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Esme and Rosalie sat in silence as they zoomed towards their home. Esme opened her mouth to speak, then shut it...over and over again. She tried to sort through her emotions, but Rosalie's obvious...discomfort shall we say, kept distracting her. Rosalie hadn't said a word since they got into the car. But one glance was all she needed to know her "daughter's" mind was a whirlwind of thoughts.

She glanced at her again, and once again looked back to the road.

They were nearly at the half-hidden dirt path to their house when they passed someone riding on a bicycle.

Rosalie clutched at her seat. "It's her."

Esme sighed. "She must be going back to that campsite," she said. "We're going to have to do something about Edward."

Rosalie growled softly, but not softly enough for Esme to miss it. She chose not to comment though.

As the car crawled to a stop by the house, Rosalie called out "I'm going hunting" before disappearing towards the east.

Esme didn't say anything. The entire family would have to go hunting soon if Bella stayed so close. As she stepped out of the car, her practiced mind immediately started reciting all the woods, fabrics, paint colors and stonework she could think of. She needed to speak to Carlisle before Edward heard her thoughts about his singer.

"Emmett!" she called for her big bear of a son. "We're going to need you to stay by Edward tonight."

Emmett, Alice, Jasper and Edward had made their way down to her by then.

"Why?" Edward asked suspiciously. Esme answered him in her mind.

"Oh, god," Edward whimpered.

"She's going back to her campsite," Alice answered for Esme at Emmett's and Jasper's questioning looks.

Jasper looked at his brother. "I'm not sure restraining him physically will do much good," he said, "not if this girl is here for more than a few hours."

"Bella," Esme said before thinking. Damn, she thought. They all looked at her then, Edward with the most intensity.

"What?" He cried out. "How do you know? Stop blocking me, damn it!"

She would normally reprimand him for his language at this point, but instead she sighed and decided to tell them an edited version of their meeting tonight.

"She was at the supermarket," she sighed. "I ran into her by accident and we introduced ourselves. Rosalie recognized her scent."

Spruce, maple, cherry...her mind went on.

"Bella..." Edward whispered. Then he narrowed his eyes. "There's more, though."

"I'd like to speak to Carlisle before we discuss things. Where is he?"

"He was called to the hospital," Alice said.

"Uh, where's Rosalie?" Emmett asked.

"Hunting," Esme said, giving him a look. "I think she needs to be alone for a little while. Emmett, Jasper, please stay with your brother tonight. I'm going to the hospital to speak with Carlisle."

With that she ran back to the car, taking with her some "dinner" for her husband so she'd have a plausible excuse for the nurses.

Bella listened to the sounds of the dawn for a long time before she stirred from her sleeping bag. Her normal schedule before meant she was usually just falling asleep when the sun came up. During her 3-week trip she had particularly enjoyed waking up with sun. The wind shared the sounds of waking animals, rustling leaves, paws on the ground, and of course thousands of birds. It was rather noisy in this forest but she asked the wind to tone it down a few notches and as always, it granted her request.

Bella stretched in her sleeping bag and got ready for her wake-up routines. She changed her pants and shirt (she was grateful she hadn't sold her extra clothes as it seemed a wild animal had nicked some of hers yesterday), then rummaged through her bag and pulled out a couple of granola bars and her last peach. After washing the peach she proceeded to eat her breakfast as she thought about the conversation with her father the night before. She had found a payphone in town after her encounter with Esme and Rosalie, and decided to get the details of her arrival ironed out. She'd already spoken to people in town and she needed to be sure to have the correct back story for when people asked. The more she thought about it the more what Charlie told her actually made sense. He explained to her what he'd been telling people all these years. Bella Swan had apparently been staying with her aunt. Her mother did indeed have a sister, Carol, who had always lived on the East coast. But Carol was also deceased. Her mother rarely talked about it...Carol died at a young age long before her parents even met. Nobody in Forks knew this of course, and there were no other family members who would ever ask for Bella's whereabouts. She and her father really only had each other.

She was deep in thought when she was suddenly aware of something heading towards her.

Bella listened carefully. Something wasn't quite right. She knew the sounds of other people like the back of her hand. This one was moving much too fast. There was barely enough time for the wind to relay what was happening. What was going on?

It stopped a few hundred feet away from her. She continued to chew on her granola bar as she listened. It was...someone big. Huge. And he or she was walking at a normal pace now, still pretty fast because their natural stride was very large. Whoever they were, they then started whistling...twinkle, twinkle little star. Okay. If she didn't know any better, she'd say this person was trying to put her at ease. Not knowing what to do with that line of thinking, she decided to wait and see. She wasn't afraid-Bella doubted there was anyone alive who could pose any kind of threat to her. It would have to be a pretty extraordinary situation where she'd willingly use her gifts in self-defense and in the 7 years she was on her own she's never found herself in a situation where her own wits, speed, and the occasional round-house kick weren't enough protection.

