Michael's Seafood and Steakhouse was located at the lower level of a historic building in downtown Port Angeles. They offered a good selection of seafood and steak, but also had pizza and pasta on their menu. When we arrived, I asked for a booth and seconds after the hostess had led us to our seats, a waitress showed up to take our orders for something to drink. I asked for two cokes and she disappeared to get the drinks. I looked around and found that for a Tuesday night and it being still off-season the place was pretty well visited. More than half the tables were occupied and the waitresses dashed between them with practiced ease.

I pretended to look at my menu, but actually watched Bella from over the rim of it. She looked fantastic in Rosalie's clothing, the blues of the blouse and the cardigan doing something to her skin to make it almost glow in a soft ivory color. The silk of the blouse clung to her slender body in a lovely way, and it was cut low enough to show off the way her neck elegantly rose above her shoulders. If I'd been a vampire, I didn't know if I would have been able to restrain myself from devouring her.

She looked up and caught me staring at her before I could look away. She blushed, but I also could see a grin playing around her lips.

"What are you thinking?" I asked before I could stop myself.

She grinned more openly now. "I'm thinking that if you were a vampire, I would be your dinner."

My face fell. Even though this had been exactly my thoughts just moments ago, I couldn't allow her to make fun of it. She was in enough danger alone from her scent that was so appealing to my family. She had no idea in what danger she was just from being with me and in association with my family. I knew my family was in control of themselves and they would never intentionally harm Bella, but she still was in danger.

I dropped the menu and leaned forward to grab her hands. I looked deeply into her eyes, trying to convey the seriousness of the situation to her. "Don't ever make fun of this, Bella. You don't know what you are saying."

She froze, looking slightly stunned for a moment. Then she blinked as if waking up from a dream.

"I thought you said your family doesn't kill humans," she said, sounding a little breathless. I hoped I hadn't scared her too much, for scaring her was the last thing I wanted to do, but at the same time I hoped I had. She had to understand that my family was still very, very dangerous.

I sighed. "No, they don't, but it's not easy for them. Humans are so much more 'tasty' for them than animals. We do smell so very attractive to them and it is sometimes very difficult for them to be among humans without the thirst taking over. When it does, there's no control, no stopping them. My family has a lot of practice with it, but they are not infallible."

"Then why do they go to school if it's so hard for them to be among normal people?" Her eyes glittered with true curiosity.

"They want to appear as human as possible. And that means going to school. It's usually only for a year or two and if you're immortal this isn't so much time, really."

Our drinks arrived together with a small basket of bread. We both pulled apart to allow the waitress to place the glasses on the table. The waitress - her name plate gave her name as 'Vivian' - asked me if we had already decided on what to eat, but I shook my head and she left again.

I pushed one glass at Bella. "Drink," I insisted.

She gave me a strange glance, but then picked up her glass and took one long swallow. I followed her example, being very thirsty all of a sudden. The cold liquid felt good to my parched throat and I finished the glass in three quick gulps.

"So, how does that immortality thing work out?" she ask curiously, putting down her equally empty glass.

I shrugged. "Once you've been changed you don't age anymore. You look the same, be it next year, ten years or a hundred years from now. Vampires won't get sick and it's practically impossible to kill one."

"So, stakes, and crosses, and sunlight and all that are just myths?"

I nodded. "As far as I know only a vampire is strong enough to kill another vampire. I've never seen it, of course, but Jasper had a bit of a rough past, so he told me once."

"How old is your family really?"

"Carlisle was born sometime in the 17th century, Jasper during the Civil War. The others are all from the beginning of the last century."

"Wow!" she said, clearly stunned by that information.

"You know, you're taking this all pretty calmly," I wondered. I had expected her to run away from me screaming by now, but really she just sat there, watching me, rather composed, with her wonderful, brown eyes, as I told her one unbelievable thing after another.

She tilted her head and smiled. "I had some time to get used to the idea that your family is not quite what it seems to be. Remember when you saved me in that accident?"

No, I didn't, not really, as my memory of that morning still hadn't returned and wasn't likely to return ever. No need to remind her of this, though. I nodded.

"To get to you, Emmett pushed that car away from us with super strength. I know I saw it, but he denied it and I had no proof. But I started to watch your family after that and I noticed a few things."

"Like…?" I prompted, curious on what had given my family away.

"Well, the non-eating thing for one. I noticed that even though the others got some food, you were the only one actually eating it."

She had commented on this before.

"Well, as I said, the cafeteria food is not exactly to their taste," I reminded her with a wink.

She inhaled sharply when she remembered where my family's taste truly ran to.

"So they really … they do … they drink blood?"

I nodded, adding a little half shrug for good measure. "Every two to three weeks they need go hunting. They usually go pretty far in order to not draw any attention to themselves and to our home."

