Disclaimer:The Twilight Saga and all respective characters, names and related details are the property of Stephenie Meyer, Little Brown publishers and Summit Entertainment. I'm not creative enough to write my own story, so I've just stolen hers and changed it around a bit.

Warning: No lemony goodness

Approx:7 Pages/2,409 Words

10-The Folks

"Last chance, you're sure you're up for this?" I asked, letting the engine idle.

"I'm going to meet your parents. Deal with it, Cullen." She said dryly, handing me a thermos filled with coffee and slipping into the passenger seat.

I had planned our schedule pretty carefully to make sure that we'd make it there and back in time for the night's performance, which required us to be on the road by five in the morning.

Given that we hadn't gotten home till close to one in the morning, it was safe to say that Bella and I were both running on caffeine and fumes.

"You're sure Alice will be back home this morning, right? I'm not sure how long Spike can last with the pup-pee pads. Maybe we should just bring her with us." Bella pondered.

"Do you really think she'd be better off on a long car ride, or running around on a boat packed with cars? Alice loves Spike as much as we do. I'd be surprised if she's not back home before the hour's up."

"Fine." Bella pouted.

"Here, I brought your iPod so that we'd have some music to keep us awake." She offered, plugging in the device just as I was turning onto US 101.

"Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?" I asked, yawning painfully wide.

"You'll see." She said with a devilish little grin.

The moment the track started playing, I cracked up laughing.

If it hadn't been for Cotton Eyed Joe,
I'd been married a long time ago.
Where'd ya come from? Where'd ya go?
Where'd ya come from, Cotton Eyed Joe?

"It's not good music for sexing up your girlfriend, but it's sure as hell fun to rock out to in the car!" She laughed.

And so it was that RedNex, Queen, Pink, Adam Lambert and countless other singers carried us along for the first hour of the trip until we pulled over in Port Angeles for some fresh coffee and a quick bathroom break for Bella. Sure enough, we heard from Alice on the way, assuring us that she had already gone home, fed Spike and taken her for a walk. That seemed to go a long ways towards quelling Bella's worries.

"Why don't you sit back and get some sleep?" I offered her as we started the second leg of the trip towards the ferry.

She shrugged. "This is our first real road trip together – I want to enjoy it." She smiled, leaning across the divide to hug my arm and link her hand with mine.

"So, any more staying awake ideas?" I asked as the sky lightened and the first sun's rays began to break over the mountains.

"Do you like games?"

"What do you have in mind?" I asked, burning my tongue on the fresh coffee.

"Well, my mom used to be really great at making up games when we were on the road for long periods of time." She explained.

"Alright, let's try one." I offered.

"Okay." She turned sideways in her seat so that she could face me, her eyes alight with excitement. "One word movie game." She announced proudly.

"Um, I'm gonna need more than that." I laughed as I turned back onto the highway.

"I know, smart ass." She sipped her coffee before swatting at my arm. "The rules are simple: we take turns naming movies with only one word titles."

"How is that a game? It doesn't sound challenging at all."

"Ahhhh," she sighed, "that's what you think, but it's deceivingly difficult once you get into it."

"Are there any other rules?" I clarified.

"Hyphens and initials count as multiple words. People's names are okay, as long as it was actually a movie. No making up movie names – if either one of us challenges a name, the game pauses until we can look it up. Words like a, an and the do not count. Some examples: Spider-man is two words cuz it's hyphenated. Batman is one word. ET stands for Extra Terrestrial, so that would be two words, but The Mask is okay because The is a freebie. Got it?"

"Oh yeah, I got it. Who wins?"

"The loser is the first one who can't think of another title that qualifies."

"Oh, you're going down." I challenged. "Dumbo."

"Cinderella"

"Hook"

"Ferngully"

"Pinnocchio"

"Aladdin…"

We raced through every one word Disney movie we could think of in a matter of minutes before the unimaginable happened: I went completely blank.

I mean, seriously – How hard is it to think of a one word movie title?!

