Edward was the first person to know something was wrong. He could hear Jacob's ever-running and terrified thoughts for miles or more accurately from miles away.
No one in the family could understand why Edward was sitting comfortably in the living room the one second and the next he was suddenly standing outside anxiously pacing up and down in the driveway.
Edward refused to say a word and Alice wasn't exactly getting any visions to help them understand his strange behavior, but Jasper could definitely feel the panic his brother was feeling.
Exactly five minutes later Jacob Black's Volkswagen Rabbit was pulling up in the Cullen driveway. Lizzie barely had the chance to open her door before her twin was pulling her to her feet and inspecting her inch for inch with a face full of worry.
"I'm fine," she tried to lie to him.
"You're far from fine, Elizabeth," Edward bluntly stated.
"You're exaggerating," Lizzie remarked.
"And you're understating."
From the front porch, Carlisle and the rest of the family stood watching the interaction. Dean wanted to run over and ask what happened to his sister but for some reason, Jasper was keeping an unusually calm but firm grip on his shoulder stopping Dean.
"Edward, Elizabeth, what is it?" Esme asked. "What's happened?"
"Momma, I'm okay-- "
Lizzie started to say but Edward immediately cut her off as Jacob finally made it to their side his hand naturally finding Lizzie's to provide her some comfort. Edward turned only his head back to the man he called his father.
"Carlisle, you need to check Elizabeth now."
No one knew why not even Carlisle himself but the fear he heard tremble in his son's voice was enough for him to blur away and reappear at Lizzie's free side.
"What happened? Elizabeth?"
Lizzie remembered the expression on Carlisle's face when she explained what happened during her night away from home. She felt how Jasper was trying to calm her as well as everyone else and Lizzie just knew if her mother and sisters were capable of it they'd be crying their eyes out. She sensed Emmett's presence closer than it had been earlier and how after a minute of the shock settling, Carlisle raced his youngest daughter into the house. The two were gone so fast that even Edward and Jacob never saw it coming as Lizzie disappeared from their sight.
"Esme," Alice grabbed their mother and stopped her from running after her husband and daughter. "Let Carlisle run his tests."
"What the hell just happened? What's wrong with Lizzie?" Dean demanded.
No one said anything.
✦✦✦
Carlise was doing every test he could think of. He had Lizzie up on the hospital bed in his home office and she was sure if her dad could he would've passed out already with the way he was panicking.
Normally in their family no matter what would happen Carlisle would keep calm and think about whatever it was rationally. Right now rationalizing things seemed overrated because his youngest daughter was experiencing something Carlisle had never come across in all of his years of being both a vampire and a doctor.
"Daddy," Lizzie tried to talk to him.
"You promised you would let me know if anything else happened, Elizabeth," Carlisle immediately interrupted her.
"I did," Lizzie said. "See? Here I am," she smiled at him trying to ease the tension.
Carlisle didn't seem amused. "I don't know what I'm dealing with," he honestly spoke. "I've done every test imaginable. We've tested your reflexes and your strengths. Still, the only way to hurt you would be to pierce your skin and not to pressure it. I don't-- "
"Dad, I feel fine, really," Lizzie promised. "I was just freaked out. I mean, I'm a vampire but suddenly I fell asleep."
"And had your period," Carlisle added. "Something impossible for you to have, Elizabeth. Even if you weren't a Cold One vampire and instead came from the Originals bloodline, a vampire getting their period is not possible."
Talking about periods with her dad was awkward enough but talking about having her periods while being a vampire, a declared dead creature was on another level of uncomfortable.
"Perhaps I could take a blood sample... see if that leads us anywhere," Carlisle suggested after a minute.
"Dad, a blood sample?" Lizzie's face contorted with a frown.
And believe him, Carlisle knew how completely ridiculous and out of it he sounded. He was asking a vampire with skin as hard as marble for a blood sample but he didn't know what else to do at this point.
"I know," Carlisle murmured.
Lizzie didn't push her dad or even tease him about the words coming out of his mouth. She felt terrible enough knowing how much stress she was putting her family through right now. But to be fair it wasn't her intention, she herself had no clue what was going on with her. This was literally the last thing that they needed with the whole newborn army around the corner.
