DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to the Twilight series or any of the Twilight characters, this is merely an attempt to prolong a most enjoyable reading experience.

Please read and review – I'm always eager to know what people think of my writing.

I awoke in a strange room and sat up in a bed that creaked when I moved. Sheets were tucked under the little mattress either side of me, restricting my movements. My body felt tired and sore and there was a terrible burning in the back of my throat, so thirsty I thought to myself. The light in the room seemed strange somehow and the room itself smelled wrong, astringent scents assaulted my nostrils and I tried to find a description in my jumbled head disinfectant I thought, which was immediately followed by Hospital which was immediately followed by a strange flow of emotion and a beautiful voice that rang like a bell peal in my head "We can't take you to a hospital sweetie, you're very special you know…." The voice faded and I felt a longing that made my heart ache and tears began to stream down my face.

I struggled to get my addled mind to focus as I asked myself questions like where am I? How did I get here? But my brain refused to co-operate, drawing a blank with every question. I decided to narrow it down a bit, to start with small things and work my way up to the big questions so I took a deep breath, ignored my still burning throat and tried to think of my name.

The realisation that I could not even remember my own name was utterly crushing, I was panting as tears streamed ever faster down my face and my muscles trembled with fear and realisation.

I let the feeling consume me as I laid my head down on the over-starched pillow and let my tears flow down the sides of my face and into my hair.

Eventually I must have fallen asleep and a dream came to me, my minds way of trying to mend my broken heart.

"Hurry up already!" came Alice's impatient little singsong voice "Yeah seriously sweetie, all this attention is starting to make me feel very self conscious" My mom's sweet tones drifted up the stairs, I could tell there was a hint of humour there as I jammed my legs into my jeans.

Birthday tradition number one: For nine years now my mom and I have shared joint birthdays. Seeing as the rest of the family joked that we had been 'born' on near enough the same day and my mom had leapt at the opportunity to palm off any potential attention for herself onto me it had been the logical way forward.

I snatched her gift from the dresser and flew down the massive staircase to where my family was waiting.

Emmet instantly snatched me up into a bear hug and crushed all the breath out of my lungs "Happy birthday Half Pint" he boomed into my hair, I let out a strangled cry of thanks and he plopped me down to the floor where I was met by my favourite faces in the world all wishing me a happy birthday.

I made bee line straight for my mom and handed her the little black box that housed her gift, she opened the box to reveal the tiny memory card it housed and gave me a knowing smile.

Birthday tradition number two: mom never ever allowed me to buy her gifts, I was only ever allowed to bestow gifts of my own creation upon her. I had never minded though, I always enjoyed thinking of something new each year and she cherished my gifts above all others.

This year I had outdone myself, having learned to play every instrument in any known orchestra over the years I had created my own orchestral version of my father's lullaby for her. It had taken hour upon hour to individually record myself playing each instrument and then work them all together to create a true orchestral effect but I was satisfied with the result and that's saying a lot considering mine and my families….enhanced hearing abilities.

Mom tucked the memory card away, "I can't wait to see what's on it, thanks Nudger" I smiled and showed her how much I loved both her and my dad, the feeling was so all encompassing that I had never felt that simply saying 'I love you' was enough, I had always felt the need to show them exactly how I feel and it made them melt whenever I did. Dad pulled me and mom into a 'Nessie sandwich' hug crushing both of us to him with me in the middle.

"OK now I think it's our turn" Dad said as he released us both. He and my mom flowed over to a massive shiny pink lump that was located in the middle of the front room floor.

"Happy birthday Ness!" my mom and dad chimed together whilst unveiling a pile of immaculately wrapped boxes from underneath a shimmering satin sheet. My eyes widened a little as I took in the pile and my dad rather smugly said "These ones are just from your mother and I." It turns out that dad loves nothing more than giving gifts to those he loves, unfortunately my mom hates receiving them so I seem to get completely and utterly spoiled by him, constantly.

I sighed, it's a hard life sometimes y'know.

I was at the pile in the blink of an eye and began to carefully tear off the paper, not wanting to seem like some sort of frantic child in front of my entire family – luckily Emmett managed it for the both of us and decided to give me a hand "Come on come on half pint, you're killing us here!" he boomed. In what seemed like one sweeping movement he had managed to unwrap every single one of the boxes and I gasped as I saw what my parents had bought me.

