I'm separating the Holiday into at least two possibly three chapters. I was going to cover all of it, or at least all of it in Edward's pov in one chapter. But it's a lot to cover, and I really wanted to get this out here. Hopefully the rest will be up finished and up soon.

As always thanks so much for everyone that reviewed/alerted/favorited. We are SO close to 100 chapters, and that just blows my mind. Thank you all so much.

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight.

Chapter Fourteen.

Meeting The Family.

Edward.

While Bella was out of town visiting her family, I went apartment hunting. I had tried to avoid the house as much as possible, opting to spend most of my free time with Bella. I couldn't wait to get out of there.

I spent three days with my Realtor, Jessica Stanley, looking at apartment after apartment while she listed off their finer points. It hadn't taken long before they all just sort of blended together. By the third day I had picked the first place we had looked up, just wanting to find something so I wouldn't have to do it anymore.

Two days later I was renting my very own apartment.

I spent the weekend, with Emmett's help, moving in. The walls were all white, and I was fine with it, not wanting to take the time to paint. I knew I wouldn't spend much time here anyway, not with all the work I had going on.

It was a pretty small apartment, I guess. It had a living room/dining room, a kitchen that was big enough for one person to stand in-not that I ever cooked-and my bedroom. It was all I needed.

My new bedroom looked nearly identical to my former one, since I had just brought all my furniture from home. I probably should have gone out and bought all new stuff, but I just wanted to move in and get it all over with.

I did go out and by new living room furniture and some other basics for the place. In the end I was pretty happy with how it looked. It was sleek and modern, and it felt more like home than my parents house did.

My biggest purchase for the house was a new piano. I probably could have taken mine from home, but that just seemed...wrong, somehow. So I had gone out and bought a new one, which was sitting proudly in my living room. It took up a ridiculous amount of space, but I didn't care.

When Bella got back to the city from visiting her father and we both had an evening off of work, I took her to the apartment.

She was shocked at first that I had moved out, in a weekend like that, without mentioning it to her, but she had recovered quickly. She exclaimed over everything in the apartment and teased me about the pizza boxes already littering my kitchen and my inability to cook.

We ended up cuddling on my new couch to watch a movie together. It was one of the nicest dates we'd ever had, if I do say so myself. No Rosalie or Emmett hanging around, none of my parents or Alice. Nope, just the two of us.

I loved just holding her in my arms, cuddled against my chest, breathing in that strawberry scent that was Bella, and she leaned her ear against my heart and listened to it beat. We had fallen asleep on the couch before the movie was over and woke up in the middle of the night when my new neighbors got into a huge fight in the apartment next to mine. They were throwing things and screaming at each other.

It had startled us both, but when we had figured out what was going on we had listened in and laughed for a while, before finally falling back asleep. It was too late for Bella to try to drive home at that point.

She woke up early though and headed back to her apartment so she could get ready for work.

The rest of the week went pretty much the same. Whenever we weren't working we were together, usually at my apartment, eating, watching movies, hanging out. I was getting to know her better than ever and I loved everything I learned about her. I knew that her favorite color was green, that she loved to read, especially the classics, that she had started a newspaper when she was just a little kid. Rosalie had helped her and she had written who had crushes on who in school, and Bella had reported the 'hard hitting news' like what was really being served for lunch. As if I hadn't been head over heels enough before that.

Today, however, I found myself eating dinner at my parents house with Emmett and Alice. I'm not really sure how I ended up here, but somehow I had. Bella was working overtime on a story, so she hadn't been able to come along with me, though I had tried to talk her into it, even as my mother frowned as she lingered in the kitchen, listening to me make my calls.

"So, for Thanksgiving," Esme said, reaching for her glass of wine. "I was thinking that we could have this big family dinner, of course. But afterwards-"

"I won't be here," I told her mildly, reaching for my own wine glass.

She set her wine glass down with enough force to make the wine jostle against the sides. She frowned at me. "What do you mean? Where else will you be?"

"With Bella. She's visiting her family outside of the city, and I'm going with her."

Esme stared at me, opening her mouth and shutting it, then opening it again. Instead of saying anything she turned to Emmett with accusing eyes. "Are you going too?!"

He looked up, his mouth full of the chicken we were having for dinner. He reached for his glass of water and washed his food down. "No, I'm not going," he finally said. "But only because I'm swamped with work. I won't be here for dinner though. I won't have time. I'll be lucky if I have enough time to eat a turkey sandwich."

She frowned, and glanced at Alice sharply. "You'd better not have any other plans?"

