Twilight saga New Moon Fanfiction

Transitionals: New Moon

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to New Moon or any of the other books in the Saga, they belong to Stephenie Meyer. I do use some phrasing, sentences, and descriptions from the books.

For anyone who reads these Author's Notes; I would like to thank you. This note is for all my readers, whether you read it or not.

I would like to apologies, that this chapter is late. I have tried so hard to make sure I get at least one chapter up between the time period of Sunday and Saturday. Usually they end up on Saturday. It has basically become the day I plan to upload. Saturday tends to be the day I have the chapters ready for you guys. I do though on the rare occasions that I have a chapter ready before Saturday post them before.

I had planned to let you all know that I was going on vacation, and sadly I forgot. I didn't remember in time to put it in the Author's Note at the bottom of one of the two chapters I posted last. I'm so sorry about that, next time I will try to remember. I know how it feels to want to read the next part of a story. I have found many fanfictions that I like and they just stop somewhere.

I would just like to say that, that won't happen to this fanfiction. I promise you now that I will finish this four story series, including the Cullens' point of view.

For the people who do take the time to read these Author's Notes, thank you. This chapter is dedicated to you all.

And now onto the story.

Chapter 11

My mind was fuzzy in the morning. I was tired, and wished I could go back to sleep, but my mind was already clearing up. Thoughts of last night came back to me. I didn't get a chance to think about it though. My brain was already thinking about something else.

Something was pressing against my stomach. The pressure wasn't uncomfortable, but I could tell whatever it was would get heavier the longer it sat on my stomach.

I knew it couldn't be dangerous. Edward and the others wouldn't let anything happen to me. Anna would know if something was wrong.

I opened my eyes and found Anna sitting on my stomach.

"Good morning, Auntie." She kissed my cheek and got up to sit beside me.

I pulled her into my arms and planted a soft kiss to the top of her head. "Good morning to you too, Anna."

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement. I glanced over and saw Rose getting up from Edward's couch.

A quick look around the room told me it was just the three of us in Edward's room.

"He's talking with Jasper and Emmett." Rose joined us by the bed. She held my information box out for me to take. "There's been some changes."

I took a deep breath to steady myself before taking the box. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. In fact it was better than I could have believed. I was still under seventy five percent, but just barely.

Rose sat down on the bed facing me, with a sympathetic smile on her face. "Seventy four percent. It didn't go up very much."

"Not much," I agreed. "My energy is a little low, but that's fine for now, it'll help with the speed and running."

Rose laughed softly, before a soft sigh escaped her lips. "Speaking of running, we need to talk with you."

"About the Hunters," Anna added, sitting up on her knees.

I pushed myself into a sitting position. "What about the Hunters?"

Rose opened her mouth, looking like she didn't want to talk about it that minute, but Anna pressed forward.

"They're coming by the boat load." She held her arms away from her body, expressing how many people were amongst the group of Hunters.

I ruffled her hair, chuckling softly. "I think you mean by the bus load."

She shook her head; her eyes looking at me seriously. "They're coming by boat Auntie."

I understood instantly and turned in alarm to Rose.

She gave me a serious smile. "They're trying to find the transitional creature down in La Push before he or she can finish the transition. If they can get you too, it'll just be a bonus. They are more concerned with the other creature."

"That makes sense; he or she is closer to finishing their transition." I climbed out of bed slowly, warming up my shield to us as a buffer. "What's the plan, what are we going to do about them?"

Rose helped Anna off the bed, swinging her up into her arms, before answering. "We're sticking with the plan we agreed to do with the dogs."

Anna waved a scolding finger at Rose. "They're wolves Auntie Rose, not dogs."

Rose kissed the tip of Anna's index finger. "I know what they are."

Anna's face softened and she patted Rose's cheek. "You don't know them. That's okay. They're good."

