A/N: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight.

Heartfelt thanks to Twanza- Alpha, Beta, Gamma and all sorts of awesome Greek-sounding things.

o o o

The summer she turned eleven, Bella boarded a plane at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport bound for Port Angeles via Seattle, for the first of her yearly summer visits to her father. It was a long trip to an unknown destination and she was on edge the whole time. The "Unaccompanied Minor" badge that hung from her neck simultaneously made her feel protected and incredibly exposed - Renee's warnings about not straying from the stewardesses for even one second resonating loudly in her ears as she suspiciously eyed the other passengers.

When she finally reached the tiny airport she was exhausted, and as tense as a guitar string. She was looking forward to seeing her dad, but at the same time she felt anxious and ill-prepared to spend time with him alone on unfamiliar turf. Sure, they spoke often on the phone and regularly exchanged emails and text messages - and of course there had been Christmas and Easter, and that surprise weekend in California when her mother had awkwardly handed her over to Charlie in the lobby of a plush hotel, only to check herself in to the same establishment and spend the next thirty-six hours pretending she wasn't there. But those occasions had always been, in one way or another, reenactments of the past, conducted by and large, according to a script that had been developed over the years: the same restaurant, the same outings, the same trips to the same mall.

Washington, on the other hand, was an unknown.

As she retrieved her bag and walked out into the airport waiting area, an irritable ground staff employee escorted her right into the arms of her father.

Charlie was so visibly happy to see her it broke her heart a little bit, knowing how conflicted she felt about being there; and the dark, cloud-lined sky did nothing to appease the sense of foreboding that was threatening to overwhelm her. Despite her father's smile and his strong, warm hug, despite the rush of pleasure of smelling his almost forgotten scent—childhood, and bedtime stories, and hiding in his closet- despite all the excitement she'd felt when preparing for the trip, Bella couldn't help but feel skittish, a deadly combination of fatigue and unclear expectations.

Sure enough, as soon as they got into the car - which she noted was a small, sleek sports model, so different from the type of cars they'd had as a family - it started raining: suddenly and violently, so hard it was enough to scare her. Bella zipped her hoodie all the way up to her neck and shivered.

"It's cold, eh?" Charlie chuckled, starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it in no time. The rain, not so much, but I bought you some really good boots, so you'll be fine." Charlie talked fast, excitedly, squeezing in information and questions at record speed, stealing nervous glances at his inexplicably grumpy daughter. "How was your flight? Are you tired? Hungry? Wanna stop for something on the way?"

Bella smiled at her dad- he was still the same, still so willing to please and so determined to find a way to make everything right; still embarrassingly eager. Her apprehension lifted somewhat, and she thought perhaps this summer would not be so bad after all.

"No, I'm good. Let's just go straight home, okay? I'm curious to see it!"

And so they drove on, Charlie firing off questions in rapid succession about school and swimming and friends, and letting her know all the things he'd planned for them over the coming weeks. Fishing and hiking figured prominently in his plans, and Bella wondered when her father had become so outdoorsy.

As Charlie continued to talk, she looked outside, taking in the thick vegetation that seemed to cover everything in sight. The colors were so vibrant, so violent, green trees and gray skies, so different from the muted, burnt palette she was used to: everything seemed so soft, so changing, and so alive.

"So, yeah, I'm going to have to go to work during the day, but I found this camp for you to go to." Charlie paused for effect. "It should be fun, you can check it out tomorrow. Dr Cullen - he's another doctor at the hospital here, really smart guy - says his boys will be going, and they're the same age as you; they're a nice family, and live just down the road from me. So Esme - that's Carlisle's wife - could give you a lift together with the twins."

All figured out, thought Bella, as she listened to her father proudly displaying his excellent organizational skills—something he'd never had to worry about while he still lived with them, for life management had been Renee's domain. She noticed that the Cullens featured prominently in his plans, and she wondered why that was.

Mention of the "twins" made her slightly nervous, conscious of the fact that there seemed to be some kind of expectation that they would become best friends, or something. Bella rolled her eyes; she wasn't shy, exactly, but she had a hard time getting close to people; although, if pushed, she would have said she'd rather be hanging out with boys than girls, and she was relieved to find out that at least there were no Cullen girls she was supposed to befriend. No makeup or slumber parties or pop singers that made her cringe.

That night she fell asleep in a strange room that Charlie had gone out of his way to decorate in purples and browns - her favorite colors - and dreamed confusing, indistinct dreams of the Cullens: many and then few, large and then small, just within her reach and then suddenly impossible to grasp.

o o o

The next day, Bella finally got to meet the twins: Edward and Seth. They showed up at ten on the dot, as promised, in a family Volvo driven by their mother Esme - Bella liked her instantly, taken with her messy ponytail with too many grays showing, her well-washed jeans and unfashionable hiking boots, but especially with her humorous, kind eyes, and the ease with which she welcomed her into her car and her life.

"Say hi to Bella, boys!" she commanded, and from the backseats came a laugh and a growl and then two reluctant "Hi to Bella, boys!" and then loud giggling. Bella immediately wanted in. She wanted in, in the giggles and the growling and the easy laughter; in the old battered car; in Esme's generous hugs.

