If you are happy to see another chapter posted so soon all kudos go to my fabulous Beta! I sent this off to RindaRoo about midnight last night and she had it back in my inbox before I woke up this morning! I told you so is absolutely wonderful!

I am not Stephenie Meyer and no I don't own any rights to this story, its all just fun and games for me.

If you like it or hate it let me know. I even love flames. LOL

Pajama party

APOV

Today has been a great day! I really like Lenai, and know she is going to be great for our family. Carlisle has stressed endlessly over our return to Forks, concerned that not enough time has passed since our last stay here. There is still a good possibility we could be recognized by some of the elder residents of the town. We have lived here for two months, he, Esme, and I running errands around town trying to see if there seemed to be any recognition. So far the few residents who were around forty-five years ago have not given any of us a second glance. All of the doctors Carlisle had worked with are in nursing homes now or have already passed on so there seems little threat of him being recognized at work. He has decided to work out of Seattle just to be on the safe side. He does not want a patient remembering a Dr. Cullen, who looked just like him, from a visit to the emergency room as a child. That could be disastrous for the entire family. Going in to get registration forms for school had been a test as well. The five of us posing as high school students again would be the most obvious resemblance to our prior stay. Not many young thirty something couples have a house full of teenagers. Lenai had not seemed to notice anything worrisome or familiar about us though. Obviously Bella has never told her granddaughter anything about Edward or any of us

.

Bella is going to be a difficult topic. I have not let anyone know she is still in town. This needs to be done. I have checked the futures carefully to make sure our coming won't hurt Bella, but also to make sure she will not blow our cover. From what I can tell Bella has healed completely. Edward on the other hand has not. Forty-five years of deep depression has left him morose and unbearable to be around. Whenever one of us are concerned about him he snaps at us and tells us to mind our own business. It has been decades since he has tried to act a human role; preferring to stay around the house and out of public site all together. Even Tanya had given up on chasing him after the first twenty years or so. She had called him an old wet rag and went on to greener pastures. There had been a time when we all thought maybe it would be better if he went off on his own, but he does not seem able to leave the family even for short trips.

At Edward's insistence I quit watching for Bella's futures the day we left Forks. Edward had told me that even a short human life would be better for her than damming her to our existence, and surely she would be safer without us around. I had argued but lost. He did not realize that he was not the only one hurting over leaving Bella behind. I felt I had lost not only my best friend but a sister. Even though I hated it, I had followed his instructions.

You can imagine how surprised I was when I checked our possible futures after our most recent stay in Alaska had been cut short by a very curious, very creative, fine arts teacher at our last high school. Out of four possible locations we could go to, only two had good results. Because of Edward's aloofness and refusal to use his gifts we had been left in several difficult situations over the decades and had moved much more frequently than we would like. This left us with few places we could return to. Forks was the farthest back on the time line and therefore the best choice. Of course there was the added bonus that only I knew about. When I searched the futures of Forks I saw Bella, or Ms. Bell, and Lenai everywhere. I saw Bella opening up to Edward about her life since he left. I saw Edward forgiving himself for leaving her unprotected and with a broken heart. I saw Bella telling Lenai all about her time with our family, and how she had hoped she could one day join us forever. I also saw several possible futures in which Lenai brings true healing to Edward's heart and finds her future in his arms.

It seems strange to me how the future has a way of wrapping back around us trying to correct itself when we mess with the course it's supposed to take. It's clear Bella was supposed to be a part of our family all along, we were never supposed to have left her behind. Her future had been changed, but she had chosen to make beauty come out of the pain. The hopefulness of her choice has allowed the circular movement of the future to happen, which is giving Edward a second chance at finding true love. I only hope he won't screw it up again. I am going to do everything in my power to make sure he doesn't.

Coming out of my deep thoughts I realize Lenai is staring at me, and as I check back into my visions I realize she has been staring for over ten minutes. OOPS. I really need to pay closer attention when I am with her. She is so observant she makes the younger version of Bella seem almost blind. I can not let her figure out our secret before it's time. I have to distract her. "Lenai, could you get out that Muse CD you bought at the store? I would love to listen to it for the rest of our drive."

"Sure no problem." She answers happily reaching behind her to get the CD out of a plastic bag. Opening it she hands the disk to me. Reaching over to the radio I slide it into the CD slot and readjust the audio controls to enhance the music. Her head and hands immediately start keeping time to the beat of the music as it roars through my small car. I keep the music loud for the rest of our drive to discourage any more conversation. I have to think a little while. Tonight is very important.

"Alice," I guess the loud music idea isn't working.

"Yeah" I answer not turning down the music hoping that it might still deter her from a long conversation in which she asks all the difficult questions flooding her mind right now, which seem innocent except for the fact that they would require bold faced lies. I do not want to lie to Lenai. We will not start this relationship with dishonesty; it will not end well if we do.

