AN: Hi everyone. This idea came to me during my holidays and I liked it so much I decided to publish. This story is written in an unusual style. Characters who knew each other meet again after decades of being apart and tell their story of what happened in that time. So I'm basically starting with the ending and working my way back, with all the juicy details only being revealed as their conversation progresses. Edward will only show up later, if at all and won't play a major role in this. It's a story about Bella and her tribulations without the Cullens.

For the sake of this story, some character's powers will be changed slightly. Also, it has been twenty years and a lot has happened so if you find some characters acting off, you'll have to read further to find out why.

Enjoy!

JPOV

It was a cloudy day in the small city of Port Angeles. Jasper Whitlock was driving through the streets alone, a rare sight these days. But Alice had wanted to go on a shopping spree and surprise him with the new wardrobe she was going to pick out. He had maybe one hour before she would meet him back at the four star hotel they were staying in. Just one hour for him to have as spontaneous an idea as possible on what to get her. Hopefully she would be too focused on what kind of dress he would think would look best on her to look out for what he would get her in return. It was so hard to surprise her these days.

But, Jasper was in luck. He drove by a little flower shop with some really extraordinary arrangements in the display window. Immediately his mind started to fill with vague plans to cover the entire floor and bed of their hotel room with flower petals. Then he quickly changed his mind – flower garlands, yes that was better. Or just a couple of bouquets? No, he must not decide just yet! He'd just get it all and decide later.

Satisfied, Jasper parked his car and entered the shop. The strong scent of so many different flowers threatened to overwhelm him for a moment. A little bell over the door announced his arrival and he could hear faint footsteps from a backroom.

Jasper let his gaze wander from the assortment of loose flowers and greenery to the right, over shelves with vases and cacti, to the finished bouquets, one more beautiful than the next, on the left.

"Can I help you?" a musical voice asked him and Jasper turned to the woman manning the counter.

He blinked. And blinked again. And blinked a third time for good measure because what he was seeing was impossible.

"Bella?" he asked incredulously. "Bella Swan?"

She gave him a small, polite but distant smile.

"I don't use that name anymore but yes, it's me."

Jasper let his eyes wander over her form. The skin, so pale it was almost white, the simple green apron with the shop's logo she wore over a white turtleneck and black jeans. The brown hair, falling down in perfect curls over her shoulders, her graceful movements devoid of the clumsiness she used to be famous for. And of course her brilliant, topaz-colored eyes. The flowers covered her scent pretty well but looking at her, it was obvious. This was Bella Swan – but she wasn't human anymore. The Bella Swan he knew would be approaching 40 now; this one was not even thirty – though it was hard to tell. Vampires tended to look younger than their human selves. He tried to get a feel for her emotions but surprisingly he felt – nothing. There was no surprise, no hostility, no joy – just nothing. Was she just that calm upon seeing him? He had a hard time keeping his own shock to himself!

Jasper took a few steps forward, carefully looking out for any signs of hostility. Bella had been almost a part of his family many years ago but there was no telling how she would react to him now. After all it was Jasper and his lack of self-control that had caused Edward to pack up and leave. As much as he wanted to believe that she'd have forgiven his family, she was, right now, an unfamiliar vampire first and he was a nomad encroaching on her territory.

"Bella, how is that possible? We thought you had died. Alice couldn't see you anymore" he said, making sure his body language was as non-threatening as possible. She didn't look threatened by him but it made him nervous that he couldn't get a read on her.

Bella shrugged, still smiling. "I wouldn't know about that. That is, I did develop my shielding ability further so that could have something to do with it. I block most vampire's gifts now."

"Ah. That would explain why I can't get a read on you," he mused. A shielding ability? That made sense he supposed, if Edwards's inability to read her was her gift materializing as a human already. That made him think…

"I suppose I know now how annoyed Edwards must've felt back then," he muttered, passing it off as a stray thought. Meanwhile he was watching her very closely. He expected her to flinch, to show anger maybe or sadness. But there was nothing. She just drummed her fingers on the counter in a slight show of impatience.

"We both know that you've always known exactly how Edward, or anyone else for that matter, felt about anything," she returned.

Jasper narrowed his eyes. That was true – and also the reason he knew exactly how madly in love that girl had been with his brother. Vampires didn't get into relationships with humans very often of course so there was little certainty how the eternal bond vampires forged with their mates would affect a human. Humans didn't have those bonds between them. They just didn't have the same capacity to feel emotion as a vampire did. But Jasper knew for sure that Edward loved Bella as only a vampire could love his mate. Bella however, even now that she was a vampire too, showed no signs of the total misery that Edward had been plagued by for decades now. Alice had watched over Bella occasionally so they knew that she'd gotten over Edward eventually – but to see her give no emotional reaction at all to his name now was still profoundly disturbing.

