Chapter 1- adoption

Edwards POV

"Remind me why we're doing this again?" Rosalie complained as we walked up the orphanage steps.

That girl truly has no heart. And as that's coming from a vampire that's truly an insult.

"It's what Esme wants." Carlisle replied giving Esme's hand a gentle squeeze.

"So let me get this straight, you plan to adopt a human. Right?" Rosalie started. We nodded. "how do you plan on explaining the time we spend away from school, when its sunny and the time we go away to hunt?"

She has a fair point. Unfortunately.

No-one answered her, mainly because we had no reasonable answer. Carlisle had knocked on the door now and we where waiting for someone to answer. We must have looked like a rather scary group, all ten of us stood outside an orphanage in the middle of London. Carlisle and Esme stood hand in hand at the front of our massive group, Alice was behind them bobbing excitedly up and down while Jasper tried to restrain her with waves of calm every few minutes, then Bella and I my arm was wrapped around her waist as she glanced around the building taking in the windows, behind us Rosalie was complaining quietly to Emmett, the only one who would actually listen to her. Jake and Nessie where right at the back another thing for Rosalie to complain about.

The door opened quietly to reveal a lady with graying hair and friendly blue eyes, she was dressed all in black and I could tell by Jaspers reaction that she was sad.

"Ah you must be the Cullen's." She croaked opening the door fully and gesturing for us to follow.

Esme smiled widely and skipped up the steps at a bit more than a human pace. We followed after her into a dark hallway.

The kids loose there parents then get shoved into this depressing place. Carlisle thought looking around making me chortle.

We where led into a large office like room with the same dark wooden walls, floor and ceiling. There was a portrait on the wall of a middle aged women with red hair and bright green eyes, the lady caught me looking at the picture and smiled sadly.

"That's the orphanages creator, Sophie Daniels, she died two weeks ago in a car accident with her husband, leaving there daughter here." She explained dabbing at her now watering eyes. "Great lady." She added taking a seat behind the desk and going through some papers. "Now I gather you are here to adopt?"

No we're here to buy a cake. Rosalie thought stubbornly. I growled quietly so that the lady couldn't here but everyone else in the room could.

"I'm the new owner, Mrs. Francis. Is there any particular age group you are after?" she asked. "That sounds awful doesn't it?"

"Its fine, no particular age group no, though we don't want them to be completely reliant on us." Carlisle smiled.

"Well Kat's a very nice girl, though she has withdrawn since her parent death." she suggested.

How does she know what she was like before there death? I thought confused. I found myself frowning and tried to relax but not quickly enough somehow.

"Oh, she's Sophie's daughter, she's just turned fifteen actually." Two weeks ago. She added in her head. Then she dug into one of the draws beside her, pulling out a thin folder and opening it onto the front page, she span it around to show the picture to Esme and Carlisle. It revealed a girl with pale skin and red hair which shone golden in some lights, she had bright green eyes which where full of laughter and for some reason reminded me of Alice. "This was taken a few days before her parent's death. We would love her to go to a good home, she really did help the younger children settle in." she explained while Carlisle flicked through the information given about her.

"Any health problems we should know about." He muttered passing it on to Esme.

"None that we know of. If you would like to meet her I suggest you hang around but don't feel obliged to do so." She smiled. I was busy reading over Esme's shoulder but the sound of running feat interrupted me. I heard the front door open and the sound slowed to a fast walking pace, I could hear there music playing.

Jasper's POV

I didn't know who was coming down the hallway but whoever it was was absurdly sad, though that feeling seemed to be hidden behind a mask of calm and uncaring, easily shattered. They where now entering human hearing range so I turned to look out the door, just in time to see a girl with straight orange hair pinned into a pony tail and pale skin walk past the door, she was in a school uniform consisting of a white blouse, black tie, a black skirt which ended just above her knees and black shoes. A black shoulder bag was on one shoulder being held by a long fingered pale hand with black nails. She walked swiftly away leaving me staring after her for a moment. Anyone I could think of would have broken down in to tears being that sad, even the toughest man. I turned to look at the front desk again.

"That was her then. Do you want to meet her?" Mrs. Francis asked, looking around all of us, her eyes resting on Alice who was still bouncing on the balls of her feet after I gave up on calming her when we came in.

"Yes please." Esme smiled looking around at all of us.

"I'll just go and get her for you." She smiled standing up and leaving, as soon as she was out of earshot, Edward turned to me.

"What's wrong?"

"She's just really, really sad, I'm surprised she isn't crying, but she's like hidden it behind like a mask of calm or something. That mask will brake and we're gonna have like a full bore brake down on our hands." I shrugged sadly.

"Oh come on can't be that bad." Emmett smiled.

"Seriously man it is." I confirmed.

"Just another not to adopt her." Rosalie smiled folding her arms across her chest.

Carlisle POV

"Rose give her a chance, you might like her." I advised facing her, she watched me for a moment, then huffed.

"fine." She moaned as we heard footsteps coming back down the stairs this time two sets. We waited a few more seconds until the new owner returned followed by Kat, she had gotten changed and was now dressed in a tye-dye style gray singlet top and black shorts, her eyes where lined with mascara making them appear larger and darker than they actually where.

"Katrina, these are the Cullen's." The new owner introduced quietly giving her a gentle push into the room.

"Hello." She whispered glancing at all of us.

She was small about the same height as Alice, her shoulders where slightly hunched I guessed out of nerves as she was blushing slightly which deepened when she saw Rosalie who still had her arms folded.

Esme smiled excitedly and gestured to the remaining seat beside her. Kat moved nervously past Jakes massive form then past Emmett until she reached the seat.

"I'll leave you alone." Mrs. Francis smiled backing out the room.

"thanks." I smiled after her.