Note: The last chapter didn't send out a notification, so, if you haven't read chapter nine, or aren't sure if you have, please just go back and check

"Deanna!"

"Mother..."

Margot Walsh was a sight to be seen. Unlike most mothers, she stood with a youthful face. Her brown hair was a storm of espresso colored curls, framing a tanned face that didn't bare the same freckles that were scattered over Deanna's, prior to the change. She was beautiful, to say at the least. She wasn't that tall, had she not worn heeled boots that were as sharp as the black skirt suit she wore. Her figure wasn't what it used to be, but for a woman dawning on her forties, she looked nice. However, the frown worn on her thin lips were as unattractive as they were uninviting. The most uninviting was the dark blues that were staring into Deanna's forest greens.

The tension spiked in the room the moment a mother and daughter were reunited.

Edward, who had lived for over a hundred years, had never felt the air thicken as much as it had the moment Deanna and Margot Walsh had realized that they'd ended up breathing the same air. He couldn't tell what was more alarming, Margot's expression or Deanna's. It was clear that it took a few moments for Margot to recognize Deanna, but it was even more apparent on how little Deanna wanted the woman in the same living space. Deanna's nose was on a boarder line crinkle, lips twitching subtly at the suppression of a snarl. And her eyes...

They were harsh. There was no warmth in the pair in the slightest. It made no sense to Edward, who could recall his love for his mother on any given day, both Esme and Elizabeth Masen. He couldn't imagine any child hating the woman who was made to love, nurture, protect, to care for her or him. Edward couldn't read Margot's mind, much like he couldn't read Deanna's, only he could catch a few words, a few thoughts out of the blue, scrambled in messages he couldn't decipher. Whatever Deanna had, whatever prevented her from his "radar" wasn't caused from Katherine. No, this was purely a Walsh trait- Or a Swan trait? Yet he could read Charlie's mind...

It was all too confusing for a short moment.

"Deanna, who's this?" Margot asked, her eyes settling on Edward easily, not wanting to look at the hardened glare of Deanna. Margot could never quite understand why her daughter was so difficult. All her life, she dreamed of having a daughter to bring up, to be the epitome of charm and beauty, but all Deanna gave her was strife and rebellion. Where was the tie between mother and daughter that she heard so much about? That, Margot did not know.

"My name is Edward Cullen, Ms. Walsh," Edward answered when he saw that Deanna's lips were pressed together, no intent on speaking to her mother just yet. "I'm a friend of Deanna's, " he clarified with a smile on his lips. Margot's face twitched into a smile, uneasy and unsure as to why she was so charmed so easily. It was in this did Edward find a difference between Deanna and Margot: Willpower. If he was able to "dazzle" Ms. Walsh, then he was sure he could, at least, find some answers to what had happened between the two women. He knew it wasn't something most would linger on. However, most people weren't over a century old with time able to be spent so easily.

Margot's face broke into a full smile as she looked to her daughter, clasping her hands together in front of her as she spoke, "Oh, good for you, Deanna! Didn't I tell you that you'd make more friends?"

"No."

"Well, I should have!" Margot boldly professed. She moved across the living room, taking a seat across from the two. She stood out like a sore thumb in the cozy house. She looked to be a business woman on her way to a morning rush for coffee, but instead ended up in a quaint home for quiet living. She blinked three times, her eyes fighting to stay on Deanna, expecting word from her daughter. "I see you're making a recovery," she tried.

"Yes."

"When are you going back to school?" Margot asked, her eyes narrowing as she came to the real question she wanted to ask. "I'd hate for you to have to catch up too much. After all, school is what's going to get you into college! I never had the chance to go to college, but it was always your father's and my dream for you to go!" She encouraged, earning an irritated sigh from Deanna. "Don't be rude, Deanna Walsh. I brought you into this world, I will not hesitate to take you out of it," Margot snapped, her demeanor changing before Edward's and Deanna's eyes. While Edward's eyebrows furrowed, Deanna's whole face remained impassive.

"You've said that before, yet I'm still here," Deanna said carelessly with a shrug. "And if you have to threaten me so many times, wouldn't that mean that you're hesitating?" She asked, crossing her arms. Margot gasped, her lips pressing together, jaw clenching with anger.

"Watch yourself, Dea-"

"I have to. You never did," Deanna said lamely. Edward shifted in his seat, not wanting to leave, but also not wanting to remain visible.

Margot's face softened into heartbreak. He carefully watched Deanna's reaction and to his shock, Deanna seemed indifferent to her mother's apparent breakdown. This wasn't normal. Children were innately intuitive to their mother's feelings. Something was wrong, alarmingly wrong. Straightening her back, seeing Deanna's lack of empathy, Margot stood up, straightening out her skirt. With a fuming sigh, she drew in a shaky breath, trying to stop the tears welling in her eyes. "I'm going to visit Charlie... Do you need anything?" she asked, trying to remain as calm as Deanna seemed to be.