Her words rushed me back to the day she had told me those exact words, about the Cullens. I was back in the girl's bathroom at school. We had just walked in and she had hugged me before saying the same words she had just told Rose. I remember kneeling in front of her and telling her we couldn't talk about it there, in the bathroom, at school.

Rose and I met each other's gaze. We both knew that if Anna said they were ok, then they were. I could see that Rose didn't want to accept it, but she wouldn't challenge Anna. I knew Anna got dangerous feelings from the wolves, but she must have felt something that proved to her they were good. When we had first come across their sensations she hadn't known they were good.

My brain snapped to attention. Jacob and the four other teens had the sensation, but it was weak. Maybe they weren't wolves yet, but they would change into wolves. If that was true then we needed to let Sam know.

I hurried to get ready before we met the others downstairs.

The moment Edward saw me, he darted across the room and engulfed me in his arms. "Good morning Love."

I stretched up onto my toes and give him a swift kiss. "Good morning."

"Esme made you some breakfast. Are you hungry?" My love led me into the kitchen were Esme was still cooking.

The counter tops were covered with different dishes that I recognized instantly. Stuffing, corn casserole, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, baked yams, glazed carrots, steamed vegetables.

My stomach growled and I had to look away.

Esme stopped stirring whatever was at the stove and grabbed a plate that was staying warm in the microwave. "Good morning dear, enjoy."

"Thanks." I took the plate to the dining room and Edward and I sat down, enjoying the quietness of the house.

I was in mid bite when I realized the house was a little too quiet. I had seen that Cissy was awake, so they didn't need to be quiet for her. So where was the playful banter from Emmett and Jasper as they played video games? Where was Alice and Rose's laughter that you could usually hear when they played with the girls?

I turned to ask Edward, but forgot my question when I looked into his eyes.

He was smiling at me, his eyes bright, shining with love and admiration. In short, he was dazzling me. "Finish your food Bella and then we'll talk. Your father should be here by then."

"Uh oh, it must be bad if my dad is coming to talk before work."

Edward didn't comment. He sat back in his seat and watched as I finished my breakfast. He disappeared into the kitchen with my empty plate, returning a second later.

We walked into the living together. The others were already seated, including Charlie and Duke.

Duke was sitting on the floor entertaining Anna who was happily sitting on his lap.

For the briefest of moments, I was able to see that none of the Cullens were comfortable having Duke in their house. So it would seem that all seven of them are still suspicious of him. Remembering what Edward had told me, reminded me that there wasn't anything that proved I should think differently.

My mind was torn. My human side, despite the fact that humanness came from the other world, still believed in innocent until proven guilty. But the supernatural side of my heritage strongly believed in treating the world as dangerous until proven otherwise.

Edward and I took a seat on the couch beside Charlie.

My dad took his dad's sign out of his pocket and turned it on. "La Push is being silently swamped by Hunters. They're hiding out in the forest, and coming in from the water."

"Is this normal? I mean, do large groups of Hunters usually band together to hunt transitional creatures?" Jasper asked in his thoughtful way.

Duke laughed dryly; shaking his head. "This type of hunting is trophy hunting. The hunter who makes the kill gains strength. The rarer the transitional creature is, the more strength they'll get. They're not here to work together, they're trying to see who can kill the creature first."

Alice leaned back in her chair "That explains why the Hunters backed off in their attempts to kill Bella."

Duke nodded. "There was someone more valuable."

That earned a low growl from Edward; but Duke didn't seem to hear it, and continued.

"Grandpa Ray has placed a few people he trusts in Forks and the neighboring towns. They'll help take care of the Hunters."

Charlie cleared his throat gruffly. "We'll stick with the original plan, but we'll have to make some changes to other plans." His gaze fell on me.

My brain started creating a list of all the things I do that could be a problem with the Hunters.

Edward saved me the trouble of trying to figure out which one my dad was thinking about. "With the Hunters in the forest, we'll have to be careful while we run. Someone else will come with us when we go running."

