"When did she get here?"

"Only a few minutes ago."

Despite the warm blanket, I was cold all the way through.

I was no longer in Phoenix.

Somehow, I drifted here from my own time, sleeping all the while.

Their voices abruptly cut off. If their senses were as strong as I imagined, they could detect changes in my breathing. I had to steel myself to speak with them. I made an effort to breathe in and out. As my heartbeat steadied, they softly agreed to leave me to rest. When the door clicked shut behind them, I relaxed.

I opened my eyes cautiously. I was tucked into a blanket in what appeared to be a living room. A beautiful Christmas tree stood tall in the corner. I even heard carolers outside. It was the holiday season, just like home.

I shook my head. I had to be smart about this. There was no room for false bravery. When they came back in, we would have a level and calm conversation.

All of that went out the window as I heard the doorknob turn.

I grabbed the lamp without thinking and followed the cord to the wall. When the door opened wide, I pointed it shakily in that direction.

"S-Stay back."

"What are you doing?"

It was Rosalie with a tray of food. Her eyes flickered between me and the lamp. She reminded me of the ingenue in the old vampire movie. But I knew the truth.

I backed up as far as I could go.

"I know what you are," I whispered. "Stay there."

"Bella—"

"Don't!" I yelled.

Hurt flashed across her face. Her golden eyes dropped to the tray.

I suddenly remembered Rosalie bringing me to the kitchen the last time we met. Looking at her now, I realized she must have made that food for me. Underneath the fear, I found a small twinge of regret.

She had never hurt me. None of them had. Yet I had no idea what hid behind their kindness. Before she could respond, the other Cullens crowded the door, eyeing the two of us with a mixture of confusion and exasperation.

"Put the lamp down."

I glowered at Edward. There was nothing I wanted to do less than listen to him. "Don't tell me what to do."

"You're being ridiculous."

I tightened my grip on the lamp. It was not ridiculous to afraid of people who could drink my blood. I clenched my teeth together in defiance.

"Are you hungry?"

"Are you?"

"We've never harmed you," he said in a different voice. Almost like he was reasoning with me. "If you're that afraid of us, you're welcome to leave."

"Cool it, Edward," said Emmett from the doorway; he looked almost angry at him. "No need for that."

I nodded at my unexpected ally. Carlisle took a hesitant step forward. I watched him sink into the armchair with exaggerated slowness.

"Bella, I'd like to have a conversation with you. About everything. You were kind enough to share your history with us. I would be happy now to do the same."

I considered the offer for a moment. To agree would send me deeper into the supernatural world. To refuse would isolate myself again.

Nothing would ever be the same.

I set the lamp on the floor.

"Thank you," I said quietly. "For taking me in . . . again."

Rosalie edged to the coffee table and placed the tray there. After a moment of hesitation, I returned to my former seat on the couch. Esme joined her husband by the armchair.

Edward remained in the doorway.

"You've done your research."

"I have," I nodded, my gaze never straying from him. "And I watched a movie."

Edward chuckled.

"What?"

"It's all Stoker's fault," Emmett muttered. "And that damn Nosferatu."

A giggle escaped me before I could stop it. He seemed so put out that the movie got it wrong. Just as before, I could feel my fear lessening by the second.

"What my sons are trying to say," Carlisle began, shaking his head. "Is that we are not what we appear."

"No one ever is."

He tilted his head in agreement. Then with little fanfare, he launched into the history of the Cullen clan.

Carlisle told me everything. Who he was and what he came to be. It was an incredible story. A journey that began in England hundreds of years ago and was still going strong. The minister's son turned monster. Decades of loneliness until he found a companion—a dying boy in Chicago.

My eyes flashed to Edward. The dim lighting cast a shadow over his face. He looked . . . weary. Though he was immortally seventeen, I could see his true age in his eyes. It saddened me, knowing that the cheerful charge I watched over was now just a memory.

"A few years later it was Esme," Carlisle was saying. They shared a smile. "Rosalie followed, and Emmett is our most recent addition."

"Last but certainly not least," Emmett added, winking. I smiled back. If it hadn't been for him, I would have never learned the truth about them. I decided I owed him one.

