Bella

"Whoa!"

And there was the floor, rushing up to meet my face. Again.

I caught my fall with my hands just in time, but my hard body crashing into the carpeted floor still made a rather loud noise.

" 'M fine!" I yelled around a mouthful of carpet, knowing that every other vampire in the house had heard me biff it. I heard their various amused responses and let my head fall onto my arms in embarrassment. I lay still, allowing myself a few moments of what I thought was well deserved self-pity.

Vampires, as a rule, did not fall down. Not without a good reason. They were blessed with a fluid sort of grace that, for the life of me, I could not tap into. Add one more to the list of things normal vampires did or had that I, for some mysterious reason, did not.

"Floor meet face, face—floor," I sighed, resigned. Ignoring the sudden eruption of laughter I could hear coming from Emmett downstairs, I pushed myself up to my knees and looked back at the floor behind me for any sign of something that I could have tripped over.

There was nothing but carpet. Not even a wrinkle in the carpet.

Wonder of wonders, I had managed to trip over nothing.

Again.

This was my fate. Not even becoming a vampire had cured the infamous curse of Isabella Swan, the danger magnet and klutz extraordinaire. I heaved myself to my feet, thankful that I had been carrying a stack of sheets that Esme and I had just finished folding instead of something more breakable. The nice thing about sheets is that even with the tripping and the flying and such, they don't get that abused. I gathered them up quickly and then walked the rest of the way down the hall to the linen closet.

Danger magnet…

It had been so long since I'd thought of myself in that context that I was startled to realize that it barely applied anymore. Well, yes, I had somehow managed to get myself bitten by a vampire, the circumstances of which I still couldn't remember, but since then the most dangerous thing I'd experienced was tripping in the upstairs hallway.

Perhaps I'd filled my quota of near-death experiences. After all, it's kind of hard to beat dying, isn't it?

It had been three weeks now since I'd come to live with the Cullens. I'd fallen naturally into the family routine, busying myself with a thousand little things like helping Esme with renovations or housework, or rough-housing with Emmett (my newborn strength made this a whole lot more fun than I'd thought it would be), or—my favorite—shopping with Alice. The obstinate woman simply would not let me rest until my wardrobe was "up to par", and while I had to admit that her choices were perfect, I still didn't quite believe that such a huge selection of outfits was even remotely necessary. Especially when I wasn't contributing anything of real value in return, monetary or otherwise.

It became quickly apparent to me, once again, that I was far outclassed by this family. While Carlisle was out saving lives and Jasper was studying philosophy at Cornell, while Rose was tuning cars and Alice was predicting trends in the stock market, I found myself involved in what felt like far more trivial work. I helped around the house. I provided company when someone was left at home, seeing as I still hadn't needed to hunt. The Cullens had provided me with a room all for myself, which Esme had insisted that I decorate to my own tastes. I had busied myself with that for a while, but my inability to sleep had me finished in no time. The room was now covered in various shades of blue—the walls, the sofa, even the rugs. The choice had been so natural I hadn't even needed to deliberate. It wasn't until the job was almost done that I'd realized who else it was who had liked the color blue. Or rather, the color blue on me.

That train of thought was rapidly becoming something I didn't want to explore, so I forced myself to stop. Instead, I stared at the sheets, sitting innocently on the shelf in front of me, thinking hard about my original problem. Everyone here had a purpose, something to give. Between the seven Cullens there were an astonishing number of college-level degrees, not to mention a few masters and even doctorates. I hadn't even been able to finish high school. What good could I bring to this family without even the smallest of degrees?

I came to a decision in that moment, closed the linen closet, and walked carefully back down the hall and stairs to where Esme was getting ready to paint over the newly repaired front wall.

"Want some help?" I offered.

Esme's reply came after a moment's pause. "I'd love your help, Bella, if it's what you really want." I nodded eagerly and Esme smiled at me. "Throw on a smock and grab a paintbrush." She gestured to where I could find both and I got to it.