I hadn't even thought about how my runs could be a problem if we ran into trouble. We so should have though. I couldn't see on our runs, which would make it harder for me to keep my shields around the right person.

Charlie patted my knee comfortingly. "Hopefully you won't run into any of the Hunters. Edward can easily track them with their thoughts and avoid them."

Edward nodded in agreement.

"Though it still will be wise to have someone else there," Carlisle added gently. "Just to be safe."

Duke dug in his pocket for a second and pulled out what looked like a phone. He chuckled when he saw my confused look. "I'm beta testing a new security phone for a business partner for Toby's second company. This company is crazy when it comes to security."

He rolled his eyes and typed a message into the phone before continuing. "Toby told me once that when he went to meet with the company, they sent a car to meet him at the airport. The windows were so dark he couldn't see into the car. Only the driver's side door had a handle. To open any of the other doors you have to press a button on the steering wheel.

"A tank could run over that car and it wouldn't have left a scratch. Once you get in that car, you don't get out until they let you."

Okay, that just seemed a little obsessive. "You've got to be kidding me."

"It's creepy." Anna shivered.

Duke wrapped his arms around her tightly. "That's right, you went with your daddy didn't you?"

Anna nodded, and climbed out of Duke's arms. She hurried over to Rose who picked her up.

"So what's the deal with the phone?" I asked, wanting to change the subject away from Anna.

"Here, see for yourself." Duke tossed me the phone, which of course was a bad idea.

Edward caught it for me.

I kissed his cheek as a thank you before examining the phone. "It looks like a regular phone to me."

Duke laughed. "Yes but that little phone in your hands, can't be tracked. That thing scrambles its signal when you're making a call. Some of the phones are only programmed to call certain numbers, and they can't receive or call any other numbers. I've been texting their programmer all morning."

He shrugged off handedly. "It's not as good as our secure lines, but then again, there's a good reason why that is."

I had to laugh at that. "Of course, Grandpa Ray made sure of that."

Duke sighed and shook his head, calming his own laughter. "It's a good thing Grandpa Ray is on our side, or we wouldn't survive."

The room fell silent.

Duke of course was right, if Grandpa Ray was working for the enemy, he could easily make something to annihilate us. It didn't matter that he refused to do that for the Rebellion. He used his powers for good with us, to help, but not kill. If he really was working with them though, he very well might make them a doomsday weapon. And if he did, none of us would survive.

I couldn't take this. I rubbed my temples. I needed those horrible thoughts out of my head. The very idea that Grandpa Ray was working for our enemies, made me sick. I have known him my entire life, he is family.

I could try to get my brain to be suspicious of the others, but I couldn't think of Grandpa Ray like that. That would just have to be left up to Edward.

"Are you feeling alright Bella?" Carlisle asked. His voice was concerned.

I nodded and got up off the couch before he could question me further. "I need to run."

Everyone else stood.

"I'll go with you two," Jasper offered. He gave Alice a quick kiss and headed outside.

Duke threw an arm over my shoulder. "You can keep that phone. I have another one."

I ducked under his arm. "Thanks Duke, sorry that I'm running off."

He ruffled my hair as I passed him. "Don't worry about it. I'll be around more often. I'm staying to make sure someone is around to drag the Hunters we catch back to the Rebellion."

I nodded and hurried out the door with Edward right behind me.

He took my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Are you alright?"

I groaned lightly. "I just need to release some of the pent up energy inside of me."

We met Jasper on the other side of the river and the three of us started the first of what would be many runs as a group.
~

Running had changed, but for the most part it was for the better. Edward now had someone to talk to, while I was still unable to hear him.

Usually the two of us would be joined by Jasper and sometimes Alice, but everyone else had taken a turn accompanying us.

Emmett tended to annoy Edward most of the time, so he rarely joined us. Rose had also only gone a few times. She would rather be taking care of the girls and planning Cissy's first birthday. Esme was also working on the baby's birthday so she had only joined us once, and Carlisle had come then too.

