The next morning I was restless. Even though Alice had said that the other vampires were still far away I was nervous and wanted to be with Bella instead of sitting in the house, waiting for the time I could finally drive over to her place. Eventually, I just gave up on pacing in my room and decided to go on a good long run. When Emmett saw me coming down the stairs in my running outfit, he instantly offered to accompany me. Normally he couldn't stand to slow down to my human running speed, so I suspected that he just wanted to keep an eye on me, being concerned about me the same way I was concerned about Bella. I didn't want to fight with him about his over-protectiveness, though, so I told him I'd wait for him on the back porch while he changed. As he didn't sweat there was no real reason for him to change into some running clothes, but there was always a chance we could meet somebody and appearance did matter.

I didn't have to wait long, and soon we were both jogging at a relaxed speed along some trails cut through the forest. I didn't pay any attention where we were going, confident that I would always would be able to find my way back, and if not, Emmett would for sure. I lost myself in the rhythm of the run, allowing my mind for once not to think of anything in particularly. Soon I felt the tension inside of me loosen up.

After some time the forest ahead of us cleared and I realized we were getting close to one of the many bodies of water that were scattered all over the peninsula. The trail ended at a rocky beach belonging to a smallish lake. Further down the beach some larger stones where arranged in a loose circle and charred thrift wood showed that the site had been used before for bonfires. I saw a couple of broken bottles at one side, but other than that it was actually a quite nice location.

Emmett had trailed after me the whole time without saying anything, not unlike a CIA agent following the President as he was having a lazy jog through DC. All that was missing was the black suit, the sun glasses and the gun in a shoulder holster. Of course, even without a gun he was a hundred times more deadly than any CIA agent in the world.

Even after the long run I was barely out of breath, feeling only a light twinging from my ribs. Trying my whole life to keep up with my vampiristic family ha led to me being in pretty good shape. I knew trying to keep up with them was a hopeless endeavor, really, for there was no way I ever would be able to physically match them in any way, but that never had stopped me from trying.

I stretched, then bent down to pick up some flat, smooth pebbles.

"Dad?" I began in a questioning tone. I flung one of the stones, making it skip over the surface of the lake. The first made three leaps before it disappeared underneath the water's surface. The next one went a little bit further.

"What's up, son?" He also picked up a couple of stones and copied my throwing motion.

"Bella asked me a question yesterday and it got me thinking about something. If you'd ever get the chance to turn back into a normal human, would you take it?"

He didn't answer immediately, but gave it a little thought, which was, considering how straightforward my father usually was, a credit on how serious he took the question. Eventually he sighed.

"If it were just me, I don't know. I've been a vamp for a long time now and there are many things about it that I do like. There are things about it, though, that I hate. You know your mother wouldn't hesitate if you ask her that question and I will follow her wherever she goes. So, if it would be a package deal, she and I, yes, I would take it in a heartbeat. If it were just me, and Rosie would have to stay the way she is, I would say no. I love her too much to do that to her."

I nodded. This was basically what I'd already figured. In my family everything came in pairs. Esme and Carlisle, Alice and Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett. In each pairing there was one who longed more to be normal than the other, but in the end it would always come down what the partner in question wanted.

"When Bella asked me if I'd ever want to be a vampire, I told her no. Just thinking to never age and that terrible thirst for human blood, while she remains who and what she is – I couldn't bear that thought."

Emmett nodded. "I see what you mean, Edward. We never really talked about it for we wanted you to have a normal life. I don't know if, would you have asked one of us to change you, we would have agreed to do it. You do know how it is for us, how we always struggle to be better than the monster inside of us, how it always is a fight. We don't wish that for you, especially now that you have found that girl. But you have to know that it will be hard for us as well. You growing old and us … well, not."

I knew and a part of me ached for them. But I was human and I wanted to remain that way. I knew they loved me enough to grant me a normal life, one where I could grow old together with Bella.

I felt my father's arm wrap around my shoulders and squeeze me gently. Then he took me and turned me so that he could look into my face. His expression was serious and there was an emotion in his eyes I couldn't immediately place.

