Author's Note: Thanks to moosals for pre-reading on short notice. Stephenie Meyer owns all characters.

Each "section" of the story has three chapters. This is part 1 of "The Relationship."

I stared at myself in the mirror, wondering if I could really go through with it. In exactly a half hour, I would be meeting my… boyfriend's parents. My 18-year-old boyfriend's parents.

I'd never actually done the "meet the parents" thing with a guy that I dated. I was in college when I met Peter, and his parents were 1,500 miles away. Our relationship had lasted two years, until he graduated and moved back home to Phoenix. I realized later that the fact that he had never invited me home to meet his parents should've been a hint that our relationship wasn't going to last.

During my first year of grad school, I had dated an older guy named James. I never met his parents, or even any of his friends. I found out why the day I showed up at his place and met his wife.

Yeah, so my dating history left a lot to be desired.

I would be meeting Edward and his parents at an Italian restaurant for dinner, nine days after he'd shown up in my classroom. Though we spoke on the phone every night, it took him a week to finally tell his parents that he had a girlfriend. All he'd told them so far was the very clean version of the truth — we met at school. As he'd expected, they wanted to meet me before allowing us to spend any time together.

I couldn't really blame Edward's parents for worrying about him so much. I worried about him, too. He didn't really seem to take his problems with alcohol seriously enough, always saying that he wasn't tempted to drink. And it's not that I didn't believe him, because I did. From what Edward had told me in therapy, he drank when faced with peer pressure, or with stressful or unknown situations. I worried about how he would react the first time he had to face something like that.

Like tonight, for example.

How are you doing? I texted him.

Missing U. I rolled my eyes — I could never say that Edward Cullen wasn't charming.

Arriving at the lovely restaurant, I quickly spotted Edward seated in a booth across from an attractive middle-aged couple. I took a deep breath and crossed the room.

"Bella," Edward called with a smile, standing up to give me a quick kiss. I turned my head at the last second so that he touched my cheek. He narrowed his eyes at me, but I knew he understood.

Edward grasped my hand tightly, pulling me to sit in the booth next to him. "Um, Mom and Dad," he began, "This is my girlfriend, Bella Swan. Bella, these are my parents, Carlisle and Esme Cullen."

Edward's father was an attractive man with honey blond hair streaked with gray at the temples. Deep blue eyes looked me over until he finally smiled. Looking at Edward's mother was like looking at an older, female version of Edward. Clearly, he favored her in looks. And unlike her husband, she was eyeing me shrewdly.

"It's so nice to meet you, Bella," she finally said, not sounding sincere in the least. "Edward," she said, turning to him, "I thought you said you'd met Bella at school?"

"I did."

"No offense, but you seem a little… older than the traditional student."

I swallowed thickly. "I—I'm not a student, Mrs. Cullen. I'm an adjunct professor at the school, teaching three psychology classes."

"Aren't you taking Psychology, Edward? She's your teacher?"

"No, Mom, I'm not in Bella's class." I wanted to laugh as he rolled his eyes for emphasis. Not anymore, he wasn't.

"How old are you, Bella?" Dr. Cullen asked.

I cleared my throat. "Um, I'm 26."

Edward turned his head to look at me sharply. Oops… he didn't know that I'd had a birthday a few weeks back.

"Edward is only 18!" Mrs. Cullen exclaimed.

"Yes, I'm aware of that," I replied. Thankfully our waiter stopped by just then to deliver the drinks the others had ordered and to take my drink order. I really wanted a glass of wine, but I knew I couldn't drink in front of Edward, so I ordered a Diet Coke instead.

"Are you aware of Edward's… history?" his mother asked carefully.

"I am," I nodded. She seemed shocked that I knew… little did she know.

"And none of this bothers you?"

"No, why should it? It's the person Edward is on the inside that counts."

"Are you guys done badgering Bella now?" Edward asked angrily. "She's the best thing that ever happened to me. Please don't ruin this for me," he begged.

I squeezed Edward's hand, letting him know that I wasn't going to run away. I'd known going in that tonight wouldn't be easy. I'd be suspicious of an older woman dating my fresh-out-of-rehab teenage son, too.

Fuck, it sounded bad when I put it that way.

When our waiter returned to take our dinner orders, I opened my menu for the first time, ordering the mushroom ravioli — the first thing on the menu.

Beyond explaining the basics such as where I grew up and where I went to school, I did my best to steer the conversation away from me for the rest of the evening. In the end, I actually had a pretty good time, beyond feeling like I was on trial.

Edward and I shared a piece of chocolate cake for dessert before his father announced that he needed to get home since he had an early shift at the hospital tomorrow.

"Can Bella take me home?" Edward asked as we made our way out of the restaurant. I could see that Mrs. Cullen clearly wanted to say no, but her husband's hand on her forearm kept her from speaking up.

"Not too late; you have class tomorrow morning," Dr. Cullen directed.

Edward nodded, his fingers entwined with mine while I lead him to my car. After we were both seated, he leaned across the center console, kissing me sweetly. "Thank you," he whispered.

A/N: Whew... they survived their first test!