A/N: Twilight belongs to SM. I'm just playing around with the possibilities. No infringement intended. I hope everyone enjoys this sequel! BPOV is Bella, EPOV is Edward. (I know, I'm letting him have a voice in this one!)

BPOV

If I could have gotten a headache, I would have by now. I love Alice like almost no one else, but how many stores was she going to drag me through? We weren't even home in Boston yet. At Alice's insistence we'd taken a short detour to New York City. It wasn't until we were walking along 5th Avenue that I realized her true intentions.

"I don't need a new wardrobe, Alice. We can go back to Forks and-"

"No, we can't, Bella," Alice interrupted me. For once she was serious. "Your father was murdered in his own house, and you disappeared on the same night. Not to mention that we disappeared that night, too, although we're supposedly in L.A. Now, how do you think the local authorities are going to look at all of that?"

I was forced to think about the consequences of that night in a new light. She was right. I could never go back. I wondered if anyone had noticed my missing clothes as well, only a day after the murder. I hated to even consider what they thought, but I said it aloud anyway, since I knew Alice was waiting for that. "They're probably thinking that I was in a rage when Edward left, murdered Charlie in some horrible fashion when he wouldn't let me go after you all, and then went into the forest to die as well. Maybe they'll assume that some animal got to me after I took care of myself the same way I did Charlie," I said in a monotone. This wasn't what I had hoped for when I wanted to be turned into a vampire. I'd always imagined being able to keep in touch with Charlie and Renee somehow, even if it was only by email. This was wrong.

"Don't torture yourself over it, Bella," Edward said softly, putting his arm around my shoulder as we walked. "You've done the only thing that could be done. You have your revenge on Victoria. That's all that any of us could have done."

I nodded. I was too distracted by my grief to protest too much when Alice grabbed my hand and darted into a brightly lit store, pulling me along with her. Edward followed quietly behind us. Lucky Jasper, Carlisle, and Esme got to go on ahead to the hotel. I envied them that luxury.

"You have my measurements, Alice," I said accusingly. "Why exactly do I have to be here?"

"Because you need to start doing things normally. You're going to have a pretty steep learning curve as it is. Pretending to be human isn't a one-day thing," she said so quietly that only Edward and I were able to hear her. "There are a lot of things you need to learn." Then she flashed a grin at me. "Plus I need a shopping partner, and I'm not currently talking to Rosalie."

We all stayed quiet about that whole situation. Instead, I let Alice treat me as her own personal doll, finding the "best" clothes to flatter my admittedly beautiful new body and face. I wasn't sure about some of the things she bought, but I had to admit that she proceeded almost as quickly as I wished. Soon we were all loaded with bags and boxes, with more headed to the hotel ahead of us. I don't think I'd ever had so much money spent on me in my entire human existence.

By the time we reached the hotel, Jasper, Esme and Carlisle were settled in. I found myself wondering what vampires did in a hotel when we don't sleep. I soon had my answer.

Apparently, vampires play board games. While I'd seen Edward and Alice attempting to play chess together at home—I mean, back in Forks, I'd never witnessed what I was now party to.

We played Monopoly. There are very few ways for even a psychic vampire to cheat at Monopoly, and Alice's gift didn't help as much as long as we were making spur of the moment decisions instead of planning strategy, so it was actually really fun. I was able to put aside my grief over my parents for the time being and simply enjoy being with this new family of mine in a way I'd only dreamed of. After I soundly trounced everyone at Monopoly, we moved on to group games like Pictionary. Really, you need to see a group of vampires playing Pictionary to understand it. We played women versus men, and Esme, Alice and I unfortunately lost. I teased Alice about this since she was such a good artist, yet Esme and I had such a hard time figuring out what she was drawing! We decided that she just took too long to make it into anything intelligible.

Since it was supposed to be a sunny morning in NYC, we left before dawn. Our plane took off just as the golden rays of the sun began to rise over the horizon. It was beautiful to see the Atlantic Ocean gilded in light. I sighed a little as I put down the shade next to my first-class seat. The other Cullens put theirs down as well. Since we had the cabin to ourselves this trip, it was soon shrouded in shadows.

"I'm glad you're coming home with us," Edward whispered to me, taking my hand in his. I was sure his family could still hear, despite the whisper, and if I could have blushed I would have.

"I'm glad, too," I whispered back. We both settled against our headrests, content to sit there holding hands through the hour and a half flight.