Chapter 1:

Spencer sat down, recoiling from his father's curious gaze. Concentrating on the cracks in the wall, he was glad that he had abilities similar to his adoptive mother's and was naturally resistant to his father's mind reading. It would be too embarrassing to have his father know the whole truth and he wanted to leave out most details to avoid getting the talk. He sighed knowing he would have to tell him some things if he wanted any advice at all, he supposed that his father was the most experience in his particular situation.

"Dad," Spencer breathed, "I need to ask you about something and I want you to hear me out before you pack up and move us out of town."

"What is it, son?" Edward asked with a flicker of panic in his ochre eyes.

"Well... um..." If his heart beat, Spencer's would have been in his throat right now.

"We don't keep secrets in the Cullen coven. Just tell me." Edward's tone burned with that authoritative quality. It happened occasionally ever since Carlisle's death; since Edward had become head of the family.

"I think that you're the best person to come to with this. There's this girl – a mortal girl – at school and... I think I'm in love with her." Spencer stopped and glanced up at his father to observe his reaction.

Edward's face did not hold the rage Spencer had expected. Instead he smiled and leaned in with curiosity. "Does she feel the same way about you?"

Spencer looked down at his thumbs as they wrestled in his nervous palms. "Well, the thing is, I've sort of been watching her from a distance. She is in my maths and physics classes, I've managed to say hi a couple of times and she even borrowed my pen one day." Spencer smiled, relishing the memory. He remembered how he snatched her pencil case from her locker while she wasn't watching. He returned it, of course.

Edward's brow furrowed, "That is creepy. It kind of reminds me of someone." For a moment, Edward stared passed Spencer, obviously reliving some past memory. Spencer wondered who he was thinking about. Edward must have seen the confusion on Spencer's face and straightened up. "When a man loves a woman, and that woman loves that man in return–"

Here it comes, Spencer thought.

"Only then can they have a trusting relationship. Following her around and doing things like watching her sleep; breaking her car so she can't go and see your love rivals; mocking her clumsiness and mortal inferiority all the time; using her teenage sexual cravings to coax her into marriage at a young age..."

"What are you getting at Dad?"

"Woo her. Be nice, friendly and don't come on too strongly. Let your relationship grow and don't do anything too serious before at least a few years of knowing her. You don't want to wind up married young with a hybrid baby and a bitter divorce on the horizon." Edward scowled out of the window wall.

"Learn from mistakes, right? Any word from Mom and Alice?"

"They arrived in Vancouver this morning. They sound like they're having fun."

"Maybe you guys can work it out when she gets back. She has a whole trip around the world to think it over."

"Maybe..." Edward sighed.