"Me? Nope," Alice chirped, with a shrug.

Esme finally turned back to me. "I suppose there's no changing your mind."

"No," I agreed, shaking my head.

She sighed, and glanced at Carlisle, as if she was waiting for him to say something, but he didn't. He just shrugged. "The three of us will have a nice Holiday."

She huffed. "When are you leaving?"

"Wednesday."

"Fine. Have a good...Holiday," she said grudgingly, still upset.

The news really went over better than I had expected it too. I had figured that she would throw a big fit that I was spending Thanksgiving with Bella and not them. I was pleasantly surprised, and I left that night feeling a little bit better about my family.

----

Rosalie, Bella and I left Wednesday morning. We ended up taking Rosalie's car. Our stuff, even if it was just for three days, filled up the truck and a good portion of the backseat. Rosalie drove, no questions asked. Somehow neither one of us wanted to ask to drive. She expected me to ride in the backseat, but Bella had just looked at my legs and laughed. "Yeah right, Rose. I'll ride in the back," and then she had given me a look daring me to argue. So I rode in shotgun while Bella sat in the back seat and slept.

I won't say it wasn't a little bit awkward riding with Rose. I had been around her a lot, but I really couldn't think of many times that we had ever really spoken to each other directly. She made some small talk, but eventually we both gave up and turned up the radio loud enough that the silence between us wouldn't be awkward.

It wasn't too long of a drive, and we got there about three o'clock.

Bella and Rosalie had been right-it was a small town. I don't really know what I had been expecting, but this wasn't it. There was a bank, a post office, two churches and a few little stores littering main street. And the school. And that was it.

"Blink and you'll miss it," Bella quipped cheerfully, having finally woken up about an hour ago.

It was true, and I grinned back at her.

Rosalie parked in the car in front of two houses. One was large and blue, the other was chipped white and a bit smaller. There was a police car parked in front of the white house, and a honda in front of the other.

"Home sweet home," Rosalie annouced, shutting off the car and reached for her door handle. She jumped out of the car and towards the door of the blue house.

Bella laughed and rolled her eyes, getting out. I followed her, and she laughed at me, looking so awkward and out of place.

"It won't be that bad."
"I know it won't," I smiled to reassure her. "You're here. And how bad can people that love you be?"

She stared at me for a moment, before her face broke into a smile. She turned to look at the police cruiser. "I guess Charlie is home."

"Great," I smiled sheepishly.

She slapped my shoulder and pointed towards the trunk. "Bags," she ordered, her brown eyes sparkling.

I bowed. "Your wish is my command."

She snickered, coming over to help me with the bags anyway. I took as many as I could count and told her I'd come back for them, but she just rolled her eyes at me and grabbed the remaining bags, leading the way up to her house.

"We'll go meet Rose's family in a little bit," she told me, hesitating at the front door, like she was trying to decide whether she should walk straight in or knock on the door. In the end she bit her lip and knocked.

It took a minute or two, but finally someone opened the front door, and there standing in front of us was Charlie Swan.

He was average, I guess. Average height, average weight, average look about him. He was starting to bald, but the hair he still had was brown and thick, like Bella's. His eyes were brown, but a less expressive shade of it. He grinned when he saw his daughter.

"Bells," he grinned, and she grinned back, setting her bags down to hug him.

She pulled back and was about to grab the bags up again, but he snatched them from her before she could protest.

And then he turned to look at me. I could feel his eyes running up and down me, studying me. I tried to look relaxed, and smiled. Really, I should be used to be under scuitiny.

"Dad, this is Edward Cullen. Edward, this is my father. Charlie."

"Nice to meet you, sir," I said politely, setting my bags down so I could shake his hand.

"You too," he said, though it sounded like he wasn't a hundred percent convinced.

"Come in guys," he moved away from the door and carried the bags inside, setting them down on the floor in the living room. I followed and did the same thing, glancing around the house.

It sort of reminded me of the houses you see you sitcoms. A little outdated, a little mismatched, and a little bit messy. There were pictures hanging everywhere though, mostly all of Bella, and I knew that he was proud of his little girl.

As he should be.

I would have to get a closer look at those pictures later. Bella would probably never willingly show me pictures of her as a baby or child.

From there we all did a bit of awkward small talk, and Bella interrupted saying she wanted to introduce me to the Hales. She jumped up and grabbed my hand, leading me to the door. Charlie said he'd see us later tonight for dinner.

She nodded and we walked across the lawn to the Hale's.

Rosalie answered the door with a grin, letting us into the house.

