Summary:

When Bella moves to Forks she's not human, but she's not a vampire either. Why is she in hiding? What is she hiding from? Only Bella know and she's not willing to tell anyone.

Previously:

Tell me they didn't. I prayed silently.

I didn't turn around when the three people walked into the room. I stayed and stared at Alice, wide eyed.

"Bella?" Mrs. Jones said softly. "There are some people here who want to meet you."

I quickly searched through the thoughts of everyone in the house and my assumptions were correct. I did find, however, that our conversation wasn't just between the people in the room. I held up my index finger asking them to wait a minute while I quietly walked over to the closet across the hall and pulled the door open and Lauren fell out. I raised my eyebrows at her and smirked. I didn't say anything to her; I just turned and walked back into the living room.

"LAUREN! I have told you not to EVER listen in on business? Go to your room, I'll deal with you later." Mrs. Jones yelled. "Sorry about that." She apologized to the couple standing next to her after Lauren's door slammed shut. "Please have a seat."

I looked over at Rose and she gave me a small smile. Please go with it Bella, it'll be fun! I gave her a pained look in response.

"Bella, this is Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, they are interested in adopting you. Now since you're 17 you have a choice. They don't have to adopt you legally if you don't want to; if that is the case they have agreed to be foster parents, if you want that. You don't have to move in with them if wish, you could stay here until you are 18."

I didn't have to be Jasper to feel the love and compassion and respect rolling off this family, and it was all aimed at me. Great.

I still hadn't said anything so I searched their thoughts.

Bella, please it would be so much more fun with you in the house.-Rosalie

What's taking her so long to decide?-Alice

Come on, say yes already.-Edward

I am going to totally kick her ass at the Wii when we get home.-Emmett

The emotions in this room are INSANE!-Jasper

It would be wonderful to have another daughter even if she's human.-Esme

If you only knew Esme. I thought to myself.

I've smelt something similar to her in the past, but I can't place it.- Carlisle

Come on Bella, say something these people are making me uncomfortable. - Mrs. Jones

I shook my head to her last statement, I saw everyone's faces fall. I smiled at their assumptions.

"That won't be necessary; I would love to live with them." When I said this Esme's heart-shaped face lit up and Alice tackled me to the ground in a hug.

"OMG! This is going to be so much fun!" She yelled in my ear. I tensed and clenched my jaw. I'm not too sure I'm ready to have such physical contact with vampires yet. It took almost all my strength to not shift and throw her across the room.

"Alice, get off her." Emmett chuckled and she helped me to my feet.

"Okay, all your stuff is packed and being moved as we speak." Mrs. Jones said, relieved to get them out of her house.

"Bella, could I talk to you for a minute, privately?" Carlisle asked. I nodded and followed him out the back door. We walked in silence until we were out of hearing distance before he spoke up.

"Bella, what are you doing here? No one in your clan is here." What he said shocked me and I stopped walking. I turned to look at him curiously. "Yes, I know what and who you are. Don't worry, you're secret is safe with me."

"Hunters." Was all I had to say for him to understand. "I honestly didn't know your family was here or I wouldn't have come. I don't want them to get hurt because of me, physically or mentally."

He was shaking his head before I finished. "Don't worry about them; they would want to help you, if they knew. I'll let you tell them when you're ready, but we'll help you; you're family." He smiled at me. "The school is letting you stay home for the rest of this week to get settled. We are going hunting out of town this weekend, so you can go hunting and get into our routine. We go every other weekend, out of town so you don't have to worry about one of them finding you. When we get home, I'll tell you what we are, for their benefit and you can tell them then, if you want, again you can take your time with that."

"Rose knows a little. I told her so nobody would get too suspicious; and she could warn me in advance so I wouldn't hurt them accidentally. And thank you Carlisle, it means a lot." He, without thinking, pulled me into a hug and I tensed slightly.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He released me.

"No, don't worry, I'm getting better. I didn't kill Alice earlier, that's a good sign." I chuckled and we started back to the house. I quickly ran upstairs to put on new clothes on and walked to the front of the house to find the rest of the Cullens waiting for me.

"Okay Bella, you're riding with Edward." Alice said with a smug smile I couldn't help but laugh at.

"Alice I have my own car, remember?" I asked, still chuckling; I gestured to my Infinity.

"Fine." She growled at me, but stopped when she saw me grab the car for support. Okay physical contact and instinct verbalization are still no's I need to work on.

"Alice." Carlisle said as a warning when I clenched my jaw to keep the growl that was building in my chest quiet. "Let's go." I got in the driver's seat and followed to Volvo to my new house deep in thought.

I knew I would have to tell them, I would tell them when they got back from their hunting trip. But how would they react? I didn't know if Carlisle was right about their reactions. How is he going to keep this from Edward? What if Alice 'sees' something happening then she'll get suspicious and asks me?

I wasn't paying attention when something flashed in front of my car. I instantly hit the brakes and looked curiously into the woods. I could have sworn it looked like a person, but I wasn't sure.

I shook my head, I'm going crazy.

By the time I got to the house, the rest of the family was waiting for me. I looked at the mansion they called a house in awe.

"Come on Bella, I'll give you a tour." Alice volunteered, she felt bad for getting mad at me.

"Sure." I gave her a smile.

"Bella, I'm sorry about earlier-" She started to apologize but I interrupted her.

"Don't worry Alice, it's okay." I gave her another smile and she sighed. She showed me the house; it's a huge Victorian style house. My room has a neutral color scheme, which I love.

I spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out in the living room, laughing as everyone told embarrassing stories of someone else. On more than one account, I caught Edward staring at me. Every time he did I would raise my eyebrows and he would look away, embarrassed, which was really cute.

"Bella, what would you like for dinner?" Esme asked as she walked into the living room. I first glanced at the clock and noticed it was dinner time, and then I glanced at Carlisle. He kept his face blank, but his eyes had some worry in them.

"Um, I'm not really hungry." I giggled a little at my comment, but covered it with a cough.

"Okay, just let me know when you do." She smiled and went upstairs to her study..

The rest of the week went by quickly. All the kids stayed home to get to know me better. They all insisted that I called them their siblings in public because I was part of the family now; Carlisle and Esme also insisted that I call them mom and dad.

I spent each day with a different sibling: Emmett and Jasper loved to prank everyone, so we spent a day doing that, along with playing videogames. Alice took me shopping, which was okay. Thank goodness for Rose; we worked all day on our cars and gossiped about everything. Edward was surprised that I could play piano, so we spent all day playing. I was starting to notice that he stared at me a lot and I stared back and every time we touched it felt like an electric current went through my dry veins.

Of course being the mother that she is, Esme was worried that I didn't eat. She would try to get me to, but every time I would come up with an excuse not to. She started to think that I was anorexic or something so she made me go with Carlisle to the hospital so he could do a check up on me.

Before I knew it, it was Friday afternoon and they were all getting ready to leave. Esme wanted me to come with them, but I told her I wasn't feeling up to traveling hours in the car. Thankfully Carlisle was there to tell her that I could stay home and that I am responsible enough to stay home alone. They were going in Emmett's Jeep and Carlisle's Mercedes.

"Okay Bella, if anything happens, call me and we'll be home in an hour. We'll be home tomorrow afternoon around three." He handed me a cell phone with a serious look "And make sure you eat something." I nodded and they left. I decided to have some fun, so I blasted my music and danced around the house when I got tired of dancing, I started on my homework that I had been neglecting all week. I finished at about nine in the morning and I decided that I should go hunting before the family got home.

I was on my way back home from Canada, it has been a while since I had anything that put up a fight and Canada always provided that, when I smelled him.

Oh shit.