Chapter Summary: In which the main players of the game continue to be oblivious for the foreseeable future or
In which they finally meet

'It shouldn't be this difficult to find a house', Bella inwardly snarled. She knew she had a terrible sense of direction, but this was bordering ridiculous. It was just as well that she left so early, then; her subconscious must have known that she would have a hard time. She looked at her cell phone, feeling anxiety and shame curl in her gut. The last thing she wanted to do was call Alice – pride told her that if she couldn't find it on her own with the directions Alice gave her, then she didn't deserve to visit them at all. Her phone began to ring as she was still thinking about it, and the anxiety flared when she saw that it was Alice. Speak of the devil…

She pulled over and answered it, her grip tightening on the steering wheel. "Hello?"

"Hey Bella, are you going to be able to find us alright?" Alice chirped.

'No I can't find it - why is your house in an alternate dimension!?' She mentally screamed. How could Alice always sound so chipper? It drove her nuts.

"Uh…" she hesitated. Damn it, she was going to have to just bite the bullet. Gritting her teeth, she continued, "I'm actually driving around in circles trying to find you guys. I'm kinda…"

She sighed.

"I can't find you guys, and I need help."

Alice laughed. Bella was starting to feel like a huge joke with all the laughing Alice did at her expense.

"Alright, I'll help you. Put me on speakerphone so you can have both hands on the wheel and follow my directions. I'll be waiting at the entrance to our driveway."

"Thanks. I'm sorry I'm so bad at this."

She heard a scoff on the other line.

"Don't worry about it. Our place is hard to find, but I bet you'll remember it after this!"

"I hope so," Bella muttered.

With Alice's patient and concise directions, a few minutes of directions brought her to a pathway that was nearly hidden by trees that was only brought to her attention by the diminutive woman standing near its opening. She stopped, and Alice walked toward the truck, though Bella really wanted to call it 'skipping'. The way Alice moved reminded her of the faery folk in the stories she read, graceful and lithe, like every step was part of a dance. She desperately wished she could move that way, too. Instead, she was clumsy and awkward and looked like a mess next to someone like Alice.

"Hey, don't look so glum! It's not like it was easy to find."

She jumped and swiveled her head to see that Alice was already in the truck with her. Cripes, she was so distracted that she hadn't even heard Alice get in. The girl raised a delicate eyebrow in question to her reaction.

"Uh, sorry. I wasn't really paying attention."

Alice stared at her, concern shining in those pretty golden eyes.

"Are you okay?"

Bella hesitated. She wanted to say, but no one really liked self-pity or things of that nature. It would just make Alice laugh at her (again), and despite her reservations, she wanted to be friends with Alice and the rest of the Cullens.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Alice crossed her arms and raised a brow. "I don't believe you."

"You don't have to," she snapped then clicked her jaws shut. No no. Damn! Alice didn't need to be subjected to her attitude. It wasn't her fault. She waited for Alice to get angry, to snap back, to open the door and get out of her life.

Instead, Alice blinked and leaned back in her seat.

"That just tells me that you really aren't okay. What's wrong, Bella? Do you not want to hang out with us?"

"No! I mean, yes! I mean…" Bella planted her forehead on the steering wheel and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. She was doing this all wrong.

"I do want to spend time with you all. It's just…I'm waiting for the catch, you know? I'm waiting for you to tell me that it was a joke, or that you want something from me, or…" she sighed. "I'm not used to this, I'm sorry."

She felt a small, cold hand touch her shoulder.

"Bella, I wanted you to come over because I knew we could be good friends just by looking at you. And I bet you could be great friends with my siblings, too!" Alice began counting on her fingers. "Emmett's a cuddle bug that loves card games, and Rosalie loves to fix cars! Jasper is a big history buff, and loves playing guitar. Edward loves playing piano and reading books. I love to draw and design dresses. You have to be interested in at least one of those things, right? It's bonding material!"

"That just makes you guys sound more perfect," Bella mumbled.

Alice sighed and Bella turned her head to see the other girl pouting. She wanted to smile at the sight.

