34.

As winter was fading into spring the Cullen/Swan family were going about their day-to-day with some extras thrown in. Charlie, Bella, Ben and Angela were undergoing pre-change training. Everyday they would sit with Carlisle and Jasper meditating. They were trying to see if they could organize their thoughts. The idea came from Alice who was re-reading the Harry Potter books. She thought that the occlumency sounded like a good idea and thought that maybe with Jasper helping they might be able to do this. She knew as a vampire they would have no problem with recalling memories that they made after their rebirth, but until then they were trying to see if this would help with current human memories. Since starting these exercises, the four had noticed that their recall was easy. Jasper and Carlisle had high hopes that they would be able to keep their memories when they were turned. Charlie also noticed that he was able to remain calmer in difficult situations that normally would have pissed him off.

These meditation sessions also helped augment the therapy that the kids were undergoing. The first couple of sessions didn't see any noticeable changes in the teens, but they were starting to show that the sessions were more and more productive. The other day Angela was raving and throwing things around. They had spoken about her mother and brothers at her latest session and Angela was angry. She never realized how much she held in to keep her mother and father from knowing that the twin's deaths had really hurt her. The apathy that her mother and father seemed to display was more than a hurt teenager's heart should handle. She, at the moment, hated her parents and were glad that they were dead. The family knew that she would eventually feel different and appalled at her own feelings currently. Things like this took time to get over.

Ben was having an easier time with therapy. He had already been seeing Dr. Smith before the accident, so he knew what to expect and was willing to go ahead and rip off the proverbial bandaid. Dr. Smith was happy with Ben's progress and knew that it would only be a few more months before he could release him from his care.

Bella was, actually, a different case all together. She was suffering from some P.T.S.D. from the assault. She still avoided the bathroom at school where the assault took place. Dr. Smith was hoping that soon he and Bella would be able to go to the school on a weekend and go baby steps at a time towards the bathroom. He knew that more than likely she would never be totally comfortable in that space ever again, but if he could get her to a place where she could go in and leave with out panicking then he would be happy. In just a couple short months she would graduate from high school and that room would never again factor in her life, but he wanted her to not have that fear. Dr. Smith believed that avoidance wasn't a good Choice in life. You can't avoid your fears forever. You must face them head on and conquer them. He knew Bella was strong enough and could do it, but she needed to believe that as well.

Carlisle made good on his word and was able to find a family counselor that was in the know. It turns out that David, Tanya's True Mate, was a counselor. He and Tanya decided to a come down once every two weeks to talk with the whole family. They were lucky Dr. Smith didn't ask why they had someone flying down from Alaska to give them sessions. He just raised his left eyebrow and said "Allons-y". Dr. Smith thought that it was "brilliant" that they had somebody that was willing to fly hundreds of miles just to help. Dr. Smith loved to travel and that is how he came to be in the States from England, he was from the North you see. He had recently lost one of his best friends to some kind of accident in Cardiff. She was someone he loved dearly, and the memories were too hard for him to bear, so he took a leave from his duties and became a small-town doctor in Forks, Washington, but his is a different story for another time. It was funny because Carlisle struck him as a fellow Englander, but he never could work up the nerve to ask him about it.

School for all the "teens" was getting to be slow and monotonous. The other children at the school tended to stay away from them. The teachers were behaving better, and not allowing harassment of the Cullen/Swan teens. There were a couple of "young men" that thought they could get away with anything, namely Mike Newton and Eric Yorkie. They both ended up suspended from school for 2 weeks after Mr. Banner caught them trying to drag Angela behind the school into the woods. What they had in mind was unbelievably bad, and Charlie felt it was a Police Chief's duty to inform those two worms what would have happened to them if they hadn't been caught before hand. He brought pictures from a prison close by. The two never knew that hardened killers hated people that raped kids. Charlie knew that because Angela was about to turn 18, she wouldn't be considered a child, but he hinted to the boys that her age would be left out if they did something like that. Charlie would make sure that they never had a day's peace. Mike ended up throwing up all over his and Eric's laps. Eric was as white a sheet. They never realized that people could and do get hurt, killed even, in prison. The brutality that was shown in the pictures put both boys off any thoughts of hurting any girl like that. They really didn't want to be some guy whose name was Bubba's bitch or killed in the most brutal way possible. They gave Angela, Bella and the other girls a wide berth. They never wanted anybody to think that they would even be contemplating doing something like that again. It also helped that Em, Jasper and Jake would shoot daggers at them with their eyes. Nope Eric and Mike would behave until graduation when they would then head east to East Carolina University, and never look back.

The Cullen household had applied for colleges that offered correspondence courses. None of them knew when the four that would be changed in just three months would have enough control to go to an actual college campus. Charlie even applied to further his current degree in criminal justice. He was going to take some course about forensics and psychological profiling. He knew that when he was changed, he would be able to keep up with the new-fangled technology that they were using now. He knew that he would always want to be a police officer or something to that effect. He wasn't sure what he would do when and if Bella was the person of the Legend. He hoped that she would still need those skills on hand when she changed the world. He knew that even in times of peace there were always bad apples out there. Having laws and people that enforced the law was something that was needed all the time, he hoped.

At the moment Bella, Charlie and Emmett were browsing some college pamphlets to see what Bella might want to work towards as a major. "I've always loved literature, but I don't think that it is something that I want as a major. I might minor in literature though." Bella said while skimming the options.

