Disclaimer: Obviously I am not Stephanie Meyer. I am generously using her characters. All of the dialogue comes directly from the book Twilight or her unpublished manuscript Midnight Sun, thus it all remains the property of Stephanie Meyer as well as the overall plot. This is merely a rewrite from Edward's PoV. That means that everything is hers and I just explored it a bit.

(Updated 6 Mar 18)


Esme took her hands and placed them on each side of my jaw, and with a fierce determination in her voice she said, "You are stronger than you realise. A healthy dose of worry is good; it'll keep you on the side of light, but not too much. Trust yourself. You've faced the temptation twice now. Twice you've been victorious. Yet, stay on guard. You'll be fine." How she straightened the knots of my thoughts so smoothly amazed me. And just like that the anxiousness that I had been carrying with me was all but gone.

I am indescribable lucky to have gotten Esme as my second mom. I looked at her with determination, and I knew that she knew that I had heard her. She took her hands away from my face and placed them in her lap.

"Now about the rest." And a true full smile spread across her face.

"I don't see what's funny, Mom," I grumbled drawing out the last word into a whine.

"You're being given a novel opportunity to learn something new and most importantly to grow."

"Well, if you put it that way," I grumbled, but half-heartedly this time. I had never before had to doubt my perception. This whole making guesses thing was terrifying. For the first time since I came into this existence my telepathy seemed like a weakness. My gift was something I relied on, heavily I was beginning to realize. Having failed three times in an hour's interaction my understanding of myself in the world was shaken.

"So, will you help me with that?" I asked, searching her for an answer.

Finally she answered, "I think it would be best if we talked about it as a family."

"But Mom!" I whined worried, yet teasing her. I really did not want to have to admit this to the whole family and to listen to their thoughts.

She looked at me compassionately. "Not the whole thing–just the part about reading humans. It might be good for the family to compare notes. I think it might help us all."

I thought about that. We hadn't had a newborn in the house since Emmett in 1935. Maybe she was right; maybe it would be helpful. "Can you? I don't want to …"

She looked at me and seemed to know of my need to save face. "Edward, dear, you know that secrets don't work in our house. I will start the conversation, though."

"Thanks." I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I also knew to trust her.

We stayed out there with her telling me stories about her first ventures into the human world after she had been turned. She told me about how nervous she had been and how uncertain that she wouldn't raise suspicion. She talked and talked. I listened. I knew that she was reassuring me with her stories. A part of me didn't want to be coddled or reassured. Despite this, I found myself reassured anyway.

Finally when her words had strengthened me to the point that I believed that I could even ask Rosalie for help, I said, "We should go home."

Esme is a magical creature. I never could comprehend how she weaved such wondrous balms. Her and Carlisle were lucky to have each other. They were a blessing to each other and to us.

"Yes, Carlisle should be home by now. Before we go …" She looked at me lovingly. "I am proud of you son for coming and talking to me. It took a lot of courage." She looked like she was choosing her words carefully, "It shows how much you've matured since the last time …"

I grimaced at her memory of me withdrawing from her and Carlisle the weeks before I rejected their lifestyle. Then she went on imagining our family in a way that made me wonder if she dwelt in reality.

Sure enough, Carlisle was home in his study when we returned. Emmett was in the living room watching a game with Rosalie curled up next to him, while Alice and Jasper were still in their room. Once Esme and I entered the living room Emmett asked me if the hunt went well in his teasing manner. I decided to ignore his jab. I heard Esme, who was slightly behind me, call for Alice, Jasper, and Carlisle. Emmett muted the TV. As soon as Jasper entered the room he looked relieved and I knew talking to Esme had been the right choice. I was embarrassed about what was to come. I tried to stare into space.

Esme started the conversation as she had promised she would. Everyone looked at me puzzled with questions running through their mind. I felt the need to say something in order to clarify, so I added, "She's my biology partner."

One by one their questions quieted. I heard a few mental sniggers, but to everyone's credit no one said anything. They all began mentally looking through their memories attempting to summarize what they knew. One by one we each looked at Carlisle. With over three hundred years of experience combined with his direct interactions as a doctor, it seemed only natural for him to start us off.