Without words, Lizzie lifted the sleeve of her shirt up for Carlisle to take her blood. She guessed it wasn't going to be with a needle and nodded in consent to her dad whose eyes were filled with apologies he didn't know how to say out loud.
Carlisle took in a breath he didn't have to as he lowered his head and bit down into his youngest daughter's wrist.
✦✦✦
The Cullen living room was a wreck. Jasper was in between Rosalie and Esme trying his best to soothe both girls while Alice tried her best to calm Dean and Edward down. Emmett, on the other hand, didn't want anyone consoling him as he tensely paced the space between the tv and coffee table.
Jacob wasn't in the living room and was instead hovering behind the home office door his imprint was locked up in. He was so stressed but he refused the link of the pack. He couldn't take their questions right now even if they were worried stupid about why Jake was so highly strung all of a sudden.
Minutes later, Lizzie slipped out of the room and knocked right into Jacob. He caught her and engulfed her in a hug that she wasn't expecting, but nevertheless, she hugged him back.
"Calm down. I'm fine."
Everyone's eyes were on Lizzie when she walked back into the living room followed by Jake who was trailing closely behind her. Immediately, Esme sped from the couch and to her daughter's side. She cupped Lizzie's cheeks in her hands, but all she got was her daughter smiling reassuringly back at her.
"Seriously, you guys. I am fine," Lizzie sounded out. "Dad's doing a blood test now but other than that I feel perfectly-- "
"Don't say fine," Emmett groaned.
He practically pushed their mother out of the way and grabbed Lizzie in a gentle hug, something Emmett was not known for under any circumstances.
Jacob watched as one after the other everyone Cullen in the living room had a turn with his imprint. Under normal conditions, he would be thinking of how a vampire family was better than most human families but right now he was on edge and every presence he saw go near his imprint only managed to tense him up more and more.
Jasper sensed this immediately and without much thought sent calming waves toward Jacob who gratefully sighed though his brain didn't quite catch up to the reason why.
Dean pulled Lizzie down and onto the couch with his head resting on her right shoulder and both his arms hugging around her one arm. She thought it was cute and sweet but completely unnecessary. Jacob somehow didn't object to Dean's affection, he didn't even tense and instead took the left of Lizzie's side with his hand holding her free one.
Alice and Rosalie sat down on either side of Lizzie's legs on the carpet. Esme wasn't far away either and neither was Emmett or Jasper. Edward however was probably the furthest from his sister and yet closer than anyone else ever could have been. He silently listened to her thoughts and the two communicated quietly with only their eyes and slight expression changes.
Around two hours later, Carlisle finally exited his office with the results of Lizzie's blood test. If he wasn't a vampire and he wasn't expecting it the number of eyes that turned and bore through him definitely would have made the doctor jump and feel highly uncomfortable.
Instead, he calmly stayed planted on the spot and spoke in a leveled voice. "The results came back just as before. Everything about you appears normal, kitty."
"I told you not to worry," Lizzie said to her dad and smiled.
She pried her arm out of Dean's grip, yanked her hand from Jake's, and literally jumped over her two sisters that were sitting on the ground to get to Carlisle. He didn't say anything and pulled her head to his shoulder as he set a kiss down on her hair. He was worried sick but logic assured him that his daughter was nowhere near close to death, he had to trust his professional instincts if only to not completely go crazy with worry.
Lizzie brought her arms around her dad's middle to hug him back just as the front door to the Cullen home was swung open and the cold night air filtered in. Damon was running to a stop in the middle of the living room with surprisingly Sam Uley right behind him and unsurprisingly Leah behind both of them.
Sam's eyes scoured the room and when he saw Lizzie wrapped up in Carlise's embrace perfectly okay he set his sights immediately on Jacob.
"Jacob, what's going on? What happened?"
Jake climbed to his feet and over Rosalie, past Emmett, and took Sam by the shoulder. He guided the alpha out of the house and into the driveway so he could explain everything that had happened without Lizzie feeling even more pressured because of the pack.
"You... you!" Damon pointed a finger at Lizzie. "I could feel something weird in our bond. Why didn't anybody call me?" he reprimanded, but then softened his tone when he looked away from the Cullens and to Lizzie. "Are you okay? What happened?"
"I'm fine, Damon," Lizzie shook her head.
And then Carlisle proceeded to fill the vampire and Leah in on what exactly had happened. By the time he was done Jacob and Sam were reentering the house and no one knew exactly what to say to Lizzie. To be honest, she wasn't quite sure how to feel either.
Leah was stressing insanely, maybe not nearly as much as Jacob but Lizzie was her best friend. The thought of something happening to her almost had the she-wolf shaking with the will to change right there in the middle of the Cullen's living room. Sam was more concerned than he let on, Lizzie was his savior after all, but he kept calm and quiet for the time being.
Damon, however, wasn't that thoughtful. He didn't care if it irritated Lizzie with all the worry she was already stirring up or if she was scared to death herself, no, he was on full ancestor protective mode.
"We need to call Klaus," he decided.
"What?" Lizzie's eyes widened and she practically jumped at Damon.
"He helped sire you," Damon stated. "Even if he can't help with whatever's going on with you he can make you listen to him."
"Listen to what?" Lizzie stared at Damon.
"Damon may have a point," Carlise agreed.
"What point? Dad, you've got to be kidding me! Nothing's wrong. I'm not dying-- "
"No, you're just bleeding and sleeping, and in case you've forgotten you're not as invincible as you were before," Damon remarked unhelpfully.
"Leave Nik out of this alright," Lizzie said.
"Only if you agree to listen to us, baby Cullen," Damon negotiated. "Which means-- "
"You can't join the fight," Jacob declared out of nowhere.
"Yeah, what your boyfriend said," Damon agreed.
Lizzie's eyes darted from Jacob to Damon and back again. "What are you two talking about right now?" she stared at them incredulously. "I have to join the fight. Besides Jasper, I'm the family's best fighter for this."
While Damon continued to fight Lizzie and threaten her with a call to a certain hybrid, Edward and Jasper shared a look. The two brothers had the unfortunate burden of hearing and feeling what everyone else was going through right now. Finally, with only eye contact, it seemed like Edward and Jasper had formed a plan to keep both their sister placated as well as safe, at least safer than she would have been.
Dean wanted to intervene and say something to Lizzie, but somehow he didn't think she'd listen to him.
"Lizzie," Jasper said and stood up from the couch.
"You too?" she asked exasperated.
"Listen to us first, okay?" Edward begged his sister. If anyone was going to try out their luck he guessed it had to be him.
Lizzie reluctantly but obediently listened to her brother and waited for him to speak. He passed Jasper and stood more or less in front of Jacob as his topaz eyes connected with those of his sister's.
"You can stay with Bella during the fight. We'll be in the mountains but it doesn't guarantee her safety, you can help me protect her. You won't be in direct danger hopefully and it'll still give you something important to do." He took another step toward Lizzie. "Zee, you have to be careful right now, not even Carlise knows what's going on with you."
Lizzie could see the fear in Edward's eyes, he was so scared to lose her. The whole family was scared to lose her. Rosalie and Esme were barely holding themselves back from crying out loud and hugging Lizzie to a death she couldn't have. Alice was stressing herself out more than ever because no matter how hard she tried she couldn't see a single vision of her sister. Emmett was no better, his happy and joking personality was lost as his fists clenched at his sides. And Dean was a nervous wreck though he looked almost as calm as Sam, he wasn't. He'd lost his big sister once and once was more than enough, he never planned to lose her again.
Everyone around Lizzie was on edge and practically bated breath of fear of what these sudden changes meant for her.
The worst of all must have been Carlisle and Jacob though, Lizzie's dad and wolf were so completely different except for this moment right now when both of them panicked the exact same way.
After a minute of looking over her worried family, Lizzie gave up and her shoulders slumped as her stubbornness all but disappeared in a matter of seconds.
"Okay," she murmured out. "I'll stay with Bella."