EPOV

Carlisle and I went on a hunting trip today. Carlisle was headed towards the other side of the forest while I was heading towards the small river where the elk usually stayed. I was ready to pounce on the largest one when the direction of the breeze changed and I caught the scent of human blood. I froze. I looked in the direction where the scent was coming from. I could see a small flicker of fire somewhere in the woods. I sprinted towards Carlisle's direction. Carlisle was sitting near a pond washing his hands. He looked up when he heard me approaching.

"What is it, Edward?" he asked, after seeing my facial expression. "I caught the scent of human blood and I saw a fire near the woods. Do you think someone needs help?" I asked. Carlisle looked thoughtful for a moment then said "Come on, let's see if anyone's hurt. We can call 911 for them." I nodded but then I remembered something. "Wait. I'll go hunt first, what if someone's bleeding?" Carlisle nodded. "I'll catch up with you." I said.

I ran as fast as I could and took down the nearest elk. After draining two more elks, I ran towards the direction Carlisle's scent was headed. I stopped in front of what used to be a campsite. The tents were ripped and everything was scattered on the ground, but what caught my attention was the little child Carlisle was talking to. She had long wavy brown hair and she looked only about 4 years old. She was wearing a white shirt with dirt and mud stains all over and she was wearing jeans that were tattered. She was wearing rubber shoes and had bruises on her arms and a small cut on her arm. She had tearstained eyes and she was shaking.

Carlisle looked up, and so did the little girl. She had chocolate brown eyes, she was adorable. "Do you know where your parents are, Isabella?" Carlisle turned back to the little girl. "Bella." the little girl corrected. Carlisle half-smiled. "Do you know where they are, Bella?" he asked again. Bella shook her head. Looks like a vampire attacked her parents. She doesn't remember anything but her name, though. Carlisle thought. I sniffed the air. There was a faint trail of vampire scent, but I did not recognize it. Bella was dead on her feet, she could barely stand up. "What do we do?" I asked Carlisle.

He was about to answer when my phone rang. I turned away and answered it. "Alice?" I said. "Bring Bella home! She has nowhere to stay for the night." she said. I sighed. "Are you serious? Do you know how dangerous that would be for her?" I asked, incredulous. "I took Jasper hunting, he'll be fine." she assured me. I sighed as I thought about it for a moment. I looked at Carlisle. We have to take her home, son. She has some minor injuries that I'll have to check, and I don't think she has anywhere else to stay for the night, considering she lost her memory. Carlisle thought.

I turned my attention back to Alice on the phone. "Fine." I said, exasperated. "Great! I'll go fix a room for her and buy her some clothes!" Alice said, obviously excited. "Alice, she'll only be staying for one night. We'll take her to child services tomorrow and see what they can do." I said. "Yeah, yeah. Sure, whatever. bye!" Alice squealed into the phone. I shook my head. I looked at Carlisle, he was carrying a sleeping Bella over his shoulder, already.

"Do you think her parents are gone?" I asked, hesitantly. Yes. I smell a lot of human blood in the other side of the forest, I'll call the police and tell them they were attacked by a bear tomorrow morning. I nodded. We were heading towards Carlisle's car when I heard Bella speak "Good bye, Mommy. I'll miss you and Daddy." I turned to look at her and noticed that she was still asleep. She talks in her sleep. How interesting. Carlisle thought.

I saw a tear slide down her cheek and couldn't help but feel sad. Orphan at the age of four. I hoped that for Bella's sake, she'd find a good and caring family that will love her. When we got into Carlisle's car, I realized how sweet her scent was. It was unlike any other human's. It smelled like freesia and strawberries. It took a moment for me to get a hold of myself.

I took a deep breath as my throat burned. I had to be more careful around Bella. Her scent was so tempting, so inviting.. I had to shake my head to clear my mind. Why don't you drive, Edward? Carlisle asked. I nodded. Bella slept in the backseat with her head on Carlisle's lap. Interesting, she doesn't seem affected by our cold skin. Carlisle thought to himself.