"What about a teacher? You wanted to do that as a child, and I for one think that you would be fantastic teaching little kids." Charlie said.

"I don't know. That might be an option later down the line, but I was thinking that if I am the person that the Legend speaks of then I want a major that will help me be a good leader."

"How about a business degree, and then you could add another major on top of that." Em suggested. He wanted Bella to major in something that she wanted to do, not something that she felt compelled to do.

"That could work, but what other subject should I major in?" Bella knew that a business degree would help her understand many things that she will probably need to know later on down the line. She knew this but business wasn't really what she wanted to do. "What about Criminal Justice?"

Charlie was surprised that she would even think of the criminal justice community. "I think that would allow you to have some tactical learning as well as leadership abilities. You sure you want to follow in your old man's footsteps?"

"I think that I do. I know I've not really said it, but I think that your job is amazing. You get to do good for our small community and hell shooting a gun is kind of empowering."

"Alrighty then, I think that is a fantastic idea. You can always major in something else later in life. Don't forget that we will never age and can learn an unlimited amount of information. I already have a degree in business and chemistry. I can't wait to go to vet school. It is going to be so much fun learning about animals and how I can help them." Em said, he really did miss the farm life that he knew before his change. He hoped that one day he could have a farm again and raise animals.

Bella seemed to read his mind, "We will have a couple of barns full of animals babe. Anything that you want. I'm sure that Adi would help with herding that would need to be done."

Charlie left the room quickly as he had no interest watching Bella and Em make out.

Alice danced her way down the stairs and made her way to Carlisle's office. "Hey, can we talk for a minute?"

"Sure hon! What's going on?" Carlisle replied closing his laptop.

"Well, I have been having some problems with my gift here lately. Once or twice a day I will look to see if I can see Edward and how he's doing, but I haven't really been able to see him in months. Do you think that there is something wrong with me?" Alice was very worried. Normally if she couldn't get a read on someone the visions would be hazy almost hard to see, but lately there was nothing about Edward. It was like somebody closed off a channel in her gift.

"Are you sure he's not trying to avoid your visions?" Carlisle asked.

"No, it's nothing like that. When he avoided my visions in the past it was like an old TV. Static and warped sound would be what I would see and hear. Now it's more like a TV that has no sound, and the video isn't hooked up. I know that he's there I just can't see anything."

"Hmm…Well we know that Edward is with a group of incredibly old vampires so maybe one of them has a talent that negates yours. I know that it is very frustrating, but I think that we need to let Edward be, and he will come home when he is ready. I know that the Leader of this group is working with him to come to terms with his past behavior and how he can make the right Choices to do right in the future. Let's do a test please. Can you look into my future and see what might happen?"

Alice took an unneeded breath and closed her eyes. "I can see you in the hospital. OH, when you are coming off your break be careful walking back into the hospital a nurse will spill coffee on you when you run into her." Alice slowly opened her eyes and had a small smile on her face. "She really will try and help you clean up the mess." She started snickering, but suddenly her face was serious, and she said, "I see him! It's like a veil was lifted but I see him. He is going to call you here in a few minutes. Oh oh oh…. I think that I was wrong about how big our family will be in a few more months. I believe that in the end our family, The Cullen's will have 16 members total. Our extended family, The Denali's will have ten members! I can kind of see some forms on the outside that seem like they will be close to us but not true members of our family. Wow!"

"Can you see anymore about my True Mate?" Carlisle asked nervously.

"Actually, her form is not quite clear yet, but it is more clear than last time. I think that she is about 5'7" or so and has completely straight reddish brown hair. That's about all I can get now. It's quite curious that I can't really see her only vague pictures. I have seen a potential future vision of you and you are extremely happy. The only crazy thing is that I see the woman that is your True Mate heavily pregnant! I don't understand that, but again it is only a potential future." Alice said with a curious look on her face.

"Alice, vampires can't get pregnant and you know that. You know that you and Jasper would have a whole freakin baseball team, maybe two."

"I know Carlisle, but it is what I saw. I keep seeing the letter A for some reason. Maybe part of her name?" Alice screwed her eyes shut and tried to force her visions to come but oddly only ended up with a headache. "Sorry Carlisle, I can't even force a vision. I just tried and got a headache. I think that I'm going to see if anybody wants to hunt. Maybe Hillel and Yael would like to go with me. I hope that it help with my headache, if not I'm going to lay down and just shut my eyes."

"I think that you should avoid trying to look into this further. I'm willing to bet that my True Mate has her own gifts or has someone close to her that has a gift. That is the only reason that you would get a headache. I don't want you to get hurt because you were looking for something that will come to pass not to far into the future. Got it Alice?"

"Sir yes sir!" Alice saluted Carlisle and jumped from the window to find Hillel and Yael.

"Silly Pixie, you drives me nuts sometimes.""

A tinkling laugh was the only reply.

LAX, Unknown Person

I just landed at LAX and I was about ready to act like a newborn and drain everyone in sight. People begging for handouts and other bumming around. It looked like many of these "homeless" were doing a lot of heavy drugs and the police didn't seem to be inclined to stop them. The only reason I even Chose this hell hole as my landing destination is because I want to follow up on a hunch of mine. My master knows a Coven leader on this side of the country and I think that if I present myself as a non-threat I can ask him if he knows about this rumor. Washington State here I come!