*** Author's Note: Once again, and as always, thank you to everyone reading, reviewing, following! It's beyond appreciated! Theses characters do not belong to me. I just like changing the rules of the game. Away we go!****

The door opened and the warmth rushed out to meet me along with the scent of cinnamon. Esme stood in the doorway looking just as she had when I last saw her. Even in this small town I had managed to avoid her and the Dr. for quite a few years. She was wearing a deep green cashmere sweater over a pair of black dress slacks and her dark auburn hair was pulled back from her face in a loose chignon. Her makeup was understated and she was simply stunning. Her face broke into a wide smile when her eyes met mine and she opened her arms and pulled me into a hug. The scent of her perfume in my nose was its very own kind of homecoming.

"Isabella. Oh it's so good to see you." She said holding me at arm's length. "When Alice told me you were coming, well it was a good combination of shock and delight!" She said to me.

"Thank you so much for having me Esme, it's very nice of you to welcome me into your home." I said to her, smiling.

"Stop, none of that now. You know you've always been welcome here. Why you stayed away so long is beyond me." She said.

"Well, I just thought…" I began, but she cut me off.

"Well you thought wrong. Now enough standing outside. It's getting so cold so quick these days. Let's go inside and let everyone know you're here." She said as she pulled me into the house with her. I hung my jacket up in the front hall closet out of habit and followed Esme into the vast kitchen where everyone seemed to be.

"Bella! You're finally here!" Alice squealed at me almost knocking me over with a hug. You would think I hadn't just seen the girl 24 hours ago.

"Alice it's seven. I'm right on time. You make me sound late. "I replied hugging her back. I couldn't take much more hugging in these boots. I sent up my usual prayer to Chuck Norris that he would stay with me in my time of need. Alice waved her hands at me as if to dismiss what I was saying and went around the long kitchen island to pour me a glass of wine. I watched as Dr. Cullen approached me with a soft smile. He hugged me in a very brief one arm hug and kept his hand on my shoulder.

"It's good to see you again, Bella. How have you been?" He asked me. I could see him assessing me with his doctor's look.

"I'm good Dr. Cullen. Thank you. How has the hospital been treating you?" I asked back.

"Carlisle, Bella. And it's been good. Amazed you've managed to keep yourself out of it." He joked at me. I laughed at his statement. It had been years since I had been in the Forks hospital. I had actually taken up going to a doctor in Pt. Angeles. Again, just another way I attempted to separate my past from my future.

"Is that little Bella I hear?" Emmett thundered as he walked into the kitchen. I turned around with a huge smile on my face. Emmett had been the epitome of the 'big bear brother' and I was elated to see him. I noticed Edward walked into the room behind him and he leaned himself against the doorframe with his arms across his chest and a slight smile on his face. Unlike the others, Emmett didn't hug me as much as enveloped me. He lifted me off my feet and spun me in a slight circle. "Hey pretty lady, so nice of you to grace us with your presence." He said setting me down. I had to hang on to his shoulders to regain my balance.

"Good God Emmett, did you eat a house since I last saw you? You're huge!" I said. It was true. Emmett was always a force to be reckoned with, but it seemed he had doubled in size. He chuckled and patted me on the shoulder.

"Nah little Bella. Just finally growing into my awesome figure." I heard Rose clear her throat from the back of the kitchen and turned to look over my shoulder at her. She seemed to catch Emmett's attention also as he walked me in her direction. "And who might this be?"He asked. Alice chimed in before Rose could answer.

"This Is Bella's friend Rosalie. Her brother Jasper is here too." She added motioning to Jasper who was very close to Alice's side. Emmett cleared the space between he and Rose in a matter of steps and in a cheesy gesture he lifted her hand to his lips and placed a kiss on her knuckles.

"Enchanted." He said as he lifted his head. I waited for Rose's typical sarcasm but to my surprise I think she might have actually been blushing. Alice shot me a look and I shook my head to indicate I didn't understand either.

"Well come on everyone. I've got dinner in the dining room and it'll get cold if we don't sit to eat soon." Esme began shooing us out of the kitchen and into the dining room. I followed the flow of people ending up last in line until I hit the doorway where Edward was standing. He smiled at me as he pushed away from the door frame.

