Disclaimer : Stephenie Meyer owns all the characters you recognize. The rest are mine.

Bella

The mellow morning sunlight filtered through the curtains, causing dancing patterns of light on the walls as it reflected off my bare arms. I was in the topmost floor of the three-storey penthouse in Dartmouth, sorting out Renesmee's clothes for the coming school term. Jacob was with Nessie at the mall, trying to hunt down a special edition CD that she suddenly couldn't do without for another minute. I'd rolled my eyes at that one; I knew that it was just an excuse to hang out with Jake alone - he would be starting college the next day. There was no way he could pass off as a high school senior any longer just to be closer to Nessie, not when he looked to be well into his twenties. I felt the usual mixture of pity and relief at this very temporary separation (she would still see him at home everyday) as at every facet of their changing relationship; the pity, for my best friend, and the relief - of a parent. Nessie was in her early teens now, in human years, but I wasn't ready to let my baby grow up that much, just yet.

The TV was switched on in the first floor, and I was half-listening to the snippets of different channels as Edward flipped through them, while I made a list of things I had to buy, when his mobile rang.

'Hello, Carlisle.' I heard Edward's voice, and Carlisle's greeting, as clearly as if they were both beside me, despite the sounds of the ad jingles on the television.

Carlisle's usually calm voice sounded anxious.

'Could you and Bella come home for a while, Edward? There's a …situation. No, not danger precisely… Alice called, she's had a vision. We're going to be visited by one of our kind in two days. She believes you know him – Julian? Alice and Jasper are flying over too.'

I heard Edward's surprised exclamation. 'Ah! We'll be there, Carlisle.'

I was out of the room and downstairs before he'd finished speaking. He was looking down at his phone, seemingly lost in thought, and grimaced when he saw my questioning expression.

'We need to leave, love.'

I wasn't pleased.

'Who's Julian? Renesmee's school term starts tomorrow, Edward, and you know we can't leave–'

He interrupted me hastily. 'You know she'll be perfectly safe with Jake, Rose and Emmett here, love. Julian is… a friend. I would have gone alone, but I think Carlisle wants you there too… I had the feeling he wasn't telling me everything.' He frowned slightly, looking down at the phone in his hand. 'Please Bella?' He turned his golden eyes on me, pleading.

I pulled a face at him. He chuckled at my disgruntled expression and kissed me; he knew very well that I couldn't resist that tone.

As Edward made arrangements for the flight to Seattle, I put away the last of the clothes, still feeling a little peeved. It would be nice to have nearly all the family together again; the last we had seen Carlisle and Esme was nearly two months back, when they had come to Dartmouth for a week. They had continued living in Forks for the past three years; mostly for Charlie's sake – he still did not quite trust that I would not disappear from his life suddenly - their presence helped calm some of those fears. Alice and Jasper were at Cornell, where Jazz was continuing his studies of philosophy, and Rosalie and Emmett were taking night courses at Dartmouth College, the same as me and Edward (Rosalie couldn't stay away from Nessie either), though they lived in a separate house, nearer to the forest – which afforded greater privacy. I looked forward to seeing Charlie again,too, and observing how life with Sue suited him; but I had never been separated from Nessie after those first three days of my new life, and I knew that I would be chafing with anxiety throughout the trip.

His arms slipped around my waist from behind. 'Don't worry, my love.' Edward did not need his gift to read my mind, he understood me too well, even without it. 'We'll be back before she even notices that we're gone.'

I sighed, and turned around to rest my head on his chest.

Little did we know how wrong he would turn out to be.

A/N: Well, did that catch your interest? Would you like to know more? If yes, please leave a review!

My main sources of information are the books, the Official Illustrated Guide to Twilight, the Twilight Lexicon, Wikipedia and Google Maps(I've never been to the places I'm describing, and I've not watched any of the movies; I have a thing against movie adaptations) so if I make any errors, please feel free to correct me!