I opened my eyes to the early morning sun shining through my window. It was unusual, and reminded me of home.

Back in Phoenix, I lived with my mother and my older brother Emmett. It had been just the tree of us for a while since our mom, Renee had left our father Charlie when I was just a baby. When I was in middle school, Renee had met a pro baseball player named Phil who, about a year later, became our step father. Phil got drafted to play for the Rays in Tampa, Florida and grew tired of traveling between there and Phoenix. I could tell that my mom missed him too. I decided to take myself out of the picture so that they could be together without worrying about me. I decided to move to Forks with Charlie.

Emmett had already enlisted in the army and was in Iraq fighting for our country. I looked up to him. He is brave, my superhero.

I was so proud of Emmett and missed him so much. Tears pooled in my eyes as I thought about how far away he was. Emmett and I were and are close. And even though he was four years older then me, I tended to be way more mature and I reluctantly admit to finding his childish ways enduring. I loved that about him.

But, moving t the complete opposite side of the country from my family wasn't all that bad. Washington was rainy, yes, but my friends created mock sunshine.

On my first day in Forks, my father introduced me to his neighbor who was a single father to a daughter my age. Her name was Rosalie. Her looks were contrary to her modest life. She was tall, five eight maybe, and had long blonde hair that waved gently down her back. She dressed like a super model. Hell! She looked like a super model! Rosalie had an innocent baby face with beautiful blue eyes and pouty lips. She appeared to be the girl in school who was head cheerleader and had all the men begging at her feet for her to give them some. But she wasn't that girl at all. She was a loyal and accepting person who on the weekends, worked in the shop with her father… as a mechanic.

Rose and I had become good friends and I was introduced to her best friend Alice. A short, pixie-like girl with strait black hair that landed just past her shoulders and a personality that made her seem like she was constantly high on sugar sticks. She was also a fashionista whom I soon found out was responsible for Rose's wardrobe, too. She scared the living crap out of me when she had said "Your next," in her high, sing-song voice. I was absolutely comfortable in my jeans and a t-shirt, thank you.

I had met Rosalie's cousin, Jasper, who was a junior and was also Alice's boyfriend. I didn't see how. Jasper was an extremely calm person and Alice was, well, Alice. But they some how balanced each other out. Looks-wise, he had curly blonde hair that fell to his chin and blue eye. And man! He was tall! Like a whole two feet taller than Alice. I wonder how that worked? Whatever.

The last person in their group that I met was Edward who was a sophomore like Rose, Alice and I. He also so happened to be Alice's twin brother. Though, no one on the outside would have guessed it. They looked absolutely nothing alike. He was about six feet tall with a mess of copper hair on his head pair with green eyes that were set in the most gorgeous face I had ever seen.

I was in love with him and I couldn't believe it when, one day, he had told me that he loved me back.

And right now, I looked away from the sun and down to the sleeping teenage boy in my bed. He was lying on his stomach with his face buried in the pillow, the blanket only up to the waist of his naked body. I felt kind of bad to for the way that I shamelessly stared at the muscles of his back, my eyes trailing up his spine and over his biceps. My cute, adorable, sexy soccer, piano and guitar player.

I giggled when I recalled his excitement about the MVP award he had earned at the winter sports ceremony last week. He was so giddy. And, afterwards, we had a gathering with friends and family to celebrate. That was the night he had first played the song he had written for me. Adequately titled: Bella's Lullaby.

As cocky as Edward could be, he was also so… selfless. Yeah, a walking contradiction, I know. But he really did put most people before himself. Of course there are always the acceptations such as, ahem, Jessica and Lauren, ahem. He generally put more effort and care into the people he loves. And that is what I love about him; His confidence and his caring nature.

So, now, I decided to ignore his good nature and give him a very unpleasant awakening. I reached over across his body and grabbed the glass of stagnant water. Dipping my fingers into the liquid, I gathered a good amount on my hands. I quickly removed them and flicked my fingers near his face, sprinkling it with water. His face scrunched and he brought his hand up to his face a swiped the liquid off like a squeegee. Edward slowly opened his sleepy green eyes and shot me a nasty glare. I giggled, It was just too easy to mess with him.