"Edward, we do love you and whatever your future holds, you should know that we will be happy for you. When we found you seventeen years ago, I had had no idea how much joy you would bring to our lives. Every moment with you has been a privilege and a pleasure. You have turned into a fine young man and we all are incredibly proud of you."

What did somebody say to something like that?

I knew I blushed and I ducked my head. I had to blink several times to stop tears from escaping, then muttered something that might have been a thank you. My trainers suddenly caught my interest and I slipped out of Emmett's hold to re-lace my already perfectly laced shoes.

Once back at the house, I took a quick shower, ate whatever Esme placed in front of me, then got my school bag and drove off using Emmett's jeep. If Bella agreed to come to the game, we would need its four wheel drive to get to the playing field.

At exactly two o'clock I stood at Bella's door and knocked. A second later the door opened and Bella was in my arms, her lips on mine. For a good long time my thoughts were only on the incredible girl I was holding and kissing. Life was good.

"Missed me?" I asked jokingly once she let go of my mouth to take in some much needed air.

I felt her smile against my lips. "Maybe a little," she conceded.

She took my hand and pulled me inside. It was the first time I was inside her house and I took a good long look around. Until Bella had moved in two months ago, Charlie had lived here alone for many years and it showed in how the house was decorated. It was spotless clean, though if this was due solely due to Bella's efforts or if Charlie had had a hand in it I couldn't tell. My feelings in that matter went to the first option, though. There was little to show Bella's touch, but those I spotted immediately: a brightly colored quilt hanging over the back of the couch, a few books Charlie wouldn't be found dead reading sitting on one of the tables, some scented candles scattered around the living room.

Bella led me into the kitchen. The small table there was covered with her school books and notes and I remembered that she had said she needed to do homework. Well, so did I to tell the truth.

"Where's your dad?" I asked. I hadn't seen him in the house, though that didn't mean he couldn't be back from wherever he was any moment.

"Fishing," she said, with a bit of an odd sigh. "We already have enough fish in the freezer to feed half the town for a week, but he just goes out every weekend and brings in more. I do like fish, really, but I'm running out of ideas on how to prepare them."

Good. This sounded like he would be out for a bit longer. Knowing we wouldn't be disturbed, I pulled Bella to me and kissed her again.

"Maybe you should talk to Esme. She knows about a million recipes and I'm sure there are a few you haven't tried."

"How come?" Bella asked against my chest as she snuggled up closer to me. "I thought they don't cook, with your family being vampires and all."

I huffed a laugh. "My family might not need to eat normal food, but I do. Did you think I was brought up on take-out?"

I felt rather than saw her smiling. "Actually, I've been wondering. Isn't that a lot of work for them to cook for just one person?"

I shrugged a little. "You cook for two and you don't mind, do you? I think it's not that much different. I never thought much about it to tell the truth."

I really thought Esme didn't mind. She did have an interest in all kinds of housework, and I almost believed she enjoyed having somebody around to test her cooking skills on. Some of her more exotic experiments had turned out to be quite interesting, and there had been only very few meals I found inedible, either because they had turned out to be far too spicy for me – something which was tricky to do right if one couldn't taste the meal before serving it to me – or because I just didn't like the flavor. Esme had never been angry at me if I didn't like something she cooked and she always had some alternative ready for me to eat so I didn't need to go hungry.

"Do you have a lot of homework?" I asked now, indicating the kitchen table with her books.

"It's not too bad, really. Why do you ask?"

I grinned. "There's a thunderstorm coming in this evening and my family is going to play ball. They have invited you to come if you're interested."

Bella pushed away from me so she could look me into the eyes.

"Seriously?"

I nodded. "I promise you will like it. Vampire baseball is not like the normal baseball you know. It's actually pretty cool." I had no intention to mention the nomadic vampires in the area, which were part of the reason my family had extended the invitation to Bella. I didn't want to scare her.

She grinned, looking all excited. "What has the thunderstorm to do with it?"

I returned her grin. "You're going to see. Are you coming?"

"I'd love to."

