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Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine. If you don't recognize it, it's probably still not mine. Alex is mine. All things Twilight belong to Stephanie Meyer. Now on with the story!


Before:

I gasped and my hands flew to my mouth. "Rosalie," I breathed.

Now:

There was a prominent silence suffocating the room. I knew her. But it was impossible. There was no way. The photograph that had hung in our house was from 1933. Even if she was still alive, there's no way she would look almost exactly the same. No way. In fact, she looked even more beautiful, if that were possible. But her eyes… Grandpa Richie had always talked about her vivid blue eyes, nearly violet, and how the black and white film didn't do them justice. They were a vivid shade of yellow now.

"Um, this is getting kinda weird."

I hadn't realized how lost in thought I was, staring at who was presumably a descendant of my great aunt, whom I had never met. And who I wasn't aware had had children, either. The young girl with the brown eyes had startled me out of my reverie.

"Sor—" it came out hoarse. I cleared my throat. "Sorry. I uh…" My eyes went back to my great aunt's double. "You look… like someone I know. Well, I don't… I don't actually know her, I've never met her. But I've seen pictures. I mean, they were black and white, but still…"

"Edward?" Dr. Cullen interrupted my ramblings, from the head of the table to my left. I followed his gaze to the bronze-haired man opposite me, next to the normal-looking girl, and saw him nod once.

"Oh, dear," Dr. Cullen muttered. I was confused. Completely and utterly confused. He collected himself and continued at a normal volume, "Alexandra, I apologize. Allow me to introduce everyone. Here on my right is my wife, Esme Cullen." He indicated a motherly type of woman with caramel colored hair and a heart shaped face sitting on my left. She held a polite hand out to me.

"Hello dear, welcome to our home," she greeted with a warm smile.

I returned the smile and tried to hide the shiver as a chill went up my arm. There was another similarity between them all, at least the ones I had had physical contact with. Dr. Cullen, Alice, and now Esme, all had incredibly cold skin.

"Of course you met Alice," Dr. Cullen continued. I could feel the little pixie-like girl bouncing in her seat as she grinned. "On the other side of her is Jasper, Alice's husband."

I looked down the table to a man with shaggy blond curls and an abundance of scars covering his visible skin. Damn. Where did they all come from? I wondered.

Next should have been the Rosalie doppelganger, but much to my disappointment, he said, "Here on my left is Edward," and gestured to the bronze-haired man. "Next to him is Renesmee, and then we have Bella."

Renesmee was the 'normal' looking girl directly across from me, and Bella sat to her left, with a heart-shaped face and chestnut colored hair.

"Renesmee is Edward's and Bella's daughter," Dr. Cullen elaborated.

So I was right. But, how?

Dr. Cullen must have seen my confusion etched onto my face because just as I opened my mouth to speak he said, "We will explain everything in a moment, I promise. Now, next to Bella is Emmett-"

"Sup?" the dimpled hulk of a man grinned at me. I raised an eyebrow and half nodded.

"And lastly we have Emmett's wife, Rosalie, whom you seem to already know," Dr. Cullen finished.

No way! This was too much of a coincidence.

"Yes, how is it you know my name?" the gorgeous woman asked. She gave an air of calm for the moment, but I had the feeling she could be vicious if she wanted to be.

I gaped like a fish for a few seconds, searching for words. Finally, I remembered how to form a coherent sentence.

"I uh… Well, you look… exactly like my great-aunt," I stammered out. "But… She disappeared… in 1933. So… I know, obviously, you're not her, but you look just like she did. Back then, that is. Even if she's still alive, she wouldn't look like you. She'd be in her nineties now."

I was rambling. I forced myself to close my mouth before I said something really stupid. I was painfully aware that all eyes were on me. I didn't know where to look, so I looked at the table top. The shiny, perfectly waxed table top, with not so much as a scratch on it. Was that mahogany? I could swear I just heard Edward chuckle under his breath. Maybe he had to cough. Of course there were no refreshments. That could serve as a nice distraction right now.

"There's that awkward silence again," Renesmee said. "Can somebody talk, please?"

"You're talking about Rosalie Hale," Rosalie said. I looked up to meet her eyes and nodded slowly.

"My grandfather's sister," I said. "He raised me, he always had her portrait on the wall in the living room."

"Henry or Richie?"

My jaw literally dropped open and I forgot to breathe for about seventeen seconds until a hard poke hit my ribs, courtesy of Alice's elbow.

"R-R-Richie," I whispered. "Oh my God. But you… How?"

She smiled humorlessly. "Carlisle will explain," she said.

Carlisle? Oh yeah, the doctor.

