Author's Note: Happy New Year, guys! Hope you all had a lovely holiday.

"Mm," Bella moaned. She threw her head back, gazing at Rosalie. "It's so good!"

Rosalie, leaning against a tree opposite her, rolled her eyes. "No need to be so sarcastic."

She grinned through a mouthful of blood and offered the half drained bunny to her, it's snapped neck hanging limp. "Want some?"

"Oh, absolutely," Rosalie went along, pushing herself off the tree. Bending over, she dragged her finger across Bella's chin, and held it steady in front of her. The blood glistened in the sunlight. "You're such a messy eater."

Bella grinned as she leaned forward and grabbed a hold of her hand. She slowly brought her finger to her mouth, but just before it touched her lips, she forced her hand back and poked her nose. "Who's the messy eater now?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes and wiped at her nose. "Very mature."

"Uh huh." She licked at her teeth only to bury them in the bunny's neck again. She nuzzled her face into the fur and pulled back, the bottom half of her face covered with blood. "Do I have anything on my face?"

"Really, Bella," a voice came from behind them. "You shouldn't play with your food."

Both of them jumped, crouching down low in defense. Bella relaxed when she saw it was only Alice. "How long have you been there?"

Alice shrugged. "Long enough to see you two flirting." Her voice was teasing.

"Flirting?" Rosalie scoffed and crossed her arms. "Please."

"Yeah, so not my type," Bella agreed.

Alice raised an eyebrow. "What is your type?"

"Young, type AB, blonde or brunette. Not too picky." Her smile slipped as she looked distastefully at the dead animal in her hands. "But lately it seems like I've been making friends with Disney princesses' furry slaves."

"Slaves?" Alice asked, appalled. "Friends, you mean."

Bella stooped back to the ground, starting to dig a little grave for the fuzzy creature. She looked up, snorting. "Please. They hypnotize them with a song and then they did their bidding." She quickly dug the whole and buried the bunny. Dusting herself off, she looked at Alice expectantly.

She smiled excitedly. "I wanted to talk to you about something." Slightly apprehensive, Bella nodded for her to continue. "When was the last time you went on a date?"

Slightly surprised, she crossed her arms. "Well..." She pursed her lips. "My last date was with an abusive husband in a sketchy bar." She smirked. "Didn't end well."

"Oh?" Rosalie chimed sarcastically.

Alice cleared her throat. "How about a real date? One that didn't end in bloodshed?"

"Where are you going with this?" she asked, hand on her hip and eyebrow cocked.

"I think that putting yourself out there, going on a date, would be a step in the right direction not only with your thirst, but with your other problem as well. It would be really putting your past behind you and starting anew."

Laughing to herself and resting her arms under her chest, she asked, "And who do you suggest I go out with? A human?"

"No!" Alice assured. "Of course not! I already had someone in mind..."

"You have got to be kidding me," Bella muttered as Emmett stood in the doorway of her bedroom. Having been unable to argue with Alice—puppy eyes. What was the point in being a vampire if you were bested by puppy eyes?—she let herself be dolled up. Her hair was curled and she was forced into a short sleeved, knee length wrap around dress. And heels. What had her world come to?

Emmett grinned as he presented a bouquet of flowers with a flourish. "Prepare for your mind to be blown!"

"Oh God."

Alice smiled happily as she shoved Bella out the door. "Have fun, you two!"

"I really don't think this is the right thing to do," Rosalie told her.

She shook her head. "This will be good for her. She'll interact with humans and move on from her past. Emmett's a good guy. Hey, maybe they'll fall in love."

Rosalie gave her a dubious look.

"Where to?" Bella asked as Emmett opened the door to his jeep for her.

"It's a surprise." He closed the door with a grin and was in the driver's seat in the blink of an eye. "You don't mind if the tops down, do you?"

"Alice will." She gestured to her curls.

He shrugged and winked at her. "We'll just say we had sex."

"A play ground?"

He turned off the engine and gave her a look. "You've ever been to one before?"

"Well, no, but—"

He cut her off. "Exactly!" He grinned and pointed to the park. "Now get your ass over there and on those swings!"

Derek loved the park. The elementary school had a small play ground near the parking lot, but it was nothing compared to the communal park. He went there every weekend and as often as he could during the week. He'd take his older brothers or his parents with him and have them push him as hard as they could on the swings. He'd close his eyes and tilt his head back and pretend he was flying.

