A/N: Okay, this one was supposed to be about the first time Bella goes to the Cullen's house; but, because I have a strange obsession with Edward not being a total ass and leaving Bella to walk into a house of vampires without any type of foreknowledge and an overwhelming urge to write dialogue between these two that doesn't include Bella fawning over Edward's looks, this chapter only covers the ride to the Cullen's house, not the actual meeting.

Although I try to keep with the original timeline for events, some dates are probably wrong or changed. I'm not really sure when Bella first goes to the Cullen's house, but in the Stomp Dance universe it takes place in November. Enjoy!

Best read in Full.

Chapter II – A Lesson in Linguistics

November 1st, 2005 – On the road to the Cullen House

"What if they don't like me?" Bella asks, fiddling nervously with the cuff of her light blue jacket. "I mean, have you ever taken anyone else to meet them? What were they like with—"

Edward laughs at her from his place in the driver's seat of his silver Volvo. "You're going to a house full of vampires," he asks incredulously, "and your biggest worry is if they'll like you or not?"

"Well," she huffs. "I mean if they eat me, they eat me, right? That's kind of a onetime thing. But if they don't like me, I'll have to deal with that for like, forever."

Edward frowns slightly, gripping the smooth faux-leather of the steering wheel tightly. "I want you to know that I would never, never let anyone hurt you Bella," he says seriously. "Not even my own family."

"I know," she murmurs.

"Besides," he continues more cheerfully, "none of them would ever intentionally try to hurt you. Even if they don't know you that well yet, they know that you're important to me, and anything, or anyone, that's important to one member of my family is important to all members of my family."

Bella's heart warms at his use of the word yet in regards to her level of familiarity with his family. She might not know them that well yet, but that doesn't mean she won't sometime in the future.

"So help me out here," she smiles, looking at him under her lashes. "Give me a few pointers."

"What do you mean?" Edward asks, turning to look at her.

"Well," she hedges. "What are they like? I mean, I see them around school and stuff, but I've never really talked to any of them. What do you think I should know about them before I meet them? Any topics I should avoid? Are there any vampire-only faux pas I should know about?"

"No, there aren't any vampire-only faux pas," Edward laughs, his eyes crinkling happily as he focuses on the road once more. "Just be yourself, Bella. They're going to love you, I know it."

Bella rolls her eyes. "Just be yourself," she mocks. "Everyone says that, and they never really mean it. What they really mean is to be the best version of yourself—so, what do I need to know to be the best Bella there is?"

"Well," Edward seems to consider it. "Carlisle and Esme, my father and mother for all intents and purposes, will love you no matter what. Really," he adds when she gives him a dubious look, "the fact that you accepted me for who and what I am is enough for them. They already love you."

Bella sighs, turning to watch the dreary Forks landscape pass her by. "And what about the others?" She asks. "What about your brothers and sisters?"

"I'm going to be honest with you Bella—Rosalie can be a bit of a bitch." He says bluntly, making her whip her head to face him in surprise. She had never heard Edward utter even the slightest bit of profanity before this moment. To be honest, she kind of likes it; it makes him seem more real somehow, less like an age-old vampire and more like the boy he's pretending to be. "But Emmet is a great guy, and as long as you don't go screaming to the hills that we're vampires he won't have a problem with you."

"I would never—" she starts to say, slightly offended.

"I know, I know," he sooths, placing a cold hand on her arm, "but you have to understand that if it got out that we had exposed ourselves to humans my whole family would be in danger." He turns to look at her. "I know you would never do something like that, but Rosalie and Emmet don't know you like I do and they're very protective of the family."

"I guess I understand," Bella says softly.

They fall in to an amicable silence as she contemplates everything Edward has told her. She had never considered the consequences of revealing the Cullen's true nature before. The very idea that she could somehow be putting them in danger just by existing is slightly jarring, but she is honored that Edward finds her trustworthy enough to keep his family's secret.

This beautiful boy, who had risked so much just by speaking to her that day in Biology, trusts her with not only his own safety, but the safety of his entire family, of his entire race.

Oh, Edward…

"What about your other siblings?" Bella asks finally. "You have two more sisters and another brother. Alice, Ash, and Jasper, right?"

"Oh! You wanna' know about the triplets, huh?" Edward laughs softly.

"Triplets?" She asks, slightly confused.

"Alice, Ash, and Jasper—we call them the triplets because they all joined the family at the same time. It's kind of a family joke. Esme said it was as if she had had triplets; you know, gaining them all at once." Edward laughs again, obviously recalling some happy memory with said triplets.

"Huh, I guess that makes sense," Bella smiles. "So, tell me," she nudges him playfully in the side, "what do I need to know about The Triplets to be the best Bella that I can be?"

"Well…" Edward pauses, squinting at the road in front of him. Bella can tell he's choosing his next words carefully and she turns in her seat to give him her full attention. "Jasper is a pretty straight forward guy," he says after a beat. "He tends to be pretty quiet around anyone but Ash, so don't be too offended if he doesn't make much of an effort to talk to you, it's just the way Jasper is."

"Ash talks more than Jasper," Edward continues, "but she has the tendency to switch over to Chickasaw if Jasper's in the room so don't be too freaked out if she suddenly stops speaking English."

"Chickasaw?" Bella asks, intrigued. "So that's what she and Jasper were speaking that day in the cafeteria. Angela said it was some type of Native American language but she wasn't sure which one. I'll have to tell her next time I see her."