I racked my brain, trying to get to another genre, but the Disney movies kept reeling me back in.

"Not so easy, huh smartypants?" Bella teased.

Smartypants. Spongebob Square Pants. TOO MANY WORDS.

"What's the matter, lover boy? Totally out of ideas?" She laughed. "I've got two or three locked up in my head, just waiting for you-"

"Loverboy!" I yelled triumphantly.

"That is two words, and it is not a movie." She challenged.

"Is so! Look it up." I fought back.

Not only was I right, but time flew by and before we knew it, I had us parked in line for the Ferry and had Bella rallying to think of more movie names.

"Uh…um…" She struggled, her eyes darting around to see if she could spot anything that would spark an idea.

"Face it, babe…I whooped your ass." I grinned.

"No! I've never lost this game, and I'm not about to give in to some newbie!" She yelled, laughing as she nibbled on her lip. "Twilight!" She yelled out triumphantly.

"Oh, c'mon! That crap shouldn't even count as a movie!" I teased, laughing hysterically as she began punching on my arm.

"You take that back!" She said, playfully pummeling me into submission as we began loading onto the Ferry.

"Bella – vampires do not sparkle!" I teased back as she continued punching me. "I'll tell you what, it looks pretty nice outside. Why don't we call a temporary truce and sit up on the observation deck to take advantage of the sunshine." I asked, putting the car back into park.

"Fine." She muttered, biting back a smile. "But when we get back to this car, it's your turn, Edward Anthony."

"Yes ma'am!" I saluted, pulling her in for a kiss before stepping out of the car.

I waited for her to make another call to Alice, assuring that Spike was happily playing with one of her chew toys, before we made our way up the stairs to the top deck.

The sunlight was warm on our faces, but the breeze was brisk with a nip to it. Within minutes, Bella's teeth were beginning to chatter.

"Want to go back downstairs?"

"No." She pouted. "It's pretty up here."

I reached out to her, pulling her between me and the railing and wrapping my arms around her to keep her warm. I leaned in, breathing against her ear and neck. "Is that warming you up?" I whispered into her ear.

"Yeah, but in all the wrong places!" She laughed back.

The breeze made the water a bit choppier than usual, causing the boat to sway. The rocking was only magnified by the upper deck and, just as I was beginning to suggest that we go back down, Bella fell back against me. "Um, Edward. I don't feel so-" Her words choked off as she lurched forward, throwing her hand over her mouth.

"Bella, are you okay?" I asked.

She looked at me with terrified eyes, unable or unwilling to move her hand.

"C'mon, I'll get you to the bathroom." I panicked, wrapping my arm around her and rushing her inside. As soon as we were within reach, she raced forward, tearing the door open and running inside. I could hear her throwing up before the bathroom door came to a complete close, and quite a few of the other passengers began to look as if they might be sick, too.

For my own peace of mind, I was really hoping that she wouldn't start an epidemic, or I wasn't going to be much help. I looked around, avoiding the angry and worried gazes with an apologetic frown before just taking a seat on one of the benches and waiting for her to come back out.

Just as it was time for us to return to our vehicles, Bella slipped out of the bathroom, her head hung low and tears streaming from her eyes.

"Are you okay?" I asked, wrapping my arm around her shoulder.

"Can we just go back to the car?" She asked, unwilling to look up at me.

"Of course." I rubbed her arm soothingly as I led her to the elevator, taking us back down to the parking level. Between the walls of the vessel and the numerous cars that had been left running, it was warmer down here and we were close enough to sea level that the rocking of the ship was hardly noticeable. We weaved in and out of the line of cars till we made it safely back to the Volvo. Although I had yet to see her face, Bella seemed to be sniffling a little less now, which led me to believe she might not be crying as badly as before. I opened her door for her and waited for her to get comfortable before closing it and heading around to my own side. "What's wrong, babe? Talk to me."