"...tinkle, tinkle in the car
mommy drove me way too far
with my cup of apple juice
I just had to let it loose
tinkle, tinkle in the car
mommy drove me way too far..."

Bella grinned at the stranger's very strange lyrics as he appeared in her clearing at last. Big, indeed. He towered over her and was built too. His short crop of black hair was curly and a little unruly. He would have been intimidating to most people, especially when alone and in the woods but Bella wasn't most people. It helped, too, that he wore a big friendly smile.

"Who taught you those lyrics? You should get your money back," Bella said with a smile.

"Ha! I made it up all by myself!" He said smugly. "Bet you can't do better!"

Bella raised one eyebrow.

"...tinkle, tinkle little man
there you sit right on the can
when you're old you should stand up
unless of course you have to pup
tinkle, tinkle little man
there you sit right on the can..."

His mouth was open. "Awesome! Rosalie was right-you do have quite the potty mouth!"

That caught her by surprise. But then she noticed his eyes, and they were indeed the same honey gold Esme and Rosalie shared.

"Oh, you're..." She didn't want to make assumptions.

"Emmett Cullen. Rosalie's my girlfriend," he introduced himself, watching her carefully for a reaction.

There was none. Bella had plenty of practice keeping her emotions in check.

"Bella," she said with a smile. "Though you probably already knew that."

Emmett grinned. "So what brings a nice girl like you to a wild forest like this? Not scared of the big bad bears?"

"Please. Bears are scared of the big bad Bella," she retorted. There was something about Emmett that made it very easy for her to relax. Bella found herself in unusually high spirits. "What brings you here?"

Emmett studied her for a moment, aware that she had skillfully sidestepped his question, and shrugged.

"It's not as deserted as you may think," he said, pointing in the direction he had come from. "Our house isn't far. Rosalie said she noticed you biking in this direction last night as they were coming home. Seeing as you've met Esme too, I decided it was my turn!"

Bella's face didn't betray her confusion, but in her mind she pondered what Emmett had told her. It didn't make any sense. If Rosalie had seen her come this way, she probably only saw it out on the main road. Bella could have gone in any direction from that point. She feigned understanding and decided to just go with it. She liked Esme, and when Rosalie didn't look like she wanted to kill her, she liked her too.

"Well," she started. "It's very nice to meet you Emmett."

"Ditto," he said with a smile. "...Bella Bear."

Bella sighed. "I walked into that one, didn't I?"

"Yup!" He said with a smug grin. "So what brings you to Forks, Bella Bear?"

Thank god for small favors, she thought, grateful now for last night's impromptu conversation with her father.

"I'm going to be staying with my father. He lives here," she said.

"In the forest?" He asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Witty," she said sarcastically. "No, not in the forest. He's not expecting me for a few more days, that's all. These woods are awesome so I'm just exploring them until then."

"Hmm," he said. "So you'll be going to school with us then? What grade are you in?"

"Er-," Bella stumbled. "10th," she said quickly, hoping he didn't notice her hesitation.

If he did, he didn't linger over it. He was quiet for a few moments, then suddenly brightened. "Hey you want to come have breakfast at our house?" He asked, grinning.

"What?" That caught Bella off guard. "No, no. I'm fine, really. You don't have to-"

He laughed a big laugh. "Bella Bear, I'm here on a mission. Esme made a really big breakfast and there's a ton left over. She sent me here specifically for this purpose." He leaned over her and with a wicked grin he whispered, "she gave me explicit permission to carry you back if I had to!"

Bella gave him a funny look. How on earth had this happened? She was incredibly touched that Esme was had thought of her. But going to their house? She worried what could happen. She'd spend only a few minutes with her but already Bella was beginning to feel a familial compassion for Esme. She hasn't had a mother in so long...and everything about Esme screamed motherly love, or at least it did for Bella. Even now, just thinking about Esme's having made breakfast for her...she could feel her emotions welling up and that meant other side-effects were starting to well up to. She screamed at herself and the monster calmed. She should say no.

"Ok," she said quietly.

"Awesome!" He exclaimed. "Can I carry you?"

"I'm sure you can," She laughed. "But you may not."

"Aww."

Under his gaze, Bella packed her things into her backpack, grabbed her bike and together they started walking towards the Cullens' house.

Author's note: Thanks for reading! Please review!