I didn't want to go into too much detail on this topic. For one, the thought of somebody living on blood was not exactly an appealing one. I'm used to it, hey I knew of it for all my life, but Bella didn't. She might be disgusted by it and it wasn't really the most suitable topic for a dinner conversation in any case.

Bella looked curious still, but luckily Vivian decided it was time to ask us again if we had chosen something we wanted to eat. I took a short glance at the menu, really looking at it for the first time.

"Bella, what do you want?" I asked her, while quickly browsing through the selection.

She furrowed her brows, as she looked down on her own menu. She then quickly decided to order the Shrimp Pasta.

"I'll take the Fisherman's Bounty then," I informed Vivian, picking something more or less at random. "And some more coke, please."

I handed my menu back to the waitress and forgot about her a second later.

"You said you noticed a few things. What else was there to notice?" I asked the moment Vivian was out of earshot.

Bella had taken a roll out of the bread basket and began to shred it into small pieces before popping them into her mouth.

"One day, I saw you and the others standing together. It was cold and I could clearly see your breath in the air, but not that of the others. I thought it was strange, but I couldn't find an explanation."

I hadn't been aware that Bella had been watching us as closely as she obviously had done.

I slowly nodded. "You're very perceptive. Most people wouldn't have noticed. My family doesn't really need to breathe - at least they don't need the oxygen to survive. Most times, though, they still do it. The reason you didn't see their breath is that their body temperature is very low and when they breathe the air doesn't get saturated with moisture."

I could see that she was listening to me with rapt attention. Her eyes were fixed on my face, her hand frozen halfway between the bread before her and her mouth. For a moment I forgot what else I wanted to say. The highlights in her hair shone even in the dim light of the restaurant and the candle flame between us was reflected in her warm brown eyes. I reached out to take her free hand and was thrilled that she didn't try to withdraw it. Her hand was warm in mine and without any conscious thought or planning I started to stroke the back of it with my thumb.

Time was lost to me. The sensation of her skin against mine was exquisite and I knew I could have stayed like that for a very, very long time.

Somebody close by cleared her throat and I looked up the see Vivian with two fresh glasses of coke standing next to our table. Bella blushed a deep crimson and pulled her hand out of mine with an abrupt move. The sense of loss I felt was only topped by my annoyance at the waitress for spoiling the moment.

She placed the glasses on the table and took the two empty ones. "Your food will be here in a moment."

I had been too well brought up to tell her what she could do with her food, though she must have seen something of my thoughts in my eyes, for she retreated rather quickly.

Bella giggled and I looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" I asked a little irritated, though I couldn't be really angry with her. I don't think I ever would be able to be angry with her. Maddened, frustrated, exasperated, yes, but never angry.

"You're not really fair to her, you know," she said, grinning.

I tilted my head in an unvoiced question, hoping for some more explanation.

"First you dazzle her and now you look like you're ready to kill her. The poor girl has no idea how to react to you."

I furrowed my brows. "What do you mean with 'I dazzle her'?"

She sniggered, but then abruptly grew serious. "You really haven't noticed?" she said, as if surprised by some revelation.

I made a gesture to indicate I had no idea what she was talking about.

"You must know what effect you have on people!"

I had an effect on people? What the hell was she talking about? But that raised an interesting question for me.

"Do I have an effect on you?" I asked.

She suddenly looked away, blushing more than I had ever seen her do, obviously very embarrassed.

"I'm sorry," I quickly apologized. "I shouldn't …"

She interrupted me with a quick shake of her head. "No, it's all right. I shouldn't have brought it up. But, yes, sometimes you do have an effect on me." She gazed at me from underneath her lashes, her hair half hiding her face.

I blinked. Was she saying what I thought she was saying? And if she was saying what I thought she was saying, did that mean what I thought it meant?

"Bella," I reached again across the table for her hand and luckily she didn't seem to be disinclined for me to take it. "If I have an effect on you, you also have very much an effect on me. I … I think … I think I really, really like you."

Gosh, what a stupid thing to say. As if those few words were able to express the depth of the feelings I had for her? But, surprisingly enough, it seemed like this time I had managed to pick the right words, for Bella's face lit up with a stunning smile and I felt my breath catch at the beauty of it.

"You do?" she sounded pleased, and breathless, and a little overwhelmed herself.

I nodded. "Bella," I began. "You mean so very much to me. From the moment I saw you for the first time, I knew I wanted to be with you. When I'm near you, I feel happy, and if you're away from me, I'm not."

For a moment longer her beautiful smile illuminated her face, but then the corners of her mouth dropped and she looked away once more.

"Then why did you leave me alone for so long?" she whispered and pulled her hand out of mine.

"Oh, Bella, don't you see? Because I wanted to be with you I had to leave you alone."

