AN: Just a little note :) i hope you enjoy the story as much as i enjoy writing it. Please review if you have the time. This idea has been playing in my head for a while now so i thought i'd let the rest of fanfic know about it. I'll try for another update tomorrow so keep reading :) Theres a list of the ages below because i know that little things like that can get annoying :) enjoy :) xx

Disclaimer: The amazingly talented stephenie meyer owns all the twilighty goodness in this story, i've just added them to my mumble jumble to make my story better :)

Cullen Family:

Carlisle- 38

Esme- 36

Edward- Beginning – 7

When first met Cullens- 1

Emmet- Beginning- 13

When first met Cullens- 7

Rosalie- Beginning- 12

When first met Cullens- 8

Other Characters:

Alice Brandon- Beginning- 10

Ella Brandon- Beginning 10

Will Brandon- Beginning- 15

Mika Brandon- 38

Kylie Brandon- 37

Chapter 1

(Alice's POV)

"Mommy, do we have to go to sleep? I don't think Santa will be happy if I don't wait up to say thank you. So maybe I should just wait downstairs for him?" I tried to sit up but my mom just gave a chuckle and turned the light off, shutting the bedroom door on her way out.

"Ali, everyone knows that Santa isn't real" Ella, my twin, called up from the bottom bunk.

"Yes he is! Mommy and daddy got that video of him last year so that just proves you're wrong!" I poked my tongue out even though the ceiling was the only one who could see me do it.

"Jeez Ali, you're such a child" she laughed.

"We're the same age Ell so suck on that"

"Actually I was born a minute before you so technically I'm older than you" Ell's voice was full of boasting.

"Yeah well-"

"Girls, I hope you're not talking in there. Santa is very shy and if he hears any noise then he won't come" our fathers voice came from the other side of the door.

"Yes daddy" we chorused and after he'd turned off the landing light, the house went silent.

Moments later and I felt myself being shaken awake by a person with very big hands. I opened my eyes and saw a man in an oxygen mask pulling me out of my bed. Another mask guy had a frightened Ella in his arms and outside on the hall I could see bright orange lights flickering. I expected the man carrying me to head out of the door but instead he went towards the window and climbed down a ladder reaching the bottom in seconds. The guy carrying Ella came out soon after.

Once down on the ground the masked man put me down and I stood up looking around for a recognisable face. Before I could even take a step forwards Will, my older brother, had hurtled into me giving me the biggest hug of his life.

"Al, you're okay" his voice was filled with relief. Ella came stumbling out of the back of an ambulance with a motherly looking nurse watching cautiously behind her. She also received a rather large hug from Will.

"Where's mommy and daddy?" a thought suddenly came into my head.

"They- they didn't get out in time Al" Will turned to me with tears running down his face.

As the realization that I would never see my parents again hit me I broke down on the pavement clutching at my sister while out brother stood in shock staring up at the furnace that was once our home.

We were taken to a temporary home for the rest of the night and told that when we woke up that morning we were to go to a private room to be told how our lives were going from there.

We got up deciding to skip breakfast; we didn't want to see peoples staring eyes filled with pity.

A social worker called Jenny came to find us in the TV room just before ten.

"William Brandon, Ella Brandon and Alice Brandon?" she asked the otherwise empty room.

"Yeah that's us" Will pointed out obviously.

"Follow me" and she bustled out of the room carrying a brown leather briefcase.

She took us into an office painted a worn out looking banana yellow. A middle-aged looking woman sat at the desk, giving us pitiful smiles and pointing at three chairs in front of her.

"Take a seat. My name is Elizabeth Jones. You can call me Lizzy. I'm the head care worker at Birchwood House" she smiled nervously, looking at us expectantly, and then carried on, "In light of recent events, we here at Birchwood thought it best to keep you together." At that Will snorted and shook his head. Just-call-me Lizzy raised an eyebrow at him, "Yes William?"

"No no, you carry on, sorry for the disturbance Ma'am" Will looked at her angelically.