Rosalie stood from the table. "Excuse me for a moment, please." And she gracefully left the room.

Emmett stood as well and followed, walking backwards to face the rest of us as he said, "I'm just gonna make sure she's okay."

I shook my head. This was incredible. No. Strike that. This was impossible. She couldn't be. This had to be some cruel joke. Somehow these people found out about my family and-

"It's not a joke," Edward said, interrupting my inner monologue.

I met his eyes. "Then what is it? Because it sure as hell is not possible for that woman to know anything about my family as a pure coincidence."

Now I was starting to get irritated. Frustrated. Angry. I didn't want to be here anymore. I stood forcefully from the table and looked at Carlisle. I heard several other chairs scrape backward, but I didn't pay attention to whose they were.

"Is this why you brought me here?" I demanded. "Some kind of prank? Have you all had a good laugh?"

"No, Alexandra, please-" Carlisle began but I cut him off.

"Please what? Stay? Have some more old wounds and family secrets torn open and shown to the world?" I realized I was yelling. I lowered my voice and finished my speech with, "I don't think so."

I stepped around my chair and moved to the door, but saw that Scarface now stood in my way. I heard someone, too quietly, call for Emmett, who appeared almost out of nowhere behind Scarface.

"His name is Jasper," Edward said, irritably.

Oh, right. Wait. I hadn't said that aloud.

"I can hear your thoughts," he said.

I slowly turned on the spot and stared. Edward was apparently one of the ones who had stood with me. Bella had her arms protectively wrapped around Renesmee, who watched me with curiosity in her eyes. Esme had stood and moved slightly behind Carlisle and Alice was still sitting, but no longer grinning.

"Alexandra, I'm afraid we can't let you leave just yet," Carlisle said calmly. "There are some things we need to discuss, and as you don't seem to know a whole lot about your… situation, it's not exactly safe for you to go right now."

It took me a second to process what he'd said. "Wha—Wait, my situation?" I groaned loudly and ran my hands through my hair, dropping them to my sides and turning back to the only door, still blocked by Scarface and Hulk. I saw Edward shake his head out of my peripheral vision. If they weren't going to let me leave, we were going to have to do this the hard way.

"Please," Carlisle implored. "Sit down and we'll discuss everything. When we're done, you may go wherever you please. I was told about your gift, and you look like you're ready to use it on my sons. I can promise you that Esme will be none too happy to have two holes in the wall."

My gift? I'd never thought of it as a gift before. And who told him? There had been no one else around except those wolves. I didn't think there had been, at least. Deputy Lucas? But wouldn't he have said something to me in the hospital? Unless he was afraid of me. But if he was afraid of me, why would he have been so excited to meet me? Maybe this had something to do with those giant wolves. Hell no, if these people were involved with those monsters, I wanted nothing to do with them.

Almost as soon as I started to rile myself up again, I calmed right down. I felt a sudden complacency, mixed with curiosity. I suddenly didn't care so much about these people being somehow connected to the giant wolves who had tried to eat me earlier that day. But I needed to satisfy this suddenly intense curiosity that burned in my gut. I needed to know what was going on.

I also felt foolish as I relaxed my posture and pulled my chair back toward the table and sat down.

"Sorry about that," I said sheepishly. "This is all a little weird for me." Weird. Ha! Understatement if ever there was one. But then again, I can move pretty much anything without touching it, so who am I to call anything weird?

Everyone else also sat down, however Carlisle remained standing.

"Rose is going to sit this one out," Emmett said as he took his seat. "She wants privacy when she and Lex speak."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Lex?"

He grinned. Terrific. Five minutes with these people and I'm already getting nicknames. Despite my sudden calmness and willingness to hear them out, I was still irritated and having a nickname assigned to me, implicating that there would be a long-term connection, irked me even more.

I rolled my eyes at the Hulk and turned back to Carlisle. "All right," I said with a wave of my hand. "Get on with it."

Carlisle nodded. "First I'd like you to take a look at Renesmee," he said. I looked at the girl who stared right back at me, reflecting my own curiosity. We both stood out from the rest of the people in the room. "You both share similarities that differ not only from the rest of out family, but the rest of most of the world. You both have an elevated body temperature."

Check, I thought to myself.

"An accelerated heart rate," Carlisle continued.

Another check.

"You heal very quickly."

Three for three.

"Your skin is tougher than most people, though not as hard as ours." He indicated everyone else seated at the table.

Half a check, I thought. I couldn't speak for the others. Although, if their skin is harder than mine, what did that make them? I looked at Carlisle curiously. I had the feeling that a huge reveal was imminent.

"You see, our family, we're not exactly human," he continued. "Renesmee is half-human, as I believe you are, as well."

