AN: Since FFn was fail yesterday and wouldn't let us post here, we decided to go ahead and give you both the prologue and chapter 1 at the same time. Thanks to everyone who reviewed over on TwiWrite so far. We'll update every Saturday from here on out. K? Mkay!

Thanks to our fuckawesome beta, givemesomevamp, for her awesome bad skillz and rocking these chapters (yes, we have several already written) out at lightening speed. And to our amazing pre-readers Cullen818 and EdwardsChipper for stroking our egos like Dr. Evil's pussy. We couldn't do this without you.

We don't own shit, not even the hotness that is Jasper which is a damn shame. We'd love to tie him up and have our wicked way with him. SM owns all.

"Edward, could you be a dear and fetch me the spare paint rollers?" Esme's voice echoed through the house. I knew she was only speaking out loud for my benefit, but I loved her for it.

Cockblocked again.

I sighed loudly. Edward chuckled at my frustration as he gently pushed against my shoulders so I would climb out of his lap.

Thank God he can't read my thoughts.

I stood and started to cross my arms over my chest but he reached out and grabbed my left hand, tugging me behind him, out into the hallway, and down the stairs. He kept looking back at me, smiling, which distracted me completely. I just followed behind him, stumbling every now and then as he pulled me along until we stopped at a door I'd never used before.

I gave Edward a puzzling look and he laughed. "It's the door to the basement, Bella. Even vampires require space to store various odds and ends."

I raised my eyebrow and gave him a mischievous grin, "So this is where you hide your coffins."

I heard Esme's and Emmett's loud laughing in the living room and Rosalie's low growl as Edward shook his head, reaching up with his free hand to rub his temple with his thumb and forefinger.

"Bella, you can be so exasperating sometimes." Edward was looking at me as if he was disappointed in my comment, but I knew it was just the fact that he didn't like me bringing up our differences. It didn't bother me. I tried to persuade him to change me every day. Of course, his argument was always the same.

"You don't want to be cursed to this life, Bella. You don't understand what you're asking. I cannot take your soul, love."

He would never understand that my soul belonged to him, so it could never be taken away. Of course, if I told him that he would just roll his eyes and tell me that I was just a human, just a child. I couldn't possibly mean that at the age of seventeen.

Then, he would regale me with tales of what it was like when he was human. How we would have married if I would have met him back then. How we would have had a family. I never once pointed out how hypocritical it was that back then he could have made the decision to marry but now, I'm only a child. A child who wasn't given the choice to live an eternity with the man I loved.

When I told Charlie that I just didn't understand Edward sometimes, he said that normal men made as much sense as women in relationships, and that pansy men made less. I was sure he coughed Edward's name, but I let it slide because he was right. Some things don't make sense, and you overlook all of the negatives if you're in love.

Something, however, made me believe there was more to it than Edward's reluctance to bite me. It was in the way he constantly told me how things were in his lifetime… like he believed if he said it enough, his human dreams would come true.

I could understand how important this was to him, but his persistence unnerved me. I couldn't imagine Edward would let me just die naturally eighty years from now, but he was holding me off. He was waiting for something, but what? I wasn't sure.

I knew one day I would sway Edward to change me. I just hoped it would be soon. In less than a week, I'll be a year older than Edward when he was turned. I don't want to spend an eternity looking like I'm his mother. That would suck deformed monkey nuts.

He opened the door and pulled me along with him, using his vampire speed to steady me every time I stumbled on the narrow steps. The basement was disappointing. There was plenty of light and, like the rest of the house, there wasn't a cobweb in sight. Everything was in big, blue Tupperware bins lining the walls, stacked neatly, and marked in Esme's neat handwriting. There wasn't a speck of dust in sight. At least to my inferior eyes.

I hate stupid, uber-clean vampires.

But, there was something down there you didn't see every day: part of the basement was walled off in glass. There were beakers and medical instruments lying around that looked like they came straight off of one of those crime shows, and Carlisle was in there working. He was wearing a white jumpsuit and mixing something very carefully before he put a dropper full of red liquid on a slide and examined it under a very fancy microscope.

I looked at Edward questioningly, and I swear I saw a sheepish look flicker across his face before he spoke.

"This is where Carlisle does research that he can't do in the hospital, Bella. It's nothing, really."

Hrmm, I knew Edward well enough that I could tell he was being a little too nonchalant about whatever it was that Carlisle was working on.

"What is he researching, Edward?"

Edward cleared his throat in a very human-like manner and found his shoes very interesting all of a sudden. Whatever research Carlisle was doing, I wasn't going to like it.