It was the sleekest, most futuristic computer I had ever seen with every single bell and whistle that could have accompanied it including a 40" widescreen monitor, mousegloves and eyepiece so I could access it from anywhere.

Emmett let out a low whistle which became completely overshadowed by my high pitched squealing as I danced around the boxes thinking "Awesome awesome awesome!!" I projected it to everyone in the room and was met by chuckles and grins all round.

I whipped around and threw myself into my mom and dad as I shouted "You guys totally freaking ROCK" I smiled inwardly as I heard the breath whoosh from both of their chests and both of them had to inhale deeply before resuming their chuckling "We try" my dad said whilst peeling my arms from around both his and my mom's necks.

"No funny business now young lady" Mom said. I could tell she was trying to be authoritative but even she can't pull of stern when she's got a look of complete and utter adoration in her eyes. "Oh mom, I only hacked the pentagon that one time" I said in my sweetest singsong voice with a cheeky grin on my face. That seemed to tip the scale and any remnants of her stern face slipped as she grinned with me conspiratorially, she pulled me into a hug that would have crushed a human's bones into powder and breathed into my ear "My little genius." I giggled, kissed my mom on the cheek and rushed to pull the sleek looking components out of their boxes.

Jake's hulking figure was suddenly at my side as he helped me un-box what I can only describe my technological wet dream "Jeez Ness, this think look like it belongs at NASA!" Jake scoffed as he pulled the processor from it's Styrofoam casing, I marvelled at the sleek black casing and moved a finger to stroke it before I noticed Jake's reflection in the smooth surface.

Jake seemed to walk around perpetually topless, it was something I was used to and to be honest I had never really noticed it but in that moment, when I caught his reflection my breath caught in my chest and my heart rate increased. I started at his reflection, for the first time truly seeing the wonderous curve and definition of muscle covered by flawless copper skin, all other sound was drowned out as I listened to his strong, steady heartbeat and the rumble in his chest as he spoke.

I became acutely aware of his proximity to me, the hairs on his arms whispered against the skin of mine and intense heat radiated from him. My gaze roved up the shiny black surface to his face and only then did I snap out of my heated thoughts.

I could see in the reflection that he was looking at me with confusion, his dark eyebrows were knitted together and a grin was playing at the corner of his mouth. "Wow, you seriously love this computer huh? Your eyes just went as big as saucers! Perhaps you and the computer should get a room?" Jake was grinning now and looking at me like I was a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic. I could actually feel my brain whirring back into action as I tried to come up with a normal 'Nessie response' "Oh yeah, me and the computer are an item, didn't you know?" I said, trying to regain my composure. I shot a look at my dad who was looking at me with one eyebrow raised. Mom's power had only gotten stronger over the last 10 years and she was now able to shield anyone within a hundred mile radius of herself, although she generally stuck to shielding whoever was in the house at the time. The whole family had thanked her for the privacy and Dad was much happier for having some peace and quiet. I had never fully appreciated mom's gift until that very moment, although unfortunately without the ability to read people's thought's dad had become a true master at reading faces and bodies – apparently he'd started honing the talent when he first met my mom.

"Yes, yes shiny computer, that's all very well but you have other presents you know" She said as she danced over to me with another immaculately wrapped box nestled in her tiny marble hands. Alice always got nervous when she gave me gifts as she never knew whether I'd like them or not (not that I have ever received a gift from Alice that I didn't utterly adore). She handed me the box and nervously ran her hand through her spiky black hair, the tiniest little frown marred her smooth features and she bit her lip as I began to unwrap the small package. A small, square, deep purple box stared back at me and I tentatively lifted the lid. My eyes were met by a stunning hand crafted silver ring, the metal had been folded in on itself to create a perfect rose and nestled in the centre was a heart-stoppingly perfect blood red ruby the size of a pinhead. The overall effect was true beauty and an astonished smile played on my lips as I looked to Alice who was wearing a very smug expression, all traces of anxiety had evaporated as she drank in my reaction "Oh Alice" I breathed.

Jasper was suddenly at her side, squeezing her hand "I think you've outdone yourself this year" he said as her face broke into a pixie grin.

Suddenly a massive blue pulse of energy blasted through the house, it shattered windows and furniture and sent everyone flying in different directions, massive arms folded me into an embrace, I heard a steady beating heart and notes of pine drifted up my nostrils, I inhaled deeply. Then the world melted like it was made of wax and I screamed bloody murder.