I looked at Bella through the mirror. She looked so peaceful. When we arrived at the house, Alice was already waiting on the front porch, bouncing with excitement. When we got out of the car, Alice immediately ran to Bella. "She's adorable! I have the perfect outfit for her." she said. "Wait, let me just check on her. She has some minor injuries that I may need to take care of." Carlisle said, seriously. Alice simply nodded.

Carlisle carried Bella into the house while I and Alice followed behind him. "Alice, I do hope you didn't get too carried away looking for clothes for Bella. She's only staying for one night, remember?" I reminded her. "Of course." She feigned a look of innocence. I just sighed and shook my head. You could never reign over Alice. Emmett and Jasper were playing a video game when we entered the living room. They looked up to see Carlisle carrying Bella. Jasper stiffened. Alice quickly went over to his side and held his hand to reassure him. He relaxed a little.

Emmett looked surprised. Alice obviously didn't tell anyone about Bella yet except for Jasper and Esme. Esme helped prepare the guest room for Bella. Rosalie appeared on top of the stairs with a look of sadness on her face. Poor girl. I wonder what happened to her. Rosalie started thinking about her childhood and how she missed it, so I stopped listening to her thoughts to give her some privacy.

"I'll go take Bella to my office and take a look at her wounds." Carlisle said, before heading towards his office upstairs. Everyone then looked at me. "I and Carlisle were hunting when we saw a campsite. It looked like a vampire attacked Bella's parents.

We had to take her in because she had nowhere to go. She doesn't remember anything but her name. We're not even sure if she remembers what happened to her parents." I said, sadly. "Did Bella escape the vampires? How did she make it out alive?" Esme asked, concern coloring her voice. I shrugged. " We don't know what exactly happened, but we're taking her to child services tomorrow." I explained.

I saw Alice smile in the corner of my eye. I tried to read her thoughts but she was singing a bunch of pop songs, so I couldn't see what she was hiding. I gave her a questioning look but she just averted her gaze. Carlisle got out of his office with Bella walking by his side. Bella looked surprised and disoriented. "Bella, this is Alice. She'll help you get some clean clothes on." Carlisle pointed to Alice. Bella simply hid behind Carlisle's legs and looked down on the ground. She's so cute! Alice's thoughts broke into my mind. "I'm Alice, do you want to go get something nice to wear?" Alice asked, slowly approaching Bella.

"Okay." Bella said, quietly. Alice took Bella's hand and led her to the center of the living room where everyone was. "This is Jasper." Alice pointed to Jasper and Bella said "H-Hello." she said, half-smiling. Jasper simply nodded and said a quick "Hi." I tried reading Bella's mind to see her reaction towards Jasper. I was more than surprised to find out I heard nothing in Bella's mind. "This is Emmett." Alice's voice cut into my thoughts. Alice pointed to Emmett. "Heya, kiddo." Emmett said, grinning. He obviously liked the thought of having a little sister, but I had to explain to everyone later that Bella's only staying for one night.

We're taking her to child services tomorrow. Look at the little kid! I bet I could teach her some pranks. I gave Emmett a pointed look. What? He thought. I just shook my head. "You're very big." Bella suddenly said. Emmett looked dumbfounded for a second, then he burst out laughing. I had to chuckle at Bella's facial expression. She looked so serious, but after a while, I saw the most beautiful thing. Bella smiled. She had one dimple near her right cheek. I couldn't help but stare at her like an idiot while she was smiling. "This is Rosalie" Alice led Bella to where Rosalie was standing.

"Hello, sweetie." Rosalie said, crouching down so she was as tall as Bella. "Hello, Rosalie." Bella said. Rosalie's face broke into a huge smile. " This is Carlisle and Esme." Alice gestured towards Carlisle who was standing next to Esme. "Hello, dear. Would you like something to eat?" Esme asked. Bella nodded. She looks so thin, I have to make her something delicious. Esme thought. "Thank you for fixing my arm." Bella turned to Carlisle. That's the only time I noticed that there was a small band-aid on her arm. Carlisle smiled and said "You're very welcome, Bella." Carlisle said.

