remain fully healthy. You're still individuals in your own bodies."

We stayed quiet for a moment; I couldn't feel anything clear from Will. He sat with his head in his hands silently. He looked up, glancing at me before directing his gaze at Carlisle. "So… long term… this means… I'll stop aging, live forever, that sort of shit and… Flo?"

"Florence hasn't shown any indicators of this, it's likely Florence will age as a human would."

"So… I'll stay the same and… she'll grow old and…" Will looked at me, he didn't want to mention anything about me dying but we all knew what he wanted to say. Carlisle nodded. "No that's not right, we're twins… we're supposed to stay the same, so one day we just won't be?"

"It's hard to say at this point, you could keep ageing for years."

Will stood up, his hands on the back of his head. I looked down at the floor to try and process what Carlisle had just told us. I tried to phase out everything going on around me as I'd taught myself to do. I looked up to see Edward trying his best to comfort Will, however he wasn't having it. I could now feel the mix of frustration and anger coming from Will, along with the concern coming from Edward. I stood up quickly, my heart pounding. Will shoved Edward away and began pacing, before turning to Carlisle again. "What if someone bit Florence?"

"Excuse me?" I exclaim in shock.

"Yeah… if someone turned Florence, she'd stop ageing too, I'm right aren't I?"

Carlisle looked at Edward and I. "In theory, yes."

A smile crept onto Will's face, he walks over to me and took my hand. "Perfect, okay… so someone just needs to bite you Flo and then we can age together." I snatch my hand out of Will's and back away. "Flo?"

"Will, I need to process this." I say quietly.

"What's to process? We're in this together Flo, we have been since we were babies! We always said we'd be there for each other!" I put my hand on my forehead, both Will's stress and mine were mixing and it made me feel nauseous. I look and see that Edward, Carlisle and Alice were stood up now, Carlisle had moved himself near me and Edward to Will. "Florence!" Will shouts.

"This is my life, Will!" I shout back. "It's my fucking life, you do not get to decide what I do with it, you don't get to take it away from me!"

Will pulls away from Edward, his hands now fists. Alice steps forward. "It's not that simple anyway, Will." He doesn't make eye contact. "I've been watching the Volturi closely, although they aren't aware of you both yet, it only takes one other immortal to report you to them. We can't just turn her."

"And it's my fucking decision." I growl.