A/N: This story contains Breaking Dawn spoilers. I am not Stephanie Meyer- if I were then I probably wouldn't be writing about aliens attacking Forks [= But if the idea of such a story appeals to you, then leave a review so that I know I should continue ;]

Chapter One- Calm Before the Storm

Bella POV

I ran the brush through Renesmee's hair, getting the tangles out and putting it into a braid for bed. I leaned back into Edward's chest inhaling the scent of my family. Surrounded by the entire Cullen family (plus Jacob, but he would be a member of our family soon enough... unfortunately) in the living room of our house, life couldn't be better. It was like an eternity of paradise.

I put the last elastic in Nessie's hair, "time to go to bed sweetie," I crooned, Nessie stirred in my arms, she was still half asleep. It was only a year after the Volturi incident and she already looked ten. Not that that stopped anyone in the house from picking her up and cuddling her- I'm surprised she's even learned how to walk. No-one ever puts her down.

Jacob had promised to wait until Nessie was old enough to make her own decisions about where their relationship would progress. We had told her everything about imprinting- why not? Why would we keep a secret from her if it would affect her so much? It wouldn't help us with anything, Nessie is mentally developed enough to understand the concept and make her own decisions on when she wants start making out with Jacob. Although I had told her if she did that before she was physically about sixteen or so she'd be grounded for the rest of her life.

She's still in the body of a ten year old though, which means bedtime at eight forty-five every night- and that really irritates her, since her mind is at about the level of a sixteen year old, and sixteen year olds hardly ever go to bed at all. Luckily for us though, she understands the limits of her body and is willing to put up with them.

Edward picked her up and we walked up the stairs to her room. It was painted in all dark blues and golds; we had re-painted Edward's old room for her. It's not like this house doesn't have any empty rooms in it.

We tucked her in and she stirred slightly, I bent down and kissed her forehead. Edward wrapped his arms around me and we walked out of the room and back down the stairs to the living room. I sat back down on the couch and curled up in Edward's lap. Carlisle was watching the news and I heard Esme in the kitchen. Alice and Rosalie were sitting on the floor with fashion magazines and designs spread out around them. Emmett, Jacob and Jasper were down in the basement playing games.

We had allowed the werewolves to take over our cottage, since there was more chance for an accident if they didn't have a space that's 'theirs'- especially since Leah still hates us. She and Seth were visiting my dad and Sue; they would be back in a few days.

I sighed and took a deep breath, when I was this relaxed I could almost pretend I'm human and about to fall asleep. That's the only thing I miss really, I can't dream anymore. Not that I really need to, it's like I'm living in one right now. I turned my attention to Edward, "Do you want to go hunting?" I asked, the burn rising in my throat at the thought of hunting.

"Of course love. I bet we can find some bears up at Goat Rocks," He murmured.

"Mmmm... sounds good to me." I responded. We told Carlisle where we were planning to go and he promised to look after Nessie until we got back. I told him we weren't planning to be long and he told us to take our time. We rarely got very much alone time any more.

That sounded like a good idea to me, there was a beautiful cliff top that looked over the horizon that was virtually inaccessible to humans. Edward and I liked to spend our alone time there.

But first we had to go hunting.

Despite my super control I drank as much blood as about any newborn- no one really wanted to test out how far that control could go, especially since the only humans we could test it on are the ones I really care about. And that probably isn't the best way to go. We climbed into the Volvo, turning it on. I could understand Edward's need for speed now; when you could run faster than the car it made perfect sense to at least make the car go fast -and since we were virtually indestructible and had sharper reflexes than you could imagine- the chances of us getting hurt in a car crash is slim to none.

We pulled our car over onto a dirt road, climbing out and cautiously sniffing the air, looking for any signs of humans. The forest was mysterious at night, the deep greens and browns turning into dark blacks and grays, shadows. My eyes could still make out every detail, every crack in the bark on a tree, every blade of grass. It was amazing. The cars headlight turned off and we were left in the darkness.

"Are you ready love?" asked Edward, his still golden eyes looking almost cat-like in the night. I nodded, slipping into a crouch and taking a deep breath- tasting the air for any hint of that delicious warmth pounding through our prey's veins. Taking in every tiny sound I could hear Edward behind me, the wind rustling softly through the tree's branches and the tiny heartbeats of animals to small to be worth hunting.

And in the distance I heard a deeper thudding, the delicious scent travelling across the distance. I started running, flying through the trees- heading towards the delicious pounding and the ability to quench the ever raging thirst in the back of my throat. The fire roared up as if it was creating a third degree burn in the back of my throat. I launched myself across the distance onto the unsuspecting brown bear, searching for his throat. Its attempts to get me off of it were futile compared to my iron strength. My teeth sank into the bear's neck, cutting through muscle and bone like a hot knife through butter- all the thick fur, strong skin and bones meant to protect that center of life were useless when faced with a vampire.

