What if when Edward sucked James venom out he left a little bit in Bella's blood. What if the effects of the transformation were only delayed? Story told in Bella's POV. Set post Twilight, pre New Moon. I do NOT own Twilight.

A/N follow link to see Esme's car

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Symptom One: Broken Doorknobs

Flames pulsed through me, consuming me. The flames flooded my upper body like a tidal wave of agony. It was ripping through my arms and chest and lower part of my neck. I cried out as James's dark laughter echoed all around me. I could feel myself screaming Edward's name. The flames raged and raged until I felt a pair of strong arms around my shoulder.

My eyes shot open and I realized I was in my room. Edward's warm arms were wrapped tightly around me. Even in the pitch black room I could make out every single one of Edward's vivid details, despite the tears still leaking from my eyes. My vision has improved quite since I came to Forks. It was probably from interacting with vampires all the time.

"Bella, love. Are you okay?" he asked concerned. I realized I was shaking slightly. I had been doing this every night since the hunt with James. Every night the dreams get more intense. At first I would only dream of the pain on my hand. Then each night it would spread. Tonight it had consumed my entire left arm. Edward shook my shoulder slightly to get my attention. "Edward, I'm fine. Just hold me" I said wrapping my arms around him and tried to let sleep take me again. It took thirty minutes but I did fall asleep.

I woke up to the sound of Alice's voice on Edward's cell phone. 'You need to hunt Edward' her voice chimed in Edward's cell phone. He sighed and hung up. He turned to face me with apologetic eyes. Before he could speak I put my finger to his mouth. "Go," I exclaimed laughing, "you heard Alice, you need to hunt". He raised an eyebrow. "You heard that?" he questioned. I pointed to the door before he could say anything else and said "go hunting". He shrugged and jumped out my bedroom window. I sat up in bed and stretched. Once again I noticed my vision had improved over the night. I could now make out every little bit of dust as it swirled through the air. I stood up and made my way to the bathroom. Once again I made it to the bathroom without falling flat on my face.

I could make out a strangely sweet scent in the bathroom. It smelled like vanilla, cherry and honey. The scent was all through the bathroom. I stripped out of my pajamas and climbed into the shower. I noticed that my strawberry scented shampoo had an especially intense smell this morning. I finished in the shower and threw on my clothes. I looked in the mirror after I brushed my hair. My skin was a little paler then last night. Then again I found it was always paler after having one of the nightmares I have been having every night. I went into my room and retrieved my copy of Wuthering Heights. I wondered down to the living room and sat down on the sofa. I started to read the first twenty pages. After a while I realized that it was getting warm outside. Even though the sun wasn't out I wanted to go outside and read in the backyard.

I went took some pop-tarts out of the cupboard and put them in the toaster. While I waited for the pop-tarts to pop I retrieved a large fluffy blanket from the linen closet. I could hear the toaster popping from upstairs, which is odd because or toaster is freakishly quiet. I used to have trouble hearing it from the kitchen. As I made my way down the stairs I was greeted by the sweet smell of strawberries. I took the pop tarts and wrapped them in paper towel. I fathered my book, towel and food and headed to the door to go outside. I put my hand around the doorknob and slightly tightened my grip on the doorknob to twist it. But the doorknob however exploded in my hand. Wait!! The steel door knob exploded in my weak human hand. I gasped slightly and dropped everything I was holding. I collected the pieces of the doorknob in my hand and put them in the garbage. I paced back and forth trying to figure out how I crushed the door knob in my hand.

I had to fix it. My father could not know that I annihilated the doorknob. I went upstairs and got my wallet. I got into my trunk, denting the handle when I pulled it open. I drove to the local hardware store and started looking for metal doorknobs. I looked up and down the shelves trying to figure out what I needed. There are different sizes of doorknobs?? "Bella!" a female voice exclaimed. I twisted to my left to see Esme standing in front of me. I was hit be a strong scent of lavender and chocolate. "Hi, Esme. What are you doing here?" I said, praying she didn't notice the blood rushing to my face. She laughed and said "I think the more appropriate question is, what are you doing here?" I thought quickly. I had to say something. "I'm getting a new doorknob for the kitchen door. I got mad and...Hit the doorknob with a hammer until it fell off" I said, quickly lying through my teeth. She stared at me, obviously trying to figure out why I would attack a doorknob. She looked at me and said "do you even know what you are looking for?" I shook my head, "no, I don't even know what to do with it when I get home". She grabbed something off the shelf and shoved it in my hand.

"Come on, sweetie. I'll help you with this" she pulled me to the cashier. I pulled out my wallet and started to count out the change for the doorknob. I handed the clerk the doorknob but before I could hand her the money, Esme had already handed her, her credit card. "Esme, you don't have to do this" I said. She giggled and said, "Yes, I do". She led me to her pale blue corvette. I opened the door, as gently as I could, to make sure I didn't hurt her door handle. She sped off towards my house, driving at an insanely fast speed. However I wasn't scared like I usually was. Then again outside the window was no longer a green and brown blur. I could almost make out every single detail of every tree. I stared out the window trying to figure out why I was so strong all of a sudden.

"Bella," Esme said, softly shaking my shoulder. "Are you okay? You seem kind of distracted" she said, her voice filled with concern. I looked at her and said, "What do you mean distracted?" She giggled slightly and said, "we've been at you house for a whole minute and you haven't showed any signs that you were intending to move from the car. So what's on your mind?" Esme asked. "Or is it a certain son of mine?" she teased. I felt the blood rush to my face. Esme giggled and said, "come on, you can dream about Edward later. Take me to the doorknob that you brutally beat".

I gently opened the door and stepped out. I closed the door slowly and walked towards the house. Esme followed behind with her tool box already in her hand. I walked up the front stairs. I showed Esme to the scene of the crime. She laughed and said, "Where's the weapon?" I laughed and told her quickly that I put the hammer back in Charlie's tool box. She looked at the knob with wide eyes and said as she started to put the new knob in, "you sure gave this thing a beating. What got you so mad?" I quickly blurted the first thought that came to my mind. "I was furious that Charlie isn't more accepting of Edward".

Esme finished repairing the knob and stood up. She wrapped her arm around my shoulders and said, "You might want to do something about your temper. And just so you know, if you ever need to talk to me about anything I'm always ready to listen. You know you are already a daughter to me". I threw my arms around her, to give her a tight hug. She chuckled lightly and said "you seem to be stronger then when we first met you". I raised my eyebrow and said, "Really, you think so?" She left, leaving me to make supper for Charlie. I made Charlie's absolute favorite dish, spaghetti with a meat and veggie sauce.

Charlie came in and sniffed the air. "Smells good, Bells. Spaghetti?" he stated hungrily. He stepped forward, until he was looking over my shoulder at the food. The vanilla, cherry and honey scent coming off of him was mouth watering. I went back to the spaghetti. What's going on with me?