Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight. I just own this amazingly delicious chocolate pudding that I am currently eating.

Author's Note: Well, here's chapter two. Enjoy!

Chapter Two: Surprise!

Elizabeth Cullen

The clock on my dashboard told me that it was six-thirty-five when I pulled my blue pick-up truck, Old Major, into my grandparent's driveway and into the clearing in front of their house. I saw my dad's silver Volvo, my aunt Alice's yellow Porsche, and my uncle Emmett's red jeep, so I knew that everybody was there.

For a moment, though, without turning the engine off, I sat, just taking in the sight of the beautiful white mansion in front of me.

I had missed this place. I had so many good memories here.

Turning the engine off and pulling my keys from the ignition, I grabbed my purse/satchel thing that I had gotten in Verona, Italy from the seat next to me and pulled it over my head, slinging it across my chest.

I grabbed my three photo portfolios (I had made one for each of the countries that I had gone too – Greece, France, and Italy) and the two large sketching pads with my drawings and held them close to my chest as I stepped out of my truck so that they wouldn't get damaged in the drizzling rain. I had taken the time to draw the sketches and I didn't want to get them ruined just because of the continuous rainy weather in Forks.

Hanging above the front door was a cloth banner that had painted letters on it that spelled out in purple capital letters, "WELCOME HOME, ELIZABETH!" And there were three balloons tied to each railing. I smiled. Only Alice.

I stepped inside and leaned my portfolios against the wall on the floor. It was dark in foyer. "Hello?" I called out.

Nobody answered, so I headed towards the living room. I could tell that it was dark in there as well, as the lights were out, but as soon as I stepped one foot into the room, the lights all of a sudden came on and several voices called out, "SURPRISE!" and then a crash and an "OW!" that I knew came from Emmett, since I recognized his voice.

My eyes squeezed shut at the sudden brightness of the room, but when I opened them a second later, I could see my entire family. They were all grinning broadly, except for Emmett, who was sprawled across the floor, rubbing his knee and head. Apparently he had been hiding behind the couch and when he jumped up he had tripped and fallen over the couch and onto the floor.

And then I was bombarded by my family, each one giving me tight hugs and welcoming me back to Forks. The last one to hug me was my Dad. He was grinning broadly and I all but threw my arms around him and breathed in his heavenly doctor smell that I had missed so much.

"You didn't change a bit when you were in Europe," he said as I pulled away from him. "I can't believe you're twenty-two already!"

I blushed. I had inherited my Mom's small, slender stature, and I was about 5 feet 5 inches, and hadn't grown since my freshman year of high school. I didn't mind, though. I had gotten her hair as well, and her facial features, but her eyes I didn't have. Sure, they had some brown on the outer rim, but they were mostly green.

I was fifteen years old when I had learned the truth about my father – my real father, that is. I had asked my mother one night why my eyes were a different green than Edward's, my father, and it was then that she told me the truth – about who had kidnapped me when I was six, about why my mother was only eighteen when she got pregnant with me, everything.

I had been confused at first, then angry, at both of my parents. It took me a while, but then I realized that whoever was father, I still loved Edward more than anything in the world. When I learned that he had adopted me legally at his and my mom's wedding, I realized that my bond with my parents was all the stronger than it had been.

"Thanks, Dad," I said. "You guys haven't changed much, either."

And it was true: none of them had changed. My aunt Alice was still the same height as she had been my entire life – 5 feet exactly. My uncle Jasper had not lost his blonde hair and his southern accent still had a charming effect. My other uncle, Emmett, still had his muscles. My aunt, Rosalie, was still as beautiful as she had been. Her blonde hair was long and wavy.

My grandparents had changed, but not by much. Now that they were in their sixties, flecks of gray were beginning to appear in their hair. My grandma still had her sweet, motherly face, and my grandfather still had his calm nature about him.

And then there were my cousins. Sally, who was Alice and Jasper's twelve and a half year old daughter, had the same quirkiness and black hair as her mother and her father's stormy blue eyes. She had gotten fashion sense from Alice, and was forever commenting on clothes.

Angelina, who was seventeen and a senior in high school, and Lillian, who was 13, were Rosalie and Emmett's two daughters. Both Angelina and Lillian had blonde hair and were absolutely beautiful like their mother. Angelina was a bit of a stubborn girl, a trait which she had gotten from Rosalie, but she was very nice and compassionate. Lillian was like Emmett, always cracking jokes and the like, but very smart.

There were reasons why I loved my family a lot – they were kind, compassionate, and we loved each other more than anything in the world.

~~0~~

Supper was delicious. Grandma had made my all-time favorite meal – spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread. It felt so good to eat American food again. I had gotten spaghetti and meatballs one night for dinner when we were in Italy, and it was really good, but it wasn't the same as Grandma's homemade sauce.

My whole family was curious to learn about my trip to Europe, especially my aunts and uncles. I was asked question after question, all ranging anywhere from what types of places me and my class stayed at to what the bathrooms were like (that question was thanks to Emmett. Rosalie slapped him up the backside of his head for that while my dad and uncle Jasper snickered, almost choking on their food).

"What was the food like over there?" Nathan asked as he stuffed a large bite of garlic bread into his mouth. "Did you try any interesting food?"

I nodded. "At each place we went to, Leah and I made it our mission to try and find one food that we couldn't pronounce and try it."

"Were you successful?" Jasper asked.