"No, ma'am."

At the sound of the door closing, Deanna's face collapsed into exhaustion, her hands slipping into her brown waves, eyes falling shut. Her apathy ironically seemed to take more out of her than it should have. When her eyes opened, she found gold staring back at her. She huffed, turning her head to the side, chin up proudly. Edward smiled at the gesture. If there was one defining trait that Deanna showed, it was pride in herself and her actions. He had to wonder if it was a weakness or strength for her. He could see that her pride was one of the prime comfort zones, but he could also picture it, easily, when her pride could be her downfall.

"You don't seem to like you're mother," he prompted.

"And you don't seem to understand that you're not entitled to my secrets just yet, Cullen," she said. If he didn't see the slight smile on her lips.

"When will I be entitled to your secrets?" he asked, a smirk playing on his own lips.

"To be decided," she shrugged, standing. "Now, seeing as you're some immortal who has nothing better to do-"

"What makes you say that?"

"You're going to highschool. Need I say more?" She asked with a mocking scoff. "So, with that being said, you can give me Vampire 101."

A few hours later, Deanna was lounging on the couch, thinking everything over. Edward watched her face and waited, but she never spoke a word. She just stared at the ceiling, eyes moving as if she were looking at the stars, trying to find a constellation. It killed him not to know what storm was brewing in her brain, but he was patient. If one thing was clear, it was that Deanna was capable of holding a grudge. A few minutes passed by, him just waiting for her to say something, but when they hit the thirty minute mark of silence, he cleared his throat, which never needed actual clearing.

"What are you thinking?"

Deanna moved to lie on her side, her eyes tearing away from the ceiling and focusing on him.

"I'm thinking of Katherine," she admitted. "I'm thinking of what this means for her... She'll never get what she wanted," she sighed, closing her eyes as her nose began to burn. "She's never going to get to grow up. Hell, how many jobs can you get when you look like a teenager?" she asked. Edward's eyes moved to the floor, and Deanna understood why he had stayed in high school. Young successful people attracted attention...

"She can still be happy," he tried. "We all found our bit of happiness," he tried.

"Yeah, but does the good outweigh the bad?" Deanna asked. "She wanted to be a psychologist, to help kids. She wanted to have kids one day and see them grow up to be the dinosaur and space loving nerds that she'd raise them to be... She wanted love. And now what? She gets to stay young forever and watch as all her friends and family pass away... She won't even be able to see it, will she?" Deanna asked, realizing what was stolen from Katherine. Sitting up, she covered her mouth, eyes wide. When Katherine ran away, she'd just have to cut off ties for a few years. She could have gone back to her family. She could have redeemed herself to the forgiving Marks family. But as a vampire, Katherine could never go back...

"Revealing ourselves to humans is against our laws..."

"What's the punishment for it?"

"Death if the human isn't turned," he answered grimly. Deanna's eyes widened, wondering what would become of her. She didn't want to be a vampire...

"I promise that my family won't... No one has to know about you," he vowed, his eyes never wavering from hers. She was a snow leopard. She didn't need to be be seen by everyone. All she needed was the attention from a few that she chose, and she was content with that. Beautiful things, some of the most beautiful, didn't ever seem to ask for attention. And Deanna, who seemed to like living in Forks, which had about as much attention as it had a drought that was worrisome.

"An immortal, law breaking, blood drinking guy... Boy, do I know how to pick friends," Deanna sarcastically shot at him before getting to her feet. "Is this the part where you leave?" She asked, looking at the door. "I mean, I could be wrong, but your family might want to know about, well, everything," she awkwardly shifted back and forth on the balls of her feet. Edward gave a nod before appearing in front of her in the blink of an eye, leading to a gasp and smack to the arm.

"Rule number one: No vampire tricks!" She hissed.

"Don't you know, I break the rules, Deanna," Edward chuckled, walking by her onto the porch. His feet stopped moving, and he turned, just looking back at her just once.

And there she was.

Her hair was a river, rippling waves with each movement of her head. The smile on her lips, tugging more upright on her right side that showed the light side to her animosity. He couldn't help but revel slightly in the sight. She was a rich Saturday morning. She looked comfortable, peaceful even, like a good dream that you weren't woken from, but could endear. That was the Deanna he liked.

Not the one that took over when her mother was there.

"Find Katherine. She'll need you guys," she said, not in a shout, knowing he'd hear. He gave her an assuring nod, if only to comfort her worries for the baby vampire that had left earlier.

Deanna watched silently, as the shiny volvo drove away, having been returned to pristine condition after Tyler's crash. When his car was out of site, she felt Loneliness come to her side, one of her most faithful friends. With a deep breath she stepped back inside, closing the door behind her. There was three thoughts that crossed her mind:

1) Katherine needed to be found.

2) Edward wasn't that bad.

3) Her mother was home.

