Hey guys. Happy New Years! I'm one of those losers who don't go out for it, so instead you get an update that is 5 months late... *sighs* There will be a full explanation in the latest SIAS update in the next day or so.

Thanks to ASHLEYYYBLACKBERRYYY, hanaharoo, piccolover22 and GenesisCM for your reviews!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Host or any of its characters; they belong to the lovely Stephenie Meyer. I do however, own the plot.

Bella POV

While I was standing out in the parking lot in Emmett's arms receiving the biggest bear hug of my life I thought that I heard his name being called but I wasn't entirely sure so I didn't say anything to him. A few moments later I felt Em pick up his head and turn in the direction that the noise was coming from before he gasped.

"What is it?" I asked a bit reluctantly, figuring that it was another second cousin or something; I was not in the mood to be faced with more of them and their sympathy for us. When I felt Emmett begin to unwrap his arm from around my shoulders I knew it was something more than just another prying cousin; he wouldn't have responded to that, I was sure of it.

"Bella, there are some people here that I want you to meet. They mean the world to me, and..."

"It's Rosalie, isn't it?" I asked, interrupting him before he could even really get started with his explanation, taking a step back from Emmett. I looked up at my big brother and he just put on a sheepish face, smiling a little bit and I knew my answer right then; I was ninety-nine percent sure that she was the only person who could make him smile, even in a situation like ours.

It hurt me a little bit that he was willing to smile at the prospect of her being there when I couldn't get him to right then, but then I felt horrible for being jealous of her. I realized that if she was able to bring a little light to Em's darkness then she obviously really meant something to him and I was grateful for that.

"Is it okay that she's here?" he asked me, standing back from me to look down right at my face and seeming almost scared for my answer, which was completely absurd. I nodded before backing away from Em in a silent gesture for him to go and greet his girlfriend.

"I didn't know they were coming," he said, looking over my shoulder at her and I smiled a little tiny one at him, nodding my head in her direction and he didn't have to be told twice.

Emmett began to jog around me towards his girlfriend so I turned around to actually meet and greet her for the first time. She was a bit farther away than I thought she was, and I only got a little glimpse of her before Emmett scooped the girl up and held her tight to him in one of his patented bear hugs.

From what I could gather, she was tall and blonde and was totally the type of girl that I pictured Em dating; the over-excited cheerleader type that she looked like. I wouldn't doubt that she was on the squad at U of W, and that they met at a pep rally for one of Emmett's football games or something; he had never actually told me the story of how they met.

I noticed that she was wearing a pair of very tall, pointy, death trap looking heels and a white collared shirt that was tucked into a black high waist skirt that fell to her knees. Just looking at her, I concluded that she was beautiful and was probably rich and stuck up, and knowing that I couldn't be as gorgeous as her, even in my wildest dreams gave my ego a large bruising.

While they reconnected, I looked away to give them a little privacy and finally noticed that there were three more people standing about two feet away from Em and Rosalie. I automatically assumed that they were Emmett's other friend; I could never seem to remember the names of them, even though he had told me a number of times and showed me pictures. Even if I had recalled those conversations, it was totally different seeing people in real life as opposed to in photographs or by words.

There was a short girl standing between two taller men; she was very, very short, with black spiky hair that seemed to stand up all over the place, but it also looked like she had individually stuck up each strand of hair to make it look that way. She was wearing a small black strapless dress that had some sort of beading up the right side of it, and when she turned around to speak to the boy on her left, I could see that there was a corset in the back that was done up with a pink ribbon. The short girl noticed that I was staring right at her and flashed me a beautiful smile which I didn't return and looked down at the ground by my feet instead like a coward.

After the proper amount of time had passed so that I didn't look like a total creeper I looked back up, thankful to see that she had looked away from me and focussed my attention to the boy on her left that she had spoken to before instead. He was much taller than her; the tallest of the three standing there, and had placed his arm around her tiny waist. I deduced that they were dating from the way that they were standing close to each other. He had short, sort of curly blonde hair that matched Rosalie's and I figured that they were siblings or something. He was in an ordinary suit; black pants, white shirt and a black jacket, with a pink tie that matched the colour of the ribbon on the back of the girl's dress. I imagined that he was probably a little more than warm in that heavy jacket in the Florida sun at this hour, but he didn't take it off.