"You think it's funny, huh?" He asked in a groggy voice as he snatched the glass from my hands and mimicked what I had done to him, spattering my face with stale water.

I gasped, "Edward!"

I so badly wanted to get back at him, but I really didn't want to start a full out water war in my bedroom. In my bed.

Apparently Edward had a different idea because he flicked water at me again.

"Stop, Edward! Your going to get my bed wet!" I screeched. At least my dad left early this morning for his fishing trip…

"I already did…" He smirked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"Edward!" I screeched as I slapped his chest. I could feel my cheeks burning from the rose colored blush that frequently scorched my face.

"I love it when you blush," Edward whispered as his hand reached up to caress my cheeks. Then, he leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on my lips. "and I love you." See? And there's the sweet side. All in less than thirty seconds.

Swooning I whispered my affections back. "I love you, too."

Then the infamous Edward Cullen smirk has made an appearance… again. It always showed up when he was going to make a snot-ball remark.

"I know you do, baby" Yep, see, I told you!

"Uh-huh." Was all I said as I hopped out of bed and made my way to my dresser drawer. I pulled on some light blue and white boy shorts paired with a white, lace-trim camisole. I turned and saw Edward standing there in nothing but his charcoal colored boxer briefs. Naturally, I gawked at his well defined abs and the deep V that disappeared into his underwear.

"Ugh! I'm drooling!" I joked even though I knew that Edward's ego was already filled up to the brink and dangerously close to a nuclear explosion. Which is highly illegal.

Edward sauntered towards me and picked up his black tee from the rocking chair on his way. He stood in front of me and slowly pulled his shirt over his head.

"Better." He asked wrapping his strong arms around me.

"Yeah. That shirt prevents me from slobbering like a St. Bernard, but I still feel my glands working. Hmm." I tapped my chin, pretending to think, "Maybe you should put on some pants."

He laughed and turned around to pick up his kaki cargo pants off the floor. He pulled them over his legs and buckled his belt.

"Sexy! Yeah, so, I'm still drooling."

"You know what?" he laughed. "You have no room to talk, miss. Walk-Around-Nothing-But-My-Underwear."

"You have a point!" I agreed as I grabbed his hand and led him downstairs to the kitchen. "What would you like for breakfast?"

"Whatever you would like to cook." He said. So, omelets it is.

I searched in the fridge for all the ingredients for our food. I pulled out a package of bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, and four eggs. Since the bacon was precooked, I just whisked the eggs together and plopped about half of the mixture in the heated frying pan. When the eggs were cooked just enough, I added the bacon and cheese then folded the whole thing over itself. Just a few more seconds than I plated the omelet and set it in front of Edward. Once I finished mine, I sat down across from him.

"These are really good, love."

I smiled around a big bite. "Shanksh yo."

He laughed. "Attractive." He said sarcastically.

The shrill ringing of the phone prevented me from shooting a comment back at Edward. I got up to cease the annoying siren when Edward said: "Don't forget to swallow your food before you answer the phone."

I turned around and showed him my tongue, proving that my mouth was omelet-less, then pulled the phone from the hook.

"Hello?"

A deep throaty chuckle sounded in the receiver.

"Emmett!" I squealed.

"Yeah, It's me squirt."

"How are you calling me? Not that I'm not ecstatic, but, how?"

"Um, about that. I'm home for about a month and I was wondering if you could come pick me up from SeaTac. Please?"

I felt my heart leap in my chest. "You're here? Really? Don't mess with me Em."

He laughed. "Yep, Bells. I'm here waiting to see my little sister whom I haven't seen in nine months."

Emmett had left in October of last year, two months before I moved to Forks. It was now June, so yes, it had been nine months. It was kind of hard wrap my head around not seeing Emmett that long. Of course, Edward provided a wonderful distraction.

"That long, huh? Yeah, I'll come and get you. But I don't think that my truck can make the ride to Seattle, so I'm going to bring my boyfriend, kay?" I asked nervously, scared of how he would react to a boyfriend.

Emmet grumbled. "Boyfriend. Aren't you a little young?"

