Disclaimer

Me: throws book at reality's head. I don't own Twilight.

Reality: Yup. You suck. Throws book back. Of course, it hits me in the face. RIGHT IN THE FACE!

Me: I don't know why you have this obsession of making feel stupid.

Reality: You are just fun to mess with.

Me: says under breath Bitch.

Chapter Thirteen

A Strong Woman

After the whole Jasper makeover fiasco, Alice told me to explore a little bit around the house. She knew that I had never really seen the whole house, and I usually didn't have time because of Edward. Now that Edward was out hunting, and Alice had to clean the makeup mess, I had time.

I wasn't going to snoop around their house at first, so I just went to Edward's room and studied his musical collection. I was sure that he had almost every decent CD ever created.

It was fascinating, but I had been in Edward's room so much. I had made up my mind. I wasn't going to snoop; I was just going to be curious about the whereabouts of the Cullen family.

For some reason, I felt guilty. I wasn't sure of my crime. I peeked my head out of Edward's door. No one was in the hallway. The whole house was silent, so I felt extremely loud. As quietly as I could I eased my way into the desolate hall.

I walked, not exactly sure where I was headed. The pictures on the wall intrigued me. Every one was a scene in nature. One was a sun setting, captured at the most perfect and most beautiful time. Another was of a snowy day. They ranged from mountains to valleys.

I noticed that my feet stopped moving. I found myself in front of Carlisle's door. It was closed tight. I gently put my ear up against the door to listen. As I was doing that, I heard Carlisle's voice ring out.

"You can come in, Bella."

My cheeks turned bright red. I felt I was caught doing a dirty deed. I bit my lip as I pushed the door open.

Carlisle was undisturbed, at his desk reading. Actually, several books were open at once all around him. I stood silently in the back corner of the room and I seemed to be unnoticed. I was unsure if I really heard him say to come it.

"Are you okay?" he asked. His voice startled me. He didn't look up from his books.

"Yes… I'm okay. Alice told me to explore, but feel…" I didn't finish.

"Hmm. You should not feel anything but welcome in our home. You should know that by now."

"I do." Carlisle was quiet again for some time. I choose to break the silence.

"Do you think everything will go well tonight?" I was curious to know his opinion. Carlisle usually said what he really believed, and what he believed was always logical.

I wasn't sure he heard me at first. Then, he took a deep breath and replied.

"We have doubted Victoria's abilities before, and she has proved us wrong on more than one account. Although we have many advantages, she has had much time to plan. I would say there is only a slight chance that we actually make contact with her. We may possibly find where she is staying, but I doubt much more than that." He didn't look up as he talked, still.

Another silence broke out between us. Truly, I was scared. I hated feeling this way; especially because I knew the Cullen family was doing everything they could. I wanted to talk to someone about it, but I didn't know who the right person was. Standing here in Carlisle's study, I knew he was the one.

"Carlisle… I am scared. I don't want to put your whole family in danger and then not be strong enough in the end. I know I'm not strong enough…" My voice faded off at the end. I was ashamed to be admitting this; my eyes were on the floor. When I finally looked up, I saw Carlisle's dark eyes watching me kindly. A smile broke out across his face.

"Come here, Bella. I want to show you something."

I cautiously made my way to his side. I didn't know what to expect. Had he heard what I just said?

"I have been doing some research. You see, some vampires write books, but they get published only for others of our kind. One of these vampires studied humans from afar. He would pick a few that stuck out and observed their every move. I have the book he wrote. Five amazing people are described in one enormous volume."

I watched as he slid a book out from under another. He slowly flipped to a page in the middle of the book. I gasped when I saw the picture. It was a photograph of my great grandmother on Charlie's side. I never met her, but Charlie had showed me many pictures. She was quite a bit younger in this one, but there was no mistaking her.

"He listed this very remarkable woman. Her name was Isabella Swan. This woman astonished the vampire, but he never made contact with her. He describes her as the strongest human female he has ever observed. Of course, he does not mean burly, physical strength. Watching her, he saw that she went though much more than most humans even hear about. Even so, she stayed strong and got through it. I know you can get through this, just like she did, even if your situations are as different as night and day."

Carlisle stood and wrapped his arms around me. I returned his comforting hug, and then left him to continue reading. I wandered the hall aimlessly, deep in thought.

Suddenly, I felt my feet trip over air and I began to fall. I put my arms out in front of me to catch the fall, but I felt myself stop in midair.

"Edward!" I gasped, "You're home!" I heard him chuckle.

"I sure am." He propped me up and I spun around to face him. His eyes were back to the beautiful honey color I loved. I embraced him ferociously.

As he breathed in the scent of my hair, he mumbled, "Well, I missed you too."

Together, we walked down the stairs. As we reached the last step, my stomach growled demandingly. I blushed slightly.

"Are you hungry?" he asked kindly.

"A little," I lied. It was probably about one o'clock in the afternoon and I had only waffles this morning. Edward chuckled lightly and led me into the kitchen. Esme was already there, watering some flowers. These flowers were like the ones in Alice's room, but they matched the light yellow and green of the kitchen.

"Esme, do you think you could whip up something for Bella to eat?"

I blushed again.

"Oh, you don't have to do that. I'm sure I can find something…"

"Don't be silly. I would love to cook something for you. Do you like chicken Parmesan with spaghetti?"

I smiled. That was a dinner, but I'm sure Esme didn't know the difference. It didn't matter to me. It had been a while since I had pasta.

"Yes, it sounds delicious."

"Alright, I'll call you when it is ready."

While Esme was cooking, Edward and I strolled out back to the hammock. We cuddled, enjoying the warmish weather.

Esme's quiet voice brought us out of a comical conversation about pillows. Sometimes I wondered how we got on such topics. Laughing, I stumbled my way towards the delectable scent coming from the kitchen. Edward was laughing quietly along side of me. He could contain himself so much better than I could.

A plate was set at the head of the table. The meal looked like it was professionally made for a picture. When I sat, I was hesitant to dig my fork in. It looked too beautiful to ruin.

"Is it okay? It has been a while since I cooked a meal…" I could hear anxiety in Esme's quiet voice.

"It looks and smells wonderful. It's just so pretty." Esme giggled girlishly and insisted that I eat.

The first bite made my taste buds tingle. It tasted even more wonderful than it looked.

I ate as much as I could, but I was soon full. Esme promised she would save it for later on tonight.

"Oh, and I should probably get some cookie materials. EMMETT!" she called.

"Yeah?" He shouted back. It sounded like he was in his room.

"Run to the store and get cookie ingredients!"

Instantly, Emmett was downstairs. He didn't hesitate to barge out the door. Esme's face wrinkled.

"EMMETT!"

And he was back.

"What?!" he whined. It looked as if he took her statement to "run to the store" literally. I giggled as quietly as I could. Emmett shot me a grin.

"You know what," she glowered.

"Alright, fine. I'll drive." When he turned around, he winked at me and stormed out. I couldn't wait until I was part of this family.

A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to get this up. School Testing SUCKS! Seriously, though… it needs to die. I had too pee in the middle of writing a piece of persuasive text. The teachers wouldn't let me go, so I had to hold it for another 45 minutes. I was about to burst.

Also, I was supposed to go streaking yesterday (I have this urge to do something crazy), but it snowed! WTF? Here, I'll show you the letter I wrote to snow.

Dear Snow,

You are a bitch.

Love Taylor.