"Hey." He said. Well, apparently this was going to be our new way of greeting each other. I'd give anything to be past this awkwardness. Oh well, I thought as I smiled at him. In all honesty I had come to grips on the car ride over that my main purpose for coming was to talk to Edward. Or at least try anyway. No amount of cleavage or nail polish was going to make up for the things I had to tell him and I had to be prepared to have him out of my life again as quick as he had reappeared. I had a long list of things in my life that had needed sorting out for far too long.

Dinner was wonderful. It felt good to sit around the table with the Cullen's again, and the addition of Rose and Jasper only added to the fun. I watched as Emmett flirted shamelessly with Rose, and as Rose blushed with every statement. It was odd to see Rose seem so shy. I didn't know if it was Emmett or the combination of all the new people. Esme took to her instantly as well. I also observed that Alice and Jasper seemed to share in quiet conversation. Dr. Cullen was charming as always, keeping us laughing with stories of the hospital, of course leaving out any names.

Edward and I had been seated across from each other and I tried hard not to stare. The things Alice had said were going through my head. Had he been trying to get my attention all those years ago and I just didn't recognize it? Nah. I wasn't about to plant myself on that one. He ran around with half the girls in our grade. Though I wasn't free of my own faults; flaws. I was just never one to judge others by theirs alone. I shook my head to try to clear my thoughts and join back into the present.

"Something on your brain, stumblina?" Edward asked me as he set his glass down. "You seem very quiet."

"No, nothing in particular." I said back to him. I was acutely aware of his parent's eyes on me. He did not seem to notice however.

"Seriously Bella, you looked like you were trying to solve the world's problems over homemade lasagna." He joked at me.

"Sorry. The store must have wiped me out today more than I realized." I replied lamely. It was becoming unbearable to be around him and know I needed to tell him. My gut had begun slowly twisting over dinner and the more I tried to ignore it the more pronounced it came.

Esme stood slowly from the table stating "Well Edward, not all of us are on a vacation here. Some of us still have to work every day. Leave the poor girl alone." She picked up her plate and the rest of us followed suit, helping to clear the table and carry things into the kitchen. Edward held his hands up in fake surrender and said.

"I'm just joking with her mom, not unless Bella's lost her sense of humor over the years."

"Or maybe Bella's wised up and your humor's no longer funny, Edward." Emmett ribbed back. I noticed Emmett had picked up both he and Roses plates to carry into the kitchen. Roses didn't seem to know what to do with herself so she began collecting the other dishes along with Jasper. Edwards's brow furrowed at Emmett's statement and he looked at me. I had to laugh at his facial expression and I shook my head to assure him that wasn't the case.

After the dining room had been cleared and the kitchen cleaned we all sort of drifted off. Carlisle had excused himself to his office to finish up some work and Esme had some calls to make to one of her projects she was working on tomorrow. Alice, Rose, Jasper and Emmett were in the living room watching some comedy show on TV. I had sat for a moment but instantly restless had gotten up and wandered through the sliding glass door that led back to their back patio. I had leaned against the railing at was looking out over their back yard watching my breath cloud in front of my face. I heard someone come outside and stand beside me and my nose was assaulted with the scent of fresh brewed coffee.

"Still take it with cream and sugar, I hope." Edward said, handing a mug to me. I wrapped my hands around the cup for warmth and smiled at him.

"Yes. Thank you. Though over time I've decided they should make 'big-gulp cups' for people like me so the size would be more accurate. "I joked at him. I brought the cup to my lips, blowing away the steam and took a small sip. The hot liquid was just what I needed to fight the chill of the outside. Though right now Vodka would have probably been better suited, and might give me the extra push of courage I needed to say what needed to be said.

"So," I started lamely" I've been meaning to talk to you." I said.

"Oh yeah I'm sure. That's why you always returned my calls." He said, nudging me with his elbow.

"No honestly." I began again. "I know we parted on…well on pretty rough terms, and I didn't mean for it to happen that way." I said.

"Bella, seriously I get it okay. We don't need to go through all of this." He said before taking a sip of his coffee.

"Well you may not have to, but I do. And I feel like if I don't I might just explode. Until I talk about it, I won't be able to be comfortable around you." I said.

"Well then by all means let's begin shall we?" He said bitterly. "You and I were best friends. We crossed over some taboo line of friendship and did something we shouldn't have. You trusted me and I took something from you that wasn't mine to have. I was the equivalent of a man-whore, and what right did I have to expect you to trust me? I showed up at your house out of nowhere after weeks of not talking and told you to move across the country with me. You turned me down because you knew you'd be better off than to go with me. Do I have it all right?" He said leaning his back against the railing and took another long sip of his coffee.