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say because she immediately began sobbing. "It's just that…everything's been going so well…a-a-and it was so pretty up there and so nice just being in your arms and I-I-I…I ruined it!" She buried her head in her hands and I had a split second where I thought to myself – at another date and time – she might have reminded me of a Lucille Ball breakdown.

"Babe, you didn't ruin it. I was stupid taking you up there, I know you haven't been feeling well and I could see how windy it was…" I tried to pry her hands away from her face and handed her the napkin that had been wrapped around my coffee cup. "Seriously, c'mon…are you feeling better now?" I asked, looking up through the windshield to see how much time I had before we had to pull off of the Ferry.

She sniffed once and nodded.

"You know, I was just joking about not giving you Twilight…you don't have to go faking an illness just to get your way." I teased. She snorted, which made me laugh, which made her laugh – and it appeared that the worst of her breakdown was over. "But if you get Twilight, I guess that means that I can get Eclipse."

"Dammit!" She slapped her thigh, sniffling again as she laughed some more.

"Your turn." I challenged as I pulled the car into gear and drove forward.

It was only about another half hour before we arrived in the small town of Wallingford and pulled into Sweet Iron Waffles for some breakfast. I was worried about Bella, but she assured me that not only was she good to eat, but that she was practically starving.

Maybe she was right about being more durable after all. In fact, once again, she just about ate everything in sight.

"Sorry – guess the ferry left me with a hollow leg or something." She joked, licking her lips as I paid the bill.

"I can see that." I sighed. "Now, ready to meet the folks?"

"I can't wait." She grinned at me eagerly. "I don't know…just to see where you came from, to find out more about you. Sometimes, I feel like you know everything about me and I don't know anything about you."

"You know that I love you, right?" I asked, helping her up from the booth.

"Of course." She smiled at me dotingly.

"Then that's all you ever really need to know." I kissed her sticky, syrupy lips.

"I'm gonna go use the potty one more time, I'll be out to the car in a minute." She smiled.

I had a sneaky suspicion that she was going to check on Spike again, but since we were only minutes away from our final destination, I decided not to make a big deal out of it.

"Oh my God." Bella exclaimed as we pulled up to the large house on Green Lake Way a few minutes to ten. "What do your parents do again?"

"Dad's a corporate attorney. Mom's a teacher." I answered, pulling along the side of the house to park near the garage. "I don't see Masen's car, so I'm going to text him real quick and let him know we just pulled up."

A moment later, when I started to open my door, Bella reached out and grabbed my hand – her own fingers cold and clammy. "Edward, I don't feel so well."

"Are you feeling nauseas again?" I asked, pushing her hair back from her face.

As she began to gasp, I recognized the first signs of her panic attack. "There is no reason to be nervous. They are going to love you." I said, putting my hand over her heart, willing her to calm down and doing my best to channel Jasper's soothing presence. "Bella, match my heart beat." I held her hand to my chest. "Take a deep breath in…" We inhaled together and I held the air in my lungs a second longer than usual. "Breathe out…" I instructed, watching her purse her lips as she exhaled. "Feel my heartbeat, Bella. Close your eyes and focus on my heartbeat. Deep breath in…" She closed her eyes tight, as if her concentration was in some way tied in to how tightly they were closed. "Deep breath out, baby…that's good….you're doing great." It seemed as though we caught the panic attack early enough because this time, her exhale was long, slow and steady.

"Sorry." She whispered, her eyes still closed as she continued to just focus on her breathing.

"That's okay. If I had known I was going to meet your Dad when I did, I would probably have freaked out a little bit too. And I definitely wouldn't have molested you in front of him, that's for sure."

She snorted before going into a nervous giggle fit.

"Better?" I asked, cocking my eyebrow at her with a smile.

She opened her eyes and caressed my cheek. "Better. Thank you."

"My pleasure. Now, let's go meet the folks."

A/N: I'm curious, has anyone visited the YouTube page yet? If so, what did you think of the songs (sans my bad singing voice.)