Bella wants Edward to tell her a little more about his past, and he obliges.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Stephanie Meyer.

Reviews are warmly welcomed

"Tell me a story" I breathed.

Edward and I had been lying in our meadow, quietly by ourselves, for the whole day. It had been one of those rare sunny days cherished by everyone in the small town of Forks. The rest of the family was out hunting, and Nessie and Jake were out somewhere.

"What kind of story, love?" Edward replied, his breathe tickling my ear.

What kind of story? The best kind, of course. I wanted to know about him. I wanted to know everything there was to know about him. I wanted Edward to tell me everything he could remember of his human life. I felt like there was so much to him that I didn't know about and being his wife I felt I was entitled to know his past.

I shifted so that I was lying almost completely on top of him. We were both fully clothed, aside from Edward's chest which was shirtless. I wrapped one arm around his neck, pulling myself closer to him, and he instinctively wrapped both arms around my lower back and tucked my head under his chin. I began tracing random patterns on his perfect, sparkling skin.

"Bella?" he continued, when I neglected to respond.

With much less effort than the time I first attempted it, I pushed my shield away and let Edward into my mind. As usual, he gasped slightly, still not used to being inside my head.

I focused on the memories I had of him telling me how he was transformed by Carlisle, dying of the Spanish influenza of 1918, then on what my imagination had conjured up for what I thought Edward's life was like when he was human.

I always pictured Edward as being unbelievably gorgeous as a human, with his green eyes, messy bronze hair, and heartbreaking smile. But every day my ideas changed about what his parents might have looked like, who his friends were, how he did in school, what foods he liked and a million other things.

"So that's what's on your mind?" He chuckled slightly and stroked my hair.

He could see the agreement in my head.

"Well…" he paused. I tilted my head to look him in the eye. His answering smile made me lose control and my shield snapped back. "I don't know where to start."

"How about the beginning?" I suggested.

"Okay then…well, as you know, I was born in Chicago on June 20th, 1901, to Elizabeth and Edward Masen. My father was a successful lawyer, so I was moderately wealthy, I guess you could say. I loved my parents dearly. I got my hair colour from my mother, my eyes from my father…" He paused seemingly unsure of what to say next.

I lifted my shield once more, and practically shouted "BORING" in my head. He laughed out loud. "Well I don't know what you want me to tell you Bella."

"Tell me the good stuff. I already know about your parents. Tell me about your life. Like what you did at home, how school was, who your friends were. Anything you can remember." I said.

He eyed me for a moment, a hint of amusement dancing in his eyes. "Alright then. But you have to do something for me in return."

"Anything". I wanted to hear his story so badly.

"You need to show me your past." He replied.

"But you already know so much about me. I want to know about you." I pouted.

"Sure, I know some of your life. But I want to see your past. I want to live it with you."

He momentarily caught me off guard. I never thought before about showing him all my memories. It didn't seem like such a bad idea. Of course it would be completely mortifying, but I really wanted to hear his story. I could probably talk him out of showing him my memories later.

"Deal," I agreed quickly.

He nodded his head in satisfaction. "I'll warn you though, first, that I don't have a perfect memory of my human past. Things after 1918 are all crystal clear, but human memories are a little foggy at times."

"That's okay. Continue, please."

He kissed my hair before speaking again. "You know, Bella, it's often with you that human memories come back to me. Did you known that?"

I shook my head.

"Well, it is. I think the first time I had a… 'flashback' moment was when I was thinking of your scent shortly after I returned from Denali, after I had behaved so rudely towards you.

"I remembered one autumn evening, when I was about eight years old, my mother was baking apple pie. She was a great cook, but her apple pies were the most exquisite dessert anyone on the street had ever tasted. The smell would fill the kitchen with a delicious aroma, almost as mouth-watering as your scent, Bella. When neighbours would hear she was baking that night, they would always come up with an excuse to stop by, and my mother would always give them a slice or two to take home.

"If we ever had leftovers those evenings, the next day at school I would share a slice with some close friends. I was quite popular those specific days." Edward chuckled as he remembered this, and I realized I had been grinning from ear to ear.

"Anyways, that one night I remember I was famished. I don't remember why, but it was probably because I had been forced to stay after school to do chores for some reason or another. Believe it or not, I was quite the troublemaker when I was young."

"Haha, Edward the troublemaker" I giggled. "That's hard to believe. You're such a gentleman."

"Well, I got my act together as I got older, I guess. In any case, I was famished and my mother had left the pie out to cool. Being the irrational, stupid, young boy I was, I acted on an impulse. I ate the whole pie, the whole, scorching hot, delicious apple pie in less than ten minutes."

"Whoa." I chuckled, disbelief clearly etched on my face. "Did you get caught?"

"Naturally," Edward smiled at my reaction. "I was just about to hide the empty pan when both my parents caught me. But their punishment wasn't nearly as bad as the awful stomach-ache that followed shortly after."

"Aw, poor tummy" I said, and I patted his stomach lightly.

His hand covered mine and he entwined our fingers, before bring my hand up to brush his lips against it. "What else would you like to hear about?"