She blinked, attempting to understand the meaning of my sentence. A small crease appeared between her brows and she looked at me in confusion.

"You're not making sense."

I sighed deeply, feeling a twinge of pain coming from my ribs, but ignored it.

"I told you about my family? That they are vampires, right? And that it is difficult for them to be around humans because of our smell?"

She nodded, but clearly didn't quite understand what I was going for.

"Sometimes, very rarely, they come across a human that smells so much better to them like an average person. So much better it's nearly impossible for them to resist. They try, but it's very, very hard for them."

Something like understanding lit up her face. "And I'm one of those humans?"

I nodded.

"And you were afraid they could do something to me?"

"You seem to have a talent to get into trouble, you know. And when Alice had a vision that you might be killed by a vampire I thought it best to stay away from you, to reduce the risk."

"Alice saw I get killed by a vampire?" she squeaked.

Oops, I hadn't meant to say that.

"I'm sorry, I … well, she doesn't, not any more. That is, there's still the possibility you might get killed by a vampire, but it won't be by one of my family," I rambled on, seemingly incapable to stop myself.

"One moment, let me get this right," she interrupted me. "Alice can see the future and she saw me getting killed by a vampire?" I could sense it took some restraint to keep her voice level.

I stopped. I thought I had mentioned Alice could see the future, hadn't I? Or maybe I hadn't gotten to that point yet.

"Didn't I tell you that Alice has visions of the future?"

"I think you neglected to mention this little fact," she responded sarcastically, though I believed she wasn't really serious, as she also smiled a little.

"I'm sorry. Her gift is the reason I could find you so fast. She promised me to look out for you and when you got into trouble she knew and she gave me a call and that's how I got to you in time."

Almost in time, I corrected mentally. I should have been there before those foul men ever had a chance to even touch her.

"Does it bother you?"

I mean, I just had told Bella that Alice had seen her being killed by a vampire. I expected her to freak out.

"No, not really, though I'm curious. Is this a vampire thing?" she asked sounding rather calm.

It took a moment for me to realize that she had inquired about Alice's ability. I really had thought she would be more interested in her own possible death.

"Yes and no. Most vampires are fairly normal. That is, they don't have any unusual powers. There are some, though, that develop something a little bit more supernatural, something like Alice's visions. It is a fickle gift, really, as the future is not set in stone. It really depends on decisions people make and if you or I suddenly should change our mind about something, the outcome will change. For example, Alice would see you getting food poisoning because you ate some bad chicken, but before you order the chicken dish in the restaurant you suddenly decide you'd rather have fish that day, so you won't get food poisoning and the future she had seen has changed."

"So if Alice informs me I will get food poisoning because of bad chicken, all I need to do is to stay away from the chicken and I'm fine?"

"Exactly. So when Alice saw that you're in danger because of my family we decided that it would be safer for you if I'd stayed away. After the choice was made, you were safe again. Only, I didn't fare very well with this decision and eventually I couldn't do it any longer."

She thought about that for a moment.

"But eventually her visions changed and I'm no longer in danger from your family?"

"Not quite. As long as I was 'good', the vision didn't change: I stay away, you're safe. But when I couldn't do it any longer and caved, and she looked into the future to see what the consequences of my decision might be, she discovered that my family is no longer a danger for you. They now understand how much you mean to me and what I would feel if something should happen to you.

"But, as today has shown, you don't need any additional risk in your life. You do manage to get into trouble like nobody I've ever met. What were you doing in that area anyway?"

She ducked her head at this and had the decency to look chagrined.

"I got lost," she admitted with a blush. "Jessica told me about that bookstore, but when I got there I saw it was not what I was looking for. So I tried to find something better, but somehow ended up in the wrong direction."

Our food arrived then and I urged Bella to start eating. After the shock she had suffered today she needed to get her blood sugar level up, and, to be honest, so did I. I dug in, finding the fresh fish over fettuccine and tomato cream sauce quite tasty. For a few minutes we both concentrated on our meal. I watched Bella eat, noticing how she surreptitiously pushed the capers in her sauce to one side of the plate, while obviously enjoying the rest of her food. I loved this little quirk of her. It showed me that she wasn't perfect, that there were things she didn't particularly liked, but that she also didn't make a big fuss about it.

After our first hunger was somewhat sated, Bella picked up the thread of our conversation.

"How is it to grow up with vampires?"

I had to think about that for a moment. It wasn't as if I really had a baseline to compare my life to. My family was all I had ever known. I had known from the beginning that they were somehow different from the parents and families of my friends, but always in a good way. When I had been younger, I always had somebody to entertain me, to read me a story or sing me to sleep. When I had a question I always could find somebody to answer me. When I was in danger of falling down, I could count on somebody to pick me up before I got seriously hurt - which led to some interesting situations, like when I once tried to jump off the roof of our house to see how far I could get, utterly unafraid of getting injured. Rosalie had been furious back then – that was after she had caught me.

