Hey guys! Enjoy one of the longest Twilight chapters yet! :P
By the way, if you get confused at any point in the fanfic, I answered some questions you might have at the bottom of the page.
~Geneth
Charlie was extremely excited about us going to see the Cullens, and he went on and on about them during dinner. "They have five kids, but I think you'll like Edward the most…They're all adopted from different families, so don't freak out when you see Rosalie with Emmett or Alice with Jasper…" It came down to a point where I wanted to tell my father, my own father, to shut his trap and talk about something else.
So, on that Saturday, I came home to find my father out of his uniform and dressed in dark jeans and a button-up shirt. He was idling in front of the television, and when I shut the door, he jumped up and peeked into the hallway.
"Oh good, Bella, you're home."
"Yeah, hi Dad."
The television clicked off, and he came out, shrugging on a leather jacket off one of the pegs on the wall. "Just leave your bags in the kitchen; we don't want to be late."
I nodded with false enthusiasm, dropping my bag on one of the kitchen chairs. Charlie really liked this family, and Dr. Cullen had been quite sensible during my hospital stay, but the thing that worried me was that Jacob wasn't here. He hadn't promised that he would come, but a part of me hoped he would pull up in his motorcycle and come with us to the unknown part of town.
"Did you invite any of your school friends to come with us?" Charlie asked as I returned.
"Um…" I checked my watch. The time confirmed that Jacob wouldn't be joining us this evening. "No, none of them could make it."
"Oh," Charlie said, disappointed, but his enthusiasm returned as he practically skipped out the door. Shaking my head, I slowly followed him, locking the door soundlessly behind me. My father was in my Ram already, waiting for me to climb into the passenger's side and hand him my keys.
"Why aren't we taking the cruiser?" I asked as I slipped into the seat.
"Emmett Cullen offered to fix the suspension of the wheels; you were complaining about that last week…"
I raised an eyebrow. I had merely mentioned that the wheels were a little off. Maybe Charlie just like having the car fixed for free. Nevertheless, before I could confirm this, Charlie started the truck and backed out of the highway. As we drove, I turned on the radio to avoid the awkward chatter that had occurred when I first arrived here.
We finally came towards the Calawah River, and Charlie drove smoothly over the narrow bridge, following the winding road northwards. The houses around us slowly began to disappear and, eventually, he turned the car onto an unpaved road. It wasn't long until we were completely surrounded by plush forest, and I bit my lip nervously, watching the road twist and turn like a snake.
"Ch…Dad, are you sure you know where you're driving?"
"Course I do!" he replied. "I've been there so many times, I could drive with my eyes closed! But, that'd be dangerous and against the laws, so I won't…"
Suddenly, the forest cleared, and we were driving in a small meadow –or a front lawn– of a large, majestic house. Tall and gorgeous, the house was painted white and looked old, but in a beautifully restored condition. Charlie drove the car towards a slightly hidden garage, and he didn't even have to honk; the door automatically opened for him.
As we drove in, and Charlie killed the engine, I noticed a small pale girl, maybe my age but extremely thin and small, closing the door by pushing a shiny button on a panel attached to the wall. Charlie climbed out of the Ram, and the girl walked –or rather, danced– over to us. Her hair was ink black, and stuck in different spiky directions. Her clothes were expensive, and a peculiar pendant on a black ribbon was around her neck.
"Hi, Charlie!" she said cheerfully in a high soprano voice.
Charlie beamed back. "Hello, Alice! How have you been?"
"Pretty good," she replied. "Carlisle and Esme are making Italiano, tonight."
"Really?" enthused Charlie. "That's my favorite!"
I climbed carefully out of the car, walking to stand next to Charlie as quietly as I could. Alice continued her bubbly conversation with Charlie for a moment, and then turned to me with smiling, abnormal golden eyes.
"You must be Bella," she grinned, suddenly embracing me in a hug. She was about half a head shorter than I was, and the hug was around my waist. Her skin was shockingly cold, however, and Alice pulled back almost immediately, examined me with a curious expression. "Charlie told us all about you, but he didn't say you had a…interesting sense of fashion."
I laughed nervously. I was wearing jeans and a sweater, and she considered this interesting? Well, go figure; she was the one in a knee-length, light gray halter dress and black knit sweater.
"Oh well; you're staying here for a while, so maybe I can give you some pointers!" she said brightly, grabbing my arm and Charlie's arm, and pulling us towards a door that led into the house.
As we entered, I instantly took in the breathtaking insides of the house. With one wall made entirely of glass, the view was spectacular. The backyard led into a small wood area with a river. A curving staircase led to the second floor, and everything everywhere was various shades of startling white.
Two boys were sitting just on the bottom step of the staircase, playing a quiet game of chess. Both looked up innocently as Alice dropped our arms and shut the door behind us. I felt my face flush red, but not because of embarrassment, but because both boys were insanely handsome. The older looking one was muscular and lean, and had curls of honey blond hair to match his golden eyes. The younger one was more attractive than his brother, with hair the color of bronze and body structure of an Abercrombie and Fitch model. He smiled a crooked smile.
"Alice, what did Esme tell you about harassing our guests?" he asked in a melodic voice, his eyes teasing.
"I didn't harass them," Alice replied without missing a beat, "I was just introducing myself. By the way, Bella, that's Edward and Jasper."
"Nice to meet you," I said, smiling shyly as Edward and Jasper rose. I felt a soothing feeling surrounding me (I'm not sure how to describe it), but I felt completely relaxed and calm, as if I had known these people all my life. Alice danced towards Jasper, and he put his hand on her shoulder as she leaned against him. Charlie had mentioned that the two of them were together, but it still shocked me that they were adoptive siblings yet dating.
Edward held out his hand and I hesitantly shook it. It was just as cold as Alice's stony palm, and I shivered from the sensation. He smiled, bending low to brush his lips on the back of my hand. He raised his eyes attractively from beneath thick lashes, and the corner of his lips twitched.
"I apologize for the…coldness of our skin," he said in a mock-formal voice, "Carlisle and Esme don't believe in…heaters."
I laughed. "Really? It must get chilly here during the winter."
"It's okay," he shrugged. "We're used to it; they've made us into cold-blooded reptiles." On cue, Alice and Edward flicked their tongues out like lizards.
"Friendly reptiles who are respectful of guests and actually invite them into the living room," added another voice from the hall near the stairs. I turned and saw that a woman with caramel-colored hair and a sweet, heart-shaped face was standing by the door, wiping her hands on a dishtowel. She was just as pretty as her foster children were and looked like something out of a fairytale.
"Hello Charlie, Bella," she said, smiling warmly. "Why don't you come into the living room? Dinner will be ready soon…I think Emmett's watching the basketball game."
"Really?" Charlie asked brightly. "Oh good, I wanted to check up on the score." He zoomed off, following Jasper and Alice down the hall. Edward chuckled, and we both walked slowly after them.
"So, how long have you been in town?" Edward asked.
"Long enough for it to drive me insane," I laughed lightly.
"Forks isn't that bad," he replied as we turned the corner and started towards a large room where flickering lights signaled that everyone was there. "It has its…charms."
"Easy for you to say," I mumbled. "You don't go to school…"
"Home-school isn't exactly the greatest thing on earth, too. Do you know we have just as much 'fun' with science here because Carlisle's a doctor?" I opened my mouth to reply, but Edward continued. "And, Esme doesn't let us lack on anything, so she teaches us math while she does the latest thing for her book club."
I laughed, and we entered the living room, a large area that looked about the size of Charlie's entire first floor. A gigantic flat screen was on one wall, and several white leather chairs were scattered in front of it. Alice and Jasper had settled together on a loveseat, and Charlie was relaxing on a recliner. Two new family members were settled on one side of the couch, and they looked up from the screen as they entered. The male was probably the oldest of all the Cullen children, and was incredibly muscular and tall. The female, however, was so beautiful, so intimidating to look at, that it hurt to look at her. I felt my self-esteem lower slightly, but I forced myself to smile politely towards them.
