A/N: Sorry for taking such a long time to update; I just finished summer session at school and it took up all of my time and focus. Hope most of you weren't confused with the last chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.

Disclaimer 2: Although Emmett and Bella are driving I do NOT condone drinking and driving. For the sake of this story they have to but, because of the adrenaline and the running around, both characters are very much aware of their surroundings.

Early Sunday afternoon, 12:26 p.m.

Everything happened so fast...how did I get underwater? Why do I feel Edward's arms around me? Am i dreaming? The water feels so good around my body but Edward's arms feel better... I wish i could stay here forever, like this...

BPOV

Sunday morning, 6:45 a.m.

"You fit perfectly in my car, you know." Edward said, I turned to see him somewhat taken aback because he and I hadn't really spoken the ride back from Forks. He was currently laying back, arms folded and eyes closed looking like a gorgeous almost-human statue.

"What do you mean?" Remembering that I couldn't really watch him rest, because I was driving through the outskirts of Seattle.

"You look good driving my car." He said, still keeping his position. I arched my eyebrow and grinned. "Have you been watching me instead of sleeping?"

"Maybe." He returned by grin but kept his eyes closed. "So," he said somewhat awkwardly, "you have a date with that reporter from the red carpet?"

"I think so." I said honestly, trying to remember Robert and everything before I decided to get so wasted I couldn't think straight, and then apparently getting sober from the freak show. I was appalled that I was driving when hours before I was totally drunk. If Charlie ever found out about this he would lock me up in the slammer for the rest of my sorry life.

"Really? That's cool." Edward said, obviously not cool with it. I bit my lip and decided to hash it out. "Look," I said, watching a big rig pass me by and slowing down a bit. I didn't trust my state. I hated myself so much for currently driving that I knew I would never get so drunk in the future. "No." Edward said, still keeping his front, "not now."

I glanced at him and went back to driving saying nothing to his resolve. Even though I wanted to talk to him about the cabana "incident", he was right. We had more important things to do.

Sunday morning, 7:27 a.m.

I got off the freeway, not so far off of Seattle, and onto a private lane surrounded by magnificent oaks, cedars and beech trees. The Cullen estate was two to three miles away from where we were. "Every time I come, I get blown away by the sheer beauty of it all." I said taking in the sights. Edward chuckled, looking out the window, also taking in the sights. "Yeah, I know what you mean." He said, in a far away voice.

"You miss living here?" I asked, trying to get rid of the tension in the car.

Edward let out a heavy sigh and said, "Kind of. It reminds me of my childhood and all the good times my siblings and I had growing up." He reminisced, "is that how you felt when you saw Charlie's home?"

"Yeah, although I felt more ashamed of myself than anything," I checked to see if Emmett was still trailing us, and indeed he was not so far off, "why did you feel ashamed?" Edward said turning to me, shocked.

"Because I only call Charlie for his birthday or holidays and send him his gifts by mail." I felt a horrible feeling, voicing this out. "You know, out of everyone, you're the one that least talks about her parents or childhood." He noted, I chuckled humorlessly.

"I guess you can say that although I love my parents, Renee always tried to use me as a way to get back at Charlie. He didn't use that tactic so much, but Renee did. She believed that Charlie had taken the best years of her life. When she met Phil, her new husband, she finally realized she was being very immature and unfair, so she apologized. They have a much better relationship now, but their cold relationship after the divorce made me want to run away from both of them.

"Ironic that you went to college an hour away from Forks…" Edward said, jokingly. I ignored his jab, and went on to explain my reasons, "you're right, it is ironic," Edward went into his glove compartment and took out a little control thing, turned down the window and pointed the control at the door of the five-car garage that was besides the Victorian mansion. The garage door opened and I parked the Volvo finally realizing that I would be able to rest once we explained to Mr. and Mrs. Cullen our impromptu morning visit.

We got out of the car and stretched out, I felt my joints pop and immediately felt the tension relieve itself from my muscles. Emmett parked besides me and as soon as he turned off his Hummer, Alice jumped out in front of me and hugged me, "oh Bella that was so scary!"

"I know Alice," Rosalie, Jasper and Emmett came to us while Edward stood behind us, leaning against his car. "But now we don't have to worry about anything. I mean we don't even know if they would have done something wrong!" Alice didn't let me go and rested her head on my shoulder. She always did this whenever she needed comfort from someone.