The old grandfather clock started chiming. It was midnight. Esme rose to her feet and spun the dial on the wireless. "Silent Night" came drifting out of the radio. She smiled broadly. With her grin and soft, billowing hair, she looked quite like Katharine Hepburn.

"Merry Christmas, everyone."

I sat watching the scene, astonished. The Cullen history lesson was over. Emmett stood up at vampire speed, his eyes round as saucers.

I suspected the Cullens opened their gifts early. I still had to wrap mine; they were sitting safely under my bed in Phoenix. Renee and I always wrapped our presents together, sitting far enough away so we couldn't peek.

I missed her.

"It's almost Christmas at home," I said, realizing. "How funny."

"Oh, I wish we had something for you," Esme said, her face falling. I stifled a laugh. They took me in from the cold, clothed and fed me, shared their painful pasts with me, and were now worried about buying me a Christmas present. It was just too much.

"Oh, no," I said hurriedly, then reached for the tray. The sandwich Rosalie made for me was just sitting on my plate. I took a big bite. "This is more than enough. Really. Please, open your presents."

It was an oddly domestic scene. Esme played Santa and handed out the gifts. Emmett was upset by his tiny present until he tore open the paper to reveal a set of car keys. He crowed his delight, then waggled them in Rosalie's face. She rolled her eyes and went back to admiring her new dresses. Then it was Edward's turn. Everyone had given him a new film camera, bringing a lazy smile to his face.

"What's so funny?"

He let out a dry laugh. "Our memories are sharpened after the change. Everything we see is like a photograph. Frozen in time."

"But developing them takes time and effort," Esme corrected him as she passed, ruffling his hair. He thanked her and began to set it up, which took no time at all. His hands moved so fast they blurred.

It was strange moment. In this brief, familial atmosphere, it was easy to forget they were vampires.

I almost felt like an intruder. But it was snowing outside and I didn't have a coat. I sat quietly on the couch and thought about what they told me.

They weren't monsters.

They loved and lost like humans. They felt compassion, joy . . . sadness. The creature I saw in the movie was just a character. The Cullens . . . the Cullens were different.

The last gift under the tree was the sweetest. A velvet jewelry box sat waiting for Esme. Inside she found a diamond necklace. It was a perfect match to her fairy tale looks. She looked like she might cry. Carlisle closed the clasp for her and kissed her cheek. It was such an intimate scene that I felt the need to look away.

Emmett, of course, couldn't wait another moment.

"Show me where my new car is!"

"It's in a garage uptown, Emmett. We can go take a look; no one will be there."

He was already pulling on a coat. "Come on, Rosie. We can take it for a spin!"

The four of them decided to visit the car. I waved, almost in a daze, as they wished me a Merry Christmas. The door closed behind them and I realized I was not alone. Edward was still in his place by the door, tinkering with the camera. I cleared my throat.

"Not interested in the car?"

"I was there when Carlisle bought it."

"Oh."

The silence between us lengthened. I listened as more Christmas music came on the radio. A wave of homesickness washed over me. He looked up at my sigh.

"Are you all right?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

Edward set the camera aside and returned to the armchair. "It's a lot of information."

"Yes," I agreed.

"I apologize for my rudeness," he said after a moment, looking embarrassed. "In Devils Lake and earlier tonight. It's been a long time since we saw you last."

I hadn't even thought of that. "What year is it?"

"1945."

A decade since Devils Lake. Back home, only weeks had gone by. I struggled to calculate the difference and gave up. It was overwhelming.

We were silent again. He was watching me with bright gold eyes. Now I knew what that meant. It didn't make it any easier to grasp.

"We could play cards," Edward offered, pointing to the deck on the fireplace. I nodded and rose to my feet. While he cleared a place on the floor, I shuffled the cards. Then he made a fire, warming the room even more.

"Thank you."

I studied my cards in silence. I realized that I still had questions. Lots of them.

"Edward?"

"Yes?"

"Did you . . . " I hesitated. "Did you fight in the war?"

"No," he said finally. "Emmett and I both wanted to go. But we couldn't. It's a shame; we would have ended the war in days."

He was so bitter. I realized belatedly that it was the second war he missed out on. He really wanted to fight. The irony was that he was a deadly fighter now.

"I really don't want to play cards," I confessed. He laughed. It was a beautiful sound.

"What do you want to know?"

"Why were you so angry?"

