"When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap."


Carlisle kept staring at me after I asked if Edward could come here. Slowly his fork lowered down onto his plate and he cleared his throat. Esme raised an eyebrow, but then gave a small what the hell shrug.

I was beginning to grow concerned as Esme and I waited for Carlisle to speak. He just kept staring at me, and he hadn't moved since the fork had met his place. I knew what he was doing; this was one of those cop show techniques. . .You stay silent and wait for the suspect to fill the silence with more talking. I laughed silently to myself.

I folded my hands together and placed my forearms neatly on the table. I wasn't quite brave enough to go into a stare down with Carlisle yet, so I studied Esme expression. She looked slightly skeptical but otherwise pretty indifferent to what Carlisle was going to say.

I was about to crack. The silence was getting awkward and tense. But Carlisle cleared his throat once more and then opened his mouth. Then he shut it. But then he opened it again. I braced myself for whatever he was going to throw my way.

"Edward is that soldier who you have been writing letters to, correct?" I wanted to smirk; proud at myself for holding out. But I figured that wouldn't do much good with Carlisle in a mood.

I nodded.

"And he doesn't have a home to go to? Or family to see?" Carlisle's voice had a hint of dry sarcasm that made my brows furrow. I didn't like it at all. He didn't know anything about Edward. I thought back to one of Edward's letters from a little bit ago.

It wasn't always just me, or in this case, me and Ares. I did have a family; my mom and I were as close as could be. But life has a funny way of taking away the things you need. Life has a funny way of making people feel so alone on this world. Just a separate soul, broken away from everybody else, wandering around, wondering why any of us are here at all. That's how I felt for the longest time – so entirely alone, no one else in the world gave a shit about me. . .

"No, he doesn't. It's just him," I told him, trying to keep the protectiveness that I felt for him out of my voice. Instead it just came across as colder than I had planned.

Esme gazed at me, her hazel eyes staring with an intense compassion. Her lips were turned up slightly in the hint of a smile.

Carlisle didn't react to that statement; he kept his face neutral as he continued. "Doesn't he have a home though? He must have friends that live in his hometown who he would love to see?" I was already shaking my head back and forth before he could finish his sentence.

"How old is he?" Objectively speaking, this could be a deal breaker for Carlisle. I figured it was best to be completely honest.

"He's 21. . ." I gathered myself and took another breath before adding, "But he'll turn 22 soon." Why exactly did I feel the need to add that? Yeah. Not sure.

"21 years old, well-" he was about to start a rant. Carlisle and I both looked in surprise as Esme cut him off.

"I think that it's a good idea," she said with her calm, mediator voice. I wanted to do a fist pump; half the battle had just been won. Carlisle, on the other hand, gapped at her like a fish.

"He's 4 years older than her!"

"Technically I'll be 18 in July. . ." They both ignored me. So, I on the other hand, chose to ignore the fact that he would be 22 in June.

"First of all, we wouldn't be allowing her boyfriend to come live with us for a month; we'd be allowing one of her friends. Second of all, this is an American soldier, Carlisle. A soldier who spends 11 months of the year in the desert protecting our country. He's not some drug dealer from New York who thugs people on the streets and takes their money." Esme was too far on a roll that I didn't correct her use of the thugs instead of mugs. That was just Es for you.

"Okay, he's a soldier, and I'm all about country patronage, but I don't know the guy. And that means that I don't trust him." With Esme on my side about this, I didn't even have to do half the fighting.

Esme lowered her voice so it was soft again. "But Bella does. And you've never doubted her judgment before."

"Why are you all for this?" Carlisle questioned her.

"Because Bella deserves to see her friends. And Edward deserves a fun vacation away from the war." Go Esme! She was definitely a pro at getting what she wanted from her husband. Today she was pulling out all the stops. Over the years I had gotten pretty decent at getting something if I truly wanted it, but Esme knew how to play her husband like a guitar.

"I promise he is someone you will get along with, Carlisle. He's a nice guy. You don't have anything to worry about," I added, using my softly pleading voice. I had mastered that for my dad when I was seven.

Carlisle pretty much ignored my pathetic attempt.

Dammit. I thought I had it with that, but Carlisle huffed before continuing. "But it's like going to pick up a guy who is a police officer and having him come live with us for a month. Sure, he's an American Policeman; doesn't mean that I know anything about him or want him roaming around my house."

"Edward's not some random soldier! I know him. Yeah, granted we haven't actually met. But just because it's a bit of different circumstances than when I met like Rose doesn't mean that I have no clue who he is!" I was getting flustered and suddenly it was starting to feel extremely warm. Subconsciously I moved my hair from my warm neck to my side.

