Disclaimer: I do not own these characters nor do I claim to.

Chapter 10

Meet the Parents

I cleared the lunch dishes off of the kitchen table and tipped them into the sink. Alice was sitting on a stool at the counter flipping through the latest issue of Seventeen, occasionally rolling her eyes.

The phone rang. I glared at the receiver, wishing that Charlie had caller I.D. So far four different people had called because they had heard that I was in town. With a sigh I picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Edward."

"Hi," I nearly choked on the word. Edward and I hadn't spoken since the awkwardness in Port Angles two nights before. "What's up?"

"Jasper is coming over to pick you and Alice up in an hour. My parents wanted me to have my friends over. They want to make sure that you aren't imaginary." I could almost hear Edward's teasing smile on the other side of the phone.

I felt like vomiting. Meet Edward's parents? I already knew Dr. Cullen, but this wasn't an emergency room situation. Although, if I fainted it might lead to one. "Sounds like fun."

"Great. Emmett said something about getting some movies or whatever, so I don't know how late you guys are staying till." He laughed. "I'm sure you could move in and my mom wouldn't mind."

I allowed myself to file that piece of information away for a later fantasy. "Well if we are going to be there in an hour I need to get off the phone. Alice needs the proper amount of time to dress me."

Alice's head snapped up from the magazine. "One hour?" she mouthed.

I nodded.

She swore and tore up the stairs to my room.

"Oh dear, you've got me in trouble," I teased. "Alice doesn't like to have less than a days warning so she can think about what to put me in."

"Really?" Edward laughed. "Does she dress you every day?"

"No, just on special occasions, which she decided this whole week fell under. I better get off." I sighed, awaiting my doom.

"Okay, see you in an hour."

"Bye Edward."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone and immediately started to panic. I was going to meet Edward's parents. His parents! Of course it meant nothing. I was just his little friend. It wasn't as if I was meeting them as Edward's girlfriend, or anything.

Stop panicking Bella. Get a hold of yourself.

I took a deep breath and ran up to my room after Alice.

To my surprise Alice wasn't tearing through my things. She was gently flipping through her neatly folded piles of clothes, obviously looking for something specific.

"Put that on," she pointed to my closet.

Hanging on the door was a simple dress. I would have come only to just to my knees. The fabric was white eyelet cotton. It was really rather pretty even though I wasn't a dress person.

"Alice, did you buy this for me?" I asked. I had never seen the dress before.

"Yes," she sighed. She knew that I hated it when she bought me things. "I had a feeling that this might happen and I wanted you to have the perfect outfit. Now put it on a brush out your hair."

I pulled the dress over my head. I was surprised when I looked at myself in my closet doors. If I ever got married this would have been the kind of dress that I would have picked out. Simple and pretty.

"White, Alice? Is that really the best idea?"

Alice was pulling on a jean skirt. "Well I was going for a kind of 'virginal' look. You are meeting his parents after all."

I looked back at myself in the mirror. "Do I really need any help pulling off the virginal look? I look like that twenty-four seven."

"Well," Alice began dragging a hairbrush through my waves, "I wanted you to look sweet, which you do."

Alice spent several minuets trying to twist my hair up into various styles. Eventually she gave up and let it fall naturally across my shoulders.

"That looks the best, I guess." She chewed on her bottom lip. She really hated to let me go out there unprepared.

"Alice I look fine. Let me be." I settled down on my bed and watched Alice fiddle with her own hair and makeup.

Alice tossed me a pair of ballet flats that were made out of the same material as my dress. "Here," she handed me a light blue cashmere cardigan to go over my dress. "Now you are perfect."

"Whatever." I never dressed this girly if I could help it. I knew I looked pretty, but this felt extremely foreign to me.

I went downstairs to leave a note for Charlie, telling him that I was going to be at the Cullen's house and had no idea when I was going to be getting home and not to worry. Just as I finished writing I saw Jasper waiting in what I assumed was his parents' car. "Alice, he's here," I called up the steps. I tired to calm my panicking.

********

Edward's house was ridiculously large for a family of three. Did they need a story each? The massive house was settled far back into the woods next to the river that ran through Forks.

I gaped at the house for a few minuets.

"It's something else, isn't it?" Jasper said.

"Yeah," was all I could manage to say in response.

"The front doors open," Jasper nodded to the porch. "Just go on in. There's something I wanted to show Alice around back."

Alice gave me a very strange look that made me decide that I didn't want to know. "Fine," I nodded. "Go have fun."