"Well, ever since Carlisle turned Rosalie he has been studying our venom and looking for a way to reverse the transformation. Once Rosalie found Emmett, he slowed his study dramatically, but I recently gave him the funds for another round."

His eyes never left the floor as he spoke, but his head was tilted just enough that I could see his face. There was a darkness I had never seen before clouding his expression, but it was masked by something more. It took me a moment to recognize it.

Hope.

"Why would you do that?" I asked nervously. I was holding my breath awaiting his answer, because somehow deep down, I feared I already knew the answer.

"I thought it would be prudent to attempt to find a cure," he finally looked up from his shoes with that same glint of hope now more prominent in his eyes, "So that I could be changed for you, Bella."

I was stunned. He was willing to exchange an eternity with me for a few measly years, just so he wouldn't have to change me. Carlisle was working on a cure to make Edward human, which meant that I would stay human as well. If he was successful, this would change everything. All my dreams for mine and Edward's future would no longer exist.

But what else could this mean? If a cure could be made, how long would it take? And what would be the side effects of such a thing? I can't imagine bringing a vampire back from the dead would be an easy thing to do. There was so much that could go wrong, including death.

Just the thought of that happening set my ass hairs on fire with rage. How could he be willing to take such a risk? Especially when the alternative gave us so much more. I'd seen I Am Legend. The drug companies thought they'd found the cure for cancer, but instead, it turned humans into hairless Sinead O'Conners with hulk-like strength and brains like Bill Gates. To make matters worse, they wanted to eat your flesh while you screamed like you were stuck in Deliverance.

There's no telling what a so-called cure would do—if Carlisle could even find one—but what sucked above all else, was the fact the asshole didn't even have the nerve to discuss it with me.

I looked up at him. My eyes narrowed and my nostrils flared. "What do you mean, Edward? You asked him to find a cure and you didn't consult me? You didn't ask what I wanted because I'm just a child and I couldn't possibly know what choice I'd like to make? You'd be willing to risk your eternal life just to turn human again for me when we know that I could be changed? You would take the chance of being changed into a human and dying in a car crash or getting cancer or… "

Carlisle had stopped working and was now staring at us through his big, plastic goggles as Edward interrupted my tirade.

"But…"

"No! No 'buts', Edward. This isn't right! This isn't a relationship! You don't get to make a big decision like this without me! You don't get to decide our future without discussing it with me first. If this is your idea of a relationship, then I don't want it!"

I meant to duck around him and stomp up the stairs, but in one of my less graceful moments, I tripped and tried to steady myself by latching onto the nearest tower of Tupperware. Instead, I knocked it over—and just like the dominoes I set up as a child across Charlie's kitchen floor—they began toppling. One by one the towers fell and the two vampires in the room stood there in shock—Edward still freaking out by my first true outburst, and Carlisle just watching the train wreck caused by the silly human—as they fell directly into the glass wall.

The sound of glass shattering filled my ears as Edward finally got his vampiric ass into gear, scooped me up, and threw me over his shoulder. I saw Carlisle's research go down the tubes as all of the glass beakers filled with liquid toppled to the floor as the blue bins smashed into his table.

I was shaking when Edward sat me down in the living room, horrified by the carnage my clumsiness had caused this time.

"Oh, shit! Shit! I can't believe I did that!"

I looked around the room and spotted Emmett trying to hold in his chuckles, Esme with one hand over her mouth and the other on her unbeating heart, and Rosalie with a triumphant look on her face before she winked at me.

Winked. At me.

I'm in the Twilight Zone.

Then I looked at Edward. A very pissed Edward.

"That language is very unbecoming, Bella."

I growled at him.

He looked shocked, but said nothing before he zoomed back downstairs to survey the damage I'd caused.

"Oops!"

Rosalie started laughing: the most beautiful laugh I'd ever heard. Even her laugh was gorgeous.

And then I knew I was in the Twilight Zone because Rosalie never laughed in my presence. Never. She only ever looked at me like I was something stuck to the bottom of her new Louboutins. But she had winked, and then laughed at me.

Emmett's guffaws joined his wife's tinkling, gorgeous laughter as Esme came over and grabbed my hand, trying to pull me to the couch with her. Always the pulling and tugging on the human to get her to cooperate instead of just asking.

It was Esme. I wasn't upset with her, but at Edward. He had kept all of the research from me and then just chided me in front of his family, instead of waiting until we were alone. But when Esme pulled on me, something in me snapped. I was tired of being pulled, poked, molded, and made-over. I probably would have yelled at Alice if she was here, but she was off on one of her shopping sprees with Jasper. One I managed to weasel out of in order to spend time with Edward.

