A/N: Just an idea bubble I had. Please note the following:

Andrew is a thirteen year old boy the Cullens have adopted, but since Carlisle has patented a new method of changing into a vampire, Andrew is still slightly human. His full change won't be complete for a few years yet giving him time to grow (who wants to be thirteen forever?), so he still eats food and bathes and grows like a human.

Bella is not an only child. She has three sisters

Cari (age 20)

Evie (age 17 and Bella's twin sister)

Cece (age 13 and Andrew's bff)

Also: I DO NOT own Twilight! It is the wonderful creation of none other than Stephenie Meyer herself!

*******************************

Edward

"Izzy!"

Andrew ran straight into Bella's arms like an eager child despite the fact that he was a good head taller than her, and she cradled him in the circle of her arms with a laugh at his excitement to see her.

"Hey, Andy!" she greeted him back just as he moved on to hug the other girls. "It's great seeing you, Kid!"

Izzy and Andy. They had pet names for each other?

I thought you said Andrew met the youngest Swan girl earlier in the week? I asked Alice. Why does he know Bella so well?

He did meet the youngest Swan girl earlier in the week, Alice defended herself, just not for the first time. Don't you pay attention to Andrew at all, Edward?

I was ashamed that the answer to that question was "no". Whether I particularly cared for the kid or not, he was still my brother.

I scrutinized each of the Swan girls to see how much they resembled Bella if they resembled her at all. They were all exactly the same height, for one thing, and they all had the same thick, chocolate brown hair. The differences came into play in their faces, in Bella's brown eyes contrasted by Evelyn's lighter hazel ones, in Carilyna's dark, almost black eyes as opposed to Cecelia's light gray ones.

Where had that come from, I wondered? But I wasn't worried about getting any of them confused; they were so distinctively different one would have to be a fool not to notice.

Carilyna's high maintenance was second only to Rosalie's with her carefully applied makeup and designer luggage. She clicked across the foyer in stiletto boots and a low cut sweater I knew Bella would never have worn, and tousled her fingers through her straightened hair alluringly, though I could tell that she didn't have eyes for my brothers and I –which was strange, I noted. Usually human girls melted for us.

Cecelia moped across the foyer and out of the way, as well, and I was glad that Rosalie wasn't there to poke fun at the poor girl. She looked as if she'd hastily thrown clothes over her body just to get dressed…in the dark…from a trash bin. The amazing thing was, her vibe screamed that she didn't care. She wore her lip ring proudly and let her hair hang in her face rebelliously, arms folded across her chest.

"This should be interesting," I murmured, but was caught off guard again by the brilliant smile Andrew tossed her, the brilliant smile she returned to him.

"Look what the cat dragged in!" he teased her.

"Shut up!" she chuckled, hitting him on the arm. "You owe me a place to crash since that stupid science project you had gave my dad's house mold!"

"What are you talking about?"

"The project you brought over about a month ago?" she reminded him. "The one that exploded because you added baking soda when I'd told you not to? When you told me you'd clean it up, did you get it off the walls?"

"Um…" Andrew looked guilty, "I thought it would just, you know, go away. I mean, they're just walls, right?"

"Andrew!" Esme was appalled. "Chief Swan has mold in his home because of you?"

"That's not even cool, Andy!" Evelyn scolded him but couldn't help finding it a little funny –Emmett certainly did.

"So, these girls are here right now because of you?" Emmett wheezed. "Ha! Nice going, Andrew!"

"No, we're glad to have the Swan girls here," Alice spoke up and then made a quick grab for Bella's unsuspecting hand. "We never get to talk in school."

"Uh, no, we don't," Bella agreed uncomfortably but still allowed herself to be led into the kitchen. "Something smells good."

"We made dinner!" Alice beamed and directed triumphant thoughts at me. "Do you and your sisters like baked ziti?"

"We'll eat anything as long as Cari didn't cook it," Evelyn lightly teased Carilyna as the rest of the girls settled themselves at the table with us following cautiously behind.

They thought the food smelled good. I wished I'd have helped Alice make it.

"I know how to cook, Evie!" Cari retorted with her lip curled in indignation. "I made those brownies for the bake sale that people were raving about, remember?"

"You didn't make those brownies!" Cecelia accused. "Sarah Lee made them! All you did was add water!"

"Now, Cece, that's not fair," Evie interrupted. "Cari did have to press the 'Bake' button on the stove."