"Oh, yeah, we were successful," I said, laughing. "We've once ordered escargot when we were at this restaurant in Paris. We didn't know what it was and when the waitress brought it to us, we took one bite and we nearly spit it back out, because the taste of it was absolutely nasty. We decided that we're never going to eat snails again."

"What about in Italy?" asked Alice.

I had to think about that one for a second. "Calamari."

"And what's that?" Mom asked.

"Raw squid," I said, plainly and simply.

"Eww," was the murmured reaction that came from Sally, Angelina, and Lillian.

After supper, we went into the living room. We decided to wait a while to eat desert and look through my sketches and drawing and pictures. So, before I followed everybody into the living room, I grabbed the portfolios and large sketch pads from the foyer.

"Oh, Elizabeth, these photographs are magnificent," my Mom said as she and Alice looked through the portfolio with the pictures I had taken in France.

We looked through the photos, commenting on about every single one.

Everybody was especially impressed by my sketches of the different buildings I had drawn. I had drawn so many sketches of every building that we went to. I had drawn the Eifel Tower, the Parthenon, the Notre Dame, the Colosseum, all of the ancient structures and buildings one could think of. I had even drawn the ceiling of my room in one of the hotels we had stayed in because I was mesmerized by the intricate art detail of it.

"It looks like you went to a lot of places," Lillian said as she and Sally looked through the Italy portfolio.

I nodded. "We did. And I have never seen such beautiful country side before."

"Did you see the Trevi Fountain?" Carlisle asked.

I nodded. "It was amazing."

For the next hour we looked through the portfolios, so that everybody could see all of the photos and sketches.

As I was zipping everything back up, Esme announced that it was time for dessert. She and Mom disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared a moment later with a round, two-layer cake with vanilla frosting. On it, in purple icing, my grandmother had written "Happy 22nd Birthday Elizabeth!", and there were twenty-two lit candles around the edge of it.

Much to my embarrassment that brought a bright blush to my cheeks, the whole family sung 'Happy Birthday'. After they finished, Mom said, "Make a wish, sweetie."

I closed my eyes and thought hard. I smiled and opened my eyes when I thought of one, took a deep breath and blew out the candles.

As we were eating the cake and talking amongst ourselves, I felt my hand move to my engagement ring that I had put on the chain of my necklace that my parents had given me when I was eleven (it was a silver chain necklace with a silver flower). I smiled slightly to myself as I fingered it.

It was time to tell my family.

God knows how they'd react, but I had to tell them.

Nathan, who was sitting next to me on the couch, leaned his head over and whispered into my ear, "You should probably tell them now."

I nodded and set my plate down on the coffee table.

"Hey, everybody," I said, catching everybody's attention. "Um, I have something to tell you. A, uh, a little announcement."

"What is it?" Mom asked.

"Uh, well … I don't really know how to say it, but … I'm getting married," I said, a small smile growing on my face as I looked at everybody's face to gauge their reactions.

Everybody mainly looked a little shocked.

"Surprise!" I said.

"You're getting married?" my Mom and aunt Alice asked simultaneously.

I nodded.

"When did this happen?" Emmett asked.

"Yeah, and who's the guy?" Sally asked. "Is he cute?"

"Do we know him?" Angelina asked.

"Well, it happened three days ago, the night before we left Athens" – "you got proposed to in Athens?! That's so romantic" – "His name is Ethan Barr, and I'm not sure if all of you have met him. I know mom and dad have, though."

Looking confused, Dad asked, "We have?"

I nodded. "Yeah, you guys did. It was when you dropped me off at college my freshman year. He transferred right after, the start of the school year, so I never saw him again. But then I saw him again when we got to Italy in June and, well, we started going out, and we sort of fell in love."

Alice and Rosalie and my Mom had a dreamy look in their eyes as I said this. "That is so romantic!" Alice said. "And getting proposed to in Athens? Best place to get proposed to, besides Paris."

Emmett, Jasper, and Dad rolled their eyes.

"So where's he from?" Grandma Esme asked.

"He lives in Washington, actually, in Port Angeles. He's in the architecture field, like I am," I said.

"How old is he?" Alice asked.

"Twenty-three," I said.

"How come you never told us about him in your letters and e-mails?" Mom asked.

"Well," I said, "I was planning on telling you before we left, but then he proposed so I figured that I should just wait until I was back in Forks and everybody was together."

The whole family was smiling now – I guess they were happy, now that the shock of my news had worn off.

"Are you sure you really want this?" my Dad asked, looking at me straight in the eyes.

I looked back at him, for a few seconds, and then nodded. "I do, daddy. I love him."

My Dad smiled then, and said, "Well, I guess there's only one thing left to say. Congratulations, Lizzy."

My smile broadened and got up from my seat on the couch and went to go give him a hug as he stood up.

When I pulled back, I said, "Thank you, daddy. I love you."

"I love you, too."

And then Alice, being the crazy aunt that she is, squealed, "Can I help with the wedding?"

Author's Note: Well, what'd you think? What'd you think of everybody's reactions? Sorry that the greeting of Elizabeth wasn't fully detailed. I hide whenever there's family gatherings, so I can't write from personal experience. And I've never been engaged, so I hope everybody's reactions were okay. The next chapter should be up soon hopefully. Next chapter, we'll be meeting Elizabeth's fiancee, Ethan, over lunch with Bella and Edward.

Also, thank you SO MUCH to everybody who story alerted and favorited this story. I woke up on Monday morning and saw 28 messages in my inbox. I was really happy! PLEASE review on your way out, it will make me write and get out chapter three faster.

Until Next Time, Eat Chocolate Pudding. Lemonade Ninja.