We worked in an amiable silence for a minute before Esme spoke again. "You've been wonderful to have around, you know. It's not often that I find so eager a helper in my other children." I smiled to myself at this, pleased, not expecting what came next. "But I can't help but wonder if you're really happy."

I dropped the paintbrush. "Sorry," I muttered, bending down to scoop it up, thankful for the plastic that Esme had carefully laid on the floor to catch drips.

"Is there something you want to talk about?" Esme asked me seriously, her eyes leaving the wall in front of her to catch mine.

I nodded slowly before returning to the task at hand. Esme did the same, waiting patiently for me to talk when I was ready.

"I'm happy," I started finally, wanting to make it abundantly clear that nothing was amiss with the house or the family at all. "I really am, Esme, please believe me." I paused, collecting my thoughts, watching Esme's perfect brush strokes. "I do feel a little inadequate," I admitted. "I haven't had as much experience as everyone else and because of that I'm not able to contribute much to the family. It makes me feel a little like…well…dead weight." And it did.

Esme nodded. "I can see why you'd feel that way. We're an intimidating group after all." She flashed a gentle smile my way and I couldn't help feeling a little bit warmer inside. "But you're not dead weight, Bella, not to any of us. And as far as contributions you've made to the family, I think you'd be surprised."

"The house doesn't count," I grumbled, and Esme laughed.

"I'd beg to differ, but that wasn't actually what I was talking about. For instance." Esme dipped her brush into the tray and scraped the excess off while she thought. "Have you noticed how often Rose seems to be smiling? Or the number of times Emmett's been whistling to himself? Jasper is in such a good mood that he can't contain it, and Alice is laughing again. Here's a good one: how about how little the four of them fight?"

I shook my head. "Esme, that…none of that is because of me."

"Trust me, Bella, it is. Losing Edward and you took a lot out of us. We almost came apart at the seams, in a way. Rose and Emmett left for a while—honeymooning again, this time in Europe—but they were really trying to get away from the gloom that had settled on the rest of us. It's hard to keep going when you feel so wretched, believe me."

"Were things really that bad?"

"Rose stopped complaining."

I laughed in spite of myself. "Yikes."

Esme nodded as she set her brush down, coming over and placing her hands on my shoulders. "You brought life back to us, Bella, first with Edward in Forks, and again for the rest of us here. You brought happiness and laughter back. Thanks to you, we are acting like a family again. That is what you've contributed to the Cullens, and no matter how many degrees you end up with, I'll always see that as your most important and meaningful achievement."

I wasn't able to reply right away, so I just nodded, letting Esme pull me into a hug.

"Thanks," I said quietly into her hair.

"No, Bella, thank you."

When we got back to the painting a few minutes later and I was in relatively better control, I recalled the resolution that I'd made standing in front of the linen closet a few minutes earlier.

"Esme?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"I want to go back to high school."

Esme nodded, smiling. "I think that could be arranged."

Rosalie

It's an uncomfortable thing to be sharing a house and a family with a girl that you've put a lot of energy into resenting. Especially when you know that you were the one in the wrong and she had never actually done anything to deserve your resentment. I absolutely hated admitting that to myself, but Isabella Swan was quickly becoming an everyday part of my life and I was tired and a little ashamed of everything it took to stay angry.

I refused to admit out loud that I had been jealous of her, but inside my head I couldn't deny that this had been the truth. She had been human, which was something I had spent all of my undead life craving. There was even a small part of me that had been able to resent her for the fact that Edward had chosen her so readily when he'd passed over me without a second thought. Don't get me wrong, I have Emmett and I'll always love him—not to mention that there really is no physical attraction between Edward and I—but I can't deny that some part of my pride was stung by this small rejection, even if it was better for both of us.

In any case, Bella was no longer human, nor was she even with Edward. Everything I'd resented her for had been taken from her and I couldn't help but feel a little guilty, as if my jealousy had resulted in her losing both her life and her love. Though I found it a bit unfair that she hadn't yet had to deal with the thirst the rest of us were constantly battling, I really didn't want to resent her anymore. But I wasn't going to just waltz up to her and say that. We were a long ways away from sharing any kind of close bond, even if it was getting easier to respect her and even like her at times.