I was pretty sure that my parents had read all available books on child rearing they could get their hands on, from every single book by the American Academy Of Pediatrics to the volumes of Dr. Spock. As far as I could judge - being a bit biased on the whole issue - they had done a reasonable good job in the end. I know they could have been a lot more clingy than they had been, but I had been to kindergarden with all the viruses that swarmed around those places, and to pre-school. I had had soccer practice and one year, while we lived in Canada, I had even played ice hockey, which resulted in a spectacular break of my left leg. They allowed me to make my own experiences, my own mistakes.

Of course, there had been the family secret to keep.

When I had been seven or eight an ancient coven in Italy, the Volturi, learned of my existence. They sort of acted as a ruling body for the vampire society, enforcing one law above all: no human could learn of the existence of vampires and live. As I was obviously human and equally obviously knew my family's secret I should have been killed. Instead we had all been invited to Italy and I had been presented to the Volturi court. I had been too young to understand what was going on, though I still remember how scared I had been. In the end I had been allowed to live, as my bond to my family was so strong it was very unlikely I would ever betray them.

Of course, now Bella knew, but then I knew she wouldn't tell anybody.

I decided to not mention the danger she was in by the Volturi, at least not for now.

"How is it to grow up with vampires?" I repeated her question. "Not much different than growing up in a normal family, I would think. There were some perks, like twenty-four hour story reading services if required, but other than that I believe it was fairly normal. I did get some unusual support in school sometimes, like in history where I got some first person insight into historic events. In sixth grade I had to give a report on the Civil War, and Alice and Jasper made me an authentic copy of a drummer boy's uniform to wear. When I gave my presentation, I had all those gruesome details - which were all true - but my teacher thought I had made them up and she only gave me a 'B'. Jasper was furious."

Bella laughed at the picture I presented and I also had to grin at the memory.

She asked me more questions about my past and I was only too happy to answer them. I even admitted my roof-jumping adventure, which got me a gasp and a giggle. As I, in turn, was curious about her past, I also asked questions about her and how she had grown up in Phoenix. Her mother seemed to be a bit of the free spirit and there were many stories which made me laugh out loud.

Before we knew it, the waitress was back to clear our plates and asked if we wanted something else. I asked, once again, for more coke, though I wasn't really thirsty any more. I just wanted to spend more time here, time with Bella. Luckily, Bella was willing to follow my lead.

I'd noticed before that time had a funny way of expanding and contracting simultaneously whenever I was around her. Even though I knew we talked for hours, and I enjoyed ever minute of it, it felt like only moments had passed by the time Vivian laid down the check on our table in the not so subtle hint that it was time for us to leave. Bella made to reach for it, but I snatched it out from under her hand.

"I'll pay," I told her, not allowing for her even to offer to split the bill. I glanced at the check and stuck a note inside the booklet that covered the bill plus a good sized tip. Not that I had been too impressed by the service – the waitress had interrupted us too often in my opinion – but I had spent a wonderful time here. Though practically everything what made that time so wonderful had to do with the girl that sat at the other side of the table.

I got up and held out my hand to Bella, which she readily accepted.

On the way back to Forks Bella and I continued with our game of asking and answering questions. I quizzed her on what she liked and disliked, and she reciprocated in kind.

As soon as we reached the outskirts of Forks I fell silent. I realized that my time with Bella for today was coming to an end, and this filled my with a feeling of sadness I couldn't quite explain. Just the thought that I had to take her back to her father and that I wouldn't be able to see her for more than ten hours was almost too much to bear. Thoughts of just driving on, keeping her with me in the car forever entered my mind, though I knew I was getting ridiculous.

Of course, I didn't drive on. I got us to her house and stopped the car, but couldn't get myself to get out and open her door. I closed my eyes, breathing in her scent that had filled the car, inhaling her as much as possible.

She also was silent and she didn't make a move to get out, though I know she should, she had to.

Eventually, I felt a warm hand on my arm and my eyes flew open, looking at her in the dim light of the porch lamp.

"Edward," she said, her voice low, almost sad.

"Bella?"

The left side of her mouth lifted into a wry, lopsided grin. "Thank you. Thanks for everything."

And before I knew how, she bent over and planted a soft, quick kiss on my mouth.

Suddenly I was alone in the car. Frozen, I watched her walking quickly up to the door of her house and open it. She turned once more back to me before vanishing inside, waving at me with a smile on her face. Then she was gone.

My lips were tingling and I raised my fingers to them, feeling gently along their curves. My tongue darted out, tasting Bella on my lips. The corners of my mouth went up and after a few minutes I was grinning like an idiot.