The last boy who was on the girl's right was definitely striking to look at. He was wearing a suit almost identical to the other boy's, but he had already taken off the jacket and was beginning to loosen up his black tie. I could see that under the white shirt, he was quite muscular and I wondered if he too was in the football program. He had a chiselled jaw and a perfect nose and when his eyes locked with mine for the fraction of a second before I looked away, I saw that they were the most brilliant green that I had ever seen in my life. His hair was a bronze color that looked very natural, not something out of a box that some of the guys here liked to experiment with, and it looked like he had run his hand through it no less than a thousand times. To confirm my suspicion, as the trio made their way over to Emmett and Rosalie, he lifted his hand up and brushed it through his hair pushing it back off his forehead.

I sighed and opened the door to my cab before hopping up into the truck, leaving the door open to let the air circulate while they caught up with each other; I wanted to give them their space and not seem like the nosy little sister. A couple of minutes later I happened to glance in the side mirror and saw that the first hearse was beginning to pull away and I unnecessarily panicked.

"Emmett! We've got to go," I called out to him, leaping from the truck, wobbling upon making impact with the nasty ground, and pointed behind the group of them at the hearse. He looked over to where I was pointing, finally noticing that the procession was starting and nodded.

"Okay I'll get in, look guys I'll see you-"he twirled the keys around his finger and started to walk over to the driver's side of our truck, but his girlfriend stopped him before he could get too far from her. I could hear her words carry the distance from where they were standing to where I was.

"Emmett, we don't exactly think that it's the safest thing in the world for you to be driving right now. You're an emotional wreck, honey and we don't want anything to happen to you. Let someone else drive the truck over and we'll take you there."

He seemed to think it over for about a half a second before nodding; she did have a point as Em was shaking like a leaf to begin with. Emmett turned to the boy with the bronze hair and began to speak.

"Take care of her," he said before handing the boy the keys. As I got back in the truck and closed my door, I couldn't help but to wonder if Emmett was talking about the truck or me.

Before I had time to ponder it too much further, the driver's door had opened and the bronze haired boy hopped in quite smoothly shutting the door gently and placing the key in the ignition, quickly starting it. I reached back and snapped my seatbelt into place and heard two clicks at the same time instead of just one. I looked over at the boy and he smiled a little before doing something I wasn't expecting; reaching over and giving my seatbelt a tug.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I protested, swatting his hand out of the way as a reflex motion to him invading my personal bubble like that but he was quicker; his hand was already gone and shifting the truck into drive.

"Emmett told me to take care of his precious cargo, and I was just making sure that she was safe," he replied, his voice sounding like velvet and my ears liked the sound of it.

"I...I think that he meant the car. I mean, my truck, she's very old and she means a lot to me," I explained stuttering a bit. Smooth, Bella, I thought and concentrated on looking out the front windshield instead of talking any more as we pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road in the procession.

"I'm Edward Cullen, by the way," he said to me when we stopped at a red light and I turned to see that he was smiling a bit, holding out his right hand for me to shake.

"I'm..."

"Isabella Swan," he finished for me and I nodded.

"Bella, actually," I corrected him, reaching out to shake his hand in return, but as soon as our skin touched, I jerked my hand back as it felt like I had been burned by his skin. I immediately looked up at Edward to see if he had any reaction, but his face was like stone with no emotions registering across it; maybe it was just me and I was hallucinating or something. I didn't know what to say, but he broke the silence for me.

"Of course it is," he said, cryptically, stepping on the gas once the light turned green and I frowned in confusion, forgetting all about the burning sensation.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked a bit defensively.

"Well, Bella means beautiful in Italian, and you're a beautiful girl," he answered smoothly, not missing a beat.

'Seriously? Was this guy for real?' I thought, blushing a little at his words and starting to play with my hair, creating a veil to hide behind instead of answering him. Nobody had ever called me beautiful, besides my Mom, and she was going to be buried in only a matter of minutes.

The rest of the drive over was silent as each of us was caught up in our own thoughts. I was worried and depressed about the fact that I was going to lay my parents to rest in the ground in the next half hour or so and I wasn't exactly looking forward to it.

"You really shouldn't do that, you know," Edward spoke when we were pulling into the cemetery part of the Jacksonville Memory Gardens Funeral Home.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, finally looking back over at him, the first time since we had shaken hands.

He nodded towards my hands. "Cracking your knuckles like that. You really shouldn't do that."

Sure enough, I looked down at my hands and saw that the middle finger on my right hand was in between my thumb and first finger on my left hand and I was about put pressure on the knuckle to crack it.