"You're really hard to please, you know that? We have flaws too, and you'll see that in time. I can list those off, too, if you really need me to."

Bella snorted in laughter and covered her mouth, shaking her head.

"No, it's fine. I just need to get over it. I'll take you at your word."

"Good! Now let's get to the house. We have a family friend over, and I've kind of been gushing over you for a while, so if he talks to you like he's known you forever, just go with it."

Alice had been talking about her? She felt her face heat up.

"All good things, I assume," she weakly tried to joke.

Alice nodded as if she was being serious. "Of course! I'm pretty sure everyone loves you by now, even the guest."

"I wouldn't go that far…"

Alice laughed.

He leafed through a book, unseeing. His twitching foot, crossed at the ankles, was the only sign that something was amiss. Time was dragging, and he couldn't say he was exactly pleased. Only an hour had passed and it felt like it had been much, much longer. He breathed in and slowly expelled the air through his nose. Patience had never been a strong suit of his, even though he made it look that way. This felt like a unique brand of torture. Three more hours of this agonizing waiting.

Aro's ears perked when he heard a rather monstrous noise coming down the Cullen's driveway. Machinery, an old vehicle. Wait…didn't Isabella get an old truck from…? The book in his hand snapped shut and he sat still, listening.

The noise from the vehicle cut off and he picked up a heartbeat in its wake that was increasing in tempo in the seconds that ticked by. Soft voices reached him.

"Well, here we are. What do you think?" That was Alice. Was she not supposed to be hunting with the others?

"It's…about what I expected in terms of grandeur," the unfamiliar voice said. "A little more modern, though."

"Modern? What were you expecting, a Victorian mansion?"

The other voice snorted. "Weird as it sounds, yeah. Those kinds of houses scream 'old money' and…uh. I dunno, I was thinking that's what you guys were."

"Carlisle is an accomplished doctor and Esme is a successful interior designer and architect. Even if we had 'old money', we wouldn't really need it."

"Oh. Uh…" the voice sounded awkward and uncomfortable. "I didn't know that. Are you sure you guys aren't perfect?"

"Bella, relax. We're by no means perfect – our parents were driven to succeed in life is all, and they're hoping to have us follow in their footsteps."

Bella. It was her! Aro nearly destroyed the book in his grip and knew that if he had a beating heart, it'd be in his throat. She was early! Everyone was still gone…Aro barely held back the urge to begin laughing. Alice, that clever little minx.

"Like a bunch of architects and doctors?"

Alice laughed. "No, silly! To succeed like they have. They won't support us forever, and want us to have the means to support ourselves in the future. Can you imagine Emmett in a doctor's coat or designing a house?"

"Hey, I don't know him yet, he could have a great eye for color to set the mood of a room," Isabella shot. Then she chuckled. "He would look kind of ridiculous in a doctor's coat, though, wouldn't he?"

"There, see? You're relaxing! Come on, let's go inside. I've got to show you around. If I let Esme do it, she'll talk your ear off about why the rooms are the way they are."

That was his warning. Aro flitted to the room Esme had lent him and made quick work of putting in the contacts, blinking a few times to dispel the agitation of having the terrible contraptions on. A breath had him back in the living room and in his chair as he heard the truck doors slam closed and he felt his hands involuntarily clench. He forced them to relax.

The smell of home invaded his nostrils for the first time in seven years and he stiffened his limbs to resist sprinting to the door. Images of seaside cliffs and scarlet sunsets flashed behind his closed eyes and the smell of ocean air surrounded him. All throughout, the thump of Isabella's heartbeat was loud in his ears and he treasured the sound. She was really here.

Isabella really was as soft-spoken as she had been as a child, a tinge of reluctance coloring her responses to Alice's excited chatter. His lips twitched upward – he had known this would be the case. Their footsteps grew louder, and he felt himself stand without meaning to. The door was pushed open and Alice danced into the room, a large smile showing off her pearly teeth.