"No, well I mean yes, parts of it, but that's not all of it." I said back to him. "I didn't even understand why you asked me to go in the first place. Wouldn't I have cramped your style on the dating front?"

"Bella, you honestly don't see the forest for the trees, do you?" He sighed. "Look I thought, well I don't know what I thought." He said scratching his head. "Yeah okay, so I dated a lot of girls. Whatever. It didn't occur to me I was going about it wrong. I didn't realize really until that night. At prom. I didn't mean for all that to happen. I mean, I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about it but…"

I was a little stunned. What did he mean he had thought about it? He continued on.

"I just never wanted to lose you as a friend. You were my best friend Bells. I didn't want to jeopardize that. But after that night I thought…well I thought things had changed. The idea of being able to keep you…not only as my friend, but as my girlfriend...well I thought we could give it a try. I was out of time. I had come to that conclusion too late. Asking you to go with me was the only was the only way I knew how to make it work. But don't worry, you set me straight." He gave me a small smile. "And in the end you were probably right."

I let out a deep breath I didn't even realize I had been holding. "Edward…I didn't mean to be so mean with you. There were a lot of things I needed to tell you and when you showed up at my house that day and asked me to go, well I was shocked. I was still wrapping my head around what had happened, and you just threw another log on the fire." I said to him quietly.

"Well I never was one for subtlety." He laughed at himself. "Seriously Bella, I'd be happy if we could just keep all that behind us. Just be friends again? Yeah?." He asked. My gut twisted. I knew that was the most I should think about anymore; us being able to be friends. But he still hadn't let me finish my side of the story.

"Look Edward, after that night…" I began, but my explanation was cut off by the sound of the doorbell chiming. Edward looked into the living room and beyond confused.

"Who the hell could that be?" He said out loud. "I'll be right back. Well finish this conversation if you're so hell-bent on having it." He smiled at me and set down his cup of coffee, as he walked inside in the direction of the front door.

As he walked away Alice and Rose came outside with me.

"Bella why did you never tell me about Emmett, all the stories you told me about the Cullen's and you never mentioned how sweet he was!" Rose said to me with flushed cheeks.

"Because he's not!" replied Alice. "He tells bad jokes, and talks with his mouth open, and…"Alice prattled off.

"He's your brother Alice." Rose said. "That's what you see. And besides, I could say the same thing to you! Should I stand here and point out all of Jasper's flaws?" Rose asked Alice back.

"Well that would be hard, seeing as I haven't found any yet." Alice replied back, sticking her tongue out like a little kid.

Rose laughed at her and said. "Stick around, sweetheart." I laughed at them both.

"So how's it going out here?" Rose asked. "It looked like you two were having a good conversation."

"Yeah we were. We still have a lot to talk about but…" My story was cut off by the sound of Edward's voice as it thundered through the house echoing my name.

"Bella!"

We all turned and faced the glass doorway watching Edward stalk through the house. Emmett and Jasper jumped up behind him and followed him outside where he continued until he was right in front of my face.

"What the fuck is this supposed to mean!" He yelled at me while thrusting an envelope in my face.

I took it from him with a trembling hand. The only thing on the front of the card was Edward's name. I recognized the handwriting and my hands began to shake more. No! No! No! I chanted in my head. Turning the envelope over I saw that written across the backside was one sentence. 'ASK BELLA'. It said. I looked up to meet Edward's eyes and his face was a mask of anger. I lifted the flap and pulled out what was in the envelope. I was a simple 3x5 photo in black and white of me sitting on the window sill of my old bedroom in my dad's house. My eyes welled with tears, and I heard Alice gasp behind me. Rose reached out for my elbow and held on with an iron grip, to reinforce to me that she was there. To weight me to this moment. The envelope fluttered from my hand to the ground and I tried very hard to find my voice.

"Bella?" I heard Alice ask me quietly. Jasper and Emmett stood by silently, having no clue what I was looking at.

I thought all of these photos had been hidden, my brain fired off. I'd put them in a safe deposit box. The only person who had a copy of one was Jacob, and I was holding it in my hand right now.

In the photo, I was staring out my back window watching the snow fall down. It was a beautiful winter in the background. That wasn't what was notable about the photo, though.

It was the fact that my arm was draped over the top of my swollen stomach.

"What the hell is this all about Bella!?" Edward asked me.