"That's Emmett and Rosalie," introduced Edward, squeezing my shoulder to comfort me.
"Hey Charlie, so that's your daughter?" Emmett asked, nudging Charlie, who was so engrossed with the game that he just nodded absently in response. Emmett grinned mischievously, and then wolf-whistled. "She's hot," he said, stressing the "t" in the word.
My cheeks flushed, and Rosalie elbowed him. "Be nice," she instructed before turning to me. "Ignore him; just a little flirty because his team's winning. As soon as they start to loose by a few points, he'll start calling you ugly." She motioned for us to join them around the television.
I've never been a fan of basketball, or any sport really, so I stood awkwardly for a moment before I realized that Edward had settled at the white marble piano that was in the large space behind the couches. It was on a raised platform, and looked like one of those grand pianos only the rich and famous have.
I sat down quietly next to Edward, and saw that he already had out a music notebook and a pencil out on the stand. The paper was covered with notes and eraser marks, and Edward hummed to himself the melody before furrowing his brow.
"I can't get this tune out," he groaned. "I've been playing the same thing over and over again for five days."
"Well, I'm not musically talented, but maybe I can help," I offered. "Can I hear what you got so far?"
"Sure." Edward adjusted his hands on the piano, and then began to play the sweetest melody that I have ever heard. In fact, something inside of me refused to believe that he had written it; it sounded like an undiscovered composition by Mozart or Bach.
Then, abruptly, Edward stopped playing. "See? It sounds okay so far, but I don't know how to continue it…"
I felt the soothing feeling come over me again, but this time it felt more like…confidence. I pointed towards his work. "Maybe if you replayed the second measure, but added a little more dynamics. You can change the ending of the phrasing, and then repeat it again using different notes."
He looked at me curiously. "What do you mean?"
I reached over, small memories of forgotten piano lessons creeping back to my brain. I only played the right hand melody, and repeated the first part before randomizing the notes. Edward nodded intently as I played, and then his eyes lit up. I pulled my hands away, and he reached over, scratching notes onto the paper without experimenting with them.
He flipped onto another piece of notebook paper, and I sat with wide eyes as his pencil moved vigorously across the paper. Finally, he stopped but not before he filled out front and back of two pages. "Tell me how this sounds…"
Edward started to play again the melody, and finally came to the part where he had been stuck. However, this time he went into his two pages of new music. My mouth dropped as his fingers ran quickly across the keys, as if he had known the song even before he threw in the new parts. Just as he hit the ending notes, Esme entered the living room and shut off the television. Charlie and Emmett both opened their mouths to protest.
"You can catch the score later," Esme said gently but sternly. "Come on; we don't want the food to get cold." Everyone followed her out of the room, and Edward was already on his feet. He held his hand out.
"Thank you," I said quietly as he helped me up from the bench.
"No," he replied with another crooked smile, "Thank you."
Dinner was delicious, and I found myself scraping the bottom of my plate for any last morsel of the Goulash or the Pizzoccheri. It wasn't hard to believe that the food was hand-made by Esme and Dr. Cullen's watchful eyes, but it was hard for me to understand how they had made food for nine in a little more than an hour.
The table was full of discussion. Charlie and Emmett were arguing with Jasper and Dr. Cullen over which team they thought would win the basketball game, and Esme was refereeing, trying to calm them all down. Alice and Rosalie were in deep conversation about an upcoming shopping trip to Olympia and, from the sounds of it, I had a feeling that they were going to max out their credit cards.
In the mean time, I chatted with Edward. He wanted how the truck was for me, and I truthfully answered that it was holding up nicely. After a few words about that, I brought back up the subject of his music and it really got the wheels turning for him. Edward described several more pieces he had made, and hummed out the beginning melodies. I had to admit that I was impressed.
Jasper distracted Edward for a moment to get his opinion on the argument, and I turned back to get a sip of my water when I saw something that surprised me. As Rosalie and Alice were talking, Rosalie reached over and picked up a forkful of the Pizzoccheri. She brought it to her lips, which hadn't even opened to take in the bite, and then promptly dropped it onto her lap. Her jaw chewed air for a second, and then she resumed conversation.