Esme raised an eyebrow at him. "You did want to do a foreign exchange student for a month this summer, remember?" I grinned at Esme. The smile with its triumph fell as soon as Carlisle glanced over at me.

"Yeah. Student. Not soldier. Those words are not exactly interchangeable."

"But they both start with an S!" I made jazz hands, trying to encourage some enthusiasm. Carlisle rolled his eyes.

"You can't argue with that logic. . ." Esme muttered.

I tried a different approach. "How 'bout we just skip the rest of this little friendly disagreement and you say yes so I can go send him a letter?"

Carlisle let his head fall back against his chair. I tried to hide the grin that was about to emerge. I looked at him excitedly.

"Fine." I allowed myself a fist pump.

"Thanks, Carlisle! I love you guys!" I beamed at them as I grabbed my plate quickly off the table and took it to the sink. Esme was laughing as I rushed upstairs to get my notebook.

A little over a week later Rosalie and I were sprawled in my room with Elliot and a guy from our school named Jacob. We were all in the same Economics class and had been assigned a really annoying project. We paired up with someone of the opposite gender and had to create a family. Elliot and I were still under the dating pretense so I had easily had a partner. Jacob got to Rose the quickest.

Then, we were assigned a career and had to plan a family and budget with the salaries we were given.

"I've been over these numbers like seven times. There is no way we can send all four of our kids to a private school, Jake! Not with my teacher's pay," Rose complained as she threw her calculator in frustration.

"Well I don't know what you want me to do, dear," Jacob sighed through gritted teeth. Those two were getting old fast.

Elliot and I were getting along fine. As of now, Elliot was a physician for the New York Yankees and I was a book publisher with books on the best seller list. We had three kids and a New York penthouse with a view. And a cat named Melvin.

"So, we're buying a vehicle. But do you want a Lexus SUV, a Cadillac Escalade, or a 911 Porsche?" I asked Elliot, looking over my notebook. We were on the couch, heads on the opposite ends and legs to the side of each other. Rosalie was lying on my bed and Jacob was sprawled on the carpet.

"Would you just shut up? I'm living in Iowa and driving a fucking mini van," Rose whined to us.

"We could have sent them all to a public school and bought a Ford but no. . .you had to get all righteous," Jacob bitched back. These two were getting pretty close to be thrown out the window.

Rose was on a roll with her criticism today. "I have no idea why I married you. You're a damn truck driver! I could have so much better than you, and you know what? I want a divorce."

"Fine! See if I care you! You can have the house! I'll move out and take the kids on the weekend!"

"Fine!" The odd thing was that Rosalie was starting to actually get pissed off by this. Elliot was smirking and shaking his head, and I was laughing under my breath at their little display.

I was about to decide whether or not to send my fake daughter Ella (Elliot's idea) to horse camp in New Jersey with her brother Ben (my idea) when my laptop beeped. I wasn't sure who was emailing me but I got off the couch anyway and left the debate for Elliot to handle.

I perched myself next to a frustrated Rose on the bed and opened the computer. I scrolled for a little bit on the pad until I found the email that had arrived. It was from an email that I didn't have under my contacts. Curious, I bent down closer to the screen to see who it was from. SgtEMasen(dot)yahoo(dot)com.

Gee, wonder who that was.

My heart started to pound faster in my chest. I let out a deep breath as my finger hovered over the mouse. In that moment, I had transferred into a nervous, excited, anxious girl.

"Hey guys, want to go downstairs and grab some snacks? Esme's in the kitchen, she'll fine something to bring up," I suggested, looking at Elliot and then Jacob who was currently calculating how cheap he could get a divorce attorney for, especially with his truck driver pay.

"Sure," Elliot shrugged and set his papers down. Jacob groaned a little bit but nevertheless pulled himself off the ground and followed Elliot out the door.

Rose was looking at me inquisitively. She set down her own laptop that had a page about soccer camps on it. I tried to ignore her raised eyebrow. When I didn't answer her silent question she decided to make it. . .not silent.

"Who's the email from?" I had written my email on one of the letters I sent Edward a few months ago. I had no idea that he still had it, or would have decided to use it.

"Edward," I said, trying to get her to shut up so I could open it. She started to ask another question. Screwing it, I didn't wait for her to stop talking and opened the email. I had to get my leg to stop bouncing up and down so that I could read the screen.

I blinked a few times, trying to get my eyes to stop darting around like I was on drugs. I saw the size of the letter before anything else. It was only a couple sentences. I felt a sense of disappointment but before I sighed, I leaned in closer so that I could read what he wrote. . .no matter how much he did, or rather didn't write.

From: Sergeant E. Masen
Subject: Your letter
Date: 8, April 2008, 4:24pm
To: Bella Swan

I just got your letter. I'll call you as soon as I can. I'll try to remember that we're eight hours ahead of you guys.