It was the third that brought the most stress. Deanna's relationship with her mother was never commendable, but it was rarely mentioned why she didn't like her mother, or, at least, the real reason. The real reason would admit a vulnerability to Deanna, a vulnerability that she wasn't ready to admit to herself.

She didn't hate her mother.

She just couldn't let herself love her for the reason.

Closing her eyes, Deanna paused, looking over, Charlie's house, her home. Then, her eyes opened when she realized that Charlie had no idea what was going on. He didn't know about Katherine. He didn't know what happened to Deanna. And he certainly wouldn't get a chance to know if Deanna had a say in it. Charlie, though she loved him, received a different kind of love from Deanna. With Katherine, Deanna could hold no secrets for long from. Katherine and Deanna were equals, willing to fight and die alongside one another. Deanna and Charlie, on the other hand, was made up of protecting one another. Charlie could protect her from boys, insecurity, and disrespect. She would just have to protect him from finding out that he was living in a town where a coven of blood drinking immortals resided.

Easy.

Sort of.

Shaking her head, Deanna tried to retain her sense of normalcy and return upstairs where she would begin catching up on her work. Thankfully, Edward's not taking was spot on, neat, and border line font like in it's accuracy and precision of each line of graphite. This time, his perfection wouldn't annoy her. Now that she knew that perfect Edward Cullen was actually perfect because he was dead and drinking from animals, it was easier to accept him. Drinking from bambi's mother was enough of an imperfection that Deanna would ignore her jealousy over everything that was "perfect."

So, for the rest of the day, Deanna slaved over all of her work, from momentum to trigonometry, she completed it all, only to end up hating herself over how much of her time was wasted on schoolwork. And by the time she was finished, she heard Charlie and her mother come in, calling her down for leftovers. And, for Charlie's sake, Deanna didn't seek out a fight with her mother.

"Your mother mentioned a boy being over," Charlie mentioned awkwardly, breaking the silence at the table where only she was eating. Deanna's eyes shot to her mother. She should have known Margot Walsh to rat her out. It wasn't a secret though, so Deanna tried to remain at ease.

"Yeah, Edward came over to help me catch up with school. Triangles and circles are kinda confusing," she joked, though she was being honest. She was fairly certain that the unit circle was going to be the end of her.

"Been gettin' close, huh?" Charlie continued, making her choke on her onion soup.

"Not like that," Deanna coughed, shaking her head. Her cheeks flamed, for the need of oxygen and out of embarrassment. Honestly, she wouldn't mind Edward. He was attractive, smart, and all-around a prime example of the perfect guy. He was polite, well-mannered, and was definitely capable of making sure she would be protected- not that she needed his protection. There was just one problem: He was an immortal teenager. She had too many dreams to give up for the sake of a highschool romance. She wanted everything in a human life: To be successful, have a nice home with a child or two, maybe a spouse, but that wasn't a necessity. She wanted to grow old and have a grandchild to spoil and youth to convince that she was crazy.

She couldn't have that with Edward.

He was attractive. He was everything she could want in a guy... But in the end, he couldn't give her the happy ending she was willing to fight for. She knew, she just knew, that if she let herself get involved with him, if she let herself fall for him, she'd end up falling too hard. She'd fall, she'd give up her dreams for him, and then there would come a day when she'd realized what she'd lost. And then what? She couldn't just wait until her life was over with him. She'd have to live with a eternity of regret... And she wouldn't be able to end it herself because if she loved him, no matter how much regret she'd have, she would love him enough not to want to hurt him...

And that was why she couldn't let herself think of him in that way.

"He's just a friend," she said more to herself than to Charlie. Her eyes fell to her bowl, a bittersweet pain striking through her heart and slowly invading every drop of red in her veins as it spread through her. Even Charlie could see it, the sadness that she willingly wore. She took a deep breath, pushing the feeling away. Edward might live forever, but her life was too short to waste on being sad. "So," she began with a smile, "Tell me about work."

Like I always say, I hope you're still enjoying this fic, I placed a little more Edward/Deanna in there, but we're taking this slow. Love doesn't just happen. Anywas, if you would be so kind to share your thoughts of this chapter in your reviews, here's some guiding questions that will help:

1) What do you think is the real reason why Deanna doesn't like her mom? Ps: It's really no secret, but it might take some thought. She doesn't just dislike her for no reason.

2) So, Deanna doesn't want to be a vampire. How do you think she'll become one? (Because it WILL happen)

3) What do you hope and expect to see when the "Meet the Cullens" chapter comes?

Please leave a review, they keep me alive,

~ Queen of Idjits

PS: Special thanks to TheGryffinclawDemigod and wajagirlliz. And no, Katherine and Deanna aren't like the Volturi. The girls share a life bond of sorts. They're actually tied together. The Volturi are more like, for the lack of a better word - which I do apologize profusely for - , best bros who sometimes go a little too homicidal.