He pondered and then said, "I don't know if there is a way to really be certain of a human's intention based on their facial expressions and words, that is in part why we depend on you, Edward. With our kind's abilities we can often see microexpressions that the human in question might not be conscious of. These are often a goldmine of information. However, they do not portray intention as much as temporary mental states. Given that, what I have found to be most effective is time. Over time you can discover a person's intentions. If how they present themselves matches their actions, then you can trust their words to a greater extent than someone whose presentation and actions do not match." There was general nodding in agreement.

I decided to press the issue, imaging for the moment that it was just another topic we were looking at from every possible angle.

"If you did that method religiously, then there might have been times when we might have stayed in a place too long. Certainly as a scientist you have stronger empirical evidence than time."

"Well, perhaps there are things that I observe that creates concern. If so, I've never had to articulate it quite like this before. Perhaps one of you," sweeping his hand towards us, "has something to offer while I consider the question with greater scrutiny?"

It was Rosalie that spoke next. She was irritated and bemused that we were even having this conversation. She had kept her human memories better than anyone else. That gave her a unique perspective. "I think it's in the eyes. When someone is being honest his or her eyes look different from someone who is being dishonest. It's also where people look when they talk and the kind of fidgeting they do, but some are just really good liars and hard to catch no matter what." At that she had a far away look, and thinking about some of the unpleasant aspects of her human life. I tried not to pay attention, and give her the mental privacy I knew she'd want. Emmett held her close reassuringly.

"Most people do not say what they are thinking. They edit based on what they believe will create smooth communication with the recipient. Simultaneously, I have found in my charity work over the years that many women became flustered around me. They either said things they wished they wouldn't or barely talked at all. Most of the men looked at me, but said only the smallest polite things because they knew me as Dr. Cullen's wife. On the other hand, times have changed, and with it how people communicate with one another," Esme contributed.

As is our family's customary reaction after the beginning of a discussion, my siblings began talking over each other. I worked at not smiling at Alice's comments. She so rarely saw the world as it is. They gave anecdotal examples of times they caught a human in a lie or different conversational statements they've heard at school and their interpretation with the exception of Jasper. He looked at me and told me Most of the time their emotions give them away, unless they are unaware of their own deception, but I've not paid close enough attention to be helpful to you. I nodded my thanks to him.

All the while Carlisle looked at me and showed me mentally all of his examples. At the end he added, I'm glad you talked to Esme, but know that we can always talk about anything that concerns you.

I nodded slightly at him. As true as I knew his words to be, it just was easier to admit my weakness to Esme. Once he was done with our mental conversation, he joined the overlapping voices. Esme wrapped her arm around my waist.

She was right. We are a family that love and support each other even when we fight and argue and drive each other nuts. I was silly to think that they would condemn me for being inexperienced at this. Instead as she predicted, it rallied us, allowed us to share our experiences with each other, and we each learned something, probably me the most of all annoyingly.

The sun began to rise behind the clouds and the conversation started to putter out. Emmett being the least conversationalist of the family was naturally the first one to mention that snow that had arrived. He picked up Rosalie and went running outside to making snowballs. Alice, Jasper, and I were close behind. Esme and Carlisle stood on the porch grinning like Chester cats holding each other until we started pilfering them and they had no choice but to defend themselves.

After a bit Esme looked at Carlisle and says, "You have work," then turned to us, "and you all have school."

Then in unison we all say, "But, Mom," and laugh heartily. As we headed in I grabbed Alice and asked her if I needed to hunt.

"Hold on," and she began to search the future. "Nope."

I watched through her mind faint foggy flashes of cars impacting one another. Not surprising given the conditions.

"No death or mayhem by your hands. You're good." With a sigh of relief I went to get ready for school.

We all were standing by the Volvo having arrived at school before the bell rang when Alice had a vision of the beginnings of a car crash here in the parking lot. One of her faint foggy images became as if it was a movie picture indicating that it went from a possibility to a certainty. One of the other juniors' cars was just about to find ice and like an idiot he would slam on the breaks, which, of course, would lock the breaking system and he would have no control of the vehicle.

Humans get hurt and die everyday. It was simply part of the nature of being human. None of us were going to risk being exposed by getting involved. Emmett and Rosalie moved closer to Jasper just in case there was blood. Just as the driver lost control in front of my eyes and there was a high-pitched screech Alice's vision now showed the trajectory the dark blue van would take.

Something completely foreign overcame me, and internally I roared "Not her!"