"Did you know one of my middle names is Alice?" Here we are already, the first innocent question that I can not answer truthfully. Of course I do know both of her middle names and where they come from. I have seen Bella explaining to Lenai in a possible future that the Esme and Alice that she so dearly loves are the same people she was named after. I of course can not tell her that. If I could cry, I would have been bawling when the vision first flashed through my mind. Bella loved us all so much; she had lost everything when we left. Somehow she had held onto that love even after our abandonment of her.

"Really, I have never had a friend who shared my name before. When is your birthday?"

"February 15, why?" she asks confused why I want to know.

"Well I'm older so I guess you are named after me." After a short bought of laughter music fills the air as we ride in companionable silence again.

Approaching the long drive to our house I flash the lights several times to make sure Esme and Carlisle have fair warning that I am bringing someone home with me. They know I have spent the day with a human girl who I had inexplicably made friends with when I went to get the registrations forms at school. They are not to concerned, ever since Bella had been in our lives briefly I have made several human girlfriends. I have never brought anyone home though. This is another test.

Esme and Carlisle meet us on the front porch as we climb out of the car. "Lenai lets leave the bags for a while, I want you to meet my parents." I grab her by the hand and pull her up the stairs toward them beaming a smile at them that spoke more than words could. I see this is going to work beautifully! Esme looks a little surprised to see me with a human but is open and inviting. "Lenai this is my mom Esme." Lenai holds out her hand gingerly to shake Esme's hand. She does not flinch at the cold of her touch. I have been careful to touch Lenai frequently today trying to get her used to our body temperature differences without her realizing there even is one.

"It is wonderful to meet you Lenai. Alice says you were helping out in the school office yesterday when she went to get their registration papers. Is being an office aid one of you electives?" Esme is trying to dig; she obviously knows I am up to something.

"No mom, Lanai's grandmother is the principal. Lenai is just down visiting for the summer, she lives in Chicago with her dad."

"Oh anyone we know?" She's on to me; I have to throw the trail. Carlisle's eyes are blazing with intensity as well. They both know something is up, but they had not figured it out yet. Hopefully I can keep them confused for a while longer.

"No, the last name is not familiar." I stretch the truth. We did not know anyone named Ms. Bell. Changing direction I introduce Lenai to Carlisle. "Lenai, this is my wonderful dad Carlisle."

"Hello," she shakes Carlisle's hand gently, "It is wonderful to meet you! Thank you for letting me spend the night tonight. I haven't had a sleepover in months since my best friend moved to Nebraska. I am so glad I met Alice, she is wonderful." A blush spreads over Lanai's face as she realizes she has been blabbering. She must be more nervous than she appears. I am glad Lenai does not resemble Bella to closely or the blush and the shy way she looks down at her shoes would have blown it. They would have recognized her right away. As it is I can see Carlisle looking at her obviously trying to figure out what has drawn me to this human. Lanai's nervous laughter bounces around the porch as she glances up at me asking with her eyes to pleading to escape the porch. Both Esme and Carlisle looked relieved, her laughter bringing smiles to both their faces. Her cheerful musical laughter is definitely contagious.

Lenai and I walk into the living room. "Make your self at home, I am going to go grab a snack and some water out of the kitchen. Do you want something?"

"I would love some water please." Lenai answers as she sits on the love seat and Esme sits across from her.

I can hear their conversation clearly from the kitchen as they speak of the weather here and what Lenai has done in Chicago. I do not need to worry about Esme figuring anything out right now. I take my time in the kitchen and am joined by Carlisle soon after I walked in. I purposefully open a bag of chips we keep around the house in case of surprise visitors and grab a couple of water bottles. Opening one of the bottles I pour over half of it down the sink.

"So Alice, what is so special about this girl that you brought her home?" Carlisle asked in a voice undecipherable to human ears.

"I just like her, that's all. She's an amazing musician, she's kind, she likes to shop, she makes me laugh, and she's lonely. Can't I make a friend without having to go through three rounds of twenty questions?"

"I'm sorry Alice; it has just been so long since a human has been allowed to get this close to our family. It did not work out so well last time as I am sure you remember." Carlisle has on his concerned father face.

"I know, I promise this isn't like that. I'm lonely without the others here to keep me company, and I really like her." I whine just enough to make this half truth convincing.

"I guess her staying the night is not hurting anyone" he concedes.

"Oh, I almost forgot. She would like to go to church tomorrow. I thought maybe you might like to join us."

"Us? Am I to understand that you agreed to go to church with her? Well then maybe she is a better friend than I thought. Of course I would love to go with you guys. I will see if Esme would like to join us." With that thought on his mind Carlisle walks back to the living room and sits next to Esme.

Back in the living room I sit down beside Lenai. My mouth hits the floor when once again her questions have found a way to skirt by my awareness. "Esme; that is an unusual name. Is it short for something?" Lenai questions as soon as I am sitting beside her. I understand it is neat to find people with the same names as you, and it is extremely uncommon to find two people in the same family with whom you share a name. I desperately wish she would get off the subject of names though. We are walking a fine line.

