A/N: I was shocked at how many hits I got on this story after I posted yesterday's chapter. It was over four times the amount of the previous highest number of hits. I finally went over to the Twilight page and realized that my story had been at the top of the list for a while, because nobody had updated after me yet. Oh. Haha.

With nothing to do, I began to look at the papers that Jacob had given me, including the one that the flight attendant ran under a scanner before I was allowed to board. Oh. My ticket. Duh…skimming over it, I found out that the total flight time was about five and a half hours. We were changing planes in Minneapolis, Minnesota. So if this flight was taking off at about 7:15, that means I'd be in Chicago near one o' clock. Wow. At least I didn't have to go to school tomorrow. I continued to read over the rest of the papers, which were mostly just information about my airline. That took all of…20 minutes. I had nothing else to do. The plane had just taken off, and I decided to look out the window.

I guess I dozed off, because I woke up to the sound of the pilot saying, "Welcome to Minneapolis. Temperature is blah blah blah blaaaah." Woah. I guess I'm still sleepy.

Stupid small airplane space. I was standing stooped, waiting for the two old ladies next to me to get their belongings out of the overhead compartment.

I made my way out of the airplane, down the hall, and checked my ticket to find out what gate I was to report to next. F6.

On my way there, I passed by a little bookstore which was also selling newspapers, candy, drinks, and various souvenirs of Minneapolis. I suddenly found that I was really thirsty, and besides, I could use something to read if I didn't fall asleep again.

A little while later, I was leaving the airport store very satisfied with my purchases. I had picked up two books and a quart-size bottle of water. One of the books was about a girl who becomes a mute after being raped the summer before her freshman year, and the other book was about a girl who falls in a love forbidden with a vampire.

I continued on my way to the gate and settled in with the book with a girl's face and what looked like some type of drawing of a tree on the cover.

***

Finally, I'm here.

Even with my little nap from the first plane, I was beginning to feel really tired. I just wanted to curl up in a big, soft bed…concentrate, Bella. How did Jacob say his cousins looked? I remembered. Tall, long black hair, red brown skin, Native American of course…I scanned the crowd near the baggage claim and finally spotted a man who looked to be about Jake's height. Next to him stood a shorter woman, but she was still considerably tall. I made my way over to them.

The man had a buzz cut, and the length combined with the inky black color of his hair made his head look like it was covered in velvet. He was muscular, but still lean. He had his arm around the woman's waist, protectively, lovingly. The woman had odd colored hair. It was black with hints of indigo and hung with a slight wave to about her waist, but she was beautiful. She had a small frame and was currently looking up to the face of the man next to her. They were a beautiful pair. Then the woman's almond shaped eyes spotted me coming towards them, and she smiled a warm smile at me.

"Hello, you must be Bella. I'm Sam." It was the man who spoke first as he extended his hand towards me.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sam." Sam had a nice voice. It was deep and resonant. I turned towards the woman.

"Hi. I'm Emily, Sam's fiancée." She too put her arm out in greeting.

"Hello Emily. It's a pleasure to meet you, too. When's the wedding?"

"It was originally going to be this March, on the first day of spring, but we moved it to July."

"Oh. So I'll be here for it, probably."

"Yes! You can come if you'd like. You can even help with the wedding plans."

I decided that I liked Emily. She was so friendly. "I'd like that."

"Okay, then. Well, you look tired, so let's get your bags and go home," she said just as Baggage Claim 2 started up.

Chicago was a pretty city at night. I'm sure it was also pretty during the day, but I have never been here before. As we drove we passed Union Station, Lincoln Park Zoo, the Sears Tower, and Buckingham Fountain.

The fountain was beautiful. There were red lights that lit up the fountain, and the four seahorses in front were illuminated by yellow lights. The red lights glowed in a funny way, making the water look purple. I would make it a point to come back here one night.

Before I had had enough of the pretty city, Sam turned onto a different street and I realized that were heading toward the suburbs. We pulled up to his and Emily's house a little bit later. It was a nice little house. The walls were red brick, and the shuttered front windows had flowerboxes beneath them with cheerful looking daisies, peonies, pansies, and candytufts. There was a front porch with three steps leading up to it, and a worn looking rocking chair was sitting on the porch.

Sam led me inside and Emily took me on a tour of the house, ending in a room which I assumed was be the one I would be staying in.

"And this is your room, Bella. I'll leave now and let you get some rest."

Then I was alone.

I retrieved my sweatpants and t-shirt from my duffel bag and rummaged around for my bag of toiletries. Not finding it, I looked in my suitcase. Bag of toiletries recovered, I went into the adjoining bathroom to change, brush my teeth, and wash my face. I finished up, but decided to go ahead and put my toothpaste in the medicine cabinet and shampoo and conditioner in the shower. I was going to be here a while, after all. When I finished with that, I walked into the bedroom.

That bed looked so inviting in all its large, quilt covered glory…I was out like a light. I remember glancing at the bedside clock before I went under, and it read 2:00. When I woke up the next morning it was 9:46.