At first, the twins regarded her with distrust, for she was, after all, a girl and as such not to be trusted. They were all set to abandon her and move on, if it hadn't been for the fact that, of all the kids who attended the "Summer on Wheels" camp, she was the only one who seemed to be absolutely game for any amount of mud and endurance the organizers had planned. After an initial moment of surprise - Charlie had neglected to tell her he'd signed her up to a mountain biking camp - Bella just got on a bike and pushed on through wet and steep trails, quickly earning herself a place in the advanced group and the heartfelt admiration of the Cullen twins.

o o o

When Esme picked them up that first evening, covered in mud and grinning from ear to ear, she realized at once that Bella Swan would be a feature of their lives for the foreseeable future: the twins, normally so self-contained and so absorbed with one another, seemed to gravitate towards her, observing her movements carefully and taking their cues from her. Easygoing yet somewhat guarded, Bella exuded a strangely mature confidence, and yet her eyes were large and open, constantly animated by a stream of emotions and incapable of concealing her childish enthusiasm for all the novelties around her.

Esme was right: Bella and the twins became inseparable. Charlie got her a bike of her own on that first Saturday, and watched, perplexed and vaguely proud, his daughter ride out into the rain towards the Cullen house as soon as they got home from the shop.

That evening, Esme called him around six pm:

"Charlie? Hi. It's Esme Cullen. Listen, why don't you come over for dinner? The boys want Bella to stay and, of course, we'd be delighted to have you too! Oh and Charlie? Bring some spare clothes for her, will you?"

When Charlie arrived half an hour later he found Bella and the two younger Cullen boys sitting outside on the steps, clothes muddy and wet, grinning like idiots at something the smaller one - the one with the dark hair and the quick, witty eyes - was recounting excitedly.

"Dad!" screamed Bella as she saw him approach. "Dad, you have to see where we went today! It's amazing! It's like... this waterfall! It's so cool!"

Charlie Swan had not seen his daughter so animated and so carefree in a long time- and over the coming weeks he witnessed, with a mix of curiosity, affection, and a hint of jealousy, how seamlessly she became integrated with the Cullens.

With her short hair and determined, frowny face, she seemed to give as good as she got and he had to beg her to take it easy, to be careful when she was out and about, riding her bike with the boys down the narrow country lanes, climbing trees in the garden or spending entire afternoons cooped up in their basement watching gory movies and playing Xbox.

Here, in the cold and wet Washington weather, he saw her freer than she'd ever been - away from expectations and the loving but suffocating presence of her mother. And he let her be - he let her be wild, and tomboyish; he let her become one with the twins. Charlie had spent long sleepless nights wondering whether he'd lost his daughter for good, doubting that he had anything left to offer her; but her realized, with a clarity that startled him, that this was what he could give her - this freedom, this wildness. Forks, he thought, would be that place for her, and the biggest gift he could give her was to let her enjoy it, on her terms.

Esme's calls came more and more often and Charlie was somewhat embarrassed to be spending so many dinners at the Cullen table - but Carlisle was a good man, fast becoming a real friend; and Esme was so welcoming, so warm, and so easygoing in her messy kitchen and plain clothes, and everything about this set-up felt so easy and so right that he soon stopped worrying about it, thinking that one day, in one way or another, he would repay the favor.

The only thing that didn't quite work, for Charlie, in this idyllic picture - among the raucous laughter and silly jokes of the twins, and Bella's contented face, and Carlisle and Esme's beautiful and uncomplicated relationship - was their elder son.

Jasper - that was his name, he'd learned from Bella - was a moody and taciturn seventeen year old, who had inherited from his father his striking good looks- tall, broad shoulders, blue eyes, and blonde hair- but none of his affable and warm ways. In fact, he came in just before dinner, sat down without a word, and barely spared a look for his younger brothers or parents, let alone their guests. Whenever Esme tried to engage him in conversation he answered monosyllabically. Charlie saw the resigned looks his parents exchanged. "Teenagers," mouthed Carlisle in response to Charlie's worried look; and it said a lot about this family that they could deal so calmly with his bad moods and wish for isolation.

"I swear, Charlie," Carlisle complained one day at work, over a coffee break. "Once they hit sixteen or seventeen, it's like they're not even human anymore. I mean Jasper… where to start?" Carlisle shook his head with a hint of exasperation. "He's a good boy, don't get me wrong, doing really well in school, no drugs or trouble, but, honestly, it's like living with a vampire. Sleeps all day, gets up at three pm, goes off God knows where in his car, and only checks in for food. I'm telling you, enjoy them while they're young!"

o o o

Jasper sometimes felt as though he was an alien, supernatural, other, different. His thoughts, which had always been crystal clear and methodical, escaped in the most random direction without his even realizing. His moods were volatile and unpredictable, and the onset of violent emotions, each one newer and rawer than the one before, left him vulnerable and spent. His body vibrated and hummed with a new, unfocused energy: a pull towards the outside, towards the unknown, that seemed to consume him from within.

Restless, disconnected, Jasper wanted out. He wanted out of the stifling circle of love his parents had conjured; out of the exuberant, childish vitality of his brothers that seemed to dominate the family dynamics; out of his father's accepting ways and his quiet, unspoken expectations; out of his mother's dedication to all things practical and mundane, of her loyalty to the same meals and even the same laundry detergent, year after year after year.

He couldn't wait for his life to start. One more year. One more year ,and then college. Freedom.

Until then, though, Jasper took long, meandering drives down the coast, stopped at La Push, sat locked in his car listening to music, and planned a future that, finally, seemed just within his grasp.

o o o

A/N: Thank you for reading!