He stopped breathing as Isabella followed behind, her shoulders slightly hunched, a single finger from her right hand curled into her hair and teeth biting into her plump lower lip. She was beautiful, for a human – far more beautiful than he had expected. Jane's reports had hardly done her justice. But…perhaps he was a touch biased. She took in her surroundings, torn between awe and discomfort.

Then she made eye contact with him, and it was as if the world had stopped. Earth brown locked with murky violet and Aro took that moment to admire the beautiful young woman she had grown up to become. He had chosen well, he thought with no small amount of pride, and reaffirmed that she would make a magnificent vampire.

His feet began moving without his permission again and before he could stop himself, he'd reached out and grabbed her hand. His mouth twitched, and he shoved down the urge to begin tittering madly. He could see nothing. She was immune to him, as well. What an absolute prize. He bowed, a gesture he had made to no one, mortal or immortal, and brought her hand to his lips, just barely brushing the smooth, warm skin.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Isabella."

"Bella," she blurted, then froze, her face lighting up a bright red.

He smiled, relishing her expression and the increased potency of the scent she emitted. "Bella. It means 'beautiful' in Italian, did you know?"

Her blush seemed to intensify. "Mom used to mention it all the time…" she said as quietly as possible. His strangely accented voice was doing funny things to her insides, and she felt the oddest compulsion to touch his dark hair to see if it was as soft as it looked. He was so pale, paler even than the Cullen kids, and she felt the fingers of her free hand twitch.

She stared down at where he was grasping her hand. His touch was freezing like Alice's, but she ignored that in favor of admiring the shape of his fingers. Long, elegant, and smooth. She had once heard the term "anatomically perfect", and she felt that there was no better phrase to describe him. His hands, she corrected mentally. He began speaking again, and she snapped out of her thoughts, feeling like crawling into a hole and hiding forever.

"I believe it rather suits you, but I much prefer Isabella, myself. I hope you do not mind if I continue to call you such."

"I guess," she mumbled, attempting to hunch deeper into herself in embarrassment.

Aro found he was having far too much fun seeing her so flustered.

"Perhaps not, then? How about mia stellina?"

"'My little star'?"

His eyes sparkled with amusement.

"Ah, so you know a little Italian!"

She was chewing on her lip again, and Aro was finding it unusually difficult to not stare.

"I took a few lessons when I was younger."

"Beautiful and talented. It seems you have no shortage of gifts."

He released her hand and she clutched it to her chest, staring at him strangely.

"I don't think I got your name."

"Ah, how rude of me! My name is Aro. It is quite the pleasure to make your acquaintance."

She felt the weirdest urge to curtsy in response and ignored it. Maybe it was just the way he spoke. It was very cultured, almost bordering on being stuffy. She wondered why; he looked young, maybe early to mid-twenties.

"Likewise." She looked over at Alice standing at the base of the stairs and felt guilt. She'd pretty much completely forgotten that Alice had been there. "Uh, I'll come back and talk to you later? Alice had some stuff she wanted to show me."

Aro chuckled softly and Bella felt butterflies explode in her stomach at the sound. What the hell was wrong with her? She began moving toward the stairs, shoving down the feeling.

"Take your time, my dear. I shall be waiting." He wanted to bite his tongue as he said that. Had he not done enough waiting? Still, it wouldn't do to steal too much of Isabella's time when she didn't know that she was really here for him.

Bella mouthed 'my dear?' to Alice and the girl began giggling. They began walking up the stairs, and Bella whispered, "Is it just me or is Aro half a step from talking like he just walked off the set of a period movie?"

Aro felt a flash of indignation at that and grabbed the discarded book, deciding to actually read it this time around.

"Bella, be nice! Maybe he just wanted to make an impression?"

"Why?" she sounded confused as she asked.

"Why not? I mean you're a pretty girl, Bella – what guy wouldn't want to make an impression?"

"No I'm not," she immediately retorted. Aro frowned. Why would she not think herself beautiful?

"Don't give me that; Tyler and Mike were drooling all over you as soon as they saw you."