I could smell…blueberry.

I got out of the bed and padded down the hall to the kitchen. Emily was standing at the stove moving eggs around a skillet, and there was a pan full of fresh blueberry muffins. My mouth watered at the thought. I realized that I didn't eat dinner last night.

"Good morning, Bella. Did you sleep well?"

"I slept very well, thank you, Emily."

"Here are some blueberry muffins, fresh out of the oven, and the eggs will be done in just a minute."

"Okay, I just have to brush my teeth."

Soon after, teeth and hair brushed, I returned to the kitchen. Emily was now spooning out the eggs onto two plates.

"Sam's not eating with us?"

"What? Oh, no, he left for work already."

"Oh. What does he do?" I was curious.

"He's like a police officer. Well no, not really…I would say a security guard, but he's not quite that either. He's more like…the eye behind the police force. He just keeps a hawk eye out for any suspicious activity around the city, but if the need comes up he will step in to help." Emily said this with adoration in her eyes. It was easy to see that they were deeply in love with each other; they were good together.

"That's nice. When does he come home?"

"About six o' clock. So what do you want to do today, Bella?"

"You don't have to do anything with me," I said, not wanting to impose.

"Nonsense! You're our guest for perhaps the whole summer. Now, what do you want to do?"

"I'd really just like to go to the city. You know, to sightsee and stuff. I've never been to Chicago before."

"Alright, once we finish breakfast and get dressed we can leave."

I was in a sudden hurry to finish my eggs and muffin now.

The only big cities I had been to were Phoenix and Seattle. And they were over near the West Coast anyways. The farthest east I had ever been was Albuquerque. Never mind the reason why I am now, but it was very interesting to see the different…well, everything.

The dishes were done, the extra muffins put away, and Emily and I were in the car and on our way downtown.

Our first stop was at the Navy Pier. Emily told me how it was constructed from the years 1914 to 1916 and was the world's largest pier at the time. My eyes went straight to the Ferris Wheel. With excitement in my eyes I turned to her and asked if we could go on. She happily agreed.

"I can see all of Chicago from up here!" I laughed as we neared the top.

"Look! There's our house!" Emily joked.

Ferris Wheels are fun.

After the Ferris Wheel, Emily and I just walked around for a while, enjoying the sights and sounds of the Navy Pier. Our next stop was at Shedd Aquarium. We arrived at about one, and there was a dolphin show at 1:30. I asked Emily if she liked dolphins.

"Yeah! They're probably my favorite animal of the sea." I then pointed to the sign advertising the show. She was ecstatic.

"OH! Bella! We have to go. Come on!" She commenced to drag me by the arm to the Oceanarium. I would miss Emily when I had to leave. Maybe we could be friends even after the summer was over.

Luckily for Emily I had a camera. If she hadn't been able to get some type of visual of the dolphins' beautiful jumps and twirls she would have been very upset, I think. After the dolphin show was over, we walked to the Coral Reef exhibit and looked around for a while. I was looking at a tank that had box jellyfish when my stomach grumbled.

"Hey, Emily? Do you think we could get some lunch?"

"I was fixing to ask you the same thing. Sure. I know this great little restaurant nearby."

She drove us to a place called Brisku's Bistro. It had a very pleasant feel to it.

As I was looking at the menu, I got a craving for a burger. The description said "An 8oz. hand packed patty--"WHAT? 8oz.? I can't finish that…

"Hey Bella, how do you feel about splitting a classic Brisku burger?" Emily said without looking up from her menu. Damn, was this lady a mind reader?

"Yes, I just saw how much meat they put in that thing."

"I know, right?" Just then the waiter came by.

About 15 minutes later, our burger came back cut in half. It was pretty tasty.

Our last stop after lunch was the Grant Park. Emily knew the history of this place, too. It was created after the Great Fire of 1871, when most of the debris had been pushed into the lake, creating the fill for what is now the park. There was a monument of Abraham Lincoln and—my fountain. Emily caught me staring at the beautiful structure and told me its history; it was commissioned in 1927 by Kate Buckingham to honor her late brother Clarence. She proceeded to tell me the physical facts of the fountain: a central jet shoots water up to 150 feet and is animated at night by a computerized choreography of colored spotlights.

So that's what I had seen.

Emily began to walk towards the fountain and I made to follow her, but—being lucky, clumsy me—I tripped. I put my hands out to break my fall and avoid breaking my nose. I hit the ground, face unharmed, but as soon as I heard the impact I also heard something happen in my left wrist—several pops, followed by a small crack. I imagined my bones and joints all rolling around, out of place. The thought made me queasy. I quickly sat up on my knees and picked up my left arm in my right hand.

Oh, yeah. There's something wrong with it. Damnit. My hand would hang parallel to the ground if I held my arm up straight, but my hand was pointing straight to the left. That's wasn't right.

I quickly walked over to Emily and told her that we should probably go to the hospital.

