You guys really blow me away with your reviews! Thank you so much. I'm always more than happy to answer any questions anyone has about this story or anything else such as; does Carlisle only have blue shirts in his closet? If Alice can only see visions of humans and vampires bacause she has been both of these, how comes she forecasts the weather - was she once a raindrop? I digress. On with the story...

Later that afternoon, Esme persuaded Edward to accompany her to an enormous supermarket on the outskirts of Port Angeles. Glancing at her list, Edward wasn't entirely sure that one trip in the Volvo would be sufficient for all the items she intended to get. As he turned the car into the parking lot a familiar voice entered his mind; it sounded horribly like that dreadful Stanley girl from his English class. He furtively scanned the area hoping to locate the source of the irritation and soon spotted her exiting a vehicle with an older woman; presumably the girl's mother. Edward placed his hand on Esme's back and hurried her towards an entrance as far from the girl as possible.

It was the first time either of them had properly shopped in such an enormous supermarket before. True, they often purchased random items from the local stores in Forks just for the sake of appearances, but this was very different. They stood gazing at the bewildering array of aisles and displays, wondering where to begin.

"Perhaps we should just work our way up and down each aisle in turn," suggested Edward. "I'll collect items from the left and you from the right."

Esme agreed to this and so they began.

The first aisle contained fruits and vegetables and immediately the pair hit a snag; how much of each required item to purchase, and which variety? There were so many! They decided to change plans and work as a team on this one and began with the vegetables. The cart soon contained several bags of potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and sundry salad items to add to the cabbage and onion which still resided at home. Next were the fruits. Both of them knew that there was a limit to how long each item would last before decaying and so thought it best to purchase a sampling of each for Ryan to try. Whatever fruits he preferred could be purchased in larger amounts next time. Having accomplished this they moved on to the simpler dried and canned goods.

As they worked their way through the store, Edward's mind was only half on the shopping. He found himself constantly scanning the thoughts in the neighbouring aisles in order to avoid meeting the girl from school. Edward wasn't usually so determined to evade his human classmates; it wasn't like he struck up friendships with any of them and more often than not it was they who preferred to avoid coming face to face with him. Jessica Stanley was proving rather different.

She was a pleasant enough looking creature with wavy brown hair and the experimental make-up he so often noticed on girls of her age. No, it wasn't her looks that repelled him, it was her thoughts. She had developed rather an obsessive crush on him the moment he had begun attending Forks High; a situation not helped when Jasper, egged on by Emmett, augmented her already intense feelings with a little boost of his own. The mere sight of Edward now sent her thoughts spiralling into fantasy land; thoughts which Edward was obliged to witness too.

Her favourite scenario usually began in the classroom. Mr Berty would dismiss the class and everyone would suddenly exit the room leaving she and Edward alone. Innocently she would attempt to pass his desk, clutching her books virgin-like to her chest when suddenly Edward would pounce like an animal. He would fling her with abandon onto a table (miraculously avoiding spinal injury) and proceed to slide his warm (ha, if only she knew) hand up her thigh. She imagined herself biting her lip tremulously and gazing at him wide eyed as he proclaimed his desperate need for her. At this point the books had usually somehow vanished and Edward would produce the luxuriously thick blanket he mysteriously had stashed under his desk. This would be thrown upon the floor for their comfort. Now the fantasy stepped up a notch. Edward would become the innocent shy one and Jessica would prepare to lead him into manhood. He shuddered at the memories. It was quite normal for girls (and occasionally boys) to develop crushes but their imaginings were rarely as blatant as these. Even Emmett and Rosalie would be hard pushed to compete.

So lost was he in thought that he didn't even notice he'd come to the end of an aisle and ran his trolley straight into the side of the one coming round the corner. Fortunately he reacted immediately on impact otherwise the continued force might have torn the other trolley from its owner's hands. He opened his mouth to apologise then froze with horror upon seeing who it was.

Jessica giggled and blushed. "Mom, this is Edward from school," she said.

Mrs Stanley looked him up and down. "Oh so you're Edward," she said, in a tone implying she had a full history on him. "It's so nice to meet you." If I was Jess's age again I sure as hell wouldn't have waited this long to bed him. God damn that boy's hot!

It took every ounce of will power for Edward to smile back graciously and return the greeting. Esme approached cautiously; uncertain as to whether Edward wanted her to make an appearance or not. Edward, do you want me to head off the other way?

With barely a movement of his lips, Edward sent out his plea, "Help me." Esme joined the group, beaming pleasantly at everyone.

"There you are, Edward," she said, "I wondered where you'd got to. Are these some friends of yours?"

Mrs Stanley extended her hand to greet Esme. "You must be Edward's foster mother. I do think it's wonderful how you and your husband have taken on so many troubled teens. I believe your son has developed a little infatuation with my daughter though." She giggled.

Esme nearly snorted with laughter. Edward's body language screamed repulsion, not infatuation. "Really?" she said. "Well this one has always been something of a lady's man. Carlisle and I have tried to tell him numerous times that he really must focus on his education for now." She sighed and looked at Edward with disappointment. "You know how disappointed we were about that incident at the last school," she said. "Yet here you are breaking all our rules again. Well this leaves us no option, Edward. You are officially grounded for at least six months which means you come home immediately from school every day and you won't be allowed out to socialise or to have friends visit until your punishment is over. Is that clear?" Tell me if I need to do more.

Edward hung his head in shame. "Sorry Mom," he said, adding inaudibly I love you and I owe you.

"So nice to meet you both, but we really must continue with our shopping," said Esme, before steering Edward away from the Stanleys.

"Good Lord, you would never think to look at her, that that tiny woman ruled with such an iron fist," said Mrs Stanley in amazement. "No wonder they have no qualms about adopting all those kids."

Jessica gazed after Edward sadly. Six months! Ah well, hopefully if he kept his nose clean he would be free after that. She would just have to bide her time.

"Esme you are an absolute life saver!" beamed Edward as soon as they were out of sight. She smiled back at him.

"Well you learn to think on your feet when you parent 'troubled teens'," she laughed.

,,,

Carlisle was just completing some notes on his laptop when he heard soft footsteps padding across the carpeted floor; Ryan must be awake. The door opened a fraction and a dark eye surveyed the scene, presumably to see who was about. Carlisle continued to type as the door opened further and the figure moved swiftly but quietly across to the cloakroom. When he re-emerged Carlisle smiled across to him.

"Sleep well?"

Ryan nodded and came across to Carlisle.

"Where are the others?" he asked.

"Shopping mostly," answered Carlisle. "They'll probably be a while yet."

"Is Edward in his room?"

Carlisle felt very pleased to hear the hopeful tone; clearly the boy had felt at ease in Edward's company. "No, I'm afraid Esme took him to help with the shopping. Emmett and Rosalie are upstairs though. Would you like to meet them?"

Carlisle heard all movement upstairs cease as the two waited to hear what Ryan had to say. The boy took a deep breath and sucked in his lower lip. "Okay."

Emmett and Rose had in fact been in the middle of planning the layout of their little love nest in the attic. They'd been thrilled at how easily Esme had granted their request and ever since had been discussing their ideas. Rose wanted a luxurious en-suite bathroom with a walk in shower large enough to accommodate them both. She also planned to have an extensive make-up area where she and Alice could spend hours trying out different looks. Emmett had one whole end of the attic reserved for electronic games. The eighty inch 3-D plasma screen he had seen advertised by a manufacturer in Japan was going to take pride of place on one wall and would be hooked up to his various games consoles. Jasper was going to beg to come up here. The rest of the room would be dominated by their bed; a solid oak construction with a twenty-four inch thick cashmere stuffed mattress, boasting a spring count of 2400. Each spring was wrapped in its own fabric tube and worked independently from the other springs providing ultimate support and durability. The entire mattress was upholstered in the softest Belgian cotton damask, double hand stitched around the edge for added strength. Strange to go into such detail about a mattress? Those who know Rosalie and Emmett will think not. The mattress has succeeded where many others have failed and is worthy of accolade.

None of these items were yet in the attic of course. The pair had simply been planning the layout and supposedly moving all the other stored items to one end where a partitioned storage area was to be built. They sat now, hand in hand on two packing crates, waiting for the arrival of their human guest.

"Don't frighten him," murmured Rosalie, to which Emmett snorted and remarked that the only thing likely to frighten the boy would be if he ever caught sight of the ninety thousand make-up products she'd left strewn all over their bathroom. Emmett found himself being unceremoniously booted off his crate though managed to grab his wife's ankles as he fell. The two tumbled shrieking and giggling into a heap on the floor just as Ryan's head appeared through the open hatch followed by a completely unsurprised Carlisle.

Ryan smirked and looked down at his feet as Rose and Emmett jumped up, straightening their clothes. They looked sheepishly at Carlisle who managed to keep a very straight face.

"This," he said, "is Rosalie and Emmett."

The couple were hit by a sudden unfamiliar shyness and gave a timid 'hi' accompanied by a small wave of the hand. Carlisle helped to break the ice.

"So, have you two decided what you're going to do with the place yet?" he asked.

Emmett became very animated and began pointing out the alterations and installations they had planned. Rosalie hung back and looked at Ryan. She smiled gently at him.

"Do you want to come and look out of the window?" she asked. "You can see for miles from up here."

She led him across to one of the small windows which overlooked the forest and he gazed out at the seemingly never-ending greenery.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

As she looked through the window with him she glanced at his reflection; something wasn't quite right. Then she realised; he also was studying a reflection – hers. She kept quite still then glanced again to see if he was still looking. Their eyes met and he immediately looked down, embarrassed at having been caught staring.

"S...sorry," he mumbled.