The two disappeared around the backside of the house and I went up the porch. The glass doors were both wide open. I almost knocked when I heard a faint sound coming from the back of the house.

My eyes widened as I walked in the front door. The entire bottom floor was just one huge room. The massive space had more square footage than my whole house.

Near the back, in one corner, Edward sat hunched over a grand piano. I remembered my dad saying once how Edward played. I had never actually heard him before.

Edward was so completely focused on the Chopin piece he was playing that he didn't even notice me walking up behind him. I watched his hands run back and forth across the keys with such passion and precision. The strength of the chords and the energy that Edward was putting into them almost knocked me over. I didn't breathe until the last chord rang out and Edward's fingers moved away from the keys.

He turned and smiled up at me. "Hey, I didn't hear you come in."

"Your attention was otherwise occupied," I shrugged.

"Yeah," Edward laughed. "I get like that when I play sometimes. It's nice to be home, I get to play on the real piano, not that cracked piece of junk that I have in the apartment."

"That was the Raindrop Prelude, wasn't it?" I asked.

"Yeah," Edward looked confused. "You know Chopin?"

I nodded. I knew little to nothing when it came to classical music, but I loved Chopin. "I have a few Chopin CDs," I explained. A few was an understatement. Over the Internet I had bought every song that Chopin had ever written.

"Where are Alice and Jasper?" Edward asked, looking around.

"Um, Jasper took Alice out back. He said that he wanted to show her something." I held up my hands. "I decided that I didn't want to know."

Edward nodded. "Probably best. You can put your stuff down."

I slung my bag off my shoulder and kicked it under the piano. Deciding that it was warm enough inside, I also pulled off the cashmere cardigan and dropped in on top of my bag.

Edward chuckled.

"What?" I asked, seeing no reason for him to laugh at me.

"You match the rest of the house."

It was true everything in the downstairs room was white, the walls, the carpet even the couches.

"Well," I joked, "If I get nervous I'll back into a wall or something. No one will see me."

Edward gave me a crooked smile. "My mom will defiantly get a kick out of you matching the furniture." There was a sound from the other side of the house that made Edward and I both jump. "Oh, and here she is."

Edward stood up from the piano and placed his hand on the small of my back, guiding me across the vast room to meet his mother and father who had just arrived.

Edward looked tremendously like his father. They had the same smiling face, the same high cheekbones and were both just generally gorgeous. But Edward had his mother's green eyes. His hair was much closer in color and texture to that of Mrs. Cullen. The woman only stood about my height. Both Dr. and Mrs. Cullen looked far too young to have a twenty-one year old son, but Edward was defiantly theirs.

"Mom, dad, this is Bella."

"Hello Bella," Dr. Cullen shook my hand. "It's very nice to see you again."

"It's good to see you again to, Dr. Cullen." I blushed when Edward's father examined me through his glasses.

"Carlisle, please Bella. I'm only Dr. Cullen at work. Here I'm just Carlisle."

Edward's mother grasped my hand in hers. "Esme. It's so nice to finally meet you Bella. We've heard so much about you in the last few weeks."

Weeks? That meant that Edward was talking about me before he came home. I did my best not to get too excited at the thought.

"You have a very beautiful home," I said.

We spoke in generalities for a while. Edward's mother was very nice and cheerful. After about five minuets Rosalie burst through the front door with Emmett, Alice and Jasper in tow.

"Esme," Rose squealed. She ran over to Edward's mother and enveloped her in a hug.

Esme kissed the blond on the cheek. "Rosie, sweetie. We've missed you so much. And Jasper," Esme broke away from Rose to hug her brother, "we've missed you to."

Rose gave Carlisle a hug and Jasper shook his hand.

"Esme, Carlisle, this is Emmett," Rose placed her hand on Emmett's shoulder, like a presenter on TV.

Emmett shook's Edward's parent's hands as Jasper introduced Alice. Alice jumped to hug Esme, as if there was no other option.

"I love having the house full," Esme sighed, looking at the six of us. "You kids are welcome here any time, whether Edward wants you or not."

We all laughed.

********

The bright red disk flew through the air, being caught by Alice just before it hit the ground. My five friends were below, spread across the Cullen's front lawn, playing Frisbee and laughing. I watched from a safe distance on the porch.

"You're not playing?" Esme had drifted out onto the porch and was leaning against the railing next to me.

I shook my head. "If I play then someone is going to get hurt."

Esme leaned her head to the side. "Someone?"

I pointed at myself.

