Bella's childhood friend makes an unexpected visit. Phoenix is a strange woman with white hair, light blue eyes, and a beautifully odd face. She brings out something in Bella that the Cullen's have never seen before.
With the newborn army looming o...
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Carlisle and Phoenix were in his study two days later. Edward, Jasper and Bella were finishing last minute preparations for the battle in the clearing where Alice said it would take place. Rosalie and Emmett had Angel, playing together in the forest. Alice was...somewhere. Bella had refused to speak to Edward about anything other than the current events regarding the newborn army.
In Carlisle's study, he was beyond stressed. Looking over the paperwork and notes, the results were painfully clear.
"I'm assuming that it's not good?" Phoenix questioned.
Carlisle looked up, seriousness and stress clear on his beautiful face.
"The DNA samples you gave me from yourself and Angel, they wither away. You were right, the effects are very different," he said in a strained voice.
"What does that mean, then? Will it just incapacitate me? The samples were small, maybe a larger dose?"
"You can give me a larger sample if you wish, but the results will be the same," Carlisle set down the folder in frustration. "Our venom is poisonous to you. It will kill you, slowly and excruciatingly."
Phoenix pondered this. She also wondered why this stressed Carlisle as much as it did. She looked out the window, her brows furrowed. Would she still fight? Can she honestly say that she would hide out, like Edward and Bella?
No.
"I have to," Phoenix stated.
Carlisle jumped up from his chair and rounded his desk. He stopped right in front of her, where she was perched atop his desk.
"There is an eighty-nine percent chance that you are going to die if you fight. Can you not see that?" Carlisle demanded. His eyes pleaded with her.
He was very close, she realized. She wanted to soothe him, tell him that everything would be alright. But why? Why did he care?
"Why are you so worried about me?" She whispered.
Carlisle stared into her eyes. He so desperately wanted to tell her how important she was to him. He wanted to feel her hands in his, he wanted to know what her lips felt like.
"You're..." he started, unsure of what else to say.
"Remarkable?"
Carlisle's lips twitched upward, not taking taking his eyes off hers, he spoke quietly. Practically inaudible.
"Extremely."
And in that moment, Phoenix felt it. She felt remarkable. She felt like she could take on the world with one arm tied behind her back. All because this man said she was. Something inside her clicked. The outside world seemed to disappear and all that was left, was him.
There was a bird-like chirp, then it settled into a soft purring. Phoenix's irises flashed every color you could possibly think of, like the pages of a book being blown by the wind. She finally knew what this was. Carlisle held his breath, watching her eyes flash all those splendid colors. He hung on to the sounds she was making, hoping to God it's what he thought it was. His eyes flickered at the small movement she made with her hand; she was reaching out to touch him! He reveled at the fact that she was so close, barely a breath away. Her fingers closing the distance that-