'Tyler and Mike' sounded like they would make wonderful appetizers for his next meal, he thought vindictively. How dare they covet what was his? He didn't bother to analyze his thoughts that time, far too entangled in the pleasure he'd take in removing them from Isabella's life permanently.

"Hold on," Alice said quickly.

Aro blinked, snapping out of his musing as his cell phone vibrated in his pocket. The number was unrecognized, but he smirked as he read the message and realized that it was Alice.

Don't even think about it. If you do, we'll have to move and I'm not letting you separate me from my sister so soon.

It had taken him time to adjust to the novelty of a cellular device, and he had become slightly confused when almost every button had disappeared in favor of a larger screen as the phone rapidly evolved. The first phone of such make that he'd attempted had nearly caused him to give up on it altogether when the screen wouldn't respond to his dead touch. Another attempt found him using a small pen-like object – a stylus, they'd called it – to enter commands, and luckily it had worked.

He would have preferred using the small silver phone he'd had when he met Isabella, but it had been crushed in his pocket when one of the Arizonan coven members had attempted to tackle him to allow the other members to run. What a disappointment that had been.

The small black pen glided over the screen as he constructed a response.

Worry not, little Alice. Your human classmates are safe from me and mine.

He heard a small huff of air upstairs as Alice's phone made a sound like chimes.

"Alright, as I was saying…"

Isabella cut her off. "Look, I know you mean well, but I just find it way too hard to believe you."

There was a beat of silence and Aro turned his eyes upward toward where they were. The book lay forgotten. "Is it okay if I ask why?" Alice prompted gently.

"I…uh. I don't know, it might not make sense to you."

"You'd be surprised, Bella."

Another beat of silence.

"Not right now. Kinda early in our friendship to be diving into the deep stuff, isn't it?"

He heard a soft sigh, likely Alice.

"Alright, Bella. But I want you to know that I'm always open to talk."

"Right, thanks."

Aro quickly recounted all the reports in his head, looking for a possible reason for Isabella's low opinion of herself. If anything, she should have been proud and confident, being as self-sufficient, dependable, and talented as she was. What was he missing? His phone buzzed.

Ask her later.

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

There was no question in that, my dear. I would have asked her whether you directed me to or not. Relaying it step by step seems a little heavy-handed, no?

The response was swift.

I forget that sometimes. Sorry! I thought you would have liked that, though?

Aro considered that. In any other circumstance, perhaps. He was unsure what it was about his obsession with Isabella, but he felt a tinge of annoyance at the thought of him not directing his own moves concerning her. It was his choice to have her followed, it was his choice to have potential threats removed like the one older human that had thought her easy prey when she was thirteen (she would be no easy prey as long as he had his sights on her), it was his choice to come see her, his choice to eventually turn her. He would have it no other way.

In this case, I am afraid not.

I see! I'll make sure not to tell you anything unless it's important, then. ;P

Was that supposed to be a face? The elder vampire tilted his head to the side and scrunched his brows together. How peculiar. Her tone was very playful, and he wasn't sure if he cared for it. Most vampires were afraid of him or outright hated him. The fact that Alice seemed to feel neither toward him was confusing. Was it because of Isabella and whatever it was that Alice saw? She was one of the only vampires he had not touched yet, and she seemed to be exceptionally talented at keeping out of his reach. It seemed that not even he was privy to her visions. He could order her to show him, of course, but he had the impression that she would refuse him in a way that he could not be angry with.

Some things should remain surprises, she had said. He had heard that statement when he had made contact with The Major.

He heard Isabella laugh at something Alice said and realized he had not been paying attention, a rarity that had him steepling his fingers in front of his smiling lips.

Surprise, indeed.

Note: Alright guys, so this is essentially the end of the preview. I'd already had these written before I'd begun posting, so now updates will be quite a bit slower, perhaps once every few days, once a week at latest. If there are any other further delays, it would be because I have to be heavy-handed in my care of sick family members. So please be patient with me, and I hope you've enjoyed!