It started when she was five, and her older brother had come to stay the night, much to the dismay of her father, Charlie.
Don't get it wrong. He loved James as much as he loved Bella, and there was no doubt about it, but with James usually came Renee and Phil, who (ironically enough) was not James' father. Yes, Renee had cheated but she wouldn't tell either man who. Charlie thought James was Phil's and neither dared to say anything about it, unless they wanted Renee to go off in the night and come back with another man on her arm. But they loved her, even though she and Charlie were no longer married and even though both men knew she had a child with someone who wasn't them.
But that's beside the point. She met Edward and his siblings, Emmett and Alice, when she and James escaped the house. Having those three adults in the same house was bound to be chaos, especially with all the pent-up feelings. So Bella often took her older brother with her when she went places, especially knowing just what the three of them would talk about this time. The second time it happened, they didn't dare go home, so the Cullen kids invited them to stay the night. It went over rather well with their parents, once everything was explained. (Mainly because one did not say no to Carlisle Cullen or his wife and their kids were just the perfect little dears, surely they could stay for a while?) Needless to say the three got off the phone relatively quickly. The five of them spent the night watching movies with popcorn and M&M's and slept in regardless of the fact that they all went to sleep at 9 per Ms. Esme's orders. The rest of the summer would only cement their friendships and when it all ended, Alice had a crush on James and Edward was absolutely smitten with Bella.
They met Jasper and Rosalie a year later, when the pair were out in their front yard, playing catch. A group of older boys had seen Jasper play baseball before and wanted him on their team. The nine year old, not completely trusting of them, said that he would only play if his twin could as well.
"Yeah, she could be a cheerleader." The oldest boy, Royce, leered. Royce was fourteen and Rosalie had no idea why he was looking at her like that, but she didn't like it. Emmett and Alice were the ones who noticed and warned the other three. Bella recognized Rosalie from her reading class and Jasper from lunch, where she sat with the siblings every day. They were new in town, and were hardly welcomed. Needless to say, Emmett knew the look on Royce's face well, and decided to handle things.
"Hey, Royce!" The twelve year old called out. "Whatcha need with a couple babies when you got me? Hale can't throw for crap and his sister's not interested. Let them go and maybe we can strike up a game while they play with my younger siblings."
One does not say no to the Cullens and woe beset anyone who dared to try. Royce ended up with a broken leg and a swollen face for his refusal, and he couldn't look Emmett in the eyes for three years straight.
"You okay?" Bella asked. He'd been brooding all day, according to Jasper, and she saw the storm coming a mile away. Edward wasn't abusive towards her, not even at his worst, but the things she'd seen him do to someone like Laurent were vicious indeed. Bella had no reason to fear her husband's rage, because he'd sooner break his own jaw than hers, but rage was not what fueled him tonight. No, rage was not the cause of her husband's inner storm, but if he got any more bitter then it soon would be.
"There was a woman in the street today. Older, around my grandmother's age, if she were still alive. I helped her cross because the light was about to turn green and the asshole in the car before her was gunning his engine, trying to get her to hurry up. She wanted to get to her grandson's store at the corner, and he damn near fainted when he saw me. 'What do I owe you,' he said. 'What do you want? I have nothing more to give.' … Turns out that he was working to pay back a debt his father took out on mine some decade or so ago. You know I don't forget debts, but… what was I going to do, kill his grandmother?"
"Of course not." Bella emphasized. "He probably thought you had come to collect."
"That's exactly what he thought!" Edward snapped, banging a hand off one of the posts on their bed. "But he also tried to shutter the old woman in, like I was some sort of monster… almost four generations and we still can't get past Masen's legacy of slaughter."
"What did the old woman do?"
"Hugged me and offered me a batch of oatmeal cookies. ' Fresh from the oven,' she said."
"They were going to be part of Junior's lunch, but he seems to have forgotten his manners."
"I laughed so hard… should have seen the kid's face, Bells! That woman could have been Esme's mother."
"Esme is awesome." Bella agreed. "Did you save some for me?"
"You get first pick." Edward confirmed.
"You know me so well." Bella grinned as he handed her the insulated bag the woman had given him.
"I wouldn't dare get between you and your cookies, love."
"Here, we can split this one." Bella murmured, offering him the other half. He accepted it gracefully and proceeded to shove the entire thing in his mouth.
"Edward!" His wife objected. "You're supposed to savor the cookie, not cram it in your mouth and choke it down!"
"But it's so good! Besides," he purred. "There are other things I want to savor tonight."
"Smooth, Cullen." Bella chuckled.