"Oh, hush Emmett McCarty Swan. I'm fifteen and he just turned sixteen yesterday. Do you dare make me tell you what I heard coming out of your bedroom at this age." I heard Edward chuckle behind me. I turned and wrinkled my nose at him. In return I got his award winning half smile. Okay not really award winning, but it should be.

"Okay. You've got a point. You can bring him. But I better not find out that he's making you make similar noises." I blushed. Thank goodness we were on the phone otherwise I would have been caught.

"ALRIGHT! I'll see you in a little bit, Emmett."

"See you soon." He said and I waited for the line to go dead.

"Emmett?" I hedged. I just couldn't bring myself too hang up on my brother whom I haven't even spoken to in months due to the army. I knew it was irrational. He was home now, and all I had to do was drive a few hours to the air port and I would have my brother back, even if for just a short time.

"Hang up the phone Bella."

"I can't." I whined.

He sighed. "Fine. I'll be waiting out front, squirt. Love ya." And the line went dead.

Sucking in a deep breath, I turned to Edward. "Can we drive to SeaTac to get my brother?"

"Yeah," He said in a sarcastic tone, jingling the keys in his hand, "I caught the gist of the conversation. And even though I'm scared shitless, I kind of want to meet your brother,"

I smiled and let out a loud squeal. "I can't wait! I haven't seen or heard from him in seven months. I've missed him."

"I can see that." A small smile played at the corner of his lips. "Lets go." He said as he took my hand and led me out of the door.

On the way to Seattle, I was practicality bouncing in my seat the entire time. What word is there to describe this feeling? The anticipation of seeing a loved one in the flesh for the first time in what seemed like forever? Not only was I terrified daily that Emmett could have died, it was almost as if he was. Nothing around hinted at Em, and that was probably because I wasn't at our home in Phoenix; the place were every memory I had of Emmett was. But, here, in Forks, was his home. He had always claimed it as such, spending a ton of time here with dad. I never liked it. I enjoyed the sun too much for that. Doubled with the fact that he was not physically here, there was never even a phone call.

So, when we had finally pulled up to the pick-up area in front of the baggage claim, my eyes were trained on the tall burly figure dressed in army fatigues. Emmett. Before the car was even completely stopped, I had the door open and was bounding towards him.

"Em!" I screamed and he turned his head. I slammed into his chest and felt his heavy arms wrap around me, hugging me close.

"Bella," he whispered into my hair. "I've missed you so much."

"I missed you, too, bub." My voice trembled. I hadn't even realized that I was crying until then. It caused Emmett to laugh.

"Don't cry. I'm here." He whispered soothingly. I was partially calmed by that and by the presence I felt behind me; I knew it was Edward.

"I was just so worried Emmett. I don't know what I would do if I lost you." I sniffled as I pulled back, wiping my face. Then, I laughed. "Em, this is Edward." Motioned between the two of them then grasped Edwards wrist and pulled him closer. "Edward, this is my brother Emmett."

Edward extended his hand and I was immediately worried for it, not quite sure whether Emmett would break it or not. I was pleasantly surprised when Edwards face showed no signs of pain as Em shook his hand. A welcoming smile graced his face.

"Nice to meet you. Bella's told me a lot about you." Edward said.

Em laughed. "I bet. And I've heard absolutely nothing about you. What's your name and social security number?"

Edward looked momentarily frightened, then I slapped Emmett's chest and a smile appeared on both their faces.

"Jeez, Bells. I've been home all of five minutes and your already beating me." I loved how thee mood went from deep and emotional to joking and fun in the matter of minutes. It never lasted long with Em anyway but, I still know that he loves me.

"Enough. I don't want this to be painfully awkward… for anyone."

"Well, It's not awkward, just strange." Edward spoke up. Then, he turned to my brother. "By the way, I have no clue what my social security number is and It's Cullen. Edward Cullen."

Then dots connected. Edward and Emmett were so close together in their personalities that they would get along flawlessly.

More dots connected.

This can't be good.

I know that I said this would be up yesterday but, something came up and I ended up having to baby sit my friends kids. I'm sorry and I hope you enjoyed. As soon as I finish the next chapter, I will put it up. ASAP.

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