"Stop trying to control me, damn it! The fragile human can stand for five freaking minutes! I'm so tired of all of this shit! Edward keeping things from me because I'm just a child. Alice dressing me like a child. Being pulled around because it's what's best for me. Damn it, my brain works just fucking fine, thank you! I can decide to sit whenever I feel like sitting and right now, I don't!"

I stomped my foot for emphasis as I yanked my hand out of Esme's. Damn, that's gonna leave a mark.

Carlisle and Edward ran upstairs to witness my meltdown. Both of them were staring at me like I'd just grown a third head. My cheeks turned their typical bright red color as I blushed, embarrassed that everyone had seen me lose my cool.

I should've gone fishing with Charlie today.

I cleared my throat and attempted to salvage the entire situation. "Carlisle, I'm very sorry. I know it doesn't make everything better, but I do apologize for ruining, well, everything down there. Sometimes I wish I wasn't such a klutz."

"It was an accident, Bella. No need to apologize. I have had setbacks before." Carlisle gave me a wan smile, "I can have everything cleaned up and back in working order again in no time. I have a perfect memory, remember?" Bless that man. I had just completely destroyed all of his hard work, and here he was trying to make me feel better. It had the opposite effect: it made me feel worse.

As he turned to head back to the basement of doom, Edward's words stopped him in his tracks.

"Did you do that on purpose, Bella? You didn't agree with my choice, so you destroyed any chance of me becoming human!"

Esme tried to calm her son. "Edward, we all understand that you're upset, but it was an accident."

"You're right, Mom. It was probably just a very convenient accident, and now she'll insist on becoming a monster."

I stomped over to Edward and slapped him right across his perfect, marble-y face. With the same hand I'd yanked out of Esme's. And it hurt. Badly. But, I was proud of myself for keeping eye contact with him and not yelping in pain.

It was true that I was pissed off beyond all reason, but I never would have intentionally destroyed all of Carlisle's hard work. How dare he insinuate that I would! I was more than surprised when I found myself mentally checking if I had a lighter in my pocket, but I was so furious right now, I didn't let myself think about that just yet. We stood there staring at each other for who knows how long before I turned to Emmett.

"Em, would you mind driving me home since I was to weak and human to drive myself here?"

Before he could reply, Rosalie jumped up. "I'd be happy to take you home, Bella. If that's alright with you?"

Yep. Twilight Zone for sure.

"Yes, I'd like that Rosalie. Thank you."

I grabbed my purse and headed for the door, not allowing myself to look back at Edward. If I did, I'd probably apologize for everything just because I didn't want to fight with him. Sometimes I was just a weak human, especially when it came to Edward. Stupid fucking vampires.

I climbed into Rosalie's BMW and we sped down the driveway in silence. I stared out the window and thought about the unexpected turn this day had taken after discovering the Cullen basement. I began second-guessing the way I'd handled everything. Throwing a temper tantrum in front of the whole family? That really proved I wasn't a child. Stupid Bella. I didn't speak until I realized we were taking an awful long time to get home and realized we were heading toward Port Angeles instead.

"Umm, Rosalie, this isn't the way to my house."

"I'm sorry, Bella. I should have asked you but I thought you'd say no, and I really would like to take you out to dinner. I figured you'd like some time to unwind before seeing your father. Please forgive me? Oh, and friends call me Rose."

What! The! Actual! Fuck?

Rosalie wanted to take me out to dinner. Rosalie asked forgiveness. Rosalie called me a friend. Maybe I was down in that basement a little too long and inhaled some toxic fumes. No, Edward would never have allowed that. If he thought the basement was dangerous, he would never have let me go down there. Because he has to make sure stupid, clumsy, human Bella is safe.

"Well, I'd like that very much, Rosa... err, I mean, Rose. But, what brought this on? I thought you hated me?"

There goes my mouth again. What has gotten into me? I grew balls of steel sometime in the last day and I hadn't even realized it: puberty of the spirit.

Rosalie laughed again. I really did love her laugh.

"I never hated you. Well, I didn't hate you, but I didn't like you either. I thought you were weak; just a person who allowed everyone to push her around like a pet. No one deserves that, Bella. To be honest, this life isn't easy. I don't see how you could want to give up a human life to be like us. With the way you acted, letting Alice and Edward change you into who they wanted you to be, well, I didn't think you were capable of making the decision to be changed. To me, it looked like you didn't even know who you were. I think I was wrong about that. Plus, us bitchy types need to stick together."

She winked at me to emphasize our newfound friendship. The winking thing kinda freaked me out, to be honest.