"Don't!" Edward blurts, turning looking at her with an almost pleading expression. "Please don't," he says more softly. "Ash is really, I guess you could say, protective, of her native language." He sighs and brings his hand to rub the back of his neck, looking very much like a real teenage boy.

"There are only around seven native speakers left alive, one of them being Ash, and only 500 speakers in the entire world. (1) Around ninety-percent of those speakers are over fifty." He continues, frowning, waiving his hand in the small space between his chest and the dashboard as if to pull his next words from the ether.

"It's like this," he says finally, "no one in the Cullens knows how to speak Chickasaw besides Ash and Jasper. It's their thing, something that reminds them of a time before they were turned."

"They knew each other before they were vampires?" Bella asks in surprise. Although she hasn't had much experience with the phenomenon, she'd always assumed that vampire relationships began one of two ways: a human meets a vampire and falls in love, or two vampires come across each other and do the same. She had, rather naïvely she realizes now, never thought about two humans falling in love and becoming vampires together.

It just wasn't how supernatural love stories were supposed to go.

"They're the only members of my family to have met each other when they were both human," Edward says, looking slightly uncomfortable. "But their story isn't mine to tell. I don't know all of it, but I know enough to understand that it's not exactly a happy one."

"You don't know all of it?" Bella frowns confusedly. "But I thought you could read everyone's mind but mine? Couldn't you find out that way?"

"Well, I don't exactly go around trying to read everyone's deepest and darkest secrets," Edward teases lightly, smiling at her when she gives him a pointed look. "I understand what you really meant. Yes, I can read everyone's mind but yours, but that doesn't mean that I can understand everyone's mind, or even correctly interpret what I'm seeing."

"Explain," Bella demands instantly. She had always been fascinated by Edward's ability to read other people's thoughts and was not about to pass up the opportunity to learn more.

"People tend to think in snapshots," Edward says. "An image here, an image there, a broken phrase or stray quote thrown in randomly—but none of it has any context without the feelings associated with those snapshots. Even with the emotions, human thought tends to reassembly a big, jumbled mess more than a coherent stream of consciousness."

"Understanding that mess," he continues, "is even harder when the broken phrases are in a language you don't understand." Bella frowns at him. "Asha and Jasper tend to think in Chickasaw," Edward explains. "So, just because I know that they are thinking something doesn't mean I know what they're thinking."

"Ah," Bella nods in understanding. "You can't understand their language so you can't understand their thoughts. Can you not understand anyone who speaks a foreign language?"

"Only the ones I can speak myself," says Edward. "English, German, and French—and maybe a little Spanish if I really try— are all easily understandable, but anything other than that is just a cacophony of sound with no meaning."

"This is all so interesting," Bella says, popping her leg in anticipation. She couldn't wait to meet his family now. "You all have these really cool powers and origin stories; I wish I had something like that. I feel so, well, normal compared to all of you."

"Origin stories?" Edward laughs, showing off his perfect white teeth. "I've told you before Bella, we're not super heroes." He frowns suddenly, turning to face the rain-slicked road once more. "Sometimes far from it." Bella, sensing her boyfriend's dropping mood, reaches out to wrap her small hand in his. He turns towards her and she smiles, squeezing his hand lightly.

"Anyway," Edward says, seeming to shake off his dark thoughts, "Ash will like you as long as you don't do anything to upset Jasper or Alice. She's very protective of them, but considering the fact that Jasper doesn't speak to strangers a lot and the fact that Alice is really excited to meet you, I think you'll get along just fine."

"Alice is excited to meet me?" Bella asks, rather confused. "Why?"

"Well, for one, I've never brought a girl home before, so she's interested in meeting the girl who's caught so much of my attention." Bella blushes a little, looking down at their joined hands shyly. "For another, Alice can kind of," he pauses, looking for the right words, "see things that are going to happen. She knows you're going to be good friends eventually and she's impatient to get to know you."

Bella stares at him in amazement. "Alice can see the future? She can see my future?"

"To a point," Edward hedges. "She can see the future that will be if you continue on a certain path. Change your mind and you change your future."

"Holy shit," Bella blurts, repeating it for good measure, "holy shit."

"She didn't intentionally look into your future," Edward says quickly. "It's just that you're connected to me, or well, you would be connected to me in the future so it just kind of came to her and she wasn't trying to be nosy or anything—"

"No, no, it's fine." Bella tries to reassure him despite her shock. "I didn't think she was spying on me or anything. It's just—she can see the future, Edward!" She says excitedly. "That's so freakin' cool! I mean, I just have no words for how freakin' cool that is."

Edward laughs, squeezing her hand lightly. "Only you, Bella," he says, amused. "Only you would be worried that vampires wouldn't like you and find the fact that a girl you don't even know can see your future is 'cool' instead of intrusive."

"Well," Bella smiles, her cheeks dimpling. She is so happy she could burst. "I guess I'm just special like that."

Edward smiles at her, his eyes warm and his grip firm.

"Yes," he says softly, sincerely. "Yes, yes you are—very special."

Notes:

(1) This was true when the events of Twilight take place (mid 2000s); today however, there are zero people who speak Chickasaw as their first language.

A/N: I would like to point out that the views expressed by Edward about the future relationship between Bella and Ash might not be as accurate as he would like to think. This is simply Edward's assessment of how he thinks Ash will react to Bella, not necessarily how she will react.

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