"Oh," I said lamely, separating them and placing them under my legs to avoid further temptation. "Sorry, I didn't even realize I was doing it. I only do that when I'm really nervous about something."

"What are you so nervous about?" he asked almost immediately staring straight out the window, concentrating on making a particularly sharp turn.

"Isn't it obvious?" I countered, pondering the possibility of him having a mental condition of some sort and Emmett had locked me up in here with him.

"Not necessarily," he answered. "You could be nervous about a whole host of things. It might be this funeral, it could be the school time that you're missing, it could be the prospect of what will happen in the near future, it could be a boy at school, it could be meeting Rosalie for the first time, anything, you see."

I did see. I saw that he was clearly out of his mind.

"Well, I actually wasn't even thinking about half of those things, but now that you mention it, meeting Rosalie is now near the top of my 'Thing to be Nervous About' list, thank you very much."

Edward chuckled and it was the most wonderful sound I had ever heard in my life. I wanted to hear it again and again without seeming like a creeper for wanting to.

"Don't worry about Rosalie," he told me, turning another corner.

"Why shouldn't I worry about her?" I asked, finding myself deeply concentrated on the conversation I was having with Edward, who was practically a stranger. "She looks so mean and stuck up and of course I should be nervous about meeting her. What if she doesn't like me?"

Edward laughed again and I couldn't help but to frown at him.

"Do you think that's funny? That my worries are meant to be funny like that?" I asked him and he sobered up immediately.

"No, I do not think that they are funny, but trust me when I say that you have nothing to worry about when you meet Rosalie. Sure, she can be a bit of a hard ass at times, but she really is an awesome girl. You should have no problems with her at all."

"Yeah, but..." I bit my lip before continuing. "Isn't she supposed to be all protective of Emmett or something and try to steal him away from his family, hating me because I'm the bratty little sister?"

He looked at me like I was completely absurd, and I too was questioning my sanity at that moment.

"Bella, Rosalie has always wanted a little sister, and she'll treat you with the utmost respect simply because you're Emmett's sister," he assured me, coming to a stop and putting my truck into park, turning to face me. "She's only mean towards girls who try and flirt with Emmett and steal his attention away from her, so unless you plan on dating your brother, you've got nothing against you."

"Ew," I replied at the thought of dating Emmett. "Edward, that's just wrong."

He smiled and undid his seatbelt, pulling the keys out of the ignition. I undid my seatbelt and made to open the door, but he placed his right hand over my left one that was resting on the bench beside my leg, effectively stopping me. I felt the same sensation again and decided that I was imagining it or something; he seemed totally unaffected by it.

"Just wait here," he instructed me before getting out of the truck and closing the door behind him, walking towards the bed of my truck.

I was very confused and actually thought that Edward had completely disappeared with my keys, leaving me alone in my truck for something bad to happen, when his face appeared in my window and he opened up my door. I looked at Edward closely as he held out his hand for me to take and I saw in his eyes that he was being very considerate and was genuinely trying to be nice to me. I gave him a small smile and placed my hand in his, noting how small mine looked in contrast to his, and also how that silly thing happened to our hands again as I lightly stepped down and out of the truck. Once I was on solid ground, he didn't let go of my hand like I thought that he would, instead, he locked the door with his free hand and closed it behind me before lacing his fingers with mine and leading me towards the hearses, giving it a small squeeze on the way.

We arrived at the first car that already had the back doors open and I was greeted by Paul, the funeral director's name that I finally remembered, and Lauren. I noticed that Edward sort of lagged behind as they approached me, slowly loosening his grip, and instead of being the confident person that I should have been and pulled him forwards with me, I let go of his hand and took that step. I trusted Edward, even though I had no reason to and had only known him for all of fifteen minutes; maybe that was why Em had trusted him to bring me over here.

"Where is Mr. Swan?" Paul asked, almost in a panic about the fact that Emmett didn't get out of the truck with me.

"Um, he's coming," I replied, concerned with the look on his face at my answer, worried that this man was going to completely lose his head at that little piece of useless information that I have him.

"But I thought that he was with you! I thought that you would be coming together! We're on a bit of a tight schedule, you know, and..."

"He's right behind us," Edward announced and Paul began to calm down, taking comically large breaths.

I started to turn around to see where Emmett was when my ankle rolled over on itself and I started to fall forwards. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the inevitable impact with the ground, but it never came. My eyes flew open and I noticed that there was a pressure around my middle holding me; there was also that same electric shock that coursed through my veins whenever Edward touched me. A quick glance down at my stomach revealed two strong arms that were wrapped around me, slowly pulling me back upright. I turned around to thank my saviour and was even though I already knew who it was, I was still astounded that Edward would catch me like that.