Huh. Who knew that losing my shit on Edward and Esme would cause Rose to like me? Oh well, I'd take it. After my little show today, I'm sure my likability meter went down in Esme's, Carlisle's, and Edward's eyes.

"Oh. I guess that makes sense. I'm not usually like that, though. I suppose I just had enough. Plus, I probably won't be coming around much anymore. We might as well have one outing, right? After all, Edward is probably going to break up with me after my un-ladylike outburst." I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the thought. He needed to learn to loosen up.

Rose chuckled. I wish she would have laughed - it was much more beautiful - but again, I'd take what I could get.

"If he's your mate, he'll come back for more, Bella. I'm going to let you in on a little secret: with true mates like Esme and Carlisle or Emmett and me, you can't resist the pull. No matter what he thought of your little outburst, he will forgive you. If he's not your mate, it's better to know that now before you're changed, right?"

She was right, but I didn't like it. Although, I truly believed we were meant to be, if he couldn't realize that I needed to be in a relationship based on equality, then we weren't true mates.

"So, is that why you always get your way with Emmett?"

She nodded. "Yep. We've done the arguing thing and he's found that I'm much more stubborn than he is. It's easier for him to just agree with me than to argue and have me withhold sex. When he argues, I know it's something very important to him so I listen more closely and we try to compromise. After all, relationships are all about equality and compromise."

I mumbled under my breath, "Something Edward and I are severely lacking."

Of course, her stupid vampire ears picked up on that.

"Yep, but you can change that, Bella. You have to stick to your guns, so to speak. Let him know that you won't be pushed around. Edward is always spouting off that it's almost impossible for vampires to change. They're set in their ways, but that's bullshit. If it were true, Carlisle would never have become a doctor, I would still be recovering from the trauma of my death, and Jasper would be discussing the inequality of races."

I'd never thought of it like that. Edward was just stubborn. As stubborn as Rose. Well, I could work with that.

I paused. Something that Rose said caught my attention. "Rose, what do you mean 'the trauma of your death'?"

"Didn't Edward tell you?" She looked puzzled, so sure he had broken her confidence.

"No. Edward said he hears more than he should and says someone's story should be their own to tell. I don't know how you were changed."

We sat outside of the restaurant with me bawling like a baby as Rosalie told me her story: how she was violated by her fiancé, how she just wanted a family and a child, and how Carlisle changed her to become Edward's mate. How she found Emmett, saved him, and how he saved her in return.

"…I think I'd still be hounding Carlisle for that cure—or I would have jumped in the nearest bonfire by now—if it weren't for Emmett. Now, I'm… well, I still feel the pain of never being able to have his child, but I'm happy." She pulled a tissue out of her purse and handed it to me to wipe my eyes and blow my nose. "Now, let's go get to know each other a little bit and have a nice dinner."

Talking with Rose was… nice. She listened to me, asked my opinions on things, and didn't tell me I was wrong when I told her what I thought. We spent a few hours in the restaurant, enjoying ourselves, before I yawned and decided it was time to head home. Edward had called Rose a few times, but she just rolled her eyes and eventually turned her phone off. She said he was already coming around and letting him stew on his idiocy for a while would help him better than allowing him to apologize right away. And I agreed.

I took my leftovers and the steak Rose had ordered so I could give it to Charlie and left her BMW with a promise that we would do this again sometime soon. I headed inside and saw a note from Charlie on the table.

Bells,

I came back early from my fishing trip because I managed to hook myself something fierce. I went by the Cullen's house so Carlisle could stitch me up, and you weren't there. Carlisle said you were off with the blonde girl for some girls' time. Since you weren't here, I headed down to LaPush to watch the game with Billy. Don't worry about dinner. We'll just fry up some fish there. If it's not too late, why don't you drive down and join us?

Hope you had fun,

Dad

P.S. Edwin seemed awful mopey. I hope you two didn't break up. That would be horrible.

Well, at least we could eat what I'd brought home tomorrow so I wouldn't have to cook. Maybe I could even go shopping with Rose. Or we could work on my truck. I stuck the doggie bags in the fridge and headed up to my bedroom, making sure to latch my window tight.

End Notes: Thanks for reading. A little slow at first, but we'll get to the good stuff soon enough. Just bare with us. We promise the gruesome shit is on the way for you gore lovers. And there will be gore. A little foreshadowing here, and we'd love to hear what your thoughts are and where we are going. Check out our profile for our banner. Wuss's beware. We scared some peeps on twitter with it. (insert evil laughter) We'll see you next Saturday.

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