He was on the lowest swing to the ground, his mom sitting on the nearest bench. He pumped his legs back and forth, back and forth. His swing didn't go any higher. That was when two grown-ups joined him. The girl was very pretty, not that he would admit that because girls had cooties, but she had shiny brown hair and a nice blue dress. The guy was huuuge, with big muscles, probably a football player, but he had a goofy grin on his face that made him less scary. Derek was content to share the swing set with them.

"Are we really going to do this?" she asked as she set herself down on the swing.

He grinned. "Oh, yeah." He placed his hands on her back and gave a big shove that Derek thought probably hurt. "Hold on tight." In just a few seconds, she was flying high, and her delighted squeals rang throughout the park.

Derek gazed at the girl with awe. He wanted to go that high. He would go that high. Just as he started to kick his legs harder, the girl jumped off the swing and landed on her knees. He had a feeling she could have landed on her feet, but chose not to. She fell to her back, and then looked to the boy.

"My turn!" he declared. "Bet I can land farther than you."

She rolled her eyes as she stood up, cedar chips in her hair. "You're so immature."

"I'm not immature," he argued, "Just fun. Now push."

She complied and Derek started to gain more altitude. But the boy was much higher, much faster. And before he knew it, the boy was digging his feet in the dirt, way farther than where the girl landed.

He pumped his legs furiously, and not to be outdone, jumped off the swing just as the grown-ups did, the only difference was his landing was jarring, and his knee was skinned and shinning with blood. Tears welled up in his eyes. "Mo-Mo-Mommy!"

Bella took a step back, her eyes closing with delight as she inhaled the scent of blood. Her irises were dark with thirst when she opened them again, and Emmett was in front of her in a flash. "Bella. Come on. You didn't make it this far just to be bested by a five-year-old." He let out a tiny growl and muttered to himself, "Why didn't Alice see this?" He took her face in his hands and held her gaze steady. "You can do this."

She closed her eyes and took one last breath. "I didn't choke down Thumper's blood just to lose control because of a kindergartner."

He let out a tiny laugh. "That's right."

"I can do this."

"You can." She took a breath, her eyes opening, liquid gold. He smiled. "Better?"

"Better."

He offered her his arm, smiling tentatively. "You up to finishing this date?"

"Oh, absolutely."

"How was your night?" Rosalie asked, not bothering to turn away from the hood of the car. Her back was to her and Bella was basically talking to her ass.

"Oh fantastic. He took me to the park."

She gave a distracted, "Cool."

"We were on the swings the whole night."

Noncommittal grunt.

"Took a break for the slides."

Her blonde head bobbed up and down. "Uh huh."

"I think I may be in love."

That caught her attention. She pulled back from the car, turning around to look at her. She had a grease stain on her forehead and she leaned over to grab a rag. "Oh really?"

"Mhm." Her fingers danced on one of the counter tops containing tools.

"Do I hear wedding bells?"

"Possibly." She grinned, but it faded. "There was this little boy, maybe five or six, and he was swinging with us. Emmett and I kept jumping off the swings and he wanted to, too. So he swung higher and jumped off, but he cut his knee. Nothing too bad, no stitches, but it was enough."

She frowned. "But you're okay?"

"Thanks to you." She smiled, the light reaching her eyes. "I did it, Rose." She couldn't contain herself, she wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck and pulled her into a hug. "I actually did it."

"I knew you could."

"Alice!" Emmett snapped. He opened her bedroom door, finding her alone. Her back turned to him, she pushed her swivel chair away from the computer desk and turned around, looking at him serenely.

"Did you have a good time? Who am I kidding? Of course you did."

He frowned, eyeing her pleased smile suspiciously. "Did you know this was going to happen?"

"You underestimate me, brother."

He gazed at her. "...You planned this."

She had a good poker face, but a giggle slipped through. She clapped her hands excitedly. "Edward would have taken her to that meadow of his, which wasn't good enough. She needed human interaction. You, though, I knew you would have done something spontaneous. And then the vision came and I saw the little boy scrape his knee and I saw her control her thirst. I was so proud of her."

He shook his head, not buying it. "There's more to it than that." She grinned and he narrowed his eyes. "What are you up to, midget?"

She smiled simply. "Oh, just playing matchmaker."

Author's Note: I hope you guys liked that. I was a little iffy on the last scene. What do you guys think? Did you like it?