"Yeah, but there was something about him that I couldn't shake off, he gave me chills." Rosalie said, holding herself remembering James.

"I may be a psychologist," Jasper said, "but I also know that the natural instincts are there for a reason, and this guy gave all of us weird vibes. Besides the fact that I still hold my belief that he is a sociopath."

"Let's go inside and talk to our parents." Emmett said, rubbing his temples, "I'm starving." Emmett still being Emmett, was of course hungry. Out of everyone in the group, he ate the most at any sitting. Forget seconds or even thirds, he ate fifths if there was enough food left. It got so bad that we made him swear that if we would ever go out to dinner, he could only order meals in their standard amounts otherwise who ever was paying that night would sue him for the extra food.

He was so slighted that he didn't talk to any of us for two hours (that was an achievement for the very warm Emmett).

We headed to the Cullen mansion, all of a sudden very serious. "So, what do we tell your parents?" Rosalie said, walking alongside Emmett who was currently trying to not make obvious that he was rushing to the food that most likely was already set before the Cullens. They were early birds, and by now they would be having their breakfast; no one knew this better than our Emmett.

"The truth." Edward said quite simply. I thought about that and realized that the Cullens wouldn't like it if we weren't honest with them. Jasper was thinking along the same lines because, "yes. I agree. Your parents wouldn't appreciate 'tasteful' edits."

"So even the overflowing of alcohol?" I asked, covering up the actual thing I wanted to ask, mostly to Edward.

"Yes, even that." Edward answered, teasingly while sending me a sly grin, I threw daggers at him and ignored him. Why would he joke about "that"?

"Ok than." Rosalie said as we stood in front of the massive red oak doors with intricate designs.

Sunday morning, 8:45 a.m.

After explaining to the Cullens everything that happened the night before. Being told that we would talk about it and after a hot bath and fresh clothes and have been given two aspirin just in case I got hangover from all the drinking, I all walked down to the dinning room to find a beautiful antique dining table full of the best Continental breakfast I had even seen.

Platters of eggs, bacon, sausages, hash browns and delicious looking blueberry and strawberry pancakes were surrounded by pitchers of orange juice, milk, cream and coffee. My mouth watered almost immediately as I watched one of the maids pour some fresh coffee on to Dr. Cullen's cup as he read the Sunday paper at the head of the table. Mrs. Cullen was sitting to his left, looking at an interior decorating catalogue, I grinned at this because they looked so normal even though they were worth an unbelievable amount of money.

"Hello, Bella!" Mrs. Cullen got up and greeted me by kissing me hello once again and hugging me. "Hello Mrs. Cullen." I said, blushing somewhat because of her warm greeting. Like a true gentleman, Dr. Cullen got up and pulled my chair and waited for me to sit down, moving on to Mrs. Cullen who sent him a knowing smile as she sat down. "Feeling better?"

"Yes actually." I said as the maid pour me a cup of coffee. The fresh, robust aroma made my mouth water automatically. "Thank you." I said smoothly to the maid, more thankful that she would have ever imagined. "Mr. and Mrs. Cullen," I started, nervously.

"Wait, Bella. We'll talk about it after breakfast." Dr. Cullen stopped me, with a calm voice. I felt automatically relaxed. I smiled and dug into the strawberry pancakes the maid had supplied me with.

After some small talk about my career and the fact that the Cullens were avid readers of my articles in The Seattle Times. I blushed when Mrs. Cullen commented on an article I had written on the social strain of being a career woman and a well-rounded mother, women had to deal with even now in the 21st century.

"Thank you Mrs. Cullen, I appreciate your accolades even more so because unlike me, you really are a mother." I blushed, smiling bashfully.

"You may not be a mother, but you are a woman with a career. I'm sure there are people that ask you or themselves why you're still single. Am I right?"

Completely. My own mother had been trying to get me married since I had turned 21, saying that she wanted to be a young grandmother and how she wanted to be able to see her great-grandchildren.

Every two weeks she would call me from Phoenix sending me various different photos of eligible bachelors in the Seattle area. How she got hold of them, I don't know but she worked miracles just to get me to go on a date.

"Yes." I answered simply, deciding not to go into the mother/daughter dynamics behind that simple statement.

"So there is credibility to your article, besides the fact that you included real career women with children who gave their own stories." Mrs. Cullen assured me. Even though I knew this, I mean I had written the article, I still felt somewhat unsure that people would not consider my article and commentary to be inaccurate because I wasn't either married or had children.

"Bella, I do have to agree with my wife," Dr. Cullen said, also trying to reassure me, "I also read your article and believe you showed a very level and honest platform." He took a sip from his coffee, "now," he folded his newspaper and put it aside giving me his full attention, "so, any possible boyfriends you might bring over and have us meet him?" He threw me a wink, I blushed of course looking down at my half eaten strawberry pancakes and trying to will my body not to make my head the color of a ripe tomato.

In lieu of Charlie and Renee being far away from me (technically in Charlie's case) the Cullens had taken on the role of my parental influence, and even though I was just a family friend, they took it quite literally. "Carlisle," Mrs. Cullen reprimanded her husband, covering her mouth lightly with her napkin to cover up her light smile. Always a lady no matter what.

"That was refreshing!" A rather… refreshed Edward came in through the French doors from the main hall into the dining room in dark-washed jeans, faded Rolling Stones concert shirt from the 80s, that looked like it had had a very long and eventful life and some black and white chucks.

God, he looked so hot in his teenage clothes, that surprisingly still fit him. I wondered what my life would have been if I had meet the Cullens when I was in my awkward phase, otherwise known as my teenage years. I shuddered slightly.

That would have been tragic, just tragic.

"How old are you? 16?" Alice walked in, Rosalie trailing behind her, wearing a belted flowy, feminine and floral romper with some sky-high pumps. Her hair like always, was styled to to point in every possible direction, and was wearing light makeup since it wasn't evening she didn't need to go all out.

Rose, probably borrowing some of Alice's clothes, was wearing skinny jeans, a plain pink top with sequin embellishments scattered around the front of the blouse (sooo Alice) creating a look that could go from day to night, which was Alice's most important critique when buying clothes. Rose finished off her look by having her hair in a neat high pony tail and black pumps just like Alice.

I looked down at the clothes I had opted for in the clothes that Alice kept in her childhood closet thinking we didn't need to go all out, and telling Alice off that we weren't going to a fashion show. I had chosen to go with some jeans, plain white tee and Alice's old tennis shoes that she swore were clean. Although she was right, now I felt like a frumpy old woman next to a Victoria's Secret Angel and the next Anna Wintour.

"How old are you? 35?" Edward asked pulling out her chair having learned well from his father, exaggerating his rebuttal knowing that Alice hated the idea of getting old, and deeply believed that once a woman turned 35 her best years were behind her. Rosalie agreed with her to the fullest.

"Shut it ugly version of roadkill." She said, sticking out her tongue at him, to the displeasure of Mrs. Cullen.

I tried not to gasp incredulously at her statement and tell her to go fuck herself because Edward was most definitely not the ugly version of anything, especially roadkill. "Alice behave." Mrs. Cullen said to her only daughter, before Alice could apologize to her mom, Emmett and Jasper made their entrance, the former stating that he was so hungry he could eat the food plus the dishes and silverware. Jasper just followed suit and sat next to Rosalie who was sitting across from the now-seated Alice who was next to me.

Edward sat across from me, I began to be self-conscious because he threw me a slight grin while everyone around said their hellos again.

"What were you talking about?" Alice asked, trying to take her mother's eyes from her and trying to get the train back into its tracks.

"Ah yes!" Mr. Cullen said giving me his full attention once again, oh god… "Bella's boyfriend!"

Everyone's eyes snapped to mine, looking shocked. Edward's eyes were the first set that I took in. He had been in the middle of putting his napkin on his lap and froze, hand in the air with the cloth hanging limply over his lap. His eyes were dark, hard and penetrating, for some reason I couldn't look away.

"You have a boyfriend?" Alice shrieked, clapping like a trained seal, Rose looked blankly at me, while Emmett grinned like a dumbass and Jasper carefully watched Edward, who knows why but he did.

"No, I don't have a boyfriend Alice. Your dad was referring to the fact that before all of you walked in he had asked me if there were any possible prospects in my personal life." I said, deciding to look at Alice and answer her with an annoyed tone, trying hard not to look at Edward's reaction to the clarification.

"Oh." She looked deflated, "well that won't be for long!" She bounced up like a rubber ball and to this I had to arch my eyebrow.