My eyes were wide. Why was Rosalie pretending to eat? Was she hiding something from Esme and Dr. Cullen? I curiously watched Emmett eat, and saw that he was eating some of the Goulash. He picked up a spoonful and opened his mouth as if he was going to swallow it but, when Charlie was focused on something else, he threw it into the potted plant next to him. Edward suddenly claimed my attention again, and I found myself forgetting what I saw.
We all pitched in when dinner was done, and all of the Cullen children were loading the dishwasher, so I helped. As soon as we had shut it, Emmett ran off towards the living room. A few seconds passed, and then a groan came from the living room that could've raised the dead. Esme wanted to watch some sort of drama that was on, and Dr. Cullen grudgingly agreed that Emmett had hogged the television for enough. Charlie had apparently watched the sitcom before, and Esme was explaining the new plot to him.
"Maybe I can catch it on the radio!" Emmett proclaimed as he ran up the stairs towards his room.
I didn't exactly feel up to gathering around a radio to listen to basketball stats and, judging by the way Alice was maneuvering herself towards me, I was going to get an unwanted makeover sometime soon. Edward saw her approaching, and he grabbed my elbow.
"How about I show you my room?" he asked quickly. I bobbed my head up and down, and he whisked me off up the stairs.
"Hey, where are you guys going?" Alice called after us, but Edward continued to pull me towards the last door in the hallway. As soon as we entered the room, he shut the door quickly behind us.
Edward's room had a spectacular overview of the backyard, two glass doors revealing an inviting balcony outside. Another wall was dedicated to a large collection of music, and a sophisticated stereo system that looked too pretty and futuristic to exist. A black leather couch and a small coffee table were neatly brushed to the side, a single marigold in the tiny vase.
"No bed?" I asked, examining the room thoroughly.
"Yeah," he grinned, "It gets really cold up here during the winter, so I sleep in one of the guest rooms we have on the ground floor. When it's warm, Carlisle and Emmett bring my real bed up, and I put away the sofa and coffee table away."
I examined his collection of music, and noticed a framed picture resting in between two of his speakers. Edward was sitting in some sort of gazebo, looking incredibly sexy in a short-sleeved polo and jeans, next to non other than Jacob Black, dressed in similar attire. Both were forcefully smiling, and I turned back to Edward, who had turned on his stereo and was playing a soft acoustic song.
"You know Jacob Black?"
"We've been thrown together a lot recently," he replied. "Carlisle has to work with his father for a…a business thing, and I'm always the one in charge of keeping him entertained while our fathers battle it out." He rolled his eyes playfully. "Why, do you know him?"
"Kind of," I mumbled, feigning interest in an old R&B CD.
Edward smiled his stunning crooked smile, and then nudged me with his shoulder. "Well? Do you know him or not?"
"He goes to the same school as I do," I replied, stating the obvious, "And we hung out a few times. I forgot he knew your dad, so I invited him to drive up here with Charlie and me."
He stiffened slightly. "Jacob…Jacob's not allowed to come here."
I peered up at him. "Wait, what? Jacob's not allowed to come to your room?"
"To my family's house and land," he corrected quietly.
"I'm confused…Why are they not allowed up here?"
Half of Edward's smile crept back onto his lips. "Um, well…I'm not really supposed to tell you, Bella. Carlisle has strict precautions on what I'm allowed to say about our…family history."
This made me want to know even more. If Edward was adopted, what sort of family history with his foster father could he possibly have? "It's not like I'm going to go running to the town newspaper and demand that the story get published. I'm just curious."
We listened to the song end, and an upbeat jazz number began to play. Edward sighed, and then gestured me towards his inviting leather couch. I quickly made my way there, and sat obediently. Edward sat across from me.
"Carlisle Cullen, my foster father, has known me for a long time. My…father and Carlisle go back to before I was…born, so when they died, he adopted me with Esme." He paused, lowering the music so that it was mere background noise. "During their prime, Carlisle and my…father had decided to settle in a house close to Forks, somewhere in Washington. Apparently, the house was on land that belonged to the Quileutes, and they thought my…father and Carlisle were immortal beings who had returned to ruin them, vampires or something like that."