"Great."

We dove into our homework, though, with Bella sitting just on the other side of the table it was difficult for me to concentrate. I caught myself a couple of times just watching her as she was bent over her work, her pink little tongue sticking out between her full perfect lips while she focused on a math problem or something else. She looked so adorable, I really had to hold myself back not to leap over the table and kiss her again. She must have noticed me watching her, for a crimson flush colored her cheeks then. I forced myself to go back to my own homework, but I knew my work was not up to my usual standards, for I actually had no idea what it was I writing in my essay for Government.

I heard Bella's father arrive just about the same time I was ready to give up on the essay as a hopeless job. It looked like I would have to rewrite the whole thing, but luckily I had two more days to do so, which should give me enough time.

"Bella, do you know who the big, red Jeep in the driveway belongs to?" Chief Swan came inside, shaking the rain off his hat, while he put his tackle away. He looked up and took a double take when he saw me in the kitchen. His hand moved automatically to his hip where I suspected his gun normally rode. I guess I was lucky he didn't carry his weapon when he went fishing.

"Good evening, Chief Swan." I rose from my seat to greet him.

"Bella?" His eyes searched for his daughter, the question 'what the heck is he doing inside the house' clearly written on his face.

"Hi dad," Bella welcomed her father back. "Edward and I have been doing homework together. I hope you don't mind."

He mumbled something that might have been a confirmation that it was okay with him, but then he narrowed his eyes once again as he glared at me.

"Is that Jeep yours? I though you drove a Volvo."

"The Jeep actually belongs to my brother Emmett. I borrowed it for today, for I hope to bring Bella with me this evening to play ball with my family."

"You're going to play baseball with Edward's family?" he asked Bella with a surprised voice.

Bella grimaced. "Well, I guess I'll do more watching than playing, but, yes, that's the plan."

"I never thought I'd see the day," he muttered more to himself than to anyone of us. "Well, more power to you then." That was aimed at me. For the first time I saw something like approval in his eyes when he looked at me.

"When will you be back?" Once again he turned to Bella. "You've got school tomorrow."

Bella looked at me questioningly. "Nine o'clock," I then said. "It will be too dark to play after." Not that my family needed the daylight to play, but neither Bella nor I had their night vision.

"All right then," he nodded.

We quickly put our books back into their bags and donned our rain jackets. In any other place in the world it would have raised suspicion that we wanted to play baseball in the pouring rain, but Forks was different in that regard. If something like a little bit of rain held you off from doing outdoor sports, none would ever happen here. Luckily I knew that we didn't need to worry, for Alice had seen that even though there was a thunderstorm coming in, she had also seen that the field we usually played in would stay relatively dry. Her predictions might be sketchy sometimes, but her weather forecasts were always spot on.

Chief Swan accompanied us outside, I guessed to take another look at Emmett's monster Jeep. The Jeep was huge, with big tires, metal guards over the headlights and tail lights and a couple of powerful spotlights attached to the front fender. In a way the car was a good reflection of Emmett's personality, very powerful and in no way trying to hide it.

"Where are you going to play?" Chief Swan choked out, obviously realizing that we didn't need a car like that to go to one of the normal playing fields in the park.

"My family owns a piece of land west of the 101, off the 68 mileage marker. We can't really do anything else with it, so we sat up a playing field there."

Chief Swan nodded, obviously placing the directions I'd given him on a mental map in his mind. We did indeed own the land there - and actually quite a bit more than that - though I didn't mention that fact. There wasn't much privately owned land on the peninsula, most of it belonged either to the government, like the national park, or to a few larger lumber companies. Well, one of those lumber companies was owned by a corporation, which in turn belonged to my family. We just didn't go around and mentioned that little fact.

I helped Bella into the Jeep and then assisted her to put on the off-roading harness, once it became obvious to me that she was confused by all those buckles. While I pulled the straps tight, I was very much aware how close my hands were to her legs, hips and chest, and I had to remind myself over and over that Chief Swan could probably see us through the window to stop me from kissing her. Eventually I had Bella secured and then strapped myself in.