"Anyway, I guess that's a no." Dr. Cullen said, laughing at the verbal misunderstanding he had accidentally done.

"For now." Alice whispered raising her cup of coffee that Emmett had poured her.

I was brave enough to look at Edward's direction but now he was having a side conversation with Rose. I looked away, deciding to forget the "incident" and decided to finish my conversation with Dr. Cullen while everyone eat their Sunday breakfast.

Sunday morning, 11: 47 a.m.

"Ok so can we just stay here for the whole day while Jones does his thing?" Alice asked her mom as we sat around the portico of one of the many sitting rooms in the second floor of her parents' Victorian mansion.

It was about to be noon and the girls and I were having a lovely conversation with Mrs. Cullen who was more than happy to have us around. The guys had decided to go play some hoops in the outdoor basketball court Emmett had put in when he was younger on the grounds of the Cullen estate.

Jones was a private detective Dr. Cullen had called while we showered and changed before breakfast, asking him to go to Forks and find out who James and his gang really were and what had happened with them after we were dropped off by them. Because we didn't know what kind of people we got involved with, we decided that the best thing to do was to stay with the Cullens and not go out for awhile.

"I would love it if you did." Mrs. Cullen exclaimed while one of the maids passed around tall glasses of lemon iced tea.

The sun was out for once in a blue moon and although it wasn't scorching hot like in Phoenix, it was still hot enough to want to drink some very chilled iced tea in Seattle standards. We were sitting on the floor, Alice had her head on Rosalie's lap while the latter leaned against one of the two doors that opened the sitting room to the portico. I was on the opposite door looking out through sunglasses, courtesy of Alice, and just stared at the vastness of the grounds letting a slight breeze play with a few loose strands of hair.

Because of the constant rain and the fact that it was summer, the grounds were a lush green worthy to be considered the greenest flora in the world. To my right you could make out the Olympic-sized swimming pool that looked serene, but since we were in a cool place and we weren't really doing any strenuous activity, the pool didn't look as inviting like always.

The only one that was not on the floor (to which no one was surprised) was Mrs. Cullen. She sat in a plush lounge chair specifically put there to look out at the scenery like we were right now.

"I hope your parents weren't angry at the change of plans." Mrs. Cullen spoke to Rosalie who kept her eyes on the trees swaying slightly in the wind a few miles away.

"It's fine, they couldn't make it in the end. Daddy had to go on a business trip to Munich three hours before their departure from New York so Mom had to cancel their trip to Seattle and change the tickets to one for Munich." Rosalie said calmly.

"You must be disappointed." Mrs. Cullen said, sounding sad.

"Not really, Mrs. Cullen. Although I really wanted to see them, their work, and now mine, always gets in the way. Thank god for Skype though." She smiled, Alice and I knew that she was being sincere and to some it might have sounded cold and detached, but we both knew that Rosalie was used to not being able to see her parents as much as she desired, but in the end she wasn't bitter or resentful; she understood.

We stayed there, quiet a while and we just were in happy companionship. For some reason, this made me think back to Edward and our drive up from Forks. I gave a dry chuckle as the others looked at me perplexed, I said nothing and they did too. The four of us were thinking and couldn't be bothered.

EPOV

Sunday, noon.

The ball went through the hoop making a distinct swish! sound, as Jasper cheered somewhere behind me, while my dad and Emmett groaned in frustration. My feet hit the blacktop and I wiped the sweat off of my forehead and aired out my t-shirt.

We had been playing basketball for over two hours now and although the sun wasn't extremely hot, the workout of the game had made us extremely hot and sweaty. "We won!" Jasper came from behind and tackled me almost to the floor, I was able to stay on the ground but my body went forward with the weight and momentum of my very excited friend.

I laughed and cheered with him as my dad ran to get the ball that had gotten slightly away and Emmett came up to us, disappointment all over his face, "man, I thought we would win today."

"Don't worry, dude, there's always a first time for everything!" Jasper berated him, "but I guess that'll happen when you're 80!"

"Ha… ha… ha…" Emmett said humorlessly as I took of my sweaty shirt. I couldn't stand it anymore so decided to take it off, Emmett looked at my drenched shirt and a huge grin broke all over his boyish face.

"What?" I asked as Dad came back to us, ball in hand.