"Shut up!" Cari tossed one of the napkins from her waiting plate to her sisters who quickly followed the action by throwing more and more napkins back at her.

"Girls," Bella intervened with the firm authority of a mother talking to her children, "let's be nice to each other."

So this was the family dynamic? Why was I not surprised? Of course Bella would be the one in charge; she was the responsible one, the most level headed. Her sisters heard her command and put their hands in their laps respectfully like little children who had been scolded, and Alice and Esme excitedly dished out the ziti, eager to know if the recipe was any good.

"Well, Girls," Carlisle entered the kitchen, "I put your bags in the guest room –last door on the right, remember? And you'll have to excuse my children but they've already had their dinner, so…"

I couldn't help wincing at that, wishing evilly that I could sit beside Bella and keep watching her carry on with her sisters, keep seeing her be as natural as she was being right now. Seeing her like this –feet bare, head resting on Evie –I realized how uncomfortable and lonely she was at school. She couldn't be herself there because too many people wanted things from her, but here in my kitchen she was freer than I'd ever seen her…and beautiful, so strange and beautiful.

But then again, all of the Swan girl were strange and beautiful, doubly so by the fact that as they sat before me I realized that I couldn't hear any of their minds.

Not a sound.

The conversation I'd heard earlier must've been their audible voices instead of the thoughts I'd assumed they were.

"Oh, please don't leave, kids!" Esme begged us as she herself took a seat toward the head of the table. "Let's stay and at least talk with the girls. Come on! It'll be like an old-fashioned family dinner!"

So that's what Esme wanted! It came to me with a jolt. She wanted family time in the most basic, traditional way –a way that none of us could've provided…so she'd gotten an outside source.

Did you know? I asked Carlisle and Alice at once.

I suspected, but I didn't know, Carlisle admitted as he seated himself at the head of the table, closest to Cece and Cari who sat opposite each other. I honestly thought she simply wanted to see you and Bella together.

She does, Alice joined in as she seated herself and Jasper beside Evelyn. But Esme also wants this, all of us sitting around together. It's not so much to ask.

It wasn't much to ask at all, actually, but it made me feel so badly to know that my mother had wanted time with her children and had to settle for time with someone else's. So, I came fully into the kitchen and prepared to sit down when Emmett cut devilishly in front of me to take the seat between Jasper and Andy, leaving only one more seat left.

"You heard Esme, Edward!" he jeered while the rest of my family chuckled silently to themselves. "Take a seat!"

You know I have to make you pay for this? I asked him as I lowered myself into the seat beside Bella who, for her part, only made the situation worse by her outright refusal to acknowledge my presence at all. She kept her eyes on her plate and two fingers gently twisting a lock of that chocolate hair.

I'll take my chances, Emmett replied. Aw! What a pretty couple! Relax your face, Man! Don't let her know you want to kill her.

You both do look very nice together, Edward, Alice shrugged helplessly. Don't fight it.

Don't fight it but wish you could bite it! Emmett guffawed with mental laughter. Can't have it but wish you could grab it!

You're sick, I spat at him, and the mental laughter grew so loud it became audible in chuckles.

"Emmett, where's Rosalie?" Esme asked, glancing about for the missing storm cloud.

"She went for a walk," Emmett shrugged carelessly. "So, Bella, tell us about yourself."

"Emmett," I stiffened.

"Emmett, please let Miss Swan enjoy her meal," Carlisle entreated. "She and her sisters have had a long ordeal today with their father in the hospital, and your mother and I want them to get as much rest here as they possibly can."

"I can tell you all about Izzy," Andrew continued to astonish us with his jovial outbursts. "She's from Phoenix," he began careful yet amused under the weight of Bella's stare, "she hates Forks, and she walks around naked when she thinks nobody's home."

"What?!" Emmett howled.

Bella covered her face, blushing more deeply than I'd ever seen her blush before, and the burning ripped my throat all the more fiercely. Carlisle and Esme stared at Andrew, appalled, but as for the other Swan girls –and even Alice and Jasper! –there was nothing to do but laugh.

"Andy, for the final time," Bella stressed, indicating they'd had this same conversation before, "I was not naked! Cece just told you I was, okay?"

Hey, Edward! I heard Emmett call me. I bet you wish you'd been invited to that party, don't you?

You're sick, I told him again, and he found something about the way I was looking at him so funny that he burst into laughter right then and there.

