*BPOV*

I'd done such a thorough job of mangling the doorknob mechanism that Edward had had to take the door off its hinges to untrap us from our bathroom.

Shortly after that minor mortification, we quickly got dressed and joined the others around the opulent, Victorian-era dining room table that was, just like everything else in this house, embellished with gold.

The bulky, grandiose, claw-footed chairs could better be described as thrones and were so heavy that a human would have trouble moving them. No matter for Edward though, who courteously helped me to my seat and pushed my chair closer to the table before taking a seat beside me.

"Alright, Alice," Carlisle began. "You called the meeting, the floor is yours," he gestured in her direction with an open palm.

Alice looked like a child, or rather a pixie, sitting in a giant's chair. Under the table, her tiny feet dangled several inches off the floor. Her bouncing excitedly in her seat only made her seem more childlike.

"We are finally getting off this godforsaken rock! Yay!" she sang, complete with jazz hands. "So we're here to discuss where we will go next." Only Emmett looked surprised by this new information.

"High school. Again. Lovely," Jasper said in a flat tone.

Unlike my sisters who missed their cars and suburban lifestyle more than they enjoyed the better hunting options, Jasper enjoyed the isolation from humans. He knew the prolonged absence of their mouth-watering scents would only make it harder for him when we eventually returned to the grid.

"I'd like to submit either Paris or Milan for consideration," Alice chirped.

Edward and I opened our mouths to veto Milan due to its close proximity to Volterra at the same time as Rosalie began to protest the unfavorable climate of Paris. She didn't want to spend 161 sunny days a year stuck inside.

Carlisle raised his hands for order. "Just a minute, we're getting a little ahead of ourselves. Climate and hunting options are important, but the most important consideration right now is what would be safest for Bella."

I cringed a little, very much not wanting this decision to be about me.

"And while I don't object to moving back among humans, Bella has demonstrated that she's capable of that, I think the rigorous schedule of a high school student would be a little too much too soon.

"I know this probably won't be a popular request," Carlisle's eyes landed on Rosalie, "But I think it would be more prudent for you all to enroll in a university where our young one isn't bound to an inflexible eight-hour day surrounded by children."

Carlisle might have said the word "request," but his tone of voice made it clear that this point was not up for discussion.

I hadn't considered how much more difficult a high school schedule would be compared to that of a college student who had the flexibility to schedule their courses around their jobs and busy lives.

All of a sudden, I was grateful for Carlisle's intervention. There was no way I could manage being around humans for 7-8 hours a day without break. Not yet.

Just then I could feel a wave of something that felt like solidarity coming from Jasper who was sitting across the table and two places down from me.

Rosalie rolled her eyes but was otherwise wordless. As promised, I kept her thoughts shielded from Edward whenever they were in the same room. This did wonders to keep the peace between those two.

"Ok, college then. But where?" That was Emmett.

"We could go back to Dartmouth," Edward suggested with a shrug. "Our cars are already there," he added pragmatically.

"Hard pass. Hunting there sucked. You just want to go back to New Hampshire so you can have your little love shack back," Emmett chuckled.

"Would that be such a bad thing?" Rosalie quipped a bit snidely. "They're like animals." Her voice was full of superiority.

"Hey!" I protested, equally embarrassed and offended. At the same time, Edward, Esme, and Carlisle all stared at her with incredulity.

"What?!" Rose asked defensively.

Edward just shook his head and muttered, "The audacity…"

"What about Virginia? It's been enough time since we left Appalachia and none of you seemed to mind it there." Carlisle proposed.

"We can't go to Virginia," Alice ominously warned, her eyes clouded over. "One of our kind, a newborn, will go on a killing spree at Virginia Tech. The Volturi will get involved and cover it up to make it look like a mass shooting, but we can't be anywhere near there when that happens.

"It isn't me is it?" I asked anxiously.

"Of course, not, love," Edward reached over and placed a hand on top of mine that were laced together on top of the table. "I would never let that happen," he promised with a solemn shake of his head.

"Is there some way we can prevent it? I hate to think of innocent humans being slaughtered unnecessarily," Carlisle asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.

"The Volturi won't act until a crime has been committed. And the only way to stop it from occurring is to destroy the newborn whilst he is still human before he can hurt anybody.

"…And that is a very slippery slope…killing people for things they might do when we all know the future can change," Alice said warily. "And besides that, we'd make a dangerous enemy of the newborn's creator from one of the southern covens. "

Jasper's eyes widened in alarm. If the notoriously brutal warring southern covens were involved, there was no way he was letting his precious Alice get anywhere near that.

Carlisle frowned but nodded in reluctant agreement. The Cullens had dealt with more dangerous enemies in the last two years than they'd had to worry about in the last century. And nobody, least of all Carlisle, was looking to make more trouble.

"What about San Francisco?" Esme suggested in a soft voice. The table went silent for a moment as everyone considered this possibility.

"The climate is right," Rose shrugged without protest.

With over 200 days of fog and cloud clover every year, we could enjoy living almost as normally as the Cullens had managed to do in the gloomy Pacific Northwest.

"No bears that far south, but plenty of mountain lions in the surrounding hills," Emmett acquiesced.

"Dozens of hospitals in the area," Carlisle nodded approvingly.

"It's not Milan, but the shopping district will do," Alice sighed.

"I have no objections," Edward said simply, squeezing my hand. His liquid gold eyes seemed to corroborate his earlier words. 'I'm home wherever you are."

Then seven other pairs of golden eyes turned to me, waiting for me to voice my thoughts.

Honestly, Esme could've said just about anywhere (barring Italy) and I would've agreed to it.

That San Francisco was a world away from Volterra, but also a convenient distance away from Forks while it was still unsafe for me to travel by air was a huge bonus.

"Sounds great!" I chirped enthusiastically. "Do you already own a house there?"

"We," Edward gently corrected my choice of pronouns.

"No, but we will," Esme assured with an excited gleam in her eyes. This was her favorite kind of hunting.

*EPOV*

Later that night, Bella was propped up against the headboard of our bed reading a new book, while I sat next to her with my laptop open researching schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.

"Stanford and Berkeley are exceptional schools, but their warmer climates would make it challenging to attend classes on campus," I lamented without tearing my eyes from my laptop screen.

"And USF is in the heart of the city which isn't ideal either," I frowned.

"But San Francisco State University, while less prestigious, features a much more open campus, is a commuter school—so fewer frat boys," I muttered. "And it's a stone's throw from the Pacific Ocean, should a quick getaway ever become necessary," I thought out loud. "Carlisle will like that."

"I'm glad you all have so much faith in me," Bella said sourly.

"Bella, love, the precautions we take are for all our sakes, not just yours. You aren't the only one that struggles around humans. We'd be making the same considerations even if you hadn't joined our family," I rushed to reassure her.

The light amber of Bella's eyes flashed up to me, away from the pages of her novel. I could tell by her expression that she wasn't fooled.

Nice of you to not put Jasper on blast, she thought with a wry smile.

It was true, Jasper's struggle with our lifestyle shaped a lot of the decisions we made about where we lived and the activities we engaged in. But no one, not even Rosalie blamed him for it.

Not any more than anyone blamed me for sometimes getting overwhelmed by mental voices in crowded places. I was just as much the reason why we didn't go to a great many concerts or sporting events. Then there was Alice…

Like the year we surprised Emmett with tickets to Super Bowl VI at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. Nosebleed seats, to be sure, (not that it mattered with our supernatural vision) so that Jasper could escape over the top of the open-aired stadium if he needed to make a quick exit.

Emmett, Jasper, and I had made wagers on the victor of the big game. Jasper was betting on Dallas, of course, while Emmett and I were rooting for Miami. But when Alice's vision of the final scoreboard spoiled the match for me, Dallas 24-3, Jasper correctly read my disappointment and was counting his money before the National Anthem had even been sung.

That scourge, Roger Staubach, cost me fifty large. But I digressed. I shook myself from my abstraction and returned to the point I was making.

"You seem to forget how close I came to killing you. It's proof positive that we can never get complacent, love. And that's why we will always live like there's a newborn among us," I challenged. Not only was it true, but it also took the burden off of both Bella and Jasper for being 'the weakest links.'

I couldn't have said it better myself, son, Carlisle's thoughts lauded from the room he shared with Esme.

In truth, we all had our limitations, particularly those of us with gifts. Thus, it came as a huge relief to me that Bella's gift wasn't one that she'd likely ever see as a curse. Only I (and perhaps the Volturi) would ever do that.

Bella accepted this without argument. How could she not? Then her eyes unfocused and a small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. When her pensive silence drew on, the familiar stabbing pangs of curiosity nagged at me like a throbbing hangnail that I couldn't stop picking at.

"Bella, please?" I finally pleaded. I never needed to say the words anymore. She knew what I asked.

When she opened her mind to me, I was, as always, surprised by the direction of her thoughts. She was thinking of books. A half dozen worn book covers flashed through her mind in rapid succession. I noted the seemingly unrelated titles and authors, analyzing them.

Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain, Maya Angelou, Amy Tan, Jack London. Ah. She was thinking about authors who famously lived in San Francisco.

I smiled at her enthusiasm.

"You never know," I teased, "maybe you'll join rank and write the next Great American Novel. San Francisco seems to have that effect on people."

Bella shrugged dismissively. "I've always thought there must be something in the water in San Francisco. But I don't drink water anymore, and like you said...I'm not that creative."

I had to think for a moment, to remember the context of the words she quoted. In a matter of seconds, I ran back hundreds of conversations in my mind until I recalled the one she was referencing.

It had been the morning after that first momentous trial in the meadow, the first time she woke and found me sitting in the rocking chair in the corner of her cozy little room.

Bella had woken up with a start as if the whole unbelievable night, the night we'd declared ourselves to each other, had just come crashing back to her. In a voice still thick with sleep, she'd breathed that she thought the whole thing had merely been a dream.

"You're not that creative," I'd teased just before she stumbled out of bed and jumped into my lap, curling up into my wide open and eager arms.

I frowned. I would have to be much more careful with the words I used around her. She was so sensitive, so quick to internalize the bad things people said about her, even in jest.

And strangely, frustratingly, all the praise she received, whether from me or anyone else, seemed to roll off of her like water off a duck's back. Why was she only ever able to believe the bad things?

I raised my clenched jaw a little higher with a firm resolve to make her realize her own worth. I would make her see how much she meant to me, to everyone around her, even if it took me a thousand years.

My eyes burned into her. "Bella, you have a beautiful, brilliant, unique mind... I would know," I smirked and tapped a finger to my temple. "It's my all-time favorite thing about you. It's what drew me to you. It's what holds me to you.

"You are capable, no, not just capable," I amended with a shake of my head. That didn't even scratch the surface. I tried again.

"You are destined to achieve amazing things, love. Never doubt that for a moment. The only thing that holds you back from that is your own opinion of yourself," I said matter-of-factly.

"Well, if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black, I don't know what is!" Bella deflected in a transparent effort to steer the conversation away from herself. Her downcast eyes retreated to the pages of her book, apparently done with the subject. I was not.

Using immortal speed, I gently pinched the spine of her book between my fingers, taking care to save her page, and plucked the thick tome from her hands.

"Hey!" Bella protested irritably, reaching for the book that I held just out of reach.

I cupped my free hand under her chin and held her face inches from mine, demanding her undivided attention. "Would you please listen to what I'm trying to tell you?" I entreated, letting the full force of my eyes bore into hers.

"All I'm saying is don't dismiss it out of hand even though that might be your knee-jerk reaction. You've spent a lifetime being 'the practical one' out of necessity... for Renee's sake..." I could see the warning flash in Bella's eyes.

I had to always tread very lightly around the subject of Bella's mother. The times I'd foolishly voiced an opinion that even hinted at criticism, it had started an argument, and both times I'd ended up apologizing.

I quickly skirted away from the subject of Renee's questionable parenting.

"But what reason do you have to be practical now? You have all the time and the money in the world at your disposal to do anything and everything that makes you happy within the limitations of what we are.

"Somewhere, underneath all that maturity and pragmatism is a little girl with dreams. You once wanted to be a book editor, but then settled for a community college professor because it was the path of least resistance.

"You wanted a dog but settled for a goldfish. You wanted to learn taekwondo but settled for ballet. Do you see a theme here? Because I do.

"I don't want you to settle for anything ever again. If it's in your heart to write a book, then write a book! Write ten books. Nobody who reads as much as you do could be as bad at writing as you fear you might be.

" And if it isn't a New York Times Best Seller, who cares, as long as it makes you happy? But more importantly, what if you're great?"

"What if Yo-Yo Ma never bothered to learn to play the cello? Or Jane Austen never committed a single word to paper? How will you ever know unless you give yourself a chance to find out?"

"Why the sudden intense desire for me to write a book?" Bella asked, her expression perplexed.

I huffed a little impatiently. "It doesn't have to be writing a book," I said quickly, my words streaming together. "That was a metaphor. It could be anything. Anything you've ever wanted to try but couldn't...for whatever reason."

I left it at that, not touching the Renee subject with a ten-foot pole.

"I'd say the sky's the limit, but the sun is more accurate," I chuckled. "We're going to be starting a new school soon. Use it as an opportunity to try everything. Change your major fifteen times, or better yet, be undeclared," I said with mock horror in my eyes and voice, knowing the idea of being directionless was as foreign as it was abhorrent to her.

"You'll be surprised about how much easier certain things will come to you now. Maybe you didn't enjoy art before because you didn't think you were any good at it. But you'll be amazed what your amplified motor control can do for your painting abilities."

I removed my hand from under Bella's chin and reached for her small, pale hand instead. Bringing it close to my face, I brushed my lips softly over the back of her marble-hard knuckles.

"Once I figure out how to hold a paintbrush without turning it into sawdust, I'll have to give that a try," Bella retorted acidly. Always so stubborn.

That gave me an idea.

On it! Alice mentally trilled in response. I smiled, both at Alice who couldn't see me, and Bella who could.

"I see what you're saying," she begrudgingly conceded. "And you're right. I'll try to stop assuming that I'm bad at everything because I don't know what I'm bad at anymore," she shrugged indifferently.

"Exactly," I agreed with a nod, approval strong in my voice.

And then a playful expression flashed across Bella's face. "I wonder if you really get to paint nude models in college art classes, or if that's just something they do in the movies?" Bella wondered aloud, imagining some young, faceless human male disrobing in the middle of a university art studio.

I growled, unamused at the idea of my wife's eyes gazing upon another man's nakedness.

"Painting was your idea," her eyes widened guilelessly in an expression that was shockingly familiar. What a dangerous creature she was.

"I'd be happy to model for you whenever you wish," I offered with a wide grin.

In a flash of movement, I moved my laptop and Bella's book to the bedside table so that I could languidly stretch out on the bed beside her, propping myself up on an elbow, and resting the right side of my jaw on my closed fist.

Her eyes hungrily traveled over the length of my body, letting out the sexiest little hum of approval as did. The sound went straight to my groin. But then her eyes returned back to mine with the same playful smile she was wearing before.

"You think I need you to model for me to know what you look like naked?" she asked, fighting a smile and then tapped her temple as if to say "It's all up here."

Though I kept my expression smooth, not letting my face show the twinge of rejection I felt at her teasing rebuff, she seemed to pick up on it anyway.

"But you know…" she purred, snaking her delicate finger around the buttons of my shirt. "I think it's high time I had another look."

*A/N* SO many great suggestions after the last chapter, it was hard to choose. I really appreciated the feedback y'all gave me. It really helped shape the next arc of the story.

After thinking about it, and as Carlisle pointed out, it would've been irresponsible to send a newborn to high school. San Francisco checked all the Cullens' boxes, (and it sure saves me a ton of research time that SFSU is my alma mater.)

In other exciting news, I just got my ticket to attend the Forever Twilight in Forks festival this September where I'll get to geek out with other Twihards and meet the actors that played Charlie, Sue, and Peter. Anybody else going?!

And finally, this chapter is dedicated to my hubby who supports the crap out of my writing and is always telling me to shoot for the stars. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! Can't wait to hear what you think! Til next time, lovelies!