A/N: Again, I don't own Twilight or the characters in it. This chapter is told from Edward's perspective. It may seem like mainly filler, because part of it is used like that in order to walk you through this span of time. There are a few parts in this chapter which you will probably perceive different than Edward did simply because you read the prologue. Also, I hope to update at least every other day or every three days depending on what all is going on.

Family

I was so glad to have Bella here in order to meet my whole family. Rosalie and Emmett had been away at the University of Maine and hadn't come back for Christmas break. It was the end of May now and they had finally decided to come home. Since Bella and I began dating she had become the best of friends with Alice and Esme and Carlisle loved her. Jasper was still slightly indifferent to her being a human, but cared about her like a sister, just from afar. Rosalie had told me she didn't like the idea of me dating a human, she said it was too dangerous. Emmett was just happy I had found someone.

Rosalie was in her room when we came home. Edward, I'll meet her later. I'm not ready to meet her yet. After hearing her thoughts, I decided it was for the best. While Bella wasn't afraid, Rosalie may be the straw to make her run from my family and never look back. Emmett, however, was very anxious to meet this girl who had changed me so. He was in the main room when we arrived and from his thoughts, jumbled as they were, I could tell he thought she was amazing. I couldn't agree more.

After we greeted Emmett, I decided we should go sit down while we waited on Carlisle to arrive home. Bella had agreed to come over for our family's Friday night festivities. Alice had rented a couple of movies for us to watch. As usual, the chess boards and poker table were set up. Esme was in the kitchen preparing Bella some food. The rest of us had "dined" the night before.

"So, what do you think of my bear of a brother?"

"You were right; he does remind me of a bear, except I don't think he would rip me to shreds. He's more like a very large teddy bear than anything else." Bella said. I could see her eyes drift as if she were thinking back to the meeting just moments ago.

"I heard that Bella! And I'll have you know, teddy bears, well, any bear for that matter, has nothing on me!" Emmett says. "Speaking of, you have no clue how much more tasty the grizzlies are around here." Emmett walks into the living room and plops down on the couch next to Bella. He looks over to make sure she isn't too freaked out and realizes she is just a little surprised. Though I tower over her, having someone tower over you and be over twice your width is different. "Sorry to startle ya Bell. You don't mind if I call you that do you?"

"Bell is fine. I kinda like it." Bella smiles at him. I am so glad they are getting along. Now maybe Emmett can talk Rosalie into at least playing nice.

"What do you think Eddie?" Emmett questions

"It's better than you calling me Eddie." I answer. We sit there for a few more minutes, trying to find anything on TV. This time of day, few things are on. There's a Dr. Phil episode about a family whose child uses drugs. About five minutes into the show we are saved as I hear the sound Emmett's jeep, which Alice and Jasper had borrowed, pull up in the driveway.

"Bella!" Alice screams as she runs in and hugs Bella. She nearly picks the girl up and spins her around. Luckily, Alice is still shorter than her and it is still difficult, even for a vampire. "I am so glad you came over tonight. Not that I didn't know, but I'm still glad!" Alice releases her as Jasper comes in carrying a few bags from the store.

"Alice, was it really necessary to get that much stuff? We just needed to rent a few movies. The cards and chess boards are already here and Esme already has enough food for Bella." I tell her.

"I know. But now we have more people so I decided to get another chess set and some more poker cards in case we want to play some more complex card games. I also got a couple new Uno decks because our old ones are worn out. And I thought Bella might like some more snacks." Alice replies. She always finds an excuse to go shopping or spend money.

"Ranch Doritos! Thank you Alice!" I was too busy talking to Alice to even realize Bella was rummaging through the snack-filled bags. As long as Bella is happy, I won't scold Alice too much on the importance of not filling the house with items we already have multiples of.

"You're welcome. Does anyone know if Rose will be joining us tonight?"

"As far as I know she isn't." I loved my sister to death, but her stubburness really bothered me. I wanted her to be here and participate like she normally would. I also didn't want Bella to feel bad and responsible Rose's absence.

"She told me to tell everyone to go ahead and have fun. She may be down later." Emmett chimed in. "Since the chess boards are already set up I call Bella." I gave him an odd look. She was my girlfriend, shouldn't I be the one playing chess with her. "Edward, you and Alice both cheat and Jasper has a military mind and can almost win even against you two cheaters. It will be nice to play against someone new."

We made our way over to the chess boards. While I knew Emmett wasn't the best at the game, I didn't know how familiar Bella was with the game. This was going to be interesting. I thought about staying with her and coaching her through but Alice had other plans.

"Ed, you promised me a rematch anyways. Plus, I think it would be interesting for Bella to see us play. Well, maybe seeing isn't the word." So we sit down to our game. Bella pulls up a chair beside me as we begin the game. We both stare at the board and then back at each other. After about 5 minutes of this, Alice picks up her king and hands it to me. "Since you were going to take it anyways, here you go."

I take the piece and smile. "Thank you." I look over to see Bella looking like she had just came in at the end of a fight, knowing who the winner was but not how the end was accomplished. "You see my dear, I hear her thoughts and see what moves she will make and she in return sees the moves in her vision after I decide to make them. We rarely ever actually move a piece on a board. Well, unless we are exceptionally bored or playing in public." It all seems to click with her. While she had been around us so often, she hadn't been around us playing such games.

"Alright bro, I'm stealing your girl for a game." They sit down and began there game which ended 30 minutes later with Bella winning. Emmett had played okay, but not as well as he normally does. Bella was pretty good at this game. I might even play a round with her in a while. It will be interesting to not be able to "cheat" as Emmett calls it. I call it using my given talents, but I can understand why he thinks it is cheating.

"Good game Bella." Emmett says as he walks over to her and picks her up to hug her. She hugged him back as if she had known him for years. I was glad to see they were getting along so well.

"Emmett, don't break the human." I hear Rosalie say from the top of the stairs. She slowly begins to descend and I am glad to see she has at least decided to join us, even if she has already started by reminding me of mine and Bella's obvious differences.

"I'm glad you're joining us." Rosalie arrives in front of me before I finish. Emmett lets go of Bella and greets his wife with a kiss on the cheek. "Rosalie, this is my Bella. Bella, this is my sister Rosalie." Rosalie reaches out to hug Bella lightly, which surprises me at first but she has known about the relationship for over 6 months now. She realizes nothing bad has happened yet and she has heard the others talk about how happy she has made me. Plus Emmett had talked her into at least playing polite.

After our greetings we all sit down. Alice and Jasper are on the eggshell-colored love seat, which practically swallows her whole. Rosalie takes the left arm of the long coach and Emmett sets beside her. Bella and I follow suit and I lean myself up against the arm so Bella can lean against me more comfortably. The coach is huge. I'm sure we could make room for Carlisle and Esme once they arrive, but they have the smaller coach they can use.

Esme comes in shortly after and offers Bella a snack but she doesn't seem too interested. "I'll wait until the movie starts and eat some Doritos and popcorn if you don't mind. I had to feed Charlie before I left and I ate some with him."

"That's fine. Just wanting to make sure you were well-fed and happy. I wouldn't want to be a bad hostess. Especially to someone is becoming part of the family." Esme replies. I can hear the wedding bells ringing in her head and I love the beautiful sound they make. Being symbolically tied to my companion seems like such an amazing idea to me.

"You're wonderful Esme." Bella tells her.