"As I was saying, we think it best if you are together. However, our care system here in Seattle does restrict us, and with a case like yours it is more suitable for you to be placed with foster families rather than kept in a home. This therefore means that we have no choice but to split you up" Lizzy clearly had never been taught how to 'break it to them gently'.

"So your saying that I'm gonna be split up from my sister, when we've only just lost our parents?" Will exclaimed loudly.

"I'm sorry William, but we don't have a choice. That's just how the system goes I'm afraid." Lizzy told him firmly.

"I'm sorry, but what kind of fucked up system is that?" I could always tell when Will was angry, he didn't never ever swore, except when he was angry.

"I will not tolerate that kind of behaviour William. I understand however that this has been a very traumatic experience-"

"Traumatic experience? We've just lost our parents, of course it's traumatic!"

"Will, calm down" I put my hand on his back soothingly.

"Al, can't you hear what she's saying? They want to split us up! You and Ell as well! No more twin time, no more wrestling with me, no more playing in the garden or watching soppy movies on the widescreen!" Will looked at me his eyes ablaze with fury.

"Will! We don't have a widescreen anymore. We don't have a garden anymore. We're homeless Will, homeless orphans. There's nothing we can do know. Nothing!" I screamed at him then ran out of the room locking myself in the first place I could find; the downstairs bathroom. I heard a set of feet running down the hall then a soft rap on the door.

"Al it's me" Ell whispered through the cheap wood, "Can I come in?" I opened the door slowly and saw tears running down my sister's face, my older brother standing behind her.

"Sorry Al, I just can't believe they've gone" he mumbled.

"It's okay, I know exactly how you feel" I nodded then hugged him hard, "So time to go face the music I guess" we turned and walked back to Lizzy's office.

The next day we were all off to our new foster homes. Will was heading to a Mr and Mrs Baxter in Tacoma, Ella was going to live with Miss Bride in Kingsgate and my fate was yet unknown. I'd been stuck at Birchwood for ten days now, on my own.

"Alice, how are you feeling today?" I was back with Lizzy again. I didn't even bother replying to her question, I just stared at her. How the fuck do you think I feel bitch?

"Well, you'll be pleased to know that we seem to have finally found you a placement" she smiled at me, obviously the witch was pleased to get me off her hands, "Do you want to know any more about the family or...?" she had me there. I'd have to talk to her to find out who these people were at least.

"Who are they?" I blurted out.

"They're called Dr and Mrs Cullen. They've had quite a few years experience with foster children so you should be fine" the fake smile once again.

"Am I gonna be the only kid there?"

"No, they have three other children. One of them, the older boy, Emmet I think his name is, well he was here with us for a few days before being placed with them and that was gosh nearly six years ago now" I guess there's hope then. These people must be nice if the kid had stayed with them that long, "Do you have any more questions?"

"How long will I be with them for?" I knew know that I'd be in the state's care for the rest of my childhood but how long would I be with these Cullens for? If it wasn't going to be for too long then I didn't need to get settled too much.

"Well, that really depends on you my dear" Lizzy smiled just as someone knocked on the door, "Come in" she called.

The door opened and a couple, much younger than I had expected, walked in.

"Carlisle, Esme!" Lizzy walked over and they exchanged greetings. I think she almost forgot I was there until the woman, Esme, looked over at me. As much as these people were strangers to me, I felt safer than I had in the past week since my siblings left.

"Ahh yes, this is Alice Brandon" Lizzy was far too happy a person to be dealing with depressed kids who had issues of their own. I highly doubted that she had ever cried, out of sadness, in her life, "I'll give you a minute" she nodded at me encouragingly then left.

The doctor and his wife stood there awkwardly for a couple of minutes before taking a seat on the sofa next to me.

"Hello Alice, I'm Carlisle Cullen and this is my wife Esme" the doctor held out his hand and I took it warily. His hands were huge compared to mine and they felt smooth and warm.

"My mom said you can tell a lot about a person from the way they care for their hands" I blurted out. Oh my lord, did I just say that out loud. Nice one Alice. Now they just think you're some kind of freak show. Surprisingly Dr Cullen just laughed and his wife smiled at me delicately.