"And you know what, Andy?" Bella continued. "You weren't even supposed to be at my house that day in the first place because Charlie grounded Cece and you had a project due the next day. So what now?"

"Izzy, it's okay," Andrew soothed her. "I never sit around and think about you, I swear."

"Ha!" the kitchen surged in another uproar of laughter, and Bella turned an even darker shade of pink.

"Andrew," Carlisle warned, he and Esme thoroughly shocked and disappointed in him, "that's enough for the evening."

"Oh, it's okay, Mr. Cullen!" Cari gasped for air through her laughing fit. "Andy is one of us! We Swan girls just love him –he can say whatever he wants to us."

"Well," Esme recovered gracefully, but I could see the twinge of hurt Cari's words had given her, that Andrew would live a secret life away from her, "I had no idea Andy," she carefully tried out his nickname, "was so beloved."

"The Swan girls have a way of bringing that out in people," Andy nodded and darted me a meaningful glance in a silent message.

Izzy is a really great girl, Edward. She's a really great girl.

I know, I nodded with more truth than I was ready to face, more jealousy that he was so close to her than I was prepared to acknowledge. I know, Andy.

"And how stunning you girls are!" Esme gushed.

"Yes!" Alice input. "Carilyna, I just love your style! That sweater and those boots are fabulous!"

"Yeah, Cari's great," Cece agreed, "just don't take her out in the sun or she'll melt. You know, all that plastic…" she pretended to grab her breasts.

Carilyna had...

"You did not just say that!" but Bella couldn't help laughing either. "Cece! That's so true but –Cece!"

"No, she's right!" Evie interjected innocently and then turned to her older sister in such sweetness I could tell she acted as the baby of the family. "Cari, how come Jeremy can pay for your new body and your new nose" –

"He did not buy me a new nose!" Cari railed in a mixture of shock and embarrassment. "He paid to fix my nose because it was crooked, and it was crooked because you" –she pointed an accusatory finger dead at Bella –"threw a basketball at my face and gave me a cock-eyed nose! I'm surprised I got a guy to look at me at all with a crooked nose!"

"Don't act like you didn't know I have no hand-eye coordination when you told me to play with you!" Bella defended herself.

"The hoop was over here, Bella!" Cari extended her right hand as far out as she could. "My face was over here!" she extended her left hand as far out as she could. "How did you mess that up?"

"Leave me alone."

"Why does Jeremy pay to fix you up," Evie continued, "but he won't pay for an engagement ring? Put a ring on it!"

"Oh, my God! You are not talking about this in front of these strangers!" Cari wailed. "Everybody shut up and stay out of my business!"

"You're our sister. You are our business!" Evie argued. "We're just looking out for your well being."

"Yeah," Cece piped in. "We think you let Jeremy borrow the keys to your car a lot, and if he likes riding your car so much then he should just buy it already and stop making you look like such a slut."

"I am not a slut!" Cari clutched horrified hands at her throat. "Andy! Andy, do you think I'm slutty?"

"I'm going to sit this one out, okay?" Andy backed out.

"You can't sit it out!" Cece teased him. "You started this so finish it! Answer her –is she slutty?"

"Well, then, I agree with Izzy."

"Izzy didn't say anything."

"And I second that motion."

"Finally," Carlisle sniped, none too pleased at the behavior of his youngest son though I had absolutely no idea what to make of it.

I couldn't remember ever seeing a sister dynamic like this one before. Rosalie and Alice weren't exactly close, besides the fact that Alice never needed advice for her problems because she always knew how they'd turn out, and Rosalie didn't care about problems unless they had something to do with her (i.e. tonight's dinner gathering). Was this behavior normal, I wondered? But then again, what was normal about a middle child like Bella having more pull than an oldest child like Carilyna?

Normal! I had to laugh at myself. Nothing about Bella was normal. Why would the role she played in her family be any different?

"I just think," Bella input, "that we should all let Jeremy and Cari live their own lives. If they want to live in sin, have bastard children, and then go to hell, who are we to tell them they can't?"

"Oh, you're real funny, Izzy!" Cari spooned some of the ziti at her. "You're real funny!"

"I think so, too," Bella smiled sweetly and melted my heart of stone, but I was also worried by her sarcasm. Were her views on relationships that nontraditional?

"But don't you want to get married, Carilyna?" Esme asked in concern. "Isn't this the right young man for you or are you, ah…Emmett? What was that phrase you taught me yesterday?"

