One Family:

Summary: One night changes everything about Dr. Edward Cullen's life when he suddenly has to take full custody of his two little girls. Caring full time for little ones is different than part time. One night changes Dr. Bella Swan's perspective after nearly losing her young son to a fatal car accident. What brings Edward and Bella together, two complete strangers? Is it the same thing that threatens to tear them apart?

AN: This is a storyline I've been playing around with for awhile. I wanted to write something like this for years and I attempted to, several times. I tried using Emmett and Rosalie, Jasper and Alice, even Carlisle and Esme because honestly, I used to hate Bella but then, I said oh why not and tried writing the storyline with Bella and Edward and couldn't stop. Like thank God it's Christmas break and I have time to write because I literally can't stop. So here you go, chapter one of what I hope will be a long and amazing story. I have chapter two ready but I'm trying this thing where I only post a new chapter after the next one is completely done so we'll see if that works out. Without further ado, here you go.

Chapter 1: My Little Girl

I listened with a smile on my face as my six year old rambled on and on about everything she wanted Santa to bring her for Christmas this year. She and my eight year old little one would be flying from their home with their mother in Chicago to where I lived in New Canaan, Connecticut, roughly 840 miles away in three days, the day they got out of school for Christmas break. My divorce agreement with my former wife Chelsea was simple. She kept the girls during the school year but I got them on all their breaks, for summer vacation, fall break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break, and Easter. We had decided that the best thing for the girls would be to stay with their mother so they wouldn't have to switch schools, so as much as I hated it, I only saw them when they weren't in school.

"Daddy, you want to know what I want very most for Christmas?" Leighton asked happily.

"What do you want very most for Christmas?" I asked my little one.

"I want to go to Disney World and meet Minnie and Mickey and all the princesses." She told me happily.

I smiled to myself, Leighton and Emery had both been asking to go to Disney for over two years now and Carlisle and Esme had decided to grant their grandchildren's wishes and planned a trip for the whole family this summer.

"We'll see princess." I told her not wanting to give anything away.

"I wish you could be here tonight Daddy, to see me in the Christmas play." Leighton sighed.

"I know princess but your Mommy is going to record it so I can watch it." I told her.

"Emery wants to talk to you." Leighton told me. "I love you Daddy, I'll call you tomorrow."

"I love you to princess; I'll be looking forward to it." I told my little one.

There was a brief pause before I heard the pone rustle a little. "Daddy?" She asked.

"Hey pumpkin." I smiled.

"Daddy I don't want to do the play but Mommy says I have to because I made a commitment." She told me sadly.

"Why don't you want to do it sweetheart? You were so excited about it just a few days ago." I asked my nervous little one.

"I keep forgetting my lines and I'm afraid people will laugh at me." My daughter admitted.

"You'll be fine pumpkin, you'll do great tonight. You'll be the best head elf in the history of elves." I told her.

"Do you really think so Daddy?" She asked.

"Of course pumpkin." I smiled.

"I have to go now Daddy, Mommy says it's time to leave." Emery told me.

"Okay pumpkin, I love you. Do great tonight out there." I told my little one.

"Okay Daddy, I love you too. I'll talk to you later." She told me.

With that the phone hung up and I went back to what I had previously been doing, reading through new surgical techniques. I worked as a pediatric surgeon at New Canaan Children's Hospital but was also one of the physicians in my father's practice, Cullen Children's Clinic. We had physicians from all types of pediatric specialties. My father, who of course was one of the doctors that started the practice, is one of the best pediatric cardiologists in Connecticut. My uncle, Eleazar, was the other doctor that started it as well, Dad's brother. He is one of the best pediatric neurologists in the country. They wanted to work together but no practices in New Canaan had more than one specialty so they started their own. Now, there are thirteen of us in the practice. Dad, who gives us a cardiologist, Uncle Eleazar, who gives us a neurologist, my brother Emmett, who gives us non-operative sports medicine, my sister-in-law Rosalie who gives us a general pediatrician, my brother-in-law Jasper, who gives us an orthopedic surgeon, me, my cousins Tanya and Irina who give us two more general pediatricians, my cousin Kate and her husband Garrett, a pulmonologist and an oncologist, Mike Newton, another pediatric surgeon, Angela Cheney, a gastroenterologist, and Jacob Black, a endocrinologist. We're currently searching for a fourteenth and a fifteenth, a pediatric psychiatrist and a rheumatologist, but we've yet to find someone for either specialty that we all agree on and though Dad and Uncle Eleazar have the final say so in who is hired or fired, they like all of our inputs.

The younger ones of us, everyone besides Dad and Uncle Eleazar had a lot to live up to in the future. Carlisle and Eleazar had built this place out of nothing; they had started just the two of them and grown substantially. The original specialist had all retired and now we had replaced them. They had been amazing physicians and we all had big shoes to fill which so far, we had.

At 5:40, I put away my laptop and got a coat and some shoes on. Today was Tuesday, family dinner night at my parents, or occasionally at Uncle Eleazar and Aunt Carmen's, but tonight's was at my parents' house. So I made the drive from my home to theirs and arrived just before 6:00. I parked my SUV behind Rosalie's BMW which was behind Alice's Porsche. Uncle Eleazar, Tanya, Irina, and Garrett had all managed to get their cars in the driveway and there was probably room for the other three cars as well but there was an unspoken rule that no one blocked anyone in at family dinner in case someone needed to leave.

As I parked my car I smiled at the sight my eyes landed on. My nephews were playing in the snow in the front yard. Logan and Lucas, Emmett's nine year old twin boys, were throwing snowballs at each other, Oliver, Alice's four year old son stood by attempting to make snow angels nearby. My girls were the only girls in the family but when they were here they weren't afraid to play in the mud or play some football with their cousins.