"Really now, well what do you think of my hands?" he chuckled.

"Well, their very soft and warm, so I imagine you take care of them well, which makes you a very caring person. Though I guess that would be obvious seeing as you are a doctor" I blushed as he laughed again, his wife joining in this time. They stayed for about an hour and told me all about their home life, their three adopted kids and their massive house in the woods.

"Well Alice, I suppose we'd better get down to the reason we're here hadn't we" Carlisle looked reluctant to bring up the subject of my parents death.

"We are so very sorry for your loss Alice, although I know that my words are probably of no help whatsoever" Esme smiled sympathetically at me.

"No no it's fine, thank you Mrs Cullen" I nodded looking down at the floor.

"Oh please call me Esme" she patted my shoulder.

"Well we've read your file Alice and you seem like a very pleasant girl. We wouldn't mind if, as long as you wanted to of course, if you wanted to come home with us" Dr Cullen looked at me hopefully.

"Yeah that would be nice" I smiled up at him, "Thank you"

"Well, I suppose we'd better get going now. It was nice to meet you Alice, we'll talk to Jenny, you're social worker and fix up a date for you to come home with us" Carlisle stood up and shook my hand again. Esme however pulled me into a hug a small smile still on her face.

"See you soon dear" she called as they walked hand in hand out of the office.

(Carlisle's POV)

Alice seemed like a very chirpy kind of child despite what had happened to her. I had met several children in my time who had suffered less than her yet made a huge fuss about things, but then again who could blame them. Alice however, seemed to accept her fate and get on with it.

Elizabeth, the head care worker at Birchwood, had told me how Alice's brother, William had not been so willing to accept being split from his sisters and was therefore found a home immediatley. ALice on the other hand did not make much of a fuss and managed to get on with things as normal.

I've been in the fostering business for years so I knew that only time would tell wether Alice really was as calm as she seemed to be right now. Putting on an act to please the adults was something a lot of kids her age did to ensure that getting away from a communal home would happen.

Having already looked after my fair share of foster kids i also knew that Alice would most probably not be a problem. Reading her files made me even more adament to give the girl a home and I knew that there was already a place in Esme's heart for the poor little girl.

With no history of illness or problems in her family except for one long time ago addmission to a phsycriatric ward, the childs medical records were cleaner than my own and just seeing the content look on her face in a recent picture before the unfortunate tragedy that stole her parents lives, showed that she would most likely have a successful transfer into our home.

With three other children at home, deciding to take on one more without a history would be quite an easy task for the fostering business. Arriving back home after our visit to Birchwood the children were all so excited, even Edward who had been jealous every single time a foster child had been placed with us.

Emmet took everything in his stride as usual and Rosalie, after examining the picture of the small girl for several minutes told us that as long as the girl always 'dressed like that' they would get along fine.

I knew this was something that Esme wanted to do and with my family in full agreement of the choice we welcomed Alice Brandon into our family.

(Alice's POV)

The next couple of days passed in a blur. There was a surprising amount of paperwork that had to be filled out before I could be home by the Cullens and I began to get very sick of Lizzy's office. Finally though, the day that I was leaving the home arrived.

Seeing as I thought I would only be there for a short amount of time I hadn't really bothered making friends although two girls called Lorna and Addie had latched themselves onto me. Fair enough, they seemed pretty friendly but I was never one for keeping in contact with people so when they started crying seconds before I left it did seem like they were going a bit overboard. Esme and Carlisle pulled up in a black Mercedes as I was waiting outside with Jenny and Lizzy. Carlisle got out to open the boot for my bag and Esme had a quick conversation with Jenny but before I knew it we were back in the car and speeding along the highway turning off onto the side road headed Forks.

I must've fallen asleep in the back of the car and only woke up when I felt it grind to a halt. Opening my eyes I could just make out the structure of the hugest house I had ever seen. It was beautifully set in the middle of the woodlands with meadow sized lawns on either side. Out the back I could see a pool with a slide and a giant trampoline. The house itself was all open planned with the whole back of the house a glass wall. It was the most striking building I had ever seen.