"Let's go for a swim in the pool!" He answered like an ecstatic kid out on an adventure. I grinned and said, "why, Emmett, there is a brain in there after all!" While putting my hand over his shoulder. He got annoyed and shook me off, "fuck off." Jasper laughed heartedly.

"Language." Carlisle said, sternly.

"Dad, come on. Mom isn't here you don't have to be so proper." Emmett said starting for the pool that was on the other side of the tennis courts facing the back of the house.

"Yes I know, but-"

"Nothing! Dad we're guys and guys talk like that! Hell, Alice has a worse potty mouth than I do!" Emmett said laughing.

"I guess all the years with your mother have rubbed off." Carlisle laughed while Emmett gave him plenty of words to add to his almost nonexistent repertoire of bad words when Mom wasn't around.

Jasper kept quiet, clearly watching our father/son/brother dynamics. He loved being a fly on the wall from his psychologist point of view, and I said nothing. I knew he would later tell me his findings.

When we were almost to the pool, Emmett roared in happiness and ran head first into the water making a huge splash. Jasper, Carlisle and I cheered as I threw myself in also, breaking the water and letting the cold water cool down my body and relishing in the sensations.

I broke the service, shaking the water from my hair and face while facing the house to realize that there were people in Mom's second-floor sitting room portico, only to realize that it was the girls. I waved happily at them as Emmett also noticed them after seeing me waving and gave another mirth-filled roar, as they got up from their seats or rather floor and looked at us in surprise.

"Come down!" Emmett yelled, they were close enough to hear us so Jasper and I joined in in the "peer pressure".

"Come on, the water's perfect!" I yelled, looking mostly at the brunette on my left.

We could hear Alice's happy shriking as she bounced up and down and trying to convince the other girls to come down with her. I could vaguely see Mom laughing behind them and watching Carlisle splashing Jasper like a little kid.

Right them Alice ran inside with the girls and they were out of sight. Emmett gave yet another roar of happiness from the thought of the girls (Rosalie) joining in the wet fun.

"Hey wait, let's go get some pool toys!" Emmett said to me, delighted.

"Great idea!" I said getting out of the pool in a hurry, thankfully we had been wearing sports shorts so they doubled as swimming trunks and weren't as heavy as other fabric once wet.

Emmett and I went into the pool shed were all of the pool controls and other pool related stuff was stored as well as other miscellaneous garden tools my mom kept since she was an avid gardener.

We pulled out the dusty, deflated pool toys and looked for our old bike pump we used to use to inflate the toys. We checked to see if they were still passable and were relieved that they were, once we finished inflating all of the pool toys Emmett and I carried them out, by that time the girls were already at the pool in swimsuits a little more conservative than the ones they had donned the night before. Possibly because they didn't want to show to much skin in front of Mom and Dad.

Bella was the only one that hadn't gone in already and everyone, even Mom, was trying to get her to go in.

My mischievous side came out as a brilliant idea came to me, without my official consent my arms let go of the various plastic toys and ran like a bullet towards Bella. I made contact with her body as I quickly wrapped my arms around her waist, hearing her gasp in shock and throwing us into the water while I let out a victorious yell. She let out a blood curling scream right before we hit the water and once we were underwater, I wrapped my arms tighter so I wouldn't lose control of her bewildered body and I pushed her up towards the survice, now facing her.

Everyone was cheering when we came up, and I grinned at her who was in total shock still.

"Edward!" She screeched as she wiped the water from her eyes. "Why did you do that?"

"Because you were taking to long to get in." I beamed.

"That was not fair!" She said, looking so cute trying to be menacing.

"Nothing's fair in love and war." I didn't know why that came out of my mouth but it did before I could pull it back. She looked at me befuddled by my comment as I tried to do damage control, "hey Emmett throw me the turtle!" I left her there staring at me, still confused. What reasons could I give her for making such random comment if I, myself didn't understand why it came out in the first place?

From then on, we had a great afternoon, we spent most of lunchtime playing and swimming in the pool, until the empty stomachs called for our attention once again.

It was turning out to be a great day...

A/N: So I know that the whole James thing is still up in the air but I wanted to give the gang a day to relax after having such a chaotic night. Besides, it's only lunchtime right now in the story, a lot of things could happen through out the rest of the day ;)

Hope you liked this chapter and thanks for reading! Leave a comment if you wish! (It would make me very happy if you did ;))