"No, it's just Esme. May I ask why you are curious?"

"Esmeralda is one of my middle names, I was just wondering if we shared a common name. Like I said neither Esme nor Esmeralda are very common names, I have never met anyone who shared it with me." Lenai happily explains her curiosity. Multiple possible endings to this conversation flash through my mind in fast forward. I am completely unable to determine what path we will follow.

"Yes that is quite a coincidence. You parents must have appreciated older names." Esme comments obviously pondering the closeness of their names, but not realizing there is a deeper connection.

"Actually" Lenai responds. Oh no not this path. This is not good. "My mother only chose my first name; all of my names were chosen to honor other women. Lenai was my mother's great aunt, Alice was my grandmother's choice after a woman who was almost a sister to her, and Esmeralda is the name she had chosen for my father had he been a girl. I'm afraid I don't know the true connection of Esmeralda. My father once told me my Gran used to have conversations with a woman named..." Lenai pauses and suddenly the futures change again. Dimmit, this is not good! She is far; far; far; to perceptive. We will not finish out the night before she realizes something is up. Carlisle and Esme are both hanging on Lanai's words; there is no way I will be able to convince them this is just a coincidence. Why did I not see this coming! Even though I'm able to see Lanai's futures it seems inordinately difficult to see the whole picture, it's like I have a huge blind spot in my vision that surrounds her most inward and immediate of decisions. If the choices are made by others and merely affect her I can see her futures clearly, but it seems if the choices are her own I can see nothing. Lenai has finally grasped what she was about to say and continues before I can interrupt. "Esme, in her sleep. My dad felt the mystery dream woman whom Granny Bell had never mentioned while awake must have been very important to her. He believes the name Esmeralda was chosen to honor this Esme."

Dead silence settles over the room. Despair engulfs me. How could I have missed this? Esme and Carlisle finding out about Bella now, and realizing Lenai is her granddaughter slaughters all my plans. Several different futures dance through my head in a matter of seconds; almost all of which end with us leaving before Edward and the others ever come back. Only two make me hold out hope. In the first vision, Lenai goes back to Chicago, and Bella helps Edward find his peace. It is a good ending but not as good as I had been hoping for. In the second future Lenai goes back to Chicago to be with her dad, and Bella finds out about our families' return and moves back to Chicago with her. That is not a future I can allow to happen. I know what I have to do now to make sure it is the first future that takes root. I only hope that some unseen decision by Lenai will not mess it up.

Esme and Carlisle stand up together, "Well, we are going to let you two girls enjoy each other tonight." he comments above Lanai's hearing to me after he has turned his back to Lenai so she can not see his lips moving, "I will see you in the office after she falls asleep!"

"Let's start the movie fest!" I get up and walk over to our wall of DVDs. "Shall we do a Humphrey night in honor of Emilie, or should we go more modern?"

"Do you have any Aubrey Hepburn movies? She is just so beautiful, I love her movies. Women were so graceful back then, and men still knew how to treat a woman." Romance fills Lanai's eyes as she looks hopefully to me.

"Absolutely, I love her movies too!"

We sit together on the love seat to watch the movie. Lenai leans up against me about half way through, the heat of her body warming mine. I could easily love this little girl as much as I love her grandmother; I know I am playing a risky game not just with my heart but also Edwards. Lenai touches the same places in me that Bella did. I know if Edward will give her a chance, and if I can convince Carlisle and Esme to not let him know about her connection to Bella, he will come to love her also. When the first movie ends I pick up the empty plate of chips and the water bottles and head into the kitchen. I grab another bottle of water for both of us, once again pouring over half of mine down the sink before going back into the living room. Lenai is at the DVD wall looking over our hundreds of choices. She decides on a more recent movie this time. One I really don't care for too much because of the glorified picture of war it portrays. The story is a bad romance about how a prisoner of war falls in love with her captor/ torturer. Lenai puts the DVD in and comes back over to the love seat grabbing a blanket off the couch as she walks.

She lays back up against my side again sharing her wonderful heat. I am amazed she has not commented on how hard or cold I am. I know she has to have noticed. If it would not ruin everything I would have wished Edward were here so I can know what she was thinking. She seems to be very peaceful, almost as peaceful as if Jasper were inducing it. I can not help but feel a little uneasy about how quiet she has been since her conversation with Esme. Half way through the movie I hear her mumbling softly.

"I have to ask granny."

"No Lenai," I answer softly trying to convince her subconscious that everything is alright. "It's just a weird coincidence nothing more. Just one of those funny things that happen."

"But they are so cold. Alice doesn't breathe."

Crap! She does notice everything! Had I forgotten to breath tonight. I realize I have been holding my breath since she leaned up against me the first time. She just smells so good, not like Bella, but just as delicious. Crap, Crap, Crap!

"Oh Lenai, don't be silly of course she breathes, everyone breathes." Oh I hope this is working.

"Gran will know Gran knows everything."