My cheeks turned slightly pink as I noticed the small crowd that was now surrounding us and my eyes flicked over to Paul, who was holding his hand over his heart, like he was going to stop breathing or something. I decided to ignore whatever that feeling I felt with Edward was for the time being and focus on what was happening in the present.

"I... thank you," I said to Edward and felt a different hand on my shoulder.

"Bella, are you okay?" Emmett asked once I turned around.

"Yeah Em, I'm fine," I reassured him, running a hand through my hair as Edward's arms finally fell away from me and I felt him step back.

"Thanks Eddie," Emmett said to Edward, clapping a hand on his shoulder and nodding.

"You're welcome," he replied, gritting his teeth and I got the notion that Emmett said something that he didn't like.

Paul swooped in on Emmett then and began talking to him as they prepared to unload the first casket from the hearse. I felt a presence at my elbow and looked down to see the short little pixie of a girl standing with her arm linked through mine.

"Hi," she whispered. "I'm Alice."

"Bella," I said to her and she smiled, giving my arm a squeeze.

Emmett called Jasper over to the back of the hearse then and Rosalie stepped closer to Alice, who linked her arm through Rosalie's as well. I noticed that Edward was standing off to the side and was watching as the boys prepared to move Renée's casket, running a hand through his hair again. In a bold movement, probably the first one in my life, I released Alice's hold on me and walked over to stand beside him.

"You should go and help them," I told Edward and he immediately shook his head. "Why not?"

"Emmett asked Jasper to help him, not me. I'm not going to barge in there and demand that I have to help," Edward explained, still watching the two of them work.

"Well, I want you to," I said to him placing a hand on his back, pushing him forward a little.

"Why?" he asked me with a frown as he looked down at me as I asked myself the very same question.

"I want you to help because I trust you," I told him, repeating his earlier words to me and I saw a small smile appear on his face.

"Only if you're sure," he said, looking down at me, checking to make sure that this was what I wanted.

I nodded immediately. There was no reason that Edward shouldn't help out, after all he was one of Emmett's friends and I had the feeling that he and I would become acquaintances soon enough anyways. He nodded back and walked forward towards the guys, asking what he could help with. I watched as they worked together to take Renée's casket out and started to carry it up the small hill to the plots. I began my ascent up the hill as well and once I reached the top, I felt someone tap my right shoulder. I turned a little to see who it was and found Rosalie standing there, looking slightly nervous.

"Hi, I'm Rosalie," she introduced herself, reaching her left arm across to cup her right arm, indicating that she was uncomfortable.

"I'm Bella," I replied, holding out my hand to shake hers and she graciously accepted the offer.

"Do you mind if I stand with you?" she asked and I shook my head.

"Not at all."

She gave me a small smile and together we walked over to the plots and watched as they lowered Renée onto the platform on top of the hole. As they boys descended back down to the cars to get Charlie, I felt someone touch the small of my back and Angela came to stand beside me.

"How are you holding up?" she asked me tentatively, trying not to step on any of my figurative toes.

"Not very well," I admitted. "Oh, Angela, this is Rosalie, she's Emmett's girlfriend from Seattle. Rosalie, this is my best friend Angela," I introduced them and they shook hands, but I didn't miss that Rosalie eyed Angela a bit as if she were sizing up the competition. I remembered what Edward had told me about Rosalie's protectiveness over Emmett and spoke up to diffuse a bit of the tension.

"Angela, where's your boyfriend Ben?" I asked her, placing a bit more emphasis on the word boyfriend than needed, but I got my desired effect. Rosalie smiled at Angela, seeing that she was no longer the threat, but Ange looked at me like I had finally cracked.

"He's over standing with a few other guys," she said, nodding over to where Ben was standing with Tyler Crowley and Eric Yorkie, two other boys from our school.

"They had to come, didn't they," I sighed and shook my head, turning around away from the boys.

"Who did?" Rosalie asked, but I shook my head, not answering her as Emmett appeared over the top of the hill, flanked by Jasper and Edward who were carrying Charlie's casket.

A hushed silence fell over everyone as the boys laid Charlie down on a stand over his grave as well and then everyone stepped back into the crowd so that Reverend Weber could commence and say a few words. Emmett came to stand between Rosalie and I, wrapping an arm securely around each of us. Angela's Dad finished rather quickly and Paul stepped forwards towards Emmett and I with the basket of white roses.

We had decided that the white flowers would be placed on top of their caskets before they were lowered down into the ground so that a piece of their family would always be with them. I took mine from the basket before Emmett took his and together we stepped forward and placed the flowers gently down on top of Renée's casket. Once mine was placed on top of the cherry wood, I could feel the fat tears begin to roll down my face and I didn't do a thing to stop them. This was it, the last time that I would ever get to be close to my mother again. I missed her terribly already and wanted nothing else but to feel her gentle hands brush through my hair again, working out all the knots that accumulated after a day at school as I told her what was going on in my life.

I choked, coughing at little and bit my lip to try and stop it from quivering the way that it was as I took the second rose from the basket and made my way over to Charlie's casket. I placed the flower on the top and gave in to my efforts, collapsing on the ground in sobs. I buried my face in my hands as I knelt beside Charlie's casket and felt many different hands touch my shoulder lightly, and I knew that all of them were various members of my family and that they all pitied me. I hated that they pitied me, it was the last thing that I needed right then. I thought of Charlie and all that I missed about him and I hated myself for not going out on that fishing trip he had gone on last weekend. He didn't have anyone to go with as they had all bailed on him, and I refused to go, inadvertently making plans with Angela so I could get out of it. Now I wished more than anything that I could turn back time and go with him. If only I had known.

A different hand grasped my shoulder and I knew right away that it was Emmett's. I looked up at him and saw that he was crying too, so I rubbed my eyes and stood up, immediately being enveloped in his embrace. We backed away from the caskets together and I watched as they were slowly lowered down into the ground. Paul then asked that everyone head back to their cars to head to the small place that he had booked for us, free of charge out of pity for us to greet everyone that had come.

"Bye Mom. Bye Dad," I said to their respective graves quietly. "I'll see you soon enough."

Emmett whispered his goodbyes too and together we walked down the hill to where his friends were waiting for him.

"Okay, we should head on over to then hall now, so that we can get there in time to greet everyone," Emmett said to me trying to be the brave one, even though I knew that he was dying on the inside and I bit my lip.

"You're still not driving," Rosalie told him.

"Whatever you say," he replied submissively, looking directly at her and snaking an arm around her waist.

"Em," I said to him, almost asking a question. "I don't want to go to this party thing," I admitted feeling horrible about telling him that after everything.

"Why not, Bella?" Emmet asked, and I wiped my cheeks from the last remaining tears on it.

"Well, it's just that I don't know a lot of people that will be there and I'm tired and I need a shower and... I just don't want to go and have more people pity me. I've had enough of that to last me a lifetime," Emmett's face was very pensive while I explained this and I felt bad for wanting to bail on him. "It's okay if I stay though; I don't want you to be alone."

"Alright, that's okay, Bells, you don't have to go," he told me and I was surprised, expecting him to pull the guilty card and make me stay with him.

"Really?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. It's the least I can do for you after you had to make all of these arrangements and go through this on your own," he said, pulling out the pity card after all.

"Emmett, that's not why. I'll go, I will. Forget that I said anything in the first place," I told him, walking over to the truck and leaning my back up against it, holding my head in my hands.

Footsteps came closer to me and I could tell by the heavy pattern that it was Emmett again. Wordlessly, he stopped in front of me, placed his hands on top of mine and took them down away from my head.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to," he said gently for his normally loud voice. "I'll deal."

"I don't want to abandon you either, Em. I just... I don't know if I can after everything..." I tried to make him see but I knew that I wasn't making much sense. "I'll stay if you want me to. Just tell me what you want."

"I want you to go home and get some rest. I will take over and go to the hall and greet everyone, I'm sure that they will understand when you don't make an appearance; you've done enough for me, Bells."

"But, I don't want you to be all alone at that thing either," I half-protested, not wanting to go at all.

"Rosalie can come with me and we'll cover for you. Just get in the truck and I'll get someone to take you over to the house, okay?" I nodded and hugged him in thanks. He cleared his throat and ruffled my hair before I let go and turned around to open the door of the truck; apparently we hadn't locked the door but if anyone wanted to steal it, more power to them. I sat inside with my eyes closed, waiting for someone to come down to drive me home so that this hell of a day could finally end.

A/N: If you're still out there, I would appreciate a review... even if it's to tell me that I suck for not updating either story.