She smiled and nodded.

"I'm not so good with the hand eye coordination." I explained.

"Yes," she laughed gently, "I do remember Edward mentioning something about that."

We quietly watched the game for a few minuets. It wasn't really a game, just tossing the Frisbee back and forth, but with Emmett around everything managed to become a competition. He was currently blocking Edward in an attempt to stop him from catching the Frisbee.

"I'm really glad that you are here," Esme broke the silence. "All of you, but you especially Bella."

Esme must have interpreted my confused stare correctly. "Edward was never a very sociable child. The only friends that he's ever had before were Jasper and Rose. When I found out that Rose had a boyfriend I had become worried. It meant that there could be one less person in his life. Then Jasper found someone as well, I was afraid that Edward would lose Jasper to."

Esme watched her son run across the field, knocking into Jasper and laughing. She smiled. "Then he told me about you. I was so relieved to hear that he had a new friend, and then not only you, but Alice as well. Since Edward had met you he has actually made new friends. It is a little mind boggling."

I laughed. I hadn't been far off my original thought that Edward was a pretty lonely guy.

We both watched as Alice made an attempt to cover Edward. He just casually lifted her up and dropped her on her feet two feet to his right. One thing as certain, Edward wasn't awkward or friendless anymore.

"Let me get this straight, Edward made an attempt but I didn't get it, Alice is your roommate, right?"

"Yes."

"And Alice's dances with Rose?" Esme pointed out each person when she said their names.

"Uh huh."

"Alice met Jasper through Edward when you ran into both of them at the movies."

I nodded.

"And you and Edward have a class together, that's how you met?"

"Right," I said. "I also had a class with Emmett last year. We studied for the final together."

Esme shook her head and laughed. "It really is a small world when you think about it."

"Edward tells you everything?" I asked causally. She seemed to know an awful lot about everybody. My own mother had spoken on the phone with and even met Alice a few times and still, to that day, called her Amy.

"Yes," Esme nodded. "Edward has always been very open with his father and I. He calls me twice a week like clockwork and never fails to send his father an email while he's at work. Edward is very good about keeping in touch with his us."

I felt a stab of momentary guilt. I only ever talked to my mother when she called me and I rarely ever called Charlie. I felt like a bad person.

"He feels guilty about the way her treated you," Esme said out of nowhere. "Still."

"Really?" I asked. I knew that he had felt bad initially, but I never got the impression that Edward was wallowing in grief.

"He told me," I chose my words carefully, "why he acts like that. He told me about the way that most girls treat him. It made me think, was Edward ever hurt by one of those girls? Like, really hurt? It just seems like there's something more than he's telling me."

Esme regarded her son for a moment then shook her head. "No. I've never known Edward for have feelings for a girl—before." She put a strange emphasis on the word 'before'. "He's always been on the lookout for something special. No, Edward's attitude comes from pure frustration. He couldn't stand the way these girls would work so hard to get his attention and then turn their noses up when they found out that he wasn't what they wanted him to be. He just didn't want to deal with it anymore."

"Hmm," I said. I guess Edward was telling me the whole truth.

"Edward says that you two have a lot in common."

"A bit," I shrugged. "Not a ton."

"That's good," Esme smiled. "You don't want to have too much in common."

I gave her a questioning look.

"If you spend all of your time with people who are just like you then you never grow. You are never open to new things. If you have someone in your life who you have enough in common with so that you can always keep up a conversation, then that's great. But to have a real relationship you must have differences. They will force you to stretch your limits. To become the person who you will be."

I still must have looked confused. I knew that I felt confused.

"Let me explain. When I was a girl, I was a bit of a debutant. I only spent time with girls like me, who all they cared about was snagging a rich and attractive husband. When I met Carlisle I had to have him, nothing was going to stop me from that. The more time I spent with him the more I grew as a person. Carlisle told me that I could be more than some kind of trophy wife. He made me realize the full potential of who I wanted to be, not what my friends wanted to be. Carlisle changed me for the better in so many ways. I think that you can change Edward, and he can change you."

I stared at Esme. What was she implying? Was she saying that she wanted me to be with her son? Or was she only implying this change as Edward's friend? Probably friend.

I smiled at her, not really sure what to say. Esme put a hand on my shoulder. "You are a very beautiful and smart girl." She gave me one last smile and disappeared back into the house.

I stood there in shock for some time. I really couldn't make heads or tails out of what had just happened.

I looked back down at the game. After a few moments Edward looked up at me. He met my eyes and smiled.

"Guys, I'm out," Edward held up a hand and walked away from the group.

I sat down on one of the wicker chairs that were scattered across the porch. Edward came up the stairs and leaned on a post.

"You were talking to mom?"

I nodded.

"Having all of you guys here has made her so happy. I'm calling this her Mother's day present. My parents always wanted a big family." Edward's smile faded.

"What happened?" His sullen look concerned me.

"I was a difficult child—a hard labor. After me, my mom couldn't have any more kids." I saw the look in Edward's eyes. He blamed himself.

"Edward—"

He cut me off by shaking his head. "She's gotten over it. I have as well. She's a little more involved in my life than most mothers, but," Edward shrugged. "You really can't blame her. Rose and Jasper are like her children to. And I'm sure she'd be pretty ready to adopt you if you asked. She loves you all ready. Alice and Emmett to. Rose and Jasper are happy to know that she approves."

But are you happy to know that she approves? I couldn't help but ask in my head. That's what I want to know.

Edward gave me that priceless crooked grin of his. My heart spluttered in my chest.

********

"Okay," Edward sighed. "What movies did you pick up Emmett?"

Emmett grinned and picked up the plastic bag that he had left by the door. "I got these just for you, Bella."

I gave Emmett a quizzical look, he just grinned at me.

"Sorry," Rose mouthed at me from behind Emmett's back.

Emmett dumped the bag of DVDs upside down onto the coffee table. The DVDs were mostly black with red writing. I picked up the top one. Dracula. I picked up another one. Queen of the Dammed.

"I'm sensing a theme," I said. Emmett couldn't let the vampire thing from weeks before go. The only way for him to make up losing to Edward was to mock me at every possible turn.

Edward sifted through the movies. "Did you get every vampire movie at the store?"

Emmett grinned. "Yup."

"Well," Edward handed the case of Interview with a Vampire to Jasper, who put it in the DVD player, "we'd better get started if plan on getting through half of these tonight."

Although it hadn't really surprised me, that same old thrill of excitement ran through me when Edward sat down next to me on one of the big white couches. We were sharing with Alice and Jasper, which meant that Edward and I were a bit closer than normal, about the distance we were at the restaurant. The only difference was now we were squished together and it was dark. Being near Edward in the dark made my skin buzz.

I watched the movie with mild interest. I had seen this one a few times and knew it pretty well. It was one of the few movies that I actually liked better than the book. It was also, in my opinion, the only example of Tom Cruise acting well.

Dracula was really nothing like the book. It had much more sex in it than I had expected. It made sitting next to Edward feel a little strange. We had watched movies with sex in them before, but we had never been quite so close together. Edward didn't seem to notice.

"Why don't vampires and werewolves ever get along?" I wondered out loud while watching Underworld.

"Natural enemies," Edward explained.

"But why?" Edward's answer wasn't good enough for me.

"I don't know. If I ever meet one, I'll ask," Edward teased.

I punched him in the shoulder. He ruffled my hair playfully.

Somewhere in between Queen of the Dammed and Nosferatu Edward had thrown his arm across my shoulder. I don't remember when it happened, I only remember glancing out the corner of my eye and seeing Esme nudge Carlisle in the ribs and nod at us. Both of them were smiling.

The later it got, the less I was able to follow the plots. It was all pretty simple, girl meets boy, boy turns out to be vampire, by struggles not to kill girl despite his instincts, and the end always varied depending on whoever wrote it. Either boy and girl make it out okay, or girl gets eaten. The latter was always my favorite.

I leaned my head and snuggled into Edward's warm body. Enjoy it while you can, I told myself. Sooner or later he's going to figure you out, and then he wont let you this close again.

Edward leaned his head against mine and played with a lock of my hair, uninterested in the movie.

"These movies are all the same," he muttered to me.

"Mmm," I agreed. I was much to tired for any real words.

I missed Esme and Carlisle. I've been writing this story from Edward's Pov and, at the point I am up to anyway, we get a lot more of Esme and I have plans for Carlisle as well. Sadly this is the only time we will see them in this version. :(

So yeah, the vampire movie thing. I had originally written that scene for an older story that I had trashed. Emmett was making jokes about teaching Bella how to be a real vampire and whatnot. I liked the scene so I wrote it into this one. I have not seen a lot of vampire movies, thus being vague. I just thought I'd bring back the vampire joke and make another one about werewolves. You've gotta have some throwbacks to the original series. Fun fun fun. We are getting closer to the end.

Thanks for reading! :)