Carlisle was with us today. I wasn't sure why, but for some reason I felt safer when it was Carlisle with us. I knew I really should have felt safer with Jasper, since he had the most skill and knowledge about fighting, but I didn't.

My thoughts tumbled around different ideas of why I might have felt safer with Carlisle. Going from one side of the spectrum, being he was the leader, the head of the family, to the other side, which was the fact I saw him as my second dad.

"I'm not really sure, but you can understand why I'm worried."

I almost stopped jogging when I heard Edward's voice. Normally I didn't get my hearing back until we had been walking for a while. My hearing wasn't great, I had barely even caught that one sentence and obviously I was missing Carlisle's reply.

Unless, maybe Carlisle's reply was thought, and that's why I couldn't hear it.

What were they talking about?

"She did. She doesn't see anything wrong with it."

Again I was only able to hear Edward speaking. They were definitely having what they thought was a silent communication. I wondered what they would do if they were to glance at my information box and see that I was able to hear them.

"No. I know Bella trusts him, but I'm not sure." Edward sounded upset.

Which person was he talking about? Grandpa Ray, Duke, Carlos, Thomas? Those were the only ones I was dead set against believing they could hurt Toby. The others I was able to work myself into believing that they could be the traitor. My top suspects being Turner, Megra, than Mia, in that order.

"You're too trusting Carlisle."

I tried to stop my laughter but only ended up making myself snort; none to delicately I might add.

"Bella?" Edward's voice was worried; afraid that he had been caught.

There was no point in hiding it. There were no secrets amongst my new family. "Yes?"

He sighed. "How long have you been able to hear us?"

"What do you mean us? You're the only talking, Carlisle is thinking all of his replies."

We never got a chance to talk about what they had been talking about. Something I'm sure Edward was glad about.

Carlisle's phone rang and he answered it before the first ring had finished. "What's wrong? We'll be right there."

Before I could ask to be caught up, knowing Edward had already heard the news, I was lifted into his arms.

Edward held me tightly as he sped forward.

My mind raced; worrying about everything that could be wrong. Was one of the girls hurt? Both of them? Had someone broken into the house? Had the Hunters figured out what was going on and had attacked the rest of the Cullen family? The people of La Push or the pack itself? Who was hurt? Who was dying?

My panic had risen to an all-time high.

Edward kissed my cheek lovingly. "Calm down Bella, Esme just asked us to come home. No one is hurt, as far as we know. The others left to take care of some Hunters."

"I'm sorry, I'm just a worrywart."

"I'm sorry we worried you Bella, we should have told you." Carlisle, as always was polite and thoughtful.

We paused briefly -the short pause that I recognized now as opening the front door- before entering the house.

Edward set me down on the couch and little hands tapped my knees. They were too small to be Anna's.

The little hands moved from my knees and felt Edward moved beside me. "Look at you Cissy, you're just moving today."

"Now we just have to wait for her to start talking." Esme's loving voice came from the right of me.

I smiled to myself since I couldn't see just yet. "It'll be a little while longer before she starts talking. For reasons unknown to us, the children from the other world take a little longer to learn how to talk."

"I learned to talk when I was this many." I was sure Anna was holding up one finger. Her first word had been Da and it had been on Christmas day. Just over two weeks after her first birthday.

I was really glad that Rose and Esme were spending so much time with Cissy. There were times that I felt like I was such a failure. I hadn't really been working with Cissy at all. Really I was letting everyone else teach her while I tried to take care of my own stuff.

Emmett had taught her how to roll over. He had helped Rose as she taught Cissy how to crawl. And the two of them with Esme and even Carlisle, had worked on walking. Cissy no longer had a problem toddling across the floor unless her powers connected her to Rose or one of the others.

Now everyone was trying to teach her how to talk. They were all -whether they'd admit or not- wanting to be the one who had taught Cissy her first word.

Emmett was trying to teach her Rose's shortened name for him, Em. Personally I figured that would be the one that she would say first.

It was difficult and somewhat awkward trying to find words she might be able to say. The two most common words that babies say first haven't been used near Cissy.

The others had picked words out of Cissy's baby books.

I heard the front door open; pulling me from my thoughts.

"That was awesome, you should have been there. Those guys put up a fight." Emmett bellowed into the room. "I almost got to use my full strength."

I opened my eyes, glad to see that the room was mostly clear. There was only a slight blur to the edge of the different objects in my vision.

Jasper walked into the room while Rose and Alice sped through excitedly.

"Come on Esme, we need to get back to planning the best first birthday ever." Alice grabbed Esme's arm and dragged her into her study, with Rose right behind them.

Edward laughed softly.

I turned to him, raising an eyebrow in a silent question.

He laughed a little louder at that. "I can't tell who's more excited out of the three. Alice has been looking forward to another party since yours, and Esme and Rose are both excited for this milestone for Cissy.

If I had to guess, I would say Rose was the most excited. It sure seemed that way when Cissy's birthday finally came.

On the morning of the fourteenth of November, I was woken up by a squeal coming from the girls' room. We had spent the night at the Cullen house so I knew the squeal had been one of delight and not fear.

I groaned and rolled over so my head was laying on Edward's chest.

He chuckled softly and kissed my hair. "Good morning Love."

I didn't get a chance to reply. Anna rushed into the room with Alice right behind her.

"It's Cissy's birthday!" Anna yelled.

I opened my eyes and sat up when I heard clapping.

Rose and Cissy had joined us in Edward's bedroom, and Cissy was clapping her little hands together excitedly.

"Time to get up Bella, we're having a special breakfast with Cissy before the three of us go to school." Alice unnecessarily helped me out of bed and pushed me into Edward's closet.

Special breakfast, turned out to be Esme's breakfast casserole. It was no longer just my favorite. If there wasn't food on the spoon and it wasn't in front of her mouth when she was ready for another bite, Cissy would bang her hand impatiently on her highchair. There was no need to coax that little girl to eat.

"Happy birthday Cissy." I kissed the top of her head before following Edward and Alice to the car. It was obvious none of us wanted to go to school today.

Thankfully the day seemed to pass by quickly and soon we were back at the house and just waiting for Charlie to get off work. Carlisle was working the night shift that night so he had gotten to spend all day with the Cissy and the others.

Cissy and Anna entertained us all while we waited for my dad to show up. Anna was singing all the songs she knew, giving Cissy enough time to clap after each one before starting the next.

I knew when my dad had started up the long driveway because the living room suddenly had a pile of presents on the coffee table.

Cissy recognized the wrapped packages as the stuff she had gotten to tear at my birthday and tried to waddle towards the table. Rose wouldn't let her get to close though.

"How are you all today?" Charlie asked as he set his present for Cissy at the top of the pile.

I laughed as Cissy squealed as she tried yet again to get to the presents. "We're great dad."

He was laughing too. "Well let's get this party started shall we."

Esme took pictures while Emmett recorded everything.

Alice handed Cissy, Charlie's present first. She tore through the paper happily.

Of course my dad would have bought her a big jar of her favorite cookies. Lucky for us though she was more interested in ripping paper than eating cookies.

She destroyed the wrapping paper, tearing off bows and ribbons gleefully. She didn't pay any attention to the clothes Alice got her. Or the books, full of bedtime stories that Edward had bought her, and she loved her bedtime stories, especially when Emmett would make a bunch of silly noises and different voices. She paid absolutely no attention to the cd of lullabies and nocturnes he had recorded for her.

She didn't notice the toys Jasper had bought her. New foam blocks that wouldn't become deformed when she chewed on them, but still considered soft blocks. Even the learning toys Esme and Carlisle had bought were ignored.

Cissy only gave the slightest acknowledgement of the stuff animals Emmett got her.

And just when we were already to give up on ever getting her to play with something beside the paper, she opened Rose's gift. Instead of sitting the little doll down and playing with the paper and bows, she took the little cloth doll and hugged it to her.

"Ohhh, she likes it." Alice cooed.

Rose seemed unable to speak, she looked like she would cry if she could.

To emphasis just how much Cissy liked the doll, she kissed its yarn hair and giggled.

Alice took the last package from the table. "You have one more, Cissy."

While the gift had my name on it, it was really from Toby and Tessa.

I smiled when Cissy didn't want to open the gift. She didn't want to let go of her new doll. Rose had done a great job on that present.

Alice glanced at me, her look silently asked me what to do know. I nodded towards Anna who eagerly opened the last gift.

"That's beautiful, Bella." Alice reached a hand out to the pendant.

Anna closed the box before Alice could touch it. "No touch. Cissy touches first."

"Why does Cissy have to touch it first?" Rose brushed her hand over Anna's curls, making them bounce.

Anna turned to me to explain.

I reached for the box, taking it from Anna. "This necklace will protect Cissy, but it won't work if someone else touches it before her. It has some of her daddy's magic in it. It's a line of protection only available to people in their family's legacy line."

"Mine's gone," Anna whispered sadly. She absentmindedly reached for the missing pendant that use to hang around her neck.

Rose pulled Anna into her arms and decided to change the subject. "Who's ready for cake?"

"Me?" Anna threw her hand into the arm, stretching it as high as she could. All sadness forgotten.

We mixed the meal up for the night and had cake before dinner.

The rest of the night had gone well and by the time we were getting the girls in the car to head back to Charlie's Cissy was sound asleep with her new doll in her arms. Anna was out by the time we had driven to the end of the Cullens' driveway.

Too bad my night wasn't as simple as the girls.

A dark blue, almost black car only big enough for two people with its small size, was parked outside my house.

Charlie carefully got out of the cruiser, Edward did the same from behind the wheel of my car.

The door of the itty bity car opened and a woman stepped out.

I got out after seeing her; feeling a little irritated. "Hey Megra."

Megra waved awkwardly. "I'm sorry for the bad timing, I was hoping to get here in time to celebrate with Cissy."

"She sleeping." Now I was the one feeling awkward.

Megra sighed. "I got lost, otherwise I would have gotten here sooner. Do you have time to talk with me for a little while? I'd love to be able to get caught up, with everything. How you're doing, the girls?"

I didn't know what to do. I felt bad doing it, but I glanced at Edward and Charlie.

My dad gestured to the front door. "Why don't you come in, it's a little chilly out here."

Megra followed my dad into the house while Edward helped me get the girls out of the car. Actually I just kept him company as he first got Anna out and then single handedly got Cissy out too. He carried both girls into the house.

"You go ahead and talk, I'll put the girls in their beds." He kissed me swiftly before heading upstairs.

I had only gotten a quick glance at his eyes, but I had seen it all there. Edward didn't want Megra here. Whether it was because he had gotten something from her thoughts, or because she could be a traitor, I didn't know.

I joined my dad and Megra in the living room. Megra was sitting on the couch while my dad was in his recliner.

Megra sensed my unease and decided to start the conversation. "How are you and the girls doing Bella?"

I shrugged. "We're fine. I've been pretty busy."

Megra instantly knew what I was meaning. "Running Toby's companies, he told me he was going to give them to you. That way you could make sure they always stuck with his rules."

I hadn't know that Toby had told anyone but Carlos that. I knew he had to mention it to Carlos since he was his lawyer, but I didn't realize he had told his other friends.

"Did you get my gifts," she asked suddenly.

"Uh, yeah we did. You must have spent a lot of time on them, they were wonderful." I did like her gifts, I was just unsure why she would give them.

Megra smiled in thanks. "I wanted something that the girls could watch over and over and over again. To make it less boring you can watch it in black and white. For fun I colored in an object in each picture so there is something in color."

I couldn't understand why she would bother to do that, and I didn't have a polite way to ask, so I chose to smile and nodded. "We'll have to watch them all again so we can see that. So, how are you?"

Megra leaned back in her seat. "Tired. The Rebellion has been really busy lately. The Undermining has apparently decided to be bolder. They've moved some more operations to Europe. It's getting crazy, and the Rebellion is spreading itself a little too thin for my taste."

"How many new operations are there?" Charlie asked. He was as surprised with this information as I was.

Megra's eyes widened in exasperation. "Well there's now groups in France, Poland, Iceland, Italy, Hungry, and Sweden."

"You've got to be kidding me." I gasped without thinking.

She nodded. "It's crazy, it's like we'll beat them back, but three more storm forward. We're swamped. We're so swamped, I'm actually going to help with recruiting, and you know I don't handle being around a lot of people well."

I tried not to feel awkward as I patted her arm. "It's for a good cause right?"

She smiled tiredly. "No better cause than to save the world."

Edward didn't join us the entire time Megra was there. He didn't even come down when she got a phone call from work. Whatever it was about, it had her nervous and I became suspicious.

I walked her to the door but before I could open it she turned and wrapped her arms around me. I froze as she squeezed me. I was absolutely shocked that she had hugged me.

"If you need or the girls need anything Bella, don't hesitate to call. Night or day, any hour. I'll get here as soon as I can." She gave me another quick hug before hurrying out the door and driving away.

I didn't realize I was frozen in front of the open door until Edward shut it for me. "Come on Bella, we've got school tomorrow."

I was still in a daze by the time I got into bed.

Edward wrapped me in his arms, kissing my hair. "Sleep Bella."

"I can't," I mumbled and I couldn't. "What did you get from her thoughts?"

He sighed. "She's worried about the three of you. She wants to catch the traitor too, I didn't get anything that suggests she was in on the betrayal. She was hiding something from me though. When she was talking about the gifts she gave to you and the girls."

"That's odd." I tried to sit up but he refused to let go of me.

"Go to sleep Bella. The rest of this year is going to speed by, so you need to sleep while you can."
~

I hadn't taken Edward seriously that night, but I wish I had.

The rest of November soared by, rushing past so fast I almost missed it.

School paused for thanksgiving break, and I had gotten to watch a family of vampires try to put together a thanksgiving dinner. I finally realized why Esme had been cooking most of the month away. She was looking for the best recipes to use for our thanksgiving feast that only four people were going to eat. My dad had been taste tasting the different dishes for her all month long.

Extra chairs had been pulled up to the dining room table on the evening of Thanksgiving. The table itself was buried under plates of food.

I had been staring at all the food in alarm until Anna came in and her look of shock sent me into a round of giggles.

"That's a lot of food." She glanced back as my dad walked in and pointed to the table.

Charlie's didn't look surprised at all in fact he doubled up in laughter. "Esme, you didn't have to make this much food." He told her through his laughter.

Esme patted his shoulder gently. "Anything that doesn't get eaten is going to be sent to the wolves. I had the pleasure of meeting Emily and she told me how much they eat, but she wouldn't let me make a dinner for them. She said she wanted to, but that the boys would willingly take any leftovers we didn't want."

Esme, always a mother, and always thinking.

While the four food eaters ate, the Cullens talked. Charlie and I would join in between bites of Esme's best cooking. Charlie and I were going to have to be careful; Esme's cooking tasted amazing. I didn't want to stop eating, it tasted to good. And then of course we had to have a slice of the pumpkin pie she had made.

Once we had all finished, the table was cleared away at vampire speed. The seven Cullens were back in their seats only after a few seconds of being absent.

Anna sat up on her knees on her chair, folding her hands on the table. "Thankfulness."

I chuckled softly. "Youngest first. What do you think Cissy's thankful for Anna?"

Anna glanced at her baby sister who was covered in mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. "The bath Auntie Rose is going to give her."

That got a laugh out of the rest of us.

"What about Anna?" Rose asked. "What are you thankful for?"

Anna grinned. "Everything." That was what Toby always said.

All eyes turned to me and I blushed scarlet.

"Her answer is Edward," Emmett guessed, succeeding in making me blush brighter.

It took me a few tries, and a slap from Rose given to Emmett, to keep him from teasing me anymore, but I finally managed to say what I wanted to. "I'm thankful for the people in my life."

The gazes shifted, glancing between Edward and my dad.

"Hey, for all you know, I could be older than Carlisle." My dad teased.

I shook my head. "My dad's the forth youngest, if you go by how long he's been alive."

"But if we were going by how old we are physically, Edward should have gone before Bella," Emmett reminded us.

Edward rolled his eyes. "I'm thankful to have found love." He gave my cheek a quick peck.

"I'm thankful that Emmett's coupon book he gave Bella doesn't have a coupon that can get her out of holiday shopping." Alice said in a sing song voice. "We're going shopping tomorrow. And don't bother arguing I'm going to get you to come, I've seen it."

I went and grabbed the coupon book out of my bag. "There are plenty of coupons to get me out of shopping."

She flashed a blinding smile. "At the back of the book you'll find the limitations, and you will see that you can't get out of holiday shopping."

"I'm thankful for the chance to help raise Anna and Cissy." Rose spoke up, before an argument could break out.

I grumbled and rested my head on Edward's shoulder. Tomorrow was not going to be fun.

"I'm thankful for the new joy in our lives." Jasper winked at Anna to get her to giggle, which made the rest of us laugh. He soaked in the positive emotions and slung an arm around Alice's shoulders.

Emmett rubbed his hands excited once we had all turned to him. "I'm thankful for all the fun we've had together so far, and what's to come."

Esme smiled at each of us before telling us what she was thankful for. "I'm thankful for my wonderful family."

"As am I," Carlisle added. And much to my surprise, he kissed Esme in front of all of us, something that I had considered rare to see.

My dad stood, and even though the classic Swan trait for blushing was creeping up his neck, he ignore it. "I'm thankful for the time we've been given to spend together."

It was a perfect ending to a wonderful day. But it was also the beginning to what was going to be a living nightmare.

The next day was black Friday shopping with Alice, and Anna. I was doomed.

We drove away from the Cullens' house at three in the morning. Alice, Rose, and Anna were in one car, and I was at the moment calm, riding in Esme's car. The car ride wasn't long enough though, and I was soon under Alice and Anna's excited shopaholic eyes.

As Alice dragged me out of the car the only thing I could think was, 'Welcome to trouble with Bella.' I could see it now. My clumsiness and control was going to be tested far more than it had ever been. If I survived this day it would be a miracle.

Author's Note.

It's finally done. I can't believe how hard it was to write this chapter. Ugh, writer's block, when the characters stop talking to you. That plus being on vacation, really messed up my schedule, and then of course I couldn't post it yesterday thanks to the site being down. I feel horrible that it took me so long to get this chapter out for you guys. Over two weeks, that's ridiculous. I never wanted to take that much time to get you guys a chapter.

Now, as for questions. How did Cissy's birthday scene go? And speaking of Cissy, what do you think her first word will be? (Hint it won't be Mama or dada, or any variant of the words.)

Any ideas what Edward and Carlisle were discussing during the run?

You met Megra, so now what are your thoughts? Any ideas what she was trying to hide from Edward? Do you think she's the traitor, or is there another reason why she's acting so different?

Who off the list do you think we're going to meet next? Thomas, Turner, Ruby, or Kian?

I have a few quick announcements to make before we finish up. First, I would just like to once again mention that you don't have to worry about this story ever being abandoned. Second, I'm starting a new schedule with my life, which could lead to a more normal writing schedule. Not sure yet if it means more or less time to write though. Third, I'm still going to post an estimated date for when the next chapters could be ready.

Until next time everyone,

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