A woman, who looked like an older Rosalie, basically, came running over to me and threw her arms around me. "Hi!"

I chuckled, patting her back. "Hello."

She pulled back to arms length, her blue eyes looking me over. "I'm Amaylee Hale."

"Edward Cullen."

She grinned. "I know."

I smiled meekly.

Bella just laughed. The noise brought Mrs. Hale back to the present and she turned to give Bella a giant hug, whispering something in her ear that made Bella laugh.

"Hey, Rose!" A blond kid said, walking into the living room from the back of the house. Well, maybe he wasn't a kid. He looked about Alice's age, I guess. He had messy blond hair and blue eyes. Rosalie's brother.

Rosalie grinned and threw her arms around him. "Hi!" She exclaimed, hugging him tightly.

He laughed and kissed her cheek before coming over to Bella. "There's my little sis."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm older," she said matter of factly.

He tossed his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. "I'm bigger."

She shook her head and grinned, slapping his shoulder playfully. She pulled away from his hug and turned to me. "Jasper, this is my boyfriend, Edward Cullen, Edward, Jasper Hale."

He stuck his hand out. "Nice to meet you, Cullen."

"You too," I said, shaking his hand.

Later I met their father, a tall blond man who looked a lot like Jasper. They were a gorgeous family. We all ate dinner at the Hale's, with Charlie, of course. Mrs. Hale gushed about how cute Bella and I were together, and sighed over the fact that Emmett hadn't been able to make it too. We talked about the city, and my job, and Rose and Bella's job. It was an extremely nice dinner, and so different from the ones that we'd had at home. No one was tense, no one was pretending. Everyone was themselves and everyone was happy.

We got back to the Swan's late. Charlie went up to bed, and I was starting to lay my stuff out on the couch when Bella sighed behind me.

I turned around to look at her, raising an eyebrow expectantly.

"Let me talk the couch. You can have my room. It looks so uncomfortable out here. You should just-"
"Bella. I'm not taking your bed," I told her matter of factly. "So go upstairs and I'll see you in the morning." I wasn't taking no for an answer.

She sighed but leaned into kiss me. "See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight," I laughed, kissing her again.

She grinned at me, laughing as she went up the stairs to her room.

I didn't sleep too good on the couch. It was old and lumpy and it didn't smell fantastic. But I got enough sleep. I woke up before Bella or her father, so I got up, changed into jeans and a plain black t-shirt and went into the kitchen.

It was a Cullen tradition to have these amazing cinnamon rolls everything Thanksgiving for breakfast. I definitely wasn't sorry that I was here and not with my family, but it would be nice to have something familiar.

Our cook at the time, Heidi, taught me to make the cinnamon rolls when I was younger. It was the only thing I could and would cook. They took a while to make, but I didn't mind.

It took me a few minutes to find everything I needed, and then I set straight to work. I hoped I could have them done and everything cleaned up before Bella got up.

I was almost done with the clean up when Bella did walk into the kitchen. She was wearing little black shorts and a yellow tank top. Her hair was pulled into a messy tank top, with a lot of it falling into her face. She looked completely different and completely hot.

She stopped at the entrance to the kitchen upon spotting me. Her eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped a bit. "What are you doing?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Making breakfast."

"I thought you couldn't cook," she accused.

"Well, I really can't. These are the only thing I can make," I said, nodding to the oven where my cinnamon rolls were cooking. I would just have to put the icing on when they were done.

She sniffed the air and smiled. "Cinnamon rolls?"

"Yep. Cullen Thanksgiving Tradition. Happy Thanksgiving, by the way."

"Happy Thanksgiving to you too. And it smells amazing," she said, shaking her head and smiling. "I can't believe this. Edward Cullen is in my house, in my kitchen, making breakfast." Her face was expressionless for a moment and then she burst out laughing. Hysterically.

I stared at her, dragging a hand through my hair. "What's so funny?"

Bella was laughing too hard. She tried to tell me, but just started laughing harder. She wrapped her arms around her stomach. "Oh...it...hurts," she said, between laughs.

"It can't be that funny," I protested. Okay, so most people never saw me cook. But it really couldn't be that funny.

The laughing finally subsided, but she still gripped her middle. "It's just...I don't know. I can't believe it. I guess I'm happy."

"Or crazy," I told her, grinning.

"Hey!" she protested playfully. She came over to the oven and opened the door a bit to look inside. "They smell amazing."

"They'll taste amazing too," I said confidently.

She shut the oven door and smirked. "So what do you think of my home?"