"And here…" Alice walked with Bella towards me "is Edward." She said. Bellasmiled and blushed. "Hello." She said. I smiled at her and said "Hello, Bella.""Okay, let's go get some clothes for you to wear before you eat dinner." Alice said. Bella simply nodded. Alice brought Bella up to her closet upstairs as Esme and Rosalie headed towards the kitchen to start making Bella's dinner. "I'll be in my office." Carlisle said, before heading towards upstairs. I sat down on the couch and started flipping through the channels. "So who attacked Bella's parents?" Emmet asked. I shrugged.

"I didn't recognize the scent headed North so I think they're headed to Canada." I said. Jasper looked thoughtful for a moment. "How do you think Bella made it out alive?" he finally asked. "I don't know." I still didn't understand how Bella made it out alive, but I'm glad she did. She deserved to live. "I can't hear her thoughts, though." I said, suddenly. More to myself than to anyone, really. Jasper and Emmett both looked at me with shocked expressions on their faces. "I tried a while ago but all I heard was silence." I said, frustrated. "Can you feel her emotions?" I turned to Jasper.

"Yes, she was confused at first, then she was relieved." He said, confused. "Most humans would find us intimidating and would shy away from us… but Bella, she seemed comfortable around us." Jasper said. "She's shy, though. But I like her." Emmett said, smiling. We all turned towards the stairs when we heard footsteps on top of the stairs. Alice descended the stairs with a huge grin on her face. Bella was right behind her, wearing a blue cotton dress with a ribbon around her waist. To my surprise, she ran straight to me and hugged my legs. "Oh come on, it wasn't that bad." Alice whined.

I read her mind and found out that Bella was now terrified of Alice because she forced Bella to try on about six dresses. "I don't like to play dress up. " Bella pouted, she looked so adorable doing so. "Fine, fine." Alice said, frustrated. I chuckled. Bella let go of my legs and raised her arms over her head, looking at me with those big brown eyes. At first, I didn't understand what she wanted. Edward! She wants you to carry her! Alice thought. I carefully lifted Bella gently off the ground.

Her scent was so tempting, It was almost overwhelming. I had to take a deep breath to control myself. She wrapped her arms around my neck and buried her face into my neck. I had to stop breathing to get a hold of myself. I noticed Jasper moved towards the far end of the room. He was having a hard time controlling himself too. I took a deep breath and steadied myself.

I wrapped my arms around her back and legs to support her. Her hair smelled like strawberry shampoo, Alice must have bathed her before dressing her up. Alice smiled at the sight of me and Bella. I gave her a questioning look but she just shrugged. You two look so cute together. Alice said, smiling. I just rolled my eyes, but I couldn't help but smile. She looked at me and I couldn't help but stare at her beautiful chocolate brown eyes. How I wish I could read her mind. Bella looked at me and said "Mommy and Daddy are in a better place now." She said, not in a form of a question but in the form of a statement. "Do you remember your mommy and daddy's names?" I asked her, hoping this would help us find a good foster family for Bella tomorrow.

"No." Bella said, sadly as tears rolled down her cheeks. I wiped away her tears and caressed her cheek using my thumb. Bella smiled up at me and said "Are you my new family?" Her question took me by surprise. I looked at her; I wanted to say 'Yes, we are. You can stay with us forever if you'd like.' But that would be unfair to Bella, she deserved a life. If the Volturi find out that we have a human in our coven, it would be either death or eternal damnation for Bella. No, I wouldn't let that happen, but before I could answer, Bella said "Don't make me leave, please?" she said, with those big brown eyes of hers boring into mine.

I was speechless for a while. What was I supposed to say? Before I could think of something to say, Alice cut in, walking towards us, looking at Bella with a smile on her face. "We can talk about that tomorrow. How about some dinner? You must be hungry." That seemed to distract Bella. "Yes, please." She said, enthusiastically. We'll talk about this with the whole family tomorrow. Alice gave me a pointed look. I sighed, defeated. I knew Alice wanted to keep her, and maybe even Emmett and Esme wanted to as well. This was going to be a long conversation.

When we entered the kitchen, Esme was placing what looked like noodles on a plate while Rosalie was pouring some red sauce on top of it. It all smelled revolting. Alice sat Bella on a stool and brought her a glass of orange juice from the refrigerator in the corner which none of us have ever used. Esme brought the plate in front of Bella and smiled "Here you go, Bella." She smiled warmly at her. Bella looked at the plate excitedly before taking her fork and twirling the noodles around. It. We were all gathered around the table, staring at her. Even Carlisle went downstairs just to watch her eat. She looked at all of us before saying "Why don't you eat?" she asked.

" We already ate."Carlisle said, smiling warmly at her. Bella simply nodded and continued eating her food. Poor girl, she must have been starving in the woods. Esme thought. After eating, she downed the whole glass of juice in a matter of seconds. "Thank you!" she said, reaching out to Esme to hug her. Esme smiled at her and said "You're welcome, Bella." She said.

Bella then ran to Rosalie who was leaning on the kitchen counter wiping a plate. "Thank you, Rosalie!" she said raising her arms over her head again. Unlike me, Rosalie immediately understood what Bella wanted to do, so she scooped Bella off the floor and hugged her. "Anytime, Bella." She smiled. Bella nuzzled her face into Rosalie's neck, which made Rosalie's face soften. When Rosalie let Bella down, Bella tripped on her own feet, but before she could fall on the floor, I ran to her as fast as I could and caught her. After realizing what I had just done, I panicked.

Then, I realized Bella was already asleep, so she didn't see me run. "Bella must be exhausted. Let's go take her upstairs. I fixed the guest room there for her. " Esme said. "I'll clean up." Rosalie volunteered. We headed to the last room in the hall upstairs. Esme put new blue sheets and pillows on the bed. I laid Bella gently down on the bed, then I remembered that humans have to brush their teeth before sleeping, so I gently shook Bella's arm. "Bella?" I whispered, as Esme and Alice went to the other room to get some toothpaste for Bella. Bella frowned.

"Bella?" I tried again, this time, she opened her eyes. "Edward?" she said, disoriented. "Bella, you fell asleep, you have to go brush your teeth." I explained. Bella groggily climbed off the bed then said "Okay." I led her to the bathroom. I got a stool for her to stand on, then handed her the toothbrush and toothpaste Esme and Alice left for her. After brushing her teeth, her eyes were already half-closed, so I carried her to her bed and put the blanket over her. "Good night, Bella." I whispered. Then, before leaving the room, I turned off the lamp near the bedside table. I shut the door gently behind me and headed to the living room.

We had to talk about what to do with Bella. When I got to the Living Room, everyone was already there, waiting for me. Alice and Jasper were sitting on the loveseat while Emmett, Rosalie and Esme were on the couch. Carlisle was looking out the window, thoughtful.

I sat on the armchair next to the couch. "Bella's asleep." I said. "Yeah, we heard." Emmett said with a playful grin. You'd make a great mom, Eddie. he thought. I glared at him. Just saying, bro. he thought, defensively. I just rolled my eyes. "I called the police earlier.

I told them we were hiking and saw the campsite. They'll probably see the bodies of Bella's parents tomorrow. I told them we saw a little girl and took her in for the night. They're going to let us know if they find anything out about her parents." he said. We all nodded. "We're taking her to Child Services tomorrow morning, see if she has any relatives she can stay with. Hopefully, we'll know her parents' names by then." Carlisle said, thoughtful. "Bella doesn't have any relatives." Alice said, suddenly. We all turned to her. "I've seen it, her parents names are Renee and Charlie Swan. Charlie's the chief of police. Bella doesn't have any aunts or grandparents. So she'll have to be sent to an orphanage. " Alice said, sadly.

"An orphanage? She won't be taken good care of there. Instead of finding a good and caring family for her, we'll be doing the opposite. Haven't you heard of the things that happen in those places?" Rosalie said defensive. "Do you have any idea how dangerous keeping her would be? We'd be putting her life in danger everyday just by being with her! She's human, she deserves a normal life." "We can provide for her, we can care for her, we can give her everything she needs!" Rosalie said. "I agree with Rosalie. I love Bella already and I know you do too, Edward. You're attached to her already." Alice said. I couldn't deny it. Bella's adorable and so easy to love. "What if the Volturi find out?" I asked. "We'll keep it a secret then." Alice said, matter-of-factly. I sighed. "You can't keep secrets from the Volturi, Alice." I said. "Of course we can.

I've seen it, Edward. If we send her to an orphanage, bad things will happen to her. Do you want that to happen to her?" Alice asked. "Of course not." I said. "But we can always send her to a better orphanage." I said, defending my point. "Can't you see, Edward? She's meant to be with us. Even if we send her to a different orphanage, it's always going to end up the same. She'll feel depressed that we didn't want to keep her." Alice said. "But she's adorable, lots of families would want to adopt her." I said. "Sure, there will be lots of families willing to adopt her but in the end, that's not what Bella would want. She'll never be happy because she would have wanted to stay with us, and honestly Edward, do you want her to go?" Alice asked. I was speechless. Of course I wanted Bella to stay. But, Making her stay with us would be like damning her into this life.

"If the Volturi found out, It would mean death or eternal damnation for Bella." I said. "Fine, go try sending her to an orphanage. See where that leads you." Alice huffed, as she sat down next to Jasper. Jasper wrapped his arms around Alice and rubbed her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down. I sighed. It was so hard to persuade Alice, sometimes even impossible. "I say we should just vote." Carlisle said. "I vote yes." Alice said firmly. "She was meant to stay with us and we will give her everything she needs. Bella deserves the best and I believe that we can give her that." "I vote yes too, I will just have to hunt more often and control myself around her." Jasper said. Alice smiled as he kissed her cheek. "I vote yes, I also think we can provide the best life for Bella." Rosalie said. "Hell yes! I want a baby sister!" Emmett said, just loud enough for Bella not to hear. I sighed. I was going to lose this battle. "I think we should just take her in and take care of her, I think we could provide for her and give her everything she needs." Esme said. I've always loved taking care of children. Esme thought to herself.

"Well, Edward. Alice does have a point. I also believe that we could provide and care for her." Carlisle said, looking at me seriously. I sighed, exasperated. "Fine. " I said, defeated. Alice squealed. "Yes! Esme, we have to go start planning and decorating for Bella's room!" Esme looked excited as well. They both headed upstairs to start decorating and designing. Rosalie and Emmett headed to their room while Jasper went to his library to read some books. "I'll call child services tomorrow to get the paperwork done." Carlisle said, as he placed a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry, son. Alice said that Bella would be miserable in the orphanage. Adopting her would be the only way to give her a good life." he said, assuring me.

"Yes, I know that. I just hope we don't have to damn her into being a vampire for the rest of her life." "That's all in the future, son. Don't worry about that now. Let's just focus on raising Bella and giving her the best and happiest life we can offer her." he said. I nodded. "Should we tell her about what we are?" Carlisle thought about that for a moment. "Yes, I think we should. We should tell her tomorrow and let her decide whether she wants to stay with us or not. She deserves to know the truth and she also deserves to have a say in this." Carlisle said. I was secretly hoping that Bella would come to her senses once we tell her about what we are and just go to the orphanage. I sighed. Carlisle left the room and headed towads his office. I decided i should watch over Bella.

I entered her room to see her sprawled on the bed. Her hair scattered all over the pillow. I sat on the desk chair near her bed and just listened to her steady heartbeat.

~Hello! Thanks for reading the first chapter! I'll update as soon as I can :D I have lots of school work so I'll probably update this next weekend. But I have lots of ideas already on my mind, so... thanks again, for reading! :)

Love, Bea.