I recalled our second meeting in Rochester. He had stared at me in such fury; I would never forget it. It was hard to reconcile that image with the contrite face I saw before me.

"It's really terrible, Bella," he frowned. "I'd rather not explain that part."

"Try," I encouraged him, laying my hand over his own. His eyes followed the motion, but he didn't move it.

"You asked for it," he muttered, then, louder: "Carlisle explained our diet to you. We substitute human blood with animal blood. It sustains us, but we're never truly . . . satisfied."

I imagined trying to live on tofu and salads for the rest of my life. It sounded terrible. I almost never turned down a cheeseburger. It was a juvenile comparison, but I nodded like I understood.

"Every human has a distinct scent. Blood . . . blood is the life. Our bodies are made to consume it. Each scent is unique. And yours . . . " he laughed darkly. "Yours is one of the best."

"Really?"

"The best I've encountered in all my years," Edward nodded. "I was angry . . . not with you. I was angry with myself. When we met again, I was recently coming out of a dark period."

A dark period. A time in which he did not adhere to Carlisle's design. He must have been drinking human blood. I shivered, remembering my dream. But the fear was gone as quickly as it came. I wasn't afraid of him.

"Well . . . what do I smell like?"

That caught him off guard. "Excuse me?"

"It's great to know I don't stink," I shrugged. "If I smell so good, what do I smell like?"

"Flowers," he said suddenly. "Freesias, specifically."

"Different strokes, different folks," I said doubtfully. He laughed again. I memorized the sound. It had a musical quality to it, and warmed me more than a fire did.

"Now it's my turn to ask the questions."

I shrugged. "Shoot."

"Tell me about your family. How do they feel about your condition?"

I started with my mother. How most of the time we existed on different planets. That she was my best friend. How she regularly burned casseroles and couldn't watch a scary movie without me. How she charmed the pants off Phil and that their marriage was going to be perfect.

"And your father?"

"Charlie," I smiled. "I'm more like him than my mom. We're both private . . . thoughtful . . . both terrible dancers."

"You, a terrible dancer? I doubt that."

"Believe it," I laughed. "I'm very clumsy."

Edward stood up and fiddled with the wireless. When he found something he liked, he turned and held out his hand.

"No way."

"Oh, please. You can't be that bad."

"It's true," I exclaimed.

"Then show me," he challenged.

I wrapped the blanket tighter around myself. "You can't really dance to this music."

"Of course you can, traveler. Here, stand on my feet."

Three hours ago I would have run screaming. No way would I have let myself get close to a vampire. But Carlisle's story had moved me. I had known Edward for . . . well, three months in my time. He had known me for over three decades. Edward and the rest of the family could have left me out in the snow. But they brought me inside and kept me safe.

Those were not the actions of people who wanted to kill me.

With my feet over his, I found the twirling to be effortless. Easy. I felt a smile grow on my lips. Dancing wasn't so bad when someone else was leading. I looked up and realized Edward was smiling, too.

"See? This is easy. It's all in the footwork."

"You're right," I conceded, letting him lead us around the room.

"Edward Anthony Masen Junior would have been jealous," he chuckled as we swayed.

I laughed at the memory. That boy would have challenged his future self to a duel, I was certain of it. But he was Edward Cullen now. That boy was long gone.

The man was quite special.

We danced until the song faded away. I felt myself wishing it had gone on a little longer. We stepped apart rather awkwardly. The moment was broken. I clutched the blanket around myself and thought it was no substitute for his arms. I blushed at that thought.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm just tired, is all," I mumbled. It was close to two in the morning. But I was wide awake. And wanting.

"I'll let you sleep," he said at once, switching the radio off. "Goodnight, Bella."

"Goodnight, Edward. And . . . thank you."

His answering smile could have made the sun rise. "You're welcome. And Merry Christmas."

A Merry Christmas to all, I thought, succumbing to sleep. And to all a good night.

A/N: Finally, the truth will out! I'm so excited by the responses to my story. I love reading what you guys think.

Has anyone seen this Twilight genderswap Life and Death thing? I'm so buying a copy! That Stephenie Meyer . . . I had a genderswap fic idea on the back burner! Oh well. Maybe I'll post that one day. :)

As always, thanks again for your reviews, and I'll see you guys next Wednesday!