"You do seem to be doing well for yourself. Alice will be elated to know you're here," he said and this at last got a reaction. It was just for a moment but he thought he saw a shadow fall over her eyes, a shadow of pain. So she wasn't doing that well, good to know.

Bella shuffled her feet, which was such a human gesture it looked odd on her form that resembled a Roman goddess more than a human

"Look – Jasper – I don't mean to be rude but I've been hired to do the decorations for a wedding tomorrow and I still have work to do. It was nice to see you again and please do give my greetings to Alice. But since you obviously didn't know I work here, you must've had another reason for entering. Maybe we could get to that?"

Jasper was taken aback. Was she throwing him out? Maybe she was more resentful than she let on after all – it was so frustrating not to sense her emotions! He didn't want to antagonize her further though. Alice would want to know everything that happened to her in the last twenty years of course and there was the issue with Edward to consider… But Jasper didn't know if she lived here alone or if she had the support of a coven. The scent of the flowers was masking anything going on in this house. That was probably deliberate, now that he thought about it.

"Of course. I will… take these three then," he said, pointing to three large, magnificent bouquets.

Bella rang him up and wrapped the flowers for him, back to smiling a well-practiced sales smile. As if he was a total stranger to her.

"Alice will want to catch up. She missed you," he tried again when he took the flowers. Her smile faltered. "Is it alright if we come to visit you when you're less… busy?" Seeing how a vampire could do any work of a human in a third of the time, he couldn't imagine Bella being very busy with anything work-related. She wanted to get rid of him. But even though that implied a lingering hostility for the past, she was also too polite to bare her fangs and tell him to sod off. That was not at all what he'd have expected of a vampire-turned-Bella. If only he could get a read on her!

Bella hesitated for a moment. "I suppose we could do that. I have to pick up the children from school at 3pm but I suppose you could visit at around 5pm, if that's alright?"

Children?

A thousand thoughts went through Jasper's mind. Did she mean children like he and his siblings were Esme's children? She looked old enough to pass as the mother of a few teenage vampires. Or… His eyes wandered over the myriad of strong smelling flowers. She didn't mean actual children, did she?

"That would be perfect. Thank you for your time" he answered her, then turned to leave.

One thing was for sure, Alice would definitely be surprised.

WPOV

William Black – called Will by almost everyone that knew him – picked up another pebble, narrowed his eyes as he aimed and then threw it against the fence. It flew exactly through the hole he'd been aiming for and he grinned before picking up another pebble. Before he lifted his hand though his nose caught the sweet scent of his siblings. Fighting against his gag reflex, he dropped the pebble and turned around with a smile, waving to the two small forms that had just left the school building. Not that they'd need his gesture to notice him. A pile of manure among a delicious three-course-meal would probably stand out to them.

Still, the two vampires stopped to look in his direction for a moment and he even saw Jane wave back. That was good. It was a nice, human gesture.

Jane looked tiny in her black and green school uniform. She'd long since exchanged the severe bun for a more casual ponytail. That was slightly better than an open Goldilocks style, which made her look like a total child. She also stopped attaching little plushies to her school bag but even so, she could maybe pass for fifteen, not the sixteen she was pretending to be. He'd have to mention it to Mom. He wasn't sure if they could get through the whole year without anyone asking questions.

Alec as doing slightly better. Despite being the same age as his twin sister, he didn't have that doll-like flair. The small horde of fangirls helped making him look more mature. Will had no idea how they failed to be discouraged by his standoffish ways but he supposed the dark-haired, quiet child had a mysterious air around him that attracted females. Not that Will would ever have any chance of understanding the female sex.

"Hello you two. How was your day?" he asked with a wide grin once the twins were within human earshot.

"It was alright. You didn't have to come to pick us up though," Jane complained. "We'd have been fine without you."

Will threw up his hands. "Wasn't my choice! M-My cousin made me do it." He almost slipped up and called her Mom – he must remember not to do that. Human ears around and all that.

Jane rolled her eyes. "Let's go then," she muttered.

Will nudged her good-naturally. "You wanted to race back home, didn't you?" He winked at her. If they took the back alleys and moved at vampire speeds, no humans would be able to see them. But it was important that they be seen walking home occasionally. Or at least that's what Mom said.

"She's such a worry-wart" Jane muttered and glanced at her brother. "Isn't that right?"

Alec looked at her blandly and answered in his usual monotone: "Her capability to care for others extends not just to us but unfortunately, the rest of humanity and their opinions as well."

Will wasn't sure if that was meant as a placation for Jane or a backhanded insult to his Mom.

Jane seemed to interpret it as the latter. "Exactly! We have twelve centuries of practice over her, why does she-"

Will stepped on her foot.