I stepped out of the car, my face displaying a look of shock at the sheer size and measure of my new home. A door opened somewhere and the next thing I knew I was engulfed in a huge bear hug by a boy who looked about fifteen but of whom I knew was two years younger.

"You must be, Emmet?" I guessed taking the size of the bear of a boy in front of me in once he had let me go.

"I sure am, and you little pixie must be Alice" he beamed at me.

"Yeah that's me" I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Mommy, you're home!" a bronze haired blur came hurtling down the steps throwing itself at Esme. She scooped the small boy up but he saw me and struggled out of his mothers grasp.

"Ew, a girl" he frowned at me.

"Edward, don't be so rude" Esme scolded him lightly "This is your new sister, Alice."

"Don't mind Edward, he's a little freak, I'm Rosalie" I turned to see a blonde haired beauty standing beside a still beaming Emmet.

"Hi Rosalie, I'm Alice" I smiled at her timidly. She was probably the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. We all stood there for a moment smiling unsurely at each other.

"Well, don't just stand there, come on you lot, Emmet grab Alice's bag like a gentleman, what have I told you. Edward get down, you're a big boy now, Mommy doesn't need to carry you. Rosalie, do you want to show Alice her room and you could show her the rest of the house while you're at it" Carlisle, obviously the more organised one of the family, ushered us all inside the house which was much warmer than standing outside.

Rosalie led me upstairs to a wide landing with plush cream carpet.

"This is your room. I helped Mom decorate it. I hope you like the colours" Rosalie pushed on the handle and the door swung open to reveal a huge room with a king-size bed in the middle. The walls were painted a soft teal with the same plush carpet as before but in a light shade of beige. The sheets on the bed were a mixture of blue, teal and beige and the furniture was all made of a soft white wood. The room looked like something out of a show home. I felt like taking off my shoes and socks just so the carpet wouldn't get dirty.

"Do you like it? You don't do you? I told Mom we should have just left it white then let you decide when you got here but-"

"No no no, it's beautiful. This must be the nicest room I've ever seen in my whole entire life" I whispered softly a small smile on my face.

I turned to Rosalie who seemed to be lost for words but just smiled, obviously content with my reaction to the room.

"Well, I'll leave you to unpack your things. I'll be in the room next door if you need me" I nodded at her, reassuring her that I was fine to be left alone.

Unpacking my bag took less than twenty minutes, where I had once never worn the same outfit more than twice I was now stuck with just one pair of jeans, a skirt and five t-shirts plus my converses. Having this limited a wardrobe would really hit my self esteem if I didn't go shopping ASAP but how to bring up the fact that I needed new clothes had me totally wiped out. Deciding to just let that matter rest until it became more important I placed the one picture that I had left of my family on the bedside cabinet, my toy rabbit, Cupy, on the bed, my sparse amount of clothes in the drawers and then shoved the bag under my bed. Looking around the room, content that it looked just that bit more inviting with a few personal touches I plodded out and knocked on the next door along to mine with a black and gold plaque reading 'Rosalie's Room' in curly italic writing. Maybe if I stayed I'd end up with a plaque with my name on it to stuck on my door, I thought hopefully.

"Come in, unless you're Edward" a voice called from inside. I pushed on the door and stepped into her room.

"Hey Rosalie" I smiled then my draw dropped as I saw her coming out of a door on the right hand-side of the room, "Please tell me that that is a walk in wardrobe" my eyes lit p at the thought.

"Yeah, I begged Dad to install one for me after he finished fostering this rather nasty little kid. The kid did break my other wardrobe though so I had no choice" she smiled, smug at the memory.

"Wow you are so lucky, my clothes don't even take up one drawer of my room" I said glumly.

"Oh didn't I tell you? Mom said we can go shopping on Saturday when she drops Em off at karate and Ed off at his piano lesson."

"Really? I love shopping" I sighed dreamily.

"Me too, I think me and you are gonna get along just fine sister!"

"I sure do think so!" I agreed smiling at the thought of all those clothes.