All the same, there was no denying that even I had been happier lately and I knew it. I'm not afraid to admit that it was probably thanks to Bella Swan either. But there were times, like those when I was trying out of the goodness of my heart to get a hold of the stupidest, most stubborn brother I've ever had, when I couldn't help but get irritated.

I hadn't been able to get a dial tone after that first day, which probably meant that Edward had had enough and decided to leave his phone off for a while. Our number of attempts to call him decreased exponentially after that, eventually ending in one call a day and sometimes a message imploring him to have mercy on his poor family and call back.

It was so ridiculous that it made me feel physically ill. Who was Edward to shut us out like this? We were trying to help him.

Three weeks passed after Bella's arrival and I was starting to think that tracking him was indeed going to be our only option. The very thought of the look on Edward's face when Tanya came barreling down on him was almost enough to alleviate my irritation. As far as I was concerned, he deserved to have her track him down.

Even though I was angry, and vocal about it, that Edward was purposefully neglecting us, deep down I couldn't help feeling a little sad too. After all, he was my brother and I wanted him to come home.

That night, after three weeks of failed attempts, I tried the number out of boredom.

We had all brought our various projects and gathered together in the living room, just enjoying each others company. Carlisle was filling out some paperwork; Esme was sewing together some light fabric that would eventually become the curtains for the upstairs hall, her fingers flying at vampire speed. Bella had brought one of her new books downstairs and was curled up in a chair, reading. Jasper was reading too, only his was a textbook for one of his classes. Emmett had given me a handy little radar to attach to the dashboard of my car that would tell me when I was approaching a waiting police man, I was playing with it idly, seeing if there was anyway I could extend its reach. It was a very thoughtful gift, seeing as I wasn't able to read minds or see the future and was therefore more likely to get caught. Emmett and Alice were playing some kind of card game, which I watched for a while, once I'd gotten tired of what I was doing. I was amused for a while at Emmett's fruitless attempts to overcome Alice's ability to see the future, but I soon lost interest in that too. My eyes wandered the room for a while until they fell on the telephone, which was sitting conveniently within my reach.

Was it even worth trying?

Oh, why not?

I picked up the receiver and dialed Edward's number swiftly, not expecting anything more than the answering machine.

But it rang.

I was so surprised that I almost dropped the phone. I saw Emmett glance over at me out of the corner of my eye, looking a little concerned, but I waved him off, listening to the second ring. It wasn't as if there was anything to get all that excited about, his phone being on did not mean that he was going to answer. The chances of that happening were—

The third ring cut off abruptly. For the second time that night, the phone nearly fell out of my hand.

"Who am I talking to?"

It was harsh and maybe a little hurt, but it was his voice. He'd picked up…

"E—Edward?" I asked lamely, forcing my voice to work around the shock and wishing my brain had been as fast on the recovery. I felt every eye in the room rivet on me.

"It's my number, Rose, who did you think was going to answer?"

"Excuse me, but I wasn't expecting you to actually pick up the phone, Edward Cullen. Its not as if you've been all that fussed about talking to us these past few weeks, is it?" I snapped, regaining my composure with a surge of annoyance. "Now, if you're done sulking, there's something very important that we've been trying to tell you."

"I rather figured you had something to say after you called me 216 times three weeks ago. My phone has been without its battery since then. You haven't been trying to call me all this time, have you?"

"No," I bit out, daring myself not to rise to his taunts. "Not 216 times a day at least. Edward, we—"

"You couldn't just leave a message and be done with it?"

He was impossible. "We're not socially incompetent, Edward! You don't drop something like this on someone you care about in a message, you tell them in person! Now are you ready to listen to me?"

"Is Bella dead?"

For a minute I forgot how to speak again. The directness of the question had surprised me, sure, but it was more the tone of his voice that left me speechless. I hadn't ever heard so many layers of emotion in one voice before and I knew that he was experiencing an agony so profound that I could barely comprehend it.