"Hey!" Jane made and zapped him with a glare, promptly making him feel as if a grown vampire had punched him in the gut. Will faked a coughing fit to mask the brief pain but recovered quickly.

"There's nobody around," Jane hissed unapologetic.

"But that's what practice means," Will returned. "Making an effort even if nobody is looking. Or listening. It's not just about the diet, it's about fitting in."

"William is right. There is always room for improvement," Alec agreed.

"You could at least use code language," Will tried.

Jane rolled her eyes again. "Fiiiiine. I've got twelve times as much practice as her. Happy now?"

"Immensely so, Milady," Will replied mockingly and offered her his arm. She gave a tiny chuckle and took it as they marched down the street together.

The way from school back home wasn't long so by the time their tiny argument was wrapped up, they were almost at the door. The 'closed' sign was already hanging at the shop's door so Will and the twins circled around to the back door. Will unlocked it with his keys and shouted: "We're home!" while they went up the stairs to the flat on the first floor. The delicious smell of bacon and eggs hit his nose and he was sure that if he were furry, he'd be wagging his tail right now.

Their home consisted of a three-bedroom flat. Mom had insisted of actually having a bed for everyone, though the ones in the twins' room were two foldaways hidden in a wardrobe. This made more room for their personal items: Alec's collection of colorful stones, gems and geodes and Jane's collection of wool, pearls and fabrics she used to make dresses for dolls as well as her own key chains and little plushies to go with them. A couple of framed pictures also hung on the walls, mostly of places that Alec and Jane had visited but also a few newer ones of their family.

Will's room sported various items that reminded him of his tribe, handmade gifts from his packmates and pictures. His wardrobe was roughly twice the size of his siblings, a good part of it filled with shred-wear as well as old stuff he'd outgrown but hadn't yet found the time to throw out. He also had his own office desk and computer for his school work.

His Mom's bedroom was smaller than even Will's – the twins got the biggest one since they had to share. The bed she never used took up a large part of it but she also had her own bookcase with information about floristry and botanic and shelves where she stored various items that didn't fit in the workshop anymore. Notably there were almost no pictures in her room – just a single frame on her nightstand with a picture of Will, Jane and Alec posing together.

They also had a small living room with an open kitchen and it was to this that Will entered now, following the scent of edible goodies.

"Mom, you're the best," Will declared as he sat down at the dining table and his mother put a steaming pan of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of him.

"There you are, you're a growing boy," she cooed and tussled his short cropped, black hair.

He wasn't actually, not anymore but he wouldn't argue when there was food for him on the table so he just ducked under her affections and dug in.

"Welcome home," his Mom greeted the twins with a soft smile as they closed the door behind them. "How was school today?"

"Alec hid in the library again," Jane snitched on her brother, giving him a teasing smile. "He was being hunted by fangirls. Again."

"I was merely doing my homework," Alec denied and crossed his arms. "I was not being hunted. That would be ridiculous."

"Well if you're already done with your homework, I suppose you won't have any trouble helping Will with his," Mom replied and Will groaned.

"Can't we do that later? It's Friday! Nobody works on Friday afternoon's."

His Mom hesitated, which caused Will to pause too – one piece of egg slipping from his fork as he did so.

"What? What is it?"

She slumped down in a chair next to him, her hands clutched in her lap. Now he was getting worried.

"Is something wrong, Aunt Bella?" Jane asked concerned.

"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing" she said and waved her concerns away. "It's just that I met someone today, someone I knew a long time ago. A vampire. He and his mate are vegetarians so they won't pose a problem for us, I expect, it's just…"

The three children waited patiently for her to elaborate. It took her a second but at last, she did.

"It's just that this is one of the bonds that I… lost. It was a very awkward conversation."

"Who did you meet?" Alec asked quietly.

She looked up to meet his golden eyes.

"Jasper. Jasper Hale, from the Cullen family."

"Oh," he made, which caused Will to look in between his Mom and his brother.

"Who is that? You guys know him?"

"No but we know of his mate, Alice," Jane said quietly. "Aro had his sight on her for decades. He wanted her for the guard because of her visions."

"Visions?" Will asked.

"She has premonitions." When Will still looked at them blankly, Jane added: "She sees the future."

Will's mouth formed a quiet 'Oh'. Yeah, that would make the Volturi freak out, for sure.

"Alice and I used to be friends, back when I was still human," his Mom explained, then looked right at Will. "That was before your father and me got together."

"So now she's back and you're a vampire but it's weird because you don't care?" Will guessed.

She shrugged helplessly. "Something like that, yes. Jasper said that the Cullens thought me dead. I think I might've blocked Alice' visions of me without knowing. Jasper insisted that I should meet her to catch up and I agreed but…" She winced and looked apologetically towards the twins. "I'm not sure how they'll take you two being here. I don't think they were the greatest fans of the Volturi regime."

Jane lowered her eyes and though she managed to hide it well, Will could see that the words she spoke next hurt her.

"If you want us to, we can leave… We'll just be out of town for a bit. You can say we're sick."

Alec stepped closer to her. His hands started rubbing small circles on her back.

But Will's Mom shook her head resolutely. "No, that won't be necessary. You belong to this family now. I already told Jasper that I had children. Besides, it's not as if we couldn't take them if they misbehave. Apparently I block his gift too."

Will perked up, always curious when it came to vampire magic superpowers.

"What kind of gift has Jasper?"

"He can sense and influence emotions. Like making his enemies run away in fear or calm down a crowd," Mom explained. "I invited them to come here at 5pm and as long as you three all remain within the house, you're covered by me so there's absolutely nothing to fear. It will just be…" She took a shuddering breath, "...awkward."

Will remembered his eggs and quickly shoveled the rest of them into his mouth before they got cold.

"Imf fure you'll be fife," he said, bits of egg not quite making it to his mouth. Jane glared at him and he was promptly zapped, though it was no more than a playful hit on the back of his head.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, that's disgusting!" she admonished him.

Will glared right back at her. Unfortunately, his glares did absolutely nothing to the 13 year old vampire child. He didn't care if she'd lived for centuries, she would always be a child.

Mom shook her head at their antics. "Just promise me you'll be on your best behavior. Jasper didn't talk like the rest of his family was nearby but we don't want to needlessly antagonize a coven of their size."

Will pointed towards himself once he'd swallowed the rest of his meal. "Do I need to hide?"

"No, the Cullen's know about the wolves. They made that treaty with your tribe, don't you remember?"

Will wracked his brain for a moment but yes, he did vaguely remember the stories about the vegetarian coven that made a deal with his tribe.

Their family rarely ever got visits from other vampires. In the four years they were now living here, they had only had two visits. One had been some of Mom's veggie friends from Minnesota and the other had been a nomadic couple. Mom had made him hide for the scheduled visit from the veggies but the couple had arrived unannounced. The encounter had escalated into a fight once they caught Will's scent. But Jane had them writhing on the floor almost immediately and Will had ripped off their arms and legs before they could make too much noise and catch the attention of any nearby humans. Then Alec had rendered them as close to unconscious as a vampire could get, they had stashed them into a couple of garbage bags and brought them out of town. Mom had debated for a long time whether to give them the final death or not, fretting about them spreading information about Will to other vampires. In the end Jane had sneaked out behind her back and set the two on fire. Mom had been mad at her for a bit and lectured her about the possible dangers of drawing the wrath of whatever friends those two had had. It resulted in this whole screaming fit because Jane thought their coven should showcase their strength, that making everyone aware how powerful they were was the best defense they could possibly have. Mom on the other hand wanted to avoid conflict whether possible. She hated killing people, be they human or vampire. Luckily Alec proved to be a voice of reason, calming them both down. At the end of the day, Mom was crying and apologizing to Jane for shouting at her and Jane lay in her arms and holding on for dear life, blabbing about how she had just wanted to protect the family and want to take a hard decision away from her.

Will looked at the empty pan and sighed. He was still hungry.

"How about this then, I'll be in my room with Alec working on the homework and you and Jane can meet the veggies. They'll smell me around so they won't be too surprised if I run across them but if they do make trouble, you'll have Jane with you." While Alec was immensely useful in a fight too, his powers took a couple of seconds to creep up on the enemy and with vampires, a couple of seconds was an eternity. Old friends or no, he wasn't comfortable leaving his Mom alone with the visitors.

Mom smiled at him faintly. "That sounds like a good idea."

"We did write a math test today. I memorized the questions," Alec offered.

Will groaned. He hated math. He didn't see what good it would do him either. And having to do the same work the twins did in a fraction of the time didn't help either. Sometimes he really hated his accelerated growth. Alec was an old as dirt bugger but forever stuck looking like 13 and Will was a 15 year old teenager stuck in an adult's body. This would be so much easier if he could just go to school together with the twins. But nooo, he had to learn it all from them second hand. At least it would be Alec teaching him today. Jane always zapped him when she thought he was being deliberately dumb.

His thoughts wandered back to the visitors. A seer and an empath, huh? Normally, that would be a pretty strong combi. But with his Mom rendering both theirs gifts useless, they wouldn't stand a chance against their coven. Will caught himself almost wishing that a fight would ensure, just to see the look on their faces when they realized how outmatched they were. That had always been his favorite part when strange vampires met his family for the first time. He felt bad about that though right afterwards though. Port Angeles was supposed to be a new beginning for them. He knew it would be hard for his Mom to talk about the past. She rarely ever did that.

Will swore himself he would support her in whatever way he could. After all, they were a family.