Um... I know that author notes are annoying, but I thought this needed to be said:

This fanfic is a little more serious than I'd originally planned. It really started out as a writing exercise so that I could improve my writing for a school summer essay. Please keep that in mind. Its not some of my best work, but I though I'd post it anyways.

Oh yeah...and it's pre-BD.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of the characters. Stephenie Meyer owns them all, (sigh) unfortunately.

BPOV

As consciousness flooded my body, I felt Edward's cold skin against my cheek. I looked up at his godly face to find him smiling my favorite half-smile. I looked around me. This isn't my room! Where am I?! Oh wait, I remember.

Alice had been complaining that she was bored and wanted to do something. She'd come up with the idea to take a road trip across the country. Well, actually, her original plan was to go to France for two weeks, but I quickly turned down that idea. So she settled for the continental US. I couldn't object, seeing as I had nothing better to do.

So here we were: Alice, Jasper, Rosalie, Emmett, Edward, and me. We were in the Cullen's new addition to their car collection, a super-expensive hybrid SUV. I didn't know specifically what brand, make, or model, nor did I care. All that mattered to me was that it was comfortable to sleep in.

"Good morning, love." Edward's velvet voice was very soothing to my raw ears.

"Mmmm. Good morning." I couldn't suppress the yawn that followed.

"You slept soundlessly last night. You must have been exhausted."

"I was," I admitted. "I hadn't really been sleeping well the past few nights, but that made up for it. You're a very comfortable pillow." Edward laughed a familiar booming laugh. How odd. It usually came from...

"Emmett!" Edward yelled. Ya. Emmett. I realized he was listening to our conversation. I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks.

"What, Eddie? Its true."

"Gah! Please don't even...ugh! Why must you even think about something like that?" Edward was appalled. Emmett laughed harder. It was obvious this had nothing to do with Edward's and my conversation before.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Nothing, Bella. You don't want to know. It has nothing to do with you." Edward sounded almost like he wanted to thrown-up.

"Emmett?" I tried to get something out of him. He just laughed harder.

"We're here!" Alice called. She practically jumped out of the car with excitement.

"Thank you! If I had to listen to another one of Emmett's disturbing thoughts, I might have puked. Or just killed him. Which ever came first." Edward helped me out of the car while the rest of his family disappeared into the city.

This was our fist stop of many, Sacramento, California. At first, I wasn't sure it was such a good idea to go to a place teeming with sunshine when you were with a bunch of vampires, but Alice had foreseen that it would be plenty cloudy. She was right, as always. The sun was nowhere in sight. As a matter of fact, neither was the sky: it was completely covered in clouds. On the bright side, it wasn't raining yet. That was good.

"How are we going to know when to meet back at the car?" I wondered. Then Edward pulled out a cellphone from his pocket. Wait, that wasn't his cell phone. Was it?

"Walkie talkie. We all have one. Here," he handed me a walkie talkie, "I forgot to give you yours."

"Oh. What channel do we turn it to?"

"Four. And if something happens, we'll all turn it to channel six. Okay?"

"I'll try to remember that, but I don't plan on going anywhere without you."

"I know. But just to be safe, you should know what's going on."

"Okay." Edward took my hand and led me across the street. It felt so childish having to be walked across the street like that, but I understood why he felt the need to do so. Still, it was embarrassing.

Edward led me to a park in the middle of the city. He said he'd never been able to come to a place like this before.

"This is a park?" I asked, "Its so small."

"I know. I guess most people call it a square. 'Park' sounds more interesting to me."

"Oh. Squares. I think they had those in Phoenix. I'd heard of them, but never really felt the need to visit one myself." When I'd lived with my mother in Phoenix, she'd always had a new adventure to try. I'd spent most of my time either persuading her not to go through with them or tagging along on those adventures she couldn't be persuaded against.

"Its like a little reminder of beauty in a dirty city." He sighed. He looked deep in thought, so I left him alone for a while. I was deep in thoughts of my own.

Edward was right. Nature was really beautiful when you take the time to appreciate it. When I first moved to Forks, Washington, I'd have never thought I would ever be wishing I was there. Now, here in this little clump of trees, I felt genuinely homesick. I missed the forests. I missed the trees. I even found myself missing the green squishy stuff that covered the tree trunks. I missed...

"Bella?" Edward had probably noticed my solemn expression. "Are you okay? You look really sad. Did something happen? Did I do something?" He looked worried now.

"No. This place just reminds me of Forks." Edward's worry turned comical. He couldn't resist a small chuckle.

"You are homesick? I thought you detested Forks."

"I did, until I realized that it wasn't as bad as I wanted it to be. And the fact that it's where I met you helped." He laughed again and kissed my forehead.

"You're a silly girl, Bella. And you have odd reasons for things." I could feel my face turning bright red. "Don't worry. I love your silly reasoning." This time he kissed me on my lips. I will never get over that indescribable feeling I get when I feel his gentle, marble lips on mine. I held him close for as long as I could, but eventually he pulled away.

"I wish we could kiss all day." I was surprised to hear this coming from him. I was usually the one who complained about that.

"Me too." he stroked my cheek and I felt the usual shock from his cold skin. My heart spluttered unevenly, the usual. I liked this routine.

Suddenly, I felt the vibrating from voices on my walkie talkie that was in my pocket. Edward had already answered a question I hadn't heard.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Rosalie lost Emmett."

"Can't she call him on his walkie talkie?"

"She tried. I think Emmett ran away though. He may not want to be found."

"Why would he run away?"

"I don't know. I think he's probably planning something, though." He pulled out his walkie talkie. "Alice, can you see Emmett planning anything?"

"No, but I keep getting these weird visions that I can't understand. I think he keeps changing his mind." She replied.

"that's good. Maybe we can find him before he decides what he's going to do." This was so Emmett. I couldn't believe he would do something that bad in a city this big. He was smarter than that, right? Either way, Rosalie was going to kill him.

"Rose, you better hope we catch him before he does something too ridiculous. You were supposed to watch him. You should've known he would do something like this." Alice seemed angrier than her usual self had the capability to be.

"Alice, don't blame this all on me. Even if I knew he was going to run away, how did you expect me to stop him?"

"HE'S YOUR HUSBAND! For goodness sake, assert some authority!"

"I'm not his mother, Alice."

"Well--"

"Please stop fighting." Edward had evidently decided it was time to intervene. "Everyone meet back at the car."

"Fine." Rosalie was still livid.

"Okay."

"Kay."

"See you there." Edward stood up and held his hand out for me. I gladly took it and we walked to the car.

When we arrived at the parking spot, his family was already waiting impatiently by the car. Alice and Rose had obviously been fighting again. They both had their arms crossed and they were facing away from each other. It was almost comical.

"We should split up and look for him. Knowing Emmett, he could be anywhere." Jasper said.

"Okay, but Bella's staying with me. I'm not letting her walk around by herself, " Edward replied. I didn't object.

"that's fine. I'll go that way. Alice, you go that way. Rose, you go that way. Edward and Bella, that way. Okay?"

"Sound's good to me." As Edward said this, Rose and Alice were nearly running in their assigned direction. Jasper shrugged and walked away.

"Come on, Bella. There's no telling what Emmett will do."

I know, everyone was a little OOC. Sorry it started out so serious. Anyways, please review!

xoxo

Elizzib27