"Vampires?" I was so intrigued that I leaned forward, my knee touching Edward's.
He shrugged. "And, according to Carlisle's years of research, there is an enemy of vampires, a being that hisses at the very sound of the mention of Dracula, and all Quileutes are descendants of these creatures, which is why they wanted to kick Carlisle off their land in fear that he might be that creature."
"What sort of creature?"
"Werewolves." The very word caused me to catch my breath and pull back. Edward continued, his eyes haunting. "My…father and Carlisle decided to play along with the Quileutes' superstition, so they offered to make a treaty with them. If they the 'vampires' stayed off their reservation, they would have to, in turn, stay off our land."
He glanced at me, and laughed when he saw that I was slightly shivering. "So you see," he chuckled, "It's not that we don't want them on our land. The Quileutes are too superstitious that we might be bloodsuckers that they wouldn't put a toe over the treaty line if we paid them." Edward reached under the coffee table and offered me a blanket.
"No thanks," I grinned. "You're just a really good storyteller."
"Just don't tell Carlisle or Jacob that I said anything. Carlisle would freak and Jacob would tell his parents, and God knows what would happen then."
I nodded, and the door burst open suddenly. Alice came in, hands on her hips. Her lips, coated in a dark shade of lipstick, were in full pout. "So that's where you've been!" she scolded, glaring at me.
"How'd you get past the locked door?" Edward groaned.
"Easy. I asked Emmett to pick it for me because you might be bothering Bella in your room. Alone. With no one else here. And a jazz number playing on your stereo."
My cheeks heated, but I smiled angelically at Alice. "Edward was just entertaining me with some stories. Thanks again, Edward."
Just then, Charlie appeared through the door. "Oh, here you guys are. Listen, Bella, I think we should head home. We don't want to overuse our welcome here."
"No, it's okay, Charlie. You and Bella are always welcome here!" Alice chirped. "Even for…overnight stays." Her eyes lit up as she said this, and I shrank behind Edward.
"Don't worry. Worst comes to worse, you can camp up here with me." Edward joked lightly.
Esme packed us some of the leftover food, which Charlie took eagerly, and we climbed into the car. The whole family waved from the door, and as we eased out of the driveway, I saw Edward follow the rest of his family in after a thoughtful gaze after me. I leaned back in my seat, eyes closed.
Everything that Edward had told me and somehow fit with my idea of what Jacob Black might be. But I had no definite proof.
Who was Jacob Black, anyways?
For those of you who are in a state of shock, these are for you...
Question One: Why was Bella helping Edward write her own lullaby?
In the original Twilight, Edward writes the lullaby after watching Bella sleep. But, here, he just met her (no way he starts watching her sleep at that very instant) so it wouldn't make sense for him to write it later. BTW, for inspiration on how Bella would help him, I chose River Flows In You as the model lullaby.
Question Two: Why is Jasper not crazed when he's around Charlie and Bella?
This question will be answered in ether the chapters to come or possibly in New Moon: Reversed Roles.
Question Three: Why isn't Rosalie jealous of Edward liking Bella?
Well, Rosalie just started to know Bella. She doesn't even know Edward like Bella because it isn't clear yet! :P
Question Four: Why does Edward heisitate with elipses each time he says "my father"?
Okay, we're all smart individuals. Look in Twilight, the chapter with Jacob and the Scary Stories. Now do you get it?
Question Five: Why are their skins cold? Why are Rosalie and Emmett pretending to eat? Why doesn't Edward have a bed?
Did you even read Twilight at all?
Love you all! Review, if you please, but try to remember: I'm treading as close to the original plot of Twilight as I can. But, as you can see, I'm tweaking it to suit the story line, which means no Nomadic vampires and no Volturi in chapters (stories really) to come. Be prepared for my substitute villains :D
I don't mind criticism, as long as its constructive and not a flame.
~Geneth :)