"Why? What happened?" She said in a worried voice. That was when she caught sight of my upraised hand.

"Oh my god! Bella, what happened?"

"It's nothing, I'm just very clumsy."

A silly thought was in the back of my mind as we drove to the hospital. I didn't get to see my fountain up close. I scoffed at myself. The fountain wasn't important at a time like this.

Emily took me to the emergency room, even though I tried to plead that this wasn't a big deal. Maybe something in my wrist was just dislocated or something. We were already in the building and I was in the middle of another protest when I saw Him. Not Him, just Him, meant to be said…I didn't even know. In a way so that people knew he was worth something, but not in the superficial "Hey, that guy's wearing Calvin Klein, I bet he's filthy rich" way.He was beautiful. He had green eyes and bronze hair that was sticking up every which way in a very bedhead style. He was tall, yet a little shorter than Jacob and Sam. His skin was pale, about the same shade as mine. He looked strong; the muscles in his back were tensed as I saw him talking to a nurse. He looked angry, while the nurse looked patient. I idly wondered what the problem was…

"Bella! This way," Emily said as she grabbed me by my good arm and pulled me towards the desk, bringing me back to my problem.

I usually paid attention to what was going to happen when it medically concerned me, but I was distracted. Distracted by a facial expression…I wanted to see him smile. I'm sure it would be just as beautiful as when he was frowning. I tried to imagine what his smile would look like, but I don't think it did him justice. A doctor walked in the door, and I noticed that Emily and I were in a small room. He identified himself as Dr. Edward Masen Sr.

"Nurse Denali tells me that you," he paused, looking inside a manila folder, "severely dislocated your wrist? Let me have a look at it."

As Dr. Masen looked at my wrist, I looked at him. I had this strange sense of déjà vu, like I had just seen him, even though this was the first time I had ever met the man. He had vaguely familiar cheekbones…I gasped as I realized why I had just seen him—in a way.

"Did I hurt you?" he asked, alarmed. Doctors aren't supposed to hurt their patients, at least not on purpose.

"No, no, I—I was remembering something I had been trying so hard to remember."

"Oh. Okay then…" he trailed off, a confused look on his face as he looked back down at my wrist.

Yes, I was pretty sure that Dr. Masen was related to the man in the front room. They had the same messy hairstyle; Dr. Masen's was even the same shade of bronze. Dr. Masen's eyes were not green, however. They were blue. The two had the same color of skin and the same build, but who I presumed was his son was leaner. I quickly finished my examination, not wanting to be caught staring when he looked up again.

"Bella, may I ask you what you did to hurt your wrist?"

"I fell."

"You fell? That's it?" He had a look of amazement on his face.

"Yes, sir," I said as I felt my cheeks getting hot.

"Nurse Denali was right, it seems. Several of your carpals are dislocated. I just need to pop them back in place, but you'll need to wear a brace for a while until the ligaments are strengthened again."

I nodded my head and thought back to health class to try and remember what carpals were. Oh. Duh. They were the bones in my wrist.

The relocation of my dislocations was kind of painful.

"Emily, here's a bottle of painkillers if Bella happens to need them. Just follow the instructions on the label," were Dr. Masen's last words as we walked out the door. Did she know this family?

I tried to ask the question without being too obvious. "So do you know any families with teenage sons or daughters? I could make new friends while I'm here…like Dr. Masen, do you know if he has any kids?"

"Dr. Masen? Yeah, he has three kids, two sons and a daughter. The daughter is your age I think, one of the sons is a year older, but the other is your age, too. Their names are Alice, Emmett, and Edward."

Hmm. Emmett and Edward. I still didn't have a name to the face.

"There's actually this funny little story concerning the Masen family and the Cullen family. But it's not really my story to tell…" Ah, so Emily wasn't a big gossiper. Yup, she definitely had good—if not best—friend potential.

"What if you told it only to me?"

"Well…sure, I guess. You see, the Cullens—Carlisle and his wife Esme—are foster parents. They adopted twins, and they're names are Jasper and Rosalie Hale. Jasper Hale is dating Alice Masen, and Rosalie Hale is dating Emmett Masen. Now there's a running joke between the families that poor Edward got the last pick, but was too late."

"Were any of Dr. Masen's kids there? In the hospital?" I was way too curious for my own good.

"Yes, actually. Edward was in the front room. Dr. Masen's wife was too. She was talking to Edward; Elizabeth is a nurse there." Edward. Now I had a name to the face. That was his mom? I wasn't paying close enough attention…

"Hey you know what? Sam and I were planning to have them over this weekend. We were going to invite the Cullens, too. Is that okay?"

"Of course, Emily, that's great. Like I said, I could make some new friends while I'm here."

Edward. Edward Masen. My unhealthy curiosity got the best of me, and I was suddenly very anxious for the coming weekend, all problems back at Forks forgotten for the moment.

A/N: Whew. That was a long chapter. Review, please. Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions.