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Chapter 7 – Family

After school, Jacob and Nessie dropped Edward and I off at the cabin to pick up our car.

"Homecoming?"

"Yes. Homecoming." I just stared at him, trying to tell if he was serious. "We didn't do it right the first time." He said matter of factly.

"How did you get the rest of them to go along with your crazy idea?"

"It wasn't my idea."

"Who's was it?"

"Jake's, he was really excited about the dance and wanted to make it special for our daughter. I helped him, we all helped him. He couldn't do it alone."

Edward let me drive home, it was quiet for a couple minutes, "Are you mad?" He said breaking the silence.

"No, I'm not mad."

"Are you sure, I know you hate the attention."

"No, I promise. It was beautiful. I just can't get the faces of those girls out of my head. I could of killed them right there for staring at you that way."

He chuckled, "You should have seen their minds."

"Not. Helping." I pushed the electric car to its maximum speed. It had been a long time since jealousy was anything I had to feel – and there was no real reason for me to feel it now. Edward was mine. I had the ring and the scars to prove it. He giggled in the passenger seat, the velvet sound calmed me.

"It isn't funny!" I said as my own giggles came.

"If you could only hear what the boys think. You'd know why I find you funny." He shook his head, "The things they imagine could happen between you and them, or my daughter and them – it is quite disturbing." He muttered something so low I couldn't hear ,"Some don't even know your names, they think things like, 'the short one', 'the one with brown eyes', 'the blonde'" His giggles came back, " they call you 'the pale one'".

I didn't think I was any paler than the rest of them.

"Give me your arm!" Edward held out his arm, I raised mine up to his, they matched. "What do they mean 'the pale one'?" I could feel the jealousy replaced with anger.

"I don't know, they think it, not me. But don't worry, Mike Newton – he thinks your pale skin is beautiful, and over half the girls wished they were you today."

"Yeah, because they wish you were their boyfriend, not because they want to be me." I shot him a look, he didn't seem to understand the affect he had on people. He thought of it as the same affect all vampires had, but he was wrong. There was something different about him, beyond the obvious.

We pulled up to the house just a few minutes after the rest of the family. Carlisle and Esme were barely getting home too. They had opened up a private practice over the summer and Esme was his "assistant".

"How did it go?" Carlisle asked.

"She said yes." Edward replied.

"Of course she did." Esme smiled her mother-knows smile as she came around the car to give us each a hug.

"Why is everyone so surprised?" I asked. All three of them rolled their eyes and started marching towards the house. "What am I missing?"

"You never agree to anything like that without force, trickery, or compromise." Edward answered. "We were just a little worried."

"I married him didn't I? Don't I get some credit?" I huffed as I ran ahead of him up to the cottage. Jacob and Nessie were sprawled out on the floor doing homework. They had books stacked all around them, Leah was making dinner in the kitchen, I went directly to my bedroom and started doing my English assignment – another essay about Romeo and Juliet. We were supposed to compare a theme of the play to our own lives. Luckily for me, I'd been doing that since the moment I'd met Edward.

"Dad, come look what I wrote." Nessie called out to him as soon as he walked through the door. It was wonderful to be home, to be mom and dad again.

"That's beautiful Ness, you should show your Mom." I could hear the rattling of paper and the sound of her feet against the wood floor.

"Come in."

Renesmee opened the door and handed me a piece of lined paper.

You asked me to write about my hero, I asked myself, how can I pick just one? I can't, I can only say I pick my family. There are a lot of us, but we act as one. Each has a place and a purpose – we know each other so well that you'd think we could read minds or see the future. Our family has overcome every challenge thrown at us; forbidden love, children born against all odds, life and death. Through it all – we move as one, we act as one, we protect our own. My family is not only my "hero" but my heart.

Her words were sincere and full of love, she wrote the truth without giving details – it was beautiful.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it."

"I hope I get an A." Her brown eyes sparkled, looking at Renesmee I understood what Edward saw in me as a human. She was exquisite.

"Have you thought about what you are wearing yet?" She asked.

"Wearing, to what?"

"Homecoming!" She was excited.

"Oh, I'll probably just let Alice dress me."

"Really?" Alice squeaked as she flitted her way from the living room in to the bedroom.

"Of course, who else?"

"I can't believe how adorable our boys were today. I had no idea, I haven't been surprised, really surprised in so long." Alice sighed as she stared off remembering. Even I, the queen of nothing showy, was impressed.

"Jacob looked so cute!" Nessie added, as she stared into her own daydream.

"Not as good as your father."

"Neither looked as great as Jasper."

"You guys sound like the girls at school." Rosalie added as she finally found her way to the party. "And you are all wrong. Emmett looked the best." She floated down onto the bed next to me.

"What is homecoming exactly?" Nessie asked. She was so intelligent yet so innocent. I chuckled at her, and her smile faded.

"You said yes, and you don't know what to?" Rose asked.

"I trust Jacob. He wouldn't ask unless he knew I'd love it." True.

"Let Alice tell you, she'll make it sound the best." I added.

Alice started to rattle off details and facts about homecoming; I tried to zone it out. I stared out the window at all the boys in the yard. Jasper and Emmett were sparring; it was the David and Goliath match up. Jasper was fast, precise, Emmett was brute strength. Jacob and Edward stood at a standstill; I missed the few moves it took them to get there. Fighting Edward was like fighting yourself, being one step ahead is really one step behind. Edward glanced up to the house and caught me watching, a crooked smile appeared on his face. Just as quickly he was flat on his back. The russet wolf ran into the woods and returned in moments as a fully dressed Jacob to tease Edward about his loss. Emmett and Jasper were still at it when Edward ran up to the window.

"Come on out, I want a fair fight!" He said.

"Fair? You have 80 years on me old man."

"Old man?"

"You heard me!"

"I'm only 17, you are almost 19, my dear/"

"You asked for it!" I flung open the window and jumped out landing on top of him. He relied so much on his power that it caught him off guard. "Too slow, old man!" I taunted. He lunged upward and threw me off of him. I fell to my feet in the middle of the clearing. Everyone crowded around and waited for one of us to make the next move.

The fight lasted nearly three hours, his experience made up for how blind he was without being able to hear my thoughts. The crowd decided early that Alice couldn't ruin it for them and she cheered for us equally. For my fatal blow I went at Edward from the side, slamming him against the reinforced steel corner of the cottage. I pinned his arms behind him and aimed my teeth for his jugular vein. I let out a snarl from deep in my throat and went in for the kill in true Cullen fashion – a light kiss against his pale skin

"Gotcha"

"I knew she was going to win." Emmett said victory in his voice. I beat him in arm wrestling so many times when I was a newborn, he never bet against me in a fight. Jasper always did, this time he lost a brand new Jeep for Emmett and a camping trip during grizzly season. "Pay up!" He said as he punched Jasper on the shoulder and started up their sparring match again.

Carlisle and Esme came up and announced that the Denali family was going back to Alaska. We all went to say goodbye.

"We'll see you soon." Edward gestured as they all got into their black sedan."For the wedding!" Tanya assured, she winked at Jacob and Nessie standing to my right.

As they drove off I brought my barrier back around just my family and let the rest of the world go unguarded. It was always an internal battle, the same battle to reign in and focus on the closest to me, the ones I could protect, and the ones I would protect at all costs.