"Rose," he tried again, his voice less controlled. "Answer me."

Behind me I heard Alice gasp sharply, but I was too focused on Edward to pay much attention. He'd assumed my hesitation meant yes! Hearing him like this, I didn't even want to imagine what he'd do if I told him she was. My answer stumbled out without my even thinking about it.

"No, she's not, Edward, she's fine."

There was silence on the other end and I didn't know if he believed me or not.

"You wouldn't lie to me would you?" he asked finally, his voice so quiet that even I could barely hear it.

"No," I insisted. "Not about this, Edward." And I wouldn't have. I let him chew on that for a moment before plowing forward. "Listen. Bella's—"

"Is she happy?" he interrupted, his voice still almost too soft to hear.

"Reasonably," I admitted, getting irritated again. "Edward, she's—"

"Rose, I really don't want to hear," he interrupted again, his voice louder this time, but exponentially more pained. "Thanks for calling."

I panicked. He was hanging up! "No Edward, wait! You have to listen to me—oh I don't believe it!" I threw the phone down with enough force that it might have broken. "He finally answers and then hangs up before I can tell him anything!"

I turned to face my family, who had all gathered around the phone behind my back.

"Apparently using Rosalie as spokeswoman wasn't the best idea," Jasper said after a moment, incensing me even more.

"I'd like to see you try to reason with him," I snapped. "Every time I started to say something he cut me off!"

"I'm just saying he was more likely to hang up on you than on Carlisle," Jasper shrugged, trying to hide his severe disappointment behind the smart remarks but forgetting that, when he wasn't completely in control, we could feel what he felt too.

"He's afraid," Esme said softly, her eyes on Bella, whose face was impossible to read. "He's hurting so much… I don't think he wants to risk hurting more, no matter what news we have for him."

"I told him Bella was alright, that she wasn't dead—"

"Which was more or less a lie," Alice reminded me.

"You didn't hear him, Alice," I defended, my anger suddenly gone and replaced by fear. "If I'd said Bella was dead, he would have hung up before I could explain that she was also sitting right next to me." My voice fell to a whisper; I'd never been so frightened in all of my vampire existence. "If I'd told him Bella was dead we'd never have seen him again."

"A little melodramatic, Rose, don't you think?" Emmett asked gently. "It's not as if he'd run off to Italy or anything."

"He was thinking about it," Alice said quietly. "I saw it, clear as day, while Rose was on the phone."

"The idiot," Jasper breathed, his voice betraying all of our worries.

"Is he still?" Esme's tone was sharper than I'd ever heard her use before.

Alice shook her head worriedly. "He's staying in South America for now."

Whatever discussion would have ensued was then cut off as Bella turned abruptly, her book clutched so tightly in her hands that I was afraid she was going to rip it in two. "I'll be in my room," she said to no one in particular, her voice tight.

We watched her leave in silence, none of us sure what to say.

"Right," Carlisle announced after a moment, breaking the silence. "Rose, the phone, if you will."

The authority in his voice was almost tangible; I handed the phone to him without even realizing I was doing it. Carlisle dialed Edward's number and we waited. As expected, he didn't pick up, but Carlisle waited patiently for the answering machine.

We all heard that single, impersonal beep.

"Edward, this is your father," Carlisle said simply but powerfully. "You need to come home for a few days. Immediately."

The silence in the room as he hung up the phone was deafening.

A/N: Let me apologize for any incoherency or typos found in this chapter—I'm currently running a fever of over a hundred. But what kind of author would I be if I let that stand in my way? :D So, this was the first half of that long and involved chapter promised in my bio. It was getting so long that I decided to split it up, even if it set things back a bit. So… I'm predicting at least two more chapters, maybe three. Hang in there, guys! Edward's stubbornness will be overcome, and sooner than you think! (Either that or he'll call Charlie and end up in Italy…) Thanks for the reviews and the support, you guys really are awesome!

A/N 2: Well, that was embarrassing... I just fixed a number of highly obvious typos. You guys deserve better than that!