"Uncle Edward, catch!" Logan yelled as I walked up and suddenly had to grab a snowball to stop it from hitting me in the face.

"Better be careful Logan, Santa's watching." I cautioned.

His bright blue eyes, Emmett's eyes, got wide as he looked at me. "Sorry Uncle Edward." He gasped.

I chuckled. "That's alright buddy." I told him as I fixed his toboggan which was falling off his head.

I made my way inside the house and to the living room where the guys sat watching National Lampoon's Christmas.

"Edward, are the boys still intact?" My uncle asked as I plopped on the couch.

I smiled. "So far so good."

"Have you spoken to the girls lately?" My father asked, his lips curling slightly. He couldn't help but smile when he talked of his granddaughters. In his eyes they were the greatest things that had ever happened and they always would be.

"Just did actually. Their Christmas play is tonight, Emery is a little nervous but Leighton is ecstatic." I smiled.

"I can't wait to see the squirts, just three days." Emmett smiled.

"You just can't wait to play football with Emery." Jasper chuckled.

"What can I say, she's my first pick for the family football game with the distant cousins because she can throw the longest and run the fastest." Emmett shrugged.

"Better not let Logan and Lucas hear you talk like that." Garrett laughed.

"Logan's throw is getting better, he'll make a good quarterback eventually but I think Lucas is going to have to stick to baseball." Emmett told me. "But Emery, Emery's got a gift. I mean she's a year younger than my boys and has never played football for real but is a lot better. You should tell Chelsea to get Emery on a team."

"That's never going to happen." I disagreed. "I don't want little boys tackling my little girl all the time."

"I guess soccer is going to have to do." Emmett sighed.

My little Emery really was quite the athlete. She excelled at any and every sport she ever played, her favorite being soccer though. Leighton was a little different when it came to sports, she liked the girly stuff like gymnastics, cheerleading, and ballet.

"Emmett, Jasper, go get the kids for dinner!" My mother called from the kitchen.

My brother and brother-in-law both got up off the couch and made their way to the foyer while the rest of us made our way to various bathrooms to wash our hands and then made our way to the dining room where everyone took their seats, Carlisle blessed the food, and we all began eating the casserole my mother had prepared.

Laurent and Irina were happily whispering to each other the way engaged couples did, smiling as they sipped on their wine. I hadn't been so sure about Laurent at first. I had done my residency with him when we were younger and he had the reputation for being quite the player but he had settled down, once he got his career as a trauma surgeon underway, and he made my cousin happy. Tanya was the only of my cousins that had not found her "soul mate" which meant we were the only two singles at the table. I think she secretly has a little fling with Seth Clearwater, a guy she was in school with that works as an investment banker in New York but she denies it.

Everyone was having their own conversations. My mother and aunt were talking about all the plans we had for Christmas, my father, uncle, Emmett, Garrett, and Jasper were talking about the ski trip we had planned for New Year's, and the ladies at the table were discussing everything they could think of, from nails to clothes to shopping. I was partially involved with the conversation about skiing but mostly thinking about my own plans with my daughters. I knew that Leighton would beg to go into the city to ice skate while Emery would want to go see the New York Red Bulls play. I knew that both girls would want to go shopping in the city, Leighton for clothes and toys, Emery for soccer balls and Harry Potter things. I planned to let my girls do everything they could dream of during the holidays because they deserved it.

My phone began ringing and I sighed. I assumed it was the hospital needing a pediatric surgeon so I excused myself and headed to the quiet kitchen to answer. The number wasn't a local number though, it was a Chicago number.

"Dr. Cullen." I answered.

"Is this Edward Cullen?" A woman asked.

"This is he, yes." I told her.

"I'm Emily Uley, a nurse at Chicago Memorial Hospital. I'm sorry to tell you this over the phone but sir, there's been an accident." She told me.

As soon as those words left her mouth I felt like my whole world was crashing down. I didn't even know what kind of accident or the extent of the injuries my girls had suffered but I knew for the hospital to be calling me something serious must have happened to my little girls.

"Are my daughters okay?" Was all I managed to get out of my house as the lump in my throat began to grow.

"They're both in surgery, I'm sorry we couldn't wait for your consent but the girls were both in critical condition when they arrived. Their mother, I'm so sorry sir but your wife didn't make it." She told me.

"She's actually my ex-wife." I corrected. "Oh God, she's dead?" I asked after the news hit me.

"We tried our very best to resuscitate her but the damage her brain and heart took were just too extensive." She told me. "How fast can you get here sir?"

"I'm in Connecticut, the drive will take 12 hours but I'm going to look into flights to try and get there quicker." I told her. "Oh God, what's happened to my daughters? I'm a doctor just tell me please."

"The older one, Emery, she was sitting in the front seat and the airbag just crushed her small body. It broke four of her ribs, two on each side, and her sternum. It broke her right collarbone and elbow, and it also broke her nose and eye socket. The ribs punctured her left lung and her spleen which the doctors are going to do their best to repair but the spleen may need to be removed. The younger one, Leighton was sitting behind the driver's seat which is the side the car was hit on. It broke her left arm, left elbow, left femur, left leg, one of her ribs on her left side, but the worst of her injuries is a small bleed in her brain but our neurosurgeon is confident that a few burr holes will fix that and she won't need to be opened up." The nurse told me. "You've got some tough little girls Dr. Cullen, I'll watch over them until you get here."

"Thank you, I'm on my way." I told her.