"It's nice here, Bella," I told her. And it was. It was so quiet and so...peaceful. There was no traffic, no taxi, no police sirens in the middle of the night. Charlie seemed like a nice enough guy and he hadn't talked to me about dating his daughter yet, though I knew it was coming. The Hale's were really nice too. "I like it here."

She smiled at me. "Well I'm going to start cooking dinner in a little bit. The Hale's are all coming over here, and so is my friend, Jake."

"Sounds good," I said, wondering about her friend. She hadn't mentioned him before, I was pretty sure. "Do you need my help?"

"In the kitchen?" she grinned. "Thanks but no thanks. You'll get to watch football with Charlie, Mr. Hale, Jasper and Jake."

"I think I might rather help in the kitchen."

She slapped my arm playfully. "Oh please. It'll be fine. Now I'm going to go get dressed."

"Okay," I agreed, as she ran back up the stairs to her room. I turned to pull the cinnamon rolls out of the oven, and iced them. I was setting them down to cool when Bella came back down in jeans, and a long sleeved shirt and her hair pulled back into a tidy bun.

"I thought you said we got dressed up for Thanksgiving," I asked her.

"Oh, we do. I'll change once dinner is ready, but I don't want to spill anything on my dress."

Charlie came down the stairs, and the three of us ate breakfast. Both Charlie and Bella-especially Bella-complimented me on my baking-or Cinnamon roll making-skills.

"I want the recipe," she decided, reaching for a second. "Or you should teach me how to make them."

I smiled, taking a sip of my coffee. "Sure thing. I'll teach you as soon as you become a Cullen." The words shocked me a bit, but it seemed like such a natural thing to say, a natural thing to happen. Yes, I had to admit myself, I liked the idea of her becoming a Cullen.

Her brown eyes went wide, and she stared at me for a moment, grasping for something to say in response.

Charlie raised a dark eyebrow at me, and opened his mouth like he was going to say something, then shook his head.

Finally Bella seemed to compose herself. She reached for her coffee and smiled at me. "I'll hold you to that."

I smiled back. "Good."

"Happy Thanksgiving!" Rosalie burst through the door without knocking. Her arms were loaded with pans and different foods. She came into the kitchen and dropped them onto the counter. "Ooh, food," she said, coming over to sit beside Bella, grabbing one of the rolls. She took a bite and grinned. "Bella, these are your best yet."

"I didn't make them," she said calmly, watching her friend with an amused expression.

Rosalie turned to face her. "What? Who did then?"

"Edward."

"Edward?"

I laughed. "Thanks for the confidence, Rose."

She snorted. "Yeah well I've seen your apartment, and there's no food in the cupboards or fridge, just pizza boxes."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Where's your parents? and Jasper?"

"They should be here in a moment. Mom couldn't find the sweet potatoes, or something. And Jasper's breaking up with his current girlfriend," she rolled her eyes.

"On Thanksgiving?" Bella asked disapprovingly.

Rosalie shrugged. "I don't even know the girl, so I'm not gonna say anything about it."

Bella shrugged in a sort of agreement, and reached for her coffee again.

Mr. and Mrs. Hale finally arrived with Jasper not far behind. They were also carrying a ton of food, and Bella jumped up from the table to help sort of everything out.

"When is Jake going to be here?" Charlie asked.

"Uh, I'm not sure. Anytime, really," Bella said dismissively. "You guys should just go start watching tv, or you'll start getting in our way," she ordered.

Charlie smiled sheepishly, and Jasper and Mr. Hale headed towards the living room with a chorus of "yes ma'ams'!"

I looked nervously at Bella, because even though everyone seemed to be nice, I was sure to be grilled when I went into that living room with the men. I had never really been grilled by a parent before, when dating their daughter. I was Edward Cullen, I came from a long line of strong men and lawyers, and was rich. That's really all those parents had needed to know.

I doubted that Charlie or the Hale's cared about those things.

Bella smiled sympathetically at me and came over, standing on her tip-toes to kiss my forehead. "Go, Edward," she teased.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer to me. "I will, I will," I said distractingly. I brushed my lips against hers. She smiled against my lips and sucked my bottom lip. I had to hold back a moan and I suddenly remembered that Rosalie and Mrs. Hale were still in the room, and relucantly I pulled away.

Bella giggled nervously, and we both looked to our side to see Mrs. Hale and Rosalie grinning at us.

"Get a room," Rosalie ordered, with a laugh.

Bella turned bright red, and I smirked at her, leaning down to give her one more kiss on the forehead and headed into the living room with the other men.

Here goes nothing.

The next chapter will have much more Edward and Bella's family interaction. (: