A/N: Apologies for not posting this yesterday, I meant to! Unfortunately, I'm a little sick and just forgot. This is a short chapter - the shortest in the story so far. It's a catch up/get us to current day chapter, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Chapter 5: Growth of the Cullens

Edward

I had never regretted my choice to leave Carlisle and my mother. I was happy that Esme had joined me, but I did feel extreme guilt about everything that we had done. Finding my way back to my mother did help, even if she was officially with Carlisle.

Through the next few decades, I did exactly what my mother asked me to do. Or, I tried anyway. I made a solid effort to befriend the man who had made me a monster. He made it difficult for me at every turn, though. When he brought Rosalie Hale home, in hopes that I would take her as a mate – since Esme hadn't worked out – I became almost enraged. Esme calmed me down, and Mother spoke to Carlisle, making sure he knew not to do that again. If I found my mate, I would handle it. I didn't need him to intervene.

Rosalie was an absolute pain. She was snobby and vain; hearing her thoughts sometimes made me almost sick. When she found Emmett, though, and Carlisle added yet another person to our growing family, she did get a little better. But over the years it was really my Mother who had the best influence on her. She helped to guide Rose into being a better person – accepting who she is now, who she would never be, and help her be happy with Emmett.

My mother was an amazing woman, and she used her gift to help others. When we were human, she would often provide advice to the women in her circle, and to any men that happened to need it also. I often wondered if our vampire gifts are just extensions, amplifications, of who we were as humans. My mother told me that I was very perceptive to people before, almost telling what they were thinking even before I got that particular gift.

The first time we found the town Forks, it was my mother who identified the local tribe for what they were – shapeshifters, in the form of wolves. If it hadn't been for her, we would have fought them right then and there. The stench coming off of them was so unpleasant that it sent all of us into an almost frenzy of 'enemy.' Mother stopped us and negotiated a treaty, being honest and clear with them on who we were and how we were different from others like us. We didn't stay in the town long, but Mother was convinced we would be coming back one day. We left, moving to a remote area of Alaska for some family alone time that everyone had wanted.

After many years of forced separation – Rose and Emmett were horrible to be around once his newborn years were over – we came together again and started to build another life in another city. We attended high school, and then college in order to try and blend in better. That's where Alice and Jasper found us...walking up to us as if we had all been friends for years. Alice threw her arms around me, and then hugged everyone else talking animatedly about how good it was to finally meet us.

Mother and Alice hit it off immediately, and I found that she was exactly the type of sister I had always wanted. Their gifts played off each other so well that we never had any doubts in them. They played the stock market, investing in the right businesses, and within a year after they joined us, we were financially secure – and would be for years based on their investments.

Mother was the driving force in our family. Everyone loved her, looked up to her and she kept us all happy and safe. Even Jasper, the most uncomfortable of all of us around humans, began to change under her influence.

Throughout the years, we all watched the world around us change. Technology started to edge up, dress became more casual, and human interactions became easier. But through all of it, I was still unhappy. I was content in my life, more so than I had been when I was younger, but still unhappy.

Esme and I stood on the outside of the couples in our group and wondered if we were ever destined to love as they did. Alice and Jasper were a quiet couple, loving each other without being blatant about it. Mother and Carlisle took the title 'parents' literally by nurturing us; but they nurtured each other as well. There were two reasons I hadn't tried to kill Carlisle: how much my mother loved him, and how well he treated her. It warmed my heart to see just how much he loved her, even if I did object internally. Rose and Emmett – well, they were the most obvious about physical pleasure. I just avoided them.

Because of the pairings, Esme and I spent most of our time together. Every now and then I would hear one of the others wonder if she and I were going to end up together, but I never said anything. I knew that it wasn't right. She was a kind and protective older sister to me; never anything more.

By the time we got to the turn of the century, I was close to despair that I would never find my mate as the others had. Esme felt very similar. We considered going off on our own again, even if to just allow the couples around us more freedom to do what they wanted, but Alice stopped us, with Mother beside her, before we did that. There was never a way to make a decision without the two of them knowing.

We spent the first part of the 21st century in Alaska with the coven we had met years ago. They shared our diet, so we visited them quite often. I got along with them quite well, even though I knew that Tonya had other ideas about me. It just wasn't meant to be. Mother had a long talk with her about choices, and paths, and she never verbalized what she was thinking. That didn't make me feel any better, considering I could still hear her thoughts.

It was when we decided to move back to Forks, Washington that my life began to change. We were living under the guise of blended family, something we had done many times. Rosalie and Jasper looked similar enough to Carlisle that we claimed they were his children – even though he didn't look old enough. Mother and Esme were sisters, Esme having just split from her husband. Emmett, Alice and I were siblings with Mother as our parent. She and Carlisle were married, blending our family.

The others refused to be any less than they were, so there were always thoughts of step siblings being in relationships, and the awkwardness that came from it. They didn't care, and I ignored it. This trip to Forks though had me back in high school for the 500th time. It really wasn't what I wanted to do, but everyone wanted to try and stay as long as they could. So, I played the role of Freshman with Alice, the others unable to look quite as young as us being Sophomores.

The droll humans around me never gave me much pause. We had Jessica who was the town gossip; I'd rather die than be inside her head. Lauren who was just a bitch, and Angela who reminded me a lot of Esme in her sweet personality - I often chose to be in her head when listening around the school. She was easier to like. The rest of them sort of blended together in a sea of humans that I really didn't care much about.

The world had changed around us so much since the time that I was a human, it almost seemed inconceivable. There were parents who were divorced, children wearing clothes that showed more skin than bathing suits did in my time, and the openness of the media to nudity in general. I tried to roll with it, but Carlisle often said that we were all stuck as who we were when we turned. If I could have blushed, I probably would have on a daily basis.

Junior year is what changed everything for me. We came in one day to a buzz all over the school, even my siblings noticing.

Edward, can you tell what's going on? I'm hearing pieces of conversations that don't make sense. Jasper asked me one day, when we were sitting at our normal lunch table.

Quickly, I sought out Angela's mind for understanding. She wasn't thinking about that, though; she was focused on something her twin siblings had done the night before and how cute it was. So, swallowing my disgust, I jumped into Jessica's mind.

...she better not be pretty. Mike still isn't paying as much attention to me as he should. I am the prettiest girl here, right? Of course, I'm right! But if Isabella turns out to be gorgeous maybe we can just throw her over to the Cullens. They don't talk to anyone anyway, so she can hang out with them while I try to convince Mike just how awesome I am...

I jumped out quickly, whispering, "Someone named Isabella is moving here and everyone is excited."

Alice sat down next to me, carrying a tray of food that we weren't going to eat. "Yes, Isabella Swan, Charlie's daughter."

Now that we understood what was going on, all of them went back to what they were thinking before. It didn't really make any difference to us about this girl moving here. However, when we got home Mother cornered me.

"You must promise me something, dear," she said as we were running toward the woods to hunt. She had insisted that we go together, alone.

"What's that Mother?"

"Next week is going to be difficult for you. I want you to promise me that you will talk to me if you are struggling. With anything. Do not run away, do not do anything that would compromise us being here. Just come and find me."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not going anywhere, Mother. What's next week, anyway? Something happening?"

In normal form, she just smirked at me. "You'll see."

A/N: As many have asked about, yes, next chapter we meet Bella. The story so far has just been to get us to this point in the next chapter. I'll try to post it by Saturday, as long as I'm feeling up to it, that is.

Sorry for the short chapter, but as I said in the beginning, this is the shortest of the story. Most are over 4k words...but this chapter was necessary filler to get where we wanted to be for the story to move forward.

I also want to point out that the whole point of this story is how does Elizabeth's presence change the original story? One thing that I never really liked was Rose's character. After all that time, there was never once any personal growth? 80+ years and she's still just as bitter? Well, I changed that. Elizabeth's presence helped Rose to grow and accept who she is. So, if you are expecting bitchy Rosalie, you won't get that in this story!

Also, I heard a few of you being concerned about Edward and Esme - let me assure all of you that this is an Edward + Bella story; Esme is important, as they all are, but they will NOT be together. They are close because they are the two that do not have mates. They bonded through shared loneliness, but that is all. This is NOT a cheating story, a love triangle or anything else. Excitement/adventure/romance. More to come soon - review for me!

Thanks again to my very patient sister and my wonderful beta, zombified419, for all of their hard work. This chapter was hard for me, and honestly all of you got the 5th or 6th rewrite. I didn't want to short change the story, but the history just wasn't as key as the present was for me. Hope that makes sense!