The warm blood flowed down throat, quenching the thirst and bringing the needed relief. It had an almost nutty flavour- it still didn't taste very good, but after a while one could get used to the bad taste and simply concentrate on the wonderful feeling it had going down your throat. It was like drinking the perfect hot chocolate- just hot enough to still warm you up, but cool enough you could gulp it down without worrying about burning your throat.

I drained it dry, stopping only when there wasn't any blood left in the body. I let the corpse fall through my fingers while I straightened; looking for a place to hide the body. I was still a mess- it wasn't as bad as the first time I hunted, but it was still pretty bad- there was a long rip travelling down the pant leg over my thigh, from where the bear had tried to get me off of him by running his claw down. There were twigs and branches stuck in my hair, I absentmindedly combed it with my fingers, still thinking. I picked up the bear and walked over to a tree, uprooting the tree and dropping the bear into the hole underneath before fitting the tree into place.

The clearing shone beautifully in the night, the moonlight reflecting off of the trees and leaves creating an almost mystical feeling. I wasn't actually feeling that thirsty, I had more or less gone hunting to have some alone time with Edward. I could hear him coming towards me and knew he had had a good meal too. I could smell faint traces of blood on him- as I'm sure he could smell them on me. That's assuming that he somehow missed the huge rip in my clothing and the drops of blood in the center of the clearing- not enough for humans to see or smell, but as a vampire it was as clear as the moon on a cloudless night.

He walked over and slung his arm around my shoulders, pulling me towards him so I felt enveloped in his soft scent. I inhaled softly, "Are you done Mrs. Cullen?"

I nodded slightly, smiling playfully. "Why of course I am Mr. Cullen." I wrapped my arms around him and found myself being lifted off the ground. I laughed, the bell-like noise ringing of the trees in the still night air, echoing and shattering the clear peace. Soon we were running, dancing around each other, our laughter pealing through the air as we talked of inconsequential things- for once in our lives there was no looming disaster, nothing to suppress the bright, vibrant feeling of our love. And if all went well the rest of our eternity would be like this as we lived together in our own piece of forever.

We got to the edge of the mountain and began to climb up, still teasing each other playfully. The rock crumbled underneath my grip as I found my handholds- the way paper would crumble in someone's grip. I loved the strength and power; I was so used to being the damsel in distress. Now though, I could actually hold my own instead of getting flattened by the mythical world around me.

Edward got to the ledge first, pulling himself over. We looked over a secluded ledge, almost totally surrounded by rock. There was an ancient oak tree that stood in the shade in the far back- Edward and I had spent one afternoon speculating how it could have possibly gotten there, we still hadn't figured it out. There was a creek running through the center, it was melt water from the tiny glacier at the top of the mountain. The ground was covered in flowers and grass.

The moonlight shone down on the strange place, bathing the world in silver. I turned around, knowing that I was about to see something with a stunning perfection. I looked over the horizon. The stars shone, bright and blinding across the sky. I could make out every tiny miniscule speck of light and see colours that humans couldn't even imagine. It was spectacular; I still get a shock every time I travel up there at night. It was the perfect paradise for Edward and I, the one place we knew that no one could ever find us, it was our space. We were the only vampires or humans to be up there.

It was wonderful.

I sat down on the edge of the cliff, my feet hanging over the edge. Edward sat down beside me, wrapping his arms around me. I loved how he didn't feel cold anymore- we could hug each other for an eternity without having to stop because I started shivering.

Edward reached and pushed my hair behind my ear, and our eyes met. I stared into the molten pools of gold, loosing myself in them for an eternity of bliss. They always had that effect on me- no matter how many times I see him I always feel slightly dazzled, even if we're only grocery shopping for Renesmee.

He broke the silence first, his lips moving to form the words I love most of all, "I love you Bella."

"I love you too Edward," I whispered breathlessly, still dazzled beyond measure.

He pulled me into a passionate kiss, our lips moving together, our hands grabbing at each other. It probably would have gone farther- it always does- except right as I was grabbing at his clothes there was a huge flash of light. It flew across the sky, brightening the night sky so it looked almost like day. I heard it hit the ground with a huge crash.

We both stopped kissing and turned to look at the strange column of smoke rising up from the forest. "What the on earth was that?" I gasped.

Edward looked out at it, his eyes narrowed slightly. "No idea, I'm hearing intelligent thoughts, but it's not in a language I've ever heard before. Or ever heard of for that matter- it's like it's not of this world."

I frowned before shrugging, "There's really nothing we can do about it. Let's go talk to Carlisle and see what he says." I laughed, "Maybe there are aliens in Forks now too!"

He laughed too, "I think it's pretty safe to say that the one imaginary creature in Forks that doesn't exist is an alien. Why would aliens want to come here?"

"Oh I know- all the rain and muck... especially all the green." I laughed, almost forgetting how I had balked at the colour green as a human. It's strange how the memories blurred- they warned me that they would seem faint and distant, but I couldn't really understand. As a human I'd never experienced any of the sharper senses, the clearer thoughts- so I couldn't really understand just how poor our senses are.

I leaned in to Edward and we started kissing again, I reached for his clothes, preparing to finish what the strange beam of light had so rudely interrupted.

Alien POV

This planet... it's so perfect... all of this green, this health and life. It will last for centuries supplying the needs of Aeolia, and the intelligent creatures of this planet are of just the right strength for servants; not uncontrollable, yet still useful, and they are the most powerful creatures here- they've proven it themselves with all their research- so we have nothing to worry about. Even the silly animals are perfect for heavy labour.

Yes... oh yes, I think we will be staying here for a while.

Bella POV

I took a deep breath and threw myself off the cliff- being indestructible has its definite advantages. It felt like I was flying, I gripped tightly to Edwards hand as the ground loomed up, speeding more quickly than I thought possible.

I landed on the ground, my feet sinking about an inch into the soft ground. Edward and I shot through the woods, the dark greens and browns of the forest lightening to softer greens and browns as the sun rose. We had been out the entire night and the sun had risen behind the murky dark gray clouds of Forks.

Edward opened the door to the house, still not letting go of my hand. I laughed quietly as Renesmee bounded down the stairs, "Morning Momma!" she practically sang, bouncing down the stairs, "morning Daddy! Grandpa said that you went out hunting and would be back soon."

She jumped on Edward, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his clothing. She bounded over to me, "Morning Nessie," I crooned, kissing her on the forehead, "did you sleep well?"

She nodded, "Uh-huh, is Jake coming over today?" her face lit up at the thought of her imprint, filling it with the kind of glow I got when I looked at my family.

Edward and I looked at each other wryly, "I'm sure he will be Nessie, he can't seem to stay away." I said, my voice dry.

"Stupid mutt." I heard Rosalie hiss upstairs. I tried not to laugh- she's lucky Nessie didn't hear her. Nessie was getting touchy about how various members of our family treated Jacob- lucky for me, she doesn't remember when I lunged for Jacob's throat after totally and inexplicably losing control, I still felt slightly bad about breaking Seth's arm, but it had healed perfectly and I had learned my lesson, so beating myself up about it was worthless.

There was a knock on the door and Jacob came through, followed by Charlie. I took a breath before his scent saturated the room and tried not to listen to the delicious promise his beating heart held. His eyes widened and I mentally cursed myself about not changing clothes- or wearing contacts. Hopefully he'll ignore the change of eye and only see all the destroyed clothing. Although how anyone could miss the eyes... I don't know, "Whoa, Bells- are you okay?" I think it's the claw marks in the jeans that are freaking him out. It's definitely not the eyes, I told myself stubbornly.

"Need to know Dad, and this really falls into the need to know column. I'm fine, not a scratch. See?" I twirled around, seeing the disbelief on his face. I mentally winced at my mistake. I had just given him a view of just how destroyed my clothes were, and a view of how totally un-destroyed I was. "I'm going to go get cleaned up, be right back."

Charlie shrugged, very obviously trying not to think about it. I jogged up the stairs at human speed, taking a shower and getting all the mud out of my hair, I carefully selected the contacts, grabbing a few extra sets in case Charlie stayed for as long as usual.. I looked into the closet and chose a long sleeved white sweater and a black skirt, the most normal things I could find. I went and walked back down the stairs. Charlie looked relieved at my apparent normalness.

I bet I sure looked relieved at my apparent normalness.

The T.V. was on and there was a baseball game playing, I didn't bother looking at the teams- although my memory was good I hadn't exactly had the opportunity to study baseball teams what with the Volturi coming for a visit and all. All of the guests had only left three days ago. I still get shivers of terror when I think about how close we were to getting wiped off the planet- or worse, ending up in the guard for all eternity

Charlie looked around, "so I take it all the guests have left then?"

I nodded, "yep," I hesitated, unsure of how to go on, but Jake solved the problem for me.

"It's about time too," he laughed, "at least the Drac-"

I cut him off before he could say 'Draculas one and two,' "we're on a need to know basis, remember Jake." I hissed too quietly for Charlie to hear, louder, I said, "Jake, just because you didn't like them doesn't mean the rest of us didn't either. They were all nice."

"To you maybe," muttered Jacob.

Charlie however, hadn't noticed the awkwardness of the topic, and continued to ask questions about our guests, figuring that if there were others involved it was a safe topic, "so what were they here for anyways. You were rather preoccupied by all of them, and they were here for an awfully long time."

"Family reunion," I said at the exact same time as Jacob said, "funeral." We both looked at each other, and I could see Jacob mentally swearing.

"Need to know?" was all he said.

"Oh, yes." We both said.