Rosalie smiled and placed a soothing hand on his arm. "Nothing to be sorry for, silly. It's okay to look at me, I won't bite." She winced as soon as the words were out but it was too late to withdraw them. She looked at him cautiously and was very relieved to see a half smile creeping onto his face. Feeling rather out of her depth, she turned, hoping to be rescued by the males, and found them both watching with interest.

"You don't bite, Rose?" asked Emmett in mock horror. "Seriously, Ryan, don't ever get on her wrong side – she can be ferocious."

"Oh shut up," hissed Rosalie, pouting at him, causing Emmett to raise his hands in surrender and to look at Ryan as if to say 'see'.

Ryan's smile was becoming more relaxed at the light hearted banter going on so Carlisle decided to push things along again.

"Ryan, would you be up for helping Emmett and Rose with a little sorting out up here for a while?" he asked. "Maybe keep Emmett safe from harm," he added with a chuckle. The smile plummeted from Ryan's face at these words but Emmett wasn't about to let him escape that easily.

"Dude you've totally got to help me," he said, "Rose is making me do all the work; I need an ally."

When Emmett turned on the charm, few humans could ever resist and Ryan was no exception. The smile crept back and he nodded and murmured okay.

"Awesome!"

,,,

Carlisle stayed for a little while just to make sure Ryan really was going to be alright and then drifted away to leave them to it. There were still numerous small boxes of ornaments and soft furnishings to be stacked up, along with various oddments of furniture; if the two vampires hadn't been so absorbed in planning they would have had all the tidying done in a few seconds. Now, however they had a human helper. Emmett explained the plan.

"We've got to move all of these boxes and this old furniture up to that corner over there. Esme's going to partition off part of the attic just for storage and the rest is for me and Rose."

"Your bedrooms are going to be up here?" asked Ryan curiously. Neither of them missed the pluralisation.

"Well, just one bedroom," corrected Rosalie.

Ryan looked at them. "You…"

"We're married," she interjected. Somehow this child's opinion mattered to her and she didn't want him thinking badly of them.

Ryan just nodded his head briefly before moving over to one of the boxes Emmett had pointed out. He hefted it up into his arms and carried it over to the far corner reserved for storage. Emmett and Rosalie glanced at each other.

"Has Carlisle told him about our strength?" whispered Rosalie.

"I don't know, he never said. Maybe we should act human for now, just in case."

And with that the pair picked up one box apiece and put it with Ryan's. They worked silently for a while before Emmett's curiosity got the better of him.

"So, Ryan, what games d'you play?"

Ryan paused with the carrying and looked thoughtful. "What do you mean?"

"You know," prompted Emmett, "Like PlayStation, Wii, Xbox?"

Ryan stared at him blankly.

"Video games?" Emmett was becoming worried. "Have you played any video games before?"

Ryan shook his head.

Emmett's mouth dropped open in amazement before a huge grin spread across his features.

"Sweet! Man you are going to love video games!"

Rosalie rolled her eyes at her ten year old husband.

"Grand Theft Auto is pretty cool but me and Jazz are mostly playing Street Fighter 4 at the moment; you can be Sakura," he laughed. The frown on Ryan's face said that Emmett was speaking a completely alien language so Rose decided to intercede.

"Em it would probably be easier just to show him later on," she said. "How can anyone possibly hope to follow what you're saying if they've never even seen a games console?"

"Spoil sport. Anyway I have to whet his appetite for the games, give him the lowdown so he can help me take down Jazz."

Ryan looked at Emmett. "Is 'Jazz' Jasper?" he asked.

Emmett sat down on a nearby box. "He's really upset with himself that he scared you like that, Ryan, he feels really bad about it. But seriously, you don't have to be frightened of him at all; you'll really like him once you meet him properly."

"And you'll love Alice, his wife," added Rosalie.

Ryan's eyebrows shot up. "Are you all married?"

"Edward's not – hey maybe you can help him find a girlfriend!" joked Emmett.

Ryan wasn't laughing; he just looking confused. Rosalie decided to explain.

"Carlisle told you we aren't all actually related hasn't he?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yes but he said you were his children."

"Well in a way we are. He's the one who sort of invited each of us to be a part of his family. But I met Emmett before Carlisle knew him and Alice and Jasper were already a couple when they joined us."

Emmett could see that a dozen more questions were forming in the boy's mind and he feared that without Carlisle present they might give away something they shouldn't, just like Eddie had done. This was way more difficult than when they were just pretending to be Carlisle and Esme's adopted human kids at school. He decided to steer the conversation around.

"So you'll be cool when you meet Jasper, right? Give him a chance to show you what he's really like?"

Ryan nodded. "I'm not mad at him or anything," he offered by way of explanation. "I didn't know what you were then."

Emmett and Rosalie shared a glance. Just what did he think they were?

I know as much about video games as poor Ryan does, so forgive me if my information is inaccurate or way out of date. As always reviews are the coolest thing ever! :)