Edward had been dragged off by Alice, no doubt planning something for my birthday. Alice has talked of little else for several days now. I keep telling her that it's not a big deal, but she doesn't listen.

I smiled as I looked around Edward's room. It's a lot larger than my one at Charlie's house, but it never feels empty with my vampire family around.

Sitting on the bed, I prayed – no matter that I'm an atheist, I was desperate – that I would receive the perfect birthday gift.

"Come on Edward – bite me already!" I remembered saying only a few minutes ago.

"No." Well, I couldn't exactly ignore that, could I?

"Please?"

"You asked me the same thing two seconds ago. My reply won't have changed that quickly."

"You know you want to!"

"Do I?"

I let it drop. I'll bother him more about the whole me-becoming-part-of-his-vampire-coven thing later.

In the meantime, I was, for the first time ever, alone in Edward's room. As in, all by myself. You see, there was no one in there but me.

I think you get the picture.

Anyway, this gave me the perfect opportunity to do what I had always wanted to do: poke round and see what vampires actually do with their time.

I glanced over to the other side of the darkened round. There was a large, imposing-looking mahogany dresser standing in the corner. That seemed to be a good place to start.

Five minutes later, I concluded that Edward did a lot of reading. And he hadn't been kidding about his language skills either. A Norwegian Dictionary? Each to their own, I guess.

That was when I found the interesting stuff. After several minutes of sifting through books about interpreting hieroglyphics and the meaning of pi – not to mention the never-ending language books, and some classic novels here and there – I found a small brown envelope.

There were some yellowed letters inside, bound together with a simple piece of string. Through the thin paper, I could see fancy cursive writing. I don't think I could've read it even if I had tried. The reason I didn't try reading it, however, was because my attention had been drawn by something far more intriguing.

It was an ancient photograph. The two people had obviously been made to pose in their best clothes. In Edward's times, photo opportunities did not roll round that often, it would seem.

Edward was dressed in suit, or what would've been considered one back then. He was handsome even before he became a vampire, I realised. His face was not quite as angular, to begin with, but he still closely resembled how he did today. He stood stiffly, as if instructed to do so by a professional photographer of the time, but he still had a true smile on his face. He looked happy, as did the girl sitting on the chair beside him. His hand was resting on her shoulder.

She was very beautiful, with wavy blonde hair pinned back with ornate ribbons. Gloved hands were clasped on her lap. She too smiled happily – I know I would be, in her place, with Edward's hand on my shoulder.

She was slender, with delicate, elfin features. She would be considered a beauty even today. She was probably wearing a corset, but she still looked naturally slim to the extreme. Her long legs were crossed one over the other, and her feet could not be seen from under the many layers of lace and silk which made up her dress.

What did this mean? The girl was by no means related to Edward – despite similar colouring they looked very different – so could she simply be a friend?

Still, they seemed to be about the same age, and to be posing together in a picture…

I turned the old photograph over, ready to return it to the envelope, but I was distracted by what looked to be the same writing as that in the letters.

The ornate cursive read:

My dearest Edward,

Here is our photo taken last Friday. Mama wishes to frame it, but I fear I would laugh whenever I saw it hanging over the mantelpiece. Do we not look so ridiculously stiff and formal!

Lots of love,

Emmeline

*****

I feel like a total hypocrite, writing a fic. for Twilight – I have a very love / hate relationship with those books. Still, I had this idea, and I felt like writing it down, so let's see where it will go. More will be explained in the next few chapters, I promise!

Please R/R!

~Pippa~