A/N: If you read my drabble "Edward in Maine" in my Twilight Moments collection, then you have a bit of a peek at a future chapter of this story… But be patient. :)

The story will be a short multi-chapter fic, and you may thank kaghanyou, award-winning banner artist, whose Flatline banner inspired me to write more.

This will be entirely in Edward's POV except for a brief note at the beginning or end of each chapter, which will be in the third person. You'll figure it out.

This is a work of derivative fiction. All things TWILIGHT are the intellectual property of Stephenie Meyer and/or her assignees. I write merely to entertain myself and others and receive no compensation.

Thank you for reading!

Flatline

[*]to be in a state of no progress or advancement

[*]to come to an end

- Merriam-Webster online dictionary.

The mirror showed what it always did: A reflection of a static face and form, aesthetically pleasing, but pale and lifeless to his eyes. Once, he had been alive – close to being alive, anyway. As close to it as anyone like him could aspire.

She had brought him to life. Made him see the world with new, light-catching facets. Held up his horrific parts and showed him beauty and magic and delight. She had had a heartbeat...she had changed him.

Then, she had changed. He had changed her.

May, 2006, Phoenix, Arizona

You could let the change happen, Carlisle remarked clinically as he stitched the multiple wounds in my Bella's head. We – I – could send more venom into her, get her out of here. We'd drive her home and you'd be with her all the while.

"What are my options?" I hissed, unwilling to allow her life to be forfeit for mine. The fire of James' far-too-easy death was burning behind us, my emotions were on overload, and my grief at Bella's near loss crippled my entire being. "I can't let this happen."

"Edward! It burns!" Bella cried out. Gasping. Her body was starting to convulse, by all that was holy. "Edward!"

Carlisle flickered a glance to me. I didn't see him do it with my eyes, only with my mind. My eyes were riveted on Bella. On the venomed crescent on her palm. On the vibrations of her body. On the torture in her voice.

You could try to suck the venom out, my father said, suturing the final wound in her head before he moved to her leg. But I can't. I have to stabilize her. It's your choice.

Alice's voice reached my mind. I've seen her, Edward. She'll be beautiful.

"She is beautiful," I growled, picking up Bella's arm. "I will keep you safe, Bella, I swear it." I could suck the venom out. I could. Rattlesnake toxins, other venom could be removed this way. I could do it.

I could. I promised her.

"Bella, my love. I will love you forever. I swear to you. Each and every day of forever."

Her eyelids slivered open, pinning me with her frightened gaze. "Edward...please..."

Inhaling deeply, keeping her face in my vision, I reopened the wound James had given her. Released her blood...

Oh... I nearly passed out from the excess of unadulterated pleasure. The luxurious flavor. The fire-quenching, rich beauty – the taste of her...! Every pleasure known to human and vampire in liquid crimson. My mind exploded as my body wished to do. It was an emotional high, a sexual high, almost a release, damn it.

Bella moaned feebly. I opened my eyes. Her convulsions had ceased, her cries for me had stopped. What was I doing! I was supposed to be saving her, not killing her!

"Bella!" I dropped her arm and decided. "Carlisle! Do it. Now. Do it. I can't lose her!"

Was it wrong to have licked the last drops of her blood from the corner of my lips? Wrong to savor the gift she had given me? Wrong to keep tasting her...?

Wrong to want her with me forever? Forever seventeen, like me?

My father didn't hesitate. With the speed of our kind, Carlisle ripped Bella's shoes from her feet and bit her ankles, following with bites at her other pulse points. I bit into her jugular. Me, myself. Testing my resolve for this, knowing that she was changing even as I did so. I could taste the barest essence of venom in her blood, which slightly altered its undeniable appeal for me. I could stop. I would stop.

I pumped my venom into her system. Mine. Mine. Bella was mine.

She was mine...and she was burning.

Carlisle and I checked, laving our venom over her new wounds, over her old wounds, over any scratch and scrape on her precious, pale body. Had I drained her too much? Was she going to be able to make this change or had I killed her?

"Bella!" I gasped, gathering her broken body against my own. "Please, love, don't leave me." Sobbing. Without tears, I was still doubled over with her in my arms, my dead heart yearning to beat for hers. "Please, Bella... Please... I love you."

Her heart – my key indicator into her thoughts, her feelings, her soul – started to pound. Fiercely, as if in answer to my desperate need of her.

I have to get her leg straight, or it'll heal all wrong, Edward. Careful. Let me just brace it, son. Hold her. Hold her...

He knew why the reminder was necessary. Because it was just then that the real burning began.

Bella screamed, her voice rising over the violent roar of the fire behind us, over the shouted and mental questions of my family as they wondered what was happening to our Bella.

Sorry, man, Jasper called to me. Is she going to be all right?

Edward, bro, Emmett's mental voice rang with regret but also his typical curiosity and a brotherly protectiveness. Will she make it?

"Edward! It burns! Edward, help me!"

Updating next week...stay tuned! :)