I snorted. "Okay, I'll bite," I said. There were a few stifled laughs, which seemed completely out of place, so I ignored them and continued. "If you're not human, what are you?"

There was a beat of silence.

"Vampires."

And here I thought I was the one who was going to bite. Edward laughed out loud. I glared at him.

"Vampires," I said. "Yeah. Okay. And I'm a flesh eating zombie."

Carlisle shook his head. "No, you're half-vampire." He looked deathly serious.

"It's true, dear," Esme piped in. I met her sympathetic eyes. "Bella was human when she had Renesmee."

I took in everyone's appearance once again, slowly this time. They were all unnaturally pale, compared with me and Renesmee. They all had the same shade of yellow eyes. Not exactly yellow, maybe more of like a topaz. But if they were vampires, shouldn't they have red eyes?

"We only drink the blood of animals," Edward explained. "Vampires who drink from humans have red eyes, and newborn vampires, vampires who are new to this life, regardless of their diet."

I pointed at Edward. "You know, that is starting to get really annoying."

He held up his hands in surrender. "I'm just trying to be helpful."

"Well maybe if you let her speak her questions, we would all know what the conversation is about," Alice said, smiling sweetly.

I turned to her. "Thank you," I said. I turned back to Carlisle. "His little mind reading trick doesn't convince me. Hell, I can move cars and giant wolves without touching them, and I've never drank anyone's blood."

"I haven't either," Renesmee offered. "Well, not since I was a baby. But that was only out of blood packets from the hospital. I've never had the fresh stuff."

"Nessie," Bella scolded quietly. "Some candor, please."

"Sorry, Mama," Renesmee whispered back. Then to me, she said, "Give me your hand." She reached out expectantly.

I hesitated. "Why? Are you going to suck my blood?"

She giggled. "No. You'll see." She smiled a friendly smile at me.

I made a quick assessment of the rest of the group. Everyone was watching. Oh hell, why not? I stretched my arm out to meet her hand halfway across the table. I gasped as a flurry of images hit my mind. It was as though I was seeing memories, only they weren't mine. And, not only could I see them, I could feel them.

I was in the woods. A large buck ran past me. I heard the rustling with crystal clarity. I could smell the musky, nearly enticing aroma of his blood, I could hear the wet tha-lump of his heart pushing the thick blood through his veins, the pace quickening as he raced away. And that burning. That all too familiar burning that accompanied that damn dream nearly every night, that burning that a nice, fat, raw steak usually could mostly cure.

In the memory, I chased the buck. Only I was much too short. I mean, I am somewhat short, though not as short as this Alice character who sat next to me in the dining room, and most definitely not as short as this point of view. I couldn't have been more than three feet tall. But I raced after the buck, and caught up within seconds, despite the uneven terrain, the tree roots that stuck up from the ground all willy nilly, the wet leaves that my feet should have slid on. And then I was flying through the air, landing smoothly on the buck's back, wrapping my small arms around his neck until I heard a crack and then my lips were against his fur, my teeth sinking easily into his neck. The blood filled my mouth and coated my throat soothingly.

As amazingly as the buck's blood worked to soothe that burning, itching ache, it wasn't quite enough. It dulled the pain, but I wanted more. Something just a little bit different…

I pulled my hand away quickly and stared at the girl in front of me, my jaw slack.

"Was that you?" I whispered. "Was I seeing what you saw?"

She nodded. "That was one of my early hunts," she said. "Is that what you feel? In your throat, the thirst?"

"Yeah," I said. "Sometimes. Wow." I sat back in the chair and absently rubbed my throat, staring at the table. The dryness from the memory had lingered. "I can't- I don't…" I addressed the rest of the table. "Vampires?" I asked, my brow scrunching together. "Really?"

I got mostly nodding, but Emmet grinned widely, showing off bright white teeth. On someone else it might have looked menacing, but on him it just looked goofy. I wanted to give him a big hug. And maybe a noogie.

I face palmed myself and leaned on the table. "So one of my parents was- is a vampire as well?" I asked it out loud, but I was talking more to myself. "My mother died during childbirth."

"I would have." I made eye contact with Bella. "I did," she amended. "The only way I could have survived, the way I did survive, was to be turned."

"So my mother could have been saved," I whispered. "I didn't have to kill her. If he had just stayed around…"

No one answered my ramblings. I didn't blame them. I was creating another awkward moment. I sighed, mentally shook myself, sat up straight and clapped my hands once.

"Well! Now what?"

"There is much more we need to discuss," Carlisle said. "But right now, I believe your great-aunt Rosalie is waiting to speak with you outside."


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