Hi Readers! And whoever is reading this for the first time, I hope you enjoy Pas De Deux!

This first chapter isn't one of the best, but if you trudge through it, I swear to you the story gets better...my writing needed a few chapters in order to get back into the flow it used to be. Aro doesn't show up in this chapter but he will be in the next one! :)

Anyways, thank you for giving this a chance! I love and appreciate all of you :)

Chapter 1

Adagio. It means, slow tempo. Or being performed in a slow, leisurely and graceful way.

Life has a slow, continuous momentum to it. When it seems like everything is moving at the right speed, in the right way, surprises appear from seemingly out of nowhere and come steamrolling over you and everything that you thought that you knew. Ramona knew this well, and she thought that she typically handled these life surprises with as much tolerance and grace as she could.

Ramona Swan had come home to her small studio apartment in the East side of New York City after six hours of rehearsals, sweaty and exhausted because her new choreographer was unbearably intense and intent on making a name for himself. Fighting through the exhaustion sweeping over her body, she slowly removed her slippers and threw them over to the side with her pointe shoes. She stretched herself out onto the rug, rubbing her aching joints and rolling her foot around in her hand, reliving the pressure built up from hours of pointe.

Her eyes glanced over to the mail that was waiting on ottoman beside her that she hadn't been able to go through before rehearsal today. Besides the usual stockpile of bills and advertisements that often flooded her mailbox, a delicately wrapped invitation with her name so elegantly transcribed sat waiting for her. Ramona eyed it warily when she saw the postal code. Forks, Washington.

It was when she got an invitation to her younger sister's upcoming wedding and all of the tolerance and grace that she had built up over the years crumbled as selfishness threatened to swallow her up. Ramona Swan's younger sister Bella had only just graduated from high school and turned eighteen years old, and she was already engaged to some seemingly loaded, jumped up teenager. An Edward Cullen.

Of course her younger sister would be married before her. Ramona had spent most of her life dedicated to ballet, training since she was about seven years old. Their mother had introduced both girls to ballet, but only Ramona had stuck through it and made a career out of it. At twenty six years old, she had spent most of her adult life worrying and obsessing over her craft and not focused on much of anything else.

Sure, she had dated, had the occasional boyfriend or fling but it never lasted very long. But in the end, they always grew annoyed and bored and none of them truly cared about the ballet or her dancing. It was an interesting first date topic that soon grew to annoyance when she dared to try to get her partner involved in what she was most interested in. Most men didn't care about dance, or ballet, or plays, or the opera, or classical music. In the end, all of her former boyfriends and lovers proved that they weren't worth the little time Ramona had left over for her social life.

However, come on Bella…marrying at eighteen was adding insult to injury.

The whimsical tinkling of Cristofori's Dream grounded Ramona back to earth as she grabbed her cellphone and looked at the caller ID. Impeccable timing, she thought to herself as she braced herself for the conversation that was sure to come. She sighed, and resignedly clicked her phone on.

"What's up?" she answered, forgetting all formalities. She was too exhausted for them anyway. She got up and stretched her back, making her way towards the kitchen were her cat was sitting and waiting patiently for her to give her dinner. She smiled and gave the orange cat a small pet on the head as she fished around for its can of cat food.

"Just like your father, not one for formalities," her mother's voice answered with a soft chuckle, to which Ramona rolled her eyes. "How are you doing baby?"

She answered with the tell-tale metallic crank of the can opener, "Mom, didn't we already have our monthly phone call last week?" She wrinkled her nose at the odor coming up from the wet tuna but loyally scooped it into the cat's bowl. It meowed in delight. "Besides, we both know you aren't calling me to talk about how I'm doing."

A small second of silence passed but then her mother let out a small squeal, "Can you BELIEVE it? Bella getting married!" her mother gushed.

Ramona raised an eyebrow and let out a very forced laugh, "Nope. Can barely believe it."

To Renee's credit, due to the fact that she wasn't living with them, she was always good at telling her daughters' moods, even over the phone, "Oh I know she's your younger sister, Mona. But Bella has been dating this boy for a while now and she's completely over the moon, you should see them! I'm not surprised at all."

She snorted, "No, it's totally natural for eighteen year olds to get married right out of high school." She opened the refrigerator and grabbed the half drank bottle of Pinot Grigio waiting for her and poured herself a healthy amount of wine. She took a sip, and then another long one.

"Well me and your father were high school sweethearts," Renee said, as if to challenge her elder daughter. Ramona groaned and took another sip.

"And look how well that turned out," she bit back sarcastically. She put her glass down on the table and searched her fridge for something light to eat. Leftover vegetable pad Thai it would be. She microwaved the sucker as she listened to her mom prattle about how excited she was for the wedding, how she needed to buy a new dress and new suit for Phil, blah blah…

"So, should I tell Bella that she should expect a plus one from you?" her mother teased. Ramona shoved a huge forkful of pad Thai down her throat in response, stopping herself from saying something rude to her mother. After all, it wasn't her mother's fault that she struggled keeping a man for more than 4 months.

"No, you shouldn't tell her to expect a plus one from me," Ramona responded, hoping that she didn't sound too sarcastic and snide. "Single again, mother."

The upbeat, sunny positivity of her mom was not going to be challenged, "Well that's okay! Besides, maybe you'll meet someone there!" she teased, "Edward's family is very good looking. Maybe they'll have a single cousin, or uncle."

"Oh, am I onto the old uncles now?" she joked. If she had a biological clock she would wear it as a watch on her wrist. Tick tock, tick tock.

She could hear her mother smile though, and it did calm her, "Don't worry sweetheart, your time will come. Besides, you are doing so wonderfully in New York, and with your dancing. Didn't you land one of the solos in—"

And for once she allowed her mother to sing her praise for a little bit, letting a wave of calm rush over her despite the irritation that her sister's engagement was bringing her. Ramona would be happy for her sister, she decided. And who knows, she thought to herself, maybe she would meet someone there. Someone special, and different.

Ramona hadn't been to Forks, Washington, since about three Christmases ago, when she decided to spend Christmas with her father for the first time in a long time. She typically spent most holidays with either Renee in Arizona, or in New York with either friends or a boyfriend. That year Renee had started seeing Phil and since Ramona had no desire to spend time with a man whom she assumed would be a passing fancy for her mother (and wasn't she surprised when they got married! And poor Bella had to move to Forks to be with their dad, because god forbid mom choose a husband who stayed in one place for very long. Probably why she liked him).

And now she was going to spend the next week in Forks. She had time that she needed to take off before she lost it all and her director said it would be better to take them all at once and get it over with. So instead of spending her vacation time in the Barbados she would be spending it in dreary Washington state. Lucky her.

It wasn't that she didn't like spending time with Charlie. She did. His quiet, steady nature never failed to bring her that reassurance and peace that she sometimes desperately craved. But they were so different, and she knew that her father didn't really understand her. Conversations were awkward and clunky. And she could only count a small handful of times that Charlie had actually came to see one of her performances.

She didn't hate him for it, or judge him. She knew it wasn't his scene, and respected that.

But it certainly made things awkward between them.

And here she was, back in Forks, the small town just as cold and dreary as she remembered it. Some things never change, she thought, as she drove her rental car down to Charlie's house. She was planning on renting a room at a local motel for the next week but Charlie insisted. So Ramona made her way through the small town, admiring the lush greenery and trees and overall wilderness that she no longer go to see in New York City, the Charlie's house. The small white house with the blue pickup truck and police cruiser hadn't changed one bit since she was last here.

"Mona, you're here," her father's voice called, and she was surprised to see him look oddly chipper at her as she stepped out of the car to get her bags. "I'll get those," he quickly grabbed her suitcases before she had a chance and started walking towards the house. Too overwhelmed to argue, Ramona followed her father inside the house that she used to call home for two weeks during every summer growing up.

"I'm glad you're here," he said, and he gave her a hug. She frowned, hugging him awkwardly back. Well this was un-Charlie like. He stepped back a bit, still holding onto her and staring down at his eldest child, "Have I ever told you that you're my favorite?"

They shared a knowing grin. Ah, the unmarried daughter emerges victorious. Of course.

"What's the matter Charlie? Not ready to walk your little girl down the aisle just yet?" she teased, as they walked towards the kitchen together. He handed her a beer which she gladly accepted. Once again, things never change…and apparently neither did their shared dependency on liquor for stress management.

"Well I thought it would at least be you first," he teased back, which she shot back with a glare. "Never thought I'd be marrying a daughter off at eighteen though."

Ramona whistled, "That's for sure. What's the matter, is she pregnant?"

Now it was his turn to glare, "Better not be." He looked annoyed, all put off all of a sudden, "I think I might just shoot the boy if that's the case."

She laughed, "I haven't even met the kid. Edward? What's he like anyway?"

"Fine, I guess," he answered shortly, awkwardly. Here's the Charlie I know, she thought. "Didn't know if I liked the kid after the hell that they put each other through but Bella, well…she's been insistent on him." He took a long swig of his beer…well that subject is touchy then, she thought.

"Have you heard from mom and Phil yet?" she asked, to which he responded with a shake of his head. She shrugged, looking around the house for inspiration for conversation. Her dark eyes stopped at a picture of her sister's graduation. "Where is Bella anyway?"

"At the Cullen house right now, practicing for the big day tomorrow I guess. She should be coming home soon though, I told her you were arriving this afternoon."

"Cool."

They sat in silence for a several moments, the scene becoming a very similar one too many she experienced in the past with her father as she sat drinking and wondering what to say next to the other. Apparently, Charlie was feeling braver than she was because it was him to break their silence.

"So—how's the dancing, uh…thing," he asked clumsily. She had to give to it Charlie, only he could make the graceful and eloquent art of ballet sound so clunky.

"The dancing thing is good," she replied, "The company director promised to feature me more this season. I'm a soloist now." She let the words dance off her tongue easily, as the response came so automatically to her since her life revolved around the ballet.

"That's great," he answered awkwardly, and she ignored the fact that he didn't really understand what she was even talking about because she knew he was trying. "Mona, I know I don't say this enough but I am really proud of you—"

"Thanks dad," she said softly, and gave him a small smile of gratitude. Charlie grinned, leaned over to give her a small peck on the head and then opened the refrigerator door in excitement, "Alright, big question now, ribs or brisket for dinner?"

The ballerina's stomach grimaced at the thought. Well it was only a week.

Let me know what you think! I welcome all ideas, thoughts, and criticisms.