Chapter One: Home Sweet Home

(Martha's POV)

I stopped to take an unnecessary but welcomed breath of fresh air as I wandered through the woods surrounding Forks, Washington. I was finally back home, and the breath of air filled my senses with all the smells of home.

For almost the past year, I had decided to go nomad, which meant leaving my family behind. It was nothing against my family, I loved them very much. If I didn't love them, I wouldn't be coming back. But sometimes a girl just needs her space, and I had been living with my adoptive father, Dr. Carlisle Cullen, since he found me nearly dead from a gunshot wound in the late 1700's. And our family had only grown since my arrival, first with my brother Edward, then my mother, Esme. Next were my other siblings, Rosalie, Emmett, Alice and Jasper, Bella, and finally my niece, Renesmee. No matter how many siblings were changed after me, it would never change that I was physically they youngest, being only 15 years old. I was the baby of the family, and I loved that position, although it had made the year away from home hard. I was ready to go back to being the baby sister that all my siblings spoiled, and most of all I was looking forward to being Daddy's Little Girl and mom's "baby".

It was as if I hadn't been gone for a year – that was how little Forks had changed. It made it very easy to find the road that led to my family's home, buried away from all the other homes in the small town. As I walked up the drive, I could distinctly make out the scent of Carlisle's Mercedes on the road very recently. I grinned as I realized he must have just gotten home from work.

I had to make sure to continually not make up my mind about actually going home, or just turning around, and forget about visiting my family. I didn't want Alice to have a vision of me coming – it would ruin the surprise.

My dark red hair blew in front of my golden eyes, and I took off running for the house at full vampire speed as I continued to think.

Maybe I'll come by. Maybe I'll stay. Maybe I'll just visit for a few minutes. Maybe I'll run right past the house. Maybe I'll make a U-Turn before I even reach the house… I grinned. If for some reason, Alice was trying to figure out my future, I was giving her a headache. I knew it was mean to give my older sister a headache, and if her mate, Jasper, knew I was doing it intentionally, there would be hell to pay. Jasper did not like people using the holes in his mate's gift to make her life harder. Suddenly, I was in front of my house.

There it was. Home sweet home. I slowed down to a human-paced walk, and went up to the front door before ringing the doorbell.

A minute later, the door opened, and my brother Edward opened the door. He stared at me in shock.

"Take a picture, big bro. It'll last longer." I said, smiling.

"Martha?" he asked, still obviously stunned to see me. I grinned, knowing I had successfully kept my plans from Alice. Even if she had seen me and decided not to tell anyone, Edward would have seen her vision in her mind. He would have known.

"In the vampire flesh" I said before taking a dramatic stance.

"Martha!" he yelled, excitedly. Obviously the shock had worn off. He grabbed me in a tight hug and spun me around. I laughed at his enthusiastic greeting.

"Mom! Dad! Rose! Bella! Emmett! Alice! Jasper! Nessie!" He yelled for everyone, "Come here! Martha is home!"

The sounds of several pairs of feet could be heard all over the house, and suddenly my family was surrounding me.

"Martha! Martha! Martha! Martha! Martha!" Alice came running downstairs, and all but pounced onto me. Then she looked at me. "I didn't see you coming."

"That's because I deliberately didn't make any solid plans to come home. I wanted to surprise everyone." I said with a smile. Alice started punching me.

"Ow! Hey!" I said. "Someone get the pixie off of me."

"Alice, love" Jasper said, and came over to pry his mate off of me. "Let her have some time at home before you start hitting her."

"She hid from me!" Alice said. Though she seemed mad, I knew she was happy to have me.

"Come here kiddo!" Emmett said, and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug.

"Nice to see you too, Em," I said, grinning as he called me "kiddo". It use to annoy me, but I soon got over it and saw it as his term of endearment for me, his baby sister.

"We've missed you around here, Martha." Rosalie said, smiling. "Life isn't the same without you around."

"I know. I can't see how you could have survived without me around to keep things exciting."

"Welcome home, Aunt Martha" Nessie said.

"Thank you, Ness." I said, hugging her.

"Are you staying?" Bella asked as she hugged me, "You better be, because none of us are going to let you get away with just coming by for a visit."

I grinned at Bella. "Yes, I'm staying."

"Welcome home, baby!" Esme said, nearly crying the venom tears vampires made.

"Yes, welcome back, Martha" Carlisle greeted me warmly. "I've missed having my angel around."

There it was: "baby" and "my angel". The two terms I had missed more than anything else. Finally coming down from the high the excitement of everyone welcoming me home, I noticed something I had missed before. There was another vampire here. And it was a scent I didn't recognize. I looked towards where the sent was coming from, and saw a young girl standing by the couch with her arms crossed, watching me and my family.

"Who is this?" I asked, looking over at the girl.