"Side-dipping," Emmett supplied shamelessly.

"Right!" Esme beamed. "Are you side-dipping, Carilyna?"

"Esme!" I tried to stop her since Emmett wasn't about to and Alice and Jasper were having a quiet chuckle about the whole thing.

"What?" she turned on me while Carlisle rubbed her back in loving amusement of his own. "Edward, I can be cool! I can learn teen lingo! Don't you think I'm a cool mom, Bella?"

"Um," Bella smiled uncertainly, "yeah, sure! I mean, it takes someone pretty cool to let four girls they don't know crash with them for a week."

"And it's my pleasure!" Esme insisted. "But, Carilyna, I have to agree with your sisters on this one. If you're serious about this Jeremy guy then you should start talking marriage."

"I want to," Cari confessed to Esme pitifully, "I really do! But at the same time that's a lot of pressure to put on him and I don't want him to feel pressured at all."

"I'll take care of it."

"What?" we all turned to stare at Bella's simple offer with confused faces.

"You will?" Cari was as skeptical as the rest of us. "How?"

"The guilt," Evie smiled, understanding before the rest of us. "Izzy is famous for her guilt! She inherited it straight from Nana."

"The guilt," Andrew hissed between bared teeth. "Izzy's guilt trips will have you doing things you never in a million years thought you'd be doing for reasons you won't even know!"

"Sounds fearsome," Carlisle's eye twinkled teasingly on Bella and she slouched down in her chair uncomfortably.

"You guys make me sound evil!" she complained. "No, but seriously, Cari, I'll take care of Jeremy's commitment issues. By this time next year, you'll have your wedding."

"Really, Izzy?" Cari was getting emotional. "I'll return the favor one day –I swear!"

"No need," Cece snickered. "Izzy's going to spend her life taking care of Renee and Charlie in their old age, and by the time she'll finally be ready to date, she'll be too old and wrinkly!"

It was a joke. All the sisters laughed. Even Bella laughed.

But it wasn't funny. Not to me. All I could see before my eyes was the picture Cece had described of old and wrinkly Bella living all alone. Old and wrinkly Bella. I felt my family's inconspicuous gazes on my face and knew I'd better pull it together and show them that I was alright, but I couldn't bring myself to pretend. Those words spoken as a joke had cut me in tender places I hadn't even known I possessed.

***************************************

"You handled yourself very well tonight," Esme praised me, finding me out on the balcony with the telescope as usual, only tonight I wasn't looking at stars.

I was looking at Bella, asleep with her sisters in the lower room under a pale shaft of moonlight that turned her skin blue and kissed her lips in the most distracting way.

"She's a beautiful girl," Esme followed my line of sight. "I hope Emmett didn't give you too much grief over dinner…well, their dinner. Edward? Edward, I'm not doing this to hurt you at all –I promise! All I want…I just want…ugh!" she sighed, frustrating herself. "You should've seen the way the two of you looked sitting across from each other tonight! Won't you talk to her a little while she's here? She's very nice and I just know she'll love you back if you give her the chance. I know she will!"

"Esme," I faced her for the first time, trying not to show how now –even now –the brokenness of the situation was eating me alive. "What you're doing is more than kind and I know you're doing it out of love" –

"I just don't want you to be alone anymore, Son," she told me, and I knew that if she could cry her eyes would be welling with tears right now. "Bella is the one for you and she's here! She's right here, but you barely even look at her. Why Edward? Are you afraid to love her?"

"But this is hopeless," I continued my speech. "I realized something tonight seeing Bella with her sisters and how they laugh at each other and poke fun and enjoy each other. I would hate myself if took her away from that, from her family and everyone she loves. So, I know how you wanted this to happen: with Bella and I in such close proximity we'd more readily fall for each other, correct? But it's not going to happen, Esme. I can't take her away from the people her love her. I don't have that right."

She thought on that for a long while, making little sour faces as if it were a bitter truth not sitting too well on her stomach. But her response when she finally gave it was accepting, comforting.

"So long as you're okay with this…?"

"I'm fine," I assured her.

"Then so am I. I'm sorry I interfered."

"Please don't be!" I begged her. "You did this out of love."

"Always a gentleman!" she teased me with a smile. "I wish you'd let someone love you."

"I've been watching your world from afar…

I've been secretly falling apart

Unseen." –Aqualung