Sincerely,
Sergeant Masen

I read the short email one more time and then closed the laptop. In the back of my mind I was rolling my eyes at the fact that he signed his emails as prominently as his letters. The disappointment I felt at the size of the email was replaced with more anxiousness. Now I was excited for him to call.

The more I thought about it, I realized that this was the first time that I was actually going to be able to hear what Edward sounded like. This would make him even more life like, because there was just something about letters, sometimes I wondered if the man I was writing to was actually real.

Because I had no picture or sound of him in my head, it made it extremely difficult to think about him as anything other than a letter writer who I had never meet. Not that that makes much sense or anything.

I was screwed. There was no way I would be able to concentrate on anything until I got that call. Including sports and school. . .and my Economics homework.

"What was that about?" Rose inquired. I smiled, absentmindedly looking out the window to our wooded backyard.

"Edward's going to call me soon so we can figure out his leave," I told her, knowing she would pounce for details on her own.

"You asked him to come? Here? Carlisle and Esme actually let you do that? When is his actual leave? I can't believe you asked him! Why didn't you tell me? Did you ask him to come the whole time or just a little bit? Should I ask Emmett if he wants to come?" I felt my eyes widen and I just stared at her in awe. Anyone can fit that many questions into one single paragraph is my hero.

"Yes. Yes. Yes. June 20th to July 16th. That's not a question. . .I just did. . .the whole time. . .and yes." I think I got all the answers she wanted. I smirked at her.

"You're an idiot."

"I answered every one of your stupid questions!" I protested, used to being called offense names by her regardless.

"And you think I remember every one that I asked? Or the damn order?" I cringed along with Rose. Her voice was coming off as a shrill and we weren't the only ones home.

"Well for the love of God, don't ask that many questions without pausing to breathe!"

"Screw you. If you asked Edward, I'm asking Emmett. Then my mother." I rolled my eyes at her.

"Good plan."

"I thought so."

Elliot took this as his opportunity to bust through the door with a tray full of cookies. Jake was following close behind with four glass bottled cokes. "We brought cookies!"

"How cliché," Rosalie huffed. I grinned over at her and rolled off the bed and back onto the couch.

I was too jazzed up about the email to even focus. Therefore, I left the decision of where the kids would go to college to Elliot.

The next day was our first golf meet of the season. We got out of school early so I got to skip Health. As it turned out though, Rose's mom sleeping with the principal couldn't get us out of a full year of that horrid class. The whole team was pretty excited for the season to start. Brenner was absolutely ecstatic.

"Cough up the cell phones girls," Brenner demanded, standing up at the front of the standard yellow school bus. I was especially hesitant to give him my phone right now. It hadn't been a problem before, but I hadn't been waiting for a call from Edward before either.

Brenner wasn't going to let us carry them regardless. If they made any noise inside our golf bags when we were carrying them, we were disqualified. And that would piss him off so, so much.

The bus came to a stop at the golf course we were playing at today, and we grabbed our bags of clubs. We each walked past him, handing our phones as we crammed to get through the aisle.

The sun was coming down warmly with a nice, very slight breeze. We were all setting down our bags in the parking lot to change into our shoes when Brenner walked off the bus. All of our phones were in his black laptop bag, all of them except the phone in his hand.

"Swan, your phones buzzing. You got a call." It took everything in me not to rush over there. I slid into my shoe quickly and glanced at Rose who was giving me a knowing, yet still curious look.

I grabbed my phone out of his hand. I ignored the erratic beating of my heart and pushed all the thoughts pulsing through my head away. I took a small breath before putting the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Bella?" I most definitely did not recognize that voice. I would have remembered a voice that velvety and smooth had I heard it before. A voice that actually made me catch my breath. I held the phone impossibly closer to my ear; not to block out the other noise, there was none, but to get closer to that voice.

"Yes. Who's this?" Like I even had to ask. It was more of a rhetorical question anyway. To make sure I wasn't dreaming.

"It's Edward."


He said, "Dad I'm big, but we're smaller than small
In the scheme of things, well we're nothing at all
Still every mother's child sings a lonely song
So play with me, come play with me"

"And hey Dad, here's a riddle for you
Find the answer: There's a reason for the world
You and I?"
The Riddle, Five For Fighting


-Is it proper to thank your beta everysinglefreakingchapter? Well...thank you SimplyDazzling. Anyone know her? She's pretty great.
-You guys can chill out...Elliot's not a threat. Come on. Like he could stand a chance. I would just be wasting my time.

-Your review response from last chapter was amazing! Like seriously, I LOVE the reviews I get for this story more than any other one I've wrote. You guys have the kindest things to say. I wanted to thank everyone